Should Atherton provide a place for its police officers to sleep between 12-hour shifts to avoid their long commutes?
The Atherton City Council will discuss that issue as well as the town’s capital improvements budget and other town special funds in a study session on Wednesday, May 2, at 4 p.m. in the town’s council chambers at 94 Ashfield Road.
In 2014, Atherton decided to let its police officers use an empty town-owned home in Holbrook-Palmer Park as temporary housing between the three or four consecutive 12-hour days a week they work.
As of May 1, however, Police Chief Steve McCulley and his wife are occupying the house. With the upcoming construction of a new civic center, town-owned space is at a premium, a report from town Public Works Director Robert Ovadia says. But the town could squeeze one or two bedrooms and bathrooms into another existing park building. Meeting current building codes, including handicap accessibility, is a challenge, Ovadia said.
An anonymous Atherton resident might pay the $100,000 to $200,000 costs of adding the sleeping quarters, Ovadia’s report says.
Budget
The study session will be the second to look at the town’s 2018-19 fiscal year budget. This session will focus on the town’s five-year capital improvement program and on special funds with restrictions on their spending.
See the agenda and staff reports at is.gd/acc_may2.
