[ gavel strike ]
>> good evening, ladies and
gentlemen and welcome to the
regular meeting of the antioch
city council for tuesday, august
25, 2026.
Do we have the mayor on remote?
>> mayor bernal: yes, can you
hear me?
>> yes.
>> mayor bernal: okay,
perfect.
I ron bernal, mayor of the city
of antioch am unable to attend
today’s meeting due to aa
contagious and am re illness.
My wife irma will be the only
adult in the room with me and I
will participate both audio and
video technology throughout the
entirety of the meeting.
Mr. Clerk I ask that you please
record my remote appearance
under just cause under the
meeting minutes for the record.
>> the clerk: so noted.
>> thank you very much.
Mr. City clerk please call the
roll.
>> the clerk: thank you.
Council member wilson is absent.
Council member rocha, here.
Council member torres-walker,
present, mayor pro tem freitas,
present.
Mayor bernal.
Here.
Thank you we have a quorum at 7
cologne 01 p.m.
>> if you could all rise for the
pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the united states of america
and to the republic, of which it
stands, one nation, under god,
indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
>> council member freitas: all
right.
City attorney could you please
report out on the chosed session
held earlier this afternoon.
>> there were two items on
today’s closed session agenda.
The first was a
conference with labor
negotiators - pursuant to
california government
code section 54957.6; city
designated representatives:
jason ewert and ana cortez
acting city manager; employee
organizations: antioch public
works employee
association (apwea), antioch
police sworn management
association (apsma)
confidential unit, and
management unit
and there’s nothing to report
out on that item.
2. Conference with legal counsel
- significant exposure to
litigation pursuant to
government code section
54956.9(e)(2): number of
potential cases: (9). The city
is in receipt of information
concerning facts and
circumstances that might result
in litigation against the city
which are known to a potential
plaintiff or plaintiffs
pertaining to possible
labor code section 1102.5, and
fair employment and housing act
violations.
And there’s noticing to report
out on that matter.
>> council member freitas:
thank you very much.
Under public comments how many
individuals do we have for
public comments?
>> the clerk: we currently
have eight speaker cards.
>> council member freitas: are
there any remote comments?
>> the clerk: none so far.
>> council member freitas:
okay, could you please call the
first speaker.
>> the clerk: could we please
have mark jordan followed by
raquel herrera.
>> good evening, city council.
I come to speak to you tonight
about code enforcement.
Primarily, the lack of code
enforcement.
I have worked with code
enforcement on a couple of
different issues over the last
few months.
And I’m going to primarily talk
about lion tree way adjacent to
my office building.
The gas station next door was
allowing their property to
deteriorate considerably.
And code enforcement did address
the issues initially.
However, as I have couldn’ted c
report issues, I have run into
some feedback which I find
unacceptable.
I could go through all of the
codes that are necessary to
support my position but I’m not
going to waste your time with
that today.
I’m just going to say it in
plain english: covering exposed
electrical with cardboard does
not meet any code within the
state of california.
Installing electrical above
ground in plastic does not meet
any code within the state of
california.
On a commercial location.
Having trash containers smell
and remain uncovered, having
debris about your property,
having it unmaintained, is
unacceptable.
The property on the other side
is rarely open.
It’s a modular home sales
office.
They have decided that they can
park a dump trailer on the
property.
They have a special use permit
that was issued years ago by
michelle before she left the
city.
There was no public hearing.
There was no discussion, there
was no notice, it just occurred
after the rembolts sold the
property.
I have reported this several
times.
I have indicated to code
enforcement that they have a
special use permit.
And that it does not include the
storage of construction
equipment.
This has gone on for some time.
These are just the examples that
I have, that are next to my
building.
This is going on all over town.
Code enforcement needs to
understand that we can read the
requirements of construction.
We can read the municipal code.
And we want them to act
diligently.
I understand that you have hired
somebody new.
I sent an e-mail saying I needed
a report back by the 21st or I
was going to come down here.
I did not get a response of any
kind.
And that, too, is unacceptable.
Please talk to your staff.
Thank you.
[applause]
>> the clerk: raquel herrera
foaled by joy mots and then
dennis rodriguez.
>> hello, good evening, I’ve
come to talk about the --
>> council member freitas:
excuse me could you move the --
right.
>> efforts to preserve our local
theater, good evening mayor and
councilmembers, my name is
raquel herrera and I’ve lived in
antioch my entire life.
My family’s history is deeply
connected to the city.
My father has owned and operated
shoe stop the shoe repair
business at summersville town
center.
Serve local families and keep
something valuable alive through
decades of change.
My history with the arts began
at the nick rodriguez community
center where I joined the
academy, by the time I was eight
my two older sisters and I were
performing at el campanile.
One of my sisters have continued
performing there for roughly the
past decade.
For many families, the nuk
nutcracker and other perform
performances, art education
culture and shared experiences.
I firmly believe we must give
residents especially our younger
generations reason to believe in
antioch.
Remain connected to it.
And invest their talents here.
Our city has a rich history.
Antioch grew beside the san
joaquin river and a visit to
black diamond mines just two
weeks ago daughter me how much
history surrounds us.
Our continued efforts to
remember and preserve that
history can build pride,
encourage civic participation
amount inspire people to support
local businesses and care for
their community.
We do not have to look far to
see what public investment can
accomplish.
Pittsburg preserved and
renovated its california theater
including additional restoration
work in recent years.
El campanile’s preservation
dealt back 20 years.
I believe its greatness or its
greatest value to our community
lies in remaining a fully
functional arts venue.
El campanile is one of the few
historic coirlt space owes and
remains accessible to everyone.
I ask to create a public-private
partnership to strengthen its
role in our community.
City involvement could protect
public access, support local
access and youth programs,
attract visitors and make el
campanile in rivertown’s
requisition.
Funding and community
partnership before this
opportunity is lost.
El campanile is part of antioch
and greater east bay history and
I deserves to remains part of
our history.
Thank you.
[applause]
>> the clerk: joy mots
followed by denise rodriguez and
michael sobil.
>> good evening, council.
It has been common knowledge by
the city for over a year that
the el campanile theater was in
a tire situation.
Yet there were no conversations
or efforts made by the stir
until now to stop the unfolding
tragedy for us losing this
historic and iconic building for
its purpose in bringing life
entertainment, movies and
theater, children’s recitals and
more to the people of east
county.
It is difficult to do anything
when forced with a $54 million
budget deficit.
But let’s be honest, there has
not been any strategic plan to
vitalize or store vibrancy or
protect our buildings by a
majority in decades.
Even getting the river town
marquee whereas a battle.
People of antioch have worked
and volunteered and raised money
to try and make a difference to
try and bring equity to the
downtown.
But the aa, individually owned
businesses and investors and
community groups are trying and
begging for your support.
Nonprofits like celebrate
antioch foundation, we raise the
money to pay for market lights
to be installed on second street
and g street, brought you and
residents a downtown tarmers
market only to have you reduce
our grant funds request when 85%
of that money was going to help
the farmers market.
Just two weeks ago, over 900
people asked you to take a
chance on obtaining 8 million in
state grant money on the beady
parcel that might well have been
a catalyst in supporting our
downtown struggling businesses
and restaurants and all of you
said no except for council
member rocha.
Thank you louie.
The loss of the el campanale
theater will be a loss the
downtown will never recover from
around the people of antioch
will never forget.
We all know you must stabilize
the city budgetary but you will
never fight your way out of this
economic hole by sitting on your
hands.
You’re going to have to find
ways to create growth, you’re
going to have to find ways to
invest when opportunities arise.
If you have been working on a
plan to save the el campanale I
hope you will execute your plan
now, because the sale is in
escrow.
I pray you will do it now.
Otherwise you need to let us
know as soon as possible so we
can once again bring a coalition
of people together to try to
save our historic theater in
downtown.
Thank you.
[applause]
>> the clerk: denit rodriguez
followed by michael sobil and
aaron green.
>> good evening everyone, my
name is denit rodriguez and I’m
a lifetime resident of antioch.
I want to explain to you how
important the arts are to me and
why I think the el campanale is
such a vital part of my time
here.
Picture the warm glow of the
theater lights on a crisp night
out and think of house welcoming
they are.
One foot through those doors and
you are immediately transported
into what feels like a different
time.
There’s no space like it
anywhere else in our city and in
fact there are not many spaces
like it at all that nourish the
arts culture and our dploount.
Forwards the entire summer, kids
were not able to enjoy our water
park.
We don’t have a thriving ma’am
and don’t get me started on the
wringle theater.
If this space was no longer
available for the public to
enjoy.
Wonder why people leave to go
spend their time and money in
other spaces.
We must invest in ourselves and
in what makes our town so
fortunate and unique.
For as long as I can remember,
there have been talks of
revitalizing downtown.
Here is yet another opportunity.
We recently got a farmers market
and it’s been really nice to see
people here on the weekends.
El campanile is a valuable
asset, one of the places I love
to show people when they come
and visit.
How many cities can brag about
having an almost 100 year old
institution like it?
I implore you, city council, to
find a way to preserve this
landmark for generations to
come.
Ask yourself not if we can
afford el campanile but if we
can afford to lose it?
Thank you.
>> the clerk: michael sobel,
aaron green and then crystal
law.
>> good evening, ladies and
gentlemen.
I’m here on behalf of the el
campanale theater.
Again I teal that this theater
should be preserved.
It should be capable of going on
because I see it is generations
of young people coming up
through the years that wirm
enjoy the arts and entertainment
in this theater.
I have a lot of memories in this
theater.
I have been an usher there for
the last 17 years and I enjoyed
it all.
In fact three days ago I was
there for the tribute to the
paul mccartney tribute band
and I thought that this was a
great musical along with films,
showing backgrounds of paul
mccartney when he was a young
man.
And I thought this is the kind
of thing that I not only myself
but other people would enjoy
watching and enjoying the music
because paul mccartney was
such a musical genius.
And I was just really taken
back.
Personally, I would be sad and
I’m sure everybody else in here
would be sad to see this theater
go.
I really heap that you guys can
figure out some way to save it,
because if it goes, I feel it’s
never going to come back.
We know what happened to the
stan theater.
It was a theater at one time, a
church took it over and it never
came back.
So I just kind of feel that way
about this theater.
So I just want to let you guys
know how I feel and how other
people feel to preserve this
theater.
Please, please, please, save the
theater.
Thank you.
[applause]
>> the clerk: erin green
tolled by crystal law and leslie
may.
>> okay, I actually came
prepared this time.
Hello, my name is erin green and
I’m a local business owner here
in downtown antioch.
has had a lot of hits
lately, and we all know it.
But despite all the hits,
there’s some of us that are very
still optimistic and still
believe in antioch.
Myself included.
Which is why I located my
business in antioch.
I went to pittsburg.
I went to oakley I won’t to
brentwood, and I still chose
antioch.
And the theater is a big part of
that reason.
Antioch has the opportunity to,
in my opinion, be an arts and
cultural hub of east county.
And the theater is a big part of
that.
We’ve already lost the stan
theater, we’ve lost the movie
theater on lone tree.
We’ve lost golf n games, so this
means that increasingly our
residents are going outside of
our community for entertainment.
And taking their dollars outside
of our community.
I know that the city council
can’t necessarily get in the
middle of a private sale.
And you don’t have the power to
stop anything.
But you do have a great amount
of influence.
What you guys may not know is I
actually used to work there so I
love that building and I love
the people in it and I know that
building.
And if the building could talk,
it would say let me be a
theater.
That’s all I can be.
It’s basically a giant box with
a stage that performers come on
and an auditorium for people to
witness the performances.
And there’s a handful of very, small offices along the
front of the facade.
So in terms of this potential
congregation, there is no room
for meeting spaces, there’s no
classrooms, there’s no play
room, there’s no kitchen and we
know there’s no parking.
We already know that.
So placing this in the middle,
smack dab in the middle of our
commercial business district is
not only a bad idea for antioch,
it’s not really even a good fit
for this congregation to be
honest.
So I’m asking the council to do
whatever possible to save el
campanale theater.
Leave it accessible for the
public, for the arts.
And keep the arts in antioch.
Thank you.
[applause]
>> the clerk: crystal law
followed by leslie may and
nicole hall.
>> hello to everybody, city
council.
First of all I want to thank
everyone including a lady from
brentwood, and tamisha, all the
motorcycle group who came to
support the n woman, I’m sure we
saw that go viral online.
This went on for two years of an
issue.
He is now sending messages to
people who went to support
calling them chimps and monks by
the ways.
The message from the mayor was
more about how backlash and
intimidation and violence was
addressed more than the fact
that the man was a horrible
neighbor and how he was
disgusting with his words and
how racism should not be
allowed.
Not to mention the fact that
this was written by a pr person
who is a black man.
You should have wrote it
yourself.
That just shows me that you
don’t care about the situation
or the circumstances.
I’m also disgusted that all that
I’ve been hearing are things
that you have inherited from the
last city council, when you were
city manager from 2017 to 2021.
Make this make sense!
Maybe some of the ways we can
make more money is by having
investors that are our friends
pay some of the same permit fees
and licensing fees that everyone
else has to pay instead of
letting them go without.
Because I have done my homework
and my research.
I’ve also sent letters and proof
to the do diswrmplet and contra
costa county.
>> the clerk: leslie may
followed by nicole hall and then
melissa.
>> good evening, council, I’m
the victim so I did attend, I
have pictures, I’m going to file
a report with the police
department before I leave from
here this evening.
I did attend the event to
support the young lady that was
being attacked by her neighbor.
Talked to many neighbors about
what was going on.
Out of all those 100 people
someone saw I guess my picture
online, when the perpetrator’s
trends and decided to tell him
to come after me.
So he’s come after me.
This is reported, I had to sit
up half the night to report it
to the fbi, cyber crimes also,
this is another division that
deals with racism and racial
attacks.
So I filed it with the fbi.
They will be investigating,
they’ll tiend out, which we know
is the same man because they
were able to pull up his private
account.
So they will be -- I’ll be
filing charges against this same
young man for intimidation as a
senior, use a black, a woman, a
senior citizen and a disabled
person.
So I’m going to be going after
him.
I’m pressing charges.
But I also want anybody that’s
listening to this, and anyone
whose little friends you think
you’re going to send after me
and there was another man that
attacked me online too, he’s
been reported.
They can’t get into my facebook
so they send me messages on
facebook.
You can keep on, this is not
going to bother me, at 74 years
of age I live through the worst
of it, over 60 years ago.
When I was out there.
So I’ve lived through the worst
of the worst, the white only
black only town tans, I’ve lived
through that.
This is not intimidating me.
I just let the community know
anyone that comes after me I’m
using every inch of the law, the
california doc, the federal doj,
the fbi, and I will make a
report, you got to make a report
with antioch police department,
I’m okay.
I’m using every resource
possibly to come after you and
anybody who peampts in this kind
of action I will prosecute you,
I will walk you to the gates of
hell.
Leave black people alone.
Leave me alone.
If you don’t have anything nice
to say, keep your mouth shut.
But I’m not going to be
intimidated and they know where
I live.
And all I say to them is, know
where I live, you want to make
thefts, step up.
Please step up.
[applause]
>> the clerk: thy cole hall,
followed by melissa and jose.
>> good evening, I’m nicole
hall, another lifelong resident
of antioch.
I grew up going to the stan
theater, nick rodriguez
community theater.
I was devastated when the
theater closed, historic theater
is amazing.
And this is going to be I think
the third time that it will have
been closed and possibly brought
back to life for a third time.
I remember the first time it
closed down, I went to the movie
screenings, it was a double
feature.
And it was sad to see it close.
When it reopened with a
community group who spent time,
their own money, days off, going
and refur beneficiarying it,
painting, doing whatever work
needed to be done to bring it
back to life, I was thrilled.
At that time I wasn’t able to
engage or be involved.
Third time around I’m going to
try to be involved as much as I
can.
Within my limitation and my
time.
But I’ve always wanted to have a
dance dude grow downtown.
I’ve always wanted to host dance
events at the el campanile or
even the stan when it was
around.
My only option is the el
campanale, I think it’s
beautiful, major history and if
people can bring it back to life
as a theater that would be
wonderful.
I’m not against church,
religion, worshipping, I’m all
for it but I really think the
arts could use a grand theater.
We have the nick rodriguez
community center which has a
cute limb boutique theater, el
campanale is a grand theater.
I’d love to host dance events.
Prior to covid I was a teacher,
el campanale would be a great
loss for the arts and the
community.
Thank you very much.
[applause]
>> the clerk: melissa followed
by jose and margie corrall.
>> okay, just want to say
support all of you guys.
But I went on everybody’s
website because it’s campaign
season and I went on your past
websites too.
So when you -- the people that
ran in 2024, I specifically
looked on the platform ron of
your homelessness about
incentivizing new housing
solutions, connecting new
residents with addiction job
training, this all came from
your website.
And expanding partnerships with
the county to pursue outside
funding.
And that’s what a lot of people
myself included voted for, one
of the reasons we voted for you.
Yet we’ve lost another housing
coordinator and I’m unsure if
this position is now troazen or
not.
I was paying attention to the
last meeting and I didn’t seize
that it was frozen, I’m not
sure.
But I think we need a type of
person since we lost the hotel,
a type of person with good
follow through, type a
personality, high organizational
skills to fill this position and
make it effective.
I feel like the last two people
that were in that position were
not effective.
And at the recent meet and greet
when I was at ron’s when I asked
you about this you said you’re
continuing to implement the
previous council’s plan.
And I understand the value of
that because it’s continuity of
continuing what’s working.
But that answer doesn’t quite
match the campaign that you ran
on, continuing what’s already in
motion is not leading a new,
more collaborative service
connected approach, which is
what you campaigned on.
They’re not the same thing and I
notice the difference.
And what I’m asking for isn’t a
reversal of anything it’s just
follow through on what we’ve
promised.
And I’d like to see the whole
counsel activity take a lead on
this rather than just manage
what’s already on the books and
I’d like city staff to
communicate clearly and
regularly with specific steps
that council is taking towards
goals people have campaigned on.
The partnerships, the outside
funding pursued, the service
connections that are made and
right now residents don’t have
any visibility into that.
And without that it’s hard to
tell the difference between what
we are progressing on and what
is business as usual.
Rocha, I went on yours, your
campaign website said you would
provide resources to unhoused
community.
I’d like to know what you’ve
done to move that forward,
beyond voting for things that
the city already had in motion
before you got to that seat.
And marathon freitas, you did
say you talked about expanding
code enforcement to protect
public health, property values
and all welfare of the city.
Code enforcement an harmlessness
are tied to directly in the
city, I’m running out of time
but I’d like to seize future
candidates put together some new
ideas for economic development.
[applause]
>> the clerk: jose foaled by
margie and ron.
>> all right, thank you bro.
Good evening council and antioch
community.
My name is jose cordone, I’m a
local poet and resident of
antioch.
I’d like to share a few things.
Number 1 I’d like to shout out
the rec department, y’all are
doing a great job, second, our
youth arts workshop will be back
in session the week of september
8th.
We are servicing both districts
3 and district 5 in antioch.
And until the library reopens,
antioch library reopens we’ll be
at antioch high school on
tuesdays and at the prewett
library on thursdays, from 4 to
6 p.m, completely tree for youth
ages 12 through 18.
Each week, the youth, the
students will receive free food.
Opportunities to win gift cards.
And we’ll learn and engage in
creative activities.
My third and fourth points are
connected.
There’s a lot of talk of the
downtown being a dead zone, and
at times it’s difficult to make
a strong argument against that.
With that said I will say that
my girlfriend and I spent the
full day out here on saturday
there 9:30 a.m. To 9 p.m.
We started at the marina, went
kayaking in the delta and dinner
at the four seasons stake house.
The crowds were amazingly
diverse and it made me proud of
rivertown.
We did not make it to the show
at el campanile but I have
hosted and held two free events
there.
I am planning on attending a
show there again soon and with
that said I would also like to
express my hope that the council
would do everything in their
power to help preserve the
historic theater of gathering
and community entertainment.
There is a lot more that I can
share for this topic, but I’ll
save it for another meeting just
for sake of time and I will be
sharing more about the events
coming up during the events
moderations portion, thank you
very much.
>> the clerk: margie corrall
followed by ron.
>> my naming is margie carol and
I just want to clear something
up about what you guys are
saying the mayor inherited a
miss.
The mayor and city council did
not leave antioch without a
plan.
They spent years building
programs, partnerships, securing
funding to address homelessness.
Whether you agreed with every
decision these were some of the
issues that were already
underway.
Established the homeless
encampment task force, to
address the impact of
homelessness instead of waiting
for the county to act.
Partnering with executive inn to
launch antioch’s first
transitional project, which
helped transition 140 into
permanent supportive housing
over four years.
Point in time count from 400 to
around 250 over a two year
period, a lot of laundry
vouchers for unhoused residents
with work for local church
services, created antioch’s
mental health crisis response
team, secured state funding to
establish antioch’s own core
coordinated outreach referral
engagement team, transferred the
delta fair property to the
county for a dollar so it could
be used for shelter for people
experiencing homelessness,
prioritize any antioch residents
helping many move into permanent
supportive housing, established
a motel voucher program to
provide emergency shelter for
unhoused residents, secured a
$6.8 million state drant to
continue transitional, created
funded antioch’s first unhoused
resident coordinator.
To improve coordination between
advocates, nonprofit city staff
and unhoused residents.
Held regular community meetings
to discuss homelessness and
develop solutions.
Launched the louie rocha
project, honoring a member of
antioch’s unhoused community
while expanding traditional
housing efforts, connecting
persons with opportunities,
organized community resources
events that brought services to
the people experiencing
homelessness.
So you guys went after thorp and
saying he left you guys in a
mess, false, false mayor, you
know that.
[applause]
>> the clerk: ron mohammed.
>> greetings to the mayor and
the rest of the council.
My name is ron mohammed.
I came here tonight because of
wanting to be perfectly clear, I
haven’t said anything or any of
the other brothers that attended
over there with sister ethel at
our property, where this
incident that has gone viral all
over the country happened.
This was not an instantaneous
thing, this is a thing that
happened over a period of
months.
So just to give you a superbrief
synopsis, ethel, single parent,
divorced parent, has a child who
is disabled, immune system is
supercompromised, she works in
the east bay.
And she is having a situation
with her next door neighbor who
has entirely too many cats.
They can call them neighborhood
cats or whatever but they reside
in that house.
Those cats are using the
restroom all over the entire
neighborhood.
And they’re compromising her
son’s immune system.
The son is wheelchair bound.
So when she spoke to them out of
a deliberate dialogue, that was
very respectful, the young man
kept going on the tirades and
this has been happening month
aafter mow after month to the
point that he is being so
disrespectful to the point where
it’s impactful.
All around the country people
are calling in, man, what the
hell is going on.
So I’m a shareholder here.
A resident is a resident but I
am a homeowner by the grace of
god.
This hoa needs to be demolished.
For them not taking action and
then them allowing the city to
take the brunt for not taking
this on.
The hoa should have handled this
from the beginning.
Those cats are running and
jumping from house to house over
the roofs and they’re using the
restroom all over.
She’s redone her backyard two or
30 times.
So cre we did go over there to
support her.
Never said nothing to the young
fellow or his mother, never even
looked at them, never pointed
their way, it is all about her,
they happened to be living next
to each other.
Beautiful diverse block, he has
been terrorizing these people,
seniors all up and down the
block and the hoa hasn’t done
anything.
So I’m not a big government kind
of fellow, and certain things
don’t need to be said, they just
need to be understood.
You can’t do that young ladylike
that.
I’ve been knowing her, I knew
her mother and her grandmother.
I didn’t even know that she was
their child.
It’s just wrong, and right is
right.
So I would hope that you guys
would take some kind of action.
[applause]
>> the clerk: johnny.
>> I’m not going to speak about
the closed session today but I
want to talk about the procedure
that you guys used.
Now ron you’re pretty good with
your numbers tonight so pursuant
to california government code
knife
54957-6 and the fair employment
act, now the city went into
closed session tonight facing
nine lawsuits, possibly dealing
with somebody being fired, ore
something to do with the fair
employment act, so nine people
are suing us or there’s nine
separate acts.
Okay.
So who do I guys send in there
to negotiate with the lawyers?
You send in ana, ana was the
head of human resources when
this all happened.
Ana is going to go into the
closed session and what is she
going to say?
I know you can’t tell us but I
did something wrong let’s pay
them.
So I know you guys don’t
understand the brown act at all,
most of you.
But this is a conthricts of
interest, okay?
Why is she going and
negotiating, telling the lawyers
how to settle a case, when she
fired somebody?
Or bessie told her to fire
somebody or who knows what
happened?
You guys won’t even tell us.
So there was significant
exposure to litigation pursuant
to the government code.
The city is under reseat of
information that might result in
litigation against the city
which are known to a potential
plaintiff or plaintiffs.
So nine people are suing us.
Probably because of what bessie
told ana to do and instead of
recusing herself she goes in
there and negotiates with the
lawyer.
Who are we going to sue, who are
we going to pay, are we going to
settle this case?
So what when is this going to s
when is it going to stop?
I told you guys not to hire
bessie.
You hired her anyway.
What is the first thing she do
when she got here?
She hired brad as her assistant
city manager, someone to go to
starbucks, right, they took brad
out of recreation department,
though put the new guy in there
six figures right?
What is his experience?
Then they promoted brad, we’re
going to talk about that later
in the consent calendar.
Why was brad even promoted, no
experience, no experience with
computers.
He was giving 15-year-old girls
swimming lessons ana and you
guys promoted him to six
figures.
[applause]
>> the clerk: we have no
further public comments and no
comments on zoom.
>> council member freitas: on
zoom.
We will now move to the
calendar, the first item is
introduction of new city
employees, promotes is and
ms. Cortez.
>> we’ll start with introducing
our new assistant city clerk,
latonia peoples-stokes.
Supporting executive teams
advances strategic initiatives
and strengthening organizational
operations.
Throughout her career she has
served in senior administrative
and chief of staff roles,
feeding conflicts and human
resources, budgeting,
governance, executive support.
Recognized for her collaborative
leadership style, operational
excellence and commitment to
complents, fostering strong
partnerships, and creating
lasting positive outcomes for
the community she serves.
We are excited to welcome home
latonia to our organizations,
looking forward to her positive
impact she will bring.
Welcome.
[applause]
>> council member freitas: do
you have any words?
>> hello everyone.
Thank you for welcoming me to
the city of antioch.
I used to live here for about 20
years before I left the city but
it’s been a pleasure to work for
the city that I once lived in so
thank you for having me.
[applause]
>> around now I think we’ll turn
it in, I’m thought sure if code
enforcement manager is here.
Is he here?
>> good evening, mayor and city
council.
It gives me great pleasure to
introduce joe losado, prior to
working for the city of antioch
he worked for contra costa
county for 25 years his last 12
as code enforcement manager, in
addition to being the city of
antioch employee he has lived in
the community for 50 plus years
and he’s excited to make a
positive impact on the city
where he lives.
Welcome joe.
[applause]
>> thank you.
I just want to thank everybody
for the warm welcoming I’ve
received since I started here at
antioch.
The first week was a little more
than warm, it got a little hot
but we made it through it so I
look forward to making some
positive changes in the city of
antioch.
Thank you.
>> council member freitas:
thank you very much.
Joe hold on.
Council member rocha.
>> council member rocha: I
just wanted to acknowledge code
enforcement manager joe, yost
hef losado.
You hit the ground running.
I’ve been communicating with
code enforcement about the san
jose drive, delta fair and the
two properties, the boat store
and also the tire company.
And immediately I saw a
difference with those two
properties being cleaned up.
And so I called to acquire inqu
happened, because we were trying
to get those areas addressed for
some time.
