City Council Meeting April 17, 2012

0:00:00and um there have been a number of them already and the upcoming ones will be on May the 5th and uh June the second both from 10 a.m until 12 30 and the meeting place for that project is at the Iolani Greenway and conlon Avenue just south of where the BART crosses San

0:00:22Pablo Avenue so if you're interested in being part of that project you can sign up today by calling um area code 510-215 -4350 or send an email to Green at CI dot e l Dash cerrito.ca.us and I actually have a bunch of Flyers if anyone wants one maybe I could continue

0:00:55in case anyone wants one and um then of course on Saturday we have Earth Day part one and on Sunday we have Earth Day part two and on the main Earth day which is Saturday the 21st we will be having work parties if you've been unable to sign up for one yet or or decide at the last

0:01:22minute you'd like to do something after all then just come to the community center that morning at 9 00 a.m for an assignment but if you want to sign up ahead of time go to Earth Day at ci.el.c cerrito.ca.us and um of give us your name and um uh say something about what you would

0:01:50like to do or just say give me an assignment and we will respond to you and try to fulfill your requests and then on Sunday we will be having a very special celebration we'll be doing the ribbon cutting for our new brand new recycling center um which is gonna we hope the uh

0:02:17Platinum level lead certified which is the highest Green Building standard and um I think you'll find our new recycling center to be a really special place a place you can really enjoy and you can see a lot of innovation in not only the building and design of that facility but

0:02:37also in the use of that facility we plan to try to incorporate a number of new ideas for recycling reuse into the facility and with I think a continuing look to finding even more ways so if you have ideas please let us know about that so it's a very exciting weekend and if

0:03:02you come to Earth Day part one on the 21st Saturday then at noon we do have a free lunch for everybody at the community center so with a lot of activities for kids so please do join us and um see that um and then let's see if it so on um foreign I think I'll stop there in case somebody

0:03:34else wants to bring out any of the other ones uh I've got well I have a couple of them one is uh it's this isn't it's just it's probably sobering compared to Janet's but you have less than five hours to file your income tax tonight those who are thinking about starting to

0:03:59file uh second of all we in our Council packets we had received uh I guess statements or petitions from several residents about plastic bags in the ban on plastic bags and uh it appeared to me that maybe the people didn't know that actually El Cerrito is doing something about that with our

0:04:26association with recycle more or the West County Integrated Waste Management and I'd like to council member Lyman maybe to just brief us on where that project is yeah where that project stands at the moment is that recycle more is in the process of completing the

0:04:43environmental review the recycle more did hire a consultant back in I think it was December to conduct an environmental review of that process and craft legislation that five cities can adopt the consultant has completed the initial checklist and is in the process of

0:05:03completing a draft mitigated neg deck for consideration and that will be adopted hopefully at the um at the board level the West County Integrated Waste Management board level and then they would be providing draft legislation for us to consider sometime in the near future

0:05:27and we're also already on record as joining that effort so um city of El Cerrito has gone forward with this type of thing we're joining up so that the expense to each city is minimized because of our membership with the Integra well West Contra Costa County Integrated

0:05:48Waste Management or authority so thank you Greg okay anything else okay um do we have any oral Communications for tonight we have I have one speaker slip Al Miller please good evening mayor Jones council members and staff uh my name is Al Miller I live at [address removed] in El Cerrito and

0:06:16mayor following on your tax announcement I noticed in the paper that because many fewer people are filing their taxes by mail there's only one post office in the East Bay Area that's open until 10 o'clock tonight and that's the main branch in Oakland so if anybody is really working on it

0:06:36that's the only place they can mail it and get it into the mail in time the other thing I wanted to mention is that I believe yesterday was the first birthday of the El Cerrito patch was in a matter of days of tonight and I just wanted a in addition to wishing them happy birthday

0:06:55uh thank the editor Charles for us who's here tonight as he usually is for the amount of energy and time he is devoted to the project and creating patch as a real there here in El Cerrito I think it's very valuable to us as a greater Community because my observation

0:07:17in what limited use I make of patch is that it's reached out and is contacting a large part of our community not only in El Cerrito but mostly in El Cerrito in our close surrounds that you don't normally see at a commission meeting at a council meeting or at a public venue

0:07:36but there are now because of Mr beres's efforts being made aware of what's going on here in the council and the other meetings as you know for having red patch so I think that's been a great contribution to us and I hope collectively we continue to use patch in

0:07:55such a way that it will convince his corporate headquarters that we really want it to stay around so thank you patch the other thing I can mention is on consent calendar item 5D at the one on measure K I just wanted to offer my encouragement to you to positively endorse and support measure K

0:08:20thank you thank you any other speakers no other speaker slips thank you um okay could you uh introduce the next gender item please certainly the next agenda item under item number four presentations heal cities campaign a presentation of a certificate designating El Cerrito as an active City

0:08:44and I think we have a speaker thank you very much my name is Susan lindheim I'm a local Richmond Kaiser physician and so it's my privilege to present you with this heel a healthy eating active living City certificate as a physician I totally understand the importance of community

0:09:05involvement in making and promoting health and minimizing chronic disease so there's a little history on the program was initiated in 2008 by the league of California cities in the California Center for public health advocacy it assists cities with policies that promote walking biking and physical

0:09:22activity and that enhance access to fresh fruits vegetables and other healthy foods excuse me could you lower put it down thank you sorry oh that's all right appreciate it um also as a resident of El Cerrito for more than 20 years I totally understand that El Cerrito has had policies that far

0:09:40predate this program um so it is um with the certificate the heel cities campaign and Kaiser Permanente recognize the city of El Cerrito as an active heel City who has adopted and implemented policies to address the Obesity epidemic and other chronic conditions

0:09:59well thank you very much really appreciate it I have a certificate oh we're good should we all go down oh you want to come oh yes you're actually the first one who's ever done that thank you very much hi Sarah's graduating from college it's really special being presented this

0:10:27by your daughter's pediatrician for so many years thank you very much this is uh one of the more positive things we're able to do up here that's great thank you very much all right next item please 4B the San Pablo Avenue streetscape public art project update and Suzanne erla okay

0:11:00good evening mayor and council members this evening we have an informational presentation for you about the San Pablo Avenue streetscape public art project as you may recall as part of the San Pablo Avenue public as part of the Saint Paul Avenue streetscape project

0:11:15one hundred thousand dollars was committed to public art in 2009 the city issued a call to artists for public artwork and through a competitive process we received 17 proposals the arts and culture commission ultimately selected the team of Jonathan Russell and sayori ede and in early 2010 the

0:11:38city entered into a contract with the artists for over a year the arts and culture commission and the artists worked on their original proposal which was to create colorful metal icons that would be installed on street light poles along the length of the Avenue

0:11:54ultimately the commission decided they would like to see the artists go in a different direction and they asked the artist to come up with a new approach that was abstract copper or other metal sculptural and integrated into the current streetscape the artist came back with an alternative proposal

0:12:12for 12 wind sculptures to be installed along San Pablo Avenue on light poles that proposal was accepted by the commission last month so tonight Vice chair Nancy Donovan would like to briefly speak to you and then there'll be a brief presentation by the artists mayor chamber council members my name is

0:12:45Nancy Donovan I've been on the arts and culture Commission in El Cerrito for about five years now and I'm going to just say a little bit about public art um public art refers to works of art in the media in any media plan and executed to be cited in the physical public

0:13:03domain outside and accessible to all and it was it's been incredibly exciting and a lot of hard work to work on this project over the past number of years I think public art any kind of art can be controversial and public art can be very controversial I think ultimately the

0:13:22goal of art is to beautify and make people think and enjoy and and the fact that this project is part of the cityscape of the streetscape of San Pablo that has just so come alive um I'm really proud of the work that the artists have done and that the commission has done and uh look forward

0:13:40to your approval of the project as well thank you thank you so I'd like to have the artists come up and they're going to give a brief PowerPoint presentation to give you a sense of what their proposal that was approved by the arts and culture commission is the um the 12

