outlining the crisis<\/a> says \u201cother personnel must be reduced\u201d to protect police and fire services.<\/p>\n\u201cThe city must now take additional action to reduce expenditures and preserve its ability to provide essential public services,\u201d the city said. \u201cBecause personnel costs represent a substantial portion of the city\u2019s operating budget, workforce reductions have become unavoidable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese decisions are difficult and deeply personal,\u201d the city added. \u201cThey affect dedicated public servants who have contributed to the Hollister community, often for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hollister Police Officers Association warned of the impending layoffs in a social media post on Tuesday night, stating that they had been notified that City Manager Ana Cortez intended \u201cto lay off every single civilian staff member of our department\u201d on Wednesday morning. That would leave the agency \u201ceffectively closed for business,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way we describe this is that the city manager is attempting to trim the limbs on the top of a tree by sticking dynamite at the base of it,\u201d said Bo Leland, president of the Hollister Police Officers Association. \u201cInstead of coming to the police department or the union or the police chief and saying, \u2018Hey, we need to cut, how do you suggest we do it?,\u2019 instead of doing that, the city manager shut herself in an office and laid off every civilian employee that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leland said that eight civilian staff members of the police department were laid off on Wednesday. One additional civilian staff member who was on probationary status was terminated earlier this week, and one administrative police captain was laid off.<\/p>\n
The city said that it is not eliminating all civilian positions at the police department but did not confirm how many employees would be impacted. Among those not impacted by layoffs include the police department\u2019s senior administrative leadership and employees of the Animal Control Division. It called the union\u2019s claims \u201cpremature, misleading and factually inaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The union said the layoffs would leave the Hollister Police Department without a records, code enforcement, or building and fleet maintenance division; patrol community service officers; or anyone in the evidence section to help process evidence. Leland said that one administrative services supervisor remains and will be the only non-gun carrying employee at the police department.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one will answer the phones,\u201d the union said. \u201cNo one will release reports. No one will release vehicles that have been towed or impounded. If we arrest someone, there\u2019s no one to process the report based on law and deliver it to the district attorney\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city confirmed that records and \u201cgeneral customer services\u201d would be limited \u201cuntil further notice.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Benito County Sheriff-Coroner-Marshall Eric S. Taylor said in a statement that he is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d about the cuts to civilian police staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch a decision would have consequences far beyond an administrative budget reduction. It would be a cut to public safety,\u201d he said. \u201cCivilian employees are essential to police operations. They perform specialized work that allows officers to remain available for patrol, investigations, and emergency response.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city, meanwhile, still intends to fill seven police officer vacancies, the union said. Leland added that the city has $1.99 million budgeted for vacant police officer positions and that the civilian employees laid off account for $1.4 million in the budget. The lack of civilian positions is not feasible, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police officers are trained in their specific job, which is responding to 911 calls, helping on medical aids, arresting people, investigating crimes. We are not trained in the ins and outs of California public records law,\u201d Leland added. \u201cEssentially, all of that work has ground to a halt, and until those employees come back, we have no way of starting it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city alerted the police union to the impending staff reductions on Monday as a \u201cprofessional courtesy\u201d and sent the same alert to other impacted city labor organizations, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe City is disappointed that the HPOA chose to publicly distribute information before the City had completed its employee notification process,\u201d the city said. \u201cMore concerning, the Association\u2019s statements misrepresented the scope of the anticipated reductions, creating unnecessary anxiety among employees , their families, and the broader community.\u201d<\/p>\n
City departments will be revising their service levels and operational hours in the coming days to adjust to the revised staffing, the city said. Updated hours will be available on the city\u2019s website. The police department lobby closed at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and was expected to reopen at 8 a.m. on Thursday.<\/p>\n
In April, the city began considering a staffing reorganization due to its \u201cserious financial conditions,\u201d it said. It offered incentives for retirements and voluntary separations in July, which several employees accepted, but those workforce reductions \u201cdid not generate sufficient savings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As it faces a budget deficit of almost $7 million for fiscal year 2025-2026, the City of Hollister…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,39786,7,34709,6113,100,236,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-497013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area","tag-budget-shortfall","tag-california","tag-hollister","tag-layoffs","tag-news","tag-police","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}