City council move to rename committee reported; emergency management specialist posting announced

City staff told the San Clemente Public Safety Committee on April 22 that the City Council has approved changes that rename and reorganize the committee and move several public-safety responsibilities into the new body.

Staff reported that the council renamed the Public Safety Committee to the Community Safety and Welfare Committee (CSWC), expanded membership from five to seven and revised code sections to transfer functions previously overseen by the Human Affairs Committee into the new committee. The committee will include four seats with public-safety backgrounds and three at-large positions; meetings will be held bimonthly and the new committee structure begins July 1.

Staff said the clerk will advertise the new appointments later this month and the council intends to make appointments in May or June. “That starts July 1,” staff said when asked.

The city also posted an internal recruitment for an emergency management specialist; staff said the position was posted that day and that applications will close next week. The emergency management function will be housed in the Community Development Department and will be overseen by the staff presenter once the specialist is on board.

Several public-safety-related functions will move administratively: the park ranger program will be shifted under the city manager’s office, and more focused oversight of the ambulance contract will also move to the city manager’s office, staff said.

Ending: Staff invited committee members to apply for the new committee when positions are advertised and said members whose terms continue have the option to move onto the CSWC. The clerk’s office will publish application details ahead of council appointments.