Berkeley council removes 14 referrals, keeps six and directs staff to run reweighted range voting

The Berkeley City Council voted at a special March 11 meeting to remove 14 referrals from its long‑term prioritization list, keep six specified referrals on the list and direct the city manager to run the city’s reweighted range voting (RRV) algorithm to produce a final ranked list for adoption March 25.

City Clerk Mark Newmanville described RRV as the city’s system for ranking 'long‑term' referrals: each council member scores every referral 0–5 in the ServiceNow portal, the highest‑scored referral becomes the top priority, then remaining scores are reweighted and the process repeats. Newmanville told the council that from 2014–2024 the city recorded 557 council referrals, of which 299 were long‑term and 145 long‑term items have been completed. He said the action requested at the special meeting was to vote on referrals nominated for removal and then direct staff to run the RRV tally and return the ranked results.

Members debated which items to remove after staff confirmed that any council member or the mayor could nominate a referral for removal by checking a box in ServiceNow. Several members argued for a leaner list so departments can focus on current priorities; others pushed to keep specific planning, housing and safety items. A motion to re‑include six items on the prioritization list — hard hats (upzoning associated with the 'hard hats' referral), a no‑right‑turn‑on‑red measure, prioritizing pedestrians at intersections, the Berkeley food utility and access resilience ("farm") referral, COPA/TOPA (tenant/community purchase measures) and the Telegraph Avenue density bonus — was made on the floor, seconded and discussed.

Public commenters had urged the council to retain tenant purchase rights and housing‑preservation items (see separate coverage of public comment), a theme referenced during council debate by members urging retention of COPA/TOPA.

The clerk called the roll on the amended motion; the roll‑call responses recorded on the record were affirmative and the clerk announced the motion passes. The action directs the city manager to run the RRV algorithm with the updated list; Newmanville will present the final ranked list at the March 25 council meeting for adoption.

The council then took a brief recess and adjourned the special session. The prioritization vote does not itself appropriate funding or begin program work; referrals re‑included on the list will be scored in the RRV process and receive priority based on the resulting ranking and available staff capacity.

Action details: the council approved removing the referrals as amended and directed the city manager to run the reweighted range voting process; the clerk will present the ranked results to council on March 25.