Meeting Minutes - Final

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY Hazardous

Materials Commission

4:00 PM

Thursday, August 28, 2025

777 Arnold Dr., Martinez, CA 94553 -

Paramount Room

Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/93502466349

Phone: 1 (669) 900-6833

Meeting ID: 935 0246 6349

Chair: Mark Hughes

Vice Chair: Fred Glueck

The meeting was called to order at 4:00 PM.

Agenda Items: Items may be taken out of order based on the business of the day and preference of the

Committee

Roll Call and Introductions

Commissioners Present: Fred Glueck, Mark Hughes, Andrew Graham, Ron Chinn, Maureen Brennan,

Jamin Pursell, Lou Flores, Lisa Martell, Jim Payne, Marielle Boortz

Commissioners Present Onine: Madeline Kronenberg

Staff Present: Adam Springer, Nicole Heath, Breanna Lingenfelter, Lisa Rodelo

Public Present: Carol Mescali, Andrea Bailey, George Carter, Jan Warren

CONSIDER approval of the July 24, 2025 Hazardous Materials Commission meeting

minutes.

The commissioners present voted to approve the July 24, 2025 Hazardous Materials Commission

meeting minutes.

Motion: Jim Payne

Second: Marielle Boortz

Public comment on any item under the jurisdiction of the Committee and not on this agenda

(speakers may be limited to two minutes).

Commissioner Brennan made a comment as a member of the public and expressed concerns regarding

SB 684 and AB 1243 which seek to create the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025. She thinks

it is really important for the county to consider this and provided resolutions from Los Angeles and San

Francisco on these bills. She would like the county to make a similar resolution and proposed adding

this to the next Planning and Policy Committee meeting.

RECEIVE a report from the Operations Committee.

Commissioner Boortz provided an update on the Operations Committee. In their last meeting they

focused on finalizing the details for the September 11th public forum which is discussed further during

agenda item #7. The Operations Ad Hoc Committee met to work on forum preparations and created an

updated forum planning document which is also attached to item #7.

RECEIVE a report from the Hazardous Materials Programs.

Director Nicole Heath provided an update on Hazardous Materials Programs. The public notice periods

for the toxicologist report and root cause analysis incident investigation for Martinez Refining Company

ended July 21st, 2025. We are looking at bringing the final reports to the next Industrial Safety

Ordinance Ad Hoc Committee meeting which is scheduled for September 29th. There was recently a

public notice period for Marathon's management systems full facility audit, a final presentation will be

brought to a future Industrial Safety Ordinance Ad Hoc Committee meeting, but will most likely not be

ready for the September meeting. There was an Oversite Committee meeting yesterday where our

consultants Eastern Research Group (ERG) gave a presentation on the full facility audit they will be

doing as a result of the February 1st fire. If you were not able to attend, it is available at our dedicated

webpage: cchealth.org/hazmat/mrc. We are in the process of recruiting for one accidental release

prevention engineer and two hazardous materials specialists. Once we have completed that recruitment,

we would be happy to bring them to a meeting to introduce them to the commission.

RECEIVE a presentation from Deputy Health Officer and Hazardous Materials

Ombudsperson, Lisa Rodelo.

There was some discussion on when it is appropriate to contact the Ombudsperson versus when to

contact emergency services. The Ombudsperson will facilitate questions from the community and help

come to an eventual resolution, however, if there are actual emergencies (flaring, fire) that threaten the

community you should contact emergency response first. The Ombudsperson can help facilitate long

term investigations for concerns about potential impacts to your health.

After hours and emergency line for Contra Costa Health Hazmat Team 925-655-3232

Toll-Free: 1-877-662-8376 (1-877-Ombudsman)

Email: hazmat.ombudsman@cchealth.org

OLD BUSINESS

REVIEW the September 11, 2025 Hazardous Materials Commission Public Forum

planning draft documents and PROVIDE direction to staff as needed.

https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/home-fire-safety/lithium-ion-batteries

The Operations Committee and the Operations Ad Hoc Committee have finalized the attached

documents in preparation for the September 11th public forum. They found a helpful webpage resource

from nfpa on lithium ion battery safety which features a video on e-bikes and e-scooters. The

commission has requested for this link to be added to the Hazardous Materials Commission webpage

under resources. The presentation on lithium ion battery safety from Con Fire has also been added to the

webpage. To determine if a device is UL certified, you can check the box or it should be stamped on the

battery itself. The commissioners present discussed making a recommendation to the Board of

Supervisors regarding non-UL certified rechargeable batteries. The commissioners present reviewed the

layout and proposed timeline for the forum as well as assigned roles and tasks for the day of. Staff and

commissioners have collected relevant resources and infographics to display at the event - printed copies

will also be available for the public to take with them. Commissioner Kronenberg shared that the Board

of Supervisors began using a program called Wordly to offer AI translations for their meetings in 50+

languages and asked if this could be used for our meetings. Staff will look into if this.

DISCUSS the meeting schedule and potential agenda items for the remainder of the year.

Three commission seats will expire on 12/31/2025 so interviews and a vote to approve the candidates

will need to take place before the end of the year. If all goes as planned, candidates will be interviewed

during the November Operations Committee meeting and voted on during the December full

commission meeting.

Meetings with the Board of Supervisors will be pushed to early 2026.

The commissioners present discussed the meeting schedule for the remainder of the year and have

tentatively decided on the following:

September: NO Operations Committee meeting, Planning & Policy meeting on September 17th, and full

commission meeting on September 25th

October: Operations Committee on October 10th, NO Planning & Policy meeting, full commission

meeting on October 23rd

November: Operations Committee on November 14th, Planning & Policy on November 19th, and NO

full commission meeting (Thanksgiving)

December: NO Operations Committee, NO Planning & Policy Committee, and full commission meeting

to be held early on December 11th due to the holiday season.

There were not any announcements made by commissioners.

10. Plan next meeting agenda.

Announcements from commissioners on items of commission interest

The next meeting is currently scheduled for September 25, 2025 at 4:00 PM.

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 5:22 PM.

For Additional Information Contact: Adam Springer at 925-655-3216

Full meeting recording can be found here: https://contra-costa.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx