Good afternoon.

Good afternoon and welcome to the City Council meeting of Tuesday, October 21st, 2025.

Before I call roll, I will go over speaker card instructions.

If you'd like to fill out a speaker card on any agenda item, please fill out a speaker's card before the item is called for discussion, or you have an hour and a half from the start of this meeting.

This meeting started at three thirty-three.

So that time will be five.

If you were looking to submit a comment online, that period has closed, as those cards are due twenty-four hours before the start of this meeting.

If you wish to speak to any item or make a motion, you must press the button to get into the queue, and the council president will allow you to speak in the order that you press the button to request to speak.

On roll for this meeting, are council members Brown present.

Council Member Fife is excused, Councilmember Gaio is running late.

Council Member Houston.

Present.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Present.

Councilmember Unger.

Here.

Council Member Wong.

So don't press the button until I press it, but I can hear you and Chair Jenkins.

Present.

Showing six members present at this time.

There are no special orders.

Are you doing love?

Council Member Brown.

Okay.

Excellent.

Well, um, colleagues, community, um, I just wanted to take a moment.

Um, this week is Oakland's love life week, and so I wanted to start by reading the um abbreviated acknowledgement.

So it reads, we acknowledge that in service to our beloved city of Oakland and all its citizens, adhering to the city's official model, Oakland love life.

We enter into this space committed to embody love as our guiding principle.

We acknowledge love life as our motto as we denounce violence in all forms and the conditions that create it.

We acknowledge acknowledge that when we demonstrate love, we also exhibit respect, kindness towards each other.

We commit to acts of love as an intentional force to generate tangible solutions in regards to all of our actions.

We recognize as leaders we must set an example and precedent for those in community who have entrusted us with these duties.

We welcome and appreciate all contributions to the space, even when expressing disagreement.

We request that we lead with love in your heart.

We seek to find common ground, tangible solutions that demonstrate love for our city, its residents, and all constituents.

We acknowledge that when we lead with love, we are able to uplift a thriving city rooted in equity, equality, justice, inclusion, and opportunity for all.

We commit to the action of love life as our model and our mantra.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember.

Going to item three, there are no special orders of the day going to item four, which is modifications to the agenda and procedural items.

Thank you, Madam Clark.

I uh I'd like to pull item 5.5.

So there's a motion and a second.

Are there any objections?

Councilmember Unger.

I'd like to hear it.

Yeah.

Um there's some I there's some issues with the item that I want to see addressed before we have a second reading, and I want to get a time to talk with the department and some other relevant key stakeholders for this.

So since there was an objection, we need to go to a roll call.

Through the chair to the parliamentary, and I believe your rules of procedure just require a motion and a second.

In this situation, since there's an objection, we uh we'd recommend uh a formal vote to uh pull it or withdraw it.

On item 5.5, uh the request to pull this item, which is middle income JPA in ordinance establishing a middle income joint powers authority bond financing program for the purpose of financing the acquisition construction and improvement of open middle income housing projects authorizing the city administrator to join joint powers authorities enter into joint exercise of power agreements and other agreements with municipal finance agencies under the program and approve the issuance of revenue bonds by said agencies for Oakland projects identified by the city administrator without returning to council.

This was requested to be pulled by council member council president Jenkins with a second by council member Ramachandran.

One second, council member Houston.

You have a comment?

No, no.

Okay.

So we will do a roll call vote to remove this item.

Councilmember Brown.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Council Member Fife is excused.

Councilmember Guile still is not present.

Council Member Houston.

Aye.

Council Member Ramachandran.

Aye.

Council Member Unger.

Nay.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of five ayes.

The item will be pulled, and at this time it will show withdrawn with no new date.

And to members of the public, if you signed up to speak on this item, of course, you will still be able to speak.

At this moment, we'll move to the consent calendar, which is all of item fives, noting that items 5.26 and 5.27 do need an urgency vote before being heard with the consent calendar, as they were added at the three-day portion of this agenda.

So we will need to take a vote on those item to add those items to the consent calendar.

Yes, for item 5.26 agreement between the city of Oakland, the County of Alameda, and the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority.

Um it was not reasonably possible to meet the sunshine ordinance, 10 days notice, and either and there is a need to take immediate action on the item to avoid substantial adverse impact that would occur if the action were deferred to a subsequent meeting for item two 5.27 license agreement between the Oakland Alameda County Joint Powers Authority and Oakland Pro Soccer.

It was not reasonably possible to meet the Sunshine Ordinance 10-day notice.

So you're registering no votes on 5.26 and 5.27.

Is that correct?

No, no.

Do it again.

You're registering no votes.

I mean no vote on 5.26.

Just 5.27.

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

5.27.

So through the chair, this is just a motion for the urgency or the reason for the urgency.

Yes.

For these items to be on consent, you do need to take a vote.

Since they were added at the three day.

Move approval for the urgency finding.

I move it.

I was gonna second it.

Okay.

On the motion was that for both items?

That's correct.

Through the city attorney, does it need to be two votes or um can we take them both at the same time?

Through the chair, uh we would recommend a separate vote for each item.

So if you could please read each one and then take the vote for the urgency, starting with item 5.7.

I'm sorry, 5.26 moved by council member Jenkins, seconded by council member brown with the urgency stated.

Council member, oops, uh, behold mic.

K-top, so I know what council member Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife and Guy are excused at this time.

Councilmember Houston.

Councilmember Ramachandron.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

I.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Urgency passes with a vote of six ayes going to item 5.27.

Move by Councilmember Council President Jenkins.

Second by Councilmember.

Houston.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

I'm sorry, that was seconded by Councilmember Brown.

Council Member Brown.

Aye.

Council members Fife and Guy or excuse.

Councilmember Houston.

No.

Councilmember Ramachandron.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

I'm sorry, Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of five eyes.

One no Houston to excuse GIO and FIFE.

Going back to the regular order of the consent calendar.

Starting with item 5.1.

Approval of the draft minutes from the meeting of October 7, 2025.

Item 5.2, a resolution regarding a local emergency due to the AIDS epidemic.

Item 5.3, a resolution regarding a deck regarding a declaration of medical cannabis health emergency.

Item 5.4, a resolution regarding a local emergency on homelessness.

No new date.

Item 5.6 an ordinance for the sale of 1226 73rd Avenue.

Item 5.7, a resolution for retroactive reimbursement for council member Ramachandron.

Item 5.

Madam Clerk, I have a uh procedural modification to that.

Um I'd like to read into the record.

Um approved by our city attorneys, a modified whereas clause.

Um one, two, three, four, five, six.

The six whereas clause is modified to read, whereas the cost for council member Ramachandon's travel to Washington, D.C.

included six hundred forty-one thirty six cents for air for one twenty-seven, five point four four for lodging, and up to four sixteen per diem expenses, ninety two per day for five days, and the source of city funding that will be used to cover the travel cost is the council contingency fund.

And whereas that's all as is, whereas eligible expenses for said travel from September 15th to 19 is hereby authorized, therefore be it.

Um the final resolved clause not to exceed two three seven seven.

Um, this is all in the packet in writing thank you.

Thank you for that amendment.

That was on item 5.7, going to item 5.8, a resolution regarding the travel authorization for league of minority voters.

Council on item 5.9, a resolution for appropriate appropriations limits for fiscal year 25 through 26.

Item 5.10, a resolution regarding the appointment to the public safety planning and oversight commission.

Item 5.11, a resolution for reappointments of the commission on aging.

Item 5.12, a resolution confirming the appointments to the mayor's commission on persons with disabilities.

Item 5.13, a resolution for a settlement for Emiliano Costa Llenos, Diana Castellanos versus the City of Oakland.

Item 5.14, a resolution for a settlement for Samuel Melton versus the City of Oakland.

Item 5.15, a resolution for Omar Rodriguez versus the City of Oakland.

Item 5.16, a resolution for California Fire Safe Council grant.

Item 5.17, a resolution for the WW Williams Company contract for Allison Transmission Parts and Repair Services.

Item 5.18.

Information report regarding RAP annual report for fiscal years 24 through 25.

Item 5.19, a resolution for contract amendment for tenant representation at RAP proceedings.

Item 5.20, a resolution for contract amendment for small property owner.

Representation at RAP proceedings.

Item 5.21, a resolution for Central Legal de la Raza, Oakland Housing Secure Grant Agreement.

Item 5.22, a resolution for early childhood and family services division amendment agreement with child care careers for fiscal years 22 to 20 through 27.

Item 5.23, a resolution for head start grant continuation application for fiscal years 25 through 26.

Item 5.24, a resolution for legal defense of city officers and employees in criminal proceedings.

Item 5.25, a report and recommendations for the 2026 legislative calendar.

Item 5.26, a resolution for an agreement between the city of Oakland, the Alameda, the County of Alameda, and the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority.

And your last consent item, item 5.27, a resolution authorizing a license agreement between the Oakland Alameda County Joint Powers Authority.

And you do have a number of speakers on the consent calendar.

Moving to the speakers as was standard practice.

We will take all the speakers in the chambers first and then immediately move to the speakers in Zoom.

As you said to the podium, please state a name for the record.

If you are on Zoom and you hear your name, please raise your hand so I can easily identify you.

Lydia Tania Wilder.

I have you with multiple cards.

Cameron Jovel.

Laura Lai Bosserman, I have you with two cards.

Derek Barnes, I have you with a number of cards.

Emma Naya Linda also have you with multiple cards.

I have you with one card.

Holly Far Yard.

Tina Far Yard or Tino.

Cool Tran.

Mr.

Hazard, I have you with multiple items.

Samuel Ramsey have you with two cards.

Girlene Carr.

Chris Moore, I have you with multiple cards.

Davis, David Rich, and Olivia Leboplanus.

In any order, please approach the podium again.

State your name for the record and so I can give you the appropriate amount of time.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Lydia Tan.

I am chief real estate officer for the Oakland Roots in Seoul.

And I just want to express uh uh gratitude for the city, the county, and the JPAA, allowing the Oakland Roots to play its season uh 2025 season at the Oakland Coliseum.

Uh we had a great showing, as you know.

We had a 26,000 person show up at our season opener, and we've been averaging between 6 and 7,000 tickets sold since then, uh, and it's double what we've been experiencing in past year.

So we're really excited about what we've done.

Um, our installation of the field also has allowed cricket to happen.

It allowed Mexico v Japan happen, the 40,000 person sold out game, and we're really excited about the idea of keeping the legacy of the Oakland Coliseum up, making sure the jobs hundreds of jobs every single uh game continue to be uh provided in the East Oakland area.

So you have two items before you, and we are supportive of both.

One is the JPA management agreement extension and the uh license agreement for the roots to play at the Coliseum, at least for the time that the um that the city and county continue to own the the Coliseum.

So we're really grateful.

This is the first step.

We know there's a few other steps to make the 2026 season a possibility, but we really appreciate your support uh with this particular item.

Thank you.

If your name was Colin, you wish to speak, please approach the podium.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Dunya Wilder from the Eviction Defense Center.

And I'm back today to reiterate the importance of the out open housing secure funding as you make your decision.

I'm here to be clear about what the open housing secure funding does.

It keeps families housed.

75% black families in a city where black residents are 74% of our unhoused population.

52% were children, 20% disabled.

These aren't just numbers.

These are Oakland families who stayed in their homes because this funding exists.

This is prevention work that works.

Let me tell you about two black families, seniors and disabled residents.

A couple in their early 70s both worked their whole lives until he needed a kidney transplant and became disabled.

She became the sole income earner, making slightly above minimum wage.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is up.

If your name is Colin and you wish to speak, please approach the podium.

If there are no speakers in the chambers, we will move to the Zoom speakers.

So please state your name for the record.

My name is Holly Best.

I'm sorry, my name is Tino Bayard.

This is my this might be a holiday class.

Can you hear me?

Is that okay?

Yeah, would you?

I just wanted to talk about the homelessness here in uh uh in Oakland and uh you know the the everything the risk just it's really hard here as everybody knows, but I just uh um wanted to to just you know speak my my uh you know my experiences here in Oakland.

I paroled from prison about five years ago, and uh I don't have any family or nothing like that left, so I was on the street, you know, and so it's I'm just saying that it's really difficult out there, unless you're trying to hustle or trying to do drugs or stuff like that.

There's really not a lot of options out there, man.

And there should be a lot of doors that are that are there, man, for people to open and try and try and do things.

I tried everything in Oakland, and I'm not a doping, I'm not don't use drugs.

I don't drink alcohol.

Thank you, sir.

Your time is up.

Council member Houston.

Oh, so so stay right there before you leave.

Um, you had a motorcycle accident and and you've been down.

Now, let me just share this through the president.

This young man right here had um his account had gotten hacked when he was in his in in a rough time in his life.

They took like four thousand nine hundred dollars from him.

And this was like what three years ago, Tess.

You know what?

I got your check, homie.

Thank you.

Four years ago they took his money.

I'm very too short.

I'm gonna assume you're ranging me.

The American people have been tricked.

Real bad.

It was so cold about it.

Y'all got home and senior citizens all across this country, Chicago and Detroit in the snow, and I homeless, y'all.

I have families.

Oh, I was in Chicago.

That's why we started home machine back game.

It's not for Oakland, it's for the nation.

It's sad.

You're just very few receiving street.

Yeah, adventure sleeping street.

But he can take 20 me.

I need you right here.

I'm African.

Well, I'm not going to treat me very like a shit.

They treat me very like this.

Just sad.

They can treat me and we do.

You can't make a treatment we do.

There was no room already.

They come here to push us out.

That's it.

And prices out.

You got to tell me my people don't come back.

Don't follow.

You want to move the bond.

We'll be all right.

We're stealing money from the people.

Wrong.

Chris Moore.

I'm Chris Moore with the East Bay Rental Housing Association.

Thanks for letting me uh talk today.

I'm talking on 520, uh 5'5 and 518.

I'll start with 520.

It's a contract with the East Bay Rental Housing Association that I think Derek Barnes is going to speak later, has uh we'll talk quite a bit about as well.

You know, East Bay Rental Housing Association, uh, we represent uh over sixteen hundred uh property owners across the county.

Uh that represents over 40, 50,000 units uh in in the in the in the county and largely here in Oakland.

The reason, and we thank you very much for proposing this and putting it on the agenda is as you know, many of the laws, many of the rent control laws are very complex for both sides.

And this will help enable uh East Bay Rental Housing Association to communicate out to the community and let the community know how do you abide by these rules?

How do you do it right?

How do you uh treat everybody fair uh and not get into trouble, basically?

Uh so that's why this is really important.

And I think what we're also seeing, and what Derek I think has been on communicating as well, is that, you know, at some times there have been some some uh laws passed that have actually have an unintended consequence of delaying uh rent payment from renters.

Now, that may sound like an okay proposition, but what is happening is they're getting more and more back on back rent, and they get in so much trouble down the road that it's hard for them to catch up.

And that's something that we and Ebra can help to communicate as part of this uh program, not solve it, of course, but that's something we do want to look at um as uh how can we help people earlier and help keep renters uh in their uh their apartments and their homes, um, because the last thing anybody wants to do is go through the eviction route.

It's just it's extremely cost prohibitive, and it puts people out of their homes, which is exactly what we don't want to do.

That's why we provide housing to the community.

That's all.

Thank you.

Um there's two uh agenda items, I believe.

You gotta say your name first.

Okay.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Girlene Carr, and I serve as the RAP support specialist under the small property owner representation services program for East Bay Rental Housing Association.

So I'm here to speak on item 18 and 20.

Through my role on in the sports program, I have to develop a strong and productive relationship with the RAP program.

So I would like to say thank you to Victor for all his assistance on that.

Till date, Spores has assisted over 137 property owners in achieving compliance, providing education on the legislation, and ensuring that they are prepared for the petition process and offering them representation during these hearings.

We have found that many of the owners are unaware of a lot of the compliance that is required through the city, such as obtaining their business license, where I'm registering ROP fees, which is a lot of the work that I do on a day-to-day.

Um, which is why we are currently proposing to extend the contract and also expand the program to include enhanced education and compliance notification to assist the city in closing the gap for the 20,000 unregistered units.

Beyond compliance, it's important to recognize again that SPORS is the only resource that is available for property owners navigating the process.

So I respectfully urge the council to approve the item on the consent calendar and to extend the program and adopt the proposed contract.

Thank you for your time.

Good afternoon, Council President and Council members.

Derek Barnes with East Pay Rental Housing Association.

Thank you for my colleagues for uh doing all the hard technical work uh regarding the items that I'll speak I'll be speaking on today 5.5, 5.4.

Let's start with them.

Um, so I'm also listening to the county uh meeting that's going on right now, and it's largely talking about measure W, but I want to make sure that this council uh is aware that what we should be advocating as a city is emergency rental assistance, and don't let up on that because I think this is the time in the work sessions that a lot of the the county funds will be allocated.

So I just want to make sure that uh we're all on the same page about that.

This is a prevent a prevention method uh to keep people housed, and I don't want that to slide under the radar.

Uh I also want to thank the city council for continuing to support the work of EBRA and the community organizations and examine how the rent adjustment program can work better for both renters and housing providers.

Um we hear a lot about public-private partnership, but I really want that to be true for the city of Oakland, and I think we have a lot of ground to cover as it relates to really solidifying this partnership between organizations and the community and the business uh businesses of Oakland.

We've I want to say that in the CED meeting last week, we heard in that meeting that RAP might not RAP may not have uh the resources uh to adequately provide the services, and that our housing policies are also making the process uh slow, maybe even complicated, and too confusing for both renters and owners.

Um, even if people are trying to follow the rules, it's really hard to uh petitions can drag on for months.

Um appeals sit on backlog uh and the lack of clear timelines or consistent guidance undermines the stakeholders across the board.

And I think there's an opportunity for us to support uh consumer protections uh but also a fair and efficient system, and we believe that Oakland can have both at EBRA.

Um we're recommending several things.

Um, the city the city attorney's office has reached out uh to me personally to kind of work on how we can streamline some of the policy practices, and so we stand ready to work with the city of Oakland to try to uh to try to have these things work more effectively.

And these are just common sense fixes.

We can speed up justice, we can reduce cost, uh, we can build trust between the city and renters and housing providers alike, and the city um is ready to do this, and we stand ready, and we thank you for your time and for your leadership in restoring confidence uh in this critical program, and please support the continued uh efforts that we have under the SPORS program.

Thank you, my name is Carmen Jovel.

I'm speaking on one item.

Uh my name is Carmen Hovel.

I'm the deputy director of a deputy director of housing at the East Bay Community Law Center.

I'm also a tenant in District Three, and I'm speaking on item 5.21.

Firstly, I want to thank Council Member Brown for continuing to champion our OHS funding advocacy as well as just being a general ally to tenants' rights in Oakland and Councilmember Five, who is in here.

Time and time again, we come to you with numbers and stories about the success of OHS as a program at EBCLC last fiscal year, 46% of our OHS clients who receive full rep for evictions and other serious housing issues identified as black.

For this quarter of the uh for the first quarter of this year's contract, 56% of our clients identified as black.

Forty one percent of tenants who receive full rep under the collaborative as a whole identified as black as well.

To drive the point home, OHS is an extremely effective intervention that prioritizes serving those most at risk of displacement in Oakland, namely low-income black and brown tenants.

The life saving impact of OHS can be reported to you in stats.

Alright, well.

Good afternoon.

My name is Davis Rich.

I'm a resident of District 1, and I'm a clinical law student with East Bay Community Law Center.

