Vallejo City Council to address homelessness, agreement with police union and approve mid-year budget adjustments

VALLEJO – It will be a busy Tuesday evening for the Vallejo City Council as members will be asked to address homelessness, decide on an agreement with the city’s police union, and approve mid-year budget adjustments.

The council will be asked to decide on a request from District 3 Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz to agendize a future discussion about Vallejo providing safe parking locations for individuals who live in recreational vehicles and/or cars.

This is not the first time Loera-Diaz has pushed for new city policy when it comes to the unsheltered. In December, she proposed preventing homeless people from living near schools, months after there were reports of shots fired near the Caliber ChangeMakers Academy on Valle Vista Avenue.

Vallejo police opened an investigation into a neighboring property with a homeless encampment.

Loera-Diaz cited safety concerns as a primary reason for proposing the ban. She initially sought an ordinance but backed off when receiving pushback from other councilmembers. The council is scheduled to receive a report on the state of homelessness in Vallejo sometime this month.

Like most cities, housing has become a hot-button topic as the COVID-19 pandemic and slowdown in the economy has forced more people to live outside. The city was dealt a blow to its housing plan last month when officials confirmed the Blue Oak Landing housing project on Sacramento Street will open at the end of February. The 51-unit housing project was originally scheduled to open in January but rain and issues with PG&E were the main reasons for the delay.

Council asked to approve side agreement with VPOA – again

The city council will be asked to once again approve a side agreement with the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association. The council delayed approving the agreement last month amid concerns of the city allowing incentive pay for officer longevity to be calculated as part of an employee’s pension.

The council directed city staff to reach out and get more information from the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) about the extra pay, despite city officials stating that the council already ratified a supplemental agreement with the police union in September 2019 which established the special pay. Officials said that it took years working with CalPERS to iron out all the details of a master officer program which provides either a 5% or 10% pay increase based on officer longevity and participation with special qualifying specialties within the department.

City staff said that 35 officers currently receive the master officer pay, which costs the city about $62,000 in annual employer contributions to CalPERS.

To be eligible for the 5% pay increase, officers must have 10 years of service as a peace officer, at least three years with Vallejo police, and have three years of serving in two qualifying specialties, including investigations, SWAT, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) instructors, bomb squad, training officers, internal affairs investigators, school resource officers, canine officers, and bicycle patrol, among others.

A 10% pay increase requires 15 years of service as a peace officer, at least three years with Vallejo police, and serving three years in two qualifying specialties.

Council to provide final approval of mid-year budget

The city council is scheduled to provide the second and final vote on the city’s mid-year budget which includes adding a code enforcement officer and moving the code enforcement section from the police department to the city’s planning and development services department.

Amending the city’s budget requires two council votes, with the first vote coming last month. Tuesday’s second vote is considered a formality.

By moving code enforcement out of the police department, the city will begin the search for a new manager to oversee the code enforcement department as police personnel originally assigned to code enforcement will be reassigned.

City officials said code enforcement is budgeted with four code enforcement officers plus a senior officer. However only the senior position and two other officer positions are currently filled.

Vallejo is expecting to see a decline in revenue of about $488,000 since the current fiscal year budget was adopted last year. General tax revenues are expected to decrease by $160,000, as property tax revenue will decrease by $205,000.

City officials put the decline in revenues on raising inflation.

“Consumers are starting to cut back on purchases, suggesting that they are hitting a ceiling on prices they are willing to pay,” City Manager Mike Malone said in a staff report. “City staff remain cautious about the economy sliding into recession and are keeping the current unassigned reserve at 21% of the budget.”

Vallejo expects to get a revenue boost in April, when it will start collecting new Measure P sales tax revenue. City officials anticipate collecting about $4.6 million in additional revenue between April and the end of the current budget in June.

Planning Commission appointments

The city council will name two new members to the city’s planning commission to replace Diosdado "J.R." Matulac (District 2 - North Vallejo), and Charles Palmares (District 4 - Downtown and Mare Island) after they were elected to the council last November.

Many of the planning commissioner applicants also ran for council last fall as well. They include Tara Beasley Stansberry, who ran for District 5 - Central Vallejo, former Planning Commissioner Chris Platzer, and Ravi Shankar, who both ran to represent district 4, and district 2 candidate Garrett Toles.

Additional candidates include, Wanda Madeiros, Felicia King, and Anthony Taylor. The vacancies include one term that expires on June 30 while the other expires on June 30, 2024.

The Vallejo City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., Tuesday inside the Vallejo City Hall Council Chambers at 555 Santa Clara St.

Members of the public will be able to participate in-person or remotely via Zoom.