WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.110 --> 00:00:25.950 On this week's episode: a committee votes for a shorter extension of Oakland's parking ticket contract over a thirty percent collection fee, the City Auditor's findings on how the city pays for its capital projects, and up to fifty million dollars in housing bond money lined up for affordable homes. 2 00:00:29.294 --> 00:00:34.254 From Frank Ogawa Plaza, here's your weekly debrief from Oakland City Hall. 3 00:00:35.014 --> 00:00:54.049 At Tuesday's Public Safety Committee, during a routine agenda item on the committee's pending list, members spent a few minutes on thanks. Several praised an assistant city administrator for leading the work that got Oakland out from under federal police oversight, and one urged her not to leave. 4 00:00:54.049 --> 00:01:09.224 That oversight dated to 2003, after the Riders scandal. On September twenty-ninth, U.S. District Judge William Orrick said at a hearing that he was dismissing the case. It had been the longest-running court-ordered reform of a police agency in the country. 5 00:01:09.224 --> 00:01:18.689 And one public speaker had an idea for what comes next: replace the oversight reports with regular updates from the police department's own risk management. 6 00:01:18.689 --> 00:01:24.934 This episode was produced with AI from the public recording of the meeting. Links to the source are in the show notes. 7 00:01:28.437 --> 00:01:45.612 Our top story this week: the contract behind Oakland's parking tickets. On Tuesday, the Finance and Management Committee took up the city's deal with Modaxo Traffic Management. Its software and devices handle citations, permits, payments, collections and license plate recognition. 8 00:01:45.612 --> 00:01:48.172 And I understand the contract had already run out? 9 00:01:48.172 --> 00:02:10.402 In April. The company kept working anyway. Staff asked to extend it to March 2028, for up to about five point two eight million dollars, including about one point three five million in unpaid invoices. Staff said the system supports about twenty-nine point seven million dollars in budgeted parking revenue this year, and called the extension a bridge while the city shops for a long-term system. 10 00:02:10.402 --> 00:02:12.402 So what did members object to? 11 00:02:12.402 --> 00:02:40.952 A thirty percent collection fee, which gets added to a ticket on day sixty-one. One councilmember called it a blow to public trust to send thirty percent to a company that doesn't do the collecting itself. City staff said the rate isn't unusual, but that charging it on money that comes in through the DMV or the state Franchise Tax Board was something they hadn't seen before. Members also heard the fee won't apply to tickets under the state's payment plan for low-income drivers, and that the practice would be revisited in a new procurement. 12 00:02:40.952 --> 00:02:42.552 Did privacy come up? 13 00:02:42.552 --> 00:03:13.872 It did, over the license plate data the company collects. Staff argued for the full term, saying a shorter one would put them in a crunch. The committee instead voted to recommend extending the contract only to June thirtieth, 2027, on the same terms, and paying the overdue invoices, and sent that to the full council. It told staff to return as soon as possible with other vendor options, including privacy protections. It passed three to zero, with Councilmember Charlene Wang excused. No revised dollar ceiling was stated. 14 00:03:13.872 --> 00:03:15.472 What happens next? 15 00:03:15.472 --> 00:03:27.037 It's on the full council's consent calendar next Tuesday. Staff said a request for information goes out this month and a request for proposals in November, and that they'd be back in December or January with options. 16 00:03:30.781 --> 00:03:46.196 Next, how Oakland manages money for roads, parks and buildings. At Tuesday's Public Works and Transportation Committee, the City Auditor's office presented an audit of capital project spending from July 2022 through June 2025. 17 00:03:46.196 --> 00:03:47.716 What did it find? 18 00:03:47.716 --> 00:04:11.121 Neither Public Works nor Transportation has formally adopted its construction management manual. Change orders took an average of seventy-nine days to issue, against the manual's two weeks. On one paving project, change orders raised the cost more than twenty-five percent without council approval. And the city overpaid about thirty-five thousand dollars on seven of forty-six projects reviewed. 19 00:04:11.121 --> 00:04:13.536 And paying contractors on time? 20 00:04:13.536 --> 00:04:37.001 Invoices took forty-seven days on average, though local prime contractors must be paid within twenty. Late payments on one project cost sixty-six thousand dollars in interest. The audit also found the city hasn't adequately overseen Measure KK and Measure U bond money or done the required annual audits of it, and has no comprehensive long-term capital plan. It recommends a ten-year one. 21 00:04:37.001 --> 00:04:38.856 How did the city respond? 22 00:04:38.856 --> 00:05:02.981 Staff said management agreed or partly agreed with all seventeen recommendations, and will update the manual by February 2027. Asked why capital bills run late, staff said bond-funded payments need an extra independent check by the Treasury Bureau. A councilmember also asked that change orders come back to the committee for review. Here's the councilmember, then a city staff member. 23 00:05:03.381 --> 00:05:05.941 Because these change orders are astronomical. 24 00:05:08.041 --> 00:05:23.081 I would worry a little bit about it, but like if we came back to a committee for every change order, that would essentially mean slowing our capital projects down considerably. But I hear your point, which is on some change orders, there might be a good reason to do that. 25 00:05:23.561 --> 00:05:40.281 The councilmember then floated a threshold, such as two hundred thousand dollars, and Public Works agreed to discuss one. The committee sent the audit to the full council, three to zero, with Councilmember Charlene Wang excused, for a presentation next Tuesday. 26 00:05:43.625 --> 00:06:03.640 Our last top story is housing money. Voters approved Measure U, an eight hundred fifty million dollar bond for affordable housing and infrastructure, in November 2022. On Tuesday, the Community and Economic Development Committee lined up up to fifty million dollars more, from the bond's third round and other funds. 27 00:06:03.640 --> 00:06:05.080 Where does it go? 28 00:06:05.080 --> 00:06:23.080 As presented, about thirty-five million for new construction, five million each for rapid response homeless housing and for buying buildings to keep them affordable, and two and a half million for administration. It also adds up to two million to an emergency repair loan fund that staff said has run out. 29 00:06:23.080 --> 00:06:24.680 Is this new spending? 30 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:47.795 Staff said no: the council already budgeted it, and an amendment makes it contingent on actually selling the third round of bonds. The demand is much bigger. The last new construction round drew twenty-four applications seeking four hundred twenty-four million dollars, and the city could fund one hundred forty-four million. The next round opens in January, so projects can compete for state money in April. 31 00:06:47.795 --> 00:06:49.430 And after this round? 32 00:06:49.430 --> 00:07:02.825 Staff said about fifty million dollars more would remain after this round, for a fourth round that depends on the city's budget. A councilmember praised staff for getting the money out the door. Here's the councilmember, and city staff answering. 33 00:07:03.225 --> 00:07:12.085 That's exactly what you're supposed to do. But, you know, we have not solved affordable housing. I mean, are you are you worried about what comes next? 34 00:07:12.815 --> 00:07:17.205 Through the care, yes. We will need we will need additional sources. 35 00:07:17.770 --> 00:07:46.850 Later, a councilmember pointed to few or no funded projects in Districts six and seven in several programs, and staff said state maps favoring high-opportunity areas put Oakland at a disadvantage. Five of six public speakers backed the plan, among them affordable housing developers and a housing coalition; one objected to Measure U money going to a Chinatown recreation center. It passed four to zero, and heads to the council's consent calendar next Tuesday. 36 00:07:50.353 --> 00:07:54.913 Now, a handful of shorter items from around City Hall. 37 00:07:54.913 --> 00:08:26.883 Councilmember Zac Unger's ordinance would raise the city's maximum nuisance fines, which Unger said have topped out at a thousand dollars a day since 1968: up to twenty-five hundred a day for repeat or continuing violations, and up to ten thousand a day for property problems left unfixed after notice. Unger said the target is repeat offenders like absentee owners of decaying vacant buildings. Councilmember Carroll Fife raised business owners' concerns about enforcement they see as racialized. It passed four to zero, as amended, to a council public hearing next Tuesday. 38 00:08:26.883 --> 00:08:48.103 Staff said Oakland Roots and Soul met every target in its World Cup hotel tax deal, with Australia's men's team basing there. June hotel tax came to about one point seven three five million dollars, so the club got its full three hundred thousand, and the city kept about eighty thousand above the baseline. That report also goes to a council public hearing next Tuesday. 39 00:08:48.103 --> 00:09:16.233 Oakland's two concrete suppliers, CalPortland and CEMEX, declined to sign the city's certifications barring work on ICE detention and border walls. Staff said crews are mixing concrete by hand and the in-house curb ramp program is suspended. So the committee voted, three to zero with Councilmember Charlene Wang excused, to recommend up to four point eight million dollars in purchases over four years, waiving those rules. A councilmember asked why the city has the rules if it waives them so often. 40 00:09:16.233 --> 00:09:37.708 The committee also backed a five point zero five six million dollar contract with McGuire and Hester for protected bike lanes on East 12th Street, closing a one-mile gap between International Boulevard at 54th Avenue and Fruitvale BART. Staff said construction would likely start in spring 2027 and take about a year. 41 00:09:37.708 --> 00:10:08.708 At a special meeting, the Public Safety Committee backed accepting up to about one point five six million dollars from the Alameda County Superior Court for a police program removing guns from people barred from having them. A police presenter said he believed fifty-four guns had been recovered so far, and that the Ceasefire section has about sixteen officers, probably half or less of past levels. The police review agency's twice-yearly report was pushed to October twenty-seventh, so its slides can be posted with the agenda first. 42 00:10:08.708 --> 00:10:26.673 And at Thursday's Rules Committee, three speakers from the group One Fair Wage urged the council to take up a thirty-dollar minimum wage ballot measure. They said enough signatures had been gathered and state law requires the council to consider it. It isn't on next Tuesday's council agenda, and no official responded. 43 00:10:30.017 --> 00:10:33.297 Before we go, a look at what's ahead. 44 00:10:33.297 --> 00:11:13.297 The full council meets next Tuesday, October twentieth, at three-thirty. Besides the committee items we covered, it's set to accept or reject the Police Commission selection panel's slate of two commissioners, Jean Quan and Nicholas O'Brien-Kovari. It will consider resolutions supporting Proposition 1, an eleven point two five billion dollar state housing bond, and opposing Proposition 43, which would raise the vote needed for local special taxes to two-thirds. Also proposed: final passage of the S-8 zoning changes for housing near transit, and a six hundred thousand dollar settlement in the city's case against two hotel companies over unpaid restitution to employees. 45 00:11:16.801 --> 00:11:22.681 If you hear something we got wrong, there's a link on the episode's page to tell us, and corrections are read on air. 46 00:11:22.841 --> 00:11:26.361 That's the news from City Hall. See you after the next meeting.