2017

Outgoing Mayor Janet Abelson's favorite act of the centennial year was opposing the West County jail expansion, which would have used 200 beds for ICE detainees: “we had a price to pay,” the loss of a county police dispatch contract, “in a way an absurdity.” She lists the year's work: six ordinances, 80 resolutions, a senior center moved after the Fairmont lease was lost, crews sent to the state's fires, and a library plan that “didn't work.” Gabe Quinto is chosen Mayor and Rochelle Pardue-Okimoto Mayor Pro Tem, sworn in by Judge Benjamin Reyes. Pardue-Okimoto recalls introducing the jail letter as a new councilmember. Quinto, son of Filipino immigrants and “your first LGBT mayor in the 100 year history,” promises affordable housing, small business, a city of trees and a charter city vote in November 2018.

The commercial cannabis ordinance, allowing up to two retail businesses with deliveries, is adopted 4–1, with Lyman voting no and warning of enforcement costs. An urgency ordinance, which Lyman moves as “a local control person,” covers the days between the state's first licenses on 1 January and the ordinance taking effect. A first-time speaker calls the police chief's remote access to on-site video “pretty much purely Orwellian.”

Howdy Goudey asks the Council to pull the $551,000 purchase of two recycling trucks, Robin Mitchell urges electric options, and Al Miller asks that truck height be considered; it passes on consent. Speakers ask that the investment policy address climate-related financial risk, and the Council directs the Financial Advisory Board to add the strategic plan's environmental goals at its next review. Also: the Centennial Task Force's hundred events, under budget, with 52 descendants of Victor Castro; El Cerrito 13th in the nation as an EPA Green Power Community; the Hana Gardens wait list; an Alta Bates health impact assessment; and an adjournment in honor of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

Staff present an ordinance allowing two cannabis storefronts on San Pablo Avenue, with deliveries only from those stores, cashless payment, and police access to live video. Privacy speakers, among them a member of Oakland Privacy, ask who could see the feed and whether it could reach federal agencies; Chief Keith says the intent is access when a crime is in progress, not monitoring, and that the city shares no video with federal agencies. Opponents cite addiction, Denver and China's opium wars; supporters cite the 73% vote for the proposition and patients' needs. A delivery advocate argues that tying deliveries to storefronts puts “a target on the back of the delivery courier.”

Lyman, troubled by new sales of smokables in a city that restricts smoking, proposes allowing only cannabis products, not the plant, and finds no support; he votes no. The ordinance is introduced 4–1 with his technical amendments and Fadelli's change of closing time from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Pardue-Okimoto asks to revisit outdoor cultivation, on-site consumption and cashless payment after the new year, and the City Attorney explains that repealing the program later would be within the city's police power.

In public comment, two residents trained as tenants' advocates ask for rent stabilization and just cause protections (“what are we waiting for”), and Howdy Goudey asks that the affordable housing strategy not be sidelined by the charter city process. Lyman sets out the charter committee's makeup and schedule. The Arts and Culture Commission reports its first poet laureate, an artist residency at the recycling center and the first One City One Book. Also: a resident who chased off an attacker is honored, the pool's $220,000 comes from its own Measure A fund, garbage rates rise, and the Wall of Fame moves to a touchscreen.

Staff propose a charter committee confined to revenue: no change to the municipal code, prevailing wages and collective bargaining protected, and a real property transfer tax in view. El Cerrito's tax brought about $1.2 million before the city repealed it in 2003, when general law cities could no longer defend one; at $12 per $1,000 it could bring about $2.7 million a year. Mayor Abelson fears “a kind of a slippery slope” but votes yes on the narrow version; Fadelli, who likens a charter to a city's constitution, wants the public process left open and abstains. Pardue-Okimoto argues that low council pay keeps working people off the dais, and a resident calls the charter “really about getting more tax money.” Lyman and Fadelli will sit on the committee.

Operations Chief Michael Pagone describes the Tubbs fire: an El Cerrito engine diverted to Santa Rosa as the fire crossed Highway 101, two crews on the line “well over 36 hours,” 42 deaths across the North Bay fires, and over 200 Santa Rosa hospital staff who lost their homes. A resident asks for red flag day rules in the hills and one alert system instead of three.

SEIU Local 1021's three-year contract raises base pay 3.5% a year; a resident asks whether the Financial Advisory Board reviews labor contracts, and is told it does not. Also: a resident asks that the police body camera policy come to the Council, the seniors must leave their center by 30 June 2018, the local campaign literature rules are repealed, and the Ohlone Greenway project finally gets an acceptable bid.

Five El Cerrito High seniors in the fifth year of EC STARS describe their internships in planning, IT, administration, the recycling center and recreation, from meeting packets and a storage closet's Polaroid camera to an iPad class for seniors; teacher Corey Mason says “internships matter,” and Cordell Hindler hopes Richmond will follow: “they should be the model.”

Human Relations Commission chair Margo Hunter Parisi presents Martin Luther King Day, a student commissioner, the Not Alone: Becoming Allies workshop and Loving Day, and recalls the Stop Hate Together signs after the 2016 hate crime and the sanctuary resolutions; Pardue-Okimoto asks that Loving Day be promoted earlier. Captain Joe Gagne reports one forced fire hazard abatement out of 123 properties, and the Council confirms its cost.

