I'm Kevin Wilk, 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.
each agenda item, there will be an opportunity for public comment on the
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 communications 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 up behind the lectern at the appropriate
time. Wait your turn and then when you approach the lectern please state your
name and 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 decor 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's website for
public review and are included in the meeting record but will not be
separately read into the record.
Good evening, I'm Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek and welcome to the
Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 concurrent regular meetings of the Walnut Creek
City Council and the Public Facilities Financing Authority. Would you all please
join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?
public for which it stands one nation and city clerk Susie Martinez could you
please call the roll councilmember darling here councilmember diviny yeah
councilmember Silva here mayor Wilk here and mayor pro tem Francois is absent due
to a work commitment right our first item is a proclamation for human
trafficking prevention month and are you could oh that is timing all right by
Katrina Natali, Human Trafficking Task Force Director with the Contra Costa County District
Attorney's Office to accept the proclamation. I'll first read from it a bit. I'll read it
from here. So, whereas human trafficking is a form of interpersonal violence and a crime in which
force, fraud, coercion, or similar means is used to compel victims into commercial sexual and labor
exploitation affecting individuals of all genders, citizenship, status, ages, and backgrounds.
Human trafficking can happen to anyone.
Certain populations are at greater risk, including people affected by abuse, violence, poverty,
unstable living situations, or social disconnection, as well as those systematically marginalized
and underserved.
Human trafficking requires a coordinated, community-wide response engaging diverse stakeholders, including
survivors, community members, educators, advocates, law enforcement, social workers, and professionals
from a broad range of disciplines, agencies, and expertise, among others.
Whereas the 42 partners of the Contra Costa Human Trafficking Task Force are striving
to identify and provide service to the survivors, investigate and prosecute all forms of human
trafficking, and build there and the community's capacity to respond to and prevent human trafficking.
In 2025, the 15 victim services agencies in the task force, including community violence
solutions and arm of care, provided comprehensive trauma-informed services to hundreds of victims
of human trafficking throughout Contra Costa County, including crisis intervention, case
management, advocacy, emergency housing assistance, and referral to resources.
And whereas between October 2024 and October 2025, law enforcement agencies in Contra Costa
investigated 67 cases of sex and labor trafficking and identified 103 potential victims who were
connected to services in the district attorney's office, lead law enforcement agency, and the task
force filed 15 cases of human trafficking and related crimes. And whereas the Contra Costa
Alliance to End Abuse recognizes human trafficking as a public health issue that is preventable by
building individual, community, and societal understanding and resilience, eliminating social
and historical inequities and improvising I'm sorry improving the environmental conditions where
people are born learn live work play age and worship and therefore I Kevin Wilk mayor of the
city of Wall and Creek on behalf of the Wall and Creek City Council to hereby proclaim the month of
January 2026 as Human Trafficking Prevention Month and Katrina if you'd like to please stand and do
you have a few words to say? Sure thank you for having me it's a pleasure to be here again this
year. I usually try when I come out to the cities to really highlight local
work that's happening around the issue of human trafficking and this year I
want to speak to an event that we have been working with Arm of Care and with
the Walnut Creek Visitors Association to develop. This is an event that's
targeting the business community and really trying to provide them with the
tools and the information necessary to help identify human trafficking that
might be taking place on the side of their business or passing through that
they might see something that's happening so that will be taking place
originally was planned for this month we've moved it out to March to give a
little more time to get more of the business folks involved and registered
but we're excited about that it's an opportunity as some of you may know
business people have some mandates under state law as far as training they have
to provide to their staff and notices they need to post in their places of
So we'll be providing that information to them, providing them with well designed, attractive
notices that they can post in their businesses and really try to strengthen those partnerships.
This is in conjunction with Arm of Care, which is a local Walnut Creek non-profit organization
that provides therapeutic services, specifically art therapy to survivors of human trafficking,
as well as with an organization called Freedom Insight, which is based in the South Bay but
provides training to businesses on human trafficking throughout the Bay Area, the
state of California, and nationally. So we're excited about this. We're excited
about the degree of engagement we've had from the city and from the Chamber of
Commerce and the Visitors Association. We'll keep you posted on the event. We're
really looking forward to it and it's being held out as an example this year
of a great way of connecting with a local city to try to make progress in
this area so I really want to thank you and and the city and the community of
Walnut Creek for doing that with us. Wonderful thank you all it's so
important why don't we all take a picture. Next item is a proclamation for
Holocaust Remembrance Day which is on January 27th 2026. So I'll just read from
proclamation then we'll have Rabbi Stein come down to accept it. Whereas the
Holocaust was the systematic genocide of more than six million Jews by Nazi
Germany between 1933 and 1945 and included the state sanctioned murder and
persecution of millions of others, Roma and Sinte people, those with
disabilities, homosexuals, Slavs, Poles and members of anti-nazi networks. This
atrocity was a crime of shocking inhumanity representing a dark chapter
in human history. Walnut Creek recognized the heroism of those who aided the victims
of the Nazi regime, including the many soldiers who liberated concentration camps and provided
comfort to those suffering. Whereas the internationally recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance
Day corresponds to the 27th day of Nissan on the Hebrew calendar and marks the anniversary
of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, Holocaust Remembrance Day reminds us of the importance of teaching
future generations about these atrocities and the acts of courage that inspire us to
respond to hatred and inhumanity.
Remembering the Holocaust compels us to confront anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred, ensuring
such atrocities are never repeated.
As Holocaust survivor Estelle Laughlin said, memory is what shapes us.
Memory is what teaches us.
We must understand that's where redemption is.
And whereas the purpose of Holocaust Remembrance Day is to join together as a community to
to remember the Holocaust, to honor survivors who chose to rebuild their lives in Walnut
Creek in the Bay Area, and to reflect the need to respect all people.
And I, therefore, Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut
Creek City Council, do hereby proclaim January 27th, 2026, as Holocaust Remembrance Day.
If you can have Rabbi Stein come on down.
And I'm proud that we have taken a stand against hatred as well, not just individually, but
as a community and a council.
Good evening.
Hi, thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you to the council.
As the Mayor mentioned, I'm Rabbi Daniel Stein,
Rabbi of Congregation Binesh Shalom in Walnut Creek,
which has served the Jewish community
and the broader Walnut Creek community
for more than 60 years.
It's my honor to accept this proclamation
on behalf of the Jewish community.
There are certainly enough lessons
from the Nazi genocide of European Jewry
to fill many lifetimes.
I'd like to lift up just one this evening.
The Israeli author, Aaron Appelfeld,
a child survivor of the Holocaust,
wrote that amid the appropriate mourning
for the genocide and its victims,
one critical detail is often overlooked.
He recalled that during all the years he spent in hiding
and evading the Nazis, not a single day passed
where he did not experience profound, abiding love.
Even in the darkest hours, love was always present.
I know we find ourselves living in challenging times.
I'm grateful to be a part of a community
that understands love in all its facets.
A community that supports diversity, honors difference,
and values a robust civic life in which all are included.
Thank you for this proclamation,
and thank you for all you do to make our city
the wonderful place that it is.
Thank you very much, and being Jewish
and the first Jewish mayor in Wallach Creek,
I obviously take a personal interest in this as well.
Thank you for being here,
and why don't we all have a picture?
All right, next on the agenda is the consent calendar.
Does any council member wish to pull any item for discussion?
I have a question about one item, item 2H.
So why don't we pull that in?
Then 2F, I also have a question on 2H.
All right, 2F and 2H.
Does any member of staff wish to put an item for discussion?
Okay, does any member of the public wish to comment
on an item on the consent calendar?
As a reminder, each speaker will have two minutes
to make their remarks, 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 separately read into the record.
H.
H, all right.
We've got H pulled already.
So you'll come up when we review 2H.
So if we have a motion on the rest.
Move to adopt consent calendar items 2A through E.
G, I, J, and K.
I'll second that.
We have a motion to second.
Susie could you read the roll, please councilmember Silva councilmember darlene? Aye councilmember diviny. I and mayor Wilk. I
Let's first pull item 2f. All right. Thank you and I see
Chief hips on the way to the microphone
So this is a 2f is a grant that we're applying for
$285,000 that would fund an additional 48 hours of
Traffic enforcement over the next year. I hope we get that grant but in reading the
you know the the body of the
narrative in the
Description it talks about staffing again, and I just you know when I read it. It's
It's just it's disheartening. I guess to we're
Ideally staffed for 85 officers right, but we're down it says about 30%
I'm estimating that to be around 58 of the 85
roughly. So a couple questions, how are we covering the, you know, those that 30%
are we doing it with overtime? And are we doing it completely like if we had
all 85 would the service model look different than it does now? Good evening
Mayor, welcome members of the City Council. Ryan Hibbs, Chief of Police, thank
you for the question, Council Member Davini. Right now we're currently, to
to answer your question, we're authorized for 85 total sworn personnel. We have 79 or, excuse me,
78 as of Friday of those positions filled. So, when you look at the deployment number,
the deployment number accounts for the only folks that are left that are full-duty active
assignments. So, in other words, they're acting in their full capacity. So, for a variety of
different reasons, the 18 number is basically it's injuries, it's long-term family leave and it's
people that are already in the academy, so they count toward our filled number but not the deployed
number. And so, are the folks that are able to serve right now, are they covering those who
aren't with overtime. Is that how we're doing it? Yes. And are we covering all the time or is there
a shortage? If we had 85 that would would it look different or it would still be the same?
Well for a little bit of context, our patrol model runs with 36 officers. Currently it's staffed with
32 due to the number of injuries and long-term leave. So right now being down forward those
positions are filled with overtime but we have shortages in other divisions of the agency such
such as our traffic bureau and our detective bureau
that are not generally need to be filled with overtime.
Really, patrol is the only division
that needs to be filled with overtime
due to our staffing minimums,
but we are filling those four slots with overtime, yes.
Those are being filled with overtime.
But the additional detectives and so forth,
those are just, we're hoping to get them back
into the force soon, okay.
Yes.
So I know this has got to be not unique,
it's not unique to Walnut Creek, right?
It's a difficult job, there's lots of injuries,
there's always gonna be family issues as well.
Is there anything that we can do
or measures that you think might help us
to get closer to full staffing?
I mean, I know we're hiring, I know we're,
but it just seems like such a big gap still.
Yeah, well, and part of the problem is that
it's really nothing, to your point,
it's nothing unique to our agency.
I will note that we have four different lateral officers
from other agencies in background right now,
different stages of background right now.
So those are, I point out the laterals only because
they're a lot faster to be deployed
than your entry level trainee.
But we also have two entry levels set up for the academy.
So if we, once the, that's the one taking place in April.
So I'll back up because we actually have four, eight,
10 total officers going to trainees,
officer level, entry level trainee officer positions
going through the academy at various points this year.
So at this point, once we get,
so I mentioned the four that were in the academy
that are set to graduate in February,
they are actually on the books as field positions,
but they're not deployed yet.
So once they get to us and go through field training,
they will be part of our deployed strength, if you will.
We're constantly getting people in the door
and our application pool hasn't dried up.
It's been, at least, I wouldn't say it's,
it flows well.
It's not, we're getting a good number
of qualified applicants, I'll put it that way.
And in fact, we have an interview process set up
for later this week to interview entry-level trainees.
And so one other thing we've done,
and I'll point this out,
is that we've streamlined our hiring process.
So typically when an agency brings in,
you know, they host an entry-level oral board,
they might have, in this case,
we have, I think, five or six people
that are on the list to be interviewed.
Usually what happens is once those people
have been deemed qualified candidates,
they might move on to another interview,
and then what happens after that is,
either an interview with the captains or an interview
with the chief after that,
but those interviews typically take place weeks
after the initial interview.
We streamlined it so that within one day,
all of those interviews can take place
and we can move people into backgrounds very quickly.
And to be frank, I mean,
basically, from the first job interview
for an entry-level candidate
to successful completion of the academy
and successful completion of the field training program,
you're looking at anywhere between 12 and 15 months
if everything goes smoothly.
So with that type of timeline, it doesn't,
you know, it just takes time to stand people up,
but we are actively recruiting
and we're getting good candidates.
Yeah.
Is there anything on the like recovery side
that there seems like there's a fair number,
almost 20% out on injury and so forth?
Is there anything on that end that-
Total coin flip at this point,
it really is, it depends on what the injury is,
the physical condition of the officer prior to the injury,
the recovery time itself, if it's a ligament or a muscle,
it just depends on what the actual injury is.
We do have some shorter term injuries
and it's not all doom and gloom.
We do actually have some people coming back
from family leave here very shortly.
So that number will go higher.
It's just, sometimes it's just a perfect storm.
All right.
Well, you know, it's a priority for the council
and keeping the city safe and we appreciate what you're doing
and I just hope that we can move the needle there
and get those numbers up.
We're working on it.
All right, thank you.
Certainly.
You wanna make a motion?
Oh, okay.
No, I have a question.
It looks like the...
Oh, I'm sorry.
Yeah, my question is really,
I know in 2020-2021,
we were struggling a little bit with the laterals
and it sounds like that has really turned around
in the last five or six years.
I would agree.
I think it's coming in waves.
Sometimes it's time of year,
sometimes it's when there are openings that we post
and sometimes we're lucky enough just to get a wave
of really good lateral applicants
and we're kind of in that right now.
And we're getting folks that have good experience
and come from a culturally, a good fit.
Yes, and that is one thing that
throughout the interview process,
the captains are really good about picking people out
that are gonna be a really good fit.
I've developed, I think, a really good feel
for picking out folks that are gonna be a really good fit
and what I don't wanna do is lose
our strong police culture in bringing folks in
from other agencies just to stand up, trainee quickly.
Okay.
We're not gonna lower our standards,
which is part of the other.
We're getting good qualified applicants,
but we have to weed out a number of people who,
well intentioned, but maybe their background
isn't suited for policing.
Thank you, and I appreciate all that you guys have done
to really develop such a strong culture.
I really appreciate it.
I'd like to actually ask about the item on the agenda,
which is what is the purpose of the grant
that we're applying for, and what would be it,
how would it improve the police department's work
for the community?
That's an excellent question.
So, we're asking only for overtime dollars
to fund six different eight-hour targeted enforcement shifts
that are traffic-related only.
So, we're not asking for equipment,
and we're not asking for positions,
where this is simply an ask,
and it is admittedly a little high,
but we decided that maybe that was the better route to go
as opposed to asking for a lower number
and maybe getting fully funded.
There's a chance that this number is fully funded
by the Office of Traffic Safety,
but we don't know what the number is going to be,
so we're just kind of shooting high
and hoping for the best at this point.
Thank you very much.
I would like to.
I move to adopt item 2F.
I'll second.
We have a motion and a second.
Susie, could you go the roll, please?
Councilmember Davini?
Aye.
Councilmember Darling?
Aye.
Councilmember Silva?
Aye.
Mayor Wilk?
Aye.
All right, so now let's go to 2H.
Thank you very much, Mayor.
This is an item to appropriate and transfer
$1.75 million for the, from the Glennet community benefits
funding from the Glennet Heather Farm Project
for Ignatial Valley Road traffic signal project improvements
and I have a couple of questions about it.
Hello, this is Madar Borman, city engineer.
I remember that during the conversation
about this development project,
there were very concerns about the traffic on Marchbank
at Kinross, the intersection, cut through traffic
that might start at Ignacio
and cut through the Heather Farm Association.
How will these funds be deployed?
And for, I think it's three intersections,
or four intersections, maybe.
What can you tell us about that?
Sure, so to address your first question,
there are four intersections.
One of them is Marchbanks and Kinross.
That is, there is access from Ignacio Valley Road
at both March Banks and at Kinross.
I know that during this development
when we were discussing the conveyance of that property
to the developer of, it's now called the Glen,
there was discussion about what the impacts might be
at that intersection of March Banks and Kinross
and how people might choose to take Kinross
to get to this new development rather than using March Banks
which would be, it's actually a public street.
there is a portion of Kinross that's actually private
that is owned by the HOA,
or it's owned by the, yeah, by the HOA.
So one of the improvements that we were looking to do
was to calm traffic at the intersection of March Banks
and Kinross that's already
and always stop controlled intersection,
but just adding some kind of like horizontal element.
We were with this, with the funds that we have available,
we're gonna do the best we can to stretch it,
but this location we want to,
we were looking at trying to do some kind of traffic circle,
some kind of circle treatment,
just to really make it not as enticing,
especially for larger vehicles,
to try and take Kinross directly north
and into the new development.
Thank you.
And then the other three intersections
are Marchbanks and Ignacio,
which is Marchbanks, Tampico,
and then the Kinross, La Cosa Villa intersection
at Ignacio, and then San Carlos and Ignacio,
those three intersections have some operational improvements for Ignacio
Valley Road as a whole along the corridor as well as some specific
safety improvements for the side streets and better access for March Banks itself
thank you very much thank you councilmember any other questions from
the dice I pulled this item as well pretty much had those questions but I
also just in for the for those watching this was money because I know it says
community benefit but this was money that we with a very like certain level
of detail kind of allocated ahead of time to the these targeted areas right
so that's how we arrived at doing this project with this community benefit
money it wasn't like discretionary like we're all we'll spend it anywhere in the
the city for for community benefit it was designed to be for this location is
that is that accurate I think I'll defer to city attorney on the specific
language. I could speak to it as well. This was part of the negotiations with
the speaker development company as part of the development for the Glenn
project as as Medard noted and the city sold a small piece or strip of property
and this was part of that arrangement and the goal was to help address some of
the potential traffic impacts that may result as part of this project and some
of the concerns that came forward from the very active neighborhood as well to
help address those. So, yes, it was very specific and negotiated specifically for this.
All right. Any members of the public would like to make a comment?
Good evening. Jan Warren, the Woodlands. And I might be able to catch her in a break or
something. I would like to find out when and where I can actually see the drawings. I'm
pretty visual, and I'm listening, but I can't keep up to where we are and where the circle is and
appreciate knowing when and how I can just see the drawings.
Thank you Jan. So Mayor, I'll ask the question of staff, can we get a little timeline as to
what, when we might publicly be able to view the, sometimes traffic signal improvements are
electronic but when we might be able to see something or the public. Sure so the the project
was um it is in our capital budget right now what this council is taking action on is actually
taking the money from one fund and putting into the capital budget appropriating those funds um
the the project itself once we have that funding we can start design um we are going to be doing
Separately, we did
city staff reached out and was able to
Win grant funds for additional intersections along Ignacio Valley Road for traffic signal improvements
So we're going to try and use that process and tee off of it in order to get a design completed and then move into
Construction, but this is from a timeline perspective
the design probably wouldn't start until the next within the next year and then construction would follow after that and the Ken Ross March Bank
intersection that is more interior to the closer
to the project is not a traffic signal improvement project.
It's more physical and construction
and narrowing and et cetera.
When would that be?
Is it on the same timeline path?
It could be.
I think, you know, when we do the design,
we're gonna be looking at concrete
and some of those other physical improvements too.
But the traffic signal work is a little more
specific type of work.
So we could always break that out first and phase it.
you know, looking at other designs in the area,
but at least for now,
the plan was to kind of include everything.
So the capital project would be sometime
in the next six to nine months?
The design-
Or are we thinking further out?
Yeah, the design, we would be able to bring on a consultant
to assist with the design in the next six to nine months.
Okay, thank you.
Thanks.
All right, thanks, Madara.
I'm happy to move the item.
Any other public comment on this?
Seeing none, we'll bring it back to council.
If there's any other comments or a motion.
I move to appropriate and transfer
1.75 million dollars of transportation improvements,
community benefit funding received
from the Glenhead-Heather Farm into the capital budget
Ignacio Valley Road Traffic Signal project.
All right, I second.
We have a motion and a second, Susie.
Councilmember Silva.
Aye.
Councilmember Davenny.
Aye.
Councilmember Darling.
Aye.
And Mayor Wilk.
And next, we have public communications.
This portion of the meeting is reserved
for comment on items not on the agenda.
Under the Brown Act, the council cannot act on items
raised during public communications,
but may respond briefly to statements made
or questions posed, request clarification,
or refer the item to staff.
Consistent with section 9.5 of the City Council Handbook,
30 minutes will be allocated at this time
for public communications 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 if necessary. 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 separately read
into the record. At this time I'll note that the time is 635 and will take public comment on items
not on the agenda until approximately 705 although I have a feeling we're not going to need that
amount of time and the and then the remainder of any such comments at the end of the open
session portion of the meeting.
And so if we can have any public comment they've come up, and that's it.
All right.
Yeah.
All right.
I put all one, Carza.
Okay.
Okay.
I would like clarity on the new soccer fields and more particularly the new signs.
I first noticed the signs coming down, going down Ignacio West, I guess.
And I'm like, whoa, where did that come from?
And then a few days later, I decided to get on my bicycle, which was scary.
And so I was coming down the path and decided I'd gone far enough and I got off and I saw
at least six signs because I hadn't been at any grand opening or anything.
And my concern is I had the impression that we were paying for the fields, the new soccer
fields, with the Measure O money.
And I understood that the soccer club was contributing a certain amount to make that
happen, but I never heard any discussion about the names and the money associated with whatever
they donated.
And so, I'd like to know, did Measure O have money into it?
What was the percentage?
And five or ten years from now, and if we're looking at signs, who's going to remember
that the residents of the city, you know, paid for a lot of it with Measure O.
Thank you, Jan.
Next speaker.
Hello.
Hello.
My name is Barbara Yannes.
I've been a resident of Walnut Creek since 1996.
I want to wish you all a productive and happy New Year.
Also in my written comments, I attached three pictures of the Paraiso Trail area of Lime
Ridge Open Space.
The June 2024 cancellation of the planned High Speed Bicycle Flow Trail allows equestrians,
pedestrians, horses, cattle to now enjoy that southwest portion of Lime Ridge without being
disturbed by high speed bike traffic.
And native plants and wildlife can also freely exist in that area without any destruction.
For those of you that contributed to the cancellation of the project, thank you very much, I really
appreciate it.
However, we need to remember that protection and conservation of our open space is still
at risk.
bicycle track trails prohibit bicycle traffic of any type per municipal codes, yet there
is constant bike traffic occurring on these single track trails.
Staff made their own decision that they'll do no enforcement of the bike traffic on these
trails.
Pedestrians and equestrians are now left to fend for themselves when they use these trails,
which are specifically designed for them.
plants are snuffed out, wildlife continues to be disturbed. Also in January of this year,
current month, I've seen myself at least three occurrences of motorcycles in the open space,
in Lime Ridge. So, with the new year of 2026, I'd like to call out to the new mayor,
council members, and other city leaders to act now to ensure that staff enforces
open-space municipal codes on single-track trails. Please save our precious open spaces
for current and future generations, and thank you very much for your service to our city.
Thank you, Barbara, and we did receive your emails as well. I appreciate you sending them in.
Do we have any more public commenters? Seeing none, we'll close public comment. I would like
to ask the city manager if there's any clarity that can be given over the Heather Farm size.
Yeah, good evening, Ken Buckshi, City Manager.
Yes, just as a brief recap, you may recall that there was a formal agreement that the city entered into that your council approved with the Walnut Creek Soccer Club.
For them to raise at least one and a half million dollars towards
the fields which they have a payment schedule and they are on track,
may even potentially pay ahead of schedule based upon their fundraising.
There were allowances in that agreement for signage, for donors, and particularly for certain dollar thresholds.
And that's what we're seeing.
I think more specifically, I'm guessing Ms. Moore may be referring to the UC San Francisco,
sports fields sponsorship that is on Ignacio Valley Road that was all reviewed with staff in terms of the size and the approach to that.
So that has been planned.
You know, per her point about Measure O signage,
we have had signage up during construction,
and she raises a good point of do we want something
more permanent out there highlighting that the field
and or eventually the community and aquatic center
and or other structures that are funded by Measure O
to have some type of ongoing signage.
And I think that's something we could consider
if that's of interest.
Thank you.
I think it is always good to know who paid for what.
Could you also clarify that in addition to the $1.5 million that is being raised by the soccer club and
the significant contribution of UCSF, what amount Measure O paid toward the ball fields?
It wasn't small.
The total project cost was about $7 million, so the remainder was funded primarily by Measure O.
So Measure O funded about 5.5 million
of the seven million dollars.
There may have been some other park and loo fees
and that sort of thing allocated,
but the vast majority was Measure O.
Thank you.
And I imagine we'll be seeing quite a bit of Measure O
signage with the Heather Farm Swimming Center
and Community Center construction coming up.
Thank you very much.
All right, this brings us to our council member
Staff announcements, reports on activities or requests,
and council member reports on AB 1234 activities.
And I'll start with the city attorney.
Thank you, Mayor.
This evening the council held a series of closed sessions.
There were no reportable actions from the closed sessions.
Thank you.
And just one brief update.
I'm happy to report that your councilman may be aware
that annually city staff does a fundraiser
for the food bank of Contra Costa and Solano County
And this year, we raised just over $7,000,
which provides over 14,000 meals for those in need
by working with the food bank.
And just wanted to recognize the efforts
and thank all of the city staff who participated.
And thank Kathy Meyer and Carl Larson
for heading this up and running that program.
It's nice that we have this annual tradition of doing this.
Thank you, good update.
Who would like to go first?
I'll go first.
Council Member Darling.
Thank you.
First of all, I want to say thank you
to my fellow council members.
We had talked a while ago about helping the Trinity Center
winter night shelter with their dinner service.
So we agreed to do that.
And we did that last night.
All five of us got together with sharp knives and hot stoves.
And we did a great job, in spite of the fact
that the chicken wasn't quite cooking as fast as we thought
it would.
But it was really enjoyable to cook for the people
at Trinity Center.
and I think it was a great way for all of us
to honor Martin Luther King Day
and the commitment to service
and just visit with some folks at the Winter Shelter
and I really appreciated everybody's willingness
to chip in and the price impacts we saw
at the end of last fiscal year,
we have recovered considerably this year,
prices have really softened and so we're back in the black
And we are looking at starting our budget process
for the budget that will be adopted April 1st
and looking at the potential for a rate reduction.
Our generating costs are fairly low.
The challenge will be that we,
in addition to the cost of generating electricity,
people have to pay for a PG&E transmission charge.
And then this other, it's the bane of our existence
called the PCIA, the Power Charge and Difference Adjustment.
And that is the blood money that we are paying
to PG&E for leaving them.
And PG&E is pursuing cases
in front of the California Public Utilities Commission
to significantly increase that charge.
We are continuing to appeal the charges.
One of the things that PG&E is trying to do
is retroactively raise the charge back in 2025
And we are of the opinion that it is not sound fiscal
or legal precedent to raise rates in arrears.
But we are gonna be continuing to struggle
with that this year.
So there will be future announcements and whatnot
on how we're dealing with that.
And then the fun thing is Gabe Kinto has been the co-chair
of our board Chanel Scales Press Center County Supervisor
as the chair of the board for MCE.
Gabe is now the California League of Cities president
this year and so has stepped down.
So I volunteered to step up in the vice chair now.
So it will be an entertaining year
and I'll have a lot of interesting experiences with that.
So that's my report.
Thank you for the update.
Council member Silva.
Thank you very much and happy new year to everyone.
The, a few things to report.
Mayor Pro Tem Francois and I represent the city
of Walnut Creek on the board of Recycle Smart,
which is takes care of your black bin, your blue bin
and your green bins, your trash, your recyclables
and your organic waste.
And we will be having our annual retreat next Tuesday
and discussing the forward and the future
and also approving our rates for the coming year,
which starts March 1 and will continue through February.
or commercial and residential rates will be rising slightly mostly to cover the
costs of all the services that we deliver. The liaison to Walnut Creek
Sister Cities International Organization, and they are currently in two things,
there's two things they're working on. First is the planning for the visits
from the students from Sheofo, Kangri and Nochedo, Italy, will be coming in the
very last few days of March and the first week of April so we should be
prepared for that. And then also they are in the process of recruiting a new
class of youth ambassadors for 26-27 and they're looking for about two dozen of
our seventh grade, rising eighth graders, but seventh graders who will be in eighth
grade next year who will travel and represent our city to Nochedo and
and Shia folk in the fall and then have the youth ambassadors
for those, our sister cities,
visit us in the spring of 2027.
I also represent the city to the
Diablo Regional Arts Association.
Their first meeting of 2026 will be in early February,
but you don't need to wait for them to have a meeting
to be able to enjoy the current exhibit
at the Bedford Gallery, which is called,
It's the work of Viola Frye, who is a, was,
she's now deceased, but she is a longtime local artist
from, originally from Lodi, California,
and she is a, did paintings,
and then she did 3D sculptures,
and some of which are about 11 feet tall in the gallery.
So you'll not wanna miss this exhibit.
It is currently open and it continues through April 5th,
and it's open Wednesdays through Sundays
from noon until 6 p.m., and then on nights of the theater,
it's also open early.
And I will mention, lastly,
that I am involved in the League of California Cities,
and I have been appointed to the Revenue
and Taxation Policy Committee this year,
and our meetings, we have meetings this week in Sacramento,
and a key on our agenda is a discussion
of the recommendations of how do we address
the inequities that have resulted from online shopping.
And the way the distribution of the sales tax works is different if I buy a sweater
for $100 at Macy's, we're going to pay eight and a half cents in tax.
We'll get a penny of that hundred or we'll get a dollar of that hundred dollars
and we will get 50 cents in our Measure O tax.
But if I find it at Macy's but it's the wrong size or the wrong color and I order it online
and this is what I did right after Christmas,
That sales tax distribution will primarily not come here,
that penny, the penny that will probably go to the warehouse,
the city of the warehouse where,
from which the sweater has delivered to my house.
So we need to have a conversation about how this is working
in the brick and mortar versus online sales world.
And thank you very much.
I will see you in Sacramento.
Yes, yes.
That's a hugely important issue.
I'm glad you brought it up Council Member Silva.
when I speak in front of groups and they ask,
what can we do?
There's so much frustration going on they can't control.
They go, what can we do to help?
I say shop in person.
Shop in person's the biggest way to help.
It goes right to our bottom line of tax revenue
and we keep all of that percentage.
Or eat in person.
Eat in person, whatever it is.
Council Member Davini.
Yes, thank you, yeah.
Council Member Silva, I wish you the best of luck
in those negotiations.
Important topic.
So I don't have a lot to discuss this time.
I have had only enjoyable, fun events
to attend the last couple weeks, the swearing-in ceremony
for our police officers.
And again, congratulations to Chief Hibbs.
And I think we had a congratulations to Captain
Slater and Captain Connor, but they just stepped out so
And then the the new hires and again enjoyed going to the Trinity Center last night for Martin Luther King and preparing meals for
The homeless there and I had a quick question the visit Walnut Creek
Effort on human trafficking. Do we know what the new date is?
Did she meant she meant did she mention that at all during her presentation? Yeah, it's
I want to say it's March.
I had a few things, first of all, I don't know how late it is, you can say Happy New
Year, but I guess it is Happy New Year.
We haven't met since December, right, February 1, all right.
So one of the things that I did just before our break was one of the most fun things.
Walnut Acres has, their first grade classes have gingerbread cities, and I was asked to
cut the ribbon on these different classrooms, gingerbread cities, and so very, very cute.
I was asked almost by every class the same question,
how much do you make as the mayor?
And I had the same answer, not enough.
So we did have a Chick-fil-A opening.
How much is not enough?
Yeah, $600 a month.
That's what we make up here.
I think we all go into a loss
by all the things that we end up going to and paying for.
We did have a Chick-fil-A opening today on Oak Grove Road.
So this is the first Chick-fil-A
that does not have a drive-through in the country.
It's a new neighborhood concept.
They've started it here,
and there were maybe 50, 60 people that showed up
from staff, from our police department,
and a lot of corporate people from Chick-fil-A as well.
So they've hired 75 people, local employees,
11 of them are high school students
for their first job on their resumes.
So we look forward to seeing how this should be opening
within the next six months to a year.
So we'll be hearing more about those too.
I also presented several Eagle Scouts in the court of honor,
which I'd forgotten when you're mayor,
you get to do those things and see 11 or 12.
And I'm glad you're doing it.
Well, it's 11 or 12 years of the work that it is
to become an Eagle Scout.
And they are dedicated because they were there
for this court of honor during the 49ers game, dedication.
And lastly, I want to talk about County Connect,
County Connection, well, they didn't miss much.
the, I want to talk about county connection, we're on the liaison to the board, a couple of things
happening that are important to note, both chargers for the inductive charging are down
in Walnut Creek at the BART station due to power supply board issues. The new power supply boards
have been ordered, that's the good news, the, unfortunately those electric boards they are,
we're not running the electric buses until the parts come in, they're in the process of shipping
And then within one to two days of implementation,
they'll be good to go.
That's the good news.
They're being shipped from Asia.
That's the less than good news.
Also, Clipper 2.0 cards recently came out
a couple of weeks ago.
There have been some issues with them being in the cloud
and accessing accounts.
The issue is being resolved.
In fact, I believe it's actually been corrected imminently.
Credit card usage with machines all work properly.
One issue that's come up that Bart is still
figuring out how to deal with.
Anybody that takes BART on a regular basis.
It has been, of course, that you've got the card,
and the money is stored on the card.
You tap the card, gates open up, you walk on in.
Well, now, because the money is stored in the cloud,
you tap the card, it's gotta go up to the cloud,
access how much money you have, comes back down,
and there's a delay of about one to two seconds to get in.
Yes.
Yes.
And this, so that is trying to be compacted right now,
because anybody that has gone during commute time
to San Francisco or back, and I did that for 10 years,
there was a rush at those gates,
and if it's a delay by one second to get through,
that is backing way up into the escalator.
So that is being resolved.
I will follow up with that in my next meeting or two
when we hear resolving issues there.
That's my report, which brings us to consideration item.
So it's the agenda of uh, I'm sorry agenda is the consideration of the proposed 2026 legislative agenda
I invite kc. Elliott vice president and chief strategy officer from towns and public affairs
to provide the presentation
Good evening mayor council members kc. Elliott, uh vice president towns and public affairs
Um here tonight to provide a brief legislative update
Kind of a wrap-up of last year a little bit of preview ahead of this year
just to provide a little bit of context for which we will be considering thank you the legislative
agenda in front of you just by a way of reminder from numbers of last year last year there were
about 2,400 bills introduced in Sacramento which is about a typical year I mean it's kind of a
normal bill load of that a little over 900 were passed through by the legislature and then
and ultimately the governor signed just under 800
of those bills in veto, the remainder,
for a veto rate of about 13%.
I would note that this was probably slightly higher
of a veto rate than Newsom's had in his,
usually he kind of hangs out around the eight to 10%.
A lot of the veto's messages this year
were based on budgetary conditions.
So I think that may be a theme
that we see continue going on into 2026,
but just kind of as we look back at the numbers
of last year's session, that's where we were.
A number of big issues dominated obviously
the early part of the year is generally focused on,
more focused on the state budget.
As you'll recall, the state was operating,
looking at a $12 billion deficit that was addressed
through a number of different maneuvers,
borrowing reserves, cost shifts,
and then there were some of the more substantive items
that were contained as part of the budget,
including starting to allocate out the Proposition 4
resources bond dollars.
There were any number of trailer bills
that kind of continued also in federal legislation
that again, we'll start to see pop up here in 2026.
From a policy standpoint, as always,
a large number of issues,
just kind of picking some of the larger ones at the time,
kind of dominated the conversations in Sacramento,
as I noted in the middle of their CEQA.
There was a number of CEQA actions
that was largely done through budget.
The last, any number of years,
CEQA conversations in Sacramento
generally revolve around sports stadiums and whatnot.
This year it kind of moved in to areas of housing,
vegetation management, a number of projects.
This probably is, in the 20 years that I've been in Sacramento, it's probably the most
extensive CEQA revisiting that we've seen in just efforts to kind of streamline existing
projects through.
So that took up a large portion, again, was factored into the budget.
Cap and invest, cap and trade reauthorization was also tied in through the budget, extending
that program out as well as putting in a new expenditure plan.
That generates about $4 billion a year outside of the state's general fund that then gets
reinvested into any number of programs aimed at improving air quality, strategic building,
transportation, so any number of programs.
They modified that spending formula slightly, so there's still a good chunk, a billion dollars
off the top to high-speed rail.
There's now a billion that's going to be discretionary for the legislature.
And then there's kind of a descending order of priority programs that that would get reinvested
into.
So we'll start seeing that the first year of the new spending schedule go into effect
in calendar year 26.
Then there was a number of issues, immigration response, congressional redistricting that
were in direct response to activities that were going out in D.C., obviously on the congressional
redistricting and Prop 50 passage,
we'll see that start being implemented
in the 26th election cycle for Congress.
While that won't impact the city directly here,
Congressman Desogne obviously retains the bulk of the city
and his district.
Any number of places throughout the state
are gonna be dealing with a lot more politics
as effectively we're gonna have four or five additional
districts that were drawn with the intent
of moving partisan representation in those areas.
So we'll start seeing that manifested this year.
And then at the very end of the year in November,
we had the official changeover in Senate leadership.
So the Senate has a new pro tem, Monique Lamone,
out of the Santa Barbara area.
She took over that position in November,
had her formal kind of swearing in
when the legislature convened here in January.
She's since announced new committee leadership,
some new committee leadership, new majority leaders.
so it will just be a different set of priorities
in the Senate.
Though the Pro Tem Lamone was fairly well aligned
with the previous Pro Tem Mike McGuire.
So we'll be interested to see just how kind of how
she operates the House versus the previous Pro Tem.
When we start to look at the issues
that may be upcoming here in 26,
as I noted at the beginning of the years
is when we see the governor's January budget,
He released his budget on the, I think it was the eighth or ninth, according to the
governor and the Department of Finance, the state's looking at a $2.9 billion deficit.
That's on about $250 billion general fund.
The LAO has a very different number, which I'll get into in just a minute.
From the governor's budget perspective, he largely addresses the deficit through a single
maneuver of pausing a $2.8 billion payment into the state's rainy day fund, so effectively
the way the governor's January budget was released, it's balanced just on the bat.
Also, as we look into issues that are likely to pop up before the legislature this year,
always housing and affordability, housing, I think last year there were 60 housing bills
signed into law. Obviously, last year, a lot of the effort was on SB 79. We already have
one SB 79 cleanup bill. I anticipate we'll see another SB 79 cleanup bill before before
February 20th rolls around special funds. The major difference between the Department
of Finance and in the LAO on their budgets is the revenue projection. In November, the
LAO had anticipated the state would be looking at somewhere
near an $18 billion budget deficit for the current year.
As noted, the governor has the deficit pegged much lower,
and that's almost directly attributable
to the amount of revenue.
So over the current year, the budget year we're in,
the proposed budget year, so over the two year window,
the State Department of Finance is projecting
an additional 42 billion in revenue over the LAO.
largely driven by AI, capital gains, tech sector.
LAO is much more cautious on those revenues developing
and the Department of Finance would say,
we understand that's a risky revenue assessment
and we will deal with that when it doesn't materialize.
So that's largely where those two differences come from.
As I noted earlier, the $2.8 billion true up suspension,
true up fund to the rainy day fund is largely how the governor proposes to address the budget
deficit. That does still leave 14 and a half, approximately 14 and a half billion in the
rainy day fund that the state has. This budget has no proposed new revenue streams, no new
taxes. There are various compact tax proposals being discussed for the November ballot but
those are not from the administration. They're not part of this budget. So there's no new
significant revenues. And then the Department of Finance, in acknowledgment of various impacts
coming to California from federal decisions, some of the revenue uncertainties has really
deferred until the May revise to make a lot of their decisions. So the January budget we saw
didn't really have any new major programs, a lot of expansions as much as there is alignment there
allows for quicker operation and quicker turnaround of positions. And then also that will be shared
with with the city's legislative representative so they have an
understanding and knowledge of the city's priorities so as bills are being
introduced as policies are coming forward they'll understand beforehand
where the city's positions are and and that engagement will begin immediately
as we look at some of the specific items with chain proposed changes within the
document I'm trying to kind of create a quick summary of just some of those
items here. You'll notice within the public safety section there's some revised language
related to Proposition 36. That really just is more of a reflection of where we are in
the Prop 36 conversation from developing legislative policy that later became Proposition 36 and
some of the other public safety bills that were taken up to now really a full implementation
of what the voters have approved. So just really kind of modifying that language to
to just kind of better reflect where Prop 36 is
within the process.
Similarly, language was added related to housing processes,
planning processes that align with the city's housing element
as well as opposing conflicting policies
that the state and regional levels may have,
which happens, so obviously trying to encourage
all of our partners at the state and local agencies
kind of work in more of a coordinated fashion so that you know local governments of the city can
can deliver on on what those priorities are. There was some cleanup language within the
transportation section, some removing of some kind of just older language related to some overlays
and capsules and just on kind of some general cleanup within the transportation section.
There was also new language specifically calling out increased safety for all roadway users including
E-bike operators. I do anticipate this year we will see more E-bike related legislation.
We've already seen two new bills introduced on E-bikes within the first week of the legislative
session in our conversations. I think there's probably at least two or three more, so definitely
becoming a broader issue. So I wanted to make sure there was flexibility within the city's
platform to to respond to legislation related to e-bikes. There was again some
some cleaning up of some duplicative language within the environmental
sustainability section and then there was some inclusion of language related
to affordability on electric utility service within within the sustainability
section and then I believe Joe's going to speak to a couple of additional
of amendments that are being proposed as well.
Thank you, Casey.
Good evening, councilmembers, Mayor Wilk,
Joe Caroza, assistant to the city manager.
I do wanna talk about a few additional amendments
that are not included in the materials you have
in front of you.
These came in from a few council members
and are some suggested changes.
So the first one I wanna go over,
and then I apologize, it's quite small on screen, 3C.
So item 3C is a very minor adjustment.
It says cap and trade, but due to some rebranding
done in late 2025, moving that to cap and invest funding.
Then in the final paragraph, a few adjustments
to reflect not just relationship building
with state legislators, but also federal elected officials.
And so there's some adjustments there.
But we did add in to the final line
for state legislative activities.
TPA will provide support and talking points
since towns and public affairs supports us
for state legislative activities.
So I'll give folks a second to see that
before we move forward to the next slide.
Question about that.
I mean, obviously we want to have good relationships
with everyone.
I see that we interact on a regular basis
with local and state officials.
Are we interacting with the federal elected officials here?
Yeah, pardon me, okay.
All right, and then the next series of adjustments
are for 4C and 4D, which is in the sustainability section.
The first adjustment I wanna bring attention to
is the Marine Clean Energy MCE.
We are now, they are now referring to themselves as MCE,
formerly marine clean energy,
so just making that adjustment to be reflected
within the agenda.
And then made some additional adjustments,
which is all that red that you see there,
to 4C and 4D to be reflective
of some MCE legislative support topics.
So I'm gonna go ahead and just read this,
the adjustments so that I can share
what the suggested changes are.
The city supports additional funding,
we're talking about 4C, for energy saving programs
funding for programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The city joined MCE, formerly
Marine Clean Energy, to offer residents and businesses additional, cleaner, and greener
electric energy choices, and to increase local control over energy procurement and development,
expand consumer choice, and provide access to renewable energy at stable and competitive
rates. As a member of MCE, the city opposes restrictive
legislation and regulations targeting community choice energy programs, including improper
cost allocation, policies that unfairly disadvantage CCAs or their customers, interference with
local energy governance, and actions that diminish CCA procurement, policy making, and
decision making autonomy.
So there's some additions there.
Then in 4D, a few more additions.
So the city supports legislation and decisions that give local jurisdictions access to utility
energy data and ensure transparency and accountability, and ensure utilities respond to local governments
unique data needs to support informed local decision-making, energy planning, and consumer
protection.
And so, before I pass back to Casey to take any additional questions, the recommended
action is now is to approve the 2026 state legislative agenda inclusive of the additional
amendments presented today on those last two slides.
All right.
Thank you, and I'll go ahead and pass back to Casey.
part's easy. Any questions? All right, do we have any questions? We'll start with
Councilmember Silva. Thank you very much and thank you for the work both well in
Sacramento but sometimes your work also lops over into our federal advocacy
efforts so I appreciate all of it. We had a comment from the public and it was
the comment was made about the grant funding that we were seeking for overtime
pay for traffic enforcement but really it also relates to by extension any
technology that we might put into play and he was the community member was
suggesting we try to get ourselves added into the pilot program for the I guess
digital license place reading program and my I ran that to ground 18 months
ago through the League of California cities and the answer I got was it's not
an open season for anybody who wants to participate can it's really it was a
a select number of cities that the state legislature selected as a pilot to
ensure that it was working properly and would not be misused at the local level.
But can you add onto that too? Yeah, there's the legislature uses the, I mean
they're very loose in their use of word pilot program so it can mean a number of
different things. Generally I would say in maybe within the last 10 years or so
when we use kind of the broader pilot program in really transportation related technology
instances, whether it's digital license plates, red light cameras, speed enforcement cameras,
there's been typically that committee prefers the approach of specifying which specific
cities or counties or agencies those pilot projects will apply to, as opposed to maybe
States going to set up a pilot program and receive applications.
So typically in the transportation committee, back definitely when it was under Jim Frazier,
the former assembly member Frazier, Laura Friedman, because the speed enforcement camera
has Glendale in it, which is why they're kind of the only small city.
She was the chair at the time.
But typically they do it that way.
So then they'll put sunsets on the bills.
So typically when the sunset dates come up that those pilot entities will look to expand the bill and then we kind of kind
Of had a broader conversation. So so yes, most of those within the transportation space are are defined pilot programs
But when those come back up
Then there may be opportunities to expand or they make them available across this correct
Yeah, the legislation worked. Yeah, these are the rules exactly go forward and prosper exactly. Yes
Thank you and what a fun job. Just curious, do you think this year, I know
last year the subject of ICE coming in to cities and facial coverings was a
big issue, do you expect to see additional work in that area or? Yes.
The short answer is yes. So last year there were a couple of different
for ones of the SB 627, Senator Wiener's bill
regarding the face coverings as well as Senator Perez
had a bill, I'm gonna butcher the number so I won't guess,
on identification, those were signed into law.
Those are being challenged federally.
So depending upon how those court cases work out,
I could see there being some followup legislation
on the state side.
There was also legislation related to K through 12
and community college districts about requirements
that warrants or specific things that ICE would need
in order to gain access into private campuses.
So we saw some of those legislation.
We've already seen this last week,
Assemblymember Isaac Bryan in LA introduced a bill
that would prohibit local law enforcement
from holding second jobs with ICE.
I think that we will continue to see
legislation in response to some of these activities,
whether it's protests, whether it's ICE carrying out duties.
So yeah, I do think that will continue.
It's gonna sound worse than it is,
but Sacramento's largely reactive,
so it kind of depends upon what.
What ICE thinks up to do next.
exactly kind of what the, what the, what the,
and really excited.
Since we're in bill introduction deadline,
I do anticipate some of the things that we're seeing
going on in Minnesota and other places in the state,
as we're into bill development time,
we may see some of those things,
legislation in response to some of those activities.
But yeah, I do think that'll continue to be a topic.
Yeah, thank you.
And then the other big flare that went up
was when PG&E substations in San Francisco shut down
and all of a sudden PG&E,
San Francisco is rattling the saber about taking over PG&E.
Do you think that's got any legs to it,
or your guess is as good as ours?
Yeah.
I mean, I can say I don't work with the city and county
of San Francisco.
So I don't know where they would get that money.
That seems like a very expensive endeavor to take over that.
But I do think energy procurement,
energy will continue to be a conversation.
There's already conversations related
to extending Dabla Canyon again.
It feels like we just had that conversation
a couple of years ago.
But yeah, I think that there are some.
I think there will be legislation this year
by any number of members that are seeking election
to different offices that may,
we may see legislation of things
that maybe play well really well locally,
but maybe once you extrapolate that out
to a legislative thing.
So I could see in San Francisco,
if you're maybe running for Congress in there,
that might be a bill that plays well,
really locally, but from a state policy perspective,
I don't know that there's a lot of appetite for that.
Okay, and then on the CEQA streamlining,
I know there's been a lot of discussion about
certain types of projects getting streamlined and whatnot.
The battery energy storage facilities
after the Moss Landing fire,
are you still seeing battery storage being,
you know, if we're gonna get rid of Diablo Canyon,
we need batteries.
I think that last year, there was, like I said,
There was a lot done, and I think that last year is gonna open the floodgates for CEQA
requests, whether the legislature does any more or not.
I'm a little, I tend to think they won't.
That said, the California Chamber of Commerce, I know, is pursuing a significant CEQA initiative
that they're trying to place on the 2026 ballot, which would definitely streamline any number
of types of projects beyond what the legislature's done, both in terms of review timelines up
front as well as litigation timelines on the back end.
So we may still see some more CEQA activity, but I think it may be more driven through
the initiative process than from the legislature this year.
Yeah, at the Chamber of Commerce this month, we saw the rough outline of what they were
proposing and it seemed like a work in progress because it included things that I would not
normally think of as being easily CEQA exempt, but.
Yeah, and I think from a local government perspective,
too, a lot of the timelines that they're putting in
would be very challenging.
It would require very quick, in some cases,
depending upon project size,
very rapid review of projects with then limited ability
to go back and look at other components
as projects develop.
So, yeah, there's a lot within what they're looking at
to digest there.
Yeah, I think things that went through,
Conveyed water through the delta were in there like oh, that's fun. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Have fun this year
Councilmember Davini
Yeah, thank you. I
Was wondering prop 36
I know that it wasn't fully funded and part of the rationale where there was budget cuts and cost constraints and things
But it was a pretty
pretty widely
you know popular
Measure so
Were there other what do you what do you make of that? Yeah
Well, the governor definitely was not a fan of prop 36
And but I think that from a legislative basis, I pretty sure it passed in
Every single legislative district, right? So I mean from a from a legislative perspective. It's it was obviously was widely popular amongst the public
Within legislators, it was popular the governor's January budget this year is I
I would say, relatively silent on funding of Prop 36.
The Department of Finance director, Joe Steffenshaw,
was asked a direct question about the funding of Prop 36
during the budget release, and he kind of talked about savings
from Prop 47 and moving money around.
But I think the administration is going to kind of go kicking
and screaming on this one.
I do think we'll see legislative leadership,
given the broad support for Prop 36,
really try to push for full funding,
particularly when we start talking about
some of the overlapping populations
that are priorities for the administration,
whether it's mental health, substance abuse,
homeless populations that are also impacted
by some of the funding that could be, you know,
forwarded through Prop 36.
So I think that as we get into May Revise,
we'll see more of that conversation,
but it definitely is a higher priority
for the legislature than it is for the administration,
which then tends to make me think
it'll be subject of a negotiation
as we get into May revise.
Well, you think they're big critique, or they're...
Well, I think the governor just didn't agree
with the overall philosophy of Prop 36.
I think, you know, increase, you know.
And it's hard to say he wanted more time
in corrections facilities.
There was just a lot going on,
and a lot of it, honestly, was political.
and it was not the proposal that the administration wanted.
