City Council - Regular Meeting

[music] [music] [music] I'm Kevin Wilk, mayor of the city of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the regular meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council. The city council [music] is conducting this meeting from the city council chamber. This meeting is being video streamed and can be viewed live [music] or later on the city's website. As some attendees may be participating in their first Walnut Creek City [music] Council meeting, I wanted to welcome everyone and talk briefly about the public comment process. For each agenda item, there will be an opportunity for public comment on the item. [music] Thus, if you desire to speak to an item on the agenda this evening, please hold your comments until the [music] city council considers that item. Additionally, we have a section on the agenda titled public communications, which is for public comments for items [music] not on the agenda. Any comments during public communication should not [music] relate to an item that is on the agenda this evening. Consistent with section 9.5 of the city council handbook, 30 minutes will be initially [music] allocated for public communications for items not on the agenda. Additional time for public communications for items not [music] on the agenda will be provided at the end of the open session portion of the meeting if necessary. If you desire to provide a public comment, please complete a speaker identification card [music] and line up behind the lectern at the appropriate time. Wait your turn and then when you approach the lectern, [music] please state your name and city of residence for the record. You will have two

minutes to address the city council. Please keep in mind that this is a city business meeting. The city council has adopted rules of decorum to ensure that meetings are conducted [music] efficiently and effectively and that all members of the public have a full, fair, and equal opportunity to be heard. The city council handbook outlines decorum expected in the council chamber and can be found on our website. All remarks should be addressed to the city council. Please do not use threatening, profane, or abusive [music] language which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the council meeting. Again, each speaker will have two minutes to make your remarks. Written comments submitted and received up to two hours before the meeting have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record. Good evening. I'm Kevin Wilk, mayor of the city of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 concurrent regular meetings of the Walnut Creek City Council and the Public Facilities Financing Authority. Uh would you all please join me in the pledge of

allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. And city clerk Susie Martinez, could you please call the role? Council member Darling here. Council member Deini here. Council member Silva here, Mayor Wilk here, and Mayor Prom Francois is absent due to a work commitment.

All right. Uh, our first item is a proclamation for human trafficking prevention month. And are you Kat Oh, that is timing. All right. By Katrina Natalia, uh, human trafficking task force director with the Contraosta County District Attorney's Office to accept the proclamation. I'll first read from it, uh, a bit and act, uh, yeah, I'll read it from here. So hum uh whereas human trafficking is a form of interpersonal violence and a crime in which force, fraud, coercion or similar means is used to compel victims into commercial sexual and labor exploitation affecting individuals of all genders, citizenship, status, ages, and backgrounds. Human trafficking can happen to anyone. Certain populations are at greater risk, including people affected by abuse, violence, poverty, unstable living living situations or social disconnection, as well as those systematically marginalized and underserved. Human trafficking requires a coordinated communitywide response engaging diverse stakeholders including survivors, community members, educators, advocates, law enforcement, social workers, and professionals from a broad range of disciplines, agencies, and expertise among others. Whereas the 42 partners of the Contraost human trafficking task force are striving to identify and provide services to the survivors, investigate and prosecute all forms of human trafficking, and build their and the community's capacity to respond to and prevent human trafficking. In 2025, the 15 victim services agencies in the task force, including Community Violence Solutions and Arm of Care, provided comprehensive traumainformed services to hundreds of victims of human trafficking throughout Contraosta County, including crisis intervention, case management, advocacy, emergency housing assistance, and referral to resources. And whereas between October

2024 and October 2025, law enforcement agencies in Contra Costa County investigated 67 cases of sex and labor trafficking and identified 103 potential victims who were connected to services in the district attorney's office leading agency in the task force filed 15 cases of human trafficking and related crimes. And whereas the Contraosta Alliance to end abuse recognizes human trafficking as a public health issue that is preventable by building individual community and societal understanding and resilience, eliminating social and historical inequities and improvising I'm sorry, improving the environmental conditions where people are born, learn, live, work, play, age, and worship. And therefore, I, Kevin Wilk, mayor of the city of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of January 2026 as human trafficking prevention month. And Katrina, if you'd like to please stand and do you have a few words to say?

Sure, I do. Uh, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here again this year. Um, I usually try when I come out to the cities to really highlight local work that's happening around the issue of human trafficking. And this year, um, I want to speak to an event that we've been working with Arm of Care and with the, um, Walnut Creek Visitors Association to develop. This is an event that's targeting the business community and really trying to provide them with the tools and the information necessary to help identify human trafficking that might be taking place on the side of their business or passing through that they might see something that's happening. Um, so that will be taking place. Originally, it was planned for this month. We've um moved it out to March to give a little more time to get more of the business folks um involved and registered, but we're excited about that. It's an opportunity, as some of you may know, um business people have some mandates under state law as far as training they have to provide to their staff and notices they need to post in their places of business. So, we'll be providing that information to them, providing them with well-designed um attractive notices that they can post in their businesses and really try to strengthen those partnerships. Um this is in conjunction with Arm of Care, which is a local Walnut Creek um nonprofit or organization that provides therapeutic services um specifically Art Therapy to survivors of human trafficking. Um as well as with an organization called Freedom Insight, which is um based in the South Bay, but provides training to businesses on human trafficking throughout the Bay Area, the state of California, and nationally. So we're excited about this. We're excited about the um degree of engagement we've had um from the city and from the chamber of commerce and the visitors association. Um we'll keep you posted on the event. Um we're really looking forward to it and um it's being held out as an example this year of a great way of connecting with a local city to try to make progress in this area. So, I really want to thank you and um and the

city and the community of Walnut Creek for doing that with us. Wonderful. Thank you. Well, it's so important. Why don't we all take a picture? [laughter]

That's not an easy to read. [laughter]

I just say this is about human trafficking. This is important. Thank you. Right. Next item is a proclamation for Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is on January 20 27th, 2026. So I'll just read from the proclamation, then we'll have Rabbi Stein come down to accept it. Whereas the Holocaust was the systematic genocide of more than 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945 and included the state sanctioned murder and persecution of millions of others, Roma and Cinti people, those with disabilities, homosexuals, Slavs, Poles, and members of anti-Nazi networks. This atrocity was a crime of shocking inhumity, representing a dark chapter in human history. Walnut Creek recognized the heroism of those who aided the victims of the Nazi regime, including the many soldiers who liberated concentration camps and provided comfort to those suffering. And whereas the internationally recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance Day corresponds to the 27th day of Nissan on the Hebrew calendar and marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Holocaust Remembrance Day reminds us of the importance of teaching future generations about these atrocities and the acts of courage that inspire us to respond to hatred and inhumity. Remembering the Holocaust comi compels us to confront anti-semitism and all forms of hatred, ensuring such

atrocities are never repeated. As Holocaust survivor Estelle Offland said, memory is what shapes us. Memory is what teaches us. We must understand that's where redemption is. And whereas the purpose of Holocaust Remembrance Day is to join together as a community to remember the Holocaust, to honor survivors who chose to rebuild their lives in Walnut Creek in the Bay Area and to reflect the need to respect all people. And I [snorts] therefore, Kevin Wilk, mayor of the city of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council, do hereby proclaim January 20th 27th, 2026 as Holocaust Remembrance Day. We're going to have Rabbi Stein come on down. and I'm proud that we have taken a stand against hatred as well, not just uh individually, but as a community and uh and a council.

Good evening.

Hi. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you to the council. As the mayor mentioned, I'm Rabbi Daniel Stein, rabbi of congregation Ben Shalom in Walnut Creek, which has served the Jewish community and the broader Walnut Creek community for more than 60 years. It's my honor to accept this proclamation on behalf of the Jewish community. There are certainly enough lessons from the Nazi genocide. of European jewelry to fill many lifetimes. I'd like to lift up just one this evening. The Israeli author Aaron Opelfeld, a child survivor of the Holocaust, wrote that amid the appropriate mourning for the genocide and its victims, one critical detail is often overlooked. He recalled that during all the years he spent in hiding and evading the Nazis, not a single day passed where he did not experience profound abiding love. Even in the darkest hours, love was always present. I know we find ourselves living in challenging times. I'm grateful to be part of a community that understands love in all its facets. A community that supports diversity, honors difference, and values a robust civic life in which all are included. Thank you for this proclamation, and thank you for all you do to make our city the wonderful place that it is.

Thank you very much. and and being Jewish and the first Jewish mayor in Walnut Creek, I obviously take uh a personal interest in this as well. Thank you for being here. And why don't we all have a picture? Right. Next on the agenda is the consent calendar. Does any council member wish to pull any item for discussion? I have a question about one item, item 2H.

So, why don't we pull that in? And 2F. I also have a question on 2 H. All right. 2F and 2 H. Does any member of staff wish to put an item for discussion? Okay. Does any member of the public wish to comment on an item on the consent calendar? As a reminder, each speaker will have two minutes to make their remarks. Written comments submitted have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record. H H. All right. We've got H pulled already. So um you'll come up when we when we um review H. Um we have So if uh we have a motion on the rest.

Move to adopt consent calendar items 2 A through E. G, I, J, and K. I'll second that. We have a motion in a second. Susie, could you read the role, please? Council member Silva, hi. Council member Darling, hi. Council member Deini, hi. And Mayor Wilk, I. Motion carries. Okay, let's first pull item 2F.

All right, thank you. And I see uh Chief Hibs on the way to the microphone. So, this is a 2F is a grant that we're applying for. Um, $285,000 that would fund an additional 48 hours of traffic enforcement over the next year. Um, I hope we get that grant. But in reading the um, you know, the the body of the the narrative in the description, it talks about staffing again. And I just, you know, when I read it, it's it's just it's disheartening, I guess. um to we're ideally staffed for 85 officers, right? But we're down it says about 30%, I'm estimating that to be around 58 of the 85 roughly. Um so a couple questions. How how are we covering the you know those that 30%. Are we doing it with overtime and are we doing it completely? Like if we had all 85 would the service model look different than it does now? Good evening, mayor. Welcome, members of the city council. Ryan Hibs, chief of police. Uh, thank you for the question, Council Member Deini. Um, right now we're currently to to answer your question, we're we're authorized for 85 total sworn personnel. We have 79 or excuse me, 78 as of Friday of those positions filled. So, uh, when you look at the deployment number, the deployment number accounts for the only folks that are left that are full duty active assignment. So, in other words, they're they're uh they're acting in their full capacity. So, for a variety of different reasons, the 18 number is uh basically it's it's injuries, it's long-term family leave, and it's uh people that are already in the academy. So, they count toward our our uh filled

number, but not the deployed number. And so are we are the the folks that are um able to serve right now, are they covering the those who aren't with overtime? Is that how we're doing it? Yes. And are we covering all of the time or is there a a a shortage? If we had 85, it would would it look different or it would still be the same? It's just Well, for a little bit of context, our our patrol model runs with 36 officers. Mhm. Currently, it's staffed with 32 due due to a number of injuries and long-term leave. So, right now being down four, those positions are filled with overtime, but we have shortages in other divisions of the agency such as our traffic bureau and our detective bureau that are

uh not generally need to be filled with overtime. Really, patrol is is the only division that needs to be filled with overtime due to our staffing minimums, but uh we are filling those four slots with overtime. I guess those are being filled with those, but the additional like detectives and so forth, those are just hope we're hoping to get them back into the the force soon. Okay. Yes.

Um so I know this has got to be not unique is not unique to Walnut Creek, right? It's a it's a difficult job. There's lots of injuries. There's always going to be family uh issues as well. Is there anything that like that we can do or measures that you think um might help us to to get closer to full staffing? I mean, I know we're hiring. I know we're but it just seems like such a big gap still.

Yeah. Well, and and part of the problem is that it's really nothing you to your point, it's nothing unique to our agency. Uh I will note that we have uh four different lateral officers from other agencies in background right now, different stages of background right now. So those are I point out the laterals only because they're a lot faster to to be deployed than your your entry level trainee. Um but we also have two entry levels set up for the academy. So if we once the the that's the one taking place in April. It's all back up because we actually have for eight 10 total officers going to trainee train officer level entry level traininee officer positions going through the academy uh at various points this year. So at this point once we get so I mentioned the four that were that were in the academy that are set to graduate in February. They are actually on the books as filled positions but they're not deployed yet. So once they get to us and go through field training, they will be part of our deployed

[snorts]

uh strength, if you will. Um we're constantly getting people in the door and our application pool hasn't dried up. It's it's been um it's been at least I wouldn't say it's it it flows well. It's not we're we're getting a good number of qualified applicants. I'll put it that way. And uh in fact, we have a a an interview process set up for later this week to interview entry- level trainees. And so, one other thing we've done, and I'll point this out, is that we've streamlined our hiring process. So, typically when an agency brings in a a you know, they host a an entry- level oral board. They might have in this case, we have, I think, five or six people that are on the list to be interviewed. Usually what happens is once those people have been deemed um qualified candidates, they might move on to another interview and then what happens after that is either an interview with the captains or an interview with the chief after that. But those interviews typically take place weeks and uh weeks after the initial interview. We streamlined it so that within one day all of those interviews can take place and we can move people into backgrounds very quickly. And to be frank, I mean, uh, and any basically once the first from the first job interview for an entry- level candidate to su successful completion of the academy and successful completion of the field training program, you're looking at anywhere between 12 and 15 months if everything goes smoothly. So, um, with that type of timeline, it doesn't, you know, it just takes time to stand people up, but we're we are actively recruiting and we're we're getting good candidates.

Yeah. Is there is there anything on the like recovery side that you know there seems like there's a fair number almost 20% out on injury and and so forth. Is there anything on that end that total coin flip at this point? It really is it depends on what the injury is um the physical condition of the officer prior to the injury. Um the recovery time itself if it's a ligament or a muscle it just depends on what the actual injury is. We do have some shorter term injuries and it's not all doom and gloom. Uh we do actually have some people coming back from from family leave here very shortly. So that number will go higher. It's just sometimes it's just, you know, a perfect storm.

All right. Well, you know, it's a a priority for the council and keeping the city safe and we appreciate what you're doing and I just um hope that we can we can move the needle there and get those numbers up. We're working on it. All right. Thank you. Certainly. Oh, okay. No. Um I have a question. And it looks like they Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, my question is really um I know in 2020 21 we were struggling a little bit with the laterals and it sounds like that has really turned around in the last five or six years.

I would agree. I think it's come in waves. Um you know, so sometimes it's time of year, sometimes it's um when there are openings that we post and sometimes we're lucky enough just to get a wave of really good lateral applicants. So, we're kind of in that right now. And we're getting folks that have good experience and come from a culturally a good fit. Yes. And that and that is one thing that throughout the interview process, the captains are really good about picking people out that are going to be a really good fit. Um I've I've developed, I think, a really good feel for picking out folks that are going to be a really good fit. And what I don't want to do is lose our strong police culture and in bringing folks in from other agencies just to stand up a trainee quickly.

Okay. um we're not going to lower our standards, which is part of the other we we're getting good qualified applicants, but we have to weed out a number of people who well-intentioned, but maybe their background doesn't isn't suited for policing. Thank you. And I appreciate all that you guys have done to to really develop such a strong culture. We really appreciate it.

Um I'd like to actually ask about the the item on the agenda, which is what is the purpose of the grant that we're applying for and what would be it how would it improve the police department's work for the community? That's an excellent question. So, we're asking only for overtime dollars to fund uh to fund six different eighthour uh targeted enforcement shifts that are uh traffic related only. So, we're not asking for equipment and we're not asking for positions. We're this is simply an ask and it is admittedly a little high uh but we decided that maybe that was the better route to go as opposed to asking for a lower number and maybe getting fully funded. there's a chance that this that this number is fully funded by uh the Office of Traffic Safety, but um we don't know what the number is going to be. So, we're just kind of shooting high and hoping for the best at this point.

Thank you very much. Yeah, we'd like to. Um I move to adopt item uh 2F. I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Susie, could you call the role, please? Council member Deini, I. Council member Darling, I. Council member Silva. I Mayor Wilk. I motion carries. All right. So now let's go to 2H. Thank you very much, Mayor. This is an item to appropriate and transfer $1.75 million for the um from the Glennet community benefits funding from the Glennet Hather Farm project for Ignatial Valley Road traffic signal project improvements. And I have a couple of questions about it.

Hello Sadar Borman, city engineer. I remember that during the conversation about this development project, um there were very concerns about traffic on Marchbank at Kin Ross, the intersection, cut through traffic that might start at Ignatio and cut through the Heather Farm Association. What will how will these funds be deployed and for I think it's three intersection or four intersections maybe? What can you tell us about that?

Sure. So to address your first question, there there are four intersections. One of them is March Banks and Kin Ross. Um that is there is access from Ignatia Valley Road at both March Banks and at Kin Ross. Um I know that during this development when we were discussing the conveyance of that property um to the developer of it's now called the Glenn um there was discussion about what the impacts might be at that intersection of March Banks and Kin Ross and how people might choose to take Ken Ross to get to this new development rather than using March Banks which would be um it's [clears throat] actually a public street. Uh there is a portion of Kin Ross that's actually private um that is owned by the HOA or it's owned by the yeah by the HOA. So um one of the improvements that we were looking to do was to um calm traffic at the intersection of March Banks and Kinos. It's already an always stop controlled intersection but just adding some kind of like horizontal element. We we're with this with the funds that we have available, we're going to do the best we can to stretch it. Um, but this location we want to we were looking at trying to do some kind of traffic circle, some kind of circle treatment just to really make it not as um enticing especially for larger vehicles to try and take Ken Ross um directly north and into the new development.

Thank you. And then the other three intersections are March Banks and Ignatio which is March Banks Tampico uh and then the Kin Ross Lacassia intersection at Ignatio and then St. Carlos and Ignatio. And those three intersections have some operational improvements for Ignatio Valley Road as a whole along the corridor um as well as some specific safety improvements for the side streets and um better access for March Banks itself. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you, council member. Any other questions from the DA?

I pulled this item as well. pretty much had those questions. But I also just for the for those uh watching this was money because I know it says community benefit, but this was money that we with a a very like certain level of detail kind of allocated ahead of time to the these targeted areas, right? So that's how we arrived at doing this project with this community benefit money. It wasn't like discretionary like we oh we'll spend it anywhere in the the city for for community benefit. was designed to be for this location. Is that is that accurate? I think I'll defer to city attorney on the specific language.

I could speak to it as well. This was part of the negotiations with the speaker development company as part of the development for the the Glenn project as uh as Smidar noted and the city sold a a small piece or strip of property and this was part of that arrangement and the goal was to help address some of the potential traffic impacts that may result as part of this project and some of the concerns that came forward from the very active neighborhood as well to help address those. So, yes, it was very specific and negotiated specifically for this. All right. Um, any members of the public would like to make a comment.

Good evening, Jan Warren, the Woodlands, and I might be able to catch her in a break or something. Uh, I would like to find out when and where I can actually see uh the drawings. I'm pretty visual and I'm listening, but I can't keep up to where we are and where the circle is and and appreciate knowing when and how I could just see the drawings. Thank Thank you, Jan.

So, mayor, I'll ask the question of staff. Can we get a little timeline as to what um when we might publicly be able to view the sometimes traffic signal improvements are electronic but um when we might be able to see something for the public.

Sure. So the the project was um it is in our capital budget right now. Uh what this council is taking action on is actually taking the money from one fund and and putting it into the capital budget appropriating those funds. um the the project itself once we have that funding we can start design um we are going to be doing separately we did uh city staff reached out and um was able to win grant funds for additional intersections along Ignatio Valley Road for traffic signal improvements. So we're going to try and use that process and tee off of it in order to get a design completed and then move into construction. But this is from a timeline perspective. The design probably wouldn't start until the next within the next year and then construction would follow after that. And the Kin Ross Marchbank intersection that is more interior to the closer to the project is not a traffic signal improvement project. It's more um physical and construction and narrowing and etc. Um when would that be is it on the same timeline path?

It could be. I think, you know, the when we do the design, we're going to be looking at concrete and some of those other physical improvements, too. Um, but the traffic signal work is a little more specific type of work. So, we could always break that out first and phase it. Um, you know, looking at other designs in the area, but at least for now, the plan was to kind of include everything. So, the capital project would be sometime in the next six to nine months. the am are we thinking further out? Yeah, the design we we would be able to bring on a consultant to assist with the design in the next six to nine months. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks. All right. Thanks. Happy to move the item.

Um any other public comment on this? Seeing none, we'll bring it back to council. If there's any other comments or a motion, I move to appropriate and transfer $1.75 million of transportation improvements, community benefit benefit funding received from the Glennet Heather Farm into the capital budget Ignatio Valley Road traffic signal project. All right, I second. Second. We have a motion in a second. Susie, Council Member Silva, hi. Council member Deini, hi. Council member Darling, I mayor Wel, I. Motion carried.

All right. And next we have public communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for comment on items not on the agenda. Under the Brown Act, the council cannot act on items raised during public communications, but may respond briefly to statements made or questions posed, request clarification, or refer the item to staff. Consistent with section 9.5 of the city council handbook, 30 minutes will be allocated at this time for public communications for items not on the agenda. Additional time for public communications for items not on the agenda will be provided at the end of the meeting if necessary. Written comments submitted have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record. At this time, I'll note that the time is 6:35 and we'll take public comment on items not on the agenda until approximately 7:05, although I have a feeling we're not going to need that amount of time. And the uh and then the remainder of any such comments at the end of the open session portion of the meeting and that's uh so if we can have any any public comment that come up consist and

that's it. Yeah. All right.

I put don't want cars. Okay. Okay. Um, I uh would like clarity on the the the new soccer fields and more particularly the new signs. I first noticed the signs coming down going down Ignatio uh west, I guess. And I'm like, whoa, where'd that come from? And then a few days later, I decided to get on my bicycle, which was scary. [laughter] And so I was coming down the path and decided I'd gone far enough and I got off and I saw at least six signs because I hadn't been at any grand opening or anything. And my my concern is I had the impression that we were paying for you're frowning [laughter] paying for the fields uh the new soccer fields with measure O money. And I understood that the soccer club was contributing a certain amount to make that happen. But I never heard any discussion about uh the names uh and the money associated with uh whatever they donated. And u so I'd like to know did measure O have money into it? What was the percentage? And five or 10 years from now and if we're looking at signs, who's going to remember that the the residents of the city, you know, paid for a lot of it with measure O.

Thank you, Jan. Next speaker.

Hello. Hello. My name is Barbara Gennis. I've been a resident of Walnut Creek since 1996. I want to wish you all a productive and happy new year. Um, also in my written comments, I attached three pictures of the Paraso Trail area of Limebridgeidge Open Space. The June 2024 cancellation of the planned high-speed bicycle flow trail allows equestrians, pedestrians, horses, cattle to now enjoy that southwest portion of Lime Ridge without being disturbed by high bike high uh high-speed bike traffic. and native plants and wildlife can also freely exist in that area without any destruction. For those of you that um contributed to the cancellation of their project, thank you very much. I really appreciate it. However, we need to remember that protection and conservation of our open space is still at risk. Single track trails prohibit bicycle traffic of any type per municipal codes. Yet, there is constant bike traffic occurring on these single track trails. uh staff made their own decision that they'll do no enforcement of the bike bike bike traffic on these trails. Pedestrians and equestrians are now left to fend for themselves when they use these trails which are specifically designed for them. Native plants are snuffed out. Wildlife continues to be disturbed. Also in January of this year, current month, I've seen myself at least three occurrences of motorcycles in the open space in Lime Ridge. So, with the new year of 2026, I'd like to call out to the new mayor, uh, council members, and other city leaders to act now to ensure that staff enforces open space municipal codes on single track trails. Please save our precious open spaces for

current and future generations. And thank you very much for your service to our city. Appreciate Thank you, Barbara. And we did receive your emails as well. I appreciate you sending them in. Thank you. Do we have any more public commenters? Seeing none, we'll close public comment. I would like to ask the city manager if there's any uh clarity that can be given over the Heather Farm signs.

Yeah, good evening, city manager. Yes. Just as a brief recap, you may recall that there was an formal agreement that the city entered into that your council approved with the Walnut Creek Soccer Club for them to raise uh at least $1.5 million towards the fields uh which they have a payment schedule and they are on track uh may even potentially pay ahead of schedule based upon their fundraising. there were allowances in that agreement for signage for donors and particularly for certain dollar thresholds. And that's what we're seeing. I think more specifically, I'm guessing Miss Mo referring to the UC San Francisco or um yeah, UC San Francisco um sports fields uh sponsorship that is on Ignatio Valley Road. That was all reviewed with staff in terms of the the size and and the approach to that. So that has been planned. You know, per her point about measure O signage, we have had signage up during construction, but I think she raises a good point of what do we want something more permanent out there highlighting that the field and or eventually the community and aquatic center andor other structures that are funded by measur to have some [clears throat] type of ongoing signage and I think that's something we could consider if that's of interest.

Thank you. It's I think it is always good to know who pay for what. Could you also clarify that in addition to the $ 1.5 million that is being raised by the soccer club and the significant contribution of UCSF, what amount measure O paid toward the ball fields? It it wasn't it wasn't small. The total pro excuse me the total project cost was about $7 million. So the remainder was funded primarily by measure O. So, Measure O funded about 5.5 million of the $7 million. There may have been some other [clears throat] park and loo fees and that sort of thing allocated, but the vast majority was Measure O. Thank you.

And I imagine we'll be seeing quite a bit of Measure O signage with uh the Heather Farm uh swimming center and uh and community center construction coming up. Thank you very much. All right, this brings us to our council member and staff announcements, reports on activities or requests and uh council member reports on AB1234 activities. And I'll start with the city attorney. Thank [clears throat] you uh mayor. This evening the council held a series of closed sessions. There were no reportable actions from the close sessions.

You just one brief update. I'm happy to report your councilman may be may be aware that annually city staff does a fundraiser for the food bank of Contracasta and Solano County and this year uh we raised just over $7,000 which provides over 14,000 meals for those in need by working with the food bank and just wanted to recognize the efforts and thank all of the city staff who participated and thank Kathy Meyer and Carwin Larson for heading this up and and running that program. It's nice that uh we have this annual tradition of doing this. Thank you. Good update. Who would like to go first? I'll go first. Council member Darling.

Thank you. Um first of all, I wanted to say I thank you to my fellow council members. We had talked a while ago about helping the Trinity Center winter nights um shelter with their dinner service. So, we agreed to do that and we did that um last night. All five of us got together with sharp knives and hot stoves and we did a great job. [laughter] in spite of the fact that the the the chicken wasn't quite cooking as fast as we thought it would, but it was really enjoyable to cook for the people at Trinity Center and I think it was a great way for all of us to honor Martin Luther King Day and the commitment to service and um just visit with some folks at the Winter Shelter and I really appreciate it everybody's willingness to to chip in and the price impacts we saw at the end of last fiscal year. We have recovered considerably this year. Prices have really softened and so we're back um in the black and we are looking at um starting our budget process for the budget that will be adopted April 1st and looking at the potential for a rate reduction. Um our generating costs are fairly low. The challenge will be that um we in addition to the cost of generating the electricity people have to pay for a PG& transmission charge and then this other it's the bane of our existence called the PCIA the power charge indifference adjustment and that is the blood money that we are paying to PG& for leaving them and um PG is pursuing um cases in front of the California public utilities commission to significantly increase that charge. We are continuing to appeal the charges. Uh one of the things that P Gen is trying to do is retroactively raise the charge back in 2025 and uh we are um of

the opinion that it is um not sound fiscal or legal precedent to raise rates in a rears. Um but we are going to be continuing to struggle with that this year. So, um, there will be future announcements and whatnot on how we're dealing with that. Um, and then the fun thing is Gabe Kinto has been the co-chair of our board. Chanel Scales Press Center County Supervisor is the chair of the board for MCE. Gabe is um now the California League of Cities president this year and so has stepped down. So, I volunteered to step up and am the vice chair now. So, it will be an entertaining year and I'll have a lot of interesting experiences with that. So, that's my report.

Thank you for the update. Uh, Council Member Silva,

thank you very much and happy new year to everyone. The, um, a few things to report. Um, Mayor Prom Francois and I represent the city of Walnut Creek on the board of Recycle Smart, which is takes care of your black bin, your blue bin, and your green ribs, your trash, your recyclables, and your organic waste. And we will be having our annual retreat next Tuesday and discussing the forward and the future and also approving our rates for the coming year, which starts March 1 and will continue through February. So our um commercial and residential rates will be rising slightly mostly to cover the costs of all the services that we deliver. The um liaison to Walnut Creek Sister C's international organization and they are currently in two thing there's two things they're working on. First is the planning for the visits from the students from um Shopo Hungary and noto Italy will be coming in the very last few days of March and the first week of April. So we should be prepared for that. And then also they are in the process of recruiting a new class of youth ambassadors for 26 27 and they're looking for about two dozen of our seventh grade rising eighth graders but seventh graders who will be in eighth grade next year who will travel and represent our city to Nedto and Shia folk in the fall and then have the youth ambassadors for those our sister cities visit us in the spring of 2027. the um I'm also represent the city on or to the Diablo Regional Arts Association. and their first meeting of 2026 will be in early February, but you don't need to wait for them to have a meeting to be able to enjoy the current exhibit at the Bedford Gallery, which is called it's

the work of Viola Fry, who is a was she's now deceased, but she is a longtime local artist from originally from Lodi, California. and she is a did paintings and then she did 3D sculptures and some of which are about 11 feet tall in the gallery. So you'll not want to miss this exhibit. It is currently open and it continues through April 5th and it's open Wednesdays through Sundays from noon until 6:00 p.m. And then on nights of the theater it's also open early. And I will mention lastly that I um am involved in the League of California Cities and I have been appointed to the revenue and taxation policy committee this year and our meetings or have meetings this week in Sacramento. And key on our agenda is a discussion of the recommendations of how do we address the inequities that have resulted from online shopping and the way the distribution of the sales tax works is different. If I buy a sweater for $100 at Macy's, we're going to eight and a half cents in tax, we'll get a a penny of that hundred or we'll get a dollar of that $100 and we will get 50 cents in our measure O tax. But if I find it at Macy's, but it's the wrong size or the wrong color, and I order it online, and this is what I did right after Christmas, that sales tax distribution will primarily not come here. that penny, the penny that will probably go to the warehouse, the city of the warehouse where the um from which the sweater has delivered to my house. So, we need to have a conversation about how this is working in the brickandmortar versus online sales world and thank you very much. I will see you in Sacramento.

Yes. Yes. Uh that's a hugely important issue. I'm glad you brought it up, Council Member Silva. When when I speak in front of groups and they ask, "What can we do?" who there's so much frustration going on they can't uh they can't control they go what can we do to help I say shop in person shop in person is the biggest way to help it goes right to our bottom line of tax revenue and and we keep uh all of that percentage uh or eat in person eat [laughter] do it in person whatever it is council member Dini

yes thank you yeah um council member Silva wish you the best of luck in those negotiations it's important topic So, um I I don't have um a lot to to discuss this time. Um I have had only enjoyable uh fun events to attend the last couple weeks. the uh swearing in c ceremony for our uh police officers and again congratulations to uh Chief Hibbs and I think we had a congratulations to uh Captain Slater and Captain Connor but they just uh stepped out. So um and then the uh the new hires and again enjoyed going to the Trinity Center last night for Martin Luther King and preparing meals for um the homeless there.

And I had a quick question. the visit Walnut Creek um effort on um human trafficking. Do we know what the new date is? Did she me she me did she mention that at all during her presentation? Yeah, it's still TBD on that. Okay. I want to say it's March. Okay. Yeah. Um I I had a few things. Uh first of all, I don't know how late it is you can say happy new year, but I guess it is happy new year. We have we haven't met since December,

right? February one. All right. Uh so one of the things that I did just before our break was uh one of the most fun things. Walnut Acres has their first grade classes have gingerbread cities and I was asked to cut the ribbon on these different classrooms gingerbread cities. And so very very cute. I was asked almost by every class the same question. How much do you make as the mayor? And I have the same answer. Not enough. Uh so we did have the Chick-fil-A opening. that for the audience.

CL, how much is not enough? Yeah. Yeah. $600 a month. That's what make that's what the uh that's what we make up here. Uh I go I think we all go into a loss by all the things that we uh end up going to and paying for. Uh we did have the Chick-fil-A opening today on Oak Grove Road. So this is the first Chick-fil-A that does not have a drive-thru in the country. It's a new neighborhood concept. uh they've started it here and uh there were maybe 50 60 people that showed up from staff from our police department and a lot of corporate people from Chick-fil-A as well. So uh they've hired 75 people local employees 11 of them are high school students for their first job on their resumes. So uh we look forward to seeing how this should be opening within the next six months to a year. So be hearing more about those too. I also presented uh several Eagle Scouts in the Court of Honor, which uh I'd forgotten when you're mayor, you get to do those things and uh and see 11 or 12.

I'm glad you're doing well. It's 11 or 12 years of uh of the work that it is to become an Eagle Scout. And they are dedicated because they were there for this court of honor during the 49ers game.

Dedication. And lastly, I want to talk about county connection. Well, yeah, they didn't miss much. the uh [laughter] I want to talk about county connection where I'm the liaison to the board. Uh couple of things happening that are important to note. Both chargers for the inductive charging are down in Walnut Creek at the BART station due to power supply board issues. The new power supply boards have been ordered. That's the good news. The it unfortunately those electric boards, they are we're not running the electric buses until the parts come in. They're in the process of shipping and then within one to two days of implementation they'll be good to go. That's the good news. They're being shipped from Asia. That's the less than good news. Also, Clipper 2.0 cards recently came out a couple of weeks ago. Uh there have been some issues with the with them being in the cloud and accessing accounts. The issue is being resolved. In fact, I believe it's actually uh been corrected imminently. Credit card usage with machines all work properly. One issue that's come up that BART is still figuring out how to deal with anybody that takes BART on a regular basis, it has been, of course, that you've got the you've got the card and the money is stored on the card. You tap the card, gates open up, you walk on in. Well, now because the money is stored in the cloud, you tap the card, it's got to go up to the cloud, it it access how much money you have, comes back down, and there's a delay of about one to two seconds to get in.

Yes.

Yes. [clears throat] and uh and this so that is trying to be compacted right now because anybody that has gone uh during commute time to San Francisco or back and I did that for 10 years there is a rush at those gates and if it's a delay by one second to get through that is backing way up into the escalators so uh that is being resolved u I will follow up with that uh in my next meeting or two when we hear resolving issues there that's my report which brings us to consideration item. So it's the agenda of uh I'm sorry agenda is the consideration of the proposed 2026 legislative agenda. I invite Casey Elliot, vice president and chief strategy officer from towns and public affairs to provide the presentation. Good evening, mayor, council members, Casey Elliott, uh, vice president, towns, and public affairs. Um, here tonight to provide a brief legislative update. Um, kind of a wrap-up of last year, a little bit of preview ahead of this year, just to provide a little bit of context uh, for which we will be considering. Thank you. Um, the legislative uh, agenda in front of you. Um just by a way of reminder from numbers of last year, uh last year there were about 2,400 bills introduced in Sacramento, which is um about a typical year. I mean, it's kind of a a normal bill load. Uh of that, a little over 900 uh were passed through by the legislature. Then ultimately, the governor signed just just under 800 of those bills and and vetoed the remainder uh for a veto rate of about 13%. Uh I would note that this was probably slightly higher of a veto rate um than Newsome's had in his usually kind of hangs out around the 8 to 10%. Um large a lot of the vetos messages this year were based on budgetary conditions. So

uh I think that may be a theme theme that we see continue going on into 20 uh 26. But um just kind of as we look back at the numbers of of last year's session, that's where we were. um a number of big issues um dominated. Obviously, the early part of the year is gen generally focused on more focused on the state budget. As you'll recall, the the state was operating uh looking at a12 billion deficit uh that was addressed through a number of of different um maneuvers, borrowing reserves, cost shifts. Um, and then there were some of the more uh substantive sub substantive items that were contained as part of the budget, including starting to allocate out the Proposition for uh resources, bond dollars. Um, there were any any number of trailer bills that kind of continued also federal legislation that again we'll we'll start to see pop up here in in 2026. Um, from a policy standpoint, as always, a large number of issues, just kind of picking some of the larger ones that kind kind of dominated the conversations in Sacramento. Um, as I noted in the middle there, SQUA, um, there was a number of SQA actions that was largely done through budget. Um, large number the last any number of years, SQA conversations in Sacramento generally revolve around sports stadiums and whatnot. this year it kind of moved in uh to uh areas of housing uh vegetation management um a number of projects. This probably is in in the 20 years that I've been in Sacramento, it's probably the most extensive SQUA uh revisiting that we've seen um in in just efforts to kind of streamline existing projects through. Um so that took up a large portion again was factored into the budget. uh cap and invest cap and trade reauthorization was also um tied in through the budget uh extending that program out as well as putting in a new expenditure plan that generates about $4 billion a year outside of the state's general fund that

then gets reinvested into any number of programs uh aimed at um uh improving air quality um strategic building transportation uh so any number of of programs they modified that spending formula slightly. So, there's still a good chunk billion dollars off the top to highspeed rail. There's now a billion that's going to be discretionary for the legislature. And then there's um kind of a descending order of of priority programs that that would get reinvested into. Uh so, we'll see start seeing that first the first year of the new spending um schedule go out go into effect in calendar year 26. Um then there was a number of issues um immigration response, congressional redistricting that were in in direct response to activities that were going out in DC. Obviously on the congressional redistricting and Prop 50 um passage, we'll see that start being implemented in the 26 election cycle for for Congress. While that won't impact the city directly here, um Congressman Donier obviously retains the bulk of you the bulk of the city and the in his district. um any number of places throughout the state are going to be dealing with a lot more politics as effectively we're going to have four or five additional districts that were drawn with the intent of moving partisan representation in those areas. So we'll see start seeing that manifest this year. Uh and then at the very end of the year in November we had uh the official change over in Senate leadership. So the Senate has a new prom u Monique Leone out of the Santa Barbara area. Um she took over that position in November, had her formal uh kind of uh swearing in when the legislature convened uh here in January. Um she's since announced new committee leadership, some new committee leadership, um new majority leaders. So will just be a different set of priorities in the Senate. Um though Prom

Leone was fairly well aligned with the previous prom Mike Maguire. So, um, we'll be interested to see just how kind of how she operates the house, uh, versus the the previous prom. Um, when we start to look at at the issues that may be upcoming here in 26, um, as I noted, the beginning of the the year is is when we see the governor's January budget. Um, he released his budget uh on the I think it was the 8th or 9th. Um, according [clears throat] to the governor and the department of finance, the state's looking at a $2.9 billion deficit that's on about $250 billion general fund. Um, the LAO has a very different number. Um, which I I'll get into in just a minute. Uh, the from the governor's budget perspective, he largely addresses the deficit through a single maneuver of of um pausing a $2.8 billion payment into the state's rainy day fund. So effectively the way the governor's January budget was released, it's balanced just on the bat. Um also as we look into um issues that are likely to pop up before the legislature this year, um always housing and affordability. Um housing, I think last year there were 60 housing bills signed into law. Um obviously last year a lot of the effort was on SB79. Uh we already have one SB79 cleanup bill. I anticipate we'll see another SP79 cleanup bill before um before February 20th um rolls around and special funds. Um the major difference between the Department of Finance um and in the LAO on their budgets is the revenue projection. Um in November, the LAO had anticipated the state would be looking at somewhere near an $18 billion budget deficit for the current year. As noted, the governor um has the deficit pegged much lower. And that's almost directly attributable to

the amount of revenue. So over the current year that the budget year we're in the proposed budget year um so over the two-year window the state department of finance is projecting an additional 42 billion in revenue over the LAO largely driven by AI um capital gains um tech sector. uh LAO is much more um cautious on those revenues developing and the department of finance would say we understand that's a risky revenue assessment and we will deal with that when it doesn't materialize. So that's largely where those two different is two differences um come to come from. Um as I noted earlier the $2.8 billion um true up um suspension of the true up fund to the rainy day fund is is largely how the governor proposes to address the budget deficit. Uh that does still leave um 14 and a half approximately 14.5 billion uh in the rainy day fund that the state has. Um this budget has no proposed new revenue streams um no new taxes. Um there is there are various tax proposals being discussed for the November ballot, but those are not from the administration. They're not part of this budget. Um so there's no new no new significant revenues. And then the department of finance um in acknowledgement of various impacts um coming to California from federal um federal decisions, some of the revenue uncertainties uh has really deferred until the May revised to make a lot of their decisions. So the January budget we saw didn't really have any new major programs, a lot of expansions as much as there is alignment there allows for um quicker operation and quicker turnaround of positions. And then also that will be shared with um with the city's legislative representatives so they have an understanding and knowledge of the city's priorities. So as bills are being introduced, as policies are coming forward, they'll understand beforehand where the city's positions are um and and that engagement will begin uh immediately.

Um, as we look at some of the specific uh items with ch proposed changes within the document, um, tried to kind of create a a a quick summary of just some of those items. Um, here um you'll notice within the public safety section, there's some revised language related to Proposition 36. uh that really just is more of a reflection of um where we are in the Prop 36 conversation from developing legislative policy that later later became Proposition 36 and some of the other public safety bills that were taken up to now really a full implementation of of what the voters have approved. So just really kind of um modifying that language to just kind of better reflect where where Prop 36 is within the process. Um similarly language was um added in related to um housing processes, planning processes that align with of the city's housing element as well as um uh opposing conflicting policies that the state and regional levels may have um which happens. So obviously trying to encourage all of our partners at the state and and local agencies to kind of work in more of a coordinated fashion um so that you know local governments of the city can can deliver on on what those priorities are. Um there was some cleanup language within the transportation section um some removing of some kind of just older language related to um some overlays, some capsules uh and just on kind of some general cleanup within the transportation section. Uh there was also new language um specifically calling out increased safety for all roadway users including uh ebike operators. Uh I do anticipate this year we will see more ebike related legislation. We've already seen two bills introduced two new bills introduced on ebikes um within the first week of the legislative session. Uh in our conversations I think there's a probably at least two or three more. Um so definitely becoming a broader issue. So wanted to make sure there was

flexibility within this within the city's platform to um to to respond to legislation related to ebikes. Um then there was again some some cleaning up of just some duplicative language within the environmental sustainability section. Um and then there was um some inclusion of language uh related to affordability uh on electric utility service within within the sustainability section. And then I believe um Joe's going to speak to a couple of additional amendments that um are being proposed as well.

Thank you, Casey. Uh good evening, council members, Mayor Wilk, uh Joe Carros, assistant to the city manager. Uh I do want to talk about a few additional amendments that are not included in the materials you have in front of you. These came in from a few council members, uh and are some suggested changes. So uh the first one I want to go over and I apologize it's quite uh small on screen. Uh 3C. So item 3C is a very uh minor adjustment. Uh it says cap and trade but due to um some rebranding done in late 2025 moving that to cap and invest funding. Uh then in the final paragraph uh a few adjustments to reflect um not just um relationship building with state legislators but also federal elected elected officials. Uh and so there's some adjustments there. Um but we did add in uh to the final line for state legislative activities. TPA will provide support and talking points since uh towns in public affairs supports us for state legislative activities. So, I'll give folks a second to to see that before we move over to the next slide.

Question about that. [clears throat] I mean, obviously, we want to have good relationships with everyone. I see that we we interact on a regular basis with local and state um officials. Are we interacting with the federal elected officials here? Uh uh might pardon me. Okay.

All right. And then the next uh series of adjustments are for 4C and 4 D which is in the sustainability section. Uh the first adjustment I want to uh bring attention to is the marine clean energy MCE. Uh we are now uh they are now referring to themselves as MCE um formerly marine clean energy. So just making that adjustment to be reflected within the uh the agenda. Uh and then made some additional adjustments um which is all that red that you see there to 4C and 4D um to be reflective um uh of uh some MCE legislative uh support topics. So I'm going to go ahead and just read this uh the adjustments so that I can uh share what the the suggested changes are. The city supports additional funding. We're talking about 4C for energy saving programs and funding for programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The city joined MCE, formerly Marine Clean Energy, to offer residents and businesses additional cleaner and greener electric energy choices, and to increase local control over energy procurement and development, expand consumer choice, and provide access to renewable energy at stable and competitive rates. As a member of MCE, the city opposes restrictive legislation and regulations targeting community choice energy programs, including improper cost allocation, policies that unfairly disadvantage CCAs or their customers, interference with local uh energy governance, and actions that diminish CCA procurement, policym, and decision-making autonomy. So, there's uh some additions there. Then, in 4D, a few more additions. So, the city supports legislation and decisions that give local jurisdictions access to utility energy data and ensure transparency and accountability and ensure utilities respond to local government's unique data needs to support informed local decision-m energy planning and consumer protection.

And so, uh, before I pass back to to Casey to take any additional questions, the recommended action is now, uh, is is to approve the 2026 state legislative agenda inclusive of the, uh, additional amendments presented today on those last two slides. All right. Thank you. And I'll go ahead and pass back to to Casey.

This part's easy. Any questions? [laughter] All right. Do we have any questions? We'll start with Council Member Silva. Thank you very much and thank you for the work both well in Sacramento, but sometimes your work also lops over into our federal advocacy efforts. So, I appreciate all of it. Of course,

we had a comment from the public and it was the comment was made about the grant funding that we were seeking for overtime pay for traffic enforcement, but really it also relates to by extension any technology that we might put into play. and he was uh the community member was suggesting we try to get ourselves added into the pilot program for the um I guess digital license plate reading program and my I ran that to ground 18 months ago through the League of California Cities and the answer I got was it's not an open season for um anybody who wants to participate can. It's really it was a select number of cities that the state legislature selected as a pilot to ensure that it was working properly um and would not be misused

at the local level. But can you add on to that? Do you

Yeah, there's there's the the legislature uses the I mean they're very loose in their use of word pilot program. So it can mean a number of different things. generally I would say in maybe within the last 10 years or so when we use kind of the broader pilot program um in really transportation related technology instances so whether it's digital license plates red light cameras speed enforcement cameras um there's been typically that that committee prefers the approach of specifying which specific cities or counties or agencies those pilot projects will apply to as opposed to maybe a the state's going to set up a pilot program and receive applications. So typically in the transportation committee um back definitely when it was under Jim Frasier, former Assembly member Frasier, Laura Freriedman um because the the speed enforcement camera has Glendale in it which is why they're the kind of the only small city. She was the chair at the time but typically they do it that way. So they'll put then they'll put sunsets on the bills and so typically when the sunset dates come up the those pilot entities will look to expand the bill and then we can kind of had a broad broader conversation. So so yes most of those within the transportation space are are defined pilot programs. Um but when those come back up then there may be opportunities to expand

or they make them available across the state. Correct. That the legislation worked. Yeah. These are the rules. Exactly. Go forward and prosper. Exactly. Yes. Thank you. And what a fun job. Um just curious, do you think this year I know last year um the subject of ice coming in to cities and um facial coverings was a big issue. Um do you expect to see additional work in that area or

Yes. Yeah. The short answer is yes. So, so last year there were a couple of different ones. The um SB 627, Senator Weiner's bill regarding the the face coverings uh as well as uh Senator Perez had a bill. I'm going to I'm going to butcher the number so I won't guess uh on on identification. Um those were signed into law. Those are being challenged um federally. Um, so I depending upon how those court cases work out, I could see there being some follow-up legislation uh on the state side. Um, there was also legislation uh related to K through 12 and community college districts about um requirements that um warrants or specific things that ICE would need in order to gain access into private campuses. So we we saw some of those legislation. Um, we've already seen this last week, uh, Assembly Member Isaac Bryan in LA introduced a bill that would prohibit local law enforcement from holding second jobs with ICE. Um, I think that we will continue to see um, response legislation in response to some of these activities, whether it's protests, whether it's ICE carrying out duties. Um, so yeah, I do think that will continue. Sacramento, it's going to sound worse than it is, but Sacramento is largely reactive. So it kind of depends upon what

what ICE thinks up to do next. Exactly. Kind of what the what the what the and really like I said, since we're in bill introduction deadline, I do anticipate some of the um things that we're seeing going on in Minnesota and other places in the state as we're into bill development time. we may see some of those things um legislation in response to some of those activities. Uh but yeah, I do think that'll continue to be a topic. Yeah, thank you. And then the other big flare that went up was when P Gen substations in San Francisco shut down and all of a sudden P G San Francisco's rattling the saber about taking over P Gen. Um do you think that's got any legs to it or uh

your guess is as good as ours? Yeah, I mean I I I could say I don't I don't work with the city or county city and county of San Francisco. So I don't know I don't know where they would get that money. That seems like a very expensive endeavor to take over that. Uh but I do think energy procurement um energy will continue to be a conversation. There's already conversations related to extending um Dablo Canyon again. Feels like we just had that that [laughter] conversation a couple years ago. Um but yeah, I think there that there are some um I I there I think there will be legislation this year by any number of members that are seeking election to different offices that may we may see legislation of things that maybe play well really lo really well locally, but maybe once you extrapolate that out to a legislative thing. So I I could see in San Francisco if you're maybe running for Congress in there, like that might be a bill that that that you know plays well really locally. But from a state policy perspective, I I don't I don't know that there's a lot of appetite for that.

Okay. And then on the the sequest streamlining, I know there's been a lot of discussion about um certain types of projects getting streamlined and whatnot. Um the battery energy storage facilities after the Moss Landing fire. Are are you still seeing, you know, battery storage being, you know, if we're going to get rid of Diablo Canyon, we need batteries. Um I I think that you know last year there was like I said there was a lot um there was there was a lot done and I think that last year is going to open the floodgates for SQA requests. Whether the legislature does any more or not I'm I'm a little I I tend to think they won't. Um that said the um California Chamber of Commerce I know is pursuing a significant SQA um initiative that they're trying to place on the 2026 ballot which would definitely um streamline any number of types of projects beyond what the legislaturator's done um both in terms of um review timelines up front as well as litigation timelines on the back end. So we may still see some more SQA activity, but I think it may be more driven through the initiative process than from the legislature this year. Yeah, at the the Chamber of Commerce this month, we saw the the rough outline of what they were proposing and it seemed like a work in progress because it included things that I would not normally think of as being easily sequa exempt. But

yeah, and and I think from a local government perspective too, a lot of the timelines that they're putting in would be very challenging. um it would it would uh require very quick um in some cases depending upon project size very rapid review of projects with then limited ability to go back and look at other components as projects develop. So um yeah, there's a there's a lot within what they're looking at to to digest there. Yeah, I think things that went through conveyed water through the delta were in there like, "Oh, that's fun." Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Have fun this year, Council Member Deini.

Yeah. Thank you. Um I was wondering uh Prop 36, I know that it wasn't fully funded and and part of the rationale where there was budget cuts and and cost constraints and things. Um but it was a pretty um pretty widely uh you know popular uh measure. So were there other What do you What do you make of that? Yeah.

Well, the the governor definitely was not a fan of Prop 36. Um and but I think that from a legislative basis I pretty sure it passed in every single legislative district. Right. So I mean from a from a legislative perspective it's it was obviously was widely popular amongst the public. Um within legislators it was popular. Um the governor's January budget this year is I would say relatively silent on funding of Prop 36. Um the defi department of finance director Joe Stefenshaw was asked a direct question about the funding of Prop 36 during the budget release and he kind of talked about savings from Prop 47 and you know moving money around but um I I think the administration is going to kind of go kicking and screaming on on this one. Uh I do think we'll see legislative leadership given the the broad support for Prop 36 really try to push um for for full funding. uh particularly when we start talking about some of the overlapping populations that are priorities for the administration, whether it's mental health, um substance abuse, homeless populations that that are also impacted um by some of the um funding that could be, you know, forwarded through Prop 36. So, I I think that as we get into May revise, we'll see more of that conversation, but it definitely is a higher priority for the legislature than it is for the administration, which then tends to make me think it'll be subject of a negotiation as we get into May revise. What you think their their big critique or their their

Well, I think the governor just didn't agree with the overall philosophy of of Prop 36. I think, you know, of you know, incre you know um and it's hard to say he wanted more more correct you more time in corrections facilities. I there was just a a lot going on and a lot of it honestly was political um and and it was not the proposal that the administration wanted. So I I think that maybe in 27 we'll maybe see some more full funding for Prop 36 as we move into a new administration kind of where that is because some of the issues that have really prevented the full funding of Prop 36 won't just won't be present anymore.

Okay. And then I just had a question about uh the pilot programs you know there uh there's a few obviously pilot programs going on and is it is it prohibitive that that cities I mean do do you see these programs getting extended? uh sometimes to other jurisdictions or yeah I mean for example like Marin has their ebike uh pilot program and um you know one of the ideas would be you know might we be able to join something like that and I I know it's also an issue with uh you know the speed cameras and maybe the red light cameras and so forth. So um is is there

Yeah, we definitely see those. I mean a lot of times when when those issues pop up as pilot programs, the the they become they they start as broader proposals and then kind of get whittleled down um as they move. I think we would start, you know, the the conversation would be about opening that up when

you don't see exceptions prior to that time. No, I mean because like on bills like that that one in particular um just because I I know we had I had some colleagues working on that one. That one started as a broader proposal that would have been applicable statewide and then given concerns it was narrowed back down. So I know that there would be any number of agencies locally um any number of stakeholders at the state level that would like to see certain programs open back up. I think ebikes is definitely one that we hear more of. I think when Marin kind of worked their legislation in their bill, I don't want to say ebikes was a Marin only issue, but I think what was that four years ago? Just ebikes weren't quite as prevalent of an issue. I think a lot of jurisdiction were like, "Oh, we're getting the lime scooters or whatnot, you know, just starting to deploy and they hadn't really dealt with all of the issues that surrounded it." So maybe Marin was maybe just a little bit ahead on that issue. But uh but yeah, a lot of times we do see these getting revisited and then opened back up. um particularly when they're successful locally. I mean that that helps a lot because then we can whatever the concerns may have been with a particular bill and forced it to you know kind of consolidate down to a pilot program. Everyone has the data then that they can turn to and say like see you're you know whatever you feared it would happen didn't in these cases and so we should look for broader expansion.

Thanks Casey. Uh please would any member Oh, we have one more question from the dis [clears throat]

your diagram that had the four issue areas included affordability related to housing versus production. I assume because that's what a lot of the recent bills have been. When we talk about affordability, it often means and you mentioned this that they want us at the local level to reduce the impact fees and the costs. And of course you hear commercials about that. Oh, we're going to do that. Um, oftentimes our co our fees are to recover the costs in order to process the application and address issues. What do you need from us to support your advocacy when you're walking the halls of the capital building and the swing building and talking to legislators about the costs are not the fees are not that high? What can we give you?

Yeah. Yeah. I I cheat sheet of some sort.

Yeah. So, so you'll probably recall um right before COVID um was kind of the last time we had a major conversation related to impact fees and it was led by that charge was led by then assembly member uh Tim Grayson. Um so uh we not just we but um TPA C's CSDA our education friends spent a lot of time talking to the senator around the or now senator around the state on you know you say the fees are too high but do are you willing to go without parks are you willing without roads without schools without water and sewer laterals these are all the things or or conversely where's the state funding to backfill you know what what cities would otherwise get and at that point then obviously the pandemic happened and and that conversation kind of kind of died away. I I think a lot of what we learned from that original time original kind of goaround is we probably overestimated what legislators understand about fees. Um my my favorite one is well you have all of these inloo fees like the fees are too high and it's like well well yes but if people built the affordable units they were supposed to we wouldn't charge an inloo fee so why why should our fees be lower like they

or if they built the park we wouldn't charge an inloo park fee.

Exactly. So a lot of the inloo so but I think a lot of it is well these these fees for x project in my district were really high and it's like well maybe they were inloo fees maybe there's this maybe there's that. We did see a lot of conver we did see some conversation towards the end of last year around the city of LA and their um mansion tax. So there was some conversation related to charter cities abilities to levy their own document transfer taxes and kind of some of the varying rates around those through the state. Um so they're getting a little bit granular on that. But I think that a lot of what what we will ultimately need is kind of demonstrating what those fees are and then where that funding goes to because ultimately like said the conversations that we had several years ago it was well you like schools right? Okay. So, we need money for schools like you like, you know, so I mean it's not just some misconception that this is just padding, you know, cities and counties, you know, bottom line so they can have this more general fund revenue that it is. And my favorite is always reminding folks about the the 218 process that that cities have to go through and establishing fees and and asking if we could maybe just do something like that at the state level, which I'm always quickly laughed out of the room, but um the reminder is that, you know, cities and local governments have to go through a fee setting process. We don't just have the ability to, you know, assess assess fees because we want to or we like this number or

and generally with a nexus to actually the cost to deliver the service. Exactly. Exactly. So, but I think that's gen I think a lot of it is honestly more of an education campaign because there's just kind of a misunderstanding as to what these fees do or where they go to. Yeah. There's some perception because I had a conversation a meeting with as then assembly member Grayson about three years ago and I he said something like well fees are 25 to 30% of the cost of the building. and I go, "Hm, don't think so. I could walk you through it." Yeah. And so I think that's what they don't under They're listening to some voices that just don't they'd like it for free, right? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yes.

Right. Now, let's open it up to public comment. If there's anybody from the public that would like to speak to this issue, please step forward. No, I don't see anybody stepping forward then. All right. We'll close public comment, bring it back to council. So, any further comments, questions, or motion to accept.

So, I'm going to thank the committee and staff and our consultants for the work on this. It's it's in depth every year and it's t it reflects the current state of issues that we're most interested in and appropriate and it gives us the platform from which to be able to respond quickly and not have to bring every letter that we want to write or every phone call we want to make to the council during a an agenda meeting. So I'm happy to move to approve the draft legislative agenda for 2026 with the changes proposed um at the dis and through the presentation go

and I too would like to express my thanks to the legislative committee because now that I've been through this I was like wow that's a lot of work um and I appreciate people's willing I had asked MCE to give me the specifics of what they were looking for to deal with the changing environment and they didn't get that to me as quickly as I'd hoped. So, thank you for um to staff for getting on that here and and incorporating their input into it and I with that I would like to second. Yeah. And I uh again, yeah, thank staff and Casey. This is uh a lot of work goes into this and then we get it and within an hour we're making little changes and and that's it. It seems easy to us but I know there's a lot of work behind it. So, thank you very much. And with that, we've got a motion and a second. Susie, if you could call the role, please. Council member Silva I. Council member Darling I. Council member

Deini I. Mayor Will I. Motion carries. All right. And I believe that brings us to the end of the meeting. Could I make a quick announcement? Yes. Um the date for the memorial service for former mayor Grengalia has been set. It is Thursday the 26th of February. It is this it is before the East Bay Division meeting. It will doors will open at the leer at 4 and the service or the celebration will start at 4:30. All right. So at the lesser center at the Leer Center.

So if we can distribute that information to our community members as well. And uh open and if uh if our communications department could also let uh the East Bay Times know. They had inquired about that last week. I don't believe we had an answer for them. So um let's pass that up through our communications manager. With that, we are adjourned until what's the next day? It's not down here. February 3rd. All right. Ajourned. Yeah.