Good afternoon. Welcome to the 1pm public portion of the closed session of the March 10 2020 meeting of the city council In this part of the meeting the city council will receive public testimony Thereafter the council members will move to the courier conference room for closed session like to ask the clerk to please call the roll Mayor councilmember Watkins your Matthews Brown Lover your crone Vice mayor Meyers your and mayor Cummings Are there any members of the public who would like to speak to us on any items listed in the closed session agenda? Seeing none I'll adjourn this meeting to the courier conference room where the council will go into its closed session Good afternoon. Welcome to our 2 p.m. Session of the March 10 2020 meeting of the city council Before we begin I would I want to announce the city of Santa Cruz is continuously monitoring the spread of the coronavirus disease With the center of disease control and prevention encouraging the public to stay at home They're currently sick showing symptoms have knowingly been exposed to the novel corp coronavirus of recently traveled to an infected area and Consistent with the county's interim guidance for social distancing the city of Santa Cruz is taking precautionary steps to ensure the public's Access to today's city council meeting while limiting opportunities for COVID-19 to spread I just also like to let the community know that one of our city council members is currently Under the weather and will be joining us by phone, which is council member Sandy Brown The city is encouraging those who are unable to attend to view the city council meetings on the city of Santa Cruz website City of Santa Cruz comm slash government slash city dash council slash city dash council meetings on Community TV org slash watch slash government dash demand or on channel 25 The public is also invited to submit their comments via email to city clerk at city of Santa Cruz comm The center must include the agenda item number and title in the email subject line All emails will be shared with council members and will be considered part of the public record It will continue to be public comment during the meeting for each agenda item under the oral communications public comment section However, the public should be prepared for logistical adjustments due to the council chamber room capacity being temporarily limited to 50 people an Overflow area will be available in the Tony Hill room As individuals we all have a role to play in preventing the spread of COVID-19 And I want to share the top five key messages from the county regarding COVID-19 at this time Number one social distancing keep arms distance away from others and avoid large gatherings Especially with 50 or more people Following this guidance will be in place until March 22nd 2020 number two vulnerable populations People 60 and older and those with existing health conditions are at high risk stay home as much as possible Number three preparedness and prevention like any other emergency Individuals families and organizations are asked to plan for disruptions be ready Number four schools and workplaces Follows school workplace and health facility guidance Consider adapting business as usual to accommodate needs allow healthy kids at workplaces work from home Etc. Number five stay at home when sick and away from those who are ill For general information on COVID-19, please call 2-1-1 or text coronavirus to 2-1-1 2-1-1 or visit Santa Cruz health org slash coronavirus for updates and links to state and federal guidance, and I would like to ask the clerk to please call the roll I'd like to also acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the unceded territory of the awaswa speaking UP tribe The Amamutin tribal ban comprised of the sentence of indigenous people taking to mission Santa Cruz and San Juan Batista During Spanish colonization of the Central Coast is today working hard to restore traditional Stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historic trauma and the clerk could please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance I'd like to start with introduction of new employees And I would like to invite up the director of planning and community development Lee Butler to introduce Rachel Rodriguez Good afternoon mayor and council members It's my pleasure to introduce you to you today Rachel Rodriguez. She joined us last week as an administrative assistant to She just moved here this past weekend from Huntington Beach Where she was working as a payroll coordinator and payroll technician at California State University Long Beach for the past four and a half years. She's finishing up her BA and business administration at CSU Fullerton planning to graduate this fall she's been working in the administrative field for the past 14 years and She writes that she loves this type of work And I will say that her desk is with an ear cut of mine and I can tell that she loves this type of work I can hear that she is smiling when she is talking to customers on the phone So thank you for bringing that friendly approach to our customer service Last I would share a fun fact about her which is that her and her family own a local restaurant Holy smokes country barbecue, which is off of East Cliff and 17th and the farmers market shopping center in Live Oak there and That's part of what brought her to Santa Cruz. So please join me in welcoming Next I'd like to invite up the director of public works Mark Dettel to introduce Dora Perlonga Afternoon Mark Dettel director of public works. It's my pleasure to introduce our new parking facility maintenance assistant Dora Perlonga She was born in Lubbock, Texas and raised in Salinas and in Santa Cruz. She currently lives in Santa Cruz She has a partner of 12 years and her past work experience includes state parks maintenance volunteer firefighter and She attended firefighter Academy and the National Fire Academy as well as the Cabrillo construction code One of the what when she's not working she enjoys hiking and biking and a fun fact Actually Dora was volunteering with the downtown streets team. She's a real success story She was also a driver for the river street camp and We're very pleased to welcome Dora to our our staff on the parking maintenance facility maintenance position So please join me in welcoming Dora Next I'd like to invite up the director of water rosemary minard to introduce crystal galadia and andrew stroller Good afternoon mayor and council I'm really pleased to be here to and introduce two great new employees to the water department On my right here. It's crystal galadia. She's joined us as an administrative assistant three And she's joined a great team of administrative support staff. We have in our department. We're very very lucky She has a lot of training in psychology accounting and business at cabrillo and other Sort of institutions and she also has a cosmetology license. So that'll be good around our organization. No doubt So in work experience. She's had six years with the senilex theaters over as administrative manager over on the other side of the hill Plus eight years in the hospitality industry as an accounting manager at haze mansion high at place in crown plaza Again doing all kinds of administrative duties from social media sales and marketing graphic design policies and procedures general accounting and all of these things are really very Transformable here to our organization as well In her personal life. She likes to read a lot of books play video games and enjoys painting and she also likes Being outdoors and spending your time with her family and friends. So please help us to welcome crystal galadia And on my left here is um, a jay stellar andrew joseph stellar He comes to us from uh, he's not one of those success stories of people who've been a temp And he was a temporary meter specialist and has come now to join our distribution team He's grew up in scott's valley lived here his whole life And he obviously um graduate from scott's valley high and it's been doing a lot of different kinds of things Testing out, you know, various things that it might be interesting to him He's worked at papa murphy's for our three years. He did landscape work and other kinds of yard work around For neighbors and friends and working with a friend of his And then he started as a temporary with our meter shop a few months ago and has recently joined our distribution organization He lives with his mom and dad and brother and sister and Up in scott's valley and he um has a number of people in his family They're in the water industry that encouraged him to sort of try to take this as a place to have his career So we're really thrilled with that and he likes to ride dirt bikes and hike and camp with his friends and He says to me yesterday that he's extremely excited to be joining us and we're extremely excited to have him So please help me in welcoming a j Thank you all and thank you all the new employees for joining us Okay, we'll move on to our presentations of our first presentation. I'd like to invite up shannon tombs recreation assistant The proclamation celebrating the 80th anniversary of the civic auditorium So the civic the construction of the civic was initiated in the mid 1930s as part of a civic improvement campaign Which also included a new city hall campus in a new fire station by the mayor cd. Henkel The auditorium was completed in the early months of 1940 The need for such a building had been prevalent for many years And for much of the anticipated grant opening on march 28th 1940 5000 the eager citizens were in attendance Since its opening the civic auditorium has consistently hosted an impressive list of luminaries such as Eleanor roosevelt jesse jackson The dolly lama and maya angelo Musical legends such as tony bennett ray charles johnny cash and jane's addiction In a variety of local events such as the miss california beauty pageant The mineral gem fossil and jewelry. So the mlk junior convocation and the cabrillo music festival This year 2020 it marks the 80th anniversary of the civic auditorium Celebrating the generations that have laughed and danced within its walls and the performers have dazzled and enriched us And i justin comings mayor of the city of santa cruz Do hereby proclaim march 28th 2020 as civic auditorium day in the city of santa cruz And urge all its citizens and city employees to join me in celebrating the civic auditorium's 80th birthday By taking part in the festivities and expressing highest hopes for its continued service to our community in the years ahead I can just make a quick comment Hey, you guys should take that picture out in front of the civic You know, that's your photo op.  It's an old building And I think the fact I mean, I just have to say at this point the fact that 80 years ago coming out of the great depression the city felt the kind of Need to make to invest in community Thinking forward something to be proud of and it's done that for generations and generations from sports to fine arts You you hit the Top of the iceberg and you guys have exhibits over there. I think don't you up on the history. They're great But we also know that it is like so many other facilities and aging facilities. I'm hoping as we go forward We're looking at reinvesting in that so that it it can really reach its potential now and into the future I can't help but make that for an 80 year old building. We all love it. But it needs investment Thank you all Next We have a presentation from second harvest food drive. The presenters are christina alberti office supervisor in dc. Lawson thomas recreational coordinator Arceli salgao development and marketing manager Um from second harvest food bank Hi, good afternoon everyone. My name is christina. I work at public works Kelly thankfully is here today from the santa cruz county second harvest bank So we just wanted to provide a brief update about our annual city efforts with second harvest as well as the results of our 2019 campaign But we'd like to first share an overview of what second harvest is and how important it is for our community Hi, my name is eris ellie and like I said, I'm here representing second harvest food bank So we serve about 55,000 residents a month through our 200 pound trees whether it's nonprofits our food for children our passion for produce sites and churches and centers We distribute about eight million pounds of food annually 65 percent of that is produce. So we have actually reached number one Healthiest food bank in the nation. We were second for a long time after San Francisco Um, and we're able to make this happen because of the community coming together It's leaders like christina and dc who are behind the scenes coordinating the fundraising Educating the community motivating and inspiring team members That make this success possible. It's really a collaborative effort that involves all departments You know when we talked about In our annual awards dinner we talked about it comes from the maintenance department from the fire stations and from the libraries And they're doing all this work on top of all their regular other duties. So we really appreciate everything that they do Um, I also want to say that we want to thank the city of santa cruz for helping us fight hunger Year after year and then i'm going to turn it over to christina to talk a little bit more about the efforts and How successful this really was this year DC and I started with the city about 12 years ago together And as as far as I can remember the city of santa cruz has always participated in second harvest and helping out our community And at that time it was mostly just collecting food some money But having those beautiful big large second harvest bins to collect the food and the cans and dry food But in 2016 that dedicated Loyal person that the city had for many years retired and my department head actually asked me if I was interested to take this challenge on And so once what what once was purely an email and food collecting fundraiser Has blossomed into something truly special over the last few years As we've assembled a group of very engaged individuals from each department to encourage our own co-workers To donate more and more every year We agreed to focus our attention more on raising monetary Donations since second harvest can use that money More efficiently on much needed items at a fraction of the cost or even with local produce from our county farmers So just a dollar can provide four healthy meals for our community So money does add up Not accepting canned and dry foods can also limited their team having to sort through Items that weren't really that needed or wanted and that may have been expired So we have seen an increasing engagement among city staff across the board As we've added annual events to help raise money for our city campaign Staff talk about our bake and meal sale throughout the year Remembering all the goodies our co-workers have lovingly made in order to help food insecure individuals in our community We added a new event last year and it went really well. It was our rummage sale Which invited staff to bring their gently used small and medium size items from home And all proceeds went to second harvest and anything left over at the end of the day went to goodwill So it was really a win-win Our team continues to plan on getting more engaged more people engaged every year As government employees we come to work every day with the intention and focus of helping our community and helping Who we need to help as much as we can And whether that's providing programs for our youth or maintaining And providing water service or collecting and disposing of our city's trash and recycling That's why we're here. We're here to help people And it only makes sense that our city employees take special interest in this fundraiser And we raise up