City Council - Regular Meeting

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I'm Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the regular meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council. The City Council is conducting this meeting from the City Council Chamber. This meeting is being video streamed and can be viewed live or later on the City's website. As some attendees may be participating in their first Walnut Creek City Council meeting, I wanted to welcome everyone and talk briefly about the public comment process. For each agenda item, there will be an opportunity for public comment on the item. Thus, if you desire to speak to an item on the agenda this evening, please hold your comments until the City Council considers that item. Additionally, we have a section on the agenda titled Public Communications, which is for public comments for items not on the agenda. Any comments during public communication should not relate to an item that is on the agenda this evening. CONSISTENT WITH SECTION 9.5 OF THE CITY COUNCIL HANDBOOK, 30 MINUTES WILL BE INITIALLY ALLOCATED FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA. ADDITIONAL TIME FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA WILL BE PROVIDED AT THE END OF THE OPEN SESSION PORTION OF THE MEETING IF NECESSARY. IF YOU DESIRE TO PROVIDE A PUBLIC COMMENT, PLEASE COMPLETE A SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION CARD AND LINE UP BEHIND THE LECTORN AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME. Wait your turn, and then when you approach the lectern, please state your name and city of residence for the record. You will have two minutes to address the City Council. Please keep in mind that this is a city business meeting. The City Council has adopted rules of decorum to ensure that meetings are conducted efficiently and effectively, and that all members of the public have a full, fair, and equal opportunity to be heard. The City Council Handbook outlines decorum expected in the Council Chamber and can be found on our website. All remarks should be addressed to the City Council. Please do not use threatening, profane, or abusive language which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the Council meeting. Again, each speaker will have two minutes to make your remarks. Written comments submitted and received up to two hours before the meeting have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record. All right. Good evening. I'm Kevin Wilk, mayor of the city of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 regular meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council. And if you'd all please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. And City Clerk Susie Martinez, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Darling? Here. Council Member Devaney?

Here.

Council Member Silva? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Francois? Here. Mayor Welk?

Here. Right. So the first few things that we have are proclamations. And we've got four. And for people in the audience, I just want to let you know that if everybody could stay for through the fourth one. At that point, we'll go to the consent calendar. We would love you to stay all meeting long, but we understand if people do want to leave after the proclamations. But just to not disrupt them in the middle. So the first one that we have is on National Public Works Week. And in recognition of Public Works Week, I'd like to read the proclamation, share a video, and then invite Public Works Director Rich Payne forward to accept the proclamation. I know Rich is around here somewhere. There he is. All right. So, whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, parks, open space, and services that are vital to sustainability and resilient communities, public health, and a high quality of life for the people of Walnut Creek, Public works professionals are responsible for rebuilding, improving and protecting our transportation, our water supply, water treatment and solid waste systems, public buildings and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens. And whereas the dedicated people of the Walnut Creek Public Works Department maintain, operate, and provide engineering for 213 miles of streets, 171 miles of street markings, 1,650 streetlights, 100 signalized intersections, 9,500 traffic-related signs, and 1,550 parking meters, 14,000 miles of street sweeping, more than 4,000 catch basins and over 100 miles of storm drain systems, 19 parking lots, 69 buildings, 181 on-road vehicles. I feel like this is the most numbers I've ever read since math class. And 131 equipment items and 22 parks and green belts totaling over 300 acres and nearly 3,000 acres of open space with nine miles of paved trail and 43 miles of unpaved trail and 30,000 trees. That's a lot of work. In any city you live in, public works is the backbone of what makes that city work. The year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association with a theme rooted in service powered by community. And whereas the Walnut Creek City Council supports and recognizes the importance of a qualified and dedicated public works department, I therefore, Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council, to hereby proclaim the week of May 17th, 2026 as National Public Works Week. With that, let's see that video.

Mm-hmm.

All right, a great team. So Rich, why don't you come on down? And the city of Walnut Creek encourages all residents and civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the issues involved in providing our public work services and to recognize the contributions that public works professionals make every day to improve and maintain our health, safety, comfort, and quality of life. And if you'd like to say a few words, and then we'll take that picture.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I'm your Public Works Director, Rich Payne. Thank you for this honor to come up and receive this proclamation. As you can see, it takes an army. We're sort of the team behind the scenes, if you will. A lot of stuff happens without anyone noticing. And oftentimes, when they notice is usually when it's a complaint or something like that. So we don't like to be noticed that much. I want to thank the support. Well, first of all, I want to thank my team. and their families, their extended families, because oftentimes we get called out after hours or we have a team that works on the weekends and their family's at home and not with their loved ones. So I want to just thank them for that sacrifice and I want to thank our council for the support that they give us. We can't do our job without your support, and it's really nice to work for a council that recognizes the value that Public Works brings, and it trusts us with that responsibility of maintaining our infrastructure. I want to also thank our city manager and our executive team for the support I get from them. It's great to work for... an organization that feels like family. And we have a community, I feel like, that appreciates that. And they show their appreciation by voting for things like Measure O. And we're going to be talking a little bit about that tonight. But I think they have a lot of confidence in what we do. And I appreciate that. So with that, again, thank you. And I appreciate your support. All right. That's good. Anyone from Public Works, come on up.

Let's hear it.

Thank you. All right, don't get too comfortable in your chairs. All right, our next proclamation is for Affordable Housing Week. And I wanted to say, this is so important. Just about a week ago, I spoke to groups at Rossmoor, so senior citizens. I spoke to business peers during our Contra Costa leadership meeting. program that they had and then I spoke to high school students and all of them had a major questions about affordable housing and how are their children or grandchildren going to live in Walnut Creek or near them or how are they going to live or how are their when they are high school students and they're thinking about how are they going to afford to be able to live in the community that they grew up. So affordable housing is on everybody's mind all generations. And what I would like to do is to invite Jan Warren representing East Bay Housing Organizations forward to accept the proclamation. And I'll read some of this here. Whereas quality affordable homes are vital to a healthy, safe and racially and economically just community. And increasing housing costs have led residents to be displaced, live in overcrowded homes or experience homelessness, threatening our region's diversity and economic opportunity. And whereas stable and affordable housing improves local health, security, and connectivity through support to seniors, youth, families, veterans, people with disabilities or special needs, and the entire community. Congress has upheld federal funding for fair housing programs over the years, particularly amid rising discrimination complaints and widening racial and economic disparities in housing access. Local housing organizations are continuing to recognize May as Bay Area Affordable Housing Month because regional action to a growing regional housing crisis is an essential part of recovery from the pandemic and the work to ensure that everyone has an affordable and stable home. And East Bay Housing Organization organizes regional events for Affordable Housing Month, acknowledging the need for and the benefits of affordable homes. And therefore, I, Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as affordable housing month and the city of Walnut Creek will work to support affordable and stable housing at the local, regional, state and federal levels.

Yahoo. Okay. All right. Thank you. Well done, Mayor. Good evening. My name is Jan Warren, and I'm here as a member of East Bay Housing Organization that we refer to as EPO through my membership with Lafayette Christian Church. EPO is a member-driven organization which works with a diverse coalition that advocates to produce, preserve, and protect affordable housing for residents in the East Bay with low incomes. EPO has a membership of over 400 individuals and organizations which support their mission. The organizations include non-profit affordable housing developers, social service organizations, advocacy groups, faith communities, and residents across Alameda and Contra Costa counties. On behalf of EPHO, I want to thank the City Council of Walnut Creek for recognizing Affordable Housing Month and changing it from week, where I saw the short change there, so I appreciate that, Mayor, and affirming your commitment to affordable housing. My husband and I have lived in Walnut Creek for 40 years, and I'm happy to see that more of our residents are able to remain in Walnut Creek with the help of supportive housing. EPHO members and staff have put together over 25 public events this month. There's still some to go to. Just today, I had the opportunity, along with three members of my church, to attend an open house in Hayward, where Christian Church Homes was able to provide 80 units for low-income seniors who now have a place to call home. It's always inspiring to hear personal stories from those who are housed. The goal of Affordable Housing Month is to lift up and center those most affected by the housing crisis. All community members are invited and encouraged to join EPO in their movement. And I kept the two minutes just like I'm used to doing. Well trained. Y'all have trained me well.

And you don't even need the two minutes. You've done longer. But thank you for not.

Take a picture.

Okay. You've got all that extra film, huh?

Happily, things are on digital.

Yeah, it is a nice thing, isn't it? Is there an extra? You get to be next to the man. Oh, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to do that.

One, two, and...

Thank you. I always appreciate and brag on the nice folder and

All right, this brings us to our next proclamation of Jewish American Heritage Month. And just wanted to mention that yesterday I was privileged to be invited to the state capitol as a Jewish elected official in our county for the state legislature resolution and reception on commemorating May 2026 as Jewish American Heritage Month. And now it is our honor to proclaim Jewish American Heritage Month in the city of Walnut Creek. And I'd like to ask Rabbi Jenny Chabon to come forward and accept the proclamation, which I will now read. Whereas since our nation's earliest days, Jewish Americans have been an important part of the American story and have greatly contributed to all areas of American life and culture. And on April 20th, 2006, the federal government proclaimed May as Jewish American Heritage Month, stating, as a nation of immigrants, the United States is better and stronger because Jewish people from all over the world have chosen to become American citizens. And whereas so many generations of people from all over the world, including Jewish individuals and their families, have come to the United States in search of a better life for themselves, their families, and their descendants, Jewish Americans enrich every part of American life as educators and entrepreneurs, athletes and artists, scientists and entertainers, public officials and activists, labor and community leaders, diplomats and military service members, public health heroes, and more. And in recent years, Jewish Americans have increasingly experienced acts of anti-Semitism, acts that are unconscionable and carry terrifying echoes of the worst chapters in American and human history. Whereas these acts of anti-Semitism are not just a strike against Jewish individuals, but they are also a threat to other minority communities. And the City of Walnut Creek celebrates diversity and condemns discrimination, bigotry, hatred, and anti-Semitism wherever it exists. And therefore, I, Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Jewish American Heritage Month in the City of Walnut Creek and encourage all in Walnut Creek to celebrate diversity and support opportunities to learn more about Jewish American history, culture, and contributions.

Thank you so much. As you mentioned, it is a really uncertain and quite scary time to be Jewish in the world and to be Jewish in our country, but not just here. And indeed, there's rising anti-Semitism and many acts of violence against the Jewish community. It means a tremendous amount to me as a rabbi, to the members of our community who are here. and to the Jewish community at large to have allies within this council and across the city of Walnut Creek. It makes us feel stronger and supported and connected as a whole. So we really deeply appreciate this. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And Rabbi, we look forward to having you participate in our Memorial Day ceremony next week. So let's take a picture. Anybody from the Jewish community would like to also be part of this picture? Please come forward.

There we go, yeah. Okay, first look at me, then look at, oh, okay.

And, got it. Thank you.

And we now have a proclamation for National Mental Health Month. This is an important one in recognizing National Mental Health Month. As we've stated from the dias previously, everyone knows somebody who suffers from mental illness, as did my own brother. And I'm glad that mental health is coming out from behind the curtain where it was rarely talked about before. So I will read this. Whereas mental health is essential to everyone's overall health and well-being, since 1949, Mental Health Awareness Month has been a driving force in addressing the challenges faced by millions of Americans living with mental health conditions. Effective treatment and often recovery are possible through appropriate medical, social, and culturally responsive support and services. And the community shares the responsibility to ensure those services are available to all residents. And whereas all stakeholders and community members can participate in efforts to effectively address and support the delivery of culturally responsive services and supports, thereby promoting resiliency and recovery and reducing hospitalizations and relapses. There is a commitment and need to increase awareness at all levels and educate the public, replace misinformation and eliminate stigma concerning mental health and promote understanding that people living with mental health challenges can lead productive lives. And the city remains committed to expanding and improving crisis response throughout our region and is supportive of Contra Costa County's A3 crisis response initiative to providing timely and appropriate mental and behavioral health crisis services to anyone at any time within the county. and the City Council supports and recognizes the importance of raising the awareness of mental health needs, resources, and services. Therefore, I, Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of May 26 as National Mental Health Awareness Month in the City of Walnut Creek and encourage all citizens and civic organizations to promote mental wellness and support efforts to raise community awareness.

So I think that all deserves a round of applause.

And we're going to be sending this to one of our mental health organizations. And in recognition of National Health Month, I've been asked to be the celebrity bartender for a local event at Lunacy Lounge at the Waymark Building next to BART, next Thursday, May 28, with part of the proceeds and all of my tips being donated to NAMI, the National Alliance of Mental Health. If anyone would like to attend, it begins at 530 at Lunacy Lounge. And I'm proud to be able to help donate to that worthy cause. Those are our proclamations. So thank you for attending. Those who are leaving, thank you for attending for the proclamations. And we'll continue with the meeting now. So next on the agenda is the consent calendar. And does any council member wish to pull any item for discussion? Yes. Yes.

I would like to pull item 2E, please.

Okay. I will pull item 2D. Anybody else? Any staff or member of staff wish to pull an item for discussion? Does any member of the public wish to comment on any item on the consent calendar? As a reminder, each speaker will have two minutes to make their remarks. Okay.

I move to approve consent calendar items A, B, C, F, G, H, I, J, K. I'll second.

We have a motion and a second. Susie, could you call the roll, please?

Council Member Darling? Aye. Mayor Wilk?

Aye.

Council Member Devaney? Aye. Council Member Silva? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Francois? Aye.

All right. Why don't we go to item two? Well, I guess you said E, so I'll do item 2D. And this was more to just recognize that we continue to adopt the resolution declaring the month of June 2026 as LGBTQ plus Pride Month and directing staff to fly the rainbow flag throughout the month of June at City Hall. And we will be raising the flag at a ceremony on Monday, June 1st at noon in front of City Hall right back here. And I welcome anybody from the public that would like to attend during that event. And I'll say a few words, and we'll have people that are around there to celebrate that occasion. And with that, I'll make the motion to approve.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Mayor Welk?

Aye.

Council Member Silva? Aye. Council Member Darling? Aye. Council Member Devaney?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Francois?

Aye.

Next we have 2E. Council Member Silva?

Thank you very much, Mayor. 2e is changes to our council handbook, mostly reflecting items that are legislative in nature that are required by state law. But there are a couple of items that are not, that are cleanup items. But first I would like to, we had some corrections to the changes related to the potential for disruption of the two-way communication system that we now have to have. So perhaps the city clerk could explain what the difference is between what we had in front of us originally and what's here tonight.

Okay, so the addendum that is at the dais and in the back of the room provides additional revisions to section 9.7 and it states that a recess will be taken for one hour following the disruption or until service can be restored, whichever is earlier. What was originally presented was stating that we had to wait the full hour. But this clarifies that we are either going to wait until either the hour or if we get the issue resolved in 10 minutes, we can resume the meeting at that time.

And what happens if we are unable to, despite efforts to restore service after an hour, we can't get service back?

If we are unable to restore service, there is a section that we are proposing that says if service is not restored, the council may resume the meeting upon a roll call vote, making findings that good faith efforts were made to restore service and that continuing the meeting serves the public interest more than the public interest served by the remote public access.

Thank you very much. The other item I wanted to talk about is on page seven of the handbook. It's the proposed change in when the election of mayor and mayor pro tem would occur in December. been on this council almost 20 years and every year we do this process but it is a moving date because every other year it is triggered the date we can do this is triggered by the election otherwise we can definitely do it at the first meeting in december it's caused times when the um We are trying to find a special meeting time, but we're trying to do it in October, which is hard for our schedules. It also means just the way we schedule this that the first meeting of the new council is actually the third Tuesday of December, and more often than I can count, There have been substantive items on that meeting, even though it's brand new council that has not been necessarily familiar with the topics, such as it would have been, I think the BART approvals were on that meeting night, and we had new council members. So I've wondered for a while if there was a way that we could do that December, the timing of the December meeting slightly differently so that was consistent from year to year as well as a little operationally easier. And so I asked the clerk and I asked the city manager and I'll ask the clerk to explain what the law says we can and can't do.

OK, so the election code stipulates when we have to declare the results and install the newly seated council members. And so that has to occur no later than the next regularly scheduled city council meeting following the presentation of the 28-day canvas of returns. So that will generally fall the first week of December.

So and what has happened over time is it is frequently they're racing to get it done and we're affirming or approving the election results at the last minute that they're coming in at 5 o'clock and we're approving them. So what and it's because our first Tuesday of the month is exactly 28 days from the election every two years. So we end up, if we had a meeting on, if our meetings were on the first Thursday of the month, we wouldn't have as much of a challenge in the scheduling. So what are our options or is this just a possibility? And what I'd like to suggest is we ask staff to consider maybe some options. would be more efficient for us as a council and for the community and come back on this one item not the handbook as a whole approve the changes proposed to the handbook and have asked staff to come back with a little more clarification and maybe we won't think it is a problem but at least we would have had an opportunity to talk about our own schedule so I guess what I asked the city manager is there a specific question that you would propose

uh because it sounds like there's just you're looking for more clarification in general but it sounds like we've got the clarification it sounds like it's it's the state law that we have to there are other ways that other cities would you like to explain what other cities are doing because other cities have the same challenge um just a second

So yes, I was able to talk to a few other cities. Pittsburgh generally handles it in the same manner we do, because their meetings fall on the same date. So they do sometimes plan for a special meeting. Martinez will adjourn their first meeting to the following week. So they will come together and meet, but then they continue to a date, they select a date and they would handle it that way.

So basically they would have the second and third weeks that they would meet, not the first and third.

Well then they still have that third, they'll have their first and third meetings but they have a meeting. They add a second?

Yes.

And it's a continuation of the first meeting.

It's the first meeting continued.

And then I would say Orinda meets the first and third Tuesday like Walnut Creek. They interpret the code a little bit differently to mean that at the next regular meeting after they receive the results from the county. So they've already generally posted their agenda on the Thursday or Friday when they receive the results on Monday or Tuesday. So they're interpreting it at the next meeting.

So have we had issues? I know that... What's that?

I like that interpretation.

It seems very... like solves the problem the in uh 2024 i know there was an issue where we were looking are they going to be certifying it in time but have we had issues where there has been a concern of who got the top two when there's an election for two council members or one when there are three council members that are up that there's a question between who came in third and fourth like it is there a have we had experiences like that where there has been an unsure of who is going to be that second or that third council member.

I don't recall it being that close. So we have historically been able to certify the results at the first meeting, at our first meeting. Yes, it's difficult and we're stressed, but it gets done.

The one concern I have about having it on the third week of December is that we're really coming close to the Christmas holidays where people are going to be making already plans for Christmas, and it could be as late as the 19th or 20th, if I count that right. It could be as late as the 19th or 20th, and that's the only concern that I would have having it the third week. But let me ask, actually, if I could ask the city attorney your interpretation of how this is working, and then we can decide if this is something that we want to vote on in a future meeting.

So the way that the city is doing it right now is consistent with state law. The state law does say that you consider it at the next regular special meeting after you've received the results and I would say that I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that the next Meeting is the one two weeks after when you have a meeting that night So the way a Rinda does that I think is an expansive reading of the statute But but the the way that the city does it now complies with law the process of adjourning that meeting to a date in the future would also in my view be consistent with it because then you are doing it as part of the next regular meeting assuming that you're not adjourning it beyond another regular meeting so you would adjourn it within that 14 day period between the two so if the council wanted to do that that I think is something that you could do because you would be satisfying the state law requirement and also being able to select the mayor and the vice mayor at a consistent meeting on a yearly basis that would in all likelihood add a meeting to the council's calendar in december effectively because you'd have to come a second a second day which would result then result in potentially three meetings in december but that's something the council could do as well

But we also have the authority, if I'm correct, to not have the third Tuesday in December as a meeting, since out of the last 10 years, it has occurred on the 20th, the 21st, or the 22nd of December. It's that close to the holidays, and sometimes they are big agendas.

When the council sets your regular meeting schedules on an annualized basis, you could switch the second regular meeting in December to a different date if you wish to do that.

So since it wasn't simple, that's why I made the suggestion that we actually let staff study the alternatives and report back to us pros and cons and then we can talk about it. But in the meantime, I'd be happy to make the motion on the handbook sans these two sentences.

I'd like just a little greater clarity on the reasons for the change or the differences in the options. It's for that one or two times when the 28th day is actually the day of or the day before the first council meeting in December.

The 28th day is always because there are only 30 days, right?

Yes. Our election is November 3rd, and the 28th day falls on December 1st. That's correct.

and so it's an issue for the clerk in terms of being able to confirm it's tight you're saying but we can do this yes so the county has to provide the results by the 28th day and they

They do so. They take up until the 28th day, whether it be at 10 AM, 1 PM. But we've been successful in receiving it and being able to hold the meeting to certify the election results.

I'm not opposed to looking at options. I would not be inclined to cancel the second meeting in December because we tend to not have the first meeting in January, and it seems like that's a long break when some business might need to be done. And I also like the tradition of the mayor, vice mayor rotation happening at a ceremonial meeting at that first meeting in December.

which would basically mean we would not be having substantive conversations of what's needed for agenda items for a month and a half true um so i i mean i don't have a problem with staff studying this and coming back with options and and taking a look at this i we haven't had an issue in the past i know that there's been some

stress on the clerks but I anticipate that if we go to districts the voter pool will get smaller and it's greater likelihood of a tie Martinez has had it Richmond's had it where they had to figure it out um all right well anyway it's uh if you want to make the motion and then we'll go from there I may go down in flames. I move to approve the changes to the consent calendar item 2e of the city council handbook except for removing the change from paragraph 4 on page 7 pending further information.

Do we have a second?

I really went down.

Okay, well do we have another motion then?

Let me try this one. I move to approve the revisions to the city council handbook as presented with the request of staff to look at the issue and to see if, and discuss with the mayor and the mayor pro tem whether or not to bring it back as an agenda item.

So you're saying to approve item 2D as is, but also direct staff to come back with a clarification at some point that we could then vote on?

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

I'll second that. We have a motion to second.

I can live with that if it's not being decided by two of us, because two of us never decided.

No, no, we would have to vote on it as a council.

Yeah, it would come back to us as a council.

Mayor, if I may, just for the record, that would include the change that was distributed to the council this evening.

The changes in the, my motion includes the changes to the meetings in case we have boo-boos.

Right, but there were also, there's an addendum today. I just want to make sure that the motion includes the addendum as well, too.

The addendum that is on the diocese is included in my motion. Okay. That's the boo-boo part. That's the technical term. That's the formality term. That is a technical term for that.

All right, we have a motion and a second.

Council Member Darling. Aye. Mayor Wilk. Aye. Council Member Devaney.

Aye. But I just want to note, I'd also like to discuss this item a little further. So while I'm saying aye to this, I have additional comments.

Council Member Silva. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Francois. Aye. Motion carries.

Okay, so that's the city manager, if I could ask that this item be brought at some point in the next, on the calendar to discuss. I don't know if it even has to be vetted by the ledge committee first, just bring it back to council.

Before the first meeting in December.

Before the first meeting, right, I think we can do that much.

Before we have to notice the first meeting in December.

Right, so, okay, great. The consent calendar is now behind us.

Oh, 2E continued. No, I'm still on 2E. That was my caveat in my saying aye, is I still want to discuss that item. Not that particular issue, another issue regarding 2E.

On 2E? Yeah. Oh, OK.

It's not going to change it. I just have a question for the clerk about the item.

OK.

so my question is there's a two-hour training program about finances for all new members and then there's a I think every two years there's a like a renewal right for that training and my question is can we make the training specific to Walnut Creek finances for the new one when folks are onboarded and then the renewals can we structure those to coincide with finance meetings so that we can use them as an opportunity to bring us current on our current finances and issues related to walnut creek i would excuse me i would say potentially yes if that is something the council is interested in there is training that's available through league of california cities or through some other

regional organizations that do provide this that is a fairly it's broadly available and it's fairly low cost as a means to doing that we could develop one customized in-house it would likely be higher cost and the availability wouldn't be as convenient for folks but it's it's an option yeah my thought was the the initial one i'm sure there's good general

ones out there for folks coming on board. But since we have the finance discussions and meetings anyway, sort of creating an educational piece out of that might give an opportunity for us to get those on the council to get current with our finances. So perhaps we can look into that option for the renewal. help me understand something the finance committee is a body of two the rest of us can't go no it's not to be at the finance committee my thought was that since we have the the committee meetings um you know especially the ones that are sort of like annual updates um that out of that content we could easily generate a two-hour educational piece that all of us could take online or you know, wherever and then that way the education is sort of like pertinent to what's happening in Walnut Creek and our finances instead of sometimes those compliance training videos are not as impactful as they could be. So that was my thought is how to make them more impactful for us here in Walnut Creek.

I might offer up a third option for the council's consideration is, you know, to meet the the requirement we could do the standard training we could also provide some just separate training relative to an update on the city's finances that way the fundamentals of what's legally required to be covered per this new law are covered with the more general training and then we could have a follow-on that walks through city finances specifically walnut creek that could be an option as well the only reason i mentioned that as another option is I just want to make sure we cover all the legal aspects that are intended that are more general to fiduciary responsibility, that sort of thing that is not specific to Walnut Creek. So most of the training is intentionally general to cover any variety of situations, various governing bodies that have fiduciary responsibilities. We need to make sure we cover that. and then we could effectively have an addendum of sort that we could do locally. So I just offer that over consideration.

Yeah, it wasn't my intention to extend it, but if there's a legal requirement that needs to be covered, then you can disregard it.

Yeah, I would just add, I think the quarterly fiscal updates, they tend to be on the consent calendar, but those also would provide more of a local view of what's happening in Walnut Creek. I think it's hard because the training is required by the state and it has to be standardized. And even the update is probably... are going to be fairly standardized to meet the requirement.

I was going to offer that one of the things you get from a standardized presentation is new ideas. If we just hear about what's going on in Walnut Creek, there are no new ideas. It's just how we're doing it. And so had we done that four years ago, we wouldn't have had the basics of bond financing under our belt, and we would have had it through this training probably.

and I think the other is that we will also all serve on other boards and getting the general guidance not everybody is a triple-a rated and not everybody you know so having us be well rooted in the state requirements I have found to be really helpful for me and my other assignments I don't think we need a vote on that

All right. I think we're done with the consent calendar. Okay, next is public communications. and uh this portion of the meeting is reserved for comment on items not on the agenda under the brown act the council cannot act on items raised during public communications but may respond briefly to statements raised during public communications the statements made or questions posed request clarification or for the item to staff consistent with section 9.5 the city council handbook 30 minutes will be allocated at this time for public communications for items not on the agenda additional time for public communications for items on the agenda will be provided at the end of the meeting if necessary. And it is now, we'll call it 6.50. We'll go until 7.20 for items not on the agenda. Do we have anybody speaking for public comments? Going once, twice. All right, I guess not.

Your introduction was longer than the comments.

Evidently. Okay. Next, we've got council member staff and staff announcements, reports on activities or requests. Do we have any? Well, there was no closed session, so there's no closed session announcement. City manager report?

Yeah. Good evening, Mayor. I do have a couple updates this evening. The first thing I just wanted to share what I thought was some really interesting economic information. Last week, the East Bay Economic Development Association held an economic forum. They covered Numerous topics, mostly focused on the East Bay, but there were a few of note, one being that economic activity and rents are increasing in San Francisco and Oakland, which is generally viewed as favorable. It's been flat for a while. Growth had been slowing or shrinking. It's starting to grow, which is a positive sign for the region that they do project that there'll be a spillover effect into other parts of the Bay Area. Yeah. The part that I thought was most interesting was venture capital investment into the Bay Area and how it compares to the rest of the country. So just some numbers to take in. In 2024, there was $100 billion of venture capital in the United States. 46% of that was in the Bay Area, so just under half. That number in 2025 grew from $100 billion to $178 billion, and 62% of that was in the Bay Area. So far in 2026, we grew from $178 billion to $236 billion. We're obviously less than halfway through the year. And 79% of that is in the Bay Area. So this notion that California is struggling, the Bay Area is dying, is not particularly accurate. Not surprisingly, this is almost all artificial intelligence and robotics. And the number of firms is just multiplying exponentially. And it's almost all housed here. in the bay area on a separate note related to office office is still struggling in the bay area because there is a lot more remote work however one of the biggest growth areas for conversions of more traditional office space is in health care and converting to health care which actually bodes really well for walnut creek and it was highlighted as such we have a lot of health care here and there's a lot of demands that is an area that is projected to continue to grow and i think we're well situated that here in walnut creek Two other updates I had, nothing related to the economic update, just a few tidbits there. Just a reminder for everybody, there were some of the public safety power shutoff events in Contra Costa County and around the region with the high winds. There have been some fires around the state, so it's just a good reminder that fire season in California can occur anytime. However, we are about to enter prime fire season. To be prepared, I recommend everybody have a personal emergency plan and have supplies. You can find more information on the city's website at walnutcreekca.gov about emergency kits and preparedness. Also would encourage folks who have not signed up for Walnut Creek Alert to please do so. It's WC Alert. You can go to the wet city's website or you can simply text WC Alert to the number 888777. Again, that is WC Alert to be texted to 888777. I'd also encourage folks who are interested who want updates beyond Walnut Creek to sign up for alerts from the county's community warning system, which is at cwsalerts.com. So you can get ample information. And then on a positive note related to fire, I think as most or everybody is aware, Fire Chief Louis Burchard retired recently. The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, which provides service here in Walnut Creek and throughout most of Contra Costa County retired and Deputy Chief Aaron McAllister was appointed to the office after a competitive search. So congratulations to Chief McAllister. I'm sure we'll see him here before long.

Thanks, Dan. We're curious, were there any power shutoffs in Walnut Creek?

I didn't see that there were any specifically in Walnut Creek. There was a power outage right on the border between Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill, but I don't know if that was actually a PSPS. I think it might have been an incidental power outage. But there were outages in the Danville area and a few other areas of East County. that did have large swaths of power outages.

Well, considering I live in one of the areas, as you do, that have a lot of power outages, I'm happy that that didn't happen this time. All right, now we are on to our Councilmember reports. I'm going to start with Councilmember Darling.

Thank you. I joined the Mayor and Council Member Silva at the Trinity Center Gala out at Lafayette Park Hotel this week and that was a great chance to get together and talk about the challenges that Trinity faces and support them. I got to go on the cleanup crew Saturday morning and pick up trash, and that is always weirdly satisfying, but really, all you have to do is drive down some of the other freeway off ramps and realize how much that crew does to keep Walnut Creek looking its best. I did get, MCE sponsored a field trip out to the Mulqueenie wind development, and I went with my counterpart from Lafayette, and it was fascinating. It was an existing wind development, which is why they're redeveloping it now, because it has the interconnection ready to go into a substation, so that as soon as those towers come online, but they had gone through and using AI and wind monitoring. They'd optimized the new turbines that are going in. They figured out where in the wind column was most predictable and when it was best timed to work with the solar. So they have, they're actually a little bit shorter towers because the wind close to the ground was steadier in the evenings. And this I'm gonna say this one really loud so people back in Washington D.C. can hear it. They also have a camera system that detects raptors, birds of prey, including golden eagles, in the area of the wind farms. And the wind farm adjacent to this new wind farm already has the technology working. As soon as they spot a raptor, all the turbines, blades, feather, and they slow and it prevents the mortality of raptors. That has been a big issue with them. wind projects and That was really it was really fun to see just the technology that has driven this to be such a great source of electricity And last but not least I got to do the farmers market and I got there before the almond croissants were sold out So it was a good day All right.

Thank You council member Silva

Thank you very much, Mayor, and I didn't know which vendor sells the almond croissants. You're going to make me pay for this, aren't you?

You can go across the tile and go there. That one, coffee, right there.

Oh, okay. I'll have to remember that. A few items to report. Thank you very much. This Thursday evening will be the bi-monthly meeting of the Association of Bay Area Governments Executive Committee. We have a packed agenda. One item is we have to review and approve the budget that will be presented at the General Assembly meeting in June for approval. The second is we will be reviewing and making a recommendation on who should be president and vice president of ABAC for the coming two years. And our colleague from the county, Ken Carlson, is nominated to be vice president, but it'll be a contentious race. And thirdly, we are getting an update on how the RHNA process looks to be working out. I know it seems like we just did the housing element, but the RHNA process, the seventh cycle, housing elements are due by January 31, 2031 in the Bay Area. And there's new legislation adopted that says that HCD has to provide the numbers and the allocation to each of the regions three years prior rather than two years prior to the date. So we will be getting numbers. EARLIER AND ALLOWED TO START THE PROCESS EARLIER AND I'LL BE ABLE TO REPORT ON SOME OF THE OTHER ITEMS THAT ARE EXPECTED IN THIS. NUMBER TWO, I REALLY WANT TO THANK PUBLIC WORKS AND PUBLIC SAFETY STAFF. LAST THURSDAY WAS BIKE TO ANYWHERE DAY AND I STOPPED BY THE STATION AT NEWELL AND BROADWAY AT 8 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING AND IT WAS VERY WELL ATTENDED AND I KNOW THEY DID A BANG UP JOB IN THE AFTERNOON AS WELL SO THANK YOU FOR MAKING THAT and working collaboratively on that. The Sister Cities International Annual Meeting is June 7th. If you haven't already, please remember to pay your dues, hint, hint, for the year. And the meeting will be from 4 to 6. It's an ice cream social. It will be in Civic Park on June 7. And it will include the approval of their budget and officers for the coming year. And lastly, there are a number of things coming up at the Lesher Center. And I represent the city council as a liaison to the Diablo Regional Arts Association. First of all, from May 31st to June 28th, Center Rep will be presenting the musical, the pop rock musical called Jagged Little Pill. It's Alanis Morissette music. It should be fabulous, so get tickets. Fiesta Cultural. is this year scheduled for June 12th and 13th. On the 12th will be the Pacific Mambo Orchestra performing at the Lesher Center, and on the 13th will be the Street Fair from 12 to 5. And finally, also through June 28th, the Bedford Gallery is presenting Aztec Stories in Modern Mexico, which is a retrospective of the five decades of the artwork of the artist Incencio Jimenez Chino. and through his paintings and video interviews. So you should check that out as well. And thank you, everyone, for what you do.

Thank you, Council Member Silva. Let's go to Council Member Devaney.

Thank you. Good evening. Let's see, on May 9th, we had the Ridge to Ridge run. It was the first annual for Sustainable Contra Costa. It was a 5K. It was a lot of fun. So next year, maybe some of my running colleagues will be out there and supporting. This year it was supporting, and maybe it will be every year, but supporting youth leaders, youth sustainable leaders. Let's see, we had Mayor Pro Tem Francois and I had our Finance Committee meeting on the 12th, and we'll be talking about that later. I wanted to recognize our Economic Development Department. We were awarded an award of merit by the California Association of Local Economic Development in April of this year for our permitted outdoor dining structure program. We've had seven dining structures so far and hopefully a few more to come, but great job from the Economic Development Department. I spent the May 14th and May 15th at a CCTA workshop And I just wanted to give the public a little background on that issue because it's going to be coming to the ballot, not this cycle, but the next. We are, this county is what's considered a self-help county, meaning we tax ourselves half a cent at the county level for sales tax. and we used that funding to supplement state and federal funding to help us complete transportation projects and services. This started with Measure C in 1988 and was renewed by the most current Measure J in 2008 for 25 years. This measure created the Contra Costa Transit Authority, which is not an organization of Contra Costa County, it's a separate entity, Think of it as a district and it collects that tax and it works with local, regional, and city transportation department to provide both capital improvement projects for the county and for our locality as well as services. They are able to leverage for their capital improvement projects, state and federal funding, so this last cycle, this 25 year cycle, they took $800 million in sales tax revenue, and they were able to complete $2.4 billion worth of capital improvement projects for transportation services. Every county in the Bay Area has an authority such as ours, and every county in the Bay Area taxing themselves to be a self-help district. So what we did for the 14th and the 15th this last Thursday and Friday is we met to the board and other members of the regional transportation boards met to discuss what the next funding cycle would look like for the voters, which would be, again, gonna be put on the ballot, we're looking at maybe 2028. And so it's our opportunity to reach out to the public and find out what are the transportation issues that are most important to us in Walnut Creek, how do we see that as both for our city as well as how that plays out locally. For example, this last cycle, the funding built the fourth board, the Caldecott Tunnel, the BART extension to Antioch, 680 and 242 improvements. It also does carpool lane extensions. It funded bike and pedestrian and trail projects, transportation services for seniors and those with disabilities, as well as fixed bus routes. So when I returned from the workshop, had a conversation with our city manager and we talked about some ways that we could potentially reach out to the public. One of the areas that might be helpful is having a place like a landing site on our website where folks from the community log suggestions or transportation projects that they'd like to see locally or in walnut creek and i think the stronger we are with our message for what we'd like the more likely that is to show up on the expenditure plan which is what will go to the voters so more to come on that if we get something like that up and going but i just wanted to bring the city up to date on that important issue And finally, I wanted to just remember we had this last Friday was Police Memorial Day. That was on the 15th. So I want to take the time to remember and pay tribute to the brave law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty while serving and protecting our community. With deep gratitude, we thank them for their service and their sacrifice.

Thank you, Council Member Devaney. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor. I will be relatively brief because my main item, my council duty was the Finance Committee fiscal year 26 and 27 adjustments. Those are both on our agenda tonight, so we'll get a full briefing on that. And just wanted to point out as well that The Library Foundation Gala, which has been reported on our last meeting, authors under the stars at the end of August, and numbers have come in. Record-breaking, over $110,000 raised for e-book programs and a new outdoor patio restoration. So thank you to all my colleagues for coming and supporting that great cause. And I had questions for a couple of my colleagues about Councilmember Darling. Where did you say the wind farm was?

The wind farm Mulqueeny is out in between Tracy Hills and Livermore.

Okay. Ultima Pass area?

Yeah.

Thank you for that update. And Council Member Silva, any early projections on what arena numbers are likely to be?

Bigger. fair enough well no actually the staff report for thursday points out that we went from the last cycle it was a huge jump across the state we went from 187 000 in the fifth cycle to 441 000 in the sixth cycle so the likelihood of having another jump like that is not likely however they did point out in the staff report that there were two items that were added to the arena requirements one is that we have to allow for in our numbers have to allow for the unhoused which typically they we have programs but we have not been counting them it's a going to be a struggle for cities to be able to do that because most of that responsibility lies with the counties and then the other thing is we now have to allow for university students particularly Cal and CSU but that's not our problem and then the other issue is they've merged they've taken the lowest They bifurcated the lowest category of very low income and created it like very, very low income and very, very, very low income. And so it's going to mean more and more. There was a huge argument about it. I'm exaggerating. I'm not exaggerating, but the terminology is something. And so that's going to impact how the numbers get massaged.

Thank you.

All right, and to wrap it up here, I mentioned that I did speak at Leadership Contra Costa, which is run by the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce. They do a great job. They had, I think, over 30. I know that Mike Neiman was one of them, our economic development manager, and terrific to be able to speak to them on housing. And it's thanks to people like the director of, or our community development director, Erica Vandenbrand and her team that make me look good. when I'm speaking on a panel and discussing what's happening in Walnut Creek and all of the particulars, and I especially appreciate that. Even last minute requests, I get the information that I need. So thank you and your team for making me look so good. Thank you Matt Redman also for being so involved in that and helping me out. I mentioned that there was a variety of different speeches, everything from different Rossmoor groups, Marie and Christian high school students talking about housing and everything happening in Walnut Creek, and it's just great to see, especially when it comes to the government students that we speak to, and Mayor Portea and Matt Francois has joined me on several of these others over the years, that when they're so engaged, they want to know what's happening in Walnut Creek. They really want to know what's happening when it comes to casual and fast dining and what's coming in. So the biggest applause was that Raising Cane's is coming into where Wendy's just closed. But that said, it's great to get that kind of engagement. The city manager joined me on giving a proclamation to the former Assistance League, which is now the Diablo Valley Giving Partners. That happened last week. Along with Council Member Silva, I happened to go to the bike rodeo at Civic Park. It was a great turnout. Huge congratulations of Public Works and Brianna, who I know this was her baby and putting it all together, but it was just great to see that level of involvement from adults and kids and everybody else. So wonderful to see. There was the Cancer Support Community Walk that was at Civic Park over the weekend. Again, I've said this before, I think we all have said this, I think we're so fortunate that Walnut Creek is the host of so many of these worthy causes. And there were hundreds and hundreds of people that showed up for the Hope Walk on Saturday morning. And again, just great to be out there early and see that level of enthusiasm. We were at the Trinity Center Gala and Fundraiser, and then I went to the Ruth Bancroft Garden Fundraiser and Gala two nights later. Lots of plants for sale and auctions. And I wanted to quickly bring up again, just to highlight for County Connection, which I am the liaison for, the Youth Ride Free program is beginning June 1st through July 31st. There'll be a big press and rollout announcements that's coming in the next few days to weeks. And the Youth Ride Free program is designed to boost ridership over the summer months while helping young people build familiarity and confidence in riding transit. And so this is something where getting them used to not having to take a car when they get their driver's license. So we're getting participation now from all of our other agencies that are public transit agencies as well. And then I did want to mention that the Memorial Day event is coming up on this Monday, May 25th, 11 a.m. at Civic Park. It's a great event, great turnout. I think most of us are going to be there. We usually have representatives from our State Senate, State Assembly, and Congress member as well. Sometimes it's a TBD who actually shows up, but it's always a great event, and I hope to see many members of the community that are there. And I think that wraps up our council member comments.

So next. I just want to say I would love to be there, but the ER doesn't close, and I'll be there on Monday, so I won't be able to join you in Memorial. But I wish I could be there.

And we'll make sure that nobody from there has to go to the ER afterwards. We'll rely on our excellent Walnut Creek police force to ensure that that happens. All right, next we have our item for consideration, which is an update on the 2025 and 2026 city council priorities and approval to survey and conduct or conduct outreach with the community to inform future council priorities. And I invite city manager, not city manager, but what is your title, Joe? Joe Carrozza forward to provide the presentation. Assistant to the city manager. Okay, well you've been promoted on my script.

All right. Okay, good evening council members, members of the public staff. Yep, Joe Carrozza, assistant to the city manager. And I'll be kicking off tonight's presentation. Thank you for your time this evening to highlight both the accomplishments and the significant ongoing work that has been going on under your five city council priorities for calendar years 2025 and 2026. So the recommended actions tonight are to one, accept and receive the update on the 2025 and 2026 city council priorities and the related report. But also to consider approving staff to survey or to conduct outreach in some other manner or a combination of both to inform future city council priorities. I'm gonna go over this at the end of the presentation a little bit later tonight. So in February of 2025, City Council identified five priorities for calendar years 2025 and 2026, and they're listed here on the screen in alphabetical order. And tonight's presentation is intended to show you how these priorities are moving forward to date and what's on the horizon. And as we've done for the past few priorities, we're going to be hearing directly from our staff leads. for each of these five council priorities. And these leads are the staff that are turning these priorities into real projects and accomplishments with the help of their teams. And so I'm going to invite up shortly Mike Neiman, who will cover economic development and downtown vitality. Candice Rankin-Mumby, who will cover environmental sustainability and climate action. We have Erica Vandenbrand for a general plan update. Rich Payne for park and recreation facilities. And then we have our Chief Ryan Hibbs to cover public safety and social wellness. While these leads are the drivers of the work involved in accomplishing these city council priorities, the work is being done across our entire city from the support and collaboration of many teams and many staff members. Oops, gotta go backwards. For some logistics, so each of our leads are going to go ahead and cover at a high level, high summary level, what's been going on to date for their particular item. And then before inviting and passing the baton to the next lead, we'll pause and go ahead and answer any questions you might have, invite any feedback and input for the priority. And so with that, I'm going to go ahead and pass to our first lead, Mike, to cover the accomplishments and work in progress. for Economic Development and Downtown Vitality.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, members of the public. I'm Mike Neiman, your Economic Development Manager. And to remind you, as you know, economic development is a priority to council. There are four goals, and the goals are all designed to improve vitality, focus on business attraction, business retention, and making sure that the city continues to be vibrant. The first strategic objective is to continue building a resilient, diverse economy. Our key accomplishments in that arena include getting a scope together for a marketing campaign that we will be kicking off during the next fiscal year. We continue collaborating with DVTI, is Diablo Valley Tech Initiative through DVC, as well as other educational institutions focused on tech-oriented initiatives and growing a tech cluster here locally. We have also conducted two mayor's retention visits, and you could see this photo here is from one of them. This was with Hilton Garden Inn, where they had recently celebrated just over a year in business. The second one was with Original Joe's. We have also conducted outreach and are continuing to do so to some of the businesses in the Shadelands. We know that some of the office space will be demolished as part of the Mitchell Townhomes project. A lot of those businesses are local and we know that a lot of owners want to continue staying in the city. So we have been reaching out to them consistent with the phasing for that project, making sure that we support their retention here in town. The second objective is continue creating a business friendly environment. Through the accomplishments, we have conducted another broker roundtable that was done in March. And we have been doing one to two of these a year in collaboration with the Chamber with the goal of soliciting input from the business community and staying ahead and on par with some of the emerging trends. Some of those trends change quickly, and we want to make sure that we are reactive. We also continue processing improvement training and implementation, the lean process that The city kicked off last year. There was a lot of effort and a lot of improvements that are rolling out of that process as staff is undergoing through it in community development divisions as well as economic development staff. We'll also continue ongoing outreach to local businesses, property owners, brokers, and other stakeholders as we continuously build relationships and work closely with the members of the business community. The third goal is the focus on downtown. Among accomplishments there, we'll continue working with Walnut Creek Downtown to market the Pods Incentive Program. We are happy to report, as mentioned earlier by Councilmember Devaney, that seven have been completed to date and one is under construction. We are also happy to report that the city has been the recipient of the CalEd Award due to that program. And that has really taken a multifaceted effort. It really started with the forward thinking to design that program and the robust community outreach that ended up with the preset of designs. We marketed that program to businesses and worked closely to incorporate their feedback. And a lot of work has been done in collaboration with community development staff. and public works staff to make sure that we are proactive and we work closely with the businesses that ended up with the success and delivery of the pods and one of the more important elements was the grant that council passed last year so i do want to thank you for the forward-looking grant that has been instrumental in making sure that business owners bought into the vision And in some cases that generated a return of about four, five to one in terms of the public dollars invested being matched by the private sector investment, which then brought this enhanced vitality to downtown. And I also want to thank Council for the recent implementation of the entertainment zone and we're excited about that concept in partnership with the WCD as they're gearing up for their two summer events that are coming up in July and August, Locust Street Festival. So we're excited to see that in the works. And the last economic development goal is promotion of the city as a brand and continue being a premier destination and distinguished quality of life community. We're doing that through continued being the city's data broker, to market and being an essential compository for data. We're now developing a key performance indicator dashboard that I mentioned to Council during the last presentation. We're close to rolling it out, and you could see the interactive design of it here on this slide. It's meant to be providing current data as well as being interactive and going backwards for each of the key performance indicators. We'll also continue coordinating quarterly stakeholder meetings with our partners, being Walnut Creek Downtown, the Chamber, as well as Lesher Center for the Arts. We are heavily involved in the data collection for the upcoming general plan. And last but not least, we are finishing up the city's economic development action plan. The last action plan was for 25-26, and we're now putting together a two year document that will be starting off as of fiscal year 27, and that effort is forthcoming to council this summer. And with that, I will pause for questions.

Thank you, Mike. Do we have any questions for Councilmember Devaney?

Hi, thank you for the presentation. My question is about the lean process. One of the items that had been discussed, and I'm not sure if it was intended to be implemented or was just on the table while we were discussing things, was having a liaison assigned to the projects that are going through the application process early on to help them to keep both sides apprised of what's happening. So when I look into the times that people have had issues or said, oh, the city hasn't done this, the city hasn't done that, it's often not the case, and it seems like something that we could've Potentially close the loop with them and, you know, reminded them like, hey, you know, you still haven't turned in that thing we're waiting for. That is what's holding things up or things like that. But where have we are we implementing that? Are we thinking about it? Where are we in the process with that?

Yeah, thank you for that question. And that's consistent with what we've heard through this process. We had a segment called the voice of the customer. And some of our typical customers have voiced that that is something that is helpful. We've also seen that work well during the outdoor dining process where we had delays on concept so that is something that we are looking at and that is something through the process improvement process that we will come up with the optimal strategy for making sure that this gets implemented once the lean process comes to an end. Okay, thank you. Council Member Silva.

Thank you for the update Mike and for the work that you're doing in collaboration with so many departments in the city. You mentioned in your report that you've had meetings with auto dealerships about their requirements and meetings with restaurant owners. Top line, what comments have stood out to you in both of those types of meetings?

With restaurants, what we are hearing is that business continues to be well, but one of the opportunity areas is a little bit of a lunch crowd and what they're seeing is the impact that the remote work on office has on lunch. So having strategies such as outdoor dining is a way to try to enhance and bring up the quality of life to continue making it competitive and attracting some of the people here that may offset some of the losses that they're experiencing at least in the recent year or two from the lunch crowd in particular. As far as the auto dealers, they're really unique challenges based on some of the locations, but certainly there is an opportunity and what we're hearing is enthusiasm in terms of having more cohesion and potentially partnering with the city in terms of marketing our auto cluster and having an industry as a whole rather than focusing on specific dealerships.

Thank you.

And more comment than a question, but Michael, where you appreciate on whether it's business openings or anything that has to do with economic growth of any sort, there you are. with a certificate on behalf of the Walnut Creek to be able to help me provide to the business, you or Cassava, or sometimes both, and of course with the business retention meetings as well. So I really appreciate that. Also, thanks for being part of the Walnut Creek Downtown meeting that we had the other, last week. And one thing we talked about, and we have to see if we're gonna get action on this, is that I had suggested that people that go to the Lesher Center have their ticket and the day of the event, they can go to participating restaurants or businesses in downtown Walnut Creek and maybe get 10% off or something like that if they go before or after the show, which helps to bring that crowd that's already there coming before or after and spending a little extra money and time along the creek and avoiding 45 minutes in the garage while they're waiting to get out as well. So hopefully that conversation continues and it can come to fruition because I think it's ready made for additional opportunities downtown.

Great suggestion. And just to follow up, it's not part of the four, but what the city manager said earlier about health care and tech largely driven by AI. How are we planning for including that in our economic development action plan update and the outreach that will be needed to those industries to find out what their needs are?

Yes, I would say that that is definitely something that we are tracking, and as you will see in the upcoming action plan, we are focused on certain industries. The action plan is a two-year document, so it's by default more focused on what is happening now and more recent shorter-term trends, such as tech and AI. And in addition to that framework through the action plan, we're also looking through the general plan framework on much longer term economic opportunities as well. And that's where longer term repositioning of some of the office into whether it's medical office or other uses based on longer term trends is also something that we are involved in and are thinking very hard about. So those two documents are complementary in nature with the difference in frame for the timeline.

That's helpful. And then in terms of the outreach to John Muir and Kaiser and other major health care providers here, but also are we talking to the folks in that industry? Because they have their own campuses, which are pretty well built out, it seems like. But kind of what are the areas maybe that we're missing still? We're gathering that information and trying to figure out kind of what the gaps are.

Yeah, that's exactly right. We are having an active dialogue with the campuses, but we also are talking to some of the smaller tenants and users in trying to figure out if there are any opportunities. Also with the understanding that when it comes to Kaiser and John Muir, they kind of have an inherent interest to try to capture those as well. So conversation really becomes are there any opportunities and are there any opportunities that we can help them because they already have an interest inherently to try to capture them as well.

Okay, thank you.

All right, thank you, Mike. Well, thank you, and with that, I would like to introduce Candice to talk about sustainability next.

All right.

We need a baton, like a relay race.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. I'm Candice Rankin-Mumby, your Sustainability Manager. And as Mike mentioned, I'll be here to provide the update on the Environmental Sustainability and Climate Action Priority. This priority really focuses on implementing the Sustainability Action Plan, which the Council adopted in 2023. And as a reminder, one of the milestone years in that plan was 2026. So a lot of the priorities that we've been speaking about are really modeled off of that plan as well. And so I'm gonna provide high level updates in each of those six areas based off of what we've worked on since we last updated you in February. So first we'll start with all electric buildings. Two updates, one focused on our own buildings and one on the community. So at your last council meeting on May 5th, you did approve going into an on-bill financing agreement through PG&E, which will allow us to work on three energy efficiency upgrades at three of our different facilities. So the Walnut Creek Library, the Lesher Center, and the Clay Arts Building will be getting much more efficient lighting and related upgrades that are going to help bring down the energy burden on those facilities as part of our larger energy management program for our buildings. And then community-wide, we've talked about this at previous updates, the Bay Area Air District is working on implementing some rulemaking that they adopted, I believe, in 2022 that is sometimes referred to as Rule 9-6 that will, once it goes into effect, will really change the way that residents are able to upgrade their water heaters in their homes, and then it will affect businesses as well. And so we're really working on, with different agencies across the Bay Area to coordinate on how we can make sure these rules are implemented effectively and where we have both the ability to communicate about them, but also where we come into the process of updating, even though it's being managed by the Air District, cities and counties are able to make it more smooth, hopefully, once it is adopted. So the Air District is considering some final adjustments to how that rulemaking will go into effect. So we're both monitoring that process and any of those final changes and then also preparing for the rules once they're in place. And we'll keep you updated on that as more changes develop. The next area is on electric vehicles. And we have been working on an EV strategic plan to really build out the high level direction that's involved in sustainability action plan around both our city fleet and then our city managed publicly available chargers and that we're just putting the final touches on that plan and we'll be back to you in july to go over the it in detail and before then we'll be going to transportation commission this thursday to provide an update to them on the public charger element of that plan and to get their feedback as well so that'll be incorporated when we come back to you in july And then even though we're working on this very strategic plan, we are taking advantage of implementation opportunities as they present themselves, driving the EV as we're building it a little bit. And one of those opportunities is for fleet EV charging at the Heather Farm Corp Yard. We were able to get some funding from PG&E to assist with the energy upgrades that will be needed there. So these will be our first two DC fast chargers that the city has in our are the chargers that we manage. And the design on that project has begun. We were on site there last week, and we expect it to be completed by the first quarter of next year. Next, we'll talk about water, and I'm going to use this as an organic plug for Sustainable Contra Costa's Contra Costa Challenge. Their spring challenge is all focused on water, the WaterWise Challenge that they developed with Contra Costa Water. And so this is an opportunity for community members to really get some credit and some understanding of what they're doing well to conserve water, but also maybe to take on another easy to do a water saving opportunity. And if you go onto the Contra Costa challenge, which you can access through sustainablecocoa.org and log your actions, you can be entered into a drawing for a prize. So this is going through the end of June. So we're working with Sustainable Contra Costa to really get the word out about this challenge and encourage folks to participate and conserve water this summer. Next, we'll talk about waste reducing and improving the sorting. And since we last met in February, we've really focused a lot on plastic in a few different capacities. So first, we've talked previously about a program that Recycle Smart manages working with Rethink Disposables. They have an offering and funding for restaurants in the city to provide both technical assistance and then purchase initial supplies for dine-in to go from disposables to reusables. So it's reduces the waste that those businesses generate, but it also, they, their track record has shown that they'll save money over time because they don't need to keep purchasing these supplies. And it's tends to elevate the experience for dining customers as well. So it's kind of a win, win, win. And it's really hands-on technical assistance. So they've been doing outreach on their own and had confirmed one restaurant that has worked its way through the process, a cafe, and they're very close to being final. And once they are, we'll be able to share who they are and what they've done and kind of do some outreach to give them credit for that. But it is sometimes hard to get the attention of restaurants. They've got a lot going on. And this really is like a no-catch program. So we've been trying to do some more targeted outreach to really show the cities behind this. And this is a really great opportunity. And through that targeted outreach, we've gotten four more restaurants that are interested and starting to work their way through the process. We have funding for up to eight this cycle, so there's room for three more. So we're continuing outreach. If you have any of your favorite restaurants you think might want to participate, let me know. But that was a really big win to get those four kind of continuing through the cycle. And then we were honored to participate in Sustainable Walnut Creek's Earth Day film screening of the story of plastic. And Council Member Devaney joined in, gave some welcoming remarks. They made a panel after the film that I participated on. along with Recycle Smart staff and other community members, really taking that more global perspective of the film and bringing it local into Walnut Creek. It was a really well-attended and received event. It was kind of a different style of celebration for them this year, so we were happy that that went well and that we were part of that. Then next we'll talk about what's really been our biggest focus since we were last speaking with you. The gas-powered leaf blower ban went into effect April 1st. Since we met in February, we've been continuing outreach really to make sure that both residents and landscapers and property managers are aware that this is a new policy and that is on reach that we're continuing to do. We expect to have two more videos, one in English and one in Spanish out in the next couple of weeks. But since April 1st, we have definitely seen that folks are aware of the policy and we are starting to get reports of potential violations in the community. So the sustainability division is managing that process. And in the first month, we received about 230 complaints of potential violation. So at this point, we're really working as an education-based enforcement. So reaching out both to the complainant to acknowledge their report and then give them some resources that they might not have been aware of. And then, of course, also reach out to the properties where the potential violations occurred, make sure that they know about the policy. So we're doing this through the cClickFix portal, through phone calls and emails that get generated from that outreach as well. So we have had a lot of hands-on work on this over the last six weeks. And the Stamley division is a small but mighty team of two and a half. And right now, this is taking up about 30% of our time. So we have definitely seen a lot of engagement from the community on this and expect to continue in that way for a little bit. And then the last topic that I'll touch on is a little bit different than our other five, which are really focused on reducing our impact on the environment. And this is really on adjusting to a changing environment as we start to see impacts from climate change. And so the first is just an update that we've talked in the past, we have officially Uh, prepared a program where we will have masks available to the public at certain public facilities when there are declared air quality emergencies. Uh, so there, the program is ready to go and we hope we never have to activate it. But, um, when, if, and when we do, we are, we're going to, you know, it's, this is brand new offering. Um, so we'll kind of see how that goes and adjust from there, but, um, it is kind of a limited supply sort of situation. So it's not something that we're going to proactively promote. but something that we hope will just be an additional amenity to folks who happen to be using our facilities in that kind of environment. On a very different note, we've been working with the business community on how to promote our California Green Business Network, which is managed by Contra Costa County. They kind of reorganized the program a little bit in the past year, so we've been meeting with our staff to see how we can kind of re-energize that program, get some more businesses to participate, and then also encourage folks to patronize businesses that are kind of going the extra step to make sure that they are sustainable. So we're hoping to have some more strategies on that later this year. With that, I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you for that, and thank you for all the work you guys are doing. I know the leaf blower thing, the number of questions I had. My neighbor called me from Hawaii. Okay, we're not there to talk to our landscaper. Are we going to get a ticket? I'm like, no, don't worry. You're not going to get a ticket. But on the switch to electric water heaters, I know MCE had a program we were testing to see if loaner would help people, loaner water heaters. And it turned out that... didn't provide the benefit that we were thinking. Have you guys looked at anything else we can do to help make that transition when it happens less painful?

Yes. So that is part of this larger regional effort that staff from other cities and counties and sustainably focused staff are really working on. I will say I do think loaner programs will be more successful once the policy is in place because that's when folks are going to you know, have to make that decision. So I'm hoping that some of the early movers on that, you know, maybe we can learn from those programs or maybe they'll come back. But we're looking at other opportunities. One is bulk purchasing. So that's something that's been successful for solar and now battery at certain times in the year. There's a nonprofit that gets, you know, guaranteed business from these solar contractors and they're able to get a reduced rate. And then if you sign up during a period of time, you're able to get that. So There is part of that effort there are looking at is there a way to adjust something similar like that for this water heater market. And then a lot of the other efforts that we're doing is really communication, making sure people know about the policy that's coming and if there's any sort of permitting processes that can be improved or or make it easier. But generally the education on this really is to make sure you have a plan in place. So, you know, when it dies, electrify is one potential approach, but you have to make sure you're ready for when that comes. You know, nobody wants to live without hot water.

Yeah. Yeah. It struck me. We had to go through this process and the home improvement community, the contractors were the ones who didn't seem like they really had their arms around it.

Yeah, and thank you for mentioning that. So that is a whole other, there's a group that's working with realtors too, so that they know, but then also the contractors are a really important piece. Some of them just don't have the most recent education on it, and so maybe are giving homeowners some out-of-date information on the quality of equipment. And so Bayrun, which is our regional energy network, they've been doing targeted contractor trainings, and I think, I don't think it's happened yet, but there's going to be one in Concord fairly soon, and they're kind of working their way around the Bay Area. Really, getting hands-on with the technology, with contractors to be able to explain what it's like, what the benefits are, and kind of demystify some of that. So those have been successful so far, and I think they're hoping to continue that as well.

Okay, thank you, and thank you for everything you guys are doing.

Yeah, I'll echo that. Thank you very much. I just had a question. Why was there not the Earth Day Fair this year?

Yeah, so that was partially due to just capacity from the volunteers who put it on in the past. They were looking for something that was a little bit lighter lift this year and then also wanted to try out a different model. So I know they felt like the film screening, I agree, went really well. I haven't debriefed with them yet on if they, you know, April's a long time away from now, but they started thinking about that early, so I'm not sure what model they're going to look for next year. Great.

Questions? Do you have questions?

Yeah, thank you. My question is about the EV charging network and I think there's efforts at the county level too for like micro mobility hubs and an EV network. Are you coordinating between the two to sort of space them out or not saturate some areas and miss others and things like that?

Yes, so we participate in quarterly calls that are hosted by the county and then other cities participate and BART participates in them as well, talking about the efforts that we're doing both for our own fleets but for the public and really coordinating on both learning best practices but also understanding where chargers would go. And that group developed a blueprint for looking at EV charging, but it's from about 2019, I believe, so it is starting to get a little out of date and there's talk about if we could update that The strategic plan that we'll be bringing back to you in July is really kind of more focused on the network as it is now, for us anyway, making sure that that's operating the best it can, and then a future step would be kind of for our expansion, where would we go? So that's something that we want to do more analysis on, and we'll continue to coordinate with the county on that.

Thanks.

Okay, you sparked a question. On the public EV charging network, I know we've had issues with the, brands at some locations, including at City Hall and out in Shadelands. What is the fix for that? Is it changing to a different manufacturer or getting upgrades to the existing chargers?

Yes, I was just looking to see if my friend Gina Eicher was still here because she's been my kind of partner working on that project, but I can speak on her behalf. So that is a lot of what we're looking at in the strategic plan. I think the last update I've received From Public Works right now most of the charger I think like 90 plus percent of them are operational so we are coming up with some fixes with Right now with the system that we have Going with different providers who can do the replacements however, we're hoping with the strategic plan to go in kind of a Potentially a different direction that would sort of overhaul how we maintain the program in general and could hopefully lead to one better customer service so that we know about issues sooner, but then also make sure that the equipment we're working with is higher quality and lower cost to replace.

Thank you.

Candice, thank you.

Thank you. And I'll pass it off to Erica Vandenbrand to talk about the general plan update.

We need to have choreographed dance moves. I'm Erica Vandenbrand, the Community Development Director here, and good evening, Mayor and Council. So I'm here to speak about the general plan update and the progress that's been made. As you know, that this is one of your key priorities and that it is a great opportunity to be able to look at what the next 20, 25 years are going to be and set that strategic direction. So where we're at right now, you all had approved that the contract, the consultant team contract was actually not on today, but two months ago. So it was approved in March. But then today we are here and several things have already occurred. So one is doing a tour of the city. The other is looking at... basically capturing all the background data about demographics, baseline data, et cetera. And then the stakeholder and community groups have been identified for the city and contacts and so forth. So this is all part of the background that's been happening in that intervening two months. And so the tour of the city actually took place not only with the consultant but with the cross-departmental team and then with a highly skilled tour guide to be able to show the pockets across the city and be able to give some texture and so forth so that our consultant team and then new members of staff were able to really more fully understand the basis from which we're starting. And speaking of the basis from which we're starting, we're sort of test driving this with you a little bit today. So Walnut Creek 2050, so rooted, evolving, and thriving. So rooted in a strong foundation of our community, evolving so that we can continue to thrive both now and in the future. And as part of that general ethos, what we're doing is we're starting to look toward planning our different partner and community engagement opportunities. So that on the 25th of June, there is a joint meeting of the planning, design review, arts pros, and transportation commissions that are scheduled to basically invite all the folks in and to just orient them toward the general plan update because this is a major update that is involving the entire city infrastructure, both the staff and all the different commissions and certainly you as council members as we go through that process. We're also starting to schedule community groups and stakeholder meetings, again, just simply to hear the voice of our customers in that way, too. And that later on in August, there will be general public meetings and dates and venues that are being scheduled. And really the topic is what is a general plan? What do people hope from the process that we can get that baseline for you? And then as we're also going through that process, we have all that geeky technical stuff happening in the background with all the data and then land use mapping, et cetera, et cetera. And as we continue to evolve, looking at different scenarios and so forth in response to the feedback. So we're still relatively nascent in the process, but we really are off to the races. And as there's more information that becomes available, we'll let you know. I think the other thing to make note of is that we're looking at having a very strong branding and marketing campaign, and those things are being you know, the timelines for that and then the branding image, et cetera, will be very, you know, focused. And so we're literally in the process of trying to do that so we can have everything ready for this to debut at the joint meeting of the commissions. And so with that, do you have any questions?

Great work today. We look forward to hearing a lot more. We do have a question.

I do. Thank you very much for all the work that you're going through and you're about to go through because this is a big process. One of the things that I think people think very, I hear very frequently is, the city has grown so much in the last 20 years. And of course, I knit my brow and I think to myself, if you look at the population signs, it dropped. It's stabilized, but it's an evolution of vertical versus horizontal, I think. How do you address that early on in this stage as to how we've evolved? And I noticed, how do you address that?

So part of the way to address that is to sit down and have conversations. So part of the baseline data is looking at where growth has occurred and that historically over time there's a lot of population growth happening in the 70s, 80s, 90s, et cetera. Far less now, but we have different needs too. We have a population that is much older than many of our neighbors. We also have greater needs in proximity to transit centers and so forth, and a desire expressed by many of the, at least in preliminary conversations with the community, for more of a walkable, bikeable environment. more connection with community and so the strategy is being to be able to take all those pieces of information along with our existing land uses as well as the potential land uses as because as you've heard both from staff and in other forms and amongst you know yourselves that housing is a big time And so one of the strategic challenges that we are going to be trying to be looked toward is what is that balance between providing housing opportunities for all but also providing employment and amenity opportunities for all. And part of the way to be able to do that is to be able to look at what the different tradeoffs are.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much for the presentation.

and you're up. Good evening, I'm Rich Payne, Public Works Manager, Public Works Director, excuse me, goodness gracious. Okay, tonight I will be reporting out on the Park and Recreation Facilities goal, and I'm gonna start off with giving you an update in terms of what has been finished so far with regard to our Measure O projects, give you an update on some projects associated with our playgrounds, and also give you an update on the projects associated with our transportation. So just to start off, as you are aware, we've completed resurfacing projects at our tennis and basketball courts at both Red Gear and Arbolado. So we are making progress, spending a lot of time on these projects and we are, like I said, we're meeting that goal. As discussed last time, we've gone out and we've done public outreach. performed expansive public outreach and we received 600 comments on a few of the options. With pro support, we've landed on option A for ages two to five and option C for ages five to 12. And we're expecting construction to start in probably September-ish and finish up in November. With regard, if you've been out to Heather Farm Park, a lot of work's been done. It's essentially been turned upside down. The demolition is done. Lathrop is in full force in all the site development improvements. They've installed some utilities, the sewer utility. We're still working through some of the PG&E struggles. But for the most part, all the dirt work is done. on its way and we probably have a couple more weeks of that type of work and then the foundation will start. And we're expecting probably maybe another couple weeks on that work in terms of soil stabilization. In terms of the area of pedestrian and bike friendly, there have been several trail crossing enhancements. And there's a variety of different areas that we've been working on, and I'll just list those. At Civic and Carlebach, at Civic and Arroyo Way, Oak Road and Kingston, Civic and Deodora, Geary and Vessing Road, Mount Diablo and Vaunt Lane. And then there are three crossings on Tice Valley, along with a crossing at Bancroft and Stratton and Bancroft and Gill. And essentially, the work is adding thermoplastic and markings. And we've installed flashing beacons and an adaptive passive detection in some of these areas and some lane narrowing features. Along with that is the Broadway and Newell Safe Routes to School project. And along that same area, there's an intersection and also a trail crossing that's also included in that improvement. At North Broadway, there's a section right there by the old DMV site. that we'll be doing some narrowing at that site. That's a really wide area of the street and that crosswalk takes you a while to get across there. And there's really not a lot of protection there. And then along with that, we'll be looking at the park side and adding a bicycle feature to that area. At Oakland Boulevard, as you can see in this picture, we've added a bike lane and some striping improvements. And then along Treat, there's a county-led project, as you're aware, and it's received some controversy right there at the overpass and along the county area there. And we are partnering with them. to do some improvements of our own and tie it into North Main area there. Let's see, and there's also some improvements happening at Walker Avenue sidewalk, or I mean at Walker Avenue. We'll be adding some sidewalk there. And this area right now is very, it's kind of antiquated. There's a lot happening there. There isn't sidewalk there. It goes from sidewalk to no sidewalk. It's a narrow area, some drainage in the area too that sort of adds some complications to the, not only bicycle, but also the pedestrian traffic that comes through there. And as you're aware, we have some condensed housing in the area and so there's a lot of foot traffic that come in through that little corridor to the downtown. And then lastly, just an update, in the fall, probably sometime in November, we'll be starting sort of the study with what we're going to do with the Clark Pool location. We've already done a noise study just to sort of get a baseline in terms of what the existing noise looks like right now, and that'll play a key part as we make improvements to that location in the future. And that was all I had.

That's a lot.

Any questions?

Thanks, Rich. Do we have a Council Member Durling?

Thank you. Thank you for everything. And I won't even make you say Toes in the Water 2027.

I anticipated that.

The Walker Avenue, how far up is that going to go? Which side of Walker is that on?

So we've made some improvements already on that bend as you come from, what is that, San Miguel right there? So as you come around that area, it'll just tie into what we already have, and then there's a section there that comes from the crossing, the pathway crossing, and it'll tie that whole area in.

Okay. And then somebody was asking me the Walnut Heights sidewalk project. Yes. Where is that?

So that is underway. That right there, there's quite a bit of site improvements that are happening. The elevations are really weird right there.

Yeah.

And along with the drainage. And so we're having to bring a section of that street up and then tie it into the existing county improvements that have been made.

Yeah.

There's a pathway that's there, as you're aware. And that'll take it in front of the school and around the corner and try to tie into the existing sidewalk.

Okay. So that Walnut Heights section should be this year, 2026. Yes. Okay. Somebody was saying it was 2027.

So we're working on the pre-design right now, and it will probably spill into 2027. Okay.

Yeah. So when they say 2027, it's like completion will be.

Yes.

Okay. All right. Thank you. And thank you for everything you do.

You're welcome.

Well, that was one of my questions also. I think it was more asked, why does it take so long of the money was originally allocated from OBAG 3 and whenever, and it's like because it takes a lot of time to cobble together all of the funding stacks necessary for these transportation projects.

Yeah, and there was some property acquisition that we had to go through along the frontage across the street there.

Thank you for the elaboration. At Civic Park, if you could go back to the picture, I assume that that is just an illustration of the types of equipment that are selected, but it will be integrated into the existing site, because if that was the site plan, there are no more trees.

And I'm now giving the chief's presentation? Oh, my goodness. Good.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Joe's helping.

Where is it? Give me a hand. I'm a techie.

So these are the types of equipment that the PROS Commission is recommending, not the layout and design because this doesn't look like Civic Park.

Correct. Okay. These are the types of features and amenities that will be going in there.

Great. And my last question has to do with, could you go forward? Okay. Nope, the other way.

Yeah, there you go.

Keep going. How many acres is really under consideration in the old Clark Swim Center complex?

So I don't know if I know the acres. Three acres. I was going to say four.

Without the parking lot. So from the edge of the parking lot in front of Clark Swim Center through the three pools and up to the fencing at March Bank and Heather Drive.

Yeah, so the focus will be the footprint that you see there of the pool, not including, so right there along the curb, along the parking lot, all the way to the fence line on the Marchbank side, and then Heather Drive all the way to, there's a mound or a fence that's to the north there.

Okay, and we're not looking at this as a one-way, solution. It could be a combination of multiple

Now, so that will be part of the process. It'll be a public outreach. We're going to be looking at all the options. When the contractor comes through and does the work, and this will be, you know, phase three, it'll be a clean palette. And sort of the outreach will include, you know, a variety of different options. And we're an open book. It'll be really the community engagement, and we'll present a couple of ideas. Council will be able to, you know, weigh in on that as well.

Thank you.

Councilmember Devaney.

Okay.

Looking good. All right. Thank you. I went by the construction site last week, and yeah, it definitely is topsy-turvy. Right. All right. Looking forward to how things continue to progress. Sounds good. Thank you. I just remembered my question. All right. Oh, yes.

All right. It was about the Civic Park. I originally had the same question about the layout, but then I was just curious about the process. The equipment there, does it time out at a certain time? Is there a? Like for a playground, is there like a legality beyond which there's no longer will be covered if something, like what's the, was it cracking? What was the, what happened there with the?

So if you go to the existing playgrounds, staff has sort of maintained it over, You know, it's over 25 years old and there's some resilient surface there in some ways that the playground is just outdated in many ways and just needs a facelift across the board. And so that was sort of the motivation just to modernize the existing playground. And there is some. requirements with regard to playground safety and you know the old equipment is grandfathered in so we'll be looking at that we'll be certified and to meet the current standards as well so just as a shelf life like every other right yeah yeah okay yeah thanks thanks rich thank you and with that i'll turn the time over to chief

Thank you, Rich. Good evening, Council Members. Ryan Hibbs, Chief of Police, here to provide an update on the priority of public safety and social wellness. And I laughed at Rich when he went all the way back, but I'm going to mess this up. I know it.

Oh, no, OK, good.

Well, see, and then I did that. As a reminder, six strategic goals were developed within this priority, and they are to maintain an effective and innovative police department, continue a proactive approach to crime trends, coordinate joint agency response to homelessness and mental health challenges, develop crime prevention partnerships and programs, improve traffic, transit, pedestrian, and bicycle safety, and focus on community and regional disaster preparation and resiliency to meet the increasing challenges of wildfires, earthquakes, droughts, floods, and other hazards. We're in the throes of a whole, let's just call it a technology audit for the purposes of becoming a little bit more efficient. Right now, we're currently evaluating a number of AI tools for use to include AI tools for our dispatch center and a new records management and computer-aided dispatch system. So think police reports, think the computer, the whole system the dispatcher would enter a call for service into, the mobile data terminals that the officers use on a daily basis. We're testing a new module currently for AI for report writing. So we tested a smaller vendor, now we're testing another vendor for the AI add-on to report writing. But it's within the framework of the current system that we're using. If we were to switch, and we're now currently evaluating system what number four Captain Slater so we're coming close to making a decision on the vendor that we're going to select for that if we change vendors but if we have an opportunity to become more efficient and to also save some money then then that's the goal with the body worn camera upgrade as you know the the city was awarded a million dollars in federal earmark funds we have received that we have been funded and we have selected a vendor and at this point we have yet to enter into that contract but that will be a 10-year contract and the million dollar earmark will will contribute to that As an add-on, that vendor also offers technology such as dash cams, which I know after our most recent officer-involved shooting came up as a question point for some members of the public and some members of council. Citywide camera systems, or I'm sorry, the social media is a community engagement tool, so we are continuing to see an increase in engagement and followership. It's starting to level off just a little bit just because we are very consistent in our posts and our messaging, but we're pleased with the engagement that we've seen as a result of our crime prevention specialists kind of taking ownership of our social media program. With respect to the citywide camera systems, our automated license plate readers, they average a little over 100,000 reads a day. And that might not seem like a lot in context of our daytime population, but really the bulk of what we do with that information is following up on investigative leads. So this provides actionable investigative leads for us to follow during pretty much any kind of investigation you can imagine. With respect to objective number two, Well, I'll go back. With respect to social media, we've seen some, and I'll speak more about this later as well, but our neighborhood watch program is now up and running on our website. So community members can go and sign up for participation in that. We've received a few inquiries. We have yet to host our first meeting of the revamped program. but we're encouraged with some of the level of inquiry that we've had to this point. See, I did it too. With respect to Business Watch, so I touched a little bit on Neighborhood Watch. Business Watch is kind of our business version of that. We've hosted at this point, I think, three Business Watch meetings. The first one was virtual and was well attended. The remaining ones have been well attended and continue to increase in attendance. Pardon me, my notes are a little bit jumbled here. I apologize. With respect to Business Watch, we do have more planned throughout the year. They've been well attended, as I mentioned, and the purpose of them is to basically to let the business owners get to know each other a little bit more and open lines of communication so that they're more comfortable talking to each other and sharing information and reporting suspicious activity to us. As I mentioned, the Neighborhood Watch program is live. So I noted here that we have a rise in catalytic converter theft. So crime still continues to remain low, but we have seen an uptick, not just in Walnut Creek, but regionally. We regularly post prevention tips to our social media channels, and one of the things that that people ask is how can we prevent these? Some dealerships will offer a component that will go over the catalytic converter itself, so it's basically called a shield. But With respect to some of the scrap yards, they're now kind of treating these items as a pawn shop would treat jewelry. So if they're not serialized, then what the pawn shops, what the scrap yard will do is they'll identify the seller and they'll use other methods of payment other than cash. So they basically bar cash to prevent or to present more of a paper trail in the event that this item turns out to be stolen, we can follow up on it. And then we encourage our community to report suspicious activity. So if you see something, say something. These do take quite a bit of time to take out of somebody's car, and they do create quite a bit of noise. So if you're hearing or seeing something unusual in your neighborhood, please call us. So for strategic objective number three, our hop. Our Homeless Outreach Program officers really continue to just do amazing work, and they're working with the unhoused to offer resources and to sometimes take enforcement action when necessary, though I will highlight that that is not their goal. Their goal is to offer resources, and then when enforcement needs arise or a quality of life issue arises that needs to be addressed, then we address those through a variety of different means. Core, we've scaled back, as you know, but they will continue to be an ally for us and a tool to get our unhoused population resources, and then we continue our partnership with the Trinity Center. And then I am pleased to report that we have no established encampments in city limits. I mentioned Crime Free Business Program, labeled now Business Watch. Again, we've hosted two events so far, more planned through the year. And then, as I mentioned, Neighborhood Watch is live, and we've had a number of inquiries. Strategic Objective Number 5, to improve traffic, transit, pedestrian, and bicycle safety. So I am pleased to report collisions for Q1 this year are down 12% compared to the same period from last year. We did host the bike rodeo, as you mentioned, Council Member Solo, thank you, at Civic Park last week. That event was well attended, better so than the previous one, I'm told, although I don't have specific numbers, and the focus was on bicycle and e-bike registration safety and tips. Speaking of e-bikes, we put our support behind Assembly Bill 1942, which is Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Cahan's bill for e-bike registration and licensing. We feel that it will allow us to track reckless riders a lot easier than say no identifying information on e-bikes, so we threw our support behind that. And then we will continue to conduct special enforcement periods. We've focused more on speed in the school enforcement zones this year. Citations are up a little bit from this year, about 10%, and our stops remain static. Then continuing on with the strategic objective number five, I mentioned a number of council meetings ago that we applied for an Office of Traffic Safety grant. This will be funds that will be used toward traffic safety specifically. They will be on an overtime basis. This will not be to fund any officer positions or equipment. We did, as a reminder, we did request about $285,000. There's no match from the city. We're confident that we'll receive some level of funding, although we don't know if we'll receive all of it, but we'll keep the council posted. Then the traffic safety group continues to meet once per quarter. And then for community and regional disaster preparation in April, an emergency preparedness seminar was hosted in Rossmoor, always well attended. The focus was on evacuation plans, but also highlighted was the city EOC and MDocs. So Rossmourians became, that's a word, right? Rossmourians, became just a bit more familiar with how we operate in disasters and emergencies. And then as the city manager mentioned earlier, sign up for emergency alerts by texting WCALERT to 888777. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions that council may have.

Thank you, Chief. And I've got a couple of questions, actually, and I'll start it off here. Yes, in the bike rodeo, thank you. Your team showed up in, I guess, in Forest, five or six officers there. That was great to see in Civic Park.

It's always a highlight.

Yes, yes, indeed. I did have a question about catalytic converter theft, because I hear all the time about we're trying to get some of these junk yards and scrap places to then not accept them if they're not – I mean, let's be honest. Who is selling a catalytic converter on its own anywhere that actually owns it?

At the risk of potentially in the future needing to sell a catalytic converter, never. Probably nobody with...

So why isn't it that essentially scrapyards are told you're not allowed to buy catalytic converters?

Yeah, more a question for the legislature. And at this point, I know that there's been some proposed legislation about marking the catalytic converters themselves with the VIN. Some dealerships will do that as a service. But yeah, to your point, there's really no, let's say, legitimate purpose for it unless the bar has been scrapped.

Right. It's not like a tire. Right, OK.

I would just add to that, Mayor, if I could. There has been legislation introduced and passed over the last few years because this was much bigger issue a few years ago so there is legislation to do exactly what the chief noted at the same time enforcement is also a challenge and you can have the rules on the books but ensuring every transaction is above board at every junkyard effectively that takes these is is the bigger challenge and so there's definitely a black market that's still out there

Right, right. And I haven't seen as many stories recently as there were a few years ago, so I guess there has been improvement. But still, it just seems like somebody walking in with a Cadillac and, hey, I decided to sell this. Or, say, a trunkful. A what? A trunkful. Right. Right. Because people just leave them all over the roads.

Fell off a truck.

Right, right. Okay, good. And the last question I had, you sort of alluded to it, but I just wanted to get it directly. So what would you say is our biggest problem locally when it comes to crime? What are we currently dealing with as the biggest issue?

Just broadly speaking, it's property crime, but the biggest complaint we receive is traffic-related. I'm sorry? It's the biggest complaint we receive is related to traffic issues. But criminally speaking... And broadly speaking, it's really more property crime than anything.

Property crime, okay, which refers to cars or people breaking into garages or those kind of things.

Anything not violent, correct, or theft, graffiti, vandalism, that type of thing.

Okay. Just to add context, and please correct me if my memory is off here, but. Approximately 90% of all the crimes committed in Moeller Creek are property crimes. That is correct. So the scale is dramatic.

Right. No, our violent crime is very low. I know that. And we're very thankful and appreciative for that. Other questions?

Just a quick one because of my neighborhood. If they were interested in Neighborhood Watch, who would they contact? It sounds like the program's up and running again.

They could contact our crime prevention specialist, Kira Rahman, directly, or they can go to the website, walnutcreekpdca.gov.

They have a very active little WhatsApp thing that I avoid, like the plague, but my husband's always on it.

Well, it's encrypted, so it is useful.

Yeah. Well, and that way you know everything that's going on.

I have a follow-up on that.

You want on the WhatsApp, Jay?

No, I don't want to have anything to do with that. But I would like on the Neighborhood Watch program, because four of the five of us, I think, live in neighborhoods that are a mixture of city and county. Is everyone included in that? Because we all consider ourselves part of the same neighborhood. People don't necessarily know they're in the county versus the city. How is that likely going to work in practice?

A neighborhood watch is specific to the neighborhood itself, not necessarily a city street or a county street. So the best advice I can give is we're not going to turn somebody down that might live right on, say, a pocket property. of contra costa county in in unincorporated walnut creek if the rest of the neighborhood is also in walnut creek that doesn't make a lot of sense to me so we're happy to share crime prevention tips and share information with folks that live in the county too excellent i was hoping that's what you were going to say it's not like people skip over that if there's a crime yo this is this is the county area i'm not going to hit that house

No, we always heard that because the center line of Castle Hill Road is the division between the county and the city, we've always heard that if you have an accident or a problem, you need to shove it to the city side of the street.

Not advocating one way or the other.

So my question is about e-bikes. And you mentioned the legislation that RBK is sponsoring or has introduced. I was wondering You said that it would help you track, I wonder if you could be specific as to how you would use that to help you track e-bike users that may be using e-motos or other things, like if you could expand on that.

Certainly so much akin to what a like a vehicle license plate would be. So usually when we receive a call of a reckless driver or some, you know, a car that's otherwise involved in criminal activity, the one of the first questions that the dispatcher will ask is do you have a license plate number? That's really helpful for us to track for a variety of different reasons. It comes back to someone, so that's an actionable lead that we can take, whereas right now, there really isn't anything to lead us back to any one specific person or anyone that the bike might belong to. In this case, it would now be registered to someone akin to a motor vehicle, and so the follow-up would be much the same as what would happen whenever we're Tracking or I say tracking, but we're following up on a crime reported with information for that that vehicle license plate would provide So you would you would be able to see it see a unique identifier for each bike and you would know that that unique identifier is

Provides that's a one, a two, or a three. Correct. Yeah. Just because I've heard some folks say that, well, how would that help? Or you wouldn't be able to tell if it's an e-moto or an e-bike, but you would because it would be unique to that bicycle. Correct. Yeah.

Okay. Thank you.

All right. Chief, I think you answered the questions. Thanks so much for the update.

My pleasure. I will now turn it back over to Joe Carrozza. All right.

All right, well, a big thank you to all of our leads for sharing all the big progress to date. So I'm going to go ahead and return to the recommended action I touched on at the beginning of this presentation tonight. So as part of your standard practice, city council establishes priorities in two year increments. And consistent with that practice, council will identify for calendar years 2027 and 2028 the next set of priorities in early 2027. So to support that effort, staff has a recommendation to conduct community outreach to help inform the next set of council priorities. The outreach could take a form of online surveying to maximize broad participation, or it could be more qualitative engagement opportunities, or it could be a combination of both. And so with council's direction, staff would begin developing the outreach process, including potentially the methods, potentially a vendor, refining desired outcomes, developing questions, and establishing timing and engagement strategies. And with the goal of doing that, in late fall or early winter. So that is the recommended action we have for you tonight is to prove staff to survey or conduct outreach. And with that, thank you for the opportunity to present this evening. We appreciate council's guidance on community outreach and look forward to returning with our next update in fall. And I'll take any questions, any additional questions or thoughts.

Questions or thoughts on the suggestion? FOR OUTREACH? SURVEY? SHALL I TAKE A SURVEY?

NO. LET'S HAVE STAFF TAKE THE SURVEY. I THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO SURVEY THE COMMUNITY TO REACH OUT BOTH DIGITALLY AS WELL AS SOME TARGETED FOCUS GROUPS BECAUSE SOMETIMES THE DIGITAL RESPONSES ARE NOT robust enough to really understand what it means, so it may be a two-phrase process. And I would hope that Councilmember Devaney mentioned that CCTA is looking for input, that this is an opportunity for us to gather input about transportation options.

Yeah, I would agree. I think that it makes sense to do some outreach, especially when we're looking at the new council that's going to be coming in early next year to get some understandings of. We think we have our finger on the pulse of what the top priorities are, but it's always good to hear if there's something else. I mean, who knows? Maybe, you know, curling. Who knows? Anyway, I think it's a good idea.

I agree, and I think the city manager talked about kind of similar to what we did with the Measure O process, maybe trying to provide more of a directed survey approach because otherwise I think it could be untethered and maybe not focused enough. So I'll leave it to you experts to do that, but I think it's a good idea.

I'm a huge fan of tethering to reality.

Do you need us to take a motion on this?

I think direction's fine if you're all in agreement.

Okay, great. I'll put it out. I don't know if we have any members of the public directly, but do we have any public comment? Come on up now. You got two full minutes. Okay, we'll close the public comment on that. I don't think we have any other action on this particular item then. So thank you, staff. Really appreciate it. all the details in this, and we look forward to the future update. And I know we have one item left, but why don't we take a five-minute break? Oh, we do have two items left. We'll take a five-minute break.

Amen.

Thank you. you you you

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Okay. Next item on the agenda is a consideration item for fiscal year 2027 proposed budget amendments. And I invite the assistant to the administrative services director, Kirsten Lacasse forward to provide the presentation.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members, Kirsten Lacasse, administrative services director. And tonight I'm going to present to you the fiscal year 2027 budget update. So tonight we will start with revisiting our previous discussion on budget balancing for fiscal year 27. I will walk through the fiscal year 27 proposed adjustments for the general fund and measure O, and then discuss the proposed changes to authorized positions. So what we are requesting from you this evening is to provide input and feedback on the proposed amendments to the fiscal year 27 adopted budget. Back in March, we brought forward options to address the sales tax shortfall in fiscal year 27, resulting from the shift in how sales are reported in the autos and transportation category. Council at that time directed staff to maintain the current 10 to 11% vacancy rate to close the roughly $2.3 million gap in the general fund on a short term basis. We discussed some of the unknowns that could potentially impact fiscal year 27. including the final California Department of Tax and Fee Administration decision, the update to the general fund forecast later this fall, and lastly the fee study, which I will address in more detail on the next two slides. So the fee study is the first citywide study to take place since 2010 and has required a significant amount of analysis internally as well as by the consultant. There are several steps we need to take to ensure we are intentional with any fee changes, which include policy direction from your council on cost recovery goals. Since a citywide fee study may impact the fiscal year 27 projected revenues, balancing actions for the sales tax loss and any departmental revenue changes will be brought forward together with the fee study results and recommendations beginning in late June through August. At that time, the expenditures will be adjusted to reflect the change in vacancy rates as needed to rebalance. Taking the additional time before adjusting for the sales tax loss will provide the opportunity for holistic approach to avoid multiple rounds of adjustments specific to budget balancing. So this slide provides the tentative timeline between introduction of the fee study and ultimately council adoption. Staff will bring forward the study methodology and findings on June 2nd and seek policy direction from your council. Detailed fee recommendations and draft user fee cost recovery policy informed by the June 2nd discussion will then be presented to finance committee on June 23rd. The same information along with any updated recommendations and feedback from finance committee will be brought to your council on July 21st. Final adoption, sorry about that. getting used to the new remote. Final adoption is anticipated on August 18th. Throughout the process, staff will also bring forward any additional balancing measures that may be needed for the fiscal year 27 budget. This timeline will provide staff adequate time to engage stakeholders and the community on the proposed changes. And next I will discuss the fiscal year 27 recommended budget adjustments beginning with the general fund. Independent of the broader budget balancing measures, the proposed changes we will discuss tonight represent known cost reductions driven by external agencies, operational savings, technical adjustments, and also incorporates feedback and recommendations from the Finance Committee, which met back on May 12th. The recommended adjustments to the general fund include $550,000 in additional revenue, a net of $50,000 in expenditure savings, which will add approximately $600,000 to the adopted contribution to fund balance. The budget for interest earnings has been held relatively flat over the last few years. The increase of 300,000 factors in historical interest earnings as well as anticipated changes in the market. Early in fiscal year 26, Apple terminated the contract with the city for additional police services. These costs incurred by the city were reimbursed by Apple. The reduction of 250,000 in the police department reflects this change. You will see an expenditure reduction of the same amount related to the Apple contract termination. Similarly, community development incurs project costs that are reimbursable by developers. The increase in revenue of 500,000 reflects those estimated reimbursements, and you will also see an expenditure increase associated with this adjustment as well. The proposed changes to the general fund expenditures are listed here by department. In administrative services, we have a vacant executive assistant and we'll reallocate that position to an office specialist. Because our operational need is only half time, 0.5 FTE of this position will then be allocated to human resources. This will result in a savings of $79,000. and human resources, the limited duration office specialist will be eliminated and they will receive the half FTE of that same class from administrative services. So the current incumbent of the limited duration position will fill the regular position and support both administrative services and human resources. The most recent estimates from MPA on our insurance costs decreased by just over 100,000 in general government. While this is a reduction in their original estimates, costs are still increasing compared to fiscal year 26. The police will reduce expenditures by approximately 387,000 from a reduction in costs for animal services that are provided by Contra Costa County. a reduction in overtime for the Apple contract I mentioned on the previous slide, and a reallocation of an administrative analyst to an executive assistant. The position is currently filled with an executive assistant, so there is no impact to the employee and is essentially right-sizing the position. The $500,000 increase in community development is for the reimbursable development costs, again mentioned on the previous slide. Those adjustments made related to reimbursable costs for both police and community development are net neutral changes to the general fund. So in summary, the fiscal year 27 adopted budget includes an estimated $160,000 contribution to fund balance. With the proposed changes, that contribution would increase to approximately $760,000. Staff recommends leaving these funds unallocated to support fiscal year 27 rebalancing efforts as additional amendments are presented in the next few months. And with that, I'm happy to pause for any questions before we move to Measure O.

Well, let me first ask from the Finance Committee if there were any further questions that you had. Questions here? No?

All right.

Thanks. Moving on.

Thank you. So the proposed changes in Measure O include decreasing the transaction and use tax revenues and right-sizing the interest earnings. Expenditures will increase from appropriating the debt service payment for the lease revenue bonds funding the Heather Farm Park project. This is offset by the $9 million previous set aside for the project reserve. adding one FTE for emergency preparedness, and increasing the extra library hours in the Walnut Creek branch from 12 to 16 during the renovations at the Ignacio Valley branch. And I will discuss all of these in more detail. The transaction and use tax revenue will be reduced by approximately $280,000. This reduction is due to updated projections lowering the anticipated growth rate. The original growth rate projections did not anticipate the slowdown of sales and use taxes we have seen over the last year and a half. So again, revenue in Measure O is still growing. It's just growing at a slower pace. Like the general fund, interest earnings have exceeded budget over the last several years. Staff is recommending increasing the budget by $300,000. The result of these changes is a small net increase of $20,000 in revenue. Community priorities identified through resident and voter input during the passage of Measure O included disaster preparedness. In alignment with that, staff is recommending the addition of an emergency management analyst in the city manager's office. This position would support community outreach, CERT coordination, updates to the city's emergency management plans, and enhanced internal and external emergency preparedness training. The annual debt service of just over 7.5 million will be offset by the 9 million reserves set aside, resulting in approximately 1.5 million in savings. The Ignacio Valley Branch will begin renovations in the fall and will be closed for approximately 8 to 10 months. The closure will result in approximately $120,000 in savings in Measure O. The Finance Committee recommended increasing the extra hours at the Walnut Creek Branch from 12 to 16 in anticipation of increased demand during the closure. The cost estimate for the increase including additional required security costs is approximately 136,000. The net impact to measure O would be an increase in costs of just under 20,000. This is a conservative estimate assuming the increase hours would be for a full fiscal year. Based on the proposed adjustments, the contribution to fund balance will increase from $920,000 to just over $2 million in fiscal year 27. This slide provides information on the contribution to reserves in Measure O.

Sorry, can you go back? You went by that slide so fast. Unless there's no reason to read it, please slow down. Certainly. Okay, thank you.

So this, as I said, this slide provides information on contributions to reserves along with the designated uses since Measure O became effective on April 1st of 2023. When the budget was adopted for fiscal years 24 and 25, your council authorized annual contributions of 9 million for a total of 18 million to establish a reserve for the Heather Farm Park project in anticipation of future project costs and related debt service. Since inception, the city has realized savings through underspending and stronger than anticipated revenues. Each year, the city council has directed these funds to an unallocated reserve. By the end of fiscal year 26, total contributions to this reserve are estimated to reach approximately 11.78 million. To date, the city has allocated approximately $11.88 million to the Heather Farm Park project. An additional $2 million has been used to partially fund the Tice Ball Field Lighting and Heather Farm Turf Field projects. And an additional $250,000 has been allocated toward the Clark Pool repurposing master plan. The total projected balance for these reserves at the end of fiscal year 26 is $15.65 million. And I'm happy to pause for any questions related to Measure O. Yes.

I just had one quick question. I know we've been getting the emergency services planning through contracts funded by the general fund. And this is switching over to a full time position funded by Measure O. And that we expect the general fund funding for that contract position to reduce as a result. How do you end up truing that up at the end of the year if our line item for that under general fund ends up being lower but we've allocated more money under measure O?

I can lead with that and have Kirsten dive into detail. So as of now, we're not recommending an adjustment to reduce the contracting for training and services in the general fund because the positions, assuming it's authorized for a moment, it would take a while to recruit for it, take a while to have the individual in the position come up to speed. So we're recommending leaving that in as part of this next. budget cycle would be coming up, we would look to right-size that, likely reduce that training budget in the general fund, but fund this position from measure O would be the recommendation.

Okay, so there will be some right-sizing as we go forward.

Yeah, we just don't know yet, and that's not an area we wanted to reduce prematurely until we make sure we have to work over that.

That would not be good emergency planning today. But I was just wondering, when is the true-up happening? It sounds like it's happening next year as the fiscal year goes forward, and it's clear when we can bring somebody on board.

Yeah, and in theory, we might be able to do a mid-year adjustment for fiscal year 27, depending upon the timing of the filling of the position, but it would be most likely for fiscal year 28.

So we'd have unallocated fund balance left over at the end of the year, and we could just- Okay, thank you.

Yes, Council Member Silva.

Thank you for presenting this slide. So if I'm doing my math right, it's roughly contributions to fund balance of, or the reserve, of about 30 million. In total, yes, for both. And then the allocated funds are about $16 million. So will there be a fiscal year end contribution to the reserve of $9 million? Or is that, now that the project's underway, is there a different spreadsheet that's running?

