 Okay. Well, thank you. I'm going to call the meeting to order. Good evening and welcome to the seven o'clock session of the January 21st 2020 special meeting of the City Council. I would like to ask the clerk to please call the roll. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Councilmember Watkins, Matthews, Brown, Slover, Krohn, Vice Mayor Myers and Mayor Cummings of Epsom. Thank you. Before we get started, I'd like to announce that this is a special meeting. Our topic this evening is to hear from applicants who applied to various city boards and commissions. No oral communications or discussions on other items will be heard this evening. I'll now open it up for public comment. Are there any members of the public who wish to comment on the advisory body interviews? Seeing none, we'll move on. So we'll move on to our interviews and again, I thank everyone for being here tonight on a rainy night. The way I'd like to approach the flow of the meeting tonight is to go through the commissions alphabetically. And in alphabetical order, call the names of the people who indicated that particular commission as their first choice. You'll be invited up to the lectern to speak and you'll have two minutes to speak per person. If you applied for multiple advisory bodies, then you'll need to cover those bodies in your two minutes that you're invited up. So you won't be coming up more than one time, basically. Once you speak, you may leave or stay to listen to other applicants. All the council members have received and reviewed all the applications received to date. And I'd just like to let you know that council members after this evening may reach out to you individually with additional questions about your application. And tonight is really a time for you to introduce yourself, personally amplify your qualifications and relevant background and motivations. And additionally, the meeting is mostly informal to allow the council to get to know you. And before we dive into the process, I just want to just give the council members just to see if you have any quick questions or comments before we start. Just very briefly, thank you. We have just an amazing array of applicants here before us. Some people indicated a reference, others did not. If you did not include a reference, I would be interested in having that as well. Okay, noted. And yes, I do want to just again thank everyone for coming out tonight. And it's always really encouraging when you see so many people interested in serving our community and getting involved in these advisory bodies. They're a very important part of our process as council members and so thank you again for all your interest. So we will go ahead and get started. As I call up your name, please line up to speak. And I'm going to call off all the names just so you sort of know your cue in the line. So the first commission is going to be the Arts Commission. And I'd like to invite up Yvonne Byers, Christopher Carr, Judy Gunstra, John Carwin, Mary Cop, Marilyn Cooch, and John Rawls. So those will be the people speaking for arts. And again, this should be your first, your primary application that you submitted in terms of which advisory body. And I do have a note that Michelle Peregrine needs to leave at eight. And so Michelle, I'll be watching the clock and make sure, most likely you'll have to skip ahead because Sister Cities is a little ways back. Is Michelle in the audience? Okay, great. So I'll probably take you right after arts just to make sure you're out on time. Okay, please come on up. Yeah, and if you haven't done this before, there's a green light and a yellow light will give you a cue that you're ending getting close to your two minutes. We will keep track of that for you, and Yvonne, welcome, and go ahead and give us a start, please. Okay, so my name's Mary Cop, I don't, I believe Yvonne's here. Okay, so Yvonne, nobody, so Mary, you were the first. Okay, great, okay, go ahead, Mary, I'm sorry. That's fine, hello council members. My name is Mary Cop, I am seeking to become an arts commissioner. I was suggested by Mary Tatarro as a person that should apply. I have been a resident of Santa Cruz for ten years, during which I've worked in arts organizations and non-profit community centers, such as Community Television of Santa Cruz County, Museum of Art and History, Neotiric School of Classical Realism, Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, and I'm currently the director and curator of Felix Culpa Art Galleries. During these positions, I have curated hundreds of artists' exhibitions. I've never spoken in front of a council, it's so interesting at all. You're doing very well. It's a informal mic. Thank you. I've curated hundreds of artists' exhibitions, produced countless collaborative events, and sought to create openings for artists. I'm interested in becoming an arts commissioner, so I can advise the council and help steward such wonderful city arts programs as the Coastal Rail Trail and Scrap Arts Residency. I also would like to help bring more awareness to opportunities for public art through the Merrill Match Program, Sculpt Tour, and the Graphic Traffic Box Program. These programs have enhanced our town, and I want to see these programs reflect the diversity of voices here in Santa Cruz. And would give careful consideration to our ability to be equitable, inclusive, and address environmental justice. And just an additional quote. The artist does not wait till death to live in the spiritual world. That's from Fearful Cemetery. So thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you very much, Mary. Thank you. And you made it. You did great. I really applaud you all for being able to be in front of an audience all the time. Thank you. Is Marilyn here? Hi, Marilyn, come on up. Thank you. My name is Marilyn Cooks. I've appeared before you a couple of times before applying for the advisory council position. I think I squandered my time in the past, spending it too much and touting my corporate credentials in corporate management, consulting with all levels of businesses and non-profits and being an entrepreneur and being a 25-year self-supporting professional artist. What I think I've failed to do in the past is say and emphasize, if I made it at all clear, that for those 25 years, Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz arts community has been the focus and the passion of my life. I live here, I live it. So I want to say that everything I care so deeply about the Santa Cruz community and the Santa Cruz arts community particularly. Santa Cruz is facing major changes and challenges in everything from urban and architectural planning to how we address the homeless, to how we deal with the absolute change in our demographics. I would love so appreciate to be a part of the Santa Cruz Arts Council, who has done so much and I appreciate everything they've done and accomplished. But I would love to participate with them, not only in furthering their current agenda, but helping them address and integrating the arts community and arts in general into what we do to address all those other major issues. So I think I could land a level of skill, experience, perspective and caring and I do hope they'll consider me for the position. Thank you so much. Thank you, Marilyn. And next I've either got Lucas or John. John, okay, I'll take John. Thank you, John, for coming on up. Thank you very much. Good evening, Santa Cruz City Council. My name is John Rawls, I have applied a couple of times before. However, I live just outside of City Limits, I'm in the county. So I'm only eligible for an out large position, I believe. For the last decade, I've run a graphic design or a design and marketing company full time. For the last half dozen years, I've been running an arts website, localSantaCruise.com that provides free marketing tools for local artists. I've been in those half dozen years, I've been involved in arts programs throughout the county, I've been a contractor for city arts working on projects. I'm currently a board member at the Santa Cruz Art League as well as the Aptosh Chamber of Commerce. So I'm not only very interested and involved in local arts. I'm completely and totally in love with the local arts culture and community. I think that it's one of the strongest tools that Santa Cruz has available to affect change and to reach also communities outside of Santa Cruz. And that's why I'm applying again is because even though I may not be eligible at living in the county, I still have a lot of faith in the local arts community. So, thank you very much. Thanks, John. Okay, did any, I don't think anybody arrived late. Last call for the Arts Commission, if you arrived at all late, okay. We'll move on for the Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women. There's one vacancy, and that is for Council Member Matthews nomination. So I'd like to invite up Deborah Christie, Ann Marie Costa, Shelly Canipe, Canep, Marvin Mays, Alex Norton, and Beth Thurman, please. Oh, wait, sorry, I went off the wrong list. Shelly Canep, Marvin, Mays, Alex Norton, and Beth Thurman, those four. And Michelle, I'll do you next, I promise. Okay, Shelly is Shelly here. Okay, I'll have Shelly go first, and are you more? Movin. Movin, okay, I'll have you go next, thank you. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening, my name is Shelly Canipe, and I was referred and encouraged to apply for this position by Brooke. I'm applying to work with the Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women. Tonight, I'd like to share some facts with you about homeless teens and women. 61% of girls report sexual abuse at home as their reason for running away from home. One in three teams will be recruited by a pimp within 48 hours of leaving home. A lifetime risk for violent sexual assault for mentally ill homeless women is 97% making sexual violence a norm for this population. 25% of women's survey do not stay in any kind of shelter because of past sexual violence inflicted upon them while staying at a shelter. Staff members at homeless shelters are rarely trained to detect and respond appropriately to those who have been sexually assaulted. I personally find these facts deeply disturbing. I feel what our community needs as a whole is to provide new funds to facilitate collaboration and training to take place for homeless trauma and assault victims. This collaboration needs to include resources of funders, policy makers, law enforcement officers, and prosecutors. These approaches must be especially sensitive to this population who face a much greater stigma of discrimination and barriers of access on the basis of race, citizenship status, sexual orientation, economics, and disabilities. Safety must be provided to homeless teens. If appointed, I will work hard and diligently to participate and help homeless women and teens as well as sexually harassed and those experiencing domestic abuse. Thank you, Shelly. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you very much. Thanks for coming. Okay, next, Mervin. My name is Mervin Mays. I'm a first time applicant. I've lived in the city for since 1987, off and on. I'm a physician scientist having worked on the faculty at Stanford, UCSF, and Imperial College. The problem, as the previous applicant has stated, is extremely grave. It's one that I first came across while I was a chair at UCSF and recognized the imbalance of the situation and am committed to working towards quality. And I think this is an opportunity for me to give back to the community something that I've witnessed personally and I'm willing to serve. And I recognize as a first time applicant and not met any of the members of the council before that you know nothing about me. But if you would like to ask me any question, I'll be happy to answer. Thank you. Thank you, Mervin. And Beth, come on up. Thank you. Good evening, Vice Mayor, Council members, and clerks. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you all. And I really am grateful for all the members of our community who are here. Cat Faw and every other commission, it really warms my heart to see everyone who wants to serve the community. So first off, I'm a concerned community member. I have been for 42 years in the county, over 20 within the city. I'm a mother, I'm a woman. I have served as a commissioner from April 2015 through December 2019. And it was one of the most rewarding opportunities that I've had, helped be out in our community on whether it's events or I served four years on the Sheriff's advisory team. Which was helpful for all of us because we were able to get Sheriff Hart and Dr. Lauren Zephyro to speak to us in regards to the SART delays. And I'm able to connect as a former board member. This means a lot to me. I appreciate everything that our commission has done in the decades that it's been in service. And I ask that you consider my application tonight and down the road. If there are other opportunities to serve the commission, I would love to rejoin and be able to help out and provide some service to our community. So thank you all. Thank you, Beth. Okay, Michelle, would you like to come up and you are applying for Sister Cities Committee, correct? Okay, welcome. Good evening, council members. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm up for reappointment with the Sister Cities Committee. And as you can see in my original application, I've been passionate about the field of international education for most of my career. I started with Sister Cities in fall of 2017. At the time, I was working for the US Department of State as an international exchange specialist. I since moved on to a position at a local community college, but I remain dedicated as ever to the field. I served last year as vice chair for the Sister Cities Committee. I've been actively involved in the Cestry-Levantes subcommittee and was involved in the standing up of the Beirut's Friendship City relationship. And then just last week was elected to chair of the committee. So I really hope that you approve my reappointment so that I can continue to serve this year as chair, during which I'd like to focus on really raising the visibility and the profile of the committee within the broader community here in Santa Cruz. It's doing a lot of great work, but I find that not a lot of people know about it. So I'd like to do that by looking into some possible fundraising options, perhaps establishing some public events that could attract a wider audience. In addition, I'd like to focus on further shoring up the Beirut's Friendship City relationship and do whatever I can to support our already very strong student exchanges with Cestry-Levantes and Shingu Japan. I'll leave it there. If you have any questions for me, please feel free to reach out to me anytime. Thank you. Thank you, Michelle. Does anyone else here have small kids or a need to get home early tonight? Okay, you do. Okay, what's your name? Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and help you get back home to your kids. So why don't you come up and we'll hear from you, Jonathan. Yeah, sure, no problem. Thank you for coming tonight. Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council Members. I'm Jonathan Coleman. I realize sitting there, I was referred by my wife who told me to apply and stop telling her about my ideas. I'm honored to be here. I grew up in Santa Cruz walking and biking to Galt Elementary and later biking and eventually driving to Santa Cruz High. I moved back about four years ago and I work as a mental health therapist at County Children's Behavioral Health. I'm dedicated to serving this community. I'm interested in joining the Transportation and Public Works Commission so that I can support the ongoing maintenance and development of our city's infrastructure. My master's in social work program provided me with solid research and analysis skills for thinking about the impacts of projects on people and communities, especially those people that might otherwise be forgotten. I put this framework to use in my work at the county where I regularly conduct research in order to inform my decisions or to make recommendations about projects or operations. During my career as a public servant, first as a teacher now as a therapist, I have consistently served on advisory committees and focused my efforts on the improvement of operations and equity for the recipients of services, always with a spirit of collaboration. I'd be very excited to be able to bring this experience to bear as a member of the commission to enact your vision of health and all policies and to support the transportation and public works department to continue addressing the most relevant and pressing issues for our community. From traffic to climate change and from road user safety to equity and access to transportation. My daughter just turned eight months old and more than anything I'm here on her behalf. So that over the course of her life, she can safely walk and bike to school. And so that I know that I'm doing my part to make sure she is as safe as possible. Thank you. Thank you, Jonathan. Okay, I'll go back to alphabetical. Next up is the downtown commission and I have Ryan Althaus, Anna Brennan, Joe Ferrara, Lenea Holders, and Daniel Nelson. Please, if you could line up in that order. And is Ryan here? Any of these folks here going, going, gone? Anyone here for downtown? Okay, are you Ryan? No, Daniel. Daniel, okay, great. Welcome, Daniel. Hi, council members. Good evening. Rex, how are you doing? So this is my first time in front of council as well. So thanks for considering my application. I've been working downtown Santa Cruz for the last five years and have lived down here for the last three and plan to have many more years doing both of those things. Because of my personal experience and through the personal experiences of some of my coworkers, my neighbors, my friends. I'm really familiar with a lot of the issues facing downtown residents and workers. One of the things that you all actually passed recently, the distribution of jump-by credits and the bus passes to downtown workers, was actually a huge boon to a lot of these people I've talked to and to myself personally. In fact, a lot of people I've talked to are really hot on alternatives to driving and getting different modes of transportation like going into the city. So I have a master's in economics. I've worked two years in the public works department in San Jose. So I feel like that gives me a decent experience to represent some of my coworkers and employees of downtown. So yeah, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me right now. Reach out later, email, phone. Definitely available to answer anything you might have. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you. Just make sure I haven't missed anybody. So anyone here, anyone here for the downtown commission? We will move on to the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee and Nancy Degnan. Is Nancy here tonight? No, okay. We will now move on to Historic Preservation Commission. I have Dennis Diego, Albert Narath, and David Subbotz. Subbotz, there we go. Dennis, Albert or David, are you here? Dennis, okay, please come on up, Dennis. Good evening, Vice Mayor, commissioners and staff. I'm a resident of Santa Cruz for 35 years. And I've had a practice for 30 years. All those years I've been working as an architect. And I came originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, where I received my degree in architecture and started working. At that time, I became very interested in historic preservation and the historic assets of a community. I did a lot of projects in the Vue Carré commission and became familiar with the process of the Vue Carré commissioners and also practice here, came here and worked with a firm from 85 to 89 and 89 established my practice and participated in the reconstruction process of the downtown after the Loma Prieta earthquake. I continue my education by participating in classes offered through the California Preservation Foundation. I'm a board member of the Friends of the Kowalime kiln. And I am very avidly working on projects both at UCSC. Some of the projects that I've done personally as an architect, represented my clients as an architect. I may be familiar with Post-Earthquake, Palomar Restaurant Courtyard, Lawton Nelson Community Center, Restoration Window Remodeling, Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, and the original historic City Hall of Capitola on Monterey Avenue. I have experienced presenting projects and I hope that you'll allow me to continue and serve on the commission, thank you. Thank you, Dennis. Any other members or applicants for the Historic Preservation Commission? I've got Albert and David as on my list. Okay, we'll go ahead and move on to the Parks and Recreation Commission then. Bradley, Angel, J.M. Brown, Deborah Christie, and Sky Quinn, please. Hi there. Okay, Bradley, come on. Thank you. Good evening. You guys are in trouble with two architects in a row, I'm sure you're going to be confused. But anyway, my name is Brad Angel. I've come up here a couple of times on behalf of the Grand Park Neighbors. I'm here because now instead of complaining, hopefully I can be helpful. And I think my early experience or in training, I think it really would help for this advisory board. And I got the certificate in Sustainable Urbanism in 2009, while I did my Master of Architecture degree in Texas. And then after 2009, I went to work and then I wasn't really happy with the work I was doing. I went back for a PhD. And during the PhD, I did a PhD in architecture as well. And during that PhD program, I actually studied the Isla Vista Rec and Park District in Galeta, Santa Barbara. And that whole, the IVRPD was all about how parks can become kind of an antidote to political strife in a community. And I feel like a lot of the activities that have happened in the last year in our parks here in town have had some of that same juice, that same type of political strife, especially in our neighborhood, the Grand Park Neighbors. And I think what I think I've really learned a lot about in this past year helping Grand Park Neighbors is actually I now have this kind of feel of communal association with all the parks. I go to the west side, I go to Frederick Street and all these other places. And I really do identify with both the neighborhood, the community, the administrative staff, and then also how we're trying to deal with a lot of our issues right there on the ground in these open spaces. And I feel like that experience, not just the academic and the practice experience, but also this kind of the stakeholder experience really helped me be a good advisor, a good, I don't know, have some good knowledge to help out. Anyway, thank you so much. Great, thanks very much. And J.M. Brown. Good evening, Mayor Myers, members of the council. I'm J.M. Brown, I'm chair of your Parks and Recreation Commission. I thank you for the opportunity to seek reappointment, especially since my colleagues on the commission just selected me to be chair again for 2020. So I'd like to have the opportunity to serve for many reasons, not the least of which is that. And I really see my role as chair of the commission and really as a member in general as a facilitator and someone who really seeks to try to find compromise. The members of the commission are a really interesting group that come from all manners of differences in ideological and political backgrounds. And yet we have worked really hard over the past year to send this council unanimous or nearly unanimous decisions on the golf course, the pool, park access, loud Nelson, et cetera. And I think that's the strong work of a group of people who really want to collaborate and work together. And so I'm really proud of that group and would like to continue working with them. Also, we have a fantastic staff at the parks led by our new parks, somewhat new parks director, who really sees the value of working with the commission and really bringing departmental ideas as well as direction from the council to the commission and float that work back up to the community and the council. So I really look forward to continuing to work with the staff. And in terms of my strengths, serving on the commission, I think I have a pretty deep knowledge of the city and the department having served on the commission and also having covered the council as a reporter for many, many years. And so I bring all that knowledge to bear and also, again, just really seeking to find common ground with our commissioners to deliver to the council a result that they can actually work with. And then in my professional role as an analyst for Supervisor Bruce McPherson, I bring a lot of county knowledge to bear on questions that come before the commission. So thank you for your consideration for reappointment tonight. Thank you, Jim. Jan Brown, I just wanted to say, I've been trying to follow up on that. I've been asking commissioners about your chairship and I have good things reported and I really appreciate your service with that group. It seems like it's going really well, but I just wanted to say that. Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate it. Anyone else here for Parks and Rec? Okay, great. Okay, we are going to move on to the Planning Commission. And we have two reappointments up and I have a long list of folks here tonight. So I have Candace Brown, Gus Sibelos, Anna Marie Costa, Cindy Dawson, Zov Hirschfield, Sean Maxwell, Greg Peppin, Ron Pomerance, Mark Primack, William Schultz, and Robert Singleton. So if you can line up in that order, any other folks for planning? So I've got three and a long list. Are you for planning also? Yeah. Okay, and what's your name? Sean Maxwell. Sean, okay, great, just so I know. Any other of those folks here? Okay, great. Candace, why don't you come on up? Thank you for being here. Thank you. Yes, my name's Candace and Candace Brown. I've been a member of this community for 45 years. And as you probably know my now, because I've talked at many of these hearings, I've been very passionate about land use and transportation issues for the last five years. But before that, I was actually, just to go back a little bit, was involved with high tech and business development, negotiating very complex contracts and negotiating for about 28 years. I was then involved in shutting down a family architectural business that unfortunately had to be shut down in the passing of a family member who was a very talented architect. And left hundreds of projects that had to be archived and we had to find a place for these. So I ended up sending up a collection of the Robert A. German collection of retrospective of 25 years of architecture for Silicon Valley for both commercial and residential. Many different modern and traditional styles. And through that I learned quite a bit and it took over two years to actually set up that collection and then get accepted by a academic institution. So about five years ago, realized that a lot of things were going on with the city, with the corridor plan, with the general plan and its implementation. Realized that there was a lot of flaws in that when I had started attending many of those advisory committees and actually filmed all of them, the only public record I found out now of those actual committee meetings. And I think that the commission is really important at this time. We're at a critical juncture of trying to represent the needs of the community when we're, we have in the last two years, 30, 40 different housing bills that have come to us. And I think the community needs to be prepared for onslaught of something that would be very significant to this community. I have studied this, I've become really almost a scholar, people actually come to me. I've found many ways of communities of using these housing bills for public benefit. And I just wanted to say that I would be very honored to be a part of the planning commission as a result of that. Sorry, I ran out of time. Thank you very much. Thank you, Candice. Next, Gus, come on up. Good evening, council members. My name is Gus Abios. Most of you may know me already through either my work with the seniors council or through just community involvement. I do have my application in front of you and I really don't have that much more to add to what I already have written down because I still feel the same way. I really think it's very important to me to be part of both planning and my secondary was parked in rec. And I only come here really to just ask for an opportunity. An opportunity for myself, an opportunity for a group which I believe that I can represent, which is Latinos in the city of Santa Cruz. I was born here in Santa Cruz, at Dominican Hospital. The Mexican population at that time was probably less than 1%. There were maybe 10 Mexican families and we all knew each other. Over 50 years now, the population is about 22%, Latino here in Santa Cruz. And I look around and I really don't see that many Latinos here represented in the committees. The county's 33% Latino. So it kind of seems to me that they don't feel they're represented. Not even underrepresented. I mean, they're just not even represented. And I want to be someone that they can look up to and be there to speak for a community. So if I'm just giving the opportunity, I make sure that their voices will be heard. So thank you. Thanks, guys. And I apologize for mispronouncing your last name. Okay, well, I'm sure I've heard you say it that way. Next up is Cindy Dawson. Good evening, Vice Mayor Myers and council members and staff. My name is Cindy Dawson and I am applying for a position on the Planning Commission. I look forward to the opportunity to bring my over 20 years experience as a scientist and natural resource manager and policy advisor to work on the commission. My most recent relevant professional experience that I could bring to the commission would be my four years up in Sacramento as the state of California Marine Protected Area Policy Advisor. Staffing the Secretary of Natural Resources and that position was focused on marine spatial planning. Clearly, there are some differences between ocean planning and land planning, but there are many similarities in the challenges and opportunities. Planning development is complex, and I feel that my ability that I've developed through my professional career, ability to uptake information, to weigh all sides, and having a very significant familiarity with both state and federal environmental laws will be a real asset to the Planning Commission. The focus of my professional career really comes down to making sure decision makers have and understand the information they need to make informed decisions. And that core principle of informed decision making is really something I want to bring to the Planning Commission. I look forward to the opportunity to work with staff and fellow commissioners and the council members to find solutions to these real challenges we have around planning and development in Santa Cruz. I want to make sure that we're making decisions and looking for solutions that protect our environment, protect our quality of life, and are directly addressing equity and affordability. We're not the only community facing these issues. And what I also bring to the Planning Commission is a diverse professional network. So I hope that you will consider my application. I thank you in advance for your consideration, and I'm happy to take any questions if you guys need to reach out. Thanks. Thank you. We are flying through this tonight. Okay, next up is our, oh, I'm sorry, Sean. So you, I'm trained to be looking over there. My apologies. It's okay. All right. My first time here. Hi, everybody. I don't know all the vice mayor, council members. I was recommended by Justin to apply for planning. I am a builder. I came here 18 years ago about to have my first child. We'll be part of that. And had no money, was a city boy from Long Beach, ended up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, never picked up a hammer, first neighbor I met. Hey, you want to work with me? Sweet, 18 years later, been doing the same thing. So I have a lot of experience being a builder. My favorite, I'm a carpenter, is what I consider myself, my favorite thing to do. But I got myself, I was lucky enough to get into town. 2008 happened, lost a lot of work. So I went back to school, because I could do that. Ended up getting an honors degree in business management economics, which has been really helpful in just being part of the academic community here, meeting a lot of other people that I would not normally have met in building. Finish that, but then the economy bounced back. I'm raising two kids and do what you know best. So I went back to that and been doing that since. But I love this place, and I'm glad I'm lucky I get to live here. It wasn't always clear that that was going to be happening. So I'm looking forward to being a part of something more than just making a paycheck. And I want to be a part of the community. I've been in Santa Cruz City for 18 years now. So I'm happy to be a part, and I don't know much about planning. But Justin thinks I'd be good at it. And I'm really quick learner, and I'm semi-young still, don't mind us the gray. But yeah, thanks for hearing me out, and I look forward to hopefully helping more. Thanks, Sean. Last call for Planning Commission. Seeing no other. Okay, we'll move on to the remaining folks who are here for Sister Cities. So that would be Chandra Duffy, Leo Jed, Sarah Coleman, Yurei Park, and Michelle, Michelle's already gone. So those folks who are here, okay. So Sister Cities, are you Chandra? Come on up. Meeting council members, thank you for considering me for reappointment. I've been serving one year, I've served a one-year term finishing a vacancy last year on the Sister Cities body. I've spent four years serving on the Shingu Subcommittee as well, helping with ongoing delegations since 2016, and I've really enjoyed my time, both on the Sister Cities and the subcommittee teams. And I would love to continue on another term. I currently work at 1440 Multiversity. I've been a resident of Santa Cruz for 20 years. I became involved with the Sister Cities in general, thanks to Cynthia Matthews, and my prior employment at Visit Santa Cruz County. I pride myself on my connections in the community and networking and think that I bring a lot to both the Sister Cities Committee and the Subcommittee for that. So thank you. Great, if you have any questions, let me know. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you. And let's see, it might be on my list. Here, come on up please, thank you. Hi, I'm Hira Park, and this is my first experience. I'm a little nervous. That's okay. In Korea we never have this kind of thing. So I have one picture that is Korean culture, traditional cultural dress. And then I applied for the Sister Cities Committee member to introduce our traditional Korean culture to Santa Cruz and I want to bring to Santa Cruz to South Korea. So I am a five-inch faculty member. I'm a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and also I'm RN. And I don't know, maybe you guys know late Mary Dufiz, she's a famous lady. And she introduced me, and she was my English teacher when I moved here in 1993. So I live here for 26 years, and my three children, they graduate Harvard High School and all well done education, so I'm happy. So now it's time to serve back to Santa Cruz. So I have a lot of time. I am not retired yet. I got Medicare, but I'm still working. So also I involved some of the Korean American Association in Santa Clara County. So I have a lot of connection there. So hopefully I can do a better job for Santa Cruz. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here tonight. Yeah, if you want to see this one. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hey, we're on to Transportation and Public Works. So I have Dana Bagshaw, Jonathan Coleman, Summer Daily, Ron Goodman, Kyle Kelly, Lucas Roy Lehmann, and Samantha Vrooman. I'm going to line up in that order. And Dana, I'll have you start. Welcome. Good evening. It's good to see everyone. Dana Bagshaw. My second time to apply for this position, I am back again because I really believe that public transportation and the Public Works Department is instrumental in making our city strong. We need a system that is resilient and sustainable in these climate crisis days. And I feel that transportation is key to doing that. I've learned a lot about the Public Works Department itself within the last year. I feel like I have open channels of communications with key members in the department, like Claire. And I've all communicated with Mark and Chris. I also have a good communication with the Metro. And RTC, which I think is part of the overall picture. So I continue to champion public transportation. I have the Bus by Choice group. We're still going out once a month on trips. The one that we did this year that attracted the best attendants and that I'm most proud of, we went over to San Jose on the Highway 17 bus. And we met with a member of the Department of Transportation there in San Jose. And he showed us what they've done in downtown San Jose to integrate bus lanes, bike lanes, space for pedestrians and cars, and even wheelie bins. They're part of the picture, too. So it was really, really interesting. And I really liked the way they took an incremental, experimental approach. And I think we can do things like that here. So thank you for the opportunity. Thank you. Thanks, Dana. OK, next is, let's see, we had Jonathan already. Summer, Daly, please. Hi, Summer, come on up. Well, I am Summer Daly. I applied for the advisory opening with Transportation and Public Works. I've lived on the West Side of Santa Cruz for 12 years. And I'm passionate about our community, and I'm interested in public service. My interest was piqued after I noticed how successful the rollout of Go Santa Cruz was. And it's been a great transportation demand management solution. I thought it was engaging and relatable and something that I'd like to take part in. We all see that growing population demand is straining infrastructure. And I think that I'm qualified to help. My current role at Looker Data Sciences downtown, I'm responsible for budgeting and project management for our large-scale real estate expansion projects. I review commercial leases. I work with architects, builders, interior design firms to create collaborative spaces that suit the needs of teams across the world. I think my current work experience and past experience and accounting makes me qualified for this opening in particular. No matter what, thank you for your time. Thank you for your service to the community. Thank you. Thanks, Summer. OK, Ron Goodman. Is Ron here? Hey, Kyle. Come on up, Kyle. Thanks for being here. Hi, Summer Mayors, Council members and staff. Thanks for having me up here. So I'm applied for transportation and public works. Most of my interest in this comes from my own belief that we need to take more climate action right now. As far as professional experience, I'm a mathematician and a software engineer. I've managed many large-scale projects over years. And I can soak in a lot of really boring information and bring it to bear and try to figure out the right steps that need to be taken. At the same time, I think that we need to build a good humane society where everyone can thrive here in Santa Cruz. I'm a parent of three and a frequent biker and cyclist and bus traveler here in Santa Cruz. Thank you, Kyle. Hey, I've got Lucas there. Hi, Council. I'm Lucas Rielemann. And I've been living in Santa Cruz for 25 years. About late 90s, I was actually on the Santa Cruz Downtown Plaza Committee with Christopher Crone. Maybe you remember me from way back then. And then later, not much later, I was on the part of the Energy Action Coalition, which got formed into the Energy Committee, that we advised the Energy Commission on a lot of the projects that turned into the first solar installation here on City Hall. We were also fundamental in putting forth the idea, which ultimately became the Monterey Bay Utility District. We were about 15 years ahead of our time back then. I didn't move to the unincorporated area, so I couldn't really participate in volunteer stuff here in the city. Happy to be back in the city. My experience has been an entrepreneur my whole life. I lived in LA, so I have a real passion for transportation gone wrong and how to do it right. Went to school in Santa Barbara, where they had a wonderful biking system. And then also grad school in Amherst, Massachusetts, where the five college area had a wonderful system of public transportation and busing and things like that. So I've been a longtime cyclist. Know what Santa Cruz offers in the pitfalls as well for a cyclist, and just really passionate about making a difference in a place that I love. For the last eight years, I've been a volunteer with the Freedom Within Prison Project, going inside the Salinas Valley Prison and facilitating trust circles and emotional literacy. I've actually just stepped down from that after eight years, so I've got room in my schedule to be passionate about things a little closer to home, so I'd love to be able to make a difference to the kind of the, I think of the arteries and the sinews of this town to really make it function well. So thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Lucas. Thank you, Lucas. Hey, Samantha. Come on up, please. Good evening. I'm Samantha. Sam is fine. Thanks for having us all here. I'm excited to apply for the Public Works and Transportation Commission. I was born and raised in Scotts Valley, graduated high school, which was great, and went to UC Berkeley, graduated there with a degree in civil and environmental engineering. I currently am a practicing civil engineer. I am an owner and principal engineer of Bowman Williams Civil Engineers and Lands Surveyors. So my professional background suits this commission fairly well, I would hope. I moved back here to Santa Cruz six years ago after exploring some other counties, and there's really no better city than Santa Cruz. So I'm really excited to hopefully give back to the city and in a manner that allows everybody to explore infrastructure more deeply because it's one of my passions. I was a domestic pro cyclist until fairly recently, and so I have a great appreciation for cycling and bike lanes and county roads as well. I was recommended to this position by Claire Fleischler, or I don't know what her last name is at this point. And I also used to work with Dale Hensby, who is a current commissioner on the Public Works and Transportation Commission, and he had great things to say about the work that they do and highly recommended the role of an advisor to you, the city council. I have done a lot of other exciting volunteer projects. I took numerous courses in design for sustainable communities when I was at Berkeley, and that led to some projects in Tanzania where we built rainwater harvesting tanks, and that's my time. So it was great talking to you, and if you have any questions, please reach out to me. Thank you. Hey, we have one more commission, the Water Commission, and I have Diana Alfaro, Justin Burks, Linda Cover, Doug Engfer, Melissa Mahoney, and Alejandro Paramo. And Diana, we'll have you first. Hello, hello. So thank you all for hearing me out today. I applied for the Water Commission, and you might be a little wondering why. I believe that water and my experience within the nonprofit sector really do combine really well, both in understanding financing, how the process and also the community engagement component, especially considering some of the development that the Water Department will be going through in the next few years, which is really exciting, and I feel like that experience that I have through my work as a nonprofit developer can definitely help with that process. I also can bring some diversity to the group. I know that it tends to be a little older crowd, so I hope that that can definitely help in some ways, and also as a renter, as a member, as a resident of downtown, as a Latina. It could definitely help with that as well. Also, I just want to note, since I wasn't on the agenda, that I will be stepping down of the Latino Affairs Commission if I am appointed, so an appointment would have to be made there as the city appointed to the county commission. But yeah, thank you, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thanks. Thank you, Diana. Justin, hi. Good evening, honorable council members. My name is Justin Birx. I'm here tonight because I have passion and conviction to provide ongoing support to the community, and I mean that not only that, I've come up here multiple times to make my case and build upon my experiences, but it's something I've felt deeply since I moved here in 2004. I'm a long-term city, San Cruz resident, with my long-term partner, Matthew, where we spent most of our time here as low-income rate payers, where we are still renters for the far foreseeable future. And I've worked here also with the city and currently as a commuter over the hill to Valley Water. As a water conservation specialist, I recently launched a pilot program to support a low-income housing property to retrofit all their toilets, to stay the yard fixtures, to reduce the impact of rising water rates on them while saving half of the amount of water they're using previously. I launched a $200,000 countywide program for low-income US veteran and elderly residents of Santa Clara County to install code-compliant gray water systems, which provides resiliency to their landscapes but also helps them grow food and helps ensure a verdant landscape in the face of climate change, not only taking into account the embedded energy of reduced irrigation use by reusing that water in their landscapes. I was on a project lead for a special project where we analyzed our capital project timelines over the last 20 years, and combined with data analysis and informational interviews with stakeholders, we provided recommendations to my agency from which we've implemented Microsoft teams to improve internal stakeholder engagement. And also, I'm on the review committee for our customer relationship management software, which will improve our external stakeholder engagement. I'm humble enough to admit that was probably part in the pipeline before I made those recommendations. But thank you for your time. Thank you. Linda. Hi, Linda. Yeah, absolutely. Hi, thank you for having me here tonight. My name