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Council directs staff to combine weed‑abatement and encampment teams, approves pay alignment and asks staff to review enforcement timing
Summary
The council agreed to combine the city’s weed‑abatement crew with its encampment cleanup crew, authorized staff to pursue a pay reclassification for weed abatement personnel to align with encampment workers and directed a review of the ordinance and notice timing; council also asked staff to return with implementation and budget implications.
The Porterville City Council on Feb. 4 directed staff to combine the city’s weed‑abatement crew and the homeless encampment abatement crew into a single operating unit, and to proceed with aligning pay classifications for those positions.
Why it matters: City staff said this season is likely to be a challenging fire‑hazard year — rainfall is 52% of average for the period — and bringing the two teams together would create surge capacity to tackle both fire‑prone vegetation and encampment cleanups on city property. Staff estimates a full‑year cost to reclassify weed‑abatement positions to the encampment salary range at about $29,344 annually (proportionate mid‑year cost $12,227 if implemented before the fiscal year end).
Key facts and council direction - Current staffing: weed abatement — 2 full‑time and 8 part‑time; encampment abatement — 1 full‑time and up to 4 part‑time. Staff presented salary ranges and hourly rates for those positions. - Encampment abatement to date: staff reported 275 documented abatement cases; the team met its cleanup goal for 93% of cases overall and 96% in the last 90 days. - Recommended pay reclassification: staff noted equalizing the classification would add roughly $29,344 annually and approximately $12,227 pro rata before year‑end if implemented now; labor negotiations with represented groups will be required. - Notice window: Vice Mayor McCurvey asked staff to pursue a change to the 72‑hour legal notice to 48 hours as a target; staff advised ordinance amendment would be required to change the formal notice requirement and proposed evaluating options (including a resolution approach) and returning with a draft ordinance/ timeline. Council asked staff to return with an ordinance review, suggested July as a reporting point for enforcement results, and to assess staffing/budget implications for any change.
Direct quotes from the meeting - “I’m gonna recommend to the council that we do this and move forward for and we also I would like to also recommend that we change our window from 72 hours to 48 hours so that we can step up,” Vice Mayor McCurvey said during discussion.
Council action - Motion to direct staff to proceed with combining teams and to pursue pay reclassification and a review of the notice/ordinance: motion made, seconded; final vote recorded: 4–1 in favor. Staff will meet and confer with unions where required and return with recommended ordinance language, budget amendments if needed and a timeline for implementation.
What’s next: Staff will evaluate operational impacts (ability to meet a 48‑hour notice target), return with a recommended ordinance amendment or a resolution approach, and include any necessary budget amendment in the next negotiation process or budget amendment cycle.
