Regular City Council Meeting October 15, 2024

0:00:57Good evening, everyone.

0:00:59It is 6 0. 1 Pm. Welcome to the regular city council meeting for

0:01:05October, or for October 15.th Will the city clerk. Please call roll

0:01:09Mayor Redneck, present mayor pro tem. Weisinger present council, member fideli. Here council member Mothiyama here, and Councilmemto is absent, but we do have a quorum. All right. Thank you so much, and we have no considerations under Ab. 2,449.

0:01:22So we will move into a pledge of allegiance or a moment of silence.

0:01:27It's in the right place this time. Okay, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

0:01:44We're all laughing up here, because for the past 2 meetings. We had our flag on this side of of the chambers, and so we were all looking in this way, and we're back to where it was before.

0:01:55All right. So next, we're going to have a teleconference and public comment instruction from our city clerk. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. This hybrid meeting provides an option to participate in person, or via zoom for closed captions. Meetings of the city council are subject to the Brown Act, and held for the purpose of conducting city business. The Brown Act also ensures the public's right to be heard, and while city council is not able to respond to your comments directly your comments will be heard prior to council taking action

0:02:21for members of the public who wish to provide oral testimony. The mayor will announce the time for public comment on each applicable item. Public comments will be taken in person only, and a request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a Speaker card.

0:02:34The Council's adopted rules of order and procedure specify that public speakers address the city council in an orderly and respectful manner, proceed their comments with their name and city of residence, and be respectful of time limits. Thank you, Mayor, that concludes my instructions. Thank you so much. The next autumn item on our agenda is our Council Staff Communications city manager. Do we have any staff communications?

0:02:56Thank you, your honor. I'm Karen Pincus, City manager. Just have a couple of special events to announce. the this week. This is from the depart directly from the department of Fun Aka, our recreation Department. There's a Halloween costume line dance party on Saturday, October 19, th from 6 to 8. The line dances have been extremely popular, so I can't wait to see the pictures from this one

0:03:21and our senior Resource fair. This is a big deal. This is Friday, October 25, th from 10 am. To one pm. At the community center.

0:03:29It's going to have a ton of vendors and tables for people to explore and look at different resources for our senior population. So please be sure to check that out, and that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you so much. Are there any announcements from my colleagues.

0:03:47Councillor Motoyama?

0:03:48So I do want to call attention to the remaining events on in El Credo for Arts month.

0:03:56And so this Friday we have a reception at the city gallery for Mimi shine near and far, and that reception starts at 5 30,

0:04:06and we still have the El Crito folk festival and community poetry circle. So take a look at the

0:04:14calendar that's out in the lobby. So hopefully, you can attend some of these events.

0:04:20But you missed the important part of that folk festival. It is the Free Folk Festival. So it is a free event. It's really incredible. It's great to go donate if you can, because it does while it's free. It does take money to run it

0:04:33any other.

0:04:35We have any. Yes, all right. I was gonna mention the Senior Resource fair, very

0:04:41important event in our community center.

0:04:45The county clerk again is asked that all of us who have gotten our ballots, and most of us should vote early and just a reminder. We have a big ballot box mailbox in our parking lot here at City Hall that anyone can use at any time or mail in normal mailboxes.

0:05:04Finally, I just wanted to congratulate Staff again for the great work on Arlington Park. Motoyama and I were there along with the

0:05:13Mr. Quinto

0:05:17and I just wanted to say, while I was talking mostly about all my memories, I wanted to kind of

0:05:23reiterate what our one of our Park commissioners, Troy Tyler, had said about how much the city needs to continue to refocused on refurbishing our parks

0:05:32so important, and we have a lot of parks more than some other cities do per resident. So it's very exciting. It's beautiful. Go visit it. Thank you again, staff.

0:05:43I have a lot of Fomo for not being there. I know it was really sad to miss it.

0:05:48All right.

0:05:50I it's usually we talk about the things that we did after, you know, towards the end of the meeting. But I do at least want to call out, as we were talking about all the arts events in El Cerrito. We had the El Cerrito Art Association weekend 2 weekends ago, and I had the honor of selecting the the mayor's prize. And it was this incredible piece of work. And so just

0:06:12highlighting the amazing artists here in the region. And what made this specific art. So special is it is our kind of what we see when we look out into El Cerrito and we look out into the bay, and it's beautiful, so it was just very much. Did you pay for it?

0:06:25You know. I don't know if it was for sale or not, because when I was there. They hadn't put up the price, that it was an incredible piece of work, and the artist did receive a prize. So

0:06:36a cash prize.

0:06:37all right. So we're going to move on to Item 5, which is oral communications from the public. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments regarding matters not on the agenda. Consent items and presentation items requested to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a speaker card.

0:06:54Public comments will be taken in person. Only please remember to identify yourself and your city of residents at the beginning of your comments. City clerk, do we have any comments. Thank you, Mayor. We actually only have one request to speak at this time, so I'll invite up Greg Lyman.

0:07:12Good evening, Mayor Council members. It's a pleasure to see you.

0:07:17I am here of Greg Lyman, of El Cerrio. I'm here tonight as the lead one of the lead shepherds for the Sunday for the shoddy holiday display.

0:07:28and I am here to make sure that you're aware that we'll be celebrating our 75th

0:07:34time, that the Blue Star is being put up

0:07:37mister. Mr. Shoddy put the 1st star up in 1950, so I invite you all

0:07:45to to the event.

0:07:47As part of that we are hosting a special free screening of Sundarshadi gifts

0:07:57at the Rialto Theater, which the address on the Rialto Theater is 1 0 0 7 0 San Pablo Avenue.

0:08:07That will be on Sunday, November 17.th

0:08:11Doors will open at 10, and we'll start the screening around 1030.

0:08:16So you're welcome to to come to that, and I will leave flyers with the the city clerk.

0:08:23This year we did a tremendous amount of restoration. We've almost. We've repaired almost 30 figures. We'll be. We'll be displaying almost all we've got 2 or 3 figures that will be in what we call the the hospital this year. So most of the 500 folk art pieces that Mr. Shoddy created will be on display this year.

0:08:44Volunteers are encouraged to help with setup.

0:08:48On Saturday.

0:08:5012, December 14, th

0:08:52and on Takedown, which is going to be Friday, December 27.th Both of those days we start around 9 Am.

0:09:00For a restoration. We do accept donations to help us with materials and supplies. And you can do that at our website, which is shoddyholiday display.com.

0:09:14So I encourage everyone to go there for more information about the movie about setup Takedown and are donating to our restoration

0:09:24is with a heavy heart that I will ask you guys to come at 5 o'clock

0:09:28on Saturday, the 14th

0:09:31we will be doing a ceremonial lighting in honor of Jane Bartke.

0:09:37The good news is, we will be also dedicating a bench to Rich and Jane on that day. It'll be a temporary bench because we do need to do quite a few upgrades at the site to make it Ada accessible before a permanent bench. Installation can be made.

0:09:55So we we do invite you guys to come on Saturday, the 14th at 5 o'clock.

0:10:02We do need volunteers. We call them shepherds to be docents, to talk about the display for the nights that it. The lights are on, the lights will be on from 5 to 9, and there's 2 shifts. 5 pm. To 7 Pm. 7 pm. To 9 Pm.

0:10:19The volunteers are there to turn on the lights and turn off the lights. So if you want to be a shepherd, please come to volunteer through the website. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. That concludes our request for public comment.

0:10:39Well, thank you so much.

0:10:40We're going to move on to presentations. We're going to start with presentation. Item 6, A, which is our Citizen Street Oversight Committee. Annual report for fiscal year 2223. Thank you. And we have the chair of our Citizen Streets Advisory Body online.

0:10:54Thank you.

0:10:56Hi, Miss Hill, how are you?

0:10:58Vanessa Hill (CSOC Chair): Good thanks. How are you.

0:11:00Good.

0:11:02Vanessa Hill (CSOC Chair): Good evening, Mayor Rednick and Council members. My name is Vanessa Hill, and I am the outgoing chair of the Citizen Street Oversight committee

0:11:11tonight. I am here to provide you with our committee's annual report for fiscal year 2022, 2023.

0:11:19On September 23rd 2024 the Citizen Street Oversight Committee met to review expenditures of revenue collected pursuant to Chapter 4.6 0 of the El Cerrito municipal code to determine whether such funds were expended for the purposes specified in the fiscal year 2022, 2023 expenditure plan as approved by you, the city Council.

0:11:46The expenditures were reviewed.

0:11:49the expenditures reviewed were reported in the fiscal year 2022 to 23 annual financial comprehensive report. The committee reviewed that report, as well as the agreed upon procedures. Report issued by the city's independent auditors, Siobhan and associates, Llp.

0:12:09The auditors reported that no exceptions were noted related to the city's compliance with the terms, Covenants and conditions of the Master Installment Sale Agreement related to the bond issuance

0:12:24previously, at our meeting on November 13, th 2023 the committee reviewed a detailed list of preliminary slash, unaudited revenues and expenditures, as well as a listing of vendors to whom the expenditures were made

0:12:40by a unanimous vote. The committee found that the expenditures were inappropriate use of the pothole and local street improvement and maintenance transactions, and use tax as approved by you the Council

0:12:55tonight. I'm reporting our findings to you. The city Council and the citizens of the city of El Cerrito. Pursuant to section 2.0 4.3 2 0 c. Of the El Cerrito municipal code.

