Oakland Observer Week Ending 7/2/2023: Late Night Opposition, but Bas/Thao Budget Passes; CMs Move to Increase Aid to Displaced Coliseum Connections Residents; Harbin-Forte Dismissed by Thao...

After Late Night Opposition,  Bas Team/Thao Budget Passes Narrowly

In a contentious budget deliberation that pushed late into a Monday night Special Meeting, CM's Janani Ramachandran, Treva Reid and Noel Gallo pushed back against elements of Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and her budget team's amended FY 2023-25 budget package.

The conflict was a contrast to months of deliberation leading up to the June 30 budget deadline, which were characterized by an unusually mellow dialogue between council members and with Mayor Sheng Thao–at least by the standards of the last decade. But what seemed like growing, if often grudging, consensus about the Council Presidents amendments to the Mayor's original budget proposal over the past few weeks hit several barriers at the meeting before ultimate, narrow, passage.

Agreement on the Broad Strokes

The broader strokes of Thao’s initial budget have rarely been a bone of contention for council members over the past several weeks of discussion on amending the Mayor's budget and survived the night intact. Thao increased the police budget by tens of million of dollars over what was originally budgeted in the last biennial in her proposal, and millions more than what was spent by OPD in the FY 2021-23 budget. But though the issue of police spending has been a flashpoint in previous years, Thao's measure of police funding remains virtually untouched by the actions of Council. Other issues like partially restoring a proposed Thao decrease in Department of Violence Prevention [DVP] funding relative to the previous year were a focus of Council and Mayoral unanimity–although Bas’ team, which included Carroll Fife, Rebecca Kaplan and Kevin Jenkins championed a larger restoration to DVP than Reid, Ramachandran and Gallo. Kalb later added another increase of $750 K through a friendly amendment.

There was also little challenge against the use of special funds to shore up the budget, which features an unprecedented imbalance between expenditures and revenue. That disequilibrium is forecast to plague Oakland budget-making into the next biennial, according to statements made by Budget Administrator Bradley Johnson during budgeting sessions.

An accompanying resolution to waive maintenance of effort and minimum staffing requirements for certain funds was voted up with all but Gallo voting against. That legislation also adds new definitions for levels of fiscal crisis severity that allow various budgeting measures when invoked, although those definitions will have to be revisited in the next budget year.

Disagreements on Departmental Mergers

A brewing disagreement over the past few weeks of deliberation finally came into its own during the meeting. CMs Ramachandran and Reid challenged the Thao administration’s departmental reorganization plan, which is expected to save about $2 MM dollars over the biennial and eventually merge Economic and Workforce Development [EWD] into Planning and Building [PBD]; and shift Parks, Recreation and Youth Development [OPRYD] into Human Services.

A large part of the departmental merger savings is found in freezing currently vacant Director Positions in EWD and OPRYD in FY 23-24. In Thao’s plan, the current interim directors would continue their role in the first year, and in the second year, consolidation would eliminate the positions entirely–with consequent elimination of redundant roles in the merged departments. The first year of the plan would involve an analysis by a consultant that would study the potential outcomes and practical plan for the consolidation. The consultant could advise a different sort of plan or advise against the plan itself, and Council could vote against the final plan, regardless–but much of the savings could hold in the second year, as the positions could be kept frozen.

As the meeting wore on and responses to the Council members questions were offered, however, Reid and Ramachandran were increasingly unable to articulate concerns about the mergers that weren't already answered either verbally by staffers; in the Thao legislation; or in accompanying legislative reports. Ramachandran, for example, said her opposition to the plan was only that the mergers should be contingent on the recommendations of a developmental study and as part of a separate vote in the mid-cycle budget making process next June.

“My proposal today is not a general opposition to mergers as a whole, is not a reluctance to consider mergers in the future, but is to keep the department structure as is until we get a developmental study and then vote after that decision,” Ramachandran told Council, reading from a prepared presentation.

But Ramachandran failed to counter arguments that Thao's plan was essentially what Ramachandran proposed–per the budget legislation, the mergers would have to return to council as an ordinance for a vote in 2024 before they could be moved forward. The study would be completed by that time.

In a subsequent response, Bas read the legislative text directing the City Administrator to return with an ordinance for the merger toward the end of the first year budget period. That ordinance, like any legislative proposal, would have to be deliberated as part of the 2024 mid-cycle budget and voted on. The Bas budget directives additionally direct the City Administrator to prepare a reorganization plan and provide quarterly updates on its progress. According to the Bas directives, the City Administrator would bring a report on a proposed plan for reorganization by March 30, 2024, three months before the FY 24-25 mid-cycle budget due date.

“So the intent with this resolution is to put together the reorganization plan…and no later than March 2024 as we begin our mid-cycle budget process, there will be an opportunity for us to review that plan, to review this proposed ordinance and to make a determination,” Bas said.

Reid for her part also failed to challenge the particulars in the explanations to her queries, but continued to ask questions that had already been answered in the reports accompanying the budget.

“We’ve not seen in a very itemized way…where it’s clearly stated where we’re adding and reducing…and the feedback we’ve gotten has not been clear, it’s added more confusion…I’d like to understand how the fiscal year 23-24 budget will be impacted by a reorg that’s not scheduled until 24-25,” Reid asked Budget Administrator Johnson shortly before the vote.

Johnson then walked Reid through a document available to the public and CMs on the City's budget site showing the itemized breakdown of the mergers' envisioned cost savings. The freezing of the currently vacant director positions of EWD and OPRYD in year one, and the deletion of those same vacant positions in year two, if and when the merger takes place in the mid-cycle, is clearly visible in simple tables for both.

Finance Director Roseman reminded Council that the $300 K expenditure for the merger study is already costed in the current budget, and will carry over and is therefore doesn't weigh against any of the savings produced by the mergers. The fact that EWD and OPRYD are currently run by interim directors is evident in the City website.

Hanson also reminded Ramachandran that she and staff had a detailed meeting with her explaining the plan and line item math of the mergers.

“For the benefit of the public, the City Administrator, myself and the Director of Finance did, in fact, share all of these details of the merger timeline and plan with Council member Ramachandran in our briefing several weeks ago,” Hanson said.

Kalb Adds “Friendly Amendments” to Bas Team/Thao Budget, But Gallo’s Requests Lacking Revenue Balancing Fail

Kalb had already dropped a previously proposed restoration of 10 vacant OPD positions in his proposal at some point between the budget meeting and the previous study session. But Kalb did add a new request to shift to the DVP $750 K from a proposed $10MM biennial cyber-security increase to the Information Technology [IT] Department. Bas accepted the $750 K addition to DVP in the first year, but used different sourcing. Bas only transferred $440 K from IT, and the remaining amount from additions to community grants in her previous budgeting.

Gallo included what appeared to be a policy memo with his budgeting requests, but no spreadsheets containing proposed reductions to support expenditures. As the Council must pass a balanced budget by law, Gallo’s proposals required necessary reductions to support his requests–Gallo appeared unwilling or unable to find them and no other CM volunteered. Despite Gallo’s protests, for this reason his amendments weren’t considered.

Ramachandran’s Substitute Motion with $1 MM Cut to Cyber-Security Fails

After requesting additions via friendly amendments during deliberations, Council Members can continue to try to add amendments to a motion on the floor through amendment motions that are then voted on by the Council as a whole. Kalb’s amendment to add $750 K to DVP was accepted as a friendly amendment by Bas before she made her motion, for example. After Bas had put her budget motion on the floor, Kalb proposed an amendment motion for a directive to pursue a lateral police academy if police staffing failed to meet expectations. That amendment motion required a vote and it failed.

Rather than propose budget amendments either by friendly amendment or by amendment proposal and vote, Ramachandran instead floated her competing budget legislation as a substitute motion. Ramachandran's proposal was a hybrid of Bas’ budget–her slate of amendments, including hiring an OPRYD Director, piggybacking on Bas' structure. According to Council rules, Ramachandran’s substitute motion had to be voted on first and only if it failed would Bas’ original motion be considered.

During the deliberation on Ramachandran’s substitute motion, Budget Administrator Johnson confirmed that Ramachandran’s proposal would remove nearly $1 MM from IT, instead of the $440 K envisioned by Bas when incorporating the Kalb proposal earlier in the evening. The news seemed to come as a surprise to Ramachandran, who said she’d originally intended for the reduction to be confined to her $480 K and apparently did not take into account the Bas action a half hour earlier. Upon hearing of the additional cut from IT, Gallo rescinded his second of Ramachandran's motion, which Reid immediately offered instead.

Ramachandran’s substitute motion failed on the vote, however–only she, Reid and, surprisingly, Gallo, who had just rescinded his second for the motion, voted for it. As she cast her vote, Bas said she specifically voted against Ramachandran’s proposal because it reduced IT cybersecurity by nearly $1 MM.

Another Ramachandran Amendment Brings in the Mayor to Break a Tie

But that was not the end of the tussle over the final budget for Ramachandran. Ramachandran had previously proposed a grant writer for OPD but subsequently relented. Bas included the grant writer idea as an olive branch in the form of a proposed city-wide grant writer focused on areas of work involving public safety at OakDOT, OPD and OFD. Bas’ grant writer proposal also added a focus on what would be the new department of Families and Children.

Ramachandran said she opposed Bas addition of Families and Children, as it would “reduce the effectiveness” of the public safety focus. Bas argued that providing for families was itself a public safety measure, but didn't sway Ramachandran who still moved to vote on her amendment altering direction in Bas’ proposal.

This time, Kalb, Gallo, Reid also voted for Ramachandran’s proposal, causing a tie, which Thao had to be called in to break. Thao arrived after a brief delay and broke the tie against Ramachandran, saying she shared Bas’ idea of changing dynamics “upstream '' in the public safety debate.

The Council-amended Thao budget passed 5 to 3. Ramachandran and Reid abstained and Gallo voted no.

The Adopted Final Council/Mayor's FY 2023-25 Budget:

• Restores some, but not all DVP funding eliminated in Thao's original proposal. The restoration itself, however, is more than in previous iterations, thanks to the Kalb/Bas amendment transferring $440 K from IT, $310 K from council community grants. The total DVP restoration for the biennial is 2.8 MM, up from about $2MM in the original restoration.
• Increases the OPD budget by tens of millions over the biennial term–at least $40MM in the budget book, tens of millions more than OPD will have spent by the end of this budgetary period; over 50 MM more than what was budgeted in 2021 for the 21-23 biennial. Funds 5 academies, with 6 forecast to graduate before the end of the biennial period, producing a potential 110 to 150 police, with a potential attrition of 120 police over the two years–that means there will likely be somewhere between 713 and 753 police at the end of the biennial in June 2025. Though its possible staffing could be less than 713, it's not likely it could more than 753. The City’s estimates in the budget reports for academy graduation are 33 per academy, despite the fact that the last several academies have not reached that initial number and the current academy started with 29 OPD trainees.
• Maintains most current vacancies funded by the General Purpose Fund as a cost-saving measure; with focus on Special Funds to fill necessary and new roles in service oriented departments like OPW through a “vacancy taskforce”.
• Maintains Trajectory for Departmental Mergers including Human Services, OPRYD and EWD into Housing and Community Development and the Planning and Building Department. The mergers still require a study and an additional necessary Council vote on an ordinance to merge the departments during the biennial budgeting in 2024; a transfer of IAD positions to the CPRA is in the math for the OPD in the budget book, but isn’t represented in the CPRA’s staffing and is contingent on a study that has yet to be contracted.
• Partially restores Democracy Dollars Funding with the restoration of the PEC role tasked with running the program, and $150 K in discretionary funding which will most likely be used to continue public financing until the program is ready to run on its own. A Kalb proposal for a pilot program covering one district election wasn't adopted.
• Relies on incoming funds from Measure U, the successor to Measure KK, which will add parcel tax leveraged revenue estimated at nearly $850 MM over the lifetime of the bonds for transportation infrastructure, capital improvements and affordable housing. Bas included a direction to create an 8MM rehousing acquisition fund, which will purchase motels and other suitable buildings for rapid rehousing.
• The Oakland Fire Department will be partially restored, freezing only an incoming engine that has not yet come online, thanks to a SAFER grant that will cover expenses.

In Last Minute Move, Council Vows to Direct Aid for Coliseum Connections Tenants; Outside Date for Repairs Pushed to end of July and Beyond

In a last minute decision during an odds and ends Council meeting this week, CMs in attendance promised to explore peeling off $390 K from a larger $7MM pot of affordable housing grant funds to support Coliseum Connections residents. The original bank of funds were intended for a new “NOFA”, the City’s granting of funds for affordable housing development to be used as leverage to access larger funds in a state pot of money. During the deliberation public comment period, residents of Coliseum Connections told Council members that the building repairs were still not complete months after more optimistic deadlines forecast by City staff in March. According to Larry Gallegos, a program manager at EWD, the outside date for completing the repairs, which had been forecast by April, and then the end of May in previous staff reports, has now been pushed to the end of July and could very well take longer.

In a discussion on how to help tenants, CM Kaplan suggested partitioning off about $390 K of the funding combination from “boomerang” funds, and the other CMs present, Treva Reid, Nikki Fortunato Bas, Dan Kalb and Carroll Fife agreed. CM Jenkins had been absent from the meeting, and, Janani Ramachandran and Noel Gallo left the meeting early before the entire agenda had been discussed. The funds were siloed from the proposal and a tentative date of July 18 set for legislation to return to Council to approve their use for Coliseum Connections temporary lodging.

Thao Removes Commissioner Harbin-Forte from Oakland Police Commission

Various media organizations reported this week that Mayor Sheng Thao had officially removed Commissioner Brenda Harbin-Forte from the Oakland Police Commission [OPC]. Most of the reporting seems to have been a product of Harbin-Forte's releasing Thao’s notification letter to media sources. Thao apparently did not announce the decision publicly. Harbin-Forte's removal is effective immediately: presumably, she will be replaced on the dais by an already seated Commission alternate.

Harbin-Forte was a hold-over appointment whose term had ended in October 2022. As a result of a Council decision to hold reappointments until a new Mayor assumed office in 2023, Harbin-Forte’s position was held over. Thao had three options in terms of the appointment: she could have maintained Harbin-Forte in her role indefinitely; reappointed her to the role in a new term; or proposed a new appointee to Council. Thao, thus, could have appointed another commissioner through the conventional process and removed Harbin-Forte in a much less visible way at a less focal moment. But the move to remove Harbin-Forte before offering a candidate will undoubtedly imbue the act with a political tone.

Harbin-Forte was the subject of complaints from other Commissioners and the organization Coalition for Police Accountability [CPA] over the past several months. Harbin-Forte for her part, complained about Commissioners and processes as well and filed a Public Ethics complaint against CM Kevin Jenkins after what she said were threatening conversations she'd had with him over the conflicts. A more thorough account of recent Commission strife can be found here.

The Oakland chapter of the NAACP sent Thao and the City Council members a letter shortly before Thao's decision, asking "elected officials not interfere with the work of the Commission", the Oakland Observer has learned. The letter specifically criticizes Thao and accuses her of undermining the OPC through her actions in dismissing Armstrong without OPC input. Though never concretely stated, Harbin-Forte's accusations against Jenkins are likely to have some role in the letter, which has such claims as "elected officials have chosen to instigate or stoke the flames of discord on the Commission."

During a Commission meeting in February, shortly after the dismissal of Armstrong, Harbin-Forte inadvertently revealed she was in a backchannel texting conversation with Terry Wiley, the former Alameda County Chief Assistant District Attorney who's identified himself as a spokesperson of the NAACP, during the meeting. In public comments made to the body at the same meeting, Wiley expressed gratitude at the Commission's letter of support for Armstrong.

* The final adopted budget legislation was not available on the City's portals or legislative database at the time of this writing.