City Council - July 14, 2026 - City of Berkeley Meetings

Transcript

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all right hello everyone good evening if I can have reporting in progress

council members to the front calling to order the Berkeley City Council meeting

today is Tuesday July 14th 2026 it is 6 11 p.m. thank you all very much for your

patience as we get started a little late we had a special meeting right before

for this. Can we start us off with a roll?

Okay. Uh, Council member Kester wanty here.

Kaplan presence Bartlett present Tregga peasant,

okay, here. Blackaby here. Lunapara humber present and marriage.

Here. Okay. Quorum is present. All right.

Thank you very much for our ceremonial matters this evening.

I'm very excited that we are celebrating disability pride month. Um,

and also BORP's 50th anniversary.

And today we have Emily, who's the executive director

of BORP, who is gonna be receiving the award.

Feel free to come up here.

There's a mic down here as well for you to receive.

Thank you.

Okay.

Whereas Disability Pride Month is observed every July

to commemorate the signing of the Americans

with Disabilities Act of ADA on July 26th, 1990,

a landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination

against people with disabilities in all areas of public life.

And whereas Disability Pride Month highlights

disability culture, history, and community pride

and challenges the harmful notion

that people with disabilities must conform to societal norms

to lead meaningful lives, their lives

are inherently full, valuable, and worthy of dignity

and respect.

Whereas the first Disability Pride Day

was held in Boston in 1990, followed by the first Disability

Pride Parade in Chicago in 2004.

And today's celebrations take place across the country,

empowering people with disabilities

to take pride in who they are.

And whereas the theme for the 2026 Disability Pride Month,

the world works better with us,

affirms that when people with disabilities are included,

respected and supported,

communities work better for everyone.

And whereas BORP, Adaptive Sports and Recreation,

founded in Berkeley, California, 1976,

has been a pioneering force in the field

of adaptive sports and recreation.

And whereas BORP is the only organization

in the San Francisco Bay Area

that provides a comprehensive menu

of adaptive sports, fitness, and recreation programs

for people with physical disabilities,

and whereas participation in sports, recreation,

and fitness empowers people with disabilities

by improving health, fostering social connections,

enhancing overall well-being, and increasing independence

while promoting inclusion and equal opportunity

in our community.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Adina Ishii,

mayor of the city of Berkeley, do hereby proclaim July 2026 as disability pride month

in the city of Berkeley and congratulate and recognize BORP adaptive sports and recreation

for its 50 years of extraordinary leadership and commitment to breaking barriers for people

with disabilities to participate in sports fitness and recreation programs.

Did you want to say a few words? Yeah, thank you so much Mayor Ishii and to the entire council.

I wanted to tell just a brief story, which is that in 1976,

a student at UC Berkeley named Susan Siegel,

who was a wheelchair user,

tried to register for a swim class at UC Berkeley.

She was told that she could not take that swim class

because she used a wheelchair,

and so for a school project,

she designed a program that would integrate people with

disabilities and provide them recreation and sports

opportunities that at that time were not available to them.

Her professor was so moved by

the hypothetical proposal that he suggested she go in front of this very council to get

funding for what later became BORP adaptive sports and recreation.

So this council in 1976 made that happen.

BORP was one of the very first organizations of its kind,

a pioneer in the field providing sports and recreation opportunities for people of

all ages to participate in sports and to get outdoors.

Today, BOR provides over 20 weekly programs

that serve over 1,400 individuals with disabilities

every year, and much of it is possible

because of the City of Berkeley support.

So thank you all.

We are having an event to commemorate our 50 years

on October 15th, so I do invite everybody

to join us at that event, 50 years of power,

play, and progress to celebrate 50 years

of an organization by and for the community

providing these pioneering opportunities.

So thank you so much, Mary, she and the council.

Thank you so much.

Okay, so I'm very excited for our next ceremonial matter

this evening.

We are gonna be recognizing Kai Wang.

So Kai, would you and your family like to stand?

You can come up to the podium.

Thank you so much for joining us this evening, Kai.

I know that you and your family are here

And it's very exciting because Kai is a Berkeley student,

a student in Berkeley Unified School District,

who competed in the National Braille Competition

in Los Angeles.

There was an article about it in the Berkeley side,

and my office was so thrilled

that you were going to be in attendance.

And then, very excitingly, you won first place

in the charts and graphs category.

So I really wanna give you, yes.

Yes, Kai is a seventh grader at Longfellow Middle School,

and the only California student to compete

in this competition, so we are so incredibly proud of you, Kai,

that we wanted to give you a certificate of recognition

from my office.

So congratulations, did you want to say anything?

I'd like to thank Mayor Yixi, first of all,

for recognizing the importance of braille literacy,

as well as my mom for always advocating for my access.

I'd also like to thank my teachers and educators,

especially my teacher for the visually impaired,

Mr. Dustin and my music teacher, Mr. Houston,

for always making my access his responsibility.

I'd also like to thank the blind community

in Berkeley, including BORP,

and my younger brother for keeping me sane

throughout my studies.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

And finally this evening,

we have an adjournment and memory for Vanessa Lynn Sanchez,

which was requested by Council Member Kesterwani.

So I'll turn it over to you, Council Member.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

I would like to adjourn tonight's meeting

in solemn memory of Vanessa Lynn Sanchez,

a 37-year-old Berkeley resident,

whose life was brutally and violently taken

in her home on California Street.

Though I did not have the privilege

of knowing Vanessa personally

before learning of her death in the Berkeley scanner,

her tragic passing has left a profound impact

on our community.

In adjourning tonight in Vanessa's memory,

we must collectively honor her life

while confronting the systemic epidemic

of gender-based violence.

Her death is a painful, urgent reminder

that even in cities as progressive and peaceful as Berkeley,

violence against women persists.

We must reaffirm our unwavering responsibility

to support survivors, strengthen local protections,

and hold those who inflict harm fully accountable.

Vanessa was a woman of exceptional warmth and resilience.

Born in Hartford and raised in south Windsor, Connecticut,

she earned her higher education at Eastern Connecticut State

University and Sacred Heart University

before establishing her home in Berkeley in 2018.

For years, she dedicated herself to serving the wider Bay

Area as a college admissions administrator

at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Beyond her professional achievements,

Vanessa defined what it means to be a fighter.

diagnosed with stage four breast cancer at just 34 years old,

she publicly chronicled her journey

with immense bravery and grace,

inspiring countless others as she fought a fierce battle

against the disease.

Her family remembers her as a bright light

who loved fiercely and wholeheartedly,

possessing a rare gift for making everyone around her

feel seen, valued, and deeply cared for.

The sudden loss of Vanessa is an absolute tragedy

for her neighbors, colleagues, loved ones,

and the entire city of Berkeley.

As we adjourn tonight, let us carry forward her spirit

of determination, warmth, and courage.

We extend our deepest, most heartfelt condolences

to her family and to all who are grieving

this devastating loss.

Thank you, council member.

We are finished with our ceremonial matters

for this evening.

We will, of course, be adjourning in memory of Vanessa.

