East Bay Regional Parks Guide
See Inside
IT’S YOUR PAPER
www.claytonpioneer.com
KEITH HAYDON
MAYOR’S CORNER
June 8, 2018
Time lays claim to historic cypress trees
Moving service a true tribute to our veterans
Clayton’s annual Memorial Day Observance was another sign that summer is coming. We are grateful that this memorial ceremony is annually organized and sponsored by the Clayton Veterans of Foreign War, Post 1525. This year, the large crowd was looking for shade on the hottest day of the year so far. We were treated to another excellent program with patriot- Old-age has claimed one of the two iconic cypress trees in The Grove. The tree was removed last week. A second tree is ic music and speeches. Chuck also showing signs of failing. The city is “watching it closely,” says city staffer, Laura Hoffmeister Kohler, a Pearl Harbor survivor, gave a moving talk about honor, service and his memory of that eventful day. His firsthand recollections really captured the crowd’s attention.
925.672.0500
DEBBIE EISTETTER
THE WAY WE WERE
One of the two iconic cypress trees in The Grove on the corner of Main and Marsh Creek was removed last week and the other may follow soon. Arborists deemed both trees in very ill health, rotting from the inside likely because of old age. No one is sure when they were planted. Estimates put the age of the trees at 100-150 years. The trees mark Block 3, Lot 7 as laid out on the 1857 Clayton town map. Jacob “Jake” Rhine’s Hotel and Saloon was on the site, providing lodging and refreshment to
See Cypresses, page 5
CVCHS drama draws ire of County Board TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
Nearly five weeks after the abrupt departure on May 11 of Clayton Valley Charter High School Executive Director David Linzey and his wife Eileen Linzey, the school’s chief program officer, the governing board is still stubbornly silent on why. In a hastily called special meeting May 14, the agenda listed an item for “Public Employee: Discipline/Dismissal/Release,” followed by Steve Pierce a separate item for “ConferPearl Harbor survivor, Chuck Kohler shared his poem “A Tour ence with Legal Counsel” of Remembrance” at VFW over two cases of anticipated Memorial Day event litigation. After 90 minutes in closed New maintenance supervisession, the board took no sor: Our city organization experienced a changing of the guard in the Maintenance Department last month with the retirement of Mark Janney. The maintenance supervisor ended his 28-year career with the city on May 17. Janney plans to relocate for his retirement, and his smiling face and warm personality will be TAMARA STEINER missed. Clayton Pioneer Assuming the helm is Jim The Planning CommisWarburton, who worked in a sion rejected an ordinance to similar capacity for Lathrop for allow parolee housing in four years. He also worked for Clayton at the May 22 meetAntioch as a park supervisor ing, sending the hot button for 11 years and in other park issue on to the City Council maintenance and landscaping for action. roles for seven years. Prior to In August 2016, the city this stint, Warburton served as received an email from a nona lead gardener for Contra profit looking to house Costa County – maintaining parolees in Clayton. With the See Mayor, page 7 Municipal Code silent on the issue, a parolee home can locate in any residential neighborhood in the city, subject to few regulations. What’s Inside The Public Safety and Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Realignment Act (AB109) Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 passed in 2011 allowed for Community Calendar . . . . .13 the early release of some Directory of Advertisers . . . .7 inmates and transferred their Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 management to the counties. Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Contra Costa County has been increasingly using group homes to supervise the parolees. To give staff time to draft an ordinance regulating the location of parolee homes, the council passed a one-year
action on the closed session items and further tabled an item to approve a legal services agreement with a San Francisco law firm specializing in employment law. The day after the meeting, the board issued a curtly worded statement that simply said David and Eileen Linzey had left CVCHS and would not be returning. On May 21, the board again met in closed session. They removed David Linzey from all bank accounts and approved an interim executive director. Again, the board stayed silent on the Linzeys’ departure. According to Interim Director Bob Hampton, both David and Eileen Linzey are
on paid administrative leave until the end of their contracts in August 2019. In 2015, David Linzey’s salary was $241,426, with 3 percent annual increases. In December 2017, the board hired Eileen Linzey at an annual salary of $169,000. CVCHS has seen more than its share of drama since inception in 2012, with a string of staff upheavals, lawsuits and turnover. The school had four principals in one 12-month period. On April 20, Chief Innovation Officer Ted Meriam resigned. The board has consistently denied public records requests for the Linzeys’ current contracts and that of Assistant Superintendent Ron
Leone – a county superintendent candidate, despite being instructed by the county Board of Education to provide the documents. Linzey hired Leone without board approval in December 2017. In a June 1 email to the Pioneer, Leone said he was hired for $42,000 to oversee a program that gives failing students a chance to make up credits and to provide assistance with discipline and other supervision as needed. His contract expires June 30, and he will not be returning. According to BOE comTamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer munications director Terry David Linzey in September Koehne, as of June 3, the 2012 at the CVCHS ribbon CVCHS board had still not cutting to celebrate the
moratorium in October 2016 and extended twice. The moratorium expired last October and the issue of how to control parolee housing is now on the front burner. An outright ban on parolee housing is illegal and would subject the city to costly litigation. In order for the city to have some control, Community Development Director Mindy Gentry asked the Planning Commission to recommend the Council adopt an ordinance allowing parolee housing in neighborhoods zoned for multi-family density and not within 300 feet of a school, daycare, library, park, hospital, group home or any place licensed to sell alcohol. “I say we do nothing,” said Clayton resident Bob Deiss during the public hearing. “Let them sue. The community would welcome the challenge.” “We live in a state that ignores federal law,” said
another resident. “Why do we have to do anything?” The planning commissioners were on the same page. None were in favor of recommending the Council adopt the ordinance.
“None of us wants to have this next to us,” Chairman CW Wolfe said. “We can see the level of discomfort. We just don’t have enough information to make an educated decision.”
The vote was to recommend the Council not adopt the ordinance. The issue is tentatively on the agenda for the July 17 City Council meeting.
TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
tors of the facility, hosted a second information meeting on May 23 to solicit community input. They may have gotten more than they bargained for. Many of the 40-50 community members attending the meeting appeared opposed to the Grand Oaks project, which they say is too big and will overwhelm the small downtown. Efforts to find a retail business for the vacant parcel have been fruitless, says Ed Del
Baccaro, the city’s real estate broker. He has spent three years trying to woo the likes of a Trader Joe’s or Starbuck’s, but he says there aren’t enough people in Clayton to support a retail business. Trader Joe’s had no interest – even if the city gave them the land for $1. The Grand Oaks project includes 70,000 sq. ft. in two, three-story buildings for the living center and memory care
See Linzey, page 6 opening of the newly chartered school.
Council to consider regs for parolee housing Assisted Living project meets with community opposition The developers of a proposed assisted living and memory care facility for the cityowned 1.7 acre parcel on Main Street have hit the pause button on the 95-unit project, says Fulcrum Development president David Ford. Fulcrum, which is in the pre-application stage of the project, and Cornerstone Living Centers, owners and opera-
See Assisted, page 3
Postal Customer ECRWSS
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID CLAYTON, CA 94517 PERMIT 190