NOTE:
Board of Supervisors abbreviated as “Board”
El Sobrante as “ES” Note: El Sobrante Municipal Advisory Council abbreviated as ESMAC,
El Sobrante Valley Panning & Zoning Advisory Committee abbreviated as ESVPZAC
Moved, Seconded, Passed abbreviated M,S,P – x,y,z
Moved, Seconded, Failed abbreviated M,S,F – x,y,z
where x= votes for, y votes against and z abstentions

DRAFT Minutes for May 9, 2007

Meeting Called to Order: 7:00pm
Pledge led by Tom Owens
Note: Charles Marino not present

PRESENTATIONS
P.1 Presentation by Contra Costa County Sheriff Warren Rupf.
Lt. Rob Bradley now in charge of Bay Station.
Capt. Donny Gordon now in charge of the Office of Emergency Services.
2007-2008 budget down 3 positions, but working on restoring resident deputy program.
Crime trends up 40% in Feb., but reduced 25% in March.
Violent crimes down statistically.
P.2 PresentationbyCity of Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus.
Outlined neighborhood beat, stated odd jurisdictional boundaries as an issue. Area issues not violent crimes but abandoned cars, illegal dumping, loud music and other quality of life issues. Neighborhood officers responsible for tracking local topics of concern and communicating them internally on a day-to-day basis ideally giving a more rapid response to crimes at the neighborhood/beat level. Aggressively recruiting new officers to achieve full staffing. Working hard on increasing block watches. Crimes in this area are mainly burglary, car theft and vandalism. Truancy reduction (700 this year) program has resulted in reduction in crimes of convenience. Crime mapping should be available live this summer.Question was raised about getting a combined (Richmond/County) crime report for the El Sobrante area as a whole with a second question concerning fair share return of value on our tax dollars for police protection. Response was that combing statistics would probably not change the overall outlook, given the way statistics are generated. Sheriff Rupf stated that studies show that the satisfaction with police protection was proportional to the visibility of the police force and that the county residents don’t feel safe because they don’t see many deputy sheriffs.  He also stated that the county does not have a “return to source” model and that it would be a realistic to ever expect it to happen.
Question was raised if benchmarks and comparisons between our community and neighboring communities (such as Rodeo, Alamo) as far as taxes paid and amount spent in crime prevention and police protection could be generated. Reply was that where crime rate is greater there would be more money spent there (This was supported by Supervisor Gioia). Sheriff Rupf also stated that he’d get data (money spend by sheriff’s office) to us between meetings and assumed that county could get tax data relatively easily.
Both officers stated that there is a high degree of co-operation and communication between the two departments.
Supervisor Gioia stated that the various boundaries doesn’t lead to a efficient provision of services and described the various areas and that the county services are paid from the General Fund, and asked how we want the data presented. He stated that he’s trying to bring back the resident deputy to El Sobrante. He also stated that he’ll work on getting merged crime data from Richmond (El Sobrante area) and El Sobrante (county). He noted that CHP deals with traffic, while Sheriffs’ office deals with crime while Richmond police have to do both.
Question was raised concerning response time for calls while we supposedly have higher coverage than any other locale in the area (noted that with only one officer on duty that he may be called away for an assist) and we have more calls per capita than any other county area. This is compounded by having officers service this area that are unfamiliar with the streets and a lack of accurate maps in the patrol cars. Also the population for the unincorporated commercial corridor dramatically increases during the day while the residential (Richmond) population decreases yet the county supplies sole coverage of this corridor that benefits both areas.
While this is a potential inequity, there is no reasonable way to rectify it, so that when Supervisor Gioia resurrected the resident deputy program, Sheriff Rupf thought that it’d be the best way to provide this extra coverage for the commercial corridor.
Question was raised regarding a communication resource that would redirect a call placed to an incorrect agency, rather than having to hang up and redial the correct agency.
Sheriff’s response should be that an officer should respond and make the appropriate referral if necessary.In summary Sheriff Rupf stated that he’d work on getting the crime data and expenses incurred by his department for the El Sobrante area and that there are still plans to put the crime stats back on line. Chief Magnus stated that the area crime stats for Richmond should be on line by this summer. Supervisor Gioia stated that he’d get the tax data together. Work is proceeding on developing cross-jurisdictional communication equipment for both Alameda and Contra Costra County emergency services. Staffing levels for both Sheriffs office and City of Richmond Police are looking better.
Question regarding preventing criminals from using our road to escape from apprehensions from other locales was raised. Response was that it was generally a good idea to do apprehensions in less populated areas and every effort is made to safely do so.
Also that it is better to ask questions closer to the time an incident than to wait years as in the example brought up.
P.3 Presentation by Terrance Cheung, Chief of Staff for Supervisor John Gioia, monthly report.
Terrance Cheung unavailable for this meeting.

Approval of minutes of March and April minutes and Treasurer’s report tabled until June meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT
Should request crime data from Pinole, San Pablo and Highway Patrol as well as Richmond and Sheriffs’ office for combine area report.
Property at 4355(?) Santa Rita Rd is in the process (county will clean and place a lien on property).
Property at 4600 Hilltop has new owner and Patty Cookson will be opening a new case report on it.
New contact at  Contra Costa County Environmental Health -Marie Reis: 925-646-5225x276).
Request for monthly printed report was made.
Report vendors that don’t have permits because of health risk.
Question raised why we as a community have not gotten grants similar to the woman in El Cerrito or Montalvan Manor.

SHORT DISCUSSION ITEMS
SDI.1 Safe circulation of cars, bikes, and pedestrians along San Pablo Dam Road? May is bike to work month. May 17th is bike to work day.
Motion that ESMAC support the bike to work. M(WG),S,P-6,0,0
SDI.2 LAFCO Presentation in June, and presentation in June by Tom Powers on proposed project on Castro Ranch Road.   

DISCUSSION ITEMS
DI.1Development Plan Applications, Variance Reports, Building Modification Requests, Appeals etc. received in the previous month from the Contra Costa County Community Development Department.
DI.2 Report from El Sobrante Valley Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee.
Eleanor Loynd reported on projects before ESVPZAC noting frustration of lack of notification between county and Richmond City regarding projects that share borders as well as notifying residents that adjoin the project but don’t live in the jurisdiction.

PUBLIC COMMENT
Request to check building permit on new construction off Allview Rd. (near corner of Allview and Juanita).

Announcements     Agenda/Speakers for Next Meeting
June 11: LAFCO, and Tom Powers on Development off Dam Road. 

Adjournment
Motion to Adjourn. M(TO),S,P -6,0,0
Meeting Adjourned 9:59 P.M.

Respectfully submitted by Tom Owens, Secretary, ESMAC

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