San Diego lifeguards \u2014 who said they were left out of Mayor Jerry Sanders\u2019 budget priorities for the coming fiscal year \u2014 were saved by the City Council on June 11 at the council\u2019s second public hearing of the mayor\u2019s revised budget. Councilmembers voted 7-1 \u2014 with District 5 City Councilman Carl DeMaio dissenting \u2014 to pass the budget, but not before agreeing to revise expenditures to accommodate the lifeguards\u2019 funding request for three relief positions and a wellness program. “You guys really looked after a group of professional rescuers who look after the public, and you\u2019ve really taken into consideration our health and our well-being,” said Sgt. James Gartland, San Diego Association for Lifeguards. “We\u2019re going to provide a better service because of these things, and it\u2019s going to give us the relief that we need,” he said. According to a city Independent Budget Analyst Office (IBA) report, $291,000 will be allotted for three relief positions, including a lifeguard sergeant and two full-time lifeguards, along with $81,000 for the wellness program to monitor health and prevent injuries. “The restoration of these positions and the flexibility that they offer would lessen the current strain on the lifeguard scheduling system, reduce the use of mandatory overtime to maintain constant staffing levels, and support scheduling personnel training,” said Andrea Tevlin, the city\u2019s independent budget analyst. A “meet-and-confer” process is currently under way among city management and lifeguards to evaluate the implications and benefits of the wellness program prior to its implementation. A report on the results of the study will be completed by the end of June. “I\u2019m anxious to get this program started,” said District 2 City Councilman Kevin Faulconer at the meeting. “We\u2019ve heard very clearly from the lifeguards that they want to make this a very expeditious process, so I have no doubt that it will conclude quickly. “It is critically important \u2014 as someone who is fortunate enough to represent the beach areas \u2014 to have that lifeguard personnel,” he said. Faulconer also touted other recommendations that were included in the revisions, like the restoration of five civilian police positions and funding for Teen Night programs. “Particularly over the last several months, there has been a significant amount of cooperation that I haven\u2019t seen in a long time,” said Faulconer. “I think we\u2019ve had some of the best communication that we\u2019ve had between the legislative branch and the executive branch,” he said. “This has been a collective team effort that has not always been the case, but I think we\u2019ve established a process now that has served the city well.” Faulconer attributed initiatives like managed competition for saving the city millions of dollars each year. “We\u2019re here not only because of the council\u2019s leadership and the mayor\u2019s leadership, but also, I believe, some very important tools that the voters, the citizens of San Diego have given this city,” he said. “This has not been easy, but I think the process that has gotten us here is important.” Lifeguard union representative Sgt. Ed Harris, who spearheaded the plea for funding at the City Council\u2019s first public vetting of the mayor\u2019s budget revisions, thanked the councilmembers. “Thank you again for all your support and for understanding what we do out there and being close to the issue,” Harris said. The City Council\u2019s budget modifications have been sent to Sanders for review. With the changes adopted by the full City Council, Sanders will then approve or veto the final budget before the start of the new fiscal year June 30.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Diego lifeguards \u2014 who said they were left out of Mayor Jerry Sanders\u2019 budget priorities for the coming fiscal year \u2014 were saved by the City Council on June 11 at the council\u2019s second public hearing of the mayor\u2019s revised budget. Councilmembers voted 7-1 \u2014 with District 5 City Councilman Carl DeMaio dissenting \u2014 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":269211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Council OKs lifeguard funds for relief positions","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}