Okay.

So um I will now call to order the 5 30 special meeting of the Berkeley City Council and ask the clerk to call the roll.

Okay.

Councilmember Kessarwani.

Calling the role for the 530 meeting.

Oh, oh, here.

Bartlett.

What's the condition of the separation?

On present.

One graph.

President.

Luna Parra.

Here.

Umbert.

Yes.

And present.

There's one item on our agenda.

Item one resolution approving amended home loan documents in consideration for former city manager D1's release separation agreement.

I move adoption of item one.

Second.

Any public comment?

Please come forward.

Any speakers on Zoom?

Please raise your hand.

Hello, I'm Elon Alerbach.

Uh and um, so this is to approve the uh the huge payoff, I think in the tune of about 200,000 to our former city manager who will see cede that in exchange for not suing the city for anything that happened between May 7th, 2024 and July 10th, 2024.

So what exactly are you all trying to keep hush hush?

This was the city manager who overrode the will of the people time and again, who regularly misled and outright lied to the community and to our unionized employees, did not make good on the negotiations that she negotiated, and on and on and on, and yet she's getting even more money.

How come transparency, integrity?

I really encourage you to disclose what is going on here to the public because we deserve to know.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, but I'll move to comment as well.

I it feels like extortion.

You know, that city manager, boy.

All the tears and backslaps and every all the parting, all the kind words to her, and when does it stop?

You know, when will enough?

Will she have will there be more?

Is she just gonna keep coming back?

I mean, Lord have mercy.

And do you really do you think she did that good a job?

Was it worth it?

I'm serious.

I cannot believe that we're still paying this lady.

We paid her and paid her and pay her and paid her, and we're still paying.

And I I guess I would ask you, like what you know, we look at the at the strong city manager form of government.

Now that we've increased the salaries of the city council members and so forth, I would be interested to see if that ultimately leaves, right?

My understanding of the position is that now y'all are being paid more and compensated more so that you could spend more time shouldering the responsibilities of our city government, lessening the responsibilities of the city manager, hopefully, and distributing the power of our city more equitably through because every time I talk to a council member under the rule of D Williams, it looked like everybody was scared of her, and nobody was willing to say that the king or the city manager had no clothes, if you know what I mean.

You know, nobody was willing to say that she was doing a bad job because everybody in their district was worried about her retaliation, and so we have a kind of a real structural problem here, and I hope it gets remedied before the next city manager comes in.

Thank you.

Within Berkeley in my own particularly semi-coherent way sometimes.

I have to say what bothers me most about the city manager was that she stayed even so long.

What I was very pleased with her doing is leaving.

I think that was the best move that she ever made.

It was the only one I could really agree with.

I remember when the fashion came into town.

She had the um surveillance devices around there.

She had drones flying around.

Come on, this is the city of Berkeley.

I mean, fascism begins with stuff like that.

And fascism is growing and growing and going within this country right now.