Deputy chief blasts critics for distracting from YPD pay plan
Smith urges council to stay focused on compensation issues
Yuma Deputy Police Chief Susan Smith decried the recent activities by city critics, saying that they are distracting from the main issue: police pay.
During Call to the Public on Wednesday, she urged the Yuma City Council not to get sidetracked “by outside influences” and to stay focused on the compensation challenges being faced by the police department.
“I’ve been troubled lately because I’ve witnessed a disturbing association that has been created between the Yuma Police Department step pay plan and the issue surrounding the PAAC (Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex) and development fees,” Smith said.
During a September council work session, Police Chief John Lekan told the council that YPD is in crisis as experienced officers leave for better pay in other agencies and cities, spreading the department “thinner and thinner.”
Lekan noted that the department had formed a Compensation Research Committee that has been working on a new pay plan proposal for two years. YPD Capt. Lisa Culp and Sgt. Henry Valenzuela then presented the proposed plans and addressed three areas of concern: recruitment, retention and disparity in pay.
“I was excited we were given an opportunity to come before council and enlighten you on retention, recruitment and pay disparity issues we’ve suffered many years,” Smith said Wednesday.
“During the presentation, you were also provided with pay plan
solutions that we believed would solve the ongoing issues of recruitment, retention and pay disparity. Our intentions were solely to work hand in hand with the council, city administration and other department heads in order to proactively resolve these challenges,” she said.
In early October, the council asked staff to work on several pay plan options and bring them back to the council. Staff presented a draft plan in November. The city is currently awaiting the results of a market labor study that is due Dec. 10. The council is expected to review it on Dec. 19, and discussions on the pay plans will likely continue later this month or January.
However, Smith said on Wednesday that she felt officials were being distracted from the pay issue. “At conclusion of the meeting, we were hopeful and excited because we felt we were on the right path forward. Unfortunately, over the past few weeks, the challenges we face have been overshadowed by influences outside the control of the Yuma Police Department,” she said.
Following those initial public discussions on how to better compensate Yuma police officers, questions arose surrounding claims that the city misused funds to build the Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex last year.
Will Katz, an attorney, said that as a private citizen he had been investigating city finances and “yielded important issues related to the administration’s credibility in all fiscal matters.” Katz alleged that city administration had “prioritized” projects such as the PAAC “ahead of human capital resources such as our first responders.” One of the questions centered on whether development fees can be used to pay for the PAAC.
Valenzuela shared similar concerns in several YouTube videos and emails, which have been circulating in the community.
“What is still critically clear is the Yuma Police Department and the Yuma community are still suffering and will continue to suffer from the shortage of sworn police officers. I firmly believe this is directly related to the compensation challenges that we are facing,” Smith said Wednesday.
“I am here to plead with you to not allow claims by the outside influence to alter your focus and commitment to the security and safety of the Yuma community,” she added.
Also speaking during Call to the Public, Valenzuela, describing himself as a private citizen and a “man with a calculator,” said that “people know there’s a serious problem in our city government ... It is your duty to protect the people of Yuma. I personally met with several of you and pointed out fact after fact, document after document as proof of wrongdoing and misrepresentation. I have proven that choices have been made that are not in the best interest of Yuma. I have proven to you that the public, the media and you, the City Council, have been misled. You have been made aware of the intimidation and marginalization of me and other truth seekers in our community. You all know that I have been personally attacked.”
At this point, Mayor Doug Nicholls interrupted Valenzuela and warned him about calling out attacks and accusations during Call to the Public. “If that is the sum total of your comments tonight, I will ask you to sit down,” Nicholls said.
“I will alter my comments from this point forward,” Valenzuela replied. “I’m asking council if you are paying attention? There are some serious things going on in our community. Are you paying attention when our police chief tells you that our police department is in crisis? Are you paying attention when our victim advocates are telling you that child molesters and abusers are going free? Are you paying attention when we’ve told you that there’s been financial transparency issues?
“What I’m asking tonight is for a public hearing. We need to restore the public trust and the only way for that to happen is if we have a public hearing,” Valenzuela added.
Katz spoke as well, pointing out that the council members might not have all the information they need. “You need to be given all the information and you need to be given a chance to act ... You may be victims in this situation, your trust may have been breached, your reliance on the information you were provided might have been misplaced.”
He encouraged them to seek answers and made himself available. He asked that they review the research he had provided to them. “I ask that you recognize you’re on actual notice of the problems in our community. I ask that we work together, to make Yuma better,” Katz said.
Then referring to Smith’s comments, he added, “I’m not an outsider and anyone who classifies me as an outsider, that is objectionable. I have lived in this community for a decade. I have served this community both as a prosecutor and as a public defender and have carried this community’s trust.”
Katz also objected to Nicholl’s report of the events he had attended, in particular “that you communicated on behalf of the city of Yuma on the port of entry discussion, given your private engineering firm is a design build contractor.”
Before Call to the Public, Nicholls noted that he had participated in a conference call with Customs and Border Protection about the status of ports of entries in Arizona, particularly the San Luis ports.
“They reiterated at this point there’s no discussion about closing any of the Arizona ports, including San Luis, and it opened up a good dialogue on what kind of impact that would be to the community and gave us resources to call and establish a rapport
so we make sure if things change, we’re notified. They understand it would be a very big issue for us as a community,” Nicholls said.
Then changing the subject, the mayor announced: “Under the upcoming discussions and audit on the Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex, I will be recusing myself from any discussion on that item.”
Following Katz’s comments, Nicholls said, “Since I was drawn out, I’m not exactly sure what that reference was to, but I have no open contract to design a port of entry.”
In other action, the council scheduled a special meeting for a public hearing on the Infrastructure Improvement Plan and Land Assumptions at noon Jan. 23. The first step in updating impact fees is the development and adoption of these documents.