RNCC Meeting Minutes, January 14, 2013
1. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by President Don Woodrow.
2. MSP approval of the Minutes from the November 19, 2012 meeting.
3. Representatives from the following (14) neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Carriage Hills North, Fairmede/Hilltop, Hilltop Villages, Marina Bay, May Valley, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Parchester Village, Park Plaza, Pt Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Santa Fe and Southwest Annex.
4. Announcements from RNCC PIO: Goretha Johnson announced the MLK march for Freedom on Saturday January 19th, starting from the Nevin Center and Going to the Civic Center Plaza. She also had other MLK activities, free computer classes and a Freedom Fund Banquet on February 2nd.
5. City Department Heads/City Official Reports:
Public Works: Yader Bermudez was unavailable but Warren Williams filled in. Warren passed out the street paving agenda for the next 2 weeks weather permitting. 2000 LED lights were installed around the City. They will also be repairing lights in May Valley and lower Cutting Blvd.
Engineering Services: Tawfic Halaby spoke about El Portal being opened and that that the City kept its promise to have to the road back open by the New Year. They hope to have it completed by March or April. The Dornan Tunnel repair project will begin mid-January and it will limit traffic to one lane during work hours (8-5).
City Manager/Community Coordinator: Rochelle Monk was unavailable but Alicia Nightengale brought us the “Recreation Partnership” program that talks about certain programs being brought to certain community centers. All of the information and forms are online at the recreation website.
Mayor’s office: Nicole Valentine spoke about some of the upcoming MLK Day celebrations as well as the swearing in ceremony of Councilmen Bates and Butt. The Mayor will have community leadership awards on January 29th and the first Meet the Mayor for 2013 will be in the Whittlesey Room at 5:30 February 1st, 2013.
Police Department: Chief Magnus was unavailable but Deputy Chief Brown was there in his place. There will be 5 promotions in the department to start off 2013. We have 2 LT promotions and 3 Sgt promotions and the ceremony will be on Thursday January 24th @ 10 A.M., the location to be announced. There are still some changes and moves happening in the police department, so the contact sheets will be coming out a little later this year. Violent crime was down in 2012 but the overall crime rate is up 9%, mostly due to car thefts and property crimes. They are working to get a grant for a new property crime program called “Predictive Policing” and this is a very highly rated program at reducing property crimes. It has been used in Santa Cruz with great results.
Code Enforcement: Tim Higares was unavailable.
Environmental Manager: Lynne Scarpa brought us a 2013 calendar that shows what is being done by the City and the County throughout the year.
Planning Department: Jonelyn Whales brought us the project planning list that was newly updated and answered any questions we had regarding things missing or not updated on the list.
Fire Department: Terry Harris spoke about fire prevention and starting the new year making sure that everyone has “CO” monitors and that all apartments must have “CO” monitors in their units. Richmond has a lot of new businesses moving into it and this keeps the Fire Marshall very busy inspecting all these new businesses. The Fire Department is going to start a Fire Academy in August of 2013 and will have between 12 to 15 new recruits. They have also completed the permit process with Chevron and are in the process of working out a proposal with Chevron to have them pay the City for a 24/7 Fire Inspector on their property.
6. Presentations:
1) JC Miller and City planner Lina Velasco brought us an overview of the Urban Greening Master Plan. They are working on having greening workshops as well as updating the City’s tree ordinance. They are asking for participation in the 2 advisory committees that will be up and running soon. They are also tackling the heritage tree language that will be part of the City’s landscaping master plan.
2) Alex Digiorgio from Marin Energy Authority presented what is happening with the Community Choice Aggregation that the City of Richmond will be part of starting in July 2013. Their service are now includes all of Marin county and include the City of Richmond starting in July. As everyone knows, you will still receive the same bill from PG&E, as they will still be bringing you the electricity but they will not be supplying you with it. There will be 5 opt out mailers to all Richmond residents starting in April. Three (3) will be sent before July enrollment and two (2) notices will be sent after you have received the enrollment letters. It will consist of 2 letters and 3 postcards. Their Board conducts their meetings the 1st Thursday of the month in San Rafael. If you are interested, you can contact Tom Butt as he is on the board.
7. Old Business: None
8. New Business: None
9. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:12 PM and we would like to thank the Point Richmond and Santa Fe Neighborhood Councils for this evening’s refreshments.
Respectfully submitted by,
Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary