Preparedness Priorities Debated

On Friday, August 25 the Urban Shield Task Force met in Oakland to discuss the future of Alameda County’s Urban Shield training program.  The controversy focuses on whether terrorism is the most important crisis for Bay Area preparation.  The funding program’s terrorism nexus requires that 25 percent of all grant funds go for “terrorism prevention activities.” Yet Alameda county’s Emergency Operation Plan lists terrorism preparedness as the eighth-most important disaster scenario, according to critics of Urban Shield.

Piedmont residents Melissa Gjerde, Lauren Mayfield, Rohaina Hassan and Jordan Bailey opposed the program on other grounds, stating “Urban Shield programs that promote/train for a militarized police force are fundamentally racist and Islamophobic.”

Also objecting were members of the Stop Urban Shield coalition who prefer investing in disaster prevention, which they consider more important than the Urban Shield.

The Urban Shield Task Force )voted down a motion to avoid funding requiring terrorism preparedness, which some called crucial for BART. Also rejected was the proposal to urge the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to lobby Congress to remove the “nexus to terrorism” requirement.

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to create a task force to study and report back on Urban Shield on January 10, 2017.  The task force is composed of more than a dozen appointees.

Read about Bay Area Urban Shield here.

Read more about EMS Urban Shield here.

Read ABC 7 news report here.

Meeting will be in City Hall, 120 Vista Avenue, Tuesday, September 5 at 7:30 p.m.

The Piedmont City Council will vote on September 5, 2017, to elect a new mayor from the Councilmembers to fill the vacancy resulting from Jeff Wieler’s resignation as Mayor of Piedmont.  Vice Mayor Bob McBain has been in an interim “acting” position since the vacancy occurred pending the election by the Council of a new mayor.  McBain is the most tenured member of the Council.

If McBain is elected Mayor, the Vice Mayor position, as described in the City Charter, will require election of a new Vice Mayor.

The public is welcome to speak to the agenda item.  The meeting will be broadcast live on Channel 27 and from the City website.  The City keeps recordings and makes them available from the City website.

Comments regarding the selection of a new Mayor and/or Vice Mayor can be sent to the Council members as follows:

The Council has 30 days from September 5 to select someone to fill the vacant Council seat left by Wieler’s resignation.

Effective September 5, 2017, Jeff Wieler resigned as a Piedmont Councilmember.  Now, the City Council has the task of filling his vacant seat – unexpired term – that ends in November/December 2018.

The Council has 30 days in which to complete the task of filling the vacant unexpired term held by Wieler.  The agenda for the September 5, 2017 Council meeting does not include consideration of a process for selecting the replacement Council member.  According to the City Administrator, Paul Benoit, the Council may hold a Special Meeting to consider the selection process.

Those interested in applying for the unexpired seat can make inquiry with the City at 420-3040. 

Historically, the Council has asked for applications which must be from qualified electors of Piedmont – those who are registered Piedmont voters. In previous years, applicants submitted a standardized written application followed by an interview session held by the remaining four Councilmembers. By law, all applications and interviews are open to the public.

As the Councilmember selection is political, applicants frequently lobby the public and the Council.

Throughout the process, Councilmembers must follow the Brown Act (California’s sunshine law) by conducting all considerations and discussions of the applicants in a public meeting.  Councilmembers may not discuss privately amongst themselves who they think should be appointed.

When former Mayor and Councilmember, Margaret Fujioka, resigned her unexpired position on the Council, Jonathan Levine was chosen from amongst the applicants.  He subsequently ran for a regular four year term on the Council; however he did not win in that election.

The Council chosen appointee to the Council will serve until December 2018, when the unexpired term ends.  To continue to serve on the Council, the appointed individual must be elected at the November 2018 General Election.

The process of filling a vacancy is set out in the Piedmont City Charter as follows:

(C) FILLING OF VACANCIES. A vacancy on the City Council shall be filled by appointment by the Council, with said appointee to hold office until the next general municipal election, when a successor shall be chosen by the electors for the unexpired term. If the Council does not fill such vacancy within thirty (30) days after the same occurs, then such vacancy shall be filled by the Mayor. 

Questions may be posed to the City Administrator, Paul Benoit, at 510/420-3040.

The public can provide input to the Council by using the following contact information.

Councilmember contact information: