The bus has been cleaned for the last two weeks and we cannot go ahead and go to the hospital right now.
The police soldiers and officers head shall depart after a few days, the authorities will stay for just two days.
Do the same.
Bird is a good job.
This is all you need to do.
You don't have to play with it.
It doesn't match well.
We have quarrel, so we are ready to begin the special open session to hear public
comments before close session.
Broke call please.
Council Member Bada.
Here.
Klaus Session, a council will discuss the following items.
Item C1 conference will legal council existing litigation, Washington versus City
Richmond, Guzzalinco versus City of Richmond at all, item C2 conference will
labor negotiators, agency representatives, around Taylor, Jack Hude, and Lisa
Sharber-Nay. Employees organizations include SCIU, local 1, 10, 21, full
time and part-time units, IFPTE, local 21, mid-level management and executive
management units, Richmond Police Officers Association, Richmond Police
Management Association, IFF, local 188, and Richmond Fire Management
Association. We have one request to address the council under public comment.
You will have two minutes to address the council on items on the
close session agenda.
Thank you.
So, good afternoon, Mayor Martinez, council.
Court of Handle, I'm a Richmond resident.
So, I'll get right to the point.
The unions have done a lot of good for Richmond.
So, when you go back in there, think about all the ways that they have contributed
to make Richmond a work and play.
So, think about that and I'll just leave it at that.
Thank you.
Is there anyone online that would like to address the council under open floor?
Okay.
There are no additional speakers.
All right. In that case, public comment session is closed and we will now adjourn
to close session.
Thank you.
Government meeting
P
1 tbsps.
1g.
2g.
1g.
In this video, I will show you how to make a video with a new video.
I will show you how to make a video with a new video with a new video.
In this video, I will show you how to make a video with a new video with a new video.
I will show you how to make a video with a new video with a new video.
In this video, I will show you how to make a new video.
I will show you how to make a new video.
In the next video, I'm going to show you how to make a new video.
I'm going to show you how to make a new video.
Postig might Simon Cole sut i'l sposób, ynydd, yna'n i'n gwnew yn ynaf i'na'u, yna'u degedddon nyn yn dod dwei'n
isot yn ryfnyddon, yna'u eindwydon ydiethau gdurend eindig heddiethauIte, i'na arth rup from flavour raetheth, i'n yna'n mae'n yn g Ng gef gained pangauol.
Yn gan rich rang.
Maku ffffdddd.
Local government meeting. The meeting is not just the mission, but the fact that there is a problem that the main people who are standing on a contract, it's a case where the public is not coming, and the public says that the public is under the catalyst to take off.
In the next video, I will show you how to make a video with a new video.
I would like a moment to love the baby.
I am happy I am happy that I don't miss it.
I hope my family is happy.
That's enough.
I'm going to take a look at the pigskin.
It's because of my dad'sgle.
But it's going to be like that.
A little bit more weird.
Let's take a look at the pigskin.
It's totally different.
There's a lot of fish left.
Let's take a look at some of them.
I even caught some of them.
They're like this.
For example.
There's chicken in the hot pot.
The chicken is really cold.
In this video, I'm going to show you how to make a new video.
In this video, I will show you how to make a new video.
In this video, I'm going to show you how to make a new video.
Thank you for your attention.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for watching this video, and don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to our channel.
To start the regular meeting of the Richmond City Council, so if you can take your seats, we
will begin. We will begin with the pledge of allegiance.
Ready? Our next item is Roe Call. Councilmember Brown.
Here. Councilmember Huminus.
Councilmember Wilson. Vice Mayor Robinson.
Here. Councilmember Zapata. Here. Mayor Martinez.
Here. Councilmember Bonna is here, but she is absent from Roe Call.
Our next item is Statement of Conflict Ventures.
And I do not have any request.
I would like to rearrange the study and action session.
I would like to have P5 heard first.
I would like P3 and 4 to be combined and heard secondly.
I would like P2 to be third and P1 to be last.
That was item P5 is first. Correct.
Item P3 and P4 combined.
And then P2 is third and P1 is last.
And for the record, councilmember Bonna is present.
Our next item is report from the City Attorney final decisions made during closed session.
Good evening, Mayor and Council.
There were three items discussed during closed session to litigation matters.
The next item is report from the City Manager.
Please display the presentation.
Good evening, Mayor Martinez.
City Council.
The City Manager, as a reminder, all of these items can be found in the City Manager's week report or by calling the City Manager's office at 506206512.
Next slide please. Next slide.
On Monday, January 19th, we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The volunteers came together for a day of service focused on improving neighborhood spaces.
Activities included trimming vegetation, spreading maltaining up trash and illegal dumping from nearby streets and completing community painting projects.
The day concluded with a concert celebration, local musicians highlighting community talent and reinforcing Dr. King's message of service unity and collective pride.
The slide you're viewing right now are of the activities that took place at Partchester Park on MLK Day. Next slide.
And here are some additional images of the great activities that took place on at Unity Park.
That included a number of our local community-based organization partners including Urban Tills and many others.
We'd like to thank all the staff that came out to participate in volunteering and tabling and for all of the community support to always make MLK Day of service.
And event that everyone in our community can be proud of. So thank you everyone who participated in all the residents and all the city staff that help prepare as well as the community-based organizations.
Next slide please.
Applications for the Black Resiliency Projects Community Advisory Committee are now open.
The Community Advisory Committee will help guide the development of the State of Black Richmond Report and inform the design of the Black Resiliency Fund.
For more information you can scan this QR code on the screen or contact management analyst.
Yana Williamson at 510-620-650-6574. Next slide.
The Richmond Environmental Community Investment Agreement competitive grant program for fiscal year 2627 is now officially open and we encourage Richmond residents, community-based community-servient organizations to apply to support applicants.
The city will host a virtual information session on February 4th at 2.30 pm.
We're staff will review both the general grant program and many grants.
In addition, please note that the Richmond Department of Children and Youth grant program will open this Friday, January 30th, providing another funding opportunity for organizations serving Richmond youth and families.
For additional information or support.
Court, applicants may contact Patrick Seals, F510-3078016. Next slide. I have been sending lots of text messages
to members at the dias, and so I thought it would be important to try to aggregate them to show some of the
great work that's happening in our community. In particular, I'd like to acknowledge the public works department,
both staff here at City Hall and those staff that are in the operations of maintenance
of maintenance division, and all the city departments that work collaboratively in internal services
to support our public works department. The city is excited to share a construction
as underway at three new multi-use sports fields designed to expand play opportunities
improve field quality across Richmond. These fields will be striped for multi-purpose
sports including soccer and designed as 12 and undersized fields. At Sheels Read Park,
there's synthetic turf construction as 30% completed, projected construction completion
is late spring early summer 2026, and so that is the park that you see at the very top.
In the middle, as Wendell Park, that's natural turf construction as 5%
complete construction preparation and ground breaking is scheduled, and then construction completion
is expected in spring early summer 2026, and Bormann Park is natural turf construction as 20%
complete, and the project completion is expected in 2026. There's also, we have a new term of art for Sheels Read
and BTA, we're calling it the Richmond Community Services HGTV Richmond Edition, and so at those parks where we
have it and where we've been able to reduce substantially part of the area. We're doing our best with
our public works, operations, and maintenance staff to also pay the JSON to the sites to paint the buildings
and to upgrade them as much as possible to ensure that when communities return to these faces that they look
vibrant and ready for young people and all members of our community to enjoy. So just want to thank the city council
for your ongoing support and illustrate that we're making substantial progress in our built environment. Thank you.
Our next item under commendations, presentations and recommendations,
is a proclamation recognizing the 2025 Richmond Women of the Year.
We have three speakers in person, if there's anyone joining us online that would like to address a council
on this item, please raise your hand at this time.
If we can get the following honorees to join us up here as we read the
proclamation, Anna Durand, Sherro Collier, Lequisha Mitchell Keith, Miriam Wong, Naomi Williams,
Regina Whitney, Sarah Wally, Tiffany Harris, Trena Jackson, Lincoln.
We're going to start off with reading here.
City of Richmond Proclamation, honoring the city of Richmond's 2025 woman of the year.
Women's History Month serves as a national observance recognizing and uplifting the countless contributions of women
whose leadership, courage and service have threatened our communities, advance equity and shape the cultural civic and historical fabric of our nation.
Whereas on cover first, 2025 Congressman John Garamendi recognized 55 extraordinary women in the California eighth
congressional district as women of the year for their leadership service and dedication to improving the lives of others
and strengthening community well-being and whereas
Richmond is honored to acknowledge 10 of these distinguished honorees who represent Richmond organization,
organizations and whose work reflects the city's values of resilience, unity, compassion and community empowerment.
Whereas the Richmond honorees Anna Durand, Sherro Collier, Lequisha Mitchell Keith, Miriam Wong,
Naomi Williams, Regina Whitney, Sarah Wally, Tiffany Harris, Trena Jackson, Lincoln, event Williams
Billion of Spore have demonstrated outstanding dedication to service and leadership
that enriches Richmond and the broader region and
whereas their combined efforts reflect the highest ideals of civic stewardship and inspire future generations of women
leaders throughout Richmond and Contra Costa County and
whereas these honorees had made significant contributions across non-profit leadership,
civic engagement, cultural preservation, community organizing, youth development,
public health advocacy and social services initiatives, strengthening neighborhoods
and improving quality of life and the last words.
Where as their leadership has provided meaningful opportunities for residents, supported
vulnerable populations and uplifted the social community fabric that defines Richmond as a strong and inclusive community.
Now, therefore, be a result of the familiar and members of the Richmond City Council
here by honor and commend that the 10 Richmond honorees recognized by a congressman
John Guiramende as a 25 women of the year and extend heartfelt appreciation for their exemplary leadership,
service and dedication to the Richmond community.
Be a further result that the City of Richmond celebrates these extraordinary women for their achievements and
contributions and recognizes them as an ongoing source of pride and inspiration for all residents.
I don't know what they put me first.
Maybe because I'm sitting down, so the rest of them should get chairs now.
I just want to first before anything else happen.
I want to introduce my family, which is sitting at the second rule.
Will they please stand up please?
Being able to have been behind me since day one, although they don't be at the meetings and all of the other things that I do,
I love them.
And I've tried to spend as much debt.
So I'm here and they came to put me.
So thank you guys.
Thank you.
I just want to say thank you so much.
That's another to be.
I love Richmond.
And I believe that Richmond can change and have been changing.
For the people who don't have hope for Richmond.
I believe in this is the representation of the ladies and also for the gentleman that we work for a city.
And Richmond is my city.
And thank you so much for trusting me.
Thank you for Richmond Police Department to my supervisor Michelle.
And that's an honor to serve my comment.
Thank you.
First of all, give me honor to God because he is the head of my life.
I just want to say that it's an honor and it's a blessing to be of use and to help.
Our community.
And it literally, when it came down to Steve's elementary school, it took the community.
And so this is an amazing example of not just what we can do individually, but what we can do when we come together.
And so I just hope that we continue to move forward together, recognizing that those who may not seem to have voices that there are individuals who will speak for them.
And that will empower them to use their voice because we all deserve to have the best life they'll be possibly can.
Good afternoon everyone.
Yeah, I want a big cheer.
Good afternoon.
I am super really proud to be here today.
I'm looking over at my son.
And you guys, which you just stand up because everybody already know that they don't know I'm his mother.
I am his mother.
I brought him this far.
And he's standing tall.
So I want to say thank you to all of you.
Glad to meet all these wonderful faces.
You know, when time come that people are there with you, it means something.
And I'm so happy to know about something.
So anyway, I won't hold you long because I had a long day today, but we're going to stand together throughout the rest of our lives.
Doing the best that we can do for all people.
Okay.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you.
Honored to be here.
Honored to be with these women and everybody in the room.
Thruld to be a part of Richmond to contribute to continue to put forth the efforts that we do for our community, our residents.
How we listen and how we come together to celebrate them and uplift the city.
Good evening everyone.
I'm honored to be recipient of this award.
I'm a Richmond native and have worked for the city of Richmond for decades now.
So I love being able to give back to my community.
The community that held and embraces me.
So thank you.
Good evening.
I am also honored to be a recipient of this award.
I am honored to be honored by the city council.
I am honored to serve the residents of Richmond.
I too am a native Richmond resident.
I moved here when I was one years old.
Been here many years, many decades.
I also worked for the city of Richmond.
I'm a proud public servant and I am just honored to stand amongst this group of distinguished women.
Who can say that we have poured out into this city and will continue to serve and the best capacity possible to uplift and to help.
Just further the values of this city that as people roll into the city of Richmond all they will see is pride and purpose.
And that we will just know that there is nothing but love here in the city of Richmond.
We have a community that bands together.
No matter what we weather every storm and we will continue to do this as time goes on.
So thank you very much.
Hi.
I'm Tiffany Harris and again thanks sincere thanks for doing this.
I was just on a Bible study group before this.
And one of the questions when God puts us in places.
And we've just feel like we're under serving and and Laura why are you having me here?
Because I'm a month soon really really great women in Richmond.
I'm just like what is my purpose?
And so it just shows me like so I run the Bay Area Girls Club last week.
I was honored to see one of my girls receive the Katrakasa Humanitarian Award.
So just things like that.
Seeing my fellow Richmond natives here.
I'm born and raised here.
I have my rotary folks rich in a rowdy folks raise your hand.
Try again.
My coanness folks which with your son is the coanness with me.
And then of course my sisters and solidity are here.
And then my best friend for my sister she's my sister for over 35 years came.
And so it's just so wonderful and I just thank you all.
Love you city council.
Thank you city Richmond.
Thank you.
So thank you all for honoring us.
Your work.
Does that go on scene? You guys uplift our community. You guys help create and make it even better. There was a little bit of challenge putting this
Proclamation together because the people, the person that usually helps us, she was receiving one. So we had to get somebody else to help us out. So thank you so much. And I also want to acknowledge two other individuals that might not live within the city of Richmond, but they're close enough. We want to also acknowledge them.
Marie Corayani and Tanya Jacobs of the unincorporated side of Richmond and Elsa Brante, but they also got acknowledged by the Congress things that we want to acknowledge them as well.
We're job break done. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you.
And I just want to say thanks to all of you. It feels great to be in the presence of so many extraordinary women.
And Trina, I can't thank you enough for supporting the council the way that you do. And Naomi, you, you are the first one to give me to give me my marching papers.
So, so I remember coming to the city of Richmond and running for council and she was the first one who says, hey, come here. I got some information that you need.
And so since then, we have done a selfie every time we get together. So I have to do that now.
Thank you very much.
Good for us.
All right, we'll squeeze in. And that's how many more tickets for me.
Thank you.
We have three speakers.
We have three speakers for this item.
We have three speakers. Can we, uh,
same the noise down so we can hear the speakers.
Okay.
So, um, so good evening Mayor Martinez, uh, council audience.
Can you please quieten it down so we can hear the speakers.
Please take your conversations outside of the council chambers so we can hear the speakers.
Okay.
So, good evening again. Mayor Martinez, uh, council for the record.
Good. I'll handle it. I'm a proud original resident. So, I do want to thank council members to pay for this
Proclamation. So, what could I say about these extraordinary women? They have done a lot for Richmond.
So, congratulations.
Thank you.
As you pointed out, Mayor Martinez, she was the first one to like, you know, say,
Come here, come here. And I'm like, this woman is extraordinary. She has, she was the vice chair of the commission on aging,
president of her neighbor council and I consider her my dear friend.
Naomi, you have done a lot for Richmond. So, you better keep on keeping on.
So, I, with that answer, it's all yours.
And to on court.
And to on court, Richmond resident.
I always share that I'm a product of strong women.
And 20 years ago, when I came to this council, he was my mother's nail me to set me down and told me how to act.
Because I was rough.
I was kind of hard on y'all.
But she taught me some things.
But not just teaching me things, but teaching me how to be a leader.
Teaching me how to be president in our community, whereas with some time, people are not present.
Right? You don't, you know, y'all give proclamation on paper, but the paper don't mean nothing.
But it's what they do for me and hard for the people that mean.
That people that show up in the sacrifices that we make from my family.
So, thank y'all, family for sharing your mother with me.
Since, you know, y'all share your mother with me.
You know what I mean? And so, you know, just to treat her in this work for y'all, even got it.
So, it's a treat to hold it down.
Well, you just could walk up in that office, thinking you was going to meet me with anybody.
So, treat a pussy.
So, treat a pussy and check what you're doing.
Did you see the email?
Mother's up here. She went to the council.
There's a lot of these women that I know that I work with, but you got to understand with.
We know that with our community suffers from and lack of.
And we try to feel those gaps with our heart.
It's not the titles that we carry. It's the heart for our community.
I'm a rich bit resident. I'm from the south side.
I'm from the north side. I'm from Central. I'm from Richmond.
I tell you, it's a part of this town.
So, and so, you know, Miss Naomi would jump to.
It's her stuff. That's where she really pours out to the community.
She tried to educate our community about our history in Richmond as black communities.
And I just thank her for being a pillar.
I'm telling y'all a pillar of this community for so long.
Thank you for letting me share.
Hi, please send you.
I'm from the City of Richmond. Good evening, Mayor.
City Council. And on our guests, and most important, our honorees.
I bring warm greetings on behalf of Congressman John Geremendi.
Who, regress, say, can I be here in person.
But ask me convey, his deepest congratulations and appreciation.
Tonight, the City of Richmond.
Honore's ten extraordinary women as the twenty twenty five women of the year.
What makes his moment, especially, meaningful is that these very same women,
were also recognized by the Congress from Garmendi as a congressional women of the year
for the California 8th Congressional District.
And that recognition will be kept in the Library of Congress for perpetuity.
That share recognition speaks volume.
Not only about the individual's achievement, but about the profound impact that they have made across our community,
our district, and beyond.
And one of our previous women of the year, of course, was very resuscant just two years ago.
These women represent the very best of rich leadership, rooted in strength, rounded in compassion,
wishing guided by commitment to justice, equality and opportunity.
Whether in education, public service, health care, business advocacy, or community organization.
Each one of you have helped lift others, quite often, without expectation and all recognition.
Congressman Garmendi firmly believes that when women lead communities thrive,
your work strengthens families, empowers neighborhoods, and inspires the next generation of women and men to
believe that their voices matter and that dreams are within reach.
So let me have a Congressman Garmendi.
Thank you for your dedication.
You're unwavering commitment and making Richmond a stronger, more inclusive city.
Congratulations on a well-deserved honor.
And thank you and continue the good work as we say women with pride and purpose.
Thank you.
That was our last speaker.
Our next item is open for.
An open form is an opportunity to address accounts on items that remain on the consent calendar,
or items that are not on the agenda.
During open form dialogue between the council and the speaker's prohibited,
tonight we have five in-person speakers.
Anyone join in us online that wishes to address the council.
Please raise your hand at this time.
We'll start with the in-person speakers and then move to the online speakers.
When your name is called, please come forward and line up behind the speaker podium.
When you are called to address the council, state your name, and your city of residence is optional.
Please terminate your address to the council when your time expires.
Each speaker, she'll be allowed up to two minutes to address the council.
City of Richmond, welcome to your comments and request a two presidential remarks.
In a respectful and appropriate manner within the established two-minute time limit.
Our speakers are Don Gosny, Cordell Henler, Antoine Claude, Mark Wasberg,
and our last-in-person speaker.
Rephasa Ayad.
Don Gosny?
Good evening.
This is one of those times when we have to remove our rose-colored glasses and admit to ourselves that we live in the real world.
For several many years we've seen members of our city council and even the council as a whole.
Take action that have divided the community and prompted numerous negative articles and segments and newspapers and new sites around the world.
Right now we see reprehensible actions by our president and his boot looking ditto heads that make these United States look bad all over the world.
And even though this is the result of actions by a very small number of megalominal maniacal,
mentally dysfunctional crack pots, the rest of us are saddled with a blame for allowing these actions to take place.
Same goes for the people who live in Richmond when our elected and community leaders go off the reservation.
A great many people around the world have taken notice of actions by our Richmond leaders and look at us with disgust,
revulsion, and even fear.
Because we live in the real world, we know that it doesn't matter what the truth is, what reality is, is what the people's beliefs to be the truth and reality.
And the world we live in perception becomes reality.
Read your history books about the Nazi Party's actions when they first took power and made wild accusations against the Jews.
They told the lie often enough that in the minds of the people it was the truth.
Perception became reality.
Is this the case we're seeing here in Richmond?
Last week this council voted implement programs and actions to try to convince everyone that they are not anti-Semitic.
The problem is that after their statements and actions, these past couple of years, why would anyone believe a word they say?
Why would anyone believe that they are sincere and try to tell us that we should ignore everything they've said and done these past couple of years?
And believe the PR they're trying to sell us now.
Reminds me so much of that birth mother of mine that routinely beat me telling me how sorry she was as you'll never do it again.
Until she got close to her boards and sticks, she used to beat me with and with it.
The same old story repeating itself.
Please don't waste your time insulting us into thinking that your anti-Semitism revisionism is sincere.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, maybe it's a duck.
Cordiel Hitler?
How do I top the hat?
Good evening again.
Mayor Martinez.
Council.
Cordiel Hitler and I am a very upset resident.
I was watching the video last Tuesday and I was appalled because I was looking at it and I'm thinking like,
People do feel the support for mayor martins because you have done a lot of good things for Richmond.
So I do want to put that on record so that's one.
The second thing is like I had to go back to the video of June 2024 and if you remember when
Rap tell us presented to us about the workforce analysis.
One of the things that kind of stood out is that we need more police because they keep our streets safe.
In order to do that, we have to figure out how are we going to pay our officers because they work a lot of overtime.
So we need to figure out how we can like strategically plan on how we're going to keep our officers.
Because if you look at other cities around us, they pay their officers a $10,000 bonus just to become an officer.
We need to do better than that.
So that's two.
And then the final thing is for a future agenda is I had spoken with the principle as a solution called preparatory and it would be great if they would be acknowledged.
Because if you remember when I had submitted an article from the rich in standard.
These young people have done a service day in the spring.
And so I'm requesting that this needs to be a agenda in late February.
That's it.
And to on court.
That's one court risk of a resident.
You know, I've been sitting down for about two months.
Putting everything together in the city and where we was and where we had and where we trying to go.
And when you look at our file department.
And I'll please department.
We are 10 years behind in quality, equipment, quality. I ain't just talking about the machines. I'm talking about quality people, training, resources. I find a apartment is the lowest to me. When you look at some Pablo's flat apartment, else the reals find a apartment, and then you look at our trainings center. It looks like a garbage can.
But everybody uses that training center. Everybody from Con air and all the other regions use that training center.
But if you go up in there, you'd be ready to run a body there. If you really look at how old it is, how behind times it is.
And Pablo have a state-of-art corner and fire department there. Why don't we have a state-of-art, a state-of-art, not behind-the-scenes, but in front of the scenes, fire department training center.
Have you ever been to that training center lately?
This is for real, for real. I don't think you have.
Oh, the south side. Oh, excuse you.
But I'm saying this to say, if we're going to represent our community, let us represent our community with quality.
So we know what the future looks like.
They know, can't count somebody else to fix us. We have to better our own sales by knowing what is going to take for us to have a better future and a safe community and a safe environment.
Thank you, Phil. Let me share.
Mark Wasserver.
You got two people are dead. When people lost this finger, lost her finger. When person lost his eye, you got several people that's going to be in a federal prison for the next four or five years.
Losing everything they have. Now you have Tom Holman going to Minnesota to give the governor an offer.
He can't refuse. He's talking all nice to President Trump, because Trump told him, let's keep on doing what you're doing. We're going to end it.
It wants them for all.
And I don't see how you people could be so stupid to go out there and support a bunch of criminals who don't even care about nobody else.
Now you've got to see the council, you've got the Richmond PD, the police chief stood there and said, we responsible sanctuary with cities.
We ate in the bed in crumbles from the law.
I mean, you really people that stupid, you think you're going to fight the federal government?
It's not going to happen.
Starting February 1st, Trump's cutting off the money to all sanctuary cities.
And you people are going to be hurting. Don't blame Trump. You blame yourselves.
You think it's funny. Trump's going to lower down the hammer.
I said, Minnesota is going to try to do the same thing that George Wallace did when he called out the National Guard to stop the black people from going to school.
So Eisenhower filled the lies of the National Guard. Then he sent the 100 first airborne in and took care of it.
And he's going to do the exact same thing to Minnesota. Now they're moving over to Maine.
I mean, you just being stupid. You think you're going to stop the feds from enforcing constitutional law.
And this clown's over there. He's things that it's all a joke.
Wait until I really comes down here to Richmond. He ain't going to be laughing.
Faisal, ayad.
Salam Alaikum everyone. My name is Faisal. I live in Altsarito.
I just want to thank you.
Mr. Martinez for all your support and all your effort and standing up and say the right stand up and be strong against all the odds around you.
And I know for some people they don't like to see the the flag of Palestine standing up on in Richmond.
Maybe they want to see something else.
God knows, but thank you for doing that.
And also I want to thank you all of you for doing a good job in Richmond.
I know a lot of people there on you can't fix everything.
And people need to unite together and work together.
This division and I say it before is going to get worse.
And if we didn't know if we didn't pay attention to what's going on in the world.
Again, it's going to get worse.
We need to work together and I say it before you guys need to work together.
And that's the only solution. The vision is a disaster.
And if you look around you in the Middle East all over the world that's what they did.
And that's what they want.
And you need to look at yourself. You need to look at your history.
And we need to learn from our history.
People they don't read and they don't know what's going on.
They think it's okay to do all these things.
All these divisions.
Time has expired.
Thank you.
That was our last in person speaker.
I was actually going to speak.
I'm speaking.
Okay.
Thank you.
I'm going to get down to the business party.
Well, I'm going to get down to the business party of the first.
We have had a snowball scholarship fund for many, many years.
It started in 1952.
And it continues thanks to the Hurlbutts who keep it going.
This year they need more funds to make sure that it continues.
I have donated $1,000 to this fund.
And I'm asking everyone who can afford to to do the same.
So if you can't, then do what you can.
There should be a copy of the poster, which is showing that it has a place you can send to check to.
It has a website address and it has a QR QR L code that you can use to send money by.
So we do have many, many heroes in our city.
Many of them work quietly without fanfare, lifting up our communities year after year.
Merin Hurlbutt is one of these heroes who has carried on the snowball scholarship fund year after year.
Since its inception in 1952, the city of Richmond Community Services Department has sponsored an annual snowball.
Event to bring together high school students from the West Culture Class Unified School District to celebrate a formal prom.
Since 2020 the ball portion has not been able to continue.
However, they still do the scholarship.
So I hope that we can make sure that this continues.
It's a very, very important feature that the Hurlbutts give to the city of Richmond.
So let's make sure that we give from our hearts to the best of our abilities.
I hope that you can match me.
Thank you.
That was our last in person speaker. Now we'll move to the online speakers.
We have two speakers.
And those speakers are Janis Halgen and Benjamin Terio.
Janis, please unmute yourself and you may begin.
Janis.
Good evening.
Mayor and city council members.
I'm Janis Halgen, a Richmond resident.
I'm a member of local and state groups working to stop the use of illegal fireworks.
I have a couple of ideas for moving away from the legal fireworks culture here.
The city app has a background photo of fireworks.
It's seen every time a resident opens it and it's been there for a while.
The annual legal fireworks show which many residents love and the city staff works hard to organize.
And I appreciate that.
It only lasts for 20 minutes out of the entire year.
So when I change the photo to a different one that represents Richmond year round,
there could be a Richmond Pride photo contest which would be fun and get local photographers involved.
Another idea is for the council to make a proclamation that the city has zero tolerance for illegal fireworks.
I'd be happy to help with other of these projects.
Thank you so much for listening.
Good night.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Bintario.
Please unmute yourself and you may begin.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes.
Good evening.
Good evening, city council.
Bintario president of the Richmond police officers association.
Speaking tonight to address the issue to again about the leave status of administrative
status as the officer's remic and stalking.
I spoke to some of you privately on this issue.
But I'm asking now to formally take some type of action.
The POA is going to send a demand letter in the coming days.
And then you're going to see us do more things outright in person and on zoom.
But the city manager is continual insistence that we wait for the district attorney for the California Department of Justice
before returning officers.
Remic and stalking the duty is not only unjustified, but is an outlier practice that no other city
in contra cost of county or the state of California follows.
There is no statute, regulation, post requirement, or case law that conditions and employers
personnel decisions on the completion of a DA or DOJ review, which often take over a year.
None.
This is a policy invented enrichment to avoid accountability.
A cross California officer is routinely returned to duty with modified or administrative assignments
where external reviews proceed.
Cities do not do this because they understand the law.
Prosecutors decide criminal liability, not employment status.
The city manager approach improperly conflates prosecutual discretion within employer authority.
And streets outside agencies that defact those supervisors.
Something a lot is not permit in the DA and DOJ have no employment jurisdiction.
No disciplinary authority, and no role in determining whether an officer work.
Being a practice that no peer agency uses, the city is exposing itself to significant legal liability,
and definitely removal from duty without cause, timelines or objective standards,
violates the fundamental principles of due process,
something that unions care a lot about.
And just fair employment in California law.
Return them to work immediately.
Thank you. Your time has expired. That was our last speaker.
Okay. Our next item is approval of the consent calendar.
Do I have a motion to move?
I'm a DA.
That's second.
Councilmember Burrell.
Yes.
Councilmember Bada.
Yes.
Councilmember Heminus.
Yes.
Councilmember Wilson.
Yes.
Councilmember Zapeta.
Yes.
Vice Mayor Robinson.
Yes.
Mayor Martinez.
Yes.
The vote is unanimous.
Our next item is item P5.
Under.
Study and action session.
What's the second?
We are members of the council.
Well staff is coming forward.
I want to just in particular thank Chief Osario and members of his leadership team,
as well as director coms director of finance and associated personnel and finance that
assisted with the preparation of this report.
The information you have a PowerPoint there.
I'd like the dias for you to refer to and hard copy.
And a great deal of time and preparation was put into preparing this report.
And I hope that you all find it useful.
And let me read the item into the record.
To receive an update on the advanced life support.
First responder services.
Fire station upgrades and replacements.
And associated five year financial forecasts.
And direct the city manager to develop revenue enhancement.
And financing recommendations for the city council.
Consideration.
We have one in person speaker.
There's anyone joining us online that would like to address the council on this item.
Please raise your hand at the time.
And at this time.
Sorry about that.
I'm going to give you to Mayor Martinez and members of the council.
She's for the record.
It's Aaron Osario, Fire Chief, the Richmond Fire Department.
Tonight I'm joined by Emily Cones, the director of finance.
We'll be in Cotter. Sorry, I'm being not on your total title. The right hand of the director of finance and my deputy fire chief, Rick O'Rinkon.
So all of us contributed to this presentation tonight in different forms. This really was a team effort to come together because there's so many facets to this program.
As I shared the first time, we reviewed this. It's a very complex program in it touches so many different aspects of the city.
So many different departments. Tonight, what we'll be re-reeling is providing a six month update to the original plan that was approved.
As requested by the council, we also be discussing fire station upgrades and replacements that are linked to the ALS program.
And review in a five year financial forecast, we related to the program and other city needs that are impacting this program.
At the end of this presentation, the recommended action is going to be to direct city manager curl to develop a revenue enhancement and financing recommendations for the city council to consider at a later meeting.
The brief overview of what we're going to cover.
I will go over what the action the council has already taken at the previous meeting. We will review what this deployment model was that was recommended at that meeting.
Give you a summary of the accomplishments we've achieved already.
And then we will go over some of the financial estimates in five year financial forecasting, including station improvements, station replacements, apparatus purchases,
and costs directly related to the ALS program, which includes staffing.
We also review the recruitment timeline and what are next steps we're going to be taking in the next six months hopefully and answer questions.
We do want to remind the council that this program, there are some synergistic policies that align with this program with the wishes and direction of the council.
First would be the health and all policies in 2014. The council adopted health and all policies.
The goal was to reduce the health disparities and improve health outcomes for our community.
Most of these, the policy relates to living, working, playing, and educational environments within the city.
But there is intervention areas six, which directly relates to the quality and accessible health and home services.
So this program does align well with that goal and policy adopted by the council.
Especially since in West County, we only have access to one emergency room in the county. This is Kaiser Richmond.
Kaiser Richmond is the only authorized receiving facility for an ambulance in West County.
Clinics are not allowed to receive 911 ambulance transports. So I leave this with one option in West County.
And if that is full or unavailable, that pushes everybody into Alameda County or into Central County to go to Johnmear or Kaiser Won the Creek.
So it's an important aspect to the health of our community.
And there are the alliance with the goals and priorities that the council adopted in fall of 2023.
That the council adopted the strategic goals and priorities.
And these were supposed to be measurable citywide goals with measurable outcomes.
Specifically strategic goal number of area four refers to improving public safety.
So this program aligns with that and goal area five five point one ensuring that there's the right staffing level and experience to meet the service schools of each department.
So I just wanted to make sure that, you know, we keep that in the forefront that this program is in alignment with the direction and the wishes of the.
City Council.
As a reminder, on May 27th, we presented the ALS proposal or implementation program.
We reviewed the feasibility study that was produced by the matrix consulting group.
On that at that meeting, the council received a report and directed staff to pursue next steps for implementing the recommended service model.
At that same meeting, you requested a six month update as far as what we had accomplished.
There's slightly beyond six months. The goal was to do is before the closure, but we didn't get to that goal.
So we're coming now.
As a review of the deployment model, I presented three different models.
And the recommended model was we we called the hybrid model.
And it was a model where we would initially in three years time deploy three single role paramedics squads with the goal of rolling them out or going live and during the fiscal year 2728.
And then over the following two years through hiring and onboarding of existing firefighters at the paramedics school, we would implement or phase in.
Ingent companies and truck companies so that by the fiscal year of 2930, we would have all eight fire companies that we currently have in the city would become an ALS provider for the city.
We recommended and the consultant recommended this model for a few reasons.
One of them would be that it is more realistic expectation of implementing such a technical and a complex program.
And so if we divided into two more attainable goals, it was just more realistic for our staffing and what the capacity we had.
It also would allow us to better manage recruitment and onboarding challenges.
There is a very difficult time right now in recruiting paramedics and paramedic firefighters.
There is an onboarding period and to stagger this allows us to spread that over a few years where it becomes much more manageable for both the fire department for the training aspects.
And for HR to handle that onboarding and to get through the accreditation and process we have to do at the paramedic level.
It also allows us to shorten the implementation period for our first step, which allows us to provide paramedic service sooner to the community.
It allows us to do it in three years ideally versus having to wait five years to try to get every company in the city to a paramedic level.
Some of the things that we've been able to accomplish in the last six months, I'll break them down here and give just a brief summary of what they are.
In a chronological order from starting from right after the council gave direction.
So, in June, on June 14th, the 25th we presented this model and the program presentation to the Contra Costa County Executive Fire Chief Association.
They are in full support of us moving forward in this direction.
It will streamline and allow us all to provide the same services across the county.
This is very important to the executive chiefs because we have a very robust auto aid agreement within our county.
We are regularly in other jurisdictions providing service and they are regularly in our jurisdiction assisting us with service.
And they here are staffed with a paramedics. This will make sure that we are providing equal services no matter what side of the border or city limits we are in.
They offer us assistance with accreditation and training.
Some of these organizations provide ambulance transport service, which will allow them to be able to assist us in accrediting our paramedics once they have finished the schooling and have to go through a county accreditation where they have to complete so many hours and contacts with patients.
They also, the Comfire requested us to consider moving over to dispatch centers just to streamline the ALS services.
This is a whole other topic that will have to come back to counsel about there's a lot of different considerations.
But the benefit related to the ALS program is now if we were to go there all paramedic and ALS services.
And this dispatch and fire dispatch would fall under one center which could decrease ambulance response times into the city.
So it's something we need to look into more deeply there was no commitment made it was just a request to consider it by chief for shard.
In June we also held discussions with AMR and Con fire.
What's called the Alliance. They are the ambulance provider for the county.
Conch across the county for every area in the county other than San Ramone and Maragurinda.
They are in full support of the program also.
They also offered us assistance with accreditation and training.
And more importantly part of their contractual agreement as the ambulance provider for the county when they were awarded that bid.
They have to have a pass through purchasing program for fire agencies in the county to purchase medical equipment for paramedic service at a reduced rate or at their rate.
Since they purchased in such large amounts because they are part of a nationwide company GMR.
And so we have the ability to purchase some of this equipment we need for our program through them.
So they wanted to make sure I was aware of that process and we were ready to go down the road to purchasing that we will have more discussions with them.
On July 7th of 2025 we held our initial discussion meeting and presentation to the Conch across the county health EMS agency.
This meeting consisted of the medical director for the county EMS agency Marshall Bennett and members of a staff along with members of my command staff.
We made the full presentation that we made to the council to them.
They are in support of us going ALS. They've always wanted us to go ALS.
It will make it easier to deploy resources and manage resources throughout the county and make policy that is countywide versus special policy.
They have to currently make in the city of Richmond because we have a different service level.
We reviewed a California code of regulations title 22 which outlines all of the main parts of a ALS program that any paramedic provider has to have in the state of California.
And that's basically going to be the benchmarks we have to hit and be audited against when we say we are ready.
We notify the EMS agency and they will validate that we meet all the state requirements.
Throughout this period we have completed initial classification drafts of classification specifications for the personnel.
Particularly for the positions of EMS division chief EMS clinical care manager single parametric and firefighter parametric.
These class classification specifications or job descriptions basically.
Like I said, these are initial drafts they are being reviewed by human resources currently.
We anticipate there's going to be multiple versions of this and edits before they're ready to be shared.
But those at least those are are done.
On October 9th to 2025 presented the program to the medical director for the concert cost of county fire agencies Dr. Malcolm Johnson.
Dr. Johnson provides clinical and EMS support and advice for all fire agencies in in contrast to county.
We were able to discuss some recruitment recommendations for clinical care manager and discuss different aspects recommendations he had for developing the program.
It's very important Dr. Johnson he intended to tonight just to be in support of this program because he believes strongly in us having parametric service here in enrichment.
Lastly we held scoping meeting with the potential consultant firm because this is such a big lift and pretty complex and I'm down at chief officer right now.
We felt that we might want to see whether or not this is something we need to have the assistance of a consultant firm with.
We're just in the stage of seeing if they actually can meet the scope of what we need.
No decision has been made about that.
But we are simultaneously also meeting with other organizations who have recently implemented parametric programs.
And maybe able to get some of the same insights and assistance from those organizations.
Most recently we spoke with the City of Load I fire department who implemented a parametric program a year ago and shared a lot of what they did in the documentation with us.
I'm going to turn it over to next slide is going to be presented by Emily.
Thank you. So this slide summarizes the projection cost for implementing the ALS program over the next five years.
So these figures include staffing costs which you can see there in red for new positions and equipment cost which is vehicles supplies and training which are in black.
So these are the operational costs.
So that these do not include facility upgrade and replacement costs as the chief will go over those in a couple of slides.
The five year total for the ALS program implementation is approximately 20.46 million.
I'm personally being the largest component totally about 14.34 million over five years.
So this includes salary and benefits for 19 single rural paramedics starting in 2728.
The MS division chief in clinical care manager the fall in 2627 and an associate administrative analyst in 2627.
And I do want to say that these are estimates based on current assumptions and maybe refine as we finalize.
Specifications negotiate agreements and confirm equipment pricing.
Besides just a program there's obviously infrastructure and support we need for the program it's not just simply hiring paramedics and hiring and purchasing.
One of the most is we've broken down the facility upgrades into two different facilities and the two different categories.
This slide is discussing the upgrades we would need to implement a squad program. These locations are based on the locations that the consultant recommended.
There are based on a number of factors just to remind you one is call volume one is a geographical location in the city trying to spread these services initially out so they can access all parts of the city and also based on population density.