0:13:11Furthermore, the committee acknowledges and fully supports that the city Council in their resolutions authorizing expenditures of these funds as budget amendments are confirming that the expenditures are an appropriate use of the tax.

0:13:27It is an honor to serve the committee, and I would like to thank my esteemed committee members, Kathy Fleming, who is our incoming chair, and Gia Ma.

0:13:36And I'd like to also acknowledge our staff liaison public works, director and city Engineer, Evetta Ortiz.

0:13:44for her time and attention to our committee and her professionalism and patience in explaining the finer details of the Street repair work program

0:13:53before I end my report. I would just like to mention that our committee at last count has only 3 members, and thus 2 openings. If you know anyone who is particularly interested in our streets, please recommend. They consider joining us. Our work is interesting, structured, and due to Aveta's great organization very efficient. We typically meet just 3 times per year to get our work done. Thank you very much.

0:14:22Thank you. And I really appreciate the plug to get more involvement. We have those 2 vacancies, and it's a rewarding way to serve the community. Are there any questions from my colleagues?

0:14:31Yes, of comment.

0:14:32Yeah, I I would just like to say thank you to Miss Hill for being so diligent about this, and I think this is one of the

0:14:42committees where you don't get a lot of airtime people. Many oftentimes don't know. We have this oversight committee, and it is very technical. So I really appreciate your service and thank you for for doing this for 4 years, and I hope that you've

0:14:58help us find, and a good replacement for you. So thank you.

0:15:03Vanessa Hill (CSOC Chair): Thank you.

0:15:06All right. Thank you so much.

0:15:08Our next item. Speaking of Sundar shoddy, we have the annual Sundar Shoddy Garden Club award presentation tonight.

0:15:19Pamela Austin (Sundar Shadi Awards): Excuse me.

0:15:21Oh, I'm quiet.

0:15:22How are you? Great? I love the the food pyramid behind you.

0:15:27Pamela Austin (Sundar Shadi Awards): Oh, yeah.

0:15:29so good evening, Mayor Resnick and Council members. I'm Pam Austin.

0:15:35I'm the treasurer of the El Cerrito Garden Club, and I've been appointed to share with you the Sundar shady Garden awards.

0:15:47And

0:15:51I am going to

0:15:54share my screen.

0:16:04So

0:16:06Austin. If you could switch, we're seeing the notes as well. Could you maximize the presentation for us? Please.

0:16:13Pamela Austin (Sundar Shadi Awards): Oh, okay, yeah, I think so.

0:16:18The play, button.

0:16:25Pamela Austin (Sundar Shadi Awards): I'm so sorry I'm not real.

0:16:28Perhaps the play button that's on the

0:16:32the ribbon at the top.

0:16:34Pamela Austin (Sundar Shadi Awards): Play.

0:16:36Play Slideshow Play Slideshow.

0:16:40Pamela Austin (Sundar Shadi Awards): Oh, okay.

0:16:41great, thank you very much. So the

0:16:45Sunday Sundar Shouty Award recognizes notable residential gardens in El Cerrito annually. It's a process that takes place in the spring, and it is

0:17:05made it on the basis of nominations by club members, and actually members of the public as well

0:17:11and just by touring the city and and finding gardens that that are very attractive.

0:17:19And then the committee selects the gardens for awards, and presentations are made

0:17:27We

0:17:28we had about. I think I needed to update this, but I think we had about 25 nominations this year, and 2 gardens. Well, actually 3 gardens were selected, but only 2 of the of the winners were responded to our request to make the presentation.

0:17:49So this is the 1st garden, and it's at 73, 17 cutting, which is the Downside from Arlington, as you can see, it's a modern house on the exterior, and the plants in the garden reflect the lines of the garden, so they're in many cases straight up and down.

0:18:13They are

0:18:15plants that that

0:18:17don't frequently flower. So they're there for their their texture and their color.

0:18:25And this is a homeowner on the driveway here. Her name is Alexandra Kurjakovic and

0:18:35She worked with with a landscape gardener to come up with the garden

0:18:42couple. Other features.

0:18:46that it is a very low water garden.

0:18:52In some cases it's even a 0 scape garden, the the taller plants that you see in the back

0:18:59our papyrus, which I thought was an interesting note. I didn't know that we could grow papyrus here

0:19:05and

0:19:07Another feature I wanted to mention that

0:19:11is attractive in the garden are these screens, and so they provide some privacy

0:19:17to the homeowners and protection from headlights as they come down the

0:19:24the

0:19:26the street right? So they're not shining right in their window.

0:19:31Pamela Austin (Sundar Shadi Awards): The next garden

0:19:35is

0:19:36at [address removed], and that's just off of Stockton.

0:19:42a very different structure, as you can see

0:19:46in the front. There are these 2 lovely

0:19:51Japanese maples.

0:19:53and the they have like a lot and a half.

0:19:58and so on the left side of the house.

0:20:01They have a lot of plantings, and it's a very mature garden.

0:20:08and the homeowners here are Martha Heckman and Greg Price.

0:20:13and another feature that

0:20:17is notable. And this is them, and that's with the sign

0:20:23is the planting

0:20:26in the parking strip. And so this displays a number of succulents and also very low water plants. And

0:20:37it obviously fills up the space. It's it's hardy, and it's very attractive.

0:20:50This is the sign that we give to the Sunday winners to put in their garden. So their neighbors know that their garden has been recognized. We hope that it will be a role model for other people in the neighborhood.

0:21:10and give them some ideas about things that they can do with their garden. They they also receive an award of a hundred dollars and

0:21:22that they can use hopefully to improve their garden.

0:21:25and

0:21:32who?

0:21:33This is the

0:21:36motley crew of

0:21:40of El Cerrito Garden Club members that attended the presentation.

0:21:46including

0:21:48Louise.

0:21:50who manages the whole process. Who's here at turquoise in the back?

0:21:56So that's my presentation.

0:21:58I hope. That

0:22:01you enjoyed it. We certainly enjoyed locating the gardens, and I hope if you have a chance that you'll go by and and get a look at them.

0:22:15Thank you so much. Would you mind minimizing your

0:22:18share?

0:22:21We can exit the screen share.

0:22:24Pamela Austin (Sundar Shadi Awards): Yeah, interesting.

0:22:25Thank you any questions for my colleagues.

0:22:28None, none. Just wanted to share. How sad the whole El Crito community is about the loss of Annie's annuals. I know that you know the hard work of El Credo Garden Club, and a lot of crossover with Annie's annuals as being a place where us in West County can get beautiful plants. So we're all sad about that, but really appreciative that the El Cerrito Garden Club is keeping the garden culture alive.

0:22:53Yeah, I see. Yeah, I

0:22:55I just want to thank Pamela for this. This is always one of my favorite presentations

0:23:01throughout the year, and

0:23:04my family was

0:23:06lucky enough to live about a block and a half away from Shoddy's

0:23:10Gardens, and we would walk by in the summertime and enjoy the the gloriousness of it all.

0:23:15So thank you.

0:23:18I just want to say thank you to you, Pamela, and also to the Garden Club and the the property owners that

0:23:25created those beautiful gardens because they really make it really nice to walk around El Cerrito. So thank you.

0:23:33Alright.

0:23:34Pamela Austin (Sundar Shadi Awards): You're very welcome. We'll see you.

0:23:35Too much, Miss Austin.

0:23:39Right? We're going to move on to the next item, item 7, which is adoption of the consent calendar.

0:23:43We do have a representative for Item D to receive the proclamation which will occur after the adoption of the consent. Calendar Mayor. Just a small correction. It's item C.

0:23:53Apologies. Thank you so much. All right. So we have. Item, a Italian American heritage month proclamation. Item B. Shelter in place, education day proclamation. Item C. Celebrating Christ Lutheran seniors, 50th anniversary, and recognizing its contributions to the community of El Cerrito.

0:24:12Item, d

0:24:13bullying prevention, month and Unity Day proclamation, item, E monthly disbursement and check register report for September 2024.

0:24:21Item F. Spending authority for fire, vehicle, maintenance vendors expected to exceed 45,000 for fiscal year, 2425.

0:24:30Item G. Resolution to amend the city's classification plan.

0:24:34Item H. Approve a professional service agreement with Urban 37. Incorporated for on-call building services.

0:24:41And, item IA resolution authorizing execution of a standard agreement for affordable housing and sustainable communities program for the El Cerrito Plaza parcel a South for transit-oriented development at the El Cerrito Plaza station.

0:24:57Would anyone like to pull an item?

0:25:01I don't want to pull, but I just have some comments and questions on which item.

0:25:05so

0:25:08item E, the monthly disbursement and check register.

0:25:13Item g. The resolution for the classification plan

0:25:18and item I.

0:25:20But

0:25:22for elsewhere, plaza parcel. A Thank you. And I'd like to make comments on a C and E.

0:25:32Anything

0:25:34alright. So what we'll do is again, because we have someone coming from C. We can hold C towards the end. Let's start with. Item a.

0:25:46Yes, the Italian American Heritage Month Proclamation. I just wanted to say that.

0:25:52It is possible that 2 things can be true at the same time. I'm very excited about

0:25:57having an indigenous people's day, but I'm also very proud to be an American.

0:26:03an Italian American

0:26:05originally from Sonoma, and every time we go to Giovanni's I'm reminded of the Italian neighborhood that once was here in El Cerrito, and I talked to Dave Weinstein about

0:26:15talking about that more and getting more information about the Italian Americans in El Cerrito. So thank you very much, and I, the indigenous peoples. Day was glorious, and so is Italian food. So thank you very much.

0:26:27I appreciate in the proclamation it calls out some of the historic businesses that were in El Cerrito's little Italy.

0:26:34All right. And so item C, we're gonna skip over for now. Item e monthly disbursement and check register. Report for September 24.th I'll start with you. Want to.

0:26:44I see the dre. We'll go. We'll start with you, Councilman Fidelli, and then we'll go to a quick one.

0:26:50I noticed that there and this is just a future request that I don't think is going to be difficult. I noticed there was a rebate for the

0:26:58Rptt, the real property transfer tax.

0:27:02I would love it. We still haven't had really a staff presentation to us about

0:27:07the rebate program, and what? How many people are asking for, what? Which could be great information for our households, and what we're doing? And do we need another one for fire? Some people are suggesting I would love it if you could identify. What of one of the 4 rebates

0:27:23when you post that then we can kind of see along the way

0:27:27what it was about.

0:27:28Sure, and we can also plan for a presentation in the future. That'd be great. That would be great. So really I you know it it.

0:27:35The rebate program has helped this city, and I think if

0:27:39people don't want to take advantage or pay the money. We have better homes, more stable homes, more efficient homes. So it's good to know what that means. Thank you.

0:27:50Thank you, Mayor. I have a couple of questions.

0:27:551st is.

0:27:57you know, there's a lot of items that say lunch and mileage, and I'm sure they are legitimate expenses. But can you just tell us what that refers to? Yes, Hi, crystal rains, finance director. The lunch and mileage reimbursements? I think most all of our bargaining contracts allow for if people have to travel for conferences, trainings, any of that, they are entitled to a mileage reimbursement, and if lunch is not provided they're usually entitled to a lunch per diem type.

0:28:27Okay? And so most of these, I think, are for the police Academy. Yeah, for this month. That's what that one looks like is, there's a couple from the police Academy.

0:28:35okay? And then on the merchant fee expenses. There's a lot of different companies. Can you explain why we have

0:28:43so many different credit card companies that we

0:28:46sure so at each location that we accept credit cards? There are different different vendors for different credit cards. But also every separate location that accepts fees has to have its own merchant account. It's for fraud prevention and to keep us in Pci compliance.

0:29:06Each of those has associated fees.

0:29:08Okay, great. Thank you.

0:29:12Anything else.

0:29:14All right. So we're going to move on to Item G. Resolution to amend the city's classification plan.

0:29:20So this is more of a comment. I just want to say thank you to ms. Bassey, our Hr. Director, for making the amendment to the classification for the police chiefs

0:29:35to make our educational requirements consistent. Are there any other changes.

0:29:39Yes, Shannon Bassey here, senior hr. Analyst in human resources. So yes. Just to note for the record, we did have a change submitted in the supplemental packet to include the Master's degree as desirable for the police chief. I apologize. That was an error, and accidentally left off.

0:29:58But it was most in definitely intended to be included initially.

0:30:04that's yeah. Any other questions, or

0:30:07that is it for all right? Thank you.

0:30:10And then, item, I

0:30:12her

0:30:14plaza parcel a south.

0:30:17Thank you, Mayor. So

0:30:21I just want to say, because I think when we got the announcement about the Hc.

0:30:268 8 affordable housing sustainable Communities grant of 39 million dollars. We got the presentation, and then we went on to the next one, and we didn't get a chance to say Woohoo! So I'm really excited that we have this resolution. You know that we're going to be entering into this agreement for these Grant dollars, and I think it's you know.

0:30:49exciting that the State is investing 39 million dollars in El Cerrito, amongst other millions of dollars for this development. So thank you.

0:31:03yeah, thank you. To every, to to the State and to council for supporting it. It's actually, of course, there's the grant and the loan. So it's almost 50 million dollars.

0:31:12I think we're up to about 90 million dollars for the project altogether. Isa Shori, who worked so hard on this, is actually at an urban Lands Institute function tonight so couldn't be here. But I am happy to report that the as you know, that was a bit of a

0:31:27a crazy process for that Grant award. But the developer was ready, and we have received the building permit application. So that is under review as we speak, and should be breaking ground next year.

0:31:38Great? Thank you.

0:31:40Another extra special. Thank you. There's so much work goes into making this happen. And it says the unsung work. So it's important that we do sing this work now that it's happening. So thank you so much, Betty. Thank you.

0:31:53All right.

0:31:54Now we get to move on to Item C,

0:31:57should we vote on it first, st and then we can have any. What do you think?

0:32:01Alright. So since nothing was officially pulled, we're going to I'll entertain a motion to adopt the consent. Calendar.

0:32:08I'll move all right. Move by Motoyama.

0:32:11second seconded by Weisinger, and just for the record to clarify that includes the supplemental revision of the Fire Chief attachment for the classification plan. Thank you. All those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council member Kinto absent?

0:32:25All right.

0:32:26and we are very excited to be celebrating one of our items here, which is Christ Lutheran, Senior Center's 50th anniversary, and recognizing all of its contributions to the El Cerrito community?

0:32:39Do we have a representative?

0:32:49Well, it's our 50th anniversary, and it was started

0:32:53with the with the West Contra Costa adult school, the city of El Cerrio and the various churches came together to make a place for seniors to meet

0:33:06and participate in activities and for

0:33:10recreation and education and community services, and that was 50 years ago, and we're still doing it.

0:33:20Yeah, I Miss Keo, baby. We'd like to introduce yourself and tell us what you how you serve

0:33:26in in an advisory capacity. So yeah, of course, my name is Carol Keough. I'm the director, and I've been there for 20

0:33:342 years, I think.

0:33:36and we meet once a week on Mondays, and we have classes in language and

0:33:43some dance classes and some computer help which we're trying to get more people involved in learning the

0:33:54technology we have. We have lunch every week, and we have a ukulele class, and what our

0:34:02goal is to to

0:34:04seniors, educated and interested and engaged in

0:34:09the city, in their.

0:34:11you know, in their in the city, and then the county, and to be a lot to be productive citizens and volunteer, and a lot of them volunteer in many programs and

0:34:24community together and work working together.

0:34:29have a

0:34:31cohesive community and make it better for everybody.

0:34:36Thank you.

0:34:37Thanks. Councilmember Fidelli. Yes, I was going to pull this. I'm I'm the aging committee liaison, and I just wanted to thank

0:34:44Carol Kehoe for everything she's done for so long.

0:34:47There's so many in so many different arenas. And for the

0:34:52the the food that's given out, the special programs, the technology tutorship

0:34:59programs for the seniors. It's really helpful. It's just a great part of our community. So thank you very much, Carol.

0:35:06Thank you. Yes, beyond Christ. Lutheran. Your involvement in our community, specifically with older adults has been nothing short of incredible. It's really made a huge impact indifference on our community. So I appreciate it very much.

0:35:24And without further ado we'd be. The whole Council would be happy to present this to you, and if there's anyone who would also like to

0:35:30to come up and be a part of a picture.

0:35:54mind moving

0:35:56separate.

0:36:23Thank you so much.

0:36:56I'm going to do another brag again that Carol Kehoe on top of all the work she does here for El Cerrito. She represents El Cerrito on the county level for the County Advisory Committee on Aging.

0:37:08So with that.

0:37:10we're going to move on to our public hearings.

0:37:14We have one item which is an approval of final subdivision map for one lot. Subdivision at 1715. Elm street

0:37:23do we have staff report.

0:37:28okay,

0:37:33all right good evening mayor city council members, I'm Jeff. Ballantyne, senior planner with the city.

0:37:39So this before you tonight, is a consideration of a final subdivision map

0:37:43for to create 14 condominium residential units

0:37:47in a multifamily residential building and create one commercial condominium unit in a historic structure. At 1715 Elm Street

0:37:58and my supervisor, Shawn Moss, gave you a more in depth background for this project for a development agreement extension last month. So I'll keep this pretty brief.

0:38:08Here's the project site.

0:38:10The site is 18,450 square feet.

0:38:15The aerial on the bottom is the previous, and the aerial on the top is the after the project.

0:38:22Oh.

0:38:23so, as part of the project, they relocated a historic building.

0:38:28To the other side of a rock lined waterway.

0:38:33and that was to make room for the 14 unit multifamily residential building

0:38:42in 2014 and 2015

0:38:45the project received a whole slew of approvals, including rezoning plan, development use, permit development agreement.

0:38:53initial study mitigated negative declaration, design review, as well as a stream bed alteration agreement.

0:39:04Here's a rendering of the project.

