Status: Every item below is PROPOSED (pre-vote) except Item 4, a second reading already adopted unanimously on first reading. This scan reads the certified agenda. Compared with the Sept 10 draft, the Agenda & Rules Committee added two items (Item 4 Loan Administration Board dissolution and Item 27 Cal Sailing Club) and moved the Mayor's Vision 2050 asset-management referral from the Action Calendar to Consent (now Item 26); every other item survived with a new number and no dollar changes. Items 1–3 are Recess Items (after-the-fact ratifications); 4–25 are City Manager Consent; 26–32 are Council Consent; 33–34 are public hearings; 35–36 are Action; 37–40 are Information Reports.
Flagged — $5.84M in recess spending, presented for ratification rather than authorization. Item 1 asks Council to ratify a +$2,900,000 increase for Dell Computers (Contract No. 31900270, new total $11,097,733) that the City Manager already executed during recess — the same amendment that appeared on the July 28 draft agenda and was dropped before that final agenda posted. The packet now explains the $2.9M as current annual dues ($1,340,876, due April 2027) plus accumulated back dues of $1,165,980 that were due April 2026, plus a $393,144 buffer for licenses bought by non-IT staff; staff say license consolidation saved $500,000. Item 3 (public-safety radio, +$2,600,000) has run since 2011 on a 2011 resolution capping spending at $336,000/yr with no cumulative limit; the shortfall was found while processing invoices after recess began. Item 2 (+$335,740) also discloses a sinkhole in the South Cove lot caused by seawall failure, with the $5–6 million seawall construction cost still unfunded. High on all figures.
$10.44M
New / amended direct spending
16 items, stated figures · High
$5.84M
Of which already spent in recess
Items 1–3, ratification only · High
$17.59M
RFP / bid issuance authority
Item 6 — $17.5M is garage management · High
$1.19M
Confirmed incoming revenue
4 grants/donations · High
$10.91M
Grant applications pending
Item 18, needs $4.59M Measure FF match · High
$25.0M
Conduit bonds (no City liability)
Item 33, Ashby Lofts · High
| Bucket | Amount | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Recess ratifications — spending already committed by the City Manager (Items 1, 2, 3) | $5,835,740 | High |
| New contracts & purchase orders (Items 9, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25) | $3,005,162 | High |
| Contract amendment increases (Items 10, 11, 15, 19) | $1,585,964 | High |
| Council-office discretionary allocations (Items 27, 28, 31) | $16,000 | High (caps) |
| Total new / amended direct spending | $10,442,866 | High |
| Planned RFP/bid issuance authority (Item 6) — not yet contracts | $17,585,000 | High |
| Passport Labs contract authority restated (Item 14) — packet says no new funding: $1.7M General Fund + $7.6M citation/permit fee contra-revenue | $9,300,000 | High |
| New ongoing salary — Director of Police Accountability (Item 8) | $230,000/yr | High |
| Referral cost estimate — Vision 2050 asset-management plan (Item 26) | ~$200,000 | Moderate (estimate) |
| Confirmed incoming revenue (Items 12, 16, 17, 24) | $1,191,360 | High |
| Grant applications, revenue if awarded (Item 18: $10,000,000 + $914,025) | $10,914,025 | High |
| Conduit bond financing, no City liability (Item 33) — aggregate principal not to exceed | $25,000,000 | High |
The $10.44M headline counts authorized contract ceilings and appropriation increases, not cash outlays in FY2027. It excludes Item 6's RFP authority (permission to solicit, not to spend), Item 14's restated authority (no new money), Item 8's recurring salary, and Item 26's referral estimate, which are listed separately to avoid mixing one-time and ongoing commitments. Change from the draft-agenda scan: +$1,000 (Item 27 added); the earlier $10,441,866 figure becomes $10,442,866.
A. Spending items
Direct city expenditure proposed for approval. Items 1–3 are Recess Items — the money is already committed and Council is asked to ratify. Items 4–32 are Consent Calendar.
