On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council agreed to establish an ad-hoc committee for the purpose of providing staff with oversight and guidance on research and analysis associated with exploring the feasibility of re-purposing the Brentwood Education & Technology Center into a facility focused on youth programming and services.
Brentwood Mayor Bob Taylor stated he believed this committee would be receiving feedback from many community groups as they go through the process.
Vice Mayor Joel Bryant stated with the agricultural committee, they have the setup of two members of the City Council and the community regularly provides feedback and bring in experts to share information to better help guide the decisions.
The council will have the option to sell the building or make use of it by re-purposing it after Los Medanos College vacates the building later this fall.
According to the city, given the potential financial impacts, as well as the potential programming and service level opportunities to Brentwood, the ad-hoc committee will be tasked with the following proposed description:
- BETC/Youth Center Feasibility Ad-Hoc Committee
- Provides staff with oversight and guidance on research and analysis associated with exploring the feasibility of re-purposing the Brentwood Education and Technology Center into a facility focused on youth programming and services.
Councilmember Johnny Rodriquez stated he would like to be on the committee but also include youths as part of the process. This comes after he made a call for a Teen Youth Center at the June 9 meeting.
“I would like to be on it,” stated Rodriquez. “I think there needs to be a combination of different groups and pockets of youths and programs. We also don’t want to be too big; we want to get things done. Sometimes too big is not good either. But I think its important to have some youth at the table.”
He urged for some form of combination of adults and youth because it would create a discussion on what services should be on there. He urged they meet every two weeks to get this going.
City Manager Tim Ogden recommended they selected two members of the council to get started which would then come back to the city council for a recommendation at a later date.
The council voted to establish the ad-hoc committee with councilmembers Rodriquez and Claudette Staton.
