The first step to reconnecting the government with the community is for people to know who all is in the government and what they do. Pinole is a general law city under a council-manager system, which means that there are certain laws we cannot make, and that city staff implement policy, not the council. I talked with the city manager at some length about what city staff did, and she gave me the following information. Items [in brackets] are my commentary.
First, some hyperlinks in case you want to look at one department in particular-
- City Government overall
- Fire Department
- Police Department
- Development Services
- Finance
- Public Works
- Water Pollution Control Plant
- Pinole TV
- Recreation
City Government overall
At the top level, there’s the City Manager and Assistant City Manager. Michelle Fitzer, the City Manager is in charge of all city departments, writes staff reports, letters and analysis. She also writes the city council’s agenda and any associated attachments. She also handles inter-agency cooperation, as well as sitting on the municipal pooling authority as Pinole’s representative. Finally, she does other projects as necessary.
Hector De La Rosa, the Assistant City Manager, is the head of HR, Recreation, and Pinole Cable TV. In addition, he’s in charge of the close out of Pinole’s Redevelopment Agency.
The City Attorney is under contract with Meyers/Nave, since the city does not need an attorney full-time and the expenses associated with having one at full-time rates and benefits would be substantial. This also allows for a broader range of knowledge than any one attorney might possess. The current attorney they have assigned to us is Eric Casher.
Fire Department
Scott Kouns is the head of the Fire Department. [There is one fire station in Pinole- there used to be two, but apparently the second station was built without an adequate funding stream to keep it open. It would cost the city 2.8 million dollars annually to keep the Pinole Valley Fire Station open.]
Police Department
Neil Gang is the head of the Police Department. Pinole has 38 police officers (the full staffing allocation), covering 3 beats- the Fitzgerald shopping mall complex, Pinole Valley, and the rest of Pinole.
Development Services
Tamara Miller is the Development Services Director and City Engineer. As such, she oversees planning, building, engineering, public works and the water pollution control plant. Ordinarily, the city would have building inspectors, but Pinole cannot afford to pay building inspectors at market rates, and so cannot find any.
Winston Rhodes is the planning manager, and oversees planning, building and code enforcement. There are 2 contractors doing code enforcement work as well.
Finance
Andrea Miller is the Finance Director. She oversees payroll, accounts payable and receivables (though the city does not have many accounts receivable). She also does bank reconciliations and deposits, along with reconciling cash payments received by the city. Finally, she also handles audits of Measure S and grants that the city has received. The Finance department also has 2 accounting specialists at 19 hours per week (just under the benefits threshold of 20 hrs/week).
Public Works
Public Works also has a public works specialist, for dealing with encroachment permits for work in public right of way, acting as a site inspector and doing project management. Public works is in charge of the city’s maintenance yard and the equipment there. They are also in charge of building maintenance, limited pothole repair (depending on the amount allocated in the city’s Capital Improvement Plan), sewer infrastructure, and infrastructure more broadly. Landscape maintenance is contracted out. Finally, public works does emergency response to accident cleanup and floods.
Water Pollution Control Plant
Ron Tobey is the plant manager. The plant treats and discharges waste water (sewage) according to state permits. This does not include stormwater- that goes to a completely different system. Or at least, it should. But because Pinole’s sewer infrastructure is in need of repair (with some being done in the current CIP), stormwater can infiltrate the sewer lines and increase Pinole’s wastewater costs. Pinole owns the land that the water treatment plant is on, and 50% of the plant itself. Hercules owns the other half of the plant. The cities share operating costs for the plant based on usage- so when stormwater from Pinole goes to the plant, it increases Pinole’s costs.
Pinole TV
Pinole runs its own cable TV channel, which has 2 full time employees and funding allocated for part time staff. The channel records and broadcasts council, planning commission and water pollution plant committee (and subcommittee) meetings. They also provide those services to Benecia, West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD), and WestCAT (West county transit- buses and dial-a-ride) under contract, and can gain revenue from those contracts.
Recreation
Recreation has an overall manager, whose name I do not know. There’s three sub-departments under Recreation- the Senior Center, the Youth Center, and Tiny Tots. Each has its own coordinator, with all other workers being part-time. There’s also the Swim Center, which is contracted out to the Pinole Seals. They have been doing well so far. Tiny Tots creates sufficient revenue to cover its expenses. The Senior Center does not. [There are several reasons for this- the center shifted to an online membership system, which many of their members did not transition into, the center has been maintained but not improved (as per the city’s silo system for department funding), and the city’s funding of the Senior Center is limited. As a result, the ambience of the senior center can be unpleasant (ref Council Member Long, City Council Meeting 8/21/18).]
The Youth Center was revamped recently to shift from an after-school focus to enrichment classes. There have not been many signups yet.
Rafael's thoughts 