Vallejo dispatch center to move to waterfront police building

VALLEJO – The city of Vallejo will build a new police and fire department dispatch center at a waterfront office building that was once the site of a proposed police headquarters until the city changed gears following community outcry.

The council unanimously voted to purchase $500,000 of 911 VESTA call handling equipment to build the new dispatch center at the building at 400 Mare Island Way at a special meeting Tuesday. The item was on the council’s consent calendar and there was no discussion.

The move comes as the city considers allocating $1.6 million for a preliminary development plan to rebuild the police headquarters at its current location at 111 Amador St. The City initially purchased 400 Mare Island Way for $13.5 million in 2019 to house the police headquarters but the idea was met with widespread disapproval from citizens who did not want to reward a violent and troubled police department with a prime location on the city’s waterfront.

Other police services have operated out of the waterfront building for years. The department’s investigation’s bureau, detective division and professional standards division have been located in the building since May 2020. In 2021 the department faced criticism for lack of transparency over a ribbon cutting ceremony for opening a special victims unit at 400 Mare Island Way.

The city has considered selling or leasing the waterfront building to help pay for renovations to the current headquarters. A city spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether the dispatch center installation was permanent or could be moved easily.

According to Tuesday’s request from city staff to purchase the new dispatch equipment, the council gave “clear direction” to staff to move the dispatch Center to 400 Mare Island Way and the city’s Information and Technology Department is currently working on the project.

The equipment was purchased using $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds that were allocated during the mid-year budget process in December. But the ARPA funding overview from the mid-year budget process states that the dispatch center would be moved to city hall.

The Vallejo Sun asked council members if they recall providing “clear direction” to city staff to locate the dispatch at 400 Mare Island Way.

“I do not recall off the top of my head any specific direction of the entire council given in open session to move dispatch to 400 Mare Island Way,” Mayor Robert McConnell wrote in an email to the Vallejo Sun. “The city manager has discussed the idea individually with me and I agree with that limited and specific decision.”

In an interview with the Vallejo Sun, Councilmember Cristina Arriola said, “I am 99% sure that we never discussed moving 400 Mare Island Way, this is not a closed session Item so it would not have been [discussed] there. And if the question was brought up to us in our one on-one meeting that is a little bit different than publicly asking the council to approve a transfer to 400 Mare Island Way.”    

In April the council directed city staff to move forward with the process to create a development plan for rebuilding the Police Station at its current location but the proposed 2023-24 budget only included half of the funding needed to complete the initial plan for the rebuild.

Councilmember Peter Bregenzer requested earlier this month that staff include the full amount of funding for the initial development plan in the budget even if it has to come from Measure P – a seven-eighths-cent sales tax increase passed by voters in November – or the city’s reserves.

McConnell said that the council has indicated support for Bregenzer’s request to fully fund the development plan this year.