Regular City Council Meeting January 20, 2026

0:00:00named Lar Russell. Most of you probably do not know him, but he's very very popular among the kids. He came to Elserto to film a video with them last week. Last time I checked, the video had h one video had half a million views.

0:00:12Another video video had 300,000 views.

0:00:15The one he put up today had 150,000 views and the one on Tik Tok I think also had 300,000 views. So, it's if on top of being fun for the kids, it's just another fun way for people across the region to see Elserto, to know our culture here, and to just appreciate us.

0:00:32And I just like making other cities jealous of us because they're certainly in the comments hating. So, thank you.

0:00:37Thank you very much. We'll go to uh Council Member Mo. Go ahead.

0:00:44Uh, I just want to remind people, speaking of crab feeds, that our crab feed is on March 21st at the community center and it benefits the David Hunter scholarship fund. Tickets are on sale as of December. So, if you are interested, please get your tickets. They frequently

0:01:03sell out and you can get more information on the uh recreation parks and recck website under events. Thank you.

0:01:13Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Um, for my announcements, on January 9th, I signed a letter to the California Department of Health Care Services regarding uh equal access to nonopioid pain treatments for medical patients.

0:01:30Um, on January 20th, I signed letters for uh to Senator Schiff, Senator Padilla, and Representative Gmen regarding concerns on the city's pending earmark for the Hillside Natural Area Fuel Modification Project. So, um I'd like to thank uh lobbyist Jason uh Broad

0:01:52uh who's a lobbyist for Conquer and many other cities who uh reached out to me uh about the possible uh um pending earmarks that uh our our congressman uh has for us. So, we will keep you posted on that if it's clawed back by the federal level. Also uh this past

0:02:14Saturday um Aisa Suri and the Elserita Chamber of Commerce along with myself uh we had a ribbon cutting for the new uh sports there plus recovery. They held their grand opening celebration. Uh and that was on Saturday the 17th. They're located on Upper Stockton Avenue 70002

0:02:38Stockton, right across the street from Wellanded Coffee near other small businesses. The owner is Joe Scarcella who is also an Elserto resident specializing in injury assessment, rehabilitation, sports performance enhancement, and recovery solutions for every age from youth to adults. and I

0:03:00want to congratulate them for their grand opening. Um that is the same uh store space that once belonged to where I used to order and and get my pictures framed. So uh um and I believe uh that owner is uh retired now. So I welcome uh the new owners there. Back in the day

0:03:22growing up in El Certo, that was the area where the pediatrician was there, your dentist for the town, uh the hot doctor was there, everyone was in that area, the Stockton. So, uh good to see uh new uh entrepreneurs and small businesses opening up in El Certo. Uh

0:03:42next, we will have uh oral communications from the public.

0:03:46Remarks are typically limited to three minutes per person. I may reduce the time limit per speaker depending on the number of speakers and may limit the total time for public comment to facilitate the completion of business on the agenda. Comments regarding non-aggenda presentation and consent

0:04:06items will be heard first. Comments related to items appearing on the public hearing or policy matter portions of the agenda will be heard prior to the city council taking action on each item.

0:04:24So uh again now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments regarding matters on the agenda, consent items and presentation items.

0:04:35Request to speak can be submitted to the public uh 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.

0:04:52Thank you, mayor. And just a reminder for the public tonight, if you are here tonight to speak on the library item, that is on the agenda tonight for item 8B. Uh so this is the time for items not on the agenda, items on the consent calendar and presentation items. So I

0:05:08have uh seven speakers for this item. I will call our first speaker up which is Michael McDoug McDougall followed by Charles Taylor.

0:05:16Okay, three minutes please.

0:05:19Thank you mayor.

0:05:21Hello. Nice to see you all again. Um my name is Michael McDougall. I'm a resident of Elserto. Uh I'm going to speak on the uh central square permitting contract that is uh on the consent calendar. I am actually supportive of approving the central square permitting contract tonight

0:05:38without an RFP. I also want to say I don't love this contract. I I mean it's it's okay. So I want to talk about it a little bit as a in my interest in city finance and also around sort of sustainable practices which means things might get a little bit technical for all

0:05:54you folks out there. It's a five-year contract. It's roughly uh $350,000.

0:05:59It's a software service contract for the city's permitting software.

0:06:04Um and I agree with the staff's core premise that now is not a great time to change our primary vendor. Like that's a very disruptive, expensive, risky thing to do. But even though staying put I think is the right call, we should recognize that there's a trade-off in

0:06:21convenience of like taking the short-term like this is a good idea versus long-term flexibility. The contract's pretty standard and nothing here raises the level of red flag, but there are two items in the contract that I want to just draw our attention to.

0:06:34The first one is there's a price escalator in this over five years of 5% a year, which means it's predictable for budget purposes, but 5% a year is a lot and it's more than inflation is projected to be over the next five years. And I think that if we get a chance to negotiate contracts, we should

0:06:50push back on items like this. Um, that's in the uh price that's in exhibit A, the payment terms. The other one, there's a data return and migration risk section 15.5, the return of customer data. It specifies that when we get our data back, we have 10 days to ask for our

0:07:07data and it won't come back necessarily in a standard format. It's going to come back in Central Square's proprietary format, which means we're even more locked into Central Square um in the future. So, we're a very small city. We don't have a lot of capacity or leverage

0:07:22to negotiate agreements like this. And an RFP here would be a poor use of the city staff's time. But it there is a circular dynamic here that I want to go into with our eyes open. We don't do an RFP because switching is painful and the incumbent even though there are other

0:07:39software providers is really the only effective source. But at that same time that lockin is exactly the reason that the contract details matter more. So I don't think we should delay now. But when we do our software procurement policies, when when we update our

0:07:54procurement policies as a city, which we need to do, I think we need to look carefully at how we procure software and make sure in particular that we get our data back in an easy to manage form. I also want to say in closing, if I have time, that I think we as a city punch

0:08:09way above our weight. Um, and I really think that the staff is doing a great job around the stuff that the city does.

0:08:17So, thank you very much.

0:08:18Thank you. Our next speaker is Charles Taylor, followed by Emiline Shriner.

0:08:29Good evening, Mayor Kinto and council.

0:08:32I'm Charles Taylor. I live in El Certo and I've lived here since 1984.

0:08:38I'm going to make some observations about the upcoming report in the later agenda item uh from the national research center. Uh the survey that they did on opinions of Elseritans on a new library.

0:08:52The survey of residents included 412 residents and it was statistically valid.

0:09:02Of these respondents, seven out of 10 people ranked the new library as the highest need for a new facility in Elserto.

0:09:15In every day, every demographic survey and category, over 60% of the respondents favored a new library. Here are some of the highlights of these respondents uh of how these respondents want a new library.

0:09:3472% of the women and 70% of the men want a new library.

0:09:4282% of the younger people ages 18 to 34 want a new library.

0:09:5178% of children of families with children want a new library.

0:09:5971% of homes with older Americans want a new library.

0:10:0676% of renters want a new library. I think there's a theme here. And finally, 72% to 75% of people who have lived in El Certo for less than 10 years want a new library. These are overwhelming statistics and they underly the breadth and depth of the survey that the summary

0:10:33statement that seven of 10 want the new library.

0:10:38It is time we move forward with the results of the petition process and the survey toward a new library for Elserto.

0:10:48Thank you. Thank you.

0:10:50Thank you. And apologies, we lost the internet connection again. The meeting is still running but I am not on it. So I do have the clock running on my computer even though we I cannot currently share it. But uh let me go to our next speaker is Emmaine Shriner followed by Chuck Monroe.

0:11:13It is. So, um, I lost connection, but this computer kept connection, so it reverted to host. So, it is still running through that computer. I just I'm trying to get back in.

0:11:25Sorry, you can go ahead and begin.

0:11:26Good evening.

0:11:28Hello, my name is Emily. I'm 10 and in fifth grade at Harding Elementary.

0:11:35Thank you so much for having me here. I believe that Elsto needs a new library.

0:11:41As a kid, I will use this library as a place to learn. I believe that the library will supply me with books as I grow. And I hope that it will have a good children's section.

0:11:52It will be a library I can take BART to and know that it will have a wide variety of books that will let me explore what I read.

0:12:02As a teenager, I'll use the library as a helpful environment where I can get my friends together to study and hang out.

0:12:10I want a space where I don't have to spend money to hang out with my friends.

0:12:13A space that isn't necessarily a shop.

0:12:16Having good space in our library will let me have a place to gather with friends to do homework, class projects, and have book clubs.

0:12:24As an adult, I will use it as a place to work, do research, and read a book. My mom is a poet and she brings people together even crammed in the current library. As an adult, I think I will want to throw events and bring people together too. I think and I think a

0:12:40library is a good place to do that.

0:12:43I hope this library will have a positive impact and I urge you to support it.

0:12:49Thank you very much.

0:12:53Our next speaker is Chuck, followed by Michael Fischer.

0:13:02Good evening, Mayor Kinto, council members, and others. Uh, my name is Chuck Monroe. I've lived in Elsarto since 2022.

0:13:10Uh, I'm addressing the survey that you will hear uh later tonight, and I want you to know my strong support for the new library in our city. Before moving to Elserto recently, I spent time in two different communities um which were a little smaller than El Certo, but both

0:13:26maintain nice libraries that serve their residents well. These libraries contain well equipped rooms that residents could reserve for community events, meetings, and lectures. They housed musical events, children's programs, and met a variety of local needs. Since both of

0:13:42these communities were in cold climates uh with strong storms and snow, they served as warming shelters even during electrical outages in the winter. Uh thus they were really community facilities. I also have two young grandchildren who regularly visit their library. A new library facility in

0:14:01Elserino is critical to the development of the needs of our children who will become our future citizens and our leaders. They deserve a facility that can support all their education needs as opposed to what we currently have that is small, outdated, and with deficient

0:14:19space. Our excellent library staff would be better served through a state-of-the-art facility that virtually all communities similar to ours now maintain. Uh as we will hear in the upcoming presentation, the survey of Elserto um shows that most uh Elserans favor the new library more than any

0:14:39other facility. It is important that the council move ahead tonight with agenda items establishing the vote date identifying the location of the library.

0:14:49Thank you for listening and I'm anxious to hear your support for the new library facility. Thank you.

0:14:54Thank you.

0:14:56Our next speaker is Michael Fischer, followed by Alan and Kaplan.

0:15:03Good evening, Mayor um Mayor Prom, members of the council. My name is Michael Fiser and I've lived in Elserto since 1998.

0:15:15Um I find it not at all unusual or really um surprising that 70% of the people pled want a new library. Let's look at our old library.

0:15:33It's an old facility with big problems.

0:15:38It was built in 1949 before current guidelines for hazardous materials.

0:15:45It doesn't meet current seismic standards.

0:15:49It doesn't meet ADA requirements.

0:15:52It's noisy and not insulated from the overhead bark tracks.

0:15:58It's too small to include anything more than the current book collections.

0:16:04There's not enough room for expanded computer stations, classrooms, meeting rooms, a dedicated children's space, sufficient space for students and teens, and appropriate spaces to serve our senior population as well.

0:16:25I find it, as I said, not at all surprising that with this is the current library, 70% of our residents support the new library. Thank you.

0:16:38Our next speaker is Alan Kaplan, followed by Tom Parks.

0:16:48Thank you. Thank you, uh, mayor, council members. Uh, I'm Alan Kaplan. a resident of El since 1985.

0:16:57And for a little history, there was an earlier ballot measure that uh I think it was called measure B. Um it missed still had 60% of the vote, but it missed because it required a a super majority and it it had more than 60%, but that was not enough for it to to pass.

0:17:18There's a the recent survey that you'll hear more about by the National Resource Center found that 70% of the people as we've heard several times now surveyed had a new library for El Certo as their top priority. So interest over the me past 20 years has continued to be

0:17:35strong. When I circulated the petition for the measure that you're considering, some people would not let me go past making a remark about a new library before they said they'd already decided against it. Some people grabbed the petition to sign and send me on their

0:17:52way on my way to the neighbor next door.

0:17:57Uh, a large number wanted more information and that's what you can do for that large number of Elseritans by approving to put the library measure on the June 26 2026 ballot. The pamphlets, the flyers, the brochures that will accompany the election activity will provide the information our

0:18:20Elseritans are looking for on the library measure.

0:18:25I am as old as the 75year-old library and neither of us are in the best shape.

0:18:34We don't want a hand out but a hand up for the library to have the modern library that Elserto needs and deserves.

0:18:43Thank you very much for your kind attention. Thank you.

0:18:48Thank you mayor. That concludes our request to speak at this time.

0:18:51Thank you very much. Uh next we have some presentations. Uh first one is a citizen street oversight committee annual report for fiscal year 2023 24 and this is to receive and file um do we have a presentation?

0:19:09We have the chair of the citizen streets oversight committee Kathy Fleming with us virtually. Kathy you uh you can go ahead and begin. We Great. Thank you. Can you hear me?

0:19:19Yes we can.

0:19:20Okay. Uh good evening city council. My name is Kathy Fleming and I'm the chair of the Citizens Street Oversight Committee and I'm here to present to you the annual report for the fiscal year 2023 24 with the action proposed being receive and file the citizen streets

0:19:38oversight committee annual report for fiscal year 2023 24 to the city council and citizens of El Certo. On December 15, 2025, the Citizen Streets Oversight Committee met to review expenditures of revenue collected pursuant to chapter 4.60 of the Elserto Municipal Code to

0:19:59determine whether such funds were expended for the purposes specified in the fiscal year 2023 24 expenditure plan as approved by the city council of the city of Elserto. The expenditures reviewed were reported for fiscal year 2023 24 and were summarized in the city's annual financial comprehensive

0:20:20report. Further, the committee reviewed the agreed upon procedures report issued by the city's independent auditors, Shavean and Associates LLP, which indicated that no exceptions were noted related to the city's compliance with the terms, covenants, and conditions of

0:20:39the master installment sale agreement related to the bond issuance. The committee also previously reviewed a detailed list of preliminary unudited revenues and expenditures.

0:20:51uh and vendors to whom the expenditures were made at their meeting of December 9th, 2024. By unanimous vote, as indicated below, the committee found that the expenditures were an appropriate use of the pothole and local street improvement and maintenance transactions and use tax as approved by

0:21:11the city of Elserto city council.

0:21:13Committee is hereby reporting their findings to the city council and the citizens of Elserto pursuant to section 2.04 320 of the Elserto Municipal Code last section. Additionally, the committee acknowledges and fully supports that the city council in their resolutions

0:21:31authorizing expenditures of these funds as budget amendments are confirming that the expenditures are an appropriate use of the pothole repair and local street improvement and maintenance transaction and use tax. End of report.

0:21:47Okay. Thank you very much. Do we have any questions from the council?

0:21:52Uh yes, Mayor Prom Saltzman.

0:21:56Thank you, Chair Fleming. Um I had um asked uh the city manager for some more information because there wasn't that much in our agenda packet. So there are supplemental um items that were just added this afternoon. So for anybody in the public who wants to see what the committee

0:22:16reviewed, that is now in there. And I would draw attention since it's quite a long packet and I had to skim through it because I didn't have much time before this meeting, but page 68 of 70 kind of has I think the best breakdown of actually where the money was spent. And

0:22:31so what I would ask both of the committee and of staff is moving forward when these reports come to us if this chart can be included in the council agenda packet because I have gotten questions from multiple constituents about how is this money being spent and I've had nowhere to direct them. So, if

0:22:50we could just put this in the agenda packet and then if we could put this one chart up on the website on the page that's around the measure just so if anybody who isn't following council meetings has an easy way to find out how uh the money from this measure is being

0:23:06spent that would be appreciated. Um and again, thank you to the chair and to the whole committee for the work that you've done.

0:23:12Okay, any questions?

0:23:17Okay. Uh do we do I need to ask if uh anyone in the office?

0:23:22No. Public comment was taken under the prior item for this.

0:23:25Okay. Thank you very much.

0:23:26File. All right. I want to thank my my call longtime colleague Kathy Fleming.

0:23:30Thank you for your leadership there and and continuing uh being uh chair of this committee. Very much appreciate it.

0:23:38Thank you.

0:23:40Okay. Next uh is the Elserto National Community Survey presentation. we will receive and file this presentation. Uh we have uh Grace Amison, senior project manager uh at PCO and Will Provost. I will Good evening. Good evening, mayor and city council. My name is Will Provost,

0:24:00your assistant to the city manager, and I'm pleased to introduce this item where you'll hear the results of the 2025 National Community Survey. The city has actually been participating in the survey for over 20 years on about a three-year interval. And participating

0:24:14in the national community survey is a really valuable way for the city uh to compare the opinions of Elsto residents to other cities across the nation as well as to look at our trends over time.

0:24:25And I think most importantly because scient scientific methods are employed using the survey we have a high degree of confidence in the results. So before diving in and passing it off to Grace I do want to just thank the more than 400 residents that did participate in the

0:24:39survey and make these estimates scientifically valid. The results will be incredibly useful as you know as we work to develop our budget over the next few months for the two next two years.

0:24:50And last I did want to mention for anyone that's interested in digging into this data further we have a full report posted on our website including for the first time pose prepare prepared new interactive tables where residents can view crosstabulations. So if you click

0:25:03on a question and you want to understand, you know, what's the breakdown um as actually was mentioned tonight by age or sex or race, you can actually see how respondents, you can get that level of granularity of the data all available on our website at elserto.gov/

0:25:17community survey.

0:25:19And so I'll stop there and I'll pass it on to Grace Arnison who is our senior project manager working with us on the Polo side. Uh but we'll be available as staff to answer any questions you might have. Thank you.

0:25:30Thank you, Will. Good evening, city council and mayor, and thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. I just want to pause and make sure that everyone can see my screen and hear me.

0:25:40Okay.

0:25:41Yes, you are good, Grace.

0:25:43Thank you. Thank you so much. So, tonight I'll walk through the results of the 2025 National Community Survey for Elserto. The presentation will take about 20 minutes time followed by time for questions. And before I begin, I'd like to thank Will Provost. He was our

0:25:59primary contact throughout the survey process and provided thoughtful feedback every step of the way. So, thank you, Will. I would also like to thank my colleague, Lily Vasquez, who did the bulk of the work for this important project.

0:26:15Before we dive into your results, I'd like to share a brief background of PCO and the National Community Survey. So, PCO is an online community engagement platform that helps governments gather feedback from residents as well as employees. Today, hundreds of organizations across the country use PCO

0:26:32to support strategic planning, budgeting, and empowering resident voices. PCO merged with National Research Center or NRC back in 2019. And NRC is best known for our national benchmarking surveys, including the NCS, the National Employee Survey, and the community assessment for older adults

0:26:52among others. Um, PCO also partners closely with ICMA as well as the National League of Cities or NLC and many local government and academic leaders.

0:27:06So, I want to highlight that there are several ways that these results can be used, but most communities use their survey data, as will mentioned, to track trends in resident opinion over time and inform budgeting and strategic planning.

0:27:20The results also allow you to compare your community services and characteristic to others in our benchmark database, which I'll cover next. As we walk through the findings, my hope is that you spark they spark ideas about where you may want to dig deeper um and explore further.

0:27:38So, one key benefit of this survey is the ability to compare your residents rating with those of communities across the country. So, these comparisons help show how local services and community characteristics perform relative to other US communities. Our national

0:27:55benchmark database currently includes about 400 communities representing over 50 million voices.

0:28:03Now, a quick overview of the survey. The NCS is a standardized five-page survey instrument that measures resident opinion about the community and local government. It organizes questions into 10 key facets of community livability which are shown on your screen here. Um,

0:28:21and research shows that these are most important to quality of life overall.

0:28:26These facets provide a comprehensive view of resident perspectives and also generally align with city departments, making it easy for staff to find results that relate to their position.

0:28:40Now exploring an overview of how the survey was conducted. This was Elserto's eighth time conducting the NCS. So we have some really great trend data. We began by selecting households to participate in the survey. So a household list was purchased using updated USPS records and city provided

0:29:00GIS boundary files were then used to remove any addresses that were outside of city limits. From the final list, 30 households were randomly selected to receive the survey. Mailings began on September 15th and the survey remained open for six weeks. Selected households

0:29:19first received a postcard invitation which included a link to the survey online as well as the QR code. And they received about a week later a follow-up survey packet which contained a cover letter, paper survey, and postage paid return envelope. This mailing also had a

0:29:38link and QR code to encourage online participation.

0:29:42The survey was available in English, Spanish, and simplified Chinese, and instructions were included in all three of these languages. A total of 412 responses were received, which resulted in a 14% response rate and a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage

0:30:00points. Results were then weighted using the most recent uh census and American community survey data to ensure that results reflected Elserto's overall demographic makeup.

0:30:13In addition to the random sample survey, the city al also conducted a communitywide open participation survey which was available on October 13th and remained open for two weeks. This presentation however is based on the random sample survey but the open participation results are provided

0:30:32separately in the full report.

0:30:37So now let's dive into the results from this survey and I I promise we will get to the library. I know you're all excited to hear about that. Um, so this survey includes two questions that ask residents directly about the 10 facets of community livability that I mentioned

0:30:54earlier. And the first question asks residents to rate the quality of each of those areas. So the percentages shown here represent the share of residents who rated each item as excellent or good. And you'll see throughout this presentation, we typically include those

0:31:10percent positive or the share of residents who rated an item as excellent or good or whatever the positive um options on the scale are. The shading on the chart also shows how these results compare to the national benchmark. So looking at this, the highest rated items

0:31:27were parks and recreation, the natural environment, utilities, and safety.

0:31:33Mobility landed in the middle of the ratings, but it did perform above our national benchmark. And relatively lower rated items were education, arts, and culture, the local economy, and inclusivity and engagement.

0:31:50The second question asks about those same 10 facets of livability, but it's centered on how important residents think it is to focus on each of the facet in the coming two years for the city. So here you'll see that economy, safety and utilities emerged as top priorities while inclusivity and

0:32:07engagement, education, arts and culture and health and wellness were less prioritized by residents. So we ask about both the quality and the importance of each of these facets and we use those to create the quality importance gap chart which we'll see on the next slide.

0:32:26So we use this chart which is also included in the report to help determine areas of relatively higher importance and lower quality to residents. As shown here, economy had the largest gap, meaning it was rated relatively low in quality but high in importance.

0:32:43Inclusivity and engagement and community design also showed notable gaps. In contrast, however, health and wellness, the natural environment, and parks and recreation received quality ratings that actually exceeded their importance ratings, suggesting that residents are

0:32:59very satisfied in these areas.

0:33:04So of the 122 survey items for which residents provided evaluative ratings, 10 were higher than the national benchmark, 96 were similar to the benchmark and 16 received lower ratings.

0:33:18A note here, ratings are considered similar if they are within 10 points of the national average and higher or lower if they are more than 10 points different from the average.

0:33:32Additionally, when it ca when compared to Elserto's 2022 NCS results, 29 ratings uh statistically significantly increased since 2022. 84 held steady and nine received lower ratings.

0:33:50So now moving into the highlights of our findings, I want to um point out a few items that stood out to us as survey researchers. There is a lot of additional data in the full report that we won't cover today. Um, but it'll focus on a few key areas that we found

0:34:05to be most noteworthy within the results.

0:34:11First key finding, residents continue to enjoy a high quality of life.

0:34:16So about nine in 10 residents offered excellent or good ratings to Elserto as a place to live and the overall quality of life in the city. In addition, roughly nine in 10 residents plan to remain in the city for the next 5 years and would recommend living in Elserto to

0:34:33someone who asked. All of these ratings were similar to the national benchmark and remained survey remained stable from the 2022 results.

0:34:45Two governance centered results show meaningful improvement.

0:34:50So overall government centered results point to growing confidence in how the city engages with the community. About six and 10 residents gave positive ratings to the overall direction that Elserto is taking and rated the city positively for being honest. A similar

0:35:07share expressed confidence in Elserto's government overall and felt the city does a good job welcoming resident involvement.

0:35:15Just over half of residents gave positive ratings to the value of services received for the taxes paid.

0:35:22All items here are similar to the benchmark and as you'll see in the key, they have all increased significantly since 2022.

0:35:34Three, safety results remain strong and see notable improvements.

0:35:41So when asked about safety in Elserto, residents reported generally positive perceptions. About nine and 10 participants expressed feeling safe in their neighborhood and in the downtown and commercial area during the day.

0:35:54Roughly eight and 10 residents indicated that they felt safe from violent crime.

0:35:59And about seven and 10 felt safe from property crime and from fire, flood, or other natural disaster.

0:36:06Perceptions of safety in the downtown and commercial area, safety from natural disasters, and safety from property crime all increase significantly since 2022.

0:36:20When asked about safety services, roughly nine and 10 residents expressed satisfaction with fire services.

0:36:27About eight and 10 positively rated ambulance and EMS services and police and sheriff services with the latter showing an increase from 2022. And about 70 or excuse me, seven in 10 residents favorably viewed fire prevention and education and animal control services

0:36:46with animal control increasing from the previous survey.

0:36:53While economic health is trending upward, challenges remain.

0:36:59So when asked about the local economy, reviews were rather mixed. About six and 10 residents were satisfied with the overall quality of business and service establishments in Elserto. Just over half rated Elserto positively as a place to work and approved of the variety of

0:37:16business and service establishments.

0:37:19Satisfaction with the overall economic health rose. notably from 29% in 2022 to 50% in 2025.

0:37:28Fewer than half of residents viewed shopping opportunities favorably, although this also improved since 2022.

0:37:37Ratings were relatively lower for economic development, the vibrancy of the downtown or commercial area, employment opportunities, and cost of living. So the vibrancy of the downtown or commercial area and employment opportunities both scored lower than the national benchmark here. It is important

0:37:56to note that local government does not have direct control over all of these factors, particularly in a community without a traditional downtown, but together they these results help paint a broader picture of how residents perceive the local economy.

0:38:14Five community design ratings show potential areas for improvement.

0:38:21So, this section focuses on how residents perceive the development and community spaces overall. More than half of residents expressed satisfaction with Elserto's overall appearance and well planned residential growth. About four and 10 positively rated the overall

0:38:39quality of new development and public places where people like to spend time.

0:38:44About onethird favorably include the variety of housing options and well planned commercial growth. Only about 12% of residents showed satisfaction of the availability of affordable quality housing. This declines since 2022, but it is worth noting that it remained on

0:39:03par with the national benchmark.

0:39:09Six, mobility and transportation continue to perform well.

0:39:15So when asked about transportation and mobility. More than eight and 10 residents expressed satisfaction about the ease of travel by car and about three4ers rated the ease of public parking, bicycling, and walking positively with bicycling and walking performing above the national benchmark.

0:39:33Ratings for the ease of bicycling also improved since 2022.

0:39:39About twothirds of residents appreciated the ease of travel by public transportation, a rating that exceeded the national benchmark and increase since 2022.

0:39:49I had to ask will um what caused this? I don't often see this in smaller communities. So, this rating was likely influenced by access to the Bay Area rapid transit system and multiple bus lines that Elserto has access to.

0:40:04Lastly, less than half of residents indicated approval of traffic flow on major streets, which was among the lower rated items of mobility.

0:40:16So, when it came to mobility services, about 2/3 were satisfied with bus or transit services, which was above the national benchmark and increasing from 2022.

0:40:2864% approved of street cleaning and a slightly lower proportion about 54 approved of street lighting while half approved of traffic signal timing and traffic enforcement.

0:40:44Seven and our last key finding here.

0:40:46While Elserto's education, arts and culture results show improvements, challenges remain.

0:40:53So about seven in 10 residents were satisfied with public library services, though this was below the national average. Just over half positively rated support for the arts and opportunities to attend special events and festivals, both of which improved since 2022.

0:41:12Fewer than half viewed adult educational opportunities positively and K through 12 education and K through 12 declined since 2022 and scored below the national benchmark.

0:41:26About four and 10 residents gave positive ratings to opportunities to attend cultural, arts, and music activities. showing improvement from 2022 and about 37% were satisfied with the availability of affordable quality child care and preschool.

0:41:46So in addition to our standard survey questions, Elserto asked a unique subset of custom questions.

0:41:54The first asked residents how important it was for Elserto focus on specific items over the next two years. Top priorities included fire safety and wildfire prevention, maintaining a fiscally responsible city budget, parks and facility maintenance, and public safety and crime prevention. Recreation

0:42:16programs and expanded senior services were viewed as comparatively lower priorities.

0:42:23In a follow-up question about facility priorities, residents identified building a new library as the highest priority. This was followed by developing the community center and building a senior center. Revital revitalizing park club houses, constructing a new public safety

0:42:42building, and revitalizing public works maintenance or corporation yard were viewed as relatively lower priorities.

0:42:52Residents were also asked about their level of support for various street sweeping efforts. Support was strongest here for increased education about the street sweeping schedule and installing permanent signage, increasing sweeping frequency on residential streets and enforcing

0:43:10parking restrictions received lower but still majority support.

0:43:17So as a quick conclusion here um to cover the key findings we covered earlier. Residents continue to enjoy a high quality of life. Governance centered results show meaningful improvement. Safety remains strong and sees notable improvements while economic health is trending upward. Challenges

0:43:35remain. Community design ratings show potential areas for improvement.

0:43:40Mobility and transportation continue to perform well. And while Elserto's Education Arts and Cultures ratings show improvements, challenges remain.

0:43:52So if you'd like to dig deeper into these results, Poco's engage module is currently included in your subscription.

0:43:59It allows you to run quick pulse surveys and there are 676 residents currently subscribed to Elserto's PCO profile, meaning you have a strong opportunity to maintain an ongoing dialogue with your community. Um, in fact, I was really happy to see that Elserto is currently

0:44:18using Engage to survey residents about budget priorities, which you can find more information about here via the link and QR code.

0:44:29With that, thank you very much for your time. I'd like to open it up for questions at this point.

0:44:35Okay. Thank you, Grace. Um, we'll uh return here to the council. Any questions or comments? Let's start on this side. What about this side?

0:44:44Just a very quick question. Utilities refers to just PG& and similar functions or is there something a broader meaning to the term utilities?

0:44:55So utilities really focuses on utility services overall um even if they are not necessarily provided by the city. We find that residents can't often uh tell the difference between the two. So we find that it's useful to collect all of those ratings and share that with the

0:45:13community.

0:45:15Thank you Grace. Thank you so much for the presentation. uh looking at all the work that was done on the north side with practically almost every street repaved and a lot of updates and on the north side of town. We're going to get back to an A and I just want to make sure the

0:45:33residents know how difficult it is to set the timing with all of the utilities that uh the city works with and to coordinate that with the repaving of streets and the fixing of uh of uh the sidewalks and all that. So looking at uh hopefully the grand opening of uh of

0:45:53what we see at uh by the Elsto donor station uh it will be worth the wait and I can't wait for the opening of our affordable housing project right next door to the Mayfair. Um you have uh great things uh happening this year. So again, thank you Grace for your presentation.

0:46:14Thank you so much. I I can't wait to see the next results and see how the trends are affected. Appreciate it and have a wonderful night.

0:46:21Have a good evening. Thank you. Uh next we'll go to adoption of the consent calendar which includes the following items.

0:46:31We have uh a committee of aging appointment, b committee of aging recommendation, c parks and w commission recommendations, d monthly dispersement and check register report for November 2025. E monthly dispersement and check register report for December 2025.

0:46:51uh F letter of support for Elserto police participation in the active bystandardship of law enforcement program administered by Georgetown Law.

0:47:06H approve agreement with Central Square Technology for community development permitting and licensing software and I extension of subreional transportation mitigation program cooperative funding agreement with the west contraosta transportation commission for the

0:47:24delorte transit oriented development complete streets improvement project. Uh would anyone like to pull an item? Oh gee. Okay. Thank you. G is an amendment to consulting services agreement with California Public Policy Group for grant writing and legislative advocacy

0:47:45services. Thank you. Um yes, I'd like to pull items B and C.

0:47:52B and C.

0:48:01Anyone else? Yes.

0:48:09Thank you, mayor. I have questions on item E and item G or H. Sorry. And I I'm sorry. Can you repeat that again? I have questions on item E, item H, and item I All right, let's go to uh Council Member Saltzman. Uh do you have a question on uh B committee on aging re

0:48:50recommendation?

0:48:52Oh, you wanted to pull that. Okay.

0:48:56B and C.

0:49:07Do you want to start on being on?

0:49:11Sure. Mayor, if if uh perhaps you should take questions on the other items that are not requested to be pulled and then you after you can adopt those items and then come back to the items that were pulled.

0:49:23Okay, let's go to uh council member Motiva. You have some questions.

0:49:28Thank you. Um so first on item E I see that in the December check register we have made another payment uh for the parking management plan. I was wondering how much of the contract has been completed and what the status of that is.

0:49:56Evette I'm going to upgrade you. I see you online.

0:50:01Sorry, I missed the question, but it's about the parking management action plan.

0:50:04Yes, I'm happy to answer that one. Again, my name is Will Provost, assistant to the city manager. Um, essentially, we're working with our consultant, Dixon, um, to first, right now, we're trying to final finalize the existing conditions report. And what that really means is

0:50:18documenting our current processes for parking, how parking is managed. It's really three or four departments that handle parking regulations in the city across public works, community development, police, and even the city manager's office and finance um and it

0:50:32so basically documenting that so it's really clear to the community and also um the data collection. So making it really clear what's utilization like currently both around the transit oriented development and on San Pablo Avenue. Um and then only once that's ready then we'll be ready to go to the

0:50:48community and and have documented here's what our current processes are. here's what utilization is like and then look at here's scenarios that our consultant thinks might work for park a new parking management strategy to meet our current needs and then a big robust community

0:51:01engagement process to see what what feels right for all users. Um so that's what's coming. Uh we'll probably be ready to really hit the ground uh running with the community probably in late spring, early summer. Um but we're still doing that detailed work uh to to

0:51:16be ready for that.

0:51:18Thank you for the thorough answer. Sure thing.

0:51:21Okay. Yeah. Another question on H.

0:51:25Yes. So, um, this is a question for our IT person. Um, and also I wanted to circle back to a public comment about uh the length of contract.

0:51:44So, you know, I am not a computer person. So um I just want to understand from the staff report on this it says you know basically the the software is old like so track it is old and that migrated to central square and central square we've had for a while and now

0:52:04we're going to extend it another five years. I was wondering why why would we want kind of like this legacy software stuff kind of following us into the future?

0:52:17I don't understand it from a technical perspective. So I just kind of Okay. Uh good evening mayor uh council member.

0:52:23I'm Eric your IT manager. And to answer your question, council member Mama is that the software is not old. the current version that we're running on.

0:52:32Uh we started using this software more than 20 years ago and that's that version is old but we have been upgrading uh for a while and then we even migrated to cloud hosted version and so the contract itself is 20 years old. So that's the uh what we're trying to get uh adopted on here is the new

0:52:52contract, maintenance and support contract with this company running on the latest and greatest version of this software.

0:52:58Okay. And upgrades and updates are all included in that.

0:53:03Yes, ma'am.

0:53:03Okay. And then um there was a question in public comment or about the the length of the contract and the escalation and I was wondering that those are pretty typical that you've seen in our contracts or can you still go back and reduce that escalator?

0:53:24Uh okay the escalator about is 5 to 10% that is pretty much across the board for all major software company. Microsoft price steadily increase every year too.

0:53:34And uh same thing with uh the um what you call that the planch checking software blue beam and so pretty much every company uh they have a you know um five to 10%. Some years we get lucky they don't have uh some company doesn't raise their price but pretty much across

0:53:50the board 5 to 10 every year.

0:53:53And the the length of contract is the five years.

0:53:57The the fivey year is a typical I think it's uh our uh uh city attorney staff have added like a option to add more uh to it. And uh five years is good um how you say that length because that way we don't have to spend time between our council and their council to try to

0:54:14rework a new contract every two years.

0:54:17Okay. Thank you very much.

0:54:18Thank you.

0:54:19Okay. P is the next one. Lisa, is there Oh, yes.

0:54:25So, on item I, um I, you know, I'm not against extending this extension because it makes complete and total sense. Um I was just wondering why do we need to extend it to December 2026? I thought we were almost done. So, just kind of want to understand that.

0:54:45Good evening, mayor and council members.

0:54:47Um yes uh the project the major uh project components are done. We're finishing up the traffic delineators and markers and striping and some final modifications to the San Pablo and Hill intersection. We anticipate being done in the next few weeks. We're asking for

0:55:06uh an extension through December of 26 because it just takes time to close out a project. Once you you do the final payment for the contractor, then you do another 30 days before you release the retention and then um just you know all the paperwork. We just want the extra

0:55:23time to do all the final accounting and close out for the project.

0:55:27Okay. Thank you very much.

0:55:30Okay. Um, next we'll go to uh what if we um do I have a motion to approve?

0:55:42I'll move second.

0:55:43Uh wait, let me uh I'll move all items other than A, B, and C.

0:55:49Okay.

0:55:49Second.

0:55:50Okay. We have a first by Mama and second by Saltzman. All in favor?

0:55:54I I got motion. Uh any any opposed?

0:55:59Opposed? No. Any abstensions? No. Motion passes unanimously.

0:56:04Okay. Now we'll go to uh council member Salsman. Your question. You pulled uh B and C.

0:56:11Yes. Um so first B, I wanted to see if there's anybody here from the committee on aging who's interested in speaking to us about the recommendation.

0:56:21We do have uh Dr. Panzy Kuang online.

0:56:23She's the committee on aging chair.

0:56:29We have a commissioner here in the audience as well.

0:56:36Um, this is Pansy. I believe Mark is going to speak for the committee.

0:56:42Mark, if you want, you can come up to the podium.

0:56:52Good evening, Mark Watson from Committee on Aging.

0:56:58I just wanted to see if you could tell us a minute or two about the proposal and what what you're hoping.

0:57:06I read it all. I clearly there's some important issues here, but just wanted to hear from the committee.

0:57:13Well, we did um one of our work plan items was to survey the parks in Elserto for their usability and safety and accessibility from a senior's um perspective.

0:57:29And so we did that. We divided our committee up to in pairs to survey the all the parks um basically from a a perspective of safety and accessibility and found um some four main areas. the concern which were the handrails um lacking of handrails in certain areas, uneven pathways and trip hazards

0:57:58and uh benches and the restrooms accessibility access to the restroom. So I think these the most of these items are not new uh to the parks and recreation committee and they're probably on their work plan to to address at some point. But we thought this is something we could make

0:58:19ourselves useful and present to the to the council.

0:58:23Thank you. Well, I I do find it useful, but I want to make sure it becomes an actual useful thing. So, I wanted to see if staff could tell us what they're planning to do with this. And if there are no plans, I'd like to make a motion that we ask staff to return to present

0:58:40to the council with kind of a deeper analysis on this. what's already in the plans for this year, next year, what is going to cost more money and would need budget allocations as we go into the two-year budget process. Just some more analysis um because it's hard to know.

0:58:56Some of these look like pretty simple fixes. Some of them look more extensive.

0:59:00So, would be good to hear from staff and if we need a motion, I'm happy to do that, too.

0:59:05Yeah. Okay. And we would the committee would be happy to meet also with staff and talk about what our thoughts were on addressing some of these as well.

0:59:14Great.

0:59:16And our recreation director is coming up behind you, Mark, to um share some feedback from staff.

0:59:23Hi, Chris.

0:59:24Hello. Good evening, uh mayor and council members. I'm Chris Jones, the recreation director. I think for this item and the the next item, the park and recck commission one, it it really is a issue of resources, staff capacity and deferred maintenance. Um all of which

0:59:44will, you know, will be part of the upcoming bianual budget discussion um in the capital improvement uh program. But we have we done a thorough analysis yet of either one of these recommendations?

0:59:56We have not. So I I would like to make a motion that asking staff to come back with that and then Yeah.

1:00:04Okay. Lisa, go ahead.

1:00:06Thank you. Um I just want to understand how the committee on aging uh recommendations align with the parks and rec master plan. Are they are they are is there some new things in these recommendations? Are they o completely overlapping? So they're already kind of

1:00:24considered in the master plan. I think that there's nothing that stands out that's really not considered in the master plan. Maybe again with this recommendation and the next recommendation, there might be newer issues, but the the themes of accessibility and maintenance and um

1:00:42stuff of that nature is is certainly captured in the 2019 uh parks and recreation facilities master plan. And so that means uh that all the work that we can do is already prioritized in the order that we can do it.

1:00:59Well, priorities in the master plan the priorities are really about um specific recommendations in terms of maintenance and deferred maintenance that's recommended to just you know tackle as resources become available and as to the severity.

1:01:17Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Council member Cassanis, did you have a question? Okay. Did you want to second that motion? That Okay, we have a motion by Can you repeat that?

1:01:27Yeah. Do you want me to clarify? So, the motion is to um ask staff to return to the council with an analysis of these recommendations. Um what is already planned to deal with in the next couple of years, what is not, and sort of what what funding it would take. Um, so I'm

1:01:47not saying we're going to fund all this right away. I'm just asking you to come back with an analysis that we can discuss and then consider before the next budget process which is coming soon.

1:01:57Thank you, Mayor Prom. And if you want to include receive and file of the recommendation, then you can close out the item.

1:02:02Sure. And yeah, the motion will include receiving and filing the recommendation.

1:02:08I will second it. Yes.

1:02:09Okay. Um, all in favor?

1:02:13I any naysay motion passes.

1:02:20Thank you very much.

1:02:21And I want to say thank you to uh chair pensan and uh the commissioner that joined us here. I'm the liaison for uh that committee and we have some very active seniors that uh went out of the way and uh uh drove out and took the bus and took an Uber to uh our different

1:02:40parks up and down the city. So grateful to them for uh giving a senior active senior perspective on uh the condition of our parks. Thank you again.

1:02:52Okay. Next, can I go to item C?

1:02:56Yeah, go ahead. Um, so on item C, I I was at the Park and Recreation Commission meeting when they were discussing this and I know they put a lot of work into this. So I wanted to see if anybody from the commission could tell us a little bit more uh about the report they've put forward.

1:03:14Thank you, Mayor Prom. We do have members uh Kaiser, Dodge, and Rosier here to speak on this. It looks like member Dodge is coming forward.

1:03:23Hello, Mayor and Council members. Uh, also want to give a shout out and thank you to my fellow commissioners, uh, Fisher Roger and our chair, um, Jen Kaiser. Uh, and then thank you also Chris for being here. All right, so uh, thank you all for letting me speak to

1:03:38this. Uh, for the last year, myself and our fellow commissioners have, uh, been exploring the community and trying to learn where what we've been calling where momentum lies with the city. Um so at this point we are not offering a recommendation but we do want to give

1:03:51you an update on what we've done as well as lay out our plans for next steps. Um so first we are energized and excited that both the 2022 and the most recent 2025 uh national community survey revealed that parks and recreation spaces were one of the number one priorities for residents. Over the past

1:04:10month our commission has uh studied the master plan for parks and recreation. We surveyed people at the one world festival as well as interviewed community leaders or leaders from over 10 community groups. We also want to deepen this engagement. So um plug for anyone in a community group. We would

1:04:30love to chat with you going forward.

1:04:32So two of the top things that we learned was there is a high level of energy in the community for learning how to best work with the city in order to advance shared priorities and then also to develop uh pathways for greater private public partnerships. Um basically more

1:04:49creative ways of bringing funding into our beautiful parks. So next steps for us are going to be to continue engagement with these community groups to get a better idea of where the actual priorities lie. 2019 was when the master plan was created. Of course, a lot of

1:05:04change happens over the past seven years. And so we want to know where current momentum lies. Um we also want to do a greater exploration of public and private partnerships as well as explore models of how other communities engage in these things to bring in unique funding sources. And then

1:05:21finally, we want to work towards prioritizing and recommending to you all as council. Thank you.

1:05:28Thank you very much.

1:05:30Yes.

1:05:31Thank you. Um thank you for this report and it also really looks beautiful. So it's very nice to see kind of a a graphically informed uh report. Um I had uh asked this at the retreat but I think one of the things that we are missing is sort of the ability of volunteers to participate in in like the

1:05:54trails and the and um hoping that we can get sort of the legal direction so that we can have that happen. So I hope that that falls in with kind of along the lines of your recommendations as well.

1:06:08Thank you. Thanks for pointing that out.

1:06:10That was actually a shared sentiment of community groups as well.

1:06:13Thank you.

1:06:14Any other questions?

1:06:15I I just want to thank the commission for your work. Thank you, Commissioner Dodge, and the other commissioners who are here. I mean, it clearly an immense amount of work went into this, meeting with all these community groups and synthesizing this, and I'm excited to

1:06:28see what more you're going to put forward in the coming months and years.

1:06:32So, thank you. And I'm happy to make the motion to receive a file. Okay, we have a motion. Do I have a second? A second by Motyama. Uh, all in favor?

1:06:42I I.

1:06:43Any abstensions? Nays. Motion passes unanimously.

1:06:47Thank you very much.

1:06:49Okay. Next, we have policy matters.

1:06:53And before we uh move to these items, I want to introduce uh city attorney uh Sky Woodruff for a brief statement uh to make regarding conflicts of interest.

1:07:05Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um yes, before the city clerk begins the staff report for this item, I wanted to provide council and the public with some information about uh whether Vice Mayor Saltzman and Council Member Motyama have financial conflicts of interest uh for

1:07:20this item and item 8B. So this statement will cover both items. Uh after carefully reviewing the applicable statutes, FPPPC regulations, FPPC stands for the Fair Political Practices Commission, uh judicial decisions and opinions of the FPPC and the California Attorney General. It's the view of my

1:07:39office that Vice Mayor Saltzman and Council Member Motama may participate in both items. There are two relevant statutes related to this question.

1:07:47Government code section 1090 and the California Public Reform. uh political reform act uh section 1090 prohibits public officials from participating as the statute puts it in the making of contracts in which they have a financial interest. The political reform act

1:08:04prohibits public officials from participating in government decisions generally in which they have a financial interest. For the purposes of this analysis, there are three relevant items on tonight's agenda. uh the first is certifying the sufficiency of the signatures on the initiative petition

1:08:19and placing the initiative on the ballot. The second is directing the preparation of a report regarding the initiative and the third is receiving the library facility update and um consideration of preliminarily directing the formation of a library task force.

1:08:35Taking the political reform act first.

1:08:37The act does not apply to ministerial acts. And I think this is an important um issue for uh consideration of both the conflicts issues and for understanding um the nature of the action that is in front of council in item 8A. Certifying the signature and review and placing the initiative on the

1:08:55ballot are ministerial acts. The council is legally required to take both actions. It does not have any discretion. So it it it must certify the sufficiency of the signatures and must uh place the measure on the ballot. It does have the option of requesting a report um about the um effects of the

1:09:14initiative, but ultimately it still must place the initiative on the ballot.

1:09:19For other actions that I listed previously, a conflict of interest exists only where it is reasonably foreseeable that a decision would have a material financial effect on a council member's financial interest. And these are all defined terms in statute and regulations.

1:09:35Here the financial interests are Vice Mayor Saltzman's current employer and Council Member Motyama's former employer. Uh she no longer works for the employer in question. The relevant issue is whether ordering a f a factual report on the initiative as authorized by the

1:09:50legislature in elections code section 9212 or hearing a general update on library facilities and a preliminary um decision on direction to form a library task force would have a material financial effect on their employers. In both cases, a material financial effect

1:10:07on either employer is theoretical or hypothetical and not reasonably foreseeable as those terms are used in the statute and regulations. Therefore, neither council member has a conflict that requires recusal under the political reform act. Turning to government code section 1090, uh,

1:10:23council member Motyama has previously recused herself from library related actions because of an ongoing client relationship between her employer and a member of the Plaza BART development team on projects outside of Elserto. She no longer works for the firm and

1:10:38according to an opinion of the California Attorney General, once a council member terminates the financial interest, she may participate in decisions. Therefore, council member Motyama is not required to recuse herself from the items on the agenda tonight to comply with section 1090. Uh

1:10:54for Vice Mayor Saltzman, uh her employer, Bike East Bay, will receive state grant funding to provide bicycle education for tenants of one phase of the Plaza BART project. That grant is already approved and the grant program will not allow Bikes Bay to receive future similar funding. Placing the

1:11:11initiative on the ballot is therefore not a preliminary step to future contracts that contracts that would benefit Bike East Bay. Similarly, none of the other items on the agenda tonight. Ordering a report on the effects of the initiative, receiving an update on the library facility or

1:11:27formation of a library task force is a preliminary step to future contracts. Uh therefore, Vice Mayor Saltzman is not required to recuse herself under section 1090 either. Uh those conclude my uh comments and I'm happy to take any questions from council about this if you

1:11:41have any.

1:11:42Thank you very much. Any questions to our city attorney.

1:11:46Okay, let's go forward then.

1:12:02I've been having some technical difficulties with this computer. So, I I may need to move down there.

1:12:23Are you feeling okay?

1:12:27Okay.

1:12:29I couldn't tell if that was a grimace or like you're just relaxing.

1:12:34Uh good evening mayor and council. My name is Holly Charlotte. I am the city clerk and I also serve as Elserto's elections official. So the first policy item on the calendar uh the council agenda tonight is to certify the citizen initiative petition entitled the Elserto

1:12:52Library Initiative. Uh this is a required action under election code for the legislative body to accept the sufficiency of a petition that has been determined to be qualified as well as place a proposed measure on a future election. This process is required by California election code. And I'm going

1:13:10to briefly go over what that process looks like and make sure that um we share both with the public and the council the requirements that you have under election code. And I do apologize in advance. It's a very technical process. So, I'm going to do my best to do it at a high level so that it makes

1:13:25sense for everyone in the room. So, California election code uh provides for a process called the initiative process.

1:13:33Uh this is a process that allows anyone to submit a proposed ordinance to the voters of the jurisdiction. It requires proponents to collect signatures of 10% of the registered voters in order to qualify. This process is for voters to bring forward a measure. The local

1:13:51agency is not a participant in this process other than the elections official accepting the required filings and certifying information that is submitted. The legislative body is required to place the qualified initiative on the ballot. So this is not an action that is discretionary to the

1:14:07city council. On May 5th, proponents began this process by filing a initi with an initiative filed with the city called the Elsa Library Initiative.

1:14:21So that first step of the process is uh by filing a notice of intent which includes the text of the proposed ordinance that would be put forward to uh put forward to the voters to vote on.

1:14:33When that information is received, the city attorney then takes the information and prepares a ballot title and summary.

1:14:40That information is returned to the proponents and that information is required to be included in the petition that they circulate in order to gather those signatures. Uh so the uh petition was filed and the city attorney prepared that title and summary which was

1:14:55provided on May 21st and then on June 13th there was a small revision to the proposed language that was submitted by the proponents and that triggered a also a revision to the ballot title and summary which was provided to the proponents on June 17th. That information then was required to be

1:15:15published in a newspaper of general circulation and proof of that publication is required to be filed with me within 10 days. That was received for the revised version on June 25th. And that started the clock of time that the proponents had to circulate their petition and gather signatures. They're

1:15:33given 180 days to complete that process.

1:15:36and proponents filed their signatures with me on November 20th, which was prior to that 180day deadline.

1:15:45Once I received that information, I along with the help of quite a few staff um was able we performed what's called a primmaaccia count. uh that looked at not only the format of the petition but the content of the circulator and the information from the voters that signed

1:16:04the petition that on its face it complied with all the requirements of election code and had sufficient signatures.

1:16:11That was what we needed to determine that it was uh accepted for filing and from there we provided those petitions.

1:16:21Uh we hand delivered them to the county registar who then verified the voter signature status of every signature on the the petition to confirm that there was sufficient signatures to meet that 10% uh threshold. So, the county did provide the certificate of sufficiency

1:16:37of that 10% threshold being met on January 9th. Uh, subsequent to receiving that information, the city council at its next regular meeting is required to adopt a resolution uh accepting the certificate of sufficiency. So, that is the required the first required action

1:16:55of the city council tonight.

1:16:57At that same meeting, the city council also has to take additional action to either place that measure on the ballot or request an impact report. There is a third option to adopt the ordinance, but as this is a sales tax measure, that is not an option in this case and it is

1:17:15required to go to the voters to vote on.

1:17:20When we get into the details of what action the council has to take, um it doesn't matter what action is taken today. The council is required to call an election. Again, I really want to emphasize that that is not an option.

1:17:34This is a qualified petition at this point and the council has an obligation to put it on a future ballot. There are some options in terms of when the election will be held to have voters vote on that measure, but it is required to be put on the ballot. So the first op

1:17:50there's two different paths that the council can take. So the first option is at tonight's meeting to call an election for the election date. And this is where it gets really technical. Um there are two options. The council can choose to put the question on the next regular

1:18:09municipal election for our jurisdiction which is held on November 3rd of 2026.

1:18:13This is our regular bianual uh council election for council seats. That is one option. The second option is a council may call a special election. If a special election is called, it must take place between 88 and 103 days from the date you call that election. So that

1:18:31would be from today's date. There is also provisions in election code that require the election be held on a Tuesday as well as provisions disallowing an election held either the day before, the day of, or the day after a state holiday. So with those requirements, if the council chooses

1:18:50this option and places this on the a ballot tonight, the there's three options for an election date. Of those three opt options, the cost is different based on whether or not it's a regular election for the city, which is at a much lower cost, or it can be consolidated with a any other statewide

1:19:12election that is being held on that same day. So for action tonight, the three options, the only one that would be at our regular election cost would be the regular November election. The other two eligible dates for special election would be truly a standalone special

1:19:27election just for Elserto and would be at a much higher rate. And I'll talk a little bit more about the cost in a few slides.

1:19:34The second option that council has tonight is before calling or making a determination on the election date, there is a provision in election code.

1:19:45It's uh 9212 that allows the council to refer that measure back to the city and ask the city to create a report of impacts of of the initiative. Now, the 9212 section is very broad. It allows for a lot of different topics, but essentially anything that could impact

1:20:04be impacted by this measure passing, the city can at the the direction of council create that report.

1:20:14If that report is requested tonight, it has to be presented back to the city council within 30 days. 30 days from today is February 19th.

1:20:26at if the council chooses to do the impact report at the time the impact report is provided to the city council that is when the council would have to call the election. So the election either has to be called tonight or it has to be called at the time that the

1:20:40council receives that impact report based on those same regulations of a regular election and a special election within that time frame based on the date the election is called. The three dates you see here are the options to call a special election or place it on the

1:20:56November regular election. You will note here there is a June 2nd date that it is at a lower estimated cost. That is the uh the date of a statewide um election that we can consolidate with. So we get that lower cost.

1:21:19Okay. So for the fiscal impact, so based the cost of the election is based on our current voter registration. So as of January 12th, we have seven a little less than 18,000 registered voters. A special election that is either consolidated with another statewide

1:21:34election or our regular election. That lower cost is three to four dollars per registered voter. That's where those dollar figures are coming from. a special re a special election on any other eligible date would be at a 12 to $15 per registered voter. And the reason

1:21:51for that is when we consolidate with the county and there are other things on the ballot, we're only we're only paying for a portion of what it costs to do all of the work that the county does on our behalf. If we have an election where it's only our voters and our precincts

1:22:05and our measure, we bear the full burden of that cost. And that is the reason that that cost is so much higher.

1:22:12So with that that said though the election date does drive the estimated cost. So as you can see on the chart here there are three dates that are that higher truly special election cost and those would all require a budget appropriation for the current fiscal year because of the when the date lands.

1:22:33So that those special election dates fall in the current fiscal year. We do not have any budget currently appropriated for a special election. If we do the June 2nd date, it will be at the lower cost and will still require a budget appropriation. If we do it at the

1:22:49November regular election, that would be inclusive of the cost we would already be paying for the two council seats that are up. And that would be part of the budget that we would be bringing forward as we always do for um budget to hold that election.

1:23:09So tonight the staff recommendations the first piece is is a required action. So the first action um proposed action is to approve the resolution to accept the certificate of sufficiency for the initiative petition.

1:23:25This is that first required action of the council. Our second staff recommendation tonight is for council to order a report so that we are able to provide both the city council and members of the public more information on the fiscal and any other impacts that there may be on the proposed measure. We

1:23:42also uh recommend that council set a special city council meeting for February 19th in order to receive that report and call the election. Uh we have done some some preliminary polling of the council in advance of this meeting and we do have a quorum. All members

1:23:59would be available for a special meeting on February 19th at 900 a.m. That is when we were able to get everybody available.

1:24:09And then finally, it is um the council while the council is required to call an election, you do have the option to not select the date of the election tonight and do that. If you choose to have a fiscal impact report when you come when coun when the city comes back to provide

1:24:28that report to council on February 19th, you can select the date for the election at that meeting as well. So, you do have some flexibility there if you are choosing not to call the election tonight in terms of what that date will be. With that, again, I know it's very

1:24:44technical. Um, it's it's based on a lot of regulations under election code. So, both myself and Sky are available for any questions that you may have.

1:24:53Okay, we'll uh start with questions and um I'll start on this side with uh Mayor Prom and Council Member Motyama. Any questions?

1:25:03Okay, we'll go to this side and we'll go to council member.

1:25:09Just one question. I want to make sure I understand about November. Because we have a council election at the same date, does that imply that we don't have the additional $80,000 charge?

1:25:21If the council chooses to put the measure on the November ballot, that cost along with the council the city council seats would be that $80,000 estimate. would not increase the cost because we pay a portion of the total cost of the election based on our registered voters.

1:25:39So, just to be absolutely clear, then November would be roughly $80,000 less than June because we're already having to pay the 80 for the council election.

1:25:49No, it would be inclusive of that 80,000. So, if the council were to hold the a special election in June, it would be $80,000 in the current fiscal year.

1:25:58If the council chooses to put it on the November election, it would be inclusive of what staff will already be coming to you to adopt in the budget for the regular election. It will not increase that cost. It would be inclusive of the 80,000.

1:26:12And and if I may, additionally, if the um we would be budgeting for that election anyway. So during the budget process, Holly will make sure that that $80,000 is in her budget whether this goes on that ballot or not, but we just haven't appropriated it yet because that

1:26:29would be in the next fiscal year. That's why all of the other costs would require a separate appropriation.

1:26:35I'm not I understand that. Thank you.

1:26:37But I'm not asking so much about the budget. I'm asking about how much money total we're paying towards elections combined. So if it was if if it was not on the June ballot, we would not be paying $80,000 for anything on that ballot. Is that correct?

1:26:54That is correct.

1:26:55But we would pay $80,000 in November.

1:26:58That is correct.

1:26:59Both the 80 would cover both the city council and the initiative.

1:27:03Correct.

1:27:04If we were to have it in June, we would pay 80,000 twice. We pay for it in June for the initiative and then we'd pay the 80,000 again in November for the city council.

1:27:14That is correct. It would require an additional appropriation for the current fiscal year of 80,000 and we would still have an obligation to budget 80,000 for the regular election because of the city council seats in November.

1:27:28Incorporating all these facts having it in November saves us saves $80,000.

1:27:35It would Yes, it would be inclusive of the election the regular election cost.

1:27:39Thank you.

1:27:41Okay.

1:27:43Thank you. Um, any other questions right now? Okay. Um, first we're going to look at um, you know, because I want to make sure everything is transparent and out there and we get everything out so our residents, our voters can see. Um, I would like to ask for that impact

1:28:07report.

1:28:08Mayor, if I may, before we move on to any action, we do have to take public comment on this item. So I would suggest you do that before you Yes.

1:28:16Okay. Let's go with public comment then.

1:28:20Uh now is a time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments regarding this item. Uh request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a speaker card.

1:28:32Public 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.

1:28:43Thank you, mayor. We have two requests to speak on this item. So, we'll start with Bill Barish, followed by Georgina Edwards.

1:28:59Good evening.

1:29:00Good evening, council, mayor.

1:29:06Um the survey that was spoken about multiple times earlier said that people in El Certo wanted a new library.

1:29:17Um it did not necessarily ask whether they wanted that new library at the BART plaza or at its current location.

1:29:26And I think that puts a bias into the survey.

1:29:31So, I've been thinking about this somewhat opaque nature of the new library proposal at the plaza.

1:29:42Uh, including, for example, why estimates of the actual cost are constantly changing. The nonresponse to questions of when or how the library would be built if the developer fails to secure funding for a grant for the parcel.

1:30:01Why the proposed tax could not be rescended even if the delay in building the library exceeds reasonable time limits.

1:30:12And then it finally came to me, this is not a library tax at all.

1:30:19It's a roose. It's a deception to create a new 30-something year constantly escalating nonrescendable by the voter property tax for use in the general fund to bail out the city from its long-term financial hole.

1:30:42And to Elserto residents, I want to say you will never see a new library at the BART Plaza.

1:30:52You will however be paying hundreds to thousands of extra property tax dollars for the life of the bond to give the city government a way to backfill its financial gaps for another three plus decades. Thank you.

1:31:15Our next and I apologize mayor we did we do have about six or seven speakers. I had some more speaker cards over here.

1:31:21Our next speaker is Georgina Edwards followed by Suzanne Balmoda.

1:31:33Hello, my name is Georgina Edwards. I'm actually speaking on AB. Oh, you want to Okay, I'll put you in that queue. So, we'll go to our next speaker, Suzanne Balmoda, followed by Michael Fischer.

1:31:45Balma.

1:31:50Good evening everyone. Yes, I'm Suzanne Balmma. I've lived in Elserto since 2003.

1:31:58So I've been here a long time. So I'm here to ask that you please put the library tax on the ballot in June so we can move quickly to build a new library.

1:32:09City after city has demonstrated when they opened their new library that the modern library is an activity hub for social interaction, cultural exchange, and learning.

1:32:21The new library activates the area around the library, generating revenue for local businesses and the community.

1:32:30One article suggests as much as an increase of 20% of retail revenue for adjacent businesses.

1:32:39There are articles that talk about the reduced cost in incarceration, reduced cost in health care costs, reduced cost in social services because libraries promote learning. They provide services and improve career growth.

1:32:57Every dollar invest in invested in the brick andmortar li uh of a library returns innumerable dividends in future generations.

1:33:08A new library especially one with high visibility improves the image of Elserto.

1:33:16Increasing desiraability and home values.

1:33:19One realtor speculated that the increase in house value would exceed the amount a household would pay over the life of the tax.

1:33:29These are three core ways. Activity hub increased revenue for local businesses, increased home values, and realized savings for individuals and with in health care costs and more. That a new modern library adds value to each one of us.

1:33:48Please support the library property tax and vote yes. Thank you.

1:33:54Our next speaker is Michael Fischer followed by Greg Lyman.

1:34:02Mayor Mayor Prom, members of the council, I am Michael Fiser. I've lived in Elserto since 1998 and in the Bay Area since I was born, slightly before our library was built.

1:34:20I'm frustrated by the negative messaging around this library proposal.

1:34:27I have read the proposal.

1:34:30It says in there that the money raised may only be used for library purposes, not for the city council to spend on anything else. Only for library purposes.

1:34:47I'm very protective of our library and I will among others make sure that is what happens. But it's also the law and we still follow that here.

1:35:02How can people say they want to improve Elserto and support libraries and be opposed to the proposal for funding to do this?

1:35:15It's frustrating because any solution, even updating the existing library, needs funds that are much greater than the city has available in their operating budget.

1:35:29Raising the funds to improve the library to build a modern library is physic fiscally prudent and the measure does not require any specific proposal.

1:35:44We meet a library in El Certo and the only way to keep our library is to vote yes on the proposed property tax.

1:35:55Any other action is irresponsible to future generations.

1:36:01Our library has needed significant work or replacement for a long time and we owe to both ourselves and future generations of Elseritans. And we saw tonight a very new member of a future generation or current generation just young.

1:36:23Libraries are a cornerstone of the community and part of our infrastructure. Like roads and utilities, like the power grid in our community, a library activates the mind. the proverbial light bulb going off in a learner's head.

1:36:43Without this critical infrastructure asset, future students will not have the place to explore and think about things well beyond the borders of Elserto.

1:36:56Everyone should support a library because it is good, really good for the community. and this measure is the only way we can support a continued library in Elserto.

1:37:12Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Greg Lyman followed by Deborah Morrison.

1:37:18Mayor, council members uh Greg Lyman since Elserto since 1989.

1:37:23Um, a number of us wrote the ordinance and collected signatures to put a library funding measure on the a future ballot because we want to improve Elserto.

1:37:35We're here tonight to urge you to accept staff's recommendations and take steps to place it on the June 2nd ballot and request the impact report.

1:37:45June 2nd is important from a timing perspective and you every bit of delay will only increase the cost way more than the cost of the actual collection.

1:37:57For those that are not familiar with the uh ordinance um it is not as the previous speaker spoke it does not uh start being collected before planning of a library and design of a library begins. The tax can only be used for library expenses, is limited to actual

1:38:19library costs, not any other type of costs, and ends 30 years after library construction begins.

1:38:28Uh the tax can be used for planning, design, and all activities supporting the proposed task force. In the next agenda item, you will discuss starting public engagement and developing plans to build a new modern library, which can only be done if we, the voters of

1:38:44Elserto, decide to tax ourselves and vote yes. Everyone who cherishes libraries and wants a better Elserto should support the tax measure and the process to decide how those funds will be spent.

1:39:00Please take the recommendation recommended steps necessary to place this ballot on the June ballot. Thank you.

1:39:07Our next speaker is Deborah Morrison, followed by Charles Taylor.

1:39:14Good evening, city council. Uh, thank you for having me. I've been a Elserto resident since 2000.

1:39:21Um, yeah. I just want to say that since some of my earliest memories are around the library and my parents taking me when I was little, talking about the rules before you go in, everywhere I've lived, the library has been part of that for me and for my children. And I go to the

1:39:38Elserto Library every week to get large print library books for my elderly mom.

1:39:42Um, so it's and it's full every time I go. The staff is amazing. Uh, I'm here tonight to ask um that the proposed well to say that the petition and the proposed ordinance and the survey results are the community's way of telling you to move the library forward.

1:40:00The proposed property tax is a way to pay for the new library. The cost presentation in the next agenda item makes it very clear the city needs alternative income to raise even 11 million to touch the existing library and begin to make the 75year-old building comply with current codes.

1:40:17Anyone that is against the assign the proposed property taxes for letting the existing library continue to decay until it has to close for safety reasons. And the effect is that they are against libraries. We should never accept being a community without a library. Everyone

1:40:34that values modern library function should be asking for a yes lawn sign, talking to their friends and family about why they support a new library, and then voting yes on the proposed property tax. And once it passes, everyone who claims to love library should advocate for the alternative they

1:40:51want the city to invest in. Elserto deserves a new modern library. So do our librarians. Take actions tonight to put this to a vote of the people. Thank you.

1:41:03Our next speaker is Charles Taylor, followed by Tom Parks.

1:41:13Good evening again. I'm Charles Taylor.

1:41:16I live in El Certo since 1984.

1:41:21This citizen effort and the number of signatures collected demonstrates the community's support for a new library.

1:41:32It is in line with the survey results we heard earlier.

1:41:37Anecdotally, those of us enga that that engaged us were more often supportive of a new library at the plaza station.

1:41:49We exceeded the required 10% Holly mentioned earlier by 30% almost.

1:42:00So, we've we've shown that the city needs and wants and is willing to sign petitions supporting the uh tax.

1:42:10Tonight, we encouraged the city council to request a 30-day staff report and schedule a special meeting for February 19th so that you have the option to place the proposed tax on the measure on June 2nd. Thank you.

1:42:31Our next speaker is Tom Parks, followed by Diane Brener.

1:42:40Hi. Uh Tom Parks, lived in Altoredo since 2002. Uh I'd like to speak strongly in support of the library. I'd like to ask all of you to move it forward as expeditiously as possible. Um bottom line, it's the community coming together to uh recognize the need for a

1:43:00public good, the need for funds to support that. Uh the need for a tax.

1:43:06Taxes aren't conspiracy. Uh they're not uh there's no conspiracy here to take money and run uh run away with it. Um rather taxes, as Oliver Holmes, our Supreme Court justice from the early part of the century, the 20th century said, taxes are the price we pay for

1:43:25civilization.

1:43:27Um, beyond that, of course, it's a matter of the public good, having a a society and a city that we're all really proud of, that we all want to be members of, living in, and thriving in. We want to have institutions and public spaces that support a solid strong community

1:43:47that support all ages across our community uh for them to be able to gather, explore, learn, uh read, enjoy some little entertainment here and there when appropriate. So, uh we very much uh need to replace the existing facility as as it's understood. It's uh fallen into

1:44:09disrepair.

1:44:10And no, we don't have a new a current age of robber barons that are apparently willing to step forward and fund uh a new library for us. Andrew Carnegie, after exploiting a great many number of workers for a good number of years, did at least turn some of his fortune

1:44:29into support for a library system across the country uh in the early part of the 20th century. We don't have that happening right now. I don't see Elon Musk or Bill, you know, or, you know, all any of the other rubber barons of today stepping forward saying, "Sure, you

1:44:46know, let's let's give back. Let's invest. Let's build the public sphere.

1:44:50Let's let's uh invest in our future. We the people, we have this power, we have this responsibility, and we have this desire. The survey has shown that. Thank you for moving it forward."

1:45:03And our last speaker on this item is Diane Brener.

1:45:10Good evening, mayor, city council, staff, and public. Um, I'm Diane Brener.

1:45:15I live in Elserto. First, I want to say that I like libraries. Some of my earliest and fond memories are of my mother taking me and my sisters to the library to borrow books. And to this day, most of the books I read come from the library. Um, even so, we can all

1:45:32like libraries and find so many things to object to in this initiative.

1:45:37I don't think this issue should be framed as for or against libraries is for or against this tax the way that it's written. While some numbers have been made public regarding the theoretical cost of several different possible library locations, we still do not know the fiscal impact of the tax.

1:45:57How much will it cost taxpayers over the 30-year life of the tax? Because that's the true cost of this new library, and nobody is saying how much. We should all be concerned about this omission, and we need that report that was talked about earlier, the impact report.

1:46:13Also, the vagueness about the new library's location means that we'll be voting on a tax where we really don't know what we're getting or where it will be.

1:46:23If city council chooses to stick with its plan for us to pay to build a BART owned library at the plaza station, there's no language in this initiative that makes the tax contingent on BART getting the other financing it needs to finish the building where the library is

1:46:39going to go. What happens to our tax revenue if that building never gets built? The initiative doesn't say. We should all be concerned about this omission.

1:46:50There are 26 libraries in Contracasta County and currently there's only one that's in a building that's not owned by either the city, the county, the school district, or friends of the library. Why does Elserto want to be the second one?

1:47:05Why should we pay to build a li library that BART will own?

1:47:09This initiative lacks some other important specifics. It jumbles together a wide variety of library project related expenses.

1:47:19Some of which I question whether we need to be financing and paying interest on for 30 years, such as the city's share of the operating cost for the first 10 years of the first library. We have to pay for that interest for 30 years on that. Design services, permitting,

1:47:36furnishing the library, all of these things we have to pay interest on for 30 years. Maybe some some of that should be separated out to some some different way of financing it. Um, I like libraries, but I suggest that this initiative needs to be re with either withdrawn entirely

1:47:54or reddrafted and admended. As it is, I can't support this initiative, but I like libraries and I hope Elserto voters will also not support this as written.

1:48:05Thank you.

1:48:06We do have two additional speakers. The next one is Denise Sangster, followed by Janet Byron.

1:48:18Good evening.

1:48:19Hey, nice to see you all. Um, I like libraries, too. Um, I think it would be great to have a really nice library in this city, but we also need to build a public safety building, probably a new recreation building, and other things.

1:48:35So, we need to find something that is workable financially for this budget, especially when we have a massive um pension liability, which we can't pay for either. So, I would like to see something that is fiscally sound that meets the needs of the future of the kids that are here now. So, as

1:48:57they're 10 or 15 years from now, that it's a library that really serves their interests. Even the world's largest book distributor in the world has no idea where libraries are going to be in 10 years. They have no idea. Ingram Book Company, they're the biggest in the

1:49:13world. They don't know. So, building something that is really, really big, that we don't own that can cause a lot of debt, I just don't think makes a lot of sense. But there is something that I'm convinced that could be done that is less contentious that meets the needs of

1:49:30all different ages in the city. And I would encourage you to think about that.

1:49:35I also am absolutely opposed to $80,000 to put it on the June budget or on the June ballot as you had asked about. I think that there's just no justification or need for hurrying this along. So please, please use our money wisely. If it needs to be on the November ballot,

1:49:54let's do it then. But let's get a better plan than what's out there right now.

1:49:59There is a way to move forward. This one, I don't think is going to work.

1:50:03It's just going to be contentious. Thank you. You our next speaker is Janet Byron.

1:50:14Hello, I'm Janet Byron. and I'm an Elserto resident and the number of volunteers, the number of people that signed petitions for the ballot measure and the survey results all show strong support for a new modern library in Elserto. A new library could include muchneeded and larger space for reading

1:50:33time for children and grandchildren, ample dedicated space for middle and high school students to have a safe place near research resources for their study and studies and assignments. Um community meeting spaces which are we basically don't have any any here. Um

1:50:52small rooms for tutoring both students and those learning English. a large room for people to gather for events such as book groups and knitting circles, um maker spaces in the in the evening. There could be poetry readings or book talks by novelists in multiple languages.

1:51:13There could also be a tool library to help people with do-it-yourself projects. All of these would go along with more books, um more space for more books, more comfortable chairs to enjoy them, and other materials for our residents to use. um which we don't have

1:51:29now. And as a property owner in El Crito, I'm very much looking forward to paying this tax. I feel like it's a small price to pay for such a great public good. Um Elsto deserves a new modern library. Um I hope you'll take action tonight to put this to a vote of

1:51:46the people on June 2nd, 2026. We need to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. Thank you.

1:51:55Okay, that concludes our request to speak.

1:51:57Mayor, thank you very much and thank you to our speakers. Um, we'll return here to the council. Uh, we have three things that, uh, we need to look at and discuss. So, um, let's go to it. Uh, who would like to start?

1:52:14Uh, yes. Uh, Council Member Motama, then we'll go to the mayor prom.

1:52:19Thank you, Mayor. Um, I know that there's that $80,000 additional cost for June, but looking at the cost escalation, which is not the fault of the city or the initiative bringingers, you know, the combination of uncertainty in the economic market and tariffs is raising the cost for

1:52:44building anything. And I feel that, you know, being able to move forward and having certainty about this funding source will make uh getting a library, a new library at the Plaza Station, which I think is a great location, that will be more feasible. I think if we wait,

1:53:04the longer we wait, the more it costs.

1:53:07Um I think, you know, I I don't want us to um delay any further. I mean, we we've we've been talking about a new library um for a long time in this town. So, I think, you know, $80,000 in the scale of things um will probably be taken up by two months of cost escalation because of

1:53:32delay. So, I think that this is um really important to to lock down the fact that we would have funding or if people vote no that we don't. so that we can all move on to something else. So, I think that's the certainty that I would like to see. Um, I would certainly like

1:53:51to see a report on the fiscal impacts.

1:53:53Um, and I'd like to just keep us moving.

1:53:58Thank you, Mayor Prom.

1:54:00Thank you. Um, I agree with everything Council Member Motyama just said and am very interested in seeing the report from city staff on the fiscal and other impacts of the of the measure. I've gotten a lot of questions from constituents like why hasn't city staff

1:54:18weighed in on this and I had to explain well it hadn't qualified yet but we I I will ask city staff. I think it's important for the city to say what the impacts will be of this measure. Um, and that's important for us to hear from you. I just want to clarify something. I

1:54:35think you made it really clear that we have to put this on the ballot. We don't have a choice. Even if we all hated it, we'd still have to put it on the ballot.

1:54:43But we had a couple people tonight and we got lots of emails saying, "Put something modified on the ballot." Do we have the option to modify this measure at all?

1:54:53Thank you so much for that question. Uh, the answer is no. uh for the initiative petition process. The measure text as it is submitted by the proponents is what has to be submitted on the ballot without modification. So the council does not have the discretion to modify

1:55:08it.

1:55:09I just want to make sure everybody's clear on that. Even if I had something I and probably if I really thought about it, I'd find something I wanted to change and I'm sure everybody here would and probably everybody in this room would find something they wanted to be

1:55:21slightly different. But we don't we don't have that opportunity. So the only thing we can do is put it on the ballot and let the voters decide and the only thing we're really deciding on is when.

1:55:32So just want to make that clear for everybody here. Um but yeah, I do look forward to seeing a staff analysis and coming back on the 19th to decide when to put it on the ballot.

1:55:44Okay. Thank you. We'll go next to Council Member Weisinger.

1:55:48Thank you so much, Mayor. And I wanted before I made my comments, I wanted to just verify with Holly when we talk about the $80,000 June versus November.

1:55:58Isn't that two separate fiscal years?

1:56:00That is correct.

1:56:01I wanted to I wanted to make sure I think that and I'm going to save a lot of my commentary for the next item, but really about clarity and transparency as far as what the actual fiscal impact.

1:56:11It's not always the the amount. A lot of times it's which year it actually falls in. So to me, that's very important. Um, Council Member Motyama and Council Member Salman have said a lot of what I wanted to say, especially the concept of said kind of plainly, let's just stop

1:56:25kicking the can. You know, folks who are talk we're talking about going to November, you know, but we're going to be talking in the next item about escalating costs and those costs are going to continue the longer that we kick this down the road. It's not going

1:56:38to stop all the escalating costs, but at least we'll be able to start getting an idea and start planning for it um in the future. So, I I support this item. I do definitely hope that my council peers um also put forward the um request for the impact report. I look forward to that.

1:56:55But I think that we definitely need to get this on the on the ballot um as soon as possible and get this going on the road. Thank you, Mayor.

1:57:02Thank you, Council Member Castanz.

1:57:06Well, perhaps not surprisingly, I disagree with several things that have been said. I think that to say that if we delay it five months from June to November somehow costs are going to escalate implies that actually going to break ground sometime near then. And I

1:57:22think we know that that's not going to happen. It'll be several years before it gets hashed out before we can before the project moves forward. I mean there are people have said maybe it doesn't move forward at all. I don't have that feeling. I I don't have much doubt that

1:57:33eventually it will move forward, but I don't think there's anything gained by putting it on the ballot in June instead of November because we have to act fast before costs go up. It's not going to happen because the costs are coming much later. One thing that concerns me or one

1:57:48positive about November is that there's a city council election in November. It is an election that will engage this community. I would hope that everyone here wants this community engaged as much as possible in this library vote.

1:58:00And to do that, one one path is to have it be part of the broader conversation of the city council election. Don't don't be afraid of that. And I know that, you know, there's some strategizing about which election is more preferable to get it passed or not passed. I don't care about that. I mean,

1:58:14I do think there's a reason, you know, this I get the strategy, but I don't it doesn't matter to me whether which one date is better or worse than the other in terms of getting something passed or not. What matters to me more is that the community has every opportunity to be

1:58:27engaged, that they have every opportunity to get as much information as possible. Um that we're, you know, clear about when the project might break ground and when costs might start accumulating.

1:58:39Um council member Salsman asked about modification. There is one modification we can do that's very important. This this project, you know, people Greg Lon made this very clear. It's not necessarily at the BART station.

1:58:54Certainly, that's what most people who are advocating for expect and want, but there's nothing about the ordinance that says it has to be at the BART station.

1:59:01There is something about the general plan for the city that says it has to be. So, the general plan would need to be altered to allow for other options to be explored. That's the modification that has to me meaning. And I would go along I certainly go along with the idea

1:59:15of having a fiscal impact report.

1:59:17There's one, for example, one concern I have. It's ironic because I'm consider myself fiscally responsible. I'm concerned the tax is not enough. It's a $40 million tax with cost for the physical structure now looking at like 37 million. My understanding is that

1:59:33does not include the operating cost. So what what happens when you use up all the tax money to get the building built and then have to come back for whatever it is $500,000 a million. I'm not sure what the operating costs are. Certainly it'll be higher at a BART station than

1:59:46it would be in other location. But where does that money come from? And it it's it's a valid question. It needs to be addressed as well. You know, what is the what is the real cost and what happens if the tax is not enough to cover the actual cost. Um the other part of the

2:00:04analysis I would like done is to look at locations. You know, don't be afraid to throw out whatever it is, five, the current location, another parcel of land the city owns, marshalss or borders books. Um and the plaza. I mean, put them put them side by side. Do do a comparison. It's

2:00:22not, you know, there's been things said, "Oh, we're getting a sweetheart deal from BART." That's absolutely not true.

2:00:27And I think everyone knows that. BART is in absolutely no position to give the city a sweetheart deal. It's a fair deal. It reflects the actual cost. Um, there's also been things said about things said about, "Oh, well, we're we're subsidizing BART." And people say,

2:00:42"Oh, no, we're not." Well, I think we are, but I don't have a problem with that. You know, we're a community together. if it helps facilitate BART getting a project done, it to my mind it's a subsidy, but there's nothing wrong with that. And uh well, I look at it differently. I was but again I don't

2:00:56you know I feel like I'm honest enough to say yes it is. But I don't have a problem with that. Um and I don't have a problem if people vote and they choose the BART station.

2:01:07That's their choice and I respect that.

2:01:09But I want them to go into that election with all the information possible and the city to not steer it one way or the other.

2:01:18Okay. Sure.

2:01:19Okay. Council member M.

2:01:22Thank you, mayor, and thank you, Council Member Katan. I think um kind of hearing what you're saying, I think that this is part of why we need the fiscal impact report because I think in what you said, I already know that there's a number of things that are not true and I think

2:01:39that it's really hard for the public to make a really good decision when there's all these competing, you know, ideas of what is happening.

2:01:50And I think that that um that's a big concern of mine that you know all the information that gets out should be correct. It should be transparent and correct. And I think that um there's so much misunderstanding willful or not about what this is about. So I would

2:02:11just like to say that BART is not getting something. This is separate from that because I'm sorry, what did you say?

2:02:23The development entity.

2:02:24No, the development entity is not to get the first floor built.

2:02:28So the BART owns the land.

2:02:33BART controls the land because it's the BART station. So, they did an RFP, which we participated a little bit in, but it was their decision to pick a developer to build the buildings on the BART station parking lot, which includes market rate housing, an affordable

2:02:54housing, a potential library, and station area improvements, including some open space. So, that's the proposal.

2:03:02So, I will rephrase it. the subsidies towards the ownership entity that will have trouble filling the bottom floor and it solves that problem.

2:03:11They're not going to put housing there because it's not covered by tax credits.

2:03:14No, they could put a store there and get rent. They could put some other things on the ground. So, I think this is like hypothetical, but this the fact is this is what the proposal is. I think um the financial analysis I mean you know you said well what about marshalss and

2:03:32borders? We don't have a borders. We never did. It's Barnes & Noble. But you know there um you know those so assumptions are in their next agenda item.

2:03:46So that there are some you know you can pick at the whatever data people are putting in there but that discussion is there. So I think we're not hiding anything. And then, you know, I think it's really easy to say Barnes & Noble or the former Marshalss, how come we

2:04:06don't use that? That should be cheaper.

2:04:08We don't own that. It's not a public entity that owns those. So, we would have to pay market rent to rent them unless you want to eminent domain. And I don't think we're ever going to go down that rout.

2:04:18You shouldn't be afraid to do an analysis and spread spread the cost and say this given slide though. I think that I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm you know I I think I'll just stop. Thank you.

2:04:28The other thing I said the other thing next to council I have something important to say.

2:04:32One more thing.

2:04:33What I what I wanted to say and first I wanted to gently push back on and and this actually doesn't have anything to do specifically per se with the library but I don't want anyone to say on the record that we are telling people to wait until November to pay attention to

2:04:46an election. We are in a crisis in our nation. We need people to pay attention to every election. So, even if the rationale is putting this on the on the ballot in June to make sure people pay attention to what's on up or higher up on the ballot, let's not tell people we

2:05:00need to wait till November to pay attention. That's number one. Number two, we said in our in our council retreat that we were going to do a better job of being bold enough to tell the truth when other people are telling myths. We cannot base our decisions on myths and outright lies that are being

2:05:18put on the internet. Our next presentation has a full breakout that says why the idea of putting the library in the former Barnes & Noble, in the former Jo-Ann's, in the former Marshalss is a a not even a myth. It's just not possible. It's actually more expensive.

2:05:34So, you can't be a person talking about fiscal accountability and moving it there because we don't own it. We'd have to buy it. We've had to modify it. It's not It is modified for retail. It's not for a library. There's all these reasons why that just doesn't make sense. I'm

2:05:48not going to ever tell people not to say what they think is the truth because that's, you know, public conversation.

2:05:54But we as the council members who have the information now know hardcore that that's not possible. So we need to make sure that we I don't want to say too much because again we have a whole another item to go through on it. But I just want to make sure and put forward

2:06:07here in January that we are being bold enough to tell the truth because if we don't tell the truth, none of these things will go forward. So that's that on that. Thank you very much. We'll go to um Mayor Potam Saltzman.

2:06:21Thank you. Um I'll wait to talk about which location is best because again that is the next item. But just on this idea that the library subsidizes the developer. It's ludicrous and maybe we could have the developers come to a future meeting. They have made it very

2:06:39clear. So I think most people in this room know, but for those who don't, I was on the BART board before I was here.

2:06:44So been in a lot of conversations about this project and the developer put forward two concepts for the project knowing that they didn't have control over whether there'd be funding for a library. So they have a plan if there's a library and they have a plan if

2:07:02there's not a library. So just like speculating on what they might do with it, they've already told us what they're going to do with it, which is they're going to turn it into more parking spaces and a couple more housing units.

2:07:13I don't have the numbers in front of me, but maybe we could get that from the developers versus a $1 lease for the library. You can't possibly claim that the parking lot uh the parking spaces which are unbundled for residents, so the residents have to pay for it.

2:07:30They're not bundled with their units, they're going to charge less than a dollar for. You can't argue that they're going to charge a lot more than a dollar for all of those parking spaces and obviously for those units. So the idea that this is subsidizing them, it just

2:07:46doesn't make any sense because they've showed BART what their plans would be because they obviously have to have a plan. If the city can't come up with money or if the city decides to build the library somewhere else, they obviously have to have a plan of what to

2:08:00do as they're going forward and trying to get funding. They have a plan. So, I don't know why people have to make up what's going to happen. We already know.

2:08:09So, maybe we could actually have the developers come tell us that, which they've already told BART that. Um, but it's just not true that this would subsidize the developer.

2:08:20And give me the last in exchange for $40 million, we're getting a dollar a year lease.

2:08:25The $40 million is not for the development. It's for the library. It's to build out the library. is to solve a problem that BART has with the ground floor, which is nothing wrong.

2:08:36Bart doesn't have a problem with the ground floor.

2:08:38Of course, they do. Look at all the other Bart.

2:08:40And as a person who lives within the most recent building, can I just say, and I and this is going to your point, Council Member Salsman, they don't have a problem filling the ground floors.

2:08:49They do have the same problem that we are seeing in our report that the costs are going up and that the the people who still own the lease, I can tell you right now SID still owns the lease at the bottom of my building, but it it's taking them longer to build it out

2:09:02because it's so expensive. So that part is correct, but they're not having a problem. They're filling they're giving us an opportunity actually. So, but just to be clear, the options aren't some empty retail space that the developer would be on the hook for.

2:09:17They're not going to have it be an empty retail space. They're going to make it parking. So, they're not going to have a problem filling the space. They'll sell those parking spaces. Like, there's no BART isn't requiring the developer to turn it into a retail space if it's not

2:09:33a library. So, that's just misinformation.

2:09:37Okay. Now, all of us have their say. I'm going to have my say there. Um, I believe we all agree on uh getting the uh staff impact report. So, while we're all in agreement of that, um, so do we need to do a motion on that?

2:09:54We do. And we also there uh just as a reminder, there is the resolution to accept the certificate of sufficiency that um requires action as well.

2:10:04Okay. So, first we'll do the impact report. Uh, do I have a motion on the impact report?

2:10:12you you can choose to.

2:10:14Okay.

2:10:14Yes.

2:10:14I would like to make a motion.

2:10:16Okay. Does the impact report include looking at sites?

2:10:21We have that as the next item, but we can maybe we should wait to look at that because I have questions about that too.

2:10:26Just for example, one of my questions is if you look at the cost comparisons for the different sites, it's interesting.

2:10:31is you I don't remember exact number five million or 8 million additional cost for the alternatives for parking which is not comparing apples to apples somehow that cost wasn't part of you know wasn't included in looking at the BART project so I think we're going on to the next

2:10:44item so I would like to make my motion she has a motion okay so I would like to move to approve the resolution to accept the certification and to also request the financial impact report from staff do I have a I have a second.

2:11:01Can we separate the two?

2:11:03I'm sorry.

2:11:03Can we separate the two?

2:11:05Yeah, we agreed to uh have it all together. And you have a second.

2:11:10Yes.

2:11:10Okay. We have a motion by Motion and a second by Weissinger. Uh can you please uh call the role, please, on this vote?

2:11:18Certainly. Mayor Kinto, yes.

2:11:20Mayor Prom Saltzman, Council Member Katsanis, no.

2:11:24Council member Moama, yes.

2:11:26Council member Weissinger, yes.

2:11:28Motion carries. Okay, your honor. Your honor.

2:11:32Yes.

2:11:33Um, considering that the staff report and the fiscal impact report is very um as um both uh the city attorney and and uh the city clerk have have looked at the election code, it is um rather open as to what that impact report can contain.

2:11:53And so as we said in the staff report that we would look at anything that was listed there including fiscal impacts, land use impacts, traffic impact, you know, whatever whatever we can come up with. But if there are specific questions that the council does have

2:12:09that you would like us to consider making sure that we include in that report and we've been taking notes and so I'm hearing, you know, what I'm what we're talking what all of the council members are talking about tonight that we can try to make sure that we address

2:12:21that in the report. Um, and if there are additional um uh things that that are thought of, um, again, we have 30 days.

2:12:28We're we're already we'll start working on that tomorrow. We've already started um outlining it, but um the I can uh the council members can feel free to send me um information or questions that they would like us to ensure that are included in that report.

2:12:53And that means all of us as well and we will uh have that in the interest of expediency since we we have 30 days to uh do it. I would ask that perhaps by the end of next week would be um appropriate for any additional thoughts or questions that we can ensure go into the report.

2:13:11You're you're okay with that?

2:13:14Yeah, I would prefer that it be stated now. Be clear.

2:13:18Well, we're we're going to get at the next item after that and then we can talk and then because I I think we should not be afraid.

2:13:27Council member, if you can try to speak into the microphone, sorry, you're not picking up for those that are remote.

2:13:33I don't think we should be stacking it towards one site. I think that's not the language of the ordinance and I think it, you know, respect the people who sign the ordinance that we shouldn't be afraid of that.

2:13:43Absolutely.

2:13:45And then mayor, if I may, uh, it doesn't really require council action, but I do want to clarify that with the request for the fiscal impact report that the council would like us to schedule the special meeting on February 19th in order to have the option to call a June

2:14:002nd election. That date will put us within the 30 days that the report is due and also put us in the window to have that be an option for a special election date.

2:14:10Okay. So staff will move forward with that and we will make sure that we put information out for the public for that special meeting which will also take place next door at Hannah Gardens.

2:14:18Okay. Okay. So now we can go to uh B then are we are we okay Holly?

2:14:25Yes. Okay.

2:14:25Thank you.

2:14:26Okay. The next is uh Elserto Library facility update and that's to receive a presentation on the library including status and limitations of the current facility with an overview conceptual scenarios and associated cost range for a modern accessible full service

2:14:44library.

2:14:50Now we go to Will Provos.

2:14:54Good evening. Just give us a moment to get the presentation up.

2:15:03There we are.

2:15:08Thank you, Holly.

2:15:10Again, good evening, mayor, city council, and members of the public.

2:15:13Again, my name is Will Provost. I'm your assistant to the city manager, and I'm pleased to be here this evening to walk you through a brief update on the Alcerto Library. Tonight's presentation is intended to do three things. Ground the discussion in community priorities,

2:15:28clearly explain the limitations of the existing facility, and frame the range of options and cost implications uh so the city council and community can better understand this the options for what our next steps are. I'm pleased to be joined here today by Allison McKe,

2:15:42the Contraosta Cal County librarian who oversees library operations here in Elserto and in libraries throughout the county, who's joined here also by our local library manager, Heidi Goldstein, as well as Gary Chub from Griffin Structures, the city's owner's representative on the library project.

2:16:00And just to note, we're really thrilled to be working with Griffin Structures to have their deep expertise on this project and and building public facilities. I just want to note Griffin is also currently serving as the owner's representative for library projects in

2:16:11San Leandro, Santa Cruz, San Rafale and the city of Campbell and recently completed similar library projects for Yorbal Linda, Selenas and Certino. So needless to say, they bring a deep value and expertise in doing just these types of projects in community in communities

2:16:28across the state uh and really the country. Together, we'll walk through the why the city is continuing to focus on plans to address the current library facility needs and deficiencies, the existing conditions and limitations of the current facility, how that's

2:16:42impacting operations in the current building, and how library services have evolved right here in Contraosta County.

2:16:48And then we'll present five conceptual scenarios and costs for how the city could move forward from here. And last, we'll discuss potential next steps and a process for how to move the conversation and decision-making process forward with additional community engagement to begin

2:17:02as early as this spring.

2:17:09So, the city has been following direction from council and a repeated desire from the community to invest in a new Elsto library for more than 20 years. Like everything, after 20 years, the condition of the library has only continued to deteriorate, and size remains a core constraint on what

2:17:24services are able to be offered.

2:17:27In 2006, the city completed a library needs assessment with substantial community input, and that was updated again in 2014, looking at the current facility and best practices for libraries built today. As you heard earlier this evening in the national community survey presentation, more than

2:17:43just recently in another survey, more than twothirds of residents in a statistically valid survey stated that building a new library is a high or medium priority. And if of course staff is working at the direction of the city council, including by way of the most

2:17:57recently adopted strategic plan, which includes prioritizing building a new library.

2:18:04So, it's clear that there's community support and council direction. But why does this matter now? Because the existing conditions at the library do not meet the space, accessibility, or service expectations of today's users.

2:18:16And continued reinvestment in the current building would not solve the fundamental issues related to size and outdated systems.

2:18:24Most important for this conversation is that without investment in an updated facility, even if it was at the current location, the city risks increasing operating challenges, escalating cost to ultimately build the new library and service reductions or even disruptions

2:18:38in the future. So, in short, there's no status quo option, but we hope that the conceptual scenarios at the end of the pres presentation will provide an overview of potential directions the city could go in to address the current needs. I'll hand this off to to Gary on

2:18:54the Griffin team to walk through what they've found since they've started working with us as our owner's representative. Um, but we'll be back at the end to talk more about next steps.

2:19:01Thanks, Gary.

2:19:03Thank you so much. Uh, uh, mayor and members of city council, my name is Gary Chub with Griffin Structures. I was going to be there in person tonight, but the sinus infection, chest infection ferry swept me off my feet this weekend, and I thought I'd uh keep everybody safe

2:19:19from uh, having what I have. So with that being said, existing library keepbacks um first library established in 1913. Uh as most people know the current building constructed in 1949 and expanded remodel in 1960.

2:19:37Existing size is 6,500 square ft.

2:19:41Building is significantly under size with system accessibility efficiency that we'll talk about next. Next slide.

2:19:50As everybody knows uh contra county is in partnership with the city. County provides operations, staffing, collections and so forth uh with existing facility the city uh ownership and upkeep, utilities, landscaping, furniture, shelving, things like that.

2:20:07So that that partnership is in place uh today. Next slide.

2:20:13Okay. Okay, the facility condition assessment. Um, that's what we call in the industry of going into an existing building and sort of assessing uh what needs to maintain, be replaced, what code standards need to be upgraded, things like that. In your existing facility, there are current ADA uh

2:20:30standards that are not being met. There are some structural and building system deficiencies because of the age of the building.

2:20:39And then obviously the lack of space that uh affects the the operation. So at 6,500 square feet and the age of the building um there are challenges to reuse this uh today. Next slide.

2:20:54The size deficit again the existing library 6,500 square ft. Um your peers uh in the Bay Area based on your population population size um today's are delivering fac ities are operating facilities ranging from 18,000 to 25,000 square ft. Uh with the existing building

2:21:16as mentioned earlier um with the ADF ADA upgrades and other deficiencies um you'll still be um roughly 10 to 15% lower and then the current footprint cannot support the modern services. So there is a need to address this uh the existing building. Next slide.

2:21:37This is a good graph. So, what this is, uh, you'll see the green bar, which is your your facility. These are other neighboring, um, cities in the Bay Area that that size their buildings based on population. The 2020 the 2020 census for Elserto was almost 26,000 people.

2:21:58There's a ratio and a metric using the industry called square foot of building per capita. Um, so At the very bottom of this slide, you'll see you're you're 6,500 square feet today. And that's a very small um facility within the ranges of what's going on in the marketplace

2:22:19and around you u based on population and square foot of size. So 20,000 square foot is what we landed on as a minimum requirement for a new facility. Next slide.

2:22:34Yeah. what a modern library provides.

2:22:36You know, it it's dedicated to children children's and teen spaces, flexible community and meeting rooms, technology enabled study and collaboration areas, maker and learning spaces, uh quiet retreat and focus study zones and full access accessibility and flexible layouts. So, that's a recap of

2:22:57your current facility. I'll transition to Allison to talk about the next slides.

2:23:06Yeah. Okay.

2:23:09Okay. Good evening, council members.

2:23:12Nice to see you all again. Happy to be here. Um, in uh 2024, Contra Costa County Library created design standards to assist our city partners who um are thinking of doing remodels, renovations, or rebuilds. And excuse me, these um design standards aren't meant as

2:23:34requirements, but as a starting point for a conversation, and they're really um meant to encapsulate what we have found to be best practices um for our facilities to best serve our communities. and also um uh ways to create uh the most flexible spaces and uh designs that will um last a very long

2:24:02time so that our city partners get the most value out of the dollars that they spend um on any facility projects. Um so based on these design standards, we'll start with our our children's area.

2:24:18Ideally, the children's areas should be um a separate room, acoustically separate from the rest of the library.

2:24:26Children uh tend to um not quite know how to uh modulate their voices, and that's fine. It's developmentally appropriate. These um children's spaces spaces should also have um separate family uh restrooms uh for safety and convenience for parents. Um, they should

2:24:48have their own computers and a variety of seating to accommodate different areas. And I'm going to, um, turn it over to Heidi so she can talk about the children's area at the Elserto Library.

2:25:00Hi everybody.

2:25:02Um, so what we have basically overall at the Elsto Library is one big room and we're not separated. Um, there aren't separations in anything really.

2:25:13And so we don't have family bathroom. We have one family bathroom that is also the staff bathroom, the ADA bathroom and the agender bathroom. One bathroom. And um we don't have any kind of audio acoustic separation as far as the children's section goes.

2:25:34So then um and I should note that these are uh photos of some of the newer libraries in Contraosta County Library.

2:25:41So, this photo is of the San Ramon Library teen area and um the teen area should also be acoustically separate from the rest of the library. Um and at the same time, it really should be within the line of sight of the staff areas. Um it should also be identifiable

2:26:00um design-wise and stylistically as its own space um to discourage use of adults when teens are there. And um also it should be separate from the children's area um so that the teens aren't discouraged from using it. Um let's see.

2:26:19The furniture should be easily movable so the teens themselves can adjust the area to their own use and liking. And um it should have computers and laptops in the room for the teens to use. Our teen area is about five by five and the furniture that is there wouldn't

2:26:39have anywhere to go if we did move it around. Um, again, one big room and no acoustic separation of any kind and no computers in the teen area.

2:26:54Um, here's a photo of the San Pablo Library, uh, their reading area. Um, and so there still should be areas dedicated in a library to reading and lounging.

2:27:04And sometimes this area is called the community living room. It's usually close to the staff service desk. So, um, that, uh, community living area is less disruptive in other areas of the library.

2:27:18We do have a community living area in our one big room. However, it is the darkest part of the library.

2:27:27It's not a good place for reading and it is part of one big room.

2:27:34Here's another uh photo of the San Pablo Library. This is the community room um and libraries really need a separate space um for large events um that are put on by library staff, but also large events that community members themselves might want to use that room for. And um

2:27:56most of our libraries have these separate large community rooms that can be used when the library is closed by the community. Um of the I did a count today, 19 of our 26 branches have these types of community rooms that are available to the public when the library

2:28:14is not open. That'll be 21 after the Oakley and the uh Bayoint Library are open.

2:28:22I can do this part for Heidi. There's no community room at the Aler library.

2:28:28Yeah, we have most of our programs in the children's section, even if they're for adults.

2:28:36Um, this is a photo of a small meeting room at the Walnut Creek Library. Um, and these small meeting rooms or study rooms are incredibly popular in all of the libraries that have them. Um, we currently have 10 libraries that have some sort of study room or small meeting

2:28:56rooms. Um, these spaces allow uh for private meetings. Um, you can think a member of your community needing to meet with some sort of caseworker, uh, tutoring, homework help, uh, uh, group projects for students, places for remote workers to participate in online

2:29:17meetings.

2:29:19al together now.

2:29:21One big room.

2:29:22Yeah.

2:29:24No meeting rooms. Um here's uh we already talked about the children's area. This is also um a photo of uh the children's area and the Walnut Creek Library.

2:29:35Um this is what we call a marketplace area. This is at the newish Brentwood Library. And this marketplace area is where the new releases, the uh bestsellers are featured. Um it's a place where folks can do quick browsing on our most popular materials. Um oftentimes this is also uh where the

2:29:58holds are for community members to pick up items that they've requested. is typically located near the front entrance and close to the staff service desk and selfch checkckout machines for ease and convenience for the public.

2:30:13We do have this but it is partially in the very dark living room.

2:30:22Um this is the uh a photo of the maker space in the Pleasant Hill Library. This is the newest library in our fleet of libraries. maker spaces aren't in our design standards. Um, but we added this here because they are increasingly popular in libraries across the country

2:30:41and even in the county. Um, we have, um, in addition to this maker space, there's one at the Brentwood Library and there is one planned for the new Bayoint Library. Um, the maker spaces are for um, active hands-on learning. They often include things like options for sewing

2:31:00machines and sewing classes, 3D printing classes, laser cutting classes, Legos, uh sometimes even cooking classes, and all kinds of other uh hands-on activities and classes for all ages.

2:31:15We just kind of have to shove all that stuff everywhere else. And sometimes outside. Sometimes outside.

2:31:25Um this also this is um the Pleasant Hill Libraryies uh marketplace area.

2:31:30They call it the explore zone. So you can see it's close to the selfch checkckout machines on the right hand side. You can see the staff desk there.

2:31:38And um these are all the uh bestsellers um that folks really want to see when they first walk in the library.

2:31:47Um silent areas in the library. Um although our libraries are really very active community centers, um it's still critical that we provide these silent areas for members of the public who um are studying, perhaps working remotely, or maybe they just want a place to um

2:32:07relax and silence. Um and so for that reason, we do recommend that all of our libraries have these separate areas for um silence. Um, sometimes they're just uh nooks like here in the uh Walnut Creek Library and um in the Pleasant Hill Library is actually a separate room

2:32:26with um the doors that close and silence is required in both of these areas. And I do believe that's the Oh, and um you're right. No silent. This is really actually in our adult section we have cordoned off some of the tables so there is a silent area at those tables from 10

2:32:48to two because we're scrappy.

2:32:51Yes, they they do a lot with very little. Um so just in summary um all of these spaces are really designed specifically um for certain ages and specific activities.

2:33:06um and they're separated out and made appropriate uh so that they don't interfere with each other's activities.

2:33:13Lots of different things can be happening at the same time. You can have a very uh noisy uh children's program while you still have the ability for people to work silently. Um they're flexible. We don't know what our community's needs are going to be in several years, but they're designed

2:33:33specifically so that the furniture is movable, the spaces can be um uh changed for evolving needs. Um technology is integrated throughout all of these spaces. Um there's clear separation for quiet spaces and more active spaces and um the facilities are right in that

2:33:54sweet spot range which really for us is right around 20,000 square feet.

2:34:01Thank you.

2:34:04Okay. Um, thanks. Uh, that was a great summary. Next, we're going to talk about the the scenarios that we've all created as part of of some options for the city to consider. So, next slide.

2:34:19There's five options.

2:34:21The first one is to again renovate the existing 6,500 square foot library.

2:34:28Option two, rebuild and expand the existing library to 13,000 square feet.

2:34:35Option three, build a 20,000 foot library in the transitory development.

2:34:43Option four, build a standalone new library at 20,000 foot on a new site yet to be determined.

2:34:52Option five, renovate an existing 20,000t building into a new library.

2:34:58Next slide.

2:35:00So scenario one existing library of course um the investment in this option would to upgrade the building um fix some 88 requirements.

2:35:14It it does not address the size deficiency or the service gaps as we've talked about.

2:35:20It's a short-term solution focused on keeping doors open and still limited on services for a modern library.

2:35:29Next slide.

2:35:32Scenario two, to rebuild and expand the existing library to 13,000 square feet.

2:35:39It's still is below your peer libraries based on per capita and services and and the recommendation for 20,000 square feet.

2:35:49It conflicts with the county's preference for singlestory libraries because this option would have to go into a twotory scenario.

2:35:57A little bit of higher operating staff and cost. It's partial improvement but limited to long-term value. Next slide.

2:36:06Scenario three is to build a 20,000t library in the to colllocated with transit other community amenities.

2:36:17assumes a long-term 90 year 99-year lease requires development agreement of coordination with that the TOD developer of course but most importantly it it will give you that modern library experience within the space that that developer could offer. Next slide.

2:36:39Scenario four is to build again the standalone 20,000 library on a new site yet to be determined that gives you purpose-built facility and customize that to all the modern programs and amenities uh that's been going on in the marketplace. It does require property

2:36:59acquisition to be determined requires analysis of loss sales property tax revenue and it aligns with the best practices on delivering services for that 20,000 square ft. Next slide.

2:37:15Then scenario five is to go renovate an existing building yet to be determined.

2:37:20Um you know you can you can reuse an existing building based on um you know the height of the and stuff like that.

2:37:28It still requires property acquisition, comparable service to new construction and potentially the shorter lifespan because it's an existing building. Next slide.

2:37:43So yes, the budget overview um scenario one again renovating the existing library between construction escalation escalation and layman's is the inflationary pressure that is put on the construction industry.

2:38:02Um and that combines uh cost of labor, cost of material increases and cost of the market in itself. So that that's kind of a factor that we use based on and it's driven by time. So obviously scenario one is much less soft cost or anything from design and testing

2:38:20inspection things like that contingencies we always carry. So at the end of the day for a little over $10 million you're you're still in your existing building but it's it's very insufficient on size and what it can deliver.

2:38:34Scenario two again is to rebuild and expand the existing library that has again construction costs, escalation soft costs, some contingencies.

2:38:46The reason that appears much higher is that you know based on parking ratios for libraries and based on the footprint of that existing site, you might have to build a parking structure to get the library parked. and going to 13,000 square foot, you you're going to be out

2:39:03of real estate to do all service parking. You're going to have to do some form of structured parking. That's what that red item is. Scenario three at the to construction cost, escalation, soft cost, contingencies.

2:39:22Um there is no parking need over there.

2:39:25There's no parking structure.

2:39:28That is a total of a little over 37 million.

2:39:32Scenario four, build a standalone library and a new site. Again, you have similar construction costs for new building that that requires probably one of the longest durations of the cycle. So, the escalation is higher soft cost or or formulaic. You still have contingencies.

2:39:54you still have a parking need. Uh based on what site you would choose to do that and what your zoning code is for for uh parking, that could require parking structure which we've accounted for and still you have to do acquisition cost.

2:40:10And finally, scenario five, renovate the existing library at 20,000 square foot.

2:40:18uh that is based on buying an existing building that would be suitable for library services acquisition costs and things like that. All of these everybody are obviously rough order magnitudes, conceptual thoughts, conceptual approaches um to get the council and and everybody

2:40:38you know understanding what these options are today. Next slide.

2:40:45the investment needed, you know, uh options are, of course, the 10 million, keep your existing library operational, but again, you're going to be having that building at that size, uh that lack of space um for the next cycle. The other option, of course, is to come up

2:41:04with a range of cost and investment, whether it's the transit, the TOD site, whether it's a brand new site. Now you're talking about modernizing your services, being up the size of other libraries, delivering the services the community uh expects and under and under

2:41:23best practices.

2:41:26Next slide.

2:41:28Great.

2:41:28That's what Yeah, thank you so much Gary and I I can take over here. Um but so in short to wrap up here as you heard to keep the Elserto Library operational well into the 21st century basically investment is needed. At the low end the city would need to identify about $10 million to

2:41:46renovate the existing library space. As you know from our general fund reports that we do regularly. The city has built up more than 20 million in reserves. But much of that savings is for a true emergency and to ensure we're meeting financial best practices. So, in other

2:42:01words, based on our projections, there really doesn't appear to be room to use existing reserves or to take out debt even for the $10 million option. There have been grants available in the past, looking at the second bullet here, but unfortunately uh they often are have

2:42:16substantial match requirements and Elsto also hasn't been uh included as eligible often uh because we're not a disadvantaged community.

2:42:25Uh importantly, we're not aware of any grants at the moment that would fund uh the library project that we have in mind uh here in El Certo. And so last that leaves the option of new revenue.

2:42:37Um based on our general fund projections, it's staff's recommendation that really the only way to proceed with one of the options included here is to identify new revenue uh for the capital investments that are outlined.

2:42:50So next steps. So, we'll continue certainly to work with Griffin Structures to refine these scenarios and cost estimates. But second, and notably, staff is recommending that the city council create a task force of Elsto residents that can really dig into this topic further and make a recommendation

2:43:06to the city council on how to proceed.

2:43:08We're imagining recruiting people with diverse viewpoints on the library to review all the documents the city has developed a bit to date, even going back 20 years, uh, to look at all the various site options that were looked at previously. From there, the task force

2:43:22would take the lead on facilitating community engagement about the library.

2:43:27Notably, if funding is identified this year, the task force could analyze the options and make a recommendation to council about which scenario to pursue.

2:43:35And from there, the task force could also take the lead on coordinating community engagement about how the library should be designed. On the other hand, if funding is not identified this year, the task force could work with staff and the city council to plan for

2:43:47interim investments to keep the library open and maintain current operations in the coming years.

2:43:53And so that really concludes our presentation, but I'm here to answer questions as is Allison McKe, Gary Chub, Karen Pinkinis, and the community development director, uh, Melanie Mintz.

2:44:04So, thank you.

2:44:05Okay. Thank you very much for this presentation. Uh, we'll bring it back here. Any questions? Uh, okay. We'll start over here on my left. Uh, Council Member Tan, go ahead.

2:44:19Thank you, Will. I appreciate your presentation. I have just a couple questions.

2:44:25I am curious why there's one scenario 6.5 million, the other 4.7 million allocated towards a parking structure, but it was stated that there's no need for parking. No, no parking need, in other words, for the BART station. And I I just find that perplexing because one

2:44:42of the concerns that people have is the lack of parking. And why is that acceptable at the BART station but not acceptable at one of the other sites?

2:44:51Sure. And and I'm happy to answer that and could be supplemented perhaps by Melanie Mint or others. Um but essentially, we did a study with BART the I and I'm going to get this wrong, but the Berkeley Elserto corridor access plan, the BCAT. Thank you. Uh and and we

2:45:05studied the area around the Elsa Plaza TOD project and determined that there is adequate street parking to meet the demands of BART, the um the library and all users in the area, current residents. And so based on that study, um we decided to undertake the parking

2:45:20management action plan, which I spoke about earlier, and that will determine how parking is managed in the area to make sure that there's free and easy parking for library users. Um, and really the plans that's already been entitled doesn't have parking for the

2:45:33for the library at that location because we believe that we can't handle it on the street. At the other locations, it's Griffin Structures determination based on, you know, building libraries elsewhere that parking would be the ideal option to include, especially at

2:45:46like uh the Stockton location. It's surrounded on three sides, one by the BART tracks, two sides by the school.

2:45:52Um, there's not a lot of street funage as you know if you go to the library today. And so adding additional square footage and amenities in an ideal scenario, you'd have additional parking.

2:46:01Um it's up ultimately up to the city council to build parking there. You could build a library there or elsewhere without parking um for any number of reasons, but for now in terms of these order of magnitude estimates, uh Griffin Structures wanted to be sure they're

2:46:15including the option and what it would take to include parking. Okay, just may you probably know this already, but the perception amongst many people will be that it's not really comparing apples to apples and that it again sort of shifts it towards a preferred scenario

2:46:31and subtotal it.

2:46:33I just think that's that's an important factor to know that people are going to look at that and say, well, it's kind of convenient that it's not part of this other facility.

2:46:43Um the other thing I just make a comment in talking about the task force it seemed to be the implication was that they could look at different sites yet it council has made it very clear that there's no interest in the other sites.

2:46:56So I just how do you reconcile that?

2:46:58Well the task force would be formed at council's direction um and and we've been working on the to project at council's direction. and it's in the strategic plan. Um, but that was what staff is proposing to be able to come back and and the city manager could support me here, but um to come back to

2:47:12the to the council after looking at these various site options and making a recommendation um and certainly once funding funding is secured. Uh but ultimately if council direct, you know, it'd be up to you all.

2:47:23Yeah. And I'll just expand on that. Um again the reason that we have been focusing on the BART DoD project is because it has been at the direction of the council since 2016. So for the last 10 years so we still have looked at other sites because we don't want to

2:47:41necessarily exclude it. We have done site feasibility analysis different uh scenarios over the years and it but it certainly has been a few years. There's nothing wrong with taking a look and updating, you know, and and these numbers again as um as uh as they said are conceptual and again allow a

2:48:03lot of different um uh feasibilities or different things like parking or excluding parking or those types of things. But again, it's conceptual and that's why we think that a task force, which we, you know, certainly we've heard from the community that they want

2:48:18to be engaged in this process. Um, they want to make sure that, you know, we're looking at updated numbers. These again are conceptual numbers, but they're as updated as we have. We can dig deeper, as Will said, into this. And um if the current direction is the most feasible

2:48:37then that could be information for the council. If there is something that you know happens or we find something or we can you know come up with some other creative idea um as you know there's a very there's a der of public land out there. uh we don't own much and um the

2:48:54other public land that's out there would be owned by the school district and we went down that road before certainly open to talking to them again of course um or you know another site it's just that we need just need to be very mindful that all of these different

2:49:10concepts um are just that unless we know we do have funding. So that is kind of one piece of the puzzle. But the other piece is again I'm happy to, you know, answer questions. I'm happy to to I have a drawer full of uh 20 years worth of documentation over the over time of how

2:49:30long the city's been looking at a new library and the various options that we've looked at before. And I'm happy to share that with, you know, a task force or the community or however the council wants to do it. But we thought a task force would be a really good way to

2:49:43bring in people even with varying opinions on whether or not uh they believe the library is a good idea. We heard a lot of that tonight. I you know if the council goes for this I hope you all apply for a task force so that we can have different differing views and

2:49:58and and have that conversation um and really sus out what the feasibility actually is. And you know again I'll say the council has directed us in this direction because that was at the time certainly the last 10 years the most feasible option but happy to look at it

2:50:14again and happy to dig in so that you know the council has as much information as possible to tell us do you want us to continue to go in this direction which is what you've been saying for 10 years or do you want us to go into another direction and at the end of the day task

2:50:29force or no task force that is up to the city council. Um if if I could add just for a moment on that. Uh this is Melanie Mintz, the community development director. Um as I heard in the previous item, um council member Saltzman pointed out that the parcel C west where the

2:50:47library is um um identified to potentially go if the city has the funding was entitled for two projects.

2:50:54So one is without the library and one is with the library. And I think it's an important point in terms of the task force. there will be a moment. So that the the tod started as an afford as a mixed income um housing project, right?

2:51:07So it's primarily BART's main purpose was to uh build housing at that site both market rate and affordable. We did through entering into anou and doing the RFQ solicited developers who could show both both. So I think the reason that's important is because the task force

2:51:26while it's there's an there's a window to look at if there is a different opportunity does somebody want to donate land you know um so looking at what what's on the market at the time how much it really costs but there will be a moment in time that the develop and we

2:51:40have not entered into a development agreement we have through the entitlement through uh through the work of all the parties we've um identified many pieces but the development agreement is when we're really committed. So at that moment um when that project is ready to go into what

2:51:54they call vertical design so the entire site plan has been identified um but when it's ready to go because it's getting its funding ready then the city will have to determine whether it's in or not. If it moves forward without us then the only thing we have is those

2:52:09maybe options. So I think the idea with the task force, if I can add to that, is to get clear so that if we do want to catch that wave, we have time to be able to get into the ground floor design with them.

2:52:21I absolutely agree and I one thing you point out I think is important is that you you know talked about the need to have the task force information out there early and in multiple conversations I've had about it. I'm constantly hearing that the task force is something that

2:52:36would happen once the funding is approved and I I object to that because I think that task force information is part of what informs voters to make their decision and I would call for it to be done ahead of time and not wait until afterwards and again that would be up to the city

2:52:50council. Okay, probably want to vote.

2:52:55Just to build on that because as as I think was also stated earlier is the funding if approved could apply to any of those scenarios, right? So I agree with you that it could be before but similarly without that funding none of those scenarios are actually viable and

2:53:11so including including renovating the current library.

2:53:14Right. Right. Um, and and I will and I will also say that, you know, if the council directs us to um to to bring back information to bring back a a resolution for consideration for the task force, we would do that in February and get the ball rolling. Um, if that's

2:53:30what the council wants to do, again, that's up to the that's totally up to the city council. But we would be prepared. we would prepare a scope of work uh for the resolution that the council can talk about and uh we could talk about that then but it I what we would seek tonight would be direction

2:53:46toward creating that task force and then council uh staff would put that together and bring it back um in February.

2:53:53Okay. Thank you. Who's next? Who would like to speak?

2:53:59Go ahead. And just to clarify, we're just doing questions right now because I have lots of comments, but it seems like we've gone that direction, but just questions. Okay, so just on questions, I had the same question about parking structures. I mean, you've all heard me

2:54:12talk about parking many times. I'm also skeptical if the other sites need parking structures. Um, so just want to put that on the record that I think if we have a task force or whatever we have going forward, if we're considering other sites, we should look at all of

2:54:28the options. Spending that much money on parking, I think, is not a good city investment. Um, and then I had questions about how the property acquisition costs were estimated. So I assume you looked at some actual properties, like how how did you come to those numbers?

2:54:47That's right. And and Gary Chub can speak to this best. Uh but essentially how how the parking and how the parking uh the land acquisition costs were determined was looking at the market and what's available now. Um and so to your point about parking, basically the what

2:55:01the land that they found on the market on San Pablo Avenue now that could accommodate a library didn't have surface parking or room for surface parking. And so that necessitated the need for a parking garage in that scenario. Uh but so too, maybe in the future there is a parcel that's

2:55:17available that has plenty of surface parking and then you certainly wouldn't need to pay for additional $6 million uh for example for parking. U but just just on land acquisition that was very much driven by market data and what's available today. Um but but as some

2:55:32people have pointed out, why didn't you buy this parcel or that parcel? We can only really mark cost out what's for sale. So, so I guess I'm wondering like were there multiple places actually for sale that are good comps? Like that's why I'm just trying to understand how

2:55:46you got this information. So I don't know if Yeah, there was one and we can hand it off to Gary. But the other thing to say is we're working with uh Griffin to finalize a full report so that everyone can see all the assumptions that were made. Um but Gary, go ahead.

2:56:00No, I think I think Will you do a good job explaining how we approached it. We we had to we just went to the market in the the opportunities for properties that would be coming for sale. Um whether it's a vacant site for a new building or an existing uh building. And

2:56:17we just surveyed um what's going on in the marketplace and just kind of um calculated an average cost of a property acquisition. It was that simple. Now, that can change in the future, but that's the data points we had, you know, at the time.

2:56:33And I don't have it off the top of my head. Naisa might if she's behind me.

2:56:37Um, but AutoZone, for example, just was bought from CVS. We bought the church.

2:56:41So, we do the the property values are still quite high and property owners are still holding pretty high expectations for what those properties are worth.

2:56:50Yes, I'm not questioning the figures. I just wanted to know there's not a lot on the market. So, I wanted to know how you got these figures. So, I'll be I'll look forward to seeing more. And then just one more question for scenario number one and two. Do these include the costs

2:57:06of renting a space for when construction is happening? Because that we can't have a library closed for years. Like I'm going to put my foot down on that. Can't have no library for years. So that's an important point. And no, I don't think those are that's in the

2:57:20So I think we need this updated with that cost because that's not well not just the renting but the moving everything the renting. I don't know, probably Heidi and Allison could tell us some other costs if any other libraries have done this, but I assume they would

2:57:34not be insignificant costs. Um, and we need to consider that um in in considering if we would go forward with scenario one or two, which I would not recommend, but I think we should put all the data out there about the true costs.

2:57:50Thank you.

2:57:50Okay, Council Member Mo.

2:57:53Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for the staff and Mr. Chub for the presentation.

2:57:58Um I have a couple of questions on the conceptual statement of probable costs as well. Um first is looking at scenario three and scenario four. I was wondering why the assumption is that the TOD base construction cost would be higher than the standalone.

2:58:20Yeah, I can shed some light on that. So, at the at the TOD site and the fact that it's uh what we call podium construction where you have underground parking, you have a a street level presence whether it's retail or a library and you have housing above it. Um every every

2:58:39building needs four walls, a floor and a ceiling. Okay. So at the to site when we analyze this and and this is be subject to the developer um refining their cost they had given us an estimate um that we factored into the four walls and a roof and a ceiling. The type of construction

2:59:01over there is just slightly more expensive than if you started from scratch on dirt. And that's due to over there is there's going to be multiple floors of concrete reinforced structure to hold up the building. The cost per foot on the floor and the and the ceilings just a little higher than if

2:59:20you start on a native site. That's it.

2:59:23Okay. And um I had a question about scenario five and the property acquisition cost. So um does that 11.5 million include um loss of property taxes as well and sales tax or is that just kind of you know rent? I mean what what is the 11.5 for that makes it so much different

2:59:52than just buying a site on a standalone basis?

2:59:57So I believe that the standalone meant that a a vacant site whereas the other obvious like AutoZone that bought CVS that would have a higher property value because it's for the for the whole facility and it does not include you can see the note on the bottom. It does not

3:00:12include the loss of property tax or the sales tax that's generated from those properties.

3:00:17Um, and yeah, and just to say that out loud in a footnote, um, our finance team estimated that it's about $200,000 a year from a parcel that's could accommodate a 20,000 foot library, uh, in all those taxes that the city generates.

3:00:33That uh, notably that's at the current value.

3:00:39If that property were to sell to somebody else and be reassessed and be higher value like Harbor Freight or something ended up being, then it would be worth more than that, right? The loss would be more than that if that were to occur if we didn't buy it and somebody

3:00:54else did. Um, so I think that that was that's conservative based on what it would currently be.

3:01:00Okay. Thank you. Um yeah, I think having the underlying assumptions uh laid out would make it really easier to understand and I hope that in the final report or the next report from um RIFF instructors that we could have kind of those details because I think you know

3:01:20assumptions are all always assumptions but it's good to see kind of what they are so that informs kind of what we're seeing.

3:01:30So I think you know you know on this I do agree with um council member about looking at different sites and understanding you know what what we've looked at before and I think some of those sites are still available. Um, I think you know what, um, city manager Pinkos is saying about, you know, public

3:01:52land like this school district land or anything that we might own, which is not very much, but that there are no taxes on those right now. So, we're not losing anything by building a non-taxed structure on it. So, I think there's lots of these considerations that are in

3:02:11there, but not obvious. And I think it would be great to tease more of that out. Thank you.

3:02:18Okay. Thank you. We'll go to uh council member.

3:02:20I do have one quick question and you mentioned repeatedly the the auto zone that bought CVS. I mean we know and our city manager has mentioned and just driving around the town we know to be frank there's very little space to build a 20,000 foot library um from the ground

3:02:37up. Um there's a lot of assumptions out there about a lot of the spaces where people think we can build. Some people said the old McNevan. These are places that are owned. Some which are not available. Some who are not even doing their own due diligence to to build to

3:02:51sell to someone else. So was there any other real when we're if we're going to spend time talking about other sites, was there any other real tangible location besides the AutoZone that you all identified as a possible place to build a library?

3:03:08Yes. And I'm going from recollection here. Um, but we did look at I think what part of the underlying uh estimate here is the old Elmono site just south of Eureka that was on the market and a basis for this estimate. Um, so there was there was at least one and and Gary

3:03:24might have more.

3:03:25Okay. That was that's very important because that's another one of those pieces of information when we're talking about making sure that we're being clear and open and transparent. I want us to be a process forward. Um, you know, council, as I said just a a moment ago,

3:03:41there's a lot of things that people think, but we as the council were elected to know. We as the council, everyone doesn't have as much information or know what we need to do, we need to do, but I want to make sure we're being processed forward and letting the community know what that

3:03:54process is, what can done, and what quite frankly can't be done. So, thank you for that. Just to add on that, we did in the last the last round of this, we did look at various properties when Guitar Center, for example, um was one that was available at the time. Um

3:04:11and that is part of why we ended up moving towards the BART site. Um also, as you all see, obviously, Marshall's is there. Uh at this point, they're looking for commercial not. So, when you're talking about I mean, AutoZone has been open for a a bit now. Guitar Center has

3:04:28been gone for a while. So when were when were these inquiries about property?

3:04:32When was this?

3:04:32Well, the thing I was going to share is when we all when we have looked into that and then I want to bring up the plaza quickly as well. Um markets are funny. If you have if you have the money, sometimes you can persuade a seller, right? Um sometimes you can't.

3:04:49Um and so they have their own expectations of price and it depends on various times of the economy. So when we did ask for example at one point it was going to be a housing project where Harbor Freight ended up buying and we did ask them at the same time like would

3:05:01you consider a library they were like do you have the money we we don't we don't wait right so they so they move quickly similarly I want to share I know that you earlier and you brought up the plaza the the those two sites are key property sales tax generating obviously sites and

3:05:17the Regency is actively um looking to fill those and they usually only fill those for 10-year options. not 99 years of course. So I just want to kind of share those are that's a it's a it's an active shopping center um and the costs would be you we've we've talked to them

3:05:33and they would rent it like they do other sites as well as they their other tenants can um require certain parking kind of configurations. Um so I just wanted to kind of bring that up because it gets brought up often. So I and I recognize that the task force could look

3:05:47into all of those things and we could provide deeper detail on all of those, but they're not they're not just sitting there not actively being explored for for Well, the only reason I asked that question is because again, Harbor Freight has been there for a while. So,

3:06:02you know, that means that the the the window is closing the window is closing on on properties or whether these are properties that are being snatched up for for housing. Um, so I just wanted to make sure that we're putting that out there into the world so people know. I

3:06:16mean, a lot of us drive around El Crito a lot. A lot of these properties that people think are open properties are not. And those prices are going to change depending on, like you said, the market being funny, the market changing, what the what motivates the seller. All

3:06:30of those things are going to affect those numbers. So, thank you.

3:06:34Okay. Um, Melanie, I have a question regarding parking. Um, didn't we receive $29 million um for a parking structure and uh and to set up that new parking system that uh was supposed to be done?

3:06:53Yes. So, it is what we call turipo trans inner city rail. Um um something that I think uh council member Motoyama um mentioned earlier when the plaza project started and some people have pointed out that they've seen this word 64 parking spaces um I also heard uh Will talk earlier

3:07:16about the study and I wish my my numbers were at the top of my head but we looked at the time in order for the TOD to even occur to look at replacement park where would BART riders park etc. We did studies to show how much uh parking was available within a quarter within a

3:07:30quarter mile walking distance. And uh I wish I had that number at the top of my head again. We could provide it um um another time, but it's but it was more than enough parking spaces. So we talked about that. And then we also just as council member Saltzman um when we were

3:07:44working with the developers to look at the parking structures that would be built. Um, similarly to what uh, Council Member Saltzman said, and I think you did earlier also, Council Member Muayama, we talked to council as well about the costs. It would be several

3:07:58million dollars. Would we want that to go into a library or to building an even bigger structure on that site? Um, so with that money, you're right, it's the parking studies and it is also contributing to building the parking structure for the housing and the 125

3:08:12spaces that are going to be provided as structured parking for BART riders. So there is a parking structure at the plaza to as I remember it was 250 spaces. Is that correct? I think it's 125 for the BART riders and I think upward of maybe 200 for the rest of the development

3:08:33and that includes parking for the library as well.

3:08:35That does not. So the parking for the library is on street. So that is for BART riders is the public parking about 125 and the rest is for residents. And then on street parking as Will mentioned would be managed for commercial and library two-hour parking free two-hour

3:08:52parking for people who are there for the dentists, the library, and that we those are our streets, right? Um and so we can manage those like other commercial districts to make sure that people can do drop off for BART. Um we also did do studies for the for that site to look to

3:09:09make sure that the libraries were needs were met in terms of uh book drop off in terms of books being transferred from facility to facility. Um and so that is being um further detailed. But the street part, so while there is not structured parking, there is going to be

3:09:23parking prov there would be if that's the site that's selected, there is parking provided. It's it's street parking and as Will said, those frontages are large. It's a commercial area on a grid and so there's uh quite a bit of parking.

3:09:36I remember it was a parking structure that was going to be built and uh um and that would include uh uh four uh BART riders, right? Um, yeah. So, thank you.

3:09:47So, to our bloggers, uh, who've been asking about parking, now you know, uh, there will be some parking available.

3:09:54So, uh, and we did get $29 million for that. So, um, and that was, uh, a while ago. So, there will be some parking available. Um, so I want to make sure that we work on what we need to work on, and that is to set up a um, you know, we we need to set up the special committee.

3:10:13Um so um city manager Karen Pinkis what's your idea when it comes to um you know uh setting up this um citizens committee and mayor just a reminder we do have to do public comment before actions taken.

3:10:30Sure.

3:10:30Um well as I've been listening to all of you I think this is helping us formulate uh what we believe the scope of work would be uh for the committee and uh for the task force. the task force tends to be um uh in in our structure in boards, commissions, and committees. Um as I've

3:10:48as I've also worked on this over time uh in my time here, you know, boards and commissions tend to be those ones that are seeing that are seated and they're permanent and they're they have a specific job. Committees tend to be a little bit more broader and more working

3:11:02group type and task forces have always been somewhat um uh temporary or specific for uh for a certain purpose.

3:11:11Uh we're we're recommending a task force at this point because you know the duration would be unknown at this point.

3:11:18If the council wanted to choose to make it permanent later on there's an option to do that or dismiss the task force when they feel they're done. that we don't have to address that now, but I'm just explaining why we're calling it a task force. Um, generally speaking, we

3:11:31would come up with various scopes of work. Um, we would put that in a resolution and bring that back to the council and then the council would go through the process as you do for boards and commissions. I believe um the committee structure where people come to

3:11:46the meeting and it's nominated by the committee wouldn't fit here. I think that particularly the council wants to be intentional about who they choose um to make sure that it's a diverse array of opinions and folks um interested. Um I believe that a youth member or members

3:12:02should be considered. We would suggest that maybe someone from elsewhere Ohio or a or a youth resident um that goes to another high school in the area I think would be a very good critical component for this. So those are the things that I've thought of so far. We would bring

3:12:16that to the council. You can we can talk about that further at that time when I when we bring the the proposed resolution to council. You can add subtract what have you and have that conversation and then the council would you know we would open the applications

3:12:29we would do interviews and that could take probably at least a couple of months to just do that. So if we were able to um bring this back to the council in February, we could we could seat someone in late we could seat the task force um and begin meeting again if

3:12:44that's the council's direction um in late spring.

3:12:46Okay. Very good. Okay, let's now go to public comment.

3:12:53May I ask Melanie one quick question?

3:12:55Yeah, go ahead.

3:12:57Could you explain who the lease would be for 99 years? Is it leasing it from the owner ownership entity or the lease at the to uh the dollar a year? So, it would be a ground lease and then uh the city attorney can uh chime in if I get this wrong. It would be a ground lease from BART for a dollar a

3:13:15year for 99 years, which would be the same structure that the developers are getting in with BART. So BART does not sell its property and council member Saltzman could uh talk to that, but Bart Bart has a policy that it does not sell it at at uh fee simple and so it does

3:13:30long leases which will so related and Holiday would both also be getting in ground leases like that. But we would have the the the first floor ground lease and then the costs of construction would be us handling the portion of construction that's would be for the

3:13:46library but it would not be for the land. Does that I was just curious. I was surprised that Holiday and Related would get a 99 year lease and I sort of assumed it would be leased from them but what you said makes sense.

3:13:57Yeah. So I don't so I I I don't have you know that lease is uh between property developers and BART but similarly right in order for them and there's all kinds of structures of if they were to sell it at some point the operating agreements and so BART um but in order to invest in

3:14:12that type of housing right I'll just just chime in to say obviously Vice Mayor Salsman would be in a much better position but our understanding um after significant amount of conversation with BART is that their standard model for all of these BART projects is that

3:14:28they um after having selected the development team and negotiating the terms enter into an option agreement and when the developers are ready to move forward with a phase of the project, they exercise the option. But what what they're getting as the option is a

3:14:42ground lease that includes the air rights for the construction of the property.

3:14:46Um I'd just like to just add one more piece while we're on this. BART does have a policy where wherein the costs of their lease is different if it's affordable housing than if it's market rate. Uh so they have a discount policy for affordable housing to also contribute to that. Um and then

3:15:02similarly, just because it's come up tonight about property taxes, the BART property is obviously currently not taxed as a public agency. Um going forward, affordable housing is also does not generate property tax, but the market rate does. So that property that

3:15:17is not current, there'd be two market rate buildings. And so as this project proceeds, that pro the the property itself would be generating significant property tax.

3:15:26And just to add as well, um so we'd have the long-term ground lease, but also have ownership rights too in all the improvements. So just to be clear with the community, we would own the improvements much like a condo.

3:15:36Very good. We're going to do uh public comment now. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments regarding this item. Request to speak can be submitted by the uh to the city clerk by completing a speaker card.

3:15:50Public comments will be taken in person only. Please remember to identify yourself and your city of residents at the beginning of your comments. Madam city clerk, please proceed.

3:16:00Thank you, mayor. We have 13 requests to speak on this item. Um I'll go to our first request with uh our first speaker, Paul Fidelli, followed by Jim Delganis.

3:16:11Okay, let's go two and a half minutes.

3:16:13Okay, give me one second, Mr. Fidelli.

3:16:24Okay, you can begin.

3:16:25Um, good evening, Mayor Kinto and council members. Um, I'm Paul Fidelli from Elserto and I'm so pleased to to see that the city is continuing to move forward toward more community discussion, a report, and hopefully a vote this year on developing a much needed new library in Elserto.

3:16:43Comparing possible real locations is important for all of us to do. Some have suggested that the Elserto Plaza location is not the best. I hope that that by making those comparisons it will become evident that it is in fact I believe it's an exceptional site. It's

3:17:02next to the city's biggest retail district next to BART ny transit bus connections near San Pablo Avenue the city post office Harding Elementary School bike lanes and the aloney greenway.

3:17:14Um, and yes, when we make our decision on how we might vote for this uh vote coming up this year, there will be individual and community cost that we must all consider to pay for this undertaking. But let's remember libraries have always been a long have had a long history of providing great

3:17:34economic return on investment. At the recent council retreat, council members seem to agree that economic development should be a major priority in 2026.

3:17:44In my view, a new library near the plaza would cement a muchneeded new center of activity and help generate that new economic development. That action would also say to the East Bay and the rest of the world that having come back from some tough financial uh challenges in

3:18:01Elserto, our city is optimistic again about its future. And I think that is well worth the cost. Thank you.

3:18:10Thank you. Our next speaker is Jim Delganis, followed by Georgina Edwards.

3:18:15Good evening.

3:18:18Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Jim Delggonis, Elserto resident. I'd like to talk about the options as well or scenarios as they're represented. I was first going to note that it didn't appear that the rental costs were included in options one and two and it

3:18:36looks like we already know that. I think we would want to see those included.

3:18:42Obviously, options one and two don't really meet the needs that we've, you know, heard many people talk about. So, let's talk about options four and five, both of which I think are faulty for a number of reasons.

3:18:58taking properties outside off the tax base in a city that's always, you know, trying to balance the budget, I just think is a non-starter. That's just not a good long-term direction for us. The other thing is I'm understanding that these sites are probably sites on San Pablo Avenue. I think

3:19:23there's some significant public safety issues there. You know, um I've heard the mayor talk about uh when he was growing up using the library. So, you think about all the kids are going to be out dealing with the street that is the busiest street. I I just think that

3:19:43doesn't make any sense. I would hope that whatever analysis we do, we have as one factor public safety. So, you know, I am very much in favor of uh looking at other options. I think there are some more. Uh the city manager mentioned the school property that's sitting there

3:20:04vacant. Um obviously that's not an easy negotiation, but that ought to be looked at. I think there are some other city properties that I won't mention right now that could be built on too. they do have other activities and so there would have to be some accommodations there but

3:20:22I don't see any of these current scenarios uh that are presented other than the TOD project is really being viable so I hope we look at other scenarios and the TOD project. Thank you.

3:20:35Thank you.

3:20:36Our next speaker is Georgina Edwards followed by Tom Shri.

3:20:41Hello council. My name is Georgina Edwards. I've been living in El Certo as an involved community member since 2005.

3:20:49I live in a multigenerational household which includes my mom 85, my son 20, and my daughter 16 who was in in that video with you, Carolyn, and she had a lot of fun. We're very proud Elsen's here. Um, and I have been a big library supporter and involved in in the most recent

3:21:09measure 10 years ago. So, I'm I'm very delighted to be part of a group um of of community members bringing forth um this new project. A new modern 20,000 square foot library could include resources for our city's people in the case of a dire emergency, things our old library cannot

3:21:28provide. The new library would have clean air through air filters, air conditioning to remedy climate change, stability in the case of a major earthquake, and be a temporary place of refuge for people without homes to live in. Be a place for food, water, emergency healthc care, a community

3:21:45gathering place and resource. Libraries are more than books. We're a city of over 25,000 and growing, and we need this resource to be able to respond to a wide variety of needs. The city council was presented survey results. Several people have said that indicate seven out

3:22:03of 10 residents surveyed want a new public library. The proposed tax measure would pay for that new library. Any of these scenarios are a possibility based on task force and whatever else uh city council um will put in place. And I know because I also came to the um planning

3:22:22retreat. Um appreciate how open you are to having community members uh engage and learn your your thinking process and your structures. Um I know that you're planning to have um a very robust community me community engagement um uh part of of this whole decision-making process. Everyone that

3:22:42wants a new library should vote yes on the proposed tax measure and let the city council know they want it now.

3:22:49Thank you.

3:22:51Our next speaker is Tom Shri, followed by Marty Snell.

3:23:07Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Tom Shrive. I'm a 23 year old 23 year resident of our beautiful city.

3:23:18Yeah. No, I'm a little littleer than that. Um I'm here to speak in support of a new library, not just the proposed library tax. The projected cost has somehow ballooned from 21 million to as high as 45 million plus an unknown increase by the time construction actually begins.

3:23:37We would be asked to vote for a 30-year tax without knowing where will it be located, what will it look like, when will construction start, when will it be ready, and what will the final cost be?

3:23:50But we start paying this tax this December regardless.

3:23:56And why is the size projected to be 20,000 square feet? Is this determined by the BART footprint or the needs of the city? The state of California library standard suggests 0.5 square feet per capita, meaning our city would need about 12,500 square feet.

3:24:17That is right about the size of the existing library. Uh the proposed rebuild of the existing library.

3:24:25Um also library usage is declining. The Institute for Museum and Library Services shows a significant drop in physical visits, and some reports indicate a 50% decrease over a decade.

3:24:41With all this in mind, a November vote is preferable to educate voters further about the complexities.

3:24:49Our family does use a library several times a month, and we would be proud to have a new modern library in our city that we own. I believe rebuilding on the existing library site to be the most cost-effective and appropriate location.

3:25:04Thank you.

3:25:06Our next speaker is Marty Snell, followed by Diane Brener, followed by uh Michael Cohen.

3:25:16Good evening, mayor, city council members, and city staff. My name is Marty Snell, and I can't talk. I'm a recent resident of Elserto. I moved here three years ago to be closer to my younger daughter and two grandchildren.

3:25:34All of us are avid book readers and use the local library a lot in addition to Albany and Berkeley.

3:25:43It's clear one thing I think we all agree on is the local the current library here is inadequate.

3:25:52When I first learned about the proposal for a new library, I was very excited.

3:25:57But over the last year, I've come to understand that there are some serious issues with the proposal and a lot of miscommunication.

3:26:06The Elserto Plaza is a busy and crowded space. We need to rent. We would have to rent that space and parking is really still in question. We have to have parking.

3:26:19My primary issue though is the neverending property tax for all property owning residents in Elserto.

3:26:29I don't need an additional tax for the next 30 years.

3:26:33There seemed to be many other options for an improved library and they've been discussed especially in the last um 45 minutes.

3:26:42um remodeling and enlarging our existing library perhaps temporarily while the other um solution is underway, adding a mobile library to supplement that. And then there's scenario four and scenario five which have been given some good um coverage tonight.

3:27:03So the idea of using a a balanced task force to study these scenarios I think is excellent but I don't think it should wait it I don't think it should be dependent upon passing the tax beforehand. That is the issue that I think underlies a lot of the discomfort discomfort with um this

3:27:27proposal the never- ending property tax.

3:27:29And finally, um, a November 3rd ballot would probably allow for a much more representative vote than to hold one in June when people would have to come out just for that issue. Thank you.

3:27:47Our next speaker is Michael Cohen, followed by Steve Price.

3:27:56Good evening. I'm Michael Cohen. I've lived in Crito for 50 years.

3:28:03I know it's really hard or difficult to delay something when you have your heart set on it. A while back, this city council decided it would be a good idea to have a new library.

3:28:16They set their heart on it, but there wasn't a plan, there wasn't a site, there wasn't money, and in a vote, the citizens rejected the tax that would support such.

3:28:28Recently, the city council has been talking about this heart's desire again, but once again, we're in the same situation. No money, no sight, and no vote coming.

3:28:41So, is the city council really accepting of this unfair proposal that would that a tax would be collected for years before the library was ever built or be before a site is found? I'm told there's no guarantee that the monies collected would need to be used for the library.

3:29:03So then if it was passed, the tax could be collected right away and used for what?

3:29:12But the building or the site is nowhere near approval.

3:29:17So once again, the citizens of El Certo are presented with a tax measure for a library when there's no site and no plans.

3:29:26So with these items, the city council probably has not yet well considered and not done. I think they owe more consideration to the citizens to do so.

3:29:39I hope that they do that and examine all the facts and then after seeing what we what we hope might come out of it, the city council might say, "Well, we don't have a site, so we can't support the this tax measure. There's too many negatives. There is no real plan."

3:30:02You're asking the people to vote on an empty vessel. the council should make the enormous decisions to go public and say something like, quote, "We've examined the issue and we find that we don't have a site for the library, so we can't support it now. We can't tax the

3:30:20people now. Let's get a real plan before we ask for a tax." Thank you.

3:30:26Our next speaker is Steve Price, followed by BJ Thorns.

3:30:34Again, my name is Steve Price and I've lived in El Certo since 1984.

3:30:39So, um, Walter Kankite said, "Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation."

3:30:50Um, Benjamin Franklin started the first public library in 1731.

3:30:56He said that the value of libraries is that they make yman farmers better educated than aristocrats.

3:31:04and um and he felt that beyond schooling, learning should be a lifelong activity essential to any functioning society, especially a democracy.

3:31:15Um I'd like to address the u the parking issue.

3:31:20Uh and I want to elaborate on what Paul Fidelli said that uh the TOD location is actually a very good location.

3:31:28Um, it's got all the access means, the the mobility means, the the greenway, the 72 bus passes right in front of it if it's at the corner of Liberty and Fairmont. Liberty and Fairmont means that there's four different directions that travelers could approach the library

3:31:48from at that location. Um, it is also in the densest part of the city. So, it's where the missing middle is really demonstrated. We have duplexes, quadplexes, apartment buildings, lots of people nearby who can actually walk a short distance to get to the library. Uh

3:32:08and if you try to locate north of of in the northern part of the city where not only are there lower density but suddenly you have topography that suddenly comes right down closest closer and closer to um the greenway and the B station and uh San Pabell Avenue. So

3:32:29there's more single family detached homes which people are more inclined to hop into a car. So, you know, the the the location on the TOD site is really prime just in terms of getting a higher proportion of people who are going to access it by means other than driving

3:32:48cars uh which is going to reduce the need for any parking structure or whatever. Um and then also just want to uh address uh the location, the Barnes & Noble location. That's Barnes & Noble left because the rents went up too high and we'd have to pay rents at that

3:33:06location.

3:33:07Thank you for your comment.

3:33:08Thank you.

3:33:09Our next speaker is BJ Thorses, followed by Greg Lyman.

3:33:21Hi, council. Happy new year. Uh first of all uh I've uh I'm BJ Thorses and I have lived in El Certo for just almost 50 years. So uh mid70s sometime and uh and I'm older than our library by quite a bit. So there I'm still kicking. Um, I would like to say uh that there is a

3:33:47remind everybody there's a difference between not wanting a library and not wanting this particular plan. I don't think any of us here would turn down a library if a magic wand put one, right?

3:33:59Am I right? Anybody doesn't want a library. We all do and we'd love it. Um, but I have an objection. Mine primarily has to do with the open-ended tax increases henceforth from, you know, for years. And you you're right, William, there will be increases in costs and

3:34:15that's the taxes are going to go up.

3:34:17That's going to affect my main business because I've managed to keep my tenants rents dirt cheap and I mean really I really do subsidize a few of them and I don't know how long I can do that when that kinds of stuff goes on. I that that frightens me more than anything is that

3:34:34there's no guide guard rails on that tax money. I also want to say that um this citizens initiative, it seems to me a way to get the the vote count down. We don't have to have 66%. So, it feels a little bit like trickery to me and I feel a little bit played. It's not a

3:34:52good feeling. Um and it and it it's the other thing the problem with gathering signatures like that is libraries and apple pie. That's part of our culture.

3:35:02You say and I watched it happen. And I watched somebody catching getting signatures and he told this neighbor of mine he want to sign for the new library. Oh yeah, let's have a new library. He signed. He knew nothing about the whole thing. He'd been out of town for a while. He now wants to wishes

3:35:19he hadn't signed. It's very easy to get those signatures. And the person getting the signatures, the only information he gave was the lease is only $1 a year.

3:35:28Can't beat that. So it we got those signatures because it was a new library and not because it of this particular proposal. And I just have to say that I think we can do better than this in terms of the taxes and be a little more protective of the citizens in some way.

3:35:44I mean it's it for me it's really kind of scary. So um anyway that's all I have to say. Uh thank you for your comments.

3:35:54Thought I had more but you're lucky I don't.

3:35:57Our next speaker is Greg Lyman. followed by Michael Fischer.

3:36:01Uh, council members, uh, Greg Lyman, Elsto. Um, without knowing how much funding is available for a new library, the work to define a new library alternative is without direction. The proposed ballot measure will inform you about funding. The sooner the better.

3:36:22um without cost estimates to find project timelines, feasibility reports, you don't have the information to select an alternative. You need more information to make a uh decision. I do want to clarify a few things. The proposed property tax does not get collected until there is a concrete plan

3:36:42to move the library forward. Read please. The proposed tax can solely only solely let me reemphasize that be used for a new library. The amount that can be collected once there is a plan is only 115% of the actual or projected costs. If there are no actual or projected costs, then there is no tax

3:37:11collected.

3:37:13The city needs to use the cost estimates presented tonight as a foundation and continue moving a modern library forward. Time is of the essence. The cost estimate evaluation uh evolution over time only demonstrates the real cost of delay in the need to continue moving forward

3:37:35especially with a June ballot. Although I still believe the Plaza Station Library is the most cost-effective and timely scenario for a 20,000 square foot singlestory library, the city council needs to direct staff to continue develop feasible concepts and have real

3:37:49timelines and identify each options constraints. use the proposed task force to identify the information needed like the potential lease terms with BART and the development costs with related or and or identify where a temporary library might be housed during construction at the Stockton site. Um

3:38:09and identify what is removed from 20,000 square feet if we go with Stockton.

3:38:16The city council must have the necessary information to select an alternative if the alternative if the proposed tax goes forward. Don't wait until the tax measure is voted on to start getting that information. Delay only increases the cost unnecessarily.

3:38:34Our next speaker is Michael Fiser followed by Rebecca Milikin.

3:38:41Mayor, council members. Um, as you know, I'm Michael Fischer. I've lived in Elserto since 1998.

3:38:50Before I talk about scenario two, the two-story building on Stockton, I want to just raise one other issue that I hope will be considered in all of the proposals out there, and that's access by public transit.

3:39:09That's important to seniors like me, but you know, it should be important to everyone in this city. We're a green city. This is one of the ways to do it.

3:39:22So, scenario two proposes to tear down and replace the old library with a new twostory library in the same place.

3:39:33This scenario does not explain what happens in the interim and perhaps there will be no library over Mayor Prom's dead body.

3:39:45Um, is the cost of moving and collection of the collection and the furnishings and storing them or renting space for a temporary library part of the cost of this proposal?

3:40:01What about the cost of tearing down the old library?

3:40:06What about the many issues such a project would have on the neighborhood, including the muchused Aloney Greenway, noise, dust, other material, and baitment of hazardous materials.

3:40:24The result of the analysis shows that there would be a doubling of the old library space to 13,000 square ft. But not really. If you build a two-story library, you need a stairway that takes space out of each floor.

3:40:46And you need an elevator. And an elevator takes space out of each floor and that costs money to build and to maintain.

3:41:02I have several other issues. I know my time's about to go, so I will stop at that. Thank you.

3:41:10Our next speaker is Rebecca Milikin, followed by Laura Lent.

3:41:15Hi, good evening, uh, council and mayor.

3:41:17Thank you. Yes, I'm Rebecca Milikin and I'm coming up almost on a almost on 25 years, so uh shorter than some and longer than others and also pay property taxes here. And I am also excited to be able to support this. Um, and I know just hearing from my fellow community

3:41:35members that um, seems like there's a lot of confusion, some mis, you know, misinformation. And clearly what's risen for me tonight, and I'm totally going off script, is that we need to kind of get down to some clear viable options and have some clear communication

3:41:53um, so that many of us who have shared goals, you know, we can get there. So, I think I'm scrapping what I have here.

3:42:01And what I just want to echo are some of the things I heard um from our fellow community members. I heard the importance um you know we heard this from this presentation. It was really great to have those visuals. Uh this modern square library of about 20,000 square feet is what is the standards.

3:42:19Obviously we can't have that in our current space. So let's just consider the viable options. There aren't that many. We saw that um the tod is is one of them. Um, and it also those other needs that we talked about, resilience centers, public safety, safe access,

3:42:37public public access access through public transit. So having these these options and I think what I just want to end with is also I'm hearing about let's get this going. Let's get this going as soon as feasible. And I would say that to the extent that we can limit the

3:42:53scope of that task force focusing on the to clearly that's one of the viable options and perhaps another alternative so that community members can compare that. Um and it sounds like we're probably going to need a long FAQ out there as well ultimately. But thank you

3:43:10so much to staff and colleagues for putting together um and for community members who care so much and and coming out. Our next speaker is Laura Lent, followed by Michelle Fidelli.

3:43:21Hi, good evening uh mayor and council members. I'm Laura Lent. I'm a 10-year resident of Elserto and uh have some relevant experience uh from my own past uh to share. I retired from the San Francisco Public Libraries u management team in 2018 after spending my last seven years of my career there

3:43:42uh as our chief of collections and technical services.

3:43:46In 2000, the voters of San Francisco passed the branch library improvement program or BLIP, a measure that over a 14-year period allowed us to modernize two dozen of the libraries branches through new construction or renovation of existing buildings. Um we learned a

3:44:04lot and the results were transformational. Uh two of our libraries uh were situated in shared use buildings in transit heavy uh areas. Um a twostory library was too small and also hard to supervise and that one is actually getting uh there are plans to rebuild that one now. Uh so we learn we

3:44:28learned a lot um and uh usage soared by all metrics including circulation, walk-ins, program attendance. An impact shut study showed that for every dollar invested in the blip program, San Francisco realized a return of about five of between five and uh $9.

3:44:50Um wherever our library ends up being situated and I I do think the to site is is you know, a clear winner in in my opinion. Um, it's just absolutely critical that it be significantly larger than our existing facility. Um, and have meeting rooms, space for technology,

3:45:10access, study groups, and tutoring and all all the things that have been mentioned tonight. Um, our, you know, preschoolers need to be able to get new armloads of picture stories or every week or two. So, our older children need a place place to go after school and on

3:45:26weekends to get books to study and ask questions. And uh I think it's clear from the information that's been presented tonight that the majority of people favor a new library. I think no delays are warranted. We should move ahead. We should put this on, you know,

3:45:41we should get it on the June ballot. Uh we should move forward as fast as we can. Um and uh best-selling author Lee Childs called call calls libraries food banks for the brain. And uh if we build it, they will come. Thank you.

3:45:56Thank you. Our next speaker is Michelle Fidelli, followed by Linda Kaine.

3:46:02Good evening, Mayor Kinto and council members. Thanks for uh having the discussion tonight. Um I'm so happy to have you all involved so we can collect factual information to share with everyone. I know we all want to um base our decisions and have a vote on good

3:46:18information. So, thanks for your work and all the work that's about to come before us. Um I support a new modern full service and fully accessible library um and a fair public process with lots of good information. Um I think uh supportive of uh the larger library library that will have 20,000

3:46:39square feet so that we can provide all the programs uh the space that we would like to space for young children for playtime and uh story time and uh school readiness activities, family time, space for all students for research, writing, reading, learning, collaborating,

3:46:57tutoring and language supports. Space for teens. sufficient computer stations for those who lack modern technology and internet access. Space for meeting and collaborating as well as individual research, reading, uh writing, gaming, computers, internet um and emerging

3:47:16programming space for seniors and adults. In addition to broad library services, also adult education, employment search and services, community meetings, learning groups, book clubs, um excuse me, space for community arts and culture, uh art, uh two and three-dimensional arts, cultural

3:47:37exchanges, film, video, musical production, as well as city commissions and programs and space for our staff who are working very hard to make the best use of the space that we have. Uh they need um uh their own workspace, technicians, support staff, uh storage,

3:47:55displays, research prep, and their own creativity. And finally, quiet space, old school, old-time libraries, uh where you say shh and you read quietly, write quietly, study quietly. Um I'm for libraries. I like libraries. I'm happy to pay the tax. And if we do have a tax,

3:48:14I would like it to be um a library proposal that everyone can feel good about. So, I look forward to the task force and the process that we're all going to work on uh to get the new modern library that we all deserve.

3:48:28Thank you.

3:48:29Thank you. Our next speaker is Linda King.

3:48:38Okay. I'm Linda Kane. I've been here over 30 years. I I kind of like to be last because I got like so much in my head right now and I came here kind of thinking no tax, no tax. Um I fell in love with the pictures and the ideas and God I love one of these libraries with

3:48:55all these beautiful things. I I know the one in Orinda. I haven't been to Pleasant Hill, but those those libraries are different because they had money. I don't know where they got the money, but they're not like Elserto. We're little and and we're limited and we just don't

3:49:08have space to expand. I bought a house in El Certo, Elserto 30 years ago. I had to look for a house I could afford. Not the house of my dreams. Realistically, it wasn't the biggest house or the best house, but it was, you know, sufficient for my needs. And now with this mystery

3:49:25amount of tax, I even wonder how my property tax will increase. So, um, I have a friend who was widowed. Um, and the friend who died was our friend and I heard recently he'd moved out of state because he couldn't afford to live here anymore. I don't know his individual

3:49:42circumstance, but I'm like, well, that doesn't surprise me really. Another friend is on a fixed income. She doesn't think she can afford much of a rise in her property tax. She's been sending me articles about, you know, this tax is a problem for her. So, the range of

3:49:56possible cost, watch my time. Range of possible costs for the library is so vast. And when I bought my property here, it had to be within my budget. And and then even so, it was hard at times to make the early payments because I don't know, like you guys probably have

3:50:13a fixed income. I mean, a fixed uh loan amount, you know, whatever. But I had like a a loan that went up and down and up and down and every time it went up, I'd panic. And anyway, I finally settled in like after a few years, but it was hard. Um, so maybe some of the people

3:50:29who are worried about this library tax, maybe they love libraries. I love libraries. Why would I not? You know, I'm a book person. But, but they could be sitting at home panicking because how much is their property tax going to go up? And maybe they um even signed by

3:50:47accident or knew better than to sign.

3:50:49that, you know, they may not be in favor of the the bigger property tax and and how soon we're going to be paying it and and I think they really need their worries um to be allayed if nothing else. Okay. Thank you.

3:51:05Thank you, mayor. That concludes our request to speak on this item.

3:51:08Okay. Thank you very much. Um let's um bring this back to the council and uh final thoughts. Let's go to uh Council Member Motyama. Thank you, mayor. Um, I think, you know, uh, to echo Michelle Fidelli, that the the amount of care that people have about this issue is

3:51:27really heartening. Um, I still think we need to move quickly. I still think we need to have a library and unfortunately the only way to pay for a library would be a tax.

3:51:40However, I think the task force and looking at options would be great.

3:51:45looking at renovating the existing library is a great idea. Even that renovation will require funding from a tax. Uh so I think we have a lot of work to do. Um but I think we should move forward quickly. Also um if it's not, you know, I believe it it's in the language of the initiative, but there's

3:52:07an exemption for seniors. So seniors do not have to pay the tax, right? So No, I see. May um can staff clarify or somebody clarify?

3:52:22Why don't we rather than debate it here, why don't we put that into the 9212 report? So, it's it's we'll present step with the council with our understanding of those provisions.

3:52:32Okay, that sounds great. So, I hope that we can get all these questions answered in this uh report. Thank you, Mayor Prom.

3:52:42Thank you. First, a question. This was raised in the comments. The 13,000 square feet, is that usable square feet or does that include things like a staircase and an elevator, so it's not really 13,000 usable square feet?

3:52:59Um, and Gary Gary, I believe, is still on maybe be able to best answer this question, but my understanding is no.

3:53:04Um, and so there would be, um, yeah, there would have to be space made available for things like elevators and staircases and things like that. And so too, in scenario one, uh just renovating the 6,500 square feet, we know that if we make the bathroom ADA compliant,

3:53:20you'd double the size of the bathroom.

3:53:21If you make the stacks wide enough for wheelchairs, you'd have fewer books. And so those things uh aren't quite factored numerically.

3:53:29So that'd be helpful. I mean, I think at least it says on here that, you know, in the presentation that the 6500 wouldn't really be 6500 anymore, but it doesn't say that about the 13,000. And staircases and elevators take up a lot of room on both floors. So, it's it is

3:53:47significant. It'd be helpful to know like what actual usable square footage we're getting versus if you have a onetory 20,000 square foot building that's all usable. not some of it's for offices, but that's in all of them, but it's all usable space. So, I think

3:54:03that's that's important to clarify when this comes back with further information.

3:54:10Um, I I'm supportive of moving forward with creating a task force, but I'm skeptical about the timing. I don't know how much a task force can do until they know whether a measure has passed or not. It's just there's no money to do these things if a measure doesn't pass. So I I it seems

3:54:32like busy work to start having that discussion until we know, you know, are we going to have funding or not. So I do support moving forward with the task force. I'd like to not make a decision on the timing on it until we decide when to put the measure on the ballot and

3:54:49then figure it out based on that. and we could still move forward with starting to get applications and things, but I I just don't see how much work they can do until we know if we have funding. Um, so yeah, I'd prefer their actual work to start after we know. Honestly, I think

3:55:06it's a completely different task force.

3:55:08It might attract different people if we have money versus if we have no money.

3:55:12If we have no money, we can't pursue any of these options.

3:55:17So, I I don't know. I don't know what the task force does. And maybe you have some ideas about what the task force does if the measure doesn't pass. But I I don't know. I would think some of those task force members might be like, I don't want to be here anymore because

3:55:31there's nothing to do. So I I think that's just something we should think about when we decide on the timing of it.

3:55:38Okay. Thank you. We'll go to uh Council Member Weiss.

3:55:44Thank you so much, Mayor. And before I get into my comments, I want to say this again because the political junkie in me will not allow this to stand. Every time someone says it, I will push back on it.

3:55:54I don't want anyone leaving here or watching this live stream and saying that it is a struggle or to get but I don't want to say a struggle that they shouldn't be coming or that it's hard for them to come out and vote in June because they're only coming to vote on a

3:56:09library. We are electing our governor, our lieutenant governor, our treasur, our controller, our secretary of state, and our own congressman. And we are in a time where we can't sit out any votes.

3:56:19We have all these no kings rallies in Elserto. Everybody needs to get out and vote every time there's a vote. I can't tell you to vote, but I can I can say you need to get out and vote. Please do not come and tell me about what choices that you don't have for anything if you

3:56:33are picking and choosing when you are voting. That's number one. Um, number two, one thing that I have seen today is that everyone is passionate here about having a library. Our both the assessment has said it, the commentaries here in the chambers has said we're all

3:56:47passionate about a library. I don't hear anybody really being anti- library, but they are very distrustful of the institution quite frankly. Um, I think I said this a couple of months ago when we were talking about the swim center and we were talking about how everyone knows

3:57:01that, you know, the swim center is beloved, but they're kind of leerary about the problems that the city has had in the past. We've seen in our school district what happens when the public starts to distrust um the institution.

3:57:13But I also want to give some levity to even that argument because maybe some of you don't know the history of Siege Elementary School. Maybe some people don't go down that far from Petetro, but what happened in that particular instance is that the district had to

3:57:26suddenly shut down STE very suddenly. I mean suddenly as in they were doing their their summer maintenance because they were pushing it, kicking it down the can, kicking it down the can, kicking it down the can. They went in there a couple of summers ago and found

3:57:40out that the toxins had gotten so bad that they could not let children back in that because they were kicking it down the can, kicking it down the road, rather. and now they were forced to go ahead and go into a budget year where they weren't intending on having to

3:57:54build stage but now they have to do it.

3:57:56So I for me even though we want to look at other scenarios you know that our current library was built for a different space and a different time and I don't think that our children should have to suffer for that. Um, I I know that the young lady who spoke probably

3:58:11is gone because it's way past her bedtime. But I mean, I spent a lot of time with our kids in our district, even with the video Georgina that we did the other day. I was in the classroom with kids when they watched it. And some kids said, "Well, why would he come to

3:58:23Elserto?" And that broke my heart that kids did not even think of their city as being worthy enough for someone to come and show it off in in that way. Um, so I think that what the council does owe the community and I agree with council member Motama and council member Salsman

3:58:38is making sure that we get the impact report. Um, I agree with council member Salsman. I'm a little bit ler on the timing of the task force, but whatever we can do to create more clarity so people understand what it is that they're that they are voting for. Um,

3:58:51and I would I want to thank former council member Fidelity because something that you said was very important to me. You always kept me straight. Um, something that was very important that you said to me is that we we hope that we can get the comparison of the numbers so that people will see

3:59:05why we believe that the TOD is the best option. And you know, that is the best option for me for making sure that everyone there's no confusion about what we're doing and why they're doing it.

3:59:15But I've always been very clear that things like libraries, that's an infrastructure investment. We're asking all these people to come live in Elserto. Many of the kids, you've heard me tell the story over and over again about the kids who are just running down

3:59:28the halls in apartment complexes and riding ebikes in the hallways because they have nowhere else to go. I would love for them to have a place where they can just jump on the BART safely get there, have a place, whether it's a room to play in, whether it's a room to read

3:59:43their comics or whatever they're doing.

3:59:45But we need to make sure that our investment in infrastructure for the people that we're bringing into Elserto um keeps pace with how how zealous that we are about building housing. So I I'm looking forward to that and supporting the impact and coming back to the

4:00:00special meeting. I already have it on my calendar even though it's around my birthday.

4:00:05Okay. Um finally I I just want to mention that um you know all of you stayed here. like what 10 pass now. Um I want to thank all of you for being here and to hearing what the community had to say. We're going to move forward on this. Uh one thing I want to make sure

4:00:24is that staff has a direction in making sure that uh we set up this um uh committee um this task force and they get to work and they get to work uh sooner than later. So um I'm all for this. This was part of my vision when we lost the library measure. Um I was the

4:00:48one that brought that to the city manager and to the leaders uh of uh BART and Abbe and MTC. So uh this we've been thinking about this for a good 10 years since we lost the measure by just two points. Um, you know, we're doing so much better than what we did 10 years

4:01:07ago, and I believe with this task force, we can get it together and uh have it done this year. So, is there anything that uh Holly that you need from from us?

4:01:20And I was actually just trying to check in. Um, I think it would be good for transparency for the council to if the direction is for staff to bring back information to form a task force that you do that by a motion.

4:01:34Okay.

4:01:34Um, do I have a motion?

4:01:37U, I'll move, but I also think that Council Member Sonis didn't get a chance to provide his comments. Oh, okay. But I I'll move to have staff uh bring back a proposal for the task force.

4:01:56Perfect. And a scope of work.

4:01:57Okay. Do I have a second?

4:01:59Okay. We have a motion by Motama, second by Salsman. Um can you please do a roll call on this vote?

4:02:07Uh certainly. Mayor Kinto, yes.

4:02:09Mayor Prom Salzman, yes.

4:02:10Council member Katanes, yes.

4:02:12Council member Moama, yes.

4:02:14Council member Weissinger, yes. Motion carries.

4:02:16Okay, good. Next, we'll go to uh city council local regional liaison assignments. I believe um on uh the agenda you had the list. Um any questions or comment on your liaison assignments?

4:02:36Okay, so we're good. So, I look forward to uh your leadership on these regional boards and good luck to Council Member Casanis and uh uh MCE's uh rep for Elserto, Carolyn Wis.

4:02:51Well, speaking of that, mayor, did you want us to give updates for Okay. Yeah, we can do that now. And uh so let's start on that now. Why don't we uh because I brought it up, you give your first update. My first update for MCE is I I've learned a lot.

4:03:08Thank you so much, Council May, I'm sorry, Mayor Kinto, um, for allowing me to step into your shoes. We're having very robust conversations about the energy and and how much that how that's going to affect workingclass folks in our community. Um, so we actually set 22

4:03:23new members. So, there was more of that going on at this particular meeting, but I wanted to make sure I gave my first report. So, I look forward to having more conversations there.

4:03:32Any updates?

4:03:35On January 8th, I attended the Contraosta Mayor's Conference on behalf of our mayor along with a couple of the other council members. And then of course along with all of you, I attended the Martin Luther King Day uh parade and rally yesterday, which was just really

4:03:54incredible celebration. I'm so so uh grateful for all the people who organize it every year. Um, and just wanted to mention the thing that I missed, which was the council retreat. And I'm really sorry that I missed it, but you are not sorry that I missed it because I had 102

4:04:10degree fever and you would have not wanted what I had. So felt really bad to not be there, but I I actually could not be there that day.

4:04:17Mayor Pro Tim, I did have a scratchy throat after the mayor's conference and I said, "Now I now I know."

4:04:25Council member, yes, thank you. Um, on January 8th, I also attended the Contraosta Mayor's Conference and we did receive uh a presentation from Mount Diablo Resource Recovery and about they shared about their uh recycling programs which I think ours are better. Um, on the 10th

4:04:44we did our council retreat. On the 14th, um I attended the uh fire recovery for the folks that were impacted by the fire in Kierney and Lexington along with our mayor and supervisor Joya and a lot of uh Red Cross and other community members. On the 15th, I attended the

4:05:05Aback Finance Committee and I was volunttoled into the vice chair seat. Um congratulations.

4:05:11Thank you. maybe. Um, and then also I attended the ABG executive committee on the 19th, which was yesterday. Feels like a long time ago now. Um, I also attended the parade and rally for the Martin 37th Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

4:05:28Um, and I really want to say thank you to the staff and the community members that put it together and also all the community that showed up for the for the event. It was really, really nice.

4:05:38Thank you. I just have a short update.

4:05:40I'll be driving up to Sacramento for meetings all week with leadership in Sacramento and we're going to figure out is this a three billion dollar deficit or an $18 billion deficit. So I look forward to uh uh getting uh their perspectives on this. So I look forward

4:05:59to seeing some of my colleagues here at uh training as well as um uh policy policy meetings that will be on Thursday and Friday. I'll be in Washington DC next the following week uh to uh try to uh persuade the federal government and um continuing and and to stop this uh

4:06:22federal shutdown that uh they plan on doing again the following week and I'll be with the US Conference of Mayors and uh we'll be meeting with uh uh Senator Padilla and Senator Schiff.

4:06:34So that is my update. Um, we're going to adjourn the meeting at 10:15 and the next city council meeting will be on February 3rd starting at six o'clock. Thank you for joining us.

4:06:53Can I ride with you?

4:06:58I ride with you.

4:07:01I don't like that song. You might have a hot day.

4:07:07Good meeting.