With the current contract between IBEW 1245 and the City of Vallejo set to expire on Saturday, City of Vallejo employees are planning to pack a Tuesday City Council meeting to voice their concerns.
After weeks of negotiations between the City of Vallejo and IBEW Local Union 1245 and notwithstanding significant proposals by the Union, the City has yet to offer any substantive proposals on wages, according to a statement by IBEW Local Union 1245.
“It’s not tenable. We’ve been underpaid and short-staffed for years. It’s time to make us whole, for ourselves, our families, and our City,” declared James Olson, a Senior Landscape Inspector who has worked at the City of Vallejo for more than twenty-five years.
IBEW 1245 represents 296 bargaining unit positions. By the City’s own admission, the unit is suffering a vacancy rate of over 30 percent. Wages and benefits that are well below the average of comparable cities is the primary factor.
“City of Vallejo workers have repeatedly sacrificed to bail out their City,” said IBEW 1245 Business Representative Kim Camatti in the news release. “During bankruptcy they took cuts. During the COVID-19 pandemic they continued to provide essential services although their wages were frozen. Today, in the face of persistent inflation, they are overworked and underpaid. It’s time for the City to recognize these dedicated public servants, bargain in good faith and offer fair and equitable wages.”
During Tuesday’s City Council community forum at the regularly scheduled meeting, employees will plan to submit letters of support from labor and religious allies. Among the letters to Mayor Robert McConnell and the city council are ones calling for them to bargain in good faith and to offer fair and equitable wages are statements from the California Labor Federation, the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and others.
The eight-person Union Negotiating Committee is comprised of seasoned employees and union representatives.
Flock Safety Cameras
There are four scheduled action items on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, with topics ranging from tobacco retail licensing, unpaid garbage bills and Flock Safety cameras.
The council will discuss whether or not to adopt a resolution authorizing City Manager Andrew Murray to execute an agreement with Flock Safety for the renewal of automated license plate readers (Flock Falcons) and security cameras (Flock Condors) in an amount not to exceed $1,492,500 over a term of 60 months.
Flock Safety cameras were first implemented in Vallejo during 2020 with an initial installation of 10 Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras and expanding over the course of 3 years to total 101 Flock ALPR cameras and 15 Flock security cameras.
The cameras are designed to scan only license plates and vehicles. They can’t recognize people’s faces, and the sheriff’s office will provide written authorization before sharing any collected data.
The possible cameras come as Vallejo’s Police Department has suffered staffing issues, prompting the city council to declare a local emergency in a July 25 meeting last year. Council members voted unanimously to give Interim Police Chief Jason Ta and then City Manager Mike Malone the power to make unilateral decisions regarding Vallejo’s public safety.
The department is authorized to have 132 officers but is down to 31 officers patrolling a city of 123,000 people. On average, it takes up to two years to recruit and train new officers.
“I need help,” Ta told officials at the July meeting. “I need you guys to be aware of it. I need the public to be aware of it.”
The Times-Herald reported in July that Vallejo’s average dispatch time lagged considerably behind others in Solano County. A Solano County Grand Jury report released a year ago examined the county’s 911 calls between 2017 and 2022. On average, the report found that almost an hour and a half – 84.26 minutes – passes between the time Vallejo emergency services receive a call warranting police response and the time an officer is sent.
Vallejo received 584,613 emergency calls between 2017 and 2022, according to the grand jury’s report. Similarly sized Vacaville, meanwhile, received only 153,299.
Nowhere else in the county are delays this severe faced.
Tobacco Retailers, Use Permit Requirements
Also on the budget is a possible ordinance being added relating to Tobacco Retailers and Use Permit Requirements and the possible repealing of Chapter 7.69 regarding other regulations related to Tobacco Related Products.
If adopted, the ordinance would require all stores selling tobacco in Vallejo to be licensed by the city. Additional rules would be put in place around the number and location of future retailers and the price and pack size of some tobacco products. Sale of e-cigarettes or flavored tobacco and redemption of coupons for tobacco would also be prohibited.
Earlier this month the Vallejo Planning Commission approved zoning changes that would be required by the ordinance. Council first directed staff to return with a “strong” tobacco retail licensing ordinance in April 2023 after hearing information about the availability of cheap and flavored products in Vallejo.
According to Brian Davis of LGBTQ Minus Tobacco, over 200 California jurisdictions have a local Tobacco Retail Licensing program, including Benicia and over 60 other Bay Area cities and counties. Programs collect an annual fee that funds administration and compliance checks.
According to the 2022-23 California Healthy Kids Survey, 34 percent of Vallejo City Unified School District 11th graders reported having ever used a vaping device and 13 percent reported vaping in the last month.
Other actions items will feature a public hearing and the possible adopting of a resolution confirming and levying assessments against residential and commercial properties for unpaid garbage bills.
Finally the council will also discuss adopting a resolution approving a First Amendment to the Consultant and Professional Services Agreement for on call tree pruning and removal services with EZ Tree Inc. to increase the maximum not-to-exceed amount of the contract to $2,137,500.
