Good evening and welcome to the August 6, 2024 meeting of the City Council.
The Walnut Creek City Council encourages a respectful dialogue that supports freedom
of speech and values of diversity of opinion.
The Council staff and members of the public are expected to be civil and courteous and
to refrain from questioning the character or motives of others participating in the
meeting.
The City requests that speakers not use threatening, profane, or abusive language which disrupts,
disturbs, and otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the Council meeting.
Please refer to the end of the agenda to review options for participating in the meeting.
And at this moment, I will welcome you, and will you all join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?
with liberty and justice for all.
So, 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.
May I have the roll call, please?
Councilmember Francois?
Here.
Councilmember Silva?
Here.
Councilmember Wilk?
Here.
Mayor Pro Tem Darling?
Here.
Mayor Haskew?
Here.
All right.
Council?
a small adjustment to the agenda.
I am going to ask you that I have permission
to make special arrangements to provide comments
to the first, first to include the,
I'm so tongue tied, I'm so excited,
the Eagle Scout recognition.
And then after that,
we will do council member announcements, et cetera.
And so I have four proclamations
and it looks like I have four people
ready to get a proclamation.
I'm going to read it while I'm sitting down
because it's kinda long.
Whereas Ian Haga, Ryan O'Connor, Jack Pickett,
and Matthew Wong have distinguished themselves
as exemplary members of Scouts,
Boy Scouts Golden Gate era council troop, 22, 26 in Walnut Creek for attaining the high
rank of Eagle and as such join a very select circle in outstanding personal achievement.
Ian, Ryan, Jack and Matthew have distinguished themselves as leaders among Scouts.
Now as their names are inscribed on the roster of the Eagle Scouts, they can proudly list
this as an accomplishment on all resumes and biographies.
Particularly noteworthy is the fact
that fewer than 2% of all Boy Scouts
ever reach this pinnacle.
For as many people as are aware, while one may be referred
to as a former Boy Scout, Eagle Scout
is a distinction one will carry throughout life.
I may be starting to cry here.
I especially applaud your individual service projects.
Ian did the creation of a bench at Pier Piper Preschool
to honor the beloved Walnut Creek Preschool educator.
Ryan had refinished a picnic area at Heather Farm
for the Walnut Creek Arts and Recreation Department.
Jack designed and created and implemented compost bins
two Walnut Creek schools, Park Mead Elementary and Eagle Peak Montessori school, and Matthew
collected and refurbished soccer equipment to benefit soccer without borders in Oakland.
Your achievements symbolize an extraordinary degree of tenacity, skill, commitment, and
perseverance. These important personal traits will serve you all well into the future and
and point your way to lifelong success and services.
Whereas the Eagle Award is a badge of honor
you may wear with pride always,
and I take pride in saluting your remarkable efforts.
Now, I Loella Hasku, mayor of the city of Walnut Creek,
on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council,
do hereby congratulate Ian, Ryan, Jack, and Matthew
on attaining the rank of eagle,
the highest offered by the Boy Scouts of America
at 226 Eagle Court of Honor on August 4th, 2024,
and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
Congratulations.
Now, I just have one quick thing, Luella,
as the daughter of an eagle scout,
the sister of an eagle scout, the wife of an eagle scout,
and most importantly, the mother of an eagle scout.
Let me tell you guys something.
You four are all Mount Eagle Scouts.
That does not mean that you are not going,
or you're going to be able to stay out of trouble,
but you have, based on my son and his cohorts experience,
you'll be very adept at getting out of trouble.
So, keep that in mind.
Congratulations.
If each of you will come over here,
and I'm gonna ask you, of all,
this is a really obnoxious thing,
I will ask you all to tell us a little bit more
your project? Good afternoon everybody my name is Ian Hager and I'm going into my
freshman year at the University of Washington. I attended Walnut Heights, WCI
and graduated from Los Lomas last May. I started as a Cub Scout back in 2012
and joined troop 226 in 2018. Finding the right project for me was a very long and
very stressful experience. We discussed many different ideas. I finished and
and then scrapped at least two different reports.
And I made several last minute changes
until Mr. Moore finally introduced me
to Pied Piper Preschool.
They'd recently lost a long time assistant director
and well-known Walnut Creek parent, Angelina Bradley.
Mrs. Bradley was known for her kindness, her dedication,
and her support to the children
and the staff of the preschool.
Mrs. Bradley's family and the school came together
and decided that a bench near the school
would be fitting to honor her memory.
This project was a massive undertaking,
one that I admittedly underestimated.
Mrs. Woodin, who is Pied Piper's representative,
and I exchanged emails 24-7 for nearly two months,
working out dates, times, payments, supplies, materials,
and countless other things.
During my first visit to the school,
we determined that the Scouts would have to do
some landscaping in addition to building the bench itself.
This period of time was very important for me
as I realized just how much this project meant
to the community and to the school.
Learning more about Mrs. Bradley and the school itself
made it much more personal for me
and made me want to, like made me more dedicated to it.
After figuring out the measurements and the details,
I began drafting a plan and instructions for the bench.
I bought materials, organized the time and the date
when we would build the bench, with the school and our troop.
And on the day of the project,
we had roughly 10 kids show up to help,
and I divided them into three groups.
One building the base of the bench,
one building the back of the bench,
and one doing the landscaping.
This method sped up the progress considerably,
and we finished the project in just over five hours.
This project was a lot of work,
but seeing the kids crawl all over the bench
made me proud and reassured me
that we are honoring Mrs. Bradley's memory correctly.
This project taught me better leadership,
organization and responsibility
and is one of the most rewarding experiences
of my scouting career.
Thank you for listening.
Hi everyone, my name is Ryan Oakens
and I recently graduated from Los Alamos High School
this past May.
Before that I went to Wanna Creek Intermediate
and Parkview Elementary.
I completed my Eagle Scout project last September
at Heather Farms Park with the help of my beneficiary
Mr. Jim Carlson, and Mr. Kevin Safin.
My fellow scouts and I revitalized the picnic area
by painting tables, cleaning barbecues,
and overall making the area more welcoming to the community.
This experience improved my leadership skills
and taught me planning and problem solving.
Overall, scouting has been a positive experience for me
and has improved me in many ways.
And I'm just overall very happy
I was able to do something for this community.
Thank you.
Hi everyone, my name is Jack Pickett.
I am part of trip 226.
I'm going into my senior year at Los Alamos High School.
I previously went to Parkview Elementary
and Walnut Creek Intermediate.
I joined Scouts, well, Cub Scouts, in 2013
at Pac-32 over at Hillside Church.
And then in 2018, I bridged over to trip 226.
For my project, I created two compost bins
to just improve the gardens at Park Mead Elementary
where I went for elementary school
and then Eagle Peak Monastery School
over near Northgate.
I'm really into like science and stuff like that,
so I wanted to use, build the compost bins
so that they could use them for their science classes
and anything just like garden related.
From what I learned during my project
is a lot of things.
You have to focus on the younger kids,
because they will run off and do whatever they want.
I know from experience, because we built the compost bins
at my house, and I have two sheep and two goats
in the backyard.
And one of the kids thought it was a good idea
to take a paintbrush and try to paint the sheep.
We had to steer him the correct way into painting wood
instead, much to his disappointment.
We finished everything on just two days,
I think a total of eight hours.
And then we were able to deliver the compost bins
to their respective schools.
You can see on the board, the middle one
is park mead, blue and yellow for the colors.
And then the other one is blue and green
for Eagle Peak Montessori School.
Thank you.
Hi, everybody.
Thank you for your time.
I'm Matthew Wong.
And as you can see up here, I did a soccer equipment
drive for a local nonprofit called Soccer Without Borders.
And they're based out of Oakland.
But a lot of my equipment collecting,
and I worked with, I think you can
see in the top left picture, with Copa Soccer Training
Center here in Walnut Creek.
We're from Walnut Creek.
And a lot of my donations were from the community
that I live in.
And so that was one of the best things about my project.
And one of my favorite things about the project
was that while I was donating locally,
I was also able to collect things from most of my neighbors
and people that I'd played soccer with for a long time.
And to see the impact in the community,
from time to time, go out there to play in their pickup games
and with their crew.
And it's super awesome to see the little kids who now
have cleats and shin guards and things to play the game with.
But it goes beyond the field.
They use soccer to keep kids away
from dicey situations in the community
and use it as a place where kids can get tutoring and extra
school support when they need it.
And so that was another one of my things
is that, yes, I wanted to go through soccer,
but I also wanted to see impact outside of the game.
And that's what I love so much about this program.
And so yeah, thank you so much for your time.
Are there any other council members who would like to make comments?
Matt, you look like you might.
Thank you, Mayor, and congratulations to all of you.
I was privileged to attend your Eagle Court of Honor on Sunday and it's nice to see you
all here in the council chambers.
I also want to give a shout out to the adult volunteers who put in countless hours and
efforts to make sure that you guys are successful in your program.
I know we have an assistant scout master, Jonathan O'Connie's here today and the scout
master Robert Moore, who has stayed involved with the program years after his kids have
bridged out of scouting.
So appreciate the adults showing our younger generation the way and sincerely thank all
of you for kind of giving back to your community.
It means a lot to all of us.
Yeah, I just want to say congratulations.
I've been to several of the Eagle Court of Honors over the years.
I know how difficult this is.
from all the projects that I hear about,
tremendous job, but also I'm sure this camaraderie
that you'll have for the rest of your lives
with each other and really going through,
especially if you start a part meeting all the way through.
So that's great, and again, this just can't happen
without parent volunteers.
We see that not just with Eagle Scouts,
we see it with sports and so many other things as well.
So thank you to those.
And congratulations, and you got a challenge ahead
for the future Eagle Scouts to come as well
that we'll see you here in the next few years.
So again, thanks everyone, and I look forward
to hearing how college goes.
Well, congratulations.
I'm so happy for all of you,
but what it also tells us when we see youth like you
is that we can have confidence in the future.
We may not know exactly what you will do,
but we know that our future will be in good hands
because young men like you and young women
who are in the Girl Scouting programs
are going to be in charge,
and we are going to be very, very lucky.
So congratulations.
and I look forward, best of wishes,
at University of Washington,
my daughter and son-in-law's alma mater.
Their five-year-old twins know how to do it as well.
Congratulations, I know how hard it is,
and it is one of those things
that I know my son looks back on,
and he's really proud that he made it through,
and it helped him get his first job,
so just keep that in mind.
You guys keep that in mind too.
It pays off, so congratulations.
And thank you, as a little explanation,
I screwed up, I was supposed to be at the Eagle Court,
and when I realized I'd missed it,
I lost all sleep that night trying to figure out
how I could make it up to you.
It meant that much to me to honor you.
And so thank you for coming a special time
and I hope this really inspires you to enjoy
the rest of your time off before you go to school again.
And thank you, parents, thank you,
everybody who made this possible.
And gosh, I'm beside myself.
Anyhow, thank you.
I'm done.
All right.
Oh, yes, excuse me, before everybody goes,
may we have a photo with the entire council?
And anybody else in the, who deserves to be in the picture?
Okay and since we've taken everything out of order,
we're gonna go straight to council member's report.
So council member.
No, we're gonna finish up this part of the meeting.
Council member Francois, do you have anything to share?
You know I had already shared that I attended
the Eagle Court of Honor and I didn't have any other update.
Good, okay, council member Fook.
All right, well a few of the things that I did actually,
I think several of my fellow council members did as well.
We had the grand opening for the library cafe, prologue, great to see that.
They're actually from Vietnam and they make one of the Vietnamese egg coffees
that I got to experience when I was there over a year ago.
It is phenomenal, check out this cafe and have some
of their truly Vietnamese delicacies there.
We also had the Presto autonomous launch, which was last week in Rossmore.
So these are autonomous shuttles.
There is an attendant in there, autonomous shuttles going back and forth
between the Gateway Plaza and between the Fitness Center.
And this is truly the future.
We are seeing the future in the present right now.
And we had Councilmember Silva, Mayor Pro Tem Darling.
I couldn't get there.
So we had a quorum of Councilmembers that were there at the Presto launch and just great
to see.
And the media was out.
I'm really excited about this new era of transportation that we're looking at.
All of us were at the Mayor's Conference and or the East Bay Leadership last week,
and we got to recognize, among others, David Bowlby, who we often see here come into the
council meetings, and with the Ellen Tauscher Award this year.
And of course, Ellen Tauscher was a very well-known and beloved Congress member for this area,
and also under Secretary of State, under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton several years ago.
So great to be able to honor him as well as others
in the East Bay leadership.
And that is my update.
Next.
Thank you very much, Mayor.
At the recent meeting of our Recycle Smart,
which is the agency six members in Central Contra Costa
that handle the trash and recycling services for this area,
we received an update on a sustainability summer camp
program that Recycle Smart ran with the city of Orinda.
And of course immediately the other five agencies said,
we want summer camp program like that as well.
So I'm just putting it on the radar screen
for arts and recreation.
Get your bid in.
It was well attended.
There were 30 participants in the week-long summer camp.
And the kids learned all about composting, how recycling works,
what order to put things in, and what bins,
how to take care of organic waste.
And they also got to see some big trucks.
So that was great.
Last week, the first meeting of the selection panel
for the public artists that will be providing the public art
in the New Heather Farm facilities met.
There are five on the committee,
and we went through 34 applicants,
kind of a quarterfinals participation,
and we went on the herd from 34 to 10,
and we look forward to interviewing them in September,
The objective is because we are building this public facility,
a certain percentage of the cost of the facility
must be allocated for public art,
and it's nearly a million dollars.
I guess it's 1% of the hard costs of the project.
And what we're going to do is look at multiple artists
in multiple locations within the park areas,
maybe some in the new building,
as well as some in key locations
where the public will get to enjoy the art.
And so I look forward to reporting back on that
over the course of the next few weeks and months.
And that will be all I would report on.
Thank you.
I also got a chance to go to Prolog
and see the new cafe at the library.
They seem very welcoming and very ready to go.
I also went to the Presto shuttle ad at Rossmore.
and the best thing was is there's a tin on the bus
so that if you can't get your seatbelt on,
which was my problem,
it would help you put your seatbelt on,
but it will be very interesting to see how that works
for the Ross-Morians.
The other two things are MCE related things.
MCE in our budget this year got to the point
where we have met our reserve goals
and we have some extra capital.
And the electricity markets in California
are changing dramatically as we near the point
where we really have a tremendous amount of solar
and the mandates to go to renewable energy.
What MCE is finding is that it is changing market dynamics
as far as cost of energy, availability of energy,
and when they need extra supply.
So when we were all young, much younger people,
they always said, oh, don't use electricity
between noon and four.
Well, no, that's not it anymore.
Now it's between four and nine.
And so what we are doing right now
is looking at our extra capital
and looking at what projects MCE can invest in directly,
rather than just buying contract power
from different sustainable sources.
So that they have some resources that are more flexible
so that they can help meet the changing dynamics
of the electricity market.
it's a really interesting, complicated world right now.
And they usually go out once a year
for a solicitation for new contracts.
And usually they get quite a few people.
This year they got a relatively small handful
and they were very expensive.
So we're looking at what we do
to react to that changing market.
And then this morning we got to go out.
The city of Richmond has a program with MCE
where they go in and they find abandoned houses
and they have social impact bonds that the city has issued
and they use the capital from those bonds.
They go in and they completely rehab the house,
including all the electric, you know,
sustainable electric efficient water heaters
and everything like that, batteries and solar.
And then they install controllers
so that the extra capacity from the solar
and the extra capacity from the battery
is accessible to MCE.
And so MCE compensates the owner for that power.
And it's a really elegant solution
for an area of Richmond where quality housing
is hard to find.
And so the house that we got to tour this morning
was beautifully done, ready for people to move in
and had some pretty amazing technology on it.
And it will be interesting to see how that continues to spread because that technology
allows that homeowner to not only live in a more comfortable house because it's super
efficient, but make money selling the excess power back to the grid on an amazingly quick
every five minute time step if they can produce power that's cheaper than what's on the grid.
There it goes.
So that was really fascinating.
So that was my report.
Boy, thank you.
I attended the reopening or reintroducing
the Contra Costa Crisis Center.
Contra Costa Crisis Center is a nonprofit in the area
that not only handles suicide prevention calls
like I used to do when I was a suicide prevention volunteer
a long time ago, but they also now help all people
in all kinds of crises, situations,
and it's very important to our community.
And I guess it's growing to be a county-wide issue,
and so they're getting a lot of attention.
And I led the mayor's conference,
and I went to the Walnut Creek New Employees Reception,
and we have a lot of really young, eager people
who are going to make our lives wonderful, so that's it.
You know what we all forgot?
We just came back from National Night Out.
And all the Creek PD and many of our first responders
are out there sweating in the sun
while we are here in the air conditioner.
But it was...
Hopefully the breeze has come up
and they're more comfortable.
City Attorney, do you have anything to report?
Nothing to report this evening, Madam Mayor.
Thank you.
City Manager.
Yeah, good evening.
Dan buckshy, City Manager.
And I do have three updates this evening.
One, which is a more difficult topic
and the other two that are lighter
and more celebratory.
The first being I wanted to acknowledge
the horrific traffic accident that occurred
last Wednesday, the 31st at a late Wednesday
or early morning, an accident single car
that resulted in the loss of life
of the 18 year old driver and considerable injuries
to the passenger.
It was really a very difficult accident and scene.
And in addition to offering my condolences
on behalf of the city to the families
those impacted. I wanted to acknowledge all of the efforts of our first responders. Uh, we had in
particular several of our police officers who responded, uh, many members of our county fire
and medical response team who are on scene very quickly to secure the area and obviously to
provide as much assistance to the two individuals who were involved in the accident. Um, there's,
it was a, you know, a difficult scene and there is the human impact. In addition, obviously those who,
We're in the accident, but to those who are responding
to it is a very challenging and difficult situation,
especially given the age of those involved.
So I want to acknowledge their efforts,
as well as our public works team and PG&E for working
to secure the area.
There is considerable damage to some infrastructure,
power lines, and the road was closed
for a considerable period of time.
And everyone worked very diligently to get that secured
and open back up as soon as possible.
So thank you to everybody who responded
to that challenging situation
and for trying to address it as best as possible.
With that, I'd like to move on
and I would like to introduce
our new Assistant City Manager, Charles Ching,
if you'd like to come up, Charles.
He started a week ago.
Glad he's still here a week later.
Means he must like it.
We're off to a nice start.
Briefly, Charles has served in local government
for about 17 years, I believe, in Fairfield
and more recently in San Pablo.
He's a very experienced manager and leader,
having worked in community development,
economic development as an assistant city manager.
I'm really excited to welcome Charles to the team.
I know some of you have had a chance to meet him
and everybody will as he continues to make the rounds
to get out and see everybody.
And with that, Charles, if you'd like to offer up a few words.
Yeah, thank you, city manager.
And Madam Mayor, member city council, good evening.
It's truly an honor to be serving as your new assistant city manager.
Want to thank City Council and the city manager for providing me with this opportunity.
This is truly a highlight of my career.
I want to thank all the staff.
My first week here in Walnut Creek has been nothing short of amazing.
Everyone's been really nice and has really welcomed me with open arms.
And so I want to thank city staff and really looking forward to working with city council
and city staff in really doing great things here in Walnut Creek.
So thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
And lastly, I think it's Heather's turn.
Come on up so we can talk about you for a little while, Heather.
Oh, you got to get on up there.
Yeah, we're not letting you off easily here.
So.
So as Heather is heading up here after nearly 40 years of public service and over 17 years
with Walnut Creek, this is Heather's final city council meeting as she is retiring at
the end of the month.
In addition to many of our public works team and our executive team and other city staff
that we have here, I do want to acknowledge we have some special folks in the audience.
I believe Heather's sister, Corinne, is here.
Her welcome, her niece and nephew, Victoria and Jake.
I think Jake will look familiar to many folks.
And great nieces and nephews, Brianna, Austin, and Brooke.
And additionally, her friends Kim, Carolyn, and Julie
are here.
And I'm quite certain her cat's bear and shadow
are cheering her on from home.
So welcome, everybody.
Thank you for making the time to be here to recognize Heather.
So, a few things that you may not know about Heather is that she grew up in the area.
She went to Ignacio Valley High where she was a four-year varsity softball player.
I remember that from one of our icebreakers a long time ago and have always avoided trying
to play softball yesterday because I would probably lose.
So, she is also an avid water skier and is a member of a water ski club for many years.
And then a few things that probably everybody does know is that Heather has great taste
in wine and if you ever get a gift, it's usually a good amount of wine, so you can always rely
on Heather's gifts for sure.
And she's a diehard Niners and Giants fan, and if you haven't seen it, she has a signed
Joe Montana poster in her office, so you've got to check that out here in the next month.
Heather's made a really substantive impact on both the organization and the community
since joining Walnut Creek in 2007.
seven, you know, a few stats here just to give you the scale of responsibilities she oversees all
of our public works team which currently has 106 teammates that we have there she has responsibility
for most of our city's infrastructure which includes over 200 miles of roads 69 buildings
we got to get that 70th just be a nice round number there 1500 street lights a hat or yeah
100 traffic lights, 22 parks, 2700 acres of open space,
and 175 vehicles that are in the city's fleet
that are maintained on obviously a very regular basis.
She is also part of the city's disaster response team
and over the years has helped lead the department's response
to many storms and emergencies,
which is one of the more challenging aspects of the job
and really is one of the most important.
And we've had a number of storms the last few years
that there's worked a lot of hours
to help make sure we respond appropriately.
She's also played pivotal roles in many projects,
but more recently in the renovation
of the Larky Swim Center in 2017-18,
the Corporation Yard relocation,
the Leisure Plaza Project that was completed
a few years ago, several safe routes to school,
your parks, your future, which we'll be working on
with the new community center and pool,
and the Heather Farms All Abilities Playground,
and obviously there are many more,
but those are the ones that are more recent
and that we probably see day to day.
You know, with all that said, really,
Heather's larger impact has been upon those
with whom she's worked over the years.
As we all know, Heather's very warm and engaging.
She puts people first and she's fun to be around.
She's great to work with.
And in addition to the hundreds of people
she's positively impacted over the years,
she's been very actively engaged in the profession
and was the American Public Works Association
leader of the year in 2015 and so with that I'd like to thank you Heather for
your many contributions to Walnut Creek. Thank you. Is it my turn? It is indeed.
Well first off I don't know who you know the coup who surprised all this I had no
idea that my whole family and friends were gonna be here so I was gonna I was
nervous already and then when they were all here in the lobby I'm like oh my god
So thank you. I just I'll maybe start by telling a little story. 17 years ago this
job for this director of Public Works City of Walnut Creek came in and I was
like I have a great job I worked at Contra Costa County I was a deputy
director there but I love Walnut Creek and it's a well-run city it has a
reputation for being a well-run city and I thought if I would go anywhere I would
would go to Walnut Creek.
By the way, I spend all my money here.
So I was like, I might as well go to the city
that I spend my money at.
So I applied for the job, and then
went through the rigorous process
that we go through, Trish, you know, four interviews later.
And then I got the job.
And then I was like, I won't swear, but I was like, holy heck.
I've now got the job.
And the first day, I came to work,
and I was driving here to work.
And I was calling my friends at the county and saying,
what have I done?
I've left a really good job that I loved,
and now I'm going somewhere I have no idea
what it's gonna be like.
And actually, as it turns out, I'm here today.
It was the best decision I could have ever made.
It was really a great decision.
It's been a great career.
So, you know, I'm really thankful that I made the decision.
And with that, I wanna thank just so many people,
but I'll try to be brief.
First off, all of you, City Council,
I really appreciate your support.
I wouldn't be here if it weren't for your support.
You all make the policies,
but you trusted the department, me,
to implement those policies.
And I really do appreciate that.
I got cottonmouth hair, I gotta go get my water.
But also, the accolades you give our department,
it doesn't go unnoticed.
People really do appreciate,
when you acknowledged this today,
Dan was acknowledging the team and all the efforts we do.
So I really do want to thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Oscar.
So thank you.
Thank you for your support.
And the fellow council members that were before you, too.
I worked with a lot of great council members.
And I really do appreciate everything you've done for me.
Next, I really want to thank Dan, our city manager.
He's been a great mentor for me and a leader.
He's led us through a lot of tough times
that we've talked about a little bit.
He also though recognizes that it takes a team
and we have to all work together
to get across the finish line.
But then another thing that he does
and it's through his leadership is recognizes
that we're an inclusive, great place to work
and we want to be an employer of choice
and he really walks that talk.
And so I really appreciate that, appreciate his leadership.
My peers, the executive team, I appreciate everything you've done for me.
They're all collaborative, they all have a great wealth of knowledge.
I really appreciate them being there for me and supportive of me.
We have a great team and we work through all the issues that come across the city plate
and I really do appreciate the executive team.
I'm really honored to be the Public Works Director and I couldn't do it without my team
And so I really want to recognize, first off,
the management team, Rich Payne, Mike Vickers,
who are our board men, and Steve Weimar, who's not here,
but he was part of that management team.
You're in really good hands with them.
I'm really excited about their future
and what they're gonna do for the city
and how they're gonna grow.
And I'm gonna, I'm gonna be watching council meetings
and watching them do all the...
Yeah, well, maybe.
So, and then,
And then the whole public works team.
I am so proud, and I say this all the time,
but I'm really proud of all the work that they do,
and a lot of them are here.
So give yourselves a round of applause.
I mean, they really, it makes it great
to work for a city like this and make changes
to the community and make it a better place.
And it's a lot through them.
It couldn't be through me, it's through all of them.
So, and then my friends and family
who I didn't know were gonna be here today.
I'm just, I'm so thrilled that they're here.
And I just appreciate, you know, one, I missed, you know,
of course, night meetings and things like that.
I was, you know, doing work,
but also they provided me great advice.
They were always there for me
when I was going through tough times
and talking to all of them for consult and advice.
And so I couldn't have done it without all, sorry,
all my family and friends.
So my heart is full.
I'm very, very thankful.
I'm very appreciative.
I really appreciate tonight.
So thank you all.
Can we can we can we can we can we find out if the council has anything to add and I got
a high sign from councilmember Francois so we're going to start with him.
So Heather I would just like to from the bottom my heart say thank you, you know, there are
a lot of things that come to my mind I mean every time I see you at event, I just get
happy because I'm and and when when Dan said you're warm and engaging style, that's who you are and
but you're also a consummate professional kind of one of the best that I've ever seen or encountered
in public service and I do this on my this is my night job but in my day job too and I can see that
everyone that you interact with in your department in the city and in the public you have their
respect and that you can it's obvious and so so thank you for dedicating 17
years of your life to our city and thank you for how responsive you always were
I remember the storms on New Year's Day two years ago I'm texting you 15 minutes
later there's a public works truck out there cleaning a drain but and that's
just the tip of the iceberg you know every farmer's market I think I came
back with like five or six emails that you always responded to. So thank you for
all you did for our city and for being there and I will truly miss you.
Ah Heather I think I've known you somewhat even when I was on the
Transportation Commission there was some working there but obviously when I got on
City Council eight years ago and I think you were the first person that
that reached out to me after I was suddenly on council
and said, we're gonna do a drive-through
with all the parks now,
and we got a chance to get to know each other.
You always smile.
It is amazing, whenever I see you,
whether it's a council meeting or anywhere else outside,
warm and engaging is absolutely the perfect description.
You're always smiling, you put me in a better mood,
and we went on that ride along
just through all the different parks,
and I got to learn a little bit more
about what you do professionally here.
It's amazing.
You lead the largest of all of our departments,
the people that people see all the time,
whether they're happy that things are being fixed
or whether they're cursing that Ignacio Valley Road
has a lane closed.
But this is all part of your team.
And so personally speaking, you're so engaging,
but professionally speaking, you make my job easier.
You do.
Because when I am hit with complaints,
whether it's on social media or next door or just farmer's
market or in the street, and they
might be complaining about one thing or another
or something's broken, it's often in your umbrella.
And I'll reach out to you.
You're immediately responsive.
Somebody is getting back to me and the resident.
And you even said, give them my email.
And that is so helpful to hear.
I look like I'm doing my job because you're doing your job.
And thank you.
If that weren't for that, I don't think any of us
would be probably running for city council.
So thank you so much for all the time and effort
in doing it with a smile.
We were certainly lucky 17 years ago when
we stole you from the county.
Sorry about that, Julie.
And it is nice that so many of your family
and your friends from the county,
and Corinne, it is wonderful to see you.
I am so happy to see you.
And I will tell you that Tom is,
my husband Tom is going to be very disappointed
because he's not going to have you
and your sister Corinne to dance with at the on Broadway,
you know, because I wouldn't dance with him
because he doesn't know how to count.
So I think about the last 17 years
and all of the wonderful things
that have been accomplished under your leadership,
but it's a testament to your leadership
but also the work of the entire public works crew and staff.
When we think about sustainability,
we can't achieve our goals
if we are not doing it through the Public Works Division,
whether it's reducing the landscaping,
the irrigation demands and water demands of our landscaping
or all electric or alternative fuel fleets,
EV charging stations, solar,
and the roofing on the shade lens,
Penniman House, and other places made of
all that sustainable material is amazing.
It's because of your leadership,
even if you're not making all the final decisions
that your team is able to accomplish those things.
I think about the improvements to our open space
and the trails, and 34 alternatives,
or 17, or whatever the right number is,
but things to improve the use of our open space trails,
which is so important since COVID and how actively
we are using our open spaces.
We have 23 new acres of open space
up on Occalani's Ridge during your tenure.
We have our first solar panels during your tenure.
We handle neighborhood issues impeccably,
as does your team.
And you can trust in them to do that
because you have selected those people to help you.
but the biggest project that no one has mentioned yet
was early on in your career,
and that's the Walnut Creek Downtown Library.
It came online under your tenure, so thank you.
That is a well-used facility,
and we are certainly appreciative of your work.
You will be greatly missed,
but the nice thing is what you all do,
all of you in public works,
is you do things that we can kick and pat and touch
and feel really good because we get to look at him.
So thank you so much.
Okay, I'm the new beyond the block.
So like Kevin, when I first got on council,
I've known Heather for a long time
because the Planning Commission,
she's like, let's go get in the car
and I'll show you things.
And she's driving around town and she's like,
oh, and then this roof, and then this roof, and then this.
And did you know we own a house up here
on this hill right here?
Yeah, we own that.
But then there's this bridge,
and we're gonna have to do something about that bridge,
and then, and just amazing knowledge
of every little piece of the city
and the ethos that all of you have,
especially about downtown,
that it should be like Disneyland.
It should be clean, it should be happy.
Tinker Bell is coming over,
and I so appreciate that in all of the work
that Public Works does, and you do it with grace,
you do it with style, and we just really appreciate it.
by going through the selection of the architect panel
on the pool, Heather gets up there
and she's like, all these crazy people in the room
and they've all interviewed everybody
and she's like, okay, now let's all get together.
And she gets, walks everybody through it like, oh yeah,
she's right, let's pick that one.
But the best thing that Heather's ever done
is when my husband was working for the Forest Service
and he was sick and tired of being by himself
because there's no women up there apparently,
Heather gave him a job with the county years ago.
And so thank you, Heather,
because you brought him down out of the hill.
So I thank you.
And by the way, retirement is a lot of fun.
Until you run for council.
It's really hard.
It's great to have these guys
as the people who ask the questions before they get to me.
It's just darn hard to figure out what you're gonna say
after they've covered all your life
and probably every vacation you've ever been on
and some other things.
So I'm just going to say I really
have enjoyed developing a friendship with you.
When I first met you, I don't think
I got the right around town.
What?
But it turns out that when I first met you,
all I could think of is this person
works with those guys, with those big trucks, and they like her.