And what I learned was that you
apparently took it upon yourself
to make contact directly with
the property owners, of the two
locations and it may be the same
owner and from your conversation
from your action you were able
to get the property owner to
step up and participate in
getting those promulgates
cleaned up.
So I just want to give a shout
out to you for being a new
member of our city, as an
employee, but making a
significant difference right
away.
We have a lot of work to do in
that area but I just wanted to
acknowledge your efforts when
you first arrived.
It’s greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
>> thank you sir.
>> council member freitas:
before you go could you please
contact mark jordan and have a
discussion with him for all of
our benefits.
>> I did go to his business
office, contact was made, he
just hasn’t contacted me back.
But I will go back tomorrow.
>> council member freitas:
thank you very much.
We appreciate it.
Ms. Cortez.
>> yes, so I am going to present
on behalf of director brad
helfenberger, please join me in
welcoming jonathan carter as a
newest computer technician.
Jonathan will begin which
supporting parks, rec and
community resources, he will
later be supporting pd and
public works.
Jonathan has lived in the area
for over 20 years and has worked
with several local
organizations, most recently
with a managed security services
provider.
He has built strong
relationships and community
member across animal services,
public works and the fire
department.
Jonathan has a strong interest
in cyber security, automation.
, playing games with friends.
Welcome jonathan.
[applause]
>> good evening, mayor,
councilmembers, just want to say
I appreciate the opportunity and
excited to continue working with
all the staff that I’ve got to
meet and who I haven’t got to
meet yet so thank you.
>> council member freitas:
thank you.
[applause]
>> all right, good evening.
My name is shahad wright, I’m
the parking lot director.
We have alisa millhighways, she
is our new parking rec
coordinator.
She has been with us for seven
years.
She started from the bottom, 90
she’s here.
She started with maintenance,
she did building attendance and
then she was also a program
specialist with us doing several
years of our junior giants and
sports programs.
We’re very happy to steal her
from the school district where
she was doing, what was it
special education and wellness
at bellshah elementary, she has
a passion for making a
difference in youth lives and
aspiring others, without further
ado, alyssa.
>> hi everybody, I just wanted
to say I’m very grateful for the
opportunity and I’m really
looking forward to doing more in
recreation.
And continuing to grow.
Thank you.
>> council member freitas:
welcome.
[applause]
>> all right, even though
they’re not here I love my team
and we’ve got two other
coordinators.
We have jamie pitcher, brings
more than ten years of
experience to our team.
She comes from the pitcher
family which was also aquatics
based, justin pincher worked for
many years for the city at the
water park.
So we have a system member
coming back.
She graduated playing water polo
there san jose state and we also
have our newest member, vaughn,
who graduated from sac state,
the taking over for our admin
position 3.
He’s going to all our fields and
facility rentals, superhappy to
have him.
He’s been with our team for
three years as a part timer.
It is good to know that our
people born and raised in the
city have a opportunity to have
a full time role with the city.
They are very passionate and
enthused to serve.
Thank you.
>> council member freitas:
thank you.
>> okay so we have the police
department next so chief will
come down and present them.
>> good evening, everyone.
We’ll start first with
ezmarelda, graduated from
prospect high school in 2015.
Prior to working here she served
as a dispatcher for the city of
richard.
Richmond.
She enjoys spending time
outdoors especially hiking and
swimming.
Ms. Rodriguez.
>> just really quick, I want to
give the city of antioch thanks
and I’m grateful for the
opportunity to be back in the
town I grew up in and to help
the community here.
>> council member freitas:
thank you.
>> next up is a promotion,
corporal ashley allen.
Earning a ba, during her senior
year she was hired by the
antioch police department and
later attended the police
academy.
Variety of roles including
patrol cadet advisory, crisis
negotiator.
As a cadet vier she men towards
several young people.
Specialized cases involving
vulnerable victims and partnered
with the internet crimes against
children task force.
The online exploitation of
children.
Outside of work, corporal allen
spends quality time with her
family.
Ladies and gentlemen corporal
allen.
>> thank you.
I just want to thank chief for
giving me this opportunity.
I really look toward to it.
I love working in this city.
I told the former chief that I
would retire here when that time
comes I plan on being here for
the long haul so thank you.
>> corporate neilson.
Earned his bachelor in
economics, worked in the
financial industry before
beginning his law enforcement
career.
He started his career here in
2017 as a community service
officer.
In 2018 he became a sworn police
officer after also graduating
from the alameda county sheriffs
academy.
Patrol and investigations, filed
training officer, drone
detective, crime
investigatorror.
Swat team honor guard the
recruiting team and the use of
force review board.
Corporal neilson is a department
instructor in the force options,
deescalation and tactical
operations, ladies and
gentlemen, corporal neilsen.
>> also just real quick want to
say thank you for the
opportunity and I look forward
to working with the community
and the other officers I work
with.
>> sergeant josh egan.
Enlisted in the u.s. Army where
he served in executive
protection for the native
commander.
Serving in several assignments
including field training
officer, traffic officer and own
the crime reduction team.
Sergeant egan joined the antioch
police department in 2020 and
has since served as a motor
officer, field training officer
and drug recognition expert.
He also serves as the
department’s sole accident
reconstruction list and is an
instructor in emergency vehicle
rations and crisis intervention.
Ladies and gentlemen, sergeant
egan.
>> I will keep this short and
sweet.
Thank you chief, thank you
council and that’s all I have.
>> these are always the shortest
speeches.
>> lieutenant gary lowther, born
and raised in yoint and,
baseball scholarship to old
dominion university in norfolk
virginia, where he served a
bachelor of science in
communication degree.
Served in a variety of roles
including field training
officer, detective, swat team
member, firearms and active
shooter training, instructor,
sorry.
As a sergeant he supervised
patrol teams, hiring and
recruiting internal affairs and
hostage negotiating.
And the field training program.
Prior to his promotion,
lieutenant lowther, mentoring
developing department
supervisors.
Ladies and gentlemen, lieutenant
lowther.
>> thank you chief.
Thank you all for this public
acknowledgment.
I spent nearly half my life
serving the antioch community in
law enforcement and I’m looking
forward to this next chapter in
our future here as a city, so
thank you so much.
[applause]
>> and if I can just end I too
love my team and I have some
people who are not here and I
just want to give them an
honorable mention if I can.
Our newest dispatcher, mardz
tina espinosa, sergeant adam
duffy and last but not least
sergeant zachary sampson.
Don’t be surprised if you see
any of these shining faces in
various community events.
Thank you all.
>> good evening, mayor, city
council.
We have a number of new hires
and promotions within public
works, whether they are here or
not I’m still going to read
their bio because I think they
disesh it.
Gabrielle amada, heavy equipment
operator at the silver gates for
the last five years.
Gabrielle is currently in
college for a degree in computer
confines, he lives in antioch
with his wife and three dogs
enjoys sports and most outdoor
activities.
Help me welcome gabrielle to the
team.
>> council member freitas: is
he here?
>> no.
Next I’d like to bring up james
bell.
Hired at the water treatment
plant as a water treatment plant
trainee back in july, he was
previously employed at the
mountain valley environmental
services in raymond, california.
James was an operations
supervisor there for seven years
and has his t-2 and d-3 that is
a treatment 2 and distribution 3
and 4 stirveghts as well as his
waste water treatment
certificate.
He currently lives in mod toes m
and his family and two yellow
labs.
Let me welcome home james to the
team.
[applause]
>> I’d like to say thank you for
the opportunity to work for the
city of antioch and I look
forward to many years of
service.
Thank you.
>> next up, I would like to
bring up juliana bruno, she was
hired an as administrative
assistant back in may.
Worked on capital improvements
contracts, responded to
complaints and took notes for
public meetings.
Julian anna anna has a paralega
certificate.
She enjoys hanging out with her
friends and family.
Let’s welcome julia to the team.
Next up I’d like to bring up
asina egtar senas, environmental
resource coordinator on june
29th of this year.
She previous work for the city
of san jose, oversaw climate
action planning, sustainability
and resilience initiatives as
well as the citywide
implementation for the last
seven years.
He has a bachelor of science in
environmental studies with a
minor of steenable energy,
hobbies are building cars,
lifting heavy weights, strength
training and most outdoors
activities.
Let’s welcome sena to the team.
>> thank you, honorable mayor
and city council, mayor pro tem,
thank you for having me and
thank you city of antioch for
this opportunity.
I look forward to this
opportunity and bringing some
expertise from the great city of
san jose but bringing some of
that tech flavor and expertise
here and I do also want to
mention that I grew up in the
county and I’m happy to be back
here back in the east bay.
So thank you for this
opportunity again.
Appreciate it.
>> council member freitas:
thank you.
>> all right, next up I’d like
to bring up omar guillen-lean.
Worked in the water utility
department, changing meters for
about a year and currently as a
distribution 1 certification
with the state water resource
control board.
O mar mar let’s welcome him to t
theme.
There seems to be a dog theme
with our new hires.
That’s okay, we like dogs.
Michael nazario, michael was
hired as a general laborer in
june.
He previously worked for service
masters for approximately five
years where he was a senior lead
technician, completing
abatements for contra costa
county, demolition of damaged
properties, he has a certificate
in water trauma and heavy
equipment operations, he has
lived locally with his family,
cat and dog, and his free time
michael enjoys working outside
in his yard.
Let’s welcome michael to the
team.
>> I’d like to thank you guys
for the opportunity and the
opportunity you provide and like
to thank the collections team
for their knowledge and training
experience.
Thank you.
>> next on our list is our river
ortega.
River was hired in the streets
department as a streets
maintenance worker in june.
He was previously employed in
the traffic division for two
years, he graduated from antioch
high school and lives locally
with his family.
He enjoys taking his family to
the beech in pacifica, let’s
welcome river to the team.
>> good afternoon.
I’d like to thanku for the
opportunity to be here and I
look forward to the changes I
can bring of the expertise from
vallejo to antioch and if it’s
okay I’d like to say to my
children at home it is 8:00 and
it’s time for bed.
Thank you very much.
>> robert pizarro.
Robert earned his bachelor of
science of civil engineering
from the university of milan
philippines, he moved to the
states in 2018.
He enlisted with the u.s. Air
force as an engineering
technician and was based in
tucson, arizona for four years.
He was deployed to saudi arabia
after his internship with
klinefelter, he began working
with trc companies as a
construction supervisor
providings support with various
government agencies.
Then he became assistant
engineer with the city of
vallejo before joining the city
of antioch as an assistant
engineer.
Outside of work, robert enjoys
working out and spending time
with his team.
Robert loves singing karaoke.
Let’s welcome home robert to the
team.
>> good evening, city council,
councilmembers.
I’m very dreafl for the
opportunity to serve my local
community, because I live here,
and I’m looking toward to
contributing to the city and to
the capital improvements
infrastructure projects, and
very dreafl.
Thank you.
>> council member freitas:
thank you.
[applause]
>> I didn’t mention, robert’s
been brought on as assistant
engineer within the capital
improvements department.
All right, theodore rom anno.
Ted was collections worker 2,
then became equipment operator.
Ted was promoted in april of
this year.
Let’s congratulate ted on his
promotion.
[applause]
michael walch, michael was lierd
with the water treatment plant,
as a trainee, with had his t-2
in may of 2006.
Michael was previous cloudy in
stockton as a water treatment
plant manager, treatment 2
operator certificate.
Michael lives locally with his
family and two dogs.
In his spare time he enjoys
woodworking and metal
fabrication.
Let’s welcome michael to the
team.
And last on my list but
definitely not least, salvador
zestai, salvador was hired as a
maintenance worker 1 in may.
He previous was an underground
locator in martinez where he
completed utility locations for
about 17 years.
He graduated from antioch high
school and currently lives local
with his family and pet dog.
Let’s welcome salvador to the
team.
Thank you for your time.
That’s what we have in public
works since we met last time.
>> council member freitas:
thank you.
Any other comments on this?
>> no, I just want to say thank
you to the hr team for all their
hard work on hiring and all the
promotion, so I do want to
highlight my team for that,
thank you.
>> council member torres-walker:
mayor pro tem I would like to
make a motion to suspend the
rules and move item 8 on the
agenda up to right after item 2,
write is the proclamation in
recognition of zeta phi beta
sorority.
Move item 8 after the
proclamation.
>> council member freitas: is
there a second to the motion?
>> I’ll second.
>> council member freitas: on
the question, all in favor,
please say aye.
Roll call vote.
>> the clerk: roll call vote.
Council member wilson is absent,
council member rocha, yes,
council member torres-walker,
aye.
Mayor pro tem freitas, present.
Mayor bernal, yes.
>> the clerk: motion passes
4-0 to move item 8 to after
number 2.
>> mayor hernandez-thorpe: all
right, the next is the
proclamation.
Could I please ask jocelyn
norman to please come forward.
And if you have a team, team can
come toward as well.
And my son was in a fraternity
but I never learned the greek
alphabet.
I apologize right at the
beginning.
It is zeta,.
>> zeta.
>> council member freitas: boy
it is going to be tough.
Honoring zeta phi beta sorority,
incorporated, omega kappa zeta
chapter
whereas, zeta phi beta sorority,
incorporated is an
international, community
service-driven organization
founded on january 16, 1920, at
howard university in washington,
d.c.; and
whereas, on april 12, 2012, the
omega kappa zeta chapter was
chartered as a graduate chapter
serving san joaquin and contra
costa counties, with a
longstanding commitment to
scholarship service, sisterly
love, and finer womanhood; and
whereas, for more than a decade,
the omega kappa zeta chapter has
strengthened local communities
through meaningful service,
including feeding the unhoused,
awarding scholarships supporting
youth and education initiatives,
and promoting elder care and
wellness; and
whereas, through its z-hope
(zetas helping other people
excel) program and other social
action initiatives, the chapter
raises awareness and connects
residents with resources
addressing domestic violence,
breast cancer, human
trafficking, autism, mental
health, black infant health
and other important health and
social issues; and
whereas, the omega kappa zeta
chapter advances social, health,
and economic justice through
advocacy, civic engagement,
voter education and
mobilization, and initiatives
such as zeta day on the hill and
zeta day at the capitol; and
whereas, the chapter promotes
stronger communities by
fostering collaboration between
law enforcement and residents
and advocating for equitable
access to education, healthcare,
and other essential resources;
and
whereas, the city of antioch
recognizes the omega kappa zeta
chapter as a valued community
partner whose continued service,
leadership, and advocacy help
empower individuals, strengthen
families, and improve the
quality of life throughout the
region; and
now, therefore, I, ron bernal,
mayor of the city of antioch, on
behalf of the city council
do hereby honor and recognize
zeta phi beta sorority,
incorporated, omega kappa zeta
chapter for its outstanding
community service and advocacy,
and extend our sincere
appreciation for its unwavering
dedication to uplifting and
empowering our communities
thank you for being here
tonight.
>> thank you.
>> council member freitas:
please.
>> we definitely want to thank
you for having the opportunity
to be able to serve in your
community.
We do serve in, you know, many
communities but you guys have
been very welcoming to us and we
are thankful for the opportunity
to be able to promote
scholarship and other things
that zeta hope provides.
>> council member freitas: if
we were interested in joining
you?
>> it’s not that easy.
>> council member freitas:
perfection is tough to reach, I
dote it, I get it.
>> but we have many programs,
things that -- of that nature.
You guys are more than welcome
to go to zetas.com, our social
media, we’re actually going to
have a very large program in
january if you guys wanted to
attend, it would be in concord,
california.
Is that right?
The last friday in january I can
get you guys the information,
we’ll have an opening program at
7 p.m. At the hilton concord it
is open to the public and you
can see what zetas all over
california can dough.
Sf we can actually put it on the
agenda as an upcoming event
which might help you.
So city council is there a
motion for approval of the
proclamation?
>> so improved.
>> second.
>> council member freitas:
tamisha torres-walker moved,
council member rocha seconded.
[ roll call.]
>> the clerk: motion passes
4-0.
>> council member freitas: if
you wait we’ll be down and
present this to you.
If you want to take pictures
that’s fine too.
partner up with the chamber to
\hpartner up with the chamber to
receive feedback and
communication with them and
where they are.
the chamber of commerce will
host a lunch and learn event
wednesday, september 2nd, 11:30
at the chamber of commerce
building located on second
street.
It’s open to the community and
public.
We invite people to come down,
community member, business owner
to learn what’s happening down
there and to get feedback and
potentially develop a task force
of stakeholders to address the
issue so we can come together to
make improvements that we would
like to see.
That’s it.
>> councilmember torres-walker?
>> thank you, mayor pro-tem.
I attended the first -- none of
my committees met, meetings
scheduled for september and
october for the cdbg and october
for cannabis standing committee.
I had an opportunity to attend
the event at the theater with
the downtown antioch association
to talk about all things small
business downtown and also
security.
Saturday, I had an opportunity
to join the contra costa care
event that went from antioch
high to the state park.
It was an amazing event.
You want to shout out to back on
track services and nwacp and
others, boilermakers, unions,
all of the other sponsors for
putting that on.
I’m looking forward to the
event.
I believe it’s in pittsburgh
next year.
Looking forward to next year.
I attended the 40 voices
campaign one year celebration of
the african-american wellness
hub in the city of antioch.
That was an amazing experience.
I want to continue to thank the
40 voices and efforts around
african-american wellness in the
city of antioch.
It seems like every time the
city of antioch makes national
news, it’s always for human
rights and equity violations
qensviolations against the black
community and other communities
of color.
This time the violations were
not city departments but
neighbor to neighbor verbal
violence, physical assaults, and
intimidation that has gone
unchecked in the neighborhood
for more than a year.
Last monday I was invited to
meet ethel by brother mohammed
to come to her home because a
group of men had to show up to
check her property and house and
that she was safe.
I got an opportunity to talk
with ethel and hug her and it
felt similar to the same hug I
gave angelo quinto’s thea after
what happened to him.
The experience might seem
different to others, but things
happen to people and impacts
them individually.
Not only their families --
>> you’re out of order.
>> it’s not on the agenda.
>> you are out of order.
>> that was an amazing
experience to be invited to the
space, to have a conversation
with the young mother, first
time homeowner and put her
wishes and hopes and dreams in
the city of antioch only to be
continuously called monkeys,
aprils and racial slurs for what
seemed like forever from what I
saw on social media.
Also, saturday, I was able to
attend the second gathering of
pouring of love back in the same
neighborhood.
I was not surprised the amount
of welcome from the neighborhood
and the residents in the area.
They were happy to see people
show up, happy to see people
show up in love, solidarity and
in kindness.
They want to see more of that in
the community.
Why is this so harmful to the
community?
Why should we consider it to be
a harm on all of us not just
black people and black women?
Since 2025, 20 plus black
americans have been found hung
from trees across america.
64,000 black women and girls
have gone missing across this
country.
That’s just a slice of what
people have been experiencing,
particularly black women in the
black community.
We also have a city that 46% of
the makeup of the city identify
as foreign born.
When we think about the violence
impacting the communities today,
we have to think about what is
our responsibility as a city and
neighbors and residents of
antioch?
As brother mohammed said, we are
stakeholders in the corporation
called antioch.
We don’t only have to show up
with demands, we have to work
against human rights and racial
equity violations in the city of
antioch and say the things that
happened to ethel and her family
won’t be tolerated in the city
and we need to have a
confirmation to bridge unity so
we are all on the same page
moving forward.
>> mayor pro-tem: next is
mayor’s comments.
Mr. Mayor?
>> mayor ron bernal: thank
you.
Before I do that, on the 13th,
the board met.
We had an update from tridelta
transit on the budget and
service plan for the upcoming
year, the reduction in service
they are projecting and budget
challenges exacerbated if
proposition 63, sales tax
measure does not pass this
november.
There was discussion about
that.
We reviewed and approved
transportation fund for clean
air tfca which contributes
$200,000 toward trauma as well
as another program called rock
’n’ roll which is about $60,000
towards services that promote
walking and riding bicycles to
elementary schools trafficking
in the neighborhoods.
Those are a couple of things we
were talking about at that
meeting.
I was able to attend the ribbon
cutting.
Mayor pro-tem was there for
that.
Councilmember -- not mayor
pro-tem, councilmember rocha was
there as well.
I attended the daa that
councilmember torres-walker was
there as well as pro-tem for
that meeting as well.
On the 21st, the jacobson park
ribbon cutting used to be called
jet park because there was a jet
parked in the park that kid
played on.
It was a wonderful event when we
were able to bring, I don’t
know, 70 or 80 people from the
neighborhood.
Rising juntas was there,
different folks.
It was nice to be able to get to
meet the young people, the young
families that were super excited
about having a beautiful new
park and playground, basketball
court built in their
neighborhood.
That was positive.
As far as councilmember
torres-walker’s comments, the
racist comments and activity in
the neighborhood where
miss baker lives are
unacceptable, and will not be
tolerated in our community.
There needs to be a discussion.
There needs to be a venue for
people to come together to be
able to discuss this really
important, very volatile
subject, so I intend and want to
be part of the discussion with
the community, and figure out
how that will happen soon.
I want to mention that -- I want
to thank our parks and
recreation department.
I stopped by the 101st birthday
at the community center on lone
tree.
The seniors have been at lone
tree community center for the
past six months or so, nick
rodriguez in the process of
being redone for roof and air
conditioning and plumbing and a
lot of things.
They have been patient in that
project getting completed, but
when I went out there, it was a
really wonderful, beautiful
event.
People are dancing.
June, who runs the recreation
and senior program, people were
happy and making the best of
being displaced, basically, and
so I want to thank parks and rec
for stepping up and never
complaining, always finding a
way to create not just mediocre
solutions, but excellent
solutions when we have to pivot
and do other things.
Thank you jim, renee, care
karen, everyone that works for
parks and recreation and
everything you do to make
antioch a beautiful community as
it is.
>> I have my remarks on page 72
of your packet.
This is the june 30th report
that covers the investments that
we manage on behalf of the
city.
Our current market theme
summarizes what drives markets
and the factors that we consider
as we continue to manage the
portfolio.
Overall, we characterize the
current market as remaining,
noting there are interesting new
dynamics, contributing to
economic growth in the united
states.
This is ai investment and
technology spending, namely.
It looks like we might on the
cover page if you don’t mind if
we can turn to page 72.
Thank you.
As I’m talking to ai investment
and technology spending, it
seems this emerged as an
important factor contributing to
economic growth in the u.s. As
we think about gross domestic
product.
That’s the name of the game for
most of the economists,
investments we make on behalf of
the city, we want to see
continued growth that propels
and drives the investments we
make on the city’s behalf.
Ai has helped to offset what
might be characterized as a
modernizing consumer who has
pulled back on spending with
declining sentiment we have seen
over the past several month.
You may remember from prior
conversations, I spoke to the
fed dual mandate speaking to
their setting of key interest
rates.
That defines the fixed income
bond investments and yields
generated on investments we make
on behalf of the city.
We purchase fixed income assets
in the portfolio, bonds
including u.s. Treasuries.
The fed has a dual mandate for
maximum good price affordability
and maximum employment.
As we think about inflation, the
real question is whether higher
energy prices might eventually
spill over into core goods like
food, energy, those sorts of
factors.
We have seen some uptick in
those inflationary measures,
including consumer price index
and price expenditures.
Labor, on the other hand, that
continues to generally remain in
balance.
Unemployment has remained steady
at 4.2%, but as I noted earlier,
consumer spending is down as
real wage growth that is after
inflation has been modest and
may be pressuring households at
this time.
The one other notable factor we
saw during the quarter since we
last spoke was the new federal
reserve chair.
Fed chair kevin error rorche has
taken the seat, but the fed left
key rates untouched but we
noticed the tone more hawkish
higher rates coming forward
toward us.
Nine anticipating one rate hike
for 2026 at the june meeting.
With respect to the markets,
treasure yields moved higher
over the quarter over fears that
inflation might continue to be a
concern and the fed might be
leaning hawk issueish,
increasing rates.
We continue to find -- a strong
demand for corporate bonds
including ai issuance and u.s.
Treasuries that remain strong.
>> page 73, the next page speaks
to treasury yields rising across
the curve.
You can see the one year range
in the blue shaded area, the
most recent quarter in the dash
line and where we are june 30th
on the solid line.
We are very much on the high end
of the most recent one year
range.
The other change we saw this
quarter is continued positive
slope yields within the two to
ten year maturity ranges of u.s.
Treasuries.
The curve has flattened, notably
in the belly of the curve.
is within the
short-term inflation rather than
long-term growth.
Page 74 speaks to the two year
treasury yields.
I encourage our clients to think
of this as a wilmington you put
on the phone as you think about
where for example the city of
antioch portfolio is invested.
You can see the yields moved
higher over the second quarter
through june 30th to 4.13%.
During the quarter, it move up
30 basis points, since
january 1st, the two year
treasury is 70 to 80 basis
points higher.
Some may think the market may
have overshot this sort of
pricing, but we would argue that
we think at a two year -- about
4.17% june 30th, this still
remains to be an attractive
place for entities, agencies
like the city of antioch to park
assets as we think about one
historic tenure average yields
for the two year treasury, 20
year as well, shown on the
orange and yellow dash lines, as
well as the monetary policy rate
set the upper bound has a range
of 3.75 to 4% at this point in
time.
Speaking to the portfolio itself
on page 75, you will observe
that the portfolio continues to
be growing in a solid size of
122,000,000.
This is separate from another
portfolio managed by pfmam, the
portfolio that holds about
43,000,000.
As a performance measure, we use
one to five year u.s. Treasury
index out performing 46 basis
points.
On this page you can see yield
at cost representing the yield
portfolio as purchased 4.13% and
yielded market 4.30%.
Credit quality continues to be
high with aa and higher rated
credits accounting for more than
60% of the portfolio, and the
majority of assets continue to
be invested in u.s. Treasuries,
but we continue to diversify
into other sectors of fixed
income investing to generate the
yield on the portfolio.
The next page speaks to -- let’s
see.
Portfolio performance on page 76
of your packets.
You can see here quarterly
interest earningsings during the
three month period
$1.2 million.
There was a negative change in
market value as rates rose of
about $536,000, but total
dollars were returned to the
portfolio of $675,000.
The change in market value might
jump off the page, but this is
really just a sort of -- I’m
going to say paper adjustment at
this point in time.
These do not reflect realized
gains or losses, but as a
performance measure on a total
return basis, we like to show
the numbers to you.
Relative to the benchmark I
mentioned earlier is a one to
three year treasury index out
performed by 17 basis points.
If we annualize that figure,
look to 68 basis points during
the quarter.
We continue to feel confident in
the strategy that we pursue on
behalf of the city relative to
the annualized results you see
on this page.
The in the case page packet page
77 shows accrual basis earnings
that include the earned numbers
as well as actual realized gains
and losses that we took as we
actively managed the portfolio,
swapping in and out of various
securities as we found
appropriate value opportunities
to invest on the city behalf.
You can see we tried to minimize
the realized losses on the page
during the quarter and there
were 2,075 in realized losses.
This quarter a cost of $40,000.
You see total earnings in excess
of $1.2 million for the
quarter.
So, with that, there is one
other set of slides I want to
speak to that begin on page 83
of your packet.
Council raised questions about
potentially extending duration.
Now, as a reminder, state code
does allow for holdings that
mature out to five years.
Historically there has been a
preference for safety and
acquitty by choosing a
conservative benchmark.
Prior to 2002, the benchmark was
shorter, one year u.s. Treasury
the preference for liquidity has
been strong.
What I want to show on these
slides are historic performance
for benchmarks that would
generally be selected by
california agencies showing
duration, actual returns as well
as cumulative growth of
approximately $100 million.
I think that’s approximately the
size of the city’s portfolio.
This first page shows growth
over the past ten years.
%-
duration strategies in general
%-
duration strategies in general
including the city’s current
strategy have out performed
longer duration strategies.
You can see here the zero to
three, and the one to three are
u.s. Treasury index have out
performed the one to five year
or what one might characterize a
longer duration index.
Despite the duration, one would
expect, perhaps, higher total
return, higher cumulative
growth.
Over the past decade, that did
not take place.
There were factors like the
pandemic.
The yield curve that the city
did purr pursue.
The story is different on page
84.
If you now look further back to
20 years, and this is what one
would usually expect, longer
duration strategies have out
performed shorter duration
strategies.
Here you can see a longer
duration, one to five year
strategy out performed shorter
duration strategies including
the zero to three year by 40
basis points at the most to
around 30 basis points relative
to the current one to three year
index that the city currently
pursues.
The next page speaks to that
tabular form.
I wanted to show you rolling
one, three, five and ten year
benchmark returns for each of
the strategies that we pursue,
and again, you can see that,
like I mentioned earlier, ten
year performance has been strong
for shortage duration strategies
like the cities.
One, three and five year returns
have also been stronger than
those longer duration strategies
that again, one would usually
expect to out perform as one
would anticipate.
If I invest longer, I should
expect to earn more yield from
my investment.
In this case, with the
environment we have been in,
this has not played out over the
past ten years.
Now, the one or two tradeoffs I
should speak to on the next
couple of slides, the first one
is total return volatility.
As you extend duration on an
investment portfolio, you would
expect increased volatility,
increased changes in total
returns, and that’s what we
illustrate on this slide
historically all the way back to
2016.
You can see here the lighter
blue line is less volatile than
the darker blue line than the
city is currently invested in
and is even more less volatile
than the bright yellow line
showing one to five year
treasury.
In addition to potentially
anticipating that one might have
additional growth in their
portfolio for investing longer
on the yield curve, longer
duration, one should also expect
increased volatility.
That’s the sort of what some
might characterize as a risk
return as you think about
investing further out your
money.
Finally, on page 87, I just
wanted to show you one lever
that the city actually has taken
full advantage of that I think
council should short of pat
yourselves on the back with.
The left side of the page shows
benchmarks in california.
We are now focused specifically
on one to three on this slide.
At the bottom of the page, this
is the full spectrum of what
california state code, for
example, might offer flt at this
point in time the city
investment policy takes full
advantage of california state
code.
The right side of the page shows
the yield pickup or return
pickup as you increase
diversification among your
investment strategy and for a
one to three year strategy, one
would expect a return of 2.14%.
In this case, looking at what
the city is invested in, the
full breadth of the state code,
you see a 20 year total return
of 2.436% in excess of 20 basis
points, 22 basis points picked
up by deploying diversification
alone.
I know there is a lot of desire
perhaps to potentially extend
duration.
The city current one to three
year strategy has done quite
well and in fact, it has out
performed the longer duration
strategies that we might
typically see from other
california agencies.
With that, I’ll pause for any
other remarks from director
merchant or manager cortez and
any questions from the council.
>> questions or comments?
>> that concludes the
presentation.
We’ll turn it over for
questions.
Otherwise, pfm will be back next
year for the next presentation.
>> pro-tem: I have a question
with regards to the portfolio
snapshot, credit quality, s &
p.
I notice 6% not rated.
What are you investing in?
>> thank you for the question,
pray mayor pro-tem freitas.
The holdings are in compliance
with california state code as
well as the city investment
policy.
The portfolio snapshot page
shows the rating from standard &
poors.
It is rated by other rating
agencies including fitch or
moody’s ratings.
I know that, that green sliver
might seem alarming in that it’s
not rated.
It is in fact rated.
We can only show s & p with the
pie chart, the holdings are
rated.
>> when I saw 6%, I have to tell
you, I became immediately
concerned.
I might suggest that you simply
put in parenthesis -- standard &
poors rated.
Anyone reading that in the
financial markets would have
concerns.
Other questions of city
council?
>> mayor ron mayor ron bernal: thank you
for your explanation and how
ours has performed well, which
is great news to hear.
>> pro-tem: city treasurer, do
you have comments to council?
Are there any public comments or
remote comments?
>> clerk: we have no public
comments.
No remote comments.
>> pro-tem: thank you for the
presentation.
>> pro-tem: I would like to
suggest to council since we have
been in session since 3:30,
we’ll take an eight minute
break.
We’ll come back at 9:05.
Meeting is in recess at
8:58 p.m.
>> pro-tem: council is back in
session.
Please call the roll.
>> thank you, councilmember
monica wilson absent.
Councilmember rocha?
Councilmember torres-walker.
Mayor pro-tem?
Mayor bernal?
We have a quorum at 9:07 p.m.
>> pro-tem: next is the
consent calendar.
Is there any item the public
wants pulled?
>> we have no items to be pulled
for the public.
>> from the city council?
>> mayor ron bernal: I would
like to pull item k.
>> pro-tem: so far, it’s h and
k.
Is there a motion approving the
rest of the consent calendar
minus items h and k.
>> councilmember rocha moves.
>> second.
Councilmember torres-walker
seconds.
I tell ya.
Taco, walker -- I don’t know.
Can you please call the roll?
>> clerk: councilmember rocha in
councilmember torres-walker.
Mayor pro-tem.
Mayor bernal?
Thank you.
Motion passes, 4-0.
>> we move to item eight,
consideration of bids for the
traffic calming improvements,
>> I’m not pulling the item
because I’m not supporting it.
I pulled the item for
information.
James donlon has been an ongoing
concern to the community because
of the tragic auto accidents
that occurred.
It has come up before.
I support item h, but I would
like to know more about how the
projects move forward, one
before the other.
I’m not sure how that happens.
I’m not speaking against the
item.
Time and time again I get calls
and concerns from the community
related to james donnellan.
I continue to question, what
about james donnellan?
If you can please clarify where
we are with the project and
others in the pipeline
accumulating to move forward?
>> I would love to.
Keep the projects within the
traffic calming portion of what
we do.
This project we are looking at
tonight is traffic calming on
sycamore, the entire length of
sycamore project queued up a
year or two ago.
As a result, there are other
accidents out there.
were accidents brought up
as an area of concern.
James donnellan had the same
issues, also brought up as a
street of concern as well as
tenth street, three projects set
up to implement traffic calming
within.
At that point, sycamore was the
priority at the time.
That’s a project we worked on
and are now rolling out.
James donnellan is the second
project.
We have a good set of plans to
work with.
That project will be out forbid
this fall.
Then there will be construction
happening in winter to spring
depending on how that goes.
That’s in the works.
That project will be out to bid
this fall, and that will be
followed up.
Tenth street a residential sort
of area, not as easy to
manipulate as other roads.
It’s in the works.
It’s similar to what we are
working on, separation between
bikes and cars, putting up new
striping and signage in the
area.
James donnellan has a mechanism
to help with a crossing on the
trails out tr.
There.
\hthere.
The prompt project is in the
queue.
A lot of design is done looking
to roll that out in the fall.
When this was set up a couple of
years ago, it was sycamore,
james donnellan, tenth street.
That’s how we are rolling it
out.
Things are delayed a bit.
There is limited staffing.
Another thing having to do with
traffic calming, we did just
open bids today for neighborhood
traffic calming project which
people typically call speed
bumps.
We had a good price on the
project.
It looks like we might be able
to extend the facilities, add a
couple of more to the contract.
We’ll reach out to a few other
neighborhoods we didn’t think we
would get to with this contract
and install traffic calming.
There are speed bumps in this
case.
The program isn’t designed just
for speed bumps.
That project was open today.
We saw what the bids would look
like.
I’ll be coming back to you at
our next meeting to hopefully,
award the project.
>> I wanted clarification.
I have seen the work done on l
street to the high school, looks
wonderful.
There is a need in sick more in sycamore to l. Street.
There is a need for that.
I’m not questioning the
project.
I wanted to know whatever you
can do to help better
communicate to our residents
where things are.
I get calls, e-mails on a
regular basis about james
donnellan and I’m always looking
for an answer as far as where we
are and a timeline.
Your information tonight is
helpful.
>> that’s where we’ll be.
It will go out this fall.
Capital improvement trying to
staff up, get back in order.
Give us a year, and we’ll lay
things out better.
Yeah, that’s the plan.
This is an excellent project to
help pedestrians in the areas.
I like to say sycamore is out
there.
This is a project recently
completed as well as the second
phase of l street that will roll
out in a year or so.
It’s all working in the same
corridor.
>> pro-tem: any other
questions?
Mr. Mayor?
ron bernal bidding opened
today.
Are there intersecting calming
traffic improvements?
One of the biggest complaints I
hear about is side shows and
don’ts at intersections.
Other cities have measures to
reduce those, the possibility of
those happening.
Are those built into our traffic
calming project that you
mentioned?
We are working through the
geometry of that.
We are aware.
Hopefully there are key
intersections to get traffic
calming out there to reduce
this.
It’s in the process as you might
know.
We are trying to find something
lay out to work.
We have tried to use pavement
markers.
They are not much of a
deterrent.
To put something out there to
minimize the area within the
middle, likely it will be
bringing something to the
intersection, almost an
extension of the center median
that comes in to go into the
intersection, keeping radiusable
to happen and a speed bump
someone would not want to drive
over.
>> similar to what we did at the
dallas ranch in pruitt top of
the hill, delineators at the
street to stop the side shows
and people racing at the
intersection.
Is there something to try on an
interim basis to try to get
something on the pavement.
>> that is my plan.
I have been working with the
traffic consultant laying it out
to work.
It will be done with striping
changes.
It wouldn’t be major
construction.
I want to get something rolled
out relatively soon.
We are working on it.
I need to see what the geometry
looks like.
Frederiksen has issues.
There are two major issues for
residents that might need side
show deterrent, I would call
it.
>> thank you.
>> councilmember torres-walker:
my question is, do we
\hmy question is, do we
understand the difference
between a large scale side show
at an intersection and someone
burning out in one car in the
neighborhood.
The main difference for us in
terms of engineering, the things
are happening in residential
areas, two lane roads, easier
for me to control to build
something into the intersection
take the two lane road and make
it a closed off intersection.
Larger intersections, four lane
intersections, that’s more
difficult to put something in
the road to deter it.
Major v. One person, a lot of it
may be the complaints we are
getting.
How often is it happening?
Once, not something we’ll react
compared to calls keep coming.
There are areas you can see on
the pavement it’s happened more
than once.
>> councilmember torres-walker:
the reason I asked the
\hthe reason I asked the
question, I’m not against
focusing on smaller
neighborhoods.
The small two lane roads in the
neighborhood, getting something
to happen there.
The larger intersections, blue
rock and east 18th, cavalo and
east 18th.
The bigger intersections, what
is possible there?
>> again, there is
possibilities, but they are not
typically what I’m looking at
now.
>> we have no public comments.
>> council, consideration?
>> I move to approve.
>> rocha moves.
>> torres-walker seconds.
>> councilmember wilson absent.
Couple rocha?
>> councilmember torres-walker?
>> mayor pro-tem freitas?
Mayor bern nal?
Motion passes, 4-0.
Item k, professional services
agreement with consulting llc
for settlement agreement
requiring services $150,000
annually fiscal year 2026-27
budget amendment.
Captain?
>> good evening, mayor, council,
city, staff, members of the
community, I’m here to answer
questions you may have regarding
this proposed amendment.
>> mayor ron bernal: thank
you, captain bower.
The request is for an amount of
$150,000 annually, and we talked
about how the compensation
occurs, it says to be paid
monthly in $12,500 installments,
so, first of all, this will
create a $400,000 annual budget
for both the doj and the alan
the allen settlement.
That’s at the consultant’s rate,
which I believe is $210 an hour,
2,000 hours a year, full time.
This is like a full time gig to
do both of these.
That was the first question is,
now that he has been doing this
for a while, I’m sure he has a
good understanding of what it
takes to do both of these.
The allen will be newer.
There are new measures.
The other part of it is, my
understanding this is paid on an
hourly basis on the part of it
that’s $250,000 portion of it,
so I was wondering why this is a
flat rate of $12,500 a month,
hourly as well based upon the
need, and then if it’s 150, it’s
150 or less, it’s less.
That’s my question.
>> per the original contract as
you stated, it’s based on hourly
not to exceed $250,000.
Both of these agreements or
settlements overlap in a lot of
areas, there are separate and
distinct portions of the allen
agreement.
This way the billing would not
be convoluted in that.
The 12,500 is a flat rate easier
for the city to track.
Essentially, we would likely get
more hours out of it than the
210-dollar rate that he’s
working on the doj agreement.
If it’s billed solely as hourly,
it could convolute what work is
done in each area separate from
what overlaps.
>> let me tag on here.
I’m opposed to 12,500 quarterly
billing.
I think it’s wrong.
I also have an h rbac ground.
The 250,000 on $210 an hour,
1,190 hours of work, 150,000,
71% increase, that’s an
additional 714 hours.
It is -- 1,905 hours.
If an employee were to work 40
hours a week for the whole year
never take one hour for vacation
or one our for sick leave,
that’s 2,080 hours.
This is almost a complete full
time position which I question.
The other part of this is that
not only am I opposed to the
quarterly billing, because
it’s -- you have to have two
work order numbers.
Are you working on one, if it’s
one part of the doj agreement,
or the other, charge to the
other order.
Lots of people in city
government have multiple work
hours an charge that come out in
finance.
The other concern that I
understood is that basically,
when he leaves his home in
martinez and comes to antioch,
charges an hourly rate.
I have a problem with that.
If it took an hour -- I commuted
30 years between antioch and
martinez, morning commute an
hour or hour and a half, the a-
afternoon, the same thing.
That’s $105 we are paying for
him to come to this office.
No.
I have supervisorred hundreds of
thousands or millions of dollars
in contracts.
I have no problem paying
mileage, but not to use the
labor rate.
That’s wrong.
I am asking the city manager, if
our consultant services
agreement are paid by the labor
rate, then we need to find that
out, and we need to delete it.
We need to pay mileage.
That’s why mileage reimbursement
exists.
That’s why the federal
government establishes it.
I have a very difficult time
with the 71% increase for
$400,000 contract for work that,
as you mentioned, there is a lot
of similarities, and I am
absolutely opposed to the 12,500
quarterly.
That could mean you could be on
vacation for a month and get
$12,500.
That’s wrong.
I’m not supporting this.
The other part I have a problem
with the staff report is that,
excuse me, I specifically asked,
and the reason why this is on
the agenda tonight, I wanted to
see the billings.
I wanted to see what was being
charged for what type of work.
It was not included.
So, that’s still an outstanding
question I want to see what we
are paying for.
This contract for 400,000 if a
motion is made, I’ll be voting
against this.
Comments?
Consideration?
>> mayor ron bernal: I have a
question for the city manager.
>> the invoice -- I’m not sure
what the invoices look like
prior to cost.
>> I don’t know.
I didn’t know that was requested
in the staff report.
>> that’s the reason it’s back
here.
I would like to see, you know,
all of the hours.
It’s not your fault.
It was requested.
I was surprised not to see it
attached.
It is what it is.
The other question, I don’t know
if he is a calpers member, but
is there impact between the
services agreement and calpers
retirement and obligation the
city has with regards to
calpers?
>> we would need to be sure the
services he’s provided, he’s
acting as a consultant.
>> we have other individuals
with consulting services
agreement.
I’m curious if there is issue
that we need to take a look at
and review.
>> yes.
I can go back to make sure that
the scope of work being
performed is completely
separate.
>> pro-tem: is there any
consideration?
>> I have a question for captain
bower.
What is the time line for this
needing to be executed as far as
this work?
I know the allen agreement is
completed.
I suspect the police department
is pursuing working on terms.
What is the timing of this being
approved?
>> currently, we are in the
process.
The agreement -- the settlement
has been inc.ked. I thinked.
We haveiinked.
It’s important that though they
overlap, there is a lot of
additional work.
It’s in the doj report or
agreement.
I think it’s also important to
understand how much work that
is.
The early intervention system
alone, the draft he has written,
not even part of the doj
agreement, just preparation for
this, looking at that, my
experience with early
intervention in the department,
this exceeds what you find?
Most places and implementing
that will be a challenge.
There is a significant amount of
work.
I understand the percent
increase and dollar amount, but
there presents challenges as if,
not this, what is our
alternative?
What does that do?
It puts us behind the curve on
meeting the substantial
compliance requirements.
>> mayor ron bernal: correct.
That’s not my goal here to put
us behind the curve or delay the
satisfaction of the settlement,
so --
>> my comment is that there is
no question.
I support working with the
existing consultant as
identifying as the reason for
this t. The main issue is
questions about
transportation -- you said
mileage v. Being paid point a to
point b, compensation is the
only question.
We need to work through that,
come to agreement and move
forward.
I think some of these matters
need to be resolved in terms of
the driving issue.
I think that definitely needs to
be resolved.
>> is it true for all
agreements?
Is it the standard for the city
of antioch?
If it is, it needs to come back
for discussion.
>> I support the item before
us.
I think we need to adjust how we
are being -- how the individual
is being compensated with one
contract versus the other,
making sure it’s consistent, how
we are doing business and being
fiscally responsible in all
contracts we do.
There are valid questions of
points being made here.
There is no doubt in my opinion
that we need to proceed forward
for reasons identified in the
particular report.
>> pro-tem: the question is,
the fiscal nature of this.
I have objection to paying
quarterly.
That’s me.
>> councilmember torres-walker:
thank you for the report.
\hthank you for the report.
My biggest concern was similar
to the question around the mayor
related to compliance.
What is the potential timeline
on getting some of these
questions answered from the city
because it’s not lost on me that
all of these meetings and
conversations are being observed
and what I don’t want is for
there to be like a complaint
filed that we are not moving
forward to be in compliance by
the arpa settlement agreement.
>> we signed agreement seven
months ago.
The expectations are that we
begin work immediately.
He is not being compensated but
he’s been working on it since we
inked the deal.
They have concerns over the lack
of movement in particular to
some things outside of our
control as it relates to city
staff.
The biggest point they brought
up and why the agreements take
so long to get off the ground,
the interpretation of said
agreement changes and we see
pieces of that with miss scott
not being here anymore.
It came up in the last meeting
with the law firm.
They have concerns and whether
this will move forward or
continue to be kicked around.
We assured them we are doing
everything we can to move it
forward.
If it’s a matter of working on
some of the financials within
the agreement, I have no doubt
in my mind we’ll have something
back to you asap.
There is more work in this
agreement than the doj.
We are talking about building
systems that don’t exist in this
city and agency right now.
We are talking about building
analytical requirements that
don’t exist.
We are ready to move forward in
different areas already.
This is one more thing we are
waiting onen.
I’m sure we can work out the
financials.
We wanted to see the billing for
the other agreement.
That’s an easy fix.
This is a totally different
agreement than the doj
agreement.
>> I would thank you, chief.
I would suggest to the mayor and
this council that maybe there is
a special meeting that needs to
be called to address this
because as far as I’m aware,
there are concerns on the other
side that we are dragging our
feet and I also get the concerns
on this side around getting
clarity, and I would hate to see
us back in court litigating this
all over again.
>> pro-tem: this could have
been done.
If a councilmember makes the
request and it’s ignored, that
causes a delay.
>> is this something to put on
the calendar for the 8th.
>> pro-tem: I won’t be here.
I understand the urgency.
We have a fiduciary
responsibility, oversight
responsibility.
That is our role.
There are issues that frankly, I
feel, need to be addressed.
If the council wants to make a
motion to approve it, go ahead.
>> councilmember torres-walker:
I’m not suggesting the a, I’m
\hi’m not suggesting the a, I’m
suggesting that we are in risk
of being in violation of the
settlement agreement and we call
a special meeting for any and
everything else.
Can we call a special meeting to
address this issue before the
eighth?
>> we can.
We need to confirm we’ll have
quorum.
That’s up to the mayor if he
wants to authorize that.
>> is the motion to table --
>> there is no motion, so there
is no action.
Unless you want to make a
motion.
>> councilmember torres-walker:
we need action for it to come
\hwe need action for it to come
back.
>> pro-tem: the city manager
will coordinate it to bring it
back.
Miss cortez?
>> yes, I have to make sure we
have a quorum.
I’ll pool the quorum.
>> pro-tem: no action on item
k.
Public hearing, item 7,
resolution accepting and
adopting the 2025 urban water
management plan and water
shortage contingency plan.
>> thank you, city council.
We have a public hearing
regarding the 2025 urban water
management plan and water
shortage contingency plan.
Our staff recommends approving
the plan and authorizing the
city staff to submit the
documents to the department of
water resource incorporating
comments we have at the close of
the public hearing.
I have beau with black water
engineering consultants
proponent for the public
hearing.
Thank you.
>> pro-tem: I will open up the
public hearing.
>> hello, mayor, mayor pro-tem,
city council members and city
staff.
My name is beau.
I’m here today to present the
2025 urban water management plan
and also the water shortage
contingency plan for the city of
antioch.
Per the urban water planning
management act, ab797, the state
choirs requires that an agency
serving 3,000 connections or
providing 3,000-acre feet of
water for the water management
plan.
Since the city supplies water to
34,000 service connections, the
city is considered an urban
water supplier and is required
by the state to prepare and
adopt the urban water management
plan every five years.
This is required in order for
the city to be eligible for
state grants and loans.
The purpose of the urban water
management plan is to evaluate
future demands, assess available
supplies, prepare for drought
conditions and identify
conservations and infrastructure
improvements, maintain reliable
service.
Basically, the main goal is to
make sure the city has enough
water supply to serve existing
and future customers.
The slide shows an overview of
the 2025 urban water management
plan prepared to meet the
requirements of the 2025 urban
water management plan guide
book.
The document goes over the state
requirements needed to prepare
the urban water management plan
supply the city’s water supply
and demand and the baseline and
targets in which the city has to
meet.
The document goes over the water
service reliability, drought
risk assessment, water shortage
contingency plan and demand
management measures.
Finally, the urban water
management plan goes over the
adoption implementation.
There has been a few changes to
the urban water management plan
since the last update.
Per section 1.1 of the urban
management plan guide book
finalized in january 2026, the
section shows the minor
adjustments.
The first one is minor
adjustments to water code.
This has been reflected in the
city’s 2025 urban water
management plan.
There is classification for
supplier with multiple water
systems.
This does not apply to the
city.
does not have multiple
public water systems.
Additionally, the 2020 table has
been changed to 2025.
One major thing added to the
urban water management plan is
the 2028 water loss vendor
reporting.
This is something I’ll talk
about more in the next few
slides.
The state has provided
additional guidance for lower
income housing and also for
ground water recharge and
storage.
In 2025, the city supplied
potable water to about
5 billion gallons to 34,000
water service connections.
The city currently has a
population of about 120
residents.
As part of this urban water
management plan, the water
category use includes a single
family, multifamily, commercial,
industrial institutional
governmental landscape other and
water loss.
Other is defined as a metered
and unbilled water consumption
data.
This slide shows the historical
and current water use for the
water use categories.
As you can see, the water has
remained fairly constant from
2021 to 2025.
The next slide shows the current
and projected water use for the
city of antioch.
Projection was water use was
assumed to increase by 0.65%
annually from 2025 to 2045 based
on historical water usage data.
Gpcd and the estimated baseline
of 206 gallons per capita per
day.
2020, the city met the target
and in 2025 the city continued
to meet the target.
By 2028 the city is required to
meet the rail water standard of
9.5 gallons per service
connection per day.
That is gdpscd.
The standard was calculated
using the economic model
developed by the state water
board.
The city currently has a water
loss value of 19.6 gallons per
service connection per day.
The city is actively working on
improving the water distribution
system in order to meet the
target by 2028.
The slide shows the city’s water
supply liable.
The city currently diverts
untreated surface water from the
san joaquin river to the
brackish water desalination
plant for treatment and potable
use.
That plant has a permitted
treated capacity of
6,000,000 gallons per day.
The city also purchased and
treated surface water from the
contract costa water district
which is delivered through the
contra costa canal under
agreement with ccwd, the city
can purchase 10,000,000 gallons
of treated water to supplement
existing water supply.
The city received recycled water
from the delta diablo plant for
landscape irrigation.
As part of the urban water
management plan, the city has to
complete the water shortage
contingency plan.
The plan is to identify and
respond to potential water
shortage.
Here on the slide shows six
storage levels, level one is the
city has to reduce usage 10%,
level two up to 20% and so on.
There are some actions in which
the city can take and that is to
limit landscape irrigation,
limit filling of swimming pools
or maybe restriction for water
features.
The city has implemented the
following demand management
measures to conserve water.
First the water prevention
ordinance which the city has
adopted.
There is water metering,
conservation pricingpublic
education outreach.
The city has a program
coordinator to conserve water.
There are additional dms offered
in which the city implements.
This slide shows the passes,
april 8th, 2026 the city sent
letters to delta diablo, ccwd,
contact contra costa county and
the cities of brentwood, antioch
and martinez.
August 5th and august 12th, the
city published a notice of
public hearing, and as of today,
it’s the public hearing in which
we are presenting the urban
water management plan and water
shortage contingency plan to
city council for adoption.
After the urban water management
plan and water shortage
contingency plan is adopted, the
city has 30 days to submit the
document to the department of
water resources.
The california state library and
other local agencies.
The urban management plan is
available to the public.
That concludes the presentation.
I’m happy to answer any
\hi’m happy to answer any
questions council or the public
may have.
>> pro-tem: any questions at
this point, council?
Mr. Mayor?
Are there any requests for
public comments?
>> clerk: no requests for
public comment.
>> pro-tem: thank you very
much.
We appreciate the presentation.
I’ll close the public hearing.
The matter is before council.
Is there a motion for approval?
>> I’ll move to approve.
>> councilmember rocha moves.
>> torres-walker seconds.
On the question, roll call?
>> councilmember wilson is
absent.
Councilmember rocha?
Councilmember torres-walker?
Mayor pro-tem freitas?
Mayor bernal?
Motion passes, 4-0.
>> sorry you had to wait so long
to make the presentation.
We’ll now move to item nine,
authorizing city manager to
authorizing the city manager to
execute a sole source agreement
with axon enterprise inc. For
automated license plate
recognition.
>> staff is asking the council
to authorize a 49 month sole
source agreement with axon
enterprise, not to exceed
61,688.
This agreement has three main
components.
55 fixed axon out posts,
automated license plate reader
locations.
The antioch police department
currently operates a separate --
two separate systems.
Motorola is decommissioning the
platform.
Some of the equipment is
offline, not working.
This proposal consolidated and
replaces both fixes into one
network.
The second component of this
agreement is the addition of
additional dash camera systems
with automated license plate
reader capability.
We already use axon branded dash
cameras and the six additional
systems are for additional
patrol vehicles, the fleet has
expanded recently.
We need to purchase more dash
cameras.
We want to make sure they use
the same platform and have the
same capabilities as the rest of
the fleet.
The third part of the agreement
is the addition of 120 licenses
for axon ai assistant which is a
feature within the body warn
cameras that the officers have,
that I have.
The ai assistant is going to
give officers quick access to
language -- two way language
translation in 50 languages.
That supports, as council knows,
that supports the language
access plan under the doj
memorandum of agreement to
expand to the community we
serve.
It’s an assistive tool.
It doesn’t replace qualified
interpreters.
Adp has used axon for years for
body warn cameras, and they
remain evidenced where we store
some of the most digital
evidence.
This proposal builds on the
existing environment.
Instead of another audit and
support system.
Another part of my presentation,
I want to talk about why license
plate reader technology matters
in antioch.
Vehicles are central to a large
part of crime we investigate.
More than 75% of crimes
committed each year involve
motor vehicles.
That is consistent with what we
see locally.
Part of shooting, robberies, hit
and run collisions, organized
theft, side shows and serious
investigations.
A witness may have a partial
license plate, vehicle
description or direction of
travel, but the license plate
system can turn the limited into
a focused lead still useful.
