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Danville town staff are set to provide an update to the Town Council on Tuesday on the Danville Certified Farmers Market following directions from the council earlier in the year that they take responsibility for one of the key programs of the event.
The council directed town staff in June to assume responsibility for the farmers market’s Merchant at the Market program with an eye toward expanding non-produce offerings to include other selections such as wine.
“Managing the program directly has provided key insights into business sentiment for the program,” economic development specialist Melysa Vander Mel wrote in a staff report prepared for the upcoming meeting. “Feedback suggests traditional retail businesses struggle to staff booths, obtain the commercial general liability insurance required to conduct sales at the market, and meet the PCFMA requirement that ‘All products sold at the Danville CFM must be produced by the vendor.'”
The Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association (PCFMA), which operates the Danville Farmers Market, provided an update to the town council in June with an eye toward enhancing the market’s offerings and increasing attendance, at the same meeting in which the council directed town staff to take responsibility for the Merchant in the Market program.
Since then, a number of obstacles to those goals have been discovered, according to Vander Mel’s staff report.
“Based on staff observations and input from businesses under existing parameters, the Merchant at the Market program does not efficiently serve the majority of Danville businesses. With traditional retail establishments unable to sell at the market, food establishments not finding the Health Department requirements feasible, and the cost of insurance for vendor-produced goods, the program is not providing the benefit the Town Council may have intended when it was established,” Vander Mel wrote.
Town staff are seeking feedback from the council at their next regular meeting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday (Nov. 19). The agenda is available here.
In other business
* The council is poised to accept the audited annual comprehensive financial report for the town during the previous fiscal year, which saw revenues exceeding expenditures by $11,649,793Â and an increase of $7,957,096 to the town’s general fund, minus $3,692,697 in revenue that was transferred to other funds.Â
The report also includes recommendations for a number of fund transfers including $750,000 for compensated absences and personnel, $500,000 to replenish the town’s contingency fund, $300,000 for roof replacement at 500 La Gonda Way, a $1 million transfer to the asset replacement fund, and a $4,997,432 transfer to the capital improvement projects fund.
* Nicole Gemmer and Bob Sanguedolce are set to provide a Contra Costa County Library Commission report.
* Maintenance services director Dave Casteel is set to provide a maintenance department report.Â
