 All right, it is six o'clock, so we will call to order the January 11th meeting of the capital city council Can I have a roll call, please? Council member Clark Here council member Kaiser here council member Peterson here ice mayor books and mayor Brown here Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance Into the Republic Thank you, do we have any additions or deletions to tonight's agenda Staff has no changes to the agenda this evening. All right, we'll move on to item three which is presentations I will start with a proclamation honoring Soquel high school's football state championship. This is exciting We have a proclamation here at states Soquel high school was established in 1962 and proudly serve students in Soquel Live Oak and Capitola communities the Soquel Helmock Soquel high Knights football team competes in the Pacific Coast Athletic League of the central coast section of the California Inner Scholastic Federation The team which is led by head coach Dwight Lowry Soquel high alum and former NFL professional Shows their strength both on and off the field boasting one of the highest academic eligibility rates in the state The Knights advanced to the state championship in Pasadena on December 8th Against Jarufa Hills Spartans of Fontana, California The Soquel high Knights football team made history winning the game 27 and earning the first state football championship title in school and santa Cruz county history The administration students coaching staff and players of Soquel high Knights football all deserve honor and recognition for this accomplishment And I Kristen brown mayor of the city of Capitola do hereby recognize and honor the Soquel high Knights football team 2023 CIFs california state champions division for AA I don't believe there's anyone here to accept the proclamation. However Everyone should know there is a parade celebrating the team On saturday starting at 11 a.m. It'll go through the village and end at the bandstand So everyone please do come out and honor these young athletes for their incredible accomplishment. Congratulations All right, uh, we'll move on now to item three be a presentation on the history of capitol is incorporation Hello, my name is devra ostberg. I'm the curator at the capitol a historical museum And I want to talk a little bit about why we're celebrating a 75th anniversary Start off with of course, we weren't always capitol I did want to mention, of course, we were the homeland of the aptos and kayasaka people originally for probably 10 15 000 years Then so kind of landing when the wharf was built by heen And then you have camp capitol, which we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of its opening this year And that's what my exhibit next this year is going to be about And then of course you had some changes later when henry allen riskman came along But what we're going to talk about tonight is 1949 Well before we get to 49 we have to talk about 33 And that's important because that really is the precursor of why people had concerns about The condition of the city or the town and they wanted to become a city That 1933 fire destroyed over two blocks of downtown capitol And it destroyed as you can see quite a number of businesses restaurants and so forth And I like the quote that's down there was carolin swift, but she really put it really nicely The fear of economic disaster aimed capitol and a whole new blueprint for its future and that was true There was delays in putting out that fire Trying to get the water going and neighboring fire departments didn't get here as soon as they you know They wish they could have and so that really had an impact on people Would you bring the microphone just a little bit closer? Maybe I need yeah, not only with my own mic Yes, thank you Some of the community concerns was of course needing their own professional fire department Getting reliable water supply and replacing an outdated 19th century sewer system Go on but one thing they did not need was a police department because they did have at that time the capitol police protection district That started in 1928 It did go till 1967 so that was in pretty you know good shape But if we continue here you'll see some of the other Issues led to an attempt at incorporation right after world war two In 1946 this photograph is wonderful because this is probably around 1945 to see how empty The village looks a little different than it does today We can go on I was told that an original attempt in 46 Ended because of petty squabbling. I don't know what all the squabbles were about But then shortly after that there was some talk of maybe they could join capitol with soquel Well, you see with the next slide that didn't go very far with the completion in 1949 Of the highway dividing the two communities And of course, we wish the highway still looked that empty today but But in 49 the third version of what was the capitol improvement club was developed This one specifically for going for incorporation and you can see the quote there I can read from here capitol. It would be well Could well be the gem of the ocean cities, but to beautify we must first have local control We can only have that control The quality of new growth. Do you like weeds a regrown lot? Do you like sometimes lighted globes hung on telephone poles, etc, etc Now that's interesting that they put out something like that But they didn't mention the major three issues fire water and sewer Anyway, but they were very successful. The other issues they were also going for were less taxes neighborhood improvements street improvements, especially and savings hopefully on utilities And of course the number one issue of course was sewage What to do with it and you can see the two different sides here You've got one of the folks, you know in favor that if we got incorporation We would get a sewer system, but then you have one of the firefighters saying Well, you know, they've just had the beach clothes as a fear tactic to say that we won't get the sewer without incorporation So that was the really big issue We can go to the next slide here Well, the first thing that had to be done was gathering enough signatures to get a Resolution to be voted on And you see there they had to get 25 percent of the land values Between the beach and the freeway and 41st and park avenue By the way, without fire in 33 One of the things that really made that a very important issue Is that business losses were at that time $150,000 in today's money. That would have been 3.5 million So you can understand why people were very concerned about fire protection Now here is where the boat was taken Took place on January 4th, 1949 The Capitola ballroom and beach club is where Esplanade Park is today It was the site of the old cap hotel Capitola back Maybe almost 50 years before that And the results of the vote you had 243 saying no 297 saying yes, it was only a 54-vote victory But that gave us incorporation and officially if we are incorporated today 75 years ago, january 11th But there was controversy to begin with because supposedly the first The highest vote-getter in that vote should have become mayor Well, that was brad mcdonald 27 year old co-owner of shadowbrook But when the council first got together they decided and there were only five of them They voted for see but he's 63. I can't see his Yeah, 63 year old harlan kesler and kesler of course voting for himself Well, that sparked some controversy people were not happy In fact, there were protests that started People I think about 350 people came to one of the meetings. They had like 75 protest letters sent in Um Now it could have gotten ugly, but fortunately it didn't remember. It's only 1949 And we're very fortunate that Harry hooper you see there. He's on the right in front of his real estate office Which by the way was one of those buildings burned in the 1933 fire He was considered a real icon of town. He was the postmaster of course baseball star And at the meeting he told people pleading with him for harmony He actually said, you know, we have legally, you know, elected our mayor And he described kesler as a man who had worked 18 years for the betterment of the community And that people should uh, you know, accept that and with Harry Hooper saying that everybody kind of backed down. There were a few people that were disgruntled Uh, and you know left the meeting not happy a few of them actually wrote letters to kesler Who by the way was an insurance agent and they canceled their policies with him? So that was some of the revenge But all in all it was a peaceful transition if you go to the Next slide And we established a city hall the original one there on lawn way 127 Monterey avenue Which you can still see today it's a private home Then the city hall was moved behind the police station and it didn't look like it was all that comfortable And then fortunately 1977 we had our new facility built here on this site Getting close City government, uh, I love this. Uh, you can't see all of it But that little thing on the bottom says councilman squabble again in capitolah That's the quote And I can't see the one on across the top, but actually it was a nice one that Carolyn said something like well capitolah could get through this and you can you know recover from anything So, uh, that's a real nice sentiment to think about especially what's happened to us in recent years So anyway, that's kind of a short history of our incorporation Thank you very much Thank you That was really exciting. Wow, that's an interesting history petty squabbles and I'm so glad we don't have anything like that anymore Yeah, that's right. Um, thank you so much. Um, so we've done the so cal high proclamation We have had a presentation on our history of capitolah's incorporation So now we will go to the proclamation honoring, uh, capitolah's 75th anniversary And it says on the fourth day of january 1949 an election was held in santa cruz county where 301 of 579 total votes were cast in favor of incorporation of the city of capitolah on the 11th day of january 1949 Frank m jordan secretary of state of the state of california duly incorporated the city of capitolah as a municipal corporation The city of capitolah will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its incorporation as a general law city of the state of california on january 11th 2024 To commemorate the history of the community a series of events programs and educational opportunities will be held by the city through the end of 2024 Extraordinary civic engagement is key to the city's long-term success and to preserving a small town character with a deep commitment to progress and inclusivity The city's goals for the future are reflections of the values and lessons of the past And also represent the heart of the intentions set out by the earliest founders and contributors to capitolah Hi, christin brown mayor of the city of capitolah Do you hear bike proclaim january 11th 2024 as the 75th anniversary as of capitolah's incorporation? And encourage all citizens of the city of capitolah to join the city council in celebration That's very exciting And for all those in attendance or anyone who wants to come down before the end of the meeting There will be 75th anniversary cake later this evening. So Looking forward to it All right It's gonna rival the zoning code update cake. I hear Watch out Huh gluten-free Okay, we're gonna move on to item four additional materials. Do we have additional materials? It looks like we received additional correspondence Yes, one email was received relating to item 8c The email was posted with the agenda packet and the city council received a copy prior to tonight's meeting. Thank you Uh item five oral communications by members of the public This is a time for members of the public to address the council on items not on tonight's agenda But within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council And you'll have three minutes Please state your name for the record if you would like it included in the minutes for tonight's meeting Hi My name is Goron Klavic. I'm an army veteran I have an issue here at jade street park Capitola at the moment sometimes I see that There are gang signs and graffiti Garbage signs graffiti is different. I'm from europe I know what a graffiti sign is because we had to guard them the graffiti artists so that they are not attacked by gangs but i'm saying is uh When you walk into the men's restroom, you need to use the bathroom not for Painting something or you need to use it because you have to go to the bathroom And it's it's a shame that it's uh the lavatory The towel dispensary has been ripped off or the bathroom Paper it has been stolen and thrown out on the ground there and That's all what I wanted to say. I don't want to make any problems, but it's really bad. I have to Go to the bathroom there when I shoot my baskets. I'm retired since my army days So thank you very much for listening and god bless you all take care. Thank you Hi, welcome Well, hello, happy new year to everyone. My name is still James Ewing Whitman. I Thought this meeting started at seven. I'm glad I was here and there wasn't a traffic So, you know just to be clear the those flags with the corporate fringe that's uh of america of California of capitoa. That's a corporate situation You know, it's my understanding that most of the people that are in peace officers law enforcement are swearing Two different oaths to our constitution where outside this building you'll have a california and u.s flag That don't have the corporate pirate fringe on it So I was great to be here for The presentation You know, I wrote a lot of things down will capitoa recover from anything and the people that lived here 10 to 15,000 years ago. They're gone so, um It's been a quite an interesting week in the city and county bureaucracies The last time I spoke at the city of santa cruz was at 13 hours 28 minutes There's some pandemonium that kind of erupted soon after that I Had an opportunity to probably engage with at least 25 different officers because I was initially there at 12 30 in the afternoon I spoke at after 2 30 in the morning. I did leave a couple times to take care of some personal business So, uh, I got a hats off for some really creative evil genius What happened, you know, I also spoke with a lot of individuals that Could have been daughters or sons spouses mothers or grandmothers And after the shenanigans I saw more than a dozen people just really burst into tears And I I don't know I put my hands on a young man. I witnessed a young petite Thick Woman breaker window but they have cameras for that stuff There is another couple that were banging on the window and I put my hand on that man I said you need to stop because this is going to escalate to some and people are going to get hurt So I'll take your hand off me and I was like nobody you need to stop You need to do this and one of the young leaders said you got to take your hand off that guy and I said I will but He's got to stop doing this because this is going to get ugly fast You know, I've spoken here before About a really terrible example of peace officers that happened on june 28th 2021 or there's an awful six minute and 41 second video presentation that shows A terrible example of peace officers And that still hasn't been remedies and those were officers in the santa cruz police department So i'm actually here so I care wish I had some more time because the information about the wharf And what they wanted to do was really quite amazing. There was an older gentleman that had worked there for 40 years and Seems like common sense isn't so common You know, there's lawsuits going that they can't do a restructuring where Only five percent of the 4,500 pilings are damaged And if you just added to that you would add sheer strength to it, but several people talked about a lawsuit Stopping fixing it anyway. Thank you very much. Thank you Any further public comment this evening? All right with that we will close public comment We'll move on to item six staff and city council comments. Do staff have any comments this evening? Good evening, mayor and council. I have a few updates on traffic safety around the city that I wanted to share with you this evening The first that next tuesday january 16th from six to eight will be holding a virtual public meeting For the park avenue traffic calming study. This is aimed at reducing vehicle speeds and increasing particularly bike safety From monorail to a coronado This project's been outstanding. I believe the last time I came to council was november of 2022 Everyone in the adjacent neighborhoods was able to post card last week and we've received multiple Survey responses the survey is posted on the website as is the zoom link to the meeting next tuesday Um, also going on around town is final striping of capitol road It's ideal to wait a couple weeks after you pave a road to stripe it So it adheres appropriately and then it rained and then it was christmas and now we're striping it At the same time we're having the striper go around and hit a few other areas around town. He already striped their crossroads Crossroads loop crosswalk on bay avenue Also dealt with some odd striping up kennedy and then it's also going to do some striping on stockton bridge for the bike lane And then lastly the flashing bay hill stop signs were ordered and arrived at our yard this week And should be installed late next week. That is all I have on traffic safety for this evening Thank you. I appreciate that. Uh, is it possible for staff to um, send the information about the virtual public meeting to council members So that we can share that on our own social media and in other newsletters or however We might be communicating with the public. Absolutely for Singapore. Great. Thank you All right Any other staff comments? No, okay. Uh, we'll bring it back to council comments. We'll start down at this side any council comments Down here No, okay. Yeah, go ahead um, just wanted to Say happy new year and we're all back here again, which is great and uh, once again You know, we've worked it with some tumultuous weather and just a huge shout out to public works and rpd for The quick cleanup the safety measures that you all take and it's it doesn't go unnoticed So I just want you guys to know that we're all super grateful for all of your hard work And I noticed the bike lane striping today on capitol and it's like super bright and noticeable. So it looks good. Thank you All right, and I just want to say briefly I already mentioned the parade tomorrow for uh, celebrating the uh, thank you saturday Not tomorrow, uh to celebrate the state champion Soquel high nights 11 a.m. In capitol of village rain or shine see you there And then I wanted to share that this evening I will be adjourning tonight's meeting in honor of jerry bowls who recently passed away Jerry was a brookville terrace resident and was instrumental in the purchase of the park by the residents in 1973 to make them a Resident on park. He served the wider county as a strong advocate for mobile home parks He was a founding member of an organization Of the organization called resident on parks and he served three counties As well on the echo board of directors the educational community for hoas Brookville terrace held a clubhouse dedication for jerry last week, which I attended along with our former mayor stephanie harland And stephanie, excuse me several friends and residents including former mayor harlan Shared their fond memories of jerry who will be greatly missed by his community. So I will be adjourning tonight's meeting in jerry's honor Okay, we will move on now to item seven, which is our consent agenda. These will all be enacted on By one motion as listed on our agenda I believe We don't need it was public comment for this was included in the initial public comment periods So we will entertain a motion. I can move the consent second We have a motion in a second. We don't need to do roll call anymore. Right. We can just do voice voice votes Okay, we have a motion in second all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed any abstentions motion carries unanimously All right, we'll move on to our general government and public hearings And we'll start with item eight a which is an update on the december 2023 winter storm event Good evening mayor and council members As an in-calf to our year here at the city. We had another storm event that we'd like to update you on next slide, please So like many storm events, we knew this one was coming ahead of time We had high swall on december 28 2023. That was a thursday It was a high wave event Leading to storm surges it affected the village in the low lying areas along so-called creek And the police department issued an evacuation warning though. There was no evacuation needed for this event next slide, please Some proactive measures some lessons learned from our january 2023 storms was really issuing these evacuation mornings in a timely manner To coordinate effectively between public works and police early on the police department was very much involved In the or three meetings ahead