And we will move on to city manager comments.

comments tonight madam mayor thank you thank you so much i think our city auditor oh there

our city auditor is here and has some comments as well all right good evening everyone um i wanted

to make brief comments on the item on the public bank ballot measure i think this is item number

three it's an initiative petition um the intention behind a public bank is to create a publicly owned

financial institution rather than having a private bank hold those investment dollars

the city's budget. So I think

that's a good question. I think

that money can be directly

invested in local issues of

interest such as affordable

housing and infrastructure. I

haven't evaluate the contents of

this measure I think this is

something that could potentially

benefit Berkeley. At the same

time I do want to state one

specific concern I have with

this measure. There's a

provision in the measure

the city of downtown. The city of

downtown is a city of downtown.

The city of downtown is a city of

downtown. The county of downtown

the highway provides funding for these audits. This is in contrast to the most recent measure FF on safe streets and on the council bond measure on infrastructure. Both measures include language on independent audits as well as funding for oversight. Imposing audit requirements without additional funding will curtail the scope of other audits we are able to execute. Other priority issues may be left unaddressed. This sets a really bad precedent.

to be able to do that. So we're

going to have to be able to do

that. So we're going to have to

be able to do that. So we're

going to have to be able to do

that. So we're going to have to

be able to do that. So we're

going to have to be able to do

that. So we're going to have to

be able to do that. So we're

going to have to be able to do

that. So we're going to have to

be able to do that. So we're

going to have to be able to do

that. So we're going to have to

be able to do that. So we're

going to have to be able to do

that. So we're going to have to

be able to do that. So we're

going to have to be able to do

the city audit agenda.

The city audit agenda is

the city audit agenda.

The city audit agenda has

exceeded the office's

ability to conduct them and

they've had to ask for

additional funding to add

positions in order to do this

work.

As we all know, we can't

afford to do that in

Berkeley given our deficit.

Our audit agenda must continue

to be set based on the need

and in conjunction with our

existing processes.

I hope that future measures

Thank you so much, auditor.

That's a very important point and I appreciate you bringing that to our attention.

Okay.

All right.

Very well.

Okay.

So we are moving on, okay, to public comment on non-agenda matters.

Yes.

Okay.

So this is public comments on items that are not on the published agenda.

We'll select up to five cards from in-person speakers.

And then we will go to the first five hands raised on the Zoom.

So if you'd like to provide comments on non-agenda items on the Zoom, now is the time to raise

your hand.

And we'll pick the cards for in-person speakers.

Okay.

So we have for in-person speakers.

We have Andrea Pritchett, John Mario Sevilla, Samantha Torres, and Glen Turner.

So come forward in any order, and you can provide public comments.

Each speaker will have one minute.

Good afternoon, council members.

I had the opportunity to listen to your previous meeting.

I have to confess that I was sort of shocked to hear people say that the racial disparities

is presented to you by the Police Accountability Board

were not statistically significant.

When 50% of the uses of force are against African Americans

in a city where less than 8% of the people

are African American,

I don't know what measure you used to just dismiss that

and say, it doesn't matter.

Look behind you, black lives matter, right?

So the question is, what are you gonna do

if you guys are satisfied with that?

You're like, yeah, well, okay, onto the next.

Or you could look at that early warning system data.

You could look, because I know from statistical analysis

that you have one lieutenant here

who over a five year period,

75% of the people that he arrested were African American.

You could dig in and find out, or you could walk away.

Thank you.

My name is Glenn Turner and I want to speak about the things that are not on the agenda.

Public safety is very important, but what I see now is that, and we were talking about

police things, but then actually we've had a cut, and so the special crisis team that

used to come out has been cut and is no longer in existence.

wellness centers through the mental health committee there department they

closed that so they're closing down safety nets and I'm afraid that you know

things are not going to get better they're going to get worse especially

considering the economic crash that's going to be happening as this war

proceeds and I'd like to talk about the future and I especially like the way our

our auditor talks about public banks and things like that.

Well, thank you so much.

Or it could be said.

Next speaker.

Was there anyone else who whose name was called?

Samantha Torres and John Mario Sevilla.

Yeah, go ahead.

All right, good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor,

members of the City Council.

My name is Samantha Torres.

I'm speaking tonight as the Vice Chair

of the Recreation and Parks Commission

from the City of Richmond,

and I'm representing one of the five member cities

of the Joint Powers Agreement

that created the Tom Bates Regional Sports Complex.

In 2001, the Joint Powers Agreement was formed

with the goal of building a regional sports facility

that would serve all the communities.

Since 2023, with the support

of the mayor and city council,

I've worked to help Richmond youth organizations

access Tom Bates.

We're seeing as inconsistent, burdensome,

and lack of transparency in the allocation process.

Original facility cannot serve all communities

of the policies governing access.

Push out one partner city while allowing others

to expand their footprint and bring in teams

from outside of the joint powers agreement.

The need for Richmond youth sports access

at Tom Bates is clear.

Berkeley's population is only about 12% larger than Richmond

and Richmond has about 48% more residents under 18.

I will follow up by email.

I was expecting two minutes.

Thank you.

is John Mario Sevilla he's gonna be okay so mayor that's just three speakers but

we did have somebody else who wanted to speak but did not fill out a card so I'm

fine with taking them okay thank you hi thank you hi thank you for letting me

speak. My name is Noury Clark and I live in Berkeley at 1309 Bonita Avenue. I have

heard that the fire department is responsible for all the 911 calls and to

respond to them and that this has put a very big stress on their budget and

they're getting in there having fundraising to try and cover it but that

the city of Davis. And I would

like to make sure that we're

I would like to comment something on the effect of a policy change from Texas

Group to GoGo brand program.

I was told in February that there will still be a Texas program in July,

but to my surprise that in June, I was told that the program is canceled.

Instead, it's going to be GoGo brand.

And the effect I can see is three aspects.

Number one, it increased the financial burden

to a lot of seniors.

Number two, it reduced their mobility and independence.

They used to rely on this Pepsi strip to go about,

but now there's no more, so they just don't go out.

And for me, I am a disabled senior.

I have a lot of medical appointments,

and now I am in difficulty.

And either I have to use a taxi and it's-

Thank you very much, I'm so sorry,

but your time is up, thank you.

Next is Alana Auerbach.

Alana, you should be, there you go.

Here I am, okay.

First, I'd like to give you all some kudos for a change.

The new playground on Bonita and Hearst,

taught playground, I took my grand girl there several times.

It is fantastic for tots.

There's also a great play area for older children.

Highly recommend it if you haven't been there

and you've got kids.

There's graffiti on the UA Theater downtown.

That's a Berkeley landmark.

Please enforce the anti-blight policies

and insist that that building owner cleans it up.

The previous speaker talked about the go-go car service.

I have an elderly neighbor who also is very upset

about the change in what happened

with the go-go grandma car service

and that not being available anymore.

And I also wanna say that the parking,

the new parking program is very unfriendly

to the people who own cars in Berkeley

and it's very unwelcoming to people

who are gonna be visiting Berkeley.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Next is Russell Bates.

Hi everybody, Russell Beitz here.

I'm a little bit irritated at a lot of things.

The ICE in Berkeley at the same time, the proposal for increased use of tear gas and

pepper spray.

Somebody have inside information there of something's going on, the same people that

are calling for militarization, the police, also the ones in the form of genocide going

on in Gaza and Lebanon and that area, you need to remember that as the empire crumbles,

the middle class is going to be shrinking, the working class is pissed off, and the ruling

class is going to become much more oppressive than it is already.

Please do not be part of the ruling class.

Be part of the working class.

The tradition at Berkeley is working class.

Make sure you stay working class.

you very much. Thanks Russell. Next is Makai Freeman. Should be there you go. Okay. Good

Then the council members, I'm here tonight to ask as I ask,

who may have asked me to speak.

To talk about what the district needs and deaths

suspect and will second more,

age of seniors and children with disabilities.

I asked that meeting. I also went to express deep concern, the mystery like nationalization

or a sea. I wasn't alive when dogs are sick and watching me learn. People just downstream

the dating classes, the unit setting, and of course, our personal rights which would be subjected to dogs and chemical weapons, and keep sharing about them for casualties.

and to see that it is being discussed and considered for this.

It is astounding.

As you don't go down this road,

we don't need it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Kelly Hammergren.

Thank you. I hope you don't consider this cheating when there were only four hands.

I really appreciated the recognition of disability pride month.

I'd like to ask that,

does this mean tomorrow at the fights,

we will finally have a resolution to

the Commission on Disability asking for contracts in the city of Berkeley to abide

by pro-wag, which stands for Public Right-of-Way

Accessibility Guidelines.

They've been waiting for over a year for results and resolution

on this item.

And I think it's important that we start

considering disability rights if we're

going to celebrate disability months.

And we also need to look at floating islands

in the Burke plan.

Thanks, Kelly.

Bike plan, thank you.

That's it, there's no more hands raised.

Thank you.

All right, thank you everyone.

All right, we are now moving on to the consent calendar.

I believe we need to vote to approve the addition

of the supplemental agenda material.

Did you want to say anything about it, council member?

Sure this is in relation to item number 20,

Reliquishment of Council Office Budget Funds

for the raising the next generation

of student advocates arise program.

And this just adds a resolution

and co-sponsors Mayor Adina Ishii and Council Member Bartlett.

Thank you very much.

Is there a motion to add this to the agenda?

I move.

Second.

Can we take the roll on that please?

Okay, to accept supplemental three material

on item number 20, council member Kesser-Wani.

Yes.

Tap one. Yes.

Bartlett. Yes.

Traga. Aye.

O'Keefe. Yes.

Black. Yes.

Unipara. Yes.

Humber. Yes.

And Mayor Ishi.

Yes. Okay, motion carries.

Okay, thank you very much.

Are there any council member comments

for this consent calendar?

Sorry, I know our parliamentarian's been on the fritz today,

so feel free to wave at me if anyone has comments.

Yeah, go ahead Council Member Leno Para.

I wanted to thank the city manager and his team

for the appointment of the Director of Public Works

and I am excited to welcome Jamie Parks

to the city of Berkeley.

Thank you so much for the process

and I'm really, really excited.

I also would like to donate $200 for my discretionary

budget to items 18 and 20

and thank the authors for bringing them forward, thanks.

Okay, anyone else?

Yes, Council Member Bartlett.

Thank you.

I'd like to turn $250 to item 20, the RISE program.

Thank you Council Member Tregob.

And the birthday brown memorial gathering

and hunger program recognition is a really special event.

As we know hunger is on the rise in our area.

People are now selling food in the streets

and the food shocks will be coming on greater

and greater waves very soon due to the shortage

of fertilizer due to the war.

So keep hunger on your mind.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Taplin.

I see your hand raised and then Council Member Trachow.

Thank you very much.

On items 18 and 20, I'd like to relinquish $150 each

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Tracob.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I would like to, first of all,

extend my sincere gratitude to our city clerk

and his team for all the work they've done

to facilitate the placement of initiatives

onto the ballot and all of the appointments as well

that they're helping to facilitate.

I would like to welcome our new Director

of Public Works, Jamie Parks.

We heard many great things about him

from our neighbors in Oakland

and are looking forward to working with him.

And I want to take a moment to acknowledge

and to express my profound gratitude,

our profound gratitude to Director Bahid Amiri

for his extraordinary service to our community.

every time our constituents reach out to us

was simple or complex requests.

He's a trusted and impressively responsive colleague.

Waheed and his team and my staff's experience

are always looking for solutions.

And this approach is truly refreshing

and welcomed in this area and in government in general.

And even on tonight's agenda,

we are proving many items that were brought to us

by Director Amiri and his team.

So thank you so much for your work.

I would like to contribute $150 on item 18.

Thank you, Council Member Bartlett, for authoring this item.

I would like to thank my colleagues

for their contributions towards item 20,

the Supporting the Rise program.

I attended a Berkeley High School rise graduation.

I think last month, and I was deeply moved

by that experience.

And lastly, I want to thank my colleagues

for considering support for item 19,

which would be to adopt a position of opposing ACA 22,

which is the California two-thirds,

um vote requirement for special taxes um while we appreciate all the hard work that our state

legislators put into repealing a much more extreme uh howard jarvis uh supported initiative

which would have reporectively voided local taxes and restricted charter city real estate

transfer taxes from the upcoming ballots aca 22 if passed uh will still have compounding

negative impacts on the financial well-being

of California cities, including ours.

And so we are,

we as a city of Berkeley,

if we pass this tonight,

would be one of the first local jurisdictions

in the state to do so.

And I think it's very important to send a clear

and unambiguous message of our opposition

for this door quality and ballot measure.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, council member.

Council member Kesawani,

and then we'll go to Vice Mayor O'Keefe,

and then council member Humbert.

Okay, thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

I'd like to be recorded as donating $100 to item 18,

the birth of Brown Community Memorial Gathering,

and $100 for the RISE program, item number 20.

Thank you.

Okay, Vice Mayor O'Keefe.

I totally forgot it was the vice mayor.

Thank you for reminding me.

Okay, I want to donate $250

to the Bertha Brown Community Memorial Gathering.

Thank you very much.

Sounds like a great program.

And also 250 to the RISE program item.

I've had many students involved in the RISE program

and I'm very happy to support it.

So thank you for bringing that item.

And then I just want to also just add,

I think council member Tregoop said it really well.

I just really want to add my gratitude.

I want to first welcome Director Parks

and also really just honor and thank Acting Director Amiri

for the amazing job he did.

He really stepped into a huge position

and really did a great job.

It's an incredibly important position

and he really nailed it.

So I just, so much gratitude to him.

And once again, welcome Director Parks.

Thank you very much, Council Member Humbert.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and first I want to associate myself

and underline both the comments of Council Member Turigob

and Vice Mayor O'Keeffe about our wonderful,

incredibly knowledgeable, incredibly responsive,

interim Public Works Director, Wahida Miri.

He's just an amazing, amazing public servant.

I really appreciate the work that he has done and is doing.

with respect to number 18,

the Birth of Brown Community Memorial Gathering,

I'd like to contribute $150 from our office account.

And then item 20, which is the RISE program,

$100 from our office account, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Yes, Council Member Blackaby.

Thanks, Madam Mayor.

A couple of quick things.

I just want to thank you on item six

for your appointment of the new member of the PAB.

And actually, there's two items.

There's the new member, and then also appointment

of alternate member.

I think this might be the first time the board's also

had its required alternate member.

So it's not only are we going to be at a full complement,

but if someone is out, we actually

have an alternate member to step in.

So just appreciate the effort that everybody's

made to kind of bring the board up to full strength.

I want to echo everyone's comments.

Welcoming Jamie Parks.

I look forward to working with him

as our new Director of Public Works

and thanking Mr. Amiri for all of his amazing work.

Marin Avenue and so many other projects in District Six

have benefited from his expertise

and we look forward to his continued work together

here for the city and thank him for his interim leadership.

On item 18, please mark our office down for $250

for the Birth of Brown Community Memorial Gathering

and also on item 20, $250 for the RISE program.

I also just wanted to comment very briefly on item 15,

something that we kind of skim over often

and kind of our look at the consent calendar.

This is a contract for after hours answering services.

Just a comment, and this is an issue

that Council Member O'Keefe and I

and many others have been looking at is,

as a city, how do we continue to look for opportunities

to use technology in more effective ways,

looking at pilots where we can try very targeted uses

of AI to automate certain workflows.

I think this area after hours call service,

it's an outsourced service.

It does not affect any city staff.

It's fundamentally about routing calls

that come in after hours to the right person.

This feels like the perfect candidate

for a place to try piloting some AI technology.

I want to acknowledge that the city manager

and I had a conversation.

he was very open and willing to take a look at this.

The contract is for three years,

but it's structured in such a way

that if we were to pilot something,

we could exit the contract early.

And so I'm just excited that this might be one place

where we could start to try this.

And as a city, I think, from a cost savings perspective,

from an improvement of customer service perspective,

we need to be looking at any and all

of these sorts of possibilities.

And I just wanna thank the city manager

for being willing to have that conversation

being interested in taking a look at maybe this is something that we do, and any support

that we could provide obviously as a body to encourage I think the city to make some

initial steps and tests and pilots and investments because this is certainly the way things are

moving and to sort of continue delivering effective service at a time where we are seeing

more and more budget pressures, I think we're going to need to look for this kind of creative

solution. And so again normally it's an item that would kind of we would pass by

but I did just want to highlight it because I think it's an area where we

can really do some interesting work and try some new things. So with that that's

it for now. Thank you. Thank you so much. I also wanted to welcome Director Parks

who will be our public works director and thank of course our interim

director Amiri as well for all of his work. I also wanted to acknowledge that

There are three citizen-led initiatives

on our consent calendar tonight,

and I know folks worked really hard

to gather thousands of Berkeley signatures

to qualify for these ballot measures.

We have a parcel tax for the art institutions,

a parcel tax supporting a public bank,

and a measure to add two cents per ounce

to sugar-sweetened beverages.

And I also am really thrilled to be appointing

Yasmina Vitashkeech as my appointee

to the police accountability board.

She's thoughtful, balanced, community-centered,

and has experience with investigations.

I'm eager for her to bring her perspective

to the PAB's work, and I know that she will serve

with an open mind and a commitment

to institutional accountability.

I'm also very happy to be bringing forward

Pastor Dwayne Phillips as our alternate for the PAB

with a confirmation of these two people.

We are one step closer to having

a full police accountability board.

Councilmember Tapplin's appointee will be coming forward

to the council at the next meeting

to round out our outstanding vacancies.

I also, I wasn't sure if it was, we were listed already,

so $100 for item number 18 as well, Council Member Bartlett.

Okay, thank you very much.

Do we have any comments on consent calendar

or information items?

Yeah.

I'm sorry, did you relinquish for, did you mention?

Sorry, $100 for 18.

$200 for 18.

100, 100.

100 free.

Sorry, yes, we are now after the budget cuts

doing $100 per, so.

And I do have, just so you know, Mr. City Clerk,

the comment I'm supposed to make before we vote, so.

Okay.

Okay, yes.

So please come on up if you have any comments

on consent calendar or information items only.

Come on up, Kelly.

Okay, so I wanted to comment on the order

for the Tour Star, Incorporated.

These are the little, the parking cards.

And evidently, we don't have enough charging

at 125, 127 University

in order to get the battery operated carts.

I remember when this came around the last time

for battery operated carts a number of years ago

before most of you were here.

And I'm just wondering,

is this the best we can do in Berkeley?

Can't we find another place to charge these carts

so that we don't have to do more gas carts

and we can keep our commitment to going electric.

it just seems like we should be able to do better.

And so I would ask that we take a hard look.

Of course, most of us here in the city

would be happy if we didn't have carts for a while.

But anyway, that's my request.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kelly.

Hi.

Hello, my name is Adriana Bethe.

I am the executive director of RISE.

I want to thank the council member, Igor,

especially for putting this on the ballot

and for attending our graduation.

and I hope you got the article from the jacket.

And thank you also for contributing to our program.

As you know, Berkeley High,

I mean RISE is housed on the Berkeley High campus.

It was actually founded in 1976

by youth that were seeking educational equity.

One of those students was Calvin Fong

who worked for the mayor's office, the late Calvin Fong.

And so we do want to remember him

in every piece of work that we do.

So by supporting us, you are also having his efforts

live on in our kids that are still trying

to do the same thing.

Every year, we have a graduation that's put on

by donations and student fundraising,

and just the food alone was 1,950.

The food was cooked by a 2023 Berkeley High graduate.

We had 28 graduates this year.

Three of them went on to, well,

one went to the University of Indiana,

one went to the American University of Paris,

and one to the University of San Francisco.

Can I finish this with that?

Sorry, can we get a minute?

Yes, thank you.

Go ahead. Thank you.

Seven of them went on to UC systems.

Two of them went on to state colleges.

15 of them went on to junior colleges.

In other words, all 28 are going on.

One went on to Rising Sense Trade School.

So all 28 are engaged in post-secondary.

Six of them received the High Hope scholarships,

11 of them received the First Step scholarships,

and all of them at various colleges

either got a number of different scholarships or full rides.

We do have a girl that was kicked out

and homeless at the end of the school year,

and she got a full ride at Northridge.

So just wanted to say that.

Just one other thing I'd like to say,

just attended a graduation in May.

My student who was homeless,

I'm getting abused living on the street,

just graduated and became a doctor

and is gonna be doing her residency

at Marshall's University in West Virginia.

So thank you for your help.

Thank you so much, Miss Betty.

Thank you for bringing that wonderful news to us.

Yes.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council.

My name is Sean Dugar.

I am a Berkeley native whose family has been in the city

since 1919.

In that 100 plus year history, we

have seen the city of Berkeley, the voters of Berkeley,

continue to make history, continue

to push forward a progressive agenda.

And we have an opportunity to do that this November again

with setting up a fund that will create a public bank here

in the East Bay, a public bank that

would allow for us to not be as dependent on Washington, DC,

not be as dependent on Wall Street

to invest in our communities, but instead

be able to invest in green energy and infrastructure,

in affordable housing and workforce housing,

and to support small businesses.

So I want to thank the members of this council who have been supportive,

this entire body that has supported public banks here in the East Bay in the

past and onward to November. Thank you all.

Thank you, Sean.

2. Parcel Tax to Fund Arts Institutions

Uh, good evening. My name's Tom Parrish and I am a member of the Berkeley Arts

coalition and a resident of district five. Um,

I'm here to speak about the 2026 Berkeley arts and creative economy rescue and

sustainability measure.

Berkeleyans understand that the arts are not a luxury.

They are important civic infrastructure.

Just as we invest in our schools, our libraries,

and our parks because they strengthen our community,

we must also invest in the artists

and cultural organizations that define who we are,

build community cohesion,

and provide lifelong learning opportunities.

Last summer, 93% of Berkeley voters polled

agreed that arts and culture are a critical part

of what makes Berkeley a special place to live,

and this ballot measure gives those values meaningful action.

This measure will generate more than $6 million annually

to support nonprofit theaters, music and dance organizations,

museums, community festivals, and individual artists,

and expand arts education, free community events,

and preserve cultural spaces.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks so much, Tom.

Hello, good evening.

My name is David Mayer.

I'm the founder and CEO of the UC Theater.

I'm here also in support of the Save the Arts measure,

and it's not only investing in the quality of life

in Berkeley, but it's also investing in something

that also gives a return, not just a cultural return,

but a financial return.

Performing arts, theaters, and music venues

are both primary and secondary revenue generators

and primary and secondary job generators.

For example, every ticket that's sold at the UC Theater

generates 14 to $16 in the community.

So for every 100,000 tickets sold,

that's 1.4 to 1.6 million in surrounding businesses.

And in addition to that, the jobs that we create

are not only in our venue, but the secondary jobs

in the businesses surrounding us.

So I think it's important to look at it

from not only just a cultural standpoint,

but also for economic.

The city of Berkeley also did a creative economy study

on the creative economy in Berkeley.

And that's where we'll take a look at,

underscores that as well.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members,

and members of the community.

My name is John Mario Sevilla.

I'm the Director of Development and Operations

at Luna Dance and Creativity.

I'm here to express also my strong support

for the Berkeley Arts Measure.

For 30 years, Luna has brought creativity, equity,

and community to children's lives through dance.

So I'm speaking about the educational impact

this measure. Last year we served 731 educators and artists and reaching more than 50,000 children,

6,000 with disabilities and special needs. The arts are essential to learning, belonging and

building vibrant communities. Berkeley's support has already established our AEDA accessible

community dance center, expanding opportunities for children and people of all of all abilities.

At a time when federal and state arts funding is in sharp decline, this measure is an investment

in our children, our local economy, and Berkeley's identity as a city where creativity and learning

thrive. Thank you so much. My name is Glenn Turner. I ran on the Green Party ticket for state

treasurer and one of my platforms was a public bank and I've been tabling for them 10 years ago

at farmer's markets and I'm so excited that it got on the ballot. I had, I was,

I was so disappointed at the turnout of number of signatures I thought it had not gotten on

the ballot but now I'm just thrilled that we will actually be the first public bank,

East Bay public bank in California and it, it's a, it will be a bonus to us. This is

Exciting. I just had to say how happy I am. Thank you. Thank you

I've been gifted with the possibility of a second minute from Steve

Council members, I want to sorry Steve. Yeah. Okay. Just fine. Sure. Okay

Council members, I want to

Express my excitement about that possibility of a full PAB

excuse me, and hopefully my council member will also

nominate someone from district two to serve.

But I guess what I heard in your previous meeting,

I heard you express that some members of the community

are just kind of anti-police

and are just oppositional in that way.

And what I want to get under that,

because I don't hate any police.

I am critical of policing in our city how the way that it is conducted, and this has

been a long struggle that far precedes your presence on the council for some of you.

But the idea is that it's called care, not cops, and it's a whole philosophical difference

that I hope the new members of the PAB will understand.

It's not about hate, it's about deep love.

It's about care.

It's about offering people things like a place to sleep instead of a dog bite.

It's really fundamental.

I'm asking, where is our warming?

Is it economically wise to eliminate warming centers from our budget and yet consider mass

surveillance proposals?

How much will you spend litigating these things?

How happy will it make us?

It's about, this is our community, we love it.

And we want you to care for it in a way that collaborates

with what we're expressing to you.

And it really is a heartbreaker to see the proposal

after proposal in full retreat from the high aspirations

you've expressed a few years ago.

And so we are saying we want to go back there.

Thanks Andrea.

That woman always explores me.

She speaks the truth in such a bottom line way

because Mayor you brought it up with the disability thing.

SRI respect, include and support.

It is a fundamental point of view

that together we can, we need more interaction.

We need as a community to know that we keep ourselves safe.

And I'm definitely in support of the public bank,

police accountability, I love the police.

If they would do their job with heart and care,

and if we would prevent harm,

I just saw a man surrounded by three police cars.

He didn't need that, he needed help.

He needed help and we're not providing enough help.

Okay, elevators please, I really support that

because elevators are falling apart and people get hurt.

And if you're going to buy new parking enforcement vehicles,

please resell the old so that we can use them

in the community, thank you.

Thanks, Mayor.

Carol Marassovic, first, I wanna support

the City Auditor's comments regarding public banks

and her need for additional auditors to do that job.

Second, I wanna support the comments that were made

regarding Wahida Mary, he was great, he was professional,

he was a great communicator and he brought a lot of expertise and he's just was just excellent.

Third, I want to address that number eight, the capacity building.

I was hoping there would be some relationship to Bendix and curing the racial disparities and

gender disparities and building that type of capacity.

Last, I want to comment on the comments about AI that have been made,

which is to state that there were also as a downside to AI.

Just today, I received a couple different emails

related to negative aspects of AI.

For example, the University of Chicago

has law schools banned tech.

Thanks. Thank you.

Carol, did you want a minute?

Someone from the audience is giving you a minute.

Thank you.

I was hoping to read some of the comments,

but suddenly my phone went down on that

from an AI and that was basically to sum it up,

it was talking about the human aspect

and that people want the human aspect.

And this has been, I am so sorry,

this has just gone down on my phone,

but that you can't replace the human aspect

and we have to remember that AI may seem very efficient,

but there is that, okay, here goes.

One line from the strategy stood out.

They write that many aspects of legal practice

will remain the domain of humans,

not merely because humans are good at them,

but because clients, employers, judges, and society

will want humans to perform them.

That is a different argument that AI can't do this yet.

It's saying that even when AI can do something,

people will still want a human doing that.

Whether it is, and I'm gonna go to the next paragraph,

but we still want humans to do,

and whether we are building the conditions,

So Carol, thank you, good times up.

Thank you.

Thanks so much, Carol.

I have some comments online.

Yes, first speaker is Ben Gerhardstein.

Good evening, Mayor and Council, Ben Gerhardstein

with Walkway Berkeley calling in this evening

to appreciate the hard work that the city manager's office

did and that y'all did in recruiting

and ideally hiring Jamie Parks

for public works director, Walker Berkeley

is thrilled with his appointment.

Jamie has the background that the city needs right now

to really advance our work,

to make our streets safe, accessible and smooth for all.

And we're excited to bring him on board

and get to work with him.

So great to hear so much support across council

for this appointment and onward.

Thank you, Ben.

Next is Martin.

Our City Council, this is Martin Bourke.

I'm the Executive Director at the Ecology Center.

Of the many community benefits

that the Ecology Center brings to Berkeley,

we were the anchor organization

for the 2014 Berkeley versus Big Soda,

Soda Tax Ballot Measure.

And we are excited to announce

that we gathered over 5,000 signatures this,

Oh Martin, you cut out. Martin? I can't hear you. All right. Move on to the next. Next

is Jeff Lomax. Good evening Council regarding item three. I would encourage you to use your

authority under this item to oppose the bank tax. Some of you have already stated opposition

to the measure as written and that is correct. It's a hundred percent financed by the citizens

of Berkeley during a time when you're struggling with a $30 million deficit, with no guarantees

that any of the parcel tax will be spent in Berkeley.

Funds will go to Richmond, funds will go to Oakland, but there's zero guarantee any funds

will be spent in Berkeley.

And then there are unprecedented inflators on this, mandatory inflators.

This is unprecedented.

It takes away your authority to uphold your fiduciary responsibility to the citizens

of Berkeley. Your own $50,000 study shows that the financials underpinnings of this

proposal are quite shaky. Use your authority to oppose this measure until it is done in

a responsible and fiduciary responsible way to your constituents. Thank you.

Next is Jill. Thank you. Hello and good evening, mayor and

council members. My name is Jill Randall. I'm a longtime South Berkeley resident and

artist, currently the Co-Artistic Director of 68-year-old Shawl Anderson Dance Center.

During my time over the years on the Berkeley Cultural Trust, including two years chairing it,

I worked with colleagues and council to help increase the civic arts budget. We've tried

numerous strategies over the years, including the Airbnb tax and the idea of a cannabis tax,

and there were many years where we worked together to incrementally increase the budget.

The arts measure about the parcel tax will literally be a life-changing opportunity

for arts in Berkeley. Vital, uplifting, capacity building, sustainability, and longevity.

Out of all of the ideas we have brainstormed over the last decade, dreamed and vetted,

this is it. Thank you for putting it on the ballot this fall. Thank you Jill. Next is former council

councilmember Cheryl Davila can I get a minute or two from people in the audience um there's

a minute over here oh and someone in the back so you have three minutes thank you um yeah so

district one council member and all the other people that are on this item should be ashamed

We do not need to give air support, canines.

Cheryl, we're actually on consent calendar

and information items only.

Okay, so we'll go to the next speaker.

Did you have other comments that are on the consent calendar

or information items?

Yes, I do.

May I continue?

Yes, go ahead.

I don't think any of these tax measures

going to go through. People are tired of paying Berkeley for things, and what do they get out of

it? There's Curtis streets not paved. I agree with the public banking and the sugar tax, yeah.

But there's a lot of other things that people are really disappointed in, and

You know, I don't feel like the people that I've talked to, which I talk to a lot of people that live in Berkeley, um,

District 2 and beyond that aren't happy with how things are going in Berkeley. They don't want to pay any more money.

They don't feel like when they do pay more money that the money gets used when the way it's supposed to be used

and they are very disappointed.

Um, so it's, you know, it's interesting. We'll see how that works out. Um, and also, you know,

a lot of these, um, people that I talked to are really disappointed in how you're treating our

unhoused people with, um, evictions and all that, all the stress that you're putting on them when

you do these things and they're not happy and it's not okay.

They don't have, you're not giving alternatives, you're not talking to them and trying to get

to know them and trying to help them with whatever issue that they have that keeps them

from being housed.

You need to have a universal income to actually support folks to be housed that can't actually

afford to be housed or need a little extra boost.

You need to be doing more to help people,

to help your constituents, and you need to listen

to your constituents and pay attention to your constituents.

And I don't recall seeing any of you there for

the honorable, wonderful man that passed away,

Carl Anthony, which happened this past weekend. They had a memorial for him.

Another person that passed away is Bailey. Bailey was a person in Berkeley that has been

here for quite some time. He's an icon and a staple to the telegraph area, a musician.

He worked at the Berkeley Square and, you know, played at Larry Blake's, and Rest in Peace,

Rest in Power, Carl Anthony, Rest in Peace, Rest in Power, Bailey, Pendergrass.

Next is Public Bank East Bay.

Thank you. My name is Debbie Notkin. I chair the Friends of the Public Bank East Bay.

I will try to be as quick as I can. I, first of all, want to say that we completely support

the city auditor's request for more resources, and I'm very glad that she spoke up about it.

Second, I want to say that the very clear intent of the measure is to – if the bulk of the funds

come from Berkeley, the bank will prioritize Berkeley in every possible and legal way.

And thirdly, I just want to say that this is, as one of the gentlemen who spoke about the arts

measure said, this is in the medium term a way to bring success, not just success, but actual cash

to the city. And it is for the benefit of Berkeley and the surrounding area. But the,

but Berkeley stepping up, we are incredibly grateful. And thank you. Thanks so much for your comment.

I think that was our final comment online so I did just want to add one more thing that I'm

supposed to say before we approve our consent calendar this evening which is that pursuant

to state law we are verbally disclosing our action on public agency executive salaries the council

will vote to adopt a resolution confirming the appointment of James Jamie Parks as the director

of police account excuse me sorry we were we've been talking about police accountability all day

as the director of public works to be effective august 17th 2026 at an annual salary of 270 000

all right is there a motion to approve the consent calendar so second all right can we

take the role in that please okay to approve the consent calendar councilmember kesser wanting yes

Yes.

Bartlett.

Yes.

Traggub.

Aye.

O'Keefe.

Yes.

Blackaby.

Yes.

Unapara.

Yes.

Humber.

Yes.

And Maryishi.

Yes.

Okay.

Motion carries.

Very good.

Thank you all so much.

Okay.

Moving on to our action calendar.

We are moving on to item 21, which is lease agreement, International Child Resource Institute,

for 125 to 127 University Avenue office space

from our city manager?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

We don't have a presentation today,

but if people have questions, we're available.

Thank you, are there any questions on this item?

Okay, seeing none, is there any public comments

on this item?

This is for item number 21,

lease agreement with the International

Child Resource Institute.

Anybody online?

Excuse me.

No, no, no raise hands.

We can close the public hearing if you would.

All right.

Okay, is there a motion to close the public hearing?

So moved.

Second.

Can we take the roll on that, please?

Okay, to close the public hearing,

Councilmember Kesser-Wani.

Yes.

Taplin.

Yes.

Bartlett.

Yes.

Traga.

Aye.

Okey.

Yes.

Blackavy.

Yes.

Unapara.

Yes.

Humber.

Yes.

And Maryishi.

Yes.

Okay.

That's a motion.

The motion carries.

All right.

That's the first.

I should say.

I moved to approve the lease.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

Can we take the role in that, please?

Okay.

To approve the lease agreement.

Councilmember Kesserwani.

Yes.

Tap.

Yes.

Bartlett.

Yes.

Traga.

Aye.

Okey.

Yes.

Blackaby.

Yes.

Unapara.

Yes.

Humbert.

Yes.

And Maryishi.

the city of the city of the

the Dark Skies Initiative that is good for our environment

and insects and birds and nature.

That when we do our street lighting,

can we do our street lighting

so we're not having big lights at three stories up

above the tree canopy that we bring them down.

And again, followed Dark Skies Initiative

and try to make Berkeley the kind of city

where we support nature.

So I'm not opposing the tax.

I'm just asking that we spend it differently

to help our environment.

Thank you.

And you could take a trip out to the Oakland airport

and see how the lighting there on the driveway after dark

is low, it's not way up in the sky.

So I think we can do better with our lighting here.

Thank you.

Thank you Kelly, Maria.

I still can't grow.

All right.

With regard to street lighting,

it's more for me, the street crossings.

And low is good.

LED is great, or solar.

But, oh my God, I can't see people dressed in black

stepping out in front of my car because they can.

expecting me to stop, or bicycles, or scooters,

or women with strollers, street crossings,

or in between parks, you know,

where people are walking their dogs.

This wouldn't and shouldn't be cost prohibitive

if we don't have an exploitive, you know,

charging too much money for this.

This could be reasonable, and it could be ecological,

and it certainly would keep me from getting more gray hairs

because I don't want to hurt anyone.

So thank you.

Thanks Maria.

Any public comment on this item online?

There's no hands raised online, no.

Okay, thank you very much.

Coming back here to our council member colleagues,

are there any comments?

Is there a motion to close the public hearing?

So moved.

Second.

Can we take the roll on that please?

Okay, to close the public hearing on item 22,

council member Kisarwani?

Yes.

Taplan? Yes.

Bartlett? Yes.

Traver? Hi.

O'Kee? Yes.

Lackey? Yes.

Lunapara? Yes.

Humber? Yes.

And Mary Ishii? Yes.

Okay, motion carries, public hearing is closed.

Okay, thank you very much.

Any other comments?

Just wanted to double check, okay.

All right, is there a motion to approve?

Move approval.

All right, is there a second?

Second.

Okay, can we take the roll on that, please?

Okay, to approve the levy and collection

of fiscal year 2027 street lighting assessments.

Council member Kessner-Wani.

Yes.

Tapplin.

Yes.

Bartlett.

Yes.

Tragov.

O'Kee.

Yes.

Blackaby.

Yes.

Lunapara.

Yes.

Humber.

Yes.

And Mayor Ichi.

Yes.

Okay, motion carries.

Okay, very good.

I just want to check in with my council colleagues.

Should we move on or do folks want to take a quick 10-minute stretch break?

Yeah, let's take a quick 10-minute stretch break and we'll come back.

Thank you.

Recording stopped.

I just need to turn or something.

Okay, so I'm so happy that someone's fine.

When you're happy Carol, we're all happy.

I'm going to turn it over to the.

There, you will notice there is an A and a B.

That is because the Peace and Justice Commission

submitted an item that was relevant to item 23A,

so there's a B, and similarly we have for item 24,

there is an A and a B, and again,

that B is the, is a recommendation

from the Peace and Justice Commission.

And so these are our four remaining items this evening,

But again, they have parts A and part B.

And for both of these items,

we have BPD here to answer any questions that we have.

And so hopefully in a minute,

we will have our council member come out

and present item number 23.

Perhaps in the meantime,

do you want to just introduce yourselves?

Absolutely, good evening.

So I'm joined this evening

I'm with Deputy Chief Jen Tate and Captain Okies.

So DC Tate oversees our policy and training division as part of her duties.

Captain Okies is our operations captain who oversees both our patrol responses as well

as our special response team or SRT.

So both of them have extensive experience in use of force policy, training, managing

critical incidents and they were our departmental leads on working with the council member on

specific policy language so they'll take the lead on answering questions tonight.

Thank you very much. Okay I'm gonna just run back there and see if I can, okay.

Why is this PAV? Have these more chairs? Should the police accountability board be up there too?

Folks just give us a minute while we wait for our council members to return.

Okay, so we are moving on to item number 23A, which is resolution rescinding resolution

number 51,408NS, restricting the use of air support and K9 units and updating mutual aid

policies.

And I will pass it over to Councilmember Kessarwani to present.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

I want to thank the police chief and members of the public who were able to provide input

on this item at the Public Safety Policy Committee earlier this year.

I want to thank the council members who serve on that committee, Council Member O'Keefe

and Chair Blackaby, and we're bringing this item forward tonight because it modernizes

a 1982 resolution that governs when Berkeley Police can request helicopter and canine support

through mutual aid. The 44-year-old policy was written in a different era and its restrictions

no longer reflect current operational realities or best practices. The existing approval process,

which routes through the city manager before a resource can be deployed, can consume 20 to

30 minutes, an incidence where every minute matters, a child who is missing, a

violent fleeing felon, a suspicious device that needs explosives detection.

In the years that this policy has been in place the city manager to our

knowledge has never denied a request from the chief. What we are doing here is

replacing a procedural delay that doesn't change outcomes with watch

the city's city's city's city.

We are also updating the list of authorized uses to reflect modern policing practice. You can imagine a resolution from 1982 does not reflect that.

And I think that's what it's

going to look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

And that's what it's going to

look like.

the city of Davis. So I'm not

involving a weapon likely to cause serious bodily injury.

Flight from an officer absent an independent justification under this section.

Thefts that escalate to robbery solely from a suspect's resistance to the victim's

effort to stop the theft.

Absent use of a weapon or actions causing great bodily injury.

Stolen vehicle incidents involving a named suspect or

that are civil in nature or crowd control.

that continues to be a prohibited use.

And could you speak to the authorized uses, please?

Because I actually feel that this is where

a lot of people have concerns.

Okay, the authorized deployments.

So that's paragraphs A and B.

I can read those out.

Authorized deployments involving suspected,

involving suspect apprehension.

Canine teams may be deployed to locate or apprehend

suspect when any of the following is true. The suspect is wanted for a violent

felony. There is a reasonable belief that the suspect possesses a weapon

likely to cause serious bodily injury. The suspect is wanted in connection

with a residential burglary or the deployment support service of a warrant

on a subject who is wanted for a violent felony has a documented history of

violent offenses, has a documented history involving firearms, or has a documented history

of felony evasion, or physical assault against law enforcement.

Thank you.

And council member, can you speak to why it's residential burglary only as opposed to commercial

and residential burglary or just burglary?

I'm not sure I'm going to go to

the next slide. I'm not sure I'm going to go to the next slide.

I'm not sure I'm going to go to the next slide.

the city of the city of the

that in a residence, that's where you have your expectation of privacy.

That is your home, your calling.

There's someone breaking in in that moment, as opposed to a commercial burglary in

the middle of the night, just for comparison, where there may be no occupants.

I see what you mean.

And I guess my thought is that for the commercial burglary, there could also be

people on site and also potentially customers.

So I was just curious about that.

And then also, maybe a point of clarification, too.

So typically, in order for it to be a burglary in that sense,

it's going to be a closed business.

So commercial burglary is something that's closed

and there's not people there.

The idea being that if someone has

broken into a home where there are possible people inside

and then flees, that is somebody who

has shown a willingness to engage

with people in the commission of their crime.

It makes it more serious.

And so apprehending someone that would break into someone's home

while they were in it is something

that we are very serious about trying to locate that person.

Thank you.

And then also, DC Tater, or any of you,

if you could also just speak to how does using,

how do canines actually apprehend someone

who's burglarizing?

I think when we think of dogs,

we're thinking of, you know, they're grabbing someone,

pulling them to the ground, that kind of thing.

But it would be helpful to understand that better.

If folks, please, just, if you could please

keep your comments to the comment period.

I know you're very passionate about these issues,

and I want to make sure that we can hear all the answers

to our questions, so thank you, go ahead.

So there's a number of ways that canines can be used

under current practices.