to sixteen thousand dollars every year in our two month campaign And in 2019 our staff raised 63 over 63 thousand meals for our community And we'll continue our commitment to second harvest every year I am dc los and thomas with the parks and rec department Just using we do receive a lot of anonymous donations But just using the department totals from 2018 to 2019. We saw about a 48 percent increase We went from 11 000 to a little over 16 000 as christina said And moving forward in the future. We want to continue holding more events We will continue the bake sale and last year we improved it by adding Lunch items rather than just dessert kind of items So it's more whatever people want to bring for food And then for the rummage sale, we're looking at how to improve that for next year And then we're trying to think of even right now more events to help get more people engaged and wanting to donate Christina didn't mention it But we also reach out to local businesses to get small like five dollar ten dollar gift cards that we randomly Give out to people who donates And next or this year now I want to turn towards the council and see if there's anything that you guys can think of to help Boost engagement or with your help. I think we can get more money for next year or this year now Thanks Honestly and one more thing I wanted on the record. They are so amazing that this year They were recognized as holiday food drives coordinators of the year I just wanted to actually I was going to say that as well Actually, the city was recently recognized for three different things I just want to point those out the most important one of course that christine and dc were The food coordinators of the year at the recent banquet the mayor attended Also, we were recognized for our level of contributions and a plaque for the 63 000 meals that we raised and also we were recognized for Public sector engagement. So we received quite a bit of recognition at the latest banquet And present the um Our leaders with the plaque from the city So Taking this picture She should be in it, shouldn't she? Rolf's on it Thank you guys It's great to see our employees helping our city engage in such a A wonderful effort to help fight hunger within our community. So I just want to thank them for all their hard work and encourage all of us to Continue our participation so we can keep these numbers rising in terms of the meals We're able to provide for hunger members of our community Next on our list. Uh, I have a few announcements and then we will move into our regular meeting Today's meeting is being broadcast live on community television channel 25 And streaming on the city's website cityofsanicrews.com Our rules of decorum are on the window ledge to my left and it is my job To keep the meeting running without disruption and we ask that you respect your fellow citizens When you're inside and outside of chambers I'd like to ask the council members if there are any statements of disqualification today hearing none I'd like to ask the city clerk To announce any additions or deletions. We have none announcement about oral communications Oral communications is an opportunity for members of the community to speak to us on items that are not on the agenda Oral communications will occur at or around 7 p.m To ask the city clerk or sorry the city attorney to report on close any items on closed session Thank you, mayor Cummings members of the city council the following items were discussed by the city council This afternoon in the courtyard conference room closed session which commenced at 1 p.m The first was liability claims the claims of jack and annie Troy and of Alexis Jenkins Those liability claims are also listed on today's consent agenda as item 7 Second item was a conference with legal council In which the council received a report from and gave instruction to the city's office with respect to the matter of Save our big trees versus the city of santa Cruz council member crone recused himself from participating in that Due to a conflict of interest and was not present during that portion of the discussion Third was a conference with legal council involving anticipated litigation that anticipated litigation entailed a receipt of of a demand to commence the process to initiate District elections under the california voting rights act council received a report from the city attorney's office and gave direction There was no reportable action. Lastly item d was a public employee Public employee performance evaluation involving the city manager. There was no reportable action taken this afternoon very much I'd like to call on the city manager to report out and provide updates on city events and business items I'm going to report on the corona virus, but we could do that as part of the emergency declaration item 8 and pull that from consent Thank you. Moving on to the council meeting calendar. We'll now call on the city clerk to provide any updates to the calendar We'll move on to our consent agenda These are items 4 through 12 on our agenda all items will be act upon in one motion Unless an item is pulled by a council member for further direction. Are there any council members who would like to pull any items? We assume that we'll pull eight correct. Are there any other items aside from number eight that are to be pulled from our consent agenda Are there any members of the public that would like to speak to any item on our consent agenda with the exception of item number eight Hearing none. I'll bring it back. I think there's a slight delay for council member brown So can we just confirm that she has nothing to pull? council member brown Hi, I would I just have a question on 10 She went on 10 Okay, since there were no members of the community who wanted to speak On any items with the exception of number eight Council member brown if you want to ask your question. I think now's a good time Yeah, this item is uh, notice of completion for the for an overlay project and There is a was a cost over on attached and that's included in the agenda report I'm just wondering if we could get a sense of What the original bid was how like how far out of range how how much more did this cost than originally? Uh into space Mayor council member christiniter system director of public works The um, we don't have that exact number, but it was within the 10 contingency. Thank you contract award So we have a motion by council member walkins seconded by council member matthews To mold to move the items on consent with the exception of number eight All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously Um now we'll move on to item number eight, which has been moved and I'm going to turn to the city manager for Um a presentation update on the status of the coronavirus Thank you, mayor first of all, I want to just start off by thanking the uh county health services agency director memihaw who helped provide a Slides here to provide an update and some uh key messages as well as a briefing that they provided the city managers and the county administrator Yesterday to update us on the situation as everybody knows. It's a kind of rapidly evolving a situation and it does vary by Areas and and we have a particular Circumstance here in our community So I thought I'd do an update on that and then focus on the guidance that has been given by the health department Which is all all being coordinated at the federal level state level lots of coordination and communications happening on a Ongoing basis between all the agencies and and also between the county and the various jurisdictions In the in the county of santa cruz so with that We'll start with just kind of the the big picture here So as you can see there's been a pretty rapid rise in the number of cases throughout the world On this map you see it's really concentrated in asia But it's really and then moved through through europe and then is certainly also in the united states and you can see the numbers there In the In the united states it's 607 confirmed cases 114 in in california And there have been 22 related deaths in the us and two deaths in california In santa cruz county, we have two confirmed cases one involving an individual that was on a cruise ship who is Uh, essentially isolated or contained in in santa cruz And then there was a second case of an individual who flew from seattle on a commercial flight And then came here and was determined that the person was infected and then has been isolated and contained However, that situation is the one that really is causing the changing approach because That individual it's unknown whether that person because they they came into contact Here and weren't contained and they were on this commercial flight Whether that person has potentially passed on the virus and so it's unknown at this time And so for that reason the focus is really shifted to a mitigation instead of instead of containment So that really and then there are some uh other cases that the health department follows very closely They have a tracking system. They've got staff that's assigned to to monitor They get information from the various health agencies throughout the state and from other counties So they they're doing a very closed monitoring of all of all situations and follow up and investigate wherever they feel there might be some potential spread or contact So as far as the timeline just really briefly here, um, you know, the really it's really has involved very rapidly The first new story is about about this emerged in december Which wasn't that long ago Then in january, um, you know, china announced the first deaths the county health department began to prepare So they've actually been working on this for a little bit of time And then Moving into february it really started then changing into Really preparing for an emergency here at the local level and the county Deployed their county health services agency department operation Which is similar to an emergency operation center But with the county department and they started it at a low level again Recognizing that we didn't really have any cases here in our county And as I mentioned that's changed This month and then also the county today adopted a local emergency proclamation And that provides them with additional authorities to be able to manage the health situation And then today as part of this item, we're asking that you also declare we declare local emergency and that one is really more around Our ability to have flexibility to if we need to reimburse costs if it's declared a national disaster And so it's for us. It's really more for those purposes the Emergency proclamation that the county does really provides all the really health related Necessities, so the purpose today for the measure before you is really more for our own internal tracking And being able to respond if we need to move to emergency an emergency situation at the local level Next slide, please So This is just kind of an overview of what the county Does and they they convene a weekly healthcare leadership and community partner conference calls Where members of the various sectors of the community can participate and get updates every week They've been doing a lot attending a lot of partner meetings Provide responses and updates. I mentioned they have their operation center And they've got any a number of subject matter experts that are assisting with a variety of different issues And we'll I'll go over this in a little bit, but with respect to for example, homeless services schools jail operations and the like And they they're also increasing their Technical and medical health capacity With respect to communicable disease and in their communicable disease unit Um, but they they they do all these various aspects, uh, you know emergency response surveillance the investigate they do testing Uh, and then communicate and do education and outreach The uh with respect to testing what we were informed is that testing kids Are becoming available. I'm not sure if they're actually started yet, but they've been made available They have some for the health department that they provide They have various criteria that they applied for the testing And then they provided some to private labs that are being made available to hospitals and clinics and they will determine how to Deploy those those test kits. So it'll be up to the various clinics and hospitals to do that But i'm not sure I don't believe I haven't heard yet at least that they're actually started started that But they were supposed to be available this week Right, please. Um, I mentioned the uh, the uh, this is just a photo of the The department operation center over at the county again, they operate they're operating essentially 24 seven next slide, please So as far as the key messages the mayor went over these, um A few minutes ago, but I think it's good to focus on those and they're really five Next slide and I'll kind of go over those. So social distancing And these are really uh, the goal the goal or at least a recommendation is to deploy these Immediately until March 22nd the reason for that is that provides for that that two week period for the person who came in from Seattle that by then the It's not contagious anymore or would have It would have passed the virus would have passed and so That's why they're they've come up with that data. Although that can change if the situation changes, but that's what they're Recommending at this point. I passed out and on your desk are Two documents one that refers to The interim guidance for social distancing and I think I've got a copy here As well for the PowerPoint And and these are really incredibly helpful Because we are getting a lot of questions about this as it relates to even many of our city facilities For example, we've got events at the civic auditorium. Uh, the symphony for example wants to know should they cancel Concerts we've got special events that are scheduled It's elements of park and the like so we are working with each of the promoters on their individual Venues and looking at these To guide us with respect to how to how to do those things. So I'll go over those I think it's worthwhile going over those really quickly. So first With respect to vulnerable populations and this is really important because there are sectors of our community that are more vulnerable, obviously and It's good for for them to take special precautions people that are, you know over the age of 60 for example And even over the age of 80 and then people who have various medical conditions to make them more vulnerable to the virus like diabetes or asthma and the like And so, you know for those individuals, they're certainly asking that they don't do large gatherings of 50 people or more Unless it's absolutely essential and to avoid people who are sick is really the guidance there Also with respect to workplace and businesses There's a variety of measures too that they're recommending as a city. We've taken these we've presented these and issued these Guidelines internally to our city departments and all of our city staff Again, essentially just really trying to make it so that the goal is to not The disease needs hosts and if they don't have a host that helps to slow it down to prevent it from increasing And so the goal is to how do you minimize the exposure and keep it from spreading? And so whatever a workplace where business can do to to do that is really the goal here So again trying to reduce non-essential work related employee travel Minimizing the important the number of employees that sort of work right next to each other in large Groups as well as minimizing, you know, large version meetings and conferences To the extent possible and also trying to accommodate those To the extent possible Again urging employees to stay home And if they're sick and maximizing flexibility with respect to sick leave and other leave policies and we've we've done that as well And so some of the accommodations for example that we're looking at just trying to be really creative For example, at some of our facilities, we've got the A lot of Nelson community center where we've got seniors that come in in a large group to eat meals We're looking now at doing pickup meals instead of sitting down at least for a period of time here And so again, wherever if it's not feasible or It's not the best thing to completely eliminate the service to close it down How do we adjust it to address a large crowd? So Reducing the size of some of these Meetings or functions and or rescheduling them for example, those are just some examples With respect to large gatherings again, there's really canceling non-essential ones and and then really trying to figure out ways to Make them safer If they do have to go through like for example having hand washing the capabilities You know cleaning And and having you know different physical spaces that can be Accommodate people to separate people as appropriate Much like we've done today with with our council meeting And then there's a whole series of also guidance that relates to schools and public and commercial transportation I won't go over all of those but they do have a lot of really really good information And i'll show a link to that as well with respect to these measures Back to the PowerPoint So that's social distancing And then other important things are preparedness and prevention And this is really key To a large extent, you know what individuals do is really important to the extent that people can follow these guidelines It helps as it helps everybody. So just being prepared and To deal with these situations and to follow the guidelines is essential I mentioned the vulnerable populations as well And following the guidelines for those populations For schools and workplaces, the county has also issued some interim workplace guidance And those are also there's a copy of them in front of you And available to the general public and there too they have some of the things that I've covered already With respect to alternative work arrangement Limiting prolonged contact Staying home with sick Performing regularly cleaning and encouraging and hence hygiene Again, these are available to the general public to the schools And are really good information And then staying home winsek Again, it's just just to prevent the potential spread And of course, if you're really really really sick and need to go to the hospital You should do that too. Don't let this keep you from actually getting medical treatment if you really need it With respect to resources The county has a really good website with Many links that are provided really incredible information Whether you're a business person or a business or an event organizer Or public facility or schools and they're available on the website. It's listed up here And they include some of the information I've provided. There's also a text Where you can text and get information On one system Daily or I'm sorry weekly partner meetings that are available conference calls that you can You can join on Tuesdays and there's an email here as far as how to do that So with that, we're happy to answer any questions I know our staff is really busy implementing many of these measures. We're putting up signage, you know Just letting people know about Protecting themselves with providing, you know, additional cleaning services at various facilities We're really implementing many of these measures. Um, and again, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have Well, I just wanted I want to thank you for the update and thank you for your work on this really important Issue as well as to extend our thanks to the county I just wanted to just maybe share briefly that the county office of education has on their website a coronavirus update link As it relates to anybody who may want to follow the impacts that could be having on our schools So it's sort of just another resource to kind of share at this time And if I may add on that what we were informed of was that With respect to the schools if if they do have a case in the school that they're likely to close the school So they have to university with respect to the school that happens that obviously will have Down other implications for the rest of the community On the website it shares sort of what that criteria would be so for those who want to explore What kind of is that threshold and other types of updates? I think it's really important for to know about This is a good opportunity for redundancy. Do we have something on our webpage upfront On to I just haven't called it out, but I just say um, I spoke to people at the library and they've got something on If you go on the public library. Yes, we can certainly do uh something on the main page. We don't want to replicate We want to just like yes. Yes, we can do that. Um, and I've been forwarding to staff the alerts from metro which has gone through its own protocols and Visit santa Cruz county and visit california, you know travel has been like basically obliterated so I'm just trying I think the more we can forward what we're getting that I have found out not a surprise when I suggest a bright idea. They say yeah, we're already doing So um, yeah I'll just mention briefly that um, the university has also been in very close communication with us and This week they're going to be moving towards having online classes And they're going to make mitigations for final exams and then we're going to be in close communication with them to understand You know how this might move forward at especially with students leaving Santa Cruz for spring break and then them coming back and potentially Maybe coming in contact with the virus when they go home or travel abroad or what have you during spring break So um, just want to let the community know that we are in very close communication with the chancellor and the folks at the university To understand how they're also trying to um cope with the potential spread of this virus I'll just um, I know there was some coverage of this in the newspaper the metro specific Avenue station was closed for a day. I believe it's open. They did sanitize the building. There was a report of a potential Employee or visitor that had come in contact. So I believe they they did a Thorough sanitation uh procedure there, but I believe it's up and working again and open again I have one question. Um Seeing that list of vulnerable populations, I know that You know, if this were to potentially Someone within our homeless population were to get infected. There's the potential that it could spread Maybe potentially fairly rapidly amongst that population I'm just wondering if there's any current and a member of the community contacted me to ask about what might be happening to try to Work with our homeless population in terms of trying to see if there's People are potentially are sick like getting them testing and trying to isolate those individuals So we don't have spread amongst that population further into sanikers population Yes, my understanding is there is a sort of a plan that relates to homelessness that where It would involve how to essentially address a situation with that population and contingency plan for being able to Isolate and contain if there are individuals that are in the homeless population or an individual that's that's homeless And that needs to be contained and so there is a plan to have a facility in space available for those individuals And also to do some other measures around hygiene improvement much like the like the hippie outbreak As I understand that the county is looking at deploying a similar approach One slide you had up This one too Those 10 people sitting around the table are they real people who are dealing with the county Response Yes, those are the the actual staff from the the county health department. Yes, you said weekly It seems like they would be meeting daily or at least Yeah, the yes the the health department folks are there 24 7 on this Yeah, the the weekly are the the coordination meetings and the communications meetings that the the health department hosts So that anybody can call in Partners can call in to get the latest updates. We're doing that also internally as a city We have a team that meets after these meetings to coordinate internally to respond to any situations Or anything that that may have changed and to address whatever we might need to If we need to do them more rapidly, we will do that as well But that's the we're following their lead at this point and with respect to large gatherings You said what is absolutely essential? How are we defining essential? Well, you know, you have to sort of look at them on a case-by-case basis and there's a variety of factors. I think and None of these it's necessarily required. Um, and so I think every organizer or event organizer will have to sort of Determine, you know, what they feel is best given the this is his guidance. Um, and so I guess in our case, you know, if something you know can be Provided in a different way. We will do that first or if it could be delayed. We'll do that But there might be some situations where it might be more difficult and so therefore then they might have to look at Other measures Like like what we're doing But we are having conversations with with some of these event promoters right now to sort of figure out What's the best situation for them? Any further questions by council members Seeing none, I'd like to invite members of the public who'd like to comment on this You'll have two minutes for public comment Hello, I'm James you and Whitman I'm not going to contradict any information that I just heard but I have some different observations I think that all of you should continue your own research because this is potentially A big issue, but there's other systematic issues that are also in question So I'm here because I'm concerned in the past 10 days I've been to eight safety meetings four of which were Food preparation and food serving Two other were independent meetings about food serving The third one was with the huff group and then I also sat with I don't know 45 emergency responders last thursday for their Meeting that's the first thursday at 2 p.m. Every odd month except july At 5200 so Cal that was a really interesting I'm not going to mention the grades. I'll give each group My understanding is that the first case of this virus was discovered in noted october 16th in china not december 31st And my understanding is that the incubation period for this is up to 24 days And that this virus can stay On a smooth surface for up to 10 days So I don't know. I've probably read and watched 50 and 60 different direct Videos and document documentaries just on this situation But there's other situations that can connect sicknesses like this. This council seems to rarely talk about the chemtrails There doesn't seem to be a huge Interest in the existing wireless let alone the other wireless that's going on So I think that if this does become a serious issue Um, there's a lot of really good information that you can get from homeopathic doctors I'm certainly no homeopathic doctor although I've been studying stuff like that for more than 20 years So thank you for your time Yeah, i'm a council member who ever had a question Yeah, thank you. I know that uh, you'd mentioned Aspects of the population people experiencing homelessness, but just curious. Are we going to be uh offering a Handwashing and hygiene sanitation stations around the community to be able to provide maximum opportunities for people to wash their hands Especially those that may not have access to indoor bathroom or plumbing With respect to our facilities we are providing some of these services and then with respect to If you're referring to potentially uh, like homeless and camis and that sort of thing I think we're looking at those Yes on a really case by case basis as far as deploying some of some of those things Discussion just I thought it would be just helpful to maybe just have jason do a quick update from an emergency response perspective since he's here um, so from an emergency response perspective, obviously this is A impact to all of our personnel on a regional countywide Basis, we are working with county health our emergency medical director dr. Giller ducci To come up with contingency plans that I hope you don't have to implement as far as being able to provide service Because our personnel are going to have to engage in areas that are quarantine or people who are sick and we don't want to Estimate that population. We want to make sure that we have that continuity of service tomorrow morning All the county fire chiefs will be developing those plans in conjunction with our ems partners amr county health And they'll start broadcasting that out. You may see a change in our response to 9-1-1 To a different type of response a limited response or in some cases no response Based on what the criteria are for those people who are following What we don't want to do is move a disaster from the community into the hospital and overwhelm the hospital we have a limited bed space for Negative air pressure or for people who may be One thing I really want to stress is that this is really an opportunity for thoughtful planning not for panic End of the day. This is a flu. It does have a huge potential for disruption It does have a potential for sickness and in some cases death But the time is not to panic to go hoard But to really follow the guidelines for that social distancing for the next two weeks And what the county is trying to do with that is really put a hard check on the ability of this virus to spread And do that now so that we don't get into the position that some of the other countries are in right now So I would hope that all of you would really push that message as visible leaders within the community You're making contingency plans for the ability to With this declaration change our workforce change our work hours So that the public can be confident that we will be here ready to respond if needed But we may be changing that response and that messaging will be coming out So questions for our fire chief Thank you So I appreciate the clarity or I guess at least just the case by case basis kind of umbrella I'm just curious Since you said case by case What about the encampment that's located outside of the post office or along coral street because I drove down coral street the other day And there's a sizable congregation of people essentially that are there If they don't have access to coral street where are they using the bathroom and washing their hands? Also with the Post office, so we'll start there and then Okay, I'll have Susie. She's been working there. We have a you know a team that works on a regular basis on you know being responsive to Encampments as you can provide an update on that. Sure. So thank you mayor and council members homeless persons health project is going through a process of Engaging and outreaching with our homeless population on much of the things that we're talking about in chambers today And that the board talked about this morning There are obviously additional health and hygiene considerations for our homeless population And so the county is really taking the lead on that With our hep a outbreak the county provided the the bathroom facilities on our property And so I would fully expect as they are evaluating the risk. They will be engaging with the city to Additional portable portable bathrooms hygiene hand washing stations In the areas of highest risk of transmission Coral street post office. I actually just sent an email to me me with regards to the post office encampment That area obviously is of grave concern giving given its proximity to an high trafficked area And the potential of transmission within the encampment and also within our greater community So I expect as we talk about the camping ordinance next week We'll be talking about how to best manage high density encampments moving forward Having covet 19 part of that equation. I think is just an additional layer of complexity that we have to think about So the county really is the the responsible party for talking about health and hygiene response And I imagine as a city we would be open to hosting whatever they say is the most Prudent and urgent places where we should put those facilities Do we have a timeline on that with the county on when or if they're planning on doing those additional portable bathrooms? I don't want this to be A tool to further criminalize people experiencing homelessness or to make it so that we're strengthening our encampment regulations For fear. I'm looking at how are we offering or providing Infrastructure that can allow them the hygienic access to avoid there being any transmission since they may not have access to indoor bathrooms yeah, so what I would suggest with regards to the The intersection of the encampments and how we manage That kind of high density camping moving forward. I think there's some overlap in the discussion for the next agenda council agenda, however, as it relates to the covid response The county Has a plan they have communicated elements of the plan, but they are still informing themselves quite frankly on how best to move forward as it relates to The potential risks associated with transmission within not only our homeless population, but the greater community I would fully expect that should hand washing stations and public restrooms Be required that will happen immediately And we will have the resources to do that once we have been you know guided by the county to do so And just want to add that also There hasn't been a case of the virus spreading through the homeless community So that does does not not exist at this point and certainly on an ongoing basis like whether it's with the post office encampment We do offer individuals shelter on a regular basis and part of the challenge of course is that we have is not everyone Always chooses to to avail themselves to them. So that's that's part of the ongoing process but you know, we do Work really closely with the county to Try to get people services and and housed as quickly as possible Particularly if they're vulnerable, particularly if they have situations There are beds that are set aside For high risk homeless individuals at the homeless services center or the housing matters And they are making provisions for those as needed also in the case of the The coronavirus as well There's no Found case of anyone within that community having it I'm looking at more of a preventative aspect than a reactionary aspect and then also As far as the city goes while we're waiting on the timeline of the County to make their decisions Will we be opening up public bathrooms that have been previously closed and then implementing some kind of a hygiene regimen there because There was a post that was one up today or yesterday from homeless outside in santa cruz Citing that public bathrooms even during the day. We're still locked in some of our parks. So With those locked facilities That makes people that may not have access to bathrooms have to choose other means To relieve themselves. So what are we doing to proactively? Respond to people need to use the bathroom And this has been an ongoing conversation for a long time Even for last year at least since I've been on the council with access to public bathrooms But now it seems especially relevant Um, I just want to jump in here real quick I just want to remind the council that the item before you is the declaration of an emergency Uh adoption of the resolution that the primary Uh function of so doing is that when and if The state or federal government offers grant funding or assistance to local agencies that are Implementing the response including the measures that are being mentioned by uh council member glover That will have potentially the the ability to reimburse the city for the cost Of those but I think the discussion of specific actions that might be taken by the council with respect to homeless encampments or that sort of thing is really another topic that ought to be Separately agendized So I will go ahead and move Move adoption of the resolution declaring a local emergency disaster As described in the item and just noting that the Resolution item number four says although there have been no confirmed cases in santa cruz county So I think we should change that There have been two confirmed cases in santa cruz county and public health staff are busy monitoring And when we drafted this that was a situation That that was real at the time. So with that minor change i'll move the item before us So we have a motion by council member matthews seconded by council member wagons to move the staff recommendation on declaring local emergency as it relates to COVID-19 Any further discussion? Nope. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously And I would like to thank council member brown for modeling good behavior in social distancing sandy Um i'm following directions So that concludes public comment and we're going to move on to our next item Which is item of the first item of general business item number 13 Uh, which city of santa cruz commitment to menstrual equality Uh, this was brought forward by vice mayor donna mires and council member wagons And so i'll turn it over to two of them to kind of start us off on this item Well, we don't have a power point set up for you here for this item You're welcome. Um, but we are happy to introduce it Essentially what this is about is about putting gender equality and gender equity into policy action and Following just some leads that have already took place in the county. I'll just go ahead and share I know that the city of capitola administratively Decided to stock their city housed employees bathrooms as well as the county office of education So I think there is movement happening happening around Really having menstrual equality and menstrual equity Implemented in a way that allows for these sanitation products to be available to those who need them and What we're proposing here is really sort of a phased approach to really look at how do we? Sort of administratively begin to stock our bathrooms for city housed employees In the immediate but really looking at a broader movement and ask of our community partners To see how we can go even further and if we think about those who are struggling financially Our homeless women who are in need of these products or Youth or others who aren't necessarily able to access this or afford this. This is one thing we can do to help support them and Frankly, it's something that should have happened a long time ago in my opinion And I feel really proud that the city of Santa Cruz can hopefully lead the rest of the county And then hopefully we'll see even broader movement in the state and beyond I'm just kind of one thing I'd like to just maybe call out is Scotland became just recently the first country to end period poverty by providing free sanitary products to women of all ages So I think we can get there eventually But I want to just start we have to start locally and that's the beauty of local government. So I want to thank vice mayor meyers for Joining me and having this recommendation before you at today's afternoon's agenda and happy to offer her any Yeah, I will just state that I was excited to co-sign this with councilmember Watkins This is certainly a real problem. It's not something that we find in our normal social discourse talking about these kinds of inequities, but These products do cost a lot of money and So I think this is a place where there is true and needed assistance in terms of really trying to provide products that Are not optional to any woman At least once a month and so I'm just very excited to be part of bringing this forward. Thanks Yes, I have Let's hear from the public first. I do have a few Relatively minor changes. I've discussed with the authors. So I'd like to when the time comes present those Okay I have a few questions, but I'm going to allow public to comment first and I don't know if my other colleagues have any Questions either, but maybe we'll open up the public comment and they'll bring it back for Questions and and action. Um, so I'd like to open up this item for public comment If you would like to comment on this item, um, if you could please line up to the left and you'll get two minutes My name is Elise Kazvi. I'm a community organizer and homeless advocate Um, I just want to call out some of the people who have sponsored this very minor helpful Initiative to provide women with menstrual pads I just want to say that I have been doing a personal investigation and gone into several of the shelters in Santa Cruz And found that the overall health risks to be very extreme I've I've constantly found that the staff that is hired into the shelters Have not been trained in abuse versus conflict and they have no idea often how to How to handle conflict and abuse I have been put at risk for severe diseases I have been abused by male staff at the river street shelter. I have had Two sleeping quarters that are extremely dangerous with where people from Jail have been allowed to be in the same room as me I have slept with people with multiple addictions that are active Where they bring alcohol into the room and I have been molested And so I just want to say that as somebody who is facing one of the most Divided councils the governmental bodies that I've ever seen in my life One of the most deceptive set of certain city officials for them to bring such a minor thing across and to pretend All this concern for women when women are out there without shelter We have the women the walnut avenue women's center Is prejudice against homeless women? I have seen it I am tired of the pretense to be oh so helpful to women And I just want to say that the city of santa cruz is paying salaries That are so outrageously high to people like for example, tina shoal That we could have done so much more for women than give them menstrual pads. At least it's a tiny little bit of something speaker I um, I kind of like the idea if this was paid for by the state or the fed But uh, at any rate, I'll read a different view The best argument for this is the analogy to providing toilet paper But I can see people filling their purses up with free stuff And the cost per person is quite more than sheets of toilet paper unless you're talking about vending machines I would suggest similar to sounds a state where such are provided free from their health department But students need to ask for it. They also directly pay for it as part of a health plan If it was a big health issue, you would think health care providers would be involved somehow Indeed this is perhaps a health plan provider coverage issue Otherwise it seems like a public employee benefit at this point and I asked does the private sector do this and if not Well, then you have to question it as a self-serving government monopoly Benefit. Anyway, I don't like it being called menstrual equity. That sounds like you are leftist ideologues Please don't cite the leftist globalist doctrine of health and all policies as some standalone justification for any public expenditure There's no such thing as social science only social studies which live in isolation of a world of statistics probabilities correlations Can also confuse correlation with causation or ignore other factors For instance, there could be a hypothetical study that includes some people benefit from a 24-hour gym membership or free condoms Should the city then buy every employee a freebie gym and a free condom membership Such are issues with data driven policy alone decisions let alone leftist ones Equity is an ownership of property rights or stake. Normally one has to buy those unless the government gives such a way at public expense This is not the same as public property owned or used by all or private property equity Please consider and all council matters the relief of human suffering as a moral calling or imperative Not a right of relief of the sufferer or an obligation to affect that relief assigned as a supposed right on those who could affect their relief Sure, as a moral issue morals do evolve over time in the court of public opinion morals evolve involving equity also Yep Is there any other room to the public who wants to comment? Except lucero luna. I get arrested number 15 at feeding scamp And i'm against shelters on coral street was um, what's he called it I was arrested for trespassing. Excuse me. Can I pause you real quick? The item on the agenda is related to menstrual equity Okay, so if it's if it's not related to the menstrual equity program that's being proposed So you can come back and you can come back this evening at uh oral communications So thank you. Are there any questions from council members? I'll go ahead and put a motion on the floor then and I appreciate those who brought it forward It's a very rapidly developing issue. In fact, it's being dealt with at the state and national level um And so I do think it's appropriate to start at a modest local level And it's not going to solve the world's problems, but I appreciate this being brought forward So, um, I will move that and I I gave Bonnie a copy of it's it's just slightly revised language So I'll move we direct the city manager to develop a targeted menstrual equity program Making menstrual products freely available in city facilities used exclusively by city employees To be considered in fiscal year 2020 slash 21 and initiated as soon as feasible thereafter Communicate this action to community partners such as educational facilities and institutions health providers and organizations and local government Urging them to join in a countywide approach to menstrual equity with the intention of an official launch in late 2020 Send a letter to the chair of the board of supervisors requesting that they agendize this issue and direct the county health services to take the lead in coordination Communicate this action to our state representatives indicating our support for statewide action on this issue And report on the feasibility of the city program in progress And progress on countywide efforts in june 2020 for further council consideration and direction I'll second the motion and if I could ask one question for clarification for city employee house facilities and City facilities used exclusively by city employees. Is there a difference in terms of the framing of how that language works? I just found city employee house city facilities To be awkward. I just put a question mark when I read that so I think the idea is not to put them In the civic auditorium for the general public et cetera et cetera, but If that was the intention I'm just trying to understand Yeah, so um Good afternoon again So I help the council members draft this agenda And I think really the intention was to ensure that our city workforce across the whole demographic has access to these products My understanding is some of our departments already do this like our police department So i'm really looking internally to see what is available within our department structure and then putting some formality around that I think and I think you're right a lot of places do it public private nonprofit already. Yeah So this language if I may for clarification will cover the city First off, I want to thank the Authish for bringing this forward bringing this you know this entire concept and demonstrating what's going on globally and you know the Opportunity for us to start acting on this locally