City Council Regular Meeting - May 5, 2026

Transcript

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Good evening. We're going to get started. Welcome to tonight's regularly scheduled May 5th city

council meeting. I would note that it is Cinco de Mayo and really appreciate all of you who would

rather be having queso and margaritas for being here to do budgets with us tonight. It's one of

my personal favorite holidays, international holidays. Sorry Sherry, do you have an after

printed copy of the agenda thank you let's see if i can find mine but it's a little bit hard without

thank you very much we are going to begin with the pledge of allegiance if you'll all please

stand what do we roll the call first oh sorry clearly i didn't have the agenda hang on can we

okay do the roll call really quick council member mauconny here council member riley

Vice Mayor G. here. Mayor Iverson here. And note for the record that Councilmember Hoxie is absent

this evening. And Councilmember Hoxie has an excused absence this evening. Actually I believe

in the last policy and procedure we got rid of excused absence. Is that correct? That is correct.

We misspoke. She is absent. Thank you for the correction. Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under

God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. With that we'll adopt the agenda for the evening.

I'm not aware of any changes. Mayor, members of the City Council, I'd like to remove item H6

from the agenda. It will be back at a later date. Item H6 will be deferred to a later meeting date

and removed from tonight's agenda.

That was the Lazarus contract?

Yeah, that one was, just needed a little more time.

And with that.

To adopt the agenda with that change.

Thank you, do we have a second?

Yes. Go ahead.

Sure.

I'll second it.

Second.

Was there a question?

Okay, all in favor?

Aye. Aye.

With that, we will move to items for the good of the city.

One thing I will, well, I'll do it when we get to later in the item, I see we have Alex Drexel here to do our first item, D1, the Orinda Association annual report. Welcome.

Council members, Mayor, nice to see you.

Yep, the Orinda Association, we keep working on our programs with the SAT, the Fourth of July and the car show.

I would say you've got the report there, it just basically gives a basic explanation

of what we do, but to kind of give you some insights over kind of recently what's been

happening with the association.

Last year we ran a little bit of a deficit overall and that was due to mainly payroll

expenses.

All the other expenses were kept in order and so that's what I've been working on since

taking over in January is kind of getting hold on that.

We redefined all the jobs in the office,

set expectations in terms of kind of performance management.

We had some staffing changes, policies around hours worked

outside of scheduled shifts and things like that.

And so all that has kind of brought

those costs under control.

But I would say that's kind of a little bit

of a financial picture.

Donations were down a little bit last year

and our payroll expenses were up.

And so we've got a new drive in trying to raise more funds.

And then also just tightening up the ship a little bit

in the office is what's been going on.

Other than that, we're just continuing

forward with the programs.

I would say the level of service with SAT over the last year

has been fairly steady.

roughly 110 to 120 rides a month.

So that's just one way.

So we figure about 60 round trips

that are given to a rental residence a month.

And that's been fairly flat.

I think what we want to do, if our fundraising improves,

we want to expand that in terms of the hours that we service.

Right now, it's 9 to 2, Monday through Friday.

We like to expand those hours if the funding's there for it.

So that's just some insight.

I don't know if you guys have any questions

on any of the programs,

but those are the kind of the most recent

kind of things that we've been doing.

I'm sure there are questions.

Does anybody have anything?

Yeah, please.

Nice to see you, Alex, thank you.

And thank you for all the Arundo Association does.

Are you having any kind of special celebration this year?

Isn't it 80 this year, or?

Yeah, we're tentatively planning a pie eating contest.

in front of the the center here so it hasn't been finalized but we thought

that might be fun so yeah. I've been told that councilmember Riley was the

first one to hold her hand up on the pipe. I know who the culprit is in this. I keep

suggesting a water balloon contest. Instead we might participate then.

I had a question about the seniors around town.

I have been hearing from, is it Eloise?

Yes.

Okay.

That recruiting volunteers has been a little bit harder in the last few years, not all

of a sudden, but can you just tell us a little bit about how that's going?

Is it fairly steady?

Is it something that you have any ideas about how we can help support that?

Yeah.

The number of volunteer drivers has been, it's ticked up a bit recently because we've

We've made more of an effort to recruit them.

Like, you know, we'll kind of plug it in the message

from the OA board in the newspaper.

We've gotten a few new drivers that way.

But yeah, it's always a challenge,

especially during the summer months too,

when a lot of the drivers go off

and they're on vacation and whatnot,

but people still have their doctor's appointments.

So, no, any ideas that you have for us

to get more drivers, more volunteers,

you know, I'm totally open for it,

but we push for it any way we can.

Yeah.

And I guess my only other question is,

is there anything that you would like for the city to know?

How can we help you be a good partner?

I know you guys do so much between the paper, the parade,

any feedback that you've got for us as your partners.

Yeah, we're in the middle of our lease negotiation,

so being generous on that front might be nice.

and other than that, just support us any way you can.

Just for seniors around town,

is there any assessment about sort of data-wise

in terms of what the unmet need is?

I know that there were, there was ride requests.

There was data in the report on ride requests.

Is there, were there rides that couldn't, you know,

couldn't be made and...

Yeah, we do stay on top of that number.

Unfilled rides are rare, and so we do track that number.

I don't have it in front of me right now,

but that's an important number we track.

That's not a problem.

So yeah, that's the metric that you put around

anytime where you feel that the supply of rides

is not meeting the demand as you look at that number.

That hasn't been a problem, yeah.

And do you feel like you have enough volunteers?

I know that's something that's always been

a struggle for the various.

Yeah, I mean, we're always looking for drivers,

but we managed to fill the requests.

Oh, I met with the other program.

Oh, the other programs, no.

Yeah, 4th of July.

4th of July and 4th.

So far it's been OK, yeah.

Getting all the volunteers from 4th of July and the car show,

that hasn't been a problem.

Yeah.

That's terrific.

Are there any other questions?

Other than that, thank you for everything you do.

So thank you to the Arinda Association.

It's really existed, I think, a year longer than our city did

in terms of incorporation, right?

And really is a constant threat to all these great programs

in Arinda.

So thank you.

I had one question for the council, though.

I mean, is there any feedback for us, any way

that you think that we could potentially better serve

the community?

I mean, just even ideas around program expansion,

new programs, things like that.

anything worth mentioning at this point?

I think Council Member Hoxim talked to you guys

or somehow the message got to you guys

that it would be great to help seniors

who are participating in your program

with the latest information about fire safety

and how to harden their homes and all that stuff.

It's a ready-made group that comes together.

It would be nice to figure out how to tap that with FireWise

or with, I don't know if the Community Foundation could

help, some kind of.

That makes sense.

Yeah, it's a good channel for reaching out

to at-risk people in Arinda who might need the extra help

and knowing what to do if there's a fire

and to be prepared for it.

So I get it.

Yeah, that's a good suggestion.

I would agree with how I was just going to say doing co-sponsoring or initiating running

a community forum, right?

There's a lot of materials out there.

There's a lot of potential speakers from, you know, whether it's from the city or other

organizations around here, right?

Firewise, FISMO, the material is there.

The question is, you know, helping to get the material in front of individuals who aren't

engaged with it and may be unaware, right?

one of the more vulnerable populations that we've discussed here on the dais is making

sure that seniors are aware and have access. And that's a population that through seniors

around town, you're already plugged into. But also just general community forums. I

think OA has done that in the past with various subjects, public safety. And so this is public

safety, right? So...

Makes sense.

...emergency preparedness, evacuation, wildfire, resilience, all of that.

I also had one thing is you've got the volunteer matching board, which I sort of forget you

guys have, but the schools have volunteer matching.

To the extent we can help direct people to your board and help you promote that it would

be better to have one really good volunteer sort of clearinghouse versus multiple.

So that's something where I was reminded that that's a great resource.

We're probably not doing enough with so I agree.

I do think there's some potential for that program

to be updated.

I can't make any promises, but like, you know,

having it more self-service and online,

almost like a job board versus like a PDF

that's static you download that gets updated

every, you know, six months or something,

I think that, you know, that's gonna help

if we kind of modernize that program a bit

to help you that clearinghouse that you're talking about.

Yeah.

Q, any other questions or comments?

Right, well, thank you so much for coming and presenting

and please say thank you to all of the

grand association staff you guys do an incredible job thank you yeah thank you

thanks our next item D2 is the cancer support community presentation with

Brian Donahue if you'd like to please come up and speak good evening everyone

my name is Andy Dunn I'm the development manager at cancer support community San

Francisco Bay Area that's a mouthful I'll probably just say CSC going

forward. But we're just a non-profit here in Walnut Creek that can be a

valuable resource to any Orinda resident who is affected by cancer. So that could

be a cancer patient, survivor, caregiver, loved one, family member of someone who's

been diagnosed with cancer. So in a nutshell what Cancer Support Community

does is our programs are studies have shown we provide non-medical support

services that studies have shown improve not only quality of life but

health outcomes. Before I go on with with all our programs I just want to give a

couple of numbers for perspective. Last year in the United States alone over 2

million people were diagnosed with cancer. And to kind of help you kind of

visualize that, if you can picture a completely full commercial airline, say

a Southwest flight, that number of people are diagnosed with cancer every hour of

every day in the United States alone. So what we know is that the number of

cancer diagnoses is increasing and that there's a high incidence of mental

health issues in cancer patients and that there's a lack of supportive care.

So we address the supportive care. Fortunately here in the Bay Area all of

the medical centers are recognizing the need of this growing number of cancer

patients and so they're scaling up by expanding their medical centers and

building new cancer centers to try and treat all of the cancer patients that

that are in their department.

And where Cancer Support Community comes in

is that we understand that most of a cancer experience

takes place outside of the doctor's office.

You still need to get childcare for your daughter

to go get your chemo treatment.

You still need to take the trash out.

You still need to cook dinner.

Cancer affects you, it's not just a medical disease,

it affects you as a person.

So we come in and try and address all the ways

that cancer affects you outside of your medical care.

So we say that the first thing that you need to do

after being diagnosed with cancer

is get a medical team and a medical plan that you trust,

but that's not complete cancer care.

You also need to come to us for all of the ways

that we can improve your quality of life

and health outcomes outside

of your actual medical treatment.

And so what do those programs look like?

It's support groups.

Some are for specific cancer types.

Some are specific for caregivers.

Or they're just general support groups.

We also offer individual and family counseling

provided by doctoral level students

who are trained by our clinical staff

on the acute needs of people dealing with cancer.

We also have exercise classes like yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates.

And those programs are not only beneficial

to cancer patients, but those are actually

pretty common programs for caregivers to attend

because that one thing that we try to stress

is that to be a good caregiver,

you have to take care of yourself too.

And that includes taking care of yourself

physically and mentally.

We also provide a wide range of educational workshops

provided by experts in their field,

whether it's dealing with the side effects

of your medical treatment,

or we have nutritionists who specialize

in how to have sort of an oncology nutrition regimen.

We also offer emergency financial assistance

because cancer is a very expensive disease to treat,

and there are also outside expenses that we can support.

so you might be taking time off work

so you don't have income.

So we can provide financial support to pay your rent

or whatever that might be.

So it's just, it's very comprehensive

non-medical support services.

And we have a lot of programs.

I could spend the rest of my time

talking about all the different services that we provide

and it's important for you to know that.

But really the heart of what CSC is,

is the peer support that people get in their support groups

or in their yoga class from people

who are going through a similar experience

that they just can't get.

They can't get that connection with people

who don't really understand it.

Someone in our grief and loss group worded it

that it's called cancer support community,

not cancer support center,

and that the community is a big part of it.

I feel like the word community gets tossed around a lot,

but really what makes something a community

is something shared and the profound experience

that the entire family and the cancer patient

is dealing with after a cancer diagnosis.

And the support that they get from the people

who are attending their programs

is really kind of a magical thing.

And really what CSC is, it's a place to be

whatever you need to be at that moment.

I heard an anecdote from someone

who was in his caregiver support group

that it was very somber and quiet.

And that in the next room over,

his wife was in the patient support group.

And all they could hear was laughter.

And that's a lot of what CSC is.

People just kind of think bleak and dark and sad

after a cancer diagnosis.

And that's true, but that's why we

can be this respite from that in the sanctuary,

in this place to really kind of have a deep relationship

with people who are going through something like you.

So that camaraderie and that warm and fluffy is important,

but so are our credentials.

We've been around since 1990.

We have the highest rating from all the charity Watch Dogs.

We have very strong relationships

with all the medical centers.

They all understand that our services are part of complete

care for their patients.

So they support us in a number of ways.

They all, I mentioned that we have educational workshops

by experts.

It's the doctors and the nutritionists

and the social workers at all these medical centers

that host our workshops.

Obviously patient referrals is very important.

We have relationships with all of the medical staffs

to make sure that they are letting their patients know

that outside of their treatment,

they should come to us for what we provide.

And also they all fund us.

Everything that we offer is free of charge

to be accessible to anybody,

and we are all privately funded.

So medical centers, local companies, foundations,

and just a large number of individuals fund us every year.

Another great example of the medical community

understanding that our role is integral

and complete patient care

is when the new UCSF John Muir Cancer Center

opened a couple of years ago.

They gave us an office in their center

where we have a full-time patient navigator

who connects all of their patients

with all of our services,

as well as other resources that she's familiar with.

So that's Julianne there, that's our patient navigator,

talking to a John Muir patient, that's art.

So he's now, we call them participants,

but people who attend our programs are participants,

so he's a John Muir patient and CSU participant.

And I mentioned that medical centers are scaling up

to meet this growing need of cancer diagnoses.

And if we are being recognized as being part

of complete care, we need to scale up as well.

So we're right at this start of a great period of growth

where we're trying to double the number of people

that we serve, increase the variety of programs

that we offer, try and reach more people.

Because while we served 3,000 people last year,

a lot more than that in the Bay Area are diagnosed

cancer. And so we have kind of a two-way approach to that. We want to grow

physically and virtually. And so the nucleus of this is our new physical

site which is this is an aerial photo of our new our future home which is right

next to the Lafayette Reservoir. You might see a big construction site there

and that's that's us. That's where we're building our new home. So we were

donated six acres of land right here next to the Lafayette Reservoir to build

this healing campus because we know that nature is actually also really

important to healing. So we're gonna build a beautiful center that's gonna

have a demonstration kitchen and a yoga studio and I mentioned that you know an

entire family is affected by by cancer and we have a program for

children whose parents have cancer and right now they just play in our parking

lot but there's gonna be an actual you know kind of studio for them as well as

a playground for them to do their kind of play based exercises to kind of help

them process what they're going through but it's also just gonna be a beautiful

setting there's gonna be walking paths and gardens and it's it's just gonna be

a valuable valuable resource for all of La Marinda and beyond we want people to

enjoy the the setting that we are creating for everyone. So we want we want

just everyone to know that this new this new place is going and it's gonna be

available for everyone. So we made a lot of progress. This capital campaign was a

thirty million dollar project but we've raised at this point twenty nine and a

half million. So we're basically there we're in the home stretch. It's really

exciting to see this thing that's been a vision for a long time actually become

reality. I was walking around on the second floor of of the building that's

up now and I standing where my office is gonna be I was pretty cool. So just kind

of a timeline here we had a grand groundbreaking ceremony last year

construction began last summer and the construction will be completed by the

end of the year and we'll have a ribbon cutting ceremony early in 2027 and it

it would be wonderful to have the city of Aranda there

and participate in that.

Because even though technically the address is Lafayette,

I mean it's right here for all of Aranda residents to enjoy.

So I mentioned that our organization name

is Cancer Support Community San Francisco Bay Area

because that's a mouthful.

Because that's part of, we're part of a national network

of cancer support communities around the country.

We all operate independently.

It's, you know, basically a franchise model.

We have our own board, finance and governance.

But we're just part of a network

that can sort of collaborate, learn best practices.

And so cancer support,

there's 39 cancer support communities around the country.

And they're all looking at us,

that this is really the future

of what cancer support services looks like.

And we're really kind of paving the way

for addressing all of the non-medical needs

that anybody affected by cancer will experience.

So, we're really excited to be entering this new phase,

and I'm really excited to share this with all of you.

And I know other people are excited here too.

It was a two-part presentation.

I'm on staff at Cancer Support Community,

but my friend here, Brian, is just a local resident

and a volunteer and just supporter of what we're doing,

so he's gonna share more about why he's involved.

Well, hello, and thank you for having us.

By way of introduction, I am a 40-year Rotarian.

And I came to realize that during those 40 years,

I'm a retired trial lawyer.

And I had one of the biggest joys of my life

was having a lawsuit with Wilson-Sancini, the mayor's

old law firm.

And my figuring is that we were there at the same time.

So my personal story about my wife

had a pretty serious bout of cancer.

And I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't understand it.

I didn't want to.

I mean, it was just beyond me.

And so I was useless, feckless, and a typical idiot husband.

And so what we're trying to do is get the word out to everyone

that you know, everyone in Arendelle,

that these remarkable services are available for free,

for not just the patient, the caregiver, family members.

And it's just a really amazing, beautiful thing.

And so we, Andy and I, and Libby have made 15 presentations

to Rotary Clubs throughout the district.

There's been a fundraising aspect,

which the Orinda Rotary Club was most generous in supporting

this effort.

In fact, I was going to mention, if you're

looking for volunteers, hit the Rotary Club of Orinda,

for heaven's sakes.

So I'm going to quickly go through the slides

in the interest of time.

Basically, this is a different angle of the building.

I took a photograph of the construction site yesterday.

It really is, in my 40 years, this

is the most worthy project that I have ever heard of.

So what we've done in this campaign

a three-legged approach. Let's start with the leg in the middle. There's a matching funds program

which has been very successful. An anonymous donor is matching every donation made by May 30th.

There's a wonderful, wonderful, the first leg on the left is the walk for hope. My analogy is my

My favorite day of the year was the St. Patrick's Parade

in Fifth Avenue in New York City.

That's what this is like.

It's a celebration of health, all types of fairs and groups

coming out, sharing what's going on.

It really makes you feel good about this area

that we live in, in La Merinda.

And then, God willing, the third leg on the right

will be the Gatsby's Extravagantly Extravaganza,

which will take place at the Dollar House in Walnut Creek

to celebrate and to recognize all the people

who have helped us do this.

Quickly, this was our rotary team at the walk.

This is the extravaganza.

You know, I'm sure everybody, the city council,

would all look elegant in these nice gatsby-like dresses

and top hats.

And imagine you drive up, and what's the password?

And the guy says, whatever you say, hey, that's the password.

You can go.

So it's going to be totally crazy with fancy cars

and all that kind of stuff.

Coming around the home turn here is just not advancing.

Is it not advancing?

It's the green button, right?

green button. Oh, that's the last slide. Okay. So, I think that we'd like our purpose today

is to get the word out to Arinda, because in every talk that we have given, the last

question I ask is, hey, if you, a family member, a loved one, a neighbor, someone who's dear

to you, if you've had to deal with cancer, raise your hand.

Invariably, every hand goes up.

I probably asked this crowd right here in this room.

We probably get the same reaction.

So this is huge.

This is a huge benefit to Orinda,

if you're thinking Orinda.

So with that, I'll thank you again.

And he's got a little baby at home.

So we've got to get him.

Before you guys leave, I'll just say, are there any?

Oh, yeah, I'm sorry.

Sure, questions?

If our residents, either, or us folks here,

folks watching at home want to learn more,

either about your programming

or want to support these efforts, where do they go?

Our website is www.cancersupport.net.

Yeah, that's the best place to start.

Is there any other questions or comments?

I just had a, oh sorry, I had a quick comment.

Is that okay?

I just wanted to say thank you for everything you're doing.

I was extremely sort of impressed

by the scope of the programming,

but even more awed by sort of the heart and the soul

and the love that clearly is the foundation for all of this.

So I found your presentation very touching and thank you.

I just, Brian, your energy is so infectious.

We'd spoken a few times at Rotary events and at The Car Show.

And I think you're right.

I wish every single person in Orinda

understood how wonderful this building and this resource

is going to be.

So thank you for coming and helping us.

You know, if there's any other organization that would like us

to come out and do a show, we'd be happy to get the word

out any way, any time, any place.

Thank you very much.

I really appreciate it.

And thank you for coming to do this.

Good question.

Yeah, please.

Quick question.

Sure.

Was Community Support Center under a former name ever?

Yeah, it used to be called the Wellness Center.

Some people know it as that, yeah.

Thank you.

Okay, thanks again.

Well, thank you so much for coming.

Okay.

The last item, we don't have a speaker,

but May, there are a few heritage months in May.

It is also Jewish American Heritage Month,

but we're gonna do that one at our next meeting

because Council Member Hoxie would have like

to have been here for that.

But I just didn't want people to think

that we weren't going to do that.

It is Asian American Pacific Islander Month

and I just wanna say a few words

that Arenda's AAPI community is a vital part

of what makes our city thrive.

From our schools and local businesses

to civic leadership in the arts,

our AAPI residents contribute enormously

to the character and quality of life we all enjoy here.

AAPI families have long been deeply invested in our schools,

our PTAs and youth programs, helping make Orinda

one of the most sought after communities

in Contra Costa County.

We also have AAPI entrepreneurs and professionals

contributing to a vibrant, diverse and resilient Orinda.

And this month, we honor both the history and the future.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

have faced real challenges and persevered

with remarkable strength.

And we reaffirm Orinda's commitment to being a welcoming

and inclusive community for all.

So thank you.

And with that, unless other words, questions or comments?

I just want to thank you for your words, Mayor.

Thank you.

With that, we will go to public forum on the agenda.

I have a speaker card from Nick Warnoff,

who I believe decided that he was not going to speak.

Just double-checking.

Jeff Blum.

Mayor, council members,

it's not very controversial

what I'm going to talk about this evening.

We just had recycling.

I mean, you've seen it all along the side.

Recycle smart.

Well, I often have a tear about that

because it doesn't seem to be working in my viewpoint.

The question is, how do you measure success

in a program like this?

I think it's great that it gets people

to get the stuff out of their house,

but the problem that I've seen is oftentimes

people know when their trash day is,

but no matter how many times you send that notice,

they forget that the reuse day is the day before.

So what happens is stuff is put out on trash day

and it goes straight to the landfill.

So I've mentioned this before in emails,

but I think we need to move the reuse day

to the same day as trash day

and just have that truck come around and pick up

because it's not recycling if it ends up in the landfill.

I mean, I saw some perfectly good office chairs

out on trash day, and those are going to landfill.

The other thing that's out there,

and there's not much we can do to change that,

is what I believe is recycle, which is repurposing things,

and what's acceptable in this program.

Basically, I like to look at it as,

other than no mattresses and things

like that, which should be obvious not to use.

It's something that you would normally sell,

but you don't have time to sell it, so put it out for reuse.

If there happens to be a stain on something or a rip

or something and it's a perfectly good item,

that's not reused.

They don't want that.

They want things that are basically in condition

that could be sold.

I don't think we can do anything to change that.

I just point that out because there's

a lot of things that could be reused

by people that are in need.

especially refugees or things like that clothing that might be torn might be a perfectly warm

jacket for somebody, but it wouldn't necessarily be accepted. So again, my recommendation is if we

can move it so the reuse day is the same day as trash pickup day and then landfill day is the next

day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to come and speak to us. And then next

Next I've got, for giving on the name, Shiraj Kathrani.

Hello, this is Shiraj Kathrani.

I'm here because I wanted to introduce myself

with the city council of Orinda and I'm glad

that I'm seeing a completely women's council.

I'm not sure where the fourth one is.

So fifth one is I'm running for the state assembly,

district 16 representing this area.

And I'm here to introduce myself.

One thing I wanted to highlight,

a lot of the residents don't realize that each vote,

the value impact of each vote is $19,000.

When you divide by number of people

representing the state budget,

you can easily get that number.

And I want people to realize and make sure

that everybody votes this time.

One important point I want to highlight

as well is 65% of races in Contra Costa County

are going unchallenged.

And I want any people from around here

who want to run for office in fall,

I would be happy to support all of them.

Thank you.

And I'd also like to thank you

for taking the time to come and talk to us.

And I would take any concerns

that as a city council want from the state representative.

I would really happy to take your feedback.

Thank you very much.

Unfortunately with public forum where we can't do comments,

but hopefully your contact information will be available

or easy to locate for people who wanna give feedback.

I'll leave some here.

That would be great, thank you.

That's all I've got for speaker cards for public forum.

Do we have anybody else from the audience?

Please come on up.

And if you don't mind just stating your name when you start

and three minutes is great.

Sorry, I think I neglected to do the speaker card.

Part of this, thank you everyone.

Good evening, my name's Kirsten Slossen.

I'm here tonight with my husband, Alex.

I've lived in Arrinda on and off since 1995,

and now currently with our two children

over on Hillcrest Drive,

and we are here tonight to ask

that the City Council revisit, excuse me,

Arrinda's mechanical equipment noise ordinance.

Arrinda's ordinance requires mechanical equipment

such as residential HVAC units to be screened

such that sound is 45 decibels or lower at the property line.

That standard is extraordinarily low.

To put it in context, 45 decibels

is roughly the sound of a kitchen fan.

When you look at neighboring communities,

Orinda is clearly an outlier.

Many nearby cities, Moraga, Lafayette, Walnut Creek,

Pleasant Hill, operate under a general reasonableness

standard rather than a fixed decibel cap

or allow materially higher noise levels,

particularly during daytime hours.

By comparison, Orinda's standard is unusually restrictive

and disconnected from the realities

of modern residential equipment.

The practical consequence of this is important.

Most modern HVAC units operate

in the 60 to 70 decibel range,

even when properly installed and permitted.

And in Aranda, as in most hillside

and residential communities, HVAC units are commonly located

alongside yards or near property lines.

The unavoidable result is that a large percentage

of Aranda homeowners are technically out of compliance

with this ordinance, even those with recently

or newly permitted systems.

Historically, this has not been a significant issue

because Arendans are good neighbors.

People work issues out informally.

Reasonableness, communication, and courtesy

have governed how we live together.

That has been our and my experience for decades.

In our case, however, a neighbor has chosen to pursue

strict enforcement of the ordinance as written.

We have not ignored the issue.

We have spent thousands of dollars

mitigation effort measures, including sound panels and blankets, substantially reducing noise levels.

When the city measured, there was no discernible impact from our units at the neighbor's patio,

roughly 40 feet away. Still, enforcement is being pursued because the ordinance sets an

absolute 45 decibel requirement. What this experience has made clear is that the ordinance

itself, not neighbor behavior, is the problem. It does not reflect how homes are built, how HVAC

system's function or how Arinda residents have historically co-existed. We respectfully

ask that the City Council refer this matter to staff to review the ordinance and to address

at a future City Council meeting. Let's bring Arinda into alignment with its peer communities

before selective enforcement turns a technical standard into a widespread and unnecessary

problem for homeowners across our great city. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you very much and again we're not able to comment but appreciate you taking the time

to come and speak to us tonight.

Thank you.

Someone left a sparkling water up here also.

Not sure.

Free to good home.

Is there anybody else from the public who'd like to come and speak during public forum?

Seeing none we will close that and we will go to council member reports and city manager

reports.

Does anybody have any reports they would like to share?

is there an infrastructure subcommittee?

Do we do that one?

We, I mean, there were a couple different things

that we attended.

There was, one thing I did wanna just give

a little bit of background.

