Zoning administrator Nicholson, can you test your audio and video for me, please? Good morning, Lonnie You're good to go. Thank you Planner means I see you. Do you want to test your audio for me? Good morning all so I I refer to you Amy as zoning administrator Nicholson good to know I gotta get my camera Never straight. Can you hear me? Yes I'll turn myself off Perfect planner Rago. Sorry if I pronounced your last name wrong, but can you test your audio and video for me, please? Yes You are good to go Hey, Amy, can you hear me? Planner means were you addressing me? I'm sorry. I stepped out of the room for a moment. Are we recording? Yes, okay. This question can wait. Thank you. Sure Planner McKay, can you test your audio and video for me, please? Hey there. Can you hear and see me? Yes, you are good to go. Thanks Planner to me ends. Can you test your audio and video for me, please? Good morning. Good morning. You're good to go Good morning. I'm gonna call to order this April 21st city of Santa Rosa zoning administrator meeting Which is scheduled to begin at or after 10 30 a.m Pursuant to government code section five four nine five three e and the recommendation of the health officer of the county of Sonoma This meeting will be conducted by zoom webinar Members of the public can participate virtually at zoom.us slash join or toll-free Telephone by dialing eight seven seven eight five three five two five seven And the meeting ID number is eight two nine five two three seven Eight six five two and this meeting is also being live streamed at youtube.com slash city of Santa Rosa Today's meeting is a regular session meeting and the zoning administrator typically holds two meetings per month on the first and third Thursdays This is the second regular session meeting of this month and our next regular meeting will be held on May 5th Members of the public accessing this meeting through zoom can participate By providing comments during the public comment periods and additional information related to meeting participation is available at srcity.org slash zoning admin The next we'll move on to item number two, which is general public comment. This is a time that members of the public can speak for three minutes on any matters that are not included on today's agenda. So I'll go ahead and open general public comment. If you wish to make a comment, please raise your hand by clicking on that hand icon at the bottom of your zoom screen. If you're dialing in, please press star nine to raise your hand and then star six to unmute once you are called upon. Zoning administrator Nicholson, it doesn't look like any hands are raised at this time. Okay, thank you. With that, we will conclude general public comment and move on to item number three, which is zoning administrator business. The zoning administrator is appointed by the planning and economic development director and has the responsibility and authority to conduct public hearings and take action on applications for all administrative permits and approvals issued by the department. Any determination or decision made by the zoning administrator may be appealed and I have no zoning administrator reports today. So we will move on to item four on today's agenda, which is for consent items. We do have one consent item, which is a zoning code interpretation number 22001 and this pertains to zoning code section 20-48040 subsection C5 and this relates to application requirements. And also zoning code section 20-48040L, which relates to appeals and this is related to the short term rental ordinance. Planner Meads, can you provide a brief summary of the zoning code interpretation, please? Yes. Good morning, zoning administrator Nicholson. Thank you for that introduction. So zoning code interpretation number 22-001 is to clarify that the planner of economic The director of planning and economic development department is the review authority for short term rental permit review and that the planning commission is the review authority for the appeal of any director determinations on short term rental permits. Okay, thank you so much. And can you explain a bit about the process after this is acted on? Just how it will pertain to projects moving forward and how it gets incorporated into the city's zoning code? Certainly. So this zoning code interpretation is circulated to all the review authorities of the city and throughout the department so that any appeals moving forward towards short term rental permit decisions by the director would then be heard by the planning commission. Okay, great. Thank you. I don't believe I have any questions. It's very straightforward and I understand the necessity of this, this interpretation so I will be signing it and it will become effective so thank you for providing that background today. I just wanted to provide an opportunity if anyone has any public comments on the zoning code interpretation. The zoning administrator Nicholson, it doesn't look like there are any hands raised at this time. Okay, thank you, Secretary Bucke. That concludes item number four. Thank you so much planner meets. Okay, moving on to item five which includes our scheduled items. We do have four meeting items today. So for each item I will ask the project planner for a staff presentation and an applicant can provide a presentation as well or any comments are fine. In these presentations, I may ask clarifying questions of the project planner or the applicant. I will then open the meeting for public comment about the item being reviewed and members of the public are invited to provide comments about each project. After public comment is concluded. I may ask additional questions, and then we'll issue a decision to approve deny or continue the item for further review. Just as a reminder today's decisions by the zoning administrator are appealable to the planning commission design review board or cultural heritage board. And those appeal bodies depend on the type of entitlement being acted upon. If you have any questions about the appeal process, please contact the project planner, but know that appeals must be filed within 10 calendar days after the date of the decision. And if that falls on a weekend then that would be the Monday following that weekend date. So our first item which is item 5.1. This is a public hearing to consider minor design review for dish wireless which is located at 4415 highway 12. And the staff presentation today will be given by planner to me. Next item is Nicholson. Let me share my PowerPoint here. So as you stated this is a collocation request at 4415 highway 12. And it's to the applicant is requesting to collocate three new antennas on a privately owned rooftop, where there is existing wireless equipment already located. The property is off of highway 12 not too far from mission Boulevard on top of a the roof of an office building. The applicant has provided three photo simulations from different views of the rooftop. This is existing and proposed looking northeast along highway 12. There is a parapet along the roof. The existing wireless towers are visible from public right of way but it's an existing, it's an existing situation. This is the view looking west along highway 12 and you can see where the those antennas would be located. The right plan showing where the three antennas would be installed and the associated equipment here elevations showing the antennas. There were no public comments, no inquiries and no interest at all from the public on this project. And this project was reviewed in compliance with sequa and qualifies for a class three exemption under 15301 in that the proposed change does not substantially change the physical dimensions of the tower or base station. And the roof is acting as the base station. And that's why this is considered a co location. The Planning and Economic Development Department recommends that the zoning administrator by resolution approve a minor design review permit for the property located at 4415 highway 12. And my contact information is listed, that bottom corner there. If the public has any comments or questions. Thank you miss to me and does the applicant wish to make any comments or provide a presentation. I don't think they are present. Okay. Thank you. Okay, so I have two questions. One is that this was noticed as a public hearing which is not what we typically do for zoning administrator meetings but it is, it is an option so I was just hoping you might be able to explain why this was noticed as a public hearing instead of a public meeting. Yes, the city, the government jurisdictions are required to act on these co location requests in a timely manner. And the way the zoning administrator meeting is is held it can either be a public meeting or a public hearing. If we, we were running against a shot clock issue with this project. And if I had scheduled this as a public meeting and someone requested a hearing. It would add an additional delay that we couldn't really afford in this case. So I proactively scheduled this for a public hearing to avoid that. And it just so happens that there is very little interest in this project so. Thank you for that explanation. And then my other question is, I noticed that there's residential uses nearby. And this, the distance is adequate for what's required in the zoning code from a residential use. And it appears, you know, that the building is set as far forward or as far away from the residential units as possible and the antennas are set in such a way that they do provide adequate distance. Great. Thank you. And I guess I have one additional question that applicant has reviewed the resolution and accepted the conditions. Yes. Okay. Thank you for those responses. I go ahead and open public comment for this item. If you're interested in providing a comment, please go ahead and raise your hand on zoom zoning administrator nickel said there are no hands raised at this time. Thank you. Okay. In reviewing the resolution, I don't have any concerns. I think all the findings can be made I realized that these aren't screened. However, you know, based on the dimensions of the equipment, it doesn't appear that extending a parapet and a solid feature would really, I think be helpful. It seems like it would detract more and make a much larger appearing building. So I do find the change to be negligible and not the, you know, the existing antennas are of the same size essentially and and the view shown in the photo Sims makes that pretty clear so I will be approving this, although I did want to just ask you planner to means on the resolution if we can. There's a whereas statement related to public hearing. We can just correct it to say that it was noticed as a public hearing and maybe add in something about the shot clock just so if we look back in the record it it shows that it was noticed as a public hearing. I think that would be helpful but I will be signing the resolution after we make that adjustment. And thank you for your presentation. Thanks, I can do that. Great. Okay, that concludes our first item. So let's move on to item 5.2. This is a public meeting to consider a minor conditional use permit for the lay Ellen manner community care facility located at 597 Granville court and our project planner is Miss to me and again. Thank you again is Nicholson. This is a proposed minor conditional use permit at 597 Granville or like Lee Ellen manner. And it's a residential care facility for 12 disabled adults and it's been continuously operated at this location since 1990, and it's a licensed facility licensed by the state of California. This is a proposed use permit is requested to recognize the use. And there are no changes to the use proposed. This is an aerial of the facility. You can see it's got three buildings. There would be two caretaker one character caretaker living residing each of the buildings that will house the disabled adults. This is a parking for guests. The residents will not be driving. The parking would be for staff and any guests that visit the site. So it's a zone plan development, and the general plan is a medium load density residential. And this is a site plan is allowed with the minor use permit. And here's a site plan showing a site plan and it also shows the floor plans of the buildings. So there's a staff housing at the front. And I believe the applicant has added a handicap parking stall. I'll let the applicant clarify, but I think that's the only exterior change that's occurring. That's occurred on the site. There were no public comments I got an inquiry requesting to see the plans and the project narrative and those are provided to the person requesting it but there were no comments or concerns related to staff about this project. The project was reviewed in compliance with sequence staff has determined that the project qualifies for class one exemption under section 15301, and that the project is located within existing structures, and involves negligible expansion of the existing structures and will not result in significant impacts. So with that the planning and economic development department recommends that the zoning administrator by resolution, approve a minor use permit for Lee Ellen manner, located at 597 Grandburg court bound number to be 17097. Again my contact information is in the bottom corner. If the public would like to reach out the applicant is present. I don't believe he has a separate presentation but is available for any specific questions you might have on their operations. Thank you. Thank you miss to me and it looks like the applicant is raising his hand. Mr sharp if you want to provide any comments that would be great. Thank you, Senator Nicholson. Planner comments. Thanks. Steve sharp representing the applicant. Anthony, go out today is. We've reviewed the staff report and the resolution we agree. We agree with all the, with all the conditions there a little more history. This has existed pretty much there since 1990. And then, and then annexed after exhaustive review, we couldn't find any, and find any permits for this, you know, to remedy the code violation here.  There was a fire in one of the kitchens in 2017 resulted in some updates to, to building codes and fire codes for the buildings. And the kind of the final piece of this was to get the zoning permit, the zoning permit, the, the minor use permit. So that's where we are now. There's no changes to the use the, the residents are mentally disabled, totally ambulatory. They don't drive. It's a real clean facility. No other changes proposed this time. I know the applicant is once he gets this permit would like to go through the process to hook up to city water. It's the only thing I know that's coming down the line, but that's a totally separate thing. But this is just to recognize what's already there quiet use no complaints. The building permits have all been final repair work. Be glad to answer any questions. Thank you so much I appreciate that that background and what you answered one of my questions I was curious about sort of the history as to, you know, the use being in operation since the 90s but that makes sense. And just a question as it relates to the number of employees on site at any given time so it sounds like there are four people or four employees and, and to live on site. Is that accurate? There are, there are two employees that live in each of the units. Okay, structures, and then the owner of the property was also the operator lives in the single penis in his wife live in the single family dwelling. Okay. Okay. The only history that I could put together on this was, I'm guessing under the county jurisdiction, there was, they were allowed as six or fewer without. Without without permits, and it grew and subsequent to that but they've been licensed by the state since 1993 for, for 12 people I think it originally said 14 rather than 12 but it's been amended to say 12. That's one thing I didn't notice in your resolution, the title and the resolution list 14 residents I think it would be amended to 12. Great, thank you. Miss two means, please correct me if I'm wrong, I think that the reason it, it says 14 is just based on the city zoning code and how it breaks out the number of individuals in various community care facilities is that why it says 14. Yes, I believe that's the maximum. Okay. Yeah, great. I'm not sure if it's okay maybe we can keep keep it in the resolution just because it mimics the language that's within the zoning code. Okay, great. So let's see I don't have any further questions at this time so let's move into public comment. If anyone has any comments on this item. Please go ahead and click the raise hand feature on your screen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll go ahead and close public comment for this item. I did take a look at the resolution and I agree with the findings I, it's, it's great to know that this facility has been in operation for as long as it has been in there have not been any issues, certainly is a compatible use it's a residential area and certainly a need for our community. So I, I don't have any, any concerns and I appreciate the applicant being present to answer questions and miss to me and presentation. I'll go ahead and be approving this item today and members of the public please note that this action is is appealable and if you have any questions about that process you can contact miss to me and with that we will move on to our next item. This is a public meeting for Sonoma County piercing company. This project is located at 601 Mendocino Avenue, and we have the city's planning intern miss raco giving the staff presentation today. Thank you zoning administrator Nicholson let me share my screen. So the project, the project applicant is requesting a minor conditional use permit for their business Sonoma County piercing company, looking at 601 Mendocino Avenue. Sonoma County piercing company is a new business that aims to bring safe and professional piercing and high end body jewelry to Santa Rosa. They will be Sonoma County's only piercing studio following guidelines for membership of the association of professional piercers. They will not offer tattooing. They will only offer body piercing. The location at 601 Mendocino Avenue is 2300 square feet and will be broken up into a showroom floor slash waiting area and private piercing rooms, along with sterilization offices. They will be open seven days a week from 12 to 7pm. They will have between four to six employees working at a time and nine on site parking spaces in the parking lot including a designated handy cat parking. They look forward to bringing Santa Rosa a friendly and inviting experience for a wide selection of high end jewelry. This shows the project site highlighted in blue at the corner of Mendocino Avenue and Haldsburg Avenue. The parcel is zoned core mixed use the principal objectives of the core mixed use designation are to strengthen the role of this area as a business government governmental and retail and entertainment hub for this region and accommodate significant new residential development that will extend the hours of activity and create a built in market for retail service and entertainment use. There have been no public comments made for this project. The proposed project has been reviewed in compliance with the California environmental Environmental Equality Act and satisfies the provisions of CEQA in that this business qualifies for exemption under section 515301 and that the project is located within an existing structure involving a negligible expansion of an existing use that will not result in significant impacts. The Planning and Economic Department Development Department recommends that the zoning administrator by resolution approve a minor use permit for the property located at 601 Mendocino Avenue file number CEP 22-005. If you have any questions, please feel free to share them now. Thank you. Thank you so much for that presentation. Is the applicant for this project present and if so you can raise your hand if you'd like to make any comments. Do not think the applicant is present for this project. Okay, thank you. Okay, I have one question. Just did the applicant receive the draft resolution and review the conditions? Yes. Okay, great. Okay. With that, I will go ahead and open public comment for this item. If members of the public wish to make a comment, please use the raise hand button. Zoning administrator Nicholson, there are no hands raised at this time. Great, thank you. Okay. Looking back at the resolution, I have reviewed it. I agree. Sorry. Zoning administrator Nicholson. I need to close public comment. Yes. And with that, I will close public comment. I thank you for the reminder. I have reviewed the resolution. I agree with the findings. I think that the, you know, we want to see more retail businesses within our downtown station area. It's great that this business will be operating and just activating the area generally during a large portion of the day and hopefully bring more activity to that area. I appreciate the conditions added to the resolution just related to loitering and also cleanup and the requirement to obtain the necessary approvals from the county environmental health department. So I do think that this project, as it's conditioned, will be a good addition to our downtown area and I will be approving it. So thank you, Ms. Rago, for your work in your presentation and a note to the public. This approval is appealable. And if you have any questions, you can reach out to Ms. Tumians or Ms. Rago. Thank you so much. All right, let's move on to our last item of the day. This is item 5.4. This is a public meeting for a conditional use permit for bad times tattoo and this project site is located at 626 4th street and our project planner is Mr. McKay. Thank you zone administrator Nicholson I will share my screen. Okay, so good morning everybody this is a minor conditional use permit application for bad times tattoo located at 626 4th street. This is a minor conditional use permit request that would allow the operation of a tattoo studio which is classified as a personal services restricted land use with private appointments for three to five customers per day in hours of operation from 11am to 6pm from Tuesday through Saturday. Property is located in the core mixed use downtown station area combining district zoning district which allows the operation of personal services restricted land uses with the approval of a minor conditional use permit. Here we have a sketch of the site plan of the interior of the building. We have not received any public comments about this project. The proposed project has been reviewed in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act for sequel and satisfied satisfies the provisions of sequel and that the construction. Oh this is not updated I apologize for that. It says the construction of offense but it's actually the operation of this land use qualifies for a class one exemption in that the proposed operation will occur within an existing commercial building with negligible expansion of a former use that would not result in significant damage. With that the planning and economic development department recommends the zoning administrator by resolution approve the minor conditional use permit for the operation of bad times tattoo located at 626 4th street file number CUP 21-078. And the applicant is available to answer any questions but does not have any presentation to make it this time. Thank you, planner McKay. And the applicant doesn't want to provide a presentation but just an opportunity. If they'd like to add in any comments. They can go ahead and raise their hand. Okay. Not saying any hands being raised so I have reviewed the resolution and I agree with the findings. Again, like the previous item, it's, it's a retail business that will help to add some activity to our downtown and so that's, that's definitely appreciated. It seems like it will be like you mentioned with the sequel exemption. There's also a negligible change from, from the previous tenant and also with appointment, just the appointment basis. Seems like activity will be well controlled. And as it relates to parking, this is within our downtown station area specific plans that there's, there's no minimum parking spaces required. And for you planner McKay has the applicant reviewed the resolution. Yeah, so unfortunately I failed to provide the applicant with the resolution until just the previous item when I was reminded, but there are no specific conditions that are related to the project besides the requirement to get an environmental health permit which is a requirement for these types of land uses. And I want to make sure that we don't forget to open the public comment as well. Yes. Thank you. Can that applicant just indicate that they've received the resolution or that they're comfortable with the, what planner McKay has just described. Hello. Hi. I'm sorry, a cut out right while you were speaking. But what were you asking? I'm sorry. No problem. I just wanted to make sure planner McKay had indicated that he recently sent over the resolution. I, the draft resolution, which contains some conditions. I wanted to check to see if, if you've seen it, it sounds like it just came over, but he did describe the, the condition to obtain a an approval from the county environmental health department. So it sounds like the conditions, or I would describe the conditions as straightforward, but just wanted to make sure. I'm looking at the email right now I received it and as soon as we're done with this meeting, my plan was to call the health department and get like the next next thing's moving that I need to get done so. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. Okay. And with that, we'll go ahead and open up public comment for this item. If you'd like to make a comment, please raise your hand. Administrator Nicholson, there are no hands raised at this time. Thank you so much. Thank you planner McKay for the reminder. Okay, so again, I don't, I don't have any concerns with this project. I think that it, it implements the vision for for downtown. Happy to see any vacant retail spaces be be used. And I think this is conditioned appropriately and it's straightforward. So I will be approving this minor conditional use permit and and wish you luck and getting your permits from the county health department. Just as a reminder, this item is appealable and if you wish to submit an appeal, please contact planner McKay. So that concludes item 5.4, which is our last meeting item for today. So we will move on to item six, which is adjournment and I've been saying this all day but just a reminder, each of these actions or approvals today are appealable within 10 days of the decision so please reach out to the project planner if you have any questions about that. Thank you everyone's attendance today and


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I gotta go out the airplane get another battery this one not very good I got a couple shots. I got a couple shots. Okay, listen, I got a couple shots in one go. They're going to take care of it. Our land in the moment when the democratic cement makes our fields bloom with a new hope for peace, justice and freedom. In that sense I expressed to President Reagan that his presence in Honduras is happening in the moment when the tree of the democratic institutionality is threatened by a serious economic crisis and by growing social expectations. This historic visit is carried out in a dramatic time in which Central America seeks to find the lost balance and restore the terms of regional security. In this context, the presence in our country of President Reagan means the most clear and decisive support to our democratic process, to our institutionality, to our efforts for economic and social development and to our permanent delivery to the cause of peace between the nations. With the governor of the United States of America, we have maintained this day conversations inspired by our best purposes for a destination of integral progress for Honduras and a climate of peaceful coexistence based on mutual respect between the states of Central America. The spirit of cordiality and frankness that has guided our conversations constitutes the testimony of the fraternal bonds of friendship that unite our two countries and that have to be increased in the present and in the future in a common action of cooperation without reticence and authentic support for the Vigencia de nuestras instituciones democráticas esperanza. Desde mi visita a la Casa Blanca hace un poco más de cuatro meses se han producido acontecimientos de importancia y de la cooperación para el desarrollo tal como se lo he expresado al Presidente Reagan el día de hoy. Dero de consolidación pero que mientras ellos suceden se han incrementado las amenazas a nuestras instituciones representativas a nuestra democracia como sistema de vida y como sistema de gobierno. A esa finalidad por cuanto es en un clima de estabilidad política sólida y duradera que se pueden emprender acciones crecientes en el campo del desarrollo económico y social. Fácilmente aprovechables por quienes propongan por la violencia y la anarquía como método desesperados para alcanzar objetivos políticos en detrimento de nuestro régimen constitucional y democrático y como un grave peligro para nuestra estabilidad política para seguridad regional y para la solución pacífica los problemes en ir alcanzando progresivamente soluciones a mediano y largo plazo para lo cual debemos contar con la decidida colaboración de las naciones amigas que como los Estados Unidos de América se identifican con nosotros en los ideales de la democracia la paz y la cooperación para el desarrollo. El presidente Reagan ha compartido conmigo hemos compartido plenamente de que una política en favor de la paz debe fortalecerse como el medio más adecuado para transitar con firmeza por los caminos del progreso sobre la base de principios fundamentales como el de respeto mutuo entre los estados el de no intervención y el de auto determinación de los pueblos. El presidente Reagan me ha reiterado su apoyo a nuestra luchas en favor de la paz a nuestra propuesta de paz para Centroamérica que como lo he conversado con él esta tarde mi gobierno se encuentra en la determinación de seguir la impulsando con tesonero esfuerzo y con el convencimiento de que se trata de una iniciativa de carácter global y regional que conlleva en la búsqueda de soluciones apropiadas el tratamiento de problemas internos bilaterales y multilaterales en el espíritu fraternal de nuestras conversaciones le he patentizado al presidente Reagan que Honduras se siente honrada al recibirlo por todos los altos y positivos valores que los estados unidos de América representan y que él como gobernante de ese gran país tan fielmente interpreta. Por ello esta ocasión ha sido propicia para que en tan asiagos momentos como lo hemos con presidente deseo bocar una vez más mi fructífira visita a Washington en julio pasado atendiendo su gentil invitación para reiterarle que nosotros aquí en Honduras también estamos construyendo una republica con hondas raíces históricas digna de nuestro presente y nuestro futuro como lo hicieron ustedes hace más de dos siglos y que lo importante ahora lo que deseamos fervorosamente es conservar la Presidente Suazo and I have just concluded a very useful exchange of ideas on the full range of bilateral issues and regional problems that confront our two democracies. In this our second meeting this year we have continued the close consultation that we began in Washington last July. This has given our dialogue continuity and enabled us to analyze these problems in greater detail. I have expressed my administration support and my nation's admiration for President Suazo's efforts to ensure for the Honduran people the benefits of a democratic government elected on the principles of the rule of law. President Suazo has made it clear to me that there will be no retreat from that noble principle. We are in agreement that we must work together to oppose those who seek to disrupt the promise of economic progress and political stability that is the legacy of peace in the Americas. My administration is convinced that through cooperation and solidarity our governments can protect our democratic institutions and free market economic systems from the counterfeit revolutionaries who seek to destroy growth and impose totalitarianism on free people. We will cooperate in every way we can with Honduras and the other democratic governments of Central America to further our common objectives.  But again we are grateful to the President, the people of Honduras for giving us this opportunity to visit with them. The United States of America, Ronald Reagan. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the Republic of Guatemala, Efraín Rios Mont and the President of the United States of America. Ladies and gentlemen, President Rios Mont and I have just had a useful exchange of ideas in the problems of the region and on our bilateral relations. Our conversation today has done much to improve the climate of relations between our two governments. I know that President Rios Mont is a man of great personal integrity and commitment. His country is confronting a brutal challenge from guerrillas armed and supported by others outside Guatemala. I have assured the President that the United States is committed to support his efforts to restore democracy and to address the root causes of this violent insurgency. I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and to promote social justice. My administration will do all it can to support his progressive efforts. We have heard a great presentation and as I said in the first day of my visit far south of here in Brasilia, people from my country, government officials of my country in the past, have come to South and Central America to various countries proposing plans and ideas of their own. I know they were sincere and yet I think there was a certain insensitivity connected with what they were doing. I said from the first day and until this our last stop on this visit that we came here to ask, not tell. We have come here to find out and to learn what we can about the