Recess ratifications — action already taken
| # | Title / vendor | New $ | Total | Category | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dell Computers, Inc. (Contract 31900270) | +$2,900,000 | $11,097,733 | Budget & Finance (IT) | Hardware, software and licenses bought off the County of Riverside cooperative Agreement 8084445, term 11/1/2019–10/31/2027. Covers Nov 2026–Oct 2027 licensing: $1,340,876 current dues + $1,165,980 back dues (due April 2026) + $393,144 buffer. Paid from IT Cost Allocation Fund 680 and department budgets. Payments 2019–2025 totaled $8,197,733 (~$1.37M/yr). |
| 2 | Team Ghilotti (Contract 32600016) | +$335,740 | $2,220,381 | Infrastructure | South Cove West parking lot repaving at the Waterfront. Original contract $1,884,641 (Aug 2025); this is +17.8%. Adds sealing of lots in fair condition before winter and opens up a sinkhole caused by South Cove Seawall failure. Seawall replacement ($5–6M) remains unfunded. |
| 3 | East Bay Regional Communications System Authority (Contract 31900111) | +$2,600,000 | $6,819,482 | Public Safety | Regional public-safety radio services since 2011. A 2011 resolution capped spending at $280,000/yr + 20% ($336,000) with no cumulative limit; costs and radio counts have grown. Nearly a 62% increase on the prior cumulative ceiling; extends through and requires Council reauthorization by 12/31/2031. |
Subtotal committed during recess: $5,835,740 (High). Under the Council Rules the City Manager may act during recess on urgent matters subject to later ratification; these three items are that mechanism in use.
New contracts & purchase orders (Consent)
| # | Title / vendor | New $ | Term | Category | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Agile Occupational Medicine | $150,000 | 1/1/2027–6/30/2030 | Health & Human Svcs | Employee occupational health services (pre-employment exams, injury care) for city staff. |
| 20 | IDAX Traffic Data, LLC | $240,000 | 3 yrs + 2×1 yr | Transportation | On-call traffic survey consulting — counts and speed surveys that feed street-design and enforcement decisions. |
| 21 | One Workplace Construction LLC dba Vantis | $1,764,620 | 11/1/2026–2031 | Infrastructure | Window replacement at 1947 Center St. (Spec. 26-11762-C). Lowest responsive bid; includes a $294,100 contingency (16.7%). Various Funds. |
| 22 | Shaw Integrated and Turf Solutions, Inc. | $90,542 | Until complete | Infrastructure | Carpet replacement on the Civic Center 4th floor (IT Department) via CMAS state contract; includes $11,810 contingency. Capital Improvement Fund. |
| 23 | AMCS Group, Inc. | $500,000 | 10/1/2026–10/1/2031 | Infrastructure | "AMCS Pay" online refuse bill payment platform — a 5-year expenditure contract for residents to pay garbage bills online. |
| 25 | Braun Northwest, Inc. | $260,000 | Purchase order | Public Safety | Remounting one North Star ambulance body onto a new 2027 Ford F-450 chassis. PW Equipment Fund. |
Subtotal new contracts & POs: $3,005,162 (High).
Contract amendments (Consent)
| # | Title / vendor | Increase | New total | Category | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | AnchorCM (Contract 32100138) | +$1,000,000 | $3,000,000 | Infrastructure | On-call Waterfront project and construction management; also extends 12 months to 12/31/2027. A third of the total ceiling added in one amendment. Various Funds. |
| 11 | Elavon, Inc. (Contract 32400043) | +$125,000 | $485,000 | Parks & Recreation | Online credit-card processing fees for recreation program and facility registrations. |
| 15 | Cooke & Associates (Contract 32400003) | +$350,000 | $930,000 | Public Safety | Background investigations for police and fire hiring; staff cite increased workload. Contract expires 7/31/2028 at its 5-year mark. |
| 19 | Bay Construction Co. (Contract 32600193) | +$110,964 | $765,600 | Infrastructure | Transfer Station aboveground storage tank (Spec. 25-11733-C); a 17% increase on a contract that still ends 12/30/2026. |
Subtotal amendment increases: $1,585,964 (High).
Personnel, authority & discretionary (Consent)
| # | Item | Amount | Category | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Formal Bid Solicitations & RFPs planned for issuance | $17,585,000 | Budget & Finance | Permission to solicit, not to spend. The attached schedule (now in the packet) is almost entirely one item: Parking Garage Management for the City's three garages (Center St., Telegraph-Channing, Oxford) at ~$3.5M/yr × 5 years = $17,500,000, Off-Street Parking Fund 627. The rest is an $85,000 Measure BB asphalt construction-procedures update (bid 27-11809-C, Fund 134). Contracts over the City Manager's threshold return to Council. |
| 7 | Publicly Available Pay Schedule | See report | Budget & Finance | Adopts the pay schedule effective 9/15/2026 as CalPERS/PEPRA requires. Administrative; no new appropriation. |
| 8 | Appointment — Director of Police Accountability (Mary Opler) | $230,000/yr | Public Safety | Employment agreement effective 10/5/2026. Salary and benefits are within the adopted budget for the office; ongoing cost, not one-time. Total compensation with benefits is not stated. |
| 14 | Passport Labs Inc. (Contract 31900143) — Resolution amendment | $9,300,000 | Transportation | Restates total contract authority for the Parking Citation and Permit Management System as $9.3M for the initial 3-year term (9/1/2026–8/31/2029), extendable to 8/31/2031. The packet states no additional funding: Resolution 72,068-N.S. (Dec 2025) authorized only the $1.7M General Fund share (~$550,000/yr, Police budget) and omitted the ~$7.6M contra-revenue account that absorbs citation, permit and collection fees. Actual fee amounts vary with citation volume. |
| 27 | Cal Sailing Club Final 2026 Open House (Taplin, Ishii, Lunaparra) | $1,000/member | Parks & Recreation | New since the draft. Up to $1,000 per Councilmember from discretionary office budgets ($1,000 from Taplin) for the volunteer-run club's October open house. No General Fund impact. |
| 28 | "Sinbad Voyage" mural restoration (Tregub, Ishii, Taplin, Bartlett) | $1,000/member | Arts & Culture | D13 discretionary contributions to restore Mokhtar Paki's mural. Named pledges total $950 ($500 Tregub, $250 Taplin, $100 Ishii, $100 Bartlett); other members invited. No General Fund impact. |
| 31 | Music in the Elmwood Festival (Humbert) | $14,000 | Arts & Culture | Relinquishes $14,000 from CM Humbert's office budget to the Elmwood Business Association for the 2027 and 2028 festivals. No General Fund impact. |
B. Revenue, grants & financing
Confirmed incoming funds (Consent)
| # | Source | Amount | Category | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Private donation — memorial bench | $3,400 | Parks & Recreation | Cash donation for a bench at the Berkeley Waterfront in memory of Mike Parker. |
| 16 | CA Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control — Alcohol Policing Partnership | $97,330 | Public Safety | FY2027 grant funding alcohol-related enforcement and retailer compliance work by BPD. |
| 17 | California Highway Patrol — Cannabis Tax Fund Grant Program | $90,630 | Public Safety | Cannabis-tax-funded enforcement grant, 7/1/2026–6/30/2027. Stated to the cent as $90,629.70. |
| 24 | Alameda CTC — Transportation Fund for Clean Air (TFCA) | $1,000,000 | Transportation | Accepts TFCA funds for the Adeline Quick Build project — the largest confirmed revenue item on this agenda. |
Subtotal confirmed incoming: $1,191,360 (High — all four figures stated on the agenda face).
Grant applications (revenue if awarded)
| # | Program | Amount | Category | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Alameda CTC Comprehensive Investment Program 2028 + One Bay Area Grant 4 | $10,914,025 | Transportation | Resolutions of local support for applications submitted 7/27/2026. Sacramento Crossings Improvement Project (Channing to Alcatraz): $10,000,000 requested, $4,286,000 local match, $14,286,000 total. North & West Berkeley Safe Routes to Schools: $914,025 requested, $304,675 match, $1,218,700 total. Both require a 25% minimum match; the combined $4,590,675 match would come from Measure FF (Fund 166) starting FY2028. Awards not yet made. |
Conduit financing — public hearing
| # | Item | Amount | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | California Municipal Finance Authority bonds — Ashby Lofts | ≤ $25,000,000 | TEFRA public hearing and resolution approving CMFA's issuance of tax-exempt revenue bonds, aggregate principal not to exceed $25,000,000, for Ashby Lofts LP to finance rehabilitation of the affordable Ashby Lofts project. Conduit financing: the bonds are a CMFA obligation; Berkeley does not borrow and is not liable. Context from the packet: the City has already put $3,023,964 into the project since 2007 plus Housing Trust Fund reservations of $850,000 (2021) and $2,868,571 (2025). |
C. Policy referrals & fiscal-adjacent items
| # | Sponsor(s) | Named $ | Category | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Mayor Ishii + Taplin, Tregub, O'Keefe | ~$200,000 | Infrastructure | The one referral with a price tag — moved from Action to Consent since the draft. Refers the City Manager to build an updated cross-departmental Program Plan and Strategic Asset Management Plan under Realize Vision 2050, with semi-annual progress reports. Estimated $200,000 in staff and consultant time, against a stated $1.5 billion in unfunded infrastructure needs. |
| 4 | City Manager (second reading) | None stated | Economic Development | New since the draft; ADOPTED on first reading, all ayes. Ordinance 8,032-N.S. repeals BMC 3.72 and dissolves the nine-member Loan Administration Board that reviewed business-loan applications. No fiscal figure in the packet. |
| 13 | City Manager | Staff time | Public Safety | First reading amending BMC 2.99 to require violation, sanction and termination clauses in surveillance-technology vendor contracts and shift annual reporting to a calendar year (first report March 2027). Packet says no direct cost; the new schedule may cut overtime now spent compiling the report. |
| 34 | City Manager | See report | Housing / Planning | Public hearing to adopt the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan, create the San Pablo Commercial District, and rescind the West Berkeley Plan. Packet projects unquantified gains in property, business-license and sales tax from added activity. |
| 35 | City Manager | Savings, unquantified | Housing | Revises the Affordable Housing Preference Policy for Housing Trust Fund and Below Market-Rate units after a pilot. Staff say it cuts HHCS review time (hundreds of verification applications) and speeds lease-ups. |
| 36 | City Manager | None | Public Safety | Surveillance Acquisition Report and Use Policy for Mutual Aid Air Support (BPD Policy 1308). Mutual aid air support is reciprocal and generally without charge. |
| 29, 30, 32 | CM Blackaby, Humbert et al. | None | Ceremonial | Childhood Cancer Awareness Month; United Against Hate Week (Oct 18–24); reaffirmation of the Palma Soriano (Cuba) sister-city relationship, explicitly at no direct or indirect cost to the City. |
| 40 | Planning Commission (Info) | See summary | Housing / Planning | FY2026-27 work plan. The policy team has fallen from 8 FTE to 4 FTE; because of the budget shortfall the department will refill only two vacancies plus a half-shared position, reaching 6.5 FTE (funded by General Fund and Permit Service Center Fund). Council-ranked referrals without funding cannot start. |
Items 37–39 (restaurant inspection audit status, HR domestic-violence policy audit response, Telegraph corridor design response) are information reports with no fiscal figures on the agenda face.
D. Budget & Finance Policy Committee — Thursday, September 24, 2026
First committee meeting since July 23 was cancelled. One action item, no dollar amount; it is included here because it changes the rules for every future services contract.
Committee action item · PROPOSED
| # | Item | Named $ | Category | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Amend BMC Chapter 7.18 to require competitive procurement for services (Kesarwani, Ishii co-sponsor) | Staff time | Budget & Finance | Ordinance requiring competitive solicitation for all professional-services and other services contracts over $100,000, with emergency and documented sole-source exceptions; refers regulation-drafting to the City Manager. Also raises the Council-approval threshold from $50,000 to $100,000. Responds to the City Auditor's Feb 2026 finding that two recycling contracts worth ~$85 million over ten years were awarded without competition, that 94 of 218 FY2024 contracts (~$43M) lacked documented competition, and that 95 service contracts started under $50K and were amended up by an average of $218,026 each. Referred April 27; due back to Council October 13. Same item that was on the cancelled July 23 agenda. |
Also on the 9/24 agenda: approval of June 25 minutes. No unscheduled items. Agenda posted September 17, 2026. High on all figures (quoted from the committee packet and the attached audit report).
Confidence & sourcing
High — explicit dollar figures quoted from the certified agenda face or the staff reports in the packet (Items 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 31, 33) and the committee packet. Subtotals are simple sums of those figures and were recomputed for this page.
Moderate — Item 21 carries an internal inconsistency: the recommendation reads $1,764,620.00 while the Financial Implications line reads $1,764,600.00, a $20 difference. This page uses $1,764,620 (the operative not-to-exceed in the resolution text). The same item still states a term ending "September 31, 2031," a date that does not exist. Item 26's $200,000 is the sponsor's estimate, not a staff costing. Item 14's $7.6M contra-revenue share is a projection that varies with citation volume.
Low / Unknown — Item 8: salary stated, total compensation with benefits not. Item 4: no fiscal statement in the packet. Items 34, 35: fiscal effects described qualitatively only. Item 18: award decisions rest with Alameda CTC/MTC.
Resolved since the draft scan: the Passport Labs increment (none — packet says no new funding), the ACTC grant amounts ($10,914,025), the CMFA bond ceiling ($25,000,000), and the RFP schedule ($17.5M garage management) were all "Unknown" on Sept 11 and are now sourced from the packet.