Police hear from community: Contract negotiations with city of San Bruno at impasse

But Marriane Lindblom, San Bruno Police Association secretary and records clerk, told the group of community members, who were gathered in the San Bruno Target parking lot because officers are prohibited from holding meetings on city property, that the offer did not include clerks’ salaries. The clerks were offered a 9% increase over a three-year period, Lindblom said. 

“It’s hard to say that the city doesn’t appreciate the work we do, but we’re feeling that they don’t,” she said. “We keep telling them that we’re losing officers, and you don’t understand the impact.” 

Thomy Ledesma, San Bruno Police Association president, previously warned that there were 10 to 11 police department staff leaving or thinking of leaving by this year, either because they were retiring or simply fed up with the lack of a new contract. 

“We’re losing a lot of good people,” Lindblom said. “People that know the streets, they know their names.” 

The San Bruno Police Association has said they’re asking for competitive pay in the high-cost area to keep staff and adequately serve the community. 

San Bruno’s 2025 base salary for police officers sits at $112,254 and is at the lower end of the county pay spectrum for sworn officer jobs. Other smaller cities like Burlingame have salaries in the $111,000 range. South San Francisco’s base salary sits at $117,561, and other larger cities like San Mateo and Daly City are paying starting officers nearly $30,000 more than San Bruno. 

If the department doesn’t receive the salary increases for which they are asking, substantial services could be cut, Lindblom warned, including traffic enforcement, homeless encampment outreach, burglary response without suspect information and checks on homes while residents are vacationing.

“Because we don’t have the resources to hit everything anymore … those nonessentials will be cut,” she said. 

Residents at the meeting asked what they could do to support the force and said they would be showing up or writing in to the City Council’s upcoming meeting March 22, which will be 7 p.m. at the San Bruno Recreation and Aquatic Center, to express their frustration. 

Many community members are grateful for the police department and haven’t forgotten their assistance during the 2010 gas pipeline explosion and fire in the Crestmoor Neighborhood, Darlene Esola said. 

“I hope all of the officers here know that San Bruno is probably the only city in San Mateo County that considers you part of our family,” she said to cheers and applause from the group. 

Seeing the community come out to support the department’s requests was meaningful, Ledesma said. 

“I really, really, really appreciate everyone coming out. It means a lot,” he said. “It makes me want to do my job even better, and so I thank you.”