Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 Council, City Council meeting.
The Walnut Creek City Council encourages a respectful dialogue that supports freedom of speech and values, diversity of opinion.
The council staff and the 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.
especially me. The City requests that speakers not use threatening profane and
abusive language or abusive language which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise
impedes the orderly conduct of the council meeting. Would you please join me
the Pledge of Allegiance. 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.
Thank you. May I have a roll call please? Councilmember Francois? Here. Councilmember Silva? Here.
Councilmember Will? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Darlene? Here. Mayor Haskia? Here. Okay next on the agenda
is the consent calendar. Do we have any people who wish to choose any council
members who wish to choose an item for discussion? I see no. Move to adopt the
consent calendar. Whoa whoa whoa I have an S Republic. I finally got you.
12 years and I remember public comment. Is there anybody who wishes to make
public comment on the consent item on the consent agenda calendar? Okay I'm
not seeing anybody so now you can go forward. Move to adopt the consent
calendar item 2a and I'll second. May I have a roll call vote please? Council
Councilmember Silva?
Aye.
Mayor Pro Tem Darling?
Aye.
Councilmember Francois?
Aye.
Councilmember Will?
Aye.
Mayor Haskew?
Aye.
Question carries.
Okay, now we're up to public communications.
This portion of the meeting is reserved
for comment on items not on the agenda.
Under the Brown Act, the Council cannot act
on items raised during public communications
but may respond briefly to statements made
or questions posed.
Request clarification or refer the item to the staff.
Additionally, for this ceremonial meeting,
public comment on all remaining items on the agenda
will occur at this time.
Is there anyone that would like to come forward?
I have some cards, but come forward if you'd like.
Madam Mayor, Bill Armstrong, Walnut Creek,
and I just wanted to congratulate all of you
who have been newly elected and even more,
Mayor Hascue, because she gets to get out of here.
But I thought I would also say
that any festive occasion is made better by ice cream.
And so I would encourage you in the coming months
to consider resuming the allowance of ice cream sales
at the Lesher Center during intermission.
I do have some names come forward okay thanks I just have a really quick
announcement I just want good evening and I'm the CEO from the the I'm the
chair of the Youth Commission and I just wanted to on behalf of the Youth
Commission we'd like to share our gratitude for mayor Hask you for years
for your years of service and commitment and we are we appreciate your continued
support and to the youth commission and encouragement of youth involvement and
And so thank you for your leadership.
And we are looking forward to working with our incoming mayor
and our fantastic city council members,
including our incoming council member Davini
in the coming year.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Barbara Gannes
and congratulations to the incumbents
and to our new council person.
I didn't expect a full house,
but I'll talk my normal speech here.
have some environmental concerns in the parks and open spaces that I wanted to
bring to light today. Once one item is the Lime Ridge wildfire that occurred on
930 of 24 per the city the fire was considered undetermined by the fire
department. However a retired firefighter surveyed the burn area and advised there
were three to four start points suggesting wildfire was set and was not
accidental. Of course this is concerning to some of the neighbors. I can't say
whether that's the case or not but that's what they said. So I'm just
wanting to advise that there should be vigilance required to prevent any
future fires in the open space. Another comment I had is on the Boundary Oaks
driving range project. The plan called for sodding and springing the entire
driving range. Of course we all know the grass requires a lot of water, a lot of
maintenance, and in the sustainability action plan, it states that the city wants to reduce
water usage by 15% by 2020, which is passed, and 25% by 20, it's either 2025 or 2045.
Also there's approximately a 90 year old valley oak there and a 240 year old coastal live
oak that's on the driving range property.
currently getting irrigated primarily by over spray from the from the grass close by to them
and this could jeopardize their existence. The last thing is the open space policy of
no enforcement on the trails. I think we need to have trail enforcement to keep it safe for everybody
and the city staff had said they would do it but they were nicked on it August of last year.
Okay, thank you everyone for your service in 2024. I appreciate it.
Good to see you. Anybody else want to venture forward? I have cards.
Let's see. Ken Anderson and... No. Ken just Anderson and Ken Carson.
I'm a little old. It's okay and Ken and I are just honored to be here.
Really to honor you Llewella and today at our board of supervisors meeting. We did pass a resolution
Honoring you thanking you for your tremendous service
You joined the Walnut Creek City Council just a few months after I became County supervisor
And it has just been such a wonderful partnership with your entire City Council, but you are just a delight
you are self-deprecating, you're funny,
you just get things done.
And that's what I have always admired about you.
