Special City Council Meeting February 19, 2026

0:00:09Good morning. The special, City Council meeting, is,

0:00:16Coming to order at, 9 o'clock this morning. Madam City Clerk, please call roll. Mayor Kinto? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Saltzman?

0:00:25Councilmember Katzanis?

0:00:28Councilmember Mochiyama?

0:00:30Councilmember Weisinger? Here. We have a quorum. Okay. Please rise, if you can, for the Pledge of Allegiance.

0:00:39I pledge.

0:00:42Safety.

0:00:58teleconference and public comment instructions, Madam City Clerk. Thank you, Mayor. Welcome back, everybody, for Council meeting number two of this week.

0:01:07This hybrid meeting is only being recorded on Zoom. We are not live streaming or broadcasting this meeting, but the meeting will be available after today on the City's website.

0:01:21if…

0:01:23There is an option to participate in person or via Zoom with closed captions available. Meetings of the City Council are subject to the Brown Act and are held for the purpose of conducting city business.

0:01:32The Brown Act also ensures the public's right to be heard, and while City Council will not generally respond to your comments directly, your comments will be heard prior to the Council taking action. Just as a reminder, this is a true special meeting. There is only one item on the agenda today, and public comments will only be taken on that item. There will not be general public comments at this meeting.

0:01:52For members of the public who wish to provide oral testimony, the Mayor will announce the time for public comment on the applicable item. Public comments will be taken in person and virtually via Zoom. A request to speak can be submitted to the City Clerk by completing a speaker card.

0:02:08by selecting the raise hand feature on Zoom, or dialing star 9 when joining by phone.

0:02:13In-person speakers will be called first. The Council's adopted rules of order and procedures specify that public speakers address the City Council in an orderly and respectful manner, proceed their comments with their name and city of residence, and be respectful of time limits. These rules apply for both in-person attendees and those participating virtually.

0:02:31Thank you, Mayor. That concludes my announcements.

0:02:35So next, we'll go to Policy Matters. We're going to receive a report and call an election for the Citizens Initiative petition titled, The El Cerrito Library Initiative.

0:02:48Maybe have a staff report.

0:03:07All set?

0:03:09All right, thank you so much, Your Honor, Mayor, City Council. I'm Karen Pincus, the City Manager. I'm here with, Sky Woodruff, our City Attorney, and this presentation is going to discuss,

0:03:20the item before you today, which is to receive and file the Citizen Initiative impact report, from Section 9212 of the Election Code.

0:03:31Actually, you know what?

0:03:32Alex, I'm sorry, can you move that? Because it's cutting off the… Projector.

0:03:39I just want to make sure that the Council can see all of it.

0:03:44Perfect, thank you.

0:03:47Awesome, thank you so much.

0:03:48And we can see… perfect there. Okay, great. So tonight, or tonight… Tonight.

0:03:56You can tell how many times I've done this, the first, Daytime City Council meeting in my… in my time here, so I could get used to this.

0:04:04So today, this morning, before the action before you today is to receive the report, so we are going to do a short overview of the report. I know you've all read it thoroughly, and we are here to do some highlights of the report and answer any questions.

0:04:20And, but the action before you today is to adopt a resolution to place the proposed measure on the ballot and determine what date that the ballot measure will be held.

0:04:29Next slide.

0:04:35Great. So, again, the background to this is there is a petition that has been qualified, that the Council has, certified on January 20th, entitled The El Cerrito Library Initiative.

0:04:50The City Council ordered City staff to create the impact report for Election Code Section 9212. This report is to explain the initiative and potential impacts of the initiative, and we'll go through some of those impacts.

0:05:04And again, per state law, the City Council is required to place this measure on the ballot as the ordinance has been submitted to the City Council and to the public, and we will go over some of the

0:05:18nuances about some of the items in the, in the initiative. The City Attorney will go over that for the Council's edification. However, again, the Council cannot change the ordinance as it's been placed on the ballot.

0:05:33And next slide.

0:05:36Alright, good morning. So I'm gonna cover,

0:05:39general overview of the structure of the initiative ordinance, just so that, since it informs, the rest of the report. What's been proposed by the proponents of the initiative is an annual parcel tax.

0:05:52That would be levied on all property in the city, unless it's exempt. We'll cover some of the exemptions. The revenue from the tax would be placed into a special fund, and could be used only for the purposes that are specified in the ordinance, which includes

0:06:07Funding a new library, issuance of bonds and paying debt service, library operations for the first 10 years after construction, and related expenses that are spelled out in the ordinance and explained in full in the report.

0:06:22There is a term, so an automatic sunset, that is 30 years after the initial issuance of bonds.

0:06:29There is a… there's a dual structure, that limits the annual rates that the City Council can, levy. Initially, it is 17 cents per square foot of improvements on a property, or $100 per vacant parcel.

0:06:45That… that cap can be adjust… those caps can be adjusted for inflation each year, using, one of two indices that are specified in the ordinance, or a replacement if either of those stop being used. The second component of the limit is that, rates can never exceed,

0:07:04The amounts that would generate 115%… more… more… Rates cannot exceed

0:07:11Amounts that would generate revenue that exceeds

0:07:15115% of the costs of indebtedness and library operating costs, again, for the first 10 years. I know that's a mouthful, I'm happy to explain it some more if Council has questions about it, but it acts as a second limit on the rates that can be set.

0:07:34Because this is being done, by voter initiative, only a simple majority of voters, is required to approve it, even though it's a special tax and would otherwise require two-thirds.

0:07:48Allowable uses, include, but again, there's a great deal more detail about this in the ordinance and the report, but allowable uses include planning for a library, the permitting costs, cost of environmental review, the actual construction of a new library.

0:08:05Furnishing, and the actual new building.

0:08:09As I mentioned, there are exemptions. One is that private property that's designated as open space in the general plan is exempt, and there is an exemption for seniors and disabled individuals whose incomes are below a state-defined level.

0:08:23However, we wanted to explain a bit to Council and the public that because of the structure of the ordinance, and the structure of taxes and state law generally, if Council decided that they wanted to expand those exemptions, they do have the discretion to do so.

0:08:42It's not required, but that is… so that is the exemption that is built into the ordinance, but Council could expand upon them if it wanted to.

0:08:52The ordinance includes,

0:08:56some accountability provisions. Specifically, the city's, independent auditors are required to prepare a report each year about the revenue and expenditures of funds that are received from the tax. And additionally, that report has to be reviewed by Citizens Oversight Board.

0:09:15There… it leaves to Council a decision about, about what that board should be.

0:09:21The timing of the implementation of the tax is complicated, and the report goes into this in detail, but for the purposes of providing just Council with a brief summary initially, it basically depends on when the election results are certified, and whether or not there's sufficient time to get it to the county, and also which election date Council chooses. So, if Council chooses to put it on the June 2nd ballot.

0:09:46Assuming, depending on when the county gets the results to the city, it is possible that the city council could opt to begin collecting the tax in the 26-27 tax year. If the November election date is selected.

0:10:00Then, then the tax… the earliest that the city could begin collecting the tax would be in the 27-28 tax year.

0:10:08The way that the ordinance is structured, it does allow for, the city to begin levying the tax and to pay for… to reimburse itself out of revenue from the tax for, new costs associated with,

0:10:25with, planning for, a new library. So those would be sort of pre-construction costs.

0:10:33the city will need to engage a number of consultants to put itself in a position to be able to actually proceed with a new library, and even before bonds are issued or the library is constructed, the ordinance allows for the city to use revenue from the tax to pay for those costs.

0:10:49And then also, once the library is constructed for the first 10 years, the city will be able to use revenue from the tax to pay for the cost of operating the library.

0:11:02The city's cost… city's cost of operating the library.

0:11:07See, Councilmember could… okay.

0:11:14Yeah, let's go.

0:11:17Let's, questions after.

0:11:21Don't go… okay.

0:11:23All right, so I'm going to continue on just to cover, the fiscal impact analysis. So, the report covers several areas of, impacts, the, the

0:11:34The Elections Code Section 9212, identifies a number of different areas of impacts that could be analyzed, but also, gives Council discretion to add additional areas. These are the one… the primary areas that are analyzed in the report, and we're going to start with the fiscal impacts.

0:11:51So, the city has retained,

0:11:58Consultant, who is very experienced and knowledgeable in this area to evaluate the potential revenue and financing options related to this tax measure.

0:12:10His estimate is that based on the 17 cent per square foot of improvements and $100 per vacant lot rates, annual revenue initially would be $3.16 million.

0:12:21That… and would work out to around $331 per average single-family home in… in El Cerrito.

0:12:29Debt service from the, from eventual issuance of bonds would be paid for out of that $3.16 million.

0:12:38And, as we, as Council saw at the January 20th meeting, we are analyzing five general scenarios for a potential library project, including

0:12:50a new library at the, El Cerrito Plaza BART TOD project.

0:12:56All of those… the bonding capacity generated by the proposed tax would be sufficient, to generate bond capacity for all five scenarios, including the TOD. What that means, though, is that, because some… because there's a, as you saw at the January 20th meeting and in the report, there's a wide range of project costs associated with each scenario for a new library.

0:13:18The more expensive options, will…

0:13:24require more of the revenue from the tax to pay for debt service on the bonds, leaving less money for operations. Conversely, the less expensive library options would require less of the revenue from the tax to pay debt service, and leave more revenue available to pay for the city's library operating costs.

0:13:43So what you're seeing there under the item about annual library operating funding is that the most expensive scenario, which is Scenario 4, would leave only about $7,000 of revenue from the tax to pay for library operating costs, city's library operating costs. The rest would have to go to pay for debt service. At the other end, Scenario 1, renovation of the existing library.

0:14:06Which is the least expensive option, and total… in total amount,

0:14:11A little different in terms of per square foot costs.

0:14:13But the… but the… in terms of total cost, the scenario one is the least expensive, requires the least amount of bonding capacity, and so leaves the most amount of revenue for the city's library operating costs.

0:14:26The TOD scenario, sort of in the middle, leaves about $700,000 per year for city's library operating costs. So that is after paying for debt service for the library, and there's a… there's a later slide that will illustrate this.

0:14:40Okay, so it's actually this next slide. So here are the scenarios.

0:14:44The…

0:14:45And rather than going through all of them, I'm just going to point out, for the TOD, because, as also explained in the report, that is the Council's current policy, is to pursue a library at the TOD. City staff has been working to make that a possibility and a realistic option for the Council to pursue since 2018, and we'll explain that a little bit more later.

0:15:08But just to emphasize that one.

0:15:10The current project costs are now estimated by Griffith Structures at about $37 million. The annual debt service requirement for that is $2.4 million.

0:15:22As noted, the, the estimated annual revenue from the tax is $3.1 million, so that is more than enough to cover the annual debt service, leaves about $700,000 for the city's operating costs for the library.

0:15:36Next slide, please.

0:15:40The same advisor, provided this graphic for us, which we just want… it doesn't illustrate a specific, scenario.

0:15:49related to the, to any of the library scenarios. What it does show is just what would happen with rates. And all it's really intended to do is show that, once the city has issued bonds and is paying debt service on them, and is paying for library operating costs.

0:16:08The rates would be set at levels sufficient to pay for both, and so that is the green plus the blue bars for those first 10 years.

0:16:17After 10 years, when the city can no longer levy the tax to pay for library operating costs.

0:16:24The rates would go down, because they would only be paying for debt service on the bond, so you see the blue bar disappear, and all that's left is the green bar, and what that's illustrating is the rates necessary to just pay for debt service.

0:16:38We also have a note here that, the annual operating costs of the different library scenarios, also estimated by Griffin Structures, range between $188 and, almost $800,000, basically depending on the size of the library and the level of service at the library.

0:16:57Currently, the city is spending, about $158,000 annually to operate the existing library.

0:17:05Alright, so now we're moving on to other impacts. I'll hand it back.

0:17:09Thanks.

0:17:10So, so we analyzed as,

0:17:14as Sky indicated, a number of different impacts, with respect to this measure. So, first and foremost, as far as planning, all the scenarios that have been considered are consistent with the general plan, and I saw our planning manager in the audience, and certainly we can, if you have any questions for him, we can certainly do that, but certainly this is something that the city has been contemplating

0:17:39For many years, and so it is absolutely consistent with our general plan.

0:17:43Looking at housing impacts, and we kind of divided it there into different sites. So, the current library site, obviously, the library's been there for…

0:17:53Forever, and so there's no necessarily any impact to housing capacity if the library were to remain in that spot.

0:18:03In the TOD scenario, obviously the inclusion doesn't alter the account… the number of approved units, but it is worth pointing out that the TOD scenario that is moving forward will have 743 new housing units, 351 of those below market rate.

0:18:19Housing units, and so, you know, it would complement, the housing impact, but it would not impact any… it would… whether the library is there or not will not change the number of units that are planted.

0:18:31if there's a new site scenario, say we, you know, something on San Pablo Avenue, or another… any other site, the potential impact would be if that was

0:18:42could be available for either affordable or any sort of residential development, so it would be essentially an opportunity cost issue. If we take a property off the books, then it becomes a city-owned space, then it… there will be no housing available there.

0:19:01business impacts, so obviously, when we looked at this, we, and I, you know, Alex Orologis, was part of writing this part of the report. This, and I just, if I can pause right here and say this was a wonderful group effort, and I need to give a lot of, praise to Sky.

0:19:21Alex, Melanie, we actually have Craig Hill, who is our financial consultant, he's on Zoom.

0:19:27and Griffin Structures, and even Will Provost, who has had his baby, by the way. Congratulations, Will. Before he left on family leave, he helped. He was a big help in putting a lot of this together. This was a team effort, and it was done in a very condensed amount of time, so I just want to give… be very grateful to all of our team to put this together.

0:19:45But as Alex had indicated in the report, there are studies regarding economic development with respect to libraries.

0:19:53an expanded library, bigger than what we have here, for example, but even library services at the current library do support workforce development. People can use computers, people can use them for job training, for education. You know, I happen to know of people who have gone to the library, who have looked for city jobs, for example.

0:20:16So being able to have access to all of those resources, could only be expanded in a larger library, but certainly libraries do provide that service.

0:20:24And as far as broader economic considerations, again, there are many studies out there that show that libraries do boost economic development where they are, particularly in an area like the TOD

0:20:37happens there, that that would create as an amenity, not just for the residential development. It's part of our strategic plan to create a downtown hub in that area. There's the plaza, there's different activation of that area.

0:20:52That would bring, foot traffic and placemaking to the… to the plaza area.

0:20:58And furthermore, any modern facilities are able to support… to, attract and retain employers to a community that supports a library and a community that supports library services is a business attraction.

0:21:16So, as Sky indicated earlier, vacant lots, it's up to $100 per vacant parcel annually, with adjustments that are permitted. What a vacant parcel is defined as is one that has no structure or structures that are less than 200 square feet.

0:21:33again, development of a non-use… public use site, so there are some vacant lots out there, on… even the ones on the avenue. As the Council knows, most of those are actually entitled and slated for housing, but were the council to choose one of those sites, if it was for sale, then

0:21:51There is the loss of any property tax that that would generate, because they're… even as a vacant lot, they're, you know, they're…

0:21:58they would be eligible, once developed, for a higher amount of property tax. We would not be able to capture that, or if it was a commercial property, like a Marshalls or one of those things that has the ability to generate sales tax, then we would lose the opportunity to generate any sales tax on that property. So that could have a potential impact to the general fund, certainly for future development.

0:22:22racial and economic equity impacts. So, again, this… looking at different studies and looking at the city councils and the city's, frankly, value of equity and inclusion, we took a look at, various, you know, various literature and various, research out there.

0:22:41on how libraries can provide racial and economic equity to the community. And funding to expand these services, again, expands educational resources, technology, particularly for

0:22:55low-income people, or for people who are struggling with literacy, for seniors and for kids to be able to provide additional educational resources and programming and community programming, and as I had indicated earlier, workforce development. A larger facility, obviously, the facility we have does its very best with the very limited space it has.

0:23:18To provide community programming, and a larger facility would only be able to expand upon the amount of community programming and access that would

0:23:28Be available in a larger building.

0:23:30And of course, if the… again, owing to the… looking at the TOD development specifically,

0:23:38anything near transit-oriented development increases access for people to be able to act… to come to the library, because particularly at the BART station, you've got, well, BART, you've got buses, you've got a lot of… it's very walkable there, so that is one. But even any of the other, you know, along San Pablo Avenue, there's bus service.

0:23:56And even in the current location, doesn't have a bus.

0:24:00stop right near it, but it's within about a, you know, a couple of blocks of San Pablo Avenue, so the increase in transit opportunities near a building does increase access for, for people, that may not have a car.

0:24:21Okay, and I think you and I can tag team on this one. So, the scenarios that were evaluated, as we had discussed before, again, renovating the current library, expanding the current library, the TOD site.

0:24:35Getting a new site, or renovating an existing building. Those are the five scenarios. And as we'll go over in a little bit, that capital cost range is from $10 million to $48 million. I just want to point out the picture here. This is from, I believe, 2019.

0:24:51And this is a workshop that we held, and these were actually previous scenarios. You can't really see it on the picture, but,

0:25:00the city has been evaluating various sites for a really long time. We've looked at things like, at one point, we were certainly trying to work with the school district on using

0:25:13Actually, going… dating all the way back, we were looking to buy the land underneath the senior center at, which used to be behind the library. Actually, the school district had even surplus the land, and we were ready to write a check, and…

0:25:28Circumstances…

0:25:30didn't… that didn't happen. We had talked with them about the former Portola site, the Lower Playfield. We have talked about trying to partner with the school district.

0:25:40So we had tried to work with the school district for many years. We also looked at the current community center site. We looked at the,

0:25:49the city owns the land underneath, the city actually owns the Contra Costa Civic Theater and the land where the preschool is. We looked at trying to rebuild on that scenario, like a big joint building for all of those things.

0:26:02Unfortunately, that was incredibly expensive. But we looked at different available sites along the avenue, so we really have been evaluating scenarios, various sites, for many years. So.

0:26:14For the purposes of this exercise, we wanted to just kind of come back, and we asked Griffin Structures to give us some cost estimates so that the Council can have a comparison and see what the feasibility is for any of these approaches.

0:26:29So, and again, this… this table is small, but it is in the report, and this is also what the Council, saw at the January 20th meeting. And some of these, I will note that Griffin Structures has refined their, they have refined… they're continuing to refine, and the report that is now online, is more refined, so these are slightly different.

0:26:52Than what was shown on the 20th, but they're in the same… they're pretty much in the same range.

0:26:58And as you can see, that does range from $10 million to, you know, 48%

0:27:04$47.9 million, depending on the scenario. And just to kind of, reiterate one of the questions that had come up

0:27:13at the January 20th meeting, and that I can talk about here, is assuming parking, and so these are…

0:27:21admittedly, educated

0:27:25speculation, based on the fact that, for example, for Scenario 3, which is the one that staff has been pursuing for about 10 years now, and is continuing to do studies on, we have done a lot of the work and the studies on things like parking and circulation, and we're continuing to do that. So those are all in place and or underway. But for any of these other scenarios, we have not done those studies.

0:27:49And one of the things, particularly for Scenario 2, which would be to expand the current library, say, for example, to add a floor to it, one of the other things that we have not,

0:28:00that we have not done is any sort of a seismic or geotechnical study on any of those to even know if some of that is feasible or possible. I'm sure that that's a very old building. I can't speak to whether or not there's asbestos in it. I mean, there's a lot of

0:28:16factors that we have to still investigate if that was chosen, so I think that

0:28:21understanding that there are additional costs to… that we have not explored yet, that we have not been able to study, or that we have not committed to study, would need to be done for any of those scenarios. So that is… that is some of the,

0:28:35understanding about the parking and the parking circulation, and all of that. And of course, scenario 4 being the most expensive, because we would have to acquire,

0:28:48And again, as Sky indicated in the previous slide, this is looking at the range of operations and maintenance estimates, depending on the scenario. Again, we're spending about $150-some thousand dollars each year right now, but that is library hours and very basic maintenance.

0:29:06Obviously, a new building might have different maintenance costs, because it might be more energy efficient, it might not need as much maintenance, or different types of maintenance as it does now. If the larger the library, the more staff would need to be hired, and as you know, the county library only provides a baseline of hours. Any additional hours that the library is open, and any additional staffing

0:29:28above the county baseline would be responsibility of the city. And so, again, depending on that, and their staffing, and how much their staffing costs increase, if it's two floors, it's additional staffing than it would be for one floor. Anybody who's ever worked retail understands why that's true.

0:29:48you just have to be able to, accommodate for all of the various scenarios. So these are, again, very speculative, but this is a very good estimate based on sort of a straight line.

0:30:00Okay, so I'll turn this over to Sky, and also I know Melanie is here to answer specific questions about anything that we discussed in the… we discussed this particular scenario in the report because, again, this has been the City Council direction. Actually, the MOU with BART was in 2018, but this was brought to BART in 2016, so it's been 10 years that the Council directed staff to work on this, and we had been doing so.

0:30:25And the staff from the city, the BART… from BART, the library, we all partnered on various studies. We've had numerous public meetings and workshops over the past 10 years.

0:30:36And, you know, this not just for the library, but for the TOD in general, with the library as part of the scenario, so this has been, publicly, you know.

0:30:47We've been working with the public in so many ways since, again, 2018.

0:30:53The TOD master plan for the library was approved in July 2024. It's important to note that the TOD… the development is going to move forward with or without a library, and so the development framework, which I'll turn over to Sky in a second, that's been agreed to by City, BART, and related, the developers.

0:31:13is pending confirmation.

0:31:15that we are a go for this… for this project, which would require a funding commitment from the city. And so, again, it's just important to note that that's what we have been working toward, but that if the… if for some reason the…

0:31:30the Council decides to change direction and look at another scenario, which is absolutely up to the City Council to do, if that were the case. And then BART would move forward with a TOD development without a library, and it would shift.

0:31:43there, the ground floor would shift into more of a retail space, and I believe additional parking. It would not add any units. So, I'll…

0:31:52turn it to Sky for some more detail.

0:31:57So… Along… on a parallel track with the processing of the application for the TOD Master Plan.

0:32:06City staff and my office, engaged in negotiations with BART and the development team, particularly related, to come up with a framework for a deal for a library to be included in the ground floor of one of the buildings, as part of the development project.

0:32:28The result of those negotiations are a framework that's described in the report, and then I'm going to briefly touch on the major points of here, just so that Council and members of the public have those in mind.

0:32:41it's a little bit complicated, but I will do my best to explain it in as plain a wording as I can.

0:32:48BART does not sell land for these residential development projects. It will only ground lease, the property, and when it… and the form of the ground lease is sometimes referred to as an air rights ground lease, where, basically it allows for the structure to be built, up into space, and the developer owns the structure.

0:33:08But BART retains ownership of the ground itself.

0:33:13what, what that… the reason that's relevant in this case is that, for the library, if, the city, commits to including a library in one of the buildings, is that, for that parcel, BART would create two airspace parcels.

0:33:31One for the residential project, and one for the library. This is very similar to a structure for residential condominiums or commercial condominiums, in which there's multiple units in a building, and the, and there is individual ownership of each unit within the building.

0:33:51BART has agreed to charge the city only a dollar per year in rent for the ground lease rights for the library.

0:34:00The library developer, related, has agreed to charge the city zero rent for the existence of the library within its building.

0:34:10To put the library into the building, the city will have to pay for its share of the construction of the building, but the city will own the improvements, associated with the library. Just like in a condominium, the individual owner owns a portion of the physical structure.

0:34:32BART's typical ground lease is, 99 years, inclusive of, extensions. So the initial… so, for example, the initial term might be 60 years, but there would be an option for an extension to go for another 39.

0:34:48That is a detail that, is to be worked out, but basically the cities

0:34:53The city's maximum term will… we anticipate, will be 99 years, and it will basically be the same as the developer. So, if the developer has an initial 60-year term with a 39-year extension, that would be the same for the library, so that, so that the rights to occupy BART's land would be

0:35:14Co-extensive for both tenants on the ground.

0:35:17That does not preclude an extension beyond 99 years. It is simply a factor of California law that government agencies are not allowed to lease property for longer than 99 years.

0:35:30And then the final component of the framework, although the final one that I'll cover, there are some more that are laid out in the report, but the final one that I will cover is that, as part of the operating costs, the city will have to prepare… would have to pay a proportionate share of the basic building… basic building operating costs.

0:35:47But that is the overall structure of the framework. This has been agreed to by Related and BART. We confirmed that with them, as part of preparing this 9212 report.

0:35:56If Council ultimately commits to including the, library in the project, then all of this will be converted into written agreements, and all of the parties have committed to do so.

0:36:15Morning, Council. Holly Charlotte, the City Clerk, and your elections official.

0:36:19I'm going to take just a few minutes to refresh the Council on the information that was shared at our January 20th meeting, which was the time that the Council certified the sufficiency of the initiative petition. So under California Elections Code, the City Council is required to place the qualified initiative on the ballot unchanged.

0:36:40As it was submitted by the proponents.

0:36:43There are some options in terms of when that election can take place. The first option is to place it on the next regularly scheduled election for our jurisdiction, which would be our November 3rd election, which is the same election that we have our city council seats.

0:37:00The other option is to call a special election.

0:37:03If a special election is called, it has to be held between 88 and 103 days from today's date. And today's date is the final date that the Council

0:37:14is required to call that election. So at the time that the 9212 report is received, the election… the ballot must be… or the election must be called to place the… the measure on the ballot.

0:37:27In addition to that, there are provisions in election code that require any election held to be held on a Tuesday that is also not the day of, the day before, or the day after a state holiday.

0:37:39So given those restrictions, there are, three dates that are eligible to call an election to place this on the ballot.

0:37:49And those dates are Tuesday, May 19th, June 2nd, which is our statewide primary, as well as the regular election on November 3rd.

0:37:59In terms of the fiscal impact of the election.

0:38:02Estimates are based off of our voter registration, which our current voter registration from the county registrar is just under 18,000.

0:38:12A special election that is consolidated with any other election, statewide election, or the city's regular election is at a much lower cost of, $3 to $4.50 per registered voter.

0:38:26If a special election is called on any other eligible date, then it would be a true special election cost, as we would bear the full burden of the cost of that election, which is estimated between $12 and $15 per registered voter.

0:38:40Just a note that the special election costs to place this on the ballot, there is a provision in the ordinance that those costs would be eligible for reimbursements from the proceeds should the measure pass.

0:38:51So the three options, that the Council has to call the election, the estimated cost for that special date in May is the only one that would be at the high $267,000 price tag.

0:39:03Both June and November are estimated to be just over 80,000. A June 2nd election would be in the current fiscal year and would require an additional appropriation from the

0:39:15general fund. If the measure is placed on the November election, that would be in the next fiscal year, and that is a cost that will already be included in the budget, and the cost of that election will not increase by adding a measure. We will have that election cost regardless, because we have the council seats.

0:39:37So, with that… We are all available for any questions that the Council may have.

0:39:42Okay, I just want to say thank you for this thorough presentation. We're gonna…

0:39:48have questions here from the City Council, and I'll start to my left.

0:39:52Any questions?

0:39:57Councilmember Cassanis.

0:40:02First, thank you to everyone who presented.

0:40:05So… helpful. I have a few questions I'll… Not ask them all, though.

0:40:15For the city attorney, I'm confused about the…

0:40:19115% of the rate needed to…

0:40:22pay for various things, including operating costs during the first 10 years. Is… and how does that… what is the maximum? Is the maximum…

0:40:31the 17 cents plus the cost of living increases, or could that 115% go beyond that? The 17 cents adjusted for inflation, if Council chooses to adjust it for inflation, that is discretionary on the Council's part, but that is actually the maximum rate.

0:40:49However, if in any particular year, we figured out what the city's, eligible costs were, added

0:40:5915% on top of that, and it was less than the revenue that would be generated by the maximum rate, by that 17 cents, then the city would only be able to levy rates that would generate the revenue to pay for the cost, plus 15%.

0:41:12Just that in some years… so in some years, that 115% might be over the max, in some years, it might be under the max.

0:41:20If it's… if the 115% is over the 17 cents, then you can only charge the 17 cents. If it's under the 17 cents, then you can only charge what the 115% would generate.

0:41:31Okay, thank you, that's very helpful. And then something else you said was that

0:41:38Amongst the eligible costs were new pre-construction costs.

0:41:44And I just want to ask about

0:41:46Costs that we've already incurred, that are not new.

0:41:50So, the… I… what… the way that I would look at it… the ordinance doesn't answer this question. It does not answer this question directly. I think that what it does say is you can't… is there's the maximum rate, and there's the 115%.

0:42:06However,

0:42:09the… the city has incurred some costs up to this date, it will incur the election costs, and take the scenario… I think maybe the easiest way to illustrate is to take the scenario in which the Council Officer put it on the June ballot, and we are able to get it onto the 26-27 tax roll.

0:42:27City knows that it will be incurring… then start… begin incurring expenses during the 26-27 tax year. Staff would attempt to estimate what those costs would likely to be, and come to Council with a proposed rate for the 26-27 tax year that includes those costs.

0:42:44I believe that the ordinance provides Council with some discretion about… about, what to include. I don't think staff would be unreasonable in terms of the proposal about… about, about… not try to go back 10 years or something like that, just… but… but costs that reflect

0:43:02The current effort in the current tax year.

0:43:05We mentioned the 10 years, that's my concern. I mean, it seems like there is…

0:43:10Possibly an opportunity or opening for

0:43:13the city to say all these… all this work preceding this that led up to this is part of the cost, and I… I can understand someone saying, well, in good faith, we're not going to do that, but I'm not really interested in what's good faith or not, just legally what's allowed or not.

0:43:29This is one of the ambiguities… this is an… this is an ambiguity in the ordinance. I think that the… the, maximally defensible interpretation would be cost that the city, anticipates incurring, as part of,

0:43:48that I would say, well, I… this is partly, City Manager, I haven't discussed this exactly. I would say the maximally defensible position is cost that the City has incurred in, for example, preparing this report that's related to the… related to the initiative.

0:44:03And then anything going forward from this point in time during the 26-27 tax year, that's anticipated so that when

0:44:11staff comes to Council with a proposed rate for 2627. It includes the cost that it anticipates incurring, but have not yet been incurred.

0:44:20Add on to that, and that's a good question, and actually, I would say that that certainly would be, I believe, part of City Council direction. That, I would certainly recommend, I agree with Sky, certainly recommend that

0:44:33costs for the initiative and on, to me, are the eligible… would be the only thing I would certainly consider. And even in doing so, we're looking at things like

0:44:46If we were to, you know, in any one of the scenarios, but certainly in the TOD scenario, we will need to engage architects, we will need to engage design services, we will need to engage all of those different types of services in order to work with

0:45:03the TOD scenario in order to make that commitment happen.

0:45:08To me, I hadn't even…

0:45:10I hadn't even considered that we would be retroing other than anything with respect to this initiative and this election forward, and certainly the City Council can absolutely create that direction and ensure that that's the case, is what I'm hearing. And so the Council could say, you know, it's only going to be eligible for costs from this date forward, or what have you. That is up to the City Council. It does outline eligible costs, but it doesn't mandate

0:45:34that, right?

0:45:35And I just want to also make sure that it's very clear

0:45:38that in this… in this initiative, these costs are only those that are related to the library. It is in a special fund. It is not allowed to be commingled with the general fund. It would not pay for city salaries or administrative costs. It would pay for direct costs.

0:45:57to the library. It will not pay any part of my salary.

0:46:04Okay, I don't want to monopolize the time, so I'll pass it on to my colleagues.

0:46:08Okay, Councilmember.

0:46:10Yes, and you kind of already dipped into what my question was going to be, because I know there's some ambiguity with folks about how the operating cost is supported by the tax for 10 years, and then it shifts back to the general fund, so I just want to clarify for me and anyone else.

0:46:26Will that reflect as a new obligation or a continuation of how the library is currently funded?

0:46:33Yes, so we are currently… we do currently incur costs for… and… and there's a… there's a big difference between

0:46:42the city's responsibility for the library costs, right? The city's operating costs versus the… so the county…

0:46:48we… the county runs the library, they hire the staff, they determine the staffing levels, and they determine the baseline. They… the books are theirs, you know, we… we have a library agreement that lays all of that out, what the library is responsible for, the county is responsible for, and what the city is responsible for. With a new building.

0:47:07We would obviously re… redo that agreement to ensure that that is also clear, so that the city's costs are

0:47:14are outlined specifically, and again, I anticipate they would be the same as maintenance of the building. We would… we provide certain technology costs, we pay for additional staffing hours above and beyond the city's baseline, and any outdoor maintenance of the building. So that… essentially the same things would occur.

0:47:36And so… That, you know.

0:47:39paying those types of costs in… after 10 years… so, and again, the 10 years begins at the completion of construction, so when the doors open.

0:47:48then 10 years for then, so that we would either have to… and we say that it would come from the general fund, because that assumes that there would be no other funding source. If there was an additional funding source, say we were able to get a grant.

0:48:02Or, say, the county was able to pass a measure, I know that sometimes they've been talking about that,

0:48:09trying to pass a county-wide measure for libraries, if that was able to backfill, it could relieve the general fund obligation in the out years. So, again, that's also why we have not

0:48:21A couple of you have asked about providing an updated general fund projections with this happening in the out years. There are so many variables, because this could be, like, 15, 20 years down the road, and it's hard to project 10 years out, much less 10 to 15 to 20. So, so much could change before then.

0:48:40we're just assuming, worst case scenario, I suppose, that

0:48:44the general fund would have to take that on, and so we… it's a long-term obligation, absolutely. If the city wants to continue to have a library and to provide services above ours, above and beyond what the baseline is, that is a choice of the City Council as well. In 15 years, if the Council decides they want to reduce library hours to save money in the General Fund, that is up to the City Council in

0:49:0610, 15 years.

0:49:08But, but that's… that, you know, again, this… there's so many different variables, but there's no doubt that at some point, once the library special tax funding is not eligible anymore, then the city will find itself in a position to figure out how to continue to pay any additional costs at that point.

0:49:27And so then my other question is about exemptions. I know we've talked about the senior exemptions and that they're per state programs. Can you clarify what those state programs are? Are they… who is eligible? Do… are they… is it automatically exemption, or do they have to apply for, etc? Okay, so the way the ordinance is written, the required exemptions, are tied to state programs.

0:49:52Individuals who are eligible to participate in those programs are individuals over the age of 62, or individuals with disabilities who are under an income threshold that

0:50:04It has to be recalculated.

0:50:05The exemption is not automatic. This is… and this individual's interest in the exemption would have to apply to receive it. That's the same as the swim center tax.

0:50:15the, the…

0:50:21as I said during the presentation, that's what's written into the ordinance, but the ordinance also provides… there are a number of provisions in the ordinance that provide the Council with the ability to, ultimately decide for itself if it wants to

0:50:38Expand the… the income level that would qualify?

0:50:42wants to expand the exemptions. In essence, the exemption simply lowers the tax rate for an identified group of people, and that is within the power of the Council to do. It's not required to do so, but it is an option available to Council, so it would basically be in addition to the exemption that's written into the ordinance.

0:50:59Thank you.

0:51:00Mayor Pro Tem.

0:51:04Just wanted to thank you for putting this pretty detailed report together so quickly.

0:51:11Question about the, the operating costs. So, it seems like in the first…

0:51:18In the 10 year… the first 10 years of operation.

0:51:21the city would be saving money from the general fund, because we wouldn't be allocating from the general fund the funds that we're allocating right now to operate the library. So, the city council could decide to

0:51:35invest that money, correct? And that wouldn't then

0:51:40provide to… operate the library forever, but could… I mean, is there a way we could structure it to end up with more than 10 years of financing, or at least making it a little less challenging in year 11, 12, like, smoothing it out, sort of like what we're planning to do with the pensions, with the 115 trust?

0:51:59Right, right, okay, I'm sorry. Yes, the City Council certainly has the ability to… you could create an additional special fund, the same way that you created the Emergency Disaster Relief Fund.

0:52:11to put general fund money in as a bit of a savings account, the same way we do for other internal service funds. That's absolutely true. The question I was asking the city attorney is if

0:52:21There were additional monies that were collected that weren't able to be spent.

0:52:26Would we be able to continue to use those for costs?

0:52:31I believe so under the structure of the ordinance. If this… the way that that 115% works is you wouldn't be able to set rates to, to pay for library operating costs.

0:52:46If at the end of 10 years, there were additional funds that… that were… that were in the special fund that was set up for the tax, that was in addition to what was necessary to pay debt service plus the standard reserves that are in place.

0:53:01That revenue, would also be… could be used for eligible expenses.

0:53:07As defined in the ordinance.

0:53:11So, there's some ways to plan to make it Less of a steep drop-off.

0:53:17Okay, and then,

0:53:20I just wanted to call out one other thing that's in the report, which is something I had brought up, not at the meeting this week, but at our meeting before that, and this says it more clearly about

0:53:32The, you know, we're hearing from folks about concerns about

0:53:38what we're doing for the developer, and I think this is very clear, that if there is no library at the TOD development, it says right here that there'll be a pretty small commercial space.

0:53:50And the 38 parking spaces, for residents of the building, which would be, again, unbundled. It doesn't say this here, but they're all unbundled, which means the residents would pay for them, so…

0:54:02they'd have… the developer would get more revenue coming in over time than if the library is there. So, they actually make out better financially if there's no library.

0:54:13Yeah, and just to emphasize one aspect of that, the… as… as noted, the TOD Master Plan is approved for Parcel C West, which is the parcel identified for the library. It includes

0:54:25two projects, both with the library and without the library, so it is already approved. If Council decides, ultimately, not to move forward with the library, the developer is already approved to move forward with the ground floor commercial and 38 additional parking spaces.

0:54:41Okay, Councilmember Motayama.

0:54:44Thank you, and thank you for this report. I think it's, hopefully will go a long way to making people comfortable with

0:54:53What this initiative is for.

0:54:56I have a couple of questions, and one is, on page 8, it says the initiative contains other authorized uses of the tax not described here, and I know that that's caused some concern that there's some secret expenses that people don't know about, and so…

0:55:16Could you please expand on that?

0:55:21Take me a second. If you want to ask your other question, I'll… I just need to pull up the actual text, because that's just… it…

0:55:28there was enough there. The report had grown to a length that we all felt that simply reciting again what was in the report was not going to be constructive. But if you move to your other question, I'll pull up the column.

0:55:38I want to go to page 31, the development framework.

0:55:43And, you know, I know that you just explained the whole ground lease situation and the condominium of the air rights parcels, but I just want to make sure that in regular words, that means the city owns the library. Can you please confirm?

0:56:05I would say yes. I mean, I think that in the same sense that anybody who owns a condominium, residential, any business owner who owns a commercial condominium.

0:56:15is an owner of that condominium, the city will be the owner of the library.

0:56:22I want to be… I don't want to pretend that there is not a term on the ground lease of the air rights. I think it's important that everybody understand that that 99 years, will be… will… will…

0:56:35be a reality for the city's ownership, but as to the structure of the library, even though it is an internal component to a building, the city will own that. At the end of the 99-year term, the city would be faced with a version of the same

0:56:49issue that it would be faced with for any facility that had reached 100 years, which is a determination of the

0:56:57what is the state of the facility? Does it want to continue? And also, what's the, you know, is BART willing to continue the lease? And also… but also, what is the, what is the… what is the nature of the overall structure that it's in? But that's…

0:57:10That… that is a variation on what any government agency would have to think about, when it… about a 100-year-old facility.

0:57:17Thank you.

0:57:22Okay, so, I mean, let me… I… maybe one thing I can do is to say, if… if anybody is… in terms of the… the question about what are the permitted uses,

0:57:35There is, so…

0:57:38Section, 4.58.060 of the proposed ordinance, contains basically a page worth of description of what, what

0:57:51what the revenue from the tax can be used for. There is, there's…

0:57:59there's a long list of things. There are other sections that have other… that slip in other permitted uses, but for example, and this maybe helps address one question that I believe is floating out there, it does say that, for example.

0:58:14the… the revenue from the task could be used to pay for the cost of administering the special tax. Well, what is that, like.

0:58:21it also says it can't be used for administrator salaries. How do you reconcile the differences? So the city will have to pay the county, to actually… for the collection of the tax.

0:58:33The city typically retains a consultant who prepares the tax rule each year and submits it to the county, so basically has to identify every parcel, and then based on the rates that are set, calculate the amount of tax for each parcel.

0:58:49Put that into a form that then gets submitted electronically to the county so that the county tax collector can actually put it onto each individual property owner's bill. The cost of that consultant would be reimbursable out of the revenue from the tax.

0:59:03It also states that, if in the event that the validity of the initiative is challenged, the city can fund the cost of defense of it from the proceeds of the tax.

0:59:15I mean, there are probably some others that I could pull out, but those are a few examples of things that I didn't… I didn't get into the details of in the report, but that are also listed in the ordinance.

0:59:24Okay, and just one more time, there is no provision in this initiative that allows any funding for staff.

0:59:34Salaries, yes.

0:59:36No. It… again, and I can… it's a… it's a question that allows me to expand on something that… that I had mentioned, and that the city manager had mentioned. The structure of state law for special taxes like this one

0:59:51is that between the California Constitution and provisions of the government code, the revenue from the tax has to be placed into a special fund, and

1:00:03And… Can only be expended for the purposes that are authorized in the ordinance.

1:00:10And the city's independent auditors will prepare an annual report that will explain how much money went into that fund, and how much money went out of it, and for what purposes, and that report will go to a citizen's Oversight Board to be determined by the Council.

1:00:29Who will look at the report and verify that the expenditures were solely for purposes that are authorized in the ordinance.

1:00:36The uses that are authorized exclude paying staff salary.

1:00:43That's… so that's… that's not an allowed use. Again, you know, there's this question about administration, but those administrators' costs really have to do with the costs of the county and the consultants who assist the city in levying the tax.

1:01:01This is the city management. This is all… this is very similar to the… the swim center tax.

1:01:06And the streets to access.

1:01:10Thank you very much.

1:01:13Let's go to public open comment now. Oh, yeah. I have a… just a procedural request. With the…

1:01:22public comments. I'm sure there will be questions as well, and often when people have questions, there really isn't an opportunity for us or any of you to respond to those questions. I'd like to ask if that's possible.

1:01:33If people have a question that you…

1:01:36No, I'm sorry. The public has questions.

1:01:40They are not to be answered.

1:01:43Can I ask a follow-up, though, after public comment is done, if there's a question raised that a council member wants to then raise, because they heard it from the public, we can do that.

1:01:57Okay, now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments on this item only. Requests to speak can be submitted to the City Clerk by completing a speaker card using the raise hand feature on Zoom or dialing 9.

1:02:12If joining by phone.

1:02:14If person requests will be taken… in-person requests will be taken first. Please remember to identify yourself and your city of residence. Madam City Clerk.

1:02:23Thank you, Mayor. At this time, we have 19 requests to speak.

1:02:28We'll do, 2 minutes.

1:02:31Okay?

1:02:40Okay, we will begin with our in-person requests, starting with Greg Lyman, followed by Michael Fisher.

1:02:50Good morning, Mayor, Council Members, staff, and fellow residents. I'm Greg Lyman, President of El Cerrito.

1:02:57Man, am I glad to be here.

1:02:59It has been a long year, since we started the petition process. I am thankful and grateful

1:03:08To all of those that signed the petition.

1:03:12I'm here tonight, or today, to ask you to place the tax measure ordinance on the June ballot.

1:03:18You will hear, June is a waste of money.

1:03:21The next speaker will refer to the rough order of magnitude estimate document referenced in the impact report, a 6% annual escalation, and the real cost of a 5-month delay.

1:03:30You will hear that the proposed ordinance is poorly written.

1:03:34The impact report and presentation today clearly described how the tax would be with a finite, limited time period, and two different ways it is capped.

1:03:46You will hear today that there are many questions that should be answered before the vote. The impact report

1:03:52answers many of those questions that need to be answered before we know what our budget is for a new modern library. And the task force, once they're funded.

1:04:03We'll answer the rest of those questions. You will hear there is no rush.

1:04:07The impact report clearly states the developer needs to know in 12 months if the library is in Building C West.

1:04:14You need time for a robust community engagement and detailed negotiations.

1:04:20That will be hard to complete in the 8 months after June… even after a June election.

1:04:26You will hear many arguments to delay the vote until November. Please do not prolong the rancor and division in our community.

1:04:36All arguments for delay are anti-tax arguments that cannot be solved with time.

1:04:42El Cerrito deserves a new modern library that this tax measure can pay for. Invest in our future. Place this on the June ballot.

1:04:51Thank you. Our next speaker is Michael Fisher, followed by Paul Fidelli.

1:04:58Good evening.

1:05:00Good… good morning, Mayor.

1:05:03Mayor Pro Tem and members of the Council, my name's Michael Fisher, and I've lived in El Cerrito since 1998 and in the East Bay for most of my life.

1:05:16The decision of when the vote should take place should not be on whether you're for or against the measure. Instead, there is a simple financial reason to put it on the June ballot.

1:05:31I'd like to address this issue of the cost difference between a June and November election.

1:05:38If the election is held in June and is successful.

1:05:42It will allow the city to enter into agreements to plan and build a new library some 5 months earlier than if we have to wait on the election until November.

1:05:54Delaying these 5 months will be expensive due to the effect of inflation.

1:06:01The rough order of magnitude estimate in the report

1:06:05It says 6% inflation per year to be added.

1:06:10So, for a $37 million building.

1:06:14This means that every month of delay increases the cost of the building by about $185,000.

1:06:24The cost, then, of way more… of just one month's delay is way more than the cost of holding the election in June, and that figure rises significantly with each additional month.

1:06:41So, from a simple viewpoint of dollars and cents, it makes sense

1:06:46to hold the election in June.

1:06:49Please do the right thing in setting the election date.

1:06:53Thank you.

1:06:54Thank you. Our next speaker is Paul Fideli, followed by Betty… Buginas?

1:07:01Good evening.

1:07:02Good evening, yes, indeed. Good evening. Remember those days. I want to thank the Council and all those in the city.

1:07:09Who may, for the first time in 10 years, be allowing an opportunity to decide whether a ballot measure

1:07:16For this town and its residents, we'll invest in an exciting and important new chapter in El Cerrito's history.

1:07:22It sounds like most of us in town want an improved library experience, and all civic local developments have a price tag. We all must consider those price tags and those costs as we move forward on this important project.

1:07:36My view is that this proposal, the BART Plaza location, and the promise of a new, optimistic chapter for El Cerrito is well worth the cost for all of us who live here.

1:07:48Thank you for scheduling a referendum on this important matter for June of this year, so that all Elsuidans can finally vote and decide on this issue. Thank you very much.

1:07:59Thank you. Our next speaker is Betty Buginas, followed by Tom Panis.

1:08:07Good morning.

1:08:08Third time's okay. Betty Beginnis, El Cerrito.

1:08:12The biggest issue in El Cerrito right now isn't that volunteers are being blocked from improving trails, that some Richmond Street residents will lose the ability to park near their homes, or that residents are faced with a huge tax for a library proposal that many intensely dislike.

1:08:31The biggest problem is the growing number of people in the city who are losing faith in their elected and appointed city officials.

1:08:41This division between city leaders and a growing number of residents tracks back to years ago when a small group decided, without meaningful input from the public.

1:08:51that we need a library three times the current size. All the work that the city manager discussed, putting in, all this analy- you know, all this analyzing sites and rejecting sites.

1:09:05It all… it's all based on that, for the most part, on that larger size, even up to the scenarios that were presented tonight.

1:09:14with the costs were based on the assumption that if it's not the current library being renovated, that we have to have one three times larger. In addition, you know, they haven't taken into account

1:09:27All the changing use of the library. I think if we reconsidered all of these things, I think if we took another look at it, we would… it would open up a whole bunch more options.

1:09:39It's time for the City Council to make decisions that will renew residents' faith in the city government. You know, you said you were going to set up a library tax force, but you're delaying it, and…

1:09:52You know, if you, at this point, you're looking at charging us extra money so that people don't really have a time to, carefully look at the option before them, you need to stop focusing on getting your 50% plus one vote and look at the bigger picture.

1:10:10El Cerrito is more divided right now than it has been in decades.

1:10:15Our next speaker is Tom Panis, followed by Justin Chang.

1:10:26Beauty

1:10:28Good morning, Mayor Quintel, members of the Council and City staff. My name's Tom Panis, and I've lived in El Cerrito since 1975. I'd like to thank the Council for the support that was expressed at the January 20 meeting for a new library, and I urge the Council to pick the June election date. Because of grant deadlines, a June election date might save us a year.

1:10:47Delay on the project.

1:10:50I'm hearing a lot of less than well-informed

1:10:52Conversation about the bonds due that the city would need to issue to finance the library?

1:10:58And I'd like to set the record straight about some of that.

1:11:00Bonds can be confusing, and it's not surprising that there's confusion about them.

1:11:05First of all, the Citizens Initiative

1:11:07Passes… once it passes at an appropriate time, the bonds to finance the

1:11:11Construction of the library will be issued not before that. The total dollar amount of the bond proceeds will be deposited in an account at a trustee bank.

1:11:18Not at the City of El Cerrito.

1:11:20The money in the trustee bank will be specifically earmarked for the construction an operation of the library.

1:11:26In El Cerrito, as we've heard.

1:11:28Because of the way the Citizens Initiative was written.

1:11:31The trustee bank can only make payments from the account for two things, to extinguish the library debt, and to pay for the city's library operation during the first 10 years.

1:11:42The money in the trustee account cannot be used for anything else. I'll also note that there are very strict IRS news about how quickly the money has to be spent, and the city will be hearing from the IRS if we aren't spending the money.

1:11:54Promptly and judiciously?

1:11:56The restriction on how the money can be used in combination with the IRS spend-down requirements prevents the city from issuing bonds before the project's ready to go, or from using the bond proceeds for anything else.

1:12:06I'd also like to speak briefly about the parcel tax payments.

1:12:10Taxpayers do not remit their parcel tax payments to the City of El Cerrito, they're sent to the county.

1:12:15Once perceived, the funds necessary to make principal and interest payments, the bonds are set aside in a restricted account that can only be used when such payments are due.

1:12:23I so appreciate your support for the students initiative, and I'm looking forward to a new library here in El Cerrito. Thank you. Thank you.

1:12:29Our next speaker is Justin Cheng, followed by James Porter. Good morning. My name's Justin Chang. My family and I immigrated as a small boy in 1968, straight to El Cerrito.

1:12:42So, I am in support of placing this measure in November, because it is the right thing to do.

1:12:50A November ballot would save definitely $80,000 right off the bat, regardless of which fiscal year.

1:12:56a new ballot in November would ensure that there's adequate time for the proposed task force, which I'm not too clear what their goal is now, but to do their task to present a realistic design and, in terms of finances, what that would look like.

1:13:13A November ballot would also allow time for that task force to communicate their findings to the public.

1:13:21Okay, it's like… even here, I see a lot of questions and confusion, even among the people that are supposed to be knowledgeable about what's going on.

1:13:32People have used the term half-truth and lies surrounding discussions, and I appreciate the people here trying to answer some of these topics, but I think it's still incomplete, and I would propose

1:13:44A secondary task force that's not focused on design, costs, or whatever, but look… to look at the 19-page document.

1:13:53That's set in stone to answer

1:13:56With citizens, involved people that are looking at these things to understand what is there.

1:14:02So… You know, let's… Let's do the right thing.

1:14:07Okay, we're in this together.

1:14:09And I like to use the figurative term of iron, sharpening iron.

1:14:13Okay? So that we can build a better community together. And with that.

1:14:19You know, this… something like that would help the community.

1:14:23to, improve their trust that was brought up two days ago, and again today, of the leadership in this community. I think we are all working together. I appreciate your efforts. I know there's a lot of work that's involved in these things, but things are nebulous. Thank you. Our next speaker is James Porter, followed by Bill Barish.

1:14:43My name is James Porter, I'm a UC Berkeley professor and an El Cerrito voter.

1:14:48At the last City Council meeting, a proponent of the library tax initiative said that he was concerned that the tax proposal is creating divisions among the residents of El Cerrito. It is.

1:15:00The same speaker claimed that the library plan was intended to save the soul of the city.

1:15:05That it would eventually heal the divisions that it has created. It won't.

1:15:10Let's be frank.

1:15:11The real issue is not divisiveness. It is distrust.

1:15:15The way the proposal is being rushed to a public vote is sowing distrust in the city's elected officials. Are you afraid that a November ballot would be subject to greater scrutiny and greater participation among better-informed voters, and that the measure would in that case fail?

1:15:34Trust is a two-way street.

1:15:37Do you not trust your own voter's judgment?

1:15:40If the plan is sound, it will go through in November. If not, then it does not deserve to go through in its current form.

1:15:48I have neighbors who signed the ballot petition without any information about its hazards and its flaws.

1:15:54Some of them are actually members of the grassroots organizers who are working to counter the June ballot.

1:16:03What do you think the rest of the voters will do when they realize that they have been sold a bill of goods?

1:16:10Here's one answer. It's from Proverbs 26, 27.

1:16:15Whoever digs a pit will fall into it. If someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them.

1:16:22Thank you.

1:16:23Our next speaker is Bill Barrish, followed by Claire Sheridan.

1:16:33Good morning I'm Bill Barish, and…

1:16:37I'm just going to say I've lived in El Cerrito for a lot longer than I expected to, and I'll leave it at that.

1:16:43I just want to say, first of all, the arguments about Cost inflation, if the…

1:16:51Vote is delayed until November.

1:16:53are utterly bogus. This is not a question about cost inflation, it's a question about voter education, as the previous speaker just noted.

1:17:03Bart is on the brink.

1:17:06If BART fails, everything that's done for it goes down. My question to you is, what happens to the money from this initiative if the library is never built? Where does it go?

1:17:24And the majority of the Council is, in fact, creating divisiveness by rushing this

1:17:31proposal to a ballot. You've most

1:17:34Most of you have said you want to go to ballot in June.

1:17:40As the previous speaker said, the issue here is not about getting this done soon, it's about getting it done right.

1:17:51El Cerrito needs a 20,000 square foot library like Donald Trump needs a 90,000 square foot ballroom.

1:17:59This is a vanity project for someone who wants to get their name on a plaque.

1:18:04It is not about a great library.

1:18:09I'm asking you to please put this on the November ballot where it belongs. Thank you.

1:18:18Our next speaker is Claire Sheridan, followed by Michael McDougal.

1:18:24Okay, we'll go to Michael McDougal, followed by Wall Nowitzki.

1:18:30Hello, hello, my name's Michael McDougal, good morning.

1:18:33I want to… hopefully I have time to get 3 things out. I want to have an apology, I want to have a request for framing when you think about this.

1:18:42And I also wanna,

1:18:44request that you put this on the November ballot. So, hopefully I have time for all three of those.

1:18:47The apology is, I promised you all that I would not come out in front of you when there was an

1:18:53Sort of, when there's a question, or you had an, sort of, where it was easy to have an opinion.

1:18:59And I think that it's easy to have an opinion about this. I don't think it's easy to have a good opinion.

1:19:04But I think it's very easy to have an opinion about this question, and here I am speaking to you in spite of that.

1:19:10The other thing that I wanted to ask you to was some framing for this. One of the things that I heard in, like, you know, couples counseling, and I've been there, is, like, when a question is in front of you, you want to be able to hear all of the answers, you want to be able to…

1:19:23hear no, and you want to be able to hear yes, this is a simple question that's going to be put in front of the voters. Like, will we pay for it this way, or won't we? I think right now it's about 50-50.

1:19:35maybe, you know, I would fade either side of a bet right now around how this is gonna land.

1:19:40The other thing is, I came in front of you a little while ago to say that we have to start, like, asking hard questions around expenses.

1:19:48We have to, you know, I look at the, at the fiscal stuff, and we have to start, as a city council, as the hard questions you ask, is like, where are we going to spend money?

1:19:59And you can spend $80,000 to get the information to this question sooner or later. You can actually spend $250,000 to get the information sooner or later. I think that this is an important

1:20:11and somewhat urgent question to get the answer to, but I don't think it's clear that you need the answer in June.

1:20:17But I also, like, if you say November, I'm not gonna be surprised, and I'm not gonna criticize. I think this is an outstanding council. I, like, I talk about you in very glowing terms to everyone that asks me how El Cerrito is, and so I think you'll make an excellent decision. Thank you for your comments.

1:20:33Our next speaker is Wally Nowinski, followed by Georgina Edwards.

1:20:40Hello, my name's Wally Nowinski. I live on Galvin Drive with my wife, Ann.

1:20:45I've been… worked in Democratic politics for…

1:20:49much of my career. I ran an anti-Trump super PAC last cycle.

1:20:53I'm not opposed to paying taxes for good services, and I think it's important that we as a community are always candid with each other and responsible with our shared resources. I'm opposed to this proposal because I think it falls short of those values.

1:21:10But what I wanted to talk about today is actually the timing

1:21:15Of when this goes on the ballot.

1:21:17Just yesterday, organizers working with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association announced that they had enough signatures to put a repeal of the Upland Citizens Initiative loophole on the November ballot.

1:21:33Internal polling shows that is going to easily pass.

1:21:36When it does, it will not only close the Citizens Initiative loophole, it will also retroactively repeal any laws that were passed with fewer… less than 66% of the vote.

1:21:48It would be unconscionable to spend $81,000 To rush a ballot question?

1:21:56on the June ballot, when it is more likely than not gonna be repealed in November. Anyway, thank you.

1:22:04Our next speaker is Georgina Edwards, followed by Barbara Chan.

1:22:11Good morning, Council staff and neighbors. First, I want to remind myself and everybody in the room that the reason we have an opportunity to bring something as wonderful as a new library to El Cerrito is because we've been asking for it ourselves.

1:22:28And I'm really proud to be part of the Citizens Initiative that brought forth, this new plan after 10 years of work and, and forward movement.

1:22:40I also want to recognize that

1:22:43I have had the opportunity to work alongside all of you in different capacities, and I, affirm that you're all servant leaders, give up nights, weekends, council gets paid nominally for all this

1:22:58reading all these packets and evaluating information, you're… you're a humble. I can recall Karen, when she was,

1:23:06staff liaison for the Human Relations Commission that I was part of, picking up refreshments for volunteers, so I am confident that whatever, comes forth, this group will make good decisions.

1:23:18with participation of our community. And I realize there's a lot of opinions about the wording of the initiative, and I've also heard various times that there's the intent.

1:23:30There's implementation, there's the interpretation, and that there's room for citizens to continue to bring forth their concerns.

1:23:39And I look forward to you allowing us to make a decision on this library, and move forward to more exciting things, like collaboration with architects, and evaluating all the options, and having the opportunity to make that decision on June 2nd. And if it doesn't pass, I hope that the folks

1:23:58already in the room that are going to vote no are going to be working for the next 10 years for a better plan. Thank you.

1:24:04Our next speaker is Barbara Chan, followed by Betsy Basher.

1:24:15Good morning. I'm Barbara Chan. I've lived in El Cerrito since 1987, and I love libraries, and I would be happy to work to get a better library in our town. However, I think we need to put this measure on the ballot for November, because people have a lot of questions, myself included.

1:24:34And we need the time to get those questions answered. So, one of the things I wanted to bring up is the city manager mentioned this morning that it's going to…

1:24:44cost $35 million to expand the existing library at Stockton Street. So after the 2024 City Library workshop, I spoke with the Group 4 architects.

1:24:57whom the city had been consulting with. And my daughter, who's now an architect, actually interned with them because she was working on library design. And we've spoken about this in great detail. I asked that architect at the library workshop how much it would cost to renovate and expand the Stockton site.

1:25:16And she quoted me, $2,000 a square foot, we would get a two-story library that would end up being about 13,000 square feet, and include an elevator.

1:25:29The county librarian was right next to us, and I asked her, how would that work? Would that be adequate for a city of our size? And she said, yes. She said two stories could work with the staffing, but any more than two stories would be very difficult to staff.

1:25:44So, in my opinion, a 13,000 square foot library in the middle of town, which is more accessible to all of the residents of El Cerrito, because those… the people who live in the north part of town, are not going to go down to a Del Norte BART to take the BART to a TOD Plaza library.

1:26:04That's just not doable.

1:26:06A lot of people have spoken to us about that.

1:26:10The other thing I wanted to ask a question about from the city attorney is you talked about the senior exemption. Thank you for your comments.

1:26:20Thank you. Our next speaker is Betsy Basher, followed by Mark Friedman.

1:26:28Good morning, Mayor and City Council.

1:26:31this is, like, one long meeting. Thank you for all of your work.

1:26:37I have a few more questions.

1:26:39Do, the construction estimates from Griffin include all the soft, construction costs, like all the technology, all the furnishings, all the computers?

1:26:51Is there any time limit on what library-related costs can be charged? This question was partially answered.

1:27:02But I wonder if there's anything in the initiative that would prohibit going back. For instance, surveys have been conducted over the years about the library. That would be library planning. But, would that be, eligible? Who decides what are the eligible library-related expenses?

1:27:21And, how is that done?

1:27:24Is there anything in the initiative that specifies that?

1:27:27What would be the cost to the city to pay the developer for building out a library? Is there any chance that anyone else would be able to bid on the cost of building out a library, if it is in an affordable housing building?

1:27:41And, are there any costs that are specifically excluded from being paid, if they're library-related, other than staff salaries?

1:27:51And if there is a lawsuit, or if the initiative to outlaw the 50% plus one vote passage of parcel taxes in the future would pass on the November ballot, would the city then use tax money to defend the initiative if it passes in June? Thank you.

1:28:12Our next speaker is Mark Friedman, followed by Ileana Goh.

1:28:19Good morning, Mayor and Council. When former Mayor Bruce Satori, who's back there, and I came on the Council in 1997, El Cerrito City Hall was in portable

1:28:34units. And, we had a deteriorating swim center, which was unsafe. And we had an aging library, which we knew would eventually need to be replaced.

1:28:46Well, we got City Hall built. It's a beautiful building and very cost-effective, done on time, on budget. We got a beautiful new swim center, and we've been trying to get a new library. As you know, we had Measure B in 2016, got about 63% of the vote.

1:29:05Well, now is our opportunity to, again, try to get a first-class library that reflects

1:29:14Where we are as a community, and brings together all of the educational, employment, and community benefits that a wonderful new library will bring.

1:29:26So, I welcome the healthy debate that we're having today, and we've had over the past couple of years. That's a sign of a healthy community. We don't all have to agree, but we have to give the citizens their opportunity to express their preferences.

1:29:44I think we need to go in June. We've had a lot of organized opposition already. I don't think it's gonna hurt them. They're ready. I think the proponents are ready. Let's go in June. Let's move forward. Let's create a library as soon as we can that reflects the values of our community in a positive way.

1:30:06I appreciate this staff report. I think it was excellent. I appreciate all the time the Council and the citizens have spent on this. Let's move forward now. Thank you.

1:30:17Our next speaker is Ileana Goh, and then we'll go to our virtual speakers.

1:30:25Hi, my name's Ileana, I'm 16, and I'm a junior at ECHS.

1:30:31Thank you. I urge the Council to let us decide on the library in June. I've worked with, like, the library 10 years ago with my mom, and yeah, I want a new library. Thank you guys.

1:30:45Thank you, and… One more in-person speaker, Michelle Fidelli.

1:30:56If I could just ask anyone else who wishes to speak to please get their speaker cards in now, and then we'll go to our remote speakers. So, Michelle, you can begin your time.

1:31:05Good morning, Mr. Mayor and Councilmembers. Michelle Fidelli, I'm a resident of El Cerrito for 33 years.

1:31:12And I remain joyful about the opportunity to vote on a new library, but since that's not the question today, we'll all have that opportunity coming up soon. Seems to me that the… the question is about

1:31:25the costs between June and November, and since I can't ask the question directly, but perhaps we can hear more, from staff

1:31:34about that $80,000 cost for June compared to what the potential savings are.

1:31:41By being forced to wait till November. I'm hopeful that it will be a clear decision, and I look forward to the vote, and thanks for your, your, review and, advice. Thank you.

1:31:56Thank you. Our next speaker is Gina Brusittori.

1:32:05Good morning.

1:32:06I wasn't planning to speak, but since my fellow council member brought up my name, I thought I should

1:32:13stand here myself.

1:32:16I was the mayor in 1999, so I've lived in El Cerrito all my life, and I was the mayor in 99, and I was on council from 96 to 2004. And I was very pleased that I led the, as the mayor, the swim center

1:32:30renovation, and we were unique because we were the first ones in the county to get it done on the first ballot. But I will tell you this, frankly.

1:32:38The swim center advocates initially came to us for $8 million for just the pool.

1:32:44And we had to do some very tough…

1:32:46negotiations and, financially savvy analysis to learn. We were going to do it for half of that, $4 million, and we were involved. Play fields renovation, and

1:32:58Clubhouses.

1:33:00And that's how it got done.

1:33:01Unfortunately, what I see today is a repeat.

1:33:04While their motives may be pure, the fact is this library is not well thought out, it's ill-conceived, it's too expensive, it's not realistic.

1:33:15It's not fair to seniors. It's rare if anybody's gonna get a senior exemption. They sure don't get it on Measure H, and they're not going to get it for this one. And if, indeed, it would ever happen, it's a lien on their home.

1:33:27I do think this is a great deal for the developers. People say, what's it in for the developers? The answer is, they're going to get a much lower cost of financing, because if you can get an A-rated credit tenant, like the City of El Cerrito, leasing the ground floor, instead of trying to fill it up with retail, where the plaza across the way

1:33:46Sitting empty.

1:33:48they're gonna find that we are their ticket to success, and that's not what we need to do. We need to

1:33:54repair, replace the existing library, 6,500 feet, maybe a little bigger, on the existing site, make it good for North El Cerrito, and not… and just stop this. November ballot, at most, so people can get… Thank you for your comments.

1:34:10Okay, we'll shift to our remote request to speak, starting with Ira Share now.

1:34:15Hi everybody, you should be able to unmute and begin your time now.

1:34:21Ira Sharenow: Irish Aranelle, El Cerrito.

1:34:23I support placing this measure on the November ballot.

1:34:27This vote is about whether voters have clear, stable information before being asked to approve a long-term tax.

1:34:35For several years, the public discussion centered around the $21 million library in El Cerrito Plaza, associated with a specific site and a 30-year tax.

1:34:48After signatures were gathered, we learned the estimated cost is now closer to $37 million, the site situation has changed, and the potential duration of the tax may extend beyond what many residents originally understood.

1:35:04Additionally, the revenue stream changed from $2.5 million to more than $3.1 million.

1:35:12When the core elements of a proposal shift cost location structure, it is reasonable to pause.

1:35:20A June vote would ask residents to decide While significant questions remain.

1:35:27A November vote would allow time for clarity, finalized cost estimates, a defined site plan, and a clearer understanding of external funding dynamics, including potential changes to bar transit-oriented development funding.

1:35:45Voters should be deciding unsettled facts.

1:35:48Not evolving assumptions.

1:35:51Residents deserve time to fully understand what they are being asked to fund. A November election provides that time.

1:36:00Also, I'm not aware of any plan

1:36:04to apply for granting from SGC, which needs to be explained, because otherwise there can be no library in the plaza. Thank you very much.

1:36:15Thank you.

1:36:16Our next request is Rebecca Milliken.

1:36:22Rebecca, you should be able to unmute and begin your time now.

1:36:26Rebecca Milliken, City of Berkeley (she/her): Great. Good morning, Mayor, Council, and staff. My name is Rebecca Milliken, and I'm a homeowner in El Cerrito. Thank you for all the information you provided at both the January 20th meeting and this morning.

1:36:38I was hoping to attend in person, as this issue is of great importance to me, taking time off from work, but as you can hear, I'm quite sick. I will keep my comments brief.

1:36:47I encourage you to put the Library Initiative on the June 2nd ballot.

1:36:51We need to know the voter's will. Does the city have the funds to proceed, or not?

1:36:57The city has been working on this issue for decades. At the January 20th meeting, we heard from some of my fellow residents who oppose any increase in their property taxes.

1:37:09But most expressed a love for libraries and an understanding of the tremendous benefits a modern library brings to the city.

1:37:18And its residents, including increased home values that will ultimately more than counter increased property taxes.

1:37:26While I understand that there is an $80,000 cost to place this initiative on the June ballot, rather than the November ballot, delaying the initiative has its own costs.

1:37:37And today, I just learned that the cost of a June election can be reimbursed by the initiative. So why delay? Let's get the critical answer we need on June 2nd. Thank you.

1:37:54Next request to speak is Pearson Miller.

1:37:59Pearson, you should be able to unmute and begin your time now.

1:38:03Pearson Miller: Hi, my name is Pearson Miller, and I've lived in El Cerrito for 32 years. I want to start by just thanking the Council and the City staff for this report, and for the great discussion today.

1:38:17have a lot of questions, and some of those questions were answered, and I really appreciate

1:38:23The effort and time you folks are putting into making sure we understand all the details and get answers to questions that are troubling a lot of citizens.

1:38:36I'm going to reiterate what some other speakers have said, is that there is a lot of lack of trust in the city's ability to manage its financials.

1:38:48We see that starting next year, we're going to have deficit budgets, dropping our reserve below 17% for as far as the eye can see, and that we're going to have to finally really take a hard look at expenses.

1:39:03And doing more with less, and being more productive and efficient in the city.

1:39:08I think while $80,000 doesn't sound like a lot, I think…

1:39:13Making the statement that, hey, we're gonna start cutting expenses today, and we're going to put it on the November ballot, and save that $80,000, because we're going to be doing lots and lots of expense cutting in the future. And I think that would be a great message for the Council to send.

1:39:32I would also say that you need to take that time to continue forums like this, and get all the answers to all the questions, and really build community support for this. Mr. Nowinski pointed out that there may be a serious issue

1:39:51with the 51% versus 67%, and I think if we can build enough support for this measure by answering all questions and having it on a November ballot, that'd be a win for everyone. Thank you.

1:40:04Thank you, and I'll go to our final speaker back in person, Waynette Doody.

1:40:17Good morning, my name is Wayne at Doody. I've, been a resident of El Cerrito for 34 years now.

1:40:26And I do have some concerns with regards to the cost of, the library.

1:40:35I think that,

1:40:38I would like it if there were more time to just really have more questions answered as to

1:40:45the time that it's going to be paid for, because I keep hearing about this

1:40:51ever taxed. This tax that's going to go on, forever. And another concern I have is for seniors who are on fixed, incomes, and what that's going to do

1:41:05to them.

1:41:06I'm very, you know, concerned about that, and also, I don't think that there's any reason to rush the election for June. It can go on the November ballot, and I would like to see it on the November ballot, so that more questions can be answered.

1:41:26I'm not opposed to having a nice library. I think we all

1:41:33you know, like a nice library, but it's a matter of cost, and it's a matter of all of the questions that need to be answered around this. I use libraries quite frequently myself.

1:41:47So, I'm not objecting to The fact that libraries aren't important because they are.

1:41:55But we need more answers. And then also.

1:41:58I think in the written

1:42:01in the written, minutes for the, meeting. There needs to be both the pros and the cons.

1:42:11in the meeting notes, so that even people that aren't here will have the opportunity to hear or read or read everything that goes on. Thank you for your comments. You're welcome.

1:42:23Mayor, that concludes our request to speak.

1:42:26bring this back to the Council, but I wanted to have the City Attorney speak on a couple of things that residents have asked.

1:42:36If you can, answer the question regarding the, how we charge this.

1:42:41Thanks.

1:42:42Yeah, I'd be happy to do that.

1:42:45So, just because I think there may be members of the public, or even members of the council, who don't really, like, grasp this whole debate, because it's very, very short-handed.

1:42:55So, under the California Constitution, as I sort of briefly alluded to, the general rule is that a special tax like the one that's proposed would require two-thirds.

1:43:06Several years ago, there were a series of appellate court decisions that interpreted those provisions of the Constitution to say that that is true for a special tax placed on the ballot by the legislative body, but that for a special tax placed on the ballot by a citizen's initiative, that it is a simple majority.

1:43:24Sometimes that's referred to as the Uplands Decision Series of Cases.

1:43:28Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the California Business Roundtable, are currently circulating their own statewide initiative to amend the Constitution to,

1:43:39specify that the two-thirds vote threshold would apply even for a special tax placed on the ballot by Citizens Initiative.

1:43:49But that's not the end of the story. Several years ago, the, California legislature approved, a proposed constitutional amendment, often referred to as ACA 13.

1:44:02That will also be on the November ballot, which states that, if a statewide initiative proposes to amend the Constitution to increase the vote threshold.

1:44:13for something, that it must pass by the same vote threshold. So, the proposed Howard Jarvis, and, California Business Roundtable initiative would actually… would potentially have to obtain not a simple majority vote approval, but two-thirds approval itself. So.

1:44:31Let's walk through this real quickly. Simple scenario. Let's say that ACA 13 passes, the Howard Jarvis Initiative passes, and the library tax has also passed, June or November.

1:44:45Although, there's a wrinkle with June.

1:44:48So first there would be litigation about whether or not ACA 13 applies to the Howard Jarvis Initiative.

1:44:55Then there would be a question about whether or not the Howard Jarvis Initiative can actually change the vote threshold for initiatives that are on the same ballot or past ballots. Previous, initiatives have

1:45:09created a past window for compliance issues, but they have never before, basically said the voters, the vote threshold when something qualified can be changed, retroactively. So there would be litigation about that as well.

1:45:25they're…

1:45:28there are ways that the city can protect itself while those issues are resolved in terms of collection of the tax, but it's not a simple answer that just because the Howard Jarvis Initiative will be on the ballot, that, it will ultimately mean anything for this library tax initiative.

1:45:48Very good, thank you. We're gonna,

1:45:50I have more questions from the City Council, and I'll start.

1:45:55So, it's conceivable that something passes in the November ballot.

1:46:00could be retroactive to June or other periods of time. That is what they are proposing, but I really want to think, like, have everybody think through what that means, is that if the Council places this initiative on the ballot, and it passes with a simple majority under current law.

1:46:17that this initiative is proposed… the statewide initiative that's being proposed would tell El Cerrito voters that you played by the rules that were in existence at the time, and we are going to undo that.

1:46:28So even aside from ACA 13, there will be… there are several other local initiatives that have passed, by a simple majority that would be within the window that the Howard Jarvis Initiative is proposing to create.

1:46:44There will inevitably be litigation over whether or not a statewide initiative can really tell local voters that even though they played by the rules in place, that they don't get what they voted for.

1:46:56Up to the courts.

1:46:59Any other questions?

1:47:04Councilmember Motelo.

1:47:07Thank you. I just want to go back to a couple, questions that were brought up by,

1:47:14Sorry, my… my vision is not so good.

1:47:18So, I want to bring back some questions. One is, A question about…

1:47:25If BART should fail, what would happen to the development? And I know that there's two different things. One is operating costs.

1:47:35which, BART needs to fill, but BART has owned this land, and the land would be encumbered by a development agreement, so even if BART goes bankrupt, which is highly unlikely, the land would not be affected. Could you confirm?

1:47:50Yes, I, I think that that is, the, the, the,

1:47:56the most likely answer, I'm an attorney, so I have to build in the possibility for some uncertainty, but,

1:48:04if the agreements are in place, between BART-related, or the development entity that's created, and the city, that create a real estate

1:48:15contractual interest on the part of the city and the developer to, to…

1:48:21build a building and build a library on BART property, those are not typically obligations that are dischargeable, even in bankruptcy. I mean, those are long-term property interests where there will be long-term tenants whose rights under their lease agreements can't be affected by bankruptcy.

1:48:41And moreover, even if under some very strange scenario in which Bart was compelled to sell the property to satisfy other obligations.

1:48:52those contractual rights to have the building on the buildings. Even if the buildings have not yet been built, the rights to build the buildings and operate them for the term of the lease would continue to exist and would be applicable against anybody who purchased them out of the bankruptcy process.

1:49:08Thank you.

1:49:10And then…

1:49:16So, can we, talk a little bit about the senior exemption?

1:49:23And it sounds like we could propose something as city. How would we do that?

1:49:29The City Council could do that either by resolution or ordinance. The way that the initiative is written, it actually authorizes the City Council to adopt ordinances to amend the ordinance, except in areas that are specifically prohibited to be amended.

1:49:48The exemptions aren't among those. But ultimately, as I said.

1:49:52the exemptions is really just a question of what is the rate, if you look at it that way. And in effect, the City Council, could adopt a resolution that says, for this class of property owners, we are just going to make the rate zero, or… or half the rate, or a quarter of the rate.

1:50:11Any number of permutations, but it could be codified into an ordinance, or it could be done by resolution.

1:50:17And would we need to do that right now, or could we bring that back later if this should pass, or how… how… what would be, kind of, the ideal timing for that? You can't… you can't…

1:50:28I mean, you could adopt an ordinance now, but since the initiative hasn't been adopted, approved by voters, there's nothing to amend at this point. But you could adopt a resolution now to state that it is the Council's intent that the exemptions, will be expanded beyond those stated in the ordinance. You could also wait until the first year…

1:50:46instance in which the City Council is proposing to levy the taxes.

1:50:50And then, as part of that action, clarify what the exemptions will be.

1:50:55Thank you.

1:50:58Any other questions?

1:51:01of what we need to do now, and I want to remind everyone.

1:51:05We have received this report, and we are going to

1:51:09call an election for the Citizens Initiative petition titled, the El Cerrito Library Initiative.

1:51:16And that's the thing… the only thing that we're gonna vote on.

1:51:19Is whether we're going to do this on June… for November.

1:51:24Would like to speak.

1:51:27Mayor Pro Tem, go ahead.

1:51:30thank you. First, thanks everybody who made comments today, and all of…

1:51:38Comments we've been getting for a very long time, but especially as pertains to the initiative since it qualified.

1:51:45I… I would like to see us go for the June ballot.

1:51:50The reason is that We have already been waiting a very long time to get a new library.

1:51:59I think we need to know at this point, as soon as possible. I would have preferred for us to know years ago whether we were going to have funding or not. It's not an option to place this on the ballot two years ago, so I think the soonest possible moment is the way to go, so we can make sure we get in in the decision window

1:52:18for the developer and BART, and so we can start planning to make this happen, or if it fails.

1:52:25So we can start.

1:52:28figuring out a plan for how to extend the life of the current library, because if we don't do something, at some point, we'll get kicked out of there, because it won't be to code, and it won't be operable anymore. So, whatever the outcome is of the measure, we have to figure it out.

