Wearing white T-shirts with black lettering that reads: “Sanctuary for All,” dozens of immigrant advocates and their allies filled council chambers on Monday to witness city leaders proclaim their support of all residents, regardless of citizenship status.
Coming early in the meeting and bucking protocol, Mayor Roland Velasco read the proclamation, which aimed to assuage the fears of residents left cold by President Trump’s executive actions on refugees, the Mexico border wall and so-called sanctuary cities, in full.
“Whereas, recent national events are causing concern amongst many of Gilroy’s residents and the City Council, on behalf of the City of Gilroy, wishes to provide assurance to our residents that the City embraces and respects people of all ethnicities, national backgrounds and faiths,” it began.
Velasco made it clear, however, that the proclamation did not make Gilroy a sanctuary city.
Reports have put the number of sanctuary cities in the country—including nearby San Jose, San Francisco and Santa Cruz—at 140, while U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) has identified 300 jurisdictions in the U.S. that have some form of policy in place restricting local compliance with federal immigration enforcement.
While many were glad the city had taken a stand on an issue that has divided communities throughout the U.S., some in the room wanted a proclamation with more teeth from the council.
“Immigrants are some of the most vulnerable members of society and are targeted by those looking for scapegoats,” said Lorena Guzman, during public comments. “We are getting the minimum. What good does this do without any action?”
One-by-one, a handful of speakers shared their experiences with immigrants—their parents, co-workers, neighbors, fellow students and friends.
“Becoming a citizen has become harder and harder,” said Marlene Magana, who works with SIREN, a regional immigration resource and advocacy group. “We see them harvesting our food, fixing our cars, building our homes. We want to ensure that law enforcement does not coordinate with ICE unless there is a warrant.”
Gilroy Police Department has a longstanding policy of not engaging in immigration enforcement, said Captain Joseph H. Deras, at the city council meeting.
“We do not work with ICE or customs or border protection officials,” said Deras, who has been with the local police force since 2003 and said he does not recall a time when they actively reached out to ICE.
At the time of booking, there is a box to mark a person’s citizenship status, explained Deras, but there is no time or police resources to investigate whether the statement given is true.
We do work with ICE if called upon for protection or if there is a request to ensure their safety, clarified Deras via email. Otherwise we do not assist them with their investigations in any other capacity.
Whatever actions are taken by ICE or similar officials is done at the jail or prison, said Deras.
“ICE will go to jail to find folks,” said Deras. “They can come to Gilroy for a copy of the police report, but it’s out of Gilroy Police Department jurisdiction.”
Community development department review
The city department responsible for issuing building permits and managing the development review process is understaffed, undertrained, overworked and using outmoded, inefficient technology, according to an audit by consultants Management Partners.
As reported to the city council on Monday, the community development department is bringing in more building permit revenue and processing a record number of planning applications but with a level of staff that has not recovered since the Great Recession.
In the latest fiscal year, the department brought in more than $2.6 million in building permit revenue—more than double what it was in 2006-2007, before the recession. At its lowest point, in 2008-2009, the city brought in $396,208.
The number of architectural and site plan approvals jumped four-fold between 2012 (17) and 2015 (71), with the report predicting a continuing upward trend. As of December 2016, there were 33 applications in the pipeline.
The consultants interviewed staff and customers—architects, builders—in their analysis.
They found that while, overall, customers thought staff were helpful, the department’s high staff turnover and high number of contract workers resulted in inconsistency and a lack of experience and institutional knowledge.
Customers said contract staff did not know the city and were often unavailable. They were also not given standard turnaround times for reviews, leaving many to openly wonder, ‘how long is it going to take for this to come back to me?” Customers had to resolve conflicting staff comments.
The permit counter is also not well designed for customers and a greeter is not always present.
The consultants recommended the city increase staffing levels in the department, update their technology, consider a new records management and permit tracking system that all staff must be trained on and use consistently, and create a strategic plan for the department.
During public comments, Gary Walton, a developer for 35 years, said the department should support further training for employees, invest in technology—many processes that are automated in other cities still require a face-to-face interaction in Gilroy—and greatly reduce the number of regulations in the city.
“[Building] codes have been developed over time and many are a patch to a previous problem,” said Walton. “And like all Band-Aids, they break over time. Look comprehensively on how we can simplify our codes.”
The city council accepted the report findings.
“From 2009 forward, we, as an organization, have not invested in technology, staff, tools and resources, so it’s all come to a head,” said city administrator Gabe Gonzalez. City staff will now review the implementation action plan proposed by the consultants. Policy related matters will be come back to city council during upcoming budget discussions.
