Call this meeting to order at
12:04 P.M. Clerk please call
the roll. Thank you, Vice Mayor.
I call to order a special
meeting for the purpose of a
closed session. We have a
quorum of council members and
chambers. There are three items
on the agenda. Item one is
public employee performance
evaluation, government code,
section 54957 b one title of
City Clerk. Item two is threat
to Public services or
Facilities. Government code.
Section 54957. A consultation
with the Sacramento Police
Department Chief of Police.
Item three is conference with
labor negotiators. Government
Code section 54957.6 designated
Representative Marcia Smith,
Aaron Donato and Tim Davis
employee organizations are.
Sacramento Police Officers
Association. I have one speaker
for public comment, Wes Sams.
Yeah. So please come speak. You
wanted to speak. Absolutely. So
you do have two minutes to
address the council.
>> Are they here?
>> They are. Please proceed.
>> My name is Wes Sams, and I'm
the lead organizer of
Sacramento's City of Trees
Parade. We're a spectacular
celebration of the diversity,
art, music and culture of the
Sacramento area. And we bring
about 20,000 people each year
to downtown and old Sacramento
for our free parade. We're a
small nonprofit of completely
unpaid volunteers like myself,
ever increasing and arbitrary
fees from multiple city
departments are making events
like mine impossible, or
forcing us to move to more
supportive municipalities. The
City of Festivals grant has not
increased proportionately or at
all. Alongside these increases,
our city permit fee has
increased from 1000 to $1776 in
five years. Sac fire more than
doubled our fees last year, and
they're charging $600 now for
sending them three emails. And
we had to pay about $1,000 just
for asking what a fire permit
would cost, even though we
never got an estimate and
didn't go forward with the
permit. Last year, sac pd
increased our services bill
from $9000 to $14,000 for the
exact same parade route and
timings. And I was just
notified last week that pd is
adding an hour of travel time.
That's $122 per officer times
22 officers for every job. That
means we're going to be paying
over $20,000 next year so that
these guys can drive to work.
These fees and increases are
being imposed arbitrarily. I
would argue, without public
hearings and without City
Council approval. As far as I
can tell, events like ours are
moving to Rancho Cordova and
Elk Grove, where they offer
city services and even
additional cash help.
Sacramento needs to roll back
these egregious fees, reduce
the services these departments
require, restrain departments
from arbitrarily imposing new
fees, and greatly increase
public funding to support
events like mine. I ask you, do
we want to be the City of Trees
or the City of Fees? Do.
>> Thank you for your comments.
Your time is complete. Vice
mayor. You MAY adjourn to
closed session. Thank you.