Starting Sept. 1, police officers from Guadalupe will provide law enforcement services at the Santa Maria Public Airport under a plan deemed beneficial to both agencies.
The Guadalupe City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved a resolution for the Police Department to provide contract law enforcement services at the airport, replacing Santa Maria police officers.
“It seems like it’s a win-win for everybody,” Public Safety Director Gary Hoving said. “Santa Maria city will get out the contract that they would like to shed themselves of because of other reasons. Santa Maria airport will meet their legal requirement for providing public safety at the airport itself so they can have public flights in and out.”
And Guadalupe will gain much-needed revenue plus the ability to expand its police force, Hoving said.
“There’s a lot of benefits from joining together,” Hoving said. “Contract services between governments is long-standing in California. It’s a way of getting a scale of economy to share expenses and also direct revenue, in our case, to the general fund.”
Airport General Manager Chris Hastert said the contract with Guadalupe would help the airport, which is managed by a special district, not a city or county as most in California.
“Currently, with the city staffing the way it is, we have a lot of officers that are assigned temporary duty out there, and they don’t have the proper training,” Hastert said. “And we get new people all the time so we don’t have the familiar faces.”
Hastert said the airport district looks forward to having a stable workforce through the contract with Guadalupe.
The contract would allow Guadalupe police to hire two additional full-time officers to staff the airport seven days a week.
Hoving said officers would serve a 1-year rotation at the airport before returning to patrol duties in Guadalupe.
For officers, an airport assignment would provide career enhancement and aid with officer retention, the chief said.
Officers assigned to the airport would undergo a one-week Transportation Security Administration training at Los Angeles International Airport.
For approximately 15 years, Santa Maria police had supplied officers under a $419,000 contract, but now the city wants those officers to return to patrol and investigative duties.
Retired officers, working part-time, can no longer fulfill the airport duties as they had due to a recent ruling with the California Public Employees Retirement System.
The agreement with Santa Maria called for $182,000 for personnel salaries, $118,000 for benefits and $119,000 for administrative costs based on a formula.
Guadalupe’s lower employee costs are expected to mean reduced administrative costs, helping the airport district save money while still boosting cash-strapped Guadalupe.
Hoving estimated the city would receive $80,000 for its administration expenses beyond other reimbursements for costs — staffing, benefits, equipment, vehicles, training and administration.
The 5-year agreement also provides for a 5-year extension plus has an escape clause with 30 days notice for either side.
The airport board is expected to consider approving the agreement on Thursday night.
Additionally Tuesday night, the City Council authorized the purchase of a police pickup, funded in part by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant.
The meeting also included a swearing-in ceremony for Officer Maria Negranti plus noted two officers, Israel Reyes and Isaac Oseguera, who were recognized by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for making a number of drunken driving arrests.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
