Our city council majority of four, Brown, Arkin, Niebert and Testa, are in effect defunding the police department by not settling their contract.

It’s my understanding that when they settle the city doesn’t pay the increase missed dollars back to June 1. These 4 council members are balancing the budget on the backs our our Police Officers.

It’s also not true that they cannot reallocate the 10.5 MILLION the council budgeted for enhanced skate park and century house. The money can and should be reallocated to settle the contract and shore up the budget.

As an aside, I have asked no less than 3 times for an ROI on the 4+ million being spent on century house. The response - crickets.

And anyone remember our Mayor Brown stating “I’m worth it and a lot more” at the meeting discussing council increases. Our Police Officers are worth it and a lot more! Majority of 4 need to do the right thing and settle this contract so we can retain and hire the best for our city.

This inaction from Brown, Arkin, Testa and Nibert won’t be forgotten at the ballot box!

As the nation faced the public outcry of defunding police and the Black Lives Matter protests threatened our city limits, it was the men and women of the Pleasanton Police Department who successfully held back an organized attempt to violently disrupt our own idyllic community while allowing and supporting the peaceful march organized by local high school students and others who were sincerely concerned. Those same men and women quietly lined the parade route, showing care and compassion as well as readiness should the unthinkable happen. They recognized and respected the gravity of what was happening to our country, and were there for us. Physically, visibly there, to assure us that they, too, were appalled at the injustice happening across the country.

As residents, we have consistently expressed gratitude for the even-handed approach of community policing, and until recently have ranked our feelings of safety at remarkably high levels in annual city-funded surveys. 97%,as I recall. We all, council included, took pride in knowing our police department wasn't broken, as so many others across the country were. We knew the perpetrators would soon be apprehended if a crime was committed within our city.

One would expect a no-brainer to deliver a reasonable contract offer for such stellar performance and dedication to the community these people serve. To stall negotiations over a concept as simple as retention pay seems unimaginable, yet here we are. Not long ago we celebrated men like Joe Rose, who gave a lifetime of service to this city. Many of us know officers who have retired here and continue to serve the city in other ways because living a lifetime of service is who they are, and how they believe it should be. To deny them a meager percentage as retention pay defies logic and renders disingenuous the words "safety is a priority" that keep coming out of city hall.

How about stop spending so much time/money on changing the driving lanes on W. Las Positas, and Valley and pay our Police Officers!

Those lane configurations may be Alameda County money. However, the money council approved for the old house on Santa Rita Road and the second skate park would more than cover the Police pay issue.

With two council members Nibert and Testa supporting Pamela Price, Nibert with money donation, Testa with her endorsement, is an indication they do not support our police department.

Some investments are decent (skatepark, preserving special places). Others are necessary (strong police force, good schools).
If PTown doesn't prioritize a strong police force, the town can and will go downhill.

Some investments are nice to have (century house, skate park), others are non negotiable - fully staffed police force with a contract.

Why not sell the century house to an investor that will fix it up and maintain the historical quality vs investing 4+ million? And so far no one in city hall can provide an ROI on the century house. And they seem to believe that just because they are dumping 6+ million into a skate park that it will magically become better utilized. It’s a handful of people that will use it vs everyone in town depends on our Police Officers. City Council - are you paying attention?

The likes of Testy Testa and especially SimpleArkin making decisions - they are running Pleasanton into the ground.

A well paid police force is 100 times more important than a Century House.

Only Jack Balch takes the time to understand the issues, read the financials, ask strategic questions. We need a majority of competent City Council Members like him.

It is too bad that the City of Pleasanton which received $8.5 million in ARPA funds decided to move some of that money into the Capital Improvement Plan instead of funding police like many cities.

With ten Pleasanton police officers on leave, and there are five current vacant positions in the Pleasanton police department:

No matter how you spin it:

There are fifteen less Pleasanton police officers in uniform, serving, protecting Pleasanton residents.

That is an understaffed Pleasanton police department!

If an officer requests leave under the requirements, the city must allow that leave—so ten officers were allowed the requested leave. While it is unfortunate, it is within the police officer’s rights. As for the five (two new officers have been hired, so 3), the city will hire as soon as they have the right people. Maybe using county officers like Dublin could reduce the ongoing pension issues Web Link

Kathleen, revisit the link you provided.

"City hired two police recruits will not fill a vacant position until they have completed police academy."

