[0:14] stream.
[0:22] >> We will call to order the
[0:23] Budget and Audit Committee
[0:27] meeting for MAY 26th, 2026. And
[0:29] welcome to those of you who
[0:32] have joined us. Why don't we
[0:33] call the roll to establish a
[0:34] quorum?
[0:35] >> Thank you. Council member
[0:36] Talamantes. Council member
[0:37] Maple. I am here, Council
[0:39] member Guerra and chair
[0:41] Dickinson here. Quorum.
[0:43] >> Thank you. And Council
[0:45] member Maple, would you lead us
[0:46] in the acknowledgment and the
[0:46] pledge?
[0:49] >> Please rise if you are able.
[0:51] Rise for the opening
[0:52] acknowledgments in honor of
[0:53] Sacramento's indigenous people
[0:55] and tribal lands to the
[0:56] original people of this land,
[0:58] the Nisenan people, the
[0:59] southern Maidu Valley and
[1:01] Plains Miwok, Patwin Wintun
[1:02] peoples and the people of the
[1:04] Wilton Rancheria. Sacramento's
[1:06] only federally recognized tribe.
[1:07] MAY we acknowledge and honor
[1:08] the native people who came
[1:10] before us and still walk beside
[1:11] us today on these ancestral
[1:12] lands, by choosing to gather
[1:14] today in the act of practice of
[1:16] acknowledgment and appreciation
[1:17] for Sacramento's indigenous
[1:19] peoples, histories,
[1:20] contributions and lives. Remain
[1:23] standing. Salute and pledge. I
[1:25] pledge allegiance to the flag
[1:27] of the United States of America
[1:29] and to the Republic for which
[1:32] it stands one nation under GOD,
[1:33] indivisible, with liberty and
[1:35] justice for all.
[1:38] >> All right, all right. Thank
[1:40] you all for joining us this
[1:43] this morning. If you wish to
[1:45] speak on any item on our agenda,
[1:47] you're welcome to to do that,
[1:50] you need to, to fill out a
[1:51] speaker form and deliver that
[1:53] to our clerk here at the front
[1:54] of the chambers. And then we'll
[1:56] make sure to call on you on the
[1:57] item in which you are
[1:59] interested. Please keep in mind
[2:01] that public comment is limited
[2:03] to two minutes, and you can see
[2:05] the clock ticking now as you
[2:07] stand at the podium, so be sure
[2:08] to keep an eye on that so you
[2:10] time your remarks so you get
[2:12] everything said that you that
[2:14] you want to get in. And with
[2:16] that, I think we can move to
[2:20] our consent calendar. So do we
[2:21] have any items that members
[2:24] wish to address on the consent
[2:27] calendar?
[2:28] >> I'll move consent.
[2:30] >> And we have a motion and a
[2:32] second on the consent calendar.
[2:33] Do we have any members of the
[2:35] public who wish to address. I
[2:35] have no.
[2:37] >> No speakers on the consent
[2:37] calendar.
[2:38] >> All right. If there's
[2:40] nothing further, then all in
[2:41] favor, signify by saying aye.
[2:42] Aye. Opposed? Say no. Any
[2:43] abstentions? Hearing none.
[2:45] Motion passes unanimously.
[2:48] We'll go on to item six, which
[2:50] is the audit of emergency
[2:53] medical services. And because
[2:54] it's an audit, here's our
[2:57] auditor. This. Good morning.
[2:58] >> Good morning, Chair
[2:59] Dickinson and members of the
[3:02] Budget and Audit Committee. I'm
[3:04] your city auditor. With me
[3:06] today is Joe Fleming, who is
[3:07] primarily responsible for
[3:09] completing this audit. And the
[3:11] recommendation that's before
[3:13] you is to accept the audit of
[3:15] the Sacramento Fire
[3:16] Department's emergency medical
[3:18] services and forward it to the
[3:23] full City Council for approval.
[3:24] So first, I'd like to provide
[3:26] some background information
[3:28] regarding ems operations and
[3:31] trends in ems in demand for ems
[3:34] services. The ems division
[3:35] within the Sacramento Fire
[3:37] Department provides basic life
[3:39] support, advanced life support
[3:40] and ambulance transport
[3:43] services for the city. 911
[3:44] calls first go to the
[3:45] Sacramento Police Department
[3:47] Dispatch Center, and then
[3:49] they're transferred to the. For
[3:51] fire and medical calls to the
[3:54] Sacramento Regional Fire ems
[3:56] Communications Center, who then
[3:57] provides the alert to the
[4:03] stations for units to respond.
[4:04] Sfd does not always respond to
[4:05] incidents with ambulances,
[4:07] trucks or engines. More
[4:09] recently, for non-emergency or
[4:11] low acuity calls, there are
[4:14] other teams that MAY respond,
[4:16] such as cases for substance
[4:19] abuse or mental health crises.
[4:22] And since fiscal year 2019,
[4:23] Sacramento Fire Department
[4:25] incidents for both fire and
[4:29] medical have risen about 15%,
[4:31] which is more than double the
[4:33] 6% growth that fire operations
[4:35] and ems staffing have seen.
[4:37] During that same period. The
[4:40] number of fire stations is also
[4:43] stayed the same at 24 since
[4:45] 2018. And then to help address
[4:47] this, ems has more recently
[4:49] also contracted with ambulance
[4:51] services to provide basic life
[4:55] support services, and many ems
[4:56] operational policies are set by
[5:00] the county ems agency, though
[5:02] Sacramento Fire Department does
[5:04] maintain its own policy manual,
[5:06] and the state also provides
[5:08] guidance and coordination. In
[5:09] addition, there are outside
[5:11] groups such as the National
[5:13] Fire Protection Association,
[5:15] nfpa that suggest performance
[5:16] standards that are widely
[5:20] accepted. So our audit
[5:22] objective was to evaluate the
[5:23] quality of the Fire
[5:25] department's emergency Medical
[5:27] service services delivery and
[5:28] identify opportunities for
[5:30] improvement. To do this, we
[5:32] looked at ems processes from
[5:34] all stages of the operations.
[5:36] So from the point when the
[5:37] dispatch enters the 911 calls
[5:40] to when ems personnel mobilize
[5:42] and respond to the incidents,
[5:44] and when patients are offloaded
[5:47] for care at the hospitals, if
[5:49] applicable. This provides the
[5:50] perspective of both the
[5:52] provider and the patient. And
[5:54] to do so, we review data on
[5:56] call answer times from the
[5:58] dispatch center. Turnout time
[6:00] data for Sacramento Fire
[6:02] Department personnel responses
[6:04] from patient surveys provided
[6:07] by the city's ambulance billing
[6:09] provider, and accreditation and
[6:11] licensure data maintained by
[6:13] the fire department.
[6:14] Additionally, we reviewed the
[6:16] various policies maintained by
[6:18] the Department, operational
[6:20] standards established by county
[6:22] ems agency, state ems
[6:24] guidelines and regulations,
[6:26] state codes, and best practices
[6:29] that are suggested by third
[6:31] party organizations such as
[6:36] nfpa. So, for our first finding,
[6:38] we address the impact of
[6:39] non-emergency calls or as I
[6:43] mentioned, low acuity on sfd
[6:44] operations. So we reviewed data
[6:46] on the disposition of all the
[6:48] different types of 911 calls
[6:51] that sfd responded to in
[6:54] calendar year 2020 for. So as I
[6:56] mentioned, low acuity calls are
[6:58] things like minor pain or flu
[7:00] like symptoms or other non-life
[7:02] threatening medical concerns.
[7:03] And then of the more than
[7:05] 98,000 incidents that we
[7:08] reviewed, most, 61,000 were
[7:10] medical and about 18,000 of
[7:12] those were low acuity. So in
[7:13] other words, for the most
[7:15] common type of incident,
[7:18] personnel were responding to
[7:19] non-emergency or non-life
[7:21] threatening about 30% of the
[7:23] time. And that means that
[7:25] personnel MAY be tied up with
[7:26] non-emergency calls when other
[7:28] actual emergencies are
[7:29] occurring. And this can create
[7:32] additional workload burden on
[7:35] ems personnel and financially.
[7:37] Rough estimate shows that
[7:38] responding to these incidents
[7:41] costs about $4.6 million across
[7:43] ambulance, fire, engine, fire,
[7:46] truck maintenance, fueling,
[7:49] repairs and staffing, and a
[7:51] combined unit spent 1.2 million
[7:53] minutes responding to these
[7:56] calls. About 20% of the
[7:58] incidents were homeless related,
[8:00] meaning that as a share of the
[8:01] city population, there were
[8:03] about four ambulance responses
[8:06] for each personal person
[8:07] experiencing homelessness,
[8:09] compared to about 0.15
[8:12] incidents for non homeless
[8:14] individuals in the city. And
[8:15] many of these calls were
[8:17] located in the downtown and
[8:21] midtown areas of the city. As I
[8:23] mentioned, ems now utilizes a
[8:25] multiple types of units that
[8:27] are designed to respond to low
[8:28] acuity incidents, with an
[8:31] alternative approach designed
[8:32] specifically for different
[8:34] needs. So, for example, they
[8:35] have teams of paramedics that
[8:37] respond to substance abuse
[8:39] related incidents with harm
[8:40] reduction kits and provide
[8:45] follow up visits. So our
[8:46] recommendation for this finding
[8:48] suggests that there is further
[8:49] collaboration that could happen
[8:51] with the dispatch center, which
[8:54] could allow for dispatch to
[8:56] directly dispatch alternative
[8:58] response units to calls, which
[9:00] is not currently a level of
[9:02] authority that they have. This
[9:06] would also include continued
[9:07] exploration of models like the
[9:09] nurse triage line, where
[9:10] non-emergency calls are
[9:12] potentially routed to a nurse
[9:14] over the phone, rather than
[9:15] sending out paramedics or emt
[9:19] to respond in person. In our
[9:20] conversations with the fire
[9:22] department and the dispatch
[9:23] center, they have indicated
[9:25] that they've researched this
[9:27] option and have identified some
[9:29] certain obstacles, but we
[9:30] believe that there might be
[9:32] additional consideration there.
[9:34] And then other strategies could
[9:35] include building out the
[9:37] existing behavioral Health
[9:39] Crisis hotline, which responds
[9:41] to individuals in mental health
[9:43] crises or rideshare options,
[9:46] where we can send a rideshare
[9:48] to transport individuals to
[9:49] doctor appointments or urgent
[9:52] care instead of taking them to
[9:54] the hospital with an ambulance.
[9:56] And additionally, we recommend
[9:57] that the fire department
[10:00] continues to expand its use of
[10:01] alternative response units like
[10:03] the Mobile Integrated Health
[10:05] Team, which did roll out
[10:09] earlier this month. So one of
[10:10] the challenges that they've
[10:12] indicated for these types of
[10:13] units is that the city might
[10:15] not be able to bill for some of
[10:18] these services. And so
[10:20] expanding their usage could
[10:21] benefit with also working with
[10:23] state officials and legislators
[10:25] to build out a way that we can
[10:27] get reimbursed for for those
[10:32] services. Our second finding is
[10:35] that while ems providers and
[10:36] hospitals county wide have
[10:38] reduced the time it takes to
[10:40] offload patients from
[10:41] ambulances into the care of the
[10:42] hospitals, there is still room
[10:44] for improvement to meet the
[10:46] offload standard time set by
[10:49] the county policy in 2023,
[10:52] Assembly Bill 40 was passed to
[10:53] streamline the transfer of care
[10:55] between ambulances and
[10:56] hospitals and added
[10:59] requirements like establishing
[11:01] a threshold for how much time
[11:04] the hospital has to take in
[11:07] clients. So the for example,
[11:09] you could set a 30 minute
[11:12] patient offload time for 90% of
[11:13] incidents, and it requires
[11:15] hospitals to develop protocols
[11:17] to reduce the patient offload
[11:19] times. When we looked at the
[11:21] 2024 data, we calculated that
[11:24] an additional 21 minutes per
[11:26] patient on average ambulance
[11:27] waiting times above that 30
[11:30] minute offload time, which was
[11:35] about 7000 hours in total and
[11:36] $970,000 in terms of ambulance
[11:40] operating costs. More recent
[11:42] data in 2025 shows that that
[11:45] time has gone down
[11:48] significantly from the even
[11:51] 2023 data, which was 73 minutes,
[11:53] and the county standard, which
[11:55] was 30 minutes at the time we
[11:57] looked at it, has slowly
[11:59] reduced to get to a 20 minute
[12:01] standard. So for fiscal year 26,
[12:04] that standard was 25 minutes.
[12:07] At the end of this calendar
[12:08] year, it's going to be closer
[12:10] to 23 minutes. And then JANUARY
[12:13] it's going to be 20 minutes. So
[12:16] our recommendation is to
[12:17] continue to work with area
[12:19] hospitals to ensure that we are
[12:22] they are in compliance with the
[12:24] patient offload times to reduce
[12:28] wait times for the ambulances.
[12:30] The fire department does
[12:32] currently meet monthly with
[12:33] representatives of the area,
[12:35] hospitals and insurance
[12:36] providers, as well as
[12:37] neighboring fire chiefs to
[12:39] discuss additional strategies.
[12:41] So we believe that continuing
[12:42] those discussions is going to
[12:45] be helpful. And they have
[12:46] mentioned that there there have
[12:48] been some changes implemented
[12:51] by the hospitals. And so
[12:53] continuing those changes will
[12:57] also benefit the city. Our
[12:59] third finding is that the fire
[13:00] department has not formally
[13:03] adopted turnout time standards
[13:05] to measure their performance
[13:07] against. So the nfpa standard
[13:10] is for units to begin traveling
[13:12] within 60s of being notified of
[13:16] the incident 90% of the time.
[13:17] Our review of the turnout time
[13:19] for 2024 was that we were
[13:23] meeting that 60s 60% of the
[13:25] time, and the performance was
[13:27] generally faster during the day
[13:29] and slower in the early morning
[13:32] hours. And at the dispatch
[13:34] level, the dispatch center is
[13:36] is also not consistently
[13:38] meeting the call answer times,
[13:41] which again set by the nfpa,
[13:43] 90% of calls answered within 15
[13:48] seconds between JANUARY 2019
[13:50] and MARCH 2021. They did exceed
[13:51] that benchmark. And then
[13:54] they've kind of fluctuated over
[13:57] the last couple of years on
[14:01] meeting that. So our
[14:02] recommendation is for the fire
[14:03] department to work with the
[14:05] dispatch center to regularly
[14:07] reach the call, answering
[14:10] benchmarking times. The
[14:11] dispatch center did state that
[14:13] they are planning to add
[14:15] personnel, which could help
[14:17] expedite call answering and
[14:18] processing times. And then we
[14:20] also recommend that the fire
[14:21] department formally adopt the
[14:23] nfpa standards specifically,
[14:25] especially for turnout times of
[14:30] 60s 90% of the time. And then
[14:31] our final finding is that the
[14:33] fire department's Continuous
[14:34] Quality Improvement Committee
[14:36] roles and responsibilities
[14:38] could be strengthened. The key
[14:40] Key Committee is currently
[14:42] exceeding the standards set by
[14:44] county policy to review patient
[14:46] care reports to look for things
[14:48] like gaps in service delivery
[14:51] or identify conduct violations.
[14:54] This work is done by staff on a
[14:57] volunteer basis, as funding
[14:59] constraints are always an issue,
[15:01] and it limits their ability to
[15:03] do fuller reviews of other data,
[15:05] such as patient feedback
[15:08] surveys and those that
[15:10] information is not currently
[15:12] utilized to improve or change
[15:13] the policies and practices of
[15:16] the operations. Additionally,
[15:18] in our review of the licensing
[15:19] and accreditation data, we
[15:21] found that there were some
[15:23] credentials that were listed as
[15:25] expired and the fire
[15:26] department's internal tracking
[15:30] system. Two of those 44 that we
[15:31] had identified were for
[15:33] paramedic licenses. And then
[15:36] lastly, among the fire
[15:37] department's internal policies,
[15:40] many of the them were outdated.
[15:42] About 85% of the policies in
[15:45] the ems division had not been
[15:50] updated in more than 25 years.
