The Berkeley City Council held a regular meeting on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at 6:00 PM in the School District Board Room, 1231 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA. The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format, with Councilmember Wengraf participating via Zoom. Key actions included approving the consent calendar (which included a $150,000 budget referral for La Peña Cultural Center and a referral to name a street after Daniel Ellsberg), receiving public comments on various non-agenda and consent items, and participating in a land acknowledgement and Indigenous People's Day proclamation.
Is going. Okay, good evening. We're about to start this evening's Berkeley City Council meeting. If people can please take their seats. And Vice Mayor Wingraff, are you on Zoom? Yes, I am. Okay, great. Good evening. Like to call to order the regular meeting of the Berkeley City Council for Tuesday, October 1st, 2024. And the first order of businesses roll call. I'd like to ask the city clerk to please call the roll. Councilmember Kessnarwani. Here. Present. Trey. Present. Wengraff. Present. Lunapara. Here. Humbert. Present. And Mayor Aragie. Present. Okay. Okay, quorum is present. Thank you. Um, as we begin our meeting tonight, I'd like to read a few announcements. First, the city council met in closed session uh yesterday, September 30th, 2024, and took the following actions regarding um item one, uh, the city council met in closed session pursuant to government code section 549-56.9 D2 and provided direction to outside council and approved a stipulated settlement of permanent disability with an award of lifetime future medical care, or in the alternative by compromise and release with a release of future medical care as to the workers' compensation numbers ADJ 1939 1581 and ADJ 1574 154. The city council also met in closed session pursuant to government code section 54956.9d2 and provided direction to outside council and approved a stipulated settlement of permanent disability with an award of lifetime future medical care as to a workers' compensation matter case numbers ADJ 11251943, ADJ 143 59848 and ADJ 19087904. Lastly, the city council met in closed session and provide direction to outside council and approved a stipulated settlement of permanent disability with an award of lifetime future medical care or in the alternative by compromise and release as to a workers' compensation matter WCAB case numbers ADJ 15258918 and ADJ 15259424. Um next, uh want to welcome everyone tonight's meeting of the Berkeley City Council to allow for full participation by all members of the community and to ensure that important city business is able to be conducted. We ask that all attendees conduct themselves in an orderly manner and respect the rights of others participating in the meeting. Please be aware that the city council's rules of decorum prohibit the disruption of the orderly conduct of the city council meeting. A summary of these rules is available in the one-page handout on the table in the rear of our boardroom. Disruptive behavior includes but is not limited to shouting, making disruptive noises, creating or participating in a physical disturbance, speaking out of turn or in violation of applicable rules, preventing or attempting to prevent others who have the floor from speaking, i.e., disrupting people who are speaking, preventing others from observing the meeting, entering into or remaining in an area of the meeting room that is not open to the public, or approaching the council dias without consent. We ask that you observe these rules so all members of the community can observe and fully participate in tonight's city council meeting. Thank you. And uh, as we begin as well, if anyone would like to speak to an item not on tonight's city council agenda, please fill out fill out a speaker card. Okay, so we'll now proceed to the next order of business, which is ceremonial matters. And um, do we have oh, thank you. Before we do that, and it is appropriate that we do this before we go to ceremonial matters. Um, I'd like to read our land acknowledgement. And uh several years ago, the city council passed a policy to read our land acknowledgement at the beginning of our city council meeting. And so it's my pleasure to read this land acknowledgement, particularly given um just in a few weeks we will be commemorating Indigenous People's Day in the city of Berkeley. The City of Berkeley recognizes that the community that we live in was built on the territory of Hu Shun, the ancestral unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people, the ancestors and descendants of the sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. This land was and continues to be of great importance to all of the Allone tribes and descendants of the Verona Band. As we begin our meeting tonight, we acknowledge and honor the original inhabitants of Berkeley, the documented 5,000-year history of a vibrant community at the West Berkeley Shell Mound, and the Allone people who continue to reside here in the East Bay. We recognize that Berkeley's residents have and continue to benefit from the use and occupation of this unceded stolen land since the city of Berkeley's incorporation in 1878. As stewards of the laws regulating the city of Berkeley, it is not only vital that we recognize the history of this land, but we also recognize that the Allone people and other indigenous people are present members of Berkeley and other East Bay communities still to this day.