By Allen Payton

According to the staff report for the Tuesday night, March 27 meeting the Antioch City Council will consider spending as much as $537,725 of one-time money on a list of projects throughout the city. That’s half of the one-time revenue the city has received this past year, since the other half has already been applied to the unfunded pension liability of almost $160 million and growing.

The staff report reads as follows: “The City has a one-time revenue policy that outlines that a minimum 50% of one-time revenues received by the City, which will include non-Police salary savings, be contributed to unfunded liabilities with the remainder to be used on one-time projects as directed by City Council. For fiscal year 2016-2017, the only one-time revenues under this policy were non-Police salary savings totaling $1,389,250; of which 50% was allocated to unfunded liabilities and on February 13th, Council allocated $200,000 to Prewett concrete repairs leaving a remaining balance of $494,625. In the current fiscal year, the City received one-time revenues totaling $86,200 for franchise agreements approved by Council in November 2017. As these are one-time payments, 50% of this was allocated to unfunded liabilities and the remaining 50% ($43,100) may be used for one-time projects. A total of $537,725 is now available. Staff, with some additions from Councilmember Ogorchock, has compiled the following list of possible uses for the remaining funds which would be in addition to any other Council suggestions:

Of course, the Council may also direct that all remaining funds be diverted to the City’s unfunded liabilities as the policy states “a minimum” of 50% will be applied to unfunded liabilities.

Many of the listed projects far exceed the amount of funds available under the one-time revenue policy. General Fund reserves would need to be appropriated should the Council decide to spend additional funds beyond what has already been approved ($537,725). A budget summary follows incorporating the amendments approved on March 13th (which does already include the $537,725) so that Council can review the current General Fund budget in conjunction with the consideration of projects.”

The items placed on the list by Ogorchock were for the license plate readers and body cameras for police.

The council meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 200 H Street in downtown or it can be viewed on local cable access channel or via live stream on the city’s website at http://www.ci.antioch.ca.us/CityGov/citycouncilmeetings.htm.

One of the two “quadrant” maps of proposed council districts created in response to the input given at the March 10th council meeting.

By Allen Payton

At their meeting on Tuesday night, March 27, the Antioch City Council will consider narrowing down the choices from four to two of the alternative maps for creating the new council districts in time for this November’s elections.

At the March 10th meeting held at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center in downtown, which lasted three hours, the council took input from the public and added two alternative maps to the two developed by the consultant. (To watch the video of that meeting, click here – http://www.ci.antioch.ca.us/CityGov/CouncilMeetings/031018/) (To see the staff report for that meeting, click here: ACC031018 Districting)

One idea and alternative map of increasing the number of council seats from four to six, for a seven-member council including the mayor, was rejected at that meeting.

This is one of two proposed council district maps that keeps all of the area north of Highway 4 in one district.

According to the staff report for that meeting by Interim City Attorney Derek Cole, the council can decide to implement the district elections in one of two ways. That read as follows:

Timing of lmplementation of District Elections

A separate issue for which Council direction is necessary is on when to have the district elections begin. To this end, I include correspondence from the County Registrar of Voters, who has expressed concerned about his office’s ability to implement district elections in the upcoming general election this November (which is the first available election in which Antioch could switch to by-district elections.) I question whether the Registrar has the authority to not implement districting elections starting this year, but I did want to convey his statement to the Council for your consideration.

I note that two councilmembers have been elected for terms through 2020. Consistent with Government Code section 34873, it does not appear these terms can be abridged. Thus, the options appear to be to partially implement district elections starting in 2018 or to implement districting all at once beginning in 2020. Possible scenarios could include the following:

Staggered rollout of district elections starting this year. In this scenario, the City would keep the two at-large seats of the councilmembers whose terms do not expire, and it would implement two of the four districts for this November’s election; then in 2020, the City would replace the two remaining at-large seats with the two other districts. This would keep the current staggering of elections in which two councilmembers are up for election each election cycle.

Implement districts all at once in 2020: With this option, the city would start all district elections in 2020, but provide that half of the districts would initially be for 2-year terms, while the other half would be for full 4-year terms. Then, in 2022, the districts for which 2-year initial terms were held would convert to 4-year terms. This would allow for the Council to maintain a staggered election system. (What this would mean for the two council seats that are up this year is that those would still be elected on an at-large basis in November, but they would only provide for terms of two years.)

County Registrar of Voters’ Concerns

County Clerk-Registrar of Voters Joe Canciamilla said that the best way to implement the district elections, this year would be for the maps to be drawn using existing precinct lines. According to Jaime Clark of Q2 in her presentation at the March 10th meeting, less than five precincts in Antioch have been split in Map 1.

At their April 10th meeting, the council will first decide to approve switching to district elections and then, if so, which map to approve for the 2018 and 2020 elections. Finally, they will decide whether to have a staggered rollout in 2018 or implement district elections all at once in 2020. If the council approves district elections, whichever map they choose will last until 2022, after the next census in 2020 and redistricting in 2021 when a new district map will have to be created.

The council meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 200 H Street in downtown or it can be viewed on local cable access channel or via live stream on the city’s website at http://www.ci.antioch.ca.us/CityGov/citycouncilmeetings.htm.

Imagine the thrill of winning a blue ribbon at the Fair for a special talent. Think you own the best pig, bake the most delicious apple pie, made a beautiful quilt, or have an uncanny knack for making crafts? Want to see who’s the best in all of Contra Costa County? Then be sure to enter the Contra Costa County Fair’s competitive exhibits. Entry information is available on the Fair’s website at www.contracostafair.com

It all Happens at the Fair May 17th – May 20th which is sure to be a fun event for children of all ages, with new exhibits & entertainment, the carnival, livestock and the always popular Fair food. Money saving pre-sale tickets will be available starting April 27, and ending May 13.

For additional information visit our website at www.contracostafair.com, call (925) 757-4400 or or like them on Facebook. The Contra Costa County Fair is located at 1201 West 10th Street in Antioch.

By Allen Payton, Publisher

Tomorrow Saturday, March 24, the Antioch City Council will receive and consider a report about possible cannabis/marijuana businesses in town. No matter how much sales tax revenue it might create for our city, if they really want Antioch to improve the council needs to reject the idea.

First of all, with crime still being a problem for our community, the last thing Antioch needs is to add any kind of unnecessary burden to our understaffed police force. We’re down about 15 sworn officers from where we were promised we would be four years ago, at 111 under Measure C. Even with that many police, it will still leave us at less than one officer per 1,000 residents. Whether it’s legal or not, the criminal element surrounding the marijuana industry will still exist. We don’t want or need that in Antioch.

Also, while recreational and commercial marijuana uses are now legal in California as of Jan. 1st, as Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock has pointed out, they’re still illegal under federal law.

Second, the council has hired two different branding and marketing consultants to help make Antioch look better in the media, to help clean up the city’s public image. Approving any kind of marijuana businesses will work against that. Besides, it’s not the type of business we want to attract to our city and it could end up hurting our ability to attract better businesses and jobs. We don’t want or need Antioch to become known as the weed capital of the Delta or worse yet, the “Gourmet Ghetto of Cannabis Cuisine” as the city’s new branding consultant proposed as one of the five “Big Ideas” in their proposal.

Just as the Antioch BART Station is about to open, new upscale housing has and is being approved and can start being built on the south side of town, and the 200-acre commercial area between Slatten Ranch Shopping Center and the BART Station will soon open up with the extension of Slatten Ranch Road, Humphrey’s has a new owner and will open as a new restaurant with a new name, and downtown Rivertown is working to be revitalized, now is our time to seriously improve things in our city. But, marijuana businesses will undermine all those positive improvements.

The costs are too great, not just from a crime and financial standpoint, but they also include the negative impacts on users of marijuana and society in general. Medical marijuana is one thing. But, promoting it as a positive, commercial industry for our city is wrong and our mayor and council members need to reject it. What kind of message does it send to our young people and students? Not a good one. The other thing we don’t need is more dumbing down of our residents in light of the abysmal test scores of our public school children. Recent studies have shown the negative impacts on the brain of those who use marijuana. www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana

No matter how positive a light the report – produced by more consultants hired by the city (Cannabis Support Services) – tries to shed on a potential cannabis industry in Antioch, with photos of smiling sales people in a retail store, the negatives are clear. At least the report included some of those: “Future federal enforcement is unclear; Lobbying effort to eliminate all cannabis specific taxes (as with alcohol or tobacco); Traditional banking access still limited – asset seizure potential limits lending; Emerging cashless sales options are not fully tested; Continued impact of the black market; Economic stability of the commercial market; Public health and safety issues – DUI, CUD, development of adolescent brain; and Available internal and/or external resources.”

Plus, just because the majority of Antioch voters supported Prop. 64, which legalized both recreational and commercial marijuana uses, it doesn’t mean they wanted to allow those uses in our city. It’s like when the Indian casinos were approved by the voters. Most didn’t expect them to locate in town. But, rather somewhere “out there” on tribal land, where it wouldn’t directly and negatively affect us.

The council must reject this idea outright and stop wasting anymore of our tax dollars on pursuing it. They need to also tell the City’s new branding consultant, who also mentioned the cannabis industry in the principal’s presentation to the council, to scratch that idea off their list. They need to send a loud and clear message that Antioch is open for good businesses, only and not the marijuana industry.

Marijuana businesses are not what anyone had in mind in any of our city’s economic development plans, ever. The council and city staff need to look in a different, more responsible direction to help bring businesses and well-paying jobs to Antioch and increase the sales and property tax revenue that our city needs.

The council’s workshop will be held at the Antioch Community Center at Prewett Park beginning at 9:00 a.m.

From the report to the Antioch City Council on a potential cannabis industry.

By Allen Payton

The Antioch City Council will hold a special workshop to receive and discuss an Economic Analysis of Commercial and Recreational Marijuana Uses Within the City this Saturday, March 24 at 9:00 AM at the Antioch Community Center at Prewett Park, 4703 Lone Tree Way.

Possible businesses could include manufacturing, cultivation, test laboratories, distributors, retailers and microbusinesses.

According to the report by consultants Cannabis Support Services, the impacts of a “cannabis program” to the city government include administration and compliance, monitoring, audits, and education and would require the following city and county departments to be involved: Planning, Code Enforcement, Finance, Police, Fire, Economic Development, City Attorney, and Public Health, as well as Public Utilities.

In order to start such an industry in town, the report says the city needs to “Know what resources will be required to develop and administer a cannabis program.” Those include” Planning and Permitting, Initial and On-going Inspections – building and safety, fire and hazmat, public health; Tax and Compliance Audits, Prevention Programs, Education Programs, Public Relations/Media, Data Collection and Interpretation, and an evaluation of the existing workload for City Staff.”

The report also includes challenges with approving a cannabis industry in town: “Future federal enforcement is unclear; Lobbying effort to eliminate all cannabis specific taxes (as with alcohol or tobacco); Traditional banking access still limited – asset seizure potential limits lending; Emerging cashless sales options are not fully tested; Continued impact of the black market; Economic stability of the commercial market; Public health and safety issues – DUI, CUD, development of adolescent brain; and Available internal and/or external resources.”

The council can decide to continue its current ban on all segments of the commercial cannabis industry, which includes deliveries into the city, or they can authorize any or all segments, and then regulate commercial cannabis businesses and personal cultivation, as well as impose taxes and fees.

The public will have the opportunity to give their input to the council at the workshop, but no decision will be made. Any decision by the council would occur at a future meeting.

See the complete report, here: Antioch Commercial Cannabis Industry report