Planning Commission meeting reviewing the draft Housing element at 7 PM, Pinole City Hall/Hybrid. This covers quite a bit- what Pinole has and has not done, a housing needs assessment, what constraints on housing the city can do anything about, affirmatively furthering fair housing, what sites are projected to be developed, and what goals, policies and programs will be put in place to do that. The agenda packet is here, and the draft housing element is here. You can join the meeting by zoom direct link here, entering the webinar ID 865 0537 5301 into zoom directly, or calling +1 (669) 900-6833 or +1 (253) 215-8782 or +1 (346) 248-7799, then entering the meeting ID 865 0537 5301#. 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.

Pinole Valley High School is hosting all interested city council candidates to a Forum hosted by us this Saturday October 22.
The event is scheduled in our Big Theater from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
PVHS will invite the Pinole Valley high school community and families, and of course, all interested in attending. 
The format will be one that has
I.  Introductory statements from candidates (2 minutes each)
II. A handful of set questions from the moderator where all candidates respond (30 minutes)
III.  Curated questions from the audience where candidates can choose to respond.  (20 minutes)
IV.  Final statements from candidates (2 min each

Council meeting starting at 6 PM. Some items of note- not all, because there is quite a bit on this agenda: Proclamation in support of women’s rights in Iran. Resolution in support of free and fair elections. Adopting an economic development strategy. (The latter two are consent calendar items). First reading of an ordinance to create a historic preservation overlay applying to all properties in old town and extending to the west adjacent to San Pablo until you reach Appian (Page 273, agenda packet 1). Design review and notice of Exemption for the KMART replacement with housing project. Traffic safety improvements to Tennant Avenue. And a resolution approving a communications and engagement plan.

In my opinion, any one of the non-consent calendar items (overlay, KMART approval, Tennant traffic, communications and engagement) could easily have taken up a meeting by itself. I expect this meeting will run late. You can find the first part of the agenda packet here, and the second part here. 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.

Board of Supervisors acting as CCC Fire Protection District Board of Directors meeting to accept contract for service between Pinole and Confire (assuming passed at Monday’s meeting), starting at 1 PM. Functionally the same as Monday’s meeting, just with a different voting body. You can find the agenda here. You can attend in person at 1025 Escobar Street, Martinez, CA 94553 (though there are security requirements stated here), join via zoom direct link, call in during the meeting by dialing 888-278-0254 followed by the access code 843298#. A caller should indicate they wish to speak on an agenda item, by pushing “#2” on their phone.

You can find my thoughts on the contract itself here, and I plan to speak in support of it at this meeting.

Pinole City Council will be having a special Hybrid meeting on Monday, 10-10-2022 to consider approving a final contract for service with Contra Costa Fire District (Confire) at 6 PM. You can find the agenda packet for the meeting here (pdf). You can join by zoom direct link, 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.

As the agenda is 955 pages long, I am going to focus on key points as I see it, rather than a point by point review.

First and foremost, the contract would enable Pinole to have effectively double the fire coverage it has now at less than it is currently projected to pay for one station (through FY 27-28), by reopening and staffing Station 74 (page 24). We would also gain access to better response time, equipment access, logistics, fire inspections and public outreach (pages 21-22). I would encourage everyone who can to join Monday’s (and Tuesday’s) meetings to speak in support of the contract.

Unfunded liabilities that the city has already accrued (PERS, retiree healthcare) are accounted for and included in the projected cost per year, as is the cost to replace equipment (page 23). As opposed to the draft proposal, funds from the county are explicitly allocated through FY 27-28 with an escalator clause (page 26, page 41, page 62, page 86 for the draft). Staffing is guaranteed at 6 personnel, 2 3-person companies per shift with at least 1 paramedic per company (page 28). Additionally, there will always be at least 2 Type I fire trucks in Pinole year-round (which was made clearer from the draft, see page 67).

There will be quarterly updates on response times (page 29), and the district will continue to provide mutual aid (though whether it replaces the city’s obligation seems unclear) (page 29). The District will support development and operation of Pinole’s emergency operations center and plan (pages 30-31).

The city will accept paper copies of construction and fire suppression system plans to transfer to the district, with the goal (assisted by the district) of shifting over to an electronic system (page 33). This was clarified from the earlier draft (page 74).

The city is responsible for weed abatement. The district is not responsible for abating wildfire hazard parcels (page 34). The weed abatement responsibility was added from the earlier draft (page 76).

Calls for service and financial reports are tracked. Financial reports are not automatically provided, except for yearly audit. (page 36).

City is required to pay for new equipment required by development. (page 41). Fire development impact fees were added as a source of revenue from the prior draft (page 89). I suspect we may have met this threshold already, based on some of the recent planning commission projects.

The city keeps its already accrued OPEB (other post-employment benefit, like pension and retiree healthcare) costs, but does not accrue new ones from the district (page 43). This point was clarified from the draft (page 90).

The city is responsible for worker’s compensation claims before commencement date or claims linked to those claims (page 45).

The county in cost calculations routinely has the maximum 4% CPI escalator year over year (page 56). The city’s independent fiscal analysis goes on an assumption of 2.3% CPI, which seems more reasonable (page 144).

There’s also some additions worth noting from the prior draft- the dispatch costs are explicitly noted as part of the yearly bill (page 71), the city and district will coordinate on code enforcement issues (page 72), the Fire Chief will have the full powers granted to the City of Pinole Fire Chief by the municipal code without exception (page 78), the city can charge fees for services it (as opposed to the district) provides (page 81), updated 5-year budget projections will be provided yearly (page 85), the city and district will work together to communicate about the change to the public before the changeover date (page 94), and the mediators will pick a mediator, avoiding a mediation clash (page 97).

There’s some interesting points in the county’s presentation. They note that most calls are within Pinole’s city limits, and that until 2021 mutual aid was less than the number of calls answered outside of Pinole by Station 73. In 2021 they were roughly equal (page 123). They also note that the city previously had a ladder truck (page 125), and that the contract would allow for improved prevention and suppression services (page 127). They anticipate Station 74 opening on 3/1/2023 (page 131).

Finally, there’s the independent fiscal analysis. It seems reasonable, though I am not sure how the most likely Scenario 1 costs for FY 23-24 and FY 24-25 are *worse* than the worst case costs for those years (page 143). Generally speaking, it seems as though Scenario 2 (adopting the contract) would be a net fiscal benefit to the city most likely through FY 26-27 and a small additional cost after that. In the worst case scenario, there could be considerably increased costs from FY 27-28 onwards (page 146). I’m not sure whether the UAL in the fiscal analysis is accounting for unpaid retiree healthcare costs (page 152), which may worsen the projection.

Overall, I support this contract. It would improve Pinole’s fire service coverage, ensure adequate staffing, and be a reduced cost to the city compared to the status quo for most of the initial term of the contract.

Informal candidate forum at Pinole Grove Senior Housing (800 John Street) from 1 to 3 PM. Public is welcome to attend, but parking is not provided within the complex and can be challenging to find nearby.

On October 1st, bring your car and trash to Pinole Valley Park between 7 and 11 AM. You will need to provide proof of living in Pinole (usually a driver’s license) and unload your own trash. It may end early if dumpsters are filled, and you should expect to wait. Not allowed- mattresses, yard waste, tires, construction waste, household hazardous waste, car batteries, electronic waste.

https://www.ci.pinole.ca.us/news/what_s_new/dumpster_day_2022

Tomorrow, there will be a special city council meeting to discuss the draft contract between Contra Costa Fire and the City of Pinole to reopen Fire Station 74. You can find the agenda packet at this link, but the relevant pages are pages 4 through 14 (the staff report), 744-772 (the actual draft contract), 773-792 (the independent fiscal analysis), and 793-801 (the impact analysis).

If you would like to comment, you can submit a written comment to comment@ci.pinole.ca.us before 3 PM 9/13/2022 to have it added to the agenda packet online and sent out to the council. You can also join the meeting via zoom at this link or by calling +1 (669) 900-6833 or +1 (253) 215-8782 or +1 (346) 248-7799 at 6 PM, the meeting start time and entering the meeting ID: 893 3500 0272. Or you can attend the meeting in person at 2131 Pear Street, Pinole CA.

I believe that the contract is fundamentally solid, with the caveat that we should ensure that the county is committed by contract to at least $2 million in measure X funds per year for the lifetime of the contract. The cost escalation if that was canceled would be clearly unsustainable (785). I would note that on page 9, the county contract compared to the cost to the city of operating both stations shows that this contract is the only way we could sustainably open both stations. The cost for the city of doing it on its own would equal the seventh year estimated contract cost in the second year and go up from there.

The city would gain significant benefits- access to more fire engines (7, 746), considerably improved fire and medical response times in Pinole Valley (12, 800-801), better operational resources and command and control (12-13). In return, under most financial projections it would pay less than it does now in FY 23-24 through FY 26-27, with costs increasing after that (12 ,785). The main projection that leads to worse costs is if the county stops paying funds from Measure X- if that can be locked into the contract, the most negative fiscal outcomes are blocked (785).

Whether you agree or disagree with me on this, I would strongly encourage everyone in Pinole who can to comment on this item at tomorrow’s workshop. We need to hear the community’s input here.

The community engagement workshop is today, and will be covering the city’s draft communications and engagement plan, which can be found here (pdf). You can join the meeting by zoom link, entering the /Meeting ID:/*// *881 1151 2483/and Passcode: /825643 into zoom directly, or calling 16699006833, entering the meeting ID 88111512483#, and then entering the password *825643#. Once in the meeting by phone, you can raise your hand by pressing *9, and unmute by pressing *6 once called on.

Because the draft plan is 144 pages including appendices, I’m going to summarize the key points here.

1. All departments should plan out key communication points and have someone who is in charge of communication (page 6).

2. The city’s website needs to be redesigned, and information on it needs to be kept up to date. Someone needs to be in charge of the website. The city may want to change its web services provider (pages 7-8).

3. The city needs to gain control of and actively use all of its social media accounts. The city also needs to have a social media strategy and policies (pages 10-11).

4. The city needs to develop a unified brand style, not just a logo. The city should use Pinole Community Television to create video content about city events (pages 12-13).

5. The administrative report newsletter has some engagement, but could be simplified. A survey should be sent out to the community to see whether the cost of a printed newsletter would be worthwhile (pages 14-15).

6. The city needs to have internal and external social media policies. Someone needs to be in charge of enforcing those policies. Policies and how to contact key staff should be readily available (page 15).

7. The city needs to create a crisis management plan. It also needs to identify how outreach should be done in a crisis (pages 16-19).

8. The city needs to have a plan for media outreach, including a policy, frequent press releases and a point person for media contacts (pages 19-20).

9. Pinole needs to do better at providing language access. Have a process for identifying which documents should be translated, and how fully. Have a staff member or contractor who is responsible for this. Boost multi-lingual social media posts (page 21).

10. Pinole should create a resident academy to explain how the city works and how to engage with it (pages 22-23).

11. Pinole should use metrics to track what is working and what is not (pages 23-24).