I know that the vice mayor and I were both

at the Cal City's East Bay division meeting last Thursday.

There was a very interesting presentation on e-bikes.

I took detailed notes,

which I'm going to circulate along with.

I'm waiting for Sam to send the PowerPoint.

We got a presentation from a professor from, I think,

Sonoma State, who talked about, showed us pictures and slides

of e-bikes, and really brought home

a few different takeaways for me from the presentation,

were, one, this is a really tough problem to solve.

It is very difficult to distinguish different capabilities

of e-bikes from the e-bikes themselves.

Attaching stickers with the different classes

is tricky because you can just go online and buy them.

Parents, children, policymakers all

need a lot more education about just the logistics

of this very new technology, basically.

And while there are something like 12 bills

in the state legislature, it's unclear that any of them,

other than one or two, are gonna make it through

or get signed, and even then, it's unclear

that they will solve the problem.

But there is a lot of efforts towards education.

Some surrounding communities have done things

like regional, educational videos and collaborated

with their schools, beyond.

Anyway, there's slides, there's information, I'll share it,

but I just wanted to say

it was a really informative presentation.

I don't know if the vice mayor wants to add anything.

No, I had also shared with the city manager

that not only was it a good presentation,

but it was incredibly informative,

like Council Member Mulconney said in a very concerning way

in the sense that if I already thought it was a big problem,

it's even more than I thought.

And so I think that the education factor

has got to be incredibly important,

because I just am convinced that many parents, even ones that

are being very good parents, can't possibly

understand all of the issues associated with these.

And from my own observations here in Orinda

lately in my own neighborhood, the amount of usage

just seems to be growing and growing.

And watching what a lot of kids are doing is very worrisome.

So I think it's going to remain a big issue.

And I think sharing the information

continuing to consider you know what we as the council and the city can do to

to help the community is going to be important thank you are there any other

and by the way I would just note that the city manager has been working on

this for more than a year with some of our partners like by Keith Bay and our

legislative reps and really appreciate the fact that it is not just a matter

of passing laws it's a it's a multifaceted problem and solution and

really appreciate you guys sharing what you've learned that's great were there

any other anything to share I just had a few quick announcements because we're

not doing items for the good of the city but may is also mental health

awareness month you've probably seen a lot of things about that but wanted to

note that it is also teacher appreciation week right now if you know a

teacher appreciate them and I believe we have five more shopping days to Mother's

day. With that, I will turn it over to the city manager.

Well, I was actually going to talk about, I'm just going to say Arindan Action Day.

I know the mayor and I were both there and I don't know if you want to give a little

report, but it was just greatly attended and I want to thank our Parks and Rec staff for

all, I know they're about, there you go. Directed from back there for all their participation

with that and then it was also very well attended. You can report on other things.

And I just wanted to comment many of our staff were there and council member

Makhani and I were at East Bay Med's annual Ward 3 presentation at the former

CalShake site. So it was very exciting and they gave us a tour and not only

talked to us about East Bay Med shared many of the items that they always share

every year in terms of update, that was important, and we were able to share with them how much

we want to continue coordinating with them, and our partners from Moraga were there as

well, but it was also very nice to get an update on the forthcoming new programming

at the site.

And two dates to keep in mind, there's going to be some sort of soft opening event on,

I think May 30th and I'm going for memory here and I believe their first show is on

June 5th. So go in. If you're interested, residents can go and look at the Siesta Valley

Bowl website and find out more.

That's very exciting. Thank you. And with that, city manager, please.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor, members of City Council. Just a reminder for the council and

the public that we are having our leash cutting ceremony on May 16th to celebrate the opening

of the recently completed dog park facility

at Arendelle Oaks open space.

Just letting everybody know that the scaffolding

will be coming down off the library if it hasn't already.

Do they notice scaffolding?

The tile project is now complete.

Very excited about that.

And we have installed new lights at Wilder Sports Field.

They are operational.

We have legislative letters heading out the door,

both locally and regionally.

Those are many of the items the bills

are moving into appropriations in the next week or so.

So we are prepared to provide more letters if necessary

to make sure our agenda and legislative platform

are being heard in Sacramento.

I attended the open house for MOFD this weekend

at station 45 and got an opportunity to walk around

and see all the great collaboration that's going on

between the nonprofit community, MOFD and the cities.

That was very lovely to be there.

and then we have tomorrow evening we have the two by two school committee meeting which is

council members Malcani and Riley attending thank you and lots of good news there with that we will

move on to the consent calendar I had two items I'd like to pull but let me just ask the other

council members were there any items that you would like to pull for further discussion yeah

please council member ryan um i forget what number it is but i'd like to pull the one on um

orchard uh h h seven that was on my list as well thank you so i wanted to pull h nine but i promise

it's really really brief me too and it was going to be brief anybody else i'd like to pull h 10

Is, uh, H10 is which one, right?

I'm sorry, what was the, uh, which one was that?

That was school year.

It's the, uh, it's the pavement, um, uh, perfect, the pavement project.

Great.

Anything else?

With that, uh, do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar, H1 through 6, H8, and

H, I believe we have an 11.

H6 was pulled.

Or was...

Oh, I'm sorry, you're right.

You're right.

Uh, H1 through 5, H8, and H11.

And do we have a motion to approve those in one action?

So moved.

Second.

All in favor.

Aye.

And with that, City Manager, would you mind beginning with H7, and I would just note for

the record again that H6 on the Lager software was pulled to a future meeting, H7 is to decrease

the prima facie speed limit on Orchard Road.

I believe our city engineer will be able to provide answer any questions or perhaps make a small presentation if you so desire.

I'm assuming you might want a little bit of a small presentation.

We were hoping for a small presentation. How prescient of you.

I do have a small presentation.

Good evening Mayor and Council members.

So in anticipation of potential questions I put a few slides together just to give a little background and walk you through it.

So, tonight the request here in front of you is to reduce the

Thamafasya's speed limit of 25 miles per hour on Orchard Road to 15 miles per hour,

and that applies to the entire length of Orchard Road which

starts and ends of Moraga Way, so we can address it as the north end of Orchard and then the

southern end of the fire station on Muragawa. So a little background why we are here tonight

is primarily the Archer Road community came to TSAC, our Traffic Safety Advisory Committee,

and requested for traffic calming measures throughout the street. And their reasoning

for it was that there is a large number of cut through vehicles that come through there

and excess speed during commuter hours and at the same time students try to go through

to school and also there is an existing stop sign at the intersection of Orchard Road and

Brookside Road and we have gotten multiple complaints of people ignoring to follow the

law of stopping at the stop sign. So those are the primary safety concerns that originated

and then on top of as a request they asked for no left on sign of Moraga way on the north

end of Arshad. I don't want to note on the south side there is a existing no right turn

on Arshad at the morning peak hour which is 7 to 9 a.m. when you're coming northbound

from Moraga towards the Morinabad station.

So similar request was put in for this one.

And in addition, they had other requests for speed cushions,

tripping, signing additions, and all those kind of things.