And I think back when you were mayor in 2020,
I was chair of the board of supervisors,
few things were happening then, a little pandemic going on,
but I think more significantly,
one of the things that you and I worked on
was the A3 program that any one, anytime,
any place alternative with your city manager
to police and a mental health crisis
with us setting up the Miles Hall Center
to handle the incoming calls.
You were very much a pivotal part of that,
but also during the pandemic,
you were the first to reach out
as county regulations were changing
to figure out how were you going
to support the businesses in Walnut Creek?
And what were we able to do as a county
to ensure that your businesses could open and stay open?
And your leadership during that time
was truly inspirational to me,
and I am going to miss serving with you.
I know I still get to see you around the community,
but you are just, you're just fun.
You know the words to every military theme song.
Thanks to your USO time.
You just, you're a true public servant
in the most humble way, and I appreciate it.
Wow, how can I say anything different, right?
No, I agree with everything that Supervisor Anderson
has shared because it's true.
And my time serving on the Pleasant Hill City Council,
not only you but the entire Walnut Creek City Council
and the organization was really inspirational and helpful
to us as a city and me as a council member.
I've had the privilege of working with you
in so many different ways.
And then as I moved to the Board of Supervisors
working with you on things like transportation,
especially accessible transportation,
which I know you're passionate about,
putting up with the struggles that we have faced
in the transportation rail, like yesterday, just saying.
But again, the work you've done has truly been exemplary
and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity
to have you as a mentor in so many different ways
and to lead in so many different ways.
So thank you for your service
and I do look forward to other opportunities
out in the community to just hang out.
Thank you.
And we will just bring this over to you.
We did our photo op ahead of time,
so we're just gonna hand this to you now, thank you.
Okay, that went so well.
Is there anybody else that would like to come forward?
And I still have names, so I can call more names.
Sharice, are you still here?
There you are.
And I've been practicing saying your name, Sharice Kount.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Madam Mayor and Council and community.
My name is Sharice Kount,
and I'm here as, I am a resident of Walnut Creek,
I am a member of the Mount Diablo School Board,
but I'm here tonight, especially because I have the honor
as a field representative for our state assembly member,
Rebecca Bauer-Cahan, to present to you
a wonderful state proclamation
from the California State Legislature.
So really happy to be able to share that tonight.
I just wanted to share a couple of words from it.
there's so much on here, but whereas the relationship
between a city and its residents is a vital
and interdependent one, deriving its strength
from public-spirited civic involvement,
such as exemplified by the Honorable Llewellyn Hasku,
who has served as a member of the Walnut Creek City Council
and mayor of the city of Walnut Creek.
And by way of her dedicated involvement,
she has improved the quality of life within the city
and throughout the state of California.
Okay, I won't read every line,
but there's so much that you have done,
including a commendable reputation
for her ability to address local concerns.
Luella has been instrumental
in the operations of city governance
through her work on the Walnut Creek Community
Blue Ribbon Task Force on Fiscal Health
and the Arts Vision Task Force,
and as an engaged member of the community,
she served on the board of directors
of the Kennedy King Memorial College Scholarship Fund,
which is one of the things that's near and dear
to my heart, as well.
Many, many other things.
Whereas the contributions that Luella Haskiw has made
to the people of Walnut Creek have been invaluable,
and she has made a lasting impression
on those individuals with whom she has been associated.
Now therefore, be it resolved,
by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Cahan,
that the Honorable Luella Haskiw be commended
for her exemplary record of leadership
as a member of the Walnut Creek City Council
and Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek
and extended best wishes for continued success
in your future endeavors.
Hello, Madam Mayor, Council, thank you for having me.
My name's Janessa Oriel.
I'm the Deputy District Director
for Congressman Mark Desogne.
Congressman Mark Desogne was so sad
not to be able to be here this evening.
Unfortunately, he needs to be in D.C.
And so for that reason,
he sent a congressional record for you,
to which I will read.
So House of Representatives honoring the service
of Luella Hasku, extension of remarks
by Honorable Mark Desanier of California
in the House of Representatives.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Luella Hasku
as she retires from the Wanna Creek City Council.
Luella was born in Staten Island, New York,
and moved to California shortly
before her senior year of high school.
She earned her bachelor's of science in accounting
from Golden Gate University, graduating summa cum laude,
and later went on to earn her master's in taxation.
She then joined Golden Gate University
as an adjunct instructor.
Additionally, Luella served on the statewide committee
of taxation for the California Society of CPAs,
and was critical in drafting questions
used for the CPA exam.
Luella is a devoted public servant,
and has shown her steadfast dedication
to improving the lives of CA-10 residents.
She has served on city council since 2012
and served as mayor in 2016, 2020, and most recently 2024.
Throughout her career,
Luella has been highly engaged with the community,
serving on the Kennedy King Memorial College Scholarship Fund,
the Diablo Regional Arts Association Board,
and the Walnut Creek Library Foundation Board,
Cancer Support Community Board, and more.
Luella has worked tirelessly
to empower our community's youth.
She's volunteered as a soccer referee
in the Pleasant Hill Martinez Soccer Association,
where she twice earned the title of referee of the year.
Luella has continually demonstrated her commitment
to improving quality of life for Walnut Creek residents
and making our community a better place for all.
Please join me in congratulating Luella Hasku
on her well-deserved retirement after over a decade
of outstanding public service.
That made me feel really old.
Anybody else that wants to come forward?
Oh, phew.
OK.
All righty.
So next on the agenda is, oh gosh, me.
Well, fortunately, I prepared a speech.
And I'm going to try and get my breath back again.
Half of my speech was in that thing.
My Walnut Creek City Council Odyssey
began a long, long time ago.
It was fostered by my enthusiasm for the arts
through Diablo Regional Arts Association.
As a board member of DRAA, I was appointed to the Arts Vision
Task Force back in 20, no, 2014.
That was my first experience with the Brown Act, the law
that governs rules about public meetings.
I was a practicing CPA at the time,
and I was also asked to serve as treasurer
on many, many campaigns,
including those for local, county, and state candidates,
the library bond issue, and judgeships.
Through that experience, I learned what it is like
to put it together or run for office.
I went through the Chamber of Commerce's leadership
Contra Costa and Walnut Creek Citizens Institute,
and was a member of the Fiscal Sustainability Task Force.
What do you think with all that training and experience
you would do when you retired from your real job,
I thought it was obvious I should run for city council?
Overall, I'm glad I did.
In my first speech as a new council member,
I declared my love for the city,
and I was committed to protecting the legacy
of our prior leaders, both elected and non-elected.
I promise to work hard to keep their vision
moving forward toward the future.
That has been my guiding principle
through my years of service on the Council.
It was my chance to be mayor
at the end of my first term here in 2026.
In that speech, I summarized the challenges
of being a public face for one of the most fantastic cities
in the world. In addition, the mayor works behind the scenes maintaining good relationships with
our neighboring cities and our state representatives. The mayor celebrates the city's successes such as
business openings or anniversaries of historical meaning. The best part of being a mayor, however,
is there is so much to learn about the community and its citizens. Walnut Creek Works,
my first campaign slogan. My next chance to be mayor was in 2020. My speech started off
paraphrasing Julia of yours, Walnut Creek had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year.
But it turns out that Walnut Creek works together, campaign slogan number two,
and work together it did. Though COVID and riots and the advent of Zoom happened,
the council and the city staff rolled up their sleeves and figured out how to keep our streets
safe and functional, how to carefully expedite permits while convincing the fire department
to also relax their restrictions, however temporarily, enabling our businesses to install
street pop-ups and relaxed parking rules to allow for merchandise and food pickup.
And now it's 2024 and I'm making another speech. This year had its challenges such as neighborhood
concerns about preparations for the heavy construction of the development at Heather
Farm Park, potential open space changes, voting for plans for a new community center, and swimming
facilities. There were of course other big issues and little issues that needed attention,
but most were largely handled efficiently and well. There are so many people to acknowledge too
who contributed to the success of Walnut Creek this year and all the years I've been here. Let
me start with the council. This council is the strongest most congenial balanced council everywhere.
whenever we hit an obstacle trying to determine what was the right thing to do
and got to the point where there seemed to be no resolution, one of us, and it varied depending
on the situation, one of us saw a way through to the best possible solution. There are citizens
who have stepped forward and serve on our commissions and our supporting committees.
they often must deal with thorny emotional issues as a reward for giving up their personal time
and attention. Thank you for those in the commissions and the committees for representing
the city so well. And now to the staff where the rubber hits the road and that is not a pun on
public works. But while we're talking about public works that division had a lot of changes.
Rich Payne, who's in the back, stepped forward to take over for Heather Bellinger when she retired.
Smidar Brodman wears the hat of the engineering manager. She stepped in to replace irreplaceable
Steve Wehmeyer. Mike Vickers, our parks maintenance and open space genius keeps our greenery green
and a lot of other things working too. Thank you. Our Community Development Director,
Erika Vandenbrandt, accomplished the nearly impossible job of getting our housing element
approved by the state, while still making sure that her department kept up with all the regular
work. With her Planning and Housing Assistant, Seung Kwang, and our Stalwart Chief Building
Officer Frank Kong, the Department improved procedures and has moderate and have modified
our permitting process. The person who comes as close to a Saint, and I hope that he has not gotten
tired of my introducing him this way, is Kevin Savine. He's in charge of the Arts and Rec
Department. For the job of overseeing Walnut Creek's fund, he sure has an amazing supply of
of patients when dealing with people who are unhappy.
