Pinole City Council meeting, 1-16-24

Tomorrow, 1-16- Regular City Council meeting, 5 PM, Hybrid. You can find the agenda packet here– note that the city is shifting to a new agenda website.

To start, there is 1 closed session item- conference with labor negotiators for the Management Compensation Plan. As a result, I would expect the open meeting to start at 5:30 at the earliest.

For proclamations, there’s Recognizing Police Officer of the Year (Jeffrey Teel), Recognizing Jose Hernandez and Norman Montiel-Garay for their Heroism in Stopping a Carjacking in Pinole, Recognizing Firefighter of the Year (Josh Andrews), Martin Luther King Jr Day, National Day of Racial Healing, and Holocaust Day of Remembrance.

Then there’s the consent calendar- There’s the normal minutes and warrants (though not the November 7th minutes, which I thought were continued to this meeting), a side letter to the memorandum of understanding between the city and AFSCME Local 1 (creates a new role Food Services Specialist, promotes the city’s existing Cook into that role, sets salary schedule. Fiscal impact $3020 (page 69)), quarterly report on the strategic plan implementation, a resolution authorizing the city manager to buy 2 trucks for Public Works (total estimated cost $110,883.01, not to exceed amount $128,000 adjusting for taxes and fees (page 104), budgeted for in current FY), a resolution for a consulting services agreement to implement the new permitting/licensing system and provide systems administration support (staff position vacant (page 107)), cost $100,000 offset by vacancy savings of $109,915 and CalAPP grant of $40,000 (page 111) , a contract for engineering services for the Capital Improvement Project (CIP) RO2302 (pedestrian crossing enhancements on San Pablo Avenue at Third Avenue, at Quinan Street, and on Pinole Valley Road at Savage Avenue (page 152) with a cost of $33,535 with a contingency of $3,465 funded from prior allocation in CIP of $275,000 for that project (page 153),  a resolution to approve the 2024 Council Committee Assignment List, a resolution to amend the on-call agreement with M-Group to allow for staff increases for FY 23/24 not to exceed $160,000 due to increased Planning Division demands (page 195) with no fiscal impact as funds were allocated in budget (page 196), a resolution to authorize designated city staff to accept disaster-related financial assistance from federal and state programs and certify the necessary form OES-FPD 130 (page 200), a resolution to approve the successor agency recognized obligation payment schedule for FY 2024-25 of $0.00 as all obligations will be fully paid this Financial year (page 208), and finally a resolution to accept safety improvements at Tennant Avenue/Pear and Plum Street (project RO2304) as complete and approve filing a notice of completion (page 217).

There is one public hearing- introduction and waiving of first reading for an ordinance to ban Political and Campaign signs on public property (explicitly- see page 227 for the text).

Finally, there is one new business item- the revised Long-Term Financial Forecast and Results of Council-directed Forecast scenarios. For the forecast itself, there’s one major change on the revenue side (Utility Users Tax rate of revenue growth (as opposed to the tax rate itself) decreased from 3% in the November 7th report to 2% in the January 16th report (see page 207 in the 11-7-23 agenda packet which you can find here, page 232 in the current agenda packet). On the expenditure side, FY 24-25 transfers out are lower (compare pages 212 in 11-7-23 and 239 in 1-16-24), there is a lower assumed vacancy savings factor for unfilled salaries (3% in current (page 233), 4% in prior (page 209)), a higher assumed growth rate for non-pension benefits (5% current (page 234), 4.5% prior (page 209)), a higher assumed growth rate for the fire contract with the county (6% current (page 234), 5% prior (page 210). What that means is baseline revenue for FY 24-25 drops from $24,515,604 (page 212 11-23 agenda) to $24,496,348 (page 239 current), baseline FY 24-25 expenditures increases from $27,550,680 (page 212 11-23 agenda) to $27,873,997 (page 239 current), and by the time we get to FY 2044-45, revenue decreases from $46,770,701 (page 213, 11-23 agenda) to $44,393,862 (page 240 current), and expenditures increase from $51,387,744 (page 213, 11-23 agenda) to $54,945,555 (page 240 current). This is before considering any revenue increases or expenditure reductions.

There are several options presented (all increase over time)- the first, increasing the existing UUT rate from 8 to 10% for 10 years would generate $542,435-$635,549 per year for a decade (implementation year being $177,000) and then stop (page 235). The second, expanding the UUT to include water service at 8% would generate $547,617-$797,775 per year (implementation year being $179,000) (page 235). The third, adding a real property transfer tax would generate $500,000 in implementation year and $2.1-2.5 million yearly afterwards (and would require Pinole to become a charter city) (page 236). The fourth would be a new half-cent sales tax measure- implementation year revenue $635,502, annual revenue $2.6-$4.6 million afterwards. The fifth would be increasing the solid waste franchise fee from 10% to 15% with a revenue gain of $185,454-$225,289 if it can be negotiated with Republic Services (page 236). The sixth would be reducing total general fund expenditures in FY 24-25 by 4 or 5 percent, which would result in a savings of $1.1-2.2 million annually (increasing over time) for 4% and $1.4-2.7 million for 5% (page 236). The seventh would be a parcel tax $100 per residential parcel, which would generate $605,900- $1.1 million (increasing over time, though I’m not sure how that works for a parcel tax) (page 236). The eighth would be to lower the General Fund reserve requirement from 50% to 25% or 40%, which would generate one-time revenues of $4.9 million and no ongoing reserve funding increases in the 25% case, and one-time revenues of $1.5 million and lesser reserve funding increases for the 40% case (pages 236-7). There are other options presented with less detail- assessment district, direct lending, enhanced infrastructure financing district, and shared service model. Shared service model is noted as unfeasible (page 237).


You can join the meeting by zoom direct link here, entering the webinar ID 893 3500 0272 into zoom directly, or calling +1 (669) 900-6833 or +1 (253) 215-8782 or +1 (346) 248-7799, then entering the meeting ID 893 3500 0272#. Once in the meeting by phone, you can raise your hand by pressing *9, and unmute by pressing *6 once called on. You can also attend the meeting in person at Pinole City Hall, 2131 Pear St.