Fire abatement, police negotiations on July 21 El Cerrito City Council agenda
The regular meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 pm and includes a hearing on the city’s fire hazard abatement program.
According to the staff report, the Fire Department conducts inspections with a focus on the very high fire hazard severity zone. The department then makes a list of properties where weeds, rubbish, litter, or other flammable material need to be removed.
Most property owners voluntarily clean up the property. If they do not, the city does the work and adds the cost to their tax bill.
“For 30 years, the City’s annual Fire Hazard Abatement Program has been very successful in reducing fire hazards throughout the hill neighborhoods of El Cerrito,” according to the report. “Indeed, this program has become a model program which other fire jurisdictions have borrowed from.”
The meeting packet includes a list of 32 properties which still need to be cleaned up.
The council is also scheduled to:
-Adopt the ordinance introduced at the July 7 meeting to transition to selecting its five council members by district;
-Officially certify the results of the June 2 Measure C vote; and,
-Hear a report from AC Transit on its budget and services;
The agenda includes directions on how to join by Zoom and ways to comment in person, by Zoom, and in writing.