1:52:46again, years ago would have been better, but that's not an option, so I think it's important to do it now.

1:52:53We do need a new library. I think that's something that the city has long agreed on.

1:53:01Clearly not every resident agrees that we need a new library. I would encourage those of you who seem to think this is the same as Trump's ballroom to visit the current library, which I'm at at least once a week.

1:53:14I know the reason I don't spend more time at the current library is because, you know, with the… the librarians came and told us at a recent meeting, which is…

1:53:25it's one big room. It's challenging for people to use right now, so I go in, usually pick up books, return books, and leave pretty quickly. Once in a while, I'll bring my daughter there, and we're there maybe 15 minutes, because

1:53:38After 15 minutes, a young child wants to move around a lot, and there's no space to do that appropriately in the current library, so as not to bother the other patrons who might need their quiet space, their computer time, their reading time, we get out of there pretty quickly.

1:53:54That's not the way a library should be. It should be a community space. It should be a place we can all depend on for various different needs. It should be a place that has space for everybody that's appropriate for them and their needs.

1:54:07So I think this is an urgent need for the city, and we need to find out what voters are gonna decide, and then make a plan to move forward, so…

1:54:15When it's time for a motion, I'm happy to make the motion, but I think we should be putting this on the June ballot.

1:54:23Councilmember Motayama, you have the last.

1:54:28Oh, you helped? Yeah. Okay.

1:54:30Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for everybody, because I can tell that this means a lot to people. You're here on a 9… at 9 o'clock on a Thursday at a special meeting, so I… I do see this all as concern for the community, and I really appreciate that.

1:54:48I think,

1:54:51One of the things that I think is really sad is that if we had passed the initiative in 2016 for a library, we wouldn't be here. We could possibly be talking about, you know, upgrades to the community center, or a new senior center, or police department, and fire department, that is, you know, to code and, you know.

1:55:10Meets all the requirements for gender-specific

1:55:13Services, which we don't have.

1:55:15So, I think, just as a reminder to people.

1:55:202016, the library initiative passed at 63%.

1:55:25That means 4% of the people in El Cerrito were able to turn down what 63% of the people wanted.

1:55:34So…

1:55:35Given that, I'm assuming, again, that we'll have another turnout that's roughly the same, because I think a lot of people I talk to that supported the library then, support the library now, and they're opposed then, they're opposed now, so it'll be roughly 63%.

1:55:52So, I think there's still…

1:55:54a good chunk of El Cerrito that wants to tax themselves for a new library.

1:56:01I also agree with Councilmember Saltzman that there is an opportunity to be part of this TOD development, and that opportunity will not last forever. The one thing any development entity wants is certainty.

1:56:15And that's what we can provide if we go forward in June. I think…

1:56:19you know, we've been asking them, oh yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna figure this out. They're gonna give up on us before we give up on them.

1:56:27And I don't want that to happen, because this is… this is a cost-effective way to get a 20,000 square foot library, and I don't think this opportunity will come again.

1:56:37Not for many, many years. So, there is an urgency beyond inflation and other things. It's an opportunity that we will lose.

1:56:46And given all these things, I think

1:56:48we need to move forward in June. I hope that everybody read the impact report, and again, it's not written to be super…

1:56:58regular person friendly, sorry, Sky. But it does answer most of the questions, and I can understand the issue of trust, that we wrote the report so it can't be trusted, but I don't know what that means.

1:57:15because the report is…

1:57:19is factual. It has all the footnotes and everything, and you can trust that. You may have questions arising from that report, and we've heard some of them, and responded to many of them.

1:57:32So, I don't know how much further, we can go. So, I think there's been lots of opportunities to ask questions. I think we just need to call the question.

1:57:42And then, if we do move forward with a library in June, then we can spend resources to look at design.

1:57:51consider exactly how, you know, what guardrails we want, how much a senior exemption that we want to create for ourselves, all those kinds of things that we don't want to spend our time on between now and November, because, you know, we only want to spend all that money

1:58:07If it passes. And, you know, I think starting in November with all of those kinds of reports and stuff, once we find out, it will push the timing for what we can do much farther in the future.

1:58:20So,

1:58:21Thank you. I appreciate everything. I've heard all your questions. I hope we try to answer most of them, and I support a June ballot.

1:58:31Councilmember Weissinger. Yes, thank you so much, Mayor. Thank you to staff for putting together this, presentation.

1:58:38I had whole remarks written, but after listening to everyone, you know, there's a couple of different things that are ringing in my head, and I did not want to take off my council hat and put on my organizer hat, but I don't really have a choice, because what I'm hearing right now in community, quite frankly, is analysis paralysis.

1:58:57We want to keep analyzing and analyzing and analyzing, and, you know, we actually talked about

1:59:04memorializing Reverend Jesse Jackson at the Tuesday meeting. You know, as an organizer, I've heard people talk about.

1:59:12working in Democratic politics, that's why you see me looking tired. We're getting ready for the Democratic Party Convention, where some of us have been listening to gubernatorial candidates for months, have been listening to State Superintendent of instruction candidates for months, listening to Senate candidates for months.

1:59:28And a lot of people have not. I'm actually quite frankly shocked how many members of our El Cerrito community don't know how important our gubernatorial election is in June.

1:59:39I've had people reach out to me on Instagram who are very invested in this item and don't understand why they have to go to the… possibly go to the polls in June, and I said, you should be going to the polls in June anyway. That's number one.

1:59:54But number two, someone mentioned voter education. When you are organizing, that is the core tenet of organizing, is voter education. That's the campaign right there.

2:00:05You know, we have people who are for, we have people who are against. It's now time for both sides to organize, as we would say in the youth community. You get your people, and you get your people. And as Reverend Jesse Jackson said, if you… he said… he said.

2:00:20If you want a free Mandela, if you want a free South Africa, I'm saying if you want a library, if you don't want a library, let's vote about it. It's time out for it. Those who are invested in this issue.

2:00:32We have the information, we have the impact report, we have what you do have from the city, from the organizer, I'm sorry, from the developers, and you may feel that you don't have the information, and you may be very upset about that.

2:00:45That is your camp. I hate to… I don't… I mean, I'm clear that I would want this to go forward in June. That's what I want. But if that is not what you want, get your information to the people. Organize!

2:00:58I think that's what's kind of bothering me right now, is no matter what you want or don't want, it seems that people don't want to do the work to organize.

2:01:06We gotta stop kicking this can down the road. Everybody, get together, campaign, organize for what you want, so that we know what the overall will of the voters is. If we put it on the ballot in June.

2:01:18and it doesn't pass, at least now we know where we will not be getting money from, and we can go forward from there. But this analysis and the paralysis, we… we gotta stop this.

2:01:29get together, let's vote about it. I'm looking forward to voting for this to be on the June ballot.

2:01:37Councilmember Cosas, you have the last one.

2:01:41Don't you have the last word?

2:01:43Finally.

2:01:47I just want to say, first of all, I'm really disappointed at this question of June versus November.

2:01:54Has been really a question of, are you for the library or against the library?

2:01:59And I don't think of it that way at all. I… And also.

2:02:05I believe that… so the unspoken issue in here about June is that this library initiative is competing with many other tax initiatives, and strategically.

2:02:15If you're in favor of it, it makes sense to have it in June, because there's less competition on the ballot.

2:02:21There is a school board… a school…

2:02:24tax parcel or tax measure. It's not decided yet whether it's going to be June or November. Most likely it will be November.

2:02:31There's a transit tax.

2:02:34For multiple counties in the Bay Area. That's going to be in November.

2:02:37There is a…

2:02:39County sales tax has just been announced that I believe is actually going to be in June.

2:02:43And then there's us where we don't know, but looks like it will also be in June.

2:02:48My criteria… first of all, I ran for City Council on two issues. I was elected on two issues. One was fiscal responsibility, and the second was community engagement.

2:02:58That's my lens for this issue.

2:03:01there is $80,000 on the table that does not need to be spent if we move the ballot, or we have the election in November. It's just as simple as that. It saves $80,000.

2:03:11That's the fiscal responsibility part. The community engagement part is

2:03:16Like it or not, right or wrong, more people will vote in November.

2:03:21It is a more democratic process as such. There will be more participants in the decision. Again, I don't justify someone not voting in June. I actually think June is a more important election.

2:03:32But the fact is, more people will vote in November. We also have a city council election on the same ballot. This is a local issue tied to the City Council.

2:03:42for those reasons, I think November makes sense. The primary reason, though.

2:03:48Is… it's the fiscally responsible decision to make.

2:03:51I don't believe that there's a 6% escalation of cost

2:03:56you know, I just… I don't know where that number comes from. I think at the high peak of inflation, maybe you could make that argument. That's not where we are now.

2:04:02I know that…

2:04:05you know, whatever passes or doesn't pass, it will be a year or two or more before concrete steps are taken. There's no cost to be saving. I know that BART will accept whatever direction we go, whether it's signed in June or November, that's not an issue. I would like to see it resolved, but 5 months doesn't bother me.

2:04:25Particularly if it means saving $80,000. You know, the next year will bring all sorts of hard decisions about where to cut and what to save. You know, FAB was told, well, don't come up and tell us to save money, be concrete. Well, this is a very concrete possibility, a very concrete proposal. Save $80,000 by having the election in November.

2:04:43So that's… that's where I stand. Thank you very much. I want to,

2:04:47ask the city manager and city attorney a question about the $80,000. And what I've heard is that

2:04:58If we have it in June, and it passes, we'll be able to get that reimbursed, is that correct?

2:05:05If it… if it passes, yes, the proceeds from the revenue from the measure would… are eligible for a special election cost. It would not apply to the November election, because it would be essentially impossible to

2:05:18separate out the cost of the library election versus the council election, and it would be the, the library election… special election in June would be specifically for the library. Those election costs would be eligible for reimbursement.

2:05:31Very good, thank you very much. Now we have two things we need to take care of, and one is a motion to proceed and file the report. Yes.

2:05:41I've heard the statement, give me reimbursed, and I just want to point out that reimbursement

2:05:47You know, it's not coming out of magic. It's coming from taxpayers.

2:05:51So I just want to be clear about that, that when you say reimbursement, you know, it's…

2:05:55It's not free money, so it's… No, it's from the proceeds of the revenue of the measure. Yes. And, Your Honor, you do not have to do a motion to receive and file. You can do a motion simply for the ballot measure. Okay.

2:06:09Make a motion. I'd like to move to place, the ballot measure on the June ballot.

2:06:14I'll second. Okay, we have a motion by the Mayor Pro Tem, Saltzman, and second from Council Member Motayama.

2:06:23City Clerk, can you please do a roll call under that? Certainly, Mayor Quinto.

2:06:28Yes, for the June. Mayor Tim Saltzman?

2:06:32Yes. Councilmember Cassanis?

2:06:34No. Councilmember Motuyama?

2:06:37Yes. Councilmember Weisinger?

2:06:39Yes. Motion carries, and just very briefly for edification of the Council and the public, that does set the dates for the impartial analysis of March 13th. Argument deadlines would be due March 18th.

2:06:53Rebuttal deadline would be March 23rd, and there would be the appropriation of $80,163 for the election costs, and that will generate the final resolution adopted by the Council tonight.

2:07:05Okay, we are adjourning this meeting. I want to thank, our residents for attending live and on Zoom. Meeting is ending at 11-0…

2:07:15So, thank you.