Nearly every city of Tucson employee complied with the vaccine mandate by Thursday’s deadline, when workers could officially be fired if they continued to defy the policy.
The remaining noncompliant employees — who represent 0.3% of the city’s workforce — can now be terminated according to a rule that made Dec. 1 the last day for workers to get fully vaccinated, have a medical exemption or receive a “religious accommodation.”
Officials said the 99.7% rate of compliance is a positive step toward ensuring residents can safely access public services.
It also represents the end of a monthslong standoff between city officials and employees who refused to follow the mandate. The conflict prompted concern that the policy would worsen the city’s existing staff shortage, which has already affected services ranging from policing to park maintenance.
Only 11 employees across eight city departments are now eligible for termination because of noncompliance as of Thursday. Officials said those potential vacancies will have no impact on services.
“The city of Tucson’s vaccine policy has proven to be overwhelmingly effective in increasing our vaccination rate and protecting the community we serve,” said Mayor Regina Romero. “My gratitude goes to each and every employee who has done their part, especially at a time when COVID-19 cases are surging.”
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero thanked city employees for getting vaccinated.
Data shows that 10% of compliant city employees remain unvaccinated, however. Those workers received a medical exemption or religious accommodation, which is given to individuals who object to the vaccination “on the basis of sincerely held religious beliefs or practices.”
The actual rate of vaccination within Tucson’s workforce is around 90%, or about 3,500 of the city’s 3,900 employees. There were a handful of departments with 100% vaccination rates, including the City Manager and Public Defender offices.
Citywide, the number of employees who complied with the mandate took a sharp turn following the city council’s 4-3 decision on Oct. 19 to fire those who didn’t comply. At the time about 300 workers were out of compliance and previous penalties, like five-day suspensions, had failed to produce results.
Councilmembers who voted against the motion raised concerns about the potentially devastating impact on city services that could result from firing so many employees at once. Many of the noncompliant workers were concentrated in key offices like the Tucson Police Department, where there was already a 12% shortage of active-duty sworn officers. The city’s 911 call center was also a hot spot and current staffing levels there are only at about 60% of what’s needed.
Despite the risk of potentially having to fire employees Tucson couldn’t afford to lose, Councilman Steve Kozachik — a staunch proponent of the policy — said the decision was a no-brainer.
“The issue for me is ensuring that every contact that every citizen in this community has with a city employee is as safe as it can be,” Kozachik said. “That’s the reason this isn’t a difficult balance for me, this is simply saying if you sign on as a public servant, we’re going to mandate that those words have meaning to the public when you come in contact with them.”
The gamble paid off for the city as nine of its 17 major departments achieved 100% compliance with the mandate by the termination deadline. None of the other eight departments are at risk of losing more than 1% of their workforce, either:
City Courts: 1 noncompliant employee, 1% of the department’s workforce.
Tucson Police Department: 1 employee, 0.1% of workforce.
Public Safety Communications: 1 employee, 0.8% of workforce.
Tucson Fire Department: 1 employee, 0.2% of workforce.
Environmental General Services Department: 3 employees, 0.9% of workforce.
Parks and Recreation: 1 employee, 0.5% of workforce.
Tucson Water: 1 employee, 0.2% of workforce.
Business Services: 2 employees, 0.9% of workforce.
City Manager Michael Ortega said the few positions that have been affected by the mandate will be filled as part of a broader effort to fully staff city offices.
Tucson city manager Michael Ortega is developing a plan to restaff city departments.
He released a staffing strategy at a recent council meeting that included numerous steps to generally beef up Tucson’s workforce, such as making the hiring process quicker and more efficient.
“I think what’s also important here, as we go down this path, I think that the discussion point for this is continuity of operations,” Ortega said at the meeting. “What we’ve done is kind of turn this into an opportunity to kind of rethink how we approach business within the city of Tucson.”
The staffing plan will play out over the coming year. In the meantime, officials are confident that the vaccine mandate terminations will have no effect on services.
