Welcome to the San Pablo City Council meeting.
Today is Monday, August 7th the time is now 5:00 PM.
Clerk, can you please take roll.
Council member Xavier?
Here.
Council member Pabon-Alvarado.
Council member Cruz.
Here.
Vice Mayor Ponce.
Here.
Mayor Pineda.
Here
Mayor Pineda is participating via teleconference from the location listed on the agenda.
Council member Cruz is participating remotely pursuant to an ADA accommodation.
Council member Xavier and vice mayor Ponce are present in the council chambers.
Council member Pabon-Alvarado is absent.
Thank you, next item.
Remote participation under AB 2449, City Attorney.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Good evening, council members,
city attorney, Teresa Stricker.
Once again, this item is a placeholder on your agenda in the event that
a council member needs to make a request or a disclosure under AB 2449.
I do not believe we have any such need this evening so with that,
Mr. Mayor I suggest you move on to the next item.
Sounds good. Thank you so much. Next item.
Closed session, City Attorney.
We have two closed session items this evening.
Both items are different conferences with real estate real property negotiators.
The first item deals with property APN 417190023,
the Agency negotiators, that's the city's negotiators
are Matt Rodriguez and Charles Ching.
The party with whom the city is negotiating is San Pablo Latin casino.
Under negotiation are price in terms of payment for disposition of property.
The second closed session item also again,
a conference with real property negotiators.
Deals with the property located at 2001 Rum Real Boulevard in San Pablo.
The city's negotiators are once again Matt Rodriguez and Charles Ching.
The party with whom the city is negotiating is Chevron and
under negotiation are price in terms of payment for purchase of property.
Those are all of the closed session items that we have this evening Mr. Mayor.
I do recommend that we take public comment if we have
any before council recesses into the closed session, chambers. Thank you.
Thanks so much and let's do that.
Is there any public comments on any of the items on here for closed session?
No Mayor. I have no comments.
Mayor, we do not have public comments on Zoom.
No one in the chambers, correct?
Correct.
Okay. Then we will go ahead and move on to
our closed session discussion and we'll come back and resume our meeting. Thank you.
Are those for us?
It was supposed to be.
Hello.
I'm only for the next one. You'll be back by then.
No.
We can add. That's right because she has to wait before [inaudible].
I'm moving on into meeting [inaudible].
Staple those. Except I
don't have to go all the way over there. I'm just driving [inaudible].
All right. Looks like it's 6 o'clock.
Have you started recording?
We are recording Mr. Mayor.
Perfect. Let's do that and we'll just have council member Cruz join us when he can.
If it's recording then we're good.
Welcome back to the open session of this San Pablo City Council.
The time right now at 6:00 PM.
Can we please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance?
I pledge allegiance to
the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.
Can you please display the public announcement.
Mayor there is no public announcement since [inaudible].
My apologies, that's right.
I will then go ahead and go into roll-call, please.
Council member Xavier.
Here.
Council member Pabon-Alvarado.
Council member Cruz.
Vice Mayor Ponce.
Here,.
Mayor Pineda.
Here.
Mayor Pineda is participating via teleconference from the location listed on the agenda.
Council member Cruz is participating remotely pursuant to an ADA accommodation.
Council member Xavier and vice mayor Ponce are present in the console chambers.
Council member Pabon-Alvarado is absent.
Thank you. Next item.
We pulled on closed session. City Attorney?
Yes thank you, Madam Clerk.
Teresa Stricker, city attorney,
there were no reportable actions taken in closed session. Thank you.
Thank you. Next item.
Oral communications.
This is a time for comments on any item within the console subject matter jurisdiction.
If such item is not listed on tonight's agenda,
the council may not engage in discussion or take action
on any item that is not specifically listed on the agenda.
Your item may be referred to city staff for investigation,
report, or placement on a future agenda.
Persons addressing the council are requested to limit
their remarks to 3 minutes unless an extension or decrease of time is ordered.
Please file your name and address
what the city clerk on forums available at the speaker's podium.
Mayor we have two public comments for oral communications.
Okay [inaudible].
Okay, I will start the timer.
Thank you.
The first comment is from Laura Haynes.
"Good evening, Mayor and Council.
My name is Laura Haynes.
I live in San Pablo.
I work as a production supervisor.
I recently joined the ACCE chapter in San Pablo because I am
experiencing an eviction due to landlords death and have to be out within 60 days.
The house has many problems that we were afraid to
address due to COVID and the potential of retaliation.
There are leaks in the windows,
mold issues in the walls of the bedrooms,
our toilet does not pass solid waste and we have to use a port-a-potty.
The lateral line is bad and needs to be replaced.
Our oven has not worked in four years and only two burners function.
The overhead lights in the bedrooms do not work
and there is an outlet in the garage that sparks.
This has been a hopeless situation due to loss of income,
due to COVID and the fear of being houseless.
Solution, city could pass tenant protections like rent control,
just cause eviction protections.
We truly need both to protect struggling tenants in
San Pablo from becoming homeless or being a check away from homelessness.
Laura Haynes."
Thank you.
Our next speaker.
The next comment is from Guadalupe Morales,
their city council and mayor.
I'm here with ACCE as a long time San Pablo resident,
to strongly support the inflammation implementation of
rent control and other tenant protections in our city,
including a rent registry.
The current housing situation in San Pablo demands immediate attention,
and these measures are crucial to ensure a fair, stable rental market.
As I am sure you are aware,
over 60% of residents in San Pablo are renters,
likely more, but the city does not capture this data in detail.
Renters, many who are
seniors surviving on fixed incomes and working class families are experiencing,
sorry, rental cause which often surpass their income levels,
leading to financial strain and housing instability.
With limited affordable housing options,
many families and individuals are at risk of displacement and homelessness.
When control is an effective tool to address this pressing issue,
by establishing reasonable limits on rent increases,
we can provide much needed relief to our vulnerable renters,
allowing them to plan for the future with greater certainty.
Additionally, tenant protections such as just
cause eviction policies and rental registries
can safeguard tenants from arbitrary removal and ensure sense of security in their homes.
Many cities have successfully implemented rent control and tenant protections,
striking a balance between affordability and sustainability development.
These protections have existed for many years and are still in effect to date,
even when there are associations that are opposed to this.
These laws have been in place since the 1960s.
These laws are not illegal or else they would not exist.
By following their lead,
San Pablo can foster a more equitable and compassionate community for all its residents.
In the city's most recent community survey, San Pablo residents,
let you all know that housing affordability and homelessness are ever-growing concerns.
If the council does not take action and create adequate rental and housing protections,
you risk positioning your residents being priced out of their homes and being unhoused.
I urge the city council to take these facts into consideration and
prioritize the well-being of renters in San Pablo.
Let us work together to create a city where everyone can
afford stable housing and thrive Mayor.
Thank you. Any additional speakers?
Mayor do have three additional speaker forms.
That's mechanism.
The first is from Michelle Lindstrom.
Hello, welcome.
Hello. Good evening.
My name is Michelle Lindstrom.
I am here today because I'm a renter and I live in San Pablo.
I've lived here for seven years.
I'm here to urge you to support rent control and just cause for evictions.
Rent control means that landlords cannot
increase rents by more than a small reasonable percentage each year,
usually 3% or 60% of the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.
This is fair to both the landlord who is allowed to
raise the rent once every year and for the tenant.
But just cause for evictions means
that a landlord must have a legitimate reason to evict a tenant
and pay relocation costs for reasons that are not the tenants fault,
just cause for eviction and rent control have a good track record in many cities,
including Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland,
San Francisco, and East Palo Alto,
in protecting low-income renters from being displaced. Thank you.
The next.
Thank you. Next speaker.
The next speaker is Claudia Renauld.
Hello and good evening.
My name is Claudia.
Can you hear me? I guess so.
Yes, we can hear you. Thank you For being here.
My name is Claudio Renauld.
I am a renter.
I am a senior.
I've lived here for nine years.
My rent has gone up several times for last year it was maybe only $70,
but it started out at 87.
Now it's 1,308.
I'm here to ask for help because this should know,
well, I mean, one thing I do, really, true shape.
Why is it and I'm sure it's not just where I live,
but the manager, they live the lifestyle all day long.
You can get some really good motions sensor that would pop on,
but they live these on 24 hours a day.
I walk around with a flashlight.
I mean, I had paid $100 on PG&E,
another hundred coming up.
Anyway obviously, I am all with this and I do have a cart because I don't have a car.
But I've often thought about how would I take my things to add it there,
because you don't know what's happening and they don't care.
I really think the fairness in the city is not good because also this brought to mind,
you tell me if it's true.
San Pablo has money because they build and
they put pavement down and do a lot of good things.
I've seen people wear something or rather they were
really the disabled and wheelchairs and that they had to be a victim,
at least a escort them to pay their moving costs.
I think that we're not just society anymore.
We're either the [inaudible] are the kings and I'm very disgusted,
but I'm willing to do good things too for this two instead of just yak about it.
Well, it does to me that if I
do not take care of my place or something that certainly I should be a bit too torque,
but I need to have reasons and I don't know about all this other stuff.
Captain Lopez.
I have said enough, I think.
Thank you so much. I appreciate you being here. Next speaker.
The next speaker is Oscar Soriano.
Welcome Oscar.
For those who don't know me, my name is Oscar Soriano.
I'm an Internet's County Supervisor at John Joy's office.
I'd like to say it is the duty of government to assure housing for affordability
for the citizens to survive in a time of national crisis and inflation.
We need to provide relief for many low-income individuals that are
already struggling to pay rent and other expenses to survive.
I also like to add, even as a whole state,
we are considered the fourth largest economy in the world,
but simply can't implement rent control.
I think it's time to take action on this.
People are already struggling paying enough expenses.
Homelessness will also get worse if we don't take care of this situation.
I understand that we live in a state that is expensive
and we have big tech and all these other accessories that make us unique as a state,
but that shouldn't dictate us on how the rent should increase.
Citizens on San Pablo already pay enough state, federal,
and city taxes,
and therefore, I'm calling for action on this.
We need rent control right now.
Thank you so much.
Do we have any other speakers on this item?
Sorry, Mayor, I do have another speaker.
Okay. That's right.
Anita Mendoza.
Welcome, Anita.
[inaudible]
My name
is Anita Mendoza.
I'm here because we want to have a rent control because in my apartments where I live,
I live there for 30 years.
We have experience with eviction.
They want to take it out in 2019,
but we fight with a landlord.
We try to fix the problem without parliaments and now we
continue the in the IC they held.
We work with six tenants,
they were with me and we work together to continue up there.
We tried to get the rent control for fight of three per cent.
We have experienced because they advice in November for
the eviction and they give you only 30 days or go out.
Now, we need to help as
possible with this rent control. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. I appreciate you being here.
Are there any other public speakers?
No, Mayor. That's it.
Okay. Then I will just ask for the City Manager.
I know that in one of the first comments
that we received that there are some issues that may
be possible slip more into in terms of an investigation,
if you could look into that, greatly appreciated.
Other than that for those that are in attendance today,
please note that as was mentioned in the introduction of f at the council,
and may not engage in any discussion or take action
on any item that's not specifically listed on the agenda.
Because I want to thank you all for being here and for sharing your public comment.
Thank you. Next item, please.
Presentations.
Item number 3, file ID 23-167.
Presentation to city council regarding
the San Pablo summer 2023 internship program. City Manager.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Mayor, members of the city council.
As with every successful summer comes a summer internship program.
I'm here to talk about the highlights of
our 2023 summer internship program
is our great glare can be services director. Mr. Doyle.
Thank you so much, City Manager Rodriguez.
Good evening, mayor, vice mayor,
council member of staff and residents.
Tonight, we are pleased to provide you with a presentation
from our 2023 summer internship program.
This is the second year we ran this program since we had deposit
for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year summer internship program was led by
our new Community Services Coordinator, Victor Jimenez.
A lot of credit goes to Victor.
He jumped right in, he was hired earlier this spring,
and this was his first time running this program.
We're very proud of Victor,
and we're also very proud of the summer interns who presenting I'll
try not to steal any of their thunder that they're going to share with you this evening.
But I just wanted to take a moment to introduce not only Victor,
but also to thank the different departments who
participated in this program to make this summer internship possible.
Without further ado, I'll pass it over to Victor Jimenez,
Community Services Coordinator. Thank you.
Thank you. Welcome Victor.
Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor,
City Council, and city staff.
I'm excited to be here tonight.
For me all about our San Pablo Summer Internship Program for 2023.
Tonight, the interns will share their experience they had during this six-week program.
Before I turn it over to these amazing interns,
I'll be providing a brief background on the program.
As you all know,
YSCP is dedicated to creating
the next generation of public service leaders who reflect the diversity,
although San Pablo community.
For this year, as Greg mentioned, this is our second year.
We did it back for this year.
We had 37 applicants that applied for the internship,
and we had a total of eight interns.
For the project examples,
the interns focus on were event planning,
program support, and data management.
Each supervisor provided a project summary on what
the interns would focus on during the six-week program.
The interns also participated on the Travis Credit Union Financial Workshop.
It was a really nice thing that they did
because they taught the kids how to throw hands-on and fun activities.
Youth were able to develop
basic money management skills to build stronger financial futures.
It was really interesting because it was for high school students and college.
It actually, it was like a hands-on activity that all the kids
get to manage their money and how to deal with their money.
Through the hands-on program,
it got to develop four important skills,
which is communication, collaboration,
critical thinking, and creativity.
The interns also participated in program activities which were
the pre-employment workshop and the new hire orientation.
Who are the interns? The interns where?
San Pablo, Richmond, El Sobrante, El Cerrito,
Berkeley and Walnut Creek residents or
the other interns were rising seniors and college students.
That departments that the interns were placed is we had one in city manager,
we have four in community services,
one in community development,
one in public works,
and another one in the police department.
Now present to you our Taylor Keeton.
Good evening. Mayor, Bunyala,
Vice Mayor Ponce,
City council members and city staff.
My name is Taylor Keeton and I'm a new senior
at Middle College high school and contract costs of college.
I worked with the San Pablo Police Department
the summer along with the priority oriented Police Division,
where I met my supervisor,
Miss Katrina Jones, and she had at least immediate resemblance to
an event where she walked to me and she hugged me on our first interactions.
I knew that was when I assign the right department.
On my first official day,
I rode with her to a street sweeper and ticket cars
before my official project. Excuse me.
Oh I'm sorry.
But my project was national night out
where we worked on planning the event where I contacted vendors,
entertainers, and local volunteers.
For example, I had to collect donations from vendors such as the local grocery outlet,
where we went and the manager donated multiple drinks such as water and juices.
She also reported recent increase in crime.
The police department immediately assigned an officer for
more check-ins and survey of the area.
Another task of mine was creating bags for Homeless Outreach,
which were handed out the day of the given event on July 22nd,
where hot meals, free showers,
haircuts, and clean clothes were also distributed.
Speaking of helping others,
I assisted city employees and other officers with tools such as Microsoft,
new printers and Canva,
which we use for the national night out food vouchers given on August 1st.
On the day of the event,
I worked at the carnival games booth with another intern from middle college high school.
From there I collaborated with Ms. Katrina to organize items
from national night out and daily tasks as we clean the event.
In summary, I would say Ms. Katrina was incredibly supportive
and flexible with the work hours and assistance overall.
She was perceptive of my needs and schedule,
especially as school started on the same day as national night out.
I deeply appreciate all that she's done for me.
I came into the program with
a minimum expectation not knowing what I'd be assigned or do at all.
But I got a good glimpse into local government and I find it rather amazing.
I look forward to applying for the internship
next summer and coming back to San Pablo as a council member. Thank you.
Great job. Thank you.
Good evening, Mayor Pineda, Vice Mayor,
Ponce, City Council members and city staff.
My name is Gavin Lee and I'm an incoming senior Doty Valley High School.
This summer, I worked with the community development department.
My supervisor with Sandra Castanet Marquez for the planning division.
However, I was given the opportunity to work in
a variety of projects from both the planning and the building division.
What were my key projects was doing research for the city as cannabis land use analysis.
I researched and compiled cannabis retail land use regulations of pure jurisdictions.
My research enabled the city to make
more informed decisions about how to
implement the potential legalization of cannabis retail.
I was proud to see my work as part of
included as part of the presentation to city manager.
I also worked on community outreach at San Pablo
sustainable transit-oriented development master plan.
I helped out flyers, review pending surveys,
drafted e-mail communications, and helps workshop potential acronyms for the project.
Our community outreach expands awareness to citizens about
a serious efforts to implement safer and more sustainable development in San Pablo.
When receiving feedback from the public helps us City Creek informed
decisions and plans for development that consider the needs and wants of our citizens.
Another project I worked on was distributing letters for
San Pablo residential health and safety or art or RHNS.
That summer, I collected parcel and owner information for
over 200 properties and prepare letter for distribution.
My contributions help streamline RHNS letter of distribution,
thereby improving the efficiency of RHNS process as a whole.
In the end, the experiences knowledge and
insight I've gained from this internship have an extremely valuable,
I'd like to thank my fellow coworkers for
offering me to valuable opportunity of shattering inspections,
participating important meetings, and visiting various sites throughout San Pablo.
Being able to see all sides of this beautiful city,
both good and bad,
has empowered me to realize key facets of what it means to work in government.
Sometimes it means weighing the perspectives we've
seen an angel resident and a struggling business owner.
Other times, it means holding monthly meetings with various agencies and stakeholders
so that you can gauge every possible perspective
as you plan a years-long project for the city.
This internship has both challenge and redefined what public services means to me.
I haven't simply learned,
but I've experienced how working government is rewarding
challenge that requires patience, flexibility, and resilience.
As in presentation,
I'd like to extend my deepest gratitude to our program coordinator,
Victor Jimenez, the city of San Pablo,
and once again to all of my fellow coworkers at the community development department.
I was so proud when our department was chosen for this year's insurance Choice Award.
Thank you all for creating such an amazing summer. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Good evening, Mayor Pineda,
Vice Mayor Ponce,
and City Council members and city staff.
My name is Christopher Resendz and I'm a rising senior at [inaudible] high school.
I worked in the community services department with
Victor Jimenez and Edgar Medina as my supervisors.
Project I worked on during my internship was evaluating
summer programs by creating conducting surveys.
