Council approves formation of city's own police department

Matt Liesemeyer joins his Menifee City Council members in signing a resolution forming the Menifee Police Department. Menifee 24/7 photos: Kristen Spoon

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Just a month past Menifee's 10th anniversary, officials Wednesday celebrated what could be called the city's most historic event yet -- the signing of a resolution to form Menifee's own police department.

Following more than a year of discussion and months of study and planning, a resolution signed by all five City Council members made official Menifee's plans to detach itself from the Riverside Sheriff's Department and create a true Menifee Police Department. It will take more than a year to terminate the city's contract with RSO and assemble a separate police department, but the clock has officially started ticking.

"This is probably the most impactful decision this council will ever make," said Mayor Bill Zimmerman as it became clear that all five council members were in favor or the plan, which proposes a PD with more boots on the ground at less expense than the escalating costs of the Sheriff's Department county contract.

Council member Matt Liesemeyer, who fought vigorously over the last year for the adoption of such a plan, expressed both his satisfaction and his gratefulness to city manager Armando Villa for working with an outside consultant in creating the plan.

"To say that I'm proud of this day is an understatement," said Liesemeyer, a member of the council's public safety committee. "I have to thank Armando Villa. Two months into his tenure as city manager, I dropped a four-inch binder on his desk and said, 'We need to do this.' He was willing to take it on.

"People ask how we are able to do this. How did we crack the code? Well, the code is simple. As I was always taught, you get to work and make it happen. You don't say it won't work. You make it work."

In the beginning, when retired police chief Tom Hicks first pitched such a proposal to the City Council a year ago, some were skeptical. How could the city afford the start-up costs, let alone the salaries of the additional manpower specified, the vehicles, the equipment and everything else that goes along with such an ambitious project.

Yet as Hicks, Liesemeyer and others continued to point at neighboring Murrieta as an example of such success, the County Board of Supervisors announced contract increases that began to seem unsustainable. Gradually, as Villa worked with Hicks to fine-tune the proposal, others began to agree.

"I haven't always been on board with this," council member Greg August said prior to the council's unanimous approval of the resolution. "I wanted us to hang in there with RSO, even though I knew that contract was putting a demand on our budget. Gradually, I began to change my mind. And when the Board of Supervisors basically said, 'We're going to make you pay extra for services you're already paying for,' I thought to myself, 'That doesn't sound like somebody who's trying to help the City'."

No one on the City Council or staff has been critical of the Sheriff's Department's services during this process. It all came down to money.

According to the staff report that led to Wednesday's resolution, annual contract increases averaging 6.5 percent per year, together with the additional costs the County now plans to place on contract cities, means the City of Menifee's RSO contract would reach approximately $25 million in five years. The current contract amount of $17.1 million pays for 58 deputies, but only 15 are dedicated to Menifee. All deputies work out of the Sheriff's Perris station. Menifee is patrolled by shifts of five officers per shift for a city of 46 square miles.

In the Menifee Police Department plan, all 55 sworn officers would be dedicated to Menifee, with nine officers per shift patrolling the streets. The addition of 19 civilian employees would be a less expensive way of handling administrative duties currently performed by Sheriff's personnel.

City attorney Jeffrey Melching (above right), who drafted the resolution, said the estimated start-up costs of $5.3 million would be recovered within two years. Already budgeted for this cost is $3.7 million in Measure DD sales tax revenue and $3.1 million in developer impact fees collected by the City. The fact that Menifee budgeted for extra deputies the Sheriff's Department hasn't been able to provide because of a manpower shortage has left an additional surplus.

The RSO contract is estimated to be $19.2 million in the 2019-20 fiscal year, Melching said. The Menifee PD budget is estimated to be $14.2 that year. By the year 2023-24, the RSO contract would escalate to approximately $25.5 million, while the Menifee PD budget is expected to be $16.8 million.

"This expenditure of funds lowers the expenditures going forward," Melching said. "In a way, the expenditure of DD funds sounds like an investment that has a great return."

Villa agreed.

"This will provide a better level of service that further legitimizes Measure DD," he said. "This action tonight legitimizes why we need Measure DD. We want to ensure public safety and our police service will be better with this plan."

According to Melching, the City must give 12 months notice to the County to terminate its contract with RSO. The clock won't start ticking on that, however, until the hiring of a police chief, who must have time to develop the department.

The police chief's job during that first year would be to analyze the data and finalize manpower plans; supervise the purchase of police vehicles and other equipment; and oversee the renovation of the current City Hall, which would become the police station when city officials move into a new City Hall down the street.

"I look at this as upholding a promise we made to the citizens when they approved Measure DD," said Mayor Pro Tem Lesa Sobek. "Some residents are interested in removing Measure DD. We promised increased public safety, and Measure DD will help make this happen."

Mayor Bill Zimmerman smiles as he looks over the resolution in front of council members (from left) John Denver, Lesa Sobek, Matt Liesemeyer and Greg August.