- Stockton City Council will vote on new labor contracts for police and firefighters after nearly a year without deals.
- The agreements include raises, one-time payments, and salary step changes, costing an estimated $17.5 million this fiscal year.
- The vote coincides with a critical San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury report on council dysfunction and a discussion on investigation costs.
Long-Awaited Contracts on the Agenda
Stockton City Council members are set to vote Tuesday on new labor contracts for police officers, firefighters, and public safety managers, marking a milestone after nearly a year without agreements. The first full regular meeting inside Stockton’s new City Hall comes with two major issues on the agenda: long-awaited labor contracts for public safety workers and a mayor-led discussion on the cost of council-launched investigations after a new civil grand jury report criticized City Hall for infighting, leadership problems and spending on internal probes. The biggest items are on the consent agenda, meaning they could be approved together with little discussion unless a councilmember opts to pull them for separate debate. These agreements, known as memorandums of understanding or MOUs, are simply labor contracts. They set pay, benefits and work rules for city employees. The deals come as the council also responds to a scathing civil grand jury report criticizing infighting and leadership problems at City Hall.
Police Contract Details
The proposed agreement with the Stockton Police Officers Association covers July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028. City documents say negotiators reached a deal that police union members have since ratified. It includes a 6% cost-of-living raise in the first year, 4% in the second, a one-time $2,500 payment, and changes to salary steps — the pay levels workers move through based on rank and time on the job. City documents estimate the new terms will add about $9.47 million in costs this fiscal year and $8.13 million next fiscal year, primarily from the General Fund.
Stockton Police Officers' Association President Patrick High previously highlighted staffing shortages, noting officers covering dispatch shifts due to understaffing. The union ratified the deal after months of negotiations. Officers had gone roughly five months without a contract before declaring an impasse in November and moving to invoke Measure N, a 2024 ballot measure that lets police and fire unions send stalled negotiations to a binding, independent arbitration panel. “This may not concern those who view us as replaceable or unnecessary, but it matters deeply to those of us who serve every day, and it certainly matters to the residents who call 911 and receive a busy tone,” High wrote in a Facebook post back in November. High said at the time that staffing shortages were forcing officers who’d normally patrol the streets to instead cover dispatch shifts.
Firefighter Contract Details
The council will also consider a contract with Stockton Firefighters Local 456 and fire management, running through June 30, 2028. It includes a 6% raise in the first year and 2% in the second, along with salary step changes, limited vacation cash-out costs, and higher healthcare premium contributions. The estimated cost is about $4.82 million this year, with $3.96 million from the General Fund.
Firefighters had gone 44 days without a contract in mid-August, with union leaders warning that delays hurt staffing and retention. Local 456 stated, 'Stockton Firefighters (per capita) are among the busiest in the State, and the least staffed in the State.' The firefighters eventually reached a tentative deal later that month after the city agreed to add longevity pay, though paramedic pay remained unchanged. The August contracts covered the unions for one year while the city and unions later moved toward new longer-term agreements. The deal before the council Tuesday is a new two-year successor agreement.
Management and Non-Union Staff
A third item covers the Stockton Police Management Association and unrepresented management, including nonunion admin and support staff in departments like the city manager's office. This adds roughly $3.24 million this year, with $2.22 million from the General Fund.
Altogether, the three labor items add an estimated $17.5 million in costs this fiscal year. The city's current budget includes about $202 million for police and $102 million for total operations costs, including payroll.
Local California Context
Stockton, located in San Joaquin County, has faced public safety challenges, including staffing shortages in police and fire departments. The new contracts aim to address retention and morale issues. The council's discussion on investigation costs follows a civil grand jury report highlighting 'systemic problems' in governance, including possible violations of the Brown Act, California's open-meetings law. Mayor Christina Fugazi will also be leading a discussion on council-launched investigations and related costs. Three documents will anchor council discussions on the issue: a confidential investigation’s executive summary, the 2025-26 San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury report released last month that gave a scathing review.
During the July 7 council meeting, city officials said council-initiated investigations have cost $770,508 to date. Vice Mayor Jason Lee called for a comprehensive public accounting that itemizes the cost of each investigation. "The taxpayers paid for all of this mess, and I think they need to see it," Lee said. Mayor Christina Fugazi agreed the city should provide a breakdown of the expenditures and said the council would consider whether to waive attorney-client privilege for additional investigative reports, including one involving the Office of Public Transparency, Information and Communication (OPTIC), after councilmembers have an opportunity to review them. The council directed staff to place an item on a future council agenda that includes a breakdown of the expenditures and consideration of whether to waive attorney-client privilege.
Background
The labor negotiations come after months of tension. In November, the police union expressed frustration over staffing, with officers covering dispatch shifts. Firefighters similarly faced delays, with their union warning of staffing and retention issues. The civil grand jury report, 'Governance in Turmoil,' began as a look at Brown Act violations but expanded to a broader review of council operations, finding unstable leadership and heavy spending on internal probes.
The 2026 civil grand jury report also criticized the council for failing to adequately respond to the 2024 civil grand jury report, "City of Stockton: Crisis in Government." The 2024 report found that the social media platform 209 Times, founded by political consultant Motecuzoma Sanchez, contributed to what the panel described as a toxic and fearful work environment within Stockton City Hall. It also cited allegations of harassment, intimidation and potential Brown Act violations that it said disrupted the city's orderly operations. The latest report also faulted the council for what it described as incomplete and delayed responses to prior grand jury findings, citing California Penal Code Sections 933 and 933.05, which require timely and substantive responses to investigative reports. It said the council had not fully complied with the response requirements for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 reports when the report was released and that prior responses failed to fully address all recommendations.
Fugazi said she has begun developing what she called a "Stockton Governance Reset," a 100-day reform plan intended to address the grand jury's recommendations, with the city's formal response due within 90 days. "I respect the grand jury, what they had to do, the number of people that they interviewed," Fugazi said. "Do we agree with everything in there? I would say I don't necessarily agree with everything in there, but nonetheless, as an elected official, we have the obligation to go through this and address the concerns that they have." Fugazi did not discuss the plan at length during the council meeting, but details were provided in a news release circulated in the council chamber. The proposal calls for creating a public tracking matrix for each grand jury finding and recommendation, including the city's response, the department responsible for implementation and the status of each item. Among the reforms, Fugazi is asking the council to adopt new standards for meeting decorum, professional conduct, treatment of city staff and public statements by elected officials through the Council Conduct Reset Resolution. The plan also would establish operating protocols for agenda coordination, misconduct referrals, staff requests and disputes among councilmembers. The proposal includes expanded Brown Act and closed-session compliance measures, including updated training, confidentiality acknowledgments and procedures for responding to leaks. Fugazi also proposed strengthening protections for city employees by reinforcing the city's council-manager form of government and requiring council requests to staff to be routed through the appropriate charter officers. The plan would impose new requirements before the council authorizes outside investigations, including written scopes of work, legal authority, budget limits, timelines, conflict reviews and findings that investigations serve the public interest. Additional proposals would increase procurement transparency by requiring disclosure of staff evaluation scores, written explanations when the council departs from staff recommendations, and other measures.
In total, the grand jury issued nine findings related to council conflicts, violations of City Charter Section 408, fiscal procedures, ethics compliance and campaign finance transparency. It also issued eight recommendations, including mandatory conduct training, development of an ethics commission, revisions to the city’s code of ethics, adoption of social media guidelines, restrictions on disparaging public statements and consideration of local campaign contribution limits. The city must submit its formal response to the grand jury within 90 days of the report's release.
Beyond the initial 100-day period, Fugazi said she plans to pursue longer-term reforms, including updating the council's code of conduct, developing options for an independent ethics commission or ethics officer, reviewing campaign finance and lobbying disclosure rules, publishing quarterly implementation reports and considering voter-approved charter amendments if necessary.
Residents urged the Stockton City Council to rebuild public trust through greater transparency and stronger ethics reforms, while several speakers questioned the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office decision not to pursue criminal action against former Interim City Manager Steve Colangelo and criticized some councilmembers' continued association with 209 Times. Eight residents spoke during public comment at the July 7 council meeting as council members discussed the June 25 San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury report, "Governance in Turmoil," plans to publicly account for the $770,508 spent on council-initiated investigations, and Mayor Christina Fugazi's proposed 100-day governance reform plan, "Stockton Governance Reset."
Several speakers said the council's willingness to discuss the grand jury's recommendations publicly was a positive step, but cautioned that meaningful change would depend on whether officials followed through. David Sengthay, president of Stockton Democrats Together, said Fugazi's proposed reform plan appeared promising but urged the council to fully implement the grand jury's recommendations, provide a detailed accounting of investigation spending and establish an independent ethics commission. Regarding the investigation costs, Sengthay said taxpayers deserved a complete breakdown of how the money was spent. "We're investigating the investigations at this point," Sengthay said. "It seems that, at the end of the day, most of these investigations were coming from the fact that there were personalities and egos that were bruised on the dais." Mary Elizabeth, a Stockton resident, welcomed the council's decision to prepare an itemized accounting of investigation costs but said the report should also include staff time devoted to the investigations, arguing those resources could have been used to address other city priorities. "Those costs need to also be broken down between consultant," she said.
Council Approval and Public Support
Stockton City Council approved the new labor contracts Tuesday for police officers, firefighters, public safety managers and some nonunion city workers, ending a long and tense negotiation process for several employee groups. The agreements passed 7-0 as part of the council’s consent agenda, meaning they were approved with other items and were not pulled by councilmembers for a separate vote, drawing a close to more than a year of the city’s public safety employees not having a long-term contract after the previous contracts expired last summer. The contracts cover the Stockton Police Officers Association, Stockton Firefighters Local 456, fire management, the Stockton Police Management Association and a compensation plan for some nonunion city workers, including certain managers, administrative staff and City Attorney’s Office employees. The new agreements received widespread support from both councilmembers and the public during Tuesday’s meeting. During public comment, Zoila Moreno asked councilmembers to approve the police agreements, saying officers deserve support because they “put their lives on the line every day to serve us.” Yolanda Amen spoke in support of the firefighters’ agreement, saying competitive pay and benefits are needed if Stockton wants to recruit and keep firefighters and paramedics. “Our firefighters put their lives on the line every day to protect our residents, businesses and neighborhoods,” Amen said. “Competitive salaries and benefits are critical if Stockton is going to recruit and retain the highly trained firefighters and paramedics we need.” She also urged the city to continue building a fire department that reflects Stockton’s diversity. “A workforce made up of individuals from different backgrounds and experiences strengthens trust, improves community connections, and helps ensure that all residents see themselves represented in the people who protect and serve them,” Amen said. She also supported the police management and police officers’ agreements, saying stable staffing and strong leadership are needed as Stockton responds to gun violence, gang violence and other public safety issues. Denise Friday, a community activist who often speaks publicly on the city’s policing issues, said police officers should be hired from within the community and should be seen by children as friends and protectors. “When I was a kid coming up, the police officer was our friend, and he was our protector,” Friday said. “The children in the community now don’t feel like the police officers are their friend or their protector.” Stronger mental health screening and better suspect-identification practices should also be part of police hiring and training, Friday said. Her son, Colby Friday, was shot and killed by a Stockton police officer in 2016 after being mistaken for another man. The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office later found the shooting justified. Councilmember Michele Padilla thanked firefighters and police officers for continuing to work through the contract process, saying the agreements would help Stockton stay competitive while giving the city “labor stability over the next two years.” The long police contract process, she said, had taken a toll on officers and their families. “We know the Police Department has gone for over a year without a contract, and I can’t imagine how frustrating, how discouraging that has been for the staff, as well as their families,” Padilla said. Vice Mayor Jason Lee, a former union leader, said he supported arbitration as a fair process but was glad the city and employee groups reached agreements before that became necessary. “I believe in arbitration. I believe in having a process that’s fair to everybody,” Lee said. “I just want to thank the SPOA and our firefighters union and all our other bargaining units on the other side, who worked tirelessly to work with our team.” After Lee’s comments, Councilmember Michael Blower made the motion to approve the consent agenda, and Lee seconded it. The motion passed unanimously, with all seven council members voting yes.
Conclusion
The council's vote on these contracts represents a critical step toward stabilizing public safety services in Stockton. The outcome will be closely watched by residents and city workers alike, as the city seeks to address both labor concerns and governance challenges highlighted by the grand jury.