Mayor and Councilmembers:

This is the weekly report for the week ending August 10^th, 2007.

1.         Meeting Notes

The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 11^th, absent any matter of urgency that requires a special City Council meeting during the month of August.

2.         City Manager Schedule

I will be out of the office beginning Monday, August 13^th and returning Tuesday, August 21^st.  Leslie Knight will serve as Acting City Manager during my absence.

3.         Update on Street Light Issues in the Iron Triangle Area

A meeting was held this week between members of the Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO), PG&E, and City Engineering Department staff to discuss the street lighting issues in the Iron Triangle area.  Most of CCISCO’s concerns related to lights either being out or not bright enough, and associated problems of walking in the neighborhood at night on Macdonald Avenue and its side streets.  Staff will be working with CCISCO to survey the entire Iron Triangle area in mapping out all the lights that are currently not working.  This information will be given to PG&E so that lights can be programmed for repair.  All lamps that are out will be replaced by PG&E with 100 watt fixtures, which is an increase from the standard 70 watt lamps that are currently used.  Engineering staff has requested that PG&E implement a program to change out all the rest of the fixtures to 100 watt lamps, and PG&E committed to get back to staff in a couple of weeks with a response to this request.  

PG&E also committed to install a new type of lamp fixture at several test sites that provides lighting equivalent to a 200 watt flood light. CCISCO will be providing staff with two suggested areas that they feel would benefit from this type of lighting.  These test areas will not add any additional cost to the City’s energy bill.

4.         CrimeView for the Police Department

The Information Technology Department has worked successfully with the Police Department to allow public access for the new CrimeView system.  Members of the community can now access:

http://crimeview.ci.richmond.ca.us/crimeviewcommunity/  

and get crime statistics within the 7 beats of the Police Department’s patrol region.  I encourage you to take look at this interesting program.

5.         Summer Youth Employment Program Update

Employment & Training’s YouthWORKS program has placed 346 youth at some 97 worksites as of Friday, July 27^th.  To date, program participants have worked a total of 29,534 hours, with almost half of these participants having completed their scheduled 129 program hours by Friday, August 3^rd.   With the completion of summer school, and the additional youth that have been placed over the course of this week, the City will exceed its goal of employing 350 youth, and will be very close to a total of 400 youth placed.  Several worksites are planning to hire their youth workers permanently or semi-permanently, including the Chevron Administrative office.

6.         Stormwater Program Revenue Needs

At its July 31^st meeting, the City Council adopted a resolution supporting California Constitutional Amendment 12 (SCA 12), which would redefine stormwater fees as not being subject to the restrictions of Proposition 218.  If approved by the State Legislature, this amendment would be presented to the voters at the November 2008 General Election, and would be effective for the fiscal year (FY) 2009-10 tax year.  The City’s current annual stormwater program property assessment (annual fee) is $32 per parcel, and has not been increased since its implementation in 1991.  With inflation, increased National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit compliance requirements, and other increased costs, the City’s Stormwater Fund operated at a deficit in FY 2005-06.  Without an increase in the property assessments, this fund will need continued General Fund support, just as it has received over the past few years.  City staff will be coming to the City Council in the near future with a further analysis of this issue, and with recommendations for developing a new rate structure that will allow the stormwater program to be fully supported by fees.

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