and hopefully we'll have a you know national acceptance of this these kinds of policies And I'll say that in the motion that was just provided a number of my concerns were addressed because I know in some of the recommendations there was Implementation of a of a program and I was concerned with the fact that there's implementation But what about the development side and so I think that this captures A lot of some of the concerns that I had I do have one question Maybe for the maker of the motion or like or for the people who brought this item forward One of the things that was brought up numerous times Is that and I think it's kind of what is encompassing this item is that it's really intended to You know provide these make sure that people who are vulnerable and don't have access Have access to these products within our community. And so one question. I have I know that we're That kind of first direction is looking at city employees, but I'm wondering if within that development of this mental equity program Focusing on city not only city employees with city facilities that offer services to Low-income residents. So for example Low-income residents go to the Loudoun Nelson Center for programs They go to the library for programs and if we're just focusing on employees who actually have jobs, you know Whether in these city run buildings Rather than all the nonprofits throughout the community But at these city run buildings that they'd be offered to members of the public who use the bathrooms For example in those facilities. So I'm just wondering what if there are any thoughts around that I'm happy to just share briefly in terms of the intention around Sort of where we could start now is really stalking our local facilities But absolutely where we want to go is so that every facility in our community is stocked every school is stocked Our jails are stocked and we have this new movement around No females shouldn't be able to access these products if they need them And so starting small but with the ambition to get to what you described Sandy has just sent me a text that she has questions. So Sandy and then we'll send the amount of views Yes, so thank you Councilmember Watkins and vice mayor Myers-Rivine is forward. I I do appreciate the The commitment that you're asking us to make and and I agree that we should move forward I have one Actually, I have two questions and I think one of them is kind of a follow-up to Mayor Cummings question about how it is that we We achieve the intention of bringing Feminine products to Marginalize women outside of the city workforce. I'm fully on board with moving ahead with that But given the list that you've provided in number two of your recommendation related to kind of some of the other organizations and And agencies that might be included. I'm just wondering how do you see that moving forward? I know councilmember Matthews has has raised the idea of Making the county the point on this but that requires that the county actually be Interested and willing to work on this and take the lead um If And then I also I guess I'm wondering in terms of the two of you if you're thinking about your involvement moving forward with trying to develop this program Is there a way that we can build into the recommendation? The motion something that gives you the opportunity to to do that. So that's a question and then the second question is The staff time that may be involved in from the city's perspective in moving forward I see a budget adjustment might come with more of a fleshed out program But in the meantime, how much staff time do we anticipate this taking? Susie is stepping to the mic. Sorry So one thing I wanted to mention with regard to potentially immediately launching something that is a little bit more comprehensive is In my research most cities and counties that have a menstrual equity Program that is targeted to those that are outside of the workforce happens in libraries And you know I think one thing that you could do in addition to the motions that are in front of you is add a specific request To the joint powers authority of the library to see if they would be interested in moving forward with something You know on the immediate horizon rather than waiting for the full robust You know system-wide Program to be developed. I think there's potentially High feasibility there with some obviously considerations around cost I had More math use next and councilor brown.  Yeah, well, I just wanted to thank you um, Ms. O'Hara for that and I guess uh, given that response I'm wondering if the maker of the motion would be willing to include that as well request to The joint powers the library joint powers authority About their willingness to be involved I'm quite happy to uh, I changed my language from the original motion to be quite a bit broader about Educational health and civic institutions. I'm happy to include them specifically if that's reassuring to people So I would just add Partners such as educational facilities and institutions libraries health providers, etc Just so just a sorry. Thank you for that. Um, but I'll just a quick follow-up the I think what um, mido hara was suggesting was that perhaps The library joint powers authority would be willing to engage in the first round effort that involves um kind of immediate for facilities where city employees work, but also as a point of access for um, marginalized vulnerable women to have some distribution at the library. I think that's what I was hearing Which is a little different than just general outreach with a group The library jpa is a collection of Uh representatives from all our jurisdictions with the exception of watsonville And I think it's appropriate to include them in this group that in the near term would be We we would send a letter To the board asking them to take the lead in this but also send a letter to all these other entities asking them to consider this and um Join in the effort. So I I see that as entirely complimentary to what we're talking about that we would take the shorter term action would be for our own workforce and we would Take the initiative to engage others, but not do the work of carrying through on it Me that seems appropriate So next we have um councilmember glover myself vice mayor mires Thank you, uh, yeah, so I'm just looking at the original Recommendations and this alternate language and you know, I Appreciate what one of the community members had to say about it This is a this is great and I was happy to see it on the agenda But it being a very small step in trying to provide some form of equity, especially for people that are financially burdened in Santa Cruz Which there are many I'm a little it's a little strange to me and it's not that I don't care about our employees having access to feminine products but shouldn't our focus be on groups that can't afford it so Why are we prioritizing city facilities as opposed to prioritizing? say Shelters that are run by city Contractors or public bathrooms where people kind of access to them or you know starting with the library And moving forward that way It it seems strange. So if you can Please enlighten me as to the logic Behind that and why we would be prioritizing people that already have jobs and money in which to purchase these items as opposed to An unforeseen timeline with some kind of report coming back maybe in june That could include People that are low income or experiencing homelessness Just similar to what I um said before is that it's a first step and hopefully a broader Approach to providing these I would go so far as to say That our city employees could also really benefit from some of the alleviated costs associated around having to purchase these products as well So I think the more we can expand Starting with in-house and then expand beyond is absolutely the sort of the direction we want to go But we have to start somewhere and so starting here with our institutions Felt like a natural place and is very similar to other other Institutions who have also taken that first step and I don't know if you want to elaborate on that The research actually does demonstrate that the level of need is not necessarily based on income level It's based on the shame that happens if you don't have access on demand And that can be across all income levels. So Um, you know, we're obviously getting into a very sensitive subject But I did some research on this and having it available for your workforce is really Predominantly where you should start from the perspective of um, it really obviously those that have That are marginalized and more vulnerable need ongoing sustained access But on-demand access is very important for the workforce as well So I'm not debating whether or not it's important for us to have our city employees have access to the means or the materials what I am trying to understand is What this is a very vague timeline and it it's And unfortunately is reminiscent to me of previous policies and just historic decisions of the council where we are focusing on people That yes, they I'm sure it would alleviate stress or shame or what what have you but we're talking about hygienic needs for people that can't get it regardless of the level of shame that they have and Why like for example, new york, I believe back in 2016 Past a bill that would require public schools prisons and shelters And that and in la there was a recent one at the end of last year that would be in public bathrooms So I don't understand why it has to be all city facilities and employees first and then public bathrooms and marginalized communities as opposed to Moving on them at the same time And then receiving a report back in june. So again, it's you're we're going to do whatever you're going to do but The language here and the change from the original language And having it introduced as something to address the needs of homeless women when that was just completely removed except for some Unforeseen future is very problematic for me and is indicative of I think a pattern I could just interject I think that My understanding is that as a city You know, this can be a first step, you know in providing it to our employees, which is Probably a starting place as an easy first step and in order to get these products into the schools and jails and Shelters that there is a coordinated effort around Who's going to be involved in that conversation? Where's the funding going to come from? I think also making sure that our partners are on board which I think it's it's good that we move we're moving forward in this collaborative effort and my understanding from and And i'm glad that we were able to kind of discuss You know the report that's come before us because as I mentioned before I had some current concerns with this And but having had a bit of this conversation. There's clarity around, you know, this You know taking a stepwise approach I do like, you know, express the same level of, you know, wanting to make sure that these products are available for You know in city facilities where people who come from our more marginalized communities and vulnerable communities Can't have access. I do think that this is a great starting point and kind of to what council member brown said I'm wondering if the The council members who brought this report forward If there's a way Potential if there's any interest in working on a subcommittee of some or committee of some sort and we could have report facts Or, you know, how we can receive updates Because I think it would be, you know, it would be helpful to kind of see how this develops over time And so i'm just going to stick with the stack that I currently had So that's that's part of my comment of the other I have a question to follow up on too For Susie O'Hara So council member brown I think part of her question that I don't think was answered was around the amount of staff time that would be Allocated towards this and I'm wondering if there's, you know, in terms of workload What's currently getting worked on what's what this will replace because we've been having a number of discussions around Other items that have been brought forward by council members and I know that our Two-year strategic plan is coming up really soon And so i'm wondering as well like what will this kind of take the place of is this something we should include in the strategic plan Since that this could be a really big part of it So i'm just wondering So I think probably what is what that contingent is on what that content what the contingency is is how much the county takes The lead on this From my perspective the policy has been pretty built and is structured What i've seen across the state and in other cities in the united states is that That the clear policy directive is there. It's really a matter of cost. These are very expensive I think the the count are for the country of Scotland I think it's a 32 million dollar a year program It's it's not for you know a relatively small country So if you can imagine la new york city These are multi multi multi million dollar projects to ensure that everybody has access So, you know, I think really the intention and to you know respond to councilmember brown around The jpa I do think you know in reading number seven the the official launch being late 2020 Maybe there is a way to pull out the jpa specifically for some direction now to see if they'd be interested in Moving forward before the end of the the the current calendar year. That might be the one nuance between how Cynthia and sandy are talking about it, but but otherwise, you know, really the intention is is to hopefully get the county office of ed the sheriff's office the county and other Really more health and safety focused organizations take the lead on this City manager Yeah, just a couple of things with respect to the the the first question around the level of effort and how would it impact other things? I think the The idea I think behind the 10 up there too is to be able to do that and bring that back and and clearly also As the council moves forward with the development of a work plan and strategic goals You know, it'll feed into all of this as well given the timeliness and the timeline associated with that So that'll be you know part of the the consideration for sure And then secondly, um, I said on the on the board of directors for the library uh board And so I'm certainly uh, can bring this forward to them And I think it'll be a similar discussion You know, there'll be questions about budget implications and all that we're in the process of developing our budget And we're getting you know proposed budget. We had our five-year forecast to set our last meeting and We'll be getting a proposed budget moving forward and maybe also that actually we were already doing some I don't know But I can certainly uh follow up with with the The director and the board and and bring that forward and then we're back to the council Vice mayor Myers and then I have Councilmember walk-ins and then I would just offer that I believe councilmember walk-ins and I certainly intend to follow up with Partners. I don't know that we need to subcommittee. I regularly visit and try to Get in touch with many of the service providers Um monthly meetings different things site visits So I think if we can The intent obviously is not to delay Or somehow, you know, not provide and move this forward until june Um, I think in our regular relationships with nonprofit partners service providers education county office of education other institutions in towns We can certainly Bring forward this decision. Hopefully a unanimous decision by the council to Begin this conversation. I think what we most importantly want is that this is a successful program When you want to when you launch something like this, you really do want to take the time to make sure everyone understands the obligation