UPDATE 3/9: There is a precedent for this, from 1997.

The gist of it is that the question was asked, “May the city manager or assistant city manager of the City of South San Francisco serve simultaneously on the board of trustees of the South San Francisco Unified School District?” The answer given by then-Attorney General Daniel Lungren was no for the city manager, yes for the assistant city manager.

Greg Jones said he is looking this case over, and may ask the Attorney General’s office to confirm that it still applies.  ”It is an old opinion, so there may be a different slant on this in this age,” he said. Jones expects to make an announcement regarding his plans late this week or early next.

UPDATE 3/4: David Mora, West Coast regional manager of the International City Manager Association, said that members cannot hold any kind of political office, according to Tenet 7 of their 12 tenets. Jones is a member of ICMA, but you don’t have to be a member to be a city manager.

City Manager Greg Jones announced Wednesday that he plans to make a bid for a seat on the Hayward Unified School District board. He’s got an inquiry in with the state Attorney General’s Office to see if they would consider it  a conflict of interest, but he doesn’t think it is.

“There could be occasions, regarding specific items, where the city is providing a service to the schools, but it seems to me that I could recuse myself from a vote,” he said.

Jones also said that if state officials say he can’t hold both posts, he will have to make a “tough decision” what to drop — his current gig or the bid for the board.

“From my perspective, schools are the most important issue we have in the community,” he said. “We can do all the great work for the city, but if we don’t improve schools we keep losing families, and losing future leaders of the community. People vote with their feet.”

Nomination papers aren’t due until March 12 for the Hayward mayoral election, and since the council incumbents aren’t seeking re-election, that race doesn’t have to be officially entered until March 17. But a quick check to see who took out papers found Mike Sweeney as the sole interested party for mayor so far, and the the following for two City Council seats (includes links to Web sites, or soon-to-be Web sites, if available):

Ralph Farias Jr.

Sara Lamnin

Anna May (who has since said she does not intend to run)

Steven Oiwa

Marvin Peixoto

Mark Salinas

Here’s a handy Registrar of Voters site that can keep you filled in on filers. Click on “Candidate Filed Log” to access the .pdf file. Hayward races are on the last page (mayor and “counil”, oops) and are empty at the moment. But take a look at page 26, under the Alameda County Superintendent of Schools.

No, Hayward schools trustee Luis Reynoso is not considering a run for Sheila Jordan’s spot. “I was just exploring, but I’m not. There’s no news there,” he said today.

UPDATE: Councilwoman Anna May announced that she is not running for re-election come June, instead setting her sights on the school board.  She said  she has some running mates but would not divulge names at this time. More in tomorrow’s story.

Sarah Gonzales handed in her letter of resignation today. The school board will begin the process to fill the vacancy by approving the procedure tomorrow at a special 1 p.m. meeting that also includes discussion of board goals and meeting protocol.

Gonzales said the resignation is due to health and family reasons. She and her partner are moving to Southern California to take care of an aging family member, and Gonzales is recovering from shoulder-replacement surgery.

She said the decision has little to do with the state of affairs on the school board, other than that she has a lot of work to do that makes it “impossible to do the hard work” required of a board member.

We’ll have a story in tomorrow’s paper.

Here’s an interesting item , from the Inside Bay Area political blog. To those who need more incentive to click, the gist of it is that Nadia Lockyer has a sizable head start in money raised for the upcoming Alameda County District 2 supervisor race. Hayward Councilman Kevin Dowling has considerably less cash available, but he’s maintaining that most of his donations come from within the district, while nearly all of Lockyer’s war chest comes from outside the area.

The nomination period has yet to begin, but already some people have announced their intent to run for City Council. With Kevin Dowling running for Alameda County supervisor, there should be considerable interest in this race. We’ll see who starts signing up.

It’s not too early to start thinking about what we want to know from our City Council hopefuls. Here’s a refresher on what was asked last time around.

Crime, the city’s image and retail attraction are fairly obvious major concerns, and remain on the list of city priorities this year, along with land use/sustainability and fiscal stability. Then there are the latest talking points, medical marijuana dispensaries and issues related to Hayward’s homeless population.

Thinking in the four-year long-term, what are the points that you would most like to hear candidates speak about?

A permit that would have allowed live music and a cover charge at the Funky Monkey bar in downtown Hayward was denied by the Planning Commission at its Thursday meeting, on the grounds that the venue is already taxing to police services and doesn’t seem to be interested in doing anything to change that.

 The applicant stated that the cover charge would help keep troublemakers out of the bar. Police didn’t think it would make a difference. An attorney for the applicant said police are out to get the Funky Monkey, and target it on weekend nights and that’s why so many incidents are recorded there.

That didn’t sit well with planners.

“You mention police sitting out in front as if that’s a negative thing,” said Rodney Loche. “I applaud the police for doing what they have to do.  It is unfortunate we have to use police in that way, but they are doing what they feel they need to do to make the city safer…  To suggest it is a negative or personal attack is unfortunate.”

Included in the staff report recommending denial is police information about service calls to the Funky Monkey. There were 80 last year. Three case studies included are kind of a “best of” list. Er, make that “worst of”:

Read the rest of this entry »

This PowerPoint presentation is the best explanation I’ve seen on Ranked-Choice Voting, also known as Instant Runoff Voting.

Click here to download the PowerPoint —> Understanding Ranked-Choice Voting

It was presented to the San Leandro City Council on Dec. 7.

The San Leandro council will decide on Jan. 19 whether to follow Oakland’s lead and make the switch to the new voting system.

San Leandro’s Climate Action Plan sets a course for a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The city council unanimously approved the plan last week. To read it, click here —> Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone care to weigh in on the prospect of a restaurant and nightclub in downtown Hayward? The idea is going before the Planning Commission tomorrow night, and they will make a recommendation one way or another for the City Council, who will have the final word.

Officials and the owner of the building say it’s a very exciting prospect and a good fit for the area, bringing in additional nightlife as well as providing a family restaurant during the day and most nights. There are also plans to host community-oriented events on Sundays, such as poetry readings and talent shows. 

Club managers are reportedly planning on spending upwards of $1 million to polish up the venue, which sits next to Newman Park. The building owner envisions opening up the brick wall that faces the park, with windows overlooking the greenery.

However, A CommPre director fears the worst, that clientele of a hip-hop/R&B club would scare people away from the area on Friday and Saturday nights. She said it would be like having Kumbala in the middle of downtown, and that Newman Park would suffer the ignobleness of drunken club patrons who would use it as a restroom or worse.

The Review will attend tomorrow night’s meeting to see if the proposal spurs debate, but we’d love to hear what HayWord readers think.

UPDATE: Organizers said about 200 people showed up. It was the third such demonstration at the courthouse. Here’s a couple of photos from the event, from staff photographer Jim Stevens. There was no sign of Willie Brown, at least not outside the courthouse.

Anyone near the Hayward Hall of Justice next Monday around 1 p.m. might notice more than the usual number of people outside, some with signs, possibly chanting. They’re demonstrators, in town for the third time for a court appearance by Monica Ung, owner of NBC Contractors, accused of bilking workers out of $3.6 million through paycheck fraud. She’s scheduled to enter a plea regarding the criminal charges.

She also may bring a Bay Area celebrity to town. She has reportedly hired Willie Brown as her defense attorney. Yep, former S.F. mayor Willie Brown.

In case you forgot Brown was once an attorney, an online biography helps jog the memory: “After earning a degree in political science, Willie Brown went to Hastings law school, where he was elected president of his class. There were few African American attorneys practicing in San Francisco at the time, and Brown made a name for himself in the community by taking on cases other attorneys would have dismissed as hopeless.”

If there’s a paper trail connected to the alleged fraud, this one could be pretty tough, too. Let’s see if Brown can work some silver-tongued magic in Hayward.