And I thought, oh my gosh, she's figured out how to talk to men on a level that not many
women get to do.
And I think the other thing that I can be assured of is you have probably kept the staff
of the Public Works Department long after they would have gone to other places because
you built a place where they felt very good and respected and they stayed because you
were a great boss.
And I think in many ways that's the biggest compliment I can think to give you.
I'll miss you.
I'll miss you.
And we're going to have to get together.
What?
Thank you for all you did.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
All righty, now on to regular basis, which would be the consent calendar.
There is a correction on one of the items.
Does anybody want to pull it on the council?
Yes, I do.
I'd like to pull item F, please.
And I'd like to pull item I.
Okay.
Okay. Is there any public comment on the I'm down to one piece of public again? Okay. Well,
I see no need to do that. So let's have a motion, please.
Move to approve item consent calendar. Oh, shoot. I hit the wrong button. Consent calendar
items A through E and then G and H.
um i will second the motion as long as it is item b as as amended
yeah and i'll be abstaining from items 2a and 2d as i was missed that meeting
the july 23rd meeting and i stand corrected it was item a the
minutes did okay we did that like we were rehearsing
good job um and now may i have a roll call vote
mayor pro tem darling aye council member silva aye council member françois
Councilmember Wilk? Aye. Mayor Haskill? Aye. Motion carries noting the
extension from Councilmember Francois. On one item. Next item on the agenda is
public community. Oh, we have FNI. Sorry. We'll do it in alphabetical order. Thank
you, Mayor. I would like to pull the item regarding the services
agreement with minty or harness to provide a comprehensive update of our
sign ordinance I have a couple of questions of staff ask away she's coming
hello Erica Ben and Brian community development director thank you so much
I'm very excited about this because we started this project before the pandemic
and then due to a number of constraints during the pandemic we had to set it to
the side and it's very important. Can you, one of the concerns that we hear frequently in the
community is that our sign ordinance can be inconsistent at times and different sets of
rules in different places. Are we going to approach, is that one of the issues we're trying to approach
and can we confidently say that we might have a sign ordinance and design guidelines that are
consistent for different land use categories like office buildings or
neighborhood shopping centers? So as you had noted earlier before COVID had come
the intention was to update and modernize the sign ordinance. Since then
we've got an additional feedback and so we added we proposed additional items
in the scope to be able to get additional feedback from our stakeholders
to be able to address exactly those types of issues and to be able to identify them
and get to root cause and have a more modern sign ordinance than one which was originally
conceived over 30 years ago.
My last question is in the scope of the work, it's very detailed.
And what it outlines is a process where the consultants will work with the Design Review
Commission and the Planning Commission and then give us the results of what
their input is. Is there any way, sometimes that ends up being that we're
getting, because we're last, if we have a policy difference of opinion with the
input of the Commission's we get into a conundrum. Is there any way where our
input can be a part of the early on stage with the Design Review Commission
and Planning Commission or ahead of them? So absolutely and whenever we talk this
through, we really think it's important because Council is the policy body to
help us frame up some of these items and then as we go through the process to be
able to have the stakeholder input and then have planning commission and then
design review commission to serve as that implement, you know, those that are
looking from an implementation standpoint, but I've talked to staff
about it, you know, in terms of council input it's like the bigger than a bread
box and smaller than an elephant and trying to get those policy parameters in
place so that there's some guardrails in the discussions. Great, I appreciate that
and thank you Mayor I'm happy to make the motion to approve item F. Second.
Councilmember Silva? Aye. Councilmember Wilk? Aye. Councilmember Francois? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Darley? Aye.
haskew. Motion carries unanimously. Alrighty, then I? I just really wanted to pull this item
to recognize our outgoing commissioners on the Design Review Commission, Brian
Killian and Carl Savelia, and recognize them for their work and appreciation for
their being commissioners. There's a lot of work that's involved in that and I
thank them for their time and I also look to welcoming our new commissioners
cricket and Karen who plays basing. Thank you very much. I had that down and I
couldn't see it. It just goes to show that it doesn't mean if you don't get
appointed immediately that you don't end up serving at some point. So it's always
great to still be involved and I look forward to seeing them on the DRC in the
weeks and months to come. And with that, I'll make the motion to approve.
And I'd like a roll call vote please. Councilmember Wilk, aye. Councilmember
Francois, aye. Councilmember Silva, aye. Mayor Pro Tem Darling, aye. Mayor Hascue, aye.
Motion carries unanimously. Now we're an official public communications item and
I am looking for anybody who would like to make a communication. And I see heads
shaking no so I will close that item and we will go on to a closed session so we
will we will close this session and we'll be back when we're finished.
Mayor are we coming back to the chamber at the conclusion?