Sound check sound check sound check
Okay, let's go ahead and get started
Councilmember Bowen
Okay, the time is 702 and I am calling to order this San Leandro City Council meeting
Hello
Hello in order, please
Thank you so much at this point in time
We are going to have some new citizens
Lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance so if I could have our
New citizens come forward and they can come with their teacher and whoever wants to join them, but come forward
Miss lamb if you could bring them forward and
Then madam clerk if you could turn on the microphone right there at the podium
Right there by the microphone and then if you're able to stand please do so and you guys just begin and we will follow
Okay, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
Thank you very much for doing that
You can have a seat and we will recognize you a little bit more fully and just a minute
Madam clerk, would you please take our role?
Council member James Aguilar
Council member Victor Aguilar present
Council member bolt
present
Vice council member Bowen present council member Simon present Vice mayor the various Walton
Present and Mayor Gonzalez present now tonight with the appointment and swearing in of a new member to the recreation and parks commission
I'd like to move this item up here into Section 4 where we do recognitions,
especially leaving it way down at the bottom during action items. Any concerns?
Seeing none, we will make that adjustment to our agenda.
City of San Fernando conducts orderly meetings to fulfill its mandate,
discriminatory statements or conduct that would potentially violate the
Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and or the California Fair Employment and
Housing Act. California Penal Code Sections 4-3 or 4-15 are per se
disruptive to a meeting and will not be tolerated. Please see the City Council
Handbook and City Council Meeting Rules of Decorum for more information. At this
point in time, Madam Clerk, your announcement. If you would like to make a
public comment during the meeting, you can do so in person or via Zoom. If you
are present at the meeting, please complete a speaker card and submit it to
the City Clerk before the item is presented. Then wait for public comment
on that item to be called. If you wish to participate in public comment via
Zoom you can use the raise your hand tool when the item is called. During the
public comment session speakers will be invited to speak and will have a set
time to share their comments. A countdown timer will appear for their
convenience and when the time is up the microphone will be muted. All raised
hands outside of public comment will be lowered to avoid confusion. Once public
comment is opened hands may be raised to speak there will be a 30-minute window
for public comments which will take place under item 7 public comments as
per the published agenda after this time is up the council will proceed with the
rest of the meetings agenda if you have not had the opportunity to speak during
the initial 30-minute period there will be another chance to do so after item 12
City Council reports okay at this point in time I believe there is nothing to
report out of closed session but I will go to city attorney to confirm thank you
mayor you are confirmed nor affordable actions were taken in closed session
okay thank you so at this point time let's go to item number four this is
where we moved our first item 10a into this section on the appointment city
court bunting would you please proceed thank you mayor and council before you
this evening this item is a motion to appoint Emilio pinonez to fill the
district three vacancy on the Recreation and Parks Commission after the City
Council votes and makes the appointment we have invited Mr. pinonez to be in
attendance and receive the oath of office this evening. Emilio if you're
here that would be in just one moment. Thank you and with that I'm available
with any questions any questions okay do we have any public comment on this item
do we need to take public comment on this item we do okay please proceed with
any public comment that we might have no public comment on this item there okay
do I have a motion please councilman breaking that James
regular. Victor, I give that. I'd like to move this item. Okay. Vice Mayor. Second.
Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none, please vote. All votes are in and
the motion carries unanimously. Emilio? Aye. Please state your name. Aye. Emilio
Peñones. Do solemnly swear or affirm. Do solemnly swear or affirm. That I will
support and defend. That I will support and defend. The Constitution of the United
States. The Constitution of the United States. And the Constitution of the State
of California. And the Constitution of the State of California. Against all
enemies. Against all enemies. Foreign and domestic. Foreign and domestic. That I
will bear true faith and allegiance. That I will bear true faith and allegiance. To
the Constitution of the United States. To the Constitution of the United States.
And the Constitution of the State of California.
And the Constitution of the State of California.
That I take this obligation freely.
That I take this obligation freely.
Without any mental reservation.
Without any mental reservations.
Or purpose of evasion.
Or purpose of evasion.
And that I will well and faithfully discharge.
That I will well and faithfully discharge.
The duties upon which I am about to enter.
The duties of which I am about to enter.
here. Congratulations. Thank you. So for those of you that are out there, we certainly appreciate
the volunteerism and we encourage everyone to consider serving on one of our commissions.
Thank you, Mila, for stepping forward to do this. Now we've got two proclamations and
a recognition. So as per the agenda, we will begin by declaring May as Mental Health Awareness
Month. We will then proceed to declare May as Asian American Pacific Islander
Heritage Month and then we will receive a generous donation from the Rotary Club.
Okay, let's begin with Mental Health Awareness Month and Health Services. I've
got Dr. Mai Li, Julia Liao, and Tu Kwok. I'll give this to you if you can look this way.
So I'm going to read along and you can follow if you'd like.
There you go.
Here we go.
So whereas mental health is essential to our overall health and the importance of attending
to it has become even more pronounced over the last few years.
And whereas nearly 58 million American adults live with some form of mental illness where
Where they experience anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic
stress disorder or others.
And whereas many people with mental health issues may not know how to access resources
for their needs and stigma or fear of discrimination, keep many who would benefit from mental health
services from seeking help.
And whereas the city of Santa Lando supports efforts to address mental health and the emotional
well-being of individuals and at-risk populations, and favors legislation to
strengthen such services. Now therefore, I, Juan Gonzalez III, mayor of the
city of San Leandro, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Mental Health
Awareness Month in the city of San Leandro, and do call upon our community
to increase awareness and understanding of mental illness, to reduce stigma and
discrimination towards mental illness and to promote appropriate and
accessible services for all people with mental illness. Thank you for being here
with us. Jack, say a few words.
I'm gonna have to read this.
Under the...
It's gonna use that.
It's okay.
Good evening, Mr. Mayor Gonzales and council members.
My name is Miley, I am the program director for the dental residency at
Asian Health Services, our CEO Julia at Lou and Tukwok as you can see are here
and behalf of Asian Health Services we want to thank the mayor, the city
council members and the city of San Leandro for this important recognition.
We are honored to be here today because we recognize that there is an incredible
need for not only dental but also mental health services in the city of San Leandro.
We are proud to say that we are one of the first integrated dental and mental
health clinics in the country. We are also the first dental teaching health
center in the state of California. Our new clinic is just right across the
street and right next door to TO so you can stop by and say hi to us. Our clinic
includes four dental specialties and a licensed clinical social worker
supporting our patients. We started the dental mental health model because as
dentists, we saw an increasing number of patients who were struggling with
depression, suicide, and domestic violence. I recall seeing having a patient who was
struggling with depression and she had just lost her adult daughter. She was
experiencing severe anxiety during a routine dental clinic cleaning. It wasn't
because she was being at the dentist, but just rather she was still mourning her
daughter. So I shared this with our licensed clinical social worker and she
she was able to reach out and get her the assistance that she needed.
Our dental clinic opened on December 4, 2024, which is two full-time dentists, myself included.
And we are now fully staffed with four to six general dentists and specialists on any
given day.
Our specialties include pediatrics, oral surgery, periodontal surgery, and endodontics.
You provide care to Medi-Cal patients who would otherwise have difficulty finding dental
offices that accept their insurance, especially specialists.
We currently have about 2,000 active patients
from zero to 100 years old.
And this accounts for about 6,000 visits
in the past 16 months alone.
So we provide basic dental services
as well as crowns, root canals, extractions,
including wisdom teeth, dentures, and implants.
And we are excited to have our dental residents
join us this July.
So we cannot have been able to provide
such wonderful services for the community
without your support.
Thank you so much again, Mr. Mayor,
Council members and the City of San Leandro
for this great honor.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
This kind of innovation in the city of San Leandro,
what was it first in the whole state of California?
I love it.
City where innovation flourishes.
Okay, we will move to our second proclamation
declaring May as Asian American Pacific Islander
Heritage Month here in the city of San Leandro.
If I can have everyone from the Vietnamese American
community center of the East Bay come on up.
This is your time.
So we've got Ms. Hien-Li, the instructor
of all of these wonderful new citizens.
And we're going to give you this proclamation
for all the great work that you're doing.
Come on over so that everybody has space.
There you go, come on up.
Perfect, thank you for being here today.
So, I'm gonna let you tell all of your story,
but just for people to recognize out there
that you've helped over 500 students
Yes, approximately.
on their pathway to citizenship.
Yes.
That's amazing.
Thank you.
And when you were young
and came over here to the United States,
I was young.
I was in the city of Houston when
there was a large group of Vietnamese Americans
that came to the United States back in the 70s.
And to think that we have grown up together apart,
but yet together.
And I'm so excited about having you here today.
I want to say I was very young.
You were very, very young.
I was young.
You were very young.
whereas Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month
is a month to celebrate and pay tribute
to the contributions of the AAPI community,
to American history, to society, and culture.
And whereas President Obama
issued Presidential Proclamation 8369,
proclaiming May 2009 as Asian American
and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
And whereas Asian American Pacific Islanders
comprise many different ethnicities and languages,
and their many achievements embody the American experience.
And whereas Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
are leaders in all aspects of American life,
including government and industry,
science and medicine, arts and armed forces,
education and sports.
And whereas San Leonardo community has greatly benefited
through the cultural richness, diversity and generosity
of its local Asian American and Pacific Islanders
and celebrates their contributions
through various public programs and events each year.
Now, therefore, I, Juan Gonzales III,
mayor of the city of San Leandro,
do hereby proclaim May, 2026 as Asian American
and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
in the city of San Leandro,
and do call upon residents to actively appreciate
and to celebrate both their AAPI neighbors
and more broadly, AAPI culture and heritage.
Thank you for being here.
Hi, good evening.
My name is Hian Eva Gonzales-Lam.
I am an attorney.
I teach citizenship at the Vietnamese American communities
in the East Bay.
And I, on behalf of Vassep,
I would like to thank you, the mayor,
The city councils in the last two years
have given us an opportunity and support us
through our citizenship program.
We provide citizenship classes
in four different languages.
English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and also Spanish now.
I believe in the last two years,
at least 60 students or 60 new citizens
came out from the senior center that's provided
by the city of San Leandro.
So thank you very much for your support for our program.
And as an immigrant and a naturalized citizen myself,
I want to say that, yes, it's the immigrants
that make America great.
Amen.
So what we're going to do is we're going to take a picture.
Yes, yes, yes.
Did you get here?
Okay, Rotary.
Celebrating 100 years in San Leandro.
When it's time to offer help to the community, Rotary is there.
Rotary is there here in San Leandro and really throughout the world.
It's a long tradition.
Come on up everybody.
That's a 100 years.
I think your official date is in October, is that right?
You're going to have a big gala or something like that?
So be sure and get you a really big proclamation then.
Come on, come on.
Rotary, Rotary.
I'm invited on the 15th.
I'm sure the whole town's invited.
It's going to be quite the celebration.
So at this point in time, there you go.
Get on in there.
Here we go.
It's my understanding that Rotary has been working hard
and that they have tried to find some way to make a big impact
in the city of San Leandro.
and in particular they have found a way to help drive big change down at the
marina if I understand that correctly so I'm gonna pass the mic I think it's to
you mr. corneas or whom I passing to to chin huah there we go our president get
the president front and center right here okay okay my name is Jen wasu I am
the current president of the Rotary Club of San Leandro. I'd like to just say good evening
to Honor Roll Mayor Juan Gonzalez, Honor Roll Vice Mayor Viveros Walton, Councilmember Bolt,
Councilmember Simon, Councilmember Aguilar, Councilmember Aguilar, Councilmember Bowen,
City Manager Cameron, City Attorney Pio Rota.
Thank you for having us.
I'd also, I just want to say it's been a true honor serving as president currently,
and just, it's been an honor serving alongside, and continues serving alongside, so many talented,
selfless and generous individuals and Rotarians here in this organization.
I just want to recognize a few of our Rotarians here,
specifically Herb Ritter, district governor,
who manages those over 65 to 70 clubs in our district.
Diane Dorn as well, lieutenant governor.
We have incoming area governor, Ed Hernandez.
Incoming president, Kenneth Pahn.
Thank you.
So, you know, what is Rotary?
I get this question all the time.
You know, Rotary is about making connections, both business, personal.
It's about camaraderie.
It's about, most important, it's about philanthropy, community service, volunteerism.
But you know, Rotary is really a global network, but we have 100, well, I'm sorry, 1.2 million
members around the world.
Rotary Club is one of the most honored, most respected service organizations in the world.
Again, we have over 1.2 million members, and that's going to be your neighbor, your friends,
leaders, problem solvers, who see a world where people unite and take action to create
lasting change around the world in our communities and ourselves.
We have seven key areas, peace, disease prevention, water, health, education, local economies,
and the environment.
So we're about service above self.
That's one of our mottos.
We also, another one of our mottos is people of action.
And so that these models drive our humanitarian projects.
We're about bringing together leaders to exchange ideas and take action.
We're about ethical leadership, promoting high ethical standards in all professions.
We're about global impact, addressing issues such as polio eradication, cervical cancer,
clean water, education worldwide, specifically as it relates to youth leadership education,
education and also polio eradication, which I mentioned, I think there's only
two countries left and I think it's the intention of the Rotary Club to
eradicate polio completely. The Rotary Club of San Leandro, again we were formed
in I think 1926, that's I believe December 1926, so that's gonna be a
hundred years and so again we all invite you to our gala which will be October
15th, that's the Sequoia Country Club and let's see what else. We have about 35
members and our members volunteer and do community service projects in San
Leandro impacting hundreds of residents and we currently also have various
international projects. We give out about $30,000 a year to about a dozen or more
local nonprofits ranging from homeless shelters to battered women's shelters to
Chicana literacy to you know resiliency gardens and so on and we also have
international projects we've done cleft palate lip cleft lip and cleft palate
surgeries for Guatemala children in Antigua and all around Guatemala we
also have a youth leadership program in the rural areas of Honduras and we're
We're now embarking on another project to build out kitchens at a government school
in Hyderabad, India.
So it's our intention to continue with these projects.
And now before I pass it to the next speaker, I just want to say, again, it's our honor
privilege to offer up this these these monies and funds for the project and I
just also want to recognize Parks and Rec director Vicente Suniga and Jennifer
Auletta Parks and landscape manager and without further ado I'll pass it on to
Ivan Cornelius rotary elder and statesman and past district governor when
he says elder he means it. 1926 is a hundred years ago. Can you hear me now? I
want you to know that hundred years goes by really fast. Of those hundred years
I've been in rotary 61 years. My role here today is just to share with you a
little bit of microcosm of what rotary is in this community and I can tell you
you. This community means a lot to me. I've been here since I was six years old. Rotary,
61 years, so you can do the math. 1939, I was born. Rotary in the community, I think
the biggest impact and our biggest contributions in this community, quite frankly, have been
youth. From the get-go in 1926, there were 21 Rotarians. And the first thing they did
was sponsor the first Boy Scout troop here in San Leandro, all about kids. The first
Cub Scout troop in San Leandro. And then, of course, there wasn't much going on in
the first 25 years. As you know, there was a little war before 1926, and there was a
a big war after 1926, and in between, they had a depression.
So Rotary really didn't get started until after the war.
After the war, this community has
benefited to the tune of well over a million dollars
in contribution in charities to the local charities
here in the town.
One of our biggest contributions in this community
has been our relationship with the Boys and Girls Club.
Originally, it was a boys' club.
And as a matter of fact, in 1944 or 45,
we actually purchased some property on Davis Street.
And we gave that to the boys' counts
as their place for them to meet.
And subsequently, they found some other opportunity.
And in 1947, they chartered the first boys' club.
They didn't believe in having girls in the club at that time.
Anyway, the first boys club.
We have had that relationship from the very get-go on 1947.
I think we made a contribution of $150.
I mean, I can remember at six years old,
I was at that building.
I tell my Rotarians that I said, the only thing
I remember about the boys club, it smelled like gym socks.
Anyway, we still meet at that boys' club.
It's a boys' and girls' club now.
And it's on the corner of Marina and the Santa Ana
Boulevard.
What a magnificent structure.
The other paradigm, I mean, irony is,
the CEO of that boys' and girls' club from that little thing
that smelled like a boys' gym socks.
Excuse me, the CEO of that Boys and Girls Club was a Rotary Youth Exchange student sponsored
by our club.
That CEO of that Boys and Girls Club is a past president of our Rotary Club.
That CEO of that Boys and Girls Club, it came from an organization that used to be REN because
I was on the board by one checkbook.
That organization now has 450 employees.
That organization caters to almost 7,000 students after school programs.
That organization, the main building, is a teen center, a dream that even our Rotary
Club had when we tried to convert a part of that old building.
The other thing that this club is notable for is our relationship with the Davis Street
Family Resource Center.
What a contribution to this community, phenomenal organization.
President of that organization, almost 30 years or more, was Rose Padilla-Johnson.
Rose couldn't make it tonight because her daughter's having chemotherapy.
contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars. I don't know how many turkeys
we bought for Thanksgiving. It seems like forever. But I could go on, but I think
the thing that you need to know is that our Rotary Club started a healthcare
clinic there. And our Rotary Club created a free dental clinic there. We made the
contributions, we got the materials, and that today has become a full-fledged
medical clinic to serve the needy people here in San Leandro. God bless them.
And I'll tell you, it's it's heartwarming to see the results and go to that
organization to see what they're doing. Anyway I was told I had two minutes but
but Jen took more than two minutes so I still I stole some too Mary but forgive
me for that but anyway we still give scholarships to San Leonardo high school
students every year we take a minimum of 30 students a year on a two-day two
night snow trip every year and I could go on but it gives you an idea there is
a Rotary Club in San Leandro. Okay this is a gift to the entire city of San
Leandro City Council would you like to come on down city manager city attorney
anyone who wants to be in this picture,
y'all get in this picture.
Y'all come now.
Okay, is everybody there, want to be there?
Yeah.
One, two, three.
One, two, three.
Oh, more photos, more photos, more photos.
Yeah, more, more, more.
Three, two, one.
All right.
I have a different way to eat.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yes. Yes. Just so just in case anybody didn't hear hasn't read the agenda. This is
all for exercise equipment down at the marina. Give it up one last time for rotary. Okay.
So at this point in time we are going to move on to item number five our consent calendar.
What any council member like to pull anything if not I will go to public comment on this
item seeing none we will take public comment on our consent calendar mayor we
have not received any comment cards for the consent agenda and there's no hands
raised on okay so I'll close public comment come back to councilmember
Victor Aguilar consent calendar okay so I have a good motion by a councilmember
Victor Aguilar councilmember James Aguilar thank you mayor I'd like to
second so we've got a motion by Victor Aguilar with a second by James Aguilar
both council members honorable council members of this City Council at this
point in time do we've got any further discussion seeing then please vote all
votes are in and the motion carries unanimously I do not believe that we've
got any item six but I'm just going to look to my right and to my left nothing
on under item six we have not come to time of our agenda where folks from the
public can comment on items that are not on our agenda do we have anyone who
like to speak on something that is not on our agenda.
Mayor we have not received any comment cards for items looks like we have one
comment card from in the room and there is currently one hand raised online.
Proceed in the room first for non agenda items. Darlene being old in a renewed
City, San Leandro. How would you tell it's renewed? One way is because a mayor is
using technology that's up-to-date and not just a speech. It's involved, it's
encouraging, and I'm old. Where Spouts is, there needs to be some help. I called the
police department the other day and I got this impression there's something
wrong with these kids, what they're doing.
And then I find the evidence afterwards
that I've called the police department.
Our super intention of schools, in my opinion,
from listening to further things,
is that he lives out of a county.
He doesn't know the streets.
He doesn't know what these kids do after school.
He's got to hurry on to his teenager,
that I think there should be more constructive interplay
between the city, the city councils,
and so that the kids are not so rampant.
I'm an old lady, but these kids, when I say, you know what?
It was a year ago when things got whapped in my face,
and they're down at McDonald's with a plastic thing that's
nerve stuff.
But until I got close, I didn't know it was a nerve thing.
But they had 14 that the San Leandro newspaper,
are now eight pages said is illegal in California.
We need to educate the people in San Leandro better.
I will just tell you this, that the country of Denmark,
how they vote and other things goes
through the library cards.
Thank you.
Mayor, that is our only comment card from in the room.
So we'll close, pull a comment in person,
move online to open, pull the comment there.
Our first online speaker is Douglas Spaulding.
Good evening. Hello, San Leandro. It's election season. I'm reminded because there are all
kinds of announcements in my email and otherwise that mail-in ballots were mailed out to us
today. On the ballot here in San Leandro is Measure F, I discovered by going to the
Excellent City Clerk's page on the city website. And just to remind you all, because we haven't
talked about it. I guess my question is what are you, the city council, doing to promote measure
F? This is the one that calls for district elections per the California Voting Rights Act.
And what that will mean is that each of the six districts, each of the councilpersons for the six
city council districts, will be elected only by those people in that specific district. No longer
or will they be elected citywide?
Only the mayor's office will be elected citywide.
I'm in favor of district elections.
I think that it will encourage more people
to run for office, I think, you know, the more the better.
It promises, you know, greater representation
because you won't need as much money
to run a citywide campaign.
You won't have to knock on as many doors
and sent out as many mailers and all that kind of stuff.
So I think it's really time.
Our school district has district elections.
Next door in San Lorenzo, there are district elections.
Oreloma is now in the process of adopting district elections.
So it's time for San Leandro to do the same.
And if we fail to pass this measure,
it doesn't mean that we're gonna avoid district elections,
This just means that now we're going to face an expensive lawsuit with all likelihood of
losing and blinding up with district elections anyway.
So let's just go forward and do it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mayor, there are no more hands raised on that.
I'm closing public comment online.
At this point in time, we'll go through our agenda.
There is no public hearing today, nor are there informational presentations.
So we're going to move to our action item.
We have taken 10A at the beginning under the recognition section.
So let's move to 10 B presentation on the biannual budget.
We have director Nicole Gonzalez here to guide us through this.
Thank you.
Good evening, mayor, members of the City Council.
The item before you this evening is the amendment to the mid cycle fiscal year 2027 budget.
This is just a reminder of where we've been.
It's been quite a process with our mid cycle fiscal year 2027 budget.
are here tonight for adoption here in May of 2026. It's been a long road. We
appreciate the work that has been done by our staff to get us to this point. The
conversations and direction that we received from council and of course our
opportunity to work with the community on these recommended changes. So changes
that took place as a direction from council was the elimination of the
economic development studies in fiscal year 27 and 28 for cumulative reduction of 100,000.
We are also including the reduction in the business incentive program. So originally
it was proposed to be eliminated. Direct from council was to retain 25,000 in 2027, an additional
25,000 in 2028 for a total 50,000. So again, as a reminder, just on the changes
in revenue. This slide here will represent in column D the net changes to the projected revenue.
We are projecting a little less than a million dollars in original projected revenue. Again,
this is a net change of the total expenditures and transfers in comparison to the fiscal year
2027 adopted with a net change of 1.7 million reduction. And then as a reminder one of the
the things that we talked about along with the process of the budget more the
need for critical critical needs for infrastructure one of them being the cat
RMS and so in addition to the adjustments to the proposed adjustments
for the general fund this evening we also are looking for authorization from
the council to amend the information technology fund which would take into
consideration some reductions to services that provides the general fund
but also counting for the CAD RMS capital infrastructure project.
Similarly, the painting and roof replacements will be funded in the
facilities maintenance fund and so that is captured here and is also in the
resolution seeking increase in appropriation in the facility
maintenance fund of 1.6 million. Furthermore, there was further discussion
on the support from general fund transfers to other capital funds. In that
amount it was a reduction of a million dollars and so again seeking in the
resolution a change in adjusted appropriation for the capital fund of a
deduction of a million dollars. And then lastly just looking again at the 10-year
forecast. When we take into consider everything that we've discussed and
gone through over the last several months, again focusing on line 29, you'll
see that the city is meeting its 20% and really exceeding its 20% reserve
policy for economic uncertainties. And so as a reminder in past projections
before we did all this work over the last several months we were projecting a
very different picture. We were essentially not meeting that 20% goal in
fiscal year 2027 we were below that economic uncertainty by 2030 in the
negatives and then by 2032 the city was looking to project to have negative cash
available and so this is a very different picture than what we are
looking at even in June of 2026 again acknowledging the great work that staff
has done the input and review from our community and then the support and
direction that we receive from Council. And so just wanting to make sure that
we're constantly providing this as a point for the Council but for the
community as well that we are monitoring our general fund and the health of the
general fund so that we have long-term fiscal stability and sustainability. With
that we are seeking approval from Council to approve the resolution amending
the fiscal year 2027 budget including both the revenue and expenditures
appropriations. Okay so we'll do is we'll take any clarifying questions at this
time then we'll go to public comment then come back to council members
council member bolt please. Yes thank you appreciate presentation but more
importantly you wanted to reiterate what you said all the hard work that staff is
doing to make sure we're getting to the spot we need to be at. I want to point
out in in the file 26 191 I think it's page seven where it talks about the
painting of City Hall and the Marina Community Center. We set it on the day of
when we talked about appropriating a million dollars if we could divide that
up in between the two years. I don't know if we need a motion or what to make
this happen but I'd like to split that up so that we're doing five hundred
500,000 in one year, 500,000 in the next.
I mean, it helps us in the budget to do that.
It's kind of like when you do your dental work,
you know, you do it at the end of the year,
so you have two balances to go off of.
So, I want to make sure we're not forgetting.
So, I think that that's, the question is,
to achieve that end, would we need a motion?
Yeah, what do we need to do to make this point?
So, when we get to the discussion part of this,
You could make a motion to make that recommendation.
Okay, I was just making sure
that we're not going down that path
and I'm not stepping on anybody's toes.
I want to make sure we're going down that path.
That topic was discussed at the last meeting.
Three, yeah.
And I think that this reflects the consensus of the council,
but you are always welcome.
Okay.
To make a motion.
Seeing no other questions, I have one question.
The IT, the slide that had the IT information technology,
I just want to make sure that I understood this correctly.
So that's slide number six.
The decrease of 543-082 is the same as before,
or this is a new number.
This is the same number that has been presented before.
Thank you, that's all.
At this point in time, we will go to public comment
on this item.
Mayor, we have received three comment cards
from within the room, and there's currently
one hand raised online.
OK, let's go ahead and take our online hand,
and they will come back in person.
So we're opening public comment online.
Our online speaker is San Leandro Chamber of Commerce.
Good evening, everybody.
It's Emily Grego, president of the President's CEO
the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce. I wanted to say thank you to Councilmember Bowen and Bolt
for doing some work on these budget cuts around the business incentive program. Appreciate that.
Still very concerned about the cuts being made to the downtown ambassadors and the third party
cleanup company that helps with encampments. All of that is incredibly important to
community feeling safe and clean and for businesses wanting to be here and employees wanting to work
here. So just concerned about that. I don't know if this budget is going to come around again in two
years and then maybe some of that funding comes back to us. I feel like once you cut something
from a budget it's gone forever and so I'm just very concerned about that. Of course I also do
see that the chamber's budget is cut somewhat as well and I believe we've been a great partner to
the city and so I hope that you know as times get better maybe we see this funding coming back
but if you walk and the ARU I don't want to be remissed about the ARU those are the downtown
ambassadors um the ARU and the cleaning really add to the community just feeling safe where
businesses want to be where people want to come out and shop and so I'm concerned with those cuts
I hope there's some more discussion this evening around them. Thank you. Thank you mayor there
no more hands raised online. So we'll close public comment online and come into the room
opening public comment here. We received three speaker cards and those are from Brody Scotland
Shailani Alex and Alana Miller. And you guys can go ahead and come just come up to the front row
right here so that your walk is a little shorter.
Hi, I'm Brody Scotland with the Arts, Culture, and Library
Commission.
The staff report recommends eliminating the library art
grant funds, and that's a bummer.
Perhaps you've enjoyed the lovely mural at Jupiter
Corner, at Bethel Community Church on Bancroft,
or the butterfly mural just installed downtown,
funded by the art grants.
Local author Rose Whitmore was able to complete her first
novel with funds from this program.
resource. It's being published
in 20 27. We are making a
difference in our community
with these grants and thank you
for previously funding them in
2024. The budget for the art
grants was $80,000 this year. It
was down to $30,000. If this
passes, it will be $0. I know
that everyone's got to tighten
their belts, but that's not a
belt tightening measure. We
to the city. I just received an
invite to participate in San
Leandro's place branding
exercise. The invite said the
goal of the place brand is to
help us better position the
city as a great place to live,
work, visit and invest in. I
think art is essential to all
of those things, and I bet arts
and culture will feature
prominently in our eventual
that. I don't want to lose the
momentum we've built and the
hard work we've done. The city
used to pay a consultant close
to $10,000 to manage the prior
art grant program and now it's
all done in-house. For my day
job, I help manage an art grant
program and I provide my
expertise for free here after
busting my hump all day, because
I want to live in a city where
kindness matters, volunteerism
dollars. Thank you. Thank you. The next speakers are Shailani Alex and Alana
Miller. Good evening mayor and council members. My name is Shailani Alex and I
serve as a commissioner on the San Leandro Arts, Culture and Library
Commission. It's an appointment I'm honored to hold thanks to this council.
I'm here to address the proposed elimination of library public art funds.
While I understand the need to balance a constrained budget, I want to highlight
that this is a high leverage investment, one that represents a well under one
tenth of one percent of the city's total budget yet produces returns in three
fold economic activity, community well-being and civic identity. Studies
from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and Americans for the Arts show that
arts and cultural industries annually contribute over a trillion dollars to
the total US economy and at a smaller scale locally even modest public arts
investments can generate noticeable returns through increased foot traffic
audiences, spending money and nearby local businesses, and support for working
artists. But beyond economics, public art carries clear social values. It can
increase library visitation and encourage people to stay longer, ease
stress, and strengthen a sense of belonging in shared civic spaces. These
are things that squarely fall in alignment with some of the things
we're celebrating this month as well. So protect those values while respecting
our fiscal realities. I might offer the following suggestions. First, does this
This needs to be a full elimination or is a partial reduction possible?
And then second, and also in partnership with you, how can we use those preserved funds
to leverage external matching funds and partnership opportunities to amplify city dollars so that
we don't have to disrupt any plans and goals around the general fund.
As a commissioner and active worker in the arts and culture spaces, I am personally committed
to strong stewardship of this investment while elimination of this funding may create minimal
I want to thank you for your
work. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
thing. It's a very important
Over the past three years, the
San Leandro arts and culture
grants program has been a
testament to the city's
commitment to creating a more
vibrant, connected and
beautiful community.
The grant program is part of
our cultural infrastructure.
It has enabled artists, makers
and culture bearers who live in
San Leandro to practice their
crafts and build creative
capacity to build their own
arts and culture program.
The arts and culture grants
program has been a testament to
within their communities. The impact of these grants can be seen and
experienced all around in murals, art classes, mosaic, dance and music
performances, all these free and open to the public. This has fostered creativity
and innovation, skill-sharing and making San Leandro a place where artists and
art lovers want to live. Despite the achievements of this program, each year
its funding has been reduced. After 2027, its total funding will be $0. We are only
asking for the budget to sustain the current $27,000 a year grant program and keep this
momentum going. I asked the City Council to keep the arts and culture grant program in
the budget for 2027 and beyond. By backing the grants program, you send a clear message
that art is integral to the city, not an optional nice to have. Thank you.
Thank you. Mayor there are no more comment cards.
So we'll close public comment and come back to council members for discussion. We'll begin
Councilmember bolt I was gonna start with the motion but now I'm seeing it
light up so I will think thank you very much let's have some discussion before
you go to a motion thank you councilmember Bowen yes thank you mayor
we have absolutely had a lot of conversations about this budget and I
really appreciate the conversations that this council has been able to have and
obviously the finance committee and and all of the thought that's got into this
and I will say and I can imagine the rest of my colleagues feel the same way but every time we
work through the process I go home and I'm like oh my god I should have really advocated for this
more what if I would have done that and I go back to our retreat and a very clear decision for us
that we were going to really be, what's the word,
have strength in sticking to trying to balance this budget
and looking through the lines of fiscal responsibility
so that we don't have to make real hard cuts further along,
not to say that any of the things
that we're doing now are not hard.
I really, really hate that we are cutting library hours,
although it's gonna be up on the whole
because we made a decision to give access to folks
with another library, which is absolutely wonderful.
But it's the balance of it.
And I really wish we could not only fund the Ambassador
Program, but expand it down further on 14th Street.
And so many things we've talked about.
And then obviously hearing from our public commentaries
today, yes, I want to fund all of that.
What I would say is that hopefully this
not where we stay and that I know that this council in the comments that we've
made and in the work that we do and when we leave these chambers is really
to promote these programs because this is what the community wants and this is
what makes me under really wonderful so I think the push is going to be on us to
somehow be creative and whatever we can to try to support additional funding
that is not out of the general fund so that we can balance this budget but I
I would say I support the budget as presented
so that we can move forward with this
so that come July 1st, we can be in a good place.
But I think the direction, certainly from me,
is to, if there's any money,
certainly some of the programs and cuts
that have been floating through these conversations,
I think staff have noted and is really important for us
because I think so many of the things that we've talked about
really speak to not just the nice-to-haves,
because I understand it's not infrastructure necessarily
or it's not public safety, but it's the things
that make a community thrive.
It's the things that actually are
the root causes of so many of the things
that we're trying to address.
So this is a hard decision, but I
think that it's helping us as a city be in a better place.
And I don't know if the finance director wanted to respond.
If you'd like to weigh in on this or anything else.
Thank you.
I did just want to provide a little bit of context
about the mini-grant arts for the arts program.
Director of the library, Brian Simmons,
did provide some additional opportunity
for funding for 2027.
So through a combination of some carry forward dollars
as well as some gift funds that we have,
we will have enough funding in 2027 to fund that program
just through a different form of funding, as you mentioned,
so it won't be necessarily purely general fund,
but it will be a combination of some carry forwards
from other programs this year,
and then some gift funds that the city has received.
Was there anything that you needed to elaborate on that?
Please proceed, there you go.
I absolutely love that, and just wanna reiterate that.
Let's do that for opening the library on Mondays again
and maybe even Sundays.
Just throwing that out there,
really, really want that to happen
in the safety ambassador program.
I just wanna clarify something.
For safety ambassadors,
my recollection is that's in the future?
Is that this year?
It's being considered potentially
next biennial budget 28, 29.
So it is not included as a reduction in this budget.
So specifically for 29, so not for 28,
but for 29 fiscal year ending 29.
For the downtown ambassadors program?
Correct.
There's proposed reductions for consideration
in both 28 and 29.
Both, thank you very much for clarifying.
Vice mayor please.
Thank you.
I did have that as one of the kind of clarifying points
and to kind of add some more context,
but it's also my understanding
that the funding remains flat.
there's no cut, but the funding remains flat
for the ambassadors.
That is correct.
And I think some of the what we have all received
via email is around not including a COLA increase.
And so we are committing to funding the ambassador program
at the current rate, but needing to make the tough decision
of not including a COLA, but continue to fund the position
as the, in the same amount, so to speak.
I just, serving in the finance committee,
we've had a lot of really tough conversations,
both as a council during our strategy meeting in March
and even before that, as then director, UN,
finance director, UN kind of rang the bell several years ago,
even when I was first onboarded
to the council in 2024, staff has been ringing the bell
on the impending fiscal situation
that we are looking at.
And there's a couple of things that I wanna highlight.
One is that I am, despite the cuts,
and I do wanna clarify that every single department
is making significant cuts in relative
to their overall budgets.
Some of the departments are small, like HR.
So when we're looking at a proportional cut
versus the larger departments,
they're looking at a significant cut as well,
even though the number itself is not that large,
but the department is small.
But what I am proud, at least for this budget,
And this is why we have to make all these really hard
decisions is that we're protecting jobs this year.
No one is getting let go because of our budget situation.
I'm really proud of that.
It is something that we had to, at least for me,
it was a priority that I kept present
and in the front of my mind.
And it was something that I wanted to make sure
that we protected people's jobs in San Leandro
because the people who work here
actually provide the services that we all need.
It is not technology that does it, it's people.
It's people who provide services.
And that's something that I'm particularly proud.
Despite the really heavy and difficult cuts
that we have had to make, I'm proud of that.
Regarding, and I'm just going to drill down into some of the items that were brought up
by some of the public speakers, the third party encampment cleanup, essentially what it does is,
although it is a reduction in the appropriation, the new number is actually reflective of what we
actually spend year over year in third party encampment cleanup. So unless encampments
increase we will continue to see the same level of service. So really what we're looking at is
right sizing the appropriation to ensure that it actually is reflective of the usage.
We talked about the ambassadors. The ARU, that's the Alternative Response Unit that
several of my colleagues have been bringing up through the months. And that I know is
we worked really hard to get it off the ground and hats off to the fire department and to
all the other kind of integrating departments that helped make the ARU a success.
It is something that we're keeping an eye on and although it is not slated to be
to have a reduction, an overall reduction this year, we do have to find some bridge funding
over the next biennial budget.
It's something that not only does it
help the downtown businesses
and the people who come to downtown,
but I'm particularly proud of the lives
that it has changed of the people who are served
by the Alternative Response Unit.
And my gratitude to the staff who make this,
again, people who make this program work
and who make this program effective.
So thank you.
Finally, I just want to end with my gratitude
to the council.
We all have things that we deeply care about
and that we advocate and we,
I am particularly grateful for y'all's partnership
as we kind of navigate this particular year.
This is not the end of it.
We are looking at the next biennial budget also with cuts.
So we're gonna have to look deeper
and we're gonna have to think again about prioritizing.
This is just a one-year budget
and we're gonna do this all over again
for the next biennial budget.
My gratitude to the finance team
and to all of the department heads
who have brought us to this point,
my gratitude to the community who shows up
and elevates the priorities of what you wanna elevate
and it is hard for me to do this,
but thank the community for coming out
both online and through the forums
and all the meetings that we've had and I will close with that. Thank you.
Councilmember Bolt, please. Yes. Thank you. And I, again, I agree with
everything that was just said and the only thing I was going to add to Councilmember
Bowens was ARU and I know you've talked about that. It's important to you, but then Vice
Mayor did it. So good job. Sometimes it takes me a couple of times around the box to find
the address but I always find the address. Am I asking for something wrong
when I'm saying divide these two up? Now that I'm thinking about it, this is a
biannual. Can you speak to that please? Sorry. What I would say is if we split
it up it's not something that the city could necessarily afford. It does change
the projection for the city. The city has the ability to pay for that now and so
changing the direction and splitting it, it actually may not be as cost-effective.
Obviously also when you are bidding for additional more than one project, it
could account for some savings rather than bidding for two individual
projects. I don't necessarily have all those level of details. I am not an
engineer, but I do know economies of skills essentially as you're bidding for
two projects rather than one, there may be some savings associated with
mobilization but essentially it is in the budget this year because it is
something that we can afford and it's currently in the second part of our two
year and then next year we will come to you with a proposed new two-year biennial
budget. I just want to say director Marquis has basically said the same thing
about getting a discount when you bid both at one time and so I'm gonna
withdraw my suggestion to make it two parts. I'm not gonna have two people
telling me one thing and me do that something different. So I withdraw that
and I support the budget as is. So any other questions or comments? Okay so I'm
gonna weigh in with mine quickly. First just I agree with everything that
everybody has said big picture. I think another thing that I will highlight is
unlike some cities, we have not requested a salary give back or a salary increased
deferral from our employees. There are cities that are doing that. We have not
done that. So if there is someone front and center in terms of maintaining our
culture of dedication to our employees, who as you saw from State of the City
are doing some really great stuff, we really do put our money where our mouth
we recognize the contribution that they are giving us.
The second thing is that I will be at some point in the future
specifically making a proposal
that any excess funds that we receive
go to those deferred capital investments.
For every single dollar that we're not spending on repairing the roof
that leaks into our buildings,
for every single dollar that we're not spending on the roads,
not spending on the roads, the roads are getting worse at an individual road
level. We need to start addressing those hundreds of millions of dollars and the
other place would be I would be open to going directly to unfunded pension
liabilities. Those are the two things that pose the greatest risk to us to the
long-term financial stability of this city. That being said, I do want to talk
about what our public commenters came to speak about because I do think that
it's interesting that at a time when we are looking to cut historically what
always gets cut is the arts arts suffer anytime that their budget cuts and they
suffer it dramatically and it hadn't really dawned on me that the number used
to be like 100k or 80k or something like that I think when the Library and Arts Commission
were merged, it was 150 for a year. And then it went down to 30,000 and now we're really
talking about zero. And the reason that it's zero and not the 20,000 that something about
where we allocate some money is because the staff report makes it very clear. We are eliminating.
It doesn't say we're making an adjustment. It says we will be eliminating. And that's
just a fundamentally a really bad place to be the more that I think about it. Do I
think that everyone should take a decrease relative to two years ago or
three years ago? Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, sorry guys, I can't say that we're
gonna go back to a hundred thousand. It's just impossible as far as I'm
concerned. But I really struggle that when we're not even in crisis yet, we're
not in crisis, and yet we're completely eliminating those grants. Having driven
down Bancroft to go down to Jefferson Elementary. The fact that we have a giant mural directly
across the street from a school that brings joy and sunshine to students every single
day when they're dropped off at school. It's just amazing. The fact that you go downtown
and where you used to look at a nasty trash enclosure, now you see a beautiful butterfly
mural exhibit I think that's fantastic to me that's that's incredibly valuable
we talk about things like mental health investment and stuff like that that is
mental health investment so the only thing that I would propose different
from everything we've done because we've been slicing and dicing and all that kind of
stuff and I was in finance with vice mayor and also in finance so you
councilmember Aguila Victor Aguila I mean we we did a lot of cutting it was
is very painful.
But it didn't quite dawn on me how significant the arts
have already taken it.
And so to go to zero really fundamentally bothers me.
So the only thing that I would propose
is that we keep that $30,000 going forward,
that that is the direction.
We have to have something dedicated to that.
So we can continue to add just a little bit of art in our city
year after year.
We're not talking about millions of dollars.
talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. We're just talking about $30,000 and I am good in
math. Someone gave some math up there. The math was not right. It's not less than one percent.
It's not less than a tenth of a percent. It's like two one-hundredths of one percent. It is tiny what
we're doing now and I think that we can at least keep what we're doing. So that would be my
recommendation, my council members, that we adopt the budget recommendation as is but we make sure
that 30,000 that's currently going remains councilmember bolt I'll second
that okay at this point in time we've got a motion by Gonzalez a second by
bolt any further discussion please vote all votes are in and the motion carries
unanimously okay at this point in time we'll go to our next item on the
calendar which is I believe mr. Purota city attorney Purota leading us through
item 10 C thank you thank you mayor and thank you city clerk bunting this is a
presentation with actions counsel on SB 707 implementation the meeting
disruption policy and language access policy I'm Richard P. Yerota your city
attorney will recap what we've done so far related to SB 707 a summary of the
key provisions of the new legislation that went into effect January 1st 2026
and also has provisions going into effect July 1st of this year. We have
recommendations from the Rules Committee to the full council and an overview of
the proposed policies that were also vetted by the Rules Committee. In short,
SB 707 expands mandatory hybrid public access for City Council meetings. Recall
that especially during the pandemic, we went to virtual meetings under the
emergency declaration and we worked we had zoom meetings and we've since
instituted hybrid zoom meetings for council meetings SP 707 has made that
mandatory we have remote attendance flexibility allowances for council
members and other members of boards and commissions we'll talk about that's more
as well as mandatory language access outreach requirements staff has
recommendations that are focused on meeting legal requirements without
adding significant resource costs and that's a key driver and consideration
we'd like for you to consider throughout the presentation. Here we are in the
process of the implementation of SB 707 requirements. The assessment phase was
finished. We are now in the framework phase where we're establishing
governance with direction from the rules committee that's already occurred and
now here before you on the City Council. After the framework phase we will go
into the infrastructure phase which has already been starting to be planned or
we're configuring meeting rooms and technology, updating internal procedures
and training staff and presiding officers and presiding officers.
We're going to start implementation for the July 1st items of the legislation of
course in line with the law and we will continue to monitor and adjust and
return to council as needed with refinements or budget requests. Key
provisions of SB 707. There are three different categories of legislative
bodies to which SB 707 applies and these are all changes in the Brown Act
for that wasn't made clear SB 707 amended the Brown Act and the rules
apply differently depending on the type of legislative body council standing
committee or boards and commissions. What is important I think in sort of the
immediate sense and we have received questions from council members about this
as well is that SB 707 makes permanent rules related to legislative body
members, yourselves, use of social media and the slide says that yourselves as
members of legislative body shall not directly respond to any communication on
an internet-based social media platform such as Facebook, Instagram etc. regarding
matter that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body
that is made posted or shared by any other member one of your fellow council
members of the legislative body. This includes comments like emojis excuse me
this includes comments likes emojis and reposts. Essentially what this means is
that for example let's say Vice Mayor Verus Walton makes a post on Facebook
and council member bolt responds to it by liking it or putting a thumbs up
emoji to it or whatever another emoji that makes that shows agreement that's
prohibited you should not do that amongst yourselves as legislative body
members under this law in this rule naturally it's to prevent the
appearance of a seriatim or serial meeting amongst the council that did not
happen or decision or discussion occurred outside of an open and notice
meetings such as this one. Great question from councilmember James Aguilar
regarding what about a repost. Well what if councilmember James Aguilar posts
something and councilmember Victor Aguilar reposts it. That is also
prohibited. So just keep that in mind as well. What if the city however puts out
a post on Facebook advertising a city event or a calendar of some kind?
obviously great. That is not of course the city is not one of you all. This law
is between legislative body members so you can repost that particular city
issued or a city created post. Where we want it to be careful, so there's some
natural nuances to this, is that if a member of the public posts something and
And there are comments below that post, that comment section.
If you comment to it, a fellow council member, and this is an original comment to someone
else's post, not one of your fellow members' posts, but a member of the public, not on
the council, and someone makes a post, a comment, to that residence post, you again, this law
then applies.
You can't repost it, you can't like it.
You can't like the council members comment.
You can like the community members comment,
but the council members comment,
as we all understand in the cascade of the comments
of that post should not be liked, emoji.
I think I just created a new word, emoji, et cetera.
I can stop there and ask there any questions
or we can keep going there, if you'd like to.
Do we have any questions?
Could we begin with council member Bolt?
I think you answered it, but I wanna be extremely clear.
If the city posts something, date, something's going on,
one council member reposts it, that's that post.
And then I'll just say me, I see the same city post.
I can then repost the cities, and we're both reposting,
but they're the cities.
haven't created a Syria okay you have not great question thank you but to be
clear these are posts about subject matter within the subject matter
jurisdiction of the council yes mayor so for example if we're putting up a post
that says wow what a great cherry festival presently anybody could repost
that or like that yeah I think that's fine because it has nothing to do with a
matter such as our the budget decision that we're making right has nothing to
do with some legislation that we're considering it's just celebrating the
city of San Leandro I think that's fine there yes because I think that one has
right of what I've seen from council members that's what I see I see people
liking each other's that something good has happened in the manner the swim team
is some doing something and we're just celebrating uplifting the entire city
the other question that I have is with respect to personal accounts as opposed
to city accounts so I've got my own Facebook as a person and I've got my
mayoral Facebook I am assuming that what I do with my personal Facebook I can do
period full stop with no control this is a this is very great question again but
I do believe that if you are using your personal for city business reasons let's
Assume that I'm not right. That's why I have a mayoral Facebook and a mayoral Instagram
Yeah, I think that then as long as it's a very clear line that this is about one Gonzales
Private residents private citizen. Yes. Thank you
Any other questions?
Seeing then if you would proceed. Thank you
This is a mandate. I as I said before
there's a hybrid public participation requirement which we're doing right now is
Virtual participation is required for the public through a platform such as zoom or teams
We must adopt disruption and continuation policy if we do so because it's now mandated that we have this virtual participation
If the meeting is disrupted, that's like tech top the technology of the meeting the zoom or the teams
Goes out is unavailable
Then the meeting must pause and it can pause for up to one hour for access for
disruptions
For the disruption while good faith efforts are taking place to restore access. Of course if within the first three minutes we
Resume the zoom access then we don't have to wait that full hour, of course to resume the hybrid meeting
So our policy does reflect that it's just logical that that would be the case
However, if the meeting this cannot be brought back online within that hour
There are certain findings that the council can make to continue the meeting and continue its business without the virtual participation
And some findings that will be have to be made
We will of course work for that to never ever happen because we do enjoy I think and the public really really does participate
In our hybrid meetings and virtual meetings and it's been helpful
Here's an option that was created by SB 707 where we have a hybrid public participation
Option that's applicable to boards and commissions
Where virtual participation by the public at boards and commissions would be available under SP 707
The cost to do so right now is estimated to be
30,000 to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars and that goes to the upgrading etc and the staff time
To staff those boards and commission meetings which currently meet in person without a virtual option
There is a mandate for agenda translation city council meeting agendas must be translated into applicable languages in
San Leandro we use the American Community Survey, which is reputable and used by many other jurisdictions in
San Leandro Spanish and Chinese are
What the American Community Survey says are the languages we must translate our agendas to not each and every backup document
staff report or
study that we attach, just the agenda titles, the 20 or 30 or so words that
inform the public and gives a reasonable person the opportunity to understand and
participate in the meeting if they want to through a virtual or in-person. So the
related meeting information must be posted prominently online. What that
means is that we have to post that the agendas are available in Spanish and
Chinese in Spanish and Chinese on our main website. Go here and it's translated
to get to our agendas. We have a mandate to outreach and do reasonable efforts
for City Council meetings to encourage participation by groups that don't
traditionally participate in City Council meetings. That means that we do
public posting on our boards, our outside boards, our outdoor boards here at City
Hall for additional translations. I believe also they're available at the
Libraries as well and assist with meeting translation and interpretation at meetings, which we already do and provide a means
Translated again in the agendas to contact the city clerk's office to request translation and interpretation for our meetings
SB 707 also provides an option for fully remote member participation for eligible bodies and the eligible bodies are a finite list and they're listed on
the
slide the ineligible bodies would not be able to have fully remote member participation and
That is because of the unique subject matter of those particular bodies and they are listed here
there's an option for fully remote member participation for council standing committees your finance committee your
facilities and transportation committee meeting and your rules committee meeting
However, there are certain requirements all of the council members have to participate remotely if they are located in San Leandro
from locations within San Leandro that are accessible to the public and allow members of the public to go to that location and
participate remotely
We would have this room and the city clerk would be here to take public comment for members who want to come here
And again, this is for your standing committee meetings where the three of you are on the standing committee
For boards commissions all members may participate remotely without providing the address of their physical location
but then again that is also not recommended by staff because right now the costs associated with in
implementing that and
That council authorization would be required for that particular for a fully remote member participation
Like I said that one physical meeting location
Typically right here where the city clerk would be would be open to the public with one staff person to it
receive public comment at a static location and the council has to adopt findings every six months that fully remote member participation is
permitted
what the Brown Act SB 707 also did was codify the just cause
circumstances and
Clarify them in sp. 707 in the brown act and just cause circumstances
We know for this body allow remote attendance by one of you by a legislative body member
If they have these particular bullet pointed needs or issues
for the meeting
What this essentially means is that you don't have to publish?
Your address your static address in the agenda
Before the meeting and you would be able to attend the meeting without publishing
your address where a member of the public could go and
Participate in the meeting at an ADA accessible location wherever you are in the world. It's got to be a static location
But you are only limited you are limited to appear remotely under the just cause
Reasons that I list here for a maximum of seven meetings a year because this body the City Council meets three or more times per month
and of course for other bodies that meet five meetings per month it's a little
bit less so just cause is really about exceptional or emergency circumstances
it if you recall if there was an emergency circumstance the council
actually had to vote to allow you to participate remotely if it was an
emergency circumstance that particular requirement was removed from the Brown
Act by SB 707 so that it's just you announce why you're attending remotely
and then you just attend. There's no City Council approval required. This is a
busy slide I understand I'll just leave this up here for a moment because there
were the Rules Committee vetted all of these issues and made recommendations
and provided feedback to the full council here and now for you all to
consider decision point one we already do hybrid participation we support zoom
and teams and we did consider landline telephone as backup call-in but we do
have a landline telephone here in the room and they can you the members of the
public can use the telephone numbers that are provided in the zoom
invitation disruption policy we have that policy drafted it's been presented
it's in the agenda. Excuse me, it's in the year packet. We implement, what do you do
about implementing hybrid public participation for all legislative bodies? The Rules Committee
was supportive of staff's recommendation to take no action at this time regarding boards
and commissions. There was an interest in hybrid public participation for Council Standing
Committee meetings and there was a request for additional information on potential costs.
analysis policy that policy was is a mandate and is presented at this
meetings in this meetings packet simplifying public comment there was
Rules Committee discussion about whether to rely on prior subcommittee City
Council standing committee comments or continue taking comments at both levels
both at the standing committee and at City Council meetings the Rules
Committee recommendation was to take public comment at both and finally
authorizing members of eligible bodies to be fully remote staff recommended
taking no action at this time as it could require additional expenses for
the city to do so and the rules committee was supportive of staff's
recommendation the meeting disruption policy is presented to you as well I'm
sorry in the packet and we recommend adoption of that it requires again a
recess of at least one hour if service is disrupt is disrupted the meeting may
resume before the one hour has finished if service is restored or after the one
If certain findings are made and finally we codified the language access policy as required by SB 707
So staff recommends the City Council adopt the proposed resolution
That approves the City Council meeting disruption policy and the City Council meeting language access policy
Thank you very much
Do we have any public comment on this item?
Mayor we have not received any comment cards and we currently have
One hand raised online. Let's take the public comment online. In person is open and closed
our online commenter is
Alvaro Ramos
Can you hear me?
Yes, okay. So one of the questions that I really thought of when I was looking at this was
You know sort of what's coming to my mind is the compliance with the American
Americans with Disabilities Act,
I don't know if that's sort of like somehow outside of like,
you know, you're talking about language access,
but you didn't, there wasn't like a percentage
of the city's population of how much is,
for example, American Sign Language.
So that's something that I'm always thinking about
because I, you know, I don't have a disability.
I don't know what that lived experience is like,
but I also want to recognize that it can be really
difficult to even get into a meeting, quite frankly.
So I'm always thinking about what kind of things
could be done regarding assisted technology
and issues like that.
And I did like seeing the consideration of technology
failure as an issue.
I do think if your internet gets interrupted,
the computer stops working, then you're
going to need a telephone as a backup.
I think that the other thing that I just
find kind of annoying a little bit
is the remote attendance by the Brown Act.
I just feel like it should be unlimited remote access.
I think that's a change that should happen.
I know that there have been things going back and forth
with state bureaucrats and the governor about like,
we want to be remote.
And no, we don't want to be remote.
But the governor is out doing who knows what.
So I think it would be more forward looking
if it was unlimited.
Thank you.
Your time has elapsed.
Maybe there are no more hands raised online.
So we'll close public comment and come back
to council moral questions, discussion, dialogue.
Council Member Bolt.
Thank you.
Just on that last comment from the public,
is there a limit when we notice that we're gonna be,
for instance, when I'm doing work in a different state
and I have to, is there a limit to those?
No, for the, we'll call it traditional teleconference rules,
there's no limit.
Got it, it's only during emergency circumstances
when we do not provide an address that there's a limit.
Seven times, that is correct.
Okay, and then, thank you.
I just wanted to make sure on that.
And then last, that's a huge gap, 30,000 to 150,000.
That feels very like, eh, just throw some numbers out.
I'm really interested because we get it all the time,
especially at the facilities one we're in.
Like, oh, this needs to be online,
or we need to be able to participate remotely.
I'm interested, I don't wanna add to our budget right now
and, you know, go $150,000 into making it accessible.
But my question is, if we were to put it on YouTube,
like this is tonight,
But there's no public communication back and forth because I believe that's where the dollars come in is when we're allowing people to participate remotely, but if they could just watch it.
Is that illegal to just post it and let it play, and then they can't participate that way is that is there something wrong about that. No, that's not illegal to do.
The meetings are simulcast on zoom
And then I do they're not no, I mean on zoom
We don't mean we have a live zoom, but they're not on the city council is we're gonna let's just clarify the record
Yeah very quickly
City manager, please
Thank You mr. Mayor. Thank you counselor about the only meetings that are on zoom are
The city council meeting like the one we're in right now
Council but I think you're referring to the city council standing committee meetings those we do not stream those
we have a voice recording for those meetings.
So it's available at a later date?
Yes, it is available in our website
with the agendas and the minutes.
Is there a benefit, maybe there's not even a benefit then
to having it in the moment.
If they can't participate, I mean it just gives them
the option to hear it an hour earlier or something.
So maybe that's not even worth the effort.
Okay, yeah, that's all I got.
Councilmember Simon, please.
Yeah, my comment is somewhat in line
with Councilmember Bolz.
I get a lot of comments from my commissioners
as well as just members of the public
who would like to have more access to these meetings.
For example, the CPRB meeting, Arts Commission meeting,
they would like to have remote access.
A lot of people travel, they go to work
and they would like to participate, they cannot.
or the public would like to listen in.
But I understand there's a cost impact.
I understand that's why we're not doing this
is because there is a cost impact.
That's my understanding.
I'm curious back to the 30 to $150,000.
Is there, I mean, can we explore
if there's any more cost efficient ways to allow access?
Maybe there's newer technology out there, something,
because I know there's a great benefit to it.
And I know we're not doing it because of the money,
but if there is a more efficient way to do it,
I think there's a lot of value.
So I'm gonna bring that.
I think that's intended like for city manager
as opposed to a legal question, is that correct?
Let's start with city manager.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Thank you, Council Member Simon.
Technology-wise, as you can see,
we have the technology to run the meetings virtually
as we're doing right now.
It's staff capacity and so we would need someone to
Do the meeting on the virtual side?
So there's a there's staff person who's managing the room the in-person public commenters the presentation all of that
but someone else has to make sure that the virtual side is working for
boards and commissions that person right now isn't there because it's and we don't need to
Fund a staff person to be present at the meeting to do that work if the council directed us to do that now
We have to fund a person to do that work
Or individuals to do that work
Councilmember Simon, I'm assuming you wanted to continue
If it's a staff issue, I'm just hoping you know someday technology with AI or something could help us with this
I don't know if it exists now
but I
would really hope that
Sometime we could find some other options because I think there's a great benefit there. Thank you
Councilor Bowen, please thank you
Remember we have the rules community having a lot of very nuanced questions about all of these rules that kind of went in circles
But really did help us understand what was happening because it can get very complicated
So thank you city attorney for helping us walk through that and city clerk as well
I just wanted to make a motion to adopt the resolution to approve the City Council meeting disruption and meeting language access policies and to add chapters
14 and 15 respectively to the City of San Liena administrative code
Councilman James Aguilar mayor all second
So get a motion by council member Bowen with a second from customer James Aguilar
I did have a couple of questions and then I'm supportive ultimately
But I do want to have a couple questions answered quickly did it do we have any other speakers?
Seeing that I'm gonna go ahead and ask the questions.
For the boards and commissions in particular,
if they were to permit remote locations,
the individuals would not have to permit public comment
from those remote locations, is that correct?
That's correct.
Okay, thank you.
If the hybrid option went down,
So suppose that we did it for these boards and commissions.
If the hybrid option failed, would they also
need to wait to continue their meeting,
or could they continue?
No, they would have to wait.
They would have to wait, OK.
Thank you.
And then the last one.
I know we had a discussion at Rules about a telephone option.
And I've heard some nuanced things.
I just want to try to button it up nice and tight.
As I understand it, for our city council meetings,
we have chosen an AV, audiovisual option.
And I think in particular, we use Zoom.
By virtue of having publicly agendized that
as our remote participation method,
it's my understanding that if Zoom went down,
we could not switch to the telephone option
because the announced method is our method.
That is correct.
So if the Zoom went down and we were not able to recover it
within that one hour period,
the council would be able to make findings
to continue the meeting without using any virtual option.
Okay, that's all that I've got.
Thank you council members for your thoughts on this.
Thank you for the rules committee
because I know I think this went twice through rules
if I remember correctly and so it was good to get,
unanimous guidance out of rules to adopt staff's recommendations. So at this point in time, we've got a council we've got a motion from
Councilmember Bowen with a second from Councilmember James Aguilar, please vote.
All votes are in and the motion carries unanimously.
Okay coming to item 11. I don't believe we have any council requests to schedule agenda items. Are there any announcements?
from council members
Beginning with council member Poland
Thank You mayor. I'm just want to share a few quick things on
Thursday I attended a really informative
East Bay Division meeting for Cal cities and the topic that we chose to discuss was on e bikes
And I just wanted to share some information about that with the rest of the council because I think it's something that's gonna keep
Coming up. I'm just this week mother in Orange County was
charged with involuntary manslaughter
because her child ran into an elderly person
and that person unfortunately passed away.
It's obviously not, it's something that's coming up more
and that was the point is that in certain communities,
I've not heard as much in San Leandro,
but I know that obviously it goes within jurisdictions
or across jurisdictions and is problematic.
But ridership is up, but what we basically learned,
we were able to hear from both the Transportation Committee
because there are no less than 12 bills
going through the state legislature right now
regarding this in terms of any sort of regulation
and also to do with
enforcement and also to just figure out
who's responsible for what,
because it is happening in cities,
but then is it the manufacturers, is it the parents,
Is it police that can follow up with any sort of enforcement?
And so I will say that it was incredibly insightful.
There's a 200 page slide deck that we
were given by the expert we heard from the Maneta
Institute that I'm happy to share with the rest of the council
and staff so they have it.
It's an interesting read, obviously, 200 slides is a lot.
But what we were able to glean out of the conversation
was one, how important it is to work
on the short of legislation that will pass
that is seemingly very far off into the distance
because it's very complicated.
And also funding is an issue of anything
that we wanna get done.