possible differences between us and the possible answers to those differences. And we know now a great deal more about the problems confronting Guatemala. And we are going home and do our best to see if we can't be helpful now in finding some answers to the problems. And I will now turn the microphone over to President Rijos Mons. Attending the invitation of Mr. President Riga, I have come to San Pedro Sula and for 45 minutes within a framework of fraternity, friendship and adherence to the principles of international law and to his faithful and respectful commitment, we have discussed with him. Within the Cordial Dialogue, I have manifested to Mr. President the problems facing Guatemala and I have requested his understanding so that he can help us understand them and resolve them with the security that all Guatemalans are looking for our identity without egoism, without indifference and without ambition. I want to point out that I have come to this meeting with the security that this dialogue would contribute without the wait for disloyal solutions so that we can be better understood, so that the face of Guatemala is known and so that the truth impairs on lies. We agree with Mr. President Riga on the need to seek democratization and to keep it. As the only way for our peoples to arrive at the complete happiness, but this democratization must be understood as the absolute form of respect between all citizens without groups or people abusing their position corrupting the people, teaching them or depriving them of their own freedoms. In this, I have given to Mr. President Riga a complete relationship of the facts that the army of Guatemala motivated to decide the takeover of power on March 23. And the ethical guidelines that my government has imposed on not lying, of not stealing and of not abusing to depure Guatemala, which unfortunately fell vertically in a regime of deception, corruption and injustice. We have pointed to Mr. President Riga on what Guatemala is, what Guatemala is like, and what we all hope for in our country. And we feel satisfied with the concern that has been shown by our destiny. With full security, respecting our independence, our sovereignty, our history and our annals, the United States will provide its best cooperation so that our peoples can advance in the field of democracy and prosperity. We have received with full compliance the demonstration of Mr. President Riga, the desire to work together as partners to achieve the dreams that we share and strengthen democratic resources, to promote the sacred cause of peace and to stimulate a new growth and economic opportunities in the region. Thank you.


Hello and welcome to Under the Dome from TownMeetingTV. My name is Bobby Lucier, and it's July 14th, 2023. Earlier this week, many communities in Vermont experienced devastating flooding caused by severe rainstorms. TownMeetingTV has been using its outlets to the best of our ability to get critical information out to those affected. There's so much important and potentially life-saving information to be shared right now, and one slice of that information is about the scams and fraudulent activity that are currently targeting Vermonters and taking advantage of natural disaster recovery efforts right now. So to learn a little bit more about those scams and how you can identify them and avoid them, we're joined by Vermont's Attorney General, Charity Clark, who has some important guidance to identify those scams and for you to protect yourself and others and your resources. So Attorney General Clark, thank you so much for joining us today. Well, thanks for having me. So can you tell us a little bit about the scams that your office is seeing out there right now? I know your office has been reporting on scams more generally across the state that you're seeing, but specifically how they're targeting those recovering from floods. Sure.  So any opportunity that presents itself that might be effective, they're going to take. So with a natural disaster, here are some scams that you need to be in the lookout for. First is someone pretending to be a charity that's raising money to help with relief efforts. So there are several ways you can kind of protect yourself from the scam. The main way is to independently verify the legitimacy of any kind of charity. So you're going online, you're Googling and finding the way to donate that way rather than responding to a text, an email, a phone call, or even someone in person who's trying to get you to donate to this supposed charity. You can also look up on charity navigator, different charities to see if they are legitimate. So another charity, another, excuse me, scam that's going to be popular in this time is a fake government agency scam. So this is someone pretending to be FEMA and they are trying to get information from you like your social security number or your birthday, supposedly to help you fill out a form to get relief from the flood, but in actuality it's the scammer. So again, you want to make sure that wherever you're applying for aid it's legitimate and you are finding that form yourself independently, not responding to a text or an email that comes your way. But I want to highlight one particular scam that we're just doing a scam alert about today. We have received an uptick in the utility disconnection scam. This is a scam that's frankly pretty popular anyway. That's where someone is contacting you and saying, we're going to disconnect your electricity unless you pay your supposed outstanding bill. So what you do in that case is you hang up the phone and you contact your utility to check your account yourself rather than responding and remember that scammers are always going to take advantage of emotional times to try to steal your money. So that's what's happening here is we're all concerned. We want to help. We're worried for ourselves.  