City Council Meeting May 1, 2012

0:14:09okay I'd like to bring the city council meeting of Tuesday May 1st 2012 uh to order I'd like to thank everybody for their uh patience we're starting a little late uh we had some issues in uh Clos session that took a little longer than anticipated and uh I I'll report out that in a second

0:14:35uh well the records show that um four members of the council are here tonight uh council member Chang is absent would you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation

0:14:58under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you um Council communication all start since I I need to report out on the Clos session Council met in closed session uh pursuant to government code section 54957.6 and uh report out that Council gave

0:15:28staff Direct ction no decisions were made no none are forthcoming at this time okay uh is there communication from staff Council yeah okay yes I um attended there we go several meetings um one I attended the um it's called the public health and climate change meeting

0:15:55on April 24th in Richmond um and there were uh members of of various cities in West County and throughout the rest of the county and um we discussed um the issue of Public Health um in the in um as part of climate action uh change and um I also um was up in Sacramento last week twice

0:16:25for a total of three days on two different issues the first one um actually not sure where it's fitting best in this meeting so I'll mention it now um there is a u proposal by assembly member uh Fiona ma uh it's called AB 2200 and she's proposing that in the off

0:16:49peak Direction uh during uh that the HOV lanes be changed from three occupants per vehicle to two occupants per vehicle in the distance between the carinus bridge and the Bay Bridge um and um so I represent this Agency on wict teac and then I represent wick teac on Contra to Transportation

0:17:17Authority so this is an issue that that goes across those agencies so um we haven't had an opportunity at wiac to take a position on this yet but um we will be doing so at our next meeting and um so I'm not officially representing anybody's position other than maybe my own but um

0:17:40I did go up and um testify at the assembly Transportation hearing about this issue and about um a number of concerns about it and um so it uh did pass it was um um Fiona ma is assembly member from San Francisco and she uses that uh Lane to not that lane but that uh road to get

0:18:05to Sacramento and that was why she had introduced it and um it was almost a courtesy that they automatically did do it but um apparently when it gets to the trans to the assembly Transportation committee and the excuse me the I need to say this stop a little bit the Senate side and particular the

0:18:27transportation Comm Committee of the Senate it there will be a number of questions asked and it won't get through quite so easily so um we will in the next uh several months be looking at it in the wict teac and CCTA um and then um present our position to Sacramento and we'll see what happens

0:18:48so if this Council wanted to do so uh we could take a position on this in fact I would like to request that for our next meeting um and and um so I so that was one of my trips up there and then the other trip up there was for allege action days for the league of California

0:19:07cities and uh this is the annual event where we go up and um have a presentation on um our legislative program and then we go around and do legislative visits so I uh visited several different legislators um and I visited uh Susan Bia who's in the assembly I visited um

0:19:34Mar Des who's in the state senate and I visited with uh Lonnie Hancock's uh District director whose name is Hans heeman h e m Ann and um met with him and discussed the uh issues that we had been presented with at our meeting and um it'll take me just a second here and I will go to my

0:20:02notes I'm trying to go uh paperless today so excuse me one second here while I do this pretty fast huh I'm there okay so um any anyway um the um one of the things that was discussed was the issue of Redevelopment which is of great concern to um the league and um what one of the things

0:20:32that the league has been working on is um finding a uh way to replace Redevelopment with another system so that we will have uh a means of doing uh the development that we've been trying to do with um Redevelopment and um then another thing that was talked a lot about was the

0:20:54concern about that the state has about the state revenue because it's not a pretty picture right now so there were a lot there were a lot of concerns about that and um at the point we had that meeting which was last week um there was a projected to be a 10 to 12

0:21:15billion State deficit for next year um and they that's the number they're expecting right now will be stated in the May Revis now we'll see whether not that actually happens but that's what they're projecting if I remember correctly a year ago that number was a lot

0:21:35higher um it seems like it was more around 20 give or take uh 20 million billion billion um and so this is actually less of a shortfall than last year but still not the right kind of news to be hearing and um the other thing we did was hear about a number of initiatives

0:21:56which I'm not sure sure if it's appropriate to go into here so I won't um unless somebody has a specific question I might be able to answer um but um and um that um partly what they talked about was the mood of the voters um and the mood of the voters um is uh I can find

0:22:23the the wording here um that they're um I'll I'll say it nicely the the moot the voters are not happy right now and um and as we've heard before they're happier with their local officials than they are with those who are further away from them so the you know that they're

0:22:44not as happy with the state and they're even less happy with the federal government and uh that's according to the polling that's been done recently that's um very much the way they they're seeing the voter perception of things so they might vote if there were a tax

0:23:01initiative on education say at the state level and there were one at the local level you might say think that that is the same subject but the voters don't they think it's a different subject because it's local versus um not local and um in terms of things that go on at

0:23:19the local level that's actually pretty good news uh but it could be a lot better so um I think I'll stop at that and unless somebody has a question about those initiatives or something any question okay thank you um and then let's see and then moving on I'm sorry I have a

0:23:40lot it was a very busy period so on on April 21st we had Earth Day and I would like to thank everybody who participated who came who did anything uh it was wildly successful this year um much to my um pleasure and not to the pleasure of the person who was in charge of food

0:24:03Joan buy it um we ran out of almost everything which I'm not sure that we've ever done that before so um that really felt um uh satisfying to me to know that we had that much volunteerism in our city and um we had a lot younger crowd I would say this year we had a lot of

0:24:25um um kids teenagers you know think and uh just it was just an all-around great crowd we had all ages you know but um so it was wildly successful and I'd like to thank everybody that made it it possible did all the behind the scenes work and also those who came and helped at the

0:24:45sites and um made it all happen at our our number one topic this year was pulling the broom and um it was amazing how many people would come and say that's what I want to work on so they somehow knew about it already and um it was it was really nice so then on um the

0:25:06next day we had the uh reopening the official reopening of the new recycling center which was very well attended um and we had a really nice celebration and uh I hope that everyone will make time in their day to go out and see that uh center it's just absolutely amazing and

0:25:30you can um go around and see all the ve the many different things that you can recycle now and reuse and I think the challenge that we were uh presented with was tell us something that you want us to do that we're not already doing and we'll do our very best to do it that was

0:25:49what I heard said that day by staff so it's amazing the number of things that we take now and we have a um the ability to accept uh electronics um at the center now which is a new thing for example that was the thing I think that was the most interesting to me and also the um uh

0:26:12fluorescent bulbs and um the batteries so you know all of those things have their own spots there and maybe I left out something and somebody else wants to mention that but the um so um there will be a Baxter Creek event on May the 5th uh from 10: to 12:30 and meet at the greenway and Colin if you're

0:26:37interested in being part of that and and then um I think that's it thank you great thank you so um I would like to U make sure that everyone knows that National Night Out uh is scheduled for the first Tuesday in August which would be August 7th so I just want to make

