City Council - Regular Meeting

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Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a closed session of the Antioch City Council for Tuesday, August 25, 2026. Could we please have a roll call? Okay.

Council Member Monica Wilson is absent. Council Member Rocha?

Here.

Council Member Torres-Walker?

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Present.

And Mayor Bernal is not present at this time.

All right, are there any public comments or remote comments?

We have no public comments, we have no remote comments, and the meeting started at 3.35 PM.

And I'll turn this over to the, there you go.

The mayor has just joined.

Ron, we need you to affirm your attendance.

Yeah, my speaker on yeah, so I, for my attendance. I would just like to say that I Robert now mayor, the city of and I am unable to attend. It's a nice meeting due to a contagious illness. And I'm appearing remotely under just cause pursuant to California. government code section 54953.8.3. My wife, Irma, will be the only adult in the room with me, and I will participate via both audio and visual technology throughout the entirety of the meeting. Mr. City Clerk, I ask that you please record my remote appearance under just cause in the official meeting minutes for the record.

Thank you. So noted.

And your attendance? Roll call. My attendance is remote tonight, and so Mayor Pro Tem Freitas will be presiding over tonight's meeting.

And he's affirmative that he's in.

The mayor has affirmed he is present for this meeting.

All right. I am present. All right. City Attorney?

We have two items on closed session agenda for today. The first is a conference with labor negotiators pursuant to California government code section 54957.6. The city designated representatives are Jason Ewert and Ana Cortez, acting city manager. The employee organizations are Antioch Public Works Employee Association, APWEA, Antioch Police Sworn Management Association, APSMA, Confidential Unit, and Management Unit. The second item is a conference with legal counsel, significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9E2, number of potential cases nine. The 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.

Any questions or comments? Not seeing any, we will adjourn to closed session.

Meeting is adjourned at 3.39 PM.

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All right, good evening, ladies and gentlemen, city council and staff. This is a special meeting and budget session for Tuesday, August 25, 2026. Before we call roll, we have the mayor on remote. Do you have a statement to make?

Yes, thank you. Ron Bernal, the mayor of the city of Antioch, am unable to attend tonight's meeting due to a contagious illness and am appearing remotely under just cause pursuant to California Government Code Section 54953.8.3. My wife, Irma, will be the only adult in the room with me, and I will participate via both audio and visual technology throughout the entirety of the meeting. Mr. Clerk, I ask that you please record my remote appearance under just cause in the official meeting minutes for the record.

Thank you. So noted.

All right, Mr. Mandy, could you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council Member Wilson is absent. Council Member Rocha? Is here. Council Member Torres-Walker?

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Present.

And Mayor Bernal? Here. Present on Zoom. Thank you.

We have a quorum at 5.31 p.m. All right, we will go to the only item on the agenda, fiscal year 2027-26, general fund budget development.

Yes, I can start. So good evening Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Freitas and City Council. So tonight we are presenting the first of several study sessions as we begin preparing for the fiscal year 27-28 general fund budget development process. City Council previously provided direction for staff to begin the budget review process in August. Starting with the development of a baseline budget focused on required services including those that are legally mandated. Beginning this process early is especially important as we prepare to address the approximately $15 million general fund deficit currently projected for fiscal year 27-28. Starting these discussions now will provide city council and staff with sufficient time to carefully evaluate our services, priorities, and available options. Tonight's presentation is intended to establish the starting point and provide a foundation for the budget discussions and decisions that will follow in the coming months. And I will turn it over to our finance director.

Ms. Merchant.

Good evening. We're going to be kicking off the 27-28 budget development. I know it feels like we just ended, which we did. But we wanted to definitely have a little bit more time to methodically prepare this budget. Governing Body remembers in about the April time frame last year when we were putting together the 26-27 budget. The request was made, can we see what does a stripped down legally mandated budget look like so we can really make some more informed decisions on 26-27. We did not have the time to turn that around in the short time frame. And we did agree to kick off in August with budget sessions to start the 27-28 to give us enough time to really take a deep dive down into the budget. for the general fund, look at what departments are considering kind of the legally mandated baseline services and then give the council time to evaluate that and decide do we want to add something back in that we feel that it's an important community priority or thus wise. We're focusing on just some of the departments now. The intent would be each month to focus on a different set of departments and then also to bring back any follow up that's requested or any additional information that we find. This budget will be dynamic, it will change each month as we go along. Just because one budget session you say, hey, let's add that back in. The next budget session, once you evaluate more information, you may decide you want to take it out. Like I said, this is going to be a very live, moving document. Nothing will be set in stone until we actually then get to next year when we have to adopt the budget before June 30th. But again, the idea will be once a month to kind of go through these preliminary exercises. Then sometime after the start of the calendar year, potentially February and March, really then begin the deep dive. This is what departments are now recommending be the 27, 28 budget, so that we can go through and get that adopted by June 30th. So we did provide projections for 2027-28 when we adopted the budget in June 2026. Again, these are projections, it's still 12 months out at this point and it was our best projections at that time. And what we did with the 27-28 budget that was presented is essentially add back the frozen positions that were included in 26-27, just to see a fully funded staffed budget. We added back the vehicle replacement, which is frozen in 26-27. And with that, just that preliminary, we had a deficit projected of $15,177,848. So we did go back to departments, ask them to provide what they feel is their minimum baseline budget. And some other items that have been incorporated into the 27-28 budget that were not in the June numbers is there was a 3% cost of living, or COLA, recently approved for the APOA, which is the Antioch Police Officers Association bargaining unit. So $745,667 was added in personnel costs to the fiscal year 20 proposed budget. And of note, there's labor negotiations still ongoing with four other bargaining units. So those are not accounted for in these draft numbers. We did reduce the public safety and community resources, which is going to soon be renamed to community services, as you will see in the table, by 1.2 million. That was in the 27-28 budget for projected contribution for the Homekey Plus project. But city council has since turned down acceptance of those funds, so that was removed from that budget. and there are significant decreases to our sales tax budgets we just received some latest projections from our sales tax consultant but these are only through the quarter ending march 31st 2026 based on those trends through that date and they are projecting the city's fiscal year 2627 regular sales tax to decline 1 million 139 000 and then measure W to decline 538,000. So these decreases would need to be carried into fiscal year 27-28. Now what I had done in the chart C table is I essentially just did a little less than half trying to be cautiously optimistic on the numbers until we get some further trend analysis and waiting for June 30th, 2026 numbers and updates for that. but in discussions with the acting city manager and the mayor, the desire really seemed to include the full impact of those in the 27, 28 numbers, just so we can see the worst case scenario, but then of course update these projections as we move along through the process. So I will be adjusting those numbers and you'll see when I get something on the screen here shortly. So on chart A that you can see on page two, I incorporated the 26-27 impact of the COLA, the $661,430, a budget amendment that city council approved for work at the marina, and then the police varicota cameras of $381,000. That was a rollover of 25-26 funds. You can see in the 26-27 revised where I did the sales tax reduction, the budget has not been amended for that, and we will be doing some budget amendments in the fall. But again, I'll need to revise those to the actual numbers. I'll update it to whatever the current projection is when I meet with the sales tax consultant in October. But I just put in red just because, again, I was just being cautiously optimistic, but the budget has not officially been amended for that. So chart B on page three, you can see in the 27, 28, the first column is what was presented for 27, 28 projections on June 23rd. And the deficit was almost $15 million, $14.9 million. And then taking into account the sales tax reductions I just mentioned, and then as well as the APOA numbers, that deficit number increased to 15,177,000. And then of course, if we adjust, that number will grow a little bit more, adjusting for the sales tax, if we take it to the actual number. And then on chart C, on page five, is that current I just mentioned, and then the baseline, what departments presented as they filled the baseline number. And that gets us to a deficit of 2.5 million, but of course, that will increase with the sales tax adjustments. Some things to point out. is because we're not going through every department tonight, we're only going to be focusing on non-departmental, city council, city clerk, city attorney, human resources, finance, city treasurer, and community and economic development. There may be questions that come up for other departments and we'll address those. at the next session, but one thing that affects all departments in 27, 28 for the baseline, the vehicle replacement set aside has been pulled out, as well as the office equipment computer replacement set aside, just because those aren't mandated set asides for those. And also, as I do point out in the staff report, none of the baseline numbers are what city departments recommend. We're not proposing this to be the draft budget. Some of these cuts would be detrimental to the departments, decimating the work that they do or completely getting rid of the departments and we'll see that in attachments A when we go through there. Recreation isn't addressed this evening. I do point out in the staff report that this recreation services support essentially closes all recreation services and it's just really maintaining insurance and the facility to not be a hazard to the community and the recreation staff would need to be reassigned. Again, we are not recommending this. This is just recreation services. are not required to be provided by a city. Of course, that definitely has other detrimental impacts to the community being able to provide places to play and provide services for our youth so they're not doing other negative things. But again, we were just following the mandate of the city council. And another thing that this budget does, we're not talking about public works, but it is in the non-departmental, is closing the marina. We don't have to have a marina. So the money in there is only to pay for the debt service and then the full-time staff that currently exists. So with that, I have an attachment A that we can go through each of the departments, and I'm gonna ask the back room to put the Excel up on the screen. What I have up here, I know it's a little bit hard to see just because we can't get a full screen, you kind of see on there, but I have the total revenues and then the expenditures by department. I did add a sales tax reduction of an additional $977,000 It's in there in red. It's a little bit harder to see, having to show the split screen for that, so I do apologize, but it brings our revenues, the $99,744,649 down to $98,767,649. And so then, with the sales tax, that brings our deficit now, instead of $2,598,000, to $3,477,998. So if you have any questions before we start on Attachment A, we can address those now. Otherwise, I'd like to go through each of the department budgets that are on here, get feedback if Council has, whether they're in concurrence taking that out of the budget, or if they really want to keep that in the budget, and then I can add the adjustments on my Excel spreadsheet and we can see how that impacts the deficit moving forward on that.

Thank you very much. If you have read the report.

But then you can't see the whole thing right there.

If you have read the report, Ms. Merchant's comments orally, some of these things that you will see will be startling to you. But the city council asked what is legally required of the city. And so if they did not pass legal requirement, then there are recommendations for reductions. I just want to... Be very clear about it, that does not mean in this document when it says elimination of certain departments or individuals or things, that that's what's going to happen. But we needed to have a bare bones budget, and we're kind of starting from that point. But I just want to caution the public, even though you see this in writing, it is startling. It is not any recommendations, not from the staff, not from the council. The council simply needs a starting point, which is the minimum requirements, legally requirements for the city of Antioch. So with that being said, let me just ask the council members, are there any public comments before we move forward?

We have no public comments.

Are there any remote comments?

We have no comments on Zoom.

Okay, so on the beginning of the discussion report under discussion, Ms. Merchant indicated that the recommendation was to reduce some of this decline that we have in sales tax in Measure W to $500,000 and 200,000. And again, the decision that's here tonight is no, instead of having a best case scenario, we're looking, we need a worst case scenario and build from that. Any other questions on the beginning of the memo?

The only question I had is, again, the rationale for not having park and rec in here, because. They just didn't get to it. Is that the reason?

Well, there's just so much to go through. And park and rec can probably be a study session all on its own. So the thought was try and get the smaller departments this evening. And then when we do being back recreation, I mean if city council wants that at the next session. Director Wright did prepare a separate budget that is more scaled back, and so that is ideally what we would want to present because none of us want to eliminate recreation, but again, we were going with the mandate.

The reason why I was asking the question is because what we're presenting in this discussion that we're starting with is a baseline that removes everything other than what the basic necessities are. Legally. Legally. And park and rec, I would think, would fall into that too. So when we're looking at the dollar amount that was just shared, which I think it was 2.5, I think is what I heard. when we do all the... Yeah, if we cut out everything, the remaining budget is $2.5 million. Yeah, so if we were to look at Park and Rec, I was just wanting to know what would that bump that up to? Would it be another $2 million?

Oh, so if you look on chart C, the $3,320,000, that is... eliminating recreation, but it maintains the full-time staff, you know, to assign to other things. But the reason that it's so high is because you still have to have liability and property insurance for the buildings in case something happened. You still have to maintain chemicals in the pool because if you take the water out, the pool plaster is going to disintegrate. You know, so it's... Yeah, I'm not in favor of that.

I just wanted to know what the dollars truly would look like. if that was added in to this report. Probably three to five million. Yeah, that's what I was saying, three to five million.

Yeah, so if you add back, because if you look at actually what it is, if you add back all of recreation, if you look at 26, 27 revised, recreation is 4.8 million that's recommended to add back in. And I know it seems weird that it's only a $1.5 million reduction, but you're not generating any revenue to offset any of the liability insurance or anything else like that. Lisa's not making a horrible face.

Yeah. Okay, you're moving.

Okay, I'm sorry. Sorry about that. So, Dawn, so on the analysis that was done by Recreation where you took everything out but staffing and basic needs to keep all of the features going, it doesn't appear maybe the same Um, sort of analysis was done for, say, public works where they reduced. The 12Million dollar budget down to 11.4. It seems like there would be a lot more that doesn't seem to be a lot more things in public works. Or in community services is that 1Million and a half mean that everything except staffing has been removed from that.

Well, the community services, when we get to that, that's not on this evening's. But part of the reduction of that is the 1.2 million home key. And I do know that there was a lot of cuts that Director Cabral did make to that. And so when that budget comes back, we'll be able to go in that. There was significant cuts made into there. And then public works, when we do get to that budget, I'll let them speak to that. There is potentially more budget that could be cut from that. I think it was more so that a lot of the budget is spent on maybe parks maintenance, other type of mowing, et cetera. So if that were, I think it was looking maybe potentially, but again, I'll let the director speak when we do get to the public works. The next time is that without direction of you want to close all parks, you know, it kind of becomes hard to figure out where to make the reductions from.

All right, and then the, then the police services, I know we're not talking about these departments, but just. Since we have these numbers out here, it's for police services, you know, they've reduced their budget by looks like 3. 5 or 6Million dollars. You know, that's that's the biggest budget in the whole city. So. Again, the question would be, is that is that taking everything out? That is not. You know, man that mandated by law, and then also does the 62.9 include 117 sworn is that the number that would be used for at that staffing level for that 1?

it does. And I do point that out in the narrative of the staff report, but the 1 thing that it does. it splits the year being six months as a trainee, which is less cost, obviously, for the 12 officers, and then six months as full-time officers since they would be in the academy.

Thank you. So everybody, it looks like they're ready to get into the details, but let me just make sure on chart A, is there any questions any council member has? The only thing under transfers and what constitutes transfers and for 3.749 million?

I don't have that information on hand with me, but I can tell you part of it, if council recalls, we did have some CIP projects that were returning the funds to the general fund. But then there is also 1,010,000 that comes from the gas tax fund to fund street work. So that's 1 million of that number. And then there's money also from the police CFDs that we collect the assessments from the police CFDs and that comes into the general fund. And then there is 300,000 from the abandoned vehicle fund that comes in to fund the police services. And there's about 280,000 from the supplemental law enforcement services fund that we get passed through from the county, from the state that goes to fund police services. So I don't have the exact breakdown, but that is the majority.

I'm just suggesting in the future if you just break that out so we don't ask the question. Okay, going to chart B, is there any particular questions that the council has in chart B? not seeing anything, then I assume we'll go to chart C. Excuse me, and so this is the bare bones budget that we have. I did have one question with regards to community services, and we talked about the home key, the 1.2, but what about the $750,000 that was for the initial? So the 750,000 was only in the 26-27 budget, and all that was in there was actually 400,000, because when we initially had put the numbers together,

We didn't quite have that understanding that the 750,000 would be up front, and so we were thinking, oh, by the time it happens, it's gonna be like the last quarter of the year, so we may only have to do 400,000, and so.

So that adjustment will be in the fiscal year 26, 27? Yeah. Okay, so chart, so I think what we really need to do is move to attachment A, which is on page one, the general fund non-departmental. Do you want to make any comments, Ms. Merchant?

I will say in terms of B, how it talks about removal, 4th of July event, loss of- I'm going to go down all those. Well, I just wanted to point out that there are other events that are paid directly out of the Recreation Services Fund, for example, Juneteenth. And so any other special events are part of the Recreation Fund, essentially be eliminated as part if recreation were eliminated that's not on here just because it's not paid out of the general funds I just wanted to clarify that so under notes impacts a reducing for updated projections any

This is on the sales, the taxes?

Yes, that is the 500,000. And so that would actually, we'd have to change that to the 1,139,000.

Okay, so going to footnote number B. B is actually under contracts. The proposed budget was 200,000. The request is eliminating 110,000 for a $90,000 budget. It's suggesting that we remove the 4th of July event completely. but there are other events that we have that will later come back for us to review, is that correct? Yes. Okay. I just personally, I would not want to reduce the 4th of July event. I think it's one of the biggest events in the community that we have, but it's just my personal opinion. Any questions on B? C, the loss of funding for non-profit agencies, $50,000.00. Any comments? None?

Well, did we want to go through and decide if they want to add it back or?

Because it's not legally required.

No, but what I'm saying is, where do we give money to nonprofits out of the general fund?

It's the community grants fund.

I thought we paused that fund already because it was on review.

We did, but for 2728, for the projections, we added everything back in. OK. So if we want to continue to keep that out. So ideally, if we could go through each of the reductions and have a consensus whether council wants to add it back in or keep it out would be very helpful.

At this point, keep it out.

So regarding making a consensus at this point, I think I'd like to see not just everything we have today, but all of the different proposals before I be deciding if one or another gets in or out.

Yeah, I think this is just preliminary, as I understand. Yes. And once we get all the departments and have a comprehensive view, then we're going to go all the way back and reconsider everything again.

If that's the way this council wants to do it. I know there was kind of a desire in the beginning, let's look at it all, but we would be here for probably eight hours. That's a normal city council.

As long as we got done by 11, which means that we have to start at 3.

We won't be because we will not be here after 11 tonight. But I guess... I'm probably leaning more towards, and I don't know if this is what the mayor was saying is that this is the, like, since I got the agenda, this is some of my like first time, like seeing the agenda going through it. And I haven't had enough time to, And I don't think the public has had enough time to have conversations. And so I wasn't clear that we were gonna be doing decisions tonight rather than just a review so we can see the overall impacts across every department and then make those decisions.

Okay, and that's up to the purview of the council.

You're just wanting a preliminary feel from where the council is. Is there something on there that absolutely we should not eliminate? Then they need to hear that. Or yes, some of these eliminations at this point is yes, but as the mayor has indicated, we all are on the same page. once we've gone through everything, then we really need to go back because that's going to be when we make the decisions.

Yeah, and I don't disagree with that. Like I said, I was just trying to chunk it up because it's a lot of information. But again, if there's something, As a group you feel strongly about and say make sure that's added back in the next time, you know So next time the next meeting when we come back, you know, I'll adjust the sales tax numbers at least for example And then if there's anything on these attachments you want more information on, you know We'll bring that back to the next meeting I think from just speaking for myself with this being the first like public review.

I don't feel comfortable saying whether just for example whether 4th of July should stay or go tonight because it's one like you mentioned it's one of the largest events in the city and I would say second to that the second largest event is Juneteenth and there might be community that don't want to see that go as well as community that don't want to see the 4th of July go which is why I'm saying it's just I wasn't aware we were making decisions tonight.

No, we're not. We're just giving staff some of our gut-level feeling, okay?

And I'm sitting here like, get rid of Parks and Recs?

Right, I mean, that's, I mean.

I'm like.

They're doing what we requested them to do. What is not legally mandated and what does that look like? Okay, so one of the items is the golf course, the water subsidy. I do think that we need to have a larger discussion about this and we need to go back to our contractual obligations and what we pay out to the golf course and what we receive from the golf course. Mr. Mayor, I assume if you have a question, it'll just come in. Underwater Antioch Unified School District, I am in complete agreement on that, eliminating the $150,000.

Yeah, and just as an update on that, we got the direction last year to open up those agreements. We have two separate agreements, and we're actually getting that scheduled with the school district. We're trying to get it scheduled for September. I know one of the agreements has a one-year noticing period, so if everything gets hashed out, that we may have a little bit into 27, 28, but I just want you to know staff is working on it. Okay.

Under Chichibu Sister City, I would be opposed at this point to eliminate the 15,000. I don't know if anybody, difference, okay.

Yeah, I think it's a valuable program. I'm not sure 15,000 is the number. Maybe it could be 10 or something different, but I think it's an important cultural exchange.

I guess I'm just waiting to see comparable to what, else is on the table before weighing in because saying like the sister city program is more valuable than parks and ricks or you know something else i just i don't feel comfortable saying that the sister city program might be more valuable um over the Parks and Recreation Department or the potential of the marina or vehicle replacement. I wouldn't put it up at that high level myself.

Right, I understand. Again, these are just the initial feelings. The other is cancel the membership to the League of Californians and ABAG. You said yes, okay. I'm against that. We receive training and expertise, so all righty.

Uh, then, uh, I think it's, I think it's important to stay a part of the league and, uh, a bag and those, um, regional. To have a seat at the table, um, I think losing that with being a city of 110,000 or 120,000 people and. 2nd, largest in contrast county would, um, would be hurtful, but. Again, there's a lot of different things to consider here.

I do believe our presence in those spaces is valuable. I guess as citizens, I'm on the city council, but I'm also a resident of Antioch. I'm wondering what is the value of those spaces? Are they bringing funding back to the city? Are there opportunities? I know there must be opportunities through ABAC. And I hate to sound like a broken record, but it's like, what are residents gonna care about most, if we attend ABAC meetings or the League of California Cities, or if they have another valuable resource?

All legitimate questions. Under H, I think, because we're talking about closing the marina, this in and of itself is a separate item that we need to spend more time on in discussion.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, so that was attached. These are all part of attachment A. The next is city council. Any changes with city council budget? There's several of these, Ms. Merchant. You talk about remove computer equipment set-aside.

Yes, so similar to the vehicle replacement fund, there also is a computer replacement fund to replace computers in the city.

Again, it's not legally required, but it is absolutely necessary to stay current in the technological world of the 21st century. So I don't think it's wise to delete it, but that is a consideration. Any other questions on city council?

Yeah, just on that particular one, when we read the initial report, on chart C and it said vehicle replacement, set aside funds of 1.8 and computer equipment replacement, set aside funds of 163,000, which is a total of 1.9. That was already removed. Yes, that's been removed in chart C. And now, so when we look at the city council as an individual item.

Yeah, because it's spread across departments, so I'm just notating that's a reduction in the budget.

So it's notated in here, which you stated in the first chart? Yes. Okay, got it. I just wanted to clarify.

I have a question. How are you costing out like conferences. It says reduce amount available for conferences. The impact could be less city representation for advocacy. How do you get to

We just looked at what the individual conference was and just took a proportionate reduction just because without sitting with council, trying to bring something here. Once this gets deeper, if you all as a group decide, well, we think we can do it for 10,000 less and adjust that number or whatever.

Is there a breakdown somewhere like year to date on the total amount of conferences, travel, reimbursement, any potential dues for programs, leadership development, whatever? the council may have participated in. Do you have a full breakdown of that?

We would be able to get whatever's been spent year to date if anything's been spent, but in terms of the number for the city council conferences and dues, usually the city manager kind of puts that number together just looking at historically what's been spent or if council has said, oh, we know we want to attend kind of this conference. There's no list that says they're gonna attend XYZ and we estimate it to be this cost. But again, I'm not sure if anything's been charged since July 1st.

Could we just have a list from last fiscal year?

Yes.

I mean, what is, yeah. I mean, that could work. I'm just thinking that... At this point, it feels like an arbitrary number without actually having a breakdown of what has the expense been in the past and what are people actually walking away from. Some of this might not be necessary for council members to participate in if it comes on the heels of having to sacrifice some of the service that is more beneficial to the public.

With regards to the Mayor's Conference reduction, I would be opposed to that. Contra Costa has 19 cities, the Mayor's Conference plays a very important role regionally, advocacy, programs, things of that sort, subsections, committees, so it's a $10,000 cost. I think we get more than our value for participating in the Mayor's Conference.

Is that 10,000 to host the mayor's conference? Yes. What is the overall amount we might spend in a year for the mayor or any potential council member to actually attend the mayor's conference?

I do not know.

can we get that breakdown yeah I think it's I think it's the $80 per conference per person and right now it's myself and the city manager so and and I know the city manager doesn't go to all of them so I try to attend all of them if I can so it's about $80 a month right now I believe is what the what the rate or 160 if the city manager goes

I think if we can get the cost breakdown, because did Antioch host last year?

Yes.

So if we get the breakdown from last year.

Which means 18 months from that time, we'll host again.

So can we get the breakdown of the total cost to host, but also the overall cost to send staff, any staff, other council members, or the mayor to the mayor's conference? and like use the numbers from last year so we know so we understand the total amount that we spend not just on hosting but also attending yeah we're scheduled to host in march of 27 currently nexus city attorney any questions none Do we need all of this litigation?

Do we need litigation? No, we never need litigation.

No, I think everything is important in the city attorney's office.

Mr. Rocha?

I agree. Mayor? No. Okay. I do have a question. Under C, remove funding for employee recognition activities. Is that in the city attorney's budget?

Yes, so there is an administrative policy that was established a few years ago that gave each department a little pot of funding for employee recognition, whether it be like, let's just have a luncheon and celebrate you all, and then kind of tack it on to a staff meeting or whatever. It can only be on specific things, not birthday gifts or anything like that, or if you wanna get some City of Antioch t-shirts for your staff. So each year, $1,500 is given to each department to show your employees you appreciate them, whether it's maybe you throw them an ice cream social or something. So again, it's not required, but we strip that out of all the budgets.

So is the amount $1,500, regardless of how big the department is? Like if a department has three people, they get $1,500, and a department has 50 people, they get $1,500?

That is the way that the actual policy is written, but the recreation department does get a little bit more funding because they have so much part-time staff. And I can't recall if another department gets any more than that.

When was this policy implemented?

I believe, well, I believe Forest Ebbs was actually still here, so yeah, maybe three years ago.

Huh? Okay. Interesting. So, Mr. mayor, are you asking for us to take a look at that?

Yeah, I, I never, I didn't know we had such a policy, so it would be, um, was this something that the council implemented or is this something that was just included in the budget?

Or it was an administrative memo approved by the city manager at that time. And because it's just a small amounts within the city manager authority. We have several administrative memos throughout the city for policy direction that is under the city manager authority. I believe we probably have about 97 administrative memos actually.

We have 97 administrative?

Yeah, just for different aspects of the city. And those don't go to city council, those are within the purview of the city manager.

You might want to make copies just so we can take a look at these 97 administrative policies, please.

I guess I would be interested in seeing the policy and how much the total budget is for it because if we're proclaiming a budget crisis and then we're out having lunch somewhere with our staff or having a party, it could send the wrong message. I'm not saying that it's not a good idea, but I just think it would be good just for council to understand what that exactly is.

Okay, so we'll, if you could provide us the 97 pages.

I have one more question. Sure. It says Deputy City Attorney 1 currently vacant position, part of the DOJ settlement. Is it any update on filling that position?

Lori?

We had a failed recruitment and so we have to go out again. Thank you.

All right, moving on to city manager. I'm cognizant of the time. I think for me, the most important issue is A, footnote A, continue to freeze administrative analysts. I agree with that. But as you know, I think that we definitely need to hire a grant writer and work with Townsend between Townsend and a new grant writer, and their whole purpose is to apply for grants and bring revenue into the city. And as far as holding the assistant city manager, freezing that, I'm agreeable. So it's yes to freeze the administrative analyst, yes to freeze the assistant city manager, but I do believe we should hire the grant writer.

Yes, and we currently have that position open right now, the grant coordinator.

Any other comments on at least that item? Okay, so going down, remove the funding for downtown security and lobbying grant services. Lots of crime deterrence downtown of the police department. I think that we're at the stage that we're exploring that. I think there are subcommittees between the mayor and Ms. Torres-Walker, and between Council Member Rocha and me, working with the different groups, the Downtown Antioch Association and the Chamber of Commerce. So I think we kind of have to go through that. I'm not sure we have anything to add at this time.

All right, yeah, and I think the lobbying grant services that is going to tie in with the grant writer and how those 2 share. Responsibilities, and I know right now, I think we paid 12,000 or 12, 5 a month for. Townsend and so the question is, what level is towns and needed with a grant right with our own grant writer.

I guess it would depend on the background of the grant writer because Townsend has a lot of lobbying experience. So if this grant writer also has lobbying experience, then we can move away from the consulting firm. However, if our grant writer doesn't also have the experience related to lobbying that Townsend has, then that would have to be something we would need to take into consideration unless lobbying is not as important to the city as trying to just work across all departments finding additional funds for critical services since we are discussing a baseline budget.

And I would just expand. Sometimes you have grant writers that are specific maybe to the state of California and not to the federal government. So you do need both of them covered. And I think there's a way to negotiate that whole relationship, as the mayor said, between the grant writer and Townsend. And I think it's doable. But I think we need to know the expertise of the people.

And also, you know, you can have the greatest grant writers in the world, but if you can't get them before the legislators that are going to hold them, then you need the lobbyists.

And under E, which is business expense conference and dues, you know, and you have a narrative there as well, I'm assuming that you simply cut it in half. Yes. Okay, and so... I think we need to come back and revisit this as we move forward with more information about what those business expenses are, what conferences we're dealing with, and what our dues. I mean, it's like the U.S. Mayor's Conference, I know we pay a dues to that, so the question is, do we want that? I mean, so we need, some of these we need to see the list to be able to make the decision. Anything else on City Manager? Moving on to some groups.

You guys didn't address APOC.

Oh, APOC. Yeah, you know, on APOC, I realize this is probably one of those that you cut in half.

I cut it all.

You cut it all. Well, frankly, I think that there are some requirements out of the DOJ agreement that is articulated in the settlement agreement with that.

Well, what I've been told by the police department is there's no requirement for training of APOC in the settlements.

Okay, I think that our experience would say, yes, there needs to be some training.

Right, I'm not arguing that.

Again, it was taken out as you clearly, just because there's no- There's no mandate for training in the DOJ agreement, but there's a mandate to have a police oversight body in the DOJ agreement. and there's a mandate from the community that those people be trained and informed to be able to carry out the duty that they were appointed to in addition to the ordinance speaks to training the current the existing ordinance also speaks to training so i'm not sure is it is just just a justifiable cut just under the argument that the doj agreement doesn't mandate

I mean, frankly, I would keep the $50,000 there at the present time, because this is a bigger, broader question. And it's like when APOC sent, I don't know, three to five members, it's like, whoa. I think planning commissioners, there's two that go every year to the league, and there's a rotation. We don't have a policy direction, and I think that's part of the problem that we have for all of our boards and commission, and we've talked about this prior, that we really need to take a look at our policy, because personally, I don't think we can underwrite five of seven members get to go to training. Maybe two a year, something like that, so I think you know, we need to revisit that for all of our boards and commissions.

Yeah, and I would say, you know, we'll keep it as is for now and revisit when we do the whole, because maybe it gets reduced, because another thing you have to look at is their training budget's $50,000, which is more than a lot of more city departments even have in training. So, you know, for a commission of, I'm not sure how many members are on here, That budget's more than, say, maybe the public works training budget for the entire year when they have a staff of 100.

Do I think it needs to be reduced? The answer is yes, but I'm reluctant to cut it in half or whatever until we see the policy. Right.

ron did you have a comment yeah council member torres walker's comment it's just making arbitrary cuts to things we we should see what was spent say last year and then one of the things that seems to be missing when budgets are developed for use apoc as an example there should be you know apoc's going to go to x trainings they're going to send x number of people to each training and it's going to cost this much money so when the budget is developed that number should be in there and it should be substantiated and then people know at the beginning of the year these are the trainings we're going to these are the people they're going to go and i think that's missing and we just throw numbers at it and then decide once we get to it and i just think that probably needs to be tightened up a little bit okay so we're all agreed there okay another comment okay

City Clerk, I wanna just actually, LaTanya Peoples-Stokes, you did an absolutely outstanding job with your explanation, so good in fact, that I would suggest that we make no changes in the budget to 27-28. I think she's justified all the expenditures and I think she's right. And so from my perspective, I would go back to what was adopted for the 27-28 budget. That's my opinion. Mayor?

I would just, again, I know that the department is under new leadership, so I think it would be good to give the assistant city clerk the resources she needs to take that department where it needs to go in so many different areas. So I would agree.

Okay. I mean, there's so many legal things that they have to do, and we cannot handicap them. I think that's the bottom line. So thank you very much. It was very well done.

Now, because you're all saying this, did you want me to actually add this one back in or wait until the further discussion? Yes, that's what I'm suggesting. Well, I know, it kind of goes against the mandate of let's wait until we get through everything and then we'll go back through.

Part of it is legal, though. I mean, it's how do we handle public requests for information? I mean, how do... How do we do the minutes? I mean, besides the city attorney's office, I mean, so many legal mandates and requirements fall on the city clerk. So I kind of consider them legal.

And these were all things that were pulled together because they were considered to not be legally mandated.

Correct. Right.

So, so, so, so, Mr merchant that 342,000 dollar reduction are all non legally mandated things is what you're saying.

Right and then, but however, if you know, you read the impact statements from Latonya. Basically, that whole office goes back to manual, so you're not going to get public records requests done on time or miss them or. You know, we're not going to have the online form 700 filing back to paper. I mean, everything basically puts this office back to an archaic operating. But you're not required to have it that way. I think Latonya's impact statements were important to demonstrate how important they are to keep the office running and being able to comply legally with the PRA. Because if we don't have some sort of system tracking, as we've seen in past years, stuff gets missed or not replied to on time.

I still think it's important for this to be a discussion, and I agree. Saying what our position is is okay, but because I'm also looking at some of this stuff, like public records requests, people complain to me all the time about the time that it takes for them to get it. I do think these things are important. to the public, and I would also, again, like to see where other things that will have to be eliminated.

Well, one of the things that is listed here is freeze public records coordinator. Do we discuss that? Is that something that is recommended as a baseline, or is that something that really needs to be kept in?

I'm arguing it is long, long, long overdue. Okay.

It's something that's being recommended to be frozen, and we don't have to make a decision tonight. We just need to give some of our general ideas.

Okay. Okay. We're finished with that. Moving to city.

Sorry, can I just ask? So for the public records coordinator, we already have, we just, city council just approved the job description. So I just wanted to ask, is that a position that we could start recruiting for? Can we unfreeze it? Because as we were talking about, there are some things that we need to really work on, and we do need that public records coordinator.

It's not frozen in 26. What we did as purpose of this exercise is other than the police department, we looked at what was vacant. Okay, let's propose just freezing it. as we have in the city manager, we showed the grants coordinator, but that job just posted. Because some of these postings crossed paths with putting this report together. And so now that the public records coordinator position is complete, if we post it now, then we really can't freeze it because we can't tell someone you've lost your job in a year. So should we at least, if we're going to be posting that at that back end?

I think it should be posted. I think you need to move forward. That's my opinion. But I look to the council and the mayor. We have been deficient for years.

I'm never against adding positions where it's necessary. The city clerk's office was grossly understaffed when I came to this city, and they just were able to grow. And I'm glad to continue to see them grow. And if they're saying that we need to post a position, then we post a position.

All I was gonna say is that based on what we've looked at thus far, I don't know how we're gonna get to $15 million reduction. Just to call it what it is, I mean, the recommendation on the baseline, I get it, and we don't necessarily mean closing the marina or doing some of these drastic measures, park and rec that we're not even talking about yet. But this just goes to show at what baseline we're really at because when we talk about not doing this, not doing this, not doing that, at some point we're gonna have to make some decisions on what we are gonna do because based on just the first three or four pages, I don't think we've reduced anything that I can really see other than a small percentage of maybe 10, 15,000 here and there.

Well, I mean, again, I wasn't under the impression that we was making decisions tonight anyway. No, I get that, but I'm just saying in a broader picture of things. And if we're honest, the only way to actually cure the deficit without completely devastating working families in Antioch, whose water rates are going up, whose property taxes are going up, who are suffering from inflation, to see them paying more to receive less is kind of drastic. And so I think like having this discussion can get us to where we need to be, but believing that we gonna cure this deficit just by cutting and cutting and cutting, like that's not gonna work. We need a real plan for economic development in this city and to increase revenues. That's the only thing that's gonna get us out of this trouble. And I do agree that some cuts need to be made, We just need the bigger, we just need the whole picture.

I'm just making an observation. No, no, I mean, Council Member Rocha, I think that you're right. I'm not anticipating, and I wasn't anticipating, that we're going to make decisions tonight.

No, but the staff needs to get a feel for where we're going. And ultimately, after we go through this with all the departments, we'll come back. And, you know, I've been preaching for two years. You need an economic development department. They need to be 100% focused. The city of Antioch has not had a truly economic development plan or implementation for six to eight years. And it has failed us because of that.

Look at the sales tax. And I'm hopeful that and optimistic that we're hiring someone soon that can help

Maybe lead and grow and develop we currently do have the economic development specialist open. So we are starting to build that team. Yes.

Okay.

City treasurer.

So, before we before we get out of city clerk, I would recommend that. That we hold off on. hiring that public records coordinator position until we see the rest of the budgets over the next couple months.

I disagree with that. This is long overdue. So, you too?

No, I mean, I agree with actually going ahead and posting it because, oh, you're not going to remind me to put my microphone on?

I thought Rhonda would look over your shoulder and tell you.

So many people went through so much time to draft, negotiate with the salary. It would be draft the post and talk to the bargaining units, the job description. I say we just move forward similar to the way we did with the ground rider because it's needed.

Mr. Rocha?

I also see part-time help. Is that part of that?

Your microphone?

Oh.

I also see part-time help listed beside that. Is there a half position that is also approved?

There is part-time help in there. So the full-time amount is just about $218,000 of that $244,000. And there's $26,268 in part-time help. I'm not sure exactly what that would. I know there's a part-time person in there right now. But again, they're not fully staffed with the public records coordinator. So I'm not sure if that would. needed so you know if the consensus is at least to continue with the posting will for purposes of this exercise will continue the elimination of the part-time help but then add back the cost of the full-time just like when the city manager's office will need to add back the cost of the grant writer because that positions already posted I know it's not a huge savings but I would go with that yeah mr. mayor yeah

Yeah, because there are three people saying to go ahead with it. So yeah, that's fine. I would just say if we're going to add the full-time, then the part-time, if it's not necessary any longer, if it's filling that void, then that would be gone. Right.

Like I said, I'll continue to keep it as eliminated in this 27-28 draft, and then that'll be something that potentially, when everything comes back and is discussed, is talked about further.

Okay. City Treasurer, any comments? Moving on, human resources, any comments?

Well, considering that our acting city manager was the human resources director. When I see freeze human resource specialists, remove part-time, kind of a very similar conversation that we just had. So is that something that we would also, in a similar stance, look at potentially eliminating the part-time help and looking at potentially posting the human resource specialist? From your perspective, do you think that right now we're okay with the freeze and we review as we go forward?

I can go back and look at the structure of the department and see what we currently need. So I can go back and then when we come back, I can provide more information on that.

Okay, moving on to.

For reducing contracts for online platforms and updating policies, I know earlier this year when we had a conversation, I know a couple departments were excited about streamlining, having platforms to make things, to go from manual, And for efficiency purposes, I'm wondering, is there a list of what would be eliminated? Because it says this will cause almost all HR work to be done manually versus tracked and documented in an online secure platform. And significant use of staff resources would already be strained. So I'm just wondering, like, Or is there a list of that?

Yes, and specifically with that would be our NeoGov platform. So we utilize NeoGov to receive all of the applications. So the whole recruitment process, we use NeoGov. So we don't do a lot of things manually. The system kind of does it for us. Also, the performance evaluation, we've moved on to doing it electronically. So that's where we've been able to have performance evaluations done. more timely. We also have the e-forms portion from NeoGov, which allows us to do all of our personnel action forms to be done electronically, which saves a ton of time when we go to track it. And so again, all that, as we've been discussing, it's not legally mandated, but it would really impact, everything will be done manually again.

a lot of the departments will be impacted um by us not having those systems that we have in place now thank you okay so we have 20 some odd minutes and seven more items uh finance are there any just on finance when i saw finance director as a point oh 0.8 and then it dawned on me some of her time is actually in some of the enterprise funds, so she doesn't work. She's not an eight-tenth of a person that is full, but her funding comes from different directions. Any questions on finance, Mr. Mayor? All good? Moving to community economic development. I mean, I think that, I think this is the second or third time we've tried to interview for this, and you're down to final candidates, but I think the council, I think all of us have said that we need to consider the separation between community development and economic development as a standalone department. So that's a question that will come back to us. I don't know if we need to debate that again here, but that's been, I think, the direction from the council. Mr. Mayor?

yeah when we get to uh economic development which i guess is the next the next item is that we're on uh are we on page 10 now attachment page nine and two i guess Yeah, no, put no comment on page 9 page 10. I do have a comment when it comes to the statement about economic development. So. I agree that we, we need to separate those 2, um. Functions, I think finding a community development director slash economic development director. It with what we pay and just the skill sets that are so different is really. Um, really going to be a challenge. I don't think we're ever going to be able to find the right person exactly to do both as well as we need them to. So, I would recommend that we divide those 2 departments up into 2 separate departments. And I would also recommend that we take the 3 positions that we currently have the senior economic development product program manager that I development program project program manager and then specialist. And create a department head and a specialist to start with. and then see what the economic development new director would need staffing-wise in addition to that specialist to build that department and the marketing and everything else that would go with it. So that would be my recommendation.

I could support that because I do think that when you have an economic development director she or he should be the ones who pick her or his staff. So I think starting off with two and maybe expanding in the future makes sense to me.

So, yeah. And I think since the action city manager is in the process of interviewing a finalist or two for the community development slash economic development director position, I think it's important for council to make a decision Now, on what we want to do, moving forward with this, so that so that that decision, if the right candidate. Presents themselves or themselves can be chosen. As a community development director versus trying to fill both both.

Both roles, so this is essentially proposing to go back to the structure to city previously had before the change. Economic development department of 2 staff.

I think that if we want to really focus on economic development and make it, we've all said it often, it's our highest priority right now to generate revenue, business, jobs, all of the above. We need to have someone that really knows what they're doing. And we also have to look at the salary and make sure that we're competitive and we can really attract the right person to come to Antioch.

Yeah, no, I'm not opposed to it. I'm just reminded that we're going back to a structure we previously had, which also didn't, for whatever reason, yield great results. So I'm wondering, it wouldn't just be important to separate the two departments and go back to status quo. It would also be important to have a strong economic development strategy.

Absolutely.

And another, I did actually look at what, since I know council has mentioned this, what the economic development director position would be versus, say if you got rid of the senior economic development program manager for now, and then replace that with a director, the cost difference is about $100,000 between the two positions. It's about $360,000 for a step E, economic development director, and then the step E, senior economic development manager, and this is salary and benefits, is just shy of 260,000. So if council wanted to pursue maybe initially doing the director, holding off, eliminating the senior and maybe holding off on the economic development program manager. For now, freezing that until you get a director in and then they have the specialist which is posted and kind of starting to build that and seeing what the needs are. That's another kind of option.

I think there's consensus that we need to separate the two. We thought we were moving in the right direction and after going out and trying to hire, we've learned our lesson that they're two really very different positions. So I think we're there, but I do think with the urgency to have an economic development strategy implementation and an economic development director is probably the top priority. I think when we come back to continue discussions, I think those are all options, but I think immediately separation between the two, have an economic development strategy strategy and move as fast as we can to recruit for economic development director. The other positions I think are open and we can have the discussion, but I'm not sure we're gonna decide tonight.

I guess the only other thing I would ask is that we look at the salary for, I don't know what it is right now or how competitive it is, but I think just to go out and have a low salary that we're not, because we need to attract somebody that's an expert in this field and I think it's important that we pay Pay with the market with the market drives needs for that is as important of a position as this is.

Yes, so I can go back and look at what other into a survey what the other agencies are paying to see if we are being competitive and presented at the next meeting.

And I, and I would just caution though, too, because that then becomes a department director positions and the other department director positions are. most likely not at market most of them and so depending if you're picking singling out one I realize it's important but everybody else's position is important too and suddenly you have a salary that's higher than everybody else it just right now we don't have that information so I think when you present it to us we'll we'll understand some of the significance

Moving on. The blue dot database, what is that and how much do we spend a year on it?

It's budgeted for $12,000. If Director Scadero or Hillary Brown, the admin analyst for community development could explain, I'm not quite sure what it is. I did put a little bit of a description that's a local business database, but I don't. Hillary Brown, Administrative Analyst for Community Development is gonna just give a brief explanation of what that is.

Yeah, we don't need to spend a ton of time, but I'm just curious why we're doing it at all and what benefits.

It's an ongoing, so it's a database, but it's also like a rewards program. So it actually benefits businesses already, local businesses already have it and use it. So like as a resident here myself, for example, I can go in and utilize that system. So it's just a database that combines, connects local residents to local businesses. And it also assists us in like posting those businesses when licensed and it's just a very useful tool that combines a lot of Existing functionality that would you know that would be managed by like a team of people right it kind of consolidates it the dream lines it and then it it Provides opportunities for growing those businesses and inviting new businesses to come in.

How many people use it?

That's a good question. I don't offhand know. We can find out how many users. We do have access to that, so I can get you that information if you'd like. And any other questions you might have about this, just let me know and we'll get back to you.

Mayor? No, that's fine, thank you. Does that, okay, sure. Thank you.

You're welcome. And then just of note on this budget, as you see, it eliminates all of economic development, not that we're recommending it. We know it's important, but again, we're not required to have it, so that's why.

No, we get it, we get it. Moving on, community economic development planning. I think this was an experiment that failed, but that's my own personal opinion.

No, this is just a planning division, isn't it? We're talking about right here.

This is a planning division. Never mind. I got ahead of myself. Sorry, Kevin. Do you take that back? I take it back, Kevin.

All right.

Any comments? Moving on. Let's see. Code enforcement? Any comments?

Yeah, I would like to add... an element to code enforcement or look into it where we can demolish blighted buildings that are beyond their useful life that the owners are not addressing voluntarily. So I would like to put something in the budget. I know the county does it, and I know our new code enforcement manager comes from the county and has experience effectively using, or I've heard he has effectively used that program to clean up a lot of problem buildings in the county, and I'd like for us to look at that program in Antioch.

And I don't know if this is an item for code enforcement or for the city attorney's office, but we need to take a look, council member, to... Taurus Walker brings up the vacant buildings, and I know she's been talking about it for 20 minutes, I mean 20 minutes, 20 months. Well, 20 minutes. And so it is an item that I don't know who it should be at, code enforcement or city attorney, but we do need to get our hands around that.

And soon.

I'm wondering if this is also all maybe just a separate discussion because I'm curious related to like the potential costs of a program to demolish blighted uninhabited commercial properties that don't necessarily belong to the city and is there any potential liability? And then as we demolish these potential properties, then the lots just sit empty. Do we take eminent domain? I know people hate to say that. I don't really know the legalities behind it. So then we don't have a blighted building, but then we just have an empty lot. They could possibly have an encampment on it. I'm just throwing it out there. It might not happen, but I think it's a bigger conversation, but any input would be helpful.

Yeah, so basically, if we were ever, in my time here, we've never proactively done an abatement where we've abolished a building. If we ever went down that route, obviously we'd be in very close communication with the city attorney's office as we pursued that. That is what I would say is kind of like the last resort if it's a blighted building. It poses health and safety risk. We have zero success engaging the property owner to maintain their property. Then that is the last resort is then we do an abatement. Obviously, like I said, we would consult the city attorney's office to make sure we're doing everything properly and then it would be an abatement where we would demolish a building. Eventually, you can recover those costs through a lien process. There are some, A lot of factors that'll determine whether you actually do recover those costs or not. It's not immediate. What I would say is if we ever, we currently don't have an abatement budget that would allow us to demolish a building. I think our abatement budget's about $85,000. That's probably more for like when we're doing, when a property owner is neglecting their property and let's just say there's just trash all over it and then we have to go in, we have to get an abatement contractor, we do it. There's eventually a process to recover those funds, but it could take a while. This would be obviously a similar situation, just on a much bigger scope, if we ever got to that point. I don't know if the strategy is give us enough money at this time to demolish buildings, or if it's more, hey, we're at this point now with this building. This is our last resort. we have a scope from an abatement contract or demolished and we come back to council for a budget request at that time to make an allocation for that. So putting a full number in is one way to do it, trying to guess, or it could be on a case by case basis where we're at a point with the building we have to do this now, so we're going to come back to council with the budget request to allocate those funds. But you are right, then it would be a vacant property. Yes, we're not taking the property in this scenario. Yes.

Like, the blight is going away, but there would still be little to no added value. Correct. Which might, which is just, like, also speaks to the collaboration and need for, like, economic development and... I'm open to a bigger conversation about this, bringing this back as well as the conversation around vacant commercial properties and lots and fines and fees and things of that nature. Thank you.

Yes, and the new code enforcement manager and I have had conversations on that as well.

Thank you. Anything else on code enforcement? Okay, moving on to the community economic development, engineering and land development.

those my previous comments and just to point out on here with the um continuing the freezing of the assistant city engineer and assistant engineer which are in fiscal year 27 which basically means there's no engineering staff whatsoever so we have to contract out with a third party Continuing that into 2728 would result, you can see the personnel freezing, but we'd have to bump up contracts up to 1.2 and it may even actually be more for that third party consulting. And then that would also does require union notification that we're contracting out work that city employees could do, just things for future consideration when we bring this back. And essentially then we only have our public works director that's a licensed PE that can approve anything. That's the role a system city engineer would be able to help with. So there are implications by not having engineering staff. But otherwise, any other specific questions or comments on this?

Mr. Mayor? No. No. Any questions? Okay, so it's really a future discussion that you need to go back to.

I'm hoping it is a future discussion because I'm not in support of contracting our work that we could hire for as a city.

Okay, then the Community and Economic Development Building. Any comments on this one? Not seeing any, okay.

Okay, that concludes, we'll bring next month. I'm going to try and see, as long as there's availability to have a study session before the first meeting in September, just because I won't be able to prepare something for the second meeting in September, because I'll be out of the office for a bit, but, and we'll continue and bring some more departments and any follow-up you have from this evening. Again, the goal would be to have a meeting once a month to get through this, and then once we've I've seen all the departments get more thorough in terms of real discussions about what to potentially add back in or not.

Okay. Do you know what department or departments we should be seeing next time we see budget stuff come through?

I will talk with the acting city manager, but I was potentially thinking the community services slash public safety and community resources and recreation. But if there's a department you would rather see besides those or starting, I can absolutely try and get that together as well.

I think those two coming together is good when they come. Public Works and PD are the ones that have the biggest potential. So I think that whenever they come, they should each be their own discussion probably. Yes, absolutely. Because that's where the biggest savings I see in both ways. Right.

Well, I mean, if you would prefer that just the police department come next time, I can certainly get that together.

I would do recreation and the other one.

Okay.

Community.

Community resources. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Is that acceptable?

Yes. Okay. Yes.

Thank you. Staff, do you have any other, Ms. Cortez, any issues with us?

No. Okay. Thank you.

All right.

Can I make a, do you want me to make a motion?

I'm just going to end the meeting. Oh, okay. Robber's rules permit that. All right, so let me just ask, so the next meeting you think will be September 22nd? Is that what you're saying?

Sorry, the first council meeting, the September 8th, is that what the next meeting is? Yeah, it won't be there. Well, we can also work with council to establish an off date just because for the second meeting in September, I'm going to be on vacation before that, so I won't be around to put the report together. So the acting city manager can definitely work to schedule a couple hour, two or three hour separate study session.

All right, that would be appreciated. Okay. This meeting is ended.

Meeting is adjourned at 6.51 p.m.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a regular meeting of the Antioch City Council for Tuesday, August 25, 2026. Do we have the mayor on remote?

Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, perfect. I, Ron Burnell, Mayor of the City of Antioch, am unable to attend tonight's meeting due to a contagious illness and am appearing remotely under just cause pursuant to California Government Code Section 54953.8.3. My wife, Irma, will be the only adult in the room with me, and I will participate via both audio and visual technology throughout the entirety of the meeting. Mr. Clerk, I ask that you please record my remote appearance under just cause in the official meeting minutes for the record.

So noted.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. City Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you. Council Member Wilson is absent. Council Member Rocha?

Here.

Council Member Torres-Walker?

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Present.

Mayor Bernal?

Here.

Thank you. We have a quorum at 7.01 p.m. All right.

If you could all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, City Attorney, could you please report out on the closed session held earlier this afternoon?

There were two items on today's closed session agenda. The first was a conference with labor negotiators pursuant to California government's code section 54957.6. The city designated representatives were Jason Ewart and Ana Cortez, acting city manager. Employee organizations were Antioch Public Works Employee Association, the APWEA, the Antioch Police Sworn Management Association, APSMA, and the Confidential Unit, and the Management Unit. And there's nothing to report out on that item. The second item was a conference with legal counsel, significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.982, number of potential cases nine. The 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 out on that matter.

All right, thank you very much. Under public comments, how many individuals do we have for public comments?

We currently have eight speaker cards.

Are there any remote comments?

None so far.

Okay. Could you please call the first speaker?

Can we please have Mark Jordan followed by Raquel Herrera?

Good evening, City Council. I come to speak to you tonight about code enforcement. Primarily the lack of code enforcement. I have worked with code enforcement on a couple of different issues over the last few months and I'm gonna primarily talk about Lone Tree Way adjacent to my office building. The gas station next door was allowing their property to deteriorate considerably. And code enforcement did address the issues initially. However, as I have continued to report issues, I have run into some feedback which I find unacceptable. I could go through all of the codes that are necessary to support my position, but I'm not gonna waste your time with that today. I'm just going to say it in plain English. Covering exposed electrical with cardboard does not meet any code within the state of California. Installing electrical above ground in plastic does not meet any code within the state of California on a commercial location. Having trash containers smell and remain uncovered Having debris about your property, having it unmaintained is unacceptable. The property on the other side is rarely open. It's a modular home sales office. They have decided that they can park a dump trailer on the property. They have a special use permit that was issued years ago by Michelle before she left the city. There was no public hearing, there was no discussion, and there was no notice. It just occurred after the Rembolts sold the property. I have reported this several times. I have indicated to code enforcement that they have a special use permit and that it does not include the storage of construction equipment. This has gone on for some time. These are just the examples that I have that are next to my building. This is going on all over town. Code enforcement needs to understand that we can read the requirements of construction. We can read the municipal code and we want them to act diligently. I understand that you've hired somebody new. I sent an email saying I needed a report back by the 21st or I was going to come down here. I did not get a response of any kind and that too is unacceptable. Please talk to your staff, thank you.

Raquel Herrera followed by Joy Motz and then Janet Rodriguez.

Hello, good evening.

I've come to talk about the- Excuse me, can you move it right?

efforts to preserve our local theater, El Campanile Theater. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Raquel Herrera, and I've lived in Antioch my entire life. My family's history is deeply connected to this city. My father has owned and operated Shoe Stop, the shoe repair business, at Summersville Town Center for approximately 30 years. Growing up around his small business taught me how much commitment it takes to remain an Antioch, serve local families, and keep something valuable alive through decades of change. My history with the arts began at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center, where I then joined Delta Ballet Academy, whose legacy has continued as Pittsburgh Performing Arts Academy. By the time I was eight, my two older sisters and I were performing at El Campanile. One of my sisters has continued performing there for roughly the past decade. For many families, the Nutcracker and other performances at El Campanile are treasured traditions. I also remember seeing John Dobson, the sidewalk astronomer, many years ago, and recently Richard Bean. The theater has given generations of residents access to art, education, culture, and shared experiences. I firmly believe we must give residents, especially our younger generations, reason to believe in Antioch, remain connected to it, and invest their talents here. Our city has rich history. Antioch grew beside the San Joaquin River, and a visit to Black Diamond Mines just two weeks ago taught me how much history surrounds us. Our continued efforts to remember and preserve that history can build pride, encourage civic participation, and inspire people to support local businesses and care for their community. We do not have to look far to see what public investment can accomplish. Pittsburgh preserved and substantially renovated its historic California theater, including additional restoration work in recent years. El Campanillo's principal rehabilitation dates back more than 20 years. Prospective buyers may recognize the value of this historic property, but I believe its greatest value to our community lies in remaining a fully functional arts venue. El Campanile is one of our few historic cultural spaces and remains open and accessible to everyone. I ask the city to seriously explore purchasing the theater or creating a public-private partnership to preserve and strengthen its role in our community. City involvement could protect public access, support local artists and youth programs, attract visitors who also support downtown businesses, and make El Campanile an anchor in Rivertown's revitalization. Please explore acquisition, grants, historic preservation funding, and community partnership before this opportunity is lost. El Campanile is part of Antioch and the greater East Bay's history, and it deserves to remain part of our future. Thank you.

Joy Motz, followed by Dennett Rodriguez and Michael Sobel.

Good evening, council. It has been common knowledge by the city for over a year that the El Campanile Theater was in a dire financial situation. Yes, yet there were no conversations or efforts made by the city until now. to stop the unfolding tragedy before us losing this historic and iconic building for its intended purpose of bringing live entertainment, movies and theater, children's recitals and more to and for the families of Antioch and East County. In your defense, it's difficult to do anything when faced with a $54 million budget deficit. But let's be honest, there has not been any strategic plan to revitalize or spur economic vibrancy or support the local businesses or protect our historical buildings by a city council majority in decades. Even getting the Rivertown marquee approved when I was on council was a battle. Councils have unfortunately really taken a hands-off position as the people of Antioch have worked and volunteered and raised money to try and make a difference to bring equity to downtown. The DAA, individually owned businesses, investors, and community groups are trying and begging for your support. Nonprofits like Celebrate Antioch Foundation have volunteered and organized events downtown for years. We raised the money to pay for market lights to be installed on Second Street and G Street, brought you and residents of downtown Farmers Market, only to have you reduce our grant funds request when 85% of that money was going to help the Farmers Market. Just two weeks ago, over 900 people asked you to take a chance on obtaining 8 million in state grant money for the building of a community event space on the Beattie Parcel that might have well been a catalyst to support our struggling downtown businesses and restaurants with increased foot traffic and increased sales tax revenue for the city. And all of you said no, except for Council Member Rocha. Thank you, Louie. The loss of the El Campanile Theater will be a loss that downtown will never recover from, and the people of Antioch will never forget. We all know you must stabilize the city budget, but you will never fight your way out of this economic hole by sitting on your hands. You're going to have to find ways to create growth. You're going to have to find ways to invest when opportunities arise. If you've been working on a plan to save the El Campanile, then I would hope you're going to execute your plan now as the sale of this property is in escrow. If you have found the funds to help save the El Campanile, I pray you will do it now. Otherwise, you need to let us know as soon as possible so we can once again bring a coalition of people together to try to save our historic theater in downtown. Thank you.

Dennett Rodriguez, followed by Michael Sobel and Aaron Green.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Danette Rodriguez and I am a lifetime resident of Antioch. I wanted to speak to you today about how important the arts are for me and why I think El Campanile is such a valuable part of our town. I grew up performing in the Nutcracker there. It didn't feel like Christmas until I dragged my family downtown for what became a yearly tradition. Picture the warm glow of the theater lights on a crisp night out and think about how welcoming they are. One foot through those doors and you're immediately transported to what feels like a different time. The ornate ceilings, velvet curtains, and the murmur of the audience. There's no space like it anywhere else in our city, and in fact, there are not many spaces like it at all that nourish the arts, culture, and our community. For example, for the entire summer, kids were unable to enjoy our water park. We no longer have a thriving mall, and don't get me started on the Ringle movie theater. It would be a disservice to ourselves like many other places in Antioch if this space was also no longer available for the public to enjoy. We cannot continue to gut our own city of what we already have and wonder why people leave to go spend their time and money in other spaces. We must invest in ourselves and in what makes our town so fortunate and unique. For as long as I can remember, there have been talks of revitalizing downtown. Here is yet another opportunity. We recently got a farmer's market and it's been really nice to see people here on the weekends. El Campanile is a valuable asset, the centerpiece to our Rivertown identity, and one of the places I love to show people when they come and visit. How many cities can brag about having an almost 100-year-old institution like it? I implore you, City Council, to find a way to preserve this landmark for generations to come. Ask yourself, not if we can afford El Campanile, but if we can afford to lose it. Thank you.

Michael Sobel, Aaron Green, and then Crystal Law.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm here on behalf of the El Campanile Theater. Again, I feel that this theater should be preserved. It should be capable of going on because I see the generations of young people coming up through the years that will enjoy the arts and entertainment at this theater. I have a lot of memories from this theater. I have been an usher there for the last 17 years and I've enjoyed it all. In fact, three days ago I was there for the tribute to the Paul McCartney tribute band and I thought that this was a great musical along with films showing backgrounds of Paul McCartney when he was a young man. And I thought this is the kind of thing that I, not only myself, but other people would enjoy watching and enjoying the music because Paul McCartney was such a musical genius and I was just really taken back. Personally, I would be sad and I'm sure everybody else in here would be sad to see this theater go. I really hope that you guys can figure out some way to save it because if it goes, I feel it's never gonna come back. We know what happened to the Stam Theater. It was a theater at one time, a church took it over and it never came back. So I just kind of feel that way about this theater. So I just want to let you guys know how I feel and how other people feel to preserve this theater. Please, please, please save the theater. Thank you.

Aaron Green, followed by Crystal Law and Leslie May.

Okay, I actually came prepared this time. Hello, my name is Erin Green and I'm a local business owner here in downtown Antioch. Antioch has had a lot of hits lately and we all know it. But despite all the hits, there's some of us that are very still optimistic and still believe in Antioch, myself included, which is why I located my business at Antioch. I went to Pittsburgh, I went to Oakley, I went to Brentwood, and I still chose Antioch, and the theater is a big part of that reason. Antioch has the opportunity to, in my opinion, be an arts and cultural hub of East County. And the theater is a big part of that. We've already lost the Stam Theater. We've lost the movie theater on Lone Tree. We've lost golf and games. So this means that increasingly our residents are going outside of our community for entertainment and taking their dollars outside of our community. I know that the city council can't necessarily get in the middle of a private sale and you don't have the power to stop anything, but you do have a great amount of influence. What you guys may not know is I actually used to work there. So I love that building and I love the people in it. I know that building. And if the building could talk, it would say, let me be a theater. That's all I can be. It's basically a giant box with a stage that performers come on and an auditorium for people to witness the performances. And there's a handful of very, very small offices along the front of the facade. So In terms of this potential congregation, there's no room for meeting spaces, there's no classrooms, there's no playroom, there's no kitchen, and we know there's no parking. We already know that. So placing this in the middle, smack dab in the middle of our commercial business district is not only a bad idea for Antioch, it's not even really a good fit for this congregation, to be honest. So I'm asking the council to do whatever possible to save El Campanile Theater, leave it accessible for the public, for the arts, and keep the arts in Antioch. Thank you.

Crystal Law, followed by Leslie May, and Nicole Hall.

Hello to everybody, City Council. First of all, I want to thank everyone, including a lady from Brentwood, Ann Tamisha, all the motorcycle crews who came out in support of the young woman who was called the N-word repeatedly by her neighbor. I'm sure that we've all seen that incident go viral online. This went on for two years of an issue. He is now sending messages to people who went to support calling them chimps and monkeys, by the way. I am disgusted with the response, not just from APD, but the messages from the mayor was more about how backlash and intimidation and violence was addressed more than the fact that the man was a horrible neighbor and how he was disgusting with his words and how racism should not be allowed. Not to mention the fact that this was written by a PR person who is a black man. You should have wrote it yourself. That just shows me that you don't care about the situation or the circumstances. I am also disgusted that all that I've been hearing are things that you have inherited from the last city council when you were city manager from 2017 to 2021. Make this make sense. Maybe some of the ways we can make more money is by having investors that are our friends pay some of the same permit fees and licensing fees that everyone else has to pay instead of letting them go without. Because I've done my homework and my research, I've also sent letters and proof to the DOJ and Contra Costa County.

Leslie May followed by Nicole Hall and then Melissa.

Good evening, counsel. I am the victim. So I did attend. I have pictures. I'm going to file a report with the police department before I leave from here this evening. I did attend the event to support the young lady that was being attacked by her neighbor. I sat there and got there early, sat there, supported her, talked to her family, talked to many neighbors about what's going on. And so out of all those hundred people, someone saw, I guess, my picture online, one of the perpetrator's friends, and decided to tell him to come after me. So he's come after me. This is reported, I had to sit up after night to report it to the FBI, cyber crimes, also It's another division that deals with racism and racial attacks. So I filed it with the FBI. They will be investigating. They'll find out who, which we know is the same man because they were able to pull up his, his, a private account. So they will be, I'll be filing charges against this same young man for intimidation as a senior. Yep. I'm use all I, a black, a woman. a senior citizen and a disabled person. So I'm going to be going after him. I'm pressing charges. But I also want anybody that's listening to this and anyone whose little friends you think you're going to send after me and there was another man that attacked me online too, he's been reported. They can't get into my Facebook so they send me messages on Facebook. You can keep on. This is not going to bother me. At 74 years of age, I lived through the worst of it over 60 years ago when I was out there. So I've lived through the worst of the worst, the Jimco, the white-only, black-only fountains. I've lived through all of that. So this is not intimidating me, but I just need to let the community know, anyone that comes after me, I'm using every inch of the law, the California DOJ, the federal DOJ, The FBI, and I will make a report because they all told me you gotta make a report with Antioch Police Department. I'm like, okay. I'm using every resource possible to come after you. And anybody who participates in this type of action, I will prosecute you. I will walk you to the gates of hell. Leave black people alone. Leave me alone. If you don't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut. but I'm not gonna be intimidated. And they know where I live, and all I say to them is, you know where I live, you wanna make threats, step up. Please step up.

Nicole Hall, followed by Melissa and Jose.

Good evening, I'm Nicole Hall, another lifelong resident of Antioch. I am a international dance teacher. I am a big fan of the arts. I grew up going to the Stam Theater and El Campanile Theater, Children's Theater at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center. I was devastated when the Stam Theater closed, a church bought it. I went and asked them, hey, do you still have the beautiful murals on the walls? No, we painted over it. My heart sank. Historic Theatre is amazing and this is going to be I think the third time that it will have been closed and possibly brought back to life for a third time. I remember the first time it closed down I went to the movie screenings it was double feature and it was sad to see it close. When it reopened with a community group who spent time their own money, days off, going and refurbishing it, painting, doing whatever work needed to be done to bring it back to life. I was thrilled. At that time, I wasn't able to engage or be involved. Third time around, I'm going to try and be involved as much as I can within my limitations and my responsibilities. my time, but I've always wanted to have a dance studio downtown. I've always wanted to host dance events at the El Campanile, or even the stand when it was around. But now my only option is the El Campanile. I think it's beautiful, it has major history, and if people can bring it back to life as a theater, that would be wonderful. I'm not against church, religion, worshiping, I'm all for it, but I really think the arts could use a grand theater. We have the Nick Ruddy's Community Center, which has a cute little, like, boutique theater. El Campanile's a grand theater, and I would love to host dance events there. I've taught dance at the Antioch Community Center for ages. I haven't for the last few years, but prior to COVID, I was a teacher. El Campanile would be a great loss for the arts and the community. Thank you very much.

Melissa, followed by Jose and Margie Carell.

Okay, just wanna say support all of you guys, but I went on everybody's website, because it's campaign season, and I went on your past websites too. So when you, the people that ran in 2024, I specifically looked on the platform, Ron, of your homelessness about incentivizing new housing solutions, connecting unhoused residents with mental health care, addiction treatment, and job training. This all came from your website. and expanding partnerships with the county non-profits and faith-based groups to pursue outside funding. And that's what a lot of people, myself included, voted for. One of the reasons we voted for you. Yet we've lost another housing coordinator and I'm unsure if this position is now frozen or not. I was paying attention to the last meeting and I didn't see that it was frozen, I'm not sure. But I think we need a type of person since we lost the hotel, a type of person with good follow through, type A personality, high organizational skills to fill this position and make it effective. I feel like the last two people that were in that position were not effective. And at the recent meet and greet when I was at Ron's, when I asked you about this, you said you're continuing to implement the previous council's plan. And I understand the value of that because it's continuity of continuing what's working. But that answer doesn't quite match the campaign that you ran on. Continuing what's already in motion is not leading a new, more collaborative, service-connected approach, which is what you campaigned on. They're not the same thing, and I notice the difference. And what I'm asking for isn't a reversal of anything, it's just follow through on what we promised. And I'd like to see the whole council actively take a lead on this rather than just manage what's already on the books. And I'd like city staff to communicate clearly and regularly with specific steps the council is taking towards goals people have campaigned on. The partnerships, the outside funding pursued, the service connections that are made, and right now residents don't have any visibility into that. And without it, it's hard to tell the difference between what we're progressing on and what is business as usual. So Rocha, I went on yours. So it applies to you too. Your campaign website said you'd provide necessary resource to our unhoused community. And I'd like to know what you've done since being elected to move that forward beyond voting for things the city already had in motion before you got to that seat. And Mayor Pro Temfratis, you really didn't say anything on your campaign site, but you did say that you talked about expanding code enforcement to protect public health, property values, and overall welfare of the city. Code enforcement and homelessness are tied together in the city, whether we like to say so directly or not, and I'm running out of time, but I would like to see future candidates put together some new ideas for economic development.

Jose followed by Margie and Ron.

All right, thank you, Ron.

Good evening, council and Antioch community. My name is Jose Cordon. I am a local poet and resident of Antioch, and today I'd like to share a few things. Number one, I'd like to shout out the rec department. Y'all are doing an amazing job. The social media team is as well, doing great. We can clap it up for them. That's right. Second, our youth arts workshops will be back in session the week of September 8th. We are servicing both Districts 3 and District 5 in Antioch until the library reopens. The Antioch Library reopens. We'll be at Antioch High School on Tuesdays, and we'll be at the Pruitt Library across from Deer Valley on Thursdays. from 4 to 6 p.m. completely free for youth ages 12 through 18. Each week the youth, the students will receive free food, opportunities to win gift cards, and will learn and engage in creative activities. My third and fourth points are connected. There's a lot of talk of the downtown being a dead zone and at times it's difficult to make a strong argument against that. With that said, I will say that my girlfriend and I spent the full day out here on Saturday, from 9.30 a.m. to 9 p.m. We started at the marina, we went kayaking in the Delta, and then we ended our night in Rivertown with live music and dinner at the Four Season Steakhouse. Rivertown was alive. I mean, it really, really was. The crowds were amazingly diverse, and it made me proud of Rivertown. We did not make it to the show at El Campanile, but I have hosted and held two free events there. I am planning on attending a show there again soon. And with that said, I'd also like to express my hope that the council will do everything in their power to help preserve the historical theater as a performance arts place of gathering and community entertainment. There's a lot more that I can share about this topic, but I'll save it for a different meeting just for sake of time here. And I'll be back up here to share a little bit more about the events that we have coming up during the events portion. Thank you very much. Muchas gracias.

Margie Carell, followed by Ron.

My name is Margie Carroll and I just want to clear something up about what the mayor, you guys were saying that the mayor inherited a miss. The previous mayor and city council did not leave Antioch without a plan. They spent years building programs, partnerships, Securing funding to address homelessness. Whether you agreed with every decision or not, these are some of the initiatives that were already underway. Establish the Homeless Encampment Task Force to bring community members, nonprofits, businesses, and service providers together to address the impact of homelessness instead of waiting for the counting tag. Partnered with Executive N to launch Antioch's first transitional housing project, which helped transition approximately 140 into permanent supportive housing over three years. Saw the point in time count decline from approximately 400 people experiencing homelessness to around 250 over a two-year period. Allocated funding for shower services and laundry vouchers for unhoused residents. Worked with local churches to establish safe parking opportunities for people living in their vehicles. Created Antioch's Mental Health Crisis Response Team. Secured state funding to establish Antioch's own CORE, Coordinated Outreach Referral Engagement Team. Transferred the Delta Fair property to the county for a dollar so it could be used to provide shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Worked with service providers at Delta Landing to prioritize Antioch residents, helping many move into permanent supportive housing. Established a motel voucher program to provide emergency shelter for unhoused residents. Secured a $6.8 million state grant to continue transitional housing efforts and address encampments before leaving office. Creative funded Antioch's first unhoused resident coordinator, positioned to improve coordination between advocates, nonprofits, city staff, and unhoused residents. Held regular committee meetings to discuss homelessness and Launched the Louie Rocha Project, honoring a member of Antioch's unhoused community while expanding transitional housing efforts. Personally connected unhoused residents with employment opportunities and housing resources. Organized community resources events that brought services directly to the people experiencing homelessness. So you guys went after Thorpe in saying that he left you guys in a mess. False. False, Mayor. You know that.

Ron Muhammad.

Greetings to the mayor and the rest of the council. My name is Ron Muhammad. I came here tonight. Because of wanting to be perfectly clear, I haven't said anything or any of the other brothers that attended over there with Sister Ethel at our property. where this incident that has gone viral all over the country happened. This was not an instantaneous thing. This thing happened over a period of months. So just to give you a super brief synopsis, Ethel, single parent, divorced parent, has a child who's disabled. Immune system is super compromised. She works in the East Bay and she is having a situation with her next door neighbor who has entirely too many cats. They can call them neighborhood cats or whatever but they reside in that house. Those cats are using the restroom all over the entire neighborhood and they're compromising her son's immune system. The son is wheelchair bound. So when she spoke to him, had a deliberate dialogue that was very respectful. The young man kept going on the tirades, and this has been happening month after month after month, to the point to where he's being so disrespectful, to the point where it's impactful. I mean, all around the country, people are calling in, like, man, what the hell is going on? So I'm a shareholder here. A resident is a resident, but I am a homeowner by the grace of God. This HOA needs to be abolished for them not taking action and then allowing the city to take the brunt for not taking this on. The HOA should have handled this from the beginning. Those cats are running and jumping from house to house over the roofs. And they're using the restroom all over. She's redone her backyard two or three times. So, yes, we did go over there to support her. Never said nothing to the young fellow or his mother. Never even looked at him. Never pointed their way. It's all about her. They just happen to be living next door to each other. Beautiful, diverse street, block. He's been terrorizing these people. Seniors all up and down the block. And the HOA hasn't done anything. And so I'm not a big government kind of fella. And some things don't need to be said. They just need to be understood. You can't do that young lady like that. I knew her mother and her grandmother. I didn't even know that she was their child. It's just wrong is wrong and right is right. So I would hope that you guys would take some kind of action.

Johnny?

I'm not going to speak about the closed session today, but I want to talk about the procedure that you guys used. Now, Ron, you're pretty good with your numbers tonight. So pursuant to California government code 54957-6 and possible labor code section 1102.5 of the Fair Employment Act. Now the city went into closed session tonight facing nine lawsuits possibly dealing with somebody being fired or something to do with the Fair Employment Act. So nine people are suing us or there's nine separate acts. Okay. So who do you guys send in there to negotiate with the lawyers? You send in Ana. Ana was the head of human resources when all this stuff happened. So Ana's gonna go into the closed session and say, what did she say? I know you guys can't tell me, but no, I didn't do anything wrong, or I did something wrong, let's pay them. So I know you guys don't understand the Brown Act at all, most of you. But... This is a conflict of interest, okay? Why is she going in negotiating, telling the lawyers how to settle a case, when she fired somebody? Or Betsy told her to fire somebody, or who knows what happens, you guys won't even tell us. So, there was significant exposure to litigation pursuant to the government code. The 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. So nine people are suing us, probably because of what Bessie told Anna to do. And instead of recusing herself, she goes in there and negotiates with the lawyer. Who are we gonna sue? Who are we gonna pay? Are we gonna settle this case? So when is this going to stop? When is it going to stop? I told you guys not to hire Bessie. You hired her anyway. What is the first thing she do when she got here? She'd hired Brad as her assistant city manager, someone to go to Starbucks, right? They took Brad out of recreation department. They put the new guy in there, six figures, right? What's his experience? And then they promoted Brad. Well, we're gonna talk about that later in the consent calendar. But why was Brad even promoted? No experience. No experience with computers. He was giving 15-year-old girls swimming lessons, okay, Anna? And you guys promoted him to six figures.

We have no further public comments, and no comments on Zoom.

All right, we will now move to the calendar. The first item is the introduction of new city employees, promotions, and retirements. Ms. Cortez?

Yes, we'll start with introducing our assistant city clerk, who's sitting right over there, Latonya Peoples-Stokes. So Latonya- Latanya brings over 20 years of distinguished public sector leadership experience supporting executive teams, advancing strategic initiatives, and strengthening organizational operations. Throughout her career, she has served in senior administrative and chief of staff roles, leading complex initiatives and operations, human resources, budgeting, governance, community engagement, and executive support. Recognized for her collaborative leadership style, operational excellence, and commitment to public service, Latonya's passionate about building high performing teams, fostering strong partnerships, and creating lasting positive outcomes for the community she serves. We are excited to welcome Latonya to our organization and look forward to her expertise, leadership, positive impact she will bring. Welcome.

Do you have any words?

Hello, everyone. Thank you for welcoming me to the city of Antioch. I used to live here for about 20 years before I left the city, but it's been a pleasure to work for the city that I once lived in. So thank you for having me.

And now I think we'll turn it in, I'm not sure if Code Enforcement Manager is here. Is he here?

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. It gives me great pleasure to introduce Joe Lasato, our new Code Enforcement Manager. Prior to working for the City of Antioch, he worked for Contra Costa County for 24 years with his last 12 as the Code Enforcement Manager. And in addition to being a City of Antioch employee, he also has lived in the community for the last 20 plus years. And he's excited to make a positive impact on the community where he lives. Welcome, Joe.

Thank you. I just want to thank everybody for the warm welcoming I've received since I started here at Antioch. The first week was a little more than warm. It got a little hot, but we made it through it. So I look forward to making some positive changes in the city of Antioch. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Carol? Hold on. Council Member Rocha.

I just wanted to acknowledge Code Enforcement Manager Joseph Lozano. You hit the ground running. I've been communicating with Code Enforcement about the San Jose Drive Delta Fare and the two properties, the boat store and also the tire company, and immediately I saw a difference with those two properties being cleaned up, and so I called to inquire what had happened because we've been trying to get those areas addressed for some time. And what I learned was that you apparently took it upon yourself to make contact directly with the property owners of the two locations and maybe the same owner. and from your conversation from your action you were able to get the property owner to step up and participate in getting those properties cleaned up so i just want to give a shout out to you for being a new member of our city as an employee but making a significant difference right away we have a lot of work to do in that area but i just wanted to acknowledge your your efforts when you first arrived it's greatly appreciated thank you Thank you, sir.

Before you go, could you please contact Mark Jordan and have a discussion with him?

Since you brought that up, I did go to his office and left a business card with his secretary, and he was out on vacation that day, so contact was made. He just hasn't contacted me back. But I will go back there tomorrow.

Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Ms. Cortez?

Yes, so I'm going to present on behalf of Director Brad Helfenberger, I'll present Jonathan Carter, our computer technician. He's here today. So please join me in welcoming Jonathan Carter, who started on June 29th as our newest computer technician. Jonathan will begin by supporting City Hall, Parks, Recs, and Community Resources. As he learns our systems, he will later be supporting PD and Public Works. Jonathan has lived in the area for over 20 years and has worked with several local organizations, most recently with a managed security services provider. He has built strong relationships and community member across animal services, public works, and the fire department. Jonathan has a strong interest in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and automation. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family and playing games with friends. Welcome, Jonathan.

Good evening, Mayor, council members. Just want to say I appreciate the opportunity and excited to continue working with all the staff that I've got to meet and who I haven't got to meet yet.

So thank you. Thank you.

All right, good evening. My name is Shahad Wright. I'm the Park and Rec Director. We have Alyssa Milhouse. She is born and raised in the city of Antioch, and she is our new Park and Rec Coordinator. She has been with us for seven years. She started from the bottom, now she's here. She started with maintenance, she did building attendance, and then she also was a program specialist for us doing several years of our junior giants in sports programs. We're very happy to steal her from the school district where she was doing, what was it, special education and wellness at Belshaw Elementary. She has a passion for making a difference in youth lives and inspiring others. Without further ado, Alyssa.

Hi, everybody. I just wanted to say I'm very grateful for the opportunity, and I'm really looking forward to doing more in recreation and continuing to grow. Thank you.

All right, even though they're not here, I love my team, and we've got two other coordinators. We have Jamie Pitcher, brings more than 10 years of experience to our team. She comes from the Pitcher family, which was also aquatics-based. Jess and Pitcher worked for the city for many years at the water park, so we have a family member coming back. She graduated playing water polo from San Jose State. And we also have our newest member, Vaughn, who graduated from Sac State, is taking over for our admin position three. He's going to do all our fields and facility rentals. Super happy to have him. He's been with our team for three years as a part-timer. So it's good to see that our people who are born and raised in the city or have worked part-time have the opportunity to have a full-time role with the city. They're very passionate and enthused to serve. So thank you very much. Thank you.

okay so we have the police department next so chief will come down and present them good evening everyone uh we'll start first with uh esmeralda rodriguez our newest police dispatcher esmeralda was raised in antioch and graduated from prospects high school in 2015. prior to joining the apd she served as a dispatcher for the city of richmond Yes, for four years. In recognition of her dedication and outstanding service, Esmeralda was named Dispatcher of the Year in 2025. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors, especially hiking and swimming. Ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Rodriguez.

Just really quick, I want to give the city of Antioch the thanks, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be back in the town I grew up in and to help the community here.

Next up is a promotion, Corporal Ashley Allen. Corporal Allen had a successful collegiate career as a Division II shortstop while earning a BA in criminal justice from Cal State University, East Bay. During her senior year, she was hired by the Antioch Police Department and later attended the Alameda County Police Academy. Throughout her career, Corporal Allen has served in a variety of roles, including patrol cadet advisor, special victims unit detective, crisis negotiator. As the cadet advisor, she mentored numerous young people, several of whom later became Antioch police officers. During her time in investigations, she specialized in cases involving vulnerable victims and partnered with the Internet Crimes Against Children's Task Force on operating targeting the online exploitation of children. Outside of work, Corporal Allen enjoys working out, playing recreational softball, and spending quality time with her family. Ladies and gentlemen, Corporal Allen.

Thank you. I just want to thank Chief for giving me this opportunity. I really look forward to it. I love working in this city. I told the former chief that I would retire here when that time comes, so I plan on being here for the long haul, and I thank you.

Thank you. Corporal Nielsen, another promotion. Corporal Nielsen earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Cal State University Fresno and worked in the financial industry before beginning his law enforcement career. He started his career here in 2017 as a community service officer. In 2018, he became a sworn police officer after also graduating from the Alameda County Sheriff's Academy. Throughout his career, Corporal Nilsen has served in patrol and investigations, including assignments as a field training officer, a drone pilot, detective, and crime scene investigator. He has also served on the Peer Support Team, SWAT Team, Honor Guard, the Recruiting Team, and the Use of Force Review Board. Corporal Nielsen is also a department instructor in defensive tactics, force options, de-escalation, and tactical communications. Ladies and gentlemen, Corporal Nielsen.

I also just real quick want to say thanks for the opportunity, and I look forward to working with the community and the other officers that I work with.

Sergeant Josh Egan. Sergeant Egan enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served in executive protection for the NATO commander. He began his law enforcement career with the Modesto Police Department in 2009, serving in several assignments including field training officer, traffic officer, and on the crime reduction team. Sergeant Egan joined the Antioch Police Department in 2020 and has since served as a motor officer, field training officer, and drug recognition expert. He also serves as the department's sole accident reconstructionist and is an instructor in emergency vehicle operations and crisis intervention. Ladies and gentlemen, Sergeant Egan.

I will keep this short and sweet. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Council. And that's all I have.

That's it. These are always the shortest speeches.

Lieutenant Gary Lowther. Lieutenant Lowther was born and raised in Union City and graduated from James Logan High School. He earned an NCAA Division I Baseball Scholarship to Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Communications degree. Lieutenant Lowther began his law enforcement career with the Antioch Police Department and has served in a variety of roles, including field training officer, detective, SWAT team member, firearms, and active shooter training instructor, sorry. As a sergeant, he supervised patrol teams and served in administration with responsibilities including hiring and recruiting, internal affairs, and hostage negotiating, and the field training program. Prior to his promotion, Lieutenant Lowther has served as the acting watch commander overseeing multiple patrol teams while mentoring and developing department supervisors. Ladies and gentlemen, Lieutenant Lowther.

Thank you, Chief. Thank you all for this public acknowledgement. I've spent nearly half my life serving the Antioch community in law enforcement, and I'm looking forward to this next chapter and our future here as a city. So thank you so much. Thank you.

And if I can just end, I too love my team. And I have some people who are not here, and I just want to give them an honorable mention if I can. Our newest dispatcher, Martina Espinoza, Saul Gutierrez, another police dispatcher, Sergeant Adam Duffy, and last but not least, Sergeant Zachary Sampson. So don't be surprised if you see all of these new shining faces in and outside of the city, in the community, and are a host of various community events. Thank you all.

Scott.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. We have a number of new hires and promotions within Public Works. Whether they're here or not, I'm still gonna read their bio because I think they deserve it. I'm gonna start with Gabriel Amada. Gabriel was hired as a streets department as a streets maintenance worker one back in June. He previously worked as a heavy equipment operator at the Silva Gates for the last five years. Gabriel is currently in college for a degree in computer science. He lives in Antioch with his wife, three dogs. He enjoys sports and most outdoor activities. Help me welcome Gabriel to the team.

Is he here?

No. Next I'd like to bring up James Bell. Hired at the water treatment plant as a water treatment plant trainee back in July. He was previously employed at the Mountain Valley Environmental Services in Raymond, California. James was an operations supervisor there for seven years and has his T2 and D3, that's a treatment two and distribution three and four certificates, as well as his wastewater treatment certificate. He currently lives in Modesto with his family and two yellow labs. He likes to hunt, hike, and basically do anything outdoors. Let me welcome James to the team.

I'd like to say thank you for the opportunity to work for the city of Antioch, and I look forward to many years of service. Thank you. Thank you.

Next up, I would like to bring up Juliana Bruno. Juliana was hired as an administrative assistant back in May. Previously, she worked for the city of Concord where she was an administrative assistant and worked on capital improvements contracts, responded to complaints, and took notes for public meetings. Juliana has a bachelor's in science and criminal justice with a paralegal certificate. She currently lives locally with her family and two English bulldogs. She enjoys hanging out with her friends and family. Let's welcome Julia to the team. NEXT UP, I WOULD LIKE TO BRING UP SINA. HE WAS HIRED WITHIN THE COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT AS ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE COORDINATOR ON JUNE 29TH OF THIS YEAR. HE PREVIOUSLY WORKED FOR THE CITY OF SAN JOSE WHERE HE WAS A SUPERVISING ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES SPECIALIST. HE OVERSAW CLIMATE ACTION PLANNING, SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE INITIATIVES AS WELL AS THE CITYWIDE IMPLEMENTATION for the last seven years. He has a bachelor's of science in environmental studies with a minor in sustainable energy from San Jose State University. He currently resides locally with his family and his hobbies are building cars, lifting heavy weights, strength tending, and most outdoors activities. Let's welcome Sina to the team.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor and City Council, Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you for having me and thank you City of Antioch for this opportunity. I look forward to this opportunity and bringing some expertise from the great city of San Jose by bringing some of that tech flavor and expertise here. And I did also want to mention that I grew up in the county and I'm happy to be back here, back in the East Bay. So thank you for this opportunity again. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Next up, I'd like to bring up Omar Guillen Leon Omar was hired in March of this year as a water distribution operator He was previously employed with the city of Pleasanton where he worked as a water utility worked in the water utility department Changing meters for about a year and currently as his distribution one certification with the State Water Resource Control Board Omar lives locally and has a French Bulldog in a spare time. He enjoys fishing Let's welcome Omar to the team There seems to be a dog theme going on with our new hires. That's okay, we like dogs. Michael Nazario, Michael was hired in the collections department as a general laborer in June. He previously worked for service masters for approximately five years where he was a senior lead technician completing abatements for Contra Costa County. He also did water mitigation as well as demolition of damaged properties. He has a certificate in water trauma and heavy equipment operations. He has lived locally with his family, cat and dog. In his free time, Michael enjoys working outside in his yard. Let's welcome Michael to the team.

I'd like to thank you guys for the opportunity and the growth that you guys provide. And I'd like to thank the collections team for their knowledge and their training experience. Thank you.

Next on our list is River Ortega. River was hired in the streets department as a streets maintenance worker in June. He previously was employed with the city of Vallejo as a streets maintenance worker in the traffic division for two years. He graduated from Antioch High School and lives locally with his family. He enjoys taking his family to the beach in Pacifica and likes camping and visiting farm animals with his family at the state beach. Let's welcome River to the team.

Good afternoon. I'd like to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here, and I look forward to the changes I can bring of the expertise from Vallejo to Antioch. And if it's okay, I'd like to say to my children at home, it's 8 o'clock and it's time for bed. Thank you, Reverend. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Robert Pizarro. Robert Pizarro earned his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Santo Tomangas in Milan, Philippines. He began managing projects with his family's construction business for five years before moving to the States in 2018. He enlisted with the US Air Force as an engineering technician and was based in Tucson, Arizona for four years. He was deployed to Saudi Arabia after his internship with Kleinfelder He became in the geotechnical engineering field. He began working with TRC companies as a construction inspector providing support with various government agencies. Then he became assistant engineer with the city of Vallejo before joining the city of Antioch as an assistant engineer. Outside of work, Robert enjoys cooking, hiking, playing basketball, working out, and spending time with his family. Fun fact, Robert loves singing karaoke. Let's welcome Robert to the team.

Good evening, everyone. Good evening, city council, council members. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to serve my local community because I live here and I'm looking forward to contributing to the city and to the capital improvements infrastructure projects and very grateful. Thank you. Thank you.

I didn't mention this, Robert's been brought on as assistant engineer within the capital improvements department. Theodore Romano, also Ted. Ted was originally hired in October of 2016 as a collection worker and advanced to collection systems worker two, then became an equipment operator. Ted was promoted to lead collections systems worker in April of this year. Let's congratulate Ted on his promotion. Michael Waltz. Michael was hired at the water treatment plant as a trainee with his T2 in May of 2026. Michael previously was employed by Delta Water Treatment Plant in Stockton as a water treatment plant operator for nine months, and he has his Distribution II certificate as well as Treatment II operator certificate. Michael lives locally with his family and two dogs. In his spare time, he enjoys woodworking and metal fabrication. Let's welcome Michael to the team. Last on my list, but definitely not least, Salvador Zestahi. Salvador was hired in the streets department as a maintenance worker two, excuse me, maintenance worker one in May. He previously was an underground locator for Subtronic Corporation in Martinez where he completed utility locations for about 17 years. He graduated from Antioch High School and currently lives locally with his family and pet dog. Let's welcome Salvador to the team. Thank you for your time. That's what we have in public works since we met last time. Thank you. Any other comments on this?

No, I just want to say thank you to the HR team for all their hard work on hiring and all the promotions. So I do want to highlight my team for that. Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem, I would like to make a motion to suspend the rules. and move item eight on the agenda up to right after item two, which is the proclamation and recognition of Zeta Five Beta Sorority Incorporated. Move item eight after the proclamation.

Is there a second to the motion? I'll second. On the question, All in favor, please say aye.

We can do a roll call vote. Council Member Wilson is absent. Council Member Rocha? Yes. Council Member Torres-Walker? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Present.

Mayor Bernal?

Yes.

Motion passes 4-0 to move item eight after number two.

All right, the next is the proclamation. Could I please ask that Jocelyn Norman to please come forward? And if you have a team, team can come forward as well. And my son was in a fraternity, but I never learned the Greek alphabet. I apologized right at the very beginning. And so it's Zeta.

Zeta.

Yes, boy, it's going to be tough. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated Omega Kappa Zeta Chapter. Whereas the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated is an international community service-driven organization founded on January 16, 1920 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. And whereas on April 12, 2012, the Omega Kappa Zeta chapter was chartered as a graduate chapters serving San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties with a long-standing commitment to scholarship, service, sisterly love, and finer womanhood. And whereas, for more than a decade, the Omega Kappa Zeta chapter has strengthened local communities through meaningful service, including feeding the unhoused, awarding scholarship, supporting youth and education initiatives, and promoting elder care and wellness. And whereas through its Z-HOPE, which stands for Zeta's Helping Other People Excel program and other social action initiatives, the chapter raises awareness and connects residents with resources addressing domestic violence, breast cancer, human trafficking, autism, mental health, black infant health and other important health and social issues. And whereas the Omega Kappa Zeta chapter advances social, health, and economic justice through advocacy, civil engagement, voter education, and mobilization, and initiatives such as Zeta Day on the Hill and Zeta Day at the Capitol. And whereas the chapter promotes stronger communities by fostering collaboration between law enforcement and residents, and advocating for equitable access to education, healthcare, and other essential resources. And whereas the City of Antioch recognizes the Omega Kappa Zeta Chapter as a valued community partner whose continued service, leadership, and advocacy help empower individuals, strengthen families, and improve the quality of life throughout the region. Now, therefore, Ron Burnell, Mayor of the City of Antioch, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby honor and recognize Zeta Phi Kappa Sorority Incorporated Omega CAP is a chapter for its outstanding community service and advocacy and extend our sincere appreciation for its unwavering dedication to uplifting and empowering our communities. Thank you for being here tonight.

Thank you.

Please.

We just want to thank you for having the opportunity to be able to serve in your community. We do serve in, you know, many communities, but you guys have been very welcoming to us, and we are thankful for the opportunity to be able to promote scholarship and all the other programs that Zeta's Help and Other Excel provides.

So if somebody was interested in joining you? So, it's not that easy. Perfection is tough to reach, I get it, I get it.

But we have many programs, things of that nature. You guys feel more than welcome to go to StocktonZetas.com, our social media, Stockton Zetas. And we're actually going to have a very large program in January, if you guys wanted to attend it, to be in Concord, California. Is that Friday? No, it's the 29th. The last Friday in January, I can get you guys the information more. We'll have an opening program at 7 p.m. at the Hilton Concord, and it's open to the public, and you guys can see what Zetas all over California do.

Well, that would be good. You can provide it to the city clerk, and we can actually put it on the agenda as an upcoming event. I will. We'll try to help you out.

Thank you.

So, City Council, is there a motion for approval of the proclamation? So moved. Second. Tamisha Walker, move, seconded by Council Member Rocha. Please call roll call.

Council Member Wilson is absent. Council Member Rocha? Yes. Council Member Torres-Walker? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Aye.

Mayor Bruneau?

Yes.

Motion passes 4-0.

If you'll wait, we'll be down and present this to you.

Thank you.

If you want to take pictures, that's fine too. Yeah, what are we doing?

Yeah, okay.

All right, we will now move to item number eight. Mr. Mayor, do you want to make some comments?

Yeah, I would. Thank you very much. So tonight I have the honor of nominating Dr. Loretta Izefe. Um, to become, um, the next member of our sales tax, um, citizens oversight committee. Dr is a is, um, was interviewed by finance director merchant and myself. And, um, has. not just a very impressive resume where she was recently the chief financial officer for the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, but just also her passion for raising her family here in Antioch and in wanting to give back to our community with her expertise and obviously amazing skills in finance and accounting. So I'd like to invite Dr. Rezepe up to say a few words herself, but I'm just really honored to recommend her for this role.

I will move approval. Yes.

Move approval.

Second? I don't know if you're doing the move. Are you doing the move? Go ahead. Are you making the motion? So Rocha has moved, and Tamisha Taco. Second. Tamisha Taco.

Tamisha Taco.

Tamisha Walker has. Oh.

Councilmember Wilson's absent.

Has seconded the motion. I'm still on the motion. Okay, sorry. All right, go ahead.

Councilmember Rocha? Yes. Councilmember Torres-Walker?

Aye.

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Aye.

Mayor Bernal? Yes. Motion passes 4-0. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council. As the Mayor mentioned, my name is Dr. Loretta Azife, and I want to thank the Mayor for nominating me for serving on this committee. I've lived in Antioch for 18 plus years, and it would be an honor to give back to the community that has given back so much to me and family back here who came here to support me. He mentioned a little bit about my professional background, but we just want to add a little bit more to get to know all of you better so you can get to know me a little better as well. I bring over 25 years of experience in finance, accounting, and auditing. I've held leadership positions both in the public and private industry, including roles at UC Berkeley and also University of Pacific. I've also earned a master's degree and a doctorate degree in computer information systems. And so those are the skills I would like to leverage in this role. If appointed, I will provide independent, objective, and data-driven oversight to ensure sales tax revenue are spent according to voter and city council approved priorities. And I will be an honor to serve Antioch and to help ensure accountability, transparency, and responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds. Thanks again for the consideration, and thank you, Mayor, again for your nomination.

We're gonna swear you in now, if you want your family to be with you, that would be wonderful.

Come on down.

Family, don't be shy. You can surround her, it's okay.

Raise your right hand, please. I, state your name.

I, Loretta Azife. Do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THAT I TAKE THIS OBLIGATION FREELY WITHOUT ANY MENTAL RESERVATIONS OR PURPOSE OF EVASION THAT I WILL WELL AND FAITHFULLY DISCHARGE and faithfully discharged. The duties upon which. The duties upon which. I am about to enter. I am about to enter.

Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. We have a certificate and everything, but it's not prepared yet, so I will make sure you get it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thanks, everyone. Family, thank you for being here with her. All right, we will now move forward to announcement of civic and community events, the big truck day.

All right, big truck day. The day before my birthday, September 17th, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., we're bringing all the big service trucks from the community, and we have some special trucks that's coming out. We have the Wienermobile. It is an Oscar Mayer treat, and we also have a new vehicle, the BMO Bank. bus so uh for all the community members that have young kids that see these trucks come out talk to the people that work in these these big trucks and for the parents if you're looking for employment some of these providers also take applications you get to learn about the career path as a parent as well so it's a great event right at the antioch community center in the parking lot along with food truck thursday from 4 p.m to 8 p.m good night council thank you

All right, announcements of board.

Okay, we have one further civic event. Oh, okay. I should be there, huh?

Yeah.

But I won't though, but I won't. Yeah, so we got quite a few things coming up. We usually have a few things every month, just don't really announce them here. This Friday we have our poetry open mic right down the street across from the police station. That's been going on for about five years. That is the last Friday of every month. Councilwoman Tamisha Walker has attended multiple of them when we were at the Lynn House. I got you too. At the Lynn House and at the Wellness Healing Room. The last Saturday of the month is our Single City Series shows, which are 12 shows, 12 venues, one city. That's been going on since the beginning of this year. And city clerk Michael Mandy has attended that as well with his wife. Thank you very much for coming out. Also this Saturday, which will be the Single City Series, we have a community garden volunteer day at our community garden at 1310 A Street, right across from, I think, Holy Rosary Church. We still have a lot of work to do there before we do a blessing ceremony there, which we'll let everybody know. But that is happening at 9 AM. Right now we're really trying to redevelop the space. And then next month, the second Thursday of next month, as well as October, we have the Royal Sessions right here at the Royal Banquet and Events Hall. That'll be the second Thursday. So all of these are happening here in the city of Antioch, three of which are happening right here in Rivertown. Thank you very much.

We have no further civic events.

All right. Next is announcements of board and commission openings.

Thank you. The City of Antioch encourages residents to please become involved in your local community. One way to do so is serve on one of the various boards, commissions, and committees. Any interested resident is invited to apply for the following vacancies by 5 o'clock p.m. Friday, September 18th. The Board of Administrative Appeals has three full term vacancies expiring March of 2030 and one alternate vacancy, a two year term. The Sales Tax Citizens Oversight Committee still has two full term vacancies which expire March of 2030 and two full term vacancies expiring March of 2028. To be considered for one of the positions, please complete an application and submit it to the city clerk's office by the deadline date. Friday, 5 p.m., September 18th. Applications are located on the city's website and may be picked up in person at City Hall. Please email your completed application to the city clerk's email address, and you can also drop off the application in the water billing drop-off box located in the parking lot just outside City Hall. Thank you.

Any public comments?

No public comments.

We'll now move on to City Council Committee Reports and Communications. Council Member Rocha.

I just wanted to share that I met with the standing committee that I sit on with the Chamber of Commerce. We had a meeting on Thursday, August 13th. As a follow-up to our previous meeting, there was a discussion around the downtown security services, what the current services are, what the merchants, business owners would like to see in terms of their interest. From that conversation, as a follow-up to our last discussion, I believe in the DAA meeting, Councilmember Torres-Walker and Mayor Bernal were going to attend that meeting, I think that was last week. And then as a follow-up to that, Mayor Pro Tem Freitas and I are going to partner up with the Chamber to receive some feedback and communications from them on where they're at. So what they're gonna do is the Chamber of Commerce is gonna host a Lunch and Learn event on Wednesday, September 2nd at 11.30 at the Chamber of Commerce building located on 2nd Street. And it's open to the community and the public. We invite people to come down, whether you're a community member, business owner, to learn more about what's happening down there and for us to be able to get some feedback and potentially develop a task force of stakeholders to address this issue so that hopefully we can come together and make some improvements that we'd like to see. That's it.

And then tomorrow we have Tridelta tomorrow. Yeah. Council Member Torres-Walker.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I attended the first, none of my committees have met, there are meetings scheduled for September and October for the CDBG and October for Cannabis Standing Committee. I had an opportunity to attend the event at the El Campanile Theater with the Downtown Antioch Association. to talk about all things small business downtown and also security. Saturday I had an opportunity to join the Contra Costa Cares event that went from Antioch High over to the Contraloma Estates Park. It was an amazing event. Definitely want to give a shout out to Back on Track Community Services and the NAACP and others. The Boilermakers, the unions, all of the other sponsors for putting that on. I'm looking forward to that event. I believe it's going to be in Pittsburgh next year. So looking forward to next year. I attended the 40 voices campaign, um, one year celebration of the African American wellness hub here in the city of Antioch. Um, that was an amazing experience. Want to continue to thank the 40 voices and their efforts around African American wellness in the city of Antioch. I It seems like every time the city of Antioch makes national news, it's always for human rights and racial equity violations against the black community and other communities of color. This time, those violations were not through city departments, but neighbor to neighbor, verbal violence, physical assaults and intimidation that has gone unchecked in a neighborhood for more than a year. Last Monday, I was invited to meet Ethel by Brother Muhammad to come to her home because a group of men had to show up to make sure they checked her property and her house and that she was safe. I got an opportunity to talk with Ethel and hug her and it felt similar to the same kind of hug I gave Angelo Quinto's Thea after what happened to him. The experience might seem different for others, but things happen to people and it really impacts them individually. not only their families, but also their communities. And so that was an amazing experience to be invited to that space, to have a conversation with this young mother who is a first time homeowner and put her wishes and hopes and dreams in the city of Antioch, only to be continuously called monkeys, apes, and racial slurs for what seemed like forever from what I saw on social media. Also Saturday, I was able to attend the second gathering of pouring of love back in the same neighborhood. And I was not surprised the amount of welcome from the neighborhood and the residents in that area. They were happy to see people show up. They were happy to see people show up in love, solidarity, and in kindness. And they want to see more of that in their community. Why is this so harmful to the community? And why should we consider it to be a harm on all of us and not just black people and black women? Since 2025, 20 plus black Americans have been found hung from trees. across America. 64,000 black women and girls have gone missing across this country. And that's just a slice of what people have been experiencing, particularly black women in the black community. We also have a city that 46% of the makeup of this city is people who identify as foreign born. And so when we think about the violence that is impacting these communities today, we have to think about what is our responsibility as a city and as neighbors and as residents of Antioch. And so as Brother Ronald Muhammad said, we are stakeholders in this corporation called Antioch, which means we don't only have to show up with demands, we also have to show up ready to do the work to fight against human rights and racial equity violations in the city of Antioch and say that the things that happened to Ethel and her family will not be tolerated in the city and we need to have a conversation that brings solidarity and unity so we could all be on the same page moving forward.

Right. Next is Mayor's comments. Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, uh, my, um, before I do that, um, on the 13th, uh, transplant board met. Um, we had an update from tri Delta, um, transit on their budget and service plan for the upcoming year. Uh, the reduction in service that they're projecting and. Uh, the budget challenges that, um. Will be exacerbated if proposition 63 sales tax measure does not pass this November. So there was discussion about that. We also. Reviewed and approved the transportation fund for clean air is called, which, um, um, contributes over 200,000 dollars towards try my ride. As well as another program called walk and roll, which is about 60,000 dollars towards, um. Services that promote walking. And riding bicycles to elementary schools to relieve traffic in those neighborhoods. So those were a couple of things that we were, we were talking about that meeting. I also was able to attend the max old house ribbon cutting mayor pro 10 was there for that is. Council member are not mayor pretend was that member Rocha was there as well. And I also attended the, um, that, um. Council member towards Walker was there as well as a mirror pro tem. Stopped in for that meeting as well on. On 21st, the Jacobson Park ribbon cutting, which I found out used to be called Jet Park because it was a jet parked in the. In the, in that part, the kids used to play on and so that was a wonderful event where we were able to. Bring, I don't know, probably 70, 80 people from the neighborhood. Rising those was there there was different folks, but it was really nice to. Be able to get to meet the young people, the young families that were super excited about having a beautiful new park and playground. Um, amenities basketball court built in their, uh, in their neighborhood and so that was very positive. Um, just as far as my comments are concerned to council member towards Walker's comments. Uh, the, um, the racist comments, uh, and activity in that neighborhood. Where miss Baker lives, um, are completely unacceptable and, um, will not be tolerated in our community. And so there does need to be a discussion. There needs to be, um, um, uh, a venue for people to come together and be able to discuss. this really important, very volatile subject. And so I intend and want to be a part of that discussion with the community and figuring out how that's going to happen soon. I also just want to mention that I want to thank our our Parks and Recreation Department. I stopped by Merle Wilson's 101st birthday last week at the community center out on Lone Tree. The seniors have been at Lone Tree Community Center for the past probably six months or so while Nick Rodriguez, maybe longer while Nick Rodriguez is in the process of being redone for roof and air conditioning and plumbing and a lot of things. And they've been very patient in that project getting completed. But when I went out there, it was just a really wonderful, beautiful event. You know, Merle's there. People are dancing. June, who runs the recreation and seniors program, people were just happy and excited. making the best of being displaced basically and so i just want to thank parks and rec for always stepping up and never complaining and always finding a way to create um not just not just mediocre solutions but excellent solutions when we have to pivot and do other things so thank you shahad thank you june Thank you, Lene. Thank you, Karen, everybody who works for Parks and Recreation and all that you do to make Antioch just as beautiful, wonderful community as it is. So that concludes my mayor's comments. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Next is presentation by PFM Asset Management Investment Performance Review. Ms. Merchant. Okay.

Yes, Justin will be presenting. He is on Zoom. So hopefully we'll get him on screen here, and then he'll be directing me to move the presentation as he goes forth. So there he is up there on the screen in front of you. So once we get the, you can give a brief introduction, then he's going to just pop off the screen but still be there so that we can show the presentation on the screen.

Welcome, Justin.

All right. Thank you, Director Merchant. I hope you can hear me in the council chambers. Mayor Bernal, Mayor Pro Tempredis, Member Torres, Walker, and Rocha, and community members, thanks again for having me virtually. I wish I could be with you in person as I usually am, but work travel has called me away. So I'll begin my remarks on page 72 of your packet. This is the June 30th report that covers the investments that we at PFMA manage on behalf of the city. Our current market themes summarize what drives markets and the factors that PFM considers as we continue to manage the portfolio. Overall, we'd characterize the current market as remaining resilient while noting that there are some interesting new dynamics contributing to economic growth here in the United States. This is AI investment and technology spending, namely. um and and uh let me see here it looks like we might still be on the cover page if if you don't mind if we could turn to page 72. there we go thank you um so as i'm talking to ai investment and technology spending it seems that this has emerged as an important factor and contributor to economic growth here in the us as we think about gross domestic product and that's really kind of the name of the game at least here for most economists the investments that we make on behalf of the city we want to continue to see continued growth in gross domestic product that propels and drives the sort of investments we make on the city's behalf now ai it seems has helped to offset what might be characterized as a moderating consumer who has generally pulled back on spending with, in fact, declining sentiment that we've seen over the past several months. You may remember from prior conversations, I spoke to the Fed's dual mandate. Now, that speaks to their monetary policy and their setting of key interest rates, and that ultimately defines the fixed income bond investments and the yields that are generated on the investments we make on behalf of the city. As a reminder, we only purchased fixed income assets in this portfolio, specifically bonds, including US Treasuries. The Fed has a dual mandate for maintaining maximum goods price affordability and maximum employment. And as we think about inflation, the real question is whether higher energy prices at this point in time might eventually spill over into core goods like food, energy, those sorts of factors. We have seen some uptick in those inflationary measures, including consumer price index and personal consumption expenditures. Labor, on the other hand, that continues to generally remain in balance. Unemployment has remained generally steady at about 4.2%, but As I noted earlier, consumer spending is down as real wage growth that is after inflation has been modest and maybe pressuring households at this time. The one other notable factor that we saw during the quarter since we last spoke was the new Federal Reserve Chair and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has taken the seat. But the committee left key rates unchanged, but we did notice their tone to become a bit more hawkish, which bends toward potentially higher monetary policy rates coming toward us. Nine of 18 members, in fact, were anticipating one rate hike for 2026 at the June meeting. With respect to the markets, treasury yields did move higher over the quarter over fears that inflation might continue to be a concern and the Fed might be leaning hawkish, potentially increasing rates. We continue to find value in the front end of the curve. That is five years and in generally where most California agencies invest their money and We do continue to see, however, credit spreads quite tight, really due to the strong economic growth that we continue to see in the economy, the stable labor that I spoke to, and frankly, very strong demand for corporate bonds, including AI issuance and U.S. treasuries that, again, remain strong. Page 73, the next page speaks to treasury yields rising across the curve. And you can see the one year range in the blue shaded area, the most recent quarter in the dashed line, and where we ended June 30th in the solid line. We are very much at the high end of the most recent one year range. The other change that we saw this quarter is, again, continued positive slope yields within the two to 10 year maturity ranges of U.S. treasuries. But the curve has flattened, most notably in the belly of the curve. The concern still is within short-term inflation rather than perhaps long-term growth. Page 74 speaks to the two-year treasury yields. our clients to think about two-year treasuries specifically as the sort of widget you might want to put on your phone as you think about where, for example, the City of Antioch's portfolio is invested. And you can see that yields did move higher over the second quarter through June 30th to about 4.13%. During the quarter, it moved up about 30 basis points. And since January 1st, the two-year Treasury is also about 70 to 80 basis points higher. So, you know, some may think that the market may have overshot this sort of pricing, but we would still argue that we think at a two-year at about 4.17% at June 30th, you know, this still remains to be an attractive place. for entities, agencies like the city of Antioch to park its assets as we think about one historic 10-year average yields for the two-year treasury, the 20-year as well, shown on the orange and yellow dashed lines, as well as the actual monetary policy rate that has been set. The upper bound has a range of about 3.75% to 4% at this point in time. Now, speaking to the portfolio itself on page 75, you'll observe that the portfolio continues to be, you know, growing in a solid size of about 122 million. This is separate from another portfolio managed by PFMAM, the camp portfolio that holds about 43 million. As a performance measure, we use the one to five year US Treasury index and have outperformed the benchmark by about 46 basis points. On this page, you can see yield at cost, which represents the yield on the portfolio as it is purchased of about 4.13% and yield at market of 4.30%. Credit quality continues to be very high with AA and higher rated credits accounting for more than 60% of the portfolio. And the majority of assets continue to be invested in U.S. Treasuries, but we continue to diversify into other sectors of fixed income investing to generate that incremental yield on the portfolio. The next page speaks to, let's see here. Portfolio performance. This is on page 76 of your packets. And you can see here quarterly interest earnings during the three month period of $1.2 million. There was a negative change in market value as rates rose of about $536,000. but total dollars were returned to the portfolio of $675,000. The change in market value might jump off the page, but this is really just a sort of, I'm going to say paper adjustment at this point in time. These do not reflect actual realized gains or losses, but as a performance measure on a total return basis, we like to show these numbers to you. And relative to the benchmark, which I mentioned earlier, is the one to three or US Treasury index. We outperformed by about 17 basis points. If we annualize that figure, we would look to about 68 basis points during the quarter. So we continue to feel to feel very confident in the strategy that we pursue on behalf of the city relative to the other annualized results you see on this page. The next page, packet page 77, shows accrual basis earnings that includes the same interest earned numbers that I spoke to a moment ago, as well as actual realized gains and losses that we took as we actively managed the portfolio, swapping in and out of various securities as we found appropriate relative value opportunities to invest on the city's behalf. you can see we tried to minimize the realized losses on the page during the quarter and there were only about 2 575 in realized losses this quarter there was a positive change in amortized cost of over forty thousand dollars and you can see total earnings in excess of 1.2 million dollars for the quarter so with that um there is one other uh set of slides i want to speak to that begin on page 83 of your packet. As in a prior discussion, council raised questions about potentially extending duration. Now, as a reminder, state code does allow for holdings that mature out to five years. Historically, the city has had a preference for safety and liquidity in its assets by choosing a more conservative benchmark. I mentioned earlier, it's currently the one to three year Treasury index, and it has been this benchmark since 2011. In fact, prior to 2020 or 2002, I should say, the benchmark was in fact even shorter, the one year US Treasury note index. So again, this preference for liquidity has been quite strong. What I want to show on these slides are historic performance for benchmarks that would generally be selected by California agencies showing duration uh actual returns as well of cumulative growth of approximately a hundred million dollars because i think that's approximately the size of the city's portfolio so this first page shows growth over the past 10 years and you can see on this page shorter duration strategies in general including the city's current strategy have outperformed longer duration strategies. So you can see here the zero to three and the one to three year U.S. Treasury index have both outperformed the one to five year or what one might what one might characterize as a longer duration index. Despite the additional duration, one would expect perhaps higher total return, higher cumulative growth, but over the past decade that did not take place. There were certain factors like the pandemic, there was the inverted yield curve that benefited liquidity strategies that the city in fact did pursue. Now, the story is different on page 84. If you now look further back to 20 years, and this is what one would usually expect, longer duration strategies have actually outperformed shorter duration strategies. So here you can see a longer duration, one to five year strategy actually outperformed shorter duration strategies, including the zero to three year by about 40 basis points at the most to around 30 basis points relative to the current one to three year index that the city currently pursues. The next page now speaks to that just in a sort of tabular form. I wanted to show you rolling one, three, five, and 10 year benchmark returns for each of the strategies that we pursue. And again, you can see that, like I mentioned earlier, 10 year performance has been strong for shorter duration strategies like the cities, but even one, three and five year returns have also been stronger than those longer duration strategies that again, one would usually expect to outperform as one would anticipate, right? If I'm investing longer and further out on the yield curve, I should expect to earn more yield from my investment. In this case, however, especially with the sort of environment we've been in, this has not played out over the past 10 years. Now, the one or two trade-offs I should speak to are, I speak to on the next couple slides. So the first one is total return volatility. So as you extend duration on an investment portfolio, you would expect increased volatility, increased changes in total returns. And that's what we illustrate. on this slide historically all the way back to 2016. And you can see here the lighter blue line is less volatile than the darker blue line that the city is currently invested in and is even more less volatile than the bright yellow line showing the one to five year US Treasury. So in addition to potentially anticipating that one might have additional growth, in their portfolio for investing longer on the yield curve, longer duration, one should also expect increased volatility. And that's the sort of what some might characterize as a sort of risk return as you think about investing further out your money. Finally, on page 87, I just wanted to show you one lever that the city actually has taken full advantage of that I think council should sort of pat their, that you all should pat yourselves on the back with. The left side of the page shows various gradations of diversification among strategies that we would deploy for any benchmark here in California. whether it's the zero to three the city's current one to three or one to five but we're now focused specifically on the one to three on this slide So at the top of the page, you can see a 100% US Treasury portfolio. The second line, you can see a portfolio that includes US agencies. And then all the way at the bottom of the page, this is the full spectrum of what California state code, for example, might offer. And at this point in time, the city's investment policy does take full advantage of California state code. Now, the right side of the page shows the yield pickup or the total return pickup as you increase diversification among your investment strategy. And for a one to three year strategy, you can see that if it is very conservatively managed to only invest in U.S. treasuries, one would expect 20 year total return of approximately 2.14%. But in this case, as you look to, for example, what the city is currently invested in, the full breadth of state code, you can see a 20-year total return of about 2.36%. So that's in excess of 20 basis points, about 22 basis points picked up just by deploying diversification alone. So I know that there's a lot of desire, perhaps, to potentially extend duration. If it's the case that we want to revisit the benchmark strategy for the city, we're always happy to do so. But, you know, I would say again, at this point in time, as we look to perhaps the more myopic view of the recent 10 year returns, the city's current one to three year strategy has actually done quite well. And in fact, it has outperformed the longer duration strategies that we might typically see from other California agencies. So with that, I'll just pause for any other remarks from Director Merchant or Manager Cortez and any questions from the Council.

Staff, any questions or comments?

Now that concludes the presentation. Again, questions were brought up about the benchmark. That's why we wanted to include this as a biannual presentation. So this is capturing the quarter ending June 30th. And we'll turn it over for questions. But then otherwise, PFM will be back next year for the next biannual presentation.

I do have a question with regards to the portfolio snapshot. the credit quality, S&P. I notice that we have 6% in not rated. What are you investing in that's not rated?

No, thank you for the question, Mayor Pro Temfretis. So the bonds are still, or all of the holdings are in compliance with California state code, as well as the city's investment policy. This portfolio snapshot page only shows the ratings from Standard & Poor's. So that 6% sliver is actually rated by other rating agencies, including Fitch or Moody's Ratings. So I know that that green sliver might seem alarming in that it's not rated. It is, in fact, rated. It's just on this page, as we can only show S&P with a sort of pie chart, the holdings are actually rated.

Yeah, when I saw 6%, I have to tell you, I became immediately concerned. I might suggest that you simply put, you know, in parentheses, you know, non-S&P, you know, standard and poor's rated S&P. Because anybody reading that following the financial markets would have concerns. All right, other questions of city council? Mr. Mayor? Your microphone.

Your microphone, sir?

Your microphone.

No, I don't, I don't have any further questions and thank you for your presentation, your explanation of the one to three versus the longer term investment strategy and, um, how, how ours is, uh, performed well, which is, it was just great news to hear.

Okay. City treasurer Rojas. Do you have any comments to council? No comments. All right. Are there any public comments or any remote comments?

We have no public comments and no remote comments.

All right, thank you very much. Thank you for the presentation.

Thank you, Justin.

Okay, have a good evening, everyone. Thank you.

All right, I'd like to suggest to council, since we've been in session since 3.30, that we take an eight-minute break. We will come back at 9.05.

Meeting is in recess at 8.57 p.m.

Thank you. you do do you

Thank you. Council Member Monica Wilson is absent. Council Member Rocha?

Here.

Council Member Torres-Walker?

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Present.

Mayor Bernal?

Here.

Thank you. We have a quorum at 9.07 p.m. All right.

Thank you. Next is the consent calendar. Mr. Mandy, is there any item that the public wants polled?

We have no items to be pulled by the public.

From the City Council, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, I would like to pull item number K. So far it's H and K. Is there a motion approving the rest of the consent calendar minus items H and K? Move to approve. Council Member Rocha moves.

Second.

And Council Member Torres-Walker seconds. Boy, I tell you. Taco, walk chair, I don't know. So, Mr. Mandy, could you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council Member Wilson is absent. Council Member Rocha?

Yes.

Council Member Torres-Walker? Aye. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Freitas?

Yes.

Mayor Bernal?

Yes.

Thank you. Motion passes 4-0. All right.

We will now move to item H, consideration of bids for the Sycamore Drive traffic calming improvements. Public Works number 282-22.

Yeah, I'm not pulling the item because I'm not supporting it. I actually was pulling the item just for some more information. Obviously, James Donlan has been an ongoing concern to the community because of the tragic auto accidents that have occurred on James Donlan. I just didn't know this come up before. I just wanted to know, I support item H, but I'd just like to know more information about how these projects through CIP move forward, one before the other. I'm not sure how that happens. I'm not speaking against this item, but time and time again, I get calls, concerns from the community related to James Donlan, and when I see other projects happening, I continue to question what about James Donlan? So if you can please help clarify for me where we're at with this project and then any other projects that might be in the pipeline that are in a queue waiting to move forward.

Sure, I'd love to. Keep the projects within the traffic calming portion of what we do. So this project that we're looking to award tonight is for traffic calming on Sycamore, the entire length of Sycamore. A project was queued up a year or two ago. As a result, there was accidents out there. There's been other accidents within the Sycamore corridor that was brought up as an area of concern. James Donlan had some of the same issues and that was also brought up as a street of concern as well as 10th Street was another one. There was three projects that were set up for us to implement traffic control or traffic calming within. At that point Sycamore was the priority at the time. So that's a project that we've worked on and now we're rolling out. James Donlan is the second project. We have a good set of plans to work with off that. That project will be out for bid this fall. And then there will be construction that will either happen in winter to spring, depending on how that goes. So that's also in the works. That project will be, like I say, it'll be out to bid this fall. And then that'll be followed up. 10th Street's a little bit different. It's a residential sort of area. It's not quite as easy to manipulate as these other roads. So it is in the works. You will see that project. It is similar to what we're looking at with the Sycamore project, enhancing the bike lanes, giving some separation between bikes and cars, putting up some new striping and signage in the area. James Dolan actually will have a mechanism to help with one of the crossings that we have on the trails out there. The project is in the queue. Like I say, it's been, a lot of the design is done, and we'll look to roll that out in the fall. But when this was all set up a couple years ago, it was Sycamore, James Donnellan, then 10th Street, and that's how we're rolling it out. Things have been delayed just a little bit. There's limited staffing. Another thing having to do with traffic calming, we did just open bids today for a neighborhood traffic calming project, which is what people typically call speed bumps. We had a very good price on this project. It looks like we might even be able to extend that that those facilities add a couple more to this contract. So we'll be reaching out to a few other neighborhoods that we didn't think we were gonna be able to get to with this contract and install some other traffic calming. There actually are speed bumps in this case. That program isn't designed just for speed bumps, but that's a result sometimes with it. That project has been, the project was open today, so we saw what the bids would look like. I'll be coming back to you at our next meeting, actually, to hopefully award that project.

Okay. Yeah, I just wanted some clarification. I've seen the work that's been done on L Street to the high school. It looks wonderful. And there's definitely a need in Sycamore from Summersville from Sycamore to L. Street there's definitely a need for that so I'm not questioning the project I just wanted to know kind of what we are with the other person whatever you can do to help better communicate to our residents where things are because I get calls emails on a regular basis about James Donlan and I'm kind of always looking for an answer of course where we are a timeline so your information tonight is helpful

And that's where we'll be. It'll go out this fall. A lot of things have just been a little bit congested with the capital improvements, trying to staff up and just trying to get things back in order. Give us a year and we'll be able to get things laid out a little bit better. But yeah, that's the plan. This is an excellent project to help pedestrians in those areas. Like I say, Sycamore is out there. This goes right with the project that's just been recently completed, as well as the second phase of L Street that's gonna roll out probably in a year or so. But it's all working around in the same corridor.

Any other questions, Mr. Mayor?

Yeah, Director Bunting, regarding the bid you mentioned just opened today, are there any intersection traffic calming improvements? One of the biggest complaints that I hear about all over town is sideshows and donuts and intersections. And I know that other cities have implemented measures to reduce the possibility of those happening. Are those built into our traffic calming measures? Or the traffic calming project that you just mentioned opened.

No, they're not. They're not built into the traffic calming project, but they're separate currently working on a layout. There's a, there's a number of different layouts to do these. I've tried to utilizing. Tough curbs kind of speed bump type things to minimize the area within the intersection. We're working through some. different geometry of that, but we are aware. I'm looking to hopefully, there's a couple key intersections that we'd like to get some traffic calming out there to try to see if we can reduce this, but it's in the process, as you might know. It's not a one size fits all, so trying to find something that we can lay out and have it work. We've tried to do things with like raised pavement markers, like the little buttons that you might find. They're not really much of a deterrent, so to try to put something out there to minimize the area within the middle. Most likely it's gonna involve bringing out something into the intersection, almost an extension of the center median that would come in to go into the intersection. Keeping turning radius is able to happen, but minimize the free space in the middle with like a speed bump or something that somebody would not want to drive over.

Similar to what we did up on Epic Dallas Ranch in Pruitt at the top of the hill where we just put some delineators in the center of the street to stop the sideshows and people racing through that intersection. Is there a possibility of just trying something that's on an interim basis until we do a more major project just to try some different measures and get something on the pavement?

yes that is my plan i've been working with our traffic consultant actually for for a little while trying to get it laid out and getting something that work but yeah these would be done with bolt down apparatuses and just some striping changes so it wouldn't be anything there would be major construction i do want to get something rolled out here relatively soon um we're still working on like say i need to see what the geometry looks like and how we utilize things to make sure that the the bulb out is effective But yes, this would be something that it would looking to roll out in a couple different areas. Fredrickson has some issues. Blue Rock has some issues. Those are two of the major issues that we see for residential areas that might need some traffic calming or some sideshow deterrent. I guess we'd call it. All right.

Thank you. I guess my question is, do we understand the difference between a large-scale sideshow at an intersection and somebody burning out in one car in a neighborhood during Donovan?

So the main difference for us in terms of engineering looking at these things that are happening in residential areas, two-lane roads, they're easier for me to control, for me to build something into that intersection and take that two-lane road and make it a closed-off intersection to stop that, minimize that area. You get to larger intersections, four-lane intersections, that becomes much more difficult to try to put something in the road to deter it. As for major versus one person, a lot of it might be on how many complaints we're getting. How often is this happening? If somebody has it happen once, it's not typically something that we're going to react as much as if the calls keep coming. There are a number of areas where we get consistent complaints that this is happening. And there's areas where you can go out and you can see on the pavement that it's happened more than once.

Yeah, I guess the reason why I asked that question is I'm not against focusing on smaller two-lane road neighborhoods to prevent spin-outs, because if it's a two-lane road, it's a spin-out. It's probably one, two cars at a time. It's not like... I guess I'm just wondering, okay, the small two-lane roads in the neighborhoods, getting something to happen there, but what about these larger intersections like Blue Rock, A and East 18th, Cavallo and East 18th, like the bigger intersections, what is possible there?

Again, there is possibilities, but they are not typically what I'm looking at right now. It's to try to implement something in these residential areas, these larger things. They get pretty complicated, cities like Oakland. You can look at Oakland, there's a lot of stuff in the middle of their roads. There are ways to do this, but trying to be thoughtful about it, make sure we don't put anything out there that's gonna be more of a problem to the rest of the residents. But I guess when you say the difference between a spin out and a sideshow is probably one car at one time versus multiple stuff. Yeah, we're probably dealing with a smaller one car doing something in a residential type area. that I'm looking at right now and putting out some deterrents. As for the bigger areas and the bigger stuff, I'm not sure if it's something physical that's going to be the deterrent or if it's going to be us being proactive.

Thank you. All right. Any comments?

We have no public comments.

All right. Council consideration? I'll move to approve. Okay. Rocha moves.

Second. Second.

Taurus Walker seconds. Please conduct the roll call.