Berkeley City Council Meeting Tonight

The open-session meeting of the Berkeley City Council starts at 7 p.m. tonight. The full agenda is available here and includes:

• A resolution for the city to start buying office supplies from Independent Stationers, a cooperative of hundreds of local suppliers including Berkeley's Alko Office Supply. The new contract would include buying 100 percent recycled processed chlorine free (PCF) copy paper for a period of three years from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2014. The City of Berkeley has been using Office Depot as its supplier since 2006, when two Berkeley businesses were among competitors bidding for the contract. Office Depot was chosen due to its cheaper rates. 
• A resolution to contract with North Oakland Pharmacy to provide prescription psychiatric medications for uninsured Mental Health clients, at a total cost not to exceed $75,000 per year. The contract would go into effect Sep. 1, 2011 through June 30, 2014, with an option to renew annually for up to a total period not to exceed 10 years, ending June 30, 2021. 
• A resolution to renew the contract with the Downtown Berkeley YMCA for 357 city-employee memberships, at a total cost of $199,206 for 12 months. Since 1989, the City of Berkeley has had an agreement with the YMCA to provide low cost fitness memberships for city employees and officials. The city pays 75 percent of the total membership cost and employees pay the remaining 25 percent. 
• Amendments to the Berkeley Election Reform Act (BERA), including the requirements that campaign expenditures of $1000 or more are reported to the City Clerk within 24 hours during the last 30 days before an election, and that campaign materials include a list of the names of parties contributing $2500 or more to the committee (excluding a candidate to his or her own campaign). 
• An update on union negotiations with SEIU Local 1021 Maintenance and Clerical Chapter. 
• Zoning amendments for sidewalk café seating, benches, and planters that would transfer responsibility for permitting from the Planning Department to the Public Works Department.
• A recommendation from the Homeless Commission that all community based agencies that receive homeless services funding through the City of Berkeley be required to recruit, train, and maintain volunteers to counteract the impact of funding reductions and maintain the quality of services to clients.
• The possible allocation of $90,000 from Childcare Mitigation Funds to save extended-day pre-K classrooms in the Berkeley Unified School District.