Little City Bites and HUSD Budget Friction
In Which: Many little projects help an Affordable Housing project, We question whether car theft is terrorism, And HUSD will be talking about budget whether we like it or not.
Things Council Won’t Talk About
During almost every meeting, there are Consent Items—these are things that are considered “non-controversial” and don’t really need a lot of discussion. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important or good to know about. So when possible, we dig into these consent items so that you know what’s going on in the City.
Animal Shelter To Receive Big Donation
The Hayward Animal Shelter is looking to receive over $500,000 from the Keith Lacey Trust. The money will be used to fund a few projects that aim to enhance the quality of life of the shelter animals.
City’s Spay/Neuter Program
Offer at least 200 free spay/neuter vouchers each for cats and dogs in Hayward
Low-Income Community Based Vet Care Assistance Program
offer up to $1,500 in services per pet to low-income pet owners for free for approved conditions
Shelter Animal Vet Care
The shelter already does this, but it’s always short on money, so this helps do more of it
Shelter Improvement Projects
Refurbishing floors in areas outside the dog kennels (those were improved in 2022) to enhance disease control
Additional funds may go to soundproofing in the kennels
Shelter Transport Van
$80,000 on a transport van—hopefully electric—with temperature controlled interior
This will replace the 1999 pick-up truck with camper shell they’re currently using
Best of all, since it’s a donation, this doesn’t cost the City anything.
Affordable Housing Is Complicated
If you’ve been around Hayward for a while, you may know about the original plans to expand Highway 238 though town. CalTrans had bought up all the land, but after intense community outcry and a court order, they backed away from the plans. There are 8 big parcels of land that they held on to which the City managed to get back in 2011.
Many of the parcels have been dealt with already, mostly for housing, but even if the City sold them to a developer, affordable housing is a complicated process. The City is taking a strange step this week to advance an affordable housing project on Parcel 8 (near Grove Way and Foothill Blvd).
Affordable housing often gets paid for with public money that they have to compete for against other projects. In order to make this Parcel 8 project more competitive for $84,000,000 in funding, they’re asking the City to spend about $3,000,000 on infrastructure improvements. If the project gets the grant, the City will be fully paid back for the cost—essentially getting $3,000,000 in upgrades for free.
Here’s the list of projects:
Sidewalks on 4th Street, Valley Street, Russell Way, Rockaway Lane, and D Street.
Adding sidewalk to Western Blvd from Peralta to Simon
Adding Transit Signal Priority equipment to the intersections of: Foothill and Grove, Foothill and Hazel, Foothill and City Center, Foothill and A St, Foothill and B St., Foothill and C St, Foothill and D St, Mission and Sunset, Mission and A St, and A St and Main.
Eight new bus shelters: Main and B, A and Alice, 2 at Mission and Sunset, Foothill and Grove, C and Main, and 2 at Mission and Grace.
And all of this is going to help an affordable housing project get funded. Something to keep in mind when someone says we can just build more affordable housing.
License Plate Readers To Combat Terrorism
That’s the argument that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is making by giving over $162,000 to the Hayward Police Department to buy 30 additional Flock cameras. According to the Staff Report, this FEMA-funded grant is supposed to “support state and local efforts in preparing for disasters, terrorist threats, and large-scale emergencies.” Apparently California Office of Emergency Services distributes the money to the counties to “strengthen local emergency preparedness.”
And while the Staff Report does allocate exactly one sentence to saying that the Flock Cameras will “ enhance the City’s terrorism response capabilities,” the rest of the 6 page report focuses on vehicle theft. According to the Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, domestic terrorism involves acts “dangerous to human life” and appear to be intended to intimidate, control, or coerce people or the government. There is no explanation as to how vehicle theft fits into this definition of terrorism.
The Staff Report also addresses concerns around using Flock cameras for immigration enforcement activities. The report restates Policy 415, which prohibits officers from asking about immigration status for the purposes of immigration enforcement. However, as we covered before, if a person is suspected of committing a crime, Officers are allowed to share information on immigration status that they may learn with federal officials.
The Staff Report does give data suggesting that the existing network of 60 cameras has reduced vehicle theft. They also suggest that reducing the perceived consequences for vehicle theft makes it more likely that they will occur. This conclusions are based on correlation, backed up by a few high-profile and highly emotional anecdotes.
While this grant covers the initial purchase cost of the cameras, ongoing annual service costs are needed. The additional cameras will drive those costs up to $400,000 per year and significantly expand the surveillance capabilities of HPD.
HUSD Conflicted Over Budget Talk
This month, the Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) Board of Trustees has been going back and forth on how closely they should monitor the budget. Some Trustees, most vocally Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo, have pushed for budget discussions at every meeting.
President Bufete initially pushed back on the idea with support from Trustee Oquenda. However, at a Special Meeting last Thursday, when Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo suggested adding a standing agenda item for the budget—meaning it will be on every agenda—until July 2026, the idea sailed through with no opposition.
A Swing And A Miss
During the May 7th meeting, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo took the time during several agenda items to complain about how there was no place on the Agenda to discuss the budget. He framed it as a future political issue, specifically citing concerns about future conservative candidates using the budget as a talking point to win a seat on the board.
