Fate of Public Properties/Community Services to be Mostly Determined Behind Closed Doors
Another $170,000 For Consultants
The Emery School Board conducted an early morning meeting last week to determine the fate of "surplus" school properties and included City of Emeryville owned properties. The decision made at the meeting would forward payment of some $170,000 for consultants to coordinate plans for a "Six-Site Master Plan" that will be decided mostly behind closed doors the Tattler has learned.
The Master Plan will be formulated by a Task Force led by the consultants in series of meetings to be concluded in June 2013. San Francisco based consulting firm MKThink, one of the two firms coordinating the Master Plan, announced public representatives in the Task Force will be permitted at less than half of the 22 meetings planned.
The Six-Site Task Force will be led by consultant John Flores, formerly Emeryville's City Manager and will determine the fate of:
- Anna Yates Elementary School
- Ralph Hawley Middle School
- Emery Secondary School
- The Recreation Center
- The Senior Center
- The Child Development Center
The other consulting firm paid to coordinate the Master Plan, Berkeley based MIG will jointly control with MKThink, the non public meetings and will present to the School Board final determinative fate of all community services in Emeryville in June. The actual community is not invited to the majority of the slated meetings.
The non-televised School Board Facilities Committee early morning weekday meeting last week constituted a legally required public '1st reading' of the proposed sweeping policy change enabling placement of the issue on the Consent Calender for the Board's normally scheduled Wednesday meeting. The Consent Calender decree would constitute the legally required 2nd and final reading of the Six-Site Master Plan. Consent Calender items are commonly grouped together and considered accepted by "consent", meaning there is no actual specific vote.
