Regular City Council Meeting April 15, 2025

0:00:07Alright.

0:00:09The April 15th regular City Council meeting is called to order at 6 11 Pm. Will the city clerk please call the roll

0:00:18Mayor Weisinger, present mayor pro tem quinto councilmember, mothiyama, present council member, councilmember. Saltzman is here just not in the room at the moment, but we have a quorum to begin all right. The 1st item on the agenda is consideration under Ab. 2449 city clerk. Do we have any requests? We do not mayor. All right, please join me in the pledge of allegiance or moment of silence.

0:00:42I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

0:00:47to the Republic for which it stands. One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

0:00:56The next item on the agenda is teleconference and public comment. Instructions from our city clerk.

0:01:02Thank you, Mayor. This hybrid meeting provides an option to participate in person, or via Zoom with closed captions. Available meetings of the City Council are subject to the Brown Act, and are 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

0:01:23for members of the public who wish to provide oral testimony. The mayor will announce the time for public comments 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.

0:01:37The Council's adopted rules of order 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. The next item on the agenda is Council Staff Communications City Manager. Do we have any staff communications? Yes, we do thank you, your honor. I'm Karen Pincus. I'm the city manager

0:02:01community members may have noticed through our social media and on our website that the city offices have been experiencing an Internet and network outage

0:02:09which may have impacted some city services, or at least made them a little more slow. The reason for this outage is that the city is actively investigating a network security incident that involves certain of our systems that occurred on April 6.th

0:02:23As soon as the issue was identified. The city immediately took steps to secure the network, notified law enforcement and initiated an investigation. So, as a precautionary measure, most city systems were taken offline in order to ensure our safety and the integrity of our data infrastructure which has resulted in this outage. Currently, the good news is currently there's no evidence that

0:02:44personal data of residents or employees has been compromised, so the city will continue to provide updates to the city council and to the public as necessary as the investigation progresses and any new information becomes available. So I just want to say, Thank you. We appreciate the public's patience. Our employees patience as we've been navigating all of this

0:03:04and working very diligently to address this issue, we're also grateful to the California office of emergency services, cal oes cybersecurity Integration Center, and they've been assisting us with this issue. And, Eric, are you back there?

0:03:19He's hiding somewhere. Oh, he's over here, Eric. I want to specifically thank Eric, Ng. And lose. She's watching back there. Lose more Reyes and Kevin Ma. Of our it team. They've been working practically nonstop on this issue since it began a week and a half ago. So I just want to say that I'm very grateful to you and grateful to your team for all of the hard work you've been doing and are continuing to do, to keep us moving

0:03:44to be creative on how we can continue to move and continue to serve the public. And so I'm very grateful to all of you. We're hopeful to be back to normal by the end of this week or early next

0:03:56but stay tuned, and again we looks like we. We dodged a bullet, but we are still looking, and we're still working with all of our vendors and law enforcement to make sure that nothing else happens. So again, thank you and appreciate your patience, and that is all I have, your honor. Thank you.

0:04:13Thank you so much. Are there any Council announcements

0:04:17Council announcements? Council member Motiyama? I just want to remind people that Earth Day is coming on Saturday, the 19th

0:04:25there'll be projects to work on. So please check the website. I'll

0:04:30hyphen cerrito.org slash birthday.

0:04:33It'll be from 9 to noon. Also, last time I realized I missed. I'm making announcement about the Norman Mineta High School Summer Academy, which is a paid internship with Abag and Mtc. To learn about regional planning and policy. It's for people that are

0:04:51at least 15 years old live in the Bay area and attend high school. The deadline to apply is April 27th at 10 pm. And there's more information@mtc.ca.gov.

0:05:05Thank you. Any other announcements.

0:05:07Mayor pro tem. Yes, the other Saturday I did attend a grand opening ribbon cutting with

0:05:14Aisha. Sorry so

0:05:17On behalf of the mayor, who was not able to make it, but I was glad to be there. It's a haircutting place at the El Cerrito Plaza right next door 2 doors down from the At and T. Store, and it's great clips. So I want to welcome them to El Cerrito Plaza

0:05:35and the city of El Cerrito, and it's great to have another small business filling the spaces that are available at the El Cerrito Plaza and look forward to more grand openings like this

0:05:48in the future. So you know, hoping we'll get stores that people want to shop at. And it's been hit and miss, but I think we they've been doing a great job lately. So I congratulate the management at the El Creedo Plaza, and hopefully, we'll get some great stores in our 2 large empty spaces at the former Joanne's and the former bookstore.

0:06:14Thank you so much, Mayor Protem. As for Mayor announcements on April 8, th I signed a second letter of support for Bart's congressionally directed spending request for the led light program, which includes the El Cerrito Plaza station. I was excited to also attend one of our ribbon cuttings sponsored by El Cerrito Chamber for our new Security public storage. So you've probably seen them

0:06:38building up there on the East Shore location, right where the old Oshwa, so we were happy to welcome them into our city. Thank you again so much, Mayor pro tem for stepping in for me at the great clips

0:06:48grand opening. So it's good to see some of our business coming back to El Cerrito. Also I was happy to walk the folks from yelp through some of the great businesses here in El Cerrito. So you should be hopefully seeing that soon. But again, we want to do everything we can to continue highlighting our businesses, some which definitely need our our support.

0:07:07So if you need to go and buy pizzas from superslice. If you need to go, get your haircut from gray clips, or whatever it is you need to do. Let's make sure that we are supporting our El Cerrito businesses.

0:07:19And I think that that was the last. Yes, that's the last announcement that I have.

0:07:25The next item on the agenda is, or 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 request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a speaker card.

0:07:41Public comments will be taken in person. Only please remember to identify yourself and your city of residence at the beginning of your comments. City clerk, please proceed. Thank you, Mayor. We have 6 requests to speak at this time, so I'll call up our 1st speaker, Betty Akisich, followed by Elaine Fielding.

0:08:20Good evening, El Fredo City Council. I'm for the accuracy sure resident of haunted gardens

0:08:31little over 5 years.

0:08:33So I wanna talk to you about 2 things about this actually about the same thing.

0:08:39I wanna paraphrase a little bit, quote a little bit from

0:08:45a speaker that it were I to give you the name, you would all recognize the name very quickly. Probably a lot of people that I need a a promise to

0:08:57this person's direct identity.

0:09:04to to ourselves. And and what this person said is that they ride a bicycle virtually everywhere they go. They do business all over Contra Costa County

0:09:16el Cerrito and surrounding areas doesn't live in El Cerrito.

0:09:22and I have a real question about

0:09:25commuting around this area on a bicycle, and what this person said is, don't don't ever

0:09:35ride their bicycle on Richmond Street.

0:09:38They find the only green way to be entirely adequate for all of their needs. Traveling around this community

0:09:50on their bicycle.

0:09:53The next part of my presentation has to do with my perception of the audience

0:09:59that comes to the El Crudo City Council meetings

0:10:03who express themselves at the microphone. I I keep track of PC. I keep track of personal comments from the meetings that I go to, and I'm here just about every time.

0:10:17and my sense is my perception is that

0:10:20if you live on Richmond Street, you are against the foods program

0:10:28if you live elsewhere. Oh, yeah. And by the way, you also ride a bicycle, you you feel good about redoing Richmond Street.

0:10:38My sense is that if you live on Richmond Street you're against it. If you live elsewhere you could go out before it.

0:10:47And again I would say that let's have the city Council take into account

0:10:53the lives of the rank and file residents

0:10:58of El Cerrito, California, and what serves their interests?

0:11:04Would it be possible, I think? Probably the answer of this question is, no.

0:11:09But could it be possible to take a vote? A public vote on whether to go ahead and that vote be restricted to people who live on Richmond Street that are going to be most affected. Let them speak to the issue.

0:11:24Thank you.

0:11:25Next speaker is Elaine Fielding, followed by Shelby Hogan.

0:11:35madam Mayor City Councillors. My name is Elaine Fielding.

0:11:40I want to speak about the city's plans for Richmond Street. Also, where I live. There

0:11:46you may be familiar with the Nature conservancy.

0:11:51The huge success of this environmental agency has been founded on the principle that in trying to solve environmental problems affecting a region, it is essential that the needs, knowledge and expertise of the local community be respected and engaged from start to finish.

0:12:17El Cerrito City showed no such respect in their rollout of the Richmond Street complete streets project.

0:12:25What irony and hypocrisy and audacity. To use the term complete. Regarding this plan.

0:12:35the city presented a plan on paper, a pretty little map

0:12:41it was about cars, lanes, bicycles, chicanes, bull boats.

0:12:45But in this maze, where were the human beings, the residents, the community?

0:12:55We were left out of the process of planning.

0:12:59We're now fighting for our community. And yes, ours is a real community, not just a street.

0:13:08We know our neighbors. We look out for each other.

0:13:11visit when sick, attend each other's weddings and funerals.

0:13:17It's our homes, our driveways that are on the line here.

0:13:23Our use of the street is an essential part of our lives.

0:13:29There are many elders of my age living on the street.

0:13:34because many of us can only park on the street. The city's plan to take away parking will reduce our mobility and increase our isolation. Let me explain

0:13:45sadly. As we get older we feel more vulnerable.

0:13:49We become more cautious, and don't feel confident or safe, walking in the streets at nighttime.

0:13:56So my husband and I have joined the ranks of those who at night time only go out to where we can find convenient safe parking.

0:14:06The city now confronts us with a scenario where we may return at home, return home at night, and have to drive around looking for parking.

0:14:15and then walk around the block in the dark to our home.

0:14:19So would this be a a

0:14:22would this be a neighborhood where we could continue to age in place.

0:14:28Would you want your elderly parents living on such a street, the city.

0:14:35until you have seriously considered the the community's needs.

0:14:39Please don't continue adding adding insult to injury by calling this plan complete.

0:14:47Thank you.

0:14:49Our next speaker is Shelby Hogan, followed by Ian Brust.

0:14:57Hello! My name is Shelby Holgain, and I'm an El Cerrito resident, and yes, I am speaking as a pedestrian against the Richmond Street Complete Streets Improvement project because I think Richmond Street has a pedestrian safety issue, not a bicycle safety issue.

0:15:15There have been pedestrian accidents on Richmond Street, but no bicycle accidents going back to at least 2013,

0:15:22and adding dedicated bike lanes to Richmond Street, only increases safety problems for pedestrians and the likelihood that pedestrians will be harmed by drivers. And now cyclists who do not follow traffic safety laws.

0:15:35I want a safely walkable Richmond Street. The complete streets, projects, claims it will improve safety through slowing down traffic, turning Richmond Street into a slow street and making pedestrians more visible. But Richmond Street is already a slow street outside of the occasional police car chase. Excessive driver speed is not a problem.

0:15:57Pedestrian visibility to drivers and cyclists is not the problem they see me.

0:16:02I can be standing at a crosswalk. I can make eye contact with them. With the drivers and cyclists. I can even wave Hello at them, and they still do not stop so traffic stopping, not stopping for pedestrians is the problem.

0:16:16The solution, as I see it to this real problem of pedestrian safety on Richmond Street is traffic law enforcement. Any changes to the traffic signage or the layout of Richmond Street, as proposed in the Richmond Street Complete Street Improvement Project will not be successful, because the real problem is that drivers and cyclists, especially e-bikes, do not yield the right of way to pedestrians at intersections as required by law.

0:16:40So if the City Council really wants to solve the safety problem on Richmond Street. Please make the police more visible there and increase traffic law enforcement. Thank you.

0:16:53My next speaker is ing Burst, followed by Ching Kwon.

0:17:01Good evening. It's good to see you as always.

0:17:04My name is Inge Brest, and I have been a resident of El Salvido for 32 years. I'm a lifelong bicyclist

0:17:11speaking out against the Richmond Street Improvement Project.

0:17:16This project is not only disregards the needs of the entire community. It also fails to deliver on its stated goals, raising concerns about equity, safety, environmental impact, property values, financial responsibility and research integrity.

0:17:35Our neighborhood, historically, has had a large Asian population residents who are predominantly of Japanese and Chinese descent.

0:17:46Many of my older neighbors claim this heritage.

