Lawndale Tribune AND lAwNDAle News The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - August 28, 2014 Hollywood Comes to Inglewood Inglewood residents pass the advertisements for the MTV Video Music awards, held August 24 at the Forum in Inglewood. Photo by Osvin Suzao, ozzy.suazo@gmail.com. Inside This Issue Calendar...............................3 Classifieds............................3 Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Finance..................................2 Looking Up...........................7 Food.......................................8 Legals................................ 4-7 Police Reports.....................3 Politically Speaking............4 Sports....................................5 Weekend Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy 79˚/67˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 79˚/67˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 81˚/66˚ Inglewood City to Update Drug, Alcohol Policy for Transportation Employees By Cristian Vasquez A staff report presented by the Human Resource Department is recommending that the city council adopt a resolution that would approve updated drug and alcohol policy that would be in compliance with a federal drug and alcohol-testing program. The federal drug and alcohol-testing program is the same being administered by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority [LACMTA]. This program dictates the rules that transportation employees must abide to with regards to alcohol and drug use in order to ensure safe and dependable transportation services. The staff report indicated that on an annual basis the City of Inglewood is audited by LACMTA. During the most recent preaudit, it was revealed that the city’s drug and alcohol policy is in need of an update in order to be compliant with the Department of Transportation [DOT] and the Federal Transportation Administration [FTA] and their rules and regulations. The policy required, and set by the city, is an attempt to ensure that all employees are fit to perform their duties and that the safety of employees, passengers and the public from the harms of misusing drugs and alcohol is guaranteed. In order for local agencies to receive federal grant money that can be used for safety sensitive and transportation services, said policy must be in compliance. Furthermore, the report indicates: “As a condition of the City’s receipt of these federal funds, the City is required to implement a program that is in compliance with DOT Part 40 and FTA Part 655.” The City of Inglewood is one of the sub grantees of the LACMTA Pass- Through Program and is under constant monitoring and periodic audits to ensure compliance, as are required by FTA. With the city being audited yearly and with the rules and laws changing annually as well, staying current on compliance is an ongoing task for the city. Back in October 2013 the Mayor and City Council passed a resolution that updated the city’s drug and alcohol program policy. The staff report was during that year’s preaudit that the auditor “identified formatting and language changes required for the City’s policy to meet DOT and FTA mandates.” Those recommended changes included being able to identify the city’s authority against that of DOT and FTA authority in the language of the policy, which in turn would meet FTA requirements. Such changes included including language that emphasized the city’s authority in bold fonts, meaning that all bold-face fonts is to be enforced by the city and not DOT or FTA. As of the last policy update, all safetysensitive prospective and current employees were required to submit drug and alcohol tests. A refusal by an employee to submit a test will be considered a positive test result, which will lead to a variety of consequences. All safety-sensitive employees are: any who operate a revenue-service vehicle; employees who operating a non-revenue service vehicle when required to be operated by someone with a commercial driver’s license; employees who control dispatch or the movement of a revenue service vehicle; and those who maintain a revenue service vehicle or the equipment used in a revenue service vehicle. • This program dictates the rules that transportation employees must abide to with regards to alcohol and drug use in order to ensure safe and dependable transportation services.
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