MARTINEZ, CA – At their November 29, 2016, special meeting, the Contra Costa Community College District Governing Board unanimously approved the provisional appointment of Gary Walker-Roberts of Antioch to represent Ward IV.  This appointment, in accordance with California Education Code 5091, is being made due to the vacancy created by the unfortunate passing of Governing Board member John T. Nejedly last month. Ward IV includes the communities of Blackhawk, Byron, Danville, Diablo, Discovery Bay, San Ramon, and parts of Alamo, Antioch, Brentwood, Clayton, and Concord.

Walker-Roberts will be seated at the next regular Governing Board meeting on Wednesday, December 14, 2016, beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Walker-Roberts is an alum of Los Medanos College where he graduated Suma Cum Laude in 2013 with an A.A. in Behavioral Science and Social Science. Then he graduated again from LMC with an A.A. in Arts & Humanities in 2015. He served on the community college board as a student trustee this past school year, was student body president of LMC in 2014-15, student representative to the United Faculty, and was instrumental in the formation and opening of the Veterans Resource Center at LMC, earlier this year.

Walker-Roberts also graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. degree in Ethnic Studies: Gender & Sexuality from Cal State East Bay in 2015 and with a Masters degree in English from Arizona State University, this year.

His public service has included working on Antioch Councilwoman Monica Wilson’s reelection campaign, this year and as a volunteer and mentor for foster youth with Contra Costa County Children & Family Services.

With his application, Walker-Roberts submitted letters of support from both Wilson and State Assemblyman Jim Frazier.

He works in retail as a Fragrance Expert/Trainer for Louis Vuitton, USA in San Francisco and has worked in the field of skin care and cosmetics since 2005.

When reached for comment, Walker-Roberts said, “I’m looking forward to serving Ward IV from East Contra Costa County all the way around Mt. Diablo to southern Contra Costa County. I appreciate that the trustees feel I can handle the position of trustee.”

Asked what his plans are in the new position, he stated, “I want to continue to represent under-represented minority students’ needs and also continue to develop the Veterans Resource Centers throughout the district. We’re working with the Sentinels of Freedom to open one at each of the three college campuses.”

Other applicants considered for the provisional appointment were non-profit manager and educator Carl Nichols, litigation attorney Jerome Pandell and barber college owner Frank Quattro, all of Danville, and Director of the STEM-Workforce Initiative of the Contra Costa Economic Partnership, April Treece of Clayton. To see the application from and letters of support for each candidate, click here.

Unless a petition calling for a special election, containing a sufficient number of signatures, is filed in the Office of County Superintendent of Schools within 30 days of the date of the provisional appointment, the provisional appointment shall become an effective appointment until the next regularly scheduled election for Governing Board members in November 2018.

For more details on the petition process, visit the District website at www.4cd.edu.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

By Allen Payton

Eight Antioch residents of two assisted living facilities licensed to and operated by the same people, fell ill over the weekend, and three died from possible food poisoning. According to a KTVU Channel 2 news report by Tom Vacar, on Monday, “investigators think a Thanksgiving dinner is to blame.”

Yet, according to Dr. Louise McNitt of Infectious Disease with Contra Costa Public Health during a Monday afternoon press briefing, “All the patients are associated with the same living facility, so it’s unclear if the illness is related to the Thanksgiving Day event or their living situation.”

However, Tuesday morning Michael Weston, spokesperson for the California Department of Social Services, said, “two of the deceased individuals were from Minerva’s Place on Palo Verde Way and the third individual was from Minerva Place IV which is on El Paso Way” in Antioch.

The two residential care homes, described as assisted living facilities, are licensed by Minerva Gonzalez and Emerito Ramon Gonzalez is listed as the Administrator. Each facility is licensed for up to six residents.

In addition to the facilities that are currently open, according to an internet search, there are or have been four other Minerva Place facilities at different addresses in Antioch, including Minerva’s Place Arf, Minerva’s Place #2, Minerva Place II and Minerva Place III.

All eight of those who got sick are believed to have eaten a Thanksgiving dinner at the Veterans Memorial Building and American Legion Hall on West 6th Street in Antioch on Thursday. The annual dinner was provided by the Golden Hills Community Church which rented out the hall, as they have been doing for about the past 30 years.

“We don’t know that the eight elderly people from the assisted living facility actually came to the hall to eat,” said Linda Oransky, who helped organize the Antioch dinner with her husband Jeff. “That was what was reported on the news, but it had not been confirmed.”

The church also serves Thanksgiving meals in Brentwood and Bethel Island. There were 825 people who were served meals at the Antioch location and 800 were served at the Brentwood location, according to Brian Sharp, a member of the church, who has been in charge of the Brentwood effort for the past ten years.

“No one else has told me that anyone else has said they got sick,” he stated.

Last Friday and Saturday eight people were admitted into Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch with possible food borne illnesses.

According to a Sutter Health statement released on Monday, “Between Friday, Nov. 25 and Saturday, Nov. 26, Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch received eight patients with probable food borne symptoms. Three patients have died, four patients were treated and released and one patient remains hospitalized. Contra Costa Public Health is investigating the cause and do not believe there is any risk to the general public.”

According to Vacar’s report, “Sutter was not the only one to receive patients.”

He also said the Contra Costa Coroner’s office is performing autopsies.

Vacar reported he was told the sick people were seniors from a senior center, but had not been able to confirm that.

At a 5:00 p.m. press briefing in Martinez on Monday, Marilyn C. Underwood, Ph.D., of Contra Costa County Environmental Health Services and Dr. Mcnitt answered questions.

One reporter asked referring to the church, “do they have the proper food handling permit?”

Dr. Underwood responded.

“The non-profit group that held the Thanksgiving event in Antioch is the Golden Hills Community Church and they’ve been sponsoring this for many, many years,” she stated. “I did speak with them about the type of event they had, does not need to be permitted by Environmental Health. They were using a permitted facility, which is the Veterans Hall also known as the American Legion location in Antioch.”

“And when we spoke with them about the food safety techniques they used they all sounded very appropriate,” Underwood continued. “Again, this is information we discussed with them, today.”

Asked about the senior facility where “are you also looking into the facility where these elderly people came from that they live in,” she replied, “We at Environmental Health do not oversee those particular facilities. They’re actually overseen by a state agency, the Department of Social Services. So we are in touch with them and made them aware of it so that hopefully they will be pursuing it.”

Dr. Mcnitt was able to answer the question, stating “my understanding is that we have been in touch with them but we’re still interviewing patients and just trying to get more information about what could be the cause of the illness.”

When asked what was served that night, Dr. Mcnitt responded, “I don’t believe we have a list of all the food that was served.”

However, Dr. Underwood stated, “In the discussion that we had with the pastor, it’s a traditional Thanksgiving meal: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, bread. They had pies. So it’s  a pretty traditional type of meal for Thanksgiving.”

“We’ve not received reports from any other health care facilities related to this incident,” Mcnitt stated. “At this point we do not believe that there’s any risk to the general public.”

The church serves the Thanksgiving meals to homeless and low-income individuals, and those who don’t want to be alone, on the holiday. For disclosure purposes, this reporter is a member of the church, and has attended the church since 1991. I have participated in the annual Thanksgiving meals many times over the past 20 years, including donating pies from a local bakery, and canned vegetables, and serving in the Antioch location, as well as eating the meal served there, a few times.

Attempts to reach Senior Pastor Larry Adams and Phil Hill, the Executive Pastor of the church, which has campuses in both Antioch and Brentwood, were unsuccessful. However, the church issued the following “Official Statement Regarding Thanksgiving Dinner” on their website Monday evening:

“We recently were informed that several people from the same care facility in Antioch, who were at our Antioch ­Thanksgiving Dinner, became sick and it is reported that 3 of them have died. County Health officials have informed us that the source of the illness is not known and could have come from any of a number of sources. Our dinner in Antioch is only one of a number of possibilities that County Health is investigating. We are fully cooperating with health officials and are praying fervently for the families who lost loved ones and for others who are sick. We will try to post updates from County Health as we are made aware.”

Also, a post on the church’s Facebook page included the comment, “Please join us in praying for the affected families.”

In addition, both Sharp, and Jeff and Linda Oransky, the organizers of the Antioch meal, were able to share what they had learned, so far.

“We do not know the cause of the contamination,” Sharp said. “It either came from the house or the Thanksgiving Dinner.”

“What I learned from the Antioch chairperson, Jeff Oransky, is an outside group brought food to the hall, last year. They were told not to. They came back again, this year, and handed to people standing in line, prepared meals from food not served in the hall, in plastic containers meant to be taken home.”

Sharp said neither he nor Oransky know if anyone who got sick received one of those meals.

When reached for comment asking about what Sharp said regarding the outside group handing out meals, Oransky said, “Yes, that’s true. They had prepared some meals and were handing them out in Styrofoam, take-out containers, like the ones restaurants hand out.”

“They were out there handing meals to people to whomever they saw,” said Jeff’s wife, Linda. “The people were outside of the hall, at an outside entrance that was not the main entrance, when they entered with the food. They tried to come inside. I met them inside and stopped them. I told them that we couldn’t accept their meals. They told me they had already been handing out meals outside.”

It was food prepared somewhere else and not at the hall.

“That’s why we wouldn’t take it from them or allow them to hand it out to people inside the hall,” Jeff stated. “I don’t know who they were handing them out to.”

The Oranskys lead the annual effort, together.

“We have a team of people that help us,” Jeff shared. “Golden Hills has been serving the Thanksgiving meals for about 30 years.”

The Oranskys have been in charge of the meal in Antioch for the past 12.

“This is the first time there’s ever been a medical-related incident like this, that I know of,” he stated. “I’ve been leading it for 12 years and serving for 15 years and I’ve never seen one, myself.”

“Linda and I ate there on Thursday, ourselves” and they didn’t get sick, he added.

Asked if he’d heard of anyone else getting sick since Thursday, Jeff replied, “All I’ve heard is the eight.”

“With no others reported sick and eight people in one house, it sure seems like the source was likely the house, not outside food,” Sharp added. “But no one knows for sure, yet.”

Department of Social Services

According to the California Department of Social Services’ website, Minerva’s Place was licensed in 2007, Minerva Place IV in 2011 and there have been no complaints for either of the two current locations.

The report from the visit on August 29, 2016 to Minerva’s Place showed no violations.  However, under the “Citations” drop down menu, the location has received four citations, two Type A and two Type B. Yet, under Inspections it shows the facility has one Type A and two Type B citations.

Under Other Visits, it shows one Type A Citation on January 30, 2015. It also states “One or more citations may be under appeal. Contact the State Licensing Office for more information. Other visits include anything other than yearly inspections and complaints, where the state may visit for administrative or follow up purposes, such as pre/post licensing processes.

The other two citations were from the visit in 2012, which the website doesn’t provide any details.

The Facility Evaluation Report from the state required five-year visit to Minerva Place IV on April 25, this year, stated “There are violations under California Code of Regulations, title 22 and are listed on 809-D,” “Appeal rights given” and “report reviewed with Minerva Gonzalez.”

“It was just a Type-B Citation for obtaining a doctor’s order saying it’s necessary to have a bedrail for an individual,” Weston explained.

Type B Citations are for violations that can be corrected, such as paperwork or other administrative things. Type A Citations are more serious, and can involve such things as wages, medication errors, food poisoning or death. If a violation is repeated within six months the owners will be fined $150 or the facility can be closed.

“You can have things start to increase,” Weston explained. “So it could be $150 per day if you’re not fixing a deficiency.”

“We’re working with public health officials in Contra Costa County and they will determine to the best of ability what happened and what’s the source of this,” he continued. “We will determine was the proper care and supervision given, and did they seek the appropriate care and in a timely manner.”

“If the facility is the source of this and there was a danger in the facility, we’ll make sure that will be addressed, as well,” Weston added. “Based on that information we’ll take appropriate action, if necessary.”

A call was made to the number listed for both facilities, seeking answers from the Gonzalez’ to the following questions: did the eight residents actually ate at the church’s Thanksgiving dinner? Did any of them receive and eat a meal distributed by the outside group? Did they all go back to one facility and eat or drink anything else? and did they own the other four locations and if so, why were they closed? But, no response was received before publication time.

Please check back later for updates to this report and any additional details.

By Corporal Shawn Morin #5227, Antioch Police Field Services Bureau

On November 27, 2016 at approximately 2:48 PM, Antioch Police Officers and ConFire were dispatched to the area of Hillcrest Avenue and Sterling Hills Drive for the report of a vehicle that had crashed into a tree. Upon police arrival, medical and fire personnel were already on scene and tending to the occupants of the vehicle, a 21-year-old male and 19-year-old female.

The driver of the vehicle was transported by ambulance to an area hospital with major injuries and admitted in stable condition. The passenger was transported via helicopter to an area hospital with major injuries and also admitted in stable condition.

Drugs and alcohol do not appear to be a factor in this collision.

Anyone who may have witnessed the collision is encouraged to contact the Antioch Police Department at (925) 778-2441.

By Fernando Navarro

On Thursday, November 10, an incident took place in Pittsburg and Antioch which illustrated a major failing of our public education system.  Hundreds of Pittsburg High School students, apparently protesting the results of the presidential election, walked out of their classes, off campus, and made their way to Antioch. During their journey, some of them committed acts of violence which resulted in three arrests…and a strain on police resources for both cities, as 23 police officers (15 from Antioch and 8 from Pittsburg) had to be called out to deal with the situation.

Statements by some officers indicated that the PHS principal, Todd Whitmire, joined students in the protest.  This has been disputed by Whitmire and Pittsburg Unified School District (PUSD) Superintendent Janet Schulze, who claim Whitmire was with the protesters only to make sure they were safe.

Neither story speaks well of the PUSD leadership.  The first would indicate that PUSD administrators are actively working to incite students away from learning and discourse and toward yelling and violence.  The second would indicate that PUSD administrators have lost control of their school, and that student whims rule the day.

What we witnessed didn’t come out of nowhere, and didn’t come about because the, “election has been especially emotional,” as a statement by Schulze said.  This is the result of years of inept classroom management, which has led to a lack of respect for authority.  It comes about because, as with English and math, students don’t appear to be learning basic civics.

I recently lost my bid for election to the Antioch Unified School District (AUSD) Board of Trustees.  That doesn’t mean I’ll be silent, though.  I’ll continue to advocate for the change that’s needed to turn our schools around and deliver better educational, and life-choice, outcomes for our students.  And I’ll be encouraging parents to educate themselves about school policies, and to make sure their voices are heard.  But I’ll be doing so by speaking and writing in the appropriate forums, not by disrupting traffic, disrupting classes, or by otherwise impinging on the rights of my fellow citizens.

Finally, I applaud Antioch Police Chief Allan Cantando for speaking out about this incident at the PUSD School Board meeting.  I applaud AUSD Superintendent Stephanie Anello and Antioch High School Principal Louis Rocha for taking swift action to prevent similar disruptions in Antioch schools.

Now, let’s all come together to provide our students with the educations they deserve.

Navarro is a member of the Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees.

Following is the speech given by Antioch real estate broker, Mark Jordan, to the Antioch City Council at last week’s meeting regarding the settlement he and the City reached, two weeks before. It was over a suit Jordan brought against the City for illegally transferring over $300,000 per year from each of the sewer and water funds to the police department. The practice has been going on for years. (See the previous Herald article with details about the settlement).

The item on the Council meeting agenda, was the last of 22 items.

Mark Jordan Settlement Speech to Antioch City Council

11/22/2016

My name is Mark Jordan and I’m a citizen of Antioch.

Well, if I was to speak to you all any later I guess it might be; tomorrow. But maybe you all were just saving the “best for last”.

“Call me crazy”, but I was beginning to think you didn’t want to hear what I had to say. Or, for that matter what any of the town’s folks had to say, who don’t agree with City Hall or management.

For too long government in general has been acting like an addict. With an unlimited stream of public money how could they not. Management developed a habit; and just wanted more and more.

But with the Great Recession the party came to an end. So; like all good addicts they went looking for “more” somewhere else.

In Antioch the addict found what they needed in the funds of water and sewer. They thought, “Hey, no one will miss a little, we’ll just cut a little bit.”

And, the wall of denial was standing tall, and management sold the idea to the City Council .

“After all a taste of it; won’t hurt you.” Let’s call it what it is; a “Gateway transfer of funds.”

The initial step is to admit you have a problem. So, I’m saying today is the day the City of Antioch begins changing its behavior.

First, I’d like to thank Eric Benink, my attorney for all his hard work, council and assistance in ac

hieving what we perceive to be an amicable settlement. Mr. Benink is a fine attorney who knows his business and who was a pleasure to work with.

Please don’t confuse settlement on our part with a “lack of will”, or agreement with a “lack of tenacity.” Both Mr. Benink and I have more than enough tenacious will.

Mr. Benink did an outstanding job and while I hope his service will not be needed in the future, I already have his commitment for representation in the future.

In a recent Times article, Mr. Cole, your council in this matter, states that the City intends to obtain a study to justify future transfers that I’ve worked to stop. What that article fails to mention is that the City already ordered and obtained a study. It just wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. The methodology was unfounded in fact or practice and in whole it was a waste of $25,000 City dollars.

Proposition 218, an amendment to the State Constitution, is very clear. What you all need to understand is that the sworn testimony of the Police Chief is, and remains that no special services are provided by police to water and sewer enterprises and as such no transfers from enterprise funds may occur.

You cannot hide the facts. They do tend to be stubborn.

Other bogus transfers need to stop as well. Measure C money is being spent for things it was not intended or represented to fund. After all, it was to be for new officers and not per-existing officers or per-existing unfunded retirements or; deceptive administrative City fees.

If this and future councils don’t make corrections concerning Measure C implementation it will sunset and have no chance of renewal.

Tiered water rates and the failure to collect Measure O funds are also issues that need immediate attention and corrections by the next council. So, I guess, we will have something to discuss next year.

I would like to let everyone in town know there is a website available called www.prop218andthecityofantioch.com which holds all of the documents, interrogatories and depositions along with a copy of the settlement agreement. It was created to provide transparency to Antioch, it’s citizens and the State of California.

Ms. Rocha and Mr. Harper. I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your service to the City. While I have not often agreed with your decisions, statements or actions; I recognize how much it takes to hold a leadership position. Thank you for your service.

To Ms. Wilson; congratulations and we’ll see you next year.

To Mr. Thorpe and Mr. Wright; congratulations, study hard and pay attention to the details. They matter. Let’s work to make Antioch all it can be.

Mr. Duran, I read you gave your tentative notice to; get ready to get going, to maybe, possibly be retiring in August. That you desire to spend more time with your family. And, that is a worthwhile personal goal.

To the New Mayor and Council members I say, please help Mr. Duran achieve his “life plan” sooner than August. Let us all wish him well together.

To every citizen of Antioch I say; your voice can be heard. I’ve had many phone calls of support and many face to face personal encouragements to press forward with this action. Not once did I hear, “don’t do this”.

So now, twice I’ve stepped up in an effort to help and guide the City of Antioch. Once in support of Religious Freedom and this second time concerning proper budgeting.

I’ve only asked that the City comply with federal law and the California State Constitution. And, after all these are not unreasonable requirements.

Citizenship doesn’t suggest an individual step forward, it’s really a requirement to maintain our republic and way of life.

Aaron Sorkin once wrote a little screenplay called “The American President”. They made it into a movie. And while I’m certain he didn’t envision our current circumstances nationally at the time he penned it, I’m going to quote part of his work because it is good; and I respect the content, and the man.

“America isn’t easy. Americas is advance citizenship. You’ve gatta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight.”

And, Mr. Sorkin is correct, sometimes a fight is required.

It’s just that to stand up; you have to reach down deep inside yourself to find the conviction and character; we all have. That everyone has.

You have to be bold, and brash and some might say “crazy”. But; you can fight City Hall; and you can prevail. Light can prevail over shadows and darkness.

To every resident in Antioch I say, we can make this a better community. Don’t give up. A better City can happen when you join together.

Well, so here we are in settlement. This action is resolved. Almost a million dollars returned. And the attorneys paid.

But, to be crystal clear “my 15 minutes” are not up. I’m still prepared for the fight. And, I’m still here.

In closing, I leave you with this thought from Rob Siltanen. If you don’t know who he is; well, he worked for Steve Jobs on the Apple “Think Different” program; And he wrote the following.  Let me paraphrase:

“Here’s to the crazy ones. They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

This small part of the world, our City of Antioch has been changed.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays to you all.

Thank you, and good evening.

By Dave Roberts

Just a few years after the city of Antioch slashed its staff, closed City Hall one day a week and postponed pay increases to stave off bankruptcy, the city budget is apparently now so healthy that the City Council has authorized a sizeable pay and benefits hike for city employees over the next five years. The fiscal impact in the current year is $1,844,285, which adds up to $9.2 million over five years, although it will likely be higher due to future pay increases.

About 80% of the compensation increase will go to the police, including a 4.5% wage increase for sworn officers, and a 2.5% wage hike for non-sworn officers. Other union groups, including confidential employees, engineers and management, will receive annual pay hikes of 2-3% over the next five years. Various retirement and educational benefit increases are also included. The sworn police officer pay hikes are retroactive to Sept. 1 and extend through Aug. 31, 2021, and those for the police management unit begin March 1 of next year and run through Feb. 28, 2022. All the other employee contracts are retroactive to Oct. 1 and run through Sept. 30, 2021.

However, the staff report reads, “If the City Council adopts the Tentative Agreement, the parties will continue to prepare an MOU to memorialize and replace the Tentative Agreement. The existing MOU will continue as modified by the terms of the Tentative Agreement until the MOU is completed. When completed, the MOU will be submitted to City Council for approval and adoption.” So, the new contracts are not yet finalized.

Only one person, former council candidate Fred Rouse, questioned whether it’s wise for the council to make a five-year commitment to significantly increase employee costs. Rouse urged the council to hold off until a new council member, Lamar Thorpe, and possibly a new mayor, Sean Wright, assume office in December.

“It’s weird it’s coming to fruition now,” Rouse told the council. “I just think it’s really weird. You had a long runway. Do you really care about this city over your personal political wants? By paying labor agreements that lack actual funding is a knife in the back of Antioch before you are out the door. I hope the labor unions that you have talked to fully understand how bankruptcy of a city can impact personal incomes.

“Tonight you’re putting Antioch in a position of almost certain bankruptcy. We already carry major unfunded debt on our books, and now you add an additional burden for your successors to deal with. And that can only be seen as a political move. If you lay the groundwork tonight and hurt this city as I know you will, you will then be seen as knights in shining armor that can ride back in during the next election and pretend to save the day.

“Tonight your plan on taking advantage of a city that is already bruised, battered, underfunded, unsafe for what purpose? For the betterment of our city? Or for the appeasement of your political base to grease the skids for your future elections? Hold off on any vote and let the new council decide what is best in managing the budget, as they will hold the responsibility and accountability to our city for its future.”

But delaying the vote until December would likely have not made a difference. The council passed the pay/benefit hike agreements unanimously and three current members will still be on the council for at least two more years. All of the council members praised the agreements as the result of a long process of good-faith bargaining with employee unions and overdue payback for sacrifices the employees made during tough budgetary times.

“It was our employees that kept us from going bankrupt,” said Councilwoman Mary Rocha, who lost her bid for re-election. “It was our employees that knew what we were going through. And they stood by us, they took the cut and they’ve worked and they’ve double-worked. So at this time we have been doing the negotiation that’s been needed.

“It just happens that it’s coming at the time that maybe some people see it as, ‘Oh, wow, they are doing it ahead of time when they shouldn’t.’ But I just want to thank the employees. I have nothing to gain. I have lost my [election] campaign. But I’m still here present. And I want to make sure that we go forward with what we promised to do in the negotiation time.”

Mayor Wade Harper, who is trailing in his bid for re-election with votes remaining to be counted, agreed, saying, “It was the employees in the bargaining units that helped prevent us from going bankrupt as a city. We have to keep that in mind. We forget those facts too. I don’t think this is political at all. I’m here to serve. I’ll serve as long as the community wants me to serve [on] all the boards and commissions and everything else. I don’t agree with the political comment.”

Also challenging Rouse’s charge that the council was playing politics was Tony Tiscareno, who was not up for re-election.

“This is absolutely not political,” he said. “When all of us came into council we were facing almost a depression: furloughs [for] a lot of our folks; depleted staffing level. They did their jobs. They didn’t put any blame on the council previous to me. And they are not putting any blame on this current council. This current council is trying to get things straight. We were able to bring everybody from the police staffing to the folks that pick up the leaves and the gardeners that come into work full time – we took them off of furloughs. I’m very proud of that as a council….

“So I think these are good times for both our employees and the city to make sure that we run efficiently. And I want to continue to be of service to both. I want to thank again both parties for getting these things done. I’m not going to say in a timely manner, because it was time consuming, it took a long time. This council has had to make a lot of decisions during that time. But I think we all made the right decision, and it’s time to move forward.”

The other two council members who will be staying on, Lori Ogorchock who is not up for election until 2018, and Monica Wilson, who was reelected in the council race, echoed those remarks.

“We have been doing this in good faith,” said Ogorchock. “It had nothing to do with political whatsoever. I feel strongly with what we’ve done with the unions, and I thank all the employees.”

Wilson said, “When we first came on [the council in 2012] we were only at a four-day work week. And we worked really hard to get you guys back to work. And I know a lot of you guys made sacrifices. So to say it was a political move, I really don’t get that. That’s so far from the truth. We all worked really hard and worked really long hours negotiating in good faith. So I do not have a problem tonight going through with all these bargaining unit contracts.”

Wilson and Ogorchock did draw the line, however, at adding new employees. They voted against adding an accountant and a senior economic development program manager, but were outvoted by the rest of the council.

The council has tentatively scheduled a special meeting Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. to swear in Thorpe, Wilson and either Harper or Wright, if the election results are finalized by then.

By Allen Payton

According to the Contra Costa County Elections website, as of 10:43 am, Wednesday, November 23rd, Dr. Sean Wright maintains his lead in the race for Mayor of Antioch. But it has shrunk to just 102 votes or .34% of the vote over incumbent Mayor Wade Harper. There are  “approximately 8,500 ballots to be repaired and 28,000 provisionals county wide,” said County Clerk & Registrar of Voters Joe Canciamilla. The final vote count is expected to be completed by Friday, December 2nd.

“I can call all the races right now in the county except for Antioch Mayor,” he continued. “We’re down to ballots that have come in at different times. Ballots with mistakes could have come in at any time. Provisional ballots tend to come in late, generally on Election Day.”

“There are two different trends happening,” Canciamilla explained.” If you look at Election Day results, Sean does better. So I would have to think he does better with provisionals. But I don’t know how many are from Antioch.

There are roughly 607,000 registered voters in the county. We had 442,000 who have cast a ballot. We had a turnout of almost 73%. So a rough number is 11% of the provisionals come from Antioch. Those should theoretically trend in Sean’s favor.”

“All the other races are callable with the exception of Antioch,” he stated. “It is the election that will represent the slogan that ‘every vote does count.’ Every vote could impact the final outcome and it could go either way, right now.”

He was asked how many ballots had been counted since the last update.

“I believe in that batch it was 9,200 ballots that were counted,” Canciamilla responded. “If you extrapolate the traditional line you get to the point where Wade wins. But that doesn’t take into account the Election Day trend which favored Sean. But we’re at the point where there’s no clear, consistent trend that would allow us to make anything close to a valid projection. It’s going to be slogging through and counting them one by one, now.”

“We have multiple sets of eyes looking at each ballot,” he added.

He was then asked if representatives of each campaign can be there to oversee the counting.

“We always welcome observers,” he replied. “Each ballot has to be handled one at a time, and they get handled by multiple people and it just takes time.”

Asked if observers can challenge ballots, he said, “No. The law doesn’t allow observers to challenge an individual ballot, an individual signature match. You can raise issues and they’re entitled to an explanation.”

“At this stage there are very few ballots like that,” Canciamilla continued. “That’s usually over voter registration where it’s a question of if someone is registered or not. This is about whether people have drawn an arrow or crossed something out. If there’s a mistake or a double vote on one item we don’t throw out the whole ballot.”

He was then asked when will the ballot count be completed.

“We anticipate we will have our final unofficial count by next Friday (December 2nd),” he shared. “Then we’ll certify it by the 6th for the presidential election and until the 8th for everything else.”

“Then it goes to the Board of Supervisors on the 13th for their acceptance,” Canciamilla explained. “It will be done that morning.”

Asked about when oaths of office ceremonies could be held, he responded, “We advised the cities, and the school and special districts early on. I sent them a letter that due to the complexity of the ballot, we anticipate requiring the full 30 days to certify the election. So don’t plan on swearing in their folks early, like the week before.”

Asked when is the soonest new officials can be sworn in Canciamilla said, “That night (December 13^th) is fine. It doesn’t have to be accepted by the Board to put it on the agenda. You just won’t have the actual OK from the Supervisors. It doesn’t have anything to do with the notice stuff. It’s not up to them to certify the election. Just accept the results.”

He was then asked about recounts.

“There are time frames for people to request recounts,” he stated. “If it gets close enough to where it becomes an issue we will sit down with the candidates and the City to figure something out. The reality is…recounts can be very expensive.”

“The goal is we want people to be comfortable with the results and they’re fair,” Canciamilla added. “This is an unusual circumstance.”

“Of all the races on the ballot, right now this is the only race too close for me to feel comfortable calling,” he reiterated.

For more election results, visit www.cocovote.us.