Summary The City of Alachua currently has four public schools within its corporate limits - Santa Fe High School, Mebane Middle School, Alachua and Irby Elementary Schools. As part of the School Resource Deputy (SRD) Program, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office assigned one deputy in each of these four schools. On 1/14/2015, Sheriff Darnell addressed a letter to Mayor Coerper advising that Dr. Roberts, Alachua School Superintendent, had informed her that funding for the SRD Program would likely be reduced in the upcoming fiscal year. As a result, the Sheriff requested that the City of Alachua reimburse Alachua County for costs of the SRD Program within our municipality. Included with this letter was a three (3) year cost break down of the operating costs for the SRD Program within Alachua's corporate limits. The breakdown of costs ranged from $122,772 for year one to $163,888 for year three; included in these figures were operating expenses and 50% of wages for SRD's, Sergeant, Lieutenant and a secretary over the course of the proposed three (3) year funding period.
Since receipt of this letter, Administrative staff has been in contact with School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) representatives, and held numerous in-house staff meetings to discuss feasibility of alternative means to provide these services, as the proposal from the Sheriff was considered exorbitant and not a feasible option. City Administration has closely monitored this matter, and was recently informed by the Superintendent's office that the SBAC proposes to distribute the funds allocated for School Resource Officer (SRO) Programs equally among all schools within the county, and delegate the SRO Program functions to the jurisdiction of the law enforcement agency where the schools are located. In this case, the City of Alachua would be administering SRO Program services in each of the four schools within our corporate limits.
In order to provide these services, an agreement between the SBAC and City of Alachua must be entered into prior to the first day of school (Aug. 24, 2015), so that City of Alachua Police Officers may operate as SRO's on the designated school campuses. The proposed agreement provides for a share of funding for the four schools up to $82,805.12, for the 2015-2016 regular school year. The funds will be paid to the City in ten monthly payments, beginning Oct. 30, 2015. Staff is currently evaluating staff assignments for implementation of the SRO Program in the four public schools, and propose the addition of three (3) part-time positions, or 1.5 full-time equivalents, to the Police Department. Administration believes that with these additional positions, the department will be able to implement the SRO program, and still accommodate staffing needs for patrol functions. It is estimated that the cost for these additional positions will essentially be absolved by SBAC funds.
City staff has been working with School Board staff to finalize the agreement for these services. Due to the time constraints, the final agreement may differ from the proposed agreement attached to this item. An updated and final agreement (if necessary) will be provided prior to the meeting. | | |