When Mesa proposed cutting $62 million from its budget stretching to June 2010, one piece of the cutbacks puzzle was how to secure municipal buildings, without compromising public safety.
On Thursday, the city council will tackle that issue, with a revised proposal that, if approved, could result in a hybrid compromise. Unlike the earlier proposal, under which the security personnel positions would be privatized, the proposal recommends that some of the buildings, depending on the nature of activities there and the level of public presence, could continue to have city police presence, while other buildings could have private security guards. Routine activities include monitoring CCTVs and patrolling facilities.
Annual savings from this move would be about $760,000, if the plan is implemented this April.
The city has a budgeted staff of 42 for the department, but under the proposal, 10 vacant positions could get eliminated, 16 employees would continue to man city facilities, according to a staff report.
During earlier related budget discussions Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh had expressed concern about outsourcing this service. Kavanaugh has said after the 9/11 attacks, municipal security was beefed up in the city. At the time, private security was considered, but the council had felt more comfortable using city employees, “instead of rotating a cast of people you typically get in private service.”
“We would prefer people on board who know the mission of the city and work for the public and would learn to recognize better regular visitors and city employees and to at least have some feeling of who’s new,” Kavanaugh has said, adding that the same concerns are valid today.
“City facilities certainly can be targets for terror attacks, where large numbers of people gather or the seat of government,” Kavanaugh said.
But he felt a hybrid option might be palatable, looking at the degrees of threat and public interaction level.
So it’s likely that the security desk in the city plaza building, which gets frequent visitors, would continue with employees, as could the city courts and libraries.
Other cities including Tempe and Scottsdale have recently gone to private contracts.
Mesa Police had to take an approximately $19 million hit as part of the city’s cutbacks.
The council meeting takes place at 7:30 a.m. at 57. E. First Street.
