Antioch to “Reimagine” Economic Development Commission

On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council discussed the future of its Economic Development Commission and opted to create an ad-hoc committee to better define its role.

This means the commission will take a brief pause while an ad-hoc committee is created to better define its role, responsibilities, direction and number of members. No timelines were provided Tuesday.

The move comes as staff sought direction of the commission because it had only met once since December 2021 as members had resigned because they thought the council was not listening or utilizing the commission. With a lack of quorum (3 of 7 spots filled) the commission could not meet or hold meetings because the mayor had not made appointments to fill the vacancies.

Mayor Lamar Thorpe explained it was a deliberate decision because the role of the commission was not well defined and unfair to staff (see full comments below).

The commission, which was formed in 2001, is a 7 Antioch resident commission aimed at making recommendations to the city council and staff regarding policies, regulations, marketing, development strategies and activities to retain and enhance the economic base of the community, and further to articulate a vision of economic development with clearly defined goals and objectives for the city of Antioch.

On Tuesday, the City Council was asked to provide direction on the future of the Economic Development Commission. The following alternatives were provided for discussion:

1. Reinstate the EDC by seeking 4 new members to accompany the three remaining members
2. Reform the EDC to an advisory committee that meets when needed and isn’t subject to the rules and regulations of a City-appointed commission (i.e. subject to the Brown Act)
3. Dissolve the EDC
4. Other City Council recommendation

Each of the three current members of the Economic Development Commission spoke during public comments:

Lemuel del Castillo encouraged the council to continue with the EDC to continue whether its 5 or 7 members while stating he wanted to inject optimism into city government. He called public participation the key to a successful democracy.

“It was my plan, and I haven’t been able to do that because of the lack of participation. I think having an EDC, an economy is the success of any city and that is how we are going to grow and hopefully having the EDC there will help foster that growth,” stated Castillo.

Tim McCall, who has served on the commission for six-years, said he believed the commission has been underutilized  and the city has suffered because of it.

“I’ve watched several commissioners resign because they felt their work was not valued, respected or even acknowledged by the city council,” stated McCall. “A commission like the EDC holds great value where any recommendations given, must be voted on by the EDC, must be approved before given to the council. This can offer an unbiased and factual account of information and help you make better decisions.”

McCall also addressed the mayor stating when Thorpe took office, he was the chair of the commission and told him that he was going to hold personal meeting with all the commissioners in the city and going to bring everyone together to work jointly while being more active.

“As of today, that has not been done,” said McCall. “I say that, because in order to have a commission, the council must use the commission and we must be something you integrate with. If you don’t want to integrate with us, then your best decision is to get rid of us.”

He urged the city council to consider all its decisions that could be measured in two ways which was does it keep residents safe and does it help our economy.

Kelly Kalfsbeek called the previous commission robust, however, she was now the chair through attrition due to resignations. She stated they have not been able to meet due to not having a quorum. She urged the council to continue the economic development commission to continue and said if they can keep Antioch money in Antioch, it only benefits the city.

During council discussion, Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker stated she had not heard from the commission in over two years and remembers requesting they come to the council and present and we did not do anything.

“I agree with folks, if we are going to be here we want to be utilized,” stated Torres-Walker who said she didn’t want to waste anyone’s time and the options should be to appoint people to the seats to revamp, rethinking and re-imagine the commission in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce.

She believed the commission could help the council make decisions in the future, but the challenges is there is housing but no jobs or industry. She was not in favor of doing away with the commission.

Councilmember Mike Barbanica asked Director Kwame Reed was his thoughts were on what should happen.

Reed shared that he agreed that the Economic Development Commission was underutilized and momentum in the past with distractions with presenting items to the council.

He explained the previous discussion with former commissioners who wanted this committee not to be subject to The Brown Act so they could hold meetings and meet—such as touring facilities and take away red tape.  He admitted there were some benefits to Option 2 to make it an advisory committee.

“I think Option 2 would be good,” said Reed. “Maybe it’s a little less formal and ideas could flow more freely.”

Councilmember Monica Wilson called for a more defined vision for the Economic Development Commission. She highlighted she had been on the commission in the past and there was no vision of what they should be doing.

“For me, maybe its take a pause. Figure out what we want the vision of that particular commission to be,” explained Wilson.  “When we think of economic development in East Contra Costa County we have to look at it from a regional aspect and is it a commission that we come together with other cities and come together regionally.”

She urged the council to define what they want this commission to do.

Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock stated she spoke with former commissioners who resigned and said they did so because they felt like the city council was not listening to them.

“They did a presentation, we listened and we gave no feedback,” stated Ogorchock. “I totally understand when you work hard on something, such as they did, and there is no feedback given back to them. That is like why am I doing this taking away from my time and my family to go and sit on this commission.

She called for the commission to remain because there would be more buy-in instead of it being an advisory.

“it’s already kind of like an advisory because we are not listening to what they are presenting to us,” said Ogorchock. She called it a valuable tool that would help Director Reed with his job because now he would have a committee to help. “I would like to see this return because I think we are at a loss right now.”

Mayor Lamar Thorpe stated as a former member of the commission that he was always at a loss for what they were supposed to do as a commission member. His frustration came when staff would always tell the commission not to get ahead of the city council and to not violate the Brown Act as a tool.

Thorpe called for the commission to drop from 7 members to 5 members. He also said they take for granted staff time for following the Brown Act and notifying the public of meetings which he called a job in itself and a one-person department is challenging.

“I was very deliberate in not appointing folks because we need to rethink that this is, what direction its going to go, whether or not we still need to have it and that is a question for council,” stated Thorpe. “So no, I was not going to appoint people until we figure that out because you are a department of one and that is not fair to you.”

Thorpe stated how other commissions have clear direction and jobs to do while economic development commission is very vague because it could mean all things while not being focused.

The council opted to create a work group to determine the future roll of the economic development commission. The item will come back to enable the council to create an ad-hoc committee.