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Rio Vista Youth Services walks away after council seeks higher insurance and training
Summary
Staff told the council it attempted to renegotiate the Rio Vista Youth Services agreement to increase insurance and require volunteer training; staff said RVYS chose to withdraw rather than accept proposed $5,000,000 liability limits and new training standards; residents and council debated safety needs versus volunteer capacity.
Rio Vista staff updated the council Aug. 20 on negotiations with Rio Vista Youth Services (RVYS) and said the nonprofit ultimately declined to renew the agreement after the city sought to update indemnity, insurance and training requirements.
Staff recounted that the city initially contracted with RVYS in 2016 (and earlier agreements date to 2009) and that, after a recent incident involving a student and a review of indemnity language, the city sought stronger indemnity and higher insurance limits. Staff said the city’s standard going forward would be $5,000,000 per occurrence for similar subleases and sought to add volunteer training requirements comparable to those used by the Boys & Girls Club: CPR, sudden cardiac arrest response, blood-borne-pathogen training, mandatory reporting, child-abuse-prevention, harassment/discrimination/inclusion training and three positive behavior-support trainings. Staff said vendor pricing for the non-CPR modules was available and would amount to roughly $15 per month per volunteer for certain training packages.
Council members and residents debated the balance between safety standards and the viability of volunteer-run programs. Several residents argued that the proposed insurance and training requirements would be prohibitively expensive for a small, volunteer-run program and urged the city to consider waivers or alternative certification routes. Others, including council members who reviewed the prior record, said the direction was driven by concerns about children's safety: one council member said volunteers previously disclosed personal information about students and that the program did not appear to be professionally run.
Staff said it met with the RVYS executive director (Robbie Williams) to explore options and that RVYS chose not to renegotiate the agreement. The city characterized this item as an informational update; no new contract was approved at the meeting.
Next steps: Staff will treat the matter as closed for the existing negotiations, continue to make the space available for community groups under city policies, and incorporate training and insurance standards into future agreements or sublease discussions.