of the event and public works was very much prepared for the oncoming event days ahead of time Pre event preparation act of monitoring to mitigate potential damages and then also public awareness really putting out on our social media and then also Forgive me. I am not in the police, but the warning system that we have was also utilized for this event Next wall. Thank you um during the event the response included community updates, um the police department continuing to be involved in incident command with or three Closing the village to vehicle and pedestrian traffic and really being able to evacuate the vehicles that were already there um issuing the shelter in place during the event and providing those social media updates Public works was out there. Also in the wee hours of thursday morning Trying to manage water levels protecting our esplanade and preparing for cleanup and then after the event building department Stop was out doing building inspections damage assessment and issuing uh yellow and red tags to affected businesses and residences Um, the closure of cleanup lasted for approximately 48 hours We anticipated another event on the 30th that luckily didn't really materialize But really it was helpful for public works to effectively clean up having the road closed for that amount of time And also really for public safety because sometimes the public cannot protect themselves We have to protect them and so keeping the road closed is really helpful Uh for that for that purpose Um as far as damage assessment goes private damage assessment, there were four yellow tags issued three commercial one residential currently there's Two outstanding yellow tags one at the bay bar Mostly due to not having access to assess the damages And then another residential in the venetian had to do with a window that they are actively repairing Uh two red tags were issued and are still outstanding for two residential units Directly adjacent to each other in the venetian those were damaged in january 2023 and are in the building permit process Which will now also need to include these additional damages A city property images were limited this time I would say a lot due to there being a whole lot less debris coming out of our creek and from the ocean during this event Wharf damages were a few structural elements a couple of piles were damaged by some floating debris and there were some decking loss um in the under construction portion of the wharf Uh the estimate for those repairs are six to eight additional weeks For that project And then we had the complete loss of the bottom of hooper stairway that we had just rebuilt this past spring And so we are considering a betterment project for reconstruction of this In the future probably a concrete structure But we're going to look into several alternatives to keep us from having to do this because this is not the first or second Or third time that we have lost the end of the stairway Um the fiscal impact So Director Hurley, he and I went out with or three earlier this week to do some damage assessment and reporting They are seeking state disaster declarations to make us eligible for state and federal funds countywide Costs that we could potentially recover or preparation in response to the storm the wharf repairs and then also hooper stairs slide, please Some lessons from this event for future event We plan on putting out our mobile sign Ahead of the events like I said at the beginning of the presentation a lot of times We have several days notice of these events happening So we would proactively Put out our changeable message sign at esplanades doctrine avenue warning Of high surf advisories and then also during the event having signage on our ballers Which block the entrance to the esplanade really trying to deter pedestrians from coming out there again trying to protect the public proactively next slide, please That is it. I'm here and so is chief dally if you have any particular questions about this event Great. Thank you. Um council questions start at this end Yes, well, I'd like to start at the stairs the hooper stairs, you know that we historically had problems over and over And we're getting ready to do our cliff project to right cliff restoration cliff drive Maybe we can do just a temporary Removable portion of the stairs until we get and do it and probably the best Be concrete but probably would be better when we did the restoration with the cliff drive Just a thought that's definitely your consideration I I want to echo what our council member keiser said earlier about just the tremendous work that took place that That day. Um, my questions are regarding a safety plan There were a lot of things we learned the first time it happens And now we learned a little bit more and i'm curious whether staff in our police department are going to work on a 72 48 24 hour plan when Events like this occur again And if that could be presented to council um and then this I know that's a bit of direction, but i'm just wondering if the it exists already. I guess is my more direct question So the idea at this point is is For specifically like a weather event. Um or three will give us some notice of that and so when we Um Have that first meeting we'll have an idea how far out whatever event that we are going to have and so Once we have that first meeting we're going to try and Put in enough public notice So at this point when we looked whether there would be like 72 hours in advance of like whatever the storm is And so there's a lot of variables, especially with weather patterns And so as it builds up or increases or decreases as our vulnerabilities But we do plan on putting out that the flashing Mobile sign and then doing more proactive noticing on the front and like I said like 72 hours 48 hours And we'll build up But like said having an actual visual sign at the entrance of s hold on just giving people a heads up that are just Like pedestrians or the business owners are those that don't follow social media and stuff like that So that's the idea at this point. Okay. Um, so and I can give Further direction when we get to that that point, but the question remains Do we have a safety plan a plan for our public works department? It sounds like the answer is There's no formal plan at this at this time The the second part is about communication with council members We didn't receive any Information till because you guys were very busy. I understand that is an opportunity for council to receive information When the or three information goes out And the reason I ask is because I know new brighton middle school opened up as a as a shelter But we didn't know about that and us as Electeds could use that information while the event's happening and I appreciate the information gave us the updates after But we want to act as resources too, and I think it would be really great to be on those Be on some sort of communication line So those were somewhat questions slash comments, but thank you. Thank you Okay, I just have two quick questions The wharf damages was that damaged to new construction existing infrastructure or both Oh, okay Is there anything My concern is that if that was damage of new construction Then Is it just going to continue to get damaged every year the idea is that that this was a resiliency project So that the new construction would make the wharf more resilient But if it's taking on the same kind of damage as the old infrastructure, then is it really becoming more resilient? So there's two parts to answer some of that damage was because it was actively under construction So that portion wasn't complete. It wasn't completely affixed and so that is part of the reason it was removed We do get that same kind of wave action in that Area often there are mitigations in the project to kind of address that with some of our decking spacing and other Other items in the structure to address that I would say once it's complete And we are considering some modifications But I would say the majority of the damage shaken on of the new part the newly constructed part was because the construction wasn't complete But a couple points I would add is is that We have a wood piling wharf at least all the old pilings are wood and they will break in storms I mean It's just a fact of life that those wood pilings do break and part of this project You'll recall was going from the three pilings during called the trestle sort of the walkway out to the main part of the wharf And when we used to get breaks there Often the wharf wouldn't be structurally sound or we would have to close it and do emergency repairs When the project is done We're going to be six pilings wide which adds a lot of redundancy So that hopefully we can lose a piling or two and we don't have to do an emergency repair and sort of be Kind of on the hook to quickly fix it So in a sense, we are always going to probably see some pilings break I know the city of sanikers sees piling break and high storm events But the goal here now is is that we have more redundancy. It's stronger and then if they do break We don't have to be under the gun to get it done as quickly and we can maybe bundle the projects and do a more cost effective Great, thank you And then my only other question uh, you talked about how or three is seeking disaster Declarations for financial assistance and cost recovery. How long do we expect that financial assistance and cost recovery is going to take? Well, we we just got our first checks for last winter storms. I think it was in the last week So that was about a year. Um, if it was on the same timeline, that's probably a reasonable estimate I do know that that's actually relatively quick in femalium Uh, I think that the county is still struggling on getting some other cz fire reimbursements Uh, all right, great. Thank you so much. Um, no additional questions Okay, we'll take it to public comment. Is there any, uh, member of the public? It has any comments on this item Welcome back so With the repairs and storm surges, you know, you look at this picture right there and I would suppose that that bridge is probably Probably only 16 feet above the creek Um, it's my understanding being in a supervisors meeting that the capitol up here the walkway is 19 feet above The average of the ocean where the city is the main wharf is 23 So although I don't think it went through They were suggesting widening the wharf a little bit because then that was an opportunity To have an emergency repair area To make something that was brand new and only 5 of the 4,500 peers that have been there 100 years Were damaged So maybe something possibly similar could happen with a repair here So I thought this was interesting about the storm. I wrote this down. We knew it was coming ahead of time You know, it seems sometimes common sense isn't so common Uh, it's my understanding that the wave actions on the planet are caused by our interactions with the gravity of the moon So why wouldn't other Situations with the sun or other planets cause other different types of actions It's my understanding that we may be dealing with tidal situations that are seven to ten times higher than normal this october of 2024 And this is due to alignments between earth and our sun And for other planets that some say haven't been identical to this within degree since 79 ad Lot of interesting things in history that happened in 79 ad So I Have a little bit of time I just wonder with this damage if something couldn't be done that actually looked nice And if there was some kind of forward warning You know two human beings can pretty much easily lift up 100 pound sheets of let's say inch and a eighth plywood To protect the storefronts to protect the buildings And then there'd be a lot less damage So the whole situation of we knew it was coming ahead of time It's just going to be interesting to what happens because there's a lot of folks that really focus on astronomy and astrology and plan events According to that So anyway interesting conversations. We'll see what happens with the drones Thank you, mr. Whitman any further public comment Okay, we will close public comment and bring it back to council for discussion and a vote any comments Uh, no, we don't need to vote. This is just an update. So we'll bring it back for discussion Yeah, I I would just like to see um some sort of Storm plan created just in case Jessica You might not be here on storm day that person to in line can pull something out and say, you know at a 72 hour We start putting the ballards up and at 48 hours We tell our businesses they have to close down if the waves are above What was it projected 33 feet or you know, I just feel like we know these events are going to happen More often than we'd like and it would be a great idea to work with our police department public works or three In creating a capitol a storm plan for events that may occur in the future Um, and it was just really and it's partially also because of the information I received about the public being out there by the waves We saw so many people out there and it was not safe. We saw one get washed out at the venetian Um, so I think it's just really important for us to take some sort of Um control over the matter Especially for the safety of our community and our businesses I'd like to add to that. I I think the police department has done a fair job of Notifying us and letting us know of these events However, I think it'd be a good idea to bolster it because we have a reaccom Recurring thing happening where we have these wave events more often I think it's going to be something that's going to be continuing to happen So it would be great if we could bolster our safety plans Yeah, I want to second that and I I think the ideas of having signage Where our ballards are would be helpful. I know our PD that ends up having to stand there gets bombarded with questions from pedestrians and They're not awesome questions. Um, so I would like to mitigate that if possible And then the hooper stairs. I would definitely like to see some more permanent Set up whether it's concrete or something removable. I don't know what that would take but just um, I think that's important for Just our people that come to visit and everybody that loves loves to spend time over there Um And yes, I think the communication thing I felt like this it was a weird timing for this event and like everybody was sort of like out of town or like not here And everybody was kind of scattered. So I felt like there was a little lack of that but As much as we can do in that regard, I think will be super helpful and and As much as you guys help us we want to help you too. And so the more we know and the more understanding We have of what's happening the more we can put out there. So we're not calling or texting People that we know in the city to be like, what should I be doing right now? What example should I set? So I think that's important, but I overall I'm really happy that everything kind of Ended up okay. I say that now, but you know, um, but yeah, thank you guys for all the work too Um, yeah, I'll just say you know for better or for worse. This wasn't our first rodeo So, um, I was impressed with the preparations and the recovery the how quickly the village was reopened You know, I think that there's a lot to say for our city staff our public works our police department the group of community volunteers who worked To help those businesses get reopened so quickly just really a great community effort Which is not a surprise to me at all that our community always comes together when we need to Those two venetians that are still red tagged um Do we know if there's any Support that we can provide to them in terms of how you know, they I know in the past like sba has provided some small, you know loans to People who are experiencing disasters. Is there just any resources that we can provide or have provided to? um those residents The director hurl he is actually online right now and so she may have a better answer I will do my best and katie if you want to jump on and add anything I think these were two structures were damaged last year as well Um, so I think they have been working through. I don't know how much They're going to be able to get from fema because they do have insurance Um, and I do know that our building department has been working with them But katie if you have anything to add online, please Let me know Otherwise We'll let that answer stand and I'll be happy to provide any more information in the friday update As I learned it. Yeah, that would be great. Sure. Um, I don't know. Can you hear me? Yes Yeah, so the sba was here and small and so there may be the Ability for them to get low interest loans. So we will communicate with them and david reed is going to keep us from or three up to date on what What options are out there for them? So Great, thank you I also just want to say I actually really think that this idea of sort of a checklist for these kinds of events is actually a great idea It's interesting over my career here. We have primarily focused on water coming from the mountains. Um, that has been My experience is what I've experienced in the past and really we're always actively monitoring the creek And now seeing two wave events What's interesting about them is you do have a lot of lead time You know the wave forecaster out there a week ahead of time And so I do think that putting that as sort of an addendum to our emergency operations plan like with the wave events So that you're not inventing it as you go or if it happens on december 26, you know when a lot of people are out of town um So I actually really like that idea and the idea behind that sort of our post post event kind of briefing was like Okay, you know, let's think about this like having some high wave event signed that we just have Already in stock ready to go because our officers do spend a lot of time and it's hard to keep everybody off the esplanade Right, it's a porous spot. So trying to do what we can so it's just it's not so much inventing the wheel For these kinds of events because these kinds of events They look pretty similar right the same units were damaged both times and so I think that that's a great suggestion. We'll definitely pursue it Great All right. Well, this was just an update. Uh, there's no vote. So we will move on to item 8b Receive a presentation regarding the new unmanned aircraft system drone program Evening chief. Good evening mayor and council. Um, I'm here this evening to um, have my team do a presentation regarding our new um unmanned aircraft systems there or drone program and so um, right now I have uh, sergeant kilroy I mean sergeant newton who's been um, has been one of the He's a pilot now, but he's been one of the the officers that helped kind of bring this program together And then captain kilroy is going to also follow up and he's going to be our our coordinator for the program So they've put the presentation together Have put a lot of time and energy and looking at the policies and procedures and stuff like that And I've done a lot of work and um started bringing this team together. And so like I said, I'm really excited to bring this Program forward and give you a little uh overview of kind of what's going on with it. So with that, I'm going to hand it over to Mr. Newton and he'll uh, he'll take it from there Great, thank you Good evening mayor and council So the purpose of the drone program is to enhance officer and public safety with industry standard aerial support Um to assist allied agencies when appropriate Collaborate with other city departments to enhance Employee safety and efficiency This with the city apartments kind of like our our big focus point where we're going to get the most utilization out of this program And what that would look like is in public works with our recent weather events Getting a different vantage point for our city employees to effectively Talk on these weather events On top of public works would be also our Recreation department with our junior lifeguards in camp capitol Make sure our beach goers and our juveniles are safe And then also community development with our building and planning department Giving them different vantage points with our drone program Make them safe so they can effectively do their job So we see a big purpose with being able to use this for other departments in our city For those various reasons next slide While researching it, um captain killer and myself, we uh located three different common concerns that communities with new implementation of drone programs and that includes safety privacy and lack of transparency Going over safety concerns that we identified as um Common won't be drones composed safety risks including crashing or malfunctioning potentially causing personal harm or property damage There's actually been very few documented Incidences of injuries from drone use not related to operator error Our operators are trained faa part 107 remote pilots And there will be also monthly training in accordance with cbt training plan Which myself and captain kore will be developing here in the next few months Uh drones could be weaponized against the public that's been a common uh theme that we've seen But the faa regulations prohibit attachments of weapons to drones for civilian or law enforcement use Next slide please Another one will be privacy concerns capturing images and video footage of people in private places absent accident circumstance or a warrant our policy prohibits the intentional recording of images at any Location where a person would have reasonable expectation of privacy routine patrols of high crime areas or even entire cities such santa cruz county routine patrols are prohibited prohibited by policy And also drones could be used to conduct warrantless surveillance policy prohibits random surveillance And camera is only in use during authorized operations And lastly transparency concerns capitol police department will not fully be transparent about our drone program including policies procedures extent of drone usage performance and results Our uas program policy directive and usage reports will be posted to the public transparency web page Transparency may lack key details such as drone capabilities including thermal imaging Drone usage will be included in annual ap assembly bill for 81 reporting Which will include all key details such as drone capabilities including camera and thermal imaging There are more than 1,400 police departments in the united states utilizing a drone program with great success The key to success is a balancing or is The key to success is a balance between the potential benefits and the protection of individual rights and privacy through clear regulations and oversight capitol PD will not operate or Will only operate drones within policy and directives new technology will be inevitably arise That can increase public safety, but will also come with additional privacy concerns We are committed to partnerships with the community to ensure new technology does not violate reasonable privacy concerns And going into a little more deep dive in our policy and procedures. I'd like to introduce captain killray Evening mayor and council you guys see me. Okay, or should I find a platform? All right, just to go over our policy and procedure The purpose obviously is to promote a safe and efficient lawful use of any UAS Within our control and we want to ensure safety in all operations and that's safety for the public For property for first responders and for our own equipment next slide Some definitions that you'll see if you look at our policy and directive program coordinator This is the position that I hold. It is appointed by the chief of police The responsibilities include managing the UAS program and ensuring compliance with all regulations training safety and data management A remote pilot is a person that's actually exercising control over the UAS So that's the pilot that's in charge of the controller itself and doing the flying A visual observer is a person responsible for the visual observation of UAS in flight So if we do have a visual observer, this will be somebody who is not flying the aircraft But is watching the aircraft looking for any danger and helping the pilot mitigate any issues that might arise FAA 14 CFR part 107 commonly called part 107 This is required for individuals to operate a UAS commercially So being on the clock and being paid and it ensures knowledge and skills Meet FAA regulations. So this is a certification that's issued by the FAA for remote pilots Next slide, please So prohibitive use These pieces of equipment will not be used for random surveillance. We won't be doing any kind of profiling Harassment and they will not be used for personal use next slide So some authorized missions will include but are not limited to Crime and collision scene documentation. This would give us an aerial view of either of these as needed Response to hazardous material incident This will allow us to get in closer to any sort of hazardous materials bills to evaluate without putting personnel in danger Public safety and life preservation missions. Um, this could include water Issues missing persons, etc. Actually we have missing persons on there, but any potential hazards to life Disaster response and recovery efforts Um Kind of self-explanatory allied agency requests including fire surrounding law enforcement agencies We will assist with authorization Any missions related to in-progress crimes training Creating recruitment or social media related content and collaborating with other city departments Next slide, please So our mission operations a general mission As we're flying the camera will be focused only on mission relevant areas The uas will only be operated by certified remote pilots and again those are those of us that have successfully Past training and received our part 107 certification All PD mission flight telemetry will be recorded to a software platform that we're going to be using called drone sense However, we won't necessarily record all the data for training or demonstration flights Next slide If we have pre-planned mission requests, uh, this will have to come through either the program coordinator Which would be me or captain ryan the chief if needed. Um, and this Uh, would be something if you think along the lines of a planned search warrant or something like that Is what this would be covered under an ongoing fresh investigation would be not considered pre-planned On-duty active mission authorization. So something that happens while our pilots are on duty The uas can be deployed. I'm sorry on duty and actually responding to a call The uas can be deployed during active and emergency incidents And if that is the case the remote pilot will notify their watch commander or supervisor Indoor operations, this will be limited to emergencies or with supervisor approval They'll be performed under the same standards as the on-duty active mission that we covered on the previous slide And just so you know when flown indoors, um drones do not fall under fAA regulations because you're no longer operating an fAA airspace For training, um, the our training sessions will be scheduled Um by the program coordinator or appointee We will establish a monthly hours requirement and these trainings may be self-directed as long as they fall within the designated training plan And training flights will be considered pre-authorized So if an officer knows that he needs to meet his training for the month, he has pre-authorization to do said training Next slide So addressing data civil rights issues and privacy Data retention and processing recorded mission data will be evaluated for evidentiary value We're not going to keep something that's not deemed valuable as evidence Evidence will follow departmental data retention requirements. Those are laid out in policy and evidence transfer to physical or any Usable evidence will be transferred to either physical storage media and or evidence.com Which is a cloud-based evidence Database that we use Protection of privacy and privacy concerns. So civil rights and privacy are always going to be protected And all operations will be consistent with local state and federal law next slide So I do have one proposed policy edit That was brought to our attention. So under section 613.4 describing the program coordinator So the change would be what's underlined in the second bullet point to read The program coordinator will ensure that the policies and procedures can form to current laws regulations And best practices house as outlined in the u.s. Operating procedures directive and then to continue on With additional responsibilities next slide So just a reminder the purpose of our policy and procedures to ensure the safe efficient and lawful operation of uas Prioritize safety and emissions allow only trained personnel to utilize our uas Allow supportive first responders in various scenarios Focus on mission specific tasks while adhering to faa regulations We will be defining roles and responsibilities of all of our uas flight crew members Will emphasize the importance of safety checks prior to any flight And address data retention privacy and weather considerations prior to flight And we will also establish flight time limitations to ensure the well being of our flight crew We don't want anybody who's fatigued going hands-on with any of our equipment Next slide So I'll just give you a brief overview of the equipment that we are going to start the program with so we will be utilizing DJI drones DJI has a very high reputation of quality while being fiscally responsible at the buddha lately So for our exterior flights, we outdoor flights Our plan is to use the DJI Mavic 3t, which has thermal imaging capability Interior will utilize the model of Vada and for training And interior backup flights will use it's called the mini 2 So here's what the Mavic 3 looks like and gives just a brief example of what that thermal imaging looks like So our primary use for that will be on the interior It'll give us about a 45 minute flight time And it does have a 56 times hybrid zoom camera along with the thermal camera The avada It will be used for indoors like I said before we can get about 18 minutes of flight time out of it It's got a wide angle of view first person view goggles to utilize indoor Searches Next slide and then here's the mini 2 as you can see when they're folded up. They're about the size of the palm of my hand They're they're very small And so these will be our training zones. They're inexpensive. So if there's damage down there It's not a hard pill to swallow to have a replacement purchased And we can't use them as backup interior drones. They have a little bit longer flight time But the camera capabilities are are a little less Next slide So our funding to launch this program We're using the supplemental law enforcement services fund our initial budget from that fund is $15,000 That will cover the initial equipment purchase training for four additional remote pilots Training for two program coordinators That's sergeant newton and I and then training for two Program trainers to make sure that all of our pilots are up to speed on training. That will also be sergeant newton and I And then we may request periodically funding through our public safety foundation with approval from the chief of police To supplement training and equipment needs Next slide so Our first collaborative effort with the city manager's office was a video where sergeant newton and I captured Some footage and chloe was kind enough to put a very nice video together celebrating capitol's 75th anniversary So that concludes our presentation. I'll take any questions you might have Thank you. I love the happy capitol reference. That's never going to get old Any questions in this side I have a whole suite of questions. Okay Um, first of all, I just like to start because I am going to ask a lot of questions Uh by saying this is great technology. I think it can really enhance the safety of police officers and our community at large Um, I just wanted to preface my questions by that but um I want to know first. Can the drones be used for real-time facial recognition or automated license plate readers? No, they cannot okay. They cannot And then I had a question on the bullet point that said that the mission flight telemetry recorded on drones and software Could you tell me a little bit about drone sense? Um, what what the purpose of that is and if it's uh available to the public? Sure. Um I'll answer that in a from from last to first. It is not available to the public. It's a law enforcement UAS management platform drone sense is the name of the company and Like I said, it's a it's a management platform. It integrates with the controllers of the drones It records flight telemetry. So it it Not only records speed Direction of heading Elevation, but it actually tracks the flight on a map Makes a record of it flight time, etc and All of that Data is stored within the drone sense platform and it allows us to pull Periodic reports that we can then post to the transparency page to show What our law enforcement missions were and we can add notes. What was the reason for the flight? What did we observe? Was any evidence collected due to that flight, etc? It also The drone sense platform helps us manage the equipment It helps us manage training Uh, it it keeps track of every single every single pilot when they log into the drone That data of that flight is assigned to that pilot So it just allows for pretty in-depth tracking of each flight the pilot the mission and the equipment And um, if a drone is launched in the air or somebody's flying it, is that video content automatically being recorded? Or do you have to press a special button to start recording? You have to you have to press the record button to start recording and you also have to stop recording when you're done Yep, and within our directive. We we we will not start recording until Excuse me. We've identified mission specific events that would qualify for recording Okay, great. Great. Um, and that kind of goes into the next question, which was about Recorded mission data will be evaluated for evidentiary value So you only really hang on to specific segments of that recorded video content So an overall the way that we would want to do it If if we were to get a call for a drone to to assist with an investigation or or a call in you know in progress We'd launch the drone. We would identify a potential Um Area that needed to be recorded. We'd start recording. We record for the duration of that flight once it's done Um, we would then assess whether what we collected is of evidentiary value to that case It may not be At that point it would be deleted off of the device if it was Determined that it was valuable to the case that entire recording would be kept as evidence. We don't we yeah, we don't edit We we can't do that, right? It's it's one piece of evidence that would then be uploaded or saved in some fashion for that case Okay, thank you. Um, yeah, and I would just Add that it sounds like the policy is designed around this but I think drones should be used very sparingly And I know that it's an ear policy to use it for social media and training purposes and I hope that the police department would Just be cognizant of people's understanding of drones and that most people do not want to see any drones Let alone police drones flying overhead. Yeah, because of privacy concerns. I understand that. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you Any questions on this end? Okay, uh, thank you so much for that presentation. We will bring it now to public comment Are there any members of the public that have comment on this item? Welcome back Sure, why not? My name is still James Ewing Whitman I I wish that All peace officer organizations had the best technology available That doesn't seem like the best technology available. I watch tv. I watch videos Um, I think some of the questions brought up by that the council were good Will this be used for facial recognition or license plate readers? Probably not, you know, they that's a redundancy um The city of santa cruz disclosed what the county is doing, you know every intersection from downtown santa cruz past state park drive As uh, it's getting upgraded in 27 different, um intersections so those Facial recognition that infrared stuff it's rampant. It's everywhere your apple phone does that every seven seconds um You know the whole six feet away six feet under whatever This might have some hundred dollar bills. It definitely has some cards in it Satellite can read that if I'm five feet away from another human being That's technology. That's 30 years old So there's a lot of things going on and I could go into quite a bit of detail about that, but I'm all for peace officers having the best things to keep the peace and hopefully they'll get Even better equipment than they seem to have already. Thank you Thank you, mr. Whitman any additional public comments Seeing none, we'll close public comment and bring it back to council for additional discussion and additional discussion Further comment Thank you for the presentation. It was really informative and thank you councilmember Peterson for your questions as well. Those are really helpful as part of the prohibited use on the policy 613.6 you make note of That prohibited use is to include to target a person based solely on um actual perceived characteristics, etc, etc My hope would be that this particular Additional policy is intertwined with the implicit bias trainings that all police officers Are required to do in the department You know, you're trained on implicit bias when you pull someone over or when you do etc, etc Now we're introducing new technology. It would be We I don't know if it's a request in those trainings if you have to add it on or when you Start using drones in in your community. So I'd like to see That incorporated somehow into the implicit bias trainings that you have to do Other than that, I'm happy to To move the recommended recommended action on This item. Let me get to it Oh, well, then I don't give any I withdraw I withdraw my motion Okay, sorry. I had a clarification on one of the earlier slides where I think it And now I don't remember what side it was but do you mind bringing up It was actually when sergeant newton was perfect. I saw your look of concern I was like it was about the common concerns. Yes. Yeah, okay. So that was the wording in there Yeah, so it did have something to do with the transparency and thank you. Yes Thank you. So the concern is that cpd would not be transparent. Okay, however the solution to that is we are going to be Completely transparent. Yes. Yeah, I thought I saw the look pop up on your face. Yeah, all right. Thank you I have just a comment. I know our sheriff's office has been using it since 2019 and It's worked out really well for them. I know the capital has asked for assistance several times for the use of a drone So really look forward to this technology. I know it's really good Great to see you guys here. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much for the presentation really appreciate it We'll move on to item 8c Provide direction to staff about remote participation options for members of the public at city council and planning commission meetings I won't go to staff Or presentation Good evening mayor and city members. There's no power point for this item So just to briefly recap on october 26 during our regularly scheduled city council meeting Our city was targeted by What's called a zoom bombing And we received numerous comments via zoom that included non inclusive hateful language Following that meeting the city council provided direction to staff to temporarily suspend zoom public comments Zoom public comments are not required by law. It was something that the city had incorporated a courtesy for residents Since then we have received public comment during city council meetings requesting that the city bring it back So it is here tonight for city council discussion and direction back to staff I prepared a survey of cities that have received zoom bombings It was included with the staff report and a copy was also printed for your review this evening Approximately 65 different agencies not always cities sometimes school boards have experienced zoom bombing incidents in 2023 Some of those agencies have received multiple targeted experiences Of those about 38 of them So about half have temporarily or permanently suspended the use of zoom for public comment during their meetings So this is something that continues to be an issue throughout the state I'm available for any questions But this item tonight is really for an opportunity for you to discuss and deliberate and provide direction to staff Great. Thank you. Oh, we'll start with questions questions at this end Go ahead Yeah My thought is It would be great if we still kept it at least temporary if if not more but Until things get better until there's better technology for zoom and identifying where where the calls are coming from Um And and looking at this list it looks like that would be the appropriate thing to do to uh continue until maybe the It changes a bit and gets a bit a little bit safer for everybody For my own clarification continue with allowing zoom comments or continue as it is right now Revisit it later. I see what you're saying. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, perfect. Thank you Questions okay questions on this end We'll go to comments after a public comment. But are there questions? Um, yeah, I have a question. I just want to um clarify These this is a most Up-to-date list of dates, right? So there hasn't been anything since october. Is that correct? So I initially collected the survey data after our city council meeting. So this was collected in november um, I have not um There have been met multiple cities that have begun hit multiple times and so With so many cities removing zoom as an option for public comment Sometimes that prevents it from happening again. So I can't say since december I'm one last time. I think the last time I updated the spreadsheet was in late november Juliet, have you reached out to the league of cities to see if there's been any, um Movements with the governor's office in regards to Because we're allowed to have zoom and public comment that way Have you have you gotten and received any updates from the league of cities? So our city manager actually shared this spreadsheet with our representative from the league of cities I'm not sure because We're not required to have zoom as a public comment function It's a it's an option that we provided as a courtesy to residents to allow for further inclusivity So there's no legal requirement for us to maintain zoom as a public option I'm not sure if the league has chosen to focus on this in this year as a An option to review So then my follow-up question would be for our attorney. Um, have there to be has there been any updates to the Um on the legal end of things we can do to To protect ourselves or to stop the comment as they come in. No, okay. Thank you Okay, uh, if there's no further questions from council, we will bring this to the public for public comment Welcome Yes, my name is still james ewing whitman That was october 26th. I was here. I listened to that That actually was pretty ugly There's a lot of ugly things going on. You know, which is quite the catch 22 Uh, I didn't know what this list meant But I was looking at it before it started. I'm like, wow, I'm so glad that we're bringing this up So during the lockdown, there weren't a lot of public meetings I remember showing up for the first time at the city of santa cruz where Seven of the 11 individuals that probably heard me speak 150 times in front of them at zero times in the last two years So if something else happens, how are we going to be able to communicate? And I'll say directly on tuesday I wasn't there the whole time that I was at the city council I've just shown up at the county at 8 30 in the morning from 12 30 until about four in the morning That's a long time As I said, I was my comments were at 13 hours 28 minutes before the pandemonium As far as controlings free speech You know, I think that uh roan atchison About 10 years ago did a very important Communication He felt next to food and water the next most important anguish free speech More important than a roof over your head So I left to take care of some work business and I had a you know, a nice speaking remote bluetooth state of the art 2023 handheld weapon. That's a great Motorola tool And it cut out on me like 30 times In less than an hour And I don't know. I mean I definitely went into a concrete building for a while, but It's very frustrating when the technology is not working and I'm in disagreement that The zoom and the surveillance stuff. They know exactly who's making those calls You know, they're not sharing the technology. So As ugly as it was what I heard Um, I'll tell you flat out to be in a room of over 100 people and to witness More than a dozen women just really burst into tears about the really evil genius of how they changed the plan for Calling for the ceasefire in palestinian and palestine occupied palestine I'm not for a ceasefire, but I'm not talking about that right now. I'm here for accountability and uh If something else happens and we don't have access to communicate with you folks, you know You should be responsible for what you say. I try to be careful with what I say it I can actually thank mr. Clark for giving me some good guidance. We had a laugh about that and I still I thank you a lot for that So It is important that people can communicate with you and you guys seem to have pretty thick skin Known as thick as some other people maybe but I think it's great that you guys have the skin and the thickness that you have so I'm glad that I made time to be here today And uh, because this is going to be an outstanding year In my understanding is there's a lot of censorship going on And I think people should be accountable for what they say, but they should be able to say it. Thanks Thank you Any further public comment on this item? Saying none. We'll bring it back to council for a deliberation and we'll start down at this end Comments. Thank you. Yeah, I do have some comments um I think that zoom is a really important asset to our community I think it helps um our residents become more involved with local government, which is really important I also think it creates an avenue for elderly and disabled to have access to the chambers in a convenient way Because um looking at this data if the um Date of collection is correct at the end of november That shows us that it's been approximately one month since there were really any incidents There's only one incident in november being on november 1st The rest happened in september and october So based on that I would suggest That we regather the information the latest data and revisit this and if All of the incidents happened in september and october and there haven't been any recent in the past two and a half months or so Uh, I would recommend that we reopen zoom for public comment Thank you No, um, I was just doing a quick search to see if there's been any and I think that information would be helpful I think my personal opinion is that we would wait to gather some more information from staff to see if there have been any more incidents um Incidences occur My concern is just that with the issue I brought up with the attorney that nothing's been done to protect our community or like From hearing hate speech Um via zoom there's there's no protections in place for for anybody at this time. So, um, I'd like just to see an update Maybe in february or march just to gather enough information and time And I can do my own anecdotal research as well in the meantime as well. Thank you. Um, I Agree that People shouldn't be silenced and that is why we have other modes of communication within the council Um, we receive emails quite frequently throughout the weeks months feeding up to meetings. Um, It doesn't mean that those voices are not heard And if anybody um, like mr. Whitman stated he was here that day that we got zoom bombed and It was horrific and I don't think that anybody should ever be subjected to sit and listen to any type of hate speech whatsoever, um, so that being said I am totally welcome to some more current information as far as who is still receiving these types of um calls and um, Quite frankly, it doesn't really matter where they're coming from. They're just they shouldn't be allowed within these chambers personally So I'd like a little bit more information as far as If there's any more recent Happenings and then if anything legally starts to come up for the safety and Protection of those that are involved in the meetings. That's good information too So I'm fine to revisit in a couple months and just see sort of what the climate looks like then And go from there Thank you. Yes. I'm agreeing with pretty much everybody We do have to just wait to see what happens with the technology on Zoom even though zoom is a company and it's not a process, but it wouldn't be nice if we could Move a little bit forward before we open it back up. Thank you. Great So I have a couple thoughts and I'll start by saying That I agree with the idea of gathering additional information If we could find out not only You know between now and let's say that we can revisit this in q2. So the first meeting of march If we could find out not only by then if any Thing changes in law in the legislature or anything in that regard Also, if there have been any incidents since this last was Looked at but then also this there's this list of what the cities have done Continuing to use zoom discontinued zoom or considering discontinuing zoom I'm assuming that was also in in October if we could get an update on that as well How many cities have Since decided to get rid of zoom altogether how many brought it back. I think that would also be helpful information So if we could bring that back in march I'll say that Hate speech while protected by the first amendment is stressful and demoralizing and in some case frightening for people who are targeted by it And I feel like if someone is emboldened to speak in such a way then let them do it in person Where they are identified and accountable for their actions Rather than you know hiding behind the cloak of anonymity that that uh zoom sometimes allow I think People are often willing to cater to their worst instincts when they feel that they are safe behind that kind of anonymity And it's often seen in cyber bullying on social media and this came case zoom and calling comments It's cowardly but uh people do have the right to say what they would like to say And so while we certainly welcome and support free speech I would encourage people to be accountable for what they choose to say by saying it in public when people know That it's them So With that those are my comments. Do the staff have direction? At a quick question. Okay. I did just want to state for the record One more time. I didn't mention this earlier But the ways in which members of the public can currently comment on city council items So obviously members of the public can't appear in person during our meetings to comment They can also email the city council Prior to the meeting or even sometimes during the meeting before the item is heard And the comments will be made a part of the agenda packet and part of the official record We often forget that this is a way that members of the public can comment, but they can always come and drop off hand written Notices to us or handwritten communications to us will scan it and deliver it and make sure it's made a part of the record If a member of the public doesn't have the ability to write something down They can dictate their comments to a staff member and a staff member will make sure that the comments are transcribed for the city council Members of the public can also mail their comments. They'll be provided to the city council And all of that information is available in our agenda packets on our website and in person at city hall So I just wanted to make sure that was in the record for ways that people can comment Thank you. That's important information. I appreciate that Uh staff has direction. Yes one question Would it be most productive with with the council like us to schedule this for march hearing? One other option could be that we could update the spreadsheet distributed to the council in the form of a memorandum And that if anybody would like us to hold the hearing Whether it's in march in april and may you can do that I'm fine either way Just the question is is if the update basically looks the same as it does today. Do