Pinole Council A Summary 4 You

A Summary 4 YOU - Pinole Council Meeting of March 19th

By Ivette Ricco

For those of you, like me, who can find better things to do on a Tuesday night other than sit through hours of City Council Meetings, I share with you my “summary” of Tuesday’s six-hour event.

I am partially responsible for this particular meeting taking so long, because I had many questions.

The following comments and opinions are mine and mine alone.

Let me start by expressing my ire at the way this agenda was developed.

After the Presentations and Recognitions, the Agenda identified 10 Consent Calendar Items. Consent Calendar items are “matters considered to be routine and noncontroversial”. “These Items will be enacted by one motion and without discussion”.

Ok, stop right there.

There are Ten Consent Calendar Items that are routine and will simply get a “rubber stamp” of approval by our Council?

Not so fast.

Accountability and transparency are not well served when we are handed a massive agenda that in some cases lacked referenced agreements and relevant data.

Printing that agenda packet would have set my little Epson printer on fire.

So, rather than sitting at home watching, “This is Us” I choose to take part in, “This Is Us, Pinole”. I imagine many residents were in deep REM mode by the time this meeting concluded at midnight.

Please do not take my word for any of this. Watch the video of the meeting for yourself.

The link to the meeting video is at the end of this article and I urge you to set time aside to watch it. You can save time by jumping to Citizens to Be Heard, the Consent Calendar, and to New Business.

I will list for you (below) a few of the Consent Calendar items I asked to pull and explain why. Important New Business items had to be discussed after 11:00 PM, making it virtually impossible for the average citizen to participate. Other citizens asked that other items to be removed. But I will not speak for anyone else in attendance.

Consent Calendar

C: Second reading of STMP Fee.

This change to fees could have a real impact in costs for new development and could be detrimental to the growth of Pinole, by increasing Pinole’s fees substantially. The previous council approved this in September 2018 and this council agreed in 2019. But Councilmember Salimi and Tave and members of the public expressed concerns that the increased fees could have a negative and detrimental effect on future developments and the growth of Pinole.

The council voted to reconsider and “revisit” these fees. The vote was 4-1, Norma Martinez-Rubin dissenting.

F: Receive and File the Housing Successor Agency Annual Report FY 2017-2018.

The report shows that the city has $4.3 Million dollars in accounts receivables for outstanding Redevelopment Loans.

Q: Are all accounts current? Are there any accounts in default?

A: There are loans that will have to be written off and no information was available about the expected recovery of those funds.

Q: What are we doing with the $250,000 allocated for Homeless Prevention and Rapid Housing Solutions for Homelessness?

A: Pinole has never used those funds and has never created a program or a plan to address homelessness in Pinole.

I: Approve a professional Services Agreement to Michael Baker Intl in an amount not to exceed $9,500 to Conduct a Nexus Study Update of Fire Inspection and Permit fees.

Q: When was the last time the City conducted this type of study?

A: The City has not had a study of these fees since 2014.

In my opinion, there should be a program to evaluate fees regularly, not every five years.

The city is using Measure S 2014 Funds for this study, which is appropriate as these funds were intended to be used for Public Safety reasons.

But it begs the question, how has the City been using these funds in general over time?

J: Approve a Professional Services Agreement with Hydroscience Engineers, Inc. to issue a task order in an amount not to exceed $115,300 for improving and modernizing the Hazel Street and San Pablo Avenue Sewer Pump Station.

Q: There is a prior agreement with this company referenced as part of this item. However there was no attachment with a copy of that agreement or contract to provide information to the community. All referenced agreements or contracts that are made a part of an agenda item should be included in the agenda.

New Business:

The items listed under New Business included some very important topics (B and D).

I only wish these had been provided more time, but with the clock ready to strike midnight, there was little time for public input. And honestly there were maybe three or four bleary-eyed folks left in the Council Chamber.

B: Pavement Management Program Update. This issue needs to be discussed at length with strong community input and participation. The condition of our streets is going to continue to deteriorate unless a funding source is identified. The initial estimate, just to get going, is $2.5 Million annually!

It is well worth your time to view the presentation on the meeting video. We are facing a big problem with the maintenance of our streets.

D: Charter City Discussion. This was Councilmember Salimi’s agenda item.

This is another topic that requires input from the community. As explained in the presentation, there are advantages to Charter Cities in the form of increased revenue, something Pinole desperately needs. This is an important conversation to have with the community. The presentation was comprehensive and I recommend you view it on the Video. A Special Meeting or a Workshop needs to be held for this item.

If the City is to truly seek input from its citizens, then New Business items such as B and D, require a commitment to engage the community by holding special meetings and/or workshops.

The community, for its part, must get involved. Yes, I know it may be boring and who wants to sit through hours of power point presentations and dialogue? Most of us do not, but it is incumbent upon us to take these topics seriously as they impact our quality of life and our pocketbooks.

And as with so much in life it always come down to, money, money, money, money.

Yours and mine.

Pinole City Council Meeting Video:

http://pinole.granicus.com/Med...

The comments and opinions in this post are solely those of Ivette Ricco.