Pinole City Council meeting 6-4-24

Today, 6-4- Regular City Council meeting, 5 PM, Hybrid. You can find the
agenda packet at https://pinoleca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/58/files/agenda/131 –
note that the city is shifting to a new agenda website.

To start, there is 1 closed session item- conference with legal counsel- existing litigation with MVP Construction. I expect this to take at least an hour.

Then there will be proclamations for Juneteenth, Pride, and Philippine Independence Day.

Then there is a presentation by the city manager to provide a department update.

Then there’s the consent calendar- There are the normal minutes and
warrants, a proposed update to the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Commission Joint Powers Agreement (WCCTAC JPA) which would update various language and permit payment of stipends (potential net cost of $519 or $1038, depending on stipend amount- page 62 of agenda packet), and second reading and adoption of an EV charging ordinance to permit the city charging for use of its EV chargers ($.35 cents/KWh during non-peak hours, $.40 cents/KWh from 3-9 PM. Flat fee of $1.50 per session, overstay fee of $1 per minute up to 30 minutes after 4 hours 15 minutes of charging, cap on rate increases of PG&E rate increase once yearly – page 99).

There are 3 public hearings (one of which will be continued to the next meeting)- Financial Year 2023-24 Utility Users Tax Review (continued to June 18th meeting), First reading of an ordinance to ban single use plastic foodware and bags (text of the ordinance from page 105-114 with more detailed explanations on why it was written this way in reports from pages 116-259), and a first reading of an ordinance on the police department’s military equipment review and policies (notable change is request for 2 drones and proposed policy for their use- see pages 294-8 for the drone policy).

Finally, there are 2 old business items- the revised proposed FY 24/25 operating and capital budget, which has suggested cuts to reach a balanced budget or a surplus (depending on if 6% $1.3 million or 10% $2.1 million cuts are chosen, pages 309-315), as well as other options like reducing the city’s reserve amount (net impact $1 million) or freezing vacancies (net impact $430,000) (page 307), and the revised proposed 5 year Capital Improvement Plan from FY 24/25-FY 28/29 – which now has prioritization scores for all projects (page 550) and a waterfall chart showing when and in what stages each project will occur, along with costs (pages 642-3).

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.