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Rio Vista council approves full-time community services officer to enforce organics rules
Summary
The council voted unanimously to create a full-time Community Services Officer position to meet state organics enforcement requirements, citing an annual net savings of roughly $9,000 from Mount Diablo Resource Recovery reimbursements. Council debated whether the role should sit in police or city hall and chose police for now.
The Rio Vista City Council voted unanimously Nov. 18 to allocate a full-time Community Services Officer (CSO) position so the city can meet state organics-enforcement requirements.
City Manager Greg Malcolm told the council the change responds to "Senate Bill 1383" requirements and the city’s part-time position vacancy. "Due to the reimbursable cost in the amount of just over $26,000 annually by Mount Diablo Resource Recovery, the creation of a full time community services officer position will result in a cost savings to the city of 9000 Dollars annually," Malcolm said.
Council members pressed staff on how the position would be structured and where it should report. The police chief explained that CSOs require access to the police RIMS system and CLETS-authorized information for safety and situational awareness, saying, "In order to access RIMS, you have access to CLETS, which is driver's license, address histories, things of that nature. So they would have to go through CLETS testing, and they would fall under our DOJ standards." That capability helped sway the council to keep the new CSO under the police department initially.
Some council members urged revisiting the reporting relationship as the position evolves. One council member said the role appears to be shifting toward city services work and suggested testing a city-hall reporting line in the future; staff agreed to reassess if needed.
The council moved and adopted a resolution to create and fund the full-time CSO position. Roll-call votes recorded: Vice Mayor Donnelly — yes; Council member Duke — yes; Council member Bridal — yes; Council member Stanish — yes; Mayor Okamura — yes. The staff report estimated the position would perform code enforcement, organics reporting and related outreach and would not be expected to perform the lid checks directly (MDRR would provide those), though it will handle nuisance-abatement duties and required reporting.
The resolution keeps the position in the police department for operational and safety reasons but instructs staff to re-evaluate as the role matures.