“I shouldn’t find myself agreeing with the same parents that are sharpening their pitchforks to run for this board,” Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said. “Every time we don’t talk about the budget, we allow the parents that are going to take the seats of my gay colleague on this board… we are adding fuel to the fire”
There was no evidence of pushback regarding the budget during the public comment period, however. He called, not for the first time, a conversation about the budget and alleged that the district was “on a spending spree” for the purchase of new textbooks to replace those almost 20 years old.
President Bufet disagreed that the budget wasn’t important. “There were many questions about the financing of this project and so the budget was popular,” he said. When Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo attempted to respond, he was cut off multiple times by President Bufete.
Then it came time to approve the Board of Education Governance Handbook to reflect some minor changes that had come from a previous workshop. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo then attempted to approve the Handbook with a last-minute change to how the Board sets the agenda.
The current Handbook leaves setting the Agenda to the Board President, Vice President, and Superintendent. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo attempted to add the following:
“Any two trustees may submit a written request to the Superintendent and Board President in place of an item within the Board’s purview on a future agenda. This item shall be placed on the agenda within the next two regular meetings, unless constraints require otherwise. If three or more Trustees, a board majority, submit a written request, the item shall be placed on the agenda for the next regular meeting. The Board President shall not withhold or delay items supported by the majority.”
Now Hold On A Second
This would force items onto the agenda if three of the five Trustees want it there, eliminating the ability of the Board President to set the meeting agendas. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo made it clear that the reason for the move was because he wanted to talk budget more. “I can’t get this board to agendize a discussion regarding the budget,” he said. Trustee Oquenda pointed out that two of the next three meetings already had items focused on the budget.
Trustee Oquenda was against the move, citing concern around Staff time. “I think it doesn’t allow Staff to put together thoughtful work, if needed,” she said. She also expressed concern for bloating the agendas even more than they already are. “We already are having meetings consistently now running so late and I hear you in fact asking for something to come every Board Meeting when we can’t even stay on top of the workload that we have.”
President Bufete suggested that there are other ways for the Board to provide input on the budget and receive updates besides an agenda, and listed several suggestions from their Fiscal Advisor. “I would like to listen to our Fiscal Advisor who actually gave some commentary around that,” he said. When he took a second listen—there was no written version shared at the time—President Bufete took issue with the last sentence. “See, I don’t like that last sentence regardless of who that person is,” he said.
And with that, President Bufete moved on to a different motion—without the proposed language—without ever taking a vote. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo tried to justify his actions. “I have followed the process,” he said, “I have used…” President Bufete responded, “You followed the process and you didn’t like the answer that you got.”
Taking A Loan To Patch The Holes
A week later, during a May 15th Board Meeting where the Board approved a plan for a short-term loan to help cover cash-flow problems, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo pushed for more budget talk once again.
HUSD has a cash-flow problem because they only receive money from the State in two big lumps: once in December and once in late spring. According to Staff, “We do not anticipate having sufficient cash in October and November 2025 to pay the payroll and bills that will come due in those months.” They will have the money, just not at the right time. That means they turn to a loan.
The idea is to take out a one-year loan with Alameda County to get the money they’ll need for the year, hold onto it in an account—hoping that the interest will cover the interest they have to pay back—and then immediately pay back the loan at the end of the fiscal year. They also have a backup plan of using some construction money to pay things back in an emergency, but only in an emergency.
Staff was “as confident as I can be” that the loan will be approved by the Board of Supervisors at the right time so it all goes according to plan. The main issue is the timing. They had to call a special meeting because in order to apply for the loan the District needed to do analysis, prepare the budget, get cash flow estimates for the Alameda County Board of Education, let them analyze it for 30 days, then have the HUSD Board approve it before finally sending it to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for final approval in time to get the money for next year. Their window for HUSD Board approval was 2 days.
You Only Get One Shot—Again
When it came time to approve the plan, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo proposed approving it with an amendment:
“That the Board receive public updates at every regular meeting through a standing agenda item. This item shall provide Staff the opportunity to report on progress, allow Board members to ask questions, and ensure the public can offer comment on the TRAN [the loan], FCMT implementation, solvency plan execution, and overall budget development. This standing agenda item shall remain in place through the end of the next fiscal year, at which point the Board will evaluate its necessity and determine whether it should continue.”
Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo again pushed for a standing item for budget discussion that, in this case, will be on every regular meeting agenda through at least July 2026. He explained the addition was because he believed there wasn’t enough budget discussion during meetings. “I don’t believe we’re making space on our agendas to ask and to answer these questions and to update the public,” he said. He said he wants a focus on the budget “at every single meeting.”
He also said that he wanted analysis and next steps for the budget, however it is unclear if Staff could even give that to him. The FCMT report was only presented publicly at the end of January and the report itself pointed out severe administrative process problems. The normal budget process often takes weeks—if not months—of work, let alone going through the extra processes that the District has been forced to go through since January.
Regardless, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo insisted that the change will help the Board stay on top of things in a way they haven’t in the past. “We’re in this position because I believe Hayward Unified School District’s Board… at times didn’t step up into leadership roles,” he said. “This is our moment. We cannot continue to keep making the same mistakes.”
No Opposition This Time
Whether because Trustee Oquenda wasn’t there to back him up or because there were sound issues or because he had actually changed his mind, President Bufete offered no opposition to the standing item. The Board unanimously approved the loan and the addition of a standing budget item on every regular meeting agenda through July 2026.