Regular City Council Meeting October 1, 2019

0:00:07so

0:00:35so

0:00:49so

0:04:34so

0:05:01so

0:11:26the meeting is called to order

0:11:28will the clerk please call roll council

0:11:30member fidelity here mayor pro-tem lyman

0:11:33here

0:11:34mayor pardue okimoto present council

0:11:36member abelson here council member

0:11:39quinto

0:11:41first we will have the pledge of

0:11:42allegiance or an observation of a moment

0:11:45of silence led by councilmember abelson

0:11:48i pledge allegiance to the flag of the

0:11:51united states of america and to the

0:11:54republic for which it stands

0:11:56one nation under god

0:11:59indivisible with liberty and justice for

0:12:02all

0:12:09do you have any communications from the

0:12:10staff

0:12:14and

0:12:15council member quinto um thank you mayor

0:12:18um

0:12:19last thursday

0:12:21i drove down to the city of fresno in

0:12:24the central valley and which is

0:12:27our mayor's hometown

0:12:28and i haven't been there in 30 years so

0:12:30driving down there and

0:12:33brought back a lot of nice memories when

0:12:35uh

0:12:36i guess the last time i was down there

0:12:37our

0:12:38marching band uh

0:12:40or one of the bands here at el cerrito

0:12:42high performed so that's how long it's

0:12:43been uh but we did a

0:12:46program with the asian pacific

0:12:50american congressional studies group

0:12:53and

0:12:54then i'm president of the api caucus of

0:12:56the league of california cities

0:12:58uh representing all the

0:13:00asian-american mayors and council

0:13:02members in the 480 plus cities

0:13:06we did a central valley regional

0:13:09leadership academy

0:13:12and got to meet so many

0:13:14young people who are interested in

0:13:18public service it was a great training

0:13:21i got to meet

0:13:23a lot of

0:13:25folks and a lot of elected officials

0:13:27down there my colleague in the city of

0:13:29oakland who's on my

0:13:32executive board uh council member uh

0:13:35shanghao who is uh one of the first

0:13:38hmong

0:13:38elected officials uh here in the east

0:13:42bay

0:13:42uh

0:13:43it was uh great to have her drive uh all

0:13:46the way down to fresno for that and

0:13:50i had a chance to meet with

0:13:52a candidate who's running for mayor of

0:13:54fresno

0:13:56mr andrew janz who

0:13:59was very close and

0:14:01uh not available

0:14:17councilmember ableton i have several

0:14:20things

0:14:22first of all on october 26th is the el

0:14:26cerrito free folk

0:14:28festival

0:14:29from noon till 10 pm

0:14:32and it will be located at el cerrito

0:14:34high school

0:14:37and

0:14:38it will be presented by the san

0:14:39francisco folk music

0:14:41club and association with the el cerrito

0:14:44arts and culture commission so

0:14:46you are all welcome to come to this free

0:14:49event

0:14:51and then

0:14:52another

0:14:53event

0:14:55this one is the

0:14:57senior winter ball

0:14:59and it's on saturday december the 21st

0:15:03from 6 to 10 p.m in the richmond

0:15:06auditorium

0:15:08at a

0:15:10403 civic center plaza in richmond

0:15:14and tickets will be on sale

0:15:16beginning october the 4th

0:15:19um

0:15:20and

0:15:21let's see how do you get tickets

0:15:25what i was wondering

0:15:27um i will leave this with um our staff

0:15:31and then

0:15:32could they contact

0:15:34a particular person

0:15:36on our staff

0:15:38if they're interested who would that be

0:15:40or what phone number should they call or

0:15:42whatever

0:15:45we can contact alex or myself okay

0:15:49um

0:15:52so um

0:15:55then the next item is also

0:15:57a senior item

0:15:59and that is the city of el cerrito

0:16:01senior resource fair

0:16:03it's actually

0:16:05tomorrow

0:16:07and it's a really fantastic

0:16:09event

0:16:11especially for seniors there's all kinds

0:16:13of senior services

0:16:15providing information about

0:16:16transportation educational opportunities

0:16:20housing and entertainment health and

0:16:22fitness

0:16:23county and city services volunteer

0:16:25opportunities and much more

0:16:28and it culminates with a free lunch

0:16:32which if it's like before is

0:16:34pizza and you can also while you're

0:16:37there

0:16:38if you bring your current medicare card

0:16:41you can get a free flu shot by safeway

0:16:45i'm i think

0:16:47you may not be included in the free if

0:16:50you are kaiser however but i'm not

0:16:52positive about that

0:16:54so it's going to be at the community

0:16:57center tomorrow 9 30 to noon

0:17:01includes lunch

0:17:02flu shot and all kinds of interesting

0:17:05booths so i i if you're interested at

0:17:08all i encourage you to come to that

0:17:11and um

0:17:13with that that that's it i think

0:17:17all right council member fidelity

0:17:20uh yes i attended the

0:17:22east bay

0:17:24league of cities

0:17:26group in alameda this week on disaster

0:17:29emergency response issues along with

0:17:31janet abelson

0:17:33and as the alternative

0:17:36attended the mce retreat

0:17:38all-day retreat in richmond

0:17:41with other cities

0:17:42represented in our service area

0:17:45um also just on a note that our

0:17:48el sweden plaza owners

0:17:50notified me that in fact they're going

0:17:52to after many years if not they were

0:17:54going to be having lighting this holiday

0:17:56season in the plaza

0:17:58going up and down they're in the process

0:18:00of painting the whole

0:18:01uh

0:18:02shopping mall right now so it's looking

0:18:04good and lights will be nice and i was

0:18:07glad to hear the chamber of commerce

0:18:09have supported that effort and supported

0:18:10el cerrito having more lights in our

0:18:12downtown area and i'm glad that our city

0:18:15is also exploring the possibility of

0:18:17doing the same thank you

0:18:23i want to thank our police and fire

0:18:25for participating in the tri-safety day

0:18:28this was last weekend

0:18:30other communities that sent

0:18:32fire

0:18:33and police were kensington richmond and

0:18:36contra costa county

0:18:38so there was quite a

0:18:40interesting display of

0:18:42equipment and skills and fun for the

0:18:46kids

0:18:47one of the things that

0:18:49is always

0:18:50wonderful to see is how quickly they can

0:18:53extract somebody from a

0:18:55vehicle that has been

0:18:57just crushed

0:18:58so it's uh quite the experience it's not

0:19:01every year in september so if you are

0:19:04interested in uh seeing these types of

0:19:07things or have kids that are interested

0:19:08it's tri-safety day

0:19:11on the calendar for this week is a

0:19:15ribbon cutting at a new business right

0:19:17now dental and it is located on

0:19:21san pablo avenue

0:19:23um let's see if i can get it down the

0:19:25corner from safeway around the corner

0:19:27from safeway i'm told

0:19:28um so it's at 11 4 30 san pablo avenue

0:19:32around the corner from safeway and that

0:19:34they're having ribbon cutting on

0:19:36thursday

0:19:37at 5 30

0:19:39and then

0:19:41also on thursday

0:19:43bart is having an open house next door

0:19:46at uh hannah gar hot on gardens and

0:19:48that's at between 6 30 and 8 30 and

0:19:51that's with regards to their

0:19:53anticipated development around the plaza

0:19:56bart station so

0:19:58those are some of the things that i

0:19:59wanted to highlight for

0:20:01the public thanks

0:20:04and recently uh after our climate

0:20:06emergency

0:20:08declaration i did uh commit to going to

0:20:11some regional meetings on the

0:20:13on the topic and i went to my first

0:20:15meeting this is

0:20:17uh coordinated by cheryl davila of

0:20:20berkeley city council

0:20:22and many other

0:20:24council members as well as community

0:20:26members are part of her

0:20:28team

0:20:29and the idea is to really mobilize the

0:20:32community and get people engaged in

0:20:35climate action

0:20:37what i came away from the meeting was

0:20:39and i wanted to share with our

0:20:40subcommittee here is

0:20:42possibly doing a forum

0:20:45a climate action plan forum so really

0:20:48sharing with the community

0:20:50what our climate action plan is here and

0:20:52then also engaging the community

0:20:54in developing our

0:20:56our revisal to our climate action plan

0:20:59um

0:21:00also um what was talked about as you

0:21:03know or many of you may know is that

0:21:05berkeley has

0:21:06voted on doing electrification of new

0:21:09buildings and um something i'm certainly

0:21:11interested in i've seen a lot in the

0:21:13news that there are other cities

0:21:14considering this and i hope that some of

0:21:16my other council members are also

0:21:18interested in possibly exploring this

0:21:21for the city of el cerrito

0:21:24and then finally

0:21:25we have on our consent calendar

0:21:28tonight a proclamation to have tomorrow

0:21:33declared queen queen air day in the city

0:21:36of el cerrito so

0:21:37consider

0:21:38biking walking taking public transit or

0:21:41doing other activities to decrease your

0:21:44carbon footprint tomorrow

0:21:48that's all i have for announcements

0:21:51next we will move on to

0:21:53oral communications from the public

0:21:56at this time anyone wishing to speak

0:21:59should bring a card to the city cork

0:22:01remarks are typically limited to three

0:22:03minutes per person however i may limit

0:22:06that depending on the number of speakers

0:22:09comments regarding non-agenda items and

0:22:11consent calendar items will be heard

0:22:13first comments related to other agenda

0:22:15items will be heard at the time the city

0:22:17council deliberates on them

0:22:20and also we will likely be pulling

0:22:24items d

0:22:25f and g

0:22:27from the consent calendar so if you do

0:22:30have comments on

0:22:32any of those items you can wait um until

0:22:36that is being further discussed

0:22:40so with that do we have any speakers

0:22:44we do we have

0:22:48about 10 speakers tonight um three that

0:22:51did indicate item

0:22:53f so i'll put those three to the side so

0:22:55the first speaker under general

0:22:57communications is joanna furman followed

0:22:59by denise sangster

0:23:09good evening

0:23:11i'm johanna furman i'm a kensington

0:23:13resident for over a decade

0:23:15having relocated here from washington

0:23:18d.c when i was appointed medical chief

0:23:21for contra costa's mental health public

0:23:23mental health system

0:23:25i've spent many years in government and

0:23:27regulatory roles and i take a special

0:23:30interest in what i call good governance

0:23:34my purpose in coming

0:23:36before you this evening

0:23:38is to express my concern for the rfp

0:23:42for the kensington police that went out

0:23:45apparently without notifying you

0:23:48or other recipients of the ordinance in

0:23:51place since 2009

0:23:54that ordinance calling for a vote in the

0:23:56event of any contracting out

0:24:00that ordinance was signed by nearly 1

0:24:02000 households and was adopted by

0:24:05kensington's then

0:24:08the kensington police protection and

0:24:10community services district one of

0:24:13kensington's two governing boards

0:24:16while i understand

0:24:18and i'm encouraged that other

0:24:20well-respected kensington residents have

0:24:22already come before you

0:24:24to address this issue

0:24:26it is one so central to good governance

0:24:30that i felt it important

0:24:32to come before you myself to share my

0:24:35support for the will of kensington's

0:24:37residents

0:24:38that has been expressed in that

0:24:40ordinance

0:24:42what is it that so concerns me

0:24:46and i believe a majority of kensington

0:24:48residents

0:24:50specifically

0:24:52the legality of any movement

0:24:55toward contracting out

0:24:57without kensington having a vote

0:25:00or

0:25:01recognizing that this is something to be

0:25:04decided in the courts

0:25:07it should also be noted that we have now

0:25:11had another round

0:25:12of residents responding to a mailing

0:25:15more recently

0:25:17within the past month

0:25:20and already we have had hundreds of

0:25:22households weighing in in the

0:25:24affirmative for a vote

0:25:28it is my hope

0:25:31in the interest of good governance

0:25:33and avoiding liability

0:25:36that el cerrito will want to see this

0:25:39issue

0:25:40put where it belongs

0:25:43with the people of kensington

0:25:46thank you so much

0:25:48thank you

0:25:49the next speaker is denise sangster

0:25:50followed by gary prost

0:25:56good evening my name is denise sangster

0:25:58i live up on arlington

0:26:00um i have five points on wildfire issues

0:26:02that i'd like to address tonight the

0:26:04first one is the mcbride vegetation

0:26:06management plan which was

0:26:09is targeted at uc berkeley's strawberry

0:26:11and

0:26:13claremont canyons why this is so

0:26:15important for this area is we're almost

0:26:17a complete carbon copy of that canyon

0:26:19and what's going on there almost

0:26:21identical and i believe that what has

0:26:24been recommended by professor emeritus

0:26:26mcbride should be taken to heart and

0:26:28should be actioned by the city council

0:26:31of el cerrito as fast as possible

0:26:34this report is basically identifies and

0:26:36recommends the following actions

0:26:38site-specific fuel reduction treatments

0:26:41placing highly hazardous plantations of

0:26:44eucalyptus and conifers replacing them

0:26:46with less hazardous hazardous natives

0:26:49guidelines for tree density per acre

0:26:51sprout management management of rare and

0:26:54endangered species and the cost of

0:26:56initial cleanup and annual maintenance

0:26:59the mcbride plan also addresses safety

0:27:01of evacuation routes in the canyon areas

0:27:03due to fire to to future fires

0:27:06specifically this plan is calling for 20

0:27:08foot clearance

0:27:10away from evacuation routes 20 feet

0:27:14that's a huge wide band but if you drive

0:27:17up and down the arlington now there is

0:27:19not one block on the arlington

0:27:21from kensington to richmond that does

0:27:24not have trees overhanging

0:27:27overhanging telephone lines and

0:27:28overhanging a quote unquote evacuation

0:27:30route that street will be shut down and

0:27:32people will only have one narrow lane to

0:27:34go which is down the center if they can

0:27:36even make that this is a hazardous

0:27:39condition

0:27:40and we need something done about it

0:27:42we also need fuel reduction plan

0:27:44immediately next to and adjacent to

0:27:46these

0:27:47fire routes

0:27:49as well as any overhanging branches that

0:27:51may collapse onto the telephone lines

0:27:53those should be removed it's all over

0:27:55the city but particularly it should be

0:27:57done first on evacuation rounds you've

0:28:00been sent this report today as i

0:28:01understand it and

0:28:03um

0:28:04it's it's an easy to read it's direct

0:28:07there's no fluff it's just dr mcbride

0:28:09who is a great guy very brilliant man

0:28:12and is well known around the world for

0:28:14his very innovative but straightforward

0:28:17easy to execute plans that are both

0:28:19conservative in nature but aggressive in

0:28:22protecting human life first and then

0:28:24going after houses and endangered

0:28:26species so i would beg you to please

0:28:29read this and follow his first advice

0:28:32which is you've got to go after the

0:28:34eucalyptus that's his number one

0:28:35recommendation

0:28:37and

0:28:38my second point is about eucalyptus

0:28:41we have neighbors including near

0:28:44councilman lymon that are still planting

0:28:46eucalyptus in the city today

0:28:49they're still planting them one neighbor

0:28:51within two blocks of your house planted

0:28:53six eucalyptus this summer on their

0:28:55property these are massive trees already

0:28:58we need to have every kind of eucalyptus

0:29:00variety banned thank you

0:29:03thank you

0:29:05your time is up yeah

0:29:08okay well i'm gonna just say my other

0:29:10points and then i'll go

0:29:12no thank you

0:29:14okay i'll fill out another form

0:29:17the next speaker is gary prost followed

0:29:19by robin mitchell

0:29:23here city council i'm gary prost

0:29:27el cerrito

0:29:28and member of el cerrito fire safe

0:29:31and i'd like to report to you tonight

0:29:34the result of a citizen initiative

0:29:36centered on buckingham court

0:29:40to

0:29:41reduce vegetation

0:29:43that might be fire had fire hazard

0:29:46in july a group of neighbors got

0:29:48together and made an application to

0:29:51diablo fire safe council

0:29:54applying for a five thousand dollar

0:29:56grant

0:29:57we just heard that it's been approved

0:29:59that's the good news the bad news is

0:30:01we're number 62 out of

0:30:04and they're currently working on

0:30:07application number 20. so

0:30:09they have no idea when this is going to

0:30:10come through but in the meantime we will

0:30:12continue to work to make our

0:30:14neighborhood fire safe thank you

0:30:17the next speaker is robin mitchell

0:30:18followed by mark

0:30:20constantini

0:30:29um hello my name is robin mitchell i

0:30:31live in el cerrito

0:30:33this weekend i participated in a

0:30:35volunteer effort to clear vegetation in

0:30:38the backyard of an el cerrito resident

0:30:40to comply with a notice from the fire

0:30:42department to clean up his yard at once

0:30:45the resident is an 88 year old man who

0:30:48suffers from diabetes and is in a

0:30:49wheelchair

0:30:51he was not able to do the work himself

0:30:53and did not have the resources to hire

0:30:55someone and if the work was not done in

0:30:58time he would be fined

0:31:00another el cerrito resident who was

0:31:01delivering meals on wheels to this

0:31:03person took it upon herself to help him

0:31:06she worked for months alone and then

0:31:08finally this weekend was able to

0:31:10organize about 20 volunteers to get the

0:31:12yard finished i would like to commend

0:31:15both her and the volunteers that did the

0:31:17work the yard looks great and i think it

0:31:19will pass the fire department inspection

0:31:21with flying colors

0:31:23however it was just by accident that she

0:31:26found out about this situation

0:31:28there must be many more people in el

0:31:30cerrito in a similar situation

0:31:33given the increased standards for fire

0:31:35abatement vegetation management which i

0:31:36believe is necessary

0:31:39it seems that the city needs to ponder

0:31:41how it might be able to help citizens

0:31:43with limited resources to do this work

0:31:48and clearly from the last speaker there

0:31:50are monetary resources that might be

0:31:52possible but i suspect that the people

0:31:54falling into this person's category

0:31:56would not know how to do that

0:31:58so maybe the city can compile resources

0:32:01for residents that are in this situation

0:32:03to help them figure out how to comply

0:32:06maybe keep a list of residents that need

0:32:08help and this is something we've talked

0:32:10about

0:32:10in the past is have a volunteer

0:32:12coordinator to help mobilize groups to

0:32:14help people like this

0:32:16and i don't think that that the city can

0:32:19solely rely on volunteer effort to do

0:32:21this work but certainly volunteers can

0:32:23play a part

0:32:24and i don't really know what a good

0:32:26solution is because the city doesn't

0:32:28necessarily have the resources to deal

0:32:29with this completely but

0:32:31i think maybe it's worth trying to

0:32:34figure out how to at least compile some

0:32:36information and figure out who some of

0:32:38these people are that need that kind of

0:32:40help thank you the next speaker is mark

0:32:42constantini followed by dave weinstein

0:32:52so dave weinstein is the next speaker

0:32:54followed by heidi goldstein

0:32:57uh mayor and uh members of the council

0:32:59i'm dave weinstein speaking

0:33:00in my role as president of the

0:33:02historical society just here to tell you

0:33:04that we are celebrating credence

0:33:06clearwater revival

0:33:08starting tomorrow when we are mounting

0:33:11an exhibition

0:33:13upstairs in the gallery it'll be up for

0:33:15most of the month

0:33:17on october

0:33:1911th which is a friday there will be a

0:33:21reception in this building with

0:33:23refreshments about the exhibition and

0:33:26two days later sunday at two o'clock

0:33:28there will be a talk by alec palau the

0:33:31same gentleman who has done the

0:33:32exhibition

0:33:34this year marks not just 50 years since

0:33:37greetings became the most popular band

0:33:39in the world with all kinds of hits but

0:33:41just as importantly 60 years since they

0:33:44were founded in portal or junior high

0:33:46alec palau who lives in el cerrito and

0:33:48is from england has really studied the

0:33:51history of the band and makes the

0:33:53argument that their years in el cerrito

0:33:55were extremely important to the great

0:33:58band they became when they had their

0:34:00hits unlike most bands they had been

0:34:02playing together for 10 years starting

0:34:04in portola and all over town we have a

0:34:07map this should be a really great series

0:34:10of events bringing i think

0:34:12attention that is deserved both to el

0:34:14cerrito and to this great rock band

0:34:17which is famous today worldwide and

0:34:20people worldwide by the way will be

0:34:22coming to these events so i hope to see

0:34:24you there and hope it'll be a great

0:34:26event

0:34:28matter of fact i'm sure it will be so

0:34:30thanks a lot

0:34:31the next speaker is heidi golds

0:34:33goldstein followed by buddy akkasij

0:34:38hello

0:34:40and greetings esteem city council madam

0:34:43mayor and members of the community hey

0:34:47i'm heidi goldstein senior community

0:34:48library manager of the el cerrito

0:34:50library

0:34:51and i'm here to talk to you guys about

0:34:53some exciting updates

0:34:55so between june 11th and august 8th

0:34:59we served in the el cerrito library 832

0:35:04lunches over 26 days to students as part

0:35:07of our lunch at the library program

0:35:10in june alone we had 46 programs with

0:35:15over 2 000 attendees

0:35:17imagine that in that little hot building

0:35:20in july we had 68 programs with almost 2

0:35:23500 attendees and then in august we had

0:35:2647 programs with about 2 000 attendees

0:35:30and thanks to our generous city council

0:35:32the library was able to increase the

0:35:33amount of time that our doors were open

0:35:35and uh 29

0:35:37which raised our hourly average from 62

0:35:40to 65 people coming in

0:35:43our door count for

0:35:452017-2018 fiscal year was a hundred and

0:35:48twenty-four thousand and our door

0:35:50account for the fiscal year 2018 and

0:35:522019 was

0:35:54171 thousand and so that's a 38 increase

0:35:59which is kind of awesome

0:36:01we do have lots of fabulous events

0:36:03coming up in october

0:36:05um aside from our extremely popular

0:36:07recurring events like story time read to

0:36:09a dog esl conversation group and mystery

0:36:11book club we also have many activities

0:36:14planned for all members of our household

0:36:16your household

0:36:18including but not limited to wednesday

0:36:20wonderings with a focus on science and

0:36:22stem

0:36:23and all month long we're going to be

0:36:24celebrating the fabulous union of teens

0:36:27and libraries with teen tober

0:36:30after school fun such as mask making

0:36:32teen read bingo bath bombs and batmania

0:36:37on october 7th through the 10th we're

0:36:39going to be embracing 4h week with our

0:36:42local wildcat 4-h club who will be

0:36:45bringing activities like cooking sewing

0:36:47gardening and aeronautics into the

0:36:49library

0:36:51on october 12th i'm proud to say el

0:36:53cerrito will be featured in lit quake

0:36:55bay area literary um

0:36:58event for the very first time ever

0:37:00and so this is they've been around for

0:37:0220 years and it's called 20 and 20 and

0:37:04this is going to be the very first time

0:37:06el cerrito has been featured

0:37:07october 15th we have container gardening

0:37:10lead

0:37:11container gardening in small spaces led

0:37:13by uc master gardener

0:37:15october 21st college budgeting which is

0:37:17the basics of funding college

0:37:19october 23rd spooky stories writing

0:37:21workshop for teens and tweens that's not

0:37:24all there's a calendar outside with lots

0:37:26of other stuff finally we'll also be

0:37:28having our annual and i'm sure everybody

0:37:30could not wait for this guess the weight

0:37:32of the pumpkin contest for 2018 2019.

0:37:36finally we've also contra costa county

0:37:38library has also added five new fabulous

0:37:41library designs so if you have not yet

0:37:43come in to get your little otter or

0:37:45astronaut i highly recommend you do so

0:37:48thank you your time is up thank you the

0:37:50next speaker is betty akasich followed

0:37:52by sue duncan

0:38:03good evening a pleasure to see you once

0:38:05again um buddy akasic honor gardens

0:38:08and uh just a couple of brief things i

0:38:11went to my first city council meeting

0:38:14ever that wasn't in el cerrito

0:38:17was in richmond

0:38:19really a different scene

0:38:21way bigger

0:38:23way more dynamic way more controversial

0:38:25guys getting up and just haranguing and

0:38:28carrying on and

0:38:30the other thing i just very quickly is

0:38:33it conceivable that within the scope of

0:38:35the san pablo master plan a hospital

0:38:38could be included

0:38:40thank you

0:38:42and the final speaker is sue duncan

0:38:52good evening sue duncan el cerrito i

0:38:54just wanted to answer robin in her

0:38:57concern we also have the concern about

0:38:59people unable to

0:39:02clear their lots as they should

0:39:04and one solution that we've been working

0:39:06on that i spoke about at the last

0:39:07meeting was firewise we are in the

0:39:11very end

0:39:12part of

0:39:13completing our application we're waiting

0:39:15for our um

0:39:17okay actually to become a firewise

0:39:18neighborhood with 89 initial homes in it

0:39:22and once we get going we hope to bring

0:39:24other neighborhoods into the area so

0:39:28that is one way for neighborhoods to

0:39:30help each other work together to reduce

0:39:33vegetation and to also harden their

0:39:35houses

0:39:36and

0:39:37i hope to see other firewise

0:39:39neighborhoods soon and el cerrito will

0:39:41be able to help them and i also would

0:39:43like to see the city council uh behind

0:39:45us in our efforts thank you

0:39:47thank you

0:39:50all right with that we'll move on to the

0:39:53slip okay well we don't finish my

0:39:55comments which she has the public

0:39:57comments are limited to three minutes

0:39:59per person well this council has an

0:40:01established policy under the leadership

0:40:03of janet nelson and greg lyman where

0:40:05they've allowed people in the city to

0:40:07come back with a second slip and

0:40:11no

0:40:12actually uh bill jones was one that you

0:40:14allowed greg to speak three times in one

0:40:16council meeting and i remember janet

0:40:18allowing someone else

0:40:20okay

0:40:22okay well i've tried to run a very tight

0:40:24ship my suggestion is next time you come

0:40:26with someone have the other person say

0:40:28the other points that you want to

0:40:30discuss

0:40:34and you can split it up against four or

0:40:36five people but each person gets three

0:40:38minutes and that way we can treat

0:40:39everyone the same my timer didn't match

0:40:42her timer i guess

0:40:43okay

0:40:46so you're saying that even though

0:40:47there's an established presence

0:40:50yes please have a seat

0:40:57okay so with that we'll move on to the

0:41:00consent calendar

0:41:06so a approval of minutes the

0:41:09national arts and humanities

0:41:11month proclamation

0:41:15c

0:41:16proclamation honoring joan carpenter

0:41:19upon retirement

0:41:21d ordinance to amend the development

0:41:24agreement for 1715 elm street project

0:41:28and please note that there was a typo

0:41:31and that

0:41:33we will record

0:41:34that action as proposed and it should

0:41:36read

0:41:37ordinance 2019-08

0:41:41not

0:41:432018-08 as written

0:41:47e storm drain easement

0:41:50with 1 0

0:41:523 0 0 san pablo avenue

0:41:55f

0:41:56resolution of support for the

0:41:58county-wide imposition of a one-half of

0:42:01one percent

0:42:03sales tax to fund transportation

0:42:05improvements in contra costa county and

0:42:07adopting to

0:42:09and adopting the proposed transportation

0:42:11expenditure plan conditionally amending

0:42:14the growth management program

0:42:17g

0:42:18approval of league of california city's

0:42:212019

0:42:22annual conference resolutions packet

0:42:26and h

0:42:28clean air day proclamation i move

0:42:30approval of items a b

0:42:33c

0:42:34e and h

0:42:36i'll second

0:42:38motion by lyman second by quinto

0:42:42all in favor aye those opposed

0:42:45motion carries

0:42:47record me as an eye sorry

0:42:49all right so now we will go back to yeah

0:42:52i pulled item d so that uh i can uh

0:42:54record my vote against item d so you may

0:42:57go ahead and call the question

0:43:02do i have a motion i'll call i'll

0:43:05uh i um

0:43:08make a motion to approve item

0:43:10d ordinance to amend the development

0:43:13agreement for 1715 l

0:43:17i will second that okay motion by

0:43:19abelson second by quinto

0:43:22all in favor

0:43:23aye

0:43:25there's opposed nay

0:43:27motion carries

0:43:31and next we have

0:43:34f

0:43:35yes

0:43:37if i can just make i i pulled this

0:43:39item uh not not in opposition but

0:43:42because i believe

0:43:44anything that

0:43:45relates to new taxes should be heard by

0:43:47the public and we should know what's

0:43:49going on in that respect but also

0:43:51because this is a greatly important

0:43:52issue and i think however we can get the

0:43:54word out about this

0:43:56is important

0:43:59second i think

0:44:02the public needs to hear about how el

0:44:04cerrito will benefit from this regional

0:44:07tax that's coming in

0:44:09we have congestion this is the way to

0:44:11lead

0:44:13to help against the congestion that we

0:44:15have

0:44:16and and finally i wanted to say

0:44:19thirdly

0:44:20i want to thank janet abelson who serves

0:44:22on wic tack and ccta for all her hard

0:44:25work

0:44:26it took a lot of work to pull this

0:44:28together she fought for el cerrito we

0:44:30have a lot of good things in here and

0:44:32will benefit from a lot of annual

0:44:34money funding that will come here to

0:44:36also be a lot of extra meetings is that

0:44:38correct janet on this about one a week

0:44:41yes so thank you for that publicly but

0:44:43also again reducing congestion

0:44:46there are many goals that this sets

0:44:48forth transit first is another goal

0:44:50which is very important bart will be

0:44:51improved by its quality of life and the

0:44:54leveraging that we will get from the

0:44:55funding that will come to us will help

0:44:57us with a lot of projects in el cerrito

0:44:59so that's that's all that i wanted to

0:45:01say and i wanted to clarify that the

0:45:02reason that i pulled that and i look

0:45:04forward to any

0:45:06staff input from that leaning forward

0:45:08but it is another tax and we've had our

0:45:12rm3 sb1 in the state

0:45:15on gas tax and just tonight on the news

0:45:17was a 100 billion dollar potential tax

0:45:20regionally for the new tube

0:45:22so so thank you for the time here

0:45:24um

0:45:26should we move on that one separately or

0:45:27go to let's go ahead and move that one

0:45:29um i i just have since you pulled it i

0:45:31do have one more comment or would you

0:45:32like to comment first yeah the comment

0:45:34that i would like to make is i've um

0:45:38had a a lot of experience with

0:45:41uh sales tax measures now

0:45:43oh

0:45:44um along this you know from the same

0:45:47agency and for the county

0:45:50and um each time i ask the same question

0:45:54which is a question i ask actually of ac

0:45:57transit

0:45:58and the question is what does ac transit

0:46:01think about this tax

0:46:03and um

0:46:05i've gotten the best answer of any of

0:46:07the answers

0:46:09uh this time and the person who always

0:46:11gives me this answer at least usually

0:46:13the person isn't here tonight but ryan

0:46:16can you tell me what

0:46:18ryan

0:46:19uh

0:46:21works for ac transit and i'm wondering

0:46:23if i could ask him just to tell me

0:46:26what he thinks this measure does in west

0:46:28county for ac transit

0:46:31come to the mic please

0:46:33if you if you're willing

0:46:35brian is also signed up as one of them

0:46:36unless you don't want me to do that in

0:46:38which case i'll tell you what the other

0:46:40person said

0:46:42i have some

0:46:43shared comments

0:46:45they speak

0:46:47some extent to your question but the

0:46:50question i wanted answered was sort of a

0:46:52one sentence answer of

0:46:55what percent of the west county money

0:46:57would go into

0:46:59this measure i know the answer actually

0:47:01already

0:47:02if that's

0:47:04of

0:47:05west county it's about a third

0:47:07i'm i'm sorry i didn't mean to make it

0:47:09so complicated but about a third uh am i

0:47:12correct matt hear from you in a bit in a

0:47:14minute thank you so much i'm sorry i

0:47:17thought

0:47:18when i've asked that question before i

0:47:20got an immediate answer

0:47:23good evening council members yvette

0:47:25ortiz the city's public works director

0:47:27uh

0:47:27council member abelson are you asking

0:47:29what proportion of the measures funding

0:47:31would come to west county no okay ac

0:47:35transit okay so hashem noemi with the

0:47:38authority is here and he may be able to

0:47:39answer that question for you

0:47:42this is an answer i've been given every

0:47:44time i ask it of um

0:47:46chris people's actually from ac transit

0:47:49good evening

0:47:50not the mayor and council members hisham

0:47:52raymi and the director of programming at

0:47:55the contra cost transportation authority

0:47:58west county the measure will generate

0:48:00about 3.6 billion dollars over 35 years

0:48:04west county will get about

0:48:06840 million dollars if my memory serves

0:48:09me correctly

0:48:11and 250 million dollars would be going

0:48:13to ac transit and westcat

0:48:17so it's about one-third

0:48:19uh to answer your question

0:48:21so this is

0:48:23an answer i've never been able to get

0:48:25before this time this is the best answer

0:48:29as far as i'm concerned in terms of

0:48:31being supportive of transit

0:48:34that we have ever had

0:48:36so this is

0:48:38from that point of view which looking

0:48:40which is looking at transit first

0:48:42transit and so forth this is the best

0:48:45measure

0:48:46we have had to date um

0:48:48which i i hope you take is a a

0:48:51strong endorsement of the measure so i'd

0:48:54like to move measure

0:48:55oh i'm sorry

0:48:56we have some speakers on the item and

0:49:00i also wanted to just make a quick

0:49:02comment um

0:49:03we recently heard supervisor

0:49:06joya speak at an event and

0:49:08that i'm in support of this

0:49:11of this

0:49:12resolution but

0:49:14i

0:49:15i do have a bit of pause as he did

0:49:17mention that

0:49:19you know

0:49:20west contra costa county has

0:49:22less funding for

0:49:24health care compared to alameda county

0:49:26because alameda county has a special tax

0:49:28for health care and that's one of the

0:49:30reasons they're able to

0:49:31fund their public hospitals as well as

0:49:33they are as opposed and in addition to

0:49:36other programs and and if we want to

0:49:38really

0:49:40improve our health care here in west

0:49:41county

0:49:42uh

0:49:44another sales tax may be on the horizon

0:49:47and we're getting pretty maxed out on

0:49:49sales taxes around here so

0:49:52i just wanted to bring that to

0:49:53everyone's attention that

0:49:56that could possibly be something in the

0:49:57future and i hope that

0:49:59you'll find it in your hearts to in your

0:50:01wallets to support it if it does come

0:50:03along

0:50:04um and with that i'll go ahead and start

0:50:06with the public comments okay the first

0:50:08speaker on this item is mark fuji

0:50:11followed by glenn lovell

0:50:19good evening esteemed

0:50:21madam mayor and city council members my

0:50:23name is mark fusch i'm the executive

0:50:25director for the carpenters training

0:50:27trust fund for northern california

0:50:30i'm here this evening in support of

0:50:31adopting the 2020 transportation

0:50:33expenditure plan with the inclusion of

0:50:35the joint apprenticeship language as

0:50:37written

0:50:38not all das registered apprenticeship

0:50:40programs are the same a joint

0:50:42apprenticeship program

0:50:44is administered by a labor and

0:50:46management board of trustees established

0:50:48through terms that are negotiated in

0:50:50collective bargaining agreements

0:50:52private funds sponsor robust and real

0:50:54world training programs apprentices earn

0:50:56while they learn through both related

0:50:58supplemental instruction and on-the-job

0:51:00training

0:51:01joint apprenticeship programs invest

0:51:03millions of dollars in private dollars

0:51:05each year

0:51:06into developing the best workforce for

0:51:08the long-term benefit

0:51:10of our contractors our members and our

0:51:12communities

0:51:13we appreciate your support in keeping

0:51:15the joint apprenticeship language in the

0:51:172020 transportation expenditure plan as

0:51:20it is written thank you for your time

0:51:23thank you the next speaker is glenn

0:51:25lovell followed by ryan lau

0:51:30good evening council my name is glenn

0:51:31lovell i'm speaking on behalf of the

0:51:33ironworkers union local 378

0:51:36we represent members in el cerrito and

0:51:38across contra costa county

0:51:41also speaking in favor of the current

0:51:43language for this proposed

0:51:46transportation expenditure plan under

0:51:48ccta including specifically retaining

0:51:51the joint labor management

0:51:54language in the apprenticeships

0:51:56we know that this measure will raise

0:51:57critical revenue for the ever expanding

0:52:00and increasingly complex transportation

0:52:02needs of this county

0:52:05it also represents economic development

0:52:07potentially at its best

0:52:10given the kind of dialogue that it has

0:52:12with the community work toward

0:52:14underserved communities and its specific

0:52:17emphasis on the creation of living wage

0:52:19and middle class jobs in these projects

0:52:22the labor management

0:52:24apprenticeship program language is vital

0:52:26to retain because

0:52:29it manages to keep important internal

0:52:32accountability measures in the

0:52:33apprenticeship programs

0:52:35best ways to identify pressing issues

0:52:38and best practices with representatives

0:52:41of both labor and business at the table

0:52:45many of the programs apprenticeship

0:52:47programs most successful in turning

0:52:49having higher graduation rates and

0:52:50turning out a larger volume of

0:52:52apprentices

0:52:53operate within this framework

0:52:55uh we know that this time the public

0:52:57it would want to be looking toward the

0:52:59best possible programs

0:53:02to train workers to build this vital you

0:53:05know these vital public investments and

0:53:07infrastructure and that would require

0:53:10some of the best designed apprenticeship

0:53:11programs to enable this we've been

0:53:14deeply encouraged by the process that

0:53:16we've seen in the development of this

0:53:17measure

0:53:18not just to address the increasingly

0:53:20complex

0:53:21and greater transportation needs of the

0:53:23county but also

0:53:26some of the truly democratic measures

0:53:28that it takes in engaging with

0:53:30stakeholders across the county

0:53:33while simultaneously targeting

0:53:35living wage jobs through those

0:53:37apprenticeship programs which as you

0:53:39heard mentioned before

0:53:41are fundamentally debt-free

0:53:44and an excellent pathway into the middle

0:53:46class thank you thank you and our final

0:53:48speaker is ryan lau

0:53:55good evening mayor and council members

0:53:57my name is ryan lau uh external affairs

0:53:59representative from ac transit

0:54:02uh to tonight i'm here to speak on the

0:54:04topic of the contra costa transportation

0:54:06expenditure plan or tep for short

0:54:10and how it'll

0:54:11help ac transit improve its ability to

0:54:14serve your community to council member

0:54:16fidelity's

0:54:17point

0:54:18um the 2020 contra costa tep and its

0:54:21authors really recognize

0:54:23that the contra costa community will uh

0:54:25was ready to

0:54:27utilize public transit as an alternative

0:54:29to the private auto in the gold to

0:54:31alleviate congestion

0:54:33this expenditure plan has dedicated 250

0:54:36million dollars toward improving bus

0:54:38service in west county benefiting the

0:54:415.8 million people that utilize ac

0:54:43transit buses in west county every year

0:54:47the tep goes on to provide an additional

0:54:5090 million to provide express bus

0:54:53service down the i-80 corridor which

0:54:56could could go a long way in easing what

0:54:58mtc has named

0:55:00the worst commute in the bay area

0:55:03it has been demonstrated time and time

0:55:04again that increased ridership follows

0:55:06improved transit service

0:55:09beyond the rather large infusion of

0:55:10transit funding the tep also adopted a

0:55:14number of forward-looking policies

0:55:17uh to guide its investments the vehicle

0:55:21miles

0:55:22vehicles my vehicle miles traveled and

0:55:26greenhouse gas performance standards

0:55:28transit policy

0:55:30complete streets policy advanced

0:55:33mitigations program transit first

0:55:36vision zero all of these policies will

0:55:38help to ensure that

0:55:40uh we are moving moving more people with

0:55:43less resources emitting less greenhouse

0:55:45gases and doing it in a way that is

0:55:47safer for everyone

0:55:48all together the contra costa tep

0:55:51creates a package that will make a

0:55:53considerable impact

0:55:54on our goals of reducing congestion and

0:55:57our carbon footprint in the relatively

0:55:59near future

0:56:00thank you thank you

0:56:04it concludes our speakers okay

0:56:09i would like

0:56:11to make a motion to approve

0:56:13item

0:56:15f resolution of the supports for the

0:56:18county-wide imposition of a half cent

0:56:21of one percent sales tax to fund

0:56:24transportation improvements in contra

0:56:27costa county and adopting the proposed

0:56:29transportation expenditure plan

0:56:32conditionally amending the growth

0:56:34management program when i second that

0:56:38motion by abelson second by fidelity all

0:56:41in favor aye aye does oppose

0:56:44motion carries

0:56:47so mayor i requested uh item g be pulled

0:56:50for two reasons one i i want to thank um

0:56:54i don't know who i'm thinking i want to

0:56:56thank somebody for actually putting this

0:56:57on the the council so from a perspective

0:57:01of

0:57:02giving direction to people who are

0:57:04voting on on items this is exceptional

0:57:07we've this is new to us and so i wanted

0:57:10to pull it to acknowledge that this is

0:57:11something that we've not been doing and

0:57:14say this is great this is the type of

0:57:15thing we should be using the consent

0:57:17calendar for and is to make sure that

0:57:19people know how to act on behalf

0:57:22so that's the main reason i pulled it

0:57:24although i wanted to also when i first

0:57:26read through it i was wondering why

0:57:28we're you know taking up actions that

0:57:31will benefit other cities and it wasn't

0:57:33until i read it the second time that i

0:57:35understood what benefit it was to el

0:57:37cerrito

0:57:38for those that are still here and have

0:57:40fire as an issue the one of these

0:57:43resolutions that we're we're taking to

0:57:46that we would be approving or that um

0:57:49the recommendation is to approve at the

0:57:50league

0:57:51is uh changes the rules for

0:57:53undergrounding power lines and that

0:57:55would

0:57:56definitely benefit el cerrito

0:57:59it does use the term

0:58:02very high hazard fire hazard

0:58:05natural zones or something to that

0:58:07effect it's a six letter acronym and we

0:58:09may if i remember correctly we do have

0:58:11some areas in el cerrito that do fit

0:58:13that description so that this

0:58:15this recommendation definitely uh helps

0:58:18us

0:58:18and the second one is a no-brainer for

0:58:21el cerrito in that it deals with

0:58:23international pollution and pollution

0:58:24along the southern border

0:58:26so again

0:58:27although it looked like it was just

0:58:28benefiting a

0:58:30small set of communities the when you

0:58:32read through the packet it does explain

0:58:34why certain resolutions are taken up by

0:58:37the league of california cities and this

0:58:39particular one does fit all of those

0:58:41it's highlighting an issue that we

0:58:44should all care about so

0:58:47if there's no speakers i'd be delighted

0:58:48to move forward

0:58:50on this too and we do not have any

0:58:52speakers on this item

0:58:53yeah and i'm glad this was pulled and i

0:58:55want to parrot everything that the

0:58:56councilman has said

0:58:58um

0:58:59and i i rule 20a on programs we've had

0:59:02letters from people up in our hills

0:59:05concerning undergrounding and how

0:59:06important this is

0:59:08i i do believe that this resolution will

0:59:10more than likely pass at the conference

0:59:13coming up in october down in long beach

0:59:15one thing i wanted to say is i'm hoping

0:59:17that we can

0:59:18in el cerrito when we pass this likewise

0:59:20get a letter of support written

0:59:23so we can join the other cities they

0:59:24have a real letter of support supporting

0:59:26this

0:59:27desire to the puc

0:59:30and

0:59:31because i'm hoping that

0:59:32should we move forward on this this

0:59:34could be future legislation i think in

0:59:37sacramento that requires

0:59:40the puc to get more funding for uh rule

0:59:4328 so that those fire hazard areas can

0:59:46underground and be higher on the

0:59:48priority list than some of the other uh

0:59:50local cities and uh

0:59:52streets in the city

0:59:54and this is by motion so you could

0:59:56certainly work that into your motion to

0:59:57give

0:59:58me direction to work with the mayor to

1:00:01do that literally great absolutely thank

1:00:03you

1:00:05thank you thank you

1:00:07as your representative to the league of

1:00:09california cities i'll be voting into

1:00:12support of this and so i appreciate

1:00:14my colleagues here for uh supporting

1:00:17this and knowing that uh

1:00:19what we do and all of our different

1:00:22committees

1:00:23all of us are participating on this

1:00:25we actually help frame these

1:00:28legislations to make sure our leaders in

1:00:31sacramento know that we support or we do

1:00:34not support them so

1:00:36that's why i want to make sure along

1:00:37with the mayor that word got out on what

1:00:40we do and we go through all each

1:00:43legislation to make sure

1:00:45that that everyone either supports it or

1:00:47not so

1:00:49i want to thank you mayor for uh

1:00:51putting this on the

1:00:54consent file

1:00:55thank you and i think that this um

1:00:58this one particularly would affect us

1:01:01about undergrounding the power lines and

1:01:03i just you know can't give it enough of

1:01:05my

1:01:06support and i hope that the league of

1:01:08cities is able to pass this resolution

1:01:10and take that to sacramento to encourage

1:01:13the

1:01:14what

1:01:15the current legislation is in um the

1:01:18senators the senate committee senate

1:01:20committee so hopefully we can you know

1:01:22let them know that

1:01:24the el cerrito and cities all up and

1:01:26down california are very much in favor

1:01:28of this so

1:01:30with that i'll ask for a motion sure

1:01:31i'll move a resolution authorizing our

1:01:34delegate to vote in favor of these two

1:01:36resolutions

1:01:37authorize our delegate to speak publicly

1:01:40in favor of the resolution amendment to

1:01:43rule 20a

1:01:44and authorize our mayor to sign a letter

1:01:47of support in favor of the resolution

1:01:51for amendment to rule 20a i'll second

1:01:53that

1:01:54motion by lyman second by quinto all in

1:01:57favor

1:01:59those opposed

1:02:00motion carries

1:02:03all right thank you very much now we

1:02:05will move on to our presentations

1:02:08first we have the contra costa library

1:02:10commission update

1:02:12please come forward

1:02:14mr fisher

1:02:18madam mayor and members of the council

1:02:21uh i will not uh simply go and repeat

1:02:25the items in my report i assume you all

1:02:27know how to read and support libraries

1:02:30and you've been able to read that

1:02:32i would like to emphasize a few things

1:02:35and how they

1:02:37do things uh in by way of information

1:02:41first

1:02:42the report does talk about

1:02:45the beginning steps

1:02:47to bring a new 21st century library to

1:02:51our city

1:02:54we had a meeting a few months ago i

1:02:56guess it is now

1:02:59one of the items and only one of the

1:03:01possibilities that was talked about was

1:03:04perhaps

1:03:05including it as part of the new trent

1:03:08bart transit oriented development

1:03:12at the el cerrito plaza station i should

1:03:17emphasize that those are separate

1:03:19concepts

1:03:20the library is not critical to

1:03:23transit oriented development program

1:03:28so

1:03:29that one will stand on its own and i

1:03:31notice uh

1:03:33remember lyman

1:03:35mentioning the meeting this thursday at

1:03:39hannah gardens which i would encourage

1:03:41anyone who's interested in the

1:03:44transit-oriented development

1:03:46particularly to be there

1:03:50next i've

1:03:52just very recently learned

1:03:54that one of the aspects of the census

1:03:58which will be taking place in 2020

1:04:01will be a lot of it will be online

1:04:05and as we know with the digital divide

1:04:07that we have in this country there are

1:04:09many people who don't have access to

1:04:11online

1:04:13services except through you got it the

1:04:16library

1:04:18so

1:04:18our library

1:04:20unfortunately in its present state of

1:04:24somewhat small and somewhat uh

1:04:27difficult to uh

1:04:29you know to utilize at times

1:04:32will still be one of the things that

1:04:34will be used as part of that census

1:04:37program

1:04:40the council's efforts to increase the

1:04:43hours at the library will at least make

1:04:46sure that people will have more time

1:04:48when they can do that

1:04:51[Music]

1:04:52finally um

1:04:55heidi mentioned uh

1:04:58about the usage of our library that it's

1:05:02becoming bigger

1:05:03more more people

1:05:06appear per hour at the library we have

1:05:09more hours

1:05:11we have more programs we have more

1:05:13participation in the programs

1:05:16one of the benefits from

1:05:18our

1:05:20increased hours is we now have full-time

1:05:23staff and we're now a desirable library

1:05:27for

1:05:28members or for for staff to be at and

1:05:31that

1:05:32under heidi's leadership has really

1:05:35brought some amazing new programs

1:05:40the only thing we need now is a better

1:05:43place to put all of that and i know

1:05:45you're working on that and i'm going to

1:05:47work on that

1:05:48and i thank you are there any questions

1:05:52any questions

1:05:55are there speakers on this we do have

1:05:56one speaker on this item yeah i have a

1:05:59comment and i i know the camera is going

1:06:00to

1:06:01zoom in here

1:06:03i want to talk about what heidi was

1:06:05mentioning about the new cards i know

1:06:07this is black and white but there's the

1:06:09reading otter and there's the

1:06:11like i can't tell through there's a

1:06:13train and there's what else is there

1:06:15they're all online so

1:06:19astronaut otter fox mount diablo poppies

1:06:23and a train

1:06:26choo choo choo choo it's a train

1:06:30i gotta say get to get the cargo is

1:06:32books

1:06:33and if you want to provide me that flyer

1:06:34i can also include it in our

1:06:35supplemental materials if you like you

1:06:37you gave it to us

1:06:40it's in the packets page uh 189.

1:06:43it's in the packet

1:06:46so michael con thanks for your

1:06:48continuing efforts

1:06:50we won't forget about our need for a

1:06:52library in el cerrito lots of other

1:06:54things come up

1:06:56and my daughter just told me who kind of

1:06:58is into urban design that libraries

1:07:00nationally are becoming also the

1:07:02centerpiece

1:07:03for evacuation and disaster preparedness

1:07:06it's another place to meet a place to

1:07:08get information and we shouldn't forget

1:07:10about that as well and that i talked

1:07:13about in a previous report as well as

1:07:15you may remember uh

1:07:17particularly as places of refuge in

1:07:20smoking cooling

1:07:22cooling centers lots of things yes thank

1:07:24you very much

1:07:25thank you thank you okay we do have one

1:07:28speaker on this item howdy gaudi

1:07:34good evening mayor and council members

1:07:36my name is howdy gowdy live in el

1:07:37cerrito um so i just wanted to

1:07:39appreciate uh heidi and the commission

1:07:42report for

1:07:43you know

1:07:45laying out all the amazing things that

1:07:46our library is doing the programs are

1:07:49very impressive list of

1:07:51of things and um

1:07:53i just wanted to bring up one more that

1:07:55i became aware of that i think i'm not

1:07:58speaking prematurely but

1:08:00county-wide all the libraries have been

1:08:03given a a toolkit for evaluating energy

1:08:07efficiency in homes

1:08:08and

1:08:10there will be

1:08:12videos that i think county staff is

1:08:14intending to

1:08:16put together to help people understand

1:08:18how to utilize them but they're things

1:08:19that

1:08:20allow you to

1:08:22you know measure temperatures or

1:08:25electrical use and it's just a kit of

1:08:27tools you can check out from the library

1:08:29and and understand energy use in your

1:08:32home better and

1:08:33hopefully

1:08:35help reduce energy use so i just want

1:08:37people to be aware that that resource

1:08:39exists in our el cerrito library and all

1:08:42county libraries so thank you

1:08:44thank you mayor if i if we could ask

1:08:47heidi goldstein to come forward to

1:08:48confirm that maybe

1:08:50in 20 seconds or less

1:08:54it's true

1:08:56very good thank you

1:08:58we do have one kit it's for checkout of

1:09:01it it's available we got it in the mail

1:09:03i think last monday we were so excited

1:09:05it's got all kinds of great stuff in it

1:09:07including a temperature taker which we

1:09:09did use on the hot day

1:09:11thank you

1:09:13do you have any further

1:09:15questions or comments from the council

1:09:17all right well thank you very much for

1:09:19your presentation we appreciate it

1:09:21and your service

1:09:23next we have the citizens street

1:09:25oversight committee annual report

1:09:33good evening madam mayor and council

1:09:36members it's great to be here tonight

1:09:37matthew kelly chair of the

1:09:39el cerritos citizen street oversight

1:09:42committee

1:09:43on july 15 of this year the citizen

1:09:46street oversight committee met to review

1:09:48expenditures of fiscal year

1:09:512017-2018 revenue collected pursuant to

1:09:54chapter 4.6 of the municipal code and

1:09:57that was in order to determine whether

1:09:59such funds were expended for purposes

1:10:02specified in the current street repair

1:10:04and maintenance maintenance expenditure

1:10:07plan

1:10:08that you all approved

1:10:11the

1:10:12the committee review also reviewed the

1:10:14agreed upon procedures report that was

1:10:16issued by the city's independent auditor

1:10:20and that indicated that the city was in

1:10:22compliance with the terms covenants and

1:10:25conditions of the master installment

1:10:27sale agreement that was related to the

1:10:29bond issuance

1:10:31for the tax

1:10:33and the committee also reviewed a

1:10:35detailed list of vendors to which

1:10:37funds were

1:10:39to whom expenditures were made

1:10:42basically who was paid

1:10:44through the the revenue of the measure

1:10:47by a vote of four to zero

1:10:49of the members present that night

1:10:51the committee found that the

1:10:52expenditures were an appropriate use of

1:10:55the

1:10:55pothole and local street improvement and

1:10:58maintenance transactions and use tax

1:11:01i'll call it measure a

1:11:03as approved by the city of el cerrito

1:11:05city council

1:11:06the commission is hereby reporting their

1:11:08findings to the council and to the

1:11:10citizens of el cerrito pursuant to

1:11:12section 2.04

1:11:15320 c

1:11:16of the municipal code and additionally

1:11:18the committee

1:11:20acknowledges and fully supports that you

1:11:22the council in your resolutions

1:11:24authorizing expenditures of these funds

1:11:27as budget amendments

1:11:28are confirming that the expenditures are

1:11:31an appropriate use of measure a

1:11:35and i'd also like to thank

1:11:37staff liaison ivette ortiz for her

1:11:40support over the last year and for the

1:11:42other four members of the committee who

1:11:44aren't here tonight and for their

1:11:46service to the city that completes my

1:11:48report tonight thank you does anyone

1:11:50have any questions

1:11:54do we have any speakers on this item we

1:11:55do not

1:11:57well thank you thank you very much for

1:11:59your service we appreciate you

1:12:01this is an action item that's what i was

1:12:04about to ask okay so it says receive and

1:12:06file i'd like to make a motion

1:12:08to do so

1:12:10i'd like to make a motion to that we

1:12:12receive this report and file it second

1:12:14all right motion by abelson second by

1:12:17lyman all in favor aye

1:12:20is opposed motion carries

1:12:25okay

1:12:27next we have the arts and culture

1:12:28commission update

1:12:38good evening madam mayor members of the

1:12:40city council and members of the public

1:12:43my name is ruth kasden

1:12:45excuse me and i'm the chair of the el

1:12:47cerrito arts and culture commission i

1:12:50believe

1:12:51even council members just received a

1:12:54copy

1:12:55of

1:12:56our commission overview thank you very

1:12:58much

1:13:00at any event i won't read the whole

1:13:02thing i know brevity is the soul of wit

1:13:05oh i'm sorry i know council remember

1:13:08fidelity is really unhappy that i don't

1:13:10read it but i will go through some of

1:13:12the key points um it's in outline form

1:13:16i'm sure you're all aware that the basic

1:13:19mission of the arts and culture

1:13:20commission is to promote the arts in

1:13:24the city of el cerrito

1:13:26currently

1:13:27we have

1:13:29six members on the commission

1:13:33and we have one vacant seat and the

1:13:35commission is quite hopeful

1:13:38that you will be able to fill that

1:13:40vacancy as soon as possible with someone

1:13:42who is eager and excited

1:13:45to be involved in the commission's work

1:13:48okay

1:13:50in giving the overview of the commission

1:13:51the first thing i'd just like to mention

1:13:53is

1:13:54we have three main ongoing projects

1:13:58every year

1:13:59we administer the one percent for public

1:14:01art fund

1:14:02we jury the city hall gallery space

1:14:05which is upstairs and we participate in

1:14:08city events and no matter what else we

1:14:10do we're always involved in those three

1:14:14projects

1:14:16annually

1:14:17we promote arts month and

1:14:22we've included pictures here of you've

1:14:25seen our big arts month banners and they

1:14:28are now up in the city on san pablo

1:14:31avenue and a couple of other places

1:14:33and we also promote

1:14:36various arts and culture related events

1:14:39that happen in arts month october

1:14:42we have a commissioner chris

1:14:45who is an excellent artist and he has

1:14:47designed this year's poster and i

1:14:50believe there are copies of it outside

1:14:52in the lobby it's really attractive

1:14:54some of the major events that we are

1:14:56sponsoring

1:14:58this october will be lit quake at the

1:15:00library and i'll talk more about that in

1:15:02just a bit

1:15:03um

1:15:04the el cerrito art association show we

1:15:07sponsor one of the awards

1:15:10there's an environmental awareness art

1:15:12and essay contest for teens and of

1:15:15course our el cerrito free folk festival

1:15:17talk more about that later

1:15:19so

1:15:20what big things are we doing well one of

1:15:23our major projects is always the a crew

1:15:26project that's our artist in residence

1:15:28project a crew stands for el cerrito

1:15:32creative reuse program

1:15:34and essentially what we do is we select

1:15:37an artist for nine months they're

1:15:40artists they are an artist in residence

1:15:42and their charge is to create art from

1:15:47recycled materials

1:15:50and then to run various community events

1:15:54and um to display some of this artwork

1:15:58by the way the recycling center

1:16:01houses this material and has been

1:16:03extremely helpful and cooperative in

1:16:06this program without their help

1:16:08this program could not have gone on

1:16:11um

1:16:13we just finished

1:16:15the term of our second artist in

1:16:18residence sandy dropny and we are in the

1:16:20process of selecting a new artist and i

1:16:23believe the selection will be made at

1:16:26our october commission meeting at the

1:16:28end of this month new terms starting in

1:16:30november

1:16:32sandy um just had a display of her work

1:16:37in the gallery in september these were

1:16:40garments made out of woven recyclable

1:16:44recycled materials and fantastic stuff

1:16:48another major

1:16:50undertaking of the commission has been

1:16:52poetry and we have

1:16:54a city poet laureate our current poet

1:16:57laureate

1:16:58is

1:16:59danny danielle gabrielle and her term

1:17:02goes until

1:17:04the end of august in 2020

1:17:07our poet laureate involves the community

1:17:11in

1:17:12readings writing poetry

1:17:14and she'll be participating in the

1:17:17library's lit quake

1:17:20which is a poetry event during arts

1:17:24month in which she and ma shine win our

1:17:28former poet laureate and other poet

1:17:31laureates from local cities

1:17:33will be

1:17:34reading their poetry we're really

1:17:35excited about that

1:17:38i also want to mention that the

1:17:40commission received

1:17:43a california arts council grant

1:17:47in relationship to our poet laureate

1:17:51to help fund a multi-disciplinary

1:17:53project

1:17:55around poetry exploring the ideas of

1:17:58family and how family is changing in our

1:18:00community and so we're really proud of

1:18:03having done that

1:18:05commission also sponsors

1:18:08when it happens the one city one book

1:18:10program this is a program where

1:18:14in conjunction with the library

1:18:17one book is chosen

1:18:19and we have supported this as a

1:18:22commission by paying for the books and

1:18:24we provide free books and everybody in

1:18:26the city has a chance to read the same

1:18:28book

1:18:29and then there are events that go on at

1:18:32the end of that including a reading by

1:18:35the author

1:18:36and also discussion groups the last one

1:18:40was the 57 bus which you might remember

1:18:43was about the young man wearing a kilt

1:18:47who was burned on the back of the 57 bus

1:18:50and some of the events included

1:18:52discussion groups of teens because this

1:18:55was a high schooler

1:18:57as well as adult discussion group and

1:19:00that was the last

1:19:01one city one book that we were involved

1:19:03in

1:19:05what was very new this year was in the

1:19:07realm of music and that's of course this

1:19:09is this is my baby

1:19:12this was the el cerrito summer orchestra

1:19:14program and it was essentially run by

1:19:17the california sound collective which we

1:19:19sponsored

1:19:21and their conductor and director is

1:19:23david ramadanov who used to be an

1:19:25assistant conductor with the sf symphony

1:19:28what made this program unique and

1:19:30exciting

1:19:31was it was three-tiered it involved a

1:19:34professional orchestra

1:19:36it involved an advanced community

1:19:39amateur orchestra and a beginning

1:19:41orchestra

1:19:42and then there was a major concert

1:19:45performance which was very well attended

1:19:48at the end of august the beginning

1:19:50orchestra was so well attended

1:19:53that the members came to the acc meeting

1:19:57last time and begged us to run it again

1:19:59in the fall

1:20:01i would mention that right now we're not

1:20:03we're a little under enrolled it starts

1:20:05next week so if anyone here is looking

1:20:08to

1:20:09take up a an instrument

1:20:11that you haven't played for a number of

1:20:13years or take up a second instrument or

1:20:16you're an adult beginner we've got a

1:20:18great program for you starting next

1:20:20monday and all the details are on the

1:20:22acc's website

1:20:26we also sponsored last year

1:20:29[Music]

