All right, good afternoon and welcome to our April 7th, 2020 special meeting of the city council 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 cityofsantaCruise.com All council members beside myself are participating in this meeting remotely I want to thank the public for staying home to view today's city council meeting Please note if you wish to comment on items one and or three call into one of the following numbers one six six nine nine zero zero nine one two eight Dialing at one three four six two four eight seven seven nine nine one Three zero one seven one five eight five nine two One three one two six two six six seven nine nine one six four six five five eight eight six five six or One two five three two one five eight seven eight two After you've dialed in please enter the meeting ID number three seven nine five six five Six two three again the meeting ID number is three seven nine five six five Six two three and when prompted for an ID, please press pound When it's time for public comment press star nine on your phone to raise your hand When it is your time to speak you will hear an announcement that you have been unmuted The timer will then be set at two minutes. You may hang up once you once you've commented on your item of interest You wish to speak on another item two things may occur One if the number of callers waiting exceeds capacity You will be disconnected and you will need to call back closer when the item you wish to comment on will be heard Or two you will be placed back in the queue and should you press star nine to raise your hand when you wish to comment on a new item? You may also send an item to city of clerk at city of Santa Cruz comm Your comment will then be shared with the council members as they are received and will be entered into the public record I'd like to thank everyone for their patience as we had some technical technical difficulties trying to get this meeting started And with that I would like to ask the clerk to please call the roll. Thank you mayor council members Watkins Matthews Councilmember Matthews. Oh, you're on mute, but councilmember Glover is absent Councilmember Cron is absent vice mayor Myers I'm here and mayor Cummings Here before we begin our First item of the evening, which is the certification of the March 3rd 2020 presidential primary election. I just wanted to Make sure that the community was aware that we are making constantly making changes during these difficult times as they relate to trying to Protect our community from further spread of the COVID-19 virus Many of the decisions that we have to make are not decisions that we Like to make and are not decisions we want to make But the ultimate reason why we're making these decisions is to ultimately protect the health and safety of our community And so I just wanted to make sure that the residents of Santa Cruz were aware that About five or ten minutes ago a press release was put out by the county Health officer Announcing that a new order has been issued closing parks and beaches throughout Santa Cruz County beginning 1159 p.m. On April 8th 2020 through 1159 p.m. On April 15th 2020 a period of which includes Easter weekend and much of pass over So that people are aware this means that all beaches will be closed all Surfing will be prohibited that all state parks and city parks will also be closed during that time Any violation of the order is a misdemeanor pub punishable by a citation or arrest with fines of a thousand dollars possible Again, we do not take the we don't we do not Want to impose these kinds of restrictions on people's ability to access open space But given that we are approaching a holiday weekend and we're very much interested in trying to Minimize and eliminate the transmission and spread of COVID-19 within our community It was in the best interest of the community to close the beaches at this time If you'd like to find further information you can visit the city's website And you can also visit the county's website for more information on the new order that's come forward Which has closed the city and state beaches and parks From 1159 p.m. Tomorrow Wednesday evening through 1159 p.m. April 15th 2020 and with that We'll move forward with item number one certification of the March 3rd 2020 Presidential primary election and I'll turn that over to our city clerk Bonnie Bush Nothing much to say we are just required to have you guys Accept and approve the certification from the county of the results Which will then be turned over to the secretary of state Great are there any council members who have any questions at this point in time if so you can please raise your hand Seeing none. I'll turn this over to members of the public for those people called in I'm gonna unmute people as they're lined up within the queue and You'll have two minutes to speak to the council on this item members. My name is Elise Caspi I'm an activist and citizen in Santa Cruz I'm calling tonight. First I want to ask. Can you hear me? Yep? We can hear you Okay the reason I wanted to speak tonight is first of all I want to say I appreciate the measures that the government is taking both local and state and federal to Make sure that we're healthy and protected from COVID-19 However, can you still hear me about abuse of power during times of national emergency? We have seen where the abuses of power in the United States or something of a sequence of events I'm not going to go back into that I think we all know and we can cite several instances just in the last And since the year 2000 