Carolyn Jackson keeps the Leisure Center running
and a team of program managers, Jim Carlson, Emily Enders,
Karen Houston Martin, Matt Morrow, Miley,
and if I didn't pronounce it right,
come and tell me how to do it.
Asa Aga Ogasawara, ogasawara, yeah, got it.
keep our recreational offerings chugging along.
Our police department is critical
to our community's wellbeing.
We are in good hands with Chief Jamie Knox
and his immediate backups of Captain Andy Brown
and Captain Ryan Hibbs.
They're a fine working team.
Our officers run the countywide bomb squad,
reach out to the homeless and patrol our neighborhoods.
and though it may seem to take a lot of time,
they quite often catch the bad guys.
Backing up our other departments
are the administrative services.
Near and dear to my CPA heart,
Kristin Lacasse and her team,
Rindy Acevedo, Katya Roa,
and Information Tech Officer Ray Lamb,
keep the city fiscally strong
and able to communicate with the outside world.
Human Resources Director Trish Raver
and Human Resources Manager Kelly Gerten
have made sure we know about our benefits, our rules,
and they do it all with love and warm smiles.
I have a special place in my heart
to the two gentlemen on my right.
Sorry, I'm crying.
At the far right is Steve Mattis, our city attorney.
When Steve first joined our team,
He always had such a serious demeanor.
It was my early goal to make him laugh
or at least smile once during every council meeting.
I now know he is so serious,
he is serious about protecting our community
and every so often he really needs to look in charge.
P.S., he also smiles and chuckles now and then.
To my immediate right is our city manager, Dan Bakshai.
Dan has the impossible job of juggling about 3,000 balls in the air at the same time and
he makes it look easy.
He is patient, concerned and when necessary firm.
I am positive that he is recognized as one of the best city managers in the state.
The best managers have a staff behind them.
Dan has put a strong one together. City Clerk Susie Martinez keeps our city in compliance
with oh so many of those complicated rules. Our communications outreach extraordinaire,
Betsy Burkhart, makes sure our community knows what's going on. And Deputy City Manager Carla
Hanson is our state law liaison, she knows all about what's going up there, and shows her
versatility by picking up new projects and solving new issues. Charles Ching, our new
assistant city manager, has settled in so well that it feels like he's been with the
city for years. I do not know Matt Boander's official classification because he's the
guy that runs our audiovisual needs and is out of this world, and he's the guy that pops
up every so often to take a picture. He is fantastic. There are two more people who I
have saved for last, and one of them is sure I have completely forgotten him. That person
is our city manager Ron Cassano. Not only has he managed our city treasury for years
and years, but he and his late wife Karen gave me a lot of encouragement to even considering
running for City Council. Thank you so much, Ron. Here comes the hard part and the easy part.
The other person, of course, is my husband, Ralph Hasku, and as is traditional, he is the one in the
loud Hawaiian shirt. He also encouraged me to run for City Council two times happily and the third
time, not so much. He had to listen to my version of the replays of everything that went wrong in
the morning after council meeting. He attended a lot of events even though he would rather have
stayed home. Thank you so much for all your incredible support. You have been a rock and
I love you so much. Let me take a minute please. The result of being on council for 12
years is I love Walnut Creek even more. It is hard to supply a list of why this
is true because the complete list would go on for at least 30 minutes more.
However, I have learned over time the secret to a good speech is the shorter
the better. I sadly and happily say goodbye.
We have somebody, if you don't want to say something.
Oh, yeah?
Yes, we do.
La Wella.
I'm used to calling you mayor, but it's really
been an honor and a privilege to serve with you
the last six years.
You were so warm and gracious when
I came onto the council in 2018 and offered to be a mentor.
And you were a mentor to me in very many ways.
The example you led of how to do this job,
not only as a mayor, but as a council member,
you put your whole heart and soul into it.
And you showed up to every event,
whether you were mayor or not.
I tried to give you a night off one night,
you were still there.
And I really respected that.
And what I also respected was that
you never took yourself too seriously,
but you always took the work seriously.
You managed to come up with your own unit of measurement.
For all those at home, five feet is about one Luella.
And then you had the,
but in addition to not taking yourself too seriously,
you also had the ability to keep us focused
and keep us on track.
And we could sometimes get off track and we needed that.
When you and I served together on the finance committee,
you were gracious enough to share your expertise
as a CPA with me and show me the ropes
of everything that needed to be learned about the budget.
And I truly appreciate that and I learned a lot
and it made the job of being a council member
after that a lot easier understanding
the budget component of the work.
But more than that, even though it's a lot of work
and obligations and can seem like a lot of duties,
you truly just enjoyed it, like at your core.
And I think there's a lot to be said for that
to not just doing the work,
but enjoy enjoying the work that you're doing.
And you did it with enthusiasm.
Your enthusiasm and laughter was contagious
as you witnessed tonight.
I mean, that's just a small example
of what we were all beneficiaries of
for the past several years.
So thank you for your years of dedicated service
our community on the council and before the council and I know you'll continue to stay
involved and we'll see you and Ralph at many events and I'll miss you and thank you.
Thank you.
We could probably all just say ditto and that's exactly what we think as well but I will not
just say ditto.
We first met working on the Measure I campaign regarding Neiman Marcus many years ago and
then several years passed and then you and I had a chance to meet when I was first thinking
about running for city council.
And it was during a campaign you were going to be running.
I was going to be an opponent just in general
and you were just so gracious with just advice,
just what it's like to be on council,
things to be aware of,
realizing that there were going to be decisions made
where half the room is happy and half the room is not.
And no matter which way you go.
And I appreciated all of that.
You're just as he how committed you are
and doing it gracefully.
And as Matt, I even wrote that down.
I couldn't have said it better.
You don't take yourself too seriously.
You know when to make funny asides
and I will never forget during some of the most
contentious meetings that we had
with some very difficult issues
and somebody would say something
and really be not nice at the dais
and you would, if you were mayor, you'd say,
well, by golly next, let's have the next.
I'm thinking, wow, that's way better than I would have done
there.
So how you handle those serious issues
and takes care of business while not taking yourself
too seriously, I think is just, it's a feature of you,
Luella Hask you.
And it's not something I think that any of us
can really replicate.
You have got the trademark on that.
And your dedication to public service
has been noticed by everyone.
And the community, I'm sure, thanks you.
but personally, I thank you as a colleague, a friend,
and a resident of Walnut Creek
because you've helped make Walnut Creek better.
Thank you.
Well, buddy, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
It's been 12 years, but it's been longer than that.
And it's been an honor to serve with you.
We've had fun.
Restrategized meetings that have occurred
over and over again.
I will always admire in 2012 when you decided that you were going to run for council after
so many years of giving to the community.
Many would say, isn't, haven't you done enough already?
You don't really need to do more.
But whether it was your work on the Arts Vision Task Force or the Blue Ribbon Task Force
on Fiscal Health, all of that laid a foundation for your awareness of the community and your
ability to give back and give back more at each turn. You're patient, you're
pragmatic, you're kind. It was always an honor to serve with you on committees to
travel with you. You drive really fast in a really small car and I'm a really tall
person and would really prefer to be in a taller car. But I would say that we made
a good partnership on some very, we were on the negotiating committee for Broadway Plaza's
renovations and we were negotiating a deal related to a big check and she said, you go,
you tell them the big number and so I told them the big number and she just kind of braced
the table, smiled sweetly and said what she said.
I do remember that differently. I made up the number, and you backed me up.
See, that's why we get along so well, too. We have two different versions, completely
different versions of the same story. I will miss having you here, but I will also know
that you're always available for advice. Thank you for the 12 years and more, because it's
been many many more years of dedication as evidenced by the number of people who
are here tonight so thank you. I get props. She's getting stuff. I am not gonna
give a long speech but there's three things I appreciate about Llewella.
She let me run the finance committee even though I had no idea what I was
doing and she helped me figure it all out. She really likes Chardonnay which is
really good and she laughs at my jokes and she lets me laugh at her jokes so
those three things are just so special but we as a city wanted to give Luella
her very own mayor haskew drive sign and aforementioned Chardonnay and some
other good stuff so we're gonna miss you. Well after all that it's hard to be
self-deprecating, but I'm going to try. Thank you for my fellow council members again for
all you've taught me and thank the citizens of Walnut Creek for all their love of the city as well.
It has been a great, great honor to serve this community and one of my finest accomplishments.
And I did say in my first speech that my son and daughter-in-law live on the other side of the
country and I was going to make them watch the then first speech, they've got another speech to
watch. Thank you everybody for the kind words I do deeply appreciate it. All right, it was a great
send off for Luella and now it is time for the next swearing in ceremonies for the new council
members and I will turn this over to Susie Martinez our city clerk and I guess I get to be
be the first one. I, Cindy Darling, do solemnly swear that I will support and
defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State
of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear
true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution of the State of California. That I take this obligation
freely, without any mental reservations, or purpose of evasion, and that I will
well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Susie. And I'll have comments later, but we'll move on to the...
me I'm up I Kevin Wilke do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the
Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of
California against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith
and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of
state of California that I take this obligation freely without any mental
reservations or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully
discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter thank you so while the
while Cindy will give her comments in a minute I just want to say that well yeah
when I when I was reelected for the first time four years ago and took the
office, the office in this room with nobody in attendance in City Hall except
for the city clerk ten feet away and this is a lot more enjoyable this time.
Especially with a full house where where it's a friendly full house at that.
That's not always the case. So I first want to thank the residents of Walnut
Creek for entrusting me with your vote again. I take that seriously and I'm
looking forward to representing the city and its residents here in the council
chambers and also regionally in my various functions. I thank you to my
family who always provide encouragement and support. My wife Jill and mother
Nessa are here today and I know that my daughter Dariel and son Shane would be
here if they could. This would be impossible to do without the support of
family and and thank you so much. I'm excited there are some important things
on the horizon that this new council will be involved in things like the new
Heather Farm Community Center and Pool, which has seen a long time getting to
this point and will be open for the end of our term. We'll see new altar fields
open and an increase in lifestyle projects that will enhance the
livability for people of all ages. And at that point I want to say a big thank you
to my colleagues in the City Council and on the City staff. Our ability to all
work as a team, you heard some of that by Mayor Hasku, coming in with different
views but finding the common ground to move forward on and that's key to a
functional and well-run city and thank you to City Manager Dan Bucha
and your excellent team of directors and staff and Luella I don't know how you
named everybody off and got everybody I'm just gonna say thank you to the
city manager the staff because I don't want to leave anybody out and and our
City Attorney Steve Madison are for the continued commitment to making Walnut
Creek, the best place in the Bay Area. I look forward to serving as Mayor Pro Tem and besides,
I believe, soon to be Mayor Cindy Darling. We'll see. Your first term was a terrific
start, and the city is the beneficiary of your involvement. Also working alongside council
members Matt Francois and Cindy Silva, we've made a good team. And to all the candidates
who put yourselves out there and ran for City Council, which is not an easy thing to do,
thank you. Walnut Creek is better for your involvement. And congratulations to Craig
Davini in winning your seat on City Council for the next four years. We look forward to
your ideas and collaboration. And lastly, I want to thank everyone in Walnut Creek for
your involvement in making Walnut Creek the wonderful city that it is. The numerous non-profit
volunteers who keep Walnut Creek spruced up and provide so many clubs and activities for people
to get involved in if they so desire. When we put a call out for applications for the Citizens
Institute, for commissions, committees, and various task forces, we receive many times more applications
than spots. That shows how people love this city and want to be involved. Walnut Creek is the
commercial engine of Contra Costa County. We are now the third most visited shopping and dining
destination in the entire Bay Area. Excellent schools, terrific neighborhoods, and top-notch
health care. Walnut Creek is truly an amazing place to live, to work, to visit and has been
mentioned by many national publications as one of the most desirable places to live in the country.
I'm proud of all that it offers. Am I proud of that? You bet I am. I hope everyone who lives
here is and with that let's get this team rolling.
I Craig Divini do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution
of the United States and the Constitution of the state of California
against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of
the state of California. That I take this obligation freely, without any mental
reservations, or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge
the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Well I knew I was gonna be a
little bit nervous but this is this is really something I'm very honored to be
here. Fortunately wrote down a few words as well. This was this last year was was
huge endeavor. It was a lot of work and it was a really enjoyable process and I want to start by
thanking the people that really made this possible and that's my family. First and foremost,
my wife Jennifer, who is just a dynamo. I mean she held the family together and got out there
and campaigned for me and took care of my emotional ups and downs throughout the whole
process and was just amazing, so thank you, Jennifer.
I want to acknowledge my parents up here in the front, Jean and Fred, who were also very
helpful at farmer's markets, and my dad even went out in front of stores and passed out
flyers for me, and when I would go door to door, people actually would say, oh yeah,
Yeah, I met your dad at Safeway.
So he's got a little following here as well.
To my boys, from left to right there, Dylan, Luke, and Steven,
I'm very proud of you.
You got out there and knocked on doors and talked to people
and sold your ideas and sold yourselves.
And I couldn't have been more proud.
We would walk the neighborhoods together as a family sometimes.
And we'd all kind of judge how successful the day went
by how many yard signs we would come back with.
So I would go.
And an hour later, we'd meet up.
And I'd say, hi, I got a yard sign.
And the boys would come back and like, oh, we
got three yard signs, right?
And then Jen would come back.
She's like, well, I answered three work calls.
I went shopping.
I had about 20 minutes.
And I got five yard signs.
So I also wanted to acknowledge.
college. My sister-in-law Katie in the back and mother-in-law Maria who were very helpful
as well. And I had two interns from high school that came and helped me and just called me
and approached me out of their own interest and helped with the campaign. And I really
appreciate their help. And that's Sophie Mitchell here in the back and Noah Wilson over here
on the side. So thank you too, too, as well. I also want to thank the leaders and business
owners that met with me that took the time to sit and have coffee and share their ideas
and their guidance on this year. And I really want to thank the residents of Walnut Creek
for supporting me, for taking the time to talk and introducing me to your friends and neighbors,
welcoming me into your homes, and agreeing to put my sign with my big mug on your front lawn.
so I really appreciate that. It was really an amazing year. I loved learning about the city.
I enjoyed meeting so many so many residents and so many community members. I enjoyed listening to
everyone, listening to your ideas. Some people would ask me, since I did spend so much time,
you know, going door to door talking to people, like, what was that process like? I mean, were
were people nice? Were they rude? Did they slam the door on your face? No, it was overwhelmingly
a positive experience. For me, for my family, people answer the door, they talk, they engage,
they're interested in the city, they have great ideas. I just really enjoyed the process
and I want you to know I was listening and I will do my best to advance your interests
and your priorities. It's really an honor to be here. I started this process a little
over a year ago and I started by watching City Council meetings and I
probably watched I don't know how much a year's worth of City Council meetings is
maybe it's a hundred hours but I watched these folks up here for a long
time before I started the process and so it's it's just really an honor to be
sitting up here with you with such such fine dedicated members of our community
I really look forward to working with you again to the residents thank you for
thank you for this privilege and I will work hard to represent your interests
and continue to move the city in a positive direction. Thank you.
Thank you very much and now we'll move on to the City Council reorganization
and selection of mayor. It would be my great honor to nominate Cindy Darling to
be mayor for the coming year. We have known each other over the course of your
many years on the Planning Commission and through interactions with our
children in different age cohorts at Los Lomas, but still we crossed over. And
thank you for your commitment to the community and everything that you did on
the Planning Commission to learn how about the important aspects of land use
and planning and all of that because that's an integral part of what we do
here. So it's my honor to nominate you. And I'm gonna be happy to make that
second. Thank you. Let's call the roll. Councilmember Davini... Councilmember
Silva? Aye. Councilmember Wilk? Aye. Councilmember Davini? Aye. Councilmember
Francois? Aye. And Mayor Pro Tem? Oh heck yeah. Thank you very much. Do we want to go
ahead and do the Mayor Pro Tem and then I'll do my remarks? Yeah. So yes it's
your choice. That's what Dan Buckshite keeps reminding me you know you're
gonna be the mayor they have to do what you tell them to. I don't know about this
crowd. It would be my honor to nominate Kevin Wilk as mayor pro tem. He is a
tireless. Luella always used to joke about there wasn't just one Kevin there
was seven because he would be at every ribbon-cutting and every event around
And so that is a great skill set in a mayor pro tem. He also has the experience and the wisdom and the ability to go out and talk to people and understand them and I'd be happy to nominate you as my mayor pro tem.
And I would be honored to second that nomination.
Thank you. Call the roll.
Mayor Darling.
I council member Francois.
I council member Davini.
I council member Silva.
I council member well.
I.