So the first slide is fire station 62. This is our North Richmond station at the corner 7th and Hensley 10657 Street.
The station would need some improvements made to the dorm to be able to handle additional personnel sleeping and living in the quarters.
We would have to have upgrades for vehicle storage at the facility and also have more storage installed in some fashion at the station to handle enhanced amount of medical equipment and medical supplies.
There was a high and low, this was done walk through with the consultant, this is just a rough order magnitude, what they estimated what cost to do is upgrades.
We're looking somewhere between 330 and 440,000 for that station.
Second station was the hilltop station at 29.04 hilltop corner Robert H. Miller and hilltop drive. That one also needed the dorm to be remodeled so that I can handle two more personnel in the sleeping quarters.
That one needed a little bit more substantial vehicle storage upgrades so that we can store another apparatus there because we're at capacity at that firehouse and that estimate was somewhere between 440 and 550,000.
The training center site was actually not the original location the consultant picked, they picked fire station 64 in Crescent Park.
Problem is the fire station 64 is at capacity, it houses two crews and a chief officer, a has met a truck, a rescue and spare apparatus.
We are bursting at the seams as station 64 and there's no way to fit another apparatus when we went and looked at other possible locations that are in close proximity, the training tower site is in the actual response zone of station 64.
So we were keeping it basically in the same geographical area, the consultant recommended, but we would have to look at putting in a temporary fire station there, which is not uncommon for departments to do when you're building a new fire station, you may have to relocate to a temporary one.
A modular style fire station, but there comes with associated costs with that because the utilities, communications, other things that make a firehouse function have to be present even though it's temporary.
And the estimate for that is somewhere between 1.9 and 2.4 for a temporary firehouse.
So that's the breakdown of the upgrades needed to put the squads in service.
The other facet of this is the long-term five years out.
We have some stations that are in dire need of replacement and have implications into the paramedic program because they are also at a capacity and have to have upgrades to be able to house equipment and apparatus and potentially an additional fire fighter.
These all of these, these three stations were also included on the CIP, five year CIP.
They're not, it's not going to be the first time you've probably seen these because we did presentations at that time about them.
But fire station 63 is the line in on value view.
That one has significant foundation issues, repairs that are needed.
These are rough order magnitude numbers that were done by a consultant after a walkthrough and assessment of the properties.
We have fire station 66, 41st in Clinton, oldest fire station in the city, early 1940s has been a fire station ever since.
Does not serve appropriately served the needs of the department so that we can provide services the way we should.
Does not reflect modern day workforce in how it's built.
So the replacement for that was estimated at 30 million dollars.
And the fire station 67 is the one on 1131 cutting.
That's also a full replacement that was a temporary fire house built in approximately 1947.
It was meant to be shut down after the shipyard and the war was over, but nobody left and the state opened as a firehouse.
And so we continue to work out of the temporary fire house that's located there on cutting.
And so that station also we've gotten to the point where both 66 and 67 that the cost to keep them functioning.
I think is in out of bounds with what it would take long term to replace them.
So that totals that all the facility replacement needs or major projects with total 90, 98 million or 98.4 million.
This map is just to help you understand the locations of the fire stations.
I know none of you knows what the numbers station numbers are.
The bolded circles are the proposed locations for the first paramedics quads.
So 68 62 and the training center on cutting.
We've also in light the districts for the council districts in here.
We're trying to show you that even though it's phase one, we are trying to do our best to provide services across all corners of the city.
Until we can get all the companies up into a paramedic level of service and then every red circle you see on this map will become paramedic.
This map just kind of shows geographically.
They are pretty well balanced as far as distance from each other.
There is density, you know, issues differences between all the sites.
But for the most part, they're pretty equally distributed across the city in order to try to equitably cover the city initially until we can get all our aless companies up and running.
One of the biggest changes was the apparatus costing estimates from when the consultant did it.
As I shared with you before, the cost of fire apparatus has increased tremendously over the last five years.
And so what was initially a $800,000 estimate on apparatus for squads has risen to anywhere from a 1.5 to 1.8 for those same exact squads.
Originally we were looking at about 200,000 per vehicle and it's gone up to about 450,000 per vehicle.
They also, the original consultant didn't include a staff or a command vehicle for the division chief position, which was needed for that role to be able to respond around the city.
They will be a chief officer that will be responding to incidents, just like any other member of my command staff has to have the ability to do.
And then the EMS equipment storage, there's an figure there because we're not really sure what that upgrade looks like, but just to summarize what that means is every fire station or fire engine we currently have in the fleet and every fire apparatus actually we currently have in the fleet.
That has a potential to need EMS equipment related to the parametric program must have a certain level of storage, a certain level of security.
And a lock box for controlled substances, there has to be a lot of securing of medications and there has to be a proper device on each apparatus to dispose of wasted controlled substances, so they're not diverted inappropriately in any fashion.
These are all regulated and are all mandated by the California Code of Regulations for parametric providers.
And so we're not sure exactly what this will cost because they're multiple components that would meet that requirement.
We have to see what fits best in our apparatus, but that's kind of an open-ended item right now where we weren't able to furnish an estimate on what that would cost, but there will be an assumption of a few thousand dollars per apparatus in the fleet.
And that's 15 apparatus, the potential that have to have upgrades to be able to hold all the equipment and the controlled substances and the medications that we have to carry.
So this scenario.
This scenario reflects our updated general fund forecast is to be no interest earnings from the settlement funds or limited term revenue, which we'll see on the next slide or the next scenario.
Incorporates the cost of our negotiated MOUs as well as estimated costs for MOUs that are currently under negotiation.
So under this baseline scenario, the general fund absorbs the full impact of rising personnel and operational costs, including ALS implementation.
So this scenario demonstrates our structural challenge.
Without additional revenue streams, the city faces increased pressure on the general fund.
This is a conservative outlook and highlights importance of identifying sustainable funding strategies.
It's also important to note that these forecasts both this scenario and the one I'm going to present on the following slide do include on that lower third of the table.
estimated costs related to our CIP shortfall are funded CIP needs the MLK community center in park which we do expect to need a bond measure for.
And fire station upgrades for ALS implementation that we were just talking about earlier.
However, they do not include any assumptions related to point malady or point rate pavilion as those costs remain uncertain at this time.
So I just want to draw attention to the net deficit that you see in that in 2930 because this will change on the following slide do it's about negative 55 million.
On this scenario, too, and this does assume interest earnings on the settlement funds at approximately 4% so you can see up there on the revenues.
There's a second line there and that's where you can see those interest earnings.
And you can see that it provides a significant offset to our rising costs.
These earnings will help fund incremental costs associated with ALS implementation as well as some of our other obligations.
So while this scenario improves their position compared to scenario one is still requires careful planning to manage long term financial sustainability.
So interest earnings as we all know are not guaranteed if narrow largely dependent on market conditions so the scenario could be viewed as optimistic but possible.
So this comparison with scenario one illustrates how leveraging those interest earnings on the settlement funds strategically can help bridge the gap as we implement ALS and be our other financial commitments.
I just wanted to review the recruitment timeline for the personnel that we need.
We are and this is actually in the order that we anticipate onboarding and recruiting.
So the one EMS division chief we are that's the job specification we're trying to get done.
The soonest we would like to open recruitment for that position at late in this fiscal year with the hopes of onboarding that person in the 2627 fiscal year.
That in that whatever fills that role.
The goals to have the clinical care manager job spec finalized and approved so that that person can assist in the recruitment and the hiring of the clinical care manager because they will be working closely together.
The clinical care manager is a person that will be did mentioning all the training and administering our quality continuous quality improvement program reviewing medical care.
Reviewing the adherence to field treatment guidelines and county health policies.
The administrative associate administrative analyst that one position that needs to support the division.
We're looking to recruit that late in the 2627 fiscal year.
And then the 19 single role paramedics would be in fiscal year 2728.
And just so that you understand the number the total.
The 19 comes from if we had two paramedic squads per shift we have three shifts.
That's 18 personnel total.
And then we only accounted for one we'll recall a floater if somebody's on leave somebody's on injured someone's sick.
We need to have some cushion there and one is not going to be enough probably but we fill that along with.
Some other creative program program aspects that we look to we want to look into will be able to cover all our staffing needs.
There's some of the key items left that we human resources will need to assist us with.
There is the personnel board process once the.
Also I just want to point out that these are in no specific order so they're just a list of items and some are going to come before others most likely.
But the we have to still go to the personnel board with the for the new job classifications.
We need to be review of the duties and working conditions of each of these positions update all the job specifications.
We have to determine pay and benefits for these new positions there's a meeting confer aspect with all the impacted bargaining units.
We have to go through a unit determination for each of the new positions which is the single paramedics the division chief.
I'm a clinical care manager, excuse me. And then there's going to be, you know, some meetings that
have to happen with human resources and LCW labor capacity with more on MOU updates after meeting
and conferring with the unions. This is actually the same exact timeline I shared with you in the
first presentation. I wanted to remind you of kind of the timeline we're looking at and trying to keep. So far,
we are still on this timeline. I think it's absent flows. We make a lot of progress and then we kind
of stall out a little bit just because we're waiting for some things here and there. But for the most part,
we are still on track on this timeline. The next steps that need to happen will be the meeting confer
with the impacted bargaining units. We are going to come to determination whether or not we do need
to want to seek assistance from a consultant. We'll finalize the job classifications and unit
designations and seek approval by the personnel board for those positions. We will need to look
at placing an order for our apparatus, our squads, soon because of extended delivery times. It will
most likely take a minimum of one year to take delivery of these vehicles to have them built from
the time we actually sign and agree to get into contract. And then we will begin the recruitment
and onboarding the division chief and then the recruiting and onboarding of the clinical care
manager. As a reminder, we're looking for tonight as far as recommended action is that the city manager
to develop revenue enhancement and financing recommendations for the city council to consider
at a later meeting. That concludes my presentation. I'm more than happy to answer some questions.
Thank you. Do we have speakers? We have one in-person speaker. There's anyone joining us online. I would
like to address the council on this item. Raise your hand at this time. Our speaker is
Antoine Claude. Antoine Claude. Press the button, please.
Okay. Can you hear me? Yeah, I know I never met a mic. I didn't like it. But as I was
sharing with you, I mean, we know that chief was even presenting this. And so when I saw it, I had to
give you some further synopsis of that fire station. In a reason why I paid such an integral part,
if you ever sit down and just watch the training that goes on in that facility, the strategic
netto practices that they repatitiously do that you don't know how a brain work when fire providers
go out to a scene and a wall for you to fall to how they frame a wall real quick. Right before that
build them all fall down. You know what I mean? So it's certain training that these firefighters
got to continuously do. We had a youth academy that that's here. Our future looks bright. But I build
in Zayrite. Oh, I said I sound good in. I feel just bright, but I build in Zayrite. And I say it
because if you go to move forward, you're going to have quality equipment. The age of AI is real. And
everything can get trained as a firefighter on the AI because this physical work is very physical work.
What I can try to carry one in firehold is the way they do it. Just try it. Do you give them
any money? That's just really how simple it is. Because if you want them, you know, in another
thing that did she say that the training that they need need to be more elevated to really save
and lies in our fire department because we don't have a hospital ladies and gentlemen, if something really
goes down with you city council members, okay, where you live at, you ain't going to make a
little damn house, because cars to get only have nine beds for emergency. If you're going to
have a cop to the land in front of your house, you can kiss the baby. And that's the statistic. Just
look at the statistics. I mean, people died from here to getting past 80. Martinists, depends on how
the freeway is. You may not never make it. So this be realistic. We need to put money in our firefighter
training to make sure that people can stay alive until they can get to the hospital. Thank you for
letting me share. Okay, we do have an online speaker, one online speaker. And that speaker is Kevin Tisto,
please don't get yourself and you may begin Kevin. Thank you Kevin Tisto, President SCIU,
just want to thank the Chief and his presentation. I want to bring light to
I think one critical area that's missed in the presentation. The underfunding or the lack of resources
in the maintenance divisions of departments. So if we're adding sufficient number of units,
I think either 19 units, we also need to look at the staffing and the upkeep of the managed shop
and the employees there because they're already, you know, overworked services go longer to get
done. So adding new equipment now is nice. But again, keeping the equipment up and maintaining
the equipment is a goal. And so again, we just want to put light into that as well. Thank you. And I
believe that was our last speaker. Thank you, comments questions from the council. Vice Mayor.
So first off, I just wanted to say thank you. This is a ton of work and will be a ton of work
for the next five years. I had just a couple of questions about just clarifying question first.
The first three ALS sites that are proposed are the upgrade locations. Is that correct?
That's where you would be able to have people at? Yes, those are put on that list because they would
house those initial three squads, which means two more personnel every single day and another vehicle.
That's currently not there. Right. And then the next question I had was, you know, these these
the numbers are always intense when you take on under taking like this. And I just wonder if
there are any kind of state or federal grants. I know federal is hard right now. But are there
grant opportunities for this kind of an upgrade or no? So I mentioned that I had we just had a meeting yesterday
actually with load a fire to fire chief and their EMS chief. And, you know, they were fortunate
when they started this in 2021. There's called AFG assistance for fire grants. And this was a grant
area that they were willing to fund back then. I will say that the grant opportunities related to ALS
have almost all gone away. It's really focusing on cybersecurity. They tend to move focuses depending
on what's the newest thing in the fire service or in the public safety sector. I have not seen any
that will fund implementation of a new paramedic program. Definitely I'm looking for them but I have
not come across any at this time. There's been some staffing grants but they're not related. They
would be related to whatever you're normal staffing recruitment is not a enhancement or improvement
of your services such as this. And then I had another question, you know, when I did the tour of the
fire stations and found out the crazy condition that some of them were in, you know, how desperately
we really do need to address this with or without the ALS program. We looked at the training center and
did I remember remembering correctly that there is a historic fire station at that site that's not
operable right now. It's got all kinds of problems. So there is a fire station as part of that site.
It's a portion of the building that the youth academy currently uses. Half of the building they use,
the other half actually they can't use because it's in such poor condition right now.
But it has a certain level of historical status. Not the type that will prohibit us from doing a
project on that site. It does require us to restore the exterior to what the original structure
look like when it was a functioning firehouse. But everything else around it, it's just a very small portion
once more section of the building. Everything else can be added on, renovated, remodeled, replaced.
There we talked a little bit about how there may be, maybe there's still some other jurisdictions that
might be interested in kind of contributing to an effort to improve upgrade the training center site.
Is that something that's being considered as a part of this or we're just thinking about short-term
mobile only? No, I mean that was more about a vision was for a regional training facility
and one of the key partners was going to be the Berkeley Fire Department.
We were not a position to move forward with that project the way we envisioned and they needed to move forward
with a training site for themselves. That's my understanding that they have located a site somewhere in
Berkeley. I think they're Gilman. So I would anticipate, even though I'm going to talk to Chief Spray
about it lately, I would anticipate that they probably are not willing to partner in the same fashion
they were before. That did not include any sort of station aspect. It was strictly training facility that we
would share. I do know that City of El Serito, Confire, all of them that function in the county,
would still like to have a role in that if we could ever get that off the ground. But it wouldn't
include a firehouse. That was just feels like a huge opportunity. You know that site is really
underused and it could be something really great there. And then finally, I see here in the budgets,
it seems like there's a assumption that the settlement funds will be used to pay for these things and
I wonder if there's a way forward without depending upon the settlement funds. Maybe I'm misunderstanding
what's in the financial projections, but can you address that? Certainly. So the reason we,
both of the scenarios are just meant to be illustrative representations of the fiscal impact and
some of the assumptions. The recommended action is requesting that the City Council essentially
authorizes and direct me to work on developing financing plan and revenue enhancements for the City
Council's consideration. I think in order to be successful in developing an implementing this program,
we need to really sort of put all the cards on the table in terms of looking at what is the complete
landscape that the Council community stakeholders, labor, how can we work together to put together
something that the Council may be amenable to moving forward with because it's a significant lift. And so
what we're suggesting is that we can either try to work within the confines of the existing revenue
streams that have been identified that isn't enough. And so we are suggesting that the City Council
authorizes me and staff to sharpen our pencils and come back with a list of recommendations
in collaboration with key stakeholders for the City Council's consideration. And so that could include
a myriad of options and just want to make it clear that for something of this magnitude, I think it's
important that the Council explicitly make that direction to the City Manager to ensure that
the Council is behind coming up with revenue enhancements. So one final question that has to do with that
it would be possible if we if there's will to move this that recommendation tonight could we
make sure that the recommendations include something that does not assume the settlement funds so that we can
that as there's a whole anyway is that possible? Yeah, a version of point of clarification
the settlement funds are part of the general funds and to think of them as separate
would be looking at them as separate as special funds. So if we're going to refer to the settlement
funds, then before you get my vote, I need to hear funds equal to the settlement funds.
Okay, which is not the same. A general funds equal to the settlement funds, which is not the same
as the settlement funds. Okay, so could we have a version that has a proposal that
offers a way forward that includes funds that are equal to the settlement funds.
And that possible? And I'd also like to say that but it is actually up to us to decide
how much? Well, I just actually want to know from the perspective of the person who's going to be trying to
figure out how to move a pretty substantial lift in terms of financial lift if she believes there may be a
way forward without depending upon that pot. That's what I'm trying to ask the question.
But without using a sum equal, without using general funds equal to. Yes. I think staff can definitely
develop options. I also think it depends on the stakeholder support.
Right, so usually when we look at revenue enhancements, it's dependent upon having stakeholder support and seeing what the appetite is for that.
So I try to meet quarterly with our bargaining units and I think if this is something that and other key stakeholders, whether that's the Chamber of Commerce or I
I have essentially have an open door policy, right? Anyone who wants to meet with me, I try to do my best to make myself available.
So I think if the city council is interested in having us develop revenue enhancements, we can do that pretty broadly and then I would suggest that we come back within 60 days
with a myriad of different recommendations and that could certainly include options that do not include the settlement funds.
And then if we can provide an update on if it appears as though there's an appetite for folks to work collectively on revenue enhancements.
I can see that it's very problematic to not say settlement funds, which you just did.
I'm trying to, I'm trying to throw the needle here so it's a little tough where.
I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you everybody for your work on this.
Just it really is important. We don't have a hostel and this can save lots of lives.
So yeah, I mean from a staff perspective, I hope that the council can see that we everyone has worked really hard on this presentation and it's it's really important and everyone here,
you know, even Darren from public works who's in charge of fleet is here like everyone knows that this is really important for our community and we definitely want to if the city council.
Continues to provide an affirmative direction forward. We definitely are up for the challenge. I do want to note that there will be significant impacts right that all departments HR finance public works.
City attorneys office, many departments will be involved with this lift.
And but I think that we can certainly we're up for getting the getting it done.
Don't remember him and us.
Yeah, thank you for all the work that has been putting in these and I think like it's great because as council member Robinson say this will save a lot of life and it's important.
The issue here is that that if this is a undertaking in terms of the financing and we need to be clear about that.
So I glad that we are looking into different scenarios for how we will fund that because and I have a question because in the forecast.
But these programs in the five year will be an and let me know if I end really need that correctly, but after is implemented from then.
From from 29 30 to future is going to be a point of approximately 8.5 million dollar on top of the current like all the budget like it's 8.5 million dollar that this program will cause year after year.
And and I am not saying that we should not do it, but but I just want to make sure that the community knows that when we are talking about project programs like these that are really key and important.
It will cause some money.
So I will I also tend to have kind of like various ways of how this is going to be implemented I think less let's be honest.
There is a lot of competing interests around the settlement funds that around around the settlement funds that we have the settlement fund and we got the additional funds that we got in the general fund from the.
May polluted space that is what it is is is no it is not different and isn't the general fund and I don't say that is not in the general fund, but this didn't come from the out of air, it came because there was a certain amount of agreement that we did so.
The general fund and it is in the general fund, but like people like they are son a lot of what what also we are talking and we will be talking and in the other.
I don't that we are putting here is that we have this tremendous opportunity with this additional money in the general fund in these 10 years.