So after the initial review, because of the no left-hand

sign request, we initiated a traffic study.

Once TSSAC had an opportunity to review the request.

And when the study did their counts and analyzed,

They really didn't recommend a no-left-hand sign.

Their data provided only a low percentage

of cut-through traffic.

So the sign idea was not recommended.

But alternatively, they also reviewed the speeds

that they observed.

And the southbound direction did have a higher percentage

of speeding, particularly during the morning peak hours.

their recommendation also included that the city consider changing the speed

limit person to the California Vehicle Code section 2 2 3 5 8. I'll go a little

more detail into what that section refers to in a minute. So because of that

recommendation we took it back to TSAC and the NAT and they both looked at it

and they both were actually in support of further studies. When we got to that

point it kind of shifted slightly. It became, you know, from a neighborhood traffic calming

request it became more of a regulatory sign change and speed limit change. So we had to

follow established protocol and how we approached that. So after we got support from TSAC and

the NIT to move forward and continuing to explore that, the city basically hired the

a traffic consultant to do what we call like an ENTS study

engineering and traffic survey, basically.

Or we also call it as a speed survey.

So yeah, I think I'm losing track of it.

Give me one second.

So the ENTS kind of relates to a few different sections

within the California Vehicle Code.

But the primary way the survey is used

is on arterials and collector streets.

So when we do the study, we basically

understand what the speeds on the roadways are.

And they collect all the speed data,

usually done during non-commute hours,

because the data they want to collect,

they don't want it to be influenced by congestion.

So that data is taken then, and they get the 85th percentile

of the speed on that observed speed.

And that defines what the posted limit on that roadway

ends up being.

So for example, we have Camino Pablo.

We have 40 miles per hour and 13 segments of Camino Pablo.

And then further south, when you go into Moragawa,

it becomes 35.

Those are all continuously assessed and updated

as needs change.

Now, that's only done for collectors and arterial.

Neighborhoods trees doesn't come under that

until we start looking at it from either this kind

of a request or a safety concern that we are aware of.

So in this case, because the safety was brought in

and the speeds observed were higher,

we proceeded with the same ENT as.

But we looked at it from a slightly different lens

in which there is the, as you can see here

in the slide in front of you, sorry about the lot of words

in that. But the third bullet point there, that's the section that this particular study

is leaning into, which basically allows the speed to be changed from 25 to 15 miles per

hour if there is reason to believe that although the observed speeds are higher, the existing

conditions of the roadway doesn't support higher speeds. Why this section was looked

that is because when they did the ENTI study,

the speeds observed were actually closer to 24 miles

per hour, which pretty much lines with the posted speed

limits there.

But when you add the safety constraints

that they were against, the recommendation

from the traffic engineer is to consider reducing the speed

limit.

Now, I do want to mention, Orchard Road actually

has a few different warning signs

for 15 miles per hour along the coast because of how tight

the curves are and also the roadway is in a position where there is no shoulders for

the most part and students do walk along the roadway to access the school bus that actually

comes through that roadway.

So that's one of the primary criteria that's influenced the study too.

The study itself was connected back in February and we looked at it as two separate segments.

The first segment is between the north intersection up

to Gloria Tabula word, and then the second segment

is Gloria Tabula word to the south intersection

at Moraga way.

Both observed similar speed limits.

I believe the 85th percentile for one was 24

and the other one was 25.

But both segments also met the criteria

as established in the vehicle code 22358.4.a.1.

As I mentioned before, these are the primary reasons

that were cited in the report.

The roadway is a local residential street

with one lane in each direction, narrow pavement width,

and predominantly residential frontage,

horizontal curvature, limited side distance,

and frequent residential driveway access.

pedestrian activity and lacks continuous pedestrian

facilities and portions of the corridor.

So due to these reasons,

they were able to recommend the 15 miles per hour sign.

As this is a regulatory speed change,

it requires city council approval

and we have to post a new signs

and replace any existing signs.

So hence the staff report in front of you.

Staff is recommending that the city council adopt

resolution 22-26 to decrease the prima facie speed limit

of 25 miles per hour to 15 miles per hour

on Archer Road between Moragawea and Gloritabola Ward,

and also between Gloritabola Ward and Moragawea

on the south side.

Thank you.

With that, I'm happy to answer any other questions.

Who has got questions for staff?

Can you repeat again why there was a no to the left hand turn?

I couldn't understand, or couldn't hear you.

Could you repeat?

Yeah, the primary reason is they did not observe.

Tell me exactly where that is again.

It's just the end of it, are you talking about?

Right, so it is the north end of Orchard Road, so just south of Overhill.

Okay, so you're on north and then you're, are you driving towards Moraga?

Yeah, you're going southbound on Moraga way, making a left on Orchard.

The primary concern was that during heavy traffic times, that is cut through traffic

that goes through there.

But the study data, which used two or three different data points didn't really result

significant traffic that they observed. That's primarily the reason. They didn't

have too many cars cutting through like it was mentioned. Okay, okay. But what

time was the study done? What time of day? This was the original study that was

seven to nine in the morning. Oh so we didn't see that study. We only saw two

studies. Right, thank you for the question. So there are two separate

studies like I said the initial study focused on the original traffic calming

request and they were looking at what are the criteria to have a no left hand

side. The second study is strictly related to the ENTS. Okay maybe I want to see

that study sometime but I don't know if I can. Yeah we can share that. Other

questions for Steph. I had one and that is if you'd mentioned that there are

already slow to 15 signs at the sharper curved parts of it, when I looked at it

on a map it looked like there was a really long straight part that we're

going to be also dropping to 15. I'm wondering how you what the analysis was

to not just limit the speed limit of 15 to the curvy parts of the road and to

leave the straight part at 25. Yeah, so the current signs are actually not a

regulatory sign. They are warning signs to ask drivers to consider slowing down

because of the curve coming in. This will be actually an enforceable posted

regulatory 15 mile per hour sign. That's the difference. The reason it wasn't

segmented too much is because the entirety of Glorita is close to one

and a quarter mile length and the first segment between the north side and

Glorita is about nine tenths of a mile and the other segment is about half a

mile. With that there is also sections in between where I mentioned the Brookside

Road also has a stop intersection. So changing the speed limits within that

The entire stretch over multiple times will confuse drivers

and focus, so they probably will not follow the changes.

So that's primarily the reason for doing it

as at the entire segment.

I mean, we did separate it as two separate segments

because Gloria gets a clear definitive separation,

but the recommendation came same for both sides.

That was exactly the question I was asking.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Now I have questions that we're discussing.

Two questions actually.

One is, have we done this on other roads in Aranda?

Not recently, but we do have Lias Peral between Camino,

Sabrante, and the El Gavilan Road.

That entire segment is posted at 15 miles per hour.

It was done back when County was looking at this,

but it likely qualifies with the same reasoning behind that.

And the reason I'm asking is, I assume

we didn't send a postcard or something or notify residents

that we were planning this.

And so I'm wondering, do we think

that any Orchard Road residents would object to it?

I mean, I would assume that they would be happy

that there were slower speeds, but I'm not sure actually.

Yeah, so as this originated as a traffic calming request,

whenever we get one of those, we do establish a neighborhood action team,

and 80, um, which basically one person takes the lead in communicating city

staff, but they do have contacts of rest of the neighborhood folks and they

share information between them. So a fair number of residents are aware of

this. Um, I cannot speak for every resident in that neighborhood. Um, but

as far as the speed limit change itself, it's a more procedural thing that you

It's pretty good.

You know, if there was opposition or it sounds to me that the neighborhood action team was

mostly supportive and in fact driving this at TSAC.

Yeah, they fully supported the idea, TSAC fully supports the idea, and on top of it,

they've asked for some more striping and time changes that are also being looked at.

Okay, thank you.

That's helpful.

any other questions? Let me just quickly open it up to the public to see if anybody from

the public would like to speak on this. Yes, please come on up. It needs to be at the microphone

so we can get you on the recording. And because we're also on Zoom tonight, so thank you and

please just say your name. We'll ask you to limit comments to three minutes.

Oh, thank you. So, again, my name is Dr. Helena Herschel and I live on Orchard Road. And what

not been mentioned in this is that we can't get out of our driveways. And I have another

Orchard Road person here because they're blind and they're actually a trap. So that the traffic

comes through and they don't stop and we can't see them because they're coming over a little

bump, and they're kind of using Orchard Road as a racetrack, mostly the high school kids.

And it's become such that we can't get out of our home between, oh, I don't know,

3, 3.30 to about 4.30 or 5. And we had actually asked for them to put a sign to not turn down

that street because it's so terrible. I think the 50 mile an hour recommendation is a good start.

I don't think it's going to solve everything, but I think it's a really good start,

particularly if it's enforced. Because people are going down, and we took

many videos showing the speed, and they're going down 40, 50 miles an hour, just like, you know,

as kind of like, you know, kids do, right?

So thank you for taking my comments.

Thank you.

Would anybody else like to speak on this matter?

OK, seeing none, we will close that and bring it up

for discussion and deliberation.

Would anybody like to lead off?

I actually might just say one quick word, which

is just that I happened to sit in on a TSEC meeting when

this was early in its process.

And the anecdotes from other neighbors

were very similar about how many scary things

about kids and pets and you know,

I'm very reluctant to try to break

all of our residential streets

because of high schoolers taking shortcuts.

I kind of feel like we should fix

Moraga Way and not make every street

other than Moraga Way unlivable.

But this one I do recall was what the traffic report said.

It was, it's twisty, there's blind turns, it's narrow.

So I just wanted to support that I've heard many more stories

that are someone who would see what was presenting.

No, thank you for that.

That's helpful because I wanted to make sure

the residents on that street supported this.

It sounds like they really do.

And they were the impetus for this.

It makes sense as an initial measure, I think I supported.

And I would say we should also just keep an eye

the area right and see if this does improve things or you know. I'm actually

concerned that we haven't heard from the residents. I think it's a small action

team and it makes me nervous that we haven't talked to everybody. That voice

isn't here tonight. It's always been an issue. That street's always been an issue.

It's extremely dangerous during the school commute hours. I didn't feel like

this this survey was persuasive at all only thing that's persuasive about the

subjective comments I'm just not ready for this I need more information I'm

okay with supporting it but the problem is gonna be enforcement I you know it's

we could we could lower the speed limit everywhere in the community and because

quite honestly we do have a speeding problem all over the place but you know

maybe maybe some well-timed enforcement will help you know but I you know I I'm

very familiar with this street it's not far away from where I live and I you

know I understand the concerns so you know I I don't again I don't have an

issue with it it's just I think whether it's really going to be effective or not

kind of depends on how much enforcement we're able to to show. I was initially

very worried for the same reason that Councilmember Riley said of not you know

not hearing from everybody not sure if this was widely supported but one thing

I've come to feel very strongly about is that the four or five of us are not the

right people to be making engineering decisions and traffic decisions

especially when we have an entire traffic committee that goes through

multiple hearings where the neighbors are invited and they come and their

neighborhood team comes to talk so those forums are happening before we see

items but also we have got to rely on the engineering recommendations because

which neighbors are the loudest or the most persuasive or the most involved is

a terrible way to make traffic engineering decisions. The four or five of us, using our

opinions and experiences a terrible way to make decisions, I really feel like we've got

to be pretty disciplined about following the engineering recommendations unless there's

a compelling reason to go a different direction. I think like the no left turn on Ivy, we had

that compelling, that feeling that there was a genuine disagreement and a community value

But for the most part, in this case, I felt like there was both a really good TSAT process

and engineering data.

So even though it went against my sort of gut level what I would have wanted to do,

I am prepared to support it because I want to follow what the people who do this for

a living recommend as the correct solution and support it by data.

I don't know if we have consensus.

Does anybody want to make a motion?

Or keep talking?

I want another comment now let's keep. Yeah, I'm going to piggyback on council or vice mayor.

She's thought that enforcement is the underlying answer and it seems like we should be trying

to enforce the 25 mile an hour before we reduce the speed limit. And I get the point that

that you don't think I'm qualified

to make an engineering decision and I'm not trying to,

but I'm asking for more information

and I think I'm entitled to it.

I think that I just, on the enforcement issue,

I think that's true.

I think it's always a challenge with to get,

especially our younger, newer drivers

to abide by rules of all kinds.

But I do think that, you know, the reason we have these traffic calming measures in

the first place, the reason we even have speed limits is they do have an intern effect, right?

And so I think that a speed sign that is 15, you know, help stop people from driving 40,

right?

Maybe they'll still be driving 25, but it will help stop them from driving 40 and 50

the hills, like the comment reflected. I think it's worth doing and keeping an eye on. I was

concerned as to whether or not the residents of Orchard Road, I think that's a very valid concern.

I think we can both adhere to the recommendations or rely on the recommendations of the experts,

but also to the extent we do hear a lot from the community that's what we're here for and that's

our voice and I think those two things are compatible and I think that you know I hear

your concerns Councilmember Riley and I just between the Mayor's representations of what she

saw at the TSAT committee and the representations that we did have this this residence that led

this and I see that we have a couple residents here who did come to speak. We didn't get

a lot of opposition. Sometimes we do, especially when a neighborhood community is involved.

They tend to, if it's something they're monitoring, they tend to know that it's on the agenda.

And I would say if we do get a large number of residents opposing this, especially the

ones that live on Archer Road, I would want it to come back and reconsider it.

changing signs it's not you know a drum as dramatic a change as as you know

putting in speed bumps or stripes or things like that and I would want it it

could come back so for all those reasons I'm willing to support it and move

forward and I don't want to cut off any commentary but otherwise I would make

a motion great point about changing the signs you may recall I think we were all

on Commission when the no red flag day signs needed a correction and and so

that's a that's a good reminder what I would ask though is I had the same

initial thought that we should be enforcing the 25 but the data I thought

said that 85% were going 24 on average so the problem was that actually it was

unsafe at 25 so that that's where I felt like the engineers surprised me with

their conclusions.