0:27:01sure people are putting that on their calendar um and thinking that through um I also want to Echo uh council member aon's comments about the recycling center actually it's so beautiful that it's worth going to make a trip up there with nothing just to visit uh the

0:27:20recycling center and actually spend the time to explore the uh resources that are there not only do we now take almost everything U there's very little that we take we take batteries we take electronic waste um but there's also the ReUse area that's that's worth spending

0:27:38time at so I would encourage you to actually make an outing of uh of going to the recycling center believe it or not um and uh my last item would be um on Earth day I had the opportunity of working with the City Arborist and uh he is the staff Lea on to the tree

0:28:00committee and he and I are in the process of uh moving the tree committee forward so please keep your eyes uh on the city website for an announcement for applications for the tree committee thank you I'll just make a quick echo on the recycling center the thing I'm so

0:28:19impressed that we now take our prescription drugs those are really hard for people to to dispose of properly so that was very exciting and I want to thank um council member abson for her great work on Earth Day um you do a great organization of the of the program

0:28:33each year and I had a wonderful time at my site cleaning up Del Norte BART station which needed some helping hands um but those are all my announcements thanks so much thank you and I just have a couple here uh one there was uh last Saturday there was or Sunday excuse me

0:28:51there was a play day uh at on Key Boulevard uh right next to Baer Creek and although I showed up towards the end of the event apparently at the beginning of the event was uh a lot of people there was a lot of good people uh having fun out there both young and old and uh

0:29:10the music I understand well when I was there it was really good and I understand before I got there so um you should look forward to another event uh there'll be uh another one planned in another part of the city so uh take a look at that second thing is on uh May 18th it's a

0:29:32Friday night um at the craneway center uh Pavilion in Richmond the education fund Gayla uh will be held uh that's at in the Richmond Marina there and uh it is an they honor uh students they honor teachers and they use it as a fundraiser so all those interested it's a good time

0:29:55a lot of people show up from across across the district it's a good good chance to see uh who's out there in the other part of the district besides elero so uh encourage you all to if you're interested uh go on the edfund website and uh find out about tickets other than that uh unless we

0:30:15have anything else we'll move on uh I have the city clerk announce the next agenda item please next agenda item is oral Communications from the public and at this time we have two speaker slips mayor two speakers okay and then we have a communication and a written

0:30:34communication the first speaker is Tom panis good evening mayor Jones members of the council and City staff my name is Tom panis and I live at [address removed] El C Sero uh I'd like to speak to briefly a couple of items on the consent calendar um item 5D I certainly

0:30:59urge the council to authorize the mayor to sign the letter urging Governor Brown to reinstate the $15.9 million and do the same for the next year um not only as a user of the library as one of your library Commissioners uh this is a very important item and that money has hurt

0:31:15the library loss of the money has hurt the library item 5f I'd also like to urge the council adopt the resolution expressing support for renaming East Shore State Park to mofin East Shore State Park I remember being a little kid conspiring how we can get people to put

0:31:30save the bay bumper stickers on the car and it'd be really exciting to see this happen thanks so much thank you our next pardon me our next speaker is Al Miller good evening Mayor John Mayor John council members and City staff uh I also would like to urge the council's

0:31:54support for item 5D uh so that the governor will hear from us and how important that Library funding is to us uh another item related Library item uh I'd like to inform you all if you haven't maybe not heard about it yet and all the elsera residents that a new group is forming to focus a community

0:32:17discussion about a new eleral library our current working mission statement is and I say working because we're at that stage uh we spent a lot of time trying to narrow the names down to a a good few and now we're working on a mission but anyway it will be to inform the elrio

0:32:36community about the benefits of replacing our old library with a modern Library build support for the new library and help raise funds required to build it uh anyone interested can join this community at our new website that it is open for use and it is evolving uh work

0:32:55under construction also at www.ne elero library that's all one word new elero library.org we're working with the existing Friends of the elrio library and two of our group's members are actually board members of the friends and we'll also keep City staff advised of what we're up

0:33:18to and what we're doing and ask for their support and help when we need it again our website URL is WW ww.new eleral library.org and we encourage all area residents who use our current library and would like a new modern library to join us as we work to make that happen thank you thank you one

0:33:43other comment quickly uh two of you three of you mentioned the new eleral recycling uh an environmental Learning Center opening I just wanted to acknowledge and thank all of the members of the staff that were out on a late Sunday afternoon they were probably there most of the day

0:34:03Sunday getting ready but uh I left after the event was over and they were still up there uh and that I think shows the enthusiasm uh approach to uh so many of our city staff and I just wish that the number of people that seem to be unhappy with uh public employees and

0:34:28worried about the public employees benefit would spend more time out in the community seeing how hard at least in elero our employees work not only for their own professional reasons but in support of us and the services of our city so I hope Mr Hannon will continuously uh relay our thanks to them

0:34:49for their great efforts thank you next speak one more speaker slips Patricia Jones excuse me before we go this is on five F uh 5f mhm okay I was going to pull that off and so maybe we could take your comments when we discuss it as a as an issue okay you can speak now if you want

0:35:14but it's come I'm going to pull it so I pardon you can speak now or you can speak when it comes up whatever whatever you'd like okay hi thank you I appreciate you for putting this um on the agenda my name and I wasn't going to speak because I thought it was on consent um my name is

0:35:37Patricia Jones and I am um the executive director of citizens res Shore parks and for once um at a city council me meeting I actually get to say that I live in the city um because of my work I'm usually at the Richmond and the albony city council members uh meetings and um you

0:35:54know they kind of look at you funny because you're not from their city so I I actually moved to elero in 2008 and live over on Sonoma Street so as you know I'm here um in support of the resolution um to honor most environmental you know Pioneer in environmental Works Sylvia

0:36:13mclin she's 95 years old now she gave us a big scare a couple weeks ago um but she is doing much better and we realized that there were three women who pered save the bay um but at this point this is we feel the best way to acknowledge all of them is to name the park um

0:36:31rename the park after Sylvia and uh Sylvia has been involved for a long time since the founding of save the bay you know she also was instrumental in um creating bcdc and she was instrumental in creating citizens for eore Parks which was instrumental in creating the

0:36:47eshore state park so I appreciate you putting this on the agenda and look for your support thank you very much thank you appreciate it one more Sylvia levenson hi um I've long been in favor of supporting the schools and the library I used to teach and with a mother and so when I moved to elero from

0:37:20Berkeley after my divorce I was shocked um by the library branch on Stockton Avenue where I live um and the whole schedule because I was upset that the library wasn't open for more hours a week or more days of the week and the um more attention wasn't paid to the

0:37:43salaries of the Librarians and the number of days the libraries open and much as I feel that construction is a worthy thing in this economy it seems to me the emphasis that we should put on is you know making the library more accessible more days a week giving the

0:38:05Librarians better salaries and providing more books it's not that I'm opposed to construction but it seems to me in this economy those should be our top priorities thank you thank you appreciate it okay I think we should acknowledge there was a communication received by

0:38:29staff and the person who sent the email test Taylor wanted us to make sure that it was put into the public record that it was provided and I think we should you provided it to the council mayor that's appropriate for item 7A so we can certainly introduce it as comment on that or public testimony

0:38:51on that item that's true but I wanted to make sure that we uh acknowledged it okay anything else um look for some I I would like to pull off the item uh 5f please I'd like to pull um 5H 5H okay with with that I will move um the consent calendar 5 a 5B which is the

0:39:24second reading of measure a The Swim Center special tax ordinance uh which again this year we we are not increasing it item 5 C oh excuse me before you do that if 5G is the one I wanted to pull five oh 5G confirm the fiscal uh budget schedule okay so I I won't I won't move

0:39:43that one um I'd like to move uh 5 C and and acknowledge the tremendous job that our staff and consultant has done in providing an in excellent uh resource for the assessment of the Landscape and Lighting a dis uh assessment District uh 5D in support of the libraries I think

0:40:05that we should actually ask for more than 15.9 million but that obviously is what we're asking for 5e uh 5f uh supportive that's being held sorry I'm not moving 5f uh and 5H confirming the reduced city council summer so 5 a through e and 5H H second it's been moved in seconded all those in favor

0:40:34iOS motion carries um before I get to my item I did want to comment uh council member uh Lyman had indicated we this is I I forget we've done this for so many years now I I don't know how many years we've kept the special tax tax for the swim center the rate down to its lowest point Allowed by

0:41:02law uh which is 38 what is it 38 A2 I think it can go to 52 by a vote of the people um but we've kept it down so I I think it should be noted that um the council does look at these things and tries um to work with it to keep the rate as low as possible also had a comment uh which was pulled

0:41:24on 5G okay um 5f uh I pulled that and I I I applaud the effort and the recognition of that uh of acknowledging people who have been instrumental of not only saving the bay But continuing to develop the shoreline so my comments is are are not along that line what it is

0:41:50though in Reading in reading the uh ordinance on it or the uh resolution on it it indicates that by naming it after one person it acknowledges the other two and I think we're missing the point there um I would much rather having it named for all three which excuse me here I had it and then I

0:42:15closed it um it's Esther goolock and K uh Kerr I'd like to see it uh gock Kerr mcgoffin all three were instrumental and uh K ker was a resident of elero and it's my understanding I could be wrong but the things that I've read on it that um the three ladies were

0:42:41instrumental in Saving the bay basically and a lot of the first meetings were held at um K curves residents so uh again I'm not against uh recogn izing the efforts I think it should be all three though In fairness to um the start of this and the three ladies who actually saved the Bay from a

0:43:08uh uh a really devastating uh development if you've seen the plans of what they wanted to do to the Bay um and compare it to what was saved you'd be astounded so if you get a chance you should you should do that so that's my comment on that um are you looking for a

0:43:33motion right now on that or what where what where what like yes okay I'd like to make a motion that um on the resolution we changed support the go ahead oh do you want me or well confus happening here yeah let me let me create a pause here by saying that I've met um Sylvia in in my profession I've

0:43:58had the chance to um intersect with her um several times in the last 10 years and she was she is quite a remarkable woman and has done many things and has been a um figurehead for the preservation of the bay for most of her life and so that it is one of those things that um I definitely see that

0:44:24recognizing her is something that's very important um I do recognize mayor that that it really was um three women who did start uh the movement back in 1961 um you know but at least in my professional career it has been and and it's certainly as probably a result of

0:44:47her resilience um it it's been Sylvia who's been the face um for me in the last 10 years so I I can go either way and and um certainly understand and can also support uh a modif a resolution modification that it included the two the all three names I I have a comment um as as the

0:45:11person who put it on the agenda um I in reading that I saw that she did a number of things that was one of the things that she did uh but another thing she did was to to form help form bcdc the bay conservation development Corporation I think that's commission commission commission uh which is a a

0:45:31very important um organization in um continuing to save the bay so I think that she stands out on her own uniquely and normally I can't I mean I can't think of anything else where anything is named after three people at the same you know I don't think that's normally how it's done but

0:45:49the proposal under consideration is actually that it be named after her so um I'm wanting to support can I clarify that the sorry the proposal in the State uh assembly okay thank you right so I'm wanting to um react to that um proposal and uh if we suggested something else

0:46:11I'm not sure that it sends the message to do so and so for that reason I'd like to leave it as is okay thank you um I I appreciate your comments your comments as well um I'm wondering if there your comments particularly related to acknowledging the two other women who who started save

0:46:31the bay um I am a little bit hesitant as council member Abelson mentioned of deviating from what is before the assembly at this point that it may sort of you know bring bring too much of a pause in their work to reconsider this type of thing but I'm wondering if there

0:46:47is a way we could add language to the whereas where we urge that the other two women at some future point in time also acknowledged in some manner I'd be happy to make a motion like that would that be helpful and appropriate there and the fourth whereas there's the discussion about Esther and

0:47:07Kay and it maybe the case that we could add add a little bit of language that just their has to do with the efforts that that they made and that perhaps their names could be attached to Something in the future yeah actually uh to be most effective it should be a whereas Clause um so new one

0:47:24it would be recommendation a second R resolved Clause that said and the City of Council of el city of elero uh expresses support in naming um Rec naming other parks to recognize uh um Esther gullick and K Kerr I think that would be that sounds like that would be appropriate to me and

0:47:48make kind of send a future message that while we support the current resol current um proposal within the state that a future proposal would also be supported by us or may also be supported by us okay so you're uh suggesting an amendment to the it would be a I'll add it it would

0:48:08be an addition it would be an addition to the resolution it we haven't had a motion yet right um so you can add it to city clerk do I need to read it again or did was I close enough that you can fabricate it you could restate it that would help um uh be it resolved uh so at

0:48:23the end of the now therefore we would add an and and we would start uh be it further resolved by the city council of the city of elero that it hereby expresses its support for the naming of other state parks to recognize Esther gulock and K Kerr second is there a second I seconded it

0:48:50okay yeah that's that's that's on the on the change and I'll go ahead and move this resolution I'll go ahead and move this resolution the city council of Elo U supporting the renaming of the eastshore state park to the mlin eore state park U with the added resolution and I second I'll second to

0:49:09that second that okay been moved in second any further discussion well I I still say that you know if it wasn't for mlin as well as Glick and Kerr none of this would be happening none of it and if we're going to honor somebody for that I really think that um Miss Golick

0:49:35and I don't know where where her residence was but I do know that uh K Kerr was a resident of elero and should be included uh I'm not against I'm not against naming the park I just would like to see more names in it I guess um so anyway why don't we take a vote all

