R2005-34 ACCEPTING PROPOSAL AND AUTHORIZING AGREEMENT

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Problems of the past continue to plague the cerrter. Communications Training Officers (CTOs)aze members of a CTO Cadre in which training methods and records are reviewed and probationary employees are evaluated on a monthly basis. The Cadre developed a distrust of the police administration several years ago when recommendations were not given full consideration and less than qualified employees were kept on staff and given full civil service status. Efforts ha.ve been made to repair that relationship but many of the trainers have refused to participate in training for that reasoq as well as reasons of perceived increased liability for enors made by some trainees. These fears have never been substantiated but the perception exists and it greatly harms the training program. With a lack of qualified trainers, supervisory personnel have been required to talce on the task of training new employees. Supervisors are a11 trained CTOs and most have been promoted to supervisory positions due their initiative and ability to train. However,the training task diminishes the supervisor's ability to perform the duties of supervision. Inadequate supervision has led to increased disciplina.ry problems. The lack of adequate staffing, in part due to the refusal of CTOs to tra.in,has led to a great deal of overtime. Most of the overtime is filled by volurneers but numerous 4 hour blocks each month must be filled by mandate. Many employees volwrteer for 12 hour shifts and occasionally they will volunteer or be mandated for a 16 hour shift. This has led to a decrease in morale,health and attitude of the employee. It can also lead to errors by employees due to fatigue. Managing the overtime schedule is a very tedious chore and on occasion, mistakes have been made costing the department dollaxs in back pay for these errors. The police department administration has made numerous attempts to raise morale,utilize positive discipline in the form of training, development of a reward system for good behavior and customer service recognition programs,as well as issuing attendance rewards. At this pourt in time, a11 we can claim as victory is a significant reduction in sick time. Morale in the center is low and attitudes toward administrators and supervisors are very poor. Notably, relationships among the employees themselves aze strained. It has corne to the point in which the police administration can no longer find the answers to the wide variety of problems. These problems exist throughout the United States in many of the emergency communica.tion centers. There are individuals and companies that do consulting work in troubled ce�ters,like ours. Some have had success in identifying and defining the problems and developing a plan of action through joint communications,observations and policy and contract reviews. FINDING AN ANSWER: We sertt a brief synopsis of our currectt situation to three separate consulting firms that aze well known in the communications field. We asked each of the firms for a detailed letter describing their experiences in solving problems in tlus area of operation. Our request called for several days of on-site observation,inspection and audit. We asked for their responses no later than Friday, February 18, 2005. The three firms cornacted were RCC Consultants of Richmond, VA,Inc.,Field Training Associates,Inc. of Ypsilanti,MI,and PSTC Consultauts of Redwood City, CA. FTA replied that they were not interested in taking the project on. RCC provided a quote of$28,000. PSTC replied with a quote of$15,550. RECOM1ViENDATION: PSTC Consultants' quote includes their plan of action with references to past experience in this field. Their price is far more reasonable than that of RCC. In order to get a fresh look at our recruiting, selection,hiring,training and operational issues,and ensure that our practices provide the City with the best possible Emergency Communications Specialists, sta.ff recommends awarding the agreemeut to PSTC Consultants at the cost of$15,550.