Nearly ten percent of recruits do not complete the police academy.

I don’t know the particulars of those hired—previous experience for example. Our officers are well paid, not that they don’t deserve a boost. But why are officers and community members showing up at meetings and, let’s say, whitewashing the truth? I believe the city manager corrected the errors (again, see the web site I posted).

It is the city manager that is white washing it.

It is called spin.

There are 15 uniform police positions not on duty serving and protecting Pleasanton residents.

The city manager taking direction from the city council majority, deliberately stalled so it would go into mediation. That allows any agreement to be the result of mediation.

WHY? - The same people that created the problem can never fix the problem, since it means acknowledging their mistake.

This is my final comment on this topic.

Michael is 100% correct on this. The community is not whitewashing the issue. Maybe Kathleen needs to attend some of the meetings, might open her eyes a bit.

MsVic, I can watch the meetings. I’m not sure why Michael says the city manager is whitewashing the truth—go to the website I posted. I would certainly hope no one at the city would post fibs.

Kathleen did you watch the last meeting? Garrett Holmes who isn’t an officer in Pleasanton, but in Dublin spoke to our city council. What he said was true. Our city council has some great writers who spin information to be released in statements. The lies about the money that was allocated to skate park and century house can and should be reallocated to resolve the police contract. City manager, at direction of council claims the money cannot be switched, and that quite frankly is not true because it has been done before. There is a lot of information coming out of city hall that is simply being spun so as to confuse the issues and residents. I have zero faith in the majority of 4 to run this city. If we can’t recall those 4 I do hope everyone remembers this at the ballot box.

MsVic, I am aware of Dublin’s former chief speaking. Dublin uses Alameda County police. Dublin has a surplus of funds because they do not have to pay for retirement. Check the website to see what police are costing us—the largest part of Pleasanton’s budget (lower on the page). Maybe we should shift to using county police?

"The city manager taking direction from the city council majority, deliberately stalled so it would go into mediation. That allows any agreement to be the result of mediation. WHY? - The same people that created the problem can never fix the problem, since it means acknowledging their mistake."


I suspect they don't see this as a "mistake".

The city council majority appears to be of the popular left-wing view that law enforcement is insensitive towards anyone it comes in contact with, uses unnecessary force, is too well armed, and therefore needs to be defunded and/or "re-imagined". People coming in contact with/taken into custody by the police are now deemed to "need help". Setting standards/holding people accountable for their actions with a strong police presence is "ineffective", "unfair", "racist", etc. - and no longer a priority.

Why does every keep mentioning Dublin. Im surprised even the Ex chief did not point out that Dublin police are just alameda county sheriffs when making the comparison as it did not present the entire story.

The contract is with the country. The county pays the retiree benefits not the city. its apples to oranges to compare it to Pleasanton unless you are making the argument that we should also use ASCO as our local PD.

Also am I correct in reading that the major hang up in all of this is a retention bonus?

There are two main issues Resident. The first one is that the wages being offered by the city are below the surrounding comparable cities, which is why we have officers leaving for lateral positions in other cities. The second is that nearly every city is paying retention bonuses. Our city flat out has refused. So compromise is not even taking place. And the city is stalling, because the longer they stall, the less they have to pay. If and when the contract is negotiated and finalized, the city doesn't pay the officers the higher wages back to the day the contract ended, therefore saving money for the city. My biggest issue is that the city knew the contract was coming up and still passed a budget with 10.5 million allocated to a skate park and the century house and the budget they passed was far short of what was going to be needed for the police. The four of them, Brown, Arkin, Testa and Niebert need a class in sound fiscal practices. Brown needs a class in leadership skills. The four of them are not good for our city.

Brown, Arkin, Testa and Niebert are an embarrassment to the community! I think a recall for each might be in order!

Last night’s city council meeting demonstrated how inept Brown, Arkin, Testa and Nibert are. Watch the meeting. At the end Jack Balch asked for a special meeting to be called, the rebuttal to that was Brown’s hand off to Beaudin and he claimed he has regular calls with POA president (two to be exact) and that a meeting was being planned with POA for a week or week and 1/2 from now, when they could clear their calendars. Someone has to tell me what is more important than settling the contract right now. Oh and Beaudin received a 5% increase after only being CM for 6 months. what???? And guess who worked on that increase - well Brown and Arkin. More on this topic to come. All of this info is public.