Special and Regular City Council Meeting October 6, 2026

0:00:04But…

0:00:07Good evening. The October 6th Special City Council meeting is called to order at 6 p.m. Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

0:00:16Mayor Quinto here. Mayor Pro Tem Saltzman here. Councilmember Katsanis.

0:00:20Councilmember Ktsanes: Here.

0:00:21Councilmember Motoyama? Here.

0:00:23Councilmember Weisinger? Here. We have a quorum, and just a brief note that Councilmember Katsanis is participating virtually under the Standard Brown Act, so no disclosures are required tonight, but all votes will be by roll call. Thank you, Mayor. Okay, please stand.

0:00:38for the Pledge of Allegiance.

0:00:41For a moment or so.

0:00:43I pledge allegiance to the flag.

0:00:45or the United States.

0:00:48And to the Republic for which it stands.

0:00:50Motivation.

0:00:51Undercover.

0:01:00Next is, instructions and announcements. City clerk.

0:01:06Thank you, Mayor. This hybrid meeting provides an option to participate in person or via Zoom with closed captions available. Meetings of the City Council are subject to the Brown Act and are held for the purpose of conducting city business.

0:01:18The Brown Act ensures the public's right to be heard, and while City Council may not respond to your comments directly, your comments will be heard prior to Council taking action.

0:01:26For members of the public who wish to provide oral testimony, the Mayor will announce the time for public comments on each applicable item.

0:01:33A request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a speaker card.

0:01:38By selecting the raise hand feature in Zoom, or by dialing star 9 if calling in by phone. In-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.

0:01:53Proceed their comments with their name and city of residence, and be respectful of time limits. Thank you, Mayor, that concludes my announcements. Okay, next, on the agenda, we have Assistant City Manager, and for City Manager, I think this is Alex Olagas. Good evening.

0:02:10Thank you, Mayor. I just have a few announcements. The first one is that October is Arts Month here in El Cerrito. We kicked off this past weekend with the El Cerrito Art Association's annual show at the Community Center.

0:02:25This initiative for Arts Month is spearheaded by the Arts and Culture Commission, and the idea is to highlight all of the great organizations, events, and activities that are already happening here in El Cerrito. And there's actually quite a bit happening during October Arts Month. For those who are interested in taking a look at the full calendar, you can go to elcerrito.gov

0:02:49Arts Month.

0:02:51I also want to give a reminder about how the city is hosting our annual Senior Resource Fair on Friday, October 23rd, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Community Center. This event is a great opportunity for seniors, caregivers, family members, or really anyone who's interested in senior services within our city to serve our older adults.

0:03:14Please tell your friends, your neighbors, and we hope you stop by.

0:03:19next Tuesday.

0:03:21October 13th at 6 o'clock is the library task force and or excuse me, the library task force and county library staff will be holding a detailed tour of the existing library building. And this meeting is open to the public. So anybody who's interested in taking a tour of the existing building can attend. And the meeting will also be recorded

0:03:44For those who can't make it.

0:03:46And then last but not least, I want to take a moment for a very well-deserved staff recognition. I believe she may be listening online now, but last week, our Budget and Financial Services Manager, Claire Coleman received the President's Award from the

0:04:03from the Municipal Management Association of Northern California.

0:04:08And this award is really a significant recognition that's typically given once a year to one person and recognizes her contributions and dedication to our profession and local government.

0:04:22So we're very fortunate, as you know, to have Claire on our team. So, Claire, if you're listening right now, congratulations and thank you for everything you do for our city. With that said, that concludes my report. Okay. Thank you very much.

0:04:37Thank you.

0:04:39Congratulations to Claire Coleman and our finance team.

0:04:44Next, we have announcements. I'll, check to my left and right on any council announcements. Mayor Cortell.

0:04:52Just there are a lot of events coming up for in Arts Month, and I did go to the art show opening, which was fantastic and very crowded. But I did want to mention one of them that the Human Relations Commission is heading up, which is the United Against Hate talk event that will be held in Centennial Park.

0:05:13On Saturday, October 17th, from 10 to 1PM.

0:05:18People of all ages are invited, especially kids. It's going to be fun with chalk. They're going to have an artist do one piece and then invite everybody to do art there with the theme of United Against Hate. So I hope people can make it out to that.

0:05:34Great. Any announcements?

0:05:38I'm checking with Councilmember Kasatz.

0:05:41Councilmember Ktsanes: Yeah, I'll just make a quick one, just to let people know where I am. I am in… I'm not there in person, and I apologize for that.

0:05:47I am in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Habitat for Humanity International Annual Conference.

0:05:53I'm here for the week and largely doing lots of finance workshops.

0:05:58And again, I apologize for not being there in person.

0:06:02Thank you for that. I have a couple of mayoral announcements. We did have a 5 p.m. closed session. There's nothing to report on that meeting. For the third quarter of 2026, covering July to September, I recognize El Cerrito Centenarians, Emma Ricks Dolly, who turned 100.

0:06:22Larson Ardnesser and Lucille Eckenberger both turned 102.

0:06:28And Theodore Crum turned 105, and we did send out a mayoral certificate of recognition.

0:06:39on,

0:06:41October 6th, I signed a mayoral proclamation in recognition of the 85th birthday of Phil Plale, who is the owner of Phil's Barbershop on Fairmont.

0:06:53So, next, we have oral communications from the public.

0:06:57Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments regarding matters not on the agenda, consent items, and presentation items. Requests to speak can be submitted to the City Clerk for completing a speaker card, using the raise hand feature on Zoom, or dialing star 9 by joining by phone.

0:07:16In-person requests will be taken first. Please remember to identify yourself and your city of residence at the beginning of your comments. City Clerk, please proceed.

0:07:27Thank you, Mayor. We have one in-person request to speak, so we'll start with Caitlin Garibaldi.

0:07:36Good evening, Kate.

0:07:37Good evening, Council members. My name is Caitlin Garibaldi. I'm an El Cerrito resident and the parent of a child in Wcc. Usd.

0:07:46I'm here tonight to ask for your help with an important issue that will affect every public school child in West Contra Costa, Measure V.

0:07:53Measure V is a parcel tax renewal that provides over $10 million annually for West County schools. It is not a new tax. It does not raise taxes. It is a continuation of a parcel tax originally passed in 2004.

0:08:07It has now been renewed 3 times. It costs a low 7.2 cents per square foot, and there are exemptions for seniors and those with disabilities.

0:08:17For comparison, the Alameda Unified Parcel Tax is 58.5 cents per square foot.

0:08:23This is money that provides vital funding.

0:08:26and is controlled and overseen locally.

0:08:28Measure V will provide funding for core academic programs, including reading, writing, math, and science.

0:08:35It will provide funding for hiring and retaining great teachers, and it will help maintain science, technology, engineering, and math instruction, including support for lab materials and activities.

0:08:45Without these funds we will have some very hard decisions.

0:08:49Tonight, I ask the Council to pass a resolution in support of Measure V.

0:08:53Please help us protect these vital funds for our students. Thank you. Thank you very much. By the way, Caitlin is a candidate for West County Unified School District, representing El Cerrito, Kensington, and parts of Richmond. You're the only candidate on the ballot, so all the best to you.

0:09:13Thank you, Mayor. That concludes our request to speak. Okay. Next we'll have, some special presentations. I want to.

0:09:22We have a proclamation for a dear colleague and and dear friend, who I've known for many, many years. When I started as a volunteer for the city of El Cerrito, I joined

0:09:33the senior committee, and that was… I did join that because I was dealing with my dad dealing with end-of-life issues, and he was dealing with.

0:09:44dementia and, old age, and, right now, I'm dealing with my mom right now, who's, going through some difficult times of end-of-life stages right now, so… You know, I've learned so much.

0:09:58from you, and wanted to let you know how much you are appreciated for your many years in the El Cerrito Senior Committee, and advocating for seniors for so, so many years. I want to.

0:10:12Read this proclamation,

0:10:15Before that, I wanted to, vote on that. Do I have a motion to approve? Second. We have a motion by Mutiyama and a second from the Mayor Pro Tem.

0:10:27Madam City Clerk. Mayor Quinto? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Saltzman? Yes. Councilmember Katsanis?

0:10:33Councilmember Ktsanes: Yes.

0:10:34Councilmember Motoyama? Yes. Councilmember Weisinger? Yes. Motion carries. Okay. So I'm going to read this proclamation.

0:10:43Whereas…

0:10:51Here we go. Whereas Janet James has dedicated 40 years of extraordinary service, leadership, and heartfelt commitment to the residents, staff, and community of Escaton, Hazel Shirley Manor in El Cerrito.

0:11:06And whereas Janet's journey with Eschaton began in June 1st, 1986, right after she graduated from UC Berkeley. One month later, Hazel Shirley Manor opened its doors for the very first residents. And whereas originally from North Berkeley, Janet never planned on the exact

0:11:25After writing her college thesis on the immense need for senior housing, she became the first executive director at the senior living community. And whereas through four decades of steadfast devotion, Janet has embodied the core values of compassion, integrity, and dignity.

0:11:45Where older adults are honored, respected, and empowered. Whereas alongside her four decades at Eschaton, Hazel Shirley Manor, which is just right across the street near St. John's.

0:11:57Janet has further demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to civic engagement and advocacy by serving for 36 distinguished years on the Committee of Aging in El Cerrito from 1988 to 2024.

0:12:13Whereas such remarkable milestones of public and professional service merit, official recognition, deep respect, and the highest commendation from a grateful community.

0:12:25Now, therefore.

0:12:27The City of El Cerrito does hereby commend and recognize Janet James on the occasion of her 40th anniversary at Eschaton Hazel Shirley Manor, and in honor of her 36 years of dedicated service on the Committee of Aging, with best wishes for continued health.

0:12:45happiness, and the fulfillment in all her future endeavors. Signed today, October 6, 2026. Congratulations. Would you like to say a few words?

0:13:02Oh, excuse me, thank you, Mayor, and the Council members. I was not expecting all of that. That's so wonderful.

0:13:09I feel very honored to have served in El Cerrito and to serve these lovely people.

0:13:17It really wasn't a job, it's been wonderful, and

0:13:22I can't believe 40 years have gone by, but I've loved every minute of it.

0:13:27And I couldn't have asked for more. So I thank the city. The city is.

0:13:31who helped build Hazel Shirley Matter. It was a joint project.

0:13:36Way back in the day, I don't know if people remember Art Schroeder.

0:13:41And some of the old… the folks that are no longer with us, but… and Hazel Shirley, of course, who worked very hard to get senior housing for El Cerrito for affordable senior housing for seniors.

0:13:53And without everybody's work, it wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't have had such a great career. So thank you all very much. You're bringing tears to my eyes. I thank these people. I just love them so much.

0:14:07And also, Melva, I don't see her here, but one of my residents, Melva Baldane, is the one that

0:14:14Came to the city to have this happen, so…

0:14:17Thank you, everybody. It's truly an honor. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you.

0:14:28Before we take a photo, would anyone else like to speak before the council on this special?

0:14:35Proclamation.

0:14:37Going once, going twice… We will take a picture with you and the family in the front here.

0:14:57Which is right up there.

0:15:03Sure.

0:15:05deal.

0:16:06Okay, next we have, another presentation, and this is, from the Contra Costa Vector and Mosquito Control District. We have an update, and we have, two special guests. Paula Macedo, who's a general manager of

0:16:23Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District, and we have our own representative from the City of El Cerrito, who's our representative on that board, and that's Jim, Logal. So, welcome.

0:16:44Good evening.

0:16:45Good evening, Mayor.

0:16:48Mayor Pro Temp.

0:16:50and other City Council members, you know, I'm an El Cerrito resident. I want to share with you my perspective about, serving on Mosquito and

0:17:00vector control district board.

0:17:03The board… it's a 22-member board representing all of the municipalities, and then there are some members for the unincorporated areas as well.

0:17:15You originally appointed me for a 2-year term, then that, expired, and I was reappointed for a 4-year term, and I'm somewhere in the 4-year term.

0:17:27So I've attempted, lots of meetings. Later, you're going to hear from the general manager.

0:17:34What they do. I'm going to talk more about

0:17:37How good they are. What they do.

0:17:41And… As I say, I've attended, I think, all the trustee meetings. Maybe I missed one.

0:17:49I am also on the audit committee. In fact, I was chair of the audit committee last year. I'm chair of the audit committee this year. I'm also on an ad hoc committee for our new building.

0:18:05much like the city's public safety building. The district's building was past its useful life, and the city manager or the city manager. Sorry the general manager stepped up with the support of the board and undertook a major upgrade to the building.

0:18:26The general manager has done a great job. You know what building projects could be like. This is being completed this month.

0:18:35On budget, and on time.

0:18:40I want to talk a little bit about the journal manager herself, which you may not appreciate, but I'm going to do it anyway.

0:18:47She holds a Phd. And also a doctor of veterinary medicine.

0:18:55Now, in my career, I've worked with lots of PhDs. You guys don't know all my sorted history, but I have.

0:19:04and they're very smart people, very narrow. Usually you wouldn't want most of them to be general managers. We have the exceptional person here that not only knows her stuff in terms of the science which she could.

0:19:21Speak to, which I can't. But she's also an excellent general manager.

0:19:28From my experience, the district is really well run.

0:19:33in all aspects. And I want to give you just an example of one little incident kind of close to home here.

0:19:39As some of you know, we had a infective bird found here, you know, some months ago. Somebody who sometimes is in the audience, but I don't think she's here today. Sue Hansen actually reported this to the Mosquito District.

0:19:55I also serve on the city's community safety meeting, as you know.

0:20:01Sue came to the meeting and was very complimentary about the district's responsiveness, how quickly they came out.

0:20:11I think that just speaks to how effective we have in this district. I'm really pleased that I'm a member of the Board of Trustees and work with an excellent general manager. She's not going to tell you what they do, I just tell you how well they do it. Thank you.

0:20:34Good evening. Good evening, and thank you so much, Jim, but, you know, I can't take the credit. We do have a very supportive 22-member board, and, you know, an incredible staff, so it's not, you know, just me, it's my amazing staff, too, which you're gonna see a little bit of it here. Let's see.

0:20:51There you go, a little bit of the district history. You know, we were, created in 1926, we opened our doors in 1927, so next year, it's gonna be our 100th anniversary. We are going to be celebrating, opening the doors of the brand new building.

0:21:08And you know, everybody's invited, the public is invited. At that time in 1926, you know, it was really hard to live in Contra Costa County.

0:21:17And the schools were closing, business were closing, all that because of mosquito activity. It was so bad that nobody could be here anymore. And then people couldn't even sell their homes to get away from it because, you know, nobody would buy the homes.

0:21:30So we were created back then, and that's exactly the time too that mosquitoes were being implicated in a lot of the disease transmission that was going on. There was endemic malaria at the time that is transmitted by a mosquito that we do have here in the county. And, you know, malaria was then eradicated from here, but it was endemic at the time.

0:21:52Until 1993, we were Mosquito Abatement District, that was our name, Contra Costa Mosquito Abatement, and we dealt with mosquitoes only. In 1993, the county transferred to us the RAT and SCUNK programs, and we began being called the Mosquito and Vector Control District.

0:22:10You know, we're very unique in terms of as special districts go, because we don't only answer to the government codes. Just like schools, they have also the education in our code. We have not only the government code, but we also, we were created based on the health and safety code.

0:22:27So, based on the Health and Safety Code, you know, that's what established how many trustees we need to have. We have one representing each city, and three at large, and that's why it's such a large board. You know, it's a surprise sometimes to say you have 22 board members. I have 22 bosses. Right? It's one of the… it's a very large board.

0:22:48And a lot of times we're asked, you know, if you're a special district, how are you funded?

0:22:53Well, we are a special district, so even though our name is Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control, we do not belong to the county. We are not part of county government. We are a local government, we're a special district, much like usually the fire districts are.

0:23:08And we are funded by the residents' property taxes. So if we take a look there at, you know, what usually your tax bill comes in the mail to you. That's actually from Martinez, it's not the same amount, but that's an example that we can find in the county website.

0:23:23If you look there at the highlighted mosquito and vector, $6.74, it's what the residents pay for, part of our services, because that is what the benefit assessment gives. So we are funded by property taxes and benefit assessment. The benefit assessment part is what you see there.

0:23:43When you look at that 1% county-wide tax, we receive a share of that based on their distribution to all the districts.

0:23:51So usually a resident would be paying around seven, 8 to $10, per year for our service. So, that is usually, in their tax bill.

0:24:06And what do we do? We provide service for mosquitoes, and that includes mosquito fish. You know, there is actually a fish that is called mosquito fish.

0:24:15And, you know, we can put that in swimming pools that are not being used. If they are green swimming pools, we can put that on horse troughs. We can put that on ponds.

0:24:26It's only man-made sources. We don't put that on creeks that are going to end up, you know, being in areas where, you know, this fish is not native to California, so we shouldn't be putting them there. It's man-made sources only, but it's very effective at eating mosquito larvae when we use it in that way.

0:24:43But you know, our service for mosquitoes, you know, go beyond, the residential service that we are called for. It goes into looking at any source that can produce mosquito in the county.

0:24:55Rats and mice, we do come to the residents and we offer advice for the residents.

0:25:02And, usually it's around… we go around the property, we let the residents know this is what's attracting rats and mice to your property, these are the openings that they are getting into your… potentially into your… your home, and we, tell them, you know, exactly what they need to get done.

0:25:19To not let them in your home.

0:25:22Skunks, skunk is mostly a rabies reduction program. Skunks can transmit rabies, but they are not the main vector in the county.

0:25:32But we don't want, we want to minimize the contact that residents have with skunks. Skunks are beneficial animals. Yes, we don't like that they try to dig for grubs in our grass and they may make a mess and they don't smell good.

0:25:48But, you know, they are beneficial animals. They have their place in nature. So what we need to do is discourage them from visiting your property.

0:25:57So we, don't trap for skunks anymore. It was one of the things that we did inherit from the county at the time was that trapping of the skunks. We, at the time, would only issue those traps if the skunk was

0:26:10living under your home or under your… because then the contact with the resident, it's great if they live there. And we decided that, you know, that was not the best thing to do, because we are not a skunk removal service, we are a rabies reduction service. So we need to tell people what to do to their homes to not allow the skunks in there in the first place.

0:26:30We work with ticks. Ticks can transmit. We do have the ticks that transmit Lyme disease. So we make sure that, you know, the ticks that people bring to us, we identify and make sure that it's not the right or the wrong tick.

0:26:44Yellow Jackets is a service that we do provide. You know, we do treat Yellow Jackets nests.

0:26:50If they are in your property.

0:26:52And bees, you know, it's interesting. They say, well, what do you do with bees? Do you spray the bees? Do you kill the bees? No, the opposite. We want to offer a service for bees so that we can educate the public about the bees.

0:27:03what they are and their role in nature. You know, we, most of the times when we're called for bees, it's a swarm. It's not anything that is dangerous to the public. We usually call a beekeeper. The Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association will come and remove the hive.

0:27:19Take the bees away, you know, they actually very much like to do that.

0:27:25In terms of service provided to El Cerrito in the last 12 months, if you look at mosquitoes and you're like, okay, 14 service only in the last 12 months, well, that was what the public called us in their residence for. It's not what we went out there to do. It's not only that, right?

0:27:42So if you look at sources inspected and treatments, we inspected 535 sources and treated 139 of those. Usually the treatment is a larvicide, a bacteria that goes in the water and kills the mosquito larva only and does not affect other wildlife.

0:27:58And most of our technicians, their work is going to be looking for those known sources, those creeps, those low areas that are accumulating water, anything like that, to not let the mosquitoes produce or lay eggs there.

0:28:11So, rats and mice, actually, we get more calls from the public for rats and mice than we do for mosquitoes, which speak volumes, right? We're doing a good job with the mosquitoes killing them if you're not calling us, hopefully.

0:28:24Ticks, not too many, or bees, and the yellow jackets, 33. When it's yellow jacket season, we do get a lot of calls.

0:28:35You know, as Trustee Delgones mentioned, the West Nile virus activity that we had in El Cerrito this year was like we had never seen before. First time I got a dead bird from El Cerrito positive was in 2023.

0:28:48And then nothing until this year, we had four positive dead birds from El Cerrito. And talk a little bit about the positive dead birds. You know, dead birds are usually the first indication of West Nile virus that we have in a place.

0:29:01Because, you know, we have some birds that are susceptible to West Nile virus, and when a mosquito bites them and transmits West Nile, they're very susceptible. They are gonna, you know, succumb to the disease very fast.

0:29:12So if you see dead birds around or on your property, give us a call, because we can test that dead bird and make sure that it's not positive for West Nile virus. Sometimes you run over a dead bird, even better. Well, not for the bird, but even better, because what I'm saying is that the West Nile virus is a disease that

0:29:30the bird is… it affects the brain of the bird. So if the bird is disoriented enough, especially a crow, crows are such smart birds, and if a crow is disoriented enough to be hit by a car.

0:29:43It was not doing well. And if it was not doing well, there are great chances that it had West Nile virus. So give us a call and we can pick up the bird and we'll test the bird for actually test for West Nile virus, Western equine encephalitis, and St. Louis encephalitis. So for three viruses that they can carry.

0:30:00And, you know, that was the case with the El Cerrito birds. Most of them, you know, were crows. And crows, as we know, they roost in large quantities, and sometimes they roost in different areas. So it helps us pinpoint, you know, and try to collect mosquitoes to know where the activity is happening.

0:30:17But it was, you know, very surprising that we got those positive birds from El Cerrito this year.

0:30:23And that's why we need you. We need all the residents to, you know, one, if you, I'm asking one thing that the residents can do to help us on what we do is front and backyards dump water.

0:30:35Any amount of water can produce mosquitoes and I'm talking about any amount of water. If you look at that picture, that's a bottle cap.

0:30:44And all those things in there are mosquito larvae.

0:30:48So, they take advantage of any small space, your plant saucers, tires that you may have on your backyard.

0:30:54We need to dump any amount of water. You know, sometimes you have water in the backyard that you didn't even know you had. You know, it rained a little bit, collected a little bit of water. Your gutters, you know, are clogged and, you know, they are producing mosquitoes too.

0:31:09It's any amount of water can produce mosquitoes.

0:31:13And talking about water, anything that holds water for more than three days, you can have adults fly in your backyard and potentially biting and transmitting disease. So going through all of those, it's more, it's even more important to know where the water is going to end up than where the water is coming from.

0:31:31Because, you know, it can end up in places that you did not intend for it to end up. You know, just that sprinkler going in your backyard, hitting that little bag of chips that the wind blew to your backyard, now you have water instead of the bag of chips, you don't even know the bag of chips is there, and it's producing mosquitoes. It's any water.

0:31:49Rain gutters, crawl space sumps, drain lines, meter boxes. A big thing that we're looking at now, our technicians are doing a great job, is mapping all of the vaults that the cities have, because we saw that those vaults can produce a lot of mosquitoes too.

0:32:07And, you know, to end up my presentation to you this evening, I wanted to talk to you about the invasive mosquito. It's called Aedes aegypti mosquito. It's new to Contra Costa County, and I wanted everyone to be aware of that mosquito and why it's important.

0:32:22I think it's a gorgeous mosquito story, because if you look at that, look at those white markings in the mosquito. I'm, you know, I'm an entomologist, I'm a scientist. I think it's a beautiful mosquito, but it's a very bad one.

0:32:34And we don't want it. Why? Because it can transmit Zika, dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, you know, all of those diseases that we don't want here in Contra Costa County. We don't want them in El Cerrito. And if you think about it, oh, we don't have those here. No, we have those here every year, because we travel.

0:32:52And we travel, we get sick elsewhere, and we come here and we go to the doctor, oh yeah, you travel to this place, you have dengue.

0:33:02Before we had this mosquito, it would end there because we did not have the mosquito who could then bite you and transmit to another person.

0:33:11With that mosquito present now in the county, it's easy for that, the right mosquito in the right place or the wrong mosquito in the wrong place, depending on how you look at it, biting somebody that just traveled and came back sick.

0:33:24Can bite the next person in your family, can bite your neighbor, and this mosquito will transmit person to person. West Nile virus, they need the bird. The mosquito needs to bite the bird, pick that up, then bite a person, right? This one, now, it bites a person, then bites another person, it's transmitting. We don't want those diseases here.

0:33:45That's why, you know, we have our Wanted campaign, and we are distributing flyers in schools and everywhere we can, because have you seen this mosquito? Please take a look. Besides dumping water in your front and backyards, please, if you

0:34:00See this mosquito, we call them ankle biters because they are very sneaky. They come under and they bite your ankles when you didn't even see, you just feel it. Sometimes don't even feel it. You have bites after. Give us a call. We can come, we can inspect the sources around you, and we can make sure that it's not that one. And why is it important to make sure it's not that one?

0:34:21Because there is a very good chance that if we catch it early, we can eradicate it.

0:34:26In Martinez, we had this mosquito in 2022.

0:34:29We caught it early. We were able, with the help of the residents, allowing us to come in and inspect the entire neighborhood. We went door to door in more than 1,000 homes, and we were able to eradicate this mosquito.

0:34:43One of the things that we don't talk about much is that the Health and Safety Code does allow us to enter people's home, even if they don't want us there. We can get a warranty, and we can come, but, you know.

0:34:54If I have a thousand homes to inspect, by the time I get a warranty, I'm already, you know, behind. I need people to let us in. One house that is not inspected can repopulate the entire neighborhood.

0:35:04So we want to catch it early. El Cerrito is cooler than some of these areas that we're finding this mosquito. We have a good chance to eradicate in El Cerrito if we find it early, like we did in Martinez.

0:35:16Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case in Antioch and Brentwood. Antioch, for 3 years, we've been finding this mosquito now. It's contained in one neighborhood, it hasn't spread out, but we could not do that. It's already there. Brentwood was the first year this year. The area in Brentwood is over 3,000 acres that we've been finding this mosquito now.

0:35:36We can't do that when it's a large area like that and unfortunately we just last week found it in Discovery Bay.

0:35:43So it is spreading. It's here. We don't want it in El Cerrito. We have a chance to keep it out of El Cerrito.

0:35:50So, if you have any questions, please give us a call. We can come, we can offer services. It's very important to know, like I showed on that property tax slide, our service to the residents do not come with a cost, because you already paid for that service in your property taxes and your benefit assessment.

0:36:08So when our technicians come to your home, there is no additional cost to our residents. It's included in the service that they already paid for their taxes. So give us a call. We would love to help you out if you're having any issues like the services we provide, and we would love to help find this mosquito early if we can.

0:36:25Thank you so much. If you have any questions. Thank you very much. We'll start with, do we have any questions? I'll start with.

0:36:31to my left with Councilmember Weisinger. Sure, thank you so much for this presentation. I mean, for a lot of us, it's a great informational about what the Vector Control Service actually does, and what our rep does on that board. I wanted to go back to the slide, and you don't have to go back to it itself, but the one about the different,

0:36:52Items that you get called out for. And I know one issue that we had on the avenues, we learned that when they started, I live in the Mayfair building right next to the BART station. When they started building the building next door, suddenly we had a huge rat infestation down on that side of San Pablo. And at first I thought I was crazy. I thought maybe we just have rats now.

0:37:15And then I started to notice, I kind of put the dots together that it happened when they started building underground for the, for the building. And I know I talked to our city manager, she said that she reached out to Vector Control, and, and possibly Public Works were talking to Vector, but

0:37:31Is this something… I think the reason I asked is that someone else in another area where we were building actually said something similar over in the north side… I'm sorry, the south side of the city, down by the, Plaza BART.

0:37:43So is this something that you all are seeing more as we and maybe other cities are building that when we're, you know, drilling underground, we're starting to see more of that because now the building is up.

0:37:52No more rats. So is this something that you all are seeing more of?

0:37:56We definitely see that. You know, we have two different types of rats. One is a roof rat, and the other… well, you know, they burrow on the ground. So anytime you are building and you are messing with the ground where potentially they have burrows already, you know, you're going to be displacing them.

0:38:15And when you displace them, they're going to be running to find their next place to go. And that can be your house.

0:38:21Right? So it is it is very, very telling. The other thing that we may have this year, we may have a very big problem with with mice and rats again in the spring, because what we have this this year that we keep talking about is an El Nino, and we're gonna get a lot of rain.

0:38:39When we get a lot of rain, the rain goes on the ground and pretty much floods these burrows that they used to live. So they may be trying to take cover in your house, through your garage.

0:38:49So that's a lot of what our technicians do. They would come and say, you know, this opening here is enough to let one in. We need to do a screen here. We need to do this other thing here. So they will go around your home and tell you what you need to do to rat proof and mice proof your home exactly because of that. Well, well, I guess the reason I'm asking is what can we do as a city who builds a lot?

0:39:11You know, and I was getting this inquiry. I know the city itself was getting inquiry. I mean, it was, it had gotten really bad to the point where we had community members who had to take their cars to be rewired because rats were beating up the wiring. So if we're a city that builds a lot and we know that we're probably, I don't know if it's something that San Pablo has going on underground. I've been watching too much Ghostbusters, but what do we, what can we as a city

0:39:36We do, because we're gonna keep building.

0:39:38So what can we as a city do so that our residents are not being impacted by this? When you start digging, and if you see that you are displacing rats, and that there were burrows for the rats.

0:39:48We can work with the city to come up with a solution, whether it is trapping or, you know, the more humane, you know, traps. People don't believe that actually the most humane traps are going to be the snap traps. They're designed to really quickly snap the rat and kill it.

0:40:06What we don't want public using is the sticky traps, because the sticky traps, the animal does not die instantly, then the animal suffers on those traps, and we don't want that. So, we can come and help out and provide advice with that. Thank you so much.

0:40:23We'll go to my right with Mia Patel.

0:40:26First, thank you. This was very informative and I love the wanted poster for the mosquito. I'm going to give that out to my kid and her friends who are all very observant and bug obsessed. So I think they'll, they'll look out for them and if they come to El Cerrito, they'll, they'll let us know. I think the kids are going to be the ones who notice.

0:40:44Hopefully they won't find it, though.

0:40:48on the rat issue, this is the number one… I mean, just as it's the number one issue that comes up for you, I think it's the number one issue that comes up for us. And it's not a lot, but when it happens, you hear from somebody a lot of times, because they're very concerned

0:41:01And often it's impacting not just one resident, but multiple residents, and people are trying to figure out where the rats are coming from. So they should clearly call you. We'll do…

0:41:13What do you recommend they do? Or do you help facilitate them discussing things with their neighbors to help figure this out together? Because you could eradicate rats on your property, but if they're still on the next property, they're going to come back. So how do you, how do you recommend residents navigate that?

0:41:28You're absolutely right. So sometimes the issue, you know, and we we get a lot of calls that it's not me, it's my neighbor, right?

0:41:35So first thing we're going to do is we're going to come into your property and we're going to see, you know, maybe you have fruits that, you know, it's it's fruit time and your fruits are falling on the ground and you have lots of rotten fruit on the ground.

0:41:47We have to collect all of those. You know, yes, wildlife likes those. Yes, you know, your other insects may like those. Rats love them. Mice love them. So we need to collect those. Those are probably attracting rats. Even if the problem is elsewhere, it's attracting to your… to your residents, right?

0:42:07So we're going to come and we're going to look at all of that. We're going to come and look at points of entry in your house to make sure that, you know, they are not having access, sometimes just heavy cypress or other vegetation. They are very good climbers.

0:42:19They go on your roof, and then they get access to your house through there, right? So, we're gonna tell you, you know, what you need to do to make sure they don't get in your house in the first place.

0:42:30Because if you…

0:42:31Rat-proof your house? It doesn't matter if your neighbors have rats, they're at least not coming in your house, right? And then we're gonna try to discuss with your neighborhood and with your… if your neighbors, we do door hangers, ask them to call us. Unfortunately, we do not have enforcement powers in terms of, like.

0:42:49We have to get in. You know, with mosquitoes is different because if there is a concern for disease transmission, we are enabled by the health and safety code. With rats, it's a little more…

0:42:59you know, difficult to make that case. But we can definitely work, you know, with the neighbors and be insistent in trying to get access. Great. And then one other thing you mentioned, one thing to do with, you know, making sure rats can't get in is covering vents.

0:43:13As you're making recommendations on that, how are you considering any impacts to keeping a place or making a place more fire safe? Since, you know, fire gets in through the holes, not, you know, just on the side of the wall. So is there.

0:43:29Is there anything you do as you discuss this with residents to make sure they're not putting in the wrong type of things that's going to make their house more fire prone, even if it keeps the rats out? Correct. We tell them which type of wire, what type of mesh to use.

0:43:42And, you know, and actually some of the recommendations that we have, you know, are work well for fire safety too, is the vegetation close to your homes, close to your walls, close to your roof.

0:43:52So some of those work both ways too. Great. Thank you so much.

0:43:56Councilmember.

0:43:58Thank you, and thank you for the presentation. I have been a longtime fan of mosquito and vector control.

0:44:06Do you still have… I used to get bulletins.

0:44:09From mosquito vector control when things were happening. Do you still have that? You can still sign up for that? You can. You know, on our website, you can sign up for our newsletters, and there are different ones that you can sign up.

0:44:23You can sign up for… you want to be notified when invasive mosquitoes are in your area. You can want to be notified for any newsletter. You can… there are different topics that you can sign up for on our website.

0:44:33Great, and…

0:44:36I am most concerned about the West Nile infected birds.

0:44:42How do you coordinate with like county public health in the city? I mean, it's it's everybody has to work together on this. Can you can you let me know how how you do that? Sure. You know, whenever you know the the county public health is gonna come in place when they have a notification of a disease.

0:44:58So if we have a human case of any disease that's transmitted by any of the vectors, they notify us. And we go out there and we trap around and we try to collect mosquitoes.

0:45:10And we test. For example, if we had a case of malaria, we would collect a mosquito that is the Anopheles mosquito, which is the rice field mosquito, and test the mosquito. If it is West Nile virus, we would collect the Culex mosquitoes and test. If it is dengue Zika, we would collect the Aedes aegypti mosquito and test it.

0:45:26So, different type of mosquitoes. There are 23 different mosquito species in Contra Costa County.

0:45:32So two of them transmit West Nile, one of them transmit, you know, dengue, Zika, chikungunya, etc. So it has to be the right mosquito or the wrong mosquito, again, depending on how you see it, to be able to do that. So we test and we coordinate response and talk to them because of that.

0:45:49The same thing with rabies cases. We are notified of rabies cases so that we can keep an eye out also for skunks and other, you know, we don't deal with bats. Usually rabies cases in Contra Costa County are bats. But we coordinate with the disease transmission with them.

0:46:04Do you, also let the cities know when something is found? Yeah, they, the, the cities, usually sign up for our newsletter, so they receive all of our news releases, and we let them know. We also work through our trustees.

0:46:17And they are notified, and whenever we have activity in the area, and they can work with the city to make sure, you know, the more word out, the better. So we try to, to.

0:46:27Let the most people know that we can.

0:46:30And just to follow up with the West Nile birds in El Sur, were there any people that were infected? We did not have human cases reported to us in Contra Costa County this year, thank goodness.

0:46:42We, those birds were crows. What we think happened there is that they just found a very good place in El Cerrito to come roost.

0:46:50But they were probably not infected in El Cerrito. They were infected somewhere, flew to El Cerrito to roost, were too sick to leave, and died here. So, because we could not find any infected mosquitoes.

0:47:02Great. Thank you so much. Good to know. Let's go to Councilmember Casanas online.

0:47:08Councilmember Ktsanes: Thank you very much. Thank you for the presentation. It was

0:47:11very informative. I, as you were talking, I was trying to remember a word that I learned during Covid, and it came to me. It's zoonotic, I believe, when a disease can jump from species to species, and

0:47:21I was. I was curious. you mentioned one dead bird one year and 4 the next year.

0:47:28What does that mean in terms of how widespread it is? I mean, do you have a sense of, you know, for every one bird that's dead on the road, there are 25 others that are infected that you aren't finding, or…

0:47:40deep. Are there? Has there been data gathered that would answer that question.

0:47:45Well, I am not a lawyer, but I'm gonna give you a lawyer answer. It depends.

0:47:49It depends a lot because it depends on what bird we're talking about. The ones in El Cerrito were crows. And like I said, crows can fly long distances and crows roost a night in each place, not necessarily the same roost.

0:48:03So when we get a crow that is infected, we take that in consideration. We do try to trap for mosquitoes. The mosquitoes that we find in the location are going to be more indicative of the disease than the crows, but the crows are the first indication that are going to bring us there to try to trap for mosquitoes.

0:48:19If it was a scrub jay, or now a California jay, the beautiful bluebird that we see around.

0:48:25Different story. Those birds are very territorial. They stay in your neighborhood. If they are in the tree in your backyard, that is their tree. They police that tree. They don't let other birds in there. They're actually mean birds.

0:48:40But, you know, they are… they are very local. So if a scrub jay died, and you called me, and I picked out a scrub jay on your backyard, I know that the activity is very localized, it's very close by, I know where to look for the mosquitoes.

0:48:53So, it depends on which birds we're talking about.

0:48:55For the El Cerrito birds, we do believe, because we could not find any mosquitoes that were infected, and we trapped a lot to try to find mosquitoes in the area, and we couldn't find them. We do believe that they were infected elsewhere and came here and died because they became sick when they came to roost in El Cerrito.

0:49:15Councilmember Ktsanes: And does the infection go both ways that a bird can carry the disease and then infect a mosquito who then spreads it further? Or is it always from the mosquito to the bird?

0:49:25The bird carries the disease and infects the mosquitoes so, but you know, the

0:49:31I hate to say the good thing because it's not good for the bird, but, you know, if the bird is susceptible to West Nile virus, it's gonna die very fast. So the period of time that another mosquito has to bite that bird and pick up the infection and transmit again to a person is less.

0:49:49There are birds that are actually resistant to S. nile virus and they don't die. So depending on the amount of time that that bird can keep the virus in their blood circulating, that's the amount of time that we work with for the mosquito to be able to bite that bird and transmit to another person.

0:50:05Chickens are a very good example. I don't know if you know, but we do have sentinel chickens that we use in our surveillance and usually are areas that are hard to reach with traps. What does the chickens do? Well, the mosquitoes bite the chickens.

0:50:22And transmit West Nile, the chickens don't get sick.

0:50:25So we go there and we collect a blood sample on the chickens and if the chickens show antibodies to West Nile virus, we know the activity is right there, very localized because the chicken didn't move, the chicken was right there.

0:50:38Right? Versus a crow that is flying everywhere. So depending on the bird gives us different information. Some birds are going to be transmitting. So the cycle is the mosquito is going to bite the bird.

0:50:50And then hopefully instead of biting a person, bites another bird because they prefer birds to people. So the cycle stays in nature that way.

0:50:59What happens is that when that spills over and instead of biting another bird, that mosquito decided that you smelled better, taste better than that bird and bites you instead or bites a horse. We have worse cases too, but there's a vaccine for horses.

0:51:14So, that is the problem, is when the mosquito decides to bite you. The good news is that if another mosquito bites you, it cannot transmit from you. Why? Our bodies are really good about killing the virus, and mosquitoes are not able to pick up enough virus in our blood to transmit to another person.

0:51:32Versus dengue and Zika and chikungunya, that if the mosquito bites you, they can't transmit to another person immediately.

0:51:40Councilmember Ktsanes: Fascinating. Thank you very much.

0:51:43Thank you. Okay, well, thank you very much for being here. I want to thank, Paula Macedo, the General Manager of Contra Costa Vector, Mosquito and Vector Control, and our own, Jim Donlagas, who represents El Cerrito on that board of 22. So, thank you for your leadership. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here.

0:52:03Next, we will have the West Contra Costa Unified School District update, and we have Cheryl Carton, our superintendent from the school district. Welcome.

0:52:16Thank you, thank you, thank you, and good evening.

0:52:21I do have written notes. Good evening, Mayor Quinto, Mayor Pro Tem Saltzman, and members of the City Council. Wonderful to be back. I think I was just here at the last meeting. But wanted to hopefully annually be able to come out and talk to you about what's going on in the district.

0:52:39And this is an opportunity to do that.

0:52:42I do want to just say that I am a proud El Cerrito High School graduate of Gauchos.

0:52:50I thought he was talking to me. I was like, thank you. And also a proud UC Berkeley graduate. Go Bears. Can't say one without the other. I am a lifelong West Contra Costa resident, a 30 plus year, just going to say plus and we'll leave it there.

0:53:09plus here, educator and administrator. I have… I worked previously 14 years in West Contra Costa Unified School District, both as a principal and a district administrator, and then I left.

0:53:21I was gone for almost eight years.

0:53:23working in districts across the Bay Area, both also at our County Office of Education for Contra Costa, as well as I served as Deputy Superintendent for the California Department of Education before coming back to West Contra Costa. So now, I said 14 years, now we can call it… I'm on my 16th year.

0:53:43I do want to say that I'm also very proud to serve as superintendent for this school district.

0:53:51Next slide, please.

0:53:54Is there… right here?

0:53:56Okay, let's see.

0:53:58I'm just not always that coordinated, but I'm gonna do my best.

0:54:01I do want to say that who we are, West Contra Costa, we serve 24,000 students across, 5 different cities, from Hercules to El Cerrito and Kensington, as well as a number of unincorporated areas as well.

0:54:16We do have 54 schools. We have dual language immersion programs in both Spanish and Mandarin. We also have a number of our schools or community schools receiving additional funding from, the state.

0:54:29However, we were a community schools district long before the state created that grant program. And so we have a commitment to making sure that all of our schools support our students fully, the whole child.

0:54:46And we also Let you know, 50 languages spoken across our district.

0:54:51It's a very diverse district.

0:54:55Next slide, please. That's me. Okay.

0:55:00I wanted to share today our vision and our mission.

0:55:03It's new.

0:55:07After having experienced a year back in West Contra Costa serving as superintendent.

0:55:12I had a chance to really reflect. I am a mother of a West Contra Costa graduate as well.

0:55:17My son, who graduated from West Contra Costa, graduated from Contra Costa College and is a San Jose State graduate as well.

0:55:27What I found when I was a principal, what I found now as superintendent, and in all the work that I've done with children is what I value as a parent.

0:55:35And as an educator and as a superintendent is what I want for every child. Because I would give my kid the moon, right?

0:55:43How do we do that? How do we make sure that our kids are prepared for a future that we couldn't, I don't think we can really even imagine.

0:55:52I remember as a kid, we watched the Jetsons. Remember the Jetsons? And that was kind of our idea of what AI may look like in the future.

0:56:00It's real. It's real. And our children are having to figure out what their working life will be like.

0:56:08In this type of a new environment. So just imagine 20 years from now what the world will look like. Our goal is to make sure that we have

0:56:18Developed.

0:56:20Courageous scholars that create solutions that impact our

0:56:26our local community and the world.

0:56:30That's huge.

0:56:31that involves civic engagement. I was here a couple weeks ago, last week, to talk about the internship program, the EC STARS, that allowed our kids to learn about

0:56:42civic engagement, learn about what happens behind the walls within the city of El Cerrito, what happens in municipalities, and how do they support our communities. That is the work that we're preparing our students to do. We can only prepare them to do that, though, if they have strong literacy and numeracy skills.

0:57:00They know how to access information. They know how to access the world. And that's what we can gift our children.

0:57:10question.

0:57:12Did you know?

0:57:14That the North Star.

0:57:15is made up of 3 stars and not just one.

0:57:19Who knew?

0:57:21Mayor, did you know? I saw a nod.

0:57:24I think that's the reason why it shines so brightly in the sky.

0:57:27I really, I really do. What I know is that we are focused on three key areas for this year. Last year we started the year with We Are One, and that was we are one unified school district. We serve all of our kids. We do provide the very best for all students.

0:57:45Let's take it a little bit… another step forward. We are one WCC. We provide welcoming schools for our students.

0:57:52We foster and create courageous scholars who understand the world around them and are not afraid to take part in it, to speak up for themselves, share what they've learned, and encourage others to learn as well.

0:58:06And we also are moving towards coherent systems of support for all of our students. WCC. So we are one West Contra Costa.

0:58:17I do want to pause here, so as we continue to build these new ideas and this new direction for West Contra Costa Unified School District, I do want the Council to be aware that we are in the middle of our strategic planning process.

0:58:32And so now is the time, that we are looking for community voice. So I'm looking for your voice and the voice… the voices of all those in El Cerrito, who will be able to help us shape our district's future. So join us for an in-person town hall on Tuesday.

0:58:48October 13th, from 6 to 7.30 at De Anza High School in the library, or a virtual town hall.

0:58:55on Thursday, October 15, th from 6 to 7, 30 on Zoom.

0:58:59Our students will also share their voices during a strategic planning student summit that will be held on Wednesday, October 14th.

0:59:07And throughout the week, we'll be offering surveys and just getting to hear the voices of all of our students, families, and staff. We'll share what we learned at our State of Schools Breakfast on October 22nd, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Mark your calendars. If you have not already received your invite, which you should have.

0:59:27We are hoping that you are there to support and learn what we've learned, but also continue to add your voice.

0:59:36That event will also be streamed live on social media. So there are many ways to participate, and we want to hear from you as we plan the future of West Contra Costa together.

0:59:59Told you not my strength, you guys. I can't click and talk and do all the things.

1:00:04So, in order to create and maintain a school system that fosters courageous scholarship, we need the resources to support our students.

1:00:12I want to say thank you.

1:00:15Yes, to Caitlin Garibaldi, who

1:00:19She is running… she ran unopposed, and she is a council member… a trustee-elect for us, and so really excited for Clean Canada.

1:00:31And I say, Thank you. You stole my thunder in the best way.

1:00:35No, you're good. I appreciate that.

1:00:39Caitlin took some time to lift up Measure V, which is going to be on the November ballot. It is a parcel tax that directly supports West Contra Costa students. I just want to lift up and highlight it is not a new tax.

1:00:53It is not a new tax. It's a renewal. I think the 4th renewal of a tax that went into place in 2,004

1:01:00It is set to support our athletics, our counselors, our libraries, core academics, and recruitment and retention of teachers. I do want to lift up that it does provide about $10 million annually to our school district.

1:01:16The amount 7.2 cents has not changed since it initiated in 2,004.

1:01:23So it is it's probably one of the smallest parcel taxes, but it has a huge impact on our communities. I just wanted to lift that up and just keep in mind it costs about what your Netflix subscription costs annually.

1:01:39Can you do that for your kids?

1:01:41Let's see…

1:01:50There was one more, I think.

1:01:54Oh, that was the last one. Oh, I missed that one.

1:01:56So I said all that. I will say that there are exemptions for seniors and for those with disabilities. I also want to lift up and make sure that people understand that this is audited annually by an independent auditor.

1:02:12And that we have never had a finding. That we use these funds as the public has asked us to use them to support our students.

1:02:19With that, if the board… board… if the council has any questions, I would love to take those, and thank you for your time. Thank you. We'll bring it back to the Council. Any comments or questions? We'll start with Councilmember Motiama.

1:02:34Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. It's always great to have you here. I have, sort of a tangentially

1:02:43related question for the school district, because of AB2968, you need to have an evacuation plan for conditions like wildfire, and there's a new one that just passed that still gets your per diem.

1:02:58So…

1:03:00How are you working with our fire departments on this evacuation plan? Because I think there's a lot of coordination that needs to happen. And we would also love to have you at the East.

1:03:12East Bay Wildfire Coalition of Governments meeting, and, you know, just hear from you directly, so…

1:03:18Absolutely. Please let me know when and I will be there to support and and provide that information. We do have our comprehensive safety plans at every school site. The district does collect those. Those are shared within our school site councils.

1:03:35Our safety consultant, Michael Booker, leads that work, also supports us as we work with our other municipal agencies, including fire and police.

1:03:45We are working closely with… with our fire departments across West Contra Costa, across all five of our cities, to ensure that we have safe

1:03:55Exits, or evacuation for our students and our families.

1:04:00That is all built into our plan.

1:04:02Thank you very much. Mayor Pro Tem.

1:04:05First, thank you for the presentation and all the work that you do. I wanted to ask what the district is thinking about doing about AI. I know several school districts around the country.

1:04:19have at least placed temporary bans on AI a lot for especially elementary and middle school students.

1:04:27I have an elementary young elementary school student. I'm not worried about that yet, but I am worried in a few years. So what is the district thinking about and what's going to be the decision making process on that? Because we want to make sure our kids actually learn how to do their research and all the things we did at school and that you did in the West Contra Costa schools.

1:04:47A couple of things. One, it's… it is AI, but it's also just the use of technology. And our students, you know, kids nowadays have a device in their hand constantly, and so what can we do to encourage

1:05:01more time reading a book, opening an actual book and reading it, getting outside to play, and we encourage that across our district. We also did take steps to limit

1:05:15Our technology usage within our schools. So our elementary schools are now 4 to 1. We had, you know, every child had a device. Now it's when you use, when you need that tool, it's available, but you don't need that tool all day long.

1:05:29And so that really looking at technology as a tool, when is it appropriate and when is it not?

1:05:35We are drafting and working on a new board policy around the use of AI in schools.

1:05:41And so, I think information will be coming probably later in November, once we've landed on what our direction is, but we are very aware that this is a concern just across the board.

1:05:53I'm currently a college student as well, working on my doctorate and AI is a major issue there as well. So the college level at the, the, K 12 level.

1:06:04across the board. We are being very mindful, mindful also of data privacy, for our students and for our staff. So there are a lot of ways that, we want to be protective, but we also want to be

1:06:18realistic and acknowledge when it's appropriate to be used, and how our students should be using it, how they can use it as a tool to support them, but not think for them.

1:06:28That's great, and I appreciate that the screen time at school has been reduced significantly. I know it was hard, because coming out of the pandemic, that we… the district was, like, all the districts were dependent on everybody having their own device, but…

1:06:42Things are changing, so I'm really glad you made that change. Thank you. Thank you.

1:06:46We'll next go to Councilmember Weisinger. Thank you so much, Superintendent. I always appreciate having you here. I will not be at the presentation because for those who don't know, I work in the district. So I figured I couldn't take off work to go to the presentation. It wasn't appropriate.

1:07:03And I don't really have a question as much because some of the things that I'm the my peers have brought up are things that we have been encountering right now. I'm at Desjon Middle School. We actually did have one of our fire drills the other day, but I am happy to hear that superintendent will be going to the wildfire route because of course El Cerrito is right there in the middle of our city and as our wildfire, folks always say, you know, once something starts up in the hills, it rolls down and.

1:07:25The high school will be right there in the middle and our elementary schools, of course,

1:07:29And one thing that one challenge that I am seeing being at a middle school is really teaching the responsibility of the technology. And so I'm glad that the district is giving our students tools. We actually just had the Williams folks come in to make sure that each of the students does have either Wi-Fi that's provided from the district or Wi-Fi at home. I think that that's wonderful now that we know that nobody is going to be not able to do their homework because the district is providing

1:07:54them with Wi-Fi. But I will tell you, as me, as the mean teacher, that is something that I am working on, is teaching the kids the responsibility for the technology, because they're going to be high schoolers next year. They are doing a lot of their work on Google Classroom. I know that Google Classroom and some of the other technology that the district provides, they now have built in,

1:08:14barriers for AI, where the teachers can… it can tell you that this was primarily done with ChatGPT, etc. So, I don't really have as many questions as an employee of the district, just to appreciate the fact that you are here in front of us, making sure that we are coordinated together. A lot of times, folks don't understand what this… the city does and doesn't do.

1:08:33for the school, so it's always good that they can see us here together in a council meeting, and know that we may not be responsible for the school, but we do work in coordination, and we can actually talk to you all about the things that are important to us. So I just appreciate you, and thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much, Councilmember Weisinger, and

1:08:51Thank you for your service and your support for our schools. Just to lift up in response to one thing that you said, we do have our cell phone policy. So that was passed a law in the state of California that bell to bell, we are not to have cell phones.

1:09:09Going on in schools, that is huge and they're really good about it, they're better about it than we, than we were at their age, so at least we know that they're, they're learning and it's really about learning the boundaries, right? You know, it's about learning and I, I,

1:09:21Bust at them all the time. You know, they, they're learning to play chess. I want them to teach me how to play chess, but you got to finish your assignment before you play chess. So they're learning the boundaries of the technology because in about 10 years, that's going to be, it's going to be all they know. So yeah. Thank you.

1:09:35Okay, we'll next go to Councilmember Kasanos online.

1:09:40Councilmember Ktsanes: Yes, thank you, Superintendent. I appreciate it very much that you came. I don't have a question either, but I want to just share my experience and perspective and make a plug. For the last 3 years or so, I've been meeting with a group every Monday, a group of educators and public officials to

1:09:56explore the possibility of workforce housing primarily on surplus properties that the school district has, and I want to thank you for joining us. I think it was about a year ago that you came and met with us, and

1:10:05I really appreciate that.

1:10:07and my plug is, I would like to encourage you and the city to get together and talk a bit about the portal site.

1:10:15And you don't need to respond, I just want to make that plug and say I hope that dialogue, I know it happened many, many years ago, and I hope it will be renewed. We can talk some more.

1:10:26Thank you, Councilmember Kasanas. One just quick response is, I know that the 7-Eleven committee in the district is trying to figure out what are we doing about.

1:10:36Our surplus properties, including the portal site. And so stay tuned everyone. And thank you for your work.

1:10:43Councilmember Ktsanes: Thank you, yeah, I follow the 7-Eleven committee, and I joined them when they went out to visit the portal site, so…

1:10:50I want to thank you for the presentation. As someone who attended the private school… the public schools, they used to be the old Richmond School District, you know, I have some good memories, going back from kindergarten to high school. But, William did steal my question, so thank you for that, William, and I appreciate,

1:11:10Councilmember Ktsanes: Okay.

1:11:10You asking that question from day one with previous superintendents, I have met with developers who have wanted to.

1:11:20work with the superintendent, and I have given introductions to all of the previous ones. I look forward to collaborating with you so we can work on workforce housing

1:11:32For our teachers so we can finally have

1:11:35teachers who will be… stay here for good, from the beginning until they retire, like the old days. And, so I want to thank you for your leadership, and please send your son, Caden, all the best for, the November 3rd election. He, by the way, is running for City Council for the City of San Pablo.

1:11:53I wish him all the best. Thank you, thank you. He's the future of San Pablo and Bus County, so thank you for being here. Thank you, everyone.

1:12:04Okay. Next, we have adoption of the consent calendar.

1:12:08We have… a neighborhood preservation week proclamation.

1:12:16Filipino American History Month proclamation.

1:12:22National Arts and Humanities Month proclamation. That is, item C. Item D is against United Against Hate Week proclamation. E is Unity Day proclamation. F is.

1:12:36Park and Recreation Commission Mid-year Report. G is resolution approving amendment to agreement with Technica Auto

1:12:44for repair services to change compensation to an amount not to exceed $80,000, and H is resolution authorizing 2-year contract extensions and a combined annual expenditure limit for on-call professional service contracts. Would anyone like to

1:13:03Discuss or remove.

1:13:06An item mayor for town.

1:13:08Yes, I'd like to pull item F for discussion.

1:13:13Anyone else.

1:13:16Councilmember Ktsanes: I'd like to just make a comment about.

1:13:18Questions on item G and H?

1:13:20D and H. Go ahead, Councilmember Gonzalez.

1:13:25Councilmember Ktsanes: It was H. Also. So we're covered.

1:13:28Do you have any?

1:13:29Okay.

1:13:31All right, we will start with… F.

1:13:35Who'd like to start?

1:13:37Yes, I just… well, first, I wanted to hear from any members of the Commission who are here who would like to share more about the report, which was really comprehensive, and I thought.

1:13:50Just showed us how much work, that the Commission is doing, so really appreciate that. So yeah, if you could give us an update, that would be appreciated.

1:13:58All right, thank you all so much, and thanks for pulling our report as well. We did put a lot of work into it. I'm here with, Commissioner, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Kasor?

1:14:10Got lost on Katsanis for a little bit. As well as our staff liaison, Chris Jones.

1:14:16So, last year was our first report to you all, and we're trying to keep up with the 6-month.

1:14:22cadence in order to keep you all informed about what's going on with Parks and Recs, as we can tell from the community.

1:14:29So, some of the things that we did over this period were, again, surveying at the One World Festival. Now we have a benchmark to work from to see what changes over time.

1:14:39We also interviewed, different Recreation Department leaders throughout the Bay to learn more about what these different departments are doing, what we might learn from them, and opportunities for our city.

1:14:51This also included working or chatting with City of El Cerrito staff to learn about possible sponsorship or other fundraising opportunities locally.

1:15:00Next, we also welcome two new commissioners to our commission, as well as said farewell to Jack Rozier as he relocated out of El Cerrito.

1:15:09And then finally, we also absorbed the inputs from the 2025 National Community Survey.

1:15:14Some of the highlights I want to shout out from this report. So first, securing funding for capital improvement projects and maintenance remain a big challenge for our city.

1:15:25None of us are shy to the fact that budgets are tight. Just want to keep that top of mind. Parks are a big deal to our community. We heard again from the survey that walking, biking trails, and open spaces are priorities to our residents.

1:15:40We also provide you all a list of different grant opportunities that can be provided to the city grant writer. We highlight, kind of, what we see as our top 5 within the report, but you can click in for, I think there's 20 plus.

1:15:53And then finally, we look forward to, continued engagement with our community groups over the next 6 months. We did a reshuffling, so they should be getting some new fresh faces from the Commission.

1:16:05Staying active with involvement in developing the city donation guidelines and standards. We're really excited about this and want to try out a pilot fundraising project.

1:16:15And then working towards a prioritization and recommendation list to provide to you all, hopefully at the end of 6 months.

1:16:22Great.

1:16:23Thank you. I also wanted to see if staff could comment.

1:16:27On these, grant opportunities, I'm sure you haven't done all of the research into them yet, but I'd like to know what are the next steps. I do see on some of… some of them I'm not familiar with, but I can tell on some of them that were not eligible, because they're for,

1:16:46cities, like some of these, say, right here in underserved urban areas, which El Cerrito is not considered that, so I know we don't qualify for all of them, but I want to see what the next steps are on analyzing this and seeing

1:16:58which ones maybe we could potentially apply for, because I do appreciate the work of the Commission on this. Yes, thank you, as do I. I'm Chris Johns, Recreation Director.

1:17:09So, you know, we're very appreciative of all the work and time that the commissioners have put in on this.

1:17:15And as you've mentioned, we do…

1:17:18Well, so we do review a lot of these grant opportunities with the city's grant writer, CPPG.

1:17:26Who have identified most of these, not all, but most of these opportunities, and

1:17:33you know, the city as a whole has to be kind of strategic about what it applies for, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes a match is required, and so that requires special consideration. And if a match is required, the first thing we do is, like, well, can we find a match somewhere else?

1:17:51Aside from city funds, and if not, then we really, you know, during budget time, we really have to…

1:17:56you know, assess the priorities there. As you know, we qualified for a community development block grant, and we were able to leverage some savings from a previous swim center project to meet that match.

1:18:11In a high priority project, according to our master plan. So, you know, that's an example of kind of how we've looked there. As you also mentioned, we have to determine whether or not, Elsevier will be competitive, because a lot of the funding out there right now, especially from the state.

1:18:29Specifically targets underserved, neighborhoods. And so, and a lot of these grants require a lot of work to prepare, and so if you're not going to be competitive, you know, you have to be kind of

1:18:43pick and choose.

1:18:44You know, another consideration is that for new projects, or something where, like, a park or a facility will be expanded.

1:18:56You know, we really have to consider our operations and maintenance funding. You know, right now, we really struggle to keep up with what we have, and so, you know, taking on something new is… is…

1:19:11you know, something that would involve the Council really having to, make that consideration and do those trade-offs. So.

1:19:21And then finally, capacity. You know, it doesn't just involve

1:19:24Jeffrey A. you know, the Recreation Department applying, and Public Works helping to implement. The Finance Department has a big burden with, grants, which they're happy to do, but they can't, you know, can't do them all. So, so, so yes, we, we apply for what we can. We've been very successful, as you know, as well, in the Hillside Natural Area.

1:19:45We've tried to go after underserved, in terms of, earmarks at, like, for Central Park, which is, you know, probably the park in the city in the worst… worst shape, and we haven't been successful yet, but we continue to look for opportunities there, so…

1:20:02That was all really helpful, and probably more detailed than I was even asking for, but it was great, but it doesn't really answer my question, which is sort of what's the next steps to communicate back to the Commission about

1:20:14which of these might be real opportunities, which of these have already been assessed. I just want to make sure that this list doesn't just kind of go into the ethers, that they get sort of a response back on it. Yeah, absolutely. We'll work with the…

1:20:27with Cppg to you know, maybe be able to provide some sort of

1:20:32you know, list of what's, you know, what the city might be most competitive for. Great. And also analysis of how it aligns with, you know, city

1:20:41plans and goals. Okay, thank you, and I understand the challenges, so… but thank you for sharing all of that detail. Yeah, thank you. Okay.

1:20:50Wait.

1:20:51Sorry.

1:20:53I do want to thank, the Commission for all this work and the surveying and the interacting with people for the purpose of getting all this information. It's really great.

1:21:06Understanding, kind of, the, The prioritization need.

1:21:15Can you tell me about what kinds of decision-making frameworks you're working on to help prioritize, you know, freshly, I know, every year, what's going to be important this year?

1:21:27Yeah, so we, you know, working with Public Works, especially who leads the CIP, the Capital Improvement Program and the budget.

1:21:36You know, I think always that comes top of mind is, health and safety.

1:21:42And so, you know, we have a lot of deferred maintenance and whatever, you know, and then we prioritize health and safety, basically, for, in terms of what gets funded there. And then we are planning to.

1:21:58Jeffrey A. work with the Commission, in the next coming months on, you know, examining the prioritization process in the Master Plan, in the 2019 Master Plan, and seeing if there's other

1:22:13considerations that maybe we should recommend to the Council to take in, in terms of prioritizing

1:22:19new projects, or, you know, is there… you know, there's a lot of prioritization factors in the plan right now, but, like, equity isn't one of them. Should that be? You know, should a park that has all the amenities

1:22:35You know, not only get city resources in terms of money, but, you know, staff time and capacity, when maybe another park

1:22:43James D. doesn't have a bathroom, you know, you know, so, you know, so should we come up with a, to help with the criteria to help recognize that?

1:22:53You know, there's a lot of,

1:22:56community, groups that would like to see certain projects and are willing to pay for them, which is incredible. But, you know, can we do them all at one time? What are we not doing because we're doing those? Those are some things that, you know, we would like to, you know.

1:23:13Create a, like a matrix or a prioritization so that we can, you know, yes, we'd love to do this, but…

1:23:21According to, you know, our criteria, it's gonna have, you know, might be, like, 3 years out, or something like that.

1:23:27So that's what… that's what we hope to be working on in the… in the near term.

1:23:31When you do that, I hope that you'll incorporate the work that the seniors did about accessibility and other concerns on the park. So I think you have lots and lots of data.

1:23:42to really get this done, and how long do you think this will take in terms of staff time and capacity? Like, will we see something in 6 months, or is this more like…

1:23:53It's gonna take about a year or more to…

1:23:56create the framework and do the priorities. I would hope that, yeah, it would be 6 months, or… yeah, I would hope it wouldn't be, like, a very long process, because we're not trying… you know, the master plan is a… was a very intensive community outreach process, and

1:24:14I think we do have to be careful to not…

1:24:17you know, like, I think we can kind of tinker around the edges, but unless we're really going to engage in that kind of process again, to make some sort of wholesale change would be tough, because then, you know, then it's almost at the whims of…

1:24:29you know, what's the hottest thing right now, as opposed to, like, you know, a thorough community process. So… so really, you know, how can we work with what we have to, you know, maybe

1:24:41You know, to reprioritize some things, and help schedule work.

1:24:48Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay.

1:24:51I want to say, any other questions? You're good. William, you're good.

1:24:57Councilmember Ktsanes: Yeah, I… On this one, yes, yes.

1:25:01Okay.

1:25:02Good, next we'll go to G.

1:25:06Who would like to speak on that?

1:25:10Thank you. Go ahead. Okay, I'll wait for.

1:25:13Chief, to come up.

1:25:16And maybe… I'm, Paul Keith, Chief of Police. I just anticipated a question. Yes, thank you. This might also be more, finance-related, too, so you guys can decide who can answer this. So.

1:25:30I just wanted to make sure, you know, I understand what it means that the funds are included in the FY2026 and 27 and 2728 budgets within the operating budgets of city departments. So.

1:25:44How do you…

1:25:47How much room do you have to, like, do this, or who determines, like, what amount each department provides into some kitty for car repair?

1:26:00So, I wouldn't think of it so much as, like, a kitty for car repair. Public Works has their own maintenance budget, and the Police Department has their own maintenance budget. We are going to work with Public Works to make sure that, combined, we don't exceed $80,000 with this particular vendor.

1:26:17But for the police department as an example, I don't remember a budget off the top of my head. It's.

1:26:23you know, multiple tens of thousands of dollars. Technica Auto is one of our vendors for vehicle repair, but it's not our only vendor. We use Ford for some special, you know, specialized repair of our police vehicles. We use other vendors for other specialty repairs.

1:26:42Technica is kind of more for, like, our general repairs. So, what staff will have to do, if this agreement is authorized, is to make sure that we're coordinating across departments so that

1:26:56Our total use of Tentica Auto doesn't exceed $80,000 amongst all of our different budgets.

1:27:03And I think currently, the current estimate is that Public Works will probably spend about $30,000 on maintenance and auto repairs through that vendor, and the police department will probably spend 45-ish. The reason why we're asking for up to 80 is to give us some wiggle room with those repairs.

1:27:21But it'll be somewhere less than $80,000.

1:27:24And, I also have a question about the exemption from the competitive bidding. Can you talk about that a little bit?

1:27:33So, we have immediate needs for auto repairs and maintenance. Basically, what we're asking Council to do is to authorize this as a short-term, one-year contract to give our Public Works Department time to do a RFP process.

1:27:48Where we're gonna, elicit proposals from a much broader

1:27:53array of providers, and it may be that Technica Auto also competes in that process as well, and is competitive.

1:28:00But our plan is to, formalize that process, on an annual or semi-annual basis, so that we're kind of constantly going out to the vendors in our area, trying to get the best prices and service for all city vehicles.

1:28:16So this allows us to start that process up and make it a routine. And in the meantime, still make sure our cars are getting repaired.

1:28:25I appreciate that you, are focusing on, mechanics in the… as close as possible, or within El Cerrito. So, I think that… that does save on…

1:28:37Fuel, which is expensive now. For Technica Auto, we could literally drive the car there and walk back and wait for it to get repaired and then walk down and go pick it up. It is pretty great.

1:28:50Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else on G?

1:28:54Okay, we'll now go to H. We'd like to speak on H.

1:28:58Questions? Go ahead.

1:29:03Thank you.

1:29:07I guess I'm… I'm waiting for somebody to come up.

1:29:19Thank you. You know you can introduce yourselves.

1:29:24Hi, Crystal Reams, finance director.

1:29:27Claudia Garcia, Community Development Director. So, I think when… when I first read this.

1:29:36staff report it was not clear to me where the two million dollars was in the budget.

1:29:44And, you know, exactly how are we getting to this $2 million cap without having any budget amendment? So, can you explain that? And then.

1:29:57Can you tell me, kind of, how much was budgeted last year, and how much was actually spent to see if $2 million is really enough?

1:30:09Sure. The majority of the budget is included as salary savings, because there are a total of 5 positions in the building division that are are staffed by our consultants. The remaining budget is under professional services.

1:30:25And…

1:30:31So… I know that we're out to to hire 2 people or 2 positions.

1:30:39How… how does that come into, like, savings from this contract?

1:30:44Sure, the budget was set up in a way that the salaries under personnel, when we have to pay our consultants.

1:30:52It's put into the professional services bucket. So when these two permit technician positions are filled, we won't need to convert that from salary to professional services. It would just remain in the budget line item.

1:31:07And can you also, I don't know, this is more of a city management question about the authority.

1:31:15To do this. I think that…

1:31:17it's a concern, but I think we're… what we're trying to do is be more transparent, right, with saying that we're going to do this, and this is how much it is, and stuff. But I wanted to make sure that, you know, we understand, and the public understands, like, this is not additional authority for a city manager, this is

1:31:37Sort of working within the frameworks that we set.

1:31:42Correct, Councilmember Motoyama. This action would not require an additional budget amendment.

1:31:49I want to be very clear about that.

1:31:52And can you talk a little bit about the… our expectations about the authority for City Manager?

1:31:59In terms of, like.

1:32:01Yeah, so… We're doing this to streamline, kind of, having these continual, contracts.

1:32:11How is it that we're gonna keep this narrow and not have this become general spending authority that increases?

1:32:19I see, okay. So…

1:32:21you know, in terms of the $2 million, if there was a requirement, let's say, of the Community Development Department that needed an additional expenditure over $2 million.

1:32:35that would come directly to Council, automatically. So, there is a firm $2 million cap, and it's consistent with the previous fiscal year. So, I do want to, like, make certain that everybody understands

1:32:50That contract spending authority is parallel, but it's not the same thing as budget authority. And so the buck stops with the council. And so you all have, you have already given us the budget authority. You've already given us the pot of money.

1:33:06This is just to execute the contracts.

1:33:09And this is preventing.

1:33:11the city staff of having to come here for 10 or so different contracts, and then also giving the community development director or the public works director or the fire chief the ability that in an emergency, or if there's some urgent issue where we have to, you know, change the funds under the $2 million cap.

1:33:35But let's say to spend more money with a vendor in order to get something urgent complete for service delivery, that allows us to do that without having to go back to council formally. But you still will all maintain your budget spending authority.

1:33:52And the subcontracts are those caps as well for vendor? Correct. It's a 2 million firm cap. And if we want to ask to go over that, we will come to council formally for that.

1:34:06I guess the question is, the consultants that are working, they all have individual contracts, right? And they have a dollar amount. What if they go over that dollar amount? Does that affect… and it doesn't affect the cap? How do you work that out?

1:34:22that would be handled administratively, with the department head. Can I just add a little more to that for Serene's finance director? So last year, we implemented the contracts module, which is what's driving a lot of this. It's a secondary.

1:34:35kind of safeguard, to make sure that we are not overspending. So, like, Assistant City Manager said, contract authority is not the same as budget authority, and so we have two different, modules within our system.

1:34:47that we can track by the contract, and then we can also track by the spending authority granted in each year. So what this will allow us to do is we'll have a $2 million cap for all of these vendors.

1:34:58and then we'll create individual contracts for each of them with a capped with a capped amount.

1:35:04And if those need to change, then we adjust those within there, but then it's still under… in our module, it's under the two… under the whole $2 million cap, so we're not… we're not able to exceed that within our system, so it's additional safeguards that we've placed in, in the system within the past year.

1:35:23Great, thank you. And I appreciate all the questions. So, this format is to be able to streamline. I know it's replicated in other cities, but I know this is new for El Cerrito, and so I really appreciate… we all really appreciate the questions, because, the agenda report tried to be clear, but I realize that there's some ambiguities

1:35:42That could still be remaining.

1:35:45Well, actually, I do have one last question about the subcontract. So, what if you are under the $2 million cap, but you're exceeding the individual contract by more than $45,000? Does that come back to Council?

1:35:59So, my understanding of how this… how this is intended to work is that you're authorizing up to $2 million, so we can't exceed the $2 million regardless. So, this gives us the flexibility, based on the needs of the Community Development Department and the Public Works Department, to

1:36:16set up the contracts initially. We'll do that with estimated amounts based on prior expenditures and department expertise. Then, if they realize, okay, with this vendor, Vendor X, we're gonna… we're gonna come close to hitting that.

1:36:30This gives the city manager the authority, without having to come back to council, to adjust those. So saying, okay, we're gonna… we're gonna increase this one, we're gonna have to lower something else, because we can't exceed that $2 million cap. So it… that's the part that wouldn't be coming back to council, is just the… the fluctuation in between the vendors, and that gives the community development and the public works department

1:36:53the ability to choose the most appropriate vendor for the project, and not only that, but based off of the staffing shortages that we're having right now.

1:37:02It gives us the most appropriate, hopefully the most cost beneficial vendor and one who is actually able to perform the services in the most timely manner.

1:37:11Thank you very much.

1:37:13Smith.

1:37:14Yes, thank you, Mayor, and actually, I don't have a question, I just wanted to kind of address… I know that some folks had some questions about how

1:37:22approving these contracts kind of jive with the presentation we had a couple of months ago from some of our bargaining units about using contractors, and I was able to actually speak with some of those working folks.

1:37:33In the interim period between here and the council meeting and, you know, they're, they understand that there's some of these contractors that are still going to be on staff and they've been happy with the work that the city is doing is actually filling some of the positions that have been vacant for three years and they're going to be filling those permanently with some, some more of our union folks. So I'm, I'm, I'm happy with this and as long as our working class folks.

1:37:56and our employee units are happy with it, I'll be looking forward to voting for it.

1:38:01Councilmember Ksanas.

1:38:03Councilmember Ktsanes: Thank you. The assistant city manager mentioned that she was

1:38:08pleased by the questions and happy about the questions, I just want to state the same thing. I really appreciate Councilmember Motoyama's questions and the depth in which they were answered. I had very similar questions myself, but most of that's been covered. I want to…

1:38:23add one question and just make one comment. I'll start with a comment. Every time we have a meeting, we get lots of public comment and letters and questions and things like that, and I just want to…

1:38:34State my appreciation to the people in the community who take the time to read through the packet, to research the packet.

1:38:41and present us with their concerns, and sometimes they alert me to things I had not thought of. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I disagree.

1:38:50It often prompts me to dig deeper and explore more, so I just want to say I really appreciate the input that we get from the community, and I'll call out by name. This one, Richard Brooks did quite a bit of work and sent his concerns.

1:39:02I did not share all his concerns. I, you know, read them and researched them and thought them through, and some I shared and some I didn't, and most of which which I most of those that I had concerns about have been addressed already satisfactorily. I appreciate that.

1:39:16I appreciate again anyone in the community who takes the time to express their concerns and present their analysis and and it helps us. It helps us.

1:39:26helps challenge us to think things through more deeply.

1:39:30One question I have is that as I read the packet.

1:39:34I know this can't exactly be right, but I sort of interpret it as saying, every time you go to one of these consultants.

1:39:40to do whatever services are doing. It's almost like a one-to-one swap with a staff person in terms of cost.

1:39:47And I imagine it's not that simple. And I'm just sort of curious when you factor in all the cost of hiring a person, pensions and all that and hiring, how does it work out?

1:39:58Are we saving money in this instance by going to these people? You know, presumably we're going there because we can't fill the positions or haven't filled them yet.

1:40:06But is that actually cost savings, or…

1:40:09you know. How does how does it pencil out in the end?

1:40:13I'll take a first stab at that. So if, if, if we're staffing it at a one-to-one, no, it would not be, it would not be cost beneficial to, staff the vacancies at a one-to-one with consultants. That would be more expensive.

1:40:27But if we take the opportunity to utilize the consultants on an as-needed basis, very much service-focused and task-oriented, that would be a cost savings. And so.

1:40:39It's really… it just… it's giving the departments the flexibility and hopefully achieving some cost savings while we're trying to fill the positions.

1:40:48Councilmember Ktsanes: And then when you have a consultant doing the work, do your contracts with their firm, where a firm they're coming from, allow you to hire them if they've done good work?

1:41:00There's no clause in the contracts with the consultants that would not allow us to help.

1:41:05hire their personnel, they would still need to apply for an open position and be considered with anybody else that's applying for that position. They wouldn't get any favorment.

1:41:15Additionally, I just… that, there's also no provision in the agreement that would require the city to pay a fee to the consulting firm, in the event that the city hired one of their employees after an open recruitment.

1:41:27Councilmember Ktsanes: Okay, great. That's good to know. Alright, well, thank you both.

1:41:31I just want to also remind us that there's

1:41:35Some of these positions are, you know, they are paid because they're

1:41:39Paid by fees and so there's that also helps to offset some of that staffing costs. Is that correct?

1:41:47Yes, yes, some of the, most of the permit fees do, their cost recovery, and so that, that does count as revenue for the city, which then would offset, any of the expenditures.

1:41:58Thank you.

1:41:59One last thing I wanted to mention, I know Councilmember Weisinger, you brought up unions, and so I just wanted to let the council know that the city did abide by AB 339, which requires us before we go out for bid or for renewing a contract that is considered city employee work that we do notice the union and do a meet and confer.

1:42:24And so the Department of the City did do that with SEIU.

1:42:30Wonderful.

1:42:31So, we're gonna do a motion, but before that, I want to let folks know that we're going to do a photo op once we

1:42:40approved.

1:42:41the

1:42:42consent calendar, and that will be with a and that's a neighborhood preservation week proclamation with Stephen Mello. And then we have another one with us with

1:42:58With the signs that are on the… The United… The United Signs. So, who has a motion, to… I'll move. Second. Okay, we have a motion by Motoyama, a second from the Mayor Pro Tem, and that is to accept, A through H. Madam City Clerk, go ahead. Mayor Kincho? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Saltzman?

1:43:17Yes. Councilmember Katsanis?

1:43:20Councilmember Ktsanes: Yes.

1:43:20Councilmember Mochiyama? Yes. Councilmember Weisinger? Yes. Motion carries.

1:43:25So we're going to do a photo op with, and this is to celebrate Neighborhood Preservation Week, and we have Jennifer Bright, and we have Steven Mellow here as well, so…

1:44:54So just set or.

1:44:57Yeah, let's get closer.

1:45:12Okay, thank you.

1:45:15you

1:45:25Okay. We have no public hearings, we have no policy matters. Next is city liaison, local and regional liaison assignments. Who would like to start?

1:45:34Start to my left. Yes, thank you, so…

1:45:38It's a little bit of a report out and a little bit of a liaison assignment. I, I am the, our delegate to the

1:45:44League of California Cities, and of course, what we all went to, or most of us went to the league.

1:45:50conference back on September the 22nd, which was a great experience. We got to see our mayor hand over the gavel to the new League of California Cities president. He's now the immediate past president.

1:46:02of League of California Cities. I got to go to a great presentation about EV bikes and to hear a lot about some of the ordinances that other cities have done. And I talked it over with Councilmember Sauceman, I'm sorry, Mayor Pro Tem Sauceman about what we do and don't need here in El Cerrito and do we wait, et cetera, things like that. But that goes to another one of the things that I talk about a lot is

1:46:26technology, technology, technology is a big, big conversation in a lot of these conferences. So I was excited to be in that presentation. Excited just to witness some of the conversations that we had in a lot of the forums, whether it was in the Black Caucus, LGBT Caucus, along with my peers. So thank you for that. I know at our last meeting, we actually voted on how we would

1:46:47we would vote as a city in the resolution that League of California Cities had, and I am proud, or maybe, or… to report that we actually didn't get to vote on that, because it made it onto consent. I don't know if I… if proud is the word.

1:47:02You know, we kind of had a different view than a lot of the other cities as far as we're a city that already prioritizes housing. We don't… when we think about something like we said last meeting, we think about local control, we think about some of our

1:47:15fellow cities that don't want to do as much building, but we didn't get a chance to really weigh in on that, but… and that's fine. We know what our El Cerrito values were, and we know what we were intending to do. So it was a great outing, a great conference. I'm just happy to have been our delegate, and it's had a great time. And also, again, congratulations, Mayor, on the immediate

1:47:34Past president, you don't have that weight on you anymore.

1:47:37Yes.

1:47:39Yes, I also attended the Cal Cities conference and, just one highlight for me was.

1:47:47session I attended on defensible space, that included presenters from CAL FIRE and other agencies, and I actually asked if they would come make a similar presentation to our council, so I'm gonna work on that, because it was very easy to understand about the new rules.

1:48:04Which are quite detailed, and I think a lot of people don't understand. So hopefully we can get the word out to our residents.

1:48:12I also attended

1:48:15On the same topic, the 8th anniversary celebration for the El Cerrito Fire Safe Council, which is great, they've been doing work for so long here, so it's so important.

1:48:25And then, as I mentioned earlier, I attended the El Cerrito Art Show, last Friday night. And earlier in the day, I went to a really great tour organized, by East Bay EDA. It was a tour of Roof and Realm, which is a modular

1:48:44Housing factory.

1:48:47Out in Pittsburgh, it was really incredible to see what they are doing. They started off building ADUs.

1:48:54And then the fires hit and they started getting orders for

1:49:00full homes. So they're doing modular, full, single-family homes, as well as still doing ADUs, and now starting to get into the multi-family home market. But it was… it was pretty incredible to see. I encourage others to go, and what makes them unique is they're doing it

1:49:18Without wood.

1:49:19So they're very fire safe. So it's a very interesting model that they have out there. And then since e-bikes were brought up, I thought, I know we're going to have a legislative update coming up soon, but I did want to announce I brought up this bill a few times here before SB 1167, which is the bill that really differentiates between the legal e-bikes and the already

1:49:44legal emotos.

1:49:46That did get signed by the governor last week. That will hopefully help get some of these, again, already illegal devices off our streets, because it's going to require much more clarity in the marketing, so that

1:50:00Vendors can't market them as legal e-bikes anymore, so looking forward to the impacts of that.

1:50:07Go ahead.

1:50:09So, on September the 17th, I had the privilege of attending the staff ice cream social, and it was really nice to get to talk to people. Also, that same day, I attended the Chamber of Commerce's, Best of El Cerrito, and I had a really nice time, again, with

1:50:27some staff here, and I was… had the privilege of speaking on behalf of the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem.

1:50:36So it was a very nice event. I think this year was even bigger than the last time I went, so I think that was very successful.

1:50:43On September 22nd through the 26th, I also attended the Cal Cities Conference in Anaheim, and I served on a panel with City Manager on Crisis Management for Cities. That was well attended. I also attended sessions where I learned a lot, and some of the things I learned were so scary that I will not even mention them, but they were about AI.

1:51:02In sort of technology use and, you know.

1:51:06Also sessions on how to like bridge divides in the community and things like that. So I think it was really a successful conference and I feel like I learned a lot.

1:51:17On September 30th, I attended the East Bay Wildfire Coalition of Governments meeting in Oakland, where we had a presentation, from the Alameda County Fire Chiefs Association about extreme fire weather approach.

1:51:30which is going to get adopted in January, but it's really, further description of, leave early policies, and so there's ways to determine the highest fire danger days, areas, and

1:51:47Looking at that evacuation risk that way.

1:51:51So, also on October the 1st, I attended the Contra Costa County Mayor's Conference and received a presentation on the Bay Area Housing Finance Agency's next steps towards regional funding.

1:52:04Everyone's busy. So it was at the convention. I finished off my year as President of the League of Cities, and it was. Truly an honor to represent El Cerrito and put El Cerrito.

1:52:16fast forward with, promoting El Cerrito values and what we do as a city. And, very, very proud of that. I hope I'm not gonna be the last El Cerrito to be president. I hope, my colleagues are active with the league. As you know, we, promoted, you know, what,

1:52:35Locals do, and we are the most successful, branch of government, local government, because we are still

1:52:42speaking to both sides and all sides, and I'm proud to have broken bread with every division, and I met with folks from both parties.

1:52:56It was, different from one division to the other. One thing I know, and what I told that folks at my speech, is that we need to lean on each other and work together, because we have two difficult years ahead.

1:53:13We haven't. If you think this was the worst wait for the next couple of years.

1:53:17We are gonna have a lot of people without, health insurance, which was, causing strain on our county and causing strain on our major cities. El Cerrito, we're, we're a small town, but this will affect us as well. But I'm proud that the city was able to get a head start.

1:53:37and turn our budget around. We are doing much better than most cities in California, despite what the bloggers and nextdoor.com says. So, you know, just proud of our staff and part of our proud of our

1:53:52of what we were able to accomplish at Cal Cities and.

1:53:57And I guarantee you we will see a new generation of assembly members and state senators and people in the different departments of the new incoming administration, and these folks will come from the local level.

1:54:12from cities and people that I have vetted and people that I have mentored in California. So it's been a pleasure and an honor, and we're going to continue with the work that we're doing. So put your seatbelt on, because we haven't seen anything yet. So

1:54:29I want to congratulate our staff.

1:54:31Staff, you, do everything, and you do

1:54:35everything in a great and professional manner and I back you up completely and I you know I get so angry when u people tell me about the blogs and nextdoor.com with the BS that they put which is totally false.

1:54:51The this is not acceptable. So I was happy to see new legislation that the governor passed, and that will promote having beat reporters back in our major newspapers. And we certainly had one back in the day, and all that disappeared during Trump number one, but

1:55:11I'm hoping that we will get beat reporters that will tell the truth instead of activists trying to skew you one way or the other.

1:55:20Local government is local and it is nonpartisan. So cities and the League of California cities, I am proud that this city.

1:55:31followed the rules and what we do at the League of California Cities. So, that's where El Cerrito stands, and that's where the majority of cities in California stand. So, I was proud to be their president, and, look forward to, seeing the new president step up, and that is

1:55:48Councilmember, Teresa Costa, and she's from the city of Carlsbad and their ground 0 for all the legislation you're seeing on

1:55:56On e-bikes and especially coastal cities issues. So I look forward to her leadership and her presidency, and we have a new group of elected officials that are.

1:56:08will be on the East Bay Division Board. I look forward to collaborating with all of them. So our next council meeting. Oh, one thing I wanted to announce, and I want it's not on the agenda, but I want to

1:56:22dedicate this council meeting to Dr. Desmond Carson, who was a classmate of mine. We've known each other since 7th grade. He was a longtime emergency doctor at the old doctor's hospital and continued his work. He could have, you know.

1:56:43worked in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, but he came back to West County because he wanted to help the neediest in our community, not just El Cerrito, but all of West County. So this is.

1:56:58you know, I wanna make sure that his memory is there. And

1:57:06And this is on our, council agenda, and I say, I wanted to give my condolences, to the family of, Dr. Desmond Carson. He attended St. John's, and, I just have great memories of

1:57:22With him on from 7th grade to high school, he was our class president as well. One story I have with him in 7th grade, the

1:57:33They had overcrowding at Portala that year, and they stuck Dr. Carson, myself, and a future NYU law professor with the problem kids. And I will always remember that Dr. Carson and I always laugh.

1:57:50When we see who was in that group of problem kids and you have a mayor, you have a professor of law and you have someone that headed up the emergency and headed up doctor's hospital.

1:58:02And he, had his, residency at USC in Los Angeles, and he will truly be missed in the El Cerrito and West County community. So our next, council meeting will be on October 20th at 6 p.m.

1:58:20It is two minutes to 11 o'clock East Coast time.

1:58:25Yeah, William, do you have anything?

1:58:27Councilmember Ktsanes: I do not, nope.

1:58:28Okay. All right. So I got you there. It's not 11 o'clock yet in Atlanta.

1:58:37Councilmember Ktsanes: Thank you.

1:58:38Is, 759, so good night, everybody.

1:58:41Councilmember Ktsanes: Good night.