We understand the the cost implications and So that when this gets rolled out, hopefully in a more broader way across various community partners Those expectations for women who who may be looking for this Specific resource Knows know know that it will be available to them So I think um, we just want to we want to do this thoughtfully This is not an intent to try to delay anything And we certainly will be doing a lot of outreach Immediately within the next week or so to to keep moving this forward and also work with the county on and our county partners to try to Put this together in a fairly quick quick way And I think it's just our our due diligence to make sure that we really understand the cost implications and and Understand how that would affect any partner in in implementing this I'll just I mean, I'll just echo the comments that vice mayor meyers brought up And then just also say I'm supportive of moving forward with having a conversation with our library system to see how that could be integrated potentially sooner rather than later and then for any I mean, I appreciate the comments that were made by Mr. Heron that Any woman who finds themselves without a sanitary product and is in need of one is a woman who I want to support And we can start here and hopefully lead our community in a way that all of our young women And women of all ages who are in need of these products are able to access them, especially those who are unable to afford them And I do think that this could be a conversation That we could have also at our city schools meeting in terms of how we can talk with our schools and our school district partners around More access, but I'm happy to exhaust my existing partnerships and definitely continue to work with staff and Vice mayor meyers on seeing how we can partner with the county as well to move this forward But I just want to not lose sight of the fact that this is a really great first step And this is products for women who find themselves in need of them regardless. So I want to celebrate that as well And so I've got um, just to make sure that we're having clear communication. I've Council member matthew's council member brown and then myself. So just acknowledging Um that sandy is in the room as well Um, I think we're coming near the end of this I don't think we need a special another committee on this I think we have at least a couple of people who are very interested in working on it And we'll point out that the county has a women's commission and a public health commission I think there's the opportunity to engage some other advocates. Um, and I would say Pick up the other entities as soon as they show interest and we don't That's just a matter of getting the ball rolling and um to me the launch The services don't have to wait until that time the launch is when you've hit critical mass and you think you just want to go That's how I see it Council member brown Uh, yeah, I I guess I'll just make one last comment about this potential for moving forward with the library more quickly Mr. Bernal, I appreciate that you are willing to bring that forward. I just want to make sure that if that's the case there's some um Kind of that we hear about that some you know that we are I just like to make sure it happens because I I do feel strongly that we Given the the rationale for bringing this forward and which I completely agree with I do think that We ought to make that commitment that we're going to we're going to work on this and and Create opportunities or spaces of accessibility for Marginalized women not just city employees. I really I appreciate that but I do think that Um that other commitment is is equally more important Okay, and I I would just like to state that um, I think the same should be said for some of the Other facilities because I just think about loud and nelson and with the teen center And whether or not those teens have access for example and you know potentially the civic too But you know there's there's city run buildings and if we're going to be you know moving forward and if we can You know think about city run facilities maybe in general as this kind of like first wave and that Including employees and you know members of public who use those facilities because I can imagine even here You know in the public bathrooms outside of you know chambers that having some products there for Members of the public who might come to city council meetings I think that that would be you know appropriate within these kind of first steps So I'll just put that out there as well in terms of Thinking it would within the context of urgency and then Additionally working with schools and county officials on next steps. I think is appropriate There's no further discussion Like to call the vote on this and so we have a motion made by council member matthew seconded by council member watkins There's no further discussion all those in favor. Please say aye. Hi Any opposed Let me just clarify This says six seven eight nine ten because that's the way my crazy computer did I cut and pasted and I had one two three four five And I pasted and it had its own idea to go six seven eight nine ten. So Oh, well, we thought you just like started All right So that item moves and we will move on to We're right on time. So we'll move on to our next item of business And that is our fiscal year 2020 collective selection of results and evidence-based our core investment set-asides funding recommendations And this is a presentation that will be led by Ralph de merica principal management analyst Okay, good afternoon council Ralph de merica principal management analyst with the city manager's office And it really is an honor to be here in front of you guys today to report on this item and It's a really bittersweet item in a way because we are We get applications from people from the community who want to do great work, but we just don't have enough funding to fund everybody So Jumping in I'm here today to request a motion to approve fiscal year 2020's Core investment set-aside funding recommendations and these recommend well the core investment Funding it's the predominant Funding stream for safety net services and each year the city sets sets aside $45,000 to reward to selected respondents We received nine applications this year and the criteria we based it off of was project need project description qualifications and the budget So on october 30th 2019 a city staff issued a request for letters of interest or an alloy and non-profit organizations and educational institutions with direct or related experience and operating social services Or eligible to apply We received applications in november of 2019 and as I mentioned We received nine applications this year for a total of $130,000 which is three times more than what we have to give away. So unfortunately, we weren't able to fund every applicant City staff reviewed the applications and Based on the criteria that was included in the alloy gave initial recommendations to the committee community programs committee And the first initial meeting that we had with the community programs committee was held on january 7 2020 We received Great feedback from the community or committee members at that point So city staff with that feedback Revisited Our recommendation we vetted a lot of inquiries that members had and we went back to the cpc On february 27 2020 and at that point the committee approved The current recommendations with a 2-0 vote with one member absent So moving forward now to the actual recommendations the the first recommendation is to second harvest and The the project need that they stayed in their application is that 24 of the city's 65,000 residents are currently living in poverty And second harvest provides food access for 13,000 people a month in the city of santa cruz Set aside funding is essential to support their ability to deliver the food needed Food needed by city residents So they requested $20,000 and staff is recommending funding 15,379 and Before I move forward at this point. I do want to say that We did calculate funding Based on the amount of time left in this Fiscal year and so there's about three three and a half months left in the fiscal year So a lot of the funding especially when it came down to personnel costs We multiplied by 0.25 or a quarter of what they requested just so, you know, just because a quarter of the year left Although the second harvest requested $20,000 which was a max that they could request The annual transportation budget Actually has an annual cost of $61,000 and that's where we came up with $15,000 It would fund the transportation of food in the city of santa cruz for the remainder of the year and that would cost $15,000 It's a picture of their operation The next organization that we're recommending funding for is for the diversity center and their transgender program And they stayed in their project need that lgbtq plus individuals Especially transgender individuals face high rates of homelessness depression anxiety social isolation and drug and alcohol addiction and this funding will be utilized to ensure support to To ensure support to our their expanding population of transgender individuals and They requested funding for a coordinator and a director Wages funding for events supplies and staff training for a total of $10,000 Given the limited time left in the fiscal year. We will be able to fund 100 of The events that they requested supplies staff training in a quarter of the personnel wages And that gives us a total of the $3,816 at staff recommending and this is for their This is for their transgender program The the next organization that we're recommending funding for is for the neighborhood child care center And this need is stated as access to child care and early education And in particularly affordable affordable care is in high demand in the community And this funding will help the program Maintain program enrichments for the 2019-2020 school year While they begin to implement slight tuition increases except for their lowest income brackets And increased fundraising efforts across the board They requested funding for personnel wages teacher training professional consultants materials and field field trips for a total of $20,000 We the recommendation will fully fund teacher training the cost for professional consultants materials and field trips and a quarter of personnel wages, which is Which would be enough for the rest of the over the remaining of the fiscal year And so staffs recommending $10,250 for the neighborhood child care center The next program that we're recommending funding for is for the survivors healing center And the project need stated was the the prevalence of child sexual abuse is difficult to determine because it is often not reported Experts agree that the incidence is far greater than what is reported authorities And statistics below statistics represent some of the research done on child sexual abuse And the statistics are included in the application which you have in your packet So this funding would be for their imagined healing public awareness campaign And they requested funding for staff time presentations and outreach and materials They requested $3,000 giving them a portion of the staff time that they requested and fully funding their materials staff is recommending Allocating $1,875 That's the program And the last organization that we're recommending funding for is for community bridges and their child development division And the child development division is a program of community bridges and it provides affordable early childhood education and nutritious meals to children of low income families Who work in occupations like agriculture hospitality health care or gaining a higher education? And particularly this would go to the sycamore street child development center Where they provide solutions to families living in santa cruz And funding from the set aside fund will help support the renovation of the sycamore street child development center playground structure And they requested $20,000 for a variety of things the funding that we're recommending would fully Pay for the playground structure as well as some costs for the accessories that come along with it And so staffs recommending $13,680 for that organization and picture from their website So there's really three steps that we took in this process to get this before you today The first one was the administrative process where we received the applications Staff took a look at them reviewed them and we presented our initial recommendations to the community programs committee where members Gave us their feedback and shared with us what they thought the community's emerging needs were And we came back to the community programs committee after that with a second round of recommendations And that's where we are today and today. Hopefully council approves of staff recommendations and we can move forward with funding these programs For the presentation. Are there any questions from council members at this time? Just had a question kind of about the process and the the length of time Knowing that sort of we're making the awards Sort of, you know, almost four months. And is that a typical length of time? I Okay, I was going to say I mean, I think my one comment is You know, so many nonprofits are month to month and You know when you've made a request to fund your staff and you're you're not knowing Whether or not that's going to happen whether or not you'll be successful and then when that funding is coming So that was my only question really was was this sort of an atypical year that way? This scheduler process We went under this year was not typical of the annual on process that we usually go through and it's usually Funded a lot earlier in the fiscal year. Thank you. I'll just add to that. There were staff changes And Scheduling conflicts so it got pushed back and pushed back and A couple of points. So no, this is not what we strive for And part of our decision in the end was Allocations that could be spent down in the remaining time And typically the core set aside rather the set aside funds are for emerging or Exceptional needs not operation costs So I think what you're talking about in terms of nonprofits building their budget for the coming year is more longer term operations These tend to be kind of a different category Emerging or one time But we do did feel in all these cases it represented a variety of constituencies that they were reaching And we knew that they could Spend this money on the type of projects the emerging or one time Great. I had a question just um Maybe because you mentioned earlier that there were nine Applications and then there's five who were accepted just kind of like maybe what who some of those other other organizations were and kind of Why these organizations were selected instead of those? Because I didn't see that you know, like there's any mention of those other organizations in the report, so All right Right. So there were nine application applicants total this year and we based the criteria on The project need which was 30 percent of Our scores the project description Qualifications and the budget and then staff did initial ranking of those and we presented that to the cpc We had discussions and there were factors that we took into place such as the amount of service that that organization provided to the city You know emerging needs that members of the cpc thought Were a different priority from staff and we Using the criteria we had in the loi came back a second time and these are the funding recommendations that are before you today Any other questions from council at this time? Just maybe make a comment I'm really glad to have the list in the materials you sent today and I would just maybe make a comment to You know Maybe include that list in the staff report in the future Just so we understand in case we get questions from some of the organizations or what have you so thank you for Great feedback. Thank you And also echo that because there's another table here too that has the rankings and that would be really helpful in the future as well Yeah, great staff report and thank you for the presentation Okay, this time I'd like to invite members of the public up for public comment If you'd like to come up and comment on the cdbg allocations You can line up to my left and you'll have two minutes Thank you at least casby. Um, I just want to say that I I'm sure everybody feels this way, but I have to say this First of all, I did not hear a direct answer to justin's questions Which was very much what programs did not get funded? So thank you for asking that question justin and I personally would like to hear what programs did not get funded I would just like to say that the attitude of utter and complete contempt that is being fostered by Proponents of the recall and in fact three members of our city council against homeless women Is so egregious and it is resulting in a slow genocide on our streets of the homeless So I just want to say that I am extraordinarily concerned that there is no money or a program being mentioned here That has to do with homeless women So I just want to talk about a certain psychologist who is speaking to the issue of women His name is gabour maté. He has spoken at the south berkeley senior center and he talks about the incredible load of stress that women are under in this hideous extreme climate of Extraordinary wealth for the few and very little for so many multitudes of people at the bottom So I just want to say that I'm interested in a council that is so mean and divisive on the whole To execute this attempt to derail the progressive movement, which is largely about helping I'm going to stop it for one second.  