2022 was year of uncertainty in Vallejo for housing and police reform

VALLEJO – Housing and policing issues dominated Vallejo politics in 2022 as the city contended with new revelations from years past and struggled to find a path forward.

The city’s police chief suddenly resigned, a former police lieutenant testified he started a macabre practice of bending officers’ badges following a police shooting, and the council changed its mind on where to put the police department headquarters.

Meanwhile, the city has struggled to provide services for homeless people after past mismanagement of pandemic services came to light, including the revelation that at least six people died in the city’s Project RoomKey program, which was aimed at helping the city’s homeless by providing temporary housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the city has sought to chart a path forward, as it named a permanent city manager, passed a new sales tax to boost revenue, picked a location for a navigation center, and made progress on two permanent supportive housing projects. It also passed a new police oversight model, despite criticism that it didn't have enough power and the process was rushed through late in the year with three new councilmembers waiting in the wings.

City struggles to provide homeless services

In January, the Vallejo Sun uncovered that at least two women staying at the Hampton Inn as part of the statewide Project RoomKey program died in their rooms during the spring of 2021 and weren’t found for days. Project RoomKey was a program enacted across the state beginning in March 2020 to house vulnerable people in hotel rooms to protect them from COVID-19.

Five months after the first Vallejo Sun article, city officials finally confirmed that at least six people had died in the program after previously stating that there were only five deaths. The Vallejo Sun found through its reporting that three of the people who were not found for days after their deaths.

Throughout the year, the Sun continued to report on the issue, uncovering that Vallejo officials were warned of deteriorating and hazardous conditions inside hotels it used for the program but either ignored them or took measures that were inadequate. The Sun also published a podcast episode featuring the voices of two of those people who died in Vallejo’s Project RoomKey program, including Cherie Nicoletta. Through a voicemail Nicoletta sent to her daughter, listeners got a firsthand account of some of the conditions those in the program faced.

Project RoomKey was a statewide program that was started in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and was intended to help people who were especially vulnerable if they contracted the virus. Of 135 people in the program, 92 had a chronic health condition and 61 had a physical disability, according to summary participant data collected by the city.

Early on, program participants were moved to the Rodeway Inn, a residential motel near Interstate 80. A log of complaints after participants were moved showed numerous problems with the conditions in that motel: leaking ceilings, sinks and toilets, and broken beds, refrigerators, phones and TVs. Two residents asked for accommodations for their disability — a raised toilet seat or bar handle to get into the bathtub — which the Rodeway did not provide. Many residents reported roaches. One person said there were maggots all over the floor. Some residents, one with asthma, reported mold.

After the program ended in January, the city struggled to find accommodations for the vulnerable people leaving the program. It eventually enacted a temporary hotel voucher program, but many participants ended up back on the street.

The city has sought to add new services for its homeless residents, but, as the year ends, those services remain unavailable. The city council approved the $950,000 purchase of 1937 Broadway St. in November to serve as the future home of the city’ navigation center to serve Vallejo’s unsheltered population.

City officials anticipate constructions on the 125-bed shelter will begin in the summer of 2023.  The proposed shelter has been a priority for the council since 2018 but has been met with budget issues, including city officials estimating in May 2021 that the project had an $8 million budget shortfall.

Then during a November 2021 housing commission meeting, city officials said that there was still a $2.3 million shortfall. In December 2021, the city revealed that the property it intended to use was contaminated and unfit for human habitation, prompting a months-long search for a new location.

Also in November, the city council agreed to send a letter to Solano County officials seeking $11.6 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to fund the construction of the navigation center and a controversial supportive housing project.

The letter requests $7.6 million for a 125-bed navigation center and $4 million for a 48-unit supportive housing project along Broadway Street in North Vallejo. The housing project broke ground recently amid a lawsuit filed by two American Canyon residents in August to block the project over concerns that it would “result in serious health, safety, and other issues including a drastic and adverse effect on surrounding residents’ existing quality of life.”

The project includes 47 studio apartments — each about 305 square feet — with the 48th unit occupied by an onsite manager. Vallejo was already awarded $12 million from the state Project HomeKey program for the project and has allocated an additional $2 million from other sources. City officials estimate that the project will cost a total of $22 million and have not said how they will make up the remaining $4 million.

Vallejo was dealt another blow to its housing program when officials confirmed in July that the city was asked to pay back $2.6 million in federal grant funding associated with the 75-unit supportive housing project on Sacramento Street.

Officials said that “a series of administrative errors from 2019 to 2021” led to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) to request Vallejo to pay back the grant funds.

The demand for new affordable housing was clear as Vallejo received 1,049 applicants for 51 affordable housing units in the Sacramento Street project in three hours.

