City Contracts Out Crossing Guard Service

All City Management Services Inc. has agreed to provide the city with crossing guard service at a cost of $85,291 a year.

The City Council last week awarded a contract to the Los Angeles company. The agreement requires that all 13 of the city’s crossing guards are hired, are paid at their current salaries and are posted at their same locations for at least the first year of the contract.

Crossing guards are posted for street supervision at eight elementary schools in the city. Five of them work in front of schools, and the rest are at or near major intersections near campuses.

City officials say that in the long run, the Police Department and city will save money by contracting out the crossing guard service. That is because higher-paid police officers, often called in to substitute, no longer will be used.