 That's actually good good afternoon and welcome to the 12 p.m. Public Portion of the closed session of the January 14 2020 meeting of the city council in This part of the meeting the council will receive public testimony Thereafter the council members will move to the courtyard conference room for the closed session I would like to ask the clerk to please call the roll. Thank you mayor council member Here Here Over here now Vice mayor vice mayor Myers your mayor Cummings here Are there any members of the public who would like to speak on any items listed on the closed session agenda? You'll have two minutes for public comment. Okay, my name is spike Murphy I got a letter saying that because I filed a claim For some damage done to my car at a city worksite a few months ago in November that I had to show up here Long story short when I was driving on River Street around the 500 block There was some construction going on at the intersection there I some contractor truck was pulling out from there ran through a bunch of the cones In the worksite and dragged them into the road right in front of me in the other vehicles Was not able to swerve and avoid that first cone that popped out from under their car It got stuck in the undercarriage of my car and tore the boot off of the axle And so I had to pull over and it was leaking grease everywhere I had to call triple a took it over to mo-tech down the street Which is my regular mechanic brought the bill with the day and the time they had the part on hand We got it for 200 bucks or cheaper than anywhere else and just looking to get the money back for that I did try it was a chimney sweep contractor truck I called every chimney sweep in town was unable to find them. So I don't know if they're unregistered It's not listed or what? That's my story. Thank you very much All right, I guess we can adjourn this portion of the session or is there anyone else would like to address us on any item in closed session I don't want to address it, but I'll just ask staff. Has there been communication about our process from this point forward With the with the claim We did tender this claim to the city's contractor Right had to indemnify the city and the claimant received a copy of that And I was just going to catch him after that was my point We we don't just put it off into space And and hopefully the staff will communicate with you about the follow-up That went out over a week ago. So I got the I got the letter saying that went to Don Chapin that I got this a couple days ago Okay, thank you very much. Yeah. Well, we can adjourn this portion to closed session Good afternoon and welcome to our 12 45 p.m. Session of the january 14th 2020 meeting of the city council I'd like to ask the clerk to please call the roll. Thank you mayor council members Watkins here Matthews here brown here lover here crown Vice mayor mires here and mayor Cummings here And I'd like to ask clerk if she could please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance All right before we um move on to the introduction of new employees I'd also like to announce that this will be the last meeting Where lieutenant john bush will be our sergeant at arms as he recently was promoted to lieutenant And so I'd like to thank him for all of his service at sergeant arms over these years At this time, I'd like to invite up the acting finance director Cheryl fife to introduce brook rosso payroll technician Uh, it's my pleasure to introduce brook rosso brook ros brook rosso is a native santa cruz born and raised and uh, she's Has about 20 years experience working at local finance local businesses in the area And uh, she is our new payroll technician And uh, she has a partner named mike A daughter named riley and a son named nico She likes hiking and gardening and anything to do with outdoors and spending a lot of time at the beach with her family So welcome welcome Next up, I'd like to invite the director of public works mark deddle to introduce george juarez parking facilities maintenance assistant and novem spencer wastewater plant operator to Good afternoon mark deddle director of public works. Unfortunately, george could not be here this afternoon. So Um, but it is my pleasure to introduce novem spencer to you. She's a new wastewater plant operator three And she was born and grew up in santa clara And she currently lives in santa zay She has a spouse a son and three cats But her past work experience includes five years as an operator wastewater treatment operator for the city of santa zay And she has a she went to foothill college in santa zay state and attained a bachelor's of science in parks management When she's not working she enjoys snow skiing camping and playing ice hockey And then a fun fact, uh, she's also an airplane mechanic in the air national guard So please join me in welcoming novem spencer Thank you and welcome Next up I'd like to invite our director of water rose mayor minard to introduce george finandez and jennifer schelton Good afternoon, mayor and council. Happy new year to you all. I'm really happy to be Introducing to you a new water distribution operator and training or hey finandez He's a uh, he's beckron is a water pump mechanic for 20 21 years and at the salinas pump company And uh, he's worked there as a crew leader also Uh, his his experience in drilling water wells and pump installation will be really valuable for him and helping us Him learn about the distribution system and um, we're really happy to have him joining us Someone with his background and experience as a distribution operator and training He likes to work on classic cars and currently he's working on a c 10 1972 chevy suburban Which I don't expect is a um hybrid vehicle at all And he enjoys barbecues and watching footballs with family and friends He has a 21 year old son that he's trying to get interested in becoming a Sort of a public servant along the lines of his dad taking up this kind of work over time. So Welcome Jorge And then second, I'm really pleased to um Introduce you to jennifer schelton's jennifer has just joined us as a management analyst in our operations division It's a new position up there that we've created this just this last year and She is really a great first person in that job She brings a bachelor's in of arts and public political science and a master's public administration from san jose state She's worked a number of years at a healthier kids foundation Which was a nonprofit that helped provide healthy health related services to low-income children Santa claire county and then also went on to work with the city of santa claire where she worked in the city manager's office the city clerk's office no stealing and And most recently in the department of electric utilities over there So that's been her her primary responsibility over there were contract negotiations and compliance in their website So this is really great background for operational issues And one of things she'll be working on is the risk and resiliency Analysis that we have to do under the american water infrastructure act from 2018 It's sort of a thing that all water utilities have to go through Depending on your size our our analysis done by due by the end of this year She's the youngest of four girls and loves spending time with her family Especially her seven nephews and nieces and she loves to travel most recently went to thailand Where to celebrate one of her sister's weddings and she recently moved to so cal with her boyfriend And looks forward to more outdoor adventures in the santa cruz area. So please welcome jennifer You're welcome Next i'd like to invite up coach bubba trumble and head coach of santa cruz high school cardinals Football team joined by the athletes of the football team And this i'm inviting them up as we're proclaiming January 14 2020 at santa cruz high school cardinals varsity football team day Oh so um It's like they'll read a couple lines with this proclamation, which is pretty impressive for the football team On november 29 2019 the santa cruz high school cardinal varsity football team led by coach trumbull Earned its second ccs championship with a 27 win over leeland for the division five section title And whereas this was the second ccs championship in santa cruz high school's history since opening in 1897 The first championship was won in 2007 And whereas the ccs title was made possible due to the hard work and dedication of all the players and coaches And through the support of alumni fans family friends and community members throughout the season And whereas on december 7 2019 the santa cruz high school cardinals varsity football team became california's interscalastic federation central coast section 6a runners up on its first ever state championship run I now therefore i justin comings mayor of the city of santa cruz Do hereby proclaim january 14 2020 as santa cruz high school cardinal varsity football team day in the city of santa cruz And i encourage all the citizens to join me congratulating the team on its 2019 central coast section five i'd like to invite the coach up to see if you'd like to say any words about the season and I Thank you for this tremendous honor I'm fortunate enough to to be able to see two different groups of young men and women come through the with and receive this Um Most of them i had to show them where city hall was so that was a good learning experience for us But it with a group of young men and women like this It was it was an easy experience. They do all the hard work and they make us look good. Thank you very much Thank you Before y'all leave i'm just wondering it since in order to get a picture of all of us I'm wondering if you guys could come behind the dice and take a picture with the whole city council All right All right at this at this moment, I'd like to invite up rose mary minard our water director To present toby goddard with a 25-year service pin recognition. Good afternoon again Somewhat a bittersweet pleasure to find myself in front of you today Giving toby goddard a 25-year service award often when this happens The next thing that happens is you get a little note saying my retirement date is And toby has done that and we'll celebrate the retirement a little bit further out in this calendar year But I think it's very appropriate for us to acknowledge toby For really the unique person that he is and the unique contribution that he's made to the city water department He joined the water department in january of 1995 as a water conservation coordinator Uh, and then he became the manager of conservation in 2005 Prior to joining the water department staff toby served as the outside city Representative on the city's water commission for a number of years and so he He basically came to the job in understanding more about our business and who we are and what we were trying to do then most typical new hires And that trend really has continued for him He has really brought a lot of innovation and individuality And perspective to the job in a way that's been really really unique and a great benefit to department so in addition to toby's accomplishment in Water conservation that are really legendary throughout the state He's had a great impact on many of the programs that are being implemented all over the state things that we tried here and worked well And santa cruzans as a result of that can take credit for a um Having one of the lowest water use per capita consumptions in the state And I will tell you just an example of that that is just completely hits the target. Um, exactly so in the uh, santa cruz municipal utilities newsletter that comes out the shmoo review that we call it comes out every couple times a year in 1999 toby wrote an article for the 2020 version or 22,000 version of that That was a projection of what was going to happen in 2020 Well, he unearthed that as he is want to do in this last week and uh, his projection of demand for municipal water in santa cruz from 1999 was 5.2 billion gallons of water a year And our current demand is actually half of that 2.6 billion gallons of water a year, which is a really uh Great example of the kind of impact that toby and his team of folks Have had on water consumption here and just generally in water consumption in the state But I think that's really worth uh, noting that he had this idea and then was able to dig up the the facts from 20 years ago, maybe he's cleaned it out of his office. I don't know Anyway, um So I think that he's uh, the other thing I wanted to mention about toby here was he's uh, He's been really the person who's done the urban water management plans for santa cruz for a number of years And those also have been a really great uh opportunity for him to provide leadership to the organization And to kind of create a set of skills that then he's applied in different ways including for example He's been working recently working on updating our emergency response plan, which was pretty much in need of it But it's been really doing a great job of trying to pull a really complicated Uh program that has to look at everything from floods to earthquakes to fires Together and create some action plans that we can use in the event that We find ourselves in one of those emergency conditions another notable for toby is the Famous water school in uh 2014 and 2015 He created a method for people who are getting really big bills as a result of leaks or other kinds of problems to have those Charges forgiven if they went to water school and that um got international Coverage in the summer of 2014 in particular and was copied by many organizations throughout the state in 2015 But with all of that said one of toby's most notable accomplishments probably which you don't see very much But I see in my colleagues and I see all over the place As toby has been doing an excellent job of mentoring other employees in our organization he's become uh, really the go-to guy for history and uh perspective about the systems history and what we were doing when and why we were doing it and um You know that has been a really great contribution. He's bringing along a lot of younger people There's a group of uh folks that walk with toby during the lunch hours, and I think that they discuss Not just work related stuff, but when they do discuss work related stuff Almost always comes back with some good idea that came out of that that i'm sure toby had his hand in And in his free time many of you know that toby serves as a commissioner of the port commission And that has been a really important job for him also So please join me at this point in thanking toby for 25 years of service and Wishing him the best and as things move down the road Thank you very much rosemary for the kind remarks. I just have a short prepared statement Mr. Mayor members of the city council. Thank you very much I'm just extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to serve the public And to support and promote the mission of the water department over the last 25 years To provide safe adequate reliable water service for the great greater santa Cruz region to me Water service is one of the most important functions that the city performs in terms of protecting the public health And well-being of almost a hundred thousand people who live in the community as well as those that work and visit this area I'm also very thankful to be part of a team From customer service staff to the meter readers operators distribution operators treatment operators chemists park rangers resources staff Who are dedicated to maintaining and improving the system and managing our watersheds So it's this group not to mention all the other departments that we work closely with on a day-to-day basis That make the city of santa Cruz such a positive and productive place to work So personally and professionally this has been a very rewarding career and I thank you again Toby I would just like to say that um The city of santa cruz is very much grateful given that you know We grapple with so many issues around water conservation and the need to be better at conserving water You know your efforts over these past 25 years show How committed you've been to this and you've made santa cruz one of the leading cities in the state In terms of water conservation. So thank you very much for all your time in service And I'm sure that we here in santa cruz and folks throughout california will thank you for all your hard work All right, the next item on our agenda for today dr. Rickey erickson Marine ecologists from the california marine sanctuary foundation We'll provide a presentation on the all-female 2200 nautical mile expedition on plastic pollutions Uh Can you see that? Yes on your screens you can. Yes. Okay. There it is. Got it And how do I go forward with this little quicker great Hi, my name is rickey erickson and I'm here today to talk to you about something called x expedition And I have my colleague louise tremoran from england who is also on this expedition So what is the expedition? It's an organization that is running a pioneering. It just started in england all female sailing research expedition to investigate the impacts and causes of plastic pollution around our world And what we were on? louise and I were on one leg of a journey that's two years long It started in october in england. It's 30 individual voyages Each voyage has 10 women on it. So that's a total of 300 women Sailing 38 000 nautical miles around the globe And these are some of the amazing women who became my family They are women from latvia working with local governments They're women from austria in the plastic packaging one of the largest plastic packaging companies who gave us her insights australia from teachers louise works with Children on something like onil sea odyssey So these are really passionate women who are making a difference on the ground For those of you non sailors or sailors. This was our vessel. She was called travel edge She was 73 and a half feet long. She's steel And very sturdy, which we were very happy for she was actually Specifically chosen by the british army, which is where she was built for an expedition to ant artica And you can see she has four sets of sails on her. So a lot of sail power We were again on the second leg coming from the azores. You can see that she's the azores is a set of islands off the coast of portugal And morocco out about a sixth of the way across the atlantic ocean And we were the first leg that was sailing across an ocean. So we went 2200 over 2200 nautical miles We had 17 sunsets and sunrises and did all sorts of research We had anywhere from no wind to 40 knots of wind And we consumed over 55 packets of biscuits during our journey Um, and we had some bad weather. So many of you may remember I think that it did make national news here in santa cruz We had two very late season hurricanes which came smack on top of us So we had first Pedro and then rebecca and Pedro is up the one on the top there Went directly over the azores and this is what the weather looked like when we finally left port And basically we got to sail around the swirl created around rebecca Which made for 40 knot winds as we left the port of salmiguel And while we were in port on this five-day departure we did and we continue to do like this All sorts of outreach and education with giving talks Making people aware of the work that's being done doing cleanups And i'll talk more about some of the outreach that's been done But with those poor conditions that we had this is what the deck looked like Down below as we left port from salmiguel one of the girls said it looks like a battlefield up there in the cockpit So you can actually see you know a lot of the girls were very very seasick for the first couple days We did have up to you know 15 to 20 foot seas And so it was not fun on deck for the first bit But everybody recovered rather quickly and so the point of this was you know to look at how much plastic was out there And i know you guys are one of the most innovative and taking action You know california certainly is a leader in the nation and santa cruz is a leader in the state So i'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this But certainly plastic production around the globe is on the increase And this curve if you talk with the production companies just looks you know worse and worse if you Project this out over time So more and more uh plastic is going to be coming into our communities And i think that's why keeping plastic out of our communities Is such a big issue You know just some of the numbers there's more than one dump truck load per minute There's over 9 million tons per year the number projected for this year is actually already at 11 million and the top three it's important to realize is not just You know individual consumption bottles with like you know the plastic shampoo, but things like packaging Construction and transportation so any innovative ways that you guys can look towards You know taking action to keep it out of our communities I think is where we're really going to make a difference So this is just some of the fun You know a lot of people ask we actually were all women There was no male captain on board our captain was a woman the best captain i've ever sailed with the most passionate positive Crew i've ever sailed with i am a sailor some of the women before Louise had never sailed really you know before one girl Had never actually even hardly stepped foot on a sailboat and i was like really sailing across the atlantic is your first foray that you want to take but It was so you know amazing to be a part of this group And we did everything from sail the boat to cook to laugh cry hold each other's heads while individuals were sick And then do the science and we did do over five hours of science a day So we collected micro plastics this is what the ocean looked like it looks beautiful It does not look like a garbage patch We are in the middle of the garbage patch Right there and that's what's really just kind of insidious about this problem Is that the plastic actually gets accumulated into these Smaller and smaller bits and this is what it looks like so you're looking at sargassum And plankton from the sargassum sea and all those little tiny white bits are actually micro plastic So the the plastic and i didn't even as a marine scientist realize this is how bad That it looks we did find one plastic spoon while we were out there on The sea but it's called the big breakup so any piece of plastic Ultimately gets broken up into smaller and smaller pieces And there's over 250 000 tons of the raw materials called nerdles that are entering our ocean every year And this is a little bit of what it looks like. Um, there are live materials actually I got this um Image in the bottom. I was really intrigued because he looked like he had a real nose to him And it's actually a juvenile marlin, but if you're a bird or a whale and you're in You know ingesting this There's more than in our samples. There was more than seven to one plastic To zoe plankton or plankton, and they're not discerning You know, they're just opening in their mouths and consuming this and then we eat them And so this is you know moving up the food chain This is again an image from national geographic of what it looks like and we found this type two So we actually would analyze the samples of small plastic to try to find out where the source was on board We had equipment to do that and it was this big Type two which is most likely what we find here off of our beaches as well And the problem with this is that the majority of this plastic ends up straight in our landfills I'm sure santa cruz is doing a better job than the six to seven percent, but You know, even if we are recycling that means that over 90 percent of this plastic ends up in our You know communities and and us having to deal with it So again, I think that keeping it from coming into our communities is such a brilliant way For us to do this just a few You know fun images of what we saw up there. We saw share waters albatross stormy petrels We had multiple schools of spotted atlantic dolphins and some as we came into the tropics And a cool story about this minky whale who followed us for two days A juvenile looking minky whale who was feeding on all of this Our captain was afraid that he was going to actually ram us because they've been known to do that But it was really cool in the swells. He was following us But you know louise and I and i'm understanding that there's another woman in santa cruz. He may be part of this as well We're part of this international expedition It's going on for another year and a half and it has been getting You know cnn bbc. We've been on all sorts of news media. It's much bigger That we actually anticipated and many sponsors locally both patagonia santa cruz all the clothes i wear Or were either west marine locally or patagonia santa cruz Were supporters of it and certainly my organization The california marine sanctuary foundation supported my participation in this And with that, I just want to say thank you to all the active and bold initiatives that you all Are taking and you can follow this. There's great information and alternatives that you know these women are identifying along the way And i'm happy to answer any questions if you have them you're talking about actions and uh Keeping it out of our communities. What what's Give us some suggestions. What should we do because none of us up here have ever produced plastic that I know of uh, other, you know Corporations produce plastic right and so it was really intriguing to have the woman from um from mundi is the largest world The world's largest plastic packaging company and she threw that right back at us right and said, you know It's your demand as individuals and consumers and I think that Things like the store that's down, you know the bamboo store And the zero-way store and santa cruz are you know encouraging places like new leaf I think the to answer your question outright first is education and outreach with the community and we need to make Our citizens aware of it, you know secondly promoting and finding ways for I mean even patagonia I went into the store and we weren't allowed to have certain materials on board because we would Taint the samples right and I had a challenging time and patagonia was quite aware of it that You know these these materials are cheap, you know because they're subsidized For a reason and so I think that any actions that we can take as a community to incentivize You know third is things like, you know banning things so that um, you know companies or businesses do Find alternatives like bio products. There's lots of great bio products that are out there So that's why like I gave this talk to the santa cruz yaw club And they are i'm helping to try to make them go, you know plastic free And then connecting them to what are those products that are plastic free that are competitive and I kind of I envision us, you know, if you look back 20 years ago with organic It was hard to become organic and it was hard as an individual to select organic products because they were so much more costly And look at us now and I think that it's small ways and certainly banning products as a council You know puts pressure on businesses to find alternatives Any other questions Well, I'd just like to say thank you for all the hard work you're doing I think one of the things you touched on was education and outreach and you all are doing a fantastic job of that and so please Keep us up to date with all the work you're doing so we can be supportive in this effort to remove more plastics from our ocean Absolutely, and we're so you know to be a source of that for you So if there's specific products or examples, you know, louise is here from england for a month with me And we're all a community To our you know trying to link examples of successes around the world. So thank you. Thank you All right, and then our next presentation will be heard shortly after 3 p.m So moving on to our next um, actually no, we have one presentation left, which is nicole young A city of santa cruz three-year strategic planning process I think that is the one that's moving to through that's the one that's uh, okay Got it. Thank you Okay, so I have a few announcements and then we'll move on to our regular meeting Today's meeting is being broadcast live on community television channel 25 and streaming on the city's website cityofsantaCruz.com Our rules of decorum are on the window ledge to my left And is my job to keep the meeting running without disruption And we ask that you respect your fellow citizens when you're inside the council chambers and before I Move on to statements of disqualification. I just wanted to have an opportunity to Remind council members of our rules of procedures for conduct of city council business And so those rules include that we are respectful That we engage in open and honest communication That we are honest and truthful That we address difficult issues We find areas of common ground We're open to different perspectives We give the benefit of the doubt We role model good leadership And that we are considered of each other's time And so I hope that as we move into 2020 that we can keep these rules in mind when we are engaging with one another The other thing that I would like to add and I would like to ask of my council members is that When council members are making motions, I would urge that council members either make comments before making the motion Or reserve their comments until after making the motion so that the city clerk can clearly capture the motion Additionally, it will be best for council members to send motions to the city clerk prior to the meeting so that they can be displayed And edited as we're moving along And this was uh brought to my attention given the fact that Sometimes there's difficulty in capturing the motions And so this would help us to clearly understand what we're voting on and additionally if there are friendly amendments It's going to be an inclination To limit discussion after two friendly amendments so that we can Make sure that we have clear motions that are being made as we're as we're making decisions Right And so statements of disqualification. I'd like to ask the council members if there are any statements of disqualification today Hearing none Mayor to call on the city clerk administration to announce any additions or deletions They're in it Uh the announcement of oral communications oral communications is an opportunity for members of the community To speak to us on items that are not on the agenda and oral communications will occur At or around 7 p.m So at this time, I'd like to call on the city attorney to provide a report on closed session Thank you, mayor Cummings members of the city council this afternoon the council convened at 12 p.m in the court yard conference room to Discuss the following closed session items item a was a conference with legal counsel concerning liability claims Those are the claims of sarat v. Hari murphy and ralph walter borough Those are also listed as item 13 on your consent calendar this afternoon There were two items of anticipated litigation One involving the consideration of initiation of litigation and one involving significant exposure to litigation council received a report from the city attorney's office on those items. There was no reportable action Item d was a conference with labor negotiators in which the council received a report from its negotiator hr director lisa murphy concerning the police officers association There was no reportable action connection with that item Lastly was an item of real property negotiations in which the council received A report from economic development director bonnie lipscomb concerning the property at 125 coral street owners james p gillespie and gene gillespie trustees And harley f and sandra i gillespie co-trustees. There was no reportable action on that item Thank you I'd like to call on the city manager to report and provide updates on any city events and business items Uh, thank you, mayor. I've got the couple of items. I wanted to report on And let's wait for the presentation to go up on the screen One is the HUD consolidated plan and the other is just an update on the armory shelter so first With respect to the HUD consolidated plan just for really for the public Just to inform the the council and the public that the city is developing its 2020 to 2025 HUD consolidated plan and we're in the process now of Conducting a survey to help provide feedback that will be incorporated into the plan that will come back to the council And I wanted to make you and the community aware that there's a link on the city's internet homepage Under the new section if you go to the homepage, you will see the new section and you can click and it'll take you to it the Survey results will help determine how best to prioritize funding designated for eligible programs and projects and Services that are really focused on our low income communities and neighborhoods And it's available both in spanish and english until january 31st 2020 So we encourage everyone in the community to take the survey that'd be really helpful particularly those that live in the in these areas Now with respect to the armory just to give you a an update on the winter shelter there So the armory is currently under the city's control with assigned lease and the right of entry given by the california state national guard City staff have been preparing the space for the last few weeks and ensuring that all the systems are operational at the facility including heat and Lights and We're working really effectively to make the space suitable for a shelter. It had been vacant for about three years So you need a little bit of preparation Today or tomorrow morning the state fire marshal Will be conducting an inspection and determining the occupant load With that number we will determine the potential winter shelter expansion But again hope to make it as As much as possible. Our hope is to shelter at least 18 individuals at the armory The river camp Street camp will be moved to the armory tomorrow City staff across nearly all departments will be involved with the move Which was operationalized under our emergency operation centers We've got all the departments working really hard to to take this into Make this happen The armory's program model is really an exact replica of the river street camp 24 security will be on site to ensure safety Is maintained for clients the area and staff The program will be fully staffed with salvation army employees and the only access will be through By clients will be through hourly shuttle Shuttle service and there will be no walk on a walk-off Then a beginning next week. There'll also be Bathrooms wash stations and stores provided for for clients there Beginning next week the city and the solicitor will begin to accept new clients to the river street camp 24 shelter model As well as overnight drop-in clients and those clients will be Intaked through the current solicit army processes and Likely consist of a combination of current laurel street clients As well as new clients that are currently unsheltered or shelter waitlist enter through law enforcement or service provider referrals since we have You know wait lists at the at the laurel street facility So it's really just trying to maximize the facility to provide as much shelter space for Those that are waiting unless those that currently have shelter and those that may need shelter moving forward And our hope is to use the army again as an increased capacity for the program overall Uh just by way of background too. We did hold a neighborhood meeting Around the armory on january 5th Where we were able to discuss the operational model answer questions and Provide an opportunity for residents of the area to provide feedback Which they did around they had questions and also had Some suggestions around the shuttle Schedule as well as the shuttle Route which were taken into account by by and large they they expressed support they understood the need for shelter the need to address the Helping individuals particularly given the the current climate and how cold it is and Generally supported the move to the the armory And we will continue to update the council and the public through our outreach channels during the coming weeks as we move forward with this And with that i'd be happy to answer any well actually Wanted to actually provide you an update with a couple other items really quickly On homelessness so the afc and the police department saves spaces pilot program That's up and operational and we'll give you an update on that as we get that going further The council approved a homelessness resource manager position Last year and we're in the process of doing that recruitment We hope to hopefully have something in place at least hired in the next several weeks, but that really is moving forward Like I said, the recruitment process is ongoing right now And we are moving forward with also as council is aware the relocating the shuttle pickup and intake site over at the county And so they're working really hard to get that in place and that'll have some really significant improvements in terms of the way individuals are intake and Uh, put into the system as well as provide just better facilities for individuals who want to move up to the the shelters And then we are looking at installing an additional RV sewage dumping site at the river street Property where the current river street camp is and then we expect that the cash will report back to the city council on February 25th So that's just a quick update on some homeless when it is items and with that i'll be happy to answer any questions You may have thank you councilmember brown Yeah, thank you for the update. I have two questions I and I also thank you for all of your efforts to get the armory back online I know that's been a long time A long term process and a lot of work. So I really appreciate and ron prince who's in the back there. I know is really Very much working working hard to make that happen I do wonder if you could tell us a little bit more about the process for And the rationale for moving the river street camp To the armory. I know as we've discussed this over time and the council hasn't weighed in on Exactly how it were to be used, but we did express support for that We didn't you know, I wasn't aware until quite recently that this would be Uh used for that transition. So I guess if you could just talk about the rationale for that Because I think the goal for all of us is to expand shelter capacity and and so we're not really quite getting there So that's one question and then my other question is is logistical and this is specific to the the kind of on and off You know getting on and off privileges for the Folks who are going to be at the armory. What plans have you made for addressing? People whose work hours do not fit with the shuttle schedule. I kind of ask about this every time we Do a managed camp program because I know this is a concern for at least some segment of the population the residents and I know and I just happened to hear One person yesterday came in and said he was worried because he works until 2 a.m And he he bicycles on and off at river street, but he can't do that at the armory So what plans are being made to to make sure we can accommodate people with work schedules? All right first with respect to your first question So yes, ideally and I think initially our hope had been to At a facility would just increase capacity in general and that would be Really it's really needed and would it was the sort of the first Thought with respect to to again increasing capacity However as as well the where the this year we've just have had a really cold winter and the We've just sort of realized that the River street camp is has just become uncomfortable An assessment really difficult For the staff and the clients to be there given the weather conditions that we've had Also, we did have some some flooding issues There and just with the anticipated Winter weather how cold it is and and the potential for rain The thought was that it would make sense to try to provide some relief on some assistance to the current clients there And that became a priority again Just I think it was just really just the the humane thing to do to really improve conditions And to try to do both so that was a rationale behind it the other part of it too is that To open up another facility it was a challenge for the Sebastian army with respect to having to quickly hire And bring on new staff and this provided for the opportunity to really get it going quickly because then we could just move with the entire staff And it just operationally made it Easier to implement too. So those are the two sort of factors that Were considered with respect to just again trying to do in general Really, how could we best improve the situation for the sheltered? Currently in our in our system as well as to improve it to the extent that we could And with respect to the second question Susan can come up, but I do know that we do make arrangements that currently is the case and we make arrangements With individuals to to work out situations for them so that they can Work and and do whatever they need to do because we don't want to discourage that But the susie maybe can add to that Good afternoon counsel Susie O'Hara assistant to the city manager. Thank you council member brown fran asking that question. So to also Talk about the intention Nality around moving to the armory we've conducted two Community meetings at the river street camp and by and large every single one of the campers is actually quite pleased with moving up there From the staffing perspective. It's a little bit more challenging because we do have salvation army staff that don't have vehicles So in addition to that we have a few clients one that works at the foster freeze for instance that works until about 3 a.m So we have assigned a city pool car to be up there for the use of city employees as well as hopefully salvation army employees But we need to work that through That can also shuttle folks on and off For appointments things that might be outside of the shuttle schedule. We're working through that We are also considering either a taxi service or an uber service for things things that fall outside of that So we do have a number of folks that we really are working closely with to ensure that they don't have barriers for using the Armory, I think we'll take this first couple weeks to really figure out where we have challenges in terms of Getting people on and off the facility, but in large part people are really looking forward to getting indoors It's cold. We have a lot of pest issues out there Rotants of unusual size. I've heard so we're we're just hoping to get people out of the elements and into A space where that can be more accommodating I was wondering um, did this go to the cache to get their input on whether the uh facility was going to be moved I don't believe specifically Other than the general subject of increasing capacity I think you know this has all been moving very very quickly because we've uh needed to The the director from council is let's let's increase capacity as soon as possible And so we've been working really hard largely with the the national guard to Really make this happen as quickly as possible. We only have use through march 18th and so That really has been the focus although I do know that the the staff does keep them aware of what's going on And that sort of thing ron you may have more to add Yeah, thank you mayor and city council I mentioned this to the Catch subcommittee a couple different times that we were looking at both the vfw and the armory over the last couple of months But we didn't really know until just a couple weeks ago That we were going to get all the conditions approved to to use the armory So it's been it has been very fast like the city manager said, but because this is just a Snapshot in time 60 days We thought the catch would be better Utilized for expertise to look into permanent siting and more more long-term Arrangement, so this is this is very much of a winter shelter mandate And it didn't seem to fit the model of using catch for developing standards and so forth for the use of the shelter I'll follow up So march 18th, what will happen then? Well, and I think that is really our major Issue of moving forward is that we have we have to come up with an alternative by then And that's something we've had in place as a result of the river street property not being available So we are looking at the options there and certainly again We can include the cash to the extent that we can as we move forward with those options But we have to look at the variety of options To really continue our shelter capacity past march I heard that the neighborhood the neighborhood meeting correct me if I'm wrong The neighbors were surprised that we were closing 12 20 even though they were supportive of opening the armory I think Yes, in a sense that they obviously I think like like everyone the hope what had been in the thought was let's increase capacity to the extent possible But I think once they understood the rationale They understood I mean that really we're responding to an ongoing changing situation I think the winner that we've had this year has been Unsensibly cold as compared to other years. And so I think in another For example, perhaps last year would have been a different story But this year given the conditions and given up over that it was and the opportunity that came up That seemed to make the most sense, but I think in the end by the end of the meeting they were supportive Of the approach and the model I'm not supportive Awesome, we'll go over. Thanks. Um with the looming march 18th deadline, which is Really problematic one because it'll be the closure of the river street and then in addition to that the closure of the The armory, um, you'd mentioned that that's something that y'all are trying to deal with Can you kind of expand more on what it is that you're doing to? Address that and get a head start on identifying potential sites or locations. Um, are you taking into consideration the executive order that was given by the The governor and or what role is the county playing in all of this and being able to identify potential locations in the county That the city can partner with them on to To establish either transitional encampments or some kind of model because I mean if we had, you know, just It's hindsight's 2020 But if we had been able to move a little bit more intentionally back earlier last year then I think we may have Had more stability when we're going into this Unseasonably cold winter as you say and having people at risk for hypothermia and other kinds of issues So what what else is happening to identify additional spots outside of just like acknowledging that it's a crisis? Well, the Sighting is has continuously been the problem and issue And the obstacle moving forward There hasn't been a lack of a suggestions that have been provided or options. I mean there are options. It's just a matter of The entities that have authority of control over the various sites are willingness and also the willing us to work on considering those as well as The impacts to the the work that has to be done in the neighborhood to address those issues So again, we do have we do have a list of potential options. What we try to do is to Work on the various issues Engaged with the neighborhood And then we'll bring that back to you. We do have some viable options But we have to do that work first. And so I'd rather you know, not put them out there and and and provide conjecture There's others, you know, there's some that we've looked up looked at in the past We think that we can continue to have available as options And and we'll update you as soon as we can on those things But it's you know, it's really the the challenge is that You know every Side has a variety of different challenges that are associated with it and we have to get past those issues Before we can really move forward with with anything significantly I think the other part of it too is that You know the county does have to play a more critical role and vital role We've asked them to and I think they've agreed to do that And so our staff is really working diligently with their staff to Come up with those options for you as soon as possible Or if you want to want to add anything Ron to Thank you Martin Yeah, we are working with the county and actually the catch is planning some public engagement regarding Siding and and what the criteria would be the And there's a challenge with every site that's been previously identified But we do have some options It's we're actually on a full court press to try to decide What's of all the sites that we have have been identified? What's the best one and what's has the most likelihood of Of being actually implemented but My my suspicion is we're going to go through a few iterations before we get what would be considered permanent transitional Sheltering of some kind But the catch is working hard on this the sleeping subcommittee in particular has been working on this So I think that's really where their efforts In the next 60 days and actually hopefully the next 30 days We'll get some traction on a specific site And then the associated public engagement that goes along with that And and then just is there conversation or communication with the state and identifying potential partnership of city county cal trans Sites as recently as today I'm working with their real estate department And I've been talking to them for the last few weeks about that that specifically And I think the 31st of january is when all those state sites are supposed to be identified. Thank you It's a bit of a procedural question given that this isn't on our agenda and it's listed as a city manager attorney report I'm just yes. I I was I was about to make a comment about that This is intended as a brief update on city manager activities And I think it's kind of getting a little field of that perfectly appropriate topic to discuss as an agendized Council item at a future meeting Thank you I'd just like to say thank you for your work On um getting no at this point in time. We're not going to open you're not going to allow public comment on this item Is that correct? No, this is just establishing a record that you're not this was just a report out from the city manager It's not okay, but I'm glad you're making it clear I just like to say thank you for the work you all have done to get the armory open And as we continue to see this changing landscape With the governor being very intentional about trying to figure out ways that communities can Have more flexibility around opening up lands and places for Sheltering, I think that we're going to see a lot of options that weren't Possibilities in the past become options for the future. So thank you for your work on this Moving on to our next item I'd like to call on the city clerk to provide any updates on the calendar Just one. I think the calendar in your packet has the advisory bodies removed the interview So I just want to remind everyone it's now on the 24th. It's back on the 21st seven o'clock Thank you very much Moving on to consent The first step is the consent agenda. These are items 6 through 19 on our agenda All items will be acted upon in one motion Unless an item is pulled by a council member for further discussion Are there any council members who would wish to pull any items today? Question on 11 Pull 16 and 18 16 and 18 I have a question on 17 Question on 17 Any other items to be pulled Hearing none Is there any member of the public that would like to speak on any items on our consent with the exception of items 16 and 18 pulled by council members By council member crown I request that the council pull item seven for discussion Seven Is there anyone who would like to speak on okay There's an is there any interest from a council member to pull one of the items suggested by members of the public Yeah, since it was requested by the public got pulls seven and eight Again, is there any member of the public who would like to address the council on items that were that have not been pulled The pulled items have been seven eight sixteen and eighteen You would like to speak on any item that has not been pulled. You can please um step up to the podium at this time You'll have up to two minutes Hi, my name is hillary martisius and I wanted to speak on 15. Is that permissible because I Correct. Okay, cool Okay, so I'll leave this This is a reminder Of the property that exists there 130 years ago and they designed walk Walk circle will circle arid circle around a very special piece of property and the purpose Was to break ground for a religious building actually christian building, but that was 130 years ago Which means there was a real Early start on something intentional right so I just want to remind everybody That uh, if it were just a church building there for 130 years, which really there was There was a mighty church there in the 1880s that started everything off But it did burn down. However, the the uh inspiration and everything remained There was always a church right there and today we have a beautiful church from the 1930s in the middle of arid circle Okay, and since it's there we can't we no one can go to the west side without running into those circles Which reminds us that that layout was put there for very specific purpose. It is the heart of the west side It's the heart of the west side It's the neighborhood where many people that are here if you raise your hand and show how many people are here For circle church preservation. Anybody want to raise their hand here? Okay, well, we've had more thank god. There's some people here, but you know We don't know what the destiny of this property is we know it's up in limbo And i'm here to just stand really strong with the others and there are many people who aren't here today Who really want to see it preserved and so as far as I understand it's being It's being whether it's qualified or meets the criteria for preservation. I don't think there's really a question. However Okay, I I say I just close it by saying thank you for listening and I hope that we can preserve the circle church So anyone else would like to address the council on on any of the items with the exceptions of 16 18 7 and 8 Seeing none, I'd like to bring it back to council for discussion and in action I just have a question on 17. Oh, yeah So if we could Questions on 11 by council member mires and then followed by council by questions for 17 Did you want to move the rest of the I just had a comment on item 10? Okay I just had a question regarding 11 on the second part of the The item with regard to directing the city attorney to consult with the california attorney general Regarding his plans And then bringing a recommendation to the city council at the first meeting in march I didn't I didn't wasn't completely clear whether there is a current suit that The state is pursuing So there's the intent here that If the state sues the federal government that the city potentially could join As a as a as a city of california. That's the intent Okay And I guess I'm just wondering is there costs associated with I mean is that something you would bring back to us in a closed session? Tony if there was a statewide Yeah, first of all What I know about this topic is what I read in the report and the attached article and And And so I don't know at this point if the attorney general's office has made a determination that there is a potentially viable legal challenge here What I intend to do assuming the council moves forward with this direction is to assign one of my Attorneys to delve into that and prepare a report for the council. And so what I anticipate coming back with is An update with any potential Actions that the council might take should it be inclined to do so And assuming that that involved intervening in or participating in litigation and certainly there would be a cost associated with that But the council can make that determination Depending on what information we're able to come up with okay. Thank you Council member brown has a question on item number 17 Great. Thank you. Well, first I'm really pleased to see that the state will make a contribution to support our efforts to Move in the direction of the mission the Vision zero mission. Excuse me. And I am wondering what the timeline is would will be like on this for in terms of actually Preparing a local roadway safety plan Just would be helpful to know when You anticipate doing that and if we could at that time get a report back on you know So we can see the plan and get a little more information about what we're doing there Certainly a jimber public works We'll start off per your direction with a subcommittee at the transportation public works commission And we'll be getting that process in february. We've already requested allocation of the funds and so Um, we will bring a consultant on board for some of the data analysis But I would expect we'll see early results within six months or so on some of the visioning around that plan Thank you. Okay Council member walkins. I just had a brief comment on item number 10 I just want to just sort of bring a little bit of awareness and thank my colleagues for cosigning this item it just essentially declaring the month of january 2020 as slavery and human trafficking prevention month and Just awareness on the issues and the work that's happening in education resources for potential victims Enforcement as well as interventions. So just sort of a brief shout out and an appreciation to the colleagues on that And I'm happy to go ahead and move the consent agenda at this time second and we have Motioned by council member walkins seconded by council member brown to move all the items on consent with the exceptions of 7 8 16 18 Is there any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. All those opposed That passes unanimously I'd like to bring back um item number seven which is Um commission for the prevention of violence against women appointments Since this was brought forth was asked to be pulled by a member of the public I'd like to open it up for a public comment. Um, if you would like to Comment on this agenda item. I'd ask you please line up to my left And you will in members of the public will be given two minutes on this item So the member of the public who brought this up. Would you like to speak on this item? You're ready two minutes, please okay, well the Commission for the prevention of violence against women didn't meet at its last commission meeting Because two of the members resigned And this happened in the wake of a questionable meeting that involved Essentially, um, what some of us regard as a smear and inappropriate denunciation Of one of the members of this council to it council member Glover Uh seemed to be politically motivated So the reason i'm raising this issue here is because this is A motion to approve council member Watkins nomination of delphine burns now delphine may be fine I've got no idea about her But i'm concerned about that there be no further political manipulations of this kind Using these commissions to essentially push the political agenda of the reactionary minority on this council to it council members Myers Watkins and matthews Because a lot of us do not share that agenda And so I I would like to perhaps Council member Watkins to advise us as to whether this her she has conferred with mith burns to make sure that this is not going to happen again We're not going to have these sort of last minute resignations that happen and before that This attempt to use a political commission for abusive political purposes Thank you. Yeah It's going to ask if there's any other member of the public who would like to speak to this item Seeing none. I'll bring it back to the the council for action I'll go ahead and move the item and just briefly if I could say It's in the agenda packet in terms of her qualifications delphine is is highly qualified for this work Is willing to volunteer her time and contribute on this commission And I feel comfortable with her as my appointment. So I'll go ahead and move the I'll second the motion All right, we have a motion made by mark by council member Watkins seconded by council member mires Is there any other further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously We'll move on to Consent item number eight Which is the university of california's long-range development plan advocacy program. This was also pulled by a member of the public If you'd like to any members of the public would like to comment on this item Please line up to my left and you will have up to two minutes Good afternoon council. My name is eric rodberg. I'm a um party to the 2000 I'll pause you for one second. I don't think the time. There we go. Thank you Um My name is eric rodberg. I'm a party to the 2008 csa which settled the Litigation over the 2005 lrdp. I am supportive of this item, but I think that the um The public and maybe even council are not aware of Magnitude of the problem. You cse housing prices are outrageous. They're not a little bit more expensive than town housing prices They're crazy two to three times more and if you Go through my packet. You'll see I've documented all that So just so the public knows for bedroom apartment on campus. That's not including food 9,528 a month The campus housing west proposals on the last page. I've um I've this is from their demand study. So their projected prices are about the same You see a a five bedroom apartment 10,220 Dollars a month a two bedroom apartment with no kitchen 5,580 dollars a month So I would like the scope of work Of um miss bostic to be revised because there wasn't one word in the scope of work about The price difference between on campus and off campus housing and to me That's the heart of the problem and the university has successfully buried that To everyone. So I think that's a really critical issue that when we engage with the university We don't let them get away with that. Whatever the negotiations are. This has to be front and center And I have more information in this and I also have a wealth of knowledge. I've been at this for a long time Another thing I noticed in the scope of work was that I Fully appreciate engaging all different community groups and seemed like the community groups listed We're heavily skewed to towards measure and proponents who I I think it's great to engage them I think measure arm was misdirected and if their energy had been directed towards the university would have been more productive But the community all sectors of the community are really united And so I think we need to expand the scope of the the community groups to engage. Thank you very much. Thank you Is there any other member of the public who would like to comment on item number eight from consent? Seeing none, we'll bring it back to the council for action deliberation council member brown and council member matthews Um, so I I just want to say that we I've been on the task force the city county task force that has been working to establish this contract position and the hiring process and So the scope of work that we have here is based upon the application of The advocate who was who has been hired the consultant and she can't be here today to introduce herself. But um This certainly does not preclude this was her list that she kind of preliminarily put together And it certainly does not preclude Reaching out to community groups in the within the city in the you know in the area affected in the city On campus and in the county as well and also potentially other allies in other parts of california, so the The scope of work is really kind of the the basis upon which we will develop a work plan So that's been certainly talked about and when it come with respect to Housing affordability on campus. This is certainly something that we've been talking about internally and The person who is coming on board is well aware of and so we will be paying attention to that in Our efforts as well and there will be opportunities to weigh in once the work Is happening From Matthews Without repeating all of that. I'm also on the city county group and that group as council members No has an advisory group as well that it works with And the work plan As councilmember round mentioned that appears in the agenda report is a starting point not exclusive and Mr. Godberg's points are very well taken Known for detail work. Thank you And they absolutely should be incorporated and I agree that the list of community groups to reach out to Is the starting point and not an end point? I'm looking over that. I could think of plenty of others to add It One of the key elements to engage in outreach is the students who are impacted by University growth without adequate facilities. And so these comments are very well taken and Given all that I'd like to approve the agenda item As it's shown with the intent to incorporate the current and ongoing Input from the public There was a motion made by council member Matthews seconded by council member brown to Pass the recommendations with ongoing Input from the community Thank you, mayor, um, thank you, mr. Godberg for bringing this information forward Um, you and I know what's going on up there and it's been going on for a long time. It's it's Incredible what what's being charged on campus? I had um someone wrote an email in and I um Responded I wasn't planning on reading this, but I think it It could be somewhat informative just to give Council a sense of what's what's been happening. I've spent 20 The last 20 plus years helping educate young people at every level The past 15 I've spent at ucsc I have a I have to level with you and say The atmosphere on campus among staff members undergrads and grad students is tense at best and toxic on many days People are way past angry with the current administration in oakland mainly wages and benefits have plummeted I am taking home less than I was 10 years ago raises are a thing of the past We've had four academic coordinators in my department in two years and three graduate coordinators in the same time Unless you are fortunate enough to get a home A couple of decades ago No one can seriously live very well on what the university pays If we did not if you did not own a home I could not if I did not own a home. I could not afford to continue working at ucsc Concerning the workload for example, I run the internship program I had 60 to 70 interns per quarter back in 2005 when I started the program now routinely draws 150 to 250 interns per quarter I have more student workers, but no real staff has been added Buses are overcrowded as our classrooms. I can honestly say the housing crisis in santa cruz is the crisis Of doubling the number of students in the past few years Why can't we stay at 19 500 and say no more? We are doing Our share given we are the smallest city in the uc system Let's carve out a special place for ucsc within the uc system. It began as a special case Why not continue that legacy other cities in california would love to have a university? Why not open five more? Thank you, mayor There any further comments I'm happy to call a vote all those in favor. Please say aye. Hi any opposed That passes unanimously Move on to item number 16, which was pulled by council member crone Thank you, mayor. I had a couple questions We took this up at the public safety committee as well Had a lot of nice dialogue information exchange. I had some other questions. I Contacted the chief, but possibly it was too close to the time of the meeting I was just wondering about the failure. I don't know if anybody's here to answer a few questions about tasers I was wondering um, if there's a a standard failure of the taser, you know the A failure rate of each taser like how often does it fail? I don't think we've ever um, I'm sorry, bernie. Escalani lieutenant with the police department. Good afternoon, americamings and council We have a very low failure rate. I don't know that we've actually collected the data itself But they are very reliable And um out of the 16 folks who have been tased this past year in zanakers How many would you say went to the hospital Everybody that is tased has to get medical clearance before they are Transported and booked into the jail. It's in our policy. So it's routine that you would go absolutely And I didn't understand the hands and feet issue is that Um, yeah, it was in one of the things it says hands and feet It's just another application of you know, if we have to use force. It's just grabbing somebody That sort of thing. Okay. Got another tool. Okay People in the community I'm asking this question for folks who I've met with this past week They said that tasing is a form of militarizing the police. What what would you how would you respond to that? I'm not even certain that the military has tasers to be honest. I know that over 18 000 police agencies across the country use the the tool um, and it's a very effective tool and it has Saved lives really and has prevented injury both to civilians and to officers I read where san francisco in detroit. I don't use tasers. Is that do you know anything about that? I am aware san francisco does not I do not know exactly why Um, since it's a five-year contract. Does that mean the tasers only last five years? No, it uh, usually is a way for acts on to rotate out older equipment and supply you with newer equipment Or they have the next generation that comes out. It's kind of a standard operating for a company that's Turning over their their supply So basically we don't own the tasers they do still we're just sort of leasing them, right? Oh, okay Um, where do the old tasers go? Do they just go back to axon? Yes, okay. Thank you mayor Are there any other questions at this time by council members? Seeing none Thank you for providing some feedback I'd like to open up to the public if there's any member of the public who would like to comment on item number 16 Which is award contracts for tasers and associated licenses and accessories You have up to two minutes members of the public and council members I'm with half homeless united for friendship and freedom in another group called Although not usually active and in the recent days stop police abuse now It seems to me it's always natural for the police department to look for new tools to be using whether it's a unarmored vehicle or Military equipment that's surplus or tasers The issue for us is whether we want that in santa cruz Whether we want to spend that in santa cruz how necessary it is and what kinds of injuries this Produces i'm glad the public safety committee looked into this issue But by the way the recording of that Hearing you could you could hear the police department quite well But you couldn't hear the council members questions really hard to do that. Maybe the staff can look into that Tasers have killed people it is in fact the case There was an aclu report in 2005 that noted i think 73 deaths in the previous eight years from tasers And you know you can say well that the drug overdoses were involved or weak hearts or whatever but these are Sort of secondary the issue is whether we want we need to arm the police department with tasers and in terms of the stats that have been given There was no actual Clarification of the issue that concerns me which is how frequently are they're used are these used on a particular population to it poor people people who are Visibly homeless because a lot of the recent regulations passed by prior councils involves criminalizing homeless people in parks And elsewhere The city manager for example has talked about this very limited armory space They'll have nothing to do with a vast majority of people who still are intense all outside around the city and who face constant And frequent police harassment and movement so I think this is really an important issue to be considered I think the data needs to be considered and I think that that wasn't entirely given as i'm the council member Glover shares the committee can tell us regarding for example most recent use of tasers in october. Thank you Is there any other member of the public who would like to comment on item number 16? Saying none. I'll bring it back to council for action deliberation Remember matthews I will go ahead based on the information that's provided us about the departmental policy and record that we go ahead and move the recommendation I'll second. So we have a motion by council member matthews seconded by council member walkins to move the Staff recommendations Before we take our vote. I noticed council member Glover had his hand up. So Most acknowledge you at this time. Thank you. Uh, yeah, it's a tough topic the tasers The price tag is really high and then getting a chance to talk with the police department at this public safety committee So thank you for being there to talk about it and kind of shed some light on some stuff that it was Basically like leasing a car. That's that you know, you're you're leasing tasers and they come with a warranty and Each taser comes with a certain amount of refills and they're worried about police officers using other tasers and sharing other tasers with other police officers for levels of accountability Which I can totally understand and appreciate A little I do share the concern of the community member that met spoke about the The frequency of use on people from specific demographics. I know that when I requested that information at the meeting I don't think that they had the data to provide to Show how many people were marked as Currently, I think the term that they use is transient, but experiencing homelessness While they were being used and also That they have tasers that work. They just want to make sure they have the newest Materials I understand and want to acknowledge that tasers are used as a tool like you mentioned To avert Danger both to police officers and to people that Could sustain more critical injuries if other tools besides tasers aren't used, but I'm also uh looking at the official stance of the Local chapter of the aclu and the aclu in general the asia from a letter They their position remains that the police should not use tasers because they're lethal and often misused And are urging us not to authorize the santa cruz police department's purchase of new equipment So I mean I would love for us to have a more robust discussion amongst The council in general instead of just going through it because it went to the public safety committee but What are the thoughts about the the use statistics did y'all that are making this motion right now Listen to the public safety committee Recording or look at the data that was provided by the police. What are your thoughts on that? What about the potential risk of people that are unhoused? We don't have the data associated with that or the cost associated with it So I'd love for us to have like a a conversation about it instead of just rubber stamping $230,000 for new taser equipment. I'll just interject before Allowing for further comment that when we're making comments on items that we should you know Stay make sure that we're staying focused on the item at that being said I will allow if any of my council members want to make comments Um for the additional comments on the item before taking the vote I'll just say personally that um while I do Um share some concerns as well around the use of tasers I've just based on some of the statistics that were shown with only the tasers only been used 16 times within the past year Additionally as a as a less lethal form of being able to control situations and then the need to ensure that Um When you have equipment that it's up to date and constantly being replaced because what we wouldn't want to see happening is that Our police force is using old equipment that then fails during its use and could actually result in causing more harm Towards either the person or it's not effective in its use and then we're causing We're opening up our officers to more harm on themselves Um, so I think that making sure that we find this balance and in the interim If there can be further discussions by the public safety committee and members of the public as to considerations for Even more less lethal or potentially lethal forms of tools for engaging With people who might be committing crimes. I think that there's an opportunity for those discussions to continue as well And I want to recognize councilmember crone Thank you, mirror. Um, I feel kind of uncomfortable because uh, I'm still not wrapping my brain around why san francisco and detroit Do not use tasers at all and there has been According to roiders, um 2017 article that since the since 2000 there's been over a thousand deaths attributed to tasers um A follow-up article said nine and ten of uh, folks killed by tasers Were unarmed And there's 172 million dollars in lawsuits that resulted from from those deaths So there is considerable liability to to the city. Um, so for those reasons i'm just uncomfortable Any other comments by councilmembers? I I share some of the concerns that have been raised here and um, also by the aclu And you know, I do have concerns. I also understand, uh, the Position that uh, the scpd is in and um, and I appreciated hearing a little bit about the policy around their use I'm wondering if that is something that perhaps could be Reviewed by the public safety committee at a meeting to kind of look at what you know, what the policy is Do we get some public input about its effectiveness in terms of? Ensuring, you know health and safety of of individuals involved in those incidents And maybe come back to the council with a report on that I just maybe speaking as the other member of the public safety committee we We actually received a pretty extensive presentation on this much of which is in the packet And also some of the training the policy and training work that the the department conducts I believe we had a unanimous vote as well. Um, and and certainly these tools You know have risk they have risk to any individual that they may be used for Um, but I know during our discussion with the Police department at the public safety committee. Um, I felt like we really got a fairly detailed understanding of why the department is asking for this particular action, which is primarily the the replacement and the the proper Timeline to make sure that our equipment is safe and efficient as possible. And so Um But I do I will comment that The department actually uses the top line training and and and other Best practices in the in the field for making sure our officers are really Really taking into account the situation before these before these particular Types of equipment are used on anyone I I guess and I'll put council member Matthews and council member Brown But I'd also like to say that I shared some of these sentiments into council member Crohn's point I would maybe make make a recommendation that the public safety committee Maybe look deeper into why certain cities have now banned tasers and Maybe provide some recommendation on policy at a later point in time Should we want to explore that? Council member Matthews and then council member Brown Again, not to repeat all comments, but I just want to add that The tasers are one of many tools that the departments Have increasingly explored and utilized To find less lethal interventions in truly significant threatening situations and And we up here know that The department has done a lot of training Successfully on de-escalation of situation training with mental health people to to whenever confronted with a Really extreme threatening Situation of harm either to an officer or to other individuals they look for the Least harmful intervention As I've just mentioned and this is one so I just want to put it into context and also the idea that we don't want to keep going on Using outdated equipment So this this makes sense to me Council member Brown Yeah, I would I don't disagree with anything that's been said with respect to the training and the Kind of non-lethal alternatives being preferable So I'm not disputing any of that. I'm just and I understand that there was some data in the report At the that the public safety commission received. I read I did not listen to the meeting, but I did receive the PowerPoint attachment And so what I'm all I'm saying is that in addition to kind of providing those statistics and in information that if the public safety committee wanted to Do some further discussion and kind of you know further inquiry into the policies. I don't I don't think that's suggesting that Police aren't doing a good job and the policies aren't You know helpful, but if there are maybe perhaps there are other best practices that haven't been considered I mean we can always improve right so it's just simply to say if this is a concern and it's a community concern that seems like the place to Pursue it at a future date Mr. Murka just a clarification council vice mayor Was that a unanimous decision to Prove the contract or send it to the city council? Yeah, clarify. Yeah, it was a it was a We did take action to send it on the council, but yeah And also I wanted to make a Correction the article I read about Detroit was before 2018 so 2018 as a police chief in real time Just let me know they were testing tasers Any further comments? All right All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed So that is council members Watkins, matthews brown my Glover vice mayor Meyers voting in favor It's it's the vice mayor meyers. Yeah, and then voting in favor and councilmember crone voting against Yeah, just to make a comment after the vote Is that I support it because I want to provide the police department with the tools they need with the current structure They have right now, but I am all in favor of us reevaluating and identifying ideally as Creative of options as possible moving forward through analysis of the public safety committee So I want to make sure y'all have what you need Thank you for those comments Moving along the last item that was pulled from consent was item number 18 purchase of two refuse trucks And that was pulled by councilmember crone Thank you, mayor. Um, yeah, I just wanted to get some a clarification on on In our efforts of pursuing electric vehicles because I know we had quite an extensive conversation during our budget deliberations and uh, I've been prodded by several members of the public to Ask why we cannot get seem to get an electric vehicle and I've had several exchanges with our public works director and with tiffany wise west our climate coordinator I just a couple things came up like charging stations We don't have the capacity right now the courtyard to charge the the batteries In an electric truck and I'm just wondering what it would take to get us up to speed and be able to get it purchase an electric truck And have it be able to be charged at the courtyard I um while the lupa sanchez with public works resource recovery collection Good afternoon, and I There's several different issues not just the charging station. Um, we have issues with capacity And the range of how far they can go so um, they're and there's really nothing available That's in full production right now. They have made a handful of trucks in the major cities and The cost is also an issue mac has their prototype um out in new york and That is close to a million dollars For the truck that would cost 350,000. So the cost is real prohibited prohibitive as well But as far as the corporation yard goes, um, that would have to go through our fleet I mean, that's nothing that I could move forward myself. It's through pg&e and and see they'd have to Do significant upgrades for for that For the questions council member crown I mean Do we have a sense of when we might be able to um get um? I spoke to the dealer and mac at mac this afternoon or this morning and and she said that You know we can get a demo out It's going to be a million dollars and I mean then we can figure out how the range goes But we still don't have any any word of charge it And I thought it was very interesting. Um, the public works director decided a uh An electric vehicle that we were going to get because uh palo alto had it on loan is what I understand And they couldn't get it here because it didn't have the capacity to drive it all the way here And charge it along the way. I guess Interesting is kind of double-edged sword Yeah, there's no charging station. They do have a portable charging station. That's diesel fueled so it would kind of be redundant Thank you All right, is there any member well, is there any member of the council has questions at this time? take none open up to um The public for comments on item number 18 Which is the purchase of two refuse trucks. Is there any member of the public who'd like to come up for two minutes? Sure, I'm brett garrett and Uh, whatever we can do to get that charging infrastructure in place, you know for tracks for trash trucks and for other vehicles Um, as soon as possible would be really good Um, my feeling is that the trash the electric trash trucks will be available reasonably soon. I I don't really have specific details, but I It it looked to me reading the agenda report that it was very much a business as usual You know seven years is the optimum time to Replace according to business as usual and therefore let's do it now But it looked to me like there would be a reasonable possibility of holding back and Waiting for electric trucks to be available or possibly purchase a used truck instead of a new one um I personally am very uncomfortable with the city of santa Cruz supporting the diesel truck industry because I I just feel like You know all the benefits of some of the other wonderful things on the agenda Reducing plastics and avoiding fracking It just feels to me like buying a new reduce diesel truck cancels those benefits So thank you very much. I Yeah Is there any other member of the public that would like to speak to us about item number 18? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to council for action deliberation council member matthews Yes, I'm going to go ahead and move the recommendation as presented to us And I'll just make a couple of comments Certainly, we'd all like to move to electric vehicles of every size and function as soon as possible but I think given the need of our fleet and maintaining service and reducing service time and and Getting to the point where it's no longer worth it to keep the older trucks It is time to get some new trucks. I want to just compare the experience here to metro council member mires nice sit on metro and there's a state mandate to move to electric buses, but when we got some for With a grant for a trial. They couldn't make it over the hill to highway 17. I mean there's a real industry trajectory of research That isn't at a ripe stage yet. Let's put it that way And I have absolutely no doubt that as the industry matures and the capacity improves We will be early on to to move our fleet in that direction But I think we're not there now and we do have to maintain service to our customers on a daily basis So those are the reasons behind moving the motion before us I'll second the motion and uh just in the just for time. Yeah, I echo council members Matthews comments Metro's done a lot of um, we've been talking about electrification in the bus fleet for About four or five months now. And so we've learned a lot about both the exciting potential, but also the limitations right now on the technology and the availability of Really getting the the truly the travel distance out of some of these vehicles right now. So I think um We have to keep up the pressure to continue to get these vehicles Working for for broader than just personal use So before I take any for the comments swing knowledge We had a motion made by council member Matthews seconded by vice mayor mires to accept the staff's recommendation um council member chrome just wanted to add thank you for those comments from both council members The reason I pulled the item is because I wanted to hear what folks were thinking and um, you know Get us have us all on the same page and I do I do hope my sincere hope is that the council's supportive of Change the change over as soon as it's it's possible technologically And we may have to pay a little bit more for those vehicles But hopefully they they might last longer. I don't know and I know the capacity needs to change too. They can't fit as much Uh recyclables or garbage into each uh into some of these um electric vehicles Are there any further comments? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously That ends our consent agenda And I'm just going to ask if we could take a five minute break in case people need to use the facilities And so we will come back at 235 to our consent public hearing items Welcome back On up next is the consent public hearing. These are items 20 through 24 on our Consent public hearing agenda. Are there any city council members who would like to pull items 20 through 24? Council member matthews. Yes, I'd like to pull 21 One any other city council members that would like to pull any items from consent public hearing Seeing none I'll open up to the public to comment on items 2022 and 23 from our consent public hearings Any member 24? Oh, sorry and 24 Is there any member of the public that would like to comment on all Consent public hearing items with the exception of item 21? Seeing none, we'll bring it back to council for action and deliberation Council member mires. I just wanted to make a comment and I have a quick comment. I like to make I just wanted to make a comment um on 24 which um, I think really so this is the Teffra hearing for approval of the California public finance authority for issuance of tax exempt bonds for the benefit of the riverfront apartments affordable housing project So that's a long title To what I as I read the staff report to an incredibly Exciting project which is um preserving Somewhere in the neighborhood of about 103 affordable units for For long long for many decades in the community And I think this project really speaks to Both the expertise of our housing staff that we have here at the city of Santa Cruz That they are facilitating this And I just think it's incredibly important for our community to understand that We are working to try to protect and preserve affordable housing It was the number one one of the highest priorities from the housing blueprint process And we are engaging in that every day So we hear a lot of Frustration around affordable housing in our community, but I think this is an example of an excellent project that will preserve Uh, a lot of units for families in our community who need to be safely housed And uh, so I just congratulate the staff and thank you for bringing this forward That's more matthews continuing on that one I can remember in the past the struggle to retain these Section 8 units with five-year contracts with the owners and it kind of got kind of dicey at times You know the effort going and these will now be permanently protected So it's it's not something we have to keep renewing And also these are really older units that are In real need of upgrading and Renovations so that they are Desirable units and really maintained for the future. So it's a really sound policy in the city Can be the vehicle for this to happen So it's it's really we're playing a wonderful role on this I also wanted to make a comment on item 22, which is the child care impact fee Um, I'm actually a little reluctant on this because of reasons that I mentioned at the first hearing This is really an impact fee As I understand framework without a percentage and I did ask at the first hearing that This not be considered in isolation because we do have a public safety impact fee coming up And then we have a whole lot of other fees. So I wouldn't if if it's all right. I like to ask staff How will this come back at what point will this come back with a percentage attached to it and A combination with what so is that you? Good afternoon, mayor and council members leave out there the planning director and we have Engaged consultant to evaluate the Basically a spin-off of what the county did to make sure that the impact fee Nexa study is accurate for our City boundaries we are expecting that we have that response. There's a lot of the groundwork that was already done as part of the County work. We're expecting that response this month We do want to coordinate this to your concern with the public safety impact fee That is also being proposed so that it is something that the council can consider Holistically and not in isolation. So we're working with our counterparts in the fire department and police department to identify the timing for that But in the coming months, we should be able to Return to council. We had given a longer time frame When we initially talked with you, we're hopeful that it can can happen faster in part because The consultant is going to get their initial work back to us so quickly So we're hopeful that we will have a shorter time frame. We had we had talked about sort of Mid-year probably right after the break. I believe When we initially said we would be reporting out and we're optimistic that we can Do that ahead of time assuming we can get Both police and fire to complete their work in the same time frame and then because one of the housing blueprint recommendations was to examine the totality of the impact of fees on The willingness of developers to proceed with their projects So when you bring back child care impact and public safety, will will there be a context for that? Yes, I think that is an important component is is looking at Not just what's being added, but what's the the full picture and there are a few things in flux But they may be worked out by that time. For example, the water department is updating their water connection fees and So that that timing Maybe completed by the time we're done there They're hoping to have it completed by the time about the same time that we're coming back So we will have that complete package of All the fees that we're charging and I'm sure you will hear from The development community We had initial interest From them when we brought it out and we conveyed some of that as part of the report The last time when this was heard in in december You know the development community isn't happy about fees as you would expect But there weren't members of the development community here opposing it and I think You know everyone recognizes the need for child care and looking at it holistically is going to be important to understand Where that fee lands and I think there will be Substantial interest when that comes forward of of pinpointing the exact amount Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to bring up again context I don't I don't doubt the validity of this specific fee either But it was seen by the housing blueprint as a legitimate issue to pursue seriously. So with those comments Do you need public comment on this or no, I think there's still a couple of comments for council members Actually, it wasn't pulled. That was just my comment. Yeah, and then I just had I just wanted to kind of echo sentiments expressed by the vice mayor that I'm really excited that you all were able to you know find and A way to keep some of our affordable housing affordable and also the necessary repairs for being able to get these To to keep them up to standard and I did have one question regarding the item number 24, which was Just some concern around I know that it says that the tenants are going to they're going to be able to do the The repairs with the tenants in place and is can someone speak to that a little bit just so that We understand what that might look like Yeah, hi, my name is Mike April from relying group And we're the ones that are going to do this renovation We've done this on a number of properties 4 000 units across california And what is is there's a hospitality unit that's set up? And so residents will be able to are required to move their items from the living or the uh, excuse me the kitchens and bathrooms for a period of like five to seven days And then they will go to hospital units for the day from 8 a.m. To 5 p.m And uh, that renovation will take place during the day that will return their unit at night and the You know, we'll have a working toilet and working faucet every day. They may be without a kitchen For a couple days We'll provide meal stipends for every uh tenant so every person within that unit for three meals a day and we found that that's been very successful and um, you know, it causes Us to be limited to the kitchens and the bathrooms, but it's a great product and It gets done in a very short period of time and that's the way we're able to you know, finish these projects in a timely manner and Yeah limited the disturbance attendance Thank you council member brown and then council member Well, you just answered my question. So thank you and I just add my My thanks to everybody who has been involved in making this happen I think that especially given the kind of unstable Potential tenure for this project that having that and then also knowing that Current residents will not be displaced Is is really just an amazing wonderful thing to be hearing. Um, so thank you and and thanks to our planning staff Yeah, we're excited about the project Council member walk into sure I don't think I need to say what has already been said But I'll just go ahead and reinforce what's been said in regards to the improvements and the opportunity and especially in terms of some of the Programming that could be accompanying it in the future and ADA Accommodations and green it's it's all around a really great thing So kudos to the staff and thank you for being here. Um, I just briefly wanted to comment on item number 22 Just to really thank the council think the community if we really think about Uh Our holistic needs as a community and child care and the needs of families And having to keep people in our community if you're sometimes looking for child care You'll drive all the way to capitol of them back in for work and it's a huge issue facilities is a huge issue for child care Um, this put santa cruises with the first city in the county to really prioritize that So I just want to think and acknowledge this council and the community for Leading um our our community on this issue and what could be potentially transformative for The future of child care and although I know It's a balance in terms of the fee structure in terms of developers I hope that they also know that they're contributing to the well-being of our of our community into the future generation of Santa Cruz so see it as also a really meaningful contribution So with that, um, I don't know if you need a motion or if you're going to take it hasn't been pulled It hasn't been pulled Okay. No. Um, no, but I Would at this point in time if there's no other comments. I'm looking for a motion to move items Um 20 through 24 with the exception of number 21 I'll move Okay, so moved by council member matthews. Take your pick second by uh council member Watkins And if there's no further comments at this time All those I've got one further one anyone who can remodel a kitchen bath in five to seven days Okay, so with that all those in favor, please say aye Be opposed that passes unanimously And now we will move on to the pulled item item number 21 Which is the second reading and final adoption of ordinance number 2019-25 amending title 24 Santa Cruz municipal code the zoning ordinance part one of chapter 24.16 Inclusion inclusionary housing requirements including sections 24.16 010 through 24.16.0 60 So I would like to invite um Our economic development director binding lips come for a presentation. Good afternoon mayor members of the council So I'm I'm here today Even though it's the second reading of the inclusionary ordinance amendment Because we had some discussion between the first reading for some potential consideration of some additional language To provide some flexibility specifically around Allowing five percent of the overall project to count towards the inclusionary requirement for section 8 vouchers And so specifically we talked about mirroring some language that the city of watsonville has in their inclusionary ordinance around Section 8 vouchers, and so I provided that with the mayor today and Available to answer any specific questions. I also have a few slides that have it so we can pull it up on the screen So I guess just as a starting point I'll go ahead and put it there and then happy to answer any questions that you have Be great So the the language before you Where this would relate in your packet for the ordinance would be in the ordinance in your packet It would be under number five and it would be a new d and so this would apply to rental projects only So ownership projects would Continue with the 20 percent at 80 percent of AMI and the rental projects would have the opportunity For five percent of their overall inclusionary requirement I you know which is 25 percent of Of their 20 sorry it gets a little confusing When you're looking at that to be similar to watsonville's Which would qualify for section 8 tenants Any questions from council members? I just want to make sure I understand because I always have to do math to do these So the proposal really would be so for example say you were going to do Ah, there we go. Okay. Yeah, so I have just an example and then I can back up. Sorry So for example for again, we're only talking about rental projects Because this is the section 8 vouchers which are for rental units So for 20 20 inclusionary requirement that would be eight units total to meet the 20 percent So 15 percent would be low which is 80 percent of AMI which would be six units And an additional five percent to make that total of 20 percent Could be made available to section 8 Section 8 tenants holding section 8 vouchers and those would be verified and issued through the The county housing authority of santa cruz county and so that would be two units to get to the total eight units or 20 percent Do you and just for clarification for the public could you Do you know the the salary range of the 80 percent area median income? Well for a family of four For median it is 98 Thousand for 100 percent. So you would just take you know 80 percent. So roughly 78 80 80 thousand. Yeah, thank you That's helpful And to just to look at that A different way and this is similar to how watsonville has it In their ordinance just so you can see it visually as the percentages sometimes that's easier than reading the language You could see that for the ownership it would just stay 20 low, which is 80 percent of AMI But for on the rental side on the right hand side of the screen It would be 15 low 80 percent of AMI and an additional five percent That would accept section 8 vouchers for the total of 20 percent I have just have a quick question. I know that when we have the first reading you expressed Concern with moving in the direction of 20 percent and sort of clear on the why unsure without further data and information on the how and What i'm seeing here today just to make sure I have clarity is that this is sort somewhat of a How fix to get to the 20 percent for rental projects, but absent more data or another independent analysis do you feel that covers the The need to meet to kind of reach that 20 percent that you express concern about when originally proposed I think this does address it the reason why it does is by explicitly calling out this language for section 8 It provides some certainty that this is an option and by mirroring the language in watsonville And just to go back there so you can see it all the all the language that's underlined in this In the lower part of of what's on the screen is exactly the language That's in watsonville's and so what this does is provide some certainty for a developer to know That they can advertise for 30 days for An eligible section 8 10 and if there's one holding a voucher out there the unit is theirs However, there are sometimes where they are not available And this provides some certainty for the developer to know that in this situation I can still then rent the unit So that provides that flexibility. That's what's in watsonville's we did sit down with jenny panetta The head of the housing authority and she was pretty excited to have You know very explicit language around this that also included as it does here That it would be made available to the county of santa cruz housing authority So that they would also be able to mark it out to their list of all their section 8 tenants So this is something that I think gets at Still meeting the 20 percent But providing some flexibility and some certainty for developers that they wouldn't otherwise have You know part of the being able to go forward with a 20 percent is being able to finance it And if you don't have explicit language in there that shows, you know, particularly on that 5 percent that you're guaranteed to Either have a voucher holder or then be able to market for to the general public after a certain time period That gives you that that certainty that you can go and get a higher mortgage to be able to finance your project if you have don't have specific language and you have that 20 percent and You could have you could accept section 8 tenants, but you don't have guarantee of getting that And so you would be required without explicit language to do the 20 percent at 80 percent of am i I have just a follow-up question then in regards to the development. That's not for rentals What is your position on that at this time? We haven't analyzed that yet. So um in general though the the rental market is You know generally harder to finance that it's not always the case, but it is You know it is it is pretty hard right now We would really like to look a little longer at that. We haven't done any analysis on the ownership That's part of of what we would like to the work we'd like to do with the planning commission and also with the the council housing committee That's member brown and then vice mayor or my So I have a quick question at our first reading the additional direction was to send A direction to the planning commission to consider ways to Help implement the 20 percent and make make it um viable and and so I and I understand there are kind of a range of possibilities for incentives and other other ways of of doing that So i'm just wondering where that's at um with where the planning commission is getting to work on that Yeah, and the timeline and the timeline. Yeah Good afternoon mayor and council members leave out there the planning director and um, we jumped right on that You met on uh, December 10th, thank you and Later that week we released a report to the planning commission for their meeting on the 19th and At that time we recommended one that they form an ad hoc subcommittee to look at among various other things like the enhanced density bonus and Encouraging a variety of housing types with Those were sort of the subset Inclusionary housing being the first and foremost priority So we have a ad hoc committee of the planning commission set up Following the discussion today. We would anticipate reaching out to the planning commission Subcommittee members to get the ball rolling on that That is their first priority with it being an ad hoc subcommittee. They've got six months and a lot of things on their plate But we certainly don't want this topic to take six months. We want to get recommendations back sooner rather than later So that we can get them back in front of the council as soon as possible I just had a question. I just want to make sure that We're developing policy that will be effective. So um, I know that typically we have Less availability of section 8 housing Than the demand. Is that correct? Is that is that our current still sort of state of affairs both within the city and the county? Okay, thank you Councilmember Matthews, and then I was curious how the planning Subcommittee would relate in terms of Work program and time with I think you have proposed a task force How do those things mesh? I don't know if that's a question to you or to lee or both of you I'll take sure first go at this question. Um, the last week I was able to meet with body lips come from economic development lee butler and also laura schmidt and we discuss the makeup of the subcommittee And the hope is that we will meet in the beginning of february To begin outlining some of the scope of work that we'll be doing over the course of the next few months as it relates to The housing blueprint subcommittee and what's been accomplished Areas to prioritize that um, that are areas of potential to address Affordable housing needs and then um, this is a consideration of how we can work this committee can work with the Planning commission subcommittee as it relates to the recommendations that they're bringing back to this 20% inclusionary Coordinates so a council subcommittee and a planning commission subcommittee The only I just put in a plea for some degree of efficiency sure and um Not necessarily along those lines I would say that to the council to the planning commission's credit Every single member who was present volunteered and expressed interest in being on that committee So we have a very engaged and wonderful planning commission who really wants to help this effort and help promote the housing development that we have here in the city and So one of the discussion topics because so many people were interested so many of the commissioners were interested We talked about bringing discussions back to the planning commission So that those who aren't able to participate in the subcommittee are able to provide their comments as part of The the full commission discussions. And so again, it was just preliminary conversations that we had with the mayor and The economic development director Bonnie Lipscomb and our assistant city manager interim assistant city manager lurchman and We talked about bringing those recommendations to the council subcommittee so that they've got That information and then that could then the the recommendations from the council subcommittee could then be brought to the full council So very preliminary conversations, but that's how we anticipated moving forward Just to comment on that. I I agree that Trying to make sure that this is an efficient process is something that I think I myself am also Very in favor of as well. So, you know, if I can just finish up. I know you want a public comment, but I did pull this and at the appropriate time. I would like to Make a motion incorporating this language to give that flexibility and certainty and Increase the availability of section eight houses. So Okay If there's no further comments from council members at this point in time, I'd like to open it up to public comment on item number 21 from our Consent public hearings And you'll have up to two minutes. Good afternoon council members. I'm andy shiffer and i'm a member of the planning commission I want to urge you to not approve the staff proposed changes at this time, but to Approve the second reading of the ordinance a couple of informational items The watt single ordinance is fundamentally different than the santa cruz ordinance because it doesn't only require the five percent Section eight it requires five percent at median income and five percent at low income As well as five percent at very low income and five percent section eight the current City ordinance inclusionary ordinance provides all the flexibility you need I wanted to just read what it's the relevant section so that you can see that there's no need For this additional language the ordinance already allows all Inclusionary units to be section eight units if that's what the owner of the project wants The section of uh is says rental residential developments that would create Five or more new additional dwelling units or live work units at one location Shall provide and it's hopefully going to be 20 of the dwelling units as inclusionary units Which shall be made available to low income households at an affordable rent and low income is defined as 80 as income household income that does not exceed 80 percent of the median income so any household that has an income below 80 percent is eligible to have to It's eligible for one of those inclusionary units. So that would include section eight tenants Section eight is available to low income units The benefit of for developers of having a section eight tenant is that they get market Rents from market fair market rents from the housing authority So i'll finish there by just saying there are there are a lot of vouchers that are out there that are looking for places to rent I'll invite the next member of the public up to speak You'll have up to two minutes Good afternoon. My name is gale jack and i'd like to um This is off the cuff. I'm always unprepared. Sorry But i'm concerned as I have been for a while that we're totally missing the population in this community that most needs our help if our family of four Median average median income is 89 i think she said 89 thousand Then 80 of that is approximately 72 thousand if you have a single parent with three children I've calculated that that's an hourly rate of 34 an hour For that one parent supporting three children So what's happening in our community is monthly our ami goes up as Wealthier people move here So i'm I don't know the answer to this problem I'd like us to address the very low income and even You know 60 percent of ami for a single parent or a single worker is kind of a stretch Unless you want, you know, maybe we'll send our kids out to work. I don't know But i'm serious about this I I'd like the council to address the people most in need of our help and that's the very low income people We're not building any housing for them. Thank you very much next speaker i have raffa saman felt it also like to Support what the previous speaker said about the very low income challenges in our community I feel like Assuming you guys pass this ordinance today You should move very quickly on addressing how to uh increase incentives for the very low income Development without Making any changes to the density bonus as it is There's actually a disincentive for developers to be Building any very low income Because they can reach the same density bonus Doing the 20 percent of low income as they could for currently doing 11 percent of very low income So they could just switch all of their development to low income increase their their profit margins meet the The inclusionary requirement and then we're missing out on the very low income Extra developments that we could have had otherwise so we need to find some way to incentivize very low income and You have lots of tools that you could do that includes including the enhanced density bonus I won't speak to the other ones, but I just wanted to reiterate that that The longer we wait to figure that stuff out the the more likelihood There might be projects coming in that That if they do meet the the 20 inclusionary that they they won't have any very low income development Or any any very low income units at all Because it's it wouldn't be required of them. Thank you Yeah Good afternoon. I'm here to speak in favor of the 20 inclusionary requirement Be very helpful for our community to have less market rate units built and more affordable units built I'm basing this on research. I've done tracking the number of units available Daily on craigslist those are rentals over the last year. There's regularly 593 available units for rent per day That's taking in consideration Aptos so Cal in those surrounding areas But 354 average for Santa Cruz rentals Most of those are market rate again and again. I see the same ones up there. They're not being rented at market rate We need more units which are for two combined incomes of under 80 000 as well as what the speaker spoke before me To take care of our teachers and service workers to sustain our largest industry, which is tourism 20 inclusionary will help with this. We do not need more market rate units But it's the only way developers might want to build unless we have public funds Like Monterey and Salinas has done the governor's just allocated one billion dollars yesterday towards homeless housing So let's find out about public money for low income. Thank you There are no other members of the public who'd like to comment on this time I'd like to bring it back to the council for action and deliberation There's a motion made by council member Matthews to Approve the proposed additional inclusionary language for the new rental developments. Is there a second second that second and by Vice mayor Myers And I'll open it up to comment starting with council member Glover Followed by council member brown and then council member crown. Thank you So i'm a big fan of affordable housing something that I think we should be prioritizing in any way possible also section eight because of the Ismoli long Wait time that people are having to experience especially those that are currently living on the street to get into a sectionate unit I'm curious from the comments that commissioner Schifrin made thank you with regards to the differences between Watsonville's and santa cruises and how The current language of the ordinance already includes the option for us to be Prioritizing or specifically allocating units to be section eight So what's the benefit of this additional language and if we approve this today Then wouldn't take it back to a first reading and then make it so we'd have to come back for a second reading So I just want to make sure That there's a really clear understanding as to why This language is necessary as opposed to just adopting the 20 percent as it is currently and then coming back later if we decide to and maybe amending the ordinance later on But at least at this time being able to move forward with a 20 percent Affordable housing requirement. Yes council member Glover. It would Make this a first reading right so it would then have to come back for a second reading I think the reason this is coming forward today is there's some concern that by changing it to 20 percent with the 80 percent of AMI which is more restrictive than any of our sort of comparison Cities and I actually have a chart to to show that if you want to to actually look at Some of the other cities so specifically Watsonville Does have flexibility and I have that broken down here Um and uh commissioner Schifrin Schifrin is correct in that they do have variability in theirs They have five percent median which is at 100 percent AMI which is higher than ours They have five percent at 80 percent which is the same as our 15 percent and then they have five percent very low Um, and then they have the five percent section eight And that's the language that we were mirroring in its entirety for ours So when you look at and compare their 20 percent which is also just on rental And another thing to note is theirs is on projects that are seven units or more Whereas ours is on five units or more And you have from some of our previous discussions the lower number of units the harder it is to to get secure that financing So our 80 percent at 15 percent at 80 percent of AMI is more restrictive than Watsonville's The reason why including that language in that explicit language is that provides some certainty for the developers that they can actually take And get financing because they're guaranteed and either or if we don't right now We're silent on section eight And so they can't use that to be able to secure financing because they'll have to do They'll have to uh, the financiers will look at what is the worst case scenario The worst case scenario is that there's not going to be an available section eight tenant Therefore you have to provide those units at 80 percent of AMI right um, so thank you for that I think what i'm getting at is knowing that we have such a Vast list of people waiting for section eight almost guaranteeing that we'll be able to find section eight Tenants to fill section eight units and having the ordinance According to what we just heard from commissioner shifrin Allowing us the flexibility to Work with developers to ensure or to incorporate in their plan that there are going to be section eight units Then what precludes with the current language developers? Saying okay, we're going to develop this many units and we're going to have this many section eight And not be able to go and get funding by making the commitment to having those section eight units outside of it being Written in a ordinance It's just not a guarantee and so having that explicit language if if there is the You know situation Where there are ample section eight vouchers available It will absolutely secure those units as section eight units, which is great for the community If for some reason they aren't they advertise for 30 days The way our ordinance is written now is if there is not a section eight tenant available during that time frame The developer would then have to Delay longer and secure As a non section eight tenant for that space You can't take that in advance and get financing for the project in advance of that uncertainty So by having and including that explicit language that actually addresses that need and that's not in our ordinance now Thank you Hey council members brown Yes, I um I think I understand the the rationale and I'm not um Unsympathetic to the concern I also am very very interested in finding ways to incentivize landlords property owners to rent to section eight tenants and so I um, you know, I want to make that very clear um, I From what I understand Uh developers can can rent Up to all their 20 percent of their inclusionary units to section eight tenants And I understand that there's no guarantee That they're going to get the market rate Um Rents right. I mean that's really what it's about is making sure that that developers or property owners get that Market rate rent for the additional five percent that we're considering um And I'm sympathetic to that as well. However, I I think that Given that developers were telling us they couldn't do 15 percent They couldn't get financing for 15 percent and we needed to reduce our affordable housing Our inclusionary rate It's hard to say. Well, you know, what what's the cut off? I mean, they're going to tell us they can't do whatever whatever and they're going to tell us they can only do whatever our Rule is and so I think it's very important that we today adopt this ordinance on a second reading and that we um, we send the Inclusionary language that watsonville has including the additional language with the the other baselines To the planning commission subcommittee, so I'm going to make a substitute motion that we do that that we adopt ordinance number 2019-25 Implementing an increase of the inclusionary percentage city wide For all housing developments both rental and ownership to 20 percent and that we refer consideration of the amendments That to address section 8 related issues Including the watsonville ordinance language to the planning commission subcommittee to be considered with the other Alternative all the other recommendations that will come back to us second Before we move on I just want to check to see if the city clerk was able to capture that motion Okay, so since that's a substitute motion My understanding is we need to vote on that vote to accept this substitute motion And then we can continue on with with discussion. So All those in favor, please say aye. Aye All opposed no Okay, so that passes with council members glover crone brown and mayor Cummings voting in favor council members Watkins matthews and vice mayor mires voting against Okay, and so to bring it back for discussion. I had council member crone then Council member Watkins. Is there any other council member? Thank you, mayor. I'm trying I'm trying to wrap my mind around the idea of so somebody puts up 100 units and 20 of them are affordable 200 people or 100 people apply for those 20 affordable units So their incomes can be anywhere from 30 to 80 percent or we're only going to accept folks with 80 percent of the AMI No, I was What I was speaking earlier was specific to section 8 vouchers on the holders if we're talking about the 80 percent of AMI for our our inclusionary ordinance It's that a developer will be Holding the rents to 80 percent So we're talking about just to clarify two different two different areas So I'm I still don't understand We'll be holding the rents to 80 percent, but there is not the flexibility. I was interpreting what Commissioner shifrin was saying that we could choose any any folks, you know income levels That are deemed affordable by housing and urban development in washington Um, I think he was referring to section 8 tenants, which could be a variety of income levels that qualify and that's and that's true And from what I heard the last time they and they closed the list as far as I know Maybe someone knows differently. There was over 10,000 people on the section 8 List looking for vouchers or you know wanting a section 8 voucher Why why do we have it? Okay If I could maybe just make one comment to a couple of the early earlier comments by not having this explicit language We have the most restrictive ordinance not only in the county, but probably in the larger bay area And by mirroring at least watsonville's language It levels the playing field a little bit more for developers that may consider building affordable housing in our community I think our concern is by having a restrictive ordinance as restrictive as we do Is that we're discouraging housing and affordable housing to be built So I think by mirroring at least watsonville's language for now We are at an interim period understanding that we have our planning commission That's going to be looking really closely at this at a much more deeper dive And our and our council committee looking at this as well What we're trying to do now is because we're we're all trying to move quickly is make sure we're You know not causing any unforeseen Circumstances by putting the most restrictive ordinance out in the community We don't want to prohibit affordable housing being built by mirroring watsonville's section 8 language Which has been in place for over 10 years. We know we're not going to do harm with it We're not turning away section 8 tenants. We're providing a mechanism to be able to not inhibit affordable housing to be built in our community We're just trying not to make a mistake in the interim What we give the planning commission and the city council committee's time to really look at this more closely How how is it that? We got 15 percent at 80 percent of the median and I I think do I hear you suggesting that we should when we mirror watsonville We should go to five percent low and five percent very low That's not what we're proposing today But it's something that I think the planning commission looking at the inclusionary may want to look at is taking You know breaking that down similar watsonville or some other cities that have you know to get at that sort of lower income Provide the opportunity for five percent to go at very low income You know maybe have a five percent that's uh, you know at median or to looking at some of that variety Ours right now doesn't have that and how did we arrive at 80 percent and not like 15 percent very low? Um, how did we let me just want to make sure I understand how to instead of 15 percent? What did you say? Oh, why did we arrive at 80 percent of the median income rather than 50 to 80 percent? Um, just because it's if you're going at something that deeply affordable the delta that's currently in our ordinance for being able to provide That is just financially unviable for for developers to build The I don't know any ordinances that are out there that are 15 percent at 50 percent We would need to have a public subsidy, which I would love it if we had To make up that delta. I typically you do see for a lot of cities They build and they if they have affordable housing trust funds that they have affordable housing funding sources That's really where you build some of those sizable projects with those really deep subsidies So the very low or even extremely low projects. So for example water street Limburg street the riverwalk Riverfront apartments and the tannery and hopefully the upcoming metro project downtown We'll have those very low and extremely low units and we'll be providing public funding to make those financially feasible Thank you, mayor. If I could add a couple of things. Um, I was just conferring with Our housing staff and I just wanted to be clear that because Um, some section 8 tenants, um, qualify for assistance up to 120 percent of AMI that Those individuals who have section 8 and are between 80 percent AMI and 120 percent AMI would not income qualify for the affordable unit So even though they have a Section 8 voucher, they would not be able to move into one of the affordable units. So I wanted to Just make sure that the council was clear because I I wasn't entirely clear and just wanted to make sure Everyone was on the same page. Um, and then um, I also wanted to to speak to the councilmember crowns discussion about the 50 percent AMI and and getting units at that level one of the speakers rafa astutely pointed out that The interplay between the city's inclusionary ordinance and the state density bonus is an important one and It's a policy decision for the council At the Level proposed the 20 percent At 80 percent AMI that will qualify every project that comes through And is that's meeting those requirements for the 35 state density bonus So what we've seen right now is many projects coming through at 15 percent The 15 percent Low, uh, which is 80 percent AMI What they do to get that 35 density bonus is they provide 11 percent at very low And then the additional 4 percent to get them to 80 percent Uh, excuse me the additional 4 percent to get them to 15 percent Those are provided at At 80 percent AMI so so What it's a policy decision and so if if the the most important thing is the very low income units Um And you're anticipating that developers are going to capitalize on the state density bonus the the 15 percent with Has in the past been used by developers to do the very low at 11 percent and then 4 percent at low But that is that's just a policy decision So I It speaks to your comment about trying to get to the very low income And it's certainly something that we'll want to Consider when we're talking about it with the Planning Commission subcommittee when we're getting down into those details When I want to make sure the council understood that as well because it was a good comment that the member of the public pointed out Thank you councilmember Watkins I just have a quick question and then I have just a few comments In regards to the first reading of this ordinance We had folks from Santa Cruz City schools come and speak to us about their concerns with the ordinance and we talked about potential solutions Just really wanting to have a quick touch back with you all that that's being worked out and those discussions are Happening so we're not inhibiting them from their work Yes, they have not submitted an application yet to the city But we have sat down with them since the last council meeting and talked about various ways of exploring of That we could work with them One of the things that and we also subsequently met with the housing authority about is the possibility for their project of including project based vouchers A little different than what we're talking about today with the tenant based vouchers But for that project since they're looking at providing 100 work force Or potentially providing For with a preference and whether or not that would work for them for a Santa Cruz City school employee To meet our existing ordinance of 20 percent Inclusionary if that we were able to secure project based vouchers for them So we're we're looking through that possibility the other avenue Because they're a public facility a school facility That they were requesting was an exemption Our preference would be to find a way to enable them to meet our ordinance I'm just worried about precedent without being able to To think about what other entities that could that could impact Versus being able to find a way to work with them to meet the ordinance I share that interest and hopeful that we can start to move in the direction of getting more work force housing projects going forward So I understand the concern of the exempt exemption approach as opposed to having a policy that helps facilitate that um, I guess just a few comments in regards to the proposal before us today. I think um Given that we've moved in the direction of adopting it as the second reading I would just briefly say I appreciate the interest in trying to have some fix around the five percent for Some of the section eight, but I know that that's off the table in terms of the discussion at this time I guess um, my comments would be that I certainly agree with the folks who are Championing moving in the direction of the 20 percent. I think everybody here on the dais agrees that we want to see more affordable housing in our community It's obviously a time of crisis in our community Um, and we want to get to that place I guess where I struggle with this policy particularly is that It feels uncertain on the how and we can all agree on the why but without more certainty on the how It feels like an uninformed policy that could potentially have negative impacts and at this time when we're experiencing So many folks leaving our community because of the lack of affordability. I don't think we want to unintentionally contribute to more lack of affordability so for me Given that without further data and for me as individual wanting to make an informed policy decision I just can't support moving in the direction of having the second reading go forward at this time Vice mayor Myers Yeah, um You know I Yeah, I Think part of the calculus that we sometimes miss in being so focused on trying to get to sort of a I would consider somewhat of a politically policy political policy outcome is that um You know 10 years ago the state took away our ability as a local community to build housing and um We especially in this point in time are greatly missing the opportunity to use redevelopment funds to do exactly what they were used for for A really good run in this community and they created some wonderful housing for people And so we're so focused on sort of achieving This number but we are not looking at the back door problem of who's going to build that housing And I will tell you a story about a young couple that I that Reached out to me recently They had taken a gamble and bought a piece of property Actually in lower pacific area They wanted to build 10 to 12 units of housing They wanted to build a small market that would be walkable to the community because there's no actually there's no food market in that area Um, and they contacted me recently and said we just can't do this You know, so we you know, these are the kinds of developments that we want to be encouraging our our community is not Very favorable of density. It's not favorable of height. This would have been an infill type of Project they were going to try to to meet our affordability requirements Um, so they stopped work on it. They had spent almost 250 000 of their money trying to figure out how to make this work And this policy kind of put the nail in the coffin so I think that What we aren't really recognizing is that there are people who are taking real risk and That risk is reflected in the ability to actually finance their project And if you're taking risk and you're not able to finance your project, you're just not going to build a project and so I'm not going to be able to support the second reading and the and achieving this even though I believe very strongly that we need to be focusing on building Very low and low income housing as well as workforce housing. We really need a what I would call a balanced ecosystem of housing in our community and But right now the way we're approaching this is we are We are setting the risk level by this policy approach and I think people are going to stop stop investing in our community. I really believe that It's going to be easier for them and more predictable for for people who do this work To go to other communities right now and spend their dollars doing that and they'll just let their pieces that they own here sit We're not going to get new housing and we won't get the the type of housing. We're trying to get because The people who build housing They have multiple sites in multiple communities and that's where they're going to spend their dollars right now So I'm sorry. I won't be able to support the The effort but I I understand the intent is it's not meant to Um It's just this is my feeling on where we're at right now in this policy. Thank you I'd just like to add before acknowledging the other members of the council that While i'm a bit reluctant and hesitant to support the second reading today One of the things because I definitely am also concerned with our ability to get these units built I am pretty hopeful that the subcommittee of the planning commission and The city council will be able to work over the course of the next Few months to hopefully less than a year on really trying to figure out ways to implement this 20 And one reason why is because there's a lot of Talk around different properties being developed within our community And if we have these low levels of affordability within those projects If those projects go through then that those units are going to be like, you know, what those units are We're not going to be able to go back and you know change the affordability of those units And it sounds like there's a lot of potential motion at the level of the state To provide funding towards housing as it relates to homelessness And that we're in a time where there might be a lot of potential To see funds coming down from higher levels of government that could help us subsidize some of these units And so if we were to build on these sites now Um, and it turns out a year from now. There's you know, additional funds Or we're able to come up with innovative ways to make this happen If those units are built, there's no way we can go back. And so at this point in time, I'm You know hesitant, but I'm going to go forward with this Second reading however with the caveat that I think it's really important that the planning commission and city council members And folks from the community that we really try to work together to figure out how we're going to make this work And should it seem like You know, we may not be able to make it work or we identify the difficulties that we can adjust the ordinance to make sure that we're able to Get housing built, especially affordable housing And with that I'll pass it over to councilmember brown and then councilmember glover And I'd just like to point out that we've gone a bit over time in terms of our general consent public hearing So I'd like to ask the council members that we um Try to move the meeting along After these comments I'll be brief. Thank you. Uh, so I just wanted to In response to the uh suggestion councilmember Watkins that you made I wholeheartedly agree that the how is really a huge question And I and I I want to be clear about that I think that that's some that's part of the reason why we really wanted the planning commission to take a look at this And spend some time Trying to bring back to us recommendations about how to make it work. Um, I will say that I really feel that it's important to provide some additional incentive to Developers to help us figure out that how because without The requirement they have no incentive They have no reason to come to us and say hey, we'd like to kind of figure out a way to make this work Here's some ideas and so having a requirement like this will probably cause them I mean, I'm hoping it causes them to to think about how to make it work because Housing development is costly and it is risky, but it's also Has the potential to be highly lucrative in one of the most expensive Land markets in the country if not the world And one of the least affordable places to live So I feel that that's I believe a risk worth taking and and seeing if we can actually find some ways to increase those incentives and and certainly Get developers at the table to tell us how they might be able to make it work Rather than just coming and saying they cannot because And then I would also just add really quickly We are in a situation now where Um, we worry that increasing the requirements Is going to lead to this sudden loss of the of developers ability to to build here and I'm just gonna remind us that Last year we received an update on where we're at with our arena targets And with way less restrictive requirements We're still not building very low and low-income housing to meet our arena housing goals. We built Um between 2015 and 2018 or um approved 630 total units 337 of those were above market So over half were above market 12 were very low income so with It's the idea that somehow Greater restriction is gonna make it impossible to build this housing that already isn't getting built just you know I'm having a hard time accepting that so I think I'll leave it there. Um, I think I've I've spoken on this enough times now that people don't worry Thank you mayor. I'll make it quick first. I want to appreciate your statements A bit ago just explaining your position, but also in some of the analysis that you incorporated I want to just respond to a statement that was made a little bit ago that uh, the 5% is quote off of the table I don't think that it's uh fair to say that anything's off the table at this point because the whole point of this second Reading is for us to be able to move forward and then open up potential solutions through amendments or recommendations coming from other places Like the subcommittees and also the the how I think is another area that we're going to be working on as we move forward with This if it should pass today By figuring out how to incentivize and especially it was mentioned by community members how to incentivize the very low income housing Which we so direly need in the community so I would encourage us to move forward from this not say thinking that everything's off the table But that this is a jumping off point if nothing else to a conversation That will hopefully be beneficial for everyone. Um, and then also just uh to push back a little bit against the statement political policy outcome That this is a political move First of all, we're trying to maximize affordable housing development in Santa Cruz and looking at the history of what we've done Locally by reducing affordable housing requirements recently uh to which to my in my opinion, I think as was brought by councilmember brown has been ineffective in having the development that we so direly need that uh It's a tool that we have now to ideally encourage more development But also at the same time we are in the world of politics Everything that we're doing is political the the personal is political And so to say and try and discount the attempt And the work that's being done to try to maximize affordable housing and discounted as political I think is is a problematic opinion to have And additionally to bring up the loss of redevelopment funding The reason we are where we are right now is because after the earthquake There was a failure to adequately invest in affordable housing and livable cities We invested in a bunch of other things which were great for certain demographics But not in addressing our affordable housing So now we have an opportunity to move forward and with the likelihood of there being state funding on the horizon That we can offset into affordable housing development So i'll leave it there, but there's a lot of things that we can be positive about with regards to this policy move instead of being worried about it Vice mayor mires and then Councilmember walkins I just have one request maybe a note for the subcommittee work as well as the mayor's task force I think it's important then we really look at in both the entitlement timeline I don't think it our entitlement timeline is long I think it takes I don't know what the average is but I would imagine it's probably somewhere between three to seven years To actually build a project to actually break ground from submittal to especially a complicated project So I'd like to make sure that entitlement and financing is part of what we look like look at as well So thank you Just for just for brief clarification there was a five percent motion that incorporated the language that was no longer being discussed So it was the substitute motion in terms of just the reference for that being not considered as part of the the move the movement We want to go in I guess my My thoughts are and I won't go on for too long Is it just feels like that we're putting the cart before the horse here on this on this policy and we are taking a risk and And that seems clear And I guess what I don't it's sort of hard to know what you didn't get or what you're not seeing because coming from a world of Prevention and which is my background. It's really hard to measure what you didn't have happened But I wonder if we can measure or have some sort of information Anecdotally if that's what it is in regards to the impact of this policy as we move forward with having it in place Because I think data is important and for me this doesn't have that so Okay, all right There are no for the comments. There's a substitute motion that was accepted to adopt this as a second reading that was moved by Councilmember Brown seconded by councilmember Glover There's no further comment. All those in favor. Please say aye. I all opposed It's that motion passes with councilmember Glover councilmember crown councilmember brown Mayor Cummings and the no's were vice mayor mires Councilmember Watkins and councilmember matthews that concludes our Our consent Public hearing thank you And now we move on to our next agenda item for general business item number 25 You want to go back to the presentation? That's right. Yes So before we do that, there'll be a presentation Oh, I lost my notes By Nicole. Yeah on our three-year strategic plan So is Nicole So mayor members of the city council Ron Prince You all know Nicole young and she's been working with us ever since last summer on strategic planning and today she's got a A brief overview of the roadmap of what we hope to start off Actually, we're already in progress But she wants to give us a quick update on a three-year strategic planning process And this is consistent with our six month work plan that we were going to initiate this three-year process Before the end of the year, so we're pretty close. Anyway, with that, I'll just hand the meeting over to Nicole young Thank you. Good afternoon council. Let's get to see you again. Happy new year Um, and I'm sure this is the part of the meeting you've all been waiting for right the update And so I want to give you just a quick kind of refresher and reorient reorientation to How I typically approach strategic planning just to make sure that we all are thinking about it in the same way that we clarify some of the terminology and And words that we're using so that we're clear about what we're doing in this part Of the process and then I'll walk you through what we have planned for the actual We're calling it process roadmap meaning what are our key steps? What are the timelines kind of what are the things that we're working on? And all as part of that I'll give you a little update about what's already in progress And what is coming ahead in the next few months and then we'll wrap up with any questions that you might have About the process And again summarize the next steps and so just to be clear today isn't about giving you an update about things that are emerging from the process But just to make sure that you're aware of the process we're going through So in terms of the just kind of general orientation to strategic planning, I like to think of it as an opportunity to really Cause and reflect and and try to answer three key questions Who are you and what are you now as an organization and entity meaning the city of Santa Cruz? And what do you want to be and do in the future? And so part you know answering those questions requires looking at a lot of different information gathering input really looking at the current context that you're in So that at the end of it you can develop a roadmap and answer this question about well How do you get from where you are now to where you want to be? And so those those questions then answer about how how do you get from here to there? becomes your strategic plan becomes the basis of your strategic plan Which I often refer to as a roadmap to your future. It's a high often a high level roadmap It's not getting into the weeds about your everyday tasks or the tasks of staff But really a broad statement that articulates the council's priorities It's meant to be a tool to guide your policy decisions And then be a tool that enables staff to go and develop those feasible Actionable strategies and implement the policies that you've set forth And also really importantly to prioritize the time and resources that they're that are being invested in Implementing those those actions and those strategies So that it's an alignment with the council's priorities and just the reality of time and resources available And a good strategic plan also provides a tool that allows you to Focus your efforts around engaging community members and different partners in achieving your city's mission and vision So sometimes I see strategic plans and I Have heard of I've never really been part of one or led one That ends up in a plan that's you know like this thick That contains you know every imaginable scenario and you know, it's kind of like everything and the kitchen sink Type of approach to strategic planning. So we are not going to do that because we want it to be a usable living tool For you as as policy makers And so I like to think of a strategic plan is just one of many tools and it's this really iterative and ongoing process. So it's not even just a process you have to bear through to get to a Specific product that written plan, but really it's an ongoing cycle and it often begins with What we're doing now What I call landscape analysis where you're just taking a look at what are some of those factors both within Your organization within the city as a governing As a as a local government What are some factors within the within the city as well as externally meaning out in the community? Whether it's locally in this county things happening at the state level the federal level that might inform And influence the kinds of things that end up in your strategic plan and how they get framed as priorities That landscape analysis then helps inform again the strategic plan Which in turn informs the way you think about your budget And your operational plans or your work plans And so that's an important distinction I like to make that a strategic plan is really focusing on the longer term longer horizon It's a broad statement about your priorities that you've adopted as a council Compared to operational plans or work plans, which is more along the lines of what we worked on in june That six month work plan was very specific Very short term Usually work plans are more like an annual work plan sometimes a two-year work plan But they tend to be shorter term than a strategic plan more tactical Because it lays out a more specific plan about how You as a city will then work with council and staff right to achieve your strategic goals But the work plans are usually developed by staff right in consultation with the council But think of the strategic plan as that's your that's your time and your opportunity to articulate your priorities And then really then staff uses that as a tool to figure out. Well, how did how did they get that work done? Operational plans or work plans in turn then can help inform how you communicate about The strategic plan your priorities your actions And what kinds of metrics or or data right that you would want to be looking to and looking at to to use Not only to see are you achieving particular goals and and benchmarks but really to use for continuous improvement continuous learning And then that feeds right back into the whole process of doing a landscape analysis And you'll see in the middle of that a little kind of wheel there a communication with stakeholders You know so community members different partners staff, you know within the city Each other right so that's kind of a constant touch point throughout the process And so some typical components in a strategic strategic plan that will build into the city's plan Usually starts with a vision so that aspirational picture of what success looks like in the future And as much as possible throughout this planning process We're going to build on things that you've already started to discuss things that are already In the works or where you feel pretty strongly about okay. We've got something good there to work with You might need to refine it as part of this process But we'll build on on things that have already been been discussed and so for example You might remember that in our council retreat in june We created this beautiful looking vision board right where you had a chance to think about your vision for the city 50 years into the future so really thinking long term Beyond even your own terms on the council. What do you what are your hopes or your dreams for the city of santa Cruz? So we did some of that just very preliminary thinking Um, I read in I think some of the comments that may or coming said in that meeting where you were appointed mayor Kind of very nice and art and short concise statement that i'm considering like a working draft of a vision statement, right? So taking the elements that were brainstormed in the retreat It's kind of thinking about a working draft of vision being a community that's inclusive Of all people it's family friendly environmentally sustainable affordable and safe Those were a lot of the themes right that emerged in the retreat And so as part of the strategic planning process We'll just keep refining that to make sure that we feel solid about that that there's some agreement and sense of a shared vision So we'll refine that during the actual planning process And we'll do the same thing so that we arrive with a at a vision mission and set of values that are clearly articulated And talk about and identify broad priorities and goals. So so it's that high level focus areas and results to aim for And strategies or your key approaches to achieving your goals so here's the The planning process roadmap that we've laid out And so right now i'm just going to walk you through at a high level what the key steps are And so you can see what we have planned between what we started in october and what we have planned To accomplish by june And then i'll walk you through some of the more specific actions and steps that we're taking So we're on an ongoing basis. We'll just keep you know revisiting the project plan and and Adapting as we need to adding new steps as we need to So that's just a continuous activity through june We did form a small steering committee I'll say more about that in a moment to help guide the process and you'll see that we have some opportunities built in throughout The next several months just to have kind of check in points and make sure we are already on track here Are we missing anything? What else do we need to be considering? The landscape analysis both internal and external is really the major focus up front right now The rectangles are kind of off Out of alignment there But a lot of this work is really building up to and preparing for The next council retreat, which we're at this point planning to have in april So even though you see colored boxes there starting in january, that's really starting to plan for the retreat so that we have a good retreat in april Because then soon after that we'll have to move into all have to move into actually writing the plan for you So that have a chance to draft it vet it get feedback From different stakeholders from the steering committee so that by june you have a plan that is ready to go So a little bit of breakdown more specific breakdown of the actual steps here. So again in the project planning step There's a small planning team that's working with me to oversee this process And so it really it's me and staff from the city manager's office And so they're really acting as my liaison is to help make sure That when we need to bring things to a council meeting and get on the agenda that we've thought ahead far enough in advance to make that happen Putting me in touch with the right people and department staff to Get information that's needed all of that Which has really been helpful in creating the process roadmap that I just walked through And we did so it's taken us a couple months to really draft this planning roadmap and make sure that we had the right Types of activities and people involved and so we reviewed it at different points in the fall of 2019 with Then mayor Watkins and vice mayor Cummings and then again more recently in december With incoming mayor Cummings and vice mayor Myers So we've done a lot of checking in to make sure that we're on the right track And again the steering committee is a way to just then broaden the group of people a little bit in terms of who Who can help us think about again? Are we reaching the right people? Are we including the right information? Is there anything else we should be considering? So again, it's staff from the city manager's office the director of planning and community developments director of economic development Director of water they all volunteer to be part of this steering committee And then the mayor and vice mayor as your schedule allows. We'd love to have you there Once the landscape analysis, I often use Two tools in particular to help just figure out how to put some structure to the information that's being gathered And these might sound familiar to you or look familiar to you They're often used in strategic planning processes. One is the SWAT analysis the strengths weaknesses opportunities or threats The format we're using is actually called the spot analysis strengths problems or opportunities and threats and a context map And those tools are just a helpful way to to guide and and create a structure to answer these questions Who and what are you now and what do you want to be and do in the future? And so the spot matrix again, some of you might be familiar with this I'll just walk you through how we're breaking this down So strengths the s stands for strengths and that's really an internal look within the city What are some of your capabilities and skills and resources and successes to build on? These stands for the problems or the challenges What are those gaps or barriers or concerns that again? It's really about looking within the city as an organization And the things that we want to take into consideration as part of this planning process Partly so that we can see are there between the strengths and problems are there opportunities to be keeping an eye on And anticipating so whether there are specific activities or projects or initiatives or policies or funding opportunities that might be coming down the road How do we think about those and take those into consideration during this planning process? So that as a city you're prepared to take advantage of those and pursue those So again, that's really thinking about outside of the city what opportunities exist As well as threats. What are those potential concerns or bigger problems that might come down the road that? Could become significant barriers if you're not taking this into consideration during this planning process Again things outside of the city itself as an entity So we're doing a couple different exercises and Methods of looking at you know that spot analysis as well as the context map Which is just another way to look at trends and factors like whether it's political economic social technological legal or environmental. What are some of those again? Things or or trends or issues happening outside the city as an entity That would influence the kinds of priorities and goals in your strategic plan as well as community needs and Certainly think about what are some of those uncertainties some of those unknowns that again You know, we hear a lot of talk about the next economic recession. We don't know Exactly when or how but you know how significant that will be but those are the kinds of things Right that we should be taking into consideration as part of this longer range planning So those are just an overview of a couple of the tools that we'll use and so the way we'll use those tools the way we'll gather some of the information that will help us Kind of Match it to those tools is through again the internal landscape analysis, which is currently in progress And wherever possible with this landscape analysis, we're going to start with looking at what do you already have? What have you already done? What have you already gathered that we can look at this to then glean themes and results from so that we're not going back out and and repeating a survey or repeating a task force or a an engagement process that you've already done and And then end up creating Survey fatigue or community engagement fatigue where people are feeling like you've already asked me this aren't you listening right? So i'm in the process of reviewing existing departmental data and reports related to the goals and results of your current work plans And seeing what what does that tell us about future strategic issues and priorities? Any existing staff surveys and other feedback that tells us again about the internal Context i'm taking a look at and then we'll see well what other staff input Or information is needed and and what kinds of methods and strategies would best Would be the best way to gather that so some options might include things like Using existing department head meetings and management and staff meetings to gather somewhere input And if it looks like it's needed potentially administering a new or different survey to get additional input And we'll follow a similar process for the external landscape analysis again looking at what kinds of data do you already have available to you You have a lot of task forces and committees and listening sessions and polls that have been done In recent years, right? So we'll take a look at that and see what does that again tell us about Priorities and trends and then see what kinds of additional community engagement strategies might be needed And and what can we do with the resources and time that we have available? So again some options might include things like a bilingual online survey or key informant interviews or focus groups Or a community forum So we most likely won't be able to do all of those but again, that's why we're taking a look at what you already have available So it can be really strategic and targeted with additional community engagement And so again all of that will be summarized that's part of my job is to then Take all that and summarize and try to then present and feed it back to you in a way That's that really helps inform your thinking in the council retreat in april So again january through march It's just our time to plan that and actually come together in april to build agreement then on on the city's strategic framework Meaning your vision mission values priorities and goals and strategies And then it's go time it's putting it into writing Putting it into a structure that will be both useful for you as as policymakers and then understandable for Anyone who picks it up and reads it that they can see ah, here's what the city is working on here what the priorities are And here are some things that the community might want to weigh in on as well So our goal is to uh, write it in april and may Review with the steering committee and other stakeholders in may and june present it to you in june for review Feedback and approval So let me pause and see are there any questions about the planning process or any suggestions So go with councilmember matthews councilmember brown and Just wants to ask questions Looks like work speed work through a lot of people in a short period of time And presumably you won't be reporting at every meeting you'll be out doing your work But I think it would be helpful for us to get even just written Here's what i'm doing now here the groups. I mean just just to keep his feeling in the loop Yes We've talked about that and I think you know and so we can certainly look at things that I might provide I think we've talked about through the city managers Updates that that's another way And so we'll have probably multiple ways to make sure that you all feel like you're in the loop And then kind of the flip side of that any Any point along the way where you want suggestions about who should I be reaching? I mean, you know the community well, but nonetheless. Yes, great. Thank you Yeah, thank you for the presentation and I agree with councilmember matthews that it would be nice to kind of Have some updates along the way. So we Have a sense of where things are at where they're going In terms of the Community engagement piece I am Wondering if you could talk a little bit more about Kind of how you see How you are thinking about Accessing Diverse members of our community because I think that that has been a challenge that we face You know, I mean it not for lack of trying but you know, certainly Something that we always need to be thinking about and be very deliberate about so I'd just love to hear a little bit more on how you're Thinking about that. Um, and I think that's my only Yeah, my initial thought is that um as I'm going through some of the existing You know reports and summaries about communication processes that have already happened. I'm keeping an eye out for okay What types of people have participated? What do we know about kind of the Either demographics or areas of the city that you're hearing from often and who are those missing voices and people and are their organizations in the community whether they're community groups or non-profits or You know, sometimes there's like neighborhood leader groups that might be those natural bridges where we can Reach out and and invite them to participate So that might also mean looking at language access right and and preparing for different Surveys in different languages or focus groups in different languages Council member walkins Thank you, Nicole and I love strategic planning. So I get excited to hear about what's going to be what's happening and what's forthcoming Um, I want to thank council member brown for raising the issue around How do we get to the voices that haven't necessarily been? Access in the past and are difficult to access but we really do want to hear from So I thank you for bringing that forward my um, maybe question or concern or I guess our suggestion could be I know that often the strategic plan or Work plan has guided some of the budget Hearing kind of direction. So as you are learning themes that are coming forward I'm just wondering in terms of how it's going to be complementary to our budget hearing process and or informing That and maybe that's a question more or so or sort of a suggestion for consideration moving forward for our city managers team Yes, I think we can certainly do that and I think Really any opportunity that comes up during the year. There's various venues and initiatives that We undertake that we can take advantage to use also to provide feedback We'll do that because it is it is very compressed and so I think we'll have to really get creative in terms of maximizing the input that we can in whichever opportunity comes up Just like to say again, thank you for the presentation today and one thing to keep in mind I think as well when you're going out and doing the engagement with the community is also so It's common just within the context of the fact that I think one common thread you're going to hear throughout the Community is you know, what are we going to do around homelessness or addiction? And given that some of the services that that are provided to address those issues are Actually under the purview of the county I think it would also be good to take into consideration You know, what is their strategic plan and how can we Find ways to partner with the county and align our strategic plans so that we can work together when we're trying to address Some of the issues that I think are going to be the most pressing and come up As you're doing community outreach Great, great suggestion Are there any further questions comments from council members council member? What's the budget for the strategic planning process? I don't think I have it off the top of my head, but I think we did budget a certain dollar amount We can get that for you It's an a fifteen thousand dollar range Yes, we we uh We have a budget projection or estimate for this aspect of the process And we had it was in two pieces one was the six month retreat and this and I think we're in the neighborhood of Under 40,000 Under Below 40 Thank you. Are there any further comments or questions at this time? Thank you for the really thorough Presentation it's very helpful to kind of really see the beginning And then how all the information carries forward and so just very helpful to see the sort of that that roadmap that that you provided today. Thank you Okay, thank you very much for your presentation. Thank you So next up on our agenda is item number 25 general business The order will be a presentation of items by staff For the council members who brought the items forward followed by questions from council We then take public comment on these items and return to council for Deliberation action the first item upon our agenda is Introduction for publication and ordinance related to electronic filing of fair political practice commission campaign finance disclosure statements and statements of economic interest and I'll turn it over to bonnie bush So this ordinance is pretty straightforward It would allow us to move forward with adding a component to net file, which is our system for Statement of economic interest filing, which is electronic currently. This will allow us to do campaign statement filing electronically, which is something Beneficial for both filers as well as the city. It saves a lot of paper. It saves time. It organizes it for the filer It carries over Each reporting so it's not a new entry every time And an ordinance is just required to add that component to net file Are there any council members who have any questions at this time? I actually do Occasionally there have been candidates who honestly aren't Comfortable on computers or electronic filing um and Usually they're running kind of a budget campaign, but I'm I'm wondering how what's the provision for that? It could be a non-mandatory Um electronic filing some cities Require it to be electronic. Um, we could provide the option for it to not be mandatory Not ideal Record keeping from my point of view just because then we have to retain paper copies as well as and net file retains it Per the retention. I understand the advantages. Yeah, I I'm It is does not need to be required It was my preference, which is why I brought it. I understand that. Um, I think it would be Helpful and I'm I'm actually happy to go ahead with the introduction, but I would like to Give direction for finding some option For those candidates for whom it is truly not Near wheelhouse And it's really an equity thing honestly council candidates or anyone who has a campaign committee I think Anyone who's filing with you? Um, so again, I say I'm I'm comfortable with moving ahead because I understand this direction. It's Virtually everyone's doing it now, but this occurred to me and it's just kind of based on recollection of history Well, this are there any other questions by council members on this item? No Not we'll open up for public comment. Does any member of the public wish to speak on item number 25 on our agenda today? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to council for action and deliberation Let me if I could Ask Tony, do you see a way in this language to accommodate that? I think more is a practical matter if somebody came to the city clerk and said I'm having trouble figuring the sound you could Direct the city provide that assistance without necessarily Having having a paper copy. Yeah Does that sound agreeable? What was the well that I would assist them? Yeah. Yeah, I do that with the electronic You do Just a matter they can come into my office and I can walk them through it It's okay. I would prefer that over having to learn it if yeah, okay As I say, I only wanted to raise the issue Bonnie, um, does the state provide um these forms in in spanish or other languages? I'm sure it would be Available upon request. Yeah We're walking maybe in that spirit of sort of equity and access If it is it possible or how I don't know how it would be done But to advertise that if you have questions or if this filing system isn't working for you Or you have other needs in terms of accommodations that they could just reach out to To you for support or if I don't know if that would fit on them Where that could go website or whatnot, but I mean If I may it would make sense to do it upon Yeah, I'm sure you need to do this filing as well as my reminder emails that I send them Let it coming up and do Okay, is there any further comment? Is anyone willing to make a motion on this item? I'll move the item. I'll second it. Let me rate it real quick So I'll move the recommendation to introduce your publication and ordinance relating to electronic and paperless filing of fair political practices commission campaign finance disclosure statements and statements of economic interests Second was moved by Vice mayor Myers and seconded by council member matthews all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously Moving on to the next item um, we have Item number 26 amending the city of santa cruz environmentally acceptable food packaging and products ordinance and the presenters on this item will be Leslie O'Malley waste reduction manager and mark deddle director of public works Bob Nelson Good afternoon council Mayor Cummings again, my name is Leslie O'Malley waste reduction program manager public works department We are here to present on uh to recommend changes to the city of santa cruz environmentally acceptable food packaging ordinance As you may be aware the city of santa cruz has long been a leader in reducing harmful single use disposable food and beverage packaging It is consumed and discarded within the city of santa cruz Going back to 1992 we passed a voluntary ordinance to address the use of polystyrene to go food containers And in 2008 we found the need to formalize a ban on polystyrene food service items We added to that a requirement that all to go food wear items must be biodegradable compostable or recyclable In 2013 we passed an ordinance to ban the distribution of plastic carry-out bags and to place a bag charge on paper carry-out bags In 2017 you may be you may recall that we required providers To give straws lids cutlery and other condiment packages upon request only for to-go items We encourage food service providers to provide a 25 cent credit To customers who bring in their own reusable cups and containers We also encourage food and beverage service providers to charge a 25 cent takeout fee for disposable cups We come to you today with recommendation for changes to our ordinance We'd like to align with the county on their recently approved 25 cent cup fee In this case the vendors would keep the 25 cents as they do the bag fee This fee would apply to all ordering platforms including but not limited to telephone web Smartphone and other digital platforms Berkeley San and Salma and Watsonville have all recently passed ordinances requiring a fee on disposable cups In addition to the county of Santa Cruz as I mentioned Other changes we propose to make to this is some of our definitions mainly in the definition of biodegradable and compostable We'd like these to read to read items that decompose into elements found in nature within a reasonably short amount of time They must be fiber-based where applicable And they must be bpi that stands for biodegradable products institute certified or another third party testing laboratory to certify that these fiber-based components are free of intentionally added poly fluorinated alcohol substance You may have heard of those recently in the news or in a popular movie as PFAS or PFAS Making this change would also expand future opportunity for our compostable material to find end markets Other changes we'd like to make to definition is to add recreational area to city facility And to add Takeout delivery services not currently covered under our current ordinance to the definition of food establishment As far as implementation as traditional this would go into effect 30 days after adoption Historically, however, we've all we've given six months for the education Outreach and support of various businesses to help come to compliance We work with food service facilities to use up their existing stock and to make sure That they have access and information to vendors that sell the accepted items And then ideally the business community would have up until after labor day to be in fully compliance And that's it thank you for the presentation. Are there any members of the council that have questions at this time? That's my reclown I thank you for being here We had a couple letters that I saw from folks who who work in the sudden as you see Jackie Nunez Email and Who's the other woman that sent us something to? Miriam Gordon from upstream. Yeah, so what about incorporating those changes that they suggest? um, I think that uh, there's So there's a bay area working group of more than 18 jurisdictions looking at changes to these kind of ordinances And upstream and the last plastics job plastic pollution coalition is very much in favor of Pushing the requirement as Berkeley has done to in dining locations to require durable reusable washable dishware Berkeley is sort of braving the front on that and see how it is going. I'm not sure That our community is ready for that, but we would follow your recommendation As far as the poly fluorinated alkyl substance that Miriam pointed out, we could certainly clarify You'll notice in the markup. We have parentheses around poly fluorinated alkyl substance But as Miriam pointed out the popular PFAS in PFAS There's a whole broad range of other chemicals that manufacturers could sidestep around these Requirements. So if we did a blanket statement of intentionally added poly fluorinated alkyl substance No matter what their Abbreviation breakdown is that would help remedy that So you're suggesting we do that, right? I would recommend that Are there any other questions at this time? Seeing none. Well, actually I'll ask one questions right now. Um, we did get communication from Seaside company, which I'm sure you've seen and so they raised a few points. Maybe I'll ask if you could Respond to them now. I'll start by saying They expressed Frustrated they're not opposing the action, but they did express frustration that They were not more fully engaged in the discussion leading up to this and I think that In all honesty was a legitimate Complaint Not just they as a unique business, but other other major providers of these Disposable foodware They did ask that language in the proposed changes Be postponed till after Labor Day And in your slides you say that's when full compliance would be expected, but they mentioned just You know issues with supply and volume and so forth So can you talk to me a little bit about timeline for implementation or the expectation for and a reasonable? sure, um, we did meet with um of about 10 members from Seaside company recently to Listen to their concerns and frustrations Answer their questions to the best that we could. Um, it was their recommendation that they sought to after Labor Day So that they could get through their summer stocks their busy season To get into compliance We're not changing in the ordinance the manner to become exempt The public works director still has the ability to issue a one-year exemption So our original intention was six months from A Final adoption and that would more closely align with santa cruz county's Projected date of july 1st that would put us off a little bit So we have moved compliance target deadline to after Labor Day Our staff has currently been working on updating the Vendor list to make sure that these materials are acceptable Some people have asked to be taken off the list because they can't keep up with these changes Or they are small that they can't compete But we're confident that we'll have A viable list that vendors can Draw from to make sure they get compliance and as has been the goals in the past these Our team our education and outreach team approaches these ordinances and Seeking compliance first through support and education. We look to Finds and you know coming down on them as a last resort So we really have had success since as I showed in the earlier slide The city has enacted quite a few ordinances over quite a number of years and have met with great success I appreciate that and that was also conveyed but also the fact that The industry went through a whole lot of changes recently and now this is another whole So that was a generation of changes based on on Evolving understanding what the packaging is like understand that and And the other issue that they mentioned which is just practical Getting in this case the supplies they need in the volume The vendors may not be there. So I understand you're working on that and if it's a logistical problem Alliances will be made. That's my understanding So I just that was a kind of a legitimate issue brought to us sort of I just put it out there. Yeah, thank you Any other questions by council members Seeing none, I'd like to invite the public up for public comment You're welcome to come to the stand and you have two minutes Other members of the public if you'd like to comment, please line up to the left and we will call you up one by one Thank you Good afternoon council. My name is Emily Pomeroy and I'm the program manager at Save Our Shores I'm here today to advocate in favor of the proposed 25 cent disposable cup charge And to encourage further action for waste reduction First, I'd like to thank you on your work thus far in reducing the use of harmful disposable products in Santa Cruz Imposing a fee for disposable to go cups is a necessary step in reducing the amount of debris that's entering our landfills and our oceans According to the city of berkeley, it's estimated that we use approximately 120 billion disposable cups in the us each year generating 2.2 billion pounds of waste And using 35 billion gallons of our precious and fleeting water supply Imposing this fee is a way to encourage city residents and visiting tourists To integrate environmentally responsible habits into their routine habits, which will spill over Into the lives of their social networks both within and beyond the city of Santa Cruz I Encourage the city to pursue a strong outreach campaign for this ordinance to ensure that local businesses understand the value of this fee And that they're able to enforce it In addition to the charge I would also like to voice my support for the redefinition of the terms compostable and biodegradable in the context of this ordinance To refer only to bpi certified fiber-based foodware Biodegradable and compostable plastic to go items have become a popular solution to our plastic problem While they're not derived from petroleum they act the same when they end up in the marine environment These items can only biodegrade under very specific conditions Which can only occur in large industrial facilities of which there are still very few in california I'm going to pause you for one second. Excuse me. Mr. McHenry Mr. McHenry I didn't want him speaking over you so Mr. McHenry if you can please take your phone call outside In addition these compostable plastics often contaminate recycle streams causing generally recyclable items to go to the landfill Ultimately, we need to stop identifying ways to continue feeding our addiction to single use disposable products and relearn how to live without them I believe the proposed cup charge is a step in that direction I thank you again for your time and continuing to lead the way in waste reduction both statewide and across the us Thank you Good afternoon, mayor Cummings and council members. My name is ashley blake go dregger And i'm the pacific policy and communications manager with oceana on behalf of our members in santa cruz and across california I'm here to speak in support of the amended ordinance before you today We're in support of the 25 cent fee on disposable to go cups for the purposes Of encouraging customers to bring their own reusable cups And we also appreciate the thoughtful nature behind amending the definitions to to Reflect the fact that there are materials out there such as bioplastics as as was mentioned Actually act very similarly to fossil fuel derived products like single use plastic and still pollute the environment and harm wildlife And result in very similar risks to human health. So again, I appreciate the thoughtful nature behind Considering more appropriate alternatives that are out there As you're aware, we're on an unsustainable path when it comes to the production and use of single use plastic All of the plastic that has been produced today is already polluting our environment and posing health risks Yet there are product projections that show that single use plastic Production is set to quadruple between 2014 and 2050 So all that to say that actions taken at the local level are hugely important And also encourage consistency across counties and play a huge role in developing a groundswell of support For legislative action at the state and national level. So again, appreciate your leadership on the actions today As well as actions the council has taken previously. So thank you very much. Yeah Speaker Hello mayor and council. I'm allison and I'm here on behalf of the california restaurant association I first wanted to thank you for offering a list of acceptable products like on the website in the future that really helps Restaurants that you know aren't packaging experts know what to order. I know that's something that The astm standard definition was taken out of the the ordinance Or the amendments to the ordinance and that's something that I want to request to put in I know that seems like a small detail It really does help restaurants, you know figure out how to order things the astm code is usually on the packaging when they're ordering it So I know that seems like a small detail, but I know that really does help everybody Another detail that I wanted to bring up was The upon request definition isn't clear about self-selecting Utensils from a receptacle like if it's a fast casual setting and you can go pick up a straw or something like that I know that really helps the flow of restaurants You know so that they don't have to go and interrupt the line to get grab a straw or something like that So I was asking if the the self-selection could be an acceptable process for upon request And then lastly, I know that the 25 cent charge of disposable cups It's a concerning precedent on in the restaurant industry, especially in Santa Cruz just for a couple of reasons You know that charge can add up really quickly and it has some larger implications for the lower income residents of Of the city, I know that they're less able to absorb those costs and less likely to be carrying reusable reusable washable cups and things like that around and that just further drives up the price of everything I know people You know enjoying food have noticed in the past few years how how much prices have gone up recently so that will be a factor So yeah, thank you for listening. Thank you Michael Spadafore from Java Junction. So I'd like to point out a couple of things So two years ago we met and you guys decided that we had to go to compostable cups That's not up that wasn't up on your chart So the compostable cups the majority of them are made with corn put on a truck sent to a port put on a boat Sent to china made into a compostable cup shipped back here And I get them and if they're in a truck or a container, it's over 105 degrees. They'll melt Right. So those costs already Um, I've had to pass on to my customers So anybody that used to get a two dollar cup of coffee or a two dollar soda is now spending 250 for a 275 State board of equalization if I pay 15 cents for something they need to see 45 cents in sales for it That's how it works The fda says in the state state health department if I get somebody's cup Which I already give them a 25 cent discount for if they bring it in I've done it for 25 years If I get a cup from somebody and it touches a surface It has to be sanitized the way my cus my employees take a cup right now Is they take it at the cash register it sits on a counter there it goes to a staging area It goes to a making area it goes to a pickup area That's four areas of the counter that have to be sanitized if I accept a cup from somebody people bring in all different size cups Right. They try to bring it in this little cup big cup My staff has to figure out what size to charge them for I have a 12 16 20 ounce cup of coffee, right? so These are just all costs that are passed on to the customers the lowest Denomination people here in town usually don't have a have a recyclable cup You're passing these charges on to people which I don't mind doing again Just like I said last time everything just keeps going up But right now a smoothie has about 80 cents in packaging built into the cost of the of the product right now a coffee My smoothie cups just went up 30 percent the other day Paper products just went up another 20 percent. These are all costs that are going to keep going on to the customers And we don't have any way to recycle any of this stuff We don't have a way to recycle the compostable stuff you guys made us use before And now nobody's buying our recyclable stuff So you guys need to find out an equitable solution how everything's done and nobody's contacted me and I have three stores here So nobody's asked for free me for my input Yeah, hello, my name is ellie webster. I'm chair of surf rider foundation santa cruz chapter I'm here today to speak on behalf of surf riders hundreds of members volunteers and supporters and santa cruz Um since 1991. We've been an all volunteer group Working to protect the coastline We're so proud to live in a community That respects the ocean and is always open to new ideas and groundbreaking changes, especially when it comes to waste reduction It's no longer news to anyone that the plastic we use doesn't go away Not in our lifetime or that of our children or grandchildren, etc And it's not news to you that the bioplastics that we've accepted That don't actually decompose any differently than regular plastic in a landfill Our costing businesses more money for little purpose and providing customers with a misleading sense of moral satisfaction Once upon a time the idea of biodegradable packaging was enough, but now it must be redefined and more regulated As the leaders of our community It is your responsibility to continue to guide our well-meaning business owners And consumers into the reality of single use and the best solutions that are there But perhaps not so easy to implement without that extra little push and a guarantee of consistency across competition To keep up we have to evolve our ordinances to fit the facts and make them as influential as possible This means moving towards reusable and natural fiber based to go where As a community with a heavy with heavy tourism We are also in a very unique position to influence people from all over the world visiting our beautiful city Changing our packaging and implementing takeout fees will make every single visitor to santa cruz stop think and perhaps learn something It will show the country That these changes which might seem extreme to many are feasible and have a very strong impact Thank you for your time and as always your open mind Thank you. I hope to two minds I'm sorry, justin The charging stations are all fall over at the other place. I've got to turn the ringer off So I didn't mean to interfere with the meeting The food not bombs uses all compostables from world centric, which is a fantastic company that provides a lot of support for all kinds of Really great Causes all over the world. So when you buy something from them the About 25 percent, I believe it goes to helping other people And we've been using all compostables for like maybe three years now and The one thing that would be helpful is to have better composting in the community because we use the composting at homeless garden project and we fill up the it has to be distributed You know like in in layers so that the particularly the forks which are potatoes take a while to compost And the plates take a longer than the food does to compost. So it would be great if the city also as part of this Helped reduce some of the stress on the composting community that is already You know desperate, but we and we compost they think about Maybe 10 to 15 five gallon buckets of compost weekend sometimes as money is 20 and And so that would be a big help if there was like more community support to Accept all the compost and imagine if we're already having trouble with just 150 to 200 meals Twice a week imagine how it will be for an entire city full of people Trying to compost their things. So I think that's going to figure into what's going on. Thank you very much you guys Hi gail mcnulty save our shores Congratulations, you all are lucky enough to be holding elected office at a time when humanity needs to pretty much reinvent everything that we're doing So Plastic pollution is emerging as a top threat to ocean ecosystems and human health A march 2018 report from the earth law center said that by 2025 There could be a ton of plastic for every three tons of fish in our ocean Plastic debris harms nearly 700 species worldwide through entanglement and ingestion alters natural biological and chemical processes Provides the means for introduction of toxins into our food web and cost the us economy millions of dollars annually According to a 2019 world wildlife study Plastic pollution is so widespread that human beings may be ingesting five grams of plastic per week the equivalent of a credit card In 2019 alone the production and incineration of plastic added more than 850 million metric tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere Equal to the pollution from 189 new 500 megawatt coal fired power plants according to a may 19 may 2019 report Issued by the center for international environmental law The rapid global growth of the plastic industry Fueled by cheap natural gas from hydraulic fracturing is not only destroying the environment and endangering human health But also undermining efforts to reduce carbon pollution and prevent climate catastrophe If plastic pollution and use continues to grow as currently planned by 2030 emissions could reach 1.34 gigatons per year Equivalent to the emissions released by more than 295 500 megawatt coal power plants A 25 cent charge on cups is a small symbolic step in the right direction We hope you will pass this charge and commit to even more meaningful plastic reform in the near future. Thank you Thank you All right, is there anyone else who would like to speak after this gentleman on this item? Ah, then you'll be our last speaker. Good afternoon. I'm Scott Graham. Um, I hope this uh, plastic band Goes also to restaurants Using plastic bags. I know the plastic bag ordinance that was passed before Excluded restaurants and it was voluntary for restaurants not to use plastic bags And very few restaurants in town Stoped using them or there are a handful that don't use plastic bags anymore, but the majority still use plastic bags So I think it'd be a great idea if You ban plastic bags at restaurants also because there are alternatives and um As far as the cups go Are the lids going to be recyclable or compostable? And I hope the cups are compostable So that We're not adding to the uh, garbage stream. Thank you Okay And I would like to Go ahead. I just have a I have a quick question if I may um Because it reminded me when I when I had my little one with a like a sippy cup Having been denied not letting them put the It was a hot chocolate at the time And would prefer not to do it in the reusable cup and that was a little while ago But is there any kind of education or sort of social norming or work to be done with some of our um Producers particularly those who may um have a pattern of not wanting to take the liability of putting something in a reusable cup That will definitely be part of our education and outreach campaign As we heard from some of our speakers. There's been a big push and trend in awareness About this there's recent california legislation ab 619 that sought to broaden and also clarify The health codes so restaurants Can safely and meet requirements to accept that cross counter We'll be working on policies with businesses that are interested in expanding their Taking of Reusable cups to make that you'll always find probably businesses that aren't going to do that But that's definitely part of our outreach efforts Thank you question with regards to one of the Speakers and also a letter we we receive. Could you talk a little bit about the removal of the astm code? Is that is that really just about ordinary or maybe you could speak a little bit to that? Sure So um in our research it appeared that Um astm standard was not strong enough to leave out fiber Compostables that are free from intentionally added polypollinated Alkyl substances and so that's why the stronger Bpi or other third party bpi Biodegradable products institute as an organization has voted unanimously starting january 1st 2020 to only certify Fiber based compostables that are free of intentionally added polychemicals So that's the replacement for the replacement to the astm to be able to look at that standard. So got it. Okay. I just want to make sure Thank you. Um, so thank you for the presentation for all the great work As well as to the speakers and those perspectives I know that there's mixed feelings about Added fees on cups. I know personally when they added fees on bags I found myself using a lot less bags personally just in general I'm sure that wasn't the same with a lot of people But I do want to acknowledge and appreciate the restaurant association actually for bringing up the issue of regressive taxation It came in a letter as well as it was something I was already aware of but to say it again in their their public Comment or their statement. So I know this isn't the time for that conversation and finding alternative options To move away from regressive taxes, but while this is a great starting point I'd love to see us continue the conversation on some point on how we can As the presenter from the expedition said to figure out ways so that we can stop the Use of plastics in our community in general and make it so that we're ideally stopping it at the production point Before it even gets here for us to be taxing Which does disproportionately impact low-income people. So really appreciate the work and I look forward to work and go from here Thanks Both miss uh, gordon and miss ninjas both talked about the berkeley ordinance and um I don't know where my colleagues are on this, but both of them have suggested that um Uh Have inside dining you shall shall use reusable cups plates and utensils um Is there any kind of direction that we could give to leslie in? Uh sort of surveying restaurants coming back to the council as far as where that might how people might feel about that um in Looking at other organizations and how how the berkeley one is is is playing out I mean we have to be headed in that direction. I mean that's that's I mean The the problem is very is grave And I think the more cities that get on board early the more other cities that will be able to um Take it up as well, but there has to be a few in the beginning Um, I would appreciate if anybody up here has any thoughts on that. Um It you know, it's a dramatic step But can we play out over two years over three years even where we eliminate? You know restaurants where you know would not serve like nick the greek for example to choose one just opened up They have only disposable stuff, you know no no plates and they have facilities to have uh reusable uh plates I can just comment on that quickly or briefly and I think that you know, I agree with your sentiments I think that everyone up here does and I think one thing that we might want to do if there's Desire to begin working with staff and um One to see how it's how the ordinance is playing out in berkeley, but then also um provide some time for outreach to The restaurant community because I wouldn't want to take an action tonight That could then you know have negative impacts with the restaurant community But I totally share that you know, we do need to be moving away from Just single use it when it's down dining So is there a way to get to give direction to leslie to go survey? I mean, you're probably overloaded with work already Uh get a couple interns. I don't know. I mean to help with that in getting the information from restaurants um I think as we'll be doing the outreach to work on The changes to this ordinance. It would certainly be easy to add in Feedback or question about that I just want to share anecdotally the city of alameda who has been a leader in this while they don't have A cup charge. They also made a similar change that only fiber-based bpi certified Composable service ware is allowed. No plastics. No pla period What they have seen is that a lot of their in dining restaurants have voluntarily switched to durable washable reusable dishes For the cost saving analysis upstream who works very closely closely with rethink disposables has sent us some Really enlightening case studies of actual restaurants and their cost savings. And so that can certainly be part of our um outreach and education It's more math. I would just it's I agree you go into a sit-down place and give you Exposables makes no sense, but uh, I think you're going to be busy implementing this for the time being But I think that's it's certainly the a next a next project to tackle when it does You I think especially Conscientious about reaching out to the industry because it is interesting when we hear just the kind of logistical Things that never occurred us sitting here with best intentions Um, I'm I'm prepared to make a motion if there's no if I could just add one more thing. Yeah, it's come to light after we Entered the staff report and the ordinance There are Some restaurants as you mentioned nick the greeks. That's what's brought it to mine serves only And the ordinance as they've been written so far these requirements fall to to go where And so the logic is that restaurants are unlikely to have two separate stocks of You know plastic and then compostable where So there is opportunity in the language to require All dine-in restaurants have at least this level of required Compostable where to match to go where so then that would be consistent across To go and dine in for at least the compostables In the ordinance right now or it's not currently to add it. Where would we add it? You want to address that? So we currently in the exemption. Um, I don't know that this We have uh, if a business has served Rit fish or raw meat. Um, they are exempt So we have to examine where um, that would go that would add Um a requirement because we haven't currently Required that the state of california passed legislation as far as straws that said, um They can all straws must be upon request dine in or take out and they can still be plastic I did find it Like we did last time where we encouraged people to charge the 25 cent Charge for disposable cups. We did actually in uh section 6.48 0.025 E. It's the very last one It does say food service providers that have inside Dining are encouraged to make reusable Food surface wear rather than providing disposable wear Intention with that that is as we start coming back the next iteration That then we'll be able to make that a mandatory requirement I think for now I could personally I I'd put that throw that in the next iteration um version of things um And leslie I I do have one question. We're in this ordinance. Does I I know it's here I think it's here talk about uh when the when the ordinance goes into effect You talked about after labor day I keep looking for it and not seeing it section seven That's the section. Okay. I see Yeah 30 days after final adoption warnings will take place up to six months So warnings can be we can change that too because that would push past that to the labor day currently Um, is is that something we can do on this first reading here? Yeah, okay. I think I'd like to do that then Ordinance shall take effect following labor day and uh Education will take place Up until the Implementation that's him A minor thing that miss gordon pointed out and I don't understand and b in uh 6.48 025 under b all food providers may only give straws and then she crossed out lids Why is that? Yeah, I had to comment letter. She crossed out lids. Why would she cross out lids? um I'm not sure I'd have to And and also she crossed out be able to can we can we just change it to customers must Affirmatively request these items separate from food and beverage orders And then take out be able to is what she crossed out. I think that wouldn't change the spirit of uh um, I think that her reference to the lids which has been ongoing to these ordinances Is the lids is we need to make sure paramount for safety for hot beverages that um The if there's exemptions or workarounds until more materials and More guaranteed safe materials are available that we look at that So I think that if I recall from our conversation is what she was leading to I'll leave that Okay, it's going to be okay to cross out to be able to I don't see how that really changes the I don't think it changes the intention of the intention or the meaning of the language No, we just leave it. Is that a friendly amendment because why why not just take it out then and change it? Show me where it is. Give me a number in a 618 Number b item b if you look at 26 18 page 26 18 if you look at b The red lines we would strike customers Right Oh, it seems Yeah, that seems to make no difference It'd be just a semantic issue. Yeah 26 on our page 26 dash 18 And it says all food providers may only give straws lids cutlery Upon request of the customer and then basically it says customers must be able to request them, but that's kind of A repetitive seems to me Okay, so we just strike it. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, so we don't have a second yet We now have a friendly amendment. Well, is it so the motion has been made? Yeah, okay Do you second it? Okay So a motion made by councilman Matthews seconded by council member crown And I'll just say anyone who knows me knows I pick up these damn cups and lids and straws all the time. They are a scourge upon the earth. So I'm in favor of this Any further discussion and concerns Thank you for the presentation We can take if I could just say I just want to say thank you to staff for really picking up the ball on this when we came to you and making this happen in a relatively short period of time And I look forward to continued discussion about additional changes we can make And if I could also the committee that worked on this with Leslie was myself sandy and Donna and I think it is remarkable that the local businesses Aren't opposing it. They're they're making some kind of practical application comments, but To me public sentiment and the world is there So it's a matter of doing it I guess before we take the vote I just Also, yeah during the outreach. It's great if you could just Let these businesses know that there are other changes that will be coming. Um, so that they're not caught off guard as well so I just want to express my thanks to staff. Um, both, uh, tiffani and leslie Um been meeting with us for a long time for probably almost a year now So I'm very pleased that we we're here today. So thank you for your all your work All right, all those in favor, please say aye. Hi. Any opposed? That passes unanimously So next item of business is the introduction for publication and ordinance amending section 16 point one three one zero two zero Santa Cruz municipal code pertaining to penalties for non-payment of city utilities with the presenters kyle peterson And rosemary minard Good afternoon mayor and council, uh for the record rosemary minard water director I'm going to turn this over to kyle peterson the exemplary customer service manager who manages The customer interactions for 25 000 accounts for those folks in our service area who receive multiple utility billings from their water or their water waste water And solid waste bill and then also for our outside city customers who receive water only bills. So Turn this over to kyle Good afternoon mayor Cummings vice mayor mayors council members Kyle peterson customer service manager for Santa Cruz municipal utilities were the clearinghouse for utility services um, we provide water sewer and garbage Utilities to our inside city customers and water only to the outside city customers as rosemary said We manage about 25 000 accounts serving about 100 000 people The item before you today is an amendment to muni code 16 13020 This pertains to the process for shutting off water for non-payment of utilities This is Mostly a housekeeping item, but there are some significant impacts. We want you to know about so, um, we're going to dive in here So to to begin with I'd like to go over what I call the billing to shut off lifecycle um, when our customers sign up for utility service, they Uh agreed to pay for that service. We bill in arrears. So the service has has been used. We bill on a monthly basis um, and fortunately 91 of our customers pay that utility bill By the time it's it's issued and before the before the due date Our due date is at about 28 days If they don't pay at that point, they'll they'll get a first notice or a late notice Another six percent of our customers pay after receiving that notice If they don't pay at that point Customers will receive a final notice or a 48 hour notice You might have seen these around town. They're a pink notice that's left at the door of the service location um, and then after that if We don't receive payment We we have about little less than 1 of our customers who end up on the shut off list every month It's about 150 customers a month Um about equal thirds at that point pay the bill at the last minute Set up a payment arrangement with us or our shut off So today we're really talking about These three phases of this lifecycle with this Change to the state law It affects the first notice final notice and shut off process so Our muni code is currently referencing the california public utilities code for the shut off process The PUC has been superseded by the health and safety code And so we need to amend the muni code to point to the health and safety code to align to align with state law So a little bit about the state law senate bill SB 998 was introduced in february and passed into law on september 28 2018 it amends this the health and safety code and becomes effective february 1st And it was introduced by senator bill dodd with the intent to standardize the water shut off process and protect low-income customers so Mostly what i want to tell you about today is is how this is going to affect our our process From our current practice to what we'll be doing according to state state law And the three main areas we want to focus on are the the payment arrangements noticing itself and then the shut off process so With the payment arrangements the state law Is going to offer up an additional five months to Pay to avoid shut off. So our current practice Is to provide up to an extra month to pay before We shut off And the health and safety code pushes that out to an additional five months The other the other big change is the noticing requirement So in our current practice When someone is late and they get that first late notice that notice only goes to the account holder That account holder could be A landlord who gets the bill in fresno But it's for a service address here in town. So the law requires us now to send a late notice to both the account holder and The occupants at the service address That final notice the pink notice i was talking about that always goes to the service address to the affected parties The other big change here is the extension of the shut off date. So our current practice is to shut off around Day 55. So if the bill generation is day zero And it's due on 30 it's shut off at 55 The health and safety code is pushing that out to day 90 so The big question that i'm wondering about in pretty much all utilities throughout california are wondering about is is What's what's going to be the impact here? The big question is does more time result in fewer Shutoffs we really don't know yet and and we'll have to see what happens if it does Fewer shutoffs is going to mean less noticing lower costs for printing and postage and additional operational capacity If more time doesn't result in fewer shutoffs then The delinquency at that point of shut off because it's pushed out now is going to be higher There's been more bills that have been produced over that time There'll be potentially more noticing higher costs with that and more time spent Tracking these balances over time. So we're watching this closely as i'm sure all utilities will be So this is just to summarize The muni code is currently pointing at the puc It needs to reference the health and safety code And the three big changes there are the extension of payment arrangements The noticing to occupants and extended shut off date If you have any questions Happy to hear them Thank you. Are there any questions about council members council member matthews? Yeah, i'm curious My assumption would be that most of the seriously delayed and actual shutoffs are due either to vacant properties or Extreme economic circumstances. Is that a correct understanding may it probably doesn't matter even but I'm just wondering in cases where there is economic hardship And maybe that's a couple steps up also Is there any practice in the department to refer to This community resources for assistance that the simplest way to put it Yeah, we do we we maintain a list of those resources and We do refer our customers To them we don't know the status of Say the catholic charities at the time or the other forms of assistance But we we keep a list of those phone numbers and Refer those out. We don't really we don't collect any Economic information on the customer. So we there's no way to kind of correlate Why yeah, it would be anecdotal and impressions. Yeah council member chrome Yeah, have you done the the math like you said that 150 every billing cycle A third of those actually pay before they get shut off So that's 100 shutoffs It's it's about 50 a month 50 a month. Yeah, and so and then how many of those 50 have Come back to you and paid their delinquent fees and gotten You know clean bill of health or versus who'd never came back. Sure Most shutoffs Are restored probably within less than a day so Most people get shut off and we usually hear hear from them before we close And they pay a restoral fee and are back on and and and brought current Some of you know a smaller portion are Vacancies where we've shut off and then we never hear from the customer again and that becomes a write-off that goes to collections So if the house It's a house and they take advantage of the five months and don't pay anything and then they leave Do the people who occupy the house afterwards do they have to pay to get it up to they don't if there's a new New tenant then that's that's right. So that's that's where I could see people taking advantage of us on that kind of thing right and we actually presented this at the water commission about a week ago and that that sort of scam came up as You know people would stop paying their utility bill if they knew they were moving out in six months they'd stop paying now and just let it accumulate and That apparently that has been going on in some other places with different kinds of Collection programs. What have you? any other questions I'd like to open it up to the public for a public comment If there's any member of the public who'd like to speak on this item I'd like to ask you please line up to the left and you'll have two minutes on this item So please come forward Hi, I'm natalex dot kennedy gmail 3469 888 What I got to say about this water shut off I personally they they were saying was getting extended to 90 days I even support 120 days because water is the essence of life Everybody needs water We could cut off the electricity We could cut off the cable or whatever of all these other utilities and people will be sitting fine I mean in the dark but still but as far as the water goes, you know, everybody needs to drink everybody Most just about all food has a lot of water in it. It's part of its composition And it's one of those things where it's kind of a life and death matter where people need their water But at the same time the water companies need their money to I won't argue that And I just think more the if anything we need to make the extensions of how long before a actual Shutoff happens to be extended and then Your name One of the things though with the with the water being shut off is that uh, it I He was there was the first stage and and final stage of the collections I think they should add another stage to it one in between And uh, you know While I think the water shouldn't be shut off if somebody Drags it out and drags it out and drags it out Finds and interests and stuff like that should be applied because we need financial motivation to keep the water running but still I I think that uh, we need to have these extensions as long as Reasonably possible because everybody Needs water everybody Regardless of whether they paid the bill Thank you. Is there anyone else who'd like to speak on this item? Or you have two minutes Happy new year and congratulations and stuff. Um, just uh, I know it's difficult on data But the correlation with the the low income and not having that data, but that data set um With just knowing whether those are people who um, whether section eight for that household more often get their water shut off Or something like that like how that correlation does work seems really important on Um, whether it is solved whether it's something that a difference or uh, Something x some little extra step in there, uh, might be able to help just wanted to throw that out Thank you Is there anyone else in the audience who'd like to speak on this item? Two minutes Just real quick. If uh, if there happen to be changes in someone's economic situation, maybe they lose their job and they're they Can't afford their water bill. I would hope that there might be um, I'm assuming that there's some sort of Amnesty programs or or low income discount kind of programs and things like that Maybe there's a way that that those people could be educated when they get their Uh With their first notice of late payment that there are our programs available. Maybe that's already happening Just would want to make sure that that people have every opportunity to Enroll in a program that that that meets their needs. Thank you Any other member of the public Seeing none return for action deliberation Okay, um, obviously we have to comply with state law, but uh, you've given this a lot of thought and um I do notice that um In the staff report it says that currently the unpaid charges represent less than Point two percent of the billings. So even a little bump will not break us So given that and this this makes sense and and uh, Obviously the department has some resources for various circumstances I'm going to go ahead and um move the recommendation before us for introduction introduction of the ordinance Motion was made by Councilmember Matthews seconded by councilmember crone to adopt the staff recommendation. Is there any further discussion on this item? I just want to make a brief comment I'm going to support the motion. We obviously need to comply with state law and um, I too You know, I share the concerns that members of the public have brought regarding the burden on Low-income residents ratepayers Um, unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide subsidy or reduced rates for low-income ratepayers Something that I'll limit every time we have this conversation about rates So that's not something we can do but extending the deadline in the timeline for shutoff. I think We'll provide some well, we'll see as as our staff has mentioned that, you know We don't we're not sure what the outcome will be but it could provide some relief to Uh, low-income people who are struggling. So, um, I'm going to support the motion I just wanted to to respond and say if we could I think I'd be making that including that in the motion right now so Thank you So before we move on is there something that specific to include in the motion or no, no, no I was saying if we could if we could would we could okay. Yeah, okay Any further questions? Yeah What's a reasonable amount of time to for you guys to give us some sense of the effect of this? If any, I mean obviously six months plus Earlier this today on your agenda you Approved to contract for us to do financial and rate services We will be bringing information back to you quite a bit of it over the next probably starting about eight or ten months out and I think that would be a good time to bring this back because Affordability and the what you know the challenges we're going to be dealing with in terms of needing to support our capital program versus the Community's ability to you know support those rates. It's going to be a good opportunity to be able to tell that story Okay, thank you Is there any other questions or comments seeing none we'll move back for taking action On the staff recommendation motion to consider funding the wall Introduce republication and ordinance amending section 16.13 Point zero two zero of the santa Cruz municipal code pertaining to penalties for non-payment of city utilities Motion is made by council member matthew seconded by council member crone all those in favor. Please say aye. Hi any opposed That passes unanimously Thank you Thank you. Moving on to our next item It's warming. This is item number 28 on the city council agenda warming center program funding presenters ron prince and this was brought this was recommended by council member sanny brown and so I'll ask if ron prince would like to come up and then follow by council member comments Thank you mayor members of the council ron prince Special projects advisor this item came before you and I actually don't have a presentation as much as just to be here to Answer any questions you might have but this is a request for a grant for the warming center and it's You know, I think it's clear that the warming center does good work for the community and It's just a decision by the council to either make the grant or to you know filter it through another A representative like a fc That's worked with the warming center in the past in terms of distribution of funds, but It's strictly up to the council and if there's no questions That's fine, but I actually didn't have a presentation planned for this evening Be happy to answer questions Council member brown. I do have a question. Thank you. Uh, so you mentioned the consideration of Granting the funds through an intermediary agent and it looks like in our agenda report The afc is not at this time Willing to to Provide that Intermediary service. So I'm just wondering if you If you could say anything more about that if if there if you have thoughts on other potential Fiscal sponsors Actually, I don't have any other thoughts. I just talking to board members of afc They said in the past they had it helped with the funding and Being sort of a pass through or to support the warming center So, yeah, that was our only our thought we don't have any other nonprofits in mind that would Have done this in the past on behalf of the warming center to my knowledge Okay, so I'm just I'm just double checking it It says that the afc decided not to act as the intermediate area fiscal agent So you talked you spoke with them and they said they've done in the past, but they're not willing to do it. No, that's correct Yeah, they had a uh, all all nine board members decided not to to assume that role But they all felt that the warming center was was doing good work for the unsheltered community Are there any other council members council member walk-ins? I think thank you. I just have a question and um, I don't know if it's a question that martin may want to answer Or yourself, but we received an email In mid december That was forwarded on from martin in regards to some concerns I don't know if either of you want to sort of speak to to that email and or past concerns that I know having been on Council have been raised about the warming center. Yeah, I could speak to that. No, it was just it was an advisory to to the city manager that right immediately after catch meeting I had some concerns that we had that Acknowledging the good work that the warming center does I had a concern about the the reliability of and the reasonable expectation of having their grant recipient Act respectfully to people that we do business with So there was an incident that concerned me Again, I wasn't sure the relevance of that But I did want to share that with us the city manager Excuse me I guess I have a follow-up question because I don't know if you want to elaborate on that because this isn't the first time Martin that you've brought forward Incidents that have occurred in the past with this organization I guess the the Staff we have had, you know, we've worked with Brent in the past on a variety of issues and the the You need to be completely honest and and directed. I think if You were to ask us what our recommendation would be our recommendation would be to not not pursue working with mr. Brent mr. Adams at this time given our experience with him and It's it's not the Normally we work with vendors, you know, it's we have a more professional working relationship with them And it's not, you know the kind of vendor who we would work with normally so Just again to be completely direct and honest and what Mr. Prince forward it was an example of of the kind of behavior that we've experienced in the past But obviously that's Completely up to the council. I also acknowledge that the work that he does is very good And I think that's I hear that across the board, but I think normally, you know as a city entity We would take into consideration professionalism As well as the fiscal accountability and other factors in terms of deciding and awarding a contract of vendor And from the staff's perspective, we wouldn't we wouldn't recommend it, but it's completely up to you They're doing the work and that's what we pursued, you know, can we have a fiscal sponsor? Can we do other things to protect the city? The concern really arises around liability and protecting the city from liability So we looked at providing an Demnification clause in the agreement. So we just came up with approaches to protect the city's interest But it's ultimately up to you as far as how you want to proceed Yeah, that's mayor Myers. I'm just curious Is was where the previous issues related to perform if you could Related to performance or I mean the email we received actually talked about Really pointed out sort of behaviors and some other Um, I mean I was impacted by by what you wrote to us And so I'm just trying to understand is it a is it a performance issue? Is it a standard of of sort of How we would typically want, you know, one of our one of our vendors to be able to not only treat The the individuals who may be using the service, but also Volunteers staff Other city staff including it as well. I'm just I'm just trying to get a sense of It related to It related to professionalism and mr. Sprint's approach to working with with staff essentially We haven't contracted with city staff or is it with a staff of the warming center? A city staff city staff As far as our own again going on our own direct experiences with mr. Mr. Adams I mean, this was one example that mr. Prince highlighted, but there have been other examples as well I have one. I'm sorry. I have one that additional question if I may mary. Um in regards to process Given that there's sort of a process around Safety net services through core and the set-aside funding would that be more Aligned with general standard practice that if you're going to fund a service Usually it kind of fits within the realm of safety net services already potentially funded as opposed to just a contract without Kind of any kind of grant. There's no real grant obligations outcomes or Expectations of what will be done with the money. My understanding is generally that comes with those grant Lows and processes. Is that sound accurate? I think normally yes when the council considers, you know funding for any Particularly social service provider. It's typically done in the context of the community programs process And the funding that's set aside for that I think in this particular case this was motivating The need was just had to do with the the homeless crisis and the need to be responsible That was was motivating. I believe the council to provide services And but generally yes, I mean when considering funding various nonprofits There's a process that we go through But there have been examples of when a need arises as well that the council considers and in other words contracts depending on What the need is so that's something that you it's up to you I have one last follow-up question Also in the agenda packet it states that the county no longer funds the program as well Do you have any insight as to why they don't? My understanding from their interactions and rocking that to this is they they expressed There was some related to fiscal Management concerns Frankly, I don't have any details about that. I just know that there was a a contract in south county that they either didn't renew or Decided not to fund but yeah, I don't have any information about that actually But clearly to your point councilmember Watkins You know, certainly if we drop a letter and indemnification clause and requirement for insurance and all that We could list, you know Some kind of performance measures that are consistent with the services that the warming center provides I think at the time this came up. We didn't actually have a shelter Solution for the winter. We didn't have the armory available to us so I'm not sure if that was one of the compelling reasons to get this on the agenda, but You know circumstances have changed, but Yeah, we I think martin said it best you have it has to do with just making sure that our partners and grant recipients you know our can meet expectations in terms of professionalism and in cooperation with other people that we deal with Councilmember rafius well, the staff is correct. This is our decision and When there is obviously a need for Shelter services across a range of Individuals and many people are served by the warming center, but personally I do not feel comfortable entering into A grant relationship with mr. Adams We did get a very strongly worded statement from Mr. Prince in december About a pretty shocking interaction with a visiting professional who was here to advise the cash um We have Very reliable information on troubling Interactions of mr. Adams with clients with employees of the warming center with other city staff and with community members and this is not new He may offer a valuable service, but For reasons of Not just fiscal sponsorship, but oversight and quality I'm personally simply not able to support entering into a contract So Depending on where others are going. I would just move that we take no action on this item We're gonna yep. Yeah, okay Yeah Noted are there any other questions at this time Seeing none. Thank you on prince for your presentation. I'll open up to the public for comment If there are members of the public who would like to comment I'd like to ask that you please line up to my left and you'll have two minutes For before the member of the public speaks, I'll just add that I received your email late yesterday I'll give you I'll grant you four minutes this time, but in the future we'll need to receive emails by By the end of sunday by before the work day on monday But I'll grant you that request to speak for four minutes and at the end of public comment Hi, I'm Nate kennedy and what I got to say about the warming center. This is a mission critical program that uh Every every year we get really freezing nights People out on the streets die because it's too cold all the time And uh, we we need something to help mitigate this And I think the warming center is one of the best solutions and if Funding wise if anything we need to give them more funding a lot more funding than they have right now And the the only other real criticism I have what the way the Warming center is run is that they have to wait until it gets really really cold And I think the the minimum before they open up Should be several degrees higher like five degrees or whatever just so because I've had talk to people who Somebody needed to use a phone so I let them use mine To uh to call up and find out when the warming center was This was a really cold night too. I mean, I was shivering and the first the operator at I think it was two and one Basically said oh, uh, it's not quite cold enough. We're not going to have the warming centers open too bad. Bye um, and we can't have that if you know I just I think that uh, this is a great program run by great people and it saves lives remember that yeah next speaker Hey again, um, I definitely hear what you're saying about The challenges of dealing with brint and brint and I have some history there and that's okay And I definitely get the outcomes I was it's hard to talk about that letter of december that you guys got because it wasn't public record I heard about it so I can respond to it, but public should be able to read that if that's something we're talking about um, I was at that event and absolutely was obnoxious was not threatening anybody and the obnox there was significant instigation from one of our co-chairs Which really made it a whole bunch worse not to say that his behavior is okay I'm not saying that louder than his didn't slam anything, but oh, yeah, absolutely obnoxious um That service though is something that's really valuable and we don't have that much of and adding 20 beds at the armory Really isn't that much on our bigger scale though. I'm appreciative that we have an extra 20 beds um If you do agree with the the amount of money I think he would probably agree to not being the present person at any staff meetings or something and sending a representative he'd probably agree to that And to have some agreed use of funds and agreed outcomes I think is completely legitimate rather than $10,000 and then it actually doesn't get cold enough this winter to actually do anything else So actually getting something from that 10,000 And a lot of some of our programs in Santa Cruz don't actually have a grievance policy Which is something i'm trying to get from some of the other shelters too So putting into the contract that there should be some grievance policy and maybe some sort of report On filed grievances over a year and stuff like that Sort of a standard operating thing for nonprofits running shelters. That's it Thank you Next speaker Oh, my name is Maureen Davidson. I'm a resident of Santa Cruz and I've been a Volunteer and a supporter of the warming center since its inception um And over i'm quite dumbfounded frankly coming to this meeting and hearing people speak to A body that's sitting in judgment um about kind of unspecified, uh, you know We well, we you know, we all know kind of what we're talking about but We don't know what you're talking about And um, I really don't like that star chamber kind of feeling but nevertheless here we are And uh, I do want to say that the um what I have been present for is um Brent Facing some really challenging Situations and uh, pulling it off with what I consider pre professionalism In that he didn't lose his cool and things were resolved. Um, I've been there while he's feeding quarters into a Washing machine slot which he does every wednesday uh with volunteers and um Significant amount of money spent um, I have been there when he has um In serving soup and all of that sort of stuff. Anyway, um, I just want to say I um as an elder now Um, I get to say that because I just got a new hip for christmas Um, as an elder now, I have noticed very very moved Move to notice that, uh, many of the people on the streets are elder elder than me even And uh, it's a crime And we have to do something Thank you next speaker. I was also at this catch meeting with the supposed well, I guess there there was uh Uh A lot of uh arguing and things like that. Um, I didn't think it arose to the level of of um anything that that would prevent me from wanting to support a good program and I think uh I think someone expressing their first amendment rights at a public meeting to talk about what they feel is really important to the way that Our systems work and things like that. I think someone should have the right to do that and not Uh, worry that that that's going to jeopardize the the potential funding for a program that they run That we needed our community. Um, I think there's a lot of um ways that we could mitigate some of the the concerns with insurance and Sending representatives of people don't feel comfortable doing business with the with uh a particular individual. I think there's certainly ways around conflicts of personality and I don't think we should let conflicts of personality get in a way of of Providing a very needed service that uh, especially this winter when we're lacking um, so much in in terms of of Shelter capacity compared to years in the past. Thank you All right next speaker Hi Candace Elliott co-chair of the catch. I'm just here as a normal person though right now um, so I was also at this meeting and thought we're all talking about and uh what I Saw and what I see is that the public has outrage and frustration and anger and That presentations happen and it triggers them and they Speak out for what they believe And I don't think that excuses the behavior being on the receiving end of it. You know, it affected me deeply and personally and emotionally and it took me a while to work through it Um, but I went and met with Brent after this and saw the storage facility and learned more about the program and I also believe that He's doing a lot of good in this community and that Um, he is fulfilling emergency needs where they're they're currently isn't enough funding And I'm not going to tell you, you know, whether or not you should fund the program but I agree that it is meeting important needs for the community and also You know Brent can be a difficult person to deal with And so thank you for your time Thank you Any other member? Good evening Scott Graham. Um I've watched Brett down through the years First as an advocate and he would he actually spent time going up into the pacific northwest to investigate how other cities were handling homeless people needs and he came back and tried to convince The city and the county to try some of these things and that was to no avail And so he finally started his own program and he's doing this on a shoestring budget Which proves a couple things that you don't have to spend 1.2 million dollars to help 100 people and You don't have to run the Program like a prison camp in order to help people So I would advocate that you not only fund him to the 10,000, but maybe 15 or 20 thousand dollars Because he what he's doing right now Is preventing people from dying on the streets? We had 30 some people died last year on the streets And then that number would have been higher without Brent and this year it would also be higher if it wasn't for his program so I think it's incumbent on you to Fund this program. Thank you All right Seeing no other members of the public who'd like to speak on this item like to bring it back for action and deliberation Oh Brent, sorry And um Some of the accusations and what happened in the cats would eclipse my four minutes Can I please have a few minutes just to answer some of these charges that? And brought up I've never actually been able to defend myself against some of the things that uh miss matthews As I said ever these are charges against my character and my ability to run programs But I have never been able to defend myself people can raise these issues Uh to this day Brent, it's a man. I'm gonna give you Because of the fact that I didn't get your four minutes in time. I'm gonna have to hold you four minutes today But I would encourage you to reach out to other council members Given that you've been able to hear their perspectives now and try to find the time to meet with them to discuss that further Okay, I'm gonna talk fast So we obviously as a nonprofit working with the county and all we have we've worked with five churches We have a million dollars of nonprofit insurance. So that's fine. So I appreciate that Also, we do have a grievance process. I appreciate search for saying that We have uh, this is our sixth year and the reason we're doing this is because people die on the street. There is no Program to bring people in there's no priority within the city or the county to bring people with mobility challenges Or mental health challenges off the street when we open We have lines of wheelchairs and walkers if you were to be the warming center director You would be very angry many different times also I yelled at martin Bernal and in street intersection two winters ago because you remove you didn't have any winter shelter at all The speak of not anything and and and chris crone and sandy round didn't say anything. Yeah I was very frustrated. So very many times i'm frustrated also in this catch Finally, it was a member of the I can't remember the uh, it's a federal government agency touting housing first And permanent supported housing and so they wanted to hear from the public So I said I've been to 40 cities housing first as a model isn't working anywhere And I was very terse and frustrated. There's no funding for housing first So these are issues that I've been calling out and I am I do run a non-profit that uh undergirds basic needs Storage we didn't we seem not to care about storage laundry showers a whole bunch of things that you say you care about But we actually run a non-profit that is Bottom-lining these things not one person needs to walk around with storage anymore You know how much money we've saved the city and who have increased increased the benefit of the tourist and business district And are all of our lives because of the storage program or because of the warming center on the freezing nights There aren't wheelchairs like there are tonight in doorways We have massively transformed the experience of the city You've not once acknowledged it and anytime you have to say something negative about you me You will these allegations you may have heard about they're they're hearsay And we don't have one complaint from one of our clients and one authentic complaint from a from a An employee that have been able to actually Answer i've never seen the report myself and you want to talk about it. I will sue for defamation. It's getting close Okay, let's change gears now warming center ladies and gentlemen We are going to have to we opened on a rainy night for 90 people When we do get a cold slap the reason we came into existence as a warming center Because we had 10 nights of freezing or colder temperature What are you going to do the city the county does not have a plan? So we started the warming center as an extreme not a cold not a very cold but an extreme weather situation We've raised our temperature from from four years ago at 32 degrees now We're up at 38 degrees with community support last year. You gave us $5,000 and a gate in our fence You're totally willing to work with us last year. There's no no problem with working with a nonprofit that's that's well vetted So what we're trying to say is this year because there's so few shelter beds And we're going to be in real trouble if we get real frost That I have to open in two locations. That's the only reason i'm standing here I need help because I have to hire another another management type person. I can't I can't trust a volunteer To to to open another another location last last year we had county funding So I did hire this person. So we're actually understaffed this year and doing way more We didn't reduce our temperature threshold with a lack of funding. We held it again the storage program laundry program and now showers And all the donation materials. I have a hotline that that 2461234 that people call nightly and we deliver blankets The work that we're we have thousands of dollars of tarps hand warmers Ponchos these are not things from our budget that come directly from my salary Which is a pittance. So if you don't think if you don't think it's appropriate to give the warming center $10,000 We have a serious issue here. Thank you I'd like to bring back This item for discussion deliberation council member glimmer and then brown So I'll just start with the motion. I'd like to move I'd like to move member glimmer before you start there was a motion that was made before Wasn't an actual motion. Okay. Sorry about that. I'm not okay. I'm glad that was clarity I'd like to move for the city council to approve $15,000 of funding to the warming center program and then can I So there's a lot that's coming up for me with this so Brent and I have had our own run-ins here and there Totally understand that I think everyone has run-ins with people over time Especially in dealing with a topic that's as tense and severe as the human rights violations that we have going on in our city And in the dire situations that people are experiencing on the street However, I don't think and I think that someone said it very Elegantly in the public comment is that conflicts of personality shouldn't be shouldn't get in the way of providing a very needed service Mr. Adams supports laundry service as was mentioned Storage service, which is a very commendable program and now showers. So that can't be dismissed also The woman I spoke about a couple meetings ago who called me on Thanksgiving weekend Might have died if it hadn't been for mr. Adams in his warming center program I think that is something that needs to be taken into consideration, especially with the amount of people that he serves on such a small budget I've spoken with longtime volunteers of mr. Adams and they've expressed nothing but their appreciation for the program as well as his leadership and Especially with the way that he creates the space He's intentionally and this is with a report directly from multiple volunteers is the Intention that he takes in creating a space that's not only welcoming for people But that is kind to them and they talk about instead of having large overhead lights that are neon fluorescent He intentionally strings Christmas lights up so that there's lighting but so that when they wake up They're not shook awake at five o'clock in the morning with iridescent lights Or the way that he wakes people up in the morning by touching their Fingers and speaking to them softly instead of shaking them and ordering them to get up and get on a bus I think all of that is something that we should be Focusing on as well as I just have to say it's really disconcerting It was really disconcerting initially when I got that email that we keep referencing from the city manager forwarded for mr. Prince But I think it's even more Disconcerting to have that email not included in the staff report and then paraded out in public Without any context or without allowing the public to review it ahead of time and then using that as well as insinuations as a reason why we shouldn't fund a program that is actively saving lives and it seems to be a pattern With certain members of this body specifically Where instead of dealing with problems or conflicts directly like we heard from the co-chair which I want to of the catch which I want to give Some commendation to to process the conflict and then be willing to go and meet with mr Adams to learn more about the program and then come and advocate for the program I think that shows a lot of strength and dedication to the issue of homelessness I'd love to see that more here with members of the city council where instead of us Holding on to reservations and then bringing them out in a public forum borderlining as mr. Adams said on defamation of character to Contact the person that we have a problem with and try and work through the problems to get to reconciliation So that we can have a solution as opposed to instead of barring Funding which we are not offering the services. We are not offering storage. We're not offering laundry We're not offering showers all services that mr. Adams is doing as well as a warming center And if we're not going to do it and we don't have a service provider to do it Why are we figuring out reasons why we can't support the program instead of working through the conflict to figure out Ways that we can support the program So I would highly encourage my colleagues on this body to put aside your preconceived notions or your hesitations Approve the funding and then work towards reconciliation with mr. Adams and anyone else that you have a problem with in the community or In this organization. Thank you Councilmember Watkins councilmember brown and then I'll also have a comment on this One of the things that Just sort of comes to mind for me in terms of process is The community programs committee most recently met to talk about the set-aside funding which we have essentially 45 000 available for Looking at a number of other sort of social service safety net type programming in terms of needing funding Um And that will likely come back In the next several meetings if not the next meeting at the following meeting in terms of how we want to allocate those dollars I feel like in terms of process that's where this would fit personally that if we're willing to fund a certain amount for one safety net program I think we want to keep it in the context of all the applications around safety net services and current needs So for me, I would feel more comfortable Postponing any conversation around funding and process. I'd like to see outcomes. I'd like to see what the dollars are done are used for I'd like to see Efforts around how we can work with behaviors and such like that. I think that needs to be worked out I think that some of the expectations that are generally written into some of the RFPs right in terms of wanting to receive funding So I think for me this sort of is a stand alone as As sort of outside what we already have in terms of an existing process for these set aside funding type needs So that's personally where I stand at this time on this particular topic on the move around So There's a couple of things I want to respond to and then just kind of make Talk about where I'm at. So in turn, I I appreciate councilmember Watkins your point about Thinking about how we do community programs funding in the the overall context and you know, I'm very having been on that committee and Talked with you know, all of the nonprofits in this community that we try to support and there's never enough funding and It's really challenging to make those decisions part of the reason that I made this recommendation is because I feel like this program is And the service that this program provides is really different than Kind of the overall mix of community programs that we fund This is is really about and and my intention was about the service that we have not been able to find a way to provide Elsewise That is actively saving lives. I mean, I think that that is something that for me is Is really critical and so when it comes to the the question of you know prickly Personalities and and the challenges that arise in the in the public sphere Discussions that are had behind the scenes. I agree that you know, we ought not to be Judging, you know casting judgment from here without Being, you know transparent about the concern. So I think that I can say, you know, I've I've experienced it that mr. Adams can be prickly and I You know, it's not always comfortable for me, but I guess I've been trying to weigh that against the The need for services that are so critical that no one else is providing and I will say that When it with respect to the public input that we received We've received about the warming center. It has almost entirely been in support of this program So this is this is coming from volunteers who have showed up In tonight and on other occasions Others who have tried to support the program. I'm paul lee and herb schmidt who have been At this for a very long time thanking us for Recognizing that this is a critical need. You know, it's it's very hard for me to Um Just put all of that aside Because there are some challenges so so I'd really like to find a way to Move forward to address some of these concerns and you know, I'd like to Consider I do want to Support the warming center. I do think that I'm trying to address some of the concerns related to Use of the funds performance. I mean, I have no doubt that Having gone to the the program having talked with people who Volunteer and talked with people who have stayed At the you know warming center sites That this is money well spent I don't doubt that at all But I do understand that we have you know, some You know fiduciary responsibilities and we also have responsibilities for you know contracting with Responsible contractors, so I would like to find a way to to provide this funding. I think that Trying to find an intermediary. I mean the afc the associated faith communities has Is not willing to be an intermediary at this time, but they did send a letter of support for the program so I'm I'm just trying to think of a way that we might be able to find an intermediary find somebody who could work With the the city and with the warming center to bring us, uh, you know a set of You know Goals outcomes, you know performance metric, you know, and then metrics that can be used to Determine how you know the make sure that the funds are being used as they ought to be used So I'm trying to think about how we might do that. It's good to hear you have the liability insurance, but And so you mean you don't really need a fiscal sponsor, but some kind of intermediary who who could kind of work help us work through the challenge and Maybe that's, you know, the catch could take Responsibility if they're, you know, if we could direct them to kind of work through that and Provide, you know, recommend the funding with that caveat So I'm just you know, I'm just noodling around here trying to figure out a way to to make this work and Kind of address some of the concerns that have been raised, but also You know provide a critical service I'd just like to say that one of the things I'm Uncomfortable with now having reviewed The agenda and then just the way that we're bringing this forward. One of the things that I'm concerned with is that there's no Clear way to measure Accountability with these funds how they're going to be used what they're supposed to be allocated for and being someone who is Submitted numerous grant proposals There's generally an explanation as to how the money is going to be used and what we have right here and The value that's been increased that to a $15,000 is just to go to this program Without any actual stipulations for how the funding should be used And so that's something that i'm the first and foremost i'm concerned with I do agree that the warming center provides critical services that the The city isn't able to provide on a very low budget But I also understand the concerns that has been expressed around interactions that city staff Has had with mr. Adams and the way that Other folks in the community have had interactions. So there's this Positive and negative and and the trade-off is that we want to support Good programs in our community that are providing a good service But I think that at this moment what I feel needs to be clear Before we move forward is One there is this expression of need for there to be an intermediary And two just the fact that There isn't a clear explanation as to how these funds are going to be used So if we were to move forward with either 10,000 or 15,000 I would only feel comfortable after receiving some kind of Explanation as to and proposal for how the funding would be spent down and what would be the reporting like timeline for reporting and What will we expect and a report out in terms with regards to the use of these funds? And I think that's something that we require of a lot of the nonprofits within our community and that we need to hold Everyone to the same standard So if that's something that you know, I can't make a motion But if that's something that could go to the catch or if that is a friendly amendment That this could come back after we receive some kind of explanation and breakdown of Like how this money would be spent down what would be a reporting process I'd be much more comfortable with supporting this and and finding an intermediary for these funds And I have on deck vice mayor meyers and I'll put Councilmember Glover and then I have a comment to when the council is ready. Okay, so Well a couple things, um Mr. Adams, I Received your email. Um, obviously. I think it came in yesterday, but um, I will in all Uh openness say I have not visited your your services or your facilities or things and I and I certainly will follow up with you So, um, thank you for the invitation and I and I certainly will will set up a meeting with you um, I think similar to the mayor And Based on the feedback that we're getting from our staff I think making improvements With regards to how we're potentially going to put the the Funding together and the contracting together Is a really out is a is a is an appropriate step at this point in time And uh So I would Make a friendly amendment to the motion to add those Those stipulations so what I understood you were saying was um There would be a contract with appropriate language including indemnification and insurance That the services to be provided along with The budget for each service would be spelled out And um That um An intermediary Would be established As necessary To provide um That oversight as needed And I think those were the three things so I would make that as a friendly amendment and um You know we we need everyone we can in this community to help us solve this problem. Um But we also need to work together and we need to be cordial and Respectful of all the processes that we're trying to work through right now We don't have a clear policy on homelessness coming from the county. We don't have a clear policy on homelessness here in our own community so um These are hard conversations and cooler heads prevail and we need to be focused on service But we have to make sure that um all of that um rolls up into um professional professionalism and um There's going to be a lot of hard questions. We have to answer moving ahead and there may be some program services that You know we want to refocus in the future, but the ultimate goal is we need to really get serious about helping people who are homeless in our community. So um So I will make those as friendly amendments and those are my comments accepted Council member council member I can and then and then matthews um I think I mean I'll just say I appreciate the interest in having the accountability and transparency and expectations I just want to make sure i'm clear on the motion. I guess at this time it's to um Potentially move forward with $15,000 to the warming center given that they're able to meet these Criteria is that feel I would prefer to start at 10 as the original proposal was in the staff report personally and With evaluation based on everything we're here. We've heard I'd like to start with the original proposal as presented by the staff So is that a friendly amendment then that you'd like to make everything except for the the Quantity change and we can talk about the quantity as a group right now But as for right now not that aspect of the friendly amendment because that wasn't included in the original friendly amendment was the change of the quantity I mean just in the interest of moving the item. I definitely agree with the requirements I think that the set aside funding application probably would be a really helpful guide because it's really about Current at immediate need and how we can support the city I'll just sort of state it again We had a lot of requests And a very little amount of money So it's in the big picture that we want to kind of keep these things in mind recognizing that this is a critical need as well I do feel comfortable with the 10,000 at this time given that we're going to have to make cuts for all the others as well And definitely the regulations are the adopted amendments proposed by the vice mayor You could split the motion so yeah If we want we could split them or before that I'd like to hear councilmember crown I think this is just a drop in the bucket and I have been out and visited um brent's operation three times And you know this is so what he's doing is so true It takes us 15,000 dollars just to clean up A lot of stuff that's left around this town and the fact that he's storing so much so much stuff Just that's one aspect of the program that in itself is worth, you know, 15,000 dollars. Um, and I don't know I just want to put that word out there. I hope we can fund them 15,000. I appreciate this discussion a lot And um, I just wanted to ask for maybe a couple clarifying points. Um with regard to the friendly amendment my understanding was that the attempt to explore the um Uh, the use of a fiscal intermediary was was more or less exhausted by um city staff, uh And so I believe what The agreement that is being discussed would be with the warming center, which I heard Mr. Adams say is a registered 501c3 not-for-profit corporation And that there is also a million dollar comprehensive general liability insurance policy that that they're insured under And under which the city could be named as an additional insured Just to be clear, we're talking about a contract with the warming center and then looking to identify Uh an entity like the catch that might provide some further oversight. Is that a fair statement? I think it's I guess my amendment would not include the cash personally. I I don't know how you ask citizen Tears to oversee something I don't disagree with that at all. Um, I guess the other part the other piece was a a budget And a and a scope of work or a work plan that would be incorporated into the agreement Yes, that was the friendly uh friendly amendment included those items. Um, and to clarify Um, if an intermediary is not has not been identified then We would be uh, I would put put the amendment language to state that we would be entering into the contract with with the warming center And I think, um So I'll leave it at that Matthews and councilor Glover um This is going from, um Just a straight amount with no description To a higher amount and some thoughts. Um, I don't think anyone disagrees with with the need Councilmember Watkins mentioned just the process and certainly when we go through community programs and cdbg and all our grant programs Um, we do expect to have a scope of work You know that they're registered 501c3 who's their board etc. What's the outcome? So, um, I would expect something approaching that format for this. You mentioned the same thing. Um, I don't know what is meant by Intermediary, I mean, you know, there have yeah, I think I'm going to be honest There have been some issues raised and it's not a matter of a prickly personality because everyone's dealt with prickly personalities in their life But there have been some I think substantive issues raised and so I do want I am concerned about about that. Uh, I I see a clear direction going here. Um I think perhaps the motion is to and I think the burden of the, um Proposal and the uh oversight component doesn't rest with the city council to invent here It, um, it is direction to the warming center and supporters to put together a package that answers the issues that have been raised. So, um, I would prefer a 10,000 which was what was put on the table originally, uh, with, uh, expressing the, uh, council's receptivity to a, um, a proposal in the short term that that meets these, um That includes these components. That's just how I'm reading the Tenor here Thank you. So I'm a little confused. Uh, maybe some people can provide me with some clarity as to how we started The conversation of the community programs budget because I know that was mentioned by councilmember walkins But the fiscal impact listed in the agenda is that this would come from the general fund So this has nothing to do with community programs and it has nothing to do with the, uh cutting of other services as was implied by a statement. It looks like There's someone wants to say something Sure, I I can answer it. Sure. Go ahead. The general everything comes from the general fund essentially So the community programs budget is the general fund So the money that we fund any of the other safety net programs through the general fund of the community programs Is the same funding source that we'd be funding mr. McAden's program But there's other money in the general fund outside of the community programs budget That's not immediately allocated for things why it's in the general fund, correct We answer the question in terms of our budget. Well, that's not have to come from the fund balance Is normally when we, um, budget something that's not already been appropriated It comes from fund balance But I think the distinction here is really more process versus the funding source. The funding source is the same It's just the process would be different Right, but uh, we weren't talking about submitting it to the community programs budget for a review and every well That's what was that that's what some of the language was insinuating through What she was saying about needing to go through the process and then splitting up the money and taking money from other places You're shaking your head. No, but I'm happy to speak to that because it was me that said it But essentially we have a process in place that does community program funding when the community program funding has Generally gone in a way that's been annual Then we move to the core funding model and absent having that process ensue on a yearly basis What the council has done in the past and is doing this year is having an annual set aside funding process for emerging and urgent needs And that was the those are the applications that we saw recently in community programs and will be forthcoming in the coming If not in the next meeting the meeting after and this is a urgent or emerging need That's a social safety net service that fits many of the other applications So the alignment in terms of the process of how this need In fits with the other needs that were brought are brought to our attention through that process Is essentially the point that I was making Right and what I'm saying is I don't understand why there even needs to be that desertion When we are just going to could decide right now as a body to fund the program without going through the community programs process and in general but Regardless of all of that There was one more point that I was going to make Which is Escaping me at the moment so we can just move maybe I'll just respond the assertion is essentially to have transparency and expectation for dollars And we could fund anything we want at any moment But ultimately we are stewards of the taxpayer dollar and we want to have Outcomes and those identifiers as accepted by the friendly amendment, which is why I accepted the friendly amendment So we're on the same page. All right council member brown So what I'm understanding is that the the I think the the point that you were ultimately making was that The application that is used for the community program set aside could be a guide I think you said the word guide for so it's not putting it back into competition with that pot of money But using a some the same or similar process to get us to a contract It was just the the language that was used Was saying it's in that we would have to split it more and that's when it that's what caught my ear was like Well, no, we're not having to split the community programs budget for the other emerging needs, but we can move forward. It's clear Thank you. Thank you Nice man. Mars. Okay. So Um, currently my understanding is that there's a motion on the floor Uh by council member Glover seconded by council member crone to allocate 15 000 to the to the warming center There's a friendly amendment to add stipulations which would Have a scope of work and deminification insurance Um a budget for service Uh an intermediate media area that was stricken. Um, so In those two pieces, that's my understanding of the motion that's on the floor So council member brown council member clever. Sorry. I just want one additional point. I think I heard something about a reporting Some kind of system for reporting on yeah But not just the budget standard standard contract outcomes. Yeah would be tasks Budget and then some wrap-up report based on, you know, number of people served et cetera, et cetera I just want to make that clear for the record. Thank you Does this come back to us for action Personally, I would assume so but I'd like to defer to the maker of the motion Yes So we can review that application and make sure it's up to our Guidelines, I guess and then move forward on it. I'm not sure we can talk about it right now as to whether or not That's the direction that we want to go. It's the first time we've brought it up I think that the idea is that if you want this to come back to us for you and approval Then that is something that can be included in the motion I want for us to be able to fund the program so that we can have The services that are in place now Whether or not the process of the warming center creates the outline and then submits it to the city manager's office And they approve it if it hits the benchmarks that are set off by us tonight and Removes the need for it to come back to another agenda and through another one of these processes Then i'm totally down for that because I want to streamline the process so that we can get the money to the people That are in need right now But if we in a discussion right now say like, you know, maybe we should have it come back again Then sure we can add that to the thing, but I want to discuss it before I go like yeah, absolutely. Let's do it and I my previous thought had come back to me because I want to acknowledge the statements of some of the colleagues About the change in the amount feeling more comfortable with the 10 000 instead of the 15 000 I moved to the 15 000 because One this is sorely overdue two were almost through some of the harshest months And we want to want to make sure that we're getting them The funding they need and also when we need to find money for projects, we find money for projects I mean last year we allocated way too much money in my opinion to the redevelopment of a Lodge up at the golf course This is something that's far more deserving of the money and I think we should be prioritizing that in in my opinion Matthews and then vice mayor mires Those are apples and oranges But to this point we always approve contracts for services. We always approve the The core funding the cdbg the community program. So that's standard procedure It's a budget amendment. Yeah, I'm kind of trying to offer a little bit of a wrap up here So if we brought this back for action Is there a way that we could Am I hearing councilmember clever that you are you you want to get this done tonight? That's what I'm hearing No, I want to get it done as soon as possible It can't be done tonight because we need to have the Response from the warming center with some of the stipulations that we're putting in place But if we can streamline it and have it go through the city manager's office for approval as opposed to having it come back In front of us again Unless we want to prioritize it for the next city council agenda in which case if the mayor is feeling Open to making sure it's on the next city council agenda And the warming center is able to provide that documentation Within the next two weeks or a week Three days or something I guess for the for the agenda then I'm not I'm not Not because this isn't an urgent issue But I'm not comfortable with the fact that we need to have an agenda report done by Thursday for this And there's a very little uncertainty around, you know, we need to get the contract We need to actually have the contract written out We need to make sure that it's okay Then we need to send it out to the provider the provider needs to bring us the feedback I don't think that that's an appropriate timeline However, I do understand the urgency that you'd like to see this I mean because otherwise we're gonna we're looking at maybe first meeting in february But that's another month away And then that's going to impact the ability of the warming center and provide the services that we're all up here Saying are crucial and needed for the city. So I think that's partial reason why for example I would rather see the funding be less so that By the time that funding gets kicked in and gets allocated That it actually is going to reflect the amount of services that the warming center will still be providing During that point in time rather than allocating More than what might be needed because then we'll be giving money to a program And it won't be getting used towards the services that we need I'll push back a little bit on you there just because we're not just talking about offering a warming center for people to warm themselves We're talking about laundry storage and showers Which are going to be needed throughout the year regardless of the season Is that I think the problem is that the report is is is difficult because we we don't know what the services are going to be for And I don't know if In conversations with mr. Adams, I don't know if it was staff or council members or who But we basically got no information and so Um I mean we we got a price tag, but we didn't get anything else and so in the interest of Trying to move this forward I think I'm hearing that there's interest in making sure that this is done right And I think that the interest in doing that is reflective to both Our uh, I mean, you know our uh, responsibility, but also to Um, have our vendor have that piece of information for him to manage this budget towards So I I I think somehow we've got a basically bring it back. Um, I don't see getting getting um Currents on it tonight the earliest possible meeting. Let's put it that way. Yeah, that works. Okay. I can add that to the agenda earliest possible meeting or first meeting in february the earliest possible meeting So if it couldn't if it can't well, that's gonna be the first one But yeah, hopefully yes, and that'll all be dependent on saving the application and among Okay, the number of other factors i'll accept that Um, is there any further discussion on this item? so the motion made by a council member glover second of a council member crone is to potentially allocate 15 000 for warming center with added stipulation that there's indemnification insurance Um reporting on the process scope of work There's a budget for services and that it come back to the city council at the earliest possible meeting Correct Okay in the form of a contract for the city council's approval in the form of a contract for the city council's approval We'll play yes And we'll start by soliciting the the proposal from mr. Adams as well And if I could say Following the community programs application for general items to be included, I mean Verifying the 501c3 status, it's I mean it's there's just some standard items that are included as long as it doesn't put the 45,000 that we have for the other emergency programs in competition with the 15,000 insurance Just following that sure following that process. Mm-hmm behind as you catch that Okay Okay, all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously We will take a break until 7 p.m. At which time we will have um oral communications. Good job everyone. Good job And welcome to our 7 p.m. Session January 14th 2020 meeting of the city council I'd like to ask the clerk to please call the roll Thank you, mayor council members Watkins Matthews here round here lover here throne here nice mayor mires here and mayor coming here Thank you, and we're about to begin oral communications oral communications is an opportunity Remembers of the community to speak To us on items that are not listed on today's agenda Are there any members of the public who would like to wish who would wish to address the city council? Okay, you can all line up to my left You will each have two minutes to speak and we request that you sign in to ensure correct spelling of your name in the meeting minutes However, it is not required Out of respect to other members of the public many of whom are not accustomed to speaking in public I'm going to ask members of the public to please refrain from clapping cheering booing hissing Or other similar types of behavior that might discourage all members of the public from stepping into the microphone to have their views heard Additionally I would like to remind the public that they should also be guided around the following principles when making comments We may disagree, but we will be respectful in one another The all meant all comments should be directed to the issue at hand Avoid personal attacks against staff and other council members and please do not hold up signs In a manner that obstruct the view of people behind them And I would like to invite our first speaker to please approach the podium. You'll have two minutes Gary Richard Arnold I'm afraid you've got your Two-minute Ryan Coonerty rule here who's Really anti-public? Here's a group of Your city council people right here meeting with Sivanomics. You're cutting a win a ribbon Creating a lobby. I think believe this is against the brown act We've got don lane right here who gave the city the key to the city to communist angela davis Who ran along with gust hall calling for the killing of christian children and one of his quotes? You'll find that on the circular you're receiving right now In addition, you're setting up a parallel government The real action isn't happening here in in front of the people the city manager really runs everything here In ambag is where the parallel government is being set up And I don't believe that the person that attends ambag meetings is telling the public All of the policies and the powerful people that sit there as stakeholders like driscoll and packard panetta They don't know where this authority or where this money is coming from again It's the foundations like california forward the most powerful lobby in the west Co, you know cope founded by leon panetta who gave military information to red chinese We've got two plaques on the courthouse steps dedicated to hu de lacey a communist Chinese spy We also have bruce mcpherson here who received tens of thousands of dollars from a triple Chinese communist agent on the front page of us news and world report Communism is not the people trying to overthrow the banking establishment Communism is a tool of the banking establishment used to control Centralize the people there's 15 seconds left. This is bruce mcpherson's Communications director. He used to work. He says right here for ickley It's a front for the united nations in world bank Which runs ickley the parallel government and they're pushing statewide through an outfit called cal-caw In using that lobby california forward Thank you next speaker Good evening council members This this is a very interesting follow-up For those of you who in the viewing audience are unaware and we've Had a number of sampling of the population. There's a recall going on But the recall is of the wrong people Mr. Cron has been recalled for a supposed laugh or snort Which could not be find found on forensic evidence examination of the audio Or video Examination of the council meeting, but he's being recalled But in fact on the september 24th youtube of the city council meeting at seven hours and five minutes We have council member mires Going ballistic Screaming about not being a racist because she's an out lesbian I have checked with a number of my gay friends and that is a non-secretar On the other hand we have mr. Glover Who's being recalled for ill behavior if I can generalize and yet we have Our former mayor who is in direct violation of the respectful workplace policy Where she vented her own personal perceptions So she didn't have to own up to anything When there is a specific procedure for her to follow So the people that should be recalled are donna mires and martin walkins And for those of you in the voting public, please vote no on the recall and vote no a second time Speaker Okay carrot philip this is kind of a boomer perspective a little different I believe any acceptance of the historically proven defective politic of the collectivists including communism socialism nihilism anarchy and leftism Will destroy this country with its more prosperous and stable western made up principles Their stale grievances are misplaced their solutions misguided But their sense of something is wrong is not unfounded at the core politic the apple is rotten We have a powerful platocracy of work with a corrupted special interest serving government co-conspirator engaged in Prophlegate money spending that we don't have a lot of things we don't need in their self-interest They have both corrupted a great many free markets and indebted us all even the unborn With unrepayable amounts of ever increasing asset inflating debt turning us all into debt slaves Increasingly unable to afford much The resulting debt driven asset inflation and housing in the stock market has fueled an obscene immoral Generational wealth inequality favoring but a few sociopathic percent at the top It's simple math an increase in overall debt that has never repaid stokes inflation If one owns one million assets a 10 percent inflation That's a hundred thousand dollars if you're lucky enough to get a 10 percent raise That's a tiny fraction of that which is probably not saved as an asset One study indicated what remains of the silent generation owns 25 trillion in assets boomers 61 trillion gen x 17 trillion and millennials just Three trillion adjusting for when each was 35 years old Boomers have two and a half times their share of wealth than gen x did and 6.8 times more than millennials You get the idea where this is going for gen z which has many years to go It's no wonder that 50 percent of millennials in gen z think the system is broken It is and mistakenly think socialism or communism is the answer It isn't no system is invulnerable to the forces of evil and capitalism is the best system at generating stability and wealth Such as it is instead of carbon zero carbon emissions You should be demanding zero increases in debt creation Throw the corrupt washington bombs out and demand your country spend on essentials Thank you very much black speaker Hello, i'm nick kennedy and i got this to say Drew is and chris are two of the most qualified members of the city council that have ever been And also what's this whole recall about? Drew he's too black Chris he's too much of a hippie. Is that what we're recalling these guys for sure seems like it They'll come and be coming for justin next Um with all that said we need to get these meetings broadcast on radio on fm And uh the guy to do it the guy you need to talk to is mike olson who is m o at ksco.com So for anybody else here that wants to get these meetings on the radio, please contact mike I haven't done so myself, but i'm not a council member either um Also what we need is not only radio broadcast, but we need to have a low bandwidth mono Audio stream coming off the city's live audio stream coming off the city's website And when they're saved for in the archive forever They should be the ones that are already there should be crushed down So they're much lower bandwidth in their mono and that will get the file size way down um another thing that i think is a Good idea is we should take the uh non-emergency number 911 basically but the non-emergency number 471 1131 and get them to support google duo video calls Possibly even use skype or uvuh or there's a bunch of them But the the best one i found is google duo and then somebody calls them up calls up Of the emergency number or non-emergency number i should say to report something They could actually show live video of the house that's burning down Live video of the car wreck that just happened you name it But we should be able to give them video as well. Thank you Okay next speaker Happy new year city council. My name is james ewing whitman. I do a lot of research You can look up james ewing whitman on facebook and probably Learn about some stuff you're not aware of You know, I reached out to uh, I said hello to a city council member. He said, you know, I know you talk about poetry Okay, that was pretty succinct What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander Fiduciary trust a person artificial intelligence or corporate personhood Who has the power and obligation to act for another often called the beneficiary Under circumstances which require total trust good faith and honesty Those who have traditionary trust make them the channel of peace Where what that where there was hatred? They may bring love That where there was wrong They may bring spirit of forgiveness That where there was discord may they bring harmony That where there is error May they bring truth that where there is doubt They bring faith where there is despair They bring hope Where there is where there are shadows They bring light That where there is sadness they may bring joy Those who have judiciary trust Grant that they may seek to comfort Then to be comforted to understand then to be understood To love then be loved for it is by self forgetting that they find It is by forgiving that they are forgiven. It is by dying that they awaken to eternal life All those who have been given fiduciary trust have obligations to many future generations Speaker My name is Darian mostening and I like to call attention to the dimly lit crosswalks At the corner of washington laurel and also at the ocean street Right where the jack in the box is Now I find when it gets dark it gets extremely dangerous for pedestrians and drivers alike I propose adding flashing lights to alert drivers of pedestrians And I believe this can greatly cut down on like the dangerous situations that like me a driver I also find myself when I was driving over here. I was driving down washington and at laurel There's a darkly There's someone I couldn't see wearing all black and I almost hit them because I couldn't see At all because there were no flashing lights to alert me So I think the adding these flashing lights can greatly increase the safety of Everyone Thanks. Thank you Thanks speaker Who are you humans? You're not my mayor. I didn't vote for you Any citizen in Santa Cruz vote for you I'll say you humans any city in worldwide Everybody votes for they want to be in office of their mayors Why was that not here in Santa Cruz that right been taken away? I'm sure if we would vote for our mayor, which we have the right That guy right there Glover would be a mayor In our city One true leader That is here in this city um You are still there and it to me shows your character You got people lying on you pertaining to trying to get you to recall And you still here fighting for the citizens and fighting for Santa Cruz That's the true nature of a leader in your character Earlier today citizens of Santa Cruz. Look at these humans work earlier today in this meeting We got a person talking about why I need to see some evidence of this and of that I've seen you vote 400 thousand dollars for harvey west and you didn't ask for no kind of Well, what are they going to do with the money? But here this guy is working Already doing work. You had nothing to do with Out of his own pocket doing great work saving lives and you trying to not give him 15 thousand dollars We got another human over here talking about yeah, thanks for inviting me to your center I'm going to come while a real leader would have went already What's what's the delay a real leader would have went and got information. They said they need Citizens citizens of Santa Cruz look at these humans. They're not no leaders And Santa Cruz have been acting a certain way for years It will continue to be that way with the look at the work of these humans that are here We need to really get rid of them Keep keep lover Is that it that's it. Thank you Good evening council members. Um, I'm dan spells Choosing the vice mayor on the basis of an appeal to honor a strong and important Tradition of mayorships and vice mayorships being passed to council members receiving the most votes in city council elections Calls to mind several other strong and important traditions At the last city council meeting I mentioned the strong and important tradition of using recalls only to remove crooks from office Not to suppress expression of political views Another strong and important tradition vests in public hearings I appeal to each of you members of the Santa Cruz city council To conduct public hearings for the future of lot four The large municipally owned parking lot where the wednesday farmers market gathers A number of other uses have been contemplated for a lot four But there's never been a public hearing For the integrity of lot four and the desire of the community for its future The large municipally Owing to its size and location in the heart of Santa Cruz The lot is an exceptionally important common good whose future deserves a welcome consideration from the fullest breadth of the community In the 1970s public hearings played an essential role in sparing lighthouse field from squandering real estate developers architect Ken Wormhout met with residents of the beach flats area in the 1980s I believe it was on behalf of the city to plan a neighborhood park with the neighbors And county supervisor john leopold frequently gathers with constituents to listen to Preferences about prospective development of county owned parcels in his district Please then conduct public hearings To learn the broad community sentiment for the future of lot four. Thank you. Thank you Thanks speaker Good evening. I'm jane doile I've been watching much of today's council meeting on channel 25 Because I've been recently sick. I chose to stay home instead of coming to the meeting It was cold out and I was warm and dry and I could heat water for tea or do whatever I wanted Even sleep if I felt the need But I'm here now because I want to offer some public thank yous By the end of the day meeting I was full of all sorts of emotions and I realized that I need to say thank you to people Because first of all to the members of cash who spoke to rave to the sarage and especially to kandis For their clear cogent comments On things that are really difficult for all of us to be facing I want to thank scott graham for his as usual thoughtful words I want to thank brandt adams For what he does for the community on the shoestring Even when he sometimes Pisses people off I'm a little better than he is at keeping my anger and frustration in check But he balances it with so much concern and compassion That I honor him I want to thank drew glover for his clear cogent statement leading up to the motion given To give the warmings that are $15,000 Because he trusts that it will be used in a good way to meet needs no matter what You know without details But I also want to thank donna for laying out some ways for it to to meet the concerns of people who feel the need for those details I really appreciated that I'm having a little hard time with it. Sorry I want to thank all the members of the city council because I watched every one of you today in different ways Think about what you believe in Look at this issue and other issues go I don't really agree, but I'm going to make it work Okay And okay, I'm going to say one more sentence tonight. It's going to be 40 degrees We're all going home to warm places, but not everybody is so thank you for what you were working on today Thank you Next speaker Yeah, yeah as she pointed out it's very cold out there and and Every evening people come to me Very upset that the their blankets and sleeping bags and tents have been taken And we're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year confiscating people's survival gear And then I spent us a couple hundred dollars today to replace the gear taken by the city And so we're proposing that an emergency temporary camp be reestablished As we had shown a perfect model of such a thing at camp phoenix And it's an emergency as the governor has said so it's about time to act And it's frightening that people are suffering so that That they need to um come to us the citizens are actually Replacing the items that the city is taking and throwing away had a huge expense to the taxpayers Who then have to discard it at the dump? And yet we have to buy the belongings to replace them. So we're in solidarity both the santa cruz homeless union food not bombs The students that are striking up a campus ask me all of us are united in ending the Inaffordability of living here and the low wages and the really Brutality that is occurring against our low-income people in this community Whether they be students whether they be teaching assistants Whether it be the hard workers that live in tents on the streets here in our community We need to have some solutions and we really hope you get behind our proposal to reopen Camp phoenix as soon as possible so that more lives are not lost. Thank you very much Four minutes, right? Are you speaking on behalf of huff? Yeah If we can give uh robert norris four minutes he okay, thank you Uh, there is a shameful sabotaging of brand adam's proposal Which means of course more death more cold maybe cold tonight, but it's predicted to be colder tomorrow night And raining the next night. That's what i've been told by someone watching the weather This is by a right-wing anti homeless city manager led cabal Nothing personal meant martin, but it seems to be what you do You can check out the city manager's speech which the public was not allowed to comment on Even it was an extensive presentation and an official agenda item hence the violation of the brown act earlier today The winter shelter hoax continues There's no armory opening for the general homeless population But rather it is simply the means of moving this group from 12 20 prematurely To this one spot for a month and a half While justin comings our mayor has agreed to arrange a meeting a long delayed for the last Two or three months at least it's felt longer to me. Um, I I'm concerned that the Mr. Cummings is the key vote here at least until A recall succeeds in driving away and destroying the progressive majority, which I hope doesn't happen But given the recall process, it's hard to predict I had heard that uh The mayor was sympathetic to actually maintaining 12 20 river that was the impression he gave to myself and two catch members On friday evening, but that apparently is not the case Instead we get false reassurances from susie o'hara Who has reappeared here as the the old tale teller and reassurer Over the year after year that there is homeless shelter that does not exist This is a disgrace and particularly so because the homeless death rate this last year has been 84 84 names are at the end of the homeless memorial. It says 45 or 48 in the in the text when you look at the count the names there 84 of them There's a lack of commitments. We have the governor has been said Offering to open vacant properties and buildings including the ross camp area specified This is something that we discussed with mayor cummings Eight months ago and tried to get him to agree to he said. Oh, no just trust susie o'hara trust the Cities and its staff. What have we got? We have got no significant winter shelter This year and we have freezing temperatures and a higher death rate We don't need this and we have people camping all over town Plus we have a right wing a vicious right wing Minority using the homeless issue as a wedge issue to destroy what is really a rent control majority or should be on this city council We have misleading media. Thank you, uh, jessica york who's in our audience Who does not really describe what the winter shelter crisis is And in other cities we have things like People standing up for these issues moms for housing in oakland. Where do we go in berkeley? These are people and why is this done? It's not done by bureaucrats sitting behind podiums with placards on their Right in front of them with their names on it getting salaries indoors warm and comfortable when they leave these chambers It's done by people in the community who are willing to come out Perhaps sleep outside tonight outside city council. I understand there may be a protest happening after this meeting or maybe In this very chamber here There are empty buildings And there is a need and what they have it we have an indifferent city council That thinks it's not indifferent. That's the irony. Thank you You'll have two minutes Thank you, um Happy new year. First of all Congratulations again on your position. I think the recall is um It's it's um, they they want to get rid of you too because you to have the um The the the cahones to stick up for poor people when the homeless And I think that's what that really is and it's maybe I could be wrong. I don't know. Um Justin You as the new mayor, I'm just I just came up here to say I hope that hopefully you can do something Um to change things around here to hopefully get get us into housing. There's a lot of us that need housing You know pretty seriously out here. It is very cold out there Um I really don't have much more to say I guess that's it. Thanks. Appreciate comments Next speaker Hello, everyone. Alicia cool president of the santa cruz chapter of the california homeless union I'd like to start by saying that I think that the recall Is basically a side effect of the war on the homeless It has a lot to do with drew and chris speaking up for the homeless population I'd also like to say that I would really like to urge you not to rewrite any camping ordinance While we have a severe lack of shelter um I would also like to Say that we're severely concerned about the shelter deficit that we're facing when we come to march Because that's when the armory will be slated to close And so we're kind of concerned at you know at that point. Then what do we have? With all that being said Welcome to 2020. We are in a new year and this is an opportunity. We have a new mayor, you know, welcome Mayor Cummings. I recognize you as our mayor I'm putting a lot of faith in you to do the right thing and make the right decisions Um, I don't agree with everything that happened last year But like I said, this is a new opportunity And so I'm really hoping that you will take this opportunity, especially in light of the executive order from our governor to really look at solutions and not criminalization and enforcement And so we provided you with an encampment proposal that we were really hoping Um, granted it's not in the best format, but all of the Basis and substance is there All the services that would be offered the whole plan is there So really really please pay attention to this proposal. We're ready to act as soon as possible And meanwhile while we don't have anything. I just want to let you know it is really cold outside We are working full-time. Basically. I have two full-time jobs I work in san jose now as a case manager serving the homeless population there and here I collect donations for people So it's a big job. Thank you How's it going everybody? I'm uh travis wheeler. I've been a citizen of santa cruz county for almost two decades now And I only have a few complaints I've noticed in the past five years. There's been a great decrease of benches downtown and Every time I catch someone removing a bench they tell me that they're Refurbishing the bench for later But the bench never returns and I've been waiting six months For the last two benches that have been removed To be returned because they were supposed to be refurbished and I guess they're never becoming refurbished again and uh another another thing that is uh becoming Kind of an issue is these solar big belly trash cans We can see that they're falling apart and we can see that they're solar powered But what are they solar powered for just to set off a light sensor to tell you that the garbage can is full They're a waste of money and you could probably put in a few more trash cans In an extra 25 feet to a 25 meter range From how much those trash cans cost and there would be a little less trash around the jump bikes probably So that's all I have to say More benches and uh more trash cans. Thank you very much The next speaker comes up, I just want to say that We usually hold public comment to 30 minutes We started a little late, which is why we're at 7 35 So if I could see the hands of people who would like to respond in public comment I'm actually going to stop with surge because public comment would be over a lease and you just walk down the door But if anybody in this line Oh, okay Well, then for the rest of the folks who are left We're going to end with a lease and I'm going to reduce the time to one minute so that we can get on with our Evening items, but I will allow you to speak so please step forward Good evening everyone. My name is Brianna bird. I'm a graduate student at UCSC Which is currently withholding grades in protest of a cost of living adjustment because santa cruz county is unlivable Um, just right now and you can introduce yourself. Okay My name is Arturo. I am an undergraduate at UC santa cruz as well I am part of an order called the worker student solidarity coalition Um, and we're here today to stand in solidarity with food non bombs with the homeless union With moms for housing with anyone really fighting for housing justice We really see the importance of graduate student positions our positions as students as a way to connect the dots And we're telling you that as workers as community members This whole town is unlivable for students and workers alike And it's ridiculous that folks are houseless when buildings are not occupied We have the ability in 2020 to do what we need to do with these resources And these folks are coming to you and asking for this to happen very calmly So, please please please make this happen once again We're with the graduate students who are striking on campus in protest of how unlivable the city is and we stand in solidarity With all of the folks fighting for housing justice. Thank you Oh, good evening, uh, greg banks and uh, santa cruz resident and uh, registered voter. Um, I'll make it quick I'm tired and cold. Um, I'm street level homeless and uh I'm gonna plan on trying to get out of that but um, I If I just adore my homeless brothers and sisters and and the amazing things I see Uh, just blossoming from different people and I think there's things that this year we can tap into that more and more. Um No, no division. Just let's work on stuff. I love this city. Um Four weeks sober because I want to improve myself but also be able to perform for To be of service like everybody I see here and it's it's that important and but it sucks to sit through a four hour cash meeting Sober no offense. No, actually it's it's important. It's important too. Thank you everybody. Thank you next speaker All right, I'm bc the black clown. I'm gonna say this really quickly There are solutions that we can all come together and figure it out The biggest problem is we don't know each other No matter what anybody says about anybody that's here You're all here for a reason so Let's all actually stop being so political And be community Thank you Nice job sitting all day. Um, I uh, we didn't get to talk at the City manager's report. I just want to talk to that. Um, I I think that Everybody is trying to solve homeless issues in different ways and It's not some people are trying to solve it and some people aren't I think people are just looking at it in different ways Um, I talked to the county and I work and I have some meetings with the city manager the CAO's office talking about different ideas and stuff like that and go to some of the county meetings Um, but I have to say I get more Back and forth and more brainstorming with county staff than I do with some Of the city manager the city manager's department even though i'm on a committee with city manager staff Um, I really appreciate, um that people are definitely trying to get the job done and trying to do it their own way Um, but more voices in there. I understand that you're a policy Decision you're policy makers, but they make policy decisions like the armory and stuff We weren't told about that or invited to that public engagement Thanks All right, at least you'll be our last speaker for public comment. You'll have thank you for letting me speak justin I wanted to talk about the um dev con development that's going in uh, or hopefully they're hoping they'll they'll go in They've gotten a number of their permits where the taco bell was at the end of pacific avenue and laurel the problem with this is that um Well, first of all, we have somebody like robert singleton who by the way is currently trying to start another smear campaign against Uh, the two candidates that they're attempting to recall and it's it's really egregious because it's completely false and uh It's it's just slanderous and so he was appointed to the planning commission Even though the guy has a pretty serious history in domestic violence and other things that I need to uh Reveal that but to get back the planning commission is Has approved this 205 unit development with zero affordable or low-income units going in that's egregious We need to change this policy Thank you very much that'll close public comment Next up on our agenda item number one general business Just had a comment for the one gentleman about the crosswalks. I was wondering if that's on our crosswalk thing Uh, he talked about two crosswalks one at washington and laurel and the other one at ocean street Is that because that crosswalk issue came to us previously? No, yeah, there's a list of uh projects I don't have the specific list in front of me. We'll look into it. Yeah, could you just get back to council? Thanks. Sure All right Next up uh general business the order will be a presentation Of the item by staff Or the council members who brought forward the item followed by questions from council We will then take public comment and then return to council for deliberation and action First item on our evening agenda is protecting renters free speech rights. This was brought forward by council members crone Sandy brown and myself and I'll uh turn this over to council member crone to introduce this item Thank you, mayor. This is just um bringing us in line with state law and actually putting some teeth into the state law It has to do with several occasions. I've heard from uh renters Who's really free speech was being affected. They were being um told to take down yard signs during Elections for whatever measure for whatever candidate and state law since 2012 says Landlords cannot do that that there's protection for political free speech For tenants and so now this would uh come in line or bring us in line with state law But actually have some teeth in it and be uh 50 penalty and um go up from there I just you know just putting people on I don't expect there to be uh many of these instances, but After we pass this because um I think the word will get out uh that Tenants do have rights of political free speech. So thank you, mayor. Someone pointed out in a letter to us I don't know city attorney. Um, we did we include the 90 days? And 15 90 days before and 15 days after which uh, also was part of the state law like for political yard signs Is that part of this? Ordinance, uh, I don't remember I don't think it was but they pointed out that it wasn't and maybe we could include that I don't know You have to take them down after 15 days um Hold on a second. I'll get back to you on that question. Sure. Thanks. Thank you, mayor On tomorrow, matthews Just to that point Your opening uh sentence about the purpose does say that it's in compliance with california civil code Etc which would then That was the number of days that was the language that I was looking for. Okay, so uh, so Uh, the land a landlord may not order the removal or remove a sign that's posted in compliance with The municipal code and civil code section 1940.4 and that's the provision that Contains the 90 days before and the and the 15 days after So I think it's covered. Are there any other questions from council members at this time? Seeing none, I'll open it up for public comment If anyone would like to comment on this item I'd like to ask if you please line up to the left and you will have up to two minutes to Speak on this item Hi, carrot philip Um, this is a somewhat poorly written ordinance clearly senate bill 337 intended local authorities to either Regulate reasonable time limits for the posting of political signs by some tenants Or specifies as a backup for the absence of specified local time limits to protect property rights of property owners by Reaffirming their property rights to set reasonable time limits for putting up and taking down political signs They defined reasonable as 90 days before and 15 days after the election Uh, if without a copy of sp337 in front of someone a reading of this ordinance implies There are no time limits and no authority of a landlord to request signs be removed ever Or on when they can be put up whatsoever and penalties apply after a warning Lacking a clear I assume written policy by the landlord Removal would become a crime and perpetuity Um, now the city infraction writing officer must potentially get into the business of understanding what policies the landlord has in place Regarding sign posting time limits if they are outside the state suggested 90 days or or 15 days after Uh, it's also likely landlords all over town will have to modify rental agreements to install such limits under their agreements I would suggest this will actually increase divisiveness in the community and you know, oh well, huh? Um, this is a matter of property rights versus free speech rights, but stale political signs are really just blight Uh, I would prefer and suggest if you must enforce this divisive ordinance To put the onus on the tenant to adhere to a specified time interval such as this 90 days before or 15 days after Or lacking that make the ordinance crystal clear The landlord has a right and obligation to set their own rules including or outside those time limits Were to affirm their right with or without specifying rules to demand or remove signs posted outside those suggested timelines As well as allowing them for longer if they wish there are times to do so So it's a little confusing Thank you very much Is there any other member of the public who would like to speak on this item? Seeing none. I'll return for action deliberation customer brown um, well Having experienced this myself as a tenant being told by a landlord that I needed to take my signs down. I have A particular personal connection to this, but I have also heard from others and believe that Taking this very small action Tonight to affirm that the that the city Believes that this is a free speech, right? Um, I'd like to move that we introduce republication and ordinance Acknowledging state law civil code relating to tenancy section 940 0.4 Concerning the rights and abilities of tenants to freely post political signs and setting the bail schedule for those violating this law second We have a motion by council member brown seconded by council member glover to Adopt the recommendation that's before us today. Is there any other Comments by city council members or discussion? I don't know if it just um Should be said mr. Mr. Phillips what his comments were addressed right before he spoke, but I don't know if he was There is time limits 90 days and 15 days Okay, I'll just say that um, I've also heard while I was campaigning of these similar actions occurring, which is why I'm supporting this today and um, if there is no further comment We can take the vote all those in favor. Please say aye. Hi. Any opposed? That passes unanimously Moving on to item number two Um remodels of the branch of 40 in garfield park branch libraries This is being brought forward by susan nimitz our library director and I will give her an opportunity to speak on this item Hi, my name is susan nimitz very grateful to be here this evening and really looking forward to this presentation As you know in 2013 the santa cruz public libraries Did a master plan study and looked at the deficiencies of all 10 of our buildings As a result measure s was created and passed by our public providing 67 million dollars Across the 10 libraries to improve their facilities As a result the city of santa cruz was allocated 31,250,000 To upgrade branch of 40 garfield and the downtown branch libraries In the spring of last year we hired bogard construction We've got kimmy owens from bogard construction as a project manager And abe jason architects we have abe jason and katie stewart from the architectural firm To do a pre-design process with the community We held community meetings in the spring and summer of 2019 and they put together a basic design For your approval like all the projects that we're working on and right now we're working on 11 projects We are having some cost problems and so i'd like to show you What the dream for the projects are what the consequences if we stay within budget And then have an opportunity to talk to you about financing Abe katie, would you like to begin? Are you guys able to see this? I I don't know Mayor comings vice mayor mires members of the council. Thank you for your tonight As uh susan said we're here to present our design options for the branch of 40 branch and the garfield park branch libraries And we're thrilled to be here. We're really excited about these two projects We think they are both inherently lovely buildings And we're presenting designs that we really think You know bring them back to their former glory And I think you'll be excited to see what we've prepared So just briefly. I want to introduce myself. My name is abe jason. I'm principal of jason architecture And we are a firm located in san francisco and we work on community and public buildings throughout the bay area And libraries are one of our specialties katie stewart the project manager for these projects will also be speaking tonight and she'll come up and Speak to some of the presentation These projects would not be possible without the community. So I first want to just Let the community know that they deserve, you know, great credit for measure s And it is what funds these projects So first we're gonna start with branch of 40 and katie is gonna walk you through Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here tonight. Thank you all for coming tonight as well All right, so just i'm gonna jump right into branch of 40 library So this is a floor plan of your existing library Just to orient you. I know that It's a very popular library within the community. So just to get a sense of what it's how it's laid out currently So number one indicated with this red arrow is the current main entry to the building Um, the dark green area is the current staff area The sort of middle blue color to the north of that is the current children's library Number seven the dark blue color is the teen area And numbers five and two are the adult collections So this library although a very beautiful building has fantastic bones It has a number of both maintenance and accessibility issues The lighting and the electrical systems are badly out of date and in need of repair The plumbing fixtures are not accessible as well as out of date and not in compliance with current california water codes You have an excellent outdoor patio, but it's overgrown and hasn't been maintained properly And then you have finish issues throughout the building furniture that's beyond its usable life And circulation dust that are not working properly for your staff So jumping into the proposed design Before I get too much into the details of the proposed design I want to take a step back and talk a little bit about our inspiration for the look and feel of this building We're really inspired by the context of this building within Santa Cruz It's proximity to the harbor to iran and gulch and sort of the natural environment that's around it the beautiful stone and the beautiful colors of the Ocean the kind of branching of the of the tree branches and the roots in the local area And sort of these elements such as the the lighthouse And the trestle bridge that have kind of a quintessential Santa Cruz feel So we want to try and incorporate all these different elements into our design as much as possible So what you're looking at here is the material board for the proposed design So you can see right away We've got some of those blue colors that we're seeing in the water You've got the wood that kind of ties back to the forest and also to the existing structure Which has these very beautiful wood tresses You've got a board form concrete, which is also part of the existing structure And then you can see kind of that natural branching Shown in the etched glass patterns that we're proposing as well So here's the floor plan for the proposed building and you can see right off the bat that this is Basically essentially the same exact Footprint as the current building. So all of our proposed renovations take place within the existing building envelope We're not changing how the building is cited or how much square footage is inside of it But I will draw your attention to Number one, which is the current entrance is also going to be the new entrance So we're not really changing the front face of the building However, when you first go in the door instead of to your left instead of having that space given entirely over to the staff We're converting that into a new community meeting room And this community meeting room is really excellent because it can serve as an independently operated Out uh outside of normal operating hours space So it has its own um the code mandated required number of exits and entrances It also has a controlled access to the restrooms So if you close the building off kind of at the the wall that's between numbers one and three That space can operate without the rest of the building being supervised Which is really important for a community room space Oftentimes the most popular events take place late at night when you don't want to have library staff Operating the building as well So moving to the north of that you'll see the new children's area with a connection to a revitalized patio So really bringing some new life back into that outdoor patio Number seven is an enlarged teen space. However, we're thinking about this kind of differently We've decided to show the teen spaces two separate rooms Which could be used outside of kind of normal teen operating hours as group study spaces Something we've really heard from the public that this building lacks And then numbers five and two those continue to be the adult collections However, we've really centralized to the or we've really consolidated the collection into number five And we've provided a new lounge and computer space Number at number two. So really giving this area over to quiet reading to to sort of group talking Public access computers and having the collection centralized up at the north So jumping into visualizations. This is the approach to the building And as many of you know, this is very similar to how the building currently looks However, we've made a key intervention right at the entry here Showing a new picture window, which is really going to draw the focus to the to the entry of the building This this building has kind of a secretive entry. There's a board form concrete wall that is right on Between the sight line from the street to the entry. So this new window really Allows people as they walk down the street to kind of see where they're supposed to go in and make that access path A lot clearer. We're also proposing a really beautiful picture window just to the right of it This could be kind of a new focal point something that People kind of gravitate towards at the new library and also makes that street skip very vibrant You can see the activity within the building it makes what's currently kind of a dead corner Feel a lot more activated and a lot more a part of the the library space So right when you walk in the front door You can see to your left. This is the new kind of community room suite So there's actually public restrooms to the left and then there's the the larger community meeting room There's the staff desk right right when you walk in really easily supervise really easily supervises the entire library footprint And then you can see further back beyond there's the children's and teen areas We're proposing a new glass wall between the main library space and the children's area And this is really going to provide some much needed acoustic separation The children's area can get quite loud when compared to the rest of the library the kiddos get excited and kind of shriek And so this is going to make that space more closed off and kind of make the overall library more usable because of it This is that main beautiful large reading room space And as you can see we're being very faithful to the original design All of this wood ceiling those wood trusses the board form concrete columns all of that's existing And as architects we're really thrilled with this building. We like to say it has good bones Actually, both of these projects do so it's really exciting to be able to work on it And what this what this view is really showing you is that we're just kind of providing some new furniture And the new public computers within this space bringing it back to its former glory rather than proposing something new Here's the inside of that bay window that beautiful picture window I could see this really being kind of Like a touchstone for the building say something like oh, let's meet at the bay window It could be something that's really nice and vibrant and kind of a little new insert for the building something That's representative of the the 21st century Here's that teen area some room for teen collections, but also some very Multi-use furniture so something that could be used for a group study as well as for the teens Here's the children's area again, we're proposing kind of separating consolidating the collections on the right here younger kids books in the front older kids books in the back where the shelves are taller And also providing lots of nice soft seating in this area for kind of more casual reading and play Another view of this soft seating area Showing how these new seating looks kind of have a reference back to that bay window up at the front Continuous motif throughout the design of the building And here's the children's area. I'm looking from the entry to the patio back to the area Something to point out in this slide is there's a screen in the back And this is this kind of a visual Seperization between the teen space and the children's space So while a single librarian in the children's library can actually also supervise the teen space There's kind of a subtle separation between the two so the teens don't feel like they're in the children's library Which I think is very important psychologically And then here's the new outdoor patio revitalized pulling up all of that sort of dead Dead plants that are there currently thinking about a new way to do the trellis making this really a programmable space So while we're not adding any new square footage to the renovation This new programmable patio actually gives the library some a new space for them to use And then a inside view of this new community community room Really great space. I could see this being used for a wide variety You know presentations during tax season would sort of be on one end of the spectrum I could see maybe a wedding reception taking place here. So it's really a usable space really lovely And again this after hours functionality makes it a great asset to the library All right, and I'm going to pass it back to Abe to talk about Garfield park Thank you, Katie So as Katie said about Branson 40, we really love both of these buildings and I'm totally enamored with Garfield park It's a beautiful Carnegie library. It's one of those classic one room libraries It had a small addition done to it about 20 years ago But it really sort of maintains much of its original historic character On the exterior in particular particular excuse me Here's the existing floor plan and so I'm just going to quickly orient you to the building I many of you have probably spent some time in it Once again, the the main entrance is shown by the red arrow number one The light blue on the left is the adult area You have a circulation path through the center in the light green and number four And the number five and six is the in the darker blue is the children's area on the right You have a very large Frankly kind of oversized for the scale of the building circulation desk shown at number seven And a well used but undersized meeting room number eight And then on the left you upper left you have an existing Access ramp for the secondary entrance and then staff area in the back in number seven Like Brantza 40 although it is a beautiful building. There are some serious deficiencies deferred maintenance and You know infrastructure issues throughout the building You have older inefficient lighting You have furniture that is you know fraying and you know shows the abuse of and the use and abuse that Occurs in a public facility and really has started to deteriorate You have a fireplace that is currently unsafe for public use Given its proximity to the floor and its sort of lack of closure And you know one of the sort of more egregious elements of the building That I see as an architect is you have bookshelves in front of these beautiful historic wood windows In my opinion, you should never put a bookshelf directly in front of window. That feels like a travesty So we'd like to bring some daylight back into the building So what is this going to look like? Similar to Brantza 40 we we don't just jump right into designing the building We think about where do we take inspiration from? How do we connect this building to your community? We care very much about unique buildings that are designed for individual communities And so we looked at again some of the features of the ocean adjacent Natural bridges in the afternoon and has this warm glow And that sort of made us think of California poppies And then of course the monarch butterflies nearby natural bridges and then sort of also looking at you know, sort of the Rough rough ocean because the the ocean is not always calm and quiet here in Santa Cruz Transferring that to a material palette. We have a palette that is really thoughtful to the historic precedent of the building We've got Carpet that reflects the blue of the ocean and then some color accents that are in that line And then we're using dark walnut to really give a nod to the sort of era of historic Carnegie libraries where Built-in wood shelving was prevalent around the perimeter of the buildings And then a light colored oak wood floor You can see there's two fabrics one that is a blue fabric that's for the adult areas And then we have the pops of vibrant color in the orange echoing the monarch butterflies in the California poppies As well to really give it some vibrancy And then we have a couple fun little nods We have some brass accents, which will be used in signage and cabinetry poles and that's really a nod to the historical character of the building So the proposed floor plan Really doesn't modify the overall layout dramatically But there are dramatic impacts from the small interventions that we're doing We are not expanding the footprint of the building so it will remain the same size But we are really reclaiming programmatic space for functionality You'll see right off the bat that there were some Awkward walls in the center of the space that have been removed And it allows for a really clear corridor upon the main entry through to the circulation desk in the back And then a really well-defined adult area in number two and then children's area at number three We've reduced the size of the circulation desk to a more appropriate scale for a building that is very much the size of a small house It's about 2,000 square feet And we've done some very sort of modest but important improvements to the staff area and then importantly we've expanded the size of the meeting room, which is a real amenity for the community Lastly, you'll see that the ramp on the exterior has been replaced This is unfortunate. It's not something we would really Love to dedicate the budget to however it Unfortunately, no longer complies with current ADA code. And so for access compliance issues, it does need to be replaced So walking into the building Again, those of you who have been in this building You know that you walk in and there's just a wall of sort of obstruction ahead of you and you can see immediately same size space much clearer sort of entry and understanding Clear aisle through the center with new books immediately available things to entice you to come on in and You know sort of get to know the library. The circulation desk is directly ahead of you So staff is immediately available and obvious On the left is the adult area and on the right is the children area. Once again, it's a one-room library So there isn't too much to it Sort of moving back to the Circulation desk area you can see there'd be an area for new books or holds On the left and you can see the relationship of the addition that was done around the year 2000 With the the older historic Carnegie library This is really the definition and the transition And we're complying with historic guidelines where we do make it clear What was the original historic building versus the addition that was done and that there's a transition there in character But that they do mesh together and speak to each other And you can see the sort of bronze accents in the signage there and how the wood sort of relates between the two spaces The adult area You know very clear symmetry as is typical with a historic Carnegie library. We've brought in the Walnut shelving around the perimeter which really speaks to that era of building We've kept the curved crown molding at the soffit, which is again something very respectful of the original building And then we've got a carpet laid in the center with a wood perimeter So it appears to to look like an like an area rug But it's actually a modular carpet appropriate for public use And then another important improvement is we are putting in a modern gas fireplace that will be safe for public use and we are using a Engineered stone so it's not a real marble, but it looks like marble Which again is a really a nod to the sort of historic character Many of these older Carnegie libraries had this beautiful wood shelving matched with some some marble by the fireplace or at the floor Moving over to the children's area. You can see a very very similar approach But we've brought in the pops of the orange color a little bit more lively And then we've created a pin-up area for kids art around the top of the bookshelves On the left hand side is computers and technology and on the right hand side would be a homework area And then you know looking out towards the street I can't remember if that's Woodrow Delaware out there, but you we've cleared out all those Stacks that really obstruct the view we've brought daylight in we've brought greenery in And you can see those historic windows really start to shine in the space A little vignette here zooming in we've created these bench seats at each of the windows And this is the kind of space that I know will be occupied at every minute of every day that there's children in the space Kids are going to gravitate right towards these little seats sit down and not want to leave They're going to grab a book and just be at home So we are coming to you with two scenarios The what we've just presented for Garfield Park and and Branson 40 are the primary scenarios They sort of meet the the full aspirations of the community of the library And these are what we presented in two separate community presentations They are however over the budget So we are coming with a secondary option what we're calling scenario b And you can see the distinction between the scenario a and scenario b And sort of we'll talk about the cost at the end of this presentation. So Katie's going to walk you through scenario b for Branson 40 So I think for Branson 40 the simplest way to talk about the differences between the two scenarios is just to Give you the same visuals you saw again and take things away So this is the children's reading room And what we're going to be losing in the scenario b is these beautiful new windows that we're proposing Above the entry to the patio and at sort of at the right here above the collections These really serve an important purpose. They bring light daylight into this building They provide some connection to that indoor outdoor space make that program space really useful So I think the loss of them in this in this area is is not insignificant Another thing that we would lose in scenario b is the entire children's patio We would not have the funds to do the new renovation for it That patio that I showed at the beginning with the sort of overgrown bushes and the decaying Decaying trellis would have to remain At the exterior of the building Currently there is a gate that separates the parking lot at the rear of the building from sort of the main right of way However, that gate is located past the main entrance of the library So part of the new design is proposing moving that gate out to the property line Which would allow the library to secure their entire property after hours This scenario b does not have the funds to move that gate So the gate would exist at this location meaning that the building entry would not be secured after hours And then at the community room Something that we felt was really important was that this community space feel multifunctional That it doesn't just feel like kind of another conference room We wanted it to be something that could be really usable by the community And this beautiful wood vaulted ceiling and the wood wall here sort of brings it up to feel like something that's appropriate for more special event But the scenario b funding does not include money for that wood ceiling or for the wood wall Similarly for garfield park We're going to kind of walk you through a same sequence of images and then we're going to show you the elements that Have been removed from the budget to Adjust the the budget down So once again, I want to show you the proposed floor plan Take a close look at areas number two four three and seven kind of at the center of the building And then take a look at the scenario b floor plan What you can see is that at number six There are these walls that really occupy the sort of center of the one room original karnagy library And are really directly impact programmatic function functionality Essentially, they take away from the space available to the public So in scenario b those walls would remain We've lost that really clear definition through the center of the building that clear sort of aisle between the children's area And the adult area and then you can see Number seven we wouldn't be doing any renovations to the staff area and we would not be expanding the size of the meeting room Unfortunately, we do still need to replace the ramp. So that is a quite expensive feature It's a lot of concrete work and it is a code compliance issue So we it is a non-negotiable and that will eat up a bunch of the budget in scenario b So here was the adult reading area in the proposed design In scenario b we remove all of the Walnut shelving it becomes just sort of paint grade white shelving We remove all the paneling up above we remove the window seats and importantly you can see this Corner of these walls poking out and they'll become clear on the other images That's the walls in the center of the space that really restrict programmatic functionality And you can immediately see a lot of the charm and the character that we were working really hard to bring to this building Is lost with these reductions Once again walking immediately into the front door you can see the sort of clarity of the space The respectfulness to the original Carnegie library And you can see if we leave those walls in the center of the space essentially There's an object that is obstruction obstructing functionality and To sort of put a fine point on this This has a direct impact on the ability of the library to provide programming For the community it really reduces the usability of the spaces So I want to just quickly summarize the reduced scope takeaways So under brands of 40 you're losing the children's patio You're losing the windows at the children's area So that the that would bring a lot of extra light into that space There is no wood paneling at the community room and we cannot relocate the gate to secure the perimeter Garfield park sees more significant reductions There is actually a reduction in collections because we need to Bring the facility into ADA compliance. It means that all those cramped spaces They're not navigable by someone in a wheelchair We actually need to remove shelving and we are not able to put it back So there's a reduction in collections The staff area remains oversized proportional to this building which is about 2000 square foot building The accessible ramp is still is still required to be replaced. So that that portion of the budget has to remain in There's a loss of historical character, which I think was obvious from the images The drop ceiling that acoustic ceiling tile remains all the existing walls remain the existing fireplace remains, which is A safety hazard if it's used by public by the public and staff currently And there's no expanded beating room and there's less seating So This is what this means from a budgetary standpoint under scenario a The target budget for these two branches combined was 4.25 million The total project cost of scenario a is 6.26 million. So it's approximately two million dollars over budget Under scenario b Even after we stripped out all of these Programmatic aesthetic and functional issues out of the project scope We were able to get closer to the budget, but they are still combined over budget by about 581 thousand dollars Um, and happy to sort of answer any questions you might have about about budget. So, uh, again in summary The total budget for scenario a is 6.26 million. The total budget for scenario b is 4.83 Brief, uh, sort of note on timeline here You guys have been working hard as a community on this the master plan was completed back in 2012 And you know coming out of the master plan you had to organize for a bond measure You passed measure s you had to then evaluate options about how you're going to approach your entire system There was a conceptual design phase And then a schematic design prepared And then as the library is experiencing on many other projects there was the dilemma about funding So many of these projects are coming in if not all of them are coming in over budget, which is Representative of the current construction market we're seeing in the Bay Area So that brings us to where we are now Next phases would be design development construction documents and permitting construction And then uh, that puts garfield park completing a little bit ahead of branch of 40 garfield park would complete approximately third quarter of 2021 and then branch of 40 would uh, complete approximately First quarter of 2022 Um, I'm going to hand it over to susan and she's going to speak a little bit to these projects and then we can Transition over to qa Thank you for bearing with us Um, as you can see, there's some really exciting ideas that could really transform these two libraries into 21st century modern buildings Um, I'm recommending that, uh, you spend more money um Our original, uh Planning assumption was that these two projects would Get about 4.25 Of the measure s funds I'm asking for a million and a half additional of those measure s funds I've talked to the friends of the library Martín Gomez who's the current president of the friends of the library About having them make a commitment to raise the additional 500 thousand dollars By december of this year So that we could move forward with the full scope I know he's willing to come up and talk the board hasn't voted on it. They will talk about it on friday But looking at what they have already raised And that they have two committees one for branch of 40 and garfield park already started I really believe that this is within their power to achieve With that i'll stand for questions Thank you. I'd like to return to council for questions regarding this item I'm just wondering where the, uh Is the money coming from the bond itself or is there another source besides the 500 000 that friends will, um raise My recommendation is that 1.5 million come from the bond itself the measure s bond For the city of santa cruz projects And a 500 000 be raised by the friends of the library So just to be clear like so that's coming from what's available for the downtown library. That is correct So so somewhere we're going to have to um make that up. I guess it is my belief that um The downtown library project is underfunded and will need more resources with this or without this I had a question for the city attorney on two separate occasions. You had said that Money from the parking fund could be used to supplement the cost of the library. Is that still the case? As I understood it is general fund money or is that not the case I believe what I said is that money That was determined by the city council Not to be needed for the parking fund could be Uh What in the general fund And then how the city council allocates general fund revenues really a discretionary determination for the city council Thanks, and my last question was for the architect. Mr. Jason um, could you show the um Brent's 40 library the entrance one more time? Yeah, if you don't mind me taking the moment to flip back. Yeah This guy right here Or the interior. Sorry. No, where's the where's the doorway? Where do you go into the library? Right where it says library This is this is immediately upon entrance. I don't know if we uh have a view From the exterior. You're looking directly at that door. Was there anything going on with uh, because I know Somebody coined it as um homeless defense architecture, and I'm just wondering it. Was there any thought going in when you were going through all this with how to um Uh Confront the the problem we have with homelessness and that homeless people use the library a lot Um council member crone if if you'll let me I think when we had the community meeting We also had a strategic planning meeting at the branch of 40 library And that the patrons who showed up that day's single biggest issue was security and safety And if we look at our incident reports, um the branch of 40 library has um Less incidents than the downtown library but more than any of the other libraries in the library system in particular The the areas that seem to aggravate the community the most is the entrance to the library It is a spot for camping But I also think because it has sort of this covered cement component to it people come upon people camping And both are surprised which has created some interactions that haven't been very positive I would say though that another issue and we've worked with the city on it Is the bike path on the side of the library has been a continuous issue for the neighbors Thank you. Thank you mayor I just wanted to just provide additional clarification on the question regarding the uh parking funds Just because the library subcommittee has been working on that and they've been working with john barisoni And I wanted to see if Amanda could come up and just provide a little bit more clarity on that question Um Amanda or tell i'm a principal management analyst in economic development And I've been working with our downtown library subcommittee And the question of the parking funds has has come up a couple of times So i'm just going to read the language that I got With john that what I worked on with john barisoni. So The parking district was created for a particular purpose to address the needs of the Of parking in the downtown and it's important to distinguish between Parking district funds in general and parking parking district funds surplus. So really only the parking District funds surplus could be expended for non parking uses, but that would be only once all the needs of the parking district had been fulfilled and In the past the district has operated at cost and has not run a surplus and any future surpluses related Um That would come to the parking district Would first need to look at the needs of the parking district which would be deferred maintenance. Some of the long term planning And any of the surplus funds that have been raised from the increased rates that we've seen We need to look at sort of the terms under which those rates were increased and then look at whether it's appropriate to Expend them for other uses since they were By council created for a surplus project. So those are some of the intricacies to kind of consider in the future And I think that's it. I mean Thanks But ultimately, um The council created it and the council can make a decision to use the parking funds. Um, I'll defer to the city attorney on that but um I I think amanda accurately stated what the purpose of the parking fund is um, I think there's also a concern about the The the decision to increase parking rates was Was made by the city council in the anticipation that that that was going to be used to alleviate parking issues in the downtown area So I guess that's a policy decision that the council would have to grapple with Thank you for the presentation. It's um, it's just really wonderful to see the possibilities here and I really appreciate your your enthusiasm your commitment to Reflecting the historical character and kind of in the landscape of Santa Cruz and what makes our community unique So thank you for that. I have a question which is Somewhat it's so miss Nemitz and to you mention the bike path. I have a question that came from Our chair of the transportation and public works commission did send us correspondence about The potential to use this This process to do Improvements to the bike path there between galt and hanover and so I'm wondering if that's been discussed at all And if there is a possibility What council member brown it did not come up at any of the community meetings that I just received that letter today from the city We'd be happy to go and talk to the group I would say that to take a five feet path to 10 feet I'm sure it's not without cost and as you can see we're already struggling with the budget But I'd be happy to work with the community on that because you know, we share in the advantages of that bike path as well And I think just a really quick follow-up I think that the request did say ideally 10 feet because that is kind of the standard the federal standard But that it had been six feet and so if there's a possibility to even get that extra foot back that that was something they'd be interested in Happy to work with them. Thank you. That's great I just want to make a few comments. This is the first time I've seen these all blown up and beautiful And they're they're gorgeous. Um, I do want to make a couple of for lack of a better term historic comments when the Facilities master plan was first done Looking at all the needs of the different branches The possibilities for improvements Were projected over a range from Extremely basic to quite ambitious and we kind of struck a middle path on the bond measure The bond measure amount was set Partly in response to the the needs that were identified But also just what what the voters would accept frankly And so it was understood even at the time that additional fundraising would be Anticipated and that's proven true. I don't know if the Other council members have gotten a report on the progress at all the other branches But they're they're all moving ahead Some of them are going to open pretty soon And there has been significant fundraising being done at all of these so And construction costs as we all know have gone up dramatically, which is reflected in all the work. So I think this Is Not a an issue that's unique to us it's There's several years of Getting to this point So we will hear from the public But I am impressed to Hear that The friends are committed to fundraising and so we'll hear from the public take it from there I had a few questions actually regarding just some observations that It's some of which have come up as we've been considering the downtown library But then I saw a couple issues that came up for me with this With regards to the branch of 40 library one question I had was there was um In one of the slides that showed that the staff the staff area became Reduced in size and it seemed like to a pretty big extent I just wanted to I know that with regards to the downtown library There's been a concern about the reduction in the staff space having an impact on staff and they're you know The space that they have to work And so I was just wondering if you could comment on that and as how it relates to You know whether this is going to have an impact on staff in the branch 40 branch Um Mayor I think it's a very good question and it sort of depends upon who you ask But I would say that overall I think Staff spaces nationally are getting smaller in part because we are not Processing as many physical objects as we have in the past. I actually Um believe that this Is a very functional workspace for a smaller library And uh, I don't know Jessica who's our regional manager. Do you have anything you want to add to that do you think? So well, I would add that number Just as Jessica's our operations manager Um, so number eight, which is where we want to put in the community room right now It is a staff space, but it is primarily a storage space So we do have like our toddlers go in there to have the toddler time because it keeps them corralled But it's it's not a space that's very well used right now for the staff either Then the other question I had um was just Whether or not it sounded like in the presentation that There's anticipated reduction in collections At the branch of 40 branch in particular maybe not at both But could you speak to whether or not the renovations would then also lead to a reduction in collections? Whether or not we should expect that so In in both options, there is a modest reduction in collections However, this is typical with what we are seeing in modern library trends And it really speaks to a desire to bring the height of shelving down Technically actually the older taller stacks that you see in older libraries are not ADA compliant And they require an exception to the code Why are someone a staff member to be present at all times to be able to reach the top shelves? So the modern trend in libraries is keeping shelves generally under five feet And that alone often even if you keep the same stack layout, you know sort of imparts a small reduction in collection sizes Um in the option b for garfield park There is a more substantial reduction in collections because there's a two-fold impact one We're not able to reclaim the space from the sort of awkward walls in the center of the space and then two For access compliance, uh, we are forced to remove all of the cluttered shelves in the center of the space And really we have only one spot to put it Which is around the perimeter in between the windows and so the option b under garfield park does see a more dramatic reduction in collections Uh scenario a for both branches is more in line with what we would see typical, which is a modest reduction due to a sort of reduced heights And is there any number in terms of By what magnitude the collections would be reduced? I didn't bring those tonight, but I can get them to you I think it was not our intent in either of these branch remodels to greatly reduce the size of the collection Um, we are trying to get rid of the very tall shelves. I would say for another reason seismic requirements that if it goes over 60 inches You have to um, uh, fix it to the ground Which really creates less flexible space in the branch as well And so we'll get you those numbers. Thank you. And then I'd like some air mires and then council member matthews I just have one question Abe you mentioned a couple of times that the the ADA compliance that needed at garfield is Can you give me the Right what you said that's one of the most expensive elements. I'm just curious Yeah, particularly the ramp. Um, so it's actually it's unfortunate that the ramp was constructed around 2000 give or take a couple years and technically should have been compliant Uh, it's it's it's not uncommon that there's some You know construction deficiencies or settlement, especially when there's outdoor ramps, but unfortunately it is it is no longer in compliance and uh when Applying for a building permit under the california building code You are mandated to bring several things up to code. The first is the primary entrance to the building So it's a path of travel from accessible parking spaces to uh, the the door of the building in the case of Garfield park because it's a historic building They actually give an exception that it doesn't need to be the front door Typically it would need to be the front door But it's because it's a historic building. There is a special carve out in the california building building code for historic structures um And the ramp is uh, it's it's not insignificant in proportion to the scale of the job If this was a much bigger project Proportional to the budget it actually would have a much smaller impact But it actually takes up alone the ramp about 10 of the project budget At the full size and at the smaller smaller scope scenario b It takes up almost a third of the budget and that upgrade according to the code has to happen Concurrent with any we will not be able to get a building permit without doing that. That's what I thought. Thank you I'll somewhere with matthews I just wanted to um point out I can put it in the form of a question maybe for you to confirm But although the collections might be reduced slightly The way libraries function has changed so much over time. It's no longer a place where Whole way of operating is go in get book check it out and leave but as shown here Lots more space to um computers to informal gatherings to study space, etc. So it's It's just a different animal than traditionally so To trim the collections a little bit to achieve A really in the end much more active library by a lot more different populations is is a real net gain. I think That's a question I'll speak to that architecturally first and then susan can speak to that from a program at a standpoint That is absolutely the trend that we're seeing in contemporary libraries To be really clear. We love books. We believe in books. We care about books greatly And books are never leaving libraries that being said Computers are coming into I mean computers are coming into libraries computers have been in libraries for 30 years You know sort of flexible meeting rooms become important sort of Program rooms that serve for story time space that serve for after hours functions that serve for community meetings are becoming Important parts of libraries. So the library has really taken on a sort of whole variety Of community services that it never once did and that's kind of reflected in what you see in the sort of design and layout of a contemporary library And i'm going to try to be brief, but I need to say this because it will come up again except The way you design a library system can vary You could create so in santa cruz 3 25,000 square foot libraries around the county what this county has done is A wheel with small libraries and a central library that serves as a storage warehouse And so I think we will have a different conversation as we talk about the downtown library Because these buildings have been designed for holds where Where we get things from our master collection and bring them to these smaller branches If we were going to start all over and not have that central area for holding books These might look really different And so that's my caveat in this discussion for the future Well, thank you for the presentation. That's you know, really amazing to see what What potential there is for these two libraries moving forward It could be really cool. Yeah All right, so at this time I'd like to uh open the floor To public comment. And so if you would like to um make a comment on this for members of the public Please stand in line to my left. You'll have two minutes and we'll go ahead and start Hello again, uh I just wanted to uh Acknowledge the great job that the architects put together on those presentations. They're uh, really beautiful spaces and um particularly for the uh, the garfield park library, I hope that we're able to to Meet the full vision of that that space because I think that would be really wonderful. Um That said I I I have the privilege of of seeing um A similar presentation of this uh back in the fall and um The the tenor of that um that presentation around the uh the brands of 40 library Delved much more into the the problems of of the Current space and its uh interaction with the uh the homeless population that congregates around it and um, you know, I I feel like like we're trying to essentially do weaponized architecture. Um And uh, if there are elements that we can cut from that to save Money like for example the perimeter fence that was discussed. I don't see what the security is for that space other than than a way to keep homeless people out and uh I recognize that the we're not doing a good job of of adequately housing people and people are having to make hard choices about where to be and and um When uh when a public library space is one of the only spaces that they can be and then we're we're shoving them out from that space with our intentional architectural design I think that's that's troubling and I I hope that we can do better. Thank you Uh next speaker Good evening. Mr. Mayor and members of the council. My name is martin gomez I'm president of the friends of the santa cruz public libraries The friends, you know, uh have been recognized by the library as the official fundraising body for the library And I'm here to tell you that We're committed to raise as much of it funding as possible To supplement the funds for the renovation and expansion expansion of each neighborhood library receiving measure funds We exist to advocate on behalf of the library and also to raise funds for the library Uh, we've been working in partnership with our affiliated chapters and key volunteers throughout the county and We're well on our way now to raising significant dollars for each library in the system The recent success of our fundraising efforts for the capitol and felton libraries And by the way felton is going to be opening very soon in just a few weeks Demonstrates that we are well prepared and capable of meeting the financial goal goals outlined For the garfield park and ranch 40 branch libraries As a matter of fact, we've already have some commitments going on and development of leadership Of from citizens in those two communities. So we would like to commit ourselves to uh being um Good stewards, but also to raise the funds necessary to supplement the request. Thank you. Yeah Speaker Hi, my name is reena dubin. I'm on the friends of the santa cruz public library board and I Wanted to just say that uh voters overwhelmingly support the library. They voted for measure s And unfortunately the construction costs have gone up so dramatically in the last 18 months But neighborhoods throughout the county are recognizing that this is a once in a generation Opportunity and I'm really hoping that you see that this is a once in a generation Opportunity to create a modern library that the community wants and deserves The um We have such a tight time frame to use the measure s funds And so I'm really hoping that Y'all can really think about using these funds now And just taking the downtown piece off the table because I'm just a little concerned that we're not going to get The maximum benefits of the bonds because there's so many bond restrictions Um, we really want to fully fund branch of 40 and garfield park The proposed improvements, they're not aesthetic and they're not optional the measure s Money will bring the libraries to a modern standard and will positively directly affect thousands of city residents Um, the branch of 40 and garfield park They really do serve an important function for our neighborhoods an entire cross section of our community depends on these small branches Families kids teens the unsheltered homeless and seniors Libraries exist to serve the public and the full proposal that the architects presented help the staff maximize What the libraries can give our community? So this is the time to invest for the future of santa crews and we need to get it right So thank you for your support for our library system Hi, my name is meredith cook. I'm just a community member I've been raising my three kids here and we spent a lot of time in the libraries over the years almost all the branches And um, I specifically remember when scott's valley opened a new library And what a huge difference it made to spending time there and um, I want to shout out that I recognize My librarian who used to make a lot of book recommendations to the kids And just how important creating a welcoming and beautiful space It is so thank you All right next speaker I'm matt ferrell. I actually live in the sea bright neighborhood So use that pathway and while it is narrow it does actually Encourage interaction between users in the pathway and I haven't really had any conflicts there. So while it would be an amenity There's some interesting interactions that happen under its current design Secondly, I'd like to really encourage the council to Fully commit the measure as funds recommended by the library director And uh as rena said my concern is that we're running into Situations where the longer it takes us to program those funds We start to hit boundaries that limit how much debt how much of the bonds we can access So I think deferring that decision down the road And I think the members of the library subcommittee can confirm this I think it it could end up costing us. So I would encourage you to Follow susan's recommendation and I want to really congratulate you. I want a great job you did in hiring her Next speaker The presentation was absolutely beautiful. Um, and It's strange to me. Maybe this is the way it's normally done But writing a budget beyond the budget that you were given for something I don't know how that works But then when they started taking away the extra things like it felt like someone took my shiny little toy out of my hand or something Like it was so pretty But all of that stuff that's separate for me on just moving the fence like that The safety of people walking up to the door absolutely People wouldn't be camping if they were walking in during business hours because everybody would be cleared But there is a book drop-off in that little doorway You could make like at the curb kind of thing like a pull in the drop the book thing Be a whole lot cheaper than doing that fence thing. Um, I really hear that modern library thing But let's not make modern also equal anti homeless Thanks Thanks speaker Good evening merecomings. Um city council. My name is Gina Cole. I'm the director at bike santa cruz county um, I Use that pathway um on my bike Occasionally when I'm going home if I have to swing by staff of life Um to pick up something and then I'll use that pathway as I'm writing to either meet my carpool or Head home to watsonville. It's narrow that today. I wrote it to check it out Um, and as I was on my bike A runner was coming through and and it was tight. It's not undoable But I slowed my bike and put a foot down so that that runner could pass I see that as a really Intergal place for kids to get from galt school To the library and when I was at the library today It was after school hours. It's about four o'clock this afternoon. The parking lot was full There were a ton of people inside the library There were a lot of kids in the library And I think that it's really important to one have that pathway remain To possibly light it if if that's anywhere near A part of it According to the letter that that mr. Battelle wrote He is been in contact with the folks that have purchased the The property that's adjacent to that pathway. There's a really cool old house there and it's a giant lot So I can imagine that there's going to be multiple homes there And in that case most of that pathway falls on that Property line and so maybe that is something that they can work into As as Phil suggested that is something that they could work into a negotiation with the homeowner as part of the development To increase the the width of that Of that pathway, but as far as you know kids Walking possibly to galt or from galt to that library Using those back ways. I I feel like it's really important to maintain that. Thank you Thank you And alise before we come forward. Is there any other member of the public who would like to speak to us on this item? Seeing none, alise you'll be our last speaker and you can come to the mic and you'll have two minutes I have a lot to say so i'm gonna have to kind of talk fast Um So I am just going to move really quickly. I would like to see more views. I would like to see the views of the actual entrance way I'm brent seforte It's beautiful and I appreciate the Wonderful presentations. I do think that we have to ask ourselves where cost comparisons made how much Did we how many architects did we really explore in the bidding for this for these projects? And other things that i'm concerned about is i've been to the presentations about the downtown library The last one was so pessimistic. Just the whole thing was presented as unfortunately We don't have the money for this and this is not going to be like that and if we go with the upgraded Design, well, we'll have to get more money. It was just really negative And I think it's very political and we really need to look at how political this really is through and through So i'm sorry to always be this person that has to be the like the The downer because I think it's a beautiful Uh design that we're seeing really functional and wonderful, but we need to see more I just had a construction go in next door to where we're living and our views are totally taken away at the planning commission They didn't show us neighbors next door. We need to see more views of certain things Um, I think the council needs to know that there has been a grand jury investigation of surveillance of users At the downtown library that was brought forward by library staff And I did not go back and read a miss nimitz response to that which was Due on september 21st of last year this huge push to get everything into computers And technology of course there's a modern need for that But I have to say that we have to consider 5g and the toxicity of the environment We're also getting rid of thousands upon thousands of books It's a big secret in santa cruz except for f friends of the library Because they're dumps during hundreds and hundreds of books most of this