rules committee we do need a quorum on the day so we can begin good morning
and welcome to the rules and legislation committee meeting on this Thursday March
26th the time is 10 31 and this meeting shall come to order before I call roll
I would like to give instructions on how to submit a speaker card on items
listed on this agenda if you are here a member of the audience here in chambers
And we'd like to submit a speaker card. Please fill out a speaker card and attorney to what clerk representative
either 10 minutes after this meeting began or before the item is called into record a
Registration to speak via zoom was due 24 hours before this meeting began
Noting that there we will no longer take speaker cards for online registration
Once again, the meeting began at 10 31 and speaker cards will no longer be accepted 10 minutes after the meeting began
and I will begin with roll on
roll for this meeting we have
councilmember brown.
Thank you councilmember
five.
Thank you councilmember brown.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
Thank you councilmember five.
And the first is excused.
Yes.
Councilman Rama Chandra and chair President Council President chair Jenkins.
We have three members present one excused now moving on to item number two approval of
the draft minutes for the committee meetings of February twenty six twenty twenty six March
fifth twenty twenty six and March twelfth twenty twenty six move approval.
I have a motion by Councilmember Brown, second about Councilmember Ramachandran to approve
the minutes, all three of them as is.
On that, Councilmember Brown?
Aye.
Councilmember Pfeiffer is excused.
Councilmember Ramachandran?
Aye.
And Council President Jenkins?
Aye.
Three ayes, one excused.
For item number two, approval of draft minutes.
Now moving to new scheduling.
with item 3.1 receive an information report on the Oakland Children's Initiative and its
partners organizations Oakland promise and first five Alameda County and this item is
being requested to be scheduled on the April 13th 2026 special education partnership committee
agenda item three point I'm sorry oh my apologies thank you so much madam clerk I'm just want
confirm the slight change in the title it should be Alameda County first five
so noted thank you for that moving to item 3.2 it is an oral report from the
director of Public Works Liam Garland regarding the illegal dumping
mitigation your school campuses and this is also being requested to be scheduled
for the April 13th special education partnership committee agenda I believe
We don't have a quorum on the dais.
Council Member Brown.
Excellent, thank you so much.
What was the question?
We just needed a quorum on the dais to move forward.
Okay, thank you. Thank you for that.
Moving to item 3.3,
receiving information report
from the Oakland Youth Commission,
and this is being requested to be scheduled
for April 13th, Special Education Partnership
Committee agenda.
Item 3.4 is an information report
from the Oakland Unified School District OUSD
regarding current school safety protocols,
funding structures, and strategic safety updates.
This is also being requested to be scheduled
to the special April 13th
Education Partnership Committee agenda.
Item 3.5 is from the auditor's office
and information report listing
all professional services contracts
authorized by the city auditor
during fiscal year 24 through 25.
And this is being requested to be scheduled
for the April 14th, 2026
special city council agenda on consent.
I will now read in the rule 24 OMC states that the city auditor shall present to the
city council on an annual basis a report listing all professional service contracts authorized
by the city auditor during the prior year moving to item 3.6 which is also an information
report from the city auditor on the audit recommendation follow-up report as of December
31st, 2025.
Is being requested to be scheduled for April 14th special city council agenda on non-consent
The rule 24 for this item is that the city charter states that it is the responsibility of the city auditor to submit
AC my annual report to the council and public on the extent of implementation of recommendations for the corrective actions
made in the city auditor's report
moving to item 3.7 a
Resolution reappointing Lisa Razzler as the city Oakland's trustee to the Alameda County
Excuse me mosquito abatement district board and this is being requested to be scheduled for April 14th
Special City Council agenda on consent and I apologize does this require a rule 24?
Yes, any items that are bypassing a committee and going straight to counsel require the body to state a reason per your rules
you're typically is items bypass committee and go straight to council on consent
Thank you for that moving on to item 3.8
Item 3.8 is an information report from the city administrator on the status of implementing policy directives passed by the city council on the April
21st and being requested to be scheduled excuse me on April 21st
2026 Finance and Management Committee agenda
Cardin I do see
Through the chair
The administration would like to request to move this to the May
12th meeting
Because the agenda is fairly impacted and staff will make themselves available to do one-on-ones
With the committee members and ensure the information is made public in advance of the publication deadline for the May 12th meeting
Thank you for that so notice so item 3.8 the status of the implementation of the council policy directives will now be scheduled to the
May 12th finance and Management Committee agenda. Thank you for that moving to item 3.9
Adopt an ordinance authorizing the city administrator to negotiate and execute an agreement to purchase an easement for public right-of-way
To purchase and ease excuse me to purchase an easement
For public right-of-way streets and utility purposes over a portion of the real property located at 260 Oak Street
from
case in a family limited partnership in the amount not two weeks amount of
255,000 dollars in adopting
California Environmental Quality Act findings. This is being requested to be scheduled for the April 21st
public works and transportation committee agenda
Item three ten is an ordinance appealing ordinance number one two nine six zero and
Replacing it with addition of OMC charter fifteen point eighty and re
reference flood hazard maps
authorizing the city administrator to designate a flood plan administrator to administer and develop regulations in support of the charter
adopting appropriate
appropriate California Environmental Quality Act findings and this is being requested to be scheduled for April 21st
2026 public works and transportation committee agenda. It is also noted to go to the April 28th
Special City Council agenda as a public hearing, but I believe staff has to make a correction on that. Thank you
My apologies. Can you speak closer to the mic so we can make sure that we can hear you and capture you?
I'm sorry
Is the mic okay?
Thank you for being here.
Okay we're good okay thank you.
Yes through the chair if I may request that we move the meeting to the May fifth.
Public works and transportation committee as there's a special joint public safety meetings
already scheduled on the twenty eighth.
So noted thank you for that.
And just to clarify I believe the item would go continue to go to the public works and
transportation committee meeting on April twenty first.
on the regular May 5th City Council meeting.
That's correct, thank you.
So noted, thank you for that.
Thank you.
Moving on to item 311.
This is from the Public Works Department
and it is a resolution amending resolution 88379
to increase the professional services agreement
for architectural and engineering design services
with K-2A, Mary McGrath, Associate Architects
for the Fire Station 29 Project,
by an amount not to exceed $700,000,
bringing the total contract amount
from $1,800,000 to $2,500,000,
waiving the request for proposal,
competitive selection requirements,
and adopting CEQA findings,
and this is being requested to be scheduled
for the May 21st public works
and transportation committee agenda.
Item 312 is a resolution authorizing
the city administration to negotiate and execute
a new exclusive negotiation agreement
with the Museum of Jazz and Art
for development of a museum and art facility
on the city-owned property located at 310 Oak Street
for eight months conditioned on payment of a 10,000, $500
Exclusive negotiating payment with one additional six month administrative extension conditioned on payment of an additional
$3,500 extension payment in adopting
California Environmental Quality Act findings. This is being requested to be scheduled for the April 21st
community and economic development committee agenda
Item 313 is coming from the Human Services Department. It's a resolution accepting the planning oversight committee
recommendations to one award nine grants with the youth summer jobs mayor summer youth employment program funding strategy
Totaling an amount not to exceed one million four hundred eight thousand two hundred and fifty three dollars and sixty cents for a
For two summer program services term grant cycles June 1st 2026 through September 30 of 2026 in June
twenty three thousand thousand
one twenty seven through
september thirtieth twenty
twenty seven contingent upon
funding availability and
program performance.
To award twelve grants across
for funding strategies totally
amount not to exceed one
million seven hundred twelve
thousand dollar twelve
thousand five hundred fifty
eight dollars for two summer.
Through the chair.
Thank you can't I'm so sorry.
This is robin levenson with the
that section you haven't even got to the change yet a very small change in the
title should I read out that section or drive to do please yeah you would have
to read out the I'm so sorry thank you thank you all right staff recommends
that the City Council adopt a resolution accepting the planning and
oversight committee recommendation to one award nine grants within the youth
summer jobs mayor summer youth employment program funding strategy
totaling an amount, not to exceed $1,480,253.60 for two summer program service term grant
cycles, June 1st, 2026 through September 30th, 2026, and June 1st, 2027 through September
30th, 2027, contingent upon funding availability and program performance.
And two award 12 grants across four funding strategies, elementary school-based expanded
middle school based expanded learning, youth development and leadership, and career access and employment totaling an amount not to exceed one million seven hundred and twelve thousand five hundred and fifty eight dollars for two summer program service term grant cycles June first twenty twenty six through September thirtieth twenty twenty six in June first twenty twenty seven through September thirtieth twenty twenty seven contingent upon funding funding availability and program performance.
The thousand was in the wrong place previously.
Thank you.
I'm so sorry, thank you.
No worries, thank you, Robin.
Moving to item 314, this is an information report
from the city auditor on audits
of the Oakland Police Oversight Agencies,
the Oakland Police Commission,
the Community Police Review Agency,
and Office of the Inspector General.
This is being requested to be scheduled
for the April 21st Public Safety Committee agenda.
Item 315 is an information report
from the Oakland Police Department
Federal Law Enforcement Agency Task Force Annual Report,
and this is also being requested to be scheduled
for the April 21st Public Safety Committee agenda.
Item 316 is a resolution authorizing the city administrator
to enter into a professional services agreement
with Selulbright Inc. for provisions
of universal forensic extraction devices
and related services for the Oakland Police Department
for a contract amount not to exceed $140,000
for the period of July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 27,
waiving the competitive multi-step solicitation process
and local, small, local business
enterprise program requirements,
and three accepting the 2024 statewide annual report
and making determinations regarding whether the city
should continue using this technology.
This is being requested to be scheduled
for the April 21st Public Safety Committee agenda.
item 317 is an ordinance amending OMC 10.74 authorizing
the city to administratively assess fines on sideshows,
spectators, promoters and facilitators
exempting law enforcement and members of the media engaged
in their duties and non-participating members of public.
And this is being requested to be scheduled for April 21st,
The public safety committee agenda.
I do see staff.
Are you approaching for item 317?
We would like to move this item to the pending list.
And will that be to the public safety committee pending list?
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
So noted.
And item 317 is an oral information report on the Oakland Police Department's automatic
public safety committee agenda.
And the administration would also request that this item be moved to pending the pending
list no date specific for the public safety committee.
So noted that items 317 the Oakland sideshow ordinance and item 318 will be the information
report on the Oakland Police Department's automatic automatic resource locator
policy is both being requested to be scheduled to public safety pending list
no date specific yes please correct thank you so much item 319 is a
resolution authorizing the sale of former Oakland fired boat known as the
seawolf to Azul Marin group Inc for 25 $25,000 and a finding the sale is the
best interest of the city pursuing to OMC and this is being requested to be
scheduled for the May 5th City Council agenda on consent in the rule 24 for
bypassing committee is due to the impacted April 21st meeting agendas now
moving to the committees from March 24th starting with the finance and
management committee item three point twenty I'll be reading in the short
titles is amend amendment to the ordinance number 12187 CMS the salary
ordinance for various classifications and exemptions and the committee consists
of four pieces of legislation the first piece of legislation the resolution was
withdrawn with no new date items two and three of this legislation of the
resolutions the committee approved to move these two items along with the
item to the April 14th special city council agenda at 3.30 on consent and
the fourth of item again scheduled for the April requesting to be scheduled for
the April 14th special 3.30 council meeting on consent had an amendment in
part four updating the title of the ordinance to strike part a that says add
the full-time classification of parking administrator in the body of the
Ordinance on page one to strike section 2 that says the following classification is added in ordinance number 1 2 1 8 7
In the unit you K to pay gray table to read as follows classification title class number step salary
parking administration details updating the related attachment a to remove the parking administrator on page 8
118
Moving to item three point twenty one the information report on the citywide staffing February
2026 the committee approved that this item be scheduled to the April 14th special City Council agenda at 3 30 as a public hearing
Item 322 the salary survey results this item was also
Excuse me was continued to the April 21st 2026 finance and Management Committee agenda
item three point 23
the Oakland's PEAPers investment portfolio and actuary evaluation report.
This item was received and filed and committing. And item 3.24 the fiscal
year 25 through 26 second quarter revenue and expenditures report. This
item was also received and filed in the Finance and Management Committee. Moving
to recommendations from the March 24th Public Works and Transportation
with item three point twenty five is the twenty twenty three twenty twenty five progress
implementation implementing the twenty thirty equitable climate action plan and this was
received and filed in committee item three point twenty six the twenty twenty five be
pack annual report this was also received and filed in committee item three point twenty
The resolution in support of the California Senate bill one two one eight this item was requested by committee to be forwarded to the
April 26th special City Council agenda at 3 30 on consent
item three point 28
This was the commemorative street renaming in collaboration with BB Memorial Cathedral Church
This item was requested by committee to be forwarded to the April 14th special City Council agenda at 3 30 on consent
item three point twenty-nine the ordinance to strengthen illegal dumping
enforcement the the committee approved as amended the recommendations of staff
to be forwarded to the April 14th special city council agenda at 330 on
consent with the following amendments to page seven of the ordinance section five
for time calculations for assessment of penalties adding a new section a
Whereas, the dumping constituents and commercial quality contains harmful waste matter, is
a mattress, upholstered furniture, appliances, furniture, or electronic waste.
Additional daily civil penalties of up to $1,000 per day may be assessed.
into the new Section B, they have stricken
the administrative citation into the new Section C,
they have stricken the administrative fines or penalties.
Moving to Item 3.30, the resolution to authorize
Arabits, Inc. pilot program to strengthen illegal dumping,
remediation, my apologies, and this is being requested
to be, or the committee approved to schedule this item
to the April 14th Special City Council agenda
on consent at 3.30.
Now moving to the recommendations
from the March 24th CED committee.
The item 3.31, the lease agreement
with the Oakland Parks and Recreational Foundation
from maintenance of Tyrone Carney Park.
The committee requested the item be scheduled
for April 14th Special City Council agenda
at 3.30 on consent.
Item 3.32, which consists of two pieces of legislation,
is amendment to the Rent Adjustment Ordinance
and Regulations.
The committee approved, requested to withdraw
the scheduling of this item to the CED committee,
and moved to the CED committee pending list,
no date specific, both pieces.
Item, now moving to the recommendations
from the March 24th Life Enrichment Committee agenda.
Item three point thirty three the twenty twenty five library Commission annual report this item was received and filed in committee
item three thirty four the citywide cooperative agreement the
committee approved as amended that the recommendations of staff and to be forwarded to the April 14th City Council agenda at
330 on
Non-consent the amendments were to the first resolve clause of legislation adding as referenced in the agenda report and accompanying
Attachment so spoke with the chair on this one. This one will go straight to consent
So noted. Thank you for that chair Jenkins moving to item three point thirty five
This is the purchase of real property at thirty one. Oh five San Pablo Avenue for Hoover
Library and the committee approved the recommendations of staff to be forwarded to the April 14th Special City Council agenda at
330 on consent
Now moving to recommendations from the March 24th public safety committee agenda item 3.36. This is the let's throw phone
contracts and the committee approved staff recommendations to be forwarded to April 14th special City Council agenda at
330 on consent
item 3.37 the OPD staffing report the committee received and filed this item in committee and
item 3.38 the OPD GPS tracker policy the committee is proof staffs
recommendations to be forwarded to the April 14th special City Council agenda
at 3.30 on consent and that concludes your item 3s and we have three excuse me
we have three speakers for this item oh that was a lot thank you clerk let's
hear the speakers thank you for that and calling those speakers who are here in
This is all I have to say.
If you're in person or online if
you are online please remember
him so I can easily recognize
you- I have a Rajni Mandal
Kevin Dalley and Blair Beekman
in any order and please state
your name for the record.
Hi this is Kevin Dalley I've a
nitpicky question on three dot
twenty on the salary ordinances
up as you mentioned salary for
was the intent of the committee to remove it
and place it on a pending list along with section one,
or was it to strike it completely?
I know the city administrator can add it back in
at a later date, but it might make sense
to have it attached to part one,
which is the other part discussing the city administrator.
The item as amended, oh, I guess, sorry.
typically we don't respond but I can talk to you after sure
okay
rajni mandel district for
i i want to connect three items on your agenda today because they point to the
same underlying issue governance clarity
first three point one four the city auditor's report on police oversight
the most important takeaways not just staffing it is structure
report identifies overlapping roles
unclear authority and gaps in accountability across oversight bodies
Before adding resources, I would urge council
to consider a combined structural and performance review
so we are not reinforcing a system
that lacks clear lines of responsibility.
Second, item 3.18,
the OPD automatic resource locator policy.
The city auditor specifically recommended
enabling GPS location capability in patrol vehicles
so dispatchers can identify
and send the closest available unit.
That is a practical operational improvement
that can help reduce response times
without additional staffing.
But we have not seen movement
since a packed discussion in 2024.
We're also seeing policy drift.
This technology was introduced as a dispatch tool,
but discussions have expanded into questions
of discipline and personnel monitoring.
The Oakland Fire Department appears to have already
implemented a GPS-enabled dispatch pilot
without council approval.
Could staff explain how that program moved forward
operationally while the OPD policy remains pending?
Third, 3.15 federal task force agreements.
Under OMC 9.72010, the Privacy Advisory Commission
must review and publicly discuss MOUs
between OPD and federal agencies before they are executed.
That gives that body significant influence
over complex intergovernmental law enforcement agreements.
But PAC is a privacy body.
It is not a law enforcement body.
It does not have operational public safety
or investigative expertise.
that creates a mismatch.
These agreements involve violent crime,
firearms trafficking, and multi-jurisdictional investigations.
Oversight is essential,
but we should ask whether Oakland has given a Privacy Commission
outsized gatekeeping authority
over core public safety partnerships
in a way that few other cities have.
Across all three items, the issue is the same.
We are assigning responsibilities
without clearly defining scope
or aligning them with the appropriate expertise.
oversight is essential, but oversight has to be aligned
with expertise and scope.
Right now, authority is unclear.
Scope is expanding, and decisions are stalling.
If we want accountability, we need to fix the structure.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
And our last speaker who signed up for item number three
is Blair Beekman.
You are unmuted.
Please unmute yourself, and you may begin.
Hi, thank you, Blair Beekman.
First time I've been around for a while.
Good to see everyone.
I wanted to speak on about five items.
I can combine items 3.14 and 3.15,
and then combine items 3.26 to 3.30 in a few moments.
I guess I'll need the full three minutes, however.
Thank you.
To speak to items 3.14 and 3.15,
Thank you for oversight of police commission items
for 3.14.
I'm still hopeful there can be some ways
to try to bring back the former police commissioners
who've been retired,
who I felt were doing an incredible service
and an important job.
And I feel that as we have made a shift in Oakland
towards a more conservative approach
to address our city issues.
I think the previous commissioners,
they offered a progressive approach
that's needed for the process
and offered an important balance
in what we're trying to work towards
as to find the middle ground of conservative
and progressive values for Oakland.
So good luck that you can continue the efforts
to consider the good work of the previous commissioners.
Their thinking is truly needed
and how we move forward together.
Good luck on those efforts.
About the federal task force things,
it's important to me that the PAC did
an incredibly important service of oversight
that can be denied.
I understand what the previous public comment said.
They provide an incredibly important job of oversight
that we have to certainly find another city department
to offer that oversight.
We can't just drop it.
and I hope they can continue the good work of the PAC.
They did incredibly important work of oversight
for the Federal Task Force agencies.
We have to continue those efforts.
Good luck how we find that.
And to go onto the cleaning items,
you have a lot of new ordinances about illegal dumping.
I was always from the point of view,
if you offer really good tech accountability
for all the tech around illegal dumping,
that creates kind of a community effort towards positiveness
that I hope can't be forgotten at such a time.
And with your BPAC issues, 3.26, your yearly review,
an important reminder that tech accountability, again,
in the importance of what BPAC tries to work towards,
I hope they understand the importance
of working towards tech accountability as well.
An inclusive effort from everyone
is how our community future is built,
and that's what they're going for too.
Good luck how we do that together.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you for that and that concludes
your speakers for item three.
Thank you to everybody who came out to speak.
Thank you to the clerk for reading all of that.
So noting 3.1, title changed, 3.7 rule 24,
3.802, May 12th, Finance and Management Committee,
3.10, date's gonna be changed to a public hearing
on May 5th, 3.13, noting the title changed,
3.17 move to public safety committee pending list no date specific 3.18 move to public safety
Committee pending list no date specific in 3.34 move to consent. I'll entertain a motion as amended
move approval
second
In that was a motion by councilmember Brown seconded by councilmember John and Ramachandran to approve item 3 as amended
including
As amended on roll for this is councilmember Brown. I'm a chandrin
I and chair Jenkins. I item
Excuse me, and council member Fife is excused item number three approved as amended with three eyes one. Excuse council member Fife
That now takes us to item number four
item number four is the review of the draft agendas pending list and the
Council agenda meetings the council and committee meetings
As we know we are about to come up on a break
So at this time it's a short list of the April 2nd rules agenda
Rules agenda and the pending list for committees
And I have two speakers
Council member Ramachandra. Thank you. I'd like to request to make the
April 21st Finance Committee meeting a special meeting moving it 30 minutes up to 9 a.m
Instead of 930 as we have a impacted agenda and don't want to set the entire day of meetings to be delayed
I believe we do have we have confirmed with staff of other council members that will have quorum
Can you state the date of the meeting and the time again April 21st Finance Committee currently at 930?
Hope would like to start it at 9 o'clock
Thank you Trinity
Through the chair. Good morning, Trinity Hall from the office of the sort of Oakland can Houston districts of a council member
I am making requests on behalf of the council member to schedule the encampment abatement policy for the special City Council meeting on
April 14th at 9 30 a.m. On non consent
Thank you
Being that this is an important item. My request would be that you guys get that work with the clerk's items to get the items
Post it as soon as possible so that the council members have a chance to digest the changes as well as the public
If possible with the clerk's office ten days before that'd be great
Thank you for that and if I can just really quickly just for the public's knowledge
The item that just was stated to be scheduled for the special 9 a.m. Meeting on April 14th. It's on the
Life Enrichment Committee pending list no date specific under item number two. So for clarity. Thank you
The administration also has a few changes to the pending lists
For the now special finance and management committee the item under April 21st item number three
We'd like to request and that's the informational report for the city administrator in response to the city auditor's
Recommendations and the substantiated whistleblower investigation
Regarding the city of Oakland uses unauthorized formulas for calculating overtime that differ from FLSA
guidelines to move that to the May 12th Finance and Management Committee meeting
just because it's so impacted. And then moving on to the life enrichment pending list, we like to
move item one under the April 21st pending list, the OFCY 2024-2025 final year end independent annual
evaluation report to the May 12 meeting and then finally moving on to the rules
pending list item number four under the pending no date specific we're
requesting to schedule the reorganizing of the parking division recommendation
for May 5th at the City Council meeting and noting that the parking
and I think that this very
important piece may come around
then or later.
Thank you.
And if I may, you said May 5th
on consent or not.
On non consent, thank you.
Thank you.
That seems like that's it.
Any public comment?
Yes, I have Kevin Dalley and
Belier Blaire-Beekman.
Please raise your hand if you
are on Zoom.
And I will take the in-person
public comment first.
that Mr. Dalley is passing on his speaker.
So we do have Blair Beekman in the queue.
You are unmuted, please unmute yourself and you may begin.
Hi, Blair Beekman, I think I'll be,
I'll do the same as Kevin has and I'll pass also, thank you.
Thank you for that.
We have no more speakers for this item.
Thank you, no more speakers.
So noting 421 Finance and Management Committee
will be a special meeting at 9 a.m.
Item four on the pending list for 21.
FMC item number three moved to the May 12th.
LEC item one moved to May 12th.
And rules item number four moved to May 5th.
City council meeting.
So noting LEC item number one moved to May 12th.
with that I will take a as amended I will take a motion as a minute second and
that was a motion by councilmember Rama Chandra and seconded by council member
round to approve item 4 as amended on roll councilmember Brown aye council
member Rama Chandra aye and chair Jenkins aye and councilmember Fife is
is excused, so that makes three ayes,
one excused as amended item number four is approved.
Thank you so much.
That now takes us to our discussion item, item number five.
It is an informational report
from the Mayor Charter Reform Working Group,
and I have several speakers for the 32,
I believe, speakers for this item.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for everybody that's come out to participate.
I think it's in the public interest
this item when the mayor- was
elected she. Came on and wanted
to embark upon reviewing the
charter and seeing what kind of
charter changes the people of
Oakland wanted to see done.
There's been immense public-
interest in this and the
charter hasn't been
significantly changed. With the
structural of Oakland's
government for some time and so
This meeting today and i'll kick the councilmember ramachandra and then I will give spur and legal point of order seven minutes to present
Thank you. Just echoing council president jenkins
I'm
Grateful to the mayor's office for spearheading and starting this process about a year ago
Almost a year ago, and I look forward to discussing the recommendations and hearing the input of our residents
spur legal point of orders
Not sure that's on
Good morning, thank you very much Council President, Council Members, staff and members
of the public.
Yes, could we please have our presentation be tied up?
Thank you.
My name is Gail Wallace.
I'm here on behalf of the League of Women Voters and I'm here with Nicole Nedich from
SPUR.
We were the co-facilitators for the Mayor's Working Group.
Next slide, please.
Oh, no, this one's perfect.
The mayor gave us and the working group
a very targeted assignment.
It was to look at charter changes
that could better define the role of elected officials
that would help address more responsible
city financial planning and that would improve
government accountability and transparency.
Next slide.
There was a process from last September
until this January that included,
well as the deliberations of the working group month after month, a great deal of community
outreach that included in-person meetings in every council district. Thank you for those
of you who gave us some assistance on standing those up. There were also 60 interviews with
people extremely connected to city government, past and present. There was a survey put out
and all of that input was brought
into the working group's deliberations.
Nicole?
Just a little bit of background context.
We spoke with a number of people, as Gail mentioned,
and there were kind of four key themes that kept surfacing.
And everybody stated that Oakland's charter
can't really be changed without the broader city context.
So those were the severe fiscal distress
that Oakland is under the deep racial wealth
and geographic inequities that Oakland experiences
across neighborhoods, the lack of sufficient authority
to lead decisively over time, and a highly engaged civic
culture in Oakland where people want direct access
to their decision makers.
A few of the key findings, misaligned authority
is creating a disconnect between public expectations
and actual powers.
Weak institutional alignment undermines long-term planning,
fiscal discipline, effective oversight,
and organizational complexity
leads to operational efficiencies
that lack accountability and transparency.
We heard from many people that we talk to
that everyone is in charge
and therefore no one is in charge.
Luckily there are two key models
that most city governments across the country use.
One is council manager,
where the council acts as a unified legislative body
and the mayor sits on the council.
The council appoints a professional manager
to run city government and there are a few examples
of each of these types up here.
Strong mayor government is where a mayor
is the chief executive and runs the city government.
This is a balance of power between the mayor,
which is the executive branch, and the council,
which is the legislative branch.
The council serves as a separate legislative branch
of government and is responsible for oversight.
Just a quick history, we've operated
in both of these forms of government.
For a very long time, we had a council manager
form of government. In the 80s there started to be some some challenges with
that form of government and some attempts to start to move towards a
strong mayor form of government. Jerry Brown successfully championed Measure X
in 1998 which passed quite quite well that gave a trial strong mayor system
that was set to sunset after six years. There was a commission that formed they
chose to move forward with the mayor council form of government where the
the mayor and the council were separate branches.
However, they did not give the mayor the strong veto powers
and things like that that would be typical
in a strong mayor form of government.
So this has created a blended model
that has elements of both of these models,
but lacks the benefits of both of them.
The mayor does not serve on the council,
but lacks the powers of a strong mayor
as they can't vote or veto its decisions.
The city administrator manages agencies and operations.
I apologize, you have three minutes.
I just want to make sure that you are ready.
We're just gonna go straight to the recommendations here.
Great.
First and most importantly,
the working group recommends that Oakland Change
its charter to fully adopt one system or the other
in an integrated and complete fashion.
Next slide, please.
Luckily, there is research that tells you
and helps you identify which of these two system
actually is a match for the character
and history of your city.
Next slide please.
The recommendation as to which system to adopt
is to adopt the strong mayor system
which Nicole has already described in brief
and which is much more fully described in our report.
Next slide please.
I want to make it clear that that research
I just referenced, talked about what is the character of a city that would be best served
by a strong mayor system.
So through all that outreach I talked about, we heard about fiscal stress, and that's where
a strong mayor system can help because it creates complex intergovernmental challenges.
We heard about racial wealth and geographic inequities, and this also is where a strong
mayor shines because it serves best where there are disparities across neighborhoods.
You know we've got a highly engaged civic culture and a strong mayor is appropriate
where voters expect that visible executive leadership.
Finally, I can't really see my last point there, but that's alright, we need someone
to lead decisively and is what people were telling us over and over again and political
fragmentation makes it difficult for collective accountability hence the
favoring of the strong mayor system so it was the recommendation is based both
on feedback and on research we also recommended a balancing strengthening
of the City Council with the creation of a legislative and budget analyst office
a return of the council to an odd number and clarifying certain things in the
charter about the city council's role. I want to close by pointing out just one
thing since there's new reporting out saying that the report recommends a
salary raise for the council. I want to clarify that because charter change is
about structural things. It's about process and so we noted that all the
other elected officials, auditor, attorney, mayor have a salary setting
mechanism within the charter that allows
the entire package to be reviewed.
That's not the case for the city council.
The provisions only allow for cost of living increases,
so we simply recommended that that process be changed
to be consistent across all of those elected offices.
And anything else would be a factual evidentiary-based thing
as to what salaries any of the officials
in any of these elected offices would receive.
All right, just to close out, there were a number
of other things that came up during the research.
There were questions about the city attorney
and the city auditor and whether
or not those should be elected or appointed positions
around oversight bodies, including commissions,
and financial decision-making,
whether or not there should be some long-range planning,
a controller's office, things like that.
Those were all things that we recommend for their analysis,
but went beyond the scope of this review.
So some next steps, any charter changes
must be approved by Oakland voters.
The mayor and the council are working together
to determine which recommendations
to advance to a ballot.
We have done some polling in which we shared
with the council members today
that really shows strong support
for the working group's recommendations.
Any implementation of this needs to be,
there needs to be thoughtful transition periods
so that we don't not fully implement
all of the recommendations.
And this should be a living document.
The charter should be something
that we come back to regularly
and make sure that it's actually
meeting the needs of Oaklanders.
Just a quick note, Charter Reform
creates conditions for improvement,
but doesn't substitute for effective
leadership and management.
There are a lot of other things that need to be done
in order to improve the way that Oakland works.
This is just the high level recommendations.
The full report, we also developed
The full, a very extensive FAQ based on a lot of the feedback
that we've been and questions that we've been getting
are all available on the mayor's website
and we encourage you to take a look at the full report.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, thank you for your work as well.
Council members, do you guys have any comments
before we go to the public?
Council member Brown.
Thank you.
I was gonna offer them two minutes of my time
just in case they would have,
because I felt like they were rushing through
kind of the presentation and so I just wanted
to give you the opportunity if there was any additional input
that you wanted to make sure members of the public,
whether here or watching virtually,
you wanted to make sure that the message,
just the hard work of the working group
and in all of your efforts,
if there was anything else you wanted to say.
That's very kind of you and I appreciate it.
I think people leap to the second recommendation
in the report.
There are two choices that almost all cities
in the United States, all that we've looked at, use.
And so what the committee really wanted to get across was
there is a problem with Oakland's current structure,
that it's a mix match that is dysfunctional.
And therefore the first recommendation is do something,
move to an integrated and complete system
that is recognized as such and tested
by use in multiple other cities.
The second report, the second recommendation
is tied to the third.
They are really recommending what is called
the strong mayor model, but it really is a balance
of an executive and a legislative branch
within the government, and therefore,
there are recommendations with respect to each.
And the final point I want to underscore
is this is connected with the character
of the city of Oakland.
Otherwise, you could just toss a coin
because they're both formal systems.
In deciding which one to choose,
you really have to ask, what's the history here?
Where are we coming from?
What is the character of the city that we have?
Thank you.
All right, let's,
any other comments from the council members?
Okay, so you want to have a public comment,
Council Member Hussain, you good?
Okay, all right, let's go to public comment.
As I call your name, please approach the podium
in any order.
If you are participating via Zoom,
please raise your hand so I can recognize you.
And as usual, I will call those
who are present in chambers first,
and then those who are participating via Zoom after.
Starting with Mark Swisske, Kevin Dally, Jonathan Korn,
Dina Belkoff, Midori Tabata, George Spies,
Orlanda Perez, Wald Walskowski.
My apologies if I mispronounce that.
Blair Beakman, Mike Volk, John Korez, Rajni Madal,
Steve Cohen, Naomi Shift, Keith Brown,
Ahmed Ali-Bab, Samia Zuber, Charles Long, Dan Marks,
Antoinette Blue, Veronica Garcia, Nancy Folk,
Stephen Folk, David Boatwright, Elizabeth Silver,
Ralph Kamps, Pamela Drake, Pat Martell,
Annie Mudge, Millie Cleveland, Richard Fuentes,
and Libby Shaft.
Again, please approach the podium in any order.
Please state your name before you begin.
those who are participating via zoom please raise your hand we'll call you
after we have those in person purse you may begin thank you greetings I'm
Stephen Falk co-founder of the Oakland Charter reform project and my comments
are limited to three quick and related points my first point is that I urge you
not to adopt the strong mayor recommendation because there is a better
way for Oakland. My second point is that 97 percent of California cities have
rejected the strong mayor system. With the exception of San Francisco, which is
both a city and a county, every single city in the Bay Area, large and small, has
rejected the strong mayor model. No California city has transitioned to a
a strong mayor system in the last 20 years, not one.
So basically, no cities are doing what the working group
is asking you to do.
So you have to ask why is that?
It's because as study after study after study has proven,
professionally managed cities with a powerful city council
are more transparent, more responsive, more effective,
and more efficient, and far less corrupt.
So my third and final point,
a lot of the public conversation around this issue
infers that you have only two choices,
either a strong mayor or a council manager
form of government.
That is false.
That is not true.
That is what's known as a false dichotomy.
In fact, cities today rarely choose the pure.
I apologize, your time has ended.
David, but right, okay, you have one more minute, Mr. Falk.
Thank you.
That is what's known as a false dichotomy.
In fact, cities today rarely choose the pure version
of either one of those systems,
and instead craft a hybrid system best suited
for their city, and that's what we're recommending
with our third option, which features leadership
by a powerful mayor, with a veto, oversight
by a more powerful city council,
and the terrific public services
the professional management can deliver.
Thank you for your attention.
Thank you for your comments.
Hello, thanks for the opportunity to comment.
My name is Nancy Falk.
My primary message is that Oaklanders need not settle
for the strong mayor form as recommended.
There's a better proven third option
that includes several of the working group's recommendations
while better positioning Oakland, given its unique nature,
for the future.
This third option has three key elements.
Number one, it embeds a more powerful mayor
with the veto authority to serve as chair of a, two, more
powerful full-time city council that's
supported by an independent budget and legislative analyst
office, as recommended.
Three, who jointly, mayor plus council,
oversee a professionally trained executive,
the city manager.
There's no need to settle for the strong mayor form
because it's not the proven best structure
for delivering high quality, efficient,
and effective city services.
Council manager form of government,
upon which this third option is based,
is the proven best approach,
based on a lot of the research
that is in the working group's great appendix.
This third option is 10%
and this mayor council manager form of government
is more efficient than strong mayor,
has stronger budget solvency than strong mayor cities.
And it's 57% less likely to have corruption convictions
than strong mayors, cities.
So let's not settle for the strong mayor option
and instead adopt the proven third option for a better.
Thank you for your comments, next speaker.
Miss Bellenkopf, I apologize.
Can you please go closer to the mic
so we can make sure we can hear your comments?
Yeah, go ahead.
I live in District 3.
And I'm here just to lend my support
to the council manager system, the so-called third option.
And I'm asking the council to put that option
on the ballot and let the voters decide,
not the strong mayor model.
I'm opposed to the strong mayor model
for the reasons that others have expressed,
but one is that with all due respect,
I think the strong mayor system is too dependent
on the good faith of the person
who occupies the mayor's seat.
The structure of our government should include
checks and balances, continuity of professional management,
accountability of the city council in addition to the mayor,
and we should look to what our other peer cities do.
All of this points to a council manager system
with a strength and mayoral rule, the third option,
and as others have said, this is the model
that is widely in use and we should not ignore that.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
Currently in D4.
