City Council - Regular Meeting

. . . Thank you.

All right, it is now time to open, to start the open session, to hear public comment before closed session. May we have a roll call?

Council Member Bonnet? Here. Council Member Brown absent. Council Member Jimenez? Presente. Council Member Cepeda?

Here.

And Council Member Wilson will be joining us on Zoom. Council Member Wilson?

Here.

Vice Mayor Robinson, absent. Mayor Martinez?

Here.

Okay. And tonight, the closed session will be covering the following topics. Conference with Labor Negotiators, Agency Representatives Sharon Taylor, Jack Hughes, and Lisa Charbonneau. Employee Organizations, SEIU Local 1021 Full-Time Unit and Part-Time Unit. IFPTE Local 21 Mid-Level Management Unit and Executive Management Units. Richmond Police Officers Association, RPOA, Richmond Police Management Association, RPMA, IAFF Local 188, and Richmond Fire Management Association, RFMA. Under public employee performance evaluation, title city manager. Conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one case. CONFERENCE WITH REAL PROPERTY NEGOTIATOR, PROPERTY 1145 HARBORWAY SOUTH, AGENCY NEGOTIATOR, CHARLES GERRARD, CHRIS DIXEL, DANNY WAN, NEGOTIATING PARTIES, AAK, UNDER NEGOTIATION, PRICE AND TERMS OF PAYMENT. AND UNDER PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT, CITY MANAGER RECRUITMENT. AND WE DO HAVE A PUBLIC SPEAKER, CORDELL HINDLER. YOU WILL HAVE TWO MINUTES TO SPEAK. Can we?

So good afternoon, Mayor Martinez. Council, for the record, I am Cordell Handler, and I have three things to say regarding this item. So number one, when you go into closed session, the unions have done a lot to make Richmond a great place to work and to play. So when you go back in there, we need to come to a conclusion. So that's one. Number two is, as far as the city manager evaluation, Shasta Curl has done an outstanding job. She makes sure that this council Whatever policy that this council has implemented, she takes it to heart. So you heard of a CEO? Well, I call it a CFO, compassionate, fearless leader. That's what Shasta Curl does. She makes sure that Richmond is up to date with what's going on. And I do appreciate her weekly reports. I find them very interesting because she provides a lot of information to our community. So when you go back in there, think about all the things that she has done. Then as far as the city manager recruitment, when you go into that, make sure that whoever is going to be the interim for the time being is to make sure that they have the same qualities and characteristics for our next city manager. That's all I have to say.

We will now move on to the online speaker.

And that online speaker is Benjamin Theriault. Please unmute yourself and you may begin.

Good evening, City Council. Ben Theriault, President of the Richmond Police Officers Association. I want to give an update on a couple things for staffing and negotiations. We have three officers that are in backgrounds to leave, a couple going to San Francisco PD, one going to the DA's office. which has been pretty standard in what, where people are departing to. And, you know, to continue with the issue, one of our issues is our issue of labor and the fact that the, and leadership starts at the top and we have a city manager who does not understand labor. We had a side letter back on training cops, our FTO, it took months to get back just for her to redline a couple of words out of the agreement It took months to get it done. It takes far too long. Some of the OPEB stuff that you guys have been discussing, apparently, you know, I sent emails out on February 19th to receive that information, information that we're not even going to receive until August 7th. That's February 19th and receiving on August 7th. And the request to actually have an x-ray done on OPEB was made a year ago. So I just want to give you that for perspective. And finally, if we're going to get a new city manager, we need a city manager who understands labor, not one who is trying to find ways to say no and trying to find ways to make things work. All of our non-economic requests that we have made recently have been declined as well. Those are things that don't cost money and they're easy asks. Declined and not assuming by the city manager. So we need someone who, if you're going to put out this search, understands labor, understands what Richmond's needs really are. Thank you.

Thank you. And that was our last speaker.

Public comment is closed, and we will now retire to closed session.

Did you tell him?

No, he saw me.

Believe. Live.

Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. Thank you. you you Thank you. you Thank you for watching. Thank you. Let's pray. . . . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mm-hmm. you I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. . . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. . . . . Thank you. . . you Thank you. you you Mm. Mm. Thank you. Thank you. Let's pray. So, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. Thank you. ¶¶ you you Thank you. Thank you. . . you so so you you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Thank you.

It is now time for a special meeting of the Richmond Housing Authority. We'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

Roll call.

Commissioner Brown.

Here.

Commissioner Jimenez. Presente. Commissioner Zepeda.

Here.

Commissioner Wilson is joining us online. Can't hear you. Commissioner Wilson is here. Chair Martinez?

Here.

Attending Commissioner Scott?

Present.

For the record, Vice Chair Robinson is absent for roll call. And also Commissioner Bonner is absent. Our next item, statement of conflict of interest. Are there any? Hearing none. Our next item is a report from the executive director. There will be no report from the executive director this evening. Okay. Our next item is agenda review.

I'll take it. It's not, but.

Are there any changes to the housing authority agenda? Hearing none, our next item is open forum. We have two speakers. Speakers are Cordell Hindler and Pamela Granger. Please come forward. You have two minutes to address the commission.

Okay. So good evening, Chair Martinez, commissioners. For the record, I am Cordell Hanlon, and I have looked at the consent calendar, and I don't have no problems with it. So the commission should consider adopting a consent calendar as is.

Pamela Granger.

Can you hear me?

Can you come closer? Can you hear me? Okay. You can pull the mic down. You can pull the mic down. Huh? You can pull the mic towards you. Okay.

Can you guys hear me now? Yes. Sure, I can hear myself. Good evening, everyone. I'm here to address the failure of Contra Costa County Housing Authority and accommodating me in a reasonable accommodation request that I submitted in September of 2025. I had been living in one of their apartments under the project-based voucher. And that's another story because I had a moving voucher. At the same time, there are structural damage in the apartment and my reasonable accommodation was to be relocated. Housing authority put it on the property manager to relocate me and as of today I have not been relocated. The structure with the floors is buckling, bulging, dips, slopes, soft spots and the vinyl is lifting. And so I'm in this hazardous situation. It is not safe for me. And as you can see, I'm dealing with leg weakness back here. What's going on is making my body deteriorate. And I've been crying out to a lot of people, city officials, wherever you guys may have heard of my name, Pamela Granger, because I've called out to the mayor's office, anyone that can help me to get me out of this place. Quick, fast, in a hurry. Relocate. The landlord doesn't want to relocate me right now. We're on mad housing, don't want to give me a move-in voucher. So I'm like trapped in this apartment that's unsafe for me. And so that's where I am with housing.

Okay, your time has expired, ma'am.

I'm sorry.

Your time has expired.

Yes, I'm good.

If I may, Mayor, through you as the chair, Nanette Beauchamp will confer with the resident. Thank you.

Okay. Our next item is approval of the consent calendar. Well, I'm sorry, we may have one online speaker. Sabrina, can you call the speaker? Oh, okay, she's about to speak now. Okay. Yeah, we cannot hear the speaker, the online speaker. Okay, we are having some audio issues with the online speaker. Okay. We'll just ask the online speaker to please submit your, your comments to the city clerk's office.

Okay.

All right. There are no more speakers. We need approval of the consent calendar. We need a motion.

I move the item. Do we have a second?

I second. Okay. Commissioner Brown.

Yes.

Commissioner Bonner? Yes. Commissioner Jimenez?

Yes.

Commissioner Wilson? Commissioner Wilson? Commissioner Zepeda?

Yes.

Chair Martinez? Yes. Tenant Commissioner Scott?

Yes.

Vice Chair Robinson is absent. And Commissioner Wilson, are you voting?

Unfrozen, I hope. Yes. Okay. Yay.

The consent calendar is approved with Vice Chair Robinson absent. And that is conclusion of the RHA meeting.

With that, then this meeting is adjourned. Thank you for joining us.

It's always a pleasure.

So now we will proceed with the regular meeting of the Richmond City Council. We'll begin with the roll call.

Roll call. Council Member Bonner?

Here.

Council Member Brown?

Here.

Councilmember Jimenez? Present. Councilmember Zepeda?

Here.

Councilmember Wilson?

Yes, here.

Mayor Martinez?

Here.

And Vice Mayor Robinson is absent. Right. Our next item is statement of conflict of interest. Are there any? Hearing none, our next item is agenda review. Any changes to the agenda?

Yes, I would like to move Y4 to the beginning of the study and action session. Y4 is a presentation from AC Transit on Agency Deficit Projection Services and Workforce Reductions.

ANY MORE CHANGES TO THE AGENDA? NONE. OKAY. OUR NEXT ITEM IS A REPORT FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY OF FINAL DECISIONS MADE DURING CLOSED SESSION.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL AND PUBLIC. NO FINAL REPORTABLE ACTIONS WERE TAKEN DURING CLOSED SESSION. I WILL NOTE THAT ITEMS, EXCUSE ME, ITEM C3 AND C5 WERE NOT DISCUSSED. THANK YOU.

OUR NEXT ITEM IS A REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Richmond City Council and Richmond community. KCRT, can you please put up the slide deck? Next slide, please. I would like to thank city staff, community partners and performers and everyone who enjoyed the grand reopening of Shields Reed and the 15th annual North Richmond Music Festival on July 11th. The reopening celebrated the completion of the $8 million renovated FUNDING THROUGH THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA WHICH TRANSFERRED THE PARK AND CREATED COMMUNITY GATHERING SPACES FOR NORTH RICHMOND RESIDENTS. THE CELEBRATION CONTINUED WITH THE ANNUAL MUSIC FESTIVAL FEATURING LOCAL REGIONAL ARTISTS PERFORMING BLUES, R&B AND SPECIAL CULTURAL PERFORMANCES. COMMUNITY MEMBERS ALSO ENJOYED A LUNCH AND GATHERED WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO CELEBRATE THE PARK'S REOPENING LOCAL CULTURE AND ONE OF NORTH RICHMOND'S LONGEST STANDING COMMUNITY TRADITIONS. I'M REALLY PLEASED THAT WE WERE ABLE TO COMPLETE THIS PARK AND WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OF THE CITY STAFF AND THE CITY COUNCIL FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT IN IMPROVING PUBLIC PARKS WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO PUBLIC WORKS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES AS WELL AS ALL THE INTERNAL DEPARTMENTS THAT SUPPORT THESE PROJECTS SUCH AS FINANCE. CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE AND THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE BECAUSE ALL OF THE PAPERWORK HAS TO BE ROUTED AND APPROVED BEFORE IT CAN BE EFFECTUATED. SO AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE WAS A LOVELY TURNOUT AND IT WAS A GREAT EVENT AND THANKS TO ALL THE COUNCIL MEMBERS THAT ALSO CAME OUT. NEXT SLIDE. THIS PAST SATURDAY, JULY 25TH, CITY STAFF AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS CELEBRATED THE RICHMOND TOOL LENDING LIBRARY'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT ALREADY, TEN YEARS THAT WE'VE BEEN HAVING THE TOOL LENDING LIBRARY? IT'S PRETTY AMAZING. THE EVENT HONORED THE DONORS, STAFF, AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS WHO CONTRIBUTED AND HAVE SUPPORTED THE PROGRAM'S SUCCESS AND FEATURED COMPETITIONS, GIVEAWAY, RAFFLE PRIZES, FOOD, GAMES, AND FAMILY-FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES. THE TOOL LENDING LIBRARY IS LOCATED AT THE RICHMOND RECREATION COMPLEX AT 3230 MCDONALD AVENUE AND IS OPEN ON WEDNESDAYS AND FRIDAYS FROM 1 TO 5. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL 510-620-5546. AND I'D LIKE TO THANK STEPHANIE NYE FOR HER LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZING BOTH OF THESE EVENTS. NEXT SLIDE. FOR RICHMOND NATIONAL NIGHT OUT, WOULD LIKE TO THANK MICHELLE MILAM AND POLICE CHIEF SIMMONS FOR ALL THEIR WORK IN COLLABORATION WITH THE RICHMOND NEIGHBORHOOD COORDINATING COUNCILS AND THE HOSTED AND ALL THE RNCC MEMBERS THAT ARE PARTICIPATING. THIS NATIONAL NIGHT OUT TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH FROM 5 TO 9 P.M. THERE WILL BE FREE FAMILY EVENT THAT WILL FEATURE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS RESOURCES.

COUNCIL MEMBER BONNA.

You're welcome. Food giveaways, a community caravan, and neighborhood celebration. This year, we'd like to honor Mr. Joe Lee Fisher, and the residents are encouraged to turn on their porch lights in his memory. I do want to take a moment to say something personally about Mr. Fisher. Unfortunately, I was out of town when his service was scheduled, and I would like to thank Deputy City Manager White for providing remarks. AS A CITY STAFF PERSON, I REALLY ENJOYED WORKING WITH MR. FISHER BECAUSE HE WAS ALWAYS KIND AND HE WAS ALWAYS NICE AND WELCOMING AND WARM AND HE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO MAKE EVERYONE FEEL SUPPORTED. AND HE NEVER HAD ANYTHING NEGATIVE TO SAY AND HE WAS JUST REALLY A PLEASURE TO BE AROUND. AND I ESPECIALLY APPRECIATED NOT JUST THE WAY THAT HE LIVED HIS LIFE WITH DIGNITY AND GRACE, BUT THAT HE WAS A ROLE MODEL IN OUR COMMUNITY AND SHOWED HOW YOU COULD STAY IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND GIVE BACK AND CREATE A CULTURE OF WEALTH GENERATION BY PURCHASING REAL ESTATE FOR YOURSELF AND FOR YOUR And I just really want to honor his legacy and thank him and his family for all of the time that Mr. Fisher shared with all of us. He was truly amazing, and I will personally definitely miss him. He meant a lot to all of us, and I just want to acknowledge him and thank him and his wife and family members for allowing him to be with us so much of the time. So thank you. IN TERMS OF THE NATIONAL NIGHT OUT WHERE WE WILL HONOR MR. FISHER, IT WILL KICK OFF AT SHIELDS REED PARK BETWEEN 5 AND 6. IT'S HOSTED BY THE SHIELDS REED NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL. AND WE WILL END AT 3415 BARRETT AVENUE. THAT'S HOSTED BY THE NORTH AND EAST NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL. NEXT SLIDE. MOVIES IN THE PARK SERIES IS COMING UP ON AUGUST 7TH AND 21ST. THESE ARE TWO NIGHTS. THE EVENT WILL BE THE BAD GUYS 2 ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 7TH AT THE MARINA BAY PARK. AND WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER SHOWING ON AUGUST 21ST. THE MOVIES WILL BEGIN AT 830 P.M. OR SUNSET. PLEASE BRING WAND CHAIRS, BLANKETS AND ENJOY A FAMILY-FRIENDLY EVENING OUTDOORS. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL 510-620-6793. NEXT SLIDE. I'M REALLY EXCITED. THE PLUNGE IS TURNING 100. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. SO STAFF IS ALREADY PREPARING. I SHARED SOME PHOTOS TODAY THAT STAFF IN THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT AND PARKS AND LANDSCAPING UNDER DARREN AND JASON AND THEIR CREWS HAVE BEEN READYING THE PLUNGE FOR AUGUST 11TH FROM 10 A.M. TO 5.30 P.M. COMMUNITY MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO CELEBRATE THE RICHMOND PLUNGES 100th ANNIVERSARY ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 15th. PLEASE JOIN US FOR A BUILDING DEDICATION, POOL ACTIVITIES, A DEMONSTRATION, LAP SWIMMING AND FAMILY RECREATION SWIM. COME HELP US HONOR 100 YEARS OF THIS HISTORIC RICHMOND LANDMARK AND CELEBRATE ITS COMMUNITY AND CONTINUED COMMUNITY IMPORTANCE IN OUR COMMUNITY. SO WE'RE REFRESHING THE LINES, STOP SIGNS AND ALL OF THE LIKE SO THAT THE AREA CAN BE SAFE FOR THIS INCREASED USAGE. NEXT SLIDE. IF YOU EVER WANT TO FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ITEMS HERE, YOU CAN CALL THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE AT THE NUMBER LISTED ON YOUR SCREEN AND THE INFORMATION IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE CITY'S WEBSITE.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. NEXT ITEM.

OKAY. OUR NEXT ITEM IS ACCOMMODATIONS PRESENTATION AND PROCLAMATIONS. ITEM U1 IS A PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING THE WEEK BEGINNING AUGUST 23, 2026 AS MAXINE FINLEY WEEK IN THE CITY OF RICHMOND. If there's anyone joining us online that would like to address the council on this item, please raise your hand at this time. We do have one in-person speaker.

All right. Can we start off with having Ms. Maxine join us? It sounds like there's a handful of people here that know Ms. Maxine. For those that may not know of her or maybe you didn't know of her but you were in the Point Richmond area and you saw a wonderful human being helping people cross safely from one side to the other, especially the kids, that was Ms. Maxine. Today we come together declaring the Maxine Finley Week beginning August 23rd, 2026. Whereas the safety, reverency, and strength of the City of Richmond are built upon the dedication of exemplary community members who serve our community with love, care, and consistency, such as Maxine Finley. known effectively by generations of local residents as the Smiling Crossing Guard, who served the Point Richmond community with unwavering dedication for more than two decades. And whereas her profound impact on the city extends across a lifetime of service, including her vital career as a licensed vocational nurse and daycare provider, roles through which she was protected, nurtured, and supported countless local families. And whereas her deep devotion to others shines brightly through her faith, serving with grace as a Sherridge Church mother, and an active, gilding leader within her faith community. And whereas, beyond her essential duties of traffic safety, Maxine Finley has become a beloved neighborhood matriarch, greeting every pedestrian, student, and commuter with a radiant smile, an enthusiastic wave, and a warm spirit that embodies the absolute best of Richmond's community, culture, and... I'll read that next week.

The entire city, that individuals can remain deeply productive, capable, and impactful at any stage of life as long as they are willing and able. Now, therefore, be it resolved, I, Eduardo Martinez, Mayor of the City of Richmond, California, do hereby proclaim the week beginning August 23, 2026, as Maxine Finley Week in the City of Richmond. And I urge all residents, community organizations, and local businesses to join in honoring her extraordinary contribution, her years of service, and her status as a cherished treasure of our community.

Thank you for all your years of service and thank you for helping keep our community safe. Anything you would like to say?

I just want to thank the Lord for His grace and His mercy. I love the children down at Washington Elementary. They are such a blessing. I meet them in the morning, and I greet them. Some have gone on and graduated from high school and college, and they come back. And they say, Ms. Maxine, you're still here. They say, we love you so much. I say, I love you, too. And the parents, they are so sweet. That is the most. I just love it. I get up in the morning, and I look forward to going to my job to watch my children across them. Even not just the children, the parents and no one else. Even some of the dogs. I cross them with the parents. Sometimes I give them treats. I love everyone. So God bless you all. And I thank you so much. Thank you, Richard. You are just a blessing from the Lord. God bless you all.

Thank you. God bless you.

Thank you. And that's my daughter.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have one in-person speaker, Cordell Hendler.

Go ahead. Okay. So good evening, Mayor Martinez, Council. For the record, I am Cordell Hendler, and I am so thankful to see Ms. Maxine here. It's like you are a treasure. Every time when I go to Point Richard, it's like she always has like, you know, a warm smile on her face when she greets the kids. It's like... It just makes me feel, that just makes my day so much easier. So congratulations, Ms. Maxine. And every time I see you in Point Richard, I was like, you always got that smile. I mean, you light up people's lives when they see you. It's like, in the words of the Bible, you are a treasure. Don't give up. You are a treasure. And to your family, your mom has raised you right. And I'm like, That's all I have to say. I'm just honored to see you, Maxine, and to meet your family. And I'll just stop right there.

Our next item is open forum. If there's anyone joining us online that would like to address the council in the open forum, please raise your hand at this time. Open forum is an opportunity to address the council on items that remain on the consent calendar or items that are not on the agenda and tonight we do not have any items that were removed from the consent calendar. During open forum, dialogue between the council and the speaker is prohibited. When your name is called, and you are an online speaker, please be ready to unmute yourself to begin speaking. For speakers in the chambers, when your name is called, please come forward and line up behind the speaker podium closest to the wall. And for safety reasons, all aisles including the area behind the speaker's podium and staff presentation area must remain clear. All speakers should state their name and your city of residence is optional. Please terminate your address to the council when your time expires. Tonight we have 14 speakers. Okay. So each speaker will be allowed up to two minutes to address the council. So we have 11 in-person speakers and we have three online speakers. The city of Richmond welcomes your comments and requests that you present your remarks in a respectful and appropriate manner within the established two minute time limit. Okay, as I call your name, please come forward. Speakers are Cordell Hindler, Pamela Granger, Claudia Citrion, Aaron Isherwood, Kaitlyn Alcaton, Amula Irapetu, Mark Wasberg, Philip Rosenthal, Ben Theriault, Urania Delamora, and Garland Ellis. Cordell Hindler.

Thank you. So good evening, Mayor Martinez, Council. For the record, I am Cordell Handler and I have something to say today. So Joe Fisher meant a lot to Richmond. Every time when I go to the Coronado Neighborhood Council meetings, he made me feel welcome because even though I do not live in the area, He always treats me with respect, and I have respected him. So not only I rock, but he made a difference in our community. So I am sorry that I did not attend his service last week. I'm sorry. But I offer my family the family my condolences. So that's one of them. Number two is Women's Equality Day. I have sent this council a music video to get you into the spirit of it. It's called Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves by Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox. So that's a memo to everyone. We need to treat everyone equally and fair. And then finally, I want to thank the mayor's office for the committees that's going to be appointed to this committee. It's important to engage more people on these commissions because they can do a lot for Richmond. So, and with that, I'll stop right there. Pamela Granger.

Claudia Citrion.

Oh, Ian. So I gave you the Langsley version, I give you the short version here. Taxpayers are entitled to transparent, consistent, and legally defensible decision making, not governance characterized by selective enforcement, preferable treatment, procedural manipulation, inconsistent fiscal reporting, or politically motivated exceptions. The appearance of double standards damages public confidence and warrants corrective action. Selective urgency, certain matters characterized as urgent are comparable and other items are repeatedly delayed or deferred. Selective fiscal security, no identical accounting methodologies or cost assumptions of financial disclosure standards are applied uniformly. Selective procedural treatment, consent calendar standards are not applied consistently. Selective transparency, all direct, indirect, interdepartmental and personal administrative information is only partially disclosed to the public. Selective evidence standards, some proposals are not required to satisfy the same level of factual report or financial analysis or review. And I want to end, this week there were 22 vehicle thefts. This should be on your issue, on your agenda. You should find out whether these vehicles are vehicles which are stolen from people who have only one vehicle, whether it's a Latino, whether it's low-income people, whether these people actually lose their job because they don't have a vehicle. But no, you go off on whatever. Siglovia is not one of them. I can't speak on it, but I can speak on the vehicle thefts. It's a problem, and you fail to address it. I yield my time.

Aaron Isherwood.

Good evening. Hello. It's great to be back at the Richmond City Council. My name is Aaron Isherwood. I'm a managing attorney with the National Sierra Club, headquartered in Oakland. And I'm here tonight to thank the Richmond City Council for taking the very important step of adopting the coal dust resolution. That's item 4.3.a on the consent calendar. This action will build on the Richmond ordinance that bans coal and pet coke handling in the city and requires the Levin facility to phase them out, a landmark first in the nation ordinance that made Richmond a national leader on the issue. And I'm proud to have worked closely with the city on that ordinance. And I especially want to thank Mayor Martinez for his leadership on that ordinance. And I also really want to thank Council Member Wilson for her leadership on the coal dust resolution the city is adopting today. Today's resolution will continue Richmond's leadership role in protecting its residents and people throughout the Bay Area from health threats posed by coal dust. Because if the Oakland Coal Project goes forward, That means coal trains spewing dust that will travel through Richmond and many other Bay Area cities. The resolution also demonstrates strong solidarity at a key moment in history that the city of Richmond stands with Oakland in saying, no coal. Why a key moment in history? Because last month, the Trump administration announced that it was using the Defense Production Act to address a so-called national emergency namely the need to fulfill the coal industry's wish list. Specifically, Trump administration announced that it will be providing hundreds of millions of dollars to force dirty, uneconomic coal plants slated for retirement to continue operating and is also providing $75 million for the Oakland coal project. So thank you very much for continuing your leadership role. Good for you, and we very much appreciate it.

Katelyn Alcontin.

Good evening, Council. My name is Katelyn Alcontin, here on behalf of Communities for a Better Environment. We are here in strong support of two resolutions being considered tonight. First, the resolution opposing new coal and pet coke facilities and urging strongest regulation by the Bay Area Air District. Second, the resolution in support of SB 954, tightening exemptions to the California Environmental Quality Act. As an environmental justice organization rooted in both Richmond and Oakland, we would like to sincerely thank Council for bringing these two items that will protect our most vulnerable neighbors from additional deadly pollution. Regarding the proposed coal terminal, it is widely known that Richmond's asthma rates are among the worst of the state and that particulate matter worsens respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological health. Civic institutions like the Bay Area Air District and municipal governments across the East Bay must do everything in their power to prevent a surge of coal trains and mitigate their potential impacts, particularly in a community where particulate matter already causes 11 premature deaths per year. We also urge your support for SB 954, which would ensure that similarly harmful proposals are properly considered and mitigated. The advanced manufacturing exemption adopted just last year is much too broad and quite vaguely defined, permitting facilities that emit arsenic, hexavalent chromium, and other toxics to come into our communities without proper opportunity for public input. Supporting this bill would restore community voice. Adopting both of these resolutions is paramount to local health and democracy. We urge you to adopt them both. Thank you so much.

Amulya Yaraputu.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Richmond City Council. My name is Amulya Yaraputu. I'm a law student and an intern with the Sierra Club here to speak in favor of the proposed resolution OPPOSING NEW COAL AND PET COKE EXPORT FACILITIES. AS SOMEONE WHO GREW UP IN THE BAY AREA AND HAS LIVED IN THE EAST BAY FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, THE THOUGHT OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF A COAL TERMINAL IN OAKLAND IS TERRIFYING. THIS FACILITY AND ANY OTHER LIKE IT WOULD HAVE DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH ESPECIALLY FOR ALL DREADY POLLUTION BURDEN COMMUNITIES LIKE WEST OAKLAND WHERE THE COAL TERMINAL WILL BE LOCATED. I WANTED TO THANK THE COUNCIL ESPECIALLY COUNCIL MEMBER WILSON AND MAYOR MARTINEZ FOR PUTTING FORWARD THIS RESOLUTION TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH OAKLAND AND STAND UP TO POLLUTERS THREATENING THE BAY AREA. THANK YOU.

Don't believe anybody. A lot of people talking about the DSA, the Democrat Socialists of America, and they're giving you their opinion. No, when it comes to DSA, believe what they say. And if you don't know what they stand for, you're about to hear it from the horse's mouth.

So we're going to put up on the screen a few of the things that are part of your platform. And I want to ask you, just give me sort of a true or false on these. Abolish the Senate.

True.

OK, replace the presidency and Supreme Court as we now know them.

Yep.

Abolish ICE.

Absolutely.

Abolish borders and give amnesty to anyone currently in the US illegally.

As a long-term plan, yep. Defund the Pentagon.

Absolutely. Abolish prisons, at least in large part. Yeah, again, as part of a long-term program, yeah. Okay, so no prisons. Government or public ownership of most large corporations.

Yeah, absolutely. Is that the America you want to live in? Her name is Megan Romer, the DSA national co-chair. Again, don't believe anybody when they tell you what they think the DSA is. Listen to them and then learn from that. Do you want our leadership to do any of that stuff? Give me your comments right now.

Come on.

We know for a fact that the RPA is a member of the association. It's a communist regime. Don't laugh because it doesn't look good for you who are running for mayor. I'm telling all my friends and everybody out there, you better start locking and loading. Buy all the ammunition and guns you can. And all you gangsters out there need to stop killing each other. Start locking and loading. You all gangsters need to come together and start stockpiling because if they take control of the house, it's going to be an all-out war. There's going to be a lot of bloodshed. These people are not fucking around. You smile, girl. I'm going to tell you, it's going to be a little bad for you and all you other RPA members. The best thing to do is just fucking bail out. The time has expired.

Phillip Rosenthal. Excuse me, a question for legal. Asking people to lock and load, would that be considered sedition?

You know, I'm not going to make a legal conclusion right now with that question. So, you know, he's done with his comments and I think.

Right. But he's made them several times before. So this is not a one-time thing. It's something that happens time and time again. So.

I'd rather be giving your legal advice in a confidential setting. Okay.

All right. Thank you.

Mr. Rosenthal. Go ahead.

Well, hi, everybody. On to more cheerful topic. My name is Philip Rosenthal. And for this, I am here on behalf of the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council to thank Cesar Zepeda for drafting and Edward Martinez for co-sponsoring Maxine Finley Week. For over two decades, she has safely walked our children across. But more important, particularly in an elementary school which is largely minority and largely underprivileged, she has been absolutely everybody's sister, auntie, and best friend. She waves as you go by, and she preaches and acts with the theory that love can make a community a better place. Consequently, the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council would like to invite you to join us the first full week back from school on Monday, August 24th from 1.30 to 3 o'clock. at Maxine's Corner, which is the corner of Girard and East Richmond, just catty corner from the plunge. The neighborhood council will be providing treats for the children, lemonade and refreshments, and we are going to make this Maxine's Corner and Maxine's Week. So we do hope that you can stop by. And I would also like to thank the police department. I think many people do not know that Maxine works for the police department and not for the school district. And they are going to help us out by making sure that there's somebody to cross the children so we can celebrate with Maxine at that time. So please feel free to join us and take a look at the posters and flyers that will be posted around Point Richmond at the elementary school with the PTA and Point Richmond. CRAM Children's Center. Thanks again. She deserves it and we hope you'll come have some lemonade with us.

Ben Theriault.

Ben Theriault, President of the Richmond Police Officers Association. I want to start by also heartfelt thought for Joe Fisher, a pillar of the community, someone who cared deeply for the city of Richmond and its residents, and was always a big supporter of the police department. He will be sorely missed. And also, Ms. Maxine, you know, When you're a young police officer driving around, you get to see a lot of people in the morning, especially working day shift hours on the way to coffee. You are always a figure for a lot of us. And we appreciate everything that you have done for the city of Richmond and for us. You've always been a great portion of the police department. And we thank you very much for your service. It's not lost on us. So thank you. From a cop from many years ago, your efforts are not unnoticed. Switching gears, it's been over one year since your police officers and sergeants have a had a contract. It has been several months since we've made requests on trying to save the city money on OPEB and other issues and liabilities and You know, as I said earlier before the closed session, I sent out emails asking for an actuary for OPEB changes in February. It is almost August. That's unacceptable development. That should not be. It shouldn't take that long for the city to move through its stuff. It just shouldn't. On another note about operations within the city of Richmond, we have a slow procurement process. It doesn't work. our credit card process. Did you know that your staff, they have to fill out credit cards? We still use paper. Why are we not using cloud-based systems to fix that? What kind of inefficiencies, what kind of nonsense are we doing in 2026? These are the type of things that we can't fix from our end, but you can. Paying people on time, it's going months without being done. That's also unacceptable behavior. I appreciate that, Pam. Shouldn't take months to pay your people. Take care of it.

Good afternoon. So I want to start with allowing men who identify as trans into women's spaces violates women rights. All women who fought for women needs and respect are being disrespected by allowing men who identify as trans into their private spaces, meaning their restrooms, Anything that's for women with their children only, just because they think they're a woman doesn't mean they are one. They are a man, and they should not be allowed to be in my restroom, okay? And I shouldn't have to say that. No woman that is born a woman with a vagina that can give birth should have to say that men with penises that think they're women are allowed in our spaces. That's very serious, and it lacks a whole bunch of common sense if all of you think that's okay, all right? And I shouldn't have to say this. No woman in America should have to say this. But if we have to say it, we're going to say it, because this is enough. Just because he thinks he's a woman doesn't mean you all have to believe him. He can rape us or do whatever in our restrooms. They're way stronger than us, and it's inappropriate and stupid if any politician thinks this is OK. Also, I want to announce I am applying for the police force in a few cities, including Richmond. Wish me well. All over America, the police departments are hiring and even offering special programs to help people apply to states far away from their home, including Washington, D.C. Police Department. They have a 300-mile program where you can do most of your application and testing online. with them. I encourage all people interested in protecting their communities to apply for the police, whether in their city or another city. Also, to the San Francisco Police Department, if they are watching, I recommend the song Barbie Girl from Aqua for their next training session at the San Francisco Diamond Heights Training Center. And if they know I recommend the song, they know why. OK, thank you very much. I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world. Anyways, good song. Very humped up for training, you know what I mean? All right, thank you.

Garland Ellis.

Do I get four minutes?

My name is Garland Ellis. I actually submitted for two items, but I guess I only get two minutes, so I'm cut in half. The first item is there's a grant that was being proposed by Caltrans to improve the mural projects around the city. We have a mural in Richmond Annex that we paid for, was done by a Richmond Annex resident, and it seems to be forgotten because they never come to us and say, hey, do you want any help in keeping it up? In the past, we have repainted it. We've asked the fire department to come by and spray off all the pigeon poop, and they did that for us. Unfortunately, Caltrans has a bigger problem with pigeons now than they used to have. And so we have a bigger poop problem on our mural. Since you're getting this new grant, can you ask Caltrans to at least put up some pigeon guards on the AREA ABOVE OUR MURAL AND POSSIBLY HAVE THE FIRE DEPARTMENT COME BY AND SPRAY OFF ALL THE OLD STUFF THAT IS COLLECTED. THEY HAVE VOLUNTEERED IN THE PAST, BUT WE WOULD NEED ASSISTANCE FROM THE CITY IN BLOCKING OFF THE STREET FOR A LITTLE WHILE WHILE THEY'RE SPRAYING IT DOWN. THAT'S THE FIRST ITEM. SECOND ITEM IS THE CITY DOES A GREAT JOB WITH DUMPSTER DAY. THE PEOPLE WHO COME OUT FROM do a great job with assisting the annex neighbors to dump their supplies and stuff. Although I've had requests to have it more often, I realize that once a year is at least adequate. The one thing though that we do need to change, they changed the recommendation for no box trucks. The issue there is I can understand if it's a commercial vehicle, But we have residents that don't have pickup trucks. They go down and rent a vehicle and it usually ends up being a box truck. And then they're told, oh, you can't dump that. So they end up having to unload it down the street and walk it in.

Your time is expired.

We need to make an exception for that. Thank you.

That was our last in-person speaker.

And now we'll move on to our Zoom speakers. We will give Miss Princess Robinson an opportunity to speak because we had technical difficulties, followed by Jack Lucero, Asia Ajani, and then Dan Kalb will be our last speaker. Princess, please unmute yourself and you may begin.

Hi, can everyone hear me?

Yes.

Thank you. Good evening. I'll try to make these meetings in person, but good evening, Mayor and City Council members, members of the community. My name is Princess Robinson, and I'm here representing Richmond Land, Richmond's first community land trust. We know that housing affordability is one of the greatest challenges of our city, and more than half of Richmond renters right now are spending over 30% of their income just to keep a roof over their heads. And one of four renters is spending more than half of their income on housing. The medium gross rent enrichment right now is nearly $2,000 per month. The median value of a home has risen almost close to 700K, placing home ownership out of reach for many working families. This data really represents our neighbors, our teachers, our service workers, seniors, and families who have helped build Richmond for generations. When housing costs continue to rise, we risk losing the very people who make our city strong. And at Richmond Land, we believe that there is another solution. Through the community land trust model, we're removing land from the market to create permanently affordable homes that remain affordable for future generations, because we believe that housing should be a community asset, not just a commodity. and that residents should have a voice in shaping the future of their neighborhoods. So I really invite you, if you are interested in learning more about community ownership, affordable home ownership, and how you can just become a part of this movement, I invite you to our new member orientations that we hold every third Tuesday of the month at 5.30 p.m. via Zoom. Whether you're a renter, homeowner, community advocate, or simply just wanna help create A More Equitable Richmond. We welcome you to learn more. You can find us at www.richmondland.org. On Facebook, we are Richmond Land. And also our email is info, I-N-F-O at richmondland.org. Thank you guys so much.

Thank you and have a good day. The next speaker is Jack Lucero-Fleck. Please unmute yourself and you may begin.

Hi, I'm Jack Lucero-Fleck, speaking on behalf of the No Coal East Bay Coalition. And I can be very fast because three people have already said what I wanted to say, which is to thank the mayor and the council for this resolution to oppose coal trains. I just want to underscore how important this is because visualize three mile-long coal trains coming through Richmond, spewing dust, every day. I mean, this is a huge project that would have devastating consequences for all of the East Bay cities from Hercules down through Oakland. So I really appreciate your leadership on this. I think we're going to try to get the other cities to follow your example and implement similar resolutions. And I fully expect with Trump having now promised 75 million to help this project, this is going to be an ongoing issue. And we look forward to continuing to work with you to defeat this project. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. The next speaker is Asia Ajani. Please unmute yourself and you may begin.

Hello, Richmond City Council. My name is Ashia Jani and I work for the SF Bay Sierra Club. I wanted to come on and just echo what many of my colleagues had said to express my thanks for Mayor Eduardo and also Council Member Sue Wilson for their strong support for this Richmond City resolution regarding the Petcoke rail lines. I think that this is a really important opportunity for us to think critically about the kind of world that we want to leave to our young people. We already know that PM 2.5, fine particulate matter, and coarse particulate matter, PM 10, are horrible for human health, but also especially terrible for our young people's health. As someone who was a former educator, I've seen the impacts of this coal dust and how it shapes our and negatively influences our young people's lives. Not only that, but I've also seen it impact elders in our community. PM 2.5 does not discriminate. And so I really want to thank the council for standing in solidarity with Oakland and putting forth this resolution. As my colleagues have said, we have a long fight ahead of us when it comes to getting concrete fugitive dust regulations in place. And I really want to thank the Richmond City Council for taking a concentrated stance to make sure that this is something that can set an example for the rest of the Bay Area as we work towards creating a more clean, healthy, and happy environment for not only ourselves, but for future generations to follow. So thank you very much, and I cede my time.

Thank you. And the next speaker is Dan Kalb. Please unmute yourself and you may begin.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. My name is Dan Kolb. I'm working with a coalition of environmental justice and labor organizations supporting SB 954, and you have a resolution today to support that bill. Thank you, Council Member Zepeda, for putting this forward. The advanced manufacturing exemption in CEQA adopted last year is way too broad and undermines important protections by allowing those industrial projects to bypass crucial environmental reviews, thereby losing the opportunity for effective mitigation and cleaner project adjustments. SB 954 provides a much-needed safeguard by restoring public health and environmental protections and ensuring that most advanced manufacturing industrial projects undergo necessary environmental scrutiny to assess their impacts. Some of the organizations supporting this bill in the East Bay and Sacramento include Clean Water Action, Communities for a Better Environment, and I want to thank the Communities for a Better Environment representative who said Exact words, I agree every single word of what she said. She had a great presentation. Also supporting this bill is APEN Action, Sierra Club California, California Nurses Association, State Building Construction Trades Council, Greenlining Institute, Blue Green Alliance, Center for Environmental Health, Urban Habitat, League of Conservation Voters of the East Bay, 350 Contra Costa, United Auto Workers, Local 2320 and Region 6, and the Sunflower Alliance and over 100 other organizations, a list too large to mention. Thank you for supporting SB 954. Also, on a personal note, as a former Oakland council member, I want to thank you also for putting forward this no coal resolution. It's critically important. So thank you for doing that as well. And thank you all for your work for the city of Richmond.

Thank you. And that was our last speaker.

Okay. Our next item is approval of the consent calendar.

With that number of syllables. So do we have a motion?

I move to approve the consent calendar.

I seconded. Okay.

Councilmember Brown? Yes. Council Member Vanna? Yes. Council Member Jimenez? Yes. Council Member Wilson? Yes. Council Member Zepeda?

Yes.

Mayor Martinez?

Yes.

And Vice Mayor Robinson is absent, so the motion passes. Our next item is item, it's under budget session, item X1. That item is to adopt an ordinance. This is the second reading ordering the submission of a proposition authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds to the qualified voters of the city of Richmond at the November 3rd, 2026 general municipal election and adopt a resolution placing a measure to authorize the city of Richmond TO ISSUE GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS AT THE GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON NOVEMBER 3rd, REQUESTING CONSOLIDATION WITH THE STATEWIDE GENERAL ELECTION AND SETTING PROCEDURAL DETAILS. ANYONE JOINING US ONLINE THAT WOULD LIKE TO ADDRESS A COUNSEL ON THIS ITEM, PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND AT THIS TIME.

ARE THESE ALL THE SPEAKERS?

WE DO HAVE IN-PERSON SPEAKERS ALSO.

Good evening, Mayor Martinez and members of the council. For the record, Aaron Osorio, Fire Chief for the Richmond Fire Department. Tonight we will be presenting the second phase of what we started last week, which is the ordinance, ordinance submission of the general obligation bond. And then if approved, the adoption of a resolution placing that measure on the November 3rd, 2026 ballot. Next slide. JUST A BRIEF OVERVIEW. I'M JOINED TODAY BY TOM CLIFFORD OF CLIFFORD MOSS. HE WILL BE REVIEWING SOME OF THE SURVEY RESULTS FROM THE MOST RECENT POLLING. I'M ALSO JOINED BY WING SEA FOX OF URBAN FUTURES. SHE WILL BE REVIEWING SOME OF THE TYPES OF BONDS, SUMMARIZING THE BONDS AND THE ESTIMATES FOR THE AVERAGE HOMEOWNER, WHAT THIS WOULD COST. CITY STAFF WILL BE COVERING some of the capital needs, unfunded capital needs, long-term financial pressures, settlement fund discussion a little bit, and discussions about enhancing emergency medical services in the long term. And then finally joining us remotely is Juan Galvan from Anzal Galvan at the Bond Council, and he will summarize the action that is being requested tonight at the end of the discussion. Next slide. So I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Clifford.

Thank you, Chief. Mayor, members of the city council, thank you for having me. I'll go through these slides relatively quickly. Happy to answer any questions as needed. Before I jump in, I'll just remind you that as council, you authorized some baseline polling in May that was conducted. And those results were shared, I think, at your June 22nd council meeting. At the same time that you authorized that, you asked us to do tracking polling just before, sort of as close to this meeting as possible so you could make updated sort of decisions around moving a bond forward or not. So we went ahead and did that tracking polling. And I'll just go through it really quickly. Go ahead and go to the next slide. So this is a statistically valid sample of an N of 400 voters in the city of Richmond. The last poll, as you'll recall, looked at a parcel tax or a bond measure. We saw more strength for a bond measure for a variety of reasons. And we got direction from you to move towards that bond measure. And so this survey focuses specifically on that bond measure. I'll keep going through those numbers. Go ahead. Keep moving. We'll roll right to the number. So we pulled from July 17th to July 22nd. So very, very, very, very fresh data. We did live telephone interviewing and online interviewing in English and Spanish. And these results have been weighted to sort of match the community. The margin of error is about 4.9% on these numbers. Happy to talk more about the methodology if we need to. Keep going. So just to go through some quick findings, I'll just, you want me to click for you? OK. Now I have the power of the pen. This is a question we always ask at the beginning of a survey. Do you feel that things in the city of Richmond are generally going in the right direction or off on the wrong track? ACTUALLY A PLUS NINE ON RIGHT ACTUALLY A PLUS NINE ON RIGHT TRACK WRONG TRACK SO IT'S TRACK WRONG TRACK SO IT'S EXCELLENT TO SEE THAT 9% MORE EXCELLENT TO SEE THAT 9% MORE VOTERS BELIEVE THAT THINGS ARE VOTERS BELIEVE THAT THINGS ARE GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AND GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AND NOT THE WRONG DIRECTION IN THE NOT THE WRONG DIRECTION IN THE CITY OF RICHMOND. CITY OF RICHMOND. I THINK THAT'S CREDIT TO YOU I THINK THAT'S CREDIT TO YOU ALL AND TO STAFF DOING A GOOD ALL AND TO STAFF DOING A GOOD JOB HERE. JOB HERE. THESE ARE SOME ANECDOTALS. THESE ARE SOME ANECDOTALS. I'LL LET YOU JUST LOOK AT THE I'LL LET YOU JUST LOOK AT THE SCRE I do feel like we need some more things targeting youth, young adults, et cetera. So there's really sort of mixed feelings, but some positivity about the direction of the city. The meat of the survey was really double checking where we are on a potential bond. And so we tested the actual 75 word statement that you're gonna be contemplating tonight. And that's what you see there on the screen. I won't read it, but that is the actual 75 words statement at the price contemplated. And here's what we saw. We saw a definite slowing in the results relative to our May polling. And I should say, before I dive in, this sort of step back a bit, the softening in support is something that we're actually seeing in communities across California. Richmond is not unique in seeing poll results that look lower now than they did before the June primary. That's something that we've seen elsewhere as well. But 54% of voters said, yes, we would support a bond measure. 35% said no we likely wouldn't and then there's about 9% who are undecided. A reminder a city geo bond requires two-thirds vote to be approved by voters. I'm kind of technically deficient. We did see that positive information, and I'll talk a little bit about what positive information we shared in a moment, has the opportunity to move a measure up in terms of support. So if you look at the initial vote, that's the one I just shared, 54%. The second column, we saw nine points of movement, 63% of voters after hearing positive information about what a bond might do for emergency service and fire stations. 63% said that they would consider supporting it. And then we tested negatives like we did in the May polling. And after negatives, we saw that support back down to 54%. This is just a look on the initial vote, the second vote post-positive messaging, and then the vote post-negative messaging, comparing the difference between your May poll and your July poll. And what you see across the board, this is not perfect, but across the board, you see about a 10% softening in the poll results after no information, after positive information, and after negative information. In terms of priorities, we saw similar results from the May survey. Folks really want to improve 911 emergency medical response times. They want to ensure that your fire stations are resilient and that they'll be strong during disasters. They want to replace the basic stuff, the basic infrastructure in your fire stations. Those are all very, very powerful arguments in favor of the measure, features that voters definitely want to support. And here are a couple others bringing the stations up to code. They want to support your firefighters themselves, make sure that the housing that they have at the stations is habitable for them. And so we tested, in addition to those features, a couple of positive arguments that you might hear out on the campaign trail just to see what happens when positives are shared. We tested this response time positive. We tested this health and safety for firefighters positive. I'll let you read them. I will not read them out loud, but very, very strong. 81% of Richmond voters are moved in the right direction when they hear the response times argument, for example, and 44% of those are very convinced. We also tested some negatives. As I mentioned, we tested two of them. One is this affordability argument that, Hey, look, this measure will increase our taxes. Things are really expensive as is, housing, groceries, et cetera. Working Richmond families are having a tough time making it right now. More taxes are too much. 50% of voters said that was compelling. 31% said it was somewhat compelling for an 81% total. The other argument we tested was this notion that, hey, we just got over half a billion in a Chevron settlement. We don't need to raise taxes again, use that money. That was also a compelling argument. And so as a reminder, This is just a comparison of responses to positive information relative to the baseline survey. So they were still compelling, but they were not as compelling in terms of positive arguments as it was back in May when we tested them. And then the negatives have increased some, right? You see that in May, when we tested the Affordable Bill argument, 71% of voters said it was compelling. In July, 81% said it was compelling. And the Chevron argument, similar. We saw about a 10-point increase in the power of that negative argument vis-a-vis your voters. So just one last slide and we can move on. And I'm happy to answer any questions. This is just a line graph that again reminds you that in your July survey, we saw 54% of voters say they would support a bond measure with really no information, just that 75 word statement, right? After all the positives that I talked about, you move up to 63%. And then after those two negatives, we moved that back down to 54%. So I just wanted to give you those numbers as you contemplate this decision today about whether or not to put a bond measure on the ballot in the city of Richmond. Happy to answer any questions on that or we can move through the agenda as you all decide.

To the transition side.

Public comment first.

Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry.

Mayor, if I may, we're not done. Oh, you're not done yet. Okay.

Thank you so much. Yeah. We'll do questions after public comment.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. My name is Wing C. Fox with Urban Futures. We are discussing general obligation bonds, but there are other types of bonds that are out there. And here are some that are listed. They are different types of bonds secured by different revenue sources, specifically to finance different types of projects. There were as a mention of lease revenue bonds at the last meeting and those are supported by lease payments secured by lease payments on a city-owned asset and payable from any general fund legally available general funds and this type of bond doesn't require a vote but again It is secured by any legally available general funds requires a leased asset and going from left to right you see a decrease in credit quality strength. So just specifically looking at general obligation bonds compared to lease revenue bonds, lease revenue bonds are a weaker credit quality, typically rated one notch lower than general obligation bonds for the same issuer, and therefore are higher cost of borrowing, both the cost side and the interest payment side. Returning back to general obligation bonds, to give everyone a sense of a typical bill, assuming an assessed value of a single-family home of $650,000, whether that's through a recent purchase or through renovations, that's 6.5 times the tax rate of 2215 per $100,000 assessed value. So on average, that would mean $144 or $12 per month on average annually.

So in the conversation so far, there has been the mention of the Chevron settlement funds or the limited-term revenues, the terminology that we prefer here. This chart basically just shows that, as we all know, that the payments are going to be received over 10 years in the installments of $50 million in the first five years and $60 million in the the next five years. So basically when you bring the present value at the discount rate of 3%, the present value in today's dollar is like only $480 million. And if the discount rate is 7%, then it is $407 million. So $550 million really in today's dollar is not already $550 million. It reduces its value in today's dollar if we consider the DISCOUNT RATE. SO THAT IS JUST ONE DIMENSION THAT WE WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT. AND ALSO LIKE WE WANTED TO PUT FORWARD LIKE AN ALTERNATE LIKE SCENARIO. LET'S ASSUME IF WHAT 50 MILLION ON ANY GIVEN YEAR COULD POTENTIALLY FUND OR HELP CITY FUND THOSE PROGRAMS. HYPOTHETICALLY LET'S PUT LIKE $80 MILLION FOR PAVEMENT. WE ALL KNOW THE PAVING INDEX NEEDS RESCUE AND NEEDS IMPROVEMENT ENHANCED INVESTMENT IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN OR ENHANCE THE PCI PAVEMENT CONDITION INDEX. I REMEMBER THAT. OKAY. THEN THERE IS $10 MILLION COULD BE PUT TOWARDS OPERATIONS. IT COULD BE POTENTIALLY CITIES ALS ADVANCE LIFE SUPPORT OPERATIONS OR FIRE DEPARTMENT OR ANY, YOU KNOW, PUBLIC SAFETY OPERATIONS. AND REMAINDER OF THE 50, ABOUT 20 MILLION COULD BE FUNDED OR PUT TOWARDS OTHER HIGH NEED, HIGH PRIORITY CAPITAL PROJECTS. SO THAT IS JUST A SCENARIO THAT WE WANTED TO PUT FORWARD. AND ALSO WANTED TO REMIND THE COUNCIL ABOUT THE UNFUNDED LONG-TERM CAPITAL NEEDS. IT WAS BROUGHT UP IN THE LAST MEETING ALSO. WHICH IS ABOUT ONE POINT, LIKE MORE THAN A BILLION DOLLARS ACTUALLY OUT THERE, CITY HAS UNFUNDED CAPITAL PROJECT SHORT FAULTS OR FUNDING NEEDS. WHICH IS FAR MUCH AND LARGER THAN $550 MILLION, WHICH WE'RE GOING TO RECEIVE IN TEN YEARS AND WHICH IS NOT EVEN THAT AMOUNT IN TODAY'S DOLLARS. WE ALSO WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT SOME OF THE OTHER FINANCIAL PRESSURES THAT THE CITY HAS, THE OTHER UNFUNDED LIABILITIES, PENSION IS ONE OF THE TOP ONE, AND ALSO THE OTHER POST-EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS, SO COLLECTIVELY THESE ALL UNFUNDED LIABILITIES ARE ABOUT $408 MILLION IN TODAY'S DOLLARS, SO LIKE REALLY THAT DIMENSION ALSO WANTED TO PUT FORWARD. We also wanted to highlight that since the city does staff does a great job in terms of like bringing in the the grant funding in various programs and we have several programs that are out there and But it does need a local grant match. So the settlement funds could actually also be leveraged used towards leveraging those grants and potentially MAXIMIZE THE GRANT USE IN THE CITY BY USING THOSE FUNDS. NOW, CHIEF, DO YOU WANT TO TAKE THAT SLIDE?

this was just slide was going to highlight that another use of general funds or whatever funds the city the council wishes to use could go towards establishing our paramedic program the als program it could make other enhancements to response times equipment staffing training ultimately improve public safety or other programs that may improve the health outcomes in the community I now will turn it over to Juan to review the recommended action on the staff report with the council.

Thank you, Chief. Good evening, Mayor, city council members. So we are returning to you this evening with SAS recommendation that you adopt the order, the ordinance. I'm sorry, who's speaking?

If I may.

This is Juan, our outside counsel. He was present for the last meeting. Here he is.

Thank you.

Okay. Good evening, Mayor, City Council members. Juan Galvan with Anzal Galvan. So this evening, staff is returning to you with a recommendation that you adopt the ordinance. This will submit the bond measure to voters at the November 3rd election. And assuming you do that first step, then also adopting your resolution, placing the measure at the November 3rd, 2026 election. And it also includes a number of other procedural items, including the abbreviated ballot measure. And as we talked about last week, that is the actual ballot, the language that voters would see at the ballot. So with that, happy to take any questions on that process. Hearing none, I'll turn it back over to you, Chief.

Mr. Mayor, that concludes the presentation.

With the conclusion of the presentation, we'll go to public speakers.

We have five in-person speakers. We do not have any online speakers. Claudia Cicerone.

Mr. Mayor.

Maude.

TO THE CHAIR, YES.

MAY I ASK SLIDE 13, THE TEXT OF THE BALLOT SHOW WHILE THE SPEAKERS TALK?

KCRT, CAN YOU PLEASE?

I THINK IT'S DISRESPECTFUL OF THE SPEAKERS TO BE DOING TWO THINGS AT ONCE. SO WE CAN SHOW IT WHEN IT'S TIME FOR QUESTIONS. GO AHEAD.

Claudia Citrin, Ahmad Anderson, Marcus Fumui, Kelly Griffin, and our last speaker will be Philip Rosenthal.

So now your own politics is biting you. People want, you spend money all year long on all sorts of things. You happily approved a ballot measure for parks. That is a million dollar on top of what the bond brings in. You happily approve all sorts of things and now residents finally saying, hey, why are you not spending it on essential things? And if this text measure doesn't pass, it is because of your mismanagement that happened over this last couple of years. You're responsible for getting the fire department up to date to get earthquake proof. You are responsible for saving Cal OSHA environment work environment which this is right now not if employees need to use a porta potty. You are responsible for keeping the city safe and you're not. You're putting it on all sorts of things and I yield my time. It's embarrassing how you spend money and how you prioritize it and how you suddenly, when the fire department comes up, you go like, oh my God, we have 1.1 billion liabilities. Happened last week. with Ciclovia. Wilson led the pack. She was like, oh my God, we don't have the money. But then turning around, we do not mention how much interdepartment expenses you have when you have an event. This is just your fiduciary irresponsible. And the vote in November will show it. And this should be, for those who want to be run mayor, this should be the topic they win on. And I yield my time. I'm at Anderson. You go.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, City Manager, staff, and community. My name is Ahmad Anderson. I'm here to support the proposed fire station improvement bond before the voters of Richmond. A city's commitment to public safety is measured not only by the courage of firefighters, but by the facilities we provide them to safely and effectively serve our community. They deserve stations that are safe, modern, resilient, and built for today's emergency response needs. This measure is not simply about buildings. It's about people. It's about protecting the residents who depend on rapid emergency response, strengthening our neighborhoods, and ensuring the dedicated men and women of the fire department have the tools and facilities they need to do their jobs safely. Many of our fire stations are decades old and require significant modernization to meet current operational and seismic standards. Tonight's action does not approve the bond. It simply gives the people, the people of Richmond, an opportunity to decide on what's important as an investment for the ballot in November. Our firefighters who never hesitated and answered a call, they need them, we need them. And we need Richmond to step up and step in and allow the voters to decide the future of our fire protection and infrastructure. I respectfully urge the city council to adopt the ordinance and resolution and placing this measure before the voters. It's not the thing to do, it's the right thing to do. Thank you.

Marcus Fumui.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, City staff, community. My name is Marcus Smooey. I'm the president of the Richmond Firefighters Union Local 188. And I want to first off thank you for passing this on the first reading. And I'm going to ask you to do the same today. Us as firefighters, we sign up for this job knowing the inherent risk that we accept. Will I put my life in danger to save your life, each of you who live in this city? And the answer is yes. Anybody from the bottom down, from the probationary firefighter to the fire chief, have took this oath. It's an inherent risk that we accept. Other things that we inherently accept are things like cancer, something at which I've already battled. cardiac disease, something which I currently have, sleep deprived, lung conditions, the list goes on and on. These are things that are part of a job that we knowingly signed up for. What we didn't sign up for is the undue risk that we are having with our stations. We have mold problems. We have leaks. These are causing additional risk to a job that is already a hazard to our health, something that could be prevented. So what I'm asking for you today is to please allow the voters to make a decision on this bond. We will do everything within our power, me and my membership, to inform the citizens of what's going on with the station and allow them to decide what they want for their fire department. Thank you.

Kelly Griffin.

Good evening, City Council, Mr. Mayor, community members. My name's Kelly Griffin. I'm a Richmond fireman, and I'm also a longtime West County resident. Imagine calling 911 during the largest earthquake of your lifetime only to learn that the fire station responding to your home wasn't built to withstand it. Unfortunately, that's the reality that our community faces every day. I'm here tonight because our fire stations have faithfully served this community for nearly 85 years, but they have now become a liability Not just for the firefighters who work in them But for every resident who depends on us during their worst moments these stations face serious infrastructure failures When it rains we place buckets throughout our stations because the roofs leak gallons of water every single night between storms mold grows in the same buildings where firefighters eat sleep and prepare to respond Our station alerting and communication systems are antiquated, unreliable, and approaching obsolescence. Some station foundations have settled so badly that firefighters literally place pieces of lumber under their beds just to sleep on a level surface. Most concerning of all, several of those buildings lack the seismic resilience that we need in one of the most earthquake prone regions in the country. If a major earthquake strikes tomorrow, the very buildings, apparatus, equipment, and people that are responsible for coordinating Richmond's emergency response could themselves be compromised. Furthermore, we are forced to design fire engines and trucks around the limitations of 85-year-old buildings instead of designing our facilities around the needs of our communities that we serve. These are not simply inconveniences. They directly affect our readiness to respond when your family calls 911. Every firefighter in Richmond accepted the risks that come with this profession. We willingly respond to burning buildings, hazardous materials incidents, violent emergencies, and natural disasters. What we did not sign up for is our own fire stations to become one of those hazards. These buildings were constructed during World War II. They have served the city well with honor, but have long exceeded their intended service life. This is not about giving firefighters nicer workplaces.

The time has expired.

It's about ensuring that every resident of Richmond receives the level of emergency response that they deserve. Thank you.

Thank you. That was our last in-person speaker.

Which slide did you want shown?

I believe it's...

I'm sorry, we have one more speaker. Philip Rosenthal.

Hey everybody, you know me. My name is Philip Rosenthal. What you don't know is that at age 30, my townhouse caught on fire when a candle burned over and people with such incredible skill and bravery walked up a floating stairway made out of wood to save my life from my second story bedroom. Consequently, I will be forever grateful and forever supportive of our firefighters because they do superhuman things that most of us can't understand and few of us have the nerve to do. So I do support this ballot measure. They need state of the art equipment. I also live in Point Richmond, which is presumably, I think, the most dangerous region in Contra Costa County. We have the refineries, we have sims, we have every type of heavy industry in addition to being in the hills. Even our, the chief knows, even our fire hydrants don't have sufficient pressure in many places in the hills. What did disturb me about this, and I love Shasta Curl, and I'm going to miss you some awful, was this poll. What I know is that the city manager and the fire chief did not need to ask my opinion to rank which priorities were most important to you in running the fire department safely. There was a weak response. It was approximately one half of 1% of the voters. I don't have a problem with putting this on the ballot and I certainly don't have a problem with supporting this. I have a degree. in marketing and uh... uh... part of that includes the surveys and this is not a survey this was a promotional piece i agree with what it says but this was a very very expensive way to express to the community a set of choices which we don't have to make. We need all of these things, but this is a little bit more propaganda than it is an actual poll. And I hope that moving forward, the polls are a little bit more sincere because we're still- Your time has expired.

Thank you. That was our last in-person speaker.

Okay. Once again, what was the slide that you wanted?

Thank you. I believe it was page 13, the text. 13. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Now it's time for questions and comments. Yes.

I kind of started with some of my questions. So the wording, did you have test groups? I don't know who designed the text. of this ballot measure. Is this what was read in the poll?

This is the 75-word statement that's in front of you in the resolution tonight and what was poll tested. The majority of this, Councilmember, is actually required by law. And Juan Galvan, who's also I think still on the phone, can speak to kind of the legal requirements that this hits. But that is indeed the 75-word statement that's in the proposal in front of you.

Okay, so is it a word limitation?

Seventy-five words. Yes. And the last, from the first blue text on, that's all legally required. All of that is sort of required. You have to say the amount that the bond would raise, what tax rate, right, and how much it would raise annually. Those are all required by state statute.

And if I may, Mayor, so as you can see, so first let's acknowledge that we have a broad team here because this isn't something that the city does every day. So we have Juan, who's our outside counsel, who's working in-house with Shannon and James. Then we have Tom, who has been working with us on the polling. We have SCI, who has been the umbrella group. And so a lot of the information has been looked at by subject matter experts and AND THE METHODOLOGY WE'RE FOLLOWING IN TERMS OF SHARING INFORMATION AND THE WORD CHOICE IS BASED ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE CONSULTANT TEAM THAT HAVE WORKED COLLABORATIVELY TO DEVELOP IT.

I UNDERSTAND AND APPRECIATE IT.

I'M JUST SAYING IT FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER. I'M NOT SUGGESTING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.

I APPRECIATE THAT EXPLANATION. I BELIEVE THERE'S NO COMMA NEEDED AFTER RAPID. ALSO, WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE TO SOMEHOW INCLUDE THE WORDING THAT IN CASE OF AN EARTHQUAKE OR FIRE STATIONS COLLAPSE? BECAUSE WORDING IS VERY IMPORTANT.

WE HAVE STRUCTURAL RESILIENCY IS WHAT IS MEANT TO ADDRESS THAT. STRUCTURAL RESILIENCY.

DO YOU EXPECT PEOPLE TO REACT TO THAT?

RESPECTFULLY, WE APPRECIATE YOUR INPUT, BUT WE THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE DEFER TO THE TEAM THAT ARE THE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS ON THE LANGUAGE.

ALL I'M SAYING NOW IS MAYBE WE COULD HAVE A TEST GROUP WITH DIFFERENT OPTIONS AWARDING.

THAT WAS WHAT WAS DONE.

IT WAS DONE.

THAT IS WHY WITH THE POLLING RESULTS, AND SO TOM, FEEL

if I can use the mic correctly. Councilmember, I'm glad you're asking these questions. And, you know, the back half of this is legal required. The front half of this has actually been tested in two polls, right, in terms of what language is clearest for your voters and resonates most with them. And that's why actually you see, if you were to look at the 75-word statement that we tested in the May poll, and the 75-word statement that we tested in this July poll, it changed because of what we were learning in those surveys. So I would, my recommendation would be to stick with this language based on our polling.

I don't agree with you respectfully because, for example, to support rapid 911, assuming the comma goes, it is to have rapid 911. We don't have rapid 911 emergency response right now to support it.

I UNDERSTAND THAT MIGHT BE YOUR OPINION, RIGHT? BUT I THINK I WOULD DEFER TO CHIEF OSARIO AND I DON'T KNOW THAT HE WOULD CONCUR WITH YOUR STATEMENT.

WITH ALL RESPECT, I'M JUST SHARING MY OPINION. THAT'S WHY I'M SITTING HERE AS A CITY COUNCIL MEMBER. I UNDERSTAND YOUR POSITION. AM I ALLOWED TO SHARE MY OPINION? IT MAY BE TAKEN OR NOT. IT'S OKAY.

You have shared your opinion and you've said it multiple times to the point where it's becoming a debate as opposed to a suggestion.

Okay. I don't want to debate. I just want to share my opinion because the wording is very important. 46% of our residents are immigrants. English is a second language. It should be very clear to the point to get their yes. I mean, if it's academic, legal, and not clear how important and urgent it is, it may not go through. And it's essential for us. So it's important to put energy and time on that. That's all.

IF I COULD JUST ADD SOMETHING. THE TERM RESILIENCE WAS BECAUSE IT WASN'T JUST REFERRING TO EARTHQUAKE. WE ALSO CONSIDERED WILDFIRE RESILIENCE AS PART OF IT AND THERE'S NOT ENOUGH SPACE IN THE 75 WORD STATEMENT TO COVER ALL THE CATEGORIES OF RESILIENCE WE'RE TRYING TO STRIKE. THERE'S ALSO RESILIENCE TO SEA LEVEL RISE, FLOODING, SEISMIC. SO THERE WAS MULTIPLE CATEGORIES OF RESILIENCE WE WERE TRYING TO convey and stay within that 75 word limit that we had. So I just wanted to explain why that word was decided on initially.

I perfectly understand. And I know how hard you've been working on it, Chief. I don't argue with that. But to me, residency, the word collapse, for example, it's a lot more persuasive than improving support. Anyway, I'm going to pass, leave it up to you that if you can improve it, THAT WOULD BE GREAT. I'M CONFUSED ABOUT THE TYPE OF BOND WE'RE GOING TO HAVE. YOU EXPLAINED DIFFERENT TYPES OF BOND. WHICH ONE IS IT?

THESE ARE GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS.

COULD YOU EXPLAIN WHAT IT IS AGAIN? YOU WENT THROUGH IT VERY FAST. IT'S THE FIRST TIME I'M DEALING WITH BONDS.

SURE. IF WE CAN PULL UP THE SLIDE, IT JUST SHOWS VARIOUS BONDS AND THEY ARE REPAYED BY DIFFERENT REVENUE SOURCES. SO WITH THE GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND, WHICH IS ALL THE WAY ON THE LEFT-HAND SIDE, IT HAS THE STRONGEST CREDIT QUALITY. IT IS SUPPORTED BY PROPERTY TAXES.

THIS IS WHAT YOU TALKED ABOUT LAST TIME. I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU HAD THAT. IS THE PLAN IN PLACE, IS THAT GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, IS PLAN A, IF IT DOESN'T GO THROUGH, WE HAVE A PLAN B?

THERE ARE OTHER TYPES OF BONDS, YES, JUST BY WAY OF BACKGROUND.

IF I MAY, IN THE PAST, MAYOR, THIS IS WHY I'M COUNCILMEMBER BONNA, IF YOU'RE SAYING SOMETHING AND I'M CHIMING IN, IT'S BECAUSE IN THE PAST THE CITY HAS HAD ISSUES WITH BONDS. SO IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT DURING THIS MEETING, RIGHT, THAT EVERYONE FULLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT THEY'RE APPROVING. OKAY? THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE, YOU UNDERSTAND THE FINANCING MECHANISM, YOU UNDERSTAND HOW THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND HOW IT'S GOING TO PROCEED FORWARD. SO WE'VE DISCUSSED THOSE THINGS PREVIOUSLY IN CLOSED SESSION WHEN WE HAD ISSUES, RIGHT? AND SO THIS EVENING, MAYOR, I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ANSWER ALL OF THE QUESTIONS AND THAT EVERY COUNCIL MEMBER HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO ASK QUESTIONS. WE'RE ALSO HAPPY TO MEET. WE'VE MADE THE TEAMS AVAILABLE TWO TIMES. TO MEET INDIVIDUALLY WITH COUNCIL MEMBERS AND ASK QUESTIONS, WE UNDERSTAND THAT THOSE TIMES MAY NOT HAVE WORKED, AND SO WE'RE HAPPY TO CONTINUE TO MEET WITH COUNCIL MEMBERS AFTER THE MEETING THIS EVENING IF YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS. THE 75-WORD STATEMENT, IT HAS TO BE PUBLISHED. Right. And we have to publish this item so that it's a matter of public information. There's there's very strict requirements regarding these processes. And so what we're doing is we're following the processes that are required. So this is conducted statutorily correctly. Okay.

Okay, I was past the wording.

I know, but I'm trying to give context because this is extremely important.

Yeah, but aren't we supposed to approve it tonight?

Yes, you're supposed to approve it tonight. But if tomorrow morning you wake up and you have a question, we're happy to meet with you tomorrow morning. AFTERNOON OR WHENEVER THE CONSULTANT TEAM IS AVAILABLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS. WE DON'T WANT THE CITY COUNCIL FEELING LIKE WE'RE PRESSURING YOU TO DO SOMETHING. WE WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FULL CONTEXT AND YOU UNDERSTAND THE TRANSACTION.

THAT'S WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO. THANK YOU.

WHAT YOU'RE DOING IS RUDE, MA'AM.

PLEASE, MAYOR. I WOULD LIKE TO ASK THE CITY ATTORNEY ABOUT THE BUDGET, CAN THE CITY LEGALLY HAVE BUDGET TO CAMPAIGN FOR THIS IN FAVOR OF IT? THAT'S PART A AND PART B. WE AS CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS CAN WE CAMPAIGN FOR IT? I MEAN, CAN WE ADVOCATE IT?

YES.

THE CITY CANNOT.

We're putting out information regarding what is, what information regarding what the city's needs are. And that is what we've done so far in consultation with our team. We understand that sometimes residents prefer for the city not to do that, right? In this instance, this was something that the city council authorized. And so that's what we did because we wanted to have a sense of if this is something people would want to support. And also because we have a number of other plans that the mayor mentioned last week at the meeting that have to go forward. SO THIS DATA CAN HELP INFORM OTHER PLANS THAT THE CITY HAS TO WORK ON.

I'M TALKING FROM NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER, CAN THE CITY SPEND MONEY ON EDUCATING THE VOTERS?

YES.

IS THERE A LIMIT ON THAT?

WHAT IS APPROVED IN THE CONTRACT.

I'M SORRY?

Yes, there's a limit. It's based on the contract that we approved with SCI and the other groups, which I don't have the dollar amount off the top of my head, but I can happily email that to you.

Got it. I'm done with my questions for now. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Yes. Thank you for the presentation. Just a quick clarifying, I want to make sure that people understand. There's a difference between the poll that was done and the survey that was done. The survey did not necessarily give the data that was in there. Will you mind just clarifying that?

Yeah, there were, Councilmember Cepeda, there were, thank you for the question, there were two statistically significant polls that were done, one in May. one in July. In addition to that, the city sent mail and other information out to the community asking for input, but those are not scientific polling instruments. That is engaging the public in a really important decision and conversation that you're having in the public sphere. So two very different activities. Thank you for the question. Thank you for clarifying that. Thank you.

I have one more question.

Okay. Council Member Bonnen.

Thank you. So in case, the worst case it's rejected, what are the impact, what is the impact of it on its success on the second time you put it on the ballot in two years?

There's a higher probability that it would not pass.

Is it shown? I mean, is it, do we have data about it, how polls perform?

Tom, go ahead. Yeah.

Thank you for the question. I mean, each individual election is its own election, right? So there's no, I would say, necessary carryover from one election to the other. I do think, in my experience having done this for 17 years, that when a measure is put to the ballot, and it doesn't meet the mark, it doesn't get the two-thirds voter approval that is required, which is a difficult level to achieve in modern democracy, let's not kid ourselves, that trying to move it to the next ballot two years later can be difficult. But that doesn't mean that, you know, the risk of an election is not worth it. But I do want to be clear that in my 17 years doing this, I have seen it be difficult to get back to the next election after you lose in, you know, the next election two years later. I DON'T HAVE STATISTICS ON THAT FOR YOU, BUT I DO THINK IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO RETOOL AND GET RIGHT BACK TO THE BALLOT TWO YEARS LATER.

OKAY. THANK YOU. AND MAY I ASK THE CITY MANAGER, IS THERE A PLAN B IF IT DOESN'T GO THROUGH?

YES.

WHAT IS IT?

TO ASK THE CITY COUNCIL TO APPROPRIATE SOME OF THE SETTLEMENT FUNDS TO UPGRADE THE STATIONS. GOT IT.

I can't see Council Member Wilson. Does she want to speak?

Her hand is not raised. Okay.

Anyone else?

Oh, it's raised now.

All right.

Sorry, I thought it was up. Can you hear me?

Yes. Yes.

Okay. So I'm 100% convinced that the city needs to fully fund and then begin and then complete the renovation on the fire stations now. That we must be the city lineup, you know, the city council lineup. that puts that plan into motion. It's been too long. It's not acceptable how we've forced the firefighters to work in those conditions. The firefighters who spoke tonight have made it clear that they would like the chance to go to Richmond voters and ask them to approve this bond measure to raise money for that project. fire department management the finance department and the city manager office also are recommending that we put this on the ballot and put it into the hands of the voters and so that's enough for me i plan to vote yes on this measure and let's put it on the november ballot and let the voters decide oh yeah thank you uh council member jimenez

Yeah, thank you so much for the information. Thank you for actually giving us the perspective of like what the city needs and he's now just if a fire station needs ongoing revenue for all the things and the capital improvement plan is IT'S A BIG MONEY THAT WE NEED TO START THINKING ABOUT HOW WE START MAKING IMPROVEMENTS IN THAT. SO I BELIEVE, YEAH, WE HAVE THE SETTLEMENT THAT WE FOUGHT TO BRING. BUT AS WE SAY, IT'S NOT ENOUGH. SO WE ARE TRYING TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT HOW ALSO WE BRING MORE REVENUE. And the thing is that it's overdue, not only the fire stations, but many other things. But we know that emergency response in the fire department serves the city in a lot of ways, and it's not okay that the condition that they are. and this station continue. So, and I am glad that like as you were saying, as the city, we cannot campaign or put money in there, but I am glad that Local 188, the firefighters and the union is really committed to do that. So I think, giving that opportunity to go to the border first and see what the borders will say. It will be something that we will need to do so we can start just like filling the buckets of all this undeferred maintenance that for years and decades the city hasn't been able to fulfill. So thank you.

Thank you. Any other speakers? If not, then I will move to adopt an ordinance. Actually, there's a different motion.

What's that? There was a different motion that wasn't made.

There was a different motion that was made?

Yeah. Okay. Well, then. I'll read the motion that was .

CITY ATTORNEY SENT YOU A MOTION?

FOR THE RECORD, I JUST WANTED TO GO ON RECORD THAT WE WANT TO BE CONSISTENT WITH GOVERNMENT CODE 36934, SO WHICH IS JUST AFTER READING THE TITLE, FURTHER READING IS WAIVED BY REGULAR MOTION, SO I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT'S INCORPORATED IN THE MOTION ITSELF. OKAY.

IN THE FUTURE, THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE THROUGH THE CHAIR AND NOT VIA TEXT OR

I UNDERSTAND THAT. IT WAS OUTSIDE COUNCIL COMMUNICATED WITH ME.

THEN IT NEEDS TO BE DONE THROUGH THE CHAIR.

OKAY. SO THROUGH THE CHAIR. I'M HAPPY TO DO THAT NOW.

OKAY.

SURE. DO YOU WANT ME TO?

YES.

OKAY. SO THROUGH THE CHAIR, ONE MOMENT. DO YOU WANT ME TO READ THE MOTION TO YOU SO YOU CAN PUT IT IN THE RECORD?

YES.

OKAY. I move to waive further reading of the ordinance by title only pursuant to government code section 36934. Adopt the ordinance ordering the submission of the general obligation bond measure to the voters and adopt the accompanying resolution. PLACING THE MEASURE ON THE NOVEMBER 3, 2026 GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION BALLOT, REQUESTING CONSOLIDATION WITH THE STATEWIDE ELECTION AND SETTING THE REQUIRED ELECTION PROCEDURES.

DO WE HAVE A SECOND?

I'LL SECOND. WHO MADE THE MOTION?

THE MAYOR. SHANNON. I MADE THE MOTION AS as explained by the City of legal okay, and then the second.

I'm sorry Okay councilmember Brown.

I'm sorry. I have a quick question So are we approving the text of the ballot measure too? Yeah, that's part of the resolution Can I ask you to remove that comma after rapid it doesn't make sense?

Yes, it's a category.

That's it. Yes That's all

I DON'T THINK COUNCIL IS THE PLACE TO DO PROOF READING.

IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.

LET'S VOTE.

COUNCIL MEMBER BROWN.

YES. COUNCIL MEMBER RABBANA. YES.

COUNCIL MEMBER JIMENEZ. YES. COUNCIL MEMBER WILSON. YES. COUNCIL MEMBER ZAPATA.

YES.

MAYOR MARTINEZ.

YES.

THE MOTION PASSES WITH VICE MAYOR ROBINSON ABSENT.

AND MAYOR, JUST FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER, WHEN WE RECEIVE THE FACILITIES NEEDS ASSESSMENT WHEN IT'S COMPLETED, WE'LL COME BACK TO COUNCIL AND OUTLINE A STRATEGY FOR FUNDING THE ADDITIONAL PROJECTS THAT NEED INVESTMENT AND HOW TO TRY TO COMPLETE THOSE BUILT ENVIRONMENT PROJECTS SUCH AS MLK CENTER AND OTHER PROJECTS THE CITY COUNCIL HAS REQUESTED.

Our next item is item Y4, is to receive a presentation from AC Transit on agency deficit projections and potential service and workforce reductions. If there's anyone joining us online that would like to address a council on this item, please raise your hand at this time. I'm going to wait for it to come up.

The mayor is nice to me. Mr. Mayor, may I?

Yes, you may.

So I would like to thank the presenters who are going to introduce themselves and present. AC Transit reached out to me and they've been sharing and communicating about budget cuts, service cuts that are going to affect the community and to inform the community of the extent and depth of the crisis that AC Transit is facing. We are having this presentation. Please go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor, members of Council. My name is Apri Sandhu. I'm here in the capacity as AC Transit Board of Directors for Ward 1. It's a real pleasure to be here today to introduce for some and for others reaffirmed essential role of AC Transit plays in everyday lives of the people and the neighborhoods of Richmond. Slide number two, please. A little bit about AC Transit. We are not an agency of any East Bay city. We are a special district serving 13 cities in eight unincorporated communities across Alameda and Contra Costa counties. We span 364 miles, carry more than 3 million riders each month, and are governed by a publicly elected board of directors. Now, this is important that three out of four riders are people of color, and nearly two-thirds are low-income, making AC Transit an essential lifeline for all the communities we serve. We are proud to have received the top honors of outstanding public transportation system in the United States in 2023. Next slide, please. We provide over 40 million rides every year. More than 140,000 riders board on a typical weekday. We also deliver more than 160,000 rides every weekend. Every weekday, more than 9,500 riders use our Transbay lines, a critical service that connect East Bay communities to jobs across the Bay. And when school returns, at least 30,000 students will depend on us to get safely to and from classes each day. In February, March, and April, delivered our first three straight months of year-to-year ridership growth since our pandemic. Next slide, please. Something about the economy. In terms of AC Transit impact on the economy, AC Transit supports more than 5,100 jobs across East Bay. More than half of those jobs are created outside of our agency. Together, they generate over $604 million in annual wages. And they inject nearly $1 billion into the East Bay economy every year. Every bus we operate creates jobs, supports our local businesses, and strengthens our communities. Next slide, please. For over a quarter century, AC Transit has led the nation's zero-emission buses. Today, our fleet of 58 zero-emission buses are eliminating any tailpipe emissions from our streets. That leadership earned AC Transit a $40 million federal investment to launch the AC Transit's industry first zero-emission bus university. ALONGSIDE CHABOT COLLEGE AND UNAN ATU LOCAL 192, ZEB, AS WE CALL IT, WILL HELP OUR EMPLOYEES EARN ASSOCIATE DEGREES WHILE PREPARING THE CLEAN TRANSIT WORKFORCE OF TOMORROW. I'D LIKE TO TURN OVER FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE PRESENTATION TO OUR OTHER STAFF PRESENT HERE FROM AC TRANSIT.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. MY NAME IS CLAUDIA PURGOZ. I'M THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS AT AC TRANSIT. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR HAVING US If you can go to the next slide, please. Riders recognize our value. We're making transit more affordable, faster, and safer every day. A couple of programs that we offer to riders, Easy Pass, it provides unlimited rides and deep discounts for participating employers, colleges, and residential communities. Clipper Start gives income eligible adults half off of every ride. And last year we redesigned 104 bus lines last summer under our real line network in order to improve travel times. Next slide. And Director Sandhu mentioned that three out of four AC Transit riders are people of color and nearly two-thirds are low income. More than half earn less than $50,000 a year, well below the federal poverty level. Many are already struggling to afford the essentials like housing and transportation, so service cuts would not only be an inconvenience, it would upend the lives of those who rely the most on AC Transit. Next slide. At AC Transit, we're making sure to make every tax dollar count. We know that when fares go unpaid, the cost does not disappear. It creates a funding gap. This summer, we launched a multilingual fare compliance campaign in order to protect the service. A comprehensive California state audit review earlier this year found that AC Transit service syncs well with other East Bay bus agencies. Our collective real challenges are sustainable funding, not mismanagement. Additionally, an independent review confirmed a savings of $33 million by AC Transit since 2020. This commitment to making every tax dollar count is why we have a top tier AA plus credit rating. Next slide, now moving towards our financial situation. When the cost of running our bus network rises faster than the revenue supporting it, the result is obviously a fiscal cliff. A couple of things that are contributing to that include that the federal pandemic relief funding is now gone. Regional sales tax revenue has flattened. Fuel costs are up 28 percent. Bus parts are up 14 percent. And the cost of buying buses has increased by 35 percent. So as you can see, it's very lopsided, and it's not sustainable. Next slide. However, we're not standing idle. We've taken action over the last several years. In the last fiscal year alone, we tightened our belt by $9 million. We've done this by hiring only for positions that directly support service. We've scaled back temporary staffing, saving roughly $2 million a year. We're partnering with other agencies to purchase goods and services for less. And again, we're doing our very best to make every tax Next slide. Now moving into what happens if new funding does not materialize. We are facing, AC Transit is facing a projected $200 million deficit over the next four years, which translates into an annual funding gap of at least $50 million beginning in fiscal year 2027. Without long-term sustainable funding, service reductions of up to 16% become unavoidable. and so would the human impact. This translates into the potential of as many as 300 layoffs at AC Transit. Next slide. We have been thrown a lifeline, but it's not a permanent solution. Earlier this year, we received a loan from the state of California, which we're very thankful for. But it is a loan. It's not a bailout, and it must be repaid with interest. So AC Transit's share of that loan is $55 million. So that's enough to close the current year Fiscal years gap and avoid service cuts today But next summer by this time next year that loan is gone and the funding challenges return That's why now our hope rests with the regional transit measure also known as connect Bay Area That measure is going to ask voters in November in five Bay Area counties including Contra Costa to approve a 14-year half-cent sales tax one cent sales tax in San Francisco if it's approved it'll generate nine hundred and eighty million dollars annually and for Bay Area buses, trains, and ferries, AC Transit would receive approximately $52 million a year helping to protect existing bus service and prevent layoffs. However, without long-term funding, our bus network remains at risk. To show what that could mean for the riders in your community, I want to turn it over to my colleague here from our planning department who can give an overview of the potential impacts to service. Thank you.

Thank you, Claudia. Thank you, Claudia. Good evening. My name is Carissa Lee. I'm a transportation planner. In these uncertain financial times, our approach is to plan for the worst and hope for the best. If no long-term new funding is secured by December of 2026, we've developed a contingency service plan. The guiding principles of that plan include maintaining the real line network, minimizing route eliminations, protecting hours of service, and maintaining frequent service where riders depend on it the most.

Next slide.

Next slide. So let's get into the plan a little bit. Under the proposed contingency service plan, a top priority is preserving what we are calling the primary route network. These are our busiest bus lines running on major corridors with some of our highest riderships in our equity priority communities. On key primary route network lines such as the 72, 72M and 72L, weekday frequencies will remain at 15 minutes or better and would be preserved. For other route network lines like the 76, rather than eliminating the service entirely, the plan first reduces the frequency to every 30 to 40 minutes with routes operating from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. So again, we really tried to steer away from major service reductions to the backbone of our transit network and instead focus on lines where ridership is lowest in order to minimize the impact. Next slide. Now let's zoom in a little bit to West Contra Costa County. Line 70 and 76 will continue to provide 15 minute weekday service on Cutting Boulevard. On weekends, line 70 would end at Richmond Bar instead of going to Del Norte Bar on weekends. Most other service currently operates at 30 minutes in West Contra Costa County. However, under this proposed plan, service will be reduced to 40 minutes, and the span will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. And then finally, Line 7 will remain at its existing 60-minute frequencies, but hours would be reduced from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. under this plan. Next slide. For Transbay, we have, Transbay is our service that brings riders to and from the East Bay to San Francisco and back. Line L is one of the primary routes that serves West Contra Costa. That line will remain, but there will be less trips in the morning and in the evenings. Next slide. And again, the only kind of change in terms of shortening routes would be the Line 70. Again, only on weekends it would end at Richmond Bar instead of going to Del Norte Bar under the proposed plan. Next slide. SO THE ROAD AHEAD, I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT SOME KEY DATES HERE. AUGUST 12, 2026, THE BOARD OF AC TRANSIT BOARD OF DIRECTORS WILL SET A PUBLIC HEARING AND WE WILL HAVE AN OPEN HOUSE, ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR FOLKS TO COMMENT ON THE CONTINGENCY SERVICE PLAN. AUGUST 14TH IS THE PUBLIC HEARING ITSELF AS WELL AS OPEN HOUSE NUMBER THREE. AND THEN FINALLY JUNE 13, 2027, IF NEEDED, SERVICE REDUCTIONS WOULD TAKE PLACE. With that, I will turn the mic back to Director Sandhu.

Next slide, please. Again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to present here. If you need more information, we have the QR code available here. And also, you can visit the planning at actransit.org or visit our website at actransit.org slash contingency plan. If you have any questions, we look forward to answering them now. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have public speakers?

We have one online speaker.

And that online speaker is Hope Dixon. Please unmute yourself and you may begin.

Hi there. Can everybody hear me okay?

Yes. Speak a little louder.

Hi, my name is Hope Dixon. I am a Richmond resident and I'm just calling because I am also a bus user. I don't drive and so I rely very heavily on the transit system and I'm heavily concerned. I will be definitely voting you know in favor of the half cent um thing but i you know when everybody sees in multiple bonds it's going to be it's going to be hard and scary because folks are facing a really hard time um and so i just as you're making these decisions just keep remembering that like this is not normal times like snap benefits are being cut things are going wild and so This is that time to dig into those reserves. This is that time to remember that we, as a community, are struggling. So many of my friends are laid off. So many of my friends are past due on rent. And so I'm just, the bus is our way of getting there. So very appreciative of the presentation and of all AC Transit does, how it gets our students to school. And thank you, Council, for all your work. Have a good night.

Thank you. And that was our last speaker.

Thank you. So do we have any council members, comments, questions? If not, yes.

I just wanted to thank you for the presentation. Really appreciate it. We understand the difficult times. And we'll do our share of informing the public to vote in favor of this important service to the public. And hopefully our communities will get those Coddisfans back. Is that the plan, that if the measure is approved, those cuts will go back to the way they were?

That is exactly right. The plan that Carissa described is our contingency plan that would be put into effect if the revenue measure does not pass in November. And so come December, if the measure does not pass, in December, the board will be taking final action to set everything in motion so that those service reductions would go into effect in June of 2027. Oh, they're not in effect yet?

They're not in effect at this time. Okay. And I have a quick question on this side. So there are big buses with not too many riders. Why doesn't AC Transit use many buses to save costs? on the routes that are essential but not many users.

Just one aside, isn't the cost in the drivers? So if you had minibuses, you would need much more drivers upping up the cost?

Essentially, Mayor Martinez, you are correct. The cost is essentially the same, right? We still have labor costs. We still have maintenance costs. And although sometimes you might see a bus traveling on a particular road and it may look like there's not many riders on there, that doesn't mean that there weren't many more riders earlier in the line, right, on the route. on that same bus. And so we've looked at smaller buses, at smaller vehicles in the past. Not all of our buses are the same size, right? We see the larger like accordion buses. Those are articulated buses. Those are 60 feet in length. And then a regular bus is a regular 40-foot bus. So we do have different sizes and types. We also have double-decker buses, which do we operate double-deckers here in Richmond?

Transbay, yes, it does.

Yeah, that serve our Transbay riders that are going into San Francisco. BUT OVERALL, THE COST DOESN'T CHANGE A WHOLE LOT IF WE MOVE TO SMALLER VEHICLES. GOT IT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

I REALLY APPRECIATE THE PRESENTATION.

EXCUSE ME, MAYOR. WE DID HAVE ONE IN-PERSON SPEAKER.

OKAY.

MARK WASBURG.

AC TRANSIT WAS NOT MEANT TO BE A BUSINESS, ALL RIGHT? IF YOU RENT IT LIKE A BUSINESS, THEN JUST CLOSE IT DOWN, JUST The post office is funded by the federal and state government. This is why you have AC Transit. I ride AC Transit three, four times a day. And I know these bus drivers personally. Sometimes I don't even have to show my car. They already know I paid. But like I say, you can't run it like a business. So I don't even know why you people are coming up here with this stuff because the city doesn't have no authority over AC Transit. It was all created by the state and federal government. Now, I don't know how you got problems running your paycheck or running your business, but it doesn't matter if you have one writer a week. You're still going to have to run. That's what it's for. You got a bunch of, you got elderly. Most of the people are old. They got wheelchairs. And some of them don't even want to pay. They just walk on there and they're sitting there fighting with the bus driver all the time. I'm on there on the bus all the time. I see it. You know, I mean, you let these people run AC Transit the way they was trained to do, by state and federal law, ordinance or whatever you want to call it. I don't even know why you're even getting involved. But I will say, you know, some of these bus drivers got an attitude problem because they're not lowering down the ramps like they should be doing, especially the new ones. You know, you ask them to lower the ramp and they have an attitude problem, but overall... The way they run it, I said, I have no problems with them. But like I say, just say out of AC Transit, it's all federal and state business. I don't even know why you're even talking about it.

All right. Thank you for the presentation. I was wondering when you were going to get around to Richmond. I know you've been to many other city councils, and we've seen you at WITTAC and other places. So thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Actually, you could come sit here and make the presentation. You've heard us so many times.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Our next item is item Y1, to appoint the mayor, vice mayor, city attorney, city clerk, city manager to an ad hoc committee to develop proposed amendments to the city council rules, procedures, and order, along with other operational refinements to bring forward to the full council for approval within 60 days of the formation of the ad hoc committee.

Thank you. So the ad hoc committee is a privilege of mayor to appoint. And we need to review our procedure and order for Richmond City Council. So the rules concerning the conduct of public meetings are set forth in Government Code 5 four nine five four d which states that each legislative body or of a local agency shall provide by ordinance resolution by law or whatever other rules is required for the conduct of business by that body the time and place for holding regular meetings so um uh the city council has recognized the necessity to review and refine the rules of procedures and orders to improve operational efficiency on May 19th 2026 the council authorized item in 10 a ad hoc committee to amend City Council rules of procedure in order on the consent calendar Directing the mayor to establish an ad hoc committee The committee is tasked with collaborating with a city clerk city attorney and city manager to develop proposed amendments and enhancements to operations recommended the recommended modifications will be presented to the full city council for consideration within 60 days and uh this was on the consent calendar i appointed vice mayor Doria Robinson and myself as well as having the city manager and legal Shannon Moore. So all we need to do is to vote on this to make it happen. We hope that it could start immediately so that we could work on it over the month of August so it would be prepared for September. Yes.

So Mr. Mayor and my fellow council members, as a council member who has often found myself in the minority, I have at times felt that my perspectives were overlooked and that interactions have been unnecessarily adversarial. For that reason, I believe it's important that I serve under rules, ad hoc committee, the ad hoc committee for rules and regulations. My participation would ensure that the committee benefits from a broader range of perspectives and that its recommendations reflect fairness, transparency, and most importantly, inclusivity for all members of the council. Thank you. So with that, I'm proposing I be added to the ad hoc committee.

It is my prerogative to appoint and I say that Doria Robinson and myself will be the council members on this committee.

Well, I'm bringing a new motion to the council because the council is to approve. So I'm asking. I have one question.

Yes. Is there a limitation to the members on the IHOP committee? Because I know you said yourself and Vice Mayor Robinson.

There is not, but it is my prerogative to decide. And I have decided on Councilmember, I mean Vice Mayor Robinson and myself.

So there isn't any room to add anyone because it's your prerogative?

We need to get this done as soon as possible.

I'm just asking because Councilmember Bond is a willing participant. I know.

I second the motion that Soheila Banna put it there so she can be allowed to be part of that.

You can do that, but I make the appointments. CAN I HAVE LEGAL COUNSEL ON THIS?

SO WHAT THEY'RE DOING RIGHT NOW IS THEY'RE AMENDING YOUR ITEM TO ADD ANOTHER MEMBER. SO I THINK THERE WOULD BE A MAJORITY VOTE. BUT DID YOU, JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR, DID THE MAYOR MAKE AN INITIAL MOTION AND THEN BAHNES MAKING A SUBSTITUTE MOTION? NO.

I HAVE NOT MADE A MOTION.

SO RIGHT NOW WE HAVE ONE MOTION ON THE FLOOR TO ADD.

I MAKE THE MOTION WHICH WAS THE ORIGINAL RECOMMENDED ACTION.

that uh... the mayor vice mayor city attorney city clerks in the manager uh... make up the ad hoc committee to develop proposed amendments to the city council rules and procedures and order spec mayor council member wilson has her hand

Personally, I think you should just add Sohaila because she's expressed an interest in it. But procedurally, I thought that it is just the mayor who makes appointments. I didn't think that it was possible for a majority of the city council to say, we've decided to make this appointment. So is that really what we're doing here? So in the spirit of collaboration, I think you should just appoint our mayor. But I also don't think we have the ability to force you to do that.

Mayor, if I may, through you as a chair, I agree that what would have to happen to comply with the rules, if I may, with the clerk and city attorney's concurrence, is that someone would have to request that you accept an additional appointment to your committee, and then you could say yes or no. It wouldn't be to actually introduce a motion. You would just have to ask if he would accept an additional member. The mayor says yes or no, and that's it. But it wouldn't be a motion.

May I? So... IN ORDER TO MOVE IT THE WAY I'M SUGGESTING, WE WOULD SAY NO TO THE MAYOR'S APPOINTMENT AND THEN START OVER AGAIN? HOW DOES IT GO? IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE THAT IF SOMETHING COMES TO THE CITY COUNCIL, I'M STILL TALKING, IF IT COMES TO CITY COUNCIL FOR THE COUNCIL'S APPROVAL, THE COUNCIL NEEDS TO HAVE A SAY IN IT. I UNDERSTAND YOUR POSITION SUPPORTING THE MAYORS, BUT CAN WE HAVE THE LEGAL SPEAK?

I'M NOT TRYING TO SUPPORT THE MAYOR. I'M TRYING TO TELL YOU HOW YOU CAN FACILITATE YOUR REQUEST. SO INSTEAD OF MAKING A MOTION, I'M SUGGESTING THAT YOU WOULD JUST SAY, MAYOR, I WOULD LIKE TO BE A PART OF THE COMMITTEE. WILL YOU ACCEPT THAT IN THIS ITEM? AND THE MAYOR CAN SAY YES OR NO. HE ALREADY SAID NO.

SO UNDER THE CHARTER, THE MAYOR, LET ME BACK UP, THE MAYOR IS IN CHARGE OF APPOINTMENTS, AND SO HE SHOULD BE FOR AN AD HOC, HE SHOULD APPOINT THE AD HOC. CAN YOU ASK THE MAYOR AGAIN?

MR. MAYOR, MAY I ASK YOU TO PLEASE APPOINT ME TO THIS AD HOC COMMISSION, TOO?

NO, IT REMAINS AT 2.

Okay.

So what is the solution? Yes.

So just adding on the charter. So the charter says that the mayor shall have the authority at any regularly scheduled meeting of the city council, which we are in to make appointments to, or remove us from all city boards, commissions and committees with the concurrence of at least three other members of the city council. So yes, the mayor does have that, but he does need the concurrence of three others. So, And then I just want to put out there for the record, I think everyone knows I am the one that's been more on the rules and charter. I wanted to be on the commission as well, but I understand my colleague wants to be on it, so I think that it's fair that she gets to be on it. As long as we all at the end understand and read all the rules that we may or may not adopt. Thank you.

And follow them. My answer is still no. So you can either approve or it's done.

So may I, Mr. Mayor, can I ask a question from the legal counsel? So can the counsel decide that the ad hoc committee would have three members? How do we go about this?

So what's before you is the mayor's item, which is to appoint the two members to the ad hoc. But what the council is doing is approving that appointment. So even though the, you know, this is my first time looking at this, but even though, and I don't know how we've done this in the past, even though the council's approving it, so in my mind, if they're approving it, they have the ability to modify it. And so... I KNOW THIS IS GOING AGAINST WHAT THE MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER HAVE SAID JUST NOW, BUT I DON'T, THIS IS A TOUGH ONE, BECAUSE IT SHOULD BE WITHIN THE MAYOR'S PURVIEW TO APPOINT AD HOCS, WHICH IS WHAT WE'VE DONE HERE. I DON'T KNOW OF ANOTHER TIME WHERE WE'VE HAD A SITUATION LIKE THIS.

THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANOTHER TIME.

SO IS THERE ANY MIDDLE GROUND? WOULD THERE BE A WAY THAT COUNCILMEMBER BONNA AND OTHER COUNCILMEMBERS COULD ACTUALLY PROVIDE FEEDBACK AND PROVIDE THAT FEEDBACK TO THE AD HOC FOR CONSIDERATION? COULD WE?

EXCUSE ME, MAYOR. COUNCILMEMBER WILSON HAS HER HAND UP.

Well, so I don't remember this. Oh, sorry. I think I don't remember this ever happening with appointments to an ad hoc, but I definitely remember this happening with appointments to boards and commissions. and what would happen is if the mayor was appointing someone that the majority of the city council did not agree with they would just vote no on the appointment and then the mayor would there'd be no appointment until such a time that the mayor brought back some person that was acceptable to the group. And so that might be the sort of the action of tonight is if a majority of us would like to see a third person on that committee, that ad hoc committee, I believe we have a right to just vote no on the creation of a two-person ad hoc committee tonight.

I THINK THE GOAL WAS TO TRY TO GET THIS DONE OVER RECESS SO I'M JUST TAKING OFF MY LAWYER HAT AND JUST TRYING TO KIND OF WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM HERE. I THINK THAT THERE ARE CHANGES TO THE RULES THAT NEED TO TAKE PLACE AND THE GOAL WAS TO DO THAT SINCE THIS IS OUR LAST MEETING BEFORE RECESS.

Yeah, I just, I feel like having a different perspective, no, the majority will be good in that committee. I have been in committees with Soheila and Doria, hasn't been easy, but it has brought different perspectives to discuss. I JUST DON'T SEE THE POINT TO NOT HAVE HER WHEN IT'S ALSO A WORK THAT CITY CLEAR AND CITY ATTORNEY AND CITY STAFF ARE GOING TO BE PART OF. YOU WILL BE NICE WITH EVERYBODY, RIGHT?

YEAH, AND EVERYBODY WILL BE VERY NICE WITH ME AS USUAL. Mr. Mayor, I believe what we're witnessing now shows that it's important and imperative that I be on that ad hoc committee to have a different voice. So I'm asking you again to please reconsider.

I'm sorry.

Then our vote is no.

We have four speakers, in-person speakers.

Would we, may I?

Yes. Are we able to do a, I don't know if this requires closed session, but can we do a study session during the break? And that way, because we need to get the rules done. There's no three people that are going to vote on this way, so it's... well concurrence according to our charter so maybe we just meet over and has this has work already started on this because i think there's already work been started on the updating of the rules maybe we could all just get feedback over email to miss christian and at the next council meeting we just i mean we're still going to have to hash it out here at the diocese anyway so We could all read and give our feedback.

When Attorney Moore suggested ways that you could have input. I was thinking of the Brown Act and I knew that you couldn't email me. But I like the suggestion of emailing things to the city clerk. So if everyone could agree to do that, then the two council member ad hoc would work and everyone would have their input.

It wouldn't. As a matter of principle, we should be as inclusive as possible, especially when we're talking about rules and regulations. We need to make them inclusive.

This showing lack of acceptance of inclusivity, we should say no to.

Yes.

Yeah. So we have speakers before. Can we make a motion or do we have the speakers come?

Okay.

Because I'm just thinking that I'm agreeing with Councilmember Bonner. I think the ability to have a diversity on the ad hoc committee is so important. And with refusal, it's showing like a lack of, collaboration, a lack of leadership when you refuse to have a different perspective. I just think that it's, I mean, I just want us to go on this break and really just reconsider some things because it seems like every week or every council meeting we come here, it's a battle, it's a war zone. It's us against them. And it's so frustrating and so disheartening that that's the representation that the city of Richmond is receiving from its governing body. So I think that, again, that it would be imperative that we make this ad hoc committee inclusive.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

It's just... Can we take... What if we take a test to see who knows the rules right now and whoever gets the highest score gets to be on it?

You have it. I'll close it.

I'll memorize them. Just kidding. Yes.

Excuse me. You're speaking out of turn. This is the council's time, not your time. So let's take a vote. Do we have speakers? Oh, okay.

Speakers are Cordell Hendler, Don Gosney, Claudia Citron, and Irania Delamora.

So good evening, Mayor Martinez, Council. I have looked at this idea of an ad hoc committee. I think it's a good idea because it will give enough time to have different perspectives for this committee. So the mayor, vice mayor and city staff working collaboratively on this Amending the rules I think that's wonderful from my perspective, but sometimes I have sat through meetings You know until 11, and they never get to heard some of the other items that staff has presenting So you got to think about though when you do form this ad hoc committee you also got to figure out How many eyes are we gonna get through on each agenda, so? Let's think about that for a minute so Don. It's all yours

Don Gosling.

Thank you. You know, this council, like all other councils before them, has a set of policies they put in place to govern how they conduct their meetings. And while they may have staff input before setting these policies, they rarely have input from the rank and file employees and the public. the very people who are frequently affected by these policies. Sometimes these policies require staffers and the public to stick around much later than they might want to, only to be sent away because agenda items were deferred because the council ran out of time. For instance, as I recall, and I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm mistaken, is that proclamations and combinations are supposed to be placed on the agenda for the fourth meeting of the month, and they're limited to five minutes. Just a couple of weeks ago on the first meeting of the month, there was a commendation that took 13 minutes and 33 seconds. No matter what the group or what they have accomplished, we had quite a number of critical issues on the agenda that night, including a mandated report on the militarized equipment the RPD has. That report was cut short and many staffers were eventually sent home. Since the disposition of the item was unfinished, we all had to return at a later meeting to conclude the item. Had we all had that 13 minutes and 33 seconds available to us, maybe we might have been able to conclude that item, maybe. We don't know because we weren't afforded that opportunity. During that same meeting, there were a number of speakers and the mayor suggested that whatever thoughts we might have, our allotted time to speak should be cut in half. This was extremely dismissive. We see the same thing under public comment when another of your ambiguous policies allows you to half our allotted time, thus silencing the public, and only for you all to ignore your own policies and endlessly blabber on. Please keep in mind that these are not meetings to conduct the business of the city, or these are meetings to conduct the business of the city and not to showboat or to campaign for community support. I recall efforts in the last meeting where we were talking about a policy review, and on the surface, that sounds like a positive thing, but if you look back at your own cadre of supporters, you might see that the public doesn't have as much faith in the counselors to do what is best for the public.

Claudia Cicero.

You're not capable to run this council. You were laughing during a serious time. And then when I reminded you, you continued to laugh and think it's funny. You have no capacity to install leadership here. You have no capacity to create consensus. You have no interest. You're a male, chauvinistic, Spanish person. And this is not racist. It's a fact. You pick out before on someone you didn't like on the language. When Reimagine Richmond just a few weeks ago used all sorts of languages, you were smiling, you were laughing, you were happy. Your refusal to have an unbiased team here, your refusal to have someone even recommend someone else like Cesar or Brown who doesn't challenge your malehood as much as Bana does because she's a strong woman. It is just unacceptable. And that you smile and smirk right now just speaks again that I'm right. This has been a long time going on that there is an ethic investigation that needs to happen. If you don't, it's just going to get worse. And I just can't wait that the RPA gets voted out because your leadership is just making it harder for anyone who is with the RPA to get a vote because you speak for the RPA and your unwillingness to even be a team member is just outrageous and just to say well I am in charge that was not one single argument why BANA can't sit on the council. You did not one time offer someone else to be on that commission. It is shameful, it's embarrassing, and this is not the last time you will hear of that. I promise you.

Okay, we have one more speaker, Rania Delamoro.

Oh, there we go. Hello. Good afternoon. So I just want to say that the reason America is such a great place to live in in comparison to anywhere else around the world, because if you go anywhere else around the world, I promise you, most people will say they want to leave their country and live here in America. And the reason for that, I'm not just being... like, stuck up or anything as an American or whatever. The reason for that is because we have the First Amendment and because we appreciate diversity. We try to, our best, in comparison to anywhere else around the world. We let people say what they think. We approve or we support the freedom of conscience, which in other countries they do not approve at all, okay? So... The city manager seems to be speaking to Bahana, in my opinion, in a condescending tone. By repeating over and over, if she has questions, if she doesn't understand something, she can email her. And I find that very disrespectful, the way she keeps repeating the same thing over and over, as if Bahana didn't understand it the first time. And I do think that you're a very strong woman. And I appreciate that you have different opinions and you ask questions. Unlike anybody else in the city hall, they just nod their heads and approve everything. They're approving all the taxes on us people in Richmond, which I know most of you know, we're all very poor, right? And most of us here didn't have a college education, right? Most of them barely graduated from high school, so they don't understand anything you're saying, most of them. So I appreciate that you, Bahana, are saying that they need clear English. I agree with that. There needs to be clear English, right? people who can barely read. And so I think you guys do need different perspectives, whether you want to prove it or not. I think it would be in the best interest of us people here living in Richmond, whether it's the best interest of you in the city council, I really do not care. But Bahana, more power to you. Don't let these people intimidate you. You're a very strong woman and you're intelligent. It takes intelligence to know your rights and to know that you can ask questions and to know that you need to be respected even if you're not I'M ASSUMING YOU'RE AN AMERICAN. IT DOESN'T MATTER. HERE IN AMERICA, WE TRY TO APPROVE IMMIGRANTS AND TRY TO MAKE THEM PART OF THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. EVEN THOUGH SOME PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO APPROVE YOU, DON'T LISTEN TO THEM. THEY'RE RESPECTFUL AND IGNORANT.

THANK YOU.

MR. MAYOR, CAN I JUST MAKE A QUICK CLARIFICATION?

SURE. I am an American of choice. Excuse me. You're not supposed to speak to the but you were responding to something that was said by the speaker. You're not to do that. I know that I've lost a lot of political capital by being strong on this. But I have been strong on this because I do have a lot of complaints about my fellow council members. I don't air them. I don't talk about them. But they know what they are because I tell them. There needs to be rules, not only rules written but rules followed. People know, council members know what the rules are and they refuse to follow them. I want someone who not only knows how to write rules but knows how to follow them. And that is why Council Member Robinson was the only person I felt should be on the ad hoc committee. So, let's take a vote.

Mr. Mayor? Well, I was just subject to a personal attack by our mayor for my personality. Excuse me, I have to finish. I'm not going to defend myself. I'm just going to say what you just said.

I did not make a personal attack on you.

You're making the issue of inclusivity a personal issue.

I said nothing about inclusivity.

I said about inclusivity.

You do not have the chair. I did not give it to you.

It's my time to talk, and I don't appreciate being interrupted. You allowed me to talk. Let me finish, please. You turned it into a personal issue and attacked me personally. I do not appreciate it. It is wrong. IT IS WRONG, MR. MAYOR.

IT IS WRONG FOR YOU TO ACCUSE ME.

YOU SAID I DIDN'T FOLLOW THE RULES BECAUSE A PROCLAMATION WENT OVER 10 MINUTES INTO 13 MINUTES. IS THAT A GOOD REASON TO EXCLUDE ME FROM RULES AND REGULATIONS COMMITTEE? ANYWAY, FOR THE THIRD TIME, I'M ASKING YOU TO PLEASE CONSIDER INCLUDING ME. OTHERWISE, THE VOTE IS NO.

THERE WAS A MOTION BY

By me. Okay. That was the alternate motion.

And a second by?

Nobody.

Nobody? I guess it dies. Jimenez.

I think it was Jimenez.

No?

I second the motion that Council Banner. Okay.

Sorry, I second the one that Councilmember Banner made, but not this.

If I may mayor I thought we agreed there wasn't an alternative motion Right my motion failed there was no second Are we taking a vote on the first motion no no motion So is that is that item done I

That's what the mayor wants.

Item Y2. Item Y2 is to receive an update on the draft healthy options at point of sale ordinance. Receive direction on aligning Richmond's ordinance with Contra Costa County's. Authorize the city manager to enter into a contingency, interagency, sorry, agreement with Contra Costa County once the draft agreement has been approved by the city attorney's office. Direct staff to return to city council with an ordinance for adoption.

KCRT, can you bring up the PowerPoint, please? Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and City Council, members of the community. I'm Nanette Beecham, Economic Development Director, here before you to give an update on the development of the Richmond Healthy Options at point of sale, or we call it HOPS ordinance. Joining us this evening, we have Samantha Carr, environmental manager, and Yana Williamson, management analyst. I'll now turn it over to Samantha.

Thank you, Nanette. Next slide. The recommended actions for the item tonight is to receive an update on the draft healthy options at point of sale, also known as hops ordinance, receive direction on aligning Richmond's ordinance with Contra Costa counties, authorize the city manager to enter into an interagency agreement with Contra Costa county. Once the draft agreement has been approved by the city attorney's office and lastly direct staff to return with an ordinance for adoption. Next slide. A quick background on the item. on March 4th, 2025, a new cohort of HOPPS youth advocates presented updated research reaffirming the need for a healthy checkout ordinance in Richmond, which would minimize unhealthy food options next to the checkout area. PER CITY COUNCIL'S DIRECTION, CITY STAFF PROVIDED RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE ORDINANCE, IMPLEMENTATION, ENFORCEMENT AND PORTIONS OF THE ORDINANCE IN APRIL OF 2025. ON OCTOBER 7, 2025, THE CONTRACOSTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ADOPTED AN ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH NUTRITION STANDARDS FOR FOOD AND BEVERAGES SOLD WITHIN CHECKOUT AREAS AND IT APPLIES TO LARGE RETAIL AREAS OVER 2,000 SQUARE FEET THAT ARE LOCATED WITHIN UNINCORPORATED CONTRACOSTA COUNTY ONLY. Once that happens, city staff reached out to Contra Costa County staff to explore a potential partnership in which the county would enforce the city's ordinance. The city currently lacks sufficient staff capacity to enforce a HOPS ordinance at this time. After discussions between city and county staff, Contra Costa County environmental health staff have tentatively agreed to administer enforcement of a Richmond HOPS ordinance on behalf of the city pending Richmond's City Council approval of an ordinance that mirrors the county's ordinance. County staff noted that if Richmond adopts provisions that differ from the county ordinance, the county is unlikely to serve as the enforcing agency. Additionally, The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors would need to approve the interagency agreement to perform the work as well. City staff tonight are seeking Council's direction to mirror the county's ordinance in order to maintain the opportunity for county-led enforcement on Richmond's ordinance. Next slide.

Now we'll be talking about alignment with the Contra Costa County's ordinance. Here is a comparison table of key elements in the original Richmond proposed draft ordinance and the revised draft county aligned ordinance. City staff would like to emphasize the tentative agreement for the county to enforce the city's ordinance is contingent upon the Richmond City Council approving an ordinance that mirrors the county's ordinance and completion of an interagency agreement. We would like to address and acknowledge City Council's previous request to include language in the ordinance restricting foods with red dye in Richmond's hops ordinance. However, it was not included in the county's current ordinance. Maintaining consistency between the city and county ordinances is necessary to facilitate county enforcement. Additional changes include modifying the store size to 2,000 square feet from 4,000 and above, which includes approximately 33 businesses in Richmond. We removed exemptions, included compliant base enforcement, and made modifications to allow for county enforcement. All in all, the majority of changes were rephrasing to align the city's ordinance with the county's. Next slide, please. These are all the items in the Richmond or draft ordinance that were already consistent with the county's current ordinance. Next slide, please. Given the current staffing and capacity constraints within the city's code enforcement division, a city-led enforcement model is the most feasible and cost, I'm sorry, a county-led enforcement model is the most feasible and cost-effective implementation option. Representatives from Contra Costa County's Environmental Health Department have indicated a willingness to enforce Richmond's proposed ordinance if the city's ordinance is in complete alignment with the county's adopted ordinance. County staff have also clarified that enforcement would be complaint-based and focused first on voluntary compliance. Under the proposed enforcement structure, County staff would conduct an initial inspection and if necessary, up to two follow-up re-inspections to obtain compliance. If a business remains out of compliance after those efforts, the matter would then be referred back to the city for further follow-up or enforcement action. County staff have also indicated that enforcement activities would be billed directly to the non-compliant food facility operator, resulting in no anticipated fiscal impact to the city's associated with county enforcement services. Next slide, please. As for proposed next steps, we will co-develop outreach and education plan with city staff, county staff, and community, co-develop compliance plan and process with the county and city departments, finalize interagency agreement with the county, finalize ordinance with the county, return to council for ordinance approval, develop multilingual educational materials, complete one year of education and outreach for the ordinance. The goal is to support compliance before enforcement. Regarding that, there would be a focus on retailer education, technical assistance, public awareness, and community partnership. Also, city-led outreach would include educational brochures with the county, social media, business site visits, presentation to the community, and at regular occurring meetings and direct mailers. Potential support includes youth work experience program interns. Next slide, please.

Thank you. That's the end of our presentation, and we are available to answer any questions.

Do we have public speakers?

Yes, we have one in-person speakers. If there's anyone joining us online that would like to address a council on this item, please raise your hand. At this time, I do see one hand online. The in-person speaker is Claudia Citron. Okay. We'll now move to the online speaker.

That online speaker is Tim James. Please unmute yourself and you may begin.

Council members, Tim James on behalf of the California Grocers Association. We genuinely appreciate the community focus on promoting healthy eating, and we are asking the council to appreciate the value and difficulty of operating full service grocery stores. A full service grocery store is a dedicated food breacher who has tens of thousands of square feet of sales dedicated to fruits and vegetables, fresh meat options, dairy products, and whole grain products. We know, unfortunately, that this type of regulation puts a necessary burden on full-service grocers and does not accurately identify choices which are genuinely healthy. It is an overreach no other retail type is forced to deal with. It has been documented that the city of Paris lost a full-service grocery store already slated to open not only due to this regulation, but also a lack of respect and cooperation by the city council. also important to note unincorporated contra costa county currently includes no full service grocers and no viable location to house one they have no skin in the game when it comes to these type of food retailers in richmond you only have a few full service grocers but not nearly enough You may want to regulate food retailers who make little to no effort to offer healthy choices. But including full-service grocers who sell tens of thousands of healthy options throughout their footprint is too much. Exempting certain full-service grocers would not impact shared enforcement. It makes it more simple. Please do not use the cut and paste policy and instead ensure you do not unnecessarily impact full service grocers or create an environment of overregulation. We ask you to direct staff to develop alternatives for full service grocery stores, which does not impact enforcement efforts. You have our full commitment and partnership on this effort. Thank you.

Thank you. And there are no more speakers.

Councilmembers, anyone? Yes, Councilmember Brown.

Yes, thank you for bringing this item forward and for all the hard work that's gone into it. It has gone through a few iterations and so I'm really pleased to see what has come. I was excited to hear when the county did approve this ordinance and I think that mirroring the language and all the necessary MODIFICATIONS IN ORDER TO INHERIT THEIR SUPPORT WITH THE ENFORCEMENT COMPONENT BECAUSE THAT WAS THE HOLDUP IN RICHMOND. IT WAS THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY ENFORCEMENT SO IT JUST SAT THERE. AND THIS ISN'T ANYTHING THAT ADULTS BROUGHT TO THE CITY COUNCIL. These are young high school students who are saying that we have food deserts throughout the city of Richmond, that we are in dire need of some changes. And if we are going to go into this just transition, this is a part of it to have healthy options at point of sale. What I most appreciate about this item is that we're not telling retailers or store operators not to sell food their products we're just saying that hey at the checkout counter we don't want a bunch of nonsense at the checkout counter and as a mom of two kids that are under five years old the struggle that it takes to get out of the checkout stand without having to get a hershey's or some skittles or whatever I would love to see them reach or only a banana or some fruits or something to be in arm's reach than a big bag of gummy bears that I have to pry out of little Claire's hands. It is just a nightmare. So I, again, appreciate the changes and would hope that Richmond moves forward with this today because the county has already gone forward. Thank you.

Council Member Cepeda.

Thank you. Thank you for coming back and bringing this update. I'm just looking at the comparison between what the original draft and then what we would, it looks like what we would have to align with with the county. So our original draft says large retailers defined at 4,000 square feet and the county is 2,000 square feet. When we were presenting, I believe there was a list of potential retailers that will be impacted. What, because we're essentially halving it. So now that it's 2,000, what other retailers will be impacted? Do we know? Or how many more?

The total number is about 33 businesses in Richmond.

So 33. And are these, I mean, we don't have any grocery stores. So are they, these are mom and pop shop at the corner stores or?

I can't remember the exact list, but are we able to share it with him once we find it later? Okay. So we can share that information with you.

Thank you. And then I want to make sure that I also understand the definition within the square footage is the whole store, even if Target, for example, they only have a little bit of a section of grocery. The rest of it is clothing or whatever else they sell. So we're still defining that even if it's only a small section of it. Thank you. And then a question in regards to the red dye. PROPOSITION TO INCLUDE LANGUAGE TO EXEMPT FOOD OR REVERGES WITH RED DYE. I'M TRYING TO REMEMBER, DID WE REALLY SAY WE WANT TO EXEMPT RED DYE OR ADD RED DYE BECAUSE RED DIE IS A BAD THING SO I DON'T KNOW THAT WE WOULD EXEMPT IT SO WE COULD SHOW IT. ESPECIALLY SINCE CALIFORNIA IS EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2027, THEY'RE GOING TO BE BANNING RED DIE NUMBER THREE STATEWIDE AND THEN RED DIE NUMBER 40 IS BANNING PUBLIC SCHOOLS EFFECTIVE JANUARY 31, 2027. COULD WE CHECK THAT? I DON'T KNOW THAT WE WANT TO EXCLUDE THAT SINCE EVERYONE ELSE IS MAKING IT ILLEGAL. IT SOUNDS LIKE WE WANT TO MAKE IT FRONT AND CENTER. WE CAN JUST CHECK THAT. SINCE THE COUNTY'S ORDINANCE DOESN'T MENTION RED DYE WE CAN TALK TO THEM ABOUT IT AS WELL. can improve it. Because if everyone is banning it and moving away from it, I don't think that should be the bright red color that the kids see first. Right? So maybe we can just check on that there. And I think that is it for now. So thank you so much for the update.

Thank you. Any other council members? Council Member Bonham.

Yeah, I remember when the youth came to my office, I think two, three years ago. I wish we could get back to them and say, hey, we are passing it. Wonderful. And I'm glad actually the county's version is a bit more restrictive than ours. So I would like to make a motion that we pass this item with the amendment that you check out the red die.

I second.

All right. Vote.

Councilmember Brown? Yes. Councilmember Bonham?

Yes.

Councilmember Jimenez?

Yes.

Councilmember Wilson?

Yes.

Councilmember Zepeda?

Yes.

Mayor Martinez?

Yes.

The motion passes with Vice Mayor Robinson absent. Thank you. Okay. Item Y3. That is to receive an update on the proposed 23rd Street Seclovia pilot project, provide direction to staff regarding whether this effort should be prioritized within the current transportation and public works work plan. including consideration of staffing capacity cost, trade-offs with existing city council directed priorities, and impacts to ongoing traffic safety, traffic calming, grant funded project delivery, and residence council traffic related requests. and this item was continued from July 21st. We've already received public comment, so the council will now discuss the item without additional public comment and deliberate and vote.

So, I guess we have to start anew in terms of conversation. Do we have any speakers?

Public comment?

No, public comment is done.

You're a speaker, right? All right. Go ahead. Hello again. We're not at MIDNIGHT HERE ALMOST. THANKS FOR BEING HERE AGAIN. THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION. IN GENERAL, I THINK IT'S GREAT TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THIS. SAN FRANCISCO HAS PROGRAMS LIKE THIS CLOSING DOWN THE STREETS. THEY'VE BEEN DOING IT FOR A LONG TIME. WHEN THIS CAME FORWARD, I WAS IN SUPPORT OF IT. I THINK IN GENERAL IT'S GOOD. BUT THEN LOOKING AT THE COST, And I think if I remember correctly from last meeting, I think it was Council Member Brown who might have said, if I'm wrong, but 145,000, that is almost a full budget that we're giving just in cash to the other community organizations. And I know that a lot more staff time goes to that as well. That wasn't quantified in the last presentation. So with that said, is there an opportunity to work with other groups that are already doing some events and kind of piling in it. So, for example, the 23rd Street groups and there's different groups. So one of them does the 23rd Street Cinco de Mayo event, but the other one has been doing Halloween and for the past couple of years that have asked us to close down the streets to make it safer for the kids to trick or treat. They get over 1,000 kids on Halloween night. they would be willing, they already are, putting a lot of the time and effort into getting the word out, creating safe environment. So last year they closed down just one little corner, but it will be great if we can close the whole street and maybe partnering with them as a pilot that's coming up soon. I know that was in here as a suggestion, but maybe we need a little bit more time, but then that one might also CREATE MORE NEED FOR THE FIESAS PATRIAS GROUP WHICH I JOIN THEIR MEETINGS EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. BUT HALLOWEEN GROUP HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR SEVERAL YEARS ALREADY. AGAIN, THEY WANTED TO DO THIS. THEY HAVE BEEN COMING TO THE CITY FOR A LONG TIME FOR PERMISSION TO CLOSE THE STREETS DOWN. I THINK THEY WILL BE WILLING TO DO THE LEG WORK. And hopefully the cost might be lower than what we have here as one of the first pilots that we can go out with. And it sounds like maybe October gives us a couple more months to try to put things together. I don't know if that's enough time or not, but I just want to get that out there. Because I think we can shift some of these costs potentially. The event coordinator, for example, and other, I don't want to go line item by line item, but I think some of these, they are already doing. And we can just help enhance their event and they can help enhance the idea that has been coming forward as the first pilot and this year. So hopefully that is there. I'll pause for now and I'll take some time back.

Mayor, if I may, through you as the chair. So I do want to remind the city council that this item is not currently included in the fiscal year 26-27 operating budget. AND THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY STILL NEGOTIATING MOU'S WITH BARGAINING UNITS AND SO WE WILL NEED TO REFINE THE BUDGET UPON COMPLETION OF THOSE MOU NEGOTIATIONS TO RIGHT SIZE THE BUDGET, NUMBER ONE. NUMBER TWO, RIGHT NOW WE DO NOT HAVE CLEAR PRIORITIES FOR FISCAL YEAR 26, 27.

EXCUSE ME, SENIOR MANAGER. I THINK WE SHOULD ALLOW THE COUNCIL TO HAVE THEIR SAY AT THIS POINT. YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SPEAK AFTER COUNCIL'S FINISHED. COUNCILMEMBER GIMENEZ.

THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION AND THE WORK. I BELIEVE WHEN WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE BUDGET AND THE COST, YOU ALSO MENTIONED THAT THESE ARE ALL THE COSTS THAT AN EVENT WILL DO. that other events like Cinco de Mayo, we put some money for the event, but there is also other costs that are not there, right? Is that right?

We're waiting for the council to finish before we talk.

Well, this is a question that I will... Well, no, no, I'm trying to make sure we follow the rules.

We are following. You were not asked a question previously. You chose to speak unsolicited. Thank you for clarifying. When counsel asks you a question, it is your responsibility to answer. Thank you.

Thank you. So my question is that what I understood about the budget that it was presented was that is putting all the other things that usually other events WE HAD TO SPEND, SO IT'S NOT JUST ONLY THE MONEY THAT WE PUT ON THE BUDGET FOR THE EVENT, BUT ACTUALLY THERE IS ALSO OTHER HEATING COST THAT IS NOT BUDGETED, RIGHT?

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR MARTINEZ, CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS. I JUST WANT TO GIVE A LITTLE BIT OF CONTEXT. WHEN WE PREPARED THIS PRESENTATION AND THE STAFF REPORT, IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN, IT WAS APRIL. SO THE FIESTAS PATRIAS PILOT PROJECT HAD SOME MONTHS AHEAD FOR US TO PREPARE.

THAT IS NOT MY QUESTION. IT'S ABOUT THE BUDGET.

Okay, about the budget, I'm not, yeah.

Excuse me, Daniel's not the finance director, so if you have a question about the budget, we should probably get a different staff person.

Okay, if there is any staff person that can.

I don't believe so.

Okay, well, it would be good to have for each event, what is the actual cost that we are putting because what I am trying to get here is that the other events also cost more than we are putting. So by putting this here is saying, oh, this is going to cost that much, WELL, OTHER EVENTS CAUSE DAMAGE, RIGHT? AND WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO HAVE HERE IS TO CREATE A SPACE FOR THE COMMUNITY TO ENJOY. I AGREE THAT, LIKE, FOR INSTANCE, FIESTAS PATRIES TO CLOSE, SO I AGREE WITH COUNCIL MEMBER ZEPEDA THAT MIGHT BE ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY IN THE HALLOWEEN. BUT FOR ME, IT'S MORE ABOUT WE BOUGHT IT TO CREATE ANOTHER ACTIVITY FOR THE COMMUNITY, ALWAYS THE COMMUNITY IS ASKING WHAT ELSE DO WE HAVE HERE FOR RICHMOND? WHAT OTHER ACTIVITIES? AND I THINK THIS IS SOMETHING It could be a good idea. It could be a good opportunity to collaborate with other organizations. And I think like the Halloween organization, like the ones that organized the Halloween, they have been asking for closing 23rd. Maybe this is an opportunity for them and it gives staff more time to organize it with them.

If I could mayor, um, to be able to answer the question that council member Brown asked last week about, and you also asked me mayor about the cost for other events. Um, so I want to speak to that and also want to speak to capacity to do any event. Um, so to answer their first question, I did ask fire public works and Richmond police department for some additional numbers, um, that. Council doesn't normally see when we adopt the $187,000 city sponsored event budget. We are what, what council adopts at that time is how much funding do we want to provide to these different organizations? to put on these events. I will say that most of those other organizations, because we're not the lead, they are fundraising to actually also raise more money in addition to what the city provides. But for two of the major, excuse me, major events, Cinco de Mayo, FIRE, SPINS, these are estimates, 23,000. Public Works, 32,000. PD $50,000 for a total of $106,000 that we spend on staff in addition to the $20,000 we provide for Cinco de Mayo. For Juneteenth, we give $26,000 for the parade and the festival, and FIRE spends around $25,000, Public Works $20,000, and Richmond PD almost 20. So it's about $64,000 in addition to what we provide. That probably does not include every single dollar. And I think what you're seeing and what we presented around Ciclovia is It's a new event, so we wanted to, that is how we wanna be presenting new events as they're coming up so you can see the full amount that it costs and not just how much may be provided to an organization. So we're trying to do different and I understand the desire to understand the full cost of all the different, of how much it costs when we actually are supporting city sponsored events that does not even include what it costs for us to do our own events like third of july there's a lot of funding there um additional staff costs for 72 000 um there i also just want to state that the city has not that we don't think this is a a brilliant idea and will be a great asset to the community we probably have 10 to 12 events major events happening in the city between august september and october We have grand openings. We have city events that we put on ourselves in recreation. There are other events that are happening through the city sponsor, the Native American Pow Wow, the event we're talking about today. So there's just a lot of things that are already happening with limited city staff. So I just want to share that we are doing a lot in the next three months, but also wanted to provide the dollar amounts that were requested for at least two of the major events. Thank you.

Thank you. Are you done?

No. I think like for me is that we, and I am flexible with this. I am not going to impose anything. But what is frustrating is that we did it to the staff to design this long time ago. And it was unanimous. And it wasn't part of the budget. when it was directed. So I think the issue had been in the budget for the events and tell us whether we wanted to support it or not. That wasn't a conversation in the budget. So I will, like, that, if these, if staff is really actually following through with direction of staff, One example of this is that this should have been in the budget and allow us to decide whether or not we want to spend this money or not. Now you are coming later to tell us that this is how much it costs and put all the numbers when you don't put the numbers in the other events. So I just feel like this is the things where, following what is like city council direct staff shortfall. And so I will be inclined to tell staff to put this on the budget when we are doing mid-year review and then to plan within when could be, a good time for them to to do it if so just then don't feel like it's imposing to them in a timeline that they cannot do it but this was a direction from the council mayor am i allowed to speak now

In response to councilmember Jimenez Noted I want to get to council members first so councilmember Brown Thank you so much for the update and thank you for the updated numbers and I mean I just

Even with Cinco de Mayo, which is one of our largest, largest events, like thousands and thousands of people come from everywhere for Cinco de Mayo, the Cicla Via event still, even with the numbers that you presented tonight, still exceeds that event. I don't know what the... anticipated turnout for a Ciclovia event would be, but I know Cinco de Mayo is huge, double stage, blocks and blocks, and it seems like the numbers given tonight still, the Ciclovia exceeds our Cinco de Mayo event. So to me, that raises an eyebrow with, actually exceeds both of our largest events, Juneteenth and Cinco de Mayo. But I just want to add that Because there are cost constraints around this proposal, this pilot, Is there an opportunity, because if the streets are already shut down, like say for instance Cinco de Mayo, could there be an area where the Ciclovia activities are taking place instead of creating, like why reinvent the wheel when we can just tighten the spokes? If it's already, the streets are already blocked down, can there be a designated area for Ciclovia events within some of our current events?

GOOD EVENING, SENIOR TRANSPORTATION PLANNER. THAT WAS THE IDEA OF THE PILOT IS TO PIGGYBACK ON EXISTING EVENT. So yes, it would simplify and we agree.

So I think more so what I'm trying to get at, because I know we talked about, I think I remember during the presentation as well, but I know before it was like three hours before or three hours after, and those were going to be like where the cost was starting to rise because we would have to pay for like all of this additional staffing costs. whether we did it before or after, what I'm saying is during the event, could there be a designated area where Cikla Via activities can take place so we're not trying to find money for an event that is piggybacking off of an existing event.

EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE. WE PRESENTED THE OPTIONS. WE ARE HEARING FROM THE CITY COUNCIL ABOUT THE FEEDBACK AND WE CAN ADJUST. THAT'S NOT AN ISSUE. BUT THE COST IS GOING TO BE SIGNIFICANT. So but but I think beyond the cost that is something that both City Council decides where to put the money It's a the cost of work that they since right now What how it is right now, but it can change is led by staff This is the same staff and that's why we have some slides in the presentation that is addressing traffic safety issues so that cost We're not quantifying that here because it's a, and I'm sorry I'm going to put this analogy, but sometimes we receive the direction to drive to Sacramento, we're passing Vacaville and then hey, let's go to San Diego. And then everybody looks surprised because we never reach Sacramento. And so, okay, let's get to Sacramento, and then let's go to San Diego, but not in the middle of it. So that's why things take so long, because we never reach our destination. We're constantly changing direction.

No, I agree. I think I'm just asking, is there a cost associated with having a designated area within a current event for the Seek Libya activities?

Yes, and the issue with Ciclovias is it's a very long distance. It's two to six miles is a typical Ciclovia.

Okay, so that has to be incorporated.

So that's what typically these other larger jurisdictions do in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland. It's two to six miles. Okay, yeah. And so the issue when we met with police is there's the need to protect people at the intersection, so there's not a car ramming issue, that people can really have a car-free space. And so that's where the expenses rise. we have just the pilot just for less than a mile is 29 intersections. And when talking to police it's just the feeling of wanting to protect community members at those intersections and it reinforces the need to have these best practices that are the meridian barriers. So then there's that additional expense and so RETHINK ALL THE EVENTS AND THE NEED FOR THOSE BARRIERS. SO IT STARTS TO UNRAVEL THE OTHER EVENTS, TOO, AND THE NEED TO PROTECT THE INTERSECTION. SO IT'S A LITTLE BIT OF APPLES AND ORANGES WHEN YOU'RE COMPARING COSTS FOR THESE EVENTS BECAUSE THESE ARE SO LONG. TWO TO SIX MILES IS THE IDEAL. OKAY. ALL RIGHT.

THANK YOU.

Council member Bonner

THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK COUNCILMEMBER JIMENEZ FOR BRINGING THIS ITEM FORWARD. WHEN YOU TRAVEL TO OTHER COUNTRIES, ESPECIALLY IN EUROPE, YOU KNOW, THOSE CLOSED STREETS ARE THE FUNNEST PART THAT THE TOURISTS GO. SO I WISH RICHMOND WOULD HAVE THEM, BUT HONESTLY WITH OUR BUDGET STATUS, I DON'T THINK IF WE CAN AFFORD IT AT THIS TIME, SO HOPEFULLY IN THE FUTURE. I had to fight very hard for the budget for Hilltop Green emergency exit. The fire chief's recommendation for $200,000 for grants of $2,500 to households didn't go through because the city manager said we don't have the budget. So sadly I'm going to vote yes for this, but I sincerely hope that Public Works somehow in the future plan prioritizes promoting biking, improving bike lanes, especially in my district where there are no bike lanes practically. And in the future we can have these kind of events that are very much fun to make Richmond a better place for residents and also for visitors. Thank you.

Council Member Cepeda.

Thank you. So you mentioned 2.6 miles or so. I'm trying to figure out what other streets we've closed that are that long of a route. That thing is just Cinco de Mayo and Juneteenth, right? For Cinco de Mayo, because I've helped set up the event in years past, We close it on Saturday because they're starting to prep because the event is fairly large. So we're already closing it on Saturday for the Sunday event. In years past, we used to do the parade on Saturday. So the streets will be closed. They would kind of start setting up some stuff and then kind of reopen temporarily for the parade to pass through. And then we close it back up again and then get ready for the Sunday event. So with this train of thought here, Could we piggyback off of next year's Cinco de Mayo on that Saturday since it's already closed? So I don't think that they would add that much more cost because we're already closing the streets down for the event on Sunday. We're already going through the permitting. We're already rerouting the buses. We're already checking off a lot of the stuff. And then potentially having one of the local organizations there, whether it be the 23rd Street Merchant Association or another group there, kind of put together the rest. And my laptop is restarting, so I can't see the presentation. But you list on there like creating programs. So maybe they can help create some of these programs and they'll be at a very low cost. We've got the Zumba classes at the Veterans Hall. I'm sure that they can come out while they're not, since we no longer have the parade, they can come out and do the Zumba classes there. They can do something that's already happening, that's already working in that area in that particular timeframe. and then try to cut some of the cost, again, in something that's already happening. And this potentially will give us almost a whole year to try to plan and partner and budget correctly and everything else. So just a thought there that maybe that's something that we can go towards.

Okay. Thank you. Does Councilmember Wilson want to speak?

Yes, thank you. Go ahead. I share Councilmember Jimenez's concern with the fact that even though we did approve this a while ago last year, it wasn't included in the budget that we just approved in June. And I just, again, want to sort of highlight that I don't, I mean, maybe that is something after I finish speaking that the city manager could address of how come that wasn't funded or even like proposed as a potentially funded item. and um i also think that richmond can and should have nice things and i think this is a really nice thing i think it's absolutely worth doing i don't think it has to be six miles long um i hear i appreciate that i hear both um council members zapata and jimenez being flexible and creative and trying to find something that is right sized and intersects efficiently with other events reduces costs, finds community partners. I want us to move in that direction. I don't think we're going to achieve that tonight because we just don't have enough information to fully craft a program on the dais. But I guess I'm looking for a way to craft this that I want this to move forward. I want this to have staff time. I want this to have funding in the next possible appropriate funding cycle. And I would recommend maybe creating, if the mayor would create an ad hoc committee and place Zepeda and Jimenez on it, I think they could come back to us with something that is appealing to more than just me. So that's what I would propose doing.

All right, city manager.

I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND THE CITY COUNCIL THAT WHEN YOU ADOPTED THE FISCAL YEAR 2627 BUDGET, YOU DID SO WITH A STATUS QUO BUDGET. SO THAT MEANT NO NEW ADDITIONAL ITEMS AND THAT IS WHAT WE EXPLAINED REPEATEDLY. RESPECTFULLY, IT'S EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING WHEN WE HAVE THESE MEETINGS AND STAFF ARE CRITICIZED AND WE'VE INDICATED THAT WE SHOULD HAVE PRIORITIES IN OUR BUDGET AND THE CITY COUNCIL DOESN'T WANT TO ESTABLISH PRIORITIES. We you have given us 55 different things to work on So if you've given us 55 things to work on that means that they're not going to happen quickly and That means you're going to be disappointed because you're asking people to do things that are impossible You can't work on 55 things concurrently and run the day-to-day operations of a major city So respectfully, please keep in mind that people are spending nights and weekends away from their family to try to move forward the policy direction that you're requesting. Right now, the number one priority in our Public Works Department needs to be getting a new operator for Veolia's work. That's paramount. That's a billion dollars. The second thing is we need to have a strategy to take care of the parks. If we're going to spend any additional overtime money, it should be on the parks. Right now, today, I have tagging at Shields Reed all over the place. So if we have additional overtime hours that we're going to expend in public works respectfully, I think we need to spend it on maintenance of our existing infrastructure because we've invested millions of dollars into new parks and they're being damaged already. So we as city staff will do whatever the city council directs us to do, but I ask that the city council please be kind to staff because they're doing the best they can. No one is intentionally doing anything disingenuous. We're all doing our absolute best. We indicated there were $29.3 million worth of items that could not be afforded in this budget that were requested by departments to provide you with a balanced budget. AND IF YOU MOVE THIS ITEM FORWARD, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE NUMBER ONE ITEM I GET COMPLAINTS ABOUT IN MY INBOX IS REGARDING TRAFFIC CALMING AND STREET SAFETY. THOSE ITEMS WILL BE DELAYED BECAUSE GAIL WILL BE WORKING ON CECLAVIA, NOT INQUIRIES FROM THE PUBLIC REGARDING TRAFFIC SAFETY AND TRAFFIC CALMING.

ALL RIGHT. CAN I MAKE A MOTION?

I NEED TO SPEAK. Yes. At the last meeting, I mentioned all the planning and assessments that city staff are making and I think I need to reiterate them because we seem to forget how much we've piled onto our staff to do. There's a sea level rise adaption plan, there's a facility condition assessment, there's a mental health assessment, there's a port economic impact, there's offshore wind study, Chevron settlement funds assessment, Facility Needs Assessment, Black Resiliency Assessment, Richmond Fund for Children and Youth Assessment, the HUD Annual Plan, the City Assist Plan. Along with that, we have numerous ad hocs that staff needs to report to and to assist, such as the McDonnell Avenue Task Force. We've given staff tons and tons of work. And at the time that we approved the Siclavia, we did not approve the project. We approved the staff to look into it. There's a big difference between the two. I mean, if we had approved the money, then the money would have been there. But we only approved for them to look into it to see if it was possible to have done that. This item costs a lot of money and I know that there's been a lot of suggestions about how to lower the cost, but it doesn't lower the cost to make it a reasonable item, especially considering the amount of staff people we have to do the work. For instance, the Meridian roadblocks, $66,000 to rent. So $2 million to purchase. It would be a good idea to invest in those because those meridian roadblocks can be used in other situations. We could use it for Juneteenth. We could use it for other events. They would be very handy things to do. But we need to frame it in a way that makes sense not only to the city but to our budget. Do we have the money to buy them now? If we don't, then we need to wait. I've complained continuously about how this council has budgeted ad hoc from meeting to meeting with item to item, and we haven't really discussed where that money is coming from. I believe we're beginning to spend some of the money money that does not have a continuous funding source. We need to be clear about what we want to do, where we want to go. Today I got a phone call from Mrs. Robinson in the Pullman District who complained about all of the homeless up and down Carlson Avenue. We need to work with the county, we need to work with the railroads to make that go away and we do that by providing services for the people who are there. There's so much we need to do that we're not doing because we're trying to think of ways to make the city a better place for people to live. So everything we do does make the city a better place for people to live. I was thinking if we wanted to do the Ciclovía, we could do it in stages. We have a dirt world where we could start off by getting people into the bicycle riding culture And then after we do that for a few years and we're better financially situated and we have a lot of the tasks that we've already assigned, what, 59 items? Once we have a lot of that taken care of, then we can start expanding that biculture to to a Ciclovia event. We already have bike rides. Rich City Ride has been doing bike rides. And my time is up. Thank you. So. You can make a motion.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'M JUST GOING TO MAKE A MOTION THAT WE GET THE IDEA THAT COUNCIL MEMBER ZEPEDA FOR NEXT YEAR IN THE SATURDAY BEFORE THE SINCO DE MAYO AND THAT IT IS ON THE BUDGET FOR THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR SO WE CAN APPROVE IT OR NOT. SO WE WILL HAVE A YEAR TO DO THAT. SO THIS IS MY MOTION.

Councilmember Jimenez, are you amenable to staff reaching out to CBOs and requesting as part of this motion that they consider applying for Department of Children and Youth funds?