CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES
March 31, 2026
CALL TO ORDER & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IN HONOR OF THE US MILITARY TROOPS
2. Before we begin, we would like to acknowledge the Ohlone people, who are the traditional custodians of this land. We pay our respects to the Ohlone elders, past, present and future, who call this place, Ohlone Land, the land that Pinole sits upon, their home. We are proud to continue their tradition of coming together and growing as a community. We thank the Ohlone community for their stewardship and support, and we look forward to strengthening our ties as we continue our relationship of mutual respect and understanding.
ROLL CALL, CITY CLERK'S REPORT & STATEMENT OF CONFLICT
An official who has a conflict must, prior to consideration of the decision; (1) publicly identity in detail the financial interest that causes the conflict; (2) recuse himself/herself from discussing and voting on the matter; and (3) leave the room until after the decision has been made, Cal. Gov.
Code § 87105.
A. COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT
Anthony Tave, Mayor
Norma Martinez-Rubin, Council Member
Maureen Toms, Council Member
Cameron Sasai, Council Member
COUNCILMEMBERS ABSENT
Devin Murphy, Mayor Pro Tem
B. STAFF PRESENT
Garrett Evans, Interim City Manager
Alex Mog, Assistant City Attorney
Melissa Klawuhn, Police Chief
Justin Rogers, Commander, Pinole Police Department
Markisha Guillory, Finance Director
Fiona Epps, Communications Director
Keith Marks, Acting Community Development Director/Chief Building Official David Hanham, Planning Manager
Heba El-Guindy, Public Works Director
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
Andrea Dwyer, Community Services Director
Stacy Shell, Human Resources Director
Andrew Haber, Information Technology Manager
Roxane Stone, Deputy City Clerk
Deputy City Clerk Roxane Stone announced the agenda had been posted on Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 2:30 p.m. with all legally required written notices. No written comments had been received in advance of the meeting.
Following an inquiry, the Council reported there were no conflicts with any items on the agenda.
CITIZENS TO BE HEARD (Public Comments)
Citizens may speak under any item not listed on the Agenda. The time limit is 3 minutes and is subject to modification by the Mayor. Individuals may not share or offer time to another speaker.
Pursuant to provisions of the Brown Act, no action may be taken on a matter unless it is listed on the agenda, or unless certain emergency or special circumstances exist. The City Council may direct staff to investigate and/or schedule certain matters for consideration at a future Council meeting
Jennifer Horn read into the record an email/written comment received in opposition to an Elected Mayor as follows
Janet Wilks, Council, / voice my opposition to Agenda Item 10A Resolution Calling For Special Election And Submitting Question Regarding Office Of Elected Mayor To Voters. 1) The expense to place this question on the ballot is extraordinary in light of a) The current fiscal position of the City b) The condition of City roads c) The necessity of managing through another City Manager hiring process and d) the lack of contract with the City's Police Department. 2) The proposal is remarkably tone deaf when considering the protests of hundreds of thousands of people across our nation and the world that are clamoring against the consolidation of executive power and overreach of government. Is this really the time that you want a ballot measure proposing to consolidate executive power? Have you considered all the promised vocal opposition that will follow and that will shadow upcoming Council member elections? 3) Do you realize that any one of you who are not elected Mayor, should the issue pass, will be sorely diminished of power and impact? 4) A Council member's statement that the current structure of rotating the mayor position is "archaic" is a poor excuse for rational evaluation. Because a method has been used successfully for about 100 years does not inherently indicate that it is ineffective. Just the opposite, it's been working for a very long time. Is this proposed change for the sake of change alone? Is it intended to be a resume builder for aspiring politicians? Is it a power grab via consolidating executive power? There does not appear to be a compelling rationale for this proposed change. 5) Council members have been following the social media comments, so there should be awareness that there are more than 5,000 hits across the various comments and one or two comments support the proposal. Many many more express opposition. Is Council listening to the community voices? 6) Council was asked to move the agenda item to an earlier time to allow more Pinole residents to participate in the conversation. When Council addressed this issue in December, the issue was discussed until almost midnight. Council did not respond to the email request nor to the request posted on social media on a Council member's profile. The appearance here is that Council does NOT want to hear from the Pinole community.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
7) A Council member posted on NextDoor in December 2025 that this question will go on the June ballot. How could this be known several months ago? Is the outcome pre-determined? I urge Council to not put the question on the June ballot nor any ballot. Shift your attention to pressing matters: A. Hire a new City Manager B. Secure a contract with the City's Police Department C.
Fix the roads.
Richard Cossel commented that when he last appeared before the City Council he raised the issue of trash on the streets, which he understood had been generated by Amazon drivers tossing out food containers. After the meeting, there had been a marked reduction. He otherwise found the City had opened itself up to lawsuits and possible loss of federal funding and referenced the expense of $40,000 for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Consultant. He noted the Department of Justice (DOJ) reported it would restrict federal funding for cities that had discriminatory DEl policies, and there had been related lawsuits filed, which he highlighted Referencing the expenditure of $14,000 for the City's Pride event, Mr. Cossel stated while he had no issue with the City issuing permits for a Pride parade, he did have issues with the City funding the event. He reported the City and County of San Francisco did not fund their Pride parade from the General Fund since it opened it up to viewpoint discrimination. Actual lawsuits had been filed related to viewpoint discrimination and he again highlighted some of the cases. Since the City of Pinole provided funding for the Pride parade, he found the City opened itself up to potential groups requesting monies for their events, at taxpayers' expense. He asked the City Council to stop the waste, repair the roads, and highlighted his pothole theory of government poster.
Rafael Menis reported on the rate of COVID-19 near the City of Pinole and wastewater trends which continued to be flat and very low at all sites in Contra Costa County, and low in most sites in Alameda County, but there was one moderate and one high site near the Santa Clara County border. The overall risk of COVID-19 remained low as reported since March 21, 2026.
Mr. Menis otherwise thanked Recreation Manager Maria Picazo for her assistance during the No Kings rally on March 28, 2026, given there had been some site issues she had addressed. He also thanked the Public Works Department for its assistance. The rally had gone well, with one minor injury, with the event peaceful and he also expressed his appreciation to the Pinole Police Department (PPD) for ensuring no confrontations or issues. He added March 31, 2026 was National Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) and he requested the City Council recognize the date in the future, with more people who identified with a gender different than that assigned at birth. He identified himself as non-binary and suggested it would be worthwhile for the City to recognize the dead and the living while recognizing TDOV in the future. He requested the City Council adjourn the meeting in recognition of the living transgender members of the Pinole community.
William Horton opposed Measure D on the June 2, 2026 ballot for a directly Elected Mayor which would be a waste of $55,000 from the budget. No term limits had been specified for an Elected Mayor, which conflicted with Council members' term limits and there was a conflict of logic of the ublic's expectations since there was no limit to the Elected Mayor's salary, as described, which could be increased at any time by a vote of the City Council. He urged a no vote on Measure D OLD BUSINESS: None
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
6 NEW BUSINESS
A. FY 2026/27 Budget Workshop. Action: Receive Report and Provide Direction (Markisha Guillory)
Interim City Manager Garrett Evans reported this was the first workshop for the 2026/27 budget.
He planned to bring a balanced budget to the City Council and the community, which was his core mission as City Manager. He planned to provide a budget plan to the City Council to ensure the budget was balanced moving forward. Over the next month, the budget would be modified from what was being presented during the workshop, based on guidance and suggestions from the City Council and feedback from the public.
Interim City Manager Evans explained that City staff would make presentations from each City Department and touch on high-level accomplishments and goals. The City Council would be free the city estini wouple asked to pros andrea on city state was rate poet are re preparing the budget and for their continued work over the next few months on the budget Finance Director Markisha Guillory recommended the City Council receive the presentations from the City Departments on the Preliminary Baseline Operating Budgets for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026/27 and provide direction to staff. At this time, she provided a PowerPoint presentation for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026/27 Budget Workshop, which included a general overview of what would be presented by the various City Departments including key dates of the budget cycle; Preliminary Long-Term Financial Forecast; budget pressures; budget highlights; Citywide staffing; key revenue assumptions; property and sales tax breakdowns; General Fund Preliminary Revenue Budget; key expenditure assumptions; General Fund Preliminary Expenditure Budget; General Fund Professional & Administrative Services and a General Fund Total Preliminary Budget Summary.
Assistant City Attorney Alex Mog provided an overview of the City Attorney's Office, and highlighted the City Attorney mission and staffing; and City Attorney FY 2025/26 accomplishments; FY 2026/27 goals and total budget summary.
Deputy City Clerk Stone presented an overview of the City Clerk's Department and highlighted the City Clerk's mission; FY 2025/26 accomplishments and staffing; and FY 2026/27 goals; Expenditure Budget Summary; Professional & Administrative Services budget and total budget summary.
Interim City Manager Evans presented an overview of the City Council budget including the FY 2026/27 General Fund Budget Summary; Professional & Administrative Services and a Total Budget Summary. He also presented an overview of the City Manager's budget including the City Manager mission; FY 2025/26 accomplishments and staffing; and FY 2026/27 goals; anticipated opportunities; anticipated challenges; expenditure budget summary; Professional & Administrative Services and total budget summary.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
Andrew Haber, Information Technology (IT) Manager and Communications Director Fiona Epps presented an overview of the IT Department and highlighted the IT mission; FY 2025/26 accomplishments and staffing; and FY 2026/27 goals; anticipated opportunities; anticipated challenges; expenditure budget summary; Professional & Administrative Services; Consulting Trends (Professional & Administrative) and total budget summary.
Communications Director Epps presented an overview of Pinole Community Television (PCTV) and highlighted the PCTV mission; FY 2025/26 accomplishments and staffing; and FY 2026/27 goals; anticipated opportunities; anticipated challenges; expenditure budget summary; Professional & Administrative Services and total budget summary.
Acting Community Development Director/Chief Building Official Keith Marks and Planning Manager David Hanham provided an overview of the Community Development Department and highlighted the mission of the Community Development Department; FY 2025/26 accomplishments and staffing; and FY 2026/27 goals; anticipated opportunities; anticipated challenges; expenditure budget summary; General Fund Professional & Administrative Services; Building & Planning Professional & Administrative Services; General Fund total budget summary and total budget summary.
Community Services Director Andrea Dwyer provided an overview of the Community Services Department and highlighted the mission of the Community Services Department; FY 2025/26 accomplishments and staffing; and FY 2026/27 goals; anticipated opportunities; anticipated challenges; expenditure budget summary; Professional & Administrative Services General Fund and Recreation Fund and total budget summary.
Finance Director Guillory provided an overview of the Finance Department and highlighted the mission of the Finance Department; FY 2025/26 accomplishments; and FY 2026/27 goals; staffing; budget summary; Professional & Administrative Services and total budget summary.
Human Resources Director Stacy Shell provided an overview of the Human Resources Department and highlighted the mission of the Human Resources Department; FY 2025/26 accomplishments and staffing; and FY 2026/27 goals; anticipated challenges and opportunities; expenditure budget summary; Professional & Administrative Services and total budget summary.
Police Chief Melissa Klawuhn and Commander Justin Rogers provided an overview of the PPD and highlighted the mission of the PPD; FY 2025/26 accomplishments and staffing; and FY 2026/27 goals; anticipated opportunities and challenges; expenditure budget summary; Professional & Administrative Services and total budget summary.
Interim City Manager Evans provided an overview of the Public Works Department and highlighted the mission statement for the Public Works Department; FY 2025/26 accomplishments and staffing; and FY 2026/27 goals; anticipated opportunities and challenges; budget summary; Professional & Administrative Services and total budget summary.
A recap of the Preliminary Long-Term Financial Forecast (LTFF) was also provided, with Interim City Manager Evans to work with the City Council in any form, whether through an Ad Hoc Committee or otherwise, to develop what he described as a "yellow brick road plan" identifying cuts or revenues to ensure a balanced budget
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
Interim City Manager Evans offered examples where deficits could be identified to minimize the use of one-time funds, which he hoped to discuss further with the City Council at a future meeting.
In terms of next steps, staff would continue to refine the budget throughout the development process in order to prepare a structurally balanced budget. The Preliminary Proposed FY 2026/27 Operating and Capital Budget was scheduled to be presented to the City Council on May 5, 2026.
Responding to questions from the City Council, on each of the City Department presentations, as they were presented, City staff present clarified the following:
• The PowerPoint presentation would be made available to the City Council and the public. (Toms)
• If the City did not account for the $3.4 million that would be transferred-in to balance the budget, the current budget gap of $909,000 would be added to the $3.4 million total, and the budget gap would be $4.3 million. (Martinez-Rubin)
• Compliance with Senate Bill (SB) 707, open meetings: meeting and teleconference requirements, was currently being worked on by the City Clerk. It was anticipated a report would be presented to the City Council soon at a future meeting. (Sasai) • An increase in expenditures for software subscriptions and equipment at $20,000, as shown for the IT Department for this fiscal year, was clarified. Staff identified the trend of increases in software subscriptions by at least five percent each year for existing subscriptions, which may be due to the procurement of new software and examples were provided. The $20,000 increase was about the same as in previous years. The firewall replacement and fiber evaluation costs over $100,000 for both combined included a five- year subscription for the firewall replacement. The costs for the fiber evaluation were for an initial evaluation. While one, three or five-year licenses were available for the firewall, a better deal was a five-year subscription upfront. (Sasai) • Strengthening cyber security had been identified as one of the IT Department goals for FY 2026/27. Staff acknowledged specific steps would be taken but could not be detailed at this time. (Sasai)
• For the IT Department the City was required to have some network on-site and in terms of cloud storage it would depend on the backup strategy. There had been dramatic cost increases with on-site cloud storage due to global demand. Staff acknowledged a request for a cost benefit analysis to having cloud-based storage. Staff clarified most new software that was being procured was not hosted on the premises which involved most of the cloud storage costs. (Mayor Tave)
• With respect to compliance with SB 707, staff had good conversations with a neighboring city that had done a great job with limited resources since COVID-19 putting together public meetings. Staff was preparing a proposal to submit to that city within the next couple of weeks, to provide meeting production services, which would help that city comply with SB 707, although that had not been accounted for in the revenue for PCTV at this time. (Mayor Tave)
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
• Staff did not have a figure of how much small cities were missing when not collecting fees from Internet services such as Netflix and other services that people used, which was a nationwide problem, where many if not all community centers and Public, Educational, and Government (PEG) stations were experiencing reductions in revenue. Staff recently joined the Alliance for Community Media, a policy committee, to discuss what type of legislation could be considered collectively to try to make some change and identify other forms of revenue where a fee could be imposed on larger corporations, with examples provided. Currently, a national bill had moved through to a technology committee and this was an issue that varied state to state. There was strong support in the State of California to look at options and there were lobbying groups already doing work. Acknowledged a request for the City Council to be kept up to date on any pending legislation on this topic. (Sasai)
• The revenues as shown for the Community Development Department equated to grant revenue received over the past year and carryover into following years as well as the collection of new fees internally for building and planning. More cost recovery had resulted in an increase in revenue. Staff clarified the total budget summary for the Community Development Department and the net operating results of $747,340 for the preliminary budget for 2026/27, as shown in the PowerPoint presentation, appeared to be a surplus, and should only be seen for one year. (Mayor Tave)
• The Community Services Department provided a number of programs and events for free and the Department operated 13 parks and seven facilities. As part of the most recent Master Fee Schedule Update, a cost analysis had been completed which separated senior services from facility rentals. While free services and events did not bring in any revenue to the City, it was hoped through the use of the City's wonderful parks, people would be interested in booking a facility for a birthday party or other events, as examples. The City's facility rentals were the most cost effective, did not require minimal staff and was a dollar amount that did not require as much needed revenue as generated. Currently, and behind the scenes, a budget exercise had been done by staff to separate that a bit better. Around two years ago, and prior to the current Community Services Director's arrival, some classes such as Zoomba had been revenue generated in the Senior Center, but that needed to be separated out as a contracted class, which would show a better cost recovery for those programs and services.
