PIEDMONT CITY COUNCIL
Special and Regular Meeting Minutes for Monday, June 6, 2022 Special and Regular Sessions of the Piedmont City Council were held on June 6, 2022, both in person and via teleconference, in accordance with the provisions of Government Code 54953. In accordance with Government Code Section 54957(b), the agenda for this meeting was posted for public inspection on June 2, 2022.
CALL TO ORDER Mayor Teddy Gray King called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.
ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Teddy Gray King, Vice Mayor Jennifer Cavenaugh, and Councilmembers Betsy Smegal Andersen, Jennifer Long, and Conna McCarthy Staff: City Administrator Sara Lillevand, City Attorney Michelle Marchetta Kenyon, Police Chief Jeremy Bowers, Fire Chief David Brannigan, Public Works Director Daniel Gonzales, Planning & Building Director Kevin Jackson, Recreation Director Chelle Putzer, and Assistant City Administrator / City Clerk John Tulloch
CONSENT CALENDAR The Consent Calendar consisted of the following items:
Minutes Approval of Council Meeting Minutes for the 05/16/2022 Special and Regular Meetings
Resolution for WHEREAS, on October 4, 2021, pursuant to the requirements of Government Teleconference Code Section 54953(e)(1)(B), the City Council passed Resolution 77-2021, Meetings which made the required findings to authorize the use of streamlined notice requirements for teleconference meetings for the City Council and all Commissions, Committees, or advisory bodies of the City of Piedmont; and WHEREAS, the gubernatorial declaration of a State of Emergency regarding the COVID-19 pandemic remains in place, and COVID-19 continues to threaten the health and lives of Piedmont residents and there is scientific consensus that variants of COVID-19 are highly transmissible in indoor settings; and WHEREAS, AB 361 requires that every thirty (30) days, the City to reconsider the circumstances of the emergency and review whether it continues to directly impact the ability of the members to meet safely in person, and the circumstances described in Resolution 77-2021 continue to persist; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Piedmont does hereby resolve, declare, determine, and order as follows:
SECTION 1. The above recitals are correct and are material to this Resolution and are incorporated into this Resolution as findings of the City Council.
SECTION 2. The City Council desires to continue to meet by teleconference in accordance with Government Code Section 54953(e).
SECTION 3. The City Council has reconsidered the findings made in Resolution 77-2021, and finds that:
(i) The state of emergency continues to directly impact the ability of the members to meet safely in person; and
(ii) State or local officials continue to impose or recommend measures to promote social distancing.
City Council Minutes
June 6, 2022
2 SECTION 4. The City Council reconfirms and incorporates the findings made in Resolution 77-2021 regarding the need for the Council and all Commissions, Committees, or advisory bodies of the City of Piedmont to meet by teleconference.
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Road Maintenance WHEREAS, Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), the Road Repair and Accountability Act Project Resolution of 2017 (Chapter 5, Statutes of 2017) was passed by the Legislature and Signed into law by the Governor in April 2017 to address the significant multi-modal transportation funding shortfalls statewide; and
WHEREAS, SB 1 includes accountability and transparency provisions that will ensure the residents of our City are aware of the projects proposed for funding in our community and which projects have been completed each fiscal year; and WHEREAS, the City must adopt by resolution a list of projects proposed to receive fiscal year funding from the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account (RMRA), created by SB 1, which must include a description and the location of each proposed project, a proposed schedule for the project’s completion, and the estimated useful life of the improvement; and WHEREAS, the City, will receive an estimated $250,000 in RMRA funding in Fiscal Year 2022-23 from SB 1; and
WHEREAS, this is the 6th year in which the City is receiving SB 1 funding and will enable the City to continue essential road maintenance and rehabilitation projects, safety improvements, repairing and replacing aging bridges, and increasing access and mobility options for the traveling public that would not have otherwise been possible without SB 1; and
WHEREAS, the City has undergone a public process to ensure public input into our community’s transportation priorities/the project list; and WHEREAS, the City used a Pavement Management System to develop the SB 1 project list to ensure revenues are being used on the most high-priority and costeffective projects that also meet the community’s priorities for transportation investment; and
WHEREAS, the funding from SB 1 will help the City maintain and rehabilitate eight streets/roads, and add active transportation infrastructure throughout the City this year and dozens of similar projects into the future; and WHEREAS, the 2020 California Statewide Local Streets and Roads Needs Assessment found that the City streets and roads are in “good” condition and this revenue will help us increase the overall quality of our road system and over the next decade will bring our streets and roads into a “good” to “very good” condition; and
WHEREAS, the SB 1 project list and overall investment in our local streets and roads infrastructure with a focus on basic maintenance and safety, investing in complete streets infrastructure, and using cutting-edge technology, materials and practices, will have significant positive co-benefits statewide.
NOW, THEREFORE IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, ORDERED AND FOUND by the City Council of the City of Piedmont, State of California, as follows:
City Council Minutes
June 6, 2022
3 The foregoing recitals are true and correct.
The following list of newly proposed projects will be funded in-part or solely with Fiscal Year 2022-23 Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account revenues:
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Park Commission RESOLVED, that the City Council appoints Sharon Shoshani to the Park & Public Safety Commission and Georgina Russell to the Public Safety Committee for terms Appointments ending March 31, 2024.
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These was no Public Testimony on the Consent Calendar.
Resolution No. 39-2022
RESOLVED, that the City Council approves the Consent Calendar as noted.
Moved by Cavenaugh, Seconded by McCarthy
Ayes: Andersen, Cavenaugh, King, Long, McCarthy
Noes: None
Absent: None
PUBLIC FORUM These was no Public Testimony received.
CEREMONIAL MATTERS Mayor King presented proclamations recognizing June 2022 as LGBTQ Pride Month as well as a proclamation recognizing June 2022 as Gun Safety Awareness Month in the City of Piedmont.
REGULAR AGENDA The Council considered the following items of regular business:
Agreement for IT Management Consultant, Tom Jakobsen, of Client First Consulting Group, Computer Support presented the City’s Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan Services implementation, technology plan since its January 2017 inception, initiative progress and budget summary, key project budget summary, 2021 project completions, the land management project (TRAKIT), a GIS project update, and additional planned projects. Furthermore, he presented the Computer Courage contract renewal history and one-year contract extension inclusions.
These was no Public Testimony on this item.
Resolution No. 40-2022
City Council Minutes
June 6, 2022
4 RESOLVED, that the City Council approves to move the fourth amendment to the City’s contract with Computer Courage for information technology support services that will extend the agreement by twelve months at an annual cost of $329,400 per year.
Moved by Andersen, Seconded by Long
Ayes: Andersen, Cavenaugh, King, Long, McCarthy
Noes: None
Absent: None
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Public Hearing on City Administrator Sara Lillevand presented the budget overview. She Proposed FY 2022-23 recognized that while the City continues to adjust to the surges of Proposed Budget COVID-19 variants, the short-term COVID-19 impact to the City budget has been minimal due to a stable revenue stream reliant on property related taxes with the exception to the recreation program and facility rental revenue, which have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Ms. Lillevand indicated that even with high inflation and rising interest rates, the real estate market is stable and transfer tax receipts are at record highs, yet volatile transfer tax revenue is a concern for future real estate demands. Furthermore, she summarized Piedmont’s historic guiding principles of basic services and core program delivery, careful and conservative budgeting, and mitigation efforts to safeguard the City’s financial position against rising pension and retiree medical costs.
Additionally, she reviewed Piedmont’s long-term fiscal health plan that continues to monitor pension and retiree medical costs, examine the alignment of staffing models to work products, and focus on significant infrastructure challenges. Ms. Lillevand noted the impact to City liabilities resulting from CALPERS investment performance, challenges related to saving funds, improvement expenditures, four areas of on-going attention: 6th Cycle Housing Element, equity and inclusion efforts, IT implementation, and sustainability initiatives, broadening the scope of work for City staff, and workload and workflow balance by way of human resource management.
Ms. Lillevand thanked the volunteers of the City of Piedmont, City Council, Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee, City management, and the City’s finance team.
Finance Director Michael Szczech presented the fiscal year 2021-22 update, current status of revenue projections and major variances, transfer tax by month, expenditures, budget appropriations after the budget adoption, and the General Fund recap. Furthermore, Mr. Szczech reviewed the 2022-23 proposed budget, General Fund overview, revenue recap, General Fund proposed revenues 2022- 23, property related tax and transfer tax history, year over year percentage change, recreation revenue and performance, Utility Users Taxes (UUT) and Franchise fees, building permits and planning fees and performance, business and sales taxes, other revenues, an expenditure recap, personnel costs, the projected pension expense for the next 10 years, operating costs, and nondepartmental costs. Additionally, he reviewed other funds, the recreation department cost recovery, street related funds, the equipment replacement fund, , the sewer fund five-year projection, the facilities maintenance and capital funds, and trust funds.
Budget Advisory & Financial Planning Committee (BAFP) Chair Deborah Leland shared the comments prepared by the BAFP after reviewing the financial projections prepared for the City’s annual budget and noted an excellent job planning for future costs, steps to quantify costs and allocate funds for aging facilities and infrastructure maintenance costs over the term, a high priority for City Council Minutes
June 6, 2022
5 further quantification and planning in the master plan for City facility capital projects, and a dependency on the municipal services parcel tax with a standard CPI adjustment each year for long-term financial health. Furthermore, she thanked Mr. Szczech and Ms. Lillevand for their work and providing excellent support to the BAFP.
The City Council discussed other sources of revenue, parcel tax, long-term infrastructure capital funding sources, a transfer tax increase, and the increasing workload on staff.
Mayor King opened the public hearing.
There was no Public Testimony.
Mayor King closed the public hearing.
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REPORTS AND Mayor King reminded residents to vote in the primary election on June 7, 2022 ANNOUNCEMENTS and thanked everyone who participated in the budget hearing.
Vice Mayor Cavenaugh announced the upcoming 50th Anniversary celebration of the signing of Title IX, which guarantees equal educational and athletic opportunities for women and thanked Mulberry’s Market for providing popsicles for the event, and announced t-shirt sales in support of the year-long commemoration.
Councilmember Andersen announced summer Recreation Department programming and the 4
th of July parade and Celebration in the Park event. She congratulated the graduates of Piedmont High School (PHS) and Millennium High School (MHS) and acknowledged former Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich for his talk about courage and gun violence at the PHS graduation ceremony.
Councilmember McCarthy noted the presentation to the Park Commission on current drought conditions by the East Bay Municipal Utility District, including an eight percent drought water use surcharge on water flow beginning July 1, 2022, a mandatory 10 percent water use reduction, and the reinstatement of the Excessive Use Penalty Ordinance. She extended a thank you and goodbye to Randy Booker.
Councilmember Long announced an upcoming virtual town hall on housing and a self-haul compost pilot program that will offer free compost pick up on Fridays throughout the summer months.
ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Mayor King adjourned the meeting at 8:04 p.m.