My 7.16.24 Meeting Summary

Last night the Council met to discuss several significant items:

- First we held a GHAD meeting and discussed the annual levy of  assessments.  The meeting was recessed briefly to allow opportunity for any residents to comment.  The annual assessment was passed 5-0.  While this was perfunctory in nature, it does not change the overall underfunded status of the GHAD itself.  In order to actually increase the levy by any amount greater than CPI, the residents in the GHAD would need to approve that via a vote.  The GHAD Board is looking to hold that vote in the near future.

- We held a brief closed session to discuss the City Manager recruitment. There were no reportable actions from that closed session.

 

- We interviewed 5 candidates for 3 open positions on the Planning Commission.  Each of the 3 incumbents sought reappointment with 2 newcomers who threw their hat in the ring.  I want to thank everyone that stepped up and volunteered their time.  It is always difficult to put yourself out there in order to serve the community.  While I appreciated the enthusiasm and willingness to volunteer, ultimately the Council felt the incumbents have been doing a solid job as Planning Commissioners and felt that stability was important.  For those reasons, each of the three incumbents, Rich Enea, Sr., Maria Shulman, and Dan Richardson were reappointed to the Planning Commission on a 5-0 vote.

- We adopted increases to annual assessments in several areas.  These annual increases are regular in nature and follow a formula typically based on CPI.  Those areas were the Clayton Benefit Assessment District (BAD), the Downtown Park Operations (CFD 2006-01), and the Citywide Landscape Maintenance Assessment (CFD 2007-01).  We also approved the annual appropriations limit for the City.  Each of these passed 5-0.

- We also amended the scope of the professional services agreement with our City Engineer to provide additional oversight to our Maintenance Superintendent, as well as other projects going on in the City.

The regularly scheduled meeting for 8.6.24 has been cancelled in lieu of our Police Department hosting an annual National Night Out event.  More info to follow.

Upcoming Meeting 7.16.24

Tomorrow the Council will meet to discuss a few significant items:

- First the GHAD Board will meet for a public hearing to receive and discuss the FY25 annual report and proposed assessments.

- We will then conduct interviews for three open Planning Commission seats.

- There will be a closed session regarding the recruitment of a permanent City Manager.

 - We will receive a presentation and update from the Contra Costa Water District.

- We will appoint three individuals to the Planning Commission.

- We will discuss the current professional services agreement with Theis Engineering and consider expanding the scope of the agreement to include additional management services.

- We will discuss an annual update to tax levies for both the Downtown Park Operation (Community Facilities District CFD 2006-01) and Citywide Landscape Maintenance (Community Facilities District CFD 2007-01).

- We will establish the annual appropriations limit for FY25.

If you have any thoughts or questions on the above, please let me know.

My 6.4.24 Meeting Summary

On Tuesday the Council met to discuss several significant items:

- We established salary schedules in relation to the re-organization of certain City staff positions from our last meeting.  Previously the org structure was more vertical.  By updating the org structure and combining two leadership positions, we will both save money, and have more resources available at the staff level.

- We approved the five year capital improvement plan.  This lays out the capital projects that are planned and the various funding sources available.  In Clayton, most restricted funds are related to roads or transportation and many have varying levels of constraints on how the funds may be used.  By laying out the five year plan and funding source, it allows for better planning as work comes up.  

There was one project that I questioned and that was an estimated $250K for a Trails Inventory and Assessment Report.  This money would be used to review our existing trail system, and determine what is needed in order to maintain it.  It would not actually do any of the work, rather the deliverable for this money is the report and assessment itself.  I questioned the viability of this on two fronts.  The first was that it was not budgeted so including something in the five year capital improvement plan was inconsistent.  The second was that we don't know the cost of this report and establishing a $250K figure would function to Anchor the conversation in way that creates bias.  Previously, the Council authorized the preparation of an RFP in order to complete this report.  I would have preferred to wait until the responses to the RFP were received before we included an amount in the five year plan.  The vote was 4-1 with myself voting no.

- We discussed the FY25 budget.  With recent staff turnover, our Interim City Manager pulled in outside resources to pull together the budget quickly and on time for the June 30 deadline.  This was a baseline budget - it did not seek to make significant changes, but rather establish an ongoing process by which we could conduct more frequent evaluation and make adjustments as needed.

Over the last 6 weeks, the Budget and Audit Committee (myself and Vice Mayor Trupiano) have met frequently to discuss and iterate on the budget.  I am pleased with the level of diligence and process that staff has engaged in to bring the budget forward.  

This budget does reflect an approximate $230K deficit which was expected given the recent Police contract was expected to incur approximately $190K in the first year.  The cost of police dispatch services contracted through Concord, and the cost of animal control services through the County also had significant increases as well.  This is still a far cry from the $560K deficit that was projected just this past March.  The disparity highlights the need to continue to engage in analysis and I look forward to the work from the Financial Sustainability Committee in assisting with that process.

During discussion, both Councilmember Cloven and Tillman represented that they did not have time to review the budget in detail and wanted to delay taking action.  This is unfortunate as the materials from the Budget and Audit Committee meetings are available and I am aware that staff has specifically reached out to all Councilmembers making themselves available to walk through any questions they may have regarding the budget or its details.  It appears this offer was not taken up.  Asserting that they both did not have time to review the budget, Councilmembers Cloven and Tillman voted no.  The vote to pass the budget was 3-2.

Upcoming Meeting 6.4.23

At our next meeting we will be discussing several significant items:

- We will amend the City's salary schedule for the new roles that were discussed at our previous meeting, and eliminate certain positions.

- We will discuss the City's five year capital improvement plan.

- We will discuss a resolution approving next year's FY25 budget.

The GHAD Board will also meet earlier in the evening at 6:30pm.  This will be to receive the annual report and discuss one time maintenance regarding hydro cleaning of certain subdrains and various repairs to certain V-ditches.

If you have any thoughts or questions on the above, please let me know.

My 5.21.24 Meeting Summary

On Tuesday the Council met to discuss a couple of significant items:

- We received a presentation from Climatec regarding the work related to energy efficiency and infrastructure.  The presentation detailed progress and timelines on the work to replace streetlights, water valve monitoring, building HVAC systems, solar energy generation, and EV charging.  Overall the process has been going well.  The expectation is that most if not all work is targeted to be completed by the end of 2024.

- We discussed a couple organizational changes within City staff.  Those included upleveling the Accounting Tech position to Accountant, upleveling the City Clerk position to City Clerk / Assistant to the City Manager, and combining the HR Director and Finance Director positions into an Administrative Services Director / Assistant City Manager (ACM) role.  The first two upleveling reflects the work that is being required of those roles.  The combination of the two Director roles recognizes that in small cities there are often overlapping disciplines that can be combined for efficiency.   Having an ACM also provides the opportunity to build a path to succession that didn't previously exist.  The net impact to the budget on an annualized basis for these changes is a savings of approximately $20K.  The vote on this action was 5-0.

Upcoming Meeting 5.21.24

At our next meeting on Tuesday, we will be discussing a couple significant items:

- We will receive an update and progress report on our work with Climatec.  Climatec was engaged to facilitate energy and related projects around the City relating to renewable energy and energy management.

- We will discuss reclassifying two positions in the City and add an additional position to better organize City staff and serve our residents.

If you have any questions or comments regarding the above, please let me know.

Memorial Day 2024

 

On Monday, May 27 from 10am-11am, at the Grove Park in Clayton, please join the Cities of Clayton and Concord Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1525 and the Auxiliary with honored guests and WWII veterans, Chuck Kohler and Jake Larson.