what I'm really concerned with at this point are people who are laid off from their jobs Workers who do not have enough savings to continue to pay rent You know basically living from pay Jack to pay Jack and also homeless people Miss Gatsby, I'm gonna pause you the item on our agenda is the certification of the Presidential primary election and so if you have something to say on that item I would appreciate if you could speak to that item at this time and not No, we're right now our special meeting is our general business item is a certification of the presidential primary elections This is a special meeting and so we don't have public comment starting at 6 p.m. Oral communication Okay, I want to also speak on item number one Would I be able to please get back into the queue? You can just restart we'll just restart your time and you can just have two minutes to speak to this item Okay Just tell me when Okay, to switch gears. My name is Elise Casby. I'm an activist speaking on item number one I think what one of the things that we have to help of the election is in the city of Santa Cruz Many as much of the money came from your time's up and that's next speaker Last one can hear me for eight four four. Yeah, we can hear you Okay on Easter Sunday April 12th Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom will be leading an in-car protest to protest city council Certification of elections instead of providing safe shelter in place for those outside I'm concerned with the viability of certifying election results in the midst of what authorities claim Is the worst health crisis in generations the city's decision to proceed with an election with ill-advised and undemocratic? It needed to be postponed for full and free participation Why are we not addressing the primary a primary priority a special or emergency session to immediately house those outside in vacant hotel rooms? To stop the spread of the virus while there is still time Martin Bernal calls it's calls to certify election results Undertaken in the midst of a pandemic rings hollow elections across the country are facing challenge Though a partisan Republican dominated Supreme Court is okay in this travesty Instead of limiting this council we need to a pro forma election results rubber stamping We need an emergency resolution at this council to immediately house the hundreds outside in safe shelter in place Facilities they're likely getting sick right now in the crowded Veterans Hall Laurel Street guidelines on Easter Sunday At noon gather at the River Street parking garage number 10 at 24 River Street gather safely in your cars for more updates Go to Santa Cruz in the media unless the city opens safe places. We must open them ourselves Thank you.  That's me councilmember Brown. Oh, I'm not him. Oh, that's right. Okay. Apologize next person is Last four digits are one nine nine nine one nine nine nine. Correct. I was trying to pay attention I'll try to follow the rules even though I might not this is James Ewing Whitman I'm curious about but we can actually question on because when I first got on the line There was some announcement that the beaches were gonna be closed for and on that now No, this is just that was just a public announcement right now The item is general business, which is the certification of the March 3rd 2020 okay primary election. Thank you for that Clarification when could I comment on that? Oh, that's not an item on our agenda But given the fact that we're we have a lot of changing Pardon me, okay, so that was being done. I didn't mean to interrupt you It's not an item on the agenda. No, it was a public service announcement. So we can't comment on it publicly Not today because it's not an item on our agenda. Okay, Justin. Thank you for your time. I'll do so publicly. Thanks Are you still wishing to comment on the item that's on our agenda? I want to comment on it's very important the other stuff is I'm listening. Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it Thank you. Well, it looks like those are all the members of the public who wanted to comment on that item So I'm gonna bring it back to the council for action and deliberation Given that we are in this kind of circumstance where we're All little panels. I was wondering if we could start by doing a roll call of council members who would like to comment and then after comments We can look for a motion to move the item. So I'm gonna go down the Gonna go down the list of council members to see if you have any comments on this item for the council members Who are present and I like to start with council member Watkins. Do you have anything that you would like to say on this item? No, I don't have any comments per se. I'm happy to move the item. I know it's really just What our responsibility is the governing body to official kind of officially adopt this so When the time comes, I'm happy to move to move that recommendation. Thank you Council member Matthews. Do you have anything you'd like to say on this item? No, I have no comment Also member Brown, is there anything you'd like to say on this item? Nothing for me. Thanks Don't remember Myers. Is there anything you'd like to say on this item? No, I don't have any comments You I just want to say a few things just given the fact that this has been a very difficult Election and so I thought that I would say a few things regarding this and I know that in recent years There's been a lot of growing tension in our community and that tension that tension has led to bitter divisions Which ultimately have resulted in a recall elections the results of which we're going to certify today When we look back in history on this moment We should not think about who were the winners and who were the losers in the situation because ultimately there were none Because this should be remembered as a sad moment in our history in the history of our community When we look back, we should think about how we got to such a point where we stopped listening to one another Stop trying to work through our differences and stop trying to find compromise and move forward together We are now living in a situation where everyone is losing banks real estate government health providers students hotels businesses renters union Everyone in our community right now is losing because we're in a situation where you're all threatened by a virus That has the potential to wipe out a large portion of our population Right now there are no sides and there never should have been and there. I hope there never will be again After certifying the election results and swearing in our new council members My hope is that now our main focus is on eliminating the COVID-19 virus from our community and helping all members and all residents In our community now because our survival right now is our top priority With that if there's a member of our city council who would like to make a motion on this item I'd be happy to take that motion at this time So councilmember Watkins Sure, and thanks Justin. I think you're right We do have to really come together and work together moving forward at this time But with that knowing that this is about us really recognizing our county clerk Officially certifying our election. I'll go ahead and move the recommendation as presented before us. I'll second that So any further discussion on this item Being none We will do a roll call vote and I'll pass it over to the clerk to take roll Councilmember Watkins I Matthews I Nice mayor Myers I And mayor Cummings I So that was a motion to approve the certification of the March 3rd 2020 Presidential primary elections motion was made by councilmember Watkins seconded by mayor Cummings With all eyes were council members brown Watkins Matthews Vice mayor Myers myself with council members crone and Glover absent. So that passes Next up on our agenda item number two is the installation and remarks by council members elect Katherine Byers and Renee Golder So I'd like to I'm gonna unmute and invite to the meeting I'll start with Katherine Byers So I think I'm here. I am. Okay. All right, and so I'll turn it over to the clerk for swearing in of councilmember Katherine Byers Hey Catherine go ahead and raise your right hand. I Catherine Byers I Catherine Byers you solemnly affirm You saw me affirm that I will support and defend that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of California And the constitution of the state of California against all enemies Against all enemies foreign and domestic Foreign and domestic that I will bear That I will bear true faith and allegiance True faith and allegiance to the constitution of the United States To the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of California And the constitution of the state of California that I take this obligation freely That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion For purpose of evasion and that I will and that I will well and faithfully Will and faithfully is charged to duties Is charged the duties upon which I'm about to enter Which I'm about to enter Congratulations Thank you. Thanks Congratulations Catherine welcome Now I'd like to provide you with an opportunity if you had any remarks that you'd like to share with the public now's an opportunity to do so Thank you. Yeah, thank you mayor Cummings. I do It is an honor for me to be chosen again To serve on the city council. I thank everyone who participated in the recent primary election. I Appreciate your confidence in me and I'm very happy to rejoin my colleagues in government As a people we face a wide range of so-called challenges continually worsening climate Conditions the rapid worldwide spread of a new and deadly strain of coronavirus Disruption in the world economy and local economies everywhere Global crisis affect every one of us and will continue strongly impact the next few months and certainly even years Both as a government and as a community we will all have to make difficult choices In the time of this system While most Normal routines are fracturing Let's use the interval to reflect on the way we live What we value and the ways in which we relate to one another Let's meet our challenges so that we Inmerged one day as a healthier better and stronger society Finally, I'm hopeful that we in Santa Cruz both the government and a community can put rancor and partisanship aside And instead focus our attention and energy on curbing the spread of the con man be 19 Protecting the most vulnerable among us In supporting and rejuvenating our local economy Working together. Let's make progress on all these Thank you Thank you councilmember buyers At this moment in time, I'd like to invite renae golder to be sworn in by our city clerk So i'm trying to Trying to click on it Hi renae Hi, okay. Go ahead and raise your right hand State your name. I renae golder I renae golder Do solemnly affirm Do solemnly affirm that I will support and defend That I will support and defend the constitution of the united states The constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california The constitution of the state of california against all enemies Against all enemies foreign and domestic Foreign and domestic that I will bear And I will bear true faith and allegiance True faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states To the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california And the constitution of the state of california that I take this obligation freely That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation Without any mental reservation or purpose or purpose of evasion Or purpose of evasion and that I will And that I will well and faithfully Well and faithfully discharged to duties Discharged the duties upon which I'm about to enter Of which I'm about to enter Congratulations, right? That's it. Thank you. Congratulations Renee. At this time I'd like to see if you had any Comments or remarks that you'd like to make to the general public I do So everything about tonight is unprecedented and surreal and it's with a great sense of gratitude and responsibility That I'm truly humbled to accept this position I would not have this opportunity if it wasn't for the immense support of my family and friends and the entire community I'd like to say thank like several people Who who really went above and beyond to help me christina? I know we just met but we're lifelong friends from now on and holly you kept track of the hundreds of donations It made sure everything was legal and everyone who I seek advice from including david and hillary Lynn, rachel, fred, ryan, chris, jm, christie, sophie, carina, deb and erica Shannon who was literally with me every step of the way and everyone who endorsed and donated and put up a sign Or said something nice about me. I'm truly honored. Thanks to my sister lacy and her girls Karin and maya and the countless friends who walked door to door for me I also want to thank dawn and tim and kathryn who I consider friends not opponents I want to thank my mom and my mother-in-law that came out to make sure I was loved on election day and finally to my My kids and mike and and uh for I'm doing this for them and I know it's hard but a huge sacrifice for everyone And tonight where I'm stuck home with my whole family like by my side I'm kind of awestruck by this state of the entire world I didn't see this coming However, I do see that crisis can bring out the best in people and I've already been seeing that And as we navigate our way through and out of this quarantine I hope that everyone will remember what's really important and focus on our core values as a collective community and as individuals Now more than ever we need teamwork and honest communication out of the box thinking to see our city return to normal We need to be prepared to make sacrifices and tough decisions Please be kind and take care of yourself mentally and physically and be patient and understanding with others Through collaboration and hard work Sorry I'm confident that we can Bring our city back to normal But it's going to be stronger and more and Better than ever if everybody that's watching tonight can think what can you do to help and if we're all working together and on the same page Thank you very much Renee and welcome councilmember golder All right, and with that with our new council members we will move on to our next item of general business Next item is number three, which is the resolution updating the city's bail schedule If you're interested in commenting on this item and you've called in priest plus star nine When public it's the time for public comment to raise your hand And what is your time to speak? You will hear an announcement that you have been unmuted and the timer will be set to two minutes for public comment And at this time I'd like to turn it over to our city attorney Tony condadi to introduce item number three on our general business We can hear you city council. Welcome to the new council members buyers and golder. I'm looking forward to working with both of you Just to give you a little bit of background as as you're aware The city of santa cruz municipal code is a book of laws that the city has adopted over the years and amends periodically That establishes various laws and regulations for A lot of different aspects of life in the city of santa cruz Regulations pertaining to land use decisions zoning matters business operations Um behaviors that are That that are considered Uh, potentially a threat to public health and safety and those are all And and some are minors such as having an open container or dog off leash. Some are more serious um, the general mechanism for enforcement of the municipal code is uh, the criminal court system And under our municipal code violations of Provisions of the municipal code are generally classified as misdemeanors except Where the code specifically calls the violation out as an infraction an infraction is Uh Distinguishable from a misdemeanor in a couple of ways first It does not carry with it the possibility of jail time Uh in a misdemeanor citation Does have possibility of jail time second a violation of an infraction can be Uh punishable by a fine of up to five hundred dollars Um, a misdemeanor citation is punishable by up to a fine of one thousand dollars or up to uh Six months or a year in the county jail um Tonight you have before you the bail schedule and bail schedule is really sort of a misnomer For those who are accustomed to this the the general term associated with bail in a criminal court system It usually means the amount of money that you have to deposit with the court once A person is arrested in order to be released pending A court appearance and pending the trial on a criminal citation Under a rule that was issued Today by the judicial council, which is a statewide organization That promulgates the rules of court that are applicable in superior courts throughout california The amount of bail that's imposed for any misdemeanor As well as minor level felony violations Or felony arrests is zero. So that means anyone who's arrested for a misdemeanor during the Uh during this existing covet 19 Crisis will not be booked into jail will be released and issued a citation and their bail will be Set at zero The bail schedule by contrast is really just a list of fines that are imposed by the courts Or the import that are imposed by the city and the way the system works is that when A citation is sent to the court for processing It goes through the court system And when a person is found to have violated the code Then the court looks to the bail schedule, which is established by the city council To determine how much of a fine should apply And the bail schedule runs from $10 for the most For the for the types of violations that the council has considered the lowest priority To several hundred dollars for misdemeanor or high level infraction citations The council will periodically adopt new ordinances That change the the rules of the city and when we do that Usually on an annual basis will amend the bail schedule to add those violations into it so that when A citation is issued for different violations Um The courts have a number of a fine amount with which to process that citation And periodically we discover that there are sections of the code for which we have a violation But we have not included a fine amount in the bail schedule um I'm going to Try to share my screen here. Hopefully this will work and see that We can say So under chapter 220, uh, we can file emergency preparedness um The city manager is designated as the city's emergency services director and is authorized under um the municipal code And uh rules and regulations on matters reasonably related to the protection of life and property as affected by An emergency and as you recall In early march the council did declare an emergency in connection with the coded 19 um crisis under section 220 110 Anyone who willfully obstructs or hinders or delays a member of the emergency services organization Or who violates rules or regulations promulgated by the emergency services director is guilty of a misdemeanor and so what we discovered recently Having not had to exercise This authority in several years is that we do not have a fine amount in the bail schedule for a misdemeanor violation of The emergency services director's orders. So that is what you have before you this evening the recommended fine amount for a misdemeanor violation Is 500 dollars And then I have um I have another Item that I would like to share with you Really revised version of the this is a slightly revised version of the resolution that's in your packet Um under a different provision of the municipal code When when a violation is defined as an as a misdemeanor The city attorney's office has the discretion to reduce the amount of the charge to a an infraction and process To keep the case as an infraction as opposed to a misdemeanor And I should have mentioned that one of the difference between a misdemeanor and an infraction trial is that a misdemeanor violation is Can be tried by a jury as opposed to by a court trial Which is very expensive and uses a lot of court resources And so on occasion we get a misdemeanor citation and make a policy decision to reduce that Citation to an infraction that's always done in consultation with the police department So that we're all on the same page with respect to the seriousness of an offense and how far we need to Go to enforce it. So the recommendation for you tonight is to adopt the resolution amending the bail schedule to incorporate section 2 2110 as amended to allow to add A fine for a violation of an infraction violation section 2.02110 At $250 as opposed to 500 for a misdemeanor happy to answer any questions or respond any comments that the council has At this time, I'm just going to do a roll call of the council members to see if anyone has any questions for the city attorney So at this time if all council members could unmute their mics, I'll start with council member Watkins. Do you have any questions for the city attorney? Yeah, I have just one question. Tony, how is our policy um in relationship to our Make ring jurisdictions is it about the same or what has depended your other cities instituted in terms of something like this? Yeah, other cities I'll just say that This crisis the the recommended fine of $500 is on the high end for municipal code violations. And I think Just the seriousness of this matter and from the Conversations that I've been having with other city attorneys both here locally and throughout the state. Um, they're all taking a pretty Pretty pretty hard to approach to making sure that When we issue public safety orders that are intended to protect the public during this extraordinary crisis Um, that that they have some teeth, uh, if people don't follow Council member matthews. Do you have any questions? Council member brown council member my or vice mayor mires. Do you have any questions? I do not thank you Council member golder. Do you have any questions? No, I don't thank you Council member buyers. Do you have any questions? No questions. Thank you very much I will then turn it over to the public for public comment Um, I will unmute your phone if you are in the queue And you will have up to two minutes to speak on this item The first person is has the last four digits zero nine zero six They're unmuted and on the line zero nine zero six. Are you on the line? Once going twice Next caller is last four digits one nine nine nine and On the line you have two minutes I'm going to pause you you can only speak to the item that's currently before us Which is the resolution updating the city's bail schedule. Um, we're not taking any comments That's what I want to comment on Okay, you mentioned the swearing in and I was just wanting to make sure that was clear That we are not speaking towards swearing the swearing in that just happened and only to the city's bail schedule He said and that was amazing. I took lots of notes You tell me this is changing written walking around the streets of pacific Sometime, so thank you very much for your time Am I unmuted? You're unmuted Okay, I just want to say thank you. I'm going to go back to work. I gotta get out of here pretty soon So thank you very much. Thank you. The last speaker is last four digits four eight seven one Okay Okay, can y'all hear me? Yes, we can Thank you mayor Cummings. Okay. Um Yeah, before you vote, I would really urge the council to consider Um, the most vulnerable people who are outside right now. There are many homeless people who are Some of the only people left outside in public places and these people are most likely Um, trying to survive in the park Influence in your decision-making, but what I'm really just concerned with just to get to the point here is Um, as soon as this all goes into effect tomorrow night at 11 59 or whatever it is All kinds of people and I have been out there meeting them when I can I am keeping a safe distance of Greater than six feet as much as possible, but I have also been Attempting to get from um, you know, at least in survival You know getting enough food and water that they're surviving through food not bombs Mostly. Um, and so what I'm just trying to get to is the fact that In the parks and also a lot of these people when I speak to them Are people who have had just the most unfortunate lives just really really difficult lives Many are older many are infirm many are Do not have any place to go and some of these people are unable In some cases to even go to the shelters that are legally available They just are not functional enough City do is to set up an emergency place for people to be allowed to be Such as the civic center possibly or the Kaiser stadium Where the safe distancing can be not not the fake triage type of thing that the city kind of Mistakenly and somehow really erroneously Was not able to really set up but really truly provide visions for homeless people They wanting to find them Sorry to cut you off, but you were over your two minutes time All right seeing there's no more Members of the public who'd like to speak on this item. I'd like to bring it back and again. I'll do another role call to see if any Council members had any further comments that they wanted to make Um, and then we'll we'll proceed with action on this item And so I'll go down the list starting with council member matthews. Did you have any further comments? No further comments Council member brown Yeah, I just would make one comment. I understand the need to move forward in this way and so I'll support the Um the proposal but I I do want to say for the record that I feel like there Is potential for this to have Negative impacts on our unhoused community members disproportionately to the rest of the population Given the fact that we we are really struggling with how to address this and provide Shelter adequate shelter. Um, we don't have that currently and um, so I just want to say that I hope that if this is not used as a tool to Make it more difficult for our unhoused community members to Kind of survive during this very difficult time Thank you, that's all thanks vice mayor Myers muted, but I think you said you had no further comment. That's correct Okay, thank you Council member golder Council member buyers. Do you have any further comments? I have a question for tony Would you give me this this angry how it happened to have committed a misdemeanor and they get a ticket Yeah, please walk through that for me just a bit Yeah, so just let me just clarify A couple of members of the public commented about the impact of this Homeless individual and I understand the concerns about that very well As emergency services director the county health officer has issued a number of related to the covet 19 vile virus Including the most recent shelter in place order and the and the order that went into effect today Of the county health officers Orders is a misdemeanor under california state law And so and and the chief of police and the police department is authorized to enforce That state law against people who violate the county health officers orders Um in connection with this emergency Um the emergency services director has issued a handful of very discreet executive orders relating to the response to the to the pandemic um A violation of those orders under the municipal code will be will be citable as a misdemeanor if someone is observed um violating one of those orders, uh, for instance relating to the recent Uh, uh, the order that is designed to ensure that people who provide Food to the needy in our community do so in a manner that's safe and maintain social distancing And and that sort of thing practice has always been to issue a warning and only when people are observed Just fail to adhere to the warnings. Are they issued a citation when that happens? The citation is written. It's processed through the court system and it's and it would be typically charged as a misdemeanor Um and and so Once the person receives the citation then they're given a court date and they're required to go to the to the court and they either enter a plea or if they Uh, the citation the case can be set for a trial. No further questions or Thank you. Tony. I had a question as it relates to um some of the sentiments that were expressed around homelessness and kind of um following up on the statement that you just made around the health orders that have been coming forward. So um when the shelter in place order first came out one of the things that was mentioned was that um Hope that we should not be breaking up homeless encampments and homeless individuals should remain in those encampments For safety reasons Today we just received The closure of the county beaks beaches and parks Which for example, there are we we are all aware of some of the encampments that are up in the Pogonip Area and in other open spaces throughout the county And i'm just curious if someone is sheltering in place like which of those would take precedent So if there is an encampment in one of these areas that's considered closed could someone actually be Sighted for staying in one of those areas Or would the previous order of not disturbing those camps kind of take precedent. So i'm just kind of curious Uh Unfortunately, I wish that chief the police were here to to respond to that but but just in general that the main or the county health department's order is concerned about people coming from out of town and and congregating in beaches and on west quiff and Uh in in our sort of tourist hotspots The order would be applicable technically to homeless encampments But that really boils down to what is an enforcement priority and given the cdc's guidance on On enforcement of homeless encampments during the covet 19 outbreak It's really a matter of the discretion of the police department and police department understand very well the potential negative ramifications of Breaking up an established encampment during this Sort of interim crisis period. So so really I think it is directed not at Trying to clear the the parks of homeless encampments. It's really more to keep the beaches and parks Safe and ensure that visitors are maintaining appropriate social distancing and and safety protocols Thank you And the city i'm going to turn it over to the city manager for comments as well. Yes, uh, actually the Police chief the parks director and I had a discussion about this earlier today And we all agreed that we needed to follow the cdc guidelines With respect to the unheltered population and so that we would not be Signing individuals for you know encampments that are in parks for for that reason Thank you very much All right, if there's no further questions I'd like to ask if there's a member of the council who would like to make a motion on this item I think moving forward we'll try that for making motions So there was a motion made by councilmember Watkins and I didn't clearly hear who seconded that motion Seconded by vice mayor mires Councilmember matthews. Did you have any further questions or follow-up? No, I was prepared to make a motion because this is truly motivated by a found public health the absolute need to enforce those Directives from the state and county health officers that have to do the offensive population of orange Completely agree with that. Um, are there any further councilmember Watkins? Um, thank you mayor. I just want to for clarification that I will move the recommendation as presented by the attorney this evening the amended version in amount um, and then also as a potential suggestion for law enforcement needing to issue these citations that they also share information about social distancing guidelines and so that those that aren't adhering to those guidelines are informed moving forward Are there any further comments? Seeing none, we'll do a roll call to take the vote on this item Pass over to the city clerk Councilmember is Watkins aye matthews Aye Brown Did I hear my name? Sorry. Got it. Yep. Councilmember Brown. Aye Councilmember Golder fires Vice mayor mires Aye And mayor Cummings Aye That passes unanimously And before we leave again tonight, I would like to just inform those members of the community who maybe weren't here at the beginning of the meeting that there was a an order that was moved forward by our county health officer this afternoon and we received a press release Announcing that there will be a closure of all parks and beaches throughout santa cruz county Beginning at 11 59 p.m. On april 8th 2020 through 11 59 p.m. On april 15 2020 A period which includes easter weekend and much of pass over And just so everyone is aware, uh, this includes playgrounds The beaches Surfing areas within the ocean All of our state park open spaces all of our city parks west cliff and if you'd like to Learn more about the areas that have been closed during this period of time You can visit the city of santa cruz's website also www.santaCruzHealth.org slash coronavirus You can call 211 or text covid 19 to 211 211 And you may also call the number<PHONE_NUMBER> between the hours of 8 a.m. And 6 p.m Seven days a week if you have any further questions and with that i'll adjourn our city council meeting Thank you all for joining us and have a good evening You