HUNTINGTON BEACH : Police Clerk Position to Become Full Time

The part-time Police Department clerk position that has been the subject of debate over what types of employee benefits should be offered soon will become a full-time job.

On a 4-3 vote, the City Council last week made the position full time, offering a $28,000 salary package including health insurance and retirement benefits.

Carol Phelps has been doing the job as a temporary part-timer, without any benefits.

The position involves processing all of the city’s alarm permits and sending bills to residents for false alarm calls and repeat calls to police over rowdy parties.

Phelps will be eligible to apply for the full-time position, which should be filled within months, officials said.

Police Capt. Patrick Gildea said new laws requiring residents to renew their alarm permits at a cost of $30 annually has caused Phelps’ work to double. In the past, residents who had permits did not have to renew them, he said.

City Council members who voted for the full-time position pointed out that the new laws will raise an estimated $201,000 in revenue each year, which will easily cover costs of making the position full time.

Councilmen Tom Harman, Ralph Bauer and David Sullivan cast the dissenting votes, saying they favored having two part-timers do the work in order to avoid paying benefits, retirement benefits in particular.

“I feel it’s terribly irresponsible to put this burden on the taxpayers of Huntington Beach,” Sullivan said.