City attempts police reform amid badge bending scandal

Reforming the Vallejo Police Department was once again a major topic for the city in 2022, but those efforts were hampered as former Lt. Michael Kent Tribble testified during a criminal case in Solano County Superior Court in March that he and another Concord police officer devised the idea for officers to bend the tips of their star-shaped badges after shooting someone while on duty.

Following the revelation of the ritual in July 2020, the city hired former Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano to investigate. Giordano produced a report that the city has refused to make public, but a superior court judge said had “no value.”

Bringing reform to the Vallejo Police Department has been a top priority for the city council over the past several years. In May 2020, the OIR Group, a third-party firm hired to provide an assessment of the police force presented 45 different reform recommendations.

Chief Assistant City Attorney Randy Risner recently confirmed that since then, only two recommendations have been completed.

Vallejo Police Chief Shawny Williams supported the reform efforts as he attempted to implement the recommendations, but he suddenly resigned in November after about three years on the job. Neither he nor any other city official gave a reason for his departure.

Williams, the city's first Black police chief, had a tumultuous tenure, including a public feud with the Vallejo Police Officers Association over low staffing levels in the department and the departure of several senior-level members of his command staff. Williams came to Vallejo from the San Jose Police Department.

About the same time, the city turned to former Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn to act as an advisor to City Manager Mike Malone, according to a consulting agreement.

Hahn will receive up to $100,000 to advise Malone “on critical changes in the field of law enforcement and public safety.” Malone signed the contract three days before Williams resigned as chief.

Just this month, those hoping to reform the department, which has killed 19 people since 2010, claimed victory when the city council voted to establish a new police oversight model, which features a three-prong oversight approach: outside investigations of serious police incidents, a Community Police Oversight Accountability Commission, and a police auditor.

Under the ordinance, a third-party investigator will be tasked with reviewing serious police incidents, including when an officer shoots at a person, when an officer’s use of force results in death or great bodily injury, any other in-custody deaths, and allegations of sexual assault or dishonesty. The investigations would be conducted in parallel with the department’s internal affairs investigation.

A nine-member police commission is expected to review reports of the outside investigator, while also advising the chief of police on discipline and reviewing reports of bias or racism by officers. The commission would also review any citizen complaints.

Finally, an office of Independent Police Auditor would be created to review the final investigatory reports, whether by the outside investigators or internal affairs, and make recommendations to the city’s police chief or the police commission.

But some observers said that Vallejo rushed the process, enacting an oversight model that had little to obligate the department to comply with its recommendations just before three new councilmembers were slated to take office. But proponents argue that giving the commission more power would require an amendment to the city charter by a vote of residents.

The council already disregarded a recommendation from one recently enacted police oversight body. The city council voted in December to install 80 to 100 gunshot detection devices, despite a recommendation from the city’s recently convened surveillance advisory board that it should reject the technology over concerns with its data retention and privacy issues.

The council unanimously approved placing the devices throughout areas in the city impacted by gun violence. Atlanta-based Flock Safety is seeking to beta test the devices by pairing them with its automated license plate readers (ALPR) already installed in the city.

Interim Police Chief Jason Ta said the technology “can improve community safety through [its] ability to detect and pinpoint the location of public firearm discharges, allowing for the quick and precise deployment of emergency responders.”

In April, the city council pivoted from earlier plans to open a new police headquarters in a two-story building along Vallejo’s waterfront.

The council ordered a $150,000 feasibility study to analyze potentially moving library services from the John F. Kennedy Library into 400 Mare Island Way, while moving the police force into the current library building.

The city council got the results from that study in September, which found that it will cost Vallejo nearly $90 million to retrofit the two buildings, with $69 million needed to renovate the library building for police use, and $20.7 million to retrofit 400 Mare Island Way for library use.

Vallejo purchased the 400 Mare Island Way property for $13.5 million in early 2019 with the expressed intent of transforming it into a new police headquarters. Opponents argue the department shouldn’t be rewarded with a new building while it is being investigated for a number of police shootings and killings, and they question the location of the building near the water as sea levels rise due to climate change.

City hall experiences turnover for second straight year

The departure of former City Manager Greg Nyhoff in May 2021 was felt in 2022 as the Vallejo City Council looked within to find its permanent city manager, appointing Mike Malone in April.

Malone, the city’s former water director, was named interim city manager in October 2021 after interim City Manager Anne Cardwell left following just two months in the position when Nyhoff abruptly resigned.

Malone wasted no time announcing his leadership team by removing the interim/acting tag from five positions within his administration, which he said will bring stability to city hall.

With Malone’s elevation, Beth Schoenberger — who was hired as water operations manager in November 2018 — was made acting water director. Malone also named Terrance Davis as the second interim assistant city manager in November 2021. Davis was originally hired as the city’s public works director. Melissa Tigbao, the city’s assistant public works director and city engineer, was soon made interim public works director.

Earlier this year, the city council signed off on the second assistant city manager position by officially funding the position during a mid-year budget discussion, retroactively approving Davis’ promotion.

Christina Ratcliffe was tapped to be the permanent planning and development services director to fill the hole left by Gillian Hayes, who was originally hired for the director position in October 2019. She was elevated to the temporary position of interim deputy city manager a year later.

Ratcliffe, who had just been hired at the time as planning manager, was moved up to the director position as an interim appointment around the same time in October 2020. When Cardwell was made interim city manager, Hayes was promoted to interim assistant city manager before Malone removed her interim tag.

Malone also filled two more important positions within his administration in August, as he appointed Rachel Ferguson to human resources director while Michael Nimon was named special advisor to the city manager as director of economic development.

Ferguson’s appointment is expected to solidify the human resources department which has seen significant turnover, including the departure of two directors since early 2021. Mark Love, who was first hired as assistant HR director in November 2019, was tapped to serve as interim HR director after Heather Ruiz accepted the HR director position with the city of Napa in March 2021. Love was eventually promoted to permanent HR director in July 2021, but he only lasted about six months before leaving at the beginning of 2022.

Nimon replaced Paul Kelley, who held a similar position for two years before the position was eliminated. City officials let the position lapse on June 30 with the intent of resurrecting the economic development manager position, but that plan was quickly abandoned as city staff asked the Vallejo City Council to reestablish the special advisor position. The council obliged in July.

At the behest of the city council, Malone added two more positions to city hall, including a homelessness manager and youth coordinator.

The Vallejo City Council approved creation of the senior level-position during mid-year budget discussions in January. The move included expanding the role and responsibility of an assistant to the city manager analyst position. Natalie Peterson, who began with the city as an analyst within the housing division in August 2020, was made interim assistant to the city manager in April before getting the permanent homelessness manager position this month.

In August, Victoria Grace-Barksdale was hired to lead the city’s efforts to provide more services for Vallejo’s youth.

Vallejo suffered from a citywide staffing shortage throughout 2022 that left the city with nearly a third of more than 650 positions empty, with most of the staff shortages in the police, water and fire departments, according to city data obtained via a public records request.

The city had 193 vacant positions as of April 8, according to a vacancy report provided by the city. That’s up from January, when Vallejo spokesperson Christina Lee said the city had about 150 vacancies.

The Vallejo Police Department wasn’t immune as top ranking police officials departed in 2022.

Following Chief Williams’ departure, the city announced that Drew Ramsay, who was serving as an acting captain, was promoted to the full position, while Lt. Robert "Bobby" Knight was tapped to serve as a provisional captain. Additional changes include Sgt. Jeremy Huff being promoted to lieutenant.

Ramsay was originally made an acting captain following the departures of captains Jason Potts and Todd Tribble. Potts, a Vallejo native, left the city in June to oversee the Department of Public Safety for the city of Las Vegas.

Weeks later, Todd Tribble retired on July 1 after nearly 19 years with Vallejo police. His retirement came months after his brother, Kent Tribble, testified during a criminal case in Solano County Superior Court that he and another Concord police started the badge-bending tradition.

The department was set to hire Kevin Williams in November as one of the city's two deputy police chiefs, but he backed out at the last minute decided to accept another job.

City council welcomes three new members, voters pass sales tax increase

In November, Vallejo voters elected three new city councilmembers, and defied odds by approving a seven-eighths-cent sales tax increase.

The newly elected includes Charles Palmares, who represents District 4 - Mare Island and Downtown; Diosdado “J.R.” Matulac represents District 2 - North Vallejo; and Peter Bregenzer is the District 5 councilmember for Central Vallejo. The council switched to district elections from citywide elections in 2019.

They are replacing outgoing councilmembers Pippin Dew, Katy Miessner and Hakeem Brown.

Dew and Miessner are termed out of office after being elected to the council in 2013, with both securing second terms in 2018. Brown, also elected in 2018, decided against running for a second term, following revelations of his criminal history of domestic violence during his unsuccessful mayoral campaign in 2020.

Meanwhile, Measure P — a seven-eighths-cent sales tax Vallejo voters passed by 55% — is expected to generate $18 million annually for the city’s general fund.

City officials said the new funding will be used to address blight, illegal dumping, homelessness, roads, provide fire and police protection, and keep public spaces clean. Vallejo's new sales tax is now the highest in Solano County at 9.25%.

Those against Measure P argued that the tax is regressive in that it asks the poorest Vallejo residents to contribute more to a challenging economic environment. Those supporting the hike said that it was the only way to address Vallejo's issues and would make the city more appealing to outside businesses and investors.

The new council will be tasked with solving multiple issues, including how to reform the police department, developing a spending plan in connection with passage of Measure P, getting the navigation center up and running to serve the city’s homeless, addressing frustrations from community members with the poor roads in town, and repairing the mistrust from the community toward its city government, among other things.