Canines are frequently used with a lead or under a leash,

and they're used, they have alert canines.

So canines that are not trained to bite,

but they're trained to alert, and so in a circumstance

where they're doing a search of a residential residence,

looking for a burglary suspect,

there are instances where a canine might be deployed

with a handler that would alert the handler

that there is someone in a room concealed in a room,

which then allows officers to safely from a distance

call that person out rather than entering the room

in that residential burglary.

And so just to clarify, would that be the cases

in which we'd use it, or would there be instances

in which the dog could also attack the person as well?

So it depends on the training of the dog

in the policies of the department

that's bringing the dog in,

but typically for a residential burglary,

the anticipated use would be for,

just to alert that there's something there,

absent the other elements listed in the policy,

armed history violence, those kinds of things

that are specifically enumerated in the policy.

Thank you.

And then could you also speak to the implication

of removing the requirement that the suspect

is in a controlled, this is a quote,

suspect is in a controlled contained area

and there are no known occupants of the area

other than the suspect.

How, can you speak to how you would protect bystanders

who could be in the area?

Sure, so again, practices around canine use

have changed substantially over the years

and what is more common now is that canines

are placed on a lead or a leash

and that the handler is controlling the canine

And so, unlike in years past where they would release a canine without being on a lead all

the time, now they have options.

They've trained the canine to work in different capacities, and one of those capacities is

under the control of a leash.

And so, therefore, that would mitigate the risk of if there were other people potentially

in an environment, the canine would be on a leash and not necessarily be in contact

with them.

I guess my concern there though is that if we've removed the part where the

requirement that the suspect is in a controlled contained area and we're not

specifically saying that that we would release a dog only if they are in a

controlled contained area then then that would kind of take away that sort of

protection so I maybe it was a policy decision to remove it I'm not sure if

maybe I should ask the council member are you able to address that council

members. I can also provide a little feedback on that. We talked through this

a little bit as well at PSBC and part of that is it's a limiting factor and if

you're thinking of an open area where you have a wanted suspect who has

committed crime with a gun or you know a dangerous felon in an open area it would

be basically disqualifying if we limit it to that.

Whereas Captain Oakes was discussing,

if you have someone, a couple dog handlers who have a canine on a lead,

then that would open that up for possibility for us to use a canine in

that circumstance rather than having officers go out and hand check the area.

Thank you. Council member, did you want to address?

I think that that's correct.

I'm looking at the 1982 version of this, that limited this to just use in a controlled and contained area, but to your point, in terms of a modern use and how we might expect a suspect to move that we did change that to make this more workable for the modern policing strategy.

I don't know if you'd like to

get into that in terms of

policing strategy.

Yeah, and I guess someone who

has three dogs that are very

not threatening looking.

I mean, I know that also there

are many people, especially

children who can be very afraid

when, you know, dogs are off

leash, especially if it's like

a police dog.

And so I think, you know, I have

a lot of concerns about that.

Not only, of course, the safety

safe around that and so okay I I think those are my questions for the moment to

yes councilmember Blackaby questions. Thank you just want to confirm current

use like canine support and air support is currently available already we we

currently use those sources. That's correct. We get them from external

agencies that we partner with?

Yes.

So the question here is, we're not enabling new tools.

We have these tools.

It's a question of how we use them, how we approve them.

That's basically what we're talking about.

Yes.

Could you talk about, in a suspect apprehension scenario,

what's the decision-making process about,

hey, this might be an appropriate time

to use canine support?

What's the process?

How do you think about that versus another tool?

could you maybe talk about that.

Sure, so we're always looking at our use of force policy

and whether or not something is a dangerous threat

in the moment to bystanders, to officers,

and evaluating that.

I think you probably have more relevant recent.

Sure, so typically, again, we look at the nature

of the crime, and we look at the area in which the suspect

may be hiding and evaluate if there are ways for officers

to safely try and locate that suspect.

And as a function of that, we evaluate

what's the likelihood that the suspect is still in the area

that we're looking where that area is contained,

combined, again, with the nature of the crime,

And then all those things go into the decision-making process

of should we bring a canine in to help assist us

in apprehending the suspect.

And if it's helpful, I can give you

maybe a handful of the most recent examples of times

when the captain has called me and asked to authorize a canine.

It's situations where they had a robbery that just occurred.

They had eyes on a person who went into a block.

They knew that they got patrol units surrounding that almost

And that's so they know that the person is contained in this general area.

They verified with the victim that there was a gun involved, right?

And the alternative would be for officers to go yard by yard to check versus use a dog

on a lead to go into a yard and alert if there's someone in there.

So that's one kind of scenario.

The other is a situation when they're doing a high risk search warrant.

And they'll go, we'll call phone numbers of the residents, do loudspeaker,

to tell people to come outside that we have a lawful warrant and ask them to come out.

Maybe a couple people come out, we can't verify there's no one else in there.

And so instead of sending officers in there, your tools become using an interior drone to go in there and fly.

Or have a dog on a lead go in room by room and be able to clear a room, say that that room is clear.

Officers can go into that room and then move forward.

So it's not that a thing happens and then you immediately go to deploying a dog.

things you do to ensure that there's a high likelihood that there's somebody in

there or that you need to clear an area safely and if can support isn't

available like what's the next step I mean my understanding and correct me

part of this is also you're trying to always create more distance between

suspects and officers you're part of this there is a there's a safety

argument from the perspective of not sending an officer into a situation they

can't see or exposing then a suspect to a situation where the officer feels

bound to protect him or herself in a situation and things ask it, whereas this

sort of support again creates one more sort of piece of distance. Is that again

can you just help us? What I'm trying to think of is if this is not available what

else do you go to and does that introduce other kinds of risk when you

don't have this kind of tool? Yes, traditionally when there's no say we

call for canine support and there is no canine available then ultimately officers

are left with the resources that they have available which is generally going

in room by room and and officers potentially engaging with someone rather

than having a dog be able to alert that there's someone there.

I know in the report that and again we haven't talked about air support yet but

just we're talking about both there you've typically we see four to five

helicopter requests a year eight to ten K9 unit requests per year. Under this

this policy do you anticipate that's gonna stay similar?

What do you, I mean, increase, decrease, stay the same?

I mean, is that the same level of frequency

you would anticipate?

I'm not committing you to a specific number, but.

I would say generally, yes.

Is there any reason that this,

part of what we're doing, we're reducing the time

that it takes to get the approval,

but we're not necessarily changing the sort of scenarios

that you would use these kind of tools in.

So I'm, that's what I guess I'm asking.

So with with the one exception as we're talking about being able to use them with pursuits to the extent that they are where CHP may already be in the area and engage individually on their own and and let us know that they see a vehicle fleeing.

that's not us making the request.

However, I would imagine that if we had a pursuit

that then that would give us an opportunity to,

in a more timely manner, request air support

so we may see an increase there.

The report also notes a 20 to 30 minute time

to move approval up and down the chain of command.

I think that's either for canine or air support

because it's the same process.

Under the new policy, what do you expect

approval time to be reduced to if it's just the watch commander and then after

action reporting? Sure it would just depend on how quickly we could figure

out which agency had the resources available but generally a matter of

minutes once the watch commander determines that a resource would be

appropriate and then it would just be making the phone calls to determine

the state of the city.