Sivaj, can you help us think about that?

Yeah.

So one way to look at it is if this was a flatter, straighter road without the constraints

that we're talking about and maybe even as shoulders for somewhat safer pedestrian access,

the ENTs would have recommended keeping the 25-mile-per-hour speed limit because it's

a statutory requirement.

So if we study it and we get the data, we go by the data.

And another way to look at it is if actually

in that hypothetical roadway, if the speed limit observed 85

percentile came at 35 miles per hour,

then we are actually in a position

to consider increasing the speed limit of the roadway.

Because the understanding is the general perception

of that roadway sits safe enough to drive that speed.

So in this case, we are looking at the other side

of it where the observed speed is 24 or 25 miles per hour,

but due to the existing conditions,

the recommended safer speed, so to speak,

is 15 miles per hour.

So I guess the question is, do we want to support this

with the understanding that speed limit signs are relatively

easy to revisit if we get negative feedback,

or it sounds like there's also maybe a motion to take more

time and process. I think I hear one support. I think I hear one defer. What do we think?

Okay. Do we have a motion? I'll move to adopt the resolution as drafted. Okay. Do we have

a second? I'll second it. Okay. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? No. With that, the motion

passes three to one and really appreciate the discussion on this. It was a tough one

and thank you. And with that, we will go to the other item pulled from consent H-9.

I think there were just one or two comments, but not a presentation. Did we want a presentation?

I just literally wanted to say one or two sentences. My reason for pulling this was

to thank staff, to thank our Public Works staff, to thank our City Engineer, to thank

our city manager and everyone who worked on this for really listening to our residents

and listening to the council's feedback and moving so quickly. Just, it's really appreciated.

That was exactly why I wanted to pull it, so thank you for saying that. And with that,

would we like to make a motion and a second on H9?

I move that we uh is it a resolution before the resolution is drafted for H9 is it a or

is it a resolution to approve new CIP project 5042 for Coral Drive sidewalk do we have

a motion so moved sorry oh I'm sorry I'm sorry you're right do we have public comment thank

you vice mayor seeing none I will close it bring it up for discussion uh were there any

Any further comments? Do we have a motion? So moved. Do we have a second? A second. All

in favor? Aye. Councilmember Riele, you were an eye on that? Sorry, I didn't hear you.

Motion passes unanimously and we move to H-10, Vice Mayor, if you can just let us know what

you would like to do there. Yeah, I just wanted our public work staff to address some of the

public comments that we got. I know that there's always some confusion and it's

hard to understand sometimes how our maintenance programming works and I

just wanted to make sure that you had the opportunity to explain the answers

to some of the public comments we received. I did review the public

comments that we received, Mayor.

And we did formulate responses to some of the questions,

but some of the comments were more policy related,

so those were left out.

But yeah, some of the direct questions that were asked,

we did respond back to it.

You actually responded to...

Yeah, yeah.

I haven't sent the response yet.

Do you wanna, do you have them with you,

the ones that you had prepared for me

so you can answer those publicly to the Council?

If not, I can...

I do not have them in...

Okay, hold on one second.

One question, I guess, thematically

among some of the correspondents is roads with PCIs

that appear fairly high making the list for maintenance.

Could you just answer that generally?

And then it looks like City Manager is ready

with the specific question here.

Yeah, so the way we manage our payments

is we rely on a software program that helps us kind of analyze the streets and gives us

recommendations which street to put the dollars on.

So Street Saver is a program that our Metropolitan Transportation Commission created and they

manage it.

They allow access to the agencies to utilize it and we rely on it.

So the way it works is every time we make a change to the pavement, we feed the data

inside and the system takes it, processes it through various criteria, and then when

we request for like a list of projects, it takes the amount of dollars that we are willing

to spend and provides us a list of streets that are usually more preservation-focused

than repair-focused because the industry consensus is money is well spent in preserving the pavement

before it gets to repair than to try to fix a pavement that's

two-thirds in the end of its life.

Might as well let it go through and reconstruct it completely

kind of mindset.

So most of our dollars go towards preservation.

That's primarily why you're seeing

some of the higher PCIs.

And then there is a component portion of it

that goes to actually a more involved rehabilitation, which

is grind the pavement out, put new asphalt in,

and all more expensive, more higher dollar items.

I think the question's primarily related to why

we are fixing these higher PCI streets.

For us, we've been doing a pretty robust paving program

throughout the last 10, 12 years.

So that has put us most of our streets

in a pretty good condition.

So this is basically cycling through it.

One way to look at it is the rate of decline in the PCI

values gets higher as we wait longer.

So from 90 to 80 might take longer than 80 to 70 kind

of mindsets.

So we kind of rely on the initial list

that the software selects.

And then we field review the streets.

We see if it makes sense to focus on these streets

right now, or if there are other streets that we are aware of,

due to various other reasons, like a utility project that

just went through.

and we probably want to prioritize that.

So we kind of make those decisions off

after we get the original list,

and that's kind of what becomes our paving project list

for the year that's in front of us.

So the list that was included in this report,

which actually is not directly tied to this,

it's actually for a funding request

that we are required to submit a street list every year,

and there's also an opportunity for the council to look at.

So that list is inclusive of what came off of Street Saver

and some of the streets that we had sidelined

that we needed to include into this year's paving program.

It's all inclusive of all that.

Hope that answered the question.

Are there any questions from the council?

But I really appreciate the opportunity to hear that

because I was wondering when I read the letters

what the rationale was, so thank you.

Mayor, if I may.

Yes, please.

Just to answer one other question,

kind of got sorry there was a question about the cost that list that was

attached to the staffing staff report also so I do want to make clear that

it's not actually 800,000 this year we are doing a combined project of the 20

25 and 20 26 years paving and the engineers estimated cost for that is 3.5

million dollars so about half of that would apply to the 2026 paving project

And the reason we are combining them just for your background is if you all recall,

2024 paving got delayed because we received pretty high bids when it went out to bid.

So we pushed it back by pretty much an entire year for construction.

So that resulted in the 2025 getting added to the 2026 list and that's how we.

For clarity, sorry, the 3.5 million covers what time period because there was confusion

about that or questions about that?

Both 25 and 26 construction cost only.

Okay, I'm sorry, calendar years or those fiscal years?

Cause we've got that June.

Yeah, so the way we approach it is calendar year,

so to speak.

We just assign them as annual paving projects

that are presenting the calendar year,

but all the funding is tied to the fiscal year.

And that is a confusion that we unfortunately

kind of navigate every now and then.

Even in this request if you see the request we are putting in for the gas tax money is

for the coming fiscal year, so fiscal year 26-27.

But we are submitting our 26 paving lists because by the time we construct that, it

will be the summer of this year which falls under the next fiscal year.

City Council Regular Meeting - May 5, 2026

Agenda

1. April 21, 2026, Regular Meeting

Transcript