L.A. Community College Board Approves New 6-Month Contract with Sheriff’s Department
This afternoon, the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees voted in favor of a new six-month contract with the Sheriff’s Department for public safety services. While this is a positive development that prevents a full curtailment of the LASD Community College Bureau, it is important to note the new short-term contract requires a reduction in personnel and services.
Below is the summary of the proposed changes to the Los Angeles Community College contract:
- Reduction of: 1 lieutenant, 8 sergeants, 4 B-1 (3 detectives, 1 Team Leader), 5 deputy generalists, 15 security officers, 1 station clerk II, 2 LET, 1 Crime Intel Analyst.
- Cost difference: Current annualized, including liability cost, is $25,788,926.94, compared to proposed annual cost of $19,514,435.98. However, the new agreement is only for six months. The cost difference for this period is $3,137,245.48
- The proposed agreement is through June 30, 2021.
- There is no release date of the Request for Proposal (RFP) yet. LACCD planned to have the RFP, bidding, and make a decision of service provider within six months, hence the six-month agreement with LASD.
The reduced staffing is the plan while the campuses are primarily focused on remote learning due to COVID restrictions. Once the RFP is announced, LASD’s staffing proposal will be reassessed.
PPOA will continue to provide updates as they become available.
Breaking Development in Community Colleges Bureau Demobilization
At 4:40PM this afternoon (12/7/20), PPOA received the information below from the Sheriff’s Department:
Over the weekend the Department was informed that the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) will put on its agenda a contract to continue services with the Department. The contract agreement will be posted on the LACCD Board agenda this Wednesday (12/9) morning and will be voted on by their Board of Trustees on December 12th. How the vote swings is unknown. We will find out Saturday (12/12).
Below is the summary of the proposed changes to the Los Angeles Community College contract:
- Reduction of: 1 lieutenant, 8 sergeants, 4 B-1 (3 detectives, 1 Team Leader), 5 deputy generalists, 15 security officers, 1 station clerk II, 2 LET, 1 Crime Intel Analyst.
- Cost difference: Current annualized, including liability cost, is $25,788,926.94, compared to proposed annual cost of $19,514,435.98. However, the new agreement is only for six months. The cost difference for this period is $3,137,245.48
- The proposed agreement is through June 30, 2021.
- There is no release date of the RFP yet. LACCD planned to have the RFP, bidding, and make a decision of service provider within six months, hence the six-month agreement with LASD.
The reduced staffing is the plan while the campuses are primarily focused on remote learning due to COVID restrictions. Once the RFP is announced, LASD’s staffing proposal will be reassessed.
In the last two weeks, while abundant rumors were flying, NO LESS THAN THREE executives of the Department had said the Community Colleges contract would not be renewed. These representations continued during our Meet and Confer last Wednesday, when two commanders, emphatically stated, “NO, it is a dead issue.”
PPOA continues to ONLY provide information to our membership that is presented by Department executives as accurate. The emotional roller coaster ride the Department continues to place upon its members is completely unnecessary.
While PPOA is hopeful about the prospects of a lessened impact to our Community Colleges Bureau partners, there continues to be obvious concerns with the Department’s communications compared to its actions. The disconnect within the command staff of the Department and the blatant misinformation being provided to the unions warrants serious attention in the future. Why is this necessary?
Week in Review – 12/5/20
Agreement Reached: Community Colleges Bureau Demobilization
December 4, 2020 — After asserting our rights to negotiate with the Department regarding the upcoming full curtailment and demobilization of Community Colleges Bureau, today, we can report an agreement between PPOA and the Sheriff’s Department has been reached. Affected members are advised to monitor LASD email for notifications of the transfer preference protocol, and the available job positions for each classification from which to choose (anticipated to be sent out on December 7, 2020).
The Department’s budget woes are expected to persist as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to decimate the economy. While this particular curtailment is due to a loss of contract, the decision by the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) was at least partially based on a loss of revenue and reduced need of services, as many students are attending classes online during the pandemic.
PPOA would like to take this opportunity to thank Sheriff Villanueva and his administration for their tireless efforts to ensure that NO LAYOFFS were necessary due to this loss of contract. This agreement represents a result of compromise on all sides to reduce the amount of impact to PPOA members and reflects the Department’s desire to ensure members remain working in these unprecedented times as well as PPOA’s unwavering commitment to protect the labor rights of the PPOA membership.
While PPOA members will continue to be affected by these potential burdens, options to address the budget crisis are well within the management rights of the Department. PPOA will of course continue to monitor all changes in working conditions and make every effort to ensure fair implementation.
UPDATE: Demobilization of Community College Bureau
November 24, 2020 – Today, a PPOA team consisting of Henry Jimenez, the newly sworn-in Board Member representing Security Officers, President Tab Rhodes, Vice-President Jim Blankenship, Secretary Tony Coleman, Executive Director Wayne Quint Jr., Labor Representative Teresa O’Neil, and counsel Dennis Hayes, participated in a teleconference with representatives of the Sheriff’s Department regarding the demobilization of Community Colleges Bureau (CCB). This initial meeting with the Department, followed the meeting of Saturday, November 20, 2020, in which PPOA met with approximately 35 CCB Security Officers, at Los Angeles City College, to exchange information and discuss potential impacts.
During today’s meeting, the Department confirmed that all attempts to renegotiate a contract for services with the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) had broken down. As a result, effective January 1, 2021, all security services to the Community Colleges will be provided by a contract security company. While the timing of this development and its impact are horrendous during these unprecedented historic times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department has assured PPOA that their intention is to ensure NO LAYOFFS or demotions will be necessary.
The Department will, in the near future, be providing information requested by PPOA, as well as their proposal for member re-assignment. The logistics of demobilizing and re-assigning personnel on such a short timeline and during the holidays are extremely burdensome to Department resources. Thankfully, initial conversations with the Department were optimistic and collaborative. While PPOA would like to provide further information at this time, we must give the Department time to prepare responses for further review.
PPOA strongly urges members to monitor the mobile app, your personal emails, and all other PPOA communications to ensure you have only the best and confirmed information available. PPOA requests that you direct any rumors or information provided by the Department regarding these issues directly to info@ppoa.com, for our review.
Week in Review – 11/21/20
PPOA Board Election Results
PPOA MEMBERS RE-ELECT VIENNA, ROMO AND COLEMAN
An official ballot count conducted this afternoon (Nov. 20, 2020) confirmed that PPOA members who are LASD Sergeants and Lieutenants in Unit 612 have re-elected Lieutenant Ryan Vienna and Sergeant Tony Romo to continue serving as directors of the PPOA board.
The ballot count also confirmed that PPOA members who are LASD Custody Assistants in Unit 621 have re-elected Custody Assistant Tony Coleman to continue serving as a director of the PPOA board.
Final ballot count results are below:
Vienna, Romo and Coleman will each be officially sworn in for a new two-year term at the PPOA board meeting on December 9th.
The ballot count was conducted by THE ELECTION COMPANY, CEC, an independent election firm, which confirms ballot count accuracy by running a pre-counted stack of practice ballots through the machine to calibrate it before running the actual ballots through twice to ensure final count is verified and accurate.
Special thanks to the PPOA members who volunteered to serve on today’s election committee and monitor/verify the ballot count:
·LADAI Sergeant Yvette Hartwell
·Retired Coroner Investigator Dan Machian
·Law Enforcement Technician Vonetta Mays
PPOA Member SEE’S CANDIES 2020 Order Form
For the last three decades, PPOA sweetest holiday tradition has been the See’s Candies discount offer. The famous treats make perfect gifts for everyone (except you dentist).
Over the years PPOA members have ordered more than $100,000 in sweet See’s goodness while enjoying savings over retail prices. This offer is available to PPOA members only and the entire 15% discount is passed along to PPOA members.
Orders must be received by November 30th. Please click here for details and order form with all PPOA discounts listed.