Good afternoon and welcome to the City Council meeting of Tuesday January 20th
2026 before I call roll I will go over speaker card instructions if you would
like to speak on any item on this agenda please follow speakers card before the
item is called for discussion or two hours after the start of this meeting
this meeting was called to order at 3 30 so your last opportunity to sign up to
speak will be at 5 30 p.m. or before the item is called whichever comes first if
you're on behalf of the
council members.
If you'd like to sign up to
speak please.
Get a card and handed to the
clerk representative at the
front or if you look in the
sign up to speak online that
time is passes online speaker
cards I do twenty four hours.
Before the start of this
meeting.
All roll council members brown
present council member five
president council member guy
oh rest in council member
Houston.
Council member ramachandran
I have a motion to present.
Showing eight members present at this time.
Chair Jenkins, do you have any announcements before we begin?
No announcements.
Going to item three.
Modifications to the agenda and procedural items,
including but not limited to requests to reschedule items
from consent to non-consent.
Items to the next council agenda speak on consent calendar,
register votes, or change order of items
or pull items held in committee.
six point nine Caltrans maintenance agreement so in committee you voted no
and the mayor's office attempted to reach you would you like us to pull that
off a consent or do you want to register a no vote on the consent?
indications with public works and other members of the city administration and
I will continue to vote no on on the consent item Caltrans maintenance
agreement amendment on page 10 S 6.9 and do I need to explain it now or no then
then the other item that that I would like to consider a no vote is page 11 s
point six the MOU between OPD and the Santa Clara Police Department okay to
And then we're going to send
it over to monitor the- game.
Okay okay thank you- it's we
will register that at the
appropriate time- anybody want
to pull anything off a consent
if not we can send the staff
members home that are on
consent.
Thank you.
Number three going to item four
which will be consideration of
items with the statutory public
to open the public hearing on the motion by councilmember Gayle second by
councilmember Houston to open the public hearing councilmember Brown aye
councilmember 5 aye councilmember Gallo aye councilmember Houston councilmember
Ramachandran aye councilmember Unger aye councilmember Wong aye and chair Jenkins
aye motion passes with a vote of eight ayes now reading the item into record
conduct a public hearing and upon conclusion adopt a resolution confirm me
the report and notice of liens for delinquent business taxes with
penalties interest and administrative and assessment charges and overruling
any protests and objections related to the liens included in said report and
authorizing the recordation of liens and directing the notice of lien and
assessment charges be turned over to the county tax collector for collection
there are four speakers on this item. Good afternoon and happy new year
everyone my name is Nicole Welch revenue and tax administrator. I'm before you
staff recommends the adoption of the proposed resolution which
will authorize the placement of liens on real property for unpaid City of Oakland
business taxes and authorize the subsequent assessment pursuant to
chapter 5.04 of the Oakland Municipal Code. Should the fees and charges
remain unpaid prior to the transfer recording upset special assessment levies
to the Alameda County tax collector and auditor controller for inclusion on the
next property tax roll. The liens will be recorded against the number has gone
down is 1,800 properties parcels in the amount of five million one hundred and
eighty six thousand four hundred and forty nine dollars and ten cents as well
as $397,075 for administrative fees for a total property tax roll of $5,583,524.10.
The proposed assessments represent delinquent taxes for residential and commercial properties
up to tax year 2025. Failure to place liens to recover the delinquent taxes will result
in a loss of $5,583,524.10 in revenues
to the general purpose fund.
I am here if you have any questions.
Thank you.
Let's go to the, oh, no, Councilmember Amishandra.
Thank you for doing this effort on a super timely basis
so we can recruit funds that are owed to us as a city
for business taxes.
I have a question.
So the $5 million, which I realize is a little less
because you've brought down the number of delinquent parcels,
which notably is great, an indication
that your efforts on educating the public
is paying off, that more folks are actually
paying before it goes through the lien process.
So thank you for that.
Is the number that is here the actual amount
of delinquent amount itself, and then the administrative fees,
is that $397 on top?
It is a very rough number.
Remember, the report was written several,
like about a month ago.
The number has gone down dramatically.
We had, at the timing of this report, through the chair,
I'm sorry, at the timing of the report,
we have 649 properties that have actually
were removed from the initial 2,918.
We have now removed 1,100 properties and counting.
I just got one from council member Unger
that will be removed.
So the number, the final number,
we will have that tallied up prior to us actually rolling it
to the tax roll, which will be in August.
Great, thank you.
And so delinquent owners have an ability to pay today,
is that?
They have an ability to pay today
and all the way up until August 10th of 2026.
Great, thank you.
Council Member Wall.
Hi, Director Welch, thanks for this presentation.
I think the last time you came before Council,
either in finance and management,
one of the things I had raised
was that we have a number of businesses,
especially in district two,
but I'm sure it's throughout Oakland
of just problem businesses that are either
selling drugs, unlicensed smoke shops,
even though they don't have their tobacco retail license.
We sent you a list.
Have you been able to see if at all there is this connection
and the phenomenon of not paying your business taxes
and being a problem business or a nuisance business?
Through the chair, right now we haven't had an opportunity
to get back out into the field.
Okay.
We're right now, we're doing the assessment.
We're right now in the process
of doing the business tax renewal.
We started the business tax renewal on December 10th.
Where is the 20% increase from there?
However, I would like to draw your attention
that we are going out to the senior centers
and doing the renewal with our seniors,
our elderly community.
We are contacting different businesses.
Your list is one that's queued up for a call.
However, we are also working with your office
with the legislation that you will be presenting
as far as that is concerned.
However, I cannot say that there's a correlation
between not paying your business tax
and being a problem business.
Okay, okay, and thanks for following up on that.
Councilmember Houston and Councilmember Gail.
Hello, how are you?
Hi.
Through the chair, I had some constituents.
I wanna know who do they report to or ask.
They received business tax assessments
against their residential property.
Like it was being rented out but they were living there.
Who would I address them or send them to get that fixed?
Because it was rolled over to the county assessors
because they didn't pay for it because they lived there.
Who would I address them or send them to?
Through the chair, they can reach out
to the citywide lien group.
The telephone number, just in case anyone needs that,
is 510-238-7474.
We are taking phone calls from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Monday through Friday, except holidays.
We also address things via our email,
which is citywidelens at oaklandca.gov.
We are also accessible via a chat.
When you go onto the website,
they can reach out to us via the chat,
and we are also our walk-in offices.
Our hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. through 4 p.m.
closed for lunch from 12 to 1. Through the chair can they make an appointment
to come in? They can make an appointment however we're walking anytime we're
available we're accessible. Thank you. Yes thank you thank you for that
information so the city of Oakland collects approximately five million
dollars per year? Through the chair not necessarily. Remember we are catching up
up on a lot of things that had not been leaned in prior years.
So this right here is representative up to 2025.
So there could be years such as 2023, 24, and then 2025.
So I would say on average, if we were doing what we were
supposed to do, I can't give you that number as it stands.
Because at this particular point in time,
the Bureau is actually cleaning up and going back
to the past so that we can move forward with the future, which
is 2026.
And when will you have that information available?
Considering the fact that it's money generated,
due to the fact we didn't collect what we should have
collected in the previous years.
Last year, we brought to Council $7 million in liens
on July 1.
This is representative of the items
that were not included there.
So that will be an additional $5 million.
Okay, and that money, when we collect that money,
specifically what is that money used?
Besides just being in the general purpose fund?
It goes into the general purpose fund.
I'm just a revenue, I don't do the expenditures.
Okay, then secondly, what role does Alameda County,
does Alameda, is Alameda County also involved
in the collection?
Due to the fact that I, as a homeowner,
I pay my taxes directly to the county as well.
August 10th of each year, if the item is left unpaid,
we then put it on your secured property tax for 2026, 2027.
And then when you receive your property tax bill
in around October of November of this year,
then you would actually pay it if you
had a balance from us on there.
So Alameda County serves as an instrument
of actually collecting it off of your secured property tax.
we're in cooperation with Alameda County. Absolutely. All right thank you
thank you for that information. Thank you let's go to the public speakers. As I
call your name please approach the podium in any order please state your
name before beginning if you're on zoom please raise your hand so I can easily
identify you if you still wish to speak. Richard Allen Serrato the second. Dick
McClay. Miss Asada Ola Bala. Derek Barnes. In any order please approach the podium
please state your name before you begin. Hi my name is Richard Allen Sorrell the
second. I'm inquiring about property 363 Oakland Avenue. I am a personal that's
my personal residence that I live in. I do have some income from rental like
like this council member was talking about and I have received an assessment
for business property, business tax delinquency
that I didn't know about.
I just recently, with all discovery in this,
found out that all my mail for this property,
because I own next store also, 375 Oakland Avenue,
has been going to my father, which
we have the same exact name, and he owned property in Oakland.
It's been going to his residence,
and he's been passed since 21.
So I recently have done my estate planning.
And so now I'm finally getting mail for this property.
And this was my first letter.
So I made sure to show up to kind of resolve these issues.
I didn't know I need to have a business tax
for my personal residence.
So I'd like to get this issue resolved.
That's all I have to say.
We appreciate you and there'll be an opportunity to speak with staff.
We are, through the chair, we have, I have staff down in hearing room two
who will resolve your account if you would like to go.
Yes, you can.
Okay.
Well, no, through the chair.
You can, we're waiting.
We're waiting, just to be very clear, I have staff on standby.
We're having a parallel hearing if you would like to resolve the account, or
or if you want to bring different or additional items,
we're down in Hearing Room 2.
My name is Dick McLean.
This is about a property on 34th Street.
It's a rental property.
And apparently, I omitted making the business tax payment
for the 2025.
I discovered that when I got this notice of a lien
in the meeting today.
and I haven't had an opportunity to take care of it in between.
I tried to do it this afternoon, but I was directed to come here instead.
So here I am.
And the reason I'm here is that I wish the amount of the lean were,
in fact, valid.
But we have a lot of vacancy now in Oakland, and I have a lot of vacancy.
So it's just a little over half of the Alina amount,
which is actually the amount that was due.
And so I'd like to get that straightened out and get it
paid, but I was directed to come here instead.
So what do we do?
Through the chair.
Sir, you can go down to hearing room 2.
I have team members who are there
who will get your proper gross receipts,
and they'll be able to give you an adjusted bill.
OK, so.
they're in hearing room two down on the bottom level.
Hearing room two.
Hearing room two, thank you.
I just had a question to our public speaker
through the chair.
Who directed you to come to the city council meeting
versus going to hearing room two?
Who gave you that information?
I went to a couple of different places
where I've started across the street somewhere
and then they sent me down the street somewhere
who sent me here.
I don't know exactly who was who.
No worries.
was the last one of a different building. The fifth floor. Fifth floor of a building over there.
I don't normally come to this area. No worries. But you said you received your
notice today? No, no. It's dated the 9th, but I was out of town. I had hoped to do it yesterday,
but I discovered that we were celebrating somebody's, and so he's a great man. We should celebrate him.
I remember his march on Washington, it was fabulous, but I didn't realize it was yesterday
that we were celebrating.
Not a problem.
I just wanted to get some clarity, definitely go to hearing room 2 to get all your issues
resolved.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So it's happening too much.
I went to the city's webpage and it's unreal the number of businesses that close monthly
the city of Oakland. So in November, 89 businesses closed in 2025. 48 in October, 88 in September,
54 in August, 82 in July, 99 in June. Now y'all having this discussion about liens on property.
you're not going to be collecting a whole lot of business taxes if this volume of businesses are
closing and just today I read that the only boutique hotel in the city of Oakland is closing.
I also read through some documents that 35,000 homes were lost to foreclosure in Oakland between
2007 in 2019 and today about one out of 14 homeowners end up in foreclosure in Oakland.
So you putting a lean on people but have you decided to look at the fact that people are
struggling and we are struggling with mortgage increases, rate of mortgage increases, construction
work increases, we're struggling with the fact that this crazy man is causing us to
have all kinds of financial economic struggles, and where's my clock, twenty seconds.
I do not understand how Mr. Gallo's issue that I completely agreed with needed to be
vetted more.
I did not know that the mayor has the power to take an item
that is been recommended for.
Thank you, Mr. Olibala, your time is up.
Moving to our Zoom speakers, Derek Barnes,
please unmute yourself and begin your comments.
Hi, city clerk, can you hear me?
Yes, go ahead.
Great, thank you everyone.
Good afternoon, city council members
and thank you, Director Welch,
for your proactive activities thus far
to get into the delinquency matter.
That seems to be plaguing the city for some time now.
Just a couple of observations and questions.
In 2025, the overall delinquencies are still higher
than in 2023, as owners are still under significant
financial strain due to rent regulations,
increasing utilities, taxes, insurance premiums,
and arising property costs.
To Mrs. Sada's point, there's still sort of
some struggle in financial pressures out there.
I also know that there's a critical change
and the classification patterns between 2024 and 2025,
particularly involving single-family homes
and multifamily properties,
wondering if there's some additional explanation around that.
I would even say that just understanding
what the specific reasons for the increases
were between 2023, 2024 may be helpful.
The 2024 data may have some, I don't know, anomalies in it,
which may be artificially inflating the numbers.
My concern is that we're using that data
to introduce housing policy, like we did in 2024,
that was adopted by council
without having good verification and validation methods.
We wanna make sure that we have clean data.
And then I would say, what are the reasons
for the sharp delinquency decreases from 2024, 2025?
And then finally, is there any data available
about why owners are delinquent.
I think that's really important.
What support and assistance might they need
like we're hearing today?
Because we want to be careful
not to set up the same scenarios
where our legacy elderly and disabled
and lower income owners and their families
lose their properties like we've seen done in the past.
We don't want to commit those same.
Thank you, Mr. Barnes for your comments.
Mr. Chair, that was the last speaker.
All names were called.
Thank you so much um so through the chair to staff um thank you for bringing this report
I think that my question is kind of in line with the last public speaker I know that the report
states that in 2023 we had 869 and then it kind of continued to increase almost 2000 in 2024
and then well over 2000 in 2025 and so I I was curious you know what is the do
you have an understanding of why there's that increase through the chair I at
this point I couldn't answer that question this was not a program that I
was actually in charge of I would absolutely go back and find out why
why there was a discrepancy in a decrease
or an increase in delinquency.
Okay, yes, I would be curious to see
what that question, how you would answer that question
based on the research that you're able to do.
And then I think that the other question
that I would also ask is as we're comparing
other jurisdictions, how do we compare?
So like, are they seeing,
so when it comes to the delinquency rate,
are other cities also seeing the same increase as well?
I will bring that research back.
Okay, excellent, thank you.
I'll follow up via email as well.
Thank you.
Council Member Gail?
Yes, yes, could you,
one of our speakers presented the information
about the business closures that we have had
throughout the years monthly.
Could you provide that information for the council members?
Through the chair, yes, we can.
However, we would also bring to you
how many businesses were opened.
So we would look at the,
we would need to have the amount that were closed
and then the amount that is open.
So I think that if you would look at the data,
it will probably, it would probably negate it.
Thank you, no, I have,
extremely valuable for us to considering the discussions on the budget are going
to increase in the near future so then the other one that was brought up was
about there was another hotel that's planning on closing through the chair I
I'm sorry on telegraph okay I or anyways if you can share that information with
to make the resolution for the
council member brown.
That's a big great.
Thank you.
Thank you that come in.
Since I'll entertain a motion
to close the public hearing.
On the motion to close the
public hearing would that same
motion be adopting the
resolution.
So the U. S. council members
yeah.
On the motion to close the
public hearing and adopt the
resolution with staff's
recommendation.
motion to approve item five. I.
for the selection.
Okay.
So we'll start with two minutes for the selection.
Panel.
There's just somebody from the selection panel.
Let's speak.
Thank you.
We resubmitted this session.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
I'm sorry.
We're sorry.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
So we'll start with two minutes for the selection panel.
This is somebody from the selection panel.
I'm going to speak.
Thank you.
We resubmitted this.
I'm just going to, I thought she was going to speak, so let me go real quick.
We resubmitted the same two names at our December 18th meeting.
They still were the top ones out of the seven candidates that we got.
At that meeting, we also determined that we're going to go through, there was a lot of public
speaking.
We were asked why we went from a hundred and so candidates down to seven.
Public did give a lot of comments saying that because there was two viable candidates that
that were already on the panel that they were good options.
Both candidates have a lot of pluses and minuses
from the community, but we have our own criteria
and we use that criteria and we have criteria cards
which tell us that are they able to work with other members.
There was a lot of back and forth
and one of the things I've asked for for council
is we usually only do our work from April to October
because it's on consent.
So each one of our meetings is a special meeting
and then in September when we get all the candidates,
we could have three or four meetings in that month.
But with a rejection or a plus,
we would like some feedback from you
of what you're looking for
because I think our selection was well done.
I think our outreach was well done.
I do know that staff has put in,
we said one of the things that we did ask
is that they have a communication budget.
I heard that's been approved.
So it sounds like the city's gonna work with us
to help us with some publicity.
So I think we have some good alternatives
meeting and it's been a
surprise for our October one.
But we don't meet regularly so
the December eighteenth meeting
was even a surprise for us.
Thank you.
Okay staff.
Oh good that's more.
This morning I'm yet mentioned
and I had heard that individuals
didn't submit because they had
thought that on these two
candidates were going to be.
That's like, they already thought they were a shoe-in,
so that's why individuals didn't submit their application.
So correct, as I just said, some of the feedback we got
at our December 18th meeting was,
because council said they asked why we got from 100 to 10.
I'm just gonna use those round numbers.
And one of the reasons that we did here
was that we had two viable good candidates
that are already on, and they were re-appointments,
so they believe that was one of the reasons
why we had a lower count.
Since then, I think we have a new group of 13
that are interested.
And through the chair, also, I see some dates here
that they had met for five months, like 149 days,
and in one of the individuals on the selection committee,
Mr. Page, couldn't even come
because it was just off on, off on.
I mean, it wasn't any set times, and he had no input.
He's here today, and I had asked him to come up
and just speak and share with us, to share with us
what was his concern, because if he's a part of the selection committee, he should have
some input and show and speak to what his concerns were.
So we meet special meetings because we don't meet, you know, most panels and committees
meet monthly. We meet from, if you look on our, they're not our bylaws, they're our processes.
We set the schedule in January, and we meet from usually April to October, and then those
those meetings have to be negotiated in it.
So after this round, the November, the December meetings
are all special meetings that we do have to try to figure out
how to get consensus and quorum at those meetings
because they're not normally planned.
And to your point, Councilman Houston,
the last one was December 18th,
I had a forego to things to try to make that meeting.
And then we also have families, children's work.
So it would help us to have it two months in advance,
but we are a special committee
and now it's becoming hours and hours of work.
So once more through the chair, I received,
I don't know if you was able to see the supplemental
that council member Brown brought forward,
it's so many concerns here that's just incredible.
I'm talking about from outreach to the process,
to the strategy, I mean, it's just community.
I'm talking about the community.
It's not just community, it's not just community.
And I think that's just a
good strategy.
I mean, it's just community
teams that they said they were
involved with, community
partners, stockholders.
I want to know who they were.
It's much here that needs to be
addressed.
So we got to do a thorough
conversation on this president.
Who was that from part, sorry.
This is from, it's a supplemental
from councilmember Brown, which
was well thought out, well, and
some of the most of the concerns
is that I had, and also it's
I don't think we did have it in
one of our meetings here.
Resolution accepting or rejecting
and it's one or two and I'm
gonna I'm a say number two we
haven't.
We did.
We haven't had it in one of our
meeting.
Okay we haven't talked in a
meeting but has been emailed to
us.
So thank you miss it miss a
society out of order.
Okay councilmember Houston is
that concludes your duty chair
I wanted I don't know when I
And then we're going to hear from staff.
Okay.
So the selection committee spoke.
All right.
So now we're going to hear from staff.
Then we'll hear from the candidates.
Okay.
And then if you want to hear from someone and.
Yes.
Okay.
And I have a bunch of questions here.
Okay.
Good afternoon.
Council President Jenkins and members of the council.
Felicia Verdon, Assistant to the City Administrator.
I have a very brief presentation for you regarding the selection panel's process up to this point
and moving forward.
So I will go on, and I have a PowerPoint presentation here
that you can see.
So just as a reminder, measures LL and S1
were voter approved and established the police commission
and the police commission selection panel.
The police commission consists of seven members
and two alternate commissioners.
The police commission's duties include oversight
of the community police review agency,
Office of the Inspector General and hiring and removing the police chief, among other
duties.
The nine person selection panel is responsible for nominating four commissioners and one
alternate.
Thank you.
The selection panel's nominations process started in the spring of 2025.
The selection panel conducted an extensive community engagement process, encouraging
community members to apply to serve on the police commission.
In the summer months of 2025, the selection panel
conducted two rounds of interviews
and conducted reference checks.
On October 21st, as you all will recall,
the city council unanimously rejected
the selection panel's nominations.
And the panel met again after that October 21st meeting
on October 28th, excuse me, on December 18th, 2025.
The panel voted unanimously to resubmit
its original slate, Ricardo Garcia Acosta
as a full commissioner and Omar Farmer
as an alternate commissioner.
Since your last meeting, since the city council
rejected the slate on October 21st, 2025,
the city administrator's office has engaged
in recruiting additional police commissioners
and updated its recruitment flyer, the selection panel,
and the police commission recruitment flyer
and translated to Spanish
and opened a continuous recruitment process.
Through that process and some applications
that were received from the summer,
during the summer recruitment
that the panel did not review,
so there are a total of 13 new applications
have been received.
The panel has not conducted any new interviews
Thank you so much for having me
today it's been a pleasure to
talk to you.
Thank you for having me since
it's July twenty since his last
meeting since since it's July
twenty twenty five meeting.
However the selection panel did
establish an ad hoc committee
on December eighteen.
To make improvements to his
recruitment and selection
process.
The city administrators office
will continue to work with the
panel.
City of Oakland's
communications team and
I had a conversation with our
community engagement coordinator
this afternoon to discuss
the creation of a marketing
strategy for the police
commission.
And at this time, staff
recommends that the city council
adopt one of the following
pieces of legislation as
identified in your agenda
packet, accept the police
commission selection panel's
recommendation, a Ricardo
I would like to open up to the
discussion panel's recommendation
of Ricardo Garcia- Costa and Omar
Farmer or reject the police
commission selection panel slate
of Ricardo Garcia and Omar Farmer
to the police commission.
And that includes my report.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any questions for staff at the
moment?
Seeing none.
Councilmember Houston.
Yes.
I'd like to know.
Which organizations did you partner with to advertise this?
Mrs. Satter, you are out of order.
Mrs. Satter, you are out of order.
Mrs. Satter, you're out of order.
Through Council President Jenkins, Council Member Houston,
it's clear, I think to everyone that the panel
will continue to partner.
So the panel has a list of nonprofit organizations
that they communicate with regarding the recruitment
efforts for the police commission.
However, the recruitment strategy
that was presented to the panel on December 18th
lays out even further recruitment efforts,
tabling at community events, more social media marketing
We have a lot of work to do
and engagement and there's a
and with the partnership of
course of city council as well
we would like to we will.
Continue recruiting for the
police commission.
Also on the fliers my my my
district is a major Latinos and
so is council member guy also
says you just guys just did a
Spanish flyer transition.
Translation fire correct we
translated the flight the
flyers in English and Spanish
we can provide you with
additional copies of the flyer
if you need it.
Yeah I just got the English one.
We can let the audience being
president I have some more
questions.
Yeah I got a bunch more.
Council member Brown.
Thank you I would like to hear
from the public speakers first
if you have a question.
I'm happy to hear from the public speakers first if that's appropriate okay council member five
Do you want to wait for the public or you want to get to it?
I'm happy to hear the public speakers first
I just want to make sure that we're speaking to the item in front of us the agenda item in front of us was
Which is the qualifications or lack of qualifications for the two candidates?
So I want to get clarity on what we're voting on to the parliamentarian
Two questions. What are we voting on and is it appropriate to ask about?
recruitment and
other things
through the chair to the council, so the
Item before you is comprised of two pieces of legislation
One is a resolution accepting the police commission selection panel slate of nominees and the other is a resolution
Rejecting the slate of nominees
Into your second question
council president. Miss Malie you're out of order. So the second question is it
appropriate to have questions about processes? To the extent that your
questions are related to the two candidates before you then it would be
appropriate. Is that suffice council member? Yeah I also think I want the
the public to understand the moment in which we had the highest number of applicants to
the police commission is when the police commission was formed, right?
So immediately after the police commission was formed, you had people from all over the
city of Oakland wanting to participate in what the nation saw to be the strongest accountability
mechanism created in the entire nation, and it's based on a history of concerns and issues
that are, we're not done with in the city of Oakland and it feels like we're veering
off into a conversation about process which I agree with is important but unless there
was some nefariousness or some, I wasn't here when this was initially discussed so I'm hoping
that staff or my colleagues can explain to me the problems with the candidates that would
require us to go into a deeper review on the candidates,
because what I heard from the selection committee
and what I reviewed in watching the meeting again,
I didn't hear any problems that were validated
about the candidates.
So that's what I'm trying to ascertain today
with the decision that I make around
whether I move them forward or reject it.
So I haven't heard anything about the candidates
being problematic that has been substantiated.
I think that's a good question.
And I think that's a good question.
Does that exist somewhere.
That I didn't see it in the supplemental I didn't.
Hear it so couple things.
To that question I think any of your colleagues are free to answer the question or staff also.
We still need to hear from the two candidates as well as the public and I think that's when we'll get a wider.
Conversation.
Okay.
I don't have a question.
Councilmember Houston.
Yes, so I would like to know when the selection
committee candidates, wasn't even able to speak.
He wasn't even, the meetings were so he's here now.
I would like to hear what he had to say.
Councilmember, we'll get him in the queue.
Yeah, just for Felicia, Ms. Burdin,
just for the council's information,
I have heard that, well, first of all,
course the continues to serve as the chairperson president yes counsel through
the chair yes council member guy off both candidates concern continue to
serve in the whole world or holdover status and but I had heard that he was
reelected to be the president mr. Garcia by the Commission that's my
understanding as well okay so he was reelected by the Commission of B is
continuing president of the Commission thank you for that information thank you
Thank you. Can the two candidates come up? Chair and Mr. Palmer, can you give them a
quick amount of time?
Good evening, thank you for the invitation to come to speak. Are there any questions
that anyone has that I could answer? Okay. I guess one thing I wanted to point out to
the parliamentarian before I get started is that I believe in the agenda packet that's
been posted there's only a resolution to reject us so I'm not sure if that's the
only thing being considered. I believe it may be written in the package that
Miss Verdon prepared but as far as resolutions being considered that's the
only one that I could find online but but thank you for this opportunity to
speak to you I never take it for granted to come here speak to City Council it's
It's always been a really proud thing for me to be able to do with the other commissions
that I've been on as former chairperson of the SSOC and I feel like I always had a really
good working relationship with city council.
We worked together to update the burglary ordinance for a new verify response requirement
that improved 911 response times for OPD.
That was something that OPD agreed with.
We all worked together on that.
was a long process. I also we set up a meeting to listen to the ASAP to PSAP
presentation which would improve the 911 call centers call answering times by up
to 20 percent. That was about maybe a year and a half ago and I remember
everyone being excited about that and potentially adopting that. So those were
very constructive conversations that we had right here in the chamber. Some of
you were still here back then but a lot of you are new didn't have the
opportunity to hear that and at our last joint public safety meeting we also
were going to work together with up to two council members on creating a
resolution to sponsor the rest of the SSOC's recommendation so in terms of
being a commissioner here for the city of Oakland we've had a lot of success in
In that regard, in terms of working together,
I've been really proud of that work.
Since I've been on the police commission,
I also serve concurrently on other Brown Act governed bodies,
such as the chairperson
of the transit security advisory committee for BART,
previous chairperson of the Alameda County Veterans Affairs
Commission for the county, obviously.
And I did all that concurrently while serving
in my first year as a police commissioner.
So I've done a lot of work and dedication.
And there's never been any drop-off in production.
And we've worked very well.
The commission's worked very well together
since I've been on there.
Our chair has done a great job.
I don't think anyone should be surprised
that people voted to have him reappointed
because the culture of the police commission
has significantly improved under his leadership.
I'm proud to have been a part of that.
You should applaud, thank you.
Thank you Mr. Farmer, your time is up.
So one question, did you wanna wrap it up?
Yeah, just a couple other things.
Yeah, I know, but I also spearheaded the creation
of the mental health ad hoc committee
for the police commission and that's to make sure
that the police department is receiving all the best
treatment in terms of mental and emotional health.
As you know, I'm chair of the NSA ad hoc.
I do a lot of things out in the community
for veterans. I'll be participating in the Point in Time report on Thursday. Since my
application was submitted, I've had multiple Homeless Veteran Resource Fair events and
Adopt a Veteran event. Operation Green Light, that's why you saw this building lit up illuminating
green lighting, which is to recognize veterans, give them some hope and support. I recently
participated in Alameda Point press conference with all the local elected
officials people reached out to me to come there and discuss why we felt that
the White House cut the funding for the Alameda Point project so I work well
together with a lot of different entities here not just in the city of
Oakland but throughout the county and I feel like I've been an asset to the city
and I would love to continue in that capacity. Thank you. And just one more
thing you know and this has been said publicly and stuff about OPOA
potentially being involved in this process I want to be clear I want the
police department to succeed you know it's always been my top priority to help
the city get out from under federal oversight and I don't I don't you know
I'm not here to make any allegations or anything but it is a self-governance
that's a last remaining issue for them to get out from under federal over seven I think that's why a lot of people are passionate about.
You know preventing that from happening if it did happen that's all thank you a question Mr farmer.
One question for you one question for you so are you aware of any issues that would prevent council from voting in favor of your slate today.
and I'm not so I'm no I'm not
thank you good afternoon
council thank you for having me
it's good to be here appreciate
the conversation definitely
appreciate the comments made by
councilmember Fife and the
curiosity of the merits of our
reappointment I stand here today
and a little bit of a different
space than I was last time I
a little bit flustered which I was the last time because I was really hoping to talk about
the merits of our candidacy and where we're heading as a police commission, as a city,
as one family that I think that we've been really able to move forward over the last
year and a half, almost two years that I've been a part of it and for the most part of my time
serving as chair. So you all have my packet, my original packet that I submitted I believe back in
April, I believe, quite some time ago.
Not much has changed.
I come here with 25 years of service to the Bay Area,
particularly Oakland, serving families impacted by violence,
impacted by homicide.
I've had a unique purview of the Oakland Police Department
and how to build those relationships
between community and police.
And that's what got me to apply in the first place.
And I never thought I'd be sitting in this chair,
in this position as chair leading the commission.
But I have been, and it has been one of the biggest honors
of my life to be able to work with this body,
to be able to work with such hardworking commissioners
that show up twice a month,
and numerous times between that and their ad hocs,
pushing a lot of the work forward of the police commission.
Me personally, I come here and present myself
as the sitting chair.
I oversee our meetings twice a month.
I am involved in many ad hocs,
including the strategic planning ad hoc, the budget ad hoc, the discipline matrix
ad hoc, the racial profiling ad hoc, and so there's a lot of work that happens in
between those meetings twice a month that is public that you can see on our
website, and I've also had the great honor of working with our really, really
hard-working chief of staff, which is our only paid administrative staff for the
police commission. And so together with a group of volunteers, with one staff, we've
been able to work on many things, including, and to echo some of the comments that were
made before me, there's also often a misconception about the police commission, about oversight,
about transparency and what that really means, and how that's counter to the police department's
mission and their goals, particularly not for getting off of the negotiated settlement
agreement and that can be further from the truth. A lot of our work is really set up
to be the voice of the people to ensure transparency, to ensure that the policies and procedures
that OPD is adhering to is at the most and not just constitutional standards, but 21st
policing standards, standards that we hold dear and near to our heart here in Oakland
as Oaklanders. And so with that being said, there's lots of things that we have worked
on under my leadership as chair, including the M-19 racial profiling policy, the J-4
pursuit policy, which got national attention, got statewide attention, and we were able
to work hand in hand with the police department, with the community to try to do our best to
support them in passing smart policy.
We supported OPD in their extension, special order 92-1-4, which is the special order around
their 180 days because of their staffing issue, and because we wanted to see more cops on
the street, and so they asked us to give an extension to 180 days.
We supported them in that.
These are just examples of some of the policies that we've passed that we think give OPD the
tools to have better policing in our community.
With that being said, there's a lot of opportunity as we move forward.
There's a lot of opportunity for the commission, city council, our city leadership, all of
of our partners to be able to work together
and have a shared vision around what does accountability
look like, what does transparency look like,
and what does true city, community, and police partnership
look like post NSA.
Only then, when we're all aligned and together,
can we really get off of this negotiated settlement agreement
which we're hoping is in the near future.
We have worked really hard to stabilize our commission.
We wanna welcome our two new commissioners,
and hopefully they receive your support today too,
because we believe that we need bodies
and these folks are willing to come to the table
and want to roll their sleeves up and work with us
and we welcome that.
We really are working hard on developing strong
onboarding for them and a new process
so we could fast track.
Thank you, Mr. Garcia.
Costa, your time is up.
All right, thank you.
And as we're looking at stabilizing the commission,
really looking at continuity.
And so it's gonna be great to have a full commission
for the first time to be able to really
spread out our people power amongst our different ad hocs and our different work that we have
laid out in our strategic plan.
And so it's an exciting time right now for the city and I just, you know, I welcome the
partnership.
I want to continue and thank you all for your curiosity since our last meeting.
Many of you have, you know, made that extended effort to learn more about what we do, to
learn more about some of the nuances and just want to thank you all for that involvement
as well.
And hey, we're going in front of the federal judge next week and we're trying to work in
hand with the city to be able to make sure that things are in place so that we have strong
civilian oversight and infrastructure in place post-MSA, so that the federal judge for the
monitor can say, hey, you know what?
We don't need to farm out resources out to a federal monitor.
We have strong infrastructure here in the city at home, and we have a strong partnership
that's going to ensure the continued sustainability and the continued culture change that we've
been working really hard to see.
So thank you, and I'm happy to take any questions, but, yeah, thank you again for having us and
for your consideration.
Councilman Wong.
Hi, thank you, Ricardo. I have a question just on the role of the ad hoc committees.
I noticed there's a number, there's six, I think, ongoing ad hoc committees.
How do you all as a commission decide to form an ad hoc committee and does it involve staff time?
Does Micah Montgomery sit on in each of these ad hoc committees?
Does OPD also collaborate with you all in all of these committees? Can you explain that? Thank you.
Great question. So ad hocs could be stood up in different ways
We have several standing ad hocs that pertain to the internal functions of the Commission
So like the budget strategic planning and so on and so forth and those are standing ad hocs and those aren't often public facing ones
So we have a list of internal ad hocs and then we have a list of public facing ones
The public facing ones usually come up because policy issues either arise from concern from the public or that we're working with city
partner, city council, OPD to identify certain things. Also the federal monitor, right? There's,
for instance, you know, the racial profiling ad hoc was that work is really important to
getting off the NSA and having strong updated racial profiling policies. So typically how
that works is OPD would work with us, we'll stand up an ad hoc, we'll have a public meeting
that staff, our chief of staff, we'll have to record that, we'll have to get notes. It's
It's a lot of work that goes into that, and then whatever work is produced out of that
then goes through OCA, through our city attorneys, through the union process depending if there's
implications on that as well, and then also the federal monitor gets eyes on it, and then
at that point we'll be able to bring it to the commission for a full vote.
That's usually typically the process on that, and so different issues come up depending
on either municipal code, standing legislation, things that need to get work done that are
outside of that need to work on in addition to what you start meeting to
twice a twice a month so that gives the ad hoc's gives commissioners a chance to
have two or three different commissioners on an ad hoc with the
public with subject matter experts to be able to develop craft or revised policy
okay thank you any questions for the council members councilmember Houston
had a question through the chair what are you doing when was the last time you
you guys met? As a commissioner, as a ad hoc, or commission? Two weeks ago now, yeah, we
have a commission meeting. We meet every second and fourth Thursdays. But we also have standing
ad hawks throughout the week, so we have about two or three different ad hawks that happen
on those off weeks, on the alternate weeks. So we're pretty much meeting every week.
Okay. And through the chair, I was, you know, really disappointed the last time, and I appreciate
your apologies, but I was disappointed on how that interaction happened with us voicing
in our, well we voiced, right, our decision, right?
Because it wasn't personal, it wasn't about you,
it was about the process about 100 people applying before,
then it was only seven.
And then all these other things that I'm seeing
that the Spanish Flyer, we didn't even get that out
on time to even speak to see if our Spanish individuals
that wanted to apply, so.
And if I could add, and I appreciate the discussion
about recruitment.
Anyway, we can help.
We've offered also and worked hand-in-hand
with the selection panel.
There needs to be a certain level of obviously autonomy
and independence with that as well
and how they work with you on and having a pool.
But I think it is important to have a strong pool,
to be able to have a reserve pool.
Things happen and life happens, right?
So we can lose a commissioner at any time
and it's really good to have strong,
qualified people in the queue.
And, you know, whenever there's reappointments
and things of that nature,
that there is a strong competitive process as well too.
We don't have any control of that.
All we have control of is doing the work,
showing up and doing our best job.
So appreciate it.
We're not always gonna see eye to eye,
but we are one city, one family,
and I look forward to continue to work with you all.
Council Member Fife.
I have a question to the staff.
Ricardo just mentioned it by saying that
the candidates don't have any authority
or control over the selection process.
So can maybe Felicia, who is responsible for the outreach?
Is that the candidates who want to be commissioners
or is it the city of Oakland that's responsible
for a robust process to do outreach to the community
to get as many candidates as possible?
Through the chair, in the charter it states
that the city administrator's office is responsible
for staffing the selection panel.
And therefore the selection panel is a partnership.
In the beginning of the- we
participate in the recruitment
efforts so that the city
administrators office we we
lead out on much of that- staff
will send out a press release
at the beginning of the- panels
recruitment process when they
open up- at time for
applications could they
generally would.
Start the process in February
and have a deadline in in a poor
ongoing recruitment.
So as a city, it's a collective effort.
Stakeholders, we all.
What does the charter say about
whose authority it is to do the outreach?
Is it the candidates themselves,
or is it the city of Oakland?
It's the city of Oakland.
Okay, I will say the city of Oakland
in partnership with the selection panel.
Great, is there a number of candidates
that is required, a minimum, a baseline
of candidates that is required
And I think that's a good question that we have to have
before those candidates are moving their selection ideas
to us or to in front of anybody, is there a threshold?
I'm trying to understand that in 2017, 2018,
there were a lot of people.
Recently there were not a lot of people.
What is the baseline that we're supposed to have before it's?
Through the chair, Councilmember Fyfe,
as far as I know there is no minimum number
that the selection panel need to interview
in order to make its nominations.
There's no minimum there.
Well, that's a problem.
No, it's not a problem.
It's just like if there is no minimum,
what are we arguing about?
I'm confused, I'm deeply confused.
I really wanna hear from the public
because if the police department,
are there any high-ranking police officials here today
that can speak on behalf of OPD.
Just curious about their influence in this process.
I can't speak to that.
The Oakland Police Officers Association.
I can't speak to that.
Because if there's any,
if there's not a set number of people
that are required to interview,
if this is not about a process
that these candidates didn't have anything to do with
in terms of a number of selection panel requirements,
I'm struggling to understand what we're debating here.
Can we just call the question and vote them up or down?
I'm confused.
If no one can talk about or tell me today,
because I was not here when this vote was initially made,
on what are the issues with these two candidates?
Is it, because there's so many rumors
and it wasn't debated here,
is it about the selection process was flawed?
Was that, is that what we're deliberating here today?
Because I haven't heard how that process was flawed.
And if that is how the decision was made,
we have to have a robust conversation about it.
Was that a flawed process?
What happened, what went wrong?
If it's just, we need more candidates,
then that can be addressed in the next process,
which it seems like the city administrator's office
is already doing, that you've engaged in making sure
that there's a wider net that's cast.
But I really want to understand what is the issue here
because I did not understand it
from the last meeting that I viewed.
That's what I want my colleagues, Council President Jenkins,
maybe you can explain it to me
because I'm struggling to understand
why this is so contentious.
No, absolutely.
So we have two more of our colleagues
and then any more questions for Ricardo?
We'll go to the public
and then council members will have a more robust time
to discuss, council member.
Okay, so I think one of the things that I wanted to,
I guess kind of like ground us in,
because I know that on that October 21st meeting,
I believe that we had a very robust conversation
about how many applications were received
and what was the process because,
And I believe all the council members weighed in
on not knowing that the application process was open
and that we should be reaching out to our constituencies
to try to get more candidates to apply.
And I believe that after we rejected the slate in October,
there was a couple key things
that really happened in my opinion, right?
I think the first email that we got was a new kind of
comprehensive outreach and recruitment strategy
that came from the administration.
And then in addition, there was also a new flyer
that was sent, encouraging us to reach out
to our constituencies.
And so it was my understanding that because
of those two things that the process had been restarted.
And so I would like to just kind of, you know,
have a question to, through the chair,
to the city administrator.
I'm not sure if Alicia, administrator Johnson,
is that accurate?
That's how I received what was happening.
That after we made that vote,
the process had been restarted
on the recruitment and outreach efforts.
Through the chair, so we'll certainly defer some
assistance to the administrator, Ms. Burton.
But I do believe you are correct,
I think she had a couple of
questions about it.
Let me just have her come up and
confirm.
Your comments.
I cast member brown he repeat
your question please.
Yes so in our in our meeting
that we had an ox over we spoke
at great length I think even
some of the selection members
of the selection panel.
Mentioned oh you know how.
You know you all were trying to
only five applications were received, right?
And so we were kind of calling attention to,
oh, you know, there should be,
because we know Oaklanders are interested, right?
But the recruitment process was lacking.
And so my question was that based on
after the council rejected the slate,
there were two key things that happened.
One, there was a new recruitment strategy and process
that was sent out informing the council of,
hey, this is what we are going to do.
and then the second thing that occurred
was then there was also a flyer encouraging us
to send that out to our constituencies.
And so my question is,
I felt that those two things initiated a new process.
I think the criminal process is ongoing at this time,
and so we will continue that process.
However, since that time,
the selection panel met again on December 18th
and they voted to put the same slate forward
as they put forward in July.
And I believe when panelists were very spoke,
they felt like those candidates were qualified
to serve on the police commission.
So the recruitment happened, some recruitment happened.
I do believe that more recruitment needs to happen.
And I also, the panel unanimously voted
to put their same slate forward.
I see it.
Which is why it's before the city council again.
And was the vote to resubmit the slate
agendized for that meeting?
Yes, yes it was.
The city attorney, our parliamentarian was in the meeting
and there was no question about whether or not
it was scheduled.
And then like in that short amount of time, it's my understanding that there were new applications received
Where the was the selection panel?
Committee made aware of those new applications for review. They were aware of their applications
However, they did not review the applications nor did they discuss the applications they made their they were they made the their
Motion during the meeting and in the motion, like I said was voted on unanimously by the panel
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Council Member Wong, and then Council Member Gallo,
then Council Member Houston.
Thanks.
Just to add on to my colleague's line of questioning,
this is to Felicia.
Hi, Felicia.
So I was reviewing the video footage
as well as some of the attachments
to the December 18th meeting.
I saw that there was an attachment 70 pages long
that had a number of applications around 16,
these were some of the new applications
and I recognize some of the names since, you know,
we had following that October meeting,
Dunson Outreaches Council to get more applications in,
just to understand there was an opportunity
on December 18th to interview any of these folks
and it didn't happen or what happened on that meeting?
Those applications that were in the October 18th,
excuse me, December 18th agenda packet
for the selection panel because the selection panel needs to review those applications to
a point they need to make a recommendation for the district four seat on the selection
panel not the police those were not for the police commission they were specifically for
the selection panel not apologize for that confusion okay I see so then how many applications
for the actual commission have we gotten since that meeting?
There have been 13 received, however I will say, and I haven't shared this, but one of
the candidates has with you that was withdrawing their application.
Okay, and at December 18, was there the opportunity to interview the actual applicant, the commission,
not the selection panel for the commission?
Councilmember Wong through the chair the selection panel did not
I
Developed the agenda for that meeting with the the chair of the panel with Keisha Herron
and there wasn't there wasn't a specific request at that time to
Interview any additional police commission candidates? Okay, and and that was a choice that was made or that was it
Just was not possible. It was not scheduled on the agenda
Okay, thank you typically to interview candidates. Thank you. Councilman. Bye. Yes. Thank you. And I'd like to first
Recognize and to thank Ricardo Acosta for serving as the chairperson of the police commission
I was one of the leaders who are involved from the very beginning of the police commission
And I still continue to support that service and certainly I understand the role that you're playing
I mean, this is an example of the challenges that we have is still in terms of dealing
with a negotiated settlement agreement, and it was within the police department that created
some challenges.
So I want to thank you publicly for the work you have done and certainly the community
recognizes your leadership and for the public to also recognize the mayor gets to appoint
Two members to the commission without having gone going through this process that we're going through
The mayor gets to appoint members to commission
And but I want to thank you for your service and you have my full support to continue. Thank you
Council member houston. I like through the chair. I like to ask miss pelicia a question
Hello, miss pelicia. Um
What was the reason why the 13? Um individuals weren't
I mean, I know it was scheduling because I heard that they canceled, rescheduled, canceled,
rescheduled, canceled, and one of the selection panelists is here today that wasn't able
to even have his input.
You had 13 applications, 13 applications that were not interviewed.
I don't get it.
That's correct, through the chair, Councilmember Houston, I think that's a question for the
Chair of the selection panel and unfortunately
she is not here today.
So where the meetings, how is this meeting scheduled
for the selection committee to actually meet?
So they could, this is an important,
this is important.
These are the individuals that actually select
the police commissioners, right, for and they don't meet.
And you had 13 applications.
Through the chair, the selection panel meets generally from February to July.
That's when they complete their recruitment process.
And that's been the case since I staffed the selection panel and it's been three years.
And this is honestly an unusual circumstance for my experience.
So the chair chose not to, the panel will conduct additional interviews and review applications
going forward, however the chair chose not to do so in December.
And going forward, the selection panel is scheduled to meet on the second Tuesday of
every month because they do have a regular meeting date.
However, all the meetings are special meetings at the selection panel.
So through the chair, now it's going to be regular?
Yes.
And it wasn't before?
They meet intermittently as needed.
I want to bring up, I don't know if he's here.
One second, Councilmember, we've got another council.
Thank you.
Council President Jenkins, I was going to actually ask, on Zoom is the Vice Chair of
the selection panel?
I don't know how many of you
that have been asked.
I have a couple questions that
I wanted to to ask them.
So similar I think similar to
councilmember Houston did you
have someone as well.
Please proceed.
Okay so in the zoom his name is
a vice chair Alex.
Clovis.
And so there were three
questions that I had asked
which was was a vote to
resubmit the slate agendas for
the selection panel meeting.
who act can't come in and then were any new interviews conducted before the
decision to resubmit the slate. Hi can you guys hear me? Yes. Okay I can
answer you can you go one at a time and I'll answer them. Of course so the first
question was was a vote to resubmit the slate agendized for the selection panel
meeting? No not to not to my knowledge and I'm looking at the agenda right now
and it just says that there's gonna be an update on the selection panel
nominations but there was nothing about like voting. Thank Thank You Alex and so
at the time of the vote where were the panel members informed of new applicants
that had come in applications that had come in? For the police commission I was
not, no. Excellent and then were any new interviews conducted before the
decision to resubmit the slate. No. Alright thank you Alex. Did you want to
add any more since you have the floor? No. Okay thank you Alex. Thank you. Council
member Fife then council member Houston. I really want to hear from the public if
possible. Yeah. I would love to hear their expertise on this before we continue on
with this debate. Thank you council member. Council member Houston is the young man
one of the new members just
like Alice Clovis said, just
like it's so much uncertainty
surrounding the meetings.
It's like, you know, we don't
know when we come and we don't
know where we're going.
There's no certainty around
scheduling or timing.
So it's like I'm saying one of
the new members, I think for
something so important for our
city, it should be some type of
schedule.
It's just like we're trying to
get people to have some kind of
relationship with the community
that's how we're going to have
more certainty around our city
it should be some type of
schedule.
And more certainty around
meetings and what we're actually
doing because half of the time I
don't know.
What we're doing when we're
actually meeting so I think just
we need to figure out how we can
stated that he would be allowed to have his commissioner come up do you have any
more questions for your commissioner? He's the commissioner I mean you have been
hold on page... Mr. Page can you come back up okay on the he's on the
selection committee so there you go it's corrected now so what was it when you
said that it was it wasn't scheduled were you able to in it did they give you
the resumes for the 13 other people where you guys can actually look at them
at least. No, so like I'm saying so so when usually when when they do like the
special meeting, Miss Millie you're out of order. That's your final warning. Like
nothing you can look at to actually see when the meetings are so you kind of
just waiting around until somebody emails you to tell you when they might
be. So sometimes when those happen then you you might set up because like you
said we got families and you know things other things going on in our life then
And it'll be canceled.
And then you OK?
You wait and we'll let you know at a further date
when the next meeting is.
So like I'm saying, there's just no certainty around
when we're going to meet and when those dates are actually
going to be to discuss a lot of the issues.
Thank you, Mr. Page.
Thank you.
Let's go to public comment.
As I call your name, please support the podium in any order.
Please state your name for the record before beginning.
If you are on Zoom and you hear your name called
because you submitted a card, please raise your hand.
So I can easily identify you if you still wish to speak.
Anaya Lance Wilson,
Millie Cleveland,
Mississauga Ola Bala,
Rajni Mandal,
Rashida Grenache,
Lora Libosserman,
Angela Jackson Costain,
Ms. Hawthorne, Mr. Boatwright,
Kevin Dally,
Blair Beakman,
Mr. Hazard miss Kramer in any order please?
Go ahead
So I actually asked to speak for another
Birth six point seven. So could you please not at time this question?
So can I have both the times now, please?
Can you take your card started over? Excuse me, please take your card to the clerk so we can get some clarity
And state your name, please. Okay. Hi. My name is Anaya. I've lived in Oakland for 40 years
This is only my third City Council meeting and I have to say that I'm quite concerned about the issue of the issues that come
Has come up that I've heard about violations of the Brown Act
But I want to talk about mr. Farmer and mr. Garcia who have
Garcia a Costa who have been active and upstanding members of the police commission
I'm appalled that there are questions about them being reappointed even after the selection committee put their name toward twice
My understanding is that it wasn't even within the council council president Jenkins purview to send their appointments back to the selection committee
however, they have been resubmitted and
Because
Because they are committed and responsible members of the police commission and should be allowed to continue their work
What is happening with democracy in our city?
this is a time in which the whole country is facing issues of the demand dismantlement of
Democracy and I'm shocked and appalled that it is happening in our city as well
Here in Oakland, that democracy would include giving an explanation for your votes and adherence
to the Brown Act would include transparency now and through all your votes and deliberations.
I also want to point out that it seems that when Councilmember Brown asked the gentleman
on Zoom about if the first question that you asked, Councilmember, I believe he answered
for the future and you were talking about the past because the woman who spoke over
here, Ms. Felicia, she said that, yes, it had been agendized. So I would like for you
all to clarify that. Anyway, I ask you to follow the city custom and re-appoint these
two gentlemen to the Police Commission so that we can continue to have thorough oversight
of our police department.
Where is the timer? I'd like to refocus the conversation on the relevant issue, which
is the merit of the candidates.
If this council is so concerned about lack of recruitment and outreach, then I suggest
you give the staff more money because that's who's responsible.
It's not with the responsibility of the volunteers.
The only relevant issue is whether the candidates are qualified to advance constitutional policing
standards for OPD, of which none of you have spoken to.
When a council member alludes to there being a personnel issue without transparency, it's
unprincipled, it lacks integrity, and it's borderline slanderous.
When a council member is still raising questions about process after three months when they
haven't bothered to read the selection panel manual, it's obviously a smokescreen and a
diversion from the topic.
When the Rules Committee votes to advance the mayor's OPD approved candidates without
resumes, biological statements, or interviews, the only thing it seems to matter is the lobbying
efforts of the police union as reported by the East Bay Times.
And when you march in front of the No Kings banner, standing for democracy and denying
transparency in your own house, the hypocrisy is glaring.
The failure for transparency is undemocratic, and it's opportunist.
Answer the question.
Why are these candidates not qualified to advance constitutional policing?
That is the question.
If you do not speak to that, then you are being opportunist, and it's a violation of
your mandate.
Paula Hawthorne, unpaid gun violence prevention activist here in Oakland,
having a good police commission is key to stopping gun violence. Why is that?
Because if you don't trust the police, you're gonna go get a gun to protect
yourself. The more guns there are, the more gun violence there is. Absolutely. So
So we need a strong police commission.
The attacks that were made against Omar and Ricardo were because people didn't want a
strong police commission.
These are two of your best commissioners on the police commission and that's why people
went after them.
It doesn't matter whether you have ten people who are applicants for the selection panel
or you have 200, Omar and Ricardo are the best.
I have worked with both of them.
I worked for a couple, three years, I think,
with Omar on the Measure Z Oversight Commission.
He works hard.
He is an amazing man.
He takes it seriously, the job to be done.
He maybe has annoyed a policeman or two.
That's his job, guys.
You know, I've worked closely with the police department
myself, because I do gun buybacks.
I can tell you they can take it.
They're good, strong men.
If they get annoyed, that's part of the job.
But he is an amazing person.
So is Ricardo.
I have known him for years in my gun violence prevention work.
They're both excellent men.
They both should be reappointed, and it's
It's an insult to try to stop them because you don't like the police commission, support
the police commission, support these two.
Lance Wilson?
Lance Wilson?
Good evening.
I'm here to support both Ricardo and Omar, they're both overqualified, they've been working
with the commissions for a while now.
I'm just confused of what the problem is with the council.
you guys are so hung up on all these processes and when they've already been
unanimously selected numerous times like what's the problem with the candidates
that's what I'm confused about and nobody seems to want to answer the
question what is the problem with these two candidates is there a problem that
somebody has a problem on up here I mean what's the issue I don't understand what
the issue we keep going around in circles for hours and all these meetings
about all these processes that's not their job their job is not the process
that's not the that's not their job to do that process that's not their job so
why are we even why we keep going around about this process process there you
unanimously selected by the selection panel reappoint that what's the problem
with these two commissioners if you guys have an issue with and then stated on
the record what's your problem is that's it thank you all right thank you
player Beekman I've spoke a few times on this item for the past few months now
thank you that if you want to speak specifically on if they should be
approved or not approved today that seems to be the main focus and how Oakland
is working at this time. I kind of question that tactic technique but if
that's what is presented before us I hope we can vote for approval today.
Thank you for the words of Councilperson Fyfe who I think as you as city
administrators wants to be expanding this role Councilperson Fyfe says that
but maybe we should be focusing on the approval
or disapproval process today.
I think over the past year, there's been a real push
by a certain portion of Oakland
and new city council persons to make a shift
in previous voices that were pretty strong
and important and progressive in Oakland.
And a more conservative voice was being left out,
it was felt.
Over the past year, you guys have been really working
for that conservative voice to be a more regular part
of the Oakland process.
I think you've accomplished a lot in that effort.
And I think by this fall,
we were realizing that you're really hurting
to really, really good police commissioners,
review commissioners at this time.
And I think we're all,
we've had a really heavy fall together on issues.
And we're realizing these possibly
are really good commission people
that we should be continuing with.
And we're just reflecting and reviewing
that we should, we gotta continue to work
towards good balance, but to respect
that when there's good things happening
in the commission process, we respect that
and allow it, and what Councilperson Pype
also offered, the city administration office
can now build from here on out a future
of how to bring in new candidates in the future.
That's only just a part of what I wanna talk about.
Good luck on how you vote today.
Go for it.
Jane Kramer.
I think somebody said it in the beginning of the discussion.
The responsibility of the process
is not to be placed on the candidates.
What is to be garnered from the discussion
is their qualifications.
Now, I worked before retirement.
I worked as a licensed LCSW.
And much what I did was dealing with the criminal justice
system.
When I go to the meetings of the commission,
I see individuals on that commission
who are dedicated to the point where for no payback
except their own personal satisfaction,
they put in incredible amounts of energy and effort and time
into trying to decipher
exactly how this particular police department works
and how it can be for the better changed.
And to do that, they have had to withstand and accept
and deal with criticism.
And they deal with that criticism very well
when they self confront themselves to change the manner
in which they may do something.
I think you will be,
I think voting for them to maintain them on this commission
will be a betterment to this community.
Please don't.
Kevin Dalley from D4. I agree that a good police commission will, can help to establish
trust in the police department. I appreciate council member Fife's questions on why the
process has been delayed. They asked some very good questions there. One aspect of having
police department we can trust is related to an area I care about, which is traffic
safety.
In neighborhoods where people don't trust the police, we find out that traffic injuries
are not reported.
Councilmember Houston raised this issue in a recent meeting of the HC Transit Interagency
liaison committee and a good way of improving reporting of injuries is to get a trusted
police department and that requires I think a trusting trustworthy police commission and
I hope that we can approve the commissioners if we need to work on a better process for
next the next cycle but we need to move ahead now thank you.
Any more speakers in the chambers.
If your name was called and you were in the chambers,
please approach the podium.
Good evening.
My name's Angela Jackson-Castain.
I'm an Oakland resident, born and raised.
And I'm also the longest standing police commissioner
on the police commission currently.
I applied back when there were 100 or so applicants years ago.
And we were actually in a pandemic then.
So we were 100% remote for quite a while.
And I think that is a good part of the reason
why we had so many applicants back then.
We have lost great commissioners
because of the work that we do.
It's so intense that they're not able to keep up with that
as well as their professional jobs.
We just recently lost our last vice chair
because she took on a new professional role
and we're volunteers.
This is a lot of work.
So I wouldn't say that the drop in applicants
is directly correlated with a lack of recruitment.
I think the selection panel does a great job of recruiting.
We do as well.
And I know that the OIG does road shows in the public
and talks a lot about the police commission.
So there's information out there about what we do.
I think it is unrealistic for a lot of people
to be able to do this.
We do it because we love it.
We're committed and we love the city of Oakland
and we want to see ourselves do better.
I want to say that I'm here today to urge you
to reappoint my fellow commissioners.
These two I've worked with directly on many ad-hocs
and they are the hardest working
and most dedicated commissioners I've seen to date.
They do more work than even I do.
And I'll readily admit that.
They are very committed and not only that,
they have the skill sets that we need.
We're really focused on our mandated task
but also doing a little bit more.
And I think they bring a different perspective.
Commissioner Farmer is very much well-versed
in mental health and wellness.
That is part of our charter mandate
that we're completed to do.
We need his expertise.
Our chair, Garcia Acosta,
is well-versed in community organizations and outreach,
and that's a huge part of what we do,
and we need his expertise.
Thank you, your time is up.
If your name was gone and you were in chambers
and you still wish to speak, please approach the podium.
Jean has it.
When Mr. Farmer came up to this podium,
he asked, did any of you have any questions?
Neither one of you asked him anything.
It's about the skill set, what both the candidates
have to offer.
This was a three-ring circus.
You're talking about process.
You know what was lacking?
Maybe some of the marketing from staff.
Each of you have a website.
Neither one of you put anything about the recruitment process.
Look at yourselves, you lack the marketing and
you want to come and criticize staff.
Could they have improved it?
Yes, but you needed a whole lot of improvement.
Where's the smokescreen?
You spent a half hour, 45 minutes talking about process.
We got two well-qualified candidates.
Every one of you with the exception of two on this body, I won't say who.
You're a joke.
You're a joke.
Stop this discussion and vote these two candidates up.
Cuz anything else short of that, you're lying to the public.
There's something else going on here.
Tell me all these two candidates qualified.
That's the issue.
Stop looking at your papers, as though you're doing some,
oh, we want to see what the process is.
Oh, what did you do on the recruitment?
What did each of you do with recruitment?
You had an opportunity.
You have a website.
Neither one.
Thank you, Mr. Hazard.
anyway, so y'all wanna talk process, let's talk process.
The important thing about the selection panel
is each one of you appoint a member to the selection panel,
and the mayor appoints one.
So if you're having problems with the selection panel,
it's because of you, you select them.
So if it's not working, your process not working
because of you.
Let's talk about the process for how the mayor puts a candidate on the commission.
She goes out and picks anybody she wants, invites them to apply, brings it to rules,
which they did, this time without a background check, y'all approved a process that wasn't
supposed to be in place until a background check was done.
We don't know who these people have been involved with as far as criminal activity that you
are proving tonight because in the agenda there is no background check.
So why has the number been reduced?
Because the police commission from a historical process, because I know I've been around,
they had difficulty with getting the city attorney to work well with them.
They had difficulty getting fiscal support from the council when they were getting ready
to vote to fire Kilpatrick, y'all didn't support them, so people begin to believe that the
police commission wasn't getting support from you, and that's why the numbers went down,
and they weren't getting support from the city attorney's office.
That's why the numbers went down as far as applying, because they weren't getting support
from you.
my last couple of seconds I have never met a person like Omar Farmer and I have
so much respect for the chair. Thank You Miss Ola Bala your time is up.
David Boatwright obviously there's a lot of support here for the two candidates
we've been listening about and I can understand why they're both very
eloquent and spontaneous speakers but I stopped going to the meetings because
they were basically the only ones that were doing the talking and this
Commission can't exist with just two dominant players and if these men are
reelected to their post I would suggest that they do more training of the other
members to get them to speak their minds. I know there's one member there that has
tried in the past and he's been kind of shut down while he was talking so good
look on your vote. Thank You Mr. Boatwright. Moving to the Zoom speaker starting with Rajni
Mandel, please unmute yourself and begin your comments. Rajni Mandel, District 4. My concern
is not about individuals, it's about process integrity. When these reappointments came before
Council in October, they were rejected because of concerns about recruitment, outreach, and vetting.
The expectation was that those issues would be addressed before the slate returned.
Supplemental report clarifies what has and has not changed.
No new recruitment process was initiated by the selection panel.
No new candidates were interviewed.
While the administration notes limited outreach and 13 new applications,
none of those applicants were reviewed or considered before this resubmission.
So what's before you today is not a substantively different process,
but largely a procedural resubmission.
I urge council to clearly state on the record what has and has not changed so the full council
can make an informed decision based on process, not urgency.
If council believes improved recruitment and vetting were necessary in October, it's reasonable
to ask whether those conditions have truly been met today.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
Moving to the next speaker, Rashida Grenaj.
unmute yourself and begin your comments. Ms. Grenadge if you are speaking we
cannot hear you. I see you unmuted yourself but I can't hear you. There you
go. Okay Ms. Grenadge we're getting an echo which means you probably have more
than one mic on so please turn off one device. I'll give you a second to adjust
and I will come back to you. Laura Lye-Bosterman please unmute yourself and
in your comment. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. Please don't fall for all the red
herrings. Questions about the selection panels process are a red herring. That's not what's
driving this and I think you know that. The whole question started, I believe, when Rajni
Mandal sent a letter to the city council complaining about council member about police
commissioner Omar Farmer. I do not believe that that letter said anything about process.
I believe that came up later when all of her issues had been rebutted.
I'm sorry, can you still hear me? I'm seeing someone talking.
Yes, we can hear you.
Okay, I apologize.
All of Rajni Mandal's original issues have been effectively rebutted. And once that happened,
people started looking for other justifications for what is happening. I would like to point out
that Rajni Mandal wants to eliminate the police commission. She has said this publicly.
Council member Houston has raised a number of concerns, but he is woefully misinformed.
Flyers have always been in both Spanish and English. The selection panel did interview
other candidates before deciding to reappoint these incumbents. The candidates who haven't
been interviewed yet are people who have applied since that cycle and I believe there are people
who applied not for the police commission but for the selection panel. I know that's confusing,
everyone gets confused about it. There is a police commission that does the work, there is a selection
panel that picks who's going to be on the police commission. The meetings of the selection panel
have been irregular lately because the selection panel doesn't normally meet this time of year. It
It is seasonal work, they're only meeting now
because you rejected the slate
and they have to deal with that.
The only year there were a hundred applicants
was the first year after that applicants dropped off.
So why are we seeing all these red herrings?
Because the so-called cons...
Thank you for your comments.
Ms. Gurnage, trying again.
Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.
Hello, can you hear me?
We can hear you, but there is an echo.
Do you have a computer and possibly your phone on?
I turned it off and off and off and off.
Maybe mute your computer.
It's a little bit better.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
I want to...
We still have the echo.
Ms. Grenise, do you want to try one more time?
I can try.
Miss Grenise, is it possible for you to call Miss Milly and she could put you on speaker
phone?
Can we try that way?
You want to come up, Miss Milly?
Call on her cell phone.
You want to try and call her?
Answer the phone, Rashida.
Tell her to answer the phone.
Miss Rashida, answer the phone.
You want me to try and call her?
Okay, so we're going to give her another opportunity.
Miss Rashida, please raise your hand.
We're going to give you an opportunity to speak on Zoom.
Now, we're going to have to move forward.
We just say, Ms. Grenache, before I unmute you,
if you're on your phone,
you need to hang it all the way up and use your computer.
Or if you're on your computer,
you need to actually mute the sound on your computer
to not have the echo,
because you can only have one device on,
otherwise the mics interfere.
So I'm going to unmute you.
So please unmute yourself and begin your comment.
Is this better, better, better?
No, it's not better.
Can you answer the call from Ms. Milley?
She's gonna call you and we're gonna put you
on speaker phone.
Wanna make sure we hear your comments.
Is that okay, Ms. Granage?
I'll try, I'll try, I'll try.
Okay, perfect.
All right, let's move forward.
Are there any more speakers?
Okay, council members?
Any questions?
Council Member Gallo?
And then Council Member Brown, after.
Thank you and thank you to all the speakers
that were here with us this evening
and certainly I understand and recognize
the debate and discussion,
but clearly understanding the process
of the police commission and the role
and those that are currently servicing.
I appreciate your work.
And so with that, I'd like to make a motion
to accept resolution number one
and the resolution accepted
the police commission selection panel slate
of Ricardo Garcia Costa and Omar Farmer
to serve on the Oakland Police Commission.
That's my motion, thank you.
There is a motion, a second, there's still discussion.
Council Member Brown.
Thank you, I was just gonna address three items
that came up during public comments.
So the first one, I did just wanna say on the record
that I've heard from a handful of commissioners
that serve on the selection panel
that they would like to receive more training.
in that in that in that seat. And so I think that that's something that is
usually administered through the City Administration. So I just wanted to share
that feedback. I think we heard it even publicly, right? So I just wanted to say
that for the record. And then, oh and then one of the public speakers mentioned
that, and we had such a robust conversation about this during our last
meeting about how the council members hadn't received the recruitment for
for recruiting for the police commission and so that's why the new flyer was
updated and all of us sent that out and one of the key reasons why I continue to
ask hey were the 13 applicants actually outreach was I had a handful of you know
folks reach out to me because of their interest and so that's why I was asking
question and they did inform me as was stated that those applicable there you
know no one has called them after submitting their application so just
also wanted to just say that for the record because when we wrapped up that
meeting in October I know I was under the impression that the process had been
restarted and then I think the last question that came from one of the
the public speakers was about the specific question around,
was the item agendized at the selection panel?
And just I guess getting clarification around that.
So I guess through the chair to,
is it, would it be the parliamentarian
maybe for that meeting
to confirm whether or not the item was agendized?
I have the agenda pulled up and it just said an update,
receive an update on the selection process.
But just wanted to make sure
we had some clarity around that.
So I think the question is, was it agendized
and was it properly agendized?
Through the chair, our office was not asked
to look at that agenda either before or after,
so we've not reviewed that.
But this body can vote pursuant to process issues.
So if you think there was something correct
about the notice, you're able to consider that
in your vote on this item.
But we did not look at the,
whether it was appropriately noticed.
I guess through the chair to the administration,
either Felicia or Administrator Phillips,
any comments on that?
Through the chair, Council Member Brown,
I did raise that question about whether or not
It was noticed for the selection panel to make a vote,
take a vote, and it was ruled during the meeting
by the parliamentarian that since it was an action item
on the agenda, that they could, if you look at the agenda,
it says at the top action items,
and they voted under item number five
to forward their nominations.
I see, yeah, because it's where it'd update
on the 2025 selection panel nominations.
the selection panel will receive an update
on their July 2025 nomination process.
Correct, that's the item they took the action on.
I see.
All right, thank you.
Council Member Houston.
Through the chair, city attorney,
can you repeat what you said
about taking consideration on a vote?
Can you repeat that?
I said we had not, I have not reviewed the agenda,
that agenda item and how it was noticed.
if this body feels that there was something.
You can take into account the process
when you're voting on this item.
So you can look at the process
of how it went through the selection panel.
That is so through the chair.
I'd like to make an alternative motion to reject that.
I wanna reject the slate.
So there was an alternative motion on the floor.
Okay, so any more questions for the commissioners?
you're here for me.
I have a question commissioner
polymer question.
Oh that's what I do you want to
go first.
Okay you can.
I out of all the conversation
that we've had tonight I have
not heard one statement that
validates not moving these two
candidates forward based on
their performance.
When I reviewed the previous
meeting from October the
had stellar views from interviewing Omar Farmer.
Omar Farmer is a non-voting member of this body.
And I've not heard one of my colleagues
talk about anything about what the problem is
with these two people.
I've only heard about the process, which is fine,
but that's not what we're here to discuss tonight.
I heard the comments from our parliamentarian
that we can take that into account.
But that does not talk about, let me just, let me frame it this way.
The only process that we should concern ourselves with tonight is the process of independence.
And we are losing that independence by trying to move pieces around the chessboard when
the selection committee has made their decisions twice now.
So, we're attempting to change the decision of an independent body that was selected
by council members who have given nothing but stellar recommendations of these two individuals,
and I'm willing to discuss what the Police Officers Association has said, because they've
lobbied this body.
And I've had conversations with the president of the OPOA and other members of the police
department that don't want oversight, which is fine.
can feel any way about anything they want to. But the reality is the voters chose an
independent commission to oversee the police department for a myriad of issues that have
not been resolved to this date. And the independent selection committee that was chosen by the
elected sitting in this body, chose their selection committee members to do a job which
which they've done, and they've come back to us twice telling us, utilizing the democratic
process, telling us what they want.
I want to hear from the Oakland Police Department and the Oakland Police Officers Association
that if they feel that this is hindering their ability to do police work, I want to hear
that from them.
I don't want to hear that from Rajni Mondal or any member of the public.
I want to hear it from the body.
We heard from the longest standing commissioner today, and we're questioning the selection
panel when the selection panel told us what they want.
I want to hear each of my colleagues tell me today so I know what we're voting on.
Are we voting on the process being flawed?
I said it already, or are we voting on the quality of these candidates?
Because oftentimes, in application processes, you will get a bunch of candidates that are
are not qualified for several reasons.
So everyone isn't justified to have any business owner
or anyone who's done any kind of hiring
knows just because you apply doesn't
make you qualify for an interview.
So let's talk about can we please
have a transparent conversation about what is going on here.
It is clear that there are some police officers
who don't want oversight.
There are some who actually really do.
So if it's a question about what the police department wants,
what they think is best, can we hear from them?
Because what I'm hearing is a moving of goalposts.
First we got a letter from a community member
in District 4 who said all of these things
about Omar Farmer, but then called in tonight
and said this isn't about personalities.
I'm confused because once those things in the letter
were dispelled about Mr. Farmer,
then the goalposts move to being about process.
That is not within our purview to discuss tonight.
We are going to vote up or down.
I wish we could have a transparent conversation
about why we have shifted the goalposts
and now we're talking about process
versus quality of candidates.
And I really just wanna get down to the,
I don't judge people's perspectives
regardless of what they are.
I wanna do what works.
I don't care if you are pro police, 110%,
twenty toes down or anti I want to do what works for Oakland and we are not
having a clear conversation about why we're making these decisions and that's
what I want to get to tonight period thank you councilmember five so mr.
farmer question about your work on the committee would you say that the police
commission wants Oakland to get out the NSA and do policing in a constitutional
the state of the monitor. And we have a question in the manner. That be a fair statement. Yes sir. Second question when it comes to the statements to the monitor. What type of information are we putting in there is it all factual information. Are you are you what do you mean statements of the monitor statements to the judge statement yeah to the judge do we put factual information in there. Absolutely okay.
Appreciate you guys changing the statement that you guys had
but one sentence in your draft really
concerned me because my I
Want counsel and the Commission to be able to work together
It said
After review the OPC selection committee unanimously approved chair and alternate Commissioner
I'm a farmer for reappointment to their president commission post
nonetheless under the guise of concern about candidate recruitment and
Qualifications the City Council rejected their appointments
Does that statement?
Help us get out of the NSA
What's what's the point of that statement to the judge and the monitor?
Right. No, thank you for bringing that up and you and I spoke about this briefly offline
but as I was saying then our communication to the court a lot of the
things that they're concerned with are us being stable enough body to be able
to take over oversight from them to us and you know we weighed the balance
between input we received from the public or from commissioners and from
people who were on the ad hoc and so we put all that input together and
deliberated on it and that's how we ended up with the final product where
you said that line has been removed right and that's a good yes it also kind
of just absolutely yeah and so on the ad hoc the ad hoc is made up of not just
commissioners but community members as well as staff members the inspector
general's on the ad hoc. I asked him to be a part of the ad hoc and respect his expertise.
The director of CPRA, now the director of CPRA, is on the ad hoc. And then you have
the chair, vice chair of the commission, myself as chair of the ad hoc. And then we have community
members and then we also take input from the public during the meeting if they do have
input.
Thank you.
I guess my challenge is our charter says that council has the right, excuse me if I'm not
stating correctly, to accept or reject slates, all right?
And so when adhering to the charter, council is accused of being anti-police oversight.
This is just what our charter tells us what we are to do.
And so it's concerning for me that, and again, I'm not going to belabor this point because
you guys, and I appreciate the chair, I have an excellent working relationship with the
chair.
I've gone to commission meetings after we rejected the slate, I see how diligently he
works, how hard he works, I've had conversations with you this morning, so none of this is
taking you off guard, is it?
No, none at all, absolutely.
We had this conversation this morning.
Yeah.
So I'm challenged when people say we're anti oversight
when we're just following the charter.
I mean, maybe we should go back to the charter.
Maybe we should open the charter back up when it comes
to the police commission because there are certain things that
need to be changed because something in the process
isn't working.
But for us to be seen as anti oversight
by just doing what our job mandates us to do,
There's a challenge to me.
Can I respond to that, sir?
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, and like we were discussing, I think a lot of the perception
around that issue has to do with, and not just perception,
but past precedent has to do with how the selection panels,
nominations have been conducted in the past, as well as the independence
of the police commission, how it was written not just
within Measure LL, but through our enabling ordinance
and Measure's S1 and the independence of that part
of the process, how it's intended to be separate
from politics within City Hall, for example.
Yeah, I think so.
And this is the first time the selection panel slate
has ever been on a non-consent, so.
Yeah, so I think that's why I'd add it.
I want to continue working with all stakeholders to strengthen civilian oversight.
I've been on the record calling for the resignation of other commissioners.
But I didn't get anyone saying anything to me that I was doing anything wrong in 2023
when I did that in public at a budget meeting, right?
Call for the resignation or ask someone if they were going to resign from the police
commission.
But it was little fanfare when I did that.
I understand how it feels to have, you know, the accusations about, you know,
that you disagree with just how people tried to say that, you know,
the police commission or myself for anti-police or something like that,
and that's completely not true.
You know, I'm an Operation Enduring and Iraqi Freedom era veteran.
I also was a lead law enforcement officer in the military.
So I just, you know, I believe in law and order and justice and doing things the right way fully and completely and transparently.
Yeah.
Okay.
So thank you.
That concludes my questions for you.
Um, questions to questions to staff.
I'm going to ask you a question.
Felicia.
So in the past, how has it been agendized when there is going to be a vote for a selection,
slate, to move forward to council?
Is it consistent with what was on the previous agenda?
Council President Jenkins, so if you look at the July meeting of the selection panel
and how the item was agendized.
It is quite different from how the action
that they took at the December meeting.
It clearly states on the July agenda,
and forgive me, I don't have it in front of me,
but I believe it was July 18th.
It clearly states that the panel will take action
on police commission appointments
for the police commissioner and the alternate.
I did just read the agenda.
And then I read the December agenda,
and it does read differently.
Seems like the public would have advanced notice
on what's going to take place as opposed to an update.
So we have a motion, we have a second motion
without a second, but I wanna hear,
Council Member Ramachandran.
Thank you, I have a quick question.
Can you clarify that in the last time
we heard this item in October,
There were five applications and then since then,
there were 13 more applications
or is it a total of 13 applications?
There were additional applications received after.
And it's complicated.
Council Member Ramachandran and members of council.
There have been applications received in various ways
through Crannogis, the portal, and now there are applications
being accepted on the jobs postings for the city of Oakland.
So there were some repeat.
I would say that there were some repeat applications
in the 13 number of applications.
But before this new round opened, it was about five.
That's what I remember from the last meeting.
Correct.
OK, thank you.
I just want to make a statement which really resonates with the same thing I
said at the last meeting.
Well firstly, I'm very grateful for
every Oakland resident that chooses to volunteer
their time and face headaches, face stress, face meetings like this
to serve our city and make it better. And I have
great respect for Commissioner Farmer and
uh...
uh...
Commissioner Ricardo Garcia Costa,
and I think that there are also a lot
of other great candidates out there.
While council members don't have direct appointees
to the police commission, back in 2023,
I think my first year, I gave my strongest recommendation
and served as a reference for former council member,
Wilson Riles, to be on this commission.
So I've been engaged in thinking about candidates
that I think have the values, the justice-driven initiative
in wanting to serve our city.
I similarly, later today on an item,
give my strongest support for someone that I know has done
very grassroots, meaningful work in this city, Doug Long,
who the mayor selected.
So I think it's not fair to say that we have,
I think it's fair to say that many of us know
and support proactively so many people in this community
who are in the running for these positions,
but what we really need to do is open our doors literally,
read applications, interview candidates
that don't have political connections,
because I was one of those people.
Back when I applied and eventually got on
to the Public Ethics Commission,
I applied to eight other commissions
that I never heard back from.
And mind you, I was not at all involved in City Hall.
I was cold emailing people.
And I think that's the kind of thing we need to do,
respond to people who are qualified with life experiences,
with whatever other kinds of backgrounds,
and show that we're actually trying to recruit
and respond to people.
So when you have 13 people at the minimum,
applying for an opportunity,
I don't know what their connections are or not,
But they need to be in the door to see and be evaluated.
Are they a better pick than the other two commissioners
that are selected?
And no disrespect to their qualifications.
But we have to do the bare minimum
of interviewing other candidates.
Because let me tell you, the majority
of Oakland residents on the street that are out there
think that we appoint people and hire people based
on nepotism and political favoritism.
And don't take my word for it.
Literally, to this day, my most viewed of TikTok
is about the city's lack of hiring.
And you have hundreds of Oakland residents commenting,
yeah, I never heard back, yeah, I never heard back.
The city just hires its friends.
The city just hires people it knows,
not qualified people who want to serve their city,
be that a paid position or a volunteer position.
So, this is not about placing blame
on who should outreach more or who should outreach less,
but the reality is the people that we have access to
need to be interviewed.
I went through three rounds of interviews,
over 50 applicants for this public ethics commission job,
and yes, interest in these positions lacks in Wayne,
but it is the city's job to actually be proactive
and recruit and interview and talk to the people
who are interested in these jobs,
or else we're gonna continue to look like a walled up
ivory tower that's not trying to access
and reach people who are interested.
So my position is very simple, I would like for the selection panel to actually interview
some of these new applicants that they feel qualified and come back with a new decision,
not have one meeting where you're not talking to a single one of the 13 new candidates and
then come back and if the recommendation still is the same two candidates, so be it and this
can go on, of course, but at least let there be a process that's somewhat democratic because
our reputation in the community as a city continues to be, we're a walled-up ivory
towel that only appoints and hires people with political favoritism, and I say this
as someone who had never been to City Hall before my interviews, and it's something
that we drastically need to change as our reputation.
Thank You councilmember customer belong
Yeah, I
Just wanted to add that order in the chamber this it has been
frustrating because I know that I myself reached out to a number of the candidates that
submitted one of those 13 applications, so
For me I look we can look at both
Farmer and Acosta again, but it's important that because
We did our outreach and in this last selection panel meeting
I looked up, you know, I looked up the footage from the 18th
There was no consideration given to any of those 13 candidates not to even interview them
I think that is important. And with that I do second councilmember Houston's motion
Okay, so we have a second to councilmember Houston's motion. It seems like everybody's spoken
with the substitute move excuse me substitute motion moved by council member Houston second
by council member Wong which is rejecting the police commission selection panels Slator
Ricardo Garcia Acosta and Omar farmer to serve on the police commission council member
Brown aye council member five no council member Gallo so we're supporting his not our motion
supporting his not our motion correct no
Councilmember Houston yes
Councilmember Ramachandran
Councilmember Unger aye
Councilmember Wong aye
And chair Jenkins aye motion passes the vote of six ayes two nos five and guile
Moving to the consent calendar
starting with item six
We'll go to item six point two
approve of the draft minutes
from the meeting of January six
twenty twenty six.
I'm six point two a resolution
regarding the deck declaration
of a local emergency due to
AIDS epidemic.
And six point three a resolution
regarding the declaration of a
medical cannabis health
emergency.
And six point four a resolution
renewing the declaration of a
local emergency on homelessness.
And I'm six point five a
resolution appointing.
The mayor's appointments to the
library commission.
Six a resolution regarding early care and education emergency grant
measures see
item six point seven a resolution regarding the mayor's appointments to the Police Commission
I'm six point eight a resolution regarding the Montclair parking facilities operating agreement
item six point nine a
Resolution regarding the Caltrans delegated maintenance agreement an amendment for little removal
Item six point ten a resolution authorizing the city administrator
Central to an MOU between OPD and Santa Clara Police Department
Item six point eleven a resolution regarding ITPSA with medical priority consultants, Inc
Item six point twelve a resolution regarding HSD 2026
Summer food service program you have 23 speakers on the consent calendar
All right, let's hear from our speakers, please
As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order.
Please state your name for the record before beginning.
If you are on Zoom, please raise your hand
so I can easily identify you.
You will be taken after the speakers in chambers.
Anaya, Denisha Davis, Deidre Doniquin,
sorry if I said the incorrectly, Mrs. Asada Ola Bala,
I have you with multiple items on consent
for the maximum amount of time.
Millie Cleveland, Joy Epple, Felicia Tashawn Anderson,
Michael Kangeja, Charles Usui, Anita Roberts,
Carmen Marie Hidalgo, Sandra Williams,
Invita Kelly Smith, or is it Aretha?
In Mr. Barnes, Rajni Mandal, Kevin Dally, George Spies,
Derek Barnes, I have you with two cards.
Richard Davis, Blair Beekman, I have you with multiple items.
Ruben, Adrian Martinez, Ramirez.
Mr. Hazard, I have you with multiple items.
Marcello, Manuel, Jaime.
Go ahead, Mr. Hazard.
What you just did is going to come back and bite you on the rear end.
Go to my website.
I gave you each this, this is a notice of motion,
to confirm red procedural process, correct administrative classification for
issuance of an order to show cause and or alternative red preemptive red.
Second one is my declaration of gene hazard in support of the motion to confirm red
procedural procedures, correct administrative case, et cetera, et cetera.
And orders for the court.
This will be filed tomorrow or the next day on the transaction and
use tax where, where's the city attorney?
Where he altered the tax?
Where a provision to enjoin folks, you better read it because this is gonna go forward.
And I'm going to do a writ on what you did when you talk about the charter,
or the rules and procedure, what Ramachandra and
the President did with regards to suspending the rule 29.
You insulted the mayor, when she chose discretionary not to break the tie.
And you were pompous.
And yes, if the president has the power to order out of order,
they can't do it with the court.
And I will be filing a writ on what you did unlawfully, yes.
Yes, you did, unlawfully, when you rejected
what the mayor had his discretionary power to do to not to break the tie.
And I asked for an opinion from the parliamentarian, but
the president was so pompous because he can't, sitting in that chair,
tried to excommunicated me, ejected me, oh, Harry comes now.
Unceremoniously had the police take me out of the chambers.
You won't be able to do that, Mr. President.
And this agenda tonight is an example of what you reordered.
What normally is consent calendar first, but
you put non-consent because that BS that you did on December 16th.
I've already written a draft, and you will get it just like the city attorney
It's going to get this on the special election of April 15th,
when there was a transaction and use tax, not a sales tax, which you're collecting right now.
You won't be able to get around the courts.
And the court has tried to procedurally knock me out of the box.
They can't do it, because I'm determined to deal with the rule of law.
I'm determined to show that all of you, except for you all over here,
Violating your own charter, violating your own rules.
And you got the unmitigated nerve to talk about what's in the charter.
Read it, I've read it, from cover to cover.
So I know what I'm talking about.
And I will stay in the court, if I have to stay in the court, and go to the state.
Thank you Mr. Hazard, your time is up.
And Mr. Boatwright, I have a card for you too, also.
I want to speak on the mayoral appointees.
You voted in rules to advance the mayoral appointees
with no information.
You had no interviews.
You had no biographical information.
You had no application.
You had no resume.
And you moved that for consent.
The one guy that showed up was asked what is constitutional policing and he couldn't
even answer.
The other guy who wants to be on the police commission didn't have the time to show up
or even attend virtually.
So when we talk about process, you allow to move something for approval with no information.
And I am particularly disappointed in you, Councilmember Brown.
Thank you, Ms. Cleveland.
Your time is up.
Good evening, Councilmembers, funding partners.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
My name is Denisha Davis, Director of Rapid Rehousing with East Oakland Community Project,
and I'm here to address item 6.4 on the agenda as it relates to delays in funding, impacting
not only are reentry clients, but also frontline staff
tasked with carrying out this work on behalf of the city.
Our reentry clients are individuals returning
to the community after incarceration,
with often no housing, limited income, and urgent needs.
When funding is delayed, housing opportunities are lost.
Units cannot be held, landlords move on,
and clients are forced to remain in shelters,
unsafe environments, or homelessness.
These delays directly undermine the city's investment
in public safety, housing stability
and successful reintegration.
What is often unseen is the impact on staff.
Our team does the work up front,
completing assessments, securing housing leads,
coordinating with landlords,
gathering documentation and preparing payments,
only to have the progress halted
because funding is not...
Thank you, your time is up.
Good evening, my name is Edbida Kelly-Smith
and I am Representative Ginger Item 6.4.
and I'm here today not only as a leader at EOCP but as a successful outcome of this organization.
EOCP provides the support structure and belief that clients need to move forward.
This is why funding matters.
When funding is timely, people succeed.
When funding is delayed, services are disrupted, staff are stretched in and progress stalls,
not because of lack of effort but because of the lack of resources.
EOCP is currently owed funds by the city and this delay has had a serious operational impact.
It affects the staffing program stability and our ability to
consistently deliver the outcomes the city expects.
Despite this, ELCP continues to serve residents every day,
but we cannot continue to absorb these delays without consequences.
My call to action to the city is simple, urgent, and direct.
We are asking for immediate release of the outstanding funds owed to ELCP and
put the establishment of clear, reliable reimbursement timelines moving forward.
Good evening.
My name is Marcelo Jaime.
I am the QA manager from East Oakland community project.
We started after the 89 earthquake,
our facility saw that we had folks who were homeless.
We started as a program called Mission Safe
that grassroots eventually became
the East Oakland community project,
which was partnered with the city and the county.
At EOCP, we don't focus necessarily
what happened to the person,
but who they are and what they need,
whether we're serving families, veterans,
young adults, individuals.
We don't offer a bed, we walk alongside our residents
on a journey towards self-reliance.
We believe that every individual and every family
deserves a path rooted in dignity and compassion
because when we chose to truly see our neighbors,
we don't just provide shelter,
we begin to heal our community.
This funding we receive from the city, state, and county
are what allows us to provide these services.
any delay impacts both our org and the people we serve.
Good evening, I'm referencing 6.4 on your agenda.
My name is Deidre Dunnigan and I manage the CES program
at East Oakland Community Project
serving individuals and families
experiencing homelessness.
Today I want to talk about time
because the people we serve, time is not abstract.
It's counted in nights without shelter,
misconnections and opportunities that don't come back.
Funding delays don't just slow down programs,
say slowdown exits from homelessness.
A delayed contract can mean a delayed housing placement,
a delayed reimbursement can mean fewer outreach hours,
a delayed budget decision can mean we lose staff.
We know our clients by name, not by case number.
As a manager, I'm responsible for building continuity
and accountability, but it's difficult to plan
when we don't know when resources will arrive.
When funding moves on time,
people move out of homelessness faster.
When it doesn't, people stay stuck longer.
Not because they fail, but because the system stop.
I urge you to consider the human cost of funding delays
and the progress we can make if stability.
Right, good evening city council.
My name is Ruben Adrian Martinez Ramirez.
I'm coming here today as the current managing director
of transitional housing services
for the East Oakland Community Project.
How are you guys doing?
It's an honor to be here.
Unfortunately, because I'm here is because there are problems
need to be addressed and looked into by the members of this council. I currently
hold a credential victim advocate at the intermediate level with the designation
of a comprehensive victim intervention specialist. We get tasked to do so much
with so little when there are delays in funding services faltered families are
not able to get housed it doesn't matter if we've gotten them document ready when
I'll sit there and draft the letter and then it will be given to a landlord only
for it to be given back.
That is the concern that I have
and that is what I'm bringing here before you.
I thought it was two minutes,
but thank you for this one minute.
Thank you.
Referencing Agenda Item 6.4,
my name is Carmen Marie Dalgo.
I'm the Family Services Manager
at East Oakland Community Project.
Oh, thank you.
I have been with the agency for nearly five years
and currently oversee two family housing contracts.
During the 24 or 25 reporting year,
our program successfully housed more than 90 families.
In the city of Oakland, however,
due to the nonpayment of funds owed by the city,
80 of those families were displaced
through no fault of their own.
This was not the result of a program failure,
client noncompliance, or lack of effort.
It was the direct consequence of interrupted funding.
Despite the severity of this situation,
I'm proud to say that not a single family
was displaced back into homelessness.
Our staff worked tirelessly, leveraging every available community resource partnership and
support system to ensure families remain safely housed.
This requires extraordinary effort and long hours and unwavering commitment to the families
we serve.
Witnessing those many families lose their housing was one of the most difficult moments
in my 15 years of working in nonprofit.
Thank you ma'am your time is up.
Hi my name is Felicia Anderson and I'm addressing agenda 6.4.
I'm the food service manager at East Oakland Community Project and our organization is
built on a strong reputation for our food, our nutritionist food that we provide.
And due to funding, despite of our partnership with the Alameda County Food Banks and numerous
donations. We have been struggling with providing these meals. We provide three
hot meals for over 250 people three times a day daily and it's needed. Our
funding is needed to continue to make these nutritionist meals. I feel like
with all of what they're going through if we can't provide them with nothing
else a nice meal is what helps them get through their day as well. Thank you.
Hello, good evening. My name is Rashard Davis and I represent as the payroll
accountant for East Oakland Community Projects. Our payroll has been delayed
over five times since I've been employed here since 2024. We received our payroll
for November. This is the most recent one. We have to split it into two.
employees got paid on the 9th of December and on the 11th. This is direct
in compliance of our labor code 210. In our incoming situation, imagine
having to go to work and tell employees that they will not be paid. I imagine
having to live and depend on that check for housing to be fed and to be
secured, as many working Californians do. Imagine finishing a
full pay period without even knowing if you will be paid. I don't think a lot of
people do. That directly affects our clients because positions will not be
filled. Hi my name is Joy Epple and I've worked with the OCP for four years.
Great great organization does the best work in the community and I don't get
paid. I work for performance. I provide the food. I've made deliveries
there? I have literally donated there. They are the core of my life. I circle only around
them. Where's the money? Who's sitting on the money? I'm not getting paid. Answer anybody.
Where's the money? Go ahead. I'm waiting. Okay.
So, yeah, we don't...
You don't answer?
Comments will be addressed at the end of...
Okay. Well, that's my just of it is I'm not getting paid, they're not getting deliveries.
So what do I say to these people when I see them outside and I know a lot of them that
go there and live there and eat there and I can't provide now.
Good evening.
My name is Sandra Williams and I'm the Human Resources Director for the East Oakland Community
Project and I'm here to address the item 6.4.
I've been with the agency since 2017.
I work directly with Wendy Jackson.
For those of you who do not know Wendy Jackson, she was the force behind the agency and she
started in 1990. Wendy's dedication and commitment to serving the community to reduce homelessness
in Alameda County was relentless. On the day before she died she completed an interview
in her hospital bed to fulfill a key position that needed to be filled. I know if she were
alive today she would be devastated regarding the treatment that we are currently receiving
from the city of Oakland by not providing the agency
with timely payments for services
that the agency has already provided
for being able to pay our employees on time.
We need to know from the city council here today
who actually...
Thank you, ma'am, your time is up.
Hi, my name is Michael.
I'm addressing agenda 6.4.
