Big Spending And Military Equipment
In Which: Former CM gets a big severance package, Stack Center continues on, and Military equipment policy gets waived through.
Are you going to the Hayward Night Market? We’ll be there! Just head over to St. Rose Hospital on Saturday evening between 4:30 and 9pm. Check out our booth, say hi, and pick up a sticker and a zine free of charge! See you there!!
Former CM Gets Big Severance Package
During the Closed Session report, the Acting City Attorney revealed that former City Manager Ana Alvarez has officially resigned from her post, as of June 24. After a tenure lasting around 5 months, Dr. Alvarez was put on paid administrative leave following multiple rounds of City Staff protesting administrative changes she had made.
Now that she’s officially resigned, the Acting City Attorney said that Dr. Alvarez will also be receiving a severance package equivalent to 5 month’s pay. That means that the City will be paying more for Dr. Alvarez to leave than to stay—a total of 6.5 months combined administrative leave and severance vs. 5 months of active work. During a time of severe budget restraints and fiscal austerity, hiring Dr. Alvarez has proven to be a costly mistake.
Despite this, the Acting City Attorney said that the separation was “amicable and without cause.”
All The News Not Talked About
The Council meeting may have been packed with feel-good presentations, but there were 17 different items that were barely even mentioned after everyone left. These Consent Items may no warrant Council discussion, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important to the community. So before we get into what little was discussed at the last meeting of the session, let’s dig into what wasn’t talked about.
New Workforce Agreement Approved
The City came to another agreement with the Alameda Building Trades Council which will govern how City-funded construction projects are worked on. Mostly this means requiring at least some amount of Union labor be used for the project. Some critics cite these kinds of agreements as inflating the cost of municipal projects, but the agreement also requires hiring and training Hayward residents.
Most of the changes were pretty minor, but one that stuck out was how a “City project” is defined. Under the new agreement, any project funded even in part by the City that is estimated to cost over $1,000,000 are covered by the agreement. It’s unclear whether Community Development Block Grant funding is also included in this definition.
Police YFSB Secures Big Funding
HPD’s Youth and Family Services Bureau (YFSB) continues to pull big contracts from the from Alameda County. Being both a mental health services provider and a part of the Police Department means that YFSB can be granted funds from the Alameda County Probation Department and the Alameda County Health Department. Combined, the contracts are bringing YFSB around $500,000 per year, paying for a little over 5 full-time Staff.
According to internal surveys, the Probation program is popular with those involved, despite it being directly associated with the Police Department. It involves diversion programs, life skills and support, restorative justice programs, and gender responsive programs.
The AC Health grant funds the school-based Family Counselors at Bret Harte, Ochoa, and MLK Jr. Middle Schools. The services include mental health services, referral to other programs, and consulting on school-wide efforts to improve the school environment. The program says that it has touched almost 2,000 individuals, though it’s unclear if the number is unduplicated.
City Spends Big On Homelessness Services
The City of Hayward approved over $2,800,000 in funding for addressing homelessness. Most of the money, $2,500,000 was awarded to Bay Area Community Services (BACS) to operate the Hayward Navigation Center. The remaining $300,000 was awarded to South Hayward Parish to pay for a year-round shelter in South Hayward.
While the Navigation Center can sleep up to 66 people, it requires entry into the County Coordinated Entry System, which means that it serves the entire unhoused population of Alameda County. The Coordinated Entry System has also faced criticism for the difficulty of getting on the list and long wait times. However the housing-first model used by BACS has proven to be effective in getting people off the street, if slowly.
South Hayward Parish operates one of the County’s only walk-up shelters, which predominantly serves local Hayward residents due to it’s availability, has been integrated into the HEART Program. They have 18 beds, approximately 3 of which are allocated to give preference to people using the HEART program.
While much of the funding, especially for the Navigation Center, comes from the General Fund, multiple other funding sources were also used.
Infrastructure Improvements Coming To Industrial Blvd
Big improvements were approved by the City Council at this last meeting. Over $2,700,000 in State and Federal funding will help pay for four different improvement projects in Hayward.
Pedestrian signal modifications - adding walk signals to intersections throughout the City that don’t have them
Signal Improvements at Industrial and Ruus
Bicycle network improvements - on Ruus road and small gaps on Soto and Amador
Upgrading Pedestrian crossings - At D Street, Santa Clara, Patrick Ave, and the Eden Greenway
Sidewalk improvements are also coming to Industrial Blvd, to the North of Hesperian, and on Clawiter Road in the industrial part of town.
Stack Center Updates
Although the Stack Center technically opened its doors in March, that was only Phase 1 of a three-phase project. Phase 2 is already facing cost increases, however. The City Council approved an additional $200,000 payment to DLR Group Inc. for design development work.
The additional payment isn’t the City’s fault. According to the Staff Report, an unnamed nearby site has impacted soil, gas, and groundwater that could affect health. The results of the analysis of the Stack Center site showed acceptable levels of contamination for commercial uses, but above the level allowable for residential uses. Given that the Stack Center will serve families, the County asked for additional safety measures that cost more money.
At the same time, La Familia and Eden Youth were approved to operate and administer the Phase 1 portion of the Stack Center which opened in March. Although the two agencies will serve as joint operators and tenants, the City still owns the facility. According to their agreement, the City has the right to use The Stack Center up to 12 times per year at no cost and rent the facility to them for $1 per year.