Even if we know our bill is up to date, it feels right to just pay it and be done with it. But we're telling you there is a scam going on right now that's had an uptick and so to be on the lookout for that. Right. So what should folks do if they think they've identified a scam? Is there a way to report it through your office? How does that work? We encourage people to report scams to our office. The consumer assistance program can be reached at 1-800-649-2424. You can also find us online. It's a-g-o dot vermont dot gov slash cap consumer assistance program cap is the moniker. And that is really helpful because, for example, the scam that I just told you about we know about that scam because people contacted our office and let us know about it. That gives us a chance to put the word out, put out a scam alert and let folks know that there's an uptick in the scam and to be on the lookout for it. So even if you don't fall for the scam and don't lose any money, it's really helpful for us to get that information. So definitely call the consumer assistance program. If you have been the victim of a scam, it is really important to call the consumer assistance program. They might be able to help you get your money back depending on the medium you use to pay and you have to call right away. We really can't be helpful after a day, maybe two. And this is a great time to remind folks that the way to pay for things that has the most consumer protections is to pay by credit card, cash, cryptocurrency, gift cards. Those are not easy to get back after you make the payment. So credit cards have the benefit of a lot of built-in consumer protections. Gotcha. And what is the process that your office kind of uses to be able to get that money back? What does that look like? Well, we actually have relationships. We've been doing this for over 40 years. So we have relationships with certain banks or contacts at Amazon or credit card companies or wherever. So we can kind of take advantage of those contacts. We have an expert in our office, an investigator who has a financial background and she's just incredible and can be useful. But I don't want to set high expectations. I mean, it is very unusual for us to be able to get the money back after a scam unless it's paid by credit card. But of course, scammers know that. So they're trying to get you to pay in other ways. I'd like to make a special note about gift cards. When I talk about gift cards, I'm not talking about a gift card to a particular store. I'm talking about gift cards that are like Visa or Mastercard. And what a scammer will do is say, I want you to pay me for whatever thing in gift cards and they'll send you to the store and then they'll have you read the codes on the back. And once they have those codes, it's as good as cash. You cannot get the money back. So no one legitimate is going to ask you to pay in gift cards. So if someone's asking you to pay in gift cards, I need to know no additional information to tell you it's a scam. Gift cards are for gifts. That's our little motto at the consumer assistance program and keep that in mind. Right. Yeah. And so, do you know, does your office know where these scams are coming from? Are they based in Vermont or are they typically from other places? In all the years that I have been working with scams and fighting scams, which is many years now, I can't think of one scam I know of that originated in Vermont and I can only think of a handful that originated in this country. Scams are originating overseas. They're incredibly hard to trace. They're incredibly hard to shut down, especially for Vermont. So our best tool is to fight scams by educating people, which is another reason why it's so important to make those scam reports. That's how we educate people. And also why I'm so grateful that you had me on today so we could try to spread the word about these particular scams that folks need to be on the lookout for. Right. Yeah, we're happy to work with you to get this information out there because we know it's so important. It's great to see that the office has sprung into action to spread the word about this issue. How is the flooding otherwise impacted your office and the work that you do? I know you all are typically busy with a lot of other work. How is the flooding impacted your work? Well, of course, we're the lawyer to the state. So we have lawyers who work at the Agency of Transportation, for example. So we're already doing work and we'll, I'm sure, for many months be supporting work done in those agencies. And then, of course, we're on the lookout for scams. We also have resources for folks who are looking to hire a contractor. And I'd love to take a moment just to orient people to what some of those tips we have might be. Obviously, many folks in Vermont now have suffered damages to their homes and might be looking for a contractor to help them with their home repairs. We have found at the Consumer Assistance Program that consistently every year when we look back and identify what the top complaints are about businesses, home improvement contractors always come up in the top five. It's very common in part because a lot of money is at stake. And so there are just some best practices to put into place that could help you have a good experience. The first is that there is now a requirement that home improvement contractors register. This doesn't apply to the smaller contractors, but contractors who have a contract that's worth $10,000 or more have to register with the Secretary of State's office, the Office of Professional Regulation or Responsibility. So I would consult that list and see if your contractor has done what they're supposed to do. There's another registry that folks should consult, and that actually can be found on my website, the Attorney General's website. And that is a home improvement fraud registry that lists all of the contractors who've been committed of the crime of home improvement fraud.  Here's my number, if I could pick one thing, I think this is my number one tip. Do not pay up front. It's okay to put down a deposit. Obviously, your contractor will probably need money to buy supplies and things like that, but don't pay up front. Pay as you go. One of the complaints that we frequently see in this arena is a complaint that the contractor started the work and never finished or took the money and then never completed the work. So that is my number one tip. Close second is always have a contract. The contract is good, not just for the consumer who's hiring the contractor. It's good for the contractor as well. It's a way to communicate, here's our expectation about what's gonna happen here. This is the scope of work. This is the price. This is the timing on what's gonna be paid when and how long this work is gonna take to be done. So it's just a really helpful way for everybody to know what's going on and to move forward with that expectation on both sides. So those are some tips for you on home improvement. I know that your office in Montpeliers, just right next to the state house, that's right. Do you know, I know it's early on. Do you know when, if it's anytime soon, you'll be able to return to that office or what the state of that office is right now? They're working really hard to restore that office to its former glory of earlier this week. I don't know what the time frame is. I think the damage is still being assessed on that building and a number of buildings in Montpeliers. We of course are eager to get back and be with our colleagues. After two years of the pandemic, I don't relish my time at home. I like being with my colleagues in Montpeliers, but really it's so early. We don't know yet what the extent of the damage will be. So we'll be waiting for news on that next week. Is there any, do you anticipate any like disruptions or are there any records or anything