Council Drops Contractor for Another : Simi’s School Guards Get Point Across

School crossing guards usually leave it up to stop signs to do their talking. But this week, Simi Valley’s crossing guards decided to speak forcefully for themselves at a City Council meeting.

Their decision brought them at least a partial victory in a dispute with their employer, the Los Angeles company that contracts with the city for guard services.

During a rancorous Monday night hearing, the guards laid down their red stop signs and orange vests in a pile before the council. And an official of the guard firm acknowledged that he had threatened to fire the employees if they complained publicly. After the hearing, the council unanimously rejected the company’s bid for a contract renewal in favor of another firm.

The guards had wanted the council to give the contract back to the city Police Department, which had operated guard services until 1982. But then the city, in an attempt to save money, contracted with Coleman Security Services Inc. of Los Angeles. Guards who kept their jobs were transferred from the city payroll to that of the private firm.

Although the guards still will be working for a private firm, guard spokeswoman Audrey Ellis said they hope their lot will be better under the new firm, Security Professionals Inc. of Simi Valley.

“Who knows? Maybe this will work out,” Ellis said.

Ever since the city’s decision to contract with a private firm for crossing guards at the city’s 13 public elementary schools, Ellis and nearly 20 other guards have been grumbling about the change and Coleman.

“We were all very happy when we were under the Police Department,” said Ellis, who was a guard for two years before becoming a supervisor with Coleman. “We were shocked and stunned and upset” when the city decided to contract with a private firm, she said.

The guards’ feud with their private employer centered on pay and communications.

Chuck Stalter, vice president and general manager of Coleman, could not be reached for comment.

This year, when the city decided to seek new bids from companies interested in providing the guard service, the Coleman guards decided to oppose their employer’s bid, the lowest of the three received.

City staff members, saying that the firm had assured them it would iron out its employee problems, had recommended that the council choose Coleman. And it appeared that the council would do so.

But, after 10 of the guards spoke against Coleman’s bid and ended their testimony by tossing down their signs and vests to underscore their disapproval, the council seemed to have second thoughts.

Mayor Elton Gallegly asked Stalter about testimony by the guards that in April he had threatened to fire the workers if they attended a council meeting where the crossing-guard issue was to be discussed.

Stalter replied, “In so many words, yes, I did say that,” adding that he later apologized.

Gallegly angrily told Stalter that he could not support a firm that threatened its employees. “This is America, Mr. Stalter,” Gallegly said before voting with the rest of the council to award the contract to Security, the second-lowest bidder.