County Supervisor Candidates Make Their Pitch to Martinez Voters in Interviews Ahead of Tuesday Candidates Forum

Also, City Council takes a deep dive into algae, fish kill at Hidden Lakes, tweaks comment letter on refinery Safety Culture Assessment; Board of Supes to discuss regulation of tank terminals

The follow article by freelance writer Sam Richards is made possible through the financial support of paid subscribers and other financial donors to the newsletter. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber if not already for $5 a month or $50 annually to support more local news coverage of Martinez.

By Sam Richards

Both candidates for the open Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors District 5 seat, which represents Martinez, are natives of East County. Both vow, however, they will give Martinez and other communities west of the Willow Pass the attention those communities deserve.

“Martinez will definitely see me out in the community there,” said Shanelle Scales-Preston, the district director for U.S. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier’s office and in the middle of her second term on the Pittsburg City Council.

Her opponent, Antioch City Councilman Mike Barbanica, is more pointed about Martinez and other communities not having gotten the attention they need in recent years, calling them “forgotten” by their supervisor, Federal Glover.

“It is my perception that Glover is too East County-centric, and I’ve heard that a lot,” said Barbanica, who spent over two decades as a Pittsburg police officer, retiring from that department as a lieutenant in 2007. Several other relatives have either been sworn officers or civilian police employees.

Both Scales-Preston and Barbanica say they drive their respective City Council districts frequently, and that they would do so throughout District 5 if elected. That supervisorial district covers most of Contra Costa County's north shore, encompassing all of Hercules, Martinez and Pittsburg, parts of Antioch and Concord and unincorporated communities including the Alhambra Valley, Mountain View, Pacheco and Vine Hill, all near Martinez.

The winner of this race will succeed Glover, who is retiring from the board this year after serving six four-year terms. Glover, who had previously served on the Pittsburg City Council, has endorsed Scales-Preston, 46, in this race; she also has gotten the endorsements of all five Martinez City Council members, two sitting Contra Costa County supervisors (Diane Burgis and John Gioia), retired U.S. Rep. George Miller and current U.S. Rep. DeSaulnier.

Antioch native Barbanica, 55, and his wife have operated Blue Line Property Group, a real estate/coaching/consulting business based in Antioch, since 2007. Barbanica has received endorsements from many East Bay police officer associations, County Sheriff David Livingston, state Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) and Thousand Friends of Martinez, a group dedicated to preserving open space, parks and quality-of-life issues.

Both Barbanica and Scales-Preston say it’s important to hold PBF Energy/Martinez Refining Co.’s feet to the fire concerning investigations of various incidents at the refinery since late-2022, including hazardous materials releases. There have been too many incidents, they said, and both stress that more transparency is needed, from all parties concerned, the refinery and also the county.

Scales-Preston said she organized a hall meeting in Martinez earlier this year centered on refinery issues, led by DeSaulnier.

“(The county) needs to make sure that we’re not backing off, and that the refinery is doing what it needs to do,” Scales-Preston said.

Barbanica said that significant employee turnover at the refinery after MRC took over operations from Shell has resulted in a “significant learning curve” for workers there, “and that’s probably a recipe for disaster.” He wants more timely responses from MRC and other refineries when things go wrong.

Barbanica said the county’s approach to fighting homelessness hasn’t been effective, and that it needs to try something different. Homeless families, and homeless military veterans, need to be given priority for county assistance, and evictions should be more carefully scrutinized to head off some cases of homelessness. He also supports “safety zones” near schools, churches and businesses where the homeless cannot live.

Scales-Preston, like Barbanica, said she favors bringing more homeless “wrap-around services” — including case management, housing support, mental health care, employment assistance and behavioral health services — that it takes to successfully get the unhoused back on their feet. She also says the county should subsidize more affordable housing in its unincorporated communities, and relax certain requirements of developers to make it happen.

Both Barbanica and Scales-Preston are East County natives, and both say they understand the value of preserving the kinds of services that helped them and their families while growing up.

In addition to the endorsements he’s received from police groups, Barbanica’s candidacy has received monetary support from the Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriffs Association, the Peace Officers Association of California, the campaign to re-elect Livingston, the Contra Costa Prosecutors Association, the International Firefighters Local 1230 and from developers GBN Partners of Danville and Ponderosa Homes II in Pleasanton. As of June 30, his campaign had reported receiving $89,316 in total contributions so far this year.

Scales-Preston’s top contributors include multiple Service Employees International Union locals, the Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education (DRIVE) Committee fund run by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Steamfitters Local 342 Concord PAC Fund, and the East Bay Action fund, which supports candidates in “Black and Brown communities.” As of June 30, her campaign had reported receiving $90,208 in total contributions so this year.

Both candidates are also receiving heavy backing from independent expenditure committees that are not allowed to coordinate with the campaigns and are not constrained by contribution limits that apply to direct campaign donations. In Barbanica’s case, “Citizens for a Safer Contra Costa County Supporting Mike Barbanica for Supervisor 2024, Sponsored by Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriff's,” had reported as of Sept. 7 spending $461,110 year-to-date on his candidacy. As of Aug. 21, “Contra Costa County Works Supporting Shanelle Scales-Preston and Opposing Mike Barbanica for Supervisor 2024” had spent $92,745 year-to-date on Scales-Preston’s candidacy.

Both candidates will be in Martinez on Tuesday for a candidates forum sponsored by the East Bay Leadership Council from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the IBEW Local 302 Hall, 1875 Arnold Drive. The forum is free and open to the public. More information about the forum and the candidates can be found at the following link: https://members.eastbayleadershipcouncil.com/events/details/capitol-series-contra-costa-county-supervisor-forum-4182?calendarMonth=2024-09-01

The following items were produced by Craig Lazzeretti

Hidden Lakes Pond fallout

The City Council engaged in a lengthy discussion Wednesday about the recent algae problems and fish kill at Hidden Lakes Pond — including how to prevent such an episode from reoccurring.

Council members endorsed several recommendations in the staff report that accompanied the discussion, including the importance of regular water sampling and monitoring. Mayor Brianne Zorn asked that anytime the city’s contractor treats algae problems at the pond that it conduct water sampling for one or two weeks afterward to monitor any rapid changes in water conditions. The application of an algaecide in the pond following public complaints about the algae growth caused a rapid die-off of the algae, according to city officials, which in turn caused dissolved oxygen levels to plunge to the point that it killed off fish.

She also emphasized the importance of communication with the public about actions taken at the pond. The city has installed sandwich boards at Hidden Lakes with QR codes whereby members of the public can convey concerns or questions to City Hall. Public Works Director Joe Enke said he envisions the boards being replaced with permanent signage at some point, but Zorn requested that temporary boards be placed at the pond anytime treatments are applied that may generate resident concerns or questions.

Councilman Satinder Malhi, whose district includes Hidden Lakes, said he’s had several exchanges with residents in recent weeks about the situation and their concerns, including whether the city responded quickly enough to complaints about the algae growth.

“I think a lot of their frustration was that they felt like they had notified Public Works in advance that they had concerns about the algae growth, that there were issues at the pond prior to the die-off, and that they felt they didn’t get addressed in a timely enough fashion,” he said, while also complimenting staff for the steps they’ve taken in the weeks since the episode.

Enke said the contractor, Solitude Lake Management, was asked to go out to the pond and apply the treatment in response to the concerns that were raised by residents about the situation. He was uncertain whether faster action would have altered the outcome that led to the fish kill.

Enke also noted that the dead fish observed at the pond from the die-off did not include trout, which the state Department of Fish and Wildlife stocks at Hidden Lakes at least once a year. Rather, the fish that died were identified as largemouth bass, bluegill and carp.

Enke said Fish and Wildlife typically stocks the pond with trout each December; this year, it also did so in March.

“This is a real treasure and asset for so many in our community,” Malhi said. “I look forward to doing whatever we can to ensure its continued health for residents. We’re truly blessed to have that amenity in our community.”

Refinery Safety Culture Assessment comment letter

The council on Wednesday also decided to tweak the comment letter it plans to submit on the county’s independent Safety Culture Assessment of PBF’s refinery, tempering its criticism of some aspects of the report and PBF’s track record with acknowledgement of positive elements of the refinery’s safety culture.

The comment letter was discussed in Tuesday’s newsletter post.

The assessment report itself contained a mix of praise for the refinery’s safety culture with recommendations for improvement, but the comment letter criticizes its scope as being too narrow and called for a “plain language” recommendation on how the refinery can do a better job of promoting “stop work authority” to address safety concerns when they arise in refinery operations.

Councilman Jay Howard advocated for including some of the positive findings in the report in the letter, particularly referencing discussion on Pages 15 and 16 that noted the refinery’s “strong process safety culture driven by the refinery leadership team and other refinery leadership.”

Speaking during public comment, refinery spokesperson Brandon Matson discussed PBF’s efforts to collaborate with county health officials and the independent contractor, Scott Berger and Associates, to address the facility’s safety culture. “We’ll continue to do that and continue to cooperate with the process and continue to come back to this body and give updates,” he said.

From the other side of the issue, Heidi Taylor from the activist group Healthy Martinez continued her criticism of the refinery’s operations during her public comment, saying the refinery has received 78 notices of violation this year alone from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD). “It’s exhausting to birddog this corporate polluter, and we have to,” she said.

Board of Supervisors to address tank terminals

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal at its Tuesday meeting to amend its Industrial Safety Ordinance to include tank terminals. The proposal comes in response to a 2019 explosion and fire at the NuStar facility in Crockett. There are eight tank terminals in the county that would be subject to the new ISO provision, including one (TransMontaigne) within the city of Martinez and two others in unincorporated areas near Martinez. A staff report on the item says that the amendment “would afford additional safety and protections against accidental releases from incidents.”

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