Summary: Special Council Meeting of June 29, 2021
On Tuesday June 29, 2021, the Pinole City Council met in Special Session to finalize the Budget.
The Meeting lasted approximately 7-8 hours.
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Regardless of where you stand on any of the issues, it is encouraging to see the council work so diligently to serve their constituents in order to pass the Budget.
Pinole for Fair Government has made it its mission to Inform, Educate and Engage the Residents, tax payers and Businesses of Pinole so that their voices are heard.
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We are proud to have made a difference and we continue to Work for a Better Pinole.
As we all realize, speaking out is often met with controversy.
But we hold firm to the belief that a local government must be responsive to its constituents and act in the best interest of the city and citizens they serve.
On June 15, 2021 the City Council passed the Capital Improvement Plan for the Fiscal year 2020/2021.
One of the items approved by the Council was the Restoration of the Faria House, allocating (setting aside), $1.4 Million in Fiscal Year 2020-2021.
Pinole 4 Fair Government “alerted” the community about this action and asked the community to express their views to the Council before or during the June 29 Special Council Meeting.
Thank you to all those citizens who communicated with the City Council to express your views.
This very lengthy meeting cannot be properly summarized without the benefit of the Video recording of that meeting.
Because of its length and importance, I will be providing “clips” of some the key moments, tomorrow July 6th.
But for now, I have included the “time stamps” for the key moments on the Video Recording for reference.
First, I would like to respond to Mayor Martinez-Rubin’s statement that the P4FG flier contained misinformation.
The flier stated that the $1.4 Million was 10% of our City’s Budget.
The 10% amount was based on the “unassigned, Unfunded, General Fund Balance, which is $8.9 Million.
The 10% is inaccurate, the correct percentage is 6.43%. We apologize for that misstatement.
The Council did a workmanlike job of going through items and discussing what they believed were important to add to the budget.
Among them:
Additional Staffing, at many levels.
PCTV and their budget needs
Public Works staff “on-call”
Solar panels at City facilities
EV charging stations in town
“The Balancing Act” method of including the public in the budget process
Measure S 2006 and 2014 being used for General Fund purposes
Pensions
Parks
Selling our Recycled Water
Broadband in the City
Senior Center Upgrades and “Remodel”
Adding 2 F/T Community Service Officers
An Internship Program
Galbreath road Fire Access, reclaim the easement
Grant funding to remove trees surrounding the Ellerhorst PVR area (Fire Safety)
It was interesting to discover that the Pinole Business License “Fee” is not actually a “Fee” but rather a “Tax” that apparently was voted in by the Voters of Pinole (when?)
The council discussed ways to use the American Rescue Act funds to assist the Business community with these costs.
The Final Proposed Budget was characterized as a “Status Quo” Budget.
The Restoration of the Faria House for $1.4 Million was the lengthiest part of the meeting.
There were approximately 30 public comments on that item.
The time stamp that covered the Public Comments are at:
3:24:03 – 3:57: 36 on the Video
The Discussion by the Council did not end until 1:00 am
The Faria House Discussion Time Stamp begins at 3:57:53. Ending at approximately 7:32:55
After a very lengthy debate about funding the Faria House and before the vote on the Final Budget, Mayor Pro-Tem Vincent Salimi made an unexpected announcement:
Mayor Pro-Tem Salimi made a motion to remove the Faria House from the Budget for FY 2020-2021
Mayor Pro-Tem Salimi recused himself based on “Common Law” conflict of interest and stated that he should not have voted in favor of the Faria House funding on June 15, 2021.
“After further thought I think I should not have participated in the last meeting vote, the Renovation of the Faria House in the CIP project because new information has come to me that I was not aware of.”
“That I may have had a conflict of interest in the Pinole History Museum, it was something I was not aware of.”
Mayor Pro-tem Salimi then made a motion to remove the Faria House Funding Renovation from the Capital Budget.
That motion passed 3-2, yes votes, Salimi, Tave and Murphy.
I encourage you, as taxpayers, business owners and residents to stay informed and educated on the decisions the City Council makes on your behalf.
Here at Pinole for Fair Government we are doing our best to keep you informed and urge you to follow us on Facebook or visit our website www.pinoleforfairgovernment.org.
Respectfully
Ivette Ricco
Chair, Pinole 4 Fair Government
Meeting Video Link is Below: