Solano supes advance sheriff’s support for Vallejo

FAIRFIELD – The Solano County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to negotiate a contract for the county sheriff’s office to take on half of the city of Vallejo’s policing beats after Vallejo council members expressed urgent need for law enforcement support at a meeting Tuesday.

Vallejo Councilmember Tonia Lediju said that she toured North Vallejo neighborhoods after two incidents the previous week in which buildings had been sprayed with gunfire. 

“My heart is crushed by all of the glass windows shattered – bullets going through walls,” she said. “I watched community boarding up those windows on Sunday morning, and I am asking you as a citizen, I am asking you as a public servant, I am asking you as a community member to please come and assist us so that our police chief can build the police force that we need, so that Vallejo can have the community policing that our citizens deserve.”

The proposal would provide 17 full-time employees that would include an independent command structure to take over policing duties in four of Vallejo’s eight police beats during the busiest hours from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. seven days a week. The four beats cover areas of Vallejo south of Georgia street and East of Interstate 80.

Vallejo council members committed $11.2 million to pay for the year of service last month and Vallejo’s Measure P Oversight Committee recommended approval of a request to use $9.3 million of the measure’s sales tax revenue last week to pay the lion’s share of the proposal’s cost. The remaining $1.9 million would be drawn from the city’s general fund. 

Sheriff Tom Ferrara said that the main focus of the sheriff’s deputies' work in Vallejo would be to answer resident calls for service.

However, the proposal is on a tight timeline because the state legislation that allows the sheriff’s office to hire retired deputies to fill positions that would be vacated by providing service in Vallejo will expire on Jan. 1, 2027. 

Ferrara said that considering the effort involved in mobilizing sheriff’s office and county resources to provide service in Vallejo, he would not recommend approval of a contract for less than 12 months of service. 

According to Ferrara, the preparation time required to build out new vehicles and hire additional deputies would mean that the Board of Supervisors would have to approve a final contract by June 24 to begin a full year term of service in January.

Finalizing a contract for the sheriff’s office support in Vallejo will also involve labor negotiations with both the Solano County Deputy Sheriff's Association and the Vallejo Police Officers Association.

Board of Supervisors Chair Mitch Mashburn, a former sheriff’s lieutenant, expressed doubt that the short timeline could accommodate the labor negotiations that he said will be crucial to ensure quality service. 

“I don't want our county to become a union buster and to put our deputy sheriffs in that position with their peers in Vallejo PD,” Mashburn said. “I don't want there to be animosity between those two law enforcement organizations and their workers because they feel like one is coming in and busting up their union.”

Former VPOA President Lt. Michael Nichelini strongly opposed the sheriff’s proposal, but retired last month. The union website now lists Sgt. Leonard Alamon as president, who has not yet weighed in on the proposal. 

Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta responded to Mansburn’s concerns on Tuesday, saying, “I am optimistic that with the new leadership of our POA, we are going to have some pretty good discussions. I think they will be very productive discussions, and I think they can happen rather fast.”

One of Ferrara’s key conditions in the proposal is confirmation from the Department of Justice that the sheriff’s deputies will not be subject to a reform agreement with the city of Vallejo while providing support. 

Mashburn said, “I would recommend somebody be on the phone with the Attorney General's office yesterday, assuring that we do not have any responsibility under that court agreement.” 

Supervisor Monica Brown, whose district covers South Vallejo, Benicia and Cordelia, said that she is concerned that after the sheriff's term of service is over the Vallejo Police Department will still be struggling with low staffing levels and the city’s residents will be right back where they started.

Ferrara said that he is encouraged by the recent increase in officers at the department. “They have 42 on patrol now – they were hovering at 32, 35 for the last couple of years, so just in the last six months, you can see the progress,” he said. “So I think they're heading the right way.”

Supervisor Cassandra James, whose district covers North Vallejo, said that she lives in the neighborhood where the gunfire that Lediju mentioned had occurred. “It's always hard having to explain to your kids the difference between fireworks and gunshots, when your local department can't come in a timely manner,” James said. 

Supervisor John Vasquez said that although his district is distant from Vallejo he agrees that crime in the county’s largest city ultimately affects the entire county. “I can take off my provincial hat and say it is about the community, and the community is greater than just the fourth district. It is the county of Solano, and it is about us working together,” Vasquez said. 

The board raised a number of concerns that they would like to see addressed in the process of negotiations, including how to best utilize the new vehicles after the service term is over, how to handle the temporary promotions of deputies in the staff up process, and how to ensure that the service in other areas of the county is not impacted when the sheriff’s office is contractually obligated to provide service in Vallejo.

While supervisors unanimously supported advancing the contract negotiations quickly to meet the June 24 timeline that Ferrara established, Mashburn called for a back-up plan.

“If we can't get there, if we can't make that happen, what's our plan B?” Mashburn asked. “Because we can't just say, ‘Hey, we got nothing, and so now we're just going to walk away.’ It's going to affect the rest of the county, and it's going to affect all of us if we do that.”