First, the GHAD Board
- We met to conduct a public hearing considering a property assessment rate increase. Earlier this year the Board sent out notices to all property owners in the district regarding the potential increase and this meeting we were set to tabulate the results. After discussing the procedures, we directed the District Manager to begin the count. The meeting was then recessed while that occurred and we continued to the regular Council meeting.
Next, the regular Council meeting
- We adopted a resolution authorizing the City's five year capital improvement plan. The plan consists primarily of projects related to roads and transportation. This is a process that is typically approved in conjunction with the overall budget. Funding for these capital improvement projects is primarily gas tax and Measure J funds, along with limited one time grant funding.
- Next the Council discussed increasing the salary schedule for the vacant Senior Planner position. Currently the top step for the Senior Planner role is approximately $131K/year, not inclusive of the benefit load. The proposal was to increase the top step to approximately $152K/year, or a 15.75% increase.
During discussion it was noted that this increase would bring this role close to market rate. The vast majority of other roles in the City are significantly below market rate, and I raised a concern that if we were to increase any role to market rate, it may be more prudent to prioritize other roles. I also was concerned about the inflationary impact on overall compensation expense if we start bringing more roles to market rate. In addition, as we are in an active recruitment for this position, and we had not yet passed the overall budget, I wasn't comfortable with the increase. Ultimately the matter did not move forward for lack of a motion.
- We then discussed the candidate for our new Police Chief, Jeremy Crone. Mr. Crone is currently a Police Commander in the City of Pinole. After discussing the candidate search process, and Mr. Crone's qualifications, the Council voted to authorize our City Manager to execute the employment agreement. Our new Police Chief will start June 23, 2025. Congratulations to Mr. Crone and to a successful recruitment!
- We then had a public hearing on existing workforce vacancies as required by new legislation AB 2561. In the report, it was noted that during FY25, the City conducted 8 recruitments, and successfully placed 7 positions. The Senior Planner role is still open.
The President of the Police Officers Association (POA), Sgt. Enea spoke regarding police staffing levels, overall compensation, and the good work that our police does on a daily basis. He did identify that while fully staffed, Clayton police officers remain the lowest compensated in the County.
- We then discussed the proposed two year budget. There have been quite a bit of work in the run up to this presentation, through multiple Budget and Audit Committee meetings, to budget workshops at the Council, and a lot of discussion and Q&A both with residents and with Council and staff.
In prior years, the process of budgeting was largely done by rolling forward prior year amounts with various percentage increases applied. This meant that certain details could be lost in the process - wages designated to the wrong funds, expenses not aligned with contracted amounts, and overall padding in miscellaneous accounts are difficult to identify if simply rolling forward prior amounts with percentage increases. This is what was done in the prior year, and why during our budget review last year I asked for the supporting documentation. Unfortunately my request was denied by our previous City Manager.
During this year's process, I asked staff to prepare a zero based budget. Rather than apply percentage increases from the top down, staff did the work from the bottom up - assuming the budget started at zero, and having to support each dollar. This method gives a more detailed view of activity and promotes fiscal discipline. And while I have been asking for this for years, I am glad to see it come to fruition.
The budget process is long - information is gathered and assembled, items are requested and added, and then after everything is aggregated, we can begin the review and analysis. Back in May, the first itteration of the budget reflected a FY26 and FY27 general fund deficit of approximately $650K and $800K respectively.
Staff then went back and performed a more thorough analysis. That analysis called for incorporating the savings we are seeing as a result of the Climatic project for both electricity and water, increased investment returns as a result of our work on the investment policy and moving to more managed services, cutting of various items, and aligning our wage allocation and contract spend, the version of the budget we discussed last night began with a FY26 and FY27 general fund deficit of approximately $130K and $745K respectively.
During discussion, there were other modifications made to reduce expenses bringing the FY26 deficit down to approximately $85K. And while this figure is not ideal, it is a budget not necessarily what will actually occur. We do know there will be both favorable and unfavorable activity throughout the year, some of which we identified at the meeting. For example the full impact of our CPI increase on fees was not included which would be favorable. The hiring of the full time Public Works Director would allow us to reduce our outside consultant spend. There are other areas as well but based on the work done thus far I'm optimistic about the result.
While there is still work to do in terms of more long term planning, competitive wages, and capital maintenance, all on the Council were satisfied and the budget passed on a 5-0 vote.
- By this time, the results of the GHAD ballot tabulation had completed and we reconvened the GHAD Board.
By a narrow margin, there was not a majority protest for the assessment increase. The weighted average results were 51.1% in favor of the increase, and 48.8% opposed. This means the assessment increase passed, and it will be added by the County beginning in Aug-25 for the periods after that.
When I first was elected in 2018, I spoke with many residents who raised the issue of maintenance not being performed adequately in the GHAD. As a result I first requested discussion of what the activities of the GHAD were, who was doing them, when they were being performed, and the log of the activity so we could provide transparency to the nearly 1/3 of residences in the City. This was in July of 2019, nearly six years ago.
Each time the GHAD met, I reiterated my agenda request, and over the course of the next 3.5 years there was no action taken on this item. Everyone knew that the GHAD was critically underfunded, however there was no drive to take corrective action or even discuss it. My continued requests were made on behalf of the residents - not for political theater, not to self aggrandize, nor to attack my fellow Councilmembers. I did not whinge about how my requests were not agendized nor complain to the Grand Jury about guidelines not being followed.
Instead, I persisted in raising the issue because it was important. After winning re-election in 2022, we were finally able to move this item forward. In partnership with then Councilmember Trupiano, we took up this important work and directed staff to finally begin performing actual assessments, gathering information, and updating the GHAD Board and community about the status of the GHAD. I wrote about this here: https://www.jeffwanforclaytoncitycouncil.net/2023/03/32123-oakhurst-geological-hazard.html
The work indicated significant funding shortfalls and both maintenance and monitoring not being performed due to lack of funds. At this point, the GHAD Board had a choice to make - we could continue as past Boards had over the last 2+ decades and do essentially nothing, or we could do the work that we were elected to do and attempt to solve this issue.
With the support of Mayor Trupiano, we decided that doing nothing was not an option. We did the real work of government and what was necessary to inform the public, and ultimately put the choice up to the residents. Beyond special events and social gatherings, this was the type of unglamorous under the radar activity that could have a meaningful impact on residents. Ultimately the residents voted in favor of increasing the assessments on themselves so that the work in the GHAD could actually get done.
At the next GHAD meeting the GHAD Manager will come back with a plan on how these funds will be used, and the real work will begin.
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It important to note that the GHAD is just one of many areas that past Councils neglected to address. This was a significant issue, but there are others. Things like our organizational structure, long term forecasts, infrastructure maintenance, and the safety of our residents. These are the matters of substance that I focus on.