1:20:31a down-home music concert and gallery

1:20:33exhibit as everybody knows crit and by

1:20:36the way if you're following on this

1:20:37there's a typo it says chris chris

1:20:39stryquist it should be just chris

1:20:42strikewoods i got a little carried away

1:20:44as i was doing that he was the founder

1:20:47of our hooley records and we had an

1:20:49outdoor concert

1:20:51with a live dj

1:20:53and chris himself was there and

1:20:55concurrently we had a gallery exhibit of

1:20:58the album covers from

1:21:01some of the major or huli records

1:21:04that have been issued over

1:21:06the years it was really terrific

1:21:09okay the commission also sponsors other

1:21:12events

1:21:13financially two of the most important

1:21:16ones in my estimation

1:21:18are

1:21:19the fourth of july world one festival

1:21:22and everybody knows that on the fourth

1:21:25of july there's all kinds of music and a

1:21:27main stage there's also the third of

1:21:29july music the night before

1:21:32and each year cory mason has come to the

1:21:35commission asked us to sponsor

1:21:36financially

1:21:38the musicians who perform

1:21:40on the 3rd of july and we have done that

1:21:43for a couple of years now and i presume

1:21:46that he will come to us again and that

1:21:48the commission will entertain that

1:21:50favorably as well at least i hope last

1:21:52summer it was latin music and

1:21:55we sponsored

1:21:56the group aguasero and also bululu it

1:22:00took me a while to get that pronounced

1:22:01right but it is boululu okay

1:22:04we also sponsor the elsarita or one of

1:22:07the sponsors of the el cerrito high jazz

1:22:10festival which is quite the event

1:22:13jazz bands from high schools from all

1:22:15over the state

1:22:16convene in el cerrito high

1:22:20they have workshops master classes

1:22:23clinics

1:22:24concerts and adjudicated performances

1:22:27and then on saturday night they have

1:22:29professional jazz musicians come in and

1:22:32in the past what was really cool was

1:22:34that the winning high school band

1:22:36was the opening act

1:22:38for the pros on saturday night concert

1:22:41and so we are very proud to have

1:22:42sponsored that

1:22:46um

1:22:47as

1:22:48i mentioned before we sponsor every

1:22:50october during arts month the el cerrito

1:22:52free folk festival

1:22:55last couple of years it's been held at

1:22:56el cerrito high

1:22:58and they have performances there's dance

1:23:01there's workshop there's opportunities

1:23:04for the community to participate

1:23:06and there's even a family program that

1:23:08involves the kids and we are sponsoring

1:23:10it again this year

1:23:11it's and actually i believe uh council

1:23:14member abelson mentioned this at the

1:23:16beginning of the meeting at least i

1:23:18think you did

1:23:19it's saturday october 26th from noon to

1:23:2310 p.m

1:23:26we've also sponsored

1:23:28film events held at the rialto

1:23:32last year we did white sun and at last

1:23:35commission meeting um

1:23:37a week or so ago actually

1:23:40we voted to sponsor the whole coming and

1:23:43it will be in the rialto in november the

1:23:47date is was not certain as of the

1:23:50commission we had to work that out with

1:23:52the rialto the homecoming um

1:23:55deals

1:23:56with the 442nd regiment in world war ii

1:24:00and the returning

1:24:03japanese descent

1:24:06soldiers and what they experienced when

1:24:08they come home and when they came home

1:24:09and that should be a really exciting

1:24:11event the date will be on our el cerrito

1:24:14arts and culture web page

1:24:17as soon as that is

1:24:20determined exactly because we're not

1:24:22sure

1:24:23we also

1:24:25collaborated with the economic

1:24:26development committee last year to help

1:24:29provide music in the restaurants during

1:24:32restaurant week and the commission

1:24:36granted honoraria to the musicians who

1:24:39participated

1:24:41we sponsored messi art day for the kids

1:24:44and as i'm coming to the end the last

1:24:47three things i want to mention are kind

1:24:48are a little bit more operational

1:24:51one of the things we did this year which

1:24:54we are very pleased with

1:24:56is we have formalized and standardized

1:24:59our proposal process what happens

1:25:02what had been happening is that people

1:25:04and groups were coming to the commission

1:25:07um asking for support you see the kind

1:25:10of projects that we support well

1:25:12sometimes it would be on the back of a

1:25:14napkin sometimes it would be in a book

1:25:16as long as war and peace

1:25:19sometimes it didn't have all the

1:25:21information that we need sometimes they

1:25:23would come to us with something and it's

1:25:25four days before they need the

1:25:27sponsorship so the commission worked

1:25:29very very hard

1:25:30to standardize and formalize

1:25:33the way to

1:25:35submit a proposal it is online it's

1:25:38quite clear and it also specifies how

1:25:41much lead time we need so that the

1:25:43commission can make

1:25:45a an informed decision and i'm really

1:25:48pleased that we did that we've been able

1:25:50to do that this year

1:25:53two major projects

1:25:55that um we are going to be looking at in

1:25:58the next 12 months

1:26:02the last time the master plan

1:26:05for the commission was updated

1:26:07was in 2013 and i think the community

1:26:11has changed and evolved i think we there

1:26:14are different sensibilities different

1:26:16needs so

1:26:18we are going to undertake a revision of

1:26:21the arts and culture commission master

1:26:23plan over the next year

1:26:25and

1:26:26in conjunction with that and actually

1:26:29really leading up to that we are going

1:26:31to have some kind of town hall meeting

1:26:34or event

1:26:35to solicit

1:26:37input from the public

1:26:40as to

1:26:42what is important to the public and what

1:26:44they would like to see in terms of arts

1:26:47and culture in the city uh we had hoped

1:26:50to have that town hall meeting going

1:26:52before

1:26:53the end of calendar 2019 but it looks to

1:26:56be

1:26:57more likely in early 2020

1:27:00and the other thing that the commission

1:27:02wants to undertake um

1:27:05you all might remember that the

1:27:06commission um

1:27:08[Music]

1:27:10commissioned that the commission

1:27:11commissioned yes um the wind sculptures

1:27:14on san pablo avenue and that's been a

1:27:17while and so we are

1:27:19going to undertake a plan of

1:27:22looking at commissioning another

1:27:25major piece of public artwork for the

1:27:28city and this will be a fairly long

1:27:31complex process

1:27:34we will probably try to incorporate some

1:27:36ideas from the community town hall

1:27:38meeting and we'll need to get started by

1:27:40creating an rfp so i think the

1:27:42commission has a lot of work

1:27:45ahead of it in the next year and the

1:27:47last thing i want to do is just thank

1:27:48the council for your support of the

1:27:50commission

1:27:52if you have any questions i'll try and

1:27:54answer them otherwise i'll get back to

1:27:55you

1:27:56later on if i can't answer them

1:27:59member fidelity yeah thank you so much

1:28:01ruth thanks for all you do

1:28:03i always look forward to seeing those

1:28:04banners come up in october because it

1:28:06means

1:28:08we get to demonstrate and put an

1:28:09umbrella over all the various art

1:28:11projects that we have in el cerrito

1:28:14and it's and it's pretty amazing to have

1:28:16that listing

1:28:17i'm really happy to hear about that

1:28:18major art project along san pablo avenue

1:28:21this is place making and we're at the

1:28:23time of our growth and

1:28:26cleaning up san pablo avenue growing

1:28:28along san pablo we need to demonstrate

1:28:30who we are at this time and after our

1:28:32centennial this is a great time to go

1:28:34through that process so congratulations

1:28:36and good luck well we're just at the

1:28:38beginning not an easy thing to choose

1:28:40um

1:28:41also all the work you do with our hooli

1:28:43records i mean people don't understand

1:28:45that's a national treasure that we have

1:28:47in el cerrito and chris someday should

1:28:49be on a stamp a u.s postage stamp

1:28:52because what he brings and the

1:28:54smithsonian the connection to the

1:28:55smithsonian

1:28:57it's important we need to support that

1:28:58in any way we can so thank you for that

1:29:01um

1:29:02and maybe i'm speaking out of turn here

1:29:05but i think we had a brief conversation

1:29:07just casually

1:29:08we just had elm street

1:29:10discussion here in our

1:29:12that white house

1:29:1599 years we get to use it wouldn't it be

1:29:17wonderful to have another art gallery

1:29:20and a conference little area there

1:29:22somehow

1:29:23i don't know the logistics i haven't

1:29:25looked at it

1:29:27let's talk about it this is maybe

1:29:29developed

1:29:30what a great place to have besides the

1:29:31second floor of city hall another art

1:29:34gallery in the northern part of our city

1:29:36and well the other thing that i would

1:29:38like about that our art gal it's

1:29:40terrific that we have that gallery it is

1:29:42long and thin and there's it limits the

1:29:45the kind of art that we can put up there

1:29:47because if the art is too big you just

1:29:49can't get far enough

1:29:51away from the art to see it of course we

1:29:53can't put up any art that is not wall

1:29:56art you know that that's not gonna work

1:29:58so if there were some other space i

1:29:59think we could have a casualty if

1:30:01somebody falls over at the edge looking

1:30:03at yeah and then you'd be talking to

1:30:04your liability insurance carrier no

1:30:06doubt anyway thank you very much all the

1:30:09good work i love el cerrito being an art

1:30:11center in the east bay thank you thank

1:30:13you

1:30:14the question

1:30:16councilman thank you mayor

1:30:19commissioner uh thank you for your

1:30:20thorough report uh one thing i'd like to

1:30:23uh say um as a former musician and i

1:30:27haven't touched

1:30:28my musical instruments and in 30 years

1:30:31i'm excited that that you set up that uh

1:30:35beginning and and medium

1:30:38you know

1:30:39band and and one of these days after my

1:30:42political days i will join you on that

1:30:44so uh

1:30:48i wanted to say um as as a former

1:30:50musician he used to play in clubs in l.a

1:30:53during my punk rock days and a lot of us

1:30:56are up here living in el cerrito now

1:30:58including

1:31:00our former uh poet laureate and uh

1:31:03so uh that little group that played the

1:31:06uh uh last year when i was mayor made

1:31:10these great songs

1:31:11named after me one of them is uh quinto

1:31:14and a pinto a motorcycle hill

1:31:17so

1:31:18you know i just want to say what we have

1:31:19creativity here in this town and i also

1:31:22want to say thank you to

1:31:24sandy drobny who lives around the corner

1:31:26from us on mcdonald and

1:31:29very much appreciated her work uh as the

1:31:32residence artist

1:31:33thank you

1:31:35i should say and in addition to that

1:31:37sort of thing i was very excited i

1:31:40attended the last meeting of the arts

1:31:42and culture

1:31:43commission and i was going to report on

1:31:45it but i i i think i've

1:31:47been beaten to the punch on that one and

1:31:50that's okay

1:31:51is the excitement

1:31:53from that beginning orchestra group

1:31:56was just amazing

1:31:58they they came to

1:32:00to plea for their program

1:32:03and they were you could just see they're

1:32:04already a group they weren't like

1:32:06individuals just

1:32:08you know randomly coming they were a

1:32:10group and they had found meaning and

1:32:13purpose in the program that was being

1:32:15provided

1:32:16and it was just a really good and

1:32:19exciting feeling and thank you for for

1:32:22bringing that kind of programming to to

1:32:25our city

1:32:34can you talk on the mic because people

1:32:35at home can't hear you

1:32:40that's that is what made this thing so

1:32:43special there aren't plenty of

1:32:44orchestras for fairly accomplished

1:32:47amateur musicians there is

1:32:50almost nothing

1:32:51for

1:32:52the beginning adult or the re-entering

1:32:55adult musician

1:32:57out there and that is something that we

1:33:00have that almost nobody else has and i

1:33:02think that it really puts us on the map

1:33:06in a very particular way

1:33:08so i'm hoping we get enough enrollments

1:33:10to make it run

1:33:12thank you again

1:33:15thank you

1:33:16and i just wanted to add thank you very

1:33:19much for

1:33:20all the work that you're doing

1:33:22last weekend i went with my husband to a

1:33:25museum

1:33:27for the first time in 10 years without

1:33:29any children and it was so great to just

1:33:32sit and stare at some art and so thank

1:33:34you for bringing that beauty to el

1:33:36cerrito and

1:33:38hopefully before 10 more years we'll

1:33:39have a chance to appreciate some here in

1:33:42el cerrito

1:33:43um do we have any speakers on this item

1:33:46no we do not okay and then this is also

1:33:49a

1:33:51receive and filed

1:33:54no action is necessary

1:33:56sorry okay all right

1:33:59okay so thank you very much

1:34:02uh

1:34:03next public hearings we have none and we

1:34:05will move on to policy matters

1:34:08adopt a memorandum of understanding

1:34:11between the city of el cerrito and the

1:34:13united professional firefighters

1:34:14association

1:34:16local 12 30.

1:34:20good evening mayor pardue okimoto and

1:34:22council members i'm kristen cunningham

1:34:23human resources manager here at the city

1:34:26before you tonight we have a request to

1:34:28adopt a new memorandum of understanding

1:34:30between the city of el cerrito and the

1:34:31united professional firefighters

1:34:32association local 1230 and they

1:34:35represent our firefighters our fire

1:34:36engineers and our fire captains the most

1:34:38recent nyu expired june 30th of this

1:34:40year

1:34:41and the city's management team

1:34:42negotiated with representatives from

1:34:43local 1230 over the last few months with

1:34:45the union accepting a tentative

1:34:46agreement on september 11th

1:34:48as the most recent mou was put into

1:34:50place well over 10 years ago much of the

1:34:52negotiation process was

1:34:54focused on updating the mou to have it

1:34:56conform with current practices and

1:34:58procedures

1:34:59some of the highlights of the agreement

1:35:00are as follows

1:35:01the agreement will be affected between

1:35:03july 1 of this year

1:35:04to june 30th of 2021.

1:35:07for the wages we have effective the

1:35:09first pay period in july of 2019

1:35:12that the base salaries um for fire

1:35:14captain will increase by one percent

1:35:16fire engineer by four percent and

1:35:19firefighter by 1.5 percent

1:35:21effective the first full paper in july

1:35:232020 we have an increase of three

1:35:25percent scheduled to go to all

1:35:26bargaining unit members

1:35:28and effective 2020

1:35:30we have january 2020 we have adjusted

1:35:33the annual uniform allowance of 725

1:35:36dollars from a one-time payment in

1:35:38december each year to now every pay

1:35:40period and that's to comply with calpers

1:35:42and their requirements

1:35:44and we've also adjusted our cash and

1:35:45loot benefit uh provided to bargaining

1:35:47unit members that have medical coverage

1:35:49through another health plan so typically

1:35:50a spouse or another family member

1:35:53we adjusted that to 350 a month for any

1:35:55new hires after

1:35:57december 31 of next year

1:35:59and we've also capped that rate at the

1:36:01current contribution of 793 a month for

1:36:04any current employees that are receiving

1:36:05this benefit

1:36:06we adjusted some shift bidding language

1:36:08to conform with current practice

1:36:10we've also

1:36:11increased the cto balance so

1:36:13compensatory time off balance that

1:36:14employees can maintain at any one time

1:36:16we increased it from 48 hours to 96

1:36:18hours

1:36:19and the differential of 10 for paramedic

1:36:22assignment was actually codified it

1:36:23wasn't in the mou but it was a practice

1:36:25and it also wasn't a job description so

1:36:27we updated that

1:36:29and we have a couple important folks

1:36:30from the local 1230 in the room that i

1:36:32would like to thank for a very amicable

1:36:35negotiation process we have vince wells

1:36:36he's the president of local 1230 and we

1:36:39have mark figuera here he is the ec

1:36:41president um for the group and also we

1:36:43have some other bargaining unit members

1:36:44here that are here to support and i just

1:36:46want to recognize them for all their

1:36:48work and helping us get to this point

1:36:50and

1:36:50reach this this uh this mark so that

1:36:53concludes my staff report let me know if

1:36:55you have any questions

1:36:57any questions

1:37:00oops

1:37:01council member fidelity quick quickly so

1:37:04the estimated um

1:37:06cost of the salary adjustments are

1:37:08within the projection for a 20

1:37:1119

1:37:12and 2020 budget is that correct right

1:37:14okay can you just

1:37:16elaborate a little bit

1:37:19about the competitive nature in the bay

1:37:21area about cities and fire departments

1:37:24and

1:37:25why we need to make a good home for our

1:37:27fire

1:37:28department and

1:37:30officers so the fire

1:37:33fire industry just in general is super

1:37:34competitive so when we open up

1:37:36recruitment we have

1:37:38tons of applicants that are vying for

1:37:40these positions

1:37:41and we have a pretty good retention rate

1:37:42here so a lot of our firefighters stay

1:37:44because our community is so supportive

1:37:46and we are also very supportive as staff

1:37:47members

1:37:49and so it's critical that we have that

1:37:50support particularly with some of our

1:37:51efforts that we're looking to you know

1:37:54uh achieve right now

1:37:56but it's it's absolutely imperative that

1:37:58we support our you know fire department

1:38:00so we have some challenges here in el

1:38:02cerrito obviously on the hillside but

1:38:05we also are competitive yes and keeping

1:38:07making sure that we stay that way thank

1:38:09you very much

1:38:14i just had one question about the

1:38:15compensatory uh time off i'm not

1:38:18familiar with that what is can you

1:38:20describe what that is

1:38:21so it's um

1:38:23essentially it's a different leave bank

1:38:25that employees can it's instead of

1:38:28overtime it's typically

1:38:29an employee would get this leave bank

1:38:31they would get compensatory time off for

1:38:33the work of maybe an overtime hour so

1:38:35some people opt to get a cash out

1:38:37version you know convert their regular

1:38:40base pay to an overtime rate or you can

1:38:42take it as a compensatory time off and

1:38:44add that to your bank and so we have a

1:38:47current bank now that was at 48 hours so

1:38:49they can only keep 48 hours at any one

1:38:51given time particularly in this unit and

1:38:54we've upped that to 96 hours so of that

1:38:56banked

1:38:57cto time okay thank you

1:39:00all right do we have um

1:39:03we have no speakers on this item

1:39:05okay

1:39:08it's all right

1:39:10i'd like to move okay okay i'd like to

1:39:12move the resolution of the city council

1:39:14of the city of el salvador

1:39:20you can come forward if you could just

1:39:21state your name for the record please

1:39:27madam mayor city council my name is

1:39:30vince wells or vincent wells i'm the

1:39:31president of firefighters local 1230

1:39:34and represent the

1:39:35wonderful firefighters of el cerrito i

1:39:37just wanted to make a comment

1:39:39the working with the city and their city

1:39:41staff and

1:39:43has always been

1:39:45a favorable very fair environment

1:39:48and we were able to move

1:39:50rather quickly with coming to a deal

1:39:53with based on those types of

1:39:55relationships so

1:39:57the city has always been very supportive

1:39:59of our firefighters um

1:40:02in the past and and continues to be

1:40:04and

1:40:06so i just wanted to urge uh our

1:40:08membership voted

1:40:10unanimously to support the contract so

1:40:12we'd hope that uh you would uh support

1:40:14it as well thank you

1:40:16thank you thank you thank you you

1:40:18finished the motion

1:40:19actually

1:40:20since mr wells made a comment i'll i'll

1:40:22have to to chime in and miss abelson can

1:40:25and back me up on this uh you know i

1:40:27want to thank um the union for

1:40:32taking you know a cut back during the

1:40:34recession the union stepped up and

1:40:37helped us through the recession by

1:40:39opening up the contract and

1:40:41taking uh reduction in increases in pay

1:40:43at that time so

1:40:45um

1:40:46you know we

1:40:47it's a two-way street uh we appreciate

1:40:49your support

1:40:51at times and we know you guys have a

1:40:53hard job

1:40:55as those who

1:40:57as one of the firefighters from

1:40:58tri-safety day says my street now

1:41:01is infamous for

1:41:02the number of fires

1:41:04that are on it and there's you know

1:41:06tamil pious one tamil pius ii tampa pius

1:41:09iii and tamil pious four this is in a

1:41:12two block stretch the um they've we've

1:41:15had four fires in the last 20 years for

1:41:18structure fires

1:41:19so

1:41:20um

1:41:21you guys are responsive you guys are

1:41:22fantastic you do your job well

1:41:25um we're

1:41:26the i know council member bridges was

1:41:29was instrumental in getting a paramedic

1:41:32pay and paramedics assigned training to

1:41:34to all of our rigs so

1:41:37you know it we appreciate you and

1:41:39it's

1:41:41it's nice to hear that we were able to

1:41:44work together

1:41:45on this contract so thank you

1:41:48and this this year i think in particular

1:41:51with um

1:41:52with all of the fire prevention efforts

1:41:55that the firefighters have engaged in i

1:41:57just want to give an extra shout out to

1:41:59our fire department we really appreciate

1:42:01the extra work that you've done and that

1:42:03you're continuing to do to help keep the

1:42:06city

1:42:06as safe as possible and

1:42:09we know that

1:42:10that you are spending many hours away

1:42:13from your family working

1:42:15very long shifts and

1:42:18i just want to

1:42:19thank you

1:42:20as the mayor and on behalf of the

1:42:22council

1:42:23okay

1:42:24and first of all i'd like to make a

1:42:25second to the motion uh before i make my

1:42:28comment because i think it wasn't

1:42:29seconded yet okay um

1:42:32the motion was made by councilmember

1:42:35uh quito uh the uh comment i want to

1:42:38make uh having having served the longest

1:42:41on this council

1:42:42is

1:42:43uh i think all of the things that were

1:42:45just said by other people are true

1:42:49what i want to add to it is that has

1:42:51been true the entire time i've been on

1:42:53our city council so there's been a lot

1:42:55of consistency through the many ups the

1:42:58many downs

1:43:00we're always a team together

1:43:03the different members of the city family

1:43:05and the fire department and i think

1:43:07everyone

1:43:08in our city

1:43:11feels that and appreciates just how much

1:43:15the el cerrito fire department

1:43:19is our fire department and is in it for

1:43:21us i think right now is a particularly

1:43:24difficult time with the difficult fire

1:43:27situation

1:43:28that has been going on throughout our

1:43:30state throughout our nation

1:43:32uh but particularly throughout our state

1:43:34and and once again our el cerrito fire

1:43:37department

1:43:39is in there

1:43:40and has our back and thank you very much

1:43:44for that i think our entire community

1:43:46recognizes and appreciates

1:43:49your being with us thank you and i also

1:43:52would like to echo that what council

1:43:54member abelson just said and i'm

1:43:57reminded about

1:43:58last year when the former city manager

1:44:01and i drove out to the union hall in

1:44:03martinez

1:44:05to speak to mr vince wells

1:44:07regarding support of our measure v and i

1:44:10will never forget that and

1:44:12you helped us and i very much appreciate

1:44:15that i'll always remember that and it's

1:44:17because of

1:44:18your leadership and and the support of

1:44:21the firefighters that we passed measure

1:44:23v so uh vince wells thank you so much

1:44:26and and

1:44:27our firefighters i'm thinking about

1:44:29captain gagne i want to make sure that

1:44:31he's feeling better and and know that

1:44:33we're uh thinking about him often and uh

1:44:36and we wish him a speedy uh recovery so

1:44:39at that i'd like to

1:44:41finish the resolution

1:44:43thank you

1:44:44this is a resolution of the city of

1:44:46uh of the city council of the city of el

1:44:48cerrito approving an agreement between

1:44:50the city of el cerrito and the united

1:44:53professional firefighters association

1:44:56local 20 12 30 modifying salaries and

1:44:59creating a

1:45:00a new more memorandum of understanding

1:45:05that was a second

1:45:06all right a motion by quinto second by

1:45:09abelson all in favor

1:45:12those opposed motion

1:45:14carries thank you

1:45:16thank you thank you for your report

1:45:21all right and

1:45:22lastly

1:45:24our city council local and regional

1:45:26liaison assignments

1:45:30nope mine seem to be covered in other

1:45:33agenda items right now um

1:45:36i don't i don't think i have anything

1:45:37additional

1:45:38right yeah

1:45:40all right with that um we will adjourn

1:45:43the meeting

1:45:44the next meeting is scheduled for

1:45:46tuesday october 15th at 7 pm

1:51:12you