There's gonna be a lot of pushback
because can we afford to the state
or cities afford to do it.
But around education with the school district
and with the parents, CalCities has resources for that.
Danville has been working a lot on this,
but really so that both your consumers,
parents buying e-bikes understanding
what exactly they're buying because a lot of times
we think they're e-bikes and they're just basically mopeds
or they can be easily increased in speed.
So just thinking through how we can sort of be
on the front side of this because I think
that it will become more problematic as we go.
So I wanna share that.
And then I also really was,
really today's beginning announcements
and recognitions was really sweet.
it felt like we were uplifting
three really great organizations in the city.
So in particular, obviously the fact
that it's mental health month,
and especially for the HPI community,
something that is often unsaid is really important,
and to have Asian health services right across the street,
and their expansion and programming
has just been really phenomenal.
And then also to do the Pledge of Allegiance
with our newest citizens was wonderful.
I remember going through that process and being naturalized.
I actually, my first job out of college
was to teach citizenship classes
at a nonprofit for a refugee.
So that type of work is really important.
And especially during a time when we think about immigration,
it's not always the most positive.
It's really nice to know what the immigration and naturalization
services is really about and about really uplifting
the community that is so enriched by immigrants
in our community.
And also, I forgot the last time to announce it,
But I always want to uplift the San Leandro food pantry.
And so if you want to donate to them,
because the increase in prices of everything,
including gas being over 21% more,
is really making it very difficult for people
to be able to decide between getting to work
and getting food.
And so the number of people that are going to San Leandro
food pantry at Alameda food pantry is continues to rise.
So please do what you can to support them.
We'll continue with Council Member James Aguilar.
thank you mayor just a couple of updates on my end um last month and this month so far i've been
meeting with the directors of the city's departments and i'm continuing to meet with directors of
every one of them um and each meeting has been really really exciting it's been an opportunity
to pop around the city and city hall um to get to know what their challenges are what are they
facing and what are they also celebrating at the same time um i also attended the lend hand
Foundation's Beyond Backpacks Gala on Friday the 24th and I uplift that
because I think it's a call out that there are spaces where city leaders
definitely can gather to support our public schools and so if it's an
organization that I want to uplift it's Land to Hand Foundation and they are
really awesome and I thank Supervisor Tam for the invite to attend. Also
attended the State of the City address beside Councilmember Bowen on the 28th
and I really want to congratulate the mayor
on a fantastic address that really balanced
the amazing progress that our city is making,
but also showing that there are some realities
that we face and challenges that we have ahead.
And so that's kind of some,
a couple of things I wanted to uplift.
And I think that that's all I have for this evening.
Thank you, mayor.
Thank you.
We'll proceed with vice mayor.
A couple of events that I wanted to highlight
that I attended since the last meeting
was the law enforcement memorial ride
that the police department hosted last week
in honor of fallen police and service animals who
served the police department.
It was a truly touching event with a delegation that
is writing thousands of miles.
I forget how many miles Mayer also attended that event.
And it was a truly touching event.
Also just hats off to the recreation team
who put together a very well attended Cinco de Mayo event.
And it's always a joy to see the mariachi singing
getting the crowd kind of warmed up for the bile flor chlorico, bicosta de oro,
it's always such a joy to see young people enjoying and I also wanted to
highlight one of the mayor's comments at the Cinco de Mayo celebration was that
there were folks from other cultures that came to that event to experience
said and listen to music and listen and watch young folks dance so that was
touching and then finally I attended the Rosales sister scholarship gala this is
a foundation that was born out of necessity from the Rosales sisters and
and which one of them lives here in San Leandro,
and they provide scholarships for students
going to college and university.
And it's always, as a person who has dedicated
the majority of their career to access
in post-secondary and higher education,
now more than ever, we need folks to step up
and provide support to young people
who are looking to advance their careers
and their lives through post-secondary education,
whether it's through a community college, a trade,
or a traditional college degree.
Ultimately, we're all learners, and we're lifelong learners,
and that's something that Rosales Scholarship
is able to provide these young folks.
And those are just the highlight of some of the events
that I attended since our last meeting.
Thank you, Councillor Victor Aguilar.
Thank you, Mayor Gonzales.
I just wanted to report that on April 8th,
I attended the 1,146th meeting of the board of trustees
for the Alameda County Mosquito Bateman District.
We inducted a new participant, a new trustee.
His name is Ted Kinch from the City of Piedmont.
We also approved the LED light upgrade.
And we also pointed a colleague to the Hayward Area Shoreline Planning Agency called HASPA.
I also, we did not have any West Nile virus to report at the time, but we did get emails from
Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District that there was a bird that tested positive for West
Nile virus recently. So that happened in Newark. But we currently have no one that tested positive
for West Nile virus.
So that concludes my report.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So at this point in time, I'll see into more hands.
I will proceed.
Some of the things that I attended
got to celebrate with the Bamboo Advanced Beauty College
on their seventh anniversary.
Very touching story by a Vietnamese immigrant who
basically built a beauty school from scratch.
And the school teaches in multiple languages,
not just Vietnamese, including Spanish.
SLPD was awesome to attend the swearing in,
if only for briefly to see so many families,
to see so many individuals celebrating
the swearing in of new officers and the awards
that officers were receiving
for some of their hard work, life saving.
It was a life saving recognition award,
which I thought was just very, very touching.
Arbor Day, thank you Parks and Rec staff
for your wonderful Arbor Day celebration,
the tree planting.
There's a pocket park at the corner of Wicks and Merced.
And there's some additional work to be done,
but just to see so many students from Madison Elementary,
they're planting trees with their class,
learning about nature, getting their hands dirty,
making a difference in their world.
I won't say anything about State of the City
other than please go watch it online, it's on YouTube.
And you can see all the great things
that are happening in the city
and then some, I think I call it hard truth.
We talked about some of the tough stuff
that needs to be discussed.
Saw a great collaboration between
the San Leandro Art Association and Evergreen Nursery,
and I love any time that we can highlight
collaboration in our city.
Between businesses and non-profits,
it's something that's really important to celebrate.
And so I would encourage other businesses
and non-profits out there to find ways
to continue that collaboration.
I know we've got some restaurants downtown
that are very good about sharing some of their hard-earned
dollars when organizations like boosters or others come
and they have a special night.
You eat in.
You eat in.
I think Roundtable is doing one right now.
Sons of Liberty has been very good,
and there are many other businesses.
So thank you to our businesses who collaborate, most recently
Evergreen Nursery.
On May Day, I had the opportunity
to attend both the career day at the high school
and then the construction trades workforce initiative.
Now, that's particularly important
because here within the city of San Leandro,
there are three sites, two established and one nascent,
where young people are receiving the benefits of that early
training.
So when it's time to take the apprenticeship entrance exam
so they can be mathematically prepared
and actually be firing on all cylinders
when they go to take that test.
So a lot of thanks to CTWI for all the work
that they're doing in various places in the country,
but particularly here in the city of San Leandro
for the only thing I'll add on Cinco de Mayo.
Very impressed by the professionalism
of the city staff.
Everything was beautiful.
The tables were covered.
I mean, it was just a class act.
So thank you.
Not only was the music fantastic,
I really, really enjoyed both the mariachi
and the dancing.
That wreath ceremony, that was a number one
class, class stuff for the police department.
And then two last things, Delaine's Nail Care
did a community event in downtown San Lander
taking literally our most vulnerable residents
and offering them free foot care.
And they did it for two days in a row.
They had a number of community sponsors
who came together to support her
in this vision that she had.
So there is no reason why if you are 65 years old
and overweight and can't reach down
and take care of your feet,
that you shouldn't still receive the care that you need.
They did some pre-diabetes screening on site
and other things.
So I was just very grateful to see that
here in the city of San Landro downtown.
So for all that's happening here in the community,
certainly I am very grateful.
We do not have a meeting next week.
I think we've become accustomed to work sessions
on the second Monday of the month.
We do not have one this coming week.
Our next meeting is on Monday.
That's a Monday, right?
Monday, May 18th.
And so with that, the time is officially, whoops,
is it that you're getting the eye?
Please proceed.
Thank you, Mayor, and I promise you it's not on purpose.
I just forgot as we're talking about community events
and businesses, it triggered things that I wanted
to mention, especially because we're not gonna have
the meeting next week.
And also, these events are coming up this weekend,
but I just wanted to shout out the AAPI Fest
that's being put on downtown by the downtown district,
which is gonna be the first time they're doing one
specifically for the AAPI Fest,
which is gonna be fantastic.
So that's this Friday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. downtown.
And then the other thing that's very,
it's also food related, but the taste of Asia
is also happening this month.
and so it's really an opportunity to be able to explore
all of the different AAPI, ANHPI restaurants
that we have in town and we have many.
And so this information is on our city's socials
and then also I think easily you can find it
on the chamber website as well.
Definitely get out there and enjoy some of our fine dining
and we'll see you next Friday as we celebrate
our second Friday going into full swing with the AAPI Fest.
Our time is officially 9.02 and we are adjourned.