Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : CITIES : Tustin Votes to Require Drug Tests for City Workers
Tustin became the second city in Orange County to require drug testing for its employees--Fountain Valley was the first--and there were indications that more cities might follow suit.
Tustin Mayor Donald J. Saltarelli proposed the drug-testing program in his city. Approved by the City Council, the program will affect applicants for about 30 to 40 municipal jobs and current employees who display symptoms of possible drug abuse. Saltarelli, reacting to President Reagan’s call for a crusade against drug abuse, said he wants to apply drug testing to all city employees.
Drug-testing programs are formally being evaluated in other Orange County cities--Anaheim, Brea, Cypress, Fullerton, La Habra, Newport Beach and Santa Ana--and one city personnel manager said that “virtually everybody is looking at it.”
But most cities are approaching drug testing with “a degree of caution,” said Duane Munson, Newport Beach personnel director.
He said the biggest concerns are the accuracy and cost of the tests and the outcome of litigation over employees’ rights of privacy.
Some testing firms claim accuracy rates of 98% if urine samples are carefully taken and preserved with the best equipment. Critics say accuracy is, in reality, significantly less.
Regardless, a drug-testing program will be ready to go in Tustin by October, Saltarelli said.
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