City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to this, the April 27 meeting at the Livermore City Council. I call the meeting to order. Roll call, please.

Council member Berrientos? Here. Council member Branning?

Here.

Council member Dunbar?

Here.

Vice mayor Wong? Here. Mayor Marshawn?

Here. If you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America, the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Question for the city attorney. Was there any reportable action taken in the closed session?

Tim Seeley, city attorney. No. There was no reportable action.

Okay. Very good. Moving on to proclamations and presentations, something very near and dear to my heart. This is a proclamation recognizing the one hundredth anniversary of California Water Service. As many of you know, I spent my career as a water quality chemist, so this is something that's very important to me.

So it's a proclamation of the city of Livermore presented to the California Water Service Group for the centennial celebration. Whereas the California Water Service Group, otherwise known as Cal Water, is recognized and honored by the city of Livermore as a business that has demonstrated unwavering commitment to serving our community, the city of Livermore, and contributing to the quality of life for our residents. And whereas Cal Water was founded in 1926 and has served communities throughout California for one hundred years, providing safe, clean, reliable water to more than 2,000,000 people throughout California. And whereas the company has demonstrated exemplary stewardship through conservation programs and rebates that have helped customers reduce their water use by 30% between 02/2020 and supporting both environmental sustainability and household affordability. And whereas Cal Water has invested responsibly in infrastructure, sustainability initiatives, and community well-being undertaking proactive, ongoing maintenance, and upgrades to deliver safe, clean drinking water, and improve emergency readiness.

And whereas through generations of employees and leadership, Cal Water has maintained its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for customers and communities, creating jobs, supporting the local economy, and engaging with community organizations in our neighborhoods and throughout California. Now, therefore, the city of Livermore, takes great pride in congratulating and recognizing Cal Water on the momentous occasion of its one hundredth anniversary of providing safe, clean, reliable water to Livermore. Gentlemen?

Just a few words, and I I will rebrief. I promise.

Can

you hear me okay? Alright. Mayor Marshawn and city council, I wanna thank you for this wonderful proclamation. The these words are truly what Cal Water is all about. The year 2026 marks an extraordinary milestone, our hundredth anniversary of service as a public utility.

A centennial is more than a measurement of time. It reflects resilience, purpose, and enduring commitment to the communities we serve. Cal Water was founded by three visionaries, Chris Christopher Chenery, Thomas Wiggins, and George Ostrom, who understood a simple but powerful truth. Growing communities dependent on reliable water, and reliable water dependent on strong infrastructure. From the very beginning, our mission has centered around protecting public health, advancing engineering excellence, delivering exceptional customer service, and build building lasting community partnerships.

Those principles continue to guide us today. True story is our of our centennial isn't about pipes and systems. It's about people. It's about our employees who kept operations running through times of war, who ensured stability during economic hardship, who showed up every day during the pandemic to keep the water flowing. A century of services is, at its core, a century of dedication.

Throughout 2026, we will honor the milestones by recognizing our employees, engaging continued engaging with our communities, and reflecting on the legacy that has brought us here. At the same time, we are focused on the future, recommitting ourselves to innovation, reliability, and service for the next hundred years. Thank you.

Thank you. And I will tell you that there have been, the the commitment that we have in the water industry, I've worked with people that have put in not only 24, but forty hour days Okay. Because they understand the importance of the infrastructure and of the importance of water for our, for our communities. So thank you very much for the great work that you're doing. Thank you very much, Sean.

Alright. Something else that's near and dear to my heart. This is, Livermore Valley wine month, and I'll be presenting this to, executive director of the Livermore Valley Wine Foundation, Brandy Lombardi. So whereas the city whereas the Livermore Valley wine country is one of California's oldest and most historic wine regions with a heritage dating back to the eighteen forties, earning national and international acclaim and contributing to the state's reputation as a world class wine producer. And whereas pioneering vintners such as Robert Livermore, Charles Wetmore, Carl h Wente, James Concannon, and others established the foundation of California's premium wine industry here in the Livermore Valley.

And whereas the Livermore Valley American Viticultural Area established in 1982 is home to more than 50 wineries, tasting rooms, and related businesses that support local economy. And whereas the wine industry provides employment opportunities, supports agriculture, attracts tourism, and enhances the cultural vitality and quality of life of the city Of Livermore and surrounding region. And whereas May represents a season of renewal and growth in the vineyards and an opportunity to celebrate the Livermore Valley wine month by honoring our viticultural heritage, supporting local wineries, and exploring the region's wines. Now, therefore, the city council of the city of Livermore proclaims May 2026 to be Livermore Valley wine month in the City Of Livermore and encourages all residents and visitors to celebrate our wine heritage by visiting local wineries, participating in wine related events, and raising a glass to the vendors who continue this proud tradition. Randy?

City council and mayor Marshawn, I I can't thank you enough for this. We are it's hard to pick a month that's Livermore Valley wine month and Livermore Valley Wine Country because there's just unique qualities of each month that make it worth visiting, worth being a place that people would come as a destination to enjoy award winning wine. But May is particularly close to my heart because the vines are growing. You can see the sustainability in action and and just the beautiful leafed out vineyards all around as you drive through our wine country. I'm so thankful for the support of the city as we we really launch a huge visitation strategy and campaign to get more new people to come, not drive by us as they go some to another wine region, but to stop to enjoy the vintners that are in the tasting rooms that are authentic and real and giving just experiences that are beyond the ordinary and that are really allowing people to get to know what the vines are about all the way from the terroir all the way to the glass, and I'm so grateful for your recognition of that.

So thank you so much.

Well, one of the things that in other wine regions, they've got people that are just they really don't really have connections, but when you're in the Livermore Valley, the people whose names are on the label, those are the people that are pouring your wines. Exactly. These are the you get this connection to the people that are that are actually involved in the craft. So I think that's one of the things that really sets us apart. And so congratulations to all of you who do some tremendous work here.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Okay. Moving on to advisory bodies. We've got the nominations that have gone through the vetting process. We have historic preservation, Richard Hannon for the library, Erin Rossland and Nancy Olivariantos, and for the housing authority, Dan Knight. So with that, do I have a oh, is there is there any public comment?

No public comment received for this item.

Okay. With that case, I'm gonna close the public comment period. Any council comments? Motion for approval?

I'll just note as a comment that we had a group of fantastic applicants. It was very hard to decide between them. We think we spent the better part of an hour trying to decide between them. So thank you for all those who applied, even those not selected. We hope and expect that you'll be to be connected to the city.

Well, that's one the things is I certainly appreciate the the caliber of talent that comes forward and the people that are willing to donate their time to keep living with a remarkable place that it is. So thanks everyone for their time, not only for interviewing, but also for stepping up and volunteering. So with that, is do I have a motion?

Move. So moved.

I'll second.

Okay. Move from it by councilor Dunbar, seconded by councilor Variantos. Any discussion on the motion? Oh, it's a. Right? Second by one. Oh, I'm sorry. You I amitating. Too softly. Alright. Okay. So with that, any discussion? All in favor? Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Passed unanimously. Moving on to oh, do we have the applicants here?

There are no applicants present this evening.

Okay, so you'll administer the oath at another time.

Yes, I will.

Okay, very good. Now it's the we're moving on to the open forum. This is an opportunity for people to speak on an item that is not on the agenda. The city clerk will explain how people can participate.

To provide comment, please fill out and turn in a speaker card found at the entrance of the council chamber. Speakers will be announced in the order received. Once public comment opens, each participant's name will be announced, and their three minutes will begin once at the lectern. Please note, a speaker is not required to answer any questions from the city council, and the city council is not required to answer questions from the public. However, the mayor has the discretion to ask staff to address the speaker's comments when a council member believes it is relevant to a particular business item.

The mayor will announce the conclusion the opening and conclusion of the public comment period after comments have been voiced into the record. We have we have four speakers for open forum. The first speaker is Simon Tin.

Good evening, honorable mayor, city council members, and the public. My name is Sy Matin. Sydas, actually, which is closer back to the Iranian, Sydas the Great. And I'm lucky to be in this country. I came here 1978 before the revolution happened in my country.

My old country, my new country is United States Of America. I'm very honored to be here. So I'm here to just talk a little bit, last few minutes about the war going on between our great country and country of Israel against this terrorist that they have basically taken control of my country. And I have something over here from our honorable state secretary of state, mister Rovio, to which I'd like to everybody to listen.

Why did The United States have to attack Iran now? Well, let me explain. Iran wants to have nuclear weapons. Of that, there is zero doubt. If what they truly want

What what do they do?

What they truly wanted, which is what they claim, is nuclear energy. Well, they could have nuclear energy like all the other countries in the world have it, and that is you import the fuel and you build reactors above ground. That's not what Iran has done. They build the reactors and their facilities deep in mountains away from the public glare, and they want to enrich that material. The same equipment that they could use to enrich material for energy, they could use to quickly enrich it to weapons grade.

So it is clear that they've been offered every opportunity to have a nuclear program that allows them to have energy, not weapons, and every single time they have turned it down. But why the attack now? Well, what was Iran trying to do? Iran was trying to build a a conventional shield, in essence, have so many missiles, have so many drones that no one could attack them, and they were well on their way. We were on the verge of an Iran that had so many missiles and so many drones that no one could do anything about their nuclear weapons program in the future.

That was an intolerable risk. Under no circumstances can a country run by radical Shia clerics with an apocalyptic vision of the future ever possess nuclear weapons, and under no circumstances can they be allowed to hide and protect that program and their ambitions behind a shield of missiles and drones that no one can do anything about. This was our last best chance to eliminate that conventional threat, that conventional shield that they were trying to build, and the president made the right decision to wipe it out now. That is the goal of this operation, to destroy their conventional missiles and their drone program so they can't hide behind it and finally have to deal with the world seriously about never ever having nuclear weapons. Many Americans are asking why did The United States have to attack.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Joey Griffiths.

Hello? There we go. Hello. Good evening. My name is Joey Griffiths.

I'm a resident here in Livermore. For some context about what I'm gonna talk about, I have over a decade of personal and professional experience in three d printing. So I'm here today because I feel the need to make some public comment about and maybe educate the city council on legislation that's on track to pass within California that directly opposes the interests of Livermore residents as well as the council's own stated vision for Livermore and its place as a center for innovation within the Bay Area. So the legislation I'm concerned about is assembly bill twenty forty seven, which was proposed by our district assembly member, Rebecca Bauerka. There we go.

Sorry. Which was recently passed to the appropriations committee and claims to establish controls around three d printing of firearms. I'll kind of preface. Consider myself pro gun control in general, which is what this bill is trying to claim, but it doesn't do it. You know, in theory, this bill is supposed to trade privacy, personal IP, copyright and information, right to repair, you know, access to creative tools, all of these things in exchange for a slight reduction to the, you know, accessibility and distribution of firearms.

But in reality, the text of the bill has almost zero technical merit. It's just completely full of loopholes and, you know, nothing of substance. And if passed, it will very effectively limit all of the advantages and benefits that three d printing provides while, you know, not actually doing any of the protecting it claims to do. You know, when it was first proposed, I wrote to the assembly member providing, you know, some feedback, some context, some critique, but also, you know, constructive feedback and tried to seek, like, a meeting to discuss that, leverage some of my technical expertise or, you know, essentially suggest a rewrite or revision, and that was kind of ignored. So, you know, now that it's moving forward more, I kinda feel the need to bring it up again in some sort of public setting.

I know last council meeting, I heard you talk about, you know, how excited you were for the airport innovation center and, you know, the ability to have Livermore be a hub for that. And this is just something that kinda stands directly opposed to that. And, yeah, that's pretty much all I got to say. I I guess I'll end with, you know, I'd be happy to talk in detail about why I think it lacks a lot of technical merit. Can't really get to it in three minutes, but I'd be happy to talk with anyone interested or if you can pass me up the chain type of thing. So because I haven't been able to get in contact with anyone.

Okay. Thank you.

Yeah. Thanks.

The next speaker is Alan Marling.

First, I wish to address my fellow Livermore residents. Save lives by driving safely. Specifically, going 25 miles per hour in residential zones prevents lethal collisions. Not only do you have more time to react and brake if a kid runs onto the road after a ball, but also the human body is more likely to survive if you're not speeding and smashing someone with more kinetic energy. Even nudging your vehicle up to 30 miles per hour will make any accidental collision more than twice as likely to kill compared to 25 miles per hour.

According to the meta analysis published in 2019 in the Journal of Accident Analysis and Prevention, the mortality rates based on speed are thirteen percent at 25 miles per hour, twenty nine percent at 31 miles per hour, and fifty nine percent at 37 miles per hour. So I urge Livermore residents to drive 25 miles per hour in residential zones. It makes the city safer for everyone and pay for pets too. Arriving a few seconds sooner is not worth the potential for life changing grief. Also, of course, pull over before texting.

Now, mayor and council members, to get to city council, I drive down College Avenue. The signs display a speed limit of 30 miles per hour despite this being a residential road. It isn't any wider than the street where I live, which has a safer limit of 25 miles per hour, and I can't see College Avenue being any less likely to have people walking across it or pets thrashing across or kids wandering into the road. And I'm not sure what justification there could be that some streets in Livermore have different speed limits, but whatever the reasoning, I question that it can be worthwhile when the cost is more than double the chance of death in car human collisions. Further, having some residential streets allow for 30 miles per hour muddles the safety issue.

It can get people used to driving faster. It can make it seem okay. The risk becomes normalized. I don't think it's fair to allow some neighborhoods to be inherently more dangerous than others, and I believe our residential streets be best served having consistent speed limit of 25 miles per hour. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Joe Lee.

I had a brief meeting with one of the city's IT staff ten days ago, and he gave me an excellent suggestion, yeah, to help city council members set up GNU slash Linux systems to try out for a few weeks. This is something I'm eager to do. I do see one big issue, though. There is no reason for city council members to trust me, a random person who shows up to meetings every once in a while. So it it would almost be as bad as the blind faith that we put in Microsoft, for example, to not do bad things, like deliberately withholding security patches, putting all of its users at risk in order to give the state a chance to exploit Microsoft software vulnerabilities, and that's from one of the batch of classified documents which were released to the press about thirteen years ago.

So that's why I'm offering to coach Citi IT workers instead through the installation process, perhaps even the city worker who shared this idea with me in the first place. And if there if that's too much to ask of one worker, I could do the installations with multiple IT workers gathered around to observe everything I do. And I so I also wonder if city workers are overwhelmed by the the idea of learning a new operating system. So I suggest me possibly rewarding the workers by redirecting money otherwise spent on Microsoft licenses toward IT worker salaries. I don't really I'm pretty dumb about how these things work, but I think everyone can get behind paying workers more instead of sending money to unscrupulous proprietary software companies.

And last week, I attempted to acquire some laptops for this purpose, and I got this suspicion that possibly the city had if it's anything like the company I work for, there's stacks of laptops laying around somewhere that have been been decommissioned and haven't been disposed of yet. Maybe we could repurpose that for demos. And then related to demos, in about three weeks, I I will be holding an all afternoon gathering with and I'll I'll have demos available at the Livermore Public Library. So this will be, it's a gathering for the Free Software Foundation. It's a five zero one c three charitable nonprofit, that, along with the GNU project, started this whole movement of started this whole free software movement in the mid nineteen eighties, and, I'm inviting everyone to come, to the meeting.

It'll be held in the community room, from noon to 6PM, May 17. That's a Sunday. And, let's see what, oh, so the meeting is one of the it's the only one in California. So it's a worldwide, event. So it's, there there there are events, in Iran, Kyiv, Ukraine. There's one in China even. There's, there's one at Georgia Tech. There's three states in The US that have that are holding the event, Connecticut, Georgia, and California. The one in California is right here in Livermore. So I invite everyone to come.

What was the, time and location again?

Sunday, May 17 from, twelve noon to 6PM.

Thank you.

Mayor, excuse me. Mayor, there are no more no additional speakers for open forum.

Okay. In that case, I'm going to close the open forum, bring it back to the council for consent calendar. Is there anyone on the council who should pull any item for consent? Do we have any public comment for consent?

Yes. We have one speaker for a consent calendar. Our first speaker is Brandy Lombardi.

Good evening, mayor and members of city council. A special thank you for the time you serve and to the staff that we enjoy working with on this initiative. My name is Brandy Lombardi, executive director of the Livermore Valley Wine Growers Association, and I'm here to express strong support for the renewal of the Livermore Valley Wine Heritage District for another five year term. The data is clear. The number of in favor responses

Is that item 8.2 8.1? So cons or consent is for

Excuse me. I put my item number on the card. That's okay. Been missed.

Yeah. Consent or or routine items. You're probably coming back to speak on 8.1, the Hawaiian Heritage District. Okay. Very good.

We will make that change.

Are there any other speakers for

There are no additional speakers there.

Okay. In that case, I'm going to close the public comment period for for consent. I would like to talk about, mention a couple of things, on the gift policy. Gifts of travel are not allowed, and this is one of the things that why the city attorney is so important, is to prevent members of the council from making mistakes. Because, for example, if we were to, accept, an offer from, say, Southwest Airlines, to fly down to, their facility in Southern California, tour it, and then be flown back, we would each lose our office, our elected office.

So we cannot accept travel, free travel, because the early legislatures recognized the power of the railroads. And so those are not allowed at all. And the other item 7.2. Never mind. So so that's the gift policy is very carefully laid out, so I just wanted to to make that point that the we're not allowed to take take travel.

So all these these trolls and such that'll talk about how we're always taking junkets, No. We're we're we're working up here, and so we've now got a policy that that ensures that. So with that, I'll if there's no discussion, I'll accept the motion on consent.

Honorable mayor Marshawn, members of the city council, just very quickly, if I may. This is your city manager, Mariana Birch. Item 6.4, staff recommended a couple of minor adjustments to the policy. They are in your supplemental packet. We just wanted to bring that to your attention and acknowledge that adjustment in your motion. Thank you.

Okay. So that would the maker of the motion speak to the minor minor edits and changes?

Yeah. So I'll motion move, staff's recommendations on the consent calendar, including the modifications to 6.4 included in our supplemental materials.

Okay. Very good. Motion made by, council member Branning. Is there a second?

Sure. I'll second.

Second by council member Dunbar. Any discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposition? That passed unanimously. Thank you very much. Moving on to 7.1. This is a public hearing on weed abatement, rubbish, and dirt. We have deputy chief fire marshal Ryan Rucker.

Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. On 03/23/2026, the city council adopted resolution twenty twenty six zero thirty eight, the fire hazard abatement program, which advises partial owners of the need to abate hazards, debris, and vegetation. Abatement notices have been mailed to the owner of record, current occupant, or posted conspicuously on the property in cases where a mailing address was insufficient. Property owners have been advised to avoid enforcement by completing fire hazard abatement work in accordance with guidelines or protest the need to comply at this public hearing. Abatement not performed by May 31 will be completed by the city con city contractor.

The cost incurred for nuisance abatements and any assessments will be confirmed by the council at a future public hearing public meeting. Staff recommends that the city council consider any and all protests, and if council finds it appropriate, adopt a resolution overruling protests and direct staff to proceed with necessary with abatement on all parcels as required. Staff's available for questions.

Do we have any public comment?

No public comment for this item.

Okay. We close the public comment period. Are there any questions by the council? Okay. I'd be willing to entertain a motion.

So moved.

Okay. Moved by council member Barrientos. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Seconded by council member Branning. Skip to Groove. Okay. Any discussion of the motion? All in favor?

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Yeah. Any opposition? Passed unanimously. Okay. Moving on to 7.2 regarding job vacancies and recruitment, retention efforts.

Honorable mayor Marshan, members of the city council, this is once again city manager Mariana Birch. Item 7.2 is going to be presented by Kristen Hilton, human resources manager. Thank you.

Good evening, mayor and city council. My name is Kristen Hilton, and I am the HR manager. The item before you tonight is a public hearing to receive information regarding the city's job vacancies, recruitment, and retention efforts in accordance with assembly bill two five six one and as required by government code two I'm sorry. 3502.3. Quick background on a b two five six one.

It took effect on 01/01/2025 and requires that public agencies do the following to enhance transparency in staffing and workforce planning. Track vacancies by bargaining unit, present vacancy information and status of recruitment and retention efforts at a public hearing at least once per fiscal year, present any changes to policies, procedures, and recruitment activities that may prevent obstacles in the hiring process. Additionally, if any bargaining unit has a vacancy rate of 20% or more, we are required to provide detailed data and allow employee groups to present during the hearing. Unfortunately, that threshold was not met in 2025. Our next slide shows a comparison of the vacancy rate data in 2024 and 2025, and as you'll see each bargaining unit varied slightly, however the city's overall vacancy rate has stayed the same at 12%.

This slide shows our hiring and promotional activity over the last four years. I will note that the twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six data is as of April, whereas the previous years include the entire fiscal year. I'd also like to note that during the last two years, we were able to catch up on a backlog of recruitments, and I'm excited to report we've made significant progress and now able to assign recruitments within four to six weeks of receiving a request to begin a recruitment. This last slide just shows that the city is taking a proactive and strategic approach to retain and attract top talent, which include streamlining our hiring processes by setting clear targets and timelines for each step of the process to reduce delays and improve candidate experience competitive compensation through our negotiated four year labor contracts and the completion of a comprehensive compensation study. Last year, we implemented a formal onboarding program, which is designed to engage new employees early and introduce them to the city's culture, values, and expectations.

City training and development opportunities, including our management training academy and our other citywide training opportunities and finally, providing flexible work options such as remote work or a nine eighty schedule where appropriate. As such, staff recommends that the city council receive this presentation for informational purposes only as required by AB two five six one.

Okay. Thank you very much. Any questions? Are there any speakers on the on this item?

No public comment received for this item.

Okay. In that case, we're going to close the public comment period and bring it back to the council. Any questions? Okay. I'll entertain a motion.

Councilmember Darren Barber? Is there a motion?

No. There's no motion. No motion? I'm sorry. Okay. Make a make a recommend well, says motion for approval.

Received the presentation.

Somebody messed up my script. That's why I never follow scripts up here. You know? I got just getting into a bad habit here. Okay. So we don't Yes. This it says public hearing.

Mister mayor, if I may, it is unclear. It is a public hearing, but with no action.

So there's no action. Okay.

Public hearing to receive the information. Thank you.

Alright. So with that, we will just move on to so the recommendation is staff recommendation. Okay.

Mister mayor, staff's recommendation is to receive the information.

Okay. Alright. So there's no further recommendations from the council. Alright. Very good. Closing the hearing. Moving on. Matters for consideration. Item 8.1, public comment on the renewal for the Liffamore Valley, Hawaiian Heritage District. Okay. So next on the agenda is the public hearing for the renewal of the Livermore Hawaiian Heritage District. This meeting is being conducted to receive public comment regarding the levy of assessments and to allow affected business owners the opportunity to submit written protests.

Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Theresa De La Vega, management analyst two for the innovation and economic development department. The item before you right now is the Livermore Valley wine heritage District renewal public meeting. The Livermore Valley Wine Heritage District is a business improvement district established in 2021 in accordance with state law. Business improvement districts are a financing mechanism in which businesses within a defined geographic area vote to assess themselves in order to fund services that benefit the district.

Since its formation, the district has provided more than 500,000 annually to fund marketing, brand awareness, and other efforts that directly benefit the assessed South Livermore Valley wineries. The district was formed for a five year term, which ends on 06/30/2026. The wine growers have requested renewal of the district for an an additional five year term beginning 07/01/2026. As required by state law, the wine growers held a successful petition drive and submitted the signed and verified petitions representing more than 50% of the proposed assessment total values meeting state law requirements and allowing the council to begin the renewal process. The next slide outlines the renewal process.

State law requires the following four steps for the renewal of the district. First is the resolution of intent, which the council previously adopted on March 9. Second is the required written notice, which was mailed out to all the assessed businesses on March 10. The notice informed assessed wineries about tonight's meeting. Third is the public meeting, this public meeting, to receive public comment as well as written protests from the businesses that will be assessed.

State law requires that if a majority protest has been received, council may not move forward with the renewal process. So far, staff has one valid written protest from a winery business owner and one public comment. Additional written protests from winery business owners may be received this evening and up until the June 8 meeting, at which time staff will provide a final tally of the valid written protests received and provide an update on whether a majority protest has been reached. The fourth and final step is the final public hearing scheduled for 06/08/2026, at which time, may adopt the final resolution of renewal if majority protest does not occur. Staff recommends city council receive public comment and written protest on the proposed renewal.

No further council action is required. That concludes my presentation. Staff is also joined by miss Brandy Lombardi, executive director of the Livermore Valley Wine Growers Association. We're ready for questions.

Okay. Thank you. Do we have any public comment?

Yes. We have one public comment from Brandy Lombardi.

Now you can speak.

Thank you. I'm in the right spot in the agenda now. Good evening, mayor and members of city council. Repeat this for timing. Yes.

My name is Brandy Lombardi, executive director of the Livermore Valley Wine Growers Association. I'm here to express strong support for the renewal of the Livermore Valley Wine Heritage District for another five year term. The data is clear, and the number of in favor responses from payee wineries significantly exceeds the 51% threshold required by law. This is not a marginal outcome. It's a decisive endorsement from the very businesses that fund and directly experience the district's benefits that support this support reflects real and tangible value, including positive customer feedback across our valley.

Over the past term, the Wine Heritage District has made meaningful strides in elevating the Livermore Valley's brand presence and performance. Its coordinated marketing efforts exceed any campaign that we were ever able to complete in the past with our traditional funding models. It helps attract visitors, increases tasting room traffic, and reinforces Livermore's identity as a premier wine destination. Equally important in this district is the role in advocacy. It has provided a unified voice for our wineries on issues that impact the industry, improving communication and collaboration between stakeholders and local government.

This kind of alignment is difficult to achieve without a formal structure that the Wine Heritage District provides. The district has also contributed to measurable improvements in quality and professionalism. Through educational programming and professional development opportunities, winery staff and leadership have been better equipped to compete in an increasingly sophisticated and competitive market. This investment in people translates directly into better customer experiences and stronger businesses. Renewing the district ensures that this momentum is not only maintained, but expanded.

We have been so efficient and accountable to the city and to our pay payees, and a new year five a new five year plan provides stability for long term planning, deeper, more widespread marketing initiatives, and continued advancement in standards training and regional collaboration. In short, this is a proven model with strong industry backing and clear benefits to the local economy. The wineries have spoken clearly in support. I respectfully urge the council to do the same and approve the renewal of the Livermore Valley Wine District on June 8. In lieu of all the supporters speaking individually and to respect the time of the council tonight, we have asked for all of the wineries in the room that have come to raise their hand in support of the renewal.

Thank you for your time and consideration as we ask for your support in this historic wine region.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor? If if you would please provide the information as well regarding the protests.

I'm sorry?

The regarding the information regarding protests.

Oh, yes. Okay. Well, are there any other speakers?

There's no additional speakers.

Okay. In that case, we'll close the public comment period.

If you could provide the information regarding the protest first and then before closing, please. Thank you.

I have a couple of questions. So hearing fur no further questions, I will now open the public hearing. Members of the public and affected business owners may speak at this time. Comments are limited to three minutes, but we've just heard that there are no further speakers. Protests from business owners are required to be in writing in order to be considered in the tally to determine if a majority protest has been reached. If you are a business owner who wishes to protest, please submit your written protest with your name and signature in addition to speaking. However, there are no speakers.

There are no additional speakers.

Okay. So hearing none, we will close the public comment portion of the meeting. There is no council action required at this public meeting. However, I do have a couple of questions, if I may. So I was looking at the the map on page seven of the Heritage District, and and it's the Livermore Valley Heritage District.

And yet I noticed that there are vineyards that are out they're on the map, but are outside the, the Heritage District. And I was just curious, since everybody is benefiting from this assessment, that there are some wineries that are not paying the assessment, but they're still benefiting because they're in in the Livermore Valley. So I was wondering how that determine determination was made.

The boundaries, mayor, is based at but did Brandon

I saw I saw the thing on on it's based on the watershed, but that's in the same watershed.

Right.

So it's it's it's within the Livermore Valley, and it's within the watershed. And I was just curious what the justification was for not including those in the in the district.

Randy, would you like me to

Reason why is, originally, we had as our lead agency, as you know, when we did the formation, we had to choose a government entity to be our lead agency. And so the original lead agency was the county, and they at at some point, it began to we began to realize maybe the county wasn't our best partner in that. So we switched to ask the city Of Livermore to be our lead agency in that. And at the time when we were at that place in the formation, it made sense to keep it within the City Of Livermore in the unincorporated areas to keep it within that watershed section. I understand that Ruby Hill and Rubino are the two that are in question in this protest letter that I believe technically are in the watershed, but they were outside of the City Of Livermore city boundaries, and that's why we chose to exclude them from our Wine Heritage District.

Okay. Because they said they are benefiting from your efforts.

They are benefiting in quant they are, but at the same time, they're not on our website. They're not on our our map, and they are not receiving the same benefits as the payees into the wine heritage district.

Okay. Great. Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Okay. There being no council action required at this time, we will, move on to, 8.2, which is, resolution approving an amendment to the city attorney's contract. Thank you. Thank you very much. No free samples?

Honorable mayor Marshan, members of the city council, this is once again your city manager, Mariana Birch. Item 8.1 is going to be presented by administrative services director, Tina Olson. I also just wanted to take a moment, mister mayor and city council members, and note that this is miss Olsen's last council meeting. She is retiring at the end of this week and leaves behind a legacy of fiscal stability, employee development, and investment as well as technological investment in the city. So I just wanted to thank miss Olsen for her leadership in the city and turn it over to her for this particular item. Thank you, mister mayor.

Thank you.

It's been an honor. And so this is my last item, and it's gonna be quick. So my name is Tina Olson, administrative services director, and I'll be presenting the city attorney contract amendment item this evening. So the city attorney's contract provides for a 6% salary increase, additional $3,000 annually in deferred compensation contribution after city council completes a six month performance review. And as you know, city council conducted the city attorney's six month performance evaluation on April 13 and concluded that the city attorney should receive a 6% salary increase and additional $3,000 annually in deferred compensation contributions.

So staff recommends that city council adopt a resolution approving an amendment to the city attorney contract effective May 4, and that would provide the 6% annual salary increase and the $3,000 additional contribution deferred compensation. That's it.

Okay. Is there any public comment on this?

No public comment for this item, mayor.

Okay. In that case, I'll close the public comment period, bring it back to the council. Is there any questions, or is there a recommendation from the council?

You have a motion. Missus Sealy, thank you for all the work, and keep up the good work. Missus Sultan, thank you for your service. And I'll move the staff recommendation.

Okay. Motion made by council member Dunbar. Seconded by Seconded by council member Branning. Any discussion of the motion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any any opposed? Passed unanimously. Miss Sealy and miss Olson, thank you for the leadership. Thank you for you're coming back, but thank you for steering the ship as well as as as you have. I sincerely appreciate it, and you're leaving us in in very strong very strong shape. So I sincerely appreciate that. Thank you. You're welcome.

With that, we will move on to item number nine, council committee reports and matters initiated. Let's start with this side. We'll start with councilmember Barry Antos. You got your report. Anything you'd like to highlight?

Well, I missed I didn't add the annual Tri Tri Valley Haven Gala. What was that that? So you got anyway, nice suit you wore too. Anyway, I did, was asked to go to the Altamonte Creek. They have gotten together the last couple of years. They wanna do, they wanna have the elementary kids become, I guess, visit people. So, I said, okay. I'll go. And the only thing I didn't know is I was gonna ask the judge who's spent another two hours here. Anyway, the kids were great.

They're kindergarten kids at the to fifth grade, and they all had they had 35 vendors there. And each child, we went to and asked them how how you came about, what they were doing. They're three d some did three d spinning little toys. And, of course, they were selling everything, so, of course, I had to buy some of it. So I walked out with a bag full of toys, which are gonna be raffled off at the Livermore Leo's Club.

I'm gonna give them away. But the kids are great. So and a lot of parents are showing or showed up there too. So and there are kids from Tracy, from Mountain House, all over. And they're great to watch them in action, especially when they're presenting how they how they came about their little business, selling cookies or three d printing or the one that I would because we did get prizes out. And there's boys that had package science experiments. They have, like, five different ones, and they get you can buy whichever one you're interested in. And so they got the award for being the most innovative.

Alright. Very good. Thank you. Miss Redumbaugh?

I'll highlight the reading for the abilities awareness at Jackson Avenue that I know you also participated in. It turned out that my book for the fourth grade class was on Louis Braille

Yeah.

Which is you already know, my mom is legally blind, so it was very close to my heart. I had a great time. Kids were attentive and had good questions, and I'd do it again. Very good. Excellent.

Customer branding. Thank you. I have a couple of things, and the matters initiated, but, one of the big things I was doing last week was I was at Cal City's, city leaders summit. So it was, you know, a lot of fun, but it's spending the half a week basically lobbying our assembly people and senators. So we were able to meet with senator our assembly member, Bauer Cohen, senator McNerney, well as several others.

It was really great getting to talk to them, getting to hear about their priority bills, why they're their priorities, what's changed over the process, and kind of where we, as cities, can partner with them. Because as often comes up, there's issues between the state and the cities. Sometimes we feel a little beat up by them. Sometimes they feel like we're not listening. And so having these opportunities to have these conversations really are I think is super important and I think really matters for us getting the point across of what we're really trying to do and how the state can support us, instead of making it more difficult at times.

So it was very productive. Great couple of days. On that, I would just ask mister, Griffiths if you wanna reach out to me, from chat. I have a good relationship with our assembly member and senators. So with that, I do also wanna do a matters initiated, and I'm gonna look because I've had the conversation already with city staff, and so I wanna make sure I word this correctly because it'll be a little bit different from what we've done in the past.

But I would like to propose that we have a matters initiated to bring back at a future meeting, hopefully, the next meeting, to raise the pride flag in June and the Powell MIA flag in November in perpetuity going forward. So to make sure it's clear to instead of us bringing it back every year through, say, that we're gonna raise the flags for the following month, the policy until a future council decided to undo the policy would be that in June, in all future years, we would raise the pride flag, and in November, in all future years, we would raise the Powell MIA flag. Is that proper direction and wording? Alright. Then that is my matter is initiated.

Good.

So there would it's unless until a council changes that, that becomes in perpetuity.

Yes.

Okay. Sure.

So a future council could undo it, but until they do, instead of us bringing it back each year, it would automatically ring. Okay.

Alright. Consensus? I see a few nodding hands. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Anything else? Okay.

That's it.

Thank you. Vice mayor? We were at a lot of the same places.

Yes. I just wanted to highlight one thing, which is the Quest Science Center Innovation, Tri Valley Innovation Fair, which is a really exciting annual event. Always has lot gets a lot of kids and parents and community groups and NASA, and it just seems like everybody is there doing science and presenting. And I got the table this year along with with two other organizations that I'm part of, the Asian Pacific American Public Affairs Association and Tri Valley for Black Lives. We co presented, thanks to Nathan Tran over there, a presentation on BIPOC innovators and scientists.

So that was a really great event, and that was the one event that I accidentally submitted under council member Dunbar's name. I was doing this late, and I was really sleepy. Must have clicked the wrong button. So so that was it.

Thank you. I was there too. I was just there twice. Yeah.

Okay. I was at a I just wanna highlight a couple of things. On the fifteenth, Livermore Police Department put on a scam awareness presentation. Eventually, that's going to be on TV thirty, so look for that. Absolutely fascinating presentation.

Our reserve officer, Don Swanson, put it on. But there were with the advent of artificial intelligence, this stuff has gotten downright scary. He outlined this one episode where a young lady received, her her phone rang, and she opened up her phone, and there was a photograph of her mother. The there was you know, as when people call up, you have the the pictures in your phone, so you just look at your phone and see who it is. Well, it was her mother, and it was her mother saying that she'd been kidnapped, and that her life was being threatened.

And it turned out that the whole thing, her voice, the photograph, that it was a spoofed phone number that the phone picked up. Because it was spoofed, it picked up, and it displayed the the number and the the photograph of the the spoofed person. They used AI to generate her voice. It was it was remarkable. So as as we get, you know, better technology, there are people that are out there abusing that technology.

So very good program. Be very aware. Don't click on anything because they're the scammers are out there to separate you and your money. I was also supporting Tri Valley Haven. They've been providing services to victims of domestic violence, literally thousands.

I think it's over 9,000 at this point that have been assisted. So their this fundraiser was to get them over the the finish line as they finished their their new facility. So very excited about that. And we had a 100 birthday party for Mildred Biles. She just turned a 105. So people just love Livermore. They don't wanna leave it. So with that, there being no further business before the council, meeting is adjourned. Thank you all.