I'm speaking in support of the approval of the $1 million OHS contract in full.

I support this funding because it has helped us prevent the eviction of Oakland residents.

Thanks to this funding, I'm currently working to prevent the eviction of an elderly black woman who would be at high risk of homelessness if she were evicted.

This funding helps further racial justice as BIPOC Oaklanders experience housing instability at a significantly higher rate than white Oaklanders.

Forty one percent of tenants who receive full representation under OHS for evictions and other serious housing challenges are black.

And I want to emphasize that direct service providers like EBCLC have been delivering on this contract since the start of the fiscal year, and not approving it would be devastating to eviction defense services.

Thank you for your time.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Quay Train and I'm a law student intern at the East Bay Community Law Center.

I want to share the story of a young black woman from Oakland who grew up in her family's home thanks to her mother's Section 8 voucher.

When her mother passed away, she was just 17 years old.

Only 15 days after turning 18, she became the how head of household, taking care of her younger siblings.

Despite her eligibility for the Section 8 voucher, her landlord illegally raised the rent and tried to evict her.

At 18, she was balancing grief, financial pressure, and eviction.

We were able to stay help her stay housed, but she's just one of many black and brown Oaklanders facing housing instability.

Over half of unhoused Oaklanders are black.

Without this funding, Oakland Housing Secure Section Item 5.21, eviction defense services would be severely impacted, putting young people like her at risk.

No teenagers should have to fight to keep a roof under over their families' head.

I urge the council to approve this funding so that more families can have the stability and support they deserve.

Good afternoon.

My name is Elizabeth Liboplanis.

I am a tenant of Oakland in District 1 and a clinical law student at the East Bay Community Law Center.

I am speaking in support of the approval of the Oakland Housing Secure contract in full.

I support this funding because it will allow organizations like EBCLC to continue to fight the evictions of our low-income, primarily black and brown clients.

While interning at EBCLC, I got to work with a client who is a disabled black woman.

She is formerly homeless, has terminal cancer, and has been living in West Oakland her entire life.

ABCLC fought to get her Section 8 voucher back and prevent her eviction, and as a result, she was able to remain in Oakland with her daughters.

Without the eviction defense services funded by this contract, Oaklanders like my client face imminent homelessness.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name's David Hall.

I have two items tonight of 19 and 21.

Good afternoon.

My name is David Hall.

I'm the interim co-directing attorney of the tenants' rights team at Central La Galda Rasa, and I'm speaking in support right now of 519 tenant representation in rent adjustment program proceedings.

I want to thank all the council members here today for the work you do and the service to the citizens of Oakland and particularly for thank those council members on the CED committee.

Under this contract, Central Legal represents tenants in drafting and filing rent board petitions, representing them at hearings and representing them in defending appeals.

Rent board petitions work in tandem with broad scale anti-displacement efforts, either by preventing low-income residents from being priced out of their homes due to illegal rent increases or heading off problems before they can turn into eviction complaints filed by landlords.

When while the wrap process is not as complicated or formal as a civil court, tenants and landlords both benefit from representation in this process, and our results have been overwhelmingly positive with rolling the rolling back of many illegal rent increases as well as decreasing rent going forward and incentivizing landlords to make needed repairs.

On item 21, the Oakland Housing Secure Program.

OHS has been a critical safety net and homelessness prevention program for low-income Oakland renters and homeowners and provides the backbone infrastructure for housing legal services city citywide.

OHS is even more crucial during the current this current eviction wave, where we've continued to see eviction rates as approximately 150% of the pre-pandemic levels.

Through legal organizations that make up the legal services portion of this grant, EDC, the East Bay Community Law Center, and Central Legale have massively overperformed the deliverables on this contract and kept many local, the many local Oakland residents from being displaced from their homes.

I'd like to give one example.

We represented a low-income elderly black woman in West Oakland in a rent controlled property owned by an out of state landlord.

There were terrible habitability conditions.

Not only did we win a wrap petition decreasing the rent, we won an eviction case where she was evicted.

They claimed to have served her and got a default judgment.

We set that judgment aside, forced the landlord to accept the rent and maintained her.

So Ibala, this must be national how we helping black people day, right?

Could you get my reparations checked as soon as possible, please?

It's very hard to deal with homelessness when you don't deal with gentrification.

When you don't deal with sanctuary city and how it's impacting the opportunity for African Americans to stay in housing or obtain housing.

And then when you got people like Wang, who's making statements in the Mercury News on July 14th, that 150 beds for medically fragile homeless people would be a threat to the safety of Chinatown.

5.5 bond financing program.

Any financing programs that you have on the agenda, it's been identified in the grand jury report that you should not be issuing bonds because of your low rating, and as well as the risks that you'll be taking by doing that.

You have to wait until December until you can get a positive rating.

5.6 sale of 1226 73rd Avenue, which is city property that you didn't maintain and became dilapidated and uh blighted property, so you gotta sell it now, which decreases the opportunity for housing for seniors, housing for disabled people, housing for our homeless community because you have been slum landlords related to that property.

5.7 council members are going to Washington.

We got two council members going to Washington for federal advocacy.

What are you advocating for?

You sure ain't advocating for black people.

You have to tell us what you going to Washington.

Is this a free trip?

Then we got a council member going to DC to attend the League of Minority Voters.

Minority voters, hell, what are you advocating for in DC for minority voters here in Oakland?

5.10, 5.11, 5.12.

Appointment of commissioners.

Rule 28, not vetted at all.

You're gonna rubber stamp them, but you got the uh item eight.

You gotta look at Omar Pharma, but everybody else, rubber stamp.

Let's see what you're gonna do with that black man today.

5.14.

Police Department, uh lawsuits, 514, 513, 515.

All lawsuits related to the police department and the department of transportation.

Department of Transportation has more lawsuits than the Oakland Police Department, but all of this needs to be dealt with to reduce these lawsuits.

S519, tenant representation.

Oh, today, y'all are really helping black people according to the, but not one per black person came up to say this is happening for me.

I don't want no white folks telling me what they're doing.

Let me hear from the uh the mouths of a black person, then I'll believe.

Thank you, Ms.

Olabala.

I have a few cards left.

Laura Lai Boss Baserman, Emma Nylinda, Evelina La Nava, and Mr.

Hazard.

Go to CleanOakland.com with regards to counselor member Wang.

Now you denied a group of black folks the uh accommodation who were homeless in Chinatown.

Now you're gonna repurpose that for senior housing.

Let's see how many black folks are gonna be in there.

All right, you better have at least 50%.

So the last council meeting, you approved the minute draft minutes of the September 15th illegal meeting.

That was an urgency meeting.

Today you did an urgency on items 5.26 and 5.27.

You cited what the urgency was.

That meeting on September 15th, you didn't cite what the urgency was, you went through a whole agenda.

That's illegal.

Everything you did in there should be nullified, and it will be.

I noticed you uh parliamentarian city attorney with regards to meeting confirm.

No, correct.

You gotta correct what you did illegally on September 15th.

That notice is up on the 22nd tomorrow.

If you don't do uh queue and correct, I will go forward with a writ and uh stop all of that.

Uh through the chair to the uh city uh attorney.

Can you tell him to tell the public with regards to what is defined as an urgency and why the council could move on that and where you cannot go through a whole agenda uh why do you keep having emergency for homelessness for HIV and this one cannabis?

Cannabis is legal.

You approve a cafe for cannabis, but you don't want to do anything for fit now when children are dying, and you sit on your butts, and you don't do it.

You get you passed an ordinance, a resolution to make it an urgency, but you don't have it on here.

They just arrested a 19-year-old who's been peddling fitnol since he was eight.

Guess who his clients are?

I bet you they aren't adults.

They arrested him a few weeks ago at Oakland residents.

He has direct contacts with the Honduras content uh cartel.

And you don't think it's serious with children are dying over this highly?

Thank you, Mr.

Hazard.

Your time is up.

Moving to the Zoom speakers.

Again, if you're in chambers and you wish to speak, please approach the podium.

Emma, I have one two cards for you.

You have two minutes.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Thank you.

Uh good afternoon chair and city council members, uh, Emma Linda of the Spain Housing Association, speaking on item uh 518 and 520.

So uh Sporza's designed as a bridge between small housing providers and city uh regulatory systems.

It's not just a service, it is a prevention tool, where in each case we assist in one less petition, one less legal dispute, and one more stable tenancy in Oakland.

So over the contracted period, we have seen how early education and mediation saves time and public resources and housing providers, understand the process, they comply faster, and renters get more predictable outcomes.

Very full effect is a less conflict if your hearings and stronger housing retention citywide.

So, kept this program alive through community commitment, but we are at a point where sustainable funding is critical.

Renewing the contract will help us expand the outreach, improve language access, and report measurable outcomes back to the city.

I respectfully urge the council to approve the renewal of this contract so that Oakland can continue supporting small community-based housing providers because forest keeps them compliant, and it also helps rent to a state house i think you've got time support thank you for your comments at this time all names have been called council member houston here um yeah i wanted to speak to my no on the 5.27 and um but i wanted to put henry gardener which is the um the the executive director of the jpa online um president how can i do that because he can't make it here he's uh can I call him in on on online I'll I'll call him on my sally is he on zoom council member no he's not because I have some real concerns about this this that's why I said no on the issues of of this with the sale of the the property with the amount with uh um um financing and things like that and he knows because he is the executive director of the JPA Henry Gardner is his name order in the chambers so if it can't happen it just can't happen I'll just let it know and let my no go no and then I'll address it later do you want to explain your do you want to explain your no vote I'll just say my no vote and I'll explain it later because he is the executive director of the JPA he knows the finances he know the situation and I was hoping he would be here so I could call him up but since he's not I'll just let my no stand.

Okay so citing the urgency for 5.26 stating the citing the urgency for 5.27 Councilmember Ramachandra what item did you have a slight amendment towards what item is it uh 5.7 okay citing the adjustments to 5.7 and council members no vote council member hewson's no vote on 5.27 I'll entertain a motion um thank you I just wanted to take a moment just to thank um the folks that showed up um in support of um a handful of the items that came through CED um especially the Oakland Housing Secure um item and um we heard from central legal de la Raza um eviction defense center um east bay community law center and just wanted to personally thank you all for showing up and all the work that you all are doing on behalf of um oaklanders um and so was delighted to champion that item and so I'll make a motion to move the consent calendar second a second it all right on the consent calendar move by council member brown seconded by council member houston noting council member houston's no on item 5.27 and the amendment read in for item 5.75 5.5 uh yes the removal of 5.5 and the amendments made to item 5.7 on roll council member brown aye council members five and guile are excused council member houston aye council member Ramachandran aye council member unger aye council member wong aye council president jenkins aye motion passes with a vote of six ayes two excuse guile and five I'll understand a motion to adjourn until five o'clock recess until five o'clock so moved yeah so we cannot hear nine so according to our rules of procedure, we cannot hear non consent items until five o'clock.

So we will hear items.

We will hear our items.

At five o'clock.

Council Member Brown.

Council members five ingay or excuse.

Councilmember Houston.

Councilmember Ramachandron?

Aye.

Council Member Unger.

Aye.

Council Member Wong.

Chair Jenkins.

Motion passes with a vote of six eyes to excuse Gaio and Um Five.

Human,umanseo, oochio, non, Oh.

I'll understand a motion to reconvene.

I move that we reconvene.

Unger and Brown.

On the motion to reconvene into closed session moved by council member Unger.

Second by Councilmember Brown.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife is excused.

Councilmember Gaio.

Councilmember Gayo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of seven ayes, one excuse five.

Also, I want to apologize to the public that we have this rule that you guys have to wait until five o'clock.

I think that's actually ridiculous that you have to wait forty-five minutes.

It