Welcome to our 12 30 p.m. Session of the August 14th 2018 meeting of the city council I'd now like to ask the clerk to please call the roll. Thank you mayor councilmember. It's crone here Matthews Chase Brown here norion here vice mayor Watkins here and mayor trousers here and now the clerk would please lead us in the pledge of allegiance Thank you now at this point in the agenda It's an honor to introduce new employees to the city of Santa Cruz And so we'd like to invite up the department heads from to the departments where these employees will be working and the first Person I'd like to invite up is the deputy director of libraries Janice O'Driscoll Good afternoon is my pleasure to introduce Yesenia Camacho Bautista who is our new administrative assistant for the communications team of Library and yesenia has a very important job because she has to know about all of the programs and all of the branches She makes sure they're all accurately on the calendar She keeps the attendance of statistics so we can report to the state how well we're doing and we're doing really well and The other thing the most important thing that she does is she fields all the requests from the public about For information about all the programs So when you walk up to you sitting and you say what's happening? She can really tell you When she's not communicating about the library to the public She's communicating to her sweet little dog a little corgi named Quinn and They're out and about a lot in Santa Cruz and did you know I didn't know That corgis have a meet-up once a month So if you're walking around and you see a gaggle of corgis Yesenia and Quinn are probably among them So please welcome me help Help me welcome. Yesenia to the library. Thank you. Welcome Next I'd like to invite up director of Public Works Mark Dettel Afternoon, it's my pleasure to welcome four new Employees to the Public Works Department Next to me is Emmanuel Ruiz. He's at our new parking facility maintenance assistance It's a new job straight out of high school. We're really happy to have him He's born in Santa Cruz raised here. He lives in Soquel has two dogs and 17 goats Resid is a residential work password experience residential construction painting land and landscaping He went to Oasis High School and he's ready to start Cabrillo College and Let's see sure Building's not here. His dream is to become a construction inspector for the city So we're helping grooming him for that and giving it some experience He likes to work on projects mountain biking dirt biking road biking He boxes he wrestles. He runs lifts weights exercise goes to the beach go to the forest and eat great food So we are really happy to have him join us with the parking division as a facility maintenance assistant so Not to toot my own horn, but on my Instead of going to my graduation Ceremony My boss called me. He said do you want to work this day at the same time of my thing? And I don't want to tell them that was my graduation ceremony So I went instead of my graduation ceremony to my first day. Yeah dedication To show everyone that I was dedicated for the job and really grateful for the job All right. Thank you. Thank you. We're really Next to Emmanuel is Bonnie McCall a new solid waste worker Actually, she's worked for the city before as a solid waste worker up at the landfill now. She's going to be in collections In a permanent position She was born and raised in Santa Cruz and lives in Santa Cruz. She has one son The past work experience besides the city was Napa auto parts and Santa Cruz City schools She went to school at Soquel High and she enjoys older cars spending time with her son and bike riding So, please welcome Bonnie and Next to Bonnie is Ryan Bowers solid waste worker He's he's also in collections. He's born and raised in Watsonville Currently lives in Brookdale has a dog and a cat His past work experience was three years working at a Driscoll's and at six months at Goodyear's He went to Calabasas and then transferred up to SLB high school And when he's not working he likes to work on a 68 Chevy truck and his RC cars and a fun fact is When his dad used to drive at the Watsonville race speedway, he was in the in his pit crew So that was one thing he enjoys And then next to Ryan is Danny Tobias also a solid waste worker and He was born in Santa Cruz and grew up in Watsonville currently lives in Capitola He has four children two boys and two girls And he worked for the parks for the city and the county for over a year and went to Aptos High and He likes to fish and play fantasy football. So please join me in welcoming all of these new public works employees Add more bike trails Welcome. All right Okay, all right. Well at this point after that nice welcome we want to move on to the next item of our agenda and we have Three presentations that are scheduled and I'm really excited about each of them. Um, the first one is um regarding Loneliness, isolation and older adults and I'd like to invite up Mary Howe to give that presentation Good afternoon Santa Cruz City Council members My name is Mary Howe and I'm part of village Santa Cruz Which isn't a physical place but an organization of seniors to connect with and to support each other in various ways with me are Kelly Mercer Leibov the senior programs director at Loudon Nelson Community Center and Tara Ireland who manages the volunteer center's seniors programs The three of us are part of the senior loneliness and isolation solutions work group That formed out of the solution summit last november The summit was an all-day meeting of about a hundred senior service agencies advocates And policy makers who came together To brainstorm solutions to some of the evolving needs in our community Loneliness and isolation isn't just a problem for older adults But there are some common threads as we move through our lives that increase our losses And these losses increase the likelihood that as we age we'll end up isolated and or lonely For those of us who are parents once our kids grow up we lose the connections and engagement associated with our child's school and parent groups When we retire we lose the daily interaction of our coworkers Physical changes can cause barriers hearing loss means that in noisy environments It's work just to carry on a conversation So we stop going to lively restaurants large parties big gatherings where we previously had spent time with our friends and met new people As our vision diminishes we first stop driving at night Which keeps us home after dark We miss the things that used to bring us so much pleasure the theater the symphony dancing Eventually we may need to stop driving entirely the alternatives pose challenges Notice when you're out walking in different neighborhoods the uneven sidewalks or the lack of continuous sidewalks Imagine walking using a walker A cane or a wheelchair Record all the places you drove for one week And then look at a bus schedule and plot out how you would have done that using public transportation We have people losses Our kids often move away Following jobs or because they can't afford to live here Our friends move to be close to their kids We lose our parents our siblings our partners Do you know that studies are finding that only smoking is a greater health risk to older adults than loneliness and isolation Do you know that in santa cruz county the population of those under 60 Is decreasing while the 60 plus population has increased by 49 percent Since 2011 and continues to rise as baby boomers age The challenges around these this demographic shift Often called the silver tsunami Affects our whole community in so many ways The good news is that santa cruz has some strong organizations doing incredible work to connect with seniors And keep them engaged making sure older adults are adding connections Organizations like village santa cruz like the volunteer center of santa cruz county providing opportunities to engage and serve their communities Also with measure d funds Lift line can now offer rides not just to the mills on wheels Luncheons at loud and nelson, but to all the the downtown senior center programs By building on what already works and innovative thinking together. We can turn the silver tsunami into a silver reservoir Bringing isolated elders back into our community to share their time skills knowledge and stories While our work group focus will always be about finding solutions We know that the first step in solving a problem is to understand the problem So for your information and to get you thinking proactively Our group has put together an infographic about senior loneliness and isolation in santa cruz county Thank you so much for listening Thank you And um, if you'd like you please pass those on and uh, bonnie or city clerk will hand them on Are there any questions from the council members? I actually don't have a question. I just wanted to make a comment as the The city's representative to the area agency on aging and the seniors council was the organization that Put this event on and it was so inspiring to be there And i'm so pleased to see the progress that's been made in terms of you know, really coming At the the challenges and and offering solutions. So thank you for all of your work And thank you for the presentation and mary. Thank you for reaching out If there's any future updates, please let us know on your work and how we might get involved in the future Okay, thank you The next presentation is angelica glass and um, angelica You may have read about in the paper um for the street from the heart um She's walked now I think every single neighborhood in the city of santa cruz and made photographs of them Some you may have seen downtown at pete. There was a recent exposition And I think also in the paper just learning about and I thought just thought coming back from the break After having july was parks months I think we need a little bit of neighborhood flavor to kind of bring us back to uh Kind of our our council deliberations. I thought I I didn't extend the invitation so you can tell us about your project and And and what the status is Thank you so much for the opportunity to tell you about something near and dear to my heart I started the project on december 8th 2013 It was a natural extension of my growing practice of taking long walks for exercise and peace of mind I was working in a sometimes heart wrenching job and felt the need to consciously seek out beauty My initial idea was to find something that moved me on each street and take a snapshot Almost immediately I developed an interest in photography There's something that happens when you look at the world frame by frame I began noticing light shadow And reflection in ways I never had I started out walking the length of each street in the city of santa cruz Where I lived where I've lived for nearly 40 years Along the way I talked with a man who was making stunning archery bows Someone who is building a violin Another fashioning crab pots I met a gentleman building a tiny house on the back of his truck A maker of wooden totems Five sisters making fry bread in their garage Collectors of classic cars Treehouse builders a sculptor a painter a ucsc professor Walking along a road in felton. I met a woman who had just celebrated her hundredth birthday. She invited me to tea One day I met a man with whom I talked about photography Weeks later I signed up for a class only to learn that he would be my instructor In the Morrissey area An elderly gentleman showed me an old tree that he had purchased as a tiny sapling He told me this was a true tulip tree He drew down one of the branches and picked this flower for me I don't know his name or his politics Or his marital status. I do know that his simple gesture touched my heart These chants and counters and many others linger well beyond the moment and collectively they represent one of the most meaningful aspects of my project I was recently on vacation in kawaii as I was grilling our dinner I met a guy from Santa Cruz. He told me that he lived in bonny dune then added Well, I live off of bonny dune road, but people don't typically know the side roads As it turns out My photo of his street is of his backyard There are roughly 4100 streets in santa cruz county 556 in the city of santa cruz 118 in the city of capitol a 212 in scott's valley and 411 in watsonville Unincorporated streets number about 2,802 to date. I've walked the length of approximately 3,980 streets in the county In watsonville you can stand at the corner of hope and peace Or at the corner of ingracia and contento In bonny dune you can find yourself at the corner of ice cream grade and candy lane and I ate some skittles there just You know seemed fitting There's a street called milky way Another called harms way. There's fiddlesticks drive jackrabbit ridge buzzard lagoon rocky road fast lane easy street And my favorite pancake ridge Skipped a couple here I find little pop up fruit and vegetable stands all along my walks like this one on beautiful camp joy road I always keep a couple dollars in my pocket for apples These apples were grown and harvested in the skyland area by the very man who planted the orchard decades ago On the day I met him he was picking barrels of apples which he planted which he planned to trade for Trade with a friend for fish that were being caught even as the apples were being picked I see lots of coyotes cedar wax wings black tail deer cotton tails and jackrabbits crafty squirrels A wide variety of butterflies One of the greatest joys of the project has been literally getting down into the mud and observing the life all around us I no longer own a single pair of jeans without dirt stained knees No matter how much I promise myself that I'll stay clean and tidy I come home from nearly every walk with dirt and grass stains sand pouring out of my shoes and clothes soaked from wading into the River to spy on a newt or into the tide pools to find a baby octopus or slopping through the mud to catch up with a tiny frog Newt guarding her eggs in kings creek Like this photograph because in her eyeball you can see the clouds in the sky Ladybugs along the San Lorenzo River Beeline and Felton I've learned to see familiar places and things in a new light sunlight in spider web strands sunset on the lower west side big sky in Watsonville Grave yards Historic buildings like this beauty and auto center drive in Watsonville In the summit area there are hidden train tunnels you can walk through There's an old barn on vinehill road that is the last vestige of what was once magnetic springs a tourist attraction in the late 1800s My partner Ellen joined me for a walk wondrously afternoon walking a few paces ahead of me She casually turned back and said there's a castle And there it was the colorful Venetian and Capitola Another view of the Venetian Older creek in the wee hours. I often go out before sunrise to witness the changing light Sideway surfer at natural bridges Fellow named Philip who flies his kite from a fishing pole to the great delight of west cliff amblers This artist's rendering of the boardwalk after a king's tide. I love how she stores her paint brushes And my photo from the same vantage point One of the many stunning agricultural roads in Watsonville Vibrant fields on the very outskirts of the county I've seen a wonderful array of dwellings in my local travels Trees and fog from bear creek road Forest lake swimming The view from Watsonville's ridge road A small graveyard and apple barn The road flooded during the storms and swallowed up by the wetlands Love seeing creativity expressed through home and garden art and forged tools I've walked alone for the majority of the walks being alone mile after mile has given me a chance to reflect on my life so far To integrate accept and forgive myself and others for challenges I faced and to more fully experience gratitude I've been blessed beyond measure with a life full of good people a wonderful marriage and the best in-laws Healthy children amazing siblings remarkable friendships meaningful work and abundant delicious food All that and I've discovered that there's endless free entertainment And all you have to do is go out your door 24 friends and family members have joined me for one or many walks My son myles and our dog is he joined me for a walk in one of my favorite scott's valley roads catalac drive Joe meets a new friend Jesse and her dog treco I've always adored treco, but he could scarcely give me the time of day until the project started and he was invited on many walks Now he spins in circles every time he sees me And and I got lost briefly on this walk adding to the adventure My brother hamming it up actually I made him pose for me on this rickety old porch such a good sport My friend sandy occasionally announces I have an entire day to walk Music to my ears the photo here was taken on a day when we had walked over 20 miles My friend consuelo has joined me for several walks into Including an early walk along the entire length of bear creek road where we enjoyed stunning views Here nancy and I explore hins mill road stopping for lunch in a field of forget-me-nots along a creek Nancy is readily game for long long walks. She's walked with me from scott's valley to los gatos as has my brother jerry My son kita and my friends melissa and joe No chance of spotting wildlife when melissa and I walked together We have way too much to talk about And can then wildlife can hear us coming from miles away Here we walk the length of urica canyon road This was during the big storms and we ended up having to navigate some fallen tree limbs to get back to the car My friend kirsten feeds a horse on old ranch road Walking in other people's neighborhoods means you get an insider's view here michelle gives me a tour of the mount madonna summit area My friend's daughter runs joyfully down a classic country road as she and her mom introduced me to their neighborhood I love this place Thank you Thank you Hey back to that Just a quick question. So by my count it's about 200 more streets. Uh, I think about 150. Yeah, okay Um, if you're just speaking to the mic, I'm just curious when you might be able to when you plan to finish the project Well, let's see. I think I'm hoping to to finish by the end of the year by december So, yeah, well definitely, you know continue to share the photographs and I really appreciate the senior work Downtown and also reading about in the paper. So thank you for sharing that with us today So from walking neighborhood streets to uh, roller derby So I'd like to invite up the santa cruz roller derby for a presentation I think just about everybody here is Embraced santa cruz roller derby. I think it's become like a fabric to our community I went back recently and looked back at some of my Family photographs and I've seen my kids Age and uh, grow through different seasons with the roller derby So it's really an honor for me to present you on your 10th season this proclamation um, I don't know if you'd like to present first, but I I'd love to hear about what you've been up to and what's in the future And then maybe we'll we'll present the proclamation for you That sounds great. Thank you so much for inviting us to be here today. This is a special honor for us We and are excited every year to get to work with the city of santa cruz to declare Derby girl day and santa cruz and we're honored to be able to share with you a little bit about what we do For the city of santa cruz and how we're representing santa cruz internationally now So we have a few slides to go through to tell you what we're all about And then we have some if there's time we can answer some questions. My name is eileen hill I go by the derby name Sharon de pain I'm a giver not a taker And I have been skating with the santa cruz derby girls since 2010 I play on the harbour hellcats the b team. I also volunteer And serve the league by training skaters as well as Being part of the marketing committee Oh, and in my real life, I am the executive director of the cabrio college foundation Yeah, we always refer to ourselves as our real lives and our derby lives Sometimes you get mixed up because you start answering emails with the wrong name Um, my name is reagan. I'm in I go by shamrock and roller on the santa cruz derby girls And I am a founding member of the league. So I've been with the league for 10 years now Um, I am the captain of the boardwalk bombshells, which is our all-star traveling team And I also play play act as the executive director of the santa cruz derby girls, which is a voted in position by our league members I'm a mother of two in my real life and I work as a television and video producer for my family's company tam communications My name is jennifer mcneill and My derby name is pain generator. I go by pain on the track In my real life I work at ecology action as the product development manager bringing energy efficiency to all of california and the pacific northwest For derby for our league. I am the director of boot camp. So I train New skaters and bring in new league members to help support the growing sport Hi, i'm skirt vonnegut. I'm a jammer for the boardwalk bombshells And on the league. I'm the fundraising director So I run fundraising events and reach out to sponsors and try to get support for our league And in my real life. I'm a writer. Um, I'm finishing up my first science fiction novel Nice So we're just going to introduce a little bit of the history of Roller derby and the background of our league So modern roller derby began in 2001 in austin texas. It quickly spread to well over 1200 leagues worldwide Modern roller derby is played by a set of rules. It's not scripted Which you may have seen in the days of yore when you watched on television the banked track We actually play on a flat track. There are still banked track leagues, but our league is a flat track roller derby league We've seen how the sport has evolved It started as more of a spectacle type of sport with fishnets and tattoos and people coming for that reason and now it has really become a membership of Thousands of serious athletes who train and practice seven days a week on and off the track Our league began in 2009 as the first 501c3 nonprofit full contact flat track roller derby league in santa cruz It was a small group of us that came together and wanted to make roller derby happen in santa cruz We didn't know exactly what we were doing, but we knew we wanted to play roller derby We wanted to hit people we wanted to be athletes And we didn't realize that we were actually creating this huge business and community organization for santa cruz As you said we are celebrating our 10-year anniversary And in these 10 years we have also become a member of the women's flat track derby association Which represents about 400 leagues internationally? And the women's flat track derby association is like it's the governing body Of roller dirt flat track roller derby kind of similar to the nba in basketball So in those 10 years we have seen our numbers fluctuate and we're proud to say that our league has grown to 170 members who are comprised of adult and junior skaters non skating officials on skates officials and announcers and volunteers Who are committed to furthering the sport roller derby in santa cruz for For our community but also worldwide. We are do we talk about this? We're currently ranked 16th in the world, which is a huge deal for our small town and we will talk about that a little bit later The thing about our organization is we're completely volunteer run We also pay to play the sport and to put ourselves through All the pain that we do not only physically but also emotionally and mentally because we all are running this business for all employees of this organization We pay to play dues We pay we pay dues every month and that is how we are able to fund our practice based up in scott's valley And because the skaters are paying to play we're not only putting our money in but our time Because we do work as employees. We all have our jobs on the league as we all express our different jobs But every member of our league has to hold a job and also do volunteer hours Because it's not just about the volunteer time we put into our organization But it's about volunteer hours that we're presenting to the community because we do represent our league as community first driven So pain you're gonna talk a bit about our track pack Yeah So our track pack consists of referees and non skating officials and they really are the people who make it so that we can play the game They keep us safe and they make sure that we all play by the rules We train our referees and our non skating officials They have to know the rule sets So, um, you know, we provide that training to them as well as um, if they're referees They have to be on skates they have to maneuver and keep up with our skaters playing the game when we provide that training through our boot camp as well Our referees not only play for not only Officiate for our league, but they also travel Across the country and even worldwide to support the derby community and officiate for other leagues as well Our Our grom program, this is our junior roller derby program. It's really amazing. We have 66 skaters enrolled right now Ages seven to 17 There's actually kind of three teams. There's the grom shell team, which is our a team traveling team There's the sassies and then there's a brand new program Which is called the gromettes, which is really ages seven to ten and those over ten that are new to skating And it's really to get them introduced to the sport My son is actually part of the gromettes. He's nine. He started last year It's really super fun to watch them at that age Our grom shell team Have Raised in the ranks. They are currently ranked number one Um in the junior roller derby association the national Organization for junior roller derby and um, they won the championships in july in pennsylvania Our juniors really are the future of roller derby We have been lucky enough to have them, you know grow up and become adult skaters as well So as I had mentioned before we are um, I'm on the hell cats, which is the b team And we are set up like a farm structure So when uh people want to join and anybody can join any of you can join if you're interested You can enroll in our boot camp. We show you all the skills to that you need to get started And then once you get past boot camp you are Put into our fresh meat program So we really love the fresh meat because we get to hit and knock them around And then once they graduate from the fresh meat program they go to our c team the sirens and then graduate to our b team Which is where we develop our next All stars who then are our boardwalk bomb shells and who represent santa cruz internationally All right, so our all star team is the boardwalk bomb shells and the bomb the bomb shells Travel across the country We've played teams from almost any state you can think of in the union And um increasingly more so we're becoming um international presence So teams from across the world have come to play us We've played teams from australia canada finland the uk And um teams from all over have come to play us here in in santa cruz or at our facility in scott's valley We hosted our third annual boardwalk empire tournament this past year It was a huge success. Uh, we actually were able to stream it online. So people from all over the world could watch us play And our little team here in santa cruz is making a huge impact worldwide. So as shami said We're ranked 16th now. That's out of 400 teams in the wft da That's our highest ranking we've ever achieved So we're super proud of the work that we've done to get there and super proud of our leadership Which has gotten us there, too And this year we are proud to say that we've been invited to playoffs in acarunia spain. That's a tiny little surfing town just About the north of about north of portugal Super appropriate. That's a tiny little surfing town because we'll put right in So we're excited to see that and um get to represent santa cruz internationally Our first game is going to be against paris roller derby When we beat them we'll be playing Crime city which is malmo sweden And uh as we're and and then angel city from from la we'll see them again And uh as a nonprofit, you know, we're run by volunteers As shammy said we we pay to play And that's why we're asking our community to help us raise money to get to spain So here we have a list of um, you know perks and support levels And the perks for giving our you know, we like to give away fun stuff like game tickets A handwritten limerick written by one of our skaters scdg merchandise and even a skate lesson with the derby girls So uh along with all the things we do for our league as well as training and skating and competing we also Really want to give back to the santa cruz community. So so far in our 10 years. We've donated nearly 40 000 dollars to community organizations Over a thousand volunteer hours And to more than 40 local nonprofit schools and community groups So we would like to participate in beach cleanups river cleanups Blood drives as well as also partnering each year with a featured non-profit. So this year the spca is our featured non-profit We uh work with them to help cross promote what they're doing and their mission We invite them to come to all of our games and they get to parade around some dogs for adoption And then at the end of the season we will award them proceeds from our bouts as well So we're very excited to be able to do that for our community Did you have a question? No, I just was wondering yeah, if you were turning it over to me Not yet We're really proud to also say that we've had a successful adoptions because of the spca being at our games and we um It's one of those things that we feel really proud of that. We're able to give those Animals a forever home. So we're going to talk really quick about how roller derby is played We talked already about it being full contact. We wear safety equipment along with our skates We wear helmets elbow pads wrist guards knee pads and mouth guards Um, and we're just going to show this video because I think this is going to be the best way for you to See how the sport is played and you'll it's going to take you a really long time Anyways, if you came out to our games to understand it because it's still confusing to us but um, it's really fun and exciting and Full of hard hits and I'm going to just keep talking until the video is ready We do play the game in two 30 minute periods and those periods are broken up into jams up to two minutes long For each jam we field four blockers and one jammer. So at any one time there can be up to 10 skaters on the track The jammer. I'll just explain it the jammer has a star on their helmet script is one of our jammers She's the score. She scores the points for the The team that she's playing on And then it's the job of the blockers to keep The posing team blockers to keep her from Scoring points and it's our job to keep to help her get points scored Um and There's all these little details and ways you can get penalties and end up going to what we call the penalty box And the one of the things that we just want to show to every to to the Crowd out here are adoring fans is um, we talk we talk about legal hitting and blocking zones So you guys face that way and we'll face this way Okay, so Sharon I can hit Sharon with my hip my shoulder and um My so my hip there my shoulder here I can hit her in my back if I want to but I don't recommend it But I can only hit Sharon in so many places. I can't cannot hit Sharon in the head I can so I have to hit her