Regular City Council Meeting May 6, 2025

0:00:08All right. The May 6. Regular City Council meeting is called to order at 6 0. 6 Pm. Will the clerk please call the roll, Mayor Weisinger, present, mayor pro tem quinto councilmember. Kitsanis.

0:00:24present council member Mothiyama, present Council. Member Saltzman. We have a quorum. Okay. 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 a moment of silence.

0:00:42pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

0:00:57The 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 opportunity to participate in person, or via Zoom for closed caption services. Meetings of the City Council are subject to the Brown Act, and are held for the purpose of conducting city business.

0:01:16The 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

0:01:26for members of the public who wish to provide oral testimony. The mayor will announce the time for public comment on each applicable item. Public comments will be taken in person only, and a request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a Speaker card.

0:01:39The Council's adopted rules of order and procedure specify that public speakers address the city Council in an orderly and respectful manner, proceed their comments with their name and city of residence, and be respectful of time limit. Thank you, Mayor. That concludes my instructions all right. The next item on the agenda is Council Staff Communications city manager. Do we have any staff communications? Yes, thank you, your honor. I'm Karen Pinkus, your city manager.

0:02:06I wanted to announce that the city has commissioned Mcguire research and Godby research to conduct a scientific survey of important local issues. So we wanted to let everyone know that if you receive a text or a call, this is a valid survey, it is not a spam or a telemarketer. People will be randomly selected to participate. So if you are selected, we would love to have you respond.

0:02:28Please know your responses are entirely confidential, and will be used for research purposes only your data will not be sold or provided to anyone, and we're only interested in your opinions. So if you have any questions about the survey. Please contact our assistant to the city manager will provost

0:02:43at (510) 215-4318,

0:02:47and I'm also, I'm not sure if I'm excited to announce this only because we've had a lot of parking on the street available for the past few months. But the Dmv. Is slated to open

0:02:59reopen, that is, at 8 Am. On Monday, May 12.th They have been closed since February for replacement of their Hvac system. So, while there may be less parking on the street. I know it'll be great for all of the customers who have been driving up and looking at the fenced off property and being driving away really sad. So the Dmv. Will be back open next Monday, everyone. So with that that concludes my remarks. Thank you, your honor. Thank you so much. Are there any announcements from Council members? I'll start here on the end with Council members.

0:03:28There's a lot of days and months right now. But today is all aboard Transit Day. All the Bay Area transit agencies were asking people to get out and ride transit today. And for people who haven't been on in a while to get out and try. So I rode Bart as I do every Tuesday, and got this fun sticker, and they were giving out prizes. So it was a lot of fun.

0:03:50All right. Thank you. Councilmember Motiama. Thank you, Mayor. I just have one announcement that East Shore Alliance Football Club is hosting a football fiesta, and that's football with FUTB. OL. At Threedo Vista Park on Saturday, May 24, th from 9 to 3 Pm. And it's also a tournament which is a qualifier for regional championships and for those who would like more information. It's East Shore alliance.

0:04:17fc.org, and you'll get more information there. Thank you. Thank you. Any Mayor Porte. All right, council member.

0:04:25just honest.

0:04:29we all get lots of email and people with usually complaints. But sometimes we get things that are very nice. And I, I and all of us received an email a few weeks ago from a resident.

0:04:42We wanted to read her email to everyone. I'm going to leave off her last name and her address.

0:04:47and she gave me permission to share, share the email and share a picture of her daughter. So I'll ask you to put her daughter's picture on the screen.

0:04:56And I, as I read this the 1st time I was very nervous and not sure the outcome. So I'm going to sort of spoil it for you and say that there is a positive outcome

0:05:07as well.

0:05:08My name is Jennifer Green. Sorry step on them.

0:05:15I didn't scratch that with my pen. I'm ready to go through, though my panel will live out. I won't repeat that

0:05:21I am today to discuss an incident at my residence on Tuesday, the 8th of April 2,025.

0:05:30Unfortunately, our 3 year old daughter Paul, who's the young lady in the picture.

0:05:35also also known as Patient Girl, 775 at Oakland Children's Hospital

0:05:40suffer a head injury after a fall.

0:05:43We only need medical assistance. I always thought of having that.

0:05:49and within moments the fire department arrived

0:05:52from the very start, my family could not have been in better hands.

0:05:58Hello.

0:06:02concern! The firefighters spoke in with cold charisma and overwhelming kindness, length of charge.

0:06:12ensuring every detail, every detail is handled.

0:06:15We spoke to the children with general reassurance for being comparable to imitative

0:06:20need, a level of assistance and compassion. I can never think anyone else.

0:06:26I was honored to leading England for a rapid transport to Children's Oakland Children's Hospital

0:06:31to Channel. Realize that everything is in your control at home.

0:06:35It is what happened after Iraq, and admiration.

0:06:40After I reported, the firefighter stayed behind my oldest daughter, who was still at home.

0:06:49These individuals came from the home and, building up, offered to stay for a while until someone was to arrive, and suggested having one person in one room until outcome.

0:07:01We provided with support, care, resources, and assurance, going far beyond such selfishness, selflessness, and genuine kindness.

0:07:13Their actions were not just above and beyond. They were an extraordinary demonstration of human compassion, dedication to the community, and renabling commitment of all others.

0:07:23I am profoundly grateful for care. One of our most challenging moments such remarkable individuals or Parliament book service.

0:07:36It's covered inside.

0:07:38although there's nothing I can do to try to convey the depth of my gratitude. I thought it was important to share their story.

0:07:44These extraordinary individuals gave solitly, so poorly, and so selflessly, selflessly.

0:07:51I'm endlessly thankful for the humility and the peace of mind incredibly difficult time.

0:07:58This email is going on the edge of my seat, recalling. Well, thank you.

0:08:07I don't know if it like. I spoke to her on the phone, and she also confirmed that hollow is doing well. She actually had a concussion.

0:08:13and this was the fire department's response to it.

0:08:24Thank you for the call.

0:08:29and I wanted to ask if you could come up just for a moment and share a little bit of reflection reflection on this.

0:08:37Yes, thank you. I'm Eric shares. I'm your fire chief. I'm honored just to represent our firefighters that serve the community every day.

0:08:45We do say honestly that we know that we're going to be there for you on your worst day ever, and we are prepared to do whatever it takes to make that day better. We'll do this about 5,000 times a year, which means 13 times a day. On average, we're running calls like this. And the people that climb onto that fire engine, no matter what to come, help you. They've taken an oath and made a dedication for their entire life to simply help people in times of need, and in times of emergency

0:09:14I really appreciate you reading that letter and giving our firefighters acknowledgement for something that they do every day. Just let you know that they will be there for you, no matter what.

0:09:24Thank you.

0:09:31One more for me. Go ahead. Thank you for that. And I was friends with

0:09:37her great grandfather, and he was a long time

0:09:45neighbor and worked at the post office, and I remember when I 1st moved back to El Cerrito back in 2,001. He was there about the 4th of July every year, and he was a professional great actor, and and he is missed in my neighborhood. So it was great to see.

0:10:07The next generation of that family living here in El Cerrito.

0:10:13Thank you for that.

0:10:14Thank you so, and it's very hard to follow that. But

0:10:18Mayor announcements. On April 29th I signed a letter in support of community project funding for the hillside natural Area Fuel Modification project. I do want to thank our El Cerrito Chamber and all the East Bay coalition of chambers we were able to get together on May 4th at the Oakland Roots game, which, if you haven't been to the Oakland Coliseum for the roots game is good to see so much positivity

0:10:42at the Oakland Coliseum, but it was also good to be around so many East Bay leaders who are committed to driving businesses forward in our community.

0:10:50And speaking of businesses, and this is just to bring a little lighthearted and levity, I want to say, rest in peace to the churches on San Pablo and cutting. I'm very. I'm very happy for 38 years now, and it's just gone. I promised people I wouldn't let them close, but they did.

0:11:07Those are my announcements for today. The next item on the agenda is all 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. 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.

0:11:36Thank you, Mayor. At this time we have 9 requests to speak for this.

0:11:41For items not on the agenda.

0:11:45Our 1st speaker is Michael Mcdougall, followed by Janet Byron.

0:11:52Mayor City Council members. So at the last City Council meeting, the this body reviewed El Cerrito's

0:12:00financial year 2025, 2026 budget.

0:12:04and one of the complexities on the on that budget review was a list of one time expenditures for consideration.

0:12:12and I spent some time looking into several of those items, and in particular, I wanted to draw your attention to the fire department's need for a new, self-contained breathing gear. The estimate was on that on the document we saw was $400,000. And I'm actually going to suggest that you bring this item forward this year.

0:12:30and just as a side note, everything I'm about to say is based on reading I've been doing since our last meeting. I I'd strongly suggest that you talk to the Fire Chief about this to make sure that I'm I'm

0:12:41on base. So that said I wanted to provide some context.

0:12:46El Cerrito and the Kensington Fire Department Protection District operate under a contract together

0:12:52for a long time, and the operating costs are shared annually.

0:12:56But capital equipment, like the reading apparatuses, are handled separately, and looking back through the published city documents.

0:13:04the I found that the last replacement was in 2013, and it was

0:13:09all these units. 36 of them were acquired using a regional fema assistance to firefighters, grant. So El Cerrito didn't pay for all of the fire equipment. They paid 80% of a small part that the grant required, and El Cerrito paid the other 20%.

0:13:26So what I'm why, I'm suggesting we bring this item forward is we can get ourselves time for 2 things. We can get started negotiating with Kensington, who's gonna have to sign off on anything that we do, and most important, we can start preparing any Grant proposals.

0:13:40Well, in advance of application deadlines. So I want to mention that you know there's broad

0:13:48budget debates in Washington right now, but Fema, and in particular the assistance of firefighters. Grant program is one of the ones that's sort of cross. It's bipartisan, and the funding has remained steady. So this is one of the more reliable Federal sources of funding that we might be able to get to

0:14:07Now the fema assistance to firefighters. Grant the one that got us the equipment 12 years ago.

0:14:15Hasn't opened its next Grant cycle yet.

0:14:19So early planning will improve our chances of getting a successful grant along with Kensington. And these grants can cover as much as 80 to 95% of the equipment costs.

0:14:29which I think makes timely action on that item particularly worthwhile. So thank you for your time.

0:14:36Our next speaker is Janet Byron, followed by Steve Price.

0:14:44Hello, Council! I'm Janet Byron. I'm with El Cerrito, Richmond Annex walk and roll, and I'm an El Cerrito resident.

0:14:51Unfortunately, a lot of misinformation has been floating around about the Richmond Street Complete Streets Improvement Project, and complete streets in general.

0:15:00I've shared with all Council members El Cerrito, Richmond, Annex Walk and Roll's new fact sheet

0:15:06which provides evidence-based information about this project and complete streets in general, including how it will increase safety for all road users

0:15:17fight climate change build community and increase property values for Richmond Street residents. The flyer has QR. Codes and links to our website where you can review the evidence in support of complete streets and all the ways that bike lanes and complete streets components make our entire community safer.

0:15:37I encourage the El Crio community and Richmond Street residents to visit our website@ecrawalkroll.org to see the fact sheet and learn more. And I've left some on the entryway for people to pick up on their way out.

0:15:52I also want to give a huge thanks to Christina Laird for coordinating the city's sponsorship of the Go Green Mobility fair last Saturday, and Howdy, Gowdy, Pam Austin Heather, Hayashi, Fred Bialy, and the rest of the Environmental Quality Committee for partnering with El Crida Richmond Annex Walk and roll to make the fair a huge success.

0:16:14We had several 100 attendees who took dozens of E-bike test rides, plus more than 20 exhibitors, including Bart. 511, Contra Costa and the Plaza Bart. Tod developers as well as food, music, and games. It was educational. It was a lot of fun, and Christina deserves a big raise.

0:16:35El Cerrito, Richmond attics walk and roll will be hosting an energizer station at the Del Norte, Bart. Station on May 15, th which is bike to wherever day 7 to 9 Am. And I invite everyone to come by and say hello to us over there at Del Norte.

0:16:52And finally, I want to share my support for the Plaza Bart. Parcel D loan item on tonight's agenda. It's genuinely exciting that El Cerrito will be breaking ground on parcel a soon, and we'll be bringing new affordable housing to our city right next to the Bart station. Thank you.

0:17:11Our next speaker is Steve Price, followed by Kathleen Wong.

0:17:18and my name is Steve Price. I've lived in El Cerrito since the mid 19 eighties

0:17:23Richmond Street is one of the most important public faces of El Cerrito, second probably only to San Pablo Avenue

0:17:30in setting the visual character of our city for people in town and passing through.

0:17:35Yet it is a rare city where car only streets set a positive impression for a city.

0:17:42Richmond Street is now essentially hospitable only to cars.

0:17:45There are show markers on the asphalt, but progressive bicycle planning no longer considers wide use of shows as best practice that improves street safety.

0:17:55There's voices in the community claiming that bike lanes and Richmond Street will degrade property values.

0:18:01You'll find an article on the website of the National Association of Realtors, entitled bike lanes, build them, and they will come.

0:18:08Then I continue with the article. It says, bike lanes help to increase property values. Studies have shown that having a bike path near your home is a great way to increase the selling price of the House End quote.

0:18:22That's according to the National Association of Realtors, who want to know something about property values.

0:18:29Part of a complete street vision for Richmond Street is street trees.

0:18:33Tree trees are also proven to increase property values

0:18:37Richmond Street, for all the group does not envision street trees, envisioning and beautifying Richmond Street unless individual homeowners request one.

0:18:46This approach a tree here a tree over there to date, has not produced a beautiful tree lined Richmond Street.

0:18:54A beautiful Richmond Street will occur only if the beauty of the street as a whole is pursued as a community objective.

0:19:02the fear also of making Richmond Street a complete street that it will slow emergency response. Times is false.

0:19:10Richmond Street for all posts on their website that a small difference in this is her a quote, a small difference in response times caused by making our emergency response street into a slow street could be the difference between life and death, or between a small fire and one that burns the house down.

0:19:28I don't think the Complete Street objective for for Richmond Street should be to make it a slow street.

0:19:35The important objective that will make bicycle riders safer is to keep cars from exceeding the speed limit, not to slow them to a crawl.

0:19:45It is not safe even to have emergency vehicles speeding on residential streets.

0:19:51the flashing lights and sirens are not intended to warn people that the emergency vehicle is speeding

0:19:57wherever it is to tell people to get out of the way.

0:20:00If concern is that a fire truck or ambulance be able to travel unobstructed, then it is better that cars are parked in driveways than slowed by cars maneuvering into parallel on-street parking spaces.

0:20:14So bike lanes are not a threat to property values, nor are they a threat to human welfare.

0:20:20Thank you.

0:20:21Our next speaker is Kathleen Wong, followed by Ethan Kim.

0:20:30Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Kathleen Wong. I am a resident and a voter, and I am here to support the redesign of Richmond Street as a complete street.

0:20:41I do a lot of walking and biking around town, and 9 times out of 10 I need to cross or travel along Richmond Street to reach my destination.

0:20:50but encountering that street has always felt unsafe to me, and I say this as both a fast walker and an experienced urban cyclist.

0:20:59Richmond Street is designed for cars. It's wide and straight, which encourages drivers to travel much faster than the speed limit.

0:21:08As the city's own studies have shown, more than 40% of drivers race through at 30 miles an hour or faster.

0:21:15Given. Today's larger, heavier vehicles.

0:21:18Collisions with bicyclists or pedestrians at those speeds are far more likely to result in fatalities or serious injuries.

0:21:27So my fears of crossing and biking along Richmond Street are hardly unfounded

0:21:32now El Cerrito has the chance to redesign Richmond Street to serve all users.

0:21:37and the complete Streets project project provides the protections needed, so that a much wider swath of the public, not just people in cars can use Richmond Street safely.

0:21:48narrowing the car portion with bike lanes and bulbouts, and making it curvier with chicanes, will force drivers to slow down.

0:21:56Planting trees will shape pedestrians and bikers, and by slightly obstructing views will also help slow traffic.

0:22:03These measures will work far better and be more pleasant for walkers and bikers than speed bumps and be easier on car suspensions to boot.

0:22:12When I visited Japan a few years back, I found that it had a lot of neighborhood streets like this. Curvy, narrow, tree-lined, and drivers go far more slowly.

0:22:23It was felt quite pleasant and safe to walk on those streets, even though many lacked sidewalks

0:22:30when traveling in El Cerrito by bike I rely heavily on the ohlone Greenway, because it gives me more protection from cars.

0:22:39But getting to the Greenway on foot takes much more effort, and I often feel it's not worth the time or the energy

0:22:47to get there.

0:22:48I feel it's unfair for pedestrians and bikers to have just one North-south lane

0:22:55or route, when cars essentially dominate every other route in the city.

0:23:00As for concerns about parking spot loss.

0:23:03basically, all of the houses along that road have driveways.

0:23:07traffic studies indicate that no more than 46% of Richmond Street parking spots are typically occupied.

0:23:15So at one time, I guess so per repurposing half of those spots for bike lanes will still allow people to park close to their houses. Thank you for your time.

0:23:25Our next speaker is Ethan King, followed by Gaia Somatina.

0:23:34Hi, everyone. I'm Ethan, and I've been a resident of El Cerrito for 4 years.

0:23:39I wanted to talk today about El Cerritos 2016 active transportation plan because I've heard a lot of misconceptions about it.

0:23:46I spent some time reading through the plan, and I want to share some tidbits, especially as they relate to the bike lanes currently being proposed on Richmond Street.

0:23:54First, st the plan lists, the city's policies. Let me share just 2 of them.

0:23:58Policy, one dash, 3. Update the plan every 5 years to reflect best practices and changing community interests and needs

0:24:06my knowledge. It's been about 9 years with no updates to the plan, and the city has done little to no community. Outreach

0:24:12all. C. 4, 3. Conduct bicycle and pedestrian counts and surveys to gauge the effectiveness of various improvements and programs.

0:24:20This has not happened at all. According to the project staff that we've been talking to.

0:24:25this means that the city is designing a major part of this 11 million dollars project, with no data and no no justification beyond a vague and wavy. If we build it, they will come. Attitude.

0:24:36How is this acceptable? This is a careless, irresponsible use of money, especially considering that 90% of Richmond Street residents oppose it.

0:24:45Another topic on the active transportation plan is the East Side Bicycle Boulevard. This was a 2 million dollars project to establish a north-south bike Boulevard east of Richmond Street.

0:24:56containing Norbell Street, etc. to improve connectivity with the schools and nearby residential areas.

0:25:04Does that sound familiar? That's because it's the same justification being used to sell the idea of bike lanes on Richmond Street.

0:25:11Now, I'm not sure how much the project actually ended up costing. But if we've actually spent 2 million dollars on this, why are we spending even more money on a bike lane? That's not even on our plan.

0:25:20Is the city admitting that the bike boulevard failed, and that bikers are not using the calmer and safer Norvell Street?

0:25:27If so, why do? Why do we expect Richmond Street to be any different.

0:25:31even with the proposed changes? I don't see how Richmond Street would possibly feel safer than Norbell.

0:25:36or if the Bike Boulevard was a success, what are we trying to achieve with Richmond Street. It's farther away from Bart and Plaza than Adole any Greenway, and it's farther from Harding and Korematsu than the existing bike Boulevard.

0:25:48Really, we don't need 3 parallel bike paths within a quarter mile of each other.

0:25:54The active transportation plan lays out a framework to make walking and biking easier in El Cerrito. It seems to me that the whole point is to make effective use of government money by making cohesive data-driven decisions.

0:26:06In that sense the Richmond Street project is not following the active transportation plan.

0:26:10If implanted as is, it'll be a massive waste of money that does nothing but harm. The very residents of El Cerrito. Thank you.

0:26:17Our next speaker is Gaya Sumitina, followed by Jill Herbert.

0:26:28Hello! I'm Gaia. I have lived in El Cerrito for 7 years.

0:26:34and I'm here again to speak to everybody. Hi!

0:26:41So as

0:26:43pretty obvious, there's lots of thoughts and opinions about the Richmond Street project flying around. A lot of them are in conflict.

0:26:53and I just wanted to draw people's attention

0:26:57to what the project is offering to the community. And

0:27:06yeah, to remind people that the city got

0:27:09this money to address issues that residents of Richmond Street have complained about.

0:27:20So the sorry I lost my spot here. The grant is

0:27:28addressing residents, concerns about speeding unsafe crossings, poor lighting, etc.

0:27:36And it's current iteration is doing a really great job

0:27:44of providing those changes for people. It's slowing traffic. It's making it safer for crossing

0:27:50kids, families, whatever it's providing trees and lighting to make it a much more beautiful street. And who doesn't want to live on a more beautiful street. It's a residential street. I would like to just remind people everybody lives on it.

0:28:07and if you picture in your mind for a moment

0:28:12a street or a neighborhood where you have felt really

0:28:16comfortable. And it's beautiful. Those streets have

0:28:22lots of room for pedestrians and cyclists.

0:28:26They have lots of trees. They're slow, and you feel like it's a nice place to walk and spend your time outside of a vehicle.

0:28:34and I think that Richmond Street would really benefit from these improvements, because that's where people live.

0:28:46I also wanted to remind the Council that

0:28:52the city has a complete streets mandate, and

0:28:57you know, if this comes back up to the Council creating a

0:29:04a version of this street that does not include bicycles is not living up to the

0:29:10name of a complete street. It is disregarding people, and I would just like to remind the Council that, thank you.

0:29:18Our next speaker is Joe Herbert, followed by Jacqueline Silva.

0:29:24Hi! My name is Joe Herbert. I'm a resident of El Cerrito. As a change of pace. I'm not going to talk about Richmond Street. I want to talk about agenda. Item 7. The adoption of the consent calendar which, according to this agenda says, all items shall be acted upon in one motion, unless a member of the city council or staff request separate consideration. I'd like to encourage

0:29:44any of you to consider separate consideration for Item E, the National Police Week Proclamation. Many of the things in this consent calendar are wonderful things that I think we should be celebrating and supporting. I don't think that the punishment bureaucracy is one of them. Thank you.

0:30:02Our next speaker is Jacqueline Silver, followed by Betty Akasich.

0:30:13Hello, everybody! I'm Jacqueline Silva. I've lived in El Cerrito.

0:30:19On and off for probably 20 some odd years.

0:30:24Recently I bought a home on Carquinez Avenue, and the storm drain is flooding and

0:30:34it's come. The water is coming onto my property, and

0:30:39just wanted to address it. Put it out there and see what can be done.

0:30:46Resolve it. What's happening, I think, is with climate change.

0:30:52We're getting, you know, more waters coming down from the street or the school across the street.

0:30:59and I kind of I live sort of on a curve on on a dip, so I'm at the bottom, and all the the water from the

0:31:07school across the street is sort of on a hill, and all that water is coming down, and

0:31:13I mean, you know, into the dip, and then those inlets flood.

0:31:19and then I get thousands of gallons of water onto my property, and my garage has flooded numerous times.

0:31:27I'm in contact.

0:31:29Oh, sorry am I up? I've been in contact with the city engineer and

0:31:38He says that we will put it on our wish list, and it's more of a

0:31:44urgency than than a wish list.

0:31:47Thank you for listening.

0:31:50Thank you, and I will, if you, if not I'm sure that the city manager, someone will get someone to reach out to it to you. Can I make a quick comment? Request

0:31:58can you please provide your information to the city clerk, and we will work with engineering to get in touch with you. Thank you.

0:32:07Our next speaker is Belly Akasich.

0:32:24Good evening, El Cermito City Council, Buddy activist with a

0:32:30residents for several years next door, your neighbor on the gardens.

0:32:35and we're gonna start this one out with a little memory quiz.

0:32:40Now I can't guarantee you that what I'm gonna talk about occurred at the last meeting.

0:32:47Nor can I guarantee you that it happened in the room just before that.

0:32:53But I can guarantee it happened in one. Oh.

0:32:57and so let me ask you guys if you can remember.

0:33:01I stood here, and I said that we have a

0:33:06senior contribution to the beautification of the city of El Cerrito at the El Cerrito Community Center at 7 0 0 7. Mosher Lane.

0:33:15And I said.

0:33:17Mallory has created this jade garden. She was standing right over there, and she stood up for a minute.

0:33:23You guys remember that?

0:33:25Well, the the the flower, the the jade garden was rich reds, yellows, orange greens.

0:33:36big leaves, small leaves of variety, and it made this patch of earth as you go into the

0:33:44Community center on Mosier Lane, a beautiful event, I mean, and and it was condoned and supported by Chris Jones and

0:33:53Marc de Leon and and everybody else.

0:33:57So last week last Saturday I had

0:34:01breakfast with a let me just say that this person is, an important medical figure in the community of El Credo, California.

0:34:11And I invited this person to. Well, let me take you over to this community center on Motor Lane. You're going to see Mallory's jade garden. It's spectacular. She followed me. We drove over there. We got parked. We walked up to the jade garden, and the jade was

0:34:31go on.

0:34:33It was a shock, and we're

0:34:38and the 2 of us stood there. And then.

0:34:40The the next thing that happens is I go to the Community Center Monday morning for my Tai Chi class

0:34:48and is a student in that Tai Chi class, and she showed up right about the city, and she was there with a gallon of water to to water her jade.

0:34:58And she as she's passing my car, I said.

0:35:01what about the garden. I thought maybe she knew about it. She looked at me and she said, Well, yeah, I'm going to go water it. And then we went to it there together, and she was shocked.

0:35:12Let me ask you guys to to think about this.

0:35:16Who would have done that?

0:35:19And why?

0:35:23Thank you for your comments that concludes our request to speak. Thank you and city. I'm sorry, city clerk, before we move on. There was one announcement that I forgot to give. Is it inappropriate for me to go ahead and give that now? Okay, and it's really not as much of announcement. But I just wanted to publicly tell our my fellow gauchos of the El Cerrito

0:35:43baseball team that I definitely stand with you and and some of the things that you have been through. And I'm gonna I'm gonna tread very carefully because I try not to get into school district business.

0:35:54But I just want to kind of remind a lot of the adults in the room. There are so many of our kids out here who, you know we we talk about not teaching. Our children hate.

0:36:03but they got. They don't see it as hate.

0:36:05It's something cool that they do, and we know that from the beginning of time kids have already always taken to counterculture. But I think some of the things that we've unfortunately seen done to a couple of our baseball teams here in the area, and our neighboring baseball team that was not even necessarily about hate. That's about kids who are living in a time

0:36:26where hate is seen as cool. It's the thing that they do on social media. It's the way that they interact with each other on social media at school. And so I just want to remind some of our adults. It's not always about teaching our kids not to hate. It's about teaching them that empathy and love for each other is actually what's cool because they're being taught a whole lot of things in the media these days.

0:36:48and even up to the upper levels we won't name names. But again, I just want to say. And maybe it's because I'm a former teacher. We have to. In the culture in our community where hate is seen as a cool thing to do to each other, not because we hate each other just because it's cool. That's the thing that we need to impress upon our kids. And I just want our baseball team to know that I love them, and I stand with them. I can't say a whole bunch, because again I stay out of school district matters, but as the mayor of their city, I just want them to know that I stand with them.

0:37:18and with that the next item on the agenda is the Consent calendar, which includes the following

0:37:25Asian, American, native, Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Proclamation, Jewish American Heritage Month, proclamation, National public Works week proclamation, bike tour, everyday proclamation, national police week proclamation and lieutenant. Oh, no. That's that's okay. Affordable housing

0:37:47month, proclamation, economic Development committee appointment park and Recreation Commission, recommendation, monthly disbursement and check register report for March 2025, Fy. 2425, 3rd quarter cash and investment report and authorization to enter into a purchase agreement with Gladstone, Inc. For the purchase of 43 nexus 52 g trash, recycling cans.

0:38:12Alright. Would anyone like to? I'm sorry. One note.

0:38:17please note that there is a revised to the proclamation included in the supplemental mental materials for item 7 d. Item 7 E. And 7 F. Have representatives here to speak and receive the proclamation which will occur after the adoption of consent. Calendar, are there any brief requests or questions by the Council to pull off the consent. Calendar council member Sauceman, I'd like to pull. Item H, okay for questions.

0:38:42Yes. Okay, all right. Any other items. Do you? Book council member. I have a question on item 7, K,

0:38:49okay, any other questions on this side? No, okay. So let's start with you. Council members lost man, I'm just pulling up the agenda bill. Well, one. I wanted to see if anybody from the Commission is here.

0:39:03so I'll ask questions of them, and if not, I will of staff.

0:39:08I am checking with our recreation director, who is online. I do not see anyone in the room at

0:39:21yeah. The chair what had indicated that he was attending. But he is not currently on the call or in the room.

0:39:28Okay? My questions were more geared towards the Commission. So maybe I'll talk to them offline.

0:39:35Because I I

0:39:38I I understand. I understand what they're recommending. It would be helpful to kind of have more on it, and some more background on. Sort of why, these are the things. It'd be good to have a little bit of a discussion with them, so I don't know

0:39:52I'm the liaison to them, but we don't get to have a discussion there, so this doesn't. It doesn't really lend towards getting any questions answered about why these are the priorities, so I don't know if Chris wants to weigh in, but it'd be good to talk to them.

0:40:06Chris Jones (Recreation Director): Hi, good evening, Council members. I'm Chris Jones, recreation director, and the liaison to the Park and Rec Commission, and I could just provide some very brief context and certainly answer any questions. The Park and Recreation Commission as part of their work plan is

0:40:23wanting to

0:40:25shed light on the deferred maintenance needs in the city, and they have formed a a group to

0:40:34work on making a recommendation to the city council, and at a certain point, they realized that they had more questions and answers. And they wanna collect more data. And so rather than

0:40:46provide a detailed recommendation for this mid cycle budget. They want to work towards a recommendation for next fiscal for the next budget cycle. But they did want to highlight the need, and just put it on. Your radar is is essentially why you kind of have a very

0:41:08broad and generic recommendation.

0:41:11That's super helpful to know. So we should expect sometime in the next year they'll probably come back with some more on the items, and item 2 that they're recommending for the future. Oh, and I see.

0:41:26Chris Jones (Recreation Director): Yes.

0:41:26Now we have the chair here, so maybe he wants to add.

0:41:31Troy Tyler (PRC Chair): That was good timing.

0:41:33Sorry I'm late.

0:41:37I I was just asking for some contact on on the recommendations, but Chris did weigh in, but if there's anything else I'd I'd love to hear.

0:41:46Troy Tyler (PRC Chair): Yeah, thank you so much for reviewing. And and considering those recommendations over the last year or more that I've been on the

0:41:58Commission. We've evaluated the recommendations of the

0:42:03parks and recreation master Plan, and there's a long list of of quite valuable projects there that that

0:42:13lack funding. So it is something that we are keenly aware of and are working on every every meeting to

0:42:21explore ways to to fund that. And

0:42:25one of the points in our recommendations this year that you just read was our recommendation for additional staff to help evaluate how to both manage those projects, manage additional grant or other funding opportunities.

0:42:43So that's the I'm not sure what Chris just said. But that's the context around those recommendations.

0:42:50Great. Thank you so much.

0:42:53All right, councilmember Mutiama. Thank you. I have a question about the Glasden

0:43:00purchase of 43 trash recycling cans, and I I think it's great that it's a can that we have used, and it works well. But it only has trash and recycling, and I was wondering why the composting was not included. Because I know when I go to a park I have, you know, a paper plate, and I don't want to put it in the trash, because I know it's compostable. So it I feel like it's really important to include that. So can you?

0:43:29And you answer that. Yes. My name is Amelia Timbers. I'm the operations and environmental

0:43:38Services division manager.

0:43:40And yeah, we have considered adding organics to those bins, and we can look at that in the future. Generally the generation at those sites is pretty low, and there may. They're emptied at a lower frequency.

0:43:56And I'll additionally

0:43:59the law actually doesn't require it for parks and kind of similar facilities. So we've concentrated on having organics mainly at facilities that are occupied every day, but we can look at that in the future, if you'd like.

0:44:13So just for clarification is not required by the current

0:44:17green waste laws. That's our our understanding. Yeah.

0:44:21well, I I hope that we do implement it because I think we don't want to just meet the minimum. And we want to do better than that. So thank you

0:44:29absolutely. Ask a question. Let me ask a follow up question. I'm curious you mentioned that it's not collected as frequently is that

0:44:37create an issue with rats and whatnot that might come to the organic waste. And what would be necessary to avoid that kind of problem.

0:44:45If that's an issue, I I don't know that it is. That's something I can follow up on. I'm not. I'm not sure. Off the top of my head.

0:44:54All right. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the consent? Calendar so moved a second second.

0:45:05So a motion by Mayor pro tem quinto, and a second by Council Member Casanis, all in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed.

0:45:15any abstention?

0:45:17All right. And so we do have 2 items that are presentation items. Look at that, holly. I did it without you pulling my coattail. All right. So item 7 E, which is our national police Week proclamation, and we do have a presentation from Lieutenant Walrich.

0:45:34Oh, our chief is here. Look at that! Look at that! Hello, Chief.

0:45:38Good evening, Mayor. Actually, I'm gonna take this one, if you don't mind. Good evening, Council. I'm Paul Keith, your chief of police.

0:45:44I want to thank you for passing a resolution recognizing National Police Week and Police Officer Memorial Day in El Cerrito.

0:45:53Our officers respond to emergencies around the clock, and they don't always get to hear the gratitude of their community in the midst of resolving crimes, arresting wanted criminals, and responding to critical incidents. So it means a lot for them to hear your support, the support of their elected leaders on this occasion. So thank you very much for passing the resolution and showing your support to our officers.

0:46:17All right. Do we have any comments from the Council on this item before we take a photo.

0:46:23I just want to. Oh, go ahead, Councilman.

0:46:25I I think you would like to bring up the officers in the room? Oh, sure, let's have them come on up. They're standing and

0:46:34get the the accolades as well, thank you.

0:46:40And I just wanted to. We have no other comments from any of our council members. I do want to again, as as we said, thank you to our law Enforcement officers. And and I just want to tell a short, not necessarily story. But I think that there are some

0:46:53community members who would wonder? In a city that claims to be a progressive city that's going forward and doing Xyz things. Number one. My cousin, as chief knows, is a former member of the El Cerrito police department, and we come from a family of law Enforcement officers, but very progressive before it was cool to say progressive police officer. Our grandfather drilled into us that we're not just protecting the community, but we are there to literally serve whether it's helping our unhoused people

0:47:21not just put them away, or send them here or send them there, but actually making sure we're getting them help.

0:47:26So that's and that's 1 side of the family. Some other folks may know that another side of my family is I've had the the I don't know if honor is the word, but unfortunately, in the death of George Floyd, I found out that he was my cousin.

0:47:38and one thing that his sister-in-law always impressed upon me, at least on his, the 1st anniversary of his death. And we're coming up on the 5, th and we will hear more about that soon. Is that

0:47:49we are as a family we are looking to, really, you know, change the the culture around of the way that a lot of folks do do policing and criminal justice. We do want to make sure that we support the officers who are doing the things the right way, and also remembering in our, in the 1st anniversary of his death we went to Houston to actually march in his honor, and it was the Houston police department that came to make sure that we were protected from people who didn't understand that we were doing, she said. Carolyn. Remember, we don't hate the police. We hate what happened to George.

0:48:20and so for me. That's always from the time that I've met Chief. That's always the way that I've approached being on this council, and I am just honored to talk to just some of our our law enforcement members who have protected me when I needed some protecting. But we won't talk about that from the dais.

0:48:35and now we shall take a picture.

0:48:37Thank you.

0:49:41all right, and we do have one more proclamation. And this is for Jeff Levine from the East Bay Housing organization who will accept the proclamation for affordable housing month.

0:49:54Welcome, Jeff, if you want to say a few words.

0:50:00Good evening, Mayor Council members. My name is Jeffrey Levin. I am the senior director of policy with East Bay housing organizations, and also a 35 year resident of El Cerrito.

0:50:11I want to thank the City Council for your recognition of affordable housing month, and I really want to thank the Council and the city staff for years of commitment to affordable housing, and we'll say we are particularly excited that the 1st phase of the El Cerrito Plaza Bart project will be going up this summer with 70 units of affordable housing. So we're very excited about that.

0:50:33For over 40 years Eppo has mobilized the collective wisdom of our members to expand the production, preservation, and protection of affordable hold on one moment, Jeff, are we having a problem with the Mics, or are you talking directly into it? Yeah.

0:50:47this is better. Sorry for over 40 years ago has mobilized the collective wisdom of our members

0:50:54to expand the production, preservation, and protection of affordable housing opportunities for low income communities in the East Bay. Our membership of over 400 individuals and organizations includes nonprofit housing developers, social service organizations, advocacy, groups, faith institutions and residents of affordable housing across Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

0:51:17Every may we join our partners across the Bay area to host affordable housing month, and we are the proud conveners for Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

0:51:27Our programming this year includes a great lineup of events. We have community celebrations, days of action, panel discussions, housing workshops, community trainings and more, and there are also grand openings and groundbreakings of new affordable housing communities that showcase and celebrate what is possible when community members, nonprofits and local government come together.

0:51:49All events are open to the public, and most of them are free. You can view a full list of the events at our website@epo.org slash. Events

0:51:58in a moment of unprecedented instability, when drastic cuts to Federal funding threaten to undermine the fabric of our affordable housing system. The role of local government and local communities has never been more important.

0:52:12We can keep each other safe, and we can keep each other housed, but only if we work together, and only if we are committed to a vision of a racially and economically just Bay area where everyone has access to a safe stable and affordable home. When we uplift and center those most affected by the housing crisis, it strengthens our entire community.

0:52:32We celebrate affordable housing month to call attention to the housing affordability crisis, to lift up solutions, to celebrate our achievements, and to invite all community members to join us in our movement. So once again on behalf of epo. I thank you very much for this honor, and we hope to see you soon at some of our affordable housing month events.

0:52:52Thank you. Jeff. Does anyone have any? Yes, councilmember, Salson

0:52:57just wanted to say, Thank you, Jeff, for your work and your organization's work. It's been great to work with you for a long time now from when I was on the Bart board. And it's exciting that we're, you know, passing this proclamation tonight, but also going to be voting on moving forward. Another phase of the El Cerrito Plaza Bart

0:53:16Development. That's also an affordable project. And it's just great that at a time when market rate housing has sold, we're still moving forward on the affordable side. And it's it's making a big difference. So thank you.

0:53:28Thank you any other council members. I'll go just briefly. I want to thank you as well. I've been to many discussions and workshops and

0:53:36appreciate it. I recall correctly. Your offices are in Swans market. Is that still the case? Yes, yep, okay, thank you.

0:53:44Councilmemor motyama.

0:53:45So, Jeff, thank you so much. I think one of the things. The big secrets of El Cerrito is that there are so many people that are involved in affordable housing. We have such deep expertise in the city, and it's really fortunate that we have. You and I know that your career in affordable housing is probably spanning

0:54:0440 years, and that you continue to do. This is really great, and I think it's having residents like you that also spurs us to do more on affordable housing in El Cerrito. So thank you.

0:54:19and I will just say Jeff is a person who is the beneficiary of at least 2 of our council members, and the work that they have done around building affordable housing, you know. I don't think that we've ever met formally in person, but I'm always thankful for everyone who does this work here in El Cerrito. People know that I live right in in one of our newest buildings. The next one is going up, and by the time that one goes up we'll be breaking ground on the other one at the Bart Tod. So I'm looking forward to seeing more of my

0:54:43friends who are moving into L. 3. And I just I just thank all of you for including my peers. Thank you all for your work around affordable housing.

0:54:51Thank you, and I will say it has been wonderful working with El Cerrito for this many years, and for all your support for affordable housing. So thank you.

0:54:59Now we shall take a picture

0:55:47that is done

0:55:49all right. The next item is public hearings, and the 1st public hearing is the annual review and renewal of the military equipment ordinance. May we please have the staff report?

0:56:17Good evening, madam Mayor and City Council. My name is Jt. Warlick. I'm a lieutenant with the police department. I currently oversee our Administrative and support Division. I'm here tonight to request the renewal of our military equipment ordinance. This ordinance was originally passed by Council in 2022

0:56:34California State law requires city council to review the use of military equipment.

0:56:40the inventory of the military equipment in the local police department, and then renew that ordinance yearly.

0:56:49As part of this renewal process, we published

0:56:54the Military Equipment Report for 2024.

0:56:58We published our new draft military equipment policy, and we published our military equipment inventory.

0:57:04All the above mentioned documents were posted to the El Cerrito Police Department website on March 6th 2025

0:57:11should be noted that we are requesting 3 additional Uass for this year.

0:57:17The law also requires that we host one public meeting. We actually hosted 2. The 1st one occurred on April 7, th when our staff liaison presented to the Community Safety Committee.

0:57:28The second meeting was held here at the Council Chambers on April 17, th 2025. This particular meeting was publicized through Nixo as well as on the city website, and this was published over 30 days in advance.

0:57:42During this meeting we received no complaints or concerns by our community members, and as an opportunity to discuss military equipment and for them to ask questions.

0:57:52we are requesting renewal of our existing military equipment ordinance.

0:57:57But this time I'd be happy to answer any questions

0:58:00questions from the Council. I'll start on this end any questions on this end? Yeah, I have a question just about equipment. One of the things that

0:58:07struck me as I read this as I saw the word machine gun.

0:58:11and I immediately thought, What does a police department do with a machine gun? And I I saw the same thing. I had sort of the same reaction with shotgun

0:58:20up in sort of a hunting environment. I'm used to the shotgun dispersing outlets everywhere.

0:58:24If I were to shut them. That makes sense to me

0:58:28alright. Could you talk about that a little bit? In what instance or what kind of circumstance, would a machine gun be deemed appropriate in a shotgun.

0:58:37Okay. So in this particular policy, the submachine gun is a pistol caliber essentially long barrel weapon. It was used by the

0:58:50Swat team, El Fredo, partners with Richmond Swat team and the entry team was initially using the submachine guns as their entry weapons. It is only the spot swat team that would be issued these, and since joining the Swat team, the Richmond Department has progressed away from using the submachine guns as entry weapons and are using the currently the AR-fifteen style weapons.

0:59:19But we've maintained them in our inventory in case they transition back to the submachine guns for entries.

0:59:27What what benefit

0:59:30do they provide? What would have been a a weapon of choice in as an entry weapon?

0:59:36A pistol, caliber weapon like that is

0:59:41It cannot. It doesn't necessarily want penetrate.

0:59:44But as far as in in a enclosed environment, like a house or something like that, so okay.

0:59:53thank you. Oh, and then, as regarding the shotguns in this report, the shotguns are actually used to launch less than lethal munitions, such as beanbag rounds, and so they would be used to incapacitate a subject if needed.

1:00:10So along the lines of any circumstances where you would be authorized for our use, of course, to use like a baton or something like that. But this allowed standoff

1:00:21hit. Add one thing, we've done it.

1:00:23Good evening, council. Just add one more item to those 2 types of weapons. And I'm Paul Keith, your chief of police.

1:00:31When it comes to the military inventory. We're only required to list specialized weapons, not common weapons, that we issue to our officers. So we have patrol shotguns that are used for responses. We also have patrol rifles that are used for responses. Those are not listed in the inventory. We do have shotguns that have special use. Those are to require alternate projectiles, things like beanbags things like in our case. Drag stabilized beanbags, because those are a specialized weapon. Those are listed in the inventory.

1:01:01The same goes for an Mp. 5. Now, if we issued Mp. 5 s. To every officer in our department, it wouldn't actually need to be listed in the inventory, but because those are 2 specialized weapons used for specialized purposes. That's why they're listed in the industry. So those are the 2 submachine guns.

1:01:20Questions. I'll go to Mayor Potem and then.

1:01:24thank you, Mayor, my question is regarding the the drones, and I know with technology, as soon as you get it, it's obsolete, and in a few years. Can you speak on the drones that we have now, and and the average lifespan and are any of our drones obsolete? And do we need to get

1:01:46new ones with more technology in the near future.

1:01:50I would say the 1st drone on that. The equipment inventory is pretty much obsolete. We use it exclusively for training.

1:02:01Quite

1:02:02technology is on that drone is pretty much obsolete. So and like you said, the the technology continues improve with cameras and thermal and stabilization and everything else. So it is essential to continue to upgrade that that fleet of of

1:02:21okay.

1:02:22Oh, that's yes. So we actually have currently have one interior drone, and we are requesting another interior drone.

1:02:31these are great pieces of equipment. We've used them

1:02:36recently to some success or traffic. Tremendous success. We had a home invasion robbery here in the city, and we actually apprehended one of the suspects, and we use that interior drone to clear the residence before we sent in officers to do it, just to make sure there wasn't a second suspect in there. And then, on another instance.

1:02:57we had one of our pilots help out the Richmond swat team clearing a residence after a barricaded suspect. So there's been some significant use in these things. They are specialized, they they're slightly smaller, and then they also have shrouds to protect the rotors. So in case it bumps into a wall or something like that, it'll keep flying as opposed to

1:03:20the crashing. I I very much appreciate the the technology that's available that will make

1:03:28our residents safer, but also for our police officers. So kind of remember there was one in my neighborhood.

1:03:37When you guys solved the case with, the recent burglaries that we have is is that right?

1:03:44It's

1:03:46yeah. This one occurred about a month ago. Yeah, on on Junction. Yeah, yeah, thank you for that. Very much. Appreciate it. I know. Lieutenant Aaron Leone spoke about this.

1:03:56So another case closed. And I just want to say congratulations. Our neighborhood, especially the Junction Avenue neighborhood, who has gone through a lot of recent burglaries and car break-ins. They'll very much appreciate it, and they appreciate. I know we have a member of the Public Safety Committee here as well. So again, this is making our neighborhood safer, so definitely support the use of drones to

1:04:25complete these cases and and solve these cases. So thank you very much for that

1:04:31councilmember. Modiama. Thank you. Mayor.

1:04:35I have a couple of drone questions as well. What happened to the drone that needed the $2,900 repair?

1:04:44It collided with an obstacle during a flight.

1:04:48and it just it just crashed. It crashed. Yes, and it cost $2,900 to repair it. Isn't it cheaper to just get another one. No, those drones are over $6,000. Oh, okay, so, and that actually.

1:05:02again, highlights. Because of the time that it was out, we were without

1:05:06some drone and some technology. So another reason to increase our our fleet of. And so you are requesting a 3 additional drones, and I was wondering if there was a grant

1:05:17of some kind that might cover that we can use

1:05:21some money from the cops, Grant, but as far as specific grants for drone use. I'm not familiar with any of those options, but there, there is an opportunity

1:05:30for potential grants to offset the cost of additional drones from cops. Yes, and then

1:05:40I know this is not required. But on the inventory you talk about the lifespan of the equipment, but it doesn't say when you got it, so

1:05:51it would be great.

1:05:52It doesn't have to be in this report, but for us to

1:05:55see and understand like where we are in that lifespan, so that we know like, well, likely more drones are coming, or some other equipment is coming. So just as a request for the future or some other. Give me some other report, but it's you know, it's we only hear about it when it wears out, like we have to get it now. But if we know in advance, or have sort of seed that in our minds will be really helpful.

1:06:22And then one thing I do appreciate having to do this every year, even though I'm sure it's not fun for you guys. But it helps me think about this again, and I know that there's a lot of military equipment in here that are, you know.

1:06:39crowd suppression, kinds of things like the beanbags and the tear gas and stuff that sound really alarming. And so I went back and read our policy. And for any residents that are concerned about this, I would really recommend reading the police policy. Section 433. And I think, Chief, that you did a really great job of kind of laying out the intentions

1:07:02of that policy. And it's not about preventing free speech, but keeping people safe. And I appreciate that a lot. So thank you.

1:07:10Council members. Okay, i, 1 thing that I I just want to highlight, and I was glad that I mean, of course, I know require you are required to let us know

1:07:19what we'll be covering in this military annual review. But ever since before I got on the Council, when I was running for council, I kept hearing about el Cerrito has a tank. El Credo has a tank. El Credo has a tank, and it was. It was. It was very fun to find out that the tank in question was this Ford transit commercial van? And so can you, just for the benefit of the public, tell us about the Ford commercial van? Yes, it's

1:07:48Ford commercial van and transit van. Van that any of you can buy at your local Ford dealer, and it is equipped with a desk and a generator and some extra chairs and computer monitors that we can plug in computers to. And I know it's an incident, Van. But how do you all use that? Besides, I know it says in the policy that it's a clean, dry place. But what else do you use that for when you're out on the incident, or where would you see that van coming?

1:08:18Some of the more significant crimes where we'll be out of there for out

1:08:23for time. We've deployed it for like homicide scenes and stuff like that, and it gives a a place to for the people that are investigating to get some light. Get a place to write on there, to Central Place, where everybody can gather and stuff like that, so you can send people out from there also, in the event of inclement weather, it provides a some

1:08:44place to get out of that weather, to continue to do the investigations, and I would assume that people go ahead. It also. Does contain some supplies, too, like lighting supplies for night scenes. It also has the ability to tow our Porta Potty, which is very good for homicide scenes, if we need a place to, you know, have facilities available for officers that are up at the scene, you know, for prolonged periods of time, so literally is something we also use it for

1:09:08and can. And again, these are questions for the benefit of the public. I'm sure it's in the policy somewhere. But can you explain why a commercial van would be a military.

1:09:20a military item? Because I think that that's where some of the confusion in the public eye come from is that these things are called military. So why is that called military? And so in the government code. We actually have 2 vans. You know, this might be a surprise to you. We have another van that contains evidence supplies. Now an evidence supply. Van is not called out in the government code as a piece of military equipment, but a vehicle that is used can be used as a command post, or as a command vehicle that is called out.

1:09:46So you know whether or not it's truly a command vehicle. It is a central hub. It is typically where the command post gets set up on a complex incident. So that's why we included it. It really. When you think of military equipment. I think the intent of it was more like the big Mo. You know. Rv. Recreational vehicle conversions into command, vehicles that have, you know, big booms that go up with satellite communication. But ours does technically match that definition in the government code.

1:10:14Thank you so much. Go, yes, go ahead just to follow up on the tank.

1:10:18I know in previous reports it said, that the tank, I think, was in San Pablo. San Pablo owns the tank, the the armored vehicle, or was it Pino? Hercules had one. Okay, they had an armored vehicle. I don't know if they might, they do. Yeah. Okay, so hercules does have an armored vehicle. I think they've got like a 6 wheeled, armored vehicle. I believe. Pino also has an armored vehicle. It's an Mrap style with a vehicle.

1:10:47I don't believe I think Richmond may be getting an armored van, so a van that's kind of been specially outfitted. So there are some regional armored resources otherwise the Contra Costa sheriff's department

1:11:01also has a armored bear cat, another armored vehicle that we'd have access to. So it's not that there wouldn't ever necessarily be a need for armored vehicle in El Cerrito. It's just kind of a balancing between. You know what of our community expectations? What can we afford to own and maintain? And what's the right fit for our usage?

1:11:20Thank you. Any other questions.

1:11:24All right. So I'm hitting the gavel. The public hearing is now open. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comment regarding this item request to speak can be submitted by 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. Thank you. We have one request to speak on this item. Joe Herbert.

1:11:58Hi! Thank you. My name is Joe Herbert. I'm a resident of El Cerrito. And

1:12:04my notes here, just wanna make sure I have all the information correct. So you you mentioned that the police department is requesting to purchase 3 new drones? Including the Dji Mavic, 3 thermal for $16,000 each.

1:12:19As well as they mentioned. You know, the one interior dgi avada tour equivalent. My question for the council is, why are we investing in military grade surveillance technology at a time of rising fascism and authoritarianism?

1:12:35what assurances do we have that these drones will not be used to help ice find immigrants in our community to to deport.

1:12:43What assurances do we have that if abortion is outlawed at the Federal level, these drones will not be used to find people seeking medical care or people providing medical care.

1:12:54This might sound like, oh, hyperbolic hypotheticals that I'm engaging in. But given the current political climate at the national level, these are very real concerns for the safety of our community. And I I really don't.

1:13:11I don't think that our local tax dollars should be used to further extend the militarization of the State.

1:13:19you know, I think that budgets really speak to values. And so I wonder what kind of values we want to say that we are promoting as a city? I don't think that military level surveillance

1:13:32is the type of value that we want to promote. Along those lines this past weekend. I just out of curiosity, checked like what

1:13:39job openings are there for someone in El Cerrito who might be interested in giving back to their community. And I saw that the city government currently has an opening for a part-time childcare teacher, making between $22 and 44 cents to $28 and 62 cents per hour, or a police officer, making $99,276 to $125,100 annually.

1:14:05So when I ask myself, what do those

1:14:08hey discrepancies tell us about our values as a community. They tell us that we seem to value violence in the punishment, bureaucracy more than the care and education of our children.

1:14:19That's not the kind of city I want to live in. That's not the kind of city I know El Cerrito to be, and so I strongly encourage us to reconsider the purchase of these drones. Thank you.

1:14:31Thank you so much. Go ahead. I was just gonna say that concludes our request to speak. City clerk. Is it appropriate for any of the Council to make further comment, post public comment before we take a vote

1:14:42regarding the item. Yes, but you should close the public hearing first, st and we can certainly have additional conversation. Okay, motion to close the public hearings. Move.

1:14:54Second, all right, all in favor, please say, aye, aye, any opposed.

1:14:59any abstention? Councilman. Okay, thank you.

1:15:04All right, go ahead. And what's your question, council? Member?

1:15:07I just since I think it would be helpful to all the public. I want to see if the chief could come up and just talk about some of the use of drones. I learned a lot when I did. You know my tour of the department and my ride along about how they're used and how they

1:15:21protect people from the loss of life and make it so. You often don't have to go in with weapons first.st So if you could talk about that some.

1:15:30certainly. Thank you. Councilmember. So when it comes to drones, we have 2 types of drones. We have external drones that are for flying outside. We have one drone currently that's used for flying inside. As the lieutenant described, the inside drone is really to be able to go into a space where we believe there's a possibility that a person might be armed or dangerous inside the space we will identify where they are and potentially deescalate the situation and get them to come out.

1:15:56We can also answer the question for an officer before they go into a building. Is there even a person in here, and we could know, you know, ahead of time. Oh, there's nobody in here. We can go in there and make sure it's safe. Start collecting evidence and start going about our job. So for me, in my mind, the use of an internal drone is really a tool to make it safer for officers to enter

1:16:14to be able to be more efficient in our job. In the past, you know, some of the things we've done is, you know, calling police dogs to go search the interior of a house. We can do that with the drone. Is that much easier?

1:16:23So Drone provides a tremendous tool to be able to ensure that a structure is safe, and before officers go in for exterior drones we do use those for a variety of purposes the most common one is to do aerial photography or an aerial search, aerial search for a subject or aerial search for evidence. So let's talk about evidence 1st

1:16:46in here's just an example. In December of 23 we had a person get reported missing to the El Streeta Police Department. We were pretty certain that the person had been murdered, and that their remains had been hidden somewhere. So we used our aerial drone in the area around our suspects, resident that had a wide area of hillside

1:17:07that we were and could search on foot. But putting a drone in the air gives you a different perspective to see, you know, are there areas of soil that have been disturbed that maybe aren't apparent from the ground? Or are there inaccessible areas of the hillside because of the steepness of it that a drone could more effectively search.

1:17:23So that's 1 example of how we've used it for exterior searching. Sometimes when we chase suspects, they throw things like guns up on roofs. It's helpful to get a drone up, to be able to identify, you know. Which roof, is it? Before we start climbing around on

1:17:34people's houses?

1:17:36We've also used it for missing people that walk away. We had a person with dementia that walked away. We put a drone up to help search for that person. They were in his right beginning of Covid.

1:17:45Nobody was out. We had no witnesses. We just knew this person was out walking somewhere, so we used a drone to help search for that.

1:17:52So those are the the 2 primary search purposes, searching for people or evidence and aerial photography of a crime scene

1:18:00one of the things that we do is we keep a Uas log aerial operations log. So if people are interested, hey, what has the police department used their drones for in the last month? April's not up yet. But March, February and January all up for the current year. You can go on there, and we keep track of all the different purposes we've used it for if we do a train flight, we document, you know the training flight where it happened. If it's associated to a case, we put down the case number and where the

1:18:26drone was used at, because we don't want people to think jeez there's a drone up in the air. I'm getting, you know, is that the police department, is it not? We're not the only people with drones in town. We're just the only people with drones in town to keep a log of it and put it out there for the public.

1:18:42But there are private individuals that have drones. I've had one fly up to my deck, you know, and it's like, what are you doing here? Could you leave? Who knows who that was? So those are some of the uses are the drones that we have right now. Those are all commercially available drones. So they any consumer could go out and buy the same drone.

1:19:00One thing to note just about the price of those drones, and I know this wasn't in your question, but I think it's important for Council to consider is that there is some legislation going on up at the Capitol right now, where they're considering banning the use of Chinese made drones in California.

1:19:17So there are some potential repercussions of that that we should be aware of one with existing tariffs. The cost of Chinese made drones are going up. Dji is a Chinese made drone company

1:19:29now, American drones believe it or not are like twice as expensive as Dji drones. So one way or another, the drones are gonna get more expensive, whether it's because we're buying American made products or because

1:19:42Chinese made drones are still allowed in, but they're significantly tariffed.

1:19:47So that is why there is a significant price. Increase this year over the cost of our existing drones.

1:19:53That makes sense. I mean, everything's gonna get more expensive. And then just could you speak to what happens with the data from the drones, and how long you hold on to that, and who it's shared with, and all that. Absolutely so. If the search is related to a case.

1:20:08then that data is uploaded to our evidence server, and attached to the case. If it's associated with the training file, then that data is deleted. You know, we don't retain that data. It's nothing that we go back on. It's really only if there's a criminal investigation that we retain the data and that's associated with, you know an actual case. It goes into our secure evidence. Server.

1:20:29So that's what we do with the data.

1:20:31Thank you, Councilmemor multyama. And then I'll come to this side of that. Thank you. Mayor.

1:20:38can you talk a little bit about you know how our Sanctuary city status

1:20:45overlays with, you know, data, and you know.

1:20:50we don't coordinate with ice and things like that. But I just wanna kind of as part of the question.

1:20:58can you talk a little bit about how these things work together. Sure, there are 2 California blocks of California legislation that relate to the concerns gentlemen brought up. One is the assistance with immigration. So

1:21:13California agencies are certainly strongly discouraged from cooperating with ice investigations outside of very specific areas involving criminal acts. We are not authorized to cooperate with immigration authorities for the purpose of immigration enforcement.

1:21:29So we, as an agency, are obligated to comply with California law on that. In fact, if we do cooperate with an ice investigation. We're obligated to hold a public meeting to describe the nature of that

1:21:43cooperation what we did, why, we did it and etc. So we have not held one of those public meetings yet, because we haven't done it yet.

1:21:51We've never. We have not cooperated with an ice immigration for the purposes of immigration enforcement.

1:21:56So the use of drones for immigration enforcement would be covered by that same law.

1:22:02We we also have a sanctuary city policy that also gives direction to employees on how to handle immigration matters. So our officers are also bound by that. I believe the Sanctuary City resolution is the link on our home screen. If people are interested in it, it's a relatively long document. So I'm not going to try to just recite it all from memory. But the main beats that I would like people to take away from it when it comes to the police is that our job is not immigration enforcement.

1:22:30Our job is not immigration investigations, and it's not our officer's job to do the job of immigration enforcement for the Federal Government. That is the Federal Government's job and not our police department's job.

1:22:42So we don't engage in immigration enforcement. We do not inquire about people's

1:22:47country of origin. Outside of specific circumstances, where we're obligated by California law to do so.

1:22:54and if I might add and oh, sorry on the second part of that. Just really quick. Sorry, Stephen, so there's a similar law protecting people that are coming to California to exercise the right to reproductive freedom.

1:23:05So it's very similar in context to the the law around immigration enforcement. And we are also, you know, obligated to follow that California law as well. So there's there's protections on both of those categories from police departments misusing drones or investigative resources, or anything towards the ends of you know, towards immigration enforcement or reproductive rights.

1:23:30and I would just like to add that the city has been a sanctuary city since 2,017 and we were working in very close collaboration with the Human Relations Commission, but I also have to give a shout out to Chief Keith. I was assistant City manager at the time, who actually assisted us greatly in developing the Sanctuary City resolution passed by the City Council. So it was done in cooperation and collaboration all along with our police department

1:23:58councilmember Asanas.

1:24:03I'm curious. Since you brought up ice and the issue, what what type of

1:24:09interactions or pressure or mandates. Have you heard from the Federal level to local police departments? I'm assuming you're hearing things and being told things, and that results in conflicts between federal policy and local policy and laws, and just curious what the landscape looks like. Sure. So the landscape. For you know, this current administration so far has been that when ice comes into the city limits to do an operation, they notify our dispatch center.

1:24:37So that we have some awareness of this happening. And don't think that you know people are running around with guns drawn potentially and not understand what's happening in a given neighborhood. And that's the extent of it. They notify us when they're in town and We

1:24:53put it on our radar, but our officers don't assist or engage with them in any way other than that. Has that happened? Have they come to town? And I believe they've been here at least one time.

1:25:03and I don't know the circumstances of it.

1:25:05Okay, thank you.

1:25:07Air pro team. You have any account.

1:25:09I do not have any comments, only because I think that council Member Motiyama really addressed them was and I know that we talked when we when we authorized the purchase of the drones, we talked a little bit about how the data is kept and how it's held and who has access to it. So I think that those those did cover my questions one last. Thank you. Sorry to keep you at the lectern there. I think you know

1:25:37one of the hard things for people these days is trust and kind of

1:25:43what kind of community we live in is

1:25:46part of all of us, and we are trusting the the residents have to trust us that we would not do those kinds of negative things to harm any residents exercising their

1:26:01rights to speech or actions. And I think what is really important is that we have been trying to build this culture. And I really thank city manager and chief for particularly on the on the police side of things, that it's

1:26:19very hard to become a police officer in El Cerrito, and I appreciate that we want people with a strong educational background. We want multilingual people, multicultural people, and we expect them to

1:26:35be in line with our values, and I think it's hard to to PIN that down. I think it's hard to say. Point at a piece of paper and say, well, this is what we're required to do. I mean, I think it's

1:26:49in your policies. It's in the way you answer our questions. It's in the way you guys respond to people when something happens. And so

1:26:59what kind of city are we? This is the kind of city we are. And I think one of the things I'm really proud about is that our police

1:27:07force reflects the demographics and values of our community, and

1:27:14it's hard to do that, and I appreciate the effort. And

1:27:19you know my daughter, does child care for that?

1:27:22Somewhat modest some? And you know, I think, that she would love to get paid more, in fact, I

1:27:32but you would not want to be a police officer, but I think you know

1:27:38I know what's required of her, and it's important because she's taking care of children. But what's required of a police officer

1:27:44protect people's property and lives is much higher, and it's harder to find really good people. So I think that is where we make the value choice to say

1:27:55we want a police force that's responsible and responsive to our values. That's what we have to offer to get them. So

1:28:04I don't know if you have any comments to that. Your daughter changes her mind, though she can no person, she should not be handling weapons.

1:28:14No, I I completely agree with my colleague and you know I was part of that council back in 2,017 to make sure that we did. Do that during his 1st term. And you know, and and you know, and

1:28:31all of us were unanimous in voting for this. So you know, to keep you were part of this in in creating this and and and this shows what a

1:28:41progressive

1:28:43pragmatic police department we have here, and and our police officers, many of them, live here and grew up here locally. So. This is not the, you know, the the old time

1:28:57stereotype of police officers. These are men and women, and many from communities of color.

1:29:04That look like us on the council and

1:29:07that live in our neighborhoods. So you know so and I want to make sure that that our residents know. That in my neighborhood where we have some hilly you know the the house that was broken into, and and where the burglar went inside.

1:29:27There was a family in there, and so this kept that family safe. This kept that family from getting killed. So you know, these drones work, and and it's a safe way and so I just want to say, Go talk to my neighbors, and they will tell you

1:29:48you know how appreciative they are that the police provided that type of service. And you look at our larger cities, and it's a difficult

1:29:59to. Yeah, we we get. If you get if you call 9 1 1, you get somebody right.

1:30:07And you don't get that. And in a lot of cities surrounding us. So we are proud to be a city that serves everyone. I'm proud of the Sanctuary City status, and we will continue to have that. But it's working in collaboration with our Public Safety Committee and our police department, and and I can't say enough how much we're grateful

1:30:30to you because you nabbed the guy the guy was just got out of prison in there for what? 20 years and kidnapping and

1:30:41it could have gone sideways, and it didn't. And again, my neighbors are are very grateful to you. So thank you for that.

1:30:49And just one last comment, Chief, and I just want to say that I I appreciate you all transparency. I think that one thing that we know that this is a difficult conversation for a lot of community members, for some of the reasons that my colleagues have stated, and I think you know the 1st time we ever met. I said, I, I support you, Chief, but I'm always going to push you, and I think that a lot of people need to hear some of the things that you all say

1:31:11because, as as has been said here in this chamber, it's hard out here to know who's who to trust, who's and where's a safe space? And we can say that all day here on on the dies and say, we trust you, we appreciate you. But it's really about our community members being able to hear that, being able to read it on paper, being able to understand it and being able to experience it so I thank you so much for all that you all do.

1:31:34and I appreciate all of your curiosity. My main goal is that we don't have any surprises. You don't see something that the police department is using. You're like what the heck is that I don't remember saying yes to that, and I know that each of you is also bringing the voice of the community forward when you're here tonight and asking questions and making sure that our community members understand the various things that the police department has available.

1:31:57Okay, well, do I have a motion to approve this item?

1:32:02I'll move

1:32:04all right. So, moved by Council member Motiama, and seconded by councilmember Salsman. All in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed

1:32:13any abstentions, so that the item does pass unanimously.

1:32:18All right. Next item is public hearing to confirm the diagram and levy to levy the assessment of fiscal year 2526 for landscape and lighting assessment district number 1, 9, 8, 8 1.

1:32:32May we please have the staff report?

1:32:36Good evening, Mayor and council members, crystal reams, finance director. So yes, before you. Right. Now we have to conduct the public hearing, and upon conclusion, adopt a resolution setting the annual landscape and lighting assessment for fiscal year 2526 as $72 per single family residence.

1:32:54as noted in the attached engineers. Report.

1:32:57On April 16.th The Council set the public hearing for today. May 6.th The notice was published on April 26.th Since its establishment it has generated approximately $785,000 in revenue each year. The rates have not changed.

1:33:16and

1:33:18this year we're projecting $790,034 in revenue in the cost of the assessment districts have not been enough to keep up with rising costs. The general fund has covered an estimated of 510,000 in cost and city staff anticipate using 26,157 in available fund balance from the lad in fiscal year 2526. With that the projected ending fund balance

1:33:42for fiscal year 25 would be 71,400, and using the 26,000 would result in a projected ending fund balance for Lad of 45,000.

1:33:55All right. Any questions or comments from the or questions from the Council?

1:34:01No questions. All right. Do I have a oh.

1:34:04that's not where we are. The public hearing is now open 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 residents at the beginning of your comments. City clerk. Please proceed.

1:34:26Mayor. We do not have any requests to speak on this item. Okay, do we? I'm sorry. Do I have a motion to close the public hearing.

1:34:35All right. So, moved by council, member Motiyama, and seconded by councilmember Salsman, all in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed.

1:34:43any abstentions. All right. So the public hearing is closed. Any council comments?

1:34:52All right. Well, do I? -Oh, you made a move. Council member Motyama, were you good. Okay.

1:34:56I had some questions, and I did find a typo. But I think Staff is taking care of that.

1:35:03Okay, any any second second, all right. So moved by councilmember Salsman, and seconded by Mutiyama, all in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed

1:35:12any abstention. So item passes unanimously.

1:35:17All right, Nick, on to the next item. Public hearing regarding fiscal 2025, 26, storm drain, annual report and method of collecting storm drain fees. May we have the staff report.

1:35:30Yes, this is to conduct the public hearing for the storm, drain, annual report and method of collection. So, upon the public hearing conclusion, adopt the resolution approving the fiscal year 2526, storm drain annual report, and directing that the storm drain fees be collected on the property tax rolls.

1:35:53This year we're estimating to generate just over 709,000

1:35:59and the beginning fiscal year 25. The beginning fund balance was just about 1.1 million during fiscal year 25, we're projecting to use 858,000 in fund balance, leaving a projected ending fund balance of 236,000,

1:36:17and the budget for fiscal year 26, we do not expect will not be exceeding the available revenue or available fund balance.

1:36:28All right. Any questions from the Council have a go ahead.

1:36:34So I have a question. I apologize for not flagging this for staff before, but

1:36:39in these kinds of measures that have really fixed assessments. So this is an assessment whose dollar amount doesn't change. Even though costs increase. What is the in a long term plan for us in order to

1:36:57meet the cost.

1:36:59I will turn that to our public works. Director Yvette Ortiz.

1:37:12Good evening, Mayor council members, Yvette Ortiz, the city's public Works director. So the question was,

1:37:19plan for increasing revenues to cover costs.

1:37:23That's a great question. I know that part for the strong grain funds. We are updating the master plan to just look at. You know.

1:37:32how do we find these

1:37:35repairs. This need for approving both the capacity and the condition of our strong drain system. And there are hundreds of thousands of dollars of needs. And our resident earlier today mentioned one of the locations. So we're approving the master plan. Looking at how we can use other revenues that we conduct with the within the fund to finance, you know.

1:37:58future improvements. But that's where we are in terms of the strong refund.

1:38:03Thank you.

1:38:04Any other questions.

1:38:07all right. The public hearing is now open. 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 in your city of residence at the beginning of your comments. City clerk, please proceed. Okay, Mary. We do not have any requests on this item. All right. Any final comments by the Council.

1:38:32Alright! Do I have a motion to approve the item? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry

1:38:39the public hearing is closed. Well, you have to. Oh, did I do?

1:38:42I thought I had almost got through this agenda. Good today. Okay, do I have a motion to close the public hearing? I'll move any second. All right, all in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed.

1:38:54any abstentions?

1:38:56All right. So the public hearing is now closed. Now do we have any council comments.

1:39:02Still no comments. Okay. So a motion to approve the item. Any second. Second. All right. So motion by Member Casanas, seconded by Council, Member Motiyama, all in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed

1:39:17any abstentions. So the item does pass unanimously

1:39:22all right onto the next item, which is policy matters starting with Fy. 2425, 3rd quarter general fund budget Quarterly. Update through March 2025, crystal. May we please have the staff report?

1:39:37Yes, thank you crystal rings. Finance director

1:39:44pulled up.

1:39:58Thank you.

1:40:04Okay, so for you. Now, I have the 3rd quarter general fund update.

1:40:09I took a little bit different approach this time, so I welcome feedback. I am not doing a Powerpoint presentation. With this I added some more charts to the attachment.

1:40:21so we'll kind of walk through. I'm not going to read, you guys the entire thing.

1:40:24But the general fund updates attachment one, which is what I have pulled up here on the screen includes information on revenues and expenditures and lists. The year to date totals by classification and by department. This report summarizes the major general fund revenue and expenditure categories through March 31, st 2025 on a cash basis, excluding the prepayment of the Ual, which was over 6 million dollars.

1:40:49It includes comparisons to the prior year's actuals, similar to 3rd quarter reports from prior fiscal years. Our revenue cycles for many revenue sources, including property tax occur in the second, 3, rd and 4th quarters of the fiscal year. Consequently, revenue receipts are not realized in equal quarterly amounts.

1:41:12I want to point out that all of the budgeted amounts are the amended budgeted totals. I did not indicate that I apologize on the table, one and 2,

1:41:22but they are the amended totals.

1:41:26So Table one reflects the real property transfer tax through January and as February and March funds were not received within January, they were received at the end of April. So I wanted to note that but it still is currently trending on but with we did receive the 2 payments. April 21, st and we also got notice. Today of our

1:41:50April, which was $358,000. So we are. We are doing very well with the transfer tax, which is always good, because that's 1 that we're

1:42:00not always sure about.

1:42:03So our revenues budgeted at 51.7 million, and the amended

1:42:13total is 51.6 9. We're trending the same as previous quarters. There's nothing nothing notable to call out or no adjustments that would be recommended

1:42:28moving on to the General fund expenditures. So we have amended the general Fund budget to 52.8 million. Oh, and yeah, okay.

1:42:38sorry.

1:42:42Table 4 and 5 show expenditures year to date by classification and department.

1:42:48I thought it was important to call out and just remind of all of the items that Council has approved. Throughout the whole cycle.

1:42:57So there were the purchase order Rollovers of 603,000, and the various contract settlement increases.

1:43:05Then the adjustments that were proposed and approved. At Midyear

1:43:10we had a total of 1.4 increases to expenditures, but we also, that was offset by an increase in recreation revenue of 310,000, including the original projected surplus of 33,000. We are running. A projected use of fund, balance or deficit is how it will appear in the acfer of just over a million dollars

1:43:40and then moving on to the tables for the expenditures. Again, we're tracking right in line. There's nothing notable to call out, no no exceptions or extreme deviations.

1:43:51Personnel is, as always, the city's largest portion of expenditures, and we are tracking right in line. There's a 9.1 6 vacancy rate

1:44:02as of March 31, st

1:44:11and then I've also started, including the general fund balance projections updated as of the end of the quarters.

1:44:19And so this just re illustrates all the numbers that you've been seeing. And the

1:44:26oops. Sorry the actual move it up.

1:44:31There we go.

1:44:34Okay. So we show the fiscal year 24, our actual fund balance and that main that makes up the Edrf, the section 1, 15 and the non spendable portion. Are projected.

1:44:47Surplus original surplus are approved, expenditure, additions and revenue increases, gets us back to our projected use of fund, balance or deficit

1:44:57of just over a million dollars.

1:44:59And then I ran through what we're projecting for fiscal year 25.

1:45:04So that gets us to the same 2.1 million discretionary balance.

1:45:12And another thing to note is our section 115 has increased from it was about just about 1 point just over 1.3 million in our original deposits in April. So in just under a year, it's grown about $70,000,

1:45:31with no additional contributions.

1:45:35So, in conclusion. We are on track to meet our 2425 budget goals, and revenues again are not received in equal installments.

1:45:45I will open it up to any questions.

1:45:48All right, any questions from the Council. I'll start on this end.

1:45:52Yeah. First, st I thank you and appreciate that you acknowledge that the use of fund balance is actually a deficit.

1:45:59I thank you for that, because I think that's good for people to know.

1:46:05you say that you're on target to meet goals was that deficit an original goal.

1:46:10not in the original budget, but it was a planned use of fund balance. So it's as as Council approves the items and approve an approved, a deficit approved by Council.

1:46:22Technically. Yes, alright, thank thank you.

1:46:27Any questions, Mayor Potem. All right. Councilmember, Salsman.

1:46:33Hi, Mike. Thank you for the presentation. I'm I'm glad things are on track. I talked to the city manager about this when we met yesterday.

1:46:42But I I found it pretty challenging to read the tables. I've read a lot of financial reports in my life, and usually what they track to is what

1:46:51what actually came in on the revenue side, or what actually was spent on the expense side, and what you projected would be spent or come in for that year to date, so that, you know, just because it's not in personnel costs might be about the same each quarter, but a lot of the other costs or revenues go up and down.

1:47:13So is that possible to include in future reports? Because I think to me that's the most important thing. Are we tracking with how we expected to track, not what percentage of budget, because that might not matter, depending on how the budget works out over the year.

1:47:29Yeah. So we because our revenues and our expenditures can be very cyclical. We compare percentage based off of prior prior years. So we're comparing quarters to quarters to see what what percentage we have expected to expend or what percentage we have expected to bring in for revenues. So that's that's our basis of comparison. But if something was off some year

1:47:53that would mean the next year when you're comparing to it, then you're comparing something that's not on track with your projecting. That's why I just don't understand, because I've never seen it done this way. It's usually based on what you projected for that quarter. So that's I guess I'm just not following the logic in it. So that would be more common for proprietary funds. So more like your business type funds where it's revenue based, and

1:48:17where the governmental funds are not. It's a modified accrual. Because it's not.

1:48:23The government is in the business to make money. That's not how we're that's not how we're running our projections. Well, I mean, art does it like that by each quarter? Well, they did it by month, but quarter month it doesn't matter. It was. How much do we expect to come in this quarter or month? How much actually came in? How much do we expect to spend? How much actually came in? Not based on the prior year was based on.

1:48:45We're expecting for the quarter. That's a proprietary fund. Okay? But you said, like generating revenue that obviously parts a government agency that wasn't the goal, either. It's it's ran, and that the accounting is done based off of business. So it's more like an enterprise like a public sector or private sector business. So as a different method of accounting.

1:49:05So you're saying it's not possible under a method of accounting and of providing what we expected to come in in the quarter.

1:49:13We we could. It would take a lot more resources, and

1:49:16it wouldn't necessarily be an accurate depiction, because throughout the year we're operating the governmental funds on a cash basis because we don't. We don't do a full cycle close each month.

1:49:30so it's depending on timing of receipts. If it's

1:49:35it could vary more that way, I would think, than doing it on a quarterly average comparison. No, I'm not suggesting doing it monthly. I'm just suggesting for the quarter. Could you show us what was expected to be spent and brought in in that quarter. We don't budget based off of a quarterly amount. So you go into the quarter, not having an estimate of what you're going to spend or what's gonna come in?

1:50:00Not necessarily. I think we rely heavily on departments to stay within within their budgets. But we don't have fixed monthly or quarterly amounts or percentages. Expenditures can be front loaded or like recreation. Specifically, they have very cyclical and seasonal times, where things are going to be higher, but they know when they're sick. I mean recreation knows when their seasons are so they can project. If they had to project what month's revenue is gonna come in, they could.

1:50:30I think you pretty easily tell you what needs to be done. I mean it would. It would take more? It, it would require more resources. But

1:50:39okay, it's it's a very concerning way for me to look at it because it's hard to know. Like, are we actually on track or not? Because this doesn't really tell you that because it doesn't tell what we expected, but at the minimum. If we're gonna compare to last year. And you did this on some items within the text, but not on all items to add another column. If you're looking at the prior year to date, what percentage of budget were we at then to compare apples to apples? Because it's not the same exact number.

1:51:07You showed the actuals, but you don't show what was budgeted last year. So it's it's just very, unless I sat and did a whole bunch of math and looked up the budget. You can't just look at this table and get a good picture. You you guys can. Because you know, this budget inside and out, but a regular resident doesn't. I don't even yet. I will eventually, but I don't yet. So I think

1:51:27if we could add that that seems like a number you had. That will help. Yeah, definitely. And and this report is meant to call out, any any anomalies? Anything that we would want to recommend, or if we saw things that are trending. And so we don't necessarily go into that level of detail. But again, this report is for you guys. So I will definitely take that into consideration. I think it's thank you. I was just gonna add kind of the same thing, knowing that you know the majority of

1:51:53our expenditures, even though they can fluctuate as we talked about. But as the majority of our expenditures are personnel based, those are the most regular expenditures. So if you're looking at essentially the 1st quarter, we expect to spend about 25% second quarter, 50% etc, so running that as a again, internally, as we are watching and looking at everything, when we we will make sure that we describe in this report.

1:52:18If there is anything that is trending outside, or if there was something last year that that popped up that was different, or that we had a higher expense, that we could account for that. For example, in these charts, from the beginning of the fiscal year we prepaid the ual.

1:52:36So we have actually, these charts do not reflect that prepayment we're considering it kind of an encumbrance that we continue to, so that the the charts are are able to be compared to last year, because

1:52:49we prepaid that. So if we printed that, the way that that it looks in our, in, our, in our reports, and internally, it looks like, we've already spent all this money. So we're trying to make. So we do try to modify that each each payroll, the ual is allocated appropriately, so that you're all seeing that evenly throughout the year, as opposed to

1:53:12the expenditure that's already been made. I hope that makes sense. So we're we're. And again. Yes, thank you for that feedback. Because we do wanna make sure. That we're that we're following what the what the Council is looking for, that we're updating and looking at everything that we can to provide more information. So if if that is something that we that the Council agrees would be easy to be able to add a column. We could. We can take a look at that. That would be certainly something

1:53:37like, I said like Crystal, said Feedback. So we appreciate that. And I just think it's important to keep in mind that it's not just you all and the rest of the staff that are responsible for making sure we don't have some budget problem. It's our responsibility, too, so we need to be able to see it.

1:53:54even if you miss it. I'm not saying you will, but like things. It's our responsibility, too. So if I don't have that information, I can't follow through on that responsibility. We absolutely agree. Thank you.

1:54:07Alright. Any other questions. Yes, customer, one more time.

1:54:11Thank you for your.

1:54:14It's still a presentation. Yeah, even though it's not Powerpoint.

1:54:19I just want to confirm and have the public understand that we have not been adding to the general fund reserve and per this shortfall we are not adding to the reserve in 2526,

1:54:36as it stands

1:54:39correct. So we are. We are meeting all of our reserve requirements. So we have the Edrf, which is currently funded at 9 million. The Fab recently recommended and Council adopted. Actually, a reduction in that. So the Edrf is currently over funded. They reduced it to it was 3 payrolls. And now it is 13%

1:55:04so that is overfunded, and the in that same recommendation they increased the reserve goal up from 10% to 17. So this is maintaining all of our

1:55:18all of our reserve goals, and the Edrf in in excess and leaves a remaining general fund balance. So for fiscal year 25, we are reducing

1:55:29the overall fund balance by the 1 million dollars, which, of course, is still still a projection as we close out the year, and then for fiscal year 26. We are not projecting to use any general fund balance. I believe it was a 15 very small surplus of $15,000, where we're not recommending any changes for that. So we're not expecting

1:55:51to decrease the embalance as of yet.

1:55:55So I know we had a discussion about

1:56:00other one time expenses. So those would also, if approved. Come out of this projected discretionary for 25 fiscal year 26

1:56:12fiscal year 25, and those will be coming to council at the next at the next council meeting. We will. We will bring back options for the Council to consider, but it would still be that 2.1 million, it would remain the same. And again I would say that of course that does. That's what we're projecting right now, if we have 2 really good months of revenues that could change so the actuals at the end of the year obviously

1:56:38will impact how much fund balance we do have at the end of.

1:56:43as of, you know, June 30. So

1:56:46so if there are a lot of people buy a lot more houses in El Cerrito the next 2 months that could that could bode well for us.

1:56:54cause I I hope that at some point we can have enough

1:56:58our revenue surplus to go back and utilize the waterfall. That was the intention of, you know. Even it's a little bit to keep adding to the general fund, because, you know, this is just slowly withering away. And I'm hoping that at as part of our budget discussion we'll get back to the the 5 year and 10 year projections. So we can see, you know what the impact of these things are, and it would be great to have

1:57:25if if there's time in before we have our next discussion about the use of the the discretionary funds to to see

1:57:34what the impact is on that 10 year projection. Sure, and that is where the Council, I believe.

1:57:41with the policies that are in place with essentially, you know, put the total together of the Edrf and the reserve goal of 17. That's a 30% fund balance which is well above anything that is, you know, recommended. But also that is the security blanket, if you will, that we have. And thinking back to 5 years ago

1:58:03it was a very different story. Oh, yeah. So the Council has done that. And and I understand I'm I'm with you in the, you know. We want to make sure we maintain that. So we never get back there, but because of the policies that the Council has set in place, we won't.

1:58:17not on my watch, but still just dipping into the general funds a little bit every year is ultimately how things went south before. So I just wanna keep us honest and make sure that

1:58:32we know what we're doing. And we're not doing anything unadvisedly. So thank you.

1:58:40All right. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments regarding this item, request, 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 in your city of residence at the beginning of your comments. City clerk, please proceed.

1:58:58We do not have any requests to speak on this item. There. Alright! Thank you so much. It looks like we don't need any item. This is a receiving file. So thank you, Crystal, for your report.

1:59:09all right. And so we're going to go on to Item B pre-development loan with El Cerrito plaza parcel C. East housing partners, Lp. For the El Cerrito Plaza Bart transit oriented development. And I know that councilmember Motyama. You need to recuse yourself for Item B and C, correct. Okay, out of an abundance of caution. I will be recusing myself from voting on policy items 9 B. And 9 C. My former employer, community Economics, Inc. Is a nonprofit

1:59:37that advises regarding affordable housing, finance and development. One of their clients is bridge Housing corporation, community economics is not advising bridge about the Plaza Tod project and has no financial relationship to the project. Therefore I will leave the room for the discussion, and vote on these items and ask the city clerk to note my recusal in the meeting minutes.

1:59:57and I think that meant to say satellite affordable housing corporation. But

2:00:03whichever one is fine, you were close from the discussion as well as the vote, or just the vote, the whole thing, the whole thing. That's too bad.

2:00:13And after that I know that council member Saltzman, you also have a this is a fun item, most council meetings, which is, I used to serve on the bar board and did plenty of work on this project, but have no financial interest in my understanding. I don't have to recuse myself.

2:00:32Thank you so much for that councilmember, Salsman.

2:00:34And

2:00:36can we have the staff report? We just need 1 min, Mayor, we're having some challenge technical difficulties with the presentation, okay.

2:00:45drink water.

2:01:44My computer doesn't

2:01:49see theirs.

2:01:50It's theirs. Yeah.

2:01:52I thought I saw the zoom flash, or something.

2:01:57madam Mayor, I just wanted to follow up on our prior

2:02:01when I try to interrupt and make a comment about the drainage. The person who spoke lives on my block. So I just wanted to touch Base with her, which I did. That's what that was about it, too, are you. No, I'm up the hill. I know that.

2:02:13I just wanted to let her know that I live down the street, and I could come down and take a look. I hope, Council Member, that if you fled you will tell us and not just

2:02:23yeah. Our public Works director did speak with the resident. So we'll be

2:02:35sorry about the delay. Good evening. The Housing and Economic Development Manager here in the Community Development Department. I just want to also acknowledge that I am joined via Zoom by Jarrett Mullen, our sustainable transportation program manager, and Nick Wilder from the related companies of California. The Vice President of development. So tonight, I'm actually going to take an opportunity to write an overview

2:03:00just quickly or as quickly as we can. Of the Tod master plan. And then we're gonna actually move into agenda, item 9 B and 9 C, so I'll do the overview. We'll jump into the 1st item. We'll open it up for QA. And we'll take the action, and then we'll do the second presentation, so it'll all tie together.

2:03:23and while you're setting up city clerk does that. I believe that there is a vote on this item. Do we need to do that between these? Yes, the presentation is kind of one consecutive piece, because they they do overlap a little bit in content. But we will take the opportunity to have questions. Do public comment take a vote on the 1st item, and then the second one. Yes.

2:04:04okay. So on the agenda, as I just mentioned. Sorry I didn't jump to that slide. It's just what I discussed, so I will go ahead and move us forward.

2:04:14So, as you all know, as a reminder, and it's included in your staff report Ab. 2923 was signed into law in 2018, and that was specifically to affect the zoning requirements on existing Bart. Property in Alameda Contra Costa and San Francisco counties

2:04:30within the half mile of station. So this legislation, as you know, is really intended to create new housing opportunities near transit to address our housing crisis, while also realizing we do need a mix of new housing, especially with Bart's goal of providing 35% of affordable housing it pairs well with the city's goals and the San Pablo Avenue specific plan or affordable housing, strategy.

2:04:55climate, action, plan. And you know all of the various things that you have all had in front of you in the past.

2:05:02So you'll see here on this side the current conditions of the property is at the El Cerrito Plaza Bart station. It's primarily the station. It's on 8, a little over 8 acres. There's 4 parcels of land. There are currently surface parking lots. There you'll see on the left.

2:05:19on the right is rendering of the master plan that was actually approved. In July of 2024, the development will be 6 phases. So it'll be 6 buildings constructed in 6 phases. And I just wanted to also highlight that this was the 1st project also approved under Ab. 2923. So the legislation is coming to life through this actual approval. And of course, what we'll be talking about in greater detail with the phases

2:05:53in terms of how we got here. So, Bart, as you know, in the summer of 2020 we put out a request for qualifications, and

2:06:03later that year the Board of Directors entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement with a joint venture comprised of the development team, which is holiday development. The market rate developer related companies of California, which is the lead affordable housing developer and satellite affordable housing associates as the Co. Affordable housing developer to advance this master plan phase of 6 units. And so this really demonstrates

2:06:30and there's obviously a lot of other design partners and other team members. But really the public private partnership between the city art and development team is

2:06:39key in driving. This project. Because there's so many layers and so many things involved. Today we're happy to keep talking and talk with you and advancing it to milestones that we've reached so far. So

2:06:58as mentioned earlier.

2:07:00the Tod is basically, we all know what transit oriented development is here at the diets. But for members of the public it is a walkable, compact, mixed use, higher intensity, development within walking distance of transit facility. So

2:07:14we have the El Cerrito Plaza. Across the street. We have the ohlone Greenway. We have San Pablo Avenue. It's adjacent to Albany. It's there's just a lot of things surrounding the station in itself schools businesses. So it's going to bring a lot of more residents and also economic development to the area as well.

2:07:34it is going to be 7% affordable affordable means different things to different people. But we'll go into that a little bit more later. In terms of the affordability ranges. The project will also include public open spaces, public art, public plaza.

2:07:50and at the request of the city the developer is also looking at holding a feature face for potentially a library which would be discussed at a later point in time with you all.

2:08:05So more recently. The 1st phase parcel a South was in April was rewarded, was fully funded. So they received their final tax credit and bond allocations, and so they slated to break ground. Later this year

2:08:20the future phases are actively seeking funding, and so we'll get into that for 9 B. And see.

2:08:26But most notably, I think, as you all know.

2:08:30the affordable housing, financing is layered, and it does require multiple funding sources and applications. And so I just want to remind everyone that for each building they will all seek their own funding sources. And I do want to remind everyone that

2:08:47the market rate buildings are dependent on economic conditions. And so, while the affordable buildings are dependent on funding from public financing. The market rate is also dependent on the economic climate, and we know it's uncertain right now, day by day.

2:09:04But nevertheless, I just want to remind everyone that there's all of these factors that consider the project so phase one again is going to break around soon. Tonight we'll be talking about parcel C east,

2:09:18and then there are the future phases as well. I just want to note that of the 6 buildings, 4 of them are affordable. And the construction again, these are kind of our latest and greatest estimates.

2:09:35So there is gonna actually be many improvements associated with this entire development and many funding partnerships. And again, I mentioned the city and the and the developers. So today, it's a lot support. I wanted to put more. But just the biggest thing to highlight is that there has been about 95 million dollars in grants secured. By the developer, the city.

2:10:00I just want to remind you all that the developers are responsible from the frontages of the building inward, while the city and bar and etc, we're responsible for the public right away of improvements. And the boundaries within the development, and such as access and circulation. So as you know. We were able to actually bring on a sustainable transportation program manager as we

2:10:25picked off this project. And so we've been, you know, there's just a lot of different people and different partners working on this to make sure that we deliver a high quality development that will serve just a lot of people. And just allow people to live in a great community that we have

2:10:46so activities to date. There has been a lot of engagement. If you go to El dash backslash, Tld, you can click through all of the previous meetings that were there if you're interested, or if you want to catch back up on those but really it dates back to 2,016 starting out with the city, doing like an mou a memorandum of understanding with Bart. We've had many meetings, open houses, workshops, study sessions.

2:11:16And there's gonna actually be, you know, some future upcoming opportunities, including the parking program. That's 1 of the things that's funded by the grant. The consideration of a library. And so I would just say, if you're not already subscribed to our community volunteer newsletter, or following our social media or city manager updates. There's just many ways that you can learn more about this project and stay connected.

2:11:44So that concludes the background portion, I'm gonna actually jump into the affordable housing, pre-development loan request.

2:11:53So we can talk about the importance of leveraging this funding request. So, as you know, along with

2:12:02art schools that we have our regional housing goals through our regional housing needs allocation. And that is for the planning period of 2023 to 2031. It's our 6 cycle housing element which we're tasked for creating close to 1,400 new units, and a significant portion of those will be for very low and low income households. So this project will deliver.

2:12:27a big number of units satisfy our arena, and so below is just the current maximum affordable income level based on arena allocation. So these are the maximums by household. So, for example, in a very low income category, someone making about 55,000 qualify, and someone making as high a single person up to 84,000 could qualify for a unit at this development. I do want to note that

2:12:57the area Median income ami levels for the project are tied to the funding sources that are associated with the project. So this is more of just kind of like a high level, but the nitty, gritty it's always there in the background, but just wanted to point that out.

2:13:14In terms of the current request for parcel C, east. So for parcel a South. In 2023 the Council

2:13:23did authorize a free development loan. We are currently requesting a free development loan for parcel C East to construct 84 affordable units serving households between 30 and 60% of the area Median income

2:13:39with the local match of 300. 5,000. 350,000. As our request, the developer has also applied for funding at the county level, as shown on previous slides. They've received funding for the previous phase, from the county. And then we're waiting on decisions from that. Unfortunately, we would have known about those by now, but with kind of all the Federal

2:14:02budget changes. It's just slightly delayed. But we should know soon. Back on those funding applications. And then our biggest

2:14:11funding application, which we'll talk about in the next item is the affordable housing sustainable communities. Program exploring, iig info and infrastructure, grant, and of course, tax credits and bonds along with the discounted lease rate from Bart. That is why this project is able to deliver such a high number of affordability.

2:14:34So, as I mentioned, the 3 50 is actually

2:14:39in a restricted fund, a low to moderate income housing fund. So it is only available for the production of affordable housing. The term to the developer will be 3% interest over 55 years. Repayment would be based on the availability of revenue through residual receipts.

2:15:00And again, this has been as a small city. It's a lot of money. But in the grand scheme of things in other cities. They give a lot more money to projects, or they have land to provide. So we're really making our dollars stretch. And we're fortunate to also have good partners who can help us seek funds to be competitive.

2:15:22so that actually concludes like to open it up to you all as well as members of the public and just as a reminder, we have Nick on the phone for this item, and Jared will jump on for basic.

2:15:37All right. Any questions from the council

2:15:41councilmember Casanas? I have one question, and just one for reflection. Comment.

2:15:47I noticed that with this expense.

2:15:51That the Housing Assets fund gets depleted down pretty far and close to 0.

2:15:57Not quite there. But I'm just wondering, long term. Is there an intention to build that front back up. Perhaps that's part of where

2:16:06or excess funds can grow. Yeah, that's actually a really good question.

2:16:12so yeah, there will be a little about a hundred 1,000 ish left after this Pre development loan and obviously with future phases. Yeah, how do we provide the same match for a future phase.

2:16:24The City Council adopted an inclusionary ordinance in 2018, and the intent was that we would start building up our affordable Housing fund through inclusionary and repayments. But unfortunately, a lot of the projects have stalled that were subject to inclusionary. Not because of any of these requirements, but merely because of the market. So, as you know, back in January, you all authorized

2:16:49our department community development to do an affordable housing strategy update through a grant that we got from Mtc. And so one of the things we are going to be exploring is, how can we continue to advance our affordable housing goals, and what funding sources?

2:17:05We can do to strategize around that, because it it is the last of the redevelopment funding, and unfortunately, without a new funding source. We will be digging into that and bringing that back

2:17:16for you all. And thank you. And then my comment is just trying to touch on. This is not a time to.

2:17:22We continue the project and the details of it. But I it concerns me.

2:17:27but the affordable units are in separate buildings from the market rate units. You know. I'm very used to working in projects where there's they're mixed together. You can't distinguish one unit from the next.

2:17:36and they all get treated the same. They'll get the same upgrade. They'll get the same we have.

2:17:40and it's just much more equitable.

2:17:42But I just, you know, think ahead.

2:17:4515 years from now, 10 years from now, I can imagine that would not look as nice as the market units because they're drawing different income, the different tenants. And it just concerns me. And there's nothing that you can do about that. And there are reasons for it around the financing.

2:17:59but it's kind of it. Just sort of seems like a step backwards in terms of practices for meetings within themselves.

2:18:08So

2:18:09I definitely hear? Hear your perspective on that. There's actually been just kind of a lot of studies around this as well. Specifically.

2:18:18in my previous job in San Francisco we delivered a ton of inclusionary units and mixed income buildings, both ownership and rental, and there are trade-offs that come with that. Those are generally not subsidized by any public financing. Those are built by the developers. And so as a result, they're also going to have different area median income levels. Those normally

2:18:43serve people between what's called 80 and 120% kind of like a more of a workforce housing model.

2:18:50And while they're yes, they are still in the same building mixed, and they're also delivered at a lower quantity. So they're delivered at a lower quantity, and they're not as deeply affordable. Those units are important, though as well right? We need those. But I think in this case we do have professional

2:19:06property management with the affordable building. So they're not gonna turn into slum or anything like that. There's also funding and funders in these deals for a long time as well. So there's also compliance things that have to be worked through, but they will all share the same amenities, the public places, the schools, so there will be integration within the project in the way that it's built.

2:19:30And that was intentional as well. But yeah, it is a reality with the financing as well and just kind of all of the resources needed to deliver these projects. And one of the other things about the affordable developments is they also tend to have, like other programming and on site services for residents as well, and that can also be very useful. So yeah, I hear you. I don't think that there's wrong anything wrong with either, or I don't think it's an either, or but I think

2:20:00certainly, that there's trade-offs to both. You know they're excellent.

2:20:08I'll go to councilmember Salsman, and then you may report him.

2:20:13I'm obviously very excited to see this moving forward and thank you for the great presentation. First.st Is this going to be available online because I didn't see it? So can we get a copy of it and make sure the public gets it? Because I I think they're really useful things to share.

2:20:28and you know, this project is important beyond sort of just this project. Like, I, I love that funding chart, because the city our size just can't get money like that on our own. But by partnering with Bart and with this housing development we're getting all of these improvements that are gonna

2:20:46be beneficial for all of the residents of El Cerrito. Not just the people who live there. So all those access improvements are just gonna be huge and transform the neighborhood in a great way. So I'm very excited. And then, just to

2:20:59my fellow council members comments. I understand what you're saying. I would encourage you to check out some of Bart's other Tod projects that are like this, where one building is affordable. One is market rate, and I would challenge you to identify by site which one is which it is hard.

2:21:19Those affordable units are fantastic. You would want to live in them. I want to live in them. I don't. I don't qualify, but they're really wonderful.

2:21:28And they're not done in a cheap way. And what's great about these projects is it means people

2:21:34who are living in the market rate units and affordable units really are living side by side. They're not in the same building. They're using a lot of shared amenities between the buildings and their neighbors. So it's great, whereas some other ways that we've created housing in in our State. You have low income people very far away from high income people, and this puts folks of all incomes right next to each other and having access

2:21:59to you know our best transit amenity in the city. So I think there are real benefits, and I think the developers could talk a lot about the financing, and why it's more and more. This is how it's happening. If you want to get more than like a dozen or 20 affordable units in a project. You kind of have to separate it to get the financing. Otherwise, you're basically just getting a few units that are handed off for density bonus, and you're not getting any significant affordable. So yeah. Excited about this project.

2:22:29All right, Mayor. Pro tem. All right. I completely agree with my colleague here and

2:22:35you know, my, this is something that I worked on from the beginning, and I did speak to the guy that gave me the idea, and we worked on it together. Back in. Was it 2015, or 2016 when we lost a bond measure? This architect worked on the older Tod developments on Bart, and he was the head architect for modernizing San Francisco City Hall.

2:23:00and the 1st developer that we had on on the portal of site.

2:23:06gave me a tour of his developments in South Berkeley, North Oakland, but also in the city of Alameda. So in the city of Alameda. You have multimillion dollar market rate homes right next door to low income units, and you cannot tell the difference with the developments. And there's the low income, and and they have beautiful gardens and

2:23:35and and it's integrated right next to each other. So and I like what the developers have done to integrate this within

2:23:45the the Barts, right next door to Bart. So I do agree with you, councilmember, that this is something that El Serita has been waiting for for a long time, knowing that, you know, when I was growing up, it was the Flatlands that were affordable housing and and starter homes. And now these starter homes, as you know.

2:24:10over a million dollars each. So

2:24:13to see that we're gonna continue to be a melting pot and continue to be

2:24:18a diverse community, even more diverse than we were when I was growing up. So. You know. So I would love to. I'll I'll give you the number of the developer at the portal of site, and he can give you a tour of of the different developments right next to Bart, because it truly does

2:24:38look you can't tell the difference just like our what's being built by our neighborhood there, and you you cannot tell. And so it's exciting, and and and we'll be able to have the young generation to move back here when they're done with college. And and

2:25:01yeah, your son will be able to move, and has has his own place, and

2:25:07and and my nephew and niece they want to move up to the Bay Area. So I'm I'm excited about this. One of the questions I have is you know, regarding the the new things that like prop 79, for example. Will that help in any way with

2:25:28the Aza development that we're working on.

2:25:32Please forgive me. I don't know what it's Scott Weiner's bill. Sb, 79.

2:25:39Yeah, I don't. We don't have any information on that yet, sir. Alright. Well.

2:25:43and did you have another? I thought saw you move towards the Mic Council member, but I I could also take you on a tour when you would immediately know the difference.

2:25:53So now hundreds of properties, and looked at kind of thing from the perspective of the of the lender, and there are lots and lots of history where projects evolved differently over time. It doesn't reflect on Bart. I'm not anticipating that with Bart, but it's a valid concern. Yeah. Now, if you look at the older developments, you'll see that that was the early phases that they were trying to experiment on. But I hear you, and but there's some

2:26:18great ones through the years that I fully support. So you know, I'm hoping that we'll get more information on Sb. 79, because that is supposed to supposedly help in future bar projects and just wanted to find out if it would help this plaza project. But who knows?

2:26:36Yeah. And and that only thing that I would say is, if, as mayor pro tem. Alluded to. Of course, I live in in one of our buildings. And now the affordable is going next door. And we think about

2:26:45these these beautiful buildings that are going up, and what may or may not be the difference, I I think, and Melanie knows how she's heard me say how I feel about this. You know we have to just make it. It's not the building partners that we need to be thinking about. It's the folks who are actually maintaining them. I have officially become the get off my line person in my building. And now we have to go up to people and tell them that.

2:27:07And, you know, keep it up. So those are things that we're having to work on is is making sure. And also, you know, setting a standard in El Cerrito, you know, these buildings are different than what we've had in in West County. I've seen a lot of buildings like these in in Alameda County and in Oakland, and things such as that, and so just making sure that we're getting folks in to manage the properties who are going to keep them up. But I think, from what I'm seeing for the beautiful building that's going up next door, I mean, I don't know. Maybe I'll skip out and move next door. I haven't really decided yet.

2:27:37Having said that. Now is the time for the 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 in your city of residents at the beginning of your comments. City clerk, please proceed. Thank you, Mayor. We do not have any requests to speak on this item. Okay? And so we said that we're going to go ahead and take the road and then roll into item C.

2:28:05Yes, correct.

2:28:07Second, all right. So, moved by councilmember, Salsman, second by Mayor pro tem kinto, all in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed, any abstentions? All right. So the item does pass, and we'll go on noting the item passes with Council member opposite. Yes.

2:28:24all right, let's roll on, Asa. Thank you. So we will move on to Item 19, the affordable housing, sustainable communities. Application request. So basically, I know we use so many acronyms. So I will try to

2:28:38pronounce everything fully. The affordable Housing sustainable Communities program is administered by the Strategic Growth Council. It is funded by auction proceeds from California's cap and trade emissions reduction program. It is implemented by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Asic website is here for reference

2:29:00asic round 9 funding. The notice of availability. Was published on March 25.th It's a pretty quick application, turnaround time and applications are due on the 28, th and rewards will be announced

2:29:15at the end of this year in December, and there is currently 775 million in available funding. The minimum award is 10 million. The maximum is 50. We're asking in the resolution tonight for an up to 50 million. We just put that in there for cushion.

2:29:37The affordable housing, sustainable Communities program is geared for affordable housing development and sustainable transportation infrastructure are the required components for this application. The related companies of California is the lead applicant. The city is a co-applicant transportation partner as part, and Santa Clara Valley transportation authority.

2:30:03are you?

2:30:07So as I mentioned it's round 9. It's gotten over the years. It's definitely evolved. It's very competitive especially statewide with all of the zoning requirements. Obviously the city was far ahead of that when we initially went out, and we'll talk later about our asic awards

2:30:27but again, just because the project is at a Bart station does not mean that

2:30:34improvements are still not required. Remember, we need to improve. The infrastructure around it. For walking, biking pedestrians. So just wanted to kind of highlight that even though it is a transit oriented development, still things that can be approved to make it an efficient transit oriented development.

2:30:54The asic guidelines prescribe the following funding components. So there's the bulk of the Asic is the loan to the affordable housing development. So that's another acronym here, and that's currently about 25 million ish which will go to the developer. In addition, there's also going to be a request for housing, related infrastructure.

2:31:17Of about 4 million dollars. And that's fun. On site for example, like modular construction technology for the project.

2:31:26Then there's the state sustainable transportation and infrastructure components. And that's specifically, as I said, just related to street work, transportation bikes, crosswalks. So the city is requesting about 3 million in this funding application. And then there's about close to a 9 million dollar request for rail cars. Through our vta.

2:31:50Collaboration. If you all know

2:31:54and it's part d funded part of the Bart extension. So they are partners. It's parts right away the tracks. But cars, nevertheless. Great on the line. And then there's actually some program components, of the Asic grant, and that will partially include like transit passes for the residents at the development. So they.

2:32:16for example, like at Hannah gardens. They got transit passes as a part of the Asic. It'll also fund and provide some local funding for anti-displacement activities through like a nonprofit, for example, such as like echo housing, or legal services, and it'll also include some workforce component as well as building the project, also building the improvements and then building everything else around that, and that also benefits the residents of the project as well

2:32:45in terms of basic awards. And El Cerrito, the basic program itself has funded about 2.5 billion, supporting 15,000 new homes, reducing 4.4 million tons of Ghg, and they've invested in disadvantaged communities. So

2:33:02back in round, one in 28, and 2015. The city 20. I'm sorry. Let's just say 2014, round, 1, 2014. Rural gardens are 62 senior apartments. There's a total award of 5.7 million

2:33:17project, which is under construction. That was awarded 27 million, and then, more recently coastal a South, which is the 1st phase of this.

2:33:28Tod received a 35, 39 million dollar award. So we've been lucky to be successful. It's not an easy task. It's very time consuming. It's very technical. In fact, the developer actually has a consultant on board. That assembles all the asic applications, and does all the calculations, and really determines our competitiveness. To be able to deliver these actual improvements with the project, so

2:33:58an extensive process. But nevertheless, tonight we are requesting your authorization to apply for that. And I'm gonna put that out there. To allow the city manager to execute all required components of the asic grant, and loan. So that concludes the presentation, and look forward to hearing more.

2:34:20All right, any questions from the Council. I'll start down here councilmember, Salsman.

2:34:25I'm even more confused than I was when I read the item, because there was language in there about the the city portion, and it said, the funds can, I think it said, can be used for such and such things. So what will the funds be used for. Yes, in terms of the 2.9 million for the city. I'll let Jarrett come on and and just talk a little more about that because he's been digging into that. Do you have Jarrett there?

2:34:54And he'll talk a little more about the scope right.

2:34:59Jarrett Mullen (Transp. Program Manager): Yeah. So happy to chat a little bit more about the scope. Could you advance the slide?

2:35:06so the scope is summarized on the right there. But I also want to highlight on the on the left that as I used to touched on. There's a lot of variables that go into the selection which I won't go into too much detail here. But we focus on really these 3 type priorities when picking transportation projects to pair with asic. Our asic application 1st and foremost, is consistency with city plans.

2:35:36And then immediately behind that is maximum competitiveness. There's aic is very competitive. It's a point based system. That's how you make your project stand out is you have to score points. And there's 14 transportation points. Out of 5 categories. So we have to meet a certain scope requirements to score as many points as possible.

2:36:02and then feasibility. So we have to implement these round 9 projects by December 2030. So we have to balance. You know, the the consistency with city plans and our objectives to deliver these projects with just the capacity to do it.

2:36:20So those are really 3 key things that go into selecting these projects. As for the scope itself, we have. it's pedestrian urban greening and and bicycle improvements mainly. You can really boil it down to those 3 categories, and of course, planning outreach and design, or what we call soft costs sometimes

2:36:42so as far as round. 9 goes here. Here are the 4 projects that are we're including in the application. We have the Pierce Street bikeway San Mateo Street sidewalk, San Pablo Avenue sidewalk, which we are partnering on Caltrans with Caltrans to deliver.

2:37:02and then Richmond Street. This would support the overall Richmond street project scope again with Richmond Street. Obviously that project is fully funded. But we want we've gotten a lot of requests from the community for additional items that are adding to the scope. So we want to try to deliver as many of those additional items as possible. So we we want to include that in this application.

2:37:31I'll touch on the 1st 2 really quick, and then I'm happy to answer any questions. The Pierce Street bikeway is actually in the city of Richmond. It's between Central Avenue and Cerrito Creek, and but it actually helps implement our one of our top priority. Active transportation plan items, which is a piece of the so-called Bart. To Bay Trail project

2:37:55and then San Mateo Street is it's a sidewalk extension also in the city of Richmond. But it's part of the I 80 Central Avenue phase, 2 interchange Improvement project, and by including that in our application we actually score points that are very difficult to score otherwise, so it helps our application. Stand out.

2:38:19Great. This is very helpful. Is there some text written about this somewhere that we could see, like even paragraphs from the application or anything. So we can have the information. We're yeah. We're still finalizing it. So we'd be happy to like, do the final write up of the scope once. It's it's mostly ironed out. But it's not, I see. Okay, well, thank you so much. That was very helpful.

2:38:44All right, councilmember Cassana, do you have any questions, or may pretend

2:38:48no questions. All 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 competing as completing a speaker card. Public comments will be taken in person. Only please remember to identify yourself in your city of residence at the beginning of your comments. City clerk. Please proceed. Thank you, Mayor. We do not have any requests in this item, all right, any final comments before we go to a vote?

2:39:12Or does anyone have a motion?

2:39:15Second? All right. So, moved by councilmember, Salsman, seconded by mayor pro tem quinto, all in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed, any abstention, so the item does pass with council, member Multiyama recruits, or absent.

2:39:30Thank you so much. Thank you all for your continued support and collaboration.

2:39:35Thank you. Thank you.

2:39:37And as as council member is coming back, I feel like she said she wanted to say something when she came back, but maybe she's gotten too far out of pocket

2:39:48in the back. There, there she is.

2:39:53We left time for you, councilmember. I know you said you wanted to say something before we went to the next item.

2:39:59Oh, do you not want to say that anymore. Okay, I have nothing. I'm not able to say, oh, you're not able to say, Okay, well, then, that did not happen. No one heard that. All right. The next item is city council, local and regional liaison assignments. Does anyone have any reports tonight?

2:40:16So I will start down at this end with Council Member Sauceman. I attended along with a couple of other Council members, the League of California Cities City Summit, up in Sacramento, and we got a chance to.

2:40:31It's funny. Meet with our one representative. We didn't have a meeting with another. We met with a Staffer, but it was. It was great being up there and getting to chat with other folks from cities. And then many community events I won't mention here.

2:40:45All right, Council Member. On April 16th I attended the East Bay Wildfire Coalition of Governments meeting, and received a presentation from Pg. And E. And we had a discussion about grants that would might be available for wildfire safety, including fuel, breaks home, hardening and vegetation management. On April 17th I attended the Abag Executive Committee, and we had a discussion about pension budgeting and pension liability

2:41:13and since it does affect us, the Bay Wren program which provides funding for

2:41:20rebates and incentives for green home updates, that program is fully funded and will not be affected by any budget considerations. On April 23rd I attended Cal City's lobby day, as my colleague said, and we met with a staff person from Buffy Wicks's office, and had the fortunate

2:41:42meeting with the Senator Aragune in the hallway.

2:41:46On May 1st I attended the Contra Costa County Mayor's conference, where we received a presentation on Epmon.

2:41:54Alright, thank you. We'll start with council members. I am continuing to have my office hours, which are normally 1st and 3rd Saturday

2:42:04of the month. If you send me an email, I will reply, and on my reply, as a link you can click on and set up an appointment.

2:42:11Well, I can't even change the times. For example, on the 17, th which would be the 3rd 7 3rd Saturday of the month I will be keeping. So I move that up to the 10, th

2:42:20and that's it.

2:42:22Unless tomorrow afternoon I met, I met with, I think, different people.

2:42:28All right.

2:42:30Thank you, Mayor. Somebody did attend the the cal cities meetings from the 23, rd and then we had a board of directors meeting

2:42:39Friday and Saturday. We did have a press conference. I don't know if you guys are, join me on that. But we did speak about prop, 36, and we demanded that the Governor Fund, prop 36, since 70% of

2:42:56of voters in California voted to support. Prop. 36. The Governor is not funding it.

2:43:03So we did have that press conference to let

2:43:08the press know and let Californians know that we're calling the governor and one party rule to do their job and to do what residents voted for, which is, yes, on prop. 36, and that is to fund it, and then also for 3 billion dollars to continue to support homelessness and to provide shelter and everything else dealing with

2:43:34the homeless population. He refused to fund that as well. So you know, we'll be working and meeting with them

2:43:44again in most likely in the month of this month is May. So look forward to that, and look forward to many of my colleagues up and down the State of California to testify

2:43:56before the committees in the capital. And yep. It was good meetings and good to see my fellow colleagues up and down the State.

2:44:07I wanted to have a meeting, a public safety meeting, and

2:44:12and that was yesterday, and they're working on the work plan. So look forward to having them. Give a presentation to the Council at a future date, and I'll be attending the

2:44:27Bay Area air district meeting tomorrow morning. We'll be having a closed meeting 1st thing at 9 o'clock in the morning. A regular board meeting, and then we have another closed meeting after that so be in San Francisco all day tomorrow.

2:44:41Thank you. All right. And on April 17th I did attend the East Bay Division of the League of California cities. We had a a very special presentation from Senate pro tem. Mike Mcguire

2:44:53and our Senator from East County, and they were talking specifically about what the Senate is doing about Wildfire Prevention, so Council Member, the East Bay Wildfire Division, a Coalition group of very well represented. They were able to speak with the mayor pro team about what they are specifically doing for specifically, our homeowners who are in hill areas that have lost their their insurance

2:45:17in those areas and what they're doing to work with our insurance Commissioner. So it was good to see them and be with our other East Bay division partners, and also on May the 1st I attended the

2:45:29Contra Costa Mayor's conference along with Council Member Multiama, and city manager, and, as always, that was a great time, and we had a presentation from the East Bay mud. Which reminds me, I'm sorry. I also attended what's become my monthly West County Mayors and Supervisors Association, where we also received the presentation of East Bay mud. So shout out to East Bay mud! Who's really getting the word out about the rate?

2:45:53The rate changes that are going to be happening there. They're making sure to hit all of the the mayor's conferences. The councils, I believe we already had their presentation here. So it's good to see that.

2:46:03It seems like it's pretty light, but we're going into May and June, and there's going to be so many things coming up. I know that I'm going to be joining Council Member Multiama at Abag for their annual meeting in June, and we're looking forward to a lot of fun things here in the city of El Cerrito, and I think that that Alex is looking at me because I'm supposed to promote our new and expanded pride. Month

2:46:24Flag raising that we're going to be having on June second, I'm looking forward to inviting a lot of our Lgbtq partners from San Francisco to come over to El Cerrito, and maybe you'll stay, and then, you know, don't go back over to San Francisco. Just stay here.

2:46:39Having said that we are adjourned at 8 53 pm. The next regularly scheduled City Council meeting is Tuesday, May 20, th 2025, at 6 Pm. And I've heard. It may be a special one, so everyone should attend review virtually. Have a good night.