We went back to look at our
statistics, specifically
antioch.
We have had license plate
readers in antioch several
years.
Since august last year, the
existing system has led to "at
least" I believe the statistics
are more, we are trying to
improve the tracking system, but
we have located at least 42
stolen vehicles with the help of
automated license plate reader
technology.
23 of those have led to arrests,
and since august of last year we
have had 19 significant
documented investigative assists
as a result of automated license
plate reader technology, a
conservative count.
These are antioch results.
They are not vendor produced.
I’ll give a couple of examples,
last year a fatal collision
where ar license plate was
captured before the collision
and there was no other camera
that captured the plate in the
vicinity.
There was a piece of evidence
that led to the apprehension of
the responsible person.
There was a shooting
investigation at sycamore square
this year following a shot
spotter investigation, obtaining
a license plate from
surveillance.
They used the technology to
locate the vehicle resulting in
two arrests and the recovery of
a firearm.
This is a good example of how
license plate readers work with
evidence.
Surveillance produces the plate
and alpr turns it into an
investigative lead.
This is a investigative tool.
It helps identify vehicle,
reconstruct movements and
timelines and corroborate or
challenge statements and direct
investigators toward evidence.
There is a lot of discussion
about technology, specifically
governance and sharing,
especially sharing with other
agencies or federal entities.
I want to discuss that clearly
here.
This discussion makes data
governance an important part of
the discussion.
The value of the technology does
not eliminate privacy concerns
the public has.
The system has to be controlled,
and used for legitimate law
enforcement purposes.
Under the existing policy for
operating rules, searches must
be tied to a police case and
have a specific investigative
reason.
Searches are logged and subject
to audit, and a license plate
reader alert has to be verified
before action is taken based
solely on the alert.
The axon vehicle architecture is
different from the model we have
currently with the two existing
systems.
Axon governance materials have
sharing off by default.
Antioch would have to establish
a specific sharing relationship
with another agency, one-to-one
relation.
It’s not an opt into a network
which is how the current system
operates.
If someone wanted to share data
with antioch, it would require
specific action on both sides to
initiate the sharing.
Our agency would have to accept
the sharing request and the
other agency would have to
accept the request.
That relationship is visible,
logged and revokable.
Antioch uses axon for body warn
camera, dash cam and data
repository and the system would
operate in the same controlled
environment with common
permissions, auditing and
support.
That summarizes what we are
requested, why it is needed and
I have several more examples if
council is interested.
We have numerous case solves
with this technology.
Very serious violent crime
investigations, hit and runs.
The first place investigators go to help.
I wanted to mention that since
we expanded the network, auto
theft in about I don’t antioch,
down 44%.
With that, I turn it over to
council.
I’m sure you have questions.
>> pro-tem: councilmembers?
Questions or comments?
Mr. Mayor?
>> mayor ron bernal: thank you
for your presentation.
There was an item that came
before us several months ago for
community cameras, correct?
>> yeah, I believe lieutenant
whitacre presented to council on
community cameras.
This request is specific to
license plate reader cameras.
>> mayor ron bernal: how many
will be within the vehicles?
>> we outfit every marked patrol
car with a dash camera, and
every dash camera will be
enabled for license plate reader
abilities.
In addition to that, we have
several strategic locations in
the city that operate two
systems, the flock and motorola
systems.
It’s not the best practice to
use different systems, so we
want to consolidate under one
platform, that includes 55
locations in antioch that over
the next two years with this
technology.
>> mayor ron bernal: so, my
question, they’ll be implemented
or installed over the next two
years, then?
They can’t be done sooner than
that?
>> we can certainly check with
axe on to see what the timeline
is, but it does require -- they
have other folks ahead of us in
line.
Essentially, there are other
communities in the bay area
signing on to their platform.
We basically fall in line with
them.
I can certainly ask, mr. Mayor.
>> my questions, also based upon
the pay schedule, we won’t be
paying for something we haven’t
received yet, correct?
>> it’s a multiyear contract.
I’m glad you brought that up.
We are currently paying $99,000
for the cameras we currently
have.
Under this proposal, 101,500 per
year over the next 49 months
gives us 55 cameras under the
axon platform.
To put it simply, it’s a
difference of $2,500 more per
year than using flock alone and
we have two symptoms, one of
which is being decommissioned.
2500 more per year but we are
getting more cameras out of it.
>> mayor ron bernal: we are
not going -- we are going to pay
as the cameras come on line.
If it takes one year, we’ll pay
more than if it took three
years, correct?
>> it’s an all encompassing
agreement, not just for the
cameras, but ai translation and
dash cameras.
That’s the package for all three
items over the next four years.
I will clarify to ensure that we
are not paying for something we
are not going to receive.
It’s broken up over four year.
>> mayor ron bernal: the
information, you have given us
data about how this is served
recovering stolen vehicles and
arrests and things like that.
Will the community be able to
access information about the
effectiveness of the
technology?
>> yeah, so we were pretty
forward thinking and transparent
when it came to flock.
Some of the questions that came
about with the flock platform in
other communities, we have the
transparency side that the
public can access now to see
what our data governance
policies are, how long we hold
on to data, how many inquiries
are made by other agencies.
We intend to do that also.
I talked to axon today.
We can public our statistics,
policies on a forward looking
website that the public can
access.
>> mayor ron bernal: thank
you.
I appreciate that.
>> pro-tem: councilmember
torres-walker?
>> councilmember torres-walker.
Thank if you you for the
presentation.
I’m happy to hear there are more
in the city rolling out.
My question is to -- there’s
flock, motorola, now axon.
Is there a plan to consolidate
and move away from even flock
cameras?
>> that’s a great question.
That’s this plan.
We would like to move away from
two different systems and live
in one system.
One of the things we like about
the axon system, we own our own
data.
We are not putting it into a
cloud and sharing it with a
network of agencies, and we like
the opt-in policies.
We like that there is no back
door federal sharing, and a lot
of the direction that the state
is going in with the pending
senate bill 1013, I believe.
As council likely knows, there
is a pending senate bill and a
lot of requirements of the
senate bill -- it passed third
reading at the assembly.
The axon system is already
capable.
We are compliant with how it’s
being structured with the
system.
We don’t want to live in
multiple systems.
We want everything in one system
with the same training, same
platform, same auditing
abilities, instead of different
systems, things get lost in the
shuffle.
>> easier to track and
consolidate across the board.
Happy to hear we are moving away
from flock systems.
They are not as secure as
concerns have come from the
public.
Yes, senate bill 1013 for the
public that does not know, this
is a california senate bill that
is moving through the senate now
to address restrictions and
rules around privacy for license
plate readers in the state of
california.
The intent of the bill is to
have a 30 day deletion limit for
license plate reader -- I
guess -- data that is gathered,
I’m assuming, and this is
strictly for public agencies.
You are saying that this is
already something that the city
of antioch is at the forefront
of being compliant with.
>> we are at the forefront even
with the flock system.
Hopefully, we have not endured
the level of concern other
communities.
Our reader data is 30 days
currently.
We have a forward facing
transparency website.
We prohibit outside agencies
querying our system.
They have to give a verifiable
criminal investigation,
reference a police case number.
We are not sharing with out of
state entities 6789 entities.
We don’t share with ice or
federal government agencies.
We did that with flock alone.
The thing we like about axe
axon, with flock, it’s a network
at the state level.
With axon, if they want to share
data, they have to make a
specific request, reciprocated
one-to-one.
It’s not us opting into a whole
network.
The data retention -- we own the
data.
Our data is not going to a cloud
that’s shared with multiple
agencies.
All of our scans in antioch live
and stay in antioch.
They are not being shared with
anybody else.
There are a lot of by design
features of the axon system that
put us in compliance if 1030
passes.
>> councilmember torres-walker:
thank you for the information.
\hthank you for the information.
I’m excited to see there will be
ai translation for the peace
officers in the city.
I had somebody from atp -- I’m
stumbling now.
Atb translate for me between me
and the community member doing
national night out.
It was amazing, and I was like,
you know, we should all have
availability to that type of
technology to communicate with
residents.
I’m excited about that as well.
>> I appreciate the comments.
It’s really cool.
They push a button on the side
of the body warn camera
activating the assistant and
tell the assistant what language
to translate.
It covers all of the major
languages that folks speak in
antioch.
In a perfect world we would have
an officer to translate that,
while we have hired a number of
bilingual officers over the last
couple of years, there are times
the officers are not available
and waiting on hold.
I was told the other day that an
officer needed to speak to a
translator for an incident and
the language line had nobody
available.
We are not able to communicate
with that person.
With this technology, the
officer will be able to push the
side of the camera and it will
translate one-to-one record it
and retain it.
I think it will break down
barriers and make folks want to
come forward to know they are
not going to encounter the
obstacle to speak to and report
things to police.
>> so much progress has been
made you all should be proud and
we all should be proud.
We continue to be watching.
Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> pro-tem: any other
comments?
>> we have zoom comments.
Frank sterling.
We’ll move on to mike.
See their hands.
It’s not giving me the option.
Let me check.
>> good evening.
I want today know, like the
extra cameras that you will be
putting around, are they only
going to be in the troubled
areas, or will they be all over
the city?
That’s my only question?
>> another great question.
They are in all locations of the
city.
We try to cover all of the major
entry and exit points of town,
the major thoroughfares.
We are not concentrating on
specific neighborhoods.
>> let’s try this now.
There we go.
Okay, mike, you are up.
You have three minutes.
Can you hear me?
>> thank you very much.
Good evening.
My name is mike, director of
research for oakland privacy.
I urge a no vote.
The staff report fails to
provide enough information to
justify the $660,000.
The agenda item is for a sole
source contract with the vendor,
no comparative bidding process
as part of the procurement.
There are others that provide
such products.
How can residents be assured
taxpayer fund are stewarded
responsibly?
Motorola is decommissioning the
platform.
As a researcher into the use of
surveillance technology, this is
highly suspect as law
enforcement purchase alpr
surveillance technology from
motorola.
The presentation lacked analysis
of the effectiveness of the
currently deployed readers.
In the absence of analysis how
can members of the city council
or public know if the expansion
of the surveillance program is
justified?
What criteria was used to access
the effectiveness of the current
system.
How will we know if the
expansion is effective or not?
No analysis if whether license
operate readers had an impact on
crime.
Before the police department had
license plate readers, I would
hope crimes were being solved.
Stating auto theft is down 44%
when crime is down everywhere,
including places without license
operate plate readers is not
useful information.
The antioch police department
shares information with 230
agencies.
The one to one sharing will
improve thing, I think that you
will encounter the same problems
with axon or any other
surveillance vendor that you do
with flock.
The problem is, these are
technologies of mass
surveillance.
The most of the information
collected by the cameras is
people going about normal daily
business not suspected of or
charmed with charged with
crime.
That information is held for 30
days.
Eventually the information is
going to find its hands into
people who shouldn’t have access
to it.
will be abused same way flock
is being abused to stock people
including ex-wives, spouses and
people the police disagree
with.
I urge a no vote on the item.
Thank you for your time.
>> clerk: thank you.
Now, frank sterling.
Please un-mute.
You have three minutes.
>> frank: thank you for the
previous speaker.
I’m not as well prepared to
speak on that but I’m concerned
about mass surveillance.
Thank you for being able to
present these one-to-one sharing
things.
I’m learning more about axon as
you all are, I’m sure.
One thing I have been following,
and I have been following it for
a while is that the abuses have
been happening where people will
take advantage of the system.
Right now, I feel that although
gp hill is making the attempts
and the federal oversight and
steps you talked about tonight
and thing happening, things are
changing, there is still room
for abuse there.
I know personally that some of
the officers, you heard my
story.
I don’t need to repeat it now,
being kicked in the face, are
floating around.
People that joked about dead
edwards are still floating
around in our department.
I think the possibility of abuse
is still there.
And, it’s quite an increase in
the cameras.
I don’t know if you noticed, but
there is a lot of municipalities
that have reconsidered the
surveillance system, flock or
other surveillance systems, and
again, we do know that the
abuses have happened, and if we
look into the future, if we can,
with our imaginary crystal
balls, we see other uses of ai
in mass surveillance and one of
the things the person before me
talked about was patterns of
life.
That is some of the things I
have looked into regarding
volunteering and other things
that use data in tracking and
how they use it.
Basically, they can follow my
movements through town.
I can go to dennys.
Say I go to dennys every tuesday
and to the bank to do business.
It starts developing hot spot
patterns of what you are doing
and that data becomes trackable
and they say, we need to
intercept frank somewhere.
He’s at dennys every thursday at
3:00 and he goes to the bank
after.
I used that as a simple
example.
I know there are precaution
about not sharing with ice and
federal agent, but how long do
we trust that?
We see where our world has been
changing lately.
Maybe we won’t have control over
who looks at it in the future.
Maybe it will be in place and
our safeguards won’t matter
because the people that want it
will have the authority to take
it.
Thanks for listening to me.
I’m home listening, doing other
things.
I didn’t completely leave you.
Thanks for hearing me.
>> clerk: we have no further
comments.
>> pro-tem: any comments?
>> I think there are very
legitimate questions and
concerns.
I want to be clear about so the
public knows, just kind of about
the technology.
I don’t think anyone in the room
wants to have their movements
tracked with specificity.
I don’t think we want to live in
that type of society.
I certainly don’t.
This technology doesn’t track
people.
It tracks vehicles.
It does not maintain a live
location feed on a person.
Only an authorized person can
view when a license plate was
capturedded and that must have a
legitimate purpose.
It’s logged audited and
tracked.
Cities that have problems are
using ambiguous search reasons
or no reason at all.
Antioch requires a specific
case, investigative reason and
case number.
We reject requests or inquiries
ambiguous.
As far as mass surveillance, the
system records a plate image,
vehicle content image and
vehicle characteristics in the
time and location of the
detection.
Historical searches can be
useful because they show where a
vehicle was observed.
We had a recent, over the last
weekend on friday, we had a
major collision on hillcrest
highway 4 where the pedestrian
was seriously injured.