I work at EOCP for around two years.
I'm a considerable manager right now,
and then it's been difficult to pay our bill
since the city has not paid us.
And then we never have our checks bounced back
until recently, this past two months,
because lack of funding.
And then there's this for like a payroll check,
landlord check, and an offender check.
So we cannot keep doing this business
if all the checks that we issue bounce back again.
Hopefully we can resolve this issue in the near future.
Thank you.
Good afternoon everyone.
My name is Charles Suji.
I'm the financial controller at EOCP
and I worked at EOCP for over 10 years.
And I've worked with several team members,
team leaders at the city of Oakland
under the human services.
But this current team lead, you know,
has imposed a lot of problems for the EOCP.
Okay, so it's really difficult to figure out
what the process is when it comes to billing.
And currently, EOCP is about a step away from shutting down.
We have an outstanding bill of close to half a million
that is still outstanding right now.
And payroll is due this week.
These payments are really difficult to make
without this city providing the necessary fund.
So the building process has been.
Thank you sir, your time is up.
Good evening, my name is Dr. Anita Roberts
and I'm the Finance Director for EOCP.
This retaliatory process that we're experiencing
with the shenanigans from Stanley Wong
and the company's department regarding delayed processes
in excess of one million dollars throughout 2025
to the city staff, city administrators, city council,
our representative, region 10 and Sacramento
have all been escalated to them.
Retaliatory because we still have
un-executed contracts in month seven.
I have two binders here of the back and forth emails
that have gone back and forth in 2025
with Stanley Wong and his department.
Let me close by saying we cannot pay our employees this week.
I am sure everyone on the dais
is going to get paid a payroll check.
What's at stake?
128 employees, unemployed, and overall.
Hi, Kevin Dally from Transport Oakland,
talking about 6.8 Montclair parking facilities.
I frequently parked my car in the Montclair LaSalle garage.
I definitely encourage renewing the contract.
However, I'm concerned about the city administrator's plans
to dismantle parts of parking
and move it from Oak Dot to finance.
In 2016, Transport Oakland, my organization,
pushed for the creation of Oak Dot
with parking as part of it.
There was city council input.
There was public input.
Legally, city administrator doesn't have to ask
for council input or public input for destroying parking,
but it would be good to do that,
and I hope the council will push for it.
Parking policy makes for safer streets.
West Driving, thank you.
Hi, thank you, sorry about that.
Claire Beekman.
Hi, thank you.
I have multiple items.
6.8 is Montclair parking facility issues.
Thank you for the words of the previous public speaker.
This was a committee a few last week.
I tried, it was mentioned by a few council persons
about surveillance issues around the facilities.
I've mentioned that the ALPR use
for just your everyday parking issues on these park issues
can be really good models
on how to practice better accountability
and overall policy practices with tech,
sharing that with the community,
making it accessible and understandable
and creating good policies.
Good luck in those efforts and working with the PAC on it.
6.9 is Caltrans maintenance for litter removal.
This is kind of related to item 6.4
in your continuing declaration
of respecting homeless issues in Oakland.
We worked really hard in November
that the working on the unhoused ordinance issues
that you're working on are not quite together.
And you've been looking for solutions
around cleaning issues instead, since then, I feel,
and you've been doing a great job with that.
Thank you immensely for that.
And I think from that, you're working on litter issues
that Councilperson Houston very nicely mentioned
that Caltrans, they have one section that they can work on
and then the city of Oakland can work on another one.
This contract is to combine so Oakland can work on all
of this through say April.
I think by April, we can have a whole,
a larger community process ready to go.
And council person Gallo did an awesome job
describing a committee last week that this is an item
that Caltrans can really be doing a lot of the cleanup
that we can be more organized to talk about
and clear about by April with community, I hope.
Good luck on those efforts.
6.10 is MOU between OPD and Santa Clara Police Department about Super Bowl issues.
Man, Bayuwasi is a big part of this process.
They're the federal agency that works to create emergency management so all of this can go
together at Super Bowl time and throughout the year, too.
Bayuwasi is going through a sea change in how they work their administrative practices.
They're no longer wanting to allow the public process, I feel.
Talk to them about it.
him how to continue what was a really good public process. I think it's
important that continues and however the future the administration will be
developing. 6.11 is not interested, not of interest to myself, sorry not at this
time. 6.12 was summer food program service things. This was really nice to
hear you do really good work in this summer food program for kids from state
funding things. Good luck we continue can continue that it's good work this
working with local Oakland groups to work on it and thanks for your time.
Speakers that sign up for multiple items get the maximum amount of time which is
three minutes. Okay so you guys are stuck on process let me show you how you
don't follow your process. Starting with item that deals with the Santa Clara
which is S 6 1 10. So in order to allow this to happen you have to follow the
Oakland Police Board general orders. So they have general orders related to
outside jurisdiction, jurisdiction restrictions. Oakland police officers are
considered private citizens when they're off-duty and went outside of the city
limits, they are off-duty and are not considered active police officers. So you're saying this
contract is signed for off-duty police officers. You can't do that. The next one you have is
item, we're going backwards, S9, Cal Tran. Cal Tran is another contract that you're going
to use your employees off-duty. So off-duty they work seven days a week, off-duty they
get off at three o'clock, bring the equipment back, they'll probably get to Caltrain about
five o'clock, they're going to be doing this work at night, probably, if they do it. Then
you have an opportunity, if they have two hundred and something thousand dollars and
it's off-duty, why can't they give it to their employees off-duty? Or why can't they continue
the process of them hiring individuals who come out of the prison system to have an opportunity
to have a job.
The next one you have the mayor.
The mayor is appointing two people, one alternate and one commissioner.
No process.
She just goes out and anybody she wants, bring them in and then when you have them at rules,
one person doesn't show up, the other person don't have a clue, no disrespect, a good person
but don't have no connection to policing whatsoever
and didn't do any background checks
and y'all put it on consent.
Wow, did you follow the process?
No.
Let's talk about the homeless crisis.
Homeless crisis.
Process.
The reason why you not getting the cut
in the $419 million that the governor appointed
to San Francisco, LA and San Diego
is because you didn't follow the process that you had to come up with
encampment policies. And at the same time,
you were required to ensure that city provide a pathway to housing.
That's why you're not getting the money. You didn't follow the required process.
Check you're missing out on money.
That's why y'all now being paid because they're not following the
Thank you, miss all about your time is up because I love this thing.
David Boatwright, District Four.
Item six, two, three, and four are related
to the issue of emergencies in this city.
We have two other big emergencies.
One is the budget that required us to close down
alternately fire stations,
and we also have the problem of our roads.
We're not repairing our roads,
and as a result, we paid out $7 million in one settlement
for an accident that occurred because of the roads.
If y'all are gonna put these three down,
you need to add to the list.
And I know you're not gonna do it,
but I'm gonna say it anyway, thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Boatwright.
Movements to the Zoom speakers.
If your name was calling and you wish to speak,
please raise your hand.
Ms. Mondala, I have you with one card.
Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.
We're actually Mondala District Four.
I'm speaking in support
of the Mayor's Police Commission appointments.
The nominees bring complementary strengths
the Commission, one with deep judicial experience and a strong grounding in due process and the other
a respected community advocate with long-standing engagement in Oakland. At this moment the
Commission needs members who can balance community trust with disciplined governance and an
understanding of the legal and operational responsibilities of civilian oversight.
These appointments reflect that balance and I believe they will strengthen the Commission's
ability to carry out its charter mandate effectively. I respectfully urge counsel to confirm them. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. If your name was calling or you still wish to speak,
please raise your hand or please step to the podium at this time all names have been called.
Thank you so much. Thank you for everyone who had the opportunity to come out and speak
to the folks from ELCP. I am deeply sorry that you guys are going through that.
And so I'm deeply deeply sorry
that you're going through that
so this is not a generalized
item but you guys have my work
that I'm going to reach out to
the administration as counsel.
We allocate money.
We don't send out checks or
anything like that.
So you guys have my work that
I'm going to check in with the
city administrator tonight to
see what's going on.
Nobody should have to go without
a paycheck.
that there's going to be something from the mayor's office
and then I'll have a comment.
You got to ask mayor's office.
His office.
Thank you, council president.
Good evening, city council members.
I'll be very brief.
I know you all had a long night.
Preston Kilgore, Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Barbara Lee.
So I'm here to share some remarks on Judge Griot,
who's here with us tonight.
Again, apologies.
He wasn't able to make the rules committee.
Unfortunately, he had a conflict like that come up,
but appreciate you all and your flexibility.
So Judge Griot's appointment comes at an important moment
for Oakland.
Over the past year, the city has made meaningful progress
on public safety, including significant reductions
in gun violence in the lowest homicide total in decades.
While this progress matters, public safety remains
an urgent priority and continued leadership
and oversight are essential, particularly as we move
through a police chief transition and continue to work
to complete the NSA.
Judge Griot brings more than 20 years of judicial experience
a strong record in civil, criminal, and complex litigation,
including issues of governmental accountability
and public records.
Throughout his career, he has emphasized transparency,
fairness, and public trust, values
that are central to the police commission's work.
As I mentioned earlier, Judge Grillo is present today
and has prepared some remarks, if amenable.
Unfortunately, Judge Wong had an emergency and sends his regards.
And because of that emergency, he
was unable to finish his background check.
We would like to request that council separates the file
and moves Judge Creo forward today
and holds off on Mr. Wong until a later date.
We respectfully request your support of Judge Creo.
Thank you all.
Thank you, thank you so much.
Question to the administration around background checks.
Felicia, is Felicia here?
Okay, I guess no one will be able to answer it, it's okay.
It's all good, thank you for that.
Yeah, when it comes to the police commission,
I think there's some opportunity for us
to improve civilian oversight,
to strengthen some of the things that have been challenged,
and I'm looking forward to working on doing that.
I'm looking forward to getting rid of some
of the consternation and strengthening the police commission.
Through the chair, I did interview both Wong and Griot,
spoke to him thoroughly had a great conversation I mean we're not going to
agree up on everything but that that dedication was there the experience was
there and I gave him a check I like to share also not share that later but yeah
I do just just real would you like to come up please please do absolute
thank you for having the opportunity to address you
i don't really have any prepared remarks but if you're considering this
appointment i think it's only fair that you have an opportunity to ask me any
questions you have
i can tell you it's been years since i've been in this chambers may not be
reflected my biography but
almost fifty years ago i was in the chamber
uh...
but almost 50 years ago I was an assistant
to the mayor Lionel Wilson and worked
in that corner of office right over there.
Council member Gayo, that's when he was working
with community-based organizations.
So I've got some pretty deep roots in this city.
Public service has always been important to me.
As you know, I've spent the last 21 years or so
as a judge of the Superior Court in Alameda County.
And that was very important to me
because it was public service,
and I feel as a judge I was able to make my mark
in a couple of areas, public records,
disclosure of public records.
I've got a couple of police cases.
For those of you who get police videos
and don't have to pay for them, that was my case.
And it went to the Supreme Court.
I think accountability is important.
I think openness is important.
I hear people throw around the word constitutional policing.
And I get concerned sometimes because it
seems to have a different meaning
for a lot of different people.
Well, we have a right to have our policing be constitutional.
that's a minimum. But it's not enough. There's a constitution out there that lays out what
the limitations are, that lays out the obligations of law enforcement, and you have to follow
it. That's clear. Now, I have some experience with that. I spent 20 years going over search
warrants, making sure they complied with the Fourth Amendment. I had the cases in front
I had to afford everyone due process.
What I'm trying to tell you is, you know,
I love the work of the public.
And I think due process, being constitutional,
whether it's...
Mrs. Satter, you're out of order.
I'll be happy to talk to you afterwards,
if you would like to talk to me.
Mrs. Satter, you're out of order.
So, at any rate, I am really glad to be honored.
by Mayor Lee to come back into public service.
And if you have any questions,
I'm glad to answer your questions now.
Council members, if you're ready for your questions,
I will go first to Council Member Five.
You got a statement or questions?
Questions, okay.
Part of the question was answered
through the chair to Judge Griot.
So thank you for adding your perspective
to constitutional policing and what that means in Oakland.
And you're absolutely correct.
If you ask 100 people, you might get 100 different answers.
And to be quite frank, I don't know
if you were prepared to answer that.
That was my question to the other mayoral appointee,
and they did not answer that question well at all.
So I'm glad that you do have a grasp of what it should be.
But my question is, what is your primary objective
on this body?
What is your goal?
That's a good question.
I think that my goal is to help this commission fulfill its role, its oversight role over
the police department and to do it in a way that we have a functional police department
that serves the city of Oakland.
Constitutional policing is not inconsistent with law enforcement, it's just not.
just people who say that are just finding, you know, trying to find ways to duck their
constitutional obligation. At the same time, you could have, you don't want to have constitutional
policing and ineffective police department, you know. Policemen have to be constitutional,
but they have to be polite, they have to be approachable. There's a lot of things that
have to happen.
So that's my story.
All right.
And then how do you come to this work understanding
that this is such a fraught body?
I mean, it's working better than it has in a long, long time.
But just a few years previous, there
were a lot of political pressures on the commissioners
as well as the selection panel.
how do you handle political pressures external to the body
when you have a lot of different people in your ear
telling you what you should or should not consider
or do or believe?
Oakland.
I'm a really good person to reason with.
I'm a really hard person to pressure.
I'm a judge, was a judge.
I listen to what people have to say.
I talk to them and figure out what makes sense
offense, but not once in 21 years on the bench and even when I did things in my life prior
to being a judge, did I ever roll over the pressure?
I don't do it.
I love that answer.
We'll see.
This is a tough place.
Well, you know, that's who I am.
I love to hear it.
My last question.
In the last 21 years while you've been on the bench, have you had the opportunity or
the time to volunteer for any non-profit or charitable groups in the City of Oakland?
And if so, who?
No, and I have not done it on purpose because as a judge you have to remain completely impartial,
so I couldn't even join clubs that I wanted to join.
I never did social media because once you are affiliated with, say, a club or social
media or something like that, you're subject to disqualification potentially
because you're affiliated with this organization or that organization.
Different judges handle it differently.
I always was very, very careful to stay clean and to stay spotless.
That meant that I didn't join a lot of organizations that I would have liked to join.
I didn't make contributions to organizations that I would have liked, I used to love conservation.
I had to quit contributing to conservation organizations because if a case came up before
me I didn't want to either have to read accuse myself or to get you know to get
bounced from the case and that that's you know I was just very careful about
that and what district do you live in pardon what district do you live in I
think it's what's the real long one seven east I think it's I think it's I
think it's six okay a beautiful beautiful thank you but I don't like to
get too specific of it because I still do have security concerns oh yes we all
do yeah I am very well aware of those can security concerns thank you for your
answers anyone else councilman wanna thank you judge
Rio for your interest in this position first of all and councilmember five took
my first question, so I will ask my questions, number two and three. Just when it comes to
reform of the police department, what do you think is the most needed and critical reform
that we should pursue with our police department?
You're asking me to answer a question to which I'm not informed enough. I mean, I have some
views based on what I see the media report,
which is not always accurate.
So I don't come in with an agenda
as I want to reform this or want to reform that.
What I want to do is listen and look at it
and do what's appropriate.
Okay, and also do you have an opinion
on just the role of local law enforcement,
especially given what is happening with federal forces
and just the, especially given your legal background.
I'm not sure what the question is.
Can you be a little more specific?
Yeah, just is there a role for local law enforcement
given just for example, what happened with Renee Good
and I've seen for example, what say is happening
in Philadelphia, what is, do you think there's a role
that our local law enforcement can play in?
Well, if your question is to what extent could
local law enforcement pursue charges or a claim
for what happened to Ms. Goode,
I think there's probably an issue there
with the Supremacy Clause,
the Constitution that may preclude them from doing that.
If the question is do I think local law enforcement
has the autonomy not to, say, be the handmaid
in the federal troops, or we're doing the types of things
that are happening in Minneapolis,
I think absolutely that's the case.
And I don't think,
local law enforcement may have a role in,
as they always do, policing demonstrations and things,
but when you've got ICE charged,
and in a way they're charged,
then they don't have to be a part of that.
Right, okay, thank you.
Anyone else?
Thank you, Council Member Gayle.
Thank you for your interest and commitment to serve Oakland,
certainly with your background, your experience.
And you certainly would add a lot of strength
to the police commission with your background.
And certainly, we are trying to create
a balance of deliverance when it comes to public safety.
And I think you'll add a lot to the city of Oakland
make sure that public safety and our police department is makes our community
a priority to serve and to make sure that our children and families are
protected so thank you for your your interest and commitment to continue to
serve Oakland thank you councilmember Gallo thank you any more questions
the police commission. And I'm.
I've been in the positions before I asked a question.
Process. So to the judge.
The police commission is very focused on the police department.
But another function of their supervisorial duties is the inspector
general. And also separate. And just please keep that in mind.
keep that in mind that that's one of the duties and we need to ensure that
there is proper supervision of the OIG and CIPRA and CIPRA needs policies.
I did some homework on it I know that. Thank you. Excellent, well I really
appreciate a handful of the questions that my colleagues answered and I
really appreciated your intentionality in the response and so just to keep it
consistent there was a question that I asked during Rules of one of the other
the other candidate and so I'll go ahead and pose it for you and then hopefully
you have enough background as well and so it was specifically you know what
would be like the top three things that you know serving on on the police
Commission that you would want to focus on well I think the I think the NSA has
gone on much too long and I think we need to work really hard to get out from under
that.
I think that we've got to get people talking because right now the perception that I have
is that there's a lot of talking not to each other but beyond each other and I hope that
that happens and I hope that the third thing is I hope by that process of talking which
Which by the way, to get people to talk, what you have to do is listen.
You have to listen very carefully.
But hopefully when you get people talking and listening to each other, some of the issues
that we have, specifically the policing issues and how things are going to be policed will
fall into place.
So policing is not easy.
It's tough work and it's different now than it was 20 years ago and in 20 years it'll
be different again.
And we have to adapt to it and I think the Police Commission can help in that regard.
Okay.
Thank you for having the opportunity to answer your questions and I look forward to once
again serving my city.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
amendment from the mayor's office,
I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar.
Yes, absolutely, please feel free.
I'm second.
Can we make, yeah, now, yup.
Okay, so there's a couple items
that I wanna register a no vote.
And the first one is
The Caltrans Maintenance Agreement Amendment,
which you'll find on page 10, S6.9,
and the other one that I want to register a no vote
is on page 11, S.6, MOU between OPD
and the Santa Clara Police Department, S6.10,
and the reason with Caltrans,
voting no on that recommendation is certainly,
I know that practice well, I've done cleaning streets
through the council for 12 years.
And certainly I have a relationship with Caltrans,
I have a relationship with the railroad company
that I can call directly to clean the areas
in our neighborhood.
And by Caltrans offering the city of Oakland 300,000
to do the work that they should be doing,
because I know what's gonna happen,
they're gonna, no, no, we gave Oakland the money,
you ain't doing your job.
They say, you ain't doing your job.
And so we get blamed for that.
And so what I would, I would, now if Caltrans
wants to support the vote, we'll clean your property.
There are state properties from International Boulevard,
42nd Avenue, the freeway entrances,
underneath the freeways, that is a state property
that Caltrans and Newsome should be cleaning daily.
and maintain it.
Just like the county has other responsibilities,
but no, they're all waiting for the city of Oakland,
and the reality here with administration in Oakland
and the city council, we're not supporting public works
to have the employees necessary,
to have the equipment necessary
to maintain the properties around our schools
that are safe and clean and throughout the city.
So what I recommend to the administration,
you we need to reach out to Caltrans
and make them responsible and accountable
to the properties that they own.
And I give me 25 cents to go and do their work.
When I can't even clean my own streets,
my own parks that I should be cleaning.
Doesn't make any sense for this government,
this administration to bow down to Caltrans
and take that recommendation.
And secondly, when it comes to the police department,
I need my police officers on the street.
Because I respond, well, we don't have enough officers
to attend to address the need.
Look at the lady that's working for the city.
They stole her car and they still haven't responded.
And I reached out to the investigators,
deputy chiefs and all that,
and they still can't tell her what happened to her car
and who stole their car.
Now so for me it's, I want to make sure that OPD
stays in Oakland, monitors Oakland's,
and provides the safety and not go to the Santa Clara
stadium to monitor their activity.
And so anyway, so I will vote no Caltrans grant
or their commitment and secondly,
against our OPD being not involved out in Santa Clara
when I need them daily 24 hours a day on the streets
because the reality is, we all recognize the violence,
but we're all sitting here worrying about
who's gonna be on the police commission
and having more press conferences after press conferences.
What a great job I'm doing, but where I'm living
and where some of us are living
is a whole different environment that as a council,
we need to get our act together to make sure
that what I invest my dollar in stays in Oakland
and bill Sochlin and provide safety necessary
and takes care of those people in need in our streets.
So I'll vote no on those two items.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Gail.
Council Member Wong.
Yeah, I wanted to make actually a statement about S6.10
and I'm not registering a no vote.
I will keep the yes vote,
especially since in public safety committee,
we did a certain amount of vetting for OPD
to provide assurances that these are gonna be
off-duty officers nonetheless.
I just wanna make sure that OPD,
as well as the administration knows that
I will use my authority as the public safety chair
if it turns out that I just,
OPD is going to be making operational decisions right now
around how to staff that event.
And I just want it to be made clear
that Oakland's public safety needs to come first.
And if it turns out that this decision by this body
is what leads to some sort of incident
and there was an issue with staffing,
I will use my authority as public safety chair
to ask tough questions
and ask for an informational report from OPD.
Thank you, council member.
Council member Houston.
Yeah, I just want to say through the chair
when it came to EOCP,
And then I just want to thank
the city council member for
that I already called I think
president for being involved
the thing.
A council member at large we
already have a meeting set
coming this week with the city
administrators office so just
be aware that that's we we did
hear you loud and clear related
back to homelessness.
Related to homelessness.
When it when it when it relates
to homelessness.
What when it rates to
Gavin Newsom just gave up 419 million dollars away for home. This is for homelessness to
San Francisco
San Diego
Hmm in LA why not Oakland because we didn't pass the EAP. That's why thank you councilmember
councilmember Fife
Yeah, I'm not sure if there's anyone here from the mayor's office, but we received an email
president jenkins about
the caltrans item
uh... that was not presented
when this first came to committee
more a lot more detail
so i just wanted to ask the mayor's office
is this president still present
will go grab
and may i i'm not sure if you know
anything about this item
specifically
the city workers
that are taking over the clean up of Caltrans properties?
Is that in replacement of Caltrans workers
cleaning up Caltrans properties?
So I'm gonna let the mayor's office speak to that.
Through the chair, I could speak to that
before Preston gets back.
Caltrans has 57 sites that are in line,
are right on the border of Oakland, their property line.
And so what happens, and I mentioned this last time,
our president's coming, I'll let him speak to it.
Right, that's why I'm confused.
Hi, hello, through the council members.
What was the question?
Excuse me, Mia Saikachan with the mayor's office.
Thank you, through the chair to the mayor's office,
I was asking if this will move,
will these dollars go to pay city workers
versus paying Caltrans workers for stewarding the properties,
Caltrans properties. So our staff, our SCIU, 10 to 1, they're the ones that will be cleaning
up the freeways now? They'll be provided. So Caltrans is going to provide us with money
to pay overtime to Public Works staff to clean the on and off ramps, these 29 on and off
You know, I don't know if I was
going to do this because this
is in response to the Caltrans
not providing this.
And so they would pay the city
to do it.
So Caltrans doesn't have a crew
to do that work.
Do they typically outsource it
to vendors outside of Caltrans?
You know, I'm going to have to
ask the city administration to
weigh in.
I think it's important to us to
know that we're taking care of
our team.
Well, if they're terrible, we
can continue.
They're terrible.
The off and on ramps look
terrible.
And I don't know if it is in
their purview to manage their
locations, I would assume so.
But I just wanted to have more
information about, are they
pulling their crews back?
Are they doing other things?
Do they not have the money?
to me is not an answer to the problem and I'm the only reason I'm bringing
this up is because district 3 right now looks worse than ever and I want city
workers to be looking at my district and districts 5 6 & 7 as we heard from
this recent panel discussion with faith and action about just we're not taking
care of the basics and I don't I want our off-and-on ramps to be clean and I
I want Caltrans to pay their own staff to do it.
And I do want them to give us more money to do things too.
Yeah, I think this was an effort by the administration and
the mayor's office to bring more resources to these 29 on and
off ramps that are really dirty and need a faster response.
And so this would be a partnership with Caltrans similar to contracts that they have
San Francisco and San Diego and other cities across the state to expedite the cleaning
in these areas.
And so Caltrans would be paying the city over time funding so that our workers can go out
and clean these on and off ramps.
That's not happening right now.
And so how long will this money last?
One year.
How much?
One year.
370?
Really?
30-day period in the beginning where we have the option to cancel it three
three hundred seventy five thousand dollars a year will cover staff that
work for the city of Oakland for a year to clean up on and off ramps in 29
location 29 locations okay I just yeah so so you're saying they don't have the
staff to do it Caltrans doesn't have the staff to do it or they just I can't say
know I'm just saying that with
you know definitively right now
but what I can say is that this
is an effort to.
Speed up that cleaning.
And compensate the city for
doing it on overtime.
And not replace any existing
work by the city to do clean
ups but to just provide over
time to focus on these very
dirty on and off ramps.
Okay thank you okay.
And then we'll entertain a motion after that.
That's okay, she cleared it up.
Okay, so to clarify what the motion will be,
it is to the parliamentary
and removing one of the members of the police commission
from 6.7?
Yes, correct, for 6.7 the proposed amendment
was to remove the reference to Doug Wong.
So the resolution would move forward
without confirming that commissioner,
I just wanted to clarify that for the record.
I just need a motion.
I will entertain a motion.
So moved.
I second it.
On the motion by Councilmember Unger,
seconded by Councilmember Houston,
to approve the consent calendar as amended
and noting Councilmember Gallo's no on items 6.9 and 6.10.
Councilmember Brown?
Aye.
Councilmember Fyfe?
No.
Councilmember Gallo?
No.
councilmember houston
councilmember rama chandrin
is excuse councilmember under
councilmember wong
and she had jenkins
motion passes with a vote of five i's to know five and i a one excuse rama chandrin
that was your final action i'm going to item seven which is
councilmember acknowledgments and announcements and after that open form
Any announcements anyone?
Any adjournments?
Announcements or adjournments?
I just want to thank the amazing men and women at the Oakland
Fire Department for their work this past MLK Day on just
getting people off a four-story building balcony
and getting babies to safety and all of the work
that they did to support District 3 residents
with this massive fire that displaced hundreds
of people this week.
So I wanted to give a shout out to them
and everyone that's in the EOC.
I spent my entire MLK day getting supplies for folks
and will encourage individuals to contribute
to the Red Cross.
I've reached out to Costco for the needs of our individuals.
Most of them have been covered by the Red Cross
in the work of the city of Oakland,
but there are some things that they just don't provide
like undergarments for people.
I know there was a young man in ninth grade
who wanted to go to school first thing in the morning
but didn't have anything to wear
because his family lost everything.
So for individuals that are looking to contribute,
please check in with my office.
The city administrator, again, his team has been a stellar
in supporting these folks
but we do need ongoing resources to address them.
so shout out to Parchay, shout out to Barsheer and Shireen
and all the individuals who've showed up to throw down.
Thanks Costco for taking my call
and thank you to everyone who's supported.
Thank you council member.
No more announcements.
We'll go to open forum.
As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order.
Please state your name for the record before beginning.
If you're on Zoom, please raise your hand
so I can easily identify you if you still wish to speak.
Millie Cleveland, Mississauga, Olibala, Kevin Dahle,
Derrick Barnes, Rajeev Mandar, Blair Beekman, Mr. Hazzard,
any new order?
Okay, let's go back to the item 6.6 process.
You approved a grant, and the grant starts July 1st, 2025,
and ends June 30th, 2026.
Process, file it, check.
Okay, let's look at the process that you have
as it relates to the OUSD.
Went to a meeting last week.
OUSD is in conversation with you
that you gonna give them Garfield playground.
Process, how does that work?
They saying that y'all agreeing to give them the playground.
They gonna turn it into a soccer field,
but they gonna also put some portables on there
while they doing remodeling.
process, or USD is saying you're going to give them $18 million from your, uh,
what's that early child children's initiative money so that you can build
some extra classrooms. Now you can't use that money for construction process.
How's that working? How's that happening? Process, process.
You just had a person from the community getting on a police commission and you
asked them everything that said would qualify for them.
You're asking about constitutional pollution.
The NSA don't have nothing to do with constitutional policing.
It has ending police brutality and excessive force.
That's the focus.
Now, there is constitutional policing.
You ask them about what was the issue.
I can't even remember now.
But you ask them questions qualifying them to be
on the police commission.
Now, when Old Mall Farmer and them got...
Thank you, Ms. Olabalo.
Mrs. Hutter, your time's up.
We out of process.
We out of process.
Yeah, you have a good time saying you're out of order.
I'm going to show you who's out of order.
Prompt payment.
The city of Oakland prompt payment policy
requires prime contractors and city managers
to pay their subcontractors for undisputed invoices
within 20 business days.
I'm going to help these folks do a claim against you, okay?
Because they're entitled to be paid under the rules in this city.
I'm going to be falling a writ on your rule 29 when you suspended the rules and
disrespected the mayor.
Shame on you.
Yes, when you ejected me on November 4th from the council chambers.
Because I dare to ask for a clarification from the parliamentarian.
And you just had a drug raid in Oakland, week before last, on fentanyl.
You do not have fentanyl.
Thank you, Mr. Hazard, your time is up.
Thank you.
Yeah, I hope you can come to, if you have 13 new candidates for
review commission, I hope the previous two candidates can be considered. You guys are
taking more and more time away from a good commission process. You're expanding it and
creating more and more confusion instead of having a focus. I'm pretty upset. I am pretty
upset at the Trump administration who is continuing to fight a war against everyday community
and the progressive community in Minneapolis.
I hope they learn important lessons
from what we're doing in San Francisco Bay Area.
We asked them to stop.
It was more than the Super Bowl.
We had good reasoning.
Every city can offer their good reasoning.
Trump has got to learn to listen to that good reasoning
and deal with respect of good dialogue.
And not war.
He's practicing war.
What are we doing?
We have to talk to him.
Thank you Mr. Beekman. Moving to the Zoom speakers, Rajni Mandel. Please unmute yourself
and begin your comments. Rajni Mandel, District 4. I'd like to use my time today to thank
the Office of the City Clerk. The City Clerk's office is one of the most professional, responsive,
and steady parts of Oakland's government. From preparing agenda and minutes, to managing
e-comments, to keeping meetings running late into the night, their work is essential to
transparency and public participation. For residents like me who follow city hall closely
the clerk's office is often the first point in contact and consistently the most reliable.
Questions are answered promptly records are handled carefully and procedures are applied fairly
even when meetings are contentious or complex. City council quite literally could not function
without this office and yet the clerk's work often happens quietly behind the scenes and
without recognition. I hope the council will join in recognizing the city clerk and their staff
as unsung heroes of Oakland's democratic process. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind words, Ms. Mondale, through the chair.
Process. This meeting is adjourned.