Annual updates reflect inner workings, needs of PSPRS board, Hillside Committee

By Melissa Rosequist
Twitter: @mrosequist_

Continuing the ongoing effort to gather information and updates for its committees, the Paradise Valley Town Council heard from two more groups on Jan. 9.

The Public Safety Retirement System Board and the Hillside Building Committee presented to the Town Council, sharing insight into their current operations.

The PSPRS Board is a volunteer board required by state law. Chair Jameson Van Houten says the group does not administer the investment of the funds to the retirement system, as that’s at the state level.

The board considers requests by officers for admission into the public safety retirement system as well as requests for regular and disability retirements.
The group has two primary duties: reviewing medical records of new police hires to determine preexisting conditions; and review claims by a current officer for various disabilities to determine if a current reason for disability is related to a preexisting condition.

Additionally, they see if disabled officers still meet requirements for disability, which is a new duty, Mr. Van Houten says.

“We’ve added a little more detailed process to approving the officers for pension and DROP, and monitoring the past disabilities,” Mr. Van Houten says, describing how the board hired a law firm.

“The officers also appreciated the professionalism and knowing what to expect. I think the protocols and procedures, while it may be a little more rigorous at times, but I think they do appreciate that they know what to expect and it will be handled with much care and professionalism.”

Mr. Van Houten says the board also added humanity at times, pointing to a recent event where the board worked closely with an officer.

“There were some injuries to the town that certainly could have been avoided before Chief [Wingert’s] involvement,” Mr. Van Houten said.

Police Chief Peter Wingert says the PSPRS board asked the local police department to look at injuries, and look for a way to abate that problem.

“We were having some repetitive injuries: slips, trips, falls, back injuries --- that type of issue,” Mr. Wingert said.

“We started to use some proactive training approaches in order to reduce those. I think we’ve been fortunate at this point that we haven’t had a significant injury on duty for a bit of time --- I feel like I should be knocking on wood --- but you never know when the next one might come.”

Mr. Wingert says through online training, officers are learning various methods to avoid bodily harm.

“We also implemented some in-service training that had not been done in the past. We had not been training regularly on defensive tactics, which I think is something we need to be doing on an on-going basis,” he said.

“Also, conflict resolution. So, trying to deescalate situations using your mouth, your voice, instead of physically confronting somebody.”

Mr. Van Houten says five to six years ago, the board was going through this process with the unfunded liability to rectify and put better procedures in place.

“One of them was how do we avoid some of the disabilities that we have?” Mr. Van Houten explained. “That’s HR and the chief’s role -- he’s done a great job at doing some of these training and services so that we are in a better place, because most officers --- if not all, I would expect --- do not want to get injured. If you look at some of the injuries, they could have been avoided.”

Overall, Mr. Van Houten says the PSPRS Board expects the town to be in a better position due to this increased training.

On the financial side, the unfunded PSPRS pension liability is growing in a positive way.

“We were one of the worst municipalities in the state, in terms of unfunded liabilities,” Mr. Van Houten explained.

“As you see now, if you look at fiscal year 2020 we’re back above where we were in 2011. That’s a testament to the work that’s been done.”

Hillside Building Committee

Scott Jarson, chair of the Hillside Building Committee, says the topography that makes up Paradise Valley is a defining quality of the community.

“They do more than shape our sense of place, they really are the definition of our location and character in the town,” Mr. Jarson says.

Pointing to the difference in City of Phoenix hillside homes, Mr. Jarson says the Paradise Valley regulations keep homes within a visual harmony of the mountain landscape.

“Out of the 6,800 parcels in the town, more or less, about 1,000 of them are designated Hillside --- so that’s 15% of our community,” Mr. Jarson said. “It’s much larger than most people think. I think when these numbers come out to residents, they’re actually surprised it’s that number.”

The Hillside Committee is a code compliance committee, with a purpose to regulate the intensity of development, preserve and protect the hillside environment and establish rules and procedures for review of development, building and construction plans.

The committee is made up of two citizen members, and three rotating Planning Commissioners.

In July 2018, a hillside development administrator position was created within the municipality. Mr. Jarson says with the addition of that roll, Hugo Vasquez has been a great asset to the committee and makes their work easier.

“It’s very complimentary to the community as well, because they have a single source that they can start the transition to hillside with,” Mr. Jarson explained.

In 2018, the Hillside Committee saw approximately 39 review cases; while in 2019 Mr. Jarson reports 27 cases.

“This year has already started with a bang, there’s quite a bit of projects out there,” Mr. Jarson said, on the ninth day of 2020.

“What did we deal with mostly? Concept reviews and formal reviews. About 22 or 23 were major remodels or newly constructed homes within the town.”

In addition to case reviews, the committee is working on a hillside brochure to provide awareness to residents on hillside properties, and a hillside plant list to maintain native vegetation.

“You’d be surprised how many people don’t know they’re in hillside overlay,” Mr. Jarson said.