To have a transformation in the city and move us the dependency that we have in the first of your industry to agree in a economy and this is part of that right.
But we will need to look at as a whole as well, so we we know where are the competing interests of what we want to see in the city happening during this 10 years with this additional fund in the general fund that we have right.
So I applied that this is coming to the vision and I applied that we are putting a lot of effort.
And we need to really make like chart the pencils and the calculators and all like all the financial.
Opportunities to do that also to make sure that like we are in a still in negotiations with son of the bargaining units to see that.
We are not only thinking about giving good races to those staff.
Personal but also to see and overall improvement in the services and in programs like these in our community because at the end of the day a program like these will save life.
So it will be interesting to see you mentioned like here that.
That it will be a bond I would like to know more about what that entails how much is the interest rate because at the beginning was like bonds right now with interest rates so high will be that is how much money we will have to pay.
And what is the benefit because benefit of getting the bond and paying what we need to pay in the interest rate so there is a lot of these things that are coming up but I would like to see these in the overall plan that we want so that we.
In these same years the city in the direction of no being that dependent on the fossil fuel industry and be more sustainable as a city.
Thank you.
Council member Wilson.
Thank you for the presentation I'll start off by saying I agree with my colleagues that I do support the city investing in advanced life support program you know through our fire department.
But I do want to focus my questions on slides 19 and 20 which are the scenario scenario scenario scenario one scenario two budget so I think it's probably mostly.
So one of the things I don't understand about looking at slide 19 under expenditures so we can just start with 20 year budget year 2526 you listed expenditures at 258 million and some odd.
And then you have one two three four five six seven eight nine ten ten lines below where you broke out below that are those also expenditures.
Yes, so that's why at the bottom the blue line says total expenditures.
Okay, so my first question is why did you set these expenditures separate from the expenditures.
From what why are these broken out because we're currently in MOU negotiations and we wanted to make sure it's clear that we are anticipating increases in costs during the current.
But I mean we were anticipating.
Increases in cost and everything like if you look at the expenditures line.
And the first year the budget it's 258 million the next year it's two hundred and ninety million the next year so separate from these staffing costs increases everything we're paying for is going up over these.
I think labor makes up most of our cost for our budget.
I mean looking just again looking at this very quickly.
The expenditures.
Yeah, between the total cost this is just an incremental increase.
So under the expenditures line you have from 2526 to 2627 it's going up about 32 million and then if I'm eyeballing these staff things like what is us two three four five.
Let's just say that's about 10 million more.
So I just want to sort of like call attention to the fact that if we're doing a presentation on scenarios about the cost of fire advanced life support.
To me it makes sense to have a line calling out like doing this new program is going to create these additional expenses.
But I don't appreciate having the costs of our staffing raises in units that have nothing to do with firefighting being sort of teased out here.
Because to me what it is is this inviting scrutiny sort of saying oh are we over paying local 21 and why did 10 21 get this raise by the way things that I've already been decided and agreed upon.
And so you know if you're not going to also tease apart sort of like why did the budget go up for computers or paper or you know everything else that it went up for.
I just don't think this is the place to sort of sing a lot labor as as something that we need to like double down our concern over.
So so again framing things like that for me is really important is to not you know I'm glad that that our staff members across the board are getting raises and I think we have to sort of none you know figure out how to make the rest of the budget work.
Second thing.
Looking at the can I respond to you please go ahead.
So the and during my tenure here in Richmond the way that we've been able to accomplish a lot of things is with having positive working relationships with our bargaining units and what we want to show right is that.
We want to improve some or still negotiation and if there are going to be revenue enhancements right we want there to be a willingness to consider.
If these are things that they're interested in because we all have a vested interest in the.
I'm going to continue to provide high level service to the community so it wasn't meant to be disparaging any way or to be divisive in any way.
We really want to be in collaboration with both community based organizations and labor to move for a trip forward so that wasn't the I just want to clarify in terms of attention.
Yeah and and but your points are well.
Okay thank you yeah that that again if I'm getting a presentation on the advanced life support that's sort of what I want to see what that.
I'm giving that project what does it add and and I can see that there but then I get all this other information that just makes my hackles go up.
And looking at this like basically looking at scenario one and scenario two that according to the and again like I'm sure we'll have more time for me to understand like why is it that you project that the revenues are only going up a little bit.
The expenditures even separate from the labor expenditures are going up much faster than the project the revenue so again I'm sure we'll have a future time where where you can give your evidence for why why you're anticipating that.
But what what what you're modeling here for just for folks who might not have this in front of them what what staff is modeling here is in the next five years every single year we will be.
But our over budget running a deficit between six point two and fifty five million dollars per year.
So it's it's not like what you're projecting here is not just that we can support advanced life support we can support lots of things you know that under under what I think I'm understanding to be this modeling.
That's totally separate from what you're modeling for the capital I won't even get into the capital projects because that's hundreds and millions of dollars more that you're modeling and deficits and so my question is is like.
If I'm understanding it right I'm supposed to just sort of take a breath and relax and then authorize staff to go look at some revenue in revenue enhancements and that's when we get down to the real deal of can we afford to have an ALS program is that.
I'm sort of like yes okay okay so then yeah and in years past right this this council has really had the privilege of being the exception right.
But historically right every budget season we would start with a huge deficit and what we've been doing every year is we provide a balanced budget to the city council.
But I think if everyone had everything that everyone wanted right we unfortunately would have a deficit so what we're saying is is that.
We can go back and sharpen our pencils but we are going to have to modify the current trajectory.
If this is something the city council wants to do and that has to include revenue enhancements okay and I appreciate that and one thing I want to sort of call out is one of the reasons why this is.
And frankly alarmings we so much is that in my short tenure year I've been impressed and also in the paying attention years past of what a great job the council and staff have done in delivering.
Not just a balanced budget but one that tends to have some surplus.
So I want to acknowledge that it's we're all doing a great job and I'm hoping that this is not some prediction that we've found off the rails in some way. I'll stop there.
Council member Bonna.
Thank you for the presentation. I'm very happy it's coming actually into utilization in three years rather than five years. I have some very primitive questions.
It's about details, not the big picture. So I wonder A and R is a private company, right?
Correct.
And what is the role of the county currently?
When it comes to ambulance service, it's called the Alliance.
What it is is a partnership with a private company and a public agency.
Confires a public agency in the equation.
If you want to provide ambulance service in Contra Costa County and almost every other county in California,
if you hadn't been doing it already before and I don't know the exact year, but there's rights that are associated.
Just hypothetically, if you were providing ambulance transport service before 1990, you have rights that you exercise and you get to keep.
Everybody after that date, if you want to provide ambulance service in the county, you must competitively bid that service in order to provide that service.
And the county health department, the MS agency, is the one that awards that contract.
So every five years, wherever the cycle is, A and R, when they used to be the provider by themselves,
would bid it against other companies such as Falk or Paramedics Plus.
There's a number of ambulance companies that provide 911 ALS service.
AMR has been awarded the contract numerous times.
Confire and AMR decided to bid it together as a joint agency as an Alliance,
which allowed them as a public agency to access some funding sources that are only available to public agencies.
And the infrastructure and the institutional knowledge and historic ability of doing the service comes from AMR.
So jointly, they were able to basically, what they felt was they have a provide a better level of service potentially.
Provide a model that allows for more revenue or funds to stream into the ambulance services that are provided.
It just has to do with how they can access money.
It's a model, a confire and AMR, in Contracosa County, one of the first agencies to get into that Alliance agreement.
But that has been modeled in Sonoma County currently with Medic Ambulance.
And there's a number of models in Southern California that are following it because if it works the way it's supposed to.
It can keep us from having to get a new company every five years to provide new ambulance service as a figure at how to do it,
how to work in the county, but relationships with fire agencies, it provides more consistency.
Thank you. And raise their budget coming from and what is the role of the city of Richmond in providing that service to residents currently.
The budget for.
For the ambulance service.
Well, that's all controlled through the Board of Supervisors.
And then I guess there is funds through different health care acts that help confire us at the costs to that.
There's billing that happens by a private ambulance company for certain services that are provided.
There's a number of places that they get there funding from.
I have never dive deep into their budget because I have to know what to worry about with my budget.
So that's exactly why I'm asking.
So if you're going to have our own ambulance.
We're not having our own ambulance. This is a non-transport ALS system.
We are not getting into the ambulance business.
We are getting into our enhancing our level of EMS care that we provide on-scene.
Because right now you can get a Richmond fire engine to your house when you call 911 typically around four minutes.
If you live on the outskirts, maybe it's somewhere between four and six minutes.
Contractually the ambulance company will be meeting their contractual obligation if they get to 90% of their calls in nine minutes or under.
We have regularly encountered instances where we wait for ambulances over 10 minutes.
There are times we may for ambulances to come from Martinez to come from John Mirawana Creek.
It's not not going to say that it's all the time, but it happens.
And the advanced level of care that our community members need in certain instances such as CPR, a stroke, a severe trauma incident,
are delayed because we can't give those services because we are not an ALS fire department.
We can provide that advanced care when we get there, which is that four minute average.
We will get life-saving care there sooner and that's the benefit of this program.
We will still be turning over this patient to the same ambulance company we currently do.
But the goal is that by the time the ambulance gets there, they're ready to go and load them up and get them to the hospital where they can get definitive care in the ED.
And there is still a live, which is great.
But my question is probably we reduce the number of calls they receive, so do we get any budget from the county?
We will not reduce the number of calls they receive because we are still responding to the same call.
We are not in lieu of them.
We are improving what we do on seeing.
They still contractually are obligated to transport patients within the county.
We are not being allowed to transport patients.
So this program has no bearing on whether or not AMR gets more calls or less calls.
They still have to respond to the same calls regardless.
We just get to provide a higher level of care to our residents.
It will be on our own, no billing, insurance says or nothing is just a service to provide.
Well, that is direction that we will need to come from this council.
It is very common to charge for certain services.
There are fire fees that some organizations do such as sounds they fire,
Napa City, Valeo, their numerous agencies who have different models to try to recoup some costs.
Some only bill insurance companies, but will not bill actual individual.
So there is no one funding or a billing model that will recoup and cover the cost of this program.
All of those models just offset what it costs to provide this service.
And those decisions ultimately will be brought.
I'm assuming to the council to make a decision on which type of funding.
Which type of cost recouping measures you feel comfortable in directing us to implement.
Thank you.
My second question is about paramedics.
Are they going to be always separate from firefighters or eventually firefighters will be paramedics too?
The goal is that eventually we will just have all firefighter paramedics.
We face them in.
And we are in the beginning phases of figuring this out.
The more we learn, the more we meet with agencies, the more we come up with.
We adjust this model that we wanted to use to deploy.
Ultimately, the goal is that the current fire department that you have now.
The only difference will be that they have a higher level of training, but we will reset to what we have now.
Or what we need based on any sort of population increase we have.
But that we will eventually all have ALS fire engines and truck companies.
And the firefighters like you see them now show up to your house.
We'll be the same number of firefighters on the same fire engine.
They will just be trained to a paramedic level.
That's the ultimate goal at the full implementation.
We don't want to have rely on a squad model indefinitely.
So what happens to the vehicle you purchase now for paramedics?
We always use vehicle.
These are just these are squads.
They are a forward F550 chassis with a buildup on it.
We can repurpose those for rescue vehicles for towing a boat for marine program for our rescue.
We have numerous trailers that we use for rescue.
Shoring, structural collapse.
These vehicles will be repurposed.
We don't have enough vehicles currently.
So we will not have a problem repurposing these vehicles for a legitimate use.
Thank you.
And last question is about the role of EMS division chief and clinical care manager.
Are they firefighters or just clinical who will they be?
So the EMS division chief will be a chief officer.
It will be the I think what's a comparable position that you can look at is the fire marshal.
Fire marshal is a sworn chief officer of my command staff.
This will be a division.
He runs a division.
Chief wirely joins a division.
He runs a fire prevention division.
We just call him the fire marshal.
But a division chief was assigned to oversee an entire division of the fire department.
And so this chief officer would oversee strictly the EMS function of the fire department.
That duty currently is covered by the training chief who asked the double duty and do training in overseeing EMS training.
And also infection control which is related to EMS.
So we will be able to separate those two because that it's not feasible to run an ALS program with one chief officer that also oversees fire suppression training and special operations training such as extrication structural collapse.
Robescue confined space.
There's so many aspects in training.
EMS has to be its own.
It's highly specialized and it's also highly regulated.
And there's a lot at risk because of field treatment guidelines and policies and the contract that we have with the county health department.
We get reimbursed a small amount of money every year.
But we have to abide by a number of reporting and performance thresholds that has to be monitored and there has to be a continuous quality improvement program in place.
That has to be managed by someone that focuses solely on EMS.
The clinical care manager will fall into that system because the chief officer will run the overall EMS division.
But there has to be someone specialized in training EMS skills, refreshing skills, addressing performance issues when it comes to field treatment and outcomes of patients.
And be able to train for any new scope of practice that we as rolled out to us by the county that we choose to implement.
Imagine a lot of times this position is filled by someone that's an experienced paramedic from an ambulance and in some organizations that's an actually a nurse role.
They're specifically trained in or specifically qualified to train EMS related skills and curriculum.
Thank you very much.
If I may, I have one post last question for you.
So when ambulance people come, they're usually in communication with the hospital where they're going to transfer the patient.
When ASL comes, are they in touch with the hospital too or are the ambulance?
There will be certain treatments that require in the field.
With dictates who calls the hospital is the treatment being administered in the field often times.
There are certain protocols that are standing protocols and there are certain protocols that before you can do a certain procedure or administer a certain medication.
Require what's called base contact, which means they will have to contact.
John Mir, hospital the ED to get authorization to do certain treatments.
That's separate from the ambulance that we'll call ahead if they're calling the receiving facility with a patient is being transported to.
So yes, there will be times our firefighters will want to administer certain treatments in the field and it may require base contact to do that.
Thank you very much for thorough answers.
I have a much clearer picture now.
I really appreciate it.
Comments members who paid up.
Thank you.
Thank you for the presentation.
Great follow up to the first presentation we had on this.
Think a year ago two years ago.
Forget the timing now, but great six months.
Six months.
Oh, Jesus.
It feels like it was forever, but I'm glad that we're moving forward in the conversation.
This has a lot more content in a lack of the numbers.
I do have a couple of questions.
The temporary fire station on slide 14 that we're just discussing on there.
What does temporary mean in distance?
So a temporary fire station.
They're more commonly used when you are rebuilding a fire station and you have to temporarily relocate a fire station so that you can demolish on the
site you have because you don't have a new site.
So oftentimes a fire department will purchase or lease a temporary fire house which is typically a modular structure.
If you envision like the modular classrooms you see at a lot of schools.
Same building.
Just the internal layout of it is made to resemble a fire house, sleeping quarters, kitchen,
day room, you know, all of those types of things.
And it's meant to be temporary, but you have to bring in all the utilities.
You have to bring in the communications, which allows for communication from the dispatch center for dispatching purposes.
Everything you would have in a functioning fire house has to be there just in the temporary fashion.
And when you're done with it you typically either sell it or like I said it's a lot.
Police and the company will come back and remove it off of the grounds that you put it on.
And then I was trying to follow what you were saying earlier, so that because we're looking
at station 62 and 68 to potentially be the ones that would be have some kind of upgrades
in that temporary fire station, will be for those two?
No, so with the slide 14 is trying to show, is that fire station 62 and 68 for the most
part could, with minor modifications could accommodate additional personnel and apparatus.
The consultant based on population density, call volume and geographical location,
recommended fire station 64 at Bayview and Carlson to be at the third site first squad,
but that's not feasible due to the number of personnel we already have at that fire station.
You can't fit anybody else in there.
Sorry, so that's, because you mentioned that, I want to make sure that I'm getting.
So that way you don't repeat what you just said.
So what is the temporary fire station going to be for, for which station that would be in place
of having something at station 64, we would put a temporary fire house to house the squad
at the training center, which is also in station 64's first due district.
Your option would be to put a temporary fire house in the back parking lot of station 64,
but that is, there's a lot of equipment stored back there currently in conics boxes
and it's the consultant that did the walkthrough on the facilities.
Didn't recommend that as a first choice.
They felt that the site at the training center will provide for a very similar geographical location,
but would be much easier to put in a temporary fire house
because we have already installed modular classrooms to teach cert and EMS maybe about 10 years ago.
So it was much easier project to bring the utilities over.
So that's kind of, while we're doing something on station 64.
No, this would be, well, this would be contingent upon us transitioning to ALS engine companies
so that the engine company at 64 would eventually be staffed with paramedic firefighters
and you wouldn't have to have the squad at the tower anymore.
Yeah, chief, if I may, so I think it would be helpful just for clarification.
So in terms of clarifying that the squad would be at the training center.
Yeah.
And the other thing that this, I mean, this is such a complex thing,
but the other aspect of why the consultant for the stations recommended this is that
there is the potential that station 67 or N66 need to be rebuilt.
Station 66 is an example of a station that there is no other place to put station 66 temporarily
and still serve the north and east other than moving them to a temporary station that might be at the training tower.
So the idea is that you could potentially invest this, you know, 1.9 to 2.5 million for a temporary fire house
and initially you can use it to house a squad until you transition to ALS engines
and then you could also house station 66 is crew there temporarily while we rebuild station 66
so you actually get dual use out of that initial investment instead of just using it for a squad
and then we don't know how this is going to work with station 67's replacement
but there is the potential to have to move 67 out of their quarters to a temporary fire house to rebuild that fire station
you might be able to use that for that purpose also and get a third use
although that's not ideal because it's on the other side of the train tracks which could pose delays to responses into the south side
but it just gives us options to repurpose that station and at least it for longer
so that the initial investment isn't just for a squad but it's for station rebuilds also
because that is a factor into all station rebuilds is where does the current crew go while you rebuild this fire house
and how do you move them and have the least amount of impact on response times and operations?
Perfect thank you and maybe in the future we'll have to see what it will cost to instead of a temporary do a new one there
because we're only building more housing around the area so we're going to need another fire station anyway
so we might as well look to see if we invest so with that with the future so thank you
next question station let me see my notes here station so slide 15 if you can so
station 6667 for station replacement is about station 67 is 30 million for station 63
it's also 30 million but it looks like we're not replacing we're just fixing the foundation
what to figure out why the cost is the same to replace them to do some fixes
that is a worst case scenario estimate about that it is going to require more analysis
that fire station has a foundation issue that may be linked to grading they suspect
and it could be as minor as fixing the foundation and doing piles under the foundation
or could be as severe as having to demolish that fire station and rebuild it we don't know yet
so the consulting gave this number as more of a worst case scenario estimate if you had to do a significant tear down
and rebuild that fire house but we don't know what that's going to cost yet this is just the best guess right now
based on a consultant got it thank you because that note there's this foundation repair and grading so it's
foundation repair and grading all the way to repair and the number could be anywhere between 30 million to less than
that's what it's supposedly all right thank you and then the on slide
19 and 20 so that the positions and this might be a question for the city manager so I see that the positions I want to
make sure that I'm seeing this correctly and it might be because of the budget as we are as we're
potentially having expenditures that are higher than revenues but the total of 40 positions are going down
so both of these budgets have positions going down between
92 to 127 positions is that my reading that correctly?
Yes you are reading that correctly so ideas so what you see the total afforded positions on the bottom there
so as our deficit increases we're saying that the amount of positions allocated positions current
allocators which is the 800 we're saying that if we had to close that gap of you know in the
in fiscal year 2930 of 55.3 million we could only afford 5063 positions so it's again it's a little
straight up okay thank you I just want to make sure it goes up seeing it go lower so we have to plan for that as
well right no other questions for now thank you so much thank you so much thank you so much
thank you so much for the update and the presentation I appreciate it I just wanted to know
so on the CIP list we have a lot of fire stations listed concerning upgrades and repairs
but since the first three stations listed in the presentation are now the priority locations I'm
wondering is that reflected also as a priority on the CIP list or is that included in the CIP
shortfall that's on the projections there does need to be there was a specific methodology that the city council
approved for prioritizing projects and so I would say that at midyear we need to what we frequently refer
to as we need to have a true up so there needs to be an alignment of the will have more refined
numbers from public works on what they anticipate the facility upgrades will cost as well as the
new stations and then we will need to work with the city council to align the council priorities around
the methodology for the CIP projects to bring these things into alignment so that that needs to be done staff
have begun to work on it but we will have that information for midyear okay fantastic also
I just want to be realistic because my hopes are getting like up and so like with our expectations
and then like with the potential three year roll out like would we be able to actually implement this
ALS program without the usage of the additional funds awarded in the general fund
I think that we will need to think about revenue enhancements and what is the city council
comfortable with and what are stakeholders comfortable with proceeding with and so I think it's possible
but it depends on you know what ultimately what the city council's policy direction is and so you know we're trying to balance these things
Yeah I mean the numbers are astronomical so I'm just like wanting to be realistic like with ourselves and with the public like
is this a lift that we could do without depending on that especially since this is a program that's going to impact the city of Richmond
and not any one in particular or any district in particular but so can't wait to hear that part
Also lastly I just wanted to ask about the improved emergency response times in preparedness so
how would staff be able to identify or ensure I know ensures probably like a reach but that ALS services improvements are equitable across the districts
because of the limited station usage or that will be staffed with ALS
Are we talking at three years or five years?
That's good either I just make sure that we that something that really spells out like what that looks like
So I mean that was a point in sharing the maps with you was that
I think this one yeah so we apologize that there was a there's a
That's why I want to make sure that is equitable so public works Mark Mark will work with him on on these slides
But for the purposes of the initial rollout which is slide 17 which is the next slide this is sort of the initial strategy and I think
Chief do you want to talk about the the deployments strategy here and why this is your recommendation?
Yes, so this is one of the reasons why the consulting recommended squads in the beginning
Because it squads not the only answer right we could do three ALS engineering companies but then we are saying okay well where do we put them if we follow the
Consultants model
Yeah, they're spread out throughout the city but you got to remember our fire fire engines our company
Each station has a district it responds in it's considered like it's a primary response area
We call it the first do area and so but squad can mimic like an ambulance does where it
We are basically breaking up the city into three sections that the squad can roam anywhere and that third of the city
It respond to a call
The fact that what you get currently get let's just use an example as a medical incident
You currently get a fire engine or a fire truck and an ambulance responds to your house when you call that one one
The only thing that would change is the squad would respond in addition to that
So that they would get ALS service there
I will say that if it was in ALS engines it would be and I wanted to do three of them initially
That would be a much easier lift
But I would struggle being able to equitably provide that service around the city
It would be limited to their district and if they are not busy
We might be able to add them to a neighboring district but now we're creating coverage gaps in their primary district
And so that was the reason why the squad is recommended because everybody in the community gets to initially benefit
If we have a additional roaming medical unit that can provide ALS versus fire engine with fire fighter medics
That stays in a pretty determined district so you know these were fire engines only hilltop would get medic service
And only North Richmond and only you know, Chris and Park area annex would get paramedics service
And we can't promise that that would be able to those engines would be able to respond outside their first due district
They currently only do that for things such as structure fires or vehicle accidents that require multiple units in their response
So this was an attempt to try to be equitable in this service improvement
Until we can get to a full five year where every fire engine and every fire station and your neighborhood has a paramedic on there
It would be much easier though if I just implemented three fire engines at a time until I got to eight
But I don't want to get into which will, how did you pick them over us over here?
No, I thought it, thank you so much for that and thank you all for all that you do, appreciate it
Councilmember Bonna
Quick question about that this slide 17, how long is going to be like that?
I don't complain you know why there is nothing in district for I understand your danger best and for practical purposes
But how temporary is this situation? Two years one year
Well that's part of the five year plan the goal is that between year three and your five
We will be implementing ALS engine companies. So eventually, station 63 on value view will be an ALS engine company.
So it's maximum two years that we'll have this situation.
That's the goal. The goal is that everybody within the two years following the initial squad implementation will be ALS.
There will, as we decide who, which stations be get implemented first, there's a lot of things we have to consider such as call volume and your district.
We are looking at distance away from other paramedic resources.
We don't have a methodology for that yet. We also need to see what our staffing looks like and how many medics we onboard and what rank they are.
There's a lot of factors going into it. So we're going to try to come up with when we get down into the weeds of the plan for implementation.
Have a hierarchy of which stations first, second, third, all the way through most likely the truck company would be the last station last crew to get a paramedic.
Since their primary duties has met and structure fire response.
So we have to figure that out and that's something that we will figure out, you know, internally in the fire department based on a number of factors.
Thank you. So I hope you do consider some priority for district four for being so far away from.
Thanks. Five year, you're right.
So are any other questions?
If not, I would like to make a motion to receive the it's update on the advanced life support first responder services.
Fire station upgrades and replacements and associate five year financial forecast and direct the city manager to develop revenue enhancement and financing recommendations for the city council consideration.
Also, to consider how we think of the general fund in order to ensure that.
That that the.
That the general funds, which were expanded because of the settlement fund can be looked at in a totality with with the needs of the city.
I speak into the right. Second.
Second. Second.
Councilmember Brown. Yes.
Councilmember Vana.
Very excited. Yes. Thank you. Councilmember him.
Yes.
Councilmember Wilson. Yes.
Councilmember Zapater. Yes.
Vice Mayor Robinson. Yes.
And Mayor Martinez. Yes.
The voters unanimously.
Thank you.
Our next item is to combine.
Item P3 and P4.
P3 is to direct the city manager to engage in assault and to collaborate with city staff and city council and community stakeholders to conduct community engagement and gather input on a framework for the expenditure of new general fund revenues generated by the polluters pay settlement.
With a consultant reporting back to the city council by May 26 of 2026.
Item P4 is to direct the city manager or their designated to schedule and lead a minimum of six community meetings each year all around the city in each district together input from the community on how to spend the community money Chevron settlement funds prior to the annual budget meeting.
We have a total of 17 in person speakers.
And if there's anyone joining us online that would like to address the council on item P3 and P4 please raise your hand at this time.
So do we have.
Yeah. Thank you.
So I and I think I'm going to present with council member Robinson P3.
We have been in collaboration with many community organizations and will staff to have like this need for getting input from the community.
Community around what we can do and what the community vision is around these new.
A man is in the general fund from these.
A settlement agreement that we have and that many community organizations make a happen among city council.
So in that sense the idea is to we know that capacity and the staff is limited.
We want to make sure that we are capacity. This is why we are.
Recommending that a consultant could be part of of that.
Capacity are in so that we can have a robust community engagement.
The idea is that we had this tremendous opportunity as I said before in these 10 years.
With 550 million dollars adding to the general fund every year.
The first a year 50 million dollars and then after that 60 million dollars.
We have to do some.
It's smart investment that can allow us to move the needle in that dependency that we have from chairman.
As he says in one of the articles in the newspaper we have a 20% of our general fund revenue.
You can't from one industry.
And if we and an industry that as we are seeing is sharing operations.
Even in this in this in this county like Venisha marathon and others here.
So I think what we need is to be prepared to start diversifying that revenue.
And these are really key question like how much can we decrease that dependency in this same years and what kind of investment.
But also recognizing that this community has an investment that there is a lot of different maintenance that there is a lot of things that the community would like to see to improve the quality of life.
So recognizing that there is a framework that we are proposing that maybe I will live councilmember Robinson to present.
But it's also around so it's two things is one is.
The financial strategies that we can have to make sure that maybe this money makes more money and is extended the period of time that we.
We had these these extra funds that we are seeing today.
So what is this Martin to say we brought an island several months ago about.
Is is a smart to pay the and fund the liability the UAL.
The and fund their actual liability that we have to pension obligation.
Is that this Martin to do.
Or maybe not or what are the things that we can do to really make sure that.
We sustain the life of these these funds.
What are the investments that we have in terms of a economic development and just transition that brings job, but at being a source of revenue that also is that feeling.
Or diversifying that they and adding more a new revenue.
So we are being prepared.
So I think we had been thinking a lot we had been working a lot in terms of not only just said to the community.
What do you want to see with this is from funds.
But also provide a framework so all conversations are beyond just.
These sires but also be strategic about where and what to put the money on.
So with that I will pass it to council member Robinson to.
Okay.
So just want to add a couple of things that I think are really important.
One of those things is that this is a really huge opportunity for the city to have this scale of additional general funds coming into the city.
For only this period of time.
That we know about.
I think we're at a moment where we can make some really bad decisions.
We could, you know, move forward and spend it all every year and not really know when we look back on it what happened.
What did we spend it on again, but where did it go?
I think that this is a moment where we need to really think about what is our strategy.
Is there a way to extend these funds through investments so that it lasts longer than 10 years.
Also, we need to ask ourselves, are we under certain conditions now that we need to address?
I think council member Jimenez mentioned our unfunded liabilities.
Is that something that we need to address in this moment with this, you know, kind of once in a generation opportunity?
I'm not sure.
But it's something that definitely with over $300 million in unfunded liabilities, something that we might want to think about when we want to consider.
Also, thinking about the examples of Benisha and the refinery closing there and creating an enormous impact on that city.
They were not ready for it.
They did not have the plans in place.
They did not have any alternative revenue sources and now they are hurting and they are trying to figure out how they're going to keep their city alive.
Does Richmond want to be in that position?
Even we know there are massive changes happening in the petroleum industry that are market changes.
Changes that are beyond our control.
Changes that happen to the coal industry and devastated coal country when those changes came down and coal mines shut down devastated those cities and towns.
We can look at Detroit changes in the auto industry.
It was market changes devastated Detroit.
It was literally a ghost town.
For decades, they are still trying to build themselves back up because they had no plan.
For these massive market changes and their over-dependence for general fund from one sector, from one industry.
We are in a moment where we can see that clearly.
Richmond is over-dependent for our general fund on one industry.
We have an opportunity in this moment to actually use this short term, but funds to attract other industries to invest in our economy and build up some other revenue streams.
So I feel like we're in on this moment where we have this opportunity.
And we could go on a spinning spree, getting all the things that we've won it for all these times.
Or we could do something different.
We could do a combination of the two.
I think that it really needs to be a conversation that we have well with community, facilitated by a non-partial facilitator of a facilitator that doesn't have a dog in the race.
And can actually help people sustain these ideas and weigh in on what they believe.
What I am advocating through this item is to bring in that non-biased facilitator to help facilitate a conversation with community members in every district.
And actually go through this landscape of opportunities.
Talk about what is the strategy that we want to use as this money is entering into our general fund.
Do we want to do some kind of an investment strategy?
Do we want to do some kind of, you know, prioritize spending.
But have the community weigh in on it before we make the decisions for everyone behind closed doors.
It definitely won't happen behind closed doors.
So I'm still talking, I'm finishing up here.
It's long pause.
Yeah.
And so I think that what I've heard over and over and over again when I'm out in community at neighborhood council meetings,
out talking to people, people want an opportunity to chime in.
They don't want it to happen without their voices being heard.
For what it's worth, they know ultimately that decision will be with Council and other folks, but I think that it is, it behooves us and it is good public policy to actually have a non-biased
consultants and come in and conduct this community process so we can have that information and the community can be fully informed.
And then we know where they stand and we can move forward accordingly. Thank you.
And in total agreement with what was said by the Vice Mayor and the Council member Hamenis.
And to frame this, the city council before we received the extra income from Chevron, past goals and objectives.
And those goals and objectives had many, many interest in greeting the economy here in the city of Richmond.
And so whether or not we had gotten that money from Chevron, the city of Richmond still would have spent money on greeting the economy because that was our goals and objectives which we decided upon.
But, now that we have extra funds in general funds, we need to think about how we want to spend them, not just the 50 million but the entire general fund.
You know, it's, we need to decide as a community how that money best addresses the needs of the city.
So I would, I would suggest that we not just consider the 50 million but we consider the entire general fund in our explorations of how to move the city forward.
Now, we can, in part of our mind, keep that 50 million separate.
But, you know, I think, I think we're capable of seeing how that 50 million needs to be coordinated with the rest of the general funds.
Thank you for combining these two because they're, they're think the intent of everyone here is to figure out how do we better communicate and get gather the feedback from the community.
I have been trying to work with different organizations to try to get that feedback.
I started doing my strategy meetings and my district since I was first elected.
And there I always ask and this is before the 50 million or the Chevron money or whatever.
I was asking my community, what do we do? What is, what is it that you need when you open the front door, what do you need because you know exactly your needs when you open that front door.
I know district wide, I know different issues, we all know city wide.
But I wanted to hear from those members when they opened the front door wall was their issues.
Then late last year after trying to work with different individuals to help potentially put these meetings together that we promise that we would do that I can 2024.
We sat here I know was a slightly different council but we still promised that we would go out and get that feedback from the community.
And we got busy whatever might be but I want them to make sure and even though we heard from various community groups come out and say hey you told us you were going to do this and you haven't done it and you told us you were going to do this and meeting after meeting we were here it.
And I felt that's why I reached that and said okay we said we were going to do this.
Let's do this together people got busy whatever might be then I took the initiative to try to go out and try to gather that feedback.
So that's how I kind of ended it with trying to do these together.
And I was opening them up for everyone.
The first one that I did was in district one it just happened to be one is the first number.
There was no particular order then that we're just going to go down the list and then try to figure out what community centers were available.
My item doesn't go with a consultant because I believe that our staff is more than capable of being able to do this on our behalf.
The staff already goes out there and does some of the financing meetings right before our budget they've been doing this for years.
We can add this and give it a little more structure. I appreciate the structure that my colleagues put in on their item and I'm in P3 that's a great structure.
All right, I didn't put in any structure because one to make sure that this is collaborative.
But the goal should be to get the input from the community.
Now something that the city council has that regular individuals and residents and rich remind not have is we get close session information.
Right, that sometimes will help us shape where we need to put the money and we might not always be able to share it in public until we finish whatever is in in close session.
We might know of other projects coming or leaving or whatever might be so we know sort of high level what's going on in the city.
But asking the community again is really important so that we can try to balance that.
Because we're never going to know what every corner of our community needs unless we ask them.
That's why in my item I was saying to at least do six because we have six districts.
But making sure that we touch as many corners and what I would love to see as well is that we don't just do them on one particular day at one particular time.
But that we do them throughout the weekdays weekends mornings evenings because our people are residents of Richmond work.
Some of them have two three jobs.
So how do we make sure that they have the ability to make it to these meetings.
So I want to make sure that we keep that in equity as well.
Making sure that we meet them at the time and place that they can make it.
Some individuals some days might not work. Let's make sure we have some unsaturates. Let's make sure we have some unsundates for those that can't make Saturdays et cetera.
So making sure that we're equitable there.
And then I go and I will have to ask the city manager right as we when we were to move forward with any of these items that staff would have the potential capacity because also looking at the cost of having another consultant.
It's $300,000 the item that we just heard $300,000 can get us the dorm capacity at fire station 62 fire station 68 can get us the new chief set we need.
Right their first year budget is about 300,000 the EMS manager 135,000 division chief 261,000.
So as we're looking to spend money right because it's asking the community how do we spend it we also want to make sure that we are aware of where can we put the money to last us a little bit longer.
And then also going and letting the community know that if we save some of it we can use some of that money for long term.
Where do we invest it how do we invest it but both investing it in the bank potentially but investing in our community.
Because our community of Richmond for a very very very very very very long time has not had the services that they deserve.
How many pot holes how many lights are out how many services have they been lacking in the past couple of years we've been investing more in parks we've been investing more in our infrastructure so we definitely have been turning around.
But let's continue asking for those services district four doesn't have bathrooms in the parks up there right so the services are going to be different parts yesterday is flooding.
I've been there for the past couple of weeks and the infrastructure is so broken.
We have so much more investing to do so let's make sure that we're asking the community we're leading always with what the community is looking for us to do for them.
Is it a manager to back to my question what staff even have the capacity.
If through the mayor as a chair I think it might be helpful for finance staff to assist in answering this question because they I want to be thoughtful around what they what their capacity is.
Staff who work on the budget if they want to come forward.
Good evening this is moving the deputy director finance chief was are you so the answer to your question about the capacity.
I just want to be honest with you guys like this with the council and the mayor that the time and that's been given and the task that is being discussed right now.
Is going to be literally core budget departments task and budget department budget division actually is overwhelmed and going to be further overwhelmed for next several months starting tomorrow as we kick off the fiscal year 26 27 year budget development process which is already a very comprehensive and engaged process.
Given the fact that the city of Richmond is a quite large city and it requires a lot of effort to develop its budget.
So the staff will be extremely busy and really stretched through June basically and I'm really being honest with the.
Perfect just want to make sure that as we move forward that we don't give you direction to add a decent work if you're not able to do that additional work then a consultant is what then you're saying.
Working with the consultant is a task with the major we can't just leave a consultant out there.
Working on their own so bringing a consultant on board is quite the major left we have to be very equitable and fair throughout the process which requires a lot of attention to detail.
And continues monitoring given that we are the stewards of the community funds so we have to make sure that you know we are bringing that accountability and we're fair and equitable and transparent which is a task of its own and it does not take away.
The fact that it does demand hard work and a lot of attention on top of the budget development which is really a major left.
So the timeline doesn't work so is it a timeline or the time commitment so we give you more time could staff do it or do we still need the consultant.
At the end of the day like we are really reporting to city manager and the council and we are supposed to follow the direction it's so that the task is there if that's what the council is going to decide.
So the time will be the ask that you know we can ask right now we can request right now turn it is more time that you need then.
I'm just trying to get what will be the other specific request pertaining to time and 45 to 60 additional days.
Okay perfect so with that.
Plus the consultant or definitely consultant because we have to be scientific it's not just like you know collecting asking questions and collecting information.
I believe the council wanted to be like a proper comprehensive scientific survey not just run of the mail like.
Just because we'll be in thought so survey.
It's whatever moving sides.
We have we have to I believe it needs to be a scientific qualitative and quantitative survey which there are social scientists who are there to do the job.
Okay.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Miss Rolling.
I appreciate staff being willing to be transparent because I know sometimes these conversations are hard and and so I just want to thank them for all being here this evening and for.
And I want to make sure you set additional 45 days and I think both of our proposals have a slightly different day so.
Instead of 45 days which month.
That would be July sometime I would say okay so in July or late July okay so in July to start the process or to be done with the process.
I would say like it would be really ideal if we start the process at the time with that again at the same time like the council council really makes that decision.
Yeah.
Because that will be after the budget.
So we're trying to see if we can start figuring out how to incorporate the communities thoughts and ideas before the budget.
Maybe what would be helpful is that the city council can continue to provide input this evening and staff can return with an updated and a draft timeline for consideration by the council and 45 to 60 days.
Because then that will provide an opportunity for the staff to to look at what's being requested.
Thank you.
I also like to bring attention that the the consultant when we bring them on will have their own timeline we can't really impose the timeline that we think the speed that they will be working on.
So there's only limited amount of factors that we can control that staff.
I I'd also like to say that this that this timeline.
Is it a county for the work that you already have to do.
You know I think I think you're already overburdened and to keep more work upon you would be doing the city of this service.
I know that when I have to do more work than I'm capable of all the workers outshoddy.
So was that the council member Brown.
Are we doing comments now we're going to call it sir.
All right.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Because I wasn't given my comment I'm just opening up for my eyes.
Okay.
All right.
Then we'll go to public comment and then.
And we'll return to the comments. I'm sorry. We're not doing question, Chair.
Okay, we have 17 in-person speakers. And if you're joining us online, and we'd like to address a council.
And I'm going to speak 2 in P3 and P4. Please raise your hand at this time.
Speaker's our courtele handler. It's a native Gomez.
So I'm a Mindy. Alma Gutierrez. Danielle Militee.
Melvin Willis, Alejandro, Savala, Evette Blenden, Emma I, Hansen A, Marilyn M. Abdullah A, Michelle Chan, Ryan,
Casin, Antoine Claude, Mark Wasper, and Jamie Perceo will be our last speaker.