is Linda Kover. I'm an artist, an educator, and a community activist. And what I feel I could bring to the Water Commission is a willingness to learn and work with other people. Although I have a grassroots background in water curriculum education and have worked with the Acosta Watershed Council, the Watsonville wetlands, Watsonville Public Works and Utilities, I've been teaching watershed art as a school curriculum throughout the county for 20 years. But I know that being this on this commission requires more specific knowledge, which I can learn. As a water educator, I have connections with the greater Santa Cruz County community of children and their parents. This pamphlet that I just passed around, our Water Works in Santa Cruz County, is part of my own curriculum. And my students created the water poems on the back. And Louise's poem on the back is carved into the Watsonville Water Treatment Plant as an inspiration about water. As an artist, I bring to the table the language of art. Living and working at the Tannery Arts Center, my art resources include over 300 immediate neighbors and many more in the greater art community. As a community activist, I know people who are not only willing to be involved but are actually already rolling on projects that serve our community's needs. As a water commissioner, I think I would bring a new voice to our needs here. Thank you so much. Thank you, Linda. Perfect. Thank you for sharing your artwork, too. It's quite amazing. Next up is Doug. Hi, Doug. Vice Mayor Meyers, members of council, good evening. Thanks for your time. My name's Doug Engfer. I'm current chair of the Water Commission and applying for reappointment for a second term. The application that I submitted provided background and sort of a look back. What I was going to try to do tonight was look forward a little bit more. And as I was thinking about the work in front of us in the next few years, assuming I have the good fortune to be there, the overarching theme that came to mind for me related to investments and opportunities, we're going to be investing a huge amount of money and resources in our water system. And I think there's a lot to be taken into account there as we go after that. There are three main areas I'd like to discuss, the water supply itself, the environment, and the community. And I'd be remiss not to thank you for the investment you've made in me over the last six years participating in the Water Supply Advisory Committee as well as the Water Commission. With respect to the water supply, job one, safe, reliable, affordable, resilient, sustainable water supply for all of our customers, not just members of the city, but also folks outside the city, we're going to be investing hundreds of millions of dollars over the next generation or two to accomplish that. With the water supply augmentation strategy as a guide but also substantial reinvestment in our existing infrastructure, we need to do that with an eye towards stewardship of our rate payer contributions and two minutes is going really fast here, I'm sorry. We have both a legal and a moral obligation to pay attention to the environment. The staff does a great job with that, but we have opportunities to ensure riparian and ocean, community health, what's good for the critters is good for all of us. And with respect to the community, we definitely need to be attentive to affordability. Our rate structure is progressive within the guidelines allowed by the state, but we have more work we can do with respect to fees. And my time is nearly up, so I will just thank you for your consideration. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get through all my remarks. If you want to leave anything with us, you can send them or send them by email. Okay, thank you very much. Thanks very much, Doug. Alejandro, welcome. Hello, hello council members and thank you for your time this evening. My name is Alejandro Paramo and I'm here today seeking appointments at our city's water commission. I'm a 26 year old resident who works as a product manager at a local software company called Supply Shift where we focus on corporate sustainability. I've been in this community for just over four years after spending four years as an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara. Before this time I spent 18 years of my youth growing up in our state center valley in Modesto, California. It's through my time growing up in the central valley that I developed a growing awareness and interest in the impact and importance of water policy to local, state, and regional communities. Being in the central valley and a descendant of farm workers, one quickly realizes water's pivotal role in our communities. I expanded upon this interest in water policy through my studies where I received a bachelor's science degree in environmental science with an emphasis on water policy coursework from UC Santa Barbara. In particular, I took an advanced water policy course with 10 selected students who excelled in the preceding course. We traveled across the state of California for two weeks visiting significant water sites such as Owens Valley, Mono Lake, and Hetch Hetch Hetchie. We even took a trip to Santa Cruz where desalination was a critical topic here at the time. In addition to my studies where I took emphasis water policy, I gained experience in student governance as chief of staff of our student advocate general as well as policy experiences through my house of representatives in Modesto. It's my intention to take my experiences, educational and policy related, to be appointed to the city's water commission as an active, thorough, and thoughtful representative of our city. It would be an honor to be appointed and an opportunity that I'd take to fulfill the duties with the best intentions as possible. I believe my education and experiences, relative newness to the community, and passion for sustainable and pragmatic water policy development make for a powerful fit for the Water Policy Commission. I thank you here for your time and consideration tonight. Thank you very much for coming. Hey, so did I miss anybody that was here tonight for any commissions? Looks like everybody's been here and spoken. So again, I just want to thank everyone tonight for coming. We'll be making the appointments at our next meeting, which is next Tuesday, January 28th. So please come and join if you'd like to listen to our debate. And again, just thank you very much for your willingness to serve as a volunteer for the city of Santa Cruz, and have a good evening. Thanks. Thank you, Donna, too. You're now adjourned. You're doing this job. There it is. That gammel. Yeah, that was easy.