from the neck Down and I have to hit her from the middle of the hip up I can't hit her with my elbows or my forearm. So I can't come up turn go like that and knock her over That's our clothes line And no tripping no low blocks and then there's all whole bunch of other ways that you can end up going to the penalty box Not related to making anyone fall down so Yeah, I want to hear so I guess I want to say the best way to probably learn is to go and watch it directly So I'm gonna say this before before I before I read the proclamation I want to really thank you for calling out your volunteer work in the community. I know you as Santa Cruz derby girls even sponsor local sports teams for girls and I think you're Really an outstanding role model for young young girls in the community in sports to see all the different opportunities and activities that are out there So I know my kids have appreciated it and we we appreciate all that you do and for those reasons and more We're dedicating the season for you on your 10th anniversary. So Yeah, and so I'll just say Without going into the the full proclamation I just want to say that um as mayor of the city of santa cruz I hear do I do by proclaim the santa cruz derby girls season and In the city of santa cruz and urge all citizens to celebrate this hardworking and dedicated league of women and men Who bring the sport of roller derby to our city and also to really encourage everyone to come out to the august 25th 2018 bout at the santa cruz auditorium Yes, lastly go celebrate them on their trip to spain and make some donations to make that trip Successful, and i'm going to come down and give this to you and I wish we could all join you to Be out there celebrating honor. Well, thank you and on august 25th We will have a special cameo from maria mayor to razis and we will be honoring him with a special derby name So you can actually see who some of our Former santa cruz city mayors up there and their derby names actually civil servant Also known as sythia matthews was the one who started all of this. So thank you so much Civil servant. I love it And I gave him the skate key to the city too. We got a skate key from from civil Who's civic booty? Policy maker is that Policy maker that's awesome This is red alert over here Yeah, we have we have some flyers here for the game and we'll just leave them here if anybody wants Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it And I just want to say one thing real quickly We had a group of french exchange students around three or four years ago that we hosted took them to a derby girls bout And they it was really funny trying to explain what was going on to them with a language barrier But they had a great time and endeavored to learn more about it after after they left they kept asking questions So I'd be playing them in paris I mean playing they might be playing for the paris roller derby No kidding. I'm gonna be great Thank you guys. Thank you Thank you All right, thanks. Those are those are really wonderful presentations to start the meetings And now I'd like to turn it over and start Our regular meeting have a few announcements and then we'll move on to the agenda Today's meeting is being broadcast live on community television channel 25 and streaming on the city's website at cityofsanicruze.com Jennifer Cameron is our technician this evening and like to thank her for her work throughout the meeting recording this for community television All city council members can be emailed at city council at cityofsanicruze.com If you'd like to communicate with us about an agenda item We'd like to receive your email by monday prior to the meeting at 5 p.m This provides us with an opportunity to review your email included with the rest of our agenda packet Please bear in mind that all items of correspondence with the city and city council constitute public records And are generally subject to disclosure upon request by any member of the public Accordingly if you have sensitive or private information That you do not wish to be made public. You should not include that information in your correspondence Our rules of decorum are on the window ledge to my left It's my job to keep the meeting running without disruption and we ask that you respect your fellow citizens when whether you are inside or outside of the chambers At this time, I'd like to ask if there's any council members if they have any statements of disqualification today Seeing none and assuming councilwoman orion doesn't have one. I'll move on to additions and deletions Are there any additions and deletions? In regards to 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 generally occur at the conclusion of afternoon business at or around 5 30 p.m But may occur before or after that time At this time, I'd like to call on the city attorney to provide a report on the closed session Thank you. Mayor trazis members of the city council items discussed this afternoon In the courtyard conference room In closed session which began at 11 30 this morning are A a conference with legal counsel with respect to liability claims Those are the claims of eril naja teppern The claim of bigham christiansen and minceloff llc The claim of david turner and the claim of david k myberg. Those are also Item 11 on your consent agenda this afternoon And based on council direction in closed session when you do call your consent calendar There will be a recommendation to defer action on items one That is the heppern claim and four which is the myberg claim secondly the council met with its labor negotiator In a conference with labor negotiators concerning the operating engineers oe three council received a report from The labor negotiator on that matter, but there was no reportable action Lastly there were three items of real property negotiations property at 55 b c and d municipal wharf That is also agenda item 10 on your consent calendar Property at 115 coral street Council received a report and gave direction on that item. No reportable action was taken Lastly the property at 10237 newell creek road ben lomond. That is also item 21 on your consent agenda Thank you, it's my report. Thank you But next I'd like to call on the city manager to provide a presentation Thank you, mayor and council. I'm going to pass out a copy of the presentation here I'm going to do a brief update on The homelessness item I'll start by just giving an update on the more the state and regional Things that would happen in this arena first As everybody is aware of we've The state has allocated some additional funding towards homelessness Which is good news across the state since it's a major issue For our county we're looking at about 9.6 million that would be available to us over the next three years The homeless action partnership, which is comprised of the county and four cities And homeless service providers are is the Structure that's looking at the prioritization and how to assign the the funding and meeting the regional needs for homelessness The applications for those funds are due in october and november of this year And we expect to receive funding by january of 2018 So they'll develop recommendations that will come back and to look at how to allocate those funds regionally the other item at the local level county white level at least is the Approval of the board of supervisors the placement of an affordable housing bond measure Of which in in that proposed Ballot measure includes funding for homelessness in the range of 21 million dollars The idea is to focus on navigation centers both in the north and south county regions Around a motion emergency shelter and also transitional and supportive housing. So that's Again, another major resource to be able to make some improvements particularly in providing housing emergency housing and transitional housing In addition, it proposes money significant monies for housing production and preservation and home ownership And with respect to the city in particular, we would receive about a portion of the The the 119 about 21 million dollars in home in well a portion of the 21 million dollars for homelessness would come out of The would be originally allocated But with respect to the other portions of the funding for housing production and preservation We would receive about 30.5 million dollars that the city would be Have the flexibility and the ability to determine how to use that within those categories The other item I wanted to report on is the winter shelter program as we're coming up on that And so that is also another effort and has been traditionally of the homeless action partnership Again the county in the four cities And working at winter shelter possibilities in conjunction with the transition of the river street camp And the homeless services Polyloft program The operator of the winter shelter again for the last two seasons committed to short-term operations and has fulfilled that promise A new operator and siding needs to be identified. So that is something that we're working on now And the the operator or the winter shelter typically operates for five months providing about a hundred beds Of shelter per night for the wettest and coldest time of the year So that's something that we're working on now to to resolve With respect to the river street camp river street camp is operating as as normal We've had really had that no major Impacts the community and operate it relatively smoothly There's no plans to close the program now in the current authorization that your you have provided us through the end of august This the camp is also funded Through the HAP process where the city contributes 35 percent the county 51 percent And then the city's the scots valley and capitol approximately 13 percent So that is the the new funding model with this interim period of time that it's operating We're currently in the process of evaluating the transition plans and the possibility of extension and the community engagement process Which we talked about doing that before we move forward with any particular approach or plans And we expect to have a full update to you at your august 28th council meeting And then finally I thought I'd give you an update on you know another portion of the City's efforts to improve homelessness and to address homelessness is the downtown streets team and in their work As you know, they're moving into their second year of operation and have expanded into the harvey west neighborhood the county has also contracted with them to Provide expansion into the unincorporated areas of the county They've had a really a great experience and have been pretty successful in making a difference where they've they've worked I've got some information to share about their work. They have several routes Or areas that they covered throughout the the city at downtown the river Wherever walk levy the beach in harvey west with respect to harvey west They actually have four routes one which includes the pogunip and as you can see they've Done quite a bit of work to collect, you know garbage and Needles and in those sorts of things Particularly along the the river walk and in levy The other thing that's important about the downtown streets team is a lot of what they do The core of what they do is really to help individuals after homelessness Obviously the cleaning up is is important But also they strive to address and trying to help people's Situations and circumstances so they you can see here some of the statistics around that in terms of finding Housing or sheltering for individuals or employment And they've done some some pretty good work in that arena as well So with that i'd be happy to answer any questions you may have Any questions council member crown Yeah, I was wondering about the uh the money From the state that we they were anticipating How is that going to be received and who gets to disperse that which which group are we working with the county? Is it a city? Is it the city councils that are? our own community services committee of the council It it goes through as I understand is through the the HAP process which is a regional entity that's comprised of representatives from the various Cities in the county. It also includes a homeless services providers in that Approach obviously we will bring back to council the the various Approaches and recommendations, but the allocation process works through through the HAP Which is the the method that we've used for example for the winter shelter the winter shelters funded in that approach And we have essentially a methodology that we've employed relative to how funding is shared And so in this particular case we'll also look at how to allocate it. That's really dependent on whatever sheltering plan We develop moving forward in terms of the long term Plan for the navigation center and then as well as the interim plan So as we develop these plans and work on what specifically they'll they'll look like Then we'll tie the funding to to make it work for the region And again, this also includes not just For sheltering and needs in north county, but also south county. That's included in the process as well last question You'd mentioned or somebody mentioned something like nine million dollars is what we're talking about up to that and so Do we does the HAP group go out and And look for service providers or do service providers come to the HAP group and apply for these grants funding? It does depend on whatever plans we we we put forward together relative to what Is identified as as the plan and develop as a plan So for example, I anticipate that it will be a combination of investments in permanent facilities as well as temporary facilities whether as we transition into You know tent like structures moving forward and or the acquisition of sites and facilities But that has to be that it has not been determined But that's what I anticipate that the uses would be And it would be determined really by the cities in the county working with the homeless services providers And just to be clear that's the city portion not No, this is a county and this is this is countywide. So that nine million would be like countywide monies Okay, thanks councilmember brown Just a quick question. Given that we have been faced with extension of the river street Camp site. I'm just wondering how we are notifying both People who are staying in the camp and the general public about the extension and also about Some kind of assurance that people will not be displaced before we find secondary transitional site All right Well, what we've committed to do and have done consistently is to Keep the community and the neighborhood engaged of any changes. So for example with the Current extension we reached out to them in advance so that they were the first to to be aware of it as well as to provide input into Any concerns they may have about the such a decision So that'll that'll occur as part of the process and that's been part of the standard procedures there With respect and again the goal is to we'll be we'll be back to council relative to extending that but certainly the goal is to Be able to provide as much shelter capacity and services to the community without creating Displacement that is the goal I'll just make a comment. I you mentioned in your report the placement of the countywide bond measure on the november ballot by the board of supervisor I just want to I congratulate the board Supervisors for doing that in support of the work of, you know, fred keely and former mayor don lane I think that help will help, you know For prove funds some desperately needed housing in in our region not only in the city, but throughout But also I didn't see in there But I had also heard that there's also an additional tax measure that was placed on on the ballot Which will generate for retail sales funds to be used in the city to Address behavioral health issues and mental health and I think that's also an equally important Action that the board took and I'd like to really congratulate the board for that because I think it really Will provide some significant benefit to the city if approved to help address those Those needs right that's correct There are sales tax measure that they placed on the ballot provides some funding to develop a program that would Really address some of the the the high frequency offenders And provide for really intense monitoring And the ability to sort of kind of track and and be able to Balancing or holding individuals accountable In terms of providing public safety support as well as trying to assist individuals So that that would be a critical program that would be Implemented countywide and it would be certainly helpful to the city Are there any other questions or comments? Okay, then we'll move on to the consent agenda First up is the consent agenda. These items are numbers 4 through 21 on our agenda All items will be acted upon in one motion unless an item is pulled by a council member for further discussion We've already had discussion item 11 is going to be pulled from the agenda Because of some changes and we can reflect that in the motion Really an item 20 council member crone contacted me in advance to request that item 20 be pulled Um, are there any other items council members wish to pull from this agenda on council member brown? Yeah, I'd like to pull item eight and I have a quick question on item 13 13 so we'll ask a question on 13 and any others Number seven and 21 And I would I would want to pull 13 because I don't want to you know, I want to I'm going to vote on that Number 21. Whoa, and you said number 13 Yeah, okay, so rather than the question we'll just we'll just And um, I'm going to um pull item number four just for some clarification on the minutes Which I was advised about a clerk to do that to pull it so Um, so we have quite a few um that are pulled and that's numbers Four 11 13 Excuse me four seven eight 11 13 20 and 21 So are there any members of the public that wish to speak on any items other than the ones I just mentioned? Any member of the public that wishes to speak on any item other than the ones I just mentioned See none. I'll bring it back to the council for further deliberation and action I'll move the consent agenda with the exception of those that were named A motion by council member matthews second by council member chase and that is a motion to approve the consent excluding items four seven eight 11 13 20 and 21 All those in favor of that motion. Please say aye. Hi any opposed? Okay, that motion passes unanimously Okay, so we'll start with number four, which I asked to be pulled um based on the city clerk's recommendation This is a minutes from the june 12th city council meeting and just for clarification when we had the the housing recommendations that came back Um, I there was a obviously the full council. Um, there's one no, but the full council supports the work of the housing subcommittee I um, there were some issues in there that I um, I did not support though And that was the elimination of the owner occupancy requirement. I just want to make sure for the record that that was clear I'm open to looking at it, but I did not support that You know staff work to to do that And I like that clear on the record also that you know, there was a direction to look at creating a new housing legislative affairs program And I feel that I wanted to make sure that the legislative affairs program is is improved into the existing legislative affairs work, so we're not creating a new one and then also Requesting clarification on the status of the corridor plan in light of the recent work on downtown projects I mean, I I felt like it was it was a really kind of a comprehensive report And there was a lot to cover, but there was just so much to digest It was difficult to kind of like parse it out into kind of individual discussion I just want to make for the record that that those are Things that I'd want clear in the minutes So Is there any discussion? Well, I'm prepared to move unless you want I was going to ask if there's any member of the public is any member of the public that likes to speak on this side And this is item number four. This was the minutes from the June 12th agenda Seeing none. I'll bring it back to the council and I'll move the Approval of the minutes with the addition for the record of the points that the mayor has spelled out for his His specific stand on the issues. Yeah, and I'll second that. Thank you I just wanted to say that It's quite a lineup of issues there There's a count of about 10 pages of stuff that was passed in that motion So I just call attention to that from the general public and also to the council that there's quite a few things there Thanks. Okay, there's a motion Council member brown. I just have a quick comment there So, uh, yeah, it is a very extensive list and in our in our subcommittee We I think intentionally had some some really Deep discussion about where there may be some disagreements on particular areas that We really tried to craft the language So we were looking at exploring those items coming back So I I imagine that most of this is going to be coming back to us kind of parceled out in In different pieces and we will have an opportunity to weigh in again So hope everybody feels good about that And I know for this particular item you were not present for the vote But did you watch the video or are you gonna okay, so you're you rehabilitated? Thank my colleagues for representing me. I'm sorry. I could be here Okay, so there's a motion in the second on the floor all those in favor. Please say aye. Hi Any opposed? Okay, that motion passes unanimously. Okay. So that was number four So the next item is number seven number seven is the certification of the june 5th 2018 statewide primary election and I'll turn it over council member chrome for your question Thank you very much mayor I just want to once again Point out this is there's a clear mandate here from the people of santa careers that I think want the city council to to to act with in concert really or work with the university in Not moving forward with more growth until they house more students on on campus A much higher percentage of students. I just want to say there was a meeting last night on the west side with the university that took input from West Siders who's 30 people attended that meeting and there was not anybody, you know, most people were You know, yes, we Do not want more growth is what how it was characterized to me as well I think if you look on One of the pages before us, it's not numbered but The you know in the in the election that took place in june I think only representative panetta had a higher percentage of of votes, you know the 76 almost 77 percent Of folks who voted, you know voted To pass measure you and so I just with that in mind I know that when I was talking to the mayor he reminded me that in june we asked Our Staff to you know, how do we move forward on this or what what steps are we going to take and if they're going to come back to us? I just want to again ask the City manager How do we implement the will of the people here? We have 76 percent of the people voted to limit growth of the university This is a you know non-binding sort of initiative But we're getting a sense from The people who live in santa cruz that we need to do something Yes, so yes in june This is on june 26 the council took on this item There was an item before you to it was in the context of the community community Process that the university has entailed relative to their LRDP process currently and so The council took action to direct the mayor to represent the city at an upcoming community advisory committee meeting which did occur And a letter was prepared with the city's position as well as translating the Not translating but Transmitting the the results of measure you as well as the the measure itself And at the meeting there was a pretty thorough presentation that was provided to the members of the committee And university officials were there really clearly representing the city's position again It was provided in writing as well as presented there With some also some facts and data relative to the impact of the university on housing and other and other things In addition to that You know part of what the council direction was to to emphasize really the impacts particularly related to growth Which again was translated at that meeting to the university as well as the The willingness of the council to support local leadership And staff and students and their efforts and again that was also Uh provided to the university The last piece of the the action that council provided was to ask the planning department and legal staff for information on Next steps and timeline in the LRDP LRDP process including what resources might be necessary For the city to represent its interests. So that is uh being worked on now the council asked that this be brought back in August so we're looking at the next council meeting to bring this back So that is the status of the action that council took Thank you. Thank you very much because I just wanted to make good that clarity and I didn't know that I really appreciate that it's going to come back to us in august unless anybody think that This is somehow an attack on the university. I work at the university and I see students suffering in housing with sitting on on floors of classroom Getting elbowed in the face on buses Deciding to walk instead of taking the bus because there's just it's overloaded So there's just so many issues here that students are dealing with and I I feel like um, you know They are I want I want to represent their their interests as well on this council. They are a constituency in this town So thank you mayor. Yeah. Thank you and just just to be clear I mean that was unanimous direction by the council We included a cover letter that went to the LRDP committee and that should be in our packet from that prior meeting There's a strong letter. Thank you. Yeah, and also we have a discussion about that Again coming up, but uh, I appreciate you bringing the point up now And I'll turn it over to the public to see if there's any members who would like to speak to this item Which is item number seven certification of the june 5th 2018 statewide primary election Any members of the public I'll bring it back now. Um, all those in favor of the item before us Please get a motion. I'll make a motion. Um, I'll second it Okay, so motion by council member crone. Yeah seconded by Certify the election results of the past june election. Yeah, thank you and a second by council member matthews Any further discussion all those in favor? Please say aye. Aye Any opposed? Okay, that motion passes unanimously Okay, next next item on the agenda is item number eight from our consent and this is the extension of the city commitment for $750,000 in feet of furloughs and loans for a proposed affordable housing project at 350 ocean street and Council member brown. Did you request that people sure? Yes? I did. Do you have a question? Do you want to well? I have a couple of comments and I got most of my questions answered yesterday But I do have some quests. I'd like to ask a couple more questions So you have the question council member crone. You requested it to be pulled. Do you have a specific um number eight? I think it was council member brown requested to be pulled. Oh, okay. I understood it was a question at first go ahead, please That was on 11 So You know, I've been following this although not as closely as this round since the city got involved in working with the the property Owner at 350 ocean and you know, we kind of I don't want to rehash the story But as we know that that property has been sitting vacant My understanding is that that we've had some serious challenges working with this developer They have not been able to secure low-income housing tax credits in the past. I understand that there's more promising possibilities for this round and or the next round of state low-income housing tax credits And I also understand that the the city In order to grant this extension of the bond is asking for some You know that there be some consequences attached some some strings attached and that the the developer has to comply With those in order to be able to develop the property. I personally think this is another missed opportunity I would like to see the city just purchase this property I don't believe that the developer was willing to do that But we do have rights to do that for particularly a situation where we have blight a developer's failure to Actually pay relocation assistance is my understanding as required by the city So, you know, I'm not feeling particularly good about providing an extension to this developer I understand that there are some Some again some consequences if they don't comply with the terms of the contract So I think it would be worth us all hearing just a little bit more about that Before we make our decision because I really do see this as a potential missed opportunity And if nothing else a three-year delay If the developer isn't able to build in addition the demolition will leave us with You know another hole in the ground Which we've all said we're not particularly fond of you know for extended periods of time So if we could just get a little more information about what the consequences will be what the alternatives might be For for funding should the developer not get The tax credits and I want to thank carol burg for taking time to provide me with some of that information yesterday But I think it would be worth having that just a little more information here now So let me just before you start. Are there any other questions just so we can kind of Frame it. Do you have any other questions also? Yeah, okay. So we'll maybe first Cover those comments that councilman brown made carol and then and then I'll we'll take it from there Carol burrick economic development The action that's being requested is the extension of the The commitment that we've made to the project for 750,000 In a combination of deferred fees and a affordable housing trust fund loan and It really is needed if this project is going to move forward as A low-income housing tax credit project and there is More hope this time around that they will actually do that We did put a limit to the amount of time that this extension would be granted So that it would allow them to apply To have they just applied in july it would allow them to apply next march And then the following july and then if they hadn't gotten the funding by then Then it would trigger another need for another extension before they could apply in the following march So there is a finite period here, but um I'm actually a little bit hopeful just because there are so many there's so few Applications this this funding round the city really does not have the funding available to purchase that site and to actually develop it And and so that's one of the issues So what this action is doing besides extending that is the that so that they can get funding is Providing a connection to an implementation of an action You took last august where you said that you can demolish these buildings Before you get a finalized building permit Under these circumstances and one of them was that they would pay Or put forward some kind of a surety bond For the relocation Fees or relocation units that they would need to provide And there would also be A deed restriction against the property whoever owned it that these units would still be due Against the property. So really this in a way is just an implementation of that with the extension and from a staff perspective Um, it would be a missed opportunity to not give them this extension at this time because of the fact that they might be able to get the funding And then they'd be able to take down the buildings as well, which would improve the community and the safety in that area Have a quick follow-up question because I'm now a little bit more confused than I was The so the the requirement for relocation assistance I mean that window has passed. We're talking about a vacant property. So I'm not sure how we're extending that requirement because They no longer have that, you know, I maybe misspoke. It's replacement housing requirement You had mentioned relocation assistance Yeah, this is for replacement housing. Yeah, the the relocation assistance has passed and they did A less inadequate job, but they did do the replacement housing requirements Okay, there was a follow-up question for from vice mayor Watkins What what approximately is the amount of the gap? What's sort of the funding gap that you mentioned? What are we looking at in terms of dollars there in terms of what they're selling the property for? Well in terms of the gap that is needed to meet the The um the goal Do you know or none? Um I've been told various amounts various years the last amount. I think was like nine million gap Um, there's been seven million gap I mean, it's a substantial gap that they're still facing With the nine percent tax credits. They get a lot closer to Actually building it Um to follow-up question. Yes, councilmember norion. So if we don't provide this fee We don't provide this financing Pretty much the owner could sell To somebody and then the guarantee or just even the chance of this amount of affordable housing Just goes away. Doesn't it? Um, they can sell now. In fact, they have been actually marketing the property I don't think they've been heavily marketing it, but I've been approached by a number of non-profit developers who are we're exploring Developing it but the the cost was too high And and so they can sell it now um The consequences are not providing the extension which is really just giving them a letter saying that the council has voted to extend the money We're not actually providing them with the money Would be that they wouldn't have A local match For a state grant. So essentially they would then not be able to have the state grant of equal amount And they would not be able to claim that there was a local match And applying for the low-income housing tax credit which they have put on their application And it would most likely Make their application Harder to fund if they have a chance of Funding getting it funded it would tank that chance. Okay, so so It's I just wanted to point that out because this is a an incredible opportunity that we don't get A lot to do 100% affordability and so it sounds like this gets us from step a to step b And makes it more likely that this will remain a 100 affordable project Yes, the city is protected here We're not giving any money until there actually is a project that's going to get built And we're the the buildings are to the point where they have to be demolished anyway And we're we would at least be getting a Surely bond that would pay for 50% of that And then we'd also have it recorded on the property that these units would have to be built somewhere To replace the low-income housing. So there's not a lose situation for the city in this And there's potentially a gain because if they got funded then It would actually get built and I just have to say talk about trying to put something together with spit and bubble gum I mean, there's so many moving parts and things that need to be part of this. So thank you for hanging in there with this Um, I will look very forward to seeing these buildings demolished as they've been quite an attractive nuisance for the neighborhood too It looks and we'll have a couple follow-up questions And then we'll get public comment and we'll bring it back for the council deliberation So you have a follow-up question customer brown and it's sort of council member chase. Okay, so can I know you have I was unaware that the last I had heard the The owner was not interested in selling. So this is news to me. Uh, can you tell us what ballpark what the Value of the market land value is I don't know that it the only reason I know is because I've gotten periodically I've gotten feelers from nonprofits who Have been interested in trying to purchase the property. I don't think it's like being heavily marketed But I think that it is simply um, you know an opportunity that the The property owner if if paid the right price he would I'm sure want to Sell it because it has been undeveloped for so long But it's not something that is it's not like on the market out there to everyone. It's just a subtle thing council member chase I just wanted to clarify the Timeline because kind of on the same line of questions that council member brown brought up This is basically one more or less a year from now We could come back and revisit this if the developer doesn't move forward with this and at that point Then um, assuming that the bonds we just the bond measure we just discussed passes Then there would be money available to the city Should the developer be willing to sell at that point or another option the city could have if We wanted to and that was roughly march Are you saying and that we would revisit this if nothing moves forward on that project? Actually, we put a date in in the staff report and I don't remember the exact date It's a it's over a year. It's it allows them to go through Three rounds of tax credit applications and and I mean the with state funding coming out potentially a year from now With potentially more local funding come out coming out there there might be a very changed situation Down the road Okay, new questions from council member crown. Thank you, um, bonnie. I don't know if he can you put up 350 ocean a picture of it From the google. Is it possible? Thank you. Um Just wondering is the 750 uh coming from the affordable housing fund. Is that what you said? That's it's a combination of Fee deferrals and then the gap Uh for the matching funds would be made up with the affordable housing trust fund And I think it was we set aside and have been holding I think about 250 000 for that and the rest would be for deferred Fees So, um, is this a picture of it right here? Is that what you know to be? Um, how much have we ever done an estimate of what it would take to fix up the units that are existing right now before They were boarded up and or even to unboard them Um, what happened over time was deferred maintenance as the developer was waiting He let the buildings go beyond what would be likely to be able to Rehab them and um, I I turned to alex quarry if he has anything to add on this because You know that this was discussed when The developer will said, you know, there are code enforcement people had gone in and said, you know, these need to be red tagged and We said that the They'd been allowed to decline. They hadn't been maintained But they are where they are right now it'd be very difficult to go in and uh kind of a waste of money to go in and rehab these when it really demands to be torn down and build a Better bigger affordable housing project there And we have there was never any estimate of what it would take to do that when they were red tagged Uh, not that I know of and um You know this developer I noticed that he has 110 Uh places that he's doing projects around eight different states. Do you think that we are a priority for him? I mean, how much of a priority are we for him? I I can't really answer that I know that he's held this property a long time And they have continually met with us and tried to Get the project going but I suspect it's not one of their easiest projects um I'm I'm just really concerned I used to live in this neighborhood and uh, you know This is what is you know our Code enforcement. I I mean, I that's what it's done to and it's put, you know, 20 units of housing have been put out of Of commission in the city and now we're talking about scraping these buildings off And they're gonna sit there at least for another year Is that correct at least until next july or maybe And then who knows how long it takes to get the project going as councilmember brown said it could be two years Is that does that sound about right approximate? I can't give an estimate What would be the difference In leaving them there like they are versus scraping them off putting up a chain link fence, uh, which I saw is More beneficial for our community. This is our gateway coming into the As people stream down ocean street coming down to the boardwalk. They head toward the river. This is really close to Broadway and ocean And How is the decision to scrape them off any better than leaving them like they are? What's the argument first for demolishing them? I think you would need to ask the police department that would just have problems there and I have an email from a a resident of me Representing the neighborhood association homeowner's association for Roosevelt terrace behind really supporting Demolition so if you talk to the neighbors you talk to pd Um Most are supportive of at this point in time removing the units and martin may have more he's looking Yeah, our Our experience has been that with vacated Buildings like this that uh that aren't occupied that we tend to have a lot of problems with people breaking in places We'll hide just a lot of illegal activities and it's just much different much more difficult for the police department to To monitor we did require the property owner to do a security plan and have security and a bunch of other Measures to try to keep the area safe But ultimately it's very difficult when you have the vacated buildings to be able to Monitor them in a way that's effective. So that's kind of been Our general experience with the buildings that are like this and the conditions are really bad in there Let me ask excuse me first moment. Um in terms of just common. I've I've received Emails from neighbors in there concerned about the state of the properties and some other issues in regards to safety So, I mean obviously it's not something maybe carol To can answer here, but I appreciate that response. Are there other do you want to join us? Does the city have a responsibility here? Did we help in vacating these premises and now we're saying oh tear them down? I mean it's just like I think that we're partly responsible here as well And that you know having lived in that neighborhood. This is what I hear from people also that they don't we don't really care about their Neighborhood so now we're coming in we've vacated these premises 20 units and now we're going to scrape them off I don't think this is or allow it to be scraped off. Well, let's let's uh, let's take it this way This is an opportunity for questions from the council. Um, what I'd like to do if the council's okay I'll put it back over and I'll ask the public comment to if there's any members of the public that like to speak to that Bring it back and then we can have that deliberation Okay, is there any member of the public that would like to speak to this item on the agenda? This is item number Eight Yep, sure is These are mostly mostly questions and following up on council member browns Comments and crones mr. Crohn's comments I'd like to know the history of this developer. We've heard a little bit about it You know what he's been doing in other states What's been their history here in santa cruz and my particular interest of course is in this Affordable stuff. I mean even if you actually did have a conscientious developer how affordable are these affordable? Apartments, maybe somebody on the council can can answer this question I've asked it before and I've gotten gobbledygook from the staff no offense meant But I'm I'm concerned about real affordability for poor people and for people who are being forced out of santa cruz Because of the rental situation Whether or not the current rental initiative passes And what are the costs to do the eminent domain? Issue, I mean that's been raised by council member brown And I I wonder has a study been specifically done. We got a lot of vague. I don't know from carol here And you know, I I know nothing about this issue except coming here today and hearing these comments, but It seems to me that if you're concerned about the majority of people in santa cruz who are renters For example, you're concerned about are you giving away essentially because you're deferring fees 750,000 That could be otherwise better spent. I know it's not an appropriation But it does involve certainly In a sense a transfer of funding So if it's 110 projects in eight different states, if council member crone is correct Has there been a study done of the reliability of this particular developer? If so, who did it? When was it done? Have you seen the report? And I too sympathize with because I was around when council member crone observed the demolition of the dolphin lee Apartments and creating less Apartments than eventually were demolished And I'm just I'd like to make sure this isn't just a handout to some Wealthy developer without any actual Real housing being presented to those who need it. Thank you. Thank you Any other members of the public that wish to speak to this item number eight? See none, I'll bring it back to the council for further deliberation My last question would be when could we one would be the most optimistic time that we would see this project off the ground and holding the developer feet to the fire What what's next then if they don't? receive the tax credits Of my question optimistic or realistic Okay, realistic either either one. I just think I just want some hope You know, I want to let people know in the neighborhood When something might go in there because I've had more I mean a half a dozen people ask me what's going on with 350 ocean Um, you know in terms of the answer I think there's a gender report kind of outlines that some of those issues in regards to the deadlines I just want to you know, just respond and say Listen, this was a project that was approved as a hundred percent affordable And obviously there's issues coming forward in terms of how we finance a project like that It's also led to concerns from some of the neighbors in regards to some of the issues in the interim how we do that I think we all want to see this project go forward We all want to see it happen immediately, right? But there is a timeline that's going on I think in the interest of the neighbors that have kind of commented in regards to some of the issues in the interim I think this is a responsible thing to do to kind of move forward so that we can pave the way to Make sure that this project is built. So You know, if there's a motion on on the floor I just want to get my question answered She said next march and then the following july then following july what happens then july 2019, right? Yeah, i'll i'll um pose that question to carol burk typically developments will apply for multiple rounds of tax credit funding And july march and july are the two times that nine percent tax credit would be available And so that's why we extended The extension period to allow them to at least apply for those three different for this last july as well as march and july next year So then what happens after july if they don't get the tax credit that's We revisit the situation we just revisited here at the council We would we would revisit it and and i'd like to point out that um as far as vetting the developer This developer came and bought the property Without city participation without talking to the city They purchased the property and so it's not the way we typically would be involved with a developer upfront and we would But they they brought the property to the table and the city has not invested in this project with the exception Of the commitment to match state grant funds So it's not we haven't really been in the position to deny them anything or to Vet them in any way because we haven't really been asked To give them anything except this 750 which is very small amount for 62 units Thank you. There is a cost of calls for service. There's social issues There's there's a cost to our community. So it's not that it's not free Yeah, I understand. Let me just also say one of the speakers Mr. Norse he requested some information on the price and if you could email him because I know we've had in past Council actions we've had listings of what the affordability was for these units If you could just send that you don't need to respond but or make it available Yeah, I can just tell him all of you know, you just maybe send it to him. It's fine. Yeah, thanks Okay, so I'll bring it back I'm prepared to make a motion To support the recommendation before us largely because As others have said 62 units 100 affordable project opportunities don't come At us very often And I think the staff report explained that The opportunities for Funding for this project tax credit is better now than it has been And that the Ability of the developer to get the tax credit funding in part depends if I understand it right on our providing Some degree of local support Just supporting it through the next three rounds with additional state money and hopefully some additional local money I think we have a better Period of opportunity here than we have in the past Um, so for all of those reasons, I'm prepared to support the recommendation understanding if it doesn't play out at the end of these Tax credit cycles, then we revisit it Second there's a motion on the floor by councilman Matthew second by councilmember Naroyan it will be five years by that time and maybe something too good to be true is too good to be true And that because I want the affordable units built. Yes, but I don't know if this developer is going to do that Well, I council member brown Just one more comment So, you know, I really appreciate the comments that councilmember chase made about The ability to revisit you just reminding us that we will have an ability to revisit and councilmember Matthews also mentioned However, uh, I'm concerned to make a decision when you know, we don't even know what the cost might be To buy the property and work with a local non-profit housing developer None of them may be interested because they can't afford the property the purchase of the property You know, we don't know there's a lot that we don't know. We also don't know When this, you know might actually get moving because we have to wait for those state low-income housing tax credit Processes to move through so I remain very concerned about this as a potential missed opportunity In addition to which the the owner of the property could sell it at any time and just say, you know We're just going to sell it and market rate housing gets built there. So we're not really guaranteeing anything with this extension Just want to be clear about that Hey, I think um, I'd like to just say that, you know, this is an opportunity that's been on On the table for some time. It's a place where we do want to just see desperately needed housing built Again, it was approved 100 housing and you know, this is all about how we can kind of help facilitate it to move forward And I think this is a natural step to to support this further project And um, so I am prepared to support the motion on the floor by council member Matthews and seconded by council member neroyan See no further discussion. All those in favor of the motion. Please say aye. Those opposed Okay, that passes with council member crone opposing council member matthews chase brown Neroyan vice mayor walkins and myself supporting the motion so that concludes the discussion on item eight We have a time certain item at 230. I'd like to move on to item 11 Which is a liability filed against the city of santa cruz And if the city attorney would first repeat kind of like the direction from our earlier discussion on the floor, I'd appreciate it Yes, the recommended action here is to By motion rejects the claims of bigham christiansen and minstaff LLC and david turner and to defer action to the august 28th meeting On the claims of hepburn and myberg So moved second. Okay, so we have that on the floor as a motion that's a motion by council Council member crone seconded by council member matthews Um, are there any members of the public that would like to speak to item number 11? This is liability claims filed against the city of santa cruz. Council member or council member robert norse Please sorry, sorry, sorry. No, don't insult me. Yeah, I was gonna I was gonna jump that in. Thank you. Please go ahead. Yeah Okay, um, this is this is the attachment that none of the community has been able to read About this issue and I'm gonna make it a summarize a little bit from it This is a claim by a 24 year old african-american college student uc sc writing his bike home 216 a.m. In the morning, but not wearing a bike helmet Stopped by several caucasian police officers from the scpd for not having a Bicycle tail light and not stopping completely at a stop sign He was too frightened to stop. He said according to his attorney's account There was a complete lack because of the lack of civilian witnesses time of night and perhaps his color I know we're a completely color-free city our police department never discriminates. We all know that right? Officer true blood that's the name of the guy who stopped him and who that this is mentioned in this lawsuit Tempted to physically grab mr. Hepburn according to this account Tempted to hit him broadside with his cruiser at which point he flipped off the officer in essence saying back off back off According to this account According to response to this gesture officer true a true blood accelerated his car rammed the rear tire of Hepburn's bike Causing him to fly forward over his handlebars true blood then jumped on top of Hepburn's body and took him forcibly into custody Didn't charge him with lack of a tail light or feeling to come to complete stop But just resisting or obstructing an officer, which is their catch-all charge when they don't have a charge The da summarily dismissed the charge and the issue is unjustifiable use of deadly force Now there's no time for me really to talk about this in more detail I don't know much about the actual incident I do know that I could not only got this information because I filed a specific request it should be on the agenda It is the claim of the claimants Every claim should be on the city council agenda Bonnie bush has refused to do that. Mayor terrasis has refused to request it Council members crone and brown have refused to document that I want it done I think the community needs to have it done So do it so the next time people can be informed and they can come to the council and talk about it or not Thank you. Thank you, mr. Norse Is there any member of the public that would like to speak to item 11? Liability claims filed against the city of santa cruz and just to clarify the item that mr. Norse spoke to has been deferred This is one Moving consent to reject the claims of bigum christiansen and minstlove and also of mr. Turner And to defer the items of heppern and myberg for a later date If there's any member of the public that like to speak to this item you step up now and this is your last call I lived in the santa cruz area for quite a number of years and uh I moved down to venice beach in los angeles around uh o one for a few years and there was uh One thing that I really like to see down there Was the enforcement of the bike light laws Even in that town which was pretty loosely structured there was uh a real enforcement of the headlight tail light laws and bicycles and I thought that That law enforcement Worked in the best interest of bicycle riders In a lot of ways and made it a lot safer for bicyclists to use their lights. So I don't know anything about the The story that he was discussing. I don't know I know the person involved, but I just want to say I'd like to see police enforcement of bike light laws in this town. I think it would go a great deal in Making a safer place to ride. We've in fact, we're we're actually hold the record for See Pedestrian and bicycle accidents at right now in the state of california We were like the one of the bike wreck capitals of california right now. So that can be Verified be looking looking up online But I would really like to see enforcement of bike light laws in our in our city. Thank you. Thank you. All right This is item 11 with liability claims filed against the city of sanikers There's a motion by council member crone seconded by council member matthews, which rejects the claims of Be bigum christians in the miss law and david turner and defers the items of arrow and the jaw heparin and david myberg Um, is there any further discussion? And we will get the video we have not seen the video yet. I just want to make sure we get that video and see it Yeah, there was a video that was provided And that and that item is going to be available for council member review Any further discussion on this item? Seeing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye goes opposed That motion passes unanimously Okay, we'll move on to item 13 again. We have a time certain agenda item at 2 30 p.m So we'll go as far as we can in the presentation here It's item 13 and who pulled this item. You had a question, right? Right, and I pulled it I wanted to know If the neighbors have been noticed about this work that's going to be done by crown castle Putting in wireless canister antennas mounted on city poles And utility poles. Okay, and then what was your question council member brown That was basically my question With the addition of and if so how? Okay, and so the question is what type of notifications were made to neighbors in regards to this project? And if there was notice, how was it? So is there some member of like Okay, assistant director christ schneider Mayor council members christ schneider assistant director public works For the encroachment permit the the neighbors were not noticed They were noticed for the planning commission and zoning administrator hearings For the initial permits which were approved and that history is in the in the staff report And the the mode of the method of Notification remind me again. I don't remember seeing that in the report Um, I believe they do mailings within 300 feet 300. That's correct. That's Thank you mayor That was my question about you 300 feet mailing. How did he did it? Thank you. Thank you and did I answer your question? Council member brown. Okay. Thank you. So I'd like to turn it over to members of the public This is item number 13 encroachment permit for Seven wireless canister antennas mounted on city poles and utility pole and related fiber connections by crown castle Sir, you have two minutes. Hey, my name is douluis. Um, I think that has been extensive research on this The cancer effects of this technology And I think it's really uh deplorable that only uh people within 300 feet are notified about this I think the entire neighborhood within several blocks should be notified of this health hazard It's a very serious problem. It's being covered up By the the telecom corporations are using everything they can to black out information and access about this is very dangerous and Notably a hazard of technology. It's been clearly defined in the world health organization as a class to be carcinogen and there's many documented well funded studies not done by telecom communications that show the the health hazards and the tumor clusters brain tumor clusters are forming wherever these Uh distributed antennas are put throughout our community. So it's basically a technology that's turning our communities into a low level microwave oven so I think that We should definitely be make an effort to Notify the residents in these communities about this very hazardous technology and I think 300 feet is really uh an inexcusable Thank you. Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this item number 13? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to the council for further deliberation and action Okay, motion by council member chase second second by council member matthews. Is there any further discussion on this item? Seeing none all those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Hi any opposed. No Okay, that motion passes with council council member crone Voting no council member matthews chase brown and royan vice mayor walk into myself voting In favor So that moves us on to the next item still in our consent item number 20 And so this item was pulled from the consent and um council member crone you requested to be pulled What was the specific question you had on this item? I'd like to hear just a presentation on how um, we're going to spend 7.6 million dollars I thought of something that belongs on the regular agenda Since it's you know a major expenditure and it's also something that Is new I mean we're hiring a bunch of outside people and there's reasons why and I think there's good reasons But I would just maybe like to hear um from the water director Cal the money will be spent. Thank you council member crone and again We have a time certain agenda item at 2 30 p.m. So we might get the presentation go on to the Agenda item 22 and then come back to this for further action just a as reminder Okay, so let me say that we are going to turn it over and both rosemary rinard The water services director and kevin crossley senior professional engineer will kind of answer your questions and present Good afternoon, mayor and council. Thanks for asking for some additional information on this contract amendment this is contract amendment number four to the HDR program management services general agreement that the count the council took action on last december and i'm going to turn this over very quickly to kevin to Who's the sort of our program manager internally who can walk you through this and then we can take your questions fairly brief I hope Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the time to hear us speak about this really important contract kevin crossley senior engineer the water department So the water department has about 350 million dollars worth of projects on the books And it Really touches all aspects of the water system we're teeing up major investments reinvestments and Quite a bit of the water system. We're going to be working on our raw water pipelines our pumps the treatment plan at grand hill road and Bringing some new water supply online over the next 10 years. It's a major generational investment in the water system the last major Improvements made of the water system were really done in the 1950s and early 60s so It's been a long time since the city as a whole has had to think about infrastructure investments in the water system of the scale so recognizing that The department did not have the capacity internally to To manage and oversee the implementation of this scale program We went out for a solicitation HDR was the successful consulting firm that was awarded the program management Contract and so that was brought to council in december of last year In addition to the the master service agreement, which is a five-year contract with an option to renew for an additional five years we Saw your approval for service order one, which is program mobilization activities And there's some bullets of what that entails And then shortly after that we came back in january with two additional contract amendments For a variety of services So this is just a high level summary of the types of things we were doing with a service order one which Really was about getting internally organized and Figuring out how we're going to deliver these projects and setting up the processes to ensure that we go about this work in the most efficient and cost-effective manner Service order two provided for additional design and project management capacity within the department Um, we have really been understaffed Relative to our project management capabilities within the water engineering group We had somebody working less than full-time on managing a 50 million dollar project So we've brought to bear quite a bit of staff resources with this contract that have really bolstered us internally and Allowed us to make significant progress in some of these important projects Uh The third service order, uh provided for Start of planning and preliminary engineering work on our treatment plant. Uh, the plant was constructed in the late 1950s And uh, the last time any major upgrades are made to the plant was in the late 80s prior to most of the significant surface water treatment regulations Federal and state regulations. So it's very old technology and the plant itself is showing its age So what's ahead of us for the next fiscal year? We've packaged quite a bit of work into this contract amendment before you today Uh, we're going to finish off the master planning work at our treatment plant and begin master planning work on the mill creek pipeline This is the pipeline that broke multiple times in the winter 2017 and created a water emergency for the city In addition to that planning work, we're going to um begin or continue to manage the design of a number of very large projects including a 35 million dollar tank replacement project at the grand hill water treatment plant As well as get some important construction projects underway Including that same tank project As you can see from this schedule, uh, we've got a large number of projects to manage over 20 Quite a few of them are in the planning or preliminary engineering phases. So we've got quite a bit of construction teed up Yeah over the next few years So as a councilman crone indicated, this is a 7.7 million dollar contract and How we're paying for that is through the number of projects that we're managing in the water program and The types of services provided really span the entire life cycle of the project from planning through design and construction So there's a real diverse mix of services embedded in this contract amendment And reflective of the the types and phases of where each project's at Thank you, kevin If there um what i'd like to suggest is maybe we see first if there's any members of the public that would like to speak to this item This is item 20. Um, this is the contract amendment for program management services with hc engineering Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this item? Okay, i'd like to bring it back to the council then for deliberation and action council member prone. Thank you mayor. Um I'm gonna move this item, but I just wanted to um Have to kind of celebrate our water department that we're spending this money to upgrade the system that people in the future Hopefully will go wow they they were farsighted back then in 2018 19 when they started doing this um I think the council from my conversations individually has great confidence in kevin crossley the engineer and also rosemary minard um, and I but I also will point people to this um presentation In the future when they asked me about their water bills And why water bills have been going up so dramatically I think people should know what they're getting for their money And so they can call on this they can go go to community tv and look at this presentation Look at some of these figures look at what um kevin just said But I appreciate your time here, and I know the mayor wants to move so i'll move this item. I'll second Okay, motion by council member crown second by council member brown I think we're all In favor, and I think if you could have every one of us support the second I would say that this really represents As council member crown said a true investment for the next generation of water infrastructure I wanted to personally thank the water director and also kevin for meeting individually with each of the Each of us to go over these really detailed plans for the future I mean it really takes a lot of Proactive work to lay out a plan like this and to really have it Brought before the council in a way where we can say we are We're putting our commitment to our city's water infrastructure for the future really makes me very proud to Be up here and to have this type of action today Does anyone else want to make any comments? I I actually do. Okay. Yeah When christopher pulled this, I thought where is he going with this? I was very pleased to to have it move because This we have an aging system enormously complex and We each did have an hour long offered one-on-one with the details. It's so impressive So I just want to say what I think we all agree The community as a whole should have enormous confidence and pride in the quality of our water department The service they deliver on a daily basis and the planning deep into the future. So good work to you.  So that's My main reason for doing that. Thank you. I have incredible confidence in the water department of the staff Everything they've done up to this point has just been really kind of laying the groundwork for a really Strong future in terms of our infrastructure and our supply. So I appreciate this action So with the motion on the floor by councilmember crown second and by council member brown Please um all those in favor Hi Any opposed that motion passes unanimously Thank you so much for your support. It means a lot. Yeah, believe it or not. We have one more item on the I think we do it pretty quickly. I just wanted to okay And that was pulled by um council member crown item number 21. This is a newlcreek Project property purchase on the alumni was also in our closed session And I'll and I'll just say that um, if you do you have a specific question or do you just want to make a Just wanted to get a picture of it for the public and also if I don't know if you have a picture of it and um get a sense of what the uses are going to be like why is a city acquiring 20 acres In the watershed, which I personally feel is a great investment But it would be nice to hear why that might be a great investment. Right. Sorry Bonnie, can you help us find we have a couple we have a time certain item at 230. So just right yeah, so um Um, Heidi will try to look for it So the recommendation is to acquire an 18 acre parcel that is immediately adjacent to the downstream Property that the city owns um at newlcreek, uh, so it's right below the dam and came on the market just a couple of months ago and we um We are always trying to expand our ability to Protect our watershed and this was an opportunity for us to acquire this parcel with its lands that will give us the ability to You know add to our watershed holdings and protect our watershed and our source water quality So these are the some of the photos of the house the property on the land there But it also has no creek is immediately Behind this property you can see a photo here And the hillside behind this is about 18 most of the 18 acres in the hillside behind it Is a timber lands that are good for the kinds of Watershed production and protection of source water quality that is so important for a water department That's using these kinds of surface water supplies. So with that, um, we'll take your questions Maybe I'll just first ask is there any member of the public that would like to speak to the side and this is item number 21 Item number 21. Okay, I'll bring it back to the council for deliberation and action. Thanks, and I think it's a great purchase and Really appreciate people are scouting out there to improve our watershed lands and uh, I'm gonna move the item Okay, thank you for the comments council member crone and so motion by council member crone second by council member matthews and again, I'd like to thank the water department for being so proactive and looking Look at this out. It's again, it's part of some of the infrastructure work for our city's future and This is a really kind of really strong step forward. So thank you Um motion by council member crone second by council member matthews. All those in favor, please say I Any opposed that motion passes unanimously you have 30 seconds Yeah, thanks, and that gives enough time for transition. So thank you so much To read the item. Yeah So while we're transitioning I wanted to say thanks, and I know I made it multiple times I don't think we've had some time certain agendas, but I wanted to welcome Mayor lisa gilmore from the city of santa clara who's with us today And while they're setting up their presentation at our june 12th meeting in The city council approved a recommendation to form a charter amendment committee And the action by the council was to explore issues in governance including but not limited to the direct elections Direct elections of the mayor and explore compensation items for council members And per the counts council direction There was a motion by council member crone to make sure that it was involved the community engagement process And that was seconded and approved community members would be included with the charter amendment committee's work Um, the city of santa clara recently went through Their own charter amendment committee And so it was really an opportunity for me to reconnect with mayor gilmore Who I met on a at a conference for the us conference of mayors in washington dc early in the year And I read on their processes and wanted to make sure that The council kind of sees how some other cities handle these types of reviews and kind of just get an idea of What it would look like for our city based on the uh the agenda report That's outlined in how we might educate the public and obtain public comment on how we might proceed in this area So I'd like to again welcome you uh mayor gilmore and also um And please begin Thank you so much and it's a pleasure to be here in santa cruz. It's amazing city of santa clara is so close to santa cruz We don't make it here very often, but when I was here today, I thought why not? I'm gonna stay here for a long time I don't even want to go back But thank you so much for having me and with me today is councilmember teresa o'neill So, uh, teresa has also um, a wonderful source of knowledge since prior to being a council member She also served as a charter review committee member. So she has an enormous background on this So it's it's really a pleasure to be here today. Um, thank you mayor for inviting me I thought I have a packet here. I'm not going to read it word for word But just briefly go over it and at least I'm able to leave you with some information On what we've gone through just recently in the city of santa clara. So in santa clara, we have, um A history This is just the few things i'm going to talk about the history of mayor is a process leading up to the directly elected mayor The three charter review committee, uh That we have um hosted in the last several years A poll that we had recently on having a directly elected mayor and then the benefits and a conclusion So, um, just starting with the history of mayors in the city of santa clara Back in the year, uh, 1968 Up until 1968 the council elected one of its members as a mayor similar to what you're doing now, which is um The rotating process and each each mayor served for a one-year term in the city So back in 1968 the council decided that they wanted to put on the ballot the The option of a directly elected mayor and so um having the mayor elected at large so in 1969 Or 1968 the council meet member put it on the ballot and in 1968 the It passed by the city council on a five to two vote It wasn't unanimous But at that time a five to two vote to put it on the ballot And here was actually the charter amendment for the ballot santa clara is a charter city similar to you We have seven members and um, this was the charter amendment to change the mayor's position from Appointed to elected at large also put in the compensation for the mayor at the time Which was a part-time job at a thousand dollars a month Which up until recently was the compensation for the mayor that lasted almost 50 years at a thousand dollars a month So as as the part-time so not only did they change the the the method of electing the mayor But they also changed the compensation for the mayor and so that um charter amendment did pass And so it did pass and then it became Effective as of january of of 1969 which was interesting It had to be passed by a resolution resolution of the legislator filed with the secretary of state at the time Things have changed there So santa clara has also initiated Three charter review processes and i'll just go through what we've done Two of three of them were all based upon the fact that we were We had the situation of facing a california voter rights act Challenge and so in 2012 11 and 12 the council initiated a charter review process To look at the method on how we uh elect our City council members and mayor in the city of santa clara because we are up until Recently elected at large each council member was elected at large in the city and and the mayor was elected at large in the city So this committee originally held six public notice meetings gathered input from the community And made a recommendation To have the charter Change the Instead of by seat at large elections just an at-large election with the top vote getters Winning the seats also that the city would consider a proportional representation system for implementation if that was available so changing the voting system as well and also The barriers to city council service with in regards to candidate recruitment So really increase our communication out with the community So the council then took that recommendation, but didn't Adopt it and so no changes to our voting system were made at that time in 2011 in 2015 16 the charter review committee was once again Impaneled and the charter review committee was then given Some direction by the city council to take a look at our charter take a look at our voting system But look at other areas of the charter that We may change and look at changing in the in the community So this one was a little bit more extensive and the charter review committee held 12 publicly noticed meetings They didn't have enough time to look at the Voting system in the city and the district system, which was again proposed Based upon a california voter rights lawsuit threat at the time But the charter review committee did come up with four ballot measures for the 2016 election and the first was the setting of salaries for mayor and city council As I mentioned earlier, our mayor was still on $1,000 a month and our council was about 400 to 500 Oh, we've got a raise. Well, we have other committees we serve on too about $700 a month So this would set the mayor at $2,500 a month and $2,000 a month for the city council members And in Santa Clara, we we have our regular council duties. We also own our own electric utility So we serve as the board of directors of our electric utility. We also own our own stadium in Santa Clara So we have the three jobs. It's a lot of work as you as you all appreciate for a part-time job So we also limited the terms of the mayor and city council to two full terms and And they would be lifetime terms on the city council because we had a lot of people The terms were expiring then coming back and running over and over again So the third was filling vacancies in elected office that we would have to fill it by four fifths vote Don't ask me how that four fifths got there. We have seven members. So it's hard to do the