0:17:49eliminating parking in favor of bike lanes disproportionately harms those who rely on close access to their homes.

0:17:59One of the unintended yet very real consequences of the Richmond Street Improvement project is that older and disabled adults will be pushed out of their homes.

0:18:12due to the elimination of services and amenities. Think about it, would you, if you were in your sunset years, stay in or move the place

0:18:25without street parking, making it very difficult for others to come, visit, and help you.

0:18:33The project will eventually turn Richmond Street into a neighborhood of young, affluent, able-bodied, and mostly white residents. Would you consider this a complete street?

0:18:47The opposition to the Richmond Street project cannot be defined by car versus bike that is childish. It is fueled by respect for those who have made history here by the preservation of diversity, by safety work for all, not just a few, and that justice should not be the privilege of those who shout the loudest.

0:19:11But the right of all

0:19:14this plan was well intended. It strives to make our community liveable and inviting, but in reality, in real world conditions it will achieve the opposite.

0:19:27Sometimes I wonder if anyone understands or even cares about what is really at stake here? I hope you do

0:19:38thank you.

0:19:40Our next speaker is Cheng Mo. Kwon, followed by Clifford Neusman.

0:19:48Good evening, City Council members. My name is Chang Mo. Kwan. I'm a El Salido resident. I've been living about 9 10 years now. I'd like to speak about the also the Richmond Street Improvement Project, especially the south of Moja Lane, so the imposition held in early December in El Solito community center. I saw the plan that shows the concrete

0:20:17pad or concrete island, like 2 spots per side

0:20:23block. So that is actually 4 concrete blocks per per block. But the issue is that concrete island or block covers the entire house, the width of the entire house of of the affected house, and I see that creates a parking issues there, too.

0:20:42And, as you know, we have a children and elderly citizens here, and it's not just only the affected, the house, but it will create a reply effect, because

0:20:54somebody will need to park somebody else's house in front of somebody else's house, and that will grow, you know. And also we have a Tod project in El Service station. That will reduce a lot of parking spaces currently there, and it will worsen the the issue. Down the road.

0:21:13I I understand that the purpose and intention of that concrete block that probably creates a visually smaller street

0:21:23for the drivers that the driver can slow down. I think we can achieve that goal if we do that kind of concrete block in the cross section more focused on the cross section than

0:21:37our residence area, because the cross section is the most vulnerable area for the pedestrian, and crossing the street.

0:21:45I think the benefit of making those concrete block in front of somebody else's house.

0:21:52It's not greater than

0:21:55you know. The the problem caused by this issue disturbing, disturbing the the parking issues for our Richmond Street Resident. Thank you.

0:22:07My next speaker is Clifford Moosman.

0:22:19Good evening. My name is Cliff Nusman. I'm resident of El Cerrito. I live on Richmond Street. I've lived in El Cerrito my whole life, and I like it here.

0:22:30I'm against the proposed bicycle lane on Richmond Street. For a number of reasons, we've already have a, as you know, a bicycle lane on the only Greenway under the Bart. Tracks all the way some Fairmont Avenue up to Hill Street. I believe that's where it's proposed to go. I don't see a reason to have to duplicate that. It's only 2 and a half blocks away somewhere

0:22:57they want to propose to do this.

0:23:00I also feel that by removing the parking on the one side of the street is going to increase the other side. The cars that park on the other side.

0:23:11which means

0:23:13makes it very difficult for any type of deliveries to be made for the postal service to park their vehicles.

0:23:20and then, if you do try to cross the street during the traffic.

0:23:25Very difficult, very hard to get across that street, especially during the morning hours, where the traffic is heavy, and in the afternoon.

0:23:35Also. I feel that.

0:23:39If we do

0:23:41go ahead with that, I think we're putting people's safety in danger by by having the

0:23:49the park. No parking on there. I've already

0:23:55had problems trying to back out of my driveway on a normal day.

0:23:59People don't want to let you out.

0:24:01so it's very difficult. So I I would suggest that we just

0:24:07don't don't put the the parking the bike Bike Lane there and leave things as they are. It's working okay. Now, I don't see to be any reason to change.

0:24:19Thank you for your time.

0:24:22Thank you, Mayor, that concludes our request to speak

0:24:25alright. Thank you so much. The next item on the agenda is adoption of the consent calendar.

0:24:33which includes

0:24:36the approval of minutes. Community Safety Committee appointments, adopt landscape and lighting assessment for fiscal year 2526, and adopt resolution of intent to order improvements and set the public hearing as May 6, 2025.

0:24:53Authorization of the West, contra, Costa integrated waste management, authority to enter into new regional post collection agreements

0:25:01approve professional services, agreement with central square technology for a permitting and licensing software configuration approve an agreement with alley technologies for a newtonex hyper converge infrastructure and software platform.

0:25:18Are there any questions or requests to by the Council to pull items?

0:25:22Councilmemor, motiyama? I have questions on 7 c. 7 d. 7 E. And 7 F.

0:25:307, 7 c. 7 d. 7 E. And 7 F.

0:25:34Okay.

0:25:35Did you repeat those again?

0:25:377 c. 7 d. 7 E. And 7 F.

0:25:43Any other questions by council.

0:25:45I have a request regarding the minutes. Yeah. So that is 7. Is that 7? A. Okay?

0:25:55All right. So let's go with council member Motiyama, with your questions. First.st So starting with 7 C,

0:26:01okay, 7. C.

0:26:03I have a question is about what is the total Lla D fund balance for the lighting and landscape district. And is this the amount that's that we're using is that from prior year savings?

0:26:19Hi, crystal raimes, finance director. Yes. The fund balance is projected about 79,000 and it's due to timing issues of projects from previous years. And so we're estimating to use 26,000 this year. Okay? And then we

0:26:38eventually we'll run out of this extra, so that in some future year we'll be drawing on general funds. So currently, we are using general fund funds. This is one of one of the projects that will be streamlining and eventually transferring all eligible lad costs into the lad fund and then showing the general fund contribution as a subsidy. Currently, the past practice has been to direct charge the

0:27:06applicable funding source. But I don't feel like that paints the appropriate picture of how much that is actually costing the city.

0:27:13Thank you. And I think, Council member. I have a related question.

0:27:17It's ever really. You've addressed it a little bit, but I feel like it's important to explain that a bit more, because I. When I 1st saw it, I saw the $26,000 fund balance.

0:27:26and then, hearing that our expenses are much higher than our revenue, and I'm thinking, how do you get a fund balance when your expenses are so much higher? And I I talked to the city manager about it, and I have an explanation

0:27:37which makes sense. And essentially, you're you have. I forget the number. Whatever number of the

0:27:43there's a huge amount coming from the general fund already.

0:27:45you know, basically matching what's what's not coming from the general fund. So could you talk to that a little bit about how how that

0:27:54general fund balance is actually calculated, because it's not simply the revenue versus the expenses. It's

0:28:00whole different pot of revenue being added to the expenses. Yeah. So so there's 2 different things. The 26,000 is a projected use of fund balance from the actual lad fund.

0:28:11But historically,

0:28:15the we've charged the lad up to what's been budgeted, and then direct charge the general fund or other funding sources as applicable. Knowing that the amount assessed for Lad does not support it just doesn't pay for all the landscaping. And so the the previous guidance had been to direct charge the applicable funds. But I don't feel like that tells the appropriate story of how much this is actually costing or working on changing that. Okay, thank you.

0:28:43All right. Next item, council member on 70. I have a question about

0:28:50This is for a city manager.

0:28:54It says that we are giving you the authority to approve the gree agreement. I was wondering if it would be better to have that agreement come back to council, so that there's, you know, a a little additional time for consideration of the agreement. So

0:29:1770. Yeah, for the recycle. More agreement

0:29:22or Rfp. Agreement, and Christina is also on, if you need. I'm sorry. Christina is also on remotely, if you need great, thank you. And maybe, Christina, you can also add to this. So this resolution is simply to

0:29:38authorize

0:29:39as a member of the of the authority as a member of the Jpa. All members are asked to authorize entering into an agreement and negotiations for the agreement. That's all that this resolution is asking for.

0:29:53When the agreement is and the agreement is still is under negotiation. We are working on that right now once there is an agreement. Yes, that would be brought back to every member. Is that correct, Christina?

0:30:08I believe that is correct. It would. It would definitely go to the sorry. Excuse me, Christina Leard. Management analyst public works. Thank you. The recycle, more board of directors would absolutely be required to approve it as well. So it would. I think it would require both of our bodies of approval.

0:30:26Well and and just to be clear that this is a. The agreement is with the authority and not with the city, so my authorization would be to act on behalf of the city. But our board member is Council Member Casanis. He would have the authority to act on behalf of representing the city on the board. So yes, the the bottom line is because it's still under negotiations. We will be able to update you and also Council Member Casanis. If you have anything to add, of course, as a board member.

0:30:53we'll we will all keep you posted on on the

0:30:57only negotiations as they move forward.

0:31:00I just want to understand that you know the the Agenda Bill and the resolution does refer to authorization by the city manager. The the reference. There is authorization, to sign documents necessary to effectuate the city council, authorizing recycle more to to pursue those powers. It's not to actually enter into an agreement.

0:31:26Okay, it's a very unusual structure. So just to back it up a little bit that the existing agreement that created recycle more to which the city is a party says that for the for recycle more to exercise some powers including negotiation of of a new post collection agreement. It needs authority from each member agency to do that.

0:31:55The adoption of the resolution grants that authority. But in the event that recycle more says, during the course of negotiations, we really need a letter from El Cerrito saying, You know, yes, we've definitely granted the recycle more the authority to pursue these negotiations. We didn't want to have to come back to council for to for you to grant the city manager the authority to sign the letter. We just wanted the city manager to be able to sign the letter and say, yes. The Council has adopted this resolution.

0:32:24Thank you for the clarification.

0:32:26All right. 70.

0:32:28Okay, on 70. It's again question for city manager. I know that you're asking for 50,000 in budget authority for this item. But the estimate is for 39,600, and likely it will be under 50,000, or are you, you know? So I guess. Why would you bring it to us if it's under 45,000?

0:32:55Because we expect that we may have contingencies that would increase the cost to 50,000, and so, at the risk of having to bring it back to you, and in order to get things started right away, we decided to adopt it, to to recommend adoption with contingencies, and I don't know. Additionally, it's because we already, in our license agreement with this vendor is already 35,000. So this is on top of that. Otherwise

0:33:19we would have gone the other. Yeah, we would have figured out. But it's because it's with the same vendor. Okay, thank you. Thank you.

0:33:27And 7 F.

0:33:29Thank you. So this is probably a question for our finance director.

0:33:39let you walk up here. For the 45,000 that we are using from the general fund as a placeholder for the next fiscal year. Does that mean that this funding is then

0:33:56coming back to the general fund, because there will be other budget.

0:34:00This will be included in the 2526 budget.

0:34:04Or how does how does this work, or this forward commitment of general fund crystal raimes finance director, so we don't expect to be able to expend these funds. And so this is kind of a precursor to starting our funding our isfs. And so this would be, it's internal service fund apologies.

0:34:25So this is like a precursor to that. So this is how departments would make their contributions to start saving up for the items that they intend to purchase, and so we would include this as a transfer into the Internal Service Fund for this year, and then we would have to include, if if we anticipate spending it, which we do in next fiscal year. So we'll have a budget adjustment increasing that authority. Okay, but this is just.

0:34:49I guess, in the tracking of what we consider one time draws on the general funds. This is not one of those right. This was a budgeted, budgeted item. We just don't, don't anticipating spending it throughout the fiscal year, and so to make sure that those funds don't roll back to the general fund balance.

0:35:07and we're just securing that as a contribution to the Isf. And just. And further, because I have the authority as city manager to move money within a fund. I am not authorized, however, to do a transfer to another fund. That's why we would come to you for this.

0:35:23Thank you very much.

0:35:25All right, Council. Member Cassan is 7 a.

0:35:29Yeah, I had a. It's a request, and I'm open to other ideas as well. But I

0:35:35I often look at the the minutes. Try to figure out historically what's happened and why.

0:35:41And one of the things that bothered me was.

0:35:44Let me pull up the right page here and forth the discussion of appropriation increases.

0:35:53and particularly because I I voted against it. My reasons for voting against it was not had nothing to do with the the actual appropriation request.

0:36:01There's the outcome. And the outcome was nearly a million dollar deficit.

0:36:07So I think, just for the historical record.

0:36:09it's important to mention that it's important to mention what the outcome is. So it's not only that we approve an appropriation increase. We also approved a $900,000 deficit, so my request would be to be a little bit more transparent about it, and I do recognize that these are minutes and it can't include everything.

0:36:26And by nature. They're truncated. But I think that's a very, very important part, particularly from the financial matters, is what is the fiscal impact to include that in the minutes.

0:36:36City clerk. Thank you for those comments. Council Member. Some time ago this body did give direction to the city clerk to take what's called action. Minutes of city council meetings, because we do record our council meetings, and we do archive those meetings for a period of 30 years. The Council directed the city clerk to only do action, which really is

0:36:58what action was taken, what what action was adopted by the legislative body, and in addition to that, just in terms of

0:37:06comments from individual members. Section minutes are intended to

0:37:12be a compilation of the body as a whole, not individual remarks from individual members. So that is why you don't see comments related to individual comments from individual members in the meeting minutes. So just a little bit of history there.

0:37:28so that you know why we do them the way that we do at this point.

0:37:33All right. Any other questions. All right. Do I have a motion to approve

0:37:39a second. All right. So motion by Mayor Protein Quinto, and seconded by councilmember Motoyama all in favor, please say aye, aye, aye, any opposed.

0:37:49any abstentions, all right, so the minutes are the the consent. Calendar does pass

0:37:55all right. The next item on the agenda is public hearings

0:38:02and a public hearing on a public nuisance. Abatement hearing for 63, 27, Conlon Avenue.

0:38:10Can we? Please have the staff report?

0:38:20Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is I'm the Housing and Economic Development Manager in the Community Development Department, and I am joined by Zoom by Stephen Mellow. Our neighborhood preservation coordinator

0:38:37tonight for your consideration is a public nuisance abatement. Hearing for the property at 63, 27, Conlin. I'm going to quickly give you background on the actions to date and review our authority within the municipal code. Declare the property a public nuisance upon conclusion of this public hearing, and go over next steps, and then we'll for questions and answers.

0:39:05So as you read in the Staff Report, the Neighborhood Preservation program, we work collaboratively in the Community Development Department to protect public health, safety, civic pride, and to preserve our both commercial and residential properties.

0:39:22It's a combination of the building code and zoning ordinances. And really, we're a reactive program, and we respond to complaints received from the public. Our goal is really to work with the public and ensure that the conflicts are resolved and addressed accordingly. And there are rare instances, however, where voluntary compliance cannot be achieved. And so that's why we're here tonight.

0:39:54So, as I mentioned, the municipal code authorizes the city to pursue administration, penalties, and violations, and so you will know that the 1st violation is 100. The second violation increases to 200, and all subsequent violations are 500. This approach is generally significant enough to bring properties into compliance. But,

0:40:21you know every situation is not the same. Every property owner, profile is not the same, and every property type is not the same. And so thus in this situation, we have a item that we need to pursue as a public nuisance due to

0:40:39the property not voluntarily coming into compliance.

0:40:43So this property before you is located on San Pablo Avenue or uptown district. It's comprised of 2 parcels adjacent to San Pablo Avenue, and

0:40:54it's owned by a local property owner who does live in El Cerrito, and they've owned the property since the seventies. It has an assessed value of roughly 36,000, and unfortunately, the property taxes are currently as well.

0:41:11Since August of 2024 our neighborhood preservation coordinator, Stephen has

0:41:18done a lot of have taken a lot of actions to get the property to comply. Unfortunately, after a series of all of the violations noted here. The property was not

0:41:33means are secured, and we've determined that it is a nuisance, although we have received one payment for the 1st citation, the subsequent payments. Have not been received, and there's an outstanding balance. I do want to note.

0:41:48that the city has also adopted but if a fine is not paid, it then goes to collections. So we're using an outside company called Data Ticket that will actually further go after the property owner to collect on these fees. Because obviously with staff time and resources. There's only so far that we can go, and then we turn it over to a collection agency.

0:42:12So that then our municipal code. We work closely with the city attorney's office. To this is actually, I should say, part one of a two-part process. We're seeking authorization by the city council to ascertain whether this property constitutes a public nuisance in order to actually proceed with the abatement.

0:42:33So here is here are the steps that are required within our municipal code. And and we're actually here at the hearing in front of the city council and following this presentation, there will be a decision made whether or not to abate the property.

0:42:50Unfortunately, this is the condition of the property. I do want to note that we didn't notify the property owner of the conditions ongoing. And we have also

0:43:03noted that the property was previously burned up until 2021. So as of recently, it's just become a dumping site. Unfortunately, we have some reasons why we think it may have picked up but that's all pure speculation at this point, nevertheless. Our goal is to get the site secured, and to also ensure

0:43:24that there isn't any, you know, any fires or any other sort of public safety hazards due to the accumulation of garbage and other things.

0:43:37So on March 26th we published a notice of public hearing. We posted that at the property we did notify the property owner by mail, at which time they were requested to submit a written response by April or appear tonight.

0:43:54I'm not sure if anyone is here this evening at the moment, but as of for this time we have not received a written response, and our abatement methods are that the property be removed of all junk, and that it be disposed of properly, and that the property be secured and fenced.

0:44:13If the property owner does not voluntarily request to date the property. Then the city council has the authority to conduct the public nuisance without further notice to the property. So we've done as you've seen in the packet and attachment to an extensive amount of noticing and attempts to get the property to come into compliance

0:44:34for tonight. If if the Council decides to proceed with the abatement.

0:44:39we will proceed with that, we will then return to you all. As at an abatement hearing, you'll actually have the cost actual cost itemized, or obviously some estimates. But when once we actually undertake the abatement, we'll have a true sense. If the property owner fails to reimburse the city at that time. The city can then work with the county to record a special account assessment against the property.

0:45:06so as far as financial considerations. In addition to declaring the property a public nuisance, we are also seeking budget authority not to exceed 35,000, and when we return to you all, we will also be able to have a better assessment of legal fees and staff times spent. So this number may change, but in terms of the actual hard cost to do the abatement. We have done some preliminary outreach, gotten a couple of quotes, and that is how we landed at

0:45:34at this not to exceed $35,000.

0:45:37So this concludes the presentation, we're gonna open it up to you all for questions as well as any public comment

0:45:45questions from the Council. Yes. I pulled up my phone and wanted to look at the property and the Google Maps. And you can see the images, the actual, not just the map, but the image. And what struck me right away was when I went to the property. There's a sign that says for sale.

0:46:00So I was curious if that's factored into any of the negotiations, and then also a little bit concerned, that if we spend

0:46:08$30,000, or $35,000 towards it, and then they sell it. What mechanisms does the city have to collect that money? If there hasn't been a loan placed on it. Yeah, the property has interestingly been on the market a couple of times. We would love for it to

0:46:23turn to a new owner, of course, for various reasons. But if the property once we go through this process, we will record the assessment, and that will be paid through the escrow sale of the property. If it were

0:46:40so. After the the cost, hearing that I used to refer to assuming the city council. Confirms the some are all the costs that the city incurs in abatement. The resolution will authorize staff to then record with the county. The those costs as a lien and special assessment.

0:47:01The lien will basically secure the amount against the property, and the special assessment will direct the tax collector to put the amount on the tax roll, basically as as an additional property tax payment.

0:47:16So once that's recorded, any buyer will have notice of it, and they can choose to have that released as part of the the escrow process, or and if it goes on further, then if the pro current property owner does not pay it, then that'll initiate the a very lengthy default process. But ultimately the property will be in default of property tax

0:47:41any other questions. Council member Motiyama. Thank you. Mayor.

0:47:46so kind of following up on that. Assuming that this becomes an assessment. Generally speaking, how long will it take for us to be reimbursed?

0:47:58If the so it it it depends which I hate to give as an answer as an attorney, but

0:48:05If the property owner chooses to pay it.

0:48:09Then given the timing that may well be on the 2526 property tax bill, and so the the city could see the money as early as basic, or half of it in December and half of it in April.

0:48:24If the property owner declines to pay and it basically becomes delinquent, then it's a multi-year process where ultimately the county will put the pro. Put the property up for tax sale.

0:48:38and the payment of the delinquent taxes will basically be a requirement for the sale. But again, it is a multi-year process, so it will take a while for the city to recover. If the if the property owner, if the current owner chooses to ignore the issue entirely.

0:48:54Thank you. Okay. Question when you speak with the property, is it

0:48:59parcels, or just one parcel? Because when I looked at the images of the trash. It looked to be mostly on parcel A

0:49:06and I just I was kind of wondering

0:49:08it's across both parcels I was short handing it. Would it would be on both. If if we incur costs related to both properties, then we would we would secure it against both properties.

0:49:21I do actually have one question, I said, I even, but I think I know the answer to this. This is the property, and some of the council members know that before living in Mayfair. I was across the street at Del Marty Place, and so this is, I believe, the property at the end of the ohlone Greenway, right there on Kearney. Correct, right behind

0:49:38red Onion, you know. So a lot of people have been talking about Aloney Greenway. That is one of the roughest stretches of Aloney Greenway, and if I was to list the things that I've seen in that area and on that property, I believe that that was the same property that that had a big fire in 2020, I think so.

0:49:55That was the 1st time I ever witnessed. You know the activity at that property. So I mean the fact that it is gone to such a state. I mean, it was already at a state, and now it's at a worse date, so I guess it's not really a question. I just wanted to make note that that is a very a property that if we have any ability to handle. We probably should, because there's unfortunately a lot of unhoused people that end up over there, and a lot of shady dealings, and I'm sorry that we'll end up on the hook, at least for a few years, according to our city attorney. For cleaning up that property.

0:50:25Having said that fun stuff

0:50:29the I'm sorry. Yes, open to the hearing the public hearing and announce, Okay, the public hearing is now open. This is my 1st public hearing. Everybody. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments regarding this item. Request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a speaker card, public comments will be taken in person. Only please remember to identify yourself and your city of residence. At the beginning of your comments. City clerk. Please proceed.

0:50:55Thank you, Mayor. We do not have any requests to speak, but I just want to confirm there's no one from the property wishing to speak at this time

0:51:03we do not have any requests to speak. Mayor. All right. Do I have a motion to close the hearing so moved.

0:51:08and all right. So moved by mayor pro tem quinto, and seconded by councilmember, moteyama all in favor, please say aye, aye, aye, any opposed.

0:51:18any abstentions? All right. So the item does pass

0:51:23where that is part one of the public hearing. To close the public hearing, you also need to take a motion to approve. Consider approving the item.

0:51:31Yes, that's what I was getting on to. Thank you. City clerk. You don't have to teach me anything. No, I'm just playing. Okay, do I have a motion to approve? I'll move any second.

0:51:42All right. So, moved by councilmember Motiyama, and seconded by councilmember Salzman all in favor, please say, aye, aye, any opposed

0:51:52any abstentions. So the item is approved.

0:51:57City clerk. Thank you. Thank you, Staff, for the for the report. Thank you for dedicating the resources, and we will return for the next steps. Thank you so much. The next item on the agenda is policy matters fiscal year 2025, 26 budget study session.

0:52:16May we have the staff report?

0:52:38Yes, there she is. Lorraine's finance director.

0:52:45Sorry, Chris finance director. And joining remotely, is our wonderful budget and financial services manager Claire Coleman, and we have. There's no staff report, but we do have A brief presentation to outline the 2526 plan for the general fund.

0:53:03and so I will let Claire take it away.

0:53:07Claire Coleman (Budget Manager): Good evening, Marion Council, can you all hear me? Okay.

0:53:11Yes, yes.

0:53:11Claire Coleman (Budget Manager): Okay, wonderful. So we wanted to kick off our presentation. Some of this will be a review for the Council if you recall from our meeting in early February, the workshop that we did. But we like to start by putting this in the context of the biennial budget, because we are indeed, in the second year of our biennial budget cycle.

0:53:29So we call this mid cycle. So you'll hear us talk about Midyear, which is halfway through the fiscal year, and then mid cycle, which is in the process of adopting the second year of a biannual budget. So we always like to highlight the depth of the process that was conducted originally

0:53:43to create the biennial budget. In the 1st place, so it was a large number of activities. As we look towards starting the next biennial budget. We expect to start beginning that even earlier, this time, potentially in the fall for the next biennial budget cycle that will start next year, but for now we are in that middle part of the cycle. So if you see the next slide, you'll see that the second year of this biennial budget process is quite a bit shorter, because again.

0:54:09it's mid cycle. We're keeping the vast majority of the budget as is because that's part of the whole purpose is creating that longer term plan, keeping that longer term focus and then making adjustments where needed, but as a whole, keeping the same budget where wherever possible. And so as I mentioned, we had

0:54:26the early February workshop, but then we also had the audit presented. In February we did a Midyear update to you the Council in in early March. We have our study session today, not listed on. Here is going to be a conversation that the finance team will be having with the Fab as well about the budget, and then we'll be bringing the formal adoption of the fiscal 2526 budget in June of 2025

0:54:49as a reminder. The reason we do this is we're required by both city municipal code and state law to adopt the city spending authority on an annual basis. So even though we do our planning process on a 2 year basis through this biennial budget process, we actually do need to formally adopt the spending authority each year by June 30.th So that's why we kind of have that biennial budget. But we're still doing the formal adoption each year.

0:55:15So as we look at the next slide, we're talking about some of the core revenue trends. So we aren't proposing changes to our revenue projections at this time, and that's because we still feel that they are still valid. We've done a lot of analysis over the last couple of months. We know it is a

0:55:30anybody who opens a newspaper knows that it is a very, very turbulent time, and there's a lot going on in the economy. Anybody who makes the mistake of looking at their 401 K. There's a lot going on out there, and so we're doing our best to stay on top of these trends. But one important thing to keep in mind is that most city revenue sources are on a time lag.

0:55:49So our primary revenue sources are things like property tax, which is on a year and a half to 2 year delay. So even if there are major changes in property markets, which are quite rare. But we did see during the 2,008, 2,009 recession, those typically hit cities on a 2 year lag. And so that we're

0:56:06we have plenty of challenges, and on the revenue side in cities. But stability is actually not always one of them. And so we're very lucky that we have some stability in our revenue sources. So I'll actually start with the sales tax side.

0:56:18while we are seeing a lot of turbulence. Our projections for fiscal 2526, and the most recent forecast we received from Hdl are still consistent with the budget numbers that we put forward last year during the biennial budget process. They're not exactly the same. They have had some slight fluctuations, but they're still very consistent with what we're budgeting. So that's why we are recommending changes on the revenue side at this time

0:56:40on the property transfer tax. We are trending at budget right now. We hope and expect to meet our budget numbers this fiscal year, and we still feel that those revenue numbers on the real property transfer tax side for the second year of this budget, fiscal 2526, are still reasonable numbers that we expect to meet.

0:56:58and then finally, on the cannabis side. These are just highlighted trends that we know have been a particular interest to the Council and to the public. I'll just note property taxes continue to be very stable. We see 4 to 5% growth annually, much of that from reassessments of properties. In addition to that, 2% or Cpi cap that we have from prop 13 on the cannabis side.

0:57:18There was a question about why the 2425 numbers are lower. That's due to a prepayment agreement that the city had with one of our cannabis businesses here in town. This is the last year of that prepayment agreement. And so that's why we see that increase in 2526 is that we would have seen basically the same amount this year. But we had the prepayment agreement. So we actually saw that revenue earlier on in past fiscal years.

0:57:42So on the next slide. So we're talking about the general fund today, we're not specifically talking about special revenue funds which we'll talk with you about at a later date.

0:57:52These are pictures, or these are graphs from the city's biennial budget book. One thing I noted is that we try to keep the same biennial budget, the biennial budget book that was adopted by Council last June. It is a dynamic document in that it's very interactive. But it's a static document, and that staff don't make changes to that budget book once it has been adopted by council.

0:58:13So when we make our quarterly updates to council and provide you quarterly investment and budget reports. We're providing that data to the Council and to the public. But we're not touching the budget book, because it's a point in time. It is the budget that was adopted by the Council at that point in time.

0:58:27And so that's why, when you see this graph here on the right with the bar chart, the fiscal 24 numbers. Those are the budget numbers. Those aren't actuals, because those were the numbers that were available when the document was created.

0:58:38The other 2 numbers, the fiscal 25 numbers. Those are the budget document. Those are the budget numbers that were adopted in June 24. So it doesn't include some of the adjustments that I'll talk about on the next slide in a little bit

0:58:49for fiscal 25. But the numbers that we're proposing to you today are the same numbers that you're going to see in fiscal 26. There are some adjustments among departments, but overall the totals are still what we recommend on the General Fund side.

0:59:02I would just want to touch on this graph I was talking about our stable revenue portfolio.

0:59:07One thing that El Cerrito has that, I think, is a serious strength, as a city is a very diverse revenue portfolio. While this large blue segment shows that most of our revenues come from taxes, which is

0:59:18extremely normal. There's a variety of different taxes. We're about

0:59:22maybe 30% property tax, maybe 30% sales and use tax. We have a very diversified revenue portfolio citywide. And that gives us a lot of stability. So that if one type of revenue changes, we have stability from other areas.

0:59:34charges for services are our fees. And so those are something that we will be bringing to council in the next couple of months. Once we conclude the master fee study as well, but I just like to touch on the fact that El Cerrito is somewhat

0:59:46I wouldn't say unique. But but we have a very lucky, perhaps, or we're very lucky with the the support that the community has given in in a willingness to approve taxes that support the city's operations that give us a very balanced revenue portfolio.

1:00:01So finally, I just want to touch on some of the updates that were made that the Council has approved since the budget was adopted in June, and that's to the current fiscal year after this slide Crystal will take over and talk about what's proposed for the next fiscal year. But there were 2 major changes that have happened with current fiscal year impacts. The 1st is the roll forward of purchase orders

1:00:22that were not completed during the prior fiscal year, and then the other was the new labor contracts that were signed with several of the city's major bargaining units.

1:00:30There were also some updates with no current fiscal year impact like the passage of Measure G, and the change to the city's general fund reserve policy level. But those don't have a current fiscal year impact while the roll forward of purchase orders and the new labor contracts do have a current year fiscal impact. And so that's why you'll see some differences from the ending numbers and the ending budget. Numbers amended. Budget numbers. Why, those are now different than the numbers that were originally adopted by the Council in June.

1:01:01Okay, so with that, we'll move on to the required adjustments that we determined we would need to make that council had already approved. So we have the Seiu.

1:01:11the Psma pea and city manager contracts those adjustments totaled $256,000 position reclasses a total of $32,000, the conversion of a fire inspector from part-time to full time for $117,000. We had updated general liability and workers compensation insurance estimates.

1:01:35which were just over $282,000 updated utility cost estimates that were just over $37,000,

1:01:43and we had increased costs for additional library hours. For about 17,800

1:01:50we also had a unique instance. From the county for East Bay regional communications system authority, the ebricks, contracts for radios for police and fire. They discovered a billing error and they did not bill Us. In 2,017 and 2018, to the tune of $164,000. So these were expenditures that we knew we were going to have. We had. We have.

1:02:17we have them. We've already been agreed to. We have to pay them. But you know, as Claire said. The the economy right now is is uncertain, and so, after

1:02:29quite a bit of lengthy analysis. We decided to keep the general fund bottom line. Total static. So I mean, essentially absorbing. And in some areas reducing budget across departments. So that way we could increase the departments that needed to have these expenditures and making the adjustments. Based off of what we thought was going to be the best.

1:02:55This was not easy. There were not easy conversations to have with any of the department heads. But

1:03:04I'll take a note from our wonderful city manager of, you know, patience, not panic right now. And but this it does mean, you know, we have impacts to the department and city operations so probably little to no capacity for unbudgeted projects or initiatives. Departments will be responsible for prioritizing of urgent immediate needs and have less capacity for emergencies or unexpected requests.

1:03:31Limited capacity to respond to unexpected legal and employee. Related items

1:03:35and impacts to departments may change with possible readjustments at midyear, depending on the economic conditions and the revenue and expenditure trends within each department. So this is a very fluid situation.

1:03:47Yes, and crystal. Could you go back one to show the chart with the projected changes. So I just wanted to point out as Crystal said, when you're looking at what was originally proposed, and the Updated proposed at the bottom line is not changing. That's our. That is what we're recommending to do.

1:04:07There are some changes within the departments, but I do want to note that this is what we're going. This is what we're looking at right now, and that I have to commend Crystal and Claire for doing a great deal of analysis over the past 3 years, and looking at the trends to see that this would be available to be able to absorb within the general fund as is with these changes.

1:04:32That does mean that there's going to be a lot of prioritization between the departments where this is kind of the epitome of when you say, living within your means. This is our means, and this is what we're gonna live within. However.

1:04:44knowing that there may be some changes, or maybe the revenues do perk up, particularly in our bigger revenue, generating departments, such as recreation or community development.

1:04:55We might have to make some adjustments. And so what we will do going throughout the year is not just closely monitor that and have to track that, but also in the quarterly general fund updates. When we report to you by department, we would be able to call this out on a quarterly basis so that you can see exactly where that is is moving. So that's where we'll be monitoring. And that's where we'll be showing the council what is happening.

1:05:18But

1:05:19and again, I, you know, knowing that the economy is volatile, knowing that our revenues are probably going to be stagnant. You know this is attempting to bring

1:05:29our best foot forward without

1:05:32trying to come to the Council with a deficit budget. When it comes to operating. We'll talk about some potential one time expenditures in a moment. But for the operating budget. We want to make sure that we're. We're just really thank you for saying that I've been saying patience, not panic, panic, not patient, not not panic. And the reason I'm saying not panic, is because, unlike the 2,008 recession, and unlike 5 years ago, when we were facing other financial challenges, and then the pandemic

1:06:01on top of the financial challenges. This Council

1:06:04has put us in a position where we are speaking from this of

1:06:09from this platform, if you will. With health, with financial health, we have

1:06:1543% fund balance currently, and 30% of that is required by our own policy that we are following

1:06:26and that we have definitely taken a lot of pains to be able to

1:06:31to come in under budget when it comes to expenditures or increased revenues wherever we can. But we come because we have our reserves because we've built those up, and especially in the case of a recession or some crazy economic downturn, the Edrs. The Emergency Disaster Relief Fund was created for that purpose, and the Council could choose to use that.

1:06:56And and that's 9 million dollars, which is an incredible investment by this by the city council. So all of this to say that even though the budget is tight, it is finally balanced when it and this is the general fund. Let's let's also be very clear. This is a general fund is finally balanced, but at the same time

1:07:15we are in a position of strength, as we move forward to be able to absorb any additional

1:07:22things that the economy might throw at us. So I just want to again commend the Council. I want to commend Crystal and Claire for doing the analysis, to show what we believe that we are able to move forward with in the general fund this year.

1:07:36and we talk about one times. Yep. So, yeah. So I just said, like, limited to no capacity for unbudgeted. So we did. Oh, actually, no, I'm getting ahead of myself. So this is the updated general fund forecast. It's it looks a little bit different than the previous one that you saw, because we basically cut a million dollars from from our budget. So it's it's a very healthy

1:07:59healthy picture. The forecasts include conservative revenues and expenditure, growth assumptions. All the labor increases from existing contracts

1:08:07and historical averages. It does not include the assumption of a recession. It does not include the section 115,

1:08:14or issuing any new debt or equipment or vehicle purchases or additional contributions to internal service funds. And and Claire, I don't know if you want to jump in on this one, particularly looking at the assumption of a recession, and I've had a couple of questions from a couple of different council members, and even a couple of members of the public.

1:08:34I I should have gone back and taken a look I saw on a local news show that there was a professor from Cal who was talking about the possibility of our session, and what he said really struck me. And I think this is kind of

1:08:47sums up what we're what we're talking about tonight, and he thinks he he was saying that he thought that right now what we will experience is what he called a wait and see recession. So because everyone is not clear on what's happening, and the stock market is all over the place.

1:09:06People might just wait and see, I think. Council member Quinto. You and I talked about cars at lunch, I mean, people may not buy a car, or they may not buy a house, or they may not make that big old purchase or go out, you know, right now they're just gonna wait and see. And so that's kind of a little bit of what we're applying to this

1:09:25is waiting and seeing. So I know that that doesn't. You know that that makes me nervous, too. Don't don't get me wrong. But that's why. Again, we're coming from a position of strength where we have solid reserves in case anything goes sideways, super sideways, and we can make adjustments as necessary. We have the the ability to do that. So

1:09:46this is, you know, looking at this if a recession does hit, if we do have something. For example, in the 2,008 recession

1:09:558 was enacted where property taxes were lowered by the county assessor. Again, we have the the reserves to be able to address that if necessary. But that would be something that again we'll be able to jump on as soon as possible. We'll be watching this extremely closely.

1:10:16Okay, so, moving on to the one time expenditures for consideration. So our General Fund Fund balance projection has not changed as of midyear. So with all the changes we were projecting, a deficit of just just over a million dollars, with all of the changes that were that were made. And so we have a projected

1:10:39unassigned fund balance of just over 11.3 million dollars. And so if we take into consideration our 17

1:10:49reserve requirement. Which would be about 9.1 million. That would leave us 2.2 million in unassigned discretionary fund balance. So, keeping with all of our policies, we have about 2.2 million

1:11:04in excess and so we asked departments to put together their list of one time, one time expenditures for consideration. And this was this, these were the most most prevailing needs. From the departments, as of now.

1:11:22Yes, so my turn and so looking at this list, and and this is by no means comprehensive as far as of our needs and looking at our cip, our capital improvement program and all of the different things.

1:11:38But these were the ones that rose really high to the level of the top, and I've talked about some of these before. And we do have departments that are able to describe some of these more in detail. If the council desires. But for just to kind of really quickly walk through.

1:11:55We've been talking about fire engine replacement. You all know that we've been talking about that for a while. The fire mandated Scba, self-contained breathing apparatus. Thank you, has to be replaced every so many years. It's not cheap, as you can see the Service delivery study. This is what we have been discussing with the Council and the community actually, since prior to being removed from the State Auditor list to look at all of our operations, and

1:12:22knowing that

1:12:24prior to this, prior to this past, that the last slide that you saw we've been projecting over time at least a million dollar structural deficit that we would like to close. So again, not adding a million dollars to this budget has effectively done that. However, we know that that could easily change. We have, you know, upcoming other labor negotiations, things of that nature that we need to. We still want to be able to move forward with that study.

1:12:54The pool replaster. This is currently an issue with with our with the large pool which is reaching the end of its useful life as far as the plaster. There is actually some damage there. Now that we are monitoring, we are looking for. We are working with consultants to cost it out completely. But the 2 that you see there for replaster, which would be the repair, and then 88 upgrades

1:13:19for the entire community center that would require that are triggered by such a such a remodel, if you will. Again not cheap. That's about 1.8 million dollars for the whole thing. Again, we are trying to clarify those costs and see if we can do just the repair.

1:13:38As necessary. I would say. Those are kind of the the biggest ticket items there, but also, as you see demolishing

1:13:48that former church, the former church property that the city. I made an investment in just to be clear. And I know there's been some questions on this. We had we conducted a study of what it might take to be able to refurbish that property or reuse that property.

1:14:07and the cost came back. And this is just for the Sanctuary at about 1 million dollars, and we'll we'll worked with the consultant on that, and that's just to make it usable, that is, not to refurbish it into a

1:14:21whatever we we choose to do with it. That would just to me make it usable. And that's not in my certainly, in my opinion, that's not feasible. And further, the Admin building that is kind of closer to San Pablo avenue is is not usable. It is filled with mold and needs to be removed.

1:14:39So that we're looking at that as a as a as a cost that needs to come the H and a the parks that is. Still, that is, actually, we've been talking about that with you as well.

1:14:51and going in. There's public works, utility truck and Van Purchase. I would, I would venture to say, our entire fleet needs to be completely revamped and take, taken a look at as where we've been kind of piecemealing. Going through with with some, especially police cars, they turn over much more quickly. But other departments we really need to do. It's actually more of a big study on that.

1:15:12And then, of course, the mics that work really well, and the spinning and the setting up zoom, actually, that's you know, that's that's not cheap, either.

1:15:22Because if we wanted to bring it up to not just being able to work with all the technology that we have now in the council chambers. But also, please remember, this is our emergency operations center in case of a disaster. So it's not just having to upgrade. You know the zoom features or the microphones. It would be a a complete overhaul, and that's the word we use there. So, and this is a

1:15:45a wish list. But not really a wish list. It's a we need to do it list. It's a matter of when list

1:15:52so, and part of the study session tonight, and you know, to kind of have the conversation. And I've talked to each of you as well to get some of your thoughts.

1:16:02As Crystal said, we have about 2.2 million dollars in what

1:16:06what I would say is discretionary, meaning that that would be the amount left in the general fund balance that allows us to maintain our 17 fund balance, and at least a 13% edrf, so of that 2 million dollars. Knowing that we have some of these

1:16:24these big ticket items available. And again, we're not asking you for a decision tonight. We we want to hear from you. Ask, maybe, for some direction, if you have it, that we would bring it back, and we would certainly bring back much more detailed numbers and and plans, but just having a conversation a little bit about

1:16:42of what this could mean. Could would the Council be willing to use some of that 2.2 million dollars on any of these items? Now, again, this is 4.1 million. As a total. I'm not asking you for that. I'm I wouldn't even be asking you for perhaps all of the discretionary funds, but I do believe my

1:17:01soft recommendation, if you will, would be that if we set aside money for at least the

1:17:10if we set aside even

1:17:122 million dollars of the 2.2 million. Some of that could be set aside in the Vehicle replacement fund to save for the fire engine the service delivery study would get us started on the pool replaster. My other recommendation would be that

1:17:27at last year, in the spirit of the policy of the surplus policy that the Council adopted. We did not have a surplus, as you know. We just discussed that. However, we did spend 6 million dollars less than we had planned to spend, so that has contributed to the general fund balance

1:17:47in the waterfall policy. It calls for 1st making sure we have the 17, which we do, second having the Edrf fully funded, which we do, then the next would be a portion of that would go toward the section 1 15. Trust. My recommendation would be to at least match what the city paid last year, which was $300,000.

1:18:10You know, to to put that in the section 115 trust, so that even if it's baby steps toward

1:18:16higher funding of our pension liability, it steps nonetheless, and it allows us to continue to make progress, and the investments continue to gain interest, so that we have set aside some money for that. So again, if the Council would consider using a portion of, or or give us some direction on whether or not we should come back to you to propose and recommend a firm recommendation on these items, to

1:18:45to fund out of general fund balance again, owing to the fact that we had additional general fund balance from last year, even 2 million dollars would make a dent here, and it would allow us to continue. And then for any of the other things, if there's an emergency, we could always come back to the Council, or there's other items to come back to the council. So those are my like, I said. That's where the bullets there, under recommendations.

1:19:12Would be that. Of course, the Council could choose to allocate more. The Council could choose to allocate less. That's really the conversation that that we would like to have this evening as far as these one time expenditures.

1:19:26and we have a few more slides we can go to, and then we can certainly go back to that. Conversation.

1:19:32Okay.

1:19:33so just some of the key highlights. The second year of the biennial budget developed in spring of 2024. The economy uncertain and turbulent. No changes recommended to the bottom line differences between revenues and expenditures for the general fund. Some adjustments among the departments

1:19:53and the list of one-time expenditures.

1:19:58The next steps would be staff to make any updates based on Council feedback, and we'll be taking this to the Fab to review at their April meeting, and then the final budget adoption in June.

1:20:11Okay, all right. Are there any questions from the council councilmember? Casanas lots and comments.

1:20:24I I just want to point out that you know it does.

1:20:28It stood out to me. There was no

1:20:31prediction of a recession figuring into this, because amongst economic circles I've seen anywhere between 40 and 80% given as the probability of recession. So I would think that

1:20:41within that range it's it's likely, and I'm getting more so.

1:20:46A couple of comments. It it bothers me

1:20:50that the one time expenses are not included in the budget in the fiscal year next 2526 budget

1:20:58cause. I think that you know, I've heard the rationale being their one time expenses. But there's tons of things in the budget that are one time expenses.

1:21:04and so I, personally would like to see them. I don't have any objection to any of them.

1:21:08but to the the

1:21:12idea that there's trade offs, that if you're going to spend money is one place you have to spend less somewhere else. I would like to see them included in the budget. I don't feel comfortable

1:21:19looking at whatever excess we are beyond 17% and saying, That's extra money, because another hugely glaring, missing liabilities.

1:21:30Well.

1:21:31I mean the the sorry. The section 115 trust is about 1% of what's owed and likely to become much less than 1% given the current state of of markets and palpro's investments and their original assumptions, and all that changing. So that

1:21:47this is part of my campaign. Incredible that this is seemingly ignored. The city has about 100 million dollars of unfunded pension liabilities that are real, and if we don't address them now, they get passed on to the next generation. And I've heard say, Well, it's about like social security. It is a lot like social security, and I find it ethically apprehensible that we do that to future generations, and I think we have to address it.

1:22:14I, personally, and this is a little bit of of a

1:22:19I think, the 1 15. I know that when it was was presented to Fab, Fab recommended against it.

1:22:26I have studied it quite a bit. I know it's a reasonable mechanism for cities that are flushing cash, that want to take more aggressive, more aggressive investment approaches that allows them to do that. We are not flushing cash, and we barely even funded the 1 15.

1:22:42And I

1:22:46I don't mind if it's spending more. But you know a couple of $100,000 or something means nothing. Now.

1:22:52I would like to see at least somewhere between 3 and 5% of our incoming digital hardware.

1:22:58Of course, each year, you know, possibly, that they're gone, and I know that's not gonna happen. But there needs to be a real reckoning of that.

1:23:09And so if there's excess money to me. That's the 1st priority, because that's not.

1:23:16It's not a 1. It's an absolute obligation that we have. It's it's not something we can choose to ignore, although we are

1:23:25not a.

1:23:29Let me check my questions here.

1:23:33I may come back with additional comments if I don't remember exactly what it was.

1:23:43I will! I will pass. I'll come to me in a minute, but I will pass on to

1:23:49I don't. Oh, I was oh, I was just just to just to clarify. And and I and I, you know, I agree. I understand the pension liability. That is something that very much concerns us.

1:24:04I just want to clarify that we, as far as

1:24:07I I you know, I just want to make sure that it's clear we're not ignoring the liability that is budgeted for each year in the budget. We are making payments. We have always made payments. We are about 65 to 70% funded within our liability. So we we haven't. We haven't pre funded it

1:24:26prior to opening 115 trust. That's absolutely true. Opening the Trust allows us to continue to pre fund it. But I just want to make sure that we're ignoring the pension liability. That's we are paying it every single year we're paying it as we go. There are different ways. We could do that. So I just want to make sure that that's that's understood, that is budgeted, and that 53 million dollars of that 53 million dollars from the general fund

1:24:52that is budgeted in each department. And further, it's not just the general fund that pays the Ual. It's spread across all of our funds. So just to kind of make that clear because I don't want it, and I don't want there to be confusion. And then, secondly, you're absolutely right. If the city Council.

1:25:08as far as the one time expenditures, we pull those out several years ago again, in the kind of in. Try to be more transparent about what these huge needs are.

1:25:19But if we put them in the budget. Then we would be asking for fund balance to have to pay for them. So either way, I think we would have to dip in the fund balance to pay for them. These costs are so high that

1:25:32we would not be able to make enough operating budget cuts to to handle all of these projects without making beep service, delivery cuts, that is the trade off. And again, if the city council wanted to direct me and my staff to

1:25:47put more money toward the pension instead of these projects, or put more money toward anything

1:25:53rather than an operating budget. That is the decision of the council. I just want to make sure that it's understood that there are trade-offs to do that. And in order to pay for some of these higher ticket items. It would require reductions in other areas. It's a 0 sum game at that point. So so, but but if that's what the Council would like to direct staff to do. Of course we would come back with with a plan to do that.

1:26:18Okay, Kathleena. Thank you, Mayor. So

1:26:22I have some questions about the slides. But I also want to address the unfunded pension liability, and I think, it would be really great to have kind of a study session for the public as well as us to talk about what that really is, because I think it gets completed with a lot of things. And

1:26:45you know the even if we took every single dollar we had this year and paid down that pension liability to the whole budget. That number will still change, because it's just

1:27:00the it's a calculation of if everybody that is on staff all retired at the same time, how much money would be need. And it's

1:27:11rolling number. It depends on kind of the actuarial assumptions that Calpers has. It depends on what kind of return they're expecting. And so since that return percentage fluctuates as well. It's it's it's kind of a moving target. And what I don't want us to

1:27:31to do in terms of quote unquote paying down that pension liability is to really hamper us in operations every year. You know, we are making the payment.

1:27:43There is. If you look at the chart of what happens over time. There was pension reform back in 2,012,

1:27:51the sort of the classic

1:27:54pension went away, and new members are on a much higher employee contribution, and so that there is a cliff where it comes down in our benefit, where these higher pension costs will be offset by the new members coming in with a different pension liability for us.

1:28:16So I don't want us to do anything. You know, we we know that's coming. This is a long view. People live a long time. So it's a long view, and I want to make sure that we keep track of that long view, so that we aren't kind of going. Oh, my God, we have a hundred 1 million dollars we owe. It's like, yeah, but it's not like a mortgage like you can't to kind of go back to that household budget.

1:28:40Example is not a fixed mortgage amount, so that if we pay it down faster, that mortgage will get paid sooner. That doesn't happen with our unfunded pension liability. It will just continue. It will. There will always be a pension liability, because we have people that will retire in the future every time we hire a new person. If they're younger they're going to stretch out the years that we owe pension.

1:29:06So I think that, you know, I think it's really worth kind of drilling down really deep into kind of what this unfunded pension liability is, so that we're all talking about it from the same place. I know there's a lot of public comment about oh, my God! You owe millions and hundreds of millions of dollars, and you're not paying it. You're it's unfunded. It's like, that's not what unfunded

1:29:29actually mean. So I think it'd be great to get us all on the same page. I see you shaking your head and disagreeing with me, which is totally fine. But I think it would be helpful to try to get us all on the same page with that

1:29:44So hopefully, Mayor, you will want to create a

1:29:48workshop or a deep dive for that.

1:29:54And and if and if it's the will of the Council, certainly we could have our financial advisors come and do a presentation. I think that might be very helpful, you know. I think it's just a sit down with a whole bunch of numbers and just go over it. Yeah.

1:30:07which I think. If there was one criticism I could make about our presentation this evening, I think it would have been helpful if there are more numbers. I gave us lots of numbers about how the costs have changed, but they were verbal and not on the slide, and they're not in the material. So in future, I think, having more numbers

1:30:27for me is helpful. The numbers

1:30:30tell me the story. I check the text to make sure that they match. So I start with the numbers. So I want to. Just check in on the general fund balance assumption so as of the end of the fiscal year in the act, for the total balance was 22.9 million dollars or 8 9 3. So is that

1:30:53because we're not changing the budget.

1:30:56I know there's some some spending, but is it roughly, that same general fund balance, or is it the change to the unrestricted amount? I think it was 12.6 million that was assumed in

1:31:11the fiscal 2425 budget is that, you know, are those things saying the same as well. Yes. So the numbers from the Midyear presentation are still the same. We haven't changed any of the projections. We ended fiscal year 24 at 22.8, which includes the Edrf of 9 million, section 1 15 of 1.3 a non spendable amount of 126, and then we do have a projected deficit of 1,093,420.

1:31:39And so that's where we get it'll reduce our projected fund balance to 21.7, which then includes the Edrf. The section 115, a small non-spendable with a projected unassigned fund balance of 11.3 million.

1:31:57Yeah, those numbers have been great to see. So thank you for that. Also going back to the budget changes. That table. There's significant budget change in recreation and police. And I just want to understand what it is that we're not doing. What are we not buying, or who are we not hiring, or what is it that's happening? That's that. We can make that big of a swing in those 2 departments.

1:32:25So that's what we've spent the past couple months analyzing. And it's been analyzing historical trends over the past 3 fiscal years and the departments have come in under budget significantly. And so that's where we felt comfortable that they could absorb a little bit. A little bit more just from the historical analysis, but it will require departments to

1:32:48prioritize, and

1:32:50some projects, you know, might might be pushed to next fiscal year, or we only do part of part of a project. I mean, it's definitely doesn't come without a cost.

1:32:58But just based off of the historical trends. We felt confident that we could. We could make these changes. So I appreciate hearing that because I know that you guys, both you and Claire, we're planning on so more fine tuning and light, sizing our our assumptions. And so it makes me feel more comfortable with this change, knowing that that's that's where the bulk of the change comes from.

1:33:23Okay?

1:33:24And then on the one time expenses.

1:33:35I wanna know where we are with kind of the deferred maintenance kind of

1:33:40study to say what is coming and when. So we

1:33:44don't have to like treat this as

1:33:47we gotta do something instead of kind of maybe saving up for some of these things. And I would just I know that that was one of the projects that you guys. Yes, that is, that's a goal for the next next biennial budget. Because it like council members, said, those aren't emergencies. We we've known that these things are going to happen, but we have to start setting aside money for them. That's where I think this service delivery study

1:34:12will help us. Start to make these kind of decisions. Because, you know, as our city manager said, it's it's got to come from somewhere. And so it's just doing that strategic analysis and figuring out how we can start to set aside money for these things that

1:34:27shouldn't be an emergency. These should be things that we're planning for. And further, as we develop the biennial budget like, I said, we're also going to be looking at kind of re-energizing, if you will, our capital improvement program and the documents, and looking at all of our special funds.

1:34:45We have, we? We really, you know, with the last 5 years really having to just kind of buckle down and do a lot of just again. Kind of some of these pay as you go. Type things because of the situation that we were in. And now that we can take that step back

1:35:02and look at our next budget, revamp that program so that it's very clear that we have our full list a wish list of of things we want like a new public safety building. And the things we need to have, like a council chambers. Redo have that all in one place have it listed out with what's funded, what's not funded. I also failed to mention, and I apologize for this, but some of these items we are still going for grants, for we are still asking our State and Federal

1:35:32partners and legislators for money, looking for grant money for the fire engine and other fire equipment. Other things that we, the hillside natural area, literally just spoke earlier today to Congressman Garamendi's office, who encouraged us once again to reapply, even though the earmarks didn't work this year. He wants us to reapply again. They

1:35:55we we don't get if we don't ask, so we're asking so we're still, we are still trying to get some grant funding for, especially the fire engine and H. And A are the 2. 1 of the 2 ones that we've been targeting. And if that happens, then we that's great. Then we have, you know, additional additional room for to do some more things. But in revamping our capital improvement program for the next biennial budget make it much more clear and and obvious to

1:36:21the to the Council of the public, to all of us. Of what it's kind of like our our master plan for improvements, including all that deferred maintenance.

1:36:32And then, you know, you asked for our opinion on the one time expenditures I really not comfortable spending the whole 2 million, I would like, you know, not thinking about the priorities so much, but just the dollar amount of keeping it to a million. I think that you know

1:36:53a general fund balance is a 1 time it just, you know it's not a a

1:36:58constantly renewing source. So I want us to be really prudent. So if you, my request would be to bring us back a recommendation for a million dollars and see what is the absolute minimum that we have to have to do

1:37:13to to just keep everything going. And hopefully, you know that that's doable. I know that every single item on here is like important to everybody.

1:37:24Not. Everything is important to everybody, but there's important to some people, and they're very important. So I would say, you know, council Chamber AV overhaul is like way

1:37:37people can talk into the mic.

1:37:40So so that that is what I would like to to see. Come back and then

1:37:50going back to the section 1, 15. Trust. I don't. You know

1:37:55we do have some money in there. It would be good to to keep adding, but I think you know. Just for historical context, we have the section 1, 15, Trust, because it was on the list of things that we should consider for the State auditor. And it's important. It's money we control. It's money set aside. You know. So I think it's it's not.

1:38:16It's never gonna pay off our pension liability. But it's important that it's there, and it's a vehicle that we can set aside money, but still have it count towards our our general fund reserve. So you know, going that slowly would be really great.

1:38:33I'm sorry it counts towards our general Fund reserve. Yes, because we control it.

1:38:38Cannot be used for any other purpose. So it's a it's a committed or no, I'm sorry it's restricted, so it's externally restricted. It can only be used by pension, but it. It does sit in our general fund, but it's restricted. It's probably a 17%.

1:38:52No, but it it

1:38:55again. It's it's it's our money. So we can like. If next year we are a million short to pay down our annual liability, we can pull from that and use that.

1:39:06So that that's an important sort of safety, you know, back pocket safety, you know, budget safety item. So I think you know, I think it's it's doing what we need it to do.

1:39:16It's I like. I don't think it's ever gonna like grow so fast. That's gonna make a huge dent or anything in in that liability. But it's just.

1:39:25It's a prudent thing to have, and

1:39:28I know there was a question from the public that I've been dying to answer, and it's why didn't we get

1:39:36pension bond to pay down our liability when interest rates were low? So I've seen that a few times coming up in blogs and and public comments and stuff, and I just want to say that when the interest rates were low we didn't have any money, and our budget was in a bad place, so we didn't have the credit rating to even do that bond. So

1:40:02now we're in the position to do it, because now we have a big, fat general fund reserve, but the interest rates are too high, and you know, I think when the interest rates are low. It was a good idea. But now nobody says it's a good idea. Recommends against pension bonds.

1:40:25No, the the Gfoa does not recommend taking out pension months.

1:40:33Next I have councilmember. Salsman.

1:40:36Thank you. Appreciate the conversation so far, and thank you for the presentation. I also have a bunch of questions. 1st on slide 5. It was helpful to hear the verbal explanation that this comes from a document that doesn't get updated. And I completely understand that I don't think we should go back and update the budget book.

1:40:56But if we're going to use a slide like this at minimum, it should have a note that says, this is not current numbers. This is from a document that was passed a year ago, because it gives the wrong idea about fiscal year 24. It's pretty far off from the actuals. I would prefer to just see updated numbers. I think that's clear to the public, but I hope to never see this again without a note, because I think it's jarring to our residents thinking

1:41:23that it was this situation when actually it was a lot better. So let's provide the real numbers and and have people see where where we are. And again, don't go back and update the book. But for for slide presentations I think we need to be clear.

1:41:40on slide 8 I had a lot of the same questions as Council Member Motoyama. She was wanting more numbers on things. I want more words, and she asked for words, too, but didn't say it that way. I think it's when I 1st saw this chart. It's like I.

1:41:57It didn't make any sense to me. It just looked like an exercise to try to make it even out, and I just couldn't figure it out. I talked to Karen yesterday. I understand it better now, and from the presentation, but I think it's incumbent on us to have at least some notes

1:42:13saying, you know, based on historical numbers. This is how we got to these savings in these departments, where otherwise you know, to a member of the public, seeing that in every other place police numbers are going up. So it's hard to imagine that we could really realize these savings. So I think we just need to explain it a little bit more, and I hope when this comes back to us there will be a much deeper level of explanation to folks.

1:42:43going on to the one time expenditures. This was another slide where I wanted a lot more information also would ask you to not use jargon on a slide this important like Scba and deferred maintenance. Isf. I just think the general, the public can't understand this, and it's a really important chart.

1:43:03so please spell it out. I know it's hard, because internally you speak jargon all the time. That's fine. But I think for public documents we just need to be super clear with people. I also wanted at least like a 1 sentence explanation about why some of these things are important. Some are really obvious, like when you need to replace a fire engine, you need to.

1:43:23But like, why do you need to replaster the pool? That's not obvious unless you know it's close to failure. So I think, explaining why some of these things are important. Would. And I assume the departments gave that to you. So you have it. That would be really useful to provide as we make decisions.

1:43:41And then on the recommendation, I also wasn't clear at all what it meant. So I think, just spelling it out more, and having another chart that showed the recommendations and how much that would actually add up to, even if you gave us 3 different options. That would just be really helpful. Because you look at this chart clearly, we can't do all of it.

1:44:02We probably can't even do half of it. I I agree with Council Member Motiam. I think somewhere in the 1 million Dollar Range is probably a good place to start the conversation.

1:44:16But I think, yeah, just having some clear recommendations would be helpful. I do have a question. If it can't be answered tonight, I'm okay with it, just being answered before we, you know, come back to the next meeting about the budget.

1:44:28But on the one thing that stands out on here to me about something that is pretty urgent and scares me. If we don't do it is the pool replaster, because that's the only thing on here that is generating revenue for the city. I happen to live very close to the pool I'm very familiar with. How busy it is if that thing has to shut down for some amount of months. I also

1:44:49saw how long it took to do the kids pool if it had to shut down for that many months, and it was peak season one, we'd lose a ton of revenue, and so I'd like to know how much revenue would be lost, and 2 our citizens would be up in arms. So you know, we don't have a ton of people come to our meetings complaining about things services in the city. We will have more than this council chambers packed every meeting. If that pool is shut down for months.

1:45:17that is something. It's 1 of the jewels of El Cerrito. People come from around the region to use it. During the pandemic it was so important because all the other local pools are indoors. So

1:45:29do you have more information on that. And if not, can we get a lot more information? Because I know it's expensive. But I think we need a way potential revenue loss, and also just how frustrated our citizens would be.

1:45:42We do have our recreation director, I believe, on Zoom, if he's available to answer

1:45:49some questions. Okay. Great. Another. Another item that I'm sorry did not also clarify as far as the pool in the Hna.

1:46:00We do also have some, not a lot, but some measure H funding that can go toward this. And in fact, we have been trying to set aside, or at least plan for this within measure. H. So, Chris, if you want to talk about that as well on what we're up to right now.

1:46:17yeah.

1:46:18Chris Jones (Recreation Director): Sure. Good evening, council members. I'm Chris Jones, the recreation director.

1:46:24So

1:46:26I just want to clarify that a section of the pool plaster in the large pool has failed, indeed, and we do have the shallow section of our lane. I guess we call it Lane number one, because the really shallow lane is Lane 0. We do have a portion of that blocked off because a bubble of plaster

1:46:50or water got underneath the plaster, creating a bubble, and then the bubble kind of broke. And now the

1:46:56the circumference of that bubble is exposed, and we don't want people walking on that. So we are working with the pool architect to assess the needs and to get cost estimates so that we can, and where you are hoping that we can kind of get by as we are now through at least the busy season, so that if any work was to be scheduled as as approved.

1:47:24if approved. Excuse me, that could be done in the off season to minimize disruption and revenue loss.

1:47:33We do have a little bit of fun, balance and measure. H

1:47:37and we do have some spending plans moving forward.

1:47:44you know, trying in an effort to kind of pre fund money for this for swim center repairs. But it's not you know. It might be on the order of $400,000, half a million dollars. It's not the full

1:48:00800 or a million dollars.

1:48:05Chris, do you know off the top of your head, or is this still what we need to find out how long it would need to be shut down

1:48:12if we had to shut down to do that.

1:48:14Chris Jones (Recreation Director): So you know, we we signed a contract, I think, a little over a week ago to to get not only a cost assessment, but a construction timeline. And so it's a matter of days before we should find out that that information.

1:48:30Thank you. So yeah, I'd love to see all of that information. And again, how much revenue is in jeopardy. Before our next discussion on on this, and then my final comment is on the Council chambers AV overhaul, which I agree we shouldn't do this $350,000 project.

1:48:47But the mics are a problem, and we have guests who are speaking at them. It's not sure we can lean over, even if for me it's sometimes very uncomfortable to lead that far.

1:48:58but they don't always know. And we hear from the public often that they're listening online and they can't listen. They can't hear a lot of the presenters, especially the guest presenters who come. That's a problem. So I'd like to see if there are other options that don't cost this much, not overhauling everything. But could we get just new mics? Is there something we could do to just make the sound better?

1:49:21These these are new mics.

1:49:23So yeah, thank thank you, Mayor, for a time.

1:49:27The microphones of the dais. All of these microphones here were actually replaced. About lesson in

1:49:372 years ago.

1:49:39At a $10,000 price tag. And they're already not current.

1:49:46Best option for microphones, because equipment goes out of date so quickly we even in the design estimate that we we went through a very

1:49:56extensive exercise with a consultant to give us all of the prices for all of these different things that we could do to improve the system. The challenge with this room is that when City Hall was built, the equipment that was put in this room was already at end of life. And so we have some things that are still analog. The room is just so far outdated, and it is certainly not set up or equipped to be a hybrid

1:50:21meeting. And so what what I? It has done phenomenal work finding a way to allow us to do even the bit we can do now. But we are really doing the best we can with the equipment that is currently in the room. So in order to really do any kind of meaningful improvements, it unfortunately does come at a higher price tag.

1:50:41And we did go through also an exercise with the consultant to look at all of the infrastructure in the room, because the the estimate does include things like the monitors and having a single system where it doesn't matter where you're participating from. You see the same feed right now. You don't right. You can only see and hear certain things if you're on zoom versus if you're watching the live stream online versus if you're watching it on the cable cable TV. So

1:51:09we did look at the infrastructure, what we could potentially utilize this

1:51:14out replacing. And it really only reduced that cost about $50,000. So. It.

1:51:21It's kind of a catch. 22. We've we've been doing Band-aid costs, and Eric can certainly our it manager can certainly add, if that doesn't adequately answer your questions. But unfortunately, AV is is not cheap.

1:51:35Okay, that's helpful. The one thing I would ask to I assume this is a very small cost. But the monitors in front of us I just they're unusable to me to read, because they're so fuzzy, so I have to make sure to have every presentation up on my ipad, so I don't know what replacing those would cost, but unfortunately, it's not the monitor. It's the capability of the

1:51:56adp what it like. The 1080 p. It's the. It's the resolution that the system is able to put through to that monitor. It's not even the size, the resolution on the screen is perfectly fine, and on that screen is perfectly fine. This screen is seeing a different feed than the the broadcast. So it depends on what feed you're seeing on that monitor how clear it is, or if we put a different feed in them, maybe we can talk offline, but it sounds like it's the solution.

1:52:24it's a problem. When other bodies meet in here, too, because other bodies meet at City Hall as well. So it might be worth looking into.

1:52:32Okay, that's all my comments. Thank you.

1:52:34Mayor. Pro tem. Thank you, Mayor. I'm sorry, Mayor. Pro tem.

1:52:38Thank you so much. I I don't want to repeat. What my colleague, said I. I you answered a lot of the questions already. So thank you to my colleagues over here and thank you. To my colleague to my left here. I I'm looking at the one time expenditures, and and I agree with my colleagues.

1:53:01We have to be very, very prudent when it comes to this one time expenditures, but I do believe we should start making a dent in some of this now.

1:53:14So I,

1:53:16looking at the H. And A. And park, so I'm grateful to Karen to let us know that we do have some measure H. Funds. That was one of the questions I was gonna ask. So I'm glad there's probably maybe like 400,000 there. So I'm hoping with

1:53:32I think the the priority is to put a dent on the fire engine replacement

1:53:39and also with public safety all the time, public safety always so, looking at the priority of vegetation management. And Karen, you and I have had talks

1:53:52in the future with working with East Bay regional parks. And so I'm that's gonna try again, because this is something that this city cannot do on their own. So they can do a much better job when it comes to vegetation management.

1:54:13Than our small staff, they're they're more.

1:54:17They can do this in a huge way. And hopefully, in the future we'll have a sort of a Jpa when it comes to the hillside regional park and vegetation management. Yeah, I'm grateful to the

1:54:32The fire elsewhere. Safe group have that have given me the tour of that area and the fire dangers there, and I want to remind our residents about making sure

1:54:46that we have the funds available when it comes to tree and vegetation management. So whatever we can do to so grateful that we are in continuing talks with our Congressman, and also with

1:55:04our our State legislators. So you know, I know. With what was that prop. 4.

1:55:12That there is, you know, money for.

1:55:18you know, fire prevention and dealing with disasters.

1:55:23You know they're they're using all of that money just for that. So but I also believe in making a dent with

1:55:34be 1 15 plus. So if we can you know, I recommend if we use a million dollars and

1:55:43and we can use, maybe

1:55:46you know, 300,000 or 400,000 on the fire engine and and then some of that on the 1 15 plus like a 300,000, just like what we did

1:55:59the previous year and money for vegetation management.

1:56:05I was going to say, you know, originally, let's spend more money on the pool, but because we have $400,000 left over. Measure H. Funds. I'm hoping that

1:56:17you know. That will make a small dance. So

1:56:21you know one of the things that that I get regularly is that blog, that El Cerrito for responsible government, and know that I I read that when I get back but we really need to have

1:56:36you mentioned and Lisa mentioned about having a study session. I truly would like to have our expert on that. That helped us on the 1 15 Trust. Speak again, and we'll have a working session. So

1:56:54the truth can be out on on what small cities have to deal with. You know, I, personally don't agree with the blog, you know with it's

1:57:07because you don't. You know small cities. We always have tight budgets, and we will. It will always be like this. But I see what you know. The future plans we have with housing, you know, I just spoke to someone that is interested in in hotels and purchasing one of

1:57:25the properties that are for sale. So each of us need to, you know.

1:57:31speak to people who are willing to invest in El Cerrito. And I was lucky enough to speak to a gentleman that,

1:57:42you know, has a capacity to help and help in the future of El Cerrito, and we have a lot of them. Many of them are part of our chamber.

1:57:52but our chamber doesn't reach out to them. And and this is something that I want to make sure that this city does that we work closely with our

1:58:03Chamber and the people that are not members of our El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce. There are a lot of them, especially Asian American entrepreneurs and small business owners.

1:58:15Many of them actually are very successful in what they do and have successful have built successful hotels in surrounding areas, and and they have the capacity to do that and help out here in El Cerrito. So you know, we don't have anyone in any staff that does that. I know we have some staff that do this part time and on their own. But you know, I think it's a responsibility for all of us

1:58:43to you know. Reach out to everybody to see you know what we can do to add more tax incentives. I wanted to add a car dealership, and it didn't pencil out. But you see now it does, and they're doing that same project in the city of Los Angeles, and it's being built right now. So you know we it was before our time, and and it's too bad that one of the partners passed away. But

1:59:10the future is with our developments. And so we really need to. Hopefully, when interest rates goes down and these tariffs go away, we will be able to build. But I know the same developers are the same developers in Berkeley, and they'd rather build in Berkeley instead of El Cerrito. So that's the truth. And we need to find people

1:59:33that are willing to invest here and concentrate on El Cerrito instead of just using us. So. But

1:59:40we've been kind and and we've worked with all of them. And you know, it's time for them to build. And so you know, they're not going to build right now because of the tariffs they should have built way back in 2016, when the interest rates were close to 0. But the President in charge. Now put tariffs on natural, you know, in in wood and building materials in China. So people waited.

2:00:08So I'm you know. I'm glad we're one of the few cities that are going to break ground with that Bart project, and that is the future of El Cerrito. And I truly believe in this.

2:00:20And it's it's something that will we will see a better El Cerrito once.

2:00:27You know, this is built and excited about the the future project next to the Mayfair project, and that's gonna be completed hopefully sometime next year and excited about that. And you know, our our city is still a successful city where people want to move. And even, you know

2:00:50my neighborhood, we've had homes that were on the market for for a month or so or 3 weeks. People still overbid, and they're sold, so I would love to see the owners who have had their homes boarded up and not used and empty for decades. They need to sell their properties so we could get some tax money in here. So

2:01:16so, you know, and we need to do something about this, because there are many homes that are unoccupied, and there is a shortage of housing. So whatever we can do in the future. To make sure that they sell these homes there. That would be bought up in 10 days or less. I know that because this is El Cerrito. So

2:01:37you know, we can't do everything at once in this one time expenditure. But we can do a little bit, and these are my 3 things that I think should be a priority.

2:01:47you know. But

2:01:48Ev overhauled, you know we'll have to scream if these microphones are not working, because, we just don't have the money for that.

2:01:57And

2:01:59hopefully, you know, we'll be able to work more with our Congressmen and and work with our supervisors on the county level.

2:02:08And and you know, let's work with everybody to see if we can get these grants available. So that's the only way we're able to do this, or maybe we can do another measure. H tax. So something to think about in the future. So thank you, Mayor.

2:02:26Well in in the interest of time. I won't continue to regurgitate a lot of what my colleagues have said.

2:02:32but I will say that I understand the concern it to be prudent

2:02:37and not allocate as much to a lot of the one time expenditures. But I think that the conversation we just had about the Council Chamber. Overhaul is a great example. While we do need to invest as much as we can into a lot of these replacement items.

2:02:52you know, I think of of a lot of these things like cars. You know. You have one piece of the car that breaks, and then maybe you have another hose that compensates, and then you fix the part that's broken. And now the hose that was compensated like, Oh, I don't have to do this anymore. And then that breaks, and then something else breaks. And and when Holly said the part about how we're piece milling together, the AV.

2:03:13We're just in a matter of time where we're going to have to, and we may not have any money at that time, either, and I feel the same way about the fire engine replacement. And of course, as Council Member Salfman said about the pool replaster, because that's 1 of the few money makers on this list. So I just want to continue to remind people. Sometimes it's not very easy to look at the money you have to take to replace stuff. But as a person who's had many cars break down. It's way more expensive when you let everything fall apart and you have to buy a new car.

2:03:43So that that's my only comment or question onto that. Yes, council Member, we're going to get ready to go into public. We still have public comment to do so. Other item I wanted to mention. I have questions and was concerned about how

2:03:59the the rolling forward of purchase orders.

2:04:02and I understand that you know in year one that things are probably in the budget. But then, when you in that year.

2:04:10with either a balanced budget, an actual balanced budget or a budget deficit.

2:04:15it seems problematic to me to roll over

2:04:19the purchase order into the next fiscal year.

2:04:22When you can't roll over, you're rolling over the expenditure, but you're not rolling over any revenue to pay for it.

2:04:27So I I just find that troublesome. I have no problem with taking something that was approved in year one, and then, because of accounting reasons, you have to execute it in year 2,

2:04:36you also have to have the funds in year 2 to prep for it. Does that make sense? Yeah. So they build it into the budget in year 2. You don't just roll it over as an extra. Well, then, we would be unnecessarily putting a lot of things in the budget, because it's it's timing. And so it doesn't always work out perfectly. But we would theoretically have to have had a surplus to roll it over, so the funds would have been the fund balance. And then you just use that fund balance

2:05:02in the next year. So we actually laid it out and it was during during mid-year because it was the planned use of fund balance for one time. Things. All of the funds that were rolled over had Budget remaining.

2:05:24So it was. The we came in under budget on things, and revenues came in higher. But we had a planned use of fund balance of 6 million that we did not use

2:05:35specifically for those items that are rolling over

2:05:38and for the for the items that were rolling over, that we did not use the budget for those like there was budget remaining. That's that's

2:05:45that's why we rolled over the because it would revert to fund balance.

2:05:49And so we just are using that fund balance because it's not revenue like you said. But it's we didn't. We didn't spend that money in

2:05:57the last fiscal year, and so we and we didn't budget for those things because

2:06:02we would hope to have had them all, or, you know, had all our services performed, or all of our goods received, but when we don't have that, and we can't charge the expense.

2:06:10it then goes back into fund balance, and so our fund balance would have increased.

2:06:16But it's it can be confusing because we had a planned use of fund balance that was budgeted for. And so it's we were very careful to try and paint the picture correctly, to show that the accounts that were we asked to roll over.

2:06:39Thank you any other questions.

2:06:43All right. So now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comment regarding this item request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a speaker card. Public comments will be taken in person. Only please remember to identify yourself and your city of residence at the beginning of your comments. City clerk, please proceed.

2:07:01We do not have any requests to speak. Mayor. All right, thank you. Do I have a motion to provide staff direction

2:07:10still moved?

2:07:12If I so, Mayor, if I may, this is not. This is not necessarily a provide direction.

2:07:20by motion. That is only scripted in case there is a need to do something based on the conversation, but based on your conversation, you've all given general direction already to the yeah. And so, if I may, if I can, recap

2:07:36some of what what? Some of what I heard, and you know that you can add to or correct me if I'm wrong. I did hear A desire to to pension liability was, even if it was, you know, a different amount here or there. There was definitely a desire to look at that, and and perhaps put some

2:07:56one time money into the 1 15 trust. I heard a couple of you say that we should look at spreading out a million dollars over some of these items as opposed to 2 million dollars.

2:08:09I heard different

2:08:11different priorities, which gives us a little bit of direction. As far as you know, the pool hna the fire engine AV all of those different things, and

2:08:22what I might propose to do is have Staff come back with some options we could even we could even look at

2:08:311 million dollars, or more or less, that this the Council could maybe look at some options. Including adding to the 1 15 trust, and we can bring that back with more detail to the Council.

2:08:44Would that be accurate? Is there anything I missed?

2:08:48May I ask a ask a question, how how does our viewer play into this?

2:08:55It's a great question. Actually, Crystal we had talked to. This will be on the next agenda for Fab to discuss, so we could certainly actually having this conversation with the Council. We will inform the Fab of what the conversation was. I actually think I see a couple of Fab members here tonight, so they can also

2:09:18They can also bring that back to the Fab. The conversation that the Council had, and yes, we can, absolutely. If the Fab wants to make a recommendation, they certainly could make a recommendation to the Council as well. After hearing this conversation. You know, like I said it. It seems like the consensus is coming back with a million dollar figure

2:09:38and where we might be able to divide that up if you will, or with more detail. But absolutely, I think that we that this could be part of the conversation with the Fab, and then, if the Fab

2:09:51has a recommendation, then we can bring that back with Staff's work.

2:09:56Yes, Council Member Rotima. Thank you. Mayor. I have a question about the pool replaster cost. Is that net of measure H. Funds, or is that just the total cost? Can you bring Chris back.

2:10:10I think he was actually looking at this.

2:10:13that we were thinking about doing a deeper dive. Go ahead, Chris.

2:10:17Chris Jones (Recreation Director): Hi! That's the that's the estimated total cost.

2:10:21That's great, so that there could be some offset which would also make our math different.

2:10:27Yes, from are you mean from measure? H. For.

2:10:31you know, if we are spending a million, and there's 500,000 for pool with plaster that gives us more room to do stuff and still get some stuff done is what I?

2:10:43And wanting to make sure I understand.

2:10:45Is that correct?

2:10:46Chris Jones (Recreation Director): And I, I should clarify that we don't currently have 400 or $500,000 in fund balance. Depending on how this year ends we potentially do because we did. Part of this year. Cip did set aside some money for parking lot, Ada upgrades. But we didn't have the. We didn't have the match from another source to to do that project, but it all depends on how this fiscal year ends.

2:11:17Thank you for the clarification. So with that. I think that what we can do is is we have some very good direction to be able to bring back some much more detail about these types of issues. And all of these one time expenditures. And we will do that.

2:11:33Thank you so much. City manager, for recapping that staff direction. That's the operative word here, and thank you so much, Crystal, for the presentation.

2:11:43The next item on the agenda is city council, local and regional liaison assignments. Are there any Council reports?

2:11:54Yes, go ahead, Council member. On April 3rd I attended the Contra Costa Mayor's Conference, and received a presentation on the East Bay Regional Parks district.

2:12:05On April 9th I attended the Abac Housing Committee meeting, and was appointed vice chair, and we discussed strategic planning for Abac going forward. And then on April 13th I attended the community Seder at Temple Beth. Hello.

2:12:24thank you.

2:12:26Thank you and council members. Osman.

2:12:30this is just a fun community event. On April 5th I went to the El Cerrito High School gym to see the United States Air Force Band play, and I'm so glad it was recommended to me because they are amazing. And it was a phenomenal packed crowd. And then I also went to the Community Seder, along with most of my colleagues here.

2:12:52Did you have any more?

2:12:55Again? I went to a community center on last Sunday at Temple above. Hello.

2:13:01yesterday the urban forest Kennedy met, and we are working their Bino work plan, and we put on activities for week and also looking forward to the 4th of July celebrations in the Park here.

2:13:14and I'm continuing to meet with

2:13:17residents and constituents on Saturday mornings at my office, which is El Cerrito, Natural Foods annex.

2:13:23And then the best way to meet with me is to send me an email. And when I reply, there is a calendar link at the bottom of my signature at the bottom, where you can sign up by calling. I would sign up for time rather than simply drop in. Just so. If no one signs up, I might not go that Saturday, but so far that's not happened. People have been showing up

2:13:43and I don't mind if someone just shows up. But again, it's easier for me if they they do schedule an appointment.

2:13:49That's it.

2:13:50Mayor Putin. Thank you. Mayor on April second I attended the Bay Area Air District Board Meeting.

2:14:00we had a closed session as well, and

2:14:05Friday, April 4.th I intended the Mce Technical Committee.

2:14:09and after that I drove out from San Rafael and attended the Richmond Rotary Club.

2:14:17where Fiona Mas spoke, and I will give to staff she gave me. I didn't bring it with me, unfortunately, but I'll bring it next time.

2:14:27A list she spoke about. Where about where's the money, and there are a lot of

2:14:352 codes that you could scan where they will give you a list of programs that are available. For example, there's a program to save money for your baby. So you know. And and this is something that

2:14:52that you can invest every month. Then. So a lot of parents are investing in that and and a lot of like really interesting ways that you can use the state of California money. There's a lot of money that's available that is not

2:15:11that was not accepted or or never was cashed. That belonged to a lot of Californians. I know Malia Cohen, our controller. She has a list of that as well.

2:15:25So know that. You know when, for the State of California, they're being very, very cautious as well. When it comes to investments. So

2:15:36That was that, and I attended.

2:15:42See you sorry.

2:15:48The next week.

2:15:51all of us. Most of us will be at in Sacramento for Cal City for meetings, and I'll be meeting with

2:15:59many of the Ccli graduates, and these were once local elected officials who are now in the Assembly and Senate, and I'll be having dinner with them with the Executive Committee, and we're going to discuss a lot of the bills, especially the housing bills. So I look forward to speaking to our Senator, Senator Jesse. Arrogant.

2:16:21There are. There's a press conference that all of us will be doing regarding prop 36, which passed by more than 70%. But unfortunately, the Democratic control House

2:16:35in Sacramento did not fund it. So we're going to talk about that, and we'll have some mayors speak about another unfunded liability that the State of California is dumping on cities. So that's not acceptable. And

2:16:52so look forward to speaking to Speaker Rivas and Senator Mcguire on that next Thursday.

2:17:00Thank you, Mayor, thank you. And so on April the second. I'm sorry. April the 3.rd I did attend the Contra Costa Mayor's conference along with Council member Motiyama

2:17:11On the 8th I did attend the Human Relations Committee here in El Cerrito we were talking about a lot of the great social justice and diversity events that we're planning throughout the year they were working on their work plan, but specifically the ones that are coming up in June. So that would be with Juneteenth and with pride. The July, their support of the July 4th

2:17:34event, and already looking. I'm sorry, loving day. Loving day is coming up as well. So we're looking forward to possibly hosting another, screening either at the the Rialto again, or possibly at El Frito High School. You know there's so many events now that we celebrate in June, we're starting to run out of venues. So, looking forward to that also is since Councilor. I'm sorry. Mayor Portim mentioned the Ccli

2:17:59Institute. I'm proud to have joined this upcoming year Ccli Institute. So that is the Cal Cities Leadership Institute. That trains local elected officials and looking forward into the future of how they'll represent our communities. So apparently that means next year I'll be having dinner with the then President of Cal Cities councilor Amir for Tim Quinto, and with that the time is now 8, 29,

2:18:26and the next meeting of the El Cerrito City Council is on May the 6th

2:18:34at 6 Pm. And we look forward to seeing all of you. I made all that up because I already packed up my my agenda. Have a good night. Everyone.