With the information I collected,
I would develop reports to share my findings
in order to improve the programs for the upcoming year.
I helped conduct evaluations on the multicultural Fourth of July celebration,
junior camp, senior camp,
the Junior Giants and teen camp.
For the 4th of July event,
I created surveys that were available in Spanish as well as English.
I kept in mind that there should be as few questions as
possible as to encourage as many responses as possible.
A QR code was made for those who chose to complete it on their personal devices.
For the breasts and iPad was offered for them to complete it on.
I also offered assistance and filling out the survey in case they weren't
technologically inclined or were unable to do for any reason.
During the event, I would come up to people,
introduce myself as an intern for the city and politely ask them to complete the survey.
I ended up collecting 84 responses in 19 of
which were in Spanish and 65 of which were in English.
Together with the guidance and the help of Paula,
I put together a presentation detailing
our findings and recommendations for next year's event,
which we presented in front of the Community Services Department.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and with this internship and I learned a lot.
I learned to create arrays and reports,
as well as share results with superiors and then easy to understand the way.
The importance of word choice and audience when asking questions,
especially when they surveyed children,
was something that I experienced first can and will take into account in the future.
I also developed some of my data analysis skills such as data cleaning and sort.
I wanted to thank Victor, Edgar, Paula,
and everyone else at the Community Services Department for being incredibly
kind and making this internship and incredible experience. Thank you.
Although they're not here today,
or they want to acknowledge Anais Chagoya from
public works and Oscar Soriano from city manager's office as well.
Thank you.
Then, during the summer intern program,
supervisors had to conduct many evaluations and a final evaluation,
and I took down some notes of what the supervisor said about the insurance.
One of them was that intern always goes an extra mile to do better.
The second one was handles task on their own and ask little to no questions,
is self-motivated, enthusiastic to help whenever needed,
and extremely helpful and exceeded
my expectations when it comes to the level of professionalism,
reliability, and ability to communicate at young such age.
Thank you so much.
And then finally, I just want to say
thank you to everybody for supporting the summer interns,
we have Casey from city manager,
Sandra from Community Development,
Michelle and Melissa from public works,
Vanessa, Edgar, Paula, Joanna, Maria,
and myself, from the community service, and Katrina Jones.
I want to acknowledge as well,
finance, human resources,
IT and public works.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Before you stop away, I wanted to just go around council,
see if they're sending questions or comments that they would like to make.
I may start off with Council woman Xavier,
do you have any questions or comments?
No questions.
Well, there maybe one.
Although those of you who are here,
obviously expressed that you enjoyed yourselves.
I think the program is great,
and I'm wondering which we'll all go onto in the future.
So anyway, lots of luck with your next school year,
and I hope you apply again. Thanks.
Thank you. Council Member, Chris,
you have any questions or comments? Sorry.
Yes. First I want to thank Victor and all the supervisors and
staff that help our young people become true leaders of the community.
You also saw professional and ready for the world.
I just want to say personally, thank you all for your time and
commitment to our community and making a great positive impact.
Just God bless you on your journey and life,
keep doing good, and God bless you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. Have any questions or comments?
Just a comment. I just want to say Taylor,
Kevin, and Christopher,
thank you for being here tonight.
Thank you for taking this challenge on.
All of you spoke very professionally.
I know in our group we have a few trusted council member,
that I hear you correct Taylor,
we're going to hold you to then.
I hope that you enjoyed it,
you learned a lot and that you will never forget to get back to your community,
because it is very important.
We need people like you here in these seats in the future.
So whatever capacity is serving your community.
Thank you for doing the program,
I hope to see you again.
Those who are here plan again,
and for Baker and Greg,
thank you so much for this,
all other supervisors for engaging with the students
and this is a very important part of their future,
the internships and learning, whether it's all about,
so they're prepared for whatever the future may bring them.
I always say this, that I would love to see the program expanded to
more than the number of interests that we had.
Hopefully next year we'll have onboard more,
but it's great to see how every year it becomes better and better.
The ones that were out there,
national night out and the 4th of July,
I saw all of you guys,
I saw you doing your surveys and all the work that went into national night out,
it was an amazing event.
All of our events have been wonderful and it's in part
because of our youth and how hard they work for the community to put on these events.
Again, thank you for being here tonight and congratulations.
Awesome. I'm asked for myself.
I just wanted to also echo the comments made by my colleagues here,
in recognizing our city staff for all their help or
support through leadership and not just assigning tasks,
but pretty much being a mentor to our young youth here.
The other thing as well, for all of you who actually participate in an internship,
those who are here and those who are not here,
It's quite incredible for you to find yourself in a position
where you get to directly serve a community.
I think more opportunities like this should continue to be accessible.
It should be something that we should all have the opportunity to do,
and I really appreciate that you have the opportunity to not just gain new skills,
but specifically transferable skills.
Skills that you can take with you and apply it to
any other space or environment that you will continue to do or be in.
The other thing too is that,
I didn't hear the comments of the interests.
What you would like to do later on in your lives.
That's the one of the thing I just wanted to just make sure that stays with us.
I got involved at the age of 14 in our community,
I was also formerly a part of the city of some palpalis Youth Commission,
the school district seat commission,
I got involved with different policymakers at various levels,
and here are my serving as the youngest elected official in our city's history.
It's a thing that I want to just echo you all
is that it's never too late to get involved and in your cases,
you're never too young to get involved as well.
You have your whole life ahead of you,
and there's so many things,
and amazing things that you will do and achieve throughout your life.
The only thing I would challenge you,
is something that I said recently,
even in the conversation I just had,
was talking about how we have to find comfort
in those uncomfortable moments when we put ourselves out there.
Sometimes it can be a little scary, a little uncomfortable.
I will tell you even for myself,
I've been doing public speaking for many years
and I still find myself getting nervous at times.
But we have to find peace and calm in those situations as well
because it is in those uncomfortable moments
and experiences that we experience the most growth.
So I wanted to say to you all
continue to be uncomfortable intentionally and with purpose,
but also find yourself seeking out new opportunities,
finding yourself in new positions,
and then seeing what you can do and achieve throughout your life.
I do hope and look forward to seeing you all as colleagues here in the city of San Pablo.
I will say it for myself and I know sure my colleagues feel the same way.
We will keep the see it work for you if you want to join us here on this Dias one day,
but it's really exciting to see not just what you've been doing,
what you have done, but what you will continue to do.
Let's continue to stay connected. Thank you.
With that, I do not believe that this is an actionable item.
This is for informational purposes, only.
So that being said again,
thank you all for being here.
Mayor before we move on to the next item,
we do have a hand raised on Zoom.
Oh, please. Let's recommend.
Yeah, let's do that.
Cordell can you hear us?
Go on Cordell.
Cordell can you hear us?
Cordell are you there? Okay.
Mayor maybe we should just come back to him later.
Yeah, it's possible. I will also just ask if there's anyone else on
the council or are in the public that would like to give a public comment.
I'd be happy to recognize you.
Mayor, I do have another hand raised from Sara Ortega.
Okay. Let's recognize.
Sara Ortega, can you hear us?
Yes, can you hear me?
Yes.
Yeah. You have three minutes for your comments.
Awesome. Hi, everyone. This is Sarah Ortega,
I'm a San Pablo resident,
and I'm a manager of policy and engagement at children now,
I just wanted to express gratitude for
the amazing work that these young interns have done.
It's amazing to see
potential leaders that are going to come back to San Pablo in the future.
I just wanted to give an invitation to all students that are
interested in leadership to join children now summit for student leaders,
which is completely free and online,
and it's just an opportunity to learn more about policy and advocacy.
It's also just really great to be in this space.
Thank you Abel,
and all the council members for all the work that you're doing. That is all.
Thank you so much, appreciate it.
Are there any other public speakers?
Mayor if you would like, I could try Mr. Hindler again.
Let's try one more time.
And if not, we'll continue on with our agenda.
Cordell, if he can hear us,
please unmute yourself and you'll be recognized to speak.
Cordell are you there? We're not
getting any audio Cordell I'm sorry.
Oh, there you go. I got something.
Go ahead. Are you there?
Yes.
We can hear you.
[inaudible] My name is
Cordell Hindler and I'm originally resident, [inaudible].
The interns really out done themselves.
That's why I'm very impressed with the presentation.
I was impressed and I like that the interns will be up on that that Dias
[inaudible] thank you to [inaudible] and the departments for tagging them.
So wow, this is best presentation.
I'm impressed with everything so hopefully I see you all at [inaudible].
Thank you Cordell. Appreciate you joining us, I appreciate your comments.
If there's no other speakers,
we'll move on with our agenda.
But again, thank you,
to all the interns,
all of our city staff who was a part of this effort,
really look forward to the years to come. Thank you all.
Next item.
City manager's remarks.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Mayor, members of the City Council,
just a few announcements here.
Coming up for August 26th,
Saturday from 07:00 AM till the dumpsters are full,
we have our August dumpster day event for the summer located at 2,600,
Moraga and I believe this will probably be our last Dumpster day
event before mobilization of that site for demolition.
We will be probably looking for a different location for subsequent events.
But if residents are interested in disposing of any household items or trash,
excluding batteries and household hazardous waste, tires,
or mattresses, please come to our dumpster day event.
For more information, residents may call
215-30-70 and speak to any member of our public works maintenance division staff.
Also wanted to commend Chief Raman in our entire sample Police Department
for an exceptional 2023 national night out event last Tuesday,
August 1st, at San Pablo Community Center.
We had over 1,600 participants at the event,
and we want to say, job well done.
There's a host of residents and other participants
at this event and I think this was the largest in our city's history so far.
Great job by our police department in community outreach to our community.
Third, I also wanted to advise that
we have our movies under the Stars event for August 11th.
The movie feature is Turning Red,
as sponsored by our Community Services Department.
Movie starts at dusk with admission at 08:00 PM.
For more additional information,
please go to our city website or
contact us at Sam Public Community Center for more information.
Also, I just wanted to make mention that last week,
beginning on August 2nd through the weekend,
San Pablo was dealing with a major hazardous materials incident,
in the 900 block of Stanton Avenue,
and a host of emergency response agencies were called to the scene,
including our San Pablo police department,
Costa Fire Protection District, Richmond fire,
our county has met teams and
also FBI bomb squad in addition to the Alameda County Bomb Squad.
We also want to acknowledge
their immediate professional response in dealing with this incident.
In addition to Republic Services, whose personnel,
have the household hazardous waste facility prompted
an inspection and investigation to the resonance in question.
We just want to commend all of our emergency response agencies for a job well done in
responding to an incident that could have been more catastrophic than what it was.
So I really appreciate all the efforts of
our personnel to San Pablo police department and
all of our emergency response agencies and dealing with
this hazardous material public health incident in our community.
Thank you very much. Also wanted to comment that unfortunately,
due to operational considerations and logistics,
we will be postponing
our PD headquarters regional train center groundbreaking ceremony only,
which was scheduled for Thursday, August 10th.
A press release went out today with regard to
that postponement and there'll be additional information
coming back to the council on
its reconsideration and that concludes the City Manager's remarks.
Right. Thank you very much.
We'll move on to the next item.
Consent calendar.
The Consent Calendar includes routine items that are to be enacted by one motion.
There'll be no separate discussion of these items.
If discussion is requested,
the item will be removed from the Consent Calendar and considered separately.
Mayor, I have one comment for file item number 2313.
Okay.
Mayor, if I could,
before the Council formally considers the consent calendar,
I do want to point out under Item 12
that we have a typographical error on the resolution.
On the first paragraph of page 2,
this is Item 23-314,
it should say fiscal year 2023-24,
not 34 so we will correct that.
I want to thank Councilman Xavier for pointing that out to
us prior to our scheduled meeting this evening.
The speaker is Oscar, Soyana.
He's outside.
He's out? Apparently,
he's not in chambers, Mayor.
Can I maybe just go around Council,
just see if there's any item that needs to be pulled,
and then we'll come back and we'll recognize the public comment?
Will that be okay? Let's do that.
I want to start off with Councilman Xavier,
is there any item that you would like to pull?
No, thank you.
Okay. Councilman Cruz,
any item that you would like to have pulled?
No, thank you.
Vice Mayor Ponce, is there any item that you would like to have pulled?
No, thank you.
I don't have any item that I'd like to have pulled also.
Now, that being said,
the individual that was doing
a public comment are they there in-person or they're doing it via Zoom?
He was here in person, sir,
but he is outside now, I believe.
Oh, I'm sorry. I guess he's being interviewed.
Mayor and Council, if you wish,
you can go ahead with the balance of the Consent Calendar items and
just pull out a mate and do it that way.
That way we can hopefully get the public speaker back in here,
but we can certainly consider Item 8 separately from the consent calendar.
Okay. With that being said,
is there a posture of the council to take
on the additional ins with the exception of Item 8?
Is there a motion?
Move to adopt besides Item 8?
Okay. Is there a second?
Second.
There's a motion made by Councilmember Cruz,
seconded by Councilman Xavier, clerk, please take poll.
Councilmember.
Both outside before we do that,
I will actually just want to make sure I'm stressed about public disclosure,
considering that Councilman Cruz is participating remotely as
a someone that's over the age of 18 is in the room with you that would like to comment.
No, thank you.
If I may, Mr. Mayor,
it would be 18 or older.
Yeah, correct
Same disclosure Councilmember Cruz?
Yes. No one is here with me. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Okay. Clerk, please take roll.
Councilmember Xavier.
Aye.
Councilmember Cruz.
Aye.
Vice Mayor, Ponce?
Aye.
Mayor Pineda?
Aye.
Motion passes.
Is Mr. Serrano, here?
He's still out there.
He's still out there
Mr. Mayor, you could proceed with the item if you choose
or you can put it at the end of your calendar and come back at the very end.
I would like to get their public comment if they are interested in making that more.
Do you want to recognize it?
If not, then we will
just proceed on and we'll just come back to that at the end if that's okay.
Let's come back to it.
Okay. City council discussion for consideration.
Item Number 22, file ID 23-306.
Considered resolution approving amendment Number 3 to
the fiscal year 23-25 City Council priority work plan
under major policy goal and has community resilience,
explore feasibility of
new city-sponsored Cinco de Mayo Festival event for potential inclusion
in the next multiyear general fund budget cycle during fiscal year 24-25 period.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Mayor and City Council, if you recall,
at the end of the June 20th regular City Council meeting,
Motion made by Councilmember Cruz,
which was duly seconded.
The council voted to schedule a policy discussion at
the council meeting on July 17th to consider amending the Prior to Work Plan.
After July 17th meeting,
that item was continued due to the absence of Councilmember Cruz,
and tonight scheduled for formal consideration and discussion.
The Work Plan amendment as proposed by Councilmember Cruz's motion,
would be to explore the feasibility of a new city-sponsored Cinco de Mayo Festival event
for potential inclusion in
the next multiyear general fund budget cycle during the fiscal year 24-25 period.
As such, based on previous formal council direction,
the staff has recommended that this new policy item for
consideration be categorized under major policy area enhanced community resilience,
and the proposed amendment,
which is listed as Number 3,
since formal adoption of your council work plan on May 1st of this year,
be formally approved by adopted resolution.
Then following that adoption,
the city manager and designate city staff will conduct additional budget and
policy research and bring forward an appropriate cost-effective program for
formal and future budget consideration for
the next multiyear general fund budget cycle and for
an additional discussion on policy and implementation for the fiscal year 24-25 period.
Currently, there are no budgeted funds for
this proposed event program through June 30th,
2024 under the existing two-year adopted 22-24 general fund budget.
For consideration this evening,
Council can discuss this policy item and provide
formal direction to the city manager and staff to amend
your council work plan with this proposed amendment and
staff here is a bill for any questions you might have
with regards to this policy discussion.
I'm going to start off by just asking Councilman Cruz if there's anything
that you would like to add or make a comment on because during the case,
the maker of this proposal?
Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor.
The reason why I wanted to bring this up to counselors because St. Paul's used to
hold the Cinco de Mayo Festival and they're no longer doing that.
I would like to suggest that the city hold their own Cinco de Mayo Festival since we are
doing more community events and to continue
building community involvement here in San Pablo,
which also highly involves community policing also.
I'm going to go around Council and ask if there's any questions or
comments that they would like to make them consideration of this proposal.
I'll start off with Councilman Xavier.
Do you have any questions or comments?
I believe the city manager said there's no money right now.
I'm assuming this will be up to further discussion,
for a time when there is a little extra as to where we would put it,
whether it'd be for a single mile or enhancements to the 4th of July, etc.
Okay.
My smartphone, do you have any questions or comments?
I just have a comment.
As the manager said,
there's no funding available right now.
But if there were money available,
I would ask if council member crews would consider instead of creating
this from scratch because that will put a lot of resources
into this money resources from all of our departments.
If he would consider or we as a whole will consider
funding more the actual Cinco de Mayo festival,
that is how ready,
that we already fund or help funding with the city of Richmond.
Because I'm not sure council member Croesus is aware that
they're pleading for funding and also for volunteers.
That might be a good option.
But for me right now,
creating something from scratch like that,
because the Trojan no longer holds that event,
I personally think it will be,
aside from that, there's no money right now.
If there were, it will be a lot of cost
involved in efforts to create this from scratch for the city.
That's my take on it. That's all for me.
Thank you.
Mayor, I would like to add something I've got.
We have the parade,
Saturday then on Sunday a weekend.
There's a 23rd Street merchants festival.
The whole weekend is covered anyway and that's why
I'm interested in doing more towards the 4th of July. Thank You.
Better. Ask for myself,
which is today where I stand with things for me.
I don't necessarily see anything wrong with us exploring
the possibility of us doing something like this ourselves.
I do share the sentiments of my colleagues talking about
our financial constraints and whether we have the ability
to take that on right now or even for this upcoming year.
I do agree with Vice Merck [inaudible] comment about it's much more feasible for
us to support ongoing efforts and to build it up from scratch ourselves.
I'm aware that you know,
that there's [inaudible] singular,
my alike subcommittee that we've been working with
and supporting over these years as well.
They've been great partners with us and for our region and
so if there's opportunities to provide support to them and to
enter the group or to even the weekend
overall festivals that'd be much more feasible in the short term.
Long term again, if money permits,
we find ourselves in a situation where we do have much more funding
or sustainable funding that we could do
something like this I wouldn't be opposed to doing this.
For me, again,
I wouldn't mind adding in terms of adding it to
the work plan of saying that this is a goal of ours to one day be able
to do that in the novel terms it's much more feasible for us to
support current and ongoing efforts than to do it right now all knew.
With that being said, I do want to ask accounts
from recruits if you know if you have any response,
I needed the comments that have been made here tonight.
I know it may not be exactly what you may have been hoping for ideally,
but I just wanted to just offer
that opportunity again if there's anything that you'd like to share.
Just for us to go all for sponsorships to help finance the event and
also to maybe even asked the parade committee to
help put this event together instead of our staff.
The monies I know that's why we're talking about now is a new budget year
so they get here marked as money now and also look for sponsorships,
major sponsorships to help finance this event.
Marion council, just to be clear,
there's nothing wrong with you moving forward from
a policy perspective to allow this to be
amended to your work plan because they actually establishes two things.
One, it's an overall policy goal that's enumerated in your work plan and two,
it allows staff to go back through
the budget process and see if there are funds available.
Again, there are no funds that can be earmarked now through the end of June 30, 2024.
There simply is no funds for that purpose.
It would be considered as part of the 24-25 fiscal year.
The earliest we could potentially consider a
budget earmark would be part of the next budget cycle,
the three-year multiyear budget cycle for
a potential festival event that would occur on or around May of 2025.
If the council feels that depart from a policy perspective,
you want to move forward just to add it to your work plan as a policy goal,
the keywords here is to explore the feasibility and we
can always come back at budget time to
discuss the merits of any particular expenditure line item in your multiyear budget.
This could be one of those discussion items if there's ample revenue capacity to do
additional more sponsorship or to do a whole new event to support the festival.
Those would be policy considerations
during the budget process that we would have a discussion on.
I'll just end appreciate that. Thank you, City Manager.
Again, for me, I would actually support that again,
I'll support that outings and the priority work plan.
I personally see that it'd be worth exploring the feasibility,
but also want to recognize what the city manager or a set of sets.
Right now, we don't have the money to be able to do something like that.
As much as we would like to do something like that,
I would like to see something like that.
It's not actually financially possible for the time being,
but that is just one thing that just comes to my mind.
I will offer also,
if there's any public comments on this item
and see if there's any public speakers I wish to speak on this item.
If so, I would like to recognize them.
No mirror. I have no speakers for this particular item.
I do have the original speaker for item number 8 has returned.
Welcome back to the speaker for item 8,
it's going to wrap up this one first,
then for the Council for any place where bond say councilman exam,
do you have any additional questions or concerns or anything that you
would like to really before we take any consideration?
I do. I have a quick question from Matt.
Yes, go ahead.
We put this in the workplace.
Can read for more sponsorships,
less possibility of a new festival just to enter that and to
record and then come back and see what comes about it.
Mayor and City Council to Vice Mayor Ponce's question.
You can modify the language here including potential events,
sponsorships, and that would be added
along with the recommended language for Policy 205.2.
That would give us a more broader base to explore different options.
Just to counsel memory Xavier's point,
if during the budget process down the road we
determine that there's an infinite amount of
funds where we could supplement
an existing event or start a new event or doing events sponsorship,
that would be a policy discussion later with the council.
If you wanted to augment 4th of July or do something different with these funds,
if there were funds available we'll cross that bridge during the budget process.
Council Member Cruises than an option?
Would that'd be okay with you?
Yeah, to add it to the priority work plan and explore
the possible in the future and to go out try to get sponsorships.
Right now I don't know why we were discussing 4th of July,
honestly, I don't know why we brought that up.
Because this is for Cinco de Mayo,
part of my heritage, just part of the heritage of this community.
I understand. Right now,
it's going back into the item.
It sounds, we've had discussions.
We have no public speakers.
I wanted to see if there's a action to be taken by this council.
If so, is there a motion for us to consider?
Well, I could make a motion to add to the priority working on an explorer,
finances too to help make this happen and law for sponsorships.
The act of language,
if I may counseling to correct as we already basically including
us exploring the budget process
through the recommended language would be to include potential events, sponsorships.
That language, if you're amenable to see your motion,
we can add that language to the policy goal.
But where are you going to be calculating out some costs and seeing if there is
ample budget capacity to explore a new event or
explore other options for the council if during the budget process,
the council wishes to do that and that's why the other events were brought up.
This will be a budget discussion later.
But from a policy perspective,
you can certainly direct us to add it to
the work plan to continue to explore the feasibility.
I don't like that.
There's some motion on the floor. I miss their Sachen.
With the change to the language, I'll second that.
Okay. Before we take Paul of
the council as want to just ask some charts that disclosure for counsel and recruiters.
If there's anyone in the room of 18 years old or older,
that you would disclose them now?
Yeah, there's no one 18 or over here.
Okay.
Thank you.
With that being said, clerk, can you please take roll?
Council member Xavier?
Aye.
Council member Cruz?
Aye.
Vice Mayor Ponce?
Aye.
Mayor pinata.
Aye.
Motion passes.
Thank you. Let's go back to what was item 8.
Item 8, the file ID to 23-313.
Recognize the speaker.
Oscar Sullivan.
Hello again. First I want to say it's quite unique that we got to expand
resources for our community to thrive and
to be able to have fun doing outdoor activities.
From what I saw on the conceptual site plan photo,
I believe it will attract the youth in San Pablo
knowing that there is a soccer field, that's one.
Two, all abilities playground,
which many parents want to see more in Contra Costa,
luckily, that is being brought to San Pablo,
I'm happy for that.
Third, the most exciting part in my opinion is the exercise stations.
Now, anybody can use that to utilize it for health and to build
strength and that's something supervisor John Joy is a big help advocate for.
Also, step by step,
these equitable goals will produce positive outcomes within our community,
and knowing that this part will be an additional option in
the city of San Pablo for the families and children to enjoy.
Also for future references on this park,
we ought to keep this park clean and neat once it is completed.
I know how people like to litter at parks and it should be quite frankly be
one of our top priorities for the park's environment.
Lastly, I'd like to say that the funding for this park was quite fiscally responsible.
Also, I would like to point out, Assembly Member Buffy Wicks knew what had to
be done as soon as she saw this park project.
