Lafayette City Council
June 10, 2024

City Council Meeting Page 1 of 36 June 10, 2024
7 City of Lafayette
Minutes
Lafayette Library and Learning Center – Don Tatzin Community Hall June 10, 2024 3491 Mount Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette, California 7:00 p.m.

As a courtesy, and technology permitting, members of the public may participate virtually. However, the City cannot guarantee that the public’s access to teleconferencing technology will be uninterrupted, and technical difficulties may occur from time to time. Unless required by the Brown Act, City Council/Board meetings will continue despite technical difficulties for participants using the teleconferencing (Zoom) option. To participate virtually in the City of Lafayette’s public meetings and provide public comment, please follow these steps:

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Webinar ID: 890 0880 5648 Passcode: 426199
City Council Meeting Page 2 of 36 June 10, 2024
Mayor Dawson called the Regular City Council meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

2. ROLL CALL

Present: Mayor Dawson, Vice Mayor Kwok; Councilmembers Anduri, Candell, and McCormick
Staff Present: Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager; Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director; Jennifer Wakeman, Assistant Administrative Services Director; Greg Wolff, Planning and Building Director; Mike Moran, Engineering and Public Works Director; Jonathan Katayanagi, Parks and Recreation Director; Lt. Ben Alldritt; Mala Subramanian, City Attorney; Joanne Robbins, City Clerk

3. Disclosure and/or Take Action on Remote Participation due to Just Cause or Emergency Circumstances Pursuant to AB 2449 (Gov. Code section 54953(f).)

4. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Anduri/Candell) to adopt the agenda. Roll Call Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Dawson, Kwok, Anduri, Candell and McCormick; Noes: None)

5. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Led by Mayor Dawson.

6. Mayor Dawson
Land Acknowledgement Statement
We acknowledge that Lafayette is part of the unceded, ancestral homeland of the Bay Miwok people. The Bay Miwok and neighboring Ohlone people have lived in and moved through this place for thousands of years. They stewarded and shaped this land for hundreds of generations. We express our appreciation and gratitude for this profound legacy, which enhances and contributes to our lives to this day. We will strive to honor this land and strengthen our ties with the Indigenous communities that continue to live and work in our East Bay region as our neighbors and community members. We acknowledge and honor them and their ancestors, elders, and next seven generations.

7. PUBLIC COMMENTS (For Items not on the agenda)
David Clark commented on June 2nd Community Day.

8. City Manager’s Update
City Manager Niroop Srivatsa gave the following update on department activities:
• Weed abatement is underway and the Mt. Diablo medians have undergone a drastic improvement over the last weeks.
• Construction season is underway and, in addition to the City’s paving projects, EBMUD’s pipeline replacement project has started and there is a detour around St. Mary’s Road between Woodview and Glenside.
• The Council had previously approved the installation of speed humps on a couple of local roads.

They have been installed and striped.
• As a reminder, the Connecting Lafayette or School Street/Topper Lane/St. Mary’s Road project will be presented to the TransCirc Commission on June 17th.

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• From Parks, Trails and Recreation, the Summer Camps have started. Tiny Tots, Preschool, and Camp Awesome are summer favorites. Additionally, the department is offering Lego Engineering, Archery, Cooking, and Pickleball which are very popular. • A huge thanks goes to the Community Foundation of Lafayette. Two projects benefitting the City were awarded grants from the Community Foundation. The All-Ages Recreation Downtown was awarded the Foundation’s Silver Anniversary grant of $25,000. These funds will help with the Two Parks Collaborative project at Leigh Creekside Park and the Gazebo Park. Additionally, the Foundation awarded the Spirit Van a $5,000 grant to support the Senior Transportation Program. • From Planning, the City is about 44% into the calendar year and a brief review of planning applications find that ADU applications remain strong with 30 submitted in 2023 for the whole year. The City has already received 16 as of now. Design review applications are lagging, but hillside development permits are on target to be the same as the previous year at 26 applications.

SB 9 applications were strong in 2023, and the City received 16 applications. However, there seems to be a slowing down this year and to date, only 4 applications have been submitted. • Last but not least, City Clerk Robbins will be serving on a panel for the County Elections Department Candidate Workshop, entitled, “So you want to run for office?” It will be held in this room on Saturday, June 22nd.

Councilmember Anduri referred to an article which stated over half of ADUs in the State are being done without permits or filing an application. He asked if this is occurring in Lafayette.

Director of Planning and Building Greg Wolff stated no, he did not see the article. He would be surprised if a very small percentage of ADUs in Lafayette are constructed without permits, given the fabric of the community as well as inspectors. He estimates all, if not the vast majority of ADUs in the City are adequately permitted.

Mayor Dawson opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.

9. PRESENTATIONS – None.

10. CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Dawson asked if there were requests for removal of items or any public comments. Vice Mayor Kwok requested removal of Item 10.A.

Andy Kelly, Principal Government Affairs and Community Relations Representative for BART, shared that starting this month on the 22nd and over the next two years, BART will be doing a shutdown of the system in Oakland. BART emailed the City Council and City Manager’s Office and they will continue outreach to passengers. Residents of Lafayette can expect delays of up to one hour on weekends, and for those weekends, there will be a bus bridge which is crucial for BART to update its interlockings at stations.

B. Resolution 2024-23 Ordering a General Municipal Election Requesting and Consenting to Consolidation of Elections; and Setting Specifications of the Election Order for November 5, 2024
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2024-23.

C. Bills of Local Importance

1. AB 1567 (Garcia) Bond Act of 2024: Safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, drought preparation, flood protection, extreme heat mitigation, clean energy and workforce development
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Recommendation: Support and outline bond priorities

2. SB 867 (Allen) Bond Act of 2024: Drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity and nature-based climate solutions, climate smart agriculture, park creation and outdoor access, and clean energy
Recommendation: Support and outline bond priorities

3. AB 1893 (Wicks) Housing Accountability Act
Recommendation: Oppose

4. AB 2243 (Wicks) Affordable Housing and High RoadsJob Act of 2022 Recommendation: Oppose

5. SB 1037 (Wiener) Planning and Zoning: Housing Element enforcement Recommendation: Oppose

6. AB 2560 (Alvarez) Density Bonus Law: Coastal Act of 1976 Recommendation: Watch

7. SB 951 (Wiener) Coastal Zone Development: Coastal Act of 1976 Recommendation: Watch

8. SB 1077 (Blakespear) Coast Resources: ADUs and JADUs Recommendation: Watch

9. SB 1092 (Blakespear) Coast Resources: coastal development permits: appeals Recommendation: Watch
Lafayette Adopted Bill Positions and Legislative Bill Matrix Recommendation: Receive and file.

ACTION: It was M/S/C (Anduri/Candell) to adopt Consent Calendar Items B and C. Roll Call Vote: 5-0 (Ayes:

Dawson, Kwok, Anduri, Candell and McCormick; Noes: None)

11. OLD BUSINESS – None.

12. STAFF REPORTS
A. Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager and Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director

1. ARPA Spending Report Update
Recommendation: The ARPA Subcommittee recommendsthat the remaining $1.99M in ARPA funds be allocated to General Fund expenses in FY24-25 which will extend the City’s ability to meet the General Fund reserve requirement for an additional year through FY25-26 and give the Council time to make thoughtful and strategic decisions about how best to balance the budget.

City Manager Srivatsa said there are a number of items on the budget and work plans and she and Ms.

Robinson will be displaying the PowerPoint presentation.

Administrative Services Director Tracy Robinson stated this item is to show where the City is with ARPA spending. As a reminder, the City received $6.372 million of ARPA funds in two tranches in July of 2021 and 2022. They had a subcommittee of Mayor Dawson and Councilmember Anduri and those funds over the last several 2-3 years have been allocated using the guiding principles adopted by the Council, which were to protect existing City services and to replace General Fund losses, support the economic wellness recovery of households, support the economic recovery of small businesses, solve immediate specific problems raised by the pandemic for the City and the schools and, in general, make economic recovery investments.

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The report details where the money was allocated and where it was spent. The Council will see a recap in Table 1 that shows monies approved, what was spent, and what the City is re-budgeting in FY 2024-25. In short, the City has spent roughly $4 million on projects. The City is keeping $380,000 in the FY 2024-25 budget just to finish a few outstanding projects which leaves an unallocated amount of $1.99 million or roughly $2 million.

The ARPA subcommittee recommended that the remaining ARPA funds of $1.99 million be allocated to the General Fund expenses in FY 2024-25 which will extend the City’s ability to meet the General Fund reserve requirement for an additional year through FY 2025-26. This recommendation was done in order to give the Council time to make thoughtful and strategic decisions about how to best balance the budget, and she can take questions and once the Council sees the budget, it can take action.

Councilmember McCormick referred to the outdoor dining bucket for $65,000. He knows they must decide what to do about outdoor dining at the end of the year. He asked if $65,000 enough to improve it or tear it down. And asked what that money would be used for.

Ms. Robinson said staff put this in as a placeholder. The subcommittee has not yet decided about whether or not they want to extend the outdoor dining. What happens with the money to a certain extent will be dependent on how long. Potentially, if the Council wants to do a match so businesses will upgrade their facilities, this will depend on how long it is going to last and they might not want to invest any money if they think it will be a short period of time.

Mayor Dawson said they originally budgeted $200,000 and they gave back a lot. They wanted to make sure because they want to see if they need to make adjustments to the end and what that would entail, but they did go through the budget and looked at using it.

Mayor Dawson opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers. Mayor Dawson said there is no action for this item now and she moved onto the next item.

2. Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee Recommendation
Recommendation: Consider a salestax increase of up to 1%, which would bring the rate up to

9.75% - the same as is currently in Moraga and Orinda.

Ms. Robinson said this item is to allow the Council to begin deliberations about a funding measure. The Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee recommends that the Council consider a sales tax increase of up to 1% which would bring the rate up to 9.75%, and this is inter-related closely with the budget. Once the Council gets further into the budget item, this will become more relevant.

City Manager Srivatsa added that the Council will continue discussions into July about a revenue measure.

Mayor Dawson opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.

3. Department Work Plansfor FY 24-25
Recommendation: Approve work plans as presented. Conduct midyearreview inDecember in conjunction with the adoption of the Final Budget.

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City Manager Srivatsa said earlier this year, the Council identified three priorities and desired outcomes for the next fiscal year. They are to develop a fiscal sustainability plan for short-term and long-term needs.

The Council identified this as its number one priority. The second is wildfire prevention preparedness, responsiveness, and utility safety. It is a multi-year priority. The third is also a multi-year priority which is downtown and the Mt. Diablo Corridor Enhancement Plan.

Following the Council’s approval of its priorities, the staff held a management retreat in March 2024 wherein the department managers identified tasks for the upcoming fiscal year and seriously took into consideration the established priorities of the City Council. More recently, in light of the projected budget deficit, the department managers again reviewed the work plans to identify tasks that may have to be delayed as a result of the shortage of staff or lack of funding.

The report in the packet contains the work plans of the five departments, and they include tasks to implement the priorities set forth by the Council, State-mandated tasks, and tasks carried over from the last fiscal year. She noted that staff received a query about prioritization of tasks; the tasks in the work plan are not listed in any order of priority. She thinks it is a good suggestion and in future years staff will do this so it will be easier for the Council to have a more robust discussion. With that, she was available for questions, as well as department managers and the recommendation is to approve the work plans as presented and conduct midyear review in December in conjunction with the adoption of the Final Budget.

Councilmember Candell referred to the evacuation time thresholds of significance and noted CCTA is going to do the study. She asked when they are expected to finish the entire countywide evacuation plan.

Ms. Srivatsa said she believes it will be the end of 2025.

Councilmember Candell asked if this is separate step from the thresholds of significance. Ms. Srivatsa said staff right now is working with CCTA staff to see if they could add the thresholds of significance in the scope of the study. If they are unable to do so, the City would have to take this on themselves.

Councilmember asked to let her know if she should ask for that in a meeting.

Councilmember McCormick referred to Item 2.B on the Planning/Building Work Plan about the Downtown Objective Standards and said the estimation for completion was September which strikes him as quick.

Mr. Wolff explained it is a short overall timeframe. The initial Phase 1 objective standards took 10 months, but that was at a slower cadence with a subcommittee being formed. The direction here was because the Housing Element adoption is a function and a critical path to that to shorten it which was included in the RFP prepared. It will come to public hearings and the Council will have the opportunity to adopt what is presented initially or continue the discussion of it for further elaboration of the objective standards.

Councilmember McCormick asked Mr. Wolff to outline the steps for the Objective Standards before the Council sees it. Mr. Wolff said staff would circulate it to the TransCirc Commission, DRC, PC, and ultimately the Council for adoption. They would also have joint sessions with the referral bodies.

Councilmember Candell said the current standards are based on a point system, and she asked if this is how they are putting this together again or she asked if it is different. Mr. Wolff said they have not prescribed how it is done. It may be an elaboration on that point system but it could take a different form.

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Councilmember Candell said she has heard feedback that the point system is not robust enough. People might be getting too many points for things and getting around a lot of standards. She asked if this was part of the RFP system. Mr. Wolff said staff can incorporate and convey that direction to the consultant if the direction from the Council is that the current Phase I objective standards are too liberal or too easy to achieve and incorporate recommended revisions to bring back to tighten it up or require projects to achieve more in that checklist.

Councilmember Candell said one of the things someone pointed out to her is that you have to have nice lighting on the outside of the building. They would do one nice one and all the rest were not. She said the intent is to be more consistent with the design standards. If that is their intent for specially designed light standards, she asked to make the applicants put the majority of them in. This would be her preference.

Mayor Dawson said this is where the State is looking at the City not putting in roadblocks, but not that it is. She agreed the standards should be attainable, so if the point system is too loose of a guidance for that, she agreed with Councilmember Candell’s points.

Councilmember McCormick asked if Objective Design Standards could include examples of what they like, and said this is what Danville does, but he voiced concerns if this could be done within 2 ½ months. If it is just adjusting the point system it could be done fairly quickly, but if they change the entire philosophy, the public will want to hear it and what Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Lafayette are going to look like.

Mr. Wolff said on providing examples of what the community desires to see, when the Phase I objective standards were promulgated, there was very little work from which to draw for that because they were early on in adopting objective standards in that way, not to say there were not any out there but the subcommittee decided to go the route it did with the numerical system. Now, there is a much more robust body of work to draw from so examples would be easier to pull together.

Councilmember Anduri said what he reads is the City needs to have the objective design standards in place at the same time they rezone and adopt the Housing Element. Mr. Wolff confirmed, and said if those objective standards would constrain the building envelope but if it is the example of light fixtures, color, or materials, those are not constraints on the building envelope and those could follow-on. If it is a step back, open space, or some other function which would affect the building envelope, that would need to be done contemporary and easily.

Councilmember Anduri digressed and said he thought these were in priority order and thought this was the right priority, at least one through three. They must get these done and that leads to his question. As he understands it from the rest of the materials, they have two vacancies at the Senior Planner level in the Department. There is a recommendation from staff and from the Fiscal Sustainability Committee that they freeze four positions. One of those positions is the Senior Planner. He is looking at this task list and Number 12 is 25 Housing Element Implementation Programs. He wondered what realistically can staff get done given the two vacancies. If they freeze the one and it will be a while before they hire the one they are looking for, he asked what can they actually get done.

Mr. Wolff agreed; that they have two Senior Planner vacancies and have an open recruitment. He reviewed a series of applications that were submitted recently and none were qualified applicants. Staff has conducted interviews, have made some offers but have not brought anyone on board to date.

Without the second Senior Planner, the City will be severely hamstrung in their ability to take on advanced planning tasks.

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One note of positivity around that is that right now, the development environment is such they are not receiving a lot of new multi-family applications and so as long as that holds out, it allows them to keep their heads above water with the one position. The top priorities are the Housing Element certification, objective standards, and rezoning to implement the Housing Element. The Development agreement for the DeSilva property and the comprehensive nexus fee study needs to get done, and the tree ordinance update is currently underway. So, with the current staffing levels they have now, they can take those on and get them done in the next fiscal year. Beyond that, the department will be significantly challenged to take on additional tasks. With the one additional position, they would then have a Project Manager to do the 949 Moraga Road RFP and begin to chip away at the 25 housing programs. That is what that person would do, is that advanced planning work.

Councilmember Anduri said one item is the Downtown Mt. Diablo Corridor Enhancement Plan and developing a plan for multi-modality/less autos and be mindful of evacuation route requirements. He asked how they should handle that. He thinks this should be done and asked if there are any thoughts about how to get this done. Here, it talks about making it part of the Circulation Element, which he will speak against later, but he asked if staff has thought more about this.

Mr. Wolff said as they discussed, if it is characterized and the direction is to pose that question to knowledgeable firms and entities out there at a high-level screening question; that with the growth anticipated or planned for in the General Plan and Housing Element, are there clear things they should be looking forward to doing for the boulevard to optimize circulation in the downtown.

There is a broad spectrum of things that potentially could be done from adding more vehicular lanes to reducing vehicular lanes and increasing other active multi-modal transportation. Or, is that amount of growth foreseeable and not a long-term detriment to the community to work with what they currently have with some improvements to be sure, whether those are green bike lanes or other features, bike boulevards which are off the boulevard but provide east/west and north/south circulation. So, if it is a high-level screening question, staff could put that question out to a consultant as a discreet question and scope of work. If it is undertaking the comprehensive updates to the DSP on a much deeper review across a multitude of facets of circulation, land use, retail, commercial, integration with the BART station and connectivity, this is something the City would need to find additional resources to do and staff to projectmanage that.

Vice Mayor Kwok referred to Item 11.b; “Enter into a development agreement with DeSilva property” as one of the priorities. This is marked as unfunded and he asked what this means. Mr. Wolff said it requires no additional funding. It is a function of existing staff who would dedicate the time. It is covered under the existing salaries and General Fund.

Vice Mayor Kwok then referred to Item 11.c; “Prepare an RFP for 949 Moraga Road project (Housing).” Mr. Wolff confirmed staff does not anticipate additional funds necessary to complete that.

Councilmember Anduri referred to the Police Department work plan; Item 5; “Go Slow Speed Reduction Campaign.” He asked for further elaboration on this.

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City Manager Srivatsa said this program indicates it is not funded in the next fiscal year. The Council allocated $60,000 this year to buy equipment, radar, signs, lawn signs, and they have now created a web page, have speed surveys on major roads, and they do a lot of promotional work on a regular basis. This is in addition to the actual enforcement which their motor officers do. The reason it says it is unfunded is because there are no additional equipment to be purchased. There may be smaller items to be purchased in the upcoming fiscal year.

She had a conversation with Police Chief Alldritt, but this year was their first pilot year. Staff spent a lot of time and effort creating the web page, the data collection, promotional messaging, and it will continue.

But, since they have a base, promotional materials, and things they can re-use again, staff will not spend as much time on this task as it did this year. If Engineering wants a certain street surveyed for speed limits this is when Andy Comley from the Police Department would do the data collection and analysis, but they are not going to expand that base. They have what they have this year, will continue traffic enforcement which will always be a priority, but she wanted to make the Council aware there will not be as much staff time invested in the upcoming fiscal year for this task.

Mayor Dawson opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.

Councilmember Anduri thanked the City Manager and staff for all the work on this. It is great to be able to see what the departments are going to be working on, realizing this is a lot to get to. He wanted to continue the discussion he had with Mr. Wolff on “Develop a Plan for Multi-Modality” which is something they talked about at their goal-setting meetings for the last three years when they knew they would be putting a large amount of their RHNA allocation in the downtown. They knew at least the 8-year cycle calls for doubling the amount of people who will be living in their downtown when the units are built.

They know this will be very difficult and they have to start right away. He asked what could they do to rethink and re-imagine their downtown so people do not have to use cars they are using now so people can move into these units and be able to carry out most of life’s necessities, going to school, church, stores, and entertainment without having to get into a car. He thinks they have a great opportunity to be a model for other cities that will find themselves in this circumstance.

Maybe the first step is to retain someone out of the mold of the normal traffic firm that can take a big picture look. This is not just planning, not just traffic engineering but a combination of both. Someone has to have a big picture view and look at their downtown, look at what they have done with the Housing Element, and tell them if there is an out-of-the-box solution they could be working on to achieve their goal. The alternative is to take what they have now and basically change it around the edges. They can do things to make things better but he asked if there is a bigger solution that would be great for those living in the down and outside in the hills. He would like to bring someone in to answer that. He thinks they have to do this very quickly because all the time they make decisions that impact their ability to make these big choices.

The outdoor dining question is a great example because for the last couple of years they have said they cannot make a proposal for permanent outdoor dining and this is why they have moved forward in little steps because they might need to completely reconfigure Mt. Diablo Boulevard. Or, if they tinker around the edges, they might need those parking spaces for bike lanes or other uses. There are other examples, such as funding for the West Reach project. One of the possibilities for this is to take the parking spaces across from the Veteran’s Building and turn those into a bio-retention area which would serve a number of goals, including adding the square footage of bio-retention they need to add in the town. But, it also eliminates a bike lane. If they put 300 units at DeSilva, they just need to think about all of this together.

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They need to provide some way for those people to get to the downtown without having a car or owning two cars. So, every step they take to add more concrete or anything they change now to Mt. Diablo Boulevard, they just make it harder to make a bigger change if they need a bigger change. So, he asked to find someone who has a big picture view of these things to tell the City if there is a direction they could take that would meet that goal.

Councilmember Candell agreed and asked if this person exists. Mr. Wolff said yes; there are firms that could take this on, and the cost remains unknown. He noted a few names of individuals he will reach out to bounce this question off of to get names of firms as candidate firms.

Councilmember McCormick agreed and there is this once in a generation or cycle opportunity to reimagine. Obviously, there is cost and time. Generally speaking, the higher up you go in the strategic thinking, the more expensive it is and the longer it takes. In his experience, the big thinkers come out with things that are not very actionable and there is a lot of work to get these concepts they could fall in love with into actual things. He would love to see some examples for a vision, crystalize public opinion around it, and then turn it into action within a reasonable amount of time and budget. He is excited but hopes this person exists.

Vice Mayor Kwok thanked Councilmember Anduri for articulation of a vision they all get excited about to start with an end in mind before they get going just on incremental change. It is helpful to have a vision and see what could this city be and the challenge with one lane historically and whether they have to accept that or, before they go about this, whether they re-look at that to see if there is any other way, given they just do not have cars anymore, as there are other forms of transportation. It is always a good time to do it, but before they embark on this, some proper urban planning might be a word for this or having a central organizing thought and having a community conversation around it. It might be very hard, but there could be some things they are missing that could be easier wins that could help them build in the right direction. So, he is very supportive and is excited by it.

Mayor Dawson said she couldn’t agree more. When they started off not long ago, they were looking at Plan 2040 and they have been very busy with the Housing Element for the next 8 years, but they do need to look out much further than that, and it is important to start now. She thinks they are all on-board for planning for the future, but they are going through the budget now and hopefully they can bring their community along. It is so important to plan for the future and it will take revenue they do not have right now.

Ms. Srivatsa commented that nothing would please her and the Planning Director more than to do this long-range visioning for their downtown. They have both worked on the downtown for decades now and it is truly a gem. At the moment, they do not have the staff to do this. They are one Senior Planner short.

If they freeze the other position, they have a Housing Element that needs to be certified, properties rezoned, and objective standards completed. They have GPAC wanting to continue with the Land Use Element, so she wants to manage Council’s expectations that these are not tasks they can delay. Staff will take the next 3 to 6 months to complete so if they hire somebody in-house, that person can be tasked perhaps in the next calendar year. But, at this point in time, they do not have the resources.

Councilmember Anduri recognized staff and the Council’s views on this; however, they do not want to miss the opportunities. In his mind, they have to do it because they are going to have a growing downtown and cannot get locked in place because they are approving buildings before they have the master concept in place.

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Councilmember Candell commented that they must approve projects whether they like them or not so they will be approved, and they do not have development agreements anymore, so the City is not getting any help from developers to do this work. They used to get nice things from developers as part of their projects to mitigate their impacts so it is a lofty thing but is something the City will have to do themselves.

Councilmember Anduri agreed, but if they come up with something that really works, developers want to sell their units and this is why they have parking when they do not have to have parking. So, if they came up with a way to get people around without having two cars and it requires the developer something to “fit into that system” he thinks developers will do it. But, they have to have that system ready.

Councilmember McCormick asked how to go forward from this and agrees with the vision. They either need to embrace the strategy and ask staff to re-imagine the budget so they have it, or the budget will go in like it is and it will not happen.

Councilmember Anduri said he thinks what will happen is that one way or another, they will return and look at the budget in December. The Planning Director has so much on his plate and some of this has to get done because of the State’s mandates. So, he understands this is not going to get done in the next few months. He is just putting it out there and appreciates the Council’s support for it and he is sure they will come back to this and they may ask then for a budget adjustment once they have a clearer picture of where they are.

Mayor Dawson said when there is a development agreement, she could see an opportunity where they could start visualizing, given it is a clean slate.

Mr. Wolff said they are open-ended and there are no constraints on how far visioning the development agreement could go. However, in practice, they tend to be very related to the developer’s desire for a project and desired outcomes in their area of expertise—whether they build commercial or residential and the City’s tangible goals in terms of intersection improvements or circulation features, whether it is a shuttle operated by the development or something like that. So, they tend to be not as broad a visioning document as would be a General Plan or DSP, but more concrete improvements that a given project can produce, such as an athletic field or community park. He thinks there are bigger questions that would not necessarily fit into a development agreement for a project that the City would ask and contend with longterm irrespective of any one project.

Councilmember McCormick said Vice Mayor Kwok asked about 949 Moraga and the fact it is unfunded, but he asked if that was an error because other items state they are included in staff time.

Mr. Wolff said it is not with current staffing but with the hiring of one Senior Planner they can take that on. They would not need an initial budget allocation and think they can handle it with the budget allocation for Housing Element implementation which is a line item in the budget. If, for some reason, it becomes obvious there is a deviation of magnitude, they would need to come back to the Council for an allocation and say they would need “x, y and z” to be able to put forward this RFP, but they do not anticipate that at this time.

Ms. Srivatsa added that if this is a project the City is going to take on and partner with a housing nonprofit, the City would incur some expenses. As an example, they may want to come up with a certain overlay plan to ensure they get the right amount of development and the type of development they need.

They may have to do environmental analysis and those tasks are not worked out and not funded. So, there is the potential to incur expenses as part of this task.

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Councilmember McCormick said so this one is contingent to filling the Senior Planner role. Ms. Srivatsa said in terms of staff resources, yes. But, that position is in the budget.

Councilmember McCormick said when it says “unfunded” but is in the work plan and does not say “delayed” he asked if this is dependent upon the Senior Planner hire. Mr. Wolff said staff can take on DeSilva and 949 Moraga with the one Senior Planner that needs to be hired. If they do not get that hire, they probably can do the DeSilva development agreement, but the 949 Moraga RFP would be very difficult to manifest.

Councilmember Anduri then turned to the Police Work Plan and coming back to the Slow Down Lafayette campaign, which got a very strong push when the Chief made his presentation about 1 ½ years ago and talked about being able to acquire equipment that would enable the department to monitor speeds. That morphed into a great collaboration between Public Works/Engineering and the Police Department on using this equipment to meet the goals of both departments. It also fed into their adoption of Vision Zero.

One of the key factors in keeping people safe is reducing speeds. Speed is the main component of creating risk in accidents.

So, the whole goal of the Slow Down Lafayette campaign was to try to get people to drive within the speed limit and, in fact, to create a civic culture within Lafayette for residents to drive within the speed limit.

They have had tremendous people working on this from staff; Andy Comley, Patrick Golier, and Suzanne Iarla. He and Mayor Dawson are privileged to be the Council Subcommittee for this, and he described the work of the group which has resulted in slower speeds. He understands the staffing difficulties and hope they can continue to move this along and keep up the momentum they have going with this. He still hears concerns from people driving above the speed limit in town and they need to show the City is doing something.

Police Chief Lt. Ben Alldritt said from a funding aspect, it is built into their budget. It is a component of all three staff’s jobs. The prioritization of Slow Down Lafayette is not going away. Where they might have to think about it in the future is if they go into budget cuts and working through decisions on what staff to cut. They might get to a place where the traffic unit would get affected, but that said, going into this fiscal year there is no plan to pull back on the campaign. He thinks going forward is that they have this good base of data so, doing Pleasant Hill Road again right now it is the goal of engineering, enforcement, and education there.

As projects come up this year or concerns, whether they come in from traffic engineering or the police department side, using the existing equipment to strategically go out there and identify whether they have a problem of an engineering solution or enforcement solution, at what point would they want to remeasure that and see the three-month comparison of tickets or engineering. So, how they look going forward will be open to thought processes with the equipment and partnerships they have. The ultimate goal is slowing down through education, engineering, and enforcement, so he does not need additional monies beyond staff funding.

Councilmember Anduri said they received statistics after the meeting from Andy Comley on the number of citations in April and May. Annualized, they would be the highest number of citations given in any year in a long time, so he thanked Chief Alldritt.

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Mayor Dawson said this was exactly what they were commending the group on. It was the education, enforcement, and engineering that was a win/win/win. She also noted that they have had Council priorities like safety around schools and then they moved forward on the Council priorities and school safety has moved onto the fabric of what staff continues to do. She can see that happening as well with this project and Visions Zero given the data. So, it is wonderful and reinforced it the safe speed culture is still important and needs to continue forward.

Councilmember McCormick referred to the Police work plan. There was a presentation given about Nixle and communication, and he asked if police are making changes with this over the next fiscal year.

Chief Alldritt said as a department manager, he struggles with the work plan because he wants to put a lot of items on there. He tries to narrow it down to some of the top priorities. On Nixle specifically, they are continuing to look at other platforms out there. If he was to find a platform he thought from a cost and benefit analysis was better for them going forward, they still would be looking at keeping Nixle on because it will take a while to get everybody over successfully. Some people rely on that and he could see them paying for Nixle for another year or more once he found a better platform. He did not put it on the work plan, but they will continue to look at this, as he has never been thrilled with their model. So, he wants to find what platform can best suit them moving forward.

ACTION: It was M/S/C (Anduri/Candell) to approve work plans as presented. Conduct midyear review in December in conjunction with the adoption of the Final Budget. Roll Call Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Dawson, Kwok, Anduri, Candell and McCormick; Noes: None)

13. PUBLIC HEARINGS
A. Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager; Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director

1. Resolution 2024-22 Adopting the Proposed Budget/Workplan; Appropriating Revenue And Expenses; Confirming The City’s Investment Policy; Determining The Appropriation Limit For Fiscal Year 2024-25; Determining Fees For All City Services And Authorizing Transfers And Expenditures Including the 2024 Capital Improvement Program And Related CEQA Findings
Recommendation: Discuss and continue to June 24th for adoption of Resolution 2024-22.

Administrative Services Director Tracy Robinson gave a presentation about the budget, described where revenues come from, the budget’s “buckets” and where monies come from, sales tax and property tax, how the budget works, the four P’s as priorities (Police, Public Works, Planning, and Parks, Trails and Recreation), the City’s Reserve and the policy to keep 60% of all General Fund expenditures which is about $12 million for emergencies, information about what is going on with the budget this year and its creep of coming out of balance, the 5-year model meant to look at trends which show the City is going into deficit spending based on basic programs being funded:

1. Pavement management has increased by $1 million/year recently because of the 33% increase of labor and materials for road paving compared to only a 23% increase in revenue; cost of ancillary infrastructure such as curbs, ramps, pathways, sidewalks, flashing beacons, stormwater retention facilities which have redirected monies away from paving projects. The City must also have monies to maintain this into the future.

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2. Insurance – Costs has gone up 186% over the last 5 years. This is due to a variety of factors including a nationwide increase in catastrophic losses due to weather events, increased incidents of wildfire, escalating propensity of people to sue municipalities, large increases of jury awards which often favor plaintiffs. She noted the city has not had any disaster-related losses or large awards; however, these factors drive the entire insurance industry towards higher premiums.

3. Unfunded mandates – The State continues to mandate programs and policies onto cities without providing additional revenue to administer them. A good example is the stormwater pollution, where the Water Board consistently increases the requirements for compliance for clean water regulations. Over the last 10 years, costs have increased by 78% and the current gap between the revenue they get and what it costs them is about $300,000 a year which will continue to grow. An additional example is the staff in time and resources needed to implement affordable housing requirements, which she described.

4. For many years, it has been the City’s practice to set aside money in sinking funds to accrue money for large capital expenses. That applies to things like City vehicle replacements, Community Center roof, playground equipment, library capital maintenance and improvement. However, as the City has acquired assets and as the infrastructure ages and inflation has taken its toll, the amounts being put away are not sufficient for future needs. Last year, they added $110,000 annually to some sinking funds which helped, but it was not sufficient and is not keeping up with inflation.

5. Everything is more expensive than it used to be with inflation and revenues are not increasing at the same rate as expenses. Even if the gap starts out small, it will increase over time. A good example is the downtown Core Area Landscape and Lighting District and revenue is capped without an increase in 15-20 years. The cost to maintain that area has risen 23% over the last 10 years but taxes have remained flat. So, the gap is about $250,000 right now which the General Fund has filled in, and that will continue to grow.

6. Lastly are community standards. 93% of residents polled indicated they were satisfied with their quality of life here. Residents have high standards. They want the downtown to be vibrant and welcoming, want to be informed and have a say in State legislation, safe streets for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers, want the City’s infrastructure to be well-maintained and attractive and want a beautiful, healthy, and sustainable environment and costs are rising each year.

Ms. Robinson said to balance the budget, the first way is to reduce expenses. As mentioned, the City is already doing this. They have frozen four positions which leaves the City under-staffed and unable to accomplish important things. Almost every program or project undertaken is in response to residents’ requests and expectations or to State mandates. If the budget is cut, they will have to cut services being provided or eliminate them altogether. She uses the word “structural” which is due to on-going costs that are out-striping revenue, and this is the cost for basic services. The deficit is not caused by spending money on any specific project. It is structural as basic services are costing more than revenues being received. If they balance the budget by cutting expenses at a 10% rate, it will necessarily affect all aspects of City services.

A second way to balance the budget is to increase revenues. Cities have limited ways to raise revenue and it is not the same in the private sector where there is a profit built in. The City has looked at fees and they have a cap and must have a nexus. They cannot charge more than it costs to provide services. The lion’s share of the City’s revenue is generated through taxes.

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The Fiscal Sustainability Committee looked at a number of different types of taxes—sales taxes, parcel taxes, other kinds of property taxes and utility taxes. What they all have in common is voter approval. In order to address the upcoming fiscal challenges, the committee has recommended that the best way possibly to address this imbalance would be to consider asking Lafayette voters to authorize up to a one percent increase in the local sales tax. It would cost one percent more for every taxable dollar spent. The next time the City can place this on a ballot would be on the November 2024 ballot. Again, this would be a simple majority or a general tax which would require a simple majority which would be 50 + 1 of the Lafayette vote. The present sales tax rate for purchases made in Lafayette is 8.75% and, if authorized, another one percent would increase it to 9.75%.

Regarding why did the committee concluded that a sales tax was the best way to raise revenue, a sales tax increase would fill the budget gap and it would provide additional revenue for additional projects and programs if it was up to one percent. The City could provide additional wildfire preparedness, additional traffic safety, potentially more open space, and more parks. A second reason is that a sales tax is paid also by non-City residents. It does not fall entirely on residents of Lafayette. This means people who dine and shop in Lafayette would also be bringing money into the community and would be paying for some amenities the City has, and most groceries and medicine/prescription drugs are exempt from being charged sales tax and another reason is the tax is relatively painless as sales tax is paid over time.

She presented a display of current sales tax of communities surrounding Lafayette. In both Orinda and Moraga, the sales tax is 9.75%, as well as in Martinez, and in Concord, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek it is

9.25%.

Tonight, the Council is starting this process and are in the discussion phase of determining whether a measure should be placed on the November ballot and what rate they may wish to place on the ballot.

This is expected to take several meetings. She said for the benefit of the community, there are a number of ways to stay informed as the Council works through the process, which she described, and said she was available for questions before going onto the FY 2024/25 budget.

Councilmember Candell said to be clear, she asked and confirmed with Ms. Robinson that the 1% sales tax estimated to cover the $2 million gap and also be able to cover additional programs and projects as discussed, but a ½ cent would raise about $2.7 million.

Councilmember Anduri asked if the Fiscal Sustainability Committee have a recommendation. Ms.

Robinson said she did not believe they had a recommendation, per se. They wanted to give the Council the information. The recommendation was for sales tax and once going through the budget and understands what additional programs and projects the Council may want to consider, it would be clear as to whether 1% would be desired. She also said staff has done some polling and they will also be doing a tracking poll. The polling done prior was when people had not heard about the budget deficit, and between then and now, staff has put out a lot of information and hopefully informed more residents.

Another poll will be done to track and see if people are more informed and to see at what level a sales tax measure would pass or not and this will be information the Council will receive at upcoming meetings.

Councilmember Anduri said a number of public comments have been received to implore the City to simply “cut the fat.” He asked if staff could comment about what they go through in developing a budget, monitor spending, and he asked if there is “fat in the budget.” City Council Meeting Page 16 of 36 June 10, 2024
Ms. Robinson said there is an item coming up after the budget where, in fact, their exercise the department managers held. They looked at the budget to show what would need to be cut from each department to cut that $2 million deficit. So, she thinks it would be up to the Council as to whether the Council thinks it is “fat.” She does not think it is. They would have to cut very deep on some things, and all of those things would need to be done to hit the $2 million target and not just picking and choosing. If the Council wished to spare some things, they would have to find deeper cuts elsewhere. There will be an item after the budget item and they do pride themselves and thinks the City has done many things that are in the DNA of the City that speak to on-going fiscal sustainability.

They have only about 50 full-time equivalent employees in the City and they contract for employees where they can which is generally more flexible and less expensive. They do many things in-house, such as in the Engineering Department, there is a lot of expertise from those the City hired who are able to do planning and design or things normally other cities must contract out for specific expertise. She thinks they estimated they save something like $2.9 million on these over the last 5 or so years.

A big item people are not aware of is that the City does not participate in CalPERS which is a defined benefit program. If a City is in CalPERS, they must accept their rates, so many cities may have unfunded pensions. They do not have a lot of control over their pension expenses. Many years ago, Lafayette is possibly only one of ten cities in California which has a defined contribution program which is a 401A plan which his similar to a 401K. So, she believes the City has done many things embedded in the DNA over the years that have managed to keep costs low. This is just a perfect storm of all of those six things she presented and the pandemic did not help and probably kick-started much of that rolling.

Councilmember Anduri asked Ms. Robinson to confirm the City does not have a deficit for 2023-24. Some of the public comment seemed to be why is the City running a deficit and why haven’t they done something about it.

Ms. Robinson said they are showing a deficit for FY 2024-25, but for the one they are ending, staff predicted they will not end the year with a deficit but she wants to be transparent and fair. There were some projects that would be rolled over to the next year. So, even though the City will not end with a deficit this year, they have kept some positions open that helps and they have rolled projects forward.

Mayor Dawson commented that the City has a very lean staff who have been doing incredible work. The comment made about in-house work saving $2. 9 million, not having a CalPERS program, and others all have impacts in looking forward, as well as combined with the six different things that are happening.

Staff has helped shield them from this and also their policy is to be cost-efficient with the CalPERS program because it affects the City as they hire employees and their competitiveness.

Councilmember McCormick said he was personally shocked when they found out they have 50 FTEs that run the entire City. He asked if they have benchmarked against other similar-sized cities to know how lean they are because this would be helpful as a reference to know how they are operating.

Ms. Robinson said honestly, several years ago when they had a budget committee look at the City’s finances and she staffed that committee. They asked her to do the same thing to benchmark and see how many FTEs are in other cities. What she found is it is very difficult to do a benchmark because all cities do things differently. Some cities have their own libraries they staff, some have fire districts, water districts, police. Again, to be fair, those 50 FTEs do not include the 17 police officers they contract for the County.

So, the short answer is it is very difficult because every city operates slightly different. It is not an applesto-apples comparison so that is a little difficult to do.

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Ms. Robinson said she can now go quickly through the budget and then suggests taking public comments.

This year, the FY 2024-25 budget is not balanced by roughly $2.3 million. The City still is able to make the Reserve standard at 66% but the Council will see importantly that the 5-year model shows that on-going deficit of roughly over $2 million annually which is about 10% of the total General Fund budget. So, at that rate, and the City will use the Reserve to keep funding at that level, the City would fall below the 60% in the next fiscal year.

One of the things staff is asking the Council is that if they apply the $1.99 million that remains from ARPA, they will be able to continue to meet that 60% budget Reserve standard for one more year and next year.

But again, those are one-time monies. It does not solve the problem but it gives the Council the ability to have “a longer runway” if they want to wrap up projects so it is not as much of a shock. It also gives the Council some options, but again, this is one-time money. Staff is asking to use that money and apply it to this year’s budget because ARPA funds actually need to be committed by the end of calendar 2024 and spent by the end of calendar 2026.

The budget letter in the budget document has a lot of detail about all of the funds in the General Fund and what is different, but she wants to call attention to some things that are unfunded, some requests, and some projects and programs that are not in this budget from most to least. As mentioned earlier, $3.3 to $4 million is the estimated cost to replace and upgrade the Community Center roof, HVAC system and boiler. This is a lot more than what the City expected to pay and she knows the PTR Director is here for specific questions about why it is so much.

Regarding the patio at Buckeye Fields needs to be upgraded. It has been buckling and cracking. This project was initially scheduled to be done prior to COVID. It was less expensive at that time, but the City put it on hold because, again, during COVID, the City cut some expenses back during that time period. The cost for that is estimated now at $650,000. $270,000 is the cost for the Buckeye parking lot and the Community Park parking lot. In the budget is $170,000 allocated for the Community Center parking lot so they added about $110,000 to sinking funds last year and part of that was to start a sinking fund for these three large parking lots that they have, but that is only $25,000 a year. She believes those lots are going to need to be repaved in the next few years. But, total cost today for the two that are not budgeted are $270,000. $200,000 is for raising the Campana Building. This building is unoccupied. It is old, dilapidated. Staff feels for safety reasons it would be best if they take the entire building down. It is not being maintained in any way and so Director of Public Works and Engineering Mike Moran is here and he can speak to that. If they raise that building it would allow for additional public parking in that area. A remote-controlled mower for weed abatement and fire clearing is also something Director Katayanagi brought to staff’s attention.

They have some open space that does need to be maintained every year. This would probably make it cost-effective and break even at roughly three years, but it is a very large expense.

They have a request from the school district for $48,000 to fund a half of the crossing guard. To be clear, the City’s agreement with the school district for the last several years has been to pay for half the cost up to a maximum of $100,000 on the City’s part. Last year, the school district came to the City and said half the expense would be $140,000 so they asked the City to put in an extra $40,000. They did do this with the caveat that this was one time and they would discuss it again. The cost has risen slightly to $48,000 this year. So, to be clear, there is $100,000 in the budget right now and they are asking for an additional $48,000.

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Regarding unknowns, as mentioned at the last Council meeting the funds they had previously had in sinking funds for traffic calming requests from residents is almost entirely depleted and there are no funds to fill that back up again. Ideally, they would be putting money in annually for those traffic calming requests. The City just revamped its process which is good, streamlined, and popular but unfortunately, there is only about $10,000 that remains and there is no money right now in this budget that replenishes those funds.

In summary, the City has some unfunded requests. They have the budget. There is a lot of detail in the staff memo and she said she was available for questions.

Mayor Dawson added that a letter was received from the Chamber of Commerce for an additional $20,000. Ms. Robinson said on the next item, one of the options put on the list was to cut the Chamber contribution from $60,000 which is budgeted to $40,000. So, they put it in proactively to not cut this, and they are budgeted for $60,000 per their agreement.

Vice Mayor Kwok asked to display the 5-year budget which is on page 16 of 147 on the screen. Ms.

Robinson noted these are very small numbers, and Vice Mayor Kwok asked to zoom in on the lower lefthand corner to see this fiscal year. He pointed to the first column of Total Uses, $19,110,026. This is the current fiscal year about to end on June 30th. This is the total uses they are forecasting for expenditures.

Going down from that, staff is projecting a surplus of $871,000. So, jumping down to the 88% is the Reserve which is better than the 60% target. He asked if this is the case for this fiscal year.

Ms. Robinson said this is correct, understanding that some projects were rolled over to the next year.

Vice Mayor Kwok said if they move over to the right column, total uses on the $19 million go to $22.765 million and that is the proposed budget starting from July 1st for FY 2024-25. Ms. Robinson confirmed.

Vice Mayor Kwok said this would mean the Council is voting on deficit-spending to the tune of $2.461 million which is the red parenthesis underneath, which Ms. Robinson confirmed. This would reduce the reserve down to $13 million which is still 66% better than the 60% target.

Vice Mayor Kwok said the Council may vote on adding the $1.99 million in ARPA funds to offset the losses so the actual projected deficit would be $493,000. Ms. Robinson confirmed. Vice Mayor Kwok said this still leaves them at $16.034 million or 72% in their reserve for this upcoming fiscal year. So, what the Council is voting on in this meeting is this column.

He said also mentioned is that as they slide over columns to the right, the next red column is a total use of $23 million and then operating at about $2.2 million of deficit which eats away at the City’s fund balance so they would be down to 52% if they had not yet the ARPA funds. If they agree to use the ARPA funds, they would just be at the 60% target. If they use the ARPA funds, they could get along for two fiscal years and still be above their target, and Ms. Robinson confirmed. If they go over another year, they are at $23 million of uses but $2 million of deficit spending, and this is the 10% gap or structural deficit the City is facing.

He also noticed Ms. Robinson highlighted in yellow something called “additional road repair funds needed” of $1 million across every year because staff indicated that the cost of labor has gone up 35% over the last 5 years for paving streets. He thinks the cost of asphalt he heard in a previous presentation has also gone up substantially. So, what they are hearing in summary is that it is costing $1 million a year to pave their streets. Ms. Robinson said this is the cost to keep the PCI at the level it is now which is very good.

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Vice Mayor Kwok said if they look at the negative $2 million in the red, they see the reason for the $1 million because almost half of it is coming from the increased cost of maintaining roads if they want them at the current level. He thanked Ms. Robinson for the way this was presented because it is clear in his mind because the deficit in the future is driven by keeping roads at the current level.

Mayor Dawson also pointed out that the $1 million is necessary because it will cost more if the City does not maintain its roads. So, in a way, this is their insurance to keep a more predictable expense on pavement.

Councilmember McCormick asked to understand the hiring staff plan right now, particularly the four positions that are frozen.

Ms. Robinson said the four positions frozen are the H.R. Analyst, a Management Analyst, a Senior Engineer, and one Senior Planner. To be clear, the positions are budgeted in this budget, and the reason she did that is because she wants to show a full accounting of what they think they need and how much it would cost. However, they understand they are not hiring for those positions because they want to be fiscally responsible and freeze them. Secondly, if they are not going to have the money to pay for those positions, they do not want to hire someone and only to have to turn around in six to twelve months and cut them. This is the reason staff is keeping them open.

Councilmember McCormick asked which positions the City is actually hiring, and Ms. Robinson said the Senior Planner is being recruited currently. This goes to the next item and potential cuts. In the 10% plan, they would need to eliminate two positions in Planning. So, they could hire a Senior Planner and may not have the money to maintain that position. The hiring of that position has been a challenge for a number of reasons, as well.

Councilmember McCormick said he knows current things are unfunded in the plan, such as the traffic calming budget which is depleted. They have the Transportation Action Request Form is still on the website, but right now, calming requests should be put in a pending state at this time. Ms. Robinson said Mr. Moran can add to this, but there are traffic calming measures they can do with paint and striping that are not particularly expensive, so those might still be accommodated. But, infrastructure-related traffic calming is not currently budgeted.

Councilmember Anduri referred back to the four frozen positions and he asked how those positions got there. He thinks it would be useful to explain the process they went through with the consultant and the Council discussions that they needed to have these positions and why they needed to have them so people know these are not four positions that came out of nowhere.

Ms. Robinson explained pre-COVID in 2019, the City hired a consultant to do a staffing analysis of the entire City to ensure they were staffed at a level to accomplish and do all the work the Council wanted and expected. Also, there are many unfunded mandates and things like that which also affect things like Administration probably not as visible to the public but still need to be done.

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They hired the consultant who talked with all directors and department managers and looked at their work plans and expectations. It was through that process the consultant recommended the City was under-staffed based upon what staff was being asked to do. They recommended the addition of exactly these four positions. The Council put those positions into the budget and then COVID occurred and many things got put on hold during COVID. Now, coming out of COVID and for many reasons, they do not have the funds right now. They did a very lengthy process and the Council talked about their expectations and the manpower on deck to accomplish what the Council wanted.

Councilmember Anduri referred to funding for traffic calming requests, and said this has been a very successful program. He asked if there is an estimate as to what the City might need for the next year if they were to allocate some funds.

Director of Public Works and Engineering Mike Moran stated this year they spent roughly $100,000 mostly on speed humps. To Ms. Robinson’s point, they can do some things they can just absorb with paint or plastic delineators that may cost several thousand dollars. Because they did a new traffic calming program, they had a backlog of streets they addressed to spend that $100,000. He would say the City would need roughly half of that at least moving forward to have some capacity if they needed to add speed humps or other vertical elements some place where they are installing concrete or asphalt.

Councilmember McCormick said the work plan is based on the department’s prioritization. He asked given the funds in the department Mr. Moran agrees with the prioritization of not having the other things that are funded.

Mr. Moran said the capital projects out there need to be completed. He thinks traffic calming, from an engineering standpoint, is not required. The Vehicle Code tells everybody to drive the speed limit. It is just the City is forcing them to drive closer to that limit by adding things like speed humps. Engineering-wise and even liability-wise, the street should be safe but that is only if everybody follows the rules. They do not always, and sometimes encouragement is needed to follow rules. It is something that is not needed, per se. They went a good part of 20 years without adding any speed humps.

Councilmember Anduri referred to the cost to replace and upgrade the Community Center Roof and HVAC, and asked if there is any sense of how much worse it gets each year the City waits to do something in terms of how much more it would cost to repair or replace.

Director Katayanagi said he does not have the exact cost and Mr. Moran might speak to this. He will say every year they do not do it, what they are experiencing right now is inflation and rising construction costs as a factor. The unknown damage is the other factor. Just anecdotally from his house, they patched a small leak in his roof, waited a couple of years, it had a similar problem they had in the Community Center where there was an improper installation, and when they took up the roof two years after the patch, they noticed another drip, and the amount of damage underneath unseen from the top is the unknown. That cost is building every year that they do not go up and repair that roof. They factored some of that into the cost estimate and what the project would take, but it rises every year.

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There are stains on the ceiling in about every classroom at the center. There is a lot of unknowns buried under the asphalt shingles and that is what is building over time. Some of the costs are building over time, as well as unfunded mandates to meet Building Code each year is another rising cost. The project as it stands takes into account some of the City’s goals and moving away from natural gas. They are looking at a variable flow system that would also utilize electricity. It is also cost-effective in the way the system operates efficiently and the way it would share the air within the rooms and pull outside air to help as well. The other thing to keep in mind is every year they wait, costs go up with added costs over time, especially when doing it separately.

BREAK
Mayor Dawson called for a break at 9:25 p.m. and, thereafter reconvened the meeting at 9:30 p.m.

Mayor Dawson opened the public hearing and public comment period.

ROB LAVOIE thanked staff for displaying the summary of the budget. He referred to the idea that people want more services for the City. There is LPIE for the schools and possibly something like that is needed for the City where people can see what is on the shopping list of things that might be nice to have and then they can let their dollars vote for it. He personally opposes the one percent tax and might consider a half percent sales tax if that was the only thing the City could do, but there are some other things the Council could look at. He would like to see staff growth over the last 20-30 years. The population has been virtually flat and he knows it may be hard to benchmark themselves to other cities, but it is possible.

They know some cities outsource police, some do not, and there could be a spreadsheet with columns for things like that where their in-house numbers could be compared to their out-sourced numbers, and the same with the Fire Department.

The other thing is in the old days it used to be public employees were paid less than private sector, but he does not think that is the case any longer. From what he sees in his small clients, even some with more employees than the City, he sees the President making much less than what the Directors of the City make. So, he thinks there might be some benchmarking to non-public entities, as well. On the extra staff person for all the AFFH and RHNA allocations, honestly, he thinks the City should spend money on that because the City will likely not be complying with many of the other provisions with growth expected and the State will probably continue to take any tiny bit of local control in place. So, to spend money on the paperwork would be a waste of money. Lastly, a budget freeze would be one way to help start the process.

City Manager Srivatsa suggested opening the second items as well before acting on the budget item since it includes potential reductions.

2. Budget Reduction Options and Impacts
Recommendation: Delay immediate cuts while considering a potential ballot measure to increase sales tax up to 1% and make cuts to the FY24-25 Final Budget in December, if necessary, or in June 2025. Staff recommends this option with the stipulations:
a. Freeze hiring the four FTEs positions previously listed in this report. b. No new tasks or projects to be added to the current workload.

City Manager Srivatsa said Ms. Robinson presented the budget and staff also reviewed potential reductions in programs and services. They asked department managers to look at their department budgets and cut them by 10% across the board.

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These targeted budget cuts were calculated based on the 2024-25 proposed budget and include the transfers and additions to the sinking funds, as well as any potential cuts they could make on staff. They looked at programs and services that would provide the City with on-going savings. They were not onetime programs that would only impact one fiscal year. They were on-going savings.

As far as staff is concerned, they have about 51 full-time employees. They are recommending phasing four positions as previously mentioned of the Senior Planner, Senior Engineer, Administrative Analyst, and Human Resources Analyst. But, the budget cuts the departments are presenting include the elimination of two additional positions which will total six positions or 17% of the General Fund FTEs. These cuts in programs and services affect all departments and the staff report lists the potential reductions in each, including the reduction in employees.

The cuts total about $2.7 million and some of the programs that will be reduced or impacted include the Public Art Program, Code Enforcement, legislative advocacy, traffic calming, long-range planning, and the banner program. So, each department looked at ways they can cut 10% with the intent of reducing the impact as much as possible. But, unfortunately when you cut into the muscle, you will feel the pain of a reduction in services and programs.

The staff report outlines 10% cuts in Police which includes a half-time Vacation Relief Officer, the third Sergeant, and also includes a Motor Officer. In Planning, two planning positions will be cut. In Administration, in addition to the two Analysts, if the Public Art Program is cut, the part-time Public Art Liaison position will also be eliminated. In Engineering, in addition to the Senior Planner, the Code Enforcement Program will be reduced by 50% so they would have a half-time Code Enforcement Officer.

The Council has a couple of options, but based on the fact as Ms. Robinson indicated, recommending the transfer of the $1.99 million in ARPA funds, which are one-time funds would carry the City through FY 2025-26, staff recommends the City Council delay the immediate cuts and reconsider in December, if necessary, or in June of 2025 with the recommendation that the four positions mentioned be frozen and that no new programs be added to the current work plan.

Mayor Dawson said this is a hard but necessary exercise to go through. The Council has a lot of respect for these efforts and they are talking about people and not just positions. She thanked staff for reviewing this and providing the report.

Councilmember McCormick said some of the cuts make sense, but a couple of surprises with the loss of the DRC and ETF, and he asked to explain that as to why those are impacted.

Ms. Srivatsa said those were not easy choices, but it takes staff time to prepare for a Commission meeting, to offer staff support, prepare the notices of public hearings, prepare the staff report, attend meetings, etc. The Stanford report which was prepared a few years ago had made the recommendation for the Council to consider merging the DRC and PC. The Environmental Task Force is currently being staffed by an Assistant Planner and most of the current planning applications, the hillside development permits, the variances, land use permits is taking away from processing current development applications. So, it is not with any sense of joy that staff is proposing it. But, just the fact that committees and commissions take up staff time that could be allocated to meeting statutory deadlines.

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Councilmember Anduri said following up on that, there is another item that cuts staff and that is the Public Art Liaison who he believes receives $22,000 for what she does. If the City did not have her, the City would not be able to administer the current or original public art program where developers spend 1% on art.

He asked if there is a thought on how the City would carry that out if there was no staff person doing it.

Ms. Srivatsa mentioned that they get a lot from the part-time Public Art Liaison who goes well above the $22,000 allocated in the budget. One very drastic way to do that to save would be to eliminate the public art requirement in the zoning code and not have that. There would then not be a need for a staff member to take public art proposals of development applications to the Public Art Committee. This is not what staff recommends, but if they must cut positions, it has an impact on something like the public art inventory and the wealth of public art they have built up over the years.

Councilmember Anduri referred to Exhibit C. They have heard about the increased cost of maintaining the roads and to keep the City’s existing PCI which goes up $1 million. This means they will cover $800,000 but not an extra $200,000 which is being cut. He asked the Public Works Director if this comes out of the $1 million.

Ms. Robinson confirmed it did come out of the $1 million, which was allocated in the budget, and the 10% was $200,000.

Councilmember Anduri asked if staff could describe what impact that would have over time on the City’s roads.

Mr. Moran explained it is not linear. They would almost maintain the same. In fact, they could have a good year and get a good, competitive bid and they would not even need the $200,000 and there would be no difference. But, if it continues and costs increase faster than revenue does, they would slowly get further away. At some point, the Council will start to see larger drops. So, they are at a 74 PCI. They were at a 76 about four years ago, and they have tried to maintain 76 but slightly slipped. The Council might see a 73, 72 or 71, but then it might go to 66 all of a sudden one year because a better analysis of the roads will be done and find there is more backlog that has not been addressed and there are worst conditions on the roads. This is what will happen and over 10 to 20 years, it will get much worse and the City will be back to where they were in the mid-90’s when they realized they really needed to fix their roads because they had not been maintained for 40 years.

Vice Mayor Kwok asked to see if Chief Alldritt could speak about the reductions the Police Department would have to make if it was a 10% reduction and impacts. Secondly, there was a question about benchmarking the number of staff the City has against other cities and there was a conversation on the number of officers they have as compared to elsewhere in the East Bay.

Police Chief Lt. Alldritt said in addressing staffing and reductions, currently in the Police Department budget, about 85% goes to personnel costs which makes sense in the fact they are providing public safety services. When looking at a reduction, for him to choose officers is not his first choice, but to find a 10% reduction in the overall budget out of that, what is left of the 15% is fuel costs, vehicle maintenance costs, power, water, etc. To meet a 10% reduction, they are talking about $600,000 to $700,000. To meaningfully get there, he had to look at staff.

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The first position of the Vacation Relief Officer, it is fully funded, but he would need to keep some of those monies for overtime costs, maternity/paternity leave, and on vacation. The third Sergeant position they reclassified a couple of years ago. It used to be the Youth Services Officer and they reclassified it to provide better supervision and to provide a third officer or staff member during critical times when they go down to two officers. They operate on two beat systems so at any given time there would be two officers in town. From there, looking at the reduced Vacation Relief, this leaves eight patrol people, two officers at all times on duty, and they need to retain the eight folks in the patrol section. From there, he feels strongly they need to retain two Sergeants for supervision at a high liability profession.

From there, he has four auxiliary positions—the two Investigative and the two Traffic positions that act as a force multiplier Monday through Friday during business hours when they are working, when schools are open, and their businesses are open. During that time, if they had a call of an active threat or an inprogress crime with many people potentially at risk and in harm’s way, the ability to deploy Detectives, Traffic Officers, himself, the Sergeants out to those calls and go from two to six officers which they might actually need on the situation.

So, to get to the third staffing position, he had to look at those four auxiliary positions. Investigations with the crimes that come in and the expectation of the community that when a crime does happen, they reach a good resolution and hold people accountable. He felt strongly with the number of cases coming in, to touch the Investigations Unit is not a good decision at this time. So, he came to the conclusion that reducing one of the Traffic Officer positions would be his third person. As far as effects in what they do, they would still have their Patrol Division and answering calls for service, having good response times, and ideally, people will not see a difference in that. When they go down to one officer if they go to the jail and not having a Sergeant to backfill, they will and have made it work before. So, they will rely on partner agencies to cover as needed for a two-officer response.

The traffic component speaks for itself so overall, having the third Supervisor has really helped him with programs in the community. It has allowed the second Patrol Sergeant to be out and about on the streets more, not dealing with as much administrative paperwork that comes in. He has two primary Sergeants prior to the third; one is the Investigations Patrol Sergeant on the front half of the week, and the second is the Patrol/Administrative Sergeant dealing with payroll, training, and all administrative things in the department. They would see a diminished level of service out there.

In speaking to the question about staffing, currently Lafayette and Danville in the most recent survey done yearly, they are at the lowest level of staffing in Contra Costa County. Often times, they will ask how many officers do you have on duty for every 10,000 residents. Lafayette has around 25,000 and those are some of the factors that go into it. So, they are at about .69 officers on duty. The highest in the County is at

1.95. In taking all law enforcement agencies, including the Sheriff’s office and do an average, it is about

1.11. Moraga and Orinda are not that far ahead of them and they are about .72. These cuts would put them even lower. He chose not to reduce professional staff. At the last Council meeting, they are a big force multiplier for them. If they had to go deeper past the three officers, he would look at professional staff, so that would be his recommendation at this time.

Vice Mayor Kwok clarified they are at a .69 per 10,000 residents, so this means there are two beat officers 24 hours a day. In the daytime, they can ramp up because they have two detectives and two other traffic enforcement officers, and a Sergeant, so they could ramp up this to six to eight people during the day.

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Lt. Alldritt said this is typically their schedule Monday through Friday. On Saturdays and Sundays, it goes down to two. With the third Sergeant, that position gets added on the weekends, so that puts them up to three during 12 hours of the day from two to three.

Vice Mayor Kwok said he never knew how many police officers there were in the City before becoming a Councilmember and it is amazing that the City operates with such a lean body, but they luckily have a very safe community. So, cutting headcount is pretty meaningful.

Lt. Alldritt said it is, but the reality is that in looking at a 10% reduction, in all fairness, the Police Department takes the largest chunk and for other departments to sustain the 10% that would come out of the Police Department and not cut the Police Department at all, it would not be reasonable to the other departments in what they expect for them to do. So, it is a hard choice, but the reality is that it is the public’s money.

Mayor Dawson opened the public hearing and public comment period.

ROB LAVOIE said he will take the non-popular opinion likely and suggest the City do cuts of 5% or 10% and that will force the City to evaluate what are essential things. Then, as far as the ARPA funds, if that could be used for the remaining budget items, it creates a surplus and he would put that towards the road fund to help with their PCI, unless the Council thinks there is a higher priority. He thanked the Chief for the benchmark information on the Police Department which is helpful.

Mayor Dawson said staff is recommending delaying the cuts until December so there is time to think about other options in terms of increasing sales revenue, and she asked for discussion.

Vice Mayor Kwok said as a member of the Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee with Mayor Dawson, they met with staff frequently on this topic and last year he met with Mayor Anduri on this, as well. Staff’s recommendation for Item 13.A.1 is that the Council approve the budget that shows a negative $2.5 million deficit starting July 1st, and that they apply the $2 million ARPA money because it must be designated before the end of the year and spend it before December 2026. So, this will offset the $2.5 million so they would be starting the fiscal year knowing they are probably heading in a negative $500,000 situation, which is not in the City’s DNA.

The City tries to consistently run a balanced budget which is the pride of staff and the Council. The world is different today and costs are a lot higher, but what is being recommended is to approve a negative budget, use the $2 million ARPA funds to offset that, and they heard earlier to consider a revenue-raising measure in the form of a sales tax of up to 1 percent and if that were to go out to the public in November and if it were to be successful, the long-term structural deficit could be addressed or not. If it was not successful, the Council would get to December and the Council would need to cut at that time. By the time they got to December, they would know whether there is new revenue or not and then they would probably not try to allow the half million loss for the second half of the fiscal year.

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That said Item 13.A.2 outlines the budget reduction options and impacts for that time. The Council could decide to do that right now if they wanted to and reduce the budget, but this is not staff’s recommendation. The subcommittee asked staff to present 10% reductions at this meeting because they wanted the Council to understand as a benchmark what would the cost be of a 10% reduction. They want the public to know that and the Council would like the public’s feedback from hearing it today; would they prefer a reduction of services to the example that staff has given but that might not be the right thing to do for the City. It is a lens to look at the things that could come off the table, and the hard decisions they would have by December to say which actual things will they take off the table at that time to save money from the budget.

They ask the community to give the Council feedback and they need it quickly in the weeks ahead. By the end of July and in six more weeks, they would take the temperature of the community as to whether and what level of sales tax revenue raise would be appropriate. The community should tell the Council, whether they want the cuts presented, a hybrid of cuts and revenue raising, revenue raising and no cuts, so they want to ask for the public’s feedback over the next four weeks.

In closing and looping back to the sales tax question, if it was a one-half percent measure, it would result in about $2.5 million of revenue and a one percent would be double that or about $5 million. So, a half cent would close the gap and another half percent would give the City the ability to do additional things with. When thinking of a $2.5 million deficit for a City of 10,000 dwelling units, this equates to about $250/household/year.

Mayor Dawson said the City has made so many investments in town with roads and the many programs, safety enforcement, and in looking at these cuts unfortunately it does a disservice to those investments and efforts made. The City is being made better, they want to do the best they can, and when looking at this information she hopes the community understands that revenue is needed to not just go with the status quo but to be the best City they can be. They need to plan for this and it will take an investment.

Staff is using monies well. They have great programs, are very efficient, and they hope to continue with this.

Councilmember Anduri thanked staff for all the work that has gone into this. He knows it was hard to put all of this together. He also thanked the Finance Subcommittee and the Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee for all the work on this. Staff and the Subcommittee are asking the Council to make four decisions tonight:

1. The first is to address the options on page 5 of the Item 13.A.2 memo; how the Council wants to proceed. Do they want to make immediate cuts or do they want to wait.

2. The second is a discussion of potential tax, where are they now in terms of what they see and need.

3. The third is staff wants to decide on the ARPA funds and whether the Council agrees with that.

4. The fourth is that this brings them to the budget and the Council needs to discuss each of the unfunded requests. They could conceivably say they are not going to add any of them or they can look at each on and have a discussion.

Mayor Dawson suggested starting with the recommendations staff has with Item 13.A.2:
• Freeze the hiring on the four full-time positions as previously listed and no new tasks or projects to be added to the current workload. This basically is recommending to delay immediate cuts now and look at this later.

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Councilmember Anduri said some of the public input they are getting is why doesn’t the Council cut. So, they need to discuss whether they are going to cut immediately in this budget or whether they are going to delay while they consider the ballot measure.

Councilmember McCormick said that is tied to number 4 with the ARPA funds and he asked if this is one in the same conversation. Vice Mayor Kwok noted they could cut and apply ARPA funds.

Councilmember McCormick referred to the cuts and the way it was articulated was quite interesting in what does 10% do. He wanted to acknowledge the emails the Council received thus far which expresses frustration with State mandates and how much the City has to spend. He thinks the City would love to ignore mandates they do not like, but they cannot and they have to do the responsible thing. If you look at the cuts being talked about, it really is what Lafayette special. It is the banner program, the public art program, keeping streets at good levels, and keeping police at a level where they can respond quickly or respond to two incidents at once.

When hearing all the reasons for the deficit and community standards, someone may buy a $2 million house here, the City does not get that much money, but the new residents expect a City they have moved to be delightful and worthy of the house they are living in. It is the frosting on the cake that gives the specialness of the City, such as medians are well tended, etc. They would lose so much by going down to the bare minimum State mandated things they must do and nothing that delights their citizens. So, they have won hard battles with street conditions and the state of their downtown and police, and it would be ashamed to lose those now.

Councilmember Candell agreed and said she is motivated to get something passed to address this in November. People will feel these kinds of things, but she is thankful it is here so they can point to this as what the City is facing. People will notice these things and she appreciates the exercise in learning what the City will have to do if they do not make all of this happen.

She did not want to go to these cuts right now as it is too early, but she agrees with freezing the hiring of the four FTEs and not to add any more tasks to staff’s workload. The item was laid out comprehensively and it gives the Council so much information to pass onto people at this point.

Councilmember Anduri agreed and added that he does not think the City should cut until they have heard from the people. Putting something on the ballot to say they can maintain services, residents must tell the City whether they want services or not, and this gives everyone a chance to vote. He does not see the City pre-emptively cutting services that they have only added because they thought people wanted them without giving them a chance to say they will support them. He thinks this is an easy decision to agree to the staff recommendations on 13.A.

Mayor Dawson added that this is exactly the exercise she and Vice Mayor Kwok were hoping to go through in terms of letting people know what this looks like. She appreciates the responsiveness. In looking at options, she suggested a motion.

ACTION: It was M/S/C (Anduri/McCormick) to delay immediate cuts while considering a potential ballot measure; to freeze hiring the four FTE positions in the report. Roll Call Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Dawson, Kwok, Anduri, Candell and McCormick; Noes: None)
City Attorney Mala Subramanian said the discussion on a potential ballot measure and tax will be coming back to the Council at a future meeting.

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Councilmember Anduri said he thought staff wanted to obtain more feedback and discussion on this from the Council.

Ms. Robinson clarified staff wanted the Council to affirmatively tell staff they wanted it to return for a more robust discussion, and staff will also have additional information once they get tracking poll information. Tonight, the Council can talk about the budget itself, which the Council has done under Item

13.A.2. Staff needs direction and a motion about the ARPA funds and then the Council can either continue the discussion on the budget or make decisions.

Councilmember Anduri asked if staff needs any guidance from the Council to do what staff will do between now and the next meeting in June or July. Ms. Robinson said staff will bring it back to the next meeting in June. They may have preliminary results from the survey, but also they will talk about it at the two meetings in July.

Mayor Dawson returned to Item 13.A.1:

1. Resolution 2024-22 Adopting the Proposed Budget/Workplan; Appropriating Revenue And Expenses; Confirming The City’s Investment Policy; Determining The Appropriation Limit For Fiscal Year 2024-25; Determining Fees For All City Services And Authorizing Transfers And Expenditures Including the 2024 Capital Improvement Program And Related CEQA Findings
Recommendation: Discuss and continue to June 24th for adoption of Resolution 2024-22.

Mayor Dawson said the staff recommendation is to adopt Resolution 2024-22 for the budget which is applying the ARPA funds, and she asked for discussion.

ACTION: It was M/S/C (Anduri/Candell) to apply the $1.99 million in ARPA funds to the FY 2024-25 budget with the idea it will be committed by the end of 2024. Roll Call Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Dawson, Kwok, Anduri, Candell and McCormick; Noes: None)
Ms. Robinson said there is something that needs to be updated in the Parkland Fees. They are not in the budget, so if the Council is going to adopt the Budget this evening, she would like to do it with the caveat she updates those fees so they can take effect July 1st.

Vice Mayor Kwok asked if the Council is going to discuss and continue the item to June 24th for adoption of Resolution 2024-22. Ms. Robinson said yes, but if the Council wanted to adopt the Budget tonight, she wanted to do it with the caveat that she can make the changes to the Parkland Fees next time.

Mayor Dawson asked for any discussion about the Budget as presented here.

Councilmember McCormick suggested the next thing they should talk about is to ensure they all agree on the non-funded requests. Then, the budget might stand on its own.

Mayor Dawson referred to page 11 and the $4 million cost for the Community Center HVAC system and boiler.

Councilmember McCormick said he thinks they just acknowledge that they are continuing the sinking fund and it is unfunded.

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Mayor Dawson referred to the $650,000 for the Buckeye Fields, $270,000 for the Buckeye Parking Lot, and the Community Park Parking Lot, the $200,000 for raising the Campana Building.

Councilmember McCormick said it indicates “safety” concerns, and he asked if the City has any liability issues or worried about kids breaking into the building or others.

Mr. Moran replied all of the above. There could be squatters in the building. They were asked to board up the building so people would not try and go up the dilapidated staircase on the outside of the building.

They met with the County Building Department and they went over some things they could do short-term.

But, longer term, he would suggest demolishing the building, get it raised, and even longer term if the City was to keep that property it would be more marketable as a lot than it is as the property with the current building.

Councilmember McCormick said this just talks about raising it for $200,000 and he asked if the City will do the short-term mitigation factors. Mr. Moran said they have done that, and they have not had any problems thus far and it could continue that way.

Councilmember Candell said they did have problems with Madisen Park before it got raised, and Mr.

Moran agreed and said there is a precedent around the corner and up the street.

Councilmember Anduri said he thinks this is a difficult one. In discussions with Tracy, he thinks they need to reconstitute the Property Subcommittee. They had been discussing this but have not continued that. If there is a strong recommendation not to do this, he is definitely open to it but he would suggest not putting this in but mark this for something to discuss in December once they know what happens with the vote, reconstitute the Property Subcommittee and discuss wider concerns with respect to that property and what can be done with it as opposed to spending the money now. If the recommendation is that it is really important to spend the money now, he is open to that.

Councilmember McCormick said if it was raised and made a parking lot, there is immediate public benefit out of it as well, so they get rid of a nuisance and potentially increased parking. Therefore, he would love to revisit this in December.

Mayor Dawson said if the sales revenue on the ballot does not pass, they will not have the money for this regardless. Councilmember McCormick said he is getting the sense they can go the status quo for a little bit longer, but this has to be done and it would require deeper cuts some other place.

Councilmember Anduri asked what $200,000 gives the City in terms of parking. They had this discussion about gravel, repaving, patching, and what happens to the electric utilities that go to the building. Mr.

Moran said those would have to be disconnected and there is a current portion of the property that has a tenant, so they must keep power to them in the secondary building. They would have to shut off the sewer, the electric and gas, and it would be a patchwork. It does not have to be a gravel parking lot. The intent would be that it would all be paved but not resurfaced and redone, and completely restriped. It would make it safe and more level. It would garner about 25 parking places in total, but they have not really done the design, and that is about right because he looked at just the square footage in the area for being paved some time ago for $200,000. He had quotes for demolition and talked to pavers and this is how he came up with the $200,000. That was several months ago, so it depends on if the City can get a good deal.

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Councilmember Candell said she would much rather raise this building now. Delaying it is just going to get more expensive. They have to do it. This is not one they can push beyond. She would rather do it now in good weather and get rid of it because they will have to do it. Maybe they could say, do not exceed $200,000 which means gravel, but she is much more amenable to see it torn down now because the City has to do it.

Mr. Moran said “now” might mean 7 or 8 months. It does not necessarily have to be a good weather project either. In fact, it may be less expensive in the winter. This is one of those projects he could piece together and try to work the best value possible and get some input from contractors.

Vice Mayor Kwok said staff indicated they received demolition bids for it. He asked if this is a building that was built before 1970. Mr. Moran said the City has the environmental survey now and what he received was initial guestimates from demolition contractors, but they all said the City will need the environmental assessment for lead, asbestos, etc. So, a big portion of the $200,000 is a specialty contractor and the hazardous waste component of eliminating that and disposing of it correctly and keeping the surroundings safe while they are doing the demolition.

Councilmember McCormick said they are about to say not to add any additional tasks and this is a new task. He asked what is the impact of adding this design work. Mr. Moran said fortunately it is not a big design. This could be a design build. Most of the demolition is getting bids for demo from an appropriate contractor that knows how to go through the environmental process and safe up the utilities and get the appropriate building permits that go with that. Then, they can safe up the parking lot that will be built in whatever fashion they can once they do the other removal. There is a large culvert that runs under that building and under that property. They are not excavating down 10 feet. This would be surficial and the City would safe it up. Some of the foundation may be left in place, but they would level it. He was not sure of all details, but they would just make due with the best they can and it is just a project the City would absorb. He is thinking this would be a project with some help from other staff.

Mayor Dawson asked and confirmed with Councilmember Anduri that since it is not going to get done right away, he would approve going ahead with it now and putting it in the budget.

Ms. Robinson said she wants to be mindful of cuts and said for no money right now they can direct staff to get a better bid, tie some things up and get a plan together to find out what it is going to cost. By the time they get that done, they are not at the end of their fiscal year yet. It is entirely possible they will end the fiscal year in a slightly better position than what she has estimated here. They may end up getting extra money in revenue because she has only estimated these things.

The City will probably save additional money not included here, so she thinks they can do upfront work for no money going forward and once they know how much it will cost, they will have ended the fiscal year, will have had revenues and costs, and if there is extra money available that will not affect the budget, they can put it in the budget later. It is entirely possible with the way costs have gone, that they find out that it is $400,000 and not $200,000. But, she thinks they could potentially find money for this if they let the fiscal year play out and do this later one, but direct staff to start doing the project with staff time rather than add any money to the budget right now.

Councilmember Candell asked Ms. Robinson what staff recommends doing for the rest of these. Ms.

Robinson said staff’s recommendation is not to fund any of the them unless the Council wants to take money out of the budget. If there is something on the list that is really important, the Council should balance it where it is now.

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Mayor Dawson continued down the list, stating there is $80,000 for the remote-controlled motor for weed abatement which is part of fire prevention. She heard this could be used across different departments, as well.

Mr. Katayanagi said he talked to Con Fire about this piece of equipment, as well as Lafayette Police Department. There are a couple of different models. Con Fire’s hand crew is looking at it themselves.

Caltrans uses it. In the parkland, they have the new Hamlin property that is a very steep hillside. They have had demos on this hillside from a couple of these units and it does the work of a crew of three people that would take them an hour, in 10-15 minutes on this steep hillside. It is a lot safer with an operator standing at the bottom. It has a number of safety features built into it, and it is having the right tool for the job.

When looking at the cost of goats and string trimming, it will pay for itself over time. Any residents that have large properties, he would encourage them to look at this as well. This equipment looks like the future and what it can do to make the community safer. If the City does find itself in a position where they can do this at some time, it is the right tool for the job.

Councilmember McCormick said if this is something that could come with some sort of grant. Mr.

Katayanagi said the first thing he did when they got the estimate and image was to send it to Townsend Public Affairs who is working with grants to let them know this is a piece of equipment the City is very interested in. John Cornell in the Police Department is aware of it as well as they are looking at grant opportunities. He spoke with Lamorinda CERT about it as it has come through. They are very excited about how much more they could accomplish with this equipment every year, so they are seeking any opportunity they can.

Councilmember Candell agreed, and asked if this equipment is available for residents to purchase. Mr.

Katayanagi said yes, there are equipment sales representatives that can show videos on U-Tube such as RC Mower, Tank Tracks that handle steep hillsides, smaller units with different types of wheels that works very well on the hillside and uses a wench to get up high. It is a mower so you have to know what you are doing and use it at the right time of the year. For the City it is an early and often piece of equipment where they can get to the grass while it is green. Right now, they have to wait until you are just on the edge to do weed abatement, and otherwise you must do it twice. When that is $27,000 to do the Hamlin property with the goats and you have to come back and do it twice, to have this piece of equipment would be great.

There is also fire risk and you have to have fire safety equipment while operating it.

Mayor Dawson said there is $48,000 for crossing guards, which is an addition to the $100,000 there is in the budget to share with the school district, and unknown funds. Staff’s recommendation is to not entertain these because if they do, they will need to look at the balance of the rest of the budget so they do not get further into a deficit. She asked if the Council wanted to go with staff’s recommendations or go by each one.

Councilmember McCormick said the City did receive a letter from the Superintendent about the $48,000, and he asked if they could discuss these one by one.

To remain in the unfunded list:
• Community Center HVAC and boiler,
• Patio at Buckeye Fields
• Buckeye parking lot and Community Park parking lot
• Campana Building
• Remote-controlled mower
City Council Meeting Page 32 of 36 June 10, 2024
Traffic calming requests for $50,000: Councilmember Anduri stated he thinks the City is really making progress with this. They have the new program in place to address the backlog and he suggested keeping the momentum going. Councilmember Candell asked and confirmed he would be willing to put this in now, but mark it as something to discuss in three weeks in July, and final numbers will be ready in August.

Ms. Robinson said if she could make a recommendation, she might suggest the Council wait until they have requests for funds and know how much it will be, and maybe develop a new policy where neighbors have to come up with some of the funds, as well. City Manager Srivatsa noted this was the consistent policy for a number of years where the City would pay 50% and the neighborhood would pay 50%. Mayor Dawson said she thinks this is fair and they can relook at this. Ms. Robinson also suggested doing them once a year so they are not trickling in. So, there is no need to do this now and they do not know what the TARs will be.

Councilmember McCormick said therefore, they can leave it unfunded as zero in the budget and they would deal with it in the future.

Councilmember Anduri said he thinks the deadline for submission is in October, and they will have a sense then. But, the Council adopted a program that did not call for neighborhood contributions and cannot change it for this year. People can turn in applications right now, and are doing so with the expectation the City will be paying for it.

Mayor Dawson suggested putting a caveat on that program because applications will come in by October, will be reviewed by January, and Ms. Srivatsa said the Council would need to adopt a policy because the City has been paying 100% of the costs. Staff can bring back something for the Council to adopt which tells the residents that if they want traffic calming, they will have to contribute 50%.

Ms. Robinson said also the City can address requests like painting and striping, but delineators are different, so they do not know until applications come in.

Crossing Guards: Councilmember Anduri asked what is the timing on this.

School Board Member Katy Foreman came to the podium and said they are approving this on Wednesday night and they may not know what the City’s contribution will be by that date.

Councilmember Anduri asked when does the school board need to know when the City is going to be providing this amount or not. They talked about waiting until later in the year, but he wondered if they will need to sign a contract in the next month or not and he asked how does this impact the school board’s decision.

Board Member Foreman said it would be better to hear now, but they put it on Wednesday night’s agenda not knowing what the City’s decision would be. Her sense is that the Board will make a decision about that contract regardless of what the City’s decision is on the $48,000. She imagines they only budgeted for the $100,000 contribution, and the school board is going through its own cuts right now, so the $48,000 is meaningful to them.

City Council Meeting Page 33 of 36 June 10, 2024
Councilmember Candell said if the Council puts this in tonight, she asked if something else will need to be taken off from the other part of the budget, or she asked if they will just reduce their reserves by $48,000.

Ms. Srivatsa said she thinks it can be accommodated and taken from unspent funds, like freezing of staff positions. Ideally, they would ask any additions made to the budget wait until the August date when Ms.

Robinson will have a firmer handle on the numbers. This does not mean the Council will definitely not approve this addition, but the school district may not receive any guarantees by Wednesday. She recognized that crossing guards, traffic calming, and Campana as being funded in the upcoming fiscal year.

If those things can wait, the City would have a better understanding in August once numbers are finalized.

Ms. Robinson said if the Council wishes to respond to the school district’s request, $48,000 is not going to make or break the budget, but it will be another $48,000 on top of $2 million. However, she cautioned the Council is in cutting mode and before the Council are many painful cuts and the Council is asking staff to go without staff they need to accomplish some of the tasks. So, if the question is whether it is the amount of dollars, the City could probably accommodate them but the question is that these are serious things coming down the pipe and trade-offs that will need to be made. This is giving money away in a way out of the City’s budget to another organization, so there are many things to consider around what that does in terms of the Council’s policy. So, it is not just the dollars.

Councilmember Candell said she completely understands that, but for her, this one is a shared safety responsibility for students that they have prioritized at the top of the City’s list for a couple of years now.

She is looking at it more as a policy decision and because it will not kill the budget, she is willing to make that leap and give them more comfort, so this one feels different to her.

Mayor Dawson said the Council discussed this last year when the school district came to the Council for an additional $40,000 over the $100,000 and they granted it noting it was a one-time increase. It is important looking at trade-offs. The school district has budget challenges but they also have other mechanisms to look at raising money to cover that. She did not think it was a lack of this being valuable and a priority for the City, but before the Council are cuts and it is similar to giving away money because they have core tasks to accomplish and Council priorities. Therefore, she could see waiting without automatically adding it right now.

Councilmember Anduri said he agrees with Councilmember Candell. When the Council discussed this last year, the basic understanding is the City would split it up to $100,000. Then it jumped above because of what happened with COVID. He knows the main reason they decided to do it was the shared responsibility and the history of what has happened in the last couple of years, and they felt this was important to do.

They said this is one-time only and they will discuss it, but he sees it as not much higher than what they did last time. He still feels the City has a joint obligation to keep kids safe and he is going back to what they said about letting the voters decide what will happen on this. He would be more in favor of putting it in, making sure kids are safe, and if they do not get the revenue, next year will be a different story. So, he would favor going ahead, putting it in, and if they do not have the additional revenue next year, it will be a different decision. So, he would vote for funding it.

Councilmember McCormick said his only point is it is difficult to have these kinds of conversations at 11:00 p.m. He would suggest doing it after the first of the year. They need a policy discussion. He would suggest they be involved in the negotiations for the crossing guard. It feels odd that they do not have any input at all and they are just given a bill. So, if they end up having this 50% limit the City will always match that they have some seat at the table. It is not fair to anyone to receive this number without any information on how it was arrived at, and the numbers will continue to increase.

City Council Meeting Page 34 of 36 June 10, 2024
Vice Mayor Kwok said they are already $2 million or more in the hole, so he does not feel they are in a position to be generous. They are already contributing $100,000 here and they will be disappointing people, whether it is the Chamber, seniors, or the school district. This one is a big hurt but they will need to disappoint many people and they will have to start recognizing they are already in a hole. If the public were to decide to raise more revenue in the fall, they would have more to spend, but now, they do not have that money and he does not feel comfortable going more into a hole no matter what the cost is because they do not have the money.

Mayor Dawson took a straw poll for moving the crossing guard funding increase into the budget. Ayes:

Anduri, Candell, and McCormick; Noes: Kwok and Dawson. She said with a 3-2 vote, the Council will move it over.

Mayor Dawson then moved onto the budget and confirmed with Ms. Robinson that the Council can adopt the Resolution, as amended, with the additional $48,000 for the crossing guard and with staff fixing the fees to ensure they match the most current fees.

Councilmember Anduri asked if it would be better to adopt at the next meeting so staff can return with updated fees and the crossing guard fees included.

Ms. Robinson said yes, the Council could continue the public hearing, approve the resolution and she can make the adjustments for a clean budget.

ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Kwok) to continue the public hearing to the next meeting with amendments noted to be made. Roll Call Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Dawson, Kwok, Anduri, Candell and McCormick; Noes: None)

14. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT
A. Minutes – May 28, 2024
Recommendation: Approve.

Vice Mayor Kwok made one correction and one clarification:
• Page 18 of 36, Councilmember McCormick asked if the Committee would comment on the speaker’s statement. The minutes state that Mr. Yoloye suggested to the committee that they not attempt to respond, but it was Mr. Chong that said that. The minutes should state, “Mr. Chong said that the committee would not rebut the AE COM individual statements.” • The next sentence should be changed: “Vice Mayor Kwok said he and Councilmember Anduri are the liaisons to EBMUD and he should mention that the City of Lafayette has had they have had a great relationship with EBMUD for many years.”
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Anduri/Candell) to adopt the Minutes of May 28, 2024, as amended. Roll Call Vote:
5-0 (Ayes: Dawson, Kwok, Anduri, Candell and McCormick; Noes: None)

15. COUNCIL/COMMISSION REPORTS
A. Councilmembers report on activities and consideration of matters a Councilmember wishes to initiate for placement on a future agenda.

City Council Meeting Page 35 of 36 June 10, 2024
Vice Mayor Kwok said one of the action items from the EBMUD discussion was that he and Councilmember Anduri meet with EBMUD Ward Director Luz Gomez. They met with her Friday, May 31st. Director Gomez joined the Board on April 9, 2024 and having met her on May 31st, it was less than 2 months into her term so they provided her a background from the City of Lafayette’s view on what has happened with this project with the tower and the committee. As their Ward 2 representative, they asked for her assistance in addressing this matter as the City’s representative.

They had a good discussion to explain the issues, and she said she heard them; that the Reservoir Tower is an important icon to the community in Lamorinda. She expressed she was open to meeting directly with the Community Technical Advisory Committee and has moved forward in scheduling a meeting on June 14th with members of the group. She hoped there would be further attempts to collaborate and achieve a solution satisfactory to all and he and Councilmember Anduri expressed that was the original intent of this project for a long time, but they were not able to get there and would still plan to move forward but if there was a chance to collaborate, they encouraged her.

Councilmember Anduri said the artwork by the Springhill Elementary School first graders is unbelievable in City Hall and asked if it could also be in the Library, as well. In the world of sports occurred, stating the U.S. is hosting the Cricket World Cup. Last week, the U.S. beat Pakistan. In every headline, it indicates the words “shocked” or “stunned” because that is an amazing accomplishment.

Mayor Dawson said she heard Councilmember Anduri state earlier that the Council may consider reconstituting the Property Committee, and she suggested this be agendized. She also noted they do not have a Council liaison to the EBRPD and this also should be considered on an agenda. She attended the Mayors’ Conference with City Manager Srivatsa on Thursday. They had a great presentation from the CCC Library. It was also brought up that ABAG is having their General Assembly. This morning, she was on a Zoom meeting and it is the 25th anniversary of a pipeline explosion in Bellingham, Washington, which she described. As a result, it killed three young boys just out of school and out of that came the Pipeline Safety Trust which worked with the federal government in creating many of the regulations to protect the public.

It was attended by the Chair of the NTSB and the Administrative Director of Pipeline Hazardous Material Group, and she noted it reminds her of the group of the Gas Safety Task Force and following up with PG&E given there are still outstanding questions. A few members met with PG&E and talked about updates. One of the things discussed was that some of the transmission line that runs through Lafayette will be declassified back to the distribution main, which raises a red flag and she would like to have this return on a future agenda and will work with the City Manager and PG&E.

Councilmember Anduri said after the Council heard from the representative of the Insurance Commissioner, he hade questioned when they could expect the regulations will go into effect so insurance companies can re-enter the market and write policies under the new regulations, and what is the earliest a homeowner could be insured. After not receiving any response, he emailed her and he received an email that did not answer the question. It stated they have no idea how long it will take for insurance companies to prepare their application, which is not the point. He re-emailed her and asked what is the date the regulations will be in place after filed. What they are left with and what they read about is in December, the new regime will go into effect, but he still wonders when homeowners can actually get insurance. So, he hopes she responds back by July 1st, and if not, he will follow-up again.

Mayor Dawson said Senator Glazer held a podcast where he interviewed Commissioner Lara and this was exactly the question she posed, so they are aware Lafayette is waiting for information about that. She encouraged the public to listen to the podcast as it gives more information on the work being done.

City Council Meeting Page 36 of 36 June 10, 2024
Mayor Dawson opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.

16. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS - None.

17. ADJOURNMENT – 11:16 in memory of 18-year-old Liam Gordon Wood and 10-year-old boys, Wade King and Stephen Tsiorvas, who lost their lives on June 10, 1999 when a fuel line ruptured in Bellingham, Washington.

APPROVED:
__________________________________
Gina M. Dawson, Mayor
ATTEST:
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Joanne Robbins, City Clerk