Rio Vista council authorizes short extension to firefighters’ MOU, preserves retroactive pay option

At a special meeting on Aug. 6, 2024, the Rio Vista City Council unanimously authorized a side-letter agreement to extend negotiations with the Rio Vista Professional Firefighters Association and adopted Resolution No. 20205.

A presenter representing the union asked the council to adopt the extension so bargaining could continue while the city negotiator was on vacation. The presenter said the proposed side letter would allow any agreed pay changes to be applied retroactively to July 1 if the parties reach a final agreement. "The union has requested that we adopt this extension to the existing MOU to allow negotiations to continue while our negotiator had a vacation," the presenter told the council.

Mayor Koch said there was a single action item on the special-meeting agenda and opened the floor for public comment; no members of the public spoke. Council Member Stanis moved to authorize the side letter and adopt Resolution No. 20205; Vice Mayor Okamura seconded the motion.

The city clerk conducted a roll-call vote and recorded each called member voting "yes." The motion passed unanimously, approving the side-letter extension and Resolution No. 20205. Following the vote, Mayor Koch said the action items were concluded and adjourned the meeting.

The action preserves the parties' ability to negotiate terms and to make any agreed wage adjustments retroactive to July 1; the resolution and side letter as adopted were not described in detail during the meeting, and the written side letter was not read into the record. The council did not take public comment and did not amend or modify the terms described by the presenter during the meeting.