Mayor and Councilmembers:

This is the weekly report for the week ending March 6th, 2009:

1.            Meeting Notes

The next regular City Council meeting is Tuesday, March 17^th.  Please enjoy the one week hiatus.

2.            WI-Fi Access Now Available in the Richmond Public Library

On Wednesday, March 4^th, the Richmond Public Library Main Library went live with free WiFi access for the public in the main reading areas.  Library users are now able to bring their laptops to the library and access the Internet, adding to the available public use terminals.  Both of the library branches, Bayview and West Side, have been equipped with WiFi for several months.  Even when the branches are closed, library users have been observed outside the buildings using the Internet!

3.            Performance Measurement Tracking Software

An integral part of the City’s budget processes are performance measurements that support accountability, planning and budgeting, and operational improvements.  As you may recall, several months ago the City Council approved the purchase of specialized software to assist in monitoring and reporting these various performance measurements.  This application software “See-It,” will allow staff, Councilmembers, and, through the City’s web site, the public to observe:

§  What goals the City is trying to achieve;

§  What planning is being done to achieve these goals;

§  How we are performing as measured against specific targets.

Using the system, the City’s entire operating budget goals will be displayed with interactive pictures and inter-related scorecards through the City’s website.  We expect that this will be fully implemented after the fiscal year 2009-10 budget is adopted, with performance data posted beginning in July.

4.            New Basis Swap for Redevelopment Agency 2007A Bonds

The Finance Department, in conjunction with the Richmond Community Redevelopment Agency (RCRA), is currently preparing documents to enter into a “basis swap,” where the Agency will trade payments with a counterparty bank or agency.  The purpose of this transaction is to counter the “leakage” that is occurring in the original swap that was executed at the same time the bonds were issued in May 2007.  With the additional swap in place, the Agency will receive monthly payments of about $29,000 from Loop Capital Markets.

5.            Richmond Library Staff Member Helps Select 2009 Beatty Award Winner

Kathy Haug, the City’s Children’s Administrative Librarian, recently served on the very prestigious 2009 Beatty Award Committee that selected Lewis Buzbee as the recipient of the 2009 John and Patricia Beatty Award for his book Steinbeck’s Ghost (Feiwel and Friends 2008).  The Beatty Award, established in 1987 by Patricia Beatty, is given annually to the children’s or young adult book that best represents California, its people, culture, and history.  Buzbee’s intriguing tale that was this year’s winner is a great combination of literary, historical and modern California.  Because of the prestige that is carried with the Beatty Award, it is quite an honor for Kathy Haug to be asked to serve on the selection committee.

6.            Recreation Highlights

The following are highlights from the Recreation Department for the current week:

§  MLK:  The Recreation Department held the J.D. Banks Memorial Dedication Ceremony on Saturday, February 28^th at the MLK Community Center from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.  Councilmember, Nat Bates, along with Recreation Director, Keith Jabari, spoke during the presentation.  The families and community members were very pleased with the ceremony and were delighted to see the beautiful outcome of the newly upgraded gymnasium.

§  Produce Market:  Staff and the supervisor of the Richmond Senior Center met with Episcopal Senior Services to receive information about implementing a self-sustainable and senior volunteer managed Produce Market.  Further information and materials will be obtained during a follow-up meeting.

§  Black History:  Staff of the Richmond Senior Center conducted its second annual Black History Month celebration on Saturday, February 28^th.  Over 100 community members participated in the event.

§  Basketball:  The Recreation Department had two teams participating in the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Gatorade Basketball Tournament at the Tice Valley Community Center in Walnut Creek this past Saturday, March 7^th.  The City of Richmond teams were competing against teams from the entire Bay Area.

7.            Web Stats

The City’s new web stats application shows us by category which of the features our community members are visiting the most.

After Jobs, the feature people are using next often is the Search Box.  The following graph is for February 2009 where the number 1 term searched on was ‘Business License’ followed by ‘Housing’ (note that publiclogin.asp refers to the employee intranet).

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