There won't be a contribution of that $9 million to the reserve because that will now be used to pay the debt service for the lease revenue bonds. There will be a difference, however, because the lease revenue bond debt service is only about $7.5 million. There will be a delta of $1.5 million that will then be a contribution to fund balance and could be allocated to either that reserve or the other unallocated reserves. Okay. Thank you.

I think we're good on that part.

Next, I will talk about the changes to authorized positions, which we have touched on briefly. The adopted FTE for fiscal year 27 is 386 and includes both regular and limited duration positions. The proposed changes to the authorized positions will increase the regular positions category by one FTE and reduce the limited duration FTE by one. So these changes have no net impact on the total FTE for fiscal year 27. Again, the recommended position changes, as I mentioned earlier, is staff is proposing to add an emergency management analyst in measure O and eliminate a limited duration office specialist in the general fund. And the other position changes do not have any impact on FTE. So what we are asking of you this evening is to provide input and feedback on the proposed amendments to the fiscal year 27 adopted operating budget. And with that, we have staff available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

If we have any questions at this point, we'll go to public comment, but I don't think we have any public comment either. No questions? Okay, no questions. So we'll go. If anybody would like to speak on public comment, you've got two minutes, please come to the podium. And I don't see any, so we'll close public comment. And any further comments?

Yeah, I'll lead it off. First, I want to thank staff for doing a tremendous job of making this easy to understand and digestible and putting together some very thoughtful recommendations, which ALWAYS MAKES IT GENERALLY EASY TO SERVE ON THE FINANCE COMMITTEE. I THINK THE VALUE THAT COUNCILMEMBER DEVINI AND I PERHAPS ADDED WAS PRIMARILY IN TERMS OF THE LIBRARY HOURS AND RECOGNIZING THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE LOSING ONE OF OUR TWO LIBRARIES FOR A GOOD PERIOD OF TIME DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 27 AND WANTING TO MAKE UP THOSE EXTRA HOURS, WHICH THE VOTERS SUPPORTED THAT DURING THE MEASURE O CAMPAIGN. POLICY ITEM TO BE AWARE OF IS ADDING THAT FULL-TIME EMPLOYEE FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES, WHICH I HAD A QUESTION ABOUT BECAUSE MEASURE O IS THERE FOR A LIMITED PERIOD OF TIME. WE CAN'T ASSUME THAT IT WILL GET EXTENDED, BUT I ALSO THINK IT WAS ONE OF THOSE ITEMS THAT THE VOTERS TOLD US QUITE CLEARLY THAT THEY WERE CONCERNED ABOUT IN MEASURE O, AND I THINK YOU CAN ONLY DO SO MANY evacuation drills and training you need an actual dedicated staff person to lead that and we've been missing that person and that staff staffing for at least since prior to the pandemic I think so that's essentially why we're in support of the recommended staff adjustments and think that we're in good shape by implementing them for this upcoming fiscal year

And I like those recommendations as well. And yeah, if we're losing one library, for sure, adding hours to the other one makes a lot of sense, and also for the emergency services person. So I concur.

Yeah, and I've looked at it. I think the library hours, it makes sense with Ignacio down, adding the library hours. I don't think I would prejudge that once Ignacio opens back up, we keep it at that higher level, that's a future. Point and I think the emergency management specialist is an important thing.

You know, we don't want to be caught flat-footed and I'm willing to support that too I too am supportive of the proposed recommendations and I appreciate the recognition that with the Ignatia Valley library down for a certain period of time Backstopping the what what services might be unavailable at YV at the downtown library seems appropriate. I think we need to remember that it isn't just a $16,000 cost. It's a tremendous amount of cost. The savings are buried in the numbers. So it's, please remind our friends that it's not a drop in the bucket.

Would you like, actually, would you like to make a motion?

That's the council priorities. Are you ready?

No, no.

I was going to second you. OK. All right. Take your time.

We should recommend approval. There we go.

I move that we did provide input and feedback. I move that we adopt the proposed amendments to the fiscal year 27 adopted operating budget.

Second. I have a motion and a second.

Mayor Pro Tem Francois. Aye. Council Member Devaney. Aye. Council Member Darling. Aye. Council Member Silva. Aye. Mayor Wolf. Aye.

All right. Well done. Thank you, Kirsten, and Finance Committee for making it easy for us. And next and finally on the agenda, we've got a consideration of a resolution submitting a measure to the voters of Walnut Creek for the November 3rd, 2026 general municipal election, transitioning the city treasurer position from elected to appointed, including specifying procedures and processes related to the ballot arguments. And I invite assistance of the city manager, Coroza, forward to provide the presentation.

All right, thank you again. Joe Carrozza, assistant to the city manager. So I will be presenting for your consideration a proposed measure to transition the position of city treasurer from elected to an appointed one. And if you do so approve, that measure would be placed on the November 3rd, 2026 municipal general election ballot. Okay. So in tonight's presentation, I'm going to spend some time highlighting the Office of the Treasurer and its duties, spend some time talking about the history of the position, why a transition from elected to appointed is proposed tonight, and the process for getting that measure on the ballot. So before going into that agenda, I'm going to pause here and talk about what the recommended action here is of council. And we are requesting that you consider adopting a resolution that has, in summary, four major provisions. The first is to submit a measure to the voters for the November 3rd general municipal election, transitioning the office of the city treasurer from elected to appointed. Direct our city attorney to prepare an impartial analysis of the measure describing the effect of the measure on existing law. Authorize the mayor and the mayor pro tem to submit a written argument in favor of the proposed measure as well as a rebuttal argument on behalf of the city council if it is needed. And request the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors consent to the consolidation of this election with the statewide general election to be held on the same date. So the Office of the Treasurer was established when Walnut Creek became a city in 1914. And California Government Code Section 36501 provides that one of the officers of a general law city is that of a city treasurer. The only qualifying requirements of a elected city treasurer is that the candidate must be a registered voter and also must reside in the city. The city treasurer's duty is to monitor investment market conditions and in accordance with the city's investment policy, identify investment opportunities that support and strengthen the city's portfolio. In coordination with the city's finance division, the city treasurer executes trades in authorized investments to maximize returns while maintaining compliance with policy requirements. So now while government code does establish that a city treasurer is a required position, government code also provides that a city council may submit a measure to the voters to transition that office from an elected one to an appointed one. And that is California Government Code Section 36508. a little bit of history i did mention in 1914 the city of walnut creek had established the position and since then the city has had 12 treasurers starting with someone with a great name joe joe silveria and our current treasurer is ron cassano and we've been very fortunate to have ron at the helm for almost 30 years ron was most recently re-elected to his position in november of 2022 And that term does end in 2026. And for some historical context, there was a few opportunities that were presented to the voters to transition this position from elected to appointed in the past in 1956 and also in 1996, but those did fail. So why transition the city treasurer position from elected to appointed? First, it would be in alignment with best practices. So many cities have transitioned the treasurer role from elected to appointed. And I'm gonna actually. run to another slide here, you can see a list of cities in the county that have already done so. So out of the 19 cities here on this slide, 12 have appointed city treasurers representing about 63% of cities. So a move to an appointed would be in alignment with our fellow cities in the county. The responsibilities have evolved over time into a highly technical administrative and financial management position that aligns more closely with professional staff roles than with policy making elected offices, which would bake for best practice. With a move from elected to appointed, staff are eligible to be appointed to the role and have the ability to absorb the work. Our finance manager currently oversees the investment and monitoring of the city's cash portfolio in accordance with the city council policy and prepares the annual investment policy for council consideration. Existing staff possess the expertise and capacity to assume the duties without the need for additional staffing. So moving to an appointed model reflects contemporary municipal governance standards and organizational efficiency. A move from appointed to elected would also safeguard qualifications and expertise. An election process does not require candidates to demonstrate technical qualifications, including public finance and municipal investment expertise or professional qualifications or certifications. While we're fortunate now to have Ron again at the helm, who is highly qualified, a move from elected to appointed safeguards this for the future. Furthermore, the role of a city treasurer has changed significantly over time, requiring specialized expertise and continuous professional development that is better suited to a professional appointment model, especially as these regulations have increased over time. And finally, a transition secures administrative continuity. It eliminates the volatility of turnover and the steep learning curve associated with an elected. While the city has had a positive experience with the current elected treasurer, this change is intended to proactively position the city to meet increasing regulations and professional demands of the treasurer role. All right, so should the measure pass, should you adopt a resolution to place this measure on a ballot? The election for the next city treasurer, which will go to the voters on November 3rd, the same ballot as this proposed measure, that elected would serve their full four year term. So at the conclusion of that term, which is slated for 2030, if the incumbent either resigns or otherwise vacates their office, the office of city treasurer would then transition from that elected position to an appointed position. And Walnut Creek Municipal Code currently authorizes the city manager to appoint the city treasurer in the event that the office is made appointive. So what would actually go on the ballot? So on the ballot, the proposed question would read as it says on screen here. Shall the office of city treasurer be appointed, yes or no? And this phrasing of the measure is strictly governed by California Government Code 36509. So that is what must be on the ballot. For measures placed on the ballot, city council or a member of the city council authorized by the city council may file a written argument in favor of that measure. The proposed resolution before you tonight authorizes the mayor and the mayor pro tem to submit the written argument in favor of the measure. In addition to that, in the event an argument is filed against the measure, The mayor and the mayor pro tem are also authorized to submit a rebuttal argument on behalf of the city council. And then these arguments would then be printed in the voter information guide. So to get on the ballot, there are some required deadlines to meet. So the first two, no later than August 7th, the first one is for tonight. City Council to pass resolution formally placing the measure on the November 2026 ballot. And then by August, no later than August 7th, a deadline to submit that ballot measure to Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. Then by August 19th, two things. The first is primary arguments must be filed with the Contra Costa County Elections Department. And then also the city attorney to prepare and submit an impartial analysis to the city clerk. By August 24th, rebuttal arguments, if there are any, must be filed with the Contra Costa County Elections Department to make sure that it is in that voter registration guide. And then by November 3rd, that's election day. And so again before you is to consider adopting the resolution to do in four major provisions. The first, to submit a measure to the voters to transition the position from elected to appointed. Direct the city attorney to prepare a partial analysis. Authorize the mayor and mayor pro tem to prepare and submit written arguments. And then to request the county's consent to the consolidation of this election. And that is the end of tonight's presentation. Any questions?

Questions? Council Member Shula?

Thank you very much for the presentation. It was very clear and I truly appreciate it. When we authorized the mayor and the mayor pro tem to submit written arguments, it is one argument for it and one argument in response to an argument against.

That is correct.

It's not too different. And we can have up to five people sign, three more besides the mayor and the mayor pro tem.

I believe that is true. Is that true?

And then you can have up to five for the argument against, the argument against, the rebuttal to the argument against.

That is correct, and it can be different people. Five different people. Five different people. Okay. Thank you.

Other questions?

Just following up on that one, the five people don't necessarily have to be council members. It could be anyone.

That is correct.

Okay.

Do they need to be voters in the city?

Yes.

They need to be eligible to vote on the item.

Yes. Okay.

Mm-hmm. had a question about were you done okay with the our prior attempts to try to make this position a point if we're not successful the last one was in 96 most of the other cities in Contra Costa have made the transition to a point of was there a recent one that tried to do that that wasn't successful and

I am not aware of the timeline of the previous cities. Susie, do you have any information on that?

Unfortunately, no. I am not aware of a more recent.

And then my only other question was, has staff given any consideration to what public information campaign would be necessary to educate the voters about this measure?

Yeah, I can answer that. Yes, there has been, and just to clarify a few things. So the city, any of its employees or resources could not actively campaign, but there could be a group from the community that could campaign either for or against for the measure for that matter. What cities can and often do for measures that are on the ballot related to local measures can produce informational materials about how things work, may recall we did this with measure O putting information out about how the money might be used, what the priorities are that it would be used to fund. And so there could be something similar that the city could put out information wise as to why this is being placed on the ballot.

Okay, thank you.

All right, do we have any public comment on this? Doesn't look like it. All right. We'll close public comment, bring it back to council for any comments and then a motion. And I'll start the comments off as we've discussed on this. And I really appreciate that was very complete and easy to understand. We've been very fortunate with our elected treasurers to date, but I don't want this position to become political. It seems like everything is political now when it comes to every government from local all up to federal. And the treasurer is responsible for the investments of our revenues from taxpayers for the benefit of the city of Walnut Creek. And we want to earn the best and safest return possible on the residents' and taxpayers' monies. Which is why I've been against stipulations and regulations and restrictions which would significantly handcuff the treasurer from being able to make the most fiscally prudent investments. And this is something that future councils would also be able to have the oversight of with our finance team, our finance committee, and our city manager. And in this highly charged world where everything seems politicized, this is a prudent and common sense approach to our finances for the future. And so I do support this. If anybody has any other comments, but I'm happy to make the motion on this to approve this change to our policy.

So I agree with your comments and I can and very supportive of this and I think in looking at the history 2 points in time 1956 was within a couple of years of us hiring the first city manager so that may have had. Shed shading on this decision and 1996 was the end of the no growth era and everybody was cantankerous on Council.

The history there.

I concur with your comments as well. And I think for the reasons that staff explained, it makes sense to present this issue to the voters at this time. I think that, as my question alluded to, I think there will be a need to explain why this is being done. And there will need to be some campaign not run by the city to get the information out. But that's what a normal campaign is. So I will go ahead and second that.

So just to make it official on what the motion actually is, because this is going to be on the ballot, I move to adopt the resolution submitting a measure to the voters of Walnut Creek for the November 3rd, 2026 general municipal election to determine whether the position of city treasurer should be changed from elected to appointive. Requesting that the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors consent to the consolidation of this election with the statewide general election to be held on the same date. Directing the city attorney to prepare an impartial analysis and authorizing myself, Mayor Kevin Wilk, and Mayor Pro Tem Matt Francois to submit a written argument in favor of the proposed measure as well as a rebuttal argument on behalf of the city council if so needed.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Mayor Wilk.

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Francois. Aye. Council Member Darling. Aye. Council Member Devaney. Aye. And Council Member Silva. Aye. The motion carries.

All right. And with that, we are adjourned.

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