from your office that are in jeopardy? No, from the flooding. No, I mean, we had this two year experiment, I guess you would call it. Where we were working remotely, the Attorney General's office worked remotely until mid-summer, I think last year. So we literally for over two years were 100% remote. I mean, people went into the office and could go into the office towards the end of that, but we were remote. So we have already learned how to navigate the waters. I think our self-described IT guy was in the office most of that time and probably a couple of others. But we already have sort of mastered how to do this remotely. We've also found there's a lot of benefit to being in person. And so in addition to knowing that I'm gonna lose all my plants in my office, I really miss all of my colleagues and getting to see them in person. I also should note that I've been invited to throw out the first pitch of the Lake Monsters game next week. And I was practicing my throw with some of the colleagues on our lunch breaks. And so now I'm on my own and I have to ask my neighbors to help me practice my throw, so I missed that too. Boy, well, best of luck with that first pitch. That sounds fun, and it's good to know that the office doesn't, that there's nothing terribly devastating in terms of your work being able to continue remotely, albeit with less of the benefit of in-person work. So thank you, Attorney General Charity Clark for joining us today to share some vital information about scams, praying on those in our community, recovering from flooding impacts. Is there anything else that you want to add for folks that folks should know that you haven't mentioned already? Well, I would love to say a couple words about price gouging. Price gouging is another issue that comes up when there's a disaster. And I wanted to say that Vermonters really take care of each other, and all sort of pull together in a crisis. And so price gouging is something we don't see very often. But it does come up. Price gouging is illegal in Vermont under the Consumer Protection Act. So if anyone is out in the marketplace shopping and they feel like, wow, this jug of water was a lot cheaper last week, they should make a report to the Consumer Assistance Program so that we can look into that. And that number again is 1-800-649-2424. That's great to know. Thank you so much, A.G. Clark. And thank you for tuning into Town Meeting TV under the dome, your front row seat of Vermont's democracy. For more programming from Town Meeting TV for other episodes of Under the Dome, you can visit ch17.tv or subscribe to the Town Meeting TV YouTube channel. Thank you so much and so long.


Today, the Congolese community is holding a Mother's Day celebration at the East End Community School in Portland. I'm joined by Henri, who is the president of Cocoa Main, and he's going to tell us a little bit more. Are we welcome? Thank you very much. So tell me a little bit more about this event today. Yes, today Mother's Day we decided to organize it for the first time to say a big thank you to our mothers who didn't want to pass us like that, but to celebrate with our culture. We'd like to show the world how we express our cultures and serve a huge variety, but today we'd like to focus on the music, Christian music, traditional music, popular music. We'd like to say a big thank you to our mothers. We'd like to thank them, we are so proud of them, so many gifts that we are going to give them and so many wonderful things. Our very own mayor of Portland, Ethan Strimling, made an appearance at the festivities. How do you think these kind of events not only integrate other communities with our own communities, but also give us an awareness of different cultures and backgrounds? Sure, it's absolutely about learning about different cultures and backgrounds, but from my perspective it's really about building our economy and this is the next generation of our economy that's here and helping to build what it is that Portland is going to become. The city right now has 10,000 folks who are born in other countries who have come here to this city and they make us stronger every day. How long did it take for you to plan the event? It took us like three weeks, but it was intense because we thought about it like short time, we were short about time and we said we need it, we need to do it. So we took three weeks, a lot of meetings, planned the event, how we would go. And because we said ready mothers, we say our mothers today, the community, we will give the gift to mothers, all mothers we will have today a gift. Beside the gift, we said we're going to take this chance while we celebrate our mothers, we will also express our culture out there. So it's why we plan to have different kind of how we celebrate in our country music, gospel music, and we're going to have also popular music how we celebrate. The mother's day is really international, but they've never been appreciated as a mother, just at least to say thank you as a mother. So I just thought about it, I said okay this is a new Congolese community of mine, so we really need to value our mother because they came from different places, refugees and they just migrated here, so they really need to be recognized. So we put that project together, so it was an idea combining with all of us that in the Congolese community we are creating an event. As Portland's cultural diversity continues to grow, many immigrant communities are sharing their culture and customs through these kinds of events. Today the Congolese community is opening the door for cross-cultural dialogue and introducing Portland to its new residents through a Mother's Day celebration. What we would like to have, it's not only an event for the Congolese mothers, Congolese ladies, it's for all the mothers of the world. We would like to tell them that we love them, we care for them, as the same way they care for us, maybe they need more, too much, because the scientists were even babies and how we bring them. But it's an event for all the communities, so we can be together to show love to one another, peace to one another. This is by doing that you can build a better world, this is why I thought we thought that we should bring more mothers together. We should bring everybody, not even the mothers, but men as well, come and support everybody, the ladies, and have a wonderful time. In our culture, to celebrate is mostly to dance, so that would be it. But is there any traditional, how do you think? Right now, I don't know if you work with them. It's with a group of Congolese women who play drums, so that's typical, that's something, it's typical Congolese. Many gather to enjoy the festivities, which included traditional Congolese music and food, as well as gifts and flowers for all the mothers in attendance.


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