0:14:01sculptures will be installed on light poles at some nodes along San Pablo Avenue namely Carlson Boulevard there would be two sculptures at near City Hall there would be three sculptures at the Potrero Avenue intersection two sculptures near the El Super Del Norte BART station three

0:14:20sculptures and at the Conlin Avenue intersection there'll be two sculptures those would be on both the east and west side of the street when the city embarked on the streetscape project there was a conscious effort to work on both sides of the Avenue all of the street light poles are owned

0:14:38by the city of El Cerrito so where the art is being installed is on City street light poles even if it's on the Richmond side of the street and the artists have got clearance from the city engineer regarding the mounting mechanism for the for the sculptures to be up on the poles

0:14:54good can I how how did we get uh approval by the engineer to hang these when we can't get approval to hang the illuminated signs for the streets so these sculptures will be hung on the sidewalk side of the street pole so it's not within the Caltrans purview okay the artist had

0:15:15actually originally wanted to put them on the other side of the pole these are on the The Pedestrian side of the pole oh good sidewalk side all right thank you for clarifying that mm-hmm there's a tab push push hello great excuse me hi I'm Jonathan Russell excuse me

0:15:59and this is my wife sorry Russell hi hi welcome sorry mm-hmm yeah apology do you guys want to hit the light or is this okay hit it here go ahead thank you there you go we are very excited to give our presentation of the San Pablo Avenue public sculpture projects to the city

0:16:37council members tonight working with the art commission for the last two years we've learned so much about the life and history of El Cerrito and more importantly we've come to touch the pulse of this amazingly vibrant and Alive City even just hearing you guys tonight I love all the things that are

0:16:55happening and actually we've Ari and I were commenting tonight that we spend more time here in El Cerrito than we do in Berkeley and it's not it's not a joke we're here five days a week for all the different kinds of activities for our kids but um working with the commission's feedback

0:17:17and the public input we've come to understand what the city is looking for in their public artwork the 12 sculptures that we are presenting tonight are chosen by the Arts commission from over 30 images that we had they had asked us to present as an alternative idea to our original Street

0:17:37icon proposal after these were finalized the Commissioners then took a walking tour of San Pablo Avenue to choose the current site locations which have already been mentioned we have designed 12 abstract wind sculptures that will mount on 12 designated light poles along San Pablo

0:17:58Avenue the shapes and the composition of each form are uniquely designed and placed within the center of an open circle our idea is to create playful and eye-catching sculptures that both pedestrians and drivers alike can enjoy these wind sculptures will provide the

0:18:14city of El Cerrito with a cohesive and vibrant artwork that will create a pedestrian-friendly environment and Visually tie together the long stretch of San Pablo Avenue from the north and to the South here are the 12 sculptures now there's a little bit of distortion

0:18:38here as our screen wasn't quite as elongated as this is foreign so the Open Circles will be fabricated with stainless steel reflecting the same aesthetic as the new bicycle racks placed along San Pablo Avenue each unique abstracted form will be fabricated in Copper and will be

0:19:12lightweight weather resistant and durable the mechanism for the moving elements will be pillar blocks mounted within enclosed parts of the sculptures the movement of each sculpture will be wind tested before installation we will leave the natural color of the materials as requested by the art

0:19:34commission members the natural tone of the copper gives a warm and earthy feeling to the entire project the stainless steel circles are four and a half feet in diameter and the abstract kinetic forms will fit within this circle these sculptures will be mounted on

0:19:53street lights 20 feet above the ground facing the sidewalk opposite from the lights this height provides visibility for both pedestrians and vehicles the elevated placement of the artwork will ensure pedestrian safety as well as protect against vandalism we specifically in agreement with the

0:20:14Commissioners selected 12 light poles that are located in areas with high visibility heavy pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic for added security the wind and weight load on the street lights are well within the pole manufacturer's specifications and meet within with the city Engineers

0:20:34approval for maintenance the copper and stainless steel are durable permanent outdoor materials that need almost no maintenance because we're keeping the natural surface and color of the materials there will be no issues of surface finish paint durability briefly the locations are and this has

0:21:00been we'll just repeat it there'll be two at Carlson Boulevard intersection three at the city hall and Manila Avenue intersection two at Potrero Avenue intersection three at Del Norte and Hill Street intersection and two at Conlin Avenue intersection so now we're going to show you

0:21:25we're going to show you each sculpture on the map and salary will introduce these [Music] each sculpture which one goes to what location which location and I'm gonna start with the South's end um the first one is right at the Carlson Boulevard the orange circle sort of shows you

0:21:53that's the light bulb that we selected and that will be the very first light bulb when you enter El Cerrito El Cerrito um for this location we chose this sculpture to go and every single sculpture will move within this open circle and the next one is at the same

0:22:18intersection but on the opposite side on the West Side um at the uh right now it's a Payless shoes and it's really open intersection and for this light bulb we chose this sculpture um the next grouping will be the city hall here and uh first one is on the east side

0:22:45um sort of that's where the driveway yeah right at the driveway I think um and then the next one is sort of right next to each other to the last one and um for that location where you select this sculpture and then the other one is the cross those three from those two

0:23:26this will be in the west side of the street we've selected this Sculptor and next group is at the Petrella Avenue intersection and there's a really nice open triangle area and this is the uh the piece that we selected and it's very visible it's open and it's a um

0:24:01entrance from the freeway a lot of traffic goes by so the the next one is across the street from that triangle intersection there at Petrella Avenue on the west side we've selected this sculpture and next grouping is at the Del Norte BART station and this is the south side of it the Hill Street

0:24:33intersection again this is also very uh high traffic area and entrance and or exit from the highway this is the sculpture we selected for this space and the next one is the north end of that the intersection on the same side the west side of the street and this is the sculpture we

0:25:04selected and then the third one on this for this intersection on the part parking lot side the sculpture we selected um the last grouping is at the North End of the um San Pablo Avenue this is the the common Avenue in a section on the West Side sort of very end of Home Depot

0:25:42um parking area and this is the sculpture we selected and across the street from that light fall is another one this is a sculpture we selected yeah and uh the slideshow from this one will kind of show you from the south end walking towards the North to see what it looks like if you're

0:26:23walking on a sidewalk okay so that's the presentation but we um we just want to acknowledge the the art commission how it was it was an amazing experience and it was a very much back and forth you know I should say collaboration between them and us and coming to a

0:27:27final proposal so you know I did a project in Boston once where the similar to this I started with a piece that was on the ground it was a bunch of fish and when I finished it was 16 feet up in the air and you know moving so it was a great experience and I really want to commend all of our

0:27:47commission I mean we're very grateful that they worked with us like this it was great well thank you for all of your effort and the process it was long and uh as you indicated involved so I'm glad you enjoyed it and I think you've come up personally and I'll let the other

0:28:06we'll all talk here but I I think you've come up with the very original uh uh piece of art for the Avenue certainly something that uh distinguished will distinguish El Cerritos part of the Avenue from others and that was one of the goals when we started the San Pablo Improvement plan

0:28:25so it fits right in there and appreciate all your efforts thank you thank you mayor I'll just make a few comments I want to just make note or highlight the perseverance that the Commissioners and the artists and the staff and the public um have shown in this project if you

0:28:41looked if you took a close look at the map that was going on the slideshow you would see that there were more than 220 light poles on the map and having been in a few meetings with the artists and the Commissioners these artists know every one of those light poles and the

0:28:56Commissioners also took a great deal of time to walk the avenue to look at each location to think about how the light will hit thing you know how the light will hit the sculptures who what sort of speed people will be traveling and will still be able to observe them so the amount of

0:29:11effort and time that's put into this looking back to 2009 when we first began this project is really I think shows up in the result that it's very clear that a lot of thought has been put into this and a lot of care has been taken with coming up with the sculptures and the

0:29:26locations so I want to commend you for that and like um Nancy was saying earlier all the things about public art um that she described I think are showing up in these sculptures they're things to be appreciated and things to kind of provoke a bit of thought and

0:29:44there are also markers for the Avenue you can kind of now you have more of a sense of place at these various intersections so I'm I'm really looking forward to to seeing them up thank you all right I I too want to thank you for all of your time and effort um I I think uh council member Venice

0:30:04summed it up well I do want to highlight uh that you it does appear that you've come in under budget or at least under the budget amount that uh 100 000 so I want to commend you for that as well um and I do being the engineer have unfortunately one question that I do

0:30:19want to sort of ask um the is there a maximum speed these things will Spin and his vibration uh shaking the bolts loose something that you guys have addressed so it is we're going to have a limit on how fast they spin that has been an issue that we both talked about considerably so we'll test

0:30:40sure you make sure it spins and also make sure it doesn't spin too fast before we install it we've had both are they going to spin at all are they going to spin too fast excellent yes and then with regards to the the the brackets some like a lock washer or double nut or something

0:30:58that'll keep it from vibrating loosen okay great thank you very much well I can't make any engineering comments about it but I will say that uh when I like the idea of having the object that in the center is spinning that really appeals to me the idea of of having

0:31:17um moving uh artwork and I would like to think that it represents a moving community so I appreciate all of the effort that you've put into it and it's really quite creative so thank you for um being part of our community and I hope you'll continue to be thank you

0:31:36thank you very much thank you I mean I I have to say though I mean El Cerrito is quite the amazing place I mean you guys have an amazing City it's it's really true I mean and it is surprising to us how much time we spend here beside this art project I mean really and we do we

0:31:54were just making a list here it's like Japanese schools soccer clubs summer camps piano lessons shopping we even bought our car here [Laughter] you know and then our places of worship you know Ace OSH and Home Depot they're all you know they're all here so that's

0:32:11and I guess the last thing I want to say is how much both salary and I appreciate Karen and Suzanne's uh working with us holding our hands this whole time this would never happen I don't think without their incredible patience and hard work and support well thank you and thank you

0:32:30for sure thank you for spending your profit on this project in El Cerrito we appreciate it all goes back here it all comes home in the future if you need a house we've got them thank you hey uh introduce the next item please item number five adoption of the Ken

0:32:50sent calendar item numbers 5A through 5e yeah mayor I'd like to pull two items for some minor uh type graphical type changes of item 5C and item five E okay five C five E yeah I just wanted to um pull 5e also but for purposes of a brief comment okay that was 5D e okay but I 5D

0:33:21I think I'd like to make just a brief comment on so may I then well I was gonna oh I was also gonna pull um since we have Dr harder here I'd like to pull 5D see if he had any closing organ or arguments closing comments on the uh on the agenda item thank you with that I'll

0:33:41make a motion for items five a and five b on the consent calendar second it's been moved and seconded on the motion all those in favor aye opposed thank you five uh a and five b are accepted we'll now go to 5c uh mayor I will move this but I would like to make um one uh first of all in researching uh

0:34:06the little typographical error that I found I want to make sure that everybody understands Dr leblanc's amazing achievement uh being appointed to a chair of the national board of directors for the American Cancer Society she's the first African-American woman to be

0:34:26honored such and she um it lives right here in in Richmond our neighbors so neighboring City so I do want to acknowledge what a tremendous uh achievement she's made the type graphical error comes into therefore Clause the word cancer is missing from the name of the organization so I would

0:34:46like to change this and beginning with the second end of the second line she is now actually going to be chair error of the American Cancer Society national board of directors if everyone will accept that I would be delighted to move item C at this time second okay can we uh take all three with one

0:35:10so we'll uh we'll go ahead and that I'm I'm more than welcome to make a motion but I do have a I'll jump to 5e or we can do 5D really quickly if you would want Dr harder to speak at this time and then I can make um my request for a change in 5e and council member Abelson can make her

0:35:29comments on 5e as well why don't we do that we'll take up 5D right now and we had it pulled I pulled it Dr harder would you like to uh have anything to say here to update us I want to thank you so much for uh putting this on your agenda tonight and for considering this it's so important

0:35:50to our children to be able to backfill some of the huge gap that we have with the state budget cuts over the last four years and this would be a a small move forward that would really help us to to sustain the programs that we have in West Contra Costa and particularly into

0:36:06El Cerrito so thank you so much for considering this great thank you so I do have a small typographical error in the one two three four fifth whereas Clause um the sentence would read much better if it said extend and to generate an additional 4 million um so that in addition it would become

0:36:27additional as long as we have it off the the consent calendar or be delighted to move that as well is there any objection to that no I may I make just a quick comment on that um as I Was preparing for the meeting I went to the website that's listed on our agenda item which is

0:36:47protectwestcountyschools.com which sort of details all of the parcel K information or sorry measure K information that one might want to know about and considering their support for this measure and I think I was just struck by um sort of the numbness that sometimes

0:37:04occurs when we hear about budget cuts to the school districts in our state and I think we see headlines almost every year with teachers getting pink slips and there there just seems to be this feeling that there's constantly being being money cut and that's one of the

0:37:18reasons this measure is so important and one of the bullets we have in our agenda item list that without this funding class sizes could go to 30 to 38 students per class and just reading that at and imagining that sort of a classroom with one teacher trying to attend to as much as kids are all in one

0:37:36grade and are kind of learning the same things these are 30 to 38 individuals just thinking about that sort of image of my mind just really struck home for me and just made me want to make an appeal to anybody who's listening out there to support the measure if you want

0:37:50to learn more please go to the website that will kind of provide all the information about how the money has been spent in the past and what the plans are for the future and what um what sort of cuts the district will have to consider if they aren't able to continue this partial tax

0:38:06thank you any other comment that um as I read over the detailed information on major K I could see that this is really not a very big request and yet the services that it would support are so critical I mean things like class size reduction my daughter was in first

0:38:32grade the first year of class size reduction and I remember the beginning of the year when it felt like I think it was just three weeks maybe but it felt like just utter chaos because there were so many students and uh you know just one teacher and then they reduced the

0:38:52class size and it just became a completely different place these are with you know kids and then a just 10 or so fewer kids and it really really does make a difference for all the students and so I think that's really what we need to think about um you know it's really all of our

0:39:11futures because you know everybody's getting older and one day everybody's going to need these students to be the ones supporting us so we want them to be well educated and productive citizens and I do think major K is how we do that great and finally I'd be delighted to move

0:39:32item 5e with the following substitution that will strengthen our individual responsibilities so in the one two three four fifth whereas Clause I would like to substitute that with the following sentence the majority of Americans understand each of us and I want to re-emphasize each of us is

0:39:57responsible for improving such behavior and so I'd like to strengthen the individual responsibility aspects of this resolution with that substitution be delighted to read it again if anybody wants me to read it please do so whereas the majority of Americans understand

0:40:14each of us is responsible for improving such Behavior that's instead of whereas the American people strongly believe correct when it starts out like that okay yes I'd be happy to second that and if you're done speaking then I'd just like to make a comment and and therefore be it so moved

0:40:33that I've moved at this time items uh c d and e and I believe council member Abelson is second to all three of those yes thank you and I just wanted to make a comment on item um 5e which is to It's called The choose civility initiative and I want to say how much I appreciate being able to work

0:40:57with a council where we are civil to each other and it's not that we 100 always agree personally that's that's it would be rather boring and something would be wrong to me if we all agreed on every single thing but what I do see every single time is Civility and I

0:41:16appreciate that and I think it makes the city a better place and for for all residents of our city and I think it enables us to do a much better job of doing our job for which the voters elected us and I'd like to thank my fellow council members for their part in

0:41:36that thank you um yeah go ahead mayor yeah I just had a comment on it I I did hear a presentation from Dr ovik superintendent of schools for the county and what struck me as he is very serious about trying to do something about this problem and if you've been around our schools you know that in

0:42:00various forms there is a lacking not in every case not every day not all the time but certainly enough that Dr ovik feels that it needs the type of attention that he can give as head of the Contra Costa County Office of Education and I I really commended on taking this

