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| City Manager's Weekly Report for the Week
Ending February 16th, 2007 February 17, 2007 |
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Mayor and Councilmembers:
This is the weekly report for the week ending February 16th, 2007.
1. Meeting Notes
The next regular City Council meeting will be on Tuesday, February 20th beginning with a Closed Session at 8:30 AM, and continuing with a Study Session on the mid-year budget at 5:00 PM. As a reminder, the special Council meeting to hear a presentation regarding Chevron’s emergency response plan has been confirmed for Tuesday evening, February 27th.
Please also mark your calendars for two other important meetings during the next several weeks:
· The third design charrette for the Point Richmond Shores Project (Terminal One) is scheduled for Saturday morning, February 24th, from 9:00 AM to noon at the City Council Chambers. Considerable progress has been made during the first two charrettes and some specific design schemes will be discussed on the 24th.
· The Redevelopment Agency staff is planning a Strategic Planning / Budget Priorities retreat for the City Council (Agency Board) and senior staff on Saturday morning, March 10th. Details will be forthcoming.
2. Investigation Regarding Fred Clement Completed – No Validity to Allegations of Misconduct
As you know, Fred Clement was placed on administrative leave in late December to allow the City to investigate charges of misconduct. I am pleased to report that, after a thorough investigation, none of these allegations was substantiated. In fact, the investigation showed that, with respect to the situations giving rise to the allegations, Mr. Clement was doing his job effectively on behalf of the City.
3. Design of City Council Chambers at Renovated Civic Center
As you may have heard, a number of individuals have expressed concern about the initial conceptual plans for the layout of the City Council Chambers, which is currently part of the Auditorium renovation in the Civic Center project. Staff met this past week with the project architects to discuss how these conceptual plans might be revised to better meet the needs of the City and the community, including options for incorporating the Council Chambers into the “retired” Hall of Justice building. We plan to review these options with the City Council liaison committee for the Civic Center project prior to moving forward with any specific design.
4. Main Street Program Hires Executive Director
The Main Street Board hired a new Executive Director, Cecilia “Winkie” Campbell, who started work on February 1st. Ms. Campbell has over five years experience managing a Main Street program in Baltimore. Staff and the Main Street Board are working with Winkie to get her up to speed on all downtown issues and opportunities.
5. Planning and Building Department Improvements
A number of changes are taking place in the Planning and Building Department based on recommendations made by Zucker Systems, the firm that was retained to conduct a work flow study of the Department. The results of the “Operations and Service Levels Work Flow Study,” conducted as part of the City’s internal audit program for the Planning and Building Services Department will be released in March, and will initially be reviewed with the City Council Finance Committee. In the meantime, new bi-lingual signs have been installed in the lobby of the Department to make it easier for customers to go to work stations that are appropriate for their specific needs, and other minor improvements are planned to make the area more attractive and customer friendly. Kevin Moses, a Senior Building Official with Contra Costa County, who was retained during Fred Clement’s absence, will continue to provide services to the City to assist in implementing the recommendations made by the Zucker study.
6. General Plan Update
The General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) met during the week of February 5th to discuss the “vision framework” and to refine identification of “change areas” in the City. GPAC attendance has been very good and the discussions have been productive.
The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for the Health Element of the General Plan held its first meeting on Monday, February 12th. TAG membership includes representatives from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, California Department of Health Services, Contra Costa County Public Health, Policy Link, Urban Habitat, and Planning Department Staff. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a Health Policy Framework and link it with other elements of the General Plan.
7. Green Planning and Building
This past Wednesday, the City of Richmond sponsored its second Green Building Conference in the Council Chambers. These “mini-conferences” are attended by staff from surrounding cities who share information on trends in Green Planning and Building.
Given the significant changes that are occurring in the “Green Building” field, Staff is working with the HR Department to establish a Senior Planner position that will focus on implementation of Green Planning and Building programs.
8. Historic Preservation Advisory Committee (HPAC)
This past Tuesday, the Historic Preservation and Advisory Committee voted to designate the Winters Building as a Richmond Historic Resource under the City of Richmond’s Historic Structures Code. The East Bay Center for the Performing Arts is currently working with the Richmond Community Redevelopment Agency to renovate the building and improve its façade.
9. Greenway Connection to the Ohlone Trail
Craig Murray of the Redevelopment Agency, along with Councilmember Tom Butt, attended a meeting this past Tuesday with BART representatives to discuss the possibility of using a portion of the BART right of way to connect the east segment of the Greenway to the bike trail in El Cerrito. BART owns property adjacent to the Adachi parcel along San Pablo Avenue, which makes them a critical player on this project. BART officials were very supportive of the idea, but indicated that they cannot commit to anything specific until after 2011 because they are currently going through a seismic retrofit of their abutments and the project is expected to last until then. Staff will continue to work with BART to see if we can incorporate some of our Greenway improvements into the BART retrofit plans.
10. City Clerk Agenda Management Software
Last week, 15 staff members attended a training session for the “Agenda Plus” automated agenda management system. Agenda Plus is a paperless process for preparing, assembling, and distributing the agenda and related materials. The system helps manage the work flow from short and long-term scheduling of agenda items to final preparation of the agenda packet. In the Agenda Plus system, items can be submitted for future agendas as far as a year in advance, which is part of Staff’s effort to improve its follow-up on Council-directed items, and helps manage necessary, annually recurring Council actions.
A test-run of the system is scheduled for February 16, and the system will be used to assemble and distribute the packet electronically to Department Heads and the public for the March 6th meeting.
11. Budget Wake-Up Call
The Finance Department hosted today the City’s FY 2007-08 Budget Kick-Off and Training Session for Department Managers and their financial staff. Finance Department staff did an outstanding job presenting budget guidelines, budget format, and performance measurements which we are planning to use to prepare the operating and capital improvement budgets for the coming fiscal year.
12. This Week’s City of Richmond Website Fun Facts
This week we take a look at what files are being downloaded from the web. The 20 most popular document downloads (in order) have been the following:
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about these or any other items of interest to you. Have a great week! Bill Lindsay City Manager City of Richmond 1401 Marina Way South Richmond, CA 94804 Phone: 510-620-6512 Fax: 510-620-6542 e-mail: bill_lindsay@ci.richmond.ca.us |
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