EL CERRITO
The El Cerrito Exchange Zone will reopen on Monday. Staff at the city’s Recycling and Environmental Resource Center have worked hard to implement improvements, including new signage, additional parking and completed maintenance work. The zone is for the exchange of reuseable items. Community members are welcome to take items as well as donate usable items for others to take home.
Related Articles
In brief: Richmond’s Garamendi demands review of nuke missile program
In brief: Berkeley’s yearly Carnival and Community Picnic on June 27
In brief: ‘Bohème Out of the Box’ coming to Albany’s Solano Avenue
Staff will also pilot operational improvements, including new hours for browsing and dropping off items at the Exchange Zone and new rules of conduct for the entire resource center. The goals of the improvements are to enhance the day-to-day operations of the Exchange Zone and resource center. As always, the of goal city staff is to provide an efficient, safe and welcoming experience for all users.
Visitors will be able to browse the items available in the Exchange Zone from when the resource center opens until noon. From 1 p.m. to when the center closes, the Exchange Zone will be open for dropoff of accepted items. Staff will review the new Exchange Zone operations to determine if the changes are helping to meet the stated goals.
Written feedback is welcome from all resource center and Exchange Zone visitors. For more details or to offer feedback online, visit el-cerrito.org/exchangezone.
— city of El Cerrito
RICHMOND
Garamendi, others demand review of nuke missile program
U.S. Reps. John Garamendi, D-Richmond, and Don Beyer, D-Virginian, and U.S. Sens. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, and Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, co-chairs of the Congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group, led a letter June 24 to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin regarding concerns about the Department of Defense’s (DOD) handling of the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) program.
On Jan. 18, Congress was notified of a “critical” Nunn-McCurdy breach on the Sentinel program, which is triggered if a program incurs a cost or schedule overrun of more than 30%. The program is now estimated to cost more than $130 billion, a staggering 211% higher than initial estimates from 2015.
These inflated costs stem from underestimated budgets, poor assumptions and incomplete data. Despite these issues, public statements from senior DOD officials indicate a bias toward continuing the program.
“We write to express our concern that the Department of Defense is not completing a comprehensive, thorough and unbiased assessment of the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program, the replacement to our nation’s current ICBM, the Minuteman III, as required by the Nunn-McCurdy Act,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Recent comments, particularly by Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante, who is overseeing the process, stating ‘Nunn-McCurdy or not’ that the program must proceed, suggest that the review is being prepared with an end-state in mind,” the letter continues. “Given the imperative of advancing nuclear policies that promote stability and prevent escalation, we demand a thorough review of all alternatives.”
This month, the Congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Association co-chairs announced a July hearing to provide oversight on cost overruns of nuclear modernization programs. This follows the failure by the House Armed Services Committee majority to pass several amendments to curb wasteful and dangerous nuclear weapons spending in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (H.R.8070) in committee.
“We write this letter as concerned lawmakers to remind the DoD that the American people have not granted them a blank check to pursue wasteful, unnecessary programs that are improperly managed and incur waste. … We look forward to hearing how your evaluation will provide essential oversight to this program and, if it is not terminated, begin applying the necessary scrutiny to this project,” the lawmakers’ letter concludes.
In addition to the Congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group co-chairs, the letter was co-signed by Democratic U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee from Oakland, Sara Jacobs from San Diego, Jerry Nadler from New York, Pramila Jayapal from Washington, Mark Pocan from Wisconsin, and Jim McGovern from Massachusetts, and Democratic U.S. Sens Ron Wyden from Oregon, Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts, and Chris Van Hollen from Maryland. To read the letter’s full text online, visit bit.ly/3VymA4E.
— U.S. Rep. Garamendi’s office
SAN PABLO
City’s new administrative services director to start July 16
The city of San Pablo has appointed Arturo Castillo as its new administrative services director.
Castillo, selected from a field of 58 applicants, has served as an administrative services officer with Contra Costa County for the last nine years, and as a program manager within county government since 2009 handling complex budget, finance and IT management services.
Before that, Castillo held multiple administrative services positions in local, nonprofit and community-based service organizations focused on administration, budget, fiscal and public heath services since 1999.
Following the retirement of former City Finance Director Norman Veloso in late February, the city retained Peckham and McKenney, an executive search firm based in Roseville, to conduct this important and successful executive search.
“Mr. Castillo brings forward a solid and operational reputation in local governemnt, with vast knowledge and expertise in managing administrative, fiscal and IT management services to the city. He will definitely ‘hit the ground running’ and will serve as a valuable member of the city’s executive team,” said San Pablo City Manager Matt Rodriguez.
Castillo earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from San Francisco State University. His starting annual base salary is $217,597 and official start date will be on July 16. Castillo is married with two children and lives in Martinez.
— Agility PR
To submit an item for our “In brief” section, please email it, at least three days before print publication, to njackson@bayareanewsgroup.com. Each item should be 90 to 180 words and include a short headline along with the name of the group or individual to credit for it.