Richmond council passes on polling community on bond measure

RICHMOND — Despite known funding limitations for various city projects, it looks as though Richmond will not place a bond measure on the November ballot.

The City Council on Tuesday opposed spending $50,000 for a firm to conduct polling around a potential bond measure, after a majority of councilmembers expressed concerns about the timeline and amount of work needed to get a measure election ready.

Councilmember Cesar Zepeda, who proposed the poll, said several city buildings have long either needed to be rebuilt, expanded or repaired. He had hoped to use the polling, if the results came back favorable, to draft a bond measure to be discussed at two special meetings.

“It’s unfair to the community that we are not giving them the option to speak, to say ‘yes, we need to prioritize this,” Zepeda said. “This is part of being fiscally responsible. How do we tell our voters that we’re going to be fiscally responsible when we’re not looking out for all the dollars?”

According to Zepeda and a staff report, money from a potential bond would go toward building a new public safety building for the Richmond Police Department, expanding the library and rebuilding the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center.

Zepeda argued the city’s fire stations are also in need of repair, and other city infrastructure is aging without money for repair or replacement.

Other councilmembers said the Aug. 9 deadline to get a measure on the ballot did not leave the city enough time to fairly poll the community or figure out where the bond money would go if approved.

Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin worried the local ballot is long enough as is. Voters on Nov. 5 will already decide on a Chevron refinery tax and two competing initiatives to either move to a ranked-choice voting system or to create a primary system that could lead to runoff elections.

Councilmember Doria Robinson agreed that the city needs a new police station and has been a strong advocate for rebuilding the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, but said the measure potentially would make promises the city couldn’t keep.

At Robinson’s suggestion, the council asked City Manager Shasa Curl to compile a list of the city’s infrastructure needs and associated costs for the board to discuss after its summer break.

“This tool of a bond can be a perfectly fine tool to use but I feel like we need to use it sparingly,” Robinson said. “It’s still a tool in our tool box but I feel like we need a plan to get there.”