EL CAJON
The El Cajon City Council last week directed staff to take $100,000 from General Fund reserves to use for continued de-escalation training for the Police Department.
The council also approved a suggestion by City Manager Graham Mitchell to earmark $500,000 of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for a pilot program where social workers would respond to calls involving people in crisis, freeing up police to respond to other calls.
The city expects to receive $30.5 million in federal aid, including about $21 million for assistance to households and businesses.
Mitchell said the city’s police department has been training in de-escalation tactics for some time, and in fact had been training the last few weeks in the department’s parking structure, and even invited the City Council members to watch the training if they were interested.
Car shows, weekly concerts coming back to El Cajon
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EL CAJON
El Cajon has started using just over $204 million in pension obligation bonds to pay down its unfunded liability the gap between how much is needed to pay retiree benefits and the amount of assets a jurisdiction has with the the state’s pension system.
Each year, taxpayers pay tens of millions of dollars to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System to fund lifetime pensions for existing and retired city employees. El Cajon currently owes more than $200 million to CalPERS, which requires its clients, including El Cajon, to pay off debt over the next 25 years at a current interest rate of 7 percent.
EL CAJON
The El Cajon City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to remove Humbert Cabrera from the Planning Commission, a position he was appointed to in 2019.
The five-member board acts in an advisory role to the City Council.
The action came at the urging of Mayor Bill Wells and City Councilman Gary Kendrick, who put the item on Tuesday’s agenda. The two alleged that Cabrera has been rude to applicants and failed to remain impartial.
They said that Cabrera, who owns a design and drafting firm that deals in architectural design, drafting and permits, promised he would not bring additional El Cajon-based projects to city departments. But City Manager Graham Mitchell said the year before he was appointed, there were four applicants from his company; since then, there have been 11. Wells and Kendrick also contend that he has not been honest about where he lives.
EL CAJON
El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells and City Councilman Gary Kendrick want to remove Planning Commissioner Humbert Cabrera, alleging he has been rude to applicants and failed to remain impartial. They also contend he has not been honest about where he lives.
Cabrera, who owns a design and drafting firm that deals in architectural design, drafting and permits, was appointed to the Planning Commission by the City Council in July 2019. His term is set to expire in 2023.
Planning Commissioners are tasked with making decisions and/or recommendations to the City Council on applications such as rezones, conditional use permits, building variances and tentative subdivision maps. The commission uses the city’s zoning ordinance and general plan to guide its discussions and allows for staff recommendations and public input to make individual and collective judgments.
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