Regular City Council Meeting March 19, 2019

0:01:25this

0:01:52or maybe it's a job

0:01:55ready

0:01:58let's be punctual

0:02:03yeah okay

0:02:05i just have to wing it

0:02:18the meeting is called to order

0:02:21the clerk please call roll call council

0:02:24member fidelity president mayor pro-tem

0:02:26lyman what present mayor pardo okimoto

0:02:28present councilmember abelson

0:02:31president councilmember quinto

0:02:35all right now we will see if we have any

0:02:38oh no first we're going to do the pledge

0:02:40of allegiance so

0:02:41please stand while councilmember quinto

0:02:43leads us in the pledge

0:02:45i pledge allegiance to the flag of the

0:02:48united states of america

0:02:50and to the republic for which it stands

0:02:53one nation

0:02:54under god

0:02:55indivisible with liberty and justice for

0:02:58all

0:03:05do we have any communications from staff

0:03:08no communications

0:03:10what about from our council we start

0:03:12with council member quinto thank you

0:03:14mayor

0:03:16as a vice chair of the contra costa

0:03:18mayor's conference uh

0:03:21i joined mayor pardue okimoto and i

0:03:23believe councilmember abelson was there

0:03:25as well

0:03:26and

0:03:27we were in the city of san ramon

0:03:31in contra costa county and

0:03:34they have a new mall open there called

0:03:37the lot and it was

0:03:40a brand new movie theater and a lot of

0:03:42room there

0:03:45uh lots of rooms

0:03:46it looks like texas out there it uh

0:03:49uh their parking spaces there are are

0:03:51twice the size of uh

0:03:53of uh what we have here in this part of

0:03:56the bay so

0:03:58um we also had

0:04:02leaders from mtc

0:04:03and

0:04:04abag

0:04:06speak on casa and casa is a

0:04:11program that mtc and

0:04:14abag

0:04:16is working on to try to include

0:04:19more housing in the bay area

0:04:22along with transportation so i was very

0:04:25impressed by that and

0:04:27and i know

0:04:29they are asking for two representatives

0:04:32from the mayor's conference to be part

0:04:34of a working group

0:04:36for the next year a year and a half

0:04:39to make sure that

0:04:41we get some policies done and create a

0:04:45good policy to build more housing

0:04:48and

0:04:50also

0:04:51last

0:04:52thursday i

0:04:53attended

0:04:55a reception at

0:04:57the new

0:04:59speaker of the senate

0:05:01tony atkins and

0:05:04that was a reception with

0:05:08statewide leaders and

0:05:12leaders from

0:05:13the different cities in california

0:05:16who are lgbt and that's the first time

0:05:19that has ever happened from the state of

0:05:21california i look forward in having this

0:05:24meeting

0:05:25of the year now

0:05:29there are about 175 elected and

0:05:32appointed lgbt officials in the state of

0:05:35california and we have wanted one of the

0:05:37largest lgbt

0:05:40legislative

0:05:42caucuses

0:05:43in sacramento

0:05:46okay i have several things

0:05:49today i went to the chamber of commerce

0:05:51luncheon and the speaker was ruth strop

0:05:55and she was quite interesting i learned

0:05:57a lot about insurance

0:06:00she works for a state farm insurance

0:06:05company

0:06:06and uh she explained about the uh

0:06:10different kinds

0:06:11of insurance and what was really

0:06:13interesting is

0:06:14she spoke about

0:06:16what causes people to be

0:06:18dropped from insurance programs and she

0:06:22said it's dropped not cancelled

0:06:24because what happens if you're going to

0:06:26be dropped is that it happens at the end

0:06:29of the

0:06:30payment cycle you know like a year or

0:06:33something and um

0:06:35it

0:06:36it isn't so much individual

0:06:43viability as a customer but rather

0:06:46the category that a person is in

0:06:49and

0:06:51the

0:06:54them needing the insurance company that

0:06:56is needing to change their profile

0:07:00of customers

0:07:03vis-a-vis all of the

0:07:06activities that have been going on in

0:07:08that particular cycle

0:07:10regarding claims

0:07:13so that was kind of interesting

0:07:15and i i did learn a lot and there is a

0:07:19lot to be learned i guess about that

0:07:22industry

0:07:23i also went to the police department el

0:07:26cerrito police department swearing-in

0:07:28ceremony

0:07:29which was held on march the 14th right

0:07:32in this very room

0:07:34and we had

0:07:36swearing-in for volunteers

0:07:38an explorer

0:07:40and a police officer community service

0:07:42officer in awards and promotions

0:07:47and

0:07:49it was really pretty exciting i think

0:07:52and

0:07:53one of the things that was really

0:07:54exciting is the number of volunteers

0:07:56that are coming out of the

0:07:59[Music]

0:08:00training that we're doing of community

0:08:04volunteers

0:08:05and they're

0:08:06going through this program and then a

0:08:08number of them are becoming

0:08:10part of our volunteer program which is

0:08:13very helpful as i understand it

0:08:17and

0:08:18[Music]

0:08:19i

0:08:22the police officer who the person who

0:08:25became a police officer was jordan

0:08:27albrandt

0:08:30and then the

0:08:33there was a community service officer

0:08:34who was

0:08:36and i may not pronounce this right syed

0:08:38shad did i get that right does anyone

0:08:41maybe there's no one here um and then

0:08:44there were awards to eddie perales

0:08:46michael

0:08:48olivieri

0:08:50jerry duda and bill lewis

0:08:54promotions

0:08:56by lieutenant jose

0:08:58de la torre and sergeant aaron leone

0:09:02and

0:09:03if you ever

0:09:05get a chance to do it and i think most

0:09:07of the council members if not all have

0:09:09it really is a

0:09:12very

0:09:14thoughtful

0:09:15activity with families and everything

0:09:17present

0:09:18the other thing that i did

0:09:20recently

0:09:21was to go to a

0:09:25an event that was held

0:09:28and this particular one was for seniors

0:09:30and disabled

0:09:32who use

0:09:34san pablo avenue in particular things

0:09:36like the bus

0:09:38along san pablo avenue and

0:09:40the

0:09:43there is a

0:09:45item i believe on our agenda

0:09:47that actually references this study

0:09:49although you can't tell looking at the

0:09:51two things unless you know but

0:09:53the um

0:09:54so they were getting input on what

0:09:57people thought about

0:09:59potential ideas for changes on san pablo

0:10:02avenue

0:10:04and

0:10:06so

0:10:07everyone that showed up in the session

0:10:09that i was at was on the committee on

0:10:11aging

0:10:13and

0:10:15so

0:10:17that was the opinion that came out of it

0:10:20and they were asking questions like

0:10:23uh what do you think about um going from

0:10:27two travel lanes each direction to one

0:10:29treble lane

0:10:31that was the kind of question they were

0:10:32asking and um

0:10:35all of our seniors were opposed to that

0:10:38in case you're interested

0:10:40and that we're there

0:10:42um

0:10:43and um but that was the kind of thing

0:10:47they were asking about and um

0:10:50this is in reference

0:10:52to a study that

0:10:54the alameda county transportation

0:10:56authority

0:10:58is um if i said that right um did i say

0:11:01that right

0:11:03paul

0:11:04i actually i wasn't listening i'm sorry

0:11:06alameda county transportation authority

0:11:08yeah is that right okay

0:11:10um

0:11:11i asked because i know they changed

0:11:13their name

0:11:14while back anyway the um

0:11:18so anyway

0:11:19what they're doing at the moment is a

0:11:21study but um

0:11:23we'll see what happens i don't really

0:11:25know what it will be but i did attend

0:11:28that on

0:11:29tuesday february 26th

0:11:31thank you

0:11:34remember fidelity

0:11:36yeah um

0:11:37i attended um an arbor day event at

0:11:40poinsett park that unfortunately had to

0:11:43be canceled because of rain but there

0:11:44were enough neighbors there that it was

0:11:46a glorious

0:11:47day talking to neighbors about trees and

0:11:50the creek that was

0:11:51they lit on poinsett park so it was

0:11:54turned out to be very nice for me

0:11:56i also went to the 2019 police promotion

0:11:59and awards event along with

0:12:01council member lyman and janet abelson

0:12:05i attended the bank of america remodel

0:12:07and helped cut the ribbon of the new

0:12:10renovated interior

0:12:12and i basically told them that to get

0:12:14ready for some more customers as we

0:12:16continue to grow along san pablo avenue

0:12:19but i also said that it

0:12:22growth will bring new services

0:12:24and new products to el cerrito and i'm

0:12:26hoping that

0:12:28that's a result them getting

0:12:31remodeled

0:12:32is helpful for new customers and it's a

0:12:34signal to everybody in el cerrito that

0:12:36the more we grow the more services that

0:12:38will benefit

0:12:39all of us

0:12:41and finally i just want to say to the

0:12:42climate change students that protested

0:12:44last friday right on

0:12:46right on kids and let's do this again

0:12:48thank you

0:12:51sure um yeah i'm gonna

0:12:54do a brief report out of my uh time at

0:12:56the crime prevention committee um they

0:12:59they have two major focuses this year

0:13:01they're gonna come to us with a

0:13:02presentation but uh i wanted to shout

0:13:05out these two major focuses one is to

0:13:08reinvigorate the neighborhood watch

0:13:10program and

0:13:12basically reach out to see who has

0:13:14neighborhood watch already going

0:13:16seems that the neighborhood watch data

0:13:19is not necessarily as robust as we'd

0:13:21like it to be so if you're out there and

0:13:23you hear this and you're an organizer of

0:13:25a neighborhood watch

0:13:26please make sure that you

0:13:29reach out to the city and let us know

0:13:30that you're out there

0:13:32more importantly though is membership

0:13:35the crime prevention committee is uh

0:13:38looking for

0:13:39nine uh new members of their fifteenths

0:13:42they have six members currently so

0:13:44they're looking they have nine vacancies

0:13:46so i just wanna make sure that people

0:13:47are aware that the crime prevention

0:13:49committee is

0:13:50available for you to

0:13:52serve your community

0:13:54with

0:13:55things like neighborhood watch national

0:13:57night out

0:13:58the tri-safety day

0:14:01events and programs that are benefiting

0:14:04el cerrito

0:14:06carry that thought right into the fact

0:14:08that we have vacancies on el cerrito

0:14:10boards and commissions

0:14:12and committees

0:14:13we have 14 of those board submissions

0:14:16and committees and nine of them have

0:14:17vacancies

0:14:19so for example we have the contra costa

0:14:22mosquito and vector control civil

0:14:23service commission committee on aging

0:14:25committee crime prevention committee

0:14:28economic development committee

0:14:29environmental quality committee

0:14:31human relations commission park and

0:14:33recreation commission and urban forest

0:14:35committee so if you're interested in any

0:14:37of those topics please

0:14:40see about

0:14:42becoming a member for committees and i

0:14:44rattle off quite a few

0:14:46uh it's almost self-service so you go to

0:14:48three of those and your name will be

0:14:51brought to us on consent and you would

0:14:53most likely become a member

0:14:55for uh commissions

0:14:58civil service commission

0:14:59human relations

0:15:01commission

0:15:02park and recreation commission those are

0:15:05applications and you can apply

0:15:07online

0:15:09or you can reach out to our city clerk

0:15:11holly charlottie at city clerk

0:15:15at ci dot e-l-cerrito.ca.us

0:15:20so

0:15:21please

0:15:23feel free to

0:15:24apply for the commissions

0:15:28and then um one last thing that i want

0:15:30to make sure that people are aware of i

0:15:33is the park and recreation master plan

0:15:36it's my understanding we're going to be

0:15:38taking that up on april 2nd

0:15:40here at

0:15:41the council

0:15:43it is out for

0:15:45both environmental review and public

0:15:46review right now so

0:15:49sorry public comment period on the

0:15:51environmental document is running right

0:15:53now to the end of this month so

0:15:56i'm going to encourage everybody out

0:15:58there that hasn't thought about

0:16:00your recreation facilities and if i

0:16:03remember correctly there's

0:16:0514 or something fields and 20 some

0:16:08facilities so there's there we have

0:16:10quite a few attributes within the city

0:16:13that are part of our public uh

0:16:15park system and this master plan talks

0:16:18about all of them uh and it's the master

0:16:20plan covers uh the

0:16:23what's outstanding at some of these

0:16:25locations some of them are missing their

0:16:27uh

0:16:28they're they're not up to code on uh

0:16:30accessibility um the ada uh some of them

0:16:35have uh

0:16:37neglect and therefore have quite a bit

0:16:39of maintenance that needs to be done on

0:16:40them some of them haven't even been

0:16:42developed uh like the uh dorothy

0:16:46rosenberg did i get it right okay

0:16:48dorothy rosenberg facility

0:16:50so there's quite a bit of need out there

0:16:53in the uh

0:16:55park recon uh

0:16:56park master plan the reckon park master

0:16:58plan and i would ask everybody to take a

0:17:01look at it um

0:17:03for those people that are going to speak

0:17:04tonight about the hillside natural area

0:17:06there's even discussion about the

0:17:08hillside natural area in there so

0:17:10uh it we do have quite a bit of

0:17:12facilities in town and it would be

0:17:14wonderful if everybody would take a look

0:17:15at it and be prepared for the april 2nd

0:17:17meeting thank you

0:17:19councilman

0:17:20thank you mayor i just received an email

0:17:23and i'd like to invite everyone to uh

0:17:27arbor day will be uh happening on sunday

0:17:29at two o'clock at poinsett park so i

0:17:32invite everyone to the tree planting uh

0:17:35of uh uh that was supposed to happen uh

0:17:38last sunday so we will have this on this

0:17:41coming sunday at two o'clock um and i

0:17:44look forward to seeing everybody there

0:17:45where where exactly poinsett park um

0:17:49lower upper

0:17:52oh

0:17:52probably where that old pine tree fell

0:17:54down about four years ago so it would be

0:17:56just above the clubhouse

0:17:59thank you

0:18:00thank you

0:18:01so out in the community over the last

0:18:03couple of weeks i had the pleasure of

0:18:05going to

0:18:06harding elementary school where my sons

0:18:08both attend

0:18:10and i gave two presentations on what

0:18:13it's like to be the mayor of el cerrito

0:18:15one to a kindergarten class and one to a

0:18:18sixth grade class

0:18:19i had lots of really good questions and

0:18:22comments and i was particularly

0:18:24impressed by the thoughtfulness of the

0:18:26sixth graders that i spoke with this

0:18:27morning

0:18:28they wanted to know what we were doing

0:18:29about rent control in el cerrito

0:18:32and they also were interested in how we

0:18:35could help keep kids off of drugs when

0:18:38they're in high school so i thought that

0:18:40those were some very good questions and

0:18:42there were many more and i i enjoyed

0:18:45speaking with both of those classes

0:18:48in addition to that um i think we've

0:18:50touched on a lot of the things that i

0:18:52participated in but i wanted to

0:18:55make mention of

0:18:57the american red cross who is here

0:18:59tonight and we have

0:19:01a proclamation that will we will be

0:19:03voting on on the consent calendar but i

0:19:05see they have a flyer here so i wanted

0:19:07to

0:19:08mention their um event so

0:19:11they are going to it says help us sound

0:19:13the alarm and volunteer to save lives

0:19:16and they are going to have

0:19:1830 000 volunteers team up with fire

0:19:21departments to install 100 000 free

0:19:24smoke alarms

0:19:26in just two weeks at at-risk communities

0:19:28so

0:19:29their event that will be closest to us

0:19:32will be may 4th 2019

0:19:359 a.m to 3 p.m

0:19:38par chester village in richmond and so

0:19:41if you know someone or

0:19:43that might need be in need of a alarm

0:19:45and might need some help installing it

0:19:47sounds like a very good program to help

0:19:50people remain safe so with that

0:19:53thank you very much and we will continue

0:19:55on with the rest of the agenda

0:19:58next we will have

0:20:00oral communications from the public at

0:20:03this time if anyone would like to speak

0:20:06please fill out a speaker card and give

0:20:07it to the city cork

0:20:09remarks are usually

0:20:11typically three minutes per person

0:20:13however

0:20:14depending on the number of speakers i

0:20:16may shorten that although it looks like

0:20:18tonight we will be able to go with our

0:20:20three minutes

0:20:21comments regarding non-agenda items and

0:20:23consent calendar items will be heard

0:20:26first

0:20:27comments related to other agenda items

0:20:29will be heard at the time the city

0:20:30council deliberates on them

0:20:33when you come forward please state your

0:20:35name

0:20:36your

0:20:37city and your city of residence

0:20:40will you please call the speakers

0:20:42the first three speakers tonight are

0:20:43cardell hindler al followed by al miller

0:20:46and robin mitchell

0:20:49so good evening uh mayor uh pardo kimoto

0:20:53so i'm codel handler richmond so

0:20:55i do want to thank the council for

0:20:57having a bart representative came last

0:20:59month um it was it's very i'm very

0:21:02excited that the new developments is

0:21:04coming to bar and i say yes this is very

0:21:07wonderful so that's one and then number

0:21:09two is um i i'm brightening you i'm

0:21:11bringing this a matter to your attention

0:21:13so i have spoken to a couple of the

0:21:15businesses around this area

0:21:18and they and they're not too happy that

0:21:20every time when they when they call the

0:21:21police on issues you know

0:21:23when people be in front of their

0:21:25business uh like loitering and it's like

0:21:28it it hurt it affects me because i say i

0:21:31i shop uh near those businesses like on

0:21:33a regular basis and

0:21:35every time when they call the police

0:21:36their response times is like 20 to 30

0:21:39minutes which is that's that's to me

0:21:40that's that's kind of like not helping

0:21:43because as for me i would not

0:21:45place my business uh in the area but i

0:21:48do love el cerrito but

0:21:49people will not come to to this part of

0:21:52town where it's like you know where the

0:21:53rent is is is like is getting high it's

0:21:56like to me

0:21:57i spoken with the owner and they said

0:21:58they paid 15 000 a month for rent and i

0:22:01said that is that is unheard of i said

0:22:03for me personally i would not have paid

0:22:06that not even close to that amount so

0:22:08for me having a business in this area i

0:22:10would have to have to pay for rent

0:22:13insurance insurance all that stuff and

0:22:15it's like but i'm not paying 15 000

0:22:18other places they usually charge like a

0:22:20lot less so i would have my business

0:22:22elsewhere because it's like it's a it's

0:22:24a better environment for me personally

0:22:26if i if i was a business owner i would

0:22:28say

0:22:29i would pick the location you know based

0:22:32on the geographical um

0:22:34matter uh to me i was like 15 000 that's

0:22:37not what in my price range so i would my

0:22:40business would be further away so as a

0:22:42potential business owner so

0:22:44i just want to i want you i want to

0:22:45bring that forward to you so with that

0:22:47i'm going to give my time to al

0:22:50thank you

0:22:55my name is al miller and i live in el

0:22:56cerrito good evening mayor pardue

0:22:59okamoto council members and staff

0:23:02i'm aware that you all know of what i'm

0:23:04about to tell you but i'm hoping that

0:23:07people who are listening or watching

0:23:09that don't know

0:23:10will be excited about it as we are

0:23:13i'm here as a representative of the el

0:23:15cerrito library foundation tonight

0:23:18saturday april 13th is earth day in el

0:23:22cerrito

0:23:23and for the

0:23:25gosh i don't know how many times in a

0:23:27row the ocean library foundation is

0:23:29sponsoring a work site at the library

0:23:32we'll be spreading mulch trimming trees

0:23:35picking up litter

0:23:37weeding in native plant garden if we can

0:23:39find

0:23:40a consultant to give us advice on that

0:23:43area and generally enjoying the day with

0:23:46our fellow el cerrito residents

0:23:50if you'd like to join us please show up

0:23:52at the library at 9 00 a.m

0:23:54we'll work together till about noon at

0:23:57which

0:23:58those

0:23:59most of them will make their way to the

0:24:01community center for a very healthy free

0:24:04lunch

0:24:04and further networking with more people

0:24:07from el cerrito who had been doing the

0:24:09same things they're doing but in

0:24:10different places so thank you

0:24:13thank you

0:24:14the next speaker is robin mitchell

0:24:16followed by howdy gowdy

0:24:20so my name is robin mitchell and i'm a

0:24:22resident of el cerrito

0:24:24i must say that i'm disappointed with

0:24:26the outcome from the last city council

0:24:28meeting which discussed tenant

0:24:29protections once again no actual

0:24:32protections were put in place

0:24:34i have three friends who are seniors two

0:24:37are retired one is close to retirement

0:24:40they like the mom and pop landlords who

0:24:42made such a vocal showing at the last

0:24:44meeting have worked hard all their lives

0:24:47but in retirement they're going to be on

0:24:49fixed and they already are they're going

0:24:51to be on a fixed income

0:24:53and they're okay so far but they feel

0:24:55very insecure and vulnerable

0:24:58with the prospect of their rent being

0:25:00raised

0:25:01they won't come to a public meeting

0:25:03because they don't want to rock the boat

0:25:04with their landlords

0:25:06these are one of the many

0:25:08vulnerable populations that the city

0:25:10needs to protect

0:25:12time is of the essence regarding tenant

0:25:14protections

0:25:15i hope that you as well as staff will

0:25:17continue to make this one of the highest

0:25:19priority items on your agenda

0:25:21tenants need real protections and they

0:25:23need them now thank you thank you

0:25:26next speaker is howdy gaudi followed by

0:25:28karina yaffi

0:25:32good evening mayor and council members

0:25:34my name is howdy gowdy

0:25:36i also

0:25:37would like to

0:25:39reflect on

0:25:40[Music]

0:25:41your direction provided on tenant

0:25:43protections and

0:25:45say that really wasn't sufficient

0:25:48to address the severe housing insecurity

0:25:50that's faced by many tenants in our

0:25:52community

0:25:53your support of a broader

0:25:55public process is helpful but without at

0:25:58least temporary anti-gouging protection

0:26:00and just cause protections tenants will

0:26:02not

0:26:03feel free to speak out and and make this

0:26:06dialogue be a meaningful contribution to

0:26:09the process

0:26:12also the tenant protections should apply

0:26:14as widely as possible they've been

0:26:17narrowed down to less than a quarter of

0:26:19our tenants right now and i just don't

0:26:22see the rationale of

0:26:24only protecting part of our community

0:26:26rather than than everyone who shares

0:26:28this problem

0:26:31i also don't agree with the idea that

0:26:34you know

0:26:35these regional processes are going to

0:26:37handle this and we can sit back and wait

0:26:39on on the contrary i would say

0:26:41you should really be leaders you should

0:26:43say

0:26:44we see the these

0:26:46regional processes developing we see

0:26:49what the goals are and we're going to

0:26:50embrace them and move out front and do

0:26:52it just like you're embracing and moving

0:26:54out front on you know infill development

0:26:57in san pablo you're not waiting for

0:27:00regional governments to tell you to do

0:27:02that you're going ahead and doing it and

0:27:04you should be doing the same on tenant

0:27:06protections

0:27:10the the opposition to tenant protections

0:27:12that we've heard from

0:27:14small landlords who you know

0:27:16self-describe themselves as as

0:27:18responsible housing providers

0:27:21it's it's just

0:27:24not

0:27:25a responsible housing action to insist

0:27:28that you have

0:27:30you know so much power over someone else

0:27:33that's not a responsible housing

0:27:34provider so their very act of of

0:27:38demanding the continuance of

0:27:41an a disproportionate amount of power

0:27:43over someone else is really

0:27:45irresponsible housing

0:27:46provider and you should see it as such

0:27:52so

0:27:53you know these

0:27:54decisions are going to have a huge

0:27:56impact on our community and i think your

0:27:58direction did not really address

0:28:02you know the the serious

0:28:04housing and security problem that we

0:28:06have so

0:28:07um on a completely different topic i

0:28:08will say um the eqc has held one

0:28:12broom pole in the hillside natural area

0:28:14in february we're doing another one this

0:28:16saturday morning at um

0:28:19madera the end of regency court and

0:28:22we'll be doing another one as part of

0:28:24the earth day work party so i encourage

0:28:26people to join us and pull broom in the

0:28:28hillside thanks thank you the next

0:28:30speaker is karina yaffi followed by paul

0:28:32duncan

0:28:36good evening my name is karina yaffi and

0:28:39i live in el cerrito

0:28:41i'm a renter here and a recent

0:28:44transplant from berkeley and i'm here

0:28:46tonight to ask you for a temporary

0:28:49moratorium on rent increases while you

0:28:51work out the logistics of a just cause

0:28:54eviction or any other legislation to

0:28:57prevent displacement

0:28:59and the reason for that is simple

0:29:01renters are struggling

0:29:03currently my family of three

0:29:05spends about half of our income on rent

0:29:08after paying more than three thousand

0:29:09dollars a month to our landlord for

0:29:12preschool groceries utilities we don't

0:29:15have much left

0:29:17as you sit here month in and month out

0:29:20and try to work out a perfect policy i

0:29:23ask you to remember that we were talking

0:29:25about people

0:29:28not just numbers and statistics we're

0:29:30talking about our neighbors

0:29:32we're talking about people who now have

0:29:34to commute for two or more hours each

0:29:36day because they can no longer afford to

0:29:38live where their jobs are

0:29:41we're talking about people and i've met

0:29:42some of them who are sleeping on our

0:29:44streets or in their cars because the

0:29:46rent is too high

0:29:49the california apartment association has

0:29:52argued here in this very room that

0:29:54eviction rates are low in el cerrito

0:29:57there's no problem according to them

0:29:59but what they fail to realize or

0:30:01acknowledge that people self-evict when

0:30:04the rent is raised we never hear about

0:30:07that because they just move on they're

0:30:09displaced from our community and are no

0:30:11longer here that's what it's looking

0:30:13like now

0:30:17i also want to say something about the

0:30:18landlords who have spoken here to say

0:30:21that they are housing providers it is

0:30:23absolutely misleading and inaccurate

0:30:26they're not renting their homes their

0:30:29homes out of the goodness of their heart

0:30:31but because it is extremely lucrative

0:30:34my landlord pays fifteen hundred dollars

0:30:36in property taxes a year but collects

0:30:39forty thousand more than forty thousand

0:30:41from us in rent

0:30:43she's not doing this because she's

0:30:44charitable but because it's very

0:30:46lucrative let's not kid ourselves

0:30:49however i believe that we can create a

0:30:51policy that protects renters and gives

0:30:54landlords a good profit margin we can

0:30:56have both it doesn't have to be an

0:30:58either or choice i urge you to do the

0:31:01right thing please pass a temporary

0:31:03measure to limit rent increases while

0:31:06you work out the logistics of how to

0:31:08protect tenants and please don't forget

0:31:11that voters elected you to represent the

0:31:13interests of the people and not

0:31:15landlords or developers

0:31:18who are actually who are trying to make

0:31:20a profit from a hot real estate market

0:31:22they elected you to maintain a good

0:31:24quality of life for all in this city and

0:31:27to protect the vulnerable

0:31:29i hope that you remember this and we

0:31:31definitely will when it's time for

0:31:33elections

0:31:35thank you

0:31:36the next speaker is paul duncan followed

0:31:37by scott perry

0:31:44hi we're still here i'm paul duncan el

0:31:47cerrito uh representing make el cerrito

0:31:49fire safe

0:31:51i thought i'd give everybody an update

0:31:53on what our group has been doing the

0:31:54last couple of weeks uh since the last

0:31:57council meeting we've met with kate

0:31:59rauch of supervisor joya's office

0:32:01uh supervisor joya is in the process of

0:32:04forming a consortium consisting of make

0:32:06el cerrito fire safe

0:32:08kensington property owners association

0:32:11kensington neighbors for wildfire

0:32:13prevention and the east richmond heights

0:32:16municipal advisory committee

0:32:18and also the el cerrito municipal

0:32:20advisory committee so this will be a

0:32:22consortium of all of the interested

0:32:25citizens of those neighborhoods can get

0:32:27together for a common cause

0:32:30this consortium will be working with

0:32:32east bay regional parks to clear

0:32:34excessive fuel loads primarily from

0:32:36wildcat canyon he is planning mr joya is

0:32:40planning to schedule two town hall

0:32:42meetings about fire probably in may

0:32:46one specifically will be the el sabrani

0:32:48east richmond heights

0:32:51area group and another for the el

0:32:53cerrito kensington area group

0:32:58wednesday of last week in the evening my

0:33:00wife sue and i attended the el cebrandi

0:33:02municipal at this advisory meeting and

0:33:05spoke with them about our concerns and

0:33:07what we've been doing we will be working

0:33:10with them

0:33:11for

0:33:12the council i'm sure knows but for

0:33:13everybody else the municipal advisory

0:33:15committee

0:33:17for el sobrani and the unincorporated

0:33:19areas is the equivalent group to our

0:33:20city council

0:33:24we had an idea that one thing that el

0:33:27cerrito could do with this council and

0:33:30the city manager

0:33:32could increase public safety

0:33:35for fire earthquake and everything

0:33:37is to publicize the seemingly

0:33:40little-known emergency notification

0:33:43system where you can put your phone

0:33:45number and your email address on a

0:33:47website and then should there be an

0:33:50emergency evacuation notice or some kind

0:33:52of emergency that you need to know about

0:33:54there's an automated phone system that

0:33:57sends out notifications by text

0:34:00email or phone calls to anybody that

0:34:03signs up so that they can be informed

0:34:05whether that happens at three o'clock in

0:34:07the afternoon or three o'clock in the

0:34:09morning

0:34:12maybe

0:34:13there could be a

0:34:15council proclamation

0:34:17or

0:34:18inclusion in the news and views or the

0:34:20city managers report i don't know but

0:34:23there needs to be some way to make more

0:34:25people aware of this and sign up it's

0:34:27it's free it's easy it takes about a

0:34:29minute or two to sign up

0:34:31uh

0:34:32cwsalerts.com

0:34:34was the portal that i used to

0:34:36register

0:34:37my wife and i's telephone numbers and

0:34:40email addresses

0:34:42and on top of that residents should be

0:34:44reminded to keep their cell phones

0:34:46charged and not on silent mode at night

0:34:48so that if these warnings come in they

0:34:51can

0:34:51be received and not sleep through a

0:34:53disaster thank you thank you

0:34:55and the next speaker is scott perry

0:34:57followed by buddy aclic

0:35:01good evening council

0:35:03my name is scott perry el cerrito

0:35:05resident

0:35:06um i just wanted to um

0:35:10make a recognition of

0:35:12the great work that's been going on in

0:35:13hillside nature area cal fire el cerrito

0:35:17fire department has worked

0:35:21quite a bit and and has done an amazing

0:35:24amount of work all through

0:35:26hillside nature area

0:35:28and i know that they plan to do more uh

0:35:31and there is so much more to do

0:35:33we look forward to that work being done

0:35:35to

0:35:35mitigate help mitigate any risks that uh

0:35:38may be in our future

0:35:40um

0:35:42i would also like to uh

0:35:45work collaboratively with the council of

0:35:47the city

0:35:48to maybe form some sort of a vegetation

0:35:51advisory committee much like we have

0:35:53other committees or our

0:35:56neighborhood groups and such

0:35:58and that maybe

0:36:00a group that would help

0:36:02neighbors understand the need to

0:36:04maintain their vegetation especially

0:36:07where

0:36:08lots and yards are quite large and

0:36:10population is aging and not getting out

0:36:12to

0:36:14maintain as much

0:36:15so much is overgrown on roads which

0:36:17creates a hazard

0:36:19both

0:36:21visually driving

0:36:22in some areas it's hard to walk along a

0:36:24road safely

0:36:27so

0:36:28if we could do something like that that

0:36:29would be wonderful

0:36:31i'd also like to bring attention to the

0:36:34city

0:36:36a eucalyptus tree issue

0:36:38at the at the west end the base of the

0:36:41old portland site the part that

0:36:44comes up against the parking area to the

0:36:47uh

0:36:48recreation center there

0:36:50there there's covered parking structures

0:36:52with solar panels on them the eucalyptus

0:36:55trees that are growing have gotten kind

0:36:58of out of control since portland's been

0:37:00demolished and and west county is not

0:37:03the west county school system is not

0:37:05there proactively trimming them and

0:37:07thinning them these trees have multiple

0:37:10stumps multiple roots are not roots but

0:37:12stocks

0:37:13creates a hazard

0:37:15they're getting tall enough that should

0:37:17one spall off it'll damage the the

0:37:20panels

0:37:21they are already tall enough to shade

0:37:23the solar panels i know el cerrito is

0:37:26very proactive in green energy and

0:37:29this just doesn't seem like a

0:37:32a good scenario to have solar panels

0:37:35where they collect dirt and leaves that

0:37:37would diminish their value in collecting

0:37:39solar energy

0:37:42and maybe

0:37:43a letter perhaps from council or city

0:37:46manager to the west county school

0:37:48district

0:37:49suggesting they remove the trees might

0:37:51go a long ways thank you for letting me

0:37:53speak thank you

0:37:55next speaker is betty accolic followed

0:37:57by nick san morono

0:38:06good evening it's a pleasure to be with

0:38:09you here again this evening i'm buddy

0:38:11akasic i live at hanna gardens

0:38:14and i've been coming to every city

0:38:16council meeting that i can for the last

0:38:18month or so and i wanted to say that you

0:38:20know i observed what was going on here

0:38:22the last two meetings

0:38:25when it was just packed you had to have

0:38:27the fire department come

0:38:29t-shirts and signs and buttons and all

0:38:32that and made a lot of noise

0:38:34and the other side wasn't here much

0:38:38but they're here tonight a bit and i

0:38:39thank you very much for showing up and

0:38:43i don't really have a dog in the fight

0:38:45because i i'm in the gardens and i'm

0:38:46happy you know i i got it it's beautiful

0:38:50and uh but i was like the comment that i

0:38:53i gained some respect for you

0:38:56with what you have to deal with

0:38:58trying to keep each side happy

0:39:01i have this

0:39:02socialist vision that someday there

0:39:04won't be sides we'll all be together but

0:39:06right now it's the reality is competing

0:39:09interests

0:39:10and my sense was listening and watching

0:39:13you guys it sounds to me like you're

0:39:15taking a fair look at everything and

0:39:17you're not just going along with the

0:39:19signs and the buttons and the t-shirts

0:39:20and the and the and people coming the

0:39:23one guy came up here and introduced

0:39:25himself with fierce anger

0:39:29and what you guys are trying to fix a

0:39:31problem that you you don't have ins and

0:39:33i thought you know if you don't want to

0:39:34persuade somebody

0:39:37i'm not sure that introducing yourself

0:39:39with fierce fierce anger would that

0:39:41wouldn't be my recommendation

0:39:44but i'm so happy that these guys are

0:39:46here tonight and i would say that when

0:39:48they speak when the tenants speak

0:39:50they touch my heart

0:39:55when the owners speak i didn't get that

0:39:58it's a different kind of competitive you

0:40:00know let's fight over money

0:40:02these guys are saying give us a break

0:40:07and and i get that you're on to that and

0:40:09you're trying you're anti-displacement

0:40:11and you're pro

0:40:13and you're anti-gouging aren't you are

0:40:15you

0:40:16i mean that's the feeling i got

0:40:18and and i support that

0:40:20and i just you know

0:40:22right on

0:40:23and then thursday night we're going to

0:40:25meet her again

0:40:26and i got a whole bunch to say about

0:40:28what we should be doing with the san

0:40:30pablo corridor

0:40:32i'll save that for thursday night you

0:40:33know i i'm having a seminar tomorrow

0:40:36afternoon at two o'clock at the midtown

0:40:38activity center

0:40:40you saw shuri will be there giving a

0:40:42presentation i want to invite each of

0:40:44you to come two o'clock tomorrow

0:40:46afternoon midtown activity center you're

0:40:49all invited you're welcome i'd love to

0:40:51see you there

0:40:52and in terms of each one of your

0:40:54personalities that i'm trying to

0:40:55perceive and get in touch with who you

0:40:57are and

0:40:58learn about your consciousness and where

0:41:00you're coming from i'd like to sit down

0:41:02and have coffee with each one of you

0:41:03sometime and you know get to know you

0:41:06but right off the top i would say if i

0:41:07had to pick out one of you and i just

0:41:09let's do what this person wants to do

0:41:11and just shut up

0:41:13janet

0:41:16you're you're spot on

0:41:18excellent thank you very much for being

0:41:20janet thank you for your comments

0:41:22thank you

0:41:24i'll see you thursday night

0:41:25the next speaker is nick san morono

0:41:27followed by sherry dropner

0:41:32um good evening madam mayor

0:41:34city council member city staff nick

0:41:36samarano el cerrito ec fire safe

0:41:40i don't have a lot to

0:41:42speak about tonight

0:41:44but i do want to bring to your attention

0:41:46again the problem of vegetation

0:41:48management

0:41:50we just got out of a meeting with the

0:41:52fire and the police chiefs

0:41:54and we had a very hot debate about this

0:41:56issue in regards to

0:41:58specifically the evacuation routes that

0:42:01are being created

0:42:03for el cerrito

0:42:04and we all agreed that the vegetation

0:42:08management is an extreme obstacle to

0:42:11not only fire prevention but

0:42:13evacuation routes for us getting out

0:42:17and escaping an intense fire

0:42:20and as we walk the streets if we drive

0:42:22the streets of el cerrito we can see

0:42:24where the vegetation management has been

0:42:26overgrown

0:42:28on city streets and on private

0:42:30properties

0:42:32and

0:42:33it's something that we just can't ignore

0:42:34anymore this is something that we as

0:42:37citizens and residents need to

0:42:40take responsibility for our own

0:42:41properties

0:42:43to encourage our neighbors to take

0:42:44responsibility for their properties

0:42:47and to

0:42:48request that city council city staff

0:42:52public works etc take their

0:42:55responsibility to enforcing those

0:42:56ordinances

0:42:58because if we don't it's just going to

0:43:00continue to grow out of out of hand it's

0:43:02going to get worse

0:43:04and it's going to

0:43:05affect our ability to

0:43:08escape a

0:43:09intense fire

0:43:11the evacuation routes are being planned

0:43:13they're being developed

0:43:15and we need to

0:43:16be aware

0:43:17not only what those routes are but what

0:43:19what

0:43:20dangers and risks that we face

0:43:23in trying to flee

0:43:25a devastating fire

0:43:26that's all i have to say other than the

0:43:28warriors win tonight thank you

0:43:31and the speaker is sherry dropner

0:43:40hi i'm sherry dropner i live in el

0:43:42cerrito

0:43:44i just want to say that i'm glad that

0:43:46members of the council voted to move

0:43:48forward with a rent registry

0:43:50as a means to one ensure that the

0:43:52landlords

0:43:53are properly applying for and

0:43:55maintaining a business license

0:43:57and to obtaining better data on the

0:44:00current rent rates

0:44:01numbers of rental increases number of

0:44:03units owned by individuals et cetera

0:44:06in an effort to understand what's going

0:44:08on with displacement in our community

0:44:11but

0:44:12i'm very concerned that in the process

0:44:15of developing the rent registry we will

0:44:17continue to see displacement without a

0:44:20cap to control excessive rent increases

0:44:24and i really echo that

0:44:26i really

0:44:27it was

0:44:28in some respects sometimes a painful

0:44:30meeting

0:44:31to watch i rewatched it also

0:44:34and

0:44:35i know that people were like really

0:44:36struggling trying to you know

0:44:39um if you are anti-gauging

0:44:41and you are anti-displacement and you

0:44:44want to see policies happen

0:44:46it was a very difficult meeting because

0:44:49overall

0:44:50we're still sort of

0:44:52moving along at a very slow pace

0:44:55and also i was thinking about the rent

0:44:58registry in terms of this idea of the

0:45:00information you're gathering

0:45:02and there seems to be a missing piece

0:45:04and that again is the voice of the

0:45:06tenants

0:45:07and i thought about kinds of questions

0:45:10and answers that might be important to

0:45:12know as you're thinking about policy

0:45:15um asking people do you fear eviction

0:45:18are you afraid to ask for repairs for

0:45:20fear of

0:45:21rent raise or eviction

0:45:23how many rent increases have you been

0:45:25given the last two or three years do you

0:45:27have a good relationship with your

0:45:29landlord are you aware of the city's

0:45:31rental inspection program

0:45:33what is your annual income and how much

0:45:35do you pay for rent

0:45:37i think if we were asking these

0:45:38questions

0:45:40then we could respond to and know

0:45:43that

0:45:44we need to do something about this and

0:45:48the the way the plans are laid out right

0:45:51now

0:45:53it feels like we're still going to be

0:45:54getting information

0:45:56and hearing one voice and i would

0:45:58suggest

0:45:59either through the task force or some

0:46:01other mechanism through staff

0:46:04you think about how you can collect

0:46:05information you know on a bigger scale

0:46:08in oregon they they had a whole process

0:46:10of where that's what they did

0:46:12they they went to the tenants to find

0:46:15out their data to find out that they

0:46:17needed to have anti-gouging

0:46:19legislation and i would hope that we

0:46:22would think about that here too thank

0:46:24you

0:46:24thank you

0:46:28all right

0:46:29with that we'll move on to the

0:46:31adoption of the consent calendar

0:46:35a approval of minutes

0:46:39b

0:46:40stop sign installation at various

0:46:42locations

0:46:43see

0:46:44award koromatsu middle school safe

0:46:46routes to school improvements phase 1

0:46:49c5040

0:46:53d authorized annual report for landscape

0:46:56and lighting assessment district for

0:46:58fiscal year 2019-20

0:47:00[Music]

0:47:02e

0:47:03annual progress report on the general

0:47:05plan 2018

0:47:08f

0:47:09classification update

0:47:12and g

0:47:13proclamation recognizing march as

0:47:15american red cross month

0:47:20remove adoption of the consent calendar

0:47:23second

0:47:26motion by abelson seconded by

0:47:29lyman all in favor

0:47:32does oppose

0:47:33motion carries

0:47:35and with that we do have the american

0:47:37cross here a representative correct

0:47:41yes

0:47:43please come forward and we can we'd like

0:47:45to hear from you first of all

0:47:49thank you good evening my name is patty

0:47:51nichols and i'm a volunteer with the

0:47:53american red cross i'm your lead

0:47:56for external relations and government

0:47:57partnerships for the

0:47:59county of contra costa

0:48:01and thank you for

0:48:03honoring the red cross during the

0:48:05national campaign of march is red cross

0:48:08month nationwide

0:48:10also mayor thank you for mentioning our

0:48:12soundly alarm campaign

0:48:14if possible i'd like to elaborate a

0:48:16little bit more on it

0:48:18the disasters that the american red

0:48:20cross volunteers respond to the most are

0:48:22home fires

0:48:24every day seven people die in home fires

0:48:27most often in homes without working

0:48:28smoke alarms

0:48:30and tragically many of these deaths are

0:48:32children and the elderly

0:48:34that's why the american red cross has

0:48:36launched the home fire campaign to

0:48:38prevent these needless tragedies

0:48:41smoke alarms cut the risk of death in

0:48:43fire in half

0:48:45just a little antidote in the fires the

0:48:48north bay fires there was a mobile home

0:48:51park up there where we had gone through

0:48:53and put in smoke alarms a week before

0:48:55the fire it was one of our smoke alarms

0:48:58that went off and one of the residents

0:48:59that had that alarm went and knocked on

0:49:02doors and got all the residents from

0:49:04that park out wow

0:49:08throughout the year red cross volunteers

0:49:09and community partners organize what we

0:49:12call soundly alarm events in high risk

0:49:14neighborhoods to install free smoke

0:49:16alarms and help families create

0:49:19fire escape plans and if the worst

0:49:21happens the red cross is off often among

0:49:24the first on the scene

0:49:25offering emotional support

0:49:27helping families find a place to live

0:49:30and assisting in the recovery

0:49:34in contra costa we are

0:49:36having our soundly alarm event

0:49:39from april 27th to may 12th

0:49:42in four areas in the county in pacheco

0:49:45antioch and in richmond and additionally

0:49:47in brentwood we are having a day where

0:49:50we are putting in smoke alarms and

0:49:52naturally we're looking for help

0:49:54so i'm hoping that the residents of el

0:49:56cerrito will step up and join arms with

0:49:59us those volunteers in the red cross

0:50:01climbing those ladders and putting in

0:50:03those smoke alarms

0:50:05also if there's any

0:50:06areas in el cerrito that you know that

0:50:09need smoke alarms i'll leave the our

0:50:12contact information with the city clerk

0:50:14and you can get it in your minutes

0:50:16where we can come in on an appointment

0:50:18basis and puts free smoke alarms these

0:50:20are 10 year

0:50:22battery free smoke alarms

0:50:24and thank you again for thinking of the

0:50:26red cross

0:50:27thank you very much

0:50:29um

0:50:30we appreciate all the work that you do

0:50:32it says here and i'll do a brief summary

0:50:35of the resolution that the american red

0:50:37cross responds to crises all over the

0:50:41nation

0:50:42from

0:50:44volcano eruptions in hawaii to the

0:50:46wildfires in california

0:50:49they provide millions of mills snacks

0:50:52to people that are in need at the time

0:50:55and the work that you do especially with

0:50:57your fire

0:50:59alarm installation really does save

0:51:01lives

0:51:02we appreciate all of the work that you

0:51:05do and we'd be happy to take a nice

0:51:06little photo with you

0:51:08great thank you

0:51:10does everybody want to come okay

0:51:23thank you

0:51:48council dominance

0:52:16yes you have a comment from council

0:52:19member fidelity yeah i just wanted to

0:52:22praise the red cross when i went to

0:52:24adams junior high i was a member of the

0:52:26junior red cross one of only two boys

0:52:28for some reason there were

0:52:30hundreds of girls and two boys

0:52:33and i don't know it turned out pretty

0:52:35well

0:52:36also

0:52:37also on the consent calendar i just want

0:52:39to say that i'm very happy about the

0:52:40safe routes to school for korematsu

0:52:43that's something that's very important

0:52:45and there's also a great document that

0:52:47we looked at is the update to the

0:52:49general plan it really tells

0:52:51if anyone wants to look at that document

0:52:53what our city is doing on a variety of

0:52:55fronts

0:52:56in kind of a handy six page document so

0:52:59it's very useful it's something we

0:53:02should all be looking at and talking

0:53:03about but it obviously is a consent item

0:53:06and i'm very happy about that tonight

0:53:08thank you

0:53:12great thank you

0:53:14so tonight we have

0:53:16no

0:53:17presentations so we will move on to our

0:53:21public hearings

0:53:23um do we this is the

0:53:26uh a is the 2019 west contra costa

0:53:29county sub regional transportation

0:53:31mitigation program

0:53:33otherwise known as stmp feat update yep

0:53:38okay

0:53:42go ahead thank you good evening mayor

0:53:44and council members i am yvette ortiz

0:53:46the city's public works director

0:53:48uh here with me tonight are john nemeth

0:53:51the executive director of the west

0:53:53contra costa transportation advisory

0:53:55committee also known as wiktek

0:53:57and julie morgan with varying peers

0:53:59transportation consultants

0:54:02i will provide a brief overview of the

0:54:04items tonight and then turn it over to

0:54:06john and julie who will provide you with

0:54:08a

0:54:09and then we will all be available to

0:54:11answer your questions

0:54:13tonight city staff is requesting that

0:54:16council take two actions related to the

0:54:18west county sub regional transportation

0:54:20mitigation program known as stimp

0:54:24and the first is to adopt an ordinance

0:54:26amending the program to incorporate the

0:54:282019 nexus study and setting new fee

0:54:31amounts and the second action is to

0:54:33adopt a resolution authorizing the city

0:54:36manager to execute a master cooperative

0:54:39agreement between wiktec and the west

0:54:41county jurisdictions to implement the

0:54:44stemp

0:54:46as you may know wic tech is a joint

0:54:49powers authority

0:54:50composed of the west county cities

0:54:52contra costa county and the transit

0:54:54providers in west county including ac

0:54:57transit bart and west cap

0:55:00el cerrito is a member of this jpa and

0:55:03we regularly regularly participate with

0:55:05wic tech in efforts to identify

0:55:08transportation

0:55:09funding for

0:55:11projects that benefit west contra costa

0:55:14county

0:55:16the stamp was first established with the

0:55:17participation and consensus of local

0:55:20jurisdictions in 1997

0:55:23and

0:55:24basically to require new development to

0:55:26pay its fair share of the cost of

0:55:28transportation improvement projects

0:55:30victor wake tech administers the stimp

0:55:34between 2005 and 2006 the program was

0:55:36updated in 2006 the city council adopted

0:55:40an ordinance amending the stamp and

0:55:42authorized the signing of the master

0:55:44co-op agreement

0:55:46for implementation of the snip at that

0:55:48time

0:55:49the city currently collects the stem

0:55:51fees and transfers those fees to wic

0:55:53tech on a quarterly basis

0:55:56their currently proposed master co-op

0:55:58agreement is very similar to the one

0:56:00that was signed in 2006

0:56:02it formalizes the arrangements between

0:56:04wic tech and the jurisdictions for the

0:56:06collection oversight and expenditures of

0:56:09the stem fees

0:56:12el cerrito's key responsibilities in

0:56:14this master coop agreement are

0:56:16to adopt the ordinance

0:56:18to determine how to apply the fees in

0:56:20the ordinance to specific development

0:56:22projects

0:56:23to collect the fees and report on those

0:56:26fees on a quarterly basis and transfer

0:56:27them to wic tech

0:56:29and to update those fees on an annual

0:56:31basis based on the rate increase

0:56:33calculated by wictac using a standard

0:56:36construction cost index

0:56:40the stimp is separate from the city

0:56:41transportation impact fee program that

0:56:43was recently established by the city

0:56:45council in january of 2019

0:56:48the city program consists of its own

0:56:50separate process and nexus study that

0:56:53was prepared by urban economics

0:56:56however the city did consider the stem

0:56:58fees and the potential increase when we

0:57:00were looking at at the economic

0:57:02feasibility of development projects

0:57:06in terms of establishing the fee level

0:57:07for the city's own fee

0:57:10the requested actions tonight are part

0:57:12of el cerrito's continued partnership

0:57:13with our neighboring jurisdictions and

0:57:15regional

0:57:16agencies for transportation planning and

0:57:18funding these same actions are being

0:57:21considered by other west county cities

0:57:23and the contra costa county board i will

0:57:25now turn it over to john with wic tech

0:57:27so he can start the presentation

0:57:32thank you

0:57:35thank you very much yvette and good

0:57:37evening madam mayor and council members

0:57:40i think your staff did such a good job

0:57:41of providing background there that i

0:57:43don't need to say a whole lot but um

0:57:45just wanted to introduce my team here

0:57:47again i'm john nemeth with wake tech i'm

0:57:49here with leah greenblatt who's been the

0:57:51project manager at wake tech

0:57:53she's that there in the back and then we

0:57:55have julie morgan from our consultant

0:57:57farron pierce who's going to actually

0:57:58give the presentation

0:58:00and as a vet alluded to julie was

0:58:02actually a sub consultant for urban

0:58:05economics

0:58:06who did your own cities fee so if you're

0:58:08seeing her again i know that that can be

0:58:10a little confusing but we're talking

0:58:11about two different things here your own

0:58:13city fee and then our

0:58:14extend fee so i think with that i'm

0:58:16going to turn it over to julie and this

0:58:18is the fourth jurisdiction that we've

0:58:20been to

0:58:21in other jurisdictions julie has been

0:58:22able to answer most of the questions

0:58:24especially technical questions about the

0:58:27methodology of the stem nexus study and

0:58:30how certain things were calculated

0:58:32but i've also answered

0:58:34some questions as well and city staff

0:58:35and other places have answered questions

0:58:38um if there's something that is really a

0:58:40wic tax question and i don't think i

0:58:41know it i may be calling on leah to

0:58:43answer it too so i think between

0:58:44uh the four of us we ought to be able to

0:58:46answer i think pretty much

0:58:48pretty much anything you've got so i

0:58:49think with that i'll turn it over to

0:58:51julie

0:58:52thanks

0:58:53thank you

0:58:54all right thank you uh well it's great

0:58:56to be here uh it's nice to be going

0:58:58through this

0:58:59adoption process we have been engaged

0:59:01with wictac and with the local agencies

0:59:03on the update of the stimp for about the

0:59:06last two years so it's nice to to get to

0:59:09this point

0:59:10um so what we'll be talking about is

0:59:12just to give you a little bit of

0:59:14background um yvette did a nice job of

0:59:16summarizing the current stem program

0:59:18this update that we've been going

0:59:20through over the last couple of years

0:59:22and answer any questions that you may

0:59:24have

0:59:26now as as a vet alluded to and as some

0:59:28of you i'm sure are are very aware of

0:59:30wictac others may not be quite as aware

0:59:33wictac is a joint powers authority an

0:59:36agency that involves the five cities

0:59:39contra costa county bart ac transit and

0:59:42west cat

0:59:43it was established in 1990 through a jpa

0:59:47and it is responsible for

0:59:49sub-regional transportation planning and

0:59:52funding here in west county

0:59:55wictac does administer the stimp funds

0:59:58and the fee program itself is a

1:00:01requirement of measure j measure j is

1:00:03the half cent sales tax here in contra

1:00:05costa county

1:00:06and as part of that sales tax program

1:00:10there is a requirement that each of the

1:00:12sub-regions within contra costa have a

1:00:14program to mitigate the impacts of new

1:00:17development on regional transportation

1:00:19infrastructure

1:00:20so the stimp really serves that function

1:00:23here in west county

1:00:25just as a quick refresher on what a

1:00:27mitigation fee program is it is governed

1:00:30by state law the mitigation fee act or

1:00:34also known as ab 1600

1:00:37and the basic requirements are

1:00:39that there needs to be a documentation

1:00:42of the need for public facilities how

1:00:45fee revenue is going to be used to help

1:00:47fund those facilities and make sure that

1:00:49there is a reasonable relationship

1:00:52between that need and how the fees will

1:00:54be used such that the fee is roughly

1:00:57proportional to the impacts of the new

1:00:59development so the whole purpose of this

1:01:02study that we've been going through

1:01:05is really to meet the requirements of

1:01:07the state law

1:01:10so the purpose of the stem as with any

1:01:12impact fee is to ensure that new growth

1:01:15does pay its fair share for the impacts

1:01:17that it causes

1:01:19as that alluded to it is a regional

1:01:21program so it is a cooperative program

1:01:23made up of all the jurisdictions that

1:01:24are part of the wic tak group

1:01:27so it is not intended as a return to

1:01:29source program but rather as a

1:01:31collaborative program

1:01:33where the funds are jointly used to to

1:01:36be able to implement projects of

1:01:38regional and cross-jurisdictional

1:01:40benefit

1:01:42so the stamp has been in place for that

1:01:44function since 1997 and as a vet said it

1:01:47was updated once before in the

1:01:502005-2006 uh time frame

1:01:56the area that's covered by the stimp is

1:01:58the same area that's covered by wictac

1:02:00so the five incorporated cities of el

1:02:03cerrito richmond san pablo hercules and

1:02:05panel and the unincorporated parts of

1:02:07contra costa county that are within this

1:02:10west county area

1:02:13the stamp as i said has been in place

1:02:15since 1997 it has collected about 12

1:02:17million dollars a little more than that

1:02:19over the life of its program

1:02:22the pace of collections was rather

1:02:23modest in the late 2000s uh early 2010s

1:02:28no doubt due to the effects of the great

1:02:30recession

1:02:31but the pace of collections has been

1:02:32increasing recently in fiscal year 2018

1:02:36collected about 2 million dollars and in

1:02:39current fiscal year it's on track

1:02:41for even a bit more than that

1:02:45a whole range of projects have received

1:02:47funding through the stemp over the years

1:02:50so this is a list of those projects they

1:02:53do run the gamut there throughout the

1:02:54whole west county area

1:02:57here in el cerrito specifically a fair

1:03:00bit of funding has gone to iad central

1:03:02has gone to improvements around the del

1:03:04norte bart station

1:03:06and also improvements along the ohlone

1:03:08greenway

1:03:09so those those three projects within el

1:03:12cerrito itself have received a little

1:03:14over two maybe 2.2 million dollars in

1:03:17stem funds over the life of the program

1:03:23the update process uh

1:03:26as i noted we started this in

1:03:29late middle of 2017

1:03:31we did a review of the prior nexus study

1:03:34that was conducted back in 2005 looked

1:03:37at current fee levels and how the

1:03:39program was currently being administered

1:03:42we developed a set of annual growth

1:03:43projections

1:03:45developed a set of criteria for and then

1:03:47a list of capital improvement projects

1:03:49that could be eligible for funding

1:03:51through the stemp

1:03:53we calculated what the maximum potential

1:03:55stem fee could be

1:03:57provided the board some comparison to

1:03:59other fees

1:04:01and then the board then made a decision

1:04:03about the new fee amounts

1:04:05and this entire process

1:04:06was

1:04:08we worked extensively with both wic tax

1:04:11staff and with the tax so the technical

1:04:13advisory committee that's made up of

1:04:15local agency staff from all of the local

1:04:18agencies and then went to the wic tak

1:04:20board several times for interim updates

1:04:24and direction

1:04:27so to give you a sense of the

1:04:29types of projects that are now going to

1:04:32be included in the stimp there are 20 of

1:04:34those projects overall

1:04:37they're in these these general

1:04:39categories and i'll go over them with a

1:04:40little more specifics here in a moment

1:04:43the total project cost is a little over

1:04:45850 million dollars

1:04:47now as has always been the case uh the

1:04:50stimp is just one of many funding

1:04:52sources that are brought to bear on

1:04:54these projects

1:04:55so the portion that could potentially be

1:04:58funded by the stemp is something that

1:04:59was the subject of our nexus study and i

1:05:02will describe that in a moment

1:05:05also a note just about the

1:05:06implementation of the projects the stimp

1:05:08itself does not assume any specific time

1:05:11horizon for any particular project

1:05:15the implementation of all of these

1:05:16projects is really going to be driven by

1:05:18the project's sponsor and their schedule

1:05:22in some cases some of these stem

1:05:24projects may be quite large and complex

1:05:26and are likely to be implemented over

1:05:28time in a number of stages

1:05:30so stem funds are often used for some

1:05:32intermediate steps along the way

1:05:35to help

1:05:36advance that larger project toward

1:05:38completion

1:05:42this is to give you a sense of the

1:05:44location of the projects the 20 projects

1:05:48that are now on the list they are

1:05:50throughout the entire west county area

1:05:54and more specifically they're in these

1:05:56these categories there's a set of

1:05:58complete streets projects uh primarily

1:06:01along san pablo avenue uh in all of the

1:06:03jurisdictions in west county

1:06:06also a couple of other locations in in

1:06:08other parts of the county

1:06:10there are a whole series of

1:06:12projects focused on bicycle and

1:06:13pedestrian improvements

1:06:15both

1:06:16on some trails such as the ohlone

1:06:18greenway and the bay trail

1:06:20and then in a couple of locations to

1:06:21help facilitate pedestrian and bicycle

1:06:24access to the richmond ferry terminal

1:06:29there are a series of transit and

1:06:31station related projects

1:06:34including some improvements along

1:06:36at access to all of the bart stations

1:06:39and the transit-oriented development

1:06:41improvements around the del norte

1:06:43station here in el cerrito

1:06:46and then there are a few street projects

1:06:49a local street project in san pablo

1:06:52and three interchange projects san pablo

1:06:54dam road the ongoing work at iad central

1:06:58and also some interchange improvement at

1:07:00panel valley road

1:07:05now in terms of the nexus analysis

1:07:08we did determine the

1:07:10fair share that could be charged based

1:07:13on new developments impact

1:07:15and the share of future population and

1:07:17traffic volume and that was estimated at

1:07:2019

1:07:21so 19 of that 855 million dollar total

1:07:25uh project list

1:07:27equates to 162 million dollars so the

1:07:30162 million then represents the maximum

1:07:33amount that could potentially be covered

1:07:36through the stem fee program

1:07:39now as i noted all of this has been

1:07:40documented in our final report the nexus

1:07:44update that has been attached as part of

1:07:46your packet

1:07:48this again this report serves as the

1:07:51technical foundation for the stem

1:07:53program and is there to really meet all

1:07:55of the legal requirements of the

1:07:58mitigation fee act

1:08:02so all of this information was then

1:08:03presented to the wic tac board and at

1:08:05their meeting in september of last year

1:08:08the wic tack board made a decision about

1:08:11where to set the fees so as you'll see

1:08:14on this table here the first row is the

1:08:17maximum stim fee that was calculated

1:08:20through the nexus study

1:08:22the board chose to establish a new fee

1:08:25at 75 percent of that maximum so that is

1:08:28what's shown here and highlighted in

1:08:30bold on this table

1:08:33immediately below that for comparison

1:08:35purposes uh we showed then the current

1:08:38stemp fees

1:08:40both the original fee that was adopted

1:08:43back in 2005 and then what that fee

1:08:45would have been if it had been regularly

1:08:48indexed for inflation

1:08:51now the inflation indexing was not done

1:08:54consistently across all jurisdictions so

1:08:57some of the cities in west county and

1:08:58this includes el cerrito are still

1:09:01charging the original fee that was in

1:09:04place in 2005.

1:09:06so so those fees have not changed over

1:09:09the last 14 years

1:09:11one of the goals of our update process

1:09:13here is really to correct that situation

1:09:16and to get us all back on a level

1:09:17playing field so that all jurisdictions

1:09:20are back charging the same amount

1:09:23now the board chose that 75 percent of

1:09:26the maximum level really as a way of

1:09:28balancing i think some very important

1:09:30considerations and community interests

1:09:32and they did have a lot of discussion

1:09:34about the need for new housing

1:09:37and also the need the the very strong

1:09:40need for more transportation investment

1:09:42and infrastructure

1:09:44clearly these two interests are are

1:09:46interrelated and the board had a whole

1:09:48series of discussions around that topic

1:09:51uh and they considered things like that

1:09:53there were some trade-offs involved

1:09:55uh you know setting a lower fee might

1:09:58have the effect of perhaps encouraging

1:10:00more development but then it would take

1:10:03quite a long time to generate enough

1:10:05money to be able to build new

1:10:07transportation infrastructure and on the

1:10:09other hand setting up somewhat higher

1:10:11fee

1:10:12might have some discouraging effect on

1:10:15some new development but it would allow

1:10:17for fee revenue to collect faster so

1:10:20that infrastructure could get built

1:10:22sooner

1:10:23so they also looked at fees that were

1:10:25being charged in other areas and that's

1:10:27what's shown here on the lower half of

1:10:29this table

1:10:30the other sub-regions in contra costa

1:10:32have similar programs also have

1:10:35mitigation fee programs and the board

1:10:37took a look at what was being charged in

1:10:40those other areas

1:10:41and as you will see there is quite a

1:10:43wide range

1:10:45depending on which area you're in

1:10:47so the board ended up coming to a

1:10:49consensus that they felt like setting

1:10:52the stim fee at this level of 75 percent

1:10:55of the maximum

1:10:56which is generally within the range

1:10:58that's being charged elsewhere around

1:11:00the county they felt like it really

1:11:02represented a reasonable balance of

1:11:04those community interests

1:11:09so the the next steps the final steps in

1:11:11our process here for establishing the

1:11:14new fee really involves the documents

1:11:16that yvette mentioned each of which have

1:11:18been reviewed both by the wic tag legal

1:11:20counsel

1:11:21and by your local staff and your city

1:11:23attorney

1:11:24so the master cooperative agreement

1:11:26defines the roles and responsibilities

1:11:28of each agency that is a party to the

1:11:30stimp uh the local agency's

1:11:33responsibilities toward collecting the

1:11:35funds and and submitting them to wic tac

1:11:38and some procedures for

1:11:40uh determining things like fee credits

1:11:43and reimbursements and some other

1:11:44administrative parts of the program

1:11:47there is also then an ordinance to be

1:11:49adopted by each jurisdiction which sets

1:11:51the legal structure for each city to

1:11:53levy the fee

1:11:54wictac did prepare a model ordinance and

1:11:57then shared it with all the city

1:11:59attorneys

1:12:00and the each city attorney has made some

1:12:02adjustments to it to make it uh

1:12:04appropriate for that own city's

1:12:05procedural requirements

1:12:08there is also then as i mentioned the

1:12:10nexus report which was finished and

1:12:13approved by the wic tech board in

1:12:15december

1:12:16and there's also a set a new set of

1:12:18administrative guidelines this is a new

1:12:20document that has not existed before but

1:12:22is there to try to help make the

1:12:24administration of this program a little

1:12:26more consistent and more transparent

1:12:29so that document has been developed and

1:12:31was worked on significantly by the

1:12:33technical advisory committee

1:12:36uh so now um as we've noted uh this the

1:12:38material here has been presented to

1:12:40three of the cities uh so far um just a

1:12:43couple of questions that did come up uh

1:12:45one of the questions that we got early

1:12:47on was

1:12:48some more interest in how the board

1:12:50decided upon the 75 percent fee level so

1:12:53i did

1:12:54add some more detail to today's

1:12:56presentation to help address that

1:12:57question

1:12:59there also have been some questions

1:13:00about how this indexing process would

1:13:02work

1:13:03as i noted the original fee was intended

1:13:06to be indexed every year for inflation

1:13:09that has not always been consistently

1:13:10done

1:13:11but that is a very routine part of most

1:13:14fee programs

1:13:15and is important to make sure that the

1:13:17revenue generated by the fee program

1:13:19continues to keep pace with the cost of

1:13:22building infrastructure

1:13:26so we have presented at hercules san

1:13:28pablo and panel hercules was the first

1:13:30presentation because they reviewed the

1:13:33material very early on their council

1:13:35decided to wait and see what the other

1:13:38jurisdictions did what other comments

1:13:40might come

1:13:41both san pablo and panel city councils

1:13:44at their respective meetings did take

1:13:46action to approve the cooperative

1:13:48agreement and the ordinance without any

1:13:51changes so those those have been are

1:13:54moving on as is

1:13:58so the next steps would be for

1:14:01you to consider authorizing the city to

1:14:03sign the master cooperative agreement

1:14:05and upon the second reading then adopt

1:14:07the ordinance to establish the new fee

1:14:09schedule

1:14:10our timeline for that is by may 1st to

1:14:13have all of the local agencies having

1:14:15taken that action

1:14:16because then that would allow us by july

1:14:191st at the beginning of the new fiscal

1:14:20year to have the new fees

1:14:23established and in place

1:14:27uh so that wraps up my presentation

1:14:29happy to answer any questions thank you

1:14:31very much

1:14:34i defer to our wic

1:14:36well uh what i what i will add to the

1:14:39comments that were made which were very

1:14:40excellent comments is that this was a

1:14:43this is a very important

1:14:44document and process

1:14:47for uh

1:14:48wic tech and really um

1:14:51in its larger sense for the entire

1:14:53county

1:14:54because this is

1:14:56what guides our participation at the

1:14:58regional level

1:15:00and i don't know if there's any other

1:15:01county

1:15:04around that in their

1:15:07self-help in being a self-help county in

1:15:10fact has the

1:15:11regional groups that meet and decide but

1:15:15i think it is it's really been helpful

1:15:17because if you look at our county for

1:15:19example

1:15:21each part of the county is unique and we

1:15:24have unique needs and

1:15:26through this process of the

1:15:30regional groups we are able to express

1:15:33our regional differences

1:15:35and yet work together when the time

1:15:37comes for it what's also really

1:15:40important is

1:15:42in its role

1:15:44in the implementation of measure j this

1:15:46is where we get our return to source

1:15:49which is how much is it around half a

1:15:51million

1:15:53a year

1:15:54i believe something like that

1:15:57yes

1:15:58i'm talking about major j

1:16:01it's somewhere let's it's somewhere in

1:16:03that

1:16:04big ballpark

1:16:07yeah for this fiscal year it's 455

1:16:10thousand dollars close enough right

1:16:14and um throughout the county that's

1:16:16proved to be

1:16:18a very major trigger another part of the

1:16:20county east county

1:16:22had difficulty

1:16:24at one point

1:16:28implementing this particular

1:16:32concept i guess i will say

1:16:34of having the uh

1:16:36the authority of the sub-regional group

1:16:39is that a good way to say it john

1:16:44oh

1:16:44uh equifa is what i'm talking about the

1:16:47issues with acrypha

1:16:49and if you could come to the microphone

1:16:51please yeah and um so anyway what was

1:16:55uh i think uh realized at that point was

1:16:59that

1:17:00we do need this subregional process

1:17:03and it's it's a very important one

1:17:05and it's important because it's about

1:17:09uh the cooperation is really the key

1:17:11element of it and

1:17:14we um

1:17:16so it doesn't mean that um

1:17:20we stand alone as a city it means that

1:17:23we work together cooperatively

1:17:25so that people can travel in

1:17:29a better way throughout our county

1:17:32and um so for example and some of these

1:17:35projects that we even were described

1:17:37here where it wasn't just one city for

1:17:40example

1:17:41central avenue

1:17:44has a very high importance i think to el

1:17:47cerrito for people on the southern end

1:17:49of the city

1:17:50getting in and out of the city and yet

1:17:53it actually the part that's our part is

1:17:57wictack is actually in richmond

1:18:00but it's very important to el cerrito in

1:18:02terms of moving

1:18:04on and off the freeway it's how we do it

1:18:07so

1:18:07these are the you know examples of the

1:18:10importance and we did have a long

1:18:13discussion over um

1:18:15that 75 percent rate

1:18:19and that was you know there were those

1:18:21who wanted it more and there were those

1:18:23who wanted it less

1:18:25and so this was what we agreed on was a

1:18:28reasonable

1:18:30way to

1:18:31implement it

1:18:33and

1:18:34so i'm hopeful certainly that i guess

1:18:37there's just

1:18:38there's one richmond's left

1:18:40and then and then in the county and

1:18:43going back to

1:18:45hercules

1:18:47and i don't know if the

1:18:50transportation agencies have to

1:18:52sign this agreement if they're part of

1:18:54it or if they're

1:18:56not

1:18:58do you

1:18:59no councilmember abelson no it's

1:19:02other there are no other transportation

1:19:03agencies that need to be

1:19:04a party to it it's just these six

1:19:07jurisdictions okay

1:19:09and um

1:19:10so so anyway um i think we

1:19:14our consultant has done a good job of

1:19:16defining it in our individual cities um

1:19:20through our

1:19:21staff

1:19:22uh played a major role in defining what

1:19:25the projects were

1:19:27and so i think that if you look at the

1:19:29project list

1:19:31on what can be what these funds can be

1:19:33used for you'll see

1:19:35that our needs are well represented

1:19:38which is an important thing to us

1:19:41so central avenue the iolani greenway

1:19:44bart station

1:19:46all those things are in there

1:19:48and um that's what i would say about it

1:19:52i have a question my my biggest question

1:19:54is related to that how are the projects

1:19:57um prioritized

1:20:00i mean there's 20 projects so which

1:20:02which ones will be done first second

1:20:04third

1:20:05etc julian behind you maybe it's be

1:20:08easier if i if i sit next to you and we

1:20:09can

1:20:11be here

1:20:17there actually is uh madam mayor no

1:20:20prioritization of those 20 project

1:20:22projects you can think of them as

1:20:24projects that are eligible to receive

1:20:26funds so if you're on the list you can

1:20:28potentially receive these

1:20:30funds if you're a project and typically

1:20:33what happens is when we start kind of

1:20:34start to build up a relatively large

1:20:36balance

1:20:37i'll have a conversation with the board

1:20:39chair and say do you think we're getting

1:20:40close to maybe putting out a call for

1:20:42projects and then when we do that

1:20:43jurisdictions will submit we also have

1:20:46the east bay regional parks district

1:20:48that will submit

1:20:49prospective projects and then the wic

1:20:52tech board will make a decision about

1:20:53the prioritization and we often have

1:20:55conversations at the tac level and we to

1:20:57try to prioritize a little bit and make

1:20:59recommendations and we think about

1:21:01what's the readiness of the project

1:21:03who's received funding last

1:21:05you know there's some attempt at some

1:21:07equity across jurisdiction so it's not

1:21:09always the same people getting the money

1:21:12every time or the same project

1:21:13categories so that the money ends up

1:21:15kind of getting spread around so attack

1:21:16often makes a recommendation to the

1:21:18board but ultimately the wake tech board

1:21:20decides at the time what the priorities

1:21:22are going to be okay thank you

1:21:25are there questions from the council

1:21:29sure i will ask a few questions um thank

1:21:32you for the presentation and the and the

1:21:34report it does dovetail together quite

1:21:36nicely um i am looking at page 147 of

1:21:40192 which is the summary of required

1:21:42program elements that's the five

1:21:45in in using planning terms these the

1:21:47five findings that we need to

1:21:49essentially be comfortable that your

1:21:50your technical report does this and and

1:21:53i i believe your technical report does

1:21:55but there are two in here that i want to

1:21:57sort of talk through and make sure that

1:21:59we're all comfortable with and that's

1:22:01items three and four

1:22:02three determining a reasonable

1:22:04relationship between the fees use

1:22:06and the type of development on which the

1:22:08fee is imposed so most of our

1:22:10development in el cerrito is going to be

1:22:12residential um and and these fees are

1:22:15based on a dwelling unit equivalent

1:22:18which is attributable to essentially

1:22:22additional

1:22:23the the 19 that you used on your chart

1:22:26is driven by the increase in resonance

1:22:29so

1:22:29so that you feel that our residential

1:22:32growth

1:22:33and the tie to a fee based on dwelling

1:22:37unit equivalences is a really a good way

1:22:40to to link to do this determine a

1:22:43reasonable relationship between the fees

1:22:45use

1:22:46and the type of development on which the

1:22:47fee is imposed

1:22:49yeah the uh

1:22:51the concept or the the construct of a

1:22:54dwelling unit equivalent is a very

1:22:55common way to achieve this uh goal or

1:22:59this finding uh within the mitigation

1:23:01fee act and that is because when we

1:23:04calculate a dwelling unit equivalent we

1:23:06are

1:23:08i should back up the challenge is you're

1:23:10trying you want to apply a fee to all

1:23:12types of development whether that's a

1:23:14new apartment building or a new office

1:23:16building or a new retail center

1:23:19but you want to do that in a way that is

1:23:21representative of that type of

1:23:24development's impact on the

1:23:25transportation system

1:23:28and so the way one of the ways which we

1:23:30often will do that is by converting all

1:23:32of those types of land uses into this

1:23:35dwelling unit equivalent factor which is

1:23:37a way to to put it all into sort of a

1:23:40common unit of measurement um if you

1:23:42will so we take into account then the uh

1:23:46the travel characteristics you know how

1:23:48many trips are generated uh from those

1:23:50different types of land uses so that we

1:23:53can put them all into this common unit

1:23:55of measurement and then be able to to

1:23:58show that we then have that relationship

1:24:00between the impacts of different types

1:24:02of development and the fee that is that

1:24:04they are being charged

1:24:06excellent i'm going to go to the next

1:24:08one and build on your response

1:24:11obviously our our goal on our

1:24:14sample avenue specific plan which is

1:24:16going to be discussed thursday night

1:24:18here

1:24:19is focused on transit oriented

1:24:21development and

1:24:23development along the avenue that would

1:24:25use the types of resources that i think

1:24:27the projects that you've identified

1:24:30and and council member evilson

1:24:32summarized them nicely the ohlone

1:24:34greenway upgrade that's the project

1:24:36number five

1:24:37on

1:24:38page 129. um

1:24:41you know and then there's projects

1:24:42number fourteen fifteen and nineteen

1:24:44fourteen and fifteen one is bart access

1:24:47uh for trent and fifteen is transitory

1:24:49development around

1:24:51the uh del norte station so

1:24:53the so this is number four

1:24:56on page 147 determining a reasonable

1:24:58relationship between the need for the

1:25:00public facility in this case it would be

1:25:02the the improvements i just rattled off

1:25:04and the type of development on which the

1:25:06fee is imposed and so i just want to

1:25:10put in the record that if the

1:25:12development is residential along the

1:25:14avenue that's going to create a lot of

1:25:15foot traffic bus traffic uh use of uh

1:25:19the bart station's uh use of the ohlone

1:25:21greenway that these are align in your

1:25:24mind with the type of facilities that

1:25:26the stimp would pay for

1:25:29right and uh

1:25:31that's exactly correct uh there is

1:25:34the the

1:25:35projects the capital improvement

1:25:36projects that will be funded by the

1:25:38stemp are

1:25:41a wide range so they serve a wide range

1:25:44of types of travel

1:25:46as we noted you know there are some

1:25:48transit related projects bicycle and

1:25:49pedestrian related projects street

1:25:51improvements

1:25:53so they will have that relationship kind

1:25:54of no matter how people choose to travel

1:25:57they will

1:25:58have some benefit from at least some of

1:26:00the projects that are on this list

1:26:03and i think it's also important to note

1:26:04uh just reinforce this is a regional

1:26:07program

1:26:08so the projects are

1:26:10located there are projects that are

1:26:12located in all of the jurisdictions that

1:26:14are contributing

1:26:16and

1:26:17the intent of these projects is that

1:26:20they have some some relationship to

1:26:22regional travel that they will provide

1:26:24some benefits

1:26:26for people to get to a bart station for

1:26:29example

1:26:30or to achieve some some regional travel

1:26:34need

1:26:35and that is also that helps to create

1:26:37that relationship that these fees will

1:26:39be charged across the entire

1:26:42west county area and they may be used in

1:26:45any of the west county areas as well

1:26:48great thank you i do want to now move on

1:26:50to my last question which has to do with

1:26:53the actual attachment for which is the

1:26:56uh is that the agreement i think

1:26:59the master cooperative agreement i'm on

1:27:01page 165

1:27:03which you touched on in your

1:27:05presentation about the annual fee

1:27:07adjustments

1:27:08which is d8 section d sub 8

1:27:11and it says you know effective july 1 of

1:27:13each year after 2019

1:27:16so this question may not be you for you

1:27:17miss morgan but more for our staff i'm

1:27:20assuming that we would address the you

1:27:23would distribute the um mr nemeth your

1:27:26organization would distribute the new

1:27:28fees

1:27:29in like

1:27:30march

1:27:31based on a february publication

1:27:34and this is the question for staff that

1:27:36we would do this as part of the master

1:27:37fees schedule

1:27:39that we would update these so that we

1:27:41could have them ready for july 1. yes we

1:27:43would use the masterpiece schedule to

1:27:45update the stem fees okay great thank

1:27:48you

1:27:53questions yes that's the member fidelity

1:27:55um

1:27:56happy to say that most of my questions

1:27:58have been answered it's a good

1:27:59discussion thank you very much

1:28:01um

1:28:02so the purpose of this obviously is that

1:28:04to make sure that new growth is paying

1:28:06their fair share as you as you mentioned

1:28:09i noticed in some of the

1:28:11discussion and the content that we were

1:28:13given the word legally can we legally

1:28:16collect this fee

1:28:18and is that directly related to proving

1:28:22deficiency of the projects

1:28:26does that make sense to you where that

1:28:28there is a need to collect this

1:28:31money

1:28:32overall not just individual projects we

1:28:35must prove each a deficiency of funding

1:28:37other funds for these projects

1:28:40yeah the reference to uh to legally uh

1:28:43being able to uh

1:28:45adopt the fee and levy the fee is really

1:28:47related to uh the findings that council

1:28:50member lyman was referencing uh and the

1:28:52fact that mitigation fees are

1:28:55established under the umbrella of this

1:28:58state law the mitigation fee act which

1:29:01does require that you be able to make

1:29:03those findings that there is a

1:29:05reasonable relationship between

1:29:08the that you're able to establish the

1:29:10need for new public facilities and that

1:29:12there is a relationship between that

1:29:14need and the impacts that new

1:29:16development is creating and the fee is

1:29:19sort of a way to bridge that gap and and

1:29:22create that connection uh between the

1:29:25impacts of new development and the need

1:29:27for those new facilities

1:29:29i was going to ask about the 75 percent

1:29:31too and i was glad to hear it was a good

1:29:33discussion at wic tack that

1:29:35came to that conclusion

1:29:37did the

1:29:39your growth projections

1:29:42have a similar discussion at wic tac did

1:29:44everyone feel good about how you came up

1:29:46with those because those

1:29:48yeah the growth projections uh certainly

1:29:50something that was discussed at some

1:29:52length um both at the tac at the

1:29:54technical advisory committee level and

1:29:56then um at the wic tac board as well uh

1:29:59we came we came back to the wichita

1:30:01board several times throughout the

1:30:02course of this study to kind of

1:30:04everything

1:30:05deliverable you sort of checked in with

1:30:07them um so they they really both attack

1:30:10and the board weighed in on and came to

1:30:13a consensus on what they felt was a

1:30:15reasonable set of growth projections

1:30:17felt good about that um

1:30:22is there i was going to maybe ask yvette

1:30:24this we've the el cerritos decided not

1:30:27to do an administrative fee

1:30:30is that correct

1:30:32in implementing the program is it be

1:30:35what's the reason for that and

1:30:37that's correct at this point we decided

1:30:39not to do an administrative fee but we

1:30:41will reconsider it next year partly it's

1:30:44because the city has implemented two

1:30:47transportation impact fees this year and

1:30:50we just kind of

1:30:52want to transition into collecting

1:30:53additional fees as necessary to cover uh

1:30:56staff time the staff time to cover to

1:30:59administer the fee at the city is not

1:31:02significant it's staff time really is to

1:31:06collect the fee and transfer it to wic

1:31:08tech on an administrative at a on a

1:31:11quarterly basis wiktek will be doing all

1:31:13the reporting that's required so the wic

1:31:16tech staff

1:31:18will spend most of the time

1:31:19administering the program

1:31:21so you determine that's not a big

1:31:24it's not a big staff effort to

1:31:26transmit the fees and the quarterly

1:31:28reports okay

1:31:31um thank you very much as

1:31:33council woman abelson mentioned we're

1:31:35very excited about i-80 and central and

1:31:38all the other projects el cerrito is

1:31:40well represented on there and it really

1:31:43is this fee is about all of us getting

1:31:45and moving together in west county it's

1:31:47not just about each city individually

1:31:49and we need that thank you very much

1:31:52councilmember

1:31:53thank you mayor um

1:31:55i just wanted to say you know all 19

1:31:58projects are so important and all of us

1:32:01are late when we need to get to central

1:32:03county

1:32:04to our meetings

1:32:05and i cannot believe what a headache it

1:32:07was to get to san ramon uh the earlier

1:32:11in the uh last week so

1:32:13uh no

1:32:14i'm glad all the cities here in west

1:32:16county are together and working together

1:32:18to make sure

1:32:20our our projects that that we

1:32:22desperately need here in west county go

1:32:24through and

1:32:26my question to you is um

1:32:29the san pablo avenue completes streets

1:32:32project

1:32:33and

1:32:33looking at the news and and the things

1:32:36that are going on right now surrounding

1:32:38us and with the bicycle death

1:32:40and

1:32:43i know what the the bicycle coalitions

1:32:46are doing and they've been

1:32:48dropping by city the city to make sure

1:32:50that

1:32:52we look at dedicated lanes for bicycles

1:32:55and with the future of our new residents

1:32:58coming in i truly feel that that is part

1:33:01of the last mile getting home and i just

1:33:04want to make sure that

1:33:06funding for bicycles continue and that

1:33:10we look very closely just like what the

1:33:12other cities are doing uh looking

1:33:14closely at dedicated

1:33:16bicycle lanes and and i know san pablo

1:33:19avenue is at

1:33:21different widths and in different parts

1:33:23of our city and and i'm hoping that

1:33:27you know we'll be able to look at that

1:33:30and i know the ac transit

1:33:33plans

1:33:35probably won't happen in contra costa

1:33:37but most likely in alameda county but

1:33:42but i do like what uh

1:33:45what the projects entail and for our

1:33:47future residents in el cerrito it will

1:33:49mean so much especially um

1:33:52number one the san pablo avenue complete

1:33:54streets project which will include

1:33:56bicycles hopefully but you know i want

1:33:59to make sure and let the audience know

1:34:01that this is a highway as well and and

1:34:06we have to make sure if we really uh

1:34:08want to have bicycles on san pablo

1:34:10avenue and looking at

1:34:12the death that happened in san francisco

1:34:14uh with the bicyclists and and

1:34:18and people not using um and trucks using

1:34:21driving over bicycle lanes and i just

1:34:24want to make sure that um

1:34:26whittak is uh involved in the talks of

1:34:29this and that

1:34:31that we fully discuss the future of san

1:34:34pablo avenue but i'm supporting

1:34:37the master cooperative agreement i

1:34:39appreciate all your work and and your

1:34:41work as well council member abelson on

1:34:43this

1:34:46you very much i i have another question

1:34:48so what happens if uh

1:34:50one or two of the cities decides not to

1:34:52support

1:34:54the ordinances or the

1:34:58resolutions turning it to me

1:35:00[Laughter]

1:35:03that's a good question

1:35:05so far we've had two jurisdictions

1:35:06support hercules because they went first

1:35:09they had some concerns but i think they

1:35:11mainly wanted to wait and see i want to

1:35:13speak for them but i think part of their

1:35:15their

1:35:16decision not to take an action was to

1:35:18wait and see what other jurisdictions

1:35:20did

1:35:22if they were if they or another

1:35:24jurisdiction were to

1:35:26not approve these i think probably what

1:35:28we would do is try to understand their

1:35:30concerns and bring it back to the wic

1:35:31tech board

1:35:33if there was if there was something some

1:35:35accommodation that would be enough to

1:35:36make it um acceptable to those

1:35:38jurisdictions there's the possibility

1:35:40that it could have to come back to every

1:35:42jurisdiction again in a modified form

1:35:44taking into account whatever adjustments

1:35:47had been made

1:35:48to account for the concerns of those of

1:35:50those jurisdictions

1:35:52i'm not quite sure what would happen if

1:35:54we got to a place where

1:35:56there was no way to accommodate a

1:35:58particular jurisdiction i would imagine

1:36:01i mean since this since this subregional

1:36:03fee is a requirement of measure j at

1:36:05wiktec we're required to

1:36:07have this fee

1:36:09julie do you know would they simply just

1:36:10not be a part of this program

1:36:12potentially

1:36:14that that would certainly could be an

1:36:16option uh is that a city could opt out

1:36:19uh and then the wic tak v this temp fee

1:36:22could could go on with the remaining

1:36:24jurisdictions but that would then

1:36:26jeopardize that jurisdiction's return to

1:36:29source

1:36:30uh funds um because they would not then

1:36:33be in compliance with that portion of

1:36:34measure j

1:36:36i see councilmember able right we did

1:36:38have a

1:36:39lengthy discussion a lengthy set of

1:36:42discussions

1:36:43at ccta a while back not this year but

1:36:46in a different year um because uh

1:36:50one of the

1:36:52cities out in east county was unhappy

1:36:56with the way

1:36:58funds

1:36:59were being used and

1:37:02so they wanted to pull out

1:37:05and um

1:37:08so the um

1:37:10there was a lot of scrambling

1:37:14because this it hadn't happened before

1:37:16but i think the bottom

1:37:18line was that they would have lost their

1:37:21return to source

1:37:23which is

1:37:24viewed as highly valuable

1:37:28because it's a requirement of measure j

1:37:31i see and with their project

1:37:33on the top 20 list be taken away drop

1:37:36off

1:37:39would other cities still be paying for

1:37:41those projects and impact that city i

1:37:43mean that that would be something excuse

1:37:44me that would be something for the wic

1:37:45tack board to ccta this was in east

1:37:49county i was talking

1:37:50right but i think

1:37:52mr fideli was was i think talking more

1:37:54about how would that affect than the

1:37:56list of projects that could be funded

1:37:58through the program

1:38:00but we don't have a necrophage

1:38:03in in west county so we don't

1:38:06have the exact we're saying if hercules

1:38:10for example said they're not said no

1:38:12would their project go off the 20 top

1:38:15well if

1:38:17probably i mean

1:38:19if you were guessing what would happen

1:38:21but

1:38:21i would suspect if they uh pulled out

1:38:25that yeah their projects probably would

1:38:28but that's just a guess right you know i

1:38:32don't know what the board would the wic

1:38:34tech board would do

1:38:36you know because we haven't discussed it

1:38:38but

1:38:39that that's what could happen

1:38:41okay okay thank you

1:38:44i like to ask the what if questions um

1:38:47thank you very much so with that we will

1:38:49go ahead and open our public hearing

1:38:54do we have any speakers on this item we

1:38:57have one speaker for this item christian

1:38:59teal

1:39:03shootings council staff citizens um

1:39:08i'm here i don't really understand this

1:39:10whole project i understand that we are

1:39:13pretty much collecting money and

1:39:15funneling it straight to this

1:39:17organization which then eventually funds

1:39:20projects

1:39:21um onenote the funding of projects

1:39:24basically what directly goes to its

1:39:27reader's benefit is three projects out

1:39:29of 20.

