Good afternoon.

I'm Kevin Wilk, mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 special meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council.

This special meeting is called for the purpose of holding a closed session related to the following conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one case, and conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, three cases.

Under California law, public comments at special meetings are limited to subjects on the agenda only.

Therefore, public comments will be received at this time for the items previously mentioned.

After an opportunity for public comment, the city council will convene for the closed session discussion.

Is there any public comment?

Seeing none and seeing no public, we'll convene for now and be back at 6.

I'm Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the regular meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council.

The City Council is conducting this meeting from the City Council Chamber.

This meeting is being video streamed and can be viewed live or later on the city's website.

As some attendees may be participating in their first Walnut Creek City Council meeting, I wanted to welcome everyone and talk briefly about the public comment process.

For each agenda item, there will be an opportunity for public comment on the item.

Thus, if you desire to speak to an item on the agenda this evening, please hold your comments until the city council considers that item.

Additionally, we have a section on the agenda titled Public Communications, which is for public comments for items not on the agenda.

Any comments during public communication should not relate to an item that is on the agenda this evening.

Consistent with section 9.5 of the City Council Handbook, 30 minutes will be initially allocated for public communications for items not on the agenda.

Additional time for public communications for items not on the agenda will be provided at the end of the open session portion of the meeting if necessary.

If you desire to provide a public comment, please complete a speaker identification card and line up behind the lectern at the appropriate time.

Wait your turn, and then when you approach the lectern, please state your name and city of residence for the record.

You will have two minutes to address the city council.

Please keep in mind that this is a city business meeting.

The City Council has adopted rules of decorum to ensure that meetings are conducted efficiently and effectively, and that all members of the public have a full, fair, and equal opportunity to be heard.

The City Council handbook outlines decorum expected in the council chamber and can be found on our website.

All remarks should be addressed to the city council.

Please do not use threatening, profane, or abusive language, which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the council meeting.

Again, each speaker will have two minutes to make your remarks.

Written comments submitted and received up to two hours before the meeting have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record.

Good evening.

I'm Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the Tuesday, January 20th, 2026, concurrent regular meetings of the Walnut Creek City Council and the Public Facilities Financing Authority.

And to the Republic, which stands one nation under individual liberty and justice for all.

And City Clerk Susie Martinez, could you please call the roll?

Councilmember Darlene.

Here, Councilmember DeVeney.

Yeah.

Councilmember Silva here.

Mayor Wilk.

Here.

And Mayor Pro Tem Francois is absent due to a work commitment.

All right.

Our first item is a proclamation for human trafficking prevention month.

And are you could?

Oh, that is timing.

All right.

By Katrina Natalia, Human Trafficking Task Force Director with the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office to accept the proclamation.

I'll first read from it a bit and actually uh yeah, read it from here.

So hum uh whereas human trafficking is a form of interpersonal violence and a crime in which force, fraud, coercion, or similar means is used to compel victims into commercial sexual and labor exploitation affecting individuals of all gender citizenship status, ages, and backgrounds.

Human trafficking can happen to anyone, certain populations are at greater risk, including people affected by abuse, violence, poverty, unstable living living situations, or social disconnection, as well as those systematically marginalized and underserved.

Human trafficking requires a coordinated community-wide response, engaging diverse stakeholders, including survivors, community members, educators, advocates, law enforcement, social workers, and professionals from a broad range of disciplines, agencies, and expertise among others.

Whereas the 42 partners of the ContraCost Human Trafficking Task Force are striving to identify and provide service to the survivors, investigate and prosecute all forms of human trafficking, and build their and the community's capacity to respond to and prevent human trafficking.

In 2025, the 15 victim services agencies in the task force, including community violence solutions and arm of care provided comprehensive trauma-informed services to hundreds of victims of human trafficking throughout Contra Costa County, including crisis intervention, case management, advocacy, emergency housing assistance, and referral to resources.

And whereas between October 2024 and October 2025, law enforcement agencies in Contra Costa County investigated 67 cases of sex and labor trafficking and identified 103 potential victims who were connected to services in the district attorney's office, lead law enforcement agency and the task force filed 15 cases of human trafficking and related crimes.

And whereas the Contra Costa Alliance to End Abuse recognizes human trafficking as a public health issue that is preventable by building individual, community, and societal understanding and resilience, eliminating social and historical inequities, and improvising, I'm sorry, improving the environmental conditions where people are born, learn, live, work, play, age, and worship.

And therefore I, Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council to hereby proclaim the month of January 2026 as human trafficking prevention month.

And Katrina, if you'd like to please stand, do you have a few words to say?

Sure, I do.

Thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure to be here again this year.

Um I usually try when I come out to the cities to really highlight local work that's happening around the issue of human trafficking.

And this year, um, I want to speak to an event that we've been working with Arm of Care and with the Walnut Creek Visitors Association to develop.

This is an event that's targeting the business community and really trying to provide them with the tools and the information necessary to help identify human trafficking that might be taking place on the side of their business or passing through that they might see something that's happening.

Um so that will be taking place originally.

It was planned for this month.

We've um moved it out to March to give a little more time to get more of the business folks involved and registered, but we're excited about that.

It's an opportunity, as some of you may know.

Um business people have some mandates under state law as far as training they have to provide to their staff and notices they need to post in their places of business.

So we'll be providing that information to them, providing them with well-designed um attractive notices that they can post in their businesses and really try to strengthen those partnerships.

Um this is in conjunction with Arm of Care, which is a local Walnut Creek nonprofit organization that provides therapeutic services, um, specifically art therapy to survivors of human trafficking, um, as well as with an organization called Freedom Insight, which is based in the South Bay, but provides training to businesses on human trafficking throughout the Bay Area, the state of California, and nationally.

So we're excited about this.

We're excited about the um degree of engagement we've had from the city and from the Chamber of Commerce and the Visitors Association.

Um, we'll keep you posted on the event.

Um we're really looking forward to it, and um it's being held out as an example this year of a great way of connecting with a local city to try to make progress in this area.

So I really want to thank you and um and the city and the community of Walnut Creek for doing that with us.

Wonderful, thank you.

Well, it's so important.

Why don't we all take a picture?

That's not an easy document to read.

I just say this is about human traffic.

This is important.

Right.

Next item is a proclamation for Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is on January 27, 2026.

So I'll just read from the proclamation, then we'll have Rabbi Stein come down to accept it.

Whereas the Holocaust was the systematic genocide of more than six million Jews by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945, and included the state sanctioned murder and persecution of millions of others, Roma and Sinti people, those with disabilities, homosexuals, Slavs, Poles, and members of anti-Nazi networks.

This atrocity was a crime of shocking inhumanity, representing a dark chapter in human history.

Walnut Creek recognized the heroism of those who aided the victims of the Nazi regime, including the many soldiers who liberated concentration camps and provided comfort to those suffering.

And whereas the internationally recognized day for Holocaust Remembrance Day corresponds to the 27th day of Nissan on the Hebrew calendar and marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Holocaust Remembrance Day reminds us of the importance of teaching future generations about these atrocities and the acts of courage that inspire us to respond to hatred and inhumanity.

Remembering the Holocaust compels us to confront anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred, ensuring such atrocities are never repeated.

As Holocaust survivor Estelle Laughlin said, memory is what shapes us.

Memory is what teaches us.

We must understand that's where redemption is.

And whereas the purpose of Holocaust Remembrance Day is to join together as a community to remember the Holocaust, to honor survivors who chose to rebuild their lives in Walnut Creek in the Bay Area and to reflect the need to respect all people.

And I therefore, Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council, do hereby proclaim January 20th, 27th, 2026 as Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Good evening.

Hi.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, and thank you to the council.

As the mayor mentioned, I'm Rabbi Daniel Stein, Rabbi of Congregation Bene Shalom in Walnut Creek, which has served the Jewish community and the broader Walnut Creek community for more than 60 years.

It's my honor to accept this proclamation on behalf of the Jewish community.

There are certainly enough lessons from the Nazi genocide of European Jewry to fill many lifetimes.

I'd like to lift up just one this evening.

The Israeli author Aaron Appelfeld, a child survivor of the Holocaust, wrote that amid the appropriate morning for the genocide and its victims, one critical detail is often overlooked.

He recalled that during all the years he spent in hiding and evading the Nazis.

Not a single day passed where he did not experience profound abiding love.

Even in the darkest hours, love was always present.

I know we find ourselves living in challenging times.

I'm grateful to be a part of a community that understands love in all its facets.

A community that supports diversity, honors difference, and values a robust civic life in which all are included.

Thank you for this proclamation and thank you for all you do to make our city the wonderful place that it is.

Thank you very much.

And being Jewish and the first Jewish mayor in Walnut Creek, I obviously take uh a personal interest in this as well.

Thank you for being here, and why don't we all have a picture?

Right.

Next on the agenda is the consent calendar.

Does any council member wish to pull any item for discussion?

I have a question about one item, item 2H.

So why don't we pull that in?

And 2F.

I also have a question on 2H.

All right, 2F and 2H.

Does any member of staff wish to put an item for discussion?

Okay.

Does any member of the public wish to comment on an item on the consent calendar?

As a reminder, each speaker will have two minutes to make the remarks.

Written comments submitted have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record.

H, alright.

We've got our H pulled already.

So you'll come up with when we um review 2H.

So if uh we have a motion on the rest.

Move to adopt consent calendar items 2A through E, G, I, J, and K.

I'll second that.

We've motion to second.

Susie, could you read the rule, please?

Council Member Silva.

Hi.

Councilmember Darling.

Hi.

Councilmember Davinny.

And Mayor Welk.

Hi.

Motion carries.

Okay.

Let's first pull item two F.

All right, thank you.

And I see uh Chief Hibbs on the way to the microphone.

So this is uh two F is a grant that we're applying for 285,000 that would fund an additional 48 hours of traffic enforcement over the next year.

Um I hope we get that grant.

But in reading the um, you know, the the body of the the narrative in the uh description, it talks about staffing again, and I just you know when I read it, it's it's just it's disheartening, I guess.

Um, to we're ideally staffed for 85 officers, right?

But we're down, it says about 30%.

I'm estimating that to be around 58 of the 85, roughly.

Um so a couple questions.

How how are we covering the you know, those that 30 percent?

Are we doing it with overtime?

And uh are we doing it completely?

Like if we had all 85, would the service model look different than it does now?

Good evening, uh, mayor.

Welcome, members of the city council.

Ryan Hibbs Chief of Police.

Uh thank you for the question, Councilmember DeVinny.

Um right now we're currently to to answer your question, we're we're authorized for 85 total sworn personnel.

We have 79 or excuse me, 78 as of Friday of those positions filled.

So uh when you look at the deployment number, the deployment number accounts for the only folks that are left that are full duty active assignment.

So in other words, they're they're uh they're acting in their full capacity.

So for a variety of different reasons, the 18 number is uh uh basically it's it's injuries, it's long-term family leave, and it's uh people that are already in the academy.

So they count toward our our uh filled number, but not the deployed number.

And so uh are we are the the folks that are um able to serve right now are they covering the those who aren't with overtime?

Is that how we're we're doing it?

Yes.

And are we covering all of the time or is there a uh a shortage if we had eighty-five, it would would it look different or it would still be the same.

It's just well for a little bit of context.

Our our patrol model runs with 36 officers.

Currently it's staffed with 32 due due to the number of injuries and long-term leave.

So right now, being down four, those positions are filled with overtime, but we have shortages in other divisions of the agency, such as our traffic bureau and our detective bureau that are uh not generally need to be filled with overtime.

Um really patrol is is the only division that needs to be filled with overtime due to our staffing minimums, but uh we are filling those four slots with overtime, yes.

Those are being filled with those.

But the additional like detectives and so forth, uh those are just ho we're hoping to get them back into the the force soon.

Okay, yes.

Um I know this has got to be not unique, is not unique to Walnut Creek, right?

It's a it's a difficult job, there's lots of injuries, there's always gonna be family uh issues as well.

Is there anything that like that we can do or measures that you think um might help us to get closer to full staffing?

I mean, I know we're hiring, I know we're but it just seems like such a big gap still.

Yeah, well, and and part of the problem is that it's really nothing you to your point, it's nothing unique to our agency.

Uh I will note that we have uh four different lateral officers from other agencies in background right now, different stages of background right now.

So those are I point out the laterals only because they're a lot faster to to be deployed than your uh entry level trainee.

Um but we also have two entry levels set up for the academy.

So if we once the the that's the one taking place in April.

So I'll back up because we actually have four eight, ten total officers going to trainees, train officer level entry level trainee officer positions going through the academy uh at various points this year.

So at this point, once we get so I mentioned the four that were that were in the academy that are set to graduate in February.

They're actually on the books as filled positions, but they're not deployed yet.

So once they get to us and go through field training, they will be part of our deployed uh strength, if you will.

Um we're constantly getting people in the door and our application pool hasn't dried up.

It's it's been um it's been at least I wouldn't say it's i i it it flows well.

It's not we're we're getting a good number of qualified applicants, I'll put it that way.

And and uh in fact we have a uh uh an interview process set up for later this week to interview entry level trainees, and so one other thing we've done and I'll point this out is that we've uh streamlined our hiring process.

So typically when an agency brings in a uh you know, they they host a uh an entry level oral board.

They might have, in this case, we have I think five or six people that are on the list to be interviewed.

Usually what happens is once those people have been deemed um qualified candidates, they might move on to another interview, and then what happens after that is uh either an interview with the captains or an interview with the chief after that, but those interviews typically take place weeks in uh weeks after the the initial interview.

We streamlined it so that within one day, all of those interviews can take place and we can move people into backgrounds very quickly.

And to be frank, I mean uh uh any in any basically once the first from the first job interview for an entry-level candidate to s uh successful completion of the academy and successful completion of the field training program, you're looking at anywhere between twelve and fifteen months if everything goes smoothly.

So um with that type of timeline, uh it doesn't you know it just takes time to stand people up, but we're we are actively recruiting and we're we're getting good candidates.

Yeah.

Is there is there anything on the like recovery side that yeah, there seems like there's a fair number, almost 20% out on injury and and so forth.

Is there anything on that end?

Total coin flip uh at this point it really is, it depends on what the injury is, um the physical condition of the officer prior to the injury, um the recovery time itself.

If it's a ligament or a muscle, it just depends on what the actual injury is.

We do have some shorter term injuries and it's not all doom and gloom.

Uh we do actually have some people coming back from from family leave here very shortly.

So that number will go higher.

It's just sometimes it's just, you know, a perfect storm.

Alright.

Well, you know it's a a priority for the council and keeping the city safe and we appreciate what you're doing, and I just um hope that we can we can move the needle there and get those numbers up.

We're working on it.

Alright, thank you.

Certainly make a motion.

Oh, okay.

No, um, I have a question.

It looks like they have Oh, I'm sorry.

I yeah, my question is really um I know in 2020 twenty one we were struggling a little bit with the laterals and it sounds like that has really turned around in the last five or six years.

I would agree I think it's come in waves um you know so sometimes it's time of year sometimes it's um when there are openings that we post and sometimes we're lucky enough just to get a wave of really good lateral applicants and we're kind of in that right now.

And we're getting folks that have good experience and come from a culturally a good fit.

Yes.

And that and that is one thing that throughout the interview process the captains are really good about picking people out that are going to be a really good fit um I've I developed a I think a really good feel for picking out folks that are going to be a really good fit and what I don't want to do is lose our strong police culture in in bringing folks in from other agencies just to stand up a trainee quickly.

Okay.

We're not going to lower our standards which is part of the other we we're getting good qualified applicants but we have to weed out a number of people who well intentioned but maybe their background doesn't isn't suited for policing.

Thank you I appreciate all that you guys have done to to really develop such a strong culture I really appreciate it.

Um I'd like to actually ask about the the item on the agenda which is what is the purpose of the grant that we're applying for and what would be it how would it improve the police department's work for the community?

That's an excellent question.

So it we're asking only for overtime dollars to fund uh to fund six different eight hour uh targeted enforcement shifts that are uh traffic related only so we're not asking for equipment and we're not asking for positions where this is simply an ask and it is admittedly a little high uh but we decided that maybe that was the better route to go as opposed to asking for a lower number and maybe getting fully funded there's a chance that this this number is fully funded by uh the the Office of traffic safety but um we don't know what the number is going to be so we're just kind of shooting eye and hoping for the best at this point.

Thank you very much.

No, we'd like to um I move to adopt item uh two F.

I'll second.

We have a motion and a second Susie could you yell the role please Councilmember Divini.

Hi.

Council Member Darling.

Councilmember Silva.

Hi here well I wasn't carries.

All right so now let's go to two H.

Thank you very much, Mayor.