Staff had worked with the Finance team to delineate those services to see those recoveries, which was part of the cost recovery model to be put forward for every program.
Facility rentals produced the most revenue and youth programs produced slightly less.
The high-impact programs included the more popular programs such as the aquatic programs, new programs for contract classes for younger people and summer camps. (Martinez-Rubin)
• In some cases, for the high-impact programs, secondary classes may be offered to expand registration. Staff was rethinking how to use underutilized facilities, such as opening up contract classes that would not require additional staffing but would fill the Senior Center, as an example, with people and services or activities at times when other programs were not being offered. (Martinez-Rubin)
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
• Available data was used when offering services from the Community Services Department. As an example, Rec and Roll, was an e-newsletter for recreation programs and services and staff planned to prepare an Activity Guide for this year. Staff also clarified the Master Plan for the Community Services Department had touched on ages and demographics, with the best feedback on what services the community desired to be provided, based on responses from surveys provided to the public and feedback from tabling at community events. (Mayor Tave)
• The Community Services Department provided employment opportunities for part-time staff ages 16 and above, and many high school students worked for the Department now.
Information on hiring was provided at job fairs and made available to local high schools. (Mayor Tave)
• Acknowledged a request to determine the line between charging departments for some department services versus others, with staff clarifying if considering Information System (IS) charges that fell under the interdepartmental category, as an example, and were considered internal service changes for IT services. As another example, IT did not generate revenue and was an internal service department, with all revenue the IT Department received coming from other City Departments. Based on the IT systems and various departments, staff time and the like, all of those costs were applicated back out to other departments, making up an interdepartmental charge. PCTV was different, was an enterprise and operated almost like a business. It was a small enterprise as compared to the Wastewater Treatment Plant, but it generated funding from outside/external sources as well as charging the internal departments for the use of PCTV based on usage. If a City Department did not use PCTV, it would not pay for it. Everyone used IT as an internal service, and so every Department was allocated that charge. (Toms) The larger City Departments required the majority of time from the Human Resources Department, particularly for filling vacant positions. Most recently, the PPD required the majority of the Department's time, followed by the Departments of Public Works, Community Services and thereafter Community Development. (Martinez-Rubin) • The radios desired to be replaced for the PPD, as shown in the FY 2026/27 list of anticipated challenges, consisted of Motorola units used by the East Bay Regional Communications System Authority (EBRCSA). (Toms)
• Milo, the PPD canine, supported full time employees (FTEs) as a therapy canine. The PPD had a canine budget and paid for training, food and veterinary costs. The costs also included a second canine as part of ongoing canine costs for Opioid detection and staff could get back to the City Council with details related to the actual line item; $20,000 had been budgeted for the PPD canine program. Staff clarified the Opioid Settlement funds were one-time funds, and would be used to purchase and train the canine and the vehicle that would be used to transport the canine. Ongoing costs included food, veterinary care and ongoing training after the one-time fees were used. (Martinez-Rubin) • Acknowledged appreciation for staff exploring the lease model for the PPD fleet. The PPD vehicle and maintenance budget was $72,000.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
• Staff clarified if the PPD were to lease 50 percent of its fleet, it would still have to provide maintenance for the other 50 percent of the fleet not included in a lease program. The PPD was currently looking at a five-year leasing program and it was clarified the PPD consistently went over the $72,000 budget for vehicle maintenance currently due to the age of the vehicles. Acknowledged a suggestion to consider a buy-back option for the fleet. (Mayor Tave)
• The Finance Subcommittee would review an analysis of the current costs for the PPD fleet versus the five-year projections and other programs and would weigh-in before making a recommendation to the full City Council. (Mayor Tave)
• Interviews had been scheduled for April 2, 2026 for a Capital Improvement Program Manager. This recruitment had been ongoing for over a year but staff currently had good candidates. A separate interview had been scheduled for the Associate Engineer position on April, 7, 2026. Through the use of some salary savings, staff had been able to publish the two positions earlier in the year in professional publications, there was a good pool of candidates and staff was hopeful the positions would be filled soon. (Toms) The capital outlay improvements for the Public Works Department, as shown in the Public Works FY 2026/27 Budget Summary and which totaled $1,390,000, was broken down to $425,000 for parks, $105,000 for sidewalks, $590,000 for streets and $270,000 for storm drains. The Wastewater Treatment Plant was funded by the Enterprise Fund divided by the cities of Hercules and Pinole. The total for the Capital Outlay Improvements did not include those expenses. (Martinez-Rubin)
• Project details for the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) would be provided for the individual projects as part of a future presentation. Staff recently applied for Strategic Management Planning Program (STMP) funds and a California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) Grant, and software investments. Staff had been very aggressive applying for grant funds and had secured Highway Bridge Program funds from Caltrans for the San Pablo Avenue Bridge Replacement. The vast majority of CIP projects were grant funded. (Martinez-Rubin) • Whether the City was relying on grant opportunities as one-time funding sources, staff emphasized grants had been effective for the City in pursuing larger-scaled projects. As an example, the Tennent Avenue Bay Trail Gap Closure, the Highway Safety Improvements to be implemented on San Pablo Avenue and Pinole Valley Road and the San Pablo Avenue Bridge Replacement were projects the City would otherwise not be able to fund absent grants. (Martinez-Rubin)
As part of the establishment of the Five-Year CIP that started last year, a number of projects with general upgrades had been added for street lighting, signals, signing and striping, annual programs funded by measure funds and development impact fees, and the projects would consistently and annually be subject to funding opportunities. Also, Vehicle Impact Fees (VIFs) could assist the City in pursuing additional road projects. As an example, a project to be posted on April 9, 2026, for the Pavement Rehabilitation Project was slightly over $3 million. A consultant was assisting staff in preparing the standard plans and specifications with the packet almost ready to be posted, with the project mostly funded through SB 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31. 2026
• The City had a lot of SB 1 funds and would be able to supplement the Pavement Rehabilitation Project as it progressed over the years. Staff also planned to pursue state funds for pavement improvements in the next round. Caltrans funded another city for improvements on San Pablo Avenue, and staff planned to apply to Caltrans to continue those improvements through Pinole While grant funds were one-time funds, they were a good source for pursuing larger-scaled projects. (Martinez-Rubin) • Acknowledged appreciation for the effort to hopefully fill the positions of Capital Improvement Program Manager and Associate Engineer. Acknowledged the concern staff may be relying on receiving grants too much and when the budget returned staff was asked to provide more information on the "middle work" to be done and when the grants hit there would be a surge in work. (Mayor Tave)
• As to whether the City was investing enough in preventative maintenance, staff explained that the City had been divided into five zones during the five-year CIP period. Public Works was currently completing sign replacement and in the next couple of weeks hoped to conduct pothole work in Zone 1. All of this work was proactive work before conditions further deteriorated. In addition, street lighting had been tested, with all damaged luminaires replaced, although additional lights were not being installed due to limited funding. Signage and striping plans were also being improved. During this fiscal year, staff would present a request for City Council consideration either at a meeting in April or May, for the replacement of two patrol vehicles for the PPD, purchase of a flat-bed truck for pavement markings and additional equipment for the maintenance of the soccer fields and other parks, which would save significant manpower for such activities, and allow the ability of using the technical expertise of staff in performing other maintenance needs that would be preventative. (Martinez-Rubin)
PUBLIC COMMENTS OPENED
Rafael Menis commented the public had been unable to obtain the agenda packet prior to the meeting. Since this was a workshop, he requested a time extension from the Mayor to address several questions he had on the presentation.
Mayor Tave agreed to extend the public comment given the extensive presentation.
Mr. Menis provided the following comments on the budget:
shown a decrease in interdepartmental charges from $292,600 to $248, 180, from the FY 2025/26 adopted budget to the FY 2026/27 preliminary proposed budget, and asked staff to expand on the difference.
comparison of Professional & Administrative Services, it had been flat from the current year to the FY 2026/27 preliminary proposed budget, but looking at the total budget summary on Page 31, there was an increase of about $110,000 in total expenditures from the FY 2025/26 adopted budget to the FY 2026/27 preliminary proposed budget, and asked for more detail on the cause for the increase.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
- Page 34, City Council, Professional & Administrative Services, noted a spike of about $8,000 in costs for this year and also in the current year adopted budget for Professional and Technical Services for subcategory 421, and a split of the additional $37,000 roughly in travel costs between the various Council members, and asked for clarification.
- Page 44, the City Manager's Department had shown an increase in dues, administrative expenses, office, travel costs and professional and technical services expenses and while some of that had been addressed in the prior page (Page 43, the mostly for the new City Manager recruitment process. As to the office expenses costs, asked if the decrease in the FY 2025/26 budget was due to the Acting/Interim City Manager, or other causes, since compared to other years, $22,000 was more meeting costs, which was higher than prior years when there was a fully staffed City Manager. Asked about the costs allocations assuming they were relatively low cost in the current year due to the Acting/Interim City Manager not triggering most of those costs.
- With respect to dues, publications and advertising, as a cross comparison, in FY 2024/25 it was $765 and in FY 2026/27 it would be $4,275, and in the preliminary proposed budget for that item he was uncertain whether some was allocated out for the recruitment process or whether there were new dues that had not been charged in prior years; and administrative expenses he assumed would be roughly the same for the current year to date, relatively less due to the preliminary budget being somewhat more, and was curious about the FY 2024/25 charge on administrative expenses.
- Page 53, for the IT Department FY 2026/27 expenditure budget summary, commented on the way the page had been formatted, with a green colored box around Professional & Administrative Services. Was unsure whether that was intended or was a formatting glitch or intended to indicate some particular costs that were worth highlighting. For the expenditure budget summary, noted in a lot of other departments there was Information System (IS) charges it was assumed would ordinarily show up on that page, but if going to the Community Services expenditure budget on Page 84, the IS charges were shown at $68,000 and as a positive charge. - In the IT Department the IS charges were shown as a positive charge, but Page 56 nad shown the total reimbursements versus total expenditures being canceled out Asked if it was just because this was the expenditure budget that the IS charges were noted differently, questioned whether it was a formatting thing since the total expenditure budget was less than the interdepartmental charges listed on Page 53, and it seemed as if something was missing, whether formatting or the ways the various numbers added up and needed to be clarified.
- Page 64, for the PCTV Department, the expenditure budget summary for FY 2026/27 had shown the same formatting concern as with the IT Department and noted the breakouts for basically subitems were in different colors and were formatted differently.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
- Noted the utility costs for PCTV were substantial given the nature of the broadcasting and the costs inherent in that as compared to other City departments that were much larger in terms of salaries and wages with lower electricity costs. - Page 65, again commented on the formatting issue with the use of green colored boxes.
- Page 66, the Communications Director noted most of the contract cancellation happened three to five years ago, with revenues from external sources, as noted, as $210,000 in FY 2023/24 and then it dropped to $125,000 in FY 2024/25, and $115,000 in the adopted budget, and shown as the adopted budget and not the year to date actual, as seen sometimes in this column. The preliminary budget had shown $85,000, with an ongoing decline in external sources, which was a point of concern and worth highlighting for City Council consideration.
- For the Community Development Department, the expenditures category for Professional Services had shown a charge of about $1 million for grants/cost recovery contracts. Asked whether the charges were paid to implement the grants which were also offset by the grants, or whether the charges were paid to the grant seeking contractor and the line item should be clarified. Noted the administrative credits had shown a chunk of administrative credits and asked what categories fell under administrative credits for the Community Development Department. - Page 76, there was an increase overall in the Community Development General Fund revenues with a shift from FY 2024/25 to the FY 2025/26 adopted budget, which was due to the Master Fee Study to go along with the increase in expenditures, but there was anticipated increases in revenues about a third in the current year's preliminary budget and a decrease in anticipated expenditures, and asked for more detail.
Administrative Services subsegment, and while he knew on the revenue side of that they were not listing that other than the General Fund total budget summary.
On Page 77, it had shown the revenues and asked if the City actually anticipated getting contract completion revenues since there were various court rulings where the City could not get certain forward-facing revenues before actual Certificates of Occupancy (COO) were issued. Questioned whether it was anticipated the $3 million those various ulstanding coats the Cry had already incurred on tel. Asked wires fer it would be possible to have a third page since it looked like if parsing the information properly, the General Fund total budget summary was separate from the Community Development total budget summary, but the Community Development total budget summary was not including the General Fund summary but more ot a subsegment looking at the building and planning fee-based supports. Asked if it would it possible to have net operating results combining both the General Fund and the building anc planning fund budget summaries, for a cross comparison of the two more directly.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
- Page 82, for Community Services, commented on the increased revenue through facility rentals and noted as someone who recently rented a City facility, asked if that bullet point item also included the City considering the rules around facility rentals and the limitations on the certain types of rentals that could be implemented based on those rules, and the variables in those rule implementations for facility rentals versus City funded events. Noted the gazebo at Fernandez Park had numerous outlets and seemed to be designed for providing amplified sound, although the City banned all amplified sound in facility rentals and parks at the present time. - Page 84, for Community Services, noted the property taxes listing which was not seen for the other expenditure budget summaries and asked if that was because of the segments of property tax the City owed to the other taxing agencies for the segments of land that the City owned itself, or for some other reason. - Page 86, for Community Services, the Professional and Technical Services had shown an increase of about $37,000 from the current fiscal year budget, which was not directly addressed during the presentation, and asked for a follow-up.
for the Community Services Department as a whole which leveled off after that to about $520,576. Asked for more detail of the cause of that spike in revenues and to the extent that was replicable or not in future years.
- Page 93, for the Finance Department, commented on the decreases in several categories of about $40,000 in Professional and Technical Services, about $1,000 in office expenses and an increase of about $2,000 in travel training and meeting costs, and a decrease of about $10,000 in administrative expenses. Asked for more information on the increase in the travel and training and meeting costs and the decrease in Professional and Technical Services.
and Technical Services costs of about $31,000 and increase in dues, publications and advertising from $700 to $2,200, and asked of the causes.
the PPD and asked for more detail as to what generated those credits, whether it was PPD services provided to the Community Services, Public Works Departments or other reason to cause the administrative credits to be generated, since they were not seen as often in the various other expenditure budget summaries. - Page 115 for the Public Works Department, as to the FY 2025/26 accomplishments, specifically the replacement of stormwater and sewer projects including the Delores Court stormwater pipe, the Pinion-Orleans sewer lines and associated road repairs and Fernandez Park sewer lateral, noted there was some rain today, with some wate gathering along some of the repair points that was highlighted for staff, and while it may be default settlement, it could be a potential pothole issue that Public Works should review.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31. 2026
- As to ADA compliant curb ramps and public safety throughout the City, commented today he had noticed someone driving a motorized wheelchair going the wrong direction down the street in part of a segment that did not have a sidewalk between the edge of the roadway, and the individual was driving semi-in the street to move through the area, which was potentially an issue with that sidewalk gap, and wanted to bring it to the City's attention.
understood the City Manager had requested $1 million extra on top of the effective $4 million deficit to fund road improvements and wondered whether that would be allocated primarily to the highest need road improvements to getting through the segments of roadway the City was working on in Regions 1 through 5 more quickly, to address incidental challenges and to try to deal with arterial conditions, since San Pablo Avenue continued to deteriorate and was more noticeable during the rain and road decay in the Pinon/Appian Way intersection in the north facing region and potholes develong no hat area.
Financial uncertainties were highlighted and the effective inflation, tariffs and other factors in rising construction costs, including materials and transportation costs and regulatory changes on the federal level. It was important for the City Council and the public to be aware that partisan actions taken at the federal level could have an impact on the costs that the City faced both directly and indirectly.
of $2.15 million, asked about the cause for those credits and asked for more detail on the substantial administrative credits for that segment and wondered whether under third party contracts any of that linked into the facilities and equipment maintenance, or whether that was entirely in-house for the Public Works Department. - Page 123, Preliminary LTFF Recap, had shown the current plan for the Section 115 Trust to go down to nil by FY 2029/30 and having the new revenue cuts to offset the increasing structural surplus/deficit, but was unsure of FY 2026B and FY 2027F, and when they were looking at the FY 2026/27 budget, how that was split within this report, whether it would be calculating half of the FY 2027F structural surplus/deficit, as in FY 2026B or whether it was FY 2027F or the FY 2027/28 fiscal year. Asked for clarification, how all of that was broken out since it was currently unclear. If the City wanted to have the Section 115 Trust be more sustainable, asked what level of revenue cuts would be required and offered examples. At present, it looked as if the plan was not to do cost shifting away from the Section 115 Trust, the plan was to continue the current segment for draw down of the Section 115 Trust to zero by the end of FY 2029/30.
PUBLIC COMMENTS CLOSED
In response to Council member Martinez-Rubin, Finance Director Guillory clarified the reference to FY 2026B or FY 2027F, in the Preliminary LTFF as an example, B stood for budget and F for forecast.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
Council member Martinez-Rubin verified with the Interim City Manager that his reference to eight percent growth was year over year. She understood that eight percent growth had come from the numbers in the Preliminary LTFF based on a forecasting tool, and based on what was known today, and commented there was a projected increase from today to the next fiscal year of five percent expenditures and operations overall and nine percent increase in pension and other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB), five percent in professional services, etc. She asked where the eight percent year over year had come from and understood the numbers had been calculated and used in the Preliminary LTFF, but asked why the eight percent was used and not something different.
Interim City Manager Evans explained that the eight percent had come from the data received from the County for the increase in the past year for projecting the next year. In future models, a column of assumed growth percentage could be added and identified with a tab. In certain cases, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) provided projections over the next several years, which could be different from health increases, which since 1960 had been
8.1 percent. All of that and the salary area could be labeled if there was an assumption of one, two or three percent growth in salaries, so it was clear to see those assumptions.
Finance Director Guillory further clarified the eight percent had been related to the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (CCCFPD) contract only, with the five percent overall, the net of increases and decreases of flat growth in various areas, which net out to an overall five percent increase in the General Fund.
Council member Martinez-Rubin understood the CCCFPD contract was one of the major cost drivers, which was why the eight percent was being used.
Finance Director Guillory clarified again the eight percent was only being used for that particular line item.
Council member Martinez-Rubin asked if everything was being captured since the projected percentages of increases in other areas of services varied, but overall, they were higher than the percentage of revenues projected.
Finance Director Guillory clarified for salaries and benefits there was a three percent increase, and it depended on the category. Overall, it netted out to a five percent increase in the total budget from the current fiscal year to the projected FY 2026/27. There were some areas where there was flat growth, or lower growth that was not at the eight percent. The CCCFPD contract made up a good portion of the professional and administrative services and drove that category up a bit but there were some areas where it was not growing at that same rate.
Council member Martinez-Rubin asked for confirmation or otherwise to inform the City Council and help the public understand the recurring revenues projected, whether or not they would be sufficient to cover projected expenditures in the long-term or five years from now.
Interim City Manager Evans commented there needed to be some course corrections and he would strongly suggest some course corrections or prioritization on some of the expenditures.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
Council member Martinez-Rubin also would like to have a visual to show the trend in the City's use of fund balance levels over the past five years since they had drawn from that, and the fund balance levels had been available over the past eight years since she had been on the City Council and there had not been a major expense and the money was saved and rolled over but had been dipped into and she wanted to see that information. Also, she would like to see a future discussion about how vulnerable the City budget was to economic downturns, which was the context in which the City was operating. Additionally, the next time the Department Heads provided a perspective whether spending patterns or projected expenditures for at least FY 2026/27, reflect what they had heard as the community's priorities in their respective departments.
Further, she had heard time and time again, the City's major fiscal risks and she noted the aging infrastructure was one, and she would like to know about the others, and whether the City had dedicated reserves for emergencies or disasters.
Council member Sasai thanked staff for working on the budget. He referenced the Interim City Manager's recommendation for two Ad Hoc Committees; one for infrastructure and transportation and the other helping with the process of drafting the budget as it goes through the process. He asked the Interim City Manager and Assistant City Attorney, whether a motion could be considered at this meeting.
Assistant City Attorney Mog advised direction could be provided whether to create an Ad Hoc Committee, which could be placed on a future agenda for creation.
Council member Sasai understood appointments to an Ad Hoc Committee, if established at the next City Council meeting, would occur at a subsequent City Council meeting.
Assistant City Attorney Mog clarified the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee and appointments to the Ad Hoc Committee could be considered at the same meeting, and it could be agendized in that way.
Council member Sasai looked forward to more discussion on the budget, and seeing how it would evolve over time in the next few months. He commented the City Council had adopted an amendment to the Reserve Policy in 2025. Previous City Councils had left the City Council a hefty Reserve Policy at 50 percent, well above what other localities have had, and there had been a pattern to cut where they could and backfill on the Reserve Fund, and decreasing it a few percentage points each year. For this year, the reserve was at 25 percent, and the City did not enjoy the same luxury as before, which needed to be kept in mind. He also looked forward to more conversations around the CCCFPD contract to see where it could be amended.
Council member Toms suggested it was important to have the CCCFPD contract under control.
There were several areas in Pinole that already had a distribution for the CCCFPD and they were paying them twice. She referred to the unincorporated areas of Montalvin Manor, Tara Hills and Bay View that Stations 73 and 74 were covering, and the CCCFPD was receiving a distribution of taxes to CCCFPD from those areas. It was important to work with the County officials that came up with the contract amount to see about getting that under control. Also, it was important to consider at the beginning of 2025, the City Council set priorities for the year, but that was not done for this year. She suggested the City Council had done a good job figuring out its priorities but had diverted away from them.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026
Council member Toms added that it was also important to look at the long-term health benefits for retirees, whether it could go to a two-tier system or what that looked like, which should be underway as soon as possible since the situation was not sustainable.
As to the Ad Hoc Committee, Council member Toms noted the Finance Subcommittee was comprised of the Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Treasurer, and it made sense to go through that subcommittee or a part of those people sitting on a subcommittee to go through the budget, and she would stress that she was looking at the budget for Community Development versus the City Council since the City Council's travel budget was four times the budget of the Community Development Department, which had ten employees who needed to keep up their credentials for building inspection, planning credentials and the like, and that needed to be kept in mind. She asked the Finance Subcommittee to really take a look at that travel budget.
Mayor Tave commented on the theory of modeling a budget on reductions. He was taking an approach of the baseline established by the City Departments, and considering the maximum that could be done for this year with the absolute minimum, with three data points: a three percent reduction, a six percent reduction and a ten percent reduction, and what that would look like. He asked staff to take that into consideration when evaluating all City Departments and what that would mean in terms of service. He was seeking a balance across each City Department while keeping the baseline in sight, and whatever could be done to balance out across all City Departments.
Mayor Tave was not saying a course correction was not in order but agreed the CCCFPD contract was a great place to start with the City on year three of the contract, and start thinking about negotiating and what the next five years may look like. He agreed there were some things that had changed over the past three years that needed to be included in the negotiation with the CCCFPD. He again asked staff to go back, take a look at the budget, and find out what those models would look like. He suggested this meeting offered a hard start on having these conversations.
7. ADJOURNMENT to the Regular City Council Meeting of April 7, 2026 in Remembrance of Amber Swartz.
At 8:38 p.m., Mayor Tave adjourned to a Regular City Council Meeting on April 7, 2026 in Remembrance of Amber Swartz.
Submitted by:
fewer
Heather Bell-Spears CMC
City Clerk
Approved by City Council: April 21, 2026
CITY OF PINOLE
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Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - March 31, 2026 +