REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Report on a Written Petition (Council Policy 030) Submitted by Councilmember Anthony Becker Regarding Letter Sent by Mayor Gillmor to Governor Newsom Regarding Department of Industrial Relations Investigation on Prevailing Wage Claims on the Related Santa Clara Project
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Enhance Community Engagement and Transparency
BACKGROUND
On September 21, 2022, the City Clerk's Office received a Written Petition from Councilmember Anthony Becker requesting an item be placed on a future Council agenda to discuss Mayor Lisa Gillmor's request concerning the "Related Company and prevailing wages issue as well as a report on the claim from the Union of Painters made with the Department of Industrial Relations and that [the] discussion happen at the Council meeting of October 4th, 2022." (Attachment 1)
On September 27, 2022, the Council approved the petition to be heard by the full Council. This report is in response to the 030 Council Petition.
DISCUSSION
On September 15, 2020, the State of California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) advised Related Santa Clara and the City of Santa Clara that it had received a request from District Council 16 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (Union) to determine if the Related Santa Clara (RSC) development was a public works project and therefore required to pay prevailing wages for all aspects of construction. Since that time, DIR has made four comprehensive information requests to RSC and the City, with the most recent request in June 2022. To date, a determination has not been made by DIR and the investigation remains open.
The status and issues related to the investigation will be discussed with Council in closed session. This report focuses on the March 4, 2022 letter sent to Governor Newsom by Mayor Gillmor (Attachment 2).
For context, since 2013 the City and RSC have been working together on a public-private partnership development on the Ci...
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