Overtime blues

Sgt. Rob Merrifield has been the go-to guy for Chico media over the past two years. The veteran cop and former detective has issued the bulk of the Chico Police Department’s press releases, fielding inquiries into everything from minor thefts to high-profile murder investigations. In general, as the public-information sergeant, he’s helped keep the community informed about crime in the city.

But as of this week Merrifield, who is part of the Special Operations section, has taken on additional duties and is no longer a press liaison. In fact, that role is left vacant. And he’s not the only one within the department whose job description changed this week.

The switch-up is part of a plan to reduce the department’s overtime pay by 25 percent for the rest of this fiscal year. It’s an adjustment stemming from the city’s current budget deficit, which is tracking about $900,000 over budget. To reduce the overtime expenditures, a majority of which are associated with the core service of patrolling Chico’s streets, the department has pulled several employees from special units, assignments and programs and placed them into patrol.

“The accessory functions are the things [the community is] going to lose out on,” Merrifield said.

For example, Tim Truby, a community services officer who focused on crime prevention and education (he worked with local Neighborhood Watch programs and conducted the local Every 15 Minutes drunk-driving programs at schools, among many other things), is now assigned to patrol. No one will fill his position or run the programs he oversaw.

The same is true for a community services officer who was switched from traffic to patrol.

For Merrifield, both moves place additional administrative tasks, such as reviewing parking tickets and conducting taxicab and tow-truck inspections, in his bailiwick. Thus, he’s left without time to consult with media.

And the changes don’t end there.

Capt. Kirk Trostle, who will step into the role of interim chief of police next week when Chief Mike Maloney retires, said two traffic officers have been moved to patrol. Additionally, two street-crimes detectives and one gang-crime detective headed to patrol. He said CPD’s command staff went “through every facet of the organization to shift resources.”

The goal, of course, is to maintain the core services. The department will do that, Trostle said, by keeping a minimum staff of five officers and one supervisor per shift on patrol. That’s down from prior years’ staffing levels of seven officers.

Trostle said he recognizes that the budget affects every city department, not just the Police Department.

City Manager David Burkland also noted that the reductions aren’t focused on the CPD. He explained that the city’s expenditures have run a little high, while fewer revenues than expected have come in, and that overtime budgets throughout all city departments face the 25 percent reduction. (As the city’s largest department, CPD’s budget accounts for close to half of the city’s entire $46 million general-fund budget.)

Burkland emphasized that the cuts relate only to the time between now and the end of June (the end of this fiscal year).

Meanwhile, since the beginning of the calendar year, city staff has been working on a plan for the next fiscal year. Right now, there’s an anticipated shortfall of $2.2 million. To help tighten the gap, CPD will not fill certain vacated positions, including those of two retiring police officers, Trostle said.

A proposed budget will be distributed in May followed by an all-day City Council budget session in June. By that time, Trostle said the department should know whether some of the reorganization measures taken this fiscal year are temporary.

Trostle noted that the department had already been grappling with staffing reductions, resulting in longer response times for lower-level crimes. He expects that trend to continue but said the community can count on a swift response for emergency calls.

As the former chief of the Oroville Police Department, Trostle said he’s been through budget reductions before. And while it’s certainly not the easiest time to take charge of a department, he welcomes the challenges that lie ahead.

He acknowledged that the current reorganization has affected morale. “It’s been sullen,” he said, referring to the mood in the department. “The staff has been understanding; they’ve been professional, but it’s difficult.”