So I think that maybe in 27,
we'll maybe see some more full funding for Prop 36
as we move into a new administration kind of where that is
because some of the issues that have really prevented
the full funding of Prop 36
just won't be present anymore.
Okay. And then I just had a question
about the pilot programs.
You know, there's a few obviously pilot programs going on
and is it prohibitive that cities,
I mean, do you see these programs
getting extended sometimes to other jurisdictions?
Or I guess, for example, like Marin
has their e-bike pilot program.
And one of the ideas would be, might we
be able to join something like that?
And I know it's also an issue with the speed cameras,
and maybe the red light cameras, and so forth.
So is there an avenue to that?
Yeah, we definitely see those.
I mean, a lot of times when those issues
pop up as pilot programs, they start as broader proposals
and then kind of get whittled down as they move.
I think we would start, you know,
the conversation wouldn't be about opening that up when-
You don't see exceptions prior to that time.
No, I mean, because like on bills like that,
that one in particular, just cause I know we had,
I had some colleagues working on that one,
that one started as a broader proposal
that would have been applicable statewide.
and then given concerns, it was narrowed back down.
So I know that there would be any number of agencies locally,
any number of stakeholders at the state level
that would like to see certain programs open back up.
I think e-bikes is definitely one that we hear more of.
I think when Marin kind of worked their legislation
in their bill, I don't wanna say e-bikes
was a Marin-only issue, but I think,
what was that, four years ago?
I just, e-bikes weren't quite as prevalent of an issue.
I think a lot of jurisdictions were like,
that we're getting the lime scooters or whatnot,
just starting to deploy and they hadn't really
dealt with all of the issues that surrounded it.
So maybe Marin was maybe just a little bit ahead
on that issue, but yeah,
a lot of times we do see these getting revisited
and then opened back up,
particularly when they're successful locally.
And that helps a lot because then we can,
whatever the concerns may have been
with a particular bill and forced it to
kind of consolidate down to a pilot program,
everyone has the data then that they can turn to
say like see you're you know whatever you feared it would happen didn't in
these cases and so we should look for a broader expansion thanks Casey would any
member oh we have one more question from the dice your diagram that had the four
issue areas included affordability related to housing versus production I
assume because that's what a lot of the recent bills have been when we talk
about affordability it often means and you mentioned this that they want us at
at the local level to reduce the impact fees and the costs.
And of course you hear commercials about that.
Oh, we're gonna do that.
Oftentimes our fees are to recover the costs
in order to process the application and address issues.
What do you need from us to support your advocacy
when you're walking the halls of the Capitol building
and the swings building and talking to legislators
about the costs are not, the fees are not that high.
What can we give you?
Yeah, I-
Cheat sheet of some sort.
Yeah, so you'll probably recall right before COVID
was kind of the last time we had a major conversation
related to impact fees, and it was led by,
that charge was led by then assembly member, Tim Grayson.
So we, not just we, but TPA, CalCities, CSDA,
our education friends spent a lot of time
talking to the senator around this,
are now centered around the state on, you know,
you say the fees are too high,
but are you willing to go without parks?
Are you willing to go without roads, without schools,
without water and sewer laterals?
These are all the things.
Or conversely, where's the state funding to backfill,
you know, what cities would otherwise get in?
And at that point then, obviously the pandemic happened
and that conversation kind of died away.
I think a lot of what we learned from that original time,
original kind of go-around is we probably overestimated what legislators
understand about fees. My favorite one is well you have all of these in lieu fees
like the fees are too high and it's like well well yes but if people built the
affordable units that we're supposed to we wouldn't charge an in lieu fee so why
why should our fees be lower like they or if they built the park or if you
wouldn't charge an in-loof park fee. Exactly. So a lot of the in-loof, but I
think a lot of it is, well, these fees for X Project and my district
were really high. And it's like, well, maybe they were in-loof fees. Maybe
there's this, maybe there's that. We did see a lot of, we did see some
conversation towards the end of last year around the city of LA and their
mansion tax. So there was some conversation related to charter cities'
abilities to levy their own document transfer taxes, and kind of some of the
of varying rates around those through the state.
So they're getting a little bit granular on that,
but I think that a lot of what we will ultimately need
is kind of demonstrating what those fees are
and then where that funding goes to.
Because ultimately, like I said,
the conversations that we had several years ago,
it was, well, you like schools, right?
Okay, so we need money for schools.
Like you like, you know, so I mean,
it's not just some misconception
that this is just padding, you know,
cities and counties bottom line,
so they can have this more general fund revenue that it is.
And my favorite is always reminding folks
about the 218 process that cities have to go through
and establishing fees and asking if we could maybe
just do something like that at the state level,
which I'm always quickly laughed out of the room.
But the reminder is that cities and local governments
have to go through a fee setting process.
We don't just have the ability to assess fees
because we want to or we like this number.
and generally with a nexus to actually the cost
to deliver the service.
Exactly, exactly, but I think that's generally,
I think a lot of it is on more of an education campaign
because there's just kind of a misunderstanding
as to what these fees do or where they go to.
Yeah, there's some perception
because I had a conversation at a meeting
with then Assembly Member Grayson about three years ago
and he said something like,
well, fees are 25 to 30% of the cost of the building
and I go, hmm, don't think so.
I could walk you through it.
Yeah.
And so I think that's what they don't under,
they're listening to some voices that just don't,
they'd like it for free.
Right, yeah.
Okay, thank you.
Yes.
All right, now let's open it up to public comment.
If there's anybody from the public
that would like to speak to this issue, please step forward.
I don't see anybody stepping forward then.
All right, we'll close public comment,
bring it back to council.
So any further comments, questions, or motion to accept?
So I'm gonna thank the committee and staff
and our consultants for the work on this.
It's in depth every year,
and it reflects the current state of issues
that we're most interested in and appropriate,
and it gives us the platform
from which to be able to respond quickly
and not have to bring every letter that we wanna write
or every phone call we wanna make to the council
during an agendized meeting.
So I'm happy to move to approve
the draft legislative agenda for 2026
with the changes proposed at the dais
and through the presentation.
Go for it.
And I too would like to express my thanks
to the legislative committee
because now that I've been through this,
I was like, wow, that's a lot of work.
And I appreciate people's willing,
I had asked MCE to give me the specifics
of what they were looking for
to deal with the changing environment
and they didn't get that to me as quickly as I hoped.
So thank you to staff for getting on that here
and incorporating their input into it.
And I, with that, I would like to second.
Yeah, and I, again, yeah, thanks, Daphne and Casey.
This is a lot of work goes into this,
and then we get it, and within an hour,
we're making little changes,
and that's it, it seems easy to us,
but I know there's a lot of work behind it,
so thank you very much.
And with that, we've got a motion and a second.
Susie, can I have the roll, please?
Councilmember Silva?
Aye.
Councilmember Darling?
Aye.
Councilmember Davenny?
Aye.
Mayor Will?
Aye.
Motion carries.
All right.
I believe that brings us to the end of the meeting.
Could I make a quick announcement?
Yes.
The date for the memorial service for former Mayor Gran Regalia has been set.
It is Thursday, the 26th of February.
It is before the East Bay Division meeting.
Doors will open at the leisure at 4, and the service or the celebration will start at 4.30.
Right.
So at the Leisure Center?
At the Leisure Center.
if we can distribute that information to our community members as well.
And if our communications department could also let the East Bay Times know they had
inquired about that last week, I don't believe we had an answer for them.
So let's pass that up through our communications manager.
With that, we are adjourned until what's the next day?
It's not down here, all right adjourned