This is an item to appropriate and transfer one point seven five million dollars for the um from the Glenet uh community benefits funding from the Glenet Heather Farm project for uh Ignatio Valley Road traffic signal project improvements and I have a couple of questions about it.

Hello, Smidar Boardman City Engineer.

I remember that during the conversation about this development project um there were very concerns about traffic on March bank at Kinross the intersection cut through traffic that might start at Ignatio and cut through with the Heather Farm Association.

What will how will these funds be deployed and for I think it's three intersection or four intersections maybe what can you tell us about that?

Sure so to address your first question there are there are four intersections.

One of them is March banks and Kinross um that is there is access from Ignatio Valley Road at both March banks and at Kinross um I know that during this development when we were discussing the conveyance of that property um to the developer of it's now called the Glen, um there was discussion about what the impacts might be at that intersection of March banks and Kinross and how people might choose to take Kinross to get to this new development rather than using March banks which would be um it's actually a public street uh there is a portion of Kinross that's actually private um that is owned by the HOA or it's owned by the yeah by the HOA.

So um one of the improvements that we were looking to do was to um calm traffic at the intersection of March banks and Kinross it's already an always stop controlled intersection but just adding some kind of like horizontal element.

We'd we're with this with the funds that we have available, we're gonna do the best we can to stretch it.

Um but this location we want to we were looking at trying to do some kind of traffic circle, some kind of circle treatment, just to really make it not as um enticing, especially for larger vehicles to try and take Kinross um directly north and into the new development.

Thank you.

And then the other three intersections are March Banks and Ignatio, which is March Banks Tampico, and then the Kinross La Casa Villa intersection at Ignatio and then San Carlos and Ignatio and those three intersections have some operational improvements for Ignatio Valley Road as a whole along the corridor, as well as some specific safety improvements for the side streets and better access for March Banks itself.

Thank you very much, that are great.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Any other questions from the guys?

Oh, I had pulled this item as well.

Uh pretty much had those questions, but I also just did for the for those uh watching.

This was money because I know it says community benefit, but this was money that we with a very like a certain level of detail kind of allocated ahead of time to the these targeted areas, right?

So that's how we arrived at doing this project with this community benefit money.

It wasn't like discretionary, like we all will spend it anywhere in the the city for for community benefit, it was designed to be for this location.

Is that is that accurate?

I think I'll defer to city attorney on the specific language.

I could speak to it as well.

This was part of the negotiations with the speaker development company as part of the development for the uh the Glenn project is uh as Madar noted, and the city sold a small piece or strip of property, and this was part of that arrangement, and the goal was to help address some of the potential traffic impacts that may result as of part of this project and some of the concerns that came forward from the very active neighborhood as well to help address those.

So, yes, it was very specific and negotiated specifically for this.

All right.

Um any members of the public would like to make a comment.

Good evening, Jan Warren, the woodlands, and I might be able to catch her in a break or something.

Uh I would like to find out when and where I can actually see uh the drawings.

I'm pretty visual and I'm listening, but I can't keep up the where we are and where the circle is, and and uh appreciate knowing when and how I could just see the drawings.

Okay, thank you, Jan.

So, Mayor, I'll ask the question of staff.

Can we get a little timeline as to what um when we might publicly be able to view the sometimes traffic signal improvements are electronic, but um when we might be able to see something or the public?

Sure.

So the the project was um it is in our capital budget right now.

Uh what this council is taking action on is actually taking the money from one fund and and putting into the capital budget appropriating those funds.

Um the project itself, once we have that funding, we can start design.

Um we are gonna be doing separately.

We did uh city staff reached out and um was able to win grant funds for additional intersections along Ignatio Valley Road for traffic signal improvements.

So we're going to try and use that process and tee off of it in order to get a design completed and then move into construction.

But this is from a timeline perspective, the design probably wouldn't start until the next within the next year, and then construction would follow after that.

And the Kinross March Bank intersection that is more interior to the closer to the project is not a traffic signal improvement project, it's more um physical and construction and narrowing and etc.

Um, when would that be?

Is it on the same timeline path?

It could be, I think you know, the when we do the design, we're gonna be looking at concrete and some of those other physical improvements too, um, but the traffic signal work is a little more specific type of work, so we could always break that out first and phase it, you know, looking at other designs in the area, but at least for now the plan was to kind of include everything.

So the capital project would be sometime in the next six to nine months.

The are we are we thinking further out?

Yeah, the design, we we would be able to bring on a consultant to assist with the design in the next six to nine months, okay.

Yeah, thank you.

Thanks.

I'm happy to move the item.

Um any other public comment on this?

Seeing none, we'll bring it back to council.

If there's any other comments or motion.

I move to appropriate and transfer 1.75 million dollars of transportation improvements, community beneath benefit funding received from the Glenet Heather Farm into the Capital Budget Ignatio Valley Road Traffic Signal Project.

We have a motion and a second, Susie.

Councilmember Silva.

Hi, Councilmember Divini.

Hi.

Council Member Darling.

Hi.

Mayor Well.

Hi.

Motion carried.

And next we have public communications.

This portion of the meeting is reserved for comment on items not on the agenda.

Under the Brown Act, the council cannot act on items raised during public communications but may respond briefly to statements made or questions posed, request clarification or refer the item to staff.

Consistent with section 9.5 of the city council handbook, 30 minutes will be allocated at this time for public communications for items not on the agenda.

Additional time for public communications for items not on the agenda will be provided at the end of the meeting if necessary.

Written comments submitted have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record.

At this time, I'll note that the time is 6 35, and we'll take public comment on items not on the agenda until approximately 7 05.

Although I have a feeling we're not going to need that amount of time.

And the uh and then the remainder of any such comments at the end of the open session portion of the meeting.

And that's uh so if we have can have any public comment that's come up consist and that's it.

All right, I put don't want cars.

Okay, okay.

Um I uh w would like clarity on the the new soccer fields and more particularly the new signs.

I first noticed the signs coming down going down Ignatio, uh, west, I guess.

And I'm like, whoa, where'd that come from?

And then a few days later I decided to get on my bicycle, which was scary.

Uh and so I was coming down the path and decided I'd gone far enough and I got off and I saw at least six signs because I hadn't been at any grand opening or anything.

And my concern is I had the impression that we were paying for you're frowning, paying for the fields, uh the new soccer fields with a measure O money.

And I understood that the soccer club was contributing a certain amount to make that happen, but I never heard any discussion about uh the names uh and the money associated with uh whatever they donated, and uh so I'd like to know.

Did Measure O have money into it?

What was the percentage?

And five or ten years from now, and if we're looking at signs, who's gonna remember that the residents of the city, you know, paid for a lot of it with Measure O.

Thank you, Jan.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Barbara Yannis.

I've been a resident of Walling Creek since 1996.

I want to wish you all a uh productive and happy new year.

Um, also in my written comments, I attached three pictures of the Parazo trail area of Lime Ridge Open Space.

The June 2024 cancellation of the planned high speed bicycle flow trail allows equestrians, pedestrians, horses, cattle to now enjoy that southwest portion of Lime Ridge without being disturbed by high bike high uh high speed bike traffic.

And native plants and wildlife can also freely exist in that area without any destruction.

For those of you that um contributed to the cancellation of the project, thank you very much.

I really appreciate it.

However, we need to remember that protection and conservation of our open space is still at risk.

Single track trails prohibit bicycle traffic of any type per municipal codes, yet there is constant bike traffic occurring on these single track trails.

Uh staff made their own decision that they'll do no enforcement of the bike bike traffic on these trails.

Pedestrians and equestrians are now left to fend for themselves when they use these trails, which are specifically designed for them.

Native plants are snuffed out, wildlife continues to be disturbed.

Also in January of this year, current month, I've seen myself at least three occurrences of motorcycles in the open space in Lime Ridge.

So with the new year of 2026, I'd like to call out to the new mayor, council members, and other city leaders to act now to ensure that staff enforces open space municipal codes on single track trails.

Please save our precious open spaces for current and future generations.

And thank you very much for your service to our city.

Thank you, Barbara.

We did receive your emails as well.

Okay, appreciate you sending them in.

Thank you.

Do we have any more public commenters?

Seeing none, we'll close public comment.

I would like to ask the city manager if there's any uh clarity that can be given over the Heather Farm signs.

Yeah, good evening again.

Yes, just as a brief recap.

You may recall that there isn't a formal agreement that the city entered into that your council approved with the Walnut Creek Soccer Club for them to raise uh at least one and a half million dollars towards the fields uh which they have a payment schedule and they are on track uh maybe potentially pay ahead of schedule based upon their fundraising.

There were allowances in that agreement for signage for donors and particularly for certain dower thresholds, and that's what we're seeing.

I think more specifically, I'm guessing Ms.

Moore may be referring to the UC San Francisco or um, yeah, UC San Francisco speed sports fields uh sponsorship that is on Ignatio Valley Road that was all reviewed with staff in terms of the the size and the approach to that.

So that has been planned.

You know, per her point about measure O signage, we have had signage up during construction, but I think she raises a good point of whether we want something more permanent out there highlighting that the fields andor eventually the community and aquatic center and or other structures that are funded by Measure O to have some type of ongoing signage, and I think that's something we could consider if if that's of interest.

Thank you.

So I think it is always good to know who pay for what.

Could you also clarify that in addition to the 1.5 million dollars that is being raised by the soccer club and the significant contribution of UCSF, what amount measure O paid toward the ball fields?

It it wasn't it wasn't small.

The total pro excuse me, the total project cost was about seven million dollars, so the remainder was funded primarily by measure O.

So Measure O funded about 5.5 million of the $7 million.

There may have been some other park and loo fees and that sort of thing allocated, but the vast majority was Measure O.

Thank you.

And I imagine we'll be seeing quite a bit of measure O signage with uh the Heather Farm uh Swimming Center and uh and community center construction coming up.

Thank you very much.

All right, this brings us to our council member and staff announcements reports on activities or requests and uh council member reports on AB 1234 activities.

And I'll start with the city attorney.

Thank you, uh Mayor.

This evening the council held a series of closed sessions.

There were no reportable actions from the closed sessions.

Thank you.

And just one brief update.

Uh I'm happy to report that your councilman may be maybe aware that uh annually city staff does a fundraiser for the food bank of Contra Costa and Solano County, and this year uh we raised just over seven thousand dollars, which provides over 14,000 meals for those in need by working with the food bank and just wanted to recognize the efforts and thank all of the city staff who participated and thank Kathy Meyer and Carlin Larson for heading this up and and running that program.

It's nice that uh we have this annual tradition of doing this.

Thank you.

Good update.

Who would like to go first?

I'll go first.

Councilmember Darling.

Thank you.

Um, first of all, I want to say I thank you to my fellow council members.

We had talked a while ago about helping the Trinity Center winter nights um shelter with their dinner service.

So we agreed to do that, and we did that um last night.

All five of us got together with sharp knives and hot stoves, and we did a great job.

In spite of the fact that the chicken wasn't quite cooking as fast as we thought it would, but it was really enjoyable to cook for the people at Trinity Center, and I think it was a great way for all of us to honor Martin Luther King Day and the commitment to service and um just visit with some folks at the winter shelter, and I really appreciated everybody's willingness to to chip in and uh help out on that one.

Speaking of chicken, we all um I'll let you talk about this, but Chick-fil-A um is opening, and so we got to cut their ribbon today.

Yeah, um, and um a couple of us made it to the new hire event and got to meet the new city employees that are coming and attend the swearing in of a multitude of new officers, including our new chief, which was really I love watching the kids try to pin the adults, it's my favorite part.

Uh, but the biggest thing I want to talk about tonight is MCE.

I am the city's representative on MCE, which provides electricity for many of the residents and the city here, the city has elected up to the deep green as part of our commitment to sustainability.

MCE has been going through some challenging times, as I've previously reported the fiscal year that ended last April.

Energy prices had exceeding, gone up considerably.

Um we did manage to close the fiscal year with a net position that it was increased from where we were the year before.

We didn't have to tap into any of our reserves, but we did run about a $12 million operating deficit.

This caused some scrutiny by the media, particularly up in Marin County, and to help make sure people understood where we were, we spent the first we spent about seven and a half hours at the executive committee walking through line by line to try to sort out exactly what had happened, and we call it factor fiction, but it basically is clarifying where we were and making sure we have a lot of turnover in MCE board members and a couple new board members didn't fully understand everything that was going on.

So we spent a lot of time coming to a common understanding of where we were.

Um we also as a board are going to bring in a management consultant.

We have gotten to be a particularly big board now with the addition of Hercules last year, where I think we're at 38 agency members, and that makes for some management challenges.

So we're bringing in a management consultant that specializes in helping big boards be more functional, and we're going to look to them to help guide us through that discussion.

The good news is after our um the price impacts we saw at the end of last fiscal year.

We have recovered considerably this year.

Prices have really softened, and so we're back in the black, and we are looking at starting our budget process for the budget that will be adopted April 1st and looking at the potential for a rate reduction.

Our generating costs are fairly low.

The challenge will be that we, in addition to the cost of generating the electricity, people have to pay for a PG<unk>E transmission charge, and then this other bane of our existence called the PCIA, the power charge and difference adjustment, and that is the blood money that we are paying to PGE for leaving them.

And PG<unk>E is pursuing cases in front of the California Public Utilities Commission to significantly increase that charge.

We are continuing to appeal the charges.

One of the things that PGE is trying to do is retroactively raise the charge back in 2025.

And we are of the opinion that it is not sound fiscal or legal precedent to raise rates in arrears.

But we are going to be continuing to struggle with that this year.

So there will be future announcements and whatnot on how we're dealing with that.

And then the fun thing is Gabe Quinto has been the co-chair of our board, Chanel Scales Preston or County Supervisor is the chair of the board for MCE.

Gabe is now the California League of Cities president this year, and so has stepped down so I volunteered to step up and the vice chair now.

So it will be an entertaining year and I'll have a lot of interesting experiences with that.

So that's my report.

Thank you for the update Councilmember Silva.

Thank you very much and happy new year to everyone.

The um a few things to report um mayor pro tem Francois and I represent the city of Walnut Creek on the board of RecycleSmart which is takes care of your black bin your blue bin and your green ribs your trash your recyclables and your organic waste and we will be having our annual retreat next Tuesday and discussing the forward and the future and also approving our rates for the coming year which starts March 1 and will continue through February.

So our um commercial and residential rates will be rising slightly mostly to cover the costs of all the services that we deliver the um it liaison to Walnut Creek Sister Cities International Organization and they are currently in two things there's two things they're working on first is the planning for the visits from the students from SheoFolk Hungary and Nocetto Italy will be coming in the very last few days of March and the first week of April so we should be prepared for that and then also they are in the process of recruiting a new class of youth ambassadors for 26 27 and they're looking for about two dozen of our seventh grade rising eighth graders but seventh graders who will be in eighth grade next year who will travel and represent our city to Nechetto and Shia folk in the fall and then have the youth ambassadors for those our sister cities visit us in the spring of 2027.

The um I'm also represent the city on or to the Diablo Regional Arts Association their first meeting of 2026 will be in early February but you don't need to wait for them to have a meeting to be able to enjoy the current exhibit at the Bedford gallery which is called it's the work of Viola Frye who is I was she's now deceased but she is a longtime local artist from originally from Lodi California and she is a did paintings and then she did 3D sculptures and some of which are about 11 feet tall in the gallery so you'll not want to miss this exhibit it is currently open and it continues through April 5th and it's open Wednesdays through Sundays from noon until 6 p.m and then on nights of the theater it's also open early and I will mention lastly that I um involved in the League of California cities and I have been appointed to the revenue and taxation policy committee this year and our meetings or have meetings this week in Sacramento and a key on our agenda is a discussion of the recommendations of how do we address the inequities that have resulted from online shopping and the way the distribution of the sales tax works is different if I buy a sweater for a hundred dollars at Macy's we're going to pay eight and a half cents in tax we'll get a penny of that hundred or we'll get a dollar of that hundred dollars and we will get 50 cents in our measure o tax.

But if I find it at Macy's but it's the wrong size or the wrong color and I order it online and this is what I did right after Christmas that sales tax distribution will primarily not come here that penny a penny that will probably go to the warehouse the city of the warehouse where the um from which the sweater has delivered to my house so we need to have a conversation about how this is working in the brick and mortar versus online sales world and thank you very much.

I will see you in Sacramento.

Yes.

That's a hugely important issue.

I'm glad you brought it up, Councilmember Silva.

When I speak in front of groups and they ask what can we do?

There's so much frustration going on.

They can't uh they can't control.

They go, what can we do to help?

If they shop in person, shop in person's the biggest way to help.

It goes right to our bottom line of tax revenue and and we keep uh all of that percentage.

Um or eat in person.

Do it in person, whatever it is.

Councilmember Davinny.

Yes, thank you.

Yeah.

Councilmember uh Silva, I wish you the best of luck in those negotiations.

Important topic.

So um I I don't have um a lot to discuss this time.

Um I have had only enjoyable uh fun events to attend the last uh couple weeks, the uh swearing-in ceremony for our uh police officers, and again congratulations to uh Chief Hibbs, and I think we had a congratulations to uh Captain Slater and Captain Connor, but they just uh stepped out so um and then the uh the new hires and again enjoyed going to the Trinity Center last night for Martin Luther King and preparing meals for um the homeless there.

And I had a quick question the visit Walnut Creek um effort on um human trafficking.

Do we know what the new date is?

Uh did she meant she meant did she mention that at all during her presentation?

Oh, I want to say it's March.

Okay, yeah.

Um, I had a few things.

Uh first of all, I don't know how late it is.

You can say happy new year, but I guess it is happy new year.

We have we haven't met since December.

Right.

So one of the things that I did just before our break was uh one of the most fun things.

Walnut Acres has their first great classes have gingerbread cities, and I was asked to cut the ribbon on these different classrooms, gingerbread cities, and so very, very cute.

I was asked almost by every class the same question.

How much do you make as the mayor?

And I have the same answer, not enough.

So we did have the Chick-fil-A opening.

How much is not enough?

Yeah.

Yeah, $600 a month.

That's what to make that's what the uh that's what we make up here.

Uh I go into I think we all go into a loss by all the things that we uh end up going to and paying for.

Uh we did have the Chick-fil-A opening today on Oak Grove Road.

So this is the first Chick-fil-A that does not have a drive-thru in the country.

It's a new neighborhood concept.

Uh they've started it here, and uh there were maybe 50 60 people that showed up from staff from our police department, and uh a lot of corporate people from Chick-fil-A as well.

So uh they've hired 75 people, local employees.

Eleven of them are high school students for their first job on their resumes.

So uh we look forward to seeing how this goes.

And I think, and we'll also have our police department just monitoring traffic and checking things out to make sure that things are smooth in the woodlands area, and we will help to uh mitigate any issues should they be there.

Had a meeting with uh Mayor Pro Tem Francois on the legislative committee.

We'll be hearing that update in just a bit.

Uh thank you, uh Councilmember DeVinny for mentioning that we actually have the swearing in for the Walnut Creek Police Department of eight promotions, including not only Chief Hibbs and Captain Slater and uh and uh Captain Connors, but another five leadership people as well.

So that was just great to see.

That was followed quickly after by the city uh new hire welcoming for how many uh city manager uh Dan.

How many people did we have that were in their first quarter?

Uh I believe it was 11.

So great to always have new people that come on board uh as our walnut creek uh new walnut creek growing family.

We had the Walnut Creek Downtown meeting.

We talked about some of the outdoor dining that is continuing to grow with the grant funding that the council is providing through March.

And uh there's some exciting new businesses that recently opened as well.

There's other businesses that we're looking at that uh should be opening within the next six months to a year.

So we'll be hearing more about those too.

I also presented uh several Eagle Scouts in the court of honor, which uh I'd forgotten when you're mayor, you get to do those things in uh NC Eleven or 12.

I'm glad you're doing it.

Well, it's uh 11 or 12 years of uh of the work that it is to become an Eagle Scout, and they are dedicated because they were there for this court of honor during the 49ers game.

Dedication.

And lastly, I want to talk about County Connect.

County Connection.

Well, yeah, they didn't miss much.

The uh I want to talk about county connection, where I're on the liaison to the board.

Uh couple of things happening that are important to note.

Both chargers for the inductive charging are down in Walnut Creek at the Bard Station due to power supply board issues.

The new power supply boards have been ordered.

That's the good news.

That's the good news.

They're being shipped from Asia.

That's the less than good news.

Also, Clipper 2.0 cards recently came out a couple of weeks ago.

There have been some issues with the with them being in the cloud and accessing accounts.

The issue is being resolved.

In fact, I believe it's actually been corrected imminently.

Credit card usage with machines all work properly.

One issue that's come up that BART is still figuring out how to deal with anybody that takes BART on a regular basis.

It has been, of course, that you've got the you've got the card and the money is stored on the card.

You tap the card, gates open up, you walk on in.

Well, now because the money is stored in the cloud, you tap the card, it's got to go up to the cloud, it acts as how much money you have, comes back down, and there's a delay of about one to two seconds to get in.

Yes.

And uh and this so that is trying to be compacted right now because anybody that has gone uh during commute time to San Francisco or back, and I did that for 10 years.

There was a rush at those gates, and if it's a delay by one second to get through, that is backing way up into the escalator.

So uh that is being resolved.

Uh I will follow up with that uh in my next meeting or two when we hear resolving issues there.

That's my report, which brings us to consideration item.

So it's the agenda of uh, I'm sorry, agenda is the consideration of the proposed 2026 legislative agenda.

I invite Casey Elliott, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer from Towns and Public Affairs, to provide the presentation.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members, Casey Elliott, uh Vice President, Towns and Public Affairs.

Um, here tonight to provide a brief legislative update, um, kind of a wrap-up of last year.

Uh, a little bit of preview ahead of this year, just to provide a little bit of context uh for which we will be considering the legislative uh agenda in front of you.

Um just by uh way of reminder from numbers of last year.

Uh last year there were about 2400 bills introduced in Sacramento, which is um about a typical year.

I mean, it's kind of a a normal bill load uh of that.

Uh a little over 900 uh were passed through by the legislature.

And ultimately the governor signed just just under 800 of those bills and vetoed the remainder uh for a veto rate of about 13%.

Uh I would note that this was probably slightly higher of a veto rate um than Newsom's had in his usually kind of hangs out around the eight to ten percent.

Um, large a lot of the vetoes messages this year were based on budgetary conditions.

So uh I think that may be a theme that we see continue going on to into 20 uh 26.

But um just kind of as we look back at the numbers of of last year's session, that's where we were.

Um a number of big issues um dominated, obviously the early part of the year is just generally focused on more focused on the state budget.

As you'll recall, the the state was operating uh looking at a twelve billion dollar deficit uh that was addressed through a number of of different um maneuvers, borrowing, reserves, cost shifts, um, and then there were some of the more uh substantive items that were contained as part of the budget, including starting to allocate out the proposition for uh resources bond dollars.

Um there were any any number of trailer bills that kind of continued on uh into the session as we start to do more legislation via budget trailer bill.

Um so a number of those, including most notably Sequo exemptions, um, and then uh coming off of last year's budget.

It still had baked in multi-year deficits.

So we the state will be dealing with um deficits this year and and in ongoing years as well.

So last year's was really kind of focused on on that, and we also uh have a number of concerns that left over from last year, including uh impacts from federal legislation that again we'll we'll start to see pop up here in 2026.

Um from a policy standpoint uh as always a large number of issues, just kind of picking some of the larger ones that kind of dominated the conversations in Sacramento.

Um as I noted in the middle of their CEQA, um, there was a number of CEQA actions that was largely done through budget.

Um large number the last any number of years sequel conversations in Sacramento are generally revolve around sports stadiums and whatnot.

This year it kind of moved in uh to uh areas of housing, uh vegetation management, um a number of projects.

It was probably is in the in the 20 years that I've been in Sacramento, it's probably the most extensive CEQA uh revisiting that we've seen in just efforts to kind of streamline existing projects through.

Um so that took up a large portion again was factored into the budget.

Uh cap and invest, cap and trade reauthorization was also um tied in through the budget, uh, extending that program out as well as putting in a new expenditure plan that generates about four billion dollars a year outside of the state's general fund that then gets reinvested into any number of programs uh aimed at um uh improving air quality, um, strategic building, transportation, uh so any number of of programs.

They modified that spending formula slightly, so there's still a good chunk uh billion dollars off the top to high speed rail.

There's now a billion that's going to be discretionary for the legislature, and then there's um kind of a descending order of priority programs that that would get reinvested into.

Uh so we'll see it start seeing that first the first year of the new spending um schedule go out go into effect in calendar year 26.

Um then there was a number of issues, um, immigration response, congressional redistricting that were in direct response to activities that were going on in DC, obviously on the congressional redistricting and Prop 50 um passage, we'll see that start being implemented in the 26th election cycle for for Congress.

While that won't impact the city directly here, um Congressman DeSony obviously retains the bulk of you know the the the bulk of the city in the and his district, um any number of places throughout the state are gonna be dealing with a lot more politics as effectively we're gonna have four or five additional districts that were drawn with the intent of moving partisan representation in those areas.

So we'll see start seeing that manifest this year.

Uh and then at the very end of the year in November, we had uh the official changeover in Senate leadership.

So the Senate has a new Pro Tem uh Monique Lamone out of the Santa Barbara area.

Um she took over that position in November, had her formal uh kind of uh swearing in when the legislature convened uh here in January.

Um she's since announced new committee leadership, some new committee leadership, um new majority leaders.

So we'll just be a different set of priorities in the Senate, um, though the Pro Tem Lamone was fairly well aligned with the previous Pro Tem Mike McGuire.

So um we'll be interested to see just how kind of how she operates the House uh versus the previous Pro Tem.

Um when we start to look at the issues that may be upcoming here in 26.

Um, as I noted, the beginning of the the years is when we see the governor's January budget.

Um he released his budget uh on the I think it was the 8th or 9th.

Um according to the governor and the Department of Finance, the state's looking at a $2.9 billion deficit.

That's on about $250 billion general fund.

Um the LAO has a very different number, um, which I'll get into in just a minute.

Uh the from the governor's budget perspective, he largely addresses the deficit through a single maneuver of of um pausing a $2.8 billion payment into the state's rainy day fund.

So effectively the way the governor's January budget was released, it's balanced just uh on the bat.

Um also as we look into um issues that are likely to pop up before the legislature this year, um, always housing and affordability um housing.

I think last year there were 60 housing bills signed into law.

Um obviously, last year a lot of the effort was on SB 79.

Uh we already have one SB 79 cleanup bill.

I anticipate we'll see another SB 79 cleanup bill before um before February 20th um rolls around.

A lot of the focus, it seems this year is more maybe on the affordability side than the housing side.

And I think part of that may just be that there's been so many streamlining bills, ADU bills, development bills.

Um I don't want to say that they're running out of ideas, but um there's just less to do there on that space.

Uh at least during the interim, there was more discussion, at least you know kind of around the various water coolers in Sacramento on fees, um, impact fees, um, those types of items.

So, again, that uh is something we'll definitely be on the lookout for this year.

Uh also wildfire response recovery preparedness.

Um, you'll recall last year at this time um dealing with the impacts from the fires in LA, Pasadena Altadina, which led to a significant amount of legislation and legislative focus in in the wildfire um recovery area.

Um that's good.

Um, honestly, it's just been an issue.

At least the legislature had largely deferred, whether it's to the insurance commission or the state fire marshal, others.

Uh so the legislature has been getting more active and taking a more holistic look at at some of these bills.

I do anticipate that will continue in this space as we see more and more large-scale um wildfire incidences in different portions of the state, not just north and east, but into more um suburban and urban settings, um, just a little bit more uh granular on the budget.

Um the total budget that the governor put forth in in January uh is just under $350 billion.

That that includes general fund and special funds.

Um the major difference between the Department of Finance and in the LAO on their budgets is the revenue projection.

Um in November, the LAO had anticipated the state would be looking at somewhere near an $18 billion budget deficit for the current year.

As noted, the governor um has the deficit pegged much lower, and that's almost directly attributable to the amount of revenue.

So over the current year, the budget year we're in, the proposed budget year, so over the two-year window, the state department of finance is projecting an additional 42 billion in revenue over the LAO, largely driven by AI, um capital gains, tech sector.

Uh LAO is much more um cautious on those revenues developing, and the Department of Finance would say we understand that's a risky revenue assessment, and we will deal with that when it doesn't materialize.

So that's largely where those two different is two differences um come to come from.

Um as I noted earlier, the 2.8 billion dollars um true up um suspension of the true up fund to the rainy day fund is is largely how the governor proposes to address the budget deficit.

Uh, that does still leave um 14 and a half, approximately 14 and a half billion uh in the rainy day fund that the state has.

Um this budget has no proposed new revenue streams, um, no new taxes.

Um, there is there are various tax proposals being discussed for the November ballot, but those are not from the administration, they're not part of this budget.

Um, so there's no new no new significant revenues.

And then the Department of Finance um in acknowledgement of various impacts um coming to California from federal um federal decisions, some of the revenue uncertainties uh has really deferred until the May revised to make a lot of their decisions.

So the January budget we saw didn't really have any new major programs, a lot of expansions.

It was really more maintenance of um previously authorized um expenditures.

I anticipate that we'll see more um more proposals on the May revise once the state has a better idea of what their full revenue picture is.

Um as we look at timelines.

Uh as a reminder, this is the second year of a two-year session.

So while on the right hand side, the budget timeline, that's pretty much standard year to year.

Uh the legislative timeline on the left hand side, that does vary um between the first year and the second year.

Really, the second year, we are just a more compressed timeline.

Um during January, the legislature's been considering two-year bills, so bills that were introduced last year but did not make it out of their house of origin.

Uh, we've already had one committee deadline uh last week on for those measures, appropriations this week, uh floor votes next week, um, so a lot more legislative activity earlier in the year uh for new bills the deadline will be February 20th to introduce new bills um I said there were what 2400 last year I would expect maybe maybe slightly less than that this year but still probably at least 2,000 to 2200 um would be what we would expect typically we would see 1500 of those introduced in the last 10 days before the deadline so really the the bulk of new legislation we'll be seeing in the early part of February.

From there the legislature will go through their policy committee process um and and voting bills out of the first house that needs to be done uh before June then we have a policy committee uh deadline right uh on the second house right before the fourth of July the legislature takes a month off and they come back for a quick sprint in August and then the legislature is done uh for for the remainder of the year so um the timelines just get a little bit more compressed um in in the second year as we look at the specific proposed legislative agenda for the city um just as a reminder um the agenda has been um uh reviewed um at the at the staff level by the legisl well by the city manager's office by our team um the legislative committee um reflecting feedback and input from from various um departments and and from uh everyone kind of throughout that process since we are in the second year of the process a lot of it is really just um updating um not just prior you know priority changes but to update um to reflect actions that have been taken at the state level federally um so that's that's kind of where the various steps that this has gone through before it's coming um to council here tonight and then once it's approved by council legislative agenda serves as the the policy framework for advocacy efforts um also will be a document that we refer back to for the legislative committee uh and city manager's office when requested for positions on bills um that's not to say that it's limiting um there's always bringing different legislation back to to council for consideration but that document and as much as there is alignment there allows for um quicker operation and quicker turnaround of positions and then also that will be shared with um with the city's legislative representatives so they have an understanding and knowledge of the city's priorities so as bills are being introduced as policies are coming forward they'll understand beforehand where the city's positions are um and and that engagement will begin uh immediately um as we look at some of the specific uh items with change proposed changes within the document um tried to kind of create a a quick summary of just some of those items um here um you'll notice within the public safety section there's some revised language related to proposition 36 uh that really just is more of a reflection of um where we are in the Prop 36 conversation from developing legislative policy that later later became proposition 36 and some of the other public safety bills that were taken up to now really a full implementation of of what the voters have approved so just really kind of um modifying that language to just kind of better reflect where where Prop 36 is within the process um similarly language was um added in related to um housing processes planning processes that align with the city's housing element as well as um uh opposing uh conflicting policies that the state and regional levels may have um which happens so obviously trying to encourage all of our partners at the state and and local agencies to kind of work in more of a coordinated fashion um so that you know local governments of the city can can deliver on on what those priorities are there was some cleanup language within the transportation section um some removing of some kind of just older language related to um some overlays some capsules uh and just on kind of some general cleanup within the transportation section uh there was also new language um specifically calling out increased safety for all roadway users including uh e-bike operators uh I do anticipate this year we will see more e-bike related legislation we've already seen two bills introduced two new bills introduced on e-bikes um within the first week of the legislative session uh in our conversations I think there's a probably at least two or three more um so definitely becoming a broader issue so wanted to make sure there was flexibility within this within the city's platform to um to to respond to legislation related to e-bikes um then there was again some some cleaning up of just some duplicative language within the environmental sustainability section um and then there was um some inclusion of language uh related to affordability uh on electric utility service within within the sustainability section and then I believe um Joe's going to speak to a couple of additional amendments that um are being proposed as well thank you casey uh good evening council members mayor wilk uh joe carroza assistant to the city manager uh I do want to talk about a few additional amendments that are not included in the materials you have in front of you these came in from a few council members uh and are some suggested changes so uh the first one I want to go over and I apologize it's quite uh small on screen uh 3C so item 3C is a very uh minor adjustment uh it says cap and trade but due to um some rebranding done in late 2025 moving that to cap and invest funding uh then in the final paragraph uh a few adjustments to reflect um not just um relationship building with state legislators but also federal elected uh elected officials uh and so there's some adjustments there um but we did add in uh to the final line for state legislative activities TPA will provide support and talking points since uh towns and public affairs supports us for state legislative activities so I'll give folks uh a second to to see that before we move over to the next slide question about that I mean obviously we want to have good relationships with everyone I see that we we interact on a regular basis with local and state um officials are we interacting with federal elected officials here uh yeah my pardon me okay all right and then the next uh series of adjustments are for 4C and 4D which is in the sustainability section uh the first adjustment I want to uh bring attention to is the marine clean energy MCE uh we are now uh they are now referring to themselves as MCE um formerly marine clean energy so just making that adjustment to be reflected within the uh the agenda uh and then made some additional adjustments um which is all that red that you see there to 4C and 4D um to be reflective um uh of uh some MCE legislative uh support topics so I'm gonna go ahead and just read this uh the adjustments so that I can uh share what the the suggested changes are the city supports additional funding we're talking about for C for energy saving programs and funding for programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions the city joined MCE formerly Marine Clean Energy to offer residents and businesses additional cleaner and greener electric energy choices and to increase local control over energy procurement and development expand consumer choice and provide access to renewable energy at stable and competitive rates.

As a member of MCE the city opposes restrictive legislation and regulations targeting community choice energy programs including improper cost allocation policies that unfairly disadvantage CCAs or their customers interference with local govern uh energy governance and actions that diminish CCA procurement policy making and decision making autonomy.

So there's uh some additions there.

Then in 4D a few more additions so the city supports legislation and decisions that give local jurisdictions access to utility energy data and ensure transparency and accountability and ensure utilities respond to local government's unique data needs to support informed local decision making energy planning and consumer protection.

And so uh before I pass back to to Casey to take any additional questions the recommended action is now uh is is to approve the 2026 state legislative agenda.

Inclusive of the uh additional amendments presented today on those last two slides.

Alright thank you and I'll go ahead and pass back to to Casey.

This part's easy.

Any questions?

All right do we have any questions?

We'll start with Council Member Silva.

Thank you very much.

And thank you for the work both well in Sacramento, but sometimes your work also lops over into our federal advocacy efforts so I appreciate all of it.

Of course.

We had a comment from the public and it was the comment was made about the grant funding that we were seeking for overtime pay for traffic enforcement but really it also relates to by extension any technology that we might put into play.

And he was uh the community member was suggesting we try to get ourselves added into the pilot program for the um I guess digital license reading program and my I ran that to ground 18 months ago through the League of California cities and the answer I got was it's not an open season for anybody who wants to participate can.

It's really it was a select number of cities that the state legislature selected as a pilot to ensure that it was working properly and would not be misused at the local level but can you add on to that do you think yeah there's there's the the legislature uses the I mean they're very loose in their use of word pilot programs so it can mean a number of different things.

Generally I would say in maybe within the last 10 years or so when we use kind of the broader pilot program um in really transportation related technology instances so whether it's digital license plates red light cameras speed enforcement cameras um there's been typically that that committee prefers the approach of specifying which specific cities or counties or agencies those pilot projects will apply to as opposed to maybe a the state's going to set up a pilot program and receive applications.

So typically in the transportation committee um back definitely when it was under Jim Frazier the former assembly frazer Laura Friedman um because the the speed enforcement camera has Glendale in it which is why they're the kind of the only small cities she was the chair at the time but typically they do it that way so they'll put then they'll put sunsets on the bills and so typically when the sunset dates come up that those pilot entities will look to expand the bill and then we can kind of had a broad broader conversation so yes most of those within the transportation space are are defined pilot programs.

But when those come back up then there may be opportunities to expand.

Or they make them available across the state correct yeah that the legislation worked.

Yeah these are the rules exactly go forward and prosper.

Exactly yes thank you and what a fun job um just curious do you think this year I know last year um the subject of ice coming in to cities and um facial coverings was a big issue um do you expect to see additional work in that area or yes yeah the short answer is yes so last year there were a couple of different ones the um SB627 Senator Wiener's bill regarding the the face coverings uh as well as uh Senator Perez had a bill I'm gonna I'm gonna butcher the number so I won't guess uh on on identification um those were signed into law those are being challenged um federally um so I depending upon how those court cases work out I could see there being some follow-up legislation uh on the state side um there was also legislation uh related to K through twelve and community college districts about um requirements that uh warrants or specific things that ICE would need in order to gain access into private campuses.

So we we saw some of those legislation.

Um we've already seen this last week uh assembly member Isaac Bryan in LA introduced a bill that would prohibit local law enforcement from holding second jobs with ICE.

Um I think that we will continue to see um response legislation in response to some of these activities, whether it's protests, whether it's ki ice carrying out duties, um so yeah I do think that will continue sacrament it's gonna sound worse than it is, but Sacramento is largely reactive so it kind of depends upon what IC's up to do next.

Exactly kind of what the what the what the and really excited we're since we're in bill introduction deadline I do anticipate some of the um things that we're seeing going on in Minnesota and other places in the state as we're into bill development time we may see some of those things, um legislation in response to some of those activities.

Uh but yeah I do think that'll continue to be a topic.

Yeah thank you.

And then the other big flair that went up was when PGE substations in San Francisco shut down and all of a sudden PGE San Francisco's rattling the saber about taking over PGE.

Do you think that's got any legs to it or uh your guess is as good as ours.

Yeah I mean I I I could say I don't I don't work with the city or county city and county of San Francisco.

So I don't know I don't know where they would get that money.

That seems like a very expensive endeavor to take over that uh but I do think energy procurement um energy will continue to be a conversation.

There's already conversations related to extending um Dablo Canyon again feels like we just had that that conversation a couple years ago.

Um but yeah I think there that there are some um I I think there will be legislation this year by any number of members that are seeking election to different offices that may we may see legislation of things that maybe play well really loc really well locally but maybe once you extrapolate that out to a legislative thing so I I could see in San Francisco if you're maybe running for Congress in there that that might be a bill that that that you know plays well really locally but from a state policy perspective I I don't I don't know that there's a lot of appetite for that.

Okay and then on the the sequest streamlining I know there's been a lot of discussion about um certain types of projects getting streamlined and whatnot.

The battery energy storage facilities after the moss landing fire are are you still seeing you know battery storage being you know if we're gonna get rid of Diablo Canyon we need batteries and um I I think that you know last year there was like I said there was a lot um there was there was a lot done and I think that last year is gonna open the floodgates for sequel requests whether the legislature does any more or not I'm I'm a little I I tend to think they won't.

Um that said the um California Chamber of Commerce I know is pursuing a significant CEQA um initiative that they're trying to place on the 2026 ballot which would definitely um i uh streamline any number of types of projects beyond what the legislature's done um both in terms of um review timelines up front as well as litigation timelines on the back end so we may still see some more CEQA activity but I think it may be more driven through the initiative process than from the legislature this year.

Yeah, the the Chamber of Commerce this month we saw the the rough outline of what they were proposing and it seemed like a work in progress because it included things that I would not normally think of as being easily sequo exempt but yeah and and I think from a local government perspective to a lot of the timelines that they're putting in would be very challenging um it would it would uh require very quick um in some cases depending upon project size very rapid review of projects with then limited ability to go back and look at other components as projects developed so um yeah there's a there's a lot within what they're looking at to to digest there.

Yeah I think things that went through conveyed water through the Delta were in there like oh that's fun yeah okay thanks have fun this year.

Council Member DeVinny.

Yeah thank you um I was wondering uh Prop 36 I know that it wasn't fully funded and and part of the rationale where there was budget cuts and and cost constraints and things um but it was a pretty um pretty widely uh you know popular uh measures.

So were there other what do you what do you make of that?

Yeah.

Well the the governor definitely was not a fan of Prop thirty six um and but I think that from a legislative basis, I pretty sure it passed in every single legislative district.

Right.

So I mean from a from a legislative perspective, it's it was obviously it was widely popular amongst the public.

Um within legislators, it was popular.

Um the governor's January budget this year is I would say relatively silent on funding of Prop 36.

Um the Defi Department of Finance Director Joe Stefanshaw was asked a direct question about the funding of Prop 36 during the budget release, and he kind of talked about savings from Prop 47 and you know moving money around.

But um I I think the administration is gonna kind of go kicking and screaming on on this one.

