[3:09] Good morning and welcome to the Finance and Management

[3:11] Committee meeting of Tuesday, July 14th, 2026.

[3:15] The time is now 9:31 a.m.

[3:17] and this meeting may come to order.

[3:19] Before taking roll, I will provide instructions

[3:21] on how to submit speaker cards for items on this agenda.

[3:24] If you're here with us in chamber

[3:26] and would like to submit a speaker

[3:28] card, please fill one out and turn one into myself or Clerk Representative.

[3:31] No later than ten minutes after the start of this meeting

[3:33] or before the item is read into record.

[3:36] Registering to speak via zoom is now due 24 hours prior

[3:39] to the start of this meeting time.

[3:41] This meeting came to order at 9:31 a.m.,

[3:44] and speaker cards will no longer be

[3:46] accepted ten minutes after meeting that time, 9:41 a.m..

[3:49] We'll now proceed with taking roll Council members.

[3:52] Brown present

[3:55] Unger here.

[3:56] One present and Chair Ramachandran here.

[4:01] Thank you. We have four members present. Chair, before.

[4:03] Before we begin, do you have any announcements at this time?

[4:07] No. This is the last set of

[4:09] committees before our summer recess,

[4:13] which is why we have a packed agenda today,

[4:16] and I look forward to getting through it.

[4:22] Thank you. Reading in item one approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 23rd, 2023 or sorry, 2026.

[4:29] We have one speaker that signed up,

[4:30] but he's not on the zoom queue.

[4:36] All right. Is there a motion?

[4:40] So moved.

[4:43] Thank you.

[4:46] Sorry. Thank you. We have a motion made by Council Member Unger, seconded by Council Member Brown to approve the approve

[4:50] the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 23rd, 2026.

[4:53] Honorable Council Members Brown Unger

[4:56] I, Wang I and Chair Ramachandran.

[5:01] Thank you. Item one passes with four eyes to accept the draft minutes

[5:03] from June 23rd, 2026.

[5:06] Reading in item two Determination of Schedule,

[5:08] last standing Committee items, also known as your pending list.

[5:11] We have one speaker that signed up,

[5:13] but he is not in the queue, sir.

[5:16] Okay. Thank you. Anything from ministration? Nothing at this time.

[5:19] Thank you.

[5:19] Okay. I will entertain a motion.

[5:24] Second.

[5:28] Thank you. That's a motion made by Councilmember Ungar, seconded by Council Member Brown

[5:29] to accept the determination of schedule,

[5:30] outstanding committee items as is on roll.

[5:34] Council members. Brown I, Ungar I, Wang I and chair.

[5:38] Ramachandran I thank you.

[5:40] Item two passes with for I

[5:42] so accept the determination of schedule

[5:44] about standing Committee items as is reading in item three.

[5:50] Adopt a resolution to accept and appropriate

[5:54] grant funds from the Oakland Fund in an amount not to exceed $202,500 for a comprehensive,

[6:00] independent audit of the City of Oakland technology systems.

[6:04] And we have three speakers that signed up to speak on this item.

[6:08] All right. We will hear from staff.

[6:13] Good morning, chair and members.

[6:15] I'm Erica Estrella, director of data and technology transformation

[6:17] and the office of Mayor Barbara Lee.

[6:19] The item before you is a resolution to accept 202,

[6:23] 500, $2,500 in grant funds, funds from the Oakland fund.

[6:28] The funds will pay for an independent

[6:29] audit of the city's technology systems.

[6:31] If I may share an attic anecdote,

[6:34] when I started last year,

[6:35] I sat in the budget meeting and learned about people

[6:38] needing to hand walk,

[6:41] hiring documents between departments due to lack of systems, innovation.

[6:44] I have to say I was shocked.

[6:45] For context, my background is over 20 years

[6:48] in private sector technology

[6:49] and if that had ever been the case anywhere I worked,

[6:52] everyone would drop everything to get it fixed.

[6:55] We pursued this funding because we have heard over

[6:57] and over that our system's failures

[6:58] like this are part of many of the challenges facing the city,

[7:02] not only just in hiring,

[7:03] but in contracting and other areas as well.

[7:06] We cannot land on the right fixes

[7:08] for these issues without fully understanding the problems.

[7:11] This audit will show us what we need to do

[7:13] to make our systems work for our employees and our residents.

[7:16] We will follow the city's existing contracting processes

[7:18] to select an independent firm to conduct the audit.

[7:22] The audit will give us a complete list of every system the city uses.

[7:24] Illustrates how technology supports

[7:26] our hiring and contracting work from start to finish.

[7:28] It will show us where assistance failed to connect

[7:30] and will rank every problem it finds what needs work,

[7:33] how urgent it is,

[7:35] how hard it would be to fix, and what the fix would cost.

[7:38] This will give city leadership a clear eyed view into the state

[7:40] of our technology systems,

[7:42] and what it will take to improve them.

[7:44] Oakland deserves systems that work.

[7:46] This is one step to getting there.

[7:49] Any questions?

[7:50] Thank you.

[7:53] I only have a question for finance department.

[7:56] I see that the funds come from 2999.

[8:01] Was this previously budgeted

[8:04] in the biennial cycle,

[8:06] this project, or is it a new project

[8:08] that we're identifying funds to the chair?

[8:10] No, this is a new item that was not included

[8:12] in your biennial or mid-cycle adopted budget 2.9

[8:15] is our miscellaneous grant fund.

[8:16] That's normally where we would receive

[8:18] the grant of the nature and.

[8:20] Okay. Thank you.

[8:22] Colleagues, Council members Brandon Wong.

[8:27] Excellent. Well, thank you so much for your work on this.

[8:30] Very, excited that we're moving forward with

[8:33] an initiative in this manner.

[8:35] I believe that is long overdue.

[8:39] And I know we've had the opportunity

[8:41] to talk at great length

[8:43] about, some of these, tech opportunities.

[8:45] And so I look forward to seeing the results of the audit.

[8:48] But just a couple questions that I did have.

[8:51] Would you happen to know,

[8:52] the the specific timeline for the RFP process?

[8:57] I'll start with that first.

[9:00] I don't know. The timeline will follow the city's existing contracting

[9:02] and RFP processes to determine which,

[9:05] contractor we'll use for this. Excellent.

[9:07] And as I was, reading through the report,

[9:12] I guess correct me if I'm wrong, will you all need to come back

[9:16] once you find the the once you select the folks

[9:20] to do the audit, or can you just move forward

[9:22] so we can just move forward?

[9:24] Okay. Excellent. Thank you.

[9:26] Councilmember one.

[9:32] Thank you. First of all, thank you so much for pursuing this.

[9:35] I agree, I think your reaction mirrors mine and I

[9:40] have worked in the government, so I'm comparing,

[9:45] Oakland's city government compared to other governments,

[9:47] which are notoriously behind the ball on technology. So,

[9:53] I think one thing I just, have a quick question on is,

[9:58] one thing that I have noticed is a continual challenge

[10:02] in the city of Oakland is our ability to enforce

[10:06] against civil and administrative fines,

[10:09] that came uncovered around the illegal dumping challenges.

[10:12] I know that the expenditure plan should

[10:15] help resolve some of those issues,

[10:16] but it's pretty much across the board.

[10:19] And so, I would like if this audit has room for,

[10:24] you know, additional things to look at that,

[10:26] that be part of the audit to figure out.

[10:28] Just, I think there's a disconnect

[10:31] across the departments in terms of our ability

[10:34] to do this sort of civil enforcement.

[10:37] That is a basic function of city government

[10:40] through the chair, will absolutely consider that

[10:42] if we have room in audit for it. Okay, great. Thank you.

[10:51] Yes. Calling in the names that signed up to speak on item

[10:55] number three, in no particular order,

[10:56] you can come up to the podium or if you're on zoom,

[10:59] please raise your hand to be easily identified.

[11:01] Kevin Dally, Blair Beekman and Missus Adeola Bala.

[11:05] All right.

[11:06] Kevin Dally I have a couple of

[11:10] well my main question, how do members of the public

[11:14] submit suggestions for areas that the audit needs to cover?

[11:19] I'm going to mention a couple areas that I think

[11:21] are a problem.

[11:23] I definitely would like an audit of how three

[11:26] one ones or calls are handled after they leave.

[11:31] 3112311 database

[11:34] communicates with multiple different databases.

[11:38] Sorry. How much time do I have know?

[11:40] Okay, thanks.

[11:41] They communicate with multiple 311 database basis.

[11:45] If I reported a pothole, I can't determine

[11:47] which department it was assigned to unless I call the 311

[11:53] support and talk to a person.

[11:55] Sometimes it should be go to the 3110

[11:59] sorry to the pothole department,

[12:01] but other times it needs to go to,

[12:06] the permit department because there was something

[12:08] not correctly done that left a hole in the street.

[12:12] So I definitely want to make sure that there's a way for

[12:15] community engagement for

[12:18] the tech audit.

[12:20] Another suggestion that just hit today.

[12:23] I would love to have a way on the agenda

[12:26] signed up to find out which items I've signed up for.

[12:30] So when I arrived today, I was nearly positive

[12:33] that I'd signed up for this item,

[12:34] but there's no way to go to E comment

[12:38] once you're at 23 hours and 59 minutes

[12:41] before the meeting, that disappears.

[12:43] So it no longer tells me whether I'm signed up.

[12:45] I have to go to email, click on,

[12:49] speak up Oakland and hope I can figure out

[12:52] which of the way too many items that I signed up for.

[12:55] It's the one that I want to talk about right now.

[12:58] So anyway, hoping to hear more about this.

[13:00] Thanks.

[13:05] I'm going to bring this to your attention again,

[13:07] since you tend to ignore important things.

[13:10] Data centers.

[13:13] You have taken no position on data centers in the city of Oakland,

[13:16] and that impacts electricity,

[13:18] water and noise issues.

[13:21] So somewhere I can't remember what state or city

[13:25] the water that's coming from the data

[13:28] center, it's been discovered has a bacteria

[13:31] that's affecting the quality of the water.

[13:34] So this is your last meeting all committees.

[13:37] You're not going to have anything.

[13:38] All some of the deal with the data centers.

[13:40] You got time for sanctuary cities,

[13:41] but you don't have time for this issue.

[13:43] I don't understand how this issue

[13:45] is coming from the mayor's office.

[13:48] It would seem like this would come from the Department of Technology.

[13:50] I don't know how that happened, that it comes from that

[13:53] from that source.

[13:57] Whenever you have an audit, it is common knowledge

[14:00] to be able to estimate from the the vendor

[14:03] how much time it's going to take to complete the audit.

[14:07] And I think you asked the question

[14:08] and they didn't know and that we should know

[14:12] how time sensitive is this?

[14:15] Once you go through phase one, the next phase

[14:18] is recommendations.

[14:19] And that's going to have a cost component.

[14:22] The question is can the city function

[14:25] if we are unable to meet any of the recommendations

[14:28] because of the cost component, because of staffing,

[14:32] because of equipment.

[14:34] So we're going through a up a process

[14:37] where we haven't looked at the whole picture.

[14:40] Don't start phase one, spending all this money.

[14:44] If you can't complete phase two to some satisfaction,

[14:49] what sense is it makes to identify a problem

[14:52] when you can't resolve the problem?

[14:55] So the grant is whenever you have a grant, where's

[14:58] what is the source of this grant money?

[15:01] Can it be used for other higher priority things?

[15:05] Always ex if the grant requires

[15:08] matching funds, nobody asks that.

[15:13] Thank you for your comments, chair.

[15:14] That concludes all speakers on this item.

[15:17] All right. Thank you.

[15:18] I will entertain a motion so moved.

[15:26] Thank you. We have a motion made by Councilmember Brown, seconded by Councilmember Ungar,

[15:29] to approve the recommendations of staff

[15:31] and to forward this item to the July 21st City Council agenda on roll.

[15:35] Council members. Brown I, Ungar I, Wang I and chair Ramachandran.

[15:41] I thank you. Item number three passes with four eyes to forward

[15:44] this item to the July 21st City Council agenda.

[15:46] And to the makers of the motion is that on consent?

[15:51] Okay. Thank you. On consent

[15:53] reading in item four,

[15:55] receive an informational report on the one year update

[15:59] to the fiscal year 2026 to 30 Oakland Road Map

[16:04] to Fiscal Health a plan to address mid and long term city financial challenges.

[16:08] And we have

[16:09] three speakers that signed up to speak on this item.

[16:13] Good morning to the Finance Committee, Brad

[16:14] Johnson Director of Finance.

[16:15] In view of the time we have,

[16:17] I'm going to move very quickly through, brief update.

[16:20] The information is contained within your packet.

[16:22] The city's roadmap to have fiscal health

[16:26] is an effort to address the city's long term

[16:28] financial challenges through structural changes

[16:31] to how the city does business and how we address our long term

[16:34] liabilities and structural budget deficit.

[16:37] The roadmap contained 11 planks.

[16:40] I will provide you a brief update on each of them.

[16:42] And again, there's more detail in your packet.

[16:44] The city's first plank was, which was, put into place

[16:47] immediately, was to establish a physical health executive team

[16:50] to manage our initiatives.

[16:52] This team does meet routinely.

[16:55] The second plank was to work

[16:56] on a more aggressive structural balance

[16:58] during our current biannual budget period.

[17:02] I'm happy to report that the structural imbalance in the General Purpose

[17:04] Fund has been reduced substantially

[17:06] from where it was a year ago, when this was proposed to

[17:09] a, single digit million number within your mid-cycle budget.

[17:15] And we'll continue as we go into our biannual process to reduce that further.

[17:19] The third plank was to diversify the city's revenue base.

[17:23] As we're all aware, this city,

[17:25] the efforts to adopt measure E,

[17:27] or a similar measure were not approved

[17:29] at the July election to the city council.

[17:32] We'll have to consider other measures

[17:33] in order to fulfill this proposal at future election

[17:37] cycles. Should that be desired?

[17:40] We presented earlier this calendar year,

[17:43] at plank number four, a multiyear plan

[17:46] to achieve voter mandated staffing and services levels.

[17:51] As you may remember, the total cost for doing that was $40 million annually.

[17:54] Your mid-cycle budget does make progress on this initiative

[17:57] by coming into compliance with measures C, D,

[18:01] Q, parks and homelessness.

[18:03] And it's related to the city auditor staffing

[18:08] pulling five related on a long term plan to contain rising pensions costs.

[18:11] This is a little bit delayed,

[18:12] although we are in the process of pulling in additional,

[18:16] resources to develop a this plan for containing

[18:19] pension and benefit costs.

[18:21] I will note that the proposed action,

[18:24] for pre funding of our unfunded liability

[18:25] as it relates to CalPERS is a major step

[18:28] in this direction and should be considered

[18:29] a major effort to address this plank in our policy

[18:34] number six, related to contingency plans

[18:36] regarding our state and federal risks.

[18:38] We did do an assessment of this in our mid-cycle budget,

[18:40] and we were able to allocate resources into the spaces

[18:44] we thought most at risk.

[18:45] We continue to monitor. This is an ongoing effort

[18:49] this fall related to plug

[18:50] number seven,

[18:51] you will receive a comprehensive update

[18:52] regarding our financial policies.

[18:55] So this body should expect to consider

[18:57] a comprehensive update, including additional

[19:01] elements to maintain long term fiscal health

[19:03] with your financial policies, to be considered

[19:06] this fall, we will also be doing long term investment

[19:09] plans on infrastructure, fleet and systems.

[19:12] These are in conjunction with the ongoing work to refer

[19:15] to reform our procurement, hiring, contracting

[19:19] and IT systems that are going at the same time,

[19:21] along with, investments

[19:23] that we're taking on our deferred maintenance and fleet.

[19:27] We have done significant strides on plank

[19:29] number nine regarding ongoing revenue investment,

[19:31] including substantial and additional enhanced efforts

[19:34] to improve business tax collection

[19:36] and now ongoing efforts to improve collections

[19:39] regarding parking resources.

[19:41] There's an ongoing plan regarding, plank

[19:44] ten on our economic development action plan

[19:47] on our Economic and Workforce Development Department

[19:49] to strengthen the city's revenue base.

[19:51] I should note that the efforts to bring Costco into West

[19:53] Oakland are a strong element of that, playing

[19:56] along with the actions that this body took yesterday

[19:58] about development of the Coliseum site, in terms

[20:01] of putting that into long term economic use for the city,

[20:05] and the city is continuing to work, as I mentioned,

[20:07] on procurement efforts,

[20:09] and performance measurement efforts for our contractors.

[20:12] We are hoping to roll those out, in our next cycle of review.

[20:16] And we are working citywide on performance measurements.

[20:18] And I you see a more,

[20:20] full implementation of that effort

[20:22] with your biennial budget process.

[20:26] That is a very brief overview. I've kept it brief for the benefit of this committee,

[20:28] and it's time happy to take any questions you may have.

[20:31] Thank you.

[20:32] Just want to start off appreciating,

[20:36] the many, notes of progress

[20:39] that's been done over the past year.

[20:42] I think on a number of these items when it comes to our,

[20:46] budget balance, diversifying our revenue base,

[20:50] certainly the voter approved measures,

[20:53] among other things, have been, my business tax collection.

[20:58] We've seen improvement.

[20:59] We've used your guidance

[21:01] and suggestions to help craft our budget,

[21:04] which I do believe we passed,

[21:06] that had on a number of these points as well.

[21:08] So I look forward

[21:09] to continuing the progress on all of these ten points,

[21:13] to see how we can do even better a year from now.

[21:16] Colleagues, questions.

[21:17] Councilmember Brown.

[21:19] Sorry. Councilmember Ungar, Brandon Monk. Hi.

[21:22] So in 2013, we became part of the new pepper system,

[21:26] which increased the retirement age for police

[21:28] and fire by seven years and reduced their multiplier.

[21:31] In 2019, we dramatically reduced retirement medical,

[21:37] all by eliminating it for for police and fire,

[21:39] especially new police and firefighters.

[21:41] How dramatically has this affected our bottom line?

[21:46] How many people are under the new systems?

[21:49] I know you shouldn't have the numbers off the top of your head,

[21:51] but I think going forward, it would be helpful for us to know

[21:53] sort of how that that mouse

[21:54] is moving through the snake and where we are in terms

[21:56] of how many people are under those two new systems.

[22:00] Absolutely. I will at the next update,

[22:01] I can absolutely provide some more detail.

[22:03] I expect to have a more

[22:04] detailed report regarding the structural

[22:06] balancing plan as approved by your,

[22:09] policy directive that came with the mid-cycle budget,

[22:12] and which I will also include some of this information because it's related space,

[22:15] along with, more detail

[22:17] report on our pension system in general.

[22:18] I will note at a high level,

[22:21] the reductions to our opeb unfunded liability

[22:25] are substantial.

[22:26] Although we are still on the

[22:27] sharp end of that particular curve.

[22:29] As cost increase, we will see that, most of those

[22:33] reform efforts come into place as the work force turns over.

[22:37] And so as it relates to both Opeb and PPA,

[22:41] it was really starting with Pepper.

[22:43] We've seen a fair amount of the civilian workforce turnover.

[22:46] And so we're starting to see some of the benefit of that

[22:50] on our pension curve. Our sworn workforce has not turned over nearly as quickly.

[22:53] And I should note between the two there's a differential.

[22:55] Police between police and fire

[22:56] police has turned over much more rapidly than has.

[22:59] And so there's a little bit of a differential

[23:00] between the two sworn units.

[23:03] But we're still very much on the sharper end for the sworn

[23:06] side above the opeb and the pepper curves.

[23:10] I do expect that, over the course of maybe the next decade,

[23:15] you'll see that curve bend,

[23:17] but it's not sort of in a more immediate progress space.

[23:21] But I'm happy to provide more detailed updates to that when I bring that,

[23:23] when I bring a detailed report on it, on that.

[23:28] Council Member Brown, then long.

[23:31] Excellent.

[23:32] I just wanted to also echo,

[23:34] the sentiments that Chair Ramachandran mentioned about.

[23:37] Just kind of like reading through the report

[23:39] and it was really,

[23:40] it felt really good to see a lot of the progress

[23:43] that we've been able to make, in the last year and a half.

[23:46] And I know that, it took a lot of

[23:49] you know, city staff and, the administration

[23:52] to really move these key items forward.

[23:55] And so I just want to say thank you,

[23:58] to both of you, your team, the entire administration

[24:01] for all of the hard work.

[24:03] Because you can really see,

[24:06] the city just moving in a more positive direction.

[24:09] So I want to uplift and start there.

[24:11] I did, of course, I did notice in the report as well,

[24:16] just the ongoing need to be in compliance with a handful of our, ballot

[24:19] measures calling out, of course, measure. And then,

[24:23] as well as measure W and how the voters really,

[24:26] you know, wanted us to move forward with democracy dollars.

[24:30] And so really trying to figure out

[24:32] what is our plan and our roadmap to become

[24:35] in compliance and move these key initiatives forward.

[24:38] I also appreciated how throughout the document,

[24:41] if there was an item that, we, you know, haven't seen an update

[24:45] on, we had an under

[24:47] we were able to get an understanding of

[24:48] when the item would be coming.

[24:50] And so I'm really grateful for that

[24:51] level of efficiency as well.

[24:53] So thank you.

[24:55] Thank you.

[24:57] Councilmember Long,

[25:00] thank you.

[25:01] Yeah. This is, great progress.

[25:04] And I also want to acknowledge your leadership.

[25:07] Director Johnson, just stepping into this role

[25:09] for the last year, I think,

[25:11] everybody here appreciates the professionalism and,

[25:15] competency by which you, run the department and,

[25:20] improved the the status of our city.

[25:25] So thank you for your leadership.

[25:27] Just a couple of questions

[25:29] I do have on this is,

[25:33] so where are we with, like, a forensic audit?

[25:37] I think that was one of the things that our,

[25:40] mayor had campaigned on.

[25:41] Is that something that is being carried out by the city?

[25:44] You have that on your agenda as item number eight to improve

[25:47] a vendor.

[25:48] Oh, wonderful. Okay.

[25:50] My apologies.

[25:51] I didn't get through the entire agenda.

[25:54] And the other thing, I just have a question on.

[25:59] Is this item,

[26:04] excuse me, number 11.

[26:05] So this is about holding

[26:06] the city and the contractors accountable

[26:08] for the delivery of city services.

[26:10] I really do believe that part of the failure of measure

[26:14] E to pass is because we have not made more public.

[26:18] This particular piece of the roadmap to fiscal health.

[26:23] And I am wondering if, since it sounds like

[26:27] the plan is to present this by May 2027,

[26:30] if some version of that can be presented

[26:34] to this body prior to May 2027.

[26:38] Just to provide some some input, I will say that

[26:41] I was looking at the budget, the entire budget document,

[26:45] including some of the performance metrics

[26:47] and some of what I noticed is our current

[26:50] performance metrics, I think are truly inadequate.

[26:53] For example, I think our, dispatcher

[26:57] 911 dispatch is being measured at the number of calls

[27:00] being received, not the number of calls

[27:03] that are being answered under a certain amount of time. Right.

[27:06] And so it's not a true measure of performance as we have.

[27:10] And so I think,

[27:12] publicly showing some of the progress on this

[27:15] is going to be important for us as we move forward as a city.

[27:21] Yeah. I can, provide a little bit more context.

[27:23] So in your next item related to the citywide strategic plan,

[27:27] as a part of that offer, it's been done to work

[27:30] through and develop a plan

[27:32] for implementing performance measures.

[27:35] We provide updates on that every six months.

[27:37] So we'll be here in six months and providing an update

[27:40] on that program.

[27:42] I'm in the process of hiring an assistant

[27:44] to the city administrator

[27:45] who will be managing the launching of that program.

[27:48] And I did interviews yesterday, so looking forward

[27:51] to moving more forward

[27:52] and having dedicated resources to get that done.

[27:55] Okay, great. Thank you for the progress on that

[27:58] chair, if I may, I do want to

[28:00] note, I brought a brief over in the report,

[28:03] the roadmap for fiscal.

[28:04] It is not just my doing.

[28:07] Administrator Davis has been instrumental in that process.

[28:10] I should note that it is also tied in to our strategic

[28:14] planning process, which is coming later.

[28:16] Part of what we're trying to ensure we do

[28:18] is that all of it is a component,

[28:20] literally, of your agenda report templates.

[28:22] Now we're trying to ensure that these projects

[28:25] move together with one another so that the forensic audit

[28:28] that you're going to hopefully approve a contract with later.

[28:30] Our strategic planning process, your roadmap to fiscal

[28:33] are integrated efforts where we're not duplicating

[28:36] efforts across multiple spaces.

[28:38] We're aligning and we're addressing

[28:39] the whole problem in the deep problem

[28:42] as opposed to sort of superficially addressing it.

[28:44] So I don't know what it's a whole of organization approach.

[28:48] That is working again with our strategic planning

[28:50] team and across

[28:52] not just finance, but the entirety of the city to ensure

[28:54] that we are delivering on these items.

[28:56] Okay, great. Thank you.

[28:58] Thank you.

[28:59] Move the item.

[29:01] We'll we will go to public.

[29:02] A little note. You moved it. I'll second it.

[29:05] I just have a quick note before we move to public comment.

[29:09] Following on what Councilmember Wang

[29:11] said, I wanted to offer a suggestion.

[29:13] So in our policy directives, this is tied into this item

[29:17] that we passed with the budget this year.

[29:19] There's two items around

[29:21] public communications and public information.

[29:24] I think this fiscal roadmap,

[29:28] because to be honest, it's a little hard to find.

[29:30] I've asked people, where is this roadmap?

[29:32] And it's linked to this informational report, but

[29:35] some kind of public messaging around these ten points,

[29:38] whether that's an infographic or interactive page or whatnot,

[29:42] I think, can very clearly show progress.

[29:46] I know in the heads of a lot of us, we're like, we want a dashboard,

[29:48] but we know that actually takes a lot of resources to create.

[29:51] But something that publicly displays these ten points,

[29:55] or, sorry, 11 points

[29:56] and a few notes on progress made, I think would fulfill some

[30:00] of those policy directive goals and show to the public.

[30:03] Here's where here's things we've actively worked on.

[30:05] Here's things in the next year we're hoping to work on.

[30:08] So thank you.

[30:09] And, we can move to public comment

[30:13] calling in the names that signed up to speak on item number four, Mr.

[30:15] Sada, Ola Bolla, Kevin Dally and Blair Beekman.

[30:27] Kevin Dally, I appreciate this road map.

[30:30] There is one area that's a little bit tricky

[30:35] to have it included in the road map, but I think it is an important part.

[30:39] And that's the settlements that are related

[30:42] to traffic injuries and deaths.

[30:46] It's common to have multi-million dollar

[30:48] settlements for deaths and severe injuries.

[30:51] And the injuries are not random events.

[30:53] They are things that cannot be completely controlled,

[30:57] but can be greatly reduced through through smart decisions

[31:02] on street design in many cases has been underfunded.

[31:08] Hiring has been slowed down.

[31:11] If we improve the hiring and improve improve the funding,

[31:15] we will see, I hope, reductions in injuries,

[31:19] which includes reductions in the settlements.

[31:23] The city chose to skip bond

[31:25] sales for a year, which slowed repaving

[31:30] now. So, you know, my friend

[31:32] died on skyline two years ago

[31:35] because it was not paved,

[31:38] because we didn't have money.

[31:41] So good news is things are improving

[31:45] with the funding of okay,

[31:48] maybe we're is

[31:50] is doing a great job of looking at how

[31:55] getting better information on injuries and deaths.

[31:58] And I know she's back here,

[31:59] so I have to call her out and appreciate her.

[32:04] And I think we're going to get a better handle on what we can do to increase

[32:07] the rates to decrease injuries and deaths.

[32:11] And it would be nice to have that mentioned

[32:13] as something that we spend way too much money.

[32:17] Thank you.

[32:23] So you said you failed to follow the road

[32:25] map of Seattle related to democracy dollars.

[32:30] When they put it on the ballot,

[32:32] they put it on the ballot for voters

[32:34] and they put it on the ballot

[32:36] for funding source to be identified.

[32:38] You didn't do that.

[32:40] It was originally presented

[32:43] as democracy dollars

[32:45] for voters because your need for sanctuary

[32:48] city inclusion, all residents would get money.

[32:53] Now you reduced it that they're going to have

[32:54] some kind of lottery system where some people will get money

[32:59] excluding all voters.

[33:01] So that's crazy,

[33:02] but you're still going to push for it,

[33:04] even though it's not being done right.

[33:07] Related. To measure E, you make it seem like people need

[33:08] to get more information about as you eat.

[33:11] The main reason why people didn't vote for me

[33:13] is because of the deceptive way

[33:15] you introduced it to the public.

[33:17] It was not a, citizens initiative.

[33:21] It was the labor unions in the city of Oakland,

[33:24] including council members collaborated to put measure E

[33:28] on the ballot in order to get the 50%

[33:32] plus one necessary to pass, rather than the two thirds

[33:35] percent net net necessary to pass manipulation,

[33:40] lack of integrity, lack of moral code.

[33:44] So you have challenges.

[33:46] You have challenges with the general cost, with police,

[33:50] fire and street repairs are challenging.

[33:54] You also have

[33:56] the pension, payroll

[33:57] costs, slumping commercial revenue, federal

[34:01] funding cost cuts, lost property tax dollars, lost revenue.

[34:06] And now it's coming up

[34:08] that you might have to reduce or eliminate,

[34:11] impact fees.

[34:14] The governor was here yesterday saying in order to get more money for housing,

[34:16] you're going to have to look at your impact fees.

[34:18] You have all of these challenges.

[34:20] But what's the biggest thing is your lack moral integrity

[34:25] to do the work the way it needs to be.

[34:28] Thank you for your comments, chair.

[34:29] That concludes all speakers on this item.

[34:32] And we do have a motion on the floor.

[34:37] Thank you. We have a motion made by Council member one second by Chair Ramachandran,

[34:39] to approve the recommendations of staff

[34:41] and to receive and file this informational report

[34:44] in Committee on Roll Council members.

[34:46] Brown I, Ungar I, Wang I and chair.

[34:50] Ramachandran I thank you.

[34:52] Item four passes with four eyes to receive and file

[34:54] this informational report in committee

[34:57] on to item number five.

[35:00] Receive an informational report from the City Administrator on the fiscal year 2025 to 2028.

[35:06] Citywide strategic Share Citywide Strategic Plan one year update.

[35:11] And we have three speakers that signed up to speak on this item.

[35:16] Good morning, Chair Ramachandran, Council members, members of the public and staff.

[35:20] My name is Monica Davis.

[35:21] I'm the deputy city administrator,

[35:23] and I'm here to report out

[35:25] on our one year progress for our citywide strategic plan.

[35:29] I believe the presentation will be put up momentarily,

[35:32] but just wanted to remind you all that in March of 2024,

[35:36] we launched this planning effort really to better facilitate,

[35:42] balancing our resource constraints, but still trying

[35:45] to deliver to our residents in the best way we can.

[35:49] In that planning effort, we spent about a year

[35:51] developing our strategic priorities.

[35:55] And we are now at the one year

[35:57] mark where the team has been implementing action items,

[36:01] and also assessing some of the originally

[36:03] decided action items and making a few changes.

[36:06] So looking ahead to the next two years,

[36:11] we will continue to implement action items and,

[36:13] do a little shifting where it makes sense

[36:15] based on the feedback we've been gathering.

[36:18] I just wanted to uplift.

[36:19] There are five citywide strategic priorities

[36:23] streamlining operations,

[36:24] fostering cross-departmental collaboration,

[36:27] enhancing our communication and coordination.

[36:30] Number four is optimizing our workforce management.

[36:33] And five,

[36:35] particularly fond of aligning

[36:36] our budget with our citywide priorities.

[36:38] I will note that we have about 30 high performing staff members

[36:42] dedicated to helping move this forward.

[36:45] I'm really grateful for Caleb Smith

[36:47] and preparing the staff report this year.

[36:49] Patricia marino price have been co-leading with me

[36:52] to make sure this effort continues to move forward.

[36:56] And Andrea Mariano has also been joining us to continue to co-lead.

[37:00] I did want to invite the members of the respective,

[37:04] teams to share out our progress for each of these and

[37:07] and what you can expect. Looking ahead.

[37:11] Miss, Assistant City Administrator Davis can.

[37:14] About how much time do you need?

[37:16] They're planning to do about two minutes. Priority.

[37:19] So ten minutes total.

[37:20] Can we move?

[37:21] Because we have a number of items.

[37:23] Can we, have put five minutes on the clock and said

[37:27] we'll do our best to comply.

[37:29] Thank you.

[37:30] We're very excited.

[37:31] Obviously, you have read the report,

[37:34] so I'm grateful for that. So we'll keep it short as fully as possible.

[37:37] With that, I'll turn it over to Tara to share

[37:39] about the streamline operations.

[37:46] Good morning.

[37:48] I'm presenting for team two of streamline

[37:50] operations.

[37:53] Some of the work that we've done includes,

[37:57] hearing about the draft ordinance to update procurement

[38:00] that's in the works at this time.

[38:02] The scope and status is unknown to us.

[38:04] Unclear to us? I should say.

[38:07] Our next steps in regards to contracting is to identify

[38:10] additional process improvements

[38:11] and assess whether staffing capacity

[38:14] aligns with the city's contracting workload.

[38:17] There have been some new ideas

[38:19] put forth by HR that are currently on hold,

[38:22] pending the contract improvement process.

[38:24] Improvements.

[38:26] There haven't been any advancements

[38:28] with the payroll processes as of yet.

[38:32] The next steps will be to reconnect with HR and payroll.

[38:38] Thank you. I'll hand it over to Tim to.

[38:46] Good day. Robin, a board with the city administrator's office,

[38:48] representing strategic priority team number two,

[38:51] fostering cross department collaboration.

[38:54] We've had a great, interagency team working on this, including,

[39:00] rec and park, public works, our office, the city administrator's office,

[39:03] the police department, and I think already said rec and Park.

[39:07] You get double recognition in our, first,

[39:12] sort of, area within this priority is to,

[39:16] maximize community engagement and,

[39:18] our kind of coordination in terms of outreach.

[39:22] This has had huge impacts.

[39:23] We've made excellent progress.

[39:25] We've, started to implement

[39:27] a structure across all departments, that allow,

[39:31] for better communication

[39:32] coordination around all the great work that the,

[39:34] city departments are doing.

[39:38] The second item has to do with our housing,

[39:42] and delivering housing in Oakland, this by far of all of the areas within, strategic priority

[39:46] number two is where we have made the most progress.

[39:51] And I'll go quickly, since I know

[39:52] that we are crunched for time.

[39:54] We're also seeking to ensure that we are deeply coordinated

[40:00] around emergency preparedness and, our approach to public safety.

[40:03] So, that is ongoing work in terms of making sure that

[40:07] especially our first responder departments are coordinating,

[40:11] having higher contact and there's better,

[40:14] responsiveness, betwixt departments,

[40:17] and doing an emergency preparedness response

[40:20] as well as, planning and strategy.

[40:23] We're also interested in ensuring that all expertise

[40:27] and insights, from all levels and strata of the departments

[40:31] are more effectively involved in decision making,

[40:34] rolling up to directors and of course, to the

[40:36] city administrator's office.

[40:38] Workforce development is also something that is by nature

[40:41] interdisciplinary, and,

[40:43] really demands the coordination and participation

[40:46] of many of our agencies and disciplines.

[40:48] So as you can see here, there are a number of items

[40:52] that are underway,

[40:53] to better ensure that we can be responsive

[40:55] and supportive around economic, development.

[40:58] So with that, I will close and pass it

[41:01] to my colleague to talk about strategic priority number three.

[41:04] Thank you.

[41:10] Good morning everyone.

[41:12] My name is Kim.

[41:13] I talk to you, Joseph,

[41:14] and I am with the Oakland Police Department.

[41:18] And I'm here representing Group three, which is the enhanced Communication and coordination team.

[41:20] It's headed by Monica Pelayo Locke

[41:22] and Khalilah Haynes with planning and building.

[41:26] So our objective is to enhance communication and coordination

[41:31] across city departments.

[41:33] And so we're focusing on the three areas, which is to streamline,

[41:36] streamline communication channels between the city

[41:38] administrator DA's office and city council

[41:39] and citywide, strengthening internal citywide communication

[41:43] practices and enhance

[41:44] decision transparency and staff engagement.

[41:47] And so the idea of the best way to accomplish

[41:49] this goal was by creating a newsletter

[41:50] and a shared location everyone could have access to.

[41:53] So we've reached the milestone

[41:54] of one year of the three year plan.

[41:56] And since the

[41:57] original introduction,

[41:59] the idea has gone from thought to reality.

[42:02] Slide two please.

[42:06] I have a.

[42:11] All right.

[42:12] And so,

[42:13] here's the example template of an internal newsletter

[42:15] that the city could produce to meet the stated goals.

[42:19] And that is to the purpose of the internet internal,

[42:22] excuse me, internal communications

[42:25] to build awareness of the services offered, lessons learned and future initiatives

[42:29] to deepen connection to the mission of our work,

[42:32] and to create collaborative spaces across city departments

[42:35] to improve and streamline services.

[42:40] All right. And so on. Year one

[42:42] for strengthening internal communication practices,

[42:44] the city is looking to set up a monthly internal newsletter

[42:48] and is currently refining the content structure and template.

[42:51] I apologize if I have five minutes is over

[42:53] about how many more minutes okay, can I but,

[42:56] you know, I there's one more person left,

[42:58] so I'll just we'll put three more minutes. Okay.

[43:01] Thank you.

[43:02] Deep in connection to the mission of our work, create

[43:04] collaborative spaces across city departments

[43:06] to improve and streamline services.

[43:09] Slide three.

[43:10] The city is looking to set up

[43:12] a monthly internal newsletter and is currently

[43:13] refining the content, structure and template.

[43:16] The next steps will be to pilot the newsletter and develop

[43:18] standard operating procedures.

[43:22] The Community Engagement Working Group

[43:24] has become a central hub for communications

[43:26] work and training across departments.

[43:29] The meeting space has had workshops around Ada compliance and website edits.

[43:32] Currently, work is being done to standardize branding

[43:34] using the branding guidelines as well as standard

[43:36] templates that all departments can access and use.

[43:41] There has been progress at the director level,

[43:43] with the implementation of a director's biweekly report

[43:45] for the city Administrator and the mayor and citywide comm

[43:48] communications has been working with emergency services

[43:51] on developing emergency communications best practices,

[43:54] which was successfully tested

[43:55] during the annual Golden Eagle exercises.

[44:00] And this

[44:02] is, the goals for year two and year three,

[44:06] and that is to implement an internal communications

[44:08] framework that ensures timely updates from City Council

[44:11] and the City Administrator's office

[44:12] are shared across all staff levels,

[44:15] and for the city administrator's office to identify

[44:17] potential policies and practices for sharing the impact

[44:20] and purpose of decisions and decision making.

[44:23] And I'll now hand you off to my colleague team

[44:25] to represent team for.

[44:31] Hello, everybody. I get we're at the end of this thing.

[44:32] So I'm going to just try to give you some major points.

[44:36] Jamaica.

[44:37] From the Oakland public Works Department.

[44:39] And I'm here to provide you update on Group four,

[44:42] which is focused on optimizing workforce management.

[44:46] Our work supports three strategic areas.

[44:49] Projects can catch up, move the slides to what's being discussed or is that okay?

[44:54] No, I'm sorry, I have the okay. Thank you.

[44:56] Go ahead. Sorry, guys.

[44:58] Our work supports three strategic areas

[45:01] strengthening employee performance in HR coordination.

[45:04] Optimizing the internet

[45:05] to improve communication and transparency.

[45:08] Increasing communication and resources

[45:09] related to equity indicators and goals.

[45:13] We'll go ahead and,

[45:16] move on. I won't bore you with all our details.

[45:19] Our first area is strengthening employee performance

[45:22] and HR coordination.

[45:24] You know, through our work.

[45:25] And in the past year,

[45:28] we reviewed existing work and initiatives

[45:30] in the human resource management department.

[45:32] These initiatives include retention strategies, projects

[45:36] and the Department o personnel support optimization.

[45:39] We will support the project base as needed.

[45:43] In year two, we will work on plans to engage department managers.

[45:49] And there are single points of contact which are sparks.

[45:54] During the first half of the year, we also experienced the

[45:56] departure of two team members,

[45:58] which understandably affected our capacity.

[46:00] Rather than pause the work completely,

[46:02] we shifted our approach and brought on some new members.

[46:07] We'll go ahead and go on.

[46:10] The group, we can, you know, have a couple more minutes.

[46:13] Okay. Thank you, thank you.

[46:15] The group met with group three.

[46:17] We work really closely with group three.

[46:19] We will focus on area number one to develop content related

[46:23] to strengthening employee performance and HR coordination.

[46:27] Our second priority focus on improving

[46:29] improving communication through the city's intranet.

[46:32] The original vision was to create a more centralized,

[46:36] user friendly resource for employees

[46:37] by improving information sharing and establishing more

[46:41] consistent department page templates.

[46:45] We also reviews examples of existing SharePoint sites

[46:51] across departments, met with information technology, and explored several options

[46:54] for how HR information could be best organized,

[46:58] including whether resources should live on department

[47:00] SharePoint sites within document libraries, or through

[47:04] updated page templates and information architecture.

[47:09] There's a whole lot more information

[47:11] that we want to share with you that we will on the next round,

[47:14] but I'll just go ahead to slide four.

[47:18] This slide four

[47:19] is for, an item for year number three,

[47:23] the equity indicators report will not be refreshed.

[47:28] The r e provided a demonstration of a salary disparity dashboard.

[47:31] We will consider how to incorporate it.

[47:34] Our third priority is increasing communication and resources

[47:37] related to the city's equity indicators report.

[47:40] Our goal is to help departments better understand how

[47:43] equity data can inform workforce planning and decision making.

[47:47] During the first year.

[47:49] I'm sorry, during the first half of the year,

[47:50] we had the opportunity to review and discuss

[47:53] the equity indicators report and attend a demonstration

[47:56] of the salary dashboard developed

[47:57] by the Department of Race and Equity.

[47:59] However, because the updated Equity

[48:01] Indicators report is still under development,

[48:04] we recognize that it would be

[48:06] premature to build new workforce management tools

[48:09] or processes around data that is still evolving.

[48:13] As a result, we intentionally placed this initiative on hold

[48:16] until the new report is available.

[48:18] In the meantime, we'll continue.

[48:19] We'll continue researching how organizations use equity

[48:22] indicators to support workplace plan workplace planning,

[48:26] identify lessons learned and best practices,

[48:28] and begin thinking about

[48:30] how equity metrics can eventually be integrated

[48:33] into workforce management strategies.

