Special and Regular City Council Meetings September 17, 2019

0:03:15we'll call the meeting to order will the

0:03:18city clerk please call the roll council

0:03:20member fidelity here mayor pro-tem lyman

0:03:22here

0:03:24mayor pardo okimoto president council

0:03:27member abelson here councilmember quinto

0:03:30please stand for the pledge of

0:03:31allegiance

0:03:34i pledge allegiance to the flag of the

0:03:36united states of america

0:03:39and to the republic for which it stands

0:03:42one nation under god indivisible with

0:03:45liberty and justice for all

0:03:52so we just finished our closed session

0:03:55we had two items that we met on and

0:03:57there's nothing to report out from those

0:03:59items

0:04:00we

0:04:01were going a bit over so we're going to

0:04:03finish the third item

0:04:05after this

0:04:07council meeting

0:04:10and we're going to do things a little

0:04:12bit

0:04:12out of our regular order today we're

0:04:15going to first start with our

0:04:16presentation from the

0:04:182019 ec stars internship program

0:04:22last time we had this presentation they

0:04:25had to go home because it was way past

0:04:27bedtime so we're going to make sure

0:04:29we're going to get our young people out

0:04:30of here so they can be bright and

0:04:32chipper tomorrow for school

0:04:34[Music]

0:04:36good evening mayor purdue okimoto and

0:04:38council members i'm kristen cunningham

0:04:39the city's hr manager and we definitely

0:04:41thank you for allowing us to be at the

0:04:44front of the agenda because of last

0:04:46year's

0:04:46situation

0:04:48it's always an exciting time for us here

0:04:49at the city as we honor our young

0:04:51scholars and the amazing work that they

0:04:52did with us for the summer

0:04:54our ac stars program is a partnership

0:04:56that we've had with west contra costa

0:04:58unified school district and particularly

0:05:00the el cerrito high school

0:05:01media and i.t academies

0:05:03this year is our seventh year of the

0:05:05program

0:05:07and it last year we integrate the

0:05:08program with our with the district's

0:05:10career pathways summer internship

0:05:12program which is something that we did

0:05:13continue with this year

0:05:15and the district-wide program was

0:05:16inspired by our stars program which is

0:05:18something that we should be commended

0:05:20for

0:05:20of course

0:05:22some of the outcomes of what this

0:05:25program does over the course of six

0:05:26weeks

0:05:27students develop on the job skills they

0:05:29get exposed to local government through

0:05:31their various assignments and all the

0:05:32fun that we do in those assignments as

0:05:35well as tours they get right along as

0:05:36they kind of see what we're doing

0:05:38how to make this all happen and how to

0:05:40make it all work

0:05:42and it also continues to enhance

0:05:43educational skills

0:05:46this year our stars were assigned to the

0:05:47following departments and mentors we had

0:05:50michelle lee in city administration so

0:05:52she worked closely with maya williams in

0:05:54the city manager's office and she also

0:05:56worked with shannon collins in finance

0:05:58we had vaughn ing bader who worked in

0:06:00fire she worked closely with the fire

0:06:03prevention officer damian carrion

0:06:05also battalion chief joe garpalo and

0:06:07even the fire chief michael pagoni

0:06:10and in i.t we had eradia pujol

0:06:12he's actually loved his experience so

0:06:14much he's actually staying on with us

0:06:16for the school year

0:06:17lessened his hours but he's still with

0:06:18us and he continues to work closely with

0:06:21eric ing

0:06:22and police we had julissa rodriguez and

0:06:25she worked closely with sergeant david

0:06:26wentworth as well as lieutenant steve

0:06:28benidi

0:06:29public works we had jacina ponce

0:06:32and she worked closely with laurentine

0:06:34brazil and i believe she's also with us

0:06:35for the school year because her

0:06:37experience was so great

0:06:38and in recreation we had anna madrid who

0:06:40work closely with bridget cooney

0:06:43so i would like to bring up a beloved

0:06:47community member and friend of us all

0:06:49mr corey mason

0:06:50he is a teacher at el cerrido high

0:06:52school who was instrumental who

0:06:54continues to be instrumental in his this

0:06:55whole program the overall success of the

0:06:57program

0:06:58and he will speak a little bit more

0:06:59about the program itself and his

0:07:00objectives and kind of how we all got

0:07:02here seven years later

0:07:04corey you're really gonna have to help

0:07:06me out

0:07:06[Laughter]

0:07:10hi good evening mayor and council

0:07:12members it's a delight to be here again

0:07:14thank you uh for welcoming us this

0:07:17evening thank you assembled citizenry

0:07:19this is our seventh iteration of easy

0:07:21stars for rising gauchos seniors go

0:07:24gauchos

0:07:25yeah okay uh it's our pride and pleasure

0:07:28to present our 2019 interns stars

0:07:32represents students training and ready

0:07:34for success

0:07:36our students are currently seniors at el

0:07:38cerrito high enrolled in career and

0:07:40technical ed

0:07:41intern within wcc usd career and college

0:07:45readiness around the district the career

0:07:47and college pathways include sequenced

0:07:50courses and internship opportunities in

0:07:52performing arts engineering health

0:07:54information technology law and media

0:07:57each of these provide rigorous

0:07:58instruction along with immersive

0:08:00interactive experiences with guest

0:08:03speakers job shadowing resume prep job

0:08:05search and interview skills toward

0:08:07internships like these

0:08:09and informed next steps towards higher

0:08:12education and any direct entry-level

0:08:14opportunities as professionals

0:08:17ec stars itself wishes to acknowledge

0:08:20our original guiding lights

0:08:22including janet abelson and mike aronian

0:08:25with our added appreciation for the

0:08:26leadership of wcc college and career

0:08:29coordination team mary cadre and terry

0:08:32waller

0:08:34with me tonight is my beloved

0:08:36esteemed colleague chris merida chris

0:08:38could you wave thank you brother of tech

0:08:41futures and we want to thank ron

0:08:43whittier the founder of tech futures and

0:08:45finally a robust bravo brava and bravex

0:08:50to our cornerstone and star kristen

0:08:53cunning

0:08:54thank you where are you

0:08:56hey

0:08:57thank you

0:09:00well thank you

0:09:01mayor council and citizens we give you

0:09:03our 2019 ec stars to present

0:09:06their respective program experience

0:09:08highlights go career tech ed pathways

0:09:12go city vegeto go gauchos here we go

0:09:16here's the clicker

0:09:22and i think first up we have michelle

0:09:24lee who was working in city

0:09:25administration

0:09:30good evening mayor and city council

0:09:33members my name is michelle lee and i

0:09:35was a part of the ec stars program this

0:09:37summer

0:09:39for this summer for this internship i

0:09:41was placed into the city's

0:09:42administration and finance department

0:09:44mostly working with miss maya williams

0:09:46during my time here i

0:09:49contacted surrounding cities and i did

0:09:51my own research about their legislative

0:09:53priorities in order to create a short

0:09:55list of some overarching priorities for

0:09:57the city of el cerrito

0:09:59starting july 1st i heavily focused on

0:10:01business license renewals and i was able

0:10:03to learn a lot about how businesses

0:10:05operate within the city something i was

0:10:08very happy and excited to do was meet

0:10:10and interview people specifically

0:10:11department heads throughout the

0:10:13internship i learned a lot about their

0:10:15past what they do now in their position

0:10:17as well as any other information they

0:10:18believe what's relevant overall this was

0:10:21an incredible experience that i believe

0:10:23really shaped my perspective on local

0:10:25government i am grateful to have had

0:10:27gotten this

0:10:28gone to be a part of this program and i

0:10:30would love to give my thanks to the wcc

0:10:32usd career pathways department el

0:10:35cerrito high school especially chris

0:10:37moretta marita and corey mason and to

0:10:40the city of el cerrito thank you

0:10:48and next up we have vaughn in bader and

0:10:50she was in the fire department

0:10:58good evening mayor and city council

0:11:01members my name is vaughn ing bader and

0:11:03i interned in the city of el cerrito

0:11:05fire department for the ec stars program

0:11:08this was a great experience and i'm very

0:11:10thankful that you allowed me to take i

0:11:12allowed this to take place throughout

0:11:14this internship i learned a lot of

0:11:16skills i learned how to manage my time

0:11:18so i could organize and complete my

0:11:19various projects i often worked with

0:11:22computers because i handled reports and

0:11:24crucial emails that were online i worked

0:11:26with a lot of people so being able to

0:11:27communicate with them and work together

0:11:29was a big skill i gained on the other

0:11:31hand a lot of the time i would work by

0:11:33myself when everyone in the department

0:11:35was out so i had to learn how to work

0:11:37alone and still be productive i worked

0:11:39on many different tasks but my main

0:11:41focus was on three different ones

0:11:43first i uploaded all the data for every

0:11:46commercial occupancy in el cerrito and

0:11:47kensington onto the department's records

0:11:50and reports management system this

0:11:52allows the fire department to be able to

0:11:54easily track the annual inspections and

0:11:57information specific to each business

0:11:59second i worked on a project focused on

0:12:02emergency preparedness and created a

0:12:03list of the essential supplies to have

0:12:05during an emergency

0:12:07lastly i fielded the emails sent to the

0:12:09fire prevention officer for the record

0:12:11number of violations for properties that

0:12:13not cleared their weeds and posed a fire

0:12:15danger

0:12:16each of my tasks were very important and

0:12:18i'm grateful that i was able to be

0:12:20trusted with crucial jobs that benefited

0:12:22the city positively thank you to

0:12:24everyone who made this internship a

0:12:26reality it was the highlight of my

0:12:27summer i'm thankful that the city of el

0:12:29cerrito has this program thank you to

0:12:32fire chief pagone for welcoming me into

0:12:34your station thank you to

0:12:37carrion and captain gibson for mentoring

0:12:39me and the fire prevention department

0:12:42thank you captain apollo and brendan

0:12:43avelier for training me and helping me

0:12:45around the department i appreciate

0:12:47everyone who helped me in the fire

0:12:48department lastly a huge thanks to mr

0:12:51mason and mr merida for creating the ec

0:12:53stars program for setting the

0:12:55internships up you are greatly

0:12:56appreciated

0:12:58[Applause]

0:13:04next up we have aradia pujal who has

0:13:06worked in i.t

0:13:14good evening mayor and city council

0:13:16members my name is erratic pudel and

0:13:19this summer i got the wonderful

0:13:22opportunity to be an intern here at el

0:13:24cerrido city hall in the information

0:13:26technology academy now before the

0:13:29internship i was really nervous because

0:13:31i didn't know what to expect i didn't

0:13:32know if i was going to be able to

0:13:34accomplish all the tasks that were

0:13:35assigned

0:13:36but my but as soon as i got here my

0:13:39supervisor eric he reminded he made me

0:13:42realize that as far as i i had an open

0:13:45mentality about learning and

0:13:48learning from my mistakes i was going to

0:13:50be good to go

0:13:52so one of the most fun tasks that i did

0:13:54was swapping out pcs and replacing them

0:13:58with really faster and newer ones so we

0:14:00ordered 16 new computers eight desktop

0:14:03and eight laptops and i worked on

0:14:05setting them up getting them and

0:14:07assigning them to the right users and

0:14:09talking to the users getting the right

0:14:11time and deploying them i also got the

0:14:14chance to train couple custodians on how

0:14:17to use their smartphones better it was

0:14:19their first time using a smartphone so

0:14:22they were kind of so they didn't know a

0:14:23lot about what to do so i taught them

0:14:25new stuff like google and google maps

0:14:28gmail and they were just really happy to

0:14:30learn about it and i was really glad

0:14:32that i got to share the information

0:14:34i also did a lot of researching on

0:14:37various topics and i did some

0:14:39documentation like when i was setting up

0:14:41those computers i took a screenshot i

0:14:44drew on them and i wrote step by step so

0:14:46anyone can follow so when there's

0:14:48another person who is going to be

0:14:50setting up computers eric doesn't have

0:14:52to go there and tell them the same thing

0:14:53he can just hand them the file they can

0:14:56do it on their own when eric can do

0:14:57something else

0:14:59so a technical skill that i learned was

0:15:01network security and inside network

0:15:03security i learned about 2fa it stands

0:15:06for two-factor authentication so what it

0:15:08does is let's say you're about to enter

0:15:10a website then it's going to ask you for

0:15:12a password and one more level of

0:15:14authentication like maybe biometrics or

0:15:17a text message and what it and it just

0:15:20makes it more secure so a third party

0:15:22like a hacker can't get in and take all

0:15:24your stuff away

0:15:25the next thing i learned about is

0:15:26automation so when i had those 16

0:15:29computers it would have been awful if i

0:15:31had to sit there open one by one and

0:15:34transfer all the files check it was

0:15:35there so we used automation what we did

0:15:38was i just had to sit at my desk open my

0:15:40computer drop all the files it would

0:15:42show me what was going on and it was

0:15:44just really fascinating to me

0:15:46i also did some troubleshooting on

0:15:48network issues so when there when a user

0:15:51was not having good connection on their

0:15:52phone i went over there i tried helping

0:15:54them

0:15:55when there was like a when let's say a

0:15:57printer wasn't working i went over there

0:15:59i wanted to see if there was a defect in

0:16:00the cable or the port and

0:16:03most of the time i didn't know what was

0:16:04wrong but i just experimented with it i

0:16:07did some research and in the end i got i

0:16:09figured it out some soft skills that i

0:16:11learned was independence eric wasn't

0:16:14there all the time when i needed him so

0:16:17sometimes when he was gone i was there

0:16:19by myself he was doing something else

0:16:21and i couldn't get something figured out

0:16:23i would be frustrated but slowly i got

0:16:25into the habit of trying different

0:16:27things out and researching so now when i

0:16:29have a problem i try to figure it out if

0:16:31i can i look it up and i have the

0:16:33solution in like 15 20 minutes i also

0:16:35learned a lot about teamwork and

0:16:37communication when i first got here i

0:16:39was like really fascinated how

0:16:40frequently like these guys talk with

0:16:42each other like if eric figured

0:16:43something out he was immediately shoot

0:16:45an email hey i did this this this and i

0:16:48tried to implement that it's been a

0:16:50little hard but i'm working on it

0:16:52and i also

0:16:54worked a lot of critical thinking i have

0:16:56a bad habit where i don't listen

0:16:58properly and i end up doing the complete

0:17:00opposite thing

0:17:02so this internship helped me a lot

0:17:03because i had to listen to what the user

0:17:05was saying i had to understand what they

0:17:07were saying take my time and act

0:17:09accordingly

0:17:11lastly i'd like to give a huge thank you

0:17:13to city of el salvador that's radio

0:17:15information elsewhere to information

0:17:17technology department eric kevin pete

0:17:20the wcc usd career pathway department mr

0:17:23mason and chris merida and i like to say

0:17:26that

0:17:27also the city and the district you guys

0:17:29have given us a really big opportunity

0:17:31and i hope you keep running program

0:17:33likes like these so you can give young

0:17:35people like us a really great exposure

0:17:38you guys have been wonderful thank you

0:17:39so much

0:17:40[Applause]

0:17:47next up we have julissa rodriguez who

0:17:49was in the police department

0:17:56good evening mayor and city council

0:17:58members

0:17:59my name is julissa rodriguez and my i

0:18:02did my internship at the el cerrito

0:18:04police department

0:18:07a couple of things that they had me do

0:18:09while i was there was

0:18:11i did a special project

0:18:13the public was a public building project

0:18:15it was supposed to

0:18:16help the police department

0:18:19re i was researching on other police

0:18:21departments in the surrounding counties

0:18:24about their

0:18:25their structure and their building and

0:18:27the history on it so

0:18:29they could

0:18:31find out if how they would

0:18:34excuse me

0:18:35so they could find a figure out

0:18:38which

0:18:38architect they wanted to work with to

0:18:40help better their public building

0:18:44another

0:18:45a couple of other things that i helped

0:18:47on was the world one fourth of july

0:18:49event

0:18:50i helped them at their table talking to

0:18:52people since they were busy you know

0:18:54with the kids people talking to

0:18:55everybody else you know communicating

0:18:57with the community

0:18:59and i was at the table

0:19:01communicating with everybody as well so

0:19:03i felt very grateful that i had to be i

0:19:05was able to be a part of that

0:19:07another thing that i helped with was

0:19:09national night out

0:19:11i helped deliver hostess

0:19:13hostess bags and science to the

0:19:16different houses that were hosting

0:19:19as well i even got to participate in

0:19:22coming with them to the different

0:19:24parties that they attended

0:19:27a couple of things i learned while

0:19:30while my time at the internship

0:19:32was the importance of communication

0:19:35in the job that they do every single day

0:19:38they have to be able to communicate with

0:19:40the community whether they're being

0:19:42difficult or if they're not very helpful

0:19:45they have to find a way to be able to

0:19:47balance it out and find out what they

0:19:50need to in order to you know accomplish

0:19:53for the rest of the day

0:19:55and

0:19:58how it impacted me

0:19:59a careers perspective

0:20:02i've thought about

0:20:05becoming a police officer after

0:20:07rev um having my time with them spending

0:20:10time with them and seeing how they what

0:20:12they do day to day and has really

0:20:14interested me

0:20:15before the intro before the internship i

0:20:18really was struggling to figure out what

0:20:20i wanted to do

0:20:21as a career

0:20:23and

0:20:24looking into this it has really given me

0:20:26something to think about and something

0:20:28for the future

0:20:30thank you to everybody

0:20:32the city of el cerrito everybody

0:20:34the police department

0:20:36mr zaragoza

0:20:38everybody sergeant wentworth since he

0:20:39was my one of my main supervisors and

0:20:42everybody else chris

0:20:44and mr mason thank you

0:20:49[Applause]

0:20:55next up we have jesenia ponce who is in

0:20:58public works or still is in public works

0:20:59actually

0:21:04good euneen uh mayor and city council

0:21:06members my name is yesterday

0:21:08and i'm the easy star for public works i

0:21:10was working at the el cerrito recycling

0:21:13center this year

0:21:16my task at the australian recycling

0:21:18center varied uh one of the things that

0:21:20i really worked on was customer service

0:21:22i worked a lot in the front desk

0:21:24answering phones answering questions to

0:21:26the customers that would come in about

0:21:28recycling

0:21:29i also was assisting customer service

0:21:31outside directing everyone to their

0:21:34right correct bins and making sure they

0:21:37recycle correctly

0:21:39i also was a cashier at the front desk

0:21:42with all the new fees at the reset that

0:21:44the recycling center has

0:21:46and

0:21:49i also worked a lot with excel

0:21:51updating spreadsheets and one of my big

0:21:54projects was

0:21:56sending out letters to

0:21:58the permit holders metal permit holders

0:22:01we had to inform them that their no

0:22:03longer can

0:22:05salvage

0:22:06metal

0:22:07so that was a big project that i had to

0:22:09do

0:22:10and i am currently working on some data

0:22:12analysis charts for um styrofoam we are

0:22:15trying to see where everyone is coming

0:22:16from to use our

0:22:18center so it's really interesting

0:22:22um

0:22:23the skills that i learned was

0:22:25professionalism

0:22:26i learned how to answer the phone

0:22:28correct professionally respond to emails

0:22:32respond to people's complaints and

0:22:35in a very professional manner so that

0:22:37was really helpful

0:22:38also responsibility and

0:22:42and time management

0:22:44i had to make sure that i am i was

0:22:46responsible for getting my tasks then

0:22:48done efficiently and on time

0:22:50and

0:22:51also of course working at the recycling

0:22:53center i learned the importance of

0:22:55recycling the new 5rs that we have

0:22:57reduce review reuse

0:23:00and recycle then remove

0:23:05so thank you to my manager maria sanders

0:23:09my supervisor lauren team brazil

0:23:12my co-worker mario gonzalez and my new

0:23:14manager will provost

0:23:15also i would like to thank chris marita

0:23:17and corey mason for

0:23:19setting up easy stars

0:23:21and lastly of cour the city of el

0:23:23cerrito for having this opportunity for

0:23:25us it was a very very amazing

0:23:28opportunity and

0:23:29it's truly unforgettable thank you

0:23:38and last but certainly not least we have

0:23:40anna madrid who was in recreation

0:23:47good evening mayor and city council

0:23:49members my name is anna madrid and this

0:23:50summer i worked in the recreation

0:23:52department for el cerrito mainly the

0:23:54midtown activity center

0:23:59uh one of my first tasks that were given

0:24:01to me was to design flyers and update

0:24:03our their 50 plus bulletin which is a

0:24:06newsletter sent out every month

0:24:08uh the first two pictures up there are

0:24:10examples of

0:24:12some of the flyers i did and

0:24:16also that is for the

0:24:1850-plus bulletin newsletter it was the

0:24:21first cover it's the cover photo

0:24:23um i also answered phones and made

0:24:26reminder phone calls often

0:24:30i did this

0:24:31tutoring session called elder tech where

0:24:33i taught elders how to use their tablets

0:24:36and their phones and it was every

0:24:39wednesday since i first got there

0:24:45i also set up customer appointments for

0:24:47various activities

0:24:48and

0:24:49one of the big events i did was the

0:24:51fourth of july i got there very early in

0:24:54the morning to help vendors get to their

0:24:56correct spaces

0:24:58and national night out i had an

0:24:59information booth at the at hannah

0:25:01gardens where i

0:25:03explained to elders what we did at the

0:25:05midtown activity center and how it could

0:25:06benefit them to go

0:25:10i also got quotes for purchases such as

0:25:12building signs

0:25:13that took me a while to do because we

0:25:15needed

0:25:16multiple

0:25:17signs for the center and we wanted to

0:25:20see

0:25:21which ones would fit best for the center

0:25:25things i learned i learned how to

0:25:28properly answer phones and take a

0:25:29message

0:25:32communication with customers

0:25:34i had to help customers sign up for for

0:25:36day trips and pay for tickets for

0:25:38various activities at the midtown

0:25:41i

0:25:42learned organization and spreadsheets i

0:25:45had a few spreadsheets on excel

0:25:47um i had to make signups for elder tech

0:25:50and i did inventory and i had to put it

0:25:52all in a spreadsheet for after the

0:25:54fourth of july

0:25:59i had learned how to properly send an

0:26:00email because i didn't know how to do

0:26:03that before and then customer service i

0:26:05had to

0:26:08i had to um

0:26:12i had to learn how to speak to customers

0:26:14and how to

0:26:16get them

0:26:17the best

0:26:19service they could get i'm sorry

0:26:22critical thinking at times i was in the

0:26:24office i had to figure out how to help a

0:26:27customer buy

0:26:28a trip

0:26:29and how to sign them up and i also had

0:26:32to figure out on my own how to take a

0:26:34check and credit card

0:26:37uh thank you to chris

0:26:40chris and mr mason and to everybody at

0:26:42the midtown activity center like my

0:26:44supervisor bridget cooney as well as

0:26:46mark deleon

0:26:48bridget

0:26:49blank

0:26:50blanca campos martinez and mariah also

0:26:53to the wcc usd pathways like terry

0:26:56walter and victor zaragoza and to the

0:26:58city of el cerrito for allowing me this

0:27:00amazing opportunity

0:27:10what an amazing group of stars we had

0:27:12this summer

0:27:13i'd be remiss if i didn't give a huge

0:27:14shout out to our mentors that supported

0:27:16this group throughout the summer and

0:27:17some continue to still support them many

0:27:20are in the room still continuing that

0:27:21support for them so we definitely

0:27:23appreciate all the time and effort

0:27:24energy that they spent into developing

0:27:26these young professionals

0:27:29and with that we'll open it up for

0:27:30questions or comments if you have any

0:27:31for our stars

0:27:33any questions

0:27:37no i just want the tech guy to come to

0:27:39my house

0:27:40[Music]

0:27:41good job people we love you every year

0:27:44let's keep in touch all

0:27:46right so so

0:27:49cory you said this is our seventh one

0:27:51yep like janet i've been here for all

0:27:53seven of them and so i have to say that

0:27:55uh it's a

0:27:57the program is but you can tell the

0:27:58program is getting into being a very

0:28:01mature program

0:28:02where you guys are actually contributing

0:28:04tremendously to

0:28:06the the departments that you're in

0:28:09i participate in both

0:28:11high school and

0:28:13college student programs at work and

0:28:15it's it's very difficult to integrate

0:28:18somebody who's going to be there for 10

0:28:20weeks

0:28:21and and it's fantastic that our system

0:28:24is doing that in such a way that you

0:28:25feel

0:28:26you are getting

0:28:27great experience so i just want to say

0:28:30thanks to the staff for obviously

0:28:32creating the program that's working very

0:28:34well and thank you for the students that

0:28:36are coming and and helping us do our job

0:28:40to help serve the residents of el

0:28:42cerrito so thank you

0:28:45i just wanted to say it looks like you

0:28:47guys all had a great time and a good

0:28:50learning experience and

0:28:52i know i did

0:28:54i know i probably said this before but i

0:28:55did an

0:28:56internship when i was

0:28:5918 i think right before i went to

0:29:01college and

0:29:03sometimes you learn what you don't want

0:29:05to be so

0:29:06i did an internship in a lab at the

0:29:09viticulture and enology research center

0:29:10at fresno state and i decided i do not

0:29:12want to work in a lab so

0:29:15but you know at the same time you're

0:29:17picking up other skills so i know that

0:29:18you know just like you said learning how

0:29:20to send a proper email learning how to

0:29:22answer the phone professionally learning

0:29:23how to get up in front of the city

0:29:25council and do a presentation all of

0:29:27these things you'll carry with you no

0:29:28matter what you do so just i want to

0:29:30congratulate you all for finishing or

0:29:32continuing on this internship and

0:29:35we're all proud of you

0:29:38and i would just like to add that uh i

0:29:41i've it's really um given me a lot of

0:29:44pleasure to see this program grow

0:29:46and grow thank you corey

0:29:49without you this would not have happened

0:29:54and who are you pointing at i can't

0:29:56chris

0:30:00i couldn't tell um

0:30:02and um

0:30:04the thing i

0:30:05also

0:30:06have noticed as the program has matured

0:30:09over the years

0:30:10is how

0:30:12each year it gets a little bit more

0:30:13sophisticated

0:30:16and so the

0:30:17if we had a

0:30:19playback of the job scope presentation

0:30:22that we saw the first year

0:30:24you probably wouldn't recognize it was

0:30:26the same program am i right

0:30:28because really it's gotten much much

0:30:31more sophisticated each and every year

0:30:34and so one of the things that i see is

0:30:37that um

0:30:39it's a two-way program it's not just

0:30:41that the students are learning

0:30:43we're actually

0:30:45being given

0:30:46really

0:30:47helpful help

0:30:49it really is meaningful it does things

0:30:52we as a city

0:30:54can use and um

0:30:56it's so it's just a real super

0:31:00relationship and i hope that it

0:31:01continues and i

0:31:03especially want to thank our staff for

0:31:06participating in this

0:31:09i hate to say that i know anything about

0:31:11it anymore because i'm sure it's

0:31:13probably changed so much i don't but

0:31:16at least initially i think the staff was

0:31:19kind of designing it on our end

0:31:22for what it would look like in each

0:31:23department and it was all voluntary

0:31:26uh that way as i remember

0:31:29and um

0:31:31yet each and every time it's getting

0:31:33better and i wish i could

0:31:36be your age all over again and be in

0:31:38such a program because i think it really

0:31:41will help you in the long run i think

0:31:42it'll

0:31:43help

0:31:44you

0:31:45not only learn how to study

0:31:47but it'll give you as

0:31:49the mayor said it'll give you some ideas

0:31:52about what maybe you don't want to do

0:31:55which will lead you to what you do want

0:31:56to do so thank you thank you thank you

0:31:59thank you

0:32:00and i hope you'll advertise it so that

0:32:03lots of people will come back

0:32:04next year

0:32:06and want to do it then too

0:32:08thank you

0:32:09i also uh would like to say as a

0:32:12else as an old el cerrito gatcho alumni

0:32:15i just wanted to say thank you to uh to

0:32:18chris and to corey uh wonderful i've

0:32:21been part of this for uh i've had uh

0:32:24five of these now that i've been a part

0:32:26of and and to see five years doing this

0:32:29in two years as a commissioner uh i'm

0:32:31just uh really proud of uh the work that

0:32:34you're doing and uh this will to give

0:32:36you the life skills that you need uh for

0:32:39the future and today so again uh thanks

0:32:42for participating and and uh i

0:32:45congratulate the the two other

0:32:47uh

0:32:48uh folks over there that will be

0:32:49continuing uh uh working with city hall

0:32:52so look again thank you

0:32:55thank you all for your words of

0:32:56encouragement

0:32:58thank you

0:32:59do you have any

0:33:05you have speakers we do have one public

0:33:07speaker on this item called hindler

0:33:09so good evening i'm mayor of okimoto

0:33:12council uh cordell handler richmond so

0:33:14this presentation i can just put this in

0:33:16one word

0:33:18wow

0:33:19i'm just like i'm seeing fire and i said

0:33:22i.t and i said this is just wonderful i

0:33:24think they deserve another round of

0:33:25applause so

0:33:30uh i had a little pun regarding relating

0:33:32to fires so as when i saw

0:33:35the young lady that worked in the fire

0:33:37department i was like

0:33:38whoa i said this this is some this is

0:33:40heavy stuff so

0:33:42she did it like very professional very

0:33:44you know courteous and thank goodness

0:33:46she didn't get burned out out of it so

0:33:48fire okay fire okay you get you get you

0:33:52get the idea you get the jokes damn i'm

0:33:54trying to lighten this moment up so

0:33:56so um

0:33:57looking at this presentation i said this

0:33:59is what's number seventh year i said

0:34:02this is impressive it's just like it

0:34:04brings back all the way to 2012 all over

0:34:06again so

0:34:07and i said to myself

0:34:08by next year it'll be 2020 so i think in

0:34:11that

0:34:12eighth year and seeing these interns new

0:34:15interns coming into the office and i

0:34:16said this is very extraordinary work so

0:34:20and when i heard that the young man was

0:34:21helping that during the i.t i was like

0:34:24wow i said this

0:34:25six eight computers and all i said i say

0:34:28that's that's a lot of work i mean i say

0:34:31i mean he really got it really took a

0:34:32bite out of it get it gigger bite you

0:34:35know

0:34:37oh come on now y'all got it

0:34:40i told you i'm a comedian that's what i

0:34:41do i tell the jokes

0:34:43so you all get the idea so i do want to

0:34:46thank the the stars for this so um

0:34:48that's pr that's pretty much it

0:34:52[Applause]

0:34:56mayor would like you to come down for a

0:34:58group photo with all the ec stars

0:35:10[Music]

0:35:14first

0:35:29yeah she's gonna get the front page

0:35:46hold on i'm almost there

0:35:58[Applause]

0:36:04um

0:36:24hmm all right

0:36:28with that we'll move on to our

0:36:30council and staff communications

0:36:33anything from the staff no not tonight

0:36:36year 9

0:36:38council

0:36:40um thank you man that's america thanks

0:36:42um

0:36:44on august 25th i was honored to be part

0:36:47of a panel

0:36:49uh with other elected officials

0:36:52to encourage young people to uh

0:36:55enter uh politics and and uh that was

0:36:58amazing i was joined by

0:37:01the former head of

0:37:04the natural resources of california john

0:37:06laird

0:37:07who was also santa cruz mayor at one

0:37:09time and

0:37:10assembly member so

0:37:12he's also running for uh senate this

0:37:15year so

0:37:16it was an honor to be with him on that

0:37:18day

0:37:20on the fifth i was joined by

0:37:22mayor pardue okimoto

0:37:25councilmember abelson and

0:37:27mayor potem

0:37:29greg lyman and we attended the mayor's

0:37:31conference

0:37:32at contra costa college in san pablo and

0:37:36that was uh

0:37:38our main speaker we had uh

0:37:42randy iwasaki the chair um executive

0:37:45director of

0:37:47ccta contra costa transportation

0:37:50association

0:37:52thank you

0:37:53okay um

0:37:55martin

0:37:56council member

0:38:00first of all i'd like to mention that

0:38:02and

0:38:03for those of you who are here

0:38:05on your way out if you have a moment not

0:38:08now but then

0:38:10and you want to check out the water

0:38:11containers at the other end of the hall

0:38:13here

0:38:14there's an opportunity to order some for

0:38:17yourself

0:38:19if you

0:38:19get a flyer like this or you can also if

0:38:22you're at home

0:38:24or even if you're here you can look on

0:38:26our website

0:38:28and go onto our city website www dot

0:38:32e-l-dash cerrito dot

0:38:35org

0:38:36slash

0:38:38crt

0:38:39and that's how you can order them

0:38:43and they will be delivered here the

0:38:45first

0:38:46friday and saturday of

0:38:51october i believe right

0:38:54and

0:38:56they uh they are for a fee so be you

0:38:59know you can it indicates on the form

0:39:02how many you would need for

0:39:04that online form that is how many you

0:39:08containers you would need for how many

0:39:10people

0:39:11for what period of time so it could be a

0:39:15very

0:39:16useful part of your personal home

0:39:19emergency kit

0:39:22i also like i guess i'm doing public

0:39:23service announcements right now

0:39:26for other agencies i just wanted to

0:39:28remind

0:39:29everybody

0:39:31that bart

0:39:33and other transit agencies

0:39:35are moving to a clipper or only

0:39:39approach

0:39:40to transit so bart is going to be

0:39:43accepting clipper only at certain

0:39:45stations

0:39:47or you can only buy them i think it's

0:39:48that way

0:39:50and they've got a pilot going on right

0:39:52now

0:39:53in berkeley station 19th street and

0:39:56powell and embarcadero

0:39:58and then

0:40:00it'll come on board system-wide in 2020

0:40:05and just as a reminder if you use a

0:40:08clipper card

0:40:10you'll save 50 cents over the same trip

0:40:12if you did it

0:40:14with a paper ticket

0:40:15so there's a financial consent

0:40:18excuse me i'm a little trouble speaking

0:40:21there's a financial incentive to do that

0:40:24this

0:40:26month of august anyway i attended the

0:40:28arts and culture

0:40:30commission

0:40:31there's a lot going on there

0:40:35and

0:40:37i i think the group is here right

0:40:41i was

0:40:42no

0:40:42or are you here that way you're not here

0:40:44in that role okay you are

0:40:46okay

0:40:48pardon

0:40:50okay

0:40:50um so um

0:40:53they uh

0:40:55we there was a presentation uh about the

0:40:57el cerrito jazz festival presented by

0:41:00the um

0:41:02band leader from

0:41:04keith johnson from el cerrito high

0:41:06school as well as a number

0:41:08of other

0:41:10interesting programs

0:41:13on

0:41:16august 28th i attended right here in

0:41:19this room

0:41:20a webinar on strategies for addressing

0:41:23homelessness policies and enforcement

0:41:26issues and

0:41:28i like to add that a number of staff

0:41:31were here for that presentation it was a

0:41:33webinar was done in that format

0:41:37and the

0:41:39presentation itself is available on the

0:41:41league of california city's website

0:41:46at um

0:41:51i don't

0:41:53actually have the website address here

0:41:55or at least how to access it

0:41:58i also attended on august 29th august

0:42:00was a busy month

0:42:03a swearing-in ceremony

0:42:06for a number of

0:42:08new

0:42:09positions we have two new

0:42:12explorers max mendoza alexander davis

0:42:16volunteers alan kane and jose

0:42:19menace

0:42:20new cadet chloe benini

0:42:23record specialist francis

0:42:26nubla

0:42:28three police officers mark connor

0:42:31danielle hernandez

0:42:33and

0:42:34calvinder singh there was a promotion

0:42:39and the promotee was corporal stephanie

0:42:43ware and there was a ward for

0:42:46uh roberto rivera

0:42:50and it says dsa but i

0:42:52don't know what that stands for

0:42:56perhaps the chief could tell us

0:43:05good evening city council i'm paul keith

0:43:06your chief of police

0:43:08the dsa stands for the distinguished

0:43:10service award and it was reported

0:43:12awarded to officer rivera for his

0:43:15intervention in a person's life who was

0:43:18planning to commit suicide

0:43:21thank you thank you

0:43:23um

0:43:24and um

0:43:26i also attended a meeting of the

0:43:33mayor's conference and uh i was

0:43:36mentioned in the chamber of commerce

0:43:40since that wasn't enough

0:43:43last week i attended a americans with

0:43:46disabilities act

0:43:4988 update which was really

0:43:53done very well it was a two-day

0:43:55conference

0:43:56on just updates to the ada that was held

0:43:59in san francisco by the

0:44:01pacific ada center uh which is actually

0:44:04located in oakland

0:44:06and um

0:44:08so

0:44:11i'm hoping that our staff can have

0:44:13something

0:44:14here because a lot of the staff here

0:44:16were unable to go although it was

0:44:18intended for staff

0:44:19um

0:44:20that's the type of presentation it was

0:44:23and um

0:44:25the uh they the our staff was actually

0:44:27already at a conference but um

0:44:31i talked to somebody there and they're

0:44:33going to be talking to our

0:44:35our staff will talk to them about maybe

0:44:36doing something for our staff

0:44:39uh perhaps here

0:44:40uh next year

0:44:42um

0:44:43and um

0:44:45just on a what i'll call a semi-personal

0:44:48note note

0:44:50as you might notice i'm in a wheelchair

0:44:54and i've been wondering about

0:44:57okay pg e is going to turn off the power

0:45:00now what or what then what because

0:45:02you need to plug in your

0:45:04electric wheelchair in order to recharge

0:45:07it pretty much if you're like me every

0:45:09day

0:45:10so i

0:45:12started looking

0:45:14and i asked around and people said well

0:45:16you know think of it like a camping trip

0:45:19and you know because you don't have any

0:45:20electricity on a camping trip and so i

0:45:22went over to a

0:45:25local

0:45:26camping supply store

0:45:28well well known

0:45:30and asked the question there and what i

0:45:32found out is it's not all that difficult

0:45:35but you do have to get things sized

0:45:37correctly

0:45:38and it's

0:45:40it's

0:45:41not all that expensive

0:45:43given

0:45:44what the alternatives

0:45:46could be in terms of life's safety

0:45:49and

0:45:49it turns out you can put you can buy

0:45:52your own solar panel

0:45:54for starters which i can actually lift

0:45:57so if i can i challenge you to do it too

0:46:00and you can also buy this uh power

0:46:04box or it has other words that describe

0:46:07it like generator or

0:46:10uh maybe you know a better

0:46:12might be an inverter is that one well

0:46:13they didn't use that word but it could

0:46:15be you could

0:46:16i i wouldn't know but you connect those

0:46:18and you connect it to then your uh

0:46:21charger for your chair and you are able

0:46:23to charge it and actually function

0:46:26and still get around and

0:46:27[Music]

0:46:29be safe

0:46:30doesn't mean that you would be safe from

0:46:32a fire that was occurring at that moment

0:46:35that way

0:46:36but in terms of being able to get out to

0:46:38get

0:46:40a lot of other things you would be able

0:46:41to get food maybe

0:46:44um just like you'd be like everyone else

0:46:46more more or less um so i just wanted to

0:46:49share that information i'm still doing

0:46:52a little work on that because i sent the

0:46:55wrong

0:46:57equipment

0:46:58so i can't test it but i'm hoping that

0:47:01once i have been able to test it

0:47:04i have talked to the company a company

0:47:06and will be able to distribute

0:47:09information through the city on our

0:47:11website about

0:47:13how people in wheelchairs

0:47:16some of whom might be listening now or

0:47:18maybe you have a friend

0:47:20on how they'll be able to

0:47:22leave their house safely

0:47:25should an event occur so sorry it took a

0:47:28little bit of time to talk about that

0:47:30but i thought it would be

0:47:31well worthwhile thank you

0:47:34councilmember fideli

0:47:37yes thank you

0:47:38um

0:47:40last week i went to a um a briefing at

0:47:42bart about the del norte station an

0:47:44update on the progress because there

0:47:46were some change orders dealing with

0:47:48changing the design firm

0:47:50there was some power issues and some

0:47:52water leakage issues

0:47:54the good news is they have a good new

0:47:56design firm and there's only been a six

0:47:58month delay and that the

0:48:01the station will be done completed by

0:48:03the summer of 2020. the glad if you

0:48:06drive by now and look at the glass in

0:48:08the new public area it's quite

0:48:09impressive

0:48:11i also attended the homeless webinar put

0:48:13on by the league of cities

0:48:15and the news of julie came out of that

0:48:17is that there's a new court ruling

0:48:20that you can't move homeless unless

0:48:23cities themselves have a place to put

0:48:25them so every city should be thinking

0:48:27about those things i attended the

0:48:30swearing-in of officers as well which

0:48:32was

0:48:33always tearful for me

0:48:36also

0:48:38councilman quinto and janet abelson and

0:48:41i attended a mayor island tour for the

0:48:43new mayfair lot

0:48:45for the new modules that are going to be

0:48:47starting to be put on that lot which

0:48:50we've been waiting for for a long time

0:48:51as you know there's fencing around that

0:48:53lot

0:48:54and there's more progress on san pablo

0:48:56avenue

0:48:57and finally i just wanted to thank staff

0:48:59for the information that they sent out

0:49:01on measure h which will be on the ballot

0:49:03november 5th

0:49:05to continue our

0:49:07support for our pools and our parks

0:49:10the parcel tax that will be coming up

0:49:14if anyone needs more information it's on

0:49:16the city website

0:49:18thank you

0:49:20i'm going to

0:49:22do my version of a public announcement

0:49:24it but it's for us the city

0:49:27i would like to make sure that people

0:49:28are aware of vacancies on our el cerrito

0:49:31boards and commissions

0:49:33we've got recent vacancies in arts and

0:49:35culture commission

0:49:36contra costa mosquito and vector control

0:49:38district

0:49:40the design review board and human

0:49:43relations commission

0:49:44and those are

0:49:45commissions that we do uh interviews for

0:49:49in addition to that there's vacancies on

0:49:51committees

0:49:53which you need to attend in order to be

0:49:55considered to join those as a voting

0:49:58member committee on aging crime

0:50:00prevention committee

0:50:02economic development committee and the

0:50:04urban forest committee those are all

0:50:06opportunities here in the city for you

0:50:08to volunteer

0:50:10i want to do a huge shout out to a

0:50:14couple of agencies that

0:50:16uh two o'clock on saturday there was a

0:50:18home

0:50:19that went up in flames in my

0:50:21neighborhood

0:50:22and

0:50:23we had response from richmond contra

0:50:26costa county el cerrito fire el cerrito

0:50:29police and the rodeo hercules uh fire

0:50:32district and it was a

0:50:34a notable event by the time that i saw

0:50:37the smoke and to the sirens it was a

0:50:40fairly short amount of time

0:50:43and as soon as they were on scene there

0:50:44was uh actually a great reduction in

0:50:47smoke so but they had to cut a hole in

0:50:50the roof and there was flames coming

0:50:51through the roof it was it was quite an

0:50:53operation it was a fully in

0:50:55[Applause]

0:50:56involved uh fire

0:50:58but on next door um i saw that people

0:51:01were calling from their cell phones or

0:51:04home phones and they weren't necessarily

0:51:06getting through to

0:51:08the correct

0:51:09places so my next topic is i want to

0:51:12thank

0:51:14the staff of the fire department the

0:51:15police department cert kensington police

0:51:18and fire for putting out a brochure and

0:51:21this brochure

0:51:22every house should have one so if you're

0:51:25at home and you don't have this come

0:51:26down to city hall

0:51:28but right on the very first page page

0:51:32one it clearly says program your cell

0:51:34with your city's dispatch number and for

0:51:37fire our dispatch number is nine two

0:51:40five

0:51:41nine four one

0:51:43three three three zero

0:51:46people were reporting on next door they

0:51:47were getting fremont and marin and

0:51:51distant places as they called 9-1-1

0:51:54and so the fastest way for you to

0:51:57respond to a fire is to call

0:52:033 3 925-941-3330

0:52:04other things that are in this uh this

0:52:06brochure are evacuation routes

0:52:10there's a map of evacuation routes

0:52:12there's

0:52:13evacuation tips for how you potentially

0:52:15could evacuate your home and be prepared

0:52:18and

0:52:19there is also

0:52:22advice on how to prepare and create a

0:52:24defensible space around your house so i

0:52:26would strongly recommend that you have

0:52:29one of these that you go through it you

0:52:31follow the checklist and you become

0:52:33prepared

0:52:34to do the things that are necessary

0:52:37like

0:52:38council member abelson was

0:52:40be prepared with water for when the

0:52:42power goes out when there isn't imminent

0:52:44fire in your area or be prepared to

0:52:46evacuate if a fire is imminent

0:52:49which

0:52:50and i initially thought there was one

0:52:52imminent to my house when the first

0:52:54smoke was coming up

0:52:57it's also on our website i'm told

0:53:00um

0:53:02and one last one i i want to and the

0:53:06chief can come up and

0:53:08add to this if he wants to

0:53:09i want to make sure that the council is

0:53:12aware that on october 2nd the contra

0:53:15costa county juvenile justice commission

0:53:18is going to be recognizing

0:53:20one of our officers officer eddie perez

0:53:23sorry eddie perales

0:53:25for his uh his outstanding

0:53:29service to us in our sro program and i

0:53:33don't know if you have anything you want

0:53:34to add to that

0:53:40good evening again uh city council i'm

0:53:42paul keith your chief of police

0:53:44officer perales is also our officer of

0:53:46the year for his performance last year

0:53:49and he's also a prior life-saving award

0:53:51winner for his actions to do cpr on

0:53:54someone who is in the process of an

0:53:56opiate overdose

0:53:57so uh for those reasons and many more uh

0:54:00the juvenile justice commission decided

0:54:02that his performance is worthy of a

0:54:04special recognition

0:54:06and that will be happening in october

0:54:08and we're very proud of his efforts and

0:54:10i also want to take a moment to thank

0:54:11councilmember lymon for pushing us along

0:54:13the path of getting the juvenile justice

0:54:15commission involved and uh they're all

0:54:17very excited that uh they're once again

0:54:20stepping into the realm of recognizing

0:54:23specific instances of

0:54:26performances that really go above and

0:54:27beyond so

0:54:28thank you for your

0:54:30continued support of recognition for our

0:54:33officers and for all of you as well

0:54:36thank you that's it i'm here thank you

0:54:39well i continue to serve on the

0:54:42save ultibates task force and i

0:54:45represent the city of el cerrito on that

0:54:47task force

0:54:49we are currently working on our proposed

0:54:52work plan um 2019 2020 and i will be

0:54:56coming to back to the council with

0:54:59further updates on that

0:55:01we also were able to march in the solano

0:55:05stroll

0:55:06with

0:55:07many many nurses

0:55:10to help save ulta bates and i had the

0:55:14honor

0:55:15last week of

0:55:18speaking in a little mini forum

0:55:21that buddy akasich helped to organize at

0:55:24hana gardens next door

0:55:26and it was

0:55:28myself and

0:55:30mayor rochelle nason from albany

0:55:33and in case you didn't

0:55:34catch that we have neighboring rochelle

0:55:37mayors and neighboring cities which is

0:55:40gotta be very unusual probably a one one

0:55:44one in a lifetime

0:55:45event

0:55:46or once in a lifetime event so um

0:55:49we had a great time we were able to

0:55:52answer many questions at that uh forum

0:55:55and

0:55:56we are planning um

0:55:58rochelle and i and many other members of

0:56:01the task force and supervisor john joya

0:56:04on holding a much larger forum here in

0:56:06el cerrito

0:56:08on november 16th

0:56:10that's from 10 a.m to 12 p.m at the

0:56:14community center and we're still in the

0:56:16planning phases but i will keep everyone

0:56:18updated on that as we

0:56:20get more details but you could at least

0:56:22put in a little placeholder in your

0:56:24calendar

0:56:25save the date for november 16th

0:56:28here at the community center

0:56:31and we'll we will have further

0:56:32discussions on

0:56:35what we can do as a community to

0:56:38keep our hospital open

0:56:41there are many other communities that

0:56:43have been confronted with a similar

0:56:46issue

0:56:47such as sutter santa rosa

0:56:50they said that they were going to close

0:56:51that hospital due to

0:56:53the cost of retrofitting

0:56:55they made announcements they made

0:56:57announcements in the newspapers you can

0:56:59google it and find it

0:57:01and then they ended up changing their

0:57:02mind after the community pushed back and

0:57:05they built a brand new hospital for the

0:57:07community of santa rosa so

0:57:09i believe that our community here

0:57:12deserves no less

0:57:16in addition to that

0:57:18i had a busy health care week

0:57:21we

0:57:24with along with um

0:57:25healthcare for all we had um a movie at

0:57:30the cerrito um our rialto cinema

0:57:34called the power to heal and i served on

0:57:36a panel there with dr rezapor and myrtle

0:57:39braxton

0:57:40and if you ever get a chance to watch

0:57:42this movie i learned so much in it it's

0:57:44called the power to heal

0:57:47and it talked about

0:57:49how

0:57:51the how hospital segregation

0:57:54um

0:57:55and how that intertwined with

0:57:58medicare coming into coming in and also

0:58:02the civil rights act and how it kind of

0:58:05all blended together and our

0:58:08the president london b johnson how

0:58:11how he was able to

0:58:13to get everything to work out and

0:58:17watching the movie you know you you know

0:58:19what happened you know we have medicare

0:58:21now but

0:58:23you see that it was a real struggle and

0:58:26it almost didn't happen and when it did

0:58:28happen it almost failed because of these

0:58:30issues

0:58:31so

0:58:33the point of the movie i think that we

0:58:34take for modern day times is you know

0:58:38they're trying we're trying to expand

0:58:39this council has supported expanding

0:58:41medicare for all people

0:58:43and at this time it still seems a little

0:58:45bit impossible it seems like a big

0:58:47struggle but

0:58:48everything that's worthwhile

0:58:50usually comes with a struggle so it's it

0:58:53always seems impossible until it's done

0:58:56and that is how i will conclude with

0:58:59that once again the name of that movie

0:59:00was called the power to heal

0:59:04and next we will move on

0:59:06to our oral communications from the

0:59:09public

0:59:11we have speakers

0:59:12we do we have 12 speakers tonight all

0:59:15right

0:59:16the first three speakers are cordell

0:59:17hindler followed by buddy akasich and

0:59:19gary prost

0:59:21okay so good evening uh mayor okimoto

0:59:24council uh cordell handler richmond so

0:59:27i have an event for you all to invite so

0:59:30i would like to invite the el cerrito

0:59:31city council to the salesian parents

0:59:34association pasta dinner on november the

0:59:362nd from 68 at salesian high school and

0:59:40it's free for all

0:59:42so i would like to see other

0:59:44yes there's going to be some pasta too

0:59:46so please do attend we want to support

0:59:49uh solution high school as we can so

0:59:51that's one number two is um if you

0:59:53recall at the last meeting what i has um

0:59:56well i didn't i did a notice of

0:59:59other cities um

1:00:01paying their commercial rent and i said

1:00:03and i came up across el cerrito and i'll

1:00:05say

1:00:06and the reason i say is because i spoken

1:00:07to one of the businesses around here and

1:00:09they said that they paid 15 000 a month

1:00:12for rent and i said that is unheard of

1:00:15fifteen thousand dollars that is like

1:00:17that's like a a car that's like a

1:00:19mortgage for a house and i said to me as

1:00:21a business owner here that if i would

1:00:23put my business in el cerrito i said i

1:00:26cannot afford this i can't afford it

1:00:28because

1:00:29i have to pay not only i have to pay

1:00:30rent but i have to pay electricity

1:00:32insurance all that stuff and it's like

1:00:35that that pretty much adds up so to me

1:00:37personally i would not invest my money

1:00:39in el cerrito but i love el cerrito

1:00:41don't get me wrong but but to me

1:00:44new bit when new businesses come to el

1:00:45cerrito that they don't last long i can

1:00:48tell you from experience so i would ask

1:00:50that if a future agenda item would be

1:00:52like you know place as a

1:00:54what other cities have they

1:00:56have seen though where the commercial

1:00:59property costs it's like it is unheard

1:01:01of so that's two and then the last thing

1:01:03is on let me see

1:01:05i will attend that contra costa mayor's

1:01:07comments in el cerro in november but i

1:01:10have to save up some more money so with

1:01:11that buddy it's all yours

1:01:14the next speaker is betty akasich

1:01:16followed by gary prost

1:01:24um

1:01:25buddy akasich resident of

1:01:28hana not hannah honna gardens

1:01:31and um

1:01:33i've got it down to one basic question

1:01:35that i'm pondering and i would ask that

1:01:38each of you ponder this question

1:01:41i don't have it answered in my mind but

1:01:43i keep thinking about this

1:01:45and here's the question

1:01:48to what degree

1:01:50do you perceive the san pablo master

1:01:53plan to be

1:01:55gentrification friendly

1:01:59thank you

1:02:00the next speaker is gary prost followed

1:02:02by richard bell

1:02:07good evening mayor and council

1:02:09gary prost president of el cerrito and

1:02:12member of make el cerrito fire safe

1:02:14i'd like to address a priority

1:02:17of make el cerrito fire safe which is

1:02:19saving lives through having clear

1:02:22evacuation routes

1:02:24first i want to thank el cerrito fire

1:02:26and police

1:02:27departments for their work on the

1:02:29wildfire preparedness and evacuation

1:02:32plan that they sent to every resident

1:02:35on page 10 of that plan

1:02:38there's a map that shows emergency

1:02:42access and evacuation routes

1:02:45in el cerrito despite several excellent

1:02:48preparation tips however a number of

1:02:51questions about the evacuation process

1:02:54remain unanswered

1:02:57there's no street markings that indicate

1:03:00evacuation routes so unless you're

1:03:02carrying the map with you how will

1:03:04residents know which street is an

1:03:06evacuation route there should be street

1:03:09signs that clearly mark these routes

1:03:13two there's no mandate to keep these

1:03:16routes clear

1:03:17during emergencies how will cars get out

1:03:20and emergency vehicles get in if there's

1:03:23parking on the street

1:03:25i'm just saying parking should be

1:03:27restricted to driveways

1:03:29and only one side of the street during

1:03:30red flag warnings

1:03:32three

1:03:34how will emergency vehicles get to

1:03:35critical areas if streets are clogged

1:03:38with evacuating residents

1:03:40some routes should be designated for

1:03:42emergency vehicle access only

1:03:46for what plans if any have been made to

1:03:49evacuate elementary schools the elderly

1:03:51and special needs residents

1:03:54and finally five vegetation abatement on

1:03:57prop private property has been ongoing

1:03:59for the past several weeks

1:04:01however there's been no obvious clearing

1:04:03of vegetation encroaching on the mapped

1:04:06evacuation routes

1:04:08is this going to be done before the

1:04:10diablo winds begin to blow in october

1:04:13there shouldn't be any overhanging or

1:04:15encroaching vegetation that would cause

1:04:17a tunnel of fire effect on these

1:04:19evacuation routes during a potential

1:04:21firestorm

1:04:22thank you

1:04:24thank you the next speaker is richard

1:04:26bell followed by laurie schrei

1:04:32good evening mayor council staff

1:04:35my name is richard bell and i'm an el

1:04:36cerrito resident

1:04:38first i would like to thank the council

1:04:40for the opportunity um that i was

1:04:42appointed to the tenant landlord task

1:04:44force so thank you for that

1:04:47um i also feel it's necessary for me to

1:04:49speak directly

1:04:50to the council because i would like to

1:04:52correct the public record a little

1:04:55it was brought to my attention that i

1:04:57was portrayed as

1:04:59drawing a mustache or defacing public

1:05:02property

1:05:04at a public meeting

1:05:06i would like to describe that incident

1:05:09um

1:05:10bart

1:05:11our public transportation system had

1:05:13accepted advertising from a group called

1:05:16progressives for immigration reform

1:05:20um the posters on bart were inflammatory

1:05:24offensive and anti-immigrant

1:05:27they were asking american tech workers

1:05:30to question their employers

1:05:32about why there were so many foreign

1:05:34guest worker visas being granted

1:05:38you can look up bart advertising

1:05:40controversies for details because it's

1:05:42not the only time that that has happened

1:05:44with bart advertising

1:05:46um that day i just happened to have a

1:05:50sticker that simply said resist

1:05:53i placed the sticker on the ad

1:05:56and i would do it again

1:05:58so thank you um

1:06:00for listening to me i also have some

1:06:02information to share with the council

1:06:06about some upcoming events that i will

1:06:08leave with the clerk thank you

1:06:11the next speaker is lori shrey followed

1:06:13by susan duncan

1:06:21good evening city council mayor

1:06:24my name is laurie schrein i live at [address removed]

1:06:26navaleer street

1:06:2717 years ago my husband and i were lucky

1:06:30enough to buy a home in el cerrito

1:06:32we loved living here for many reasons

1:06:34a diverse thriving community

1:06:37centrally located in the bay area and

1:06:38hiking the hillside nature area just

1:06:41steps from our door

1:06:43however growing up in the bay area i

1:06:45have witnessed destruction from many

1:06:46wildfires from the oakland berkeley

1:06:48hills fire to coffee park in santa rosa

1:06:51and glen ellen

1:06:52i know people who've lives have changed

1:06:55forever due to wildfire

1:06:58every fall we live with the threat and

1:07:00reality

1:07:01of a wildfire in el cerrito destroying

1:07:04our homes our entire community and

1:07:06losing many lives if action is not taken

1:07:08now

1:07:10i'm no longer standing still

1:07:12in fear of a wildfire i'm taking action

1:07:14and joining forces with sue and paul

1:07:16duncan scott perry gary prost and many

1:07:19other concerned citizens who are here

1:07:21tonight to make el cerrito fire safe

1:07:25first i'd like to ask

1:07:27city council to really help clear the

1:07:29hillside nature area of dead vegetation

1:07:31that i can see from my kitchen window

1:07:34eliminating eucalyptus trees scotch

1:07:37broom and dry grasses in areas that have

1:07:39not been cleared for over 30 years

1:07:42create safe evacuation plans and put

1:07:44them into practice

1:07:45as gary mentioned it's really important

1:07:47to get people out safely

1:07:50mitigate and maintain all vegetation

1:07:52within the city limits that pose a fire

1:07:54hazard on both private and personal

1:07:57property

1:07:59i'd like to encourage you all to

1:08:00strengthen the vegetation management

1:08:02code as they are doing in mill valley

1:08:04and continue to advocate for more

1:08:06clearing in wildcat canyon

1:08:08educate the community and citizens of el

1:08:11cerrito on ways to harden their homes to

1:08:14prepare in the event of a wildfire

1:08:17i do not want el cerrito to end up on

1:08:19the evening news because of a wildfire

1:08:22and lose everything we work really hard

1:08:24to achieve because we have lack of city

1:08:28council involvement please i urge you to

1:08:31join us and make el cerrito fire safe

1:08:34thank you

1:08:37the next speaker is sue duncan followed

1:08:39by diane strauss

1:08:49good evening i'm sue duncan el cerrito

1:08:52first i want to thank the el cerrito

1:08:53police department and fire department

1:08:55for putting out such a great

1:08:57informational booklet

1:08:58about how to prepare for and what to do

1:09:00in case of a wildfire i hope that all

1:09:03the el cerrito

1:09:04residents will study it follow through

1:09:06and complete all preparations listed in

1:09:09the booklet

1:09:10now i'd like to talk about firewise

1:09:13firewise is a program of the national

1:09:15fire protection association

1:09:18it teaches people how to adapt to living

1:09:21with wildfire it empowers and encourages

1:09:25neighbors to work together to reduce

1:09:26their wildfire risk to take action and

1:09:29ownership to protect their homes now to

1:09:32prevent losses currently are there over

1:09:341500 recognized firewise neighborhoods

1:09:37across the u.s

1:09:39research shows that the majority of

1:09:41homes ignite during a wildfire

1:09:44as a result of embers or small flames

1:09:47there are steps that homeowners can take

1:09:49to reduce the risk with the most

1:09:51important efforts occurring on or

1:09:54immediately around the houses

1:09:56several of us have started the

1:09:58application process with chief pagone's

1:10:00help to form a firewise neighborhood in

1:10:03el cerrito

1:10:04we are starting small with 89 homes once

1:10:07we are up and running we hope to expand

1:10:09our area and help other neighbors and el

1:10:12cerritos start firewise groups also

1:10:15we feel this will help create a greater

1:10:17sense of community in el cerrito get

1:10:19neighbors to help neighbors harden their

1:10:21homes greatly reduce vegetation

1:10:24especially within the critical first

1:10:26five feet from the house

1:10:27and educate people about house hardening

1:10:30and the importance of proper vegetation

1:10:32management we hope this will help wake

1:10:34up everyone to the fact that all of us

1:10:37are at risk from the whole picture of

1:10:38vegetation on all properties thank you

1:10:42thank you the next speaker is diane

1:10:45strauss followed by paul doran

1:10:52good evening mayor and council members

1:10:54i'm diane strauss i live in el cerrito

1:10:57on king drive

1:10:59i'm really concerned about fire

1:11:01insurance

1:11:02on our homes

1:11:04sometimes

1:11:05not being renewed on our homes when we

1:11:08need to renew them

1:11:10and having the rates increased

1:11:12dramatically i want to read some

1:11:13excerpts from the september 13th issue

1:11:16of the lake tahoe daily tribune

1:11:20the recent destructive wildfires in the

1:11:22state are creating an unstable property

1:11:24insurance market

1:11:26in the wild wildland urban interface

1:11:29that's wui

1:11:31places like truckee and i want to remind

1:11:33us that we also are in the wild

1:11:36wildland urban interface

1:11:3910 of the 20 most destructive wildfires

1:11:42have happened in the last three years

1:11:44increasing the risk for insurers and

1:11:46driving up insurance costs

1:11:48in many cases this fire risk is causing

1:11:51insurers to not renew insurance or

1:11:56to triple or even quadruple the rates

1:11:59to put it in perspective placer county

1:12:02did a recent insurance survey that had

1:12:04about 2 000 responses

1:12:07half of the respondents had received a

1:12:09non-renewal

1:12:10and only 14 percent of those people

1:12:14had had an inspection by the insurer

1:12:17prior to this action so this

1:12:19demonstrates that many of the

1:12:21non-renewals are just sweeping risk

1:12:23reduction by insurers without even

1:12:25examining

1:12:26what what the residents are doing

1:12:29we know of one el cerrito family whose

1:12:31insurance was not renewed and another

1:12:34whose insurance was recently increased

1:12:35by 19 upon renewal

1:12:39what we would like is for the city of el

1:12:41cerrito to place notices on nextdoor as

1:12:44well as an article in news and views

1:12:47requesting that homeowners report

1:12:49non-renewals and rate increases to the

1:12:52city

1:12:53so that you can learn the magnitude of

1:12:54the problem and then we can take some

1:12:57action

1:12:58thank you

1:13:00the next speaker is paul doran followed

1:13:02by catherine denigard

1:13:12good evening mayor and council members

1:13:14my name is paul doro i live in

1:13:16kensington on july 23rd of this year the

1:13:19board of directors of the kensington

1:13:21police protection community services

1:13:23district

1:13:24sent el cerrito a request for proposal

1:13:27seeking to have the el cerrito police

1:13:29department take over

1:13:30all or some of the services currently

1:13:33provided by the kensington police

1:13:35department

1:13:36all proposals are due by october 15.

1:13:40not included in this request for

1:13:42proposal however was any reference to

1:13:44the requirement in an ordinance

1:13:47enacted by initiative and adopted by the

1:13:50kppcsd board on october 8 2009

1:13:55that ordinance provides that before

1:13:57entering into any contract which results

1:14:00in all or a substantial portion

1:14:02of kensington police services being

1:14:04performed by another agency

1:14:06such decision must be approved by a

1:14:08majority of the kensington voters

1:14:12now i'm going to skip some references to

1:14:14california supreme court cases about the

1:14:16initiative process

1:14:18but they are included in a copy of these

1:14:20remarks that i've given to the clerk

1:14:25initiative measures such as the

1:14:26kensington ordinance are presumptively

1:14:28valid and must be enforced

1:14:32local officials have no authority to

1:14:34disregard a duty imposed upon them

1:14:37by an ordinance whether based upon their

1:14:39own view

1:14:40or upon advice of counsel

1:14:43refusal to comply with legal mandates

1:14:45may result in the voiding of any actions

1:14:47undertaken by the agency

1:14:50we bring this to your attention because

1:14:52it appears that the board of directors

1:14:54of the kppcsd

1:14:57may continue to disregard the

1:14:59ordinance requiring a vote on

1:15:01contracting out police services

1:15:03as they did in omitting it from the rfp

1:15:07the sole basis for this is an opinion

1:15:08from district council that a court might

1:15:10find the voting ordinance invalid

1:15:13that is not enough to justify ignoring

1:15:15the ordinance

1:15:16no court has been asked to rule much

1:15:18less ruled upon the validity of the

1:15:20ordinance

1:15:22it is thus presumptively valid and

1:15:23binding on the board

1:15:25if a vote of the citizens citizens of

1:15:27kensington is not allowed any contract

1:15:30for police services entered into by the

1:15:32board with el cerrito or any other

1:15:34agency

1:15:35would be voidable

1:15:37in light of all that

1:15:39should this council decide to go forward

1:15:42and respond positively to the kensington

1:15:44rfp

1:15:46we strongly urge you to make any

1:15:48contract proposal expressly conditioned

1:15:52on a favorable vote of the kensington

1:15:54electorate

1:15:55and further to make such response

1:15:57conditioned on kensington's fulfillment

1:15:59of its meet and confer obligations

1:16:02under the myers-millius brown act

1:16:04as well thank you very much

1:16:07thank you

1:16:09the next speaker is catherine

1:16:10de nirgaard followed by nick zamorono

1:16:16uh good evening mayor and council

1:16:18members

1:16:19um

1:16:20paul just went over many of the points

1:16:23i i would make and i would underline

1:16:26that

1:16:27the ordinance is a law you can debate

1:16:30whether it's going to be valid in court

1:16:32but right now it is a law

1:16:34we also debate a lot in kensington about

1:16:37whether

1:16:38uh how the vote would go but we don't

1:16:40really know until it's actually voted

1:16:42upon

1:16:44so just sort of as as consequences to

1:16:47this

1:16:49is that

1:16:52there are many in kensington that would

1:16:54would oppose

1:16:58our district going ahead with a contract

1:17:00without the vote

1:17:03and

1:17:05and if el cerrito signed a contract with

1:17:08kensington for such without such a vote

1:17:11it could be a party in in the ensuing

1:17:14lawsuit

1:17:16i think that's kind of obvious and

1:17:18the writ petition is the most likely

1:17:20vehicle for such

1:17:23such such a suit and writ petitions are

1:17:25usually not covered by

1:17:28your

1:17:28insurance

1:17:30um

1:17:31i don't know if i know it's true in

1:17:32other jurisdictions i don't know whether

1:17:35your insurance would cover it but it's

1:17:37certain

1:17:37they likely you know to not

1:17:40and the other uh problem with the rs

1:17:45rfp the response for proposals is that

1:17:49it was put in for a max a fixed price

1:17:53unlike the contract with the fire

1:17:55district which is on a cost basis so

1:17:58that

1:17:59elsa reno neither makes a profit off of

1:18:02what kensington

1:18:05pays el cerrito for the contract nor

1:18:08has a loss

1:18:10but in the rfp

1:18:12there's a max fixed price

1:18:15and i was told that the county sheriff

1:18:17could not enter into the contract uh

1:18:20because it would be illegal for that

1:18:21jurisdiction to either have a profit or

1:18:24a loss

1:18:26enter into business basically

1:18:29and take either a profit or a loss

1:18:32off another end in

1:18:34entity again i don't know if that's true

1:18:36for you

1:18:38but it needs looking at um

1:18:41so i i would echo what paul said that

1:18:45you make any rfb fee

1:18:48respon

1:18:49rfp um contingent on

1:18:52the vote being taken in kensington and

1:18:56of course if it has a positive outcome

1:18:59if the

1:19:00citizens vote for a contract thank you

1:19:03for listening

1:19:06the next speaker is nick san morono

1:19:08followed by christian teal

1:19:12good evening madam mayor city council

1:19:15members city staff friends and neighbors

1:19:17my name is nick samarano

1:19:19make el cerritos fire safe and alice

1:19:22rito resident

1:19:23first of all i want to thank the city

1:19:25council for passing the abatement

1:19:27resolution a couple of months ago

1:19:29and

1:19:30for especially all the hard work that

1:19:32the fire department and officer carrion

1:19:35has demonstrated doing the inspections

1:19:38issuing the letters doing the violation

1:19:40and compiling that

1:19:42that long list

1:19:43of those property owners that were

1:19:45out of compliance a couple of months ago

1:19:48last month i think there were 43 homes

1:19:52on that list that were still out of

1:19:54compliance with the visitation

1:19:56management ordinance

1:19:57and there were several other additional

1:20:00homes

1:20:01that

1:20:02came to my attention that were on a work

1:20:04plan that were not contained on the list

1:20:06but

1:20:07they were cooperating with officer

1:20:09carrion and getting their homes um

1:20:14monitored to the point where they would

1:20:17be cooperating to work out

1:20:20the vegetation

1:20:22management issues that they were cited

1:20:24for

1:20:25and as other residents have strolled

1:20:29the streets we're seeing a lot of good

1:20:31work

1:20:32occurring

1:20:34voluntarily some of these property

1:20:35owners have been

1:20:37doing what they needed to do to bring

1:20:39their

1:20:40properties into compliance

1:20:42there are others that are not doing what

1:20:45we want them to do and what the city

1:20:47wants them to do

1:20:49i don't know how many homes they are

1:20:52as of this date that are out of

1:20:54compliance i think that we probably will

1:20:56know next month at the next council

1:20:58meeting

1:20:59what those homes how many of those homes

1:21:01there are and what the issues are

1:21:05i just want to make sure that the

1:21:08residents

1:21:09who are of compliance will bring their

1:21:12homes into compliance their properties

1:21:14into compliance before the next council

1:21:16meeting but if not then i think we the

1:21:19city council needs to do what they have

1:21:20to do in regards to

1:21:22issuing the abatement letters and

1:21:24cleaning up those properties so we have

1:21:28a safe environment here in el cerrito

1:21:30thank you very much

1:21:32thank you and the final speaker at this

1:21:34time is christian teal

1:21:38greetings council

1:21:40members of

1:21:41the community

1:21:42uh i just wanted to bring up the topic

1:21:44of the prior um

1:21:47closed session of the city council the

1:21:49um topic of the litigation that's in the

1:21:51in the room basically the elephant in

1:21:53the room that no one's talking about

1:21:56i was hoping that city leadership would

1:22:00have some words on what is being alleged

1:22:03by our former beloved police officer

1:22:06sarah perez

1:22:08she was the officer of the year in the

1:22:10el torita police department not too long

1:22:12ago

1:22:12she has quit the job

1:22:15and um it was in the news that she had

1:22:18filed a lawsuit against the city of el

1:22:20torito

1:22:21which

1:22:22by the way is going to cost a lot of

1:22:24money to fight and possible um

1:22:26injunctive relief and other kind of um

1:22:29reparations that maybe um whether the

1:22:32allegations are true or not and i'm not

1:22:35saying that they are but they are in the

1:22:37room and

1:22:38that's really the residents have a

1:22:40concern

1:22:41that

1:22:42within the police department or within

1:22:44the city as a bigger

1:22:47organization that sexual harassment or

1:22:49harassment of any kind or discrimination

1:22:52which are the basis of this litigation

1:22:55whether these those are tolerated or

1:22:57even structurally or

1:23:00implemented and you know accepted in

1:23:02this organization

1:23:05i know that the city is um open and um

1:23:08flies the rainbow flag and

1:23:10has very welcoming welcoming um

1:23:13you know

1:23:14policies

1:23:15but um

1:23:17not

1:23:18having a you know a firm stance against

1:23:20any kind of discrimination at a

1:23:22opportunity as tonight where you talk to

1:23:25um citizens

1:23:26who may be concerned that there are some

1:23:28you know basis to these allegations

1:23:31um i would have hoped that some

1:23:32leadership would you know make take a

1:23:35firmer stance on you know that that's

1:23:37not acceptable in the city

1:23:39and um

1:23:40i

1:23:41just want to say that

1:23:43for the

1:23:44people that voted yes on measure v those

1:23:47funds in the general fund may as well be

1:23:49used for fighting that litigation and

1:23:52for repair

1:23:54paying any of the repairs so that's

1:23:55where possibly one could argue

1:23:58measurement v funding is going to so um

1:24:01i would have hoped for a comment and um

1:24:04i guess you have an opportunity in the

1:24:06future but um i just wanted to

1:24:09have you confirm that harassment and

1:24:11discrimination is not acceptable in this

1:24:14town thank you

1:24:17thank you for your comments and

1:24:20we're not allowed to discuss what

1:24:22happened in our closed session but i

1:24:24would like to stand up and say that

1:24:27i can speak for myself and i believe for

1:24:30everyone else that is standing or

1:24:32sitting up here representing el cerrito

1:24:33that we stand firmly against harassment

1:24:36and that

1:24:38we all agree that the officer was

1:24:42the officer of the year and we

1:24:44all of her accomplishments here stand

1:24:47and um

1:24:49and we wish

1:24:50or at least i can say for myself i wish

1:24:52her the best in her future endeavors

1:24:56that concludes our our

1:24:58speakers at this time

1:25:01all right so um

1:25:03uh

1:25:04next we will go

1:25:06on to

1:25:07our adoption consent calendar

1:25:12me

1:25:14when you're done okay

1:25:16a hispanic heritage month b

1:25:18national suicide prevention month

1:25:20proclamation

1:25:22c

1:25:24fifth amended and restated joint

1:25:26exercise of powers agreement for the

1:25:28west contra costa integrated waste

1:25:30management authority

1:25:32d agreement with the west contra costa

1:25:34unified school district regarding

1:25:35funding of school resource officers

1:25:38e authorization of pre-development loan

1:25:42with mayfair affordable llc

1:25:44for development of the mayfair block

1:25:48f

1:25:49urban forest committee appointment

1:25:51and g formation of a climate action

1:25:54subcommittee

1:25:57i would like to make

1:25:58as part of my motion comments or

1:26:00after the motion comments on at least

1:26:01two items one is the

1:26:03item

1:26:045c

1:26:06which is the joint exercise of powers

1:26:08agreement with the

1:26:10contra costa integrated waste management

1:26:12authority this is an agreement that

1:26:18has been over five years in the making

1:26:21um and it you know not to bore you with

1:26:24the sausage of how this was made it was

1:26:26uh quite belabored back and forth uh on

1:26:30the terms and so i'm very pleased that

1:26:32we're able to move this forward

1:26:34so it it is um

1:26:37it's it's time and it does clean up that

1:26:40agreement quite a bit and

1:26:41uh it

1:26:43ultimately should benefit el cerrito and

1:26:46the other that i want to speak to is

1:26:48item 5d

1:26:50and i don't see mr pandas who some used

1:26:53to come to our city council meetings

1:26:57i'm going to support the agreement with

1:26:59the west contra costa unified school

1:27:00district but i would like to

1:27:03make sure that it goes on record that

1:27:06i'm

1:27:07upset

1:27:08that we're balancing that the cities are

1:27:10balancing the school district's budget

1:27:14the safe schools is an important

1:27:16component and it's my belief that the

1:27:19best first responders the police the the

1:27:22school district used to have a police

1:27:24force

1:27:25and they didn't didn't know our policies

1:27:27they didn't integrate with us as well as

1:27:29we can integrate with ourselves so the

1:27:31best first responders

1:27:33are our police force

1:27:35so we need to have our officers on these

1:27:37campuses to provide a safe school

1:27:40environment safe learning environment

1:27:44but it's it's really unfortunate that

1:27:46the school district doesn't uh

1:27:48understand that and agree with us and so

1:27:51i'm just

1:27:52although i'm supporting it because it's

1:27:53the best thing for us in our our

1:27:56learning environment

1:27:58i'm

1:27:59registering my disappointment that the

1:28:01school district

1:28:02is

1:28:03not able to uh reimburse us

1:28:0780 percent

1:28:09of the cost of our

1:28:11officers that's what we were asking for

1:28:13at 350 000 and they're dropping it down

1:28:15to

1:28:16300 000

1:28:18so

1:28:20with that i would be delighted to move

1:28:21the consent calendar items 5a through 5g

1:28:26mayor i'd like to make a statement as

1:28:28well on that same issue uh last year i

1:28:31spoke more than once before the school

1:28:33board so uh i'm very disappointed as

1:28:37well

1:28:37and

1:28:38on two occasions i

1:28:40spoke and there were many of us from the

1:28:44other cities in west contra costa that

1:28:46also spoke

1:28:48so

1:28:49yeah so i agree with mayor pro tem lyman

1:28:52on this issue that

1:28:54i will support but

1:28:57not happy with the school district and

1:29:01going back on their word

1:29:03all right and i wanted to pull 5c

1:29:06for further discussion

1:29:09okay

1:29:10well then uh

1:29:12we have a motion it's been seconded

1:29:15can we discuss 5c without without

1:29:18rescinding the

1:29:20motion

1:29:21um

1:29:24why don't you

1:29:25see if the see do i i can make a sub i

1:29:27can do a substitution motion and if the

1:29:29seconder would would

1:29:31or amend the motion

1:29:33i'll make a

1:29:35i'll make a substitution motion to

1:29:37[Music]

1:29:38pass items 5a 5b

1:29:415d through 5g

1:29:44that's agreeable to me as the seconder

1:29:47all right a motion by lyman second by

1:29:51abelson all in favor aye

1:29:54this opposed motion carries

1:29:58i was hoping to ask some questions of

1:29:59staff on the on the renewal

1:30:02i just think it's uh as

1:30:04councilman lymon said this is an

1:30:06important thing to air a few points

1:30:08about this

1:30:12and while you're coming up i just want

1:30:14to say how disappointed i was

1:30:16in sacramento that the state did not

1:30:18pass sbe 54

1:30:21which this council supported

1:30:23which would have

1:30:25greatly reduced to some major goals

1:30:27toward reducing plastics in our state i

1:30:30think

1:30:31by 75 by 2030 but i just wanted to say

1:30:35what a great

1:30:36staff report this was

1:30:39i think it presents a great history and

1:30:41importance of

1:30:43el cerrito's involvement in recycle more

1:30:46the difficulties involved with the other

1:30:48cities and joining together toward the

1:30:50goal set and how unique we are

1:30:54i'm sorry i'm really confused i thought

1:30:56you said c

1:31:00it is c

1:31:02which is the waste

1:31:04the waste thing okay

1:31:06i'm okay i'm i'm not talking about more

1:31:08okay yeah okay i heard something else

1:31:11happening but okay

1:31:12so i i was i was in the middle of

1:31:15applauding our staff for the great work

1:31:16and i mean this is a a document for all

1:31:19of us that may not understand what's

1:31:21going on it's a it's a great piece of

1:31:22work and i know that there over this

1:31:25long period of time that councilman

1:31:27lyman

1:31:28mentioned there have been two major

1:31:29issues

1:31:30that we've been involved with one has

1:31:32been the voting of the city members and

1:31:34the other has been the withdrawal of

1:31:36those cities

1:31:37can you just give a little update on

1:31:39those two items and what the changes are

1:31:41in this document

1:31:43that we'll be voting on tonight good

1:31:45evening mayor council members my name is

1:31:47yvette ortiz the city's public works

1:31:49director yes those are the two key

1:31:52points in terms of the voting structure

1:31:55it remains as is

1:31:57with the city of richmond retaining

1:31:59three board members and each of the

1:32:02smaller cities retaining one board

1:32:04member

1:32:07and

1:32:08one sentence of justification as to why

1:32:10it took so long and why that remained

1:32:13so i don't know if uh council member

1:32:15greg lineman would like to make a

1:32:17comment on this but it was a point of

1:32:19contention

1:32:20um

1:32:22the city of richmond is the larger

1:32:24agency

1:32:26it does contribute more to the agency

1:32:29and

1:32:31there were concessions that the smaller

1:32:33cities

1:32:34thought they had made in terms of

1:32:37requiring unanimous voting

1:32:39in

1:32:42in response to

1:32:43richmond potentially reducing their

1:32:45membership to just one voting member

1:32:48ultimately the city of richmond did not

1:32:51want to go that way even though there

1:32:52was unanimous voting on

1:32:54financial and budget matters and so they

1:32:57retained the three boarding three voting

1:33:00members there's still

1:33:03requirements for unanimous voting for

1:33:05all

1:33:06changes to the core services and all

1:33:09potential changes to rates and other

1:33:12budget issues

1:33:14just the city of richmond would not

1:33:17give on that and and and quickly on the

1:33:20other point about making it easier to

1:33:22withdraw

1:33:23can you explain what changed to make it

1:33:25easier

1:33:27so

1:33:28in terms of making it easier

1:33:30there's now a clear process for

1:33:32withdrawing

1:33:34and

1:33:37and i may need some help from the

1:33:39council members and i realize

1:33:41i'm just for a background i'm rather new

1:33:43to the subject and i've had to

1:33:45kind of catch up and then do some

1:33:46homework and i realize you're not the

1:33:48key staffer on that but i didn't want

1:33:50this moment to be maria sanders uh is

1:33:52our operations and environmental

1:33:54resources manager she is out on on

1:33:57medical leave so i've had to fill in

1:34:00some of the gaps so i appreciate any

1:34:01help you can certainly

1:34:03the

1:34:04former with the former jpa was based on

1:34:07a financial agreement where the

1:34:09withdrawal was intentionally made

1:34:11difficult because the waste stream was

1:34:15funding

1:34:16uh

1:34:17the repayment of loans for our

1:34:19processing uh facility

1:34:23in 2014 that financial obligation ended

1:34:26and so the new jeepa was negotiations

1:34:30from the new jeep began

1:34:32as a result of not having that financial

1:34:34obligation

1:34:36termination should be easier at the old

1:34:38termination required

1:34:41the majority of the board

1:34:43not including the member agency

1:34:47to vote yes and then the majority of all

1:34:50of the cities to then also vote yes

1:34:54to allow somebody to withdraw

1:34:57and it was intentionally made hard

1:34:59because of the financial obligations now

1:35:02um the new gpa allows for a member

1:35:04agency to declare their intent to

1:35:06withdraw 180 days later

1:35:09after fulfilling the preparation of

1:35:11several reports that withdraw can occur

1:35:15and that's it there's no

1:35:17approval process specifically there is

1:35:21negotiations as to what the

1:35:23different documents are that are

1:35:24necessary to be completed

1:35:26to to fulfill the withdrawal we have

1:35:29some regional reports and regional

1:35:31documents

1:35:32that potentially need to be revised

1:35:34depending on who is withdrawing um some

1:35:37of the larger entities san pablo the

1:35:38county and richmond have significant

1:35:42would have significant impact on those

1:35:45regional documents and the state agency

1:35:50california waste california

1:35:54california waste

1:35:55is it needs it says said that the el

1:35:58cerrito and some of the smaller

1:35:59communities el cerrito uh panel hercules

1:36:02if only one of those entities was to

1:36:04withdraw then some of those regional

1:36:05documents would not necessarily need to

1:36:07be updated so

1:36:09that's that's the the crux of the

1:36:11withdrawal language

1:36:14so

1:36:15i appreciate that and i want to i want

1:36:17to thank you i think you had a delicate

1:36:20balance here of demonstrating and

1:36:22recommending that we stay in recycle

1:36:24more which is the vote

1:36:26we're going to do

1:36:27but you also raise concerns for el

1:36:30cerrito and that we get the best and the

1:36:32most out of this process going forward

1:36:34after after your recommendation i just

1:36:36want to read the last paragraph you have

1:36:38in your in your analysis you say on

1:36:41the services provided by recycle more

1:36:43specifically in terms of compliance with

1:36:45recycle mandates for multi-family and

1:36:48commercial recycling and organic

1:36:50outreach and education

1:36:52need to be better balanced across member

1:36:54agencies as noted in the gpa to reflect

1:36:58the financial contributions of each

1:37:00member agency specifically el cerrito so

1:37:04i agree and i want to

1:37:07say i'm in favor of supporting this but

1:37:09i love the fact that you outline

1:37:11concerns that el cerrito has going

1:37:13forward and then we need to monitor that

1:37:16so that we can

1:37:17have input and get the most out of this

1:37:20even if our state is not responding in

1:37:21sacramento as much so thank you very

1:37:24much sure look in that last one i'm

1:37:25going to speak to it just briefly

1:37:27because it did it was an action item

1:37:28that we took last thursday at uh recycle

1:37:31more we just authorized el cerrito to

1:37:35get i think it's about

1:37:36five or six thousand dollars to

1:37:38a contract with an entity to help us

1:37:41with some of those services this is a

1:37:43contract this is a parallel contract to

1:37:46one that's already in place helping the

1:37:48member other member agencies so that

1:37:50they recycle more is cognizant and

1:37:53sensitive to this uh concern but we will

1:37:56need to be diligent as we participate in

1:37:58this jeepa thank you for this discussion

1:38:01thank you i would like to move this

1:38:05amendment to the development agreement

1:38:07for the oh sorry that's the wrong one

1:38:09the fifth amended and restated joint

1:38:11exercise of power agreement for the west

1:38:13contra costa integrated west management

1:38:16authority second

1:38:18the motion by fidelity second by lyman

1:38:21all in favor aye

1:38:23as opposed motion carries

1:38:27now we will move on to our public

1:38:29hearing

1:38:32the amendment to the development

1:38:34agreement for the

1:38:361715

1:38:38elm street project

1:38:40they have a staff report

1:39:06good evening mayor pardue okamoto

1:39:08council members sean moss

1:39:10planning manager

1:39:12um so we're here tonight to discuss a

1:39:15extension to the development agreement

1:39:17for the 1715 elm street project

1:39:20i just have a couple of quick slides

1:39:22that i'll put up before you just kind of

1:39:24for reference so i can kind of give you

1:39:26a little bit of an overview of the

1:39:27project

1:39:29so what you see

1:39:30on the screen before you now is the

1:39:32rendering is a rendering of the project

1:39:35this project was originally went through

1:39:38a lengthy

1:39:39entitlement process

1:39:41and received entitlements over the

1:39:43course of 2014 2015.

1:39:48the project

1:39:50like i said the entitlement process was

1:39:51lengthy it involved no fewer than

1:39:55four planning commission meetings four

1:39:57city council meetings and two design

1:39:59review board meetings

1:40:02many of those were the result of appeals

1:40:04that were

1:40:05filed

1:40:06related to the project there were two

1:40:08separate appeals one related to the land

1:40:10use entitlements and one related to the

1:40:13design review

1:40:15so the entitlements that were granted

1:40:16for the project include

1:40:19adoption of an initial study um slash

1:40:22mitigated negative vector declaration so

1:40:24that's a that's a sequoia document an

1:40:26environmental review document that was

1:40:28adopted

1:40:30adopted

1:40:31adoption of plan development zoning for

1:40:33the project site

1:40:35adoption of a planned development use

1:40:37permit approval of a development

1:40:39agreement and approval of design review

1:40:41for the project

1:40:43so develop the development agreement

1:40:45that was approved

1:40:47was

1:40:48required by virtue of the planned

1:40:50development zoning that is required for

1:40:53the site

1:40:54but it also includes some other

1:40:58items that go beyond that zoning and

1:40:59i'll walk you through that

1:41:01so the rendering that you see before you

1:41:04is the view of the project from elm

1:41:05street

1:41:07this will become more clear when i show

1:41:08you the site plan on the next slide

1:41:11but the project involves an existing

1:41:13historic house that's on the site which

1:41:15is which is right here um and a new 14

1:41:19unit

1:41:21res

1:41:2114 residential unit building which is

1:41:23located here

1:41:25so the existing house the is this is not

1:41:27the

1:41:28current location of the existing house

1:41:30it's actually located

1:41:33further

1:41:35to the north

1:41:37and you'll see here i'll show you the

1:41:38site plan

1:41:40so this

1:41:42would be the

1:41:44relocated location of the existing house

1:41:46here so the existing house right now is

1:41:48right about in the middle of the site

1:41:50um it would be relocated

1:41:53to allow a site for construction of this

1:41:56new three-story building containing 14

1:41:59residential units

1:42:01a lot of the complexity of the project

1:42:03relates to this channel here that runs

1:42:06through the site this is an existing

1:42:07channel

1:42:09so the the historic building would be

1:42:11relocated to the opposite side of the

1:42:13channel from where it now sits

1:42:16and

1:42:17the project includes

1:42:19this foot bridge here that would cross

1:42:20the channel

1:42:22so as a result of those improvements

1:42:25there are

1:42:27approvals from

1:42:28three separate agencies that are

1:42:30required

1:42:31in order for the project to move forward

1:42:33so those three agencies are the the army

1:42:35corps of engineers

1:42:37the

1:42:37department of fish and wildlife and the

1:42:40regional water quality control board

1:42:42so the applicant since the the project

1:42:45was approved has been working um has

1:42:48done a lot of work

1:42:50on their end to secure those various

1:42:52approvals

1:42:53um and they've gone through that process

1:42:55um and most of that information is

1:42:58contained in attachment to to your

1:43:01agenda bill that's the the chronology

1:43:03that we put together um that gives you a

1:43:05history of the project since uh it was

1:43:08entitled

1:43:10so the development agreement that was

1:43:13approved by the council in 2014

1:43:17like i said is related to the um the

1:43:20land use entitlements but in addition to

1:43:22that

1:43:22it allows the city use of this

1:43:27relocated historic structure

1:43:29so it allows the city to lease this

1:43:31structure for 99 years for one dollar

1:43:35and

1:43:36it details what um what uses and and

1:43:40types of activities would be allowed to

1:43:42be programmed in that building

1:43:44in addition it gives the city the

1:43:46ability to use this open space area

1:43:49that's located in front of the the

1:43:51structure

1:43:54so um the development agreement having

1:43:57been

1:43:59adopted in or having yeah the ordinance

1:44:02for the development agreement having

1:44:03been adopted in

1:44:07what is it august no that's right

1:44:09october i'm sorry october of 2014

1:44:13went into effect in november of 2014

1:44:17and will expire in november of 2019

1:44:21without further action from the council

1:44:24the

1:44:26development the term of the development

1:44:27agreement is is five years as i said

1:44:31in addition the agreement does not

1:44:33expire until all of the obligations in

1:44:36the agreement are fulfilled

1:44:38so even

1:44:40the applicant has submitted for a

1:44:42building permit at this time

1:44:43that building permit has not yet been

1:44:45issued but even if it had been

1:44:47we would still be here before you

1:44:49tonight

1:44:50seeking an extension

1:44:52because even if even if the building

1:44:53permit had been issued and construction

1:44:56had started as long as the project is

1:44:58not complete

1:45:00then

1:45:01an extension of the development

1:45:03agreement is is required um

1:45:06in order to implement that agreement

1:45:08um so it only terminates once the the

1:45:11project is completed the construction is

1:45:13complete the

1:45:15house is provided to the city and all of

1:45:17the other obligations are fulfilled

1:45:21so

1:45:22given that we are

1:45:24recommending a five-year extension of

1:45:26the development agreement tonight

1:45:29so oh and in addition the

1:45:32applicant has also agreed to

1:45:35subject the property to or subject the

1:45:38project to

1:45:40the city's

1:45:41inclusionary housing ordinance which was

1:45:43adopted

1:45:44subsequent to the approval of the

1:45:46project

1:45:48so that will result in the equivalent of

1:45:511.4 units of affordable housing

1:45:54being provided

1:45:56or an in loop

1:45:57being paid for those

1:45:58which will go into the city's affordable

1:46:00housing trust fund and will support

1:46:02production of affordable housing towards

1:46:05our regional housing needs assessment

1:46:09um so that concludes my presentation and

1:46:12if you have any questions i'm happy to

1:46:14answer them

1:46:16any questions

1:46:21this is sort of a really minor question

1:46:24so you just said that we uh it would go

1:46:26towards meeting our regional needs right

1:46:29on the la that last statement

1:46:31what if we've already met them

1:46:34well it would go towards the production

1:46:36of affordable housing so whether yeah

1:46:38yeah okay

1:46:42any other questions

1:46:46yes thanks

1:46:48how much is the

1:46:50monetary amount for the exclusionary

1:46:53contribution

1:46:54um i believe it was it was about

1:46:58360 thousand dollars i believe

1:47:01yeah

1:47:02does that i i read in the materials that

1:47:05the original project was for condo

1:47:07development and it shifted to rental

1:47:10does that change that amount

1:47:13in any way

1:47:14to our detriment it doesn't it doesn't

1:47:17change the amount

1:47:19it changes

1:47:21the ownership structure does affect

1:47:24the

1:47:25um a little bit the percentage of

1:47:28uh units that are provided and the

1:47:30income breakdown of those units so which

1:47:33which income level categories they fall

1:47:35into

1:47:37um and i don't have that information i

1:47:39was not here for those the votes the

1:47:41original votes back when

1:47:44doesn't something like a condo

1:47:46conversion to rental have to come before

1:47:49the council

1:47:51the um so both the city's

1:47:54zoning ordinance

1:47:56related to development agreements and

1:47:58the development agreement itself

1:48:01allow modifications to the agreement it

1:48:04stipulates which modifications

1:48:07would have to come back to the council

1:48:08so those are modifications to the term

1:48:10for example which is why we're here

1:48:12tonight

1:48:13modifications to other things i think

1:48:15such as the building height the land

1:48:17uses that are permitted on the property

1:48:19things like that

1:48:20but other other modifications are

1:48:24allowed to be

1:48:26not a major significant modification i i

1:48:30wouldn't characterize ownership as such

1:48:32i mean it's it's not it's not a land use

1:48:34discussion it's uh you know condominiums

1:48:36or apartments are the same land use

1:48:39they're both multi-family residential

1:48:41it's a multi-family residential land use

1:48:44and final final point is do you as staff

1:48:47believe that you've had

1:48:48adequate

1:48:50response from the

1:48:53owner for

1:48:55certain timelines

1:48:57and taking care of the property

1:49:00yeah the chronology um that is presented

1:49:03that i that i mentioned um it's

1:49:05attachment to

1:49:06um that uh gives kind of a you know

1:49:10broad overview gets give some important

1:49:12milestones

1:49:14that the applicant has been through

1:49:16between

1:49:182014 and now

1:49:21it kind of you know communicates a lot

1:49:23of the the complicated

1:49:25permitting through some of these other

1:49:26agencies that they've been through

1:49:29so there were reasons for delays and

1:49:32issues that you feel okay about

1:49:36yes we we don't feel that the that the

1:49:38applicant

1:49:39has been unresponsive we've been in

1:49:41communication with them over the course

1:49:43of the five years pretty consistently

1:49:45thank you

1:49:48mr ross thank you very much for your

1:49:49presentation tonight um as you and i

1:49:52have

1:49:54had some correspondence today i want to

1:49:56make sure that that gets into the into

1:49:58the record to some degree

1:49:59between the the group of us specifically

1:50:02around annual review

1:50:04um and whether the annual review

1:50:07uh

1:50:07was required at this point what what

1:50:10material um i think

1:50:12what material

1:50:14uh terms of this agreement

1:50:16needed to be

1:50:18good faith substantial compliance with

1:50:19the material terms

1:50:21and in there the initial initiation

1:50:23review talks about

1:50:25government code section 65865.1

1:50:28which clearly says that you have to have

1:50:30good faith of the agreement

1:50:33and

1:50:35i will say that

1:50:36the

1:50:37on the face of it this

1:50:39would suggest that

1:50:41compliance with the overall agreement

1:50:44is something that should be reported on

1:50:46an annual basis

1:50:48um

1:50:49and it's through our dialogue that

1:50:51it came out and that i was

1:50:54aware of that that and i will will say i

1:50:58reread through the whole agreement again

1:51:01the actual material terms of this

1:51:04agreement

1:51:05have to do with

1:51:07things like

1:51:08the term of the agreement

1:51:10the use of the property which you just

1:51:13discussed

1:51:15the use of the house after it's been

1:51:17restored the public use of the open

1:51:20space those are the or what i would say

1:51:23are the material terms that are in here

1:51:27that

1:51:28and you know obviously the the

1:51:29construction of the site and

1:51:32the maintenance of the property for 99

1:51:34years

1:51:35those are some of the material terms and

1:51:39although i would not characterize them

1:51:41as being triggered by the building

1:51:42permit they are certainly not what's

1:51:46going on right now none of those terms

1:51:48govern the interaction that we have with

1:51:50the developer at this time

1:51:52so i just

1:51:53i know i stated a question and answered

1:51:55it but i wanted to at least acknowledge

1:51:58that that we did have an extensive

1:52:00dialogue about the definition of section

1:52:039 and what it applied to

1:52:06with regards

1:52:09councilmember fideli

1:52:12did discuss the condo versus apartment

1:52:15it does materially change

1:52:17a process that isn't discussed in the in

1:52:19the agreement we don't have to do a

1:52:20condo conversion map or condo

1:52:23uh property map of any sort right is if

1:52:25there is a condo don't we have to do

1:52:27some type of

1:52:28not conversion that's not the right word

1:52:29don't we have to do some type of

1:52:31map that we agree that the parcels have

1:52:33now been divided from the three they

1:52:35started with to the 15 they was 15 or 16

1:52:39they would be correct so a a condominium

1:52:43would require approval of a of a condo

1:52:45map

1:52:46um it's my understanding that that was

1:52:49not approved as part of the um original

1:52:51entitlement package i did look through

1:52:54the timeline to see because i don't

1:52:56recall that we've ever did that so

1:52:57that's that was that's the basis of this

1:52:59question is i want to confirm my memory

1:53:01that we've not adopted a condo map on

1:53:03this property yet

1:53:05that's that's my understanding okay um

1:53:08and so therefore

1:53:11so if if the project were to proceed as

1:53:13condos at some point a condo map would

1:53:15have to be approved before the

1:53:16individual units were sold

1:53:19if it proceeds as an apartment project a

1:53:22condominium map is not required

1:53:27like mr fideli i certainly want to

1:53:29register

1:53:31my disappointment that the site

1:53:33maintenance

1:53:35i've been by that property in in between

1:53:38graffiti and broken windows and fences

1:53:41that are blocking the sidewalk and

1:53:44tall vegetation that had to be cited i

1:53:46certainly saw the property on our

1:53:49abatement list this month i will say

1:53:52when i drove by tonight that it was

1:53:54appears to be fully abated i'm not i'm

1:53:56not the fire department so i can't give

1:53:58you a clean belt bill of health

1:54:01but it does look like it it was uh

1:54:03abated

1:54:05but i certainly want to register

1:54:07that i'm disappointed with the

1:54:08maintenance is there anything in the

1:54:10development agreement that we can use to

1:54:13make sure that the site is maintained in

1:54:16a

1:54:17safe manner

1:54:19that it's not a public nuisance because

1:54:21certainly the way the structure uh it is

1:54:24and was before the plywood went up

1:54:28is a is a public nuisance so is there

1:54:30anything in the development agreement or

1:54:31anything we can add to the development

1:54:32agreement that would uh strengthen our

1:54:34ability to do enforcement on this

1:54:36property and and uh make sure that it's

1:54:39not a public nuisance

1:54:41uh so i'm gonna i'm gonna refer to the

1:54:43city attorney um with regards to the

1:54:45specifics of the development agreement

1:54:46but but before i do that um i will say

1:54:50that we do have our standard code

1:54:52enforcement tools

1:54:54and we have used those in the past so

1:54:56when we did become aware that

1:54:59there were issues with

1:55:01trespassing and vandalism and things

1:55:04like that at the

1:55:05um

1:55:06in the existing structure

1:55:08we did send a notice to the property

1:55:10owner and they were able to board up the

1:55:12building and and secure it

1:55:14in addition there have been um weed

1:55:17abatement efforts in the past so

1:55:20you know recently the the weeds were cut

1:55:22and um and the property is now off of

1:55:24the

1:55:25the wheat abatement list so

1:55:27we have used those those tools that are

1:55:29available to us in the past

1:55:32and you know with regards to

1:55:34mechanisms that might be in the

1:55:37development agreement i'm going to refer

1:55:38to the city attorney

1:55:40there are not currently provisions

1:55:42within the development agreement that

1:55:44relate to

1:55:45maintenance of the property um as uh you

1:55:48noted councilmember lymon the the

1:55:49agreement is mostly focused on aspects

1:55:52of the development and that with

1:55:54particular focus on the restoration of

1:55:56the historic house and use of that house

1:55:58by the city

1:56:00but it would be possible to add

1:56:02provisions related to maintenance of the

1:56:04property prior to just to construction

1:56:06but i want to point out that a

1:56:07development agreement is a negotiated

1:56:09document it has to be approved by

1:56:10ordinance but it is a negotiated

1:56:12document

1:56:13and so it's not a unilateral action of

1:56:15the city council

1:56:17i would also say

1:56:19sort of echoing what mr moss said that

1:56:23if we built those into the development

1:56:24agreement we would have to go through

1:56:27basically

1:56:30contract enforcement in order to

1:56:34to obtain compliance with those

1:56:36provisions

1:56:37which would almost certainly if we were

1:56:39to negotiate such provisions include

1:56:41notice and an opportunity to cure i

1:56:43would actually say that our code

1:56:44enforcement tools are actually going to

1:56:46be more effective at obtaining

1:56:49corrections to any deficiencies in the

1:56:50media

1:56:52point well made

1:56:54and my uh last question is and i did

1:56:58hear your testimony about the reasons

1:57:00why you're recommending for five years a

1:57:02five-year duration

1:57:04um

1:57:05but i do want to

1:57:07ask

1:57:08um it

1:57:10that

1:57:14there's nothing preventing us from

1:57:16having a shorter duration and more

1:57:17frequent

1:57:19renewals

1:57:21that would be not an option as well as

1:57:23opposed to a five-year agreement

1:57:27that that's that is an option that's

1:57:28available to the council um i would just

1:57:30say

1:57:31you know based on our experience um with

1:57:34other similar projects like um for

1:57:36example i'm thinking of the the el

1:57:38dorado townhomes project which was

1:57:40approved um not much after this project

1:57:45um and is still working through the the

1:57:47construction phase now i mean their

1:57:49building permit is obviously active and

1:57:51remains active

1:57:53but you know they they continue to work

1:57:55on on their construction and completing

1:57:56their their project so um you know based

1:57:59on our experience on some other projects

1:58:00we think that that a five-year extension

1:58:03is a reasonable amount of time and and

1:58:05with the building

1:58:06if i read my packet correctly the

1:58:08building uh permit application is in

1:58:12um although it's the the building permit

1:58:14has not been issued the building permit

1:58:17application does

1:58:20that trigger any type of

1:58:21annual reporting or do you feel that the

1:58:23type of constant communication that

1:58:25you're having right now with the

1:58:27developer representatives constitutes

1:58:29that annual reporting function

1:58:32that's more or less correct um i i think

1:58:35as you portrayed um earlier there

1:58:38there's not much to report at this stage

1:58:41um

1:58:42with regard to the development agreement

1:58:44and the obligations in the develop

1:58:46development agreement specifically

1:58:48um obviously the you know the the house

1:58:51can't be provided to the city at this

1:58:52time

1:58:53um

1:58:54you know and things like that

1:58:56um

1:58:58the um

1:58:59so we you know the the reports would

1:59:02would look i think rather rather empty

1:59:04um if they were to be produced

1:59:06um

1:59:07certainly once the uh once the building

1:59:10permit has issued has been issued um

1:59:13then we would anticipate uh producing

1:59:15those reports and

1:59:17um i would just add the the chronology

1:59:19one of the reasons we put together the

1:59:20chronology was to um you know in in the

1:59:24ad

1:59:25like i said the reports i think wouldn't

1:59:27show very much but i think that

1:59:28chronology kind of substitutes to show

1:59:31the progress that's been made on the

1:59:32project

1:59:33um the

1:59:34uh

1:59:35inclusionary

1:59:36housing payment would be due at what

1:59:39point

1:59:40at issuance of building permit at

1:59:42issuance of building permit okay

1:59:45so that that could be as soon as

1:59:47four or five months from now from

1:59:48potentially what some of the things that

1:59:50you've suggested that's correct

1:59:53um

1:59:54i do want to make sure that

1:59:57the public knows that we did receive a

2:00:00letter from the california water board

2:00:03san francisco

2:00:04bay regional water

2:00:06quality control board it was in our

2:00:09supplementary package that was on the

2:00:10dyas it is the

2:00:14a dated

2:00:16september 13

2:00:17um so it's very recent

2:00:20and it does uh talk through

2:00:23the fact that

2:00:25the 401

2:00:27certificate application

2:00:29that was made in 2014 expired

2:00:33and but there are other

2:00:35new

2:00:36statutory

2:00:37processes

2:00:38that the applicant can

2:00:42go through

2:00:44and there appears to be

2:00:46a

2:00:47suggestion that they may require

2:00:50a report of waste discharge for the

2:00:53project

2:00:55so i just wanted to let the public know

2:00:57that that's

2:00:59a document that was

2:01:03provided to us

2:01:05um

2:01:06that concludes my questions

2:01:08thank you for your presentation

2:01:10the public hearing is now open

2:01:12are there any speakers on this we have

2:01:14two speakers on this item cordell

2:01:16hindler and followed by howdy gowdy

2:01:20thanks sean so good evening uh mayor

2:01:22okimoto council um cordell hendler

2:01:25richmond so

2:01:27so all i can say is that i'm looking at

2:01:29this project i said

2:01:31i just had a vision uh that it

2:01:34it is coming to life so i think five

2:01:36years is a good amount of time so

2:01:38i would urge that if this council will

2:01:40approve it and

2:01:41that's all so howdy your turn

2:01:46next speaker is howdy

2:01:49good gowdy mayor and council members my

2:01:51name is howdy gowdy i live in el cerrito

2:01:53um

2:01:54so i just want to start by saying i

2:01:57think the applicant should be ashamed

2:01:59for coming before you and asking for

2:02:01another five years after the five years

2:02:03they've already had

2:02:05it was noted that other pro projects

2:02:07take a long time

2:02:09el dorado had delays but they are

2:02:12building in less than five years

2:02:15it's really unacceptable to be just

2:02:17dishing out more time to

2:02:19a developer who is not

2:02:21produced on their intentions

2:02:25i appreciate

2:02:27the points you've brought up

2:02:30the real question is why should we be

2:02:32rewarding a

2:02:34a property that has a record of

2:02:37deficiencies and code enforcement issues

2:02:40i mean this has been a serious fire

2:02:42hazard you know not once but three times

2:02:45in the last you know four five years so

2:02:48um this is recurring persistent

2:02:51you know damaging inputs to our

2:02:53community instead of what is supposed to

2:02:55be happening and i would go back to the

2:02:58idea that you know there's nothing to

2:03:01review here

2:03:02the the whole point of the development

2:03:04agreement was the term of five years we

2:03:06should be reviewing are they on the path

2:03:08to deliver in five years and we failed

2:03:10to to hold them to that and a review

2:03:13would have shown that they weren't on

2:03:14the path would have had the opportunity

2:03:17to get corrective action and so it's

2:03:19really completely uh

2:03:22misguided to take that review out of the

2:03:25picture for any consideration of future

2:03:28by saying oh they don't really need to

2:03:29do this there's nothing to look at i

2:03:31mean that's that's the role we need to

2:03:32hold them to building what they're going

2:03:34to say they're going to do otherwise

2:03:36we're just going to have another five

2:03:37years of blight this

2:03:39ownership has existed for 16 years as a

2:03:43vacant property

2:03:45and you know we can't afford to just let

2:03:48valuable resources in our community stay

2:03:50vacant and be a blight so um

2:03:53as i'm sure you know from all the things

2:03:56that i've sent i have way more to say on

2:03:58this than three minutes allow but

2:04:01you know no developer should be given

2:04:03five years two years is what we're

2:04:04giving

2:04:05a specific plan for much larger more

2:04:08expensive more complex projects

2:04:11you know this property is up for sale

2:04:14has been up for sale for two years the

2:04:16website says it's under contract why are

2:04:18you negotiating with someone who's just

2:04:20going to sell it you should be

2:04:22negotiating with the person who's buying

2:04:24it and who's actually going to deliver

2:04:26this project this applicant appears to

2:04:29have no intention of building this

2:04:31project so you know you really have to

2:04:34stand for something in terms of you know

2:04:37who you're working with and you don't

2:04:39want to give the impression that

2:04:40anything goes and you know we'll just

2:04:42accept any delays and any kind of bad

2:04:46behavior from our developers it's like

2:04:48we need to hold a line a good behavior

2:04:50this has been bad behavior and it's not

2:04:52acceptable thank you

2:04:53thank you

2:04:56have a motion to close the public

2:04:57hearing

2:05:04yeah please feel free just if you could

2:05:05uh provide your name for the record

2:05:07please

2:05:09certainly good evening my name is edward

2:05:11schaefer with the law firm burke

2:05:13williams and sorenson representing the

2:05:15property owner

2:05:18i think we were all maybe naive to think

2:05:20that five years would be enough because

2:05:22of the unique circumstance of this

2:05:23property with the channel which has

2:05:25drawn the attention of several agencies

2:05:28and it has the historic house which has

2:05:30drawn even more attention

2:05:32the chronology shows a long process of

2:05:35dealing with the army corps of engineers

2:05:37mr moss did not mention the state

2:05:39historic preservation office that had to

2:05:41weigh in on the plans for the historic

2:05:43house

2:05:45they had to conduct asbestos and lead

2:05:47paint removal

2:05:48removed the interior

2:05:51finishings to identify the original

2:05:53window shapes to be able to prepare the

2:05:55architectural plans that were submitted

2:05:57to the state for approval for the

2:05:59renovation the historic renovation of

2:06:01the building

2:06:03the chronology indicates difficulties

2:06:05getting army corps staff to respond to

2:06:07participate in the the permitting

2:06:09process

2:06:12it was a

2:06:13continual process a very frustrating

2:06:15process for the property owner that

2:06:16they've gone through

2:06:18and just to indicate

2:06:20that

2:06:21my belief is murphy was an optimist this

2:06:24letter from the water board that caught

2:06:26us by surprise

2:06:28we now have to deal with the waterboard

2:06:31and straighten it out i'm told by our

2:06:34consultant that

2:06:36it should be a re-issuance of the prior

2:06:38approval that the nationwide permit that

2:06:40was renewed is identical and it should

2:06:43be a paperwork exercise but it will take

2:06:45time the water board can drag their feet

2:06:48we will push and try to get that done to

2:06:50solve it

2:06:51we did submit building plans they've

2:06:53gone through most of the city

2:06:55departments with comments that and the

2:06:57plans are being revised

2:07:00the applicant paid fifty thousand

2:07:02dollars to submit the plans before being

2:07:04submitted they had to pay thirty

2:07:06thousand for a sewer district flow test

2:07:08and they had to pay eighty thousand

2:07:11for school fees just to submit the plans

2:07:14with even before they were approved so

2:07:16they've made these expenses in good

2:07:17faith they are proceeding to get the

2:07:19approval to the point of being able to

2:07:21be built

2:07:23um what mr gowdy referred to about

2:07:27the property being sold is for the

2:07:28property owner to

2:07:31have the approvals ready to build which

2:07:33requires the development agreement with

2:07:35the pd zoning you need a development

2:07:38agreement mr gaudi says don't let the

2:07:40property sit there and continue to be

2:07:42blighted well you need the development

2:07:44agreement to go forward to make it a

2:07:46valuable housing resource for the city

2:07:49without a development agreement

2:07:51it will sit there until someone else

2:07:53comes in and applies for a development

2:07:55agreement etc etc

2:07:58as i mentioned the the water board

2:08:03and

2:08:04we um

2:08:06i'm here to answer any other questions

2:08:08that you may have about this process

2:08:12i recognize the time limit thank you

2:08:15if i may

2:08:17ask a question of the applicant go ahead

2:08:20um

2:08:20would a two or three year term on the

2:08:23development agreement be sufficient for

2:08:25you to get your permits in place and

2:08:28make the sale of property

2:08:30you know it's uh

2:08:31i wish

2:08:32i've been doing i've been representing

2:08:34developers for decades and when they

2:08:36come to me especially if they're from

2:08:38out of state and they ask how long will

2:08:39this take and i say take your most

2:08:41conservative estimate and then triple it

2:08:43and cross your fingers um the army corps

2:08:46is notorious for just letting things sit

2:08:48on desk and they change staff

2:08:51i'm told that the water board is

2:08:54supposed to respond to applications

2:08:56within 60 days but they can ask the army

2:08:58corps for extinctions for up to a year

2:09:01so

2:09:03we certainly don't want it to be sitting

2:09:04that long um

2:09:06while processing while the originally

2:09:08when it was approved in november of 2014

2:09:11but then the applicant recognized that

2:09:13it would it would be better to be an

2:09:15apartment complex than a condominium so

2:09:17immediately applied to do the minor

2:09:20amendment to the development agreement

2:09:21to change it to apartments had to revise

2:09:24the plans accordingly and i'm not sure

2:09:26why but it wasn't actually signed by the

2:09:29city and recorded until september 2016.

2:09:32now we were working with the other

2:09:33agencies but for those two years there

2:09:35wasn't as much progress as might have

2:09:37occurred otherwise

2:09:39um

2:09:40so to answer your question uh

2:09:43as i said when my clients asked me i

2:09:44said i i would sure hope to have it done

2:09:46quicker than that but

2:09:48i think the five years is

2:09:50to provide the uh the cushion to be able

2:09:53to recognize the unexpected delays that

2:09:56might occur

2:10:00thank you

2:10:01thank you

2:10:03do i have a motion to close the public

2:10:05hearing

2:10:06second

2:10:07a

2:10:08motion by

2:10:09quinto second by abelson all in favor

2:10:12aye

2:10:13those opposed motion carries

2:10:18right

2:10:20there any other further questions or

2:10:22discussion

2:10:23from the council

2:10:25yeah i'll make a comment um

2:10:28i

2:10:29i

2:10:31am familiar with the development

2:10:32industry and in familiar with

2:10:34development around wetlands and and

2:10:38habitat that could be endangered species

2:10:41habitat

2:10:43and and so

2:10:45i'm

2:10:46continuing to be unsupportive of this

2:10:48project

2:10:49that it hasn't moved is potentially

2:10:51indicative of a parcel that's overpriced

2:10:54certainly the parcel has not been

2:10:57maintained in in an attractive way i

2:10:59understand some of the field work you've

2:11:01had to do

2:11:03and and i'm not sure i can support this

2:11:05as a result of

2:11:07the letter we received today that

2:11:09suggests that there's

2:11:10a

2:11:12request for a waste discharge

2:11:13requirement

2:11:14so i

2:11:17won't be supporting this tonight

2:11:21but i certainly

2:11:22want to make one

2:11:25comment that's hugely redeeming on this

2:11:27project

2:11:29that you are potentially going to be

2:11:32making

2:11:33up to a 360 000

2:11:35uh

2:11:36contribution to our affordable housing

2:11:39fund

2:11:40sometime in the next

2:11:42six months to a year

2:11:44is

2:11:45certainly something that

2:11:46is

2:11:47that i can support

2:11:49and do acknowledge and do want to say

2:11:52how much we

2:11:53uh

2:11:54you know appreciate the

2:11:57project understanding how much housing

2:11:59is an important critical issue to our

2:12:01city

2:12:04any further comments

2:12:06um i'm

2:12:08willing to make a motion but first i'd

2:12:10like to make a comment okay go ahead um

2:12:13and my comment is that um

2:12:16i think we need all the units

2:12:19that we can get in town and the more

2:12:21units we have

2:12:23the more

2:12:24reasonable

2:12:26the cost of renting a unit will be

2:12:30and

2:12:32on the other side if we don't approve

2:12:34units then i think the

2:12:37you know the just looking at this

2:12:39laws of supply and demand

2:12:42the prices will

2:12:44continue to be an issue

2:12:46are

2:12:47even more of an issue than they would

2:12:48have otherwise have been and i'm really

2:12:50concerned about that and

2:12:52i um i have another side comment which

2:12:55is that people see that a property is in

2:12:58disarray can't they um i mean this is a

2:13:01question of staff i'm not sure who

2:13:04uh can't they report it to the city and

2:13:06can't we then go

2:13:07do something

2:13:09i can i can just answer a while

2:13:11just to save staff a trip to the podium

2:13:13okay you might want to supplement i mean

2:13:14yes and i think actually one of the

2:13:16things that mr moss tried to communicate

2:13:18is that

2:13:19there have been inquiries from the

2:13:21public about the property

2:13:23staff has communicated with the property

2:13:24owner and those have been addressed um

2:13:27and so going forward if there continued

2:13:29to be issues at the site we would expect

2:13:31that the public would continue to

2:13:33communicate those to city staff and we

2:13:35would encourage them to i mean at least

2:13:36i would encourage them to do that

2:13:39and uh so that we don't we so that it

2:13:41gets taken care of rather than us

2:13:43hearing about it

2:13:45after it's been an eyesore for a long

2:13:47period of time

2:13:48um i i would hope that that could be

2:13:50avoided um

2:13:52but i'm i'm ready to make a motion if

2:13:54we're ready for emotion and my emotion

2:13:57would be

2:13:59to

2:14:00pass a motion to introduce by title

2:14:02unwave

2:14:03the first reading of an ordinance to

2:14:05approve an amendment to the development

2:14:07agreement for the 1715 elm street

2:14:10project to extend the term of the

2:14:14agreement for five years subject to

2:14:17chapter

2:14:1819.30 inclusionary zoning of the

2:14:22el cerrito municipal code and authorized

2:14:24the city manager to execute the

2:14:25amendment

2:14:27i'll second

2:14:28a motion by abelson

2:14:31second by quinto all in favor

2:14:34aye

2:14:34those opposed

2:14:36no

2:14:37abstentions

2:14:39i abstain okay

2:14:41all right the motion passes

2:14:46i was gonna go for three

2:14:50all right

2:14:54next we have policy matters approval of

2:14:57the city of el cerrito green

2:14:58infrastructure plan

2:15:02may please have the staff report

2:15:06[Applause]

2:15:18good evening mayor and city council my

2:15:20name is will provost i'm the acting

2:15:22operations and environmental services

2:15:24division manager and i'm here tonight to

2:15:25present on our draft green

2:15:27infrastructure plan

2:15:29so first what is green infrastructure

2:15:32so really it's any engineered device or

2:15:34even just landscaping in trees things

2:15:36like rain gardens bioswells and

2:15:38permeable pavements that help clean

2:15:40stormwater before it enters the creeks

2:15:42and our bay

2:15:44it includes green roofs like at

2:15:45quarrymatsu school

2:15:47creek daylighting rainwater harvesting

2:15:49such as rain barrels or even tree

2:15:51planting

2:15:54the benefits include recharging

2:15:55groundwater supplies flood mitigation by

2:15:58slowing down peak flows habitat creation

2:16:01creek and wetland restoration through

2:16:03urban greening and even traffic calming

2:16:05when coupled with

2:16:07bulb outs and other measures

2:16:09and as well a co2 capture when you plant

2:16:11trees and add green space we're adding

2:16:14you know plants and trees that can help

2:16:15reduce co2

2:16:17and of course water quality improvement

2:16:18because that's one of the big drivers

2:16:20here and so why i have that bolded is as

2:16:22part of our municipal regional permit

2:16:24from the water board

2:16:25really what's driving the development of

2:16:27this very plan and

2:16:29the regulations moving forward is to

2:16:31improve water quality

2:16:34so in particular that's pcbs and mercury

2:16:37in the san francisco bay

2:16:39so el cerio's green infrastructure plan

2:16:42is required by our municipal regional

2:16:43stormwater permit and it's due with our

2:16:45annual report this year

2:16:47we're planning to submit that to the

2:16:49water board by the end of this month

2:16:52the goal of the plan and the plans being

2:16:54developed by all the other jurisdictions

2:16:55is primarily to reduce pcbs and mercury

2:16:58in the bay

2:16:59the long-term goal is to reduce pcbs pcb

2:17:02loads by 3000 grams a year and mercury

2:17:05loads by 10 000 grams a year county wide

2:17:07by 2040.

2:17:10some key elements of the plan

2:17:12listed here they're all required by our

2:17:15municipal regional permit include

2:17:16setting targets for the amount of

2:17:18impervious area to be treated by 2020

2:17:212030 and 2040.

2:17:23these include looking at private

2:17:24development and

2:17:25private development projections and

2:17:27ensuring that green infrastructure is

2:17:29incorporated onto the parcels as they

2:17:31are developed

2:17:32as well setting up a target and timeline

2:17:35for implementing a list of public

2:17:37projects

2:17:38a system for tracking and mapping

2:17:40projects guidelines for project design

2:17:43sizing and standard specifications

2:17:45integrating green infrastructure into

2:17:47related planning documents

2:17:49regional methods for estimating the

2:17:51actual pollution load reductions to be

2:17:53achieved over time

2:17:54an evaluation of funding options to

2:17:56actually implement the public projects

2:17:58and lastly policies and legal mechanisms

2:18:01for implementation which is namely our

2:18:03stormwater ordinance chapter 8.4

2:18:06and so these are the key elements of the

2:18:08plan but el cerrito did really go above

2:18:10and beyond the the minimum bar here by

2:18:12looking at actual concept designs

2:18:14thinking about how we would actually

2:18:16implement green infrastructure to really

2:18:18make it an implementable plan and not

2:18:20something that gets shelved

2:18:25so in terms of the public process we

2:18:26started with a framework that was

2:18:28presented to council back in 2017

2:18:31from there we participated actively in a

2:18:33county-wide storm water resources plan

2:18:35process

2:18:36which included stakeholder outreach and

2:18:38a west county workshop where

2:18:41we solicited community input and ideas

2:18:43for potential projects

2:18:46that was followed upon by a report to

2:18:47city council in 2018 and a presentation

2:18:50at the storm drain master plan public

2:18:52meeting talking about green

2:18:53infrastructure and our early drafts of

2:18:55the plan

2:18:56we followed that up with a written

2:18:58report to city council in april of this

2:18:59year

2:19:00and followed that up with a public

2:19:02meeting at the environmental quality

2:19:03committee

2:19:04in july and so these through the

2:19:06stakeholder workshops and the eqc

2:19:09various discussions we were able to

2:19:11solicit input for specific projects that

2:19:13were ultimately included in the plan

2:19:16in addition the eqc had an idea to add

2:19:18an appendix or section on resident

2:19:20actions on how they can help

2:19:22in a lot of ways these green

2:19:23infrastructure projects are complex and

2:19:25costly engineered devices but there are

2:19:27many ways that

2:19:29ordinary residents can help improve

2:19:31stormwater quality and i'll touch on

2:19:32that later

2:19:35so el cerrito is really ahead of the

2:19:36curve in terms of green infrastructure

2:19:38we've been implementing green

2:19:39infrastructure projects for more than 10

2:19:41years

2:19:42we have green infrastructure here at

2:19:43city hall right outside on san pablo

2:19:46avenue in eureka on san pablo avenue in

2:19:48madison

2:19:49we have green infrastructure facilities

2:19:51at the recycling center and of course on

2:19:53the ohlone greenway at fairmont avenue

2:19:55in addition we're expected to break

2:19:57ground on a new project with our

2:19:58partners on mosur and san pablo later

2:20:01this year

2:20:03the community development department and

2:20:05our engineering staff have also worked

2:20:06closely with all of the development

2:20:08projects recently in the pipeline and

2:20:09moving forward to make sure that green

2:20:11infrastructure is incorporated into plan

2:20:14designs and projects so that they

2:20:16capture and treat all the storm water on

2:20:18their property

2:20:21so to identify the projects in this plan

2:20:23we started with the stakeholder outreach

2:20:25conducted on the county-wide level as

2:20:26part of the stormwater resource plan

2:20:28and then we and that also included a gis

2:20:31analysis so they looked at all the

2:20:33parcels and public right-of-ways within

2:20:35the county to try and identify the the

2:20:37locations that would offer the maximum

2:20:39benefit

2:20:40we then went beyond that to look on

2:20:43locations on the map and looked at our

2:20:44own storm drain system and our own

2:20:46community to try and find where are the

2:20:48best places in el cerrito to

2:20:50add green infrastructure projects

2:20:52and it can be really site-specific

2:20:54because it has to do with where the

2:20:55water flows where our storm drain inlets

2:20:57are

2:20:58so that really required that on the

2:21:00ground field work that makes our plan

2:21:02much stronger

2:21:05ultimately the plan has 43 identified

2:21:07priorities prioritized projects

2:21:09throughout the community 17 of those

2:21:12have concept designs so to make them

2:21:14easily implement them also we can apply

2:21:16for grants work with developers work

2:21:18with capital improvement projects to

2:21:20make these things happen

2:21:22they're organized into six different

2:21:24groups including creek projects what

2:21:26we're calling major development projects

2:21:28san pablo avenue specific plan area

2:21:30projects

2:21:31other street projects parks projects and

2:21:34public buildings if we were to retrofit

2:21:36or update those

2:21:40here is an example of a concept design

2:21:42so this is the el cerrito del norte bart

2:21:43station

2:21:45you can see at the lower right corner

2:21:46there's a green box so that's where a

2:21:48potential green infrastructure facility

2:21:51could go in a bulb out or other

2:21:53landscaping

2:21:55what's great about these concept designs

2:21:57is that if there were

2:22:00if bart were to develop this parcel if

2:22:01we were to do a capital improvement

2:22:03project in the area we have this concept

2:22:05design it's it's already next to storm

2:22:07drain inlet we've looked at the drainage

2:22:09area capturing all those northbound

2:22:11lanes there and so it's really uh

2:22:14easy easy to implement from here

2:22:18in terms of implementing we're focused

2:22:21on implementing using our existing

2:22:22ordinance

2:22:23section 8.4

2:22:25which references the county-wide c3

2:22:27guidebook so primarily what that means

2:22:29is making sure

2:22:30that green infrastructure is

2:22:32incorporated into all new development

2:22:34projects

2:22:35one aspect of of the the ordinance in

2:22:37the guidebook is that it allows

2:22:38developers to build in-lieu projects and

2:22:40what that means that if they were to

2:22:42build a project that is larger and

2:22:44offers greater benefit to the community

2:22:46outside of their parcel that's something

2:22:48we could look at negotiating

2:22:50we also want to ensure that there are no

2:22:52missed opportunities that we're using

2:22:54these concept designs and that we're

2:22:56incorporating them into our projects

2:23:00and so too that when we're evaluating

2:23:01capital improvement projects on every

2:23:03capital improvement project we're

2:23:04evaluating it for green infrastructure

2:23:06potential

2:23:10in terms of estimates of impact of this

2:23:12plan

2:23:13based on the projections of private

2:23:14development through 2040 it's estimated

2:23:17uh in in these analyses uh conducted on

2:23:20the county-wide level that we're

2:23:21expected to treat more than one or

2:23:23nearly 1.4 million square feet of area

2:23:26in el cerrito through green

2:23:27infrastructure by 2040.

2:23:30similarly if all of the projects in this

2:23:32plan were implemented we would treat

2:23:34nearly 2.4 million square feet of area

2:23:37from our public projects by 2040.

2:23:40an important note here is that so the

2:23:42the regulatory driver has to do with

2:23:45reducing pcbs mercury and pollutants of

2:23:47concern

2:23:49but the truth is they aren't in high

2:23:51levels in el cerrito and in many

2:23:53communities throughout the county um and

2:23:55so because of there's there's a

2:23:57disparity between the geographic

2:23:58distribution of pollutants and the

2:24:00regulatory requirements the water board

2:24:02is currently working through how they'll

2:24:04set that up in the next permit term and

2:24:05future permit terms

2:24:08to

2:24:08move forward with green infrastructure

2:24:10when many communities may not have the

2:24:12pollutant driver that would make it cost

2:24:14effective to

2:24:16reduce those pollutants in our

2:24:17jurisdiction

2:24:20so in terms of implementation there are

2:24:22many challenges

2:24:24in terms of engineering challenges and

2:24:25constraints there are more and more

2:24:28features that we want to add to the

2:24:29streetscape including bike lanes bike

2:24:32racks

2:24:33bus lanes even and so it can be it can

2:24:36be difficult to site green