Drought. COVID-19. Homelessness. Downtown parklets. Contractor fees.
Those are just a few of the weighty topics that passed with very little discussion at last week's Pleasanton City Council meeting.
That's because they were grouped together on the consent calendar, a collection of items deemed routine and voted upon all at once by the council -- although any item could be pulled for separate consideration at the behest of a council member, city staffer or even the public.
The consent agenda is an integral part of conducting city business. There are so many types of items that require council-level approval, either by state law or local ordinance or policy, but to have full public hearings on all items would take hours upon hours. It took me two hours just to read the staff reports for 19 items originally listed on the April 19 consent calendar.
Thus a mechanism to approve certain items in one fell swoop is vital for conducting the public's business efficiently (while of course still disclosing all information publicly beforehand and allowing any item to be separated if desired).
Some consent topics are more routine than others though.
The lead item on the April 19 list was the employment agreement for new City Manager Gerry Beaudin, who is returning to Pleasanton from the city of Alameda next month. Multiple council members offered brief remarks about Beaudin, but his contract was confirmed as part of consent.
One thing that didn't come up at the meeting, but I learned upon follow-up, is that assistant city manager Brian Dolan, who has been serving as interim city manager since December, plans to retire in early June after a brief transition period for Beaudin.
Speaking of not being discussed, I mentioned there were 19 items on the original consent calendar, but that number was reduced to 17 that night.
One piece of business postponed at staff's request was a proposed four-year-plus consultant contract worth up to $800,000 with Renne Public Law Group LLP to provide legal services on human resources items including assistance with labor negotiations.
The city has contracted with the firm since February 2018, initially for an amount not to exceed $100,000 but ultimately extended each subsequent year by amendment through this past February with the overall four-year term maximum becoming $800,000.
What makes this new contract a bit more interesting, to the casual but informed observer, is the fact former city manager Nelson Fialho was announced in January as the new executive director of the firm's Renne Public Management Group division.
I asked Dolan if last week's contract continuance had anything to do with the new Fialho connection or perhaps extra steps to avoid potential conflicts of interest. "We pulled it back to provide some more information to council members. It has nothing to do with Nelson's involvement with the firm," Dolan told me.
The proposed Renne contract, which would last through Dec. 31, 2026, is expected to return for council consideration next month.
The other item separated from consent on April 19 was authorizing an additional $156,000 for construction on a temporary residential recycled water fill station in collaboration with Livermore and DSRSD. The council voted it down after discussion.
Back to what was approved on consent. The pandemic was certainly a big theme.
Council members signed off on a standard design package for the downtown parklet program, which is the continuation of policy steps to allow the outdoor dining areas popularized in the pandemic to remain in place.
They also issued a purchase order between the city and Stanford Health Care-ValleyCare for COVID-19 tests, pre-employment medical exams and other similar services worth up to $200,000 this fiscal year, and they voted to maintain virtual public meetings for now.
Later, Stanford Health was among the companies to ink naming rights agreements for Bernal Community Park, Phase II, joining Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Construction Testing Services and 4LEAF, Inc. Thanks to the efforts of Pleasanton sports groups, these companies will contribute a combined $630,000 over seven years.
Lifetime Activities received $94,352.50 from the city for operations of Pleasanton bocce programs through December 2023. Carollo Engineers earned $999,750 to prepare the city's Water System Management Plan.
The council adopted a resolution to retain the services of Debra Gill as a retired annuitant to fulfill duties of her prior position, human resources director, in the short-term on specialized projects and labor negotiations on an hourly-rate basis. Councilmember Jack Balch commented that he supported this move only as a stopgap solution, and not as precedent-setting.
Two public hearing packages were cleared on consent: to renew the Tri-Valley Tourism Marketing District assessment and agreement, and to approve the 2022 weed abatement program, including authorizing city staff to do cleanup work for noncompliant private properties.
The council approved resolutions to extend the local drought emergency, to endorse the Alameda County Home Together 2026 Implementation Plan on homelessness and to approve the Cities of Dublin and Pleasanton Disaster Debris Management Plan.
The other line items included the February disbursements and investment report, a recap of zoning administrator actions, the minutes of the Dec. 21 council meeting and a proclamation to recognize this coming Saturday as Arbor Day in Pleasanton.
And that makes 17.
Editor's note: Jeremy Walsh has been the editor of the Embarcadero Media East Bay Division since February 2017.
"crowded" - Google News
April 29, 2022 at 12:16PM
https://ift.tt/cvsmz0w
What a Week: Crowded consent calendar | News | PleasantonWeekly.com | - Pleasanton Weekly
"crowded" - Google News
https://ift.tt/qIM3j09
https://ift.tt/ozdNQ24
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "What a Week: Crowded consent calendar | News | PleasantonWeekly.com | - Pleasanton Weekly"
Post a Comment