[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the February 10th, 2026 City Council meeting. I'm calling this meeting to order now.
[0:11] For all of those who want to review the agenda for instructions on how to participate, the public will have the opportunity to participate in this meeting via public comment.
[0:19] Tonight's meeting will have a general public comment period and a public comment period will be held after each item on the agenda.
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[2:07] meeting.
[2:11] Thank you.
[2:12] And Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?
[2:20] Council Member Benavente here.
[2:22] Council Member Hoffnister here.
[2:24] Council Member Obringer here, Vice Mayor Aliano, Mayor Nakamura, I am here and then Vice
[2:33] Mayor Aliano.
[2:34] will you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance?
[2:39] With the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which
[2:44] stands, one nation on the ground, and invisible with liberty and justice for all.
[2:54] Thank you everyone.
[2:56] We're now going to transition into the public comment period.
[3:00] This is a 15 minute public comment period, and just a matter of how many cards do we have
[3:05] at this time?
[3:05] We have five cards for public comment, Mayor.
[3:10] Okay, so each speaker will have three minutes.
[3:13] If you could go ahead and call the names.
[3:16] The clerk is going to go ahead and call a couple names.
[3:19] I had a time, so for those of you who are queuing up,
[3:22] there's two black lines on the floor to queue up on.
[3:25] You can step up to the microphone when your name is called.
[3:27] Thank you.
[3:28] A very ideas in Sarah Sinclair followed by Kellan O'Connor and Jen Casanoff Diggs.
[3:51] Good
[3:59] evening. Our names are radias.
[4:04] I'm Sarah Sinclair.
[4:07] I'm Stephanie Vasquez.
[4:09] We are seeing ears in the engineering academy at Clayton Valley Charter High School.
[4:13] We're excited to be sharing a project that we've worked on this year.
[4:19] So, back in December, we started building these wood-duck-nesting boxes for a new hall park.
[4:27] As part of a hands-on engineering project we did in our class, we wanted to make a different
[4:31] start community and be able to help our local environment by learning about these safe spaces
[4:37] for animals and we thought it would be a great way to put our skills and technology and resources
[4:42] to use.
[4:43] We spent time researching, we went through several iterations of materials to figure out what is best,
[4:51] and then we planned and built and finished four wood dug boxes.
[4:56] We were able to gain a valuable experience making these and use skills that we had learned in class,
[5:02] like teamwork, problem solving, and building skills.
[5:05] Thank you.
[5:09] We're proud to have.
[5:10] Thank you.
[5:13] We're part of for some of these boxes to the new home park, hopefully they'll be of great use.
[5:18] And we would like to take the city of Conqueror, the Conqueror City Council and the new home park.
[5:24] Most of all, we hope that the ducks like them and we hope to see new duckness in the spring, hopefully it's very successful.
[5:29] And we thank you so much for letting us be part of this project and it's been amazing to see how far we've been.
[5:33] We're able to put our skills to use and how useful they will be able to be to the new ducks and new home park.
[5:39] Thank you so much.
[5:42] Thank you.
[5:43] Thank you.
[5:44] And I believe we have James Thompson from the city who is here to receive one of those boxes from you.
[5:51] Do you have all four with you?
[5:53] Yes, we do.
[5:55] Okay.
[5:58] What do you want to do a photo with them?
[6:00] They want them to take photo.
[6:01] Yeah, there you go.
[6:11] Don't block the mark.
[6:14] Did you get your mark?
[6:15] You're good.
[6:15] All right, great job.
[6:19] Win, thank you.
[6:26] Do you know when they're going to go in?
[6:31] We'll work with Joanna to pick up the other three boxes that get them installed.
[6:36] Probably by end of the week.
[6:37] Oh, that's no.
[6:38] Okay, end of the week.
[6:39] Thank you.
[6:40] Yes, I've heard that the wood ducks are ready to nest.
[6:43] So Madam Clerk, would you call the next speaker, please?
[6:47] Kellin O'Connor and Jen Casinoff digs, please.
[7:05] Good evening, everyone.
[7:06] My name is Jen Casinoff digs, and I'm a part of the
[7:09] Development and Discove Club, a nonprofit that puts together
[7:13] Discove events in Concrete.
[7:17] My name is Kellin O'Connor, I'm a resident here in Concrete.
[7:21] Member of the Board for the Development and Discove.
[7:26] for those of you that do not know what
[7:28] disc golf is, disc golf is a sport that's
[7:30] played with a disc that looks like this.
[7:33] We have a course that is free for the public in
[7:38] conquered at Hillcrest Park, and it is something
[7:42] that we're really grateful for.
[7:45] So tonight we just wanted to present on
[7:46] some of the impact and some of the numbers that
[7:49] have come out of this course being played by the local community.
[7:53] At Hillcrest Park, it's a ten-hole course, it's located just down the street on Oliveira,
[7:59] on Oliveira Street near the outdoor movie theater.
[8:02] So far there have been, in the past year, there were 6,292 rounds played.
[8:08] That means that individuals are playing this ten-hole course multiple times through.
[8:12] There were 8,430 miles locked by community members, 8,690 hours of activity, 419 new people
[8:24] to the course.
[8:25] That means people that have played disc golf before but came to the course for their first
[8:30] time.
[8:31] 87 of those people were brand new to disc golf had never played before.
[8:37] We hosted 143 total events at this course, and there were 93 players that traveled over
[8:45] 150 miles away to play at Hillcrest Park.
[8:50] 300, there were 75 players who traveled over 300 miles away, including people from Canada
[8:56] and out of the country.
[9:00] Disc Golf is massive and growing, and we're just here to really thank the community for
[9:04] off being a part of Concord, and also let community members know that this is a space that
[9:09] can be utilized by any community member for free, Disc Golf is an activity that's for all
[9:15] ages. So we just really wanted to come to thank everyone and let everyone know that it exists
[9:20] in the world. And we have a few of the fact sheets with all of the data to just showcase how much
[9:28] the park is being used, then.
[9:31] Yeah, so I moved to just an introduction to my story
[9:34] with this golf briefly.
[9:35] I moved to Conqueror about eight years ago.
[9:37] Can you raise it up a little bit so we can hear you?
[9:40] Yeah, sure.
[9:41] So I moved to Conqueror at about eight years ago
[9:43] as a resident at Bata Home Year on Conqueror Boulevard.
[9:46] I've been playing this golf for 18 years.
[9:49] And it's been a big impact both for my family,
[9:52] my two boys are now playing with me as well on the course.
[9:55] And it's a really great way for us to build community.
[9:59] I've met a lot of friends, built truly my family away from home.
[10:03] So we're excited, we're advocates, and we invite everyone
[10:05] from the community to come out and play, and enjoy the park.
[10:09] And yeah, if you have questions, we're here.
[10:11] So our club is open to the public, anyone can join?
[10:15] And yeah, thank you very much.
[10:19] If it made me, is there a website or if somebody wants more information
[10:22] or wants to participate or learn how to do
[10:25] disc golf, which is like Frisbeck Golf,
[10:27] but can you share that with the public?
[10:30] Yeah, there are two spaces where like Helen mentioned,
[10:34] we are Devil Mountain Disc golf club,
[10:36] so we can be found on Facebook.
[10:39] There's also the stats that we're providing tonight
[10:42] come through an app called U-Disc,
[10:45] which is where we host all of our events,
[10:48] and that's where the course can be found as well.
[10:51] you can find Hillgress Park and then there are other local courses within the area that are also listed there
[10:56] with all the details of how to play and and how to access the course.
[11:00] This way, this way is through Facebook at Devil Mountain Disc Golf to get some
[11:06] information in how to contact you guys. Yeah, that's perfect. Yeah, thank you all. Okay, thank you.
[11:20] Elias Mitchell followed by Hunter Steven Plumley.
[11:29] Hello, guys.
[11:29] I am my name's Elias and I've lived and conquered my whole life and I just wanted to
[11:35] I'm wondering if we are able to get an acre of land to build some bike parks or a bike
[11:42] jumps.
[11:45] We need bike racks.
[11:47] Building jumps we have the potential to provide children with alternative places to go and
[11:56] to use their bicycles, including creating their own bike jumps, the benefit are two
[12:03] fold. Children will get exercise, which encourages a healthy lifestyle, and children will
[12:11] be able to create their own sense of community through these jumps. Children that are able
[12:20] connect through outdoor jumping and biking are also able to live healthier lifestyles than
[12:28] if they were to stay inside watching TV playing video games, etc. In addition, children who
[12:37] are able to jump and ride bikes will have improved levels of physical activity and as well
[12:45] increase confidence in self-esteem.
[12:48] And as a result, they all increase physical activity
[12:53] by providing a specific location for children to use
[12:57] their bicycles and create jumps.
[12:59] Communities, our community will increase the
[13:05] safety of our own residents.
[13:08] When children have nowhere to go with their bicycles, they tend to
[13:13] ride their bikes on main roads or build jumps in private property where they're not supposed
[13:18] to.
[13:23] When children,
[13:26] therefore, if provided with a specific location to ride and jump, children will
[13:32] be able to create a safer environment for the entire community.
[13:39] Another life skill that will be developed through jumping and creating jumps is learning to work
[13:45] with making jumps, using tools, building with dirt,
[13:50] children are able to learn, and practice their jumpy skills
[13:53] to get better, and have more fun when they're
[13:56] right in their bike.
[13:58] They will be able to use in their everyday life,
[14:03] in closing, creating, and providing an outdoor place
[14:08] space in the form of a jump park, is a great opportunity
[14:13] for community to connect with either another. The children in the community will have applied
[14:22] opportunities to with one another. They're by promoting friendship opportunities. It is the
[14:29] responsibility of community members to support outdoor jumping areas because providing children
[14:36] with the chance to begin and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[14:41] Okay. If you could make sure that the city clerk has all of your contact in, I'd like to reach out to you.
[14:47] Okay.
[14:48] Afterward.
[14:49] And then Madam Clerk the next caller or the next speaker is...
[15:00] Hello, hello ladies and gentlemen of the council. My name is Hunter Pomley and I've been a resident of Concord, my entire life.
[15:09] Many kids these days, like after school and I'm a free time, they will just spend their time on their screens and TV and they will not do too much.
[15:16] I may have a solution to that problem. A community bike park. The closest one to us is about 45 minutes away in Pleasanton. It's called the Pleasanton dirt jumps.
[15:28] It makes it hard for the kids of Concord to go and use their BMX on jumps if they would like to.
[15:35] As Elias mentioned earlier, when kids have nowhere to go, they tend to trespass and ride on the main roads, which is very unsafe.
[15:44] There are many pros to a community park park. First, they can help build the community.
[15:50] Second, it helps with physical and mental health. If kids go side, it can help their mental health by giving them fresh air
[15:56] and us safe places to think.
[16:02] Third, it helps build the community and friendships.
[16:04] If a group of kids work together to build a bike jump
[16:07] and teaches on teamwork and builds their friendship.
[16:10] Fourth, it could boost like sales in bike shops and conquered.
[16:15] If a kid accidentally breaks their bike,
[16:17] like a piece of their bike, they might go to a bike park,
[16:20] close, which would be in conquered.
[16:23] Finally, it builds on the motto, family comes first.
[16:26] If parents take their kids to a bike park,
[16:30] it would help their parent-care relationship.
[16:34] Overall, a community bike park would help build the community,
[16:38] boost bike shops and conquered,
[16:40] and help kids with mental and physical strength
[16:42] and bring families together.
[16:44] That is why we need a plot of land for a bike park,
[16:47] just a square acre of unused land.
[16:49] We suggest a piece of the naval weapon station.
[16:53] I have, I have a map
[16:56] if you guys would like to see it.
[17:00] Thank you, Hunter.
[17:01] You can give the man enough.
[17:02] The city clerk.
[17:03] Is that your comment?
[17:04] OK.
[17:05] Go ahead and give that to the city clerk.
[17:07] And as well as your contact info.
[17:10] I made me through the mayor.
[17:14] I just want to thank the two young adults that came here to it, but make their comments
[17:20] and their presentation their ideas known to us.
[17:22] And I think if staff could maybe have our Parks and Rec Strictor
[17:25] he's following up with them because I know this topic keeps coming up about every five years and I know
[17:31] the city's done a lot of research on this topic in the past so I made a note with him and set up a meeting.
[17:37] Thank you very much for sharing your information tonight.
[17:43] Thank you.
[17:44] I have no more public speakers, card mayors.
[17:46] We've got one more.
[17:48] We've got one more.
[17:51] You're going to talk during your presentation.
[17:56] Okay.
[18:00] Okay, so we're going to go ahead and close public comment and we will now move on to our next item which is a presentation.
[18:09] Today we're going to pause for a moment to remember the profound injustice in our nation's history and to honor those who endured it with resilience and dignity.
[18:19] On February 19th, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed executive order 906 and with
[18:28] the stroke of a pen, more than 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of them united
[18:34] state citizens were forced from their homes and separated from their schools and community
[18:39] incarcerated without charges, without trials, without due process.
[18:45] This did not happen because of evidence that happened because fear allowed was allowed to override
[18:52] constitutional principles and race was treated as suspicion.
[18:56] The day of remembrance is coming up on February 19th.
[19:02] It's not only about looking back, it's about understanding how fragile our civil liberties
[19:07] can be, especially in moments of crisis and why remembering this history is essential to protecting
[19:13] our democracy today.
[19:15] Before I continue, I want to pause and acknowledge those we are honoring this evening and recognize
[19:20] anyone here who was with us who personally endured incarceration during World War II.
[19:26] You're welcome to stand now if you feel comfortable doing that
[19:32] or raise your hand if you're
[19:34] able.
[19:37] Thank you for being here tonight.
[19:40] Your history is your lived experience matters.
[19:44] We are deeply grateful for your presence here and for your courage and for the willingness
[19:49] to carry this history forward so that future generations may learn from it.
[19:54] Here in Concord, this history is not abstract.
[19:58] Japanese-American families lived, worked and raised their children in our community, and many
[20:02] were members of the former Diablo chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens League.
[20:07] Their lives, their resilience, and their contributions are part of Concord's history.
[20:11] Across the country, educators, museums and community organizations continue to work the work
[20:18] of preserving survivor stories so that what happened is neither forgotten nor repeated.
[20:24] On a personal note, one organization that I follow is the Topaz Stories Project.
[20:31] The grandparents of my children were incarcerated in the camp known as Topaz in the remote
[20:41] vigilance to empathy and to speaking up when justice
[20:45] when injustice appears, no matter who it affects.
[20:48] And tonight as mayor of the city of Concord,
[20:52] I am honored to proclaim February 19th
[20:54] as day of remembrance of Japanese American incarceration.
[20:58] And I invite all of us to reflect and learn
[21:01] and recommit ourselves to the values and dignity, equity,
[21:06] and constitutional freedom.
[21:09] And I'm going to now come down
[21:11] And I have a proclamation for Karen Sakata
[21:15] of the Diablo Japanese American Club here in Concord.
[21:33] So, Karen, thank you for being here tonight.
[21:36] And I know that you brought with you many people
[21:39] from the Japanese American community here in Concord
[21:42] and probably further out.
[21:44] So, this proclamation is for you.
[21:46] There's a lot of warehouses here,
[21:48] but I felt like reading a statement
[21:50] that was a little bit more personalized
[21:52] for this community was important so you have there's an opportunity for you to speak and if you want to
[21:59] call on anyone else tonight to talk a little bit more about why this day is important okay and then
[22:07] oh we should probably take a picture with the the council let's do that let's get the former
[22:12] internies join me yes yes so I'm going to call down my council colleagues we'll take a picture and
[22:20] we also have the former internies here.
[22:27] This is for you, Karyn.
[23:26] You just let us know what you need.
[23:29] I'm pointing up at the barrier.
[23:36] We have to do that.
[23:37] I'm just going to be on the phone.
[23:39] Thank you.
[23:40] Hey, those are one.
[23:43] One, two, three.
[23:56] I'll have a wrap.
[23:58] Yeah.
[24:04] All right, everyone.
[24:07] So you've got the money.
[24:11] Okay.
[24:34] Mayor Nakamura and Concert City Council.
[24:38] My name is Karen Sakata.
[24:41] I am the president of the Diablo Japanese American Club.
[24:46] Former county superintendent of schools for
[24:49] Contra Costa County Office of Education and
[24:51] Former Principal of Air Elementary in Concord.
[24:56] I'm a Sonsae, third generation Japanese American.
[25:00] My mothers and her family were interned at
[25:03] Arizona and my father and his family was my grandparents were interned at Topaz Uta Uta Uta.
[25:12] The Diabla Japanese Club was formed in 1926. We're coming to our 100-year celebration
[25:19] our Centennial. And we represent 800 individuals, 400 families in the Concord area and
[25:29] Our purpose is to preserve the Japanese-American culture and the Japanese-American language.
[25:35] We started as a Japanese school and now we have ten affiliated clubs that include Ecanobo,
[25:42] judo, Kendall, adult in youth basketball, exercise, Buddhist fellowship, and Shinwakai,
[25:52] our senior group.
[25:53] And many of the members here who were in turnies in the relocation camps were from the Sheenwakai
[26:02] our senior group.
[26:05] Tonight, I'm proud to be here with the former attorneys.
[26:09] I had thought if my parents were still alive, my mother and father, they probably wouldn't
[26:14] have come tonight because they remained silent for their entire life in regard to their
[26:20] experience in the camps.
[26:23] I thank you for the proclamation, Deva remembrance.
[26:26] I think it's really important.
[26:28] It amazes me to the stay that are people
[26:30] that do not know that our families were interned.
[26:36] The internment represents the strength, resilience,
[26:40] and the bravery of the Japanese-American community.
[26:44] They are my heroes.
[26:48] I'm here we are all here to thank you with gratitude for acknowledging this because it's an important part of history, it's an important part of education, which is very important to me personally.
[27:01] So thank you so much for this recognition.
[27:15] Is there anyone else who would like to give public comment on this item?
[27:22] Would any of my council colleagues like to comment?
[27:27] Council member, Hofmeister, sure, thank you very much.
[27:30] I just want to say thank you to the Japanese American Club and for all that you do in
[27:35] our community in terms of getting your stories out and also celebrating with our community,
[27:41] your heritage and lovely food.
[27:45] There are every year for the Japanese festival, but it shows how many people actually come and
[27:49] partake in it and how you've opened your facility to not only our community but those
[27:55] around us as well so that they can come and learn and understand the history and what was
[28:02] great sacrifices that were made. And, you know, some of the folks don't even know, you know,
[28:07] there's strawberry fields that were up here in Concord were planted and attended to by some
[28:11] of the Japanese landowners at the time when they could have property, but then that was taken away
[28:17] from them and they were interned. And I know some of the generous residents of Concord when internment
[28:24] was over actually helped some of them come back
[28:27] into Concord and Resettle.
[28:29] And so your history continues to flourish in our community.
[28:32] And I thank you for sharing your history with our community.
[28:36] I've been going to the building in the festivals down there
[28:40] for ever since I was a little kid in an understanding
[28:43] that large culture that it is and how it has played
[28:46] such an important part in our community.
[28:48] So thank you for sharing that.
[28:51] And Council Member Oberner.
[28:53] Thank you very well stated.
[28:54] Council member, Hofmeister, I too want to extend my thanks.
[28:57] Thank you for being here tonight.
[29:00] You are a living history, and it's so important,
[29:04] particularly given what is happening in our country today.
[29:08] And I will share that I grew up in Western Pennsylvania
[29:11] and my grandparents were of the World War II generation,
[29:17] and they never mentioned this to me.
[29:19] And I don't know they're long gone,
[29:21] but I don't know if they knew about the Japanese
[29:24] and tournament being in Western Pennsylvania, but when I moved to conquered and got involved
[29:29] with conquered ambassadors, I see we have some representatives here tonight as well.
[29:34] I learned about this very robust history of the Japanese Americans, Japanese American
[29:42] concordians that continue to be here today. And so I thank you for being here. Like I said,
[29:48] testing test to what has happened. Resiliency and you know what we don't want to happen again
[29:56] quite honestly. So thank you very much and thank you.
[30:00] For supporting our sister's city relationship as well, and helping us to celebrate 50 years. And we look forward
[30:07] to helping you celebrate 100 years here in Concord. So thank you very much, Adi Gato Gosaimashita.
[30:15] Thank you. And then, Council Member Benavente?
[30:18] Yes, well, Karen and the Diablo Japanese American Club. Thank you for your leadership ensuring that history is remembered
[30:25] with honesty and respect, and I be remissed, you know, being the Japanese American club, being
[30:33] located in district four makes this recognition, especially meaningful for me as representing
[30:38] the district four.
[30:39] So thank you to reminded that history lives within our neighborhoods, and that in our community
[30:44] spaces.
[30:45] And so recognizing February 19th here in Concord, we are firms are commitment to civil rights,
[30:52] fairness and standing up against discrimination in all forms. So I'm grateful for your all your leadership
[30:59] and I look forward to volunteering at the Japanese festival this year again.
[31:05] I love volunteering so I'll see you there. Right, Don?
[31:09] I'll see you in the tempura tent.
[31:13] I'll be there.
[31:15] So just by the way of that comment do we have a date yet for the next festival?
[31:23] Okay, so the last weekend in July, okay, and you are, okay, so the, thank you, every year
[31:33] for those who don't know, every year, the Japanese American club here in Concord, does
[31:39] a two-day fantastic cultural festival with food, tempura, sushi, teriyaki chicken, the
[31:49] work, it's just amazing food, and there's
[31:52] Tyco drumming, which is always a huge success,
[31:57] and a big draw to bring people in.
[31:59] I also want to point out that our police officers
[32:02] will block off a lane on Tread Boulevard for people
[32:07] to park, so it is a well-attended event
[32:10] with plenty of parking and shuttle service.
[32:13] And this year, it's happening the last weekend in July,
[32:16] the 25th and 26th.
[32:18] And it's just a wonderful cultural celebration for Japanese American community here in Concord.
[32:26] So I thank you. I also thank you all for being here tonight, especially to those who were interned.
[32:33] For me, the grandparents of my children, it was not something they talked about.
[32:39] It was not something that they just wanted to move forward and not talk about their experience at Topaz
[32:46] And there's a lot of history that we missed out on learning from them, and I thank you all for
[32:51] carrying forward your stories and your lived experience.
[32:54] Thank you very much.
[32:58] And with that, we're going over there.
[33:02] So with that, we're going to go ahead and move on to our next item, but for those of you who
[33:07] aren't staying for the business items, we'll go ahead and give you an moment to walk out.
[33:37] Do you want me to officially do that?
[33:39] We will also officially close public comments on that item.
[34:08] So we'll go ahead and move on to our consent calendar.
[34:12] I would like to pull from the consent calendar tonight.
[34:22] Yes, I would like to pull item 4D, which is the financial report audit.
[34:29] Okay, great.
[34:31] And so we have anything else?
[34:34] I'm just going to move for a trucey.
[34:38] I'll second that motion.
[34:40] So, Madam Clerk, we have a motion to approve A, B, and C on the consent item, the consent
[34:48] calendar.
[34:49] Could you please open public comment for this item?
[34:56] I have no public speaker.
[34:57] It's card sphere.
[34:58] Okay.
[34:59] Thank you.
[35:00] So, if you could go ahead and call the vote, please.
[35:03] Close public comment.
[35:06] How to do that again?
[35:07] Yeah.
[35:07] And we're closing public comment again.
[35:11] Every time.
[35:13] Now, call.
[35:16] Councilmember Benavente.
[35:18] Councilmember Hofmeister.
[35:19] Yes.
[35:20] Councilmember Obringer.
[35:21] Yes.
[35:21] Vice Mayor Aliano.
[35:23] Yes.
[35:23] Mayor Nakamura.
[35:25] And yes.
[35:27] And Councilmember Hofmeister, you had pulled item D.
[35:31] Yes.
[35:31] I just wanted to note that this is the acceptance of the annual
[35:34] Comprehensive Financial Report with the independent auditors.
[35:37] Basically are audited financial statements that's done annually.
[35:40] And I just wanted to point out, for the public, I get buried on the consent calendar, but two things.
[35:46] One is, this is, I've laid the first audit we've had with our new finance manager with director with Margaret, and some of the additional staff team there.
[35:55] And I just wanted to note for the public and the record that this was a clean financial audit.
[35:59] There was no problems. There was everything was eyes dotted in T's cross, so we're good.
[36:04] there's no items of concern that the auditors found in the review of the city's financial
[36:11] documents and financial statements. So I just wanted to let the public know that because it
[36:16] otherwise they don't know. So with that I would move item 4D after you take public comment.
[36:23] Second.
[36:24] Thank you and I will also mention that this was the 30 second consecutive year of a certificate of achievement.
[36:29] and so I think that to staff we I think that we're all very proud of the work that you do to keep us
[36:36] specifically strong on all of all fronts. Okay, so let's go ahead and open up public comment. Is there
[36:44] anyone that would like to make public comment on this item? Seeing none. We'll close public comments
[36:50] and Madam Clerk would you please call the vote? Council member Benavente. Yes.
[36:59] Council member
[36:59] Yes. Vice Mayor Aliana. Yes. Mayor Nakamura. Yes.
[37:08] Thank you very much and our next item is the
[37:12] It is a presentation. We are going to be considering a presentation by Eric Fuhler. I hope I'm saying that right.
[37:20] Eric, you can go ahead and come on up from the next slide. I'm going to do the quick introduction. If that's okay. Sure.
[37:25] Okay, so we're going to have an introduction by our city manager, Valerie Barroni.
[37:32] So, at our last Council meeting, Council Member Carlin Obringer received support from the
[37:38] full Council to have this item agenda.
[37:41] As you know, Council Member Obringer represents the Controcostal Council Mayors conference
[37:46] on the East Bay Regional Park District Park Advisory Committee.
[37:50] Here to kick off tonight's presentation is our East Bay Regional Park District Board representative
[37:57] of John Mercurio, who was elected to serve a community larger than
[38:01] Concord, but including Concord in 2022.
[38:10] Thank you, Valerie.
[38:13] Mayor Nakamura, Council members and staff of John Mercurio, East Bay Regional Park District,
[38:19] Board Member for Ward 6, which includes Concord, as well as most of Central
[38:24] country, Costa, and all of Southern, country, Costa County. It's great to be back here again.
[38:33] This used to be a home away from home for me for a long time, but I jump at the chance to come back.
[38:43] Especially to talk about collaboration is what we're going to be really aware of what we're doing here now.
[38:49] regarding a very important East Bay Regional Park District project that will be an asset for
[38:58] conquered and its residents and even those beyond. So in a minute Eric has a presentation
[39:06] for you, but I just want to recognize how the city and the district have worked together
[39:11] in the past and are once again cooperating on an effort to facilitate the opening of
[39:17] a good martial regional park home of the Portugal 50 Concrets First Regional Park.
[39:23] Since I was elected three years ago, this has remained one of my most important priority
[39:29] projects that I would like to see advances quickly as possible.
[39:35] And I want to recognize Council Member Obringer, who has personally been a great ally of
[39:40] Park District, particularly since she serves on our Park Advisory Committee.
[39:47] And I go to the mayor's conference and she's always reporting on from what's going on in the park district.
[39:54] And I appreciate you doing that.
[39:56] And so that is another way to kind of show how we're working together.
[40:05] So finally, while we're here for a specific purpose, I think there's a side kind of a side
[40:12] benefit going on here, and that is, I was thinking about this, and I feel like the presentation
[40:17] that Eric's going to be providing us is also going to be some information and some development
[40:27] here that some folks aren't aware of may not know about rental right now and so I hope
[40:36] that that's the case that we're able to let them know there's some really great things
[40:41] coming for Concord and that we're committed to taking that barbed wire down along Bailey
[40:47] Road and making the park open for all of Concord and the regional community to enjoy.
[40:54] So now I'd like to introduce Eric Fieler and he'll tell us more about the park.
[41:03] Thank you, John.
[41:05] Eric Fieler and the Division Lead for Government and Legislative Affairs at the park district.
[41:10] And really want to thank you for the opportunity to address the council this evening.
[41:16] And for the partnership, much as Director McEurail spoke.
[41:20] This has really been an important partnership with both parts of the former naval weapon station.
[41:26] And I just as an aside wanted to share that when I first interviewed for the Park District
[41:31] for a position there 18 years ago, my writing test was to write an advocacy letter about
[41:38] having a park in Conqueror.
[41:41] So it's exciting to see some fruition out of that after 18 years and there's still more
[41:48] to do.
[41:50] So for tonight's discussion somewhat brief discussion, just want to give a little bit
[41:54] background. I realize that you all have a fair bit of background in what's happening out there,
[42:01] but this is hopefully a look toward the future. And then the timeline for our project
[42:06] at South of Bailey Road and at the end of it, some discussions about funding. So for sort
[42:15] of the regional context, this map, I'm just sure you've seen it a million times, but just
[42:19] a point out, as we all know, the National Park Service Naval Magazine is on the active military
[42:26] base.
[42:27] And so we have had a conversation and actually had in the legislation that been able
[42:34] us to move forward with the public benefit conveyance, a language that called for a joint
[42:39] visitor center with the National Park Service at the throw good martial regional park home
[42:45] of the Port Chicago 50, that visitor center would be in the old battery shop on the northern
[42:52] part, a very expensive project which I'll refer to again a little later in the conversation,
[42:59] but we're excited about that partnership because it gives a more accessible opportunity for
[43:04] people to learn about the history that occurred after the explosion and even before, but
[43:11] Certainly the history of the former sailors who did not go back to work on safe working conditions
[43:18] and were very recently exonerated by the FAS Secretary of the Navy.
[43:23] So this gives a better opportunity to share that.
[43:26] And we believe it will be a national and international destination,
[43:30] because it will be one of the few places west of the Mississippi that will share some of that civil rights history.
[43:35] That's a unit of the National Park Service.
[43:38] For this slide, another picture I'm sure you've seen a million times, which just want to
[43:42] point out that we do talk about the low impact recreation on the park side of the property.
[43:51] But that also includes, as I mentioned, the repurposing of the visitor center, but it also
[43:58] discusses the idea of turning rail lines into trails and repurposing some other infrastructure
[44:06] that's currently on the property, and back to the point a little bit about a national international
[44:14] destination, we have done economic studies that do indicate that are dollar invested in
[44:19] park development returns for dollars to the surrounding a community, so we'll be part of
[44:25] the economic development as well. And so the first step for us is really the South the Bailey Road
[44:33] property. It's a little easier for us to open. It's a little bit softer development. We
[44:40] are planning a staging area with, I believe, it's 50 parking spots and four vault toilets.
[44:50] But as featured in the side with the fonts a little, we couldn't figure out how to get the
[44:58] have.
[45:00] A magazine overlook, which is currently the area, very close to the preserve there, number five, that we do take, when we do do tours, that is kind of the VISTA that we do take people to, and it is an amazing VISTA of both the Delta and the water and then Mount Diablo and the other direction and then the City of Concord, of course.
[45:22] And then there's also an opportunity for Plaza at one of the magazines talking about repurposing some of the infrastructure there.
[45:32] The magazines that were sort of the bunkers for the munitions.
[45:37] We will, we intend to feature one of those as an interpretive panel and opportunity to tell some of the history.
[45:45] That's occurred on the property prior to the Visitor Center potentially opening up.
[45:49] just pictures of the renditions of what those could look like in terms of repurposing some of the bunkers.
[45:59] And then here's our proposed or current timeline quite frankly.
[46:03] We did adopt the land use plan in 2020.
[46:06] We currently are in the design and permitting phase and we are expecting to go out to bid next year
[46:13] with the eye toward opening it for public use in 2028, which is a very exciting.
[46:20] And again, we indicated some of the features of the actual development of the staging area
[46:28] in initial opening of South Abelie, seven new miles of trails, 2.6 of those, 6.7 would
[46:35] be part of the rail to rail's conversion, which we're actually getting some mitigation
[46:41] credit for removing rail line and replacing with the trail.
[46:46] And then in addition to that, some of the special status species status that will be protected
[46:53] as well as some of the restoration land that's within this particular development.
[46:58] And the previous slide you saw some of the preserve land that will be more or less off the
[47:04] beaten trail, so to speak, and not active recreation.
[47:09] So here's to the, I think the reason why I was asked to come is really just to talk a little
[47:15] bit about the funding for the development of this new staging area and opening up South
[47:21] the Bailey.
[47:22] The $3 million that we have secured so far was through a community benefit, a project
[47:28] ask of Mark Dissoleney, representative Mark Dissoleney, that was secured as part of the budget
[47:35] process.
[47:36] We also secured funding from Ben and Assembly Member Tim Grayson.
[47:40] And I think I have those reversed.
[47:42] I apologize. I think the Tim Grayson funding was the $3 million and the $850 is from Representative
[47:48] Assalmame. That we just received. So we are optimistic that future community benefit project
[47:57] funding will be available even in this climate of tighter budgets. So we will be continuing
[48:05] to advocate for that. In fact, when we go back to Washington, D.C., this March with our board
[48:11] directors, this is on our agenda to talk to every member of our delegation about.
[48:16] And then we have a pending application of $6 million through the Land of Water Conservation
[48:21] Fund that has not come through yet, but that is federal funding that goes to the state.
[48:30] And so we're hopeful, and that is also an item on our advocacy agenda for Washington DC,
[48:38] because it's federal funding.
[48:40] it's offshore or oil drilling funding, but it is something that is initiated at the federal
[48:45] level.
[48:46] And then just briefly to discuss the WWE funding.
[48:50] 2008 we passed a $500, $500 million dollar bond measure of which we allocated a certain
[49:00] portion to the Conqueror, then former Conqueror Naval Lepens station.
[49:05] And this is really the balance of all the funding that's in that bond measure for what is
[49:13] now through a good Marshall Regional Park home in the Portrait, Chicago 50.
[49:16] And so the board is contemplating using basically all the remaining WWE funds to work on
[49:24] the new South of Bailey entrance.
[49:26] However that means that particularly that $8 million that we would be potentially using
[49:32] for South of Bailey would not be available
[49:34] for the potential future visitor center.
[49:38] So my team has been tasked to work with our board,
[49:42] work with partners, to really go out and try to get
[49:45] additional funding through Proposition 4 at the state level
[49:49] with hopefully now Senator Grayson's support.
[49:53] And actually Assemblymember Aviela Furious,
[49:55] who was actually on the property recently,
[49:57] very enthusiastic about working with us, and then in addition the additional federal funding
[50:04] through Representative Dissolene and hopefully Representative Garamende, with the additional
[50:12] eye toward the Atlanta Water Conservation Fund and making sure that that funding continues
[50:17] to flow and that we continue to have opportunities to apply for it.
[50:20] So that is the, so if we do receive the $6 million dollar land of water conservation fund,
[50:29] our gap in our ability to utilize that 8 million WW funding for the Visitor Center as opposed
[50:35] to this project gets narrowed quite a bit, but we can't count on the LWCF money at this time.
[50:43] So with that, oops, I went the wrong way, sorry.
[50:46] With that, I think we're available to answer questions, or perhaps more importantly, learn any insights that you all have about the property.
[50:55] There's a lot of history there, and you all have history with the city, so there may be some other things that you would like both Director McEurion and myself to take back to the rest of our board and to our senior management at the park district.
[51:08] Great. Thank you. It's very exciting to be hearing about progress being made south of Bailey.
[51:15] I'm going to go ahead and call on Council Member Obringer.
[51:19] Thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation, Eric and Board Director Murkureo for being here this evening.
[51:26] And I did for my Council colleagues and for the public wanted to provide some additional context before public comment opens.
[51:34] And so having served now since 2019 on East Bay Regional Park District Park Advisory Committee,
[51:42] I do have the privilege of seeing more regularly than my colleagues, the efforts to get this park open.
[51:51] And so what I wanted to do tonight by inviting Eric and the board director here was to help educate the public and my colleagues.
[52:00] And with the goal of potential collaboration, as you talked about at the beginning of your presentation,
[52:09] collaboration around advocacy.
[52:11] I have had the conversation with our senator, who, as you mentioned earlier, Eric, did
[52:19] procure three million dollars several years ago for this park, and he has indicated interest
[52:26] in potentially advocating for funding again.
[52:32] And it was communicated to me that if we can come together with an advocacy letter,
[52:38] along the lines maybe of which you wrote for your grant application,
[52:42] 18 years ago, but in collaboration with the Park District,
[52:47] and also I've had the opportunity to speak with mayor
[52:50] Adams over in the city of Pittsburgh, and I understand that she's also
[52:54] working on a parallel path with her city council as well.
[52:59] So just my question for you is should the council be supportive of submitting a joint letter
[53:06] advocating to our senator for $4.00. As we're going through here, I see several dollar amounts,
[53:14] I see six million, I see eight million. So what is the gap that we would be potentially advocating
[53:21] for it together? Well, as it stands today, it's because we can't assume that we would get
[53:29] the 6 million land and water, and as I mentioned earlier, the 8 million in WWE really
[53:36] would be very beneficial for the visitor center, that net sort of gap is really the 8 million,
[53:48] So if we got the six million the gap would be closer to two, if we don't get the, and there's a very good chance that we would get less than six million.
[53:55] They don't always just, or go, you apply for as I'm sure you know.
[54:00] So it's hard to say what the final gap would be, but it's, it's right now, it's basically that eight million.
[54:06] Thank you very much.
[54:09] So, and again, after public comment, I will be making a proposal to my council that I just wanted to provide some additional
[54:18] contact in case books had questions before public comment.
[54:22] Thank you.
[54:23] Councilmember Hoffmeister.
[54:25] Yes.
[54:25] I appreciate the information you've brought forward and shared with us this evening as I
[54:29] look at it and as you identified your short money to achieve the objective and if that
[54:35] continues or not all the money comes in or it comes in and over time and you have down here.
[54:43] I think I saw a target 20, 20, 28 opening to the public.
[54:49] If you don't obtain all of the funding that's needed, is there a phased plan so that some
[54:55] areas could be open to the public or is this an all or nothing type of situation?
[54:59] I'm just trying to get an idea because I know in other areas the park district has kind of
[55:04] phased things in a small section and then as more money comes in, you're able to continue to
[55:11] enhance the public access and amenities, so I'm just trying to get an idea of what's been
[55:17] thought about for this area.
[55:19] Yeah, I think the intent is, you know, we would use, we would clear out as much of the WWE
[55:26] money as possible to meet that targeted date, so I think we'll sort of have another year or
[55:34] two potentially to raise additional funding so we don't have to do that, that's kind of
[55:41] prepared to just spend on the WWE funds.
[55:44] So in the major WWE money, you have cash in hand.
[55:47] So that's basically, I mean, it's your own,
[55:50] you're not seeking money from state or federal agency.
[55:54] That's the local tax.
[55:55] Right, we would have to issue additional bonds.
[55:58] Get the debt service.
[56:01] But if you had the major WWE funding,
[56:03] you could, and none of the other funding,
[56:06] materialized, timely, you would still
[56:09] able to open up some sections of that area?
[56:13] Yeah, I mean, that's absolutely the goal.
[56:16] Thank you.
[56:17] But I just, I will just share that ideally being able to receive funding from Prop 4 would be helpful.
[56:28] So I just want to be clear because there are, yes, it would, that would be the preferable.
[56:35] Oh no, I'm not opposed going after any and all monies.
[56:39] I just was trying to understand, given the financial realities
[56:44] of things take longer, or timing takes longer,
[56:47] there is still an opportunity to have something open
[56:49] by that 2020 deadline.
[56:52] Eric, target.
[56:52] Eric, target.
[56:53] And if I may, I'm a council member,
[56:55] Oberger, you're exactly correct.
[56:56] That's a, it's create, prop four, create an opportunity
[56:59] that we didn't have a year ago.
[57:01] And it really is, because it's bomb money, it really is.
[57:05] available for these purposes, whereas other state dollars are very limited this year and probably
[57:12] likely for the next few years.
[57:16] I have a question, do you have any questions?
[57:20] So what other partners besides the city of Concord, besides the city of Pittsburgh, what
[57:24] other partners are you working with to write to the hold of this money?
[57:32] That's an excellent question and I should have looked at the file for our letters of support
[57:36] we received for the Land of Water Conservation Fund,
[57:40] but we certainly worked with our delegation.
[57:43] And then Alice, like Save Mountain Abelode,
[57:45] John Mirland Trust, I believe we reached out
[57:49] to some additional more local entities within Concord,
[57:54] but I can get you the full list,
[57:57] but I don't remember exactly all the different letters,
[58:00] but our team does collect those.
[58:02] Okay, great.
[58:03] So you've got a long list of partners, it sounds like.
[58:06] I don't know how long it is, but there's a list.
[58:08] Okay, great.
[58:09] Thank you.
[58:10] No.
[58:11] Great.
[58:12] Okay, so I don't have any other comments from the council members.
[58:15] I'm going to go ahead and open up public comment on the sign-up.
[58:18] Go ahead and have a seat.
[58:20] I have Josh's on and filled.
[58:31] And Josh, there's a button on the podium there that you can raise it up for yourself.
[58:36] Okay, can you hear me all right?
[58:38] Yeah.
[58:39] Hey, everybody.
[58:40] My name is Josh's on and filled.
[58:41] I'm a concrete resident.
[58:42] And I'm also here tonight as a advisor to the Board of the Port Chicago Alliance, which is an organization that has been a strong advocate for the exoneration of the Port Chicago 50, promoting their education and this really important civil rights story here in Concret.
[59:01] I feel very privileged to be here tonight and just talking about civil rights all night, so it's awesome.
[59:06] And I also want to say thank you to Councilmember Obringer for bringing up this item or
[59:11] question it sometimes it's hard for you not what exactly is happening with this park.
[59:15] So it's great to have this update.
[59:17] Thank you to Director Mercurio for being such a strong advocate for this park.
[59:22] The Port Chicago Alliance was one of many organizations that have been advocating for
[59:26] the opening of this park and recently the East Bay Park's Board of Directors commitment
[59:32] of WWE funds for this park opening is a really big deal.
[59:35] We're actually, I think, the top, if not, I think we were the top park that's a good funding
[59:39] through Measure WW in their budget for this year.
[59:42] That's enabling the opening of the South of Bailey Road project.
[59:45] So this is a really big deal for us.
[59:47] There's a lot of demand from the public to see this park opened and to do it quickly.
[59:53] I know I bought my house in 2021, looking forward to the opening of this park and it was going
[59:58] to be 2025.
[1:00:02] So, we've got to keep this momentum going. Don't let this time slip. Really want to encourage the City of Concord and use Bay Park to continue working closely together on this as I know you have been.
[1:00:13] So, a couple of things I want to note. One is it's great that we have, as identified tonight, the funding available to open the south of Bailey Road section.
[1:00:21] Having some section of this park, park open is really important to be able to tell the story of the Port Chicago 50.
[1:00:27] increase access to the outdoors for conquered residents, but we've got more work to do.
[1:00:33] So raising funds for the visitor center, as Eric mentioned, but also the neighborhood access.
[1:00:38] There is currently no funding, no plan in this particular project for non-vehicular neighborhood access.
[1:00:46] So you will not be able to walk in or bike in right now, and as you know Bailey Road is not the safest way to be getting into this park on car.
[1:00:56] And so I'd encourage the council and city staff to work with these pay parks and work with us in the community to also work on that piece, recognizing that the immediate goal is getting this park open, the south availability road park open.
[1:01:10] But as you all know, if we don't start working now on the public access components, specifically finding ways to walk in and bike in, then we're going to be talking 2038, 2048 right, we need to get working on that and also the visitor center.
[1:01:25] So I think the more collaboration that we can be doing between the city council, between
[1:01:30] East Bay Park, staff, and us in the community, we want to work together to make this happening.
[1:01:34] And it's really exciting.
[1:01:35] I can't wait to open this park up, so let's keep the momentum going, and thank you.
[1:01:40] Thank you, Josh.
[1:01:44] Smitty.
[1:01:51] Good evening.
[1:01:52] Hello, Gals.
[1:01:52] The members.
[1:01:53] I'm Smitty with Bike Concord.
[1:01:56] And I really, really appreciate you guys being here and letting us know what's going
[1:02:02] on in the community with South Abelie, Marshall Regional Park.
[1:02:08] Everyone in the neighborhood is curious about what's going on.
[1:02:11] Everybody's asking me,
[1:02:12] he's meeting what's going on in my aisle?
[1:02:14] I don't know.
[1:02:15] So it's good that you guys are here.
[1:02:17] Bringing us up to date on what's going on.
[1:02:22] Yeah, so I'll appreciate you being here
[1:02:23] and filling us in with what's going on.
[1:02:27] Back to what Josh was saying is we definitely need pedestrian access from the neighborhood.
[1:02:35] This is a neighborhood park.
[1:02:37] This is not like some of the other regional parks where it's very remote.
[1:02:41] This is in the neighborhood and if you don't provide access, guess what?
[1:02:46] The kids when their mothers not watching are going to be running up Bailey Road on their bikes.
[1:02:50] And I've written that and I wrote it on my mountain bike and stayed as far over in the dirt as I can.
[1:02:55] because it's very dangerous.
[1:02:58] So we, yeah, we need to include as part of the plan.
[1:03:01] So more find, I don't know how many million dollars
[1:03:04] that would cost to make that an entrance
[1:03:06] into the neighborhood for pedestrians and bicycles.
[1:03:10] So that's my main concern.
[1:03:14] Another thing I'm just, I know we haven't even open the gate.
[1:03:18] Now I'm talking about, I want to see access
[1:03:21] to Black Diamond mines from there.
[1:03:22] I write quite often, I write out a Clayton on the back side of Black Diamond's mind, so I'd
[1:03:28] be cool if we could, I know you've got a cross-curcure pass, and yeah, that's the future
[1:03:33] I understand.
[1:03:34] But I'm dreaming, I want it while I'm still here, man.
[1:03:39] Yeah, you know, there was some funding back last fall from CCTA.
[1:03:43] It didn't have to be shovel ready, they just wanted a concept, and we could have gotten some
[1:03:50] possibly have gotten some funding last fall.
[1:03:53] I was told about it actually on the walkthrough you guys had by Colin from
[1:03:58] Steve works for CCTA and he's telling him, hey, we need access.
[1:04:02] So that's water into the bridge, but let's get on the ball and see if we can get some
[1:04:06] funding funding to get an entrance for pedestrian bicycles.
[1:04:14] Another thing when I was on one of the tours with Carlin, there was a guy there that was
[1:04:19] Adamant about these hand crank
[1:04:24] Rural things like the old days when they use the maintenance guys used to use, but he says now they have these
[1:04:29] Modern ones that lightweight they're fun. He was going somewhere in Sacramento to do this and
[1:04:35] You don't need the the full blown
[1:04:39] Rural tracks like you do because they're not heavy so you can have half the half the
[1:04:43] Rural ties can be rotten and he doesn't take much maintenance to keep them up
[1:04:47] So, I don't know if anybody's bought of that,
[1:04:51] but that would be kind of cool to have.
[1:04:57] Yeah, I'm glad we're moving forward
[1:04:59] and I'm glad you guys are here telling us about it.
[1:05:01] And thank you, Smitty.
[1:05:04] When my neighbor's asked, I'll tell him,
[1:05:07] yeah, we've got $18 million for the project.
[1:05:09] It's going through everything's fine.
[1:05:11] Thank you, Smitty.
[1:05:13] Is there anyone else that would like to provide
[1:05:14] public comment on this item?
[1:05:17] Seeing none, I'm gonna go ahead and close public comment.
[1:05:20] and bring it back to the council for any discussion I've got council member Hofmeister, your
[1:05:25] light is on?
[1:05:26] Yes, I have a question, well Eric's here, or maybe even Director Machurio, it was talked
[1:05:32] about the neighborhood access, but in the development of improvements to South of Bailey
[1:05:38] and having that open to the public, is there in the plan consideration for making access
[1:05:44] along Bailey Road so you can actually ride your bike down Bailey and into the access
[1:05:50] way.
[1:05:51] Right now it's narrowed so and I know the park district has a section of frontage there to
[1:05:57] make that kind of a safe way to get in both pedestrian and bicycles.
[1:06:01] Can you kind of share some thoughts about what's being looked at there?
[1:06:06] So right now there's no connecting trails in our park and the plan to connect with something
[1:06:14] coming up from the city of Concord.
[1:06:16] So there has to be some reopening of what they call the biologic opinion has to be reopened
[1:06:22] in the city of conquer needs to do that to study it again and figure out where with
[1:06:28] the trail from, say, the corner of Bayley Road and Murdoch Drive.
[1:06:33] That would be a good place to put them in.
[1:06:35] How would we connect with the existing trail system that's already in the park?
[1:06:40] That's one thing.
[1:06:41] But, you know, it's really depending on, again, this is another one of those collaboration
[1:06:46] things where what I just told you, requires some help from the city of Concord, and then
[1:06:53] also we can't build a bike trail up to the park because it's not, it's not district
[1:06:59] land.
[1:07:00] But we're all willing to work together because what's been said already is all very,
[1:07:06] very true. It's a very difficult thing to access, and I wouldn't want to see anybody riding
[1:07:13] a bicycle up in the road to get there. And it's going to take some sort of project, some sort
[1:07:22] of infrastructure, or project to do that.
[1:07:26] You read me, I'm a curio, and I, and Smitty, are scheduled to meet on Friday. So, so there
[1:07:30] is collaboration in the future.
[1:07:32] I know I've spoken with committee about it and John in the past is there any opportunity I guess I'm not sure about how the trails work on the south of Bailey side, but on your part on the park's district property, just go five or six feet in from the fence and put a trail parallel to Bailey road.
[1:07:50] You know, I know you and I have talked about that and that is one of the possibilities.
[1:07:55] Okay, yeah, I mean we haven't been able to talk about opening up opinions, but it's kind of like you own the land
[1:08:01] How there may be some other. Yeah, you know, it hasn't been looked at at that level of detail yet, and and I'm
[1:08:07] Okay, really anxious to see that discussion get a little bit more down here down to things things that could still be explored
[1:08:13] Yes, absolutely. Okay. Thank you
[1:08:16] We've got our capital improvement project budget that will be coming forward in a few months. So
[1:08:22] Council Member Obringer, you have your light on?
[1:08:25] Yes, I do.
[1:08:26] Thank you very much.
[1:08:28] So I really appreciate the presentation and information and the public comment and my Council
[1:08:33] colleagues even entertaining this discussion.
[1:08:36] And whenever I'm making a request of my colleagues, this has to be done in public.
[1:08:41] And so I'm going to be making my request.
[1:08:44] It's I think it's a simple one, but I'm asking for support from my colleagues to sign on to an advocacy letter.
[1:08:51] So hopefully, Eric, you do have some language that you can share with us, that we could submit again to Senator Grayson advocating for the the the the eight million dollars prop for we might not get it all but you have to you know shoot big and and so that would be my request and if the council is supportive of that I will then be following up with Mayor Dion Adams and Pittsburgh to see if if
[1:09:21] her counsel, like I said earlier, she's working on getting their support for this hopefully
[1:09:28] advocacy from three jurisdictions within the Senators' spirit of influence.
[1:09:33] So my request is support for advocacy for $8 million for the third-good Marshall Regional
[1:09:41] Park home of the Purchagogo 50 South of Bailey Road.
[1:09:45] I would, like to support that, and I think the city should partner with the city of Pittsburgh
[1:09:50] and helping the East Bay Regional Park District receive this funding through Senator Grace's office.
[1:09:55] If he's amenable to submitting something, but I would like to reserve that only to Senator Grace's office.
[1:10:03] That is, who I have, that is the only person that I, that I have mentioned in that I'm requesting.
[1:10:10] Thank you.
[1:10:11] And I've got, okay, so councilmember Hoffman, I started to do have something else?
[1:10:16] Okay.
[1:10:17] Now that I've heard what the council member is suggesting.
[1:10:21] I heard Pittsburgh and Conqueror, you said there were three jurists.
[1:10:24] Oh, what the third would be the Park District?
[1:10:26] The Park Districts.
[1:10:28] I would say I'm hoping that they were also reaching out to contrast to county.
[1:10:34] It's in their large area.
[1:10:36] I think the more that I think the idea is the more jurist sections that help support the better.
[1:10:42] Maybe we can be, they could be positioned to.
[1:10:44] So I think supervisor Carlson, we can also reach out.
[1:10:49] I'm happy to help with that.
[1:10:52] In my mind, it seems like the more that sign on and support the better.
[1:10:56] That's kind of what I heard from Eric.
[1:10:58] And so I don't want to, I think he said three jurisdictions.
[1:11:02] I'm encouraging you to seek more as well.
[1:11:05] I'm supportive of what you're requesting.
[1:11:07] I'm just want to confirm with staff.
[1:11:09] We're not seeking any prop for money for anything within our city.
[1:11:13] I mean, this doesn't conflict with anything we're looking at.
[1:11:18] I could answer that. Yes, we will be requesting, there will be a request going to the assembly
[1:11:23] members office. So that's why I request it that this has to go to Senator Grayson's office.
[1:11:27] Well, our other asks. Thank you. Because last year we submitted multiple to this member,
[1:11:32] and she's going to work down that list. Okay, so we're not going to be at cross purposes here. No,
[1:11:37] No, and that is why I specifically, I have confirmed twice with Senator Grayson specifically about this project.
[1:11:47] And so he is the focus for this advocacy.
[1:11:51] Perfect, thank you for that clarification.
[1:11:53] It's definitely supportive.
[1:11:55] Thank you.
[1:11:56] And I would love to support this.
[1:11:58] And I will be supporting it.
[1:11:59] I would like to see us make a commitment to work with the other.
[1:12:07] people who are bringing public comments here for this neighborhood access and have those conversations
[1:12:13] be I want to see us commit to having those conversations sooner rather than later and it sounds like you also have a conversation.
[1:12:22] There's a conversation on Friday.
[1:12:24] I mean, I, you know, I have, I have not with Josh in the past.
[1:12:28] I've met with, and so, and I believe that the reason the conversation is starting with me is
[1:12:34] right now is because I serve on the Park Advisory Committee.
[1:12:38] So it is certainly not limited to me, Mayor.
[1:12:40] I anticipate since the park entrance is in district five, right?
[1:12:45] That she'll be hearing from folks as well.
[1:12:47] So this is just, but, you know, we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
[1:12:51] So that's why we're like, okay, let's focus on this funding for the park.
[1:12:55] And then we're restarting these conversations about the access as well, right?
[1:12:59] And I, I don't mean to hold up the process.
[1:13:01] I definitely want to see us move forward with going after the funding.
[1:13:06] I do think that this is an opportunity.
[1:13:08] I think many of us have had conversations about access to the park and how that could potentially
[1:13:13] be done.
[1:13:15] I've had tours of what it would look like.
[1:13:18] And so I want to just want to see us moving forward on that and making that a priority.
[1:13:24] It's good to hear that it's part of you that everyone's leaning in that direction.
[1:13:27] but if we could, if there's anything we can do to really commit to that.
[1:13:34] Again, CIP, CIP is coming up, so get your ask ready.
[1:13:40] I hear it.
[1:13:42] Okay, so did you make a motion?
[1:13:45] I thought I did, and I thought somebody did you second it?
[1:13:48] I second it.
[1:13:49] Okay, there we go.
[1:13:50] I've got a second.
[1:13:51] Okay.
[1:13:52] So let's go ahead and...
[1:13:57] Councilmember Benavente, you ready to vote and we've had public comments and so let's go ahead and call the vote.
[1:14:05] Councilmember Benavente.
[1:14:07] Councilmember Hofmeister.
[1:14:09] Councilmember Operator.
[1:14:11] Absolutely.
[1:14:12] Yes.
[1:14:13] Vice Mayor Aliano.
[1:14:15] Mayor Nakamura.
[1:14:16] Very much so.
[1:14:17] Thank you all very much.
[1:14:19] I really appreciate the support for this advocacy.
[1:14:32] Okay.
[1:14:32] I got my mic, I know.
[1:14:34] Agenda Item 5B is the consideration of adoption of a resolution of ending fiscal years,
[1:14:40] 2025, 26, and 2026, 27, municipal budgets, and adoption of a resolution adopting the
[1:14:47] city of Concord Salary Schedule, effective January 1st, 2026, Director Finance Margaret O'Brien
[1:14:53] is here, and she will be presenting a report to us.
[1:14:57] Welcome Margaret.
[1:15:00] Good evening.
[1:15:14] Good evening, Mayor and council members. Tonight I will be walking through the city's mid-year budget update for fiscal year 26.
[1:15:22] This update is not a reopening of the budget. It's a check-in, looking at how we're performing halfway through the year, confirming what assumptions still hold, and making modest adjustments where the data tells us they are warranted.
[1:15:33] Before I start, however, I would like to introduce the newest member of the finance team, Lisa Gastin.
[1:15:43] Lisa is the city's new budget and treasury officer, Lisa brings extensive public sector
[1:15:48] finance experience, including senior roles with the City and County of San Francisco,
[1:15:53] the City of Oakland and Bart. In this role, she will lead the city's budget and treasury
[1:15:57] functions and support long-term financial planning, cash investment management, and what
[1:16:02] is most near and dear to my heart, staff development. So I'm super excited and I won't
[1:16:12] I also want to thank Kaylie Hicks-Kurada, who is also here.
[1:16:15] Without her, we would not be here.
[1:16:16] She has been managing this process for the past six, seven, eight months.
[1:16:21] So I am grateful and very much indebted to her.
[1:16:24] And apparently, I also dragged along him at Baines,
[1:16:27] our Treasury Analyst, Senior Treasury Analyst,
[1:16:30] to come in and add support.
[1:16:38] This slide tells me, this slide tells the full story in one place.
[1:16:42] The city is financially stable, and last year's results exceed expectations.
[1:16:49] The improvement was primarily due to one-time revenues, and the city is still using the fiscal stability fund to support ongoing operations.
[1:16:59] This year's financial performance is tracking as expected, and the proposed adjustments that we are asking for tonight are small,
[1:17:06] strategic and consistent with Council adopted priorities.
[1:17:10] It's very, very important to note that we adopted a deficit's budget when we adopted
[1:17:15] the biennial for fiscal years 26 and fiscal years 27.
[1:17:18] And we are still in a deficit budget and for the public.
[1:17:22] That means we are spending more money than we are bringing in.
[1:17:29] The mid-year update serves as a financial check-in.
[1:17:32] We briefly look back where it last year's actual results, evaluate how the current budget
[1:17:37] tracking at the halfway point, and bring forward modest adjustments to keep the budget aligned
[1:17:42] with real conditions.
[1:17:47] But first, we're going to start with your council priorities.
[1:17:50] Before diving into the numbers, it's important to connect this update back to the city council
[1:17:54] priorities. Financial decisions are made in service of these priorities and not in isolation of them.
[1:18:04] These highlights illustrate that while finances are being managed very, very carefully,
[1:18:09] The organization continues to move forward on complex, long-term, tier-one priorities.
[1:18:15] And our key accomplishments include continued progress at the Naval Weapon Station
[1:18:20] negotiations, significant movement on the housing element implementation, advancement
[1:18:26] of infrastructure funding strategies, steady progress towards the workday enterprise resource
[1:18:33] planning go live for those who don't know what that is, it is our brand new human resources
[1:18:37] and finance software that's going to bring us out of the 90s and into at least 2023 or 2026.
[1:18:46] Labor negotiations are underway and the economic development strategy was adopted in December.
[1:18:51] It is actively being implemented and economic development staff will come back to council at the next meeting on February 24th to provide an update.
[1:19:00] Overall work is moving forward across all of the council's priority areas.
[1:19:07] With that context, I'll start by briefly looking backwards.
[1:19:11] This slide provides the beginning of our review of how the general fund performed in fiscal year 25, which provides the foundation for understanding where we are today.
[1:19:22] The last fiscal year closed stronger than anticipated, and this matters because it reduced how much fiscal stability fund reserves that were actually needed.
[1:19:31] The one-time revenues included of that 5.5 million, 1.1 million of interest earnings above budget,
[1:19:39] 2.1 million repayment of a loan that was made from the general fund to the Civic Center roof project.
[1:19:45] 1.4 million transfer from the fiscal stability fund that was approved in fiscal year 24,
[1:19:50] but for accounting purposes was not accounted for in the budget until fiscal year 25.
[1:19:55] For those who don't know, the fiscal stability fund was put in place by the City Council.
[1:20:00] It's a very prudent policy.
[1:20:02] It's a very prudent fund.
[1:20:03] It is a supplemental reserve that was established and in addition to our regular general fund reserves.
[1:20:10] The City Council, excuse me, the city's regular general fund reserve policy lays out a minimum reserve of 17% of general fund expenditures,
[1:20:17] and a reserve goal of 30%, which is equivalent to three months of operating expenditures.
[1:20:22] we currently have our 30% and then some and we still have money sitting in our fiscal reserve
[1:20:27] our fiscal stability fund because we had a bunch of one-time money last year.
[1:20:35] The general fund closed fiscal year 25 with operating revenues of approximately 136.5 million
[1:20:41] and expenditures of approximately 137.7 million resulting in a $1.1 million operating loss for fiscal
[1:20:49] year 25. The outcome was anticipated in the adopted budget and managed through the strategic use
[1:20:56] of the fiscal stability fund reserves. This is very much consistent with city council policy.
[1:21:05] The city also has Measure V. Measure V is a one-cent transaction in use tax passed by the voters in
[1:21:11] 2021. Question mark 2020. 2020.
[1:21:18] This slide deck is a status check not a measure V decision tonight.
[1:21:21] measure V closed fiscal year 25 with a $616,000 budget residual. Staff recommends retaining
[1:21:30] the surplus in the measure V fund balance at this time as the year is not over, and it
[1:21:35] will create a buffer should measure V revenue and the year lower than projected in the adopted
[1:21:40] budget. As we end the fiscal year, if revenues remain on target, we will recommend the budget
[1:21:45] residual be programmed into the CIP. We are asking to remain the cushion because this is
[1:21:50] a transaction use text is essentially a sales tax that we need to keep an eye on how our sales
[1:21:54] taxes are performing, bless you.
[1:21:59] Shifting out of the current fiscal year, this section focuses on where we are today, halfway
[1:22:04] through fiscal year 26, and whether the budget is performing as expected.
[1:22:11] At the midpoint, the general fund, the midpoint of the year, general fund revenues are
[1:22:15] tracking closely to last year's pace.
[1:22:18] Expenditures are slightly below historical averages for this point in the year, which indicates
[1:22:22] These departments are operating within plan, and that is very, very good.
[1:22:27] As Council knows, we adopted a budget to include a lot of belt tightening and budget
[1:22:31] balancing measures.
[1:22:32] The fact that we are on target in the mid-year reflects our continued monitoring of expenditures.
[1:22:45] The recommended general fund adjustments are intentionally modest.
[1:22:49] They include a small increase to property tax based on updated assessed valuation data,
[1:22:54] a downward adjustment in hotel tax reflecting softer year-to-day collections, and a parking
[1:22:59] find revenue adjustment, tied to an additional,
[1:23:02] tied to additional enforcement capacity.
[1:23:06] Net net revenues increased by about $100,000
[1:23:09] and expenditures increased by about $59 million.
[1:23:12] What's notable here is not the dollar amount,
[1:23:14] but how limited the changes are.
[1:23:16] Oh, excuse me, $59,000.
[1:23:18] Let me just throw some extra zeroes on there.
[1:23:19] I saw your face just a couple extra zeroes.
[1:23:24] You're paying attention, and he will horrify.
[1:23:28] And so, in order to earn the extra $100,000 in parking revenue, we are requesting that we have
[1:23:34] an $51,000 expenditure approved that allows for hiring a part-time parking staff, which
[1:23:40] is on the slide.
[1:23:42] The slide highlights the largest operational change being recommended.
[1:23:46] The police department is proposing two part-time parking services positions.
[1:23:50] These positions are expected to be fully cost-covered through increased parking fine revenue,
[1:23:54] resulting in a net positive impact to the general fund.
[1:23:58] They also improve service responsiveness and reduce the need for sworn officers to handle low-level parking issues.
[1:24:05] Additionally, the police department views these positions as a workforce development pathway for potential police officers through a part-time track.
[1:24:17] We do have several other funds beside the general fund.
[1:24:20] We talk about the general fund the most because it is our major operating fund.
[1:24:24] But we are asking for three other adjustments.
[1:24:26] Outside the general fund, there are few targeted technical adjustments.
[1:24:30] These include available state law enforcement funds for academy trainees, fully drawing
[1:24:35] down federal housing funds, already available, and aligning the golf course fund budget
[1:24:40] with Council approved maintenance agreement.
[1:24:43] None of these increase any general fund pressure and all funds are available in their respective
[1:24:47] fund balances.
[1:24:51] Key takeaways.
[1:24:55] This slide answers a different question.
[1:24:57] is it sustainable forever or ongoing structural deficit?
[1:25:01] This slide addresses the underlying structural issue
[1:25:03] in the city's finances.
[1:25:06] Even with careful budgeting and strong cost control,
[1:25:09] expenditures continue to grow faster than revenues.
[1:25:12] That's not unique to Concord, but it is very real to the area.
[1:25:16] The adopted 26 and 27 budgets intentionally rely on planned reserves,
[1:25:22] used to manage this gap with longer term solutions
[1:25:24] continued to be evaluated.
[1:25:26] This is not a short-term cash problem. This is a long-term structural challenge, and it is being managed deliberately rather than ignored.
[1:25:37] But the bigger question is, at least we're okay right now.
[1:25:41] It shows the city is managing the structural imbalance in the near-term successfully.
[1:25:46] The fiscal stability fund was created specifically to smooth periods like this when expenditures outpace revenues,
[1:25:52] but service levels and reserve targets still need to be maintained.
[1:25:55] This council continues to exert strong fiscal policies.
[1:26:00] A great example is the creation of the fiscal stability fund.
[1:26:03] It is a supplemental reserve on top of the 30% general fund reserve, which equates to approximately three months of operating expenses.
[1:26:11] Based on the fiscal year 25 results, this significantly less of the fund was needed than originally projected,
[1:26:18] and is available to support the adopted deficits in fiscal year 2627.
[1:26:23] So, essentially, when we adopted the budget in June of last year, we thought there was going
[1:26:28] to be nothing left in the fiscal stability fund.
[1:26:31] We are very, very fortunate to be in a position where there are funds left, and if everything
[1:26:35] tracks, if the whole plan holds,
[1:26:39] we should have 3.3 million left to start fiscal year 28.
[1:26:46] This is the forecast we showed you in May of 2025.
[1:26:50] You can see in fiscal year 31 we are hitting that 17% mark right there before we start to recover.
[1:26:58] Again, this is a forecast and forecasts are best estimates best guess.
[1:27:03] We have updated it with last year's results.
[1:27:06] So you can see the market improvement because we didn't expend the entire fiscal stability fund.
[1:27:12] So here we are not dipping down.
[1:27:15] We are going to recover nicely.
[1:27:18] You see that this doesn't go up as much as the other one.
[1:27:22] Because when we updated the forecast with last year results, we have looked at what we truly
[1:27:26] think we're going to get from vacancy savings this year.
[1:27:29] Great news.
[1:27:30] Our HR department has been fantastic at fulfilling vacancies.
[1:27:34] So we reduced what we thought we would save in vacancies.
[1:27:39] We have reduced that.
[1:27:40] The state of California is anticipating a recession sooner.
[1:27:44] When the last forecast was created,
[1:27:46] that recession was built in in 2030,
[1:27:48] I built it in in 2027.
[1:27:51] So we have kind of right size the forecast
[1:27:56] and everything holds, you know,
[1:27:59] everybody continues to control their costs.
[1:28:02] It's not a bad forecast right now.
[1:28:07] But I do want to talk about a long-term trend.
[1:28:11] The changes for May 26 included,
[1:28:13] hope we talked about that.
[1:28:19] This chart puts everything we discussed into the historical context.
[1:28:23] Since fiscal year 19, general fund revenues have grown about 29%,
[1:28:28] while expenditures have grown approximately 38%. This gap, the gap that this gap explains why
[1:28:35] reserves reserve use appears in recent budgets and why long-term planning not short-term fixes are
[1:28:40] essential. The takeaway is not urgency but discipline. The Council has worked very hard to face
[1:28:46] economic challenges and made hard decisions. From downsizing the organization to employee
[1:28:50] gives backs in our most recent budget balancing efforts.
[1:28:58] Just a quick note on our upcoming
[1:28:59] meetings. City Council's annual workshop is March 21st. The CIP will be in front of you. Budget
[1:29:05] workshop will be April 21st. The fee schedule will be in front of you in April 28th. In June,
[1:29:12] we will bring the CIP for adoption and also we will bring the mid-cycle update which is for fiscal year
[1:29:18] 27.
[1:29:21] We are asking that you approve the budget resolution,
[1:29:25] amending doing these minor tweaks to the budget, and also update the salary schedule.
[1:29:30] And I am here for questions as is all the finance department management.
[1:29:36] All right. Thank you very much.
[1:29:39] So I have a questions from council member Obringer.
[1:29:43] Thank you. Just one quick question whenever you talk about how the expenditures are going up by 38% versus revenues.
[1:29:52] Are there general categories where the expenditures are going up?
[1:29:57] Our largest driver, of course, is person.
[1:30:00] And so that is the biggest one that is going on.
[1:30:04] Okay, so it's not programs or it's not the infrastructure, our programs are very, very lean.
[1:30:13] Okay, thank you.
[1:30:15] And by and large, the infrastructure maintenance and development isn't in this budget.
[1:30:21] So it has to do with agreed to cost of living increases for employees and tremendous pressure from CalPERS and other benefits like insurance and things like that increasing the city's costs.
[1:30:34] There are other factors in here like overall insurance costs for all local jurisdictions as they are as they are skyrocketing for you personally probably if you own a home.
[1:30:43] We're getting increased pressure in those areas too.
[1:30:49] And Council Member Huffmeister, you have a question?
[1:30:52] Yes.
[1:30:53] Question or clarification?
[1:30:54] In presentation you identified that the good news is we did not need to spend as much
[1:30:59] from our physical sustainability fund, which is basically a rainy day fund for unanticipated
[1:31:05] economic downturns.
[1:31:07] And did I understand you to say that there would be everything holds in the numbers that you presented
[1:31:13] that we would be able to go one or two more years out?
[1:31:17] We would probably be able to go at least one more year out, one more year out, okay.
[1:31:22] And I think I have a big gap as, okay.
[1:31:25] And so, which is good news, I mean, bad news in terms of that, we're still deficit,
[1:31:30] but we're in better position than a lot of communities where we actually have that rainy
[1:31:33] day fine and we're able to stretch those dollars further down the road to continue to
[1:31:38] look at other mechanisms to stabilize revenue and expenditure.
[1:31:44] This is before we touch our 30% reserves.
[1:31:46] Right, that this is in addition to correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much
[1:31:52] Any other questions council member Olliano or a bit of entity. No
[1:31:58] Margaret I have just one clarify in question you mentioned that the 17% reserves and the 30% reserves
[1:32:05] One of those numbers is typed a three months of
[1:32:08] Correct expenses for the 30 is it that is at the 30% yeah so 17% in reserves covers how much like a month six weeks
[1:32:17] Okay, yeah, it's pretty short of that clarification.
[1:32:23] I was hoping it was the other way around
[1:32:27] Okay, so I don't have we don't have any other questions here
[1:32:30] So I'm gonna go ahead and open this up to a public comment if there are any I have no speakers there
[1:32:37] Okay, right and we will bring it back to the council for any comments
[1:32:42] No, I'm ready to go ahead and make a motion
[1:32:44] All right, go ahead
[1:32:48] I will move that we adopt the resolution,
[1:32:50] amending the fiscal year 2025-2026 and the 2026-2027
[1:32:55] municipal budgets as recommended by staff.
[1:32:58] Thank you.
[1:32:59] So we have a second from Council Member Benavente.
[1:33:04] And Madam Clerk, will you please call the vote?
[1:33:07] Council Member Benavente?
[1:33:09] Council Member Haft-Myster?
[1:33:11] Council Member Obringer?
[1:33:13] Yes.
[1:33:13] Vice Mayor Aliano?
[1:33:15] Yes.
[1:33:15] Mayor Nakamura?
[1:33:17] Yes.
[1:33:21] And I'll go ahead and do the next resolution, that'd be adopting the resolution, adoption of a resolution, adopting the city of Concord,
[1:33:30] salary, schedule, effective January 1, 2026 in accordance with the requirements of the California Public Employees Retirement System,
[1:33:37] otherwise known as CalPERS for a publicly available peace schedule.
[1:33:44] Second.
[1:33:46] Thank you very much.
[1:33:48] Madam Clerk, please call the room.
[1:33:50] vote. Council member Benavente. Yes. Council member Hofmeister. Yes. Council member Obringer. Yes. Vice Mayor Aliano. Yes. Mayor Nakamura. Yes.
[1:34:05] Thank you very much. And before we move on to the next item, I do want to say welcome to our new employee and thank you very much to the finance staff for being here tonight and for your work on this.
[1:34:19] So on the next item here is reports and announcements.
[1:34:26] Do we have any.
[1:34:28] actually I'm sorry correspondence. Is there any additional correspondence? No Mayor. Are there any closed session announcements?
[1:34:38] They're not tonight. Are there any city manager or staff reports?
[1:34:41] I don't have a report but I do have an announcement. Kit Joy is in the audience. He will be starting on Monday the 16th which is a holiday that's how dedicated he is.
[1:34:51] in his new position as our public works director kit.
[1:34:55] We've got a minute, do you want to come up and just say a few words?
[1:34:59] No.
[1:35:00] You don't have to, but it's a great opportunity.
[1:35:04] Please do so we can recognize you.
[1:35:06] For the people watching.com, very inscripted.
[1:35:10] They know who to contact now.
[1:35:12] Good evening, Council.
[1:35:14] Good evening, Mayor.
[1:35:14] Vice Mayor, fellow city staff.
[1:35:17] Kit Jory, Department of Public Works, soon to be public works director.
[1:35:21] I'm just extremely honored and grateful.
[1:35:24] I've worked very hard and diligent in earning your trust and respect and I'm very appreciative
[1:35:30] of the opportunity that you've all given to me.
[1:35:32] So thank you.
[1:35:34] Great.
[1:35:41] Great.
[1:35:41] So I have two lights, Council Member Oberner, and then Council Member Hoffmeister.
[1:35:46] Thank you.
[1:35:46] So, Kit, I know you just sat down, but I just want to say congratulations and I was delighted
[1:35:52] to hear this news as I personally have had the opportunity over the past.
[1:35:56] at least three years to be working with you on a variety of service projects.
[1:36:01] And I have to say I was so deeply impressed back in 2023
[1:36:06] when you introduced the concept of Gator bags to help solve a problem that nobody had been able to solve before.
[1:36:13] And that was how do we plant that median up there at Olivera and Grant
[1:36:19] that nobody had ever been able to do.
[1:36:21] And then all of a sudden you said it can be done.
[1:36:24] And it has been done in the agave and the trees are still alive three years later.
[1:36:28] So thank you very much looking forward to continuing to work with you.
[1:36:31] The City, the public works department is in good hands.
[1:36:35] And councilmember Hoffmeister?
[1:36:37] I definitely did that.
[1:36:38] I think also it reflects well in the organization when we have opportunities that employees
[1:36:44] within our organization can move up and continue to excel in serve art community.
[1:36:50] So I'm pleased to see that in the City Manager's selection and that that we have growing our employee
[1:36:57] in-house and continuing that and one thing that I've noted about Kit is he's very collaborative.
[1:37:06] He reaches out and he also is kind of a practical problem solver.
[1:37:11] He's not looking for the complex way to do things.
[1:37:15] and as the Councilmember O'Bringer mentioned, you know,
[1:37:18] a bag that you can fill up with water
[1:37:19] and it just kind of drips down into the soil
[1:37:23] to give water to the plant.
[1:37:24] So you don't have to run a truck up and down the street,
[1:37:27] you know, every few weeks to give it water.
[1:37:30] So it's just a very, very refreshing,
[1:37:33] and I'm glad he's sticking with our organization,
[1:37:35] and you're going to be here for the long haul.
[1:37:39] Looking forward to you working for us for the long haul.
[1:37:43] And I also want to thank you for being proactive
[1:37:46] I've been reaching out to me as well to set up some activities in the city for Earth Day.
[1:37:51] I'm going to do a little bit of an early plug here.
[1:37:53] April 18th and April 25th, we will have activities in four different parks for Earth Day.
[1:37:59] And it was nice to sit down with your team and discuss that and our plans for those two Saturdays.
[1:38:06] Thank you very much and congratulations.
[1:38:15] So, City Manager Valerie Brooney, thank you for bringing that to our attention.
[1:38:22] So the next step on our agenda is Council reports.
[1:38:25] Do we have any Council reports for tonight?
[1:38:28] We have Council Member Obringer?
[1:38:30] No?
[1:38:31] Yes, I do.
[1:38:32] There it is.
[1:38:32] Okay, there's your light.
[1:38:33] Yes, thank you.
[1:38:34] So I did just want to share with the public, so the conquered Moose Lodge, which is located on
[1:38:40] Broadway street, which is, you know, if you know, where the dollar tree is, they are right
[1:38:45] around the corner. They are collecting pairs of shoes of all sizes. And they are doing
[1:38:52] this as a fundraiser, so these can be gently used shoes. And this is a fundraiser to support
[1:39:01] conquered high school's music department. So you can drop them off, you know, during regular
[1:39:07] business hours. If you would like to show your support and to date, believe it or not,
[1:39:13] they have already collected 558 pairs of shoes and they are saying to please keep them
[1:39:20] coming. So I just wanted to share that opportunity with, and this goes through the end of March.
[1:39:26] Thank you. And I'm curious. Councilmember Oberner, how do they, what is the funding source that
[1:39:33] you gently use shoes that they are getting funded for.
[1:39:36] What does do you know what the process is?
[1:39:37] You know, I will get you more information.
[1:39:39] They reached out to me to let me know.
[1:39:42] So stay tuned for our next meeting.
[1:39:44] And I will be able to provide part two of the shoe announcement.
[1:39:49] Thank you.
[1:39:51] Great.
[1:39:52] Thank you.
[1:39:53] So I see no other lights.
[1:39:55] I would like to mention that on Thursday, February 12th,
[1:40:00] The Concert Mobile Dignity Center will be open.
[1:40:04] This is the collaborative between many organizations
[1:40:08] that received funding through our dollars
[1:40:10] to help with Homeless Strategic Plan strategies.
[1:40:15] And they will be cutting a ribbon at three o'clock
[1:40:18] on Thursday at the first-community church,
[1:40:21] first-Christian community church, right?
[1:40:24] On 3039 Willow Pass Road, it's a little bit
[1:40:27] across our parking lot.
[1:40:28] And I'm excited to see this come to fruition.
[1:40:32] It's been a lot of work in the making.
[1:40:34] And I do think that this is something that is going to help many of the people who are unsheltered,
[1:40:40] not only with bringing them to a place where they can get showered, but also services, and
[1:40:46] a lot of people who are want to reach out to them and support them and hopefully help them
[1:40:52] find shelter.
[1:40:53] And with that, we are a jerk.
[1:40:55] We have a button late button. No question for the city attorney. I forgot to mention something during the budget discussion about
[1:41:05] Why just want to write an update on what councilor Hoffman for myself are working on and how it encompasses everything
[1:41:11] With the city financially that can be a council report right in I could do that right now. Yes. Yeah, go ahead and get you
[1:41:18] Sorry about that. I forgot to
[1:41:20] provide that during the agenda item
[1:41:21] But I appreciate staff giving the meteor budget update here and presenting what the financial
[1:41:29] forecast looks like for the city, but Councillor Hoffmeister and myself have been working
[1:41:34] through the infrastructure and infrastructure and finance committee on potential solutions
[1:41:41] to addressing our financial forecasts and the issues we see with the city's financing.
[1:41:48] So we're continuing to work on that.
[1:41:51] I know this is a larger issue that we're working on directly with the budget, directly working
[1:41:57] on economic development and other things that we're working on, but I just want to let
[1:42:01] everybody know that we're continuing to work on it and it's a lot of information, it's a
[1:42:06] lot of heavy decisions.
[1:42:08] So when it comes before you, we're going to do our best to make it as easy as possible for
[1:42:12] everybody here, but it's going to be an interesting conversation, but I would just want to let
[1:42:16] everybody know that it's being worked on.
[1:42:19] Right, and thank you and we all we all appreciate the heavy lifting that you're doing
[1:42:23] and with that, we are adjourned.