CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES
June 23, 2026
CALL TO ORDER & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IN HONOR OF THE US MILITARY TROOPS
The City Council Meeting was held in a hybrid format (in-person and via Zoom videoconference and broadcast) from the Pinole Council Chambers, 2131 Pear Street, Pinole, California. Mayor Tave called the Special Meeting of the City Council to order at 5:30 p.m. and led the Pledge of
2. LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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
Devin T. Murphy, Mayor Pro Tem
Norma Martinez-Rubin, Council Member
Maureen Toms, Council Member
COUNCILMEMBERS ABSENT
Cameron Sasai, Council Member
STAFF PRESENT
Garrett Evans, Interim City Manager
Heather Bell-Spears, City Clerk
Markisha Guillory, Finance Director
Roxane Stone, Deputy City Clerk
City Clerk Heather Bell-Spears announced the agenda had been posted on June 18, 2026 at 3:30 p.m. with all legally required written notices. No written comments had been received in advance of the meeting.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - June 23, 2026
Following an inquiry, the Council reported there were no conflicts with any items on the agenda.
CONVENE TO A CLOSED SESSION
A. CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
Gov. Code §54957.6
Agency designated representatives: Interim City Manager Garrett Evans, City Attorney Eric Casher, Human Resources Director Stacy Shell, Finance Director Markisha Guillory and Gregory Ramirez, IEDA
Employee organization: AFSCME Local 1, AFSCME Local 512, the Pinole Police Employees Association (PPEA), and the Management Compensation Plan (MCP).
PUBLIC COMMENTS OPENED
City Clerk Bell-Spears reported there were no comments from the public.
PUBLIC COMMENTS CLOSED
5. RECONVENE IN OPEN SESSION TO ANNOUNCE RESULTS OF CLOSED SESSION At 6:30 p.m., Mayor Tave reconvened the meeting into open session with all Council members present, with the exception of Council member Sasai who was absent. There was no reportable action from the Closed Session.
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.
City Clerk Bell-Spears reported there were no comments from the public.
CONSENT CALENDAR
All matters under the Consent Calendar are considered to be routine and noncontroversial. These items will be enacted by one motion and without discussion. If, however, any interested party or Council member(s) wishes to comment on an item, they may do so before action is taken on the Consent Calendar. Following comments, if a Council member wishes to discuss an item, it will be removed from the Consent Calendar and taken up in order after adoption of the Consent Calendar.
A. Fiscal Year (FY) 2026/27 Appropriations Limit. Action: Adopt Resolution per Staff Recommendation (Markisha Guillory)
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - June 23, 2026
Call Election for City Council Seats, Request Consolidation of the Pinole Municipal Election on November 3, 2026 with Contra Costa County, and Set Specifications of the Election Order. Action: Adopt Resolution per Staff Recommendation (Heather Bell-Spears)
Final Proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2026/27 Operating and Capital Budget. Action:
Adopt Resolution per Staff Recommendation (Markisha Guillory) Mayor Pro Tem Murphy requested that Items B and C be pulled for discussion.
Mayor Pro Tem Murphy thanked staff for the work around the budget. If Item 7B was approved, which called for around $30,000 for the election, he noted the current budget only identified an expense of $22,000 for the election. He asked for clarification from staff whether the numbers matched what was needed for the budget.
City Clerk Bell-Spears reported she had made the Finance Director and the Interim City Manager aware of the increased estimates for election costs. Typically, the City was billed for an election following the election and the City usually received that cost in April. As such, there was time to address any variance in cost.
Finance Director Markisha Guillory confirmed the City Clerk's explanation.
Interim City Manager Garrett Evans explained the additional cost could be covered in the mid- year budget update. If there was an increase of the $22,000 cost for the election, offsetting revenue would be identified to ensure the increase was covered.
Mayor Pro Tem Murphy referenced the membership fees for the City Council, as shown in the City Council budget. He suggested the City could save more if making reductions in that area.
He had been the representative for the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) for the past two years. A total of $250 had been provided for per diem and parking. He suggested that expense could be reduced to $150, $100 or be eliminated.
Council member Toms commented she had never been reimbursed for attending ABAG General Assembly meetings.
Mayor Pro Tem Murphy added the ABAG Membership Fee was $5,500.
Council member Toms suggested the delegate expense was not needed. She had covered her own expenses and reiterated she had not requested reimbursement to attend ABAG General Assembly meetings.
Mayor Pro Tem Murphy offered a motion to cut the ABAG Delegate expense of $250. Also, as part of the motion, he supported cutting the League of California Cities Membership Fee of $7,685, National League of Cities (NLC) Membership Fee of $1,700 and a $400 expense for the League of California Cities East Bay Division, which he understood was for dinners from the City Council budget, which expenses had also been listed in the City Manager's budget. That would allow a reduction of $800 for that expense, and reductions overall would represent around $10,000 in cost savings to the overall budget.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - June 23, 2026
Council member Toms stated she would support the motion if it removed the cuts to the League of California Cities membership, which would impact the City locally and stated the retention of that membership was important. She noted the City Council did not have to attend Thursday night League meetings but the League membership was important.
Council member Martinez-Rubin agreed with the importance of the League membership. Since the City of Pinole did not have its own lobbyist, that service was folded into being represented by the League's lobbyist, who was doing work on behalf of the cities, especially the smaller cities.
She suggested what was not necessary was the expense for the membership for the NLC. The NLC membership was in the budget, as shown on Page 67 of 265 of the agenda packet, with an expense of $1,700, and she suggested that was a membership the City could do without.
Mayor Tave seconded the motion for discussion purposes.
Mayor Pro Tem Murphy suggested based on the feedback from the City Council and due to the report from the Civil Grand Jury, the City had to cut back on the fat in the budget. As noted, and staff had affirmed, there was the possibility an additional $8,000 would be needed for the November 2026 election, which costs had been consistently around $32,000, but budgeted at $22,000. Consistently, he heard the need to cut the City Council budget, which was why he had suggested cutting the ABAG Delegate expense of $250 and the expense for the League of California Cities East Bay Division at $400, which he understood was for dinners, and which same line item and amount should also be cut from the City Manager's budget. If both expenses were cut, it would provide a total reduction of $800. The NLC Membership Fee of $1,700 and League Membership Fee of $7,685, could also be cut from the budget, which would total around $10,000 in cost savings to the overall budget.
Mayor Pro Tem Murphy stated the lobbyist who worked with the League would still benefit the City of Pinole. At every Mayors Conference each month, there was a report from the lobbyist as a standing item and the City paid membership into the Mayors Conference. The City still benefitted from educational opportunities if Council members wanted to spend their own money to attend conferences. He stated that staff had done a tremendous job and there were anticipated expenses in the next year. Making these cuts and providing a savings of $10,000 was the responsible thing to do.
Council member Martinez-Rubin commented that the monthly Mayors Conference meetings did not include a report from the lobbyist each month, but a report by the Regional Manager for the East Bay Division on what the lobbyist had been doing. If there was no budget for travel to conferences and including individual Council members' representing the City of Pinole in Statewide Policy Committees, they were relying even more on being at the table, indirectly, as a City member of the League to be able to reap the benefits the lobbyist provided. She was not in favor of cutting the entire budget of City Council memberships in the interests of trying to offset costs and suggested the City Council should have had that discussion before this time. She would support eliminating the membership to the NLC. She emphasized the membership benefits of belonging to the League.
Council member Toms also advocated for the retention of League membership given the ability to attend League conferences, even when paying out of pocket.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - June 23, 2026
Council member Toms added that there were a number of round tables that happened often with the League, where one could participate in a Zoom call and discuss different items that were happening, which was free and included with League membership.
Mayor Tave understood if the motion was moved, as stated, Council members would have to attend League conferences on their own volition and at their own expense. For those Council members who wanted to retain the League membership, he understood they saw the League as a primary function of a City in California, to get information from the collective and bring it back to the City and advocate to and explain to the public what was going on.
Council member Toms understood Council members would be unable to attend legislative briefings held on Zoom, as an example, if not a member of the League.
Council member Martinez-Rubin added that in addition to the round table discussions, the League also offered Webinars that were available to League members as an option, which was important, particularly if there was no travel budget. That was another source of information from an organization whose purpose was to keep Council members abreast of the latest legislation pertinent to the State of California as well as any other issues that may surface. She also noted the City could now be part of discussions as a Coastal City, which was not available in the past, and also a benefit of being a League member.
Mayor Tave understood there had been advocacy for those organizations before and there had been discussions about cutting the cost of memberships. Arguments had been made as they were now, but now the City was in the position of really having to consider cuts and he wondered if enough cuts were being made.
Mayor Pro Tem Murphy pointed out he had raised the discussion about cutting City Council memberships in the past. He thanked staff for getting them this far, and he recognized each City Department made cuts to their training budgets to the extent some Departments, like Human Resources, no longer had a training budget. He pointed out the Community Development Department was responsible for economic development, and the Department cut every training, travel and membership expense possible, while the Department was responsible for the Economic Development Strategy, which relied on some of those memberships. On the other hand, the City Council had not made the same cuts. He was surprised at this conversation given there had been specific comments made by Council members Toms and Martinez-Rubin about the need to make cuts to the City Council budget, and given the recommendations from the Civil Grand Jury Report about the need to cut back. He reiterated it was possible the City would need an additional $8,000 mid-year for the November 2026 election, and those cuts would be a great use of that money.
Mayor Pro Tem Murphy also commented he had attended a number of workshops, training opportunities and taken advantage of the use of the City's membership as an agency in CivicWell, the League and NLC. He had seen it from all of the lens and while it pained him to make the cuts, they were necessary and they may have to go even further. He added he could not recall the City of Pinole receiving a Letter of Support for any League items as it related to bills and could not recall the last time anyone suggested support in that way.
Mayor Pro Tem Murphy reiterated the City had an association fee as part of the Mayors Conference, which was an important opportunity for League representatives to provide updates.
He again offered the motion to provide responsible cuts.
ACTION: Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Murphy/Mayor Tave to cut the ABAG Delegate expense of $250; expense for the League of California Cities East Bay Division at $400 from the City Council and City Manager's budgets for a total reduction of $800; National Leaque of Cities (NLC) Membership Fee of $1,700 and League of California Cities Membership Fee of $7,685, which would total around $10,000 in cost savings to the overall budget.
Vote: Failed 2-2-1
Ayes: Tave, Murphy
Noes: Martinez-Rubin, Toms
Abstain: None
Absent: Sasai
ACTION: Motion by Council member Toms/Mayor Pro Tem Murphy to cut the ABAG Delegate expense of $250; expense for the Leaque of California Cities East Bay Division at $400 from the City Council and City Manager's budgets for a total reduction of $800 and National League of Cities (NLC) Membership Fee of $1,700.
Vote: Passed 4-0-1
yes: Tave, Murphy, Martinez-Rubin, Toms
loes None
Abstain: None
Absent: Sasai
PUBLIC COMMENTS OPENED
City Clerk Bell-Spears reported there were no comments from the public.
PUBLIC COMMENTS CLOSED
ACTION: Motion by Council member Toms/Martinez-Rubin to adopt the Consent Calendar.
Vote: Passed 4-0-1
yes Tave, Murphy, Martinez-Rubin, Toms
loes None
Abstain: None
Absent: Sasai
CITIZENS TO BE HEARD (Continued from Item 6) (Public Comments) Only open to members of the public who did not speak under the first Citizens to be Heard, 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.
Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - June 23, 2026
The City Council may direct staff to investigate and/or schedule certain matters for consideration at a future Council meeting
City Clerk Bell-Spears reported there were no comments from the public.
ADJOURN to the Regular City Council Meeting of July 7, 2026 in Remembrance of Amber Swartz.
At 6:51 p.m., Mayor Tave adjourned to a Regular City Council Meeting of July 7, 2026 in Remembrance of Amber Swartz.
Submitted by:
City Clerk
Approved by City Council: July 7, 2026
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Pinole City Council Special Meeting
Minutes - June 23, 2026