MEMORANDUM

DATE: June 30, 2023

TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council

FROM: Jennifer Ortega, Community Relations Manager

SUBJECT: Council’s Weekly Newsletter

At its June 27 meeting, the City Council interviewed seven people for one open seat on the Planning Commission. Among the nine people who recently applied for the Commission, three of them are graduates of the City's Spring 2023 Community Academy, which ran from April 22 to May 20. 

The mission of the Academy is to provide an environment that supports learning, participation, and collaboration by raising awareness and understanding of City functions, processes, programs, and services. Beyond the opportunity for learning more about how the City operates, the program is designed to encourage participants to get involved with Concord's boards, committees, and commissions, and with community volunteerism. 

In addition to these three Planning Commission applicants, two other recent Academy graduates have been attending the Homeless Strategic Plan Working Group meetings, and two more recently accepted part-time jobs with the City (one in HR and one in Recreation Services). Staff sees this participation as a strong indication of the Academy's success. 

The Fall Academy has been set for Sept. 23-Oct. 21, and staff began advertising it on June 28. Applications are due on July 28. City staff are welcomed and encouraged to apply.

National Night Out (NNO), an annual community-building campaign, is taking place this year on Tuesday, Aug. 1. NNO promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods a safer, more caring places to live. Neighborhoods plan their own events, which gives residents:

• A reason to have a social gathering
• A chance to get to know each other and your local police officers
• Time to build important relationships that keep your neighborhood safe

Residents who are interested in hosting NNO in their neighborhood and would like Concord officers to stop by may submit their request by completing the online registration form.

Library Will Not Host Communitywide Event

In the past, the Concord Library has hosted a communitywide celebration open to all Concord residents. Due to the Civic Center construction project that will be occurring from July through October, the Library will not be able to host an event on site.

City staff reached out to Library staff to offer to provide a community center space at no cost. However, the Library manager says her team is too short-staffed to hold such an event off site. Therefore, they will plan to host the event at the Library in 2024.

It should be noted that the Concord Library hosted a successful and well-attended Community Resource Fair (similar to National Night Out), which the City co-sponsored, on June 6.

The County produced a recap video of that event, which is available for view on YouTube.

The Todos Santos Business Association's summary report for security services provided from June 1 to 25 shares that Israel, an Admiral Security employee, patrols the downtown from 12:30 to 8 p.m., Thursday to Monday.

During the aforementioned timeframe, Israel reported 17 contacts in the two city garages, during which he witnessed drug usage in the elevators and stairwells. He made five non-emergency calls to the Concord Police Department: three for failure to vacate the area and two for car break-ins.

It is notable that over the weekend (June 24-25), Israel did not encounter any unhoused individuals in the two public parking garages, an early indication that his presence is deterring negative activity. 

Ezhaun, a second security guard to cover Tuesdays and Wednesdays, started this week.

On June 21, at 8 a.m. at Brazil Quarry Park, the Parks Division launched an annual Parks Project Day Program. This program involves having the entire Parks Divisions report bimonthly to the same location after completing their required daily park opening routines. Staff plans on addressing a different park location every two weeks to allow the maintenance staff at these locations to get an annual maintenance boost from all available Division staff and resources. This will help ensure a more manageable weekly maintenance schedule in order to keep our parks Usable, Safe, and Attractive (USA) on an ongoing basis and help improve overall park conditions on a regular basis.

Staff continues to work toward changing the culture within the Parks Division. Teaching staff different ways to approach problems and overcome obstacles, as well as rely on each other as a team are huge components of this change. Once at the location, staff are assigned tasks based on the critical needs of the park. The services performed at various locations will include these core services:

• Turf Management: Mowing, weed management, edging, hedging, blowing, fertilizing, etc.
• Playgrounds: Clean play equipment, replace required safety stickers, repairs to playground equipment, and repairs and/or maintenance of play surfacing areas (pour-in-place, chips, fibar, etc.)
• Irrigation: Check system, zones, programming. Complete needed repairs, ensure system is properly operating, and update irrigation maps in controller boxes.
• Trees: Provide low and clearance pruning, young tree care, growth control for volunteers, and mulch tree well.
• Other Vegetation: Check fence line, clear/skirt vegetation for clearance around property, garden areas, hedge shrubs. Check planter strips plants and vegetation, deadhead, mulch/chips, remove and replace.
• Hardscape/Park Assets: Check/service walkways, paths, parking, restrooms, report facility/graffiti issues. Check, repair, pressure wash park assets (picnic tables, benches, etc.)

The day was a huge success as it communicated the value of a team effort and provided a morale boost for staff. While at Brazil Quarry Park, staff completed the following services: 

• Grass – Manual removal of larger weeds, mowing, and edging. This will be followed up with over-seeding, top-dressing, and fertilizing in the Fall.
• Trees – Two dead trees were removed, and three other trees have been assigned to our tree contractor for removal. Five new trees were planted around the playground near the new benches to provide future shade. Tree wells were created around trees, turf removed, and wood chips placed.
• Canopy – All trees were pruned for clearance and some volunteers were removed. 
• Fence – Repairs were assigned to our fence contractor and vegetation was removed from going over fence.
• Benches – All deteriorating wooden benches were removed and replaced with metal benches.
• Horseshoe Pits – Horseshoe pits renovated.
• Creek – Minor pruning completed.  
• Playground – Fibar spread. Playground and hardscape were pressure washed and play structure pressure was washed with safety stickers replaced.
• Pour in Place walkway - Holes patched.
• Butterfly garden – Hand removal of weeds, minor hand pruning of vegetation, wood chips spread, and planted additional flowering plants for color and habitat.
• Well pump shed - Cleaned out.
• Irrigation - Valves and sprinkler heads repaired.

The City of Concord has a variety of park picnic sites that are the perfect location for family gatherings, birthday parties, or hanging out with friends. For more information and a complete listing of reservable sites with amenities, pick up a copy of the Group Picnic Sites booklet, available at City Hall, Concord Community Pool, Centre Concord, Concord Senior Center, and Willow Pass Center.

Easily reserve your picnic site online at www.cityofconcord.org/picnic or call the Recreation Services Registration Office at (925) 671-3404 for assistance.

The Recreation Services’ school year preschool program introduces children to school with developmentally appropriate activities and focuses on a play-based curriculum. Serving children ages 2 to 5-years-old at the Centre Concord and Baldwin Park locations, the program is gearing up for the 2023/2024 school year, beginning Tuesday, Sept. 5. Both morning and afternoon classes are offered as two-day/week or three-day/week options. As enrollment in the program approaches 150 students, Recreation Services continues to accept students in classes with openings.

For the upcoming school year, we are excited to introduce a new 2-year-old class at our Baldwin Park location which, based on community needs, has only offered 3- and 4-year-old classes traditionally. With the expansion of TK (transitional Kindergarten for 4-year-olds) at local schools, we are monitoring a trend of fewer 4-year-olds attending our programs and an increased interest in 2-year-old programming. Recreation Staff looks forward to meeting the needs of our community this Fall!

Learn more about our preschool program, including scheduling a site tour, by visiting www.cityofconcord.org/Preschool.

The Workforce Development Board of Contra Costa County hosted its first, Unlock Your Greatness Youth Summit, at Centre Concord on June 27. The free, all-day event for youth and young adults offered an inspiring atmosphere for attendees to gain valuable insights to unlock personal success. Professional speaker and Host of “Family Reboot” on Disney+, Arel Moodie, motivated attendees to identify opportunities, improve life goals, and take action to create a bright future. The 70+ young people attending enjoyed the camaraderie, refreshments, and raffle prizes.

Recreation Services manages several facilities suited for event rentals, with options available not only at our largest facility, Centre Concord, but also at the Willow Pass Center and Concord Senior Center. Learn more about renting a facility at https://www.cityofconcord.org/650/Indoor-Spaces.

To make it easier for Councilmembers, staff, and the public to access all of the news and information that the City is posting to its social media channels, Community Relations staff maintains a Social Media Feed web page on the City website.

The Facebook and Twitter feeds are embedded and update automatically. The Instagram images are updated weekly and link directly to Concord's Instagram accounts.

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