As the Moraga-Orinda Fire District prepares to leave the controversy-laden era of Pete Nowicki, news that a pension reform group has filed a pair of reform initiatives. From political reporter Lisa Vorderbrueggen’s Political Blotter blog:

The California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility filed language for two ballot initiatives with the Attorney General’s Office this week that would cap public employee retirement benefits, raise the eligible retirement age and eliminate the use of vacation pay and other perks to spike retirement pay.

Nowicki became a sort of poster child for pension reform after it was reported he cashed in unused vacation time and other benefits to raise his annual pension from $185,000 to $241,000, as is allowed under the rules of his retirement plan. MOFD, like other public safety agencies in the county, participates in a retirement system that allows retirees to receive as pension of 3 percent of their final salary for every year they’ve worked.

Nowicki has been the district’s interim chief on contract since he retired at the end of January, but that contract expires Nov. 19. Former Alameda County Deputy Fire Chief Randy Bradley was appointed Wednesday as the district’s new, permanent chief.

Turns out companies are worried about their investments in cities, not just the other way around.

Lafayette City Manager Steven Falk sends out this article from Bloomberg News, which says Allstate has decided their money is not in good hands with state and city governments, at least not as much as they’d like. They’re reducing their investment in municipal bonds, specifically citing the fact that so many government agencies are running deficits.

Orinda is, of course, now looking at their investment policy after they got caught up in the bankruptcy filing of lender CIT Group. They sold their $750,000 in corporate bonds from CIT on Thursday. The council has asked staff to look at adding language discouraging the city from investing too much in one company. At $750,000, CIT was the city’s second-largest investment in one company, behind the $1.25 million in General Electric, according to the most recent investment report.

Hat tip to The East Bay Daze.

Hat tip to City Manager Steven Falk, who sent out this article from the San Francisco Business Times in his daily e-mail blast about Lafayette sign company GNU.

The article is for subscribers only, although Falk did include the entire text of the article in his e-mail, which can be found on the city’s Web site here.

For all you municipal home-rule buffs out there, now’s your chance to take a look at the draft Lafayette city charter. This is the document crafted by the city’s Charter City Committee which will be molded and revised by the City Council and, if they like the finished product, will be sent to the voters for approval next year.

The draft seems to accomplish one goal the council had when they gave direction to the committee a few months ago: Keep it simple. The draft charter is only two pages long and the language generally vague.

There are only two charter cities in Contra Costa County — Richmond and San Ramon — but all Lamorinda cities are taking a look at becoming one. A city’s charter essentially supersedes state law in areas the courts have rule to be “municipal affairs.” One thing they can do, for example, is directly elect their mayor (as in Livermore, where I grew up) or even designate districts for purposes of electing city council members (like in San Francisco or Oakland).

But the main reason why Lamorinda cities, including Lafayette, are looking at becoming charter cities is the ability to increase the property transfer tax, a levy that’s assessed whenever a piece of real property changes hands. General law cities (those that don’t have charters) get just 55 cents per $1,000 of property sold (another 55 cents goes to the state). Charter cities have the option to get more. Piedmont, for example, gets $13 per $1,000, resulting in an average of $2.5 million each year into the general fund.

Lafayette plans to survey residents about both the charter and the property transfer tax.

The Orinda City Council meeting this afternoon, listed as 4 p.m. in an earlier agenda, will actually begin at 5 p.m., the city clerk told me just now.

The council will vote on whether or not to impose a contract on workers represented by Public Employees Union Local One.

For any indie-rock fans out there, it seems the New York-based Vampire Weekend is on tour and will eschew big-name venues in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley and instead make it’s lone Bay Area stop at Lafayette’s Town Hall Theatre on Nov. 7.

While the group’s overseas stops include London, Paris and Sydney, their U.S. concerts are all in California, and all in relatively smaller cities like Visalia, Pioneertown and Lomita (although Santa Cruz and Bakersfield are also on the list).

Stuff I just looked up: Vampire Weekend was formed in 2006 and their eponymous debut album was named the 10th best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone magazine. Their music has also been featured in the movies “Stepbrothers” and “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” The band’s Web site is www.vampireweekend.com.

Just got this news release from Caltrans:

Oakland — Caltrans will close the two left lanes on eastbound State Route 24 just before the connector to northbound I-680 tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon to repair a pavement lip that has developed between the lanes and the bridge. The crews will use hot mix asphalt to repair the lane second from the left and then open that lane and continue repairs on the far left lane.

Changeable message signs will be activated in the area to warn motorists. This is the non-peak direction, but motorists are encouraged to allow extra time for travel or use alternate routes if necessary. One such route is eastbound 24 to southbound 680, exit at Main Street and return to northbound 680.

Took my first trip through Canyon (via Pinehurst Road) in a long time today (last time was when I was at St. Mary’s). Have a night meeting so went into the office a bit late, but had to stop at the Moraga History Center first. Seemed like a nice way to get from Oakland to Moraga on a sunny afternoon. I had forgotten what a nice little drive it is, when you’re not gripping the wheel maneuvering hairpin turns on a cliff.

But it’s actually a fairly quick (or at least different) way to get to Oakland, San Leandro and Hayward from Moraga, especially if you want to avoid Moraga Way traffic. Anybody out there actually commute this way?

Unable to make it into today’s article about Clayton Ross, a long-time member of the Sun Valley Pool in Lafayette, were some amazing stories about his time in the Navy and the Peace Corps. While in the Navy, he was stationed on the island of Attu in the Aleutians, which is, depending on how you look at it, one of either the easternmost or the westernmost points in the United States (it’s technically in the eastern hemisphere, closer to Russia than Alaska).

“That’s the last island out, and we had what we call williwaws, winds with gusts up to 160 knots, and they would cave in the side of a … hut, or depending on the orientation of a hut, they could blow right through, blow the ends out,” Ross said.

On a side note, I remember being puzzled once by a Snapple Fact that claimed Alaska was both the easternmost and westernmost points of the U.S. Now I know.

The other story I found interesting was about the “commerce” class he taught while in Papua New Guinea as part of the Peace Corps. Ross said most people out there have a hard time understanding the basic concepts of money, so he had to teach them. One class was called “How to Buy Things.” The second lesson was called “lease/purchase,” and Ross said he had to teach it in a way his students could understand:

The lesson starts out like this: You already understand how you can buy by lease/purchase because you know about bride price. You know what when the families agree upon a bride price, the man may take the woman for his wife before he has paid all of the price, but first there has to have been a down payment. And then, for the privilege of taking the wife before all the money is paid, there is an additional charge … And you know that if he fails to make the additional payments, the bride’s family can come and take her back. Repossession. So that was the lesson on how you buy on time, and it was all about bride price, which they know about.

Ross said he even had one student who’s parents both died, and his mother’s family tried to take his little sister from him because his father had not finished paying the bride price for his mother. Ross said he didn’t know how the student worked it out, but the sister stayed.

I’m sure many Sun Valley members have heard these stories before, but I found them fascinating. And he could probably outrace me in the pool any day of the week.