LAKE FOREST : Council Approves Hiring 3 Deputies

The City Council this week approved a compromise measure that calls for hiring three more county sheriff’s deputies to beef up police patrols.

The measure was part of a package of additions to the $13.7-million budget, which the council is expected to approve at its Aug. 17 meeting.

Later this year, the city will add one deputy to handle traffic problems and assign two deputies to bulk up patrols. The cost of the three deputies will run $315,000 per year.

Council members Richard T. Dixon and Helen Wilson favored a less expensive plan to hire a civilian to handle traffic duties, such as writing parking tickets, that would have saved about $50,000 annually.

“I, too, want to see us spend some money in this area,” but hiring a civilian instead of a sworn deputy would save money and still give the city flexibility to handle its traffic problems, Dixon said.

However, council members Marcia Rudolph and Tim Link pushed to set aside about $500,000 to pay for four full-time peace officers.

“I think we have to go for it,” Link said. “I want to keep our city from developing (crime) problems like north Orange County cities have. I want our (police coverage) to be something we can be proud of.”

Dixon and Link got into a brief verbal battle when Dixon told his colleague that the “implication that we need to spend $500,000 to protect the city, that’s incorrect.”

Link shot back, “That’s a matter of opinion.”

Both sides were steered toward the compromise package by Mayor Ann Van Haun, who said that she would like to spend $500,000 on more deputies, but “there’s a little bit of caution in me telling me that I’d like to save money for other things.”