is cultural and intellectual history And we should have a place for this storage of this wonderful cultural history. Remember alexander the great They always burn the books. That's the first thing they do to get rid of the culture. Thank you Thank you. All right. We'll return for action deliberation councilman mires and councilman macron Um, I just want to I even just answered a donna. That's probably easiest. Um, I just want to thank um, susan and her staff For rebuilding our library system not just our libraries in the city of santa cruz, but um for working incredibly hard for an entire system of libraries to To upgrade these buildings i've um I've really tracked the progress and other in a lot of the other cities Um, and we're talking about um, you know, all of the communities raising anywhere from hundreds of thousands to two millions of dollars to To provide the best library that they can for their community. And so that's been very inspirational I mean little felton has raised over two and a half million dollars for their library Um, and that's a town of you know, 3000 people. So, um I think it's very telling by the numbers that passed measure s I think the number was an incredible thing like 72 of the voters or something like that past measure s Which is a statement by our community by our by our users of our libraries that they want new um 21st century libraries and um, I think these two are a special gem that we are lucky to be the stewards of as As the city council and as city residents um And um, I think about um The university when they did their fundraising work for the science library and McHenry library I happened to be working on the development team that was Starting to do that work and they raised tens of millions of dollars and those two libraries are beautiful and so um I grew up my my mom was a librarian so I have a a bit of a of a personal investment in this but I think this is one of the most important decisions we're going to make for our community this year and into the future and We're the stewards of the children and the youth of our community and if they don't have A place to go and read and be quiet and discover the world Through a free library book then we're not really serving The people that i'm here to do my my time for so I'm excited, but what i've seen I'm not at all overwhelmed by the fact that we may need to raise a couple million dollars. It's going to be a lot of hard work But that's what leadership is and we need to deliver for our community And I also just want to really express Thanks to susan that you know our system serves everyone No one has denied access to our libraries. In fact, they provide critical daytime Facilities for people who are unhoused in our community people who Need to Get in touch with their families people who need to look for jobs people who may be looking at housing listings so our libraries actually serve as in as kind of Navigation centers in many ways and in fact the downtown library branch actually provides services for exactly that so We're not talking about downtown tonight But I just want to really make sure that people are really aware that our libraries are all inclusive And that they just provide a critical critical piece to What everyone in our community needs which is access to information and the ability to Utilize these spaces in a way that serves them So i'm excited about what i'm seeing and i will i'm excited about to make the motion tonight But I will defer to my council colleagues here for some more discussion, but I do intend to make the motion tonight If I can i'll do it right now. People do it. Let's do it. I won't go ahead. So i'm going to go ahead and make a motion to To approve the recommendation for the remodels of branch of 40 and garfield park branch libraries And that will be to approve number one the approve this schematic design and the budget of 6.25 million and the financing To authorize the development of construction documents to authorize city staff to advertise for construction bids And lastly to authorize the city manager to execute the contract in a form approved by the city attorney And execute change orders within the approved budget By vice mayor meyer seconded by council member crone Further discussion. I just wanted to say that I was going to do the same thing And I agree with everything you said about the existence of libraries and what they mean in this community and what they have meant I think you have a very supportive council up here. I love the projects. They look really really beautiful I am concerned about that what I said about the homeless issue and sort of the defensive architecture And I hope that um, there's an inclusiveness that goes along with this but um And I am worried about where the money's coming from But I guess we'll have to do dialogue and debate about that as time moves on but um, thank you very much for all your work Council member Matthews council member Watkins, and then I have a question. I am so excited to be at this point Finally our ship is coming in The whole issue of possibly Expanding the bike path came up and it occurs to me that that if that were in the realm of possibility Perhaps some active transportation plan money or something could be allocated to that. I do know in felton that mark stone was able to get some state grant money to develop the The garden adjacent to the library So if it's not the library remodel per se, then maybe there's other funding that we can look forward to make that part of it happen I am just so struck in in all of these libraries how many different populations they serve and as the conversation went on everything from the The toddler reading groups raise a reader places for teens to hang out for community groups to meet For people to access computers Housed unhoused of any age and you know another Exhibit that many of us saw recently was it the maw about senior isolation and and what libraries mean to seniors so they really serve the entire spectrum in age and Demographics of our community. So this to me will be a wonderful generational investment and so wonderful that these two are Taking advantage of buildings that each has its own really distinctive and wonderful architecture that can be brought Into our our century. It's great Walkings I don't know if I can say it any better than my colleagues have already said it but I'll go ahead and just add that my two sensors would just also appreciation not only for The different versions that you presented. I think it's important for us to know What we could have What we May not be able to have if we chose to not go in that direction And I just really want to highlight that you know We really are in a unique time and it's a real privilege to be able to Make this decision to really ensure that we're thinking about the libraries for 50 years from now and The next generation and and and also meeting the needs of those our current residents And and and access and thinking about access and just you know as somebody briefly who lives on the other side of the path I really do relate because that's how I would get to the library in terms of going through that narrow path So we want to be mindful of that in terms of access But this is a this is a real step in something that I think Santa Cruz can be really proud of and And I'm grateful to have the opportunity to vote on this this evening as well Just a quick comment. I'll say here here to everything that's been said and also just add that this is You know the additional funds that we are I believe about to approve Really are it's not just about aesthetics and and I think that the you know the programmatic functionality improvements are so important and I really appreciate the Seriousness with which you undertook that task to bring us something that would really Meet those needs. So, you know, it is the pretty shiny things that That I you know seeing those go away was you know disconcerting But it's really making this commitment is about program and and how the space is used and not just observed Thank you That's whoever Glover. Thanks. Yeah, big supporter of the libraries and thanks for the presentation It was really nice to see I had a chance to talk with Susan Previously about it and kind of knew what to expect with some of the takeaways. So I was like, oh, here we go one question since the The Motions on the floor and it's seconded and sounds like there's a lot of support which is great Is the gate though? So we heard from a couple people especially people that are involved in the World of advocacy for people that are experiencing homelessness and I want to acknowledge what you were saying about general safety and or people coming up There was the recommendation of the book drop relocation instead of the moving of the fence I'm not sure exactly how much money the fence removal and replacement would cost But what's the likelihood of being able to Not do that and then reallocate that money into the other designs So and then saving that much money of not moving the fence I mean, that's not something we've talked about before the motion was made But I'd love to get your feel on it. Is it like a deal breaker? Is it something that you'd be open to? one to avoid the perception of weaponizing architecture as well as limiting Potential shelter space for someone if they're in the middle of the rain and need some place to be in the echo There's a library, but it's totally locked down like a fortress. So You know, I'm just interested in exploring that with you It's a very good question councilman clever, um I think it's what we're trying to do is reflect community interests It's hard when our Target group that we serve is everyone All right, we have traditionally tried to say that the library is incredibly committed To serving people experiencing homelessness in our community But we try to do it as a library and not as a camping space absolutely and so We just have received so much feedback from the brands of 40 community And I just have to say there are people who want the path gone as well Especially people who live on it But about the level of camping that's going on In that space and it was really an attempt To create a library that serves as a library and we we have no problems being a day shelter I mean we do that for everyone Um, I think the difficulty was the after hours camping and some of the things that were occurring on site Again, all of this is is subject to community interest and need And i'm willing to go and talk to groups about it I think the word that I keep hearing is defensive architecture And I think um, I've seen it In cruel ways, but I've also seen architecture that So madison public library is a great example of a library system Committed to serving people experiencing homelessness But it's through zoning and creating circulation and entrances So that everyone feels comfortable in this space And and I just want to say i'm committed to working with the community to find the right answer For the branch of 40 library I don't know if I don't think it can be incorporated into motion or anything right now But I would just encourage if it's possible to go back and talk to the groups and see if you can find a workaround So that it doesn't Perceive that we're or just the word so that we're not blocking off the library But still able to address the safety concerns of the community, which are important as well. I appreciate it But I will do that. Thank you Okay I just like to say that um It seems like a really great thing that we're about to do for our community I'm very excited seems like, you know, there's a lot of support on all angles and I'll just also reiterate my concern with the fence too because I think that you know, given the fact that we're reallocating funds from That could go to other library projects and given that we're going to have shortfalls on all of our library projects If there's one area, I feel like we could cut some costs I think the fence would be one of the first things that we should consider and then Coming back at a later point in time and putting that fence in if we could raise more funding Rather than spend funds that could go to another library right now. So I just want to express my concern around that as well but I think that we're at a point where we can move forward with this item and so I'll just restate that The motion on the floor is that we adopt the staff recommendations that were provided on the item That is labeled the remodel of the prance 40 and carfield park prance libraries The motion was made by by some mayor mires seconded by council member crone if there's no more discussion All those in favor, please say aye. Aye Any opposed? Nope that passed unanimously. Are directors allowed to squeal? Yes Thank you, thank you for your leadership. All right, better get that big cell started soon Go find me. Well, they have I think they have chairs lined up from each branch. Yeah, you're so bad I don't see where she was talking later. Why don't we take a short break and come back in five minutes? I mean everybody's clearing out we'll give people time to clear out More than five The last item of the evening And this is item number three on our evening agenda city council request process with presenters laura schmidt myself and councilmember walkins So I'll turn it over to laura schmidt interim assistant city manager Thank you mayor Cummings As justin said i'm laura schmidt. I'm the interim assistant city manager And if you may recall back in june the council At the council six month work plan retreat a work an ad hoc work group was formed and that was Mayor Cummings councilmember walkins and myself So we met several times over the course of the last few months and have prepared for you Proposed update to the council policy 6.9 and this relates to new council requests So it was a pleasure to work with the work group and martin helped out with Basically legacy knowledge of various agenda council policy the council handbook and Justin and martin All contributed this information and my job was to kind of organize organize and amalgamate So that's what i'm going to present to you tonight I wanted to step back a little bit before we got into the actual lanes and Criteria and the workflow of the council request And talk a little bit about the context of the work Holistically within the city and this relates back to nicole young's earlier presentation regarding strategic planning So overall the community expresses needs and gives us feedback And that gets translated and inputted Along with staff internal information into the council strategic plan And then that council strategic plan drives staff departmental strategies Priorities and projects so we really on an ongoing basis peeing back to The council strategic plan and vision for us to on a day-to-day basis as staff implement strategies and priorities And projects and then you also see that before you on an annual basis in our city budget And the work plan and the items that come before you during the budget hearings and the capital improvement project process So Generally, that's how we get our priorities and policies and essential marching orders from the council on a day in day out annual multi-year basis But what happens when we have new requests either because of the legislature The business environment the larger political environment something comes up and The council members want to initiate a new request That's where the council policy 6.9 update comes into play It could be a council member idea That generates the new request It could be something mentioned in oral communications. It could be something from the state or federal legislative level It could be a council email any email that comes into the city And it also could be an urgent emergent emergency need That triggers a new council request and then I just put another bucket because I'm an IT person And there's always if and then else others part of the logic So overall what are these buckets of new requests? So the group came up with four of them The first one is an emergency or urgent request. The second one is a quick information The third is research resolution and reports And the other one is project slash more complex research More complex resolution or a more complex report so the Gray column outlines for each one of those request types. What are the hours of work? Which is what we found is an easy way to delimit how you know which request type Your initiating and then what is the workflow that happens? So an emergency or urgent request The hours of work could be all over the map for that. It could be very quick It could take a long time And there's an entire council policy. I think 6.2 related to special meetings Should you guys need to initiate an emergency meeting around this the first contact for this one is The mayor with a cc to the city manager and the city attorney And that's especially because if we need to call an emergency meeting A quick information item from the council It's usually less than one hour of work The first contact is the department head and the assistant city manager acts As the department head for the city manager's office and the city clerk areas The research resolution and report Could be anywhere from one to eight hours and the first contact for that again is the department head When it reaches more than eight hours of work That is what is the fourth category that it's more Of a project it's more complex research in this resolution report So the first contact for that is the city manager And that's the one where we've asked that it be documented and submitted to the council so that you as A council whole have the opportunity to discuss and understand the requests more and Approve or not that item and that request to proceed to staff to work on it We did a litmus test against these four categories And these are examples that we came up for each one of them So the emergency or urgent request An example would be the residential rent increase the moratorium when the tenant protection act came in Main beach hours was another one A quick information request could be a clarification to planning and community development about Explain this building code to me Summary of past council action on a particular topic I recall that this happened around november Help me figure out You know, what was it and then we go off and we find the specific meeting in the action summary and what the motions were Research resolution and report and this is the one to eight hour timeframe An example would be support for the california circular economy and plastic pollution reduction act Research sponsorship of a new event or an organization could be another one And then the police to spark department dispatch summary reports was another example of this type of request A bigger project that's more complex and involves more time eight hours plus A good example of this is the parks and recreation harvey was pool operations So you guys asked Tony elliott to go back and research and bring back options as far as how could we open up that pool to serve the community longer in year round The inclusionary housing changes are an example of this project bigger Work item The next few slides just go into the the additional details Around each one. So this is for emergency or urgent request The prioritization filters for this one are life and safety natural disaster imminent danger and urgent emergent need and in this case The group came up with two sponsoring council members in consultation with the mayor city manager and city attorney The lead time and impact on the council agenda report deadlines If it is a special meeting obviously That procedure gets called into play if it can be done at a regular council meeting The content has to be submitted 12 days in advance of the city council meeting or whatever the then active administrative process is The red line at it that was published as a change I had accidentally left the word in business and it's not 12 business days. It's 12 days The quick information request is less than one hour You just contact the department head and they will get you in contact with the appropriate staff to assist you Prioritization filters and requirements. This is not applicable. It's an inquiry. It's an educational information request That involves less than one hour of total staff time The lead time impact on council. It doesn't impact our council agenda A research a resolution or a report the hours of work involved here are basically Eight hours or less The first contact is the department head and they will get the appropriate staff Or that could be the department head has a herself that works on it the prioritization filters on this one are um, it would be very Much preferable if it has fidelity with the current council strategic focus areas So if you have established a strategic plan for us the work that we Focus on at any given point Should be able to ping back up to that strategic plan and there should be a line of sight there This one is has three can't sponsoring council members for the request and If it will end up at council So the lead time the content has to be submitted 12 days in advance if it's something that needs to go to council It could be a report that just gets handled Administratively over email where you're asking for information It takes five hours for staff to compile. They'll get it put together and they'll send it out to the council And in that case You don't need to worry about the council agenda deadlines The more complex project Is more than eight hours your first contact is the city manager and This one needs to be documented and submitted to the council And it will proceed if approved by the majority at the council meeting at which it's discussed Again, it should have fidelity with the current council strategic focus areas And this is a list of The documentation that the group felt would be good to include in the agenda report The definition of what is actually being requested Line of sight documented of the fidelity with the council strategic focus areas The actual practical problem that's being solved the goals of the request If we were to do nothing what happens the departments needed and then Do we also need community partners to be involved in the process? The estimated timeline and the opportunity cost If we pick up this and it's a two month project then can the department that has the most Resources involved absorb it or do they have to back burn or something else in order to make room for it? fiscal impacts and costs associated with it this one must also have three Sponsoring council members The content has to be submitted 12 business days in advance And note the agenda report submitted Enables the city council to determine if the request will proceed or not That is the summary of the updates to 6.9 and then Justin or martin mayor council member walkins if you have any Additional information comments you'd like to add Um, well, thank you laura for the For the thorough presentation, but also for the support because you know in our meetings often The mayor and I would be like well, we want this and we're thinking about that or what about this circumstance Or how about that and trying to navigate the scenarios? But at the end of the day the the bigger picture is how do we have some consistency and expectation transparency And framework to work off of as it's currently written. It's very broad and Wanting to kind of narrow in a little bit about what is sort of the processes that we should have in place And and also recognizing I guess one thing I will point out That even though there are ideal standards for prioritization That really those are the filters where we talked about sort of seeking But knowing that those could be modified if needed and applicable because sometimes there is that other category Or that other situation that we just really hadn't thought of but you want to have some flexibility within that as well But really being mindful of general kind of processes and turnaround and timelines. It's not you know, it's not a fast We're not that nimble in government. So recognizing that there's Some some sort of processes and standards that we need to adhere to so I just want to I want to thank my colleagues and And I'm hopeful that this will lead to more transparency and and Just a better expectation of how to move forward with items on the agenda And I would just like to add First thank you to laura and martin for working on this with well being able to have the opportunity to work with you all on this and um as we were directed by counsel And additionally, um, I just want to add that you know, I think the intent of this is that When council members are making requests and asking support from staff that they're Realistic that that we have a template right so that um if for some of us There's going to be an ordinance change that we want to work on that's going to take a substantial amount of time That you know the first step in that process that we bring that to council So that we can direct staff to work with council members on these types of requests But if it's going to be something that's going to take a very short amount of time that there's a There's a template set out to say that if this isn't going to take that much time Then sure you can go work with this staff member to put something together and we can bring it and put it on an agenda So this is really intended to Provide a framework for how we can bring things Forward and is a template for how we are able to get items Placed on the agenda in a way that's going to really maximize our our efficient use of time so and Let's leave it at that Assuming we adopt this. Thank you for the work on it. It's it's been frustrating on Both sides. I'm quite sure on the left side and on council side So if we adopt this we're we own it and I assume also it gives staff the Power staff to say wait a minute Has to go down this path I think as jessen mentioned it also gives both staff and council members Expectation of the different types of requests and how they should be handled and it handled and it takes the guesswork out of it So there's accountability on the staff side and on the council side as far as this is the process And these are the steps that will take so If it's category two sent it to Bonnie she'll get it somebody to somebody in economic development and they'll get you response Other comments questions questions. Yeah, so, uh, thank you for this for the presentation. It's good stuff so, um Myself and some other council members had brought forward a agenda item Maybe two or three months ago that had to do with the agenda setting process And then we were assured that there was the process that was in place and now we have the result here, which is good There are some things That were From that document and from those recommendations and examples that were given that are not included in this um Some of it had to do with a community member's ability to get something on the agenda by submitting a request to a city council member And then they would be able to bring it forward to for The potential of getting on the agenda also Just something that comes up is the requirement for there to be three It's just specifying there needs to be three sponsoring council members Because if there are times when there are not three sponsoring council members Or two where there's a minority of a certain perspective or persuasion on the council That would limit their ability to get something on the agenda if they weren't able to get any of their colleagues from alternate ideological perspectives to to Co-sign on to it. So there are there's a couple concerns that I have Just that there's nothing here about if like a community member wants to get something on the agenda like In other cities, there's forms they come in and fill out in the city manager's office And as long as they have one sponsoring city council member then that gets considered for Agendizing so i'm just curious why none of those things were incorporated in this report and where they went and Stuff like that. Sure. I can speak to that briefly. I think that the idea was that if If a member of the community as we mentioned earlier if somebody mentioned something during Oral communications and that city council members want to take that on The idea being that they could find, you know, there would be council members who could step up to sponsor that item on behalf members of the public and they could bring that item forward I think that ultimately One thing that that i'd mentioned and i'm not sure like and it can be for consideration, but I think ultimately Regardless of you know the number of sponsoring council members it's still at the discretion of the mayor at the time to put an item on the agenda and so I think that you know If a community member is bringing an item I think that Our recommendation is that depending on the type of item that you have at least three council members who are willing to support it Um or two depending on the type of item because if you don't have that much support From council members to even bring the item forward Then there becomes this question of um the validity of wanting to bring that item so So I I totally hear what you're saying about that potential except that if A council member that is trying to say extend an olive branch to other council members to try and bring them on to a project But then there was other two council members decided not to participate then that council member is stuck in the brown act and can't Uh get two additional But actually part of part of and you know what that actually came up in our process And I'll let the city attorney speak to that because we brought that up where Um and correct me if i'm wrong But the idea was that if for example, I ask a city council member whether or not they'd be Interested in working on a particular item with me If we don't go into the substance of that particular item, then there's not a violation of the brown act I totally hear that except that if I go Hey, do you want to work on this with me? And then they go yeah, what do you got and then I tell them and they go actually no Then that locks me into not being able to go to To other people and say hey, do you want to work on this and they say yeah, and then I can't show them What I got because it Substance and therefore shows the direction that I want to go with the policy thus violating the brown act I think where we discussed this before is that If a council member is shopping an idea That in and of itself wouldn't create a brown act issue If you say I'm interested in bringing forward a proposed ordinance for whatever And you shopped it to council member crone and to vice mayor mires And they both said no that wouldn't prevent you from shopping the idea to another council member Where you would have a problem is if the three of you were working on an ordinance And then one of you got cold feet and said i'm out Now you have a brown act problem and I think the remedy for that is for There for the issue to be raised at a meeting so that you could at least ask for an item to be agendized without having that be Outside of the context of a of a regular meeting so But interesting to respond to that But how would I talk about it a meeting if it wasn't agendized and I Had already hit my brown act limit because I was working with some people and then they got cold feet and you know, I mean By making a motion to add it to a future agenda. Oh during the That would be interesting. Okay Council member brown and then council member walk-ins And then city manager Yeah, um, so I want to appreciate the work you all put in and really appreciate the efforts to Establish what is pretty involved taxonomy and also think about flexibility I appreciate you mentioned that because not everything is going to fit into this taxonomy as Is never the case with classification But with respect to the challenge that council member Glover brought up And our city attorney's response. I you know, I feel comfortable with that Kind of moving forward, but we also have you know in the notes here Additionally that the city council meeting calendar Is for changes in the schedule not for the content of meetings So that is a space where some of us have that some of us have used When we felt that was kind of the only way to move forward But here the policy statement suggests that that is not it not Available to us So, you know, I don't want to suggest that Calendaring time is a time to kind of get everything on the agenda I would prefer to go through the other channels but I also want to make sure that That the potential challenge there can be addressed somehow if our requirement is that we have to have three and somehow we get Stuck without three And I think Being okay with saying, okay. Well, then if it has to come to the public meeting Um, then we do it that way as a kind of last resort I don't know if anybody wants to comment on that, but it's the only way then but I I Fully agree with your earlier comment about how how this is a guideline that as it is implemented We're going to have to really learn how to work with it and get accustomed to that But I also think that's the same point that goes to the question of What if I'm trying to get council support and I and I reach out to one council member and they Say no, does that taint the well for for reaching out to other council members? And I think the way to work through that is um You know, that's one of the reasons that you have a city attorney who is pretty much You know available anytime of the day or evening or weekend to talk through those issues and and You know, I see my job as to assisting the city council in getting The work of the council You know on the agenda and done and and so Well, that's not a direct response to a council member Glover. I think the intent is to Make it a more efficient way to conduct city business not not make it less or more difficult Can I add to that? I mean, I think the way that is addressed is that in particularly when it comes to the The more than an hour items because that's what you have the three requests is that the first step is to You do get the sponsors, but the first step is really for council to consider whether the proceed or not So I think that's where that comes in where you you know, your first step really is in part is to gauge How your colleagues might feel about it and the community as well And and I think because I think sometimes what we struggle with is when an item comes and it's already sort of In place and and done and this is this sort of sense of like, you know, we have to take action today And so I think that's That's sort of the idea here is that you know for these big items The the first piece is is to obviously you have to Have all the justifications and the filters and the requirements but in place But it's not forcing you to You know make a final decision and so I think you know It seems to me that council members would be more apt to consider each other's requests if they know that There's you know, there'll be a follow-up step the first step will be to bring it forward And then the council can then decide whether they want to move forward with it or not And and so and I think that's the way it works in a lot of cities And I think it works really well because it provides that additional layer of sort of review and discussion and consideration Before people sort of feel like they're sort of forced to sort of take action without really sometimes knowing What other considerations might come up or how the public might feel some other consideration And I think again It also allows you to just have more thought and consideration around the work plan around all kinds of issues that you might not know by simply You know putting an item that's already sort of people feel it's already baked or it's already in the works That's my walk-ins. The only thing I would add is that Um, well, there's two things I think maybe I just thought it and we didn't discuss it But I do think we maybe talked about if you did shop for that third third council member And they declined then you would say and I reached out to a third council member who declined and and it wasn't So you would just sort of notify the um the mayor and the and the city manager and the city attorney of that The other thing I'll just sort of highlight is that this is not A way for the mayor to withhold any item every item will have an opportunity to be heard it's really a prioritization filter of how agenda items come on and so the If there's an item that will come forward, it will come forward I think it's just how we were thinking it through was as a prioritization filter not as A place for no item to be brought forward in the future That's not the role of the mayor to make that decision But how you identify managing a meeting and prioritizing items Is the role of the mayor and we really wanted to kind of find some guideline associated with that essentially for context and I'll also add that um Ultimately at the end of the the end of the day the mayor has the discretion Of putting anything on the agenda. So these are criteria that we Um are recommending that council members meet in order to put items on the agenda But it doesn't um eliminate the ability of council members to then go to the mayor and ask for an item to be put on the agenda So I just want to state that as well If I could sure and or for an item to be in the queue essentially for how they would be agendized And just add a little bit more. I think the other key to this being successful too is we have to have consistency Um, not just among the council but also with the staff too. We also have to sort of have that discipline to When an you know council member approaches a Staff person that you know, we apply this as well and not have sort of different treatment of how we deal with various issues Um, and I think again, that's just really critical. So it's not it doesn't serve as well We have a policy and we don't really follow it. So I think I just again encourage us to Really be very deliberate and consistent with the the approach I just um, thank you for the work you guys, um I'm definitely Well thought out and you know just I like the idea. I like that you kind of tested some real life examples I think that's always good and um, I think along those lines. Um, one thing I've found a little bit hard is that At this point at least maybe it's I haven't I haven't asked or I haven't been trained or I'm not quite sure But you know even just having you know make having a place where we can get the agenda report Template and some of those things. I know they always get refined, you know once it's gone, you know into the system, but Even some samples or something, you know just you know If there's a couple of good agenda reports that you felt like really met the Would meet kind of the intent of this You know, maybe make those available somewhere So, you know as you're thinking through this and maybe Maybe doing a report yourself You've got some standards that you can look at so that you kind of see the flow of what really the agenda report is supposed to do And they accompany attachments. I think that would be very helpful I think particularly for the again for the eight hours or more one where you can have a template Because I think that's the one where I think we tend to have the biggest challenges with I think if we have a template or again, you have the basic information And then council can consider it and then then it then it really moves on from there and in terms of The ordinance being developed or whatever process, you know, it needs to happen for it to move forward But I think we can do a template for that one. I think that's a good idea I think it really um As you're working with your colleagues, you know, it really gives you that chance to pause and say Do we really have this ready? You know, and so I think there's also this this piece of Reflection on readiness that sort of comes from that expectation Whereas if you don't really have a guideline You put everything down on paper and it feels like it's ready But you know, I think that that might be a good set of, you know, things to have for us But great job. Thank you. We actually I've actually started a process with another staff member to go through Some historical agenda reports so that especially with the subject and recommendation language To standardize that so you guys, you know In a form approved by the city attorney, you know direct the city manager to execute blah blah blah Each department and within a department has different Ways about doing that and what I've noticed over the last seven seven months as interim Is we could really Standardize on that so you guys aren't Guessing so whether it's a grant whether it's an rfp whether it's an award of the rfp slash bid All those different things we can make it a little bit easier for you to navigate so that something you see is like This isn't they're requesting us to go out to grab. Oh, this one. They're joined during to a state contract So there is no award. They're just entering into a contract and then along with that I also depending on it how the 6.9 went We could create a standard area for this one as well as with the previous direction in december for health and all policies We also need to put standard language in The agenda reports of the line of sight to the health and all policy three pillars So it's something we definitely already would like to follow up on in different ways as far as standards So that it's easier for people to write agenda reports and easier for consumers to read them And then we can incorporate this And I I think as um As we start to work through this this is sort of the first iteration in flow And just an attempt to really help streamline the processes. So I'm sure there'll be improvements along the way Um, I just had a question really quickly for the city attorney in regards to the council meeting calendar item And if I um understood you correctly My understanding is you're suggesting that that is the place where uh council member could potentially Seek the support of their colleagues to have something placed on the agenda. Is that accurate? Not necessarily. Um There is a provision of the brown act that says essentially that no discussion or action shall take place on an item That's not on the posted agenda. However The council may refer the item to staff to respond briefly to questions Or um to get further information Or the council um a council member or the council may Uh direct that an item be agendized for a future meeting. So So we've said in the past that that that could be a parking place for asking items to be placed on a future agenda But the advice is really based on the brown act provision that says Um that there's an exception to the general rule about no discussion or action on items that aren't on the agenda One is to direct that an item be placed on a future agenda And you know, I've been terrible at policing this in the past But when that happens there should be a motion and a second and if it's gut support It should be voted on and there should be very little or no discussion on it. So Okay, I guess the reasons being is that um That is advertised as a way that we're thinking about the calendar in terms of calendaring And um if that is the place where that is because of the brown acts were required to have a space for that Then I think it should be identified as such that it's for council meeting calendaring and or council initiated items based on Without discussion or something like that because I think right what I feel is, you know, we would have that and it was not really properly Um understood, you know in terms of past practice one, but also in terms of what I think the community And expectation of the item is yeah, I think that's right Historically that has been an opportunity for the council to really look at what its future meetings are Not to have a debate about what should be on the next agenda It isn't atypical for agencies to have an item at the very end of the meeting to Give an opportunity for council members to ask that items be to agendas for consideration at a future meeting So so that would be a change in the practice But isn't that contrary to what you've just described here? and yes If we're going with this the whole I well right well in our conversations and tony wasn't in in all of our conversations, but So what we talked about is this really replaces that because That is the issue that you know What was what I heard in the committee in their discussions was that you know Items will be brought up and people wouldn't know enough about them to feel comfortable when we're the other And so the thought was let's have a more deliberate process for that so that And that means doing some additional homework You know It's assessing what the workload would be Doing some homework and putting it together and then bringing it forward to council and getting some support So the idea was counselors would have to do a certain level of work with their colleagues with staff To have something brought forward for your consideration And the first step is to consider whether you want to move forward with it or not And that way you would have all the information the public would have all the information rather than You know an item that you know generally has been used to calendar items It's really just about when the next meeting is going to be or there's going to be a change in the calendar Um and to kind of avoid some of those issues and that was part of the discussion But Yeah, I guess if I may though that's um that definitely was part of the discussion and what I'm hearing is There also needs to be space for something else based on the brown act in terms of adherence to that And so what I what I think it contemplates is for instance members of the public Come in at oral communications and raise the issue of The dangerous intersection at laurel in washington and the council could at that point say staff I'd like to get a report back on that or city manager I'd like to ask that we agendize that for a future meeting, you know, that's that's the opportunity to do that so you don't need to have a a An item on the agenda specifically for the purpose of Adding items to a future agenda and I I agree that this policy Is really an attempt to provide that mechanism outside of the meeting agenda Um, but there is that narrow exception in the brown act as well Councilmember crown Just a couple questions. Um so, uh councilmember communications with staff should be limited to normal city business hours um I mean that sounds good, but practically it you know the way it functions. We don't have much time When that agenda comes out and Um, you know a lot of my questions I meet with people saturdays and sundays and so I'm firing questions and At um department heads really all weekend And they're usually responding Which is really good. So is that mean I shouldn't be doing that You know that doesn't apply this doesn't apply to that. I think that was related to to request I think you know, I think with respect to the agenda. That's perfectly okay Um, and actually we prefer that you email us with your questions ahead of time and Recognize that a lot of that work has to has to happen over the weekend. So that that's not a problem. Okay. And so, um, also, uh Laura, I I gave you What would that request look like that I I requested today about putting boards and commissions and Links to those agendas and minutes of those boards and commissions that council members sit on because currently that isn't up on our website So what would that be what would that look like as a request and time commitment? At this point not having looked into it very much. I think it's a number two I think it would take me less than an hour of work to research that and get back to you And then if it's something that we can post up, um, with under underneath the hour Okay, and toni you said something before By making a motion to add it to a future agenda When would you make that motion? If you couldn't get the the three council members, I think it was in response to what um customer Glover said and you said By making a motion to get it on future agenda And if you don't make it at the calendar time and then just gave the example of oral communication Giving it right after oral communication right, um But there again, we have the conundrum where a lot of council members might not know about the issue And and how important it is or whatever or what? very much about it Well, I mean having not been part of all of the discussion that went into the the development of this policy It sounds like the intent here is to provide a mechanism for council members to bring these items forward Um that doesn't involve the same I guess I would say awkwardness of having a motion to add an item to a future agenda Without the ability to discuss it in any depth um Because of the restrictions provided by the brown act. So this is really and it looks like an opportunity to or an attempt to provide a A more workable mechanism for getting items on the agenda not only To be more efficient about it, but also To ensure that when they do come forward There's been thought put into it at the staff level and that they're ready for a full-blown council discussion And can I add that you know 99.9 percent of the time Items there's there's there's time to consider the items and I think that's the idea here to do some some work ahead of time Um, if during a council meeting something comes up Uh, it's typically if it does come up it would be in oral communications and the council could you know If something it was an emergency or situation needed to be followed up on you could at That time say we want this to come back for whatever reason Also, there's the emergency provision that's here. So if something is really of an emergency nature Then it could be brought in that context. So this has mechanism. Do you have mechanisms to do that? But idea is to you know, generally For most items have a process so that there's some Analysis and research again the easy things we just do them the things that are going to be challenging and affect your work plan or for the strategic plan effect Um And be controversial that there's some deliberate work done to them bringing forward to you and that it's more thoughtful There's two things that I'd like to share on this one is that for example for number four Um, it should be there's this note kind of in the bottom Right corner that the agenda report submitted So that city council can approve to approve the request to proceed or not And I think that that really encompasses like the first step when it comes to these bigger items that You're sending a request for consideration of You know An ordinance related to let's just say surveillance for examples So then or if it's something that's that's going to take a lot of staff time that Um That it's directed that staff work on that and it can be with council members or a subcommittee And then the agenda then the requested documentation, which is kind of this Second bullet point in the second column, you know It has an outline of what are the things that we need to see when that comes back to council. So What is being requested, you know, how is it in line with the strategic goals if we do something If we don't do anything what happens who needs to be contacted? What's the timeline? What are the costs and then that can come back and then further action can be taken So that we really have a clear sense of when we're going into this What are all the different factors that need to be taken into consideration? And then we can move on those items and and kind of have that process take place So and then and as I said before ultimately as well The discretion is what the mayor when it comes to putting items on the agenda because ultimately Having to go through a gender review and see where things fit in and what the timing is going to be is also a really it's you know, essentially the role of the mayor and so Really trying to make sure that things are done in a way that's efficient Is is also a part of this With that, um, if there's no further comment, then we can open it up to public comment Is there any member of the public who would like to address us on this item You're gonna get out by 10 if you Yeah, I think we might be out of here. All right seeing none. I'll bring it back to council for action and deliberation I'll move approval. Thank you All right, so we have a motion made by councilmember maf used to approve the recommendation which is to Accept a status update regarding a process for routing and working on new council requests and adopt the process of part of Council policy 6.9. It was seconded by councilmember Watkins Um, is there any further discussion? Seeing none all those in favor, please say aye. All right. Any opposed? Nope. That passes unanimously and that will conclude our Meeting of january 14th 2020 efficiently done