[48:36] We'll also continue coordinating with Group

[48:38] one to identify opportunities where equity data can support

[48:41] future performance management initiatives.

[48:44] Although progress on this priority has been more limited

[48:47] than originally anticipated,

[48:49] we believe waiting for reliable data will ultimately lead

[48:52] to a stronger, more meaningful outcome.

[48:56] And that's what I have for you today, is that

[48:58] is there time for me to pass it on to group?

[49:06] Good morning, Madam Chair and esteemed committee chairman Simmons, deputy chief, open

[49:08] fire department partner number five.

[49:10] And our strategic goal is to align

[49:12] budget with city wide priorities.

[49:13] We have two specific, action items.

[49:16] The current action item we're working on

[49:17] is integrating and exercising the evaluation criteria scale.

[49:21] That was put together by the strategic plan team.

[49:24] And that evaluation criteria scale consists of six

[49:27] different dimensions.

[49:28] We exercise that criteria scale using several

[49:32] different departments. We receive feedback.

[49:34] We can continue to fine tune that evaluation criteria, scale

[49:39] into the work plan so that as departments prepare

[49:41] for the budgeting process for the next two fiscal years,

[49:45] they will have an objective tool for assessing special projects

[49:49] and programs based on citywide initiatives and priorities

[49:53] and available funds.

[49:54] And that's where we are as of today. Thank you.

[49:59] Thank you.

[50:01] I have a couple of questions.

[50:02] So, especially for the teams, 1

[50:07] in 4 priorities one and four.

[50:12] The first one on streamlining operations.

[50:16] I feel like there's a number of very critical

[50:19] things that council has talked about quite a bit, especially,

[50:23] when it comes to procurement and contracting,

[50:27] as well as hiring and transparency and hiring.

[50:31] It seems, just to be frank, that very little

[50:35] has happened on this prior, on this bucket of things.

[50:39] Can you talk a little bit more about the roadblocks

[50:41] to progress on this item?

[50:45] So I can share?

[50:47] I actually anticipate in the fall,

[50:48] we'll be bringing a more complete report on our progress

[50:52] for, streamlining the contracting processes.

[50:55] We're working on a package of administrative changes.

[50:59] So, it's just a involv process.

[51:02] We've been bringing components like, last month, you heard the

[51:06] prompt payment policy.

[51:07] So just trying to solicit feedback on

[51:11] related administrative changes that we can bring.

[51:14] So we'll actually be bringing

[51:15] a full package in the fall of changes.

[51:18] We are moving forward.

[51:19] It doesn't seem like it, but it's a large beast

[51:24] okay great.

[51:25] And then there is

[51:26] again, I know this is a big set of issues, and

[51:30] not all of these priorities have the same scope of work,

[51:33] clearly, but the hiring as well,

[51:38] it seems in this update that.

[51:43] It doesn't seem like there's a big update

[51:45] basically when it comes to

[51:47] and that maybe this ties in with the item for.

[51:49] I would love to know from,

[51:52] anyone working on the items, the priorities 1 in 4

[51:56] how you feel the coordination with HR has been going on,

[52:00] the various items.

[52:03] They have been through the chair.

[52:05] They have been open to meeting with us.

[52:08] I think,

[52:10] we've met with them once or twice at this point.

[52:15] At this point, I think,

[52:18] there are some roadblocks

[52:20] that we're experiencing.

[52:23] They're experiencing, I should say,

[52:25] and those roadblocks are unclear to us. But,

[52:31] we do hope to continue moving forward through the next several months.

[52:34] And as Monica said, we should have an update for you

[52:37] in the next,

[52:40] set of updates.

[52:44] Thank you. In this Davis, are you able to elaborate on the air roadblocks?

[52:47] Yeah. So actually, we just added Amber

[52:49] Lytle to team four to better support and uplift,

[52:52] the workforce management movement for that priority.

[52:57] So having her join the team Jamaica is wonderful.

[53:00] And also just joined.

[53:02] And I just wanted to speak.

[53:03] Could you ask about the communication with HR,

[53:07] group for we're heavy in HR

[53:12] and so we kind of have a streamlined right to that department to be able to.

[53:15] And as I spoke to in the slide, we've already reviewed with him

[53:19] human resources management department,

[53:22] the initiatives that I spoke to.

[53:23] And so there's a really close working relationship

[53:26] with them and our group for

[53:29] okay. Thank you.

[53:32] And just elaborating on on that, if

[53:35] I, we wouldn't mind answering a couple other questions.

[53:39] I'm glad that there is collaboration with HR.

[53:43] For I guess the priority one was the hiring,

[53:47] which I think I was interested in. But,

[53:50] and then the priority for seemed other HR issues.

[53:56] What are the kind of issues that you feel like you've made progress on with HR?

[53:59] Just collaborating closely closer with them and,

[54:03] getting engaged with the, well, we're still working towards

[54:06] this part closely with HR management,

[54:10] but getting,

[54:12] to engage with department managers and our sparks

[54:17] and have clear communication through them.

[54:21] If that helps.

[54:23] We're working to build those relationships with the heads

[54:25] of all these people who make everything work in order to,

[54:29] make better decisions.

[54:31] Okay, great. Thank you.

[54:33] And it can also uplift

[54:34] for a team, for some of the work

[54:35] that Andrea Mariano had been leading as it relates

[54:38] to supporting the team for effort is building a,

[54:42] strategic retention effort to be able to engage staff

[54:47] on staging interviews

[54:49] and trying to support and retaining staff here,

[54:52] because we all know it cost way more to train

[54:56] brand new employees and we value our employees and want to keep them and do it.

[54:59] And perhaps that comes in the next staffing report.

[55:06] So let's understand if you don't have the information yet, but I would I'm interested in those retention numbers.

[55:09] I think we've seen it for our sworn staff, PD and fire.

[55:13] But, I would love to see how

[55:16] we compare in our non sworn positions

[55:18] to some of our neighboring cities.

[55:20] If this is not already,

[55:22] contemplated in our the second staffing report this year.

[55:28] Okay.

[55:29] Colleagues.

[55:30] Councilmember Wang Shari.

[55:34] Councilmember Brown than long.

[55:38] Excellent. So I have a series of questions, but I'll start first.

[55:41] Just by, you know, just genuinely thanking

[55:43] all of the teams.

[55:45] I know that all of you have your, you know, regular

[55:48] your, your everyday, you know, jobs

[55:51] and things that you and responsibilities

[55:52] that you have to manage and take care of.

[55:55] And so then being a part of this team that's really working to move,

[55:59] key, make key changes in the city is really important.

[56:03] So I want to start first by thanking, all of the teams.

[56:07] And I think maybe just for efficiency,

[56:10] I'll ask most of my questions to,

[56:13] Miss Davis.

[56:15] So my first question is, can you refresh my memory?

[56:18] How often do the teams meet?

[56:21] We have team meetings on a monthly basis,

[56:23] and many of the teams meet off schedule on their own.

[56:28] To just progress that action item that you,

[56:31] And when will this item return to this body again?

[56:34] In six months. Okay.

[56:38] Excellent. Okay, so most of my questions are,

[56:41] related to team one and team four and five.

[56:46] And so can you, can you share who is Lee,

[56:50] who is actually leading out on the shifts and changes

[56:55] that we need to make around contracting,

[56:58] procurement and contracting?

[57:00] Within the city of Oakland,

[57:01] like who's, who's who's leading that team.

[57:05] So the streamlining operations

[57:08] strategic planning team is, is playing dual roles.

[57:12] They're making sure that this priority gets implemented,

[57:16] and they are actually doing a small component

[57:20] of implementing a change.

[57:22] The contracting process.

[57:23] But in a separate effort, I'm actually leading a contracting

[57:27] working group, through the city administrator's office

[57:30] and convening the key owners of all the contracting changes,

[57:35] the existing plans to make contracting changes.

[57:38] So from finance, trying to implement the Baker Tilly study,

[57:42] the feedback that and the plan that brought

[57:45] related to the small local business enterprise changes.

[57:48] So I'm facilitating and mapping out and developing a process.

[57:52] And this is why I advised that will be bringing a report

[57:55] on that in the fall.

[57:57] Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much for that update.

[57:59] Because I think that that's

[58:00] has to do with a lot of my questions.

[58:02] And I think that an important flag

[58:04] that I would make is that in the last year and a half,

[58:07] being the chair of said or in even in

[58:11] some of the other committees,

[58:13] I feel like there is a

[58:15] theme that also speaks to the results of that.

[58:18] Mason Tillman study,

[58:21] that I so as I'm reading through this, I feel like,

[58:24] you know, somewhere I'm looking for,

[58:27] you know, consultation with council members,

[58:31] as a key component,

[58:33] and also like the community component.

[58:37] And so I guess that leads me to my next question.

[58:39] I know that in this moment, we are, you know,

[58:42] really looking internally about our internal processes.

[58:46] But at the end of the day,

[58:48] the impacts are on, you know, Aucklanders.

[58:51] Is there a community engagement component to this?

[58:55] Yes, absolutely.

[58:56] So, Chuck Baker, our assistant city

[58:58] administrator, is leading the effort

[59:00] in supporting the issues that were raised by,

[59:04] key community stakeholders around the disparity study.

[59:09] And so, he's developing a community engagement plan

[59:11] to be able to work with those folks to ensure

[59:14] that there's feedback integrated into and provided back down

[59:18] and to the contracting changes that I'll be implementing,

[59:21] as well as some other, changes that will be brought.

[59:25] Okay, that sounds good.

[59:26] And so with

[59:28] the would a fair expectation be that when the report comes in

[59:32] the fall, we'll also get more insight into that community

[59:35] engagement plan, what has occurred

[59:37] or will it just be still like in a planning format?

[59:43] I don't have an answer for you yet on the schedule

[59:46] of when those specific changes

[59:48] are going to come, I will note that I.

[59:50] I believe I have been working with some council member staff

[59:54] to identify legislative changes, and so I'm happy

[59:58] as we progress through that.

[1:00:01] If there's interest and having those conversations to support

[1:00:03] and do briefings on that, that work.

[1:00:06] Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much.

[1:00:07] And then my last question has to do with team five.

[1:00:12] And just the last sentence or

[1:00:15] item number two around like

[1:00:18] align priorities.

[1:00:20] Well this is like establish a priority alignment.

[1:00:23] Process amongst the mayor's office,

[1:00:25] city council, city administration.

[1:00:27] And I believe this is related to the budget.

[1:00:29] And this would come in year three.

[1:00:33] But not very much.

[1:00:34] There's there's no, engagement on that.

[1:00:37] I do see that a tool was highlighted,

[1:00:40] during the spring, I think I recall maybe,

[1:00:45] a little hearing a little bit about that,

[1:00:47] maybe specifically under the DVP,

[1:00:50] like a DVP item or just that process.

[1:00:54] But is is kind of more information coming in six months on this or.

[1:01:00] Yeah. So the this first round, handful of departments

[1:01:03] piloted that tool, including DVP, I.T.,

[1:01:07] part of the fire department

[1:01:09] and using the evaluation criteria

[1:01:13] and in the, in the sort of like the pilot phase,

[1:01:18] we received some learning from that effort.

[1:01:20] And so we'll be re-envisioned

[1:01:22] and hopefully launched with the biennial budget.

[1:01:24] And so that will be available in our process.

[1:01:27] And then hopefully we're trying to figure out how best

[1:01:30] to provide transparency in that scoring.

[1:01:35] For, for the council members, for the mayor

[1:01:38] as she's making her choices,

[1:01:40] and then also for members of the public, I see.

[1:01:42] And for the pilot, do you feel that as we,

[1:01:45] get into the next budget cycle, the, the tool

[1:01:49] that was used, will it then be used by other departments?

[1:01:52] Now, the idea is that all departments would now

[1:01:55] move forward with the tool for the biennial budget.

[1:01:58] Okay. Very interesting.

[1:01:59] Okay. Thank you. Yes.

[1:02:01] Council member Wong.

[1:02:06] Thank you. And, thank you,

[1:02:07] Deputy Administrator Davis, for your leadership on this work

[1:02:10] as well as, every single one of the, leads that presented.

[1:02:14] I did want to echo my colleagues comments just around H.R..

[1:02:18] We know this is a continual challenge.

[1:02:20] Just, for the city.

[1:02:24] So I'm looking forward to that report that, you will all be providing

[1:02:27] one item actually wanted to uplift,

[1:02:30] which I think is incredibly important.

[1:02:33] And, it actually, I'm very happy to see this within the,

[1:02:37] foster cross departmental collaboration,

[1:02:42] team is the engagement of middle management and

[1:02:44] decision making processes.

[1:02:49] It as it's noted here, middle management are the closest link to front

[1:02:53] line staff. And as someone who's worked, within all levels

[1:02:56] of various government bureaucracies,

[1:02:59] it is often frontline staff in the middle management

[1:03:02] who are working closest with the issue and often have,

[1:03:07] ideas on how to improve operations,

[1:03:11] with, within the city.

[1:03:14] But depending on the culture of the department, those ideas are not always,

[1:03:17] translated upwards to department leadership.

[1:03:21] I seen all kinds of different cultures within bureaucracies.

[1:03:25] And so the fact that you all are intentionally pursuing this,

[1:03:30] does, make me very happy to see that,

[1:03:33] that I do want to note that it is at risk, the status.

[1:03:36] And so I would just emphasize that,

[1:03:38] making progress on this item is important

[1:03:40] both in operational improvements but also morale

[1:03:43] improvement, because,

[1:03:46] and this is not a critique of City of Oakland bureaucracy,

[1:03:49] but so often frontline staff, suffer from morale

[1:03:54] because they feel like

[1:03:55] they have ideas

[1:03:57] but don't feel empowered to communicate that upward to leadership.

[1:04:01] So, I've just seen that play out

[1:04:04] and and people not feeling supported in their roles.

[1:04:07] And so I think it's also about retention.

[1:04:09] This piece.

[1:04:10] Thanks.

[1:04:16] Okay. We can move to public speakers calling in the names of sign up

[1:04:19] to speak on item five Kevin Dalley, Mr.

[1:04:22] Sutton Oliver and Blair Beekman.

[1:04:30] The issue of data collection

[1:04:34] data has to be

[1:04:36] the basis for evidence

[1:04:40] that is reliable and creditable.

[1:04:43] You have unreliable data.

