A recently reclassified Petaluma police lieutenant plans to file a legal claim over the action, and says that it has posed major challenges for him and his family.
"It affects me greatly, but I'm mostly concerned with how it affects my family. During the past week and a half, we've been trying to figure out how to make ends meet," said Dave Sears, a husband and father of two children.
He has been consulting with an attorney about the reclassification, and said he plans to file a claim, but would not provide details.
Sears has been approached by other police agencies - mainly out of the area - about work, but is proceeding with caution.
"Mainly, I don't want to uproot my kids. I was a Navy &‘brat,' so I know what it's like to be uprooted," he said. "I'm keeping all my options open, but I'm not throwing my hat into the ring for every job I see."
In response to a request for cuts in the police department, Interim Chief Dan Fish proposed laying off two community service officers and a police records assistant, as well as abolishing the captain rank, resulting in a $35,000 reduction in Sears' annual pay. The City Council approved these changes - along with laying off an inspector and an office assistant in the public works department - at its July 11 meeting.
The elimination of the captain positions passed, 4-3, with Mayor David Glass and council members Teresa Barrett, Mike Healy and Gabe Kearney voting in favor and Tiffany Ren?, Mike Harris and Chris Albertson dissenting.
"Historically, the police department has had a captain position, if not two captain positions. I feel that it needs to have at least one captain to deal with day-to-day issues," Harris said on Monday.
At the council meeting, Albertson also expressed concern about losing the rank.
"I see the captain position as functional and needed. Removing the rank is a bad idea," he said.
Some critics contend that by reclassifying Sears, Fish places himself in a better position to become permanent chief. At the meeting, Ren? stated that Fish's recommendation of the reclassification "smacks of self-interest," apparently viewing the action as a deliberate attempt by Fish to eliminate Sears as a strong competitor with him for the permanent chief job.
"I don't want to discuss it any further because I don't know if there will be any legal action regarding the matter," she said on Monday.
Actually, although Fish is serving as the interim chief, the City Council's approval of his recommendation also reclassifies his permanent position from captain to lieutenant.
"So, losing the captain positions potentially affects me, too, if I'm not made the permanent chief. But I think it is the best thing for the department," he said.
Fish says that it was "painful" for him to propose laying off three employees and eliminating two captain positions.
"My goal in coming up with the cuts was to do what is best for the department and impact all our general employee groups so that no one group would take the burden of the hits," said Dan Fish. "What has been disappointing to me as chief is that all of the (public) focus on the cuts has been on abolishing the captain position.
"The community will be impacted much more by the jobs that are being lost."
City Manager John Brown laments that the public focus seems to primarily be on Sears being reclassified from captain to lieutenant.
"It's unfortunate that this is coming down to one individual, by name. The focus should be on the position, not the individual, and the reclassification needs to be viewed in the context of all the people who are losing their jobs," he said.
Fish said that it wasn't easy for him to recommend a reclassification that adversely affects Sears.
"Dave Sears is a valuable leader of our staff, and I care a great deal about him as a person," Fish said. "It kills me to have him take a pay cut, but some employees who were laid off are losing $50,000, and now are unemployed."
Fish feels that given the current economic situation, elimination of the captain rank makes sense, even though it breaks a precedent.
"None of the other recent police chiefs faced the situation we're in now," Fish said. "We are living in a time that requires great changes, and we need to reinvest ourselves. For a police department of this size, what we really need is four lieutenants, rather than the captain positions.
"This will result in cost savings, put all the command staff at the same rank so that there is no &‘middle man,' and create a better information flow."
Fish said that he will discuss how to structure his four lieutenants' responsibilities during the first week of August.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: