The current contract with “Code Red,” Piedmont’s emergency notification system, runs through April 2016, but the City began using “AC Alert” in August 2015.  Alameda County cities use a variety of different mass notification systems. For example, Berkeley uses BENS, Berkeley Emergency Notification System. The Alameda County Grand Jury >Final Report <2012 – 2013 mandated the County to obtain a mass emergency notification system. “AC Alert” is the result of this mandate.

The three bomb attacks in Brussels this week are a reminder to prepare for emergencies. In Brussels cell phone service was unavailable much of the day.

The City of Piedmont is transitioning from “Code Red”

to “AC Alert.”

Announcement:  “AC Alert” is a county wide emergency notification system that allows you to opt in to notifications not only in the community in which you reside, but in up to 5 other locations (i.e.-work, daycare, school, surrounding cities).

Click here to sign up – it only takes about a minute to enroll!

How Will You Stay Informed About Emergencies?

Your safety is the top concern – that is why the City of Piedmont wants to make sure you know about emergencies and incidents as they happen.

The City of Piedmont will use “AC Alert” powered by Everbridge to make sure you know about issues that may affect your safety. This system allows the City of Piedmont to contact thousands of residents in seconds so you can find out about an emergency right away.

Residents will receive important messages from city officials via email, phone, and much more!

How Does It Work?

The process begins when the City of Piedmont issues a message about a potential safety hazard or concern. Next, “AC Alert” sends a message through your primary contact path. If you do not confirm receipt of the message, the system will try to reach your second contact path and continues trying to reach you until you confirm receipt.

The success of this service relies on YOU.

You must go to the “AC Alert” sign up page and enroll. Click below.

Click >for sign up – it only takes about a minute to enroll! <

Your information cannot be transferred from “Code Red” to “AC Alert.” Having your latest contact information is the only way to ensure that we can contact you in an emergency.

“Piedmont Respects Your Privacy!!”

“The City of Piedmont will never share or distribute your personal information, unless required to do so by law. Additionally, we will never use your information for any purpose other than to send emergency notifications or information pertaining to Piedmont.”

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If you are interested in organizing, hosting, or attending a neighborhood safety meeting, please go to the > Public Safety Committee’s page <and enter your information. You will be contacted by a member of the committee who will give you information on setting up a meeting.

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City Council to Discuss Dracena Park Off-Leash Issue

Monday, March 21st – 7:30 p.m.

 City Council Chamber, 120 Vista Avenue

An Opportunity to Serve Your Community!

Vacancies on Piedmont’s commissions and committees offer an excellent opportunity for Piedmonters to get involved in Piedmont activities important to the ongoing success and quality of the City.  These citizen volunteer positions allow individuals to use their abilities on a wide range of subjects.  Being on a commission or committee engages a person in a high level of civic involvement.

Each commission has a special role in making decisions and advising the City Council.  A full term on a commission last for 3 years with a two term limit.  Positions without an incumbent are ready opportunities for new participants.

Interested residents may download the Application for Appointive Vacancy. Applications are due to City Hall on or before the deadline of Thursday, March 17, 2016.

Interviews with the City Council for these positions will be scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, 2016. No appointments will be made without a Council interview.

Honoring President’s Day and delaying their meeting one day, the City Council will convene on Tuesday, February 16 at 7 p.m. in a Closed Session with legal counsel in the City Hall Conference Room to discuss litigation concerning Harris & Associates, the engineering firm instrumental in the failed and costly private underground utility district.

At 7:30 p.m. the City Council will begin its Open Session in the Council Chambers, with the Consent Calendar:  approve Council liaison assignments, approve catastrophic leave donations for Firefighter David Abernethy, and authorize a settlement with Harris and Associates in the amount $417,000.

Next the Council will take up its regular agenda, including the 2014-15 Audit Report, 2015 Piedmont Crime Report, Police Computer Upgrade in the amount $426,205, Emergency Operations Plan Update, Midyear Fiscal 2015-16 Report, and Midyear Appropriations increasing budgeted expenditures by $964, 250.

The meeting is open to the public, broadcast live.  A copy of the meeting will be retained in the city’s archives.

Read the agenda.

Staff reports:

Council liaison assignments for 2016

Catastrophic leave donation

Settlement agreement with engineers Harris & Associates

Audit Report

Year End Crime Report

Dispatch Software Purchase

Emergency Operations Plan

Mid-year Financial Report

Mid-year Additional Appropriations 

The Piedmont City / School Liaison Committee will consider topical subjects impacting both the City and School District.  Consensus is frequently reached in an open exchange of information. Decisions are not finalized during the meeting, as they must be referred to the appropriate elected body for action.  Individuals interested in the subjects can participate at the meeting.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

4:00 p.m.

City Hall Conference Room, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, CA

The meeting is open to the public.  The meeting will not be broadcast or recorded for future viewing. Agenda:

• 1. Update on the PUSD Facilities Master Planning Process
•  2. Discussion of City Parcel Tax on the June 7 Presidential Primary Election Ballot
•   3. Discussion of Pick-Up / Drop-Off Zone at High School and Middle School
•   4. Discussion of Plans for Full Day Kindergarten and its Impact to Schoolmates and Opportunities for Cooperation 

Materials for the meeting have not been publicly disseminated, however they can be obtained at the meeting or prior to the meeting through the City or the Piedmont Unified School District.

$3,000 available for earthquake work to qualifying homeowners.

The Earthquake Brace + Bolt (EBB) program provides homeowners up to a maximum of $3,000 for approved construction projects to strengthen their foundation. Homeowners who are accepted in the EBB program are required to agree to and adhere to the full Program Rules and Terms of Use posted on the website. (Read the 15 page Rules and Terms here.)

The EBB program requires adherence to the California Building Code, Appendix Chapter A3, which sets prescriptive standards for seismic retrofits of existing residential buildings.

Homeowner registration is open until February 20 to apply for participation in the program. Homeowners will be notified via email if they have been selected or if they are on the wait list. Selected homeowners will receive detailed information and next steps for participation in EBB.

Highlights of qualifications for homeowners :

• Homeowner must be the owner of record and live in the house that will be retrofitted.

• The house must meet the structural requirements of a Chapter A3 retrofit which is done completely in the crawl space around the perimeter of the foundation.

  1. For houses with cripple walls 4-feet or less, a contractor or homeowner may complete the retrofit using an approved standard plan set.
  2. For houses with cripple walls taller than 4-feet an engineered solution is required.

• The house must not have a completed brace and bolt retrofit previous to being accepted into EBB.

• The building permit must be received and dated after acceptance into EBB.

• The building permit must state the retrofit is in accordance with Chapter A3. If the retrofit is an engineered solution, then the signed and stamped letter from the engineer must state the retrofit is in accordance with Chapter A3.

• In addition to the brace and bolt retrofit the work must include strapping the water heater.

• The homeowner must meet all program deadlines and submit the required documentation.

• The house must successfully pass a final inspection by a local building inspector, confirming the retrofit was done in accordance with Chapter A3.

   

Garrett Keating contends the City will have adequate revenue without the jump up in the Parcel Tax rate and funds are needed for school improvements.

In his last published column, Councilman Jeff Wieler challenged readers to propose changes to municipal services in lieu of supporting the proposed increase in the parcel tax.  To have that discussion, it would be nice if the Councilman stopped his harangue of others who don’t share his views.  The ink isn’t even dry on the proposal and Councilman Wieler already characterizes other views as “perverse” and negative.  

The basis of his column is the proposal from the Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee (BAFPC) that the annual parcel tax be raised by as much as 50%.  BAFPC analyzed the city’s facility maintenance needs and conservatively estimates that $0.5M is needed annually for deferred maintenance. Likewise, the city recently completed a review of its information technology and found that conservatively $0.5M is needed annually to upgrade its IT systems.  As an aside, these are “spreadsheet spending” analyses that need more work before they are used as the basis for a tax increase.  So a 50% increase in the annual $1.8M parcel tax brings in about the $1M needed to start facility maintenance and IT upgrades.    

The basis for the BAFPC recommendation is a projection showing that implementing this new spending will deplete the General Fund reserve by 2020. The BAFPC estimates that over this 5-year period, annual transfer tax revenues will be $2.8M, the average value for the transfer tax from the past 10 years.  Alternatively, using the 25-year trend in transfer tax increase, the tax has increased 10% annually to its present day value of $3.9M.  At that rate, the transfer tax will tax be $6.3M by 2020.  Even at 5%, the transfer tax will be $4.5M in 2020.  Transfer tax revenues for the past three years have been $3.2, $4.0 and $3.9M, respectively.

And there is no estimate in the BAFPC projection for the increase in revenue from property reassessment nor tax revenue from 8 new residences coming to Piedmont.  For example, there are 1000 properties in Piedmont assessed under $500,000 and if just 5% of those sold for $2M today (median 2015 Piedmont price), those sales alone would generate close to $1M in new revenue.  This property tax increase, coupled with the 25-year trend in the transfer tax growth, could likely exceed the revenue the BAFPC proposes to collect with the new tax.

As it happens, at its Monday meeting, the Council chose to go with only a 30% increase in the parcel tax, raising $500K annually with an increase of about $150 for the average Piedmont household.  The parcel tax increase will be on the June 2016 primary ballot and Piedmonters should review the BAFPC report and recommendations available on the city website:(http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/html/govern/staffreports/2015-12-07/parceltaxreport.pdf). 

As the debate heats up, consider these points. First, disregard any statements that not voting for the tax increase will lead to a reduction in public safety.  City reserve funds are at their maximum and the current parcel tax carries on until June 2017, leaving ample time to renew the tax should it fail in June.  References to cuts in public safety are simple fear-mongering.  Second, the spending estimates that justify the tax have not been fully researched and may be overstated.   As an example, estimates that the Sewer Tax needed to be increased by 50% were subsequently found to be inaccurate.  

Finally, Piedmont Unified School District (PUSD) is currently conducting a facilities assessment and will likely have a ballot initiative on the November 2016 ballot.   I hope the School Board brings forward a proposal to not only maintain school facilities but to modernize them.  Science and media laboratories, performance spaces and classrooms have all been identified as needing upgrades. 

Actually, maintaining the status quo with the city parcel tax and encouraging residents to support new school revenue might be the best strategy for the city.  Demand for Piedmont schools drives up housing prices leading to the historic increases in the city’s transfer tax receipts.

Councilman Wieler misses the point.  Opponents of the proposed tax increase don’t oppose better city services, they just don’t see why the tax need be increased when current and projected revenue will do the job.  Rather than argue about cuts, maybe we should be discussing revenues.

Garrett Keating, Former Piedmont City Councilmember

Editors’ Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

City Council Meeting – January 4, 2016 –

To Fill a Planning Commission vacancy, a Special Meeting will be convened at 6 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room.

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A Special Meeting will be convened at 6 p.m. in open session in the City Hall Conference Room to consider filling the vacancy on the Planning Commission. The opening is a result of the recent resignation of Commissioner Phillip Chase.  No staff report on the vacancy or public notification soliciting applicants is available. The Special Meeting will not be broadcast nor recorded, however, it is open to the public.  Piedmont’s City Charter states that Special Meetings may be called by the Mayor or three or more members of the Council with 24 hours notice.

The regular meeting will be convened at 6:30 p.m. with a Closed Session, also in the City Hall Conference Room on two subjects: performance evaluation of the City Administrator and litigation with Harris & Associates.

At 7:30 p.m. the City Council will take up its regular agenda in Open Session in the Council Chambers, Monday, January 4, 2016. The meeting is open to the public, broadcast live and a copy of the meeting will be retained in the city’s archives.

Read the full agenda.

Available staff reports follow:

01/04/16 – Award of Contracts for Aquatics Center Maintenance as follows:

a. Replacement of Locker Room Floors to MC Construction Services

b. Replacement of the Main Pool Filter to Aquatic Commercial Industries

01/04/16 – Award of Contract to Cleary Brothers Landscape, Inc in the Amount of $12,250 for Blair Park Tree Removal

01/04/16 – Consideration of Acceptance of the 100% Complete Construction Documents and Specifications; Authorization to Solicit Bids for the Hampton Field Renovation Project; and the Phasing of the Project

01/04/16 – Consideration of Direction to Staff Regarding the Placement of a Municipal Services Special Tax Measure on the June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election Ballot

01/04/16 – Consideration of Ord. 720 N.S. Amending Chapter 17 of the City Code to Preserve Local Control by Prohibiting the Cultivation, Delivery and Dispensing of Marijuana

01/04/16 – Consideration of Authorization for the City to Join the ICLEI Compact of Mayors

01/04/16 – Introduction of the Concept of Building Energy Savings Regulations and Direction to Staff on Further Steps

Read previous article on marijuana issue in Piedmont.

Read previous articles on Piedmont Municipal Services Special Tax.

Read previous articles on Hampton Field.