(DUBLIN) Due to reporting on the nearly 40-resident ICE Detention opposition at the Dublin Council meeting, other reportable business has been delayed until now.
OpGov.ai’s post-Thanksgiving follow-up on the pre-holiday meeting on Nov. 18 reports that at the very end of said public protest comments, officials introduced new staff members, discussed workers' compensation, and the Finance and Investment Committee (FIC).
After welcoming Don Hutsell, the new Chief Building Official with the Community Development Department, and Tyler Isaac, the new Associate Engineer with Public Works, to the team, officials got right to the agenda.
Councilman Morada showed particular concern with the unfinished business of a staff analysis of the city's workers’ compensation programs' transition to a self-funded workers’ compensation program, planned to use a third-party administrator regarding daily administration and the excess insurance required for catastrophic claims.
After confirming Dublin currently has only one workers' compensation claim, Morada wanted to know, by definition, is a "catastrophic event where we would exceed the one million?"
Yes was the answer, and earthquake was the example, according to Sarah Monnastes, Human Services director, who said some "really catastrophic stuff comes when you're dealing with public service."
"Some other bad things where people come into the buildings, and they shouldn't be," Monnastes of the public using buildings for shelter. "There's some bad situations that have happened at different organizations."
After discussing workers' compensation, the OpGov.ai platform reports "a significant portion of the meeting involved an internal debate over the expanded roles and responsibilities of the Finance and Investment Committee (FIC),” noting Morada "presented a highly detailed framework suggesting a programmatic oversight role for the FIC, covering numerous financial reports with advisory and audit responsibilities."
And he did.
Morada and Vice Mayor Kasef Qaadru discussed in detail their recommendations for the FIC.
Vice Mayor Qaadru discusses FIC future goals at the Nov. 18 meeting
"I actually did some research based on surrounding cities of San Ramon, Hayward and Saratoga and just sort of get a feel for what they have included as part of their finance investment committee," the vice mayor said, adding "I'm happy to have additional meetings and kind of dive in more on the finance side as opposed to just the investment side that we've been focusing on for the past year."
Qaadru encourages "a transparency perspective and accountability perspective," which he says is "probably better to have those in a public forum and in our council meetings."
Morada added that his goal is to "modernize" the committee as the new year begins.
"It was great to have an initial vision, but we needed to evolve going into 2026," Morada said. "Therefore, the framework I put together is the attempt to create that dialogue so that we can look at not only staff recommendations, but 18 other things I found that we should consider."
Calling himself "the newest freshman to the council," Morada noted, "I didn't have the precedence of the conversation before."
"Let's maintain a level of review of the framework to allow us to have the confidence going into 2026 that we provide the right oversight, because I think the investment in putting thisin there is the investment in governance, and that is what we are due to our residents," Morada said, thanking the vice mayor for looking into the adjacent cities committee.
Dublin City Council slide presentation on the Financial Investment Committee
Bruce Vestrade rose to the platform to point out "we have two very different proposals here," regarding the committee.
"One, the city manager's proposal is very high level," Vestrade said. "Let's look at the things that could have a big impact on the finances and just focus on those and not deal with the small
stuff."
The other proposal, based on standard reports, is very programmatic, according to Vestra.
Bruce Vestrade comments on what OpGov.ai points out in the platform summary.
"We can spend our time scrutinizing all these standard reports," Vestrade said, adding he agrees with the city manager. "It's a much better use of the committee's time and focusing on unique big issues versus treading through a 25 standard report to come out every year."
Next week, Mayor Sherry Hu and the council will introduce new staff members again, go over annual developer impact fees, and review ordinances regarding live outdoor entertainment.
Also, one councilmember will be named the new Mayor Pro Tem.
"Since 1996, the City Council’s policy has been to select, in December of each year, a member of the City Council to serve as Vice Mayor for a period of one year," according to the staff report. "In the absence of the Mayor, the Vice Mayor would become Mayor Pro Tempore and would assume the temporary responsibilities of the Mayor."
OpGov.ai will be back next week with said the new vice leader and other local news. If you would like to add anything to the story, please email me at reporterangelaunderwood@gmail.com.
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