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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-05-12 Policy & Services Committee Summary MinutesPOLICY & SERVICES COMMITTEE SUMMARY MINUTES Page 1 of 8 Regular Meeting May 12, 2026 The Policy & Services Committee of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in Council Chambers and by virtual teleconference at 6:01 p.m. Present In-Person: Lythcott-Haims (Chair), Reckdahl, Stone Absent: None Call to Order Chair Lythcott-Haims called the meeting to order. The clerk called roll, declaring all present. Public Comment There were no requests to speak. Action Items 1. Office of the City Auditor Presentation of the Public Safety Staffing & Overtime Audit Kate Murdock, City Auditor, thanked the Fire and Police Departments for their time and assistance in conducting the audit. She provided a slide presentation including the objective of the audit, background, findings, and recommendations. Chair Lythcott-Haims thanked Ms. Murdock and acknowledged the Police and Fire Chiefs in the chambers. Public Comment: There were no requests to speak. Vice Mayor Stone questioned if the audit had been reviewed by the Finance Committee in consideration of the fiscal year 2027 budget. Kiely Nose, Assistant City Manager, replied that Finance Committee is aware of the audit but that they have not formally reviewed it. She thought Staff is managing the response as well as budget allocations and that Staff has committed to doing adjustments in the coming year. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 2 of 8 Policy & Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 05/12/2026 Vice Mayor Stone acknowledged considerable budget implications and asked how the audit information could be used with their budget scenarios. Assistant City Manager Nose explained that they oftentimes have a lot of vacancies, and those vacancies are filled with overtime, resulting in vacancy savings that can be used to cover the cost of overtime. She said that the audit realigns the assumption for vacancy versus the assumption for overtime so it more accurately reflects the budget categories. Vice Mayor Stone noted they budgeted about $1M last year to overtime for police, and it ended up being 3.5M. He asked how much was saved in vacancies. Assistant City Manager Nose was not sure. She noted the Police Department recently has been using overtime to support things like the retail theft grant, so overtime usage has increased. Vice Mayor Stone asked Chief Reifschneider to what extent the Department supports trainees in the academy. He noted they have been surprised by the recent failure rate. He asked about additional supports and how the Council can support them to avoid vacancies. James Reifschneider, Police Chief, explained how the Department uses several different academies. Sometimes the Department can provide a full-time training officer to the academy for 6 months, but there are not always opportunities for them to do so. In most cases, support comes from their Personnel and Training Division, who are in touch with trainees regularly. The Department provides a great deal of training remedially throughout the academy. There was an aberration where an academy class had only about a 1/3 success rate and contributed to the vacancy rate, but they historically have closer to a 2/3 to 3/4 success rate. Chief Reifschneider is optimistic to get back to that level. He added that they have begun tracking training outcomes by academy location so that they can focus on sending recruits to the academy with the best level of success. Vice Mayor Stone wondered if academies that allow a field training officer to be present on site have higher passage rates. Chief Reifschneider said that has generally been the case, but not always. They are pleased with the level of instruction at the academies. They tend to send people to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office Academy or the San Jose Police Department's Academy when they can, which they think have provided the highest level of quality over time. They can sometimes have a predicament where a top-quality candidate is brought on and the next scheduled iteration at one of those academies is not for months, so they have to decide whether to employ them doing office work for months or send them to a different academy. Vice Mayor Stone asked Chief Reifschneider if he has had conversations with Planning about times they are understaffed in code enforcement. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 3 of 8 Policy & Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 05/12/2026 Chief Reifschneider answered that they have not talked about that. He said they have had them help with backfill needs in the records unit in the past, and they have also used it as a way to do some pre-academy training, but there could be opportunities to do work in other departments. Vice Mayor Stone said they are always looking for more code enforcement resources, so that would be nice from the City perspective. He said they’ve done far better on Fire at addressing vacancy issues, but they continue to struggle in Police. He asked what Chief Reifschneider finds to be the largest impediment to fully staffing the department. Chief Reifschneider talked about several factors that have impacted recruiting in recent years. One is cost of housing. Any officer who is traveling any distance is driving through other jurisdictions for whom they could be working closer to home, so that is a challenge. He feels like they are compensating competitively, but it is still a challenge. They have some positive momentum over the last year or 2 from a hiring perspective. He thinks they are just now coming out of pandemic staffing levels, and he explained why. He thinks they are now back to making some good progress. Vice Mayor Stone thanked Chief Reifschneider. He expressed that overreliance on overtime in both Police and Fire is concerning. He mentioned impacts on budget planning but was more concerned about safety risks to first responders. He cited a report from the New York Times Inspector General for the NYPD on the impact of overtime on police and described some of its findings. He noted unacceptable vacancy levels. He expressed support for addressing these challenges and appreciation for the audit and its recommendations. Councilmember Reckdahl thanked Ms. Murdock. He thought the report and its suggestions were very good. He was happy to see that the chiefs agreed with the suggestions. He noted 2 issues with police staffing: vacancies and budgeted spots. He said the budget has decreased significantly over the years, and he wondered if police were doing it more efficiently or just not enforcing things as much. Chief Reifschneider answered that he does not attribute that to increased efficiency and lack of need, but rather budget considerations. He described some of the positions lost. Councilmember Reckdahl asked whether the lost positions were essential. Chief Reifschneider said he would like all of them back if the budget would allow. He explained that those positions would allow them to build out their traffic team and their detective bureau. He said they have not asked for the positions back partly due to budget but partly because he wants to fill all the positions he has allocated before asking for more. Councilmember Reckdahl asked how many vacancies they have on the force. Chief Reifschneider replied that there are 8 vacancies, but a couple of filled positions are occupied by people out on long-term injury, so it is more like 10 vacancies. He clarified for Councilmember Reckdahl that the total budgeted head count would include all officers SUMMARY MINUTES Page 4 of 8 Policy & Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 05/12/2026 currently on the payroll, regardless of whether they are able to serve, and it would include vacant positions that are funded. Councilmember Reckdahl asked how long someone on long-term leave can be on payroll. Chief Reifschneider described a couple of processes that come into play with long-term injury. Someone can be out on an Industrial injury for about a year and then would transition to state insurance coverage. He explained how it could take upward of a year or 18 months. He noted that there are ways to work with HR to overstaff in some cases. Councilmember Reckdahl asked if Chief Reifschneider would look for laterals or academy candidates for the vacancies. Chief Reifschneider said he would look for a healthy mix and noted the importance of culture and fit. Councilmember Reckdahl asked if people on overtime still did their job well. He wondered if they were getting good value. He asked about the number of people doing a few hours of overtime a week versus the number of people doing a lot. Chief Reifschneider recalled a report that noted that some people carry more water than others. He noted that overtime attributable to the Organized Retail Theft detail is fully reimbursed by the State. He was not aware of any recent collision or use of force where they felt like fatigue was an obvious factor. Generally, officers work overtime in short increments. Most work 11-hour shifts by contract, so they may come in early and stay late. He acknowledged a 12 or 13-hour day is not ideal but thought it was a noteworthy point of reference that many neighboring agencies work 12-hour shifts as a matter of course. Councilmember Reckdahl asked if there should be a limit to how many overtime hours someone could work in a week. Chief Reifschneider said he does not view that as a problem. Supervisors are encouraged to do regular check-ins. He mentioned Fair Labor Standards Act rules. Councilmember Reckdahl pointed out that KPIs are not being hit. He questioned whether the KPI should be changed. Chief Reifschneider said they could give thought to adjusting the expectation, but he thought it would be reasonable with fuller staffing. He thought staffing was the primary reason for not meeting it. Councilmember Reckdahl asked how much they are missing the 90 percent by, referencing Exhibit 4: PAPD Performance Compared to KPI Goal. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 5 of 8 Policy & Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 05/12/2026 Chief Reifschneider said they made an adjustment to 80 percent in their most recent budget, so It will likely show a higher level of compliance. He said that they meet or exceed the industry standard. He indicated they were not missing the 90 percent by much. Councilmember Reckdahl noted some hire heads have been frozen. Chief recalled that being on the fire side. He noted there was a reference in the report to entertaining a standing hire head program for police. Council authorized that, but they did not need to utilize it due to staffing levels. He would ask for authorization again if needed. Councilmember Reckdahl asked about time tracking and why the Police time system was incompatible with the City's. Chief Reifschneider said they use SAP city-wide for payroll tracking and time entry, but individual departments have used other software for things unrelated to payroll. He said the disconnect is between the scheduling software and the underlying payroll data and that it is not a problem unique to the PD. They had a meeting with the Fire Department recently to talk through whether the software they are using would be an improvement for the PD. Councilmember Reckdahl noted a concern for the Fire Department was that the fire marshal said that lack of headcount is causing timely follow-up for fire code violations to be not made. Stephen Lindsay, Fire Chief, explained that that was regarding staffing reductions during COVID periods. Chair Lythcott-Haims was glad to know that Chief Reifschneider has right-sized response time goals and was proud that they are still ahead of industry standard. She thanked him. She asked about vacancy savings versus overtime pay and whether benefits are impacted by overtime pay. Assistant City Manager Nose indicated benefits are not impacted. She noted that benefit costs are static but the hourly rate changes. Chair Lythcott-Haims asked if overtime affects seniority. Assistant City Manager Nose said overtime does not count towards an employee's pension calculation from a CalPERS standpoint. In terms of how a department considers tenure and whether or not overtime is included in that calculation, she guessed not. Chief Reifschneider said seniority was based on calendar months, not hours worked. Chair Lythcott-Haims asked what the ratio is between vacancy savings and overtime. Eric Jensen, Police Senior Management Analyst, referred to the quarterly Public Safety Overtime Informational Report. He said that generally, it is close to netting out. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 6 of 8 Policy & Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 05/12/2026 Assistant City Manager Nose said additional costs for an employee are usually about 60 percent and that It roughly nets out. Chief Reifschneider noted that it is generally cheaper to pay overtime for an hour than it is to pay both pay and benefits for that same hour. Chair Lythcott-Haims agreed with her colleagues' concerns about risks of negative outcomes from overtime, including impacts on an individual's quality of life and mental health. She asked if workforce housing is talked about in the Police and Fire Departments. Chief Lindsay said there is an interest from newer employees to purchase property. Some rent apartments during the Academy or probation. As they get off probation, they start looking for affordable property and start to move farther away. He said he thinks there is an interest in having a home closer to the workspace. Chief Reifschneider reiterated that there would be interest. Younger officers generally try to rent nearby, and then they start moving farther away once they start to expand their family. He noted the work schedule is a disadvantage for police. He was confident that at least some of the newer officers would take advantage of work housing. MOTION: Councilmember Reckdahl moved, seconded by Vice Mayor Stone, to accept the results of the audit, and recommend the City Council accept the results of the audit. MOTION PASSED: 3-0 2. Nonprofit Partnership Workplan FY 2027 Phase I Process Refinements. CEQA Status – Not a Project. Lupita Alamos, Assistant to the City Manager, provided a slide presentation including City Council May 11 Study Session Debrief, Nonprofit Workplan Major Areas of Work, Potential Timeline, and Recommendation. Chair Lythcott-Haims talked about timing of the item. She asked if there was consensus on what the conversation should be about. Councilmember Reckdahl asked what the vision is for HSRAP going forward and what the vision is for Phase 1 going forward. Vice Mayor Stone said they should assume that Option C would be adopted and that they should focus on next steps. He asked if Staff was recommending them to just reexamine HSRAP. Assistant City Manager Nose said that Finance Committee colleagues opined that a separate process was redundant. She said it was part of the discussion, whether this should be rolled into HSRAP and whether a separate grant process should be continued. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 7 of 8 Policy & Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 05/12/2026 Assistant to the City Manager Alamos said Phase 1 funding is suspended for 2027. If the Committee comes back to it in 2028, they could resume refinements. She echoed Assistant City Manager Nose's comment of trying to avoid redundant processes. Vice Mayor Stone said the suggested timeline on reviewing HSRAP makes sense. He recommended to review and refine the HSRAP process and then revisit the Phase 1 approach if there are still gaps in services. Councilmember Reckdahl opined that Phase 1 was not needed anymore. He said a lot of them are Human Services. He asked if they didn't qualify for HSRAP or if they didn't know about HSRAP and stumbled on Phase 1, or what happened. Assistant to the City Manager Alamos said many were existing HSRAP recipients that didn't get full funding, so they saw Phase 1 as an opportunity to pursue the second part of what they originally requested. Chair Lythcott-Haims emphasized that HSRAP is a 2-year process. Councilmember Reckdahl asked if any of them would not qualify for HSRAP. Assistant to the City Manager Alamos said yes and gave some examples. She said that part of the evaluation for HSRAP would have to look at expanding the scope to include more categories. She pointed out that they have an Emerging Needs fund that could be used. Chair Lythcott-Haims asked some technical questions about categories and wording, answered by Assistant to the City Manager Alamos and Assistant City Manager Nose, who referenced Attachment A. Public Comment: There were no requests to speak. Councilmember Reckdahl talked about different groups, including operating service providers, human services, and programming. He suggested a 2-step process for HSRAP and discussed direct allocations. Assistant City Manager Nose noted that some service providers would be eligible for HSRAP or could fall under direct allocation. She thought that going through the nuances would be helpful. Chair Lythcott-Haims talked about the City's responsibility in making sure needs are met. She highlighted examples of why lines are blurry. Vice Mayor Stone agreed the process is not perfect. He talked about next steps being to focus on refining HSRAP with the goal of incorporating Phase 1. He said if they are unable to accomplish that, a future Policy and Services Committee would have the opportunity to go back to Phase 1. He noted there are a lot of ways to improve HSRAP. He shared his concern that, while the consistency of agencies is good, it has meant that it is challenging for new organizations to access the fund. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 8 of 8 Policy & Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 05/12/2026 Chair Lythcott-Haims asked if they would need to make recommendations up front about dollar amounts. Assistant City Manager Nose suggested focusing on the process first and making further assessments later. She clarified timing of the process. She explained what the budget and long- range financial forecast is based on. Assistant to the City Manager Alamos pointed to the phase 1 process and how it was managed. Assistant City Manager Nose explained how they adjust the HSRAP amount from the budget amount. Councilmember Reckdahl asked about the possibility of setting a guideline for 5 percent to be first-time recipients. Vice Mayor Stone thought that would be worthwhile to discuss. Chair Lythcott-Haims discussed the importance of the timeliness. Councilmember Reckdahl asked if the plan is for HRC to divvy it up and for Policy and Services to rubberstamp it. Assistant City Manager Nose said that is up for discussion if they are looking at revamping the process. She described the current process and suggested a possible joint session with HRC in the future. MOTION: Vice Mayor Stone moved, seconded by Chair Lythcott-Haims, to recommend the City Council pause adoption of the Phase 1 Workplan, and direct staff to return to Policy & Services Committee after the summer recess with a discussion and review of the HSRAP process, which can include the next steps on the Phase I workplan. MOTION PASSED: 3-0 Future Meetings and Agendas Chantal Cotton Gaines, Deputy City Manager, announced that the next meeting is next month, and that will be the last meeting before their break. She will work with the Chair on the agenda items for that meeting. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.