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Guest editorial: OEC report review
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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1 response 1 comment After reading the article “News interviews city manager” in the July 19 issue of the Tehachapi News, I followed the suggestion and picked up a copy of the Organizational Effectiveness Consulting Report on the city of Tehachapi police services analysis. After reading phase one and phase two reports and making numerous marginal notes, I best summarize my view of the report as unbelievable.

My response to the report is due to the following reasons:

1. Lacking specific facts in budget and comparable factors to be a valid analysis.

2. Speculation, opinion and guess work estimates cloud facts.

3. Frequent use of the words “may,” “could” and “should” indicate that they don’t really know.

4. The budget is not sufficiently itemized for valid analysis. many overtime factors are listed but not identified in the budget; emergency factors are not itemized; the contingency fund is not much more than that of an average household; nothing is said about a potential catastrophic disaster.

5. Cooperative criteria was not identified or explained; skewing was evident by the placement of all seven comparative departments in one average; numerous facts missing for comparative purposes; 43 percent of the criteria does not relate to law enforcement.

6. Comparative criteria showed a more negative impact if the city goes to its own police department versus contracting with the county (60 percent negative and 40 percent neutral or positive).

7. Absolutely no reference to quality of service in law enforcement; the report assumes that if you buy equipment, train recruits and man a police department, quality will be there.

8. The study focused primarily on two facts: control through the city manager and city council and the budget. It is undesirable to have full control of law enforcement in the hands of those who have limited knowledge, experience and expertise, such as the city manager, city council or citizens of Tehachapi lack. The opposite is emphasized in the OEC report. Law enforcement should be placed primarily in the hands of law enforcement professionals with some agreed upon and determined factors that pertain to city management in the hands of managers and councils.

9. Report input was limited to groups who have sporadic or shallow interface with the police department. Input was not sought from those who interact with the police department on a daily basis, such as the deputy district attorney, public defender and defense attorneys, judges, a probation department, child protective services and other police agencies.

10. The report states, “Crime is not a major issue of concern in Tehachapi at this time,” but also states, “OEC believes that the current (police) staffing is barely adequate ... a better approach would be to increase current staffing by two deputies.” This is an apparent contradiction when also backed by the statistics used in comparing Tehachapi with the other seven communities of California City, Kingsburg, Taft, Truckee, Sonoma, Big Bear and Ojai, Tehachapi is lower in all comparative categories. This would appear to support no need for an increase in staffing.

11. Tehachapi’s projected five-year budget average is less than all seven comparative cities’ 2004-2005 total budgets. It is also $293,360 less than the best comparative city (Taft), using their 2004-2005 total budget. Itemized comparative budgets are missing from the report and therefore Tehachapi’s five-year projected budget cannot be accessed as to its realistic projection.

Realizing some variances, this puts Tehachapi's five-year projected budget into serious doubt. Also, the Kern County contract projection fort he same five years is considerably less than the average of the three 2004-2005 comparative county contracts and less than the average of the four city department’s 2004-2005 total budgets. Since there is no comparative itemized budgets, it is not possible to understand why. This places the budget projection into serious question.

These are some of my observations. All Tehachapi citizens should get a copy and make their own judgement. I, for one, am willing to meet with anyone who wishes to review, discuss or debate my analysis. I am not mud slinging, I am a concerned citizen who thinks that the issue is too important to ignore.

What is beyond belief is that the city council’s election to proceed with phase three, based on the OEC report. However, maybe they have information not contained in the report.

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Comment From: doesnotgetit

I'm sure this will probably be the same company that they plan to use for the Fire Dept. study. If you are concerned about costs, watch what the proposed fire dept budget will look like. It will go up 500% for less service. This is why we keep harping on the city manager and the city council to do the right thing.