0:49:54those in favor I I oppos nay motion carries thank you okay uh item 5G please yes um I have a problem with that date of um and I'm having a little trouble with my computer here probably um the 12th June 12th yeah June 12th and which is a Tuesday and I would like to uh offer as an alternative

0:50:21the day before Monday the 11th okay reason on there have a conflict oh you have a conflict okay do anybody have a problem with that I'm fine I think so yeah yeah I'm I'm good with uh June 11 I'm fine as well all right motion please I move adoption of of that resolution

0:50:59with the changing of that one date is there a second um I'm not sure it's a resolution find it I'm sorry I'm having a little trouble with my it's a recommendation yeah yeah so I think we can just do it by consensus it's just a recommendation it's not a resolution it

0:51:18says approved so we should formally vote okay so I I will second uh council member able 's uh resolution okay it's been moved in seconded with the uh change to June 11th all those in favor I I oppos motion carries I think it's just a motion thank you next item please

0:51:41found it next item is item number seven Award of contract to management partners for the development of a Citywide strategic plan all right so good evening mayor and city council my name is Karen pinkis I'm the assistant city manager I'm happy to bring this item before you tonight

0:52:11asking the city council to authorize a city manager to enter into an agreement with management Partners to assist the city in the development of a strategic plan with a contract amount not to exceed $45,000 as you recall last spring management Partners assisted the city

0:52:26council during a series of meetings that resulted in the city's first mission statement and for the benefit of the audience I'll read it the city of Els Sero serves leads and supports our diverse Community by providing exemplary and Innovative Services public places

0:52:41and infrastructure ensuring Public Safety and creating an economically and environmentally sustainable future as part of those discussions the concept of developing a long-term Citywide strategic plan emerged as a future goal because the city council and staff together has embraced the city's high

0:52:59level of service leadership and planning for the future the development of the Strategic plan would build upon these efforts and really guide our organization fulfilling this Mission a strategic plan could also serve and is planned to serve as the foundation for

0:53:14our general Plan update which will be upcoming the climate action plan and a road map for economic development additionally the plan is meant to guide the city's priorities and desires with respect ECT to ongoing Improvement of public facilities and infrastructure such as a library finally

0:53:31the plan can provide guidance to the council as to the community's will and desire to pursue a city Charter late last year staff was directed to pursue the development of the Strategic plan not only as a component of the city's long-term planning efforts but as an opportunity

0:53:46to assist with the next steps toward a city Charter in February staff released a request for proposals for the development of the Strategic plan the RFP was was written in a way to allow the proposers some latitude to propose their own approach to the project and

0:54:00explain why they felt it was the best one for the city staff received seven proposals from a variety of firms even attracting the notice of firms from out of state the proposals were reviewed by a committee consisting of myself city manager Scott Hannan fire chief Lance

0:54:15Maples and community outreach specialist Suzanne era and as described in the RFP staff considered the completeness of the response experience with similar projects the creativity that they provided with their approach the experience in public involvement in incorporating citizen input demonstrated

0:54:34facilitation skills while working with City councils boards and commissions Community organizations and the like um demonstrated experience with development of these plans and if they've been successful in other cities and a basic understanding of Municipal Finance references and price were also

0:54:52considered the committee decided it was best to inter interview all of the firms all seven of them to allow for an opportunity to meet and get a feel for the proposed Consulting staff that would be responsible for the project and allow us to have a dialogue with them we were

0:55:06really pleased with a variety of responses and one of the proposers even remarked that elero would be a real feather in their cap which we took as a very good compliment and I think you should too after meeting with all of the firms the committee unanimously chose

0:55:20management Partners as the most qualified and the factors that we considered that were key were their experience with similar types of projects their familiarity with the city references the overall approach and their cost Effectiveness additionally one item that set them apart from the

0:55:35other firms was related to service alignment sort of the what happens once you make the plan then what we felt that they provided the best approach for assisting the staff in implementing the plan by aligning services with the goals that were developed in the Strategic

0:55:50plan and this approach will also provide you the council and the community with assistance in balancing those and allocating resources based on our priorities and in this way the plan will serve as a tool for the city to use to ensure that policies going forward meet

0:56:06with that mission that we're constantly checking in that any policy we enact any priority we undertake has to do with the Mission Vision and values that the community has decided upon financially cost was one factor it was not a load bid type of process um but we did feel viously it's an

0:56:25important factor we did feel that management Partners um provided the most costeffective approach based on the number of hours and the hourly rate as well as how it was allocated within the work plan staff is recommending a total agreement of not to exceed $45,000 this includes a

0:56:44$5,500 contingency fund should the city wish to expand the scope hold more public meetings you know that type of thing um the funds for the project are proposed to come from a grant from the Municipal Services Corporation which will actually be the next item on the

0:56:58agenda should the MSC not decide to go forward with the grant program um City staff would come back to you at the following meeting to discuss that alternatively the funds could be allocated from general fund reserve and that concludes my presentation and if you have any

0:57:15questions I'm happy to answer them thank you questions from the council should I start okay um the the qu question I had was I like this idea of having uh on page four of the proposal I believe it is there it shows the Strategic plan and then underneath that the five categories and then

0:57:35underneath each one of the five categories there would be strategies so is that a given them that we will re that we will receive that data under those five categories because I like that that's what we like to do it's really uh comprehensive and it it makes sure that

0:57:53we cover all the different aspects of the business of the city absolutely and um I know sometimes we talk about what do we think's important and what do we think and then we kind of forget something that's like we do every day but it's and is vitally important but it

0:58:09just didn't seem to be the thing we were calling out that day and this this uh gets around that issue correct so I just that's I guess a comment and question answered thank you a question I I thank thank you for the presentation can you take us through uh sort of the the public involvement

0:58:29plan I noticed looking at their allocation of resources in their budget there's a substantial number of hours for two of the tasks um this is on page nine of The Proposal under task three conduct Outreach and plan for a strategic planning workshop um and facilitate strategic planning workshop

0:58:46there's you know quite a lot of hours going to that so can we just kind of go through uh the public Outreach plan and who are the types of groups or constituencies they and they along with the city will will look to reach out to sorry number page three I'm sorry what n I'm sorry my page

0:59:05nine page nine I'm sorry and and it's it's just I'm just looking at their budget and I'm just kind of looking at the hourly allocation and and and I think it's appropriate for this type of a plan to allocate a lot of hours to public involvement and um workshops and

0:59:17that type of thing but I just wanted to kind of get a quick summary from you of who who will be involved and what is the the plan at this point what they outlined was a variety of ways to get in touch with people one of the things that we were really adamant about

0:59:32was um making sure that we're reaching out to different parts and different factors of the community that may we may not always hear from and so there was a different variety of um of plans that they had um included such as focus groups where they we would come up with

0:59:50a list of people we like stakeholders Community leaders that we know of for them to reach out to personal interviews um and then having kind of like the town hall type Community workshops where people can go around and and talk um bring forth ideas open houses charettes

1:00:08that we've had that we've had success with and before and that they've had success with in other communities so it would we we would want to make sure it's a variety of ways to get in touch with people and a variety of ways for people to provide input as well and we are

1:00:21going to I assume we'll be building on information we already have like for example we already have this the survey going on at this point so the if we approve this contract then these Consultants will come in and they'll kind of get our body of information that's current absolutely and and one of

1:00:36the one of the I think factors that management Partners did bring to the table is they do have familiarity with us having worked with us last year so in doing the environmental scan which kind of gives us the very basis of information that we need demographics you know thing budget things like that

1:00:52we do have that information we would work together to make sure that they have that Foundation to build on to seek input to go forward and I and I I didn't I don't recall reading about this I I mean I assume when they do this environmental scan they're going to include things

1:01:08like future projections and you know we have may not have had much growth in the past but there's some sense that we may grow more in the future so that'll be all part of their sort of due diligence and getting our community profile together absolutely okay thank

1:01:23you yeah I learned a new acronym I hadn't seen this one before I guess the environmental scan includes um an analysis of the strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats U for the new acronym of a SWAT yes or or slot they actually use that um interchangeably because um Nancy actually told us it was

1:01:46kind of a a funny moment where she said she didn't like weaknesses she'd rather you know verbalize it as limitations so instead she called it slot MH so either way but it's a it's a very useful tool under Activity 4 um there is a recommendation for use of a graphic

1:02:04recorder MH uh first I've never I don't know what a graphic I'm I'm at a I'm in a business where we stay pretty in touch with the new latest technology but I have I have no idea what a graphic recorder is but more importantly um it doesn't look like The Talented graphic recorder with whom

1:02:24they've worked with in the past is included in this budget so I'm um interested in what staff's position is on the graphic recorder after you tell me what the gra quarter is um and then inform me if that is something that we will be availing ourselves of they um it

1:02:42actually was included um as an example in one of the Strategic plans um that we gave you as a sample the roner park plan what a graphic recorder does is essentially a very um um a a very talented notetaker where they would graphically within pictures and charts and graphs while people are

1:03:02talking um instead of just you know writing on the on the flip chart and taping them up all across the room which is pretty standard they would do it in a in a more picture type of way which they found was successful in in getting people to really kind of understand

1:03:17sometimes people think better graphically and in pictures as opposed to just words so it was kind of a fun tool that they found was really successful in in getting people engaged in the plan and and and having it look different and feel different and kind of take that in into a different direction

1:03:34as opposed to just the standard Town Hall type you know writing so um it hasn't been included in the plan we are going to actually work with them on that um but we I guess that was one of the things that we thought we would kind of take that on as it came up and we met

1:03:54mentioned as part of the contingency we could allocate some of that money towards it we want to talk a little more to them see if we have the right situations and where it might work but it was something as Karen said we haven't experienced before and they were

1:04:08very positive and we we'll probably will chat with Rona Park too about it and other places but they said it it really lit up the room a lot more than just writing bullets on the chart yeah it certainly capitalizes on the different learning techniques that people have so

1:04:21it's just a another way of of being trans arent and and communicating with the public so I definitely see the benefits of it um but I'm concerned that it would take up a significant portion of your contingency so I'm I'm uh recognizing that it is something that if

1:04:42I'm I'm just wondering if we sh if our motion tonight should allow for a larger contingency so that you can um factor that in and and have more flexibility uh so that's that's essentially my question is is your contingency sufficient to cover something that looks like it's

1:04:58something that would add benefit to the way these Concepts because we're dealing with a strategic plan that that is as much concept as it is implementation fact um that getting these Concepts and I don't want to call them an iconist but using somebody who is graphically able

1:05:16to capture the thoughts and and visualize them so that the different learning styles can benefit I I just I'm worried that your that your contingency is insufficient the the other thing I might add to that I I've been at a number of workshops where they use that

1:05:35technique and the problem I've had with it is going back and looking at it afterwards it isn't very useful that way you really don't know what they you know you're not excuse me we're we're in uh questions to the staff rather than discussions so oh oh sorry that's all

1:05:52right we'll come back to it just I want to get to the discussion period yeah so the question to staff is is the um is that the did you think through what the uh contingency would cover and is the contingency adequate I I think it is um we I think we thought if we were to use the graphic

1:06:14recorder it' probably be once um and we think based on our conversations with them that there is adequate time for the number of meetings and focus groups that were likely to need in the event we needed to add a little more on I could add on a little bit under my own signature Authority if

1:06:30we if we needed from somewhere in my you know in the city management budget if if necessary but I'd like to think we can get it done in what we're asking for great thank you question any question okay go ahead the um the the sort of last question I I think I have has to do with um

1:06:56is this big enough to actually get us what we need this the project is it um what will it not even quite sure how to ask the question but what I'm thinking is if if we're going to you for example we'd be using this as input into the general plan correct beginning Okay

1:07:22so will it be a major part of the input from the public into the general plan or will it just be how will it be used for the general plan I guess is almost my question I believe we see it more as a foundation for the Mission Vision and values and it's not going to be um the

1:07:45general plan is is much more Technical and much more focused on development land use all the various elements that are included in the general plan the Strategic plan is a foundation for the community in in general just an overall foundation so while I'm not anticipating

1:08:04that this is going to be focused on on land use or or anything to that nature but I do anticipate that development will come up what people want to see in their Community they want to see in Els Sero 20 years from now how do they Envision what that looks like completely

1:08:21not just on San Pablo Avenue not just velopment wise but what do they see as their Community how do they see their neighborhood how do they see their City providing services so all of those factors it's meant to be much more of an overall type of of foundation from which

1:08:38we can take a lot of that input and build upon it for the general plan and we think it can be done for for this size project we do we do that does raise the question um activity five which is prepare the Strategic plan and then prepare an implementation plan um the Strategic plan after after

1:09:05all of the public input which actually actually is um activities two through four is is quite a um quite a bit of the U public input Activity 5 is to prepare and um the draft is shared with the c City staff MH um and then it's finalized and and I'm just curious if if

1:09:30that's if that's adequate I mean if there's going to be an opportunity for the public and for the council to review the the Strategic Plan before it's finalized absolutely you would be finalizing the Strategic plan it would be adopted by the city council and absolutely would have the draft would

1:09:48have public input prior to your adoption of it building on council member aon's um statements and and her experience and my experience 24 hours for uh Activity 5 which is to potentially prepare a plan and then revise it at some point um and then after the Strategic plan is done