We pause you But I just want to recenter us around that this item is You know approving the fiscal year 2020 collective results of an evidence base the core investment set asides Yeah, I understand just and I think i'm speaking directly to that I heard exactly what programs are being funded and I did not get an answer as to what isn't But the money that is available for people and especially women homeless women Not transgender women women who can give birth and their children. I think this is Really a difficult time and things need to be said about who is not getting help Homeless women are dying on the street. Their children are dying on the street I want to see more funding go to women and homeless women I have seen institutions that are lauded in this community like the walnut oven women center be absolutely hateful to homeless women I want to see this attitude corrected I I think we should have a program to correct the attitude toward homeless people Because we're entering an extreme state where people are going to be put into huge concentration camp Elise your time is up. I'm sorry Thank you, police i'm gonna have to give you. Thank you very much. Thank you next speaker Hi, good afternoon. I will make this short. My name is lily and i'm the director of neighborhood child care center So we will hopefully be a recipient of of the set-aside funds I just want you to know that um You know, I've been in child care for a lifetime it feels like And the program that we run Is very near and dear to my heart. It's a program that I myself and My teachers and staff believe in many of us have been a handful of us have been there for 15 20 22 years So it's a program that works. It's a program that My community believes in So I thank you um for funding us With the set-aside funding I'm always going to say, you know, I hope there's always more Um in the future. Um, but at this time, I just like to thank you for a very difficult decision that you had to make So thank you. Yeah Is there any Sorry All right, is there any other member of the public who would like to speak on this item? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to council for action deliberation council member lover Thanks. I um I know at one of the initial meetings that uh, there was the discussion about the set-aside funding with the Neighborhood child care center. It's good that we're funding child care. I know that there's a question I asked um at one of those previous meetings about the demographics of them, uh, those centers, uh, and the numbers with regards to especially african-american Children and youth were very low according to the reports from the representative that was there I was wondering because I don't see anything connected to this was They were working on outreach plans or ways to justify or to um Rather balance out that equity of people that were there. Would that ever get received by the body? I'm not on the I see you looking at me I mean, I'm not I wasn't part of the final advisory for them I'm not specifically that I recall but I do know that uh neighborhood has a long record of making an exceptional effort to Accommodate with special with lower rates low-income families and diverse families and That's that's part of their Their operation. Thank you for the questions I'll um, I'll move the recommendation if I may um And I'll just make a few comments if I can I um was not part of the final decision making process But I've been on the community programs committee for for my time on council and it's never easy. There's so many Needs and incredible programs seeking our support. Um, and I know that we're sort of in a unique time this year I also know that we try to have it be complimentary to the core funding and having this be set aside So I encourage those who didn't necessarily receive funding this time to Stay connected to the city Reach out in terms of the next set-aside process, but also In terms of the core funding allocation processes How to get some of those funds as well? So I I just sort of I'll just sort of highlight that And then in just a couple comments about about childcare It's a huge need in our community and I know this just sort of just touches the surface of it But we're seeing uh facilities closed aging Providers, we're seeing a demographic shift in our community And so I hope that we can continue to find ways and identify ways to support our childcare industry That's a motion narrative Just the motion to accept the recommendation. Okay, so the motion on the floor to accept the recommendation second by Oh, well second by councilmember brown And And I know councilmember brown. Did you have a comment? Oh, I was gonna second it, but I defer Okay, and I know councilmember brown had um text with a comment. So councilmember brown if you want to speak at this time Yeah, um, thank you. I would just echo uh councilmember wacken's comments about the difficult decisions that we Have to make uh on that community programs committee There is all there are always more requests than the need and they're all Great programs. Um, I agree that the And part of the reason that child care has been included in this set aside because Within the core funding Priority areas child care kind of it's hard to fit child care into some to one of those specific areas So they've kind of been Um left out of that process in some way not intentionally, but it's just happened So that's part of the reason that we have Prioritized child care services. I know neighborhood child care is one of the only Um, I think it might be the only program in the city that offers subsidized child care um And so that is one of the reasons that we prioritize them In and I also want to just respond to the concern about no homeless services being provided here Um The and I'm sorry that there's the list was not made available to the public but the I'll just say for the public at the organizations that were Not funded was life wrap tutoring and Santa Cruz public care center primarily because they are in the county Not the city and families in transition a small grant. So um the The the most of all the services that we um support through community programs are are funded right now through a three-year allocation with Through the core process. So that's that's part of the reason that you don't see that here I agree that it's a huge concern and something we need to be Very proactive about and and committing as much as many resources as we can But then I would also just say I you know, I want to appreciate the work of Mr. DeMarket and all of the Staff who have been involved in this It I know it was a challenge this year and I just appreciate that you Helped us kind of make sense of How to proceed and and make those recommendations And also to the all the community programs, you know, just for all the work you do Thank you I'd like to say kind of echo my colleagues comments that you know, it's very difficult when making decisions about funding and As much as we want to provide full funding for all the nonprofits in our community We always have to kind of narrow it down and try to give as much as we can to each of these and so I'm glad that we are able to you know Provide some funding support to a number of the nonprofits in our community that do amazing work Especially for our low-income residents. I will mention that There was one agency that didn't get funding that wasn't mentioned and that was the central coast center for independent living So just so that it's clear to members of the community who were interested in knowing Which ones didn't get funded and so again, thank you to all the council members and staff And who put a lot of work into making these decisions and we just like to encourage all Nonprofits when I within our community to apply to these grants when they come up in the future And so with that, I'm wondering if we are ready to take a vote Okay, so there was a motion made by council member Watkins Seconded by council member matthews to accept the staff recommendation Seeing no further discussion. All those in favor, please say aye. Hi Any opposed Wasn't it council member brown? Oh, sorry seconded by council member brown. Yes, either way. That's okay. Okay on that one. Um, and so that was, um That um passed unanimously All right, given the fact that we're uh pretty ahead of schedule I'm wondering if we could take a five minute break And meet back um shortly after four or five We started our first public hearing item Which is item number 15 2020 2021 us department of housing and urban development Action plan and the 2020 2025 consolidated plan and we have presenters tiffany lake principal management analyst Good afternoon council. I'm jessica do it from the city housing division in economic development and here with me today our fellow staff members Tiffany lake sitting next to me And bonnie lipscomb out in the audience I'm going to provide you with a brief overview for anyone in the community that Isn't familiar with this funding process And then tiffany will provide more detail on the specific annual action plan budget and recommended funding requests So for the process The federal department of housing and urban development allocates community development block grant and home funding to designated jurisdictions The city of santa cruz recently received notification of its funding allocation for this action plan year While there are a couple smaller subcategories cdbg funds are largely split into two umbrella categories One is for projects that include Building or infrastructure improvements and building rehab that serve a community need And the second category is for programs that also serve a community need Home funds are primarily focused on providing new housing opportunities and tenant rental based assistance for low-income households For the city to allocate the home and cdbg funds a notice of funding availability was issued last november to provide the opportunity for the community organizations and agencies to respond with requests for funding The city has received funding requests from various applicants and the applications have been evaluated based on several factors Including HUD best practices and community needs Now tiffany is going to walk you through the funding requests that were received and evaluated and the recommended funding distribution per the city's community programs committee meeting on february 27th Thank you As jessica mentioned we had our notice of funding availability in november And then applications were due in january We ranked them the beginning of february and we brought those rankings to the community programs committee rcpc At the end of february to get initial recommendations for the budget And we're bringing those today to you For this first public hearing Where we're asking for initial council approvals of the budget which will allow us to then Draft our annual action plan So drafting the 2020 2021 annual action plan is the first year of our five-year consolidated plan Which is also going to be due to HUD And the action plan budget is where we tell them what we're going to do in that first year of the consolidated plan So for cdbg, which is the community development block grant portion We got our allocation number from HUD and we'll have about 600 000 of new funding for this upcoming year And we also have estimated program income. That's whenever loans are repaid of 8 000 And we have prior year funds that are available for reprogramming of 272 000 Which gives us about 880 000 available to allocate And those prior year funds are made up of a canceled project Which was 150 000 for a housing matters sewer line project Which we were able to resolve the city manager's office worked with economic development and public works And we were able to resolve the sewer line issue So we're able to cancel that project and allocate it to another project And then the rest of the dollars come from different activities that didn't use all of their funds And it was mostly administration So of that 880 000 available 20 of the new grant year allocation is A formula set by HUD for administration of the program And then we also have previous rehab and first time home buyer programs And then we have to administer those loans. So that's 8 000 So it gives us 750 000 available to allocate for both programs and projects So For the consolidated plan survey where we tell HUD what we're going to do in the next five years We reached out into the community and we did a survey We got results from all over the community as you can see and we got about 980 responses So we had a good turnout And one of the questions that we asked them was which of the following groups of people Do you feel most need assistance from the city of santa cruz? And that can help us with ranking our goals For HUD eligible programs and overwhelmingly the biggest category 34% said that person's experiencing homelessness was the category most in need of assistance And it's been a few years since we had last funded those programs with cdbg or home So with that in mind staff brought recommendations to the cpc and we have the final numbers from the cpc meeting And we have a new program in their homeless services coordination This is sort of an umbrella group that we can use for emerging needs. It could be for staff ADA bathrooms whatever is needed in the community we also Recommended and cpc agreed to fund a web avista at 100 000. That's the same level that we funded them at last year Also keeping funding the same for the teen center at 35 000 And for crla at 20 000. So that's 190 000 total for community programs We do have a 15 cap Which is 90 128 dollars that we can give to community programs But we're able to exceed that cap because new avisa is a community-based development organization or a cbdo So that's why we have The ability to fund at a level above the 90 000 And we also have the recommended recommended funding for the projects from the cpc So you might notice that there is only a recommendation to fund two of the three Projects that's in part because it's a HUD best practice to fund fewer projects at higher levels So that they're not stalled due to a lack of funding And it's also because the jesse street rehab indicated in Their application that they needed at least 250 000 In order to move forward with their project. They had requested 400 000 So funding them at their minimum ask would mean that we wouldn't be able to fund any of the other two adequate levels So the senior center at 100 000 will allow for ADA improvements and also hvac improvements And for the homeless infrastructure projects That 460 000 will go towards the first phase which will be for housing matters A renovation of their hygiene bay As many of you probably know they've had temporary services Through rented showers, which are expensive And the HAP our homeless action partnership was not able to fund their request For renovations. So this is an opportunity for the city to Sort of fund that gap in funding for this needed infrastructure project And so that's a total of 560 000 for projects This is just sort of an overview of All the pieces of that 880 000 so far. So we have uh the grant administration by HUD formula at 20 percent the ongoing administration of previous city programs at 8 000 And then 190 000 for community programs So we're again exceeding the cap by 100 000 and we can do that for new avivisa because of their there being a community based development organization And then the rest going to capital projects with the majority of it going for homeless infrastructure projects Then the other pot of money that jessica had mentioned for home funding We also got our final numbers from HUD for the 2020-2021 grant year. We have 385 000 dollars program income, which is repayment of loans at 40 000 administration again by HUD formula at 10 percent Along with prior year funds that we haven't allocated to specific projects that we've set aside for future housing projects when they're ready to move forward Which gives us a total of a little over a million dollars in the home fund pot So the proposal is to continue to fund the city of santa cruz housing authority security deposit program at 100 000 We also have choto, which is community housing development organization funds at 15 percent of the grant Which are available for either Habitat for humanity or a mid peninsula housing at 58 000 And it should be noted here that this set aside funds could also go to the jesse street project, which we're not Tentatively going to fund with cdbg dollars We've already allocated 113 000 in prior years of choto set aside funds for jesse street And this is additional funds that they could go after even before they know how they're going to move forward Because they have tentative plans for a larger project So when they know how they want to move forward these set aside funds could already be in the pot for them And then we have the additional uh with the remainder of the upcoming years funds and prior year funds for future housing projects We have over 800 000 available in a pot for that. So again the total here is a little over a million dollars so If we're able to bring the initial budget away today, we can draft the 2020 to 2025 consolidated plan That'll be available starting march 27th Then we'll have our second public hearing to finalize that on april 28th And we have a hard deadline april 29th is the last day to have the final budget numbers and still hit our remaining HUD deadlines And then funding first becomes available at the beginning of july That's it Thank you for that very much for that presentation. Are there any questions from council members at this time? Seeing none. I'll open it up to public comment There are any members of the public who would like to comment on this item at this time If so, please line up to the left and you'll have two minutes Good afternoon. I'm scott ram I'm just wondering about the first administrative cost that was up there. It's like 15 not 10 of the amount So I was wondering why it's above the 10 uh kyle and then with the homeless thing, um I read in the paper that it was going to cost nearly a million dollars to redo the the showers at the homeless center And you're funding like 400 000 of it or something, but it's like That seems to me to be an outrageous amount. I think if it was done by some private contractor In a non-government building this could be done for like a hundred thousand dollars And why it's costing this amount is just Seems to blow my mind.  And maybe some sweat equity for a few homeless people It seems like you know these are real reasonable things to you could look into instead of like Having this become this bloated project that cost Way more than it would in the private sector. Thank you Next speaker Afternoon city council members. My name is edgar landeus. I'm the program manager for novice community resources and What I would like to do is just take the time to thank staff and everyone that for all the Hard work and thinking that went into this process And also just to simply Say that, you know, we're very honored for the continued support over the years everything and You know with the additional request that we requested this year What our intention was to be able to provide additional support with tenant rights In our community and the way we were going to do that was through currently we Are working with a retired attorney Gretchen red heart from crla and she was going to provide these services as pro bono But of course there's additional costs that would go into that which would be for her licensing fees and any other associated fees with that so First of all, I just want to thank everyone for your time and you know, it's not an easy decision, but Certainly thank you very much Next speaker Hi, my name is Roxanne. I'm also with community bridges. I work as the Program director for the family resource collective and I just wanted to sort of respond to some of the comments about addressing homelessness and where we're spending Community funds one of the things that the hap we work closely with the hap but another Grant has identified given given that we don't have the resources to house every person here is the importance of diversion And while Um, no vivista doesn't do diversion per se. We're not contracted to do that work Advocacy work is essentially diversion work. It's keeping people Economically keeping them supported keeping them stable keeping them in their houses And we want to continue that work with the tenants rights A legal aid program So I just want to thank you and sort of point that out to the community that well It might not be spelled out that way that that is, you know, something that we're impacting by doing this work So thank you for your support Next speaker In my deep investigations of santa cruz. I have I was I was educated in how to do that by the way by some consultants who taught me back in the 80s when I was Working in the mental health field Our department was actually called the department of mental retardation. Believe it or not This is in the state of massachusetts and I just want to say that as I have been investigating many aspects of What what it is like to be poor in santa cruz The amount of prejudice that I have found for example, um the The legal group up there. I forget how do you say the name california rural legal? Um When I was denied my fair hearing at ebt The only reason I ever got one was because I held a protest in the front of the lobby This was not the people in front by the way. These were people who had been Situated into official positions in the back What i'm just lightly trying to touch on here is that because I protested and i'm very good at you know, uh Assertively requesting my that my rights be respected I was given another fear of fair hearing within a month But it was egregious what I went through and I want to maintain a posit that many meek Poor people would never be able to assert their rights like I did I ended up opposing a lawyer who was for the legal group and I brought Zav Hershfield as a supporter with me to that meeting I'm going into this in depth because santa cruz is a very very corrupt and nasty town I don't trust almost any of these organizations because I've seen them I know that chris young grin tries to get people on the buses as an outreach worker That's mainly what she does yet year after year after year. She gets to be in that position She could barely make an appointment many times. She flaked out and just didn't show up during my appointments at what's now called housing matters I want accountability, please very much Any other members of the public who would like to comment on this item at this point in time Okay, seeing none. I'll bring it back to council for action deliberation If there are no questions, I'm happy to move the recommendation before us Uh, so we have a motion by council member matthews. I'll second that. Um, I I did have just um A couple comments to make um, but yes, I do too. Go ahead Well actually after you well, I just want to point out for the record that uh On consent we adopted item number five Which is a resolution of poison opposing the federal administration's Proposal to eradicate community development block grant program funding and urging members of the u.s congress to maintain funding This and and the resolution Describes how important this has been year after year after year to our community It rises and falls, but um, I would also Assuming we adopt this also and direct the mayor working with others to Communicate the specific importance of cdbg and home Our community year after year It's not academic. It's real That actually fits with that was To make the community aware of the letter we sent earlier today. Um, and I'd also like to just encourage um I know that kind of as we mentioned before We're not able to give all the money that we would like to to all the um organizations in our community We try to provide as much support as possible And I just like to um kind of on the comment made by the representatives from community bridges and what I've Evisted, um, I just like I'd encourage that group and other groups to um work with Other organizations like tenant sanctuary who are providing who receive funds from the city and are trying to provide You know services towards tenants, especially people who might be facing evictions in our community Just because that's another organization that's doing work that we're funding and maybe there's some way to partner with them In terms of the services that um, you know that you all can provide I just had one question regarding could could you provide just a little bit of information on the senior services and kind of like Um, the updates and upgrades that they're requesting. Yeah, let me go back to that slide Senior center If I can just say the description doesn't begin to describe the problems that building has that's what I think that's what you're getting Yeah, so, um, they they really need over 500 000 of repairs So they were trying to just focus on some of the more critical Issues that they have. Um, they have issues such as plumbing and mold problems rotting Um, sort of a counter near the sink. It's falling in. They have an unsafe ramp in the front of the building Um, that makes it hard for those in a wheelchair to get in and then the bathrooms themselves aren't usable by people in wheelchairs Even though a large number of the people they serve, um, have accessibility issues so, um It doesn't go towards all everything that they need. Um, so I think they want to prioritize HVAC improvements Energy efficiencies and also the ADA improvements and they'll they'll still be More work needed After they make their way through these funds and this is located in the city. I'm just not familiar. Yeah, it's on market street And it's our building It's heavily used That's that's what I was trying to get at because there's a little bit of information that I was kind of wanting to follow up on regarding that Yeah, Suzia here Um, if you wouldn't mind I'd like to clear up some misinformation about the hygiene bay project So, um, we are working really closely with housing matters and the county of santa cruz to work Very urgently on making those, um, those changes and upgrades. It is not a million dollar project. Um, there are, you know, a lot of, um Significant HVAC infrastructure changes that need to be made to ensure that the 100 to 150 showers that happen On that campus can happen in that facility. It really wasn't built to accommodate that many showers So there is a significant need for more airflow to happen Um, it is going to cost less than what has been allocated. Um, which gives us the opportunity to use the remainder funds Which could be on the order of 50 60 thousand dollars to Potentially fund catch recommend infrastructure recommendations that come through during the year That might be emergent that we don't have general fund funding to support and then on Questions around neweva vista I had an opportunity to meet with ray cancino last week really the There is potential for neweva vista and community bridges to assist with tenant protections And diversion programs for those that are undocumented that really don't fit into the other programs that are in the community so I think even the 35 thousand dollars that was funded for homeless Programming could be part of ongoing conversations with community bridges So I just wanted to let you know that that hasn't been foreclosed on I do think From the perspective of continuing to fund neweva vista Keeping up the hundred thousand dollars makes a lot of sense, but there is more opportunity and flexibility We really did want to create additional flexibility with the cdbg funds for this year And I got sandy brown Sandy can you hear us? I'm sorry I couldn't hear you cut out. Um, our team just came back and told me I'm on So yeah, this is sandy. I'm Just wanted to make a couple of comments having recently Come back on to the community programs committee. I was at the meeting at which we discussed This these allocations and I supported them. I support them And I want to follow up on mayor Cummings Point that he made I made the same point at our community programs committee meeting and you know suggested that I think that it's very important that we take You know tenant legal services seriously There's a lot of there are a lot of services that can't be funded Through crla because of their very strict rules About around undocumented immigrants, but also other Requirements and I do think that there's some potential here given the opportunity to to have A legal expert Do the volunteer work to build up a program around that and so I am going to Ask my colleagues to be open to having that conversation And I want to thank mizohara for raising the potential for some of that satisfied funding to be used perhaps for this Because that's exactly where I was hoping we could go As we make final decisions at budget time And so and I'm glad to hear that that conversation has been opened up with community bridges I think that ten and sanctuary and you know a lot of the same People are involved in these different efforts and I think they are Working together and and I think there's some real potential there as we know preventing people you know preventing evictions is Critical and a much lower cost way to address You know issues for people who are at risk of becoming homeless So I do really want to encourage and I'll be You know involved in that conversation Moving forward to consider Funding this program in the future We had councilor matthewson then Just in reference to that I think the Line item we're referring to is homeless programs for 35 000 Plus Which are not set aside? They are non specific funds for thank you I think we don't given the comment that we had from staff we don't