Agenda
We think we found an agenda here: https://docs.google.com/gview?url=https://sacramento.legistar1.com/sacramento/meetings/2026/8/3860_A_City_Council_%2528Closed_Session%2529_26-08-11_Special_Meeting_Agenda.pdf&embedded=true
Transcript
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[0:01]
Call this meeting to order at
[0:02]
12:04 P.M. Clerk please call
[0:05]
the roll. Thank you, Vice Mayor.
[0:06]
I call to order a special
[0:07]
meeting for the purpose of a
[0:08]
closed session. We have a
[0:10]
quorum of council members and
[0:11]
chambers. There are three items
[0:12]
on the agenda. Item one is
[0:14]
public employee performance
[0:15]
evaluation, government code,
[0:18]
section 54957 b one title of
[0:19]
City Clerk. Item two is threat
[0:20]
to Public services or
[0:21]
Facilities. Government code.
[0:24]
Section 54957. A consultation
[0:25]
with the Sacramento Police
[0:27]
Department Chief of Police.
[0:28]
Item three is conference with
[0:29]
labor negotiators. Government
[0:33]
Code section 54957.6 designated
[0:34]
Representative Marcia Smith,
[0:35]
Aaron Donato and Tim Davis
[0:37]
employee organizations are.
[0:39]
Sacramento Police Officers
[0:40]
Association. I have one speaker
[0:45]
for public comment, Wes Sams.
[0:47]
Yeah. So please come speak. You
[0:50]
wanted to speak. Absolutely. So
[0:51]
you do have two minutes to
[0:53]
address the council.
[0:54]
>> Are they here?
[0:57]
>> They are. Please proceed.
[0:59]
>> My name is Wes Sams, and I'm
[1:00]
the lead organizer of
[1:02]
Sacramento's City of Trees
[1:04]
Parade. We're a spectacular
[1:05]
celebration of the diversity,
[1:07]
art, music and culture of the
[1:09]
Sacramento area. And we bring
[1:11]
about 20,000 people each year
[1:13]
to downtown and old Sacramento
[1:15]
for our free parade. We're a
[1:17]
small nonprofit of completely
[1:20]
unpaid volunteers like myself,
[1:22]
ever increasing and arbitrary
[1:24]
fees from multiple city
[1:26]
departments are making events
[1:27]
like mine impossible, or
[1:29]
forcing us to move to more
[1:31]
supportive municipalities. The
[1:33]
City of Festivals grant has not
[1:35]
increased proportionately or at
[1:38]
all. Alongside these increases,
[1:39]
our city permit fee has
[1:43]
increased from 1000 to $1776 in
[1:45]
five years. Sac fire more than
[1:47]
doubled our fees last year, and
[1:49]
they're charging $600 now for
[1:53]
sending them three emails. And
[1:55]
we had to pay about $1,000 just
[1:57]
for asking what a fire permit
[1:58]
would cost, even though we
[1:59]
never got an estimate and
[2:00]
didn't go forward with the
[2:02]
permit. Last year, sac pd
[2:03]
increased our services bill
[2:07]
from $9000 to $14,000 for the
[2:08]
exact same parade route and
[2:09]
timings. And I was just
[2:11]
notified last week that pd is
[2:12]
adding an hour of travel time.
[2:16]
That's $122 per officer times
[2:18]
22 officers for every job. That
[2:20]
means we're going to be paying
[2:22]
over $20,000 next year so that
[2:25]
these guys can drive to work.
[2:27]
These fees and increases are
[2:29]
being imposed arbitrarily. I
[2:31]
would argue, without public
[2:32]
hearings and without City
[2:33]
Council approval. As far as I
[2:36]
can tell, events like ours are
[2:37]
moving to Rancho Cordova and
[2:40]
Elk Grove, where they offer
[2:41]
city services and even
[2:43]
additional cash help.
[2:44]
Sacramento needs to roll back
[2:45]
these egregious fees, reduce
[2:47]
the services these departments
[2:48]
require, restrain departments
[2:49]
from arbitrarily imposing new
[2:51]
fees, and greatly increase
[2:52]
public funding to support
[2:53]
events like mine. I ask you, do
[2:55]
we want to be the City of Trees
[2:58]
or the City of Fees? Do.
[2:59]
>> Thank you for your comments.
[3:00]
Your time is complete. Vice
[3:02]
mayor. You MAY adjourn to
[3:03]
closed session. Thank you.