City Manager Compares CV City Process to Lafayette’s
Stephen Falk has had a notable career in municipal government. He has served as the city manager for several cities. He was city manager of Lafayette for 22 years and interim city manager of Richmond (twice), Oakland (twice) and Martinez. In 2019, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission presented Falk with the Bay Area Metro Award. The citation stated: “Under Falk’s leadership, Lafayette experienced a modern-day renaissance. He led efforts to revitalize the commercial downtown area, improve the city’s roads, build a new state-of-the- art library and Veterans Memorial Center, acquire open space and improve the recreational facilities at the local community park.”
Falk began by noting that government does the things that individuals cannot. It doesn’t make sense for every home to have a firetruck or a police officer. So individuals join together to have fire houses and police stations that serve larger areas.
Many cities use a governmental structure that features an elected city council and a city manager. The city council functions similar to the board of directors for a corporation. The board discusses policies and directions. The city manager then takes those directions and tasks city department heads to take care of what the city council wants. Being city manager was a great job for two reasons. First, every day is different. Second, you have to use every skill that you have. Most importantly, you can really help people.
Some cities have started as a public service district. There are some advantages and disadvantages. It is a cheaper way to begin, but it gives only a partial solution. For example, a PSD has to negotiate with various county departments for funding to accomplish their job.
Lafayette is a particularly interesting model for us. Like Castro Valley, it has a long linear business district with a busy road down the middle. After multiple attempts, Lafayette finally incorporated. Since then they have developed their downtown, brought in many new businesses and restaurants and other amenities that the community wanted. For example, to make the busy four-lane main street more attractive, they raised money and planted 50 sycamore trees down the middle of the street. Now many years later, the trees are mature and the street is beautiful. Falk is not sure that they could have done all of those things without incorporating.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat this,” Falk said. “It will cost you more to incorporate than not doing that.” However, the question is really would you pay more to gain control over your community? Unincorporated areas have no control over how much they pay in taxes and what the taxes are spent on. Our tax dollars go to the county, and the county is governed by five supervisors. We only get to vote on one of them. The county also decides on our planning, zoning, housing, specific plan, and all other issues.
Falk noted some taxes that were less painful than others. Property transfer taxes are paid by the seller of property. The good thing about this is that you are taxing people who are leaving the community. Alameda charges $1.10 per $1000. Cities around us change much more. In doing so they raise funds that can be used for parks, recreation, and other amenities for the community. Hotel occupancy taxes are paid by those visiting here, not the residents.
California has two types of cities: general law and charter cities. General law cities use a “cookie cutter” model of city structure and are granted specific authorities and responsibilities. Charter cities write a contract with the state that details what they can and must do. Thus, a charter city has some flexibility in how it is run. For example, Lafayette was a charter city. As such, they began with three employees and contracted for services with the county or other entities. Over time, they brought some of those services in house. In that way, they could tightly manage expenditures. When Falk was city manager, Lafayette still had fewer than 30 employees.
The series will continue on at 2:00 pm on Sunday, January 26, with Alex Chamaro, executive vice president of Lowe’s. He will talk about the developing housing and retail in our community. To see videos and summaries of previous presentation or to see more information about Castro Valley City, please visit our website (www.castrovalleycity.com).