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