Eureka City Council to hear EPD reorganization proposal

EUREKA – City Council will consider a reorganization of the Eureka Police Department.
The plan calls for reclassification of some positions to more appropriately reflect job responsibilities for a projected savings of $14,000 dollars per year.
And when Public Service Officers were eliminated in 2015 due to budget shortfalls, their duties fell to remaining full time staff and police officers. The department said that has given officers less time for regular patrols and led to a backlog of support tasks.
EPD is now seeking to reallocate funds for one vacant police officer position, to hire two Community Service Officers to fill those needs.
City Manager Greg Sparks said, “So that should help free up some officer time, help make our officers time more efficient, focus more on the things that police officers need to be doing rather than things that can be better done by civilians.”
The meeting begins Tuesday night at 6:00p.m. in Council Chambers at Eureka City Hall.