[11:52] We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order. City
[11:56] clerk, can we ready? Yes, we're ready. Super good evening
[12:00] and welcome to tonight's regular meeting of the Rindy City
[12:03] Council Tuesday, September 1st. We'll begin by calling to order
[12:08] doing roll call. Okay, note for the record that all
[12:10] council members are present. Thank you. I would also note
[12:14] that we just came out of closed session and have
[12:16] nothing to report. We'll begin by adopting the agenda. Are
[12:21] there any changes to the agenda? Mayor and council members,
[12:24] we have no proposed changes to the agenda. Did I?
[12:28] I'm so sorry. We'll begin with a Pledge of Allegiance.
[12:32] Please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[12:37] United States of America. And to the Republic for waged
[12:41] stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice
[12:47] for all. Thank you. Thank you for the reminder. Now
[12:53] we will move to adopt the agenda with no changes.
[12:56] I will move to adopt and wonder if we have
[12:58] a second. All in favor? Aye. Right, and with that,
[13:03] we have several items for the good of the city
[13:05] tonight. We'll begin with an introduction of our new city
[13:08] clerk, Joelle Fockler. Good evening, honored mayor members of the
[13:12] city council. I am pleased to have with us tonight,
[13:15] Joelle Faulkler, who will become our new city clerk. She
[13:19] has joined us as of yesterday. Joel brings more than
[13:23] 20 years of experience. And the last 12 years in
[13:26] the city of Concord as their city clerk. She is
[13:29] actively involved in the city clerks association in California. She
[13:33] serves as a coach and coordinator for the contracosta county
[13:36] leadership program. And we are thrilled to have her. There
[13:40] will be a few weeks of transition with her and
[13:42] Sherry. As we bid a fond farewell to Sherry at
[13:46] our next meeting on September 15th, we will host a
[13:51] public reception for her. Well, at the meeting, we'll celebrate
[13:54] her service. And then after the meeting at around 8.
[13:57] 30, we'll have a public reception for sherry service. Uh,
[14:00] we are so thrilled to have Joel. So it's just
[14:03] an experienced city clerk with us as the next city
[14:06] clerk of the city of Arinda. Thank you. So, Joel,
[14:11] do you want to say anything.
[14:23] For hiring me? And I look forward to working with
[14:28] you at the council and the citizens and the staff
[14:31] of Arinda. So thank you. Thank you. My gosp. If
[14:35] anyone has any questions or comments, uh, from the council.
[14:40] Just welcome. And just welcome. We're very happy to have
[14:43] you join us. I have already heard from a couple
[14:48] conquered city council members that they're very upset to see
[14:51] you leave and that we really lucked out. Um, and,
[14:53] and that is not to say that we won't share
[14:56] a way so much. So, so welcome. I would agree.
[14:59] Welcome. And you have some very big high heels to
[15:01] fill. We welcome you. With that, we'll move on to
[15:06] item E2, which is a proclamation recognizing September as ovarian
[15:12] cancer awareness month. And this is one that we've had,
[15:15] uh, actually several requests, uh, to do a proclamation and
[15:19] to, uh, have a few people come and talk about.
[15:21] It's a very important issue. Um, and I'm really glad
[15:24] we're doing it. I'll begin with our proclamation and then
[15:27] invite anyone who'd like to speak. Whereas a very in
[15:31] cancer is a serious disease that affects thousands of women
[15:33] and their families each year and early detection and timely
[15:36] treatment can improve outcomes. And whereas ovarian cancer can be
[15:39] difficult to detect in its early stages because it symptoms
[15:43] can be subtle and easily mistaken for other conditions. And
[15:46] whereas increasing public awareness of the signs and symptoms of
[15:49] ovarian cancer. Understanding the risk factors and encouraging individuals to
[15:54] discuss concerns with their healthcare providers are important steps in
[15:57] the fight against the disease. And whereas a variant cancer
[16:00] awareness month provides an opportunity to honors those whose lives
[16:04] have been affected by a variant cancer. Remember those we
[16:07] have lost and recognize the courage of survivors and those
[16:10] currently facing the disease. And whereas communities play an important
[16:14] role in supporting patients and their families, promoting education and
[16:17] awareness and to educate and encouraging continued research toward improved
[16:22] prevention, early detection treatment and ultimately a cure for a
[16:26] variant cancer. And whereas the city of a render recognizes
[16:28] the importance of bringing greater attention to a variant cancer
[16:32] and encourages residents to learn about the disease, recognize potential
[16:36] symptoms and support efforts to raise awareness and advance research.
[16:40] Whereas I, Brandon Mayor of Arenda, do you hearby proclaim
[16:43] September 2026 as a variant cancer awareness month in the
[16:46] city of Arinda and encourage all residents to join and
[16:49] raising awareness, supporting those affected honoring survivors, remembering loved ones
[16:54] lost and advancing the goal of a future free of
[16:57] a variant cancer. Um, and with that, I'll see if
[17:01] anybody would like to speak, um, from the public. And
[17:05] then we'll see if any council members have comments. Please
[17:10] confirm.
[17:21] A spirit. Um, master operation
[17:32] honoring recognizing September is a very cancer awareness month. Um,
[17:37] thank you so much for recognizing it. Um, and for
[17:41] giving me the opportunity to be here tonight, it truly
[17:44] means a lot to me personally. Um, I'm in ovarian
[17:47] cancer survivor and advocate. And I've learned firsthand how important
[17:51] awareness is. Ovarian cancer is often called the disease that
[17:55] whispers or silent killer. Because its symptoms can be vague
[17:59] and easily overlooked too many women are diagnosed at an
[18:03] advanced stage, um, as I was at stage four, when
[18:07] the disease is much more difficult to treat. My hope
[18:10] is at bringing more tension to ovarian cancer. It's symptoms
[18:14] risk factors and the importance of listening to your body.
[18:17] We can help women recognize the signs earlier and ultimately
[18:20] save lives. Thank you for using the voice of this
[18:24] community to shine a light on this important issue. I'm
[18:28] deeply grateful for this proclamation and for your support of
[18:32] ovarian cancer awareness. Actually, Ms. McLaughlin, I'd love to, Ms.
[18:39] McLaughlin, if you can come back, I wanted to go
[18:41] ahead and give you the proclamation.
[18:52] Thank you, official wildly. Thank you for us.
[19:07] Uh, and I would just ask if anybody else from
[19:09] the public or the council had anything to say on
[19:12] the, uh, on that item. Thank you, Mayor, for the
[19:16] proclamation. And thank you, um, Elizabeth for sharing your story.
[19:23] Just say as an all female city council, one of
[19:26] the few, I think it's particularly important that we note
[19:30] this, um, horrible disease that we've all known people who
[19:33] have died from. And as Ms. McLaughlin said, it's a,
[19:37] it's a whisper and it's hard to detect. And so
[19:40] bringing that awareness is especially important. So thank you. Couldn't
[19:45] agree more. I think everybody, uh, everybody here knows or
[19:49] has known someone who has dealt with that particular disease.
[19:52] So it's, uh, it's near to our hearts and thank
[19:54] you. Um, and if the, uh, we will move to
[19:59] item E3, uh, which is a proclamation recognizing September as
[20:04] Hispanic heritage month. Uh, I will, uh, go ahead and
[20:09] read the proclamation first. Okay. Um, whereas Hispanic heritage month
[20:17] is celebrated annually from September 15th through October 15th to
[20:21] recognize an honor the rich histories, cultures, traditions and contributions
[20:24] of Hispanic and Latino Americans. And whereas the observance begins
[20:28] on September 15th commemorating the independence anniversaries of Costa Rica,
[20:33] El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, followed by the independent
[20:37] celebrations of Mexico and Chile. And whereas Hispanic and Latino
[20:41] communities have made significant contributions to the cultural civic, economic
[20:45] educational and social life of the United States. And have
[20:49] helped shape the diverse character of our nation. And whereas
[20:52] the city of Arinda values the many cultures, traditions, experience,
[20:56] and perspectives that enrich our community and recognizes the diversity
[21:00] strengthens our city and promotes greater understanding among our residents.
[21:04] And whereas the history of Arinda is deeply connected to
[21:07] California's Mexican heritage. As the area now known as Arinda,
[21:11] was once located within four Mexican land grants. And in
[21:14] the 1920s, EI devaga, Lavega. Thank you. I knew the
[21:23] council, none of that, developed a renta village and gave
[21:25] it streets Spanish names, many of which remained part of
[21:28] a Rindy's landscape and community today. And whereas Hispanic heritage
[21:32] month provides an opportunity for all residents to celebrate the
[21:35] accomplishments and contributions of Hispanic and Latino - Americans learn
[21:39] about their history and traditions and recognize the important role
[21:42] they continue to play in our community and throughout the
[21:44] nation. Now therefore I, Brandon Iverson mayor of City of
[21:48] Rinda. Do hereby proclaim September 15th through October 15th. As
[21:53] Hispanic Heritage Month in the city of Arinda and encourage
[21:55] all residents to join and celebrating the rich heritage, history,
[21:59] culture, and many contributions of Hispanic and Latino - Americans.
[22:04] And I don't think we have anyone to receive it
[22:06] tonight. But would ask if anybody has anything to add.
[22:16] I did like the one I have to compliment our
[22:18] city clerk for finding the Arinda history, uh, blurb on
[22:22] that. I thought that was a little extra fun. Um,
[22:25] with that, we will move on to item E4. The
[22:27] county connection presentation by Bill Churchill, the general manager of
[22:31] county connection.
[22:43] I think it's working. Well, good evening. And thank you
[22:47] for the invitation. I really do appreciate the opportunity to
[22:50] share a little bit about county connection. And, um, really
[22:56] how we're connected and how we serve the city. Um,
[23:01] again, as you said, my name is Bill Churchill. I'm
[23:04] the general manager of county connection. Believe it or not,
[23:06] I have been working for the authority now for 30
[23:09] years. So I've been around for quite some time in
[23:13] a variety of positions. And I brought with me a
[23:16] couple of staff members I'd like to recognize, uh, Ruby
[23:19] Horta is my assistant general manager and Kyle, our manager
[23:23] of grants, who is also doing a lot of work
[23:26] in public affairs. And so anytime I'm meeting with legislators,
[23:30] I tend to drag him along as well now. So
[23:34] they're here to make sure that I answer correctly because,
[23:37] you know, they get a little nervous. I'm like, get
[23:39] off base. So with that, I'd like to go to
[23:43] the next slide, please. Oh, am I doing it?
[23:56] I thought it was a mic. So I just kind
[24:00] of wanted to break this up into three little parts.
[24:03] Um, one to talk maybe a little bit about the
[24:06] past, move into the, into the present and then kind
[24:09] of give a sense of where I think things are
[24:11] going both for county connection and the potential impacts to,
[24:16] um, city of Orinda as well. So, um, and it's
[24:23] not working, but oh well. The slide on the far
[24:28] right is supposed to be cycling through all the cities
[24:31] of the member jurisdictions. So it's not working, but that's
[24:35] all right. Um, I can describe it. It's important to
[24:41] let you know that county connection is a joint powers
[24:44] authority made up of 10 cities and the unincorporated, uh,
[24:49] components of contracost county all within central contracosta county. For
[24:53] those of you that may not know and forgive me
[24:56] if you do were bounded by the city of Martinez
[24:59] to the north, uh, the city of San Ramon to
[25:02] the south, of course the west is represented by a
[25:06] rinda and Maraga and the east conquered in Clayton. So
[25:09] that represents about 200 square miles and a lot of
[25:14] service as you can imagine. And there's a metaphor here
[25:18] that isn't really presenting itself well. I apologize. But really
[25:24] we're all a bunch of different puzzle pieces that all
[25:26] fit together. And doing these types of things is an
[25:31] opportunity to really share our common vision and goals and
[25:35] amplify each other's work. Because at the end of the
[25:38] day, we are a component of you and we're here
[25:42] to serve you. And I think that's the most important
[25:45] part of the message for me with this particular slide.
[25:50] Public transit, you can't have a discussion about public transit
[25:54] without talking about writership. It just seems to be where
[25:57] we have to go. So of course I have to
[26:00] have a slide on that. But it really kind of
[26:02] want to start with not today. I want to move
[26:04] backwards a few years. So through the pandemic, as you
[26:10] can imagine, we lost a tremendous amount of ridership. I
[26:13] think through the years, we've recovered actually quite well. But
[26:18] what's interesting is our writership patterns are not the same
[26:22] as they used to be pre - pandemic. So today
[26:26] our weekend writership is about 81 percent of what pre
[26:29] - pandemic writership was. But as you look at the
[26:32] chart, you can see Saturday was 118 percent today. And
[26:37] Sunday is 129 percent. Not on this chart are youth
[26:41] writership is 128 percent of pre - pandemic. And I
[26:45] know that's very important to the city of Arinda. The
[26:49] one area that has not really recovered is our commuters.
[26:54] We are still hovering at about 45 percent of pre
[26:58] - pandemic numbers. It just is not coming back. So
[27:02] how does county connections stack up? I think sometimes it's
[27:06] important to think about, um, where do we sit within
[27:10] the scheme of things in the Bay Area? So as
[27:13] an example, BART is hovering at about 51 percent of
[27:18] pre - pandemic numbers. Our neighbors laughter and tri -
[27:22] delta are hovering around 61 percent AC transits doing a
[27:28] little bit better. They're at 76 percent and munies at
[27:31] 78 percent. And each year represents growth. I think county
[27:37] connection is doing quite well. When you add up the
[27:41] weekend service, the weekday service plus our youth rides, we're
[27:45] hovering at about 86 percent. So within the scheme of
[27:48] things, it's not bad. Certainly not where, um, I want
[27:53] us to be, but, um, it's not bad, I think.
[28:02] I like to show just every time I go to
[28:07] visit a city, at least show you the routes that
[28:09] affect you and where you're at. So on the left,
[28:13] you have the route six. That's our general, um, core
[28:17] weekday writership. And then of course on the right is
[28:20] an overlay of the school trippers and the school routes.
[28:25] So the one thing that's interesting about this, and it's
[28:29] very hard to completely dissect writership a hundred percent because
[28:34] our routes cross borders, you're seeing Lafayette and Maraga on
[28:39] this map as well. And so it's a blend. Certainly
[28:44] for the whole Lamarinda area. And we really work kind
[28:49] of in a unified way across the whole Lamar into
[28:52] area. So what are we doing? What are we moving
[28:59] in areinda? So the route six is moving 91, 000
[29:04] passengers a year in your city. And if you look
[29:08] at the row below that, this is what's really fascinating.
[29:12] Those are the school routes. The route 606, 625 and
[29:16] 626 are all school routes. You add them up. It's
[29:21] almost an equal amount of school writer school children writers
[29:25] as we do on the regular route. There isn't another
[29:28] city in the county connection service area that is like
[29:32] this. This is very unique about the city of Rinda.
[29:38] And to sort of amplify that maybe a little bit.
[29:41] It's very near and dear to my heart as all
[29:44] three of my children used BART and county connection to
[29:48] go to Miramonty. And I really think that experience has
[29:51] made them lifelong writers as well. And they are all
[29:55] three adults at this point. So, um, really important to
[30:01] the city of Orinda, very important that county connection is
[30:05] really focused on that aspect and providing and focusing on
[30:09] school ridership for your city. So what does this mean?
[30:17] And, and this part is kind of interesting because I
[30:19] think as public transit operators, we don't focus on this,
[30:23] but we've been trying to think about it more and
[30:25] more because it really is important not to just focus
[30:29] on the writers, which is always in the back of
[30:32] our mind. But to the folks that are not necessarily
[30:36] on my board of directors or my staff or other
[30:40] colleagues with mine in the industry, um, what is important
[30:44] is, what does that mean to their daily lives? So
[30:49] our services and a Rinda are removing 700 cars a
[30:53] day from your roads, which really also represents 3. 25
[30:59] metric tons of CO2 avoided. So there is an impact.
[31:03] Now there's an interesting thing about this slide. I've been
[31:07] sharing this more and more in different venues that I
[31:09] go to. And believe it or not, in some of
[31:13] the communities I go to folks just really aren't impressed.
[31:17] So I want to put this in a real world
[31:21] position for you here in the city of Arinda. Unfortunately
[31:26] we have an actual test case that shows how important
[31:29] it really is. Unfortunately, I don't remember the year. I
[31:34] want to say it was 2017 or 16. Um, my
[31:38] board member Amy, worth might remember that more than I
[31:42] do. But one day the schools gave both the Lamarinda
[31:47] school bus program and county connection, the wrong calendar. And
[31:51] so we woke up thinking it was a nonschool day.
[31:54] So we didn't provide service. Neither did the Lamaran to
[31:58] school bus program. So what did that mean? What happened?
[32:03] Well, it resulted in a traffic jam that was unbelievable.
[32:08] It lasted fortify hours. You could not move through the
[32:12] city of Arinda. And the traffic was packed on Camino
[32:16] Pablo about five or six miles up the road. And
[32:21] I had Amy on the phone screaming at me. What
[32:24] in the world is going on? Um, it, it was
[32:28] not a good morning, but we and the Lamer into
[32:31] school bus program reacted quickly. And we were able to
[32:34] put the buses back into effect in the afternoon. And
[32:38] you didn't have that same traffic jam in the afternoon.
[32:42] The point is it doesn't take very many cars in
[32:46] a system or removed from a system from having an
[32:50] outsized impact. Another area where we often see it. And
[32:54] I use this as an example all the time. If
[32:57] you're traveling to Los Angeles in your car and you
[33:00] get behind that car that decides to pass a truck
[33:03] at 56 miles an hour while that truck is doing
[33:06] 55. And it takes forever to get around that tribe.
[33:10] By the time you've gotten past that truck, you have
[33:13] a mile or two miles of traffic behind you. It
[33:17] only takes one or two cars and you're impacting the
[33:20] system as a whole. So I think it's really important
[33:23] that we understand that having public transit has a profound
[33:28] impact to the communities we serve. Okay. The other thing
[33:34] I really think it's important to remind, and I'm sure
[33:37] you all know it, but I like to remind everybody,
[33:41] county connection is also the paratransit provider for central contrasty
[33:46] county. And that is providing the service to the individuals
[33:51] that are not capable of writing fixed route buses due
[33:54] to their disability, whatever that might be. In Arenda, we're
[33:59] moving about 8, 400 passengers a year. Um, 5, 800
[34:05] are on our standard link paratransi service. But this is
[34:09] an interesting fact, 2, 500 of them are using what's
[34:14] called our one seat ride. Now not everybody probably is
[34:17] aware of that. In the world of public transit and
[34:22] you're providing paratransit service, somebody who's disabled and needs a
[34:26] trip to maybe a dialysis unit. We'll call county connection
[34:31] and book that trip. Sometimes though, your insurance requires you
[34:36] to go to a dialysis unit that's not in your
[34:40] public transit service provider area. That means we would take
[34:44] you to the border of that transit agency. Then you
[34:48] have to transfer to another bus to complete the trip.
[34:53] And then the same thing happens in reverse. It's not
[34:55] great customer service. In fact, there are some individuals that
[34:59] have to take three part and even four part trips
[35:03] to complete their medical trips. So when COVID hit county
[35:08] connection worked together with three other transit partners, Wes cat,
[35:14] tried Delta and laughter to create one large global area.
[35:19] And in across all four of those transit agencies, wherever
[35:24] you begin and end, you're on one vehicle. That's what
[35:28] the one seat ride is for us. And 2, 500
[35:32] rides come out of the city of Orinda. When I
[35:35] look at where they're going, it's the city of Pinol.
[35:38] It's pleasant in. Believe it or not, people are coming
[35:41] from here to Antioch. Not sure why. Um, but it's
[35:46] important for you to understand that that is a component
[35:49] of the writers in your community. The other thing that
[35:53] I think is important to let you know, the paratransit
[35:57] side of our house also supports what I call social
[36:01] paratransit programs, one of which is the Lamarinda spirit. And
[36:05] we, we support them in a host of ways. We
[36:07] allow them to use our software. If they need to
[36:10] use it for scheduling, probably the most profound ways during
[36:14] COVID, they were incapable of finding drivers to complete their
[36:18] trips. So during the COVID year, we just ran their
[36:23] trips for them and just did it. And then when,
[36:26] when they recovered and we came out of COVID, they
[36:29] went right back into providing their own services. So again,
[36:33] I'm trying to demonstrate how we are a support to,
[36:38] Orinda and the different programs within your city. There are
[36:43] two other topics that I think are really important to
[36:45] touch. I wanted to give you a little bit about
[36:48] this youth ride free program that we've done. Again, youth
[36:52] seems to be a theme here in the city of
[36:54] Arinda. And then also give you a sense of where
[36:57] does county connection fit within emergency preparedness. And then where
[37:01] does that intersect with the city of a Rinda. I'll
[37:06] begin with the youth ride free pilot. So again, trying
[37:11] to find ways to get more of our youth into
[37:15] county connection has really been something that is very important
[37:18] to staff. And it's for a couple of reasons. One,
[37:22] there's just a benefit to society as a whole. But
[37:25] secondly, and I think about my own children who became
[37:29] lifelong transit users wherever they are. This is how you
[37:33] create and train that lifelong transit user. So in 2025,
[37:40] we created the youth ride free just for the summer
[37:43] months. And that's just June and July. And the idea
[37:48] was to remove barriers for the youth to ride public
[37:52] transit. So there isn't a pass. There isn't a fair.
[37:56] They don't have to say anything or prove anything. If
[37:59] you're 18 or under, you just get on and ride
[38:01] and it doesn't matter where you are within the county
[38:04] connection service area. The thing that was stunning about that
[38:08] program from 2024 to 2025, we saw a 1600 percent
[38:15] increase in youth writership. We were shocked. It, it far
[38:21] exceeded our expectations. So we did it again in 2025
[38:25] this last summer. And even this last summer, we saw
[38:29] a 15. 6 percent increase over last summer. So that's
[38:33] on top of that 1600 percent increase So this program
[38:37] has been wildly successful. Staff is currently working on how
[38:43] can we extend this program into the school year, even
[38:47] more importantly, is our way we can make this program
[38:51] permanent and year round. Toward that end, we're in talks
[38:55] with two CTA looking to see if there is an
[38:57] opportunity to maybe include it into the TEP and fund
[39:01] youth writership for the next 30 years. That would be
[39:04] a dream. I think it would have a profound impact
[39:07] not only on the service area across all the cities
[39:10] we serve, but certainly in the city of Orinda. I'd
[39:17] like to move on and talk a little bit more
[39:19] specifically about, um, emergency preparedness. Couple of things here that
[39:26] are important to be aware of number one county connection
[39:30] actually serves on the county's EOC. We actually have a
[39:34] seat in the county EOC. And so if there is
[39:38] a major emergency anywhere within the county or even beyond
[39:42] because we are called for mutual aid by MTC to
[39:46] help the Bay Area as a whole in the case
[39:49] there is an emergency. However, outside of that and more
[39:54] specifically county connection does provide more focus support for the
[39:59] members, um, in our JPA. We have done that with
[40:04] a Rinda quite extensively. Going back in time, one of
[40:08] the first ones that I can remember, you may recall,
[40:11] I think it was in the winter of 2017. There
[40:14] was a sinkhole by the bridge on minor road. County
[40:18] connection had to redesign and rework all of our routes
[40:22] that serve the youth up there, getting them to OIS,
[40:26] Miramani and back. It was profoundly important for us that
[40:30] we were part of the solution, not part of the
[40:33] problem. And so my staff worked with your staff for
[40:37] quite a long time and making sure that that program
[40:40] was a success. A little bit later, um, coming up
[40:44] on last year, county connection staff also worked with a
[40:48] Rinda staff in developing an evacuation plan and routes for
[40:53] sleepy hollow elementary. It's up in a remote area, as
[40:57] you well know. It's difficult to get to. And it
[41:01] was really important to the city of a renda to
[41:04] make sure that there was a plan in place. And
[41:07] so we actually brought 40 foot buses and drove them
[41:11] all over up in the hills, making sure that we've
[41:14] plotted out all the best routes, have them documented just
[41:18] in case something like that is actually needed. So we
[41:22] do put a lot of thought and a lot of
[41:24] effort into that. There's nothing like actually performing though, um,
[41:33] a mitigation to some emergency for being prepared for the
[41:36] bigger one. And so I like to bring this example
[41:40] out. County connection actually performs on average about 12 bus
[41:45] bridges for part a year. Now sometimes they are planned
[41:50] for maintenance and improvements, but more often than not, they're
[41:55] an emergency. The system is going down. A tree falls
[41:58] on it. Electricity goes out. You name it. There's a
[42:01] derailment. There are dozens of reasons of why this happens.
[42:05] And then county connection has to immediately deploy plan, figure
[42:10] out the routes and figure out which stations we're connecting
[42:13] to, to move those part passengers. This is been really,
[42:20] in a way, a phenomenal experience. It keeps us prepared
[42:24] in the event that there is actually an emergency. We
[42:27] now have all through every single year multiple times figuring
[42:33] out how to peel buses off of existing routes to
[42:36] deploy them very quickly. And we can do pretty large,
[42:40] um, disasters. Here's an example that I go back to
[42:44] in 2014. I think it was December 30th. There was
[42:48] a Bart derailment at Concord Bart on Friday afternoon at
[42:52] 505. Nothing could be worse in terms of time of
[42:56] day, which day and where within a few minutes, there
[43:02] were about 8, 000 people milling around Pleasant Hill Bart.
[43:07] We immediately deployed a Bart bus bridge. We had to
[43:10] get them on down the line to conquered North Concord
[43:14] and Pittsburgh Baypoint. And we peeled off buses off of
[43:19] existing routes that were adjacent to that area. And we
[43:22] were able to respond in less than 15 minutes and
[43:25] get passengers moving. Of course, more trains kept coming in,
[43:30] discouraging more passengers. It very quickly overwhelmed our system. I
[43:34] think I devoted 29 buses to that bus bridge at
[43:38] the end of the day. I called in AC transit,
[43:41] tried it. And we even use our paratransi buses. And
[43:45] we ran all night long moving passengers to mitigate that
[43:50] emergency. So we really do have a lot of experience.
[43:54] And we really feel in our hearts that is a
[43:57] very important role that we must play in supporting our
[44:02] members. Okay. Moving on to something entirely different. Um. We
[44:12] really believe that we are here as a support to
[44:15] our member jurisdictions. And this is more of a reminder
[44:20] as you are working on different street projects, potential new
[44:24] developments moving forward. Um, whatever it might be, we're here
[44:29] to be supportive and helpful. We can respond in very
[44:33] creative ways to ensure that we're not getting in your
[44:36] way and want you to know that we're a partner
[44:40] in the projects that you have and we want to
[44:43] help you meet your goals. To that end, the sooner
[44:47] you let us know about what you have, the better
[44:49] we're able to help you out and then make sure
[44:52] that we don't get in your way. Our 40 foot
[44:55] buses do take up a lot of room and they
[44:58] can get in the way. And we have with other
[45:00] member jurisdictions. We haven't interinda. We have a great relationship
[45:05] and I want to thank you for that. I put
[45:07] one more bullet up there only because it seems like
[45:11] every jurisdiction I go to and address this question comes
[45:15] up. So I'm just being preemptive. Um, as you know,
[45:20] the state now has a lot of news zoning rules.
[45:24] And if you have 15 minute service or better, then
[45:29] generates a whole host of new, um, issues that the
[45:33] city has to deal with. We don't have that service
[45:36] here. You don't have to worry about it. I just
[45:39] figured I'd, I, I'd answer the question before you ever
[45:42] even asked it. And then finally, and perhaps most importantly,
[45:49] I did want to spend a few minutes talking about
[45:51] the Connect Bay area Act. As I am sure you
[45:55] all are aware, many of the regional transit operators in
[45:59] the Bay Area are facing a rather profound fiscal cliff.
[46:04] County connection is also, um, facing some fiscal struggles. We
[46:10] have a six million dollar deficit 367 million dollar deficit.
[46:24] But our six million dollar deficit does result in our
[46:28] having to take, um, steps to mitigate. So in April
[46:34] of this year, our board did adopt an alternative service
[46:39] plan that will reduce our service provided to all the
[46:42] communities we serve by 22 percent. So it is important
[46:47] to know and understand that without another influx of revenue,
[46:54] uh, the, the transit agencies within the Bay Area, we
[46:58] will be reducing our service. Each one of the providers
[47:02] that I just talked about, BART, Muni Caltrain, AC transit,
[47:06] they all have alternative service plans that will result in
[47:10] significant service reductions. Um, if this particular measure were to
[47:16] pass, it would represent the greatest influx of revenue county
[47:20] connection is seen in over 30 years. And certainly would
[47:24] prevent the planned service reductions that we have in place
[47:28] today. I know that was quick. It was really difficult
[47:34] to figure what to talk about and what had to
[47:38] go to the editing floor. But I do think you
[47:41] for the opportunity to give you a little bit of
[47:43] a snapshot of what's going on in our house and
[47:46] how we impact you. And I am happy to answer
[47:49] any questions you might have for me. Thank you. Um,
[47:54] I think we'll start with council questions. We might see
[47:56] if the, I don't have any speaker cards who might,
[47:58] um, then see if the public wants to speak and
[48:00] then bring it back for any final comments questions. Um,
[48:03] would anyone like to start. Thank you so much for
[48:11] that presentation. Um, I think with the regional transit measure
[48:15] approaching its real interest to our residents. And, you know,
[48:22] the critical infrastructure that transportation provides and understanding how county
[48:28] connection fits into that, um, with BART and areinda is
[48:31] really helpful. Um, I had a couple of questions about
[48:34] one of the slides that you showed us about route
[48:38] six showed us the 91, 000, uh, something, uh, plus.
[48:46] Individuals. Yes. So is that I just want to make
[48:49] sure I understood it. Is the 91, 000, does that
[48:54] in addition to the number of trips in addition to
[48:58] all the students or are the students so that is
[49:03] just for the route six, which is the primary fixed
[49:06] route service that goes through your community. Then look at
[49:10] the line. So it's each route. And then I gave
[49:13] the writership. So for example, you can see how important
[49:17] OIS in Miramani is and the, and the massive volume
[49:21] of kids that we take to those two schools. Okay.
[49:25] That makes sense. And then in that case, that's what
[49:28] I thought you were saying, but I just wanted to
[49:29] clarify in that case, can you tell us a little
[49:31] bit about you've told us about, you know, um, of
[49:35] course, the pair of transit. Um, which is separate, but
[49:40] who, who are the writers on route six in a
[49:43] Rinda or, or on route six? So the routes? The
[49:46] demographics. I just think it's, it's helpful to me when
[49:49] people say, what is counting connection due to be able
[49:51] to talk about who rides it as well? So the
[49:55] route six is a mix. And it's neat when you
[49:59] look at it because you can almost segment it out.
[50:04] And see different demographics. For example, you can see down
[50:09] in Maraga, there's that little spur that goes out to
[50:12] St. Mary's. So there is a fairly hefty number of
[50:16] college students that are coming into Lafayette Bart getting onto
[50:20] the six and then using it to go to college.
[50:23] There are still quite a few students actually on the
[50:26] route six. Um, in addition to what you saw on
[50:29] those, um, school routes, because there isn't the same dedicated
[50:34] school route to, um, Kempalindo. So the route six goes
[50:41] right adjacent to that high school. And so it tends
[50:44] to attract quite a few students on that as well.
[50:48] We do get a fairly significant commute group that's going
[50:53] from eroga towards a rindebart. So that's a different mix.
[50:58] All these people, um, they don't sometimes necessarily intersect because
[51:03] a bus can leave lafayette art. Go to st mary's
[51:06] drop off all the students. Plus, you know, they've dropped
[51:09] them off to Campbellindo by then. They've gotten to St.
[51:11] Mary's. Then they come around that horn, if you will,
[51:15] at that corner in Maraga. And they're, the bus is
[51:17] nearly empty. And then you start picking up commuters. And
[51:20] those commuters are on their way up to a Rinde
[51:23] bar. When the bus returns from a Rindabart, and this
[51:26] is interesting, you will see individuals that have come in
[51:30] from conquered. And they are, um, service workers that are
[51:35] going out to homes to clean homes. And so it
[51:40] really is an interesting mix of individuals that are on
[51:44] it. I'm not sure that there's, um, any one specific
[51:49] overwhelming demographic. Maybe my staff would know. On there. We
[51:58] want to make a state. We can let it's a
[52:08] real interesting mix. I don't know if that helps. Yeah.
[52:12] No, I think that it is very interesting and helpful
[52:15] to know. Thank you. Uh, thank you very much. I
[52:20] really enjoyed that. It's really is important to know how
[52:23] well you're connecting with, um, Bart and other things. Um,
[52:27] I know anecdotally family uses, uh, county connection from Moraga
[52:32] to Rinde Bart. And they talk about how timely everything
[52:37] is and how reliable it is, um, and I was
[52:41] just wondering if that's just their experience or do you
[52:43] have, um, information about their data, supporting that as well,
[52:47] that timeliness is really a critical mark for you as
[52:51] well. So, you know, again, thinking about what to present
[52:55] to the, I get to ask you guys questions. Such
[52:59] a depth and breadth of things I could bring. I
[53:02] could go on for days and then you'd really hate
[53:03] me and want me out. So, um, timeliness is profoundly
[53:08] important, especially not leaving a stop early. We call that
[53:14] one of the seven deadly sins. Because if you leave
[53:17] a stop early and then somebody walks up to it
[53:19] and they're looking at their schedule and they're thinking the
[53:22] bus is going to come and it never does that,
[53:25] that actually completely, even on a psychological level, undermines your
[53:31] ability to rely on the service. So on time performance
[53:35] is profoundly important. We invest a lot of money in
[53:39] the past in the technology on the buses. So every,
[53:43] in fact, county connection was the second, um, public transit
[53:48] agency in the United States to be mid 90s. So
[53:57] doing that allows the dispatchers to know where any given
[54:01] bus is at any given time. And, and then they
[54:06] can see, uh - oh, that bus is running down.
[54:09] They're a little behind schedule. They can communicate with them
[54:11] directly and get them back on. So it is profoundly
[54:16] important thing for us. The other thing, and you mentioned
[54:18] this, and I didn't mention this earlier, our connection to
[54:22] the regional system is also rather significant. I think we
[54:26] have one route, one particular trip in one route that
[54:31] does not touch bark. and are connected to the BART
[54:38] stations. So that is providing, you know, our communities at
[54:42] flexibility to get to the regional system and get out
[54:45] of our city and go somewhere else in the Bay
[54:47] Area if they need to. Can I just make a
[54:52] comment on the timeliness? For those of you that don't
[54:54] live with transit nerds, uh, your Apple phone, everybody's Apple
[54:58] phone, when you're going somewhere, you use the, you know,
[55:01] the car, walk, transit. It will tell you how to
[55:06] get, you know, what bus to take to the BART
[55:09] or whatever other train you're taking. It will tell you
[55:11] exactly where the bus stop is, what minute it's arriving,
[55:15] even if it's off schedule, what side of the street
[55:18] it's on. You can go to a strange city and
[55:20] get around by bus. So when buses run on time
[55:24] and your phone tells you exactly when to take it,
[55:27] it takes so many of those obstacles to ridership out.
[55:31] And so I just want to compliment, y'all, it's great
[55:34] fun. If you haven't tried it. Other questions, I'm sorry
[55:37] to jump in with that, but it's exciting when you
[55:39] do it. I was just going to ask about the,
[55:45] um, buses themselves. I know sometimes they get very crowded,
[55:50] um, particularly the youth roots, the OIS and Marymani roots,
[55:54] um, I assume you're limited only by the number of
[55:57] people you can fit in or do writers have to
[56:00] actually sit in seats like on the school bus? No.
[56:04] In a school bus and this is under federal law.
[56:08] They cannot stand. They must sit in public transit standing
[56:13] is allowed. And so yes, to Miramani and OIS, it's
[56:19] not uncommon to see 57, even 60 passengers on, on
[56:24] a single bus. So we do, we really do PAC
[56:27] them in. In certain areas, there are areas in Concord
[56:31] conquered probably generates the most ridership in the entire service
[56:34] area. They are just absolutely jam - packed. And is
[56:40] there any move towards electric buses? I know it's a
[56:43] bit of an issue with goals. So county connection is
[56:48] an early adopter. We are one of the first transit
[56:51] agencies. We have eight electric buses. They are inductively charged.
[56:58] That means they don't get plugged in. You drive the
[57:02] bus over a plate and kind of like your toothbrush
[57:05] and the cradle. It charges the bus. It is the
[57:09] first fleet of inductively charged transit buses in the United
[57:12] States. And we deployed them here. So. I would say
[57:17] it was a successful project, but we have gone through
[57:20] a lot of pain in learning how to work with
[57:23] zero emission technology. And while I think it is a
[57:26] perfect application in a small vehicle, in a car, it
[57:31] has not yet been perfected in a heavy duty vehicle.
[57:34] And they are still working on it. Um, we do
[57:38] still believe that that will be the long - term
[57:41] future. But the bus manufacturers just aren't there. To give
[57:46] you an idea, I get about 400 miles to the
[57:50] range of, of a standard diesel bus. And an electric
[57:55] bus, you might get 150 160 miles. When we put
[58:00] a bus out on the road, it will go out
[58:03] at five in the morning. It may not come back
[58:05] until 1130 at night. And so we can often travel
[58:10] well over 200 miles. And so over 50 percent of
[58:15] the trips that we have out in the field cannot
[58:18] be done with current electric bus technology. So it's a
[58:22] challenge for us in figuring that out, not just for
[58:25] us, the industry as a whole. And we have a
[58:28] mandate by the state of California called the ICT regulation
[58:32] to start converting all of our vehicles to zero emission
[58:35] vehicles. But the technology is not a hundred percent there
[58:40] because we're early adopters. We have an exemption and we
[58:43] do not have to start purchasing more. At least right
[58:47] now until 2029. Thank you. Oh, so I talk a
[58:56] lot about diesel. We actually don't burn diesel. So, um,
[59:03] it's, it's called, um, renewable diesel, but it's really a
[59:07] misnomer. It is a nonpetroleum non - carbon fuel. And
[59:12] it's made up of vegetable and animal renderings. Uh, the
[59:16] thing about that, that's really important is it's a mission
[59:19] profile is much lower than even the cleanest diesel out
[59:23] there. The other thing I didn't mention, county connection has
[59:27] the largest supply of this diesel fuel in contracosta county
[59:33] outside of a refinery. We do that because again, we're
[59:37] part of that emergency preparedness. And so if there is
[59:40] a massive or a major, um, disaster, and we start
[59:45] running out of diesel for our fire engines, or it
[59:48] might be other large equipment like bulldozers, county connection is
[59:52] the designated fuel source for all the fire departments within
[59:57] contracosta to go to to get that fuel. Now I'm
[1:00:00] really piecemealing things together. Um, I have one question, you
[1:00:05] know, when you look at the map that you serve
[1:00:07] in a renda, our biggest problem is that a topographical
[1:00:10] map looks very different. And your routes look like a
[1:00:13] valley floor with all the homes, not anywhere near the
[1:00:16] bus stops. Um, and our biggest problem with getting ridership
[1:00:20] on bard and commuters and getting traffic under control is
[1:00:23] that, you know, last mile or last four blocks straight
[1:00:27] up a hill gap. Uh, is there anything in terms
[1:00:30] of, uh, you know, shuttles bus sizes, anything that can
[1:00:34] be done to broaden the reach of your routes. Yes.
[1:00:39] And it is something that we have thought a lot
[1:00:42] about. And we spent quite a bit of time experimenting
[1:00:45] with this in other member jurisdictions. We do have and
[1:00:50] have experimented with microtransit. So we did a microtransit program
[1:00:55] in the city Martinez. We have a partnership with Lyft
[1:00:59] and Uber in San Ramon. We also have a microtransit
[1:01:04] program to a particular community in Danville. These are things
[1:01:08] that we are of course willing to explore. We've got
[1:01:11] quite a bit of knowledge. There's a little bit of
[1:01:14] danger with microtransit that you got to be careful. Because
[1:01:18] as it expands and becomes super popular, you can only
[1:01:21] add a few people to that vehicle and then suddenly
[1:01:24] you have to add another vehicle. That means you're adding
[1:01:26] another driver. And then that's where the money comes in.
[1:01:29] So we are interested in exploring microtransit opportunities. In particular,
[1:01:36] the Maraga and Rinda area given right now the condition
[1:01:41] that we're in with a six million dollar deficit. We're
[1:01:45] not in a position to be able to look at
[1:01:47] expansion. We're currently looking at contraction. So I don't know
[1:01:54] if that helps. At least that lets you know where
[1:01:57] you understand Tim Hale at CCTA is always talking about,
[1:02:01] you know, uh, thinking down the chess board about, uh,
[1:02:06] transportation technologies in ways that we can innovate. And I
[1:02:09] didn't know where county connection was thinking. It's role might
[1:02:12] be. But I know, Ohrenda really has an adoption constraint
[1:02:15] with the fact that you've got a walk up a
[1:02:18] big hill to pretty much any home, uh, in our
[1:02:21] city. But the, the student program is amazing. And I,
[1:02:24] uh, just can't say enough good things. And I'm glad
[1:02:26] Amy worth is here because the, the fact that the
[1:02:28] buses go to the library, the library's open late for
[1:02:31] working parents. It is a Godsend that the kids can
[1:02:34] get where they need to go. And the parents don't
[1:02:36] need to be. Driving them around at three o'clock. So
[1:02:39] that's, uh, huge kudos to your whole program. I really
[1:02:44] appreciate those comments. And I also appreciate the comments about
[1:02:47] the discussions with Tim Hale. We tend to be a
[1:02:51] very forward thinking creatively deployed service, especially as I look
[1:02:56] at my colleagues. We did work with Tim Hill at
[1:03:00] two CTA. We deployed a autonomous microtransit program in the
[1:03:06] city of Martinez. It is now this sounds, this is
[1:03:10] another misnomer in contrast county. It's not legal to have
[1:03:15] an autonomous vehicle without somebody behind the wheel. So we
[1:03:19] had to deploy somebody behind that wheel on our autonomous
[1:03:22] shuttle experiment, but we were the, we are the only
[1:03:27] transit agency in the United States that did that with,
[1:03:30] um, labor in a union. So, you know, we were
[1:03:36] experimenting. We're experimenting with autonomous vehicles. We're experimenting with microtransit.
[1:03:42] We're trying to anticipate what the needs of our communities
[1:03:45] are into the future and make sure that we're right
[1:03:48] sizing what we, what we provide. And I don't think
[1:03:52] it's always going to, we'll never be static. It's always
[1:03:55] going to be a mix of different vehicle types, styles,
[1:04:00] and even powertrains. Thank you. Are there any other questions?
[1:04:04] I've been sort of jumping in here. Just spoke about
[1:04:09] the interconnectedness of, um, county connection and BART. Right. And
[1:04:15] so as we're looking at the regional transportation measure, because
[1:04:19] you said that there's an alternate service plan that the
[1:04:21] board adopted that talked about 22 percent cuts, county connection.
[1:04:27] But given, you know, we've, we've also all got a
[1:04:30] presentation from BART and heard about, um, and the range
[1:04:36] of, of things that could happen if, if the measure
[1:04:39] doesn't succeed. What, what really are we looking at, um,
[1:04:44] in a Rinda for, you know, just can you talk
[1:04:48] a little bit about that? Because I do get a
[1:04:50] lot of questions about it. And I want to be
[1:04:51] able to, to respond with as much knowledge available. Really
[1:04:57] challenging the answer to that. It's the future is opaque.
[1:05:01] We don't know. But let's assume the measure does not
[1:05:05] pass. Um, of course you all have seen that one
[1:05:09] of Bart's initial plans was to eliminate the areindibart station.
[1:05:14] The Rindo Bart station is profoundly important on a number
[1:05:18] of levels. Number one, that is the major collection center
[1:05:21] that we use for getting students to OIS and marimani.
[1:05:28] Secondly, it is the big transfer point for our paratransit
[1:05:33] writers between all the small East Bay writers. And, um,
[1:05:38] East Bay pair transit. Wow. That, that sounded strange. So
[1:05:41] the county connection Try Delta laughed a writers. The transfer
[1:05:46] point into Oakland Berkeley, Fremont, what that inner East Bay,
[1:05:52] it's a renda bar. So it is a pivotal thing.
[1:05:56] And I think if we don't pass, there needs to
[1:05:59] be a lot of work advocating to prevent the closure
[1:06:04] of a Rinder bart. I think it is more important
[1:06:08] to move that upstream, if that makes sense. For county
[1:06:12] connection with our plan that we've already put into place,
[1:06:16] one of the things that staff was looking at because
[1:06:19] it was an easy way to save money. It's more
[1:06:22] expensive hour to provide those school bus services than it
[1:06:27] is to provide the core route. Part of that is
[1:06:31] because you're bringing service in just for a short period
[1:06:35] of time. You're taking it out. And then you're bringing
[1:06:38] it back again in the afternoon. That's why school bus
[1:06:41] service is so expensive. Their bus is cost the same.
[1:06:45] They can only hire part - time operators because they
[1:06:49] can only provide so many hours of service. We actually
[1:06:52] proposed removing school bus service because we could move, remove
[1:06:56] less service to get to the financial dollars that we
[1:06:59] needed. Our board was not going to have anything to
[1:07:04] do with that. So the school services in the city
[1:07:12] of Orinda. It's more focused on the core service on
[1:07:15] the route six. So when we move through these hard
[1:07:20] times and maybe the current 22 percent plan isn't going
[1:07:25] to be the right level, we will not change that
[1:07:29] without working very closely with our member jurisdictions to know
[1:07:33] and understand what's important to you to be sure that
[1:07:36] we are characterizing that in the best way possible for
[1:07:41] your city. So we've already kind of been there a
[1:07:44] little bit. You're representative Amy prevented any cuts to service
[1:07:49] in that 22 percent service plan. Does that help? It
[1:07:54] does. Yeah. And I mean, I think what you've painted
[1:07:56] is a real web of interconnectedness throughout our whole transit
[1:08:00] system, right? That our residents rely on. So in the
[1:08:05] llama region, as a region, right? We are all interconnected.
[1:08:10] Bart really can't survive without us. Um, all the small
[1:08:13] operators collectively are bringing just in the East Bay alone
[1:08:17] about six million writers to Bart a year. That represents
[1:08:21] a huge volume of revenue for them. If that were
[1:08:25] to disappear and go away, Bart's whole would be just
[1:08:28] that much greater. So we are interdependent on each other
[1:08:33] and the system has to work kind of ink. It's
[1:08:36] a carpet or a fabric of mobility, if you will.
[1:08:41] When you think about it, the, the, the bus operators,
[1:08:44] the rail operators, we connect Amtrak to BART A strain
[1:08:49] to BART. It's all one big woven fabric. And I
[1:08:52] think everything has its place, including the microtransits, the Wemos
[1:08:58] that we don't control. The Uber and the Lyft, you
[1:09:01] need all those various pieces and components working together to
[1:09:05] make the whole system work effectively. Right. And demand increases
[1:09:09] on one if one piece is. Thank you. You either
[1:09:15] comments or questions. Please. Well, I just really want to
[1:09:20] thank you for being here. I think what you're sharing,
[1:09:23] I hope can be effectively communicated in the next couple
[1:09:27] of months because what you, what counting connection means to,
[1:09:31] are Rinda is profound. And I'm glad, um, that you
[1:09:34] were able to share that tonight. I'm also very happy
[1:09:37] that I get to work with all of you and
[1:09:41] your staff a little more than my colleagues do. And
[1:09:44] that I'm a little over informed. Um, so I didn't
[1:09:47] have as many questions, but I, I do think it's
[1:09:50] so important what you're doing for our community. And I
[1:09:53] just really want to thank you and the staff for
[1:09:55] coming tonight to share that because, um, we often, it's
[1:09:59] easy for a community to forget about things, especially if
[1:10:02] you're not the immediate user. So I think, uh, you
[1:10:05] know, we have a lot of community members that really,
[1:10:09] um, would appreciate knowing how much, um, you know, you're
[1:10:14] contributing to our, our families, our kids. I think it's
[1:10:18] really important. So I just really want to thank you
[1:10:20] for being here. Thank you. I, I appreciate the comments.
[1:10:24] And I have so enjoyed working with you, really looking
[1:10:27] forward to strengthening our partnership as we move forward. There's
[1:10:31] a lot of opportunities. I think despite, you know, the,
[1:10:35] the little bit of opaqueness that we have in the
[1:10:38] future, I have high hopes that things are going to
[1:10:40] work well. And then that just really catapults us into
[1:10:44] being able to work together in the future and even
[1:10:47] stronger ways. So thank you. And thank you. Uh, Vice
[1:10:52] Mayor G said pretty much everything I was going to
[1:10:53] say. It's the traffic is back going into the city,
[1:10:56] getting around Orinda. And I'm so glad people can hear
[1:11:00] and understand what a vital part of our cities functioning
[1:11:03] county connection is. And I hope we hear from you
[1:11:05] not just when you're on the ballot, but from time
[1:11:07] to time, because this was incredibly informative. Thank you. Thank
[1:11:10] you for your time. Thank you for your invitation. Oh,
[1:11:15] I'm sorry. Is there any public comment? This was a
[1:11:17] big topic. All right. Seeing none. Um, I think we
[1:11:22] commented a lot. So thank you. Um, and that we
[1:11:28] have just now finished items for the good of the
[1:11:30] city. And we will move on to public forum. I
[1:11:33] don't have any speaker cards for public forums. So I
[1:11:35] would ask if there's, uh, anyone in the audience who
[1:11:38] would like to speak, um, or anyone on Zoom tonight.
[1:11:42] We have five members of the public on Zoom, but
[1:11:44] no one has raised their hand. Okay, I'll give it
[1:11:47] just a moment. Uh, and it looks like no one
[1:11:49] for public forum. So we'll move on to council member
[1:11:52] reports, uh, followed by city managers report. Um, I think
[1:11:55] I'll start this direction with council member Riley. Cold calling
[1:11:59] you. Yep. Okay. So I can go get, you know
[1:12:09] what? I'm okay. I'm okay. Um. Last week, I think
[1:12:14] it was, uh, went to recycle smart monthly meeting. And
[1:12:19] there was a big, uh, there every month there's a
[1:12:23] lot about implementing the new franchise agreement, which starts in
[1:12:26] March. And just as an overview, there are going to
[1:12:30] be more routes. It sounds like we were just talking
[1:12:33] about buses, but now we're on garbage trucks. More routes,
[1:12:36] more drivers, more trucks, more training. Um, and they're going
[1:12:41] to change the routes. And we are expecting 20, 000
[1:12:48] households to get a new route. So any one of
[1:12:50] us could get a new route and they'll be, um,
[1:12:53] figuring that out and letting us know, um, with plenty
[1:12:56] of notice, I hope. Um, the other big thing, darling,
[1:13:00] I was going to mention was the, um, uh, November
[1:13:04] one. They're going to start charging for the first time.
[1:13:06] It's always been in the contract, but it's the first
[1:13:08] time they're going to charge for your black can being,
[1:13:13] uh, extensively overflowing. If it's just, you know, like this
[1:13:18] much over jar above that seam, if it's just open
[1:13:23] a little, they're going to turn a blind eye. But
[1:13:26] if it's a huge black bag that's sitting on top,
[1:13:30] they'll take a picture from the truck. And then they'll
[1:13:33] charge you 10 dollars. Every time you do that. Um,
[1:13:38] and for the next month or two, you'll get a
[1:13:40] warning and then starting November one, you'll be charged. That's
[1:13:44] the news from recycle smart. So don't do that. If
[1:13:48] you, if you don't want to, um, um, put it
[1:13:52] on top if you want to instead put it next
[1:13:56] to the can. That's fine. That is also 10 dollars.
[1:14:00] So it's the same thing if you try to cram
[1:14:01] it in or you just put it next to it.
[1:14:05] Okay. And then we, uh, a lot of kind of
[1:14:08] I went to the two by two school committee deal
[1:14:11] the other night. And we had updates on the Ivy
[1:14:15] drive situation. Uh, how all that's flowing from SIVA and
[1:14:21] Linda. And we heard from Officer Taya who and other
[1:14:29] officers who have had a higher presence in the area.
[1:14:32] They pulled people over and talked to him about taking
[1:14:35] the illegal left turn, giving them warnings. Um. And I
[1:14:41] don't know if they actually have ticketed at anyone yet,
[1:14:43] but I don't think they met that, mentioned that, but
[1:14:45] they are trying to educate people about it. And it
[1:14:48] seems like, uh, a lot of people still are learning.
[1:14:52] They think that timing of the lights is doing a
[1:14:54] good job, except that the problem at the Del Rey
[1:15:00] area, that that is still impacted, um, the solutions don't
[1:15:04] seem to be, uh, there. And I think we're just
[1:15:07] probably always going to have something little challenging. Maybe we'll
[1:15:12] keep making small tweaks, but we're always going to have
[1:15:15] some problems somewhere that kids walking to Del Rey still
[1:15:19] seem to be a problem. The lights are a problem
[1:15:22] there. Just, that's life driving to school. And you should
[1:15:25] be taking your bus, right? Um, what else did we
[1:15:28] talk about. We heard about the summer construction at Wagner
[1:15:38] and Sleepy and OIS. Those three schools were closed all
[1:15:42] summer and they finished up all the construction that involved
[1:15:46] new ceilings, new windows, new paint. And so they're using
[1:15:52] up all of the bond money. With those three places.
[1:15:58] That's all I can remember. Anything else popping up. Thank
[1:16:00] you covered most of it just a real. Oh yeah.
[1:16:06] The big parent night thing. Yeah. You want to go
[1:16:08] do that. So there's going to be, um, a parent
[1:16:13] education night. And on October 15th, and they're also going
[1:16:20] to talk a lot about, you know, e - bikes
[1:16:24] and e - bike safety and officer Talia seems to
[1:16:28] be very well received by our schools. And, um, had
[1:16:33] a real presence there. There's the, and, and they were
[1:16:36] really appreciative of all the enforcement too and having, having
[1:16:40] a strong presence of our local police. So I think
[1:16:43] our community policing, the way we're doing it is, is
[1:16:46] really sitting well with our schools. Um. And with the
[1:16:53] signal timing, the one thing that stuck out in my
[1:16:55] mind was there was, there was a lot of concern
[1:16:57] about how going from IV onto crossing Morag away to
[1:17:06] get to Mirmani in the morning. That traffic signal was
[1:17:11] as taking a very long time. And we explained that
[1:17:14] was intentional because we were really trying to direct traffic
[1:17:17] along Morag away. And so we had a pretty long
[1:17:20] discussion about that. Um, I'm only going to mention this
[1:17:23] cause we had gotten, you know, there was, there was
[1:17:25] some discussion about, well, if we changed the timing of
[1:17:29] the no left turn to start at 7 30, would
[1:17:33] that solve the problem for the teachers and the superintendent
[1:17:35] thought no. That wouldn't solve the problem because they don't
[1:17:38] usually get there till after 730. So, and I only
[1:17:41] mentioned that cause I know we, we see that in
[1:17:44] comments from time to time, right. Do we it's currently
[1:17:47] no left turn from seven, eight. If it moved to
[1:17:50] being 730 to eight, would that solve the problem for
[1:17:52] teachers who want to go left? Um, but that continues
[1:17:55] to be something that, you know, that would not have
[1:17:59] solved the problem. Was it feedback from the superintendent? And
[1:18:02] the only other thing I have in my notes is
[1:18:04] that we, um, there was a discussion about field maintenance
[1:18:08] and we are getting a new, we're bidding out for
[1:18:10] a new maintenance contractor, um, on that. Um, and then.
[1:18:17] I think that was it. We're going to, there'll be
[1:18:20] a and we're working, I think to get any crossing
[1:18:22] guard, um, which they've requested at the meeting. So there
[1:18:26] we go. Yes. I want to do questions. Uh, Krossing
[1:18:29] guard for, uh, an additional one at one of the
[1:18:31] elementaries are adding to OAS to OI. OIS. I think
[1:18:34] our. Yes. So they will be paying for fully paying
[1:18:38] for crossing guard at OAS. That's great. Um, I would
[1:18:42] love to learn, uh, what you guys heard at the
[1:18:46] two by two. Is there some sort of staff report
[1:18:48] that I could just read or should I just follow
[1:18:49] up directly for maybe a one - on - one
[1:18:51] with somebody who's closer to the topic. Maybe you can
[1:18:54] talk to me more about it. Sorry. I look forward
[1:18:58] to it. Yeah. It's just, it's such a hot topic.
[1:19:01] And I think such a live one. So I look
[1:19:03] forward to that. Thank you. Our next meeting is in
[1:19:06] November and we expect to be talking about the fields
[1:19:09] and get more of an update on the nature area.
[1:19:12] That wonderful. Wonderful. Um, thank you. Rich topics. Um, let's
[1:19:18] see. Why don't you keep going, Council Member Markhani? I
[1:19:21] think I. That's sort of the only thing that I
[1:19:24] think Council Member Riley talked about it. Oh, hey, great.
[1:19:29] Councilmember Huxley anything. So, um, we had a first meeting
[1:19:34] of the Lambert school bus transportation authority for the start
[1:19:38] of school and the buses are all rolling. There were
[1:19:42] some issues with the paving project and the buses, um,
[1:19:46] so in the future, we're going to either need to
[1:19:49] try to get the paving projects done before school starts,
[1:19:52] which would be ideal or better communication with the bus
[1:19:55] company so that, um, the paving doesn't stop the buses
[1:20:00] from picking up students in the morning or bringing them
[1:20:02] home in the afternoon. So there were a few glitches
[1:20:05] there, but I think those have been overcome and our
[1:20:07] city manager came up with some great solutions very promptly
[1:20:11] to help, um, alleviate that situation. Uh, good news. The
[1:20:16] LSBTA approved an additional route for wilder students, uh, that
[1:20:21] will start next year, not this year, because the students,
[1:20:25] uh, Wilder who want to go to OIS. And so
[1:20:29] that will be its own route. Right. So that will
[1:20:33] be one more bus for the Rinda area, which is
[1:20:36] great. Um, because we have such high demand and are
[1:20:39] Rinda for the buses. And then the final piece of
[1:20:42] news is they elected me as president of LSBTA this
[1:20:46] next year. So just wanted to share that. Congratulations. Um,
[1:20:50] one question. Did the, do they have a problem with
[1:20:52] route selling out or does it seem that the demand
[1:20:55] supply is in good balance? No, they do have a
[1:20:57] problem with route selling out particularly the routes from, for
[1:21:01] instance, sleepy hell to OIS. You have to get on
[1:21:02] that right away when it comes out and becomes available.
[1:21:06] But they are, you know, always working to balance and
[1:21:08] make sure that they can get as many students on
[1:21:11] the buses. The buses are running very much a capacity.
[1:21:16] So, um, there's, there's demand for the buses. But Jim,
[1:21:21] uh, and wilders up, that's two buses going to three
[1:21:24] now, right? Not is it one best going to two
[1:21:26] or two bus is going to three. It will be
[1:21:29] two buses, but right now it's only one bus. Oh,
[1:21:32] got it. Thank you. Um, and I, the only thing
[1:21:35] I had to add, um, is that are in the
[1:21:37] book celebrated its 50th anniversary, uh, on August 22nd. And
[1:21:42] between that and meeting the Lord's owners at the Chamber
[1:21:45] of Commerce event, I was, uh, just blown away at
[1:21:48] our small business owners and the incredible community we have
[1:21:53] within our local businesses, uh, and it was just a
[1:21:55] really fun reminder of what a great, uh, treasure around
[1:21:58] a books is, uh, and if the council members, I
[1:22:01] will turn it to the city manager. Oh, I'm sorry.
[1:22:04] Vice me, is there anything else? I'm sorry. No, I,
[1:22:06] I'm double checked. I haven't been at any meetings since
[1:22:10] our last council meeting. Honorable may remember the council. I
[1:22:17] think that you are all aware, but, um, SP 922
[1:22:21] was signed by the governor. And that's the preservation of
[1:22:23] the road maintenance fee, uh, for local jurisdictions. So we're
[1:22:28] very happy about that. We have a concert coming up
[1:22:31] this Thursday night. The mixed nuts band is playing from
[1:22:34] six to eight here at the community center in the
[1:22:37] food trucks will also be present for that. I received
[1:22:41] notification from Arinda Community Foundation that they are out looking
[1:22:44] for their citizen of the year and applications are due
[1:22:47] on October 1st. So, um, members of the community, please
[1:22:51] visit the Arinda Community Foundation website and submit your, uh,
[1:22:55] application or nomination for that citizen of the year. We
[1:22:59] had our Hallo Rinda works last Thursday night and it
[1:23:03] was our partners night and we had East Bay mud
[1:23:07] present central sand and republic at the, and apparently it
[1:23:11] was the highest rated event by our member so far.
[1:23:15] So, uh, over public safety, people care more about the
[1:23:20] water and the sewer. And Joe from ETH met is
[1:23:24] here and he was there and said it was a
[1:23:26] great outing for the residents to see everything that goes
[1:23:29] on underneath the ground and behind the scenes, uh, to
[1:23:32] bring water and sewer services and garbage services to people's
[1:23:35] homes. So with that, I will stop there. Thank you.
[1:23:41] The only thing I just want to mention that I
[1:23:44] forgot the safe at scales event. Is going to be
[1:23:47] on October 29th. So everyone put that on your calendar.
[1:23:52] It is going to have a screening of the film
[1:23:56] weathered at the Arrenda Theater, followed by panel discussion. Um,
[1:24:03] that will include Senator Grayson that will include the director
[1:24:08] of the film and the city is a sponsor, um,
[1:24:13] and is involved with that. And the mayor will be
[1:24:15] making introductory comments. I would say only that the average
[1:24:18] person doesn't know what weathered or safe at scale means.
[1:24:21] So if you can just provide a quick. Yeah. It's
[1:24:25] a film. No, it is sort of a takeaway from,
[1:24:29] and stories from the LA wildfires. And, um, the safe
[1:24:34] at scale is just the name of the program, um,
[1:24:37] for that night. And it the idea is that we
[1:24:42] don't act alone when it comes to keeping our community
[1:24:45] safe from wildfire. We must act collectively. And only at
[1:24:50] scale, are we truly safe? So. I think that's some
[1:24:52] of the messaging, but it sounds like it's going to
[1:24:54] be a pretty thoughtful discussion. Yeah. Thank you very much.
[1:24:58] I'll ask if the public comment, um, on any of
[1:25:00] the counselor city manager reports. Not on Zoom, not in
[1:25:05] here. We will move on. I know this has been
[1:25:08] a really long warmup act. I appreciate everybody who's waiting
[1:25:11] for the main event, uh, we will move on to
[1:25:13] the consent calendar. I would ask the city manager. I
[1:25:17] know there were one or two requests to pull items
[1:25:20] from the consent calendar was that I, I too and
[1:25:23] I three only. Yeah. There was a request to pull
[1:25:25] I three. But I remember the public who was not
[1:25:27] present this evening. So I think that choice is up
[1:25:29] to you whether or not you wish to pull that
[1:25:31] for discussion, uh, and then I believe the other one
[1:25:35] was just maybe a quick report on, um, I five,
[1:25:41] which is the East Bay mud, uh, road closure projects.
[1:25:48] Was there another one? Did I missed. I just don't
[1:25:51] remember without going back through the, um, the comments from
[1:25:54] the public, but was I three requested to be pulled
[1:25:56] by anybody? Or it was requested by a member of
[1:25:59] the public who is currently not present at the meeting
[1:26:02] understood. Okay. Um, on that, can I ask the city
[1:26:05] clerk? We have five people on, um, zoomed. Does anybody
[1:26:09] on the Zoom want to speak on any consent calendar
[1:26:12] item. Nobody's raising their hand. Thank you. Uh, city attorney,
[1:26:20] I would love a clarification if somebody makes a written
[1:26:23] request for items to be pulled, but is not here.
[1:26:26] What are the rules on that. All right. So we
[1:26:30] actually updated this rule not that long ago as I
[1:26:33] recall. I'm reading from 3. 3. 2 in your policies
[1:26:38] and procedures manual. So, uh, items on the consent calendar,
[1:26:42] those at the city manager determines are not likely to
[1:26:45] require council discussion, but of course at the meeting, any
[1:26:48] council member who'd like to can pull an item for
[1:26:51] discussion. And then additionally, if any member of the public
[1:26:55] wishes to speak on an item, it will be pulled
[1:26:58] from the consent calendar. Uh, and that once it's pulled,
[1:27:02] the item gets taken up at any time later on
[1:27:05] the agenda. And the reason for the rule that the
[1:27:08] member of the public can pull an item is so
[1:27:11] that they can exercise their right under the brown act
[1:27:14] to speak on any item on the agenda. Thank you
[1:27:18] very much. Uh, with that, I would like to pull
[1:27:21] item I5. That was my request. Just ask a question
[1:27:24] or two. Does anybody else want to pull any items.
[1:27:28] Yeah. I, I would actually like to pull I three.
[1:27:31] I three. So we can comment and I three is
[1:27:34] the same. Okay. So, uh, I will then move that
[1:27:37] we adopt consent calendar items, um, I won, I, two,
[1:27:43] and I four. Do I have a second. Second. All
[1:27:47] in favor. Aye. And with that, uh, we'll go to
[1:27:50] item I three and I will just ask the council
[1:27:54] members who wanted to pull that if they have, uh,
[1:27:55] questions or comments. Uh, one thing that I do the
[1:27:59] reason I wanted to pull it was I, I know
[1:28:02] that there is a fair amount of confusion within the
[1:28:04] community. And I, I received a lot of commentary about
[1:28:09] the sidewalk vendors. And I, I myself over the years
[1:28:14] have been troubled occasionally by some of the situations that
[1:28:18] we've had, um, but I think it's really important for
[1:28:21] our community to understand, um, that what we are acting
[1:28:25] on here and what we are doing is bringing, um,
[1:28:29] bringing ourselves in better compliance with state law and also
[1:28:33] giving ourselves the best opportunity, um, to control, um, this
[1:28:39] issue in our community. But I think the most important
[1:28:42] thing I wanted to be sure to say is that
[1:28:45] we cannot outright ban sidewalk vendors. And that's because of
[1:28:53] state law. It's not, it's not because, um, there might
[1:28:57] not be interest potentially in our own community, but we
[1:29:01] cannot just outright do that. And I, I received a
[1:29:05] lot of commentary about that. So I think it's important
[1:29:08] to make sure that the community understands that the root
[1:29:13] of what this is all about, um, emanates from state
[1:29:16] laws. And if I might, I would just add a
[1:29:21] question I have regarding food safety in sidewalk vendors because
[1:29:25] the one sidewalk vendor I've seen recently was a taco
[1:29:30] stand on the corner near Safeway at night, uh, with
[1:29:35] lights, but I don't understand, um, how that works with
[1:29:40] the contrast food ordinances and what we should do or
[1:29:47] what questions we can ask, you know, if we see
[1:29:50] that or what the city can do to, um, make
[1:29:53] sure that, that vendors and compliance. So I just had
[1:29:57] some questions about that. Thank you. And since I see,
[1:30:01] uh, Cole at the podium, can you help us? Yes.
[1:30:04] So, uh, this ordinance would require that, um, they obtain
[1:30:09] all health and safety, uh, licenses and permits that are
[1:30:13] required from contracostic county, um, we are limited in the,
[1:30:18] uh, penalties that we can assess for that. So we're
[1:30:21] only allowed to do, um, fines, uh, the schedule finds
[1:30:27] that's mandated by the state and it has to be
[1:30:29] proportionate to the, um, violation. Um, and you need to
[1:30:35] have four violations in a one year period before we
[1:30:40] could revoke your permit to be a sidewalk vendor. Um,
[1:30:45] so that is what this ordinance does. And just to
[1:30:49] add on to that, I think if part of the
[1:30:51] question is what do we, what does a person do?
[1:30:54] They could certainly ask to see someone's licensing information, perhaps
[1:30:59] from the county environmental health or from the health department.
[1:31:02] I mean, I think they can request that and they
[1:31:05] could request if they've got their registration with the city,
[1:31:09] um, cause I think we're, our ordinance would require that
[1:31:12] they'd be registered with the city. In a case where
[1:31:15] no one produces that and they would like to report
[1:31:17] them. You can, if it's during the day, we would
[1:31:21] call the public works department. They would go out there
[1:31:23] and enforce, uh, after hours, I would suggest you call
[1:31:27] the non - emergency line. Thank you. It's very helpful.
[1:31:32] Thank you. Uh, any other questions, especially while we've got
[1:31:35] coal up here, uh, to clarify anything, please. Um, as
[1:31:39] a practical matter, can you, uh, help me, um, picture
[1:31:42] where, what sidewalks could take on a sidewalk vendor, given
[1:31:50] that there's got to be four foot. Clearance on the
[1:31:54] sidewalk for people to pass by. So it's a lot
[1:31:58] of sidewalks. Um, I don't have a great answer for
[1:32:02] you because we didn't sort of do an analysis to
[1:32:05] see on like a GIS map or something where exactly
[1:32:08] they would be present. Um, but without that, I would,
[1:32:11] I would say it's most sidewalks. One thing that we,
[1:32:14] um, did do. Okay. What about the village side? I
[1:32:18] don't mean to cut you off, but just that whole
[1:32:19] village side, those sidewalks are narrow. There's no way you
[1:32:22] can have a truck and four feet. Yeah. So they
[1:32:26] have to have that four feet. So it's a case
[1:32:29] by case basis. Right. So if we receive notice that
[1:32:33] someone is breaking that and we'd go out there with
[1:32:36] our measuring tape and see whether or not they have
[1:32:39] those four feet, um, if they do, they're good. If
[1:32:42] not, um, they wouldn't be in compliance. I know as
[1:32:45] you get farther down on the village side, the sidewalks
[1:32:48] seem to get wider. Um, so it varies throughout the
[1:32:53] city. They're typically wider at intersections. So you could recently
[1:32:59] try to see people probably if they were to do
[1:33:02] setup, they would try to go closer to those intersections
[1:33:05] for variety of reasons traffic in the, um, width of
[1:33:09] the sidewalks. And, and if a business, um, has outdoor
[1:33:14] seating. On the sidewalk and has permission. And a vendor
[1:33:19] wants to use that space. They're going to need to
[1:33:20] have space for, they can't override the outdoor seating. That
[1:33:27] exists. And then you need room for a vendor and
[1:33:29] you need room for four feet to walk. I might
[1:33:32] be able to help with that one. Unless cold, do
[1:33:34] you have already answer. Go, go for it. Um, so
[1:33:40] if there's outdoor seating at present, I believe is it
[1:33:43] occurring on private property. Not on the sidewalk. So, uh,
[1:33:49] private property owner does not need to allow one of
[1:33:53] these vendors to operate on their private property. We're only
[1:33:56] talking about the public right of way here. The other
[1:33:59] thing I wanted to point out is that right now,
[1:34:02] because we don't have a compliant ordinance. We don't have
[1:34:07] any regulation of sidewalk vending. So adopting this ordinance will
[1:34:11] give us something we don't currently have, which is the
[1:34:13] ability to enforce rules at all. Um, we are not
[1:34:18] through this ordinance inviting or encouraging sidewalk vending, kind of
[1:34:24] instead setting up real rules for it. I'm sorry. Any
[1:34:31] other comments or questions on this item. By the way,
[1:34:35] those are very helpful questions. I really appreciate those of
[1:34:38] you who, um, pulled it and had given this some
[1:34:40] additional thought. With that, I'll see if we have a
[1:34:44] motion to approve I3. So moved. Second. All in favor.
[1:34:49] Aye. Uh, thank you. And we'll go to item I
[1:34:53] five. Uh, I don't know if others had questions. Um,
[1:34:57] I just wanted to understand and thank you, Siva, for
[1:34:59] coming forward. Um, because there have been, um, some problems
[1:35:03] with some of the paving projects and streets getting closed.
[1:35:07] I had a hard time understanding from the provided materials,
[1:35:11] um, just an assurance that people could, you know, get
[1:35:16] their buses, the trash service, uh, that the detours would
[1:35:20] be sufficient when the work is being done. And I
[1:35:22] was hoping you could just give us a quick common
[1:35:25] sense, uh, explanation that if it's a total closure of
[1:35:30] the road, people will be able to work with it.
[1:35:35] Yeah. Absolutely. Uh, good evening. Madam Mayor and Council members.
[1:35:39] Um, so this particular item is, um, pretty similar to
[1:35:42] some of the previous road closures we have approved for
[1:35:45] East Bay mode. It's slightly different from the paving project
[1:35:47] issues we've been discussing. Um, I'll touch that in a
[1:35:51] second. Uh, but generally the conditions associated with, um, any
[1:35:54] of our road closure permit is that they maintain those
[1:35:58] regular services, which includes garbage pickup, um, school bus, um,
[1:36:05] services. And they also have to be prepared to all
[1:36:07] of emergency services at any given time. So generally what
[1:36:10] he's been mad does is they have like steel plates
[1:36:13] in their vehicle. And if there is a need where
[1:36:16] an emergence vehicle need to access through that location, they'll
[1:36:18] drop the plate and let them go through there. Uh,
[1:36:21] in the odd situation, there is no way for the
[1:36:23] vehicle to pass through. Um, they have done this a
[1:36:26] few different projects now all the way through minor road
[1:36:30] and coming out sobrant area. They're just finishing up on,
[1:36:33] uh, the coming of Sobrante phase one project and the
[1:36:36] phase two was done before that. So it's like a
[1:36:38] consistent thing he's been has been doing. We have a
[1:36:41] pretty good relationship with their construction team and their outreach
[1:36:45] team, which Joe's here transferring questions. We have, um, and
[1:36:49] I would say in general, they've been very good with
[1:36:51] working with us and trying to get all those coordinated.
[1:36:53] And I maintain it. Um, one good example is, um,
[1:36:57] although they have, um, construction time allowance on caminos of
[1:37:01] brand day between eight to four 30, I believe they
[1:37:04] generally don't implement the closure till nine o'clock. We can
[1:37:07] consider of all these other services that needs to get
[1:37:09] through. And they're trying to work within the nine to
[1:37:12] three window, which is what we generally acquire. Ask of
[1:37:14] them to do. Uh, which unfortunately extends the construction duration
[1:37:18] in some instances. And we kind of work with them
[1:37:21] in trying to get all that sorted out. In the
[1:37:24] pairing project, the same conditions applied, uh, we had a
[1:37:27] new contractor on board, uh, who, uh, is a subcontractor,
[1:37:31] not really the prime contractor. The prime contractor has some
[1:37:33] work done some work for us last year. And we,
[1:37:37] they did a pretty good job last year. And we
[1:37:39] thought their portion of the work was done very well.
[1:37:42] Um, assuming we all may have noticed Moraga, we got
[1:37:45] paid between El Camino Muraga all the way to Ivy
[1:37:47] drive. We didn't have any much issues with that. And
[1:37:50] they did the noticing and they maintained the road closure
[1:37:53] restrictions. Unfortunately the subcontractor, um, doing quite follow all that.
[1:37:58] And it took us a minute to catch up to
[1:38:00] them and, uh, put them on notice. So we are
[1:38:03] currently working with them trying to get all that resolved
[1:38:05] and getting them on board and understanding the requirements and
[1:38:08] having to meet all those while we are also working
[1:38:11] with some of the impacted residences and some of the,
[1:38:15] um, some vehicles got damaged because they had to drive
[1:38:18] over with pavement because they were not properly notified, for
[1:38:21] example. So we are having somebody come to service their
[1:38:24] vehicles and try to address all those concerns. Uh, that
[1:38:26] said, um, it doesn't deviate promo general permit requirement. This
[1:38:31] is, I would consider this as a one off situation.
[1:38:34] Um, we do paving projects the year in and year
[1:38:36] out and for the most part we, you know, there's
[1:38:41] always one or two minor issues, nothing of this nature,
[1:38:44] at least in the last few years. So, um, we'll
[1:38:47] continue to work with that and improve and add some
[1:38:49] more conditions and be more proactive in getting them on
[1:38:52] board and making sure they understand how things get done.
[1:38:55] Uh, that all said, I think in general, is bemhard
[1:38:57] has done a pretty good job. And this portion of
[1:38:59] the project is close to Del Rey elementary. And as
[1:39:02] you can see in the later part of the package,
[1:39:05] they are actually not implementing the entire road closure in
[1:39:08] one stretch. It's only blocked by block, so to speak.
[1:39:12] So the D2s are going to be very short. And
[1:39:14] those folks who are living in that street. For this
[1:39:17] type of project, because it's not, uh, the entire width
[1:39:19] of the roadway, it's primarily the trench width of the
[1:39:21] trench that's in the middle of the roadway. They will
[1:39:24] still be able to work with the homeowners to allow
[1:39:27] them access through their property. So they won't be restricted
[1:39:30] access. There might be a few minute delays. For those
[1:39:33] who are living in those streets, but, um, like I
[1:39:35] said, they've done a pretty good job in the past
[1:39:38] of notifying everybody and keeping us posted in what's going
[1:39:41] on in the field. So. Really appreciate that. I saw
[1:39:44] 730 in the morning and I saw total closure and
[1:39:47] I just, I really appreciate the explanation. Um, are there
[1:39:50] any questions? Yeah. I'm glad you actually. I'm glad you
[1:39:53] pulled this and asked this question because one thing I've
[1:39:57] always wondered is do we, I will just tell you
[1:40:00] like prior to being on the council, one of my
[1:40:02] pet peeves is it would be like an important school
[1:40:05] day, like graduation. And they're still a road closure. Do
[1:40:09] I have a coordinate with the schools around this stuff?
[1:40:12] Um, so that like, I mean, is it possible to
[1:40:14] get the calendar and just make just on these critical
[1:40:18] days to, yeah. Finals. And I mean, I know there
[1:40:25] was something, but there are really a handful of days
[1:40:28] where, you know, where you've got. Major events. And because
[1:40:35] we have that one thoroughfare or because, you know, for
[1:40:37] example, back to school night at Del Rey, like if
[1:40:40] we can just make sure that we don't, I mean,
[1:40:43] this will be over by three, you're saying. So it
[1:40:45] wouldn't be impacted. But, you know, the situations like that,
[1:40:48] that's a very thing. We do coordinate with the school
[1:40:51] district, but not necessarily in that context. Uh, generally because
[1:40:55] it has not come up, uh, most of the workovers
[1:40:58] are outside of what school events are. Uh, but definitely
[1:41:01] we look at the calendar. We are happy to share
[1:41:02] that and, uh, we can check with the school district
[1:41:05] if there are any events that happen during the daytime,
[1:41:08] uh, like a game or something like that that we
[1:41:10] need to coordinate should be easy enough to coordinate that.
[1:41:12] I'll make another. Siva, I think Joe's right behind you
[1:41:14] maybe wants to add a comment to that. Thank you,
[1:41:18] Siva. Uh, thank you counsel and council member Malkani. Um,
[1:41:22] so just to add to that, um, we did do
[1:41:24] a community meeting for the, uh, La Cresta cluster, uh,
[1:41:28] pipeline project on Thursday of last week. We did hear
[1:41:32] about Del Rey. Um, we've reached out to Del Rey.
[1:41:35] We're getting their school calendar just to make sure that
[1:41:36] there's no impacts to pick up, uh, as SIVA explained
[1:41:41] the hours kind of, uh, won't impact the nighttime activities,
[1:41:44] but we're making sure that we're working with Del Rey.
[1:41:46] Thank you so much for doing that. Yeah. Thank you.
[1:41:51] I will say that when East Beymoud was working in
[1:41:54] my neighborhood, the people were very professional. They knocked on
[1:41:59] our doors and made sure we had our cars out
[1:42:01] if we needed to because our small street is pretty
[1:42:03] much impassable with the trench. I mean, I was very
[1:42:05] impressed in general with the quality of customer service and
[1:42:10] the care and concern that, uh, the contractor took to
[1:42:13] make sure to inform all the homeowners, um, so I'm
[1:42:17] relatively confident that that same care will be taken in
[1:42:20] this neighborhood. And move forward. They must have known you
[1:42:24] were city council member. I was going to say this
[1:42:27] one project that went badly. I've heard all about the
[1:42:30] one that went badly. So hearing the, that the standard
[1:42:33] is such a high standard and the proactive communication is
[1:42:35] wonderful. Thank you. Um, with that, if we don't have
[1:42:40] any more common, uh, any public comment other than Joe.
[1:42:44] Thank you very much. Do we have a motion to
[1:42:47] approve I five. I move, we approve I five second.
[1:42:51] All in favor. Aye. And now Idem J one, uh,
[1:42:57] the annual development agreement compliance review for the wilder project.
[1:43:01] Looks like we have, um, Ms. Palmer, I believe to
[1:43:04] present for us. Yes. Right. This presentation is basically going
[1:43:10] to summarize the information that was in the staff report.
[1:43:17] Okay. So this slide shows the annual review process. So.
[1:43:24] All right. You want me to jump in here. All
[1:43:26] right. So, um, this process is similar to what we
[1:43:30] used at the prior meeting for land use appeal. Because
[1:43:33] again, this is quasi adjudicative and it's important that we
[1:43:37] protect due process at such meetings. Uh, we have called
[1:43:42] this item and we're now reviewing the procedure, which is
[1:43:46] number two. Number three, once I'm done reviewing the procedure,
[1:43:50] I'll return to the council and ask you to reveal
[1:43:53] any ex party communications that you might have had, uh,
[1:43:56] if those communications are reflected in the packet already, it's
[1:43:59] fine to say that they are. The idea being all
[1:44:04] the information that you've received relevant to this item should
[1:44:07] be before all of you. And the public and the
[1:44:11] applicant, uh, or the developer rather. We will then go
[1:44:16] to number five, which, uh, staff report. And number six
[1:44:21] questions for staff. And then, uh, the developer OG LLC
[1:44:26] will be permitted 15 minutes to make presentation. I believe
[1:44:29] they are going to be appearing by Zoom tonight. Then
[1:44:34] questions of counsel of the developer. Then the public number
[1:44:38] nine will be given three minutes per speaker. Uh, and
[1:44:42] again, council can ask questions of individual members of the
[1:44:46] public. Then the developer were given up to five minutes.
[1:44:50] If they like to do rebuttal, then the parent public
[1:44:54] hearing will be closed and the item will come back
[1:44:56] to the council for deliberation of stash recommendation. So our
[1:45:01] return to you with the ex party communication now. Thank
[1:45:04] you. And I think we'll go this way starting with
[1:45:06] council member hocks say to please disclose any exparthei communications
[1:45:09] on the matter. None. The public comments we received. I've
[1:45:19] had no expart day communication. None and none for me
[1:45:23] either. So with that, I believe we will go to
[1:45:25] the staff report place. All right. So now we are
[1:45:27] on step five. Okay. So on November 15th of 1994,
[1:45:33] the city council entered into a development agreement with Pacific
[1:45:36] new wave corporation, setting forth the terms related to the
[1:45:39] development of the gateway valley, which is now referred to
[1:45:42] as the wilder development. And two years later, the arinda
[1:45:46] gateway OG property owners LLC, which I will refer to
[1:45:49] as OGLLC, acquired the property. And they are bound by
[1:45:53] the terms of the original agreement and its nine subsequent
[1:45:55] amendments. And some of those key amendments are included on
[1:45:58] the slide here. So tonight we're reviewing OG LLC's compliance
[1:46:06] with the remaining obligations under the development agreement and related
[1:46:10] approvals, including financial obligations, insurance, and noncompliance with obligations under
[1:46:14] resource agency permits. OG LLC has financial obligations to reimburse
[1:46:21] the city for costs associated with the implementation annual monitoring
[1:46:26] and other activities related to the development agreement and the
[1:46:29] project. They also have funds on deposit for subdivision improvement
[1:46:33] agreement and sidewalk agreement. So at 5, 000 for sidewalk,
[1:46:37] OG LLC has provided 30, 000 as a security for
[1:46:41] the six sidewalks to be constructed. Uh, the deposit will
[1:46:44] be eligible for release once each sidewalk is completed. And
[1:46:48] OG LLC is concurrent with our other obligations. Based on
[1:46:53] a site review conducted by the director of public works
[1:46:55] and engineering on June 8th, five of the six locations
[1:46:58] are complete. The developer is also obligated to maintain a
[1:47:02] minimum deposit of 100, 000 in a deposit account retained
[1:47:05] by the city. And OG LLC has provided both the
[1:47:10] above mentioned deposits and soaring compliance with these financial applications
[1:47:13] to the city. In addition to the previous deposits mentioned,
[1:47:19] the city of Arinda holds a separate tree deposit in
[1:47:22] the amount of 72, 000 made in 2009. OG LLC
[1:47:26] and the city have entered into agreement dated April 7th,
[1:47:29] 2026 stating that the city will retain and may use
[1:47:32] these funds as needed to pay any defaulted or pass
[1:47:36] - to - property taxes for any of the open
[1:47:38] space properties. To pay any currently due non - defaulted
[1:47:41] property taxes for any of the open space properties to
[1:47:45] pay any future property taxes assessed on any of the
[1:47:47] open space properties before they are transferred to the GAD
[1:47:51] and to replenish the required amount on the deposit with
[1:47:53] the city reimbursement of city costs related to processing entitlements
[1:47:58] and other approvals or actions for the wilder project in
[1:48:00] Gateway Valley. And if necessary, to amend the subdivision improvement
[1:48:04] agreement, reimbursement agreement and sidewalk agreement. And a portion of
[1:48:08] the tree deposit was used this summer for fuel mitigation
[1:48:11] work per written authorization by OGLC. Right. Section 5. 2
[1:48:18] of the development agreement requires OG LLZ to maintain liability
[1:48:22] insurance, ensuring against bodily injury property damage and personal injury
[1:48:26] liability arising out of OG LLC's activities under the DA
[1:48:30] with a combined single liability limit of not less than
[1:48:34] 1 million per currents. At the time of the writing
[1:48:36] of this report, OGLC had not provided the city with
[1:48:40] insurance certificates documenting compliance with this requirement. Yesterday they provided
[1:48:44] an insurance declaration, uh, which is included as late correspondence.
[1:48:49] And that may bring them further into compliance. However, staff
[1:48:52] has not had time to fully review. Under the DA,
[1:48:58] OG LLC is obligated to comply with all the requirements
[1:49:01] and permits obtained from the California Department Official Wildlife, which
[1:49:05] I will use CDFW, uh, and other resource agencies. So
[1:49:10] CDFW recently sent letters to OG LLC describing various permit
[1:49:15] compliance issues and directing OG LLC to come into compliance.
[1:49:20] So as such, OG LLC's failure to comply with the
[1:49:23] requirements described in CDFW's letters is also a violation of
[1:49:26] the DA. CDFW's July 3rd, 2026 letter request that OG
[1:49:33] LLC provide funding and implementation plan by August 2nd, 2026
[1:49:38] that clearly and concisely documents how OG LLC will fund
[1:49:41] and complete the outstanding obligations by December 30th, 2026. In
[1:49:46] a letter dated August 6th, 2026, CDFW provided additional background
[1:49:50] information and granted OG LLC and extension to September 1st,
[1:49:54] 2026, uh, to provide a funding and implementation plan that
[1:49:58] clearly and concisely documents how OG LLC will fund and
[1:50:02] complete the secured obligations by December 30th, 2026. So staff
[1:50:06] suggests OG LLC be directed to keep the city apprised
[1:50:10] of its efforts to come into compliance with the requirements
[1:50:12] described in CDFW's letters. The developer is currently, is current
[1:50:19] on their financial obligations. However, they have not complied with
[1:50:21] obligations under resource agency permits. And we have not yet
[1:50:25] confirmed compliance with insurance obligations. So as such, staff recommends
[1:50:29] that the city council adopt the proposed resolution number 65
[1:50:32] - 26, finding that OG LLC has not complied in
[1:50:35] good faith with the DA and related. Is there anything
[1:50:45] further? That's, I think that's a conclusion of the report.
[1:50:47] I think what's recommended in the resolution is that we
[1:50:51] give them 30 days to comply with the insurance requirement.
[1:50:55] Uh, and we can spend some time evaluating what they
[1:50:58] submitted initial reviews suggest it is not compliant and that
[1:51:04] we need to continue to work with them to get
[1:51:06] a compliant insurance. Documentation from them. Uh, thank you. Was
[1:51:11] there something in the additional correspondence with the insurance? I
[1:51:15] don't recall seeing that. And maybe I miss. They did.
[1:51:18] It is in the late correspondence. There's basically a declaration
[1:51:22] sheet that we included in the correspondence. Yesterday they gave
[1:51:25] us approximately 70 pages of policy document. Uh, I say.
[1:51:30] Okay. We've included in that to avoid photocopying all 70
[1:51:34] pages. It's just given you the two page, uh, summary.
[1:51:39] I can, um, so like I said, it was received
[1:51:42] yesterday. So we haven't had time to do a complete
[1:51:44] review, but the review I have done indicates to me
[1:51:48] that they remain out of compliance with the insurance requirements
[1:51:51] in the development agreement. Um, there's, I think, a strong
[1:51:56] possibility that there was a gap in coverage and we
[1:51:58] need a continuous coverage, of course. And the references in
[1:52:04] the materials we've received to premises liability associated with seven
[1:52:08] paintbrush lane. That of course is the former sales office,
[1:52:13] I believe. I do not think that property is still
[1:52:15] owned by the developer. So we need to deal with
[1:52:19] that. Um, there are many, many exclusions in the insurance
[1:52:23] documentation we received that are inconsistent with the requirements and
[1:52:27] the development agreement. So, um, I agree we need more
[1:52:31] time to review it, but I also believe that staff's
[1:52:34] recommendation stands. The materials we have do not indicate compliance
[1:52:38] with the insurance requirement. It's very helpful. Thank you. And
[1:52:43] then I'll see what other questions people have. I have
[1:52:48] one regarding this extension that was given to them, uh,
[1:52:51] for September one, which is today. Have they, uh, provided
[1:52:56] you with any additional information. So in the late correspondence
[1:52:59] packet this evening is a letter that today was delivered
[1:53:04] by the developer to the California Department Official Wildlife. It's
[1:53:08] a two page letter and it has a spreadsheet attached.
[1:53:11] And it's available to the council to review. I would
[1:53:15] say the summary is that, uh, they remain out of
[1:53:19] compliance with the CDFWs, uh, permit, uh, they are going
[1:53:27] to, I guess, continue to have conversations with CDFW about
[1:53:31] how to resolve that. Uh, including, uh, potentially calling the
[1:53:35] bond. So what are the next steps, does the CDFW
[1:53:41] have to review that additional information? What's their decision process
[1:53:45] for calling the bond. Uh, that's a great question. And,
[1:53:49] uh, I'm not completely clear on what their internal decision
[1:53:54] - making process is going to be. But I am
[1:53:56] in regular communication with their attorney and we are encouraging
[1:53:59] them to go down that path. Of course, it's their
[1:54:04] bond and they're the lead enforcement agency here. We do
[1:54:10] have a GAD board meeting scheduled for two weeks from
[1:54:14] tonight where we will have, uh, an update for you,
[1:54:18] uh, about those DAOs of the transfers of the open
[1:54:21] space properties. And if I have more information, I mean,
[1:54:24] they, I'm sure have barely had chance to open the
[1:54:27] letter, let alone process it. But if I can learn
[1:54:30] more between now and the 15th, I will, uh, report
[1:54:32] back. Thank you. Just for the members of the public
[1:54:37] that are interested that GAD meeting will be at six
[1:54:39] o'clock. Could you just clarify for people who aren't, uh,
[1:54:44] as conversion between tonight's review of the development agreement and
[1:54:49] the September 15, 6 p. m. GAD meeting. Can you
[1:54:52] just conceptually explain how those relate? Yes. So the city
[1:54:56] of Ribinda has for a long time now had this
[1:54:59] development agreement in place for Wilder. And it remains, uh,
[1:55:04] operative. But of course, most of the development is complete.
[1:55:09] But every year until it is closed out or until
[1:55:12] the development agreement expires, we will be needing to have
[1:55:15] these compliance checks. So that's what tonight is about the
[1:55:19] city council is the one that holds that hearing. The
[1:55:23] geologic hazard abatement district, the GAD is the slated future
[1:55:27] property owner for some of these open space properties. And
[1:55:30] so with your GAD hats on, you will be receiving
[1:55:35] an update on the status of that transfer in two
[1:55:37] weeks. Thank you. Are there, um, are there any other
[1:55:42] questions for staff. I have one. Finding. Finding them
[1:55:52] in compliance with financial obligations in no way. Does that
[1:55:58] excuse their obligation? I mean, does that excuse. The
[1:56:08] claim? I guess I'm having, I'm having a little trouble
[1:56:12] reconciling that conclusion with the fact that. There's all these
[1:56:17] financial commitments that were at least arguably left are still
[1:56:23] sitting on the table and we're using other funds right
[1:56:27] through agreement. To pay the default property taxes. And, you
[1:56:32] know, we're using the tree deposit. I mean, I read
[1:56:33] through everything. You know, and I saw the letter from
[1:56:36] the city. To them, right, that asserts that I think
[1:56:45] it was. The, sorry, this was the, um. Asserting that.
[1:56:55] We still have the right, even though we're using this,
[1:56:58] we're still reserving the right that you always, this fund.
[1:57:00] So that's where I'm having a, can you explain that
[1:57:03] a little bit in terms of the, I can try
[1:57:07] to help with that. Maybe Selena can't as well. Hey.
[1:57:09] So I think I'm a little less familiar with some
[1:57:13] of this stuff than. So Staff and I were listing
[1:57:16] in the staff report. The, the things we check for
[1:57:20] compliance with each year. So we know, for example, that
[1:57:23] they have completed the art and garden center. So we
[1:57:26] don't report that to you because we've already, that's in
[1:57:28] the past. The things that remain live are that they
[1:57:32] need to keep on deposit with us sufficient funds for
[1:57:35] us to be able to continue this oversight role that
[1:57:38] we have. And so you know, pointed out in the
[1:57:41] staff report that indeed they do. They do have, uh,
[1:57:44] the required financial deposit with us. And then she's detailed
[1:57:49] all of the, right. Okay. Right. Right. And then the
[1:57:52] insurance is another important requirement. And that one they have
[1:57:54] not. Shown us evidence of compliance. So staff's recommending a
[1:58:00] finding of noncompliance there. And then since last year we
[1:58:04] had this new development, which is the CDFW has sent
[1:58:08] out this notice to the developer saying that they have
[1:58:11] failed to meet their obligations. Because those permit obligations, uh,
[1:58:18] are related, I would say to the development agreement, because
[1:58:21] the development agreement requires them to comply with all their
[1:58:22] permits. I think it is also a development agreement, um,
[1:58:27] noncompliance issue. And so that's why we've listed that for
[1:58:30] you this year. Okay. So. An agreement to
[1:58:40] repurposely amounts of the tree deposit and the additional funds
[1:58:44] to meet that 100, 000 requirement is, is sufficient. That
[1:58:49] does make them compliant financially. And I think is contractually
[1:58:52] they have satisfied what the DA states. Thank you. Um,
[1:58:58] I had one of their question. There was a late
[1:59:01] correspondence from a dancelaughter regarding trails. Um, I realized that
[1:59:06] what we're here to do is to narrow issues and
[1:59:09] not broaden issues. However, I've always been very interested in
[1:59:15] the original promise of Wilder, um, of open space and
[1:59:19] dedicated park and all of that. And the reality, which
[1:59:23] is that the trails that are there are really minimal
[1:59:28] and not that great and not connected to all the
[1:59:31] nearby systems. So I thought this letter was, uh, important
[1:59:35] and well timed because it is true that the more
[1:59:38] we just, you know, deal with it mañana, we might
[1:59:43] miss an opportunity, but I, but it seems like, so
[1:59:46] I asked the question neither the development agreement itself, that
[1:59:50] doesn't seem to create that obligation. But the GADS lands
[1:59:55] are not really the subject matter. It's more the question
[1:59:58] of the conversations we have. When the land is deeded
[2:00:03] over to the various, um, park agencies and conservation agencies.
[2:00:08] Can you help us understand if there is a point
[2:00:13] in time where those are appropriate conversations to have. Um.
[2:00:22] I don't have full information about the trail system, but
[2:00:26] my understanding is that that was a very carefully planned
[2:00:31] thing, right? That you would be able to walk from
[2:00:33] wilder up to sibly, for example. And those connections are
[2:00:40] part of what the developer and the future East Bay
[2:00:43] Parks owner will have for the public. If the request
[2:00:48] is to expand that network, that will likely require additional
[2:00:52] permitting additional interaction with CDFW because the trails as they
[2:00:57] exist today are the ones that are authorized out there.
[2:01:03] My understanding is the Red Hawk staging area, maybe Red
[2:01:07] Hog Table staging area was deemed in feasible because I
[2:01:10] was there for that DA amendment when they said it
[2:01:13] can't be done. So we're letting it go. You're not
[2:01:15] missing anything. But it just seems like the original promise
[2:01:18] of connectivity and well - signed well - maintained trails.
[2:01:23] It's not that great. And so I'm just curious if
[2:01:26] we have just by attrition lost the original vision, which
[2:01:31] is kind of what this letter says, or if the
[2:01:35] original vision was kind of misunderstood as being better than
[2:01:39] it was. I mean, I'm not looking to broaden. I
[2:01:41] just, I have, I have felt the same thing that
[2:01:43] this letter writer has expressed, which is this has fallen
[2:01:47] way short of what we all thought it would look
[2:01:50] like when it became Parkland. Okay. I don't know the
[2:01:55] answer to that as we sit here, but we can
[2:01:57] look into the historical documents and figure out what, um,
[2:02:02] I know there was a trail plan, right? And I
[2:02:05] don't know if that matches what's in the real world
[2:02:07] today. Whether, I mean, certainly the future property owners could
[2:02:11] sign things better. Right. If the, if that's the issue.
[2:02:15] But if the issue is that the trail network itself
[2:02:18] is insufficient, um, that is a, that's a bigger conversation
[2:02:24] than our development agreement, compliance review. So can I ask
[2:02:31] a follow - up question of that? So what I'm
[2:02:33] just looking at the public comment and the, the resident
[2:02:39] is, is asking that any, I guess, future finding or
[2:02:44] current finding of good faith compliance be conditioned on documented
[2:02:47] progress towards this public access framework, right? Towards the trail.
[2:02:53] And it, it. It seemed to me that. That felt
[2:02:59] incongruous and I'm not quite sure why. And maybe you
[2:03:01] can help explain that. And, and, and if not now,
[2:03:06] if, if. Reviewing the trail network is not tied to
[2:03:10] a compliance finding, then what is it tied to. Where
[2:03:18] does that fit in in terms of wilder? Right. And
[2:03:22] again, I apologize for having somewhat naive state question there,
[2:03:27] but I, I also didn't understand that. It's certainly the
[2:03:31] case that the art and garden center respite area that
[2:03:34] was originally planned for that, you know, the site, the
[2:03:39] red hawk site. That was removed in the last development
[2:03:43] agreement amendment. I don't know whether any trails were removed,
[2:03:48] however. I think it was just that site so that
[2:03:52] the trails might still be part of the plan. I
[2:03:56] have, until I read this, I had not, I had
[2:03:59] not heard an allegation of noncompliance with the DA based
[2:04:02] on trails. So it's not something that, um, I have
[2:04:06] any, I don't have an opinion one way or the
[2:04:08] other, but we can certainly look into it. I'd like
[2:04:11] to formally ask that we, uh, just as a follow
[2:04:13] - up item, uh, find out what the original plan
[2:04:20] versus where we are today looks like because it does
[2:04:24] feel like a missed opportunity. And again, I've just, it's
[2:04:27] not exactly the GAD's territory. It's not exactly a noncompliance
[2:04:32] issue, but there may be an opportunity to do something
[2:04:35] that's constructive. Um, so it would just be nice if
[2:04:39] we could understand that. As we are spending all this
[2:04:42] attention on wilder matters right now. So, and I do
[2:04:46] appreciate that that's not what we're here to do tonight.
[2:04:49] Uh, but it was a well timed question to ask.
[2:04:52] And thank you for that. Um, any other questions? I
[2:04:56] would agree with that, Mayor. Thank you. Any other questions.
[2:04:59] Okay. With that, I believe the next step is to
[2:05:01] turn it over to the applicant. Um, and as a
[2:05:05] reminder to the applicant to please let us know how
[2:05:06] many minutes they would like to reserve for rebuttal before
[2:05:09] they begin. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
[2:05:18] Yes. Okay. Yeah. This is Chris Jeledge. From a reni
[2:05:23] gateway LLC. Um, I just have a couple of comments
[2:05:27] to make time that you wanted to reserve. Oh, I
[2:05:33] don't need much. Yeah. It might be three minutes. I
[2:05:37] mean, I won't take much time. And then I can
[2:05:39] answer questions too, but I mean, from either turn up
[2:05:43] your volume or speak up a little bit. See how
[2:05:48] I do that. Can you hear me. Yeah. Is that
[2:05:52] better. Okay. Thank you. Is that better? Okay. Anyway, I'll
[2:06:00] need three minutes, but I mean, just a couple of
[2:06:02] big pictures things. You know, we've worked. With the city,
[2:06:11] you know, all these years and tried to deliver a
[2:06:14] high quality project. And I think Arinda Wilder is. And,
[2:06:19] you know, but what's happened with this project that's taken
[2:06:22] so long for us is the developer to try to
[2:06:26] manage out of these obligations that you were naming off.
[2:06:30] And I don't think people really realize the overhead click
[2:06:36] that happens when things get delayed. And I'm not blaming
[2:06:40] anybody on the delays. I mean, then, but it was
[2:06:44] very punitive to our group. I mean, punitive to the
[2:06:47] point where it closed our company down. And it's been
[2:06:52] five years that my partner who was in charge of
[2:06:54] this project, Scott Goldie had passed away. And we're still
[2:06:58] stuck. And I think the solutions that will take some
[2:07:02] work to go ahead and figure out a way to
[2:07:05] get property turned back over to the GAD. Have it
[2:07:09] protected through the God. I think there's ways to work
[2:07:12] with CDFW, um, to get them what they want. And,
[2:07:17] um, just because it's taken so long too, just a
[2:07:19] couple of those ideas that we've sent back to, you
[2:07:22] know, the different groups, that letter that you refer to,
[2:07:26] we sent back out discussing the fact that, you know,
[2:07:29] the money that's been paid into God, you know, we
[2:07:32] initially funded that. We had all of those responsibilities for
[2:07:36] all these years. Um, your team in the last few
[2:07:40] years has been really helpful in working with us using
[2:07:43] our deposits. You know, working with God to figure out
[2:07:48] the Lucians on some of these things. But the at
[2:07:51] least five million dollars that's been stockpiled in that CAD.
[2:07:57] And, you know, we're, we're asking for help and just
[2:08:00] saying, Hey, could you take a look at some of
[2:08:01] these alternatives for us, which would be, you know, using
[2:08:05] some of that money that was collected for all these
[2:08:08] years. What we were doing that maintenance was CDFW, we
[2:08:12] funded endowments. You know, 17 years ago. And that money
[2:08:17] has been an account collecting and accruing interest. And, you
[2:08:21] know, the couple of things that they've asked us to
[2:08:23] do that originally didn't take, that they still said that
[2:08:26] they would like to see. There's things like that, that,
[2:08:29] um, from our standpoint, we would love to figure out
[2:08:32] a way to work with them and just with some
[2:08:35] of these overages that are there. To be able to
[2:08:37] get them what they need. And for us to move
[2:08:41] on, cause I mean, it literally has this project we
[2:08:46] had no idea. When we stepped into the shoes here
[2:08:49] that on the end, it was going to, you know,
[2:08:52] be what it is. And again, I'm not blaming anybody.
[2:08:57] And it just, you know, things have taken longer. But
[2:09:00] when the delay by an agency or somebody's change their
[2:09:03] mind at the agency level, it's punitive to us. And,
[2:09:08] you know, we, we bore the brunt of that as
[2:09:09] long as we could. And we just can't bear it
[2:09:11] anymore. And so, um, we're looking at these other creative
[2:09:15] alternatives with the money that has been sitting in these
[2:09:18] counts for all these years and asking for some creative
[2:09:22] solutions and to be able to use that. Um, to
[2:09:25] get these final items, you know, hopefully opt the tick
[2:09:29] list. That's all that I had. I just. Okay. Um,
[2:09:37] I would begin by asking if there are any council
[2:09:39] member questions for the applicant. Uh, no questions at this
[2:09:45] time. There might be after rebuttals. So we'll turn it
[2:09:47] over to public comment. Uh, I've got three speaker cards
[2:09:51] and then we'll see if there are other comments after
[2:09:53] that. We'll start with Bob Finch. And after that John
[2:09:57] Xanther. And Mark asked people we heard. And I would
[2:10:01] remind the speakers to please limit comments to three minutes.
[2:10:04] Thank you.
[2:10:38] When it comes to the relationship of Wilder and OG,
[2:10:43] it's been a history of, um, vagueness and smoke and
[2:10:47] mirrors. Going back to a prior meeting just like this,
[2:10:54] we heard the prior city manager, not the current one,
[2:10:58] tell us that in the annual review that the city
[2:11:02] was working with OG to renegotiate some of these obligations.
[2:11:06] And when I asked my question, which was, Oh, and
[2:11:10] then he said, Oh, gee has been released from some
[2:11:13] obligations. And I asked, um, which obligations are those? And
[2:11:19] the answer was I don't know. And that typifies the
[2:11:25] smoke and mirrors we've been living in all this time.
[2:11:29] Uh, so now is the time for some clarity. We
[2:11:33] would like to know what is the quantification of the
[2:11:38] obligations to the city that remain outstanding. We want to
[2:11:43] know what, uh, that figure, how that figure relates to
[2:11:48] the bond that's sitting out there that Mr. Jellich mentioned
[2:11:53] that's almost six million dollars. And more than all of
[2:11:58] that, today is the day that they had to respond
[2:12:02] to the CDFW. And just before this meeting, I had
[2:12:08] access to that letter and saw it. And it really
[2:12:11] was relatively ridiculous. First point was in the letter it
[2:12:17] is stated that over the years and through right now,
[2:12:22] they have continued to maintain the project. I don't think
[2:12:25] they've done anything to maintain the project. They'd been missing
[2:12:29] in action. They've been missing in action for wild or
[2:12:33] two. We're assuming OG and there are regular meetings with
[2:12:38] a judge that they have not even sent their lawyer
[2:12:40] to. We have been totally ignored. And so we've been
[2:12:45] waiting for this day, September 1st to find out what
[2:12:48] the deal is. At this point. The demand letter was
[2:12:53] given to them. They asked for an extension. They got
[2:12:56] an extension, not the one they wanted. When it ended
[2:12:59] today. And we still don't know where we are. Because
[2:13:03] when you look at the letter, what they're saying is
[2:13:06] they were, these public agencies, GAD, um, Epnied East Bay
[2:13:12] Parks. And I think they're what they're saying is it's
[2:13:17] their problem. They, they want to fix these properties up
[2:13:22] so they can take title. Meanwhile, it's a big mess.
[2:13:26] All of this obligations, all of the properties around us,
[2:13:30] there's nobody who is responsible. And so the time has
[2:13:34] come to release the bond, which the demand that it
[2:13:36] was supposed to do. And I have to ask you,
[2:13:38] Rip, please. Thank you. And provide funds so that these
[2:13:41] agencies can do the job that OG was supposed to
[2:13:43] do. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, next John Xenther, please.
[2:13:53] Madam Mayor Council, my name is John Zettner. I'm a
[2:13:56] resident at 67 Lost Valley Drive, which is at the
[2:13:59] south end of Lost Valley. I'm also a plant ecologist.
[2:14:03] I've run a small environmental consulting firm for more than
[2:14:07] 40 years. So very conversant with conservation easements. Mitigation programs.
[2:14:12] Fire control plans, et cetera. So, um, I'm here mostly
[2:14:16] to talk about the Western Open space. First, I'd really
[2:14:19] like to thank Selena. For all the help she's given
[2:14:22] me. Also clients and friends, Steve Abs from David on
[2:14:26] homes were evolved at Wilder. Um, Frankie Melbourne, Rome at
[2:14:30] the core, Katie Hart at regional waterboard. So basically my
[2:14:34] concern is that the Western open space has been essentially
[2:14:38] unmanaged for the last two years without fuel mitigation. I
[2:14:42] saw swing on your slide that there was some statement
[2:14:46] that had been fuel mitigation done out there this summer,
[2:14:49] nothing in the Western open space. I pretty much guarantee
[2:14:51] it. So in that time, because the lack of grazing,
[2:14:55] the landscape is gone from a non - native annual
[2:14:58] grassland, which is not good from a fire control standpoint
[2:15:02] to a dominance by coyote bush and non - native
[2:15:06] forbes and perennials, which are extremely hazards from fire standpoint.
[2:15:10] CDFW notes this in their letter, by the way. I
[2:15:14] want you to think about the tubs fire, which you
[2:15:16] may have heard about, which was in San Rosa, which
[2:15:18] burned down the coffee park neighborhood. Think that's interesting about
[2:15:21] the Bennett Valley Tubs fire. Is that valley is oriented
[2:15:25] the same way as the valley that comes into lost
[2:15:28] valley in Orinda. Tubbs fire started late at night. Burned
[2:15:32] in the coffee park neighborhood early in the morning around
[2:15:35] 514. It covered three miles an hour. From the top
[2:15:40] of the ridge of the Western open space to the
[2:15:42] PGNE plant, which is at the south end of Lost
[2:15:45] Valley, is less than a mile. 0. 9 miles. That's
[2:15:50] 20 minutes. At the same speed that the Bennett Valley
[2:15:53] fire went through. Given the critical character of that landscape
[2:15:58] at this point and the speed with which a fire
[2:16:00] would move into and then cut off lost valley. If
[2:16:04] that PGNE plant starts on fire, leaving no exit out
[2:16:07] of Lost Valley whatsoever. I would like you to take
[2:16:10] a couple of actions. First, I urge you to urge
[2:16:14] CDFW to call in their surety now. Rather than the
[2:16:19] current resolution, which is keep us informed, CDFW, great staff
[2:16:25] and the way that process works, by the way, is
[2:16:27] the local biologist, the area environmental scientists will confer with
[2:16:31] the warden. They will then talk to their boss of
[2:16:33] the environmental services section. That then goes up to the
[2:16:36] regional manager. He or she will make the decision about
[2:16:39] pulling the bond. They won't be talking with staff attorneys
[2:16:42] as well at the same time. That can happen very
[2:16:46] quickly at CDFW. And that's the reason why regional waterboard
[2:16:49] and core engineers are having CDFW take the lead on
[2:16:54] the lack of action by the developer. Second, wildlife heritage.
[2:16:59] So you are at a time. Okay. Thank you. And
[2:17:01] I'm sorry it's three minutes and I really would love
[2:17:03] to hear more. So if you might follow up in
[2:17:05] writing, if you want to, um, finish with your comments.
[2:17:08] Sounds like plan. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. Please
[2:17:12] go ahead. Good evening. Mayor, members city council. My name
[2:17:18] is Mark Ashby. I'm a resident and homeowner and wilder.
[2:17:21] I'm here to urge the council to adopt the resolution
[2:17:24] 6526 finding OGLC is not complied in good faith with
[2:17:28] the wilder development agreement. This is the right finding. In
[2:17:32] my view long overdue, I want to first express appreciation
[2:17:36] to the city manager, the city attorney's office, the GAD.
[2:17:41] And to NGO for their collaborative work to hold OG
[2:17:44] LLC accountable. The joint agency efforts that produced tonight's staff
[2:17:48] recommendation reflects meaningful progress on behalf of our community and
[2:17:51] the open space. Just minutes before this meeting, we received
[2:17:55] OG LLC's written response that's included in tonight's packet. OG
[2:18:00] LLC claims that only approximately 97, 000 dollars in bond
[2:18:05] obligations remain outstanding. This contradicts CDFW's July 3rd and August
[2:18:09] 6 letters. Which document approximately 2 million dollars in outstanding
[2:18:14] secured obligations, including unauthorized trail remediation, habitat mitigation, credit purchases,
[2:18:21] infrastructure improvements, removal of coyote brush, um, and outstanding tax
[2:18:27] delinquencies. I urge the council to focus on CDFW's independent
[2:18:32] assessment of what remains outstanding. I also note that OGLC
[2:18:36] is proposing choose endowment funds and GAAD assessment balances to
[2:18:40] cover its remaining obligations. This would shift OG's legal responsibilities
[2:18:45] onto the city. And while the residents who fund the
[2:18:48] GAD through their assessments, precisely outcome that the surety bond
[2:18:52] was established to prevent. While OG has belatedly obtained liability
[2:18:58] insurance, although we're not sure if it really meets the
[2:19:00] requirements, just weeks before the hearing, the last minute compliance
[2:19:04] should not obscure the many serious outstanding obligations on the
[2:19:07] open space parcels that remain unresolved. If the council adopts
[2:19:13] the noncompliance finding tonight, as recommended by your staff, I
[2:19:17] would ask the council directly formally notify CDFW of that
[2:19:22] finding. So CDFW has the full picture of OG's failures
[2:19:26] to evaluate, uh, to complete their submission and make its
[2:19:31] endorsement and enforcement decision on the bond. Many of us
[2:19:35] chose to make wilder our home because of the surrounding
[2:19:37] protected open space. It was a central promise in the
[2:19:40] development of wilder. OG's failure to meet its obligations has
[2:19:45] prevented GAD East Bay Parks and EB mud from assuming
[2:19:48] ownership and managing these lands as envisioned in the original
[2:19:51] development agreement. Leaving them unmanaged and increasingly degraded. We ask
[2:19:57] the council to hold OG to the commitments that brought
[2:20:00] us here so these lands can finally be transferred to
[2:20:03] the agencies that will care for them as they were
[2:20:05] promised. As wilder homeowners, we strongly support the staff recommendation.
[2:20:10] Please adopt this resolution. Thank you. Thank you very much.
[2:20:15] Those are all the speaker cards I have. I would
[2:20:17] ask if theone else from the public who'd like to
[2:20:19] speak on this topic, uh, and seeing no one in
[2:20:22] person, I would ask if we have any Zoom participants.
[2:20:27] No one is raising their hand. Okay. Great. Uh, with
[2:20:30] that, I would ask if the applicant would like to
[2:20:32] use their three minutes of rebuttal. Yeah. I think I've
[2:20:39] said everything I needed to say. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:20:43] Um, before we, uh, close the public portion of the
[2:20:48] hearing, are there any final questions for the applicant or
[2:20:51] the speakers. Uh, seeing none, we will close the public
[2:20:55] portion of the hearing and bring it up for discussion
[2:20:58] and decision, uh, would anyone like to lead us off.
[2:21:04] I think it's relatively clear that we should follow the
[2:21:07] staff recommendations and adopt the resolution as presented to us.
[2:21:11] And encourage, uh, to move forward with notifying the CDFW
[2:21:17] of the noncompliance issues. And moving forward on calling the
[2:21:21] bond. I would agree with that. And I think it's
[2:21:27] certainly very clear tonight that, um, that they remain in
[2:21:31] noncompliance. And, um, I know that's really our, uh, mission
[2:21:36] tonight, but clearly there's been a lot of other really
[2:21:39] key issues raised tonight, um, hopefully between our GAD meeting
[2:21:43] and some further, uh, meetings, um, we will get more
[2:21:48] informed about because certainly there is a lot of area
[2:21:51] of concern out there. And, um, I know, um, that
[2:21:56] the people in Wilder and the surrounding areas and the
[2:21:59] city deserves, you know, resolution on these items. So, but
[2:22:02] certainly I'm supportive of tonight's resolution. Thank you. Anyone else.
[2:22:10] I agree. And second, the vice mayors. Comments about other
[2:22:16] issues that were brought up. I'd like to see us
[2:22:20] push forward to the extent we can in an appropriate
[2:22:23] way on some of those other issues. I agree. And
[2:22:27] I, uh, with my fellow council members and as a
[2:22:29] former land developer, I'm as a sympathetic as anyone you're
[2:22:32] going to find. Oh, I'm sorry, Council Member Riley. Yeah.
[2:22:34] I'm sorry. Please. Um, but you can go first. I
[2:22:36] don't care. I'll do my little spiel just because I
[2:22:38] was in the spiel. Uh, no, you're not going to
[2:22:41] find a person more understanding of what happens when a
[2:22:44] very large project runs out of money. Right. There's not
[2:22:49] a rich guy out there who's hiding money. Right. The
[2:22:52] money's gone. I believe that. And time is the enemy.
[2:22:56] The points about caring cost and dealing with agencies is
[2:22:59] extraordinarily difficult because the agencies cannot be rushed and their
[2:23:04] conclusions are what they are. And I think we're fortunate
[2:23:06] in this situation that there's a bond. So we're not
[2:23:09] just, you know, getting mad about something there is a
[2:23:14] bond and there are facts. And I think there are
[2:23:16] known things that need to be done. There are actual
[2:23:19] factual costs. So this, this whole question about whether what
[2:23:23] needs to be done for the title to transfer are
[2:23:27] a few small things or two million dollars worth of
[2:23:29] work is not something we need to decide the facts
[2:23:32] are what they are. And we've got the right people
[2:23:34] in charge. So, um, I support that. I just wanted
[2:23:36] to, uh, not get too distracted by the question of
[2:23:40] what the remaining work is. I think we've got the
[2:23:43] right people to implement. And I'm sorry for cutting you
[2:23:46] off. Perfectly. All right. Um, I agree. I think we
[2:23:49] should, um, move forward. Maybe yesterday we should have, but
[2:23:52] I'm glad we were going to do it tonight. Um,
[2:23:56] I think I also want to just add that, uh,
[2:23:58] we have a, uh, we can thank our city manager
[2:24:02] for all these creative solutions that we have seen with
[2:24:06] the trees and the deposits and the, uh, the taxes.
[2:24:11] And we're in good hands to figure out a few
[2:24:12] more creative solutions. I think, um, going forward. Thank you.
[2:24:19] Can I just say a couple of things? First, I
[2:24:21] want to say a lot of the credit goes to
[2:24:23] our city attorney as well. We have been working behind
[2:24:26] the scenes. We've been in keeping in contact with the
[2:24:29] wilder community. We've been working closely with God staff. We
[2:24:34] want to solve this. I do not want this to
[2:24:37] go on very much longer. It sounds like CDFW feels
[2:24:42] the same way now. Uh, and our hope is that
[2:24:46] we can find a solution. And I think everybody has
[2:24:49] the same objective as to get those properties into the
[2:24:52] public agency's hands as quickly as possible. So that proper
[2:24:56] land management can occur. Uh, I think that's the general
[2:25:00] feedback I wanted to provide to you. Well, we're always
[2:25:03] looking and working towards creative solutions to do that. We
[2:25:06] don't know the timing for what this bond process might
[2:25:10] look like. Uh, so we are looking at all creative
[2:25:13] options to see how we can advance that as quickly
[2:25:16] as possible, uh, so that is ongoing. And you will
[2:25:21] have more discussion as the GAD board at the September
[2:25:23] 15th meeting at six o'clock. And then lastly, I just
[2:25:27] want to thank Selena Palmer, our planner. This is her
[2:25:30] last meeting with the city of Arinda. She is leaving
[2:25:34] us. She's received a job opportunity in the city of
[2:25:38] Concord. We took one. They took one. So this is
[2:25:42] Selena's last meeting. I just want to thank her so
[2:25:44] much. She's been just a stellar planner and has grown
[2:25:47] so much here in her role and is going to
[2:25:50] do great things for the city of Concord. Thank you.
[2:25:57] I don't think I have anything to add other than
[2:25:59] real appreciation for all the creativity. And I hope the
[2:26:01] developer hears the good faith and constructive efforts and works
[2:26:06] with us to get this title moved over. It's the
[2:26:08] best for everybody. And I think the, is there a
[2:26:11] motion we need to do to, uh, adopt the findings
[2:26:13] of noncompliance. The recommendation is to adapt resolution 65 -
[2:26:20] 26. Thank you. Do I have a motion. I'll move.
[2:26:24] We adopt resolution 65 - 26. Thank you. Second. With
[2:26:29] that all in favor. Aye. Thank you very much. Um,
[2:26:33] and I've now lost my Jedi. With that, we'll go
[2:26:39] to item K1. I think that's right. Yeah. Item K1
[2:26:43] purchasing agent authority for contracts and purchases. Uh, and also
[2:26:47] thank you very much, Selena. We've really enjoyed working with
[2:26:50] you. Yeah. Thank you. Happy trails. Um, and it looks
[2:26:56] like Cole is going to. Present on K one. Yes.
[2:27:01] Uh, thank you Mayor, council members. Um, so tonight on
[2:27:07] this item, we're literally looking at two things. One, we
[2:27:11] have an issue with, um, purchasing, uh, code language that
[2:27:17] we're trying to clean up a little bit here. And
[2:27:20] then the other is an increase in the purchasing threshold,
[2:27:25] which we're recommending. Um, so to go back to the
[2:27:27] first one, right now our purchasing ordinance says that council
[2:27:33] must approve all purchases or agreements exceeding 60, 000 dollars.
[2:27:41] So that's led us to this strange gray area where
[2:27:45] we have to ask the question, well, if we didn't
[2:27:49] agreement with this organization five years ago for 20, 000
[2:27:53] and we do one this year for 50, 000 is
[2:27:57] that 70, 000 cumulative do we now need to go
[2:28:00] to council for that. Um, and so we would like
[2:28:04] to address that, um, by instituting an annual threshold. So
[2:28:10] it would be the city manager. I can approve all
[2:28:14] contracts under X amount within a one year period. This
[2:28:18] is a pretty typical procedure. And you'll find this in
[2:28:21] a lot of cities around the Bay Area. Uh, in
[2:28:25] addition to that, we also want to further define, um,
[2:28:29] what the same or substantially similar services are. So another
[2:28:35] question that comes up is if we contract with an
[2:28:38] organization for fencing work and it's 30, 000 dollars and
[2:28:44] then we contract them for sidewalk work. And that's 50,
[2:28:48] 000 dollars. Should we consider those as one item. Or
[2:28:53] should we consider them as separate agreements? If they're one,
[2:28:55] they need to go to council if they're separate. The
[2:28:58] city manager would be able to do each one. This
[2:29:01] cleans that up by providing, uh, a more defined, well,
[2:29:06] just a better detailed definition of what the same or
[2:29:09] substantially similar or different services is. So we have an
[2:29:13] understanding of how to operate moving forward and which agreements
[2:29:16] we bring to you and which ones we can execute,
[2:29:19] administratively. So that is the kind of cloud cleanup part
[2:29:23] of it. Um, the other part, because we are touching
[2:29:27] this part of the code. Generally, whenever we touch one
[2:29:30] part of the code, we try to see if there's
[2:29:32] any other issues or any other things that we should
[2:29:35] address. That way we can do it all at one
[2:29:37] time. Is the purchasing threshold? So the purchasing threshold came
[2:29:42] to you folks in 2021 was the last time it
[2:29:46] was increased from 25, 000 to 60, 000, which is
[2:29:49] what it is now. At the time, the reasoning for
[2:29:53] bringing it up to 60, 000 was to put it
[2:29:56] in line with, uh, statute. We all refer to as
[2:29:59] Kupka. This is the state's rules for what they can
[2:30:03] do administratively, uh, what we can do administratively in related
[2:30:07] to public works. Um, contracts and things like that. So
[2:30:12] since that time Cupca has increased their threshold up to
[2:30:16] 75, 000 dollars And that's largely just an inflationary increase.
[2:30:22] So they said the 60, 000 in 2019 a couple
[2:30:26] of years before we matched them. And since that time
[2:30:29] inflation has increased so that the threshold now should be
[2:30:33] about 75, 000 dollars We're recommending an increase in alignment
[2:30:38] with that inflationary increase and what's in CAPCA. And just
[2:30:44] for some context, changing it from 60 to 75, 000
[2:30:48] dollars last year That would have been the difference of
[2:30:52] five contracts whether or not they come to city council
[2:30:55] or two percent of overall spending in the city of
[2:30:58] Arinda. So really not a substantial change in the number
[2:31:02] of agreements that you guys would see. You would still
[2:31:08] be responsible for approving about the city of Orenda either
[2:31:18] through the budget process or an individual contracts when they
[2:31:21] come up. Um, and this would also put us in
[2:31:24] alignment with a lot of other neighboring cities right now
[2:31:29] We're about in the middle. We would still be about
[2:31:31] in the middle. We would have the same purchasing authority
[2:31:34] for the city manager as Martinez, Maraga and Pittsburgh. That
[2:31:40] concludes the staff presentation on this item Uh, we are
[2:31:44] looking for some policy direction on whether or not to
[2:31:48] move forward with these changes. If so, we'll bring them
[2:31:51] to you in the form of an ordinance at a
[2:31:53] later meeting. Question.
[2:32:03] Will the new definitions change pretty much how we practice
[2:32:09] how we do business. Are we because you've had to
[2:32:12] interpret the existing code and so we have a certain
[2:32:16] practice based upon your interpretations and when you now clearly
[2:32:19] define one of these words in terms is anything really
[2:32:22] going to change So I mean you're going to feel
[2:32:25] more confident making a decision whether or not how to
[2:32:28] move forward and it'll be clear for you But it's
[2:32:30] the actual end result going to be much different. I
[2:32:33] don't think you'll see much of a change what the
[2:32:37] trouble has been for us is that there's been Um,
[2:32:41] times where we've interpreted one way and times were weird
[2:32:45] interpreted it differently And of course that changes as staff
[2:32:48] members change historically throughout the organization Some people were time
[2:32:53] with see things one way other people see it a
[2:32:55] different way Um, this would help us to feel like
[2:32:59] we're operating on solid ground Um, and it would also
[2:33:03] ensure us that we don't have to every time we
[2:33:06] Uh, uh, contract with an agency We don't have to
[2:33:09] scour through our records to see what did we contract
[2:33:12] with them 10 years ago? Should we count that contract
[2:33:15] as part of this or not? So this would give
[2:33:17] us the assurance that we can move forward Uh, with
[2:33:21] a lot of the same practices that we've been doing
[2:33:24] now Uh, but be sure that we're in alignment with
[2:33:27] the intent of the city council. One question Um, I
[2:33:34] might have misunderstood I thought you said some cities may
[2:33:36] be Moraga just have a referred a cupca standard rather
[2:33:41] than changing the number from time to time We're saying
[2:33:44] we're just going to go to 75 and not just
[2:33:47] have a benchmark to cupca Is that correct? That's correct
[2:33:51] And why did you choose that approach. Well we chose
[2:33:55] that approach because we felt like council might want to
[2:33:58] see the issue the next time Uh, we ask for
[2:34:02] an increase Of course you can give us policy direction
[2:34:05] tonight to say just set it to that threshold And
[2:34:09] then it would increase as Kapka increases naturally Um, you
[2:34:13] know the advantage of that would be that it would
[2:34:15] just move with inflation But again, that cupca limit is
[2:34:19] set by the state legislature on an intermittent basis as
[2:34:22] well So right now they change it with inflation when
[2:34:28] they choose to They could change their practice at any
[2:34:32] time Um, and so then you would be tied to
[2:34:35] whatever the state legislature decides to do with that number.
[2:34:40] Thank you any other questions. That I'll see if anyone
[2:34:44] has comments. I just want to say that I want
[2:34:53] to commend coal or lindef for the staff report Which
[2:34:58] was I literally was going through reading it initially and
[2:35:03] thinking Oh, I wonder how many contracts this applies to
[2:35:07] and what percentage it is And then I saw your
[2:35:09] chart and the answers were right there So it was
[2:35:11] one of the really just best prepared staff or I
[2:35:17] mean it was very good So thank you And that's
[2:35:19] why I Policy wise I think it makes sense And
[2:35:23] I think it makes sense to the recommendation is squarely
[2:35:28] It's eminently reasonable to me given the comparable cities. But
[2:35:35] benchmarking it to Koepka is an interesting concept. Yeah, I
[2:35:39] agree that this is a good policy adjustment And I
[2:35:45] really appreciate staff sorting through this and getting it straightened
[2:35:48] out because I do appreciate what you said call that
[2:35:51] this is going to make it easier for the staff
[2:35:54] over time Um, and I think that's a good thing
[2:35:58] and it's good to be consistent I would prefer not
[2:36:01] to just tie it to some state standard that changes
[2:36:05] Um, I think having the number makes it easier to
[2:36:08] understand for everyone And I don't think it's a huge
[2:36:12] burden on us to amended again in the future So,
[2:36:16] but I'm certainly supportive of taking the action tonight. And
[2:36:21] anyone else. No, I agree I think this makes a
[2:36:24] lot of sense I think the staff's reasoning is very
[2:36:26] clear And I think we should just move forward with
[2:36:29] it. Great Yeah, the reason I liked benchmarking was just
[2:36:35] because then you can set it and forget it And
[2:36:37] it doesn't need to come back on the agenda at
[2:36:39] all But, uh, as long as it's easy for you
[2:36:42] guys to, cause I would imagine the next time it
[2:36:43] would be more of a consent item to be I
[2:36:46] would hope you could bring in inflation adjustment as a...
[2:36:50] consent item because you're not also cleaning up statutory language
[2:36:53] But I thought it was the only one who was
[2:36:55] going to compliment how fabulous the staff report was Uh,
[2:36:58] it was a great staff report So thank you And
[2:37:00] I support the recommendation asset force Uh, with no changes.
[2:37:05] Uh, do we have a motion. It's just The policy
[2:37:10] item It's just a direction If the consensus is to
[2:37:14] bring it back as we propose It will come back
[2:37:16] as an ordinance for your consideration. Okay. This isn't a
[2:37:24] question that necessarily pertains to us But like Richmond I
[2:37:29] don't know how they conduct business. That's challenging Even down
[2:37:37] villa 20, 000 challenging. Yeah. On the other hand I
[2:37:46] wonder what Narup is buying. When Cole showed me that
[2:37:50] number for Lafayette I said Can you double check that?
[2:37:55] Um, thank you That consensus direction on that And with
[2:37:59] that I'll ask if there are any matters initiated tonight
[2:38:01] for item L. Seeing none I believe we are adjourned.
[2:38:10] Thank you Andrew, welcome again We're excited to have you.