City Council - Regular Meeting

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

Council Member Shaw? Here. Council Member Williams? Here. Vice Mayor Meadows? Here. Mayor Henderson? Here. And Council Member Fuller is absent.

Would everybody please rise 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, receive an update from Tri-Delta Transit. Austin Diaz, please.

Good evening. My name is Augustine Diaz. I'm the manager of planning and grants for Tri-Delta. school year 27, which began back on July 1st. Like many of the other transit agencies in the Bay Area Tridel's transit is facing some financial challenges due to several factors including decreased operating and non-operating revenues increased costs for things such as fuel materials and supplies As well as increased costs for purchase transportation due to a new operations contract which also began on July 1 of this year AND UNFORTUNATELY, TO MAINTAIN A BALANCED OPERATING BUDGET, THE SERVICE REDUCTION WAS PLANNED FOR THIS FISCAL YEAR. SO BACK IN FALL OF 2022, WE DID RETURN SERVICE TO A LEVEL CONSISTENT WITH PREPANDEMIC LEVELS OF SERVICE. AND RIDERSHIP DID NOT RECOVER AS EXPECTED DUE TO CHANGES IN TRAVEL PATTERNS AND INCREASE IN WORK FROM HOME. or remote work. So this service reduction that we have planned this fiscal year will serve as a right sizing of our system to align with post-pandemic ridership and travel for trends. So here we have a list of our operating revenue sources and our operating expense categories. The revenues include directly generated operating revenues such as passenger fares and advertising sales. And then our non-operating revenues come from several sources, including federal, state, and local fund sources. And the operating expenses, these are listed in order of the largest expense to the lowest. At the top, we have our purchase transportation expense, which is the contracted operations that we pay for. So that includes the operators, the schedulers, the dispatchers, their admin staff that actually operates our service on the streets. Here's just a pie chart kind of showing the makeup of our operating revenues. As you'll see, the biggest chunk there in green, those are state funds. Those are state taxes that are collected and allocated transit at the source. Two other things I'd want to highlight, the dark blue piece of the pie chart, those represent BART feeder bus funds. Those were our one-time funds. fund source that were allocated to us this year. And then another thing to note is that we reprogrammed about $2.8 million of funding from capital projects to be used to help balance the operating budget. And even with those one-time operating sources, we still had to unfortunately reduce service in order to balance the budget. So this was a difficult exercise because a year ago we implemented our revitalized Tri Delta transit system and we have seen some positive growth in ridership over the past year. When we look at service reduction this year, we want to make sure we took an equitable approach and tried to affect as few people in the community as possible. Some of our guiding principles for the service reduction include reducing service in areas and at times when service was least productive. We wanted to make sure we maintained the strongest performing services that were seeing growth in ridership. And we wanted to reduce duplication of services between our fixed route and trauma ride services. And this was a data-driven approach where we looked at all the data we gathered over the past years since the new services implemented about a year ago. So here's, I guess, a visualization of our service reduction plan. So this notes the changes that have taken effect. The routes highlighted in green, those are routes that see a reduction in frequency of service. We tried to maintain as much as the frequency improvements that we implemented last year, as much as possible. The routes highlighted in yellow Those routes will maintain regular service on the weekdays, but on the weekends, they will no longer be operated. And then, unfortunately, the routes highlighted in red are routes that will no longer have any service at all. One thing we made sure of eliminating service is that those people in those areas would have TriMetRide as a backup option for transit. So the new schedule actually went into effect this week on Sunday. We knew that there was going to be a big impact to our customers, so we spent the summer engaging the community. In July, we held a town hall at the Denny's in Antioch to inform the public and gather feedback. And up until the service change, we had marketing staff and our interns out out in the field, BART stations, riding the buses, especially those routes that are being affected to help keep riders informed of the changes to come. So moving forward, we will continue to gather data, gather feedback, and that will help us inform any future service changes that may come. depending on the funding that's available to operate that service. So with that, I conclude my presentation, and I'll take any questions if you have any.

Any questions? Thank you very much.

Thank you.

We'll move to Item 1.4, Contra Costa County Advisory Council on Aging Update. And we have Ms. Buckman here for that.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, council members. Thank you so much for having me here.

And good evening, everybody.

Just to kind of share what advisory council on aging is that we are a group of county residents interested in helping to improve the quality of life for older adults in Contra Costa County. We do collaborate with Area Agency on Aging to provide the means for countywide planning for older adults and people with disability. Just to kind of give you an idea. This evening, I just kind of wanted to share some changes that's coming up. We did have a presentation from EHSD, which is the Employment and Human Services Department and Medi-Cal Medi-Cal is making major changes for the next two years, including reinstating asset limits, putting a freeze on full scope enrollments for unsatisfactory immigration status, Department of Health Care services including mandatory work requirements for six months eligibility checks, and potential monthly premiums. It is important to make sure that anybody who has Medi-Cal that you stay enrolled so you don't lose your current benefits and check on your beneficiaries. There is packets here that I included of any changes within Medi-Cal. If anybody needs it, there are some. And if you do have any questions, they did put resources and support in the back of the page. So just please make sure. There's so many different changes even coming up. So if you are a recipient of Medi-Cal, please check. Also, that includes with dental, dental care. Also, I wanted to share Contra Costa. Let's see here. CCTA, Contra Costa Transportation Authority. They do have a program that is coming up. They did say to save the date. It's called Transit Ready. And the program will launch in September 30th. And they do have the location for Maple Hall City Hall in San Pablo, California. And this one, just kind of to let you know what Transit Ready is. Transit Ready is a free program that helps Contra Costa County residents build the skills and confidence to ride the bus and BART on their own through hands-on training led by community leaders. It is designed with older adults and people with disabilities in mind, but open to anyone who wants more confidence getting around. Also... Who is transit ready for? It is for older adults, people with disabilities, new transit users, Contra Costa residents interested in increasing their transportation confidence and independence. What this is not. not a paratransit transition program, not for people who need ongoing escort for accompaniment, not a replacement for specialized mobility instructions. So just to kind of put that out there. That's actually just what I have. Thank you so much for having me. Do you guys have any questions?

Any questions? Thank you very much.

Thank you.

We'll move to item 1.5, recognizing the US SSA National All-Stars California, McGee 10U, for winning their national title and tournament. We're going to have their manager come up, Josh McGee, and give us a little presentation. Jason.

Thank you. This is a team established with only local kids from out here. I've been coaching Oakley. I've been a resident for 33 years. I've been coaching here for 10. And this is a team compromised of only local residents. And we just played a annual tournament in Louisiana. Lafayette, Louisiana, to be exact. And we took it home. We won it. So this was a huge national title for our local boys to be recognized and represented, and I appreciate this opportunity. Thank you. I'll get them out of here as quick as I can, Mr. Mayor.

On behalf of the city council, we'd like to recognize your great accomplishments and thank you so much for representing the city.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I'll get them out of your hair.

We'll give it one second, then we'll keep going with the agenda. Okay, moving on with our meeting, we'll move to item two, public comment. We will receive public comment on items not on the agenda tonight. I currently have a couple cards. If you wish to speak tonight and you're in person, you need to fill out a blue card. Public comment will last for three minutes. The timer is in front of my seat. You will get a yellow light when there's one minute, and when it beeps red, we ask you to stop. We'll do the in-person, then we'll go to any remotely speakers. Our first speaker tonight is Tracy.

Hello. My name is Tracy Casamoto, and we're trying to recall County Supervisor Diane Burgess. Diane has ignored requests for cooperation and compromise for cities as she shoves her projects down people's throat. I'm here to warn Oakley that after she is done putting her mark and feathers in her cap in many cities, she may come for Oakley. Brentwood Veterans. Diane, with the backing of California State Assembly Member Anna Marie Avila-Farias, broke what many considered as a sacred promise made. to the veterans. In 1923, the property was dedicated to the veterans, and she reappropriated it. Look at the Veterans Memorial Building website blogs for more information. What makes this especially troubling is that her husband was a veteran, and she should know better than most how deeply these changes affect those who served and why our veterans should be treated with the utmost respect and consideration. East County Community Service Center, she disregarded the request to enter into a memorandum of understanding regarding the building ordinances, went over budget, $25 million without disclosure. Disclosure, she could have given that $25 million towards the youth center that she postponed. In April, she got $1.3 million grant from DeSaulner for the youth center that has no start date. Tax measure B, March 3, she corrected the true amount of the federal funding health care cuts and turned around and placed the discredited figure on the June ballot anyway. She got greedy, and the people she supposedly wanted to help walked away with nothing. Discovery Bay, she's allowing 170 low-income apartments to be built. Discovery Bay does not object to the low income. However, they don't have a high school, middle school, or any public transportations and not enough jobs. She failed to compromise and build something the town could handle. After getting the notice of recall, she withdrew $1.5 million of Measure X tax money but failed to mention that she gave a $7.4 million developer fee deferment. until the payment is scheduled or a due date or a payment schedule, whatever, I consider that a waiver. Knights and when the community service district disbanded and the county took over as successor, the county took approximately $170,000 in its reserves. County council initially stated that the county could not use some of the money for East Bay Regional Park damage claims before the committee disbanded, yet she figured out a way to do it. It was legal, but was it moral? Where is the rest of that money? In conclusion, I just want to know where Jebediah is. And I think she'll know.

Our next speaker is Jay O'Connor.

Good evening, Mayor Henderson. Good evening, Vice Mayor Meadows, council, and my fellow Oakley community. My name is Jay Connor B. Ortega, and I'm a resident of District 5, whose council member is not here at this moment. And firstly, I want to say I was on my way here and saw two officer vehicles were on their way to an incident. So I want to take this time to thank our officers for being ready to assist our community. Now, every morning I take my walk along the Delta River, and I've noticed an insurmountable and ever-growing large of trash that is being thrown in our river. And I have spoken to my fellow residents and those we happily call neighbors. We have decided that we're going to start up a volunteer Delta cleanup crew at least once a month starting and seeing how it goes. So I am excited to announce that at least that's in the works right now. And we plan to reach out to each council member, our mayor, and of course public works to make sure we're not stepping on anyone's toes. Thank you.

Do you not have any further speaker cards in the chambers? Do we have any online people that would like to speak to the council tonight?

There are no hands raised online, Mayor.

OK. Then we'll move on to Councilmember Cronenberg. OK, we do have an online. Come on up.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Young, Oakley resident. I would like to urge the city of Oakley to follow Walnut Creek's and Lafayette's footsteps with regard to banning the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. Benefits of a ban include less air pollution as well as maintenance and potential cost savings. Per the Institute of the Exposomic Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the California Air Resource Board estimates that an hour use of a gas-powered leaf blower releases emissions equivalent to a 15-hour car ride or 1,100 miles. Gas-powered leaf blowers emissions include carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, benzene, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. These pollutants impact respiratory health and are associated with autism, cancer, heart disease, and dementia. As a city, we can learn from the Lafayette Environmental Task Force, which offers an electric leaf blower program. And their residents are also encouraged to educate neighbors and local gardeners on the benefits of switching to electric leaf blowers and or just a rake, simple rake. That's all. Thank you for your consideration.

With that, I'll move to council members' comments. Seeing none, we'll move to the consent calendar. Come on up. I don't see it on our sheet, so I apologize.

I like the flags. Good evening, Oakley City Council and members of the Oakley community. My name is Logan Nelson, and I am the student body president at Freedom High School. And with me is Vice President Wyatt Seat, Secretary Leah Santos, Treasurer Alina Monzon, and our activities director, Mr. Jones. We are here today to talk about our homecoming parade on August 27. Over the past few months, we have been working with City staff to bring our parade to downtown Oakley for the first time in Freedom history. Homecoming has always been an important tradition for Freedom, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to create a more inclusive and impactful event for our community. On Thursday, August 27th at 6 p.m., our parade will start at St. Anthony's en route to Civic Center Park, where we will cap off the evening with a community rally. It will feature performances from our band, cheer, dance, and our other groups. Now, having announced our new format to our school and community, we have been overwhelmed with the support we have received. We now expect over 1,100 people to participate in the parade, nearly triple what we had in years previous. In recognition of our gratitude for the partnership we have created with the city, We would love to formally invite the entire city council, city manager Joshua McMurray, and assistant city manager Danielle Navarro to be distinguished guests in our parade. We would have you ride in convertibles to be recognized by the community and would have a VIP section for you to sit and enjoy the community rally. Thank you for your time and consideration along with all of the work the city staff has done to bring our homecoming downtown on August 27th. We hope to see you there.

You want the RSVP now?

Yes. Yes.

I'll send you guys a follow-up email tomorrow.

Thank you.

Okay, now we'll move to Item 4, Consent Calendar.

I'd like to pull 4.10, 4.11, and 4.12.

Yeah, great. I was going to pull those. So I will also pull 4.9.

I move the remainder. OK, but before we remove with the new online thing, do we have any public comments on the consent calendar?

I see nobody online wishing to speak, Mayor. OK. Second.

Then I'll go ahead and entertain the motion.

Again, I'll move the remainder of the consent calendar.

I'll second. Thank you.

So we're the consent calendar minus 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.12. Can we call for a roll call vote?

Council Member Shaw? Yes. Council Member Williams? Yes. Vice Mayor Meadows? Yes. Mayor Henderson?

Yes.

That motion carries 4-0. 4.9.

I just wanted to pull this because I think it's important to highlight to the community the capital improvement projects that we're doing. So I just wanted to call it out, our 2526 Street Repair and Resurfacing Project. I know often people want to know where their tax dollars go. So I just wanted to pull this out and let people know that they can look at 4.9 to get the info on what's being resurfaced and repaved. And that was kind of all I wanted to pull it. So thank you for Having all of these items on here for us to look at and with that I will move that one Second so we have a first and a second a roll call Councilmember Shaw.

Yes councilmember Williams. Yes vice mayor Meadows. Yes mayor Henderson. Yes, the motion carries 4-0

4.10. If it's OK, I'll talk about all three at one time. I was going to tag along with Councilmember Williams. But same reason. I just wanted to highlight these three items. 4.10 is widening of O'Hara and going to two lanes in the northbound direction from, I think, Grapevine, just south of Grapevine, all the way up to Laurel. So improving the traffic flow there. 4.11 is the Main Street, Rose Avenue intersection improvements and signal, which has been needed for a long time. And same with 4.12 is the signal and improvements at Delta and Main obviously also have been needed for a long time. So with that, I move approval of 4.10, 4.11, 4.12. Do we have a second?

We do. I just saw her button, so I wanted to wait.

Council Member Shaw.

I just also wanted to highlight that we had our budget workshop in May. April. April. Approved this budget in June, and it's August, and we're authorizing it. And I think that is commendable for the staff and the work that you guys have put in to implement these priorities that we have. So I just wanted to highlight the work that you guys have done and the direction that we've given to you guys just run with it. And I think that's amazing. Everyone talks about how slow government works, and this is one of those moments where we get to really start seeing this And we also have residents that you know, we keep hearing we're building houses, but we're not doing the infrastructure And these are very very important road improvements. So I just wanted to add on to that highlight.

So, thank you Okay now I'll second And with that we can do a roll call vote, please Councilmember Shaw.

Yes Councilmember Williams. Yes vice mayor Meadows. Yes mayor Henderson. Yes motion carries 4-0

Moving on to Item 5, Public Hearing 5.1, Unhosted Short-Term Rentals in the Downtown Pacific Plan and Updating SB 346, Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2025, adopt ordinance amending chapter 5.15, titled Short-Term Rentals. And our senior planner, Jose, is here to give us the presentation tonight.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and council members. The next item on tonight's agenda is the unhosted short-term on-house stay short-term rentals in the downtown specific plan and SB 346. So a little background. We're reviewing short-term rentals in just the downtown specific plan area. We've discussed this on two prior occasions, two work sessions on February 10th and on April 28th. During that April 28th meeting, council provided direction on what staff should move forward with. As such, staff has revised the applicable sections in the municipal code accordingly. As part of that direction, council provided us staff with the direction to allow for unhosted short-term rentals and vacation rentals within the downtown specific plan area. Council also requested a cap be put on the number of vacation rentals allowed within the boundaries. That cap was 15 that we established. Council also directed staff to include language on SB 346. Just a little map of the downtown specific area boundaries as a visual. So currently, short-term rentals are prohibited citywide. Only hosted are permitted. An unhosted stay is a short-term rental where the owner remains off-site during the guest stay. This would allow for the owner who uses the home as a primary residence to rent the entire unit without remaining on-site during the rental period. Chapter 5.15 of the Oakley Municipal Code has been modified to allow for unhosted short-term rentals to be permitted within the downtown specific plan area. So vacation rentals currently are also not allowed citywide. The modifications would allow for them to be permitted within the boundaries of the downtown-specific plan. The proposed amendments would allow for short-term rentals to operate as a vacation rental only if the residence is located within the downtown. New for the vacation rentals, we added additional standards that the vacation rental would be subject to. And this is intended to preserve neighborhood compatibility and provide clear administrative procedures. Some standards that are in the ordinance include the CAP, which would be the 15 active short-term rental permits for vacation rentals at any given time. We're also now not allowing any special events to occur at the vacation rentals. which would be weddings, auctions, any type of commercial function. An additional standard would be no limousine or bus parking. And the purpose of that is to prevent any larger vehicles to block any emergency vehicle access. And then an additional standard would be that each vacation rental unit can only have one agreement at a time. which is intended for properties that may have an ADU or a separate unit. Those would not be able to be rented separately. It would just be you're renting the property as a whole. Some additional standards. So with the cap at 15, if there are additional applications that we receive, staff will be creating, planning staff will be creating a wait list and maintaining that wait list. And we will establish that in the order of applications received. Some additional standards include vacation rental approvals would be forfeited if a short-term rental permit expires and they're not renewed in a timely manner. or it's revoked or surrendered. New for vacation rentals also, we would provide a notice to property owners within 500 feet of the vacation rental, providing information that, hey, this has been approved. Here's some information, some rules, some contact information, and who to notify if there is a disturbance. SB 346, it was a law that was signed in October of 2025. This essentially helps cities track or request information from vacation rental sites and would help a city track any active listings and to use that information to, if there's any enforcement that's required or to send information regarding TOT, things like that. So adding this language will help cities track that information. As part of our analysis, what we found was that allowing for this use in the downtown specific plan helps encourage further economic development in the city. The addition of unhosted and vacation rentals provide an additional accommodation option for people who attend events in the city, as we previously discussed. And the ability to accommodate overnight visitors, particularly during peak events, may influence the extent to which visitor spending is captured in the city. As all projects, this project is Sorry, this ordinance is subject to CEQA. Staff has found that the proposed ordinance is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under the common sense exemption. And staff's recommendation is staff recommends the city council waive the first reading and introduce the proposed ordinances amending the Oakley Municipal Code pursuant to and finding the action exempt from CEQA. Thank you.

Questions for staff? Council Member Shah.

So I know you mentioned parking. What about boat and trailer parking?

I think the intent for that was that you wouldn't overflow the street with large vehicles. That standard is typical of vacation rentals, other ordinances I found in the neighboring cities. I know it's tough in the downtown area because some streets were developed so long ago and streets are narrow. But I think the intent would be that if there is boat parking, they would park on site. Limousines, buses may not be accommodated on site.

I just know that we're highlighting the bass tournaments type of things. And those are going to have trailers, even if their boats are on the water. I'm trying to also think about the size of the streets, the emergency vehicles, and stuff like that. So that's where my question stems from.

Yeah, and we can definitely modify the language if council sees that.

Thank you.

Council Member Williams.

Okay, so I know the unhosted stays are a little bit different from the vacation rentals. So I'm assuming that we would not be providing those same notices to permits for short-term rentals for the unhosted ones?

No, the addition of the notice for the vacation rentals is solely because vacation rentals, it's not their primary dwelling. So contacting them may be a little bit more difficult. A vacation rental may be managed by a property manager, not the property owner themselves. So it's just an additional layer to ease people's minds. Not saying that if a vacation rental is established, a neighbor would automatically know. But I think it's just that added layer of, hey, here's what's going on. Here's who to contact.

OK, perfect. And I think for the what will be people's recourse, the neighbor's recourse, if they need to contact somebody at an unhosted stay, what is going to be their recourse? Are we going to provide any education so that people know what they're supposed to do in those situations if something's blocking or if one of the rules are sort of being violated?

Yeah, similar to just the unhosted and hosted, there's a procedure to notify police and the property owners. I don't know to what extent we would provide neighbors with other additional educational materials. But it's something definitely we could explore if need be. But the letter, yeah, it would include police's contact, the property owner or property manager's contact, and then the rules of, hey, they're allowed this many people during the day. Here's what they're allowed to park. no events, things like that. One of the additional standards that I didn't highlight in the slide was, yes, we want people to know that there will be a vacation rental, but we're also not authorizing them to go and be that official to knock on the door or anything like that.

Okay, thank you.

There's no more questions. I'll open the public hearing. At this point, I do not have any public speakers in the chamber. Is there anybody who wishes to speak on this item? If not, do we have anybody online?

There is nobody online wishing to speak on this item.

Then I'll go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to council for deliberation. Council Member Williams.

Okay, I think I've expressed a little bit of hesitation on this item before. I see the intent of it, but... I just have some concerns about if we're taking options away from folks. By nature, the downtown area would be a more affordable place for an Oakley family to buy a house because they tend to be smaller. They're a little bit older than some of our neighborhoods. So those are the things that sort of worry me is that we're taking an affordable option away from folks. people who potentially would be able to buy a house if it wasn't sold as a vacation rental. That being said, I do see the intent. So I was hoping we could make a few changes. I would like to see it more of like a pilot program where One, I would love to reduce the permits down to 10. And then if we're finding that that's not enough, that it comes back to council. But then I would also like to re-look at this in a year. Because I just want to make sure that it's, one, doing what we want it to do, right? Attracting economic development and helping to solve a problem without causing issues, without limiting housing for folks who would want it. And I also don't want this to be disruptive to neighbors. So those are some of my thoughts on it.

VICE CHAIRMAN MILLER- Vice Mayor Meadows. To address Councilmember Shaw's comment on boat parking, I would assume it would be just like any other parking. My assumption when staff put in limousine and bus is when they come in and double park and take up the street. That's my assumption. I could be wrong, but staff can correct me. I'd be OK with 10 permits. I know we talked about 15 before, and that's what's presented. I've kind of run the numbers in my head, and 10 is 5% of the housing stock in that area, roughly. How many days, if I converted a unit to short-term rental, how many days out of the month would it even be rented? And does it even make financial sense to make that happen? And some people might determine it does. I don't know. If we have an overwhelming demand and it's helping our downtown, we can address that, like you said, later on. So I'd be OK with that. The temp permits to start with. And looking at it, bringing it back maybe in a year. Unless we had overwhelming demand. I just don't see. I asked for this a long time ago because we're trying to bring more vitality to our downtown. And none of us were on the council back when the specific plan was put in place to But I'm assuming that part of that was to revitalize our downtown, to encourage economic development and activity down here. And this is a way to do it. I don't think it should be in outside our downtown. I don't think we should have short-term rentals throughout Oakley. kind of community I just don't see that but right here close to where we have some of the restaurants and encourage you more and I would like to try this council member shop

All right. A couple things. I appreciate the track changes. Those are always fun for me to look at and see the red, what's changed, what's gone in there. I don't know. I like colors, I guess. But I am also interested in lowering it to 10. And when we do bring it back in a year, I would like a presentation from the police department, even if that is telling us that there have been no issues. But I think it's important for the residents to hear What sort of calls that we've been getting I think that's important so like a pilot like councilmember Williams was saying if we find that it's a problem then we need to address it then and if we find that you know our waiting list is null then we don't need to raise it obviously so Happy that we're just looking at this in the downtown area I do want to make sure that With the smaller roads, if we do start to see boats and trailers becoming an issue, I just want to be able to address that too. So parking enforcement, code enforcement, PD, I just want a real full report in a year on this. And not for us to have to ask for it, just kind of already calendared. I also want to address the elephant in the room. We had a big party in vintage at a rental that got out of hand. And I want to make sure that we're loosening the restrictions. And right now, while the restrictions are tighter, we're still having these problems. So I just want to make sure that we are proactively making sure that our rentals are registered. And the PD is making sure that those don't happen. I know that was quite an event. I don't need any highlight reels of it. But I do want to acknowledge that things can get out of hand. So I want the residents to know that we We're taking this kind of with kid gloves right now, making sure that this is what it's meant to do, which is revitalize or bring stuff more downtown. And I do hope that we start to get more traffic. When I travel, I stay in Airbnbs because I want my whole family to be together. And it's easier to do that than a hotel. And we only have one hotel here. So I want to start attracting people here to come see how awesome we are. And if we don't have places for them to stay, they're going to stay in our neighboring cities. So I appreciate this. I just want to make sure that we're really monitoring it and making sure it's doing what we want to do. And it's not harming us. It's helping us. But other than that, I do support where we're at with it today.

I do like the idea of bringing this back in a year and kind of calling it a pilot program. Getting a true evaluation after a year is important. I do support also lowering the number from 15 down to 10. I think 10 will give us a good, if we get 10 applicants in there, it'll give us a good number to evaluate off of in a year to see if this is working for that. And I don't see any further feedback, so I'll be looking for a motion.

I move approval, moving forward with this item, lowering the permits from 15 to 10, addressing it one year after it's implemented, or after we've had a year to look at it. So my motion is to lower the permits to 10 and to bring it back in a year after implementation for a review.

I'll second that.

So we have a first and a second roll call vote.

Council Member Shaw? Yes. Council Member Williams? Yes. Vice Mayor Meadows? Yes. Mayor Henderson? Yes. The motion carries 4-0. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving on to our regular calendar, item 6.1, adopt a resolution approving salary schedule for fiscal year 26-27, adding two new classifications. And our staff report will be coming from our administrative assistance director, Jerry Tata.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and members of the council. Tonight's agenda is approving the master salary schedule, which includes the addition of two new classifications. On June 9th, council adopted a resolution 5726 with the updated salary schedule for fiscal year 2627, which included a 2% cost of living increase for the general staff and a 3% cost of living increase for the police officers association. The exhibit that was attached to that resolution had mistakes that were recently found. These were administrative in nature, and they did not affect actual payments to employees. I apologize for these errors and any confusion it has caused. To help in the future, we have reformatted the salary schedule so that we're able to pull the salary tables directly from the new software, which avoids any manual entries that previously existed. Additionally, we're asking to add two new classifications. The first is for a full time senior recreation leader. Over the past 15 months, we have struggled to retain our part time employees who are helping make Studio 55 a success. We have several part-time staff that assist with Studio 55, but we have two positions that are necessary, and we feel they're important to remain consistent. One of those is the day-to-day programming, and the other acts as our cafe manager. A few weeks ago, our cafe manager found full-time employment and therefore resigned from their duties as cafe manager. They did remain on with us to do weekend events. Staff has taken this time to review what the needs are and determined the importance of consistency at Studio 55. We believe we can combine the two main roles that were part-time positions into one full-time position. There would not be any additional cost to the base salaries, but the addition of this classification would increase the budget approximately $15,000 annually, which adds benefits to the full-time employment. The second would be a reclassification of an administrative assistant to deputy city clerk. One of the city's current needs is having a centralized risk management. Currently, these duties are separated among several staff members without somebody having full ownership. Adding a deputy city clerk would allow for the assignment of additional job duties that are not covered by the lower classification of administrative assistant. This position would become our main contact with our insurance company, ensuring communications are efficient and consistent. The deputy city clerk would also sit as our primary board member on the MPA, which is our municipal polling authority, who provides our insurance for us. We do not anticipate this change occurring until January of 2027, and we expect the partial year cost to be approximately $12,500. So tonight we're recommending the approval of the salary schedule with the corrections, effective still July 5th, 2026. and adding the classifications of a full-time recreation leader and deputy city clerk, the total fiscal impact of these two additions to the 26-27 budget will be approximately $27,500. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Questions for staff? That's Council Member Williams.

Sorry. You mentioned that the health benefits for the full-time would be the, is that the same with the deputy city clerk or is it because we're creating basically a different position for that?

The difference for the deputy city clerk is actually salary and benefits because we're increasing the salary. Okay, great. Thank you.

Not seeing any further questions. I do not have any public speaker cards. Is there anybody online that wishes to speak on this?

There is nobody online raising their hand, Mayor.

With that, I'll bring it back to council for deliberation or a motion. I move approval of item 6.1.

Second.

We have a first and a second. Can I get a roll call vote?

Councilmember Shaw? Yes. Councilmember Williams? Yes. Vice Mayor Meadows? Yes. Mayor Henderson?

Yes.

The motion carries 4-0.

Moving on to 6.2, waive the first reading and the introduction of an ordinance modifying the Oakley Municipal Code 2.3.002, clarification of training requirements for planning commissioners. Staff report will come from our city attorney.

Thank you, Mayor, Council. This is a pretty simple cleanup item. I've described what we're trying to do in the staff report. But to briefly summarize, ever since we've reinstituted the Planning Commission, there are some old relics from the ordinance that was adopted, I think, in the early part of the city's history when there was a Planning Commission. And one of those is that the trainings for Brown Act and for planning training have to happen before someone takes office. Number one, with respect to the FPPC training, that's technically required within the first six months. So technically, by state law, you have more time. So there is a conflict between our ordinance and that state standard. And then with the planning commissioner training, our practice is to do that in March when there is a planning commissioner academy. And so if we literally apply the ordinance, It's very difficult to make that work. So we're just trying to clean that up, give us some time. And this was something that the planning community development did want. Mr. Strelow, I don't want to put him on the spot, but if you wanted to ask him how this would work from a practical standpoint, he certainly can answer that question. But the ordinance is before you for introduction and waiver of first reading. But again, we view this as a pretty minor issue.

cleanup item Questions for staff I Do not have any public speaker cards, is there anybody online?

Nobody online wishing to speak me with that.

I'll bring it back to council for your deliberation or emotion.

I move approval second We have a first and a second.

Can we get a roll call vote? I?

Council Member Shaw? Yes. Council Member Williams? Yes. Vice Mayor Meadows? Yes. Mayor Henderson? Yes. The motion carries 4-0.

Moving on to Item 7, Reports, City Manager's Report.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, members of the city council, members of the public. Just a few short reports. I wanted just to bring attention that we have our Heart of Oakley celebration in September, so it's coming up soon. That will be September 19 here at Civic Center Plaza and on Main Street. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Also wanted to highlight, we just talked about Studio 55 for a second, but we are bringing back some programming and adding some new programming. So we are bringing back Zumba, and we are adding yoga and cooking decorating. So the seniors that use our facility will be able to make cookies and eat them too. And I also wanted to point out that we have attached the business license list for the month of July, and that concludes my report.

Thank you. 7.2, council members report acting different agencies. Council Member Shah.

Since our last meeting on the 16th, since our last meeting on July 16th, I attended a Cal City's board Zoom. The 18th, a next door meet and greet monthly luncheon that is put together with neighbors throughout the city. We had our special meeting with the planning commission regarding data centers. Council member Williams and I on the 22nd met with the CEO Rashidi Barnes from Tri Delta Transit in lieu of having our board meeting. He was just kind of doing some one-on-ones with some board members. On the 24th, they went to the Liberty Union High School district convocation, and later that afternoon to the elected women's luncheon. On the 30th, they went to the Mount Diablo resource recovery ribbon cutting at their new Oakley location. On the first, I started the morning doing a roadside cleanup with Oakley Rotary, left that, and went and did a Stuff the Bus backpack giveaway, and then over to the beer aisle for the Fill the Boot event that they were having. August 4th, National Night Out. I was able to make it to five neighborhoods. Thank you to all the neighborhoods that put something together. It's always great to get the community together however we can. On the 6th, the Contra Costa Mayor's Conference, which was hosted by us. Staff did an amazing job. I have been getting phone calls every day since about how great it was, so just kudos to you guys. It's kind of nice to get calls from people I don't normally hear from just to tell us what a great job it was. On the 7th, Lori Wilson, AD 11 Day, also hosted here at City Hall. And then later that night went to Friday Night Bites. Saturday, August 8th, the Oakley Fishing Derby. And then I did want to highlight that this week on Thursday, August 13th, Representative Josh Harder, Congressman Harder, will be here from 12.40 PM to 1.30 PM for a community outreach event here at City Hall. So thank you.

Vice Mayor Meadows.

Since our last meeting, I've attended Contra Costa Transportation Authority Board Meeting, MCE Board Meeting, the Joint City Council Planning Commission Meeting, the MDRR ribbon cutting, National Night Out, and the Mayor's Conference.

Council Member Williams.

All right, since our last meeting, I attended the Joint City Council Planning Commission meeting, the Liberty Union High School District Convocation, National Night Out. I also attended a webinar on poverty rates in California. Contra Costa County is now at pre-pandemic poverty levels. Our poverty rate is 13.8%, and our child poverty rate is 15%. We did have a meeting with Tri Delta Transit CEO to catch up and talk about Oakley's specific planning with Council Member Shaw, as she mentioned, Mayor's Conference in Oakley. Council Member Shaw took all of the thunder. It was really good. I'm obviously the chair of those meetings, and so I see them in every city. And ours was for sure the best. And also attended AD 11 to learn about Assemblymember Wilson's priorities and initiatives. And then I also had a meeting with Chris Cabaldon's staff right after to have some conversations about some needs we have here, especially centered around transit and access to jobs and balancing our housing with that. So that is all.

And like all of us, it's been a busy month since our last meeting. I also attended the Council Planning Commission meeting on the data centers, the ribbon cutting for Mount Diablo Resource, Iron House. board of directors meeting i attended the special um diablo water meeting on the discussion of buying purchasing jersey island national night out mayor's conference friday night bites the kids fishing tournament and then yesterday we had delta six with the mayors and city managers of Antioch, Pittsburgh, Brentwood, and us and the two supervisors. And I just want to give a big shout out to staff. Last week was a crazy week for staff, but we shined in everything that we were doing, whether it was National Night Out, the Mayor's Conference, Friday Night Bites. There were 75 kids that just had an amazing time at that fishing tournament. So thank you to staff. With that, we'll move to B. Is there any future requests for agenda items? Seeing none. Eight work sessions, none. So we'll move to closed session. 9.1, conference with legal conference, anticipated legal litigation. Pursuant to paragraph 4, subsection D, 54, 95, 56.9, one potential case. At the end of closed session, we'll close. Thank you, everybody, for coming to the meeting, and we'll see you in September. Thank you.