you want to have the hearing? So it's trying to offer another option. I will say too as cities decrease usage of zoom It does tend to decrease the number of zoom attacks. We have so That is a little bit of a correlation there No, I would just like it to be agendized just for transparency with our with our the public and our community Yeah, I I just wanted to say, um The the attacks or incidents were really difficult. It's probably the most difficult Time in city council that I had Um, it was frightening. It was terrible I don't want to give a platform to this kind of hate speech Especially when we have so much, you know, so many terrible things going on in the world and more hate speech It's the last thing that we need. Um, but I do just feel like If it's not going to be an issue we should find that out as soon as possible and we shouldn't let Racist and hateful people take away privileges from our residents So I would say if it if it keeps happening if it's something that is an issue Yeah, let's wait until it's not But we should find out if it is and then if it happens again I would be fully in favor of removing zoom again because I don't want to platform hate speech um, but I also don't want Racists or nazis or whatever they are to make it so Somebody is inconvenienced on speaking their mind to us who may be, you know Unable to get here in an easy way So I'm gonna explain a little bit of my thoughts. Thanks So I think staff has, um Direction from council So we will move on Thank you We'll move on to item 8d city council appointments to advisory bodies Julia is that you again back to me? To close out this evening. Um tonight I do have a city council appointments to regional and city advisory bodies As you probably will recall capitol is represented on various multi jurisdictional boards by members of the city council These boards and committees are established by other codes or bylaws not by the city Although city council members and sometimes staff members have seats on those boards to represent the city's interests In addition to those multi jurisdictional seats the city council holds seats on three of our city advisory bodies The financial advisory committee the commission on the environment and the art and cultural commission In addition to that there are four multi jurisdictional groups to which the city council has seats on However, the city is not the appointing body to those groups The appointing body is the santa christ county city selection committee. And so tonight for your Review and consideration We would like to review affirm and make appointments where necessary to these city's advisory groups To the multi jurisdictional advisory groups And we'd also like to make recommendations for future city selection committee appointments So that when the city selection committee meets and has the opportunity to appoint somebody from capitol to that group That we have a name kind of already drafted and ready for that meeting when it takes place So to start us off. I thought I'd start us off with an easy one is the city advisory bodies So there are three like I mentioned before the finance advisory committee commission on the environment and art and cultural commission The current 2023 appointees are listed on the screen here and then there's a blank spot for the 2024 appointees for the fact The bylaws state that the mayor and vice mayor are the appointed People unless they do not wish to serve one of them or both of them do not wish to serve in which case Other members of the city council could be appointed So, um, I will wait for your guys's discussion and deliberation for this before we move on All right. Thank you. Uh, we'll start at the top with the fact I'd like to remain On the finance advisory committee and I'll turn to vice mayor to see Under bylaws. Do you want to join or I wish to join? All right All right councilmember peterson. I know Okay, 2024 appointees will be myself and vice mayor brooks Uh commission on the environment councilmember keiser She'd like to remain Uh councilmember clark art and cultural commission. I would love to stay on. All right. There we go first three done. Thank you Our next Option is for the multi jurisdictional seats and these are the ones that the city council has the authority to appoint to and so The first one is the area agency on aging advisory council the 2023 appointee was former councilmember burtrend the Advisory council has requested a city council member be appointed. They do not want it to be a member of the public It should be an elected official The arts council is the next group the art and cultural commission had appointed rory johnson to be the city's representative So the city council just has to ratify that appointment Zone five conservation district currently it is mayor brown with joe clark as the alternate And library financing authority also currently mayor brown with councilmember clark is the alternate So i'll wait for your guys's discussion All right area agency on aging advisory council any takers Anyone interested? i'll be happy to serve Vice mayor brooks Arts council. I'm sorry. I was writing down some of what you were saying, but I missed. Did you say that rory johnson So the the art and cultural commission made the recommendation that rory johnson should be appointed So the council just has to affirm that appointment. I spoke to mr. Johnson and he wants to continue and he Very enthusiastic. So yeah, he'd be great to stand wonderful. We we confirm that appointment remains great Yeah, my recommendation would be sort of take all the names down take public comment And then you can kind of vote on the whole slate at the end. Oh, are we voting us? Okay. Cool. Let's continue taking names Uh flood control library financing authority. I'll remain on those. I'm happy to remain as the representatives Uh councilmember clark. Are you okay with remaining as the alternate? I am And that takes us to the last group which is again the city selection committee is the appointing body to these But when these meetings occur, it would be nice to have a Pre-drafted recommendation so that at the city selection committee You can just say the city has already prepared a recommendation for this And I just wanted to go over the other groups that are listed on the screen. So 3ce policy board We currently have vice mayor brooks is the appointed person Um on monoray bay air resources. We get the next slide. Oh, I'm so sorry I had it on my screen not on your eyes is So 3ce policy board vice mayor brooks M bard is currently the santa cruz. It's a santa cruz seat and it rotates So at the city selection committee meeting in january, they will make an appointment We don't know yet if capitol will be the next city that it rotates to In the event that it is it would be nice to have a recommendation ready for that appointment The remote access network committee the appointment was made in december it is um The mayor of the seat has to be on the group. So in this case it'd be mayor brown And then lafko currently vice mayor brooks is our appointment and that is also a rotating seat Okay, thank you 3ce I was 3ce. We're on and the term expires Next year end of 24. We rotate that with scott's valley So you don't need to take any action on three so the only one we really need our recommendation for is m bard The other ones we are set on for the time being So m bard it rotates around all the cities and I know that santa cruz has it now There is c expired in december so at the city selection meeting this month They'll be making a new appointment and we just don't know yet who it rotates to I think we might be up, but it might be watsonville But at the city selection committee meeting the way it works is basically the mayor's choose So if we have a nominee if somebody is interested in capitol city council Mayor brown may be able to Kind of push that name along if nobody's interested We could leave it for another city Anyone interested Interesting okay, uh when the meeting comes up I will find out if it's our turn and just generally mentioned that we have an interested council member and If it's our turn I will Put your name forward Great. So those are all of the appointments for the regional and city groups So we can go to public comment. Thank you Any public comment on this item? Yeah, my name is still james ewing wittman. I wish more members of the public were here So far. I've been really polite. I will continue to be so You may not like what i'm going to say but listen to it anyway so You know trying to filter through find out where and what i've said Who actually censored me? On the 12th I was a phone call um You guys have meetings where you're meeting different groups. Maybe there are these mentioned But what wasn't mentioned was any association with calcock or ickley or ham bag or the community foundation santa Cruz so I'm just making that Statement there's a lot of different things going on. I've already talked and given you guys information about the powers and weaknesses of being a charter city or county and uh I'm not saying you guys aren't being transparent Those just four organizations came to mind and they do have some control of this area um Anyway, it's just delightful to be here. It's 2024 is supposed to be a pretty amazing year for reasons I would love to talk about but I want to stay on topic so I wish I would add some stuff to my other comments, but I miss that opportunity. Thank you all Thank you, mr. Whitman Okay, any further public comment Seeing none. We will bring this back to the council. Uh, the agenda says review a firm and a point So do we need a vote on this? And a formal vote would be good. Okay, uh, we will uh, if there's no further discussion We'll entertain a motion to approve or whatever the motion may be I am actually wanted to discuss. Okay discussion. I was curious about the uh M bag expiring in 2024. When would we discuss that next year? Oh, I'm sorry 2024. Yeah, it's december of 2024 december of 2024. Yeah, that's the end of this year So you're from now. Yes. So next next january in the first meeting in 25. Yeah, got it. Okay. Thank you Yeah, oh, I'll move to approve all of the recommendations Okay, I'll second. All right. We have a motion in a second. Uh, all in favor say aye. Hi. Hi Any opposed any abstentions motion carries unanimously? All right, that brings us to the end of our first meeting of 2024 We will adjourn to the next regularly scheduled city council meeting on january 25th at 6 p.m In the meantime, all of you, please take care of yourselves and take care of each other and we are adjourned