Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the ARU Transition topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Santa Fe public safety committee advances ARU transition, taps national expert for working group
Summary
Assistant Fire Chief Mario Rizzo told the Public Safety Committee the city's Alternative Response Unit (ARU) working group has started revising job descriptions and will consult with Mariela Ruiz Anhel of Georgetown Law; staff also circulated a list of about 10 community partners and will publish an FAQ to counter misinformation about ARU staffing.
Assistant Fire Chief Mario Rizzo reported to the City of Santa Fe Public Safety Committee that the ARU working group has begun implementing staff role changes intended to expand non‑police crisis response. Rizzo said the group is drafting job descriptions for new ARU EMT technicians, case managers and an intermediate ladder role between front‑line staff and the behavioral health manager. "We've started working on the job description changes that we presented to you guys in the last public safety committee meeting that involve the creation of ARU technicians, ARU EMT technicians, case managers," Rizzo said.
Rizzo told the committee he and Case Manager Supervisor Matthew Martin met with Mariela Ruiz Anhel, director of alternative response initiatives at Georgetown Law’s Center for Innovations in Community Safety, who will attend the next working‑group meeting as a consultant. "She helped develop the ACS system in Albuquerque ... they started with about 40 employees and now they're up over 100," Rizzo said, quoting the consultant to underscore that programs evolve through phases.
Committee members emphasized defining clear goals for ARU and ensuring representation at the next working group meeting, scheduled Thursday from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Midtown emergency operations center (a Teams link will also be available). Member Liswood asked that public safety send an in‑person representative so the committee can receive a direct report; several members praised the effort to align program design with people who do the day‑to‑day work.
Staff provided a preliminary list of community partners expected at the next working‑group meeting, including mobile crisis triage and outreach teams, St. Vincent Santa Fe Recovery Center, Southwest Cares, Healthcare for the Homeless (street medicine), LifeLinks outreach, PMS Family Services, youth shelters and Agape House. Rizzo said the working group will develop answers to a staff FAQ list to address confusion in the community and that communications staff will prepare a fact sheet to correct mis‑messaging about the transition.
What happens next: staff will continue the working‑group process, convene the second working meeting with community partners and publish the FAQ/fact sheet developed by the group. The committee asked that a public safety representative attend the Thursday working group and report back.
