City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and this is a regular meeting of the joint of the Oakley City Council, the Oakley City Council acting as a successor agency for the Oakley Redevelopment Agency, the Oakley Public Finance Authority. This meeting is called to order at 6.30 PM. Will the clerk please call roll?

Council Member Fuller?

Here.

Council Member Shaw?

Here.

Council Member Williams? Here. Vice Mayor Meadows? Here. Mayor Henderson?

Here. Would everybody please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item 1.3 will receive a presentation from MCE local community engagement program and a general update.

All right. Good evening, Mayor, members of the city council. My name is Sebastian Kahn, and my role is principal community development manager with MCE. MCE is a not-for-profit, locally governed energy provider. Vice Mayor Meadows serves on our board of directors, and we serve about 15,000 electric customers here in the city of Oakley. I know you all have a full agenda this evening, so I'll keep this update brief and focus on the value that MCE is delivering to Oakley residents and businesses. So by way of background, MCE is a Community Choice Aggregation Agency, or CCA. CCAs allow cities and counties to purchase electricity on behalf of their residents and businesses. MCE was California's first CCA. We started in 2010. And today, CCAs across the state of California are serving about 14 million customers, or 200 cities and counties. Community Choice operates as an opt-out model, which means customers are automatically enrolled when their community joins, but they can opt out at any time. So here's a bit of how that works in practice. PG&E continues to own and maintain the infrastructure, the poles and the wires, but MCE is responsible for procurement of electricity that then flows over those electric lines. So the benefit is that customers can choose whether they receive MCEs, electricity generation, or PG&Es. And as you can see, customers here typically have a couple options. Our default product that folks are enrolled in is 60% renewable. That's called our light green product. Folks also have the opportunity to opt up to 100% renewable energy with deep green. And by comparison, PG&E's standard product is about 23% renewable. On total electric bills, MCE customers are currently paying slightly more than PG&E customers. But it's important to understand what MCE is actually controlling. We only set the electric generation rates. We don't control the transmission, the distribution, wildfire mitigation, or other utility charges. And as you can see on this top line here, MCE's electric generation rates are a little bit cheaper than PG&E's. The difference on total bills comes primarily from additional utility charges that are outside of MCE's control. And nevertheless, we continue to advocate at both the regulatory and legislative level for reforms that improve fairness and transparency for community choice customers like MCE. Affordability does remain a core focus for MCE, particularly for the portion of the bill that we actually control. And as you can see, this year our board implemented a 14% rate reduction, even as electric and delivery utility rates continue to rise. We also provide additional bill credits to help stabilize monthly costs. And what we're really proud of is our expanded MCE CARES credit, which is a $10 million fund that supports our most vulnerable low-income customers who can receive a $20 monthly bill credit with MCE. So in Oakley, about 83% of customers choose MCE as their electricity generation provider, while 17% have opted out. About 5% are enrolled in our Deep Green program. Again, that's the 100% renewable program. And approximately 38% of households here in Oakley have rooftop solar, which is actually the highest of any community that we serve here in the Bay Area. Since joining MCE, Oakley customers have received more than $300,000 in energy efficiency rebates, including over $164,000 in EV rebates. And these are for the purchase of new or used electric vehicles. We also support EV charging infrastructure. So we do offer a $4,000 per port rebate and free technical assistance. And that's eligible to the city of Oakley's facilities, as well as any business partners that y'all have. Altogether, Oakley customers have helped avoid nearly 2,500 metric tons of carbon since you all joined MCE in 2018. This is an exciting development as well. It's an example of a local project that MCE purchases power from. This is here in Oakley. It's near the Amazon Fulfillment Center, kind of right as you're about to enter the Antioch Bridge.

But this is what we call the feed-in tariff program.

So it's a solar plus storage project that powers about 800 houses annually. And there was nearly 10,000 labor hours that went into the construction of that facility. So something that we're really proud of. And last but not least, this slide highlights MCE's broader regional and statewide impact. But those results are really only possible because member communities like Oakley choose to participate and help guide our direction. Again, as a locally governed, not-for-profit agency, our goal is not simply to deliver cleaner electricity, but to return value directly to the communities that we serve. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Councilmember for Yes being an MCE customer and having a tune-up the gold comes out in March mine went from $600 to a thousand And neighbors in the area experienced the same increase, almost a third more in one year. It was mentioned that if we don't like MCE, we can go with the PGE. I've already looked at the comparison. And you're charging the same rates as PG&E. In fact, you just submitted, just brought up, I'm glad you brought it up, but you're actually charging more than PG&E. And I used to look at NAM as a good deal. MCE is a good deal. But what happened? How did we get up so quick so much? I mean, I had to pay it, you know, or I'll lose it. And I think I would rather MCE than Councilmember Meadows, Vice Mayor Meadows, because he's on the board. He's going to say it the way he wants, but I would like to hear from you how the rate got up so far.

So if I'm understanding the question correctly, it's about net energy metering and rooftop solar and how that relates to billing. Is that correct? Slide five.

Look, I'm still looking for your answer.

So what this slide illustrates is not specific to our solar customers, but rather MCE customers as a whole and the portion of the bill that we control, right? So when you look at electric generation the component of the bill that MCE explicitly controls That's cheaper than PG&Es. The other portions of the bill, delivery, it's going to be the same across the board, whether you're an MC, you're a PG&E customer. And there's additional PG&E fees that are imposed upon CCA customers. Again, we are working through our legislative and regulatory channels to make sure that those fees are set in a more transparent way for our customers. But to your point, Councilmember, yes, MCE is currently more expensive than PG&E.

And what you're saying is if I went from MCE, Deep Green, which I believe in, but if I go to PG&E, I save what? $20, $25, right in that range, each from what you say, average monthly cost, which over a period of nine months is a hunk of change, at least for me.

Currently, you'd be correct. We do know, based on regulatory filings, that PG&E intends to raise rates in subsequent years, and MCE has not raised our rates on a general basis in quite some time. In fact, we hadn't raised our rates since 2023 and actually reduced our rates this year. We believe in stabilizing costs for our customers as best we can, and so that's why you'll see that the generation rate has remained pretty consistent despite other portions of the bill jumping in recent years. All right.

Vice Mayor Meadows. Thank you.

So I just keep the slide up and I just want to point out though that 1629 That MC's paying that PG&E is not that's the exit fees to leave PG&E The CPUC is the ones that impose it on us and I believe it's two years worth of fees they threw into one year So it kicked it up You know If you are with MC, you don't have to be deep green. That would be your choice. If you are deep green, that is a $23 difference on the average bill, $17 on the 60% bill. But it's also everybody's choice to be a member or not. And then, Sebastian, thank you for coming.

Thank you.

If there's any further questions, thank you.

Thank you.

We'll move to item two, public comment. At this time, public comments will be heard on items that are not on the agenda. I do have one online comment and one public comment card already. If you'd like to speak tonight, please fill out a blue card that's located in the lobby. It'll be a three-minute time. The timer's in front of my seat. At one minute, the timer will be allowing you to do that. Please refrain from clapping, booing, or cheering so everybody can be heard. Our first speaker tonight is Mr. Tran. Our second speaker will be Bud Shattuck.

Yes, hello, council. Thank you for having me here. One thing I would say positive, it was really good going to the Friday Night Bites and the music, and everybody had a real lighthearted experience, and it was good, you know, music and food. So I'll give it that, and that was, like, wonderful. The other thing I want to talk about is the, working on Marsh Creek again with Davis, we had year-long data logs stolen. So we got people again following us around stealing stuff. They cut the ropes and took these data tags that collected over a year of data on the creek. So if anybody can find out how that happened, that'd be nice. So it seems like the theme when they come out here, they say you got to watch out. So anyways. That's that. And the other thing is, I know the data centers have been a big thing and whatnot. And there's other cities fighting it. Right now, Erin Brockovich has a site. She's taking on various entities that way, maybe again. I actually witnessed her up in Chester on the fires. And I just happened to be in town listening to her. Very bright, very intelligent. a go-getter. And she's gearing up to tag along with cities to give them help. So that might be something to think about. So anyways, the other thing is I've been hearing is like coal restrictions have been cut. So the Port of Oakland is going to start, it was on the news even, getting loads of coal. Well, right down this track, if I remember right, some time ago maybe, there was some being brought down. Well, now it's going to be given free reign to carry coal over these tracks to go to Oakland. So that's something that's been deregulated, if you would. And to me, that's kind of a concern, having a bunch of cold desks bouncing around in Oakley if that comes true. So anyways. The other thing, I was listening to the stock thing, and it was talking about how all the various entities are trying to get more funding to keep these projects going. Investors are getting upset with it. They want some kind of show that, hey, you got this going. And it seems like they're begging for a lot of money, all these big things like Meta. And the thing is, it's just... Also, the coal was being brought up. That China wanted a lot of it. So I think that might be kind of like a front, I kind of believe, especially since they're going to need more energy to power all these things maybe. So I think it's a real coincidence that that's starting to happen. There's also been a $10 billion build-out in all these...

at the centers and that's about it thank you i do not see any other public comments we'll close public comment move to item three council member comments Not seeing any council members' comments, we'll move to consent calendar. We're going to pull 4.2 and 4.3 at the request of the city manager. And those votes will be taken after the budget hearing, because both those items are included in next year's fiscal budget. I'd also like to pull 4.6. Is there any other items that need to be pulled?

Yes. I would like to get poll 4.12. And can we have the numbers 4.3, 4.4, and 4.6? Is that correct? I am pulling 4.2, 4.3, and 4.6. OK. I'm asking for 4.1 and 4.12 to be pulled.

Okay. With that being said, do I have a motion for the rest? I'll move. Second. We have a first and a second. A roll call vote, please.

Council Member Fuller.

Aye.

Council Member Shaw.

Yes.

Council Member Williams. Yes. Vice Mayor Meadows. Yes. Mayor Henderson. Yes. The motion carries 5-0.

4.1. Council Member Fuller.

Yes, it's the same one, the same one I have. I just cannot in good conscience vote for the brevity of our minutes as they appear. In fact, I was going back to 2023 minutes and going through, and I was very detailed, could find exactly what I wanted to find and could also find them on the tapes, and I cannot do that anymore. So I will vote no. Move approval 4.1.

Second.

Roll call vote, please.

Council Member Fuller? No. Council Member Shaw? Yes. Council Member Williams? Yes. Vice Mayor Meadows? Yes. Mayor Henderson? Yes. The motion carries 4-1.

4.6, I pulled. I would like to see if Vanessa Sundays can stand up we'd like to thank you for applying for the Library Commission and being our alternate and With that said We're looking for a motion to move forward I'll move Second we have a first and a second all in favor roll call vote, please Councilmember Fuller.

Aye Councilmember Shaw. Yes Councilmember Williams Thank you for doing this vice mayor Meadows. Yes mayor Henderson.

Yes, the motion carries 5-0 Thank you Item 4.12 councilmember fuller.

I just had a couple of basic Questions we are implementing this both at the Commission and at the council on July 1. Is that correct?

This would go through the city attorney

Well, while you're looking at that, also, how much advance notice does a person have to agree to implement that? I've heard if a babysitter didn't show up, they could call in and we're all right. So how much advance notice?

I'm sorry, when you mean advance notice, what are you referring to?

Well, all right. We're implementing, I asked on July 1, this program, which seems to be viable. We have approved it. I'm assuming we're also, if I remember correctly, implementing it on July 1. The one question I have Is we heard over and several times that if there's a babysitter problem at five o'clock in the evening? They can phone a council member come phone in and say hey. I can't make it I need to go to our Supplemental one is that enough advanced time or how much time do you need is there any time requirement?

well that's not really what this item is about this is that that's in the law so if you apply SB 707 it says in the Brown Act specifically that you can take up the the remote appearance request at the beginning of the meeting and if the need to appear remotely arises the day of or even shortly before the meeting that that is okay but in that case the commission member who would be appearing remotely needs to put on the record why they are appearing remotely. So if the question is how much notice It could be no notice at all. I mean, someone could literally at 5 p.m. realize that they have no babysitting for a young child, and they could coordinate so that they would appear remotely at 6.30 that night.

Well, let me ask the other question. That left me even more confused. Do you have to get the council's approval to implement it before the meeting starts, and can they deny that?

No, they have a right. The limitation is they can't do it more than five times a year.

Which the council member?

Well, are you talking about the commission or the council member? No, I'm talking about. This is an agenda item about implementing SB 707 for our planning commission.

Let's see if I can get a hypothetical. Somebody has a broken leg, okay, and they are just severely in the hospital and in traction and cannot get here for four meetings. Now, can they, in succession, phone in at the last say, I can't get out of the hospital. I need to attend by remote. On the fifth one, they managed to come. But on the sixth one, they say, oh, no, I've had a relapse, and my leg's broken again. I cannot attend. At what point, how often can the council member come for one through four, and then the fifth time, and then the sixth time?

They get five times a year.

It's any absences.

Within a 12-month period. OK. So if they get to a sixth time in the 12th month, they can't do it. They can't appear remotely. That's what the Brown Act says. I'm sorry. It's just. If you can only attend remotely under what used to be called a just cause or emergency exceptions five times within a 12-month period, So if within the last 12-month period you're on your sixth time, you can't do that. You can't appear remotely. And even if, now, I think now we're getting really into the weeds because there's also now provision in the Brown Act that says if someone needs a disability accommodation, they could permanently use remote appearances. So if someone has a broken leg and is immobilized and can't move for months at a time, it's not really the, that would be a disability accommodation issue, not an issue of your five permitted emergency or just compensation attendances.

That's what I wanted to clear up. The other one is we don't have to give our address anymore. It used to be that we had to give three days' notice or however much the notice in advance, and it had to be published in the agenda, and we had to be there and have, I don't know, cookies and punch, I guess. But with this, we don't have to designate our location when we exercise it.

All you have to disclose is whether there is someone under the age of 18 in the same room as you. OK, thank you.

Council Member Williams.

I just wanted to bring it back to the agenda item so that we're all on the same page. So this is just making sure that our planning commission will also have remote access so we can have remote participation from residents as well as council or commission if needed. But we will have remote access to residents to both our planning commission and our city council.

Correct.

Great. I move this item.

It's a second.

So we have a first and a second. Roll call vote, please.

I'm so member fuller. I also member Shaw. Yes. I'm so member Williams. Yes vice mayor Meadows Yes, mayor Henderson. Yes, the motion carries 5-0

Item 5, public hearings. 5.1, public hearing, considering confirming and diagram assessments, ordering levies and collections for the annual assessments for fiscal year 26-27 for the City of Oakley Lighting and Landscaping Assessment District 1. And we have our public works director to present.

Good evening, Mayor Henderson, Vice Mayor Meadows, council members, members of the public. My name is Billie Lee, St. Chiltern Public Works Director, City Engineer. Before you tonight, I wanted to present that on May 26, 2026, city staff presented the engineer's report for fiscal year 2026-27 for the City of Oakley Street Lighting and Landscape Assessment District Number 1. And the city's council approved resolution number 3926, initiating the annual approval process, and approved resolution number 40-26, declaring the intent to levy and collect assessments for fiscal year 2026-27, and approving the preliminary engineer's report and setting June 9, 2026 as the date of the public hearing. As required by law, a notice for the public hearing is required to be published in a local newspaper at least 10 days in advance of the public hearing. The notice was not published at least 10 days prior to tonight. Therefore, staff recommends a city council to continue the public hearing on the July 14th, 2026 city council meeting so the public hearing may be properly noticed. Thank you.

Any questions for staff? Otherwise, I need a motion to continue.

I'll move to continue.

Council Member Fuller?

I just wanted to thank you for catching this and putting it out. There was an incident a year or two years ago that raised the angst because we danced along the borderline of notifications. So if people say they don't read them, that's not true. They do respond. Second.

So we have a first and a second to move the item to our July 14th meeting. Roll call vote.

Council Member Fuller?

Aye.

Council Member Shaw? Yes. Council Member Williams? Yes. Vice Mayor Meadows? Yes. Mayor Henderson? Yes. Thank you. The motion carries 5-0.

item six of our regular calendar 6.1 adopt five resolutions first approving the fiscal year 2627 operating budget statement of finance policies appropriation limits approving fiscal year 2627 capital project a budget five-year capital improvement program cip for the fiscal year 2627 through 2030 through 2031. Three, approving the fund balance reserve policy. Four, approving the fiscal year 26-27 information and technology plan. And fifth, approving the 26-27 salary schedule. And with that, we'll turn it over to Jerry, our administrative service director.

Thank you very much. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, members of the council. Tonight we present to you our annual budget for fiscal year 26-27. Before I begin, I just want to send a huge thank you to our staff who really helped pull this together. Carolina Camacho, our finance director, is in the audience tonight, and she was a huge part of making this or helping this to the end. So with that, we have a balanced budget, and we also have a 10-year plan. that can sustain the expenditures into the future. Just some budget highlights. Our citywide expenditure budget is planned at $89.7 million, and our general fund expenditures, which also includes any one-time transfers for capital projects, is $40.8 million. And then our capital improvement expenditures for the year is $15.9 million. That is the new funding associated to capital projects this year. There will be significant amounts of rollover that rolls over at the year end because we have projects that are still in process from prior years. we're presenting just a couple of staffing changes we have a reclassification of our police service assistant to community service officer as well as a reclassification of our fleet position which was also categorized under police service assistant to a fleet service assistant And the reasoning for those reclassifications is really to help us attract the right people when we're recruiting for these positions. Police service assistant is not a typical job classification. If you look at our surrounding cities, most call them community service officers, and we want to do the same. With that, I do like to say that we did not change the salary schedule yet, but I do anticipate We will do a full compensation study this year. When we do that, I do anticipate that this position will go up slightly from the current salary schedule because of the change in title. And then in administrative services, we reallocated our administrative technician. We used to share that position 50-50 with finance and HR, and we're recommending that that be 100% human resources in this year's budget. There is a salary schedule attached that we will get to and approve a resolution on tonight, and that includes the cost of living increases that were pre-approved in the benefit resolution as well as the memorandum of understanding, which is a 2% for general staff and a 3% for any sworn officers. Transfers out of the general fund, we are recommending 7.16 million come from capital reserves, and that will go out to capital projects, which we'll talk about in a little bit, but it will fund the police department remodel, the Laurel Road extension, part of the Laurel Road extension, I should say. It's not going to be fully funded yet. and the main street widening project. We also have $2.3 million that will go out of general fund into our street repair and rehab fund, and then also $132,250 to our stormwater fund. So here's a quick look at general fund revenues for 26-27. We're anticipating about $34.7 million. And you can see the largest revenues up there is our inter-fund charges for service, as well as our property tax, and then followed by sales tax and our franchise fees. General fund expenditures are proposed at forty point eight million I like to make sure I point out this includes all of our one-time expenditures and transfers and It does include that one large seven point one six million from our capital reserves and

So here's a look at reoccurring operating revenues and reoccurring operating expenditures.

$34.7 million versus $33.2 in operating expenditures with a net operating revenue of $1.4 million. So we do have a balanced budget for the fiscal year, and we have a balanced budget in the 10-year plan as well for all 10 years. And at the end of the year, we do expect an available fund balance of about $2.6 million. So some of our new proposed significant funding, we have in the budget to replace a patrol vehicle as well as two police detective vehicles. For our technology upgrades, we're going to replace wireless access points. And we're going to migrate our Microsoft to government licensing. For recreation, we've increased events for recreation. to include some temporary things we might need during the library construction. We've also increased supplies and recreation to account for the growth of Studio 55. And we've reduced the scholarship program to $5,000. If we feel a need to increase that at any time, we will be sure to come back to council. In community development, we've increased consulting services to fund SB 1383, which is approximately $85,000 for this year. In the city manager's office, we've budgeted for a public art pilot program. And in administrative services, we've increased our consulting services for that compensation study that will need to be done. So our 10-year plan, I like to highlight kind of our assumptions in that 10-year plan so that you know how we got to the numbers. We anticipate a 4% increase in most revenues in property tax. We have a 4% to 4.5% increase over the 10 years. That is reduced from last year's 10-year plan assumptions. Last year's 10-year plan went from 4.5 to 5.5, so we were a little more conservative this year based on just information we're receiving from our consultants, and we want to kind of see where this year lands, and then we can make adjustments. We've estimated 3% in sales tax for the next three years. Sales tax has been actually reducing over the last few years. We have seen an increase, but that increase is because we've added things like Safeway and everything that goes with Safeway. But if we hadn't added that, we would have seen a reduction in sales tax. So we are being extra conservative there. And then we increased that to 4% over the last seven years of the plan. For franchise fees, we have a 3% increase. While we do see a significant increase in our franchise fee for our solid waste, we are seeing decreases in the other franchise fees. So we've kind of gone in the middle at 3% to account for that. And then building revenue is based on new homes. We anticipate 125 to 150 new homes, single family homes to be pulled. And again, we've reduced that from prior years that We had a few years in last year's that went up to 175. Again, just being ultra conservative, we've had two or three years of slower growth in the building. And we want to make sure that we're not overcompensating. For our expenditures, I'm sorry, this slide's a little bit small. It includes a cost of living increase for this current fiscal year of the 2% and 3%. And then in future years for all salaries and benefits, it includes a 4% increase. It includes one new police officer and a patrol vehicle planned for fiscal year 2028-29, which would be Officer 43. It includes two new positions. uh in public works for facilities in 2728 to cover any additional positions we may need when the library and community center come online as we talked about at the budget retreat animal control we've seen significant increases year over year It hasn't been a consistent number. So we landed at 8%. We're trying to go kind of in the middle to see where that takes us. So I think after this year, we'll have a better understanding. Is there going to be a more consistent number? But we have included an 8% increase in our animal control costs. We've added Tyler EERP licensing to start in fiscal year 29. When we signed our EERP contract using ARPA funding, we paid our license fees through 2028, and so those license fees will come back as a general fund expenditure in 28-29. We've added... the addition of Studio 55 starting in 2028 for all the things the Measure X grant is currently paying for. And we've planned a large, a one-time large increase next year to our dispatch contract. We do anticipate it will go up significantly next year. We don't anticipate that increase will be year over year. We think that will go back to a normal increase after that. But that is planned in the 10 year. We've planned for the addition for maintenance and operations in Public Works to account for any costs related to the new library and community center. So we didn't just account for staff. We also accounted for any kind of maintenance and operation costs. In our street maintenance fund, it includes a transfer to street maintenance at 4% increase each year until we hit year 3034, in which we cap it at $3 million. And then in stormwater, it includes a 15% increase over each of the 10 years. So this is just a graph of our 10 year plan and what it currently looks like, our reserve policies and kind of the maroon color there. And then what our planned fund balance is at year end is in the green column. So you can see our fund balance is funded at 30%. And then in addition, we have a little bit of extra fund balance there. And then just kind of another way to look at the graph, the green line is revenues. They exceed expenditures, the orange line. But I do like to point out the blue line there at the bottom. You can see that it does slowly start to decline. So even though our budgets are balanced, every year expenditures go up. What we need to put away in that 30% reserve increases because it's based off of a percentage of expenditures. So even though we might end the year with a million-dollar fund balance, part of that does go into the reserve, so it reduces that actual million dollars. So I'd just like to point out that it does slowly start to decline. As for our new CIP projects, these are the projects that are funded for the year. I won't go through each one of them. We did a full detail, I know, at the budget retreat. But I think the big ones to note is the Laurel Road extension. This is the beginning. It will be design phase this year. Staff has recommended to put some additional funding there so that when design is done, we do have some funding to start construction. The Main Street Delta Road intersection improvement, as well as the Main Street and Rose intersection improvement, and then also the widening of O'Hara Avenue. As in years past, we applied for and received the California Society of Municipal Finance Operating Budget and Excellence Award. And then in years past, we've asked for an overhire resolution. You see that it's not in your packet tonight. We do not have any long-term injuries, which is great to report. So therefore, we do not feel we need an overhire resolution at this time. Oh, sorry about that. As presented last year for the first time was our IT plan. So that's also included in your packet tonight. It describes the city's technology strategies to help guide our technology investments and initiatives for the next fiscal year. So you see that in your packet tonight. And it continues just to focus on the modernization of Oakley services through technology. And then lastly, we have our fund balance reserve policy. And we went in this in depth at the budget retreat, but one of the objectives as part of our strategic plan was to establish a formal policy for the 30% reserve. Staff did a comprehensive fund balance policy for all of our reserves and has presented it tonight for approval. So just to highlight general fund emergency reserve, It's 30% of our general fund operating expenditures, and it excludes any one-time expenses. Its purpose is to protect essential services, and it can be used on one-time expenses. To access the reserve, it would require a majority approval of the council. It authorizes staff to fully fund the reserve during the year-end closing process. And if it's used, it also defines how we should refund that or reestablish that fund. And the current reserve balance is anticipated at the end of this year will be $8.7 million. For capital reserves for our projects, again, it's for funding for constructing or acquiring assets. The policy defines it as it should be sufficient to cover what's in the five-year CIP, but not to exceed $5 million. The current balance after funding all of the capital projects for fiscal year 26-27 is $6.6 million. The additional $1.6 million Over that $5 million cap will be used, hopefully this year, to purchase property. And the timing was unknown at this time, so we did not put it in the budget. But once it has been confirmed and it comes to council for that purchase, it will be included in your fiscal impact to allocate the funding from capital projects. And then it can be used for any major emergency, unknown or unplanned CIP, or it can supplement any special revenue sources, such as street maintenance. And then any unassigned fund balance, at the end of the year, over $2.5 million, we will move into the capital reserve, and then we will bring that back to council either at mid-year or at the budget retreat and allocate that funding. And then we have some smaller reserves. We have our reserves for leave. This is accrued liabilities based on employees' accruals. We do try and plan for those with the budget if we know of a retirement that's coming. But we don't always know when somebody is going to leave or retirement's going to happen. We currently have a balance of $300,000. Staff believes we can reduce that to $200,000. And we plan to do that at year end when we close our books. and then our reserve for claims. The policy is to set aside two times our self-insurance, our SIR, which is about $150,000. Right now, there's $450,000 in the reserve. So we're recommending to reduce that at year end. Previously, we used to account for workers' comp here, which is why it was so much larger. We do budget for workers' comp differently. We budget for it with the actual budget. It's part of salaries. And so we don't need that extra in reserve any longer. We have our unfunded accrued liability or our pension trust. So we currently have a million dollars set aside in unfunded liability. It's a reserve that just sits on our general ledger books. But then we also have a 115 trust account in which we've invested money. And so in total, that equals 2.3 million. The policy would bring that number to not exceed 80% of our CalPERS unfunded liability. So currently, CalPERS unfunded liability is 4.6 million. That number changes significantly year over year, depending on their discount rate. And so if we were to do that this year, we would be looking for a balance of 3.6 million. So we're not asking to fund all of that. We're just asking in the policy that any time our net operating surplus is over $250,000, that we plan for a $50,000 transfer to our 115 trust during the budget cycle, and that will come to you year over year with the budget. And then we have our internal service funds, fleet, facilities, technology. Internal service funds are meant to break even, but they're also meant to set aside for future replacements. But we also wanted to find a mechanism and a way to make sure that those balances don't get excessive. And so the policy asks for 50% to have a fund balance of 50% of operating expenditures each year. Should they fall below 50%, we would bring a plan forward at the budget in order to replenish those amounts. With that right now, we have about 1.3 million in fleet and 300,000 fund balance in the other two. And what we do ask is if we approve this tonight, the resolution would allow staff to move funding between those three internal service funds. You can see in facilities, We're estimating 485 would be half of operating expenditures, which means it's about $185,000 short. But you can also see fleet is well over what their fund balance should be. So what the resolution would allow is for staff at year end, after we have actuals, to move that funding around until we have fund balances where they belong, and then we would move the rest back to the general fund where it was actually brought over from and transferred from in the first place. Right now we're anticipating that to be about $700,000, and that just depends on where actuals fall at the end of the year. So with that, we have five resolutions. I apologize for all the resolutions. So I'll read through each one of them, and then I'm available for any questions. So the first is to adopt a resolution approving the fiscal year in 26-27 operating budget statement of financial policies and appropriations limit. adopt a resolution approving the fiscal year 2627 capital budget and five-year capital improvement plan for fiscal years 2627 through 20 30 30 31 adopt a resolution approving the fund balance reserve policy adopt a resolution approving the fiscal year 2627 information technology plan and then finally adopt a resolution approving the fiscal year 2627 salary schedule including the reclassifications of police service assistant to community service officer and fleet service assistant. And with that, I am available for any questions.

Questions of staff? Council Member Williams.

OK, I've got a bunch. OK, so you mentioned an increase in consulting, which was, I think, our Townsend from consent that we pulled, probably, because we had to approve it in the budget, right? I think the consulting is for- Specifically for SB 1383 was how it was referenced in here. So is that Townsend that's representing, or no?

That's not. That's to manage the- Ken will know more about that, maybe Josh.

It's a contract with a company called Agroman. And we use them for the procurement piece of 1383. OK. OK.

Can we maybe, they probably don't do any advocacy stuff, right? Can they start talking about the unfunded mandates? I know we talked about it at our budget retreat, but can they start saying, hey, this is an unreasonable amount?

I did let Senator Cabaldon's office know the items that were discussed as unfunded mandates, and I think we would use Townsend. I mean, there are advocates that we contract with, so they would be helpful. more appropriate. And as we meet, we're meeting with Senator Cabaldon at the end of this week. So we're happy to pass that along as well with our in-person meeting too.

OK, perfect. That's great. OK, awesome. Thank you. And then there was also a dispatch increase, which you don't know the number yet. But are we expecting, like, are we getting anything from these increases? I realize everything goes up every year for everything. So part of me gets, I understand that. But are we getting anything from it? Better services, better technology, making it easier for dispatch, for our officers and stuff?

Yes. They have a new software program going into play. I believe it's called Mark 43. And so that's what's driving the increase is once that's in place and once they have that live, then they'll be able to tell us what those amounts are going to look like.

OK, and then could potentially from that, not knowing anything about the program, could we see better utilization of officers' time? Or is there something like that that's coming? Or is it just going to make their jobs a little bit easier, like how they're getting calls or whatever?

I don't know if I have that answer.

are certain components of mark 43 they'll be implemented for not only us but county-wide dispatching services that will allow officers to be more efficient at their jobs as a writing reports and that sort of thing so it will reduce the amount theoretically it's going to reduce the amount of time they spend on reports to allow them to be in the field more often perfect that was exactly what i was hoping

OK, and then again, I know we've had animal services here a bunch of times. So we're anticipating an 8% increase. But again, what are we getting from that? I know they're coming to do something at our rec center, which I'm very happy about. But my concern is that all we're doing is paying more and more to house animals. And I realize that is more expensive. But I think there was just some research that came out that said two out of three households are now not actively spending any money so i think just these increased costs are going to be felt and you think about where that's going to suffer it's going to be the animals right so are are they proposing any programs with this eight percent increase that's going to help it make it easier for families to stay with their animals and for you know all the strays to get fixed and things like that i know we ask the same question every year but i think when people are coming to us with their hands out i want to I want to know that they're trying to cut their costs. And I think by diverting animals from the shelter, that's the easiest way to cut costs.

Yeah. I don't know that there's anything specific that we can point to. But as we watch our salary and operation expenditures go up, theirs do the same. I do know they've done a really good job over the last few years really trying to cut what those costs look like and be more efficient. and find ways, but it's one of those things that cost them a significant amount of money to have an animal shelter. We don't have an animal shelter, and so while the number is a big number for us, it's a service that we need here in Oakley that we cannot provide.

Okay, thank you.

Uh-huh. Council, Vice Mayor Meadows.

On the animal... Services increase. I mean, I'm assuming that that 8% is part of it is their increased costs and part of it is a Per capita increase so it's probably based on a per capita dollar amount so as We grow our numbers gonna grow too.

That is correct. And as we if we if we have a year where we're using using it more that's gonna Be part of that also.

I think yes. I

Not seeing any further questions, I'll open it up to public comment at this point. Is there anybody from the public that would like to speak on the budget? Having no speaker cards, I'll bring it back to council. If there's no deliberation, I'll accept a motion. Council Member Fuller.

Yes, I'm disturbed by the budget. The first part, six months ago, we had a number of discrepancies on our audit, and I'm not seeing it addressed in this budget, nor have I heard any word of how it's going to be addressed in this budget, and that bothers me. It's also a bouncing reserve. I suggested last year that we can't just stick in the reserve When we're hurting which need to be able to be flexible, but we don't we haven't prioritized it yet I don't believe we should move forward with that I Can't I don't know what to say about the city manager's salaries coming out of there and it was extraordinary and he has $25,000 more that he that he is using to have his attorney in Cerritos send me little notes. I have a $4,000 chit for disbursements of one. So we've got money for the censure that was going in there. We spent $200,000 for the censure. I'm not quite sure, but we only spent $50,000 budgeted for ADA. So we censured the disabled guy and make sure it's there, spend over $200,000 for a censure that we cannot read. It's not a public document. There is some of it out there. And I think it will begin popping up in different places. But they wrote a censure, put it out, no Sixth Amendment, no confirming witnesses. It's censured and over to over $200,000. And I believe it's going to continue to go forward. We're going to use what we have is a weaponized investigation process. Point of order.

This is not in the budget.

And so we have an investigated, weaponized investigation project that we're funding. And I would hate to see it go out with our police department or code enforcement that we're doing it. We're obviously doing it every year.

Go ahead with point of order.

So...

As far as to clarify we're talking about the fiscal year budget for the next fiscal year not Expenditures that you object to in the current.

Okay.

Well, they're going to put more money into the century Let's just put it that way because I ensure is something that was taken in this current fiscal year and Is not part of the budget going forward Well, I did the asset during the me during the meeting.

I got the answer that any legal expense is And we still have a legal expense going forward to come out of the legal budget. So if we aren't going to have a legal budget, then I can go along with it. But we are going to have a legal budget. But we'll move on. There's a change in here in a small park. that the citizens have been very patient in that area, over in Glen, Glen Park, over on Hill Avenue. We were going to expand it to easier access for people in the area and others to move in there. They were very happy. The council members for 3 and 4, Williams and Shaw, decided to take up the limited space for pickleball. Nobody asked me about it, but they were in pickleball. There's limited parking there. There are no restrooms in the area. It's a very small space. It'll take it up. I do not know why we're doing it, but why not move it in the creek side where there is parking, where there are restrooms.

We're starting to talk about what to do with properties.

Yeah, I'm talking about the money that we're spending for parks. Let's go over to Enrico's.

There needs to be a connection to money in what you talk about.

There he goes, folks. $400 an hour plus to make sure that we protect everybody. Want the record to reflect that you're paying me $400 an hour now, okay 200 before we get a deal So So again district 5 comes out the short end of the stick So I just I just cannot do it I will vote no on it and I will write further on the budget and the audit

I move approval of city operating budget adoption.

I second.

And you're doing all five at once, or are you going to do one at a time? You want them done separately? Procedurally, can we do all five at once?

I don't need them separate As long as the record in the minutes clearly reflect the motion was to approve all five what I'm really concerned about is just that the the the minutes will correctly reflect that so Whoever makes the motion make very clear that you're moving all five I move approval of all five resolutions the city operating budget city capital budget

and cip adoption fund balance reserve policy information technology plan and the salary schedule second i already seconded we have a first and a second request a roll call vote council member fuller no council member shaw yes council member williams yes vice mayor meadows yes mayor henderson yes the motion carries 4-1

Okay, we're going to go back to the two consent items that were pulled, 4.2 and 4.3. Is there any questions? If not, otherwise I'll seek a motion for approving those.

I move approval of 4.2 and 4.3.

Second.

We have a first and a second. Roll call vote.

Council Member Fuller?

No.

Council Member Shaw?

Yes.

Council Member Williams? Yes. Vice Mayor Meadows?

Yes.

Mayor Henderson?

Yes.

The motion carries 4-1.

Before we move on to item seven, I'd like to thank staff for an excellent presentation on the budget. Also, moving to the budget retreat workshop has made things a lot smoother, and staff needs to definitely pat themselves on the back for a great job on this. We'll move to item seven, city manager's report.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the City Council, and members of the public. A few events I just wanted to point out. Juneteenth is coming up this Saturday, the 13th, from 10.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. here at Civic Center Park. And then we're going to end the month with our annual Summerfest event on June 27th. Also taking place downtown here at Civic Center Park and on Main Street. That will take place from 10 AM to 3 PM. I also wanted to thank the team. We held our Studio 55 one-year birthday last week. It was a great event. From what I last heard, this year we have 348 paid members. And I'm sure that number might have gone up since the last time I heard it, but it just it's just a testament to the work uh and the dedication that has been put in by this team uh to make that a reality and to be honest quite a success story uh in a little over a year uh and lastly i also as the mayor uh thank staff i i want to thank and jerry thanked carolina camacho i want to thank jerry tejeda and team here for putting together a fantastic budget there was a lot of items that were just said at the end of that item that in my opinion aren't true our budget is very transparent very easy to understand we've been working on this thing for the better part of six months and there hasn't been a day that has gone by over this last six months where we haven't been talking about the budget our audit is clean and I want the public to have confidence in the city that not only are we looking at today but we're making sure we're financially stable into the future that ends my report thank you

We'll move to 7.2, city council members' reports. Council Member Fuller.

Yes, I also attended the birthday party. It was great. I thought it was 382, 348. Anyway, we're doing very well in the place. I think it's a tribute to, I think, Troy Falk and the staff that he has there. They go much beyond the... Much beyond it. I'm in there at least one time a week. I make it a point. It's interesting to watch the staff when somebody comes in to ask about it, how much they can do, how much do they have to offer. The programs that we have to offer, we're attracting many people that are coming in, and the people's work just being over there is great. I will comment, I just have to, Troy Falk and Jerry Deheda did great. Somebody next to me spilled water on their skirts and were having trouble and suddenly Troy Falk and Jerry Deheda were there and cleaned it all up and took care of the mess and didn't have to be asked. They were able to spot it from the table, so I appreciate that. And I didn't get any of Hugh Henderson's, Mayor Henderson's great chili, but maybe it's just as well because he wouldn't taste it before I ate it. So maybe it's just as well. So thank you.

Since our last meeting, on the 27th, I attended the Tri-Delta Transit meeting, but as always, Council Member Williams will, I'm sure, have a very detailed report about that. On the 28th, Lieutenant Cartwright's retirement celebration, which was bittersweet, but happy to be a part of it. On the 29th, Brownstone Gardens Zip Trips, Oakley was recognized, and it was very interesting to see all the behind-the-scenes and how that works, and really excited to be there to support the businesses. Once I left there, I went to a town hall roundtable type of event with Congressman Harder, talking about small businesses, challenges they face, and where he can help. The second, I went to Independence High School graduation, which is where I graduated high school. So it was very exciting to be back there since my graduation. And on the third, Studio 55 birthday celebration. Thank you to the staff for letting me be a part of serving all of the Studio 55 members and being there. It is one of my favorite things to do. So I always enjoy going to that. On the third, I went to La Paloma's high school graduation. On the fourth, I went to the Contra Costa Mayor's Conference in Walnut Creek, and White Pony Express was our presenter. On the fifth, I went to Zoom, Cal City's policy committing for public safety, and I do have some notes about that. I will come back to it in just a second so I can pull it up, because Council Member Williams would be very disappointed if I don't. On the 5th, I went to the Contra Costa Construction Trades Networking Luncheon, and on Saturday the 6th, I went to the Freedom High School graduation. So for policy committee, we had presentations for fire, regarding fire insurance, which was quite interesting. So Julia Juarez, Deputy Insurance Commissioner of California, Discussed companies committed to growing and coming back to California We also had Frank Bigelow deputy director community wildfire preparedness and mitigation and discussing home hardening grants technical support financial assistance and incentives The part that really was interesting to me was our fireworks presentation. So we had the city manager of Stanton come talk about a pilot program that they did. While they don't have drones of their own, they did partner with outside companies to do drones with their fines starting at $1,000. But when they would find somebody shooting off one of those cakes, as we know, there's multiple shots fired out of those. And so they fined for each one that went out. So their fines were huge. I mean, and they had a lot. So they had to spend a lot because it was a pilot program, but their education program that they put on, so they didn't make a whole lot that first year, but they're expecting if they continue to have those types of fireworks going off. So what they did is they did drone surveillance, went four hours per evening. Most citations from drones' footage were appealed, but all of them were upheld. Ten days to compile evidence from videos and issue the citations. They did not issue any citations in that ten-day period. They took the full ten days to go through all the footage. Each discharge was counted as a violation. They had some... over $30,000 fines. And so they have opted to cap their fines at $10,000 per day. But if you have multiple, somebody doing it multiple days on a weekend, they can get up to $10,000 a day. Also for their enforcement, if someone continues to violate after citation, So they had a short-term contract. It cost them $3,500 for one week and $6,000 for their second contract. They contracted with two drone companies, so it wasn't that expensive, but that was because they didn't have drones of their own. And then plus that included the one week for processing all the videos. So the city of Stanton has revised their ordinance for enforcement. Fines now are tied to taxes and assessments for collecting, so they don't have to worry about not getting paid. And all of their ordinances are on their website if anyone is interested in checking them out. And that's it. Thank you.

Council Member Williams.

Councilmember Shaw's right. I would have been so upset. That was so good. That was all good stuff Okay Attended Tri Delta transit. We did have a public comment who was a representative of the Union that is representing the maintenance staff They were saying they're close to an agreement They want a 5% raise the board had previously approved a Cola increase and they also want to get Juneteenth off We talked about this at Tri Delta, but then I later attended a seminar by Connect Bay Area. They are the ones who submitted the BART measure. They submitted over 305,000 signatures, which is double what they needed to get the tax measure on the ballot. That will be coming to the ballot, and that will be with BART and public transit funding. There was a lot of discussion about what it would cost in the US to bring transit up to par, if we wanted to compete with any European cities or anything like that. It would cost the US $4.6 trillion to bring us even remotely up to par with some of those cities. We did have a 14-month JLAC audit. The results were released. By the next meeting, I'll provide a recap of any findings, but the preliminary looked like Tri-Delta doesn't have any findings, but there are other findings from other transit providers in the Bay Area. They gave us an update on the police department and Tri-Delta Transit partnerships. That is still moving along. They do expect to bring some structure and details in the coming months. Some service change updates. In our FY26-27 budget, we included a 25% reduction in service. For Oakley specifically, those reductions in service will be, one, all-day Try My Ride service vehicle. and it will also take away another Try My Ride from 7 to 9 p.m., plus Route 373 will now only be every 60 minutes. Those changes will take place beginning August 9th, and there will be public hearings held. The next thing, Zip Trips. That was such an incredible opportunity for our community. It was great to see everybody come together, and it was... Great to see all the around town footage. And I know it was really impactful and powerful for the businesses. And I'm still seeing little messages and talking to people about how great that was. So that was amazing. For graduation ceremonies, I went to Heritage, Pittsburgh, Freedom. And it was really exciting to see so many Oakley students at all of those different places stepping into their future. So I cried at all of them.

Vice Mayor Meadows.

Since our last meeting, I attended Lieutenant Cartwright's retirement party, which was a nice party. Sad. Close. And then a CCTA planning committee meeting last Thursday.

Since our last meeting, Lieutenant Cartwright's retirement party got to be involved with the Zip Trips on 6-2 Iron House Sanitation District. I did attend Studio 55's birthday, the mayor's conference, Friday Night Bites. Last Friday night had a really nice turnout, probably one of the largest turnouts we've had in a year so far. The weather was perfect for that, and it was a good band. Freedom's graduation on Saturday and also helped out with the all-night party Saturday night. With that, we'll move to 7.2b, future agenda items. Not seeing any of those. Eight, no work sessions, no closed sessions. With that, we have no further business tonight. We'll adjourn this meeting. Our next scheduled council meeting will be July 14th, 26th. Good night. Thank you.