Good morning and welcome to the finance and management committee meeting of
Tuesday February 24th 2026 and this meeting may come to order sorry the time
is now 9 30 a.m. and this meeting may come to order before taking role I will
provide instructions on how to submit speaker cards for items on this agenda
if you're here with us in chamber would like to submit a speaker card please
fill one out and turn one into myself or a clerk representative no later than 10
minutes after the start of this meeting or before the item is read into record
Registering to speak via zoom is now due 24 hours prior to the start of this meeting
Sorry meeting time this meeting came to order at 930 a.m. And speaker cards will no longer be accepted 10 minutes after
Making that time 940 a.m. We'll now proceed with taking roll
Council members Brown present council member Wong
Oh, sorry Council member Unger
Here council member Wong
present thank you and council member Wong
You're participating virtually will you be using your assembly bill to four four nine?
Yes, okay
Do you have anyone over the age of 18 in the room with you?
I do not okay, and can you go ahead and state your reason for using your assembly bill to four four nine?
Yes, I'm just
Recovering from a cold. Okay. Thank you and then chair Ramachandran present. Thank you. We have three members
President and then one member present using a p24 for nine
Before we begin chair. Do you have any announcements at this time? I do not but councilman Brown does
Excellent. Thank you so much. I'm chair Rama Chandran. I just wanted to
Extend a very warm welcome to novea who is spending the entire week
With my office
She goes to Envision Academy
And so she will be putting together,
and she's right over here,
she will be putting together an amazing presentation,
just a week in the life of here at Oakland City Hall.
And so if you all want to stop by
and share some insights with her about your role
and all of the things,
she'll be with us this entire week.
So welcome Nevaeh.
Thank you, welcome.
Any announcements from the administration?
sorry no that's the next item thank you moving on to item one approval of the
draft minutes from the committee meeting held on February 10th 2026 we do have
one speaker that signed up miss Asada Ola Bala sorry that was the speaker for
the next item so we have no speakers on this item okay so moved thank you that
That was a motion made by Councilmember Brown, seconded by Councilmember Unger to approve
the draft minutes from the committee meeting held on February 10, 2026 on roll.
Councilmembers Brown?
Aye.
Councilmember Wong?
Aye.
Councilmember Unger?
Aye.
Chair Ramachandran?
Aye.
Thank you.
Item one passes with four ayes to approve the draft minutes from February 10, 2026.
Reading an item two, determination of scheduled outstanding committee items, and we do have
We have one speaker on this item.
To the administration.
Through the chairman of the body,
we'd like to withdraw item number four
to the pending list, no date specific.
Thank you.
We can move to public speakers.
Okay.
Mrs. Zata Olavala.
We have to make sure we are ready.
Okay, you got your clock up, mama?
Okay.
The city administrator is mandated
to produce an annual report of his spending
up to $250,000.
The last report was 2023.
Also, I'm seeing in the agenda,
you have something called the ability
of the city administrator to do piggyback contracts
with unlimited spending.
You're supposedly changing that today,
and we need to have a report on how that's been working
as far as accountability and transparency.
We need to have a report on the business license,
the annual business license, which is $412.
And I'm asking that report concentrate
on the sidewalk vendors that we have all through Oakland
with no permitting or licensing.
We need a report on businesses
that have not necessarily closed down,
but have left Oakland and relocated
and other cities are downsized,
many business Oakland's are downsized
for whatever reason.
We need a report on the improvements
of collecting the business tax.
We need a report on the macro economic conditions
that are beyond the control of the city.
That's what I heard about.
Okay, that's it.
Thank you for your comments share.
that concludes all speakers on this item.
Okay, I will make the motion.
Thank you, we have a motion made by Chair Ramachandran,
seconded by Council Member Brown,
to accept the determination of scheduled outstanding
committee items on rule.
Council Members Brown?
Aye.
Council Member Unger?
Aye.
Council Member Wong?
Aye.
And Chair Ramachandran?
Aye.
Thank you, item number two passes with four ayes
to accept the determination of scheduled outstanding
committee items.
To the clerk that includes the removal of item for today. Yes. So as amended. Thank you. Thank you
Now reading in item 3
adopted resolution approving ongoing cooperative purchase agreements exceeding
$250,000 for city-wide commodity goods and services contract as outlined in table 1 in addition in an additional amount not to exceed
8 million forty thousand dollars and we do have two speakers that signed up
Good morning to the Council chair Rosh Hashama and the Council members, Fred Halliburton, the purchasing supervisor with the purchasing section.
The item before you today is a staff recommended resolution seeking approval of ongoing citywide cooperative agreements exceeding $250,000.
Cooperative agreements are a purchasing a procurement option authorized under
municipal code 2.04.080. This provision allows the city to take
advantage of procurements conducted by other government entities in order to
achieve savings and shorten purchasing timelines. However, the specific
code section authorizes cooperative agreements sets no limits on contracts
of balance. The proposed action would confirm council approval of existing
cooperative agreements and provide increases to contract amounts. This would
also align with the city's practices of cooperative agreements with the with
existing $250,000 limits on contracts approved under the City
Administrator's authority. There are four cooperative agreements, purchasing
agreements in the attached table 1 that would effectively serve to support all
City departments with hardware industrial supplies tools, janitorial
supplies, and paper products. The requested actions include both approval of these
contracts and additional contract funding staff recommends approving
approval of the proposed resolutions to allow for uninterrupted business
operations citywide I'd be happy to answer any questions you have
you colleagues questions councilman Brown excellent thank you so much for
the report and so I guess through the chair to the city administration and or
or the presenter, just kind of reading through the report.
I guess one question that comes to my mind,
I imagine that all of these vendors that are on table one,
these are all folks that we've contracted with in the past,
is that correct?
That is correct, yes.
And is there ever an opportunity to report back
on the spending that occurs under these buckets?
to finance?
Does that ever come to finance?
Yes.
That is currently we're currently undertaking that.
Can you expound on that?
I'm sorry.
What do you mean?
It's so I guess like in the past to finance, do we receive a report on these various vendors
and the things that were purchased?
Yes.
That's correct.
You will receive a report.
We're working on that.
Yes.
the chair to councilmember brown there's a report in progress regarding the city
administrators contract authority both under his own authority and general
contract spending that is being developed by our contracts and purchasing
bureau and that will be we're expecting it to come this spring to this body okay
thank you so much director Johnson can you shed light on when was the last time
that report was generated there's two different topics of it the there's a
There's a report that was generated in 2023
that related to contract authority.
It was not as comprehensive as it needed to be
in terms of the total scope of the City of managed authority
and all contracts approved.
So we were working to expand the scope
to include the full set of contracts.
And again, we're trying to deliver that
to you guys this spring.
So there is a antecedent report that was developed in 2023.
The scope of that was not broad enough in our estimation
to really cover the full set of contracts
that have been issued.
And so we are working to ensure
that we have all of that information included in a report
and we're, again, we're gonna bring it this spring.
Excellent, thank you so much.
And then will the, can you share
what the duration of the report,
like will it be from, you know, what, June of 2023
till June of 2024 or how, like, what's the scope?
Our contracting and purchasing administrator is here
to correct me if I'm incorrect.
I believe we're going from the times hand
the last report to the present is what we're looking at.
But in our contracting purchasing administrators here,
oh, I'm getting a thumbs up.
That is an accurate statement.
Okay, excellent.
And then my final question.
In table one, the first vendor,
it lists citywide contract office and school supplies.
Is the assumption, is my assumption correct
that that just includes like for our rec centers purchasing?
councilmember brown you have to
include rec centers but also
like head start programs in the
net nature so yes okay excellent
thank you so much.
I don't know if comes under one
has their other hand raised
and him okay.
So just to clarify.