[1:04:48] Count in time, for example,

[1:04:51] is not an accurate count of our homeless population.

[1:04:56] It's identified that that count in time

[1:04:59] for homeless population is that estimate.

[1:05:02] But you present reports like this is the amount of,

[1:05:06] the number of homeless people we have in the city of Oakland.

[1:05:09] That's an estimate.

[1:05:11] You have an item on the agenda and public safety tonight,

[1:05:14] later this evening

[1:05:17] where the Oakland police Department has to provide a report to the California

[1:05:20] Highway Patrol related to collisions.

[1:05:24] But you have stripped the report of data,

[1:05:27] name, address, social security number, driver's license,

[1:05:33] stripped it

[1:05:34] to protect people who are here illegally.

[1:05:38] You also have no data

[1:05:41] that you collect on people that are here illegally.

[1:05:45] But you are a sanctuary city with no data to support.

[1:05:49] You are a sanctuary city.

[1:05:51] You have no data that you collect on gentrification.

[1:05:56] You have no data. You haven't even had a discussion on reparations.

[1:05:59] You have a system where you are doing

[1:06:02] equity analysis and you don't have data.

[1:06:07] You don't speak about the 10% unemployment of African-Americans.

[1:06:10] You don't you don't speak about the fact that housing

[1:06:14] is an issue related to you provide

[1:06:17] housing for people no matter where they come from.

[1:06:20] Do you know that the state,

[1:06:22] more motor Vehicles department had to revoke

[1:06:25] 20,000 commercial truck licenses because the visas had expired?

[1:06:33] This unknown data.

[1:06:53] Kevin Daly, thanks for presenting this strategic plan.

[1:06:55] I really appreciate mentioning H.R.

[1:06:59] And hiring, but mostly I'm going to talk about

[1:07:03] enhancing team three, enhancing communication.

[1:07:07] I'm hoping

[1:07:08] that the tech tech audit

[1:07:09] mentioned earlier will help with the communication,

[1:07:12] and I'm glad that the communication between

[1:07:15] the city administrator and the council is mentioned.

[1:07:19] I have noticed, I think some of the council

[1:07:21] members have noticed there often isn't enough

[1:07:25] communication that often the city administrator

[1:07:29] brings items to council without time to make

[1:07:34] really substantive suggestions or changes to the items.

[1:07:39] It's an emergency.

[1:07:40] Everything has to be passed.

[1:07:41] It needs to be passed in the next two weeks.

[1:07:46] Maybe next time we can discuss the renewal of the contract in more detail.

[1:07:49] So I'm hoping that enhancing communication improves.

[1:07:53] Getting to council early.

[1:07:59] And I'm

[1:08:01] also want to sort of call out what happened

[1:08:04] with the parking reorg over the last year.

[1:08:09] To me, this was an area where the city administrator

[1:08:13] failed in communication, both with the council

[1:08:16] and with the staff, that things were changing constantly.

[1:08:20] I'm glad they changed quite a bit

[1:08:22] from the initial proposals, but reports were delayed.

[1:08:28] There wasn't sufficient communication.

[1:08:30] What can we do to reduce reduce these changes

[1:08:35] and to improve the communication?

[1:08:39] Decrease the crisis in the future?

[1:08:41] Thanks.

[1:08:43] Thank you for your comments.

[1:08:45] If your name was called and you still wish to speak,

[1:08:47] please raise your hand on the zoom queue.

[1:08:50] Okay chair, at this time all names have been called.

[1:08:53] Thank you. And to the administration.

[1:08:56] Are you looking for this to go to the full city council or to be filed here?

[1:08:58] On consent. Thank you. Okay.

[1:09:03] I'll entertain a motion to move this to the next city council meeting on consent.

[1:09:07] So moved.

[1:09:09] Second.

[1:09:13] Thank you. We have a motion made by Councilmember Wang, seconded by Councilmember Brown,

[1:09:15] to approve the recommendations of staff

[1:09:16] and to receive and forward this item to the July 21st

[1:09:20] City Council agenda on consent on roll.

[1:09:24] Council members. Brown I, Ungar I, Wang I and chair.

[1:09:28] Ramachandran I thank you.

[1:09:29] Item five passes with four eyes

[1:09:31] to receive and forward this informational report

[1:09:33] to the July 21st City Council agenda on consent reading.

[1:09:37] In item six, adopt a resolution

[1:09:39] authorizing the City Administrator

[1:09:41] to amend the Professional Services Agreement

[1:09:43] with the City of Oakland Parking Partners for operation

[1:09:47] and management of municipal parking facilities to extend the term

[1:09:50] for up to three years, including a two year extension

[1:09:53] and an optional months

[1:09:55] a month extension for up to one additional year,

[1:09:58] for a total amount not to exceed 12,399,

[1:10:02] sorry, $12,399,039.

[1:10:08] Waiving the competitive request for proposal qualification

[1:10:11] requirements under Oakland Municipal Code Section 2.04.

[1:10:15] 051B and adopting sequel findings,

[1:10:19] and we have three speakers on this item.

[1:10:25] Good morning.

[1:10:26] Through the chair.

[1:10:26] My name is Joseph Segura,

[1:10:29] assistant revenue and tax administrator with the Finance Department.

[1:10:32] Today, I am presenting a resolution

[1:10:34] requesting authorization

[1:10:36] for the administrator to amend

[1:10:37] the Professional Services Agreement

[1:10:39] with City of Oakland Park and partners for the continued

[1:10:42] operation and management of the city's parking garages.

[1:10:46] City of Oakland Park and Partners supports

[1:10:48] daily garage operations

[1:10:49] including customer service, security, maintenance

[1:10:53] and facility management services.

[1:10:56] The current agreement expires on July 31st, 2026.

[1:11:00] The proposed amendment would extend the agreement

[1:11:02] for two additional years, with an option for up

[1:11:05] to one year of month to month extensions.

[1:11:09] The annual contract amount would remain unchanged

[1:11:12] from the current agreement at approximately 4.1 million.

[1:11:17] Staff recommends this extension to ensure uninterrupted

[1:11:22] parking operations while the city develops and conducts a competitive

[1:11:25] request for proposals.

[1:11:26] Process for a new agreement

[1:11:29] with finance assuming responsibility

[1:11:31] for these functions beginning in the current fiscal year,

[1:11:36] the department will evaluate garage operations as part of the RFP process

[1:11:39] to identify opportunities to improve enforcement,

[1:11:42] revenue collection, and overall performance.

[1:11:45] That concludes my presentation, and I'm available

[1:11:48] to answer any questions.

[1:11:50] Thank you. I have a few questions.

[1:11:54] What are we paying this City of Oakland parking partners for?

[1:11:58] And what all companies does it include?

[1:12:05] So up.

[1:12:06] So the annual amount or up to it's 4.1 million.

[1:12:09] It's mainly,

[1:12:14] staffing expenditures is the main, item.

[1:12:16] And I see that item. Johnson there. You sure?

[1:12:19] City of spin?

[1:12:22] Sure. City broken Parking Partners is a conglomerate, business entity that operates

[1:12:25] all of our parking garages.

[1:12:26] So if we were to go over here to, the parking bylaws

[1:12:31] blow to 50. They're the staff that actually come

[1:12:33] that are actually, they're dealing with the garage thing

[1:12:34] with the operations of the garage facilities.

[1:12:37] Same would be true for City Center West

[1:12:38] and the other city of Oakland operated garage facilities.

[1:12:42] And so what are we paying them when we

[1:12:45] when someone comes in parks, in a garage,

[1:12:48] that is our revenue.

[1:12:50] We pay the contractor to manage them.

[1:12:52] So when you talk about this in terms of a dollar amount,

[1:12:55] the revenue flow is through the city

[1:12:56] and then back out to the vendor

[1:12:58] in terms of the management structure.

[1:12:59] So the largest the resource coming from that four point

[1:13:04] 2 million, if I remember correctly,

[1:13:05] is actually the fees received.

[1:13:08] And then it comes back as a payment to the vendor, if that is helpful.

[1:13:11] Partly, but not really. So.

[1:13:15] How many garages is this for?

[1:13:17] That's owned by the city.

[1:13:19] It's the total number.

[1:13:21] What's

[1:13:22] so six projects that it covers?

[1:13:25] I'm sorry

[1:13:27] to send you.

[1:13:33] Okay, so it's a total of seven garages and eight parking lots

[1:13:36] that they, that this, organization covers.

[1:13:40] And so it's for staffing of the seven garages

[1:13:43] and eight parking lots, not for the technology

[1:13:47] or anything like that.

[1:13:48] Just for the Pers, the individual staff.

[1:13:53] Well, that's the main component, but it's the, management

[1:13:56] of the facilities in general.

[1:13:58] So they also,

[1:14:00] do minor, maintenance,

[1:14:03] provide security services for, for the garages.

[1:14:08] And so it's they're in charge of the overall operations,

[1:14:11] basically of, this, group of garages.

[1:14:14] Now, do they do enforcement to collect

[1:14:17] the parking fees as well?

[1:14:21] No, the enforcement is done to the chair.

[1:14:24] The enforcement is done.

[1:14:25] When that relates to the,

[1:14:29] sort of where you come in and use your phone

[1:14:31] to pay for my application to know that that would be done

[1:14:33] by City of Oakland staff in our parking garages

[1:14:35] to the extent that that's enforcement mechanism.

[1:14:39] If there is gated entry to a garage, at a space, that would be the gating

[1:14:42] structure would be handled by that, maybe different.

[1:14:45] The question you're getting here,

[1:14:46] part of the reason

[1:14:47] why finance is asking for this extension is

[1:14:50] we do want to explore

[1:14:52] other models of collecting revenue from our garages.

[1:14:55] I don't think we're satisfied with the technology,

[1:14:58] the solutions, the operations.

[1:15:00] As they currently said,

[1:15:01] we don't want to interrupt that process,

[1:15:03] but we know we need to engage in a full sort of

[1:15:08] rethink and then RFP in a in a full competitive process

[1:15:11] in order to get better outcomes and results.

[1:15:15] And tell me, I don't want to preempt

[1:15:17] your thoughts on this chair, but I have

[1:15:18] I think I have the same concerns as you do around the total

[1:15:22] amount of revenue we're collecting. The fact that it has not recovered since the pandemic,

[1:15:26] the capacity for people to score

[1:15:28] Scofflaw Park at our garages, those are our concerns as well.

[1:15:32] We don't want to interrupt garage operations

[1:15:35] in the meantime. And given the time to get a full RFP

[1:15:37] for a contract of the scale and scope in a really

[1:15:39] in a fully competitive way to maximize value,

[1:15:41] we're asking for the

[1:15:43] the current contract to be extended

[1:15:44] so we can engage in that process.

[1:15:45] But those are the same concerns

[1:15:47] that we would engage in in the next RFP process.

[1:15:50] Thank you.

[1:15:52] Yes. The, the lack of collecting revenue

[1:15:55] from these garages definitely is my concern.

[1:15:57] I mean, there is a commonly held belief that you can just

[1:16:01] park in the city garage next to City Hall and never pay

[1:16:04] because of how messed up the technology is in practice.

[1:16:09] Not to say that, pay by

[1:16:13] meters as the not to say that the gate is a perfect solution.

[1:16:16] I know there's been transition

[1:16:17] a number of our garages from that,

[1:16:19] but this pay by license pay clearly isn't working either.

[1:16:23] If people just know that you can go park for free and get away with it.

[1:16:27] I am highly uncomfortable

[1:16:30] with having this be a two year extension.

[1:16:33] I appreciate that you do need an understanding that you do

[1:16:36] need time to shoot RFP and look for other vendors.

[1:16:40] I also don't see anywhere all of the companies

[1:16:43] that's listed as part of this operating contract.

[1:16:47] I checked the report on the attachment.

[1:16:48] Unless I'm missing something, where the list of companies

[1:16:52] and the full list of garages.

[1:16:55] I believe the list of companies is on the,

[1:16:59] top of page four of your general report

[1:17:01] and reading that allowed as it's SNP,

[1:17:05] Seema Wellington

[1:17:08] and then two small local business enterprises

[1:17:11] which are Oakland to me asset managers and Wellington

[1:17:15] Property Co. So I but Jose please jump in.

[1:17:17] If I'm missing that that is correct.

[1:17:18] Then the three main ones are Wellington CMA and SP plus.

[1:17:24] And then on the list of garages and facilities.

[1:17:28] If we don't have that in there, I'd be happy to

[1:17:32] get you a supplemental report

[1:17:34] that has a listing of all the city's parking facilities.

[1:17:38] I don't actually see that here. So that's a good note for us.

[1:17:40] Happy to provide that as a supplemental.

[1:17:43] Okay. Before I pass it to my colleagues,

[1:17:45] personally, I'm very uncomfortable

[1:17:47] with passing this today, and I know that we have

[1:17:52] the our next meeting will only be in September,

[1:17:55] but I would really appreciate it if you could use that time

[1:17:59] to provide a little more details on the current operators

[1:18:01] and the garages and the numbers since the pandemic,

[1:18:07] of how much we're collecting and also to explore

[1:18:09] if we can change this from a two year

[1:18:12] contract with month to month extension to something

[1:18:16] much shorter to start issuing RFP for,

[1:18:19] for better vendors.

[1:18:22] And I will pass it to my colleagues

[1:18:24] before I make a motion to see their thoughts.

[1:18:27] Councilmember Wong Van Brown,

[1:18:29] I, yeah, I just wanted to emphasize

[1:18:32] and my my concerns coincide with the chairs as well,

[1:18:36] just around the revenue collection.

[1:18:38] And I would support

[1:18:39] also shortening the length of this contract as well.

[1:18:44] I think one of the,

[1:18:47] just it doesn't seem coincidental that

[1:18:51] the revenue decrease doesn't coincide with just the pandemic,

[1:18:55] but also the move towards the gate system. And,

[1:18:59] can you walk us through how the enforcement

[1:19:01] currently occurs in this gate list system?

[1:19:04] And I do think when this item returns or as we move towards an RFP,

[1:19:09] we need to be looking at a gated system.

[1:19:12] And the cost associated with that.

[1:19:16] The, the chair to Councilman Wong.

[1:19:17] So, a couple of things.

[1:19:21] First off, on your second point, I,

[1:19:24] I think we concur again, finance is taking over this operation.

[1:19:27] Now from Dot,

[1:19:30] I think I have the same instinct as you do

[1:19:32] about the change in structure.

[1:19:33] I would note that in order to actually get this changed,

[1:19:37] it's going to take time.

[1:19:38] This is not something that we can do quickly.

[1:19:40] We are not ready to do an RFP right now on this structure.

[1:19:44] We have a lot of evaluation and homework

[1:19:47] to do about how the system is operating,

[1:19:48] what the best practices are with other,

[1:19:50] garage, musically owned garages as to how to do this structure.

[1:19:54] And so we'll need to do all of that prior to getting an RFP out

[1:19:57] than competitively go through our process

[1:19:59] before we get to award.

[1:20:00] It's a part of our timeline right

[1:20:02] now, is actually being able to do that appropriately

[1:20:04] without having to come back to you again

[1:20:06] and again and again for sort of short term extensions on this.

[1:20:10] We want to be able to do the full process.

[1:20:12] To answer your question in a gate list garage,

[1:20:14] the way it would work right now is City of Oakland.

[1:20:17] Dot parking enforcement staff would patrol the garage using

[1:20:21] technology to identify plates that haven't haven't paid.

[1:20:25] And ticket those particular plates.

[1:20:27] That's how it works.

[1:20:28] We do know that there are challenges on that.

[1:20:30] We're in the process of working hand-in-glove

[1:20:32] with Dot to explore those.

[1:20:34] But the concerns that you've expressed

[1:20:36] are the same concerns that we have

[1:20:37] about maximizing these resources.

[1:20:39] No one should be

[1:20:41] accessing our parking facilities without paying for them.

[1:20:45] Right.

[1:20:46] Okay. What what is a timeline that would work?

[1:20:48] I mean, I think it will realistically,

[1:20:52] if we were to take the next

[1:20:55] six months to actually get

[1:20:57] the system we want to RFP for, and then we would RFP it,

[1:21:02] I think the early October of

[1:21:06] 27 is the soonest I could see us being ready

[1:21:10] to come back for you with award,

[1:21:12] and that's just a realistic timeline

[1:21:14] of exploring the options,

[1:21:16] doing a full competitive RFP process,

[1:21:19] doing in a way that allows local and small local vendors

[1:21:22] to bid on that process of where we end up being.

[1:21:24] Those are time

[1:21:26] intensive processes to be done properly, and we don't want to rush this one.

[1:21:29] We want to do it properly

[1:21:31] so that we actually solve this problem.

[1:21:33] Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it.

[1:21:35] Councilmember Brown.

[1:21:38] Okay.

[1:21:40] Yeah. So I definitely echo, all of the sentiments

[1:21:43] that my colleagues mentioned. And,

[1:21:48] I think, well, first, I'm also shocked

[1:21:50] that the agenda report doesn't have the list of garages.

[1:21:53] And so if we can please, add that,

[1:21:56] that would, that would be helpful.

[1:21:58] I also think that there's opportunity for us

[1:22:02] to also provide a report on

[1:22:05] the maintenance status of these garages.

[1:22:09] I think that,

[1:22:13] a deciding factor for myself, whether or not

[1:22:16] I park in a garage is not whether or not it's free.

[1:22:20] But actually the safety of the garage

[1:22:23] and if it's actually being maintained.

[1:22:26] And so I guess my question would be when,

[1:22:29] when was the last time

[1:22:30] that we actually did an audit of the garages,

[1:22:34] their safety, maintenance that needs to be done?

[1:22:39] Basically everything that said vendors should be doing.

[1:22:42] I think it says here,

[1:22:46] operations, facility

[1:22:48] management, repairs, security,

[1:22:51] facilities management, financial reporting.

[1:22:55] How often do we actually receive feedback from this?

[1:22:59] This vendor? That would be we've been working with.

[1:23:03] I'm not sure if this is a through the chair.

[1:23:06] So are say, same.

[1:23:07] My annual,

[1:23:11] performance audit.

[1:23:14] That gets done. And basically every time that there's,

[1:23:17] a survey that gets done to the,

[1:23:20] and users, the, the,

[1:23:23] Oakland parking partners have come out,

[1:23:27] in, in, in the words that I received that

[1:23:30] with flying colors. So they have always received that, get approval

[1:23:33] rating from the, and users.

[1:23:35] And so that's done, semiannually.

[1:23:37] There's no official audit that,

[1:23:40] has recently been done in terms of the, maintenance.

[1:23:43] And, and just for clarity, is this an audit that is

[1:23:46] being done, like, by them?

[1:23:49] It's a it's a survey.

[1:23:50] So it's, more of a customer satisfaction survey.

[1:23:55] Yeah, I see yeah. So there's not an official audit that I can point to recently,

[1:23:59] to answer your question more directly through the chair to Council Member Brown,

[1:24:02] we need to evaluate all the facilities.

[1:24:05] You're 100% correct their status of maintenance and repair.

[1:24:08] I would notice any capital improvements

[1:24:10] are not actually the result of the vendor.

[1:24:12] And that's a key thing that we also need to assess.

[1:24:14] These are City of Oakland facilities.

[1:24:16] And they need to be included

[1:24:17] within our capital improvements program.

[1:24:19] And so that's one of the key things

[1:24:20] that finance is also working to do.

[1:24:22] And to ensure that the actual asset,

[1:24:25] when it needs capital repair is properly done, agendized and brought to you

[1:24:29] for consideration with our various funding sources

[1:24:31] as a consideration. Your capital improvement plan.

[1:24:35] But you're correct. We need to look at the safety for our parking patrons,

[1:24:39] especially for facilities after dark.

[1:24:42] In that space,

[1:24:44] there are maintenance activities that need to be done,

[1:24:46] and we need to be able to actually assess,

[1:24:48] audit and validate those.

[1:24:50] And those are the exact kind of considerations

[1:24:54] that we need to do, both as a sort of a status assessment

[1:24:56] as to where we are before we RFP, but we also need

[1:24:59] to build into any future contracting procedure

[1:25:03] for a new vendor, whoever may bid for that.

[1:25:07] So we need to have a structure by which we are receiving

[1:25:10] routine audits, updates, repairs,

[1:25:13] logs of those, not just satisfaction surveys.

[1:25:16] And so all the things that you're addressing

[1:25:18] are the kinds of things that we need to put out

[1:25:20] as a in our scope of work for the next RFP process.

[1:25:23] But there's a lot more that we need to address

[1:25:25] and be done

[1:25:27] so we can go out and ensure that we have, as we talked about in our prior item,

[1:25:31] we are able to ensure performance on these contracts

[1:25:34] and real performance for our partner,

[1:25:36] and that are patching both on the revenue

[1:25:38] and on their customer experience.

[1:25:39] I see, and then, one last I guess note

[1:25:43] I would be interested in

[1:25:45] like when we see the list of all of the facilities,

[1:25:48] like I would be curious, like, okay, well, you know, facility

[1:25:51] number one actually is the, the,

[1:25:56] is I, I hate to use this word, but is the best, right.

[1:25:58] Like, we have the,

[1:26:00] you know, right.

[1:26:02] Payment method or, you know, all of the cameras are

[1:26:05] operational versus like, you know, facility ten.

[1:26:08] Actually, it looks like we need to update the gates, etc..

[1:26:12] So I would be curious, if we can get an update

[1:26:15] in that manner and are all the payment,

[1:26:18] like methods of payments across all of the garages?

[1:26:22] Analogous?

[1:26:24] Like, are they the same? They are.

[1:26:26] I can

[1:26:28] I don't think they all have the same pricing mechanism,

[1:26:31] if I remember correctly. I don't know if the updated status is.

[1:26:33] I don't know if the,

[1:26:36] payment structure is the same.

[1:26:37] I think they are almost all

[1:26:39] using the same enforcement structure now.

[1:26:42] But what I heard you say, Councilman Brown,

[1:26:44] just to make sure I got it right,

[1:26:45] you would like to understand

[1:26:47] the revenue, the size, the ranking,

[1:26:49] the the various statuses of some sort of evaluation

[1:26:53] of of repair status.

[1:26:54] I think that that would be,

[1:26:57] notable for this,

[1:27:00] but please say, if I have not covered her,

[1:27:03] the council members questions, please add anything,

[1:27:06] and we can certainly, provide the supplemental information

[1:27:09] that's been requested.

[1:27:10] We're happy to do that. We can include it

[1:27:12] as a supplemental if if that's the desire.

[1:27:16] But regardless of whether we,

[1:27:18] postpone this item until September or now,

[1:27:22] we are intending to initiate the RFP process immediately.

[1:27:26] So we're not waiting until,

[1:27:27] you know, a later time where we're engaging right now.

[1:27:30] And so,

[1:27:33] you know, regardless of when this may or may not be approved,

[1:27:35] we are already engaging in the work that needs to be done.

[1:27:38] But it will take some time. It will take the RFP process takes, approximately a year

[1:27:41] at least, to, to be able to get someone through the door. So,

[1:27:46] I guess what I'm trying to say is that regardless of,

[1:27:50] or the reason why we're asking for this extension is to not disrupt

[1:27:53] the current operations, because, as I mentioned, the,

[1:27:56] contract expires on July 31st.

[1:27:58] And so we are hoping to avoid a lapse in that contract,

[1:28:02] while we are working.

[1:28:05] As I mentioned, we're beginning the work on the RFP immediately.

[1:28:07] Well, we're starting right away.

[1:28:10] Thank you.

[1:28:11] I have two more questions, so

[1:28:14] it's if my understanding of this is right,

[1:28:17] we basically make no money off of our garages right now.

[1:28:22] Okay? That is a correct understanding and a notable problem.

[1:28:25] Yeah. So then

[1:28:27] I will start there.

[1:28:29] Johnson, I know you've tried to do

[1:28:31] a significantly better job in bringing things to us, right?

[1:28:33] But not before they expire.

[1:28:35] But this item is coming to us right before it expires.

[1:28:39] But since we're making no money off of it anyway, I am very inclined to not want

[1:28:43] to move forward with this.

[1:28:45] Right now, until we get more information.

[1:28:48] I would like to make.

[1:28:52] I know we have to your public comment, but I would like to make a motion to, continue

[1:28:54] this item to the first, finance committee meeting.

[1:28:58] I believe that September 8th,

[1:29:01] September 22nd.

[1:29:04] And a couple of things

[1:29:06] that I would like to know is,

[1:29:12] what, Councilmember Brown said of

[1:29:16] what's the performance of different garages?

[1:29:18] Because I have, you know, just driving a different garages.

[1:29:21] They they operate very differently.

[1:29:22] So I'm sure that some of them

[1:29:24] are making a little more money and others,

[1:29:27] are probably operating at a loss.

[1:29:28] So garage by garage or parking lot, that parking lot data

[1:29:32] as well as which of those companies manage it,

[1:29:36] is one thing additional informat

[1:29:42] And an option to not

[1:29:46] what are our alternatives because I am highly

[1:29:48] uncomfortable with spending $12 million of money

[1:29:51] over the course of two years for this.

[1:29:54] So what is the tightest timeline

[1:29:57] that we could authorize an extension in September?

[1:30:00] I could it be could it be

[1:30:01] just for six months while an RFP is complete?

[1:30:03] It doesn't need to be nine months,

[1:30:05] because if we're

[1:30:07] not making money anyway and we're spending money for these garages,

[1:30:10] I mean, I'd rather parking be free for,

[1:30:13] six months, than spend money on companies

[1:30:16] that are not producing results as neither is our enforcement.

[1:30:20] So, I, I will make the motion to continue this to September

[1:30:25] 22nd with the request for the that additional information.

[1:30:32] And the, Yeah.

[1:30:35] I'm sorry, through the chair. So I was just advised to make it clear that the,

[1:30:39] but the continuation to September,

[1:30:40] it will create a gap in services,

[1:30:44] with the because we don't have a contract in effect

[1:30:49] is a gap in services. I mean that the lots will be closed or what?

[1:30:51] What does that mean?

[1:30:52] We we do not have the

[1:30:54] we don't have city staff to operate them in the meantime.

[1:30:57] And again, I apologize.

[1:30:58] I try to get things in advance.

[1:31:00] For instance, just taking over this particular contract said

[1:31:03] if it is helpful,

[1:31:05] it might be helpful to extend the current contracts

[1:31:08] just to October 1st, which would allow us the time

[1:31:10] to get back to you at that September staff meeting

[1:31:17] with you, your ability to take action, then after that particular time,

[1:31:19] so that we can just do like a three months extension

[1:31:22] so we can continue the operations as they are.

[1:31:25] Councilmember grants.

[1:31:27] Okay.

[1:31:31] You know, to the chair,

[1:31:33] I think the thing that standing out for me

[1:31:36] is the overall operations of said garages and ensuring

[1:31:41] that even in this moment, the basics are operational.

[1:31:47] So I would be curious if you would be,

[1:31:50] because you heard our,

[1:31:53] director state that they're going to start

[1:31:54] the RFP process and get things rolling.

[1:31:56] And so I think I would be curious,

[1:31:58] woman of course, to report back. Right.

[1:32:00] For more information.

[1:32:02] But could we do, like, a contract extension,

[1:32:04] maybe to, like, the end of the year

[1:32:06] just to give a little bit more time versus I,

[1:32:08] I even think that October 1st is, is is not really manageable.

[1:32:13] So I'm just trying to see if we can do like,

[1:32:14] maybe six months.

[1:32:16] But the truth is, we also heard that the entire RFP

[1:32:20] process, at minimum will take one year.

[1:32:25] So it's like, here's this thing that we need to do in the meantime.

[1:32:27] Why we're while we are trying to get to this other goal.

[1:32:31] So, I think my proposal would either be, if a minimal,

[1:32:36] six months to a year

[1:32:38] while these other things are taking place

[1:32:40] so that the garages are indeed manageable

[1:32:42] because there's no city staff

[1:32:43] to take over these operations, security for these,

[1:32:48] multiple garages that we don't have a list for.

[1:32:52] So, that would be I would feel most comfortable

[1:32:57] with, with either six months to a year.

[1:33:02] Let's move to public comment

[1:33:04] and think on it.

[1:33:07] Calling in the names that signed up to speak on item

[1:33:10] number six, Mrs. Sara Alabama, Kevin Dally and Blair Beekman.

[1:33:16] All right.

[1:33:17] Kevin Dally,

[1:33:19] I agree with council member, Council Member Brown here that a

[1:33:23] moderately short term extension makes sense without

[1:33:27] getting into a crisis mode again, let's just stabilize it.

[1:33:33] Take a look at things.

[1:33:35] Parking garages are more complicated

[1:33:37] than just a revenue source.

[1:33:39] Of course, even though we're not legally required to do sequa,

[1:33:45] the environmental quality is

[1:33:47] part of the existence of the parking garage.

[1:33:51] I'm glad that Odot is still handling parking policy,

[1:33:56] and we should look at both the garages and the street

[1:34:00] parking policies together and see how they work,

[1:34:04] how they do work together.

[1:34:05] They're not independent entities.

[1:34:08] You know all of us yet.

[1:34:10] Well, they don't got at least and some of you guys

[1:34:13] know about the high cost of free parking by Donald Shoup.

[1:34:17] It really changes the city

[1:34:19] just choosing to make giant parking garages.

[1:34:23] We do have higher parking prices for special events

[1:34:26] from the garages. That's the way it should be.

[1:34:29] Otherwise the lot is full.

[1:34:31] Sometimes a lot's full. Anyway,

[1:34:36] are there garages which could be converted to housing?

[1:34:40] You know, it's worth considering.

[1:34:42] Maybe it's housing on top of the garage.

[1:34:45] Especially with the open lots.

[1:34:47] There's room for housing just as parts converting parking

[1:34:52] at the Lake Art station to housing.

[1:34:56] Oakland should look the same.

[1:34:58] We should encourage transit, cycling and walking in addition

[1:35:03] to driving, every garage should include a bike

[1:35:07] like locker similar to the locker

[1:35:09] that I'm using outside City Hall today.

[1:35:15] And hoping this goes forward.

[1:35:25] So when I read the report, the statement stood out.

[1:35:28] Within the next 12 to 24 months, staff will will

[1:35:33] envision new ways of managing the parking system.

[1:35:37] What what brought that on?

[1:35:40] What's going on with management that that has to be stated.

[1:35:44] And why does it take 24 months or 12 months?

[1:35:48] This is, an item that's under route 28.

[1:35:51] Now, one of the things y'all need to do during

[1:35:53] the summer is instruct all departments

[1:35:57] to have the ability to bring items in a

[1:36:00] timely manner before council,

[1:36:04] and that have

[1:36:05] all of these urgency in emergency,

[1:36:08] where if we don't do it, then we will be in a situation

[1:36:12] where we won't have services or resources.

[1:36:15] This has got to stop

[1:36:18] that. We use this. Rule 28

[1:36:21] too much and staff have sufficient.

[1:36:23] And if it's a staffing issue,

[1:36:25] if you can't do it, define why you can't do it.

[1:36:28] Now, I have brought to your attention many times recently

[1:36:31] when you were looking at the ice rink, center,

[1:36:36] that the report indicated that people that use

[1:36:39] the ice center get free parking validation, parking.

[1:36:45] How does that work?

[1:36:48] Nobody thought it was important enough to bring it up.

[1:36:51] You haven't brought it up yet, but through some unknown system,

[1:36:56] if you if you're parking in that garage,

[1:36:58] the Clay Street garage, you park for free.

[1:37:02] How does it work?

[1:37:04] Nobody brought up that.

[1:37:05] The Montclair parking garages.

[1:37:07] Why did you determine that?

[1:37:09] The business Improvement Association runs the garage.

[1:37:15] Why? Why don't

[1:37:17] we have the same company running the garage in Montclair?

[1:37:21] The two garages that wasn't brought up.

[1:37:25] So I want to know how the valuation

[1:37:28] of the parking and the samples on how much revenue

[1:37:32] is being paid back on the ice.

[1:37:37] Thank you for your comments.

[1:37:38] Switching to zoom user

[1:37:39] Blair Beekman, you can unmute yourself

[1:37:41] and begin your two minute comment.

[1:37:43] Hi. We're Beekman.

[1:37:45] There's a, San Diego City Council meeting going on here.

[1:37:48] So, I've been trying to listen to both, their meeting

[1:37:53] and your meeting as well. I didn't hear everything about this item, but thank you.

[1:37:55] That is here.

[1:38:00] I wanted to be able to quickly comment that I hope to work with,

[1:38:03] tech accountability and the Alpers, readers

[1:38:07] that will be a part of these future parking, projects.

[1:38:12] There can be great systems developing in how,

[1:38:15] policies can work around your readers

[1:38:19] public policies and,

[1:38:22] learning how to those public policies can work

[1:38:24] well, can often be,

[1:38:26] a pretty exhilarating experience for people

[1:38:28] once they're understanding it's process.

[1:38:29] And it creates kind of like a good feeling

[1:38:31] and good understanding.

[1:38:33] Good luck reviewing good, public policies.

[1:38:35] Re open our readers for these parking garages

[1:38:38] and parking lots.

[1:38:39] What that will mean and be about. And,

[1:38:43] I just wanted to remind you of those concepts and,

[1:38:46] thank you for this item.

[1:38:49] Thank you for your comments, chair.

[1:38:50] That concludes all speakers on this item.

[1:38:53] Thank you.

[1:38:55] I I'm I'm very hesitant on this item.

[1:38:59] I think

[1:39:01] it's such a missed opportunity

[1:39:02] that we make no money from our parking garages.

[1:39:04] But beyond that,

[1:39:05] there's also operational issues that give me pause.

[1:39:08] So, for example,

[1:39:10] black Joy parade on a Sunday had packed streets

[1:39:15] like some of our most packed days downtown,

[1:39:18] and our city garage was closed.

[1:39:20] Like one of our public commenters mentioned,

[1:39:22] special events are days to increase fees for parking,

[1:39:25] and people will actually do it

[1:39:26] because they want to come to Oakland.

[1:39:28] That could have been a couple hundred thousand dollars.

[1:39:31] On one day off, all of our city parking garages were open.

[1:39:33] So its enforcement of collection is one thing, but also

[1:39:37] making sure that our garages are open at the right times.

[1:39:42] And like my colleagues mentioned, safety

[1:39:45] at all of these things together,

[1:39:46] I think really needs an overhaul

[1:39:48] in how we think of parking garages.

[1:39:50] And I understand that that takes a little bit of time to do.

[1:39:55] So I am open to extend to changing my motion.

[1:39:59] And, I'll make a motion

[1:40:01] to continue this to the end of the year.

[1:40:04] So I guess five and a half months contract.

[1:40:08] And I would, but I would really appreciate

[1:40:11] if for the supplemental packet for Tuesday's council meeting,

[1:40:16] you can provide that information about garage

[1:40:19] by garage data, which I know is a short time turnaround.

[1:40:22] But by for for next week's supplemental packet,

[1:40:25] I would really appreciate that information

[1:40:27] because as we continue this conversation of

[1:40:29] how do we do better with our garages and

[1:40:32] enforcement, but also operation safety, etc.?

[1:40:36] I think there's a lot to think about,

[1:40:37] and I think that will help guide the conversation.

[1:40:39] So I will make a motion to,

[1:40:42] to amend the contract to move

[1:40:43] it to six months rather than two years.

[1:40:45] So till the end of this year,

[1:40:48] and send it to full council on content.

[1:40:55] Second.

[1:41:01] Thank you. We have a motion made by Council by Chair Ramachandran, seconded by Council Member Brown

[1:41:04] to approve the approve as amended,

[1:41:06] the recommendations of staff and to send this item

[1:41:09] to the July 21st City Council agenda on consent

[1:41:12] with the amendment to the legislation

[1:41:14] to extend the contract to the end of the year,

[1:41:18] with a request to staff to provide

[1:41:20] in a supplemental support a list of the city of all city

[1:41:23] parking facilities and the garage by garage data on roll.

[1:41:28] Council members. Brown I, Unger I, Wang I and chair.

[1:41:32] Ramachandran I thank you.

[1:41:34] Item six passes as a

[1:41:36] passes with four eyes to be four.

[1:41:40] Sorry to be forwarded, as amended to the July 24th City Council agenda on consent

[1:41:44] reading in item number seven,

[1:41:47] adopt a resolution declaring the cities

[1:41:50] City Council's official intent

[1:41:51] to reimburse certain expenditures

[1:41:53] from proceeds of obligations for project costs in connection

[1:41:57] with the Oakland Trust for clean water and safe parks.

[1:42:01] Measure D affordable housing and infrastructure measure KE

[1:42:04] and 2022 Affordable Housing and Infrastructure Bond Measure U.

[1:42:08] And we have three speakers on this item.

[1:42:12] Good morning, chairperson Ramachandran

[1:42:14] and committee members, David Jones of the Treasury Bureau.

[1:42:17] I'll make this very, very brief.

[1:42:19] This is really a formality this morning.

[1:42:22] But before you, as a resolution declaring the intent

[1:42:25] to reimburse certain expenditures,

[1:42:27] from proceeds of obligations for project costs in connection

[1:42:31] with measure D, measure K.K., and measure U,

[1:42:35] pursuant to IRS regulations, project expenditures

[1:42:39] occurred that occur prior to the issuance of the bonds

[1:42:42] can be reimbursed with the bond proceeds.

[1:42:46] This proposed resolution is a requirement of the IRS

[1:42:49] to utilize tax exempt

[1:42:51] bond proceeds for such reimbursement purposes.

[1:42:55] The adoption of the proposal,

[1:42:58] resolution, will provide the city with the flexibility

[1:43:01] to initiate projects prior to the issuance.

[1:43:05] In turn, this allows for projects to be efficiently

[1:43:08] completed and bond proceeds spent efficiently.

[1:43:12] As the city is intending to issue its next issuance

[1:43:16] in the first quarter of 2027, to fund projects

[1:43:21] that are in accordance with, with ballot measures.

[1:43:25] So this essentially is a formality for the IRS,

[1:43:27] basically to reimburse expenses that have been incurred.

[1:43:31] And I may be able to answer any questions you may ask.

[1:43:34] Thank you.

[1:43:35] Colleagues.

[1:43:36] Okay. We can move to public comment,

[1:43:39] calling in the names, the sign up to speak on item

[1:43:41] number seven.

[1:43:42] Asada Bala and Blair Beekman.

[1:43:49] So even with measures like K.K.

[1:43:52] and you, we have limited funds.

[1:43:56] We end up with a prioritization process.

[1:43:59] We can't fund any and all things,

[1:44:02] but it really ticked me off.

[1:44:05] When you use measure you money

[1:44:07] for that Lincoln Park Recreational Center

[1:44:11] that was under measure K

[1:44:13] for renovation of the center.

[1:44:17] The community, the Friends of Lincoln Rec

[1:44:20] Center, came up with a scope of work

[1:44:23] that would include a totally new rec center

[1:44:27] that they would pay for,

[1:44:30] and you went through a series of engaging

[1:44:34] with that group, friends of the Rec Center,

[1:44:38] to move forward with the project,

[1:44:41] with the understanding it

[1:44:42] would be paid for by the community.

[1:44:45] Then some kind of manipulation went on

[1:44:48] with Bask.

[1:44:52] To have the city pay for it using measure

[1:44:54] U over 30 something million dollars.

[1:44:59] And why did you do that when you had a commitment

[1:45:03] from the community to pay for it,

[1:45:07] and you're moving forward with this?

[1:45:09] I saw the design.

[1:45:11] The design was done by a private agency,

[1:45:15] a group, not by the city.

[1:45:19] And you going forward with that scope of work by a private agency,

[1:45:22] you have not approved the scope of work as a city initiative

[1:45:27] is their initiative.

[1:45:29] The Friends of Lincoln Rec Center

[1:45:32] doing these kinds of things

[1:45:36] lacks credibility.

[1:45:37] Again, lacks integrity.

[1:45:40] And what we do have in West Oakland,

[1:45:44] the Howard Durant Library for 20 years trying to get funded

[1:45:48] hasn't gotten funded.

[1:45:54] Thank you for your comments.

[1:45:55] If your name was called and you still

[1:45:56] wish to speak on this item, you can come to the podium.

[1:45:59] Or please raise your hand.

[1:46:02] Okay, chair. At this time, our names have been called.

[1:46:05] Okay. I will entertain a motion.

[1:46:07] So moved.

[1:46:08] Second.

[1:46:11] We have a motion made by Council Member Brown,

[1:46:13] seconded by Council Member Wang,

[1:46:14] to approve the recommendations of staff

[1:46:16] and support this item to the July 7th.

[1:46:18] Sorry. July 21st.

[1:46:19] City Council agenda unroll.

[1:46:21] Council members.

[1:46:22] Brown I, Ungar I, Wang I and chair.

[1:46:26] Ramachandran I thank you.

[1:46:28] Item seven passes with for I support this

[1:46:30] item to the July 21st City Council agenda

[1:46:32] and to the makers of the motion is that on consent?

[1:46:36] On consent.

[1:46:38] Thank you. Reading in item number eight adopted resolution

[1:46:41] authorizing the City Administrator to enter

[1:46:42] into a Professional Services agreement with Weaver

[1:46:45] and Tidwell LLP for forensic Audit Services for a one year

[1:46:49] term, with the option to extend

[1:46:51] for an additional one year without returning to the council

[1:46:54] for a total contract amount not to exceed $490,000.

[1:46:57] And we have two speak three speakers on this item.

[1:47:03] Good morning, Chair Ramachandran

[1:47:04] and members of the Finance and Management Committee.

[1:47:06] My name is Rose Rubel.

[1:47:08] I'm an assistant to the city administrator

[1:47:09] with the city administrator's office.

[1:47:12] The proposed resolution before you today would authorize

[1:47:14] the city administrator to enter into a professional services

[1:47:17] agreement with Weaver and Tidwell

[1:47:19] LLP for forensic audit services for a one year term,

[1:47:23] with the option to extend for an additional one year

[1:47:26] for a total contract amount not to exceed $490,000.

[1:47:30] The proposed Professional Services Agreement

[1:47:32] aligns with the office of the Mayor

[1:47:35] and City Administration's ongoing efforts to evaluate and strengthen

[1:47:38] the city's contracting procedures

[1:47:40] and implement best practices to improve accountability

[1:47:42] and ensure that each stage of the process

[1:47:44] is conducted in a consistent, fair, and transparent manner

[1:47:48] across departments, programs, and project types.

[1:47:51] The city issued a formal request for proposals on November

[1:47:54] 14th, 2025, followed by a Q&A document

[1:47:57] with responses to questions

[1:47:59] from potential vendors on December 26th, 2025.

[1:48:03] Responses to the formal RFP were due to the city on January

[1:48:06] 2nd of this year,

[1:48:08] and the city received a total of four proposals.

[1:48:11] The Department of Workplace and Employment

[1:48:12] Standards conducted a bid and proposal review

[1:48:15] to evaluate each proposals.

[1:48:16] Responsiveness to the city's

[1:48:18] local small local business enterprise requirements,

[1:48:21] and issued a determination on January 30th, finding that

[1:48:24] two of the vendors, Permittivity Government Services Inc.

[1:48:27] and Weaver and Tidwell LLP, qualified by meeting the 20%

[1:48:33] local Small Local Business Enterprise requirement for this contract.

[1:48:35] Subsequently, an internal Cross Department

[1:48:38] staff working group conducted interviews with City Government

[1:48:41] Services, Inc.

[1:48:43] and Weaver and Tidwell LLP on April 13th and scored each vendor's proposal.

[1:48:47] Based upon this evaluation process,

[1:48:51] the Staff Working Group has recommended Weaver and Tidwell LLP to be awarded

[1:48:53] the Professional Services

[1:48:54] Agreement for Forensic Audit Services.

[1:48:58] The scope of the audit shall include forensic

[1:49:00] audit services associated

[1:49:02] with all phases of capital projects and human services

[1:49:06] executed July 1st, 2022 through June 30th, 2025.

[1:49:11] Under the proposed scope of work,

[1:49:12] the recommended vendor Weaver entered Will LLP will perform

[1:49:16] an independent assessment of financial statements

[1:49:19] as well as performance, recovery and contract audits

[1:49:22] in conformity

[1:49:23] with generally accepted accounting principles,

[1:49:25] financial information, adherence to financial compliance

[1:49:28] requirements and internal controls,

[1:49:30] and organization or program performance to identify

[1:49:33] areas for improvement.

[1:49:36] This will include identifying process improvement

[1:49:38] opportunities and transaction mapping from original project

[1:49:42] inception through transaction completion cycle.

[1:49:45] The audit shall include, but not be limited to,

[1:49:48] development of contracts, disbursement of funds

[1:49:50] and any other relevant contract and fiscal activities.

[1:49:53] Upon completion of review

[1:49:55] and assessment, a report of findings

[1:49:56] will be delivered to city leadership.

[1:49:59] While the scope of the proposed Professional Services

[1:50:01] Agreement is focused on capital improvement

[1:50:03] projects and contracts administered by Human Services,

[1:50:06] the city may identify and seek to implement changes

[1:50:08] to the contracting process more broadly.

[1:50:11] Based on the findings of this forensic audit,

[1:50:13] per Oakland Municipal Code chapter 2.04.030,

[1:50:18] City Council authority is required for contract awards

[1:50:21] for professional services in excess of $250,000.

[1:50:25] Therefore, staff is requesting that the City Council authorize

[1:50:29] the City Administrator to award a professional services

[1:50:31] contract to Weaver and Tidwell LLP for a one year term

[1:50:35] with the option to extend for an additional one year

[1:50:38] without returning to council

[1:50:39] for a total contract amount not to exceed $490,000.

[1:50:44] Thank you and staff are available

[1:50:46] to answer any questions you may have.

[1:50:48] Thank you.

[1:50:49] I have a question.

[1:50:52] Can you explain how they meet the small

[1:50:54] local business requirement?

[1:50:56] They seem like a over $300 million company based in Texas.

[1:51:03] I'd be happy to follow up with additional information.

[1:51:06] We did receive the, report from DWP.

[1:51:10] Us, with the determination.

[1:51:14] So I can certainly share more.

[1:51:15] And I'll also just defer

[1:51:16] to Deputy City administrator, Davis, if she has

[1:51:19] more information to add. Yeah.

[1:51:21] So in conversation, we did interview both those

[1:51:24] vendors, and did meet with, for each of the interviews.

[1:51:29] Their subcontractors, who are Oakland based.

[1:51:31] Okay.

[1:51:32] Thank you.

[1:51:35] Do we have names

[1:51:36] of those subcontractors?

[1:51:41] Probably that my brain doesn't remember off the top of my head.

[1:51:45] I am happy to get that information to you.

[1:51:47] I would appreciate that in a supplemental report,

[1:51:51] if this is voted to move to full council.

[1:51:54] Council member Unger.

[1:51:56] So, capital improvement projects and human

[1:51:58] services are a big chunk of our budget,

[1:52:00] but they're by no means all of our budget.

[1:52:02] Are there other

[1:52:04] plans to do forensic audits on other parts of our budget?

[1:52:07] How did we select these two pieces?

[1:52:10] Where are we going next?

[1:52:14] Through the chair to Council member Unger.

[1:52:15] So in order to do a comprehensive audit

[1:52:18] of the entirety of the city's

[1:52:20] operations, that would be a multi

[1:52:22] multi-million dollar contract.

[1:52:24] And candidly, no firm probably has the capacity

[1:52:25] to do the entirety of the city at once.

[1:52:28] We did a risk assessment as to where we thought

[1:52:30] we had the most space for improvement.

[1:52:33] And candidly, where we had seen the highest level

[1:52:36] of dissatisfaction and, concern both from this body

[1:52:41] and from the public.

[1:52:42] So we narrowed the scope as to the places

[1:52:44] we thought we most needed improvement.

[1:52:46] And as was mentioned, we will be able to

[1:52:51] hopefully extrapolate, given

[1:52:52] these are two of our hires through this space

[1:52:54] in terms of process improvements across the organization.

[1:52:58] A lot of what Human Services does, for example, is grant work

[1:53:01] that will likely be heavily applicable

[1:53:03] to other grant similar grant projects.

[1:53:05] Capital improvements are larger.

[1:53:08] Our largest capital, our largest of construction related projects.

[1:53:11] And so, again, we think one, we have sort of the highest risk or,

[1:53:15] need to audit in those spaces.

[1:53:16] And we plan to extend,

[1:53:19] the learning spaces across the whole organizations

[1:53:21] until we get once we get there, makes sense.

[1:53:23] Next.

[1:53:25] Okay. Councilmember Brown.

[1:53:27] Oh, sorry. Councilmember one then. Brown.

[1:53:30] Thank you. Through the chair.

[1:53:31] Just one question.

[1:53:34] This particular company, what kind of findings

[1:53:37] have they been able to uncover for other cities,

[1:53:42] and what were the outcomes? What can we possibly expect in terms of process improvements?

[1:53:48] So they've done, I don't

[1:53:50] know, off the top of my head through the chair, what other,

[1:53:54] sort of jurisdictions or agencies they work with.

[1:53:58] I'd be happy. It sounds like there may be a supplemental report

[1:53:59] coming along with this item

[1:53:59] for the full city Council meeting,

[1:54:01] so I'd be happy to provide

[1:54:02] those additional details in that report.

[1:54:05] But, as I mentioned,

[1:54:08] the, sort of components of the scope of work

[1:54:11] as far as, you know, assessing financial statements, and

[1:54:16] and looking at,

[1:54:19] you know, performing transaction mapping exercises,

[1:54:22] looking at the sort of full cycle

[1:54:24] and development of all contracts through completion.

[1:54:25] That is work that they have done elsewhere.

[1:54:28] And again, I can provide those additional details

[1:54:29] in a supplemental report.

[1:54:31] I also defer to my colleagues if they have

[1:54:33] additional information on that question

[1:54:35] through the Chair to Council Member Wang.

[1:54:36] I know that this firm has noted,

[1:54:40] means of improving doing one process improvement

[1:54:43] they've done to that normal jurisdictions.

[1:54:44] I do note that this firm at the sort of,

[1:54:48] I'll give you the full range of what they've done.

[1:54:50] We've seen sort of basic process improvement, step improvement

[1:54:53] coming out of their work.

[1:54:54] We've also seen them identified

[1:54:56] literally malfeasance in their press spaces.

[1:54:58] So they are capable of of doing that full cycle of work

[1:55:01] from both the here would be some helpful steps

[1:55:05] to make your process better, more transparent,

[1:55:06] more clear, more easily understood and follow bowl,

[1:55:10] more digestible to different stakeholders of that, to

[1:55:13] identifying and, fully malfeasance or,

[1:55:18] non-compliant process or outcome,

[1:55:21] in the sample that they've audited.

[1:55:23] And the city will be open to receiving feedback

[1:55:25] on the full scope of those things.

[1:55:27] And we're looking forward to seeing what they uncover.

[1:55:29] As part of the process of having a forensic auditor is

[1:55:32] they are supposed to be a little bit distant from you.

[1:55:34] That is kind of that's the nature of this process.

[1:55:37] We will provide them the full set of records

[1:55:39] that they require

[1:55:40] to be able to dig in and encumber

[1:55:41] whatever we can help them uncover.

[1:55:44] I think.

[1:55:44] Great. Thank you.

[1:55:46] I'll make a motion.

[1:55:48] Okay. Thank you.

[1:55:50] Councilmember drum, second.

[1:55:54] Okay. We can move to public speakers

[1:55:55] to the mic, through the church of the maker of the motion.

[1:55:58] Can you clarify exactly what the request

[1:56:01] for supplemental information is?

[1:56:03] I have, how the company meets the small local business

[1:56:06] requirement, names of all the subcontractors.

[1:56:09] And your questions.

[1:56:10] What kind of findings have this company

[1:56:12] been able to uncover from other cities,

[1:56:14] and what were those outcomes along with?

[1:56:17] What can we expect in terms of process improvement?

[1:56:20] You've you got it.

[1:56:23] Okay.

[1:56:25] Sorry, I didn't hear. Did you capture council member on the children's request?

[1:56:27] Yeah. Okay.

[1:56:30] Thank you. So we have a motion made by Councilmember

[1:56:31] Wang seven by Councilmember Brown

[1:56:33] to approve the recommendations of staff

[1:56:36] and to forward this item to the July 21st City Council agenda on consent,

[1:56:39] with the request to staff to provide in a supplemental report of how,

[1:56:42] how the company meets the small local business

[1:56:44] requirement names of all the subcontractors.

[1:56:48] What kind of findings have this company been able

[1:56:50] to uncover from other cities, and what were those outcomes,

[1:56:53] and what can we expect in terms of process

[1:56:56] improvement on roll Council members?

[1:56:59] Sorry.

[1:57:01] Public comment. Oh, sorry.

[1:57:03] Yes, we will go to public comment

[1:57:06] on sorry for calling in the names

[1:57:09] that sign up to speak on item number eight, Mr.

[1:57:11] Sada, Ola Bhalla, Kevin Dally and Blair Beekman.

[1:57:17] So is the

[1:57:18] definition of a forensic audit.

[1:57:22] It is an in-depth examination of an

[1:57:24] organization or individual's financial records

[1:57:28] to uncover evidence for legal proceedings.

[1:57:32] Forensic audits investigate specific

[1:57:36] suspected actions such as fraud, embezzlement,

[1:57:41] asset management, or failure

[1:57:44] to have regulatory compliance.

[1:57:47] Forensics audits are used to confirm

[1:57:50] or to rule out financial misconduct, quantity

[1:57:55] losses, or quality losses, and to prepare.

[1:58:00] Evidence for court proceedings.

[1:58:04] I didn't hear anybody talk about that.

[1:58:07] So are we looking at Pacific violations

[1:58:10] that can result in legal actions?

[1:58:14] Are we soft penalties?

[1:58:18] Is this a real forensic audit?

[1:58:19] Are you redefined in forensic audit that you said

[1:58:23] to make corrections as necessary to improve the process?

[1:58:28] You can do you don't need a forensic audit to do that.

[1:58:32] A forensic audit again

[1:58:35] has to do with potential legal actions that have to be

[1:58:39] taken based on specific circumstances of violations.

[1:58:45] So don't try to present stuff to the public

[1:58:49] where you want a soft pedal. It.

[1:58:52] So what happened with capital projects?

[1:58:54] What happened in human resources that we need to have

[1:58:58] a specific forensic audit.

[1:59:01] It's not a general audit.

[1:59:02] You're looking at certain specific circumstances.

[1:59:06] That's what a forensic audit is.

[1:59:11] Of course.

[1:59:14] Thank you.

[1:59:15] If you still wish to speak,

[1:59:16] you can come to the podium or raise your hand.

[1:59:21] Okay. Our names have been called again. We have a motion made by Council Member Wong,

[1:59:22] seconded by Council Member Brown to approve the recommendations

[1:59:25] of staff and to forward this item to the July 21st

[1:59:27] City Council agenda on consent, with the request

[1:59:29] to staff to provide in a supplemental support report

[1:59:32] how the companies meet the small local business requirements.

[1:59:35] Names of all the subcontractors,

[1:59:40] what kind of findings have the company been able to,

[1:59:42] cover for other cities, and what were those outcomes

[1:59:44] and what can we expect

[1:59:46] in terms of process improvement on raw council members?

[1:59:48] Brown I, Ungar I, Wang I and chair Ramachandran

[1:59:53] I thank you motion passes with for

[1:59:56] I support this item to the July 21st city Council agenda on consent.

[1:59:59] Moving on to open forum calling in the names

[2:00:01] I signed up to speak Mr.

[2:00:03] Sato, Ola Boller, Kevin Dally and Blair Beekman

[2:00:06] to Council.

[2:00:12] The issue of immigration.

[2:00:13] I cannot believe how I'm discovering

[2:00:16] challenges related to immigration.

[2:00:19] In 1994, Barbara Jordan commissioned by then President

[2:00:23] Clinton to look at immigration period immigration.

[2:00:27] The recommendations from the commission said,

[2:00:29] we have to monitor immigration because at some point

[2:00:34] is going to impact the workforce,

[2:00:35] particularly for African American low skilled workers.

[2:00:39] Then I find out we got legal immigration going on.

[2:00:44] When people come to this country pregnant

[2:00:48] and go into what is called

[2:00:50] housing, home birth houses,

[2:00:53] so they can have their children be born as citizens.

[2:00:57] Most of these are Chinese.

[2:00:59] 13 birth houses are right here in California, and these people

[2:01:03] pay up to 60 to $80,000 to come here and do that.

[2:01:07] So when that president is talking about, birthright,

[2:01:11] when you manipulate the system, is this fair?

[2:01:17] Thank you for your comments, chair. That concludes all speakers on open forum.

[2:01:20] All right. Thank you. This meeting is adjourned.

*Finance & Management Committee on 2026-07-14 9:30 AM

Agenda

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