In public comment, David Montez asks for regular updates on relocating senior programs, and Cheryl Saddith reports $500,000 from the county for Stand Together CoCo. Also: the centennial parade and gala, SB 687 on hospital emergency rooms, Centennial Park and expedited EV charging permits on consent, hazardous waste costs up almost 33% in five years, and an adjournment in memory of Chuck Wing.

The recording begins partway through public comment. Assistant City Manager Karen Pinkos traces 15 years of library efforts, from a $1.7 million deal for the senior center site lost to the state's redevelopment claims to Measure B, which won 63% in November 2016 but fell short of two-thirds. Group 4 proposes broader outreach, a defined site, and a study with BART of development at the El Cerrito Plaza station. Lyman presses for money to tie up sites; City Manager Scott Hanin warns “you don't want to lose all of them trying to get all of them.” Residents describe unanswered questions on Nextdoor and ask for a plan that is “not just a 30 million dollar blank check.” The Council agrees to all four of staff's directions.

Jaime Jenett of the county homeless program reports about 1,600 homeless people countywide, about 80% of whom lost their housing in Contra Costa, and the move to coordinated entry and CORE outreach teams. Matt Kelly presents the countywide transportation plan to 2040. In the weed abatement hearing Carl Mulligan asks “what is the degree of force”; the list falls from 123 properties to 25.

Also: a 398-signature petition against commercial cannabis, a call for a stronger tree ordinance, and Lyman's warning that the waste authority's dues could rise from $60,000 to about $150,000.

After a closed session on 24 May, the school district extended the senior center lease one year, to 30 June 2018, with notice to leave; the city had asked for three years. Seniors describe $2 lunches, computer classes and a reason to get up in the morning; Fairmont parents describe a school at 140% of capacity and seven years waiting for a rebuild: “we're not hostile to seniors we just are tired.” Two trustees come to listen.

Lyman says “senior services will not end in El Cerrito,” but reserves of $2.5 to $3 million cannot buy land; one councilmember calls the notice “an eviction notice,” another apologizes to Fairmont parents for not supporting their rebuild, and the Mayor calls the offer “take it or leave it.” The City Manager is to sign the one-year extension only after the board's 28 June meeting.

Also: the Sundar Shadi garden contest, county animal services at $5.94 a resident, Karen Pinkos elected to lead ICMA, support for the Paris climate agreement, a $6 million cash flow note, 3% raises for managers, and the Environmental Quality Committee's thanks for 100% renewable power.

Al Miller and Gary Pokorny of the Library Foundation ask for a sustainable plan to lengthen library hours: of 21 city libraries in the county, only Antioch's and Pinole's are open fewer than El Cerrito's 35. Library commissioner Michael Fisher proposes a city library commission. East Bay MUD's Andy Katz explains 9.25% and 9% rate increases: pipes 50 to 80 years old, replacement ramping from 10 to 40 miles a year, and three to seven days without water after a Hayward quake; Lyman notes 40 miles is a 100-year cycle.

The Council adopts a 3% master fee update, with a community development fee study under way, and hires RHAA for a parks and recreation facilities master plan for buildings mostly dating from the 1964 park bond. In public comment, Sydney Manchester Jones warns of lead and asbestos in the buildings to be demolished for the El Dorado townhomes, and Judith Tannenbaum proposes a town hall.

After 9:30 p.m., a goals workshop led by Management Partners lists strengths (the specific plan, affordable housing, pavement), limits (funding, staffing, CalPERS, aging buildings, traffic) and threats (federal action, disasters, climate change, hospital closures), and is continued to 16 May.

Battalion Chief Mike Bond, retiring after 26 years, tells of a three-year-old named Elijah on a Christmas Eve call. Residents, in Judith Tannenbaum's speaking turn, protest what a speaker calls Sheriff Livingston's “threat” to drop the city's dispatch contract over its letter opposing the West County jail expansion; staff confirm the Sheriff is not bringing the contract forward.

After Senior Planner Sean Moss's history of cannabis law and twelve speakers for and against, the Council votes 5–0 to modify or end the ban on medical marijuana businesses and 4–1 to end the ban on recreational ones, Lyman voting no. It steers staff's framework: up to two shops on San Pablo Avenue, deliveries only to be considered, manufacturing grouped with lab testing, and revenue beyond sales tax.

Howdy Goudey's appeal says at least 39 people lost their homes at the RV park; Sydney Manchester Jones, a former resident, lives in his car. Told the review is limited to design, the Council denies the appeal 5–0, adding conditions to drop a 50-inch sconce and keep solar conduit inside the walls, and calls for an inclusionary ordinance and a policy against displacement.

Supervisor John Gioia explains the Sheriff's proposal: about 420 high-security cells at the West County Detention Facility, a $70 million state grant with a $25 million county match, and about 200 beds held for ICE detainees. Speakers from the county Democratic Party, ACLU People Power, SEIU and the California Nurses Association urge services, not cells.

The Council approves Pardue-Okimoto's letter 5–0, adding at Lyman's motion that the state should require Sheriff Livingston to cancel his ICE contract. Karen Pinkos reports on the strategic plan: a pavement index of 84, third in the Bay Area, and greenhouse gas emissions 14% below 2005.

Mark Rasiah's mid-year budget is close to plan, with the fund balance expected at 9.2%; his five-year forecast assumes 6% property tax growth and about $6 million in added pension costs, leaving the reserve near 11 to 12%, short of the 15% goal. The Mayor splits the Wall of Fame item into this year's selection and a review of the guidelines.