1:10:09the implementation plan would be completed and if there's changes to the Strategic plan as a result of something we do there would be potentially changes to the implementation plan strikes me that 24 hours to prepare those plans and then potentially revise those plans as a

1:10:24result of public input is inadequate so Council input and Council that's what I'm saying public and Council input so I I um you know it's it's a $3,700 task so it's still within the contingency but again between the the two things that we've highlighted here um you know

1:10:47the the the question is is this enough to get it done and that I think that is the question that Council member Aon has asked we do believe that particularly with management partners and I and the reason I say that is as their name implies we would be partnering with them

1:11:04to get that to get that done to manage the hours um when we looked at all of the other proposals I mean it was pretty you know it was pretty similar and you know again that's part of why we're hiring we want to hire an experienced firm who has done this in the past and

1:11:23it seemed consistent along the boards with all across the board with all of the other proposals but additionally that we would be incredibly involved and making sure that we all stay each of the other stays on track and that we are help we are guiding the process can one follow up so let's so

1:11:43having said that let's say it does not happen then um then what would happen so let's say that the the then what would happen is that they would cond do they would do some extra work who would pay for that extra work we don't anticipate that I know we don't but if it did we would yep

1:12:05I mean if we changed the scope we would pay for it um I'm just thinking that well if it I'm not saying we changed the scope I'm saying it just took more hours technically the way the scope is written there is no version after the city manager and City staff have reviewed it the the

1:12:28scope currently there is no subsequent revision so that's that's staff is correct the scope says the the management Partners is only only needs to produce one draft and one final and that's it they're done if as a result of our review process we have additional

1:12:47comments so the public has additional comments that we want Incorporated that's a change in scope there is no scope to to incorporate those comments but the I guess the well we're I'm asking a different question actually um what I'm saying is let's say I'm making up I'm

1:13:06making this up to just for to have a sample okay let's say that here they said it took 10 hours to do something let's say it took 20 hours to do that something um who pay who pay do they just do it for free or do we pay them an extra 10 hours when like any of the many

1:13:28Professional Services agreements we do it's it's potentially subject to negotiation um whether we impacted the change in scope or they're not following their proposal I mean based on our interviews not only with them but the other firms and certainly this firm I

1:13:45mean this is their initial proposal and it and we would we will sit down and go through the scope and as necessary tweak it revised it to make sure it totally meets our needs it is they have confirmed as Karen has said there will be opportunities that ultimately this is

1:14:02the council's document to approve that there will be a draft there'll be opportunity to revise it I mean I think it's important to understand that this is not meant to be anything like a general plan it's unlike many cities we don't have a vision statement we don't

1:14:16have a value statement this is really supposed to be relatively high level Rel easy for the public to understand easy for the staff to grasp like where is where where do you the best way we've described it is you're standing here in 2020 what do you see and what do you

1:14:36want to see so it's not how tall is the buildings and what's the traffic impact it's you know making places making more pedestrian friendly being more sustainable so it's it's high level and then chopping that up into smaller pieces to what are the things we need to

1:14:52do to make make that possible so it's it's not down to sort of the minutia as much as well we'll need to update the general plan we will need to look at how we staff police beats we'll need to look at so it's it's not a lot of analysis but it's not it's not meant to be but

1:15:08I'm really asking the question I'm asking is if there's a cost overrun how will that get accounted for that's I mean I I think it no matter what you I mean that's a fair question I think they can't meet their scope within what they propos that they would eat it right I

1:15:23think if you to if we were just reminded of what kind of contract we're entering into it's not a time and materials contract where they bill an hour we pay an hour they produce a c they produce their scope and we pay them that amount of money so it's so that so if we just

1:15:37kind of understood that we are entering into a contract for a 30 $39,000 contract that will include a draft and a final a strategic plan and if they spend 28 hours and I I work in Consulting every day and we put together these budgets and we do the best we can you

1:15:53know with four months worth of work but you can't you can't budget it perfectly and you are aware of the fact that you may be putting in a little bit more hours than you're going to get paid for um and and and I'm not sure how we pay our Consultants do we pay monthly or if

1:16:08we pay as you know as items are produced but I I I guess the question is will you be monitoring the budget and their scope of work to make sure that we're paying them as the amount of work that they're doing is being is consistent with the scope that they that we are signing into

1:16:24the contract absolutely and not only that we will be the staff and the city the community will be guiding the process not the consultant the consultant is there to assist us in doing that and the council correct yes it's right okay I mean again I mean we we have experience last year as well as

1:16:41in other other times um on smaller engagements as well as a familiarity with manag Partners but I I think it's important really important to stress that although they've bid a scope of work all of the I think all of the proposers but especially um management Partners when we were talking to them

1:17:01bend over backwards to say one size doesn't necessarily fit all what works in runed park or what works in Emeryville or what works in Oakland may not work in elero there's a lot of different ways to go so when we look at how are we going to maximize citizen participation there there's sort of an

1:17:19inherent flexibility having said that they have essentially said we have this number of hours for these tasks and we will work within those hours and you will get what you what you need um so I mean we we really don't have a history as I think you know of having

1:17:36having overrun problems on our on our contracts fine thank you any other questions yeah point of clarification uh this is a Professional Services contract that would be compensated based on hourly rates or is it or is it going to be lumpsum per deliverable no it's our

1:17:53it's monthly invoices based on progress payment on based on that rate schedule not to exceed the the the 39,500 correct it is a not to contract with a contingency for 45 for 5500 if you know as we as we the city might modify the scope right thank you any other questions okay uh public comment on this

1:18:22any speakers no speaker slips anybody would like to talk that's in the audience so I will um mention that we did as uh the mayor noted earlier during public comment we did receive a comment from Miss Taylor um who was questioning the value of this contract or or questioning

1:18:44whether the firm has the same values that Els Sero uh people have um you know qu asking if we can see their past work how do we know that they will value the a future for elero that includes a more vibrant local business more walkability cooler restaurants and bars and parks

1:19:04and pedestrian amenities better linkages linkages to Waterfront and to interesting pedestrian shopping denser housing Arrangements fewer big box stores fewer sunbaked parking lots and more Community okay any other public comment looking for a uh motion and then

1:19:27discussion I can move this item forward um I strongly support the Strategic plan and I um will make my comment and then my my motion um I am actually uh going through something similar at work we've got uh 80 people in our department and last year it was reorganized and um they

1:19:48did it ad hoc uh with with uh self-guided help and frankly we're reorganizing again this year um because it was not necessarily guided with all of the logic and and structure that uh these Consultants will bring to us so um I'd be delighted to move uh the award of a contract of

1:20:12management partners for the development of a Citywide strategic plan in the amount of uh not to exceed 45,000 second second comments discussions I'm happy to make just a just a couple more comments and then I'm happy to support the motion I too I'm also really excited