math, but we um, we had That and then the most interesting one on here was a protection of parkland and open space We had threats to our u-soccer park our eulahstack natural area. So we uh, there was a charter amendment to Require a two-thirds vote of the people of Santa Clara if any park land was to be changed So measure opq and r all passed in the city of Santa Clara We had a pretty with the 12th meetings. We had a robust public outreach and real Transparency issue on all of this the city council accepted all the charter review committee's recommendations We didn't change anything and um, they all passed and it was a very high turnout election in Santa Clara almost 85 turn out and we had 79 to 89 percent Yes votes on all of these items and so we were very successful with Both the the charter review commission the outreach and and the success of the election So the most recent charter review. We actually Faced the california voter rights act. There was a lawsuit. So we were under You know strict Instructions to really move quickly to come up with a recommended voter strategy for the june 2018 election so the committee which uh, each time that we had a committee process in in Uh appointing the charter review committee Was each council member had a vote and then community members would apply For the charter review committee this particular charter review committee each council member had an appointed represent representative and then we had uh six or seven community representatives, but because We really wanted to move quickly. We accepted all everyone who applied Ended up on the committee. So we we didn't leave anybody out and we were lucky that that it was a really good group But they had to work pretty quickly. They had to work in an area where Santa Clara is about 125,000 people and the uh, the threat on us was to Cut up our city into six districts, which are pretty small for us But Santa Clara is a community that is very diverse throughout the entire community And so we don't have we didn't have any areas of of Minority areas of major minority representation And so we we are so diverse throughout the city There was the charter review committee had a heck of a time trying to come up with districts But they ended up coming up with two districts in Santa Clara a north district and a south district with three Representatives from each district and we ended up putting that on the ballot and the mayor would would remain an out large elected position So that went to um the june 2018 ballot and here was the question on measure a that the council uh that the city uh that the voters elect or or uh agree for two districts and also when available That the city used rank choice voting to allow Candidates in order of choice to determine the winners in the election Our county register of voters was not able to handle rank choice voting at this time But we know in the future they keep telling us at some point they could do that But we said when it was available So uh it went out to the june election and measure a did not pass So um you can see it was a pretty close vote about 800 votes But it didn't pass so the day after measure a didn't pass um the judge in our case Uh went met and decided that Santa Clara because we were an out large Community a voting community the judge said that we um we violated the california voter rights act So he then i'll make a really really long story short, but he imposed six districts on Santa Clara He almost imposed seven he almost took away the elected mayor In Santa Clara to have seven districts. It was very very close But he decided to do the six districts. So um Santa Clara now has for this election we have Two districts up for election that do not have incumbents in those districts and there was mass confusion in our City because nobody knows whose district is up and what that means for us So in in turn we're ending up now like the city of san jose Where they have their elected mayor and all their six districts We have not decided yet as to whether we're going to appeal the decision That's still up for discussion for us, but we have to do that now in in the upcoming election So um one of the things i'm also here to talk about is the directly elected mayor In Santa Clara and during this court battle fair vote, which is a um Uh, it is a a third party They were assisting with the measure a ballot because they're really really in favor of rank choice voting But needless to say they did a poll of Santa Clara residents in this last election And their question was do you think it would be a very good thing? A somewhat good thing a somewhat bad thing or a very bad thing to have the city council Pick the council member to be mayor on the rotating position similar I think to what you're doing now and what we did 50 years ago So our respondents in santa clara reacted More negative negatively to the idea than to any other question a long poll that they had But 79 79 of our residents said it would be a very bad thing to change our elected system to having the city council pick The mayor in the city and 56 of those people said it would be a very bad thing So the idea of losing the separately elected mayor is very unpopular in our community With only 11 percent thinking it was a good idea to To eliminate the directly elected mayor and a strong majority seeing it as a very bad idea Our citizens love to vote in santa clara. We have the directly elected mayor We have a directly elected police chief and we have a directly elected city clerk So and try to take them away. No, no, no not going to happen So, um, I just want to just end a little bit of talking about the directly elected mayor And the benefits that come with a directly elected mayor position First of all, uh, I met your mayor, uh, mayor trazos in the, uh, league of uh, or the mayor's conference back in Washington when I go back next year, I won't see him. I won't know who will Be there. So the relationship that I the reason I'm sitting here today is because I have a relationship and I I did meet him and and it was Very, um, beneficial for us to meet because we can help each other, uh, with with our respective communities But there's a consistent front face and leadership. So in santa claire county It's hard for me to tell you who the mayor of mount view is or Sunnyvale or los gatos or because It's it's year by year. It's a new face. It's a new face But I can tell you who the directly elected mayors are in morgan hill gilroy san jose and others where I see them all the time Um, it allows you to develop relationships with your local state and federal agencies We have a congressman rocana who represents us in in santa clara But I see him all the time and unable to have a really good relationship with him So when I need something for santa claire, he knows exactly who to come to his staff knows exactly who to come to It's it's it's again. It's consistency. It's relationships. It's bringing things back to your your organizations So and it helps when you're trying to oversee long-term goals and Projects when I work with our assemblyman kanson chew He knows that if he doesn't bring money to our el camino reallon santa claire for paving That you know, he's never gonna wherever he sees me. It's gonna happen. I'm gonna have that conversation with him It's just consistency consistency There's also a lot of cost savings from Having multiple oath of office ceremonies preparations changing your stationery every single year after year after year You're constantly changing, but I'm telling you from a practical reason. I I did become mayor is from being a city council member in santa claire And it's taken me I've been mayor for a little over two years And I feel like I am just reaching my stride now in terms of education and An experience and feeling comfortable with what I'm doing to be able to really get things done It takes you a long time to amp up into the position because being a mayor is different than being a council member It's a lot more work. It's a lot more responsibility. There's a lot of more interface with the public And it takes you a while To get moving and to understand your position And so if you're constantly having to change change change You can never hit your full stride because you're you're taking months To figure out what you're doing and then when you can actually get things done and start to implement and work with your community Your term is up. So um, I feel like we have have gotten a lot done There's a definite benefit and at the end Electing a mayor from the city At large by all the voters as opposed to having the council members select your members is the ultimate form of democracy Because the citizens have a vote, you know, they own you you're the face and your particular city is the largest city in your county And so they're going to look to the leader and and they'll love having the directly elected mayor So that's just my unbiased opinion and I'll be here to answer any questions or tress is here too Let me just say before we get into questions, you know, this is a much more scaled down version what you when you faced I know the number of meetings you had and this was really kind of an additional Just a really initial toe dip into looking at um, you know a public engagement portion because we've never Actually that i'm aware of formed a charter review committee that's that's public like this and Correct me if i'm wrong There's there's the history has been usually it's a citizen initiative or the council put something on directly And we have discussion at a council meeting But there's never really been a process where we go out and actually have engagement with the public to see Hey, is this something that the public is interested in uh pursuing? So really this is an opportunity to have a truncated version to look at this and then Um, you know at the end of a certain period of time meetings go and look at it So so my question is would that type of a structure not looking at a full-blown Like recommendation for charter language How long do you think something like this might take just to do an initial outreach to hear from the public? So if you're talking about are you talking about just one item like a directly elected mayor or a specific or districts or whatever If you if you're going to narrow the scope Then you know you're going to need at least three meetings if you narrow the scope if you're just going to open it up Without direction, then you're You're talking more meetings, you know, maybe six to nine depending on the the um The difficulty of the situation or whatever whatever it is we We did both. I mean this last charter review ours was a difficult situation because we were under a court threat So we had to move quickly, but it wasn't an easy topic so But when we let our charter review committee Look and decide where they felt where the community felt the charters should be revised then You're you're talking, you know, nine to ten meetings. So Direction or no direction really is is the key here the benefit of it is that you have a citizen group That's broad based with each mid the way we did it. We each had a representative plus out large representatives by the public So whatever decision they make, you know is For the most part supported by the community. It's community driven and community based So if you're going to go and change your charter and spend money on an election You know upfront that For the most part your community is going to support it So that's a big benefit to to involving the community there And I know there was a a chart that we might have in terms of looking at the scope I don't know if that was provided to you bonnie just to kind of have that for discussion I met with assistant city manager and staff to look at having some Chart that's up so we can make sure that when we have the discussion it's scoped in a certain way So we'll we'll see as that comes up so we can have that discussion. Thank you for that response I appreciate your presentation and thank you and maybe you'll probably get some questions also council member. Thank you So are there any members of the council have questions? Are you first Okay, so thank you for your presentation incredibly helpful Um, I always say that as a council member it's hard to know How we're doing because I haven't been a council member somewhere else So getting information from another municipality is very helpful as we're looking at this Um, so I'm just curious. How do you work with your city manager? I mean, do you have the same system that we have which is kind of the weak mayor strong city manager system? It is the same. It's a city manager form of government Um, the mayor's vote is one out of seven same But the mayor's the spokesperson for the city probably similar to what you're doing right now So it's it's more direct contact with the city manager working very closely with the city manager and the city manager staff It's still the same. Uh, but it's, um Teresa what would you say because you're well, I I think that Would part of what lisa alluded to about having some of that consistent face and so Having talked to like a prior city manager that was in our city briefly And he came from a city where there were five council members and they rotated the mayor's position every nine months Oh my gosh And they had people that had been There they had one person who had been on the city council for 50 years And uh, turn no term limits, right no term limits and um Many of them weren't had and had contested elections And so he says well, I'm not used to having this kind of engagement and the people you know The council members don't say anything until it's their turn to be mayor and then so in terms of um Yes, we still have a strong city manager system But I think what we found in santa claire is by having the directly elected mayor There's a little that consistency there that gives you a little bit of a counterweight You know that's because it's you know because you start to build some experience in dealing Uh more with some of the inner working so um in terms of so in some of our cities now before you had the worry that they The council and the mayor was too influential. Well now sometimes we hear all the city managers too Is really pulling the strings and we don't have enough control So we have felt like by having an elected mayor it gives like I said a little bit of a counterweight And looking at the salaries you're still doesn't appear to be a full-time salary. No, no, we're not we're part-time All right, and that still works even being part-time and having that responsibility as mayor It's I own my own small business. I'm a real estate broker by trade. I have three children and I have the mayor's job Yes, it's takes a toll you can see But but it can be done And because we do not want to take that leap to become full-time politicians it takes it us to a different level One thing that I liked about one of your studies those was looking at How part-time positions are limiting in terms of the type of people who can possibly serve So that really jumped out at me as something for us to consider. I think in our own study And that's why I was curious about how you managed to survive as a part-time mayor even when that's your official title And then do you I'm just curious and this is probably getting into the weeds, but do you have your own staff? It's like exclusively assigned to you we have three that are That are staffed to the mayor and city council all seven of us And they're hopping all the time and so they report to you as No, they report to the city manager, but they work with us, but their ultimate Reporting responsibility is to the city manager Okay, great. Thank you so much again. Very helpful. Thank you Any other questions council member prone? Um real real thank you so much for being here with us. I really appreciate it. Um T