0:39:06Construction commenced in 2022, and the applicant anticipates completing in the next few months, as he mentioned last month during City Council meeting.

0:39:21and then finally, in March of this year, the Planning Commission approved the tentative subdivision map.

0:39:28which is part of your packet.

0:39:30and also in September, just last month, planning commission, recommended City Council approval of the final subdivision map.

0:39:37So here's the final subdivision map. It's a ministerial action. So your role is basically to confirm whether or not it is consistent with the tentative map.

0:39:49And it's sort of limited to that role.

0:39:51City staff, including the city surveyor and the city engineer, have reviewed it and have confirmed that it is consistent.

0:39:58So that concludes my presentation available for questions. Thanks. Are there any questions from the Council?

0:40:05I see none.

0:40:07Are you sure? Okay, I I see a finger.

0:40:10Yes, Jeff I. This is not an administrative question, but I'm just curious on the creek.

0:40:16Is, can you say anything about it? Is it a healthy creek. Is it post construction, or will water

0:40:23adequately flow?

0:40:25So I this is not my area of expertise, but I will say is you know they went through quite a process through the California Department of Fish and wildlife to ensure that the project would not negatively impact the creek, so they really had to take a lot of measures to make sure that there wasn't runoff going into that creek or water lined waterway. Rather.

0:40:47And so yeah, there. There was a lot of attention to ensure that the project would not affect it essentially.

0:40:53Thank you.

0:40:55Right?

0:40:56Any questions, then, all right.

0:40:58The public hearing is now open. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comment regarding this item.

0:41:04Are there any public comments regarding this item, we do not have any requests. Mayor. All right. Do I have a motion to close the public hearing.

0:41:12So moved moved by fidelity.

0:41:14second seconded by Weisinger. All those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with councilmember Kinto. Absent right? Any council comments

0:41:23I see none.

0:41:24Motion to approve the resolution.

0:41:27I'll move. Moved by Motoyama, seconded by Fidelli. All those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council Member Kinto absent. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

0:41:37All right. We are on to item 9. Policy matter. Adopt a resolution approving an agreement between the city of El Cerrito and the service employees. International Union, also known as Seiu, local 1021. To modify language on salaries, benefits, conditions of employment, and creating a new new Memorandum of Understanding, also known as an Mou.

0:42:03Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Shannon Bassey, Senior Human Resources Analyst

0:42:09in Hr.

0:42:10I have before this evening a request to adopt a resolution to modify the salary benefits and working conditions

0:42:18of employees in the city's Sciu bargaining group.

0:42:23A little background. Currently there are 45.5 fte positions within sciu. These are budgeted positions. They're governed by the memorandum of understanding approved by city council

0:42:36positions in this group typically include miscellaneous employees, such as permit technicians building inspectors, management assistants.

0:42:45planners, engineers, custodians, recycling drivers just to name a few

0:42:52there are a lot of further details in the agenda packet, but to go over a summary of the agreement that is proposed.

0:43:01it is being proposed as a 4 year agreement with sciu. There are several changes regarding wages and market adjustments that include a 2.5% salary increase effective. July 2024 a 3.2 5% salary increase. July 2025

0:43:223.5% salary increase. July 2026

0:43:26and a 3.5% salary increase. July 2027. There was also an increase to the bilingual notary. Pay that is issued to those employees who are eligible at a hundred dollars per payroll

0:43:41we also negotiated implementing a cap to the current cash in lieu payment that exists for members who are eligible for that.

0:43:50We also agreed to several market adjustments. Over the term of the agreement. So, spreading those out over the 4 years

0:43:58to bring classifications up to market value. And those amounts were in alignment with the class and comp study, so bringing those up in alignment with those study results.

0:44:11And then, lastly, to mention the tuition reimbursement was increased to up to 3,500 per fiscal year, from 1,000 per fiscal year previously. So in closing, I'd like to thank Sciu for their leadership and commitment to the city. And with that that concludes my report, and I'm available for any questions.

0:44:33Do you have any questions from the Council?

0:44:36None.

0:44:37None. Comments. Okay, we'll we'll get to comments after

0:44:42we have some time for public comment. So now is the time for public comment. If there's any members of the public who wish to speak on the item, now is your time.

0:44:51We do not have any requests on this item, Mayor. All right, so we will move on to council comments. I'm going to start in this direction, and we'll go this way. Yeah, thank you.

0:45:00the agenda bill before us. Also, thanks, Seiu, for their patience, and that's what I wanted to do over the past 2 or 3 years

0:45:09that, we've been through a lot of difficult times, difficult to cut backs and

0:45:14difficult decisions by council and staff. They were there, and they were patient, and they were part of our family. So all the work you do is seen, and where I'm very happy that this resolution came. So thank you.

0:45:27Alright, thank you. And I. I wanted to express something similar as a proud member of Ifpte Local 21, and we stood with Seiu, 10 to one, as we all

0:45:37fought for our increase in wages, and a new mou there, with the city and county of San Francisco and our tagline then was, let's not balance our city budgets on the backs of our Union workers. So I'm glad that here in El Cerrito we were able to get that understanding and take care of our workers here. So thank you all to Staff, and thank you to our my brothers and sisters at Seiu, who stood patiently with us.

0:46:03Thank you, Mayor. I want to say both. Thank you to Seiu and Staff for for negotiating this. I think sometimes when you come to council and you see us go. Oh, we have no questions. It's because we've been briefed pretty extensively, so I don't want anybody to think that we are not asking questions. So they are negotiations for labor. And so they are in closed session.

0:46:27I think it's really, you know this is the result of our class and Comp study as well. So this is why we did it so. I think one of the things that the class and Comp study pointed out is that we

0:46:41our salaries are not quite where they should be. In order for us to be competitive to get people, you know, to retain employees and to attract new employees. So I'm really glad that we were able to get to an agreement that works both for the Seiu and for the city budget. So I think this is a really important step forward. And so thank you to everyone, especially our

0:47:06Hr. Person, Shannon Bassey, for I'm sorry I called you director, and you weren't quite so. I apologize.

0:47:12so thank you for all your work on this

0:47:15one thing I want to add is, I agree with everything my colleagues have said.

0:47:20you know, when we have these kinds of discussions, they're closed. Session.

0:47:25What I will say is

0:47:27the feedback from the bargaining team, from sciu of our staff, which was representative of multiple departments.

0:47:36It was nothing but incredible showings of just care about the city. Care about their jobs? Just really appreciate that. They're these amazing people who work for El Cerrito and are putting in that extra work to make sure that their colleagues are also benefiting from this as well. It really is a collaborative process to make this done well, so

0:47:58extra special. Thank you. To Eddie Nodal and some of the other folks on the team that this was a really positive process. So it's great to have this come forward to us tonight.

0:48:08So with that do I have a motion to approve. I'll move. Moved by Motoyama, seconded by Weisinger. All those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council Member Quinto absent? All right. So we move on to Item 10, which is our local and regional ways on assignments.

0:48:26We have any reports.

0:48:28So on October second, I attended the Mce Executive Committee and one of the things that they are doing is rolling out a small business program which city staff will be rolling out to chamber. So I think if there are small business owners in the city. They should really take a look at that, because that will save you money on your utility bills, and also with greening

0:48:56on October 9th I attended the Abag Housing Committee meeting where we're

0:49:03looking at what's going forward.

0:49:07Future with the Bafa

0:49:09Committee, and so there'll be housing loans coming forward, though unfortunately not the large regional bond measure that we were hoping for.

0:49:19Also on that day with Mayor Rudnick we had our ad hoc wall of fame meeting

0:49:25to look at the ordinance for wall of fame.

0:49:28and October 9th he attended the Arlington Park reopening, which was really fun, and

0:49:35and just a little on October 10th it was Phil, the barber's birthday. Happy birthday.

0:49:43Any

0:49:45all right.

0:49:47I already mentioned the El Cerrito Arts Association Festival, which was fantastic. On

0:49:54On the 3rd I went to the Mayor's Conference, which was hosted by the city of Richmond. We received a presentation from Contra Costa fire departments, wildfire mitigation team. Another plug for Measure X funds which really helped us in our H. And a that we can't forget that we have those resources available to us, and that wildfire and the Wui is a wildfire urban interface is a real threat for us

0:50:19on at the wall of Fame, meeting with Council Member Motoyama, and on the 10th I had a meeting for Recycle More, which is the West county integrated waste management authority, and we approved releasing a request for proposal for a post collection agreement. So in El Cerrito we have East Bay Sanitary, which is our collections agency. They collect our garbage

0:50:43post collection is what happens to the waste after it's been collected. So that is going to be an Rfp. Released shortly.

0:50:52and with that

0:50:54it is 6 51, and we are adjourned.

0:50:58Our regular, our regular November 5th meeting. It has been canceled, and if that, not that November 5th rings a bell for you. That is because it's election day, so please make sure to vote. I have. I dropped off my ballot today. So I have voted we have polling locations here in our council chambers on that day, and then, of course, as Council Member Fidelity mentioned, we have our vote by mailbox here at City Hall. That's 24 by 7,

0:51:22and our next regularly scheduled City Council meeting is Tuesday, November 19, th at 6 pm, take care, everyone. Thank you.