1:20:30about the Strategic plan um and I'm going to make a couple comments that I think you all probably know already but I just want to want to say them early and often that we have that Consultants can be a great arm for the staff because they kind of take the load off of you guys where you can

1:20:47provide them a lot of information and they can go off and take that information take information from the public and help put it into a logical logical framework to help us kind of move forward in our thinking thinking for the city um but I have in the past seen some cases where Consultants can be

1:21:03cannot be used very well because they just aren't sort of given enough information and they're repeating a lot of things that we know already so I know that you all are and we're going to be really conscious to make sure that we don't end up with a plan that's just

1:21:15repeating things that we've done before or things that we already know um so the things that I'm thinking of that I think would would be helpful just at a very high level that I that the Strategic plan can help us focus in on are what what are we providing to the to the

1:21:29public what are our service services in our facilities who's using them what are we doing really well and What needs Improvement are we over providing one's service or under providing a service um are there opportunities for efficiencies when I say that I think efficiency can

1:21:44mean so many things to so many different people but when I think of it I think can we broaden services to more users so that we're sort of we have a fixed cost for a service but then we're getting more of a benefit because more people are using it and the one that comes to

1:21:57mind is the Lifeguard at the pool and he's going to he can service the entire pool but if if it's not fully utilized not that our swimming pool isn't fully utilized but that's the thing that comes to mind is that we just want to utilize all of the all the resources and all the

1:22:10services we're providing so that they're touching the most amount of people and that we're identifying basically that we're looking for sort of the diamond and the rough the thing that we aren't doing that we could do very well and I'm hopeful that this sort of public Outreach process

1:22:23that we have um with the Consultants will bring forward what what you were saying the folks you don't hear from every day um so I'm really looking forward to seeing how they're going to help us kind of touch members of the public who maybe don't come to our meetings or don't participate in the in

1:22:37the typical way with the city um so I'm really supportive of this plan and I'm looking forward to to participating in it and I was really happy that in the RFP process you guys um included work samples I think that's so important when you're selecting a firm you can

1:22:51interview somebody and they can give you a lot of great great experience but until you look at their documentation it's hard to know what you're going to get so I did happen to review the roner park plan that they had um as one of their work samples that I just looked it

1:23:03up on the web um it wasn't in our packet so that was really useful just to see what what what is what are we shooting for in the end and what was useful in their document and what can we look for in our document that maybe will be a little bit more specific to our to our

1:23:16community so I'm I'm excited to get this started great yeah my comments um are around that I think it's a very good time to have a strategic plan things are changing rather rapidly uh in the management of cities and the services they provide and uh we need we need a uh a

1:23:39blueprint so to speak to go forward as as we plan for uh whatever comes into the future and I think it's just uh uh another way of taking charge of our own community rather than having the state or some other Outside Agency come in and try to uh legislate what we're going to

1:23:58do in town and I uh a great example of that was this past year there was a bill in the senate or the uh assembly excuse me that basically was going to tell the cities how to park cars the the type of parking what to do now that was defeated but that's the type of thing that we expose ourselves

1:24:18to and I think having a good strategic plan will allow us to manage our own Community the way we want to leads me into another um item that's been touched on that was also in Miss uh Miss Taylor's uh email to us and that is that um the the Consultants assist us it's up to the city and the community

1:24:43to put the input in of what they want um for our community and how we want want to view it it's their role to take all this information provide their professional expertise and come up with a suggested plan to deliver what we feel as a community we want and that's why I

1:25:06thought it was uh interesting that we spent a lot of time tonight discussing is there enough time to review is there enough time um and I think there is and if there isn't we'll do it just like we do every other uh contract um the staff will come to the city council and

1:25:25they'll say we've got these issues we have these concerns it may cost this a few more dollars and we'll decide yes or no on that so I'm I'm pretty even you bring up a good point but I'm pretty satisfied that we have ways and and means to do that we've done it in the

1:25:42past in a very responsible way um and I I would just like to emphasize to well not only our audience but any people that are listening in or will be seeing this if you have questions like um Miss Taylor had with her email you can certainly call the staff um and they

1:26:03can answer your questions uh I look at the questions here they're very good they're very thoughtful and they could have been answered um to the satisfaction I'm well I would think to the satisfaction of the author um and then that way you get the information right away and uh you also so staff can

1:26:23then take your comments and weave them into in this case the exercise we're about to to take place so um with that um I appreciate staff I thought uh going through it our criteria for selection and what we're looking for in a planner was well thought out um and it's what we

1:26:43want and I think it was reflected in that a lot of the time that the um consultant had proposed to put towards was um input and meeting with staff meeting with the community quite a bit so I I think going into this I feel comfortable that we're going to get what

1:27:03we are looking for I don't know what that is yet but uh I think whatever it is because we as a community have the opportunity to input and and and take this plan and then implement it and it uh I think it will be a good part of the general plan but this certainly is

1:27:20something we can put to in practice right away rather than waiting the four or five years it takes to go through the uh General plan process so with that one last comment it it does touch on and reinforces what uh council member benini and mayor you've said um Consultants

1:27:40assist staff they allow the staff to give direction and then the the real work gets done by the consultant but in this case the work product the end work product the Strategic plan is only going to be as good as the effort that we all the s the residents of elero put into

1:28:02this so as you um view this hopefully you'll view it before our our first public meeting on the Strategic plan and you will look up the dates when the Strategic plan um is going to be discussed and you come and you participate Miss Taylor hopefully you'll be available um because it is

1:28:22really our product in the end and it's only going to be as good as what we um provide so thank you great okay so we have a resolution we have a second yes so no other discussion on on the motion all those in favor I oppos motion carries thank you uh and before we get into any

1:28:51further I'd like i' like to remind people that at the end of the agenda it indicates that U we will the city council meeting will be adjourned and will be immediately followed by a meeting of the Elso Municipal Services Corporation so stick around for that okay uh Council assignments layers

1:29:09on reports uh Janet you have any um yes um in addition to the things I mentioned earlier which kind of overlapped various categories um I attended an abag meeting meeting and um the topic of the meeting was um various subtopics regarding the sustainable Community strategy uh that's

1:29:35actually if you remember um part of uh Senate Bill 375 that passed uh it's part of the climate action plan for the state and the sustainable Community strategy is something that is being developed on a regional level the Baria counties and um so there were some sub discussions on

1:29:57that and some of the topics discussed and on that were um the jobs housing Connection in other words should we have um housing separate from uh the jobs or should we try and provide jobs and housing in the same location so people don't have to travel as much um and then

1:30:18there was a uh an overview of the plan was presented um they're still working on it um actually trying to figure out exactly what we have to do to uh reduce our um um impact on the environment um and um in addition we had a business meeting in um P the budget thank you great thank

1:30:46you uh Planning Commission met had three items um provided input um to the three applicants um and pass them all um the one notable that was discussed at the last city council meeting was the Chipotle restaurant uh at the corner of Carlson and s p Avenue okay thank you oh actually