0:42:23on because he took it on himself and he's building it one meeting and one agency at a time to get backing on this so I think it's a move in a real positive direction and I hope we get to see the results of it uh here fairly soon all right with that do I have a motion

0:42:44on 5c DNE so made second removed in second to approve off the consent calendar items 5c d and e with with amendments with the amended the approved amendments all those in favor aye opposed motion carries thank you item number 7A City Council Members the Ohlone Gardens affordable housing

0:43:10project and we have a staff report on that good evening mayor Jones and City Council Members I'm Hildy mile the city's housing project manager and I'm before you this evening regarding the Ohlone Gardens affordable housing project at 6431 and 6495 Portola Drive I wanted to introduce a couple of

0:43:34staff from resources for Community Development that are here tonight and they're available to answer questions should you have any there's Lisa modiyama who's director development in Matt Lewis who is the project manager for the project so the item before you is to consider a

0:43:52resolution that would authorize an amendment to the existing permanent loan agreement with theologi Gardens partnership and consideration of your approval of the proposed replacement plan for the special needs units that are in the project there's a lot of background material

0:44:12that is summarized in the staff report in short we embarked on this project a long time ago back in 2008 when the Redevelopment agency board approved a pre-development loan for the project and since that time in 2009 you also approved a permanent loan so that rcd and the hotline center for the

0:44:34blind could acquire the project the project site um I think the city has been very supportive of this unique partnership between resources for Community Development and the Hatland center for the blind I think everyone tried very hard to make that partnership work

0:44:52we knew that the hatlands capital campaign for the project was very ambitious for an organization a small non-profit such as theirs and it's unfortunate that hotline ultimately decided that that Capital campaign was not achievable and withdrew from the project um the loan agreement before you tonight

0:45:14reflects hotline's exit from the project we did think about and develop contingencies for what would happen if hotland was ultimately not able to participate so the loan amendment is to reflect that and to update the schedules and timelines for performance uh sort of the

0:45:33largest piece is also looking at what is the replacement plan for the special needs units um and I'll just and I'll describe that a little more um I think on the bright side rcd is really revved up its engines and put a lot of work into an alternative financing plan that I think has a

0:45:55thoughtful special needs component and that proposes 10 units of housing that would be targeted to two different special needs populations along with services that would be appropriate for those households five of the units are proposed to serve they would be funded by What's called the

0:46:17housing opportunities for persons with AIDS program that's a federal program sponsored by Hud it's administered by Contra Costa County um and uh persons with AIDS would be eligible to live in those units and the other five units are proposed to serve consumers with mental health

0:46:39related issues through the County's Mental Health Services act program so the mental health services Act is a state program that is administered through each County and that program has been up and running for about four or five years now so it has a track record

0:47:00and the county um administers that program and everyone who is referred through that program has services that are associated with that um so rcd is working very hard to put all the pieces in place for a July tax credit application so that's just a few months away and that would mean that all

0:47:26the funding sources also have to be committed by that time so in that regard they would next come before the city we anticipate in June they would like to come to the Planning Commission to request an extension of their existing entitlements which expire in August and

0:47:45they need to extend those in order to to meet the tax credit requirements um about July tax credit application may be ambitious although we'll work very diligently to make sure that that we can do what we can to have that fall into place you know December the December

0:48:04round might be a little more reasonable but we'll soon we'll do what we can but regardless I think that the loan agreement or the amendment to the agreement is appropriate to bring everything sort of line all the dot all the eyes and cross all the t's in terms of hatland's exit from the

0:48:21project and bringing everything up into current time frames so with that I'll open it up if you have any questions okay start with Rebecca thank you thank you Hildy uh just a couple questions for you um you you just mentioned the tax credit application maybe you are able to meet

0:48:39the July deadline or maybe not can you just talk about what other Milestones need to be hit and what might not be hit that would bump us into December so in order to be competitive it's a very competitive process to apply for nine percent tax credits um and the the state body that allocates

0:48:55those and you need to have all the project needs to have all its other sources of financing committed so rcd has made an application through the county for the mental health services act funds that would have to be considered in a decision made that is on my time frame that will likely there

0:49:14would be a decision likely prior to July we hope it's a positive one and similarly um the hopware programs are administered through the county and that is usually done through a notice of funding ability process however they apparently had some funds that were not used in the last round

0:49:37that are available to be applied for on an over-the-counter basis and so our CD is making that application so that is is possible that there may be a commitment in in the time frame in the July time frame um but that we're not completely sure um and then the final funding source is

0:49:56our undispersed loan funds which are on our recognized obligation payment schedule and we don't know if we'll know by July as to when and whether those funds will be paid thank you yeah I wanted you to just note other agency involvement that would be needed and just to make the point that

0:50:17we are doing everything that we can and rcd is doing everything that they can and then the other deadlines are on other agencies and will be as hopeful as possible those come through okay the second question I had uh you noted the 10 special needs units I just wanted you to to go and go

0:50:34through the list of the affordability profile for the remainder of the units at the project sure um so the the what is proposed uh in rcd's most recent pro forma which was dated March this year um so there are 57 units total in the project and 10 of those are for special

0:50:58needs and that's also part of the planning approvals for the project and then one is a manager's unit so because we the on-site property management and then the remaining 46 are multi-family units so the affordability the proposed affordability levels for those units are

0:51:1946 the 46 multi-family units are proposed somewhere in the 45 to 50 percent of area median income range that's that's still the the current proposal and that falls in terms of what does that mean in terms of income a family of four making forty six thousand dollars a year is that fifty percent

0:51:40area median just to give you a sense of where that falls and it's dependent on household size um the special needs units are set around um 25 to 30 percent of area median income and that's partly to make sure that those units can serve special needs um households often are on SSI have

0:52:04limited income so you want to make sure that those units are targeted such that they can actually assist populations people that typically have that level of income um and then the managers unit which is essentially market rate unit but it I mean we don't typically restrict them

0:52:22but they're usually sort of around moderate but it's basically that that person draws a salary and pays a rent and they live on site okay thank you um just real quickly uh you stated it but I want to make sure I know what it is um have there been any project changes

0:52:41to suggest that the Planning Commission would not extend their entitlements um I'm not aware of any there they excuse me the administer there's administrative process for extending the entitlements by one year and that was granted a year ago last August um and then the process is if you want a

0:53:02further extension that's subject to Planning Commission approval um I don't have any knowledge of anything that would change that the the planning approvals do require a special needs component there is a mixed use component to this project the ground floor space about 4 600 square feet is

0:53:22commercial space as long as those uses are consistent with the approvals I don't see any deviation from the from the existing approvals and on the optimistic side given that that um this funding hopefully would move forward when would we see groundbreaking that we might see some jobs uh

0:53:43um here in some new jobs here in El Cerrito at Lisa or Matt speak to that if uh the funding award was received for the July round application we would expect to start construction in May of 2013. I'm sorry March of 2013. well great thank you very much so if if there's a

0:54:17an issue with the um what was formerly known as Redevelopment funds um what would happen then the essentially that would create a funding Gap in the project so for the Ohlone Gardens project to make an application in July for tax credits all those sources of funding have to be

0:54:43enforceable commitments what the tax credit allocation committee regards as enforceable commitments given that what everyone knows about the dissolution of Redevelopment um it's not clear where we will be in the process of various approvals or recognized obligation schedules and it

0:55:04is possible that there won't be a decision and what tcac will consider they may not consider those funds as enforcibly committed even though we have a loan agreement since it's subject to this dissolution process so we are very much trying to work through that process

0:55:24and see if we can get enough certainty again a lot of that is up to other agencies um the alternative would be to try to make the project work without that funding and there just aren't a lot of other sources out there I mean the County's home and cdbg funds are maxed

0:55:44out you know they're seeing their funds have been cut Hud's budget has been cut in those allocations to the to um HUD jurisdictions have been cut and at the time time same time they're seeing more Demand on those funds um from housing developers because there's there's fewer you know

0:56:04Redevelopment funds are going away so okay um the other thing I was wondering about in terms of the special needs housing what I was wondering about is this um what I guess I would refer to as long-term housing or well it is long-term housing okay yes it's not uh

