[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.