HUSD Districting Outreach Concerns

In Which: HUSD Trustee Rawdon tries to game the districting process. HFD increases diversity in hiring. And Councilmember Roche checks in on her sign.

HUSD Trustee Rawdon Lukewarm on Districting

The Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) held its first Public Hearing about the districting process. During the May 8th School Board Meeting, members of the public and the Board of Trustees were able to give their initial reactions to the districting process and ask questions of the consultants who are shepherding the process. What quickly became clear is that there are very few people who are happy with the way things are being forced to go.

During the public comment period, there were multiple speakers who criticized the timelines and outreach efforts. Many pointed to the difficulty in reaching parents during finals, graduations, and impending summer vacations. Although this is largely outside the Board’s control, Charles Jones, Teacher at Tennyson High School, said that there was a longer timeline which could have been used, though it would have been more expensive.

President of the HUSD District English Learner’s Advisory Committee (DELAC), Araceli Orozco, and Founder of El Puente Communitario, Elene Lepe, both volunteered their respective groups as avenues to increase engagement, especially among members of the community for whom English is not their first language. There has been no evidence of engagement on this subject by District affinity groups such as Asian Pacific Islander Community Initiative (APICI), African American Student Achievement Initiative (AASAI), despite racial and ethnic representation being a central argument in favor of the process.

Aisha Knowles, Alameda County Board of Education Trustee for Area 4, voiced concerns that she’d heard from members of the public in Fairview and Cherryland. She expressed concerns about the timeline and outreach efforts, citing the unpopular discussions around school closures which occurred in 2022. She also pointed out that she will be reviewing the final maps as a member of the Alameda County Committee on School District Organization.

From the Board of Trustees itself, the feelings appeared to range from enthusiastic to hostile. Trustee Ramos emphasized that any district representative would, by nature of their position, represent their district and not necessarily the entire area, thought the consultant pointed out that a lot of that comes down to how the elected official decides to govern.

Trustee Prada asked if it was possible to use the all-call feature to mass-call parents in HUSD leading up to the final input period. Staff pointed out that they want to do that, but don’t want to use it too often as people can opt out and Staff will never be able to get them back. But they definitely seemed open to the idea. Trustees Ramos and Prada both seemed to want to do everything they could to get more people involved, especially from minoritized groups.

President Peter Bufete asked process questions, including concerns about so-called “stacking and packing”, which are ways to limit the representation of communities by drawing district lines in certain ways. The Consultant assured the Board that the maps will abide by State law and avoid those scenarios as best they could.

Interestingly, President Bufete also asked if there was a possibility of adding more Trustees to the Board through the process. The consultant said that it would be a legal question that the HUSD attorney would have to answer. Adding Trustees would dramatically change how the district maps are drawn and likely allow for better representation of the diverse communities of HUSD, which are spread over a very large geographic area.

The only Trustee openly hostile to the idea of districting was Trustee Ken Rawdon, who not only repeated the anti-districting line of “every trustee should represent the entire district”—which is impossible in practice—but also directed HUSD Staff to look into San Leandro’s election model. Seemingly incorporating the worst of both worlds, Trustee Rawdon claimed that in San Leandro each district has a representative on City Council, but the entire City gets to vote for every district representative.

The Consultant initially claimed that this was merely an example of an at-large voting process, but Trustee Rawdon directed Staff to look into it anyway. He appeared to clearly want to meet the letter of the lawsuit while maintaining the status quo as much as possible. Trustee Rawdon seemed to be unaware of the optics of the comment: the only white man on the Board openly trying to game a process intended to improve representation.

Although the City is handling the process separately—despite perhaps using the same consultancy group—the School Board’s comments offer a preview to the likely talking points during the City of Hayward’s first Public Hearing on districting.

Tune in Tonight, Tuesday May 14, at 5:30pm to give your comments on the process!

Budget Discussion Part 1

Okay, Haywardistes, this is gonna have to be a story in 2 parts because the meeting was over 5 hours long. If you’d prefer to have your Meeting Marathon Summaries in one sitting, I definitely encourage you to lay down a pledge of whatever you can afford. You aren’t on the hook for anything yet, and it lets me know that people are interested enough that I can make plans for expansion. And with that out of the way, let’s get into it.

Overview

The day started with an overview of the budget and, while the picture wasn’t exactly optimistic, the Acting City Manager stressed that the report was conservative in revenues and expenditures rarely meet or exceed the projections. “We rarely realize those projections,” he said.

There are multiple factors outside of the City’s control that are driving the budget shortfall: inflation, CalPERS, benefit commitments, and addressing resident needs. Inflation is affecting everything from the cost of burritos to the cost of housing. CalPERS is also asking more of the City, a trend which will likely continue as inflation increases and people continue to live longer. The City is also paying into some retirement liabilities, which is good for credit rating but not so good for the General Fund.

Lastly, the City is taking on a lot more services. “As other agencies at varying levels,” the Acting City Manager said, “pull out of service [something], there’s a gap that needs to fill.” {FIX}

Finance

The good news is that the City is getting more money from the PG&E rate hikes—not for residents, mind you, but good for the City’s coffers—and hotel use is up. These two factors will likely add over $4,000,000 to the City’s revenue. Unfortunately, personnel costs are up, and so is the cost of insurance, and those two eat up all the increased revenue and then some. Broadly speaking, that’s what’s forcing the City to project dipping into reserves.

Councilmembers had varying questions about ways to either raise more funds for the City or ways to cut costs. Councilmember Zermeño expressed interest in raising the Enterprise Tax, which would raise costs for businesses. Councilmember Bonilla Jr. asked about the credit implications, but Staff reassured Council that a lot more is taken into account than money on hand and the City’s credit rating is very good.

Councilmember Andrews asked about increasing the Transit Occupancy Tax (for hotels), but Staff warned that they were afraid to raise the taxes too high and scare off people just as hotels are recovering. Councilmember Roche asked about lobbying to reduce the cost of CalPERS, and Staff was not optimistic about that working well.

Mayor Salinas asked for an analysis from Staff comparing the cost of responding to cannabis crimes to the revenue from the tax. “Just to see if we’re losing money on this,” he said. He seemed to be assuming that legal businesses should be paying for enforcement against illegal operations. Beyond that, Staff was once again uneasy about raising taxes too high ahead of other regions.

Police

Chief Brian Matthews presented a steady budget with no increases in costs. As if to highlight how large the Police Department is, he apologized for how small the print for their organizational chart was, “We had to do that to fit it all on one slide.” He highlighted that they’ve frozen a Jail Administrator position, saving $202,000, hired 20 sworn officers this year and are “expanding technology capabilities” to compensate for low staffing.

The only metric that needed explaining was the low number of contacts from the Youth and Family Services Bureau (YFSB). Chief Matthews explained that the YFSB has been prioritizing fewer sessions that are higher-touch, which has been paying dividends.

While Councilmember Zermeño pushed for a return to a heavier police presence in the Downtown core—asking specifically for on-foot patrols—the rest of Council focused on HPD’s involvement with mental health services.

Councilmember Andrews asked about how Council could support YFSB meeting its target number of contacts. Matthews responded that YFSB is at capacity, and although they’re looking to expand, the higher touch is better for those they work with. Councilmember Roche brought up the HEART program and wondered if there was a desire to increase its capacity. Chief Matthews said that they were hoping to, but given that the HMET partners with the County, they need to work with them to expand capacity.

Councilmember Syrop asked about a growth plan for YFSB. Chief Matthews said that YFSB “doesn’t exist in other Police Departments anywhere in the country,” but also wants to expand the program, though that would need more staff. “If I had my way, we’d bring on 10 more counselors. There’s just a huge need there.” It’s a shame, in many ways, that grants from County Corrections to the Police Department are needed to meet the City’s mental health needs.

Fire Department

The Hayward Fire Department presented on its first staffing increase since 1966. They also highlighted that they’re diversifying their hiring pool by offering in-house paramedic training—the clinical hours for which can be a deal-breaker for many recruits. They’ve also brought on someone from contract to full-time in the HazMat unit and highlighted the many programs they’re running now that they have the training center.

Councilmember Zermeño asked about the hiring, and Chief Contreras explained that turnover at the department is high and they’ve hired 30 people last year. Councilmember Zermeño also asked about the fire engines, and Chief Contreras explained that, due to the pandemic, trucks are taking 4 years to deliver, so the current ones are okay, but they’re having to pay for short-term fixes while waiting for new trucks.

Councilmember Bonilla asked about the diversity and equity in hiring, and Chief Contreras discussed that the current pool is the most diverse they’ve ever had. He attributed it in large part to the paramedic training program that they can now provide in-house. Paramedics need to complete clinical hours, and they are often unpaid, which can be a barrier to those who can’t afford to not have a job for several months. By hiring EMTs and paying them for their paramedic training, the Fire Department has been able to expand their pool massively.

Councilmember Roche asked if there are any issues around being able to respond to the high rise buildings in Hayward. Chief Contreras countered that most of the buildings are mid-rise, being 4-6 stories, but that the developments often have other issues that make response difficult. The county has a working group of fire fighters who are working on ways to navigate those difficulties.

Mayor Salinas ended the questions by thanking Chief Contreras for his leadership on undisclosed “stuff” around St. Rose. He said that it wasn’t public yet, but it will be interesting to find out what, exactly, he was alluding to.

Maintenance Services

Maintenance Services gave a quick report—Councilmember Bonilla asked a lot of questions during the Fire Department presentation—to catch up on time. They noted that they won’t be needing any new funding, but will be adding 2 positions and eliminating one. Thankfully, it’s all covered by savings elsewhere.

Councilmember Andrews asked if it was possible to hold more disposal days. Staff responded by saying each event costs between $5,000 and $6,000 to hold, but also noted that they were wildly popular. They’d like to do them more often, but are concerned about staff capacity. Councilmember Andrews volunteered the Keep Hayward Clean and Green Task Force to help.

Councilmembers Syrop and Zermeño asked about the tree planting. Staff said that it’s mostly an issue of juggling the grants and also making sure that there’s sufficient capacity to maintain the trees after they’re planted. They’ve planted 2200 trees this past fiscal year, though it’s been unclear whether this is a net or gross count. He stressed that although the nonprofit partner was very eager, Staff wants to keep planting steady and grow slowly as opposed to planting a lot all at once.

Councilmember Roche asked about her favorite sign on Jackson and Silva—which she, again, mentioned she’s always wanted to change ever since she moved to Hayward. It’s scheduled to be completely changed by June of next year and will look similar to the sign on the South side of town.

Councilmember Zermeño also asked about some kind of permanent compost distribution location. Staff said that they want to expand, but would need to pivot their operations if they switch to non-bagged compost. It’s been done in other municipalities, but would be a change from what they’re used to.

Human Resources

The primary changes in HR are an increase in their department by 3 full-time positions in the Recruitment arena. They want to expand on proactive recruitment. They’ve also seen an increase in retention by 1%, which may not seem like much, but retention was already at 90% before then, so going up any is a lot. They’re also implementing a new employee experience survey to better improve retention and recruitment.

Councilmember Syrop asked which specific positions were used to fund the 3 new full-time positions. Staff explained that the Jail Administrator position and a time-limited position from Code Enforcement that was never filled in the first place were used.

Councilmember Bonilla asked about the ratio of HR staff to workers in a workplace and if that was on target. Staff explained that it was a little on the low side, but not by much. He also asked about the number of managers to staff, and Staff explained that there are 4 divisions within HR that need some kind of point person, so the managers are justified.

Councilmember Goldstein asked why people weren’t completing probation—the percentage of people completing was still well over 80%—and Staff explained that it’s from a variety of factors including people leaving, the department not finding them a good fit, and other unknown reasons.

And this isn’t even quite halfway through the meeting! Next up will be Development Services, which includes Code Enforcement and Housing. Does a majority of the time get spent talking about street vendors? Does Council ask about housing and homelessness? You can watch the meeting yourself, or just hang tight for next time!