Council commits $11.2M for sheriff’s assistance in Vallejo

VALLEJO – The Vallejo City Council unanimously approved $11.2 million for one year of law enforcement support from the Solano Sheriff’s Office at a meeting Tuesday in preparation for further contract negotiations with the county and the sheriff’s office.

The county had requested the initial commitment of funds from the city before proceeding with negotiations on a proposal by the sheriff’s office to address low staffing levels in the Vallejo Police Department.

The sheriff’s proposal would provide an autonomous service of 17 full-time employees to cover half of Vallejo’s policing beats from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. seven days a week for one year.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the council also voted to approve a continuation of the public safety staffing emergency that was declared in July 2023, which allows the city manager and police chief to bypass some collective bargaining restrictions to address the low staffing. New state legislation authored by former state Sen. Bill Dodd was passed last year that allows the sheriff’s office to hire back retirees full time to bolster its own staffing and provide additional support to Vallejo. 

The sheriff’s office developed the proposal in coordination with Vallejo Police Department leadership and delivered the terms to city staff in December. The legislation sunsets on Jan 1, 2027, placing the city and county on a tight timeline to negotiate the contract. 

Mayor Andrea Sorce and other councilmembers said during the meeting that there was an urgent need to address public safety in Vallejo. 

“We owe it to our community to do everything we can to make this happen,” Sorce said. “I'm appalled at how long this has taken. The second that bill passed, this should have been the number one priority for the city. The fact that that term sheet came in mid-December and sat there…I would love to have those three months back right now.”

Councilmember Charles Palmares said that the potential for the Sheriff’s assistance to increase the response times to calls for service is at the forefront of his mind. However, he said that what really drove his decision to support the temporary solution is his concern that officers will leave for other agencies or make a mistake because they are exhausted and overworked.

Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta presented a timeline at the meeting which allowed for a month of negotiation before bringing a contract to the county Board of Supervisors. If the board approves the contract, Ta said that the next step would be for the sheriff’s office and the city to meet and confer with their respective bargaining units. He expects that process to take one to two months.

The Vallejo Police Officers Association, the city’s police union, may be an obstacle to proceeding with the plan. VPOA President Lt. Michael Nichelini, said in an email that the union is 100% against the sheriff’s office proposal. 

Nichelini said that officer morale is at a record low and rejected the notion that the sheriff’s proposal would improve it. “How would you like it if your boss paid a bunch of money to someone else to do your job?” he said. 

Ta said that once a contract is signed, the sheriff’s office needs six months to staff up and train deputies before they begin patrolling Vallejo streets. The sheriff’s office will also order and build-out new vehicles for the sheriff’s deputies over six to nine months, which the city would pay for. 

This would place the sheriff’s office start date somewhere between January and March 2026, potentially leaving less than a year available under the state legislation.

Under the proposal, the sheriff’s deputies would operate under their own policies and not those of the city of Vallejo. However, the city would largely take on liability for actions of sheriff’s deputies working in Vallejo. The county would be liable in cases of willful misconduct but the city would be required to indemnify incidents of negligent misconduct.

Investigations of misconduct would be performed by the sheriff’s office internal affairs and the District Attorney’s Major Crimes Task force. 

The sheriff’s office also is requiring that the deputies would not be subject to a Vallejo Police Department reform agreement with the state Department of Justice. City staff said that discussions with the DOJ on this topic are still ongoing. 

The $11.2 million cost for the assistance will be spread across two fiscal years with $5.6 million coming from this year and the following year. But it’s not clear where the funds will come from.

Councilmember Diosdado “JR” Matulac asked how the $11.2 million expenditure would affect the city’s reserves. He said his concern is that if the reserve fund is depleted it will affect the city’s credit rating at a time when the city needs to secure a favorable interest rate on a bond market in order to build a new police station.

City Manager Andrew Murray said that there are a number of factors used to determine the city’s credit rating but an $11 million expenditure would bring the city’s reserve fund below the recommended balance of two months of operating expenses. 

Sorce said that she would like to negotiate with the sheriff on some of the administrative costs outlined in the terms of the proposal but otherwise she feels that the offer is comparable to what the city is already paying for law enforcement. 

Sorce said that she would like to use a combination of sales tax funds from Measure P and Police Department salary savings to pay for the sheriff’s support. 

City Finance Director Rekha Nayar said that in the 2022-23 fiscal year there was $7.3 million in salary savings, the bulk of which was set aside for costs related to the DOJ agreement, a cost of living adjustment for VPOA members, and a VPOA recruitment and retention program. The remaining $3 million from the 2022-23 year and $4.1 million from the 2023-24 year were used to balance the budget.

“Let's balance the budget by cutting elsewhere and put that funding into the sheriff [support],” Sorce said. “I don't want to pull from reserves. We've already gone bankrupt once we're in a really good position with our reserves. Let's find another option.”