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Securing support from state officials to improve local ferry service and for funding a new fire station will be among the tasks that former state Senator Don Perata is expected to tackle now that the City Council has hired him as the city's lobbyist in Sacramento.

The 69-year-old Democrat also will work on gathering support for legislation on tax increment funding for Alameda Point and for transportation improvements, including at Broadway and Jackson Street in Oakland near the Webster and Posey tubes.

The council unanimously approved the one-year contract, which lays out eight lobbying areas and pays $90,000, on Tuesday.

"In recent years, the city of Alameda's lobbying efforts in California has been focused on Alameda Point," City Manager John Russo said. "While that needs to continue, it is also necessary, now that the Naval Air Station has been conveyed to the city, to broaden our efforts to meet other needs."

While Perata will become the city's point person on statewide issues, the lobbying firm of Joe A. Gonsalves & Son will focus on Alameda Point funding under the package approved by the council.