OROVILLE — A community navigator program to help outreach to homeless people with substance abuse in the Oroville Community may see a staff boost from one to two positions.
Oroville City Councilors will consider for one of its two regular items Tuesday a formal job description for the Oroville Police Department Community Navigator, and to reallocate budget for two municipal law enforcement positions to community navigator positions.
According to a city staff report, the community navigator will “act as a liaison” between the police department and outreach groups; will identify people’s needs and will link them to resources like shelters, health care, substance abuse treatment and job programs.
Oroville began a pilot program for a community navigator position in July 2023. The police department now seeks to delete two of its municipal law enforcement (MLE) allocations adding that 15 remaining MLE positions will be adequate for the department’s mission.
In its other regular item to consider for the day also pertains to police department staff — adding MLE officers into the department’s pay scale and a new scale for non-sworn units.
Police Chief Bill LaGrone stated in a staff report that for the past year, it has been “extremely difficult to recruit and retain personnel,” and therefore necessary to adjust pay structure to become competitive with other jurisdictions.
LaGrone stated that meetings with the Oroville Police Officer Association brought attention that pay scale was not satisfactory to employees, specifically MLE officers who are paid the same as records employees but are believed to be a higher risk position deserving of higher pay.
The initial pay scale for the MLE office position begins at $25.47 per hour for the first 18 months of placement, $26.75 from 19 to 26 months and $28.09 after 37 months.
The Oroville City Council meets the first and third Tuesday of the month at 4:30 p.m. at the Oroville City Council Chambers at 1735 Montgomery St. Closed session starts at 4. Meetings are free, open to the public and are also streamed on Zoom and YouTube. The council agenda and links to live feeds can be found at cityoforoville.org.
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