Mayor and Councilmembers:

This is the weekly report for the week ending December 14^th, 2007.

1.         Meeting Notes

The regular City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, December 18^th is cancelled due to a lack of time critical agenda items, and to give Councilmembers and the public the opportunity to begin to enjoy the busy holiday season.  The next scheduled City Council meeting is on Tuesday, January 8^th.

2.         Steve Climons, Crossover Creative Group, Receives International Award for “Lead” Campaign to Recruit Police Officers  

You may recall that the City Council approved a contract with the Crossover Creative Group, a Richmond marketing firm headed by Steve Climons, to develop a recruiting campaign for new police officers.  Mr. Climons has reported that he has received the 2007 Diamond Award from The Global Marketer in the “Re-Launch/Re-Brand” category for the “Lead” campaign.  This marketing campaign appeared not only on billboards in the City of Richmond, but also through an extensive outreach effort using multiple media outlets.  This is a highly competitive international award, which Mr. Climons will receive on January 31^st, 2008 in New York City.  In the notification letter received by Mr. Climons, it was reported that

 “More than a dozen judges from as many countries assigned scores to the entries assigned to them.  The top five campaigns in each category were then given to a second panel of international judges – this time to marketing editors from around the world – who evaluated the finalists and whittled them down to just one winner per category.  This was no easy task.”

It was also no easy task to put together this successful campaign, and I offer my thanks and congratulations to Steve Climons of Crossover Creative Group.

3.         Richmond Grant Proposal on Climate Change Element of the General Plan is Recommended for Funding

Supervisor John Gioia, who sits on the Board of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), reported to the City of Richmond that the City’s $75,000 grant proposal to develop a Climate Change Element as part of the General Plan update has been recommended for funding by the Climate Change Committee of the Board.

4.         Recent Special Events Hosted by the Recreation Department

The Recreation Division has recently hosted the following successful events:

·         The 1^st annual Richmond Youth Chess Tournament was held at the Recreation Complex on Saturday, December 8.  Over 20 youth participated in the tournament, which is expected to expand into a collaborative program with the Library, PAL, YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, and WCCUSD.

·         The 55^th Annual Snow Ball was held on Friday, December 7, at the Ford Craneway. 1,634 tickets were sold to teenagers for that event.

·         On Saturday, December 8, the 10^th Annual Senior Winter Ball was held, also at the Craneway, featuring the Junius Courtney Orchestra.  616 tickets were sold to that event.

A number of individuals, including staff within the Recreation Department and volunteers, worked very hard to see that these events were successful.

5.         Workforce Development Training:  “From Jails to Jobs”

The Employment and Training Department continues to offer an excellent array of services.  This week the Department offered a training class on working with ex-offenders, entitled “From Jails to Jobs,” which was well attended by case managers and job developers from a number of agencies.  The training covered:

·         Models that have been used for ex-offender employment programs;

·         Job search and job retention proven strategies;

·         Common mindset of people coming off the correctional system;

·         Resources related to ex-offenders and employment

6.         Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) Activities

The Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) continues to actively develop its Street Outreach strategy. ONS received several applications for the Street Outreach worker positions, and the first round of interviews for these positions will begin next week December 19^th and 20^th. 

Interviews for selecting the ONS Advisory Committee have also begun and will continue throughout the month. 

Key activities for the ONS this past week were:

·         Convened meetings with Contra Costa Alcohol and Other Drugs Services (CCAODS) to begin to identify viable opportunities for addressing street violence in Richmond.  ONS received direction on how the CCAODS can best support the efforts of the ONS.

·         Convened meetings with the State of California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) in an effort to create and sustain a coordinated and collective response to street violence and re-entry services for people returning to Richmond.  ONS will participate in the Police and Corrections/Community Team (PACT) and begin to work with the Richmond Parole Unit to increase capacity on behalf of those paroling back to the City of Richmond.

·         ONS serves as the Lead Agency for the “Richmond Community Wellness Collaborative” (RCWC) on behalf of the City’s CalGRIP application to receive funds for gang reduction and intervention program services through the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.  The partnership created by the RCWC brings together a dynamic mix of community based organizations and local government to address this critical need.  Community based organizations representing this body of work include Neighborhood House of North Richmond, The Bay Area Peace Keepers, AMER-I-CAN, and Straight Talk on Prisons (STOP).

·         Held meetings with various City legislators and service provider leaders to discuss the development and sustainability of citywide Street Outreach and Re-entry focused Employment Services.

·         Briefed the Richmond Neighborhood Coordinating Council (RNCC) on the status, activities and priorities of the ONS.

We will continue to keep you informed of these activities.

7.         Work on Mid-year Budget Review Initiated

The Finance Department has begun work on the mid-year budget review, which will be presented to the City Council in February.  Factors being evaluated include:

·         The impact of the downturn in the local residential real estate market and its effect on development fees and property tax;

·         The projected California budget deficit of roughly $14 billion, which is significantly larger that the $9.8 billion gap previously forecast by state budget analysts; and

·         The growing weakness of the financial markets which necessitated the recent federal funds cut of a quarter percentage point and the now projected additional quarter point reduction in January.  

Also, Budget Staff is reviewing all revenue and expenditure projections with actual expenditures and revenues as of January 1^st, 2008, and their impact on the adopted FY 2007 budget.

8.         Expiration of Local Cable Franchise

As of December 31, 2007, Comcast’s franchise with the City to provide cable services expires. The City will no longer have a franchise agreement with Comcast for cable services.  Instead, as a result of State legislature’s passage of the Digital Infrastructure and Competition Act of 2006, Comcast will be seeking a franchise for the City of Richmond from the State of California.  Since the City Council passed an ordinance last September, adding Chapter 2.35 to the Richmond Municipal Code, the state franchise will impose the same fees and costs on Comcast as existed in the expired local franchise among other things.  This change should be seamless to Comcast subscribers.  We will provide you a full analysis of any anticipated changes in the new year.

9.         East Bay Regional Communication System Update

As you recall, the City Council approved the City of Richmond’s participation in the East Bay Regional Communication System (EBRCS), which will bring an interoperable, regional communication system into Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.  The EBRCS Board of Directors met on Friday, December 7^th, with several action items discussed and approved:

·         Two sub-committees were established, Finance and Operations. Interested Board Members were selected and assigned to each of these committees. Both committees will meet on a monthly basis.

·         Bylaws for the EBRCS were approved.

·         A resolution was adopted approving an agreement with Meyers, Nave, Riback, Silver & Wilson to provide legal services to the EBRCS.

The East Bay Regional Parks District has also joined the EBRCS as a Special District representative; however they will continue to maintain their low band radio system.

The EBCRS is continuing to actively pursue grant funds for this important project, and we will keep you informed as this progresses.

10.       2007 Charitable Giving Campaign

This year’s City of Richmond charitable giving campaign effort at the City of Richmond has once again been an outstanding success.  Thanks to the generosity of City employees, staff pledged $44,632.08 for the following organizations:

This amount was an increase of $13,495.08 from last year’s total contributions of $31,137.00.

Special thanks to Finance Department staff member Theresa Austin who chaired the City-wide Campaign, and to each Department that participated in this program.

11.       Hiring of an Environmental Manager in the Engineering Department

The Engineering Department has hired Jenny Oorbeck as its Environmental Manager.  This is a newly created position, approved by the City Council as part of the FY 2007-08 budget, that will oversee the industrial pretreatment and storm water quality programs, prepare the annual reports that are submitted to the regulatory agencies, administer the City’s regulatory permits and work on certain aspects of the Veolia Water contract.  Ms. Oorbeck was previously the Program Manager and Acting Director for the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority, where she was responsible for the waste diversion, recycling and green building programs.  Her experience and expertise should be extremely beneficial as the City continues to improve its environmental programs.

12.       Web Site Statistics

To understand how well our public outreach is working with the City’s updated website, I asked IT Director Sue Hartman to provide a year-to-year comparison of site visits.  Ms. Hartman provided the following comparison of September through November 2006 (green) versus 2007 (purple).  Note that although the number of visits has increased since 2006, the average length of visit was on the average higher in 2006.

Ms. Hartman also provided the following daily comparison of November 2006 (green) versus 2007 (purple). Note that,  although the number of visits has increased since 2006, the average length of visit was on the average higher in 2006.

In short, the number of visits to the City of Richmond web site are significantly higher now than at this time last year.

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