Author Archives: Citizen

The next City Council Meeting will be at 5pm on June 1, 2021. The packet is here. The agenda includes the Budget for 21/22 and the TRAN!. The Tran paperwork starts at page 61 and the Budget paperwork starts on page 174. Join Via Zoom 1. https://zoom.us/j/91849369987?pwd=b3FJTGk2WTRaNThTVGVORmxsOVNuQT09 Meeting ID: 918 4936 9987 Password: 922486 or DialContinue reading “Will Council Continue to kick the can down the road?”

At the May 25, 2021 Financial Advisory Board Meeting the ineptitude of the Finance Director reached new lows.  Last month FAB recommended that the budget not consider the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds and establish a one million dollar surplus without it.  The Finance Director presented a five year budget using the 2.4 millionContinue reading “How long will the City Council let the City Manager and Finance Director mismanage El Cerrito?”

It is probably not true but some of us feel like these meetings are set up in a manner to discourage public engagement and comment. I had hoped this meeting, with just the budget on the agenda, would allow time for ample public comment. Alas. It was instead a total reminder of the inefficient andContinue reading “More of the same from Council and Staff”

The El Cerrito Proposed Budget Department Preview is out and includes a proposed budget for 2021-2022 and it is a mess. (starts on page 95). Our new budget year starts on July 1st and on May 18, 2021, they are presenting this packet that does not have sufficient information for the City Council to make a decision.Continue reading “Proposed Budget is a Mess”

I have been lax in posting. The last council meeting was April 20, 2021, and the State Audit report was on the agenda. First the good news Mayor Fadelli introduced the following motion which passed. He initially proposed it as 75% of the fed money to reserve and Councilperson Rudnick asked it to be 80%.Continue reading “Continued frustration with lack of movement on the budget issues”

The Town Hall supplemental materials were posted. Starting on page 37 are the chat questions that were asked during the meeting. Some were marked live answered and many were just acknowledged with no answer given. Those I am copying here. Some are comments that weren’t acknowledged and I am posting those also. I have boldedContinue reading “The questions that remain from the Town Hall meeting”

Mr. Ktsanes is a new member of the Financial Advisory Board. Some may also remember his name as he ran for City Council last year. From watching the FAB meetings it seems Mr. Ktsanes has had difficulty obtaining the financial reports he feels he needs to see to understand the city’s financial situation. I haveContinue reading “William Ktsanes speaks”

The Town Hall meeting was today. It went about the way many of us expected. The staff took up entirely too much airtime dominating the first hour of the meeting. Then they quickly jumped to we want to listen to our residents. Which in theory is a good thing. Except that a lot of residentsContinue reading “Town Hall meeting assessment….Meh”

One of the issues brought up by the CA State Auditor was that the Finance Department overrides a message their system gives them when an expenditure exceeds the budget. Here is a short video explaining the issue.

Something doesn’t add up. If you look at the Finance Director’s report for April 6th council meeting it says in item #2 “Total expenditure was $25.2 million or 67% of budget, compared with a three year average of $25.8 million.” That means our total expenditures were down $600k from the three year average. We haveContinue reading “Has the City Really Made the cuts they have said they have made?”

Councilperson Rudnick took the time to record a video on the El Cerrito financial crisis. It doesn’t address our specific questions. I do give her props for responding. Only she and Mayor Fadelli even bothered to acknowledge our request.

As promised here is his response unedited and without comment (except for the title of the post!). I do appreciate he took the time to respond. As of today he is the only person to respond. “Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your survey on El Cerrito’s fiscal situation.  And thanks also forContinue reading “Mayor Paul Fadelli responds to our questions….sort of”

Given the scathing state auditor’s report many of us had questions for council members. We compiled a list of questions and sent them to each council member asking for a response by April 1st. Thus far no responses. We are allowing them to answer with no limitations and they are allowed to add an additionContinue reading “Questions we have for the City Council”

As we all know there will a concurrent Budget Town Hall and Special City Council Meeting on April 10th at 10am. At this point we are told that the CM and Mayor will give a short presentation and then will take comments and questions from the community. Here are a list of questions that weContinue reading “What you need to know about the State Auditor’s report before the Town Hall Meeting”

I began to watch the El Cerrito City Council meeting on 3/16/21. I was focused on the presentation on the 5-year forecast. The one where City Staff seem to recommend 2 million dollars in permanent cuts starting in July. But then I saw one Council Member give the same speech they have given pretty muchContinue reading “Do You Trust El Cerrito to Make the Right Choices?”

Ah, glorious redemption. The State Auditors report on El Cerrito is out and it says everything we have been saying for over a year plus some! All links are below and I encourage people to read it. It is scathing in its criticism. Since I recognize that not all of you are as enthusiastic asContinue reading “The State Auditor Report is OUT!”

I had been hoping my next post would be on the State Auditor Report which is due on March 16, 2021. However, I just reviewed the budget materials (start on page 110 of the packet) for the Tuesday the 16th meeting and it is very very bad. The good news is that El Cerrito isContinue reading “Even with a massive Federal bailout El Cerrito is in dire straits”

So the FAB meeting happened and there was a lot to be disappointed in. Both the Chair Dick Patterson and the Finance Director were pretty clear that the purpose of the FAB is to rubber-stamp what comes from staff. FAB Member William Ktsanes has been requesting additional information from the Finance Director and not gettingContinue reading “FAB Meeting March 9, 2021”

After being a bit optimistic after the last meeting when the council directed staff to come back with 1 million dollars in cuts the meeting on February 16, 2021, was a disappointment. The City Manager came back with a scorched earth level of cuts including cuts that would devastate recreation and fire which we allContinue reading “The City Council Caves to the City Manager…again”

I will be honest. This is a very hard post to write. While I expected the City Manager to do exactly what she did with her proposed cuts reading her memo raised my blood pressure through the roof. This blog, along with many members of the public, have been asking for more cuts since SeptemberContinue reading “City Manager goes scorched earth with cuts”