CORRESPONDENCE - Item #2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orozco, Norma From: Tim Johnson <tjohnson@jlkrllp.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 6:00 PM To: eComment Cc: Sarmiento, Vicente; Penaloza, David; Mendoza, Nelida; Hernandez, Johnathan; Bacerra, Phil; Lopez, Jessie; Phan, Thai Subject: Special Agenda Items 1 & 2 Item 1. Thank you for considering putting forth a resolution with regards to the violence at our nation's capitol on January 61h. I urge this council to support the proclamation on behalf of the residents of the city. Our county is built around free peaceful speech and orderly transitions of power- these are pillars of our democracy and ones that our city should support. Item 2. Thank you for considering our essential workers in the grocery and pharmacy industries during the pandemic. Everyone is so very thankful for those who show up to work each day to provide needed services in our city including our grocery and pharmacy workers. However, I urge this council to pause on this item. There are so many unanswered items which need to be discussed and answered prior to directing staff on this item- especially as special meeting item which so many have not had an opportunity to provide input on or even digest what this would mean. Primarily, in order for me to support this I would suggest that at a minimum the following items would need to be adequately addressed: • Why only grocery and pharmacy workers? Are other workers not as important and deserving of increased pay? Are these two very specific industries the only ones that are putting their health on the line to provide for their families and provide service to the community? • What about other workers who are equally putting their health at risk to provide valuable services to our community such as: o Health care workers o Long Term Care / Assisted Living workers o Drug Store Workers outside of a pharmacy environment (i.e. CVS/Walgreens type non -pharmacy workers) o Workers at our city testing sites and likely soon to be vaccination sites o Restaurant workers- drive through operators, cashiers, cooks o Auto Repair shops o Construction Workers o City Service Workers • What constitutes "large" in this context? Based on square footage, number of employees, revenue ... the details matter. • What will the impact be to the business owners who are already struggling with increased costs? Will those costs be passed along to the consumer in increased prices? Our residents are already paying the highest sales taxes in the county so incremental costs should always be a concern to be addressed. • Is this a defacto increased minimum wage? Would it be an XX% increase to their pay? For example, 125% of regular pay? What is the right percentage to compensate them? • When would this hazard pay end? • Have you sought feedback from the community on this? • Have you sought feedback from the business community that would be impacted on this? We can all agree that it would be great for business owners to provide hazard pay to our grocery and pharmacy workers... no doubt about it. BUT, should our city be mandating this? If so, PLEASE fully provide feedback to the city manager so she and her staff can adequately provide a resolution to be discussed and approved by the council at a future meeting.