A round-up in advance of tonight's City Council meeting

The last two City Council meetings have been so calm and so efficient that they've concluded before I've even had a chance to get my kids to bed and grab my airbuds to listen. Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer has been absent; the two Food Bank litigants also seem to be taking a break from giving public comments at City Council meetings. What a breath of productive, fresh air. In fairness, the agendas have also been relatively light.

Now that the Alameda County Registrar of Voters has finaaaaaly finished counting and certifying the election results, this December 17 City Council meeting represents both the conclusion of this two-year "season" of City Council and the "opening episode" of the next.

Final business for this City Council

The consent calendar includes many end-of-year reports and random contracts that are all quite straightforward but still of minor interest to those of us who like learning more about how the City of Alameda works and how it can be improved:

• "Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Accept the Work of Ranger Pipelines, Inc. for Cyclic Sewer Replacement Project, Phase 19, No. PW 02-22-18" represents continued progress by the City of Alameda in keeping with a consent decree with the EPA in 2014 that effectively requires replacing all aging sewers across Alameda that could pollute the bay, among other requirements.
• "Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Two-Year Agreement with RRM Design Group to Prepare a City Facilities Plan" will provide the city with outside expert advise on how to potentially rebuild or replace aging city buildings. Here's the list of facilities that will be evaluated:

I'd be curious to know why the Alameda Police Department building and the Carnegie Library, among other city buildings, aren't on this list for evaluation. (The Veteran's Memorial Building apparently already has a unique way of planning for capital improvements.) Performing this exercise for more facilities will cost more (this contract details exactly how many hours/dollars it will cost to perform each evaluation). But there's also benefit to having more options on the table for when outside funding opportunities do arise or when it's time to strategically assemble packages of projects for consideration by voters.

And to the question of whether the city needs to or can afford to invest that much in Alameda Fire facilities: a non-expert like me would have no idea, but that's presumably the entire value of hiring an outside consulting firm that prepares these kinds of evaluations for cities around the state. They'll articulate concrete options for consideration and prioritization by Alameda's staff leadership, elected officials, and — if some of these capital improvements are proposed to be funded by bond or tax measures — voters.

• "Adoption of Resolution Declaring Canvass of Returns and Results of the Consolidated General Municipal Election Held on Tuesday,
  November 5, 2024" is the consent calendar item that leads us to our next topic...

The incoming City Auditor and City Treasurer

Now that all the votes have been counted, we can finally know with confidence who has been elected to the roles of City Auditor and City Treasurer... the same two individuals who have held these roles since 1991 and 2000, respectively.

This blog recently wrote:

To sum it up: the roles of Auditor and Treasurer look like sinecures.

But this isn't about individuals, this is about roles. And I agree with Mike McMahon, who unsuccessfully ran in 2016 saying that:

I am running for city auditor to draw attention to the wasteful spending for an unnecessary elected office. This position was established in early 1900s and is no longer needed. With the audit being conducted by an outside auditing firm, the city auditor position should be removed from the City Charter.

The incoming City Council should consider collecting a "laundry list" of targeted reforms to the City Charter and bundling these up into a single measure for voters in 2026 or 2028 — with among those reforms being the elimination of no-longer-necessary elected roles.

The incumbents have earned another term each. In the future, should voters adopt reforms to the City Charter, these long-serving individuals could instead run directly for City Council. It's the City Council that oversees all the relevant decision-making and financial processes that are performed by staff and outside consultants, so let's simplify things.

The incoming City Council

I was waiting until all the votes had been counted until I drew any conclusions about the race for City Council — but now that they have been counted, I don't have any insightful take-aways to offer other than the obvious:

• This blog argued for the importance of exactly two newcomer challengers to run — but that didn't prove necessary.
• How many voters' minds did the late-breaking-but-loud headlines about Councilmember Herrera Spencer change? You could try divining this from the incremental vote counts over time, but who actually knows...
• For newcomer candidates, the most powerful way of becoming known to voters in this election cycle was Labor support.
• Finally, Alameda City Council races are won based on relatively small number differences. Every voter and every vote does indeed count.

Thank you

This blog has recently called outgoing Councilmember Herrera Spencer the hardest working councilmember — that was intended somewhat ironically, although also not without a certain respect. (This blog also won't be surprised if she tries to run again in two years' time.)

It's thanks to outgoing Councilmember Malia Vella's work that Alameda's renters can feel stable in their homes, Alameda's vulnerable and homeless have more support services on the way, safer streets are under construction, county programs are reducing lead paint exposure for kids, and climate change is taken seriously, among many important issues that affect real people here. As a newcomer to Alameda, I missed much of her first term, but quickly became impressed. Plus, as a working parent of younger children, I can also appreciate how much effort Councilmember Vella has likely put toward showing up at meeting after meeting and vote after vote, for eight years. Thank you to Councilmember Vella for her public service — and hope she enjoys having her Tuesday evenings (and Wednesday mornings) back!