Placentia city employees tell council wages aren’t keeping pace amid recruitment and retention concerns

At the start of the meeting several longtime city employees addressed council during oral communications to press for better pay and recognition.

"My name is Eddie Rodriguez. I'm the president of the Placentia City Employee Association," Rodriguez told the council, explaining he has worked for the city 21 years and asking council to "recognize the value of our people who keep the city running every single day and to take actions that allow us to continue to serve this community without sacrificing our family, our futures." He said the current bargaining proposal provides little or no cost‑of‑living adjustment and that some employees are leaving for higher pay.

Felipe Zimbardo, a community services coordinator of more than 30 years, and Shay (Veil) Rodriguez, a public‑safety dispatcher who cited recent heavy overtime, backed those arguments and urged parity across sworn and civilian public‑safety roles. Veronica Rodarte, who identified herself as the association's negotiator, described the city's current compensation proposal as effectively a pay cut and called for transparent, good‑faith bargaining.

Councilmembers acknowledged the comments and said closed‑session labor negotiations were on the evening's agenda; no council action was taken publicly tonight. The union speakers asked staff to engage directly with affected employees and to provide clear fiscal options if the council seeks to increase compensation.