I appreciate the informational report.
I think the working group did a great job
showing all the options and while they have one preferred choice, I'd really
appreciate their point. Change something, choose a new system. I suggest the
council quickly set up its own working group so they can choose the best
options. And I'll mention a couple points I disagree with. We need an at-large
I live in D4 today but I like most Oaklanders frequently travel throughout Oakland to different
districts.
You know five districts in the last 24 hours for me I suspect other people have done better
than that.
So we need someone who is able to look at the entire system and both council member
Brown and council member Kaplan have done a good job with that.
I fear in at-large mayor's election, the last four district,
sorry, the last three district, four CMs all became mayor.
We are not getting the geographical equity
by having an at-large mayor's race.
The only way we get a mayor from Deep East Oakland
is to have the council president be from Deep East Oakland
and have the recall.
We can't depend upon that
of the state.
Of getting geographical equity.
Thanks.
Thank you for your comments next
speaker.
Good morning my name is Steve
Cohen I'm a long term resident
and homeowner in Oakland.
And my understanding I've been
trying to follow this whole
process.
Is that everyone believes that
the system is dysfunctional.
That the city council members
to implement. The mayor has the power to implement it but has no input in developing
policy. So to me, if you just have a strong mayor, the city council still doesn't have
any power to implement the findings and by having a strong mayor who can veto the work
process, the work process of the council puts the council in a weaker position than it's
the city council. And then put a
the city council and help save policy laws. So I hope you'll take what's called the third
option, having a strong mayor, a strong city council, and make Oakland the city that we
really want it to be. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments.
Greetings, chair and council member, council president. Mark Sawicki, resident of District
One. I've worked for local governments for 23 years, including almost five years as Oakland's
of economic development. There is no question that we need charter reform. We have a dysfunctional
system and I think we all know that. But I disagree with the working group's recommendation
and I didn't find their support of their recommendation to be very strong. Their own
website provides a lot of material which if you haven't gone through it you definitely
should. But I focus on in particular pages seven to nine of the working group's report.
differences between a council manager and strong mayor.
The strong mayor concentrates power in a single elected individual.
It heightens the risk of politicization, that's a tough word to say.
Misuse of authority, decisions are driven by short-term electoral incentives and success
depends heavily on the competence of the individual.
Council manager lays a foundation for professional management.
It insulates decisions from short-term political pressures and enables the manager to make
decisions that are tough politically.
Long-serving professionals provide continuity, stability, institutional memory, and consistency
across election cycles.
Most importantly, though, the council manager's system will distribute political power across
the council and ensure that district representatives have equal standing in shaping policy and
advocating for their communities.
I urge you to take up charter reform.
Thank you for your comments.
All right.
Good morning, council members.
thank you so much for joining
me today I'm Keith brown
executive secretary treasure of
the Alameda labor council I'm
speaking to you this morning as
a lifelong Oakland resident and
a resident of district. Five
and I want to first of all
thank the work of the working
group. And I think one thing
that almost all Oaklanders
what we're being we all agree
on is that the structure of our
city is not working currently
everyone is in charge with me
which means no one is in charge
we must.
Establish clear lines of
responsibility we must ensure
that the structure of our
government can deliver for our
community and for better use of
limited.
Resources the strong mayor
the city's ability to make the
when you know you've got a
contract with Oakland
neighborhoods faster and more
if it.
Thank you for your comment.
Hello I'm Mike Volk and John
Chris is with me here is
seating his ninety seconds to
me.
So both John and I have lived
and worked in Oakland for over
forty years- we're part of
neighbors for progressive
action and Oakland group with
over five hundred members.
We support charter reform as
Oakland's current charter
the working group only four large cities in california have a strong mayor system in our entire state two of those san francisco and l.a. are a special being also counties. There's a better alternative an empowered mayor embedded in a council manager form of government.
the city of Detroit. And the
mayor embedded in a council
manager form of government. This
approach features a city wide
elected mayor with significant
leadership authority including
veto powers as recommended by
the working group but also
features a professionally
trained city manager overseen by
the council and many mayor
working together as recommended
by the national civic leagues
And the association of this chart of form is used by ninety six or ninety seven percent of the largest cities by population in our state including three that are larger than Oakland and they were on the slide that we saw just a few minutes ago and that's a long beach Sacramento and San Jose.
This method would give our city council the leverage it needs to help get things done
in Oakland. That's something that 83% of the people that the working group surveyed said
they think is the most important. The highest percentage of anything on that survey was
that they wanted the council to have the leverage to get things done in the city, and you won't
have that leverage in the strong mayor system. So one other thing that 82% of those surveyed
is that they want the mayor to attend council meetings now
Barbara Leah said she doesn't have any problem with attending
mayors but the strong mayor initiative doesn't require that
and a future mayor may not want to who that's in fact how we got
where we are partly so let's pay attention to what the voters
asked for in the in the survey.
Some of you may have seen Libby chefs letter to the editor
That's one of my favorite things
that I've seen for a while.
It said council manager is widely used
because most, it's mostly small cities.
It's not, it's the opposite as we just saw.
There's a lot of large cities that have that.
So mindful of the upcoming Tsingtao trial,
it's unlikely that voters will vote for a-
Thank you, your time is up.
Thank you for your time.
Good morning, good morning council members.
management association a professional organization that advances transparent
responsive effective and efficient local government through good governance
leadership management innovation and ethics as the west coast regional
director of ICMA I want to urge your consideration of a viable third option
to move more effectively to deliver the results envisioned by the mayor's
working group recommendations a strong mayor with veto power who actively
Council meetings leading a fully engaged City Council City
manager structure this option creates clear lines of
responsibility and accountability elected officials set policy and a
professionally trained manager is accountable to the mayor and City
Council for execution local governments have become larger and more complex
over time and benefit by having trained professionals manage operations that
to the community and the
the public. I'm going to give
Okay, thank you. Good morning council members and every Oaklander in the room. I just want
to start by saying that I really appreciate the work that's gone into this and the effort
to improve how the city of Oakland operates. I don't think anyone would disagree that Oakland
needs a faster action and more clarity around who is responsible when things aren't working.
That said, I do have some real concerns about the recommendation to eliminate the at large
council seat.
If that happens, the council will be made up entirely of district representatives and
since the mayor doesn't vote on legislation, we would lose the only citywide elected voice
in the legislative branch and that matters because as we all know Oakland doesn't just
deal with district issues.
We deal with things that impact the entire city
that need a broader perspective.
The at-large team helps connect neighborhoods,
bring attention to city-wide needs
and make sure no community gets overlooked like Melrose,
which sits in both district five and district six.
From where I stand, removing that role creates gaps
at the time when we really need to be more connected
as a city.
So I just want to urge you to move forward
with the changes that improve.
Thank you for your comments.
Your time is up.
Thank you for your patience, the member of the public.
You may approach and state your name for the record.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Good morning, council members.
My name is Ahmed Ali-Bab, and I'm a D6 resident, a dad,
and I've had the chance to serve both inside the city
and in the private sector working with Oakland businesses.
I was part of the mayor's working group on charter reform
and got to hear from hundreds of Oakland residents.
And the biggest thing I heard over and over
was the need for clear accountability.
Residents expect that when they vote for a mayor,
the buck stops there.
At my house, at my home, when accountability is unclear,
My five-year-old just runs the whole house.
Speaking from experience, that's not a model
that we should replicate at City Hall.
Right now, our system spreads responsibility
across too many places.
When something goes wrong, it's not always clear who owns it.
And that makes it harder to actually solve problems
on behalf of our residents.
This is about aligning authority with responsibility.
So when decisions are made,
there's clarity on who is accountable.
And when outcomes fall short,
it's clear who needs to answer for it.
At the same time,
these recommendations strengthen the council's ability
to provide stronger legislative and financial oversight,
which is just as important.
I believe this moves Oakland in the right direction.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments
and thank you for your patience.
Next speaker.
Hi, my name is Charlie Long.
I'm a 21-year resident of the city of Oakland in District 4.
And I have been a city manager four times.
But also, I've invested $100 million
into downtown Oakland with two apartment projects.
I served on Bill Gilchrist's development advisory committee.
And let me tell you, my observation,
Based upon my awareness of how organizations work,
and how development works,
Oakland's organization is broken.
There is no sense of common purpose.
Departments are silos.
They don't talk to each other.
They don't have a sense of common purpose.
And I am here to strongly request
that you reject the strong mayor option.
Because all it does is it says, okay,
we've got a broken system where nobody,
where basically there are silos.
Let's create another broken system where there are silos,
where the mayor basically is not a participant.
The council manager form of government
makes the city manager accountable
council and the mayor sits on the city council and has veto
power and is an active participant. Let's create that
kind of unified approach to think. Thank you for your
comments next speaker. Good morning council members my name
is Dan marks. Excuse me I'm an Oakland resident in district
two and I've worked in and for local governments for more than
forty years. I'm a former's employee in the city I'm former
in the city, former community development director
in the city of Berkeley and have worked as a employee
in several Bay Area cities and for the past 15 years,
I've been a management consultant
on local government effectiveness
all around the country and in California.
I wanna thank the mayor for putting forward
the mayor's task force and bringing the issue
of charter reform to the city's attention
and carrying it forward as an issue
that we have to address in Oakland.
Clearly we need a more effective government that can deliver the services
that people of Oakland want and in my opinion have not received over the last many years.
And I think most Oakland residents would agree with me
that we need a more effective government, not a political one.
City managers are trained in and spend their whole careers making local government more
effective.
Mayors were elected for their political acumen, not their organizational skills.
It's for this reason that almost all the cities in California has been spoken
earlier, adopt the city manager form of government.
And I, along with many of the other people that have spoken here today, based
on our long experience in local government, believe that the third option is the
best option for the city of Oakland and urge that you carry that option in some
fashion forward to the citizens of Oakland.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for your comments.
Rajni Mandal district four.
I want to start by acknowledging the effort here.
It's easier to point out what's broken than to try and fix it.
And I appreciate that this process is attempting to do that.
What I hear from my community is very consistent.
People want basic things to work,
like roads and public safety.
And many residents don't feel we have that.
Charter reform is part of the solution,
along with fiscal and broader governance reform.
But my concern is simple.
Who is accessible to the regular Oakland resident
when something needs to get fixed?
And how do we ensure that it actually happens?
It's already difficult to get regular residents voices heard.
That makes me cautious about concentrating more power
in a single office where access can feel even more limited
to those without influence and power.
We need balance, clear leadership with accountability
and full representation, including the at-large scene.
That's why I'm leaning towards a balanced approach
like the third option, but I really urge council
to choose a structure that will truly deliver results
with accountability and transparency
and accessibility to all Oaklanders, thank you.
Thank you for your comment.
Next speaker.
Thank you, my name is Elizabeth Silver,
I go by Libby Silver.
I was, I've lived here for 48 years.
I am a retired lawyer.
I was city attorney of several cities
for a total career of 37 years.
So I know what you all are doing
and I thank you for it.
I'm in favor of the council manager for the government.
The most important thing that the city council does,
that the whole city does, is it adopts its budget.
And the budget is the blueprint
for what gets done in the city.
And the council then has to appoint somebody
who's going to implement the budget.
it just doesn't happen by itself.
So the city administrator or city manager,
whatever you want to call the position,
is the person who implements the budget.
The budget includes the council's goals,
how many will be spent, what programs will be adopted,
et cetera, and it's important to have a professional
in the role of implementing the budget.
The mayor can be on the city council.
The city manager really works from council meeting
to council meeting.
So the council has control over the implementation
of its objectives because the council appoints
and can fire the city manager.
Thank you.
Ms. Milley, Ms. Drake, are you guys gonna speak?
My name is Milley Cleveland.
I also live in District 4.
I moved one block 30 years ago out of District 5 and ended up in 4.
I want to throw a little twist to the discussion about the underlying assumptions about the
council developing policy but not being able to enforce it.
The mayor can't develop policy, but it's responsible for enforcement.
One of my observations coming to council meetings is that our
council representatives have abdicated their responsibility
in enforcing things that they vote on and making sure the
city manager follows through.
The macro unit, the chief of the fire department changed the
scope of work and not one council person raised an issue.
have been dismissed by the
council. The council voted to
civilianize almost forty
positions in O. P. D. putting
forty cops back on the street.
And the council has done nothing
to force the city administrator
to speak on the work that has
been accomplished. The council
voted to search for a city
accomplished. So I'm against the, um, Oh, my time is up. I'm against the strong.
Thank you, Ms. Milly. Naomi Schiff. I'm only speaking for myself.
I support something like the third option, an effective mayor and an effective council.
I got to Oakland when John Redding was mayor and before district elections and I've attended city
Hall meetings since Lionel Wilson and his city manager Henry Gardner.
I served on a commission that vainly attempted to fix Jerry Brown's unworkable, incompetent
Measure X. People want effective and accessible district representation and a publicly accountable
mayor.
The word strong shouldn't be used here.
It's pejorative because it implies weak.
We've had way too much talk about strong stuff
at the national level.
Let's get rid of that.
Most cities our size use council manager system.
And lastly, I support a point of city attorney and auditor
because those posts are not for anybody to run for.
You need somebody who has very specific qualifications.
It's not the same as running for other political offices.
I really appreciate the work that's been done.
I vehemently oppose the strong mayor concept.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
I've called all names.
Ralph Kans, former chair of the Public Evidence Commission,
commenting that this whole process is corrupted.
Section 601 requires, 601 of the charter requires
an advisory group be created
by resolution of the city council.
That didn't happen in this case.
In addition, what that does is meant
there was no public meetings of this working group
for the public to observe the process
and understand what took place.
a little minor detail there but the only way you can
legitimately do this is do what they did in 2003
and by city council resolution create a working group
that the public can participate in
and understand what's going on.
I made public records requests to the mayor's office
back in December that have yet to be responded to
involving things like were the agendas and minutes
of the meetings of the working group.
I'm still waiting.
My most recent request is where is Sean Dugar's contract?
Who paid for all of this?
Who actually did the work?
None of that is public.
It's all been done to a private group
with private money and secret meetings.
There has been no public process that the law requires.
This is a violation of the Constitution,
the Brown Act is in a disgrace
that it's been functioning this way.
Thank you for your comments.
Well, I was trying to get Libby Shaft to come up with me
so we could do a mini debate.
You all want to hear that, right?
First of all, I need an extra 10 seconds
before you start counting time.
I need to ask somebody to translate the sign.
It doesn't make sense to anybody so far.
And I want to complain about mobility issues
for this building.
Please don't take my time for that.
Please, please stop the time.
Don't worry, I will grant you an extra 10 seconds.
All right, when you get out of the garage
and you're walking with a cane or whatever difficulty.
Can you please just state your name for the record?
Oh, sorry, Pamela Drake with the Wellstone Club.
You have to go all the way around
like about an extra block or in a block and a half.
Somebody should be at the door at the other side.
You have somebody sitting in a desk there
that could come over and escort you over to the security
so you didn't have to go all the way around.
It's not an ADA violation, but it seems like one.
All right, let me start my actual time.
How much time am I gonna get to talk?
10 seconds more.
20 seconds more.
You know, I'm opposed to the strong mayor.
I'm not in favor of the whole movement
towards authoritarianism that this country's been involved in.
I think we're backing off of that now on top of that.
There's really two issues
that are the ones that are up for concern.
One is that when the council members have a complaint
from their constituents,
they don't have any place for it to go.
So hire some assistant city administrators
who work directly with each council member,
with each district.
Maybe giving district seven their own
on the other districts,
two council districts for one administrator.
So you get your special one, see?
Ken needs special anyway.
So that person would then work directly
when they have a complaint and they'd say,
Okay, we'll see what we can do about your complaint
and we'll work directly with you
so you can talk to your constituents
about what's being done.
The other issue seems to be
the mayor should be sitting on the council.
The mayor should be available for people to see
how she thinks, how she organizes her thoughts
and makes her decisions.
Thank you, Ms. Drake.
You were given by the chair 10 extra seconds
so we allowed the mic to stay on long enough.
Thank you for your comments.
Next speaker who signed up.
That's President Chambers.
Thank you.
Buenos dias.
My name is Richard Fuentes.
I'm a leader in the union movement
with ASSME Council 57, representing 26,000 workers.
I'm also a small business owner here in downtown Oakland
and a downtown Oakland resident.
I'm also a member of the mayor's working group
for the Charter Reform, and I want to speak
in support of our recommendations for a strong mayor.
We did community outreach.
We heard throughout Oakland from every single district
from working people that they wanted to have
a strong mayor form of government.
We had surveys where brown and black communities
got to participate.
You're hearing today about a third option,
a third option that is not recommended by the working group,
a third option that has no input from working people,
from black people, from brown people.
Let's be clear.
A third option is a privilege option.
Working people don't have time to come today
at 10.30 in the morning to provide their perspective.
I've worked for three municipalities,
I've worked for a special district,
I've served on a pension board,
and on federal oversight committees where I've served.
Let me tell you, Oakland is diverse,
and because of the diversity that we have within our city,
a strong form of mayoral, former government,
is really an approach that will serve Oaklanders
because Oaklanders don't know who is responsible.
Oaklanders don't know who's in charge.
Oaklanders want to know who is responsible
for filling their potholes.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
Next speaker.
Well, hello.
My name is Libby Schaff.
I'm a lifetime Oaklander.
I am a 24-year veteran of City Hall
and I speak to you as a private citizen today.
I do, I am probably the only person alive
who was an East Oakland Council staffer
under Jerry Brown's strong mayor form of government.
I was a council member of District 4,
and I of course was the mayor for eight years,
so I do bring a unique perspective
on how these different systems actually have worked
in the past, and happy to answer any questions
if you have any.
I want to start by saying I was disappointed
to hear citations of the survey
and suggesting that that represented voter sentiment.
The survey that was done by the working group
was an opt-in survey, and the demographics of respondents,
16% of respondents didn't even live in Oakland,
and an interesting 23% were City of Oakland employees.
So I just, please do not regard those survey results
as voter sentiment, three polls now have been done
about how do Oaklanders feel about this proposal.
All three have turned back very clear mandates
that Oakland voters want a strong mayor.
61% in the polls of Oakland poll in the fall,
64% in the East Bay Polling Institute results,
and then I do you have questions about how the system worked yes okay um you
know under Jerry Brown this the working group's proposal is essentially the same
as we had under Jerry Brown's strong mayor before the council took away the
veto power you might not remember Jerry Brown had a veto power because he hardly
ever used it the one time I remember was a piece of legislation I actually wrote
when I was the legislative aide to Councilmember De La Fuente district five.
The council had a lot of power. In my experience it is actually when the
council and the mayor had the best collaboration and the council offices
constituent work, which was my passion when I worked in the council offices,
actually got done. There was more responsiveness from the administration.
While it is not clear that this proposal requires the 311,
or constituent response to be under the mayor,
at that time it was.
The Oaklanders Assistance Center
was actually part of the mayor's office,
and it was much more responsive than our current system.
The council had a full-time legislative and budget analyst
that allowed us to write good legislation,
proactive legislation,
and to have our own independent budget analyst
to actually be an independent validator
of the financial information that we were getting
from the administration.
So those were some of the qualities
I remember from the strong mayor.
Finally, everyone agrees that a hybrid system
is fuzzy and does not serve anyone.
Option three is just another hybrid proposal.
I would prefer to see Oakland go back
to a council manager for a government,
Rather than swap one fuzzy hybrid for another,
I know that, anyway, that would be based on my experience
in these 24 years in these various roles.
And if anyone doesn't have any other questions,
I appreciate the opportunity.
All right, thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
All speakers have been called.
If you are participating here in chambers
and signed up to speak and your name was called,
please approach the podium.
If not, we will move on to the Zoom speakers.
I see no one rising, so we will go to those
who signed up to speak in Zoom.
If you...
And the mayor got extra time.
And I was speaking about mobility issues,
not about the strong mayor.
And I would like 30 seconds to finish.
Chair Jenkins?
Ms. Milley, you're out of order.
I signed up on time, yes.
And I had to listen to all that stuff.
If I give you extra time,
have to give everybody else extra time.
No, if you're giving people who've
been involved in government.
I didn't give her extra time because she
was involved in government.
I didn't say that.
All right, well, I didn't get all my time
because I'm having a problem with the mobility issues
in the city hall, and that doesn't seem OK.
OK, so because this is an issue of that,
I will allow you 30 extra seconds.
Thank you.
OK, so the strong mayor, the real issue,
if you think about strong mayor and you
think about a corporation, you know that the idea person is not the same as the
detail person. There's nobody who can do both well and it's really a place that
ends up it was changed because of all the corruption. Now the current mayor is
not going to be involved in corruption but whoever comes after her could use
this as a real power grab. That's what it essentially is. But the other
Another thing about the legislative office, I don't want a plant from the administrators
in the city council office.
I think that's a bad idea.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
Now moving to the Zoom speakers, if you signed up to speak for this item and you wish to
use your time, please raise your hand in the queue so I can recognize you.
I see Blair Beekman.
You have been unmuted.
You may begin.
Hi, Blair Beekman.
Thank you a lot for this item.
I'm living in San Diego that also has a strong mayor system,
and that also is having a lot of questions
around the strong mayor system.
I was originally from San Jose,
and they had quite a community process a few years ago
to decide the future of strong mayor
versus council city manager,
ways of working and easily the community came out
in supporting the future of council manager system
and created a very clear case of its importance.
The strong mayor simply is there to serve real estate
interests and those of the rich.
And the majority of the people who are gonna be
for this measure in Oakland are gonna be either
in real estate or are rich people.
And we have to acknowledge that.
The tech accountability ideas that were created,
that whole new charter ideas were created for
back in 2014 and 15.
It was with the intention to work towards a future
of community participation and open democracy
as how to talk about our future
of how we practice community together.
And I think we have to be committed to those goals
that I've been learning.
This is a learning process for myself
that the city manager way of working
works towards open participatory democracy.
The strong mayor form does not.
It serves the interest.
Thank you for your comments.
The next speaker in Zoom, you have been unmuted, Midori.
Hi, I'm Midori Tabata, and I'm in district six
and have been here for many years.
And while I appreciate the work that the working group
has done, I support a council manager system.
We had one before we, I mean, and it worked pretty well
before we started to tinker.
And now we have a system that we all agree is not workable,
but with a council manager's system where we have
with the mayor sitting on the council and leading the effort,
we have a strong mayor, strong council,
and we have a professional city councilman,
I mean a councilman, I'm sorry, city manager
who is professional and can last beyond
just one administration.
Don't know exactly what the,
don't want to depend on the goodness of the mayor,
depending on who gets elected.
So I strongly support a council manager,
a strong mayor system, thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
I show one last hand raised in Zoom,
who's listed under iPhone.
When I unmute you please state the name that is written
on your speaker card that you signed up for.
You are unmuted, iPhone.
Hi, hello, my name is Rolando Perez.
I did sign up yesterday.
Great, thank you, you may begin.
Hi, my name is Rolando Perez.
I was raised in Oakland.
I've lived throughout the Bay Area.
I've lived in Livermore.
I lived in Hayward.
I just bought a house two years ago and I moved back.
And I love Oakland, I love it here.
But I'm kind of tired of always trying
to be unique, politically wise, and all of that.
And why can't we just do what our neighbors in the Bay Area
are doing?
And they're doing great.
They're following the council manager system.
And I've moved out of Oakland for over 15 years.
So I got an opportunity to see what a good, strong city does,
basics, trash needs, car pickups are done
on a timely manner.
So why can't we just do that?
Why can't we just choose a system that has been working
for our neighbors here in the Bay Area as well?
So those were my two cents and thank you for your time.
Thank you for your comments.
Again, all names have been called.
If you signed up to speak for item five,
please approach the podium or raise your hand in the queue.
At this time, Chair, I see no more speakers.
Thank you.
Thank you to everyone who came out
to talk about your opinion on the way
that Oakland goes forward.
I know it's not, it's because you care about Oakland
in the direction that we go,
and that's the commonality that we have between us.
So this won't be the last meeting
that we have to discuss potential charter changes.
think it's important that everybody has an opportunity to weigh in in the
public forum and so I work with the mayor's office and the council members
to schedule another item at some point in time so that other people have a
chance to weigh in with that I'll open it up to council members if you guys
have any comments councilmember Brown at large councilmember Brown excellent
okay well thank you all so much I'm sorry I just want to first start off by
thanking the mayor's working group and everyone who was involved. I know it's
it's not easy to you know put together the community engagement events and
just organize you know all everyone's thoughts and opinions and so just want
to offer my gratitude and thanks for that. And then in addition really
grateful for everyone who showed up today to kind of speak and share whether
whether it was their personal experience
navigating Oakland city government
and how you all think that we should begin to move forward.
And so of course, you know, my goal in all of this
is ensuring that we are moving forward
with a governance structure
that is based in accountability.
And we're also ensuring that we are listening
to the concerns of our constituency, right?
a lot of times it's really been very consistent around,
you know, at the end of the day,
community members want their concerns to be addressed.
Now if we get into the weeds of how that takes place,
at the end of the day it boils down to accountability.
And so that is what I'm interested in,
and so I look forward to working with my council colleagues,
so Council Member Jenkins and Council Member Ramachandran
to ensure that we move forward in a path
that is supportive of our entire city.
Of course, there is a larger conversation
around just overall representation,
and I just don't think that in our day and age,
and just in this moment, that we should be
at any point reducing overall representation.
One of the public speakers talked about
about investment and how we are investing in our communities.
And it is the whole reason why I ran for the at-large seat
had to do with the blaring observation
of how communities both in East and West Oakland
have been underrepresented for decades.
And the truth of the matter is is that in this moment,
that is what we're living through, right?
And so I just, I cannot get behind and support
a recommendation that seeks to eliminate representation
for the community.
And I have not ran into any community members
that say they don't understand the role of the at-large seed
or there's confusion between the mayor of our amazing city.
And so I just wanted to make sure that I say
on the record that I just don't believe that that is the direction we should be
going. The report also states that I guess the talking point is that moving
the council back to a odd number of votes I do think that there's a simple
fix as far as that which we could all move forward with which is as simple as
And in the event that there is a tie breaking vote,
the motion fails.
And so in this moment, I think more than anything,
we should be 100% focused on solutions
to improving how our city of Oakland governance works
and works the best for the people of Oakland.
And so that is something that I wanna get behind.
I'm grateful for the people of Oakland
I'm grateful for the group that presented their findings
around this third option.
I do think that it is important for so many
of the important decisions that we make as a council.
I do think that there is some value in ensuring
that the mayor can also weigh in on those.
And so I am supportive of the third option.
I just wanted to say that on the record.
And as always, I'm always open to engage further
members of the working group if they would like as well. And I also would
note that during the working groups process and when they met with me I
offered multiple recommendations of how I thought that we can improve the city
of Oakland's government structure and I did not see a single one of my
recommendations make it to the recommendations. And so I think that that
And that is something that in my opinion,
it is something that has been missed, right?
Because I think all of us on the council,
we have valuable insights that we can share
around how we can improve city of Oakland governance.
So that's all I'll share in this moment.
Thank you.
Thank you, council member.
Council member Houston.
I'm not on the rules committee,
so I'd like to pass that to my council member
around Machana first before I state what I want to state,
but I do want to say something.
No, I do wanna say something about the timely manner
of scheduling item 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4,
and I'm gonna hold something up
so everyone can see this real quick.
And why I held that up is that I need that schedule.
I'm Council Member Brown, and you're doing an excellent job.
Everything you do will work with me.
You're doing an excellent job.
But yesterday I sat, I need to schedule
because yesterday I sat with the President,
the Principal of Castlemont,
and I had 150 students in Castlemont homeless.
Were you guys talking about the charter?
We were talking about the charter.
And a charter reform because I'm gonna say this,
my district was 10 toes down for the mayor,
more than any other district.
My district was for the recall of the mayor
of the DA more than any other district and everybody out here knows I've been
ten toes down for the mayor from day one. I'm gonna go back to my council to my
district because they're waiting for what how I feel about this charter
reform and I remember back if you go back to Robert Bobb how good it was
with Robert Bobb I mean with a strong council strong manager so my
constituents in D seven they wait knowing my opinion but I want their
opinion but if it led to my opinion on the charter reform it would be in line
with councilmember Brown of the third option because I'm tired of going
outside of my scope of working doing things I shouldn't be doing because
we're not able to do it because a council member is only legislation and
policy. I'm tired of going to remove a car myself. I'm tired of relocating and
encampment myself and that the city administrator reports to the mayor but
doesn't report to us as a council, right? We should have that same authority that
the city administrator reports to us, right? I like what Ryan Richardson is
I'm just going to pass it to you, but I got a couple more things to say so don't use that
as my time, President.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I think today's this meeting was very enlightening myself and Council President Jenkins wanted
to schedule this item specifically to continue the process of gathering community input.
we heard plus or minus 20 comments that were opposed to the strong mayor's
system and open to some alternative. We heard about four that were for the
system, but apart from what we hear here, I can at least speak for myself and I
know many of my colleagues who are out and about the community. I have said at
least 17 times in the past month when I'm in people's living rooms in my
district, when I'm on their street corners, when I'm in the business
districts that I am in an information gathering stage and this is very valuable
input and I'm continuing the process of listening to our constituents and
hearing very different perspectives for I forgot who someone that mentioned you
can't come at 1030 a.m. that that's correct which is why after 5 p.m. we're
out in our communities talking to people and meeting them where they're at and
and I've heard very different perspectives,
and I think this is important.
I appreciate the mayor's working group
in scheduling a first round of community outreach
late last year, near the holidays,
and I think a lot of those sessions
serve as information to ask what is the charter,
and now, a couple of months into this process,
people are starting to form an opinion one way or the other,
so I think this is very helpful,
And I will take all of this into consideration,
plus all of the conversations that I have.
And this is not the last time this will be heard in council.
We will bring this to an evening meeting
at the full city council as this process continues.
And I look forward to continuing to hear
what people have to say from not just my district,
but all over the city.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Councilmember Musa.
I can speak again.
So, in closing, I wanna say that I'm gonna have
community meetings from Sheffield Village,
to the hills, to the flats, to my Latino brothers
and sisters that's waiting for me to speak about this.
I spoke in front of 300 last week,
and I'm gonna speak in front of 300 again this Sunday.
So, I'm gonna get opinions, I'm gonna get what they want,
because I might want it purple, they want it green.
If they want it green, that's where I'm gonna go,
no matter even if I want it purple.
So I'm gonna talk to my constituents,
but I'm definitely gonna give my opinion,
my opinion with influence on how I feel
and whatever they decide, they decide,
but I'm gonna be having my community meetings for sure
about this, for sure, thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Houston.
Council Member Brown, any more comments?
Council Member McChandrea.
So I'll make sure that I work with the city attorney's office
to send out a timeline for in which things need to get
on the ballot.
We needed to hear them at two regularly scheduled meetings
and that timeline is tight.
I encourage people to continue doing the research
and continue reaching out.
I understand that SPUR and League of Windenmen Builders
will be available for questions.
And as Council Member Ramirez-Chandrin said,
we will hear this again at a regularly scheduled meeting
during council so that more people have the opportunity
to weigh in.
With that, I'll entertain a motion to receive
and file this in committee.
Second and that was a motion by councilmember Ramachandran seconded by
councilmember Brown to receive and file item number five on roll for that is
councilmember Brown aye councilmember five is excused councilmember
Ramachandran I and chair Jenkins item number five is received and filed with
three eyes one excuse councilmember five that now takes us to open forum I will
I will read the speakers who have signed up for this item.
If you are participating via Zoom,
please raise your hand so you'll be recognized.
And for those who are hearing chambers in person,
please line up behind the podium in any order.
I have Blair Beakman,
Kevin Dalley,
Rajni Mandal,
David Boatwright,
Ralph Kans,
Millie Cleveland,
Anil Camilo,
and any order, thank you.
to give it vote right District 4 I agree that the council members should be paid more but
only if the council eliminates the city general purpose fund deficit they contributed to without
adding more taxes the council members dedicate their full that the council members dedicate
their full time to their council member responsibilities as they implicitly agreed to when they ran
for office. The council members attend all city council meetings and their
committee meetings with rare exceptions for health or serious personal reasons.
It's amazing that the city council won't allow seating partial unused speaker
time and then allows only part of a speaker's time to be seated. How can
multiple city residents be given preferential treatment especially if
if they didn't sign up to speak by the deadline
and others were not allowed to speak.
And if Council Member Houston wants to speak
without signing up to speak in a committee he's not on,
I don't understand the rules.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
Rajni Mandal, District 4.
I wanna connect today's charter reform discussion
to another area that deserves the same level
of scrutiny, police oversight.
Right now, Council is asking fundamental questions
about governance, roles, authority and accountability,
and those exact same questions apply
to our police oversight system.
The recent city auditor report makes it clear
the issue is not just resources, it is structure,
including overlapping roles, unclear authority
and gaps in accountability across multiple oversight bodies.
And we are seeing the consequence
of that structure in practice.
Decisions stall, responsibilities are diffused,
and it becomes difficult to determine
who is ultimately accountable for outcomes.
I'd also like to note that a significant number
the city attorney public opinions actually one in four. In recent years have focused exclusively on these oversight agencies. That suggests ongoing uncertainty about scope and authority not just capacity. The marriage charter reform working group provides a useful model here. It brought together community members experts and stakeholders to evaluate governance and develop clear recommendations. I would encourage council to consider a similar approach for police oversight. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.
city.
I'm Millie Cleveland district
four I would like you to up.
Place on rules of scheduling
over time OPD overtime for
public safety.
This is a significant effect on
our budget I understand that it
was placed on the agenda for
finance but it is not just a
city auditors have made very concrete recommendations
on how to control OPD over time
that the city administrator has never implemented
and you guys have ignored.
I also think that the other issue that needs to be placed
on the agenda is OPOA's MOU.
It has a lot of tweaking that needs to be discussed
out in the open, people aren't trying to be
the negotiating table but there's no law that would stop you from putting that. Thank you for your
comments next speaker. I'm hoping that you'll follow up on the suggestion from the member of the public
ethics commission to investigate whether whether the council is legally required to set up
public hearings on the charter reform or whether we can just move directly to a vote in in council
I'm hoping that we have public public forums for more than 90 seconds of discussion. Looking forward to the answer from the city attorney on that. Thanks. Thank you for your comments.
Good morning. I'm Neil Camello. I'm a I'm a brown guy. I'm a former resident. I'm a former employee former HR director here. I'm currently a city manager and I've got 32 years in public sector governance.
governance. For me, the critical issue is how is the city going to be managed? I care
about the city. I run here every week. I come for an hour to run around Lake Merritt every
Saturday morning. My point is I really, really care about the city. I consider it to be my
hometown and I consider it to be my hometown for the last 40 years ever since I got off
Pan Am flight. Governance is the key issue. And please, please, please do not double down
and a failed system.
A strong mayor system is a failed system.
What does work consistently around the country
for local city governance
is a council manager form of government.
I can tell you, with 32 years of service,
including three years here, the city of Oakland,
and currently a city manager, that system works.
Please, go to option three.
Thank you for your comments.
Next speaker.
Afternoon, Ralph Cans.
Let me bring the attention of House flippers to your attention again, you keep ignoring this the mayor's office won't respond
I don't know what's going on. You're losing millions and millions of dollars
Because permit fees aren't being enforced the liens don't get placed on the property. There's no actual constructive notice to a buyer
therefore
The fees never get paid
The city is losing millions and millions of dollars
it also adds to garbage being dumped because
the rules around
Disposal by under during construction aren't being followed
Why don't you want to do something when you have a money trouble? That's all about money
You're being ripped off like crazy almost none of these people are even from Oakland. It's all money leaving the city
That you should be getting a cut of because of what the city does for those people
And Jenkins you're saying you want to look at me again. I mean, what is this you you?
the public comment. Thank you.
But the March 10th committee meetings overall seemed like a really good session, good learning
experience for myself.
I'm really happy just to learn things from the March 10th session, and overtime was a
part of that.
So good luck in that.
I think it's going to take much longer to 2028 before chartered changes can come to
a vote.
Good luck that we can have a community discussion.
I'm encouraged by what people have said.
Thank you and I wanted to comment on just another thank you for the work of the Flock
issues that we've created a compromise process.
We can talk about a new Flock vendor and that's an important concept for all of us.
We can develop a good future.
It's good examples for California.
Thank you for your comments.
That was the last open forum speaker.
Thank you.
This meeting is adjourned.