On the agenda: budget, ballot measure, and police equipment review

The Richmond City Council meets Tuesday taking up a full budget session ahead of a June 23 adoption deadline, an annual review of the police department's military equipment inventory, a potential November tax measure tucked into the consent calendar, a $2.6 million homeless services contract, and direction items on a street closure festival, a Chevron cleanup bill, and an Independence Day drone light show, all in a single night.

Testing the politics of a new tax measure

The council is set to approve a $247,000 contract Tuesday with a trio of consulting firms to explore whether voters would support a new local revenue measure on the November ballot.

The Finance Department recommends that the council approve a sole-source contract with SCI Consulting Group to lead a team that would also include political strategy firm CliffordMoss and public opinion research firm EVITARUS. Phase 1 work began on April 28.

The work would be carried out in two phases. The first, costing $97,000, would survey up to 500 Richmond voters to measure support for a potential tax or assessment. The second, at $150,500, would only proceed if the first phase shows favorable results and would move the city closer to a possible ballot measure.

City staff cited a compressed timeline as justification for skipping competitive bidding and authorizing both phases upfront. The deadline to place measures on the November 2026 ballot is August 7.

Budget session materials presented to council on June 9 identify the likely purpose: the city is evaluating a parcel tax or a general obligation bond to fund the transition to Advanced Life Support first responder services, a shift the city says will require a stable, long-term revenue source. Polling results on both options are expected to be presented to the council in July.

The timing is tricky. Bay Area voters rejected a wave of new tax measures, including a Contra Costa County sales tax to offset federal cuts to medical care and an Oakland property tax to fund emergency services.

SCI Consulting Group has previously worked with the city under an on-call contract approved in February. The Fairfield-based firm claims to have guided more than 300 Proposition 218-compliant funding measures statewide.

Richmond takes stock of its police toolkit

The Richmond City Council will consider reauthorizing the Richmond Police Department's military equipment use policy Tuesday night, following the release of the department's annual report covering 2025.

The report, required under California Assembly Bill 481, documents RPD’s inventory, deployments, and fiscal spending. For the first time, it includes demographic and location data on suspects involved in military equipment deployments, added at the council's direction after last year's hearing.

RPD deployed military equipment in 166 incidents during the year. Drones dominated, accounting for 104 deployments or 63 percent of the total. Flashbangs were used 26 times, less lethal impact devices and kinetic energy projectiles 13 times, a borrowed armored personnel carrier 9 times, breaching shotguns and projectiles 8 times, chemical agents 5 times, and patrol rifles once, during an August 4 officer-involved fatal shooting in the 400 block of 1st Street.

The mobile command center and tactical robot were not deployed. A separate Drone as First Responder program launched in May logged an additional 766 automated flights through December. Patrol rifles were staged or made ready 333 times between February and December, the first year RPD has tracked the figure.

The report also includes new demographic data on suspects involved in military equipment deployments, a figure the department notes is partial, covering only the incidents in which a suspect was identified. Race was unknown in 28.3 percent of cases. Among incidents with known suspects, 32.6 percent were Black and 29.7 percent were Latino.

Deferrals, grants and difficult choices

The council will receive a direction session on the proposed 2026-27 operating budget and five-year capital improvement plan ahead of final adoption June 23. Tuesday's session focuses on $2.6 million in identified capital improvement project shortfalls: Richmond Wellness Trail Phase II ($1 million), the San Francisco Bay Trail at Point Molate ($1 million), and anticipated change orders at Shields-Reid Park ($196,000) and Wendell Park ($435,000). Staff are presenting options to close the gap through vehicle replacement deferrals, project scope reductions, and future grant pursuit rather than service cuts.

A second Independence Day spectacle enters the conversation

Councilmember Soheila Bana wants the city to explore hosting a drone light show at Hilltop Mall on July 3, the same night the city is already paying $106,500 for a fireworks show at the Richmond Marina. The item asks staff to contact neighboring municipalities to identify existing regional vendor contracts that Richmond could piggyback onto for discounted pricing, with findings due back to council by June 23. The fireworks contract with Pyro Spectaculars North Inc. is on the same agenda for consent calendar approval.

A festival, a street closure, and a question of priorities

The council will receive an update on a proposed Ciclovia event on 23rd Street and decide whether to proceed with planning. The proposal would temporarily close a 0.8-mile stretch of 23rd Street between Barrett and Rheem avenues to vehicle traffic, opening it instead for walking, biking, and community activities. Organizers are considering holding the event alongside the Fiestas Patrias Parade and Festival on September 12. Staff estimates the cost of a pilot event at between $79,000 and $145,000 and cautions that adding it to this year's Public Works workload could require delaying or scaling back other council-directed projects.

Planning for the day after refining

Councilmember Claudia Jimenez wants the city to send a letter of support for Senate Bill 1259, authored by Sen. Catherine Blakespear, which would require oil refiners to file decommissioning and remediation plans with associated cost estimates. The staff report frames the bill as a transparency measure in an industry the report says is badly under-regulated, and notes that with refining in decline nationally, cleanup obligations need to be planned and disclosed before refineries close, rather than after.

Fees, vacancies, and unfinished business

Two public hearings postponed from earlier meetings are back on the agenda. One would update the city's fee schedule and introduce an ordinance setting revised fees. The other is the city's annual vacancy report, which outlines the number of unfilled positions and reviews Richmond's hiring and retention efforts over the past year.

What comes after people leave the encampments

Richmond is set to extend a $2.6 million contract with Contra Costa County to manage the city's Encampment Resolution Funding Round 2 program through August 2027, another consent calendar item set to pass without discussion.

The contract pays for a county-managed program that includes a project manager, access to five beds at Brookside Shelter, case management, help finding housing, and rental assistance. Funding comes from an $8.6 million state grant awarded to Richmond in 2023 and does not use city general fund dollars. So far, the program has helped 47 people move into housing. The current phase focuses on helping those residents remain housed after the grant ends.

Betting again on Richmond's violence prevention model

The council will accept a $2 million state violence prevention grant through 2029 to continue the Office of Neighborhood Safety's Operation Peacemaker Fellowship, which funds street outreach workers, mentoring, life skills training, and subsidized employment for 520 youth and young adults aged 14 to 35. The Richmond Police Activities League would receive $450,000 over three years; Evident Change, a research nonprofit that has evaluated the program for over a decade, would receive $100,000 for evaluation services.

Richmond trades a network specialist for a jailer

The council will approve a staffing change converting one vacant technology position in the Police Department into a Jailer role, saving the city roughly $99,530 annually. The staff report flags that the department's temporary holding facility is at risk of intermittent closure due to staffing gaps from employees on long-term leave, a problem that would force patrol officers to make extended booking trips to the Martinez Detention Facility and pull them off city streets.

The millions of dollars in routine business

In infrastructure, the council will approve a $3.5 million construction contract with FBD Vanguard Construction for safety and accessibility improvements at the Richmond Art Center; a Joint Powers Agreement for participation in the Contra Costa County Regional Alternative Compliance System for stormwater management; a $5.44 million task authorization to Veolia for two miles of sewer pipe rehabilitation; and $700,000 in fleet vehicle purchases for Port, Parks, and Abatement operations.

Two consent calendar items involve transportation projects. One updates an agreement with Caltrans that spells out maintenance responsibilities for new bicycle and pedestrian improvements at the Central Avenue and Interstate 80 interchange. The other permanently closes the direct vehicle connection between Glenn and McBryde avenues as part of the city's Safe Routes to Park project.

The council is also expected to formally accept the completed Shields-Reid Park soccer field renovation project. The action includes approval of roughly $750,000 in combined contract increases for the two construction firms involved and authorizes the release of contractor bonds and retained funds.

In Community Development, the council will approve a fourth amendment to an environmental consulting contract with NV5 for the Miraflores Property, increasing the contract by $250,000 to a total of $686,300 through December 2027, and a second amendment to a contract with Just Cities, LLC for implementation of the Housing Equity Roadmap, adding $49,999 for a total of $209,994.

Also on consent: a fourth amendment extending Liebert Cassidy Whitmore's labor and employment legal services contract through June 2027 at a total not to exceed $1.965 million; a three-year sole-source software contract with eScribe for agenda management at up to $56,251 in the first year; a BNSF railroad crossing construction and maintenance agreement for safety improvements at Harbour Way South and Wright Avenue; authorization to place liens for unpaid garbage collection fees on county property tax records; a $70,000 public art mural contract with Deonta Allen for the Civic Center Apartments; and an $87,777 contract with All Star Painting for graffiti removal from historic concrete at the General Warehouse Building.

Board appointments include Courtney Bulletti to the Human Relations Commission, a nominee who resides within a councilmember's orbit, Sherwin Harris to the Macdonald Avenue Corridor Task Force, along with a correction adding one additional seat to the task force, Lorene Holmes Dees reappointed to the Commission on Aging, and Ysela Lopez to the Richmond Youth Council. The council will also receive the April 2026 monthly crime report and adopt a proclamation recognizing National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

The council meeting begins at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday with a closed session on labor negotiations, followed by the regular meeting at 6 p.m.

YOU GET MORE WITH A PAID SUBSCRIPTION

Your subscription enables Grandview Independent to deliver more:

More time devoted to in-depth reporting
Longer, more comprehensive stories
Greater coverage of what matters to our community

Quality journalism costs money. Subscriptions allow us to keep reporting the stories that matter, without paywalls getting in the way of critical community information.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE - Starting at just $10/month

FOLLOW US FOR BREAKING NEWS:
• Twitter: @GrandviewIndy
• Instagram: @GrandviewIndependent
• Facebook: @Grandview Independent