The Oakland City Council Life Enrichment Committee convened on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at 4:00 PM in the City Council Chamber. Chair Carroll Fife presided, with Councilmembers Noel Gallo, Charlene Wang, and Ken Houston (participating remotely via AB2449) present. The meeting lasted until 5:55 PM and covered a consent calendar, three action/discussion items, and an open forum. Key actions included forwarding a professional services agreement for the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY) database, approving revisions to the Animal Control Ordinance (with a request for supplemental reports), and receiving an informational report on the Extended Stay America hotel acquisition for unhoused relocation.
Item 3: Professional Services Agreement with Cityspan Technologies, Inc. Robin Levinson (Program Planner, Human Services Department) presented the request to authorize a two-year contract (FY 2024-2025: $175,400; FY 2025-2026: $200,000; total $375,400) plus a one-time payment of $64,950 for outstanding invoices from FY 2022-2023, and a waiver of the Local/Small Local Business Enterprise (L/LSBE) requirement. The web-based database supports grants management, grantee reporting, and outcomes tracking for the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY). Cityspan has been the provider since 2006. The waiver was needed because an availability analysis was not conducted at the time of award in 2022; a new RFQ will include that step. Councilmember Wang asked about tracking objective outcomes (e.g., grades, suspensions) beyond surveys. Levinson and Mark Minnes (CEO, Cityspan) explained that deeper outcomes require a data-sharing agreement with OUSD, which is in progress. Chair Fife praised staff for doing a lot with limited resources and inquired about the backlog of invoices; Levinson clarified that when she started in March 2023, several evaluations and payments were behind, and this remaining amount is the last outstanding item. The committee approved the staff recommendation and forwarded the item to the July 15 City Council consent agenda (vote: 4 ayes).
Item 4: Revisions to the Animal Control Ordinance (OMC 6.04) Joe DeVries (Deputy City Administrator, Acting Director of OAS) presented the first full revision of the ordinance since the 1990s. Key changes include:
Item 5: Report on Extended Stay America (ESA) Acquisition Tierra (City Administrator’s Office) presented an informational report on the acquisition of the Extended Stay America hotel and the relocation of unhoused individuals from Mosswood Park, East 12th Street, and Martin Luther King Jr. Way encampments. Key details:
The meeting adjourned at 5:55 PM.
Good afternoon and welcome to the Life Enrichment Committee meeting of Tuesday, July 8th, 2025. The time is now 4 p.m. and this meeting may come to order. Before taking role, I will provide instructions on how to submit speaker cards for items on this agenda. If you're here with us in chamber and would like to submit a speaker card, please fill one out and turn one into myself or a clerk representative no later than 10 minutes after the start of this meeting or before the item is read into record. Registering to speak via Zoom is now due 24 hours prior to the start of this meeting time. This meeting came to order at 4 p.m. and speaker cards will no longer be accepted 10 minutes after this meeting has begun, making that 410 p.m. We'll now proceed with taking roll. Councilmember Guyo. Present. Councilmember Houston. Absent. Councilmember Wong present. And Chair Pfeiff. Present. Thank you. Noting we have three members present and one absent. Councilmember Houston. And before we begin, Chair, do you have any announcements at this time? We have no announcements at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Reading in item one approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 24, 2025. Move approval. Second. Thank you. That was a motion made by Councilmember Guyel, secondary by Councilmember Wong to approve the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 24th, 2025. Councilmember Houston is absent. Councilmember Wong. Aye. And Chair Python. Oh, sorry, one absent Houston. Reading in item two, determination of schedule of outstanding committee items. And we do have one speaker on this item. We'll hear from the speaker. You need to look into what is the CAP, the California Black Freedom Fund. You need to look into the California Black Home Ownership Initiative, what it is, how we can fall into looking into those funds for black African Americans in this city. You read to look at the reparations task force. You have on the uh agenda dealing uh with libraries. You know you don't have a schedule, but you should head schedule the Piedmont Library contract that never has been put in fake place after 15 years. So, madam clerk, if we could take a moment to recognize that council member Houston is online on Zoom right now and will be participating remotely. Um councilmember Houston, if you could give the reason for uh utilizing AB 2449 in today's meeting. Yes, I was uh I came in earlier, but I was going already sent it all in, and it is that the clerk's office should have everything already lined up. It was already approved through the chair, so it's need to be stated on the record as stated by the chair. So I understand from our parliamentarian that we need to call for a vote uh as this committee. This is not something we've had to do in the past, but if we could um Madam City Clerk, call for the vote for the participation of councilmember Houston via Zoom. I I would need to entertain a motion. I'll advance a motion. I second it.