The some of the increases are
pretty steep like the last one
for janitorial supplies from two
fifty to one point two million.
Is there a reason that the original amount was not anticipated to be as high
but then we're needing that higher amount? When the contract was put into place that
was only a sort of like a placeholder knowing that they would have to come
back later and increase the contract. That was to accommodate mostly our fire
departments. Okay and are all four of these companies used by our neighboring
cities is that the basis of the cooperative agreement? Yes. Okay can you
give examples of which cities or counties are involved in this cooperative
agreement? I know that Blaisdell's they also have a heavy presence in Sacramento
Coget in Valeo, I believe, Festinall, Berkeley, also Hayward, and J.C. Nelson, I
believe they're in Fairfield. They have a heavy presence there. I wouldn't
know any offhand any other city there. Okay, thank you. And could you just explain
what the benefit of going through this cooperative agreement is with these
other cities that are not necessarily our neighbors or ones we work with
rather than a separate contract with them for these services? Well as we
pointed out it does shorten the contracting time to put a contract in
place. The competitive bid situation takes a bit of time to put together. With
these contracts with the co-op contract it allows us to go into a contract
that's already been competitive with it. Okay and are any of these local
businesses? Blaisdell's is a local business they've been local business
working with us for quite a while. Okay call these any additional questions?
Councilmember, Councilmember Wong, then Councilmember Brown. Thank you through the
Chair I just want to echo some of my colleagues remarks on the concern of the
the steepness of the amount and this is I will say not just directed at you it's
sort of a global comment on when we as council are being asked to approve high
dollar contract amounts I don't see a lot of you know past performance data I
I mean I sounds like the cooperative agreement is going to lower down the cost but we're
also at a time when we need to tighten our belts and we're told that on one hand and
then I think on the other hand you know in some ways I feel very forced to just rubber
stamp essentially what is status quo stuff because as noted in the report it says if
We don't approve this contract that we're going to interrupt
the business operations of a lot of the city departments,
but I just, so in some ways I feel like I have to vote for this.
And at the same time, I don't feel like I have the data that
gives me the responsible decision making that has assurances
that there isn't going to be waste associated with this particular resolution.
Again, this is for citywide use and the contracts amounts are not amounts that we are paying
out.
It would depend on each department's capacity that they have to purchase any of these goods.
And I do have any reason to, because I work in the government office, it's kind of like,
I don't know if this is necessarily what's happening here, but sometimes it's like,
oh, we got to use up our budget, so let's just buy all these things just to justify
using up the budget.
Do we have any data on, you know, how our various departments are using these cooperative
agreements?
I noticed that we can get office furniture.
I, for example, would want to make sure that nobody's out here buying, like, plush couches.
I'm just this is an egregious example that I doubt I doubt what was happening and nonetheless. I feel like it deserves some scrutiny
Councilmember Brown
Sorry, so you had a comment first, okay, okay, I guess to to add to Councilmember Wong's
statement
and
Also comparing what I read in the report
Potentially as I'm reading the report, I think what would be helpful for me
would be because I think someone mentioned that
JC Nelson supply company that is a
That is used by the fire department, right? And so in in
Reading the report perhaps it could be helpful that when items like this come before us
Maybe it's outlining like who are some of the key departments that are taking advantage of these services
So that we're able to really like piece together
You know the amount that's being requested and then you know, just like how I asked the question
Oh school supplies and so I was brainstorming in my mind like okay. Well who would need that right?
so so so I think that would just be my my comment and if this item is
forward it to the full city council for approval.
I guess I would be interested in seeing
maybe an addition to the report,
where it outlines who are some of the city departments
that are actually taking advantage
of these particular services.
Thank you.
I will echo that it is a little sparse on details,
this report, and if a supplemental could be added
on a little details about what Council Member Brown
mentioned, what departments utilize these services,
as well as my question of what other cities utilize
these companies as part of the cooperative,
that would be ideal, or examples of cities or counties
that do, Council Member Brown.
And then I guess my last point is because I do recognize
the need that we wanna be supportive of the different needs
that the departments have.
Like I have heard firsthand where, you know,
some of our city departments are trying to get some
of these services completed, but then the contract is expired
or like it takes a long time for these, you know,
vendors to get paid and so I see both sides
of what we're trying to tackle in this moment.
the chair and maybe to the members of the body in general
is the request for supplemental maybe to make it clear
a breakdown of the departments that have used
these listed contracts over the past year or two time span
so that you can see the spending departments
and which other cities are participating
in these particular co-ops.
Specifically, I just wanna make sure we're clear
on what you need in terms of supplemental information.
Yes, thank you so much.
At this time I'm only focused on like what we're doing
as a city for Oakland.
So I'm fine with, you know, we don't need,
I don't need a comparison of what other cities are doing
but just more of an analysis if we just focus on the table
and some of the vendors that are listed
and then what are the city departments
that are utilizing these services?
And if you happen to have, you know,
for maybe the last year,
what were some of the things that were purchased?
That could be helpful.
Okay, thank you.
And Council Member Wong.
Thanks, through the chair and Director Johnson,
just to add to that, I would like to see
just maybe a sampling and some of the products
that are most used, just a cost that we're procuring
these particular supplies for.
Are they within, you know, are they,
are we getting kind of the economies of scale
that we're getting through the report,
as the report states?
To Council Member Wong's question
and to my staff in finance,
can we provide an attachment of the itemized amounts
in these contract rules?
I know these are basically catalog contracts.
Can we attach and append the catalogs
that have been negotiated?
The catalogs?
Yeah, so just the sample of what can be ordered off of,
for instance, for play scales.
Absolutely, it would be extensive, but yes, we have that available. So councilman Wong
I'm happy to include that as an attachment to your report
Perfect. Thank you so much
Calling in the names that sign up for item number two. If you're here with us in chamber, you can come up to the podium
missus out of all of Allah and Kevin Dali
It okay. You got your timer. This is unbelievable
If you read the report
What you are primarily trying to do is to change the practice the city administrator had
that
unlimited spending
Related to piggyback contracts no limit spending you want to now introduce
The the practice that the city administrator has the authority to enter into contracts up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
so with the
piggyback
contracts, or cooperative agreement, the city administrator can only spend up to $250,000
on piggyback contracts.
Any contracts hired in $250,000 has to come to council for approval.
That's the issue, not what departments are getting, whatever.
You should be very much concerned that in the past, you had a city administrator with
the capacity for unlimited spending under the issue of coming under the umbrella of
sustainability you have to have no unlimited capacities for any department you can't have
it so why is this general conversation about who's getting what department and you're not
looking at the proposal that the city administrator will be limited in his spending because in
In the past, the city administrator has had unlimited, no limited spending on piggyback
contracts and nobody's bringing it up.
That's called irresponsibility, dereliction of your duty to deal with the deficit that
we have had and to create sustainability in the budget practice.
That's my time.
This is ridiculous.
Thank you Kevin Dally from lower district for just speaking for myself today. I, I do appreciate the desire to move contracts along more quickly I know sometimes the city can get stuck with endless approval of contracts, I would like to examine the report that's coming to
We will be able to answer that
question at the council soon
that twenty twenty four city of
Oakland disparity study final
report I know that also
discusses. Issues related to
contract reform it would be
good to have. That discussed
along with the attempt at
improving improving the speed
of contracts we could put those
together up I think that would
Full report to City Council coming up soon. Thanks
Thank you for your comments chair that concludes all speakers on this item
Thank you. Okay. I will entertain a motion with that includes our request for
supplemental information before going to council
so moved
I'll second that
Thank you
We have a motion made by council members Brown seconded by Unger
To approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the March 3rd City Council agenda with the request for supplemental report
Providing the following information who are some of the city departments that are actually taken at taking advantage of the particular services
What other cities utilize these companies as part of the cooperative?
Some of the vendors that are listed and what are the city departments that are utilizing those services?
And sorry a sampling of some of the products that are most used
Unrolled sorry with that information unrolled council members Brown. Hi council member Unger. Hi council member Wong
No, I'm I just think it's important to establish that when the administration asks for high dollar
Contract amendments that I need more data in order to vote. Yes. Thank you
Okay, and chair Ramachandran, thank you. Item number three passes with three
I's one no Wong to forward this item to the City Council agenda on non-consent.
Since it's not unanimous it would be non-consent. Okay, as recommendation of
the chair to rules I will say consent. Good morning, this is the Molly McPherson
with the City Attorney's Office. I can read the rule with regard to non-consent
or consent designation, it says with respect to items that a standing
committee force to the council, the committee chair may designate such items
as consent items only if the standing committee's recommendation was unanimous,
provided that the rules and legislation committee has authority to make the
final determination of consent or non consent items. Okay, thank you. Item 3
passes with 3 ayes, 1 no, Wong to be forwarded to the March 3rd city council
to the state and not just the
state's general agenda on non
consent.
Now reading an item number four
receiving informational report
from the budget advisory
commission on the proposed June
twenty twenty six forty million
dollar parcel tax measure to
support the central city
services and fiscal stability
and there are three speakers
that signed up to speak.
The chair this is the item that
we asked to be moved to the
pending list noted specific- I
public.
Calling in the name set sign up for item four missus out of the ball at Kevin Dolly and
Derek Barnes.
If you're here with us in chamber you can come up to the podium or if you're on zoom
please raise your hand to be easily identified.
So I think you need to be reminded of the fiscal obligations of property owners and
this city. Besides paying city of Oakland property taxes or partial taxes, they pay
taxes related to OUSD. They pay AC transit and BART taxes. They pay county taxes. But
related to your city taxes, there's the property owner's annual tax, the real estate transfer
tax, the annual rent adjustment fee, that's $137 per unit, the business license tax, $95,
the mandatory soft story retro fix program, that's a fee, the vacant property tax, which
is anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 per year, the cost for tenant move out agreement, that's
That's a payment, security deposit documentation, that's a payment, maintenance and utility
costs, that includes mortgage insurance, homeowners insurance, fire insurance, earth plate insurance,
flood insurance, water sewage payment, electric waste management payments.
Do you realize how much money people have to put out in this city?
The minimum annual Oakland tax bill is anywhere from over $7,453 to over $5,000, higher than
any other national minimum property tax bill of average in this country is $2,400.
And now you want to talk about another tax.
Make it make sense.
Thank you for your comments, Ms. Ollabala.
Thank you.
Chair, all names have been called.
Okay, thank you.
And then noting that this item was withdrawn
and placed on the pending list, no date specific.
Now reading in item number five,
receive an informational report,
sorry, an informational cash management report
for fiscal year 2025-26.
Second quarter ended December 31st, 2025,
and we have three speakers that signed up for this item.
Good morning, Chair Ramachandran and fellow committee members.
I'm David Jones with the Treasury Bureau.
Before you, this morning is an informational cash management report for the second quarter
fiscal year 25-26 ending December 31, 2025.
It's our traditional quarterly report, just go through a couple of items.
on page one showed that the portfolio had a balance of approximately $2.17 billion as
compared to September, which was about $2.09 billion, so a slight increase. The days of
maturity on the portfolio are about 244 days. The portfolio had a yield of 3.68% versus
a yield in September of about 3.98% and the portfolio had daily liquidity of 20% and 100
day liquidity of a little over 66%.
The portfolio is in full compliance with the city's investment policy and the city still
invests with priorities of safety, liquidity, and yield.
And that concludes my report this morning.
Thank you, colleagues, questions, comments.
Council member?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Could you talk a little bit about the seasonality of our cash flow?
There's been some reporting that I don't find incredibly accurate, which compares one
quarter to the previous quarter.
Would we be better off comparing at the exact same time every year to year?
Is the seasonality of our, you know, cash flows traditionally in the middle of April,
We receive our property tax, okay, a large chunk.
We also receive a large chunk in the middle of December.
And then between the period of, I would say, mid February to the beginning of March,
we receive a significant amount of our business tax, because that's our business tax renewal.
With regards to the outflows, we obviously pay the Port's debt service in April,
in October so those are pretty big layouts or expenditures as well as our debt service
payments and then we have our regular taxes and biweekly payrolls but as far as the season
out it's pretty consistent because we get a big chunk of cash in the middle of April
and another big chunk in December and that happens every year.
we can move to public speakers calling in the names that sign up for item number five
missus sada olabala kevin dally and derrick barnes if you're in chamber you can come up
to the podium or if you're on zoom please raise your hand to be easily identified okay
chair at this time all names have been called okay i will entertain a motion i'll make the
motion to receive and file thank you we have a motion made by councilmember brown second
on roll councilmember umber under two approve the recommendations of staff and to receive and file this informational report in
committee on roll council members brown aye under I
long I
And chair Ramachandran. Thank you item five passes with four eyes to receive a file this informational report and committee
moving on to open forum
Calling in the names that signed up to speak missus out of allah walla and Kevin Dally
Kevin Dally speaking for myself
myself. I appreciated two weeks ago Bradley Johnson gave a presentation saying his goal
was to take some of the income from the sugar sweetened beverage tax and use it for the
purposes that it was originally planned for. And I think that's great. My wife worked on
getting the tax out there. I would like to look at some other issues that have been approved
by council that where income for the money has been suggested for a certain purpose.
In 2021, the council unanimously approved the reimagining public safety task force with
some recommendations.
And one of those was to use a certain amount of the income from street parking revenue
and from citations to fund OAT traffic services.
And obviously, when we have budget problems, we can't do that.
But I'm hoping that we can put that on the list of being used.
I was glad to see Councilmember Brown's former policy director on that particular recommendation.
Some possibilities are replace bus benches and shelters.
Member Wang is on the A.C. Transit Oakland interagency liaison committee, and I think
she understands that we're removing shelters in the middle of the rainy season for people
who are taking buses.
We're not going to get them put in this season, but maybe for next year we could use some
of the extra income.
Of course, this is also the recommendation that says move parking enforcement to the
Department of Transportation.
And I know that not everyone likes that idea,
but I think we should do both this recommendation
for the money and keep the parking enforcement
in transportation.
Thank you.
One of the things you are comfortable with saying
is that illegal immigrants contribute
to the economic stability of this country.
And that's not necessarily true.
We need to have an opportunity to look at the fact that
not all undocumented immigrants pay taxes,
some work under the table and do not pay income taxes,
some work in off the books jobs.
I don't know what that means.
Illegal immigrants can put economic strains
on state and local budgets
by causing negative fiscal impacts.
The city of New York spent $12 billion
over the next three years on housing, food, health care,
and other securities for illegal immigrants.
Chicago in 2023 spent $361 million
on illegal immigrants having the needs for the same things
I just mentioned, housing education.
Illegal immigrants make up expenses
with the use of welfare, with the use of public education,
significant fiscal costs with the use of emergency
medical services.
So don't come here and say that you are a sanctuary city.
You have an economic responsibility to some people
that you don't give to African-Americans.
And we're going to continue to have this conversation
until you bring a report of the economic impact of being
a sanctuary city.
When that happens, then we can move from there.
but you are making assumptions about your sanctuary
city status doesn't have any impact negatively.
It does.
African-Americans are 9% of unemployment
in the city of Oakland and 14% unemployment
in the city of California.
Low level skilled jobs, Barbara Jordan told y'all.
That's my time, huh, baby?
I'll tell y'all in.
Thank you for your comments, Chair.
That concludes all speakers for Open Forum.
Thank you, everyone.
The meeting is adjourned.