La Familia and Eden Youth, meanwhile, are responsible for maintenance, operation, and security of the site. They’ll also be the ones responsible for community programming and engagement efforts.
So, in short, the City is the landlord, while La Familia and Eden Youth run the place. But also the agencies have more responsibility than a typical tenant—they have to cover maintenance. So if you have an issue there, talk to them first before going to the City.
Military Equipment For HPD
In compliance with State Law, the City Council conducted a hearing on HPD’s Military Equipment Policy. The policy needs to be approved every year, or else no military equipment can be used by the Police Department. According to Chief Brian Matthews, “If [the policy] is not approved, we’re no longer allowed to use it.”
In the Staff Report, the Police Department continued to justify its use of military equipment by citing mass shootings. This operates under the popular assumption that a good-guy with a gun can stop a bad-guy with a gun—an argument that was often used to support arming teachers in schools.
They specifically cited two 2023 incidents, one in Monterey Park, California—where someone shot and killed 11 people with a high-capacity automatic weapon—and the other in Half Moon Bay—where a man shot and killed 7 people before being arrested.
“Now, perhaps more than ever,” the Staff Report reads in underlined text, “law enforcement officers must have access to equipment that will allow them to perform their duties safely and to address sophisticated threats like those highlighted in the examples above.” However, it is unclear from the Staff report how the military equipment currently in HPD’s possession would have prevented or resolved any of these incidents. Yet they, and other mass-shooting incidents, are used as justification for military equipment.
What Was Used
Between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, very little military equipment was actually used. Of the 11 types of equipment owned by HPD, only 4 were actually used.
UAS (Drones) - used 72 times in 52 incidents
Armored Personnel Carrier - used 27 times
Tear Gas - Used 10 times at 2 incidents
40mm “Less lethal launcher” - Used 8 times
The remainder of the equipment may have been deployed—the “carbine rifles,” which are similar to AR-15’s, were likely deployed a dozens of times but never actually fired. HPD maintains 113 of them, and are looking to replace 11 of them this year.
They will also be replacing/updating two of their drones—from their fleet of over a dozen drones. A new addition to the equipment are so-called “energetic breaching tools” which, from the description, are small explosive devices used to break into buildings. In the Staff Report, HPD shared pictures of reinforced doors they had encountered, though the Staff report implies that the 6 pictures were from a single building.
“What we’re looking for is the ability to expand our breaching capacity,” Chief Matthews said. He cited hostage situations, as HPD frequently does when discussing military equipment. However, former Police Chief Toney Chaplin said that frequently hostage situations are resolved, not by breaching, but by the negotiator. The breaching tools and training are expected to cost $8,300 for this coming year—training costs would be ongoing.
Waived Through Once Again
The City Council has, historically, placed the approval of the Military Equipment Use Policy on the final agenda of the session, frequently near the end of the meeting. As such, there is hardly ever any discussion on the item—the previous three reports during this meeting were skipped by Mayor Salinas.
Councilmember Roche, who serves on the Council Public Safety Committee, asked if the $8,300 for the breaching tools included training, and Chief Matthews confirmed that it does, clarifying the presentation and Staff Report.
Councilmember Syrop, one of the only Councilmembers who has spoken against Police militarization in the past, asked about the Community Input Session. This is also required by State Law, though HPD apparently elected to roll the session into the Council Public Safety Committee meeting. “We didn’t get a whole lot of public comment,” Chief Matthews said, “I don’t know how heavily it was attended.” The meeting was only noticed a few days before it happened on HPD social media.
Councilmember Syrop also asked about the volume of carbine rifles and why the Department has so many if they aren’t used. “113 is a lot,” he said. “Given how little the usage actually is, how much is necessary in case of an emergency?” Chief Matthews responded, essentially, that you never know so it’s best to have one just in case.
“It’s ineffective to have, for example, 15 people in the field and only 5 of them have [carbine rifles] because we don’t know when and where things are going to happen. So we do deploy one in every patrol vehicle.” This, again, relies on the assumption that a carbine rifle will stop someone committing a crime. Chief Matthews also said that HPD maintains a pool of rifles for training purposes and replacement. “They often break down,” he said.
Councilmember Bonilla, also on the Public Safety Committee, asked for clarification on what would happen if the Federal Government asked HPD to use the military equipment in a manner inconsistent with the policy. Chief Matthews said that the Federal Government can’t tell HPD how to use their equipment. “That is totally within the confines of the Hayward Police Department,” he said.
Chief Matthews also justified keeping military equipment locally because it ensures local control. “If we don’t have the capacity to respond to events that unfold in our community,” he said, “then we have to call other people in to do that for us.” And they bring their policies with them. “We also have to plan for the worst-case scenario,” Chief Matthews added.
Councilmember Andrews asked if there had been any complaints submitted through Access Hayward—though there is not a place to file an official complaint on the app. “We have not received any,” Chief Matthews said. The official complaint procedure still requires going to the Hayward Police Department, something that was supposed to have been worked on several years ago.
Beyond that, there were no comments from Council. The motion to approve the policy passed 5-0 with Councilmember Syrop abstaining and Councilmember Zermeño absent.
Library Director Addleman Promoted
Library Director Jayanti Addleman was officially promoted to Interim City Manager, effective July 1st. She will be receiving compensation of $381,000 per year and has the full ability to retreat back to Library Director after she is done. The City Council showed strong support for her appointment, commenting on her ability to bring stability to the City during a tumultuous time. “Our bench is deep and our bench is strong,” Mayor Salinas said.