thank you. And we're almost, I promised everybody that we'd be out of here by seven o'clock because
there's food out there and chardonnay. And ice cream, which is probably melting over there right
now. I'm very honored to be here today as mayor of Walnut Creek, thanks to the voters of Walnut Creek
and their support and confidence in me. My daughter Rose said, well it's kind of like
the city of Walnut Creek decided you could be their mom too. So I thought that was just
really great. We all welcome council member Dafini to Team Walnut Creek and
we could all move forward with our common goals for the city. I want to
welcome Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Wilk because I go on vacation a lot so you're gonna
have some work to do. I also want to take a moment to honor Laura Patch and
Brendan Moran. Putting yourself out for council is a very tough thing to do. It's
hard work involved and I know that the two of them have the best interest of
the city at heart and I look forward to continuing to work with them as
commissioners. And lastly I want to say a huge thanks to my family. My daughter
Rose and my future son-in-law Will are here. My son Grant and his fiance are in
Italy and they couldn't make it. I don't know, you know, they had some excuse. My
brother-in-law Dan, my sister-in-law Donna, and Owen are here too. But most
importantly is my husband because there's a lot of things when you were on
council, running for council, many of them involve Gary staying at home eating
leftovers and watching cooking shows and wondering where I am and he's always
really good about doing that and I love you so much and thank you for all that
you've done. So now turning to the whole mayor thing. There's a mayor down in New
Orleans, longtime mayor down there, who described the work before us in a way
that really works for me. He said, it is in our cities where Americans work. It is
in our cities where we play, whether it's literally or the prose, at a museum, in a
park, or shopping on Main Street. It is in our cities where we pray, in churches,
synagogues, mosques, side-by-side in peace. It is in our cities where energy meets
opportunity, where grit and determination produces incredible results, new jobs,
innovation, entrepreneurship. It is in our cities where values like faith, family,
and country still ring true and it is in our cities where hope hits the street.
So as the government closes to the ground we're going to continue to find ways big and small to
improve the people of Walnut Creek's lives. No matter what is happening in our nation we'll
continue to work for all of you to make us the safe welcoming place to live work and play,
a prosperous place where we have economic opportunity for everyone, and a green healthy
sustainable city where we can all be proud to raise our families. That's what we are going to
be setting about over the next four years to do. Over the last four years, I've worked with my
fellow council members to address our shared priorities and we're going to continue those
forward. We've got a lot done so far and I'm looking forward to continued success. There's
great things coming. We're going to have the new RH opening up, original Joes. We're looking for
ways to keep our business community engaged in Walnut Creek and we're looking for ways to make
the permitting a little bit more efficient and predictable because we've kind of heard that's
an important thing. Under our sustainability action plan we're working on bikeability,
walkability, we're working on making electronic electric vehicles a more common occurrence here
on the street. We're going to help our homeowners and our businesses find the energy efficiency and
electrification improvements that make sense for them. And I think this some people said we should
pay us out gas leaf blowers and I think we're going to do that and I think there's some people
that are going to be very happy about that based on that was like the number one thing when we're
doing our sustainability action plan. So we've also continued to make a lot of progress here in
Walnut Creek on making us an inclusive community where it's comfortable for all and has something
for everybody. In our latest commissioner recruitment we simplified the process expanded
our outreach and got a much younger lot younger and older larger more diverse pool of applicants.
we can keep doing those things to make everybody in Walnut Creek see themselves in the City Council.
Public safety, also top of mind, especially as the holiday season is starting. Remember,
put your packages in the trunk. And while changes in homeless policies in other cities can create
challenges here, we can still celebrate victories. Next week we're going to have a ribbon cutting for
for Hope Village, which is five units of transitional housing for homeless
seniors, right here on a faith community's property. And it took a village
for us to get Hope Village together, but it's a sign of the kinds of
things we can do when we work together.
We have a lot of other things going with traffic safety, improving police
training and improving our responses to mental health crises. That is something
that Luella championed, and we will continue to make sure that that moves
forward, and then on to infrastructure.
That is one of those things that got me to run for Council.
Our talented staff continues to make big progress
on our big projects.
We're gonna have turf fields,
we're gonna have the lights at Tice,
and it's gonna be great.
And it's gonna be followed by the big kahuna,
which is the pool in the community center.
Our new pool and community center will be years
in the making, hundreds of hours of work planning,
designing the project, crafting and passing Measure O,
so we had the money to build it,
and a whole lot of discussion.
I know a lot about how deep lanes need to be,
how long they need to be,
and everything else there is to know about a pool
and what the color palette should be for the pool.
So I, for one, am really looking forward
to that ribbon cutting somewhere within my term.
So next February, this council is going to have a chance
to look at our priorities and re-figure them
and see what else we want to do, update them,
and I'm looking forward to continue to make progress,
but I'm gonna have my own spin,
because this is what you get when you elect an ecologist
to your city council.
You get someone who sees the connections between things,
because after all, a city is just people habitat,
and habitats work best
when all the parts of it work together.
And it's been my experience that successful habitat
improvement, which is what we do here on city council,
requires cooperation with everyone,
finding common purpose
and working towards win-win solutions.
So as we revisit our priorities in February,
you could expect this mayor
to have a champion integration of priorities,
improve communications and collaboration
and focusing on continuing to row together
as we all have learned to do.
So there's a lot I'm looking forward to in my years as mayor
and I'm glad that we are all here to celebrate.
And now it is time to adjourn and start the celebration.
Thank you all for coming here tonight.
There's food and chardonnay out in the hall.