Uh I do think we'll see legislative leadership given the the broad support for Prop 36 really try to push um for for full funding, uh, particularly when we start talking about some of the overlapping populations that are priorities for the administration, whether it's mental health, um substance abuse, homeless populations that that are also impacted um by some of the um funding that could be you know forwarded through Prop 36.

So I I think that as we get into May revised we'll see more of that conversation, but it definitely is a higher priority for the legislature than it is for the administration, which then tends to make me think it'll be subject of a negotiation as we get into May revise.

Well, you think their their big critique or their well, I think the governor just didn't uh agree with the overall philosophy of of Prop 36.

I think, you know, uh you know, increase, you know, um, and it's hard to say he wanted more, more correct you more time and corrections facilities.

I there was just a lot going on and a lot of it honestly was political um and and it was not the proposal that the administration wanted.

So I I think that maybe in 27 we'll maybe see some more full funding for Prop 36 as we move into a new administration, kind of where that is, because some of the issues that have really prevented the full funding of Prop 36 won't just won't be present anymore.

Okay.

And then I just had a question about uh the pilot programs.

You know, there they're uh there's a few obviously pilot programs going on and is it is it prohibitive that that cities I mean do you see these programs getting extended uh sometimes to other jurisdictions or yeah, I mean, for example, like Marin has their e-bike uh pilot program, and um, you know, one of the ideas would be, you know, might we be able to join something like that?

And I I know it's also an issue with uh, you know, the speed cameras and maybe the red light cameras and so forth.

So um is there?

Yeah, we definitely see those.

I mean, a lot of times when when those issues pop up as pilot programs, the the they become they they start as broader proposals and then kind of get whittled down um as they move through the the legislative you know process.

Um they may go down to address different concerns on a lot of these programs, particularly in like I said in the last decade or so, they've been the legislature's been really good about putting sunsets on these pilot programs.

So for example, with the um the speed enforcement cameras, that legislation was passed in 23 with a five-year sunset.

So if the cities that were participating that want to continue and and have that successful, they they have to come back to the legislature and have to have that conversation um at that point.

I I think we would start, you know, the the conversation wouldn't be about opening that up when you don't see exceptions prior to that time.

No, I mean because like on bills like that, that one in particular, um, just because I I know we had some colleagues working on that one, that one started as a broader proposal that would have been applicable statewide, and then given concerns, it was narrowed back down.

So I know that there would be any number of agencies locally, um any number of stakeholders at the state level that would like to see certain programs open back up.

I think e-bikes is definitely one that we hear more of.

I think when Marin kind of worked their legislation in their bill, I I don't want to say e-bikes was a Marin-only issue, but I think what was that four years ago?

I just e-bikes weren't quite as prevalent of an issue.

I think a lot of jurisdiction were like, oh, we're getting the Lime scooters or whatnot, you know, just starting to deploy and they hadn't really dealt with all of the issues that surrounded it.

So maybe Marin was maybe just a little bit ahead on that issue, but uh, but yeah, a lot of times we do see these getting revisited and then opened back up, um, particularly when they're successful locally, and that that helps a lot because then we can whatever the concerns may have been with a particular bill and forced it to, you know, kind of consolidate down to a pilot program, everyone has the data then that they can turn to and say, like, see your, you know, whatever you feared it would happen didn't in these cases and so we should look for ex broader expansion.

Thanks Casey uh would any member oh we have one more question from the dais.

Your diagram that had the four issue areas included affordability related to housing versus production I assume because that's what a lot of the recent bills have been.

When we talk about affordability it often means and you mentioned this that they want us at the local level to reduce the impact fees and the costs and of course you hear commercials about that.

Oh we're gonna do that.

Oftentimes our c our fees are to recover the costs in order to process the application and address issues.

What do you need from us to support your advocacy when you're walking the halls of the Capitol building and the swings building and talking to legislators about the costs are not the fees are not that high what can we give you yeah I I cheat sheet of some sort yeah so so you'll probably recall um right before COVID um was kind of the last time we had a major conversation related to impact fees and it was led by that charge was led by then assembly member uh Tim Grayson so uh we not just we but um TPA Cal Cities C SDA our education friends spent a lot of time talking to the senator around the or now Senator around the state on you know you say the fees are too high but do you are you willing to go without parks are you willing to go without roads without schools without water and sewer laterals these are all the things or or conversely where's the state funding to backfill you know what what cities would otherwise get in and at that point then obviously the pandemic happened and and that conversation kind of kind of died away.

I I think a lot of what we learned from that original time uh original kind of go around i is we probably overestimated what legislators understand about fees um my my favorite one is uh well you have all of these in loo fees like the fees are too high and it's like well well yes but if people built the affordable units that we're supposed to we wouldn't charge an in LU fee so why why should our fees be lower like they or if they built the park we wouldn't charge an in LU park fee.

Exactly so a lot of the in loop so but I think a lot of it is well these these fees for X project in my district were really high and it's like well maybe they were in LU fees maybe there's this maybe there's that we did see a lot of conv we did see some conversation towards the end of last year around the city of LA and their um mansion tax.

So there was some conversation related to charter cities abilities to levy their own document transfer taxes and kind of some of the varying rates around those through the state um so they're getting a little bit granular on that but I think that a lot of what what we will ultimately need is kind of demonstrating what those fees are and then where that funding goes to because ultimately like so the conversations that we had several years ago it was well you like schools right okay so we need money for schools like you like you know so I mean it's not just some misconception that this is just padding you know cities and counties you know bottom line so they can have this more general fund revenue that it is and my favorite is always reminding folks about the the 218 process that that cities have to go through an establishing fees and and asking if we could maybe just do something like that at the state level which I'm always quickly left out of the room but um the reminder is that you know cities and local governments have to go through a fee setting process.

We don't just have the ability to you know assess assess fees because we want to or we like this number.

And generally with a nexus to what actually the cost to deliver the service.

Exactly exactly so I but I think that's general I think a lot of it is honestly more of an education campaign because there's just kind of a misunderstanding as to what these fees do or where they go to.

Yeah there's some perception because I had a conversation a meeting with assembl then assembly member Grayson about three years ago and I he said something like well fees are twenty five to thirty percent of the cost of the building and I go hmm don't think so.

I could walk you through it.

Yeah.

And so I think that's what they don't under they're listening to some voices that just don't they'd like it for free.

Right, yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yes.

Now let's open it up to public comment.

If there's anybody from the public that would like to speak to this issue, please step forward.

No, I don't see anybody stepping forward then.

All right, we'll close public comment, bring it back to council.

So any further comments, questions, or motion to accept.

So I'm gonna thank the committee and staff and our consultants for the work on this.

It's it's in depth every year, and it's it reflects the current state of issues that we're most interested in and appropriate, and it gives us the platform from which to be able to respond quickly and not have to bring every letter that we want to write or every phone call we want to make to the council during an agendized meeting.

So I'm happy to move to approve the draft legislative agenda for 2026 with the changes proposed um at the dais and through the presentation, go for it.

And I too would like to express my thanks to the legislative committee because now that I've been through this, I was like, wow, that's a lot of work.

Um I appreciate people's willing.

I had asked MCE to give me the specifics of what they were looking for to deal with the changing environment, and they didn't get that to me as quickly as I'd hoped.

So thank you for um to staff for getting on that here and and incorporating their input into it.

And I with that I would like to second.

Yeah, and I uh again, yeah, thanks staff and Casey.

This is uh a lot of work goes on to this, and then we get it, and within an hour we're making little changes, and and that's it.

Seems easy to us, but I know there's a lot of work behind it, so thank you very much.

And with that, we've got a motion and a second.

Susie, if you call the roll, please.

Councilmember Silva.

Hi, Councilmember Darling.

Hi, Council Member Devine.

Hi, Mayor.

Well, motion curious.

All right, and I believe that brings us to the end of the meeting.

Could I make a quick announcement?

Yes.

Um, the date for the memorial service for former Mayor Gwen Mugalia has been set.

It is Thursday, the 26th of February.

It is this it is before the East Bay division meeting.

It will doors will open at the leisure at four, and the service or the celebration will start at 4 30.

Right, so at the Lester Center, at the Leisure Center.

So if we can distribute that information to our community members as well.

And uh, doors open at four.

And if uh if our communications department could also let uh the East Bay Times know they had inquired about that last week.

I don't believe we had an answer for them.

So let's pass that up through our communications manager.

With that, we are adjourned until what's the next day?

It's not down here.

February third.

All right, adjourn.