Good evening. I'm Cindy Darling, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the regular
meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council. The City Council is conducting this meeting from
the City Council Chamber. This meeting is being video streamed and can be viewed live or later
on the City's website. As some attendees may be participating in their first Walnut Creek
City Council meeting, I wanted to welcome everyone and talk briefly about the public comment process.
For each agenda item, there will be an opportunity for public comment on that item.
Thus, if you desire to speak to an item on the agenda this evening,
please hold your comments until the City Council considers that item.
Additionally, we have a section on the agenda titled Public Communications,
which is for public comments for items not on the agenda.
Any comments during public communication should not relate to an item that is on the agenda this
evening. Consistent with section 9.5 of the City Council handbook, 30 minutes will be
initially allocated for public communication for items not on the agenda. Additional time
for public communications for items not on the agenda will be provided at the end of
the open session portion of the meeting, if necessary. If you desire to provide a public
comment, please complete a speaker identification card and line it behind the lectern at the
appropriate time. Wait your turn and then when you
approach the lectern please state your name,
city of residence for the record. You will have two minutes to address the
city council. Please keep in mind that this is a city
business meeting. The city council has adopted rules of
decorum to ensure that meetings are conducted
efficiently and effectively and that all members of the public have a full
fair and equal opportunity to be heard. The city council handbook outlines
decorum expected in the council chamber and can be found on our website. All
remarks should be addressed to the City Council. Please do not use threatening,
profane, or abusive language which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes
the orderly conduct of the council meeting. Again, each speaker will have two
minutes to make your remarks. Written comments submitted and received up to
two hours before the meeting have been posted to the City website or public
review and are included in the meeting record but will not be separately read
into the record. All right, that was so nice to not have to read that tonight and
hopefully it helps you guys understand better what's going on here tonight so
good evening I am Cindy Darling as I said mayor of the city of Walnut Creek
and welcome to the Tuesday June 17th 2025 regular meeting of the city council
Will you please all rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Thank you, Deputy City Clerk Eleanor Branson.
Would you please call the roll?
Council Member Davini?
Here.
Council Member Francois?
Here.
Council Member Silva?
Here.
Mayor Pro Tem Wilk?
Here.
And Mayor Darling?
Here.
clerk Eleanor Branson to administer the oath to our newly appointed
commissioners. So the new commissioners if you guys want to come on up.
Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and then I will well and faithfully
and then I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter.
Congratulations.
We're going to come up and take a picture with you guys and then you'll each have a
chance to introduce yourself to the audience from the lecture. All right, looks
like Sharice, you're at the front of the line. Okay, thank you so much. I'm so
honored to be able to represent our city on the Planning Commission. Thank you
mayor, thank you vice mayor, thank you council members, and I also want to thank
my family who's in in the audience tonight. My mom is here and my husband
Sandy and my team Kai so without you I couldn't do any of the public service
that I do so thank you so much just honored to be in this position welcome
you aboard thanks thank you Brendan Moran newest member of the planning
Commission I just want to say thank you to mayor mayor pro tem council members
city staff looking forward to working with you and I really appreciate the
opportunity. I think it's a good time to be involved with the city to help guide
the short-term long-term vision and keep Walnut Creek special in a place
that we love to live and work and play. So thank you. Thank you. Good evening
Mayor and City Council. My name is Lori Tinfo and I have lived in Walnut Creek
for about 25 years with my husband. I've recently retired from a career in city
government and now enjoying spending time with my granddaughters and hobbies
in my garden so I'm keeping very busy. I'm also on the Walnut Creek Library
Foundation Board of Directors and very pleased to be doing that and very
grateful to the council for selecting me to serve on the Contra Costa Library
Commission as the alternate so thank you very much for that opportunity. Thank you.
And I want to close this with saying a huge thanks to everybody that came out.
This was one of the most competitive cities for Planning Commission. We had
just an overwhelming wealth of people and great candidates for the library
also. I really appreciate the people of Walnut Creek who are willing to step up
and so we really appreciate all your hard work and we look forward to having
you on the team. So thank you. The Mount Diablo School District's loss is
definitely our gain. All right and now we're going to turn to our celebration
of Juneteenth. And Juneteenth is one of those holidays where it just really
celebrates freedom and sometimes elusive promise of the American dream that we
are always working towards. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation
proclamation January 1st 1863 ending slavery but of course it took two plus
long years for that to get all the way down to the far ends of the earth of
Galveston Texas and that is when on June 19th 1865 they finally let people know
that they were no longer enslaved. He said the people of Texas are informed
that in accordance with the proclamation from the executive the United States all
slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property
between former masters and slaves. And the connection heretofore existing between them
becomes that between employer and hired labor. And we all know in the ensuing years that
this promise has taken us a long time to really achieve, that there has been steps forward,
steps back, steps forward, steps back. So celebrating Juneteenth is all about freedom.
It's an opportunity to recommit ourselves,
to continue to combat all forms of modern-day slavery,
including human trafficking, labor trafficking.
And it's also a chance to continue the fight
towards equality and freedom.
And it's a fight that we carry on day in
and day out in this country,
but we are bending the arc towards a better world, we hope.
Anyway, I would like to invite Delitha and Van Hanson,
who are our newest entrepreneurs, Dad's Barbecue,
to come up and meet me and accept the proclamation.
And I hope I said the names right.
Well, I'm Delitha Hanson.
I am the granddaughter of Dennison Etahicks.
They're the ones that started as barbecue
about 26 years ago.
So me and my husband here,
we have opened up our location here in Rossmore.
So this is our first location.
continue on you know our grandmother and grandfather's legacy so yeah we'd like
to thank you guys for honoring us and them today for Juneteenth it's a big
award for us to get things like that and we just thank you guys for allowing us
to join the Walnut Creek community.
At this time I'd like to invite the members of the Youth Leadership Commission to present
the awards, the Volunteer Service Awards.
Hi, thank you so much for having us tonight, Mayor Darling, as well as other City Council
members.
My name is Harshwin, and I, along with my fellow commissioners, are here representing
the Youth Leadership Commission.
We're here to celebrate and recognize Youth in Wanna Creek that have been awarded the
Presidential Volunteer Service Award, which is a national volunteer awards program.
The City of Wanna Creek through its Youth Commission
is pleased to bring this prestigious award opportunity
to our youth grades, K through 12,
for their significant contributions to our community.
Now I'd like to introduce our first awardee
who's been awarded the Gold Award, Casimir Carlson.
Been here for a second while I talk
about all the amazing things that you've done.
Casimir has led numerous service projects
through Troop 302 in Wanna Creek,
including designing and building a habitat cabinet
for Lindsay Wildlife Museum
as part of Casimir's Eagle Scout project.
Casimir also supported other Eagle projects,
such as building a podium for De La Salle High School
and delivered hundreds of Valentine's Day
and Veterans Day cards to seniors and veterans
through meals on wheels and swords to plowshares.
Casimir especially enjoyed volunteering
at the Contra Costa Food Bank to pack
and sort foods for families in need.
Casimir, I'm glad to present you with your award today.
Good evening council members.
My name is Anna Sofia, and I am here today
to introduce the next gold awardee, Elliott Carlson.
Elliott has contributed to several Eagle Scout projects
in Walnut Creek, including cello stands for music programs,
refurbishing a school playground,
and building a habitat cabinet
for a local wildlife nonprofit.
Elliott designed and built a new podium
for De La Salle High School and helped run booths
at the Walnut Creek farmer's market,
assisted with flower planting,
and participated in local flag ceremonies.
Elliot created and distributed over 300 Valentine's Day cards
and 500 Veterans Day cards,
each with a hand-tied flag ribbon.
Elliot regularly volunteered
at the Contra Costa County Food Bank with family,
sorting and distributing food to those in need.
Congratulations, Eliot.
Please come forward to receive your award.
Now I'd like to introduce our next gold awardee,
Ryan Macerjee.
Ryan volunteered with Subho, a Bay Area nonprofit,
where Ryan led educational seminars on cellular health
and substance abuse prevention
for students in Walnut Creek and beyond.
In addition, Ryan organized cultural events
through the Indian Student Union
to bring together diverse communities.
These experiences helped Ryan grow personally
and strengthen their belief in promoting inclusion
and shared values within the community.
Congratulations, Ryan.
Please come forward to accept your award.
Unfortunately, I don't think Ryan is here today,
but we appreciate their service as a youth member
of our community and we will get their award to them.
Good evening council members. My name is Julia Chow, also a member of the Youth Leadership
Commission. I'd like to introduce the next school awardee, Zachary Lee. Zachary volunteered
as a cabin leader for students attending One Acres Elementary Schools exploring New Horizons
Outdoor Education Program. Zachary's service supported the program's ability to operate
and gave students a chance to explore nature, learn about the environment, and engage in
ecological stewardship. Unfortunately, Zachary isn't able to join us this evening, but we
are very appreciative of his service still on a creek. The final 2024 Presidential Service
Award goes to one of Youth Commission's very own, Jennifer Loss is being awarded the Franz
Award. Jennifer has been volunteering at her local library since the end of 7th grade,
going weekly for an hour and a half. Her love for reading keeps her going as she helps with
decorations in the children's section, and assist visitors in finding books. Her
passion for helping others have made her weekly visits a very rewarding way to
give back to the community. Congratulations Jennifer, please come
forward to receive your award. To all of our awardees, thank you for your
commitment to service. Mayor Darling, that concludes our presentation. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Okay everybody picture everybody awards pictures. All
right that's enough clapping it's time now for the consent calendar everybody's
favorite. Does any council member wish to pull an item for discussion or any
staff member need to pull an item. I would like to pull items 2E and 2H. Any
others? All right. Madam Mayor before the Council acts on this item? For the
record. Thank you. For the record, I'd like to note that the consent calendar item 2C
includes a compensation adjustment for the department director, specifically a
5 percent salary adjustment effective June 22nd, 2025 and as the councilman called by state law
for executive management positions we're required to report that on the record as part of your item.
Thank you very much for that city attorney. Does any member of the public wish to address us on 2a
through d f g i j k or l don't rush it once okay with that we'll move to approve consent calendar
items to a through D F and G and I through l second we'll call please
councilmember Francois I councilmember Silva I councilmember Davini I mayor
pro tem Wilk I and mayor darling I all right councilmember Silva item e item e
on our consent calendar is the authorization to enter into an extended
license agreement with the equestrian center of Walnut Creek well many of you
you probably don't realize we have an equestrian center,
a horse event facility at the far northern end
of Heather Farm Park.
And they basically built that on city land
somewhere in the early 1960s.
So they were the first resident of Heather Farm Park
after it was a private farm.
It encompasses two event arenas
and this license agreement will allow them
to continue to be good stewards of our land
on behalf of the horse community
for five years plus potentially five additional years.
And I'm gonna thank them
before I have a couple of questions for staff.
I wanna thank them for their stewardship of our land
and what you do even every,
they have been a 15-year participant
in community service day as well,
so thank you for that too.
I have some questions about the license agreement.
Good evening, Mayor Darling, members of the council.
My name's Rich Payne, I'm the director of public works.
Thank you for being here and answering my questions.
There's a parking lot at the equestrian center
and I don't believe that is in the lease agreement.
I believe that is under our responsibility
for taking care of and managing it.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
And there are some cars parked there sometimes
and they're pretty regularly.
Do we rent that parking lot and to whom do we rent it?
Yes, we rent that parking lot
to the Seven Hills Ranch School.
So they use it during the school day?
Yes.
My second question is the license agreement
with the equestrian center organization
is that the equestrian center will only be used
for equestrian events, correct?
That is correct.
They also have our permission under the license agreement
to rent the facility to others.
Is that restricted to only equestrian events by others?
That is correct.
Do you think they would mind?
I'm looking at you.
If the user application form, which
is attached in part of the agreement,
was to say that as opposed to just calling it a user
agreement so that it's very clear that in the future,
if somebody decided they wanted to rent it
for a rock and roll show, which might have set the neighbors,
that that wouldn't happen.
We will make sure that it has that language built.
We've no negotiating agreement at the mic.
OK.
Thank you.
So you're going to ask if anybody else has comments.
Yes, I was going to look for comments.
If anybody wants to address us on item 2e,
do we have cards for it?
If people have turned in a card and would like to address us,
don't feel like you have to.
But if you want to address us, we're ready to listen.
And please come up, introduce yourselves.
what city you're from and you'll have two minutes
to make your comments.
And yes, the microphone is very low.
Okay, my name is Therese Cappels,
I'm a resident of Walnut Creek,
and I wanted to thank the city for continuing
its support and commitment to
the Heather Farms equestrian facilities,
especially this five year renewal of the historic facility,
as Cindy mentioned.
Others may not know that the equestrian center
offers a unique opportunity, not only for the East
Bay or Northern California, but all of California.
We are the only city in California
that offers in-city riding abilities,
or even touching or being near horses.
And we are in league with New York, Philadelphia,
and Washington, DC.
So that's what we provide to the area.
While hundreds of children get their first writing experience
during the summertime at the Equestrian Center,
the largest demographic of people writing horses
are over 50.
And so this is sort of the demographic
where maybe it's empty nesters or people finally
having that time to do it.
But I'm one of those people, and I want to say thank you.
So let's see.
I get nervous.
I started taking lessons in my fifties and the equestrian center was there for me and
I hope it's there for more than just the 10 years.
I've benefited from participating in the events at the equestrian center and from helping
to put on events there, the benefits at Heather Farm Park are not only for the young but also
for mature people, for military veterans and for the disadvantaged who take equine therapy.
Having a horse kept me sane during COVID and I was able to come to the center, go on the
trails in the open space and also in Mount Diablo Park.
I just wanted to let you know that we appreciate your ongoing commitment and to keeping and
maintaining the unique facilities at Heather Farm Park.
Thank you.
Next.
Hello, my name is Cecily Gott.
I'm a resident of Concord and I'm here to speak in support of item 2E, the lease renewal
for the Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek.
First, I want to thank you.
Your approval of this lease may seem like a procedural vote
but so many of us in the community,
it means something much bigger.
It means preserving a space
where lifelong passions are sparked.
Just the other day I was speaking with a writer,
someone who had decades of experience
and she said, you know, all of this started
because I went to a day camp at a farm.
And then I was hooked.
It made me think of the Equestrian Center
because every time I visit I see that same story beginning again.
I see toddlers wide-eyed and wondered and kids brushing ponies and older adults sharing
experiences and memories of a horse that they love.
These moments, these first touches, these first rides, these first encounters, are the
seeds of a lifetime.
And while you've approved for five more years, I want to emphasize that what's being
sewn here stretches far beyond that.
For some children, this center will be where they find their purpose, their peace and their
place in the world and that's why I'm here today not because I have a lifetime
of experience with horses but because I believe that this space is where the
next generation will begin theirs so thank you for ensuring that this place
continues to inspire thank you next please
bump up my writing skills and build friendships with people who are like me and who are interested
in animal and their welfare. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Hard act to follow. Hi. My name is Lori Watase Bone and I was born
and raised in Clayton. I'm a local horse trainer with private clients and I'm a board member
at Stardust Sanctuary where our other board member just spoke and we are building a program
for kids and beginners to get horse experience that without the like heavy
buy-in of like owning a horse or leasing a horse. So we're trying to build this
program and we wanted to speak to the importance of public space use for
equestrians and not disappearing. It's one of the most important things for us
to do is to get out and be exposed and the equestrian center is one of the
most unique places because it allows the equestrians to interact with the public
in a really safe and fun space. So we really appreciate you guys renewing the
lease and we appreciate the opportunity to speak to you tonight. Thank you. Thank
you very much. Next. Council and Mayor Darling, my name is Valerie Sterling and
I am the district commissioner for Clayton Canyon Pony Club. I understand
you received a letter from our treasurer Deb Kirsch so she's a treasurer of our
local Pony Club. She's also on the board of the Middle California Region Pony Club
and she's the vice president of United States Pony Club. So it's a huge organization and
I'm sure you read about the benefits of being in Pony Club, about learning and responsibility
and bonding with an animal and learning more and more
about the equestrian arts.
So I want to express my gratitude
for the renewal of the contract at the equestrian center.
And also say that I was, as a youth,
riding at the equestrian center in the 60s,
And then my two daughters, one of which just spoke,
Laurie, was riding at the equestrian center.
And my granddaughter, who was not able to be here,
has ridden for the last seven years at the equestrian center.
And now I'm hoping that since we have continued use
of the equestrian center, that my grandson, Toshi,
will be able to ride.
Who are you riding at the center, Toshi?
Who do you ride?
Fiona. You want to ride Fiona the pony at the equestrian center. You said that a few minutes ago.
So thank you very much and thank you for your support at the equestrian center. Thank you and
that's a very nice little um thank you card that you've done there. You've taught them well.
Hi, I'm Jane Vanderwerf and I'm from Alamo and I really want to thank you mayor and all of the
council members for your support. I've been a member of the equestrian center
and working with the equestrian center since about 2008 and we've seen such
tremendous growth and interest in this beautiful space. It is so incredibly
unique and it is a little bit of a secret back there of which we sometimes
think is maybe a good thing but I wanted to say a little bit about the types of
events that we have and the folks that we have join us there and that includes
the Contra Costa County 4-H. We're going to have a speaker here in just a moment.
You've heard from the Pony Club. We also have the California State Horsemen and
while we have a lot of equine competitions, we recognized years ago
that we need to show Walnut Creek and the greater community that we can offer
more than just writing competitions. We are now holding numerous equine therapy
events for those who are in the need for healing, whether it's mental or
emotional or spiritual or physical healing. We've served veterans from our
area. We've also served cancer patients and their families and in July we're
going to have 50 first to eighth graders
from the Monument Crisis Center coming
to be quiet around horses.
Wish us luck.
We're going to do some meditative exercises,
but they're going to be rotating through five different events
or exercises with folks from Xenophon and Zenerosity
and Rusty Halo.
And in my group now, it's Better Angels Ranch.
I'm a big fan of President Lincoln.
So I just want to thank you all for allowing us to continue.
Thank you.
And we hope we'll be here another 50 years.
All right.
Jane, could I ask you a question?
Just for clarification, what I didn't mention
was whether you stable horses at Heather Farm Park.
And I believe the answer is no.
No, we do not.
We do have the ability for some events
once we get approval from the city and the police folks
to overnight for some events,
but that is fairly infrequent.
So we have to make those arrangements in advance and advise.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next.
Hello, my name is Nanda Prasad and I live in San Ramon.
I am a youth member and officer
of the Tausahora 4-H Club.
And within our club, I'm also a team leader
for the Beginning Horse Project.
So I'm an inventor and I've been a rider for over eight years
and I started off at a local barn only 10 minutes away
from where I live and that is where I discovered
my love for horses.
And if that barn had never been there
or had not been open to the public,
then I would have most likely never started riding
and my life would have been very different.
And this sport has taught me so many different life skills
and they have shaped who I am as a person.
I've learned patience and resilience
and it has given me discipline and confidence.
With that, I know firsthand how important it
is to have a place to ride.
So thank you for the City of Wanna Creek
for supporting and renewing their lease
with the equestrian center, which originally started
as a horse training facility, a racetrack,
and it actually used to be grounds for the 4-H County Horse
Show.
And now more individuals and kids like me
will have the opportunity to fall in love
with the animal and the sport,
they will experience the same growth, passion,
and connection to horses that I and many others feel.
So thank you for recognizing how important
a space like this is for the horse community.
Thank you, thanks.
Hi, my name is Sue Howell and I do membership
for the equestrian center of Walnut Creek.
I've been a member this time for about 16 years.
We're now on our third generation in our family.
I rode there as an adult.
Both my daughters rode there in Pony Club.
And now my granddaughter is riding there and showing.
And she also is our junior board member.
So it gives her credits for her high school and experience
on how to negotiate things.
She also, both my granddaughter and my grandson,
have worked at the Adventure Day camp
and helped bring all the little kids along
and teach them how to operate around the horses and stuff.
It's been great for the kids, and it's
been great for my grandkids, because it gives them
a sense of self-worth and enhances their personalities
tremendously.
So I'd like to thank you for renewing.
We just keep getting better, actually,
as far as what we're offering for the horse community and the, what would be the word,
Jane, the veterans, the special needs and that type of thing.
Jane didn't mention that with the adventure day camp, last summer 800 kids went through.
Yeah, that's a huge amount of children.
And for so many kids, being associated with the horse is just a godsend for them.
It gives them a chance to really find themselves and learn responsibility and dedication.
And it helps them navigate the social issues that they deal with in school.
So again, I'd like to thank you for renewing that.
Thank you I take it we're not going to have anybody that's opposed to this good evening my name is Elizabeth Hudson I am the president of the San Ramon Valley Horsemen's Association I volunteer with the East Bay Regional Park District as part of their amount of patrol and I volunteer with the state parks as part of their amount of patrol I would like to thank you very much for keeping this
to open for horses for the next five years.
The horses, I think, I don't want to repeat of it.
They teach you more than horsemanship.
Dealing with horses teaches you mindfulness.
It teaches you patience.
It gives you a routine that you need to learn to follow.
It's self-awareness.
It's nonverbal communication, financial sacrifice,
and unbridled pleasure.
So I really do appreciate your keeping these opportunities
for this, the current people and future generations
to enjoy all the gifts that horses have to offer.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Greetings, leaders of Walnut Creek.
I am Andre Turnbull, and I am the executive director
of the International Horsemanship Foundation.
And I'm also proud to be an ambassador
for the Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek
for our membership in the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce.
My wife was a professor at DVC for 15 years
and has been the dean of STEM at Contra Costa College.
And she's a member of the board of the Equestrian Center
of Walnut Creek.
She's also a state champion in her sport
and has never made a dime as a horse in horses.
But I'm very proud of the relationship
that we have with our horses and our relationship
with the equestrian center, Awalna Creek.
I remember when Lowell Ahaskiw
celebrated the wonderful award on horses
and she came and took a picture with my horse and I.
I consider Kevin Wilk a friend
and we are active in the region.
Cindy Silva and I worked a booth together
at the Art and Wine Festival.
And I wanna thank her for coming
to our 50-year celebration of the equestrian center
of Walnut Creek, and I'll never forget when she said,
and let's celebrate the next 50 years
of the equestrian center of Walnut Creek.
Before I make my last statement
about the equestrian center, I wanna make a moment
to thank Mayor Darling for her amazing statement.
I run Inform Sanole, which is Sanole's newsletter,
and your statement about protecting our democracy
was wonderful, and I wanna thank you for that.
Several other leaders are doing that,
and we're gonna cover that in informs and all.
Finally, I would like to offer my services
to return the Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek
to the master plan.
Thank you all for your respect and attention,
and may the horse be with you.
Thank you so much.
And I think we're good with everyone.
Would you like to make a motion, Cindy?
Council member Sola.
What's the subject?
No.
No, thank you very much for all the speakers this evening.
I move to authorize the city manager to enter
into a license agreement with the equestrian center
of Walnut Creek for use of the premises
at 390 North San Carlos Road and to authorize staff
to make any changes to the license agreement
that do not material increase the city's obligations.
And also would I include in the motion
the like user application form.
Yes.
We modified slightly to reflect
that it is for equestrian use.
Second.
Roll call please.
Council member Silva.
Aye.
Mayor Pro Tem Wilk.
Aye.
Council member Davini.
Aye.
Council member Francois.
Aye.
And Mayor Darling.
Heck yeah.
All right.
And so you may go forth and ride at the center.
Ride into the sunset.
All right.
Two H.
H. Okay, this isn't as interesting as horses or Heather farm park. This is about parking
meters. We have 1600 parking meters in mostly in downtown Walnut Creek, and they've been
over the last 10 years transitioning to credit card payment processing. And thanks to staff,
this item will actually authorize us to enter into an agreement with a new credit card processing
provider that will save us substantial amounts of money and I would like to ask
a couple of questions of staff. I won't make you explain credit card processing
it is very complicated but can you give us if I were to say somebody puts in
their credit card for two hours in downtown which would be four dollars
yes how much of that four dollars would actually go to credit card processing
fees now currently. Talk into the microphone please. Yes. So the amount, it's a difficult
question, so I'm going to answer it a little bit differently than. Right now, the cost
of that transaction, just the transaction alone, it would cost us, through this current
company 94 cents per transaction 94 cents yes and what will it cost with the
new vendor the new vendor will be 23 cents per transaction so 71 cents did I
do my math right something like that and my question is is there any way that is
this credit card does this vendor only provide services for parking meters or
do they provide services in any other way that we could utilize where we're
doing a lot of credit card processing so right now this company's sort of its
specialty is to small amount transactions so anything lower than ten
dollars they specialize in those types of transactions and that's why they
really focus on this is a market for them right however we have we don't have
the answer to your question but we are looking into that to see if we can
expand this to other credit card transaction opportunities all right
Thank you and we have a lot of these transactions right? Yes. So that's 71
cents we can multiply that by? I don't have that answer right off the bat. It's
a big number. I'll just leave it there. Thank you and thank you to staff. I think we have one more
quick question here. Thanks Rich. Is there any downside to using this? Are there any
cons because of course we all grew up with what you paid for. So
what are we missing here? That's a really good question and we've asked that
ourselves and we've checked with other companies that have used this company or
other cities that have used this company and it's been nothing but positive
positive feedback from them. So as of right now everything looks good we've
done some research and we we can't find any downside to using this this company.
great great come to Walnut Creek all right thank you anybody in the audience
want to speak on parking meters seeing none I'll bring it back up here for a
motion I move to authorize the city manager to enter into an agreement with
AMG for parking meter merchant processing services second we'll call
please councilmember Silva aye councilmember Davini aye councilmember
Francois.
Aye.
Mayor Pro Tem Wilke.
Everybody loves parking meters.
Aye.
And Mayor Darling.
Yes.
Commissioner Perrys.
All right, next on the agenda is public communication.
This portion of the meeting is reserved for comments
on items not on the agenda.
Under the Brown Act, the council cannot act on items
raised during the public communications,
but may respond briefly to statements made
or questions posed.
We can request clarification or refer the item to staff.
Consistent on section 9.5 of the city council handbook,
30 minutes will be allocated at this time
for public communication for items not on the agenda.
Additional time for public communications
for items not on the agenda will be provided
at the end of the meeting.
It is now 6.47 and we will go to 7.15.
Written comments submitted have been posted
to the city's website for public review
and are included in the meeting record
but will not be read separately into the record at this.
No, I did that part.
And so now, we ask that anybody that wishes to speak,
step up to the microphone and state your name
and your location, and if you're a group, indicate that,
and we'll give, groups get 10 minutes.
Great, thank you so much.
Good evening, mayor and council members.
My name is Emily Barnett.
I am the communications and government relations manager
for the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District,
better known as Central San.
I'm joined by one of our board of directors
representing Walnut Creek, inclusive of Rossmore community,
and our senior community affairs rep, Chris Carpenter,
who's also working on the project
I'm gonna talk to you about today.
So, since earlier this year,
Central Sand has been cleaning and inspecting
our very large diameter pipes,
and these are pipes that convey basically wastewater
to our treatment facility in Martinez.
Some of these pipes include siphons.
siphons help convey water under, for instance, like a flood channel or a creek, and actually
15 of the 21 siphons that we own are in the city of Walnut Creek.
To give you kind of an idea of what we're experiencing is most of these siphons take
somewhere around one to three days, maybe, maybe, maybe a week to clean, but we actually
have two very significant pipelines, one's 36-inch and one's 54-inch, that bisects the
property and it starts roughly at Ignacio Valley Road and Civic Avenue at
that pedestrian walkway entrance right there on the back of Civic Park and it
bisects the property and goes to that neighborhood that's at Bradley Avenue
and Greenway Street Drive. And this siphon again 54 inches in
diameter 517 feet long and frankly it is a beast. So we have cleaned the 36 inch
and that's to add redundancy into our facility so we have two lines there and
so that one's been cleaned. Unfortunately when we got to inspect the
54 inch it was far more impacted than we thought. Lots of grit, heavy debris, even
metal like rebar, which we're not quite sure how that entered into our
facilities but is concerning to us, and large masses of fats, oils, and grease.
This is to say it took far longer than anticipated to clean that facility, but because it was
impacted about 60%, we did not feel comfortable leaving that site.
The unfortunate part is the equipment that we use to clean that, think of a giant vacuum
on a giant truck, and then think about that truck on steroids, and that is what we use.
It's a giant, giant vacuum, very robust piece of equipment, and unfortunately to pull the
level of material out 30 feet deep, it is very loud and it has been very disruptive
to those neighbors in that community, and for that we really apologize.
I think where we erred is that we should have gone to those neighbors immediately when we
saw the condition of how impacted that pipe was and explained to them what we were experiencing
and how long we were going to have to be there.
I think our hope was that it wouldn't take quite as long as it did, but this material
is quite heavy, and it takes a lot to get it out of there.
We've now been there 22 work days.
We have an encroachment permit that starts at 9 in the morning and goes to 3 in the afternoon.
And after 22 work days, we've gotten to a place where we feel safe enough to take a
pause.
So we've cleaned enough the majority of that material out of that pipe, where we can give
the neighbors a break on the noise.
So we're pausing for about two plus weeks.
sent that crew to two other siphons and two other communities and some other
work that they can do in the area and they will come back. The good news is as
we've learned our lesson we will notice these customers they have gotten two
communications from us but we'll notice them prior to returning to work and
we're also going to put this pipe on a regular cleaning schedule. These siphons
were supposed to be self flushing now we realize they are not as advertised
they're not self-flushing and so if we continue to maintain them sooner and
sooner we hope that we'll be less disruptive to the community in years to
come. So I do want to call out Betsy Burkhart, Rich Payne who I do actually
feel a lot of our calls from concerned residents and likely very annoyed
residents on our behalf and so for that we apologize to them but our job is to
be a good neighbor and I think we missed the mark on this one but we have learned
and our lesson will be much better going forward.
Thank you very much.
I just had one question.
So when somebody is sitting there
with their big frying pan full of oil,
should they pour that down the drain
or should they figure out something else to do with it
so that it doesn't end up in the siphon?
I love this question.
Thank you for the softball.
Fats, oils, and grease.
We think if we heat up the water, it's great.
It'll pass, everything will be fine.
It kind of melts.
You don't see it congealed, and you're fine.
It disappears.
We always say the toilet's magic.
You just put something in it, flush it, everything goes away.
That's not actually true.
We know that fat soils in Greece and wipes clog systems
substantially.
They actually cause a lot of overflows
within people's homes, within their own system.
But if they do bypass that system
and make it to central sands, there's
all manner of concerns that can happen.
And again, we're seeing these huge balls of it.
It congeals when it cools down.
And it will definitely clog the system.
And so that can cause overflows in waterways, which
are very concerning, as we know, for the environment.
And certainly, we don't want to see sewage in the streets.
And that's what an overflow is.
So the goal is to keep sewer water in the pipes.
And yes, please dispose of that in the garbage.
Or depending on your garbage provider,
you have a compost bin you can put that in the compost as well in small amounts.
Thank you for that question. Thank you very much and thank you for being
responsive to the residents when they reached out to us. We really do
appreciate the work that Central Santa's done in the neighborhood. Thank you. Thank
you very much. Next. Good evening for the record. Kathy
Hemingway, Walnut Creek Downtown Association, and I'm here this evening
Mayor Darling and City Council members to provide a brief overview of the
Summer Arts Walnut Creek program which is taking place now through August 31st.
It's a vibrant and diverse series of cultural and arts events that reflect our city's ongoing
commitment to creativity, inclusion, and community engagement.
So this season is made possible through the generous support of our sponsors, Visit Walnut
Creek, and Diablo Magazine, as well as collaborative efforts from 12 of our program partners,
which include the city of Walnut Creek,
the ballet school performing arts, Bedford Gallery,
Broadway Plaza, California Symphony,
Center for Community Arts, DRAA, Festival Opera,
Luscious Center for the Arts, and Walnut Creek Downtown.
So this season launched with several high attended,
or well attended high energy events
that brought together people
from across generations and backgrounds,
including the DIY Pride Tea Design at the library,
our second Locust Street Festival and Block Party,
and Festival Cultural Street Fair this past weekend,
and a breathtaking performance
by Mariachi Rene de Los Angeles at the Lesher Center.
Looking ahead, we have an exciting lineup still to come
with Summer Arts Now on June 21st,
and the ongoing In the Company of Trees exhibit
at the Valley Art Gallery.
Bedford Gallery will host an evening art workshops
and launch a new exhibit of Beyond Color,
The Language of Black and White, on July 12th.
Walnut Creek on Corked, sip shop and stroll
through downtown Walnut Creek on June 26th
as we celebrate the culinary arts,
California wines, and local shops.
The free opera in the park, Performance of Pagliace,
will take place in Civic Park on June 29th.
The Walnut Creek downtown will also bring back
an additional Locust Street festival on July 16th
and August 6th, bringing music, food, art,
and community spirit to the downtown.
Broadway Plaza will bring their summer concert series
and kick it off on July 31st with a Swift Nation,
Taylor Swift tribute band, followed by Ragdolls,
the All Female Aerosmith Tribute on August 7th
and Three Queens of Motown Tribute on August 14th.
And our popular public arts walking tour
and piano pianos continue through the summer.
So to explore all of these events,
please visit walnutcreekdowntown.com
and click on the events tab.
And we thank you for your continued support.
Thank you for all you do.
Thank you.
Anybody else for public communications?
All worth that.
Thank you so much.
Does anybody on the council have any questions
or comments based on the public communication
before we move on?
I would just like to reiterate to Central San,
thank you for your responsiveness to the residents.
We did receive a lot of email on that
and nothing speaks to caring
like being responsive quickly, so appreciate that.
Thank you.
All right, now we're gonna move into
the next part of our meeting.
We're gonna start off with closed session announcements.
I do have a announcement from the closed session today.
The city council did conduct performance evaluations
for the city manager and the city attorney
as part of the special city council meeting
held this afternoon at four o'clock.
On behalf of the city council,
I'm reporting out of the closed session
that the city manager and city attorney
both received positive evaluations
to meet the standards set forth in their respective
agreements for salary and compensation adjustments
effective June 22nd, 2025 and July 1st, 2025 respectively
as further set forth in their contracts.
I believe that is all the report that we need
from this closed session.
That is correct, Mayor.
All right.
Then we'll go on to city manager reports.
Yes, good evening, Dan Buckshi, city manager.
One update this evening as many of you are likely aware,
On Friday, the state legislature did adopt,
or passed a state budget about $325 billion,
which is about three billion higher
than what the governor had proposed.
As you may be aware,
the budget is far from done at this point at the state level.
There is a statutory requirement
that the legislature adopt a budget by June 15th,
or legislators do not get paid,
and it has always been passed on time
since that law went into place.
However, it has not been fully reconciled
with the governor, it's anticipated
there will be numerous budget trailer bills
that will be coming forward in the coming weeks
and coming months as additional negotiations take place.
Just as a reminder, the state was looking
at a fairly sizable budget deficit that it needs to close.
So we are still waiting for the details
to the reconciliation process to see what impacts
may trickle down to cities, counties,
and other local entities.
All right, thank you for that report.
Now it's time for city council member reports
on AB 1234 activities.
And I'm gonna take mayor's prerogative
and go first this time, which I don't do very often.
But mostly I wanted to kick off with the statement
that I issued last week as mayor of Walnut Creek
regarding the protests and recent events
regarding immigration.
Normally the Walnut Creek City Council
does not comment on national affairs.
It's clear in our city handbook
that we have a job to do here in Walnut Creek
and that's where we spend our time and attention.
In this case, I issued the statement
because the national events and discussion
and the peace and safety of our city were intersecting.
We had been told that ICE was conducting operations
at the Concord courthouse, that's it.
And we also knew, as we had been working very closely
with the protestors who have been meeting on Saturdays
here in Walnut Creek, we knew they were expecting
a very large turnout at their protest last Saturday.
And so I felt it was important to speak to the people
of Walnut Creek and say a couple things
to help them frame these issues.
The general response has been very supportive.
There were a couple residents that had asked some questions.
So I wanted to take a moment
and explain why I issued the statement.
First, public safety.
If someone in Walnut Creek is the victim of a crime,
I want them to know that they can contact
our police department without worrying about their family
or their own immigration status being a question.
We outlined in the statement that the Walnut Creek PD
does not inquire as to your immigration status
when they're interacting with you.
And it's important for people to feel like they can reach out
to the police department safely.
Second, we wanted to recognize
everybody's first amendment rights to peace free speech
through peaceful protest.
We had been working very closely with the organizers
who led last Saturday's protest.
They had done a great job
and are continue to do a great job on Saturday,
having a peaceful protest very well organized
with peace ambassadors and orange vests
to help keep everybody on task
out of the street and safe. We just felt it was important to let people know that
here in Walnut Creek we respect the First Amendment right to free speech. And
from all reports, thanks to the work of the organizers, Walnut Creek PD, Broadway
Plaza, and the cooperation of our visitors and residents, the
protest was very organized, very peaceful. I think a number of people here in the
room were at the protest. And so all the bad things that I could dream up didn't
happen which is very good. And lastly I just wanted to recognize the anxiety and
the stress that people might be feeling. We understand that a country needs to
have an effective strategy to deal with immigration. However the current system
has not been serving our country that well of late as witnessed by the
bipartisan immigration bill that Congress was working on last year.
Sadly now that bill has died and between executive orders, court decisions, changes
and immigration enforcement, I wanted to help those who had questions find answers.
And so our supervisor, Ken Carlson, had previously posted about opportunities
for people to become better educated if they had questions about their immigration status.
And I wanted to include those in the statement that I issued on behalf of the city.
These are difficult times.
I know passions can run high, but I just want us all to remember
that we're all human beings just trying to do our jobs, enjoy our friends and
family, and do our best to make the world a better place. So I thought it was
important to do that and I hope you all appreciated why I did that. So if I could
just comment on that. I really appreciate your statement. I think a lot of people
are anxious. We've heard a lot of things happening within just a couple of miles
from here and just I think your public safety point is really important. We've
We've had that happen with school districts too, where we want people to feel comfortable
going to school, going to church, going to the police, and to help to prevent crime and
keep it from escalating.
So I really did appreciate that.
I also appreciate the fact that Walnut Creek has taken a stand for being a supporter of
the First Amendment rights with different kind of rallies and whether it's marches or
protests or anything else here.
The police really have to be thanked for making sure that on the perimeter they're keeping
an eye on what's going on, but they're not right in the middle of everything where there
could be potential issues as well.
They're keeping an eye on it.
They're keeping everybody safe.
And what I heard from our Lieutenant, Lieutenant Holly Connors over the weekend on Saturday
afternoon, there were over 4,000 people that were in attendance.
Now I've heard up to 6,000 or 7,000.
one problem and that is not the way it is in every city in the country and I'm
really proud of Walnut Creek for taking these kind of stands for you for making
that statement for the community for doing this peacefully safely but
certainly determinately and our police for making sure that everybody is safe
during the process so big kudos thank you and I'll just finish since I'm
already talking. Cherise Cowden I got to go down along with some other folks to
tour the carpenters training facility and Kevin Wilk was there I forgot I was
trying to think about Kevin there kids everywhere it was a great tour of the
facility the carpenters training facility works in a variety of different
programs to train young carpenters and others so it was a great trip the mayor's
conference we got we were very proud to reappoint Cindy Silva as our
representative for the county on ABAG and that was great. We also heard a
presentation from our county clerk recorder Kristin Connolly and she talked
about how what she's been doing to maintain election security but she also
talked about a program that she has been putting together. Any of us that have
ever bought and sold real estate that was subdivided back in the day have
probably seen a CCNR that reflects the fact that people, non-white people were
not welcome in that neighborhood. And she is going through using artificial
intelligence and a number of tools to take those and redact those parts of
those old statements. There is state law that says that they do not, they
obviously are not in effect, but she just wants to make sure that we take care of
that part of things, and I really appreciate that.
And lastly, one of the women that I know
from Hope Solutions had reached out.
She is very instrumental in the Firewise community
and effort in Lafayette.
And since my house recently moved into the high fire zone,
and I think I'm not alone, I wanted to meet with her
and I will be continuing to work with city staff
and also with our neighborhood to see what we need to do
to become a Firewise community.
And so I have some of the information from her if anybody is interested in that.
And that is mine, and Cindy Silva.
Speaking of firewires and zeroes, and that has come up twice, three times for me in the
last two weeks.
First of all, I attended Luz Gomez, who is Ward 2's representative on the East Bay Mudd
Board.
She has an annual update.
And East Bay Mud is one of two water districts that Walnut Creek is located in and most of
its water comes from the Pardee Reservoir, which is 90 miles east of here and is piped
through Walnut Creek to serve the East Bay community.
The two topics that came up there was recycled water and how expensive is it?
And I was shocked.
So remember these numbers, a regular from the tap water is $70 per million gallons of
of water to basically get us that water.
And if we wanted to go to recycled water,
it's $7,000 per million gallons of water
because of all the processing and the filtration
and the work that has to be done on that.
So if anybody ever asks you, why don't we just
have recycled water?
It's because it's 100 times more expensive.
So it's going to take a bit of time.
The other thing that did come up in the presentation
was that since it's summertime and it's wildfire time,
What is East Bay Mud doing about that?
So one of the things to note that I found amazing was
East Bay Parks owns the largest amount
of vacant open land in the East Bay.
And East Bay Mud is the second largest property owner.
So they have, first and foremost,
they have to be sure that they don't have a fire start
on their property.
So vegetation management and fuel breaks
are very important for them.
The second thing is they have to be sure they get water
and make it available to our communities and our fire departments to fight fires.
Infrastructure is important, permanent generators as well as portable generators.
They do regular hydrant maintenance and inspections, and they also provide raw water
out of the reservoirs such as San Pablo Dam Reservoir for aerial firefighting work.
But it also transitioned into last week was the policy committee meetings
from the League of California City,
and I sit on the Housing Community
and Economic Development Committee.
But I believe environmental quality and public safety,
and if not, maybe transportation communication
and public works, had a presentation from fire chiefs
from around the state.
And basically, it's called the Zone Zero Fire Enforcement.
We are now under state law required
to basically this five foot setback
all sorts of regulations and it's not just for new build within three years
it is effective all of our homes if we are in certain zones have to be come
compliant and city has a responsibility to get involved so I was going to
suggest tonight and I'm glad you raised it that we get the fire district to come
in and report report to us on what this means because I don't I think we're
going to have to participate in the process of making it awareness and I was
asked at the farmers market about it as well. Yes I was reappointed to one of the
two seats from Costa Costa County cities to the ABAG Executive Board. This Friday
the 20th is the annual General Assembly meeting. We will be making taking votes
on by-laws changes as well as the 2025-26 annual budget.
And the last couple of things are fun things
that I will mention on Saturday.
I had the opportunity to attend Fiesta Cultural
and I just want to tell staff what a tremendous job they did
in putting that performance on.
And I think you've gotten overflow visitors
from the protests, but you must have had hundreds
if not thousands of attendees and it was very very special and also at Center
Rep through June 29th is Happy Pleasant Valley it is a fabulous production I
will give you the full-length title Happy Pleasant Valley a senior sex
scandal murder mystery musical and it fulfills all of that it is a wonderful
show go see it thank you very much mayor thank you councilmember Francois okay
Mine is a little light because since our last council meeting I've been on vacation but I
I did want to recognize and thank you mayor for making the statement. I think it was extremely
timely and well received and hopefully most of our residents were able to receive that as well
and came from a part of the world that in Ireland that's encountered a lot of division
and I think that message of unity and strength and being willing to work with one another
and certainly trust one another is really well needed now and always in our world so I wanted
to thank you for making that and that's really my only report tonight. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem.
Thank you well you were at the carpenters thing weren't you yeah that's it. I was there but
I was also the Shadelands car ranch show which was over the weekend and I got to pick the city
Council and Mayor Pro Tem's car which that's just a fabulous event if anybody ever gets a chance
it's down at the Shadelands Historical Ranch and it's probably on whatever that Sunday is the second
Sunday of June or something like that but check it out for next year if you haven't been there
before it's just a lot of fun. I also had the opportunity I guess it was last week to go to
the Larky neighborhood town traffic town hall and open house with the team we had our traffic team
there. We had Walnut Creek Police Department there as well answering all sorts of questions
for the Larky area everything from speeding of course to speed bumps to sidewalks to you name it.
There must have been well over 100 people there and I just really appreciate staff
in making themselves available for these kind of things. I was also with the one at the Ignacio
Valley Library last year for the Woodlands area. The community really appreciates it.
They're really being able, they love being able to have people to talk to face to face
of the issues that are concerning them.
And I really enjoy how staff lays it out with the different stations and there's something
to talk about at each one of the different stations and a staff member there as well.
So thank you very much.
Sumedara, I'm not sure if you were the head of that or who was the point person
or but regardless it was terrific and thank you very much.
And I look forward to seeing more of these in the coming months around the city.
I also went to the library where there was a former mayor's forum, which was great to
see mayors that expanded over the, oh my gosh, 30 plus years in Walnut Creek and their discussions
of what their hardest decisions were, what the things are most proud of in Walnut Creek.
And truly, these are the people that have helped to make Walnut Creek what it is today
and have handed the baton off to us.
And just really appreciate those mayors.
And I wasn't going to do this.
See if I'm going to forget anybody here.
But we had Cathy Hicks.
We had, I know, Gail Murray, Gary Skrell, and Luella Haskew.
There you go.
All right.
All right.
So thank you very much if you're watching this.
And if we do this again, I hope other people show up as well for that.
I'm the liaison to the DRAA board.
But evidently, Councilmember Silva handled my entire report.
Fiesta Cult roll was terrific, the play is terrific, and DRA is going great.
And then lastly, for those of you who didn't see, we had the Boundary Oak
driving range open yesterday. At least a hundred people turned out for that, so it
was the really the official opening, the ribbon cutting, and the most stressful
thing I've ever done on Council, which is hitting the tee ball with everybody
watching and the cameras rolling as the ribbon was cut, but also my fellow
council members Cindy Silva and Mayor Darling did it as well so I had a golf
ball in 25 years and I actually got it up in the air there we go there we go I
got there early and I practiced practice and I yeah and I got my driver and it
worked so which is a 50-50 bet at best but anyway there the technology is
great the ball tracing technology is terrific I hope people come out and
check it out already there are people of all ages that are coming in two or
three times the amount that have been there prior to it being closed. So check
it out. That's my report. Thank you very much councilmember Tiffany. Well I also
have a light report. I've been on vacation with my family up in Tahoe and
up to Grey Eagle and we did some hiking and camping and so I haven't been
around. It sounds like I've missed I missed quite a few eventful things here
in Walnut Creek but I'm happy to be back and that's all I have.
Alright thank you. Now we will move into the public hearings and next on the
agenda is to adopt a resolution approving the annual assessment for the
Walnut Creek Tourism Business Improvement District for FY26 and I
want to take a moment to explain the process for the public hearing. Item 5A
in order for the city to levy assessments for the Tourism
Business Improvement District the City Council must first conduct a public
at which it must hear and consider all protests
against the levy of assessments.
If written protests are received from the owners
of businesses in the proposed area,
which will pay 50% or more of the assessment,
proposed to be levies, no further proceedings
to levy the assessments shall be taken
for a period of one year from the date of finding
only majority protests by the city council.
If there is no majority protest,
then we can go ahead and adopt the resolution
confirm the assessment report submitted.
Written protests must be received by the city clerk
at or before the time fixed for the public hearing
at this time.
We will now open the public hearing
for item number 5A on the T-BED.
And anybody with any further undelivered written protests,
please present it to Elma Branson, the clerk.
And no further protests will be accepted after this.
Anyone?
Okay. Now I invite Charles Ching, the Assistant City Manager, to introduce
himself and provide a brief presentation. Thank You Madam Mayor. I think and
members City Council, Charles Ching, Assistant City Manager, I think you
summed it up pretty well. On June 3rd City Council adopted a resolution of its
of its intent to levy a 3% assessment for the tourism business improvement
district for fiscal year 2026 and to date we have not received any
the opposition from any of the eight member properties that comprise of the TBID. This
puts City Council in a position to conduct a public hearing and also adopt the resolution
to assess the TBID assessments for fiscal year 2026.
Thank you. So we don't have any more presentation because we've already heard it and there are
no protests. So I will turn it over to the Council for discussion deliberation and a
motion.
mayor I would move to adopt a resolution approving
the annual assessment for the Walnut Creek Tourism
Business Improvement District for fiscal year 2026.
Second.
Madam Clerk, roll call please.
Council member Francois.
Aye.
Council member Silva.
Aye and thanks for all the work.
Council member Davini.
Aye.
Mayor Pro Tem Wilk.
Aye.
And mayor Darling.
Aye.
Motion passes unanimously.
There you go.
Does anybody need a break or are we good?
We need a break.
I always wonder about, so let's get back at 730.
All right, next on the agenda is a public hearing
for consideration of the adoption of a resolution
approving the submission of the community development
block grant 2025 to 2030 consolidated plan
and 2025 to 2026 annual action plan.
And I invite staff to come step forward and present,
make the staff representation.
Thank you, Mayor Darling and members of the council.
I am happy to be here with you this evening
to share our presentation.
Tonight's-
And your name is?
Oh, I'm sorry about that.
That's okay.
I am Alison Rustic.
I am the housing planner
with the community development department.
Tonight's presentation is going to be twofold.
The first portion is gonna concentrate
on the draft five-year consolidated plan for 2025 to 2030,
which is a planning document that's required
for the Community Development Block Grant,
which is due to be submitted along with the annual action
plan for the next fiscal year on July 13th.
The second portion of our presentation will focus
on the city's community grant programs
funding plan recommendations.
These recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year allocate
CDBG as well as other funding sources.
And so before we get started,
this slide covers many acronyms and terms
that I will be saying throughout the presentation.
And while there are extensive detailed information
about each funding source in the staff report,
I just wanna cover these really quickly.
For example, as I mentioned,
the Community Development Block Grant is known as CDBG.
This program is administered
by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development,
referred to as HUD.
The five-year consolidated plan, which is required by HUD,
is frequently shortened to con plan,
so you'll hear me say that many times.
You may also hear staff refer to the current fiscal year
as FY25 and the upcoming fiscal year,
which will begin in July as FY26.
Other frequently mentioned acronyms
include the state funding sources
like the Permanent Local Housing Allocation, or PLHA,
and the Pro Housing Incentive Program, which is known as PIP.
We also have the Community Services Grant, known as CSG,
and the Homeless Services Grant, known as HSG.
Those are both local sources that are backed
by general fund.
So before I dive into the Draft Consolidated Plan
and Funding Plan for fiscal year 26,
we'll set the stage by reviewing the Community Grant Program,
And that allocates several grant sources,
including CDBG as mentioned,
to community services and improvement projects
for the community.
Next, we'll review the CDBG program requirements
as they pertain to the CON plan.
And we'll cover the community needs assessment
and priorities that were identified by Walnut Creek
and the Contra Costa County Consortium,
which set the foundation for the draft consolidated plan,
as well as how we select community projects
to fund for the annual funding plan.
And then lastly, we will cover the Housing
and Community Development Committee's recommendations
to council on these items.
The Community Grant Program funds an array of activities
that benefit disadvantaged populations in the city,
like those in lower income brackets
and special needs residents of Walnut Creek.
As you can see on this slide, a significant portion
of the grant program funds community services
like crisis, senior, homeless, and other social services.
The program also provides projects
that benefit the public like ADA accessibility improvements,
job training programs,
and crisis counselors in local school districts.
Of course, staff could not do this work
without the collaboration
of our dedicated community partners.
As noted earlier, the grant program is funded
by a variety of local, state, and federal sources,
each with a distinct purpose, eligibility criteria,
and regulatory requirements
that determine how funds may be used.
Combined in total, staff anticipates over $1.1 million
for fiscal year 26 that will seek to serve
eligible services, housing, facilities,
and economic development projects.
Federal CDBG funding which makes up approximately half
of the programming budget has the most robust requirements
for the various sources.
As a quick reminder,
staff introduced the consolidated plan process requirements
and needs assessment results to council
in January earlier this year.
Since then, staff have coordinated
with the Housing and Community Development Committee
on the draft priorities as well as reviewing applications
and funding recommendations for fiscal year 26.
Meanwhile, the city and consortium's CDBG consultants
analyzed data and initiated the draft consolidated plan,
which will go into further detail.
So as a CDBG grantee, the city is required to adopt
five-year consolidated plans and annual action plans.
The consolidated plan is a policy document
that outlines priorities and goals and strategies
to guide the expenditure of HUD funding.
It integrates public feedback
through the community needs assessment,
as well as demographic and market analysis
into a strategic plan that identifies priorities and goals
and implement for implementation.
By comparison, the annual action plan is adopted each year
of the five-year con plan term
and identifies specific projects
that will implement the goals of the con plan.
The current five-year con plan
and the annual action plan for fiscal year 25
are going to conclude at the end of this month.
The consolidated plan document is drafted in collaboration
with the Contra Costa County Consortium,
but each member has the opportunity to distinguish,
has the opportunity to distinguish its own needs
and local projects in their action plans.
To start the process of drafting a new consolidated plan,
the consortium initiated the needs assessment.
the Walnut Creek results highlighted a creation
of affordable units for seniors, disabled, and homeless,
persons experiencing homeless
and transitioning out of homelessness,
as well as key housing services like home rehabilitation
and eviction and foreclosure assistance.
In addition, non-housing needs further emphasize services
and facilities for the same vulnerable populations,
as well as identified other services in the community
that are needed like mental health, referrals, nutrition,
job training, and transportation.
Results of the needs assessment,
as well as additional demographic and market data analysis
reaffirmed the priorities from the 2020
to 2025 consolidated plan.
And as such, Walnut Creek did not propose
any changes to them.
The four priorities on this slide,
as well as their corresponding goals below each one,
have been recommended by the housing
community development committee for adoption on March 19th of this year.
Beyond the con plan, the city's housing element and council priorities also guide
policy funding and development across the city. While each of these planning
efforts maintains an independent purpose, they all commonly share overlapping
goals and priorities that support the community grant program like homelessness,
safety net services and special needs populations. It should be noted that the
three planning efforts priorities and goals were incorporated into the
consolidated plan and they helped inform the selection of applications for
fiscal year 26 which we will cover later in this presentation. To identify funding
recommendations for the next fiscal year the city solicited applications through
two requests for proposals. The first RFP posted in partnership with the
consortium focused on community services, and the second RFP posted by the city
alone targeted non-service activities like home rehabilitation. However, both
RFPs requested or sought applications for economic development,
infrastructure, and public facility projects. Combined, the city received a
total of 24 applications from these two RFPs. 20 of those are for community
services and four for economic development activities. Many of the
applications we received are from formerly funded programs from last
fiscal year, some of which are seeking increased funding this year. One public
facility project and one home rehabilitation program are going to be
carried forward from fiscal year 25 into fiscal year 26 and were not required to
to apply. Overall, the increased request for fiscal year 26 from the 21 returning applications
and three new programs proposed to serve an additional 3,100 clients and request a cumulative
$235,000 in addition to what was allocated last fiscal year. As of today, available funding
for fiscal year 26 is comprised of the confirmed federal CDBG funding and a small amount of
and a small amount of state PLHA carry forward from fiscal year 25. State PLHA funding for
fiscal year 26 is yet to be confirmed. The requested funding for fiscal year 26 as shown
on the slide, it highlights a deficit of over $145,000. This is attributed to the homeless
services category. Both Trinity Center and the county's core programs have
increased their funding requests to address inflation and rising costs and
rising program costs as have some other applicants. This deficit however is
further exacerbated by a downward trend in the availability of PLHA funding.
This began, PLHA funding began offsetting homeless services, homeless support
services in 2020.
Once providing as much as $236,000 a year, PLHA allowed the city to reduce its HSG general
fund contribution from $200,000 to $70,000.
Recent allocations of PLHA, however, have dropped to $90,000 as of last year.
The reduction of the homeless services grant from general fund combined with the decreased
awards of PLHA funding and increased funding requests from applicants has
created a growing gap to sustain homeless outreach, navigation, and
shelter programs provided by both CORE and Trinity Center, thereby increasing
a reliance on local measure and general fund dollars.
Fortunately, while the status of PLHA is unknown, staff are optimistic that the
city will receive a PIP award. As per the PIP NOFA, the city could be eligible for
up to one million dollars. Awards for PIP applications are expected or
anticipated to be announced by the end of this month and could supplement a
likely gap in PLHA funding. Assuming the city does receive the necessary funding
from either PLHA or PIP as a backup, staff and the HCD committee support
funding all the returning applications at their full requests as well as Choice
in Aging, a former grant recipient who has demonstrated increased capacity to
reestablish their program. Two applications are not recommended for
funding as they are for-profit agencies. Given this information, the Housing and
Community Development Committee recommends council adopt the consortium's
draft con plan and priorities as well as the fiscal year 26 annual action plan to
meet HUD's deadline of July 13th. The committee also recommends council
approve the community grant program funding plan for fiscal year 26 which
extends beyond just CDBG funded projects with the following caveats. First, should
the city receive more than or less than the $145,000 needed to sustain
homeless services, the committee recommends council direct staff to return
to council with revised recommendations. Second, should the city not receive any
PLHA or PIP funding for fiscal year 26 the committee recommends that council
approve the funding plan but direct staff to postpone fully awarding
Trinity Center and CORS programs until the council has identified alternate
funding sources for homeless navigation and shelter services. In conclusion, staff
are requesting City Council adopt a resolution approving the submittal of the
2025 to 2030 consolidated plan and fiscal year 26 annual action plan and
approve the fiscal year 26 community grant program funding plan per this per
the committee's recommendations. Staff are available for any questions. Thank
Thank you very much.
It was a whole lot of PLHA, CBDD, Alabama DE, and I appreciate it.
Questions?
Councilmember Difini.
Yeah.
I was curious.
You said with the PLHA funding decreasing, why are we expecting another state source
PIP to potentially come through with a million dollars?
What's that dynamic?
Why is that happening?
my understanding that the PLHA is awarded over a period of time. The
current agreement that we have for PLHA covers an eight-year time period but
there's a estimated maximum amount awarded so that cities can opt to accept
that award each year. So so far for the past five years the City of Walnut Creek
has accepted the award that was available. That award amount is
variable dependent on the number the amount of fees that the state collects
which funnel which funds the PLHA and the PIP program separately. So we're
getting close to the maximum amount that has been awarded to the city for PLHA.
PIP is a program that we have not applied for until last December after we
received the pro housing designation last year which makes us eligible for
for the program.
I see.
Thanks.
You guys probably asked the wrong committee.
I'm just going to say, I really thought your slides were
excellent and easy to follow.
I sit on the ABAG board.
They need to take a lesson from me.
Thank you very much.
My questions are, so the PLHA money,
it sounds like it's a multi-year grant.
Are we relying on the state to include it
in their budget for this coming year
to get the money that we're expecting from PLHA?
My understanding is that the funding for PLHA
comes from fees that are collected by the state
for the sale or transaction of real estate properties.
And so that varies every year.
I think also the number of applicants may vary every year.
So they have a formula that they use to allocate the amount,
which is why it's fluctuated each year
that we've received it varying from the 230,000
I mentioned to 90,000 each year.
It's kind of unpredictable as far as the amount,
but there is, I believe, a cap, or not a cap,
but a maximum amount that we were estimated to receive.
And where's the source of the PIP funding?
Is that state general fund
or is that some other funding source?
I looked this up earlier, thank you for asking.
It is also from the same fee source
as the PLHA program.
Both were approved through Senate Bill 2,
and so both are funded similarly by the same fees.
There is some state housing funds
that gets dedicated to the PIP program also.
I just don't know the ratio.
Where that's coming from, okay.
So it sounds like the big question really isn't necessarily
what's gonna happen in the state budget.
It's what these two funding sources
are going to have in them through the magic
of the real estate fees.
Right, I believe I can say with some confidence
that we will receive some amount of funding.
We are not sure at this time how much.
Part of the PIP program has what's called a base allocation
which applicants are supposedly guaranteed to receive.
And that base allocation is dependent
on the size of the population of the city.
Okay, and so it sounds like we expect to hear from PIP,
we expect to find out more about PLHA,
if we were to approve it with the caveat
that if you don't end up getting enough money,
you'll come back to us.
Yes.
Is the staff recommendation.
Okay, that makes sense.
All right, seeing no further questions from council,
I will go ahead and, oh, she thought one up.
I was more interested in telling her
how good I thought the slides were.
So really, we had a long conversation
about this at the Housing Committee.
And the question I asked, the missing money, the PLHA
and the PIP, whether it's zero or 150,000 or even more,
has to be dedicated to homeless services.
So that's where the gap is in our homeless services arena.
When you look at CORE and Trinity Center,
how do we go forward with contracts?
July when we start the contracting process, where we are not fully funding it yet.
How do we go forward with contracts with CORE and Trinity Center and ensure that, and make
this as efficient as possible for everybody involved?
Hello, Erika Vandenbrandt, Community Development Director.
That is the 145, almost 146 thousand dollar question.
And right now, the assumption is that we will receive the money, and that if we receive
the funds, then it's not an issue.
If in terms of council having a choice can go through and contract with all other sources,
we could you know with the rest of the you know recipients or there's not going
to if there's not going to be enough funds to be able to do the full program
to have a reduced program or council could choose to allocate a separate
amount of funds and that we'd have to come back and at request for you to do
that. So what's the recommendation as staff tonight given we don't have the
funds? So the recommendation from the staff is the same as has historically
been there that we oftentimes don't have the funds in hand but we anticipate it
so I think that based off of what Alison said and everything we know we expect to
get some funds from the state we just don't know how much and you know the
most conservative approach would be to think we would get nothing but we don't
believe that we'll get nothing. We believe that we'll get something and the
other approach would be to look toward, you know, ask staff to come back with an
alternate recommendation for another source of funds that could be drawn on
and then because the very next conversation the council is going to be
having is the budget. We know that there are budget, it's a tight budget coming
forward so those are really the choices. We don't know when the state will make
up its mind we don't know how much the money is and we don't know if the state
is actually looking to borrow from the fund etc because of other pending
shortfalls. So what we know and what the state has told us is they will tell us
how much money we're going to be receiving from them for homeless
services by the end of the year and as our city by the end of this
fiscal year and as our city manager pointed out earlier there are still
processes underway at the state and so we don't have any more clarity than that.
The winter nights program doesn't start until the winter so that one isn't a
problem too but the core services are recurring in fact they may be even more
active during the summer months than the winter months. I don't know. And the day
program with Trinity Center, how long is our run of money? Are we calculating
that as to where our drop-dead date is, where we have to come back and have an
answer from Council? So there are funds that Council is allocated for homeless
services through measure O and we have the continuation of the PLHA funds
that to carry forward so it's not you know tick-tock July 1st but we probably
have a good month or two. Okay thank you and thank you for living in this no
man's land for a while and both from the feds and then from the state. All right
thank you thank you for your presentation and now I'll go ahead and
open up the public hearing and invite the members of the public to come on
down. You each have two minutes. Don't forget name and city and your card. Thank
you. Hello Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council members. My name is Mary Burdellis and I
am the Interim Executive Director of the Trinity Center. I haven't been there long
but it's been very clear to me the importance of this relationship, this
partnership and the support of Walnut Creek in order to be able to serve some
of the most vulnerable members of our community. The day services provide
essential services, showers, food, laundry, clothing, but they also provide
individualized case management training support to be able to help people find
stability by providing resources counseling referrals and we're doing that
on a daily basis for hundreds of people. The workforce development program we've
been very excited to be able with your support to be able to expand it and to
be able to reach more our members and provide them support at whatever level
they are to be able to find employment and also to provide employees to the
community. The other important thing about the support that you give is it
lays a foundation for us to be able to get money from some of the other cities
from the county as a whole from individual donors that triples or
quadruples actually the money that you contribute but your confidence in us
your ongoing support, your faith in our work makes all the difference. And so we
hope that you will we understand you're dealing with uncertainty. We are also
dealing with a lot of uncertainty right now and we want to do everything we can
to take away some of that uncertainty from the people we serve. But not only
benefits the people that don't have homes but also the community as a whole.
Thank you thank you very much. Next. Okay good evening city council members my
name is Nathan Beteta and I'm the workforce development manager over at
Trinity Center. I want to thank you for the opportunities to speak with you
today and I'm pleased to share the update an update on the formation and
progress of the workforce development program over at Trinity Center which is
being spearheaded by Leticia Weisner our director of programs and member services
as well as myself. This program was developed in response to a critical need, bridging the
gap between homelessness and stable housing through meaningful employment. At Trinity
Center, we recognize that stable income is one of the key drivers for long-term housing
success. Since launching, the program has made significant strides. We've opened a
referral process that prioritizes unhoused individuals, giving them access to individualized
career coaching, job readiness support, and direct connections to employers who are open
to second chances. Next, Letitia and I have worked to build strategic partnerships with
local businesses, faith-based communities, and training programs, creating more pathways
to job placement. And lastly, the program has been created to integrate wraparound support,
case management, transportation help, and access to basic needs, all to help individuals
maintain their jobs and transition into stable housing. We are... many glasses. We are proud
It's a report that even in the early stages,
the program has already begun facilitating employment
placements that directly assisted our individuals
with maintaining their income stability.
So we see this is more than just a workforce program,
it is sustainable path out of homelessness.
So I wanted to thank you all for my time
and that would be all, thank you.
Ask a quick question.
Are there local businesses that are participating
the workforce development program with you at Trinity Center? We do have some
work adjustment programs right now with some businesses and we are actively
expanding to more. Yeah that's great to hear. Thank you. Next. Good evening mayor,
council members, city staff and community supporters. My name is Molly
Phow-Clop and I serve as the chair of the board of directors for Trinity
Center. On behalf of our board staff and most importantly the individuals
As we serve, I want to begin with a heartfelt gratitude and thanks for all your support.
Thank you for your steadfast support of Trinity Center's mission over the years.
Your investments have allowed us to provide vital services to our most vulnerable neighbors.
I also want to recognize and appreciate your ongoing commitment reflected in tonight's
proposed annual action plan.
The recommended funding allows Trinity Center to continue essential daytime services, grow
our workforce development program and maintain a strong continuum of care alongside our partners,
including the core outreach team. I do want to express concern about the potential gap,
and we have discussed the possibility of focusing that gap on our winter evening program because that
in time occurs later in the year, not immediately in July, usually starts in December. But I do want
to say that program itself is not optional. It is our seasonal shelter for unhoused individuals
for the coldest, wettest months of the year and that need is of course urgent, growing,
and deeply human. If the state funds are delayed or insufficient, we respectfully urge you to
consider bridging the gap with local sources and we look forward to working closely with Trinity
Center to look at those options and explore them with you. We're ready to
partner, adapt, and advocate, but we cannot do it alone. Thank you for your
leadership and your care for all members of our Walnut Creek community. Thank you.
Mayor, council, staff, my name is Juan Orantes and I'm with Choice in Aging and
we're a nonprofit that serves seniors and since 2017 even included in
Montessori preschool and I'm here today to say thank you on behalf of myself and
the entire choice and aging staff for supporting our licensed vocational
owners through CDBG funds. The licensed vocational owners allow
seniors in Walnut Creek to age in the communities they built
with dignity and respect. I come here as a staff member but I also
come here as a visitor as I myself have two aging parents that live in Walnut
Creek and your support for this program and
for our agency as a whole makes me happy and confident that they're aging in the
community that they're helping build and grow up and grow old and so thank you so much and again
thank you for your support and staff thank you for all the time you put into that application
you're eating all of those. Thank you very much. Anyone else? All right I will close public hearing
and bring it back up here for any final questions. Anybody have any final questions? No questions
just comment I just want to appreciate the thoroughness of the report and the ease in which
was able to determine that, thank you.
One mayor, Allison, you referenced the base allocation
for PIP and can you just remind me what we think,
what that amount is?
I looked at the PIP, I think it's around three NOFA
that we applied for.
It appears to me if, I don't know,
I should know our population off the top of my head.
If we're approximately 70,000, we would fall in the bracket
of a base allocation of $500,000.
I know that when we submitted the application,
we do identify different categories
that we are going to use the funding for,
homeless services being one of those.
Thank you.
So my question is,
is there, it sounds like your recommendation
is to assume that the 145,000 will come,
and then you will return to us if it doesn't show up.
Is there any action this council could take?
And this might not be a view question,
this might be an Erika question.
Is there any thing the council can do as an action
to speak, reach politically and talk to legislators
or is that a fool's errand?
Certainly you could advocate on behalf of the city.
I'm sure that many others are in the position
of advocating at the moment too.
Yesterday, the East Bay Division of the Cal Cities
held a legislative discussion that was a post,
it was a debrief from last Thursday
and Friday's policy committees.
And in attendance were representatives
from each of the Assembly members and senators
in our entire region of the two counties.
And I took the opportunity to pitch,
we need them to find that PLHA money and get it done.
Not that I think I have a lot of power,
but at least I said it out loud.
But we can do more of that.
We know where they live.
Oh, I know.
That was really bad.
Never mind.
We know where they work.
All right.
Any other questions?
No, I like the A and the B. It seems like it covers it.
So I would move to approve the.
So can you bring up the slide?
Because actually there's a multiple facets.
We need to do certain things.
What is the action for us to not approve the consolidated plan?
It's to approve the action plan with the funding.
I'm happy to authorize the city manager to this one.
Yes.
This is what we are doing.
OK, so I moved to adopt resolution approving
this middle of the 2025-2030 consolidated plan
and fiscal year 26 annual action plan
and approve the fiscal year 26 community grant program funding
per HCD committee's recommendations.
Second.
Roll call, please.
Before we do the roll call,
do we need to add the two alternatives?
I think it was in the recommendation, wasn't it?
I don't think our recommendation from the committee
was quite as good as what I saw up there,
because we were debating it for 20 minutes or more.
There we go.
With the caveats?
You could make note of that in the notion of the caveats,
Absolutely, with the caveats.
With the caveats?
All right.
Noted, second.
With the caveats, roll call with caveats.
Council Member Davini?
Aye.
Mayor Pro Tem Wilk?
Aye.
Council Member Francois?
Aye.
Council Member Silva?
Aye.
And Mayor Darling?
Aye.
And I think we also, I would want to give direction
to staff that they work with us to prepare letters
to our local representatives to urge them
to fund the PLHA so that we can carry out what is.
Or maybe send the message through those
that might be listening or watching tonight.
It's much more effective if we give our listeners paper
to carry with them.
Can I ask a question as well?
I know this is a crystal ball, but could we ask for an update
at the July 15th meeting and the August meeting just
case? We will certainly be available to provide that and as soon as we know we
will be letting all of you know. Okay great thank you. All right and thank you to all
of you who work with Trinity and with Choice and Aging and all of those groups
that take care of the most vulnerable in our community. So with that next on the
agenda is a public hearing for consideration of the adoption of
resolution of groups. I turn the page backwards. Next on the agenda is a public
hearing for consideration of the FY26 and 27 operating budget,
capital budget, master fee schedule, adoption of resolutions,
establishing the FY26 annual appropriation limit,
and adoption of resolution authorizing reappropriation
of general funds in the capital budget.
Rindy, I invite staff to make a presentation.
Hi, good evening, Mayor Darling, Mayor Pro Tem Wilkin,
members of the Council.
I'm Rindy Azavito, budget manager
for the city of Walnut Creek.
And today we're gonna be discussing
proposed the sphere 26 and 27 operating budget and master fee schedule. So first we're going
to talk a little bit about some brief budget highlights and then the general fund other funds
including measure O parking, boundary oak funds, the capital budget overview, and then the master
fee schedule and authorized positions as well as some proposed changes to the budget resolutions.
The budget development process kicked off back in December of 2024 and has included several reviews
by the Finance Committee and the City Council and this evening is the final step in the budget
development process. The requested action is that you conduct a public hearing and then adopt the
resolutions already mentioned which will appropriate the operating budget and capital budget, make
adjustments to our master fee schedule, establish the fiscal year 26 annual appropriations limit,
and authorize the reappropriation of general funds in the capital budget. The budget proposal
Council prioritizes funding requests that help address the recently adopted Council
priorities, sustain the core programs that support our community and address regulatory
mandates and these are a few of the highlights.
First is the general plan update.
So approximately 3.5 million is allocated to support a multi-year community based effort
to update the general plan and we also have included funding and positions to identify
potential improvements to the city's
development services review process,
support permitting process improvements
and streamlining and develop technological improvements.
Public safety is another council priority
and added funding includes funding for body-worn cameras,
public safety software services and the higher costs
for the East Bay Radio Communication System
which standardizes public safety communications.
There is also a one-time contribution
the capital fund of 250,000 to support the Clark pool and pool house master plan,
repurposing master plan, to help determine the future of that location. And
the proposed budget includes additional support for core homeless services which
provide services to people experiencing homelessness as well as support for the
city's housing program. One-time funding is included to conduct a new community
survey to gather feedback from residents and to support the city in meeting new
doj requirements requiring accessibility to local government websites and funding was increased to
support price increases for central community services including the library hours election
costs and animal services and last but not least um additional support for public records requests
and contract administration across all funds the fiscal year 26 budget includes 175.36 million in
revenues and in this case on the screen this is not including the budgeted use of reserves
or fund balance and also there is $180.05 million in expenditures for use for an estimated
use of fund balance of $4.7 million in fiscal year 26. In fiscal year 27 revenues are estimated
at 149.32 million and expenditures at 166.53 million
with the projected use of fund balance of 16.83 million.
And I wanna note that many city funds accumulate
fund balances to be used for future purposes
or include reserves that are designated
for specific purposes.
And in this case, the use of fund balance indicated here
is an intentional use of accumulated fund balances
and reserves.
So there are no changes to the general fund operating budget
that have been proposed since the June 3rd,
2025 City Council meeting.
General fund revenues are expected to be 107.36 million
in fiscal year 26 and 111.15 million in fiscal year 27.
In this case, transfers and includes the budgeted use
of reserves.
General fund expenditures are projected to be 106.94 million
in fiscal year 26 and 110.99 million in fiscal year 27.
The net ongoing contribution to fund balance then
would be about 420,000 in fiscal year 26,
about 160,000 in fiscal year 27.
Unless council decides otherwise,
any contribution to fund balance would offset use
of the pension resources at the end of each fiscal year.
In light of the reductions that were required
to balance the general fund budget,
staff is recommending no contributions to reserves
as part of this budget.
Instead, catastrophic emergency reserves
would be funded using fiscal year 25 available fund balance
at year end.
And those are shown here split across the two fiscal years.
The city's fiscal emergency reserve balance
exceeds policy requirements
and so no additional contribution is required.
And as we've discussed previously,
staff is recommending use of the general fund contingency
in fiscal year 26 of about 1.23 million
to support the general plan update
and use of the pension resources of 3 million
over the two years to offset increases to the UAL costs.
And this is in line with the council's
adopted pension trust and reserve policy.
The capital budget allocates funds
to asset management and discretionary projects.
Asset management projects are those that preserve
the value of the city's existing capital infrastructure
and providing long-term program maintenance
of the city's infrastructure and facilities
and it includes the following.
Roadway maintenance, such as slurry seals,
pavement overlays, and sidewalk repairs,
as well as the replacement of the South Main Street Bridge.
It also includes building and facilities interior
and exterior maintenance and roofing projects,
as well as storm drain maintenance
and repair and replacement,
park and open space infrastructure repairs,
and other similar things.
And also, there are also discretionary capital projects.
These create new city assets or are significant improvements
to the city's existing infrastructure.
And the following discretionary projects are included
in the proposed capital budget.
First is the design and construction
of the Heather Farm Aquatic and Community Center Project,
as well as improvements to traffic signals
on Ignacio Valley Road
and San Miguel Drive pedestrian improvements.
There is also climate resilience projects
continued implementation of the sustainability action plan and green infrastructure improvements.
The capital budget receives funding from many sources. In this case, $3.2 million is allocated
from the general fund operating budget with an additional $655,000 in general funds that would
be reappropriated from deferred or completed projects as one of our resolutions this evening.
$8.4 million in Measure J and gas tax revenues, $700,000 from the downtown parking and enhancement
fund as well as revenues from development fee funds such as traffic impact fees and Inland Parkland
Fund. Staff are also anticipating 14.42 million in grant funding and funding is identified from
Measure O including anticipated bond funding for the Heather Farm Aquatic and Community Center Design
and Construction. I wanted to know that this would be appropriated when in the next phases of the
projects when those are brought forward. In November of 2022, Walnut Creek voters
passed Measure O, the 10-year half-cent transactions and use tax,
to provide funding to maintain and enhance City of Walnut Creek services
and facilities. No changes have been proposed since the June 3rd, 2025 City
Council meeting. The projected contribution to fund
balance after accounting for contributions to the reserves for the
Aquatic Center is approximately 470,000 in fiscal
year 26 and 920,000 in fiscal year 27. As of June 30, 2027, staff is projecting a fund
balance in measure 0 of 4.56 million and this fund balance assumes that the reserves for
the Heather Farm Aquatic and Community Center of approximately 36 million will be fully
spent on that project by the end of fiscal year 27. The estimated June 30, 2025 balance
is based on third quarter projected results and no changes have been proposed since the
June 3rd city council meeting. The downtown parking and enhancement fund supports parking
operations and downtown enhancements and since the last council meeting based on council
direction staff did add 100,000 in fiscal year 26 for the development of an outdoor
dining incentive program and with that change the projected contribution to fund balance
would be 280,000 in fiscal year 26 and 210,000 in fiscal year 27. The Boundary
Oak Golf Course operates as a self-supporting city enterprise fund. No
changes have been proposed since the June 3rd City Council meeting. The net
contribution to fund balance would be approximately 120,000 in fiscal year 26
and 260,000 in fiscal year 27. Any questions on any of these funds
before we move on to other things. Questions? Councilmember Silva? Slide seven.
Thank you for putting the numbers at the top. I guess it was six. Six? The one with
the really big numbers. Yes. I could make an assumption as to why the revenues and
transfers in and expenditures and transfers out in 2026 are so much higher
than 2027 but maybe you should just tell me. Sure, so and part of it is that like
in the capital budget we anticipate those revenues at the start so in fiscal
year 26 and then but the expenditures are split across the two years, or sorry
so some of the some of the revenues for the capital budget come in in fiscal
year 26 rather than being split across the two years. So this is a lot of it is
related to these major South Main Street bridge and the Heather Farm Aquatic
Center. Yes yeah and this is well not the Heather Farm Aquatic Center because
that hasn't been appropriated yet. Okay that will be appropriated when we bring
forward the next phases of the project in anticipation. So these numbers are
gonna get bigger. They will they will get bigger because they'll be coming from
reserves. The revenues also from the bond financing would also come in as well.
Thank you. Yes. Any other questions? So the fiscal year 26 and 27 budget includes 386
authorized full-time equivalent positions, which includes both regular
and limited duration positions. Of those, 332.05 would be at the general fund, 9
and Measure O 22.2 in the parking fund and 22.75 in other funds. The notable
changes to the fees and charges are listed here by department. In Arts and
Recreation there's been several changes to fees and charges across all services
provided by the department in addition to updating fee ranges to reflect
increasing costs, maintaining cost recovery goals, or to reflect changing
conditions in the market. Many of the fee ranges are also proposed to widen to
to allow the department increased flexibility
to adjust fees as needed
and to best meet their financial goals.
Aquatic fees for recreational swim admissions
for the sixth and underage group
have been split into two age groups.
So a two year old and under
and a three to six years old category.
And this is reducing the cost for the younger age category.
New fees have also been added for the synthetic turf fields
and Bedford Gallery for additional services
related to the art installations.
And the Arts Commission and Pro's commissions
have reviewed and recommended those fees as appropriate.
In community development, proposed increases
for various permit planning and inspection services
are included, primarily those are due to increasing costs.
And in general government, there are proposed increases
to align with those community development changes.
In public works, proposed increases
for planning and inspection services
are based on cost increases
begin in fiscal year 27 and there are no changes in fiscal year 26. I had a quick
question on the master fee schedule. We got a couple letters where they were
discussing whether or not those permit planning and inspection fees or I wasn't
quite sure what the they were getting at when they were talking about the fees
for housing, disincentivizing housing. I'm gonna ask our community development
Director, Erika Vandenbrandt, come up.
Hello, Erika Vandenbrandt, Community Development Director.
I think that the comments are really directed toward that
any increase in fees whatsoever increases the cost of housing.
And that is perceived to be a disincentive.
The overall delta in terms of the fees
is not that substantially different in terms
of the cost of housing.
Other things far outpace it in terms of cost of labor,
to construct the housing, and so forth.
But I think that the belief is that any increase
in the cost would disincentivize housing.
And so there's a comment about that.
Okay, but it's not like in the bigger scheme of things,
the proportion of a house's costs that are associated
with these permit planning and inspection services
relatively small compared to the cost
of materials, labor, land.
And the cost of borrowing that has gone up so dramatically.
And this is to recoup our costs, I take it that,
I mean, this is recouping,
and we're not looking to make a profit on this increase.
No, we are a city, we don't make a profit.
We need to cover the staff cost of our labor, too.
All right, thank you.
Thank you.
At one point, maybe two years ago,
You did some back of the envelope calculations for me prior to a meeting with one
of our elected representatives who was suggesting we needed to lower the cost
of our fees because they were too high.
And was it 5% of the total cost?
Something?
So there are different proformas, and I can't recall what it is off the top of my head.
But what I do know is that from a city standpoint, probably one of the most cost-effective things
we could do this reduced the amount of time spent in reviewing as opposed to
the actual fees and so forth and as part of the budget council you know a few
passes one of the things that we're indeed highlighted is that we have
efforts underway to be able to do exactly that. I recall that we had some
information or statistics in the housing element that said that our fees are
are comparable to the fees that are being imposed
by neighboring jurisdictions?
So that's definitely true.
And if you try to do a one-to-one comparison,
some of our fees are higher, some of ours are lower,
but when you look at the sum total, they're very analogous.
Thank you.
All right.
Then on the, you said to cover the costs
and you mentioned labor.
Are there other costs that have gone up besides the labor
that is reflected in the increased fees?
So we try to do a full cost recovery for the city,
so the cost of insurance has gone up,
the cost of utilities, et cetera,
and a number of other costs like that,
so those are trying to be captured too.
And do you think that the increase in the fees
captured that, or did we fall short,
or could we have gone higher, or what do you think?
So I can't answer that off the top of my head,
And the reason why is that we are trying to keep pace,
but a more comprehensive fee study
is going to be initiated later
during this next fiscal year.
Yeah, Mayor, if I could just add to that,
I was gonna comment on that.
So we are planning and Kirsten,
our administrative services director,
could speak in more detail to do a comprehensive fee study.
For the last several years,
we've made relatively minor adjustments
to keep up with inflationary costs,
many of which Erika just noted.
And, you know, there are a lot of policy implications
with fees, so one step of this process
when we do the comprehensive review
will be to look at, in a more detailed manner,
our actual costs to look to see what they are,
and then there will be policy decisions for your counsel
about how much of those costs should be recouped.
There are some things that you would want
to be at full cost recovery,
others where you may not want to be
if you want to incentivize
or to allow for more access,
some of which is done for arts and recreation programs,
as they might be cost prohibitive for many participants
if they were set at full cost recoveries
into otherwise incentivized certain types of behaviors
as it relates to housing or other development related matters
that will be a very expensive decision
that your council will have to weigh in
from a policy perspective.
Certainly there is a narrative coming out of Sacramento
that local development fees
are one of the major impediments to housing,
Whether or not that is accurate, remains to be seen, depends which study you look at.
But just know that anything that's set less than full cost recovery as it relates to development
comes out of the general taxpayer fund and ultimately comes out of the city budget as a subsidy to support that activity.
So certainly it can be set at any level, but know that it's a bit of a game of whack-a-mole of where does the money come from, and what are the implications to other services.
but it's that type of both policy decision making
and setting as well as the actual cost study
that will be done as part of this comprehensive review
in the coming year.
Thank you, I'd look forward to that.
It's been about 10 years.
I was trying to think that.
Yeah, I was gonna say it's been a while since we've been-
Because I don't think any of the four of you were here.
It was on planning,
I was on planning commission when we did it, yeah.
Yeah, we just add for if you're wondering,
it's been on our list to do.
It was on our list for 2019, 2020, COVID hit.
something got in the way.
Here we are.
All right, carry on.
Now that we're done talking about your fees.
So the formal budget adoption takes place by resolution
as we mentioned and these resolutions include
council's authorization of certain actions
that can be taken by the city manager
for implementation of the budget.
Staff are proposing some modifications
to the resolutions this year,
which include increasing the city manager's limit
for operating budget actions such as transfers
from 100,000 to 124,999 dollars.
And this change would match the city manager's
typical signature authority,
making that consistent with the procurement policy.
The resolution would also add the ability
for the city manager to increase appropriations
that are associated with unanticipated donations
or reimbursements.
And lastly, in the capital budget resolution,
it would be updated to allow the city manager
to return completed funds for any closed projects
in the capital budget to source.
And previously this was only allowed
for the enterprise gas tax and developer funds.
If returned to source, funds would then become available
for reappropriation by the city council at a later date.
In closing, the proposed budget considers
the recent local statewide national
and global economic trends, including rising inflation,
slowed economic growth and reduced consumer spending.
And we've noted before that there
is considerable economic uncertainty
around changing federal policies,
recently implemented tariffs, and the markets reactions
to these changes.
Staff is continuing to monitor the situation
for potential budgetary impacts.
If adopted, the general fund appropriations in fiscal year
26 would be $110.38 million and $115.51 million
in fiscal year 27.
In this case, general funds includes the general fund,
Measure O, and pension trust funds.
Total appropriations, including capital fund
and other funds would be 180.05 million in fiscal year 26
and 166.15 million in fiscal year 27.
And the requested actions are to conduct the public hearing
and then adopt the five resolutions before you hear.
you. Any questions? That was a lot of numbers. It was. Any more questions on the budget?
I want to know why is it 124,999 and what not 125,000? Because at 125,000 it has to come to you all.
Okay. I have a stickler question and I apologize but could you go back two slides? Yes. 166.15
million is different from what's in the staff report. Was there a number
correction that occurred sometime between last Thursday? Page two, table one
of the agenda report said 166.53. So I was just wondering why. Does anybody know?
Or is it just one of those things? It looks like rounding to me. No, it's about
$400,000 that doesn't feel like rounding. Well, one second. I'm sorry.
Page 11, table 8. I just don't know what when we adopt the resolution we need to decide
what numbers in the, I guess I could go to the resolution. So the, yes, in the
resolution it's the 166.15. Okay so the slides wrong. Thank you.
Mm-hmm. All right. So it looks like we have run out of questions and so now we
will open it up to all the members of public who are still here with us to see
if there's any public comment on this budget. Oh I missed you Jan I couldn't
see you back there. Good evening Jan Warren from Woodlands for 39 years. I am
grateful to hear about the fee study next year. I want to take a minute to
celebrate our employees. We often come to these meetings and have them bragged on
and thanked and then I come in here and look at well you know we're going to
have to change the title and oh gosh we're gonna have to ask you to do
something else in addition to what you're already doing. So I want us as we
brag about our city and all the things that reasons people come here without
our employees and all the great work they do, it wouldn't seem that way. So I read
somewhere about picking up trash and of course I'd pick up trash but sounded
like some of our employees are going to be picking up trash as well. So anyhow I
just want to highlight them and the great work they do and and when you get
some extra money give it back to the employees okay. I am looking at the
the deputy city manager, you're reclassifying a vacant position, and blah, blah, I guess
you're still looking for someone on that. Looks like something we really need. The traffic
maintenance worker, eliminate a vacant traffic maintenance worker, et cetera, et cetera.
I don't go too many days or a week without a problem on Ignacio's side. I don't know
what all that's about, but we really need those folks. A vacant traffic, I said that,
space, etc. I want to look at the art programs, which I don't know if they got
a grant or something, but I saw places where there was no fee at all and I was
super excited about that. The housing, of course, I also saw in the design review
somewhere about, you know, we went to objective. So why are we raising it? That
should be a quicker process. It should be costing less time and less money because
that a lot of these things are hourly, and thank you.
Thank you, Jan.
All right, we'll bring it back up here for consideration.
I'll just say, having seen these originally
in the Finance Committee, appreciate the thoroughness
on this, and we had a lot of debate of where we are going
to make some cuts.
Every cut is difficult.
We don't do any cut thinking, well, we don't need that.
But we know that everybody is needed and that all the programs that we want are needed but
we have to still meet a budget.
We can't print money like the federal government.
We have to stay within it.
So I know that also means that there are things that employees are going to have to do a little
bit more of and the public's going to have to figure out ways that we can also get along
with what we have.
So hopefully this is not going to be the case for more than this budget cycle.
But I really appreciate the city manager and Kirsten and your team and Brindy and everybody
that deals with the budget, which is ultimately what people look to their city council to
oversee and putting us in as good a position as possible to make sure that we're meeting
this and with as little impact as possible to the community so that maybe most people
won't even notice.
we know that the challenges that are there and that they've been met so thank
you. And I as the other member of the finance committee I want to thank you
guys for all the hard work. I know you put a lot of effort into this and trying
to find a way to make things to adjust the budget to deal with the shortfalls
in a way that that is relatively out of sight for the general public that doesn't
affect the services that they're seeing.
I really appreciate that.
I also appreciate that we are in uncharted waters
on the state and federal side
and that we will be keeping a close eye on the budget
and encourage you as you guys go through the year,
if you see something that you need to bring back to us
beyond just the PLA today and the PIP funding,
we understand why that might end up
needing to happen this year.
but I think, as Kevin said, every cut is hard,
but I think you've done a great job
of minimizing the pain as best we can on those,
and I really appreciate the extra explanation on the fees.
I look forward to the fee study.
Anyone else?
Yeah, I wanna thank staff
and wanna thank the members of the finance committee again
for the hard work that went into this,
and there are difficult cuts,
but there are also things to celebrate,
thanks to Measure O, primarily,
that we can move forward with some exciting projects,
including the Heather Farm Aquatic Center,
and appreciate staff taking the feedback
on appropriating some funds for outdoor dining.
So there is cause to celebrate here as well,
and while still being fiscally responsible and prudent,
and looking forward to seeing some of those projects
coming out of the ground.
And I appreciate staff kind of making sure
that we're still keeping focused on council priorities
during difficult budget times.
I too want to thank staff and the community
for coming together to give us input on this budget,
the finance committee for your work.
I know these were long meetings that you had
in February, March, April, May.
I appreciate that paced with what looked
like a relatively small difference,
but they're big dollars.
And they have, in order to not just do a hatchet
on one thing in its entirety.
The staff, led by the city manager and the finance team,
did the surgical operation
for just making very careful decisions, very thoughtful,
very strategic, and looking for,
I appreciated the reminder repeatedly
that these were looking for the place
where it would be least impactful to the public
or to our essential services.
So thank you to staff.
And this is multiple times I've been doing this
and there very rarely been opportunities
when we suddenly had a large bucket of money
that we could just spend, you know, any old way.
It seems like it's more and more that we have to make cuts.
But thank you very much.
I'm looking forward to many of the highlights that we will still be able to celebrate.
I just wanted to share the perspective of some going through it for the first time.
I've been very impressed by the level of detail, the thought, the wealth of resources we have at
the city in these great presentations, and for anyone who may be a casual observer and think that
there's not a lot of thought that goes into where the money's coming from and going and how it's
being allocated that you know it's absolutely not true so it's been a pleasure learning about the
the city and the finance at this level and I think staff did a great job getting to where we are now.
All right and with that I will move to adopt the resolution appropriating an operating budget of
expenditures for the period in July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2027, adopt the resolution appropriating
a capital budget of expenditures for the period, same period, adopt the resolution adjusting fees
and charges for various municipal services and activities, adopt the resolution establishing the
FY26 annual appropriation limit, and adopt the resolution authorizing the reappropriation of
general funds in the capital budget.
Whoo, I'll second.
We'll call.
Mayor Darling.
Aye.
Mayor Pro Tem Wilk.
Aye.
Councilmember Davini.
Aye.
Councilmember Francois.
Aye.
Councilmember Silva.
Aye.
Motion carried.
Passes unanimously.
All right.
And with that, anybody that had before 9 o'clock in the pool is a winner, and we are adjourned.
Thank you all for all your hard work on this one.
one.