Vallejo City Council funds IHART civilian crisis team, finalizes budget

The Vallejo City Council renewed the contract for the city's citizen crisis team, allocated funds to the recreation district and finalized the city's 2026-2027 budget on Tuesday.

The council sailed through the meeting in record time, accomplishing all three items in about 90 minutes. An administrative item on the consent calendar completing the 2026-2027 budget process passed without discussion. The new budget went into effect Wednesday.

The council approved $300,000 for the Greater Vallejo Recreation District. Also, the council approved a $1.8 million contract with Felton Institute, the agency staffing the IHART crisis team. Both actions passed unanimously with Mayor Andrea Sorce absent.

The IHART, or Integrated Health and Resource Team, is trained in working with people experiencing mental and behavioral health crises and provides de-escalation and referrals. Police dispatchers screen 911 calls and decide whether the IHEART team or police will respond.

IHART's 2026-2027 contract is for 12 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year. The contract is for $1,794,790. This is $196,115 higher than the previous year's contract, due primarily to the addition of a new Program Lead position.

The council approved the contract for the fiscal year beginning Wednesday, but also directed Interim City Manager Harry Black to explore the possibility of having the team report to the city manager's office in future years.

"I'm supportive of the approval this evening, but by the same token, my hope is this is the last time I have to vote on this contract," said Councilmember Alexander Matias as he introduced the idea.

"Ever since I was sworn in, I've been advocating for an office of public safety out of the manager's office," Matias said.

The council member asked Black, "Is that something that can be done by mid-year?"

Black responded, "We can provide background information in terms of how these programs are typically set up and managed. We can do that research and get something back to you in that time frame."

Matias said, "I'm not asking you to fully form a program in the year ahead, but a road map that has the team reporting directly to the city manager. Those folks are members of the community. They live here."

Police Chief Jason Ta noted that the grants, which have largely funded the team since its inception two years ago, are running out.

"It made sense to go this route when we were able to use grant funding," Ta said. "This is Year Three. In Year Four, there is no more grant funding. This is a good time to have that conversation."

The direction to Black was added as a friendly amendment to the agenda item, which passed unanimously with Mayor Andrea Sorce absent.

Aside from the IHART item, there was one other action item on the council agenda: A request for a grant of $300,000 in Measure P funds for the Greater Vallejo Recreation District to support public safety and youth priorities.

This item also passed unanimously with Sorce absent, with a friendly amendment suggested by Matias that a report be shared with the Vallejo Unified School District "so whenever the report is issued for Measure P I would also like them to also issue a report to the school district on the activities and usage of these funds."

Measure P is a .875-cent sales tax increase that Vallejo residents voted for in 2022. It brings in an estimated $18 million annually. In an attempt to make spending of the money more accountable, the Measure P Committee researches and recommends proposed expenditures of this money to the city council.

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