1:39:31so the limit the impact is limited

1:39:34um the thing that mostly concerns me is

1:39:37the proposed 75 percent fee increase

1:39:41so that adds in el cerrito itself

1:39:44basically it has for single-pa family

1:39:46per dwelling

1:39:47would be 109

1:39:49added fee

1:39:51to the current fee

1:39:53multi-family six to plus plus 62.5

1:39:56percent office would be

1:39:58added 148 percent

1:40:00retail which we are interested in

1:40:04from 182

1:40:06the 75 would add the per foot fee to 659

1:40:10that's a increase of 262 percent

1:40:15basically it's nice and fun that we are

1:40:17sharing um a fund that we are sharing

1:40:20the burden of regional projects with our

1:40:22neighbors

1:40:24but let's be real we are also competing

1:40:26with our neighbors for exactly those

1:40:29retail spaces we are competing for

1:40:31projects we're competing for new housing

1:40:34basically what what this fear is

1:40:36essentially is any new development

1:40:39gets this fee slapped on top of it

1:40:41why do the cities not

1:40:43make any decisions yet why have they not

1:40:45made decisions it was purported they are

1:40:48looking for other cities how do they

1:40:50react

1:40:51it's because obviously they want to be

1:40:53lower in that fee than their neighbors

1:40:57as an example a city of richmond master

1:40:59fee schedule

1:41:01this was adopted in

1:41:03june of 2018

1:41:05effective july 1st 2018

1:41:08the same fee

1:41:10stmp whatever you call it a single

1:41:12family residence was

1:41:14was to

1:41:15595 and they increased it by

1:41:190.2.3 percent to 26.55

1:41:23each of the fees that i mentioned

1:41:26earlier are

1:41:28suggested to be doubled and more than

1:41:30doubled by this organization here

1:41:34richmond added 2.3 percent

1:41:36that's effective right now only two

1:41:39percent increase of this fee

1:41:42and what is suggested to el cerrito is

1:41:44to double it and more than double it

1:41:47which is would make el cerrito um

1:41:50give it ezerita a

1:41:52bad example basically it will be a

1:41:55competitive disadvantage

1:41:57versus neighboring cities

1:42:00so i would like to caution you to

1:42:03not follow the 75 recommendation of this

1:42:06organization to keep the fee as low as

1:42:08possible thank you for your comments to

1:42:11keep the fee low as possible and also to

1:42:13be able to compete with neighboring uh

1:42:15jurisdictions thank you thank you

1:42:19go ahead councilman yeah if i if i may

1:42:22uh seek clarification on the public

1:42:24speaker um my understanding i'm looking

1:42:26at page

1:42:2896

1:42:30which is the

1:42:32table

1:42:34in our agenda item that talks about the

1:42:36fee levels by land use category which i

1:42:39think mr teal was referring to

1:42:41where

1:42:42you know it was 25.95 and and in the

1:42:45proposed 75 goes up to 5493 439 on a

1:42:49single family

1:42:50that that new line the 75 percent level

1:42:53the 500

1:42:545439 for single-family 26.79 for

1:42:58multi-families 8.72 cents per square

1:43:01foot for office that's the same across

1:43:04all jurisdictions there won't be a

1:43:06jurisdictional difference

1:43:08between el cerrito richmond

1:43:10um the only way there would be a

1:43:11jurisdictional difference is if somebody

1:43:13opted out and and wasn't collecting the

1:43:16fee at all and and as as uh in response

1:43:19to mayor pardue okamoto we talked about

1:43:22some of the the consequences of

1:43:24potentially opting out your your

1:43:26projects may not

1:43:27be funded um i just wanted to um

1:43:31get a clarification on record that that

1:43:33was my understanding that this is the

1:43:35same fee across the all jurisdictions

1:43:38yes that yeah that would be correct all

1:43:40jurisdictions would be at the same level

1:43:43great thank you so there is no

1:43:44competition among cities to attract

1:43:46retail businesses based on this fee

1:43:50right yeah correct yeah

1:43:53and one more point of clarification it's

1:43:54not a 75

1:43:56increase from where we currently are it

1:43:58was a 75

1:44:00of the maximum possible suggested fee

1:44:05correct that's correct

1:44:07it's kind of a 25

1:44:09less

1:44:10than you could be charging for the total

1:44:12fee okay that's right

1:44:15thank you do we have um emotion

1:44:19if i if i read my packet correctly

1:44:21there's two actions we're taking tonight

1:44:23is that correct

1:44:25that is correct um there's an action on

1:44:27the proposed ordinance and additionally

1:44:29a resolution to authorize um city

1:44:31manager to execute the cooperative

1:44:33agreement sure i'll move i'll move an

1:44:36ordinance of the city of el cerrito

1:44:37amending el cerido municipal code

1:44:39chapter 4.52

1:44:41west county sub-regional transportation

1:44:43mitigation program

1:44:45also known as stmp or stem

1:44:48second

1:44:49i have a motion by lyman and a second by

1:44:52abelson all in favor aye

1:44:54this opposed

1:44:56motion passes

1:44:59i can move the resolution of the city

1:45:00council of el cerrito authorizing the

1:45:03city manager to execute the master

1:45:05cooperative agreement by and among the

1:45:08cities of el cerrito hercules

1:45:10canal richmond and san pablo the county

1:45:14of contra costa and the west county

1:45:16transportation advisory committee for

1:45:18the 2019

1:45:20sub-regional transportation mitigation

1:45:22fee program second that

1:45:24i have in motion by abelson in a second

1:45:27by fidelity

1:45:28all in favor

1:45:30posed

1:45:32motion carries i was just going to

1:45:34suggest for the record closing the

1:45:35position yes i just realized and we need

1:45:37to close the public hearing with that

1:45:40does that require a motion no

1:45:42do

1:45:49all in favor aye aye those opposed

1:45:52motion carries thank you very much

1:45:54thank you

1:45:58next on the agenda we have

1:46:00item b

1:46:02a correction to calendar calendar year

1:46:052019 adopted east bay sanitary garbage

1:46:09rate

1:46:12good evening mayor council members this

1:46:14is my item

1:46:17tonight city staff is requesting that

1:46:19the city council adopt a resolution

1:46:21establishing the maximum allowable

1:46:24east bay sanitary post collection rate

1:46:26for two cubic yard garbage containers

1:46:30in november 2018 the city council held

1:46:32public hearings on the proposed ebs

1:46:35rates as well as the city's integrated

1:46:37waste management fees for calendar year

1:46:392019

1:46:41and adopted resolutions setting the

1:46:43maximum allowable rates and fees

1:46:46the resolution for the east bay sanitary

1:46:48rates stated the total monthly charge

1:46:50for once per week services and the

1:46:52maximum rates for each use of on-call

1:46:55book bulk collection services

1:46:58unfortunately in january of 2019

1:47:00after adoption of the ordinances

1:47:03not ordinances but resolutions

1:47:05city staff identified some issues with

1:47:08the materials presented at the november

1:47:092018 meeting

1:47:12notably there were typographical and

1:47:14rounding errors in the e-space sanitary

1:47:16post-collection rate for two cubic yard

1:47:18garbage containers

1:47:20the rate impacts 78 commercial customers

1:47:24that produce about 200 and not 239 cubic

1:47:28yards per week of garbage

1:47:30the estimated revenue shortfall due to

1:47:32the incorrect rate is about 3 000 per

1:47:35year for east bay sanitary espace

1:47:38sanitary considered this to be material

1:47:40to them in terms of the required revenue

1:47:42collection and also in terms of how they

1:47:44build their customers

1:47:46the resolution that's provided to you

1:47:48tonight corrects the rate increasing it

1:47:51from 88 89.19

1:47:55i'm sorry let me get that correct

1:47:58um

1:48:10it corrects the rate from 88.19

1:48:14to

1:48:1589.20 cents

1:48:19if approved by city council the rate

1:48:21would go into effect immediately and

1:48:23appear on east bay sanitary's next

1:48:24billing cycle beginning in april 1st

1:48:28there were some other changes to the

1:48:30rate schedule that was provided as an

1:48:31attachment to the november 28 agenda

1:48:34bill

1:48:352018 agenda bill these are due to

1:48:37rounding errors as well as errors in how

1:48:40multiple weekly pickups were calculated

1:48:42the rates indicated in the rate sheet

1:48:44are based on the rates approved by city

1:48:46council and are provided for

1:48:48informational purpose to show the costs

1:48:50of the various services provided by east

1:48:53space sanitary and the city

1:48:55however the rate sheet itself does not

1:48:57require council action to correct

1:49:00that concludes my presentation and i'm

1:49:02available to answer any questions

1:49:04thank you okay questions

1:49:07council member fidelity

1:49:09so just a small question i get the the

1:49:12typographical what does the rounding

1:49:14error mean to do

1:49:16is it on their side or our city side

1:49:19that rounded

1:49:23yeah it's interesting that our we have

1:49:25weekly calculations that are converted

1:49:27to

1:49:28monthly calculations

1:49:30and espace sanitary's billing system can

1:49:33only go to two digits

1:49:35and so

1:49:37two decimal place

1:49:38two decimal places and so just the

1:49:41rounding up or down affects their total

1:49:44monthly um the total monthly

1:49:47charges that they can bill customers um

1:49:50and so one cent half percent does make a

1:49:53difference

1:49:56so we've got the message on the next

1:49:59time what we're definitely uh it's very

1:50:01unfortunate and we will

1:50:03double check all those rounding um

1:50:06assumptions in the future

1:50:09with with east bay sanitary thank you

1:50:13any further questions

1:50:17all right with that we can go ahead and

1:50:20open the public hearing are there any

1:50:21speakers on this topic we have no

1:50:23speakers on this item all right with

1:50:25that i will ask for a motion to close

1:50:27the public hearing

1:50:29so move

1:50:30a second

1:50:31all in favor

1:50:34motion carries

1:50:36all right and i will go ahead uh are

1:50:38there any additional questions

1:50:42um do i have a motion

1:50:45for this item

1:50:46sure as your garbage guy i will go ahead

1:50:48and do

1:50:50i'll move a resolution of the city

1:50:52council of the city of el cerrito

1:50:53establishing the maximum allowable post

1:50:55collection rate for two cubic yard

1:50:57garbage containers to at one

1:51:00pick up per week effective immediately

1:51:05i'll second that

1:51:07motion by lyman second by quinto all in

1:51:10favor aye aye those opposed

1:51:13motion carries

1:51:16and with that we will move on to our

1:51:18next item policy matters we have none

1:51:23and so

1:51:25city council local and regional liaison

1:51:28assignments

1:51:29as your garbage guy

1:51:32i would like to report out from the most

1:51:35recent uh

1:51:37recycle more meeting

1:51:40the

1:51:43it

1:51:44as you may

1:51:46recall we have been since uh january 1

1:51:49of 2014

1:51:51the uh jeepa

1:51:53that exists is not as

1:51:56necessary as it was because all of the

1:52:00financing debt has been paid off

1:52:03and so since january of 2014 we've

1:52:06essentially been trying to come up with

1:52:08a new way to

1:52:11manage ourselves and if you can do

1:52:13simple math it's been five years

1:52:16as chair

1:52:18a significant part of my responsibility

1:52:21four years ago

1:52:23was to

1:52:24[Music]

1:52:26deal with the almost nine or seven to

1:52:29nine million dollars worth of surplus

1:52:30funds that were had been accumulating

1:52:33over time as a result of sales of

1:52:35recyclables

1:52:36and and we did successfully uh

1:52:39disperse quite a bit of revenue from

1:52:42those accounts um

1:52:44however we did not

1:52:46during my tenure as as chair of the

1:52:48board we do rotating through one years

1:52:51we were not successful in in getting new

1:52:54language

1:52:55um for

1:52:56the

1:52:58the joint power agreement or joint

1:53:01gpa jepa

1:53:04um

1:53:05we have gone back and forth with the

1:53:07city managers trying to provide support

1:53:11there are two new city managers that

1:53:13came on board in in richmond and el

1:53:15cerrito

1:53:17the richmond

1:53:19city manager

1:53:22did not

1:53:25did not align with the prior city

1:53:27manager and and has uh put a hiccup into

1:53:31the

1:53:32uh momentum we had uh last calendar year

1:53:352018

1:53:37and we find ourselves

1:53:40back

1:53:42discussing a few items most notably

1:53:45the process of voting we have seven

1:53:49positions on the board right now

1:53:52the county may join us and so we may end

1:53:55up with eight

1:53:57uh of the seven three are uh occupied by

1:54:00richmond to to give them a weighted vote

1:54:04there was discussion in the

1:54:07j-j-e-p-a

1:54:09to reduce richmond to one vote

1:54:12however

1:54:14through the process of

1:54:16creating

1:54:17a

1:54:20unanimous

1:54:21a unanimous vote was necessary for any

1:54:23new programs

1:54:24it was felt by their city manager their

1:54:27former city manager that that would be a

1:54:29good equitable balance to reduce their

1:54:32uh weighted vote uh by giving them

1:54:35essentially veto power over any new

1:54:37expenditures

1:54:39that is not the will of the city council

1:54:42that gave direction to the city manager

1:54:45so we are in the process of revisiting

1:54:49some aspects of the jepa agreement

1:54:54and

1:54:56it's been sent back to the city managers

1:54:58for one more attempt at trying to

1:55:00resolve this

1:55:03and

1:55:04then it will come back to the full board

1:55:07where i will have the dubious

1:55:10opportunity as the newly elected chair

1:55:14to try and get a gpa put in place

1:55:18so i as your representative to

1:55:21recycle more i was recently

1:55:24to my surprise

1:55:27elected chair

1:55:29and it will be my

1:55:30objective to try and resolve this this

1:55:33calendar year

1:55:34in a successful manner so that we can

1:55:37get language that is favorable to us so

1:55:41that we can have

1:55:42us our

1:55:44our share of what we are paying is

1:55:46representative to the services that

1:55:48we're getting uh that we can continue to

1:55:50have a strong

1:55:51uh household hazardous waste program

1:55:54that is serving the full region

1:55:56um the services that as i remind this

1:56:00body and that body the services that el

1:56:02cerrito really depends on this regional

1:56:04body for regional legislation like

1:56:06plastic strawbands

1:56:09working with the school board the school

1:56:11district on education which they have

1:56:14transferred for all the other

1:56:15communities they've transferred it to

1:56:17their agreement with their hauler

1:56:22the annual reporting ab-939 and now we

1:56:26have other two other types of reporting

1:56:27on

1:56:28compost and

1:56:31industrial compost and industrial

1:56:34recycling

1:56:36so we rely on the regional agency for

1:56:38those those

1:56:39that reporting and

1:56:41as

1:56:42has happened in the last two years

1:56:45the regional agency hasn't been doing

1:56:47the reporting in a particularly

1:56:49uh accurate and

1:56:51um efficient way

1:56:53so we've not necessarily benefited from

1:56:55the regional agency and that on the

1:56:57reporting

1:56:58and household hazardous waste and

1:57:00household houses waste is the number one

1:57:02place where el cerrito residents truly

1:57:04do benefit from this regional approach

1:57:08we

1:57:10participate at a much higher rate than

1:57:13other communities and so uh it is truly

1:57:17beneficial for us to be in it for the

1:57:19household hazardous waste

1:57:22but

1:57:23otherwise some of those other services i

1:57:25just rattled off as i gave my commentary

1:57:30we don't necessarily benefit from the

1:57:31regional approach

1:57:32uh for

1:57:34solid waste

1:57:36as much as we we could or should

1:57:39um and certainly our staff is uh

1:57:42through the recycling center

1:57:44we have

1:57:45very strong staff that can potentially

1:57:48operate independently

1:57:50um so

1:57:51uh

1:57:52that

1:57:53um

1:57:54is something that we will

1:57:56be looking at as we finalize the jeep of

1:57:59this year uh is some of the terms and

1:58:02arrangements for el cerrito as we move

1:58:05through the jeepa

1:58:08we did get a presentation on new

1:58:12new regulations that are coming up and

1:58:15as i

1:58:16reported

1:58:17a month ago

1:58:18the new regulations on

1:58:22on compost

1:58:23and organic waste and organic reporting

1:58:27are

1:58:28as daunting or more than i reported a

1:58:31month ago

1:58:32and so we we will

1:58:36need to start thinking about creative

1:58:37ways to reduce the amount of

1:58:41food waste and green waste

1:58:43that goes to the final waste stream

1:58:46of as opposed to a compost waste stream

1:58:49uh so that that is something that we

1:58:51will have to

1:58:52be working on

1:58:53for example we got a solid report from

1:58:56r3 and our former garth uh

1:58:59schultz

1:59:00on the fact that

1:59:02biosolids from

1:59:04one of the treatment plants in the area

1:59:06was going to the landfill and that

1:59:09currently under current laws

1:59:11doesn't count towards disposal but under

1:59:13the new law's will

1:59:15and so we need to start thinking about

1:59:18new ways to

1:59:19reduce

1:59:21organics that are going to the landfill

1:59:25and that concludes my report on

1:59:28regional associations

1:59:31thank you council member fidelity

1:59:34that's river quinto yes um i attended uh

1:59:38the

1:59:38urban forest committee for the first

1:59:40time and and i'm happy to be part of

1:59:42that committee after uh five years i've

1:59:45been wanting to be on that committee so

1:59:48so i definitely i

1:59:49welcome

1:59:51our residents to attend the tree

1:59:53planting celebrating arbor day on sunday

1:59:56at poinsett park on sunday and we did

2:00:00discuss

2:00:01the need for planting new trees

2:00:04and the need for getting rid of our

2:00:08trees that are on their last

2:00:11leg there

2:00:12which is most of them and

2:00:15so i look forward to working with the

2:00:18committee members and stephen pray and

2:00:20then

2:00:21i did attend a meeting for

2:00:24the hazardous materials commission

2:00:26and we did discuss

2:00:29ab617 and that is

2:00:31happening in richmond where they will

2:00:33have

2:00:35sites that will monitor

2:00:37air quality so we're working with the

2:00:39air board on that and and

2:00:42so we're going to have that off and

2:00:45running soon

2:00:46thank you

2:00:48that's remember

2:00:49i don't have any

2:00:50thank you

2:00:52and i attended the save ultibates

2:00:54regional meeting and there is really no

2:00:57new news to report from that

2:00:59subcommittee at this point

2:01:01so thank you everyone for coming our

2:01:03next

2:01:04meeting will be on tuesday

2:01:07april this

2:01:09april the 2nd at 7 00 pm and that

2:01:11concludes our meeting thank you

2:01:24you