Cordale Hitler. Thank you.
So good evening, Mayor Martinez. Councilor.
Cordale Hitler, I'm a rich resident. So I do want to thank the sponsors for this item.
So I do have my own vision to see the Chevron's money. So picture this.
A lively downtown Richmond, vibrant.
And what's missing is retail because I was in a zoom call recently, and if you look at cities like
Wano Creek, San Jose, Antino, all of them have retail and economic development.
So I'm thinking like if those cities cannot have revenue, so can Richmond.
That's one vision. But also picture this.
I'm not just stepping because as I stated doing my open forum comment, if you remember what Rob
Tell us said regarding the workforce analysis, we need more staffing because they're the ones that
Dry economic development. So especially regarding the port. So let me say that again, the port also generates money.
So I'm thinking like having a console on board is ideal because we want to get input from the community,
which is that's me and the rest of us. So I think having a console on board would be very beneficial.
And as far as like you know, hosting the community meetings and all that stuff, I think they need to have.
They need to also include like the older adults because if they can't make it to a meeting on any evening, let them you come to them.
Because here for what they have, here what they have to say, look at our streets.
That's what I have been advocating for for a long time better streets because if you come down like coming to Richmond.
Look at our streets. Streets have seen better days. So we need to improve that.
So I guarantee you here from the community, whether it's streets or anything.
I just want to see these streets to be paved because I'm tired of seeing look at our streets because I live in Richmond and I want to
be inspired to make a go-mance.
And I hear to support the item B3.
Excuse me, we have a dual translation on the screen.
So it's not given necessary.
But at the end of the 1550 millions of dollars from each of the people in the present,
I don't have a little bit of money to do that.
But it's not necessary to do that.
Please translate, I was just informed that this is not available at home.
So people listening at home will need the translation.
Okay, can we start over?
Okay.
Yeah, let's start over with what we're going to meet with friends.
We're going to set the clock.
Well, that means, that means we're going to get here.
Okay.
In the 1550 millions of dollars from each of the people in the present,
I don't have a little bit of money to do that.
To raise money to the people in the present,
to the people in the present, to the people in the present,
which everyone is huge opportunity for reason to meet people every day in the past,
and plan ahead for the closure or transition of several refinery.
Okay.
Conestant of our resources, raise money for the financial services,
the infrastructure, the essential, as well as the companies,
the security and transitibles,
to the people in the present, to the people in the present,
to the people in the present.
Okay.
We can invite our community to the place,
to reduce our dependence on the government,
and let us be careful with the local employees.
Concentration is important.
With these new resources, raise money, and financial services,
in its infrastructure, like say, working a street,
Bikes for lines, pooling hospitals, and never hood parks, we can invest in a local economy,
reduce our dependents from Chiron, and plan for just transition, including family support
local union jobs.
And we have the chance to build a rich man of future, a city with our children and grandchildren,
the serve, a city where anyone can breathe clean air, relieve and assave affordable homes,
and have access to good jobs, and resources needed to drive.
I don't know what to do.
I was 24 years old, living here in Tismoni, I was in my experience with the air,
and I was married, as a...
with the colonel of the colonel.
tell young people that I know,
that this is called a teacher.
I'll ask you.
I'll ask you in these two years leaving here in Israel,
I can tell you the back experience that I have
living in not clean air,
and the children experience self-employment from asthma.
Thank you.
I'll speak her as a leader. Go, man.
Is a leader.
Okay, I'm sorry. Alma, good chairs.
Good evening. Good evening.
Good evening.
Good evening, member of Ace.
I'm going to put in the first three three.
Okay.
I'm here to support.
The 1550 million dollars with chevron represent a big opportunity to reach the rich one.
Satisfired to the necessary areas of the territories,
and plans and plans of the other.
This is the $515 million chevron represents the grand opportunity for
recent to cover the daily necessities of the people and make plans for the
transition to close this chevron.
With the resources,
rich man can be integrated into cultural and social as a
revenue goal.
These, the research of the region can find essential services and infrastructure, like
Save, Waco, and Streets, by clients' public of hospitals and their hoods parks.
We can invest for our local economy.
Okay.
We have the opportunity to have a future, a city, an enrichment where our children and grandchildren deserve
in a city where everyone can breathe clean air.
Excuse me, before she begins, I just heard from tech that the translation gets confused
when it switches back from English to Spanish, English to Spanish, and they would like
to see if the translations can improve if they just hear it in Spanish.
Okay.
Thank you.
Oh.
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you.
So the translation is didn't prove.
Daniel Merritti.
Can you guys hear me?
Yes.
Speak right in my.
Go ahead.
This settlement is because Richmond residents live for decades with pollution, health,
impacts and economic harm.
This is repair money and should be directly benefit our families, youth, neighbors, and public
safety, where the money goes.
Twenty-two percent to go to workforce pathways, which include Buddha and Shabra, independent local
economy, which includes poor and logistic workforce, non-oil, city-owned energy, and utilities
career, housing production and construction trades, small manufacturing, circular economy,
large media, culinary, and creative economic economy programs, career, pipelines with
two-coup trades, green jobs, health care, and public service.
And twenty-five percent to go to affordable housing, anti-displacement, keeping Richmond's housed
and safe, affordable housing, development, preservation, and protecting protection, and emergency,
your rental assistance, home repairs, and grants for safety, and city-owned apartments, and
family housing, which can create revenue.
Eighteen percent to go to small businesses in local wealth, keeping money, circulating locally,
grants and zero-interest loans, protects the legacy businesses, and commercial corridor, and
store-front improvements, health, and clean air, and neighborhood improvement, which would be
13 percent.
Repairing long-term health harm, asthma chronic disease provision, home, and school air filtration
parks, lighting, and safer neighborhoods, 14 percent to go to rich and police department, and
safe staffing, faster response, stronger accountability, hiring officers from approved
response time, and seven percent to go to city stability, which is the pension that
reduction, one percent to go to community oversight and voice.
And two public safety means housing, opportunity, and health, and well-staff accountability
and working together, and that's all.
I can say this in email too.
Melvin Willis.
Good evening, Mayor.
Members of the council.
Melvin Willis here with the Richmond Progressive Alliance, and also Ace, encouraging you to support
these items unanimously.
A lot of community groups who have been, even before the polluter space settlement came forward. I've been talking to frontline community members about what they need, what is their experience living in a refinery town, especially for those that are living close to the fence line in our iron triangle, north richman, parchester village, everybody who that's down when from the refinery.
And yeah, it's been said multiple times today, and even before we reach this day, there's a lot of community concerns about the city's overall alliance on the revenue that comes from Chevron in general and the fact that we're in a climate crisis, and we need to be figuring out what kind of other opportunities are out there and framework opportunities are out there that can make richmen more dependent, up more independent, as if opposed to being dependent on one industry.
We're also in the climate crisis, like I said, a lot of folks have been having those conversations about sea level rise and how are we as a region getting ready for that, and you know, we don't want to be like, but nation, those other cities where, you know, all of a sudden refinery left and you have a bunch of workers that are out of work now in a big mess that needs to be cleaned up.
So having a framework and a plan on how this money can actually build investment for the city's long term and longevity on top of coming up with the potential cleanup plan because refineries are not going to be forever.
It's a finite thing that's going to take time, but eventually we are going to have to start living in a world where fossil fuels are just obsolete, and we're going to have to clean up the contamination that we already have, rather than be stuck with contamination like some of our areas in marine debate have been dealing with for years.
So please support this item. It's a good first step then. Let's actually get some benefits out there for Richmond residents. Thanks so much.
So I'm going to make a decision for the government, but I'm not going to do it because I'm not going to repeat the same thing that I've already made my company, that I've already made my company.
Well, as number one, I'm not a city in Richmond, but I think I'm going to be a city that I'm from Richmond because when I come here, I get to see how it was in Richmond and before and then how it's now, I'm going to be, and by that I'm going to be putting the petition number, I think it's going to be better to do it.
I'm going to do it from Richmond, a better city, not depending on a single, a manual, a manual, but it has a lot of wealth to depend on other things.
Good evening, Mayor Martinez and city council members. My name is Emma Ishi and I'm a local policy coordinator at APN or Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Karen Richmond.
And I'm here today to support the item brought by council member, Jimenez Robinson and Mayor Martinez.
Why does this matter?
For generations, the Richmond community has been impacted by the Chevron refinery and their day to day lives, as many people were saying before battling asthma attacks at home and having to risk the repeated 2012 disaster always in the back of their minds.
Alongside our members, a few of whom you'll hear from today, we support this proposal because the additional and hard won $550 million is a chance for Richmond to both fully fund the crucial improvements in the neighborhoods and help build that just economy independent of the fossil fuel industry.
What we see in item P3 is a thoughtful framework that outlines categories of spending that match needs of our community and really specifically aligns a clear path for the city together that accessible community input, prioritizing voices often left it out of planning conversations.
For my conversations with our membership and from talking to people at tableing events like at you new park for MLK day.
I know that the community has a clear vision of Richmond's future with clean air with spaces for celebrations, sports for small businesses, job training for youth and affordable housing.
And it's really up to the city to keep gathering that feedback and figuring out how to make those visions a reality.
I urge the council to get started on the work so the city can begin funding the communities immediate needs and move towards diversifying our economy.
Together we can create the shared vision with community health.
John is expired.
Okay, thank you.
Hassan A.
Hello, city council.
My name is Hassan and I'm a ninth grade.
I go to school in Richmond and I'm a youth leader with Asian Pacific Environmental Network.
As I grow older I realize how important it is that Richmond plans ahead for a closure or transition away from the Chevron refinery.
This $550 million settlement gives Richmond a great opportunity to meet every day of our residents.
As a young person I've been part of the after school programs where there wasn't enough staff or activities that has negatively impacted my opportunity to grow my interest or skills.
I've also noticed my library being underfunded and they struggled with getting things like books and enough copies.
If we take the time to invest in the well being of our youth and overall community I believe we deserve better.
I would like to see Richmond where we invest in our local economy and plan for a just transition.
Including jobs.
Including jobs as support families.
And programs that spaces that benefit youth and the cleanup of toxic polluted sites.
City Council I urge you to please vote yes today night on P.C.
A3.
Thank you.
Maryland.
Okay.
Great.
Hi my name is Maryland and I'm a youth leader with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.
I'm in 10th grade and I'm a student at D.N.S. High School.
When I walk outside of my door every day I have a clear view of the Chevron refinery.
My family came here to Richmond as immigrants and refugees while other working families have been here for generations.
I believe that the $550 million settlement with Chevron is a huge opportunity for Richmond to meet people's day-to-day needs.
While planning ahead for what comes next if the refinery were to close or transition.
With these additional resources Richmond can invest in critical services and infrastructure such as safe walkable streets, bike lanes, public hospitals and neighborhood parks.
While strengthening the economy reducing reliance on Chevron and planning for a just transition.
That includes good union jobs and the cleanup of contaminated sites.
These funds must be reinvested to the community to reflect the needs and priorities of Richmond residents.
I support I don't feed three tonight and I encourage you to vote yes.
It is time for the Richmond community to voice how we want these funds to be spent.
Thank you.
Okay.
Our next speaker is Abdullah A. Follow by Michelle Chen.
Abdullah?
Good evening council members. My name is Abdullah. I am a youth leader with Asian Pacific Environmental Network.
I am an eighth grade in I go to school and making music academy.
Just like my friends and neighbors, I come up from a family of hardworking immigrants who call Richmond home.
We have all been affected by Chevron's pollution and deserve a voice in deciding how these 550 million dollars.
Some of my friends should be spent.
With these new resources, I would like to see this money go towards essential services and infrastructure,
which has more community events, youth programs and even hospitals.
I would also like to see a go towards immediate needs such as safer roads and less bubbles on the ground.
It is very important to me that these funds get invested back into the community to benefit the people of Richmond.
I support I don't feed three tonight and I urge you to vote yes. Thank you.
Michelle Chen.
Good evening. You know, things are pretty rough out here in our world and in our country.
And it's hard sometimes even read the news.
But there is a bright spot for me personally and that is here in Richmond, both for the amazing youth that we have as well as the settlement money,
which is generational historic and can provide a down payment towards a just transition to a fossil free future.
Towards a clean environment, thriving where everybody is a part of it and where we have a healthy community where people are secure and this is the city we deserve.
So thank you so much, Mayor Martinez and Councilmember and then as in Robinson for bringing forward P3.
And let's not forget how we got to this point to this opportunity, right?
It was that it was a grassroots coalition of residents that went door to door and were able to under the polluters pay initiative,
bring Chevron to the table.
And so I think it's only fitting that the community also should be deeply involved in how this money should be spent.
And so I strongly support the framework that has been sketched out in P3.
There's an incredible idea for a mechanism to provide residents with some kind of way to propose ideas that they have for how Richmond can create jobs for how we can produce income and revenue,
how we can enhance the city, how we can become more resilient to the climate chaos.
And I also really appreciate how the framework makes room for a big picture of really visionary economic development.
Big things may be like poured improvements as imagined through the green blue new deal,
or maybe even helping to bring hospital to Richmond to not only save lives but to serve as an anchor economic institution.
So I think this framework provides a great balance and we should get to work with engaging the community to really come up with a smart strategy for us now and for the future.
Thank you.
Ryan Kasing.
Paula by Antoine Stewart.
Ryan.
Hi there council.
Hello there everybody else.
So I've come here wearing many hats tonight, of course.
There we go.
I've come here wearing many hats tonight.
I am an RPA member.
I am a member of ACE and as well as the Democratic Socialists of America.
And I live in work here in Richmond.
I work with youth in particular through my organization teaching communication skills with the goal of advancing equity and uplifting marginalized voices.
And so this settlement fund provides I think a very important opportunity.
I think it absolutely makes sense that we should invest this money so that we can build independence from Chevron.
But also when we talk about the people that this could benefit.
I haven't really heard mention of, at least not directly, our unhoused community.
I spend a fair amount of my spare time hanging out and helping the unhoused community in my neighborhood.
I live in the iron triangle.
And the things is these people, even if we have these district meetings as are being proposed, they would not be at the table because that's just not their reality.
And so I hope that when this consultant comes that they go to the encampments that they talk to the unhoused people in our community.
The majority of whom who I speak to are elders, black elders.
We have abandoned this community.
And the thing is is you say that this is a once in a generation opportunity, vice mayor Robinson and I agree.
That means we need to pass once in a generation policies.
Guaranteed basic income, social housing, things that go beyond just creating jobs, things that no matter who or what part of a working family you are.
If you fall on hard times, you have a safety net that is guaranteed.
Thank you.
Antoine Claude, followed by Mark Westberg, and our last speaker will be Janet Perselle in person speaker.
All I got to say is money, man.
Long time Mr. President, y'all missed everything they talked about.
That's why you two guys said it because how this city is going to give somebody to come here to regulate this money.
They say they can do it.
And to do it, they go get king do it because he ain't from rich men.
If you don't want to history this town, you can't tell us how to get out.
You can't tell me, me, somebody can material me from Berkeley, helping you out of rich men for the last 50 years.
And how they affected my community a little bit out of our factory.
Right.
You know why I know?
I'm going to inhale right now.
Not yesterday.
Right now.
I'll keep it in my pot.
Get a good fight.
Right now.
I got bronchitis.
I got bronchitis asthma.
And I got CPOD.
Right now.
You can't tell me that.
But people are going to tell you how to spend that money.
The people who live here.
Look at our education system.
We got to lower education system in history in this town.
When we had to hire this rate in the 60s and 70s and 80s, had the most professional athletes
come out of the rich men you ever seen.
Now, our whole education system in class and burn.
Because this town, so never supported these kids.
When Johnny Holmes was acting you for money to take them track stars.
That he come out of his track team to different places. When you're rich, we state us coming in, begging for money, and you get from Chrome.
But you'll bust your neck to put up with them a soccer field, but you won't support the community as a whole.
Richmond is a diverse community. We have a whole hand, do any community you want to talk about.
That's here. That do all the businesses here. I mean, I'm just giving it one on it.
So when you just do come here, just consult in person, you're going to get three hundred thousand dollars to walk in my community.
He ain't going to go to the hood. Oh, he ain't coming to St. John's. He ain't going to the question park.
He ain't going to the keys. He ain't going to the, he ain't going to the manner where the black folks who've been here all their lives.
And get their input because you go on him to come somewhere. They can't come as expired.
What a lies in Richmond. You can't close.
So Mark Washberg.
Jamie first.
I was going to be harder to follow than if it was Mark.
All I would, I think actually a lot of the community has really spoken about what the things that they're really interested in,
but I think that we need to make sure that we are going to hear all of the act all and I mean all all of the community.
We have done many, many surveys. We've done many, many bits of outreach.
We usually end up with our surveys having what about 350 responses, unfortunately.
And it's just because we are not going and meeting them or they're at.
I do think that we need to take our time. I think we need to give the time for them to do a really detailed analysis of if we spend all this money or if we,
how we can best invest it to make sure that we can become financially independent of Chevron.
The Norway sovereignty fund is very similar to sort of very similar to this.
It was taking oil money and investing it now. They waited like 40 years.
But they cover their entire budget in just the funds from that now.
I'm not saying that we should do that.
But I am saying that there is a way to be able to try and have as a backup when we have the Evesen flows of economy,
to be able to have a safety net for the city because if we offer only services,
we will have to pull those services when the money runs out.
If we offer only infrastructure, we're not going to address the needs of the people that are hurting.
And it's probably going to be hurting more and with at least within the next couple of years.
So I do, I have no problem with, and I know I'm speaking from a place of privilege.
I really do have a no problem with trying to make sure we get it right.
So that way then we don't feel like we're hurt because we have spent two to freely and we end up with nothing.
Can't kill the Golden Goose.
We got to get those eggs under the nest and try to make more yeast.
That was our last in-person speaker. Now we're moved to the online speakers.
We have seven speakers.
And those seven speakers are Francisco Ortiz, followed by Sean Stahlbaum,
Brianna Sydney, Kevin Titzdale, Maricel Cantu, Erica Sial, and Arto Rintila will be our last speaker.
Francisco, please unmute yourself. You'll have two minutes and you may begin.
Did you hear me mayor and council members? My name is Francisco Ortiz.
I'm president of the United Teachers of Richmond representing over 1,500 educators across West Contraposterian,
I'm a graduate of Richmond, public schools and a parent of a TK student attending schools here in Richmond.
UTR was proud to actually support the Polarist Pay initiative.
And tonight we stand a solidarity with eight-bent communities for our better environment and ACEs
and the many community groups organized for years to bring this historic victory to Richmond.
The $550 million settlement with Chevron is a once in a generation opportunity as highly as other community members
and council member Robinson.
If the chance to repair harm, meet people's everyday needs and plan responsibility for our future beyond refinery dependence.
For our students and families, this means investing in the conditions that allow young people to thrive,
safe routes to school, clean air, neighborhood parks, health services, and stable family supporting union jobs.
I want to speak directly to the opportunity in front of us around community schools.
Most of the community schools in West Contraposter are located right here in Richmond.
These schools are hubs, providing mental health supports, family engagement, food access, and wraparound services that address the real world years
students face outside the classroom.
Our neighbors and some public support every community school within its boundaries and Richmond can and should play a stronger role as well.
With these funds, the city has the opportunity to partner more deeply with schools to expand services, stabilize programs,
and improve outcomes for students and families with more in the greatest possible pollution and disinvestment.
Most importantly, the family workers, youth and elders, most impacted by Chevron's pollution, must have a real voice and how these funds are spent.
I strongly support on P3 and urge a yes vote tonight.
Let's ensure that the resource are invested back into the community.
Thank you. Your time is expired.
The next speaker is Sean Stahlbaum, please unmute yourself.
You'll be continued.
Good evening, city council members.
Sean Stahlbaum with IFPTE, local 21, representing more than 160 mid managers and executives of the city of Richmond.
Workers and Richmond stand in solidarity with CBE, ACE, APEN and so many other community organizations who worked to dip the polluter's pay initiative to the ballot.
And we are in support of the plans submitted by council members Jimenez and Robinson and Mayor Martinez for consultant engagement and community input regarding the polluter's pay settlement funds.
Specifically, we stand in support of item P3 but in opposition to item P4.
We support item P3 because it calls for collaboration with city staff who we represent as well as the city council and community stakeholders to conduct the needed community engagement.
Additionally, the P3 plan contemplates a necessary framework for the expenditure of these new general fund revenues to include many areas of need throughout the city.
Including city staffing, adjust transition and healing harmed communities.
It's a fair comprehensive approach that includes the city workers who deliver city services.
P4 on the other hand is narrowly focused only on community meetings and it is redundant in that P3 includes conducting community engagement already.
Also, P4 lacks context for these discussions with the community treating the polluter's pay settlement funds is a free for all part of money, which they are not.
P3 is the more comprehensive approach that involves all stakeholders including city staff and community groups.
We strongly recommend the framework in P3 is the better more comprehensive approach.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Brianna Sydney, please unmute yourself and you may begin.
Good evening.
I am Brianna Sydney director of the rich for our powerful coalition and cooperation management.
This 515 million dollar settlement was shared.
As a huge opportunity for a richment to meet their residents needs.
The community has to live the effects of living in a refinery city and these funds can't be from the hard work of these same residents.
They must be included in this conversation about how these funds will be spent.
A lot of the people to be heard.
I strongly support item P3 and I urge our council members to vote yes.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Kevin Tissil. Please unmute yourself and you may begin.
Thank you. Kevin Tissil represent SCIU.
We stand in solidarity with the various community groups in P3.
We need an equitable solution.
One that intentionally reviews the many viewpoints of the diverse community from their diverse viewpoints and diverse methods to truly come with an unbiased approach.
This is not about spending money recklessly.
It's about investing it wisely.
When we're discussing the stewardship of over $550 million plus interest.
Allowing up to $300,000 for proper leverage and to protect those funds.
So again, it is so it's not excessively wasted.
It's responsible.
I call for equity for the real risk.
That includes input from community members across various districts.
Community representatives, nonprofits, business districts.
And the city service members who live work and play here.
The deputy director of finance at a very clearly many staff.
Many departments are already overwhelmed and understood.
Without what staffing we can't provide the service that the city so desperately needs in the various departments to finance building code,
non-swarm PD and maintenance divisions.
Which we so desperately need to do.
Personal, you know, living enrichment, going up near eighth and paying in part gesture.
This is really a once in a lifetime opportunity.
And again, we should take the time, apply the energy necessary.
Do engage a proper consultant to vet the communities, historical needs,
career realities, and future priorities.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Marisol Cantu.
Please unmute yourself and you may begin.
Hey, can you hear me?
Yes.
Oh, there we go.
Hi.
Hi, I'm Marisol Cantu.
District six.
Resident, third generation district six,
dreaded in and also a member of the different progressive alliance.
RPA stands in solidarity with CBE, A Pen A,
since so many others.
To vote yes on P3 and not on P4.
Looking at the RFP, there's things that I want to highlight.
In particular, that the timeline is quite outdated now because we're already at the end of February.
So updating that to reflect, we're already at the end of January to reflect a consultant coming in in February.
Also, the RFP was missing language accessibility.
It didn't mention surveys, but there's a lot of languages that are not written in Richmond,
including different dialects in the AI community indigenous language languages like mum.
And the RFP is lacking in that.
Also, it doesn't mention anything about hybrid opportunities for both working class people to join.
And I didn't see a communications or outreach plan that was really thorough.
That would be co-developed with CBE, with CBOs.
And I think that we're really missing the mark.
If we don't send mailers out to all of our community members to encourage them to attend these community sessions to help inform this process.
I also think that an outreach and community engagement plan for the unhoused residents,
formerly incarcerated residents and undocumented residents,
needs to be included in this.
And I would love to see our displaced residents or the have been gentrified out being included.
So they have a right to return.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Eric Askel.
Please unmute yourself and you may begin.
Hi, everyone.
My name is Ericron.
I'm here representing communities for a better environment or CBE.
I would like to urge you all to vote yes on these items.
As they will further a decades long effort to make move the city away from fossil fuels.
These items that are start to putting our money where our mouth is.
Directing the hard earned money from Chevron towards building a clean and equitable enrichment for all.
A vote for these items is a vote for public process and community participation and a vote for a vision of Richmond that's designed by and for residents.
It's a vote towards shaping the future of our city.
And I know that CBE members are excited and ready for this future.
If today's comments say anything it's that Richmond residents are also ready for this new future.
I understand that the city has limited staff time to dedicate to this process.
But I urge you all to move as fast as possible on this so that residents can actually see the benefits of the money that they fought so hard for.
And start to ameliorate the devastating effects of a refinery that's been here for over a century.
I would also like to echo some of the comments by previous speakers to make a point to reach residents whose voices otherwise would not be heard including the on-house community.
And our black elders.
Thank you.
And our last speaker will be our two Ventila.
Please unmute yourself and you may begin.
Good evening mayor and city council.
My name is Arno Rintila.
I'm calling from the Fair Mead Hill top neighborhood council or the Fair Mead Hill top neighborhood area.
I'd like to remind the city council in the mayor that the city of Richmond is 52 square miles.
It's got 33 neighborhoods.
And 120 over 120 thousand residents.
I would hope that the neighborhood councils and other community stakeholders are involved in conversations while I lean towards P3 and agree with all the speakers before me.
I urge you to be fiscally responsible.
Knowing that this is a sanctuary city and that sanctuary city could city funding could be pulled.
I asked that you're smart and methodical in spending your money.
We really need you to be smart because you are elected officials in your health to a higher standard.
And you're fiscally responsible for taxpayers money.
And you should be health to that regard.
I appreciate the time. Thank you.
Thank you and that was our last speaker.
Thank you. Public comments are closed, and now we'll go to questions and the comments by the council. Council member Brown, had her hand up first.
Thank you, Mayor Martinez. So I have, like, my short time on council, I just recognize that most reports that we've come across have not been implemented, like we get these extensive reports and they're just that reports that sits in our database, if someone chooses to read them they do, but I haven't seen them actually work.
So I'm concerned that this would be just another report. This item seems and sounds like to me from what I've heard from residents, callers and the agenda item that it seems to be set up to be spent on adjust transition, which I'm not opposed to, but it's not what the community speaks about.
Especially why I serve district serving the city of Richmond, but in particularly in my district district one being one of the most impacted communities.
No one speaks too much about like if you go up and say what are like the top three concerns that you have.
Air quality is not going to come out of most of the residents mouth. They speak about safety. They speak about clean streets, options for youth, etc. So I really want us to get real about our relationship with Chevron.
It's like a person that we say we don't want to be with, but we're constantly accepting gifts and money from. So it's like on one hand, it's like we want this just transition, we want to move so far away from Chevron.
But we're constantly in tango with Chevron time, it's time again, just from being a fourth generation Richmond resident. Also it has been said that we want to non bias consultant, but the agenda report explicitly states that the consultant would would work, particularly with community based organizations that are a part of the make polluters pay campaign.
So while those groups are amazing stakeholders, I see many of you here, they are not the entirety of Richmond and community engagement that process to me should not be centered on one coalition, but one coalition or advocacy campaign but Richmond overall.
And so my question is how can staff ensure that the prioritization of one coalition doesn't speak for the entire city because it stated that the that the consulting would be working with the polluters pay coalition.
Okay, maybe they'll answer that later. Also I want to acknowledge that little over a year ago council member Bonna proposed a $100,000 for a consultant for community input just similar to what we're discussing tonight, and it was overly criticized, given it's intent. So now we're here asking to approve of to $300,000.
For essentially the same functions. So I was kind of confused about that.
And I just want to ask probably staff can community since P3 talks about that they'll have community engagement and gathering input. So can community engagement and gathering the input be accomplished through staff over time, which would be significantly lower costs than an actual consultant, who would require staff support anyways.
The matter goes beyond the over time or the staff timing it's the matter of like designing the survey also as you raised a very valid question like how do you make sure that every segment of the community is incorporated in a survey so like for some reason that goes beyond the capacity or the skills of the finance department staff were not trying to design a qualitative surveys which would you know.
I identify and assure that it's a fair and comprehensive and valid scientific survey.
We should present the society community that we're dealing with.
So that is one reason why we're leaning towards having a third party expert.
So throughout all of our departments there's no qualified staff to conduct such.
I don't believe if there is a job is I'm not aware of the job description that would exist that would require one to have like.
A skill set to design qualitative surveys.
You're making a good point we it would be helpful and this is something that I have discussed with with human resources around having more support around data analytics.
The quantitative analysis for you know looking at short term and longitudinal data that is something that we do need to to work towards.
I think the opportunity here is it depends on what level of engagement the council wants right like if if the council wants a scientific survey.
And then it would be helpful for us to have a consultant that's what we normally do right now for a longitudinal data that asks residents around how you know they perceive the community how they perceive services things of that nature.
If the council wants to have it to be more specific and more of a defined process that.
And as potential that is not a scientific study or in asking.
Questions in a matter that would be easy to replicate for in the future to measure progress.
That's that's different so it's really up to the city council in terms of what so that's why I was suggesting based on the feedback this evening right whatever the council policy direction is.
I have a moment to go back regroup give 45 to 60 days to then come up with a plan based on the feedback that's given this evening because I think it's it's pretty hard.
At this hour for everyone to think through.
What would be required and to put something together that we feel like would be responsive to the council's policy direction okay and just also wanting to know because I mean up to 300,000 dollars to me seems like crazy.
Especially when they're being told that they have to work with certain groups.
So it already seems skewed to me. So I'm wondering if we can implement a cap on the consulting amount.
What if I may what I would.
What I generally suggest to to counsel is that if there's as that we develop an RFP we issue the RFP and then we come back with the art with the respondents.
And then with a proposed contract and a dollar amount that we don't say in the RFP up to X or up to Y because you know it could be 150,000 it could be 350 we don't know where the market is at for this type of work you know.
Right, but I'm asking can we hold the line as a council.
But maybe you want to do that once you have the rankings right like maybe I'm making this up right maybe three firms respond maybe seven firms respond right and then the council.
That would staff would evaluate them right and we would prevent entry with the information so then you could see sort of what the scopes were for the different firms and then receive a staff recommendation on why they're suggesting X versus Y firm right and so then you would have that context to inform the decision making because it could be higher or it could be much lower we don't know.
Thank you for now.
Councilmember Bana.
Thank you.
I would like to start by saying that I agree with everything that was said by everyone who brought up the item.
I believe the intentions are great but the language and methodology is not there.
It's lacking. For example councilmember Jimenez talks about new investment diversify revenue.
Financial strategy to invest this money to generate more money and extend the life of funds.
But then the item reads direct city manager to engage a consultant to collaborate with the city itself city council and community stakeholders to conduct community engagement and this is the heart of it.
The other input on a framework for the expenditure of new general fund revenues generated by the polluter space settlement.
Do we just want to gather input?
To me the heart should be the framework for the expenditure.
Then economic expert to tell us, for example, how much of it should go into items that could save us money like infrastructure upgrade or paying unfunded liabilities.
How much of it should go into investment to generate revenue?
What if there is a recession? What would be the impact?
Should we spend money on cleaning contaminations and affordable housing, the homeless?
I mean economic development would be one component of it and then next to it will have quality of life issues that would require the input from the community.
Do the community want to give us advice on how to invest for the future?
Is that what we want to do?
It's just a big part of ideas that is stirred together and doesn't make much sense to me.
We need an expert who can tell us, for example, 70% of the money should go into generating investment.
To be very subtle about it, for example, some quality of life investments will increase property taxes, which is a sort of bringing more revenue to the city.
But how much is it? Is it minimal, is it large or improving parks and things like that?
So I'm proposing to clean the language.
I hope the city manager understands what the heart of the issue is and bring the RFP back in a way that is clear about what the expectation is.
Because to me, if what we are asking for is a very high level vision to see how much of it should go into generating revenue investment for the future and cost reduction versus quality of life issues, where we can get input from the community.
And the community should not be misled on it. If we decide that to win from fuel industry, we can only spend 5% of the money on what the community wants.
We shouldn't lie to them. We shouldn't start getting input with their assumption of $550 million over 10 years. That is not true.
We may not be able to afford spending $0 and quality of life issues that the community wants.
So first there should be a very high level study about how much can we generate with this. How long can it go? How can we save on the expenses, for example, if you upgrade the infrastructure, it's going to save us a lot of money.
If you pay on funded liabilities or this or that. And then what it takes over the 10 years, the very general big picture outline.
And then a little more specific maybe for the first two, three years. I don't think having said all of that, I don't think we should make a decision for a city council like three terms after us.
But we should have a very good start. A study what needs to be done and move on from there. So my suggestion is to either reward this.
Eliminate the community engagement and input at this point, because we don't want to give any false promises to anyone.
We want to win from the fuel industry and even $550 million may not be sufficient. We don't know what the economic capability of this investment is.
So let's be honest with ourselves and with the community, not deceive anyone. Let's have a very high level study of what the outline of our approach should be and take it from there.
Thank you. I think it's time to extend the meeting. It's almost 10 o'clock.
We can extend it now or we can wait until 10.
Well, I think we'll be here longer than than six minutes.
So what are we? Is there a motion of then? What items do we want to?
Can I ask a question on P1? Are we going to, that was pooled as the person still around that pooled it so they can tell us why the pooled it?
I was going to propose that we just approved P1 and P2. I don't know if we can jump in the middle of this item to do that.
I think these were pulled last time. I don't think the person who pulled, they were initially on the consent calendar. I was happy with, to approve them on consent.
And I don't think the person who pulled them is here. So if, unless there's someone here on council who wants to have a discussion of P1 and P2, I would recommend that maybe, I don't know if we can pause item P3 and P4 and vote on these.
Okay, well then what I'm going to suggest is that after between 10 and 11, P1 and P2 are on the agenda and I'm going to instantly yell out, I'm making a motion to approve two items.
All right. Thank you. Well, we still need a motion to extend. Okay, I'll make a motion to extend to 11.
Until the items are finished.
Hi, second.
To which one.
We finish this current item and then vote on P1 and P2.
Okay.
Which is, as late as 11, hopefully not really took place.
Councilmember Brow. Yes.
Councilmember Bonna. Yes.
Councilmember Humanis. Yes.
Councilmember Wilson. Yes.
Councilmember Zapater. Yes.
Vice Mayor Robinson. Yes.
And Mayor Martinez. Yes.
The vote is unanimous.
All right.
Back to P3, P4 and it is Vice Mayor Robinson.
Okay.
So I was sitting here listening to Councilmember Bonna.
And there's many things that I really agree on what you just said.
There's things that we need to know and we need to understand about how exactly to spend the money and what we would need to actually move the needle and the directions that we're all talking about, right?
We don't really need to have those answers today.
But I do think that what I've been hearing over and over again from people is that they want to play a role in these choices.
And so even at the broad level, we even having a process with a consultant that asks the broad question,
Do we want to spend this money as it comes in?
Or do we want to invest some of the money?
Do we want it as our goal of the money to make it last longer?
It's our goal of the money to reduce our dependency upon fossil fuels.
Even having that set of questions that we ask to all different kinds of community groups.
You know, folks in District 1, folks in the projects, folks in the hills, folks in whatever.
And actually get their feedback on these large questions so that we have some, so we have some feel about what community has palette for what they have by and for.
Because I honestly believe that we do actually need to make decisions that will impact councils in the future.
Because the biggest thing about getting this amount of money, this, you know, 50 million a year, is that the most impact you make is if you invest it.
And that takes time.
So if we don't think about it now, we lose that time.
And the time is the thing that actually gives us the opportunity to make it more than a half billion dollars.
It's time is the factor that would make it more than five billion, than half billion dollars.
And so if we don't take the courage now to get some help to help us frame these questions so we understand what kind of buy and we have.
So we make deep investments.
And then we're just going to be going like honest honest spending spray and maybe some things will have some long impact maybe not.
Maybe we'll build build things that we won't even have the like, we want to have the general fund infrastructure to support.
You know, maybe we'll build things that we can't even maintain because we didn't think about building a general fund that's more robust that could take care of all the parks that we're building.
I feel like we are in that moment, we're in that moment where we actually do have to be as careful and as as thoughtful as we can to make decisions for the future for future people who are coming after us.
And that's why I think we need a consultants.
That's why I think we need to have the community along with us so that everyone said that we bought into this people said that's what they wanted.
So we're on this train together, we're building, we're building this future ALS system or maybe we're you know whatever but we need to actually be bought in on it.
Because we are at that moment we're making a huge we're making a huge just a huge turning point for our city if we do it right or we could do it like you know people who win the lottery.
Go out and buy a bunch of fancy things and then be broke.
In 10 years.
So I really would like to figure out how to move this item where we're taking the most the kind of.
A thoughtful way of moving these things forward I think that there was a lot of thought put into the kind of categories we had.
I am I in P3 but I also hear this this desire to make sure that it's non bias.
I'm I'm a deep believer in that.
I'm I think that what I'd like to pass tonight is something where we create a community process.
Facilitated by a consultant who can help us move this forward and get community feedback.
And ultimately community buy in on a long term direction for the expenditure of these general fund funds so that it actually has a transformative impact in our city.
Are you safe on that.
There's been two council members who haven't spoken yet and I don't want this to become the bait where where council members.
Square often and do one point and then a counter point and then a counter point to that counter point I think we need to stay focused.
So that we can advance cohesion and togetherness so council member Wilson.
No pressure.
Okay in the spirit of cohesion and togetherness.
I think that.
I guess my main thing is there's a phrase like don't let her like perfect can be the enemy of the good and I just want to acknowledge that like tonight tonight.
This the item in front of us is not for this council to decide how we want the money to be spent.
It's for us just to decide whether we're willing to invest in a process to solicit more input from the community on how the money should be spent that those are different things.
I hear council member what council member bonus concerns I hear I hear council member grounds concerns too and one of the things I what I'm thinking about sort of is a way of addressing those which I'm going to I'm going to propose is that we.
We take on P3 but we modify the RFP so that we ask the whoever is chosen as the consultant to come back and present their plan before they go out and implement it.
If I understand the way it's written now we basically send them out into the world and we say come back and may with your results.
I'm hearing you know from both for people on the on the dias and from the community is that there's real concerns like will they you know will they have a process that includes the unhoused will they be able to reach people who's to communicate in the long language.
I don't think we're going to craft language for this RFP that reassures us that all of those bases will be covered but I would like to get in RFP out in the world and then ask that whoever gets chosen to come back and present a plan before they scheduled the meetings before they invite people before they start marketing.
I also I was surprised when councilmember Brown said that the language says to focus on particularly on the community groups who are part of the making polluter pay coalition.
But she's corrected and in the the RFP does not contain that language if you read the RFP it's very careful that we're reaching out to individual people and all community groups.
But it's true in the agenda summary it does say in particular reach out to community groups including those who were part of the make polluter pay and I would actually say if we.
I don't know if we can change the agenda report as a council action but I would like to change it to strike that because I agree with you that they're all all individuals and all community groups should be equally treated regardless of whether they.
I'm trying to sort of like I'm trying to bring together like I think there was a debate about whether it should be a consultant or the staff member or the staff doing the work I'm hearing consistently that the staff does not have the expertise to do this particular sort of work.
In order to have the capacity so for me that's a desire that we we do need to hire consultant even though I accept.
I appreciate that people are suspicious of hiring more consultants and spending more money on that.
I just don't see a way to avoid that given that we don't have staff members who can do this kind of quantitative or qualitative study and they don't have time to do it anyways because they have other jobs.
So for me I think that is it reaches my criteria of what we spent money and consultants for so I would encourage us to stick with the consultant.
One of the things that was a debate is whether that we should give extra time.
I think we should put out the RFP with the expectation that we have something in our hands by May 26 because then it'll actually be in time for us to possibly influence our larger budget conversations which.
Maybe what gets discovered has no impact on our other budget talks but I would still like to keep that door open.
So so I know it's an ambitious timeline and it's totally possible that staff will come back to us and say nobody agreed to that timeline and then we'll revisit it.
But I'd like to just try.
And then the third thing that was sort of debated is like you know whether these processes are inclusive enough and like I said I don't think we're going to.
The one amendment I would make to P3 is that we asked the consultants to come back and present their plan before they actually go out and execute it and that'll give an opportunity for us to all raise our substantial things of like why doesn't this reach a particular community or why doesn't ask a particular question.
Before it actually happens so that would be I don't know if I may so just council member Wilson to your your point about the RFP so the procurement process would necessitate that.
The council would approve the final form of the scope of work in the contract so you would have that opportunity to see it before you approved a contract.
And I would defer to staff pertaining to the to the timeline if I may add a couple of sentences so I do hear a lot of feedback from all the council members and mayor regarding what the the RFP should contain and what the plan should contain and the timeline and all that.
I'm wondering and also the concern regarding the timeline is very compact and we agree with that especially.
So how about like you know we do go towards a rock you know where the staff comes back in 45 days.
Having you know a proposed language and proposed a timeline on the RFQ sort of like getting the feedback on that which is inclusive of the feedback from the council members.
Like to as a first step.
If I don't know if it's on my turn but if we waited 45 days for the RFP there's I don't think there's any way we would have any answers by May 26 I'm just I know it's rushed but I would rather have the RFP work done very quickly so that we can get the the consultant on board more quickly than that.
Can I ask a question?
I'm sorry.
It's.
I think.
So what I would suggest is we can we can work towards that as you've heard from finance staff there stretch.
So I would need to potentially reassign other staff to support this.
So once we have a conversation tomorrow then I will have to we'll have to reprioritize other things to to make this the number one sort of organizational priority and that may impact some timelines for other things.
So it's like we're putting well we'll add this to the front of the queue and I'll get I'll get get back to the council on what does that mean for things that are currently in the queue.
Yeah well with that said I moved the I don't.
To the the city manager to engage a consultant to collaborate with city staff.
Council and community stakeholders to conduct community engagement and gather including a framework.
Of the expenditures of new general funds revenues generated by polluted space settlement with the consultant reporting back to the city by May 26
Can I offer friendly amendment to that.
And that is that I think that.
We should have the consultant look at not only.
What we're spending money on but the strategy of holding in releasing funds.
What strategies are possible?
And I have a point of work because we're not done debating yet.
Right, but we can continue to debate after motion is laid.
Then we'll only be debating on the motion.
Sorry, we'll only be debating on the motion and on the item.
So unless we're closing debate for the full item.
But there needs to be a second before comes soon.
So.
Yes, exactly.
In a second.
My point of order is still there.
So if we, if we do that way, then we could only debate on the motion that was given.
And we can no longer debate on the full item that's in front of us.
So if we want to end that, then we have to call the question to end the debate for everything else.
And then we could only focus on that.
I think we have two more questions, I think.
Councillor Bonna had a question and I had a question and then we can move on to the motion.
My first question is about this item, is what is the urgency of May 26?
Is it going to affect the spending of the budget proposed for the next fiscal year?
How is it connected to that?
Yes.
But it's a separate pool of money, isn't it?
It's Janette of Fine.
General funds.
Yes.
But we have an agreed on their amount.
So.
That's an obscure amount of general funds.
Well, it's general fund.
For me, it's general fund period.
Right.
But do we agree that it's $50 million of general funds?
Or it's more or less?
I think it needs to be counted into a tallity.
I mean, you can keep the 50 million in your head.
And you'll speak to that, or you can speak to the entire budget.
But I think the budget needs to work as a whole.
I mean, you can't just.
Thank you.
So my second question shall we specify for the RFP, RFQ, whatever, that the main goal is to increase cities
revenue from non-fuel industry sources.
Is that the main goal or not?
This is one of the goals in the RFP.
Did you read the RFP, one of the goals is that?
Okay.
That's the main goal.
Yeah.
Okay.
And.
Okay.
I'm not going to argue on that.
So that question was to the motion, but.
Yeah.
So that.
My question.
Yeah.
So my question mark to the city manager.
So you mentioned about a staff member that we need.
And it was to help us out with future things like this, quantifying qualifying things.
Data analytics and.
Other things of that nature.
Is that something that we have in the queue for.
Something like HR has a has a queue of positions that we need to upgrade and modify.
But they're also concurrently working through day to day operational matters that come up.
And there's something we're not going to be aware of.
A memo you negotiations as well as other meeting.
Comcontrolled.
And we're a masking is because you know we're potentially spending a couple of hundreds of thousands of
dollars on this year.
Do we shift it to a potentially a staff member that we can use for more than just this.
We can use them for years and years to come.
Cossing us for the first year.
Roughly about the same amount, but then we have them.
I think ultimately based on the council discussion today, it's going to be a combination of things.
I want to be thoughtful and deferred to staff that they, this is extremely heavy lift, and that in terms of when we're having community meetings,
that sometimes, especially on conversations like this, that can be highly charged, right?
Sometimes it's good for there to be a third party to help facilitate the conversation.
It doesn't mean that staff won't review all of the information and help prepare.
Kind of like what you saw this evening with Chief Osario, right?
Like he started with a consultant that did a report, and now we're working interdepartmentally to operationalize it is what I would say.
So that might be a good example of how these things could, it will be both staff and potentially a third party.
And also, I think in the past, I do want to flag for the council, what absolutely endeavored to meet your timeline and request in terms of the deliverable.
But sometimes when we put out these aggressive timelines, right, that may mean we will get fewer respondents, right?
Because we don't know what, like, the experts in this arena, what is their current workload?
Like, usually if people are really highly skilled, they have a backlog of work or they have projects they're working on, so we might need to get in the queue.
And so that's why I was saying, oh, we want to come back to council and give you an update so that you can understand what the market is telling us in terms of availability.
So we're happy to move forward and we'll continue to update the council as we move forward on what we're finding because there's a lot of unknowns.
I just want to point out that if an RFP is put out not very thoughtfully, and if it's not, you know, described in a thoughtful manner,
you get like really bad response or little to no response or the bitter may not just be qualified and just may be fishing for contracts.
So it's very important for RFP to be very thoughtful and very accurate reflecting the scope and the work that is being done out in the market.
If we try to reinvent the wheel and the wheel may not be fully round, and we may not get a proper driver for that.
And then remind me earlier you said, by June, you can have something.
I was saying like, you know, by May, it's very compact and very aggressive.
I was saying like, what 45 to 60 days beyond that and we may, but then again, it's also dependent upon the contractors own timeline, which we don't know which is unknown.
They might have their own workflow and workload and speed and time that they may require.
So July is June, July is based on my very, one of my sugar's work work, what I'm hearing is.
Staff is very busy, so you can't do it, so we want to get a contractor, but then you're going to have to hurry up and do something because we need the contractor and you need to do it fast even though you have no time.
So you start to make sure that as we're.
If we do end up giving you the tool of a contractor that it also becomes a tool you can use and not one that just going to be shoved and then you're still not going to be able to do the right work.
It's, yeah, so dependent on depending on the quality of the RFP and then a property a time for bidding being it open and then a property a time to basically evaluate all those beds interviewing those vendors and then bringing that, you know, contract to the council for approval and we evaluate review the scope of work and the process of the vendor discuss being discussed at the council timbers.
And the agenda report also takes time. All right, it takes 20 days. So, you know, all that time, you know, adds to the weeks and number of days and months and then.
May 26, it's going to be really, I want to say, like for the lack of better term half cooked.
If it's even cooked.
Definitely don't want to raw stuff.
Absolutely.
Unless it's, it's June July then.
She made with old fish though.
Gross.
So, June July.
June July, we get some really good sushi.
May 10 is not that better.
You run to the bathroom.
Odds are better.
Okay.
If we delay, but again, that's not exact time given that there is unknown.
We don't know what the, the contractors work load and time frame and their process would be.
We can't say it what that would be.
And then if we rush them to produce something in a hurry, again, bad sushi.
Okay.
So then June July is just to get us the best contractor that we can get based on very rough estimates this moment.
Yes.
Not necessarily community feedback just yet.
This is just the contractor.
And then from there, we have to go out and get community feedback.
So, when we're saying that we wanted it by May because we want the information for the budget.
That means you're going to have to contract their next week so that could start working in the community meetings to be on time for May.
If I made, there's always it even like so we're happy to proceed.
I want to reiterate that, right.
But there, the council always, we do quarterly updates for the budget, right.
You can always make adjustments to the budget.
It's not like the fiscal year budget is something that we do.
And we always talk about house and envelope and it's estimates.
So we can make this sync up for fiscal year 2627.
I think we have to figure out how best to do that.
But we can do that.
Council can always adjust the budget even during a fiscal year.
So like that's always there.
So there's no necessarily rush for the May timeframe.
I don't believe.
Because by May, we only still have 50 million dollars in the bank.
The next 50 doesn't come till the next till the last.
I can't remember.
You keep asking the same question over and over and over.
No, that was a different question.
But I don't think it was the same question just stated differently.
Anyway, we have a motion.
Do we have a second?
I want to make an adjustment to the motion.
There are friendly amendment and that is this.
I'm actually not exactly sure how we're holding the first 50 million dollars.
Can you clarify that really quickly?
Yes, we can send an email to City Council.
You've adopted policies, you know, investment policies and it's in line with what the investment policies are for the City Council.
So I would be and I think we would be amenable to adding to my motion that we use an appropriate timeline that gives us the right amount of time to have a good RFP and a good process.
But I would like to make that on the condition that the additional funds that are getting contributed from this short time source goes into an investment fund and is not added to the total general fund budget until we complete process.
That we can actually.
That's what's happening.
Yes, so we can earn some interest.
Yes, that's earn some more money on this money while we're going through this good process and not just having it.
You know, not do work for us.
Yes, it is currently earning interest.
Okay, if it is like that, I will say the friendly amendment.
I will second that.
Call the vote.
I'm sorry because someone told what we're voting on now.
I had a motion by council member, he minutes in a second by council member.
So we are.
So, can you do make two amendments, right?
No, can you do it?
My two minutes.
It was.
Council member, he minutes motion.
To move forward with the RFP community process comprehensive.
More open and inclusive.
The amendments that I added were that a part of what they what the consultants would work with would get feedback on from community is not only what types of things with the money like to what we like to spend the money on.
But what strategy for holding and releasing the money we'd like to use because that's two different things, right?
You, there's, there's different strategies you can use.
You can spend it all every year, you can put it in savings and only spend the, the, the interest.
You can pay off, you know, un, un, un, uncovered, unfunded liabilities.
There's strategies and I think we need feedback from community on which strategy they feel strongly about.
And second level is what are the kinds of things they would like to see money spent on.
That's two different levels of of decision making.
That was the first amendment is to add that strategies conversation to it so that we know we have buy in on what we're doing.
And then the second amendment was when I just made just now to say that if we're going to take the time that we need to do to do this right.
I would like to make sure that this influx of short term funds into the general fund are put into an investment count so that it is making money.
For us, making us more money.
While we go through this good process, so we have more money to work with at the end instead of less instead of the same amount or less.
And so that was my, my proposals that year one in year two money because we won't make that year two deadline going to an investment account and it we use it to make more money while we're going through this process.
So but but I would like to have a timeline because we are saying may 26 so what I am hearing is by July.
To have the results of to start the process and I think life by that is just too much too long to wait to start the community process.
So I just would like to.
I would say we can share the the recommendation or today is a food council action with the contractors see like if they whatever and whenever they are selected.
We will be happy to share the today's action like about the timeline with them and it will really be you know up to them like if they can meet that and produce results by that time or not.
I think what would be helpful is at the May 24th I mean excuse me at the March 24th City Council meeting which is essentially in in two months that that.
We provide an update at that time, because the more that I'm thinking about this, I think that this is, there's a lot of moving parts, right? So we had the item that you all just approved. So that's sort of, that's one sort of bucket.
We have, we already have right our financial advisors, right? We also would have potentially bond council and then there would also be a facilitator.
I'm not sure, right? And this is what we need to think about is, is there one firm that does all of these things, probably not, right?
So I think there will need to be an opportunity for us to staff to think through, like, how do we align these things and then like what are the different
Thought partners, right, and different consultants that we would work with, to develop a full strategy. And I think those might be, respectfully, people that have different skill sets.
Okay, so what about, if question to council, we made a motion, we had a second. And if we want to change that motion, we have to do, we have to do an alternate motion, right?
We can't, we can't change the motion once it's.
I am just going to add to, I am going to friendly amendment to have the timeline because I don't want to get these forever. So what I am going to add is that by March, this is that we come back with an out day where he also had the timeline for how these community processes going to roll out.
Yes, and I think, concurrently, right, we should be able to articulate, for example, if the other consultants that would need to be part of this process.
So I think there was a motion, there was a motion in a second, right?
I'd like to make a substitute motion.
Okay.
She can make a few seconds.
Second and three friendly amendments.
Okay.
So considering what the city manager is saying about the complexity of the motion, the way it is, my motion is to hire a consultant to provide a high level vision of different strategy options for spending the money.
And after that's done, then we can do the based on the result of that.
We can do the community input gathering and everything. So for the first step, let's just hire a consultant to discuss to provide different strategy options in terms of economic development,
we need from field industry, et cetera.
Do we have a second?
It dies with other community input.
I think it's our responsibility to provide information to the community before asking them for a strategy.
Why do we, excuse me, let me finish.
I think it's the second.
You've been a motion and now you're.
I'm I'm completing the meaning of the motion. I think it's very irresponsible.
We have a traditional responsibility, fiscal responsibility to the community.
It is irresponsible to ask the community members without much economic knowledge for a strategy options on how to spend $550 million.
First, we need to provide the information to them what the options are, what the consequences are, then go to them and get the community input.
So my motion is to first hired get RFP for a consultant to provide investment strategy options.
And then, at the second step, do the community input gathering.
Do we have a second?
No, it's not. The motion on the floor says.
Do this plus getting community input on a strategy.
So the consultant will ask the community for a strategy options.
That's incorrect in my view.
May we have time and energy and thank you, Mayor.
Okay.
We're having a bit of confusion here.
You made a motion and then you spoke to the motion and then you made another motion.
No.
I made a more subsequent motion.
Okay.
And I asked for a second. I had not heard one.
So the motion dies from lack of a second.
Okay.
Mayor point of clarification.
I want to reiterate that that the funds are currently invested.
Right.
Okay. I just want to make sure.
And we had decided that.
Earlier.
Yes.
The council had decided that earlier.
So.
So we have a motion in a second on the floor.
Did you want to make a substitute motion?
I wanted to act if I can make a friendly amendment to the motion that's on the floor.
Okay.
Well, no.
You cannot because there's a second.
Okay.
There is.
You can make it.
Yes.
Then they have the vote accepted.
Okay.
Thank you.
I just wanted to ask if we could lower the maximum amount for the consultant.
The fee for the consultant like not up to 300,000, but to lower it.
I think that 300,000 to me is very.
So that's a.
Aspenomical for.
A consultant, especially if we're going to have the support of the staff and a lot of community involvement.
I think that the consultant is just going to really do the summarization or not.
A lot.
So.
No, because I think what we are hearing from city manager is that potentially is not just one.
But it's just.
So I want to have then to have the capacity to to have this act to is not like we are going to spend there.
Hopefully, no, but that they don't need to come back to us from Germany in March.
We can like I think like what what we are trying to do here is this is a really complicating thing and this is why we are in all these conversations together.
So.
In March with the outdated.
We can see how much potentially is going to be needed.
But I just want to make sure that we have the there is enough money.
So it doesn't constrain that they ability for the staff to think about maybe is not just one consultant because it's.
That's to 300,000 is that for multiple consultants because it says one a consultant generally.
If I make through the mayor's a chair.
Our preference for a staff is to not put a dollar amount.
So then when when when we when we come back and and their ranked.
Then the council would see like who were the respondents and how much did each of them essentially bid for the work.
And so and then at that time we would ask for an appropriations.
Okay, so you mentioned just a part of this one you mentioned that we may potentially meet need multiple consultants and so if we're saying up to 300,000 for one consultant that means that this could possibly exceed the 300,000 if we need multiple consultants.
If we for example, one of the things that I think we need to think about is a bond measure right and so that is going to be a different procurement process and cost.
So I think the 300,000 is a good starting point and then when we come back and March will will list out like for the different pathways forward.
For example, right like we have our we have a financial consultant we have bond advisors we have you know community engagement and we'll put together a presentation that outlines all of that.
Okay, so we'll so basically back when we come back for the update we have an opportunity to accept that or to decline it at that moment.
Okay, exactly.
Thank you.
So can we have the final version of what we're voting.
Okay, so is.
Is it.
You're not sure.
It is the city manager to engage with consultants to collaborate with city staff, city council and community stakeholders to conduct community engagement and get input into an strategy for holding or releasing the funds.
And.
And get input on our framework for the expenditure of the new general fund revenues generated by the polluters pay ceremony.
And come back with an update on the plan and timeline.
A much what they.
March 24th.
This is and then while while this process is going on including the community process that will hold the funds and an investment account so they can be earning more money.
That is the motion.
Council member Braille.
No.
Council member Bada.
I'm still confused about it.
Can I quickly ask that.
Right.
So what is your vote.
I'm.
I'm confused about that.
Am I abstain.
Abstain.
Council member him minutes.
Yes.
Council member Wilson.
Yes.
Council members.
Yes.
Vice Mayor Robinson.
Yes.
And me on Martinez.
Yes.
The motion passes.
We can't remember Brown voting.
No.
Council member Bana.
Ex.
Abstain.
Sorry.
I would like to make a motion.
That we combine.
You won.
Yeah.
Hasn't open.
She hasn't opened the item.
I don't know.
Okay.
And we're moving to items.
P1 and P2.
Yeah.
Okay.
So I need to ask if there's anyone online that would like to speak on these items.
To raise their hand.
We don't have any in person speakers.
But item P1 is to direct the city clerk to work with the mayor's office to implement a two year council liaison appointment cycle for boards and commissions aligned with the council election cycle.
While maintaining the mayor's authority to appoint or remove liaisons at their discretion and direct that the current liaisons remain in effect through December 31 of 2026 with new appointments to be made in the first quarter.
In the first quarter of 2027 following the installation of the new city council item P2 was to doctor resolution and approve the issuance of task authorizations to viola water on behalf of the city to manage subcontractors with APB general engineering.
The W housing question engineers for additional sanitary sewer line replacement and rehabilitation work with a contract amendment amount of 4 million 30,385 dollars thereby increasing the total payment limit to 6,554,348 dollars including.
We do not have any speakers.
No speakers.
We have one speaker online.
Okay.
Just raised to say point of order then because then now the speaker says speaker speaking for one or two because we just read both of them in there.
So you have one bite at the apple.
Well there's two items.
I don't think the process allows just one bite.
And you got to speak in which I call to speaker please.
Haven't it still please unmute yourself and you may begin.
Thank you.
Just very briefly P1 support in additional time.
I think given a number of boards and commissions having additional time may draw additional participants to those boards.
Thank you.
And that was the last speaker.
Can I make a motion to approve item P1 and P2.
I second that motion.
Council member Brown.
Yes.
Council member Bana.
Yes.
Council member Jim Minnes.
Yes.
Council member Wilson.
Yes.
Council members the painter.
Yes.
Vice Mayor Robison is absent and Mayor Martinez.
Yes.
The motion passes.
Vice Mayor Robinson absent.
Are we voting for the second item?
Or is that enough for both?
We voted on both of them.
Okay.
That's it.
Okay.
So it's time for adjournment.
Do we have?
Oh no.
No.
Okay.
We still need to adjourn.
I mean we can't just leave with adjournment.
I would like to adjourn this meeting and the memory of thousands of people who are killed during protest and demonstrations in Iran brutally.
Most of them, young people.
All.
All they asked was, whether living condition and a better tomorrow.
In honor of those people, we adjourned this meeting. The meeting is adjourned.
Thank you.