Her condition is quite grave.
The officers are able to use the
technology to trace back,
recently reported in the media
today, so I’m comfortable
speaking about it.
The officers are using
technology to track the driver’s
movements and support the
identification of the driver.
If this technology had not
existed, I don’t know that we
would have had that result.
I think our technology here that
we audit it and put knit it in a
forward facing website for the
wub public to see what the
searches are conducted and what
the reasons are sets us apart
from the concerns.
The public has legitimate
concerns.
Anyone with a device in their
pocket is tracked by all kinds
of company and the police
department is not tracking to
the level that all of us have a
smartphone in our pocket are
being tracked.
We are tracking vehicles for
investigative reasons and
retention limited to what the
law prescribes.
>> pro-tem: the matter is
before council.
>> councilmember torres-walker:
I understand the community’s
\hi understand the community’s
concerns around hyper
surveillance because there is
already a camera on any door in
any neighborhood at any time.
Privacy concerns are top
priority and how the systems
will be used.
Ai being introduced in all of
the systems is different.
Of course we have strong
regulations coming everyday, and
it’s not like -- and things are
constantly changing with systems
related to ai.
Long gone or the fusion centers
on the hills of 911 enter agency
task forces full of people
sharing information.
It was like a counter terrorism
type of position to be in,
right?
The pros and cons of the systems
were the risk to civil
liberties, mission creep and
ambiguity.
Are we violating civil
liberties?
Are we violating privacy?
Is the technology beyond the
purpose?
Are valid concerns of the
community.
We discussed data limits and how
to hold data.
There are concerns around -- I
think some of the original type
of settings, data overload, who
is holding the data?
Who is reviewing the data?
How long is the data stored?
You have people doing it not
systems constantly learning and
growing at a pace none of us
know if we can control.
My position is, I want to get
flock out of antioch.
If moving forward with this axon
system is going to do that, with
potential reviews along the way,
and some guardrails to make sure
we are not violating people’s
civil liberties, that the
license plate reader data is
being used in a case of
investigation and not monitored
like on a daily basis, then I
could support that.
My main position now is I really
want to see flock eliminated and
the community also has concerns
around safety while balancing
against the concerns around
privacy and mass surveillance.
So, when is the -- I guess, how
often is the plan -- when a lot
of this goes into place, what is
the plan from the police
department to kind of have
consistent reporting to this
council and the public on the
outcomes of the data and
surveillance being gathered any
potential manipulation to the
data, anything that might be a
red flag, how soon will the
community be made aware?
>> the community should be made
aware immediately.
We are doing it now.
We have a website even with the
flock data, controversial as
that is, anyone that goes to the
transparency site on the antioch
police department, we have a
portal for alpr flock
transparency site.
It will tell you the number of
detections.
It will tell you the number of
outside agency inquiries we have
received, the case number
associated with that.
It gives the entire policy.
You mentioned guardrails.
I wanted to hit on that.
Mission creep and you mentioned
so many concerning things I
think for all of us, the only
assurance that I can -- the best
assurance I can give the council
and community is that we are
auditing the system.
We require specific criteria.
We reject ambiguous criteria.
We have a policy about it
already.
We are not sharing with the
network.
We’ll do one-to-one sharing.
The first speaker mentioned nick
rick for the bay area that a
number of agencies are part of,
and nick rick assured us there
are state officers assigned to
the fusion center and california
police officers at nick rick are
authorized to view flock data is
the assurance that we received
that no federal officers are
reviewing or severing the data
is what the director reported to
us.
We have not received a request
for axon.
If they make the request, we’ll
evaluate that in a very strict
manner to ensure that it meets
california law and policy and
community values.
As far as guardrails are
concerned through auditing,
strong policy and tracking, I
think that’s how we prevent the
mission creep or some of the
concerns that have been
identified in other communities,
people are using it for personal
reasons to track ex-girlfriends,
things like that, we have
nothing like that here.
With the axon system, the data
is not used to train other ai
models.
It’s a closed system we have
complete control over with the
vendor.
>> can you explain the
justification for the a sole
source agreement?
>> there are a few reasons.
We are looking for a unified
platform, axon body warn
cameras, digital evidence
platform.
We have trusted ag axon with
evidence.
Sexual assault investigations,
child abuse investigations.
All of that evidence is stored
in the axon environment.
We have trusted them to do
that.
They have never had a data
breech.
All of our personnel are trained
in that system.
It’s one consistent system.
I can run it on one system,
train folks on one system.
The body warn camera uploads to
the evidence system.
The translation records and
seamlessly uploads with the
system in axon, same with the
license plate reader data.
It feeds to the same system.
That’s one of the main reasons
we sought sole source.
We don’t have multiple systems.
We train dispatcher, officers,
support staff, one unified
system.
>> councilmember torres-walker:
we fought for dash camera
\hwe fought for dash camera
systems and language access.
I support those in this
agreement while having concerns
still around monitoring.
>> pretty
>> councilmember rocha?
>> I think the way it’s written
is attractive to me.
I would like to move to approve
this agreement with the
resolution for sole source
agreement with axon enterprise.
>> pro-tem: is there a
second?
>> I’ll second it.
>> pro-tem: I have a question
from councilmember
torres-walker.
If the council is to approve
this, when would they be
implemented in the first phase?
>> I don’t have the exact
information timeline, but I know
that we are following behind
different implementations in the
bay area.
I don’t have the exact schedule
for it.
I can report back to council on
that.
I don’t think it will be a
lengthy implementation.
>> the reason I’m asking the
question, because I think
councilmember torres-walker
brings up a good point.
When we have implemented I
suggest annually a report come
back to the city council giving
us the detailed information,
both positive or negative.
I think you’re asking for us to
somewhat monitor, so I would
request the maker of the motion
and seconder of the motion to
include that, that once
implemented annually from that
date up and operational, a
report come back to the city
council.
>> I’m agreeable to that.
>> I am as well.
>> okay.
>> I have one more question.
What is the timeline or
approximate timeline for moving
away from flock with the new
system?
>> I think a lot of it depends
on how soon we get the new
system up and running.
We are using the dash cam
products and turned on the
license plate reader
capability.
We don’t want to go without the
previous system and compromise
serious case investigations or
if we have a serious crime that
occurs next week, we don’t want
to have a gap.
If at all possible, I would like
to report back to you on that or
have the chief report back to
you on implementation schedule
and fully move away from the
flock platform.
I see it’s a priority.
>> two year, three years, six
months?
>> I don’t believe so.
>> when you have the
information, could you have the
chief or you provide us with
it?
>> we will.
To reiterate it, the flock
system is calling $99,000 and
axon is giving us more
capability.
We are anxious to maximize the
value to the taxpayer.
>> would the flock cameras go
first, then?
Is that the strategy?
>> would the new cameras replace
the flock cameras first, to
reduce that bill and that type
of technology in place of new
technology?
>> I would make it certain that
the people involved in the
project, myself included
understand that we want to
replace the flock cameras as a
priority.
Motorola cameras, a number of
them are not working and we have
serious gaps in the system.
I know it was a priority to
replace cameras not working.
I’ll report back to the team
working on this that it’s a
priority to replace the flock
system.
>> and I’m not telling the
police department which cameras
to replace first as far as
greatest need, but I think the
flock cameras built into the
model is important to look at.
>> yes, we are.
>> off the top of my head
because this is a conversation
we had earlier, we have 12
months left in the existing
contract.
>> that could end soon.
>> we have to get with the city
attorney on terms of ending the
contract, but as far as what we
are contracted for, we have
about 12 months leflt.
Months left.
\hmonths left.
>> pro-tem: before I call for
the vote, it would be
appreciated the next couple of
weeks or so that you would
communicate to the council
questions raised.
Clearly the flock decommission
and axon implementation is
critical.
>> I definitely will.
I would like to reiterate our
responsibility use of the flock
technology continues to this
day.
If you click on the website I
mentioned, you can share every
agency with share with.
We publish it.
Statistic, scans on the website
and we are committed to being
open and transparent.
We recognize the community
concern.
>> a motion by councilmember
rocha, second by mayor bernal to
approve the sole source and once
taken place there be an annual
report made to the city
council.
>> councilmember wilson is
absent.
Councilmember rocha?
Councilmember torres-walker?
Mayor pro-tem freitas?
>> mayor bernal?
Motion passes, 4-0.
>> public comments, are there
any public comments?
>> clerk: we have no public
comments.
>> staff communications?
>> no staff communications.
>> council communications and
future agenda items?
>> I just have one item I wanted
to bring up.
I had the opportunity, mayor
bernal and I met with juliet
dawn of republic services on
august 12th.
I wanted to discuss asking the
acting community manager to
continue the conversation.
Recently, delta fair area, san
jose drive, there has been
illegal dumping, a lot of
concerns about that in the
community there.
I eluded earlier to the new
employee who had taken upon
himself to go and address it
with the owner.
What came out of that
conversation was the signage has
been put up for a hotline for
illegal dumping.
Is that numbing utilized?
Is there responses occurring?
I don’t know necessarily the
activity that’s taking place if
there are results from that?
We also discussed at that
meeting the potential for having
cameras to help assist with
identifying vehicles with what
we discussed with identifying
vehicles that are illegally
dumping, and then the other
thing we talked about was the
city wide cleanup.
We had councilmembers that had
unfortunate circumstance.
I happen to be one of them.
Mrs. Freitas was another.
So, I just think from talking
with juliet, one of the things
she suggested is looking at best
practice strategies utilized
before.
I think doing it regionally,
looking at district one, two,
three, four, but looking at a
better way to provide the
service in a controlled and
supportive environment so we
don’t run into the traffic
congestion and out of control
incident that occurred.
I wanted to ask if you could
follow up with republic
services, illegal dumping.
I think you have met with them.
>> we met last week.
They are putting together a plan
for us.
We should be getting something
back within a week or two from
the general manager.
At this point, I was not aware
of the hotline, so I’ll follow
up with that.
>> it was on the news.
It was channel 4.
They showed signs going up and
were talking about the
challenges with san jose drive
corridor and the lot line was
going up.
I don’t know if there was
activity.
If you could follow up and give
us a report on that?
>> I will.
>> and when you do get the plan
could you share it with the
council before it gets
implemented so we can see what
it’s about and provide comment?
>> absolutely.
Could we have one person that
would still like to make public
comment.
>> mr. Becker just hung up when
you mentioned that.
>> oh, there he is.
>> you are on.
>> thank you so much.
I appreciate the chance to
submit my public comment.
I just wanted to raise up that
we are coming up on the close of
the public comment review period
for the state of california’s
submitted opportunity --
proposed opportunity zones with
a few of those proposed zones I
believe being in the city of
antioch.
I don’t believe the city of
antioch has appropriately looked
at the zones that would be most
beneficial to the city, and I am
a little saddened that not only
did we lose out on last
opportunities development but
once again, as we talk about
economic development, as we talk
about regional growth and
infrastructure growth, as I work
with local developers and hear
daily about the infrastructure
needs or deficits in the city,
we continue to pass up these
incredible opportunities that
when matched together really are
the central pieces that build
large scale developments.
You look at the rail yard
development in sacramento.
You look at san diego and their
harbor district.
The infrastructure we can build
here in our city is what is
going to speak to the final
opportunity, and I think mayor
pro-tem freitas said it best at
a previous meeting when he spoke
about the opportunities in
downtown antioch and how we can
become a hub.
The infrastructure can’t come at
the city’s cost.
We talk about finance district,
surplus land disposition,
economic development, but we
also say how city staff is not
present to be able to do the
work.
Let’s be realistic, economic
development director coming in
will not do the work either.
It’s a long-term structural
problem that we have to solve,
but what we can do today is look
toward consultants like kosmont
realty the development arm for
the town of ma rah ga, did the
feasibility study in san pablo,
handle surplus land throughout
the state of california and can
come in and match our surplus
land with opportunity zones, tax
credit opportunities and enhance
finance district.
That’s my time.
I hope you heard my comment,
thank you.
>> we have no further comments.
>> I would like to know where we
are with the opportunity.
>> I will check with the acting
director.
>> and particularly what the
deadline is coming up.
Anything else?
Is there a motion?
Nope.
>> first, I want to thank mayor
pro-tem, don freitas for running
an efficient meeting tonight.
So excited to get out of here
before midnight.
I would like to say first that
councilwoman monica wilson
couldn’t be here tonight because
she had an urgent family issue.
Please make sure you keep her in
your prayers.
I want to request that the
council reconsider and place the
lumberyard back on the cap.
The reason I’m making this
request because if the city ever
turns this lot back over to the
speculative market, it may fall
under the surplus land act and
the first developers that we
have to concede to will be
housing developers.
It might not meet the need for
the lot.
I want us to have further
discussion for what the vision
is for so it doesn’t -- so this
piece of property doesn’t fall
victim to the surplus land act.
I want to raise up that I’m
greatful for the encampment
cleanup.
Every time we clear the
encampment people end up
somewhere else.
The rite aid parking lot was a
mess.
I understand people are not
blight, but if we are going to
clean encampments, we need a
strategy to place people so we
are not pushing them from corner
to corner.
Lastly, myself and mayor freitas
started having conversations
about the theater in 2025 when
we started the dialogue.
We have been having the
conversations since last year
and trying to see what the
solutions are and how can the
city step in given the budget
process and significant deficit
we were facing due to low tax
revenue.
Due to the lack of sales tax
revenue, we were not looking at
other options.
I would appreciate if people got
clarity before saying we have
not paid attention to this
issue.
>> mayor bernal, any comments?
Is there a motion --
>> do we have time for one final
comment?
>> no.
Is there a motion to adjourn?
>> motion to adjourn.
>> second.
>> motion has been made by
councilmember rocha, seconded by
councilmember torres-walker.
To adjourn.
\hto adjourn.
Roll call?
>> councilmember wilson is
absent.
Councilmember rocha?
Councilmember torres-walker?
Mayor pro-tem freitas?
Mayor bernal?
Motion passes 4-0.