Skip to main content

Carmichael Times

CID Signs Security, Maintenance Pact

Aug 15, 2017 12:00AM ● By By Jacqueline Fox

Hilary Gould (left), owner of Gould Electric and PBID Maintenance services signs the agreement with Gary Hursch. Photo by Linda Melody

Carmichael, CA (MPG) - Service contracts for managing two of the most critical pieces of the Carmichael Improvement District (CID) have been secured, clearing the way for implementation of security and streetscape maintenance for the 410-acre Fair Oaks Boulevard Business Improvement corridor.

CID board members on July 28 unanimously approved and awarded contracts to Matt Carroll, owner of Sacramento-based Paladin Private Security and Hilary Gould, owner of Fair Oaks-based Gould Electric and PBID Maintenance to provide armed security patrol and street maintenance services respectively to the roughly 437 commercial businesses located within the CID’s 2.5 mile boundary lines, which encompasses nearly 12 miles of frontage area. Services were set to begin Aug. 1, kicking off the “Clean and Safe” initiative.

CID President, Gary Hursh, whose law practice sits within the improvement district, said the two companies offered extensive experience providing their services to other area Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) within the county and city of Sacramento proper. They came highly recommended by other BID board members and, in the case of Paladin, came highly recommended by the Sacramento County Sherriff and district attorney’s office.

“We relied very heavy on the feedback and comments from other area BIDs in making our selections,” Hursh said adding that, on Aug. 1, he and Gould toured the entire district together, identifying the hot spots where blight, graffiti and illegal dumping activity, among other issues, have been plaguing either the entryways and or parking lots and streetscapes along the CID corridor for years. “Our work has already begun,” he said.

Paladin is being paid $12,416 a month to provide armed patrol services to the area, while street maintenance services from Gould will cost the CID $4,000 a month, Hursh said, for an annual combined budget of $196,992, well over the initially projected half of the CID’s budget of $301,838 allocated for safe and clean streets. The funds are collected via assessments on commercial property owners with assets in the service area.

Matt Carroll of Paladin, founded 15 years ago by two retired police officers, maintains service contracts for 11 other area improvement districts, including the Watt Avenue PBID, the Fulton Avenue Association, and PBIDs for Stockton Boulevard and Oak Park.  The company has roughly 170 employees with between 60 and 65 patrol cars on the streets each day, Carroll said, adding that he expects three to four officers will be serving the Carmichael district.  

Paladin’s first order of business is to obtain signed “notice of agency” forms from CID members, which give Paladin the authority to issue trespassing citations on the owners’ behalf and the teeth to oversee other legal enforcement issues.  Without those signatures, only the business owner can issue the citations, unless prior approval has been given over to local law enforcement, in this case, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s department.  

Carroll estimated that it will take roughly six to eight weeks for the word to spread that the CID corridor is supported by an active security patrol service with the teeth to shut down offenders with chronic histories of trespassing, setting up homeless encampments, engaging in drug and alcohol use and other illegal activities on commercial property and in some cases private residences.

 “We have to get as many CID members as we can to sign the notices so that we can immediately begin to build up our engagement and make an impact,” Carroll said.  He added that he is aware and has plenty of experience with dealing with improvement district members who do not want his company’s services and, in some cases, didn’t approve their area improvement district formations and don’t like having to pay extra to be included in it.

“There will be a lot of PR work for us ahead,” said Carroll. “We have to do a lot of engagement with the Carmichael (CID) members to let them know who we are, what we can do for them and how they play a role in helping us make the area safer.”

Carroll said what sets his company apart is its experience grass roots projects like Improvement Districts, bolstered by advanced technology and proactive engagement in the community, as well as direct partnerships with law enforcement and street maintenance services.

“We are not an armed guard company with high turn-over rates, posting guard outside the doors of the grocery store,” said Carroll. “We made a decision more than five years ago to focus on these long-term contracts for grass-roots community projects, offering an effective, mobile and dynamic team of highly trained officers.”

For Gould, a team of area street contracted maintenance employees with his company will begin targeting the most concerning trouble spots and plotting out daily clean sweep strategies to address blight, collect and return abandoned shopping carts, provide graffiti removal services and weed abatement, among other things.  Gould also sighted his company’s single focus on PBIDs as testament to his company’s ability to deliver.

 “We have seven other PBIDS, including the Fulton Avenue PBID and the Stockton Boulevard Partnership,” said Gould, who started his company 10 years ago.  “This is all we do, working with community partnerships. And we are so fortunate to be able to work with the Carmichael District. We have half the streetscape beautification project completed, which is fantastic. Now our job will be to go in and start working to make the streets cleaner because cleaner means safer, and safe streets are good for business and good for the entire community.”

Gould and Carroll said they are already working in tandem in other area improvement districts and will continue to do so in Carmichael.

“We have each other’s cell phone numbers and we are ready to work should-to-shoulder,” said Gould. “That may mean that we might get a call from Paladin about a need for blight abatement at a homeless encampment they’ve cleared out, or we might call them and say we need them to come in first to address a situation with individuals before we can take care of the cleanup. Either way, our job is to make every business owner in the area happy they are a member of their improvement district.”

The PBID for Fair Oaks Boulevard, or the CID, was approved by just under 70 percent of local property owners in the fall of 2016.  The renewable, five-year agreement with the county may be expanded to include a wider tax base and coverage area over the next five years.