She knew what time it was to achieve health equity and development and this is going to
help San Pablo thrive and help
the children out that live in that area. Thank you so much.
Great. Thank you so much.
Now I'll ask the council if there's any further discussion that's needed on this item
or there is some interest in just entertaining a motion to approve.
Is there any discussion needed?
Anybody? There's no additional public comment on this item, is that correct?
Correct.
Okay. With that being said,
what's the pleasure of this council?
I move to approve.
Okay.
I second.
I think I heard Councilwoman Xavier's second.
I'm going to say Vice Mayor Ponce made a motion,
and Councilwoman Xavier seconded.
Before we take roll I want to ask
Councilman Cruz if there's a disclosure that he would like to report out.
No, there's no one here over 18.
Thank you. Clerk, can you please take a roll?
Council member Xavier.
Aye.
Council member Cruz.
Aye.
Vice Mayor Ponce.
Aye.
Mayor Pineda.
Aye.
Motion passes.
Perfect. Okay, next item I think we are.
Mayor and City Council assignments report.
About that being said, I want to start off with Councilwoman Xavier,
is there anything you'd like to report on?
Yes, on July 19th,
I attended these Beatty,
a median of innovators at Galvez Richmond,
Kathy John Rothberg, Law Family Community Development CEO.
Generally, a CVS, Hugo's Rice,
and our Executive Director,
for the federal Program Manager for Richmond Build.
Alexander, CEO of KOBAS Richmond spoke.
It was a panel and the moderator was Ken Maxi,
Director of Government Affairs at Comcast NBC Universal.
Supervisor John Julia did the welcome,
Philemon from MCE did a presentation.
It was a great event attended by quite a few people.
On July 27th I was a Cal CDC's Bay division at Pittsburgh Yacht Club.
Officer Cochran, Senior Advisor on Homelessness.
The Governor Gavin Newsom did a presentation,
she was the main speaker.
On the 28th was with Tech.
David Berman and Ryan Leou from AC Transit did a presentation on
the AC Transit rail line which is a project now in phase
2 scheduled to conclude September 2024.
There was a JPA update.
We voted to incorporate comments from the West County cities into the draft JPA update.
August 1st was our fabulous national night out.
Thank you, we loved it.
August 3rd was the mayor's conference in Lafayette,
supervisor John Julia, Thereto Mayor,
Beson Aliama did a presentation on cooperative efforts by
the League of California Cities and Company Supervisors Association of California
on a joint plan to restructure how the state addresses homelessness.
Now, I would like to move that we place on the next agenda,
issuing a proclamation recognizing the agencies that
responded to the hazardous materials incident at 925 Stanton in San Pablo.
On August 2 through fifth,
San Pablo police department,
Gunfire, Contra Costa County hazmat,
Richmond Fire, Warner Creak Bomb Squad,
Alcohol Bomb squad, FBI,
and the public services household, hazardous materials staff.
Do I have a motion?
I move to one second.
Point of order Mr. Mayor,
if I could have council member Zebra would be amenable to
scheduling these proclamation requests at a future agenda so we can coordinate?
That would give me proper direction so we don't have to do something time-specific,
but when we can galvanize everybody together
for a proclamation event, I'd appreciate that.
Thank you. I'll second that.
Thank you so much, Councilwoman Xavier for bringing that up.
With that being said, I want to ask Councilman Cruz if there's
a disclosure that he would like to make at this time before the Council.
There is no one 18 over here with me. Thank you.
Thank you, clerk, please take roll.
Council member Xavier.
Aye.
Council member Cruz.
Aye.
Vice Mayor Ponce.
Aye.
Mayor Pineda.
Aye.
Motion passes.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
No worries, thank you. Is there anything else that you would
like to share or should we move on to council member Cruz?
We're good? Council member Cruz,
you have anything you'd like to report out?
Yes, I attended the crossroads homeless outreach event,
at Hope Church, also the national night out.
The Kiwanis backpack and school supplies giveaway.
I want to say thank you to our police department for participating at all of
these events and also bringing up Pablo,
the kids love Pablo.
I adore Pablo too, so thank you to
the Police Department for coming out and supporting these events for our families.
Also to Mr. Mayor,
I want to echo you the concern about the public comment,
Ms. Laura Haynes,
I would like to request that staff follow up with
code enforcement to Laura Haynes residence for inspection.
Yes, we already are already on top of that.
All right.
Great. Thank you, manager.
Thank you, Council member Cruz.
Thank you, Mayor.
Vice Mayor Ponce,
is there anything you would like to report on?
I just want to say once again,
thank you to our chief and captains,
all police officers for a wonderful national night out event.
It was great,
the best one we've had yet.
I'm going to keep getting bigger and better.
Thank you to the city for sponsoring the Kiwanis Club backpack drive.
I volunteered there and the number of backpacks provided were not as big as last time.
I believe it was due to the location,
but there were still plenty of children that were able to get a backpack,
free haircuts, and a lot of information for our residents.
Thank you for that. Nothing else for me.
Thank you. As for myself,
I just wanted to just take a moment.
I know Councilwoman Xavier just mentioned this in
the requests of seeking out on a resolution,
being able to thank everyone that was there in support of our most recent incidents.
I understand that this has been I want to say a very challenging week for our city,
not just for our city staff,
for our first responders,
but also for our residents.
That this has been quite a moment in our history, I will say too.
I just wanted to be able to thank everyone,
especially our first responders,
our city staff, for all their help and support.
This has been quite a moment that we will remember,
but also just a moment where we saw just leadership being presented in many levels.
You saw people coming from different agencies and just providing support.
Also, some of the best,
all the residents that are affected and we do
appreciate their patience and understanding during this situation,
it wasn't necessarily what we had imagined
would happen in our city or within our city limits but it did.
But I'm thankful to everyone who took action and who stepped in, provided support,
provided resources, and did everything they could to
mitigate this issue and to help make sure that our community,
our public is safe.
With that being said, I don't have anything else that I would like to share but I wanted
to say that this concludes tonight's meeting and we will adjourn to Tuesday,
September 5, 2023, at 06:00 P.M. thank you all.
Thank you, Mayor, Council.
Thank you, goodnight.