0:56:24and then Trent hatlin's program was a student program so it would be called transitional and the affordable so the uh residents who live there would be um stable this is permanent Supportive Housing um stay there anyone might move at any point in time right you know

0:56:41including I suppose anyone in this room you know but but they would be not they wouldn't be required to leave right but let's say that one of them um did move on with that unit be reserved then for a person in the same category or how does that work I mean well those

0:57:00places always be reserved for people with special needs or will they somehow um somebody else got there got in line first and got it so therefore they didn't get it you know what I'm asking um yes thank you I do um so there's all these Special Needs units are proposed as one bedroom single

0:57:23occupancy units um right that's um and I'll yeah and I will come on up because there's part of this I definitely will need your help um and so there's units some of those can float as long as there's enough one bedroom units it doesn't have to be tied to the particular unit but it would be

0:57:41good if it's a one bedroom but at any given time you're trying to fill five and five those two different hopwa population and Mental Health Services act population this is I mean the the there's kind of a you are reserving those units as special needs units for the long term but for

0:58:00example and you know maybe this would be a great day when there's a cure for AIDS for example the the the provisions for the program allow us to keep those as affordable units and that they wouldn't be needed if the need is still there they will remain as units serving people

0:58:16living with HIV AIDS because I know there's a project um Civic Center Plaza I think it's called near here and I was invited into uh one time one of the units and it was a it was outfitted for a person who's in a wheelchair and yet the person living there wasn't

0:58:38um so what that really meant was to the for the person who would then come along who was in a wheelchair the place was not available so you're saying that you would always have I guess five and five available so you wouldn't ever rent it out to somebody else who's just simply low income say

0:58:58those units are reserved okay thank you okay um yes I have several questions mostly clarification um we LA City is the agency has loaned a hundred thousand dollars to the program correct for pre-development there was an initial pre-development loan correct followed by a permanent

0:59:26loan so that one hundred thousand was rolled into that total Loan in the amount the total amount is three and a half million dollars right and not all of that has been dispersed okay so uh how much have we has been expended on that today um a little over three million there's a

0:59:45undispersed balance of 471 000 and change so if for some reason which I hope it doesn't it doesn't sound like it will but if if the project uh blows up uh so to speak uh there's still that obligation for the three million dollars expended to date correct um that three million dollars was

1:00:15um is secured by a deed of trust against the property and we are in first lien position on that personally okay good just wanted to uh review that okay um there was a mention in the staff report on page two that uh it's quite possible that uh rcd will be asking for a uh use or a

1:00:41building permit deferral on that now that's not part of the action we're taking tonight that that will come when we review the budget correct that that is a discretionary action that um rcd would have to come through a process through staff to request that and ultimately it would come to city

1:00:59council for consideration and that is not an approval that is implied or granted under this evening's action correct now would that be part of the June presentation that we were gonna it would not necessarily be in the budget presentation and we have not calendared

1:01:17it so I'm not quite certain when it would come we have not in fact ascertained that it will come so we're looking at it good but I would suggest it comes as soon as possible so we can get that taken care of and out of the way I would hate for this thing to be at the last

1:01:35minute everything's ready to go now we're going to talk about one more thing so I would encourage that to come as soon as possible on that um okay I had a little question about it in the in the report it said that one of the five is is the mental health part of

1:01:56it and it says that households with serious mental illness and I'm just wondering if and maybe the rcd would explain that what was meant by that and then I noticed that the supervision or the manager is a part-time position there so it could elaborate a little bit on

1:02:18how the Supportive Services handles how our crisis handled and that sort of thing sure thank you okay to address the population in terms of mental health consumers to qualify for the housing you have to have a certain level of diagnosis and that's how the program is set up so it is a

1:02:42level of um mental illness that's considered severe and that is a clinical definition um and so I I'm sorry I'm not qualified to explain that I have gone through the regulations and it's not written in a way that says it's like this but um but given that the part of the program for

1:03:03the mental health services Act is really this really wraparound Services Program and that's really important in terms of allowing people to have stable lives and we actually have uh we're one of the first groups in the in Contra Costa County to use Mental Health exact

1:03:20funding and it's been a very successful partnership for us so we do have direct experience using this funding source and working with counties uh Health Services Department which oversees the Services Program okay so the uh part-time manager yes is the support and supervision of

1:03:45um the people using these units how's that work I mean that that's totally separate we do have a property management staff and so that's a part-time uh property manager that has an office on site and we have someone living full-time on the site as well um and you know the way we uh staff is

1:04:05we'll have a maintenance person for example who actually lives on site even though the property management person may be part-time there's actually an on-site presence all the time okay and that's for property management for lease up issues lease issues maintenance and

1:04:20janitorial we also have resident services staff that does coordination for services for the general population so we're looking this is what we consider family housing including special needs units so we do have a program of services for the the general residents they can be after school

1:04:39tutoring programs Community meetings we do pizza night and movies so those kinds of services are core through our resident services coordinate who is an rcd staff person great the the case the case management the kind of Direct Services Program are administered by

1:04:59third-party services providers so we actually have contracts with none other non-profit groups that do the services directly so those are fully staffed for example for mental health consumers if you um live in one of our units you have a case manager that oversees all the different

1:05:19programs that you may need all the health services if you need assistance with any kind of daily living assistance with financial like managing your finances all that is provided to the person and there's a full-time case manager on on on call for you also with the people living with HIV

1:05:37AIDS they have a case manager that has the ability to help coordinate services for any kind of living requirements there's also a health case manager we actually rcd has a health case manager on staff for our uh our residents living with HIV AIDS and Alameda County so we

1:05:54are very very familiar with this population we work very closely with all the services providers and non-profits in the Bay Area and I can assure you that I think that this will be a great place to live and everybody will be really fully supported to live their

1:06:08best life great sounds like it thank you very much for expanding on a simple idea that has a complex operating and a positive one it seems like so thank you all right um again in the uh staff report it said that there was a 30-day comment period uh that the Contra Costa County had and

1:06:36it started May March 12th so it ended April 12th and I was just wondering if the county had any comments or anything on that okay Andrew comments received on that application great um I'd like to introduce something and maybe we can take it during discussion the council but I'm I know that our

1:07:02agreement called for commercial space on the bottom and I'm not too sure that that really applies anymore uh I don't know that we need there's there's plenty of commercial space in town and um I'm not too sure if we should be demanding that right now what if if there's a change like that

1:07:27what kind of process are we talking about um you wouldn't be talking to me as much as you'd be talking to planning because that's a change in their entitlements and that actually may pose a bit of a scheduling complication to go and re-review and consider revision to those

1:07:47entitlements but we can certainly investigate that I can I can speak with planning staff about that um it's it's not necessarily um so much the loan agreement was designed to be consistent with what the end the anticipated planning approvals um and so we you know we're planning

1:08:07that project as mixed use with Hotline on the ground floor and that is the existing zoning it's to you it's Transit oriented mixed use zoning there so I am not completely sure of what the process would be if we were proposing to not have it be a mixed use pressure okay is

1:08:22is rcd accounting on some income from that uh commercial area to offset any of their costs at this point um what they are saying no not to construct the development no they would essentially build it as cold shell space and at that point in time like many Builders do who build on

1:08:44then Market it they have a leasing agent for commercial space and they would engage that agent to try to find a tenant for the commercial space and only at that point with the tenant improvements be financed and constructed so I think they're definitely are acknowledged that there are challenges

1:09:01to teneting that space given sort of what else we see on the Avenue so we're very aware of that yes and but I'm not sure whether what would be involved in changing that at this point in time okay thank you you know we'll discuss it or I'll bring it up during our discussion thank you

1:09:21and I think there was just what one more here oh no that's that's good thank you very much yes yeah I had one last question um that had to do with accessibility of the units um I'm wondering if the units for example are accessible in a way that will allow people in wheelchairs to enter the units

1:09:51and if there will be any units that will be where a person in a wheelchair could live um I'm gonna let Lisa add some detail to that I know that the project has to meet current building code and ADA requirements I do not believe that we added any additional accessibility

1:10:09features but I'll let Lisa expand on what that means so um all as as currently designed all the units are adaptable so all the doorways uh and the in you know it's all the units uh can be adapted to be um for people with Mobility uh impairments um we do have uh we

1:10:31we have built it or planned it to a level of sort of the federal requirements Section 504 so that means that five percent of the units are fully uh adapted with the lowered countertops the grab rails and the bathrooms the adjustable shower heads um and two percent of the units are adapted

1:10:52for vision and hearing impaired persons okay and how about so can are there's any Stoops two units no these are um uh it's a it's a all Flats all the units are flats and it's an elevator building okay great thank you may I ask a follow-up um since mayor Jones brought up the the commercial

1:11:14space um Hildy being a little bit new and not having um a full recollection of all the design when we when this project was being designed what was envisioned for the commercial space and was that sort of an element of our RFQ or RFP process or how was the commercial space envisioned and

1:11:35why did it come about so this project did not come in through an RFQ RFP process as when it was an over-the-counter project where the developer had an option on the on the land and approached us um and that's not uncommon but that that's how it was the process for the

1:11:52project um and the proposal was a partnership between rcd and Heartland center for the blind where hotline would make this development their headquarters so that commercial space was entirely their space there are there is some ground floor office Property Management

1:12:12Services conference rooms that's rcd's space for the for the residents but that commercial space was was designed specifically with hatlin in mind okay that's helpful thank you right there and I just had a question for um rcd if and I don't know if it if we're going

1:12:32this way or not but if the commercial space is no longer required um and you would do something with it would that change your funding Outlook it it thought about it we could move some of the community spaces to the ground floor and add additional units for example we have a large community room

1:13:00up on the courtyard level on the second floor and if that community room could be moved to the ground floor that does free up some space for additional units and would this be advantageous to you or not or I I think I think and have more units okay thank you very much

1:13:25okay if we're done with questions I'd like to open it up to the public do we have any public speaking on this no speaker slips okay well I'll bring it back to council then we have we've been asked to authorize the loan agreement the loan Amendment to the agreement and

1:13:46approve the replacement plan for special needs those are the two things that will actually be either accepting or not accepting tonight but I would like to talk a little bit since it was brought up in the report and as part of the project the idea of commercial and I think I've made comment

1:14:05on it so I'd like to ask if anybody else has made comments before I close I I'd like to I mean it goes back to the question I asked during The Question period um I am reticent to make any changes to their entitlement at this time so they can stay on their timeline and would

1:14:25consider this maybe as an amendment once they get some of their funding put in place and that potentially might be in time for them to make these modifications before they break ground but at this time given the July dates that they're looking at I would be I'd

1:14:42be inclined to ask and and the need for the entitlement extension prior to the July 18th date I'd be inclined to um encourage them to continue with the project they have and consider an amendment you know once they secure all their funding okay I'd like to ask the City attorney uh

1:15:08what process if we were to change that commercial what what type of process we talking about is it involved or is it a question of just coming and amending the the original agreement um I think we'd actually I'd actually need to do a little bit of research on that because if I've understood

1:15:25um healthy correctly um it's does the existing Zoning for the property actually requires it um and so it may be without without fully analyzing what if any exceptions may be possible under the existing zoning I mean it actually might be necessary to rezone the property in

1:15:44order to make to take out that requirement and if that weren't otherwise since the project has already been approved it would basically have to go back through the Planning Commission for an amendment to the existing entitlements to get their approval for again let's assume theoretically there

1:16:02was some kind of an exception process or cup that could allow for the removal of that requirement have to go back to the Planning Commission to amend the existing entitlements to get that exception or permit okay then I I think the yeah we would be I think well served just to go ahead as

1:16:18as planned here but I would like to get those questions answered so in the future if we want to consider them I I wouldn't want to consider them before July I don't think you could get the answers and we could do everything before July but I think it is a question

1:16:35um that is I think we should Ponder you take a look at the apartment complex what's up the uh the hill Lumber uh complex and we've had commercial there for a long time available and what is it half full now I think um we have a lot of vacancies on the on the Avenue and granted they're not in As

1:17:06Nice of a facility as this one may be but I don't see the need to require residential property when when it isn't needed now it's part of this deal it's part of the zoning and maybe by the time we get going uh rcd will come back and say well no we've got some retail tenants ready to go in

1:17:28that case you know yeah we there wouldn't be a need to maybe consider that so I just want to keep it in the back of our mind but uh maybe we should just go forward and I I you know I would in addition to encouraging rcd to consider an alternative certainly consider and I'm not certain exactly

1:17:46what commercial uses are entitled but there may be professionals that want to use this space and those professionals might provide services to some of the of the residents that are there so that so it's you know we think we hear commercial and we and potentially

1:18:02Professional Services can provide that commercial so it's it's not no it's not that it needs to be the type of uh commercial space that that we're offering in other areas it might be suitable for a doctor's office or some other Professional Services that that would lend value to the community that's

1:18:22living there right and if that's the case there is no issue that's good I I'd like to hear the answer um as well City attorney when you come up with it about whether or not our zoning does require the commercial and I appreciate the topping being brought up I think it's something we should

1:18:39continue to explore and think about when we're coming up with or when when we need requirements and when we need flexibility and it's always good to be revisiting these things as market conditions are showing us I think that flexibility is kind of may be more desirable in some

1:18:55cases I just want to clarify I'm sorry I don't recall the name the exact name of this particular zoning District but but this zoning District does require ground ground floor commercial is a requirement of this zoning District um so I can answer off top of my head

1:19:09that that if you wanted to eliminate or alter that requirement then we would have to go through a process of amending that zoning District again I just don't I can I will I will follow up with the council with with some information about what exceptions if any exist and it may

1:19:23also be helpful to provide some information about what Professional Services either meet the commercial definition of commercial or whether or not for example so ground four commercials required and that like the the retail would be allowed by right but with some other kind of permit

1:19:39Professional Services would be permitted something along those lines and I can follow up with the council I appreciate that right thank you I agree with you uh we're being handcuffed here on something that may not be needed but anyway that's okay let's let's go down

1:19:52it but I appreciate the uh research on this any comments on no that I'd be happy to make a motion great did that okay um I move that um we adopt a resolution authorizing the execution of a loan Amendment to the existing loan agreement with the olani gardens LP for the Iolani Gardens

1:20:14affordable housing project at 6431 and 64.95 um Portola drive and approving the proposed replacement plan for special needs units and Supportive Services my second the motion let's remove the second any final discussion on this okay on the motion all those in favor

1:20:39aye opposed motion carries thank you very much next item please from 7a2 selection of the El Cerrito wall of fame subcommittee okay I guess that's I'll take the lead on this um yes thank you in our packets we do have again there are two applicants and by the procedure and criteria of the

1:21:05selection for the wall of fame a subcommittee of two city council members will review and then come back with a recommendation to the city council so I would like to propose the council member Lyman and council member Abelson be that subcommittee agreed I agree okay so with that we do have a

1:21:32subcommittee on that and we do have at least one wall of fame person here tonight and uh it's a very special award and it uh it's one that I know the council takes very seriously and so I look forward to seeing the results and going forward and if there are uh people that are qualified and will be

1:21:57recommended I'd like to see them thank you very much okay next agenda item please item 7B and this is the city acting as successor agency to the former El Cerrito Redevelopment agency authorizing submission of a draft second recognized obligations payment schedule and approved the successor

1:22:20agency fiscal year 2012-13 budget good evening mayor Jones and council members um for you this evening you have two resolutions for the successor agency one reviewing and authorizing submittal of the second recognized obligation payment schedule and the second for the

1:22:42administrative budget for the successor Agency for next fiscal year um you'll recall that on February 21st you reviewed an authorized submittal of the first draft first drops that was submitted to the oversight board which met on April 4th for its first meeting

1:23:03and where they considered both the first reps and the administrative budget that the staff are prepared for the current fiscal year those were all of their actions were approved unanimously and the first drops was submitted to the Department of Finance on April 5th

1:23:22um in the meantime we have had some clarifying information from the county auditor controller regarding some of the cash flow issues um I think we've um talked about some um concerns about some of the timing issues that were created by the um the stay on the dissolution during

1:23:41the litigation and it created a bit of awkwardness between the December payment that we did receive and the payments we would have received in January or may um so the um it does appear that there is going to be a bit of a cash flow issue so we're also at this point trying to figure out

1:24:03exactly what that means for us so that we can make sure that we have sufficient cash to cover our obligations um you'll note on the second drops that you're considering this evening it's essentially the same as what was provided in February as the informational item so we haven't taken

1:24:17any of the items off um one of the pieces of information that we got from the county auditor controller was that we should leave everything on our rops that we believe is an enforceable item because if you take them off you can't put them back on um retroactively so if there aren't

1:24:34sufficient funds for an item that's on the rops there is a process that would go through to prioritize or defer certain payments and so we're working with him and Luke counsel to figure out what that process might be um during these first two reps periods where there looks like there might be a

1:24:49little bit of a pinch because of the delay in the payments for the first drops period um I did want to note that we did get a response from the Department of Finance and they rejected our first drops because it did not include the month of January we had not initially put January

1:25:08on the rops because the successor agency didn't exist in January but to comply with their request we've put it on and we'll be put taking it back to the oversight board to reconsider and they also were they were questioning the cooperation agreements on the first drops so there

1:25:27weren't any payments requested on the first drops for those agreements um but we have left them on the second rops which you're considering this evening with the note that we would like to have those um considered for Reserve if they if we need to um dispute if we need to work some sort

1:25:43of resolution or any disputed items with them um so the those are the issues on the rops and then there is a um the other item is the administrative budget which is a requirement that the successor agency has to have an administrative budget it's actually separate from the

1:26:01administrative allowance that's provided in the legislation that number is 250 000 regardless of the successor agency's actual expenses and at least in El Serena's case it was also the first item that gets that I'd cut out oh um it's the first item that gets dropped

1:26:21from the payments should there be insufficient funds um so um there is an unfunded element to that budget you'll note but we also were trying to prepare that budget in a way to show what we thought in a sense what some of the costs what the costs are to take care of this but in a lot of cases

1:26:44those are costs that we're going to um are more like opportunity costs because we'll be working on things related to the successor agency and the and the oversight board rather than things we might have otherwise been doing so if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them questions

1:27:00yeah if you you've glossed over that last item a little too fast for me oh okay the 109 I mean the budget that we you prepared and that um the fiscal year budget 2012 2013 that was prepared indicates that there's a 359 thousand dollar um cost of some sort and 250 000 is all

1:27:21that the state law allows us to be compensated for the administration providing a gap of 109 000 and I'm just trying to figure out does that doesn't that fall on to the general fund isn't the city unfortunately picking that cost up well the way the way that you

1:27:38presented it as opportunity lost but in reality general fund is paying for it there are costs that's true um there will be costs but I think that the I think that what I was trying to get at is that the vast majority of the costs on that budget are staff and so that's

1:27:56really where I think that there are opportunity costs and there are we we do need to have some money um we do anticipate there will be costs and we were trying to and to um put down all the possible consulting or other types of costs related to bond Administration or meetings and such that

1:28:13we could expect and we would include those in the in the budget for next year okay and then in the second resolution um the last the further resolved clause it looks like it it's referring back to the initial draft of the roster I apologize I was going to say that I had found your I had noted your

1:28:36correction and we are going to change that because it refers to the first reps instead of the second and so I have already made that edit and given it to the clerk great thank you sure just just just certain question Lori thank you for the presentation um you you mentioned the dof has made

1:28:53some responses to our schedule and that there are um let's see it looks like a 10-day period during which they have they can then come back to us with specific objections and one uh it looked like the 10-day period would be April 15th but what is the when does the 10-day period

1:29:10end and what would we expect at that time this is part of the that was part of the frustration actually that we went through is that we submitted it and they came back and said well we're rejecting it but we'll let you know in 10 days um so it was to be honest I mean I think

1:29:24there's it's just um I'm not sure that they're clear exactly how they want this process to go in talking with them they've said as long as you get back to us um an approved reps with the January column we will consider that as as a sufficient item but they're disputing

1:29:45the cooperation agreements there were any payments for the requested for those items anyway so we're not anticipating any sort of a problem getting it back from them but they have not given us anything in writing specifically about the cooperation agreements they've only told us that

1:29:59verbally okay and the 10-day period is it's not a 10-day we don't know when the 10-day period ends I guess I'm asking so the 10-day period would end uh 10 days after um was that Monday Monday so 10 business days so it would be this coming Monday a week from yesterday okay and and then when does

1:30:19the I'm sorry when does the oversight board meet then again then they would have to go through the process of a reapproving right and so we're going to try to schedule um it to be considered at the same time as the second rops and we're looking at a meeting during the first week of May

1:30:32okay thank you just so you know they they are considering it having been submitted by the 15th because we did we did make that deadline okay if I could just add and Lori can elaborate at this and maybe Skye and um agency council is not here tonight but the feedback we're getting from all

1:30:51of our sources in other cities is the Department of Finance is we're not getting picked on any more than anybody else I mean anything anything in the widest definition you could make that they can have a problem with they have a problem with so I mean we're hearing bits and pieces now as cities

1:31:10submit their offs that things are getting held up it's just it just seems like it's this as we as we've always been concerned with the state they're taking every opportunity they can it's almost like a war of attrition this process and I realize you all feel that that we've been at this for this

1:31:30amount of time um and the first signs we're getting are maybe even worse than we expected I mean it's just you know we're all all the cities are hearing that anything they put on there Rob set has even the remotest issue is getting held so um as we've talked about over the past

1:31:50year I mean the process is largely getting invented on the Fly and the agency is responsible for overseeing this make sort of are making up their own calendars to fit their schedules and roughly comply with the legislation which causes as Laurie alluded to timing

1:32:08problems because remember this started February 1st so and now we have six month increments that cross fiscal years by one month one month so for instance our bond payments are due July 1 but they have to be with our trustee two weeks earlier which is this fiscal year

1:32:23but it's not it's just a mess and I know we've talked about that before but we I'm I just felt that it's important that you hear again that um sort of the the mess is continuing and it's just going to be an evolving process and again our our you know we are trying our best to

1:32:43follow the process the oversight board acted but it's it's almost impossible at this point to know who's in charge and and I'm not sure how long it's going to be how much time it's going to take to figure that out I think they're starting to figure out they're not going to get the money they

1:33:03they think they are so they're going to start pushing back which leads me into um to reiterate our Council feels that we stand on very Solid Ground on um the Rocks the that we have made and the transfer of assets into a non-public agency Corporation and so I I want as people are listening

1:33:29to this and trying to connect the dots um we we wouldn't take this action unless uh we had we were standing on very Solid Ground and uh maybe a City attorney can elaborate on that well I just want to I want to confirm that that I mean both I and the agency Council have have reviewed the situation

1:33:49we we believe that the structure that the city council has put into place um does as you say rest on Solid Ground um but not unexpectedly the state particularly at this first round is not necessarily going to agree with us immediately and so there is going to be

1:34:06some push and pull on this between the cities and the state and because as the city manager said this is not just an El Cerrito issue this is this is the the what every city that that I know of is finding and it's dealings with the Department of Finance um and so I think

1:34:22it's just going to be a process where um you know we stand our ground and we push through and try to make them see understand the details of the particular Arrangements in place in El Cerrito which are which are not similar to many cities throughout California and

1:34:40I think without with no disrespect to the individuals working for the state the front line people who are doing this first cut of analysis are not attorneys um they don't necess and they haven't even reviewed the cooperation agreement between in place so that they're not in

1:34:54really in a position to evaluate the strength or weakness of the city's position but we feel very comfortable with the city's position yeah I feel sorry for him too because I think um the Cities end up educating them on their own law and their own procedure one of the things that I've experienced

1:35:11is that the person I'm dealing with is she's really I think been given a script and and and she hasn't really read the a lot of the documents herself and she's actually giving conflicting information between different messages and I think that that's been um a real challenge I

1:35:26mean that's her challenge for her and I actually and she's kind of in a bind because she doesn't necessarily have the ability to interpret some of the documents okay one other thing I had um to remind there's a lot of rap one rap two all this it's every six months yes

1:35:44we need to so that's what we're doing we we did the first six months with the rap one we have another six month period coming up that's wrapped to when that's over with we'll have a route three for this six months from now right so this is an ongoing thing and I I think uh to

1:36:01alleviate maybe some of the anxiety when they hear cash flow we're talking about cash flow in the first and second raw we're talking about cash flow within weeks even right just because of the the crap the crunch of the timing because of the stay on the litigation but once the

1:36:16two in particular the two rops get finalized and go then we're on a regular schedule and we don't anticipate a cash flow situation correct yeah okay good well it's just this timing thing that you were talking about yes yes I appreciate it any other questions clarifications

1:36:38thank you very much uh I I you know I think what might be nice for our listening audience is to um to find in where I mean just say in words what Rob stands for um okay I think it's recognized obligations payment schedule that's right and so if I understand correctly it's the schedule

1:37:00of payments that we anticipate making during the reporting period that's right um in this period after Redevelopment right okay yes I I think it's I mean it I I can imagine that listening from home it just sounds like we're talking Greek yes feels like it's much different when you

1:37:21hear it here too it it takes a while to get your hands around it yeah you can make a good point thank you very much uh is there any public comment tonight no speaker slips okay bring it back to council do we have any action recommended tonight well I'll start by saying I want to

1:37:43thank staff again for all the hard work that you guys are putting in on this on this matter in its uh certainly was unfortunate that the state legislators decided to try and fix their budget with this uh complicated solution so with that I will move the first of

1:38:05two resolutions a resolution of the city council the city of El Cerrito acting as the successor agency to the El Cerrito Redevelopment agency approving its fiscal year 2012 2013 administrative budget as provided in [Music] ab1x26 second it's been moved in second any further

1:38:29comment on the motion all those in favor aye aye opposed motion carries unanimously um this next one you said there's a new revision that's been submitted to the clerk so I was hoping the clerk might be able to read the the further resolved clause the second to the last enacting Clause

1:38:55reads be it further resolved that the city council of the city of El Cerrito acting as successor agency to the El Cerrito Redevelopment agency authorizes the submittal of the initial strike initial draft recognized obligation payment schedule and adding for the period July 1 through December

1:39:1431 2012.

1:39:16as required under the dissolution act great thank you very much with that I would be delighted to move the amended resolution of the city council of the city of El Cerrito acting as the successor agency to the El Cerrito Redevelopment agency authorizing submittal of the second draft

1:39:33recognition recognized obligation payment schedule rops as required under ab1x26 second it's been moved executive any final comment no all those in favor on the motion aye aye opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much next item is the council assignments and liaison reports

1:40:03um I have um first report for the Environmental Quality committee um we had a well-attended um film called Mad City chickens and we tried this in the evening just on a Friday evening just to see how that would be in terms of attendance and it was a very healthy attendance and it

1:40:28was in this room again and um there was an interesting exploration of the keeping of urban chickens so I think people found it very interesting and afterwards there was an interesting dialogue in including from a local veterinarian whose name I apologize I don't remember but he provides care that

1:40:53would cover Birds um so it was really kind of it was really quite interesting and I was um it made me appreciate uh living here that we could have such open dialogues on such varied topics um so I'm not sure what's going to be next they haven't decided yet but um stay tuned because I think there will

1:41:18be some a next film um in addition they talked about um Earth Day Green Team updates and [Music] um various other things then um the um to me on Aging mint and they heard a presentation um that was really interesting on um health health care not health care but um Senior Care

1:41:55provision and there was a presentation on a model from that's operating in Berkeley of an a living Arrangement where um people work together and I think it was called um best basically or best Corporation and there was a magazine that was was given out for it but it was it was really kind of

1:42:22interesting and it showed that you could um as you age you could live in different kinds types of arrangements and share um resources and abilities so for example let's say I knew how to paint and you knew how to sew then I might paint for you and you might sew from me

1:42:45and into a barting bartering sort of uh Arrangement much like a family would operate you know when when members of a family do things together they they don't think about money or anything and this this group would was working kind of like that and there is such a place

1:43:03already in Berkeley so it's kind of interesting hearing the presentation and um there are members of the El Cerrito Community who do already participate in that so anyway that's it right yeah um the Planning Commission was scheduled to meet last month to uh to sort of give an update on uh

1:43:29now the general plan Amendment but we did not meet as a result of a technicality we do have a Planning Commission meeting tomorrow night and we will be hearing uh three applications um tomorrow night the Integrated Waste Management board did meet and we did in addition to

1:43:53getting an update on the plastic bag ban we did get uh updates on the request for uh I'm drawing a blanket a statement of a statement of interests for the um for the waste processing past January 2014 so we did get that update and um it everything seems to be going

1:44:26smoothly on that on that front so that's my update on the integrate Waste Management board I'll keep you posted as they get additional input from from the firms that I think it's this week that the firms are supposed to State whether they're interested in proposing or not so we

1:44:44should know soon how many people are moving forward in that process okay thank you thank you my groups didn't meet but I'll have an update next next time as they'll all meet in the next seven days yeah I just had two things one the design review board uh met and they were

1:45:05considering the new Chipotles on the corner of Carlson and San Pablo so that process is beginning and I believe the next step is to pull today to go to the Planning Commission tomorrow night great so uh that's moving along and uh if those of you that have been following

1:45:25business national International Business Chipotle is a very successful Nationwide and so we're glad to have him in town if everything goes all right on the design and planning front uh the oversight board is was uh stated earlier met in April full compliment seven

1:45:46people uh some of the people were former council members that are representing different groups on that and others so it's a good it's a good mix of people I can I can assure you all seven think for themselves and have their own opinions so there's uh it's it's a real good

1:46:08group they look at the information seriously I was surprised to see how well um they were able to grasp some of the uh the more General things about this process and as one of them said and I'm learning more and more tonight so uh that's that's going forward so thank you

1:46:30all right and uh before we close tonight um like to bring the attention and most of us know by now that uh uh the passing of Larry Damon so tonight I'd like to adjourn the city council meeting and memory of former El Cerrito mayor Larry Damon who passed away on

1:46:50April 3rd Mr Damon served four years on the city council from 1997 to 2001 and as the city's mayor in 2001 and I believe council member Abelson served with Larry yes on the council uh after leaving the city council Mr Damon remained engaged in Community Affairs by following the action of the

1:47:12city council chairing The Creeks Committee of the El Cerrito historical society and through other endeavors professionally Mr Damon possessed bachelor's degrees a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nevada Reno by the way is a real nice campus and a

1:47:34master's degree in nuclear Ed engineering technology from the University of California at Berkeley he retired from Bechtel Corporation after working there for 35 years where he rose through the ranks from senior engineer to manager of engineering technology in addition to serving on the city

1:47:53council Larry also loved working on his house and boat and he enjoyed friendships at the Richmond Yacht Club he was a member of the Masonic Lodge Lions Club University of Nevada Alumni Association University of California Berkeley Alumni Association California Society of Professional Engineers and

1:48:15National Society for Professional Engineers Larry is admired for his Devotion to his family and will be greatly missed by Daughter Wendy and Son Stuart his four wonderful grandchildren brothers sisters and many cherished friends he predis he pre-deceived he was he is pre-deceased

1:48:39by his wonderful wife Emily and brother Carl on behalf of the city or on on behalf of the El Cerrito community the city council offers our sympathy and condolences to Larry's family and many friends please join us in a moment of silence to honor and remember former

1:48:58council member and mayor Larry Damon thank you this meeting is adjourned thank you all for coming tonight foreign