City Council - Special Meeting

Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the Special City Council meeting of the Antioch City Council for Monday, August the 31st, 2026. Mr. Clerk, will you please take the roll?

Council Member Rocha is absent. Council Member Torres-Walker? Present. Council Member Wilson? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Present.

Mayor Bernal?

Here. We have a quorum at 5.30 p.m. All right, if you please stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. All right, do we have any public comments on closed session items tonight?

We have no public comments.

All right, thank you. We have two items tonight for closed session. If I could please have our city attorney read those off to us.

The first item is a conference with legal counsel for existing litigation pursuant to California government code section 54956.91, California Resources Pipeline Corporation versus City of Antioch Contra Costa Superior Court Case Number MSN21-2354. The second item is a conference with legal counsel, significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.982, number of potential cases one, cities in receipt of information concerning facts and circumstances that might result in litigation against the city, which are known to a potential plaintiff or plaintiffs, pertaining to possible labor code section 1102.5 and Fair Employment and Housing Act violations. And those are the two items.

All right, thank you. We are adjourned to closed session.

We adjourn to closed session at 5.32 p.m.

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Good evening and welcome to the Special City Council meeting of the Antioch City Council for August the 31st, 2026. Mr. Clerk, could you please take the roll?

Council Member Rocha is absent. Council Member Torres-Walker? Present. Council Member Wilson? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Present.

Mayor Brunel?

Here. We have a quorum at 6.44 p.m. All right, if you could please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

All right. Mrs. City Attorney, I don't see report out on closed session. Is that something we would do now? Okay, thank you.

There were two items on today's closed session. The first was a conference with legal counsel for existing litigation pursuant to California government code section 54956.9D1. And that was for the California Resources Pipeline Corporation versus City of Antioch Contra Costa Superior Court case number MSN21-2354. And there's nothing to report out. The second item was also a conference with legal counsel, significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9 number of potential cases, one. City is in receipt of information concerning facts and circumstances that might result in litigation against the city which are known to a potential plaintiff or plaintiffs pertaining to possible labor code section 1102.5 and Fair Employment and Housing Act violations. And there's nothing to report on that item as well.

All right, thank you. So moving on to item number one, approval of the first amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with MS Investigative Services and Consulting LLC for Allen Settlement Agreement required monitoring services in the amount of $150,000 annually and fiscal year 26-27 budget amendment. I'll turn this over to our acting city manager.

Yes, good evening, Mayor and City Council. So we will have Captain Shane Bauer here presenting that item.

Thank you.

I'm here to answer questions based on the last meeting, but I can certainly go over some of the discussion on this matter if you'd like.

Yeah, I think it would be good to give us an overview, maybe for folks that aren't aware of this item that are listening in for the first time and then maybe addressing a few of the comments that came up at the last meeting that brought this forward to this one.

Certainly. So as we all know, the city entered an agreement with the United States Department of Justice to reform the department after the texting scandal. In addition to that, there was another settlement agreement. It's known as the Allen Settlement Agreement, coordinated with the Burris Law Firm. Each of those required that we had an independent monitor. The USDOJ monitor has been in place, which is Mr. Sapal, and through the Allen Settlement Agreement, It requires that we have a monitor as well, and in that settlement agreement, it specifically states that they would like Mr. Sapal to continue that as well. Both of these agreements overlap in a lot of areas. However, the Allen Agreement has several areas where it's separate from the U.S. DOJ Agreement, or it's more in-depth on what the U.S. DOJ Agreement has outlined. The initial contract for the U.S. DOJ Agreement was $250,000 annually, billed at $210 an hour. And the proposal here is to add a $150,000 cap to have Mr. Sapal be the independent monitor for the Allen agreement, also billed at $210 an hour.

All right, thank you. Does council have any questions at this point?

Just a comment. I appreciate the chief sending me the requested information. And if there are no public comments, I would move approval.

Are there any public comments on this item?

There are no public comments on this item.

All right, we have a motion from Mayor Pro Temporetto. Do we have a second?

Second.

Second from Council Member Torres-Walker. Please cast your votes.

Motion passes four to zero.

All right, thank you. Moving on to item number two, City Council requested discussion item, discussion on reestablishing the Economic Development Department. Turn this over to Acting City Manager Cortez.

Yes, good evening Mayor and City Council members. So this item is an item that was requested for City Council to bring back. So the item that was requested to be brought back is a, we are requesting and seeing if we could get for City Council to discuss this item but also provide direction on reestablishing a standalone economic development department and economic development director position. So the economic development was consolidated with the community development department during the calendar year 2025. And at the August 2025 budget study session, the city council expressed interest in restoring a separate department to provide focused leadership and coordinated citywide strategy in a clear executive accountability for business attraction and retention. investment, job creations, development, and workforce partnerships, and revenue growth. So at the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget, it includes the $400,000 in funded and personnel costs for three economic development division positions. So the proposed staffing structure consists of an economic development director, a senior economic development manager, an economic development specialist. And depending on tonight's city council direction, we will be back and be bringing it at the September 8th. We will be bringing back. additional information regarding the salary schedule. Also, we're going to be bringing back the potential update to the job description. The last time it was updated was in 2014. So tonight, again, bringing this item for discussion and to see what city council would like to do with this department.

All right, thank you. Thank you for that report. Do we have any public comment on this?

Yes, we have four public comments. Joy Motz, followed by Sandra White.

Good evening, Council. I support reestablishing a stand-alone economic development department and director, but hiring a director is not by itself an economic development strategy. It seems that in the past we have filled this position without establishing a clear mandate or measurable results. We must ensure this does not continue. The city maintains an inventory of vacant commercial and industrial properties, provides property research resources that has identified business outreach and a streamlined development process as priorities. The challenge is not just identifying vacant properties, the challenge is moving them toward productive use, and while that is in process, holding landlords accountable for their property maintenance. And the council has talked about a vacancy ordinance for years. The fines are not working. We need a policy that will move property owners to action. One of the new department's first public priorities should be converting the existing property inventory into an action-oriented commercial recovery plan. In conjunction with the city council subcommittee focused on working with local investors and business owners, to determine which properties offer the greatest opportunity, what is preventing investment, and most importantly, what is the next action, who is responsible, and what is the timeline for completion. Residents should be able to know and see which businesses are being retained and recruited, which properties are progressing, how many jobs are being created, and how these efforts are increasing city revenue. This position represents a significant investment of our taxpayer monies. Creating another title will not be enough. The director must have the qualifications and experience to create a robust department with the authority, resources, and accountability necessary to produce results. I urge the council to reestablish the department and move Antioch from maintaining lists of opportunities to actively converting those opportunities into investment and helping create the economic growth that is so critical to our financial future. Thank you.

Sandra White. Followed by Lynette Hart.

All right, good evening, Mayor and members of City Council. I strongly support reestablishing a stand-alone economic department and hiring a highly qualified economic development director. This action is long overdue and is central to Antioch's financial future. Antioch needs a dedicated team focused on attracting businesses and investments, creating good paying jobs, supporting existing businesses, and revitalizing neglected shopping centers that have become magnets for blight and crime. However, simply creating this position is not enough. The city must select the right person to lead this effort. I recommend establishing a qualified independent selection panel composed of community stakeholders with demonstrated economic development and business experience. The panel should have the knowledge and the competency necessary to evaluate candidates and identify the best person for this critical role. Antioch needs an economic development director with a proven record of success, strong regional relationships, and a clear understanding of business recruitment, commercial development, revenue generation, and community revitalization. We need someone who is proactive, not reactive. The director should actively pursue businesses, investors, developers, grants, and other economic opportunities rather than waiting rather than waiting for them to come to Antioch. This individual must be able to develop a comprehensive strategy, establish measurable goals, and be held accountable for producing results. The department should regularly engage local businesses owners, commercial property owners, investors, developers, residents, and other community stakeholders. The public should receive regular progress reports so residents can see what is being accomplished and how economic development efforts are benefiting the community. Economic development is at the center of my campaign because Antioch cannot provide the services our community needs without generating sustainable revenue. Adequately staffing our police department costs money, strengthening code enforcement costs money, providing homelessness outreach, mental health resources, youth programs and other essential community services costs money. We cannot continue discussing expanded services without also developing a serious and sustainable plan to generate the revenue needed to fund them. Reasonable economic growth will allow Antioch to invest in public safety, cleaner neighborhoods, and stronger community services, and a better quality of life for every resident in the city of Antioch. Thank you.

Lynette Hart, followed by Ron Muhammad.

Good evening, council. We are asking one director to oversee land planning, building inspection, code enforcement, housing, CDBG, environmental programs, economic development, business attraction, and retention, development negotiations, grants, workforce development, and a host of other responsibilities. Community development is fundamentally responsible for how our city develops planning, zoning, building, code enforcement, housing, environmental programs, and development standards. Economic development has a different mission. Its job is to grow Antioch's economic base, attract businesses, retain the businesses we have, recruit employers, create jobs, pursue investment, strengthen commercial corridors, and increase revenues to the city. That is an enormous span of responsibility for one executive. We should not treat economic development as one responsibility on a very long list. It should be a priority with its own leadership, its own strategy, and measurable results. I urge you to separate these positions. More importantly, the two functions can sometimes have competing responsibilities. Economic development should be aggressively asking, how do we bring this business or investment to Antioch? Community development must ask, does this project meet our planning, zoning, building and community standards? We need both voices at the table. I also believe Antioch needs an economic development director who wakes up every morning with one principle mission, grow Antioch's economy. We need a director that has a proven record of business attraction, development in similar communities, and a rolodex that is expansive of large and small companies that will answer the phone and say yes or tell me more about the city of Antioch. This is not a training position. That person should be meeting with developers, corporations, retailers, property owners, and investors. They should be marketing Antioch. They should know why a company selected another city instead of ours. They should know which businesses are considering leaving and what we can reasonably do to retain them. And most importantly, council should be able to measure the results. How many businesses did we attract? How many did we retain? How many jobs were created? How much private investment came into Antioch? How much did we expand our tax base? Separating these positions does not mean separating the departments from one another. They must work hand in hand. Economic development should bring opportunities through the front door, and community development should help move appropriate projects through a predictable, professional, and accountable development process. Thank you.

Ron Muhammad. Followed by Andrew Becker.

Greetings to the Council of the Mayor and the Council at large. I agree with all of the other shareholders here about Antioch moving forward with the economic development. though i will say with a caveat that i do understand why the two positions were merged if it wasn't financially fiscal because they do overlap each other like lynette just said but the responsibility and the accountability has to separate the two um the fastest and only growing business there was two that i've seen in the last six years has been churches and marijuana. And both are not doing as well. I mean, I'm a faith-based guy, I would like to think. We'll see at the end what God says. But it's too many megachurches. I mean, every place, every, that's not an anchor tenant for a city. It's just churches, churches, churches. And if we're all on the same path, you don't need that many churches. So I'm not saying, I don't know how we do that city manager without discriminating, but that can't be our economic engine. When they don't pay taxes, that don't make sense. and the marijuana is oversaturated overpopulated they not doing what they said they were gonna do I mean time has shown that so I would hope that we would be able to in a cash strap situation that we will be able to find the money to find a good person with all the characteristics that everyone else prior to me has said Because that person really needs to go out and go for it. They need to find the owners of these buildings, as Joey said and Lynette and Sandra. And they need to talk to them. Because, I mean, it's just turning into blight. And the weather's about to change and get inclement, so people are gonna go into those properties, because they've been vacant for a long time. So, I mean, we gotta do something. We need an anchor tenant, and churches can't be it. And that's nothing against the faith base. It's just that can't be our growth. We get no taxes from that. And that is an indicator of something, and I'll let that stay what that is. When you see a lot of megachurches in one small place, that's not a good thing. So that's all I'll say to that.

Andrew Becker, followed by Lori Garrow.

mr becker can you please unmute thank you can you hear me yes thank you yeah i would just like to say that you know while i agree with that the city has a strong need for economic development i think that we've all been talking about this for quite some time um probably longer than I've lived in this city in all honesty for the last 30 years. I think the bigger question is, are we putting the cart before the horse? We're talking about hiring an economic development director and staff, and we have no direction with where our city manager is going to be. What is the plan for that? There's no conversation about what the plan is there. Will that city manager support that economic development department and staff? Are we going to then be going backwards again? I think also the question is, if the cart is going before the horse, what stops us from walking along that path ourselves and doing the work with our own hands and feet? I've said many, many times to this council, why have you not reached out to Cosmont Realty about your surplus properties? Why have you not engaged regarding enhanced infrastructure finance districts? why are you not looking at the tools that every other city does to set up their long-term strategic economic development plans and the supporting infrastructure for years now we have been talking about this pittsburgh has done it brentwood has done it we continue to not only be behind the curve but not even on the same page as anyone else and we're talking about hiring key staff i mean You have 22 acres of prime commercial real estate on Slatton Ranch across from JCPenney's that has been on the market for years for $10 million, which in any other city would be swept up and developers won't bat an eye at it. And we talk about hiring staff as if that's going to change the economics in this city. You have to change the economics in this city. And that is through these other strategies that frankly are not before an economic development director, but before a council. Your previous economic development director brought you a plan that sits there in your council archives. At any time, you could pull up the video and look at what that consultant that we paid hundreds of thousands of dollars told us we should be doing. And we could be doing it, but instead we ignore all of that and talk about what the future plan is. And so before we talk about hiring this economic development director, I would like to know what the leadership plan is overall for our city through our city manager's office, considering all of the other issues that our city is dealing with. Thank you.

Lori Garrow.

And by the way, I could only hear the last three speakers. I'm deaf in one ear. So that tells you where I'm coming from. Yeah, I am a girl. I married a girl and he's gone. He had a book I found, a book that I've tried to show people. Only a few people have given me the chance. Only a few people have given me the platform to talk about the history that is here with this community. This book is The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany. It's written by Bertolt Brecht. Yes, a German. coming out of the 20s into Gestapo. He wrote an opera with Kurt, I always have to look at the, I don't have my glasses on, Kurt Weill, who does the satire operatic drama. Now my husband, who was Ralph Garrow Jr., who died over six years ago now, July 23rd, 2020, went in with a Dow Chemical scholarship to Stanford. He couldn't handle going to school with pre-meds because it was really tough. The sciences are really, really hard. You're dealing with pre-meds and you're dealing with high level, what are they, organic chemistry, you know? And he goes in with a chemistry knowledge. He decides it. He loves drama. Yeah, this is what I'm comfortable with. He was raised with a family that adopted two kids that went into the arts because he was raised to think you could do anything you wanted to do. Here we have this population that when I came in here in 1980, mind you I met a person by chance because he came early and that's what Ralph did. He came early to a registration for a reunion. He was early and we got to talking just like a few people here that we got to talking. And it was great. I mean, this is the kind of forum that has to happen, where you just, yeah, it's that, what do you call the open-ended, I'm going blank right now, but where you're just meeting people in a very casual setting. Bob Smith, I worked for The Ledger when I first came in, because The Ledger was a place I found a job. I gradually weaned myself off of Palo Alto. I got educated. Stanford, I got educated in Washington, D.C. Thank you, Ms. Garrow, your time is up. And to make a long story short, my background is education, and I met this person whose family was very involved in affordable housing.

Thank you, Ms. Garrow. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Any further public comment?

We have no further public comments.

Hi, we're up here in the 60s. Did I? Is it on? I grew up here in the 60s and 70s. Besides Don Freitas, I'm probably older than all of you on the council. I had to say it, Don. That's okay. He can handle it. Growing up here, you know, we didn't really talk about economic development because there's all those factories and all that stuff on Wilbur. And I think a lot of people that have moved here don't realize that at that time, You know, it was generational income from grandfather to father to grandson. So, you know, everything's changed. It's not going to be like that. I would just say about the person who you're going to hire to lead this, you guys are going to be paying that person a lot of money, a lot of money. And I remember in high tech when I worked with a lot of executives, I was an executive myself. We had management by objective. You had goals. You got paid by meeting those goals. And I would just, you know, maybe you already do that, but I would recommend that, you know, to you, because just hiring somebody without, you know, actually, you know, having some goals and seeing some actual results, results are really important. So I would say that. The other thing that just out of, you know, just as an observation, It isn't just a marketing job. It's a sales job. Because you have to think about the reputation of Antioch right now. Sorry, we don't have a great reputation. I hope that changes within the next five to ten years. But we need somebody who has a lot of influence that's going to be able to talk to all the various constituents and really sell the city. So that's my observation, and thank you very much for the opportunity to speak.

All right, thank you.

We have no further public comments.

All right. This is before the city council now for any questions or comments of staff.

Mr. Mayor, obviously for the past 20 months, the city council has indicated economic development is one of the, or is the most important priority for the city of Antioch. And oftentimes when we talk about economic development, we talk about bringing new businesses in. But part of economic development is sustaining the businesses that we have. So it's really existing and new that come into play. Now, Alan Payton sent me a text message, and he said, remember in the mid-1990s, later part of the 1990s, we had the assistant city manager whose primary responsibility was economic development. That person was Mike Ramsey, who eventually became the city manager and was my city manager when I was mayor. And so some of us have talked about establishing a priority. And one of the questions I would just simply put, I think it might be something for us to take a look at to make sure that if we have an assistant city manager whose primary responsibility is economic development and the staff is a part of the city manager's office, that it may establish the priority that several of the speakers have discussed. The other part of it is to have a salary that actually attracts knowledgeable individuals who have a track record, who can prove to the city council and more to the community, yes, I'm economic development and director, and this is what I bring to the job. And I think that either she or he has to be somebody who really can move us forward. And I do want to underline when I did become mayor in 2020, in January of 2021, 2001, one of the first actions that we took was to the creation of the Economic Development Commission. It had seven members. And it was populated by individuals that were residents in our community, had a stake in our community from a community perspective or a business perspective. And frankly, it was successful for a while, and then it simply began to die. And I think that... The possibility of having the economic development be a part of the city manager's staff. that the assistant city manager play both roles both as assistant city manager but with economic development that gives the authority to interact with all the departments in the city of antioch just not community development but it is public works it is the police department there are a lot of issues and beyond excuse me beyond that with the antioch unified school district they are one of our most important uh... partners as well as our local you know uh... colleges, Los Medanos being one of them, where we can establish internships so young people can become aware of jobs and requirements and such things as being on time for your various jobs. And so I do think that this is critical. In the discussion, I did have a question It does talk about, and I think it brings up the issue of our executive salary range. And part of the question is, is that high enough to attract the type of individual you want? And that's part of an argument to bring in the assistant city manager. The other is that, you know, the Corina, Marina, Coria did a very good job of delineating the various things that would need to happen. And I would suggest that through the city manager, through the city manager's office, that this really be the number one priority for our community. We have talked about it for a long time. There are so many economic development reports going back to the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000 and on that we have spent hundreds of thousands and probably at this point millions of dollars. And I think frankly we need to have this in place We need to move forward. But I do think, I forget which the speakers brought this up, If the city council decides to move forward, then I think immediately the city council needs to look at our previous economic development strategy, take a look at it, and the city council, with community involvement, identify maybe the top three or five particular items so that when a new economic development director is hired, we can provide her or him some of the items that we would want to immediately be focused on. We have just talked to death about economic development, and my position is it has been dead for more than six to eight years in the city of Antioch. I think it is our responsibility as the elected officials to really prioritize this and move it forward. The community expects it, and I think we need to deliver it. Thank you.

Council Member Olsen, yes.

I did what you just said. In addition to that, in the past our economic development department has not had, at one point had no budget, been very minimal budget. If we're gonna do this and we wanna be successful, we need to, and we're gonna have to dig deep, because we're looking at the budget, we have to give this department a budget to be able to be successful, to have a business recruiter and investment strategist. I know we saw the three positions listed, but we need to look at what those three positions are to kind of really establish the goals and the timeline. But I think the most important part is if we want them to do this and be successful, we need to give them a budget that assures that they can get all this done. Because if we hire all this, hire these people or hire these different positions and we don't give them budget, we're gonna see the same thing coming back again. But yes, I definitely agree with Mayor Pro Tem.

I was getting ready to say Roach.

The old guy. But you're young at heart, you're young at heart. But yeah, we have to give it a good-sized budget. And then also with the salary, I agree with Mayor Poach. I'm afraid we have to have a competitive salary and not kind of settle for, oh, well, this person has management experience. We'll figure out the rest from here. If staff and HR has to come back to us and say, hey, we're not getting any hits, we're not getting any good recruitments, you'll come back to us and we can definitely reassess that. But definitely the budget, I'd be really curious what the comparable cities that were used, what budgets they have for their economic development department made them so successful. So I'm in agreement for the standalone economic development department.

Right. Council Member Torres-Walker.

Mayor?

Yes.

Thank you. I wanna thank everybody for their public comments tonight. Some of it is giving, it's an election year, and some of it is really parroting back to this council what this city has been hearing, not for just more than 18 months, But according to my calculations, for more than 18 years. I don't know if most people in the city of Antioch who are new to the city may not know, remember Guy Bjerke. Bjerke. Bjerke. Bjerke. Bjerke. Anybody remember Bjerke?

Yes.

Who left the city of Antioch in, was it 2009? 2009.

Around 2008, 2009, and that position remained vacant until 2018, where Kwame Reed was hired as the city's next economic development director.

So from 2009, 2008 to 2018, and I'm assuming it was due to challenges around We want furloughs. Furloughs, budget cuts, and things like that. So you had no economic development director in this city for 10 years. 2018, Kwame Reed comes in to the city of Antioch. He was actually hired, and then he had himself and one other staff person. And to speak to what Councilwoman Monica Wilson was saying, no budget, if any real budget at all, to do economic development. Kwame Reed came in in 2018 and he left the city in March of 2025. Mayor Pro Tem Freitas stated that this particular council has been talking about economic development and discussing some of the very topics that were brought up in public comment tonight for 20 months. We have not had an economic development director for what Kwame Reed left, so it's what, 18 months? since we've had an economic development director. City Manager Betsy Scott, after having discussions with the council related to operational and fiscal deficits in the city and also doing some look back, saw that at one point both economic and community development operated together here in the city of Antioch and suggested bringing both of these departments together based on real operational and budget deficits. And this council agreed to see if it worked, but I know that council member, or Mayor Pro Tem Freitas, greatly protested, as you can imagine, Greatly protested as you can imagine. And why did the city manager propose doing the joint operation? Because our salary wasn't competitive enough to hire the quality and caliber of individual as our economic development director that we know we have needed in the city of Antioch for more than 18 years. I also want to thank people who have not just raised up the competitive salary that has held us back, but the things that will continue to hold us back if we don't address them. Blight in general, commercial property blight, homelessness, and the desperate need for public-private partnerships because these commercial properties are not owned by the city. And so we have been saying for months, what is the relationship between the city and these private entities to see what we can do? So, I mean, I agree with the separation. I'm just here to state the facts of the timeline, the history behind economic development in the city of Antioch. And if we really wanna get serious, there are other issues that we need to address in this city outside of needing a competitive salary range for somebody who is gonna come in and do everything that we absolutely need them to do. And I also agree with Mayor Pro Tem Freitas is that small businesses have held up the city of Antioch, especially District One. And so if we don't have somebody who could focus on the businesses that are here already and what we can do, as well as what do we need to also bring in to recapture our sales tax leakage. Because it's not that people aren't spending money, they just aren't spending it in Antioch. A few months ago we had a sales tax leakage report that told us where our sales tax revenue is going. as well as, like Andrew mentioned, an economic development plan that we do not want to spend more money on consultants to sit on the shelf and continue to collect us. We should explore some of those ideas. The competitive salary is what got us here. We weren't paying somebody enough to get what we needed, and I hope we can address that.

All right, so at our last city council meeting, our budget study session, we had really sobering information provided that our sales tax revenue looks like it's down $1.7 million for the next year. Historically, we like to see that grow two, three, four percent. It's heading in the wrong direction, obviously, and the year before it was a million dollar, and so we're seeing this trending in the wrong direction. It's become obvious that having community development department along with the economic development department and expecting one person to have the expertise and the capacity to do both of those functions is really not really going to happen in our case. Even though we see some other cities that in the comparison of costs that do put them together, there's other ones like Dublin has their own economic development director, Stockton has their own economic development director, And now we're considering the same. One of the biggest challenges for us that we've heard over and over again is our salary. And at 13,000 at the low range to 15,800, we're even less than the economic development manager in Brentwood. And so that manager position is probably one or two steps below a department head. And when I say below, I mean relative to a deputy director and then a director. So the salary for this position, I believe, needs to be increased higher than the $13,000 to $15,000. It should be similar to what we're paying our community development slash economic development director right now, which is $14,800 to $18,000. put it in that range because this person is going to be very, very important, the right person, as we've heard others say, to the success of this department and to the success of the city moving forward with economic development. I think it should also be said that one person cannot be solely responsible for the economic future of Antioch. There are so many moving parts that come along, and frankly, a good economic development director is going to be at odds oftentimes with a community development director or a planning director or a code enforcement, because they're gonna be coming in saying, hey, we need to do this stuff now, and they're gonna hear all the reasons why we can't. And so there's some tension there between this person, whoever it is, And so it's gonna have to be somebody who's going to be, I'll use the word a hunter, is gonna be out there beating the bushes, talking to people, interacting with our departments, and making sure that we are in the best position possible to put our city out there when the time comes for the economic development to happen, which I believe is coming soon. So I would recommend that we create the position, create the separate department, set the salary at 14.8 on the A-step to 18,000 at the E-step in order to make it competitive. I would also say that we take the two manager positions, the economic development, or excuse me, the senior economic development manager and coordinator and just go with a director and a specialist right now to keep the budget somewhat neutral for the time being. And then once this person is on board, they can then, to Council Member Wilson's point, let us know exactly what they need for marketing, for all the different things they need to run the department effectively and including staffing as well. So that would just be my comments. But this does need to happen quickly so we can get this out and begin a recruitment for, once we get the salary schedule and all that approved by council, start a recruitment as quickly as possible so that we can have this moving forward towards the beginning of a new year. So.

Mr. Mayor?

Yes, sir.

So I think we've talked about having a separate economic development department. or possibility of an assistant city manager with economic development being her or his primary objective. I mean, yes, backfilling for the city manager, but 80% of the individual's time really is economic development. I personally think that is a good idea because it prioritizes this department. It would be situated in the city manager's office, and I don't want to put Ms. Cortez on the... spot right now, but I mean, these are things that you actually need to think about and come back to the city council. So I think there are two choices. I do think if it's not part of the assistant city manager's job, and I'm saying assistant city manager's job, then if we do a separate one, I would agree with the mayor that the salary still needs to be increased because we have failed to make the proper attraction to experienced and eligible economic development director. I would like us as a council with staff input to, and I think Council Member Torres-Walker is right, it is community development, it is code enforcement, it is the police department, to take a look at the latest economic development plan that we have and really have a discussion here in City Hall with the elected as well as the community. Maybe Instead of all encompassing three or five top priorities that we expect the new city manager to come in and be held accountable and make sure that it is measurable so that we're just not throwing money for throwing money's sake. The other, I do think, because it was very successful and participation tonight that we have, I think we need to go back and revisit creating the Economic Development Commission I think you should only do that when a new economic development director has been hired. So we may be talking about three to four months, or within six months, let's say. But I do think that the council needs to take a look at that. And I completely and totally agree with Councilmember Wilson. We need to be realistic and provide a budget for this office. And give them the discretion to spend money. Frankly, when Guy Bjerke was here, I said, Guy, if you have to fly up to Seattle and talk to Apple, then do it. get up there sell us you know sitting here city hall waiting for people to walk in it it doesn't make it it really is a failure so i do expect whoever this individual is that they do have i'm using an old term a rolodex but really good contacts and know how to find people and make things attractive and the other part of this and this is probably more of a community development what what do we have that we can negotiate with, you know... with business interests and really be collaborative with some of the property that we own or could own or work with private enterprise to make sure that it happens. I think that all of us here, this is the priority. We're tired of talking. It's time for action. And Mr. May, I would suggest that hopefully we can revisit this at our September 28th meeting and make final decisions after the city manager and her staff review this and come back with possible recommendations to us.

I have a question. Mayor Pro Tem, is this, I know, so the mayor mentioned one option and then you mentioned a separate option Could this come back as seeing what both...

I just want to give the opportunity to the city manager to look at that, figure out, does it work, does it not work in our culture and our, you know, our... the city apparatus and and then make a recommendation to us i think both are good i'm just you know there's just a difference and the city council will make that decision yes i could be prepared to bring back the staff report that will provide both options and and what that would look like yes for action

And I agree because often assistant city managers do have specific focuses. I know Susanna focused like almost predominantly on homelessness during the last council which got us from 450 people on the streets to now the like you know 200s right which is still too many but i noticed that when it's the absolute focus to somebody they can do their best rather than having their focus stretched so i would like to to see both if you come back and and just so you know like i had to dig real deep to find mr bjerke

He's in Concord right now. He's just retiring from Concord.

And he is still working and is in Concord.

He is retiring.

He is, but I had to go.

But he's the one who handled the Naval Weapon York.

Yeah, I had to dig deep to find him, but I was like, he's still around, okay?

All right, so on the 20, I guess it's 25th, is the next city council meeting?

The 22nd, September 22nd.

September 22nd? Yes. Okay, so at that meeting, you'll bring the two options for the council to consider.

Yes.

And along with salary options as well for this position.

Yes, I'll bring all that so they can get approved.

On that note, because I think the city council is going to make a decision to have a separate department or assistant city manager, but also maybe take a look at a headhunter, you know, and, you know, don't wait, you know, kind of go through because I think the council is very anxious about moving forward.

Yes, I'll add that to the staff report so I can get directions. We're going to start putting out the RFP and then start working on the recruitment.

All right, thank you.

Any other?

Just a double check because I want to make sure I heard you right. So the job descriptions for the two positions that the mayor just described will be coming back with that report. So the council will see the job description.

We can, yes, if we need to update it so that way it reflects the salary. And I can even bring a draft of the job description for both. I would think that if we want to really focus the assistant city manager to have a lot of focus on the economic development, we might want to update the job description as well. So that way we can have that as part of the, when we're advertising for the recruitment.

Cuz I just think it would be good for all of us to see the job description.

Yes. You know, and another model some cities have used is where the city manager and the assistant city manager will split up responsibilities, kind of like Rosanna did, which you were referring to, where she took police reform and she took homelessness and things like that under her responsibility, and then people can focus on different areas. So, just something to think about.

And Mr. Les, thank you to the community members for being here. And I just hope that you continue as we move forward, hold us accountable. I think we're anxious to move this forward, and it's very nice for your involvement. Thank you.

All right. Are there any other comments from council? Seeing none, do we have any public comment?

We have no further public comment.

All right. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. Second.

Did you second? No, I said do I have a second?

Motion and a second. Please cast your votes.

Motion passes 4-0.

Meeting adjourned.

Meeting is adjourned at 7.38 PM.