[15:53] We recommend for this finding
[15:55] that the committee roles and
[15:57] responsibilities be clarified,
[15:59] that the Committee is
[16:00] satisfying internal policies
[16:02] and those guidelines set by the
[16:04] state ems authority. We
[16:06] recommend that patient data
[16:07] survey data be incorporated
[16:11] into the quality improvement
[16:12] process and be provided to the
[16:14] Office of Public Safety,
[16:15] Accountability and Fire
[16:16] Department's internal
[16:18] investigators were warranted,
[16:20] and we recommend that processes
[16:21] by which employee
[16:23] certifications are reviewed to
[16:25] ensure that their current and
[16:27] to reinforce processes that
[16:29] prevent certifications from
[16:31] lapsing and we also recommend
[16:33] that the fire department
[16:35] perform a gap analysis to
[16:36] identify any missing policies
[16:38] that need to be added to their
[16:40] manual of operations. In
[16:43] addition to working on updating
[16:44] some of their policies that
[16:47] they currently have. This
[16:49] concludes my presentation. I'd
[16:50] like to thank the Fire
[16:51] department for their
[16:52] collaboration and assistance
[16:54] throughout this audit. The
[16:57] response from the department is
[16:58] included at the end of this
[17:00] audit report. And as you can
[17:02] see, they've already begun
[17:04] working on and addressing many
[17:07] of the issues we identified.
[17:09] And before we conclude, I
[17:11] believe the fire department did
[17:14] want to say a couple of words.
[17:22] >> So thank you, chief. Good
[17:24] morning.
[17:26] >> Good morning everyone. I'd
[17:29] like to start out by just
[17:30] thanking Forrest and her
[17:32] auditor team for what they help
[17:35] us with. As we went through
[17:37] this audit. The Sacramento Fire
[17:39] Department has significantly
[17:41] strengthened its ems division
[17:45] by taking part in the audit.
[17:46] Many of the community medical
[17:47] services that we didn't have
[17:49] before we have today because we
[17:51] work through this audit. It
[17:54] showed us places where we could
[17:56] either enhance or be innovative
[17:58] in the region. And you heard us
[17:59] talk about The Epoch Times, the
[18:01] ambulance patient offload times
[18:02] at the hospitals. That's
[18:03] something we have to
[18:04] collaborate with the hospitals
[18:06] with. And although there MAY be
[18:07] penalties for us, there's no
[18:09] penalty for the hospital for a
[18:11] slow patient offload time. So
[18:13] we have to foster that
[18:14] relationship with every
[18:16] hospital in the region to get
[18:18] the times that we do have. And
[18:20] as of APRIL, we're down to 28
[18:22] minutes, which I would have
[18:23] told you would have been
[18:25] unheard of several years ago
[18:26] when we were seeing sometimes
[18:30] for six hours, sitting for
[18:33] patient offload times. Many of
[18:35] the advancements are through
[18:38] our communication center. We
[18:40] have the backbone here in
[18:41] Sacramento County, a fire
[18:43] having a dedicated fire
[18:45] dispatch center is unique in
[18:47] Sacramento County that we use
[18:48] the whole system. And what I
[18:50] mean, the whole system, it's.
[18:53] We share a borderless boundary.
[18:55] So companies from the city and
[18:58] the county move across lines as
[19:01] well as medic units. That also
[19:03] gave us the ability to
[19:05] integrate with the 988 suicide
[19:08] crisis hotline, develop nurse
[19:09] navigation pathways with those
[19:10] other units that you hear us
[19:12] talk about. So the street
[19:16] overdose Response Team, the mcu,
[19:18] which is a crisis unit, and now
[19:21] mih, which the two previous
[19:24] ones sort and mcu, they are
[19:25] dispatched through text from
[19:28] dispatch, but the mi units are
[19:29] dispatched by radio, so that's
[19:31] something new. Since the audit
[19:39] started. I talked about we're
[19:40] actually a leader in the region
[19:41] in the ambulance patient
[19:45] offload times. We meet monthly
[19:48] with all the clinics, the rehab
[19:50] facilities, insurance providers,
[19:51] the hospitals, and sit down and
[19:53] work on ways to reduce those
[19:55] times, which makes our
[19:57] ambulances more available more
[20:00] often. Modernization and I, we
[20:02] talked about a lot, 10,000
[20:03] certificates that we manage
[20:06] with two people. A lot of those
[20:07] certificates, certificates that
[20:08] we hit on the 40 that were
[20:10] expired. Some of them are
[20:13] people that are, are employees
[20:15] that are going from emt to
[20:17] paramedic. Their emt license
[20:19] will lapse when they move to
[20:21] paramedic. We did not have
[20:23] anybody work on an ambulance
[20:26] that was not certified. So some
[20:27] of the other certifications
[20:29] that were lapsed were, I think
[20:32] there was 14 or 17 reserves
[20:33] that were licensed in our
[20:36] system, and we no longer have a
[20:37] reserve program. So those
[20:39] licenses go on. That lapsed
[20:43] category. I think when we talk
[20:49] about nfpa, nfpa is a.
[20:51] Recommendation across the us.
[20:54] If it's not adopted locally,
[20:55] then it is not something that
[20:57] you would typically use. Our
[20:59] dispatch center uses Apco,
[21:02] which is a public safety
[21:03] officials that regulate the
[21:05] times that we measure and
[21:08] dispatch. So for us as a city
[21:13] to adopt one nfpa
[21:14] recommendation, we would have
[21:16] to go through council to do
[21:18] that. And it would be there's a
[21:23] litany of nfpa books that it's
[21:25] it's daunting when you look at
[21:26] nfpa and the requirements of
[21:30] nfpa across the nation. So we
[21:31] tread lightly with nfpa, I
[21:33] guess is what I'm trying to say.
[21:35] So. And then the 62nd times
[21:37] that you see for ems calls,
[21:39] that's because you're not
[21:41] having to turn out in full
[21:42] turnouts before you get on the
[21:43] equipment. So you're, you have
[21:47] less time to get ready. And
[21:48] daytime versus nighttime, I
[21:49] think it's obvious that they're
[21:52] coming from a bedside versus
[21:54] being maybe out on the street.
[21:56] So those types of times do slow
[21:57] in the evening times or night
[22:00] time. If you have any other
[22:02] questions, I'd be I'd just like
[22:03] to finish by thanking both
[22:06] again for this team. And the
[22:09] ems team is behind me and
[22:10] answer any questions you might
[22:12] have for us.
[22:14] >> Thanks, chief. I would say
[22:15] don't don't go too far. There
[22:18] MAY be some questions for you.
[22:20] And as we get into discussion,
[22:23] we'll we'll see whether some
[22:27] questions come up or not. So I
[22:29] think first of all, do we have
[22:30] public comment on this item.
[22:32] >> We have no public comment on
[22:33] this item.
[22:34] >> Okay. Let's go to Mayor Pro
[22:35] Tem Guerra.
[22:37] >> Great. Thank you very much,
[22:39] chair. First, you know, and
[22:41] maybe chief, if you can come
[22:42] back up here because.
[22:43] >> You didn't get very far, say
[22:45] exactly.
[22:47] >> And one I let me just thank
[22:49] the auditor and the team.
[22:51] Obviously the audit is intended
[22:52] for process improvement. You
[22:55] know, how do we how do we look
[22:56] at improving our response
[22:58] issues. But I want to hone in
[23:00] on, on the finding number one,
[23:02] I think is the most significant
[23:06] that, you know, that 30% of
[23:08] those calls were of
[23:09] non-emergency were in the
[23:11] downtown area. And I think it
[23:14] was 20% were primarily on
[23:16] homelessness calls. And there
[23:19] were non-emergency calls. And
[23:20] in essence, there wasn't a rush
[23:24] to the emergency room for an
[23:25] immediate life threatening
[23:29] situation. And, and I guess let
[23:32] me break it down into three
[23:36] places, a, a place to call
[23:37] person to respond and a place
[23:41] to go here. And so first off,
[23:43] in the, you know, a place to
[23:47] call the nine eight, 8911, you
[23:51] know, for lack of a better term
[23:54] coordination here. How is that
[23:55] evolving? So if there's a
[23:57] mental health call of, of, you
[23:58] know, most of the time it's our
[24:00] first responders that are out
[24:02] there. Someone sees somebody
[24:03] that's talking to themselves
[24:05] walking in the middle of the
[24:06] street. You know, that's
[24:09] obviously a dangerous situation.
[24:12] And, and how are and clearly
[24:14] it's a visible mental health
[24:17] call. How does 988 and 911, how
[24:18] are they coordinating those
[24:19] calls together?
[24:22] >> So at the surface level nine
[24:27] eight is 988 is a suicide
[24:27] prevention hotline in
[24:32] Sacramento County. 911 means if
[24:33] someone's call doesn't get
[24:34] answered right away, they MAY
[24:37] go to 91198 8th MAY divert a
[24:40] call to 911. So if they can't
[24:43] handle the call themselves with
[24:44] their navigators, they're going
[24:45] to divert it to the fire
[24:48] department. So we have those
[24:49] units out on the street now
[24:52] today, which I'm not sure of.
[24:54] The measure, the the metric
[24:57] that we use, but between sort
[24:59] mcu and mih, those are our
[25:00] alternative response units that
[25:03] can take that call. Now, where
[25:05] before we were answering all
[25:07] those calls 100% with either an
[25:09] engine and a medic unit, we
[25:11] still MAY require a medic unit
[25:12] for some calls, depending on
[25:13] the severity of the call, if
[25:15] the person's cut themselves or
[25:16] something like that, and
[25:20] there's bleeding. So it's it's
[25:21] not a simple answer, I guess,
[25:22] is what I'm starting to say.
[25:24] But we do have more tools to
[25:26] answer the calls with, and the
[25:28] coordination comes at the
[25:29] communication center.
[25:30] >> Okay. The communications are
[25:31] good. And then when we're
[25:33] looking at the response here
[25:36] now, and I appreciate moving
[25:38] forward to the mobile crisis
[25:42] unit as well to reduce the
[25:44] amount of personnel that's not
[25:45] responding to an emergency call
[25:48] as well. And how, how are how
[25:51] are you guys looking at at
[25:52] where to deploy those? Because
[25:53] clearly, I mean, downtown
[25:55] obviously has the largest
[25:56] number of calls when it comes
[25:58] to that population, but we're
[26:00] seeing it throughout the entire
[26:02] city. Can you maybe talk a
[26:04] little bit about what, what the
[26:06] effort is to reduce the number
[26:08] of non-emergency calls by ems
[26:11] by using the, the, the mobile
[26:12] crisis unit?
[26:14] >> Yeah. So let me back up just
[26:15] a little bit to go forward.
[26:16] There's actually three
[26:17] different units out on the
[26:18] street. There's a street
[26:19] overdose response team. There's
[26:21] a mobile crisis unit that deals
[26:23] with psychiatric problems the
[26:26] most. And then you have the mih
[26:28] unit, which could be
[26:29] non-emergency in-home. Say a
[26:31] loved one needs a prescription
[26:33] filled, that would be an mih
[26:35] call. They can go in the home,
[26:36] help them with their script,
[26:38] and get it placed. There's a
[26:40] litany of calls that m h can
[26:41] run because they have a
[26:43] clinician with them, and a
[26:45] paramedic. Mcu handles the
[26:47] calls across the city as well,
[26:50] which is the crisis unit.
[26:52] They're handling the
[26:53] non-emergency psychiatric
[26:55] problems that sometimes elevate.
[26:57] And we have that continuity of
[26:59] care because we have a
[27:01] paramedic on the unit along
[27:06] with a navigator. So those are
[27:08] employed a lot in the downtown.
[27:10] But our companies as well, they
[27:12] have the ability to call what
[27:14] we call a Tad provider. And we
[27:16] have over 50 Tad providers that
[27:17] are working in the department
[27:18] now. And that number is growing
[27:20] daily, but that's transport to
[27:21] alternate destination, and it's
[27:24] a paramedic that can make the
[27:26] triage call that says, hey,
[27:28] this person needs to go to this
[27:31] type of a facility and the
[27:32] company on scene will stay and
[27:34] wait for a transport. And that
[27:36] transport can happen with a
[27:38] number of different units,
[27:40] including the sort and the mcu
[27:40] units.
[27:42] >> Okay, good. And then I guess
[27:44] the final and more and more of
[27:47] a, I guess, direction or your
[27:48] you MAY be already doing this
[27:50] or moving in this direction,
[27:52] but one. MR. Chair, I'll go
[27:54] ahead and move the
[27:55] recommendation to the Council.
[27:59] But also one of the concerns is
[28:01] how, how we're coordinating
[28:03] with the Community Wellness
[28:05] Response Team and the homeless
[28:06] Engagement and response team
[28:08] that are that are county run
[28:09] and could be maybe doing some
[28:11] of that work or maybe a
[28:12] response to that work so that
[28:14] we don't have an ems call, as
[28:16] you, as you mentioned, if the
[28:17] person, if there's a person
[28:18] who's cut themselves and needs
[28:19] a medical immediate response,
[28:20] well, of course you're going to
[28:22] have an ambulance there. But in
[28:23] many of these situations, at
[28:25] least when I've done the ride
[28:27] alongs, they're not immediate
[28:28] emergency response calls.
[28:30] They're they need to be
[28:32] addressed. But, but I think
[28:33] that's I think we still have a,
[28:37] a coordination issue on how to
[28:39] maximize both all the different
[28:43] teams, the, the mih, the mcu,
[28:46] the the cwrt and then the heart
[28:47] team. You know, I think that
[28:48] that I think is the
[28:50] coordination that I'd like to
[28:53] see moving forward in that
[28:54] effort. And I don't know if you
[28:56] have a you know, Captain Moore,
[28:58] I don't know if you've got some
[28:59] thoughts on this because you I
[29:00] appreciate your your, you know,
[29:02] the effort that you've done on
[29:04] this. And I think it's evolved
[29:05] a lot as well.
[29:06] >> So Captain Moore is not with
[29:08] us today, but he's working on
[29:11] the the care court for us and
[29:13] we continue to add to care
[29:15] court. But Deputy Chief Sharon
[29:16] is here and he does run the ems
[29:18] division. So I'm going to let
[29:19] him talk about the heart team
[29:21] and see a little bit to answer
[29:22] that question.
[29:23] >> Great. And the more files is
[29:26] what I hear, you know. Yeah.
[29:27] >> Hi, Sharon. Deputy chief, I
[29:29] oversee the ems and cms
[29:31] division. So for your question
[29:33] with 988, so nine, eight eight
[29:35] gets essentially two
[29:36] evaluations through the
[29:37] dispatch center. Law
[29:38] enforcement has a contract with
[29:40] nine, eight, eight. They're the
[29:42] first line. And then we at the
[29:44] comm center also have a 90 day
[29:45] contract as well for an
[29:47] evaluation of 988. So if an
[29:49] individual calls 911 with a
[29:50] behavioral health emergency,
[29:52] our dispatch center will send
[29:54] it over to 988 for an
[29:56] evaluation that is done through
[29:59] phone interview. If that
[30:00] individual hits certain
[30:01] benchmarks, they get referred
[30:04] to the c, wrt, which is ran
[30:05] through, well, space. And then
[30:07] they will respond to the field,
[30:12] to the individual. If. Cwcwt
[30:14] doesn't feel comfortable with
[30:15] the incident, it gets referred
[30:17] back to the 911 system back to
[30:19] the fire department. And then
[30:20] with that we will respond to
[30:22] unit out. Maybe because there
[30:23] was a scene safety issue, maybe
[30:25] they identified a medical
[30:26] component attached to the
[30:27] individual. So we'll send a
[30:30] first responder with an
[30:31] ambulance and then our mobile
[30:34] crisis unit, which is a
[30:35] paramedic who has a higher
[30:37] level of training for the
[30:38] transport alternative
[30:41] destination program with a
[30:42] clinician, a clinical social
[30:44] worker from sac County
[30:45] Behavioral Health. That's a
[30:46] zero cost contract that we have
[30:50] with the county that they did
[30:51] specifically with the fire
[30:52] department, and then those
[30:53] individuals will go to the
[30:55] scene. They'll make a
[30:57] determination on what the
[30:58] proper transportation to the
[31:01] for the individual looks like
[31:03] in the ems division and the ems
[31:05] division, we took an overview
[31:06] of. We want to send the right
[31:07] resource to the right patient
[31:08] at the right time. Not
[31:10] everybody needs to go to the
[31:11] emergency room. So we will try
[31:13] to identify what's best for the
[31:14] individual that we're
[31:15] responding to. And so they'll
[31:17] make a determination. We have
[31:18] the ability to take people
[31:20] strictly or straight to a
[31:21] behavioral health center for
[31:23] care. They can bypass the
[31:24] emergency room, or we'll take
[31:25] them to an emergency room for
[31:27] medical clearance if they hit
[31:29] certain criteria. So that's how
[31:30] we utilize nine, eight, eight
[31:32] and cwrt.
[31:33] >> How many of those are we
[31:35] actually moving to the crib?
[31:35] You know.
[31:38] >> I can I just ask a question
[31:40] to clarify, at least for me,
[31:41] what you've just described
[31:44] would be responded to with with
[31:45] what would it be responded to
[31:48] with a, with a truck and an
[31:49] ambulance. With an ambulance
[31:54] only a truck. Only non fire
[31:54] apparatus.
[31:56] >> So after nine, eight, eight
[31:57] does their evaluation and if it
[31:59] gets pushed back to the fire
[32:00] department, because for certain
[32:02] whatever reason they do, it's
[32:03] usually a first responder and
[32:05] an ambulance that will get
[32:08] dispatched for it. And then the
[32:09] company officer, the captain
[32:10] will make a determination on
[32:12] what's needed for the next part.
[32:14] They'll usually cancel the
[32:15] ambulance. Our mobile crisis
[32:18] unit will go out and then we'll
[32:19] they'll do an evaluation on the
[32:21] individual and determine the
[32:22] right course of action for that
[32:23] individual.
[32:26] >> So so an ambulance would
[32:27] respond.
[32:27] >> It could either be a
[32:29] paramedic ambulance depending
[32:30] on the individual, or we'll use
[32:32] one of our contract ambulances.
[32:33] >> Right. And then a
[32:35] determination that the captain
[32:36] would make a determination
[32:37] whether that really was
[32:39] necessary to have on scene or
[32:39] not.
[32:41] >> And and the lead paramedic
[32:42] on scene.
[32:43] >> Yeah, the lead paramedic on
[32:45] scene. Okay, okay. But
[32:46] nonetheless, you're you're
[32:47] you've got an ambulance at
[32:49] least out there.
[32:51] >> Yeah. If needed. Yes.
[32:52] >> Okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
[32:54] >> Oh, yes. And then the final
[32:55] place is, you know, the crib or
[32:57] the crisis receiving center. Is
[32:58] that is that your primary
[33:00] location to transport somebody?
[33:01] >> We'll take individuals to
[33:05] South County Medical Health
[33:07] Center, or we'll take
[33:10] individuals to Sierra Vista
[33:12] down in the South area. And
[33:13] then there's a couple other
[33:14] agencies that are coming on
[33:16] board with the county. The
[33:17] transports Alternative
[33:20] Destination program is
[33:22] organized and run by the county
[33:24] ems that's been approved by the
[33:26] state. So we have to operate
[33:28] within their purview. So they
[33:30] they're the ones that hold the
[33:32] contracts with the facilities
[33:34] that we can transport to.
[33:35] >> Okay. Well thank you, I
[33:36] appreciate that. Thanks.
[33:37] Captain Moore, I just and thank
[33:39] you for the helping and
[33:40] bringing the agencies together
[33:42] to try to coordinate better as
[33:43] well. And so, MR. CHAIRMAN, I
[33:45] think one of the the key things
[33:47] here is any, any, any other
[33:49] methods where we're diverting
[33:51] folks to additional like
[33:52] whether it's the crisis
[33:53] receiving center here downtown
[33:55] or Sierra down in the South
[33:57] area. I think that also helps.
[33:59] What is, what has occurred on
[34:00] the off load time? Because if
[34:02] they go to the er room, they
[34:05] got to stay there and it's
[34:08] almost $1 million in, in lost
[34:09] cost hours that we're losing
[34:12] there. So thank you CHAIRMAN. I
[34:13] think we'll move the motion
[34:14] there and then the direction on
[34:15] on the further coordination
[34:18] with the the heart team and the
[34:18] wcrt.
[34:21] >> So okay, we have a motion.
[34:24] >> We have a motion to accept
[34:26] the order and send it on to the
[34:27] council. Is there a second to
[34:27] that motion?
[34:29] >> I'm happy to second it.
[34:31] >> All right. We have a second
[34:32] from the vice mayor and vice
[34:33] mayor. You're next.
[34:35] >> Yes. First, I want to
[34:37] commend the fire department on
[34:41] getting the wall time down from
[34:42] 6 hours to 28 minutes. That is
[34:44] huge. And I know it's just, you
[34:46] know, I used to drive by Sutter
[34:48] and Kaiser, and I used to see
[34:49] all the ambulances just parked
[34:50] outside. And I thought they can
[34:52] be helping saving people. But
[34:53] right now they're just sitting
[34:54] there waiting to offload. So I
[34:56] just want to commend you on
[34:57] your work for that. And then
[34:59] just one question for for our
[35:03] city auditor. On one of the
[35:04] slides, you said, it said that
[35:07] nearly 20% of the fire
[35:08] incidents in 2024 were flagged
[35:11] as related to homelessness,
[35:12] because you're doing the
[35:14] homeless audit as well. Do you
[35:16] have a dollar amount of what
[35:19] that 20% looks like? What would
[35:20] be?
[35:23] >> We did a very high level
[35:25] calculation of what is 20%, the
[35:29] cost of 20% of the whole fire
[35:32] ems division budget. I'm going
[35:34] to have to look it up real
[35:41] quick, if you don't mind. We
[35:42] calculated if we just did a
[35:44] rough calculation of 20% of
[35:48] their 153 million a year budget
[35:51] would be about $30 million.
[35:52] >> 30 million. Okay.
[35:54] >> I mean, some of those are,
[35:56] you know, true emergencies,
[35:59] life threatening. So but yeah,
[36:00] okay.
[36:01] >> I think my ask then is for
[36:04] when you do your audit of
[36:05] homelessness and you bring it
[36:07] to council, if you can just
[36:08] include that number as a
[36:10] subcategory of city related
[36:13] expenses, that'd be great.
[36:15] >> Okay. We can try to think
[36:15] because.
[36:16] >> That audit into the staff
[36:18] report, just because obviously
[36:19] there are two different audits,
[36:23] right? But how much money the
[36:25] fire department is spending
[36:26] responding to homelessness
[36:28] related calls, I think is
[36:29] important to factor into the
[36:31] audit. I mean, that's still
[36:32] dollars allocated to this issue
[36:34] that we're trying to address.
[36:36] And so if there's a way that
[36:38] you can plug it into your staff
[36:39] report, that'd be great.
[36:40] >> Sure. Okay. Yeah. Because
[36:42] that is going to be specific to
[36:43] our expenditures on the
[36:46] shelters, but I'll see what we
[36:47] can do.
[36:48] >> Sounds good.
[36:49] >> Thank you. I can highlight
[36:51] it.
[36:52] >> Okay. Thank you, thank you.
[36:56] Just on the same point, I'm
[36:58] assuming of that 30 million
[37:00] some some of that is is
[37:03] recovered by Medi-Cal. Is that
[37:04] reimbursement? Is that true?
[37:05] >> I believe so, yeah. If they
[37:06] have.
[37:08] >> Do you have any kind of do
[37:09] you have any kind of estimate
[37:10] on on that.
[37:12] >> We did not look at look at
[37:13] their billings or reimbursement.
[37:15] So I'm not sure. I don't know
[37:19] if fire has some numbers. No.
[37:22] >> Yeah. Yeah. Any kind of any
[37:27] kind of sense of, of. How much,
[37:29] how much of the, how much of
[37:31] the homeless response ends up
[37:33] being covered by Medi-Cal
[37:34] reimbursements?
[37:35] >> I think what we could do,
[37:36] because there are different
[37:40] focuses. So yes, some of it is
[37:43] recovered through the Medi-Cal
[37:44] reimbursements. We need to get
[37:45] you that number. And we could
[37:47] drill into the straight line
[37:48] number of the 30 million as
[37:50] well. Instead of separating the
[37:53] two, the homeless audit and the
[37:56] ems audit, we can work with our
[37:57] biller and provide those exact
[37:59] numbers, and we can run it
[38:01] through, run it by farishta as
[38:03] well, so she can see the okay.
[38:05] >> I mean, I think that would
[38:08] give us a more complete and
[38:09] accurate picture of, of what
[38:11] the net cost.
[38:12] >> Yeah. There's, there's a lot,
[38:14] a lot goes into it too, because
[38:16] there's some of that percentage
[38:19] are people that call us out and
[38:21] then sign out. They don't want
[38:24] our medical advice. So there's
[38:25] a lot that goes into getting
[38:27] you that final number. But we
[38:28] can get it.
[38:30] >> Sure. Okay. Thanks, chief. I
[38:32] wanted to just explore this
[38:33] general topic a little bit
[38:35] further. And I see Brian back
[38:40] in the the back row, not quite
[38:44] ducking down, but. I. Brian,
[38:47] can you shed any further
[38:51] elaboration on, on this
[38:54] particular subject of, of
[38:56] emergency medical calls for,
[38:59] for homeless.
[39:01] >> Sure. Brian Pedro director,
[39:02] Department of Community
[39:06] response I have the unique
[39:08] experience and opportunity to
[39:10] have spent many years with the
[39:11] fire department and in the ems
[39:14] division. So I've looked at
[39:18] this from both sides. The. If
[39:19] you recall, the Department of
[39:20] Community Response was actually
[39:21] brought up to be the
[39:23] alternative response for the
[39:25] city to not have exactly what
[39:28] we have going on with fire and
[39:31] police going to calls that come
[39:33] out as 911 calls, but are
[39:34] alternative response calls
[39:38] other than what we have in dcr.
[39:39] So we're kind of running pilot
[39:40] programs right now. What we
[39:42] have in dcr, we have also an
[39:46] alt response going ours, I feel
[39:50] ties in in that all of our in
[39:51] our cities that are out
[39:54] providing outreach also provide
[39:57] that sort of that substance
[39:59] outreach along with it. So we
[40:02] also have the, the kits, the,
[40:05] the no harm kits that we hand
[40:08] out as well. We can transport
[40:09] and we do transport to
[40:12] treatment centers. One of the
[40:13] things I'm also looking at is
[40:17] in our shelters of carving off
[40:20] the people that that want to
[40:22] work, getting clean and sober
[40:23] into a separate part of our
[40:25] shelters so that when we take
[40:26] them to their appointments to
[40:28] get treatment for the
[40:30] injectables, for the chemical
[40:31] dependency, that then they go
[40:33] back into a shelter with others
[40:34] that are also trying to get
[40:35] clean, and not just into the
[40:36] general population of our of
[40:42] our shelters. So we are in
[40:44] connection with cw. We work
[40:46] with the county heart team now,
[40:48] so we already have the
[40:49] behavioral health at our
[40:51] fingertips in our outreach
[40:54] setting. We also have the
[40:56] backline to cw if we need a
[40:59] crisis response, and then we're
[41:01] looking at JULY to pilot our
[41:03] program where we're looking at
[41:06] taking the calls on the sac pd
[41:09] side, when they come in to 911
[41:12] and looking at calls that are
[41:14] Non-priority non-emergency
[41:16] alternate calls that we can
[41:20] respond to and then provide
[41:22] outreach or transport to either
[41:25] substance or behavioral health,
[41:27] the treatment to alternate
[41:30] destination is specific to the
[41:32] fire department as an ems
[41:34] agency, because they are an
[41:35] ambulance ems agency, so they
[41:40] need the the certification and
[41:41] and sac County ems agency to
[41:43] allow them to transport.
[41:46] Because dcr is not an ems
[41:49] agency, we can simply transport.
[41:52] So it is much easier for us to
[41:55] manage all response. And it's
[41:57] much closer. I mean, as you saw,
[41:59] 20% of these calls are homeless
[42:01] related anyway. It's likely
[42:02] people we already have
[42:03] relationships with, and then
[42:05] it's just a matter of
[42:06] transporting them to where they
[42:07] need is.
[42:11] >> So is that transport by the
[42:14] police department or is it by
[42:14] your.
[42:15] >> By our.
[42:19] >> Unit dcr staff? So this just
[42:20] occurred to me while you were
[42:23] while you were speaking that I
[42:27] know in the past there were
[42:30] lots of instances when the when
[42:31] the police would be called for
[42:34] a behavioral health issue and
[42:36] they would end up transporting
[42:40] a person, say to Qmc, for
[42:42] example. And so I'm assuming
[42:45] that still occurs.
[42:46] >> Yep. And so.
[42:48] >> Are we looking. Now this is
[42:50] making me wonder, are we
[42:51] looking at the total universe
[42:53] of, of what we're doing in
[42:57] terms of response to, to, to
[42:59] those who are homeless or on
[43:02] the street or even in shelters,
[43:03] as you've been describing,
[43:06] Brian, and who's the, who's the
[43:08] appropriate entity to respond
[43:11] and what's the appropriate
[43:13] intervention and resolution? I,
[43:15] this is making me wonder about
[43:17] whether we're taking a whether
[43:18] we should be taking a look at
[43:20] that whole, whole picture or
[43:21] not. I don't know if that's a
[43:23] question for you or not, but if
[43:24] you want to say something about
[43:25] that, I.
[43:26] >> Sure, yeah. Because most
[43:28] like if you look at just the,
[43:30] the, I mean, just homelessness
[43:33] alone, we're already, we likely
[43:34] already know all these
[43:36] individuals. We already offer
[43:38] the substance care. We already
[43:39] have connection to behavioral
[43:41] health. So it's, it's already
[43:43] there. We just haven't made it
[43:46] official that dcr is providing
[43:48] the alt response. We are in
[43:51] that we have a pilot now doing
[43:52] essentially what we're doing
[43:54] now, but we have the ability to
[43:56] have we have nine teams out
[43:58] there with any one of them
[44:00] making contact with somebody
[44:01] homeless, somebody with
[44:03] substance, someone with
[44:03] behavioral health. And then we
[44:05] have the ability to transport
[44:07] them if they need. The key is
[44:11] to, to grab the individual when
[44:14] they're willing to like I think
[44:15] today, right now, I'm willing
[44:19] to go try and help my treat my
[44:22] substance dependency. And so
[44:23] you have to be able to just
[44:25] pick them up then and take them,
[44:26] which we do have that ability.
[44:28] Now, if you're waiting for
[44:31] somebody to call, that's going
[44:34] to be far and few and crisis,
[44:35] I'd say there's a little
[44:38] misnomer on crisis because
[44:40] people that are actually in
[44:44] crisis are, are few and far as
[44:47] opposed to many people that we
[44:50] see around that just have a
[44:51] behavioral health concern of
[44:53] some sort that needs to be
[44:57] addressed. Those are the people
[44:58] we're trying to capture.
[45:00] There's very few actual crisis
[45:00] events.
[45:01] >> But you're encountering
[45:02] those people by being out in
[45:04] the field, not by responding to
[45:06] calls. Is that is that right?
[45:08] >> Say that again.
[45:09] >> The people you're
[45:11] encountering and you're
[45:13] describing, you're you're
[45:15] encountering them mostly by
[45:17] being out in the field and in
[45:18] contact with them, as opposed
[45:20] to responding to a call that
[45:22] says, I need help or, hey, this
[45:24] person's in trouble. Can you
[45:26] come help? Is that is that
[45:26] correct?
[45:28] >> Yeah. So we are responding
[45:30] to the 311 calls currently that
[45:32] are called for homeless
[45:34] concerns. And then the pilot
[45:38] will be tied into 911 to then
[45:40] dispatch us to those calls. So
[45:41] it'll be both.
[45:44] >> And okay, I see, I mean,
[45:46] we're a little beyond the scope
[45:47] of, of the audit, but it seems
[45:49] to me that if we want to
[45:50] understand where, where and how
[45:52] we get more effective and more
[45:54] efficient, we need to see this
[45:57] larger universe. And so it's
[45:59] not so much about what the fire
[46:01] department's doing per se. It's
[46:04] it's about how that fits in the,
[46:06] in the in the broader context,
[46:08] it seems to me and I, you know,
[46:10] yesterday morning I was coming
[46:13] in on on North 12th and at at
[46:15] Salvation Army, there was a
[46:17] fire truck and an ambulance,
[46:20] lights flashing. And I'm, I
[46:22] didn't stop to inquire, but I,
[46:24] I make the assumption that that
[46:26] that was a response to someone
[46:28] at the Salvation Army shelter.
[46:36] And I if if if that is so, then
[46:38] if my assumption is correct,
[46:40] then could part of that
[46:43] response be a, a function of
[46:44] your staff's not out in the in
[46:47] the in the field on a holiday
[46:49] morning? Or would it be more
[46:51] likely the, the nature of the
[46:53] call that went to presumably to
[46:54] 911.
[46:54] >> Right.
[46:57] >> So maybe chief wants to
[46:58] respond to that to her as well.
[47:00] >> Sure. And I think what we're
[47:02] trying to do is grab the call
[47:03] when it first comes in, because
[47:05] it'll come into pd first and
[47:07] get triaged there. And if it's
[47:10] a low level call that that
[47:12] doesn't. So it'll get handed
[47:14] over to fire if there's a
[47:16] medical component to it. And so
[47:17] if we grab the call on this
[47:19] side before there's medical,
[47:20] then we'll be looking at all
[47:23] the calls in the city for the
[47:25] person that's on the corner and
[47:27] looks uncomfortable and is
[47:29] bothering. Is it maybe in a
[47:31] sitting in a business and
[47:33] they're afraid to make contact
[47:34] with them or tell them to leave?
[47:36] That's going to go to pd to go
[47:38] take that individual out. It's
[47:39] probably somebody that we know
[47:42] anyway. And for us to take that
[47:43] call and go over there and find
[47:46] out that it's Bob and say, hey,
[47:48] Bob, you know, I don't want you
[47:49] here. Can we get you into
[47:50] shelter? Can we get you into
[47:52] behavioral health? Can we get
[47:54] you any kind of treatment today?
[47:56] Then that clears that call off
[47:57] of their plate. Pd didn't
[47:59] respond. Ambulances and fire
[48:00] trucks didn't respond. That's
[48:02] the whole purpose of
[48:03] alternative response is to not
[48:05] have these units respond. We're
[48:08] looking at a budget. It's it's
[48:10] it's a, it's, it's not only a
[48:14] cost savings, but it's, it's a
[48:15] force multiplier for police and
[48:17] fire.
[48:19] >> Absolutely, absolutely. Okay.
[48:21] Thanks, Brian. Chief, did you
[48:24] want to add something to this?
[48:26] >> Yeah. I think that Brian
[48:28] sheds a light on a lot of good
[48:31] things. I think what we are
[48:33] stuck with as a city is the 24
[48:35] over seven response that's
[48:36] needed to address these calls,
[48:37] like you addressed the other
[48:39] day, holidays and weekends,
[48:41] nights, the fire department is
[48:42] there and in place and has the
[48:44] backbone infrastructure to
[48:46] answer these calls. And I think
[48:47] the other thing that we often
[48:48] forget is there's no shortage
[48:51] of calls. So the calls that
[48:53] can't be answered or do
[48:55] increase due to being medical
[48:56] in nature, which a lot of them
[48:59] do. And we can get those
[49:01] numbers for you, but they're,
[49:02] they're the ones that the fire
[49:04] department is going to end up
[49:06] answering. Last year, we
[49:08] eliminated about 8000 calls out
[49:11] of the fire system. So and
[49:15] that's not all with our our
[49:16] alternate response, but that's
[49:18] us working with dispatch,
[49:19] working with dcr, working with
[49:21] all the partners that we have
[49:23] to reduce the calls to make us
[49:25] more available. So Brian's work
[49:29] that he does with alt response
[49:31] does help both police and fire.
[49:32] There is that medical component
[49:33] that's going to come back
[49:34] around, and that's what we're
[49:36] there for. That's why our units
[49:38] have the paramedics on the
[49:40] units. If a call does increase,
[49:42] you have the continuity of care
[49:47] from a no need medical aid to
[49:48] something that turns for the
[49:49] worse. You have a paramedic
[49:50] there that can take them all
[49:51] the way to the hospital.
[49:54] >> So. Okay, thank you chief
[49:57] and, and I think, I think we
[49:58] all appreciate the work that
[50:00] that you're all doing to, to
[50:03] try to, to calibrate the right
[50:04] response with the right people
[50:07] and taking the to them if they
[50:08] need transport to the right
[50:11] place and, and trying to do
[50:12] that as effectively and as
[50:13] efficiently as possible. And i
[50:15] think, as you know, as Brian
[50:16] said, to the extent that to the
[50:19] extent that we can divert calls
[50:20] from the fire department or the
[50:22] police department to an
[50:23] appropriate level of response,
[50:26] but doesn't require your the
[50:29] police response that it gives
[50:30] us a chance to you have the
[50:32] opportunity to do other things,
[50:34] as do the police. And there's
[50:35] no shortage, as you know better
[50:37] than I, of things that you need
[50:40] need to do. So thanks for
[50:42] working. I agree with my
[50:43] colleagues. Thank you very much
[50:44] for all the improvements you've
[50:46] made. I want to thank the
[50:48] auditor for for giving us a
[50:50] window onto this, which I think
[50:52] has been very helpful. I'll let
[50:56] you sit down and there's a lot
[50:59] to chew on here. But but my
[51:01] thought is that maybe in the
[51:04] context of the homeless audit,
[51:05] I don't know if this will fit
[51:08] in the scope, but but exploring
[51:10] more of this issue of the
[51:11] appropriate level of response
[51:13] with the right people getting,
[51:16] getting the, the person
[51:18] addressed to the right place,
[51:19] maybe, maybe that's something
[51:21] that we should look at in the
[51:23] in the course of that, that
[51:24] audit.
[51:26] >> Yeah. We're getting ready to
[51:28] release the next homeless audit
[51:30] next month. Okay. It's going to
[51:32] be focused more on the shelters,
[51:34] but I believe the next one on
[51:36] our work plan is
[51:37] inter-departmental coordination.
[51:39] So I think that would be a good
[51:41] place to, to explore that.
[51:45] >> Okay. Thank thank you. If oh
[51:47] mayor pro tem gara yeah.
[51:50] >> Thank you. And then on the
[51:51] inter-departmental coordination,
[51:53] you read my mind. I'd punched
[51:54] up right there because I, I
[51:56] want to want to thank Captain
[51:59] Moore and Brian Pedro for
[52:00] coming to a meeting that we
[52:02] pulled together on the pathways
[52:04] for cares court here. And so I
[52:06] think what I'd like to make
[52:07] sure that when we're looking at
[52:09] inter-departmental coordination,
[52:10] one of the challenges we've
[52:15] seen in to address the the, the
[52:18] cyclical part of, of repeat and
[52:21] frequent utilizers has been the
[52:22] ability for us to transfer
[52:24] information from, from the fire
[52:28] department, from dcrshis and
[52:30] also the other agencies that
[52:33] are contacting individuals so
[52:36] that when we are going to the
[52:37] Public Guardian that they have
[52:40] all of the information because
[52:43] what sometimes is not available.
[52:45] And and we tease this out with
[52:47] our city attorney's office is
[52:49] that an individual might have
[52:53] been at the er 5 or 6 times
[52:54] with at the crisis receiving
[52:57] center in and out of, say, the
[52:59] county jail five times. But not
[53:01] all of that is in front of the
[53:03] public guardian. When they go
[53:04] be before the judge or
[53:07] magistrate. And so the the real
[53:08] information about how to
[53:10] provide the best outcome for
[53:12] the individual isn't, isn't
[53:13] present. So I think that's an
[53:15] important piece on the
[53:17] dysfunction in communication.
[53:19] So that a person who truly
[53:20] needs either guardianship,
[53:22] receivership, or involuntary
[53:24] conservatorship, you have all
[53:26] of the information that is
[53:28] present and that unfortunately,
[53:29] it seems to be that there's
[53:31] still a data gap. So when you
[53:33] get to that point, I'd like to
[53:35] make sure that that is part of,
[53:37] of how do we how do we do
[53:38] process improvement for that,
[53:42] for the data getting to once it
[53:44] gets out of our agency into,
[53:46] say, the county or the county
[53:48] council or public guardian. So
[53:50] thank you, chair.
[53:52] >> Thank you. And thank you for
[53:55] you very much. We have a motion
[53:56] by Mayor Pro Tem Guerra,
[53:58] seconded by Vice Mayor
[54:01] Telemontes, to approve the
[54:02] audit and and send it forward
[54:04] to the full council. Any
[54:05] further comments or questions?
[54:06] If not, all those in favor
[54:08] signify by saying aye. Aye.
[54:09] Opposed say no. And any
[54:11] abstentions? Hearing none, the
[54:13] motion carries. Thanks very
[54:17] much. We're on to our next
[54:20] presentation. So let me let's
[54:23] let me get back to my agenda.
[54:26] It's the 2025 audit of city
[54:27] employees workforce diversity
[54:30] and salary trends. We'll turn
[54:32] it over to you for.
[54:35] >> Yes. All right. Well now
[54:37] good afternoon, Chair Dickinson
[54:38] and members of the Budget and
[54:40] Audit Committee. Again, I'm the
[54:43] city auditor. And with me is
[54:45] Chevelle Jackson and who is
[54:46] primarily responsible for
[54:49] conducting this audit. And the
[54:50] recommendation before you is to
[54:52] accept the City Auditor's 2025
[54:54] audit of city employees,
[54:57] workforce diversity and salary
[54:58] trends, and forward to the City
[55:03] Council for final approval. All
[55:04] right, so our office has been
[55:06] conducting employee diversity
[55:08] assessments since 2016, when
[55:10] the City Council first directed
[55:12] the city auditor to analyze
[55:14] employee diversity and compare
[55:16] the results to the demographics
[55:18] of City of Sacramento residents.
[55:21] This report contains chapters
[55:23] and analyzes city employee
[55:24] gender and ethnic diversity as
[55:28] of JULY 1st, 2025, and employee
[55:31] diversity trends from 2016 to
[55:36] 2025. The audit also has a
[55:38] detailed section on the
[55:38] improvements the Human
[55:40] Resources Department has made
[55:42] relating to diversity, equity,
[55:45] and inclusion since the last
[55:46] audit, the Office of Diversity
[55:49] and Equity integrated into the
[55:50] Human Resources Department and
[55:53] continue to continues to focus
[55:54] on building a representative
[55:56] and inclusive city of
[55:58] Sacramento. This slide
[55:59] highlights just a few of the
[56:00] improvements identified by the
[56:02] Human Resources Department.
[56:05] Since our last assessment in
[56:11] 2021, the report has a lot more.
[56:12] And then just a reminder that
[56:14] we did create a city of
[56:15] Sacramento Gender and Ethnic
[56:18] Diversity dashboard to allow
[56:19] users to analyze city employee
[56:22] gender and ethnic diversity of
[56:24] the data on their own. We have
[56:27] updated the dashboard for 2025,
[56:31] and this dashboard is updated
[56:34] annually. And again, just
[56:36] analyzes more, allows you to
[56:39] analyze the data in more ways
[56:41] than just how we have it in the
[56:45] report. First, we want to cover
[56:46] the gender and ethnic diversity
[56:48] of city residents, which is
[56:49] what we use to compare the
[56:52] diversity of city employees. So
[56:54] as a chart on the left shows,
[56:55] the three most populous ethnic
[56:57] and racial groups in the city
[57:01] are white, at 28% Hispanic or
[57:05] Latino at 29%, and Asian at 19.
[57:07] And then the chart on the right
[57:08] shows the gender composition of
[57:11] city residents. There are
[57:13] slightly more females at 51%
[57:18] than males 49, and the city of
[57:20] Sacramento has also updated
[57:21] Icaps to allow city employees
[57:24] to update a variety of personal
[57:26] details, such as gender
[57:28] identity, sexual orientation
[57:31] and more. It is a relatively
[57:33] newer option, so we only had
[57:35] about 100 city employees report
[57:37] this information this time
[57:39] around, so we did not include
[57:41] it in our analysis for this
[57:43] year. But hopefully next time
[57:44] around we'll have a lot more
[57:49] data that we can report on.
[57:51] This slide shows the overall
[57:53] gender composition of city
[57:55] employees by department
[57:57] compared to city residents. The
[57:59] red box shows the gender
[58:02] composition of city employees
[58:05] overall is at 36% female and
[58:07] 64% male. And then, as you can
[58:09] see, highlighted in yellow.
[58:11] Mayor and council is closest to
[58:13] the composition of city
[58:17] residents at 51% female and 49%
[58:20] male. And then if you are
[58:21] interested, the audit report
[58:23] does contain additional gender
[58:25] analysis for management and
[58:27] non-management employees. And
[58:28] then again, you can analyze
[58:30] more information on the
[58:35] dashboard. And this chart
[58:36] analyzes the demographics of
[58:38] full time and part time city
[58:41] employees by ethnicity or race
[58:45] and gender. As of JULY 1st,
[58:47] 2025. So you can see on the
[58:49] chart, about 31% of the
[58:50] employees that identify as
[58:53] white are female, and employees
[58:55] that identify as two or more
[58:57] races. Races are the most
[59:00] evenly split by gender, with
[59:04] 48% female and 52% male, and
[59:06] that's the closest to city
[59:10] residents. This table analyzes
[59:12] gender composition of full time
[59:15] and part time city employees by
[59:17] department. As of JULY 1st,
[59:20] 2016 two, 2025. So there's a
[59:22] lot of data, but just
[59:23] highlighting one of the
[59:26] departments you can see there
[59:27] has some departments. There has
[59:29] not been much change in those
[59:31] ten years, and in others there
[59:34] has been slight changes. So
[59:35] departments with more staff,
[59:37] such as the fire department. It
[59:40] is kind of harder to see
[59:45] changes very quickly. This
[59:47] chart shows the gender
[59:49] composition of legacy staff,
[59:51] which we identify in this
[59:53] report as those that were hired
[59:56] prior to JULY 1st, 2024,
[59:57] compared to the newly hired
[59:59] employees, which were those
[1:00:02] hired after JULY 1st, 2024. So
[1:00:04] the chart on the left shows the
[1:00:06] gender composition of all newly
[1:00:10] hired staff. There were 953
[1:00:12] newly hired employees. During
[1:00:15] fiscal year 2025. 52% of them
[1:00:18] were male and 48% were female,
[1:00:20] which is really close to the
[1:00:22] gender composition of city
[1:00:24] residents. When you compare
[1:00:26] that to the legacy staff for
[1:00:27] all staff, and then the chart
[1:00:29] on the right shows the gender
[1:00:31] composition of newly hired
[1:00:32] management staff. During that
[1:00:34] same time period, there were
[1:00:37] about 20 newly hired management
[1:00:39] staff during fiscal year 2025,
[1:00:43] and 55% of them were male, 45%
[1:00:47] female. This chart identifies
[1:00:49] the ethnic and racial
[1:00:50] composition of full time and
[1:00:52] part time employees by
[1:00:54] department, compared to that of
[1:00:56] city residents. And as you can
[1:00:59] see, there is a deviation from
[1:01:01] the city population and many of
[1:01:03] the ethnic and racial groups
[1:01:06] overall in the city and in some
[1:01:10] departments. This chart shows
[1:01:12] the percentage point difference
[1:01:14] of the ethnicities and races of
[1:01:16] full time and part time city
[1:01:18] employees in each department in
[1:01:20] relation to that of the City of
[1:01:22] Sacramento residents. So the
[1:01:24] scale
[1:01:25] >> At the bottom shows the
[1:01:27] extent difference. I do want to
[1:01:29] note that the color scale just
[1:01:31] reflects the direction and size
[1:01:33] of the percentage point
[1:01:35] difference. The use of red and
[1:01:36] green doesn't really convey
[1:01:38] that like one is a positive or
[1:01:44] one is a. This chart shows the
[1:01:46] trend of the ethnic and racial
[1:01:47] composition of all city
[1:01:49] employees for the past ten
[1:01:50] years. So as you can see, the
[1:01:52] white ethnic group has been the
[1:01:55] largest each year, but it has
[1:01:57] been trending downwards, while
[1:01:59] Hispanic or Latino has been
[1:02:01] trending upwards over the years.
[1:02:03] And then there are other groups,
[1:02:05] such as Asian and two or more
[1:02:08] that also appear to be trending
[1:02:12] up a little bit. This chart
[1:02:13] shows the gender composition,
[1:02:16] again, of the legacy staff
[1:02:18] compared to newly hired
[1:02:21] employees. The left chart shows
[1:02:23] all newly hired employees, and
[1:02:26] as I mentioned, there were 953
[1:02:28] during fiscal year 2025. And
[1:02:31] you can see of the newly hired
[1:02:33] employees, their gender and
[1:02:35] ethnic diversity is closer to
[1:02:37] that of city residents. And
[1:02:39] then the chart on the right is
[1:02:42] similar data for the 20 new
[1:02:44] management employees that were
[1:02:51] hired in 2025. We'll go into a
[1:02:52] little bit of the salary
[1:02:54] analysis that we also did. The
[1:02:56] chart shows the average
[1:02:57] salaries of full time employees
[1:03:01] by gender and ethnicity for
[1:03:03] 2025, as shown on the chart.
[1:03:04] Male employees, on average,
[1:03:06] have a higher salary than
[1:03:09] female employees in all ethnic
[1:03:11] groups. The lighter blue column
[1:03:14] is always higher, pretty much
[1:03:16] than the darker blue column.
[1:03:17] And in addition, those that
[1:03:19] identify as Black or African
[1:03:21] American did tend to have a
[1:03:26] lower average salary. This
[1:03:28] chart shows the average salary
[1:03:30] of full time city employees by
[1:03:32] gender for the last ten years.
[1:03:34] And as you can see there, there
[1:03:37] is still a gap between the two
[1:03:39] genders. But in 2016, the
[1:03:41] average salary for female
[1:03:44] employees was 84.5% of the
[1:03:47] average salary of male city
[1:03:49] employees. And 2025, it
[1:03:55] improves slightly to 85.6%. And
[1:03:57] then this chart shows a similar
[1:03:59] analysis for only the
[1:04:02] management employees. In 2016,
[1:04:04] the average salary of female
[1:04:06] employees was 84.4% of the
[1:04:09] average salary of male
[1:04:12] employees. And by 2025, it did
[1:04:17] increase to 86.6%. And then
[1:04:19] finally, this chart is similar
[1:04:21] to the last two charts, but
[1:04:23] analyzes all employees,
[1:04:26] excluding part time and sworn
[1:04:27] employees in the police and
[1:04:29] fire department. And when we do
[1:04:33] that, you can see that the the
[1:04:36] pay gap narrows significantly.
[1:04:38] So in 2016, the average salary
[1:04:41] for full time non-sworn female
[1:04:44] employees was 90.1% of the
[1:04:46] average salary of full time
[1:04:48] non-sworn male employees. And
[1:04:51] by 2025, the gap was narrowed
[1:04:57] to 97.2%. And then this table
[1:04:58] identifies the average salaries
[1:05:00] of full time employees by
[1:05:02] ethnicity, ethnic, racial
[1:05:04] groups, and gender, and the
[1:05:06] ratio of earnings relative to
[1:05:09] white males, which is the
[1:05:11] largest group in the city. And
[1:05:13] as you can see, male groups did
[1:05:15] tend to be higher on the list,
[1:05:17] and female groups tended to be
[1:05:22] more on the bottom. We also did
[1:05:24] an analysis of each department
[1:05:26] over time that contains gender,
[1:05:29] ethnic and racial or ethnic and
[1:05:31] racial and salary information.
[1:05:33] The analysis for each
[1:05:34] department can be found in
[1:05:36] chapter six of the report. And
[1:05:38] again, our online dashboard
[1:05:40] allows anyone to analyze all
[1:05:42] this data in any particular way
[1:05:45] that they would like. This
[1:05:47] concludes my presentation, but
[1:05:48] I'm going to hand it over to
[1:05:50] the hr department, who also did
[1:05:52] want to provide some additional
[1:05:54] information on their efforts.
[1:05:54] >> Okay.
[1:06:01] >> Thank you. Good afternoon.
[1:06:02] >> Hi.
[1:06:03] >> Good afternoon. Budget and
[1:06:04] audit committee members. I'm
[1:06:05] Samantha Hardy, the interim
[1:06:08] human resources director. Human
[1:06:09] resources appreciates the
[1:06:11] opportunity to highlight our
[1:06:12] initiatives supporting
[1:06:14] workforce diversity, equity and
[1:06:17] inclusive recruitment practices.
[1:06:18] This afternoon, Diversity and
[1:06:20] Equity Manager Amy Barnes will
[1:06:22] provide an overview of the work
[1:06:24] being led by the Office of
[1:06:25] Diversity and Equity and then
[1:06:27] Employment Services Manager at
[1:06:29] Ebony. Heaven will review hr. S
[1:06:30] recruitment strategies and
[1:06:33] ongoing efforts to strengthen
[1:06:37] outreach, access and workforce
[1:06:38] representation. And so with
[1:06:39] that, I will turn it over to
[1:06:43] Amy.
[1:06:45] >> Good afternoon.
[1:06:46] >> Good afternoon. Good
[1:06:47] afternoon, members of the
[1:06:49] Budget and Audit Committee and
[1:06:51] those in the dais and those
[1:06:53] online. Glad to be here. So
[1:06:57] let's jump right in. Workforce
[1:06:59] equity. This is our definition
[1:07:00] of workforce equity that we
[1:07:02] adapted from the city of
[1:07:05] Seattle. It is a workforce that
[1:07:06] is inclusive of people of color
[1:07:08] and other marginalized and
[1:07:09] underrepresented groups. And
[1:07:11] the most important piece of
[1:07:13] this is understanding
[1:07:15] structural and historical
[1:07:17] barriers. But also we want to
[1:07:18] reflect through the depth and
[1:07:23] breadth of the organization.
[1:07:25] Workforce equity is very
[1:07:27] dynamic, and while our report
[1:07:30] definitely reflects the trends
[1:07:32] that are encouraging, of signs
[1:07:34] of workforce diversity and the
[1:07:35] efforts that we are doing, we
[1:07:36] know that this is ongoing work
[1:07:38] and it doesn't stop. So to meet
[1:07:40] our workforce equity goal, it
[1:07:42] requires ongoing and sustained
[1:07:44] systemic effort that commits to
[1:07:45] engaging with staff, leadership
[1:07:47] and shareholders throughout the
[1:07:49] organization. So I really want
[1:07:51] to highlight that workforce
[1:07:52] equity is the principle and
[1:07:55] it's a practice. It's a process
[1:07:56] of ensuring fairness and
[1:07:57] justice within the
[1:07:58] organization's employment
[1:08:00] practices, creating an
[1:08:01] environment where all
[1:08:02] individuals have a genuine
[1:08:04] opportunity to succeed,
[1:08:05] contribute, challenge and
[1:08:07] advance, regardless of
[1:08:08] background, lived experiences
[1:08:10] or identity. So the key aspects
[1:08:12] that you see on the slide there
[1:08:14] are all dynamic nonlinear, and
[1:08:16] they're happening
[1:08:18] simultaneously. Some of our
[1:08:20] goals and efforts are to
[1:08:22] eliminate disparities, fair
[1:08:24] access to opportunities, career
[1:08:26] growth and advancement, fair
[1:08:29] treatment and respect, tailored
[1:08:31] strategies of support and
[1:08:32] resources as well. And of
[1:08:34] course, dismantling systemic
[1:08:37] and procedural barriers. Our
[1:08:39] race, gender and equity action
[1:08:41] plan is just one of those
[1:08:43] initiatives to help do that.
[1:08:47] And I do to make alive and
[1:08:48] operationalize all those
[1:08:50] dimensions of workforce equity
[1:08:52] collectively and citywide. So
[1:08:54] I'd like to thank Assistant
[1:08:56] City Manager Laney and interim
[1:08:57] hr Director Samantha Hardy for
[1:08:59] their leadership and
[1:09:01] facilitation. Leadership is
[1:09:03] critical in this area for to
[1:09:05] move these initiatives forward.
[1:09:06] I'd also like to extend an
[1:09:07] appreciation to former hr
[1:09:10] Director Shelly Robinson as
[1:09:11] well, for helping advance this
[1:09:17] work. From 2020 to 2025,
[1:09:18] Workforce Equity Goal was a
[1:09:20] central focus of the race,
[1:09:21] gender and Equity Action Plan.
[1:09:24] As a plan, it facilitated
[1:09:25] normalizing and organizing our
[1:09:28] equity work across the city and
[1:09:29] operationalizing racial equity
[1:09:31] and using a shared analysis and
[1:09:34] vocabulary, building capacity,
[1:09:36] implementing equity tools,
[1:09:38] partnering with others, using
[1:09:40] data and metrics, and also
[1:09:42] operating with a sense of
[1:09:43] urgency as well to meet our
[1:09:45] goal to reflect the city to
[1:09:47] better serve the city. This is
[1:09:50] just a brief timeline of those
[1:09:52] efforts. Our journey began and
[1:09:54] wanted to give you a breath of
[1:09:55] this, because this journey
[1:09:57] began in 2018 with the
[1:09:58] establishment of the office,
[1:10:00] but it was also the city's
[1:10:02] commitment to advance workforce
[1:10:04] diversity, not only inside the
[1:10:05] organization, but external. So
[1:10:07] the cohort began with the
[1:10:09] Government Alliance on Race and
[1:10:12] Equity in 20 1819. They're a
[1:10:15] cohort of city leaders began to
[1:10:18] work apply racial equity lens,
[1:10:20] look at data and really try to
[1:10:21] understand what was happening
[1:10:24] in their departments. And so 14
[1:10:25] outcomes and actions of the
[1:10:26] race, gender and Equity Action
[1:10:29] Plan were created in 2020. And
[1:10:31] then that little thing called
[1:10:33] Covid hit. And that's right
[1:10:34] when we were launching the plan,
[1:10:36] but we were still able to do
[1:10:37] that through the virtual
[1:10:40] environment. We also began to
[1:10:41] form and support equity teams,
[1:10:44] which began in 2324. And then
[1:10:46] we also established our equity
[1:10:49] team convening in 23 as well,
[1:10:50] so that it would maintain the
[1:10:51] ongoing work and capacity
[1:10:55] building of our equity teams, a
[1:10:57] central approach, which is a
[1:10:58] national best practice of the
[1:10:59] government. Alliance on Race
[1:11:01] and Equity, also known as gear.
[1:11:04] This approach is affectionately
[1:11:06] called view is visualized,
[1:11:08] normalized, organized and
[1:11:09] operationalize. It is the
[1:11:10] guiding framework that informs
[1:11:13] our office and our work. It
[1:11:14] shapes strategy, it shapes our
[1:11:17] efforts and capacity building.
[1:11:18] It's important that we start
[1:11:19] off with visualizing, because
[1:11:21] it's important to see and
[1:11:22] understand. What does it feel
[1:11:24] like to have a Sacramento that
[1:11:25] looks and reflects everyone,
[1:11:28] but also works for everyone?
[1:11:29] Normalizing racial equity and
[1:11:31] equity as a key value in our
[1:11:32] decision making and creating
[1:11:34] shared understanding, and then
[1:11:36] organizing building staff
[1:11:38] capacity and collaboration
[1:11:39] across departments to break
[1:11:41] down silos in order to make
[1:11:43] sure that this work takes root.
[1:11:45] And then operationalizing it is
[1:11:47] putting into action for
[1:11:49] decision making, analysis,
[1:11:53] measurement, and accountability.
[1:11:57] The gap since 2022 consistently
[1:11:59] has had 14 outcomes. It has 15
[1:12:01] departments, including two two
[1:12:03] charter offices, and we also
[1:12:05] were able to do a 43 equity
[1:12:06] point department assessment
[1:12:08] profile. We're currently
[1:12:10] working with city leadership to
[1:12:12] actually launch that redone
[1:12:14] assessment and profile that
[1:12:16] alternates with the employee
[1:12:18] engagement survey that is
[1:12:19] conducted out of the city
[1:12:24] manager's office. It is also
[1:12:25] we've also been able to do
[1:12:28] in-person as well as virtual
[1:12:29] foundational racial equity and
[1:12:30] role of government trainings.
[1:12:31] And of course, the first phase
[1:12:34] of our development equity
[1:12:38] leadership through action. The
[1:12:39] ongoing work and support. I
[1:12:41] really want to thank the equity
[1:12:43] teams for their work and
[1:12:44] dedication and leadership over
[1:12:47] the years. This work is takes
[1:12:49] not just the small and mighty
[1:12:51] team of the Office of Diversity
[1:12:53] and Equity. The hr department
[1:12:54] is behind this as well as the
[1:12:56] city Manager's office. But the
[1:12:59] equity teams in the departments
[1:13:01] working and talking with city
[1:13:02] leadership and trying to
[1:13:03] understand the nuances to this
[1:13:05] work are critical to advance
[1:13:07] this work moving forward. So
[1:13:09] this is just a brief timeline
[1:13:12] of the ongoing work and support.
[1:13:13] And the two things that I
[1:13:14] really want to highlight here
[1:13:19] is that this work is emerging
[1:13:21] from workforce equity. We want
[1:13:23] to look at other systems and
[1:13:24] processes and procedures with
[1:13:25] the race, gender and equity
[1:13:27] action plan, but not lose
[1:13:29] workforce equity. The other key
[1:13:31] piece is that we are
[1:13:33] integrating the results based
[1:13:34] accountability framework, which
[1:13:36] is Clear Path, Clear Impact
[1:13:39] Software program, but it's a
[1:13:41] which is also known as rba,
[1:13:46] which is about. Identifying key
[1:13:47] equity centered performance
[1:13:49] measures that advance equity,
[1:13:51] but also that tells the story
[1:13:53] of what those performance
[1:13:55] measures and those outcomes are.
[1:13:56] So that's really the
[1:13:58] transformation of the gap
[1:14:04] moving beyond 2025. What we
[1:14:05] learned. We learned that the
[1:14:09] most common gap outcomes that
[1:14:11] teams resonated with or felt
[1:14:14] they needed to work on were two,
[1:14:18] ten, 13, and 14. 2 in 10 were
[1:14:19] often paired together. As you
[1:14:21] can see, this was about career
[1:14:23] development or outreach
[1:14:25] strategies. 13 and 14 was about
[1:14:27] capacity building, career
[1:14:28] development and professional
[1:14:29] development. And so those were
[1:14:31] often paired together as well.
[1:14:33] Some of the changes that we
[1:14:36] have been able to see has been
[1:14:37] better collaboration across
[1:14:40] city departments. The
[1:14:42] normalization of this work and
[1:14:45] in the hiring and interviewing
[1:14:46] process, which you'll hear more
[1:14:49] a little in for the rest of the
[1:14:50] presentation. Departments being
[1:14:52] more organized in their efforts
[1:14:53] and more thoughtful about
[1:14:54] embedding equity at the
[1:14:56] beginning of the process.
[1:14:57] Expansive in thinking and
[1:14:59] looking at external
[1:15:00] shareholders and how community
[1:15:03] can help and collaborate. And
[1:15:05] in terms of advancing messages
[1:15:09] around outreach and encouraging
[1:15:11] communities of color as well as
[1:15:12] marginalized communities, to
[1:15:15] see the city as an employer.
[1:15:17] While the cohort that began in
[1:15:19] 2018 reflected the depth and
[1:15:21] breadth of our city leadership,
[1:15:25] the one lesson learned is that
[1:15:26] it's important to develop goals
[1:15:29] and performance measures
[1:15:31] without the input of staff can
[1:15:33] not necessarily make those
[1:15:34] performance measures take root,
[1:15:35] and that's informing our
[1:15:37] process about how we're
[1:15:42] transforming the gap currently.
[1:15:43] And in that transformation is,
[1:15:46] as I mentioned, equity centered,
[1:15:47] results based accountability
[1:15:48] framework, which we're very
[1:15:50] excited about. This is a very
[1:15:51] precise framework where you
[1:15:54] identify performance measures
[1:15:56] that are directly from the
[1:15:59] equity teams. They're equity
[1:16:03] centered. We've been able to
[1:16:06] collaborate with the Sacramento
[1:16:08] County Department of Family and
[1:16:10] Child Services at the county in
[1:16:11] order to access this clear
[1:16:13] impact software, which will
[1:16:15] enable us to do a turn the
[1:16:16] curve strategy on these
[1:16:17] performance measures. So we're
[1:16:19] very excited about that. That
[1:16:21] came off the heels. And as a
[1:16:24] result of the networking,
[1:16:26] because we had a race gender
[1:16:28] inequity action plan, we were
[1:16:29] positioned and invited by the
[1:16:31] Government Alliance on Race and
[1:16:33] Equity to participate in their
[1:16:34] jurisdiction evaluation
[1:16:36] learning exchange from OCTOBER
[1:16:39] 20th 24 to 2025. This enabled
[1:16:41] us to receive technical
[1:16:44] assistance, especially during
[1:16:45] budget challenges. To receive
[1:16:47] that technical assistance
[1:16:48] really boosted the way that
[1:16:49] we're going to collect data,
[1:16:51] the way that we report the
[1:16:52] results and the way that we'll
[1:16:54] be able to support the equity
[1:17:01] teams. Ongoing efforts 2025 and
[1:17:02] beyond. Employee resource
[1:17:06] groups want to highlight here
[1:17:07] that all of our new hires
[1:17:08] receive information about ERGs
[1:17:12] during onboarding and through
[1:17:13] the city's learning management
[1:17:15] system, including opportunities
[1:17:17] to get involved. Our office is
[1:17:19] also appoint an liaison for all
[1:17:22] ERGs as well. In addition, all
[1:17:24] employees receive annual
[1:17:25] communication regarding erg
[1:17:27] opportunities and participation,
[1:17:29] and in SEPTEMBER of 2025, the
[1:17:31] city implemented the Employee
[1:17:32] Resource Group policy to
[1:17:34] further the city's goal of
[1:17:35] reflecting the community we
[1:17:38] serve. And so our office is
[1:17:39] currently working with the
[1:17:41] office of, excuse me, the
[1:17:42] African American Leadership
[1:17:44] Employee Council, Asian Pacific
[1:17:47] Islander, erg, women's erg, and
[1:17:49] the lgbtq plus erg to support
[1:17:50] the establishment and
[1:17:52] recognition of these structures
[1:17:54] under the erg policy framework.
[1:17:56] I also want to extend an
[1:17:58] appreciation to the efforts of
[1:18:00] city staff. Emilio from the
[1:18:02] City Attorney's Office, Jessica
[1:18:03] from Community Engagement
[1:18:05] Council staff. Eduardo from
[1:18:07] Vice Mayor Telemontes office,
[1:18:09] along with the Vice Mayor
[1:18:10] Telemontes and Mayor Pro Tem
[1:18:12] Guerra to help bring staff
[1:18:14] community together to see the
[1:18:16] interest for a Latinx Hispanic
[1:18:22] erg. So really appreciate that.
[1:18:26] The developing equity action
[1:18:27] through leadership, that's our
[1:18:29] Delta program. So in 2024, we
[1:18:31] did listening sessions with
[1:18:33] staff, particularly staff who
[1:18:35] are not in offices or have
[1:18:37] access to offices. We wanted to
[1:18:38] understand how we can help
[1:18:40] build the capacity and include
[1:18:42] them in trainings and other
[1:18:44] initiatives and efforts around
[1:18:45] diversity, equity and inclusion
[1:18:48] and racial equity in that. And
[1:18:49] so we'll be that will be
[1:18:52] informing our program. Our
[1:18:53] future goals currently right
[1:18:55] now are to create managerial
[1:18:57] tracks, as well as develop
[1:18:58] learning journeys through the
[1:19:01] city's learning management
[1:19:03] system. We also, in 2025,
[1:19:04] implemented our Curiosity and
[1:19:06] Open Openness series, along
[1:19:08] with with our annual 21 day
[1:19:11] Racial Equity Habit Building
[1:19:17] Challenge. Lastly, we will be
[1:19:18] working with city leadership on
[1:19:19] the implementation of an equity
[1:19:21] point assessment to measure
[1:19:23] areas of organizational
[1:19:24] commitment measurement to
[1:19:25] continuous quality improvement.
[1:19:28] This will not only help us
[1:19:29] understand the needs of
[1:19:30] departments, but it will help
[1:19:32] us elevate strategies to a
[1:19:33] citywide level, as well as
[1:19:38] inform future work. The gap was
[1:19:39] intended to be a five year plan.
[1:19:41] We know practices, needs and
[1:19:43] strategies need to change. We
[1:19:45] are at an exciting time to
[1:19:46] strategically, strategically
[1:19:49] align and embed equity centered,
[1:19:50] be a results based
[1:19:51] accountability as an approach
[1:19:52] to implement city equity
[1:19:54] centered initiatives which are
[1:19:56] currently underway. Efforts,
[1:19:57] long range planning and
[1:19:59] strategic priorities of city
[1:20:01] leadership and council. As
[1:20:02] outlined in the Sacramento.
[1:20:03] Centered on Race and Equity
[1:20:05] Work Plan just approved by the
[1:20:07] Racial Equity Committee and of
[1:20:09] course, the one city, one
[1:20:10] Future Strategic Priorities
[1:20:11] plan that was just launched
[1:20:13] earlier this month as well. So
[1:20:14] now I'll turn it over to our
[1:20:19] colleague Ebony.
[1:20:25] >> Do we have a long session?
[1:20:27] >> Good afternoon. My name is
[1:20:29] Ebony. Hi. My name is Ebony
[1:20:31] Heaven, human resources manager
[1:20:32] for employment Services and the
[1:20:34] hr department. And I'd like to
[1:20:35] discuss a few recruitment
[1:20:36] strategies we've implemented to
[1:20:40] diversify our workforce.
[1:20:41] Employment services has focused
[1:20:42] heavily on modernizing
[1:20:43] recruitment processes to
[1:20:45] improve both efficiency and
[1:20:47] accessibility. One of the most
[1:20:48] significant advances has been
[1:20:50] the expansion of online civil
[1:20:52] service examinations, allowing
[1:20:54] applicants to complete
[1:20:56] examinations remotely and on a
[1:20:58] flexible schedule. This
[1:20:59] approach broadens access to
[1:21:01] candidates who MAY otherwise
[1:21:02] face barriers to attending in
[1:21:04] person examinations.
[1:21:06] Additionally, we've implemented
[1:21:08] automated scoring methods,
[1:21:09] particularly with training and
[1:21:10] development or training and
[1:21:12] experience examinations, which
[1:21:15] has significantly reduced
[1:21:16] manual processing time.
[1:21:17] Collectively, these efforts
[1:21:19] have shortened recruitment
[1:21:20] timelines by approximately 5 to
[1:21:22] 8 weeks, while also improving
[1:21:24] consistency, confidentiality
[1:21:25] and overall operational
[1:21:29] efficiency. A major a major
[1:21:30] priority for hr has been
[1:21:32] ensuring that recruitment
[1:21:33] practices align with the city's
[1:21:35] equity and inclusion goals.
[1:21:38] Since 2023, all staff
[1:21:39] participating on an interview
[1:21:40] panel are required to complete
[1:21:42] an implicit bias training
[1:21:43] focused on recognizing and
[1:21:45] minimizing unconscious bias
[1:21:47] during the interview process.
[1:21:48] We have also worked to
[1:21:50] modernize examination content
[1:21:51] and classification
[1:21:52] specifications by removing
[1:21:54] gender specific language or
[1:21:55] exclusionary language, and
[1:21:57] partnering with vendors to
[1:21:58] ensure equitable assessments
[1:22:01] and practices. In addition,
[1:22:03] Human Resources is reviewing
[1:22:05] minimum qualifications across
[1:22:06] classifications to identify
[1:22:08] opportunities to substitute
[1:22:10] experience certification
[1:22:11] demonstrated competencies in
[1:22:13] place of rigid degree
[1:22:15] requirements where appropriate.
[1:22:18] These efforts help to reduce
[1:22:19] barriers to employment and
[1:22:21] create more equitable pathways
[1:22:25] to city opportunities. We
[1:22:27] recognize that long term
[1:22:29] recruitment success requires
[1:22:31] proactive workforce pipeline
[1:22:33] development. To ensure this
[1:22:34] effort, we significantly
[1:22:35] expanded outreach efforts
[1:22:37] through social media platforms,
[1:22:39] community events, strategic
[1:22:41] marketing initiatives,
[1:22:42] including the use of city owned
[1:22:45] billboards. We also established
[1:22:47] a general intern classification,
[1:22:48] which allows individuals as
[1:22:50] long as as young as 16 to gain
[1:22:51] workforce exposure without
[1:22:54] requiring minimum
[1:22:55] qualifications. In addition,
[1:22:56] departments are being
[1:22:58] encouraged to strategically
[1:22:59] utilize nonunion
[1:23:01] classifications to help develop
[1:23:03] internal pipelines to fill hard
[1:23:05] to feel, hard to fill.
[1:23:06] Classifications are. These
[1:23:07] initiatives are designed to
[1:23:09] broaden access to employment
[1:23:09] opportunities while
[1:23:11] strengthening the city's
[1:23:15] workforce. Beyond recruitment,
[1:23:17] hr has also focused on
[1:23:18] improving the candidate and new
[1:23:19] hire experience through the
[1:23:21] implementation of a centralized
[1:23:23] onboarding platform. This
[1:23:24] platform automates
[1:23:25] pre-employment tasks,
[1:23:27] streamlines document completion,
[1:23:28] and provides employees with
[1:23:30] early access to important
[1:23:32] information and resources. The
[1:23:33] onboarding platform creates a
[1:23:35] more consistent and transparent
[1:23:37] experience citywide, while
[1:23:39] reducing delays and
[1:23:40] administrative burden. It also
[1:23:41] supports equity and
[1:23:43] accessibility by allowing
[1:23:44] employees to complete
[1:23:45] onboarding requirements
[1:23:47] electronically and at their
[1:23:48] convenience. These improvements
[1:23:49] better position employees for
[1:23:51] long term success and better
[1:23:53] engagement with the
[1:24:02] organization. While hr has made
[1:24:03] significant progress in
[1:24:04] modernizing and improving the
[1:24:06] city's recruitment practices,
[1:24:08] several workforce challenges
[1:24:09] continue to impact public
[1:24:11] sector hiring both locally and
[1:24:13] nationally. The city continues
[1:24:15] to operate in an increasingly
[1:24:16] increasingly competitive labor
[1:24:18] market, where many employers,
[1:24:20] both public and private, are
[1:24:21] competing for a limited pool of
[1:24:24] candidates. The challenge is
[1:24:25] especially challenging for
[1:24:26] highly specialized technical
[1:24:28] are hard to fill
[1:24:29] classifications where candidate
[1:24:30] availability and market
[1:24:33] competition is strong. At the
[1:24:35] same time, hr must continue
[1:24:36] delivering high quality
[1:24:38] recruitment services while
[1:24:40] navigating staffing limitations,
[1:24:41] budget constraints, and
[1:24:43] increasing service level
[1:24:44] expectations. Departments are
[1:24:47] seeking faster hiring timelines,
[1:24:48] improved candidate experiences,
[1:24:50] and greater workforce
[1:24:51] flexibility, all while
[1:24:52] maintaining compliance with
[1:24:54] Civil Service Board rules,
[1:24:56] equitable hiring practices, and
[1:24:57] operational consistency
[1:25:00] citywide. In response to these
[1:25:02] evolving needs, hr remains
[1:25:04] focused on long term workforce
[1:25:05] sustainability and strategic
[1:25:07] modernization efforts. We will
[1:25:08] continue focusing on
[1:25:10] modernizing classification
[1:25:11] structures, strengthening
[1:25:13] workforce analytics, and
[1:25:14] expanding educational
[1:25:15] partnerships, and identifying
[1:25:17] innovative ways to streamline
[1:25:21] hiring recruitment processes,
[1:25:24] equity, accessibility, and
[1:25:25] workforce sustainability will
[1:25:28] remain central to all
[1:25:29] recruitment and workforce
[1:25:31] development strategies. Hr is
[1:25:33] committed to ensuring the
[1:25:35] recruitment processes are
[1:25:37] equitable, transparent,
[1:25:38] accessible and reflective of
[1:25:39] the diverse communities we
[1:25:41] serve. The city's long term
[1:25:43] goal is not only to fill
[1:25:44] vacancies, but to build a
[1:25:46] sustainable, inclusive and high
[1:25:47] performing workforce that is
[1:25:48] prepared to meet the future
[1:25:50] organizational and community
[1:25:52] needs. This concludes our
[1:25:53] presentation, and we're happy
[1:25:54] to answer any additional
[1:25:56] questions you MAY have.
[1:25:58] >> Okay. Thank. Thank you very
[1:26:01] much for for that very thorough
[1:26:04] presentation. And Council
[1:26:06] Member Maple.
[1:26:07] >> Thank you, chair, and really
[1:26:09] do appreciate the thorough
[1:26:09] presentation. I think,
[1:26:11] especially because, you know, I
[1:26:12] think being reminded of a lot
[1:26:14] of the work that's happened
[1:26:16] over over several years before
[1:26:18] some of us were on here on this
[1:26:19] dais, including myself, is
[1:26:21] important. And then the work
[1:26:22] that's happened to address the
[1:26:24] things that have come up in
[1:26:25] previous audits is important,
[1:26:27] too. So I just wanted to open
[1:26:30] with that. I remember before I
[1:26:32] was elected to this council,
[1:26:33] several years before then, I
[1:26:36] was sitting in that audience
[1:26:38] advocating with then then
[1:26:39] Council member Angelique Ashby
[1:26:41] and others on the very first
[1:26:42] diversity and equity and
[1:26:45] inclusion audit. And that was a
[1:26:46] huge milestone. And I thought
[1:26:48] it was a great way, I believe,
[1:26:49] on any policy issue, whatever
[1:26:51] it MAY be. You have to
[1:26:53] understand first what the
[1:26:54] problem is. If there is a
[1:26:55] problem, have the data, have an
[1:26:57] understanding, and then to be
[1:26:58] able to actually address what
[1:27:00] comes next. A lot of times some
[1:27:01] of some folks will try to come
[1:27:03] up with a solution before you
[1:27:04] really understand what the
[1:27:05] problem is. And sometimes the
[1:27:06] solution is not actually the
[1:27:08] right one. And so I'm really
[1:27:09] glad that that we do this
[1:27:10] continuously. I think we've
[1:27:12] learned a lot over the years.
[1:27:13] And I think that because of
[1:27:15] that work, you all have been
[1:27:17] able to implement very real
[1:27:19] strategies internally in the
[1:27:22] city to make sure that we have
[1:27:23] we make the changes that we
[1:27:24] want to see, and we're already
[1:27:26] seeing the outcome of that. And
[1:27:27] I think that's that's evident
[1:27:29] if you look at the reports over
[1:27:30] time. So I just wanted to say
[1:27:32] that's exciting. And I'm, you
[1:27:33] know, I'm glad I'm looking
[1:27:34] forward to future ones and
[1:27:35] continuing that work. The only
[1:27:37] major question I had was around
[1:27:41] the gender pay disparities. So
[1:27:43] as I read the report, basically
[1:27:44] it's we didn't do like a study
[1:27:47] of the actual of actual pay of
[1:27:48] gender pay throughout the
[1:27:51] entire city. We kind of did an
[1:27:53] averages of certain positions.
[1:27:53] Is that right?
[1:27:55] >> It's very high level. I mean,
[1:27:58] doing a gender study by looking
[1:28:00] more detailed on every specific
[1:28:02] position and, you know,
[1:28:04] experience, education,
[1:28:06] qualifications of every person
[1:28:08] in each of those positions is
[1:28:09] just is beyond the scope of
[1:28:10] this audit. It's very high
[1:28:10] level.
[1:28:12] >> It would need to be, you
[1:28:14] know, if we wanted to do
[1:28:15] something like that, we would
[1:28:17] need to have you work on a
[1:28:18] different specific audit to do
[1:28:19] that work because it would be
[1:28:21] okay. I think that's really
[1:28:22] important to point out because
[1:28:24] I don't want anyone to, to read
[1:28:25] this, you know, and I know that
[1:28:27] you pointed out in there that
[1:28:28] that it's high level. But I
[1:28:30] just want to say for on the
[1:28:32] record that, you know, it's not
[1:28:33] necessarily that we're seeing a
[1:28:34] problem here at the city. We
[1:28:36] don't actually know that per se.
[1:28:37] We just know that there's some
[1:28:39] high level trends and there's
[1:28:40] trends also nationally. And so
[1:28:42] we can we can glean some things
[1:28:43] from that. But yeah, I just, I
[1:28:45] just think that's a good thing
[1:28:46] to point out because I don't
[1:28:48] want anyone to take, you know,
[1:28:50] I don't want the headline to be,
[1:28:51] you know, gender pay
[1:28:52] disparities without us really
[1:28:53] understanding that. And so,
[1:28:54] okay, with that, I'm happy to,
[1:28:56] to move this and just want to
[1:28:58] say thank you for the work. I
[1:28:59] know it's been iterative over
[1:29:01] time, but it always gives me I
[1:29:02] always get excited when I see
[1:29:04] this on the agenda. So thank
[1:29:04] you.
[1:29:06] >> All right. We have a motion
[1:29:07] to accept the audit and
[1:29:08] forwarded to this one. Go to
[1:29:10] the council. Yes. I'm not
[1:29:12] looking at it. Okay. It goes to
[1:29:14] thank you. And a second, by the
[1:29:20] by, Mayor Pro Tem. Do we have
[1:29:20] any speakers?
[1:29:22] >> I do have one speaker
[1:29:34] Lambert. Okay.
[1:29:35] >> Good afternoon.
[1:29:38] >> Good afternoon. This is this
[1:29:40] is exactly some of the things
[1:29:43] that I'm challenging at City
[1:29:45] Hall. First of all, I would
[1:29:48] like to thank the auditor for
[1:29:50] confirming what I already know.
[1:29:54] And also Army. Now, there was
[1:29:56] an article when I returned home,
[1:29:58] there was an article in the
[1:30:00] newspaper called Sacramento
[1:30:02] News and Review. People should
[1:30:05] study this, and my family
[1:30:07] showed it to me. When I moved
[1:30:08] home, it was called the ancient
[1:30:12] r Barnum and Bailey racist
[1:30:15] Scandal at City Hall, and that
[1:30:17] I have no idea how many years
[1:30:19] ago that was. But I'm looking
[1:30:21] at the same thing today. They
[1:30:24] tried to blame Donald Trump for
[1:30:25] resisting dei. But if you look
[1:30:29] at these graphs, there's been
[1:30:31] resistance we've documented
[1:30:33] before he even became PRESIDENT.
[1:30:37] Now here we look at blacks are
[1:30:38] always at the bottom of
[1:30:40] salaries. Are you telling me
[1:30:42] that black people who go to
[1:30:44] college and get degrees are
[1:30:45] still at the bottom? How is
[1:30:49] that possible? Also, why are
[1:30:52] whites always at the top?
[1:30:56] What's that about? Also Asians?
[1:30:59] I've often said it was my van
[1:31:04] who confirmed that 25% of the
[1:31:06] workforce at City Hall is Hmong,
[1:31:10] and Hmongs are not 25% of the
[1:31:12] city. That's a quota system.
[1:31:14] And I put that on record at
[1:31:18] City Hall. Quotas are illegal.
[1:31:21] Also, it said Army made a good
[1:31:23] point. She said the outcomes
[1:31:26] can't take root without staff
[1:31:28] support, and most of the people
[1:31:30] who are implementing this
[1:31:32] resistance are still on the
[1:31:35] payroll. At City Hall.
[1:31:36] >> I have no more speakers.
[1:31:38] >> Okay. Thank you for your
[1:31:39] comments. Thanks for your
[1:31:42] comments. This is this is
[1:31:43] important work. And the
[1:31:48] commitment has to be. One that
[1:31:55] that is. Felt throughout the
[1:31:58] organization. So we've taken
[1:32:00] some time today, but it's worth
[1:32:02] it. And, and it's both
[1:32:05] important to, to do this, this
[1:32:09] updating every period interval
[1:32:11] of, of time on a regular basis.
[1:32:13] And it's important to know what
[1:32:14] you're doing from a human
[1:32:16] resources perspective, to have
[1:32:17] the city workforce reflect our
[1:32:20] city. We know that we know that
[1:32:22] that is meaningful and in every
[1:32:24] sense, not, not, not just in
[1:32:27] numbers, but, but in pay equity,
[1:32:30] in positions of responsibility
[1:32:33] and management in every respect.
[1:32:36] So thank you for the
[1:32:38] presentations. We know there's
[1:32:40] still work to do. That's that's
[1:32:41] apparent from from what we see.
[1:32:44] But but I think the fact that
[1:32:48] we examine this is, is also
[1:32:49] reflection of, of the
[1:32:52] commitment that we have to, to
[1:32:55] strive even to be better over
[1:32:58] time. So with that, we have a
[1:33:00] motion and a second, if there's
[1:33:01] nothing further, all in favor,
[1:33:03] signify by saying aye, aye.
[1:33:05] Opposed say no. Any abstentions?
[1:33:07] Hearing none. Motion carries.
[1:33:11] Thanks very much. And we're on
[1:33:17] to our next item, which is item
[1:33:19] eight. Updates on current City
[1:33:20] Council member proposals that
[1:33:22] have been heard before the
[1:33:23] Budget and Audit Committee. And
[1:33:28] I think we have, Amy here to.
[1:33:30] Walk us through the spreadsheet.
[1:33:33] >> Great. Good afternoon, Chair
[1:33:35] Dickinson and members of the
[1:33:36] Budget and Audit Committee. My
[1:33:37] name is Amy Williams. I'm chief
[1:33:39] of staff to the City Manager,
[1:33:41] and I am pleased to provide an
[1:33:44] update this afternoon on our
[1:33:46] council proposal log items that
[1:33:48] have come before Budget and
[1:33:51] Audit Committee. I'd like to
[1:33:53] begin first with just a very
[1:33:55] brief overview of how the
[1:33:57] current proposal process works.
[1:34:00] This is a process that was
[1:34:04] instituted a few years ago to
[1:34:07] where the council proposes an
[1:34:09] idea. So Council Member office
[1:34:11] proposes an idea and submits a
[1:34:13] council proposal, request
[1:34:14] submission to the clerk's
[1:34:16] office, which then is reviewed
[1:34:19] by the mayor, city Manager and
[1:34:21] the City Attorney's Office. At
[1:34:24] that point, the proposal idea
[1:34:25] either there's refinements
[1:34:27] being asked back to the
[1:34:29] proposals, or it gets assigned
[1:34:31] to an actual committee. Once it
[1:34:33] reaches the committee, the
[1:34:35] proposer office then also
[1:34:37] presents this idea to a
[1:34:38] committee. So say budget and
[1:34:40] audit and then budget and audit.
[1:34:42] Here's this proposal idea and
[1:34:44] at that point in time gives a
[1:34:46] thumbs up or maybe asks for
[1:34:47] refinements. But if it gives a
[1:34:48] thumbs up, it then gets
[1:34:51] assigned to the department to
[1:34:54] work on the idea. So, and at
[1:34:55] that point is when I start
[1:35:00] tracking the log. And at that
[1:35:02] point, also, generally speaking,
[1:35:04] the staff assigned to that
[1:35:05] particular proposal idea
[1:35:07] reaches out to that council
[1:35:09] office, learns a little bit
[1:35:10] more, and again, I start
[1:35:11] updating and maintaining the
[1:35:13] log as it progresses. As this
[1:35:16] council proposal idea becomes,
[1:35:18] goes through the system. Just
[1:35:20] so you understand, the tracking
[1:35:22] log itself is actually housed
[1:35:26] in our Microsoft Teams under a
[1:35:27] OneDrive, under the OneDrive
[1:35:29] account, and is shared to all
[1:35:31] staff for visibility. It
[1:35:32] includes both current and past
[1:35:35] proposal for easy reference. In
[1:35:37] addition, just to add, we've
[1:35:41] added a new process to this
[1:35:42] entire process, which is called
[1:35:44] a closeout memo. So when an
[1:35:46] item goes through the entire
[1:35:47] process and an ordinance gets
[1:35:51] amended or a a program gets
[1:35:53] launched, we then send a memo
[1:35:57] out to formally request closing
[1:35:58] out that item and concluding
[1:36:00] that item from the act of
[1:36:02] tracking log. And it's put on a
[1:36:06] concluded log list. This helps
[1:36:07] with and it has will help us
[1:36:09] with transparency and
[1:36:11] accountability through this
[1:36:13] process. There are currently 18
[1:36:16] active council proposals being
[1:36:18] worked on and tracked, and
[1:36:20] today we will just be reviewing
[1:36:22] the three from the 18. And you
[1:36:27] all have copies of a large
[1:36:28] spreadsheet here. And there's
[1:36:30] copies for the community behind
[1:36:32] me if they're interested. So
[1:36:34] we'll start with the first item
[1:36:36] you'll see on the far left what
[1:36:38] happens is the log or the
[1:36:40] council proposal gets assigned
[1:36:43] a number. And this number is it
[1:36:46] marks the year 2025. And it's
[1:36:48] the first one of 2025. It was
[1:36:50] submit date was actually
[1:36:53] JANUARY 31st of 2025. And the
[1:36:55] subject item is the authorizing
[1:36:57] staff to begin the process of
[1:36:58] creating a mechanism to fund
[1:37:00] community infrastructure that
[1:37:02] boosts tourism markets, North
[1:37:03] Natomas, and improves
[1:37:05] opportunities for hotels and
[1:37:08] businesses. This council
[1:37:11] sponsors included Councilmember
[1:37:13] Kaplan and Plucky Bomb, and our
[1:37:15] department lead is Office of
[1:37:16] Innovation, Economic
[1:37:18] Development and the Finance
[1:37:19] Department. The mayor. This
[1:37:21] gives you several times. When
[1:37:22] the mayor did review. There's
[1:37:23] some refinements, as you can
[1:37:25] see in the status notes to the
[1:37:27] far right, this. This
[1:37:28] particular proposal idea had
[1:37:30] lots of refinements, kind of
[1:37:33] some some some tweaks along the
[1:37:35] way. But the mayor reviewed it
[1:37:38] a few times. It went to Law and
[1:37:42] Ledge in AUGUST 26th of 2025 to
[1:37:45] budget not my apologies. And
[1:37:47] meanwhile, what's happening? If
[1:37:49] you go to the far right where
[1:37:50] my status notes are, I always
[1:37:52] start with the item that's the
[1:37:54] most recent. So the date this
[1:37:56] was last updated was MAY 18th
[1:38:00] of 2026, and there has been a
[1:38:02] meeting with the hoteliers
[1:38:05] visit. Sac is deeply involved
[1:38:08] in this process. And so they're
[1:38:10] moving towards an assessment
[1:38:12] and looking at building out an
[1:38:15] assessment for this work. But
[1:38:17] if you go again down, you can
[1:38:18] see all the different dates and
[1:38:20] times that staff reached out.
[1:38:21] And maybe when there were
[1:38:24] pauses or questions being asked.
[1:38:26] And so this particular item is
[1:38:29] moving along. If there's any
[1:38:31] questions on that item, do my
[1:38:35] best. No. Okay. The next item
[1:38:38] we have here, submit date was
[1:38:41] OCTOBER of 2025. This is a
[1:38:44] request for illegal dumping. It
[1:38:46] was a request for staff to come
[1:38:48] up with a very specific, a
[1:38:49] specific program to address
[1:38:51] illegal dumping issues that we
[1:38:53] see citywide. We do address our
[1:38:54] illegal dumping and one offs,
[1:38:56] but this is asking staff to to
[1:38:58] look at the numbers, understand
[1:38:59] what's going on, and come back
[1:39:03] with an overall program,
[1:39:04] looking at being more efficient
[1:39:06] and comprehensive in our
[1:39:08] approach. And this and Council
[1:39:09] Member Dickinson, you can
[1:39:11] correct me if I'm wrong on any
[1:39:13] of those details, but you are a
[1:39:14] sponsor as well as Council
[1:39:16] Member Vang and Council member
[1:39:20] Maple, and the department lead
[1:39:22] is our recycling and solid
[1:39:24] waste, but it does include many
[1:39:25] other departments that are
[1:39:27] involved actually in developing
[1:39:29] this program. But our lead
[1:39:31] person is in recycling and
[1:39:32] solid waste. The mayor reviewed
[1:39:35] it on NOVEMBER, and then it
[1:39:37] went to be an a on the third.
[1:39:39] Now, you'll notice on this that
[1:39:42] the Council on the Legislative
[1:39:44] Body review to the far right,
[1:39:46] the council column is
[1:39:47] highlighted in green because
[1:39:48] when it's done, it's going to
[1:39:50] go to council next. So that's
[1:39:52] an indicator as to why. You
[1:39:54] know, that column is green. And
[1:39:56] the last update I got was on
[1:39:58] MAY 16th. And they are
[1:39:59] finishing up their data
[1:40:00] collection. And they're
[1:40:02] beginning their analysis.
[1:40:04] They're, they're hoping to come
[1:40:07] back in the fall. And all of
[1:40:08] this is listed, all the dates
[1:40:10] are up to date on, you know,
[1:40:12] where it's been and where it's
[1:40:13] headed. So it's, it's on its
[1:40:16] way.
[1:40:18] >> I just have a quick process.
[1:40:19] That's okay. Michael Benjamin
[1:40:21] my office no longer works there.
[1:40:23] And so we'll talk offline about
[1:40:25] who the best person for my team
[1:40:26] is to connect. Thanks.
[1:40:28] >> Thank you.
[1:40:29] >> Well, we're on that one, MR.
[1:40:30] Chair.
[1:40:30] >> Okay.
[1:40:32] >> I think I, I think I made
[1:40:34] the motion on moving that one
[1:40:35] and asked to be listed as a
[1:40:37] co-sponsor. That's that's all
[1:40:38] clarification.
[1:40:42] >> Well, I will definitely.
[1:40:44] >> Add that. And I will mention
[1:40:46] that I do have monthly meetings
[1:40:48] now with each of your staff
[1:40:49] scheduled and will be ongoing.
[1:40:51] So this will always be one of
[1:40:53] the items that I just bring up.
[1:40:55] So it's just going to be
[1:40:56] something we naturally talk
[1:40:58] about more often. And I
[1:41:00] understand I'm becoming a bit
[1:41:01] more. Maybe I'll be coming to
[1:41:03] budget a little bit more so we
[1:41:04] can just keep tracking these
[1:41:06] and moving them along and
[1:41:07] making sure the data and the
[1:41:09] information is correct. Okay.
[1:41:11] And the final one we have here
[1:41:13] is an item that came and submit
[1:41:16] date of NOVEMBER of 2025. And
[1:41:18] this is district two, Enhanced
[1:41:20] Infrastructure financing.
[1:41:22] District and council sponsors
[1:41:23] were Council member Dickinson,
[1:41:25] Vice Mayor Telemontes, Council
[1:41:26] member Maple and Council member
[1:41:28] Gada. And this was assigned to
[1:41:31] our Office of Innovation and
[1:41:33] Economic Development and our
[1:41:35] Finance department. This item
[1:41:37] has gone through went to to
[1:41:42] budget audit in DECEMBER of
[1:41:45] 2025, no. 2026 and went to
[1:41:47] council this spring. So what I
[1:41:49] understand is that we are doing
[1:41:52] some fiscal analysis right now,
[1:41:54] which is three months of work
[1:41:57] was what the estimate was, and
[1:41:59] then we'll be bringing it back
[1:42:01] to council as soon as we can.
[1:42:03] >> Yes, as soon as we can.
[1:42:05] >> As soon as we can be.
[1:42:07] >> Tracking that.
[1:42:10] >> Underlined. Okay, Amy. Thank
[1:42:13] you, Vice Mayor.
[1:42:14] >> So is this going to become
[1:42:16] the new process.
[1:42:18] >> Where you come to budget and
[1:42:20] audit to present where we're at
[1:42:22] on all these policies that we
[1:42:23] have passed?
[1:42:25] >> I, I don't know, I haven't
[1:42:26] been directed to, but Lore and
[1:42:28] Legend directed me to do that.
[1:42:29] So I would just assuming that
[1:42:31] that would be the case here.
[1:42:32] >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's
[1:42:34] great because, because I'm not
[1:42:35] on lore. And so it's great to
[1:42:36] hear like an update.
[1:42:37] >> But yeah, so.
[1:42:39] >> I think both the chair of
[1:42:41] law and legislation as well as
[1:42:42] I think it's very helpful to
[1:42:43] have these presentations on a
[1:42:46] periodic basis, on a regular
[1:42:48] basis, even though this
[1:42:50] information is accessible in
[1:42:54] teams. It's it has a home there,
[1:42:55] which I will admit I didn't
[1:42:58] know before. We had a similar
[1:42:59] presentation at the Law and
[1:43:00] Legislation Committee. So we
[1:43:02] can look at it any time, but I
[1:43:03] think it's still helpful, both
[1:43:05] for us and the public to have
[1:43:07] these these routine updates on
[1:43:10] on how the proposals are
[1:43:11] progressing.
[1:43:12] >> Well, like, are we going to
[1:43:14] do this quarterly or every
[1:43:15] other month? Or what's.
[1:43:15] >> The plan?
[1:43:17] >> I'm trying to remember what
[1:43:18] were we talking about quarterly?
[1:43:20] >> Well, I can tell you what we
[1:43:22] have done at Lore and Ledge,
[1:43:23] which was we I think it was
[1:43:25] quarterly. It was what we
[1:43:26] landed on. Yep. Just to make
[1:43:27] sure that everyone's updated in
[1:43:29] public about how things are
[1:43:30] moving, but not necessarily so
[1:43:31] much so that, you know, you're
[1:43:33] getting the same updates over
[1:43:33] and over again.
[1:43:34] >> Yeah, yeah.
[1:43:35] >> That's a great plan.
[1:43:37] >> I think that's the, the, the
[1:43:39] plan is quarterly.
[1:43:40] >> Okay, great. Thank you.
[1:43:42] >> Any other questions for Amy
[1:43:47] or comments? Thank you Amy. Who
[1:43:48] keep them keep them moving. And
[1:43:50] do we have some members of the
[1:43:51] public who wish to address this
[1:43:51] item?
[1:43:53] >> Yes. I have five speakers.
[1:43:56] Lambert, Douglas McPherson,
[1:44:00] Gail Silva, Greg Chapman and
[1:44:09] Ann Amato.
[1:44:12] >> This is outstanding. This
[1:44:14] long paperwork that they gave
[1:44:16] us because it gave me an
[1:44:18] opportunity to comment on who's
[1:44:20] on here. Now. We it's been me
[1:44:22] who actually brought up that
[1:44:24] we're concerned about MR. Baum
[1:44:27] not being on the rostrum a lot.
[1:44:30] He's late. He leaves a lot, and
[1:44:32] he shouldn't be part of any
[1:44:33] sponsorship till he tightens
[1:44:35] that up. So a lot of people
[1:44:38] watching his behavior, by the
[1:44:41] way, now on district two, I
[1:44:42] like the people that are
[1:44:44] connected with that. MR.
[1:44:47] Dickinson, Vice Mayor
[1:44:50] Telemontes Maple and Guerra. I
[1:44:51] know they care about district
[1:44:54] two, so they should be able to
[1:44:55] get a lot of things
[1:44:57] accomplished. Now, what
[1:45:00] concerns me about that is that
[1:45:03] somebody mentioned the
[1:45:06] Department of Economic and
[1:45:09] Innovation. That department,
[1:45:11] during measure u. And I went to
[1:45:13] a lot of measure u commissions.
[1:45:18] They did not properly allow the
[1:45:21] measure u Commission to q and a
[1:45:23] them that's a violation of the
[1:45:26] Brown Act. They should have.
[1:45:27] And when MRS. Dickerson was
[1:45:30] here, we never had that problem
[1:45:32] because she knew the procedures
[1:45:34] and minty was not there that
[1:45:36] night. So that's why they
[1:45:38] panicked. And they let that
[1:45:39] department. And by the way,
[1:45:41] that department receives a lot
[1:45:45] of economics from measure u.
[1:45:48] They receive a lot of money.
[1:45:50] And and guess what? I was
[1:45:54] scheduled to speak to them and
[1:45:56] ask for. And the rest of them
[1:45:57] panicked and they decided,
[1:45:59] we'll let the last nine minutes
[1:46:02] of the commission go to that
[1:46:03] department. And they didn't.
[1:46:05] Nobody had a chance to talk to
[1:46:07] them, so they should have to
[1:46:09] come back in front of the
[1:46:10] committee before.
[1:46:19] >> Next speaker is Douglas.
[1:46:19] >> Good afternoon.
[1:46:21] >> Good afternoon. Thank you,
[1:46:22] Chair Dickinson and members,
[1:46:24] for letting me speak this
[1:46:25] afternoon. It's not morning any
[1:46:26] longer. My name is Doug
[1:46:28] McPherson. I live in Midtown.
[1:46:29] I'm here to advocate for a
[1:46:31] public bank in Sacramento. As
[1:46:33] you know, this body approved
[1:46:36] $250,000 in MAY of 2023 for the
[1:46:37] completion of a viability study
[1:46:38] and business plan for public
[1:46:40] bank. That money was put on
[1:46:42] hold. A public bank is needed
[1:46:43] now more than ever in
[1:46:44] Sacramento, given the budget
[1:46:47] deficits, federal rollbacks and
[1:46:48] deep cuts in housing and
[1:46:49] climate funding that we are
[1:46:52] experiencing. I know this is a
[1:46:53] tight time for budgets, but I
[1:46:55] believe that our team of public
[1:46:56] bank advocates from our
[1:46:58] community have found sources
[1:46:59] for these funds, which we have
[1:47:01] shared with you in written
[1:47:02] comment and would not affect
[1:47:04] staffing. I would ask that you
[1:47:06] reintroduce the $250,000 into
[1:47:08] this year's fiscal budget,
[1:47:09] given that it was a great idea
[1:47:11] in 2023, and it's an even
[1:47:13] better idea today. And, Chair
[1:47:15] Dickenson, I would ask that you
[1:47:16] agendize this topic on future
[1:47:18] budget and audit committee
[1:47:20] meetings. Thank you so much for
[1:47:21] your time. I appreciate it.
[1:47:26] >> Thanks, speaker.
[1:47:28] >> Thank you, chair, members of
[1:47:30] this committee for the
[1:47:31] opportunity to speak. My name
[1:47:33] is Goldie Saba. I'm a volunteer
[1:47:34] with Sacramento Public Bank
[1:47:37] project of sac and Sacramento
[1:47:38] Climate Coalition. As you're
[1:47:40] aware, funding for an rfq, as
[1:47:42] my husband mentioned, was
[1:47:45] passed unanimously by by the
[1:47:47] Budget Audit Committee. You
[1:47:49] already know that the community
[1:47:50] members and organizations have
[1:47:53] been working for preparing for
[1:47:55] early on in this budget process
[1:47:56] to reissue funding for the sac
[1:48:00] public Bank rfq in MARCH 20th,
[1:48:03] the MARCH 24th, the mayor and
[1:48:04] Council were supportive and the
[1:48:06] mayor asked for a timeline of
[1:48:09] the past rfq and said that you
[1:48:10] would determine whether to
[1:48:12] place it on the agenda, on the
[1:48:13] Council or the Budget and Audit
[1:48:16] Committee. Just last week, the
[1:48:17] treasurer responded to us
[1:48:19] stating that he had no
[1:48:21] reservations based on his
[1:48:22] interest or time on this
[1:48:23] project, but just mentioned
[1:48:25] that no council member had
[1:48:27] submitted this in their budget
[1:48:30] request. So here's our ask. We
[1:48:31] request this committee to
[1:48:33] reaffirm their previous
[1:48:34] commitment with another motion
[1:48:37] to place the 250,000 for an rfq
[1:48:39] for a viability and business
[1:48:41] plan on this year's budget. Of
[1:48:43] all of the budget asks, this is
[1:48:45] the 1 or 1 of the few that,
[1:48:47] when functioning, can actually
[1:48:49] bring back millions and
[1:48:50] multiply our precious tax
[1:48:52] dollars to help fund our
[1:48:54] community's needs, we
[1:48:56] understand that this is a
[1:48:58] deficit budget year, and that's
[1:48:59] why we've researched and
[1:49:01] submitted a document with
[1:49:03] multiple options. There's a, b,
[1:49:04] and c. I'm not going to go
[1:49:06] through the whole thing with
[1:49:07] you, but just to mention that b
[1:49:09] and c do not involve any sort
[1:49:14] of cutting from any staffing. B
[1:49:16] basically takes it says,
[1:49:18] earmarking funds from community
[1:49:19] reinvestment grants. There was
[1:49:22] a we would take 250,000 from
[1:49:23] the California Natural
[1:49:25] Resources Agency Community
[1:49:27] Reinvestment Project.
[1:49:28] >> Thank you for your comments.
[1:49:30] Your time is complete. Next
[1:49:34] speaker is Greg. Then an. Thank
[1:49:35] you for your comments.
[1:49:36] >> Thank you.
[1:49:38] >> Thank you.
[1:49:50] >> Is Greg here? No. Animoto.
[1:49:51] >> Good afternoon.
[1:49:53] >> Good afternoon.
[1:49:55] >> Members of the Audit and
[1:49:56] Budget Committee. I'm an
[1:49:58] amateur. I'm a retired social
[1:50:00] worker and member of the
[1:50:01] Sacramento Climate Coalition
[1:50:04] and their public bank project.
[1:50:05] I'm here to ask your support
[1:50:07] for the public bank for
[1:50:09] Sacramento. While you're
[1:50:11] looking at budget cuts, I
[1:50:13] recognize that you can save the
[1:50:15] city a great deal of money
[1:50:19] while addressing urgent needs
[1:50:21] with establishing a public bank.
[1:50:23] The public bank can offer small
[1:50:24] business loans to those that
[1:50:26] are unable to obtain them from
[1:50:29] big banks. Funding to offer low
[1:50:31] cost loans for affordable
[1:50:32] housing, funds for other
[1:50:33] improvements for our community,
[1:50:37] like addressing homelessness.
[1:50:38] Public bank can offer low cost
[1:50:40] lines of credit. Keep public
[1:50:42] interest dollars in the public
[1:50:43] sector so you keep the money in
[1:50:45] the community, rather than
[1:50:47] going to Wall Street and to
[1:50:51] reduce overall borrowing costs.
[1:50:52] Currently, my understanding is
[1:50:55] that 50% of the cost of a bond
[1:50:57] measure goes to interest, and
[1:51:00] that money goes to Wall Street
[1:51:01] Public Bank and assist in
[1:51:03] funding bonding measures, offer
[1:51:04] underwriting issuance, bridge
[1:51:08] loans for local projects, and
[1:51:10] all this saves the city an
[1:51:13] interest and underwriting fees.
[1:51:14] Let's keep the interest money
[1:51:17] in our community. I ask you to
[1:51:19] please support the public bank
[1:51:22] and the funding that we need to
[1:51:24] do the viability and
[1:51:26] feasibility study the business
[1:51:28] plan as well. Thank you.
[1:51:29] >> Thank you, chair.
[1:51:31] >> I have no more speakers on
[1:51:32] this agenda item.
[1:51:33] >> Okay. Thank you to all the
[1:51:34] speakers. Councilmember Maple,
[1:51:36] did you want to make a comment.
[1:51:37] >> If I MAY, chair, and I
[1:51:39] recognize this is not on the
[1:51:40] agenda. So obviously we won't
[1:51:42] be able to make any decisions
[1:51:44] related to public banking here
[1:51:45] at this meeting. But I do want
[1:51:47] to say, generally speaking,
[1:51:48] that I've met with the
[1:51:50] proponents of this measure, and
[1:51:52] I personally think that this is
[1:51:54] something that is worth
[1:51:56] exploring. Absolutely. I do
[1:51:57] recognize the history as well.
[1:51:59] It was before my time on this
[1:52:00] council, but I do know that
[1:52:02] there was a history of of
[1:52:03] allocating money, and it never
[1:52:05] went that way. And there were a
[1:52:06] lot of different reasons behind
[1:52:08] that. So we don't have to get
[1:52:09] into that here. But I also want
[1:52:11] to say that there's there's big
[1:52:12] questions to one question for
[1:52:15] me is, you know, the $250,000
[1:52:17] that was from 2023, knowing how
[1:52:19] much costs have gone up, I
[1:52:20] really wonder whether that's
[1:52:22] the actual cost of doing the
[1:52:24] feasibility study now in 2026
[1:52:26] or 2027 versus in 2023. And,
[1:52:27] you know, we're being in
[1:52:29] government, we have seen the
[1:52:30] cost skyrocket on almost
[1:52:31] everything. So that's that's a
[1:52:33] key question. And then two, on
[1:52:35] some of the possible sources, I
[1:52:36] really want to appreciate
[1:52:37] everyone who showed up to speak
[1:52:39] and the work that they put into
[1:52:40] looking into the budget. It's
[1:52:42] not easy to do, but really
[1:52:43] finding ways that we could look
[1:52:45] into, and I think those are
[1:52:46] worth exploring, but we really
[1:52:48] don't have a way of knowing
[1:52:49] right now whether or not those
[1:52:50] are actually grants that we
[1:52:52] could pull from. We'd have to
[1:52:53] do some research into that. And
[1:52:55] so as much as that, you know,
[1:52:57] it MAY be disappointing, my my
[1:52:58] thought is, is that this is
[1:53:00] worth exploring in the in the
[1:53:01] next budget cycle, perhaps
[1:53:02] through budget and audit, if
[1:53:04] you want to do that. Chair. But
[1:53:05] I just I think it would be
[1:53:07] really challenging to try to
[1:53:08] move this forward in the
[1:53:09] current budget process. That's
[1:53:10] just my personal opinion. Thank
[1:53:11] you.
[1:53:12] >> Thanks. Thanks for those
[1:53:15] comments. I would largely agree
[1:53:16] with with them. I appreciate
[1:53:20] the the advocacy. And I think
[1:53:22] there's some conversations that
[1:53:24] that need to occur internally
[1:53:27] to, to, to determine the
[1:53:28] feasibility of. I appreciate
[1:53:30] the fact that you've made
[1:53:32] concrete suggestions rather
[1:53:34] than just asked for something
[1:53:36] you suggested where it could be
[1:53:37] funded from. And that that's a
[1:53:40] great, great degree of
[1:53:42] responsibility that many of us
[1:53:46] resist in similar circumstances.
[1:53:48] So this is still a live
[1:53:52] conversation. I think it's also
[1:53:53] instructive to watch what's
[1:53:55] going on in the in San
[1:53:57] Francisco in particular, and
[1:54:00] the Bay area as, as as well,
[1:54:02] which I know has been something
[1:54:05] of a of a limitation on the
[1:54:08] feasibility from the Treasury's
[1:54:10] point of view in pursuing this.
[1:54:12] So it is it is not a dead
[1:54:14] letter by any means. And I
[1:54:19] think I think there. Is the
[1:54:21] opportunity to to to talk talk
[1:54:23] about this further, see if it
[1:54:25] fits, see if it fits an agenda
[1:54:28] in the future. And thank you
[1:54:30] again for for being here and
[1:54:36] for being consistent and steady.
[1:54:38] This item requires no action.
[1:54:41] It was a update for us. So
[1:54:43] we'll move on to committee
[1:54:44] comments, ideas, questions and
[1:54:47] meeting reports if any. Seeing
[1:54:49] none, do we have any members of
[1:54:51] the public who wish to address
[1:54:52] us on items not on the agenda?
[1:54:54] >> Chair, I have one. Speaker
[1:54:54] Lambert.
[1:54:54] >> Okay.
[1:54:56] >> Speaking on matters, not on
[1:55:08] the agenda.
[1:55:11] >> This one I had to keep notes.
[1:55:13] I normally look up at you, but
[1:55:15] I got to really stay on this to
[1:55:16] get it right. First of all, I'd
[1:55:18] like to send a shout out to
[1:55:20] CHAIRMAN Dickerson for bringing
[1:55:24] up Medi-Cal for people who get
[1:55:28] picked up by fire or ambulance.
[1:55:31] I never knew that. And the city
[1:55:33] should know if they're being
[1:55:35] reimbursed. If they don't,
[1:55:36] people should be reprimanded
[1:55:39] for that. That's a county. You
[1:55:40] should know how much money you
[1:55:42] receive from Medi-Cal when you
[1:55:47] pick people up. Also. There was
[1:55:49] a study done called the
[1:55:51] leadership Group Race Equity,
[1:55:53] and Laney Milstein was part of
[1:55:55] that group, and we were trying
[1:55:59] to figure out where the
[1:56:01] $250,000 went. When I asked the
[1:56:03] Race Alliance committee, they
[1:56:04] said they didn't receive any
[1:56:07] money. And one of the main
[1:56:08] reasons why we're having
[1:56:10] problems at City Hall is that
[1:56:11] people are not paying attention
[1:56:12] to people who, like me, who
[1:56:14] come up here to talk. It's very
[1:56:17] rude as you learn that as a
[1:56:18] child, to not talk when other
[1:56:20] people are talking, but it's
[1:56:22] being recorded anyway. Last
[1:56:24] time I was here, I mentioned
[1:56:26] about the no written agreement
[1:56:27] about wide open walls, and
[1:56:30] people got emotional when I
[1:56:32] started asking the question of
[1:56:35] who wrote the seven checks,
[1:56:38] everybody got quiet. Well, the
[1:56:39] millennials have found out
[1:56:41] where those checks came from,
[1:56:43] and I don't have time to
[1:56:44] announce it today. But it's
[1:56:46] coming and it's going to shock
[1:56:48] a lot of people where those
[1:56:50] checks came from. We know where
[1:56:56] they came from. Now also. This
[1:57:00] race, this measure you
[1:57:03] innovation and economics, they
[1:57:05] should not get funded until
[1:57:07] they go in front of the measure
[1:57:08] you commission.
[1:57:10] >> I thank you for your
[1:57:11] comments. We have no one else
[1:57:14] to address us on matters, not
[1:57:16] on the agenda. So we're going
[1:57:17] to adjourn into closed session.
[1:57:19] If we get one more member of
[1:57:21] the council to join us.
[1:57:22] >> Yes. Thank you, chair. If we
[1:57:23] can get one more council member
[1:57:25] to join us, we will then
[1:57:26] adjourn this meeting directly
[1:57:27] into closed session rather than
[1:57:28] having to call to order that
[1:57:29] meeting.
[1:57:30] >> And we're going to let the
[1:57:33] auditor staff go have lunch.
[1:57:37] Thank you.
[1:57:37] >> Okay.
[1:57:38] >> Can you guys.
[1:57:41] >> Go to the. Session talking
[1:57:49] about thank you, thank you. The
[1:57:50] money was given to the wide
[1:57:53] open wall. Yeah. And then I
[1:57:58] guess seven. There could have
[1:58:09] been my screen projector was.
[1:58:11] >> So. Good afternoon. We are
[1:58:12] calling a closed session
[1:58:15] meeting to order. We're calling
[1:58:16] the special meeting for the
[1:58:17] purpose of a closed session. I
[1:58:19] have a quorum of council
[1:58:20] members and chambers. There are
[1:58:21] two items on that agenda. We
[1:58:23] have no speakers on any of the
[1:58:24] agenda items on the closed
[1:58:26] session agenda. The first item
[1:58:27] is conference with labor
[1:58:28] negotiators. Government code,
[1:58:30] section five four, 957.6.
[1:58:32] Designated representatives are
[1:58:33] Lainie Milstein, Aaron Donato
[1:58:35] and Tim Davis. Employee
[1:58:36] organizations are Sacramento
[1:58:38] Police Officers Association and
[1:58:40] Sacramento area firefighters.
[1:58:42] Local 522. The second item is
[1:58:43] Public Employee performance
[1:58:44] evaluation, government Code,
[1:58:48] section 54957 b one title is
[1:58:50] city Attorney and chair. You
[1:58:51] MAY now adjourn to closed
[1:58:51] session.
[1:58:53] >> All right.
[1:59:10] >> Adjourned in closed session.