1:31:12actually I I did also want to there we did get a um a new business uh actually it's an existing business it's a heating uh company that actually uh currently is operating out of someone's house in elero and they are actually relocating to a um industrial building within Els

1:31:30Sero so it's it's good to see that our local businesses are staying local to get their U their their warehouse and and operations u space so those of you that are out there and you have businesses and you live in Els Sero we do have space in Els serito and um you

1:31:49hopefully you would consider keeping your your business local did they happen to find the space on the city's website where we have Open Spaces I I don't I don't know so I can't answer that question well if you are the if you are looking for one you try the website um

1:32:05okay the arts and culture commission met and the major item that uh they discussed was the RFP that went out or sorry the call call to artist that went out for the recycling center um 1% for that project that had to do with having shelving and Gates which were to be done

1:32:22by an artist and unfortunately the response to the RFP although they received several respondents many of them were incomplete and non-responsive so the committee um the arts and culture commission agreed with the committee that reviewed the responses that we should go out again with sort of a

1:32:40broader net um so they'll be reissuing that our that call to artists in the next in the next couple months and they hope to get a better and more complete response um also Parks and Recreation did meet and and we did the City Arborist um Stephen prey came and G gave a presentation and

1:33:00sort of introduced himself to the parks and rec Commissioners which was great and also we had a really great presentation from Robin Mitchell one of the Commissioners who led the Community Gardens pilot project on Earth Day and she provided some great photographs of

1:33:14the before and after of the community garden pilot project that is now located at uh along the aloney greenway right where uh Fairmont Park meets Fairmont School basically so if you haven't seen it yet um she was very pleased to see that even while they were working many people who were along

1:33:32walking along the greenway stopped and asked what they were doing which was sort of part of the point of the pilot project was to get um interest and start kind of making connections with people and peing peing the interest of the public um to the idea that community

1:33:45garden could go beyond the two boxes that are there today great thank you uh just want to remind people that uh the second meeting for the oversight Board of the successor agency to the former elero Redevelopment agency will be uh Monday May the 7th at 8:00 and we'll be taking up

1:34:09the well it gets confusing but we're taking up the second um Ro Ross as RS robs um for the state um kind of interesting because uh they haven't settled on um accepting or not accepting the first one but at any rate we're responding to uh questions they had about the first

1:34:36one and we'll see what happens so that'll that'll all happen on May the 7th uh also I attended the West cona County mayor's conference uh currently being hosted by the city of Hercules and uh what's interesting is the uh Mayors are becoming a little concerned about the property

1:34:58tax uh that is coming down from the county and the different rates and the different amounts of money that they're getting they're According to some uh uh mayors that have looked into this it's uh every city is treated a little differently and there's there's some

1:35:15questions uh starting to be raised and as we have experienced in the past as we've tried to get uh money out of the I mean information is out of the access assessor's office um it's not very forthcoming at this point so if I if we happen to get some I'll be bringing it

1:35:34back here and also Els Sero uh made a presentation on its new recycling center staff did very well and um it was very very well received by the mayors that were in attendance there mayor yes um I know the Assessor is in an elected position um so you know complaining to

1:35:57the um the County Supervisors is probably pointless but somewhere along the line isn't their scope and their transparency um something that that we can call on either the supervisor or the assessor themselves to uh come and and talk to us about the the lack of transparency on on this issue well I can

1:36:28tell you that um staff has made several attempts to actually do that I brought it up at the meeting actually and I was reminded by the other mayors that as an elected position the Board of Supervisors does not have very much influence on the assessor what surprises

1:36:45me is the same thing that you bring up is the transparency we're all supposed to be operating on transparency and apparently from what I uh gather the assessor really doesn't have to do much of anything they comes down with a a judgment and um they implement it and I think it is a weak point in our

1:37:09government especially given all the uh effort these days on transparency and calling uh for more explanation from representatives of the public on decision- making that this stands out as one and it's uh that doesn't seem to have it at the same level and it's important I mean we're all here uh we

1:37:30actually base as you know we base our revenue on what comes out and here it is two months before 3 months before we're supposed to adopt a budget and staff has been trying to get information out so that they can finalize their budget uh proposed budget and it hasn't been

1:37:49forthcoming so I to answer your question I don't know at this point what to do but we're going to keep discussing it at the mayor's meeting and hopefully get some movement um even the mayor of Hercules had indicated that we should come up with a plan and take it to the

1:38:05con Acosta mayor count uh conference to see if we can't get all 19 cities to back some sort of demand for Action yeah I I wholeheartedly support that and and I guess my call would be poent potential for staff to do some research on I there's appraisal Industries and there's

1:38:27got to be an assessor industry for some level of standard um that we can find out what other counties are doing for a level of standard and see there has to be a more methodical process than picking a number out of thin air which is what it feels like the assessors

1:38:45doing because we don't know what the assessor is doing so it would be wonderful to have examples of what other counties assessors are doing for their level of transparency so that so that to and maybe this is something that the I just don't it sounds like some city has to

1:39:05make some investment to find this answer so that all the cities can get behind and whether Hercules is doing it and I can't believe Hercules has the staff to do it given their poor State um or or we do it I I think it's important that we push this forward it it represents a tremendous

1:39:27amount of of Revenue you I mean council member benini has firsthand experience About Properties being basically going you know above asking price in in competitive auctions in Els Sero so there's no reason for elero to be having a lower assessed value this year than

1:39:49last year or the year before so I this is this is a troubling issue that's been troubling for many years our our uh Chief Financial Officer has hit up against a a brick wall uh the entire time I was on the financial Advisory board that um we we basically did it

1:40:09with with kindness and I think it's time for the kindness to end and for um some form of accountability to begin well I I do know that um cities uh countywide are are getting upset I uh I feel you're going to this isn't going to die with our cities and I think we we will take it to the other cities

1:40:33it would be nice to get all 19 behind one movement and and make demands but um I just don't have enough information for you to say yes this is what we're going to do it's still in the talking yeah I I I definitely understand that and maybe we need to have it as an agenda item

1:40:50because we're certainly going Beyond an informational session here tonight so maybe this is a future agenda item and maybe as part of that staff can inform us as to what other um you know what are some of the the methodologies that are out there that might provide greater

1:41:04transparency and we can maybe help you through that future agenda item um Carry something forward to the our 19 uh fellow cities sure that'd be good you're suggesting a formal agenda item right I think we've exceeded our uh informational item tonight yes oh I don't know that's good information for

1:41:27me to ask uh to put on the agenda and we also have by the way since we're I don't want to forget uh Janet you wanted to put on uh your transportation item on our next agenda correct yes okay all right position on AB um 20200 ab22 200 200 AB 200 okay all right anything else okay with that

1:41:54call for adjournment we'll go ahead and adjourn