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Receive an informational presentation on the Sheriff Office’s ability to provide temporary law enforcement assistance to the City of Vallejo; and Provide direction to the Sheriff regarding whether to proceed with contract discussions to provide temporary law enforcement assistance to the City of Vallejo
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Published Notice Required? Yes_______ No ___X____
Public Hearing Required? Yes _ No ___X____
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Sheriff recommends that the Board of Supervisors:
1. Receive an informational presentation on the Sheriff Office’s ability to provide temporary law enforcement assistance to the City of Vallejo; and
2. Provide direction to the Sheriff regarding whether to proceed with contract discussions to provide temporary law enforcement assistance to the City of Vallejo.
SUMMARY:
In July of 2023, the City of Vallejo (Vallejo) proclaimed a local public safety staffing emergency due to a severe shortage of sworn police personnel, operating with only 53% of its allocated positions. This shortage resulted in delayed police response times, forced overtime for existing officers, and the need to reassign sworn staff from ancillary positions such as investigations and traffic to patrol duties. In connection with the emergency proclamation, Vallejo formally requested assistance from the Solano County Sheriff’s Office (Sheriff).
In response, because the Sheriff was unable to provide the necessary assistance due to insufficient staffing, the Sheriff worked with Senator Bill Dodd to introduce SB 1379, which was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2024. This legislation was crafted specifically to support the City of Vallejo in addressing its law enforcement staffing shortage by enabling the Sheriff’s Office to backfill courtroom and dispatch roles with retired personnel, thereby freeing active staff to provide temporary patrol services in the City. The bill exempts up to 20 retired persons appointed by the Solano County Sheriff from the CalPERS 960-hour work limit, allowing them to perform duties typically performed by deputy sheriffs, evidence technicians, or communications operators. The goal of this bill is to allow the Sheriff to retain service levels while being able to assist Vallejo. The bill sunsets on January 1, 2027.
Following the bill’s enactment, the Sheriff drafted a temporary law enforcement services plan and submitted it with a term sheet (Attachment A) to Vallejo in December of 2024. In April of 2025, the Vallejo City Council approved funding and authorized Vallejo staff to negotiate a contract for services with the Sheriff and the County. The Sheriff is now requesting direction from the Board of Supervisors (Board) regarding whether to proceed with those negotiations. Should the Board authorize moving forward, a contract would need to be presented for Board approval no later than June 24, 2025 in order to launch services by January 4, 2026. If a contract is not approved by this date, the Sheriff will not have adequate time to hire the necessary staff and procure all equipment in order to deliver a one-year service contract prior to the sunset of SB 1379 on January 1, 2027.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The Sheriff has dedicated significant time and resources to develop the proposed service model, obtain the legislation necessary to backfill staff to provide services to Vallejo, and drafting the term sheet, which includes insurance and liability, the administrative overhead rate, and other key contract terms. The cost associated with preparing the agenda item is nominal and absorbed by the department’s FY2024/25 Working Budget.
The proposed service model includes estimated start-up costs of $1,439,695. Liability, reserve and insurance costs are estimated at approximately $1,932,700. The City would then pay the annual estimated base cost of $7,860,148 for services provided from January 4, 2026 to January 2, 2027. If a contract is approved, all costs and revenue would be recognized and appropriated by the Board of Supervisors at a future Board meeting and in FY2025/26 and FY2026/27 Sheriff’s Operating Budgets.
DISCUSSION:
The Vallejo Police Department (VPD) has 132 allocated sworn positions. Sworn staffing levels declined significantly between 2021 and 2023 from 83 officers in 2021 to 67 officers by March of 2023, with only 36 assigned to patrol. Staffing levels reached such a critical low that in July of 2023, the Vallejo City Council (City Council) adopted an emergency proclamation for a public safety staffing emergency.
Concurrent with the staffing shortage, in June 2020, the California Department of Justice (DOJ), Vallejo and VPD entered a Memorandum of Understanding to implement a comprehensive modernized policing plan. This plan included 45 reform recommendations aimed at addressing issues related to use of force, racial bias, and accountability within the VPD. When the MOU expired in June 2023, VPD had achieved substantial compliance with 20 out of the 45 agreed-upon recommendations. However, the DOJ concluded that VPD had failed to uniformly and adequately enforce the law due to defective or inadequate policies and practices.
In April of 2024, the DOJ, Vallejo and VPD executed a settlement agreement mandating the implementation of the remaining reforms and additional measures focusing on civilian complaints, bias-free policing, stops, searches, seizures, and arrests. The settlement agreement includes provisions for an independent evaluator to assess VPD's compliance with the reforms.
In November of 2023, Vallejo formally requested law enforcement assistance from the Solano County Sheriff’s Office. At that time, the Sheriff advised Vallejo that the Sheriff’s Office was not sufficiently staffed to provide assistance and that any potential agreement would require approval from the Solano County Board of Supervisors (Board).
Following this request, the Sheriff engaged Senator Bill Dodd to explore a temporary staffing solution for VPD. The proposed solution involved a legislative temporary exemption to the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) 960-hour work limit for retired annuitants employed by the Solano County Sheriff’s Office. This exemption would allow retired deputies, evidence technicians, and dispatchers to temporarily fill internal roles - such as courtroom security and dispatch - so that full-time personnel could be reassigned to patrol Vallejo.
Senator Dodd’s office drafted legislation and, in February 2024, introduced Senate Bill (SB) 1379. The bill was specifically designed to help Vallejo address its law enforcement staffing crisis by enabling the Sheriff’s Office to reallocate resources in support of the City. With no opposition, the bill passed the Legislature and was signed by Governor Newsom on September 29, 2024 (Attachment C). SB 1379 will sunset on January 1, 2027.
Shortly after the bill’s enactment, the Sheriff met with the VPD Chief and his command staff to discuss a proposed service plan to provide temporary law enforcement assistance to Vallejo. The proposed service plan would provide patrol coverage by Sheriff’s Deputies for approximately half of Vallejo from noon to midnight, seven days a week. To staff this plan, the Sheriff would reassign 17.0 FTE positions to support Vallejo utilizing existing staff of 1.0 FTE Lieutenant-Sheriff, 12.0 FTE Deputy-Sheriffs and 2.0 FTE Public Safety Dispatchers and would request the addition of 2.0 FTE Sergeant-Sheriff (Limited-Term) to provide the proposed services. To offset this reallocation, the Sheriff would utilize up to 20 retired annuitants - exempt from the CalPERS 960-hour limit under SB 1379 - to provide mandated bailiff services to the Solano Superior Court Monday through Friday and to staff the Solano Dispatch Center. Retired annuitant Dispatchers would be utilized to fulfil this contract as the training period for dispatchers exceeds 12 months, making hiring new dispatchers impractical for the limited term of the contract.
In December of 2024, a term sheet (Attachment A) regarding this proposal was submitted to Vallejo for consideration. The term sheet outlined the core terms and conditions necessary for the Sheriff to move forward with a formal agreement, subject to BOS approval. These threshold terms included operational scope, staffing models, insurance and liability coverage, and cost responsibilities.
On March 6, 2025, the City Council received an update on VPD staffing and the Sheriff’s proposed term sheet. Vallejo staff requested direction from the City Council on the proposed service model provided by the Sheriff. City Council members submitted follow-up questions regarding the term sheet on March 21, 2025, to which the Sheriff responded on April 1, 2025. (Attachment B). At the April 8, 2025 meeting, the City Council approved funding for a contract with the Sheriff and directed Vallejo staff to begin contract discussions. Before proceeding, the Sheriff seeks direction from the Board on whether to engage in formal contract discussions with the City of Vallejo.
Please note, that if the Board authorizes the Sheriff to move forward, it does not obligate the Board to approve a final contract. Any agreement will return to the Board for formal review and adoption. Additionally, to provide services to Vallejo, several key conditions must be met, including but not limited to, first, Vallejo must provide written confirmation from the DOJ that the Sheriff’s Office will not be subject to the terms of the existing settlement agreement with VPD if the County provides services in Vallejo. Second, the County must engage in the meet and confer process with the Deputy Sheriff’s Association and SEIU regarding a contract for services. Additionally, the Sheriff must recruit and hire up to 20 retired annuitants and procure all necessary equipment.
In order for the Sheriff to have sufficient time to hire staff and procure equipment, while still being able to provide a one-year service contact to Vallejo prior to the sunset of SB 1379, a final contract must be executed by July 1, 2025. Vallejo then must submit an initial payment for start-up costs within 15 days of contract execution. Upon execution of the contract, the Sheriff’s Office will work with Solano County Department of Human Resources to recruit 17.0 FTE retired annuitant Deputy-Sheriff’s and 2.0 FTE retired annuitant Public Safety Dispatchers. Once the initial start-up payments are received, the Sheriff’s Office will work with Solano County Purchasing to procure necessary equipment; Solano County Fleet Management to procure and outfit vehicles; and Solano County Department of Information Technology (DoIT) to resolve the dispatch communications technology hurdles and to implement crime analysis software. Internally, the Sheriff will complete a selection process in accordance with the Deputy Sheriff’s Association Units 3 and 4 memorandums of understanding and assign those selected to provide services under the contract. All recruitment, hiring, equipment purchases, and technology improvements must be complete by the end of 2025 to commence services to Vallejo in January 2026.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not to receive the presentation or direct the Sheriff to proceed. This is not recommended as Vallejo remains under a declared public safety staffing emergency and continues to seek County assistance.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel reviewed the term sheet and assisted with the development of the insurance and liability cost estimates. The County Administrator’s Office assisted with development of the administrative overhead cost percentage estimate.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION