City Council

Pleasant Hill, CA · 2026-02-02 · More Pleasant Hill, CA meetings · More California meetings

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Agenda

[0:06] Annual Update from the Pleasant Hill Library

[24:11] Proclamation Recognizing Lunar New Year

[30:10] CITY MANAGERS COMMENTS

[33:11] COUNCIL ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REPORTS

[33:14] Reports from Councilmembers on Meetings or Conferences Attended at City Expense

[33:26] Announcements from Councilmembers

[43:38] PUBLIC COMMENT

[48:31] CONSENT CALENDAR

[49:22] Adopt Resolution No. __-26 Approving Amended and Restated Municipal Pooling Authority Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement

[55:59] Adopt Resolution No. __-26 Directing the Preparation and Filing of the 2026/2027 Annual Report for Assessment District No. 20 (Commercial Area Landscape and Lighting) and Adopt Resolution No. __-26 Requesting Consent from the City of Concord for Ordering of Improvements and Assessments of Costs for Benefited Property in Assessment District No. 20

[1:07:51] Adopt Resolution No. __-26 Directing the Preparation and Filing of the 2026/2027 Annual Report for Assessment District No. 22

[1:08:54] ADJOURNMENT

Transcript

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[0:00] We'll update from the Pleasant Health Library. So please come on down, Mr. Patrick Greenberg, the senior

[0:05] community library manager, provided presentation, and I say senior only because of your rank,

[0:11] not your age. It's a bit of a mouthful. Yes. So we're cueing up some slides here for you guys.

[0:19] May I? Is it on? All right, I'll just make a short question here. All right. All right. Good evening, Mr. Mayer.

[0:26] The council, city staff, and members of the public. My name is Patrick Greenberg. I'm the,

[0:30] let's just call it the library manager. I run the Pleasant Hill Library, and it's a treat to be back here

[0:35] with you in the beginning of 2026 to look back at some of the great successes and accomplishments

[0:41] of the Pleasant Hill Library, which is a thriving partnership between the county and the city.

[0:47] I never get tired of looking at these, these glam shots of our beautiful building, but I'm going to share some

[0:52] numbers and some stories to give you a picture of what happened in 2025. Here we go.

[1:00] Cool. So we had a very busy year. It was bigger than last year, and last year was bigger than the year

[1:07] before, and we just keep growing and getting busier in busier. We had 310,000 plus visitors,

[1:14] which was an increase from 2024. And I really like to highlight this, because the only way that we're

[1:21] able to manage this capacity is with the tremendous support and engagement of the city staff,

[1:26] the public works folks, who really keep our building going and looking great. And it's a big job. Every

[1:34] single day, Jason comes to work. He's usually there before me, and we're talking and checking in on things,

[1:40] and making sure the building is humming and ready for the public. So I just want to give a shout out

[1:45] to the great staff under Anne and, yeah, Mr. Carr, and all the folks who show up every day, Gerald,

[1:54] our gentleman who keeps track of all the landscaping and the custodial staff that do their best to keep up

[2:00] with over a thousand visitors a day. It is really a herculean task, and I appreciate it so deeply.

[2:08] We signed up a ton of new library cards. So 16% more new library cards than we signed up the previous year.

[2:15] We still have work to do. Believe it or not. I mean, the numbers are spectacular, but we actually

[2:20] have a lot more to do. And we have this dream that every kid in plus in Hill is going to have a library

[2:25] card of their own. And yet, we probably only have about 50% of youth that are enrolled in an elementary

[2:33] middle or high school that have their own card. Either they got one in an expired or maybe, you know,

[2:39] their mom or dad handles their card. But we are really pushing to try to get into schools and make sure

[2:45] that whoever doesn't have a card has one. And so it takes a big team, but I really appreciate

[2:52] the work that we're able to do in partnership with the Education Commission and even folks here on the

[2:58] Dias who have facilitated connections with the schools. It's super helpful for everybody to be on board with

[3:05] this mission to make sure that all of our kids have public libraries across the United States use to purchase

[3:10] books to build our amazing collections so we can lend them to the public. Well, they imploded last year

[3:15] are coming from all over to enjoy story times and all these special events. And that's what I'd like

[3:21] to highlight next, which is some of the fun activities that happen in the library where we are fostering

[3:27] literacy and lifelong learning. So story times to me are the heart of this library. When you look at

[3:33] our gate count, the busiest days are the story time days. And that's every Wednesday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

[3:39] We have play full musical storytelling that happens. If you have never happened to be in a library during

[3:45] one of those times, you should come down and play with us. It's super wonderful to see all the generations

[3:52] enjoying a story time together. And we had a very special story time this last year with Rebecca Walker,

[3:58] the daughter of Alice Walker, who read from her picture book and we gave away hundreds of copies of

[4:03] her book, which is called Time for Us. And it was really beautiful to see everybody enjoying that story

[4:09] and her connecting with young people in our town. Yeah, it was really really a special event that we had

[4:13] in celebration of Black children's picture book week. And we did of course do a lot of after school

[4:19] enrichment. So at 235 every day, you will see those doors are open. And they will not close again and

[4:28] for another half an hour because it just gets walking through it. Obviously being right next to plus

[4:32] and home middle school, we get a lot of traffic every day. And it's really fun to see how these young

[4:37] people decide to use the library. Some of them are doing their homework. Believe or not, they're actually

[4:42] popping open their Chromebooks and doing schoolwork. It's incredible. And some of them are playing games and

[4:47] just socializing. And of course, we have a lot of enrichment for them. So, you know, whether it's steam-based

[4:52] stuff or it's craft. We work with the teams that are in our building to, you know, sort of curate

[4:59] and experience after school to make it special for them to be there. So, we love our after school time.

[5:06] And, of course, our maker space is hopping. It is for libraries, a cultural hub,

[5:10] that reflects the diversity of the community, not just in the collections, but the books that we have,

[5:15] or the staff that we have, but especially in the programs that we have. So in addition to things that

[5:21] Korean drumming, we also had Arabic calligraphy. We had a Ramadan story time. The list goes on.

[5:27] And, of course, Lunar New Year is one of our biggest batches of the year. And I'm really excited that

[5:31] the land answer is coming back to us on February 17. So, that one always draws hundreds of folks.

[5:38] Really fun time. Tinkers and thinkers. In 2025, we moved the event to the spring time, which is a big

[5:46] shift for us. We've been doing it in September for a long, long time. So, when we pivoted to the spring,

[5:51] we just did a really fun sort of launch party doing rockets. And this year, April 18th, of 2026,

[6:00] it's going to be our 10th year. We've been doing this event for 10 years, with robots and rockets,

[6:05] and all kinds of hands-on learning, getting kids excited about science and tech. And it's going to be

[6:10] bigger than ever. We're taking over not just the senior center in the park, but also the teen center.

[6:15] And I'm really pumped about some of the really stellar exhibits that we're going to bring in.

[6:19] We're also really trying to focus on getting our youth to be exhibitors, not just to be participants,

[6:24] and enjoying the event. This year, we want them to also be showing off the science and the learning that

[6:30] they've been doing. So, it's always been a dream of mine. And we've seen some of that, but we're going to

[6:34] really be leaning into that more this time around. So, yeah, 10 years of tinkers, it's pretty

[6:40] pretty exciting. I'm looking forward to that. Free comic today is another wonderful annual event. We had it in

[6:45] May giving away thousands of comic books and having wonderful live draw experiences with professional

[6:52] comic artists. And that one will be actually all ages. Kids, teens, adults, everybody gets to do

[6:57] summer reading, everybody gets prizes. And we'll be doing that again this summer, of course.

[7:02] So, all of this isn't just a brag. It's something that I'm just so thrilled that I have an amazing

[7:09] community to work with. I have an amazing city to work with. I have an amazing army of volunteers who

[7:13] make it happen. And some of the most special volunteers are those who work in the friends of the

[7:17] library. I even brought a few tonight. They're out here. Katherine, I'm Lisa. So, the friends run

[7:26] three different bookstores, converting donated books into the gold that I make into magic at the

[7:32] library. So, over $140,000 that they donated to the library for books and equipment and all the programs that

[7:41] I just outlined and more. It's really astounding and unparalleled across the county with friends groups.

[7:49] They also were not really just a fundraising arm. They really are an extension of our mission. So,

[7:54] I just really wanted to highlight that having all these book shops in town is a way for us to continue

[8:00] to boost literacy and learning. So, they are really an extension of our library. So, not only are they

[8:06] putting tens of thousands of more books into the hands of readers, but they're giving away books at events

[8:11] like the Halloween fashion, the park and things like that. It really is important that we have these

[8:19] sort of satellite libraries that can connect all over town and beyond the immediate neighborhood of the

[8:25] library. So, those are the highlights from 2025. Thank you so much for having me and let me know if I can

[8:32] answer any questions for you. Good questions from the dyes. I can't remember soccer.

[8:40] Thank you so much for all the great work that you do, the plus and whole library. I had a question

[8:45] you said you were trying to raise the number of students that have library cards and I was just wondering

[8:51] how you're going about doing that. Are you visiting schools? Are you putting a display out at the library?

[8:57] Farrowx has even busted kids to the library for a visit. And again, they've got the application

[9:03] filled out. We get in the card and we introduce them to the library and they get to run around before

[9:07] the library opens and borrow some books, which is super fun. That said, it doesn't have to just be second

[9:13] great. We'll do it with everyone. We love it when we get invitations out to any grades. In fact,

[9:20] we've had a pretty good thing going at college park, though they've had some changes with their

[9:23] administration. We'll be getting back in there this spring. We're during their

[9:28] forget the acronym, but they're their study period, right? And we've definitely been working our

[9:35] county librarian, Allison Eki, has been working closely with the county ed to try to figure out

[9:42] how you could scale this, where every student just automatically gets a card. It's a tricky one to do,

[9:48] but in the meantime, we're just open to any invitations to get out and visit and we've recently

[9:54] set up a page on ccclib.org or library website that's just a landing page for educators and they can

[10:02] fill out a forum and say, I've got a class of third graders and we want you to come and visit us and

[10:06] we'd like to learn about databases you have or we want you to read this a story, whatever they can

[10:11] just specify what kind of a visit they'd like and then we respond to those those go straight into our inbox.

[10:17] So yeah, we're continuing to try to innovate and how we can connect more deeply, but ultimately

[10:23] it comes down to the humans, right? It's the teachers and the school librarians and our staff

[10:28] to facilitate those things. So great question. We're just going to keep looking away.

[10:36] I'm just going to make a statement on my Patrick. And I just, you know, I saw the email that I got that

[10:43] the revenues for the friends, like kid a record of $440,000, which is just amazing numbers.

[10:52] And I just wanted to mention to the public as well that the friends had been instrumental in raising

[10:57] 1.5 million to put all the furniture and fixtures into the library and the first place. And so

[11:05] while their programs continue and their contribution is massive, they really wrote a big

[11:12] thanks for getting the library to where it is today. Absolutely. Just wanted to add that, no.

[11:17] No, I appreciate that. That's absolutely true. It's so important because, you know,

[11:22] you need these bond measures to build the library. It's the building. It's not the furniture.

[11:26] It's not the furnishings. So that's why that's such a huge, huge thing for the city and for your

[11:32] programs as well. I have a council member. Well, thank you Patrick. I mean, my kids basically grew up at

[11:39] the library, right? And even before it was renovated to the day of what it looks like, right?

[11:45] We attended all of your story times. Love them. I wish my kids were still little, so keep going.

[11:52] But I do really like the fact that you had reached out to educators. You've given them the opportunity

[11:57] to actually have the library come to the school. So I think that's fantastic. To Amanda's point about

[12:02] reaching out on library cards. Maybe there's a possible way to have a waiver or a form for parents to

[12:08] fill out for the educators, right? And say, okay, my child would like a library card. You know,

[12:13] we can fill out a library card while they come to the school of visit. So for example, if I'm having a

[12:18] lunar, new year's story time, we can actually have some documents available. And the parents can

[12:24] fill it out beforehand. And then that way you'll have people registered for library cards. Just an example

[12:30] of opportunity. Yeah, and that's sort of what the, we have a special application for the schools.

[12:35] And it is just a matter of sort of coordinating with the teachers to get that into the hands of the

[12:39] parents at the right time. And then the teachers can authenticate the address and the things that we need

[12:46] as a representative of the school. But yeah, it takes a few pieces, right? If there are places where we don't

[12:52] have a community library in place and trying to fill some of those gaps. But yeah, I've been grateful we've

[12:58] been able to have it out to a couple of schools over the years to pop up. You know, have a

[13:04] bunch of hands-on learning available. It does geared towards the early learning side of things. So,

[13:11] you know, great for kindergarten or pre-K. There's a little bit less there for those older elementary

[13:18] school students simply because it's not a full bookmobile that you can walk into for those of you who

[13:22] maybe may have grown up in a rural area where there's like a bookmobile that's like a bus. This isn't

[13:26] quite that. But it is another way for us to connect with schools when those kids may not be able to walk

[13:33] to us or we may not be able to bus to us. Yeah, I think that's great because I've learned that some of

[13:37] the schools had budget cuts and so they didn't have library hours for the early ages as you had mentioned.

[13:43] So, thank you for doing that and all the work that you know. No, I appreciate you mentioning that. It's

[13:47] wild to think, you know, that the youngest students at our school little resources. If you click on that,

[13:56] you will see an amazing menu of things that you may currently be paying for that are actually free to you.

[14:01] So, yeah, lots of the periodicals, you know, things that we used to get, you know, thrown onto our doorstep.

[14:08] You can now pull up, you know, on your mobile device. So, yeah, pretty much every newspaper you

[14:14] can think of. We have digital access to and then a lot of the super popular magazines. So,

[14:21] the New Yorker, the economist, all that kind of stuff, you can access to either through one of

[14:26] apps we have like, like press reader, Libby or Flipster or just through your browser if you want to do it that way.

[14:33] So, just go to the website and sign up. Yeah, actually if you've already got a card, all you'll do is when

[14:38] you click on the service you want to access, it'll basically give you a login link. You put in your library

[14:43] card number and your pen and then you're in. Different, different periodicals will have different rules.

[14:48] Like it'll give you like unlimited access for three days and then you just sign in again to keep using it.

[14:53] That's how I read my New York Times. Awesome. That's good. Yeah, exactly. And thank you so much in the second quick question.

[15:00] I had, as I know, as you said, you had a, you're looking at doing cultural performances and having different

[15:05] if, if there's organizations out there, do they just reach out to you directly? Do they go to, there's their special site in the website that they couldn't.

[15:11] They're actually, yes. So if you go to the website and scroll down to contact us, there's actually a program proposal form.

[15:18] So anybody who, you know, has a, a performance or a presentation that they would like the library to consider, can go through there.

[15:26] If you have special ideas, please then I'm straight to my inbox. I'm happy to, to look at those myself.

[15:32] Sure. I'd love, you know, we're always, we, we love to discuss with our community like on a Tuesday night. We've got family nights every Tuesday night, right? So people come in.

[15:40] I'll be like, what do you want to do next week? What do you want? You know, like, we're, you know, we got 52 weeks to fill and we'd love to have a variety, right? Something that everybody can see themselves in and, and something that'll surprise everybody. So if you've got ideas, I'd love to hear.

[15:52] Perfect. Thank you so much for all you do.

[15:54] Appreciate it.

[15:55] Patrick, thank you very much for you and your staff for, you know, really setting the standard for library services in our county. Really appreciate it.

[16:03] Thank you.

[16:04] Are we still number one by like 30% or something?

[16:07] It's more than 30%.

[16:09] Even more than that? Just, just wanted to point that out.

[16:13] Yeah. So, well, let me put it this way.

[16:16] In the three years that we've been open, we've put about seven years of mileage on our building.

[16:23] So, yeah, we're, we're kind of, we're traveling at a different speed.

[16:26] But, um, but yeah, you know, this is, this is, like, we've had everything going for us. You know, we have this amazing partnership with the city,

[16:33] incredible friends, you know, community that just loves, loves, loves libraries.

[16:37] And so we've had just strong wind in our back the whole way.

[16:40] And so it should be nothing less.

[16:42] Yeah.

[16:43] Yeah. But without Patrick, we probably went on that library built.

[16:45] I'm just, I've said that many times.

[16:47] Yeah.

[16:48] And a lot of people in this room that made it.

[16:50] Yeah.

[16:51] Well, okay. But really, without your energy and your enthusiasm,

[16:55] that brings every bit of library, this, this library would not have been.

[17:00] Oh, the privilege.

[17:01] But privilege not to be here.

[17:02] Thank you so much.

[17:03] All right.

[17:04] Take care.

[17:05] Thank you.

[17:06] All right. Well, we'll move on to item five point two on our agenda tonight,

[17:09] which is a proclamation recognizing the lunar new year.

[17:13] And so with that, I'd like to invite Dr. Andrew Medina from DVC's A-A-A-N-H-P-I organization.

[17:19] And a member of the lunar new year committee to receive the Proclamation,

[17:23] which I will read and then I'll bring it down.

[17:26] I'll take a picture.

[17:28] Madam Clerk, you got to.

[17:29] Okay.

[17:31] Top.

[17:32] All right.

[17:33] So whereas on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, the lunar new year will commence.

[17:39] And families in the Pleasant, California and around the world will join together

[17:42] and welcoming the year of the horse.

[17:44] And whereas the lunar new year is an important holiday for many Asian communities.

[17:48] And Americans of Asian origin, including those of Chinese Korean,

[17:51] Vietnamese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Singaporean, Malaysian, and Filipino heritage.

[17:56] And whereas the lunar new year Spring Festival is based on the lunar calendar,

[18:01] which includes the Chinese Zodiac or Shang Chao, a repeating 12-year cycle of animal science,

[18:09] and they're ascribed attributes.

[18:11] Through the animal science, though the animal science can vary across cultures,

[18:15] the lunar new year marks the transition from one animal to the next,

[18:19] with February 16th, 2026 ending, the year of the snake and February 17th,

[18:24] starting the year of the horse.

[18:26] Those born in the year of the horse are often seen as enthusiastic,

[18:30] confident, sociable, and characterized by vitality, independence, and a love of freedom.

[18:35] And whereas we recognize the discriminatory laws, xenophobic policies and

[18:39] treatment suffered by Californians of Asian descent are a blight on our state's history.

[18:44] We must continue to stand against the anti-Asian rhetoric and violence that increase

[18:48] during the COVID-19 pandemic and reject past and present prejudice and embrace all people.

[18:54] And whereas we look forward to a joyous new year and probably reflect on the contributions

[18:59] of Californians of Asian descent for their significant developments from America's first

[19:04] trans-continental railroad to the farms and small businesses foundational to our state's economy.

[19:09] Therefore, eyes, access, mayor of the city of Pleasanton, on behalf of the city council,

[19:14] do proclaim February 17th, 2026 as a lunar new year.

[19:19] In the city of Pleasanton Hill, in which everyone celebrating the holiday,

[19:22] a happy new year, good fortune, health and happiness.

[19:25] We encourage everyone in Pleasanton Hill and the surrounding areas to join

[19:29] in the spirit of celebration and reaffirm our communities commitment to family,

[19:33] diversity, each all respect and creating an inclusive environment of belongings,

[19:37] belonging for all of our residents.

[19:40] So, doctor, come in.

[19:47] Thank you so much.

[19:48] Good evening, Mr. Mayor.

[19:49] Members of the council and community partners.

[19:52] My name is Dr. Andrea Medina, proud coordinator of a nopi.

[19:56] I'm deeply honored to accept this recognition on behalf of Diablo Valley College.

[20:01] And our learning community recognizing Asian-American,

[20:04] Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders.

[20:06] This award is not about one person or one program.

[20:10] It reflects the collective commitment to visibility, to equity,

[20:14] and to the belief that a nopi students deserve to be seen and to be heard.

[20:18] We are growing vibrant diverse community with distinct histories, cultures,

[20:23] and needs, proud to boast over 1300 students identify as AAPI at DBC.

[20:29] And we're growing vibrant.

[20:32] And at Diablo Valley College, we work with students who are first generation,

[20:36] multilingual, working multiple jobs, and navigating through this sometimes complicated

[20:41] higher education system.

[20:43] There I have every day with resilience, passion.

[20:46] I also want to thank our community partners from Contra Costa, Chinese School.

[20:50] And of course, you lovely members here at Pleasant Hill.

[20:52] I want to thank you most importantly, our students since they are our voice,

[20:57] and they continue to teach us what courage, persistence, and hope truly means.

[21:01] So on behalf of the DBC is a nopi, we thank you for recognizing our importance of work.

[21:06] It strengthens that only our college, but our entire city.

[21:09] Except this honor with immense gratitude.

[21:12] And it's sincerely thank you for this honor.

[21:15] Thank you, Dr. Medina, from right down there.

[21:19] It is a free event.

[21:23] So please, everybody here, show up at DBC.

[21:26] What time does this start?

[21:28] It starts at 9.30 a.m. and it ends at 1.30.

[21:31] And then right across the street, we're having a day market.

[21:34] So yummy food, lion dancing, all the bells and whistles.

[21:56] All right, we'll move on to the next question.

[22:06] All right, we'll move on to item 6 of tonight's agenda, which is city comments.

[22:16] City manager comments.

[22:18] And these in Bender Nail are a team city manager.

[22:22] Thank you, Mayor.

[22:23] She has a lot to say.

[22:25] Thank you.

[22:26] Thank you.

[22:27] Thank you.

[22:28] Thank you.

[22:29] Thank you.

[22:30] Thank you.

[22:31] Thank you.

[22:32] Thank you.

[22:33] Thank you.

[22:35] Thank you, Mayor.

[22:36] Jessica, David and Council members, members of the public for announcements for you.

[22:40] And I'll start with a reminder that we have the city of pleasant hills taking a major step towards enhancing our roadway safety through the development of the pleasant hills safety action plan.

[22:50] The goal of the studies to analyze collision data and incorporate community input to inform projects and strategies that reduce safety risks and eliminate traffic related fatalities and severe injuries.

[23:01] The public's input is vital to achieving a safer transportation network for all road users.

[23:06] We encourage you to take the survey.

[23:08] You can visit us online phillca.gov slash SS the number four A as in safe streets for all.

[23:16] Moving on to climate action plan, a reminder that the public reviewed draft of the pleasant hills 2025 climate action plan or cap is available for review on the city's website.

[23:26] The cap includes goals and strategies and actions to meet targets set by state law to reduce GHG admissions emissions and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.

[23:36] The planning commission is going to hold a public hearing next Tuesday February 10th here in the council chamber at 7 p.m.

[23:43] If you'd like to review the cap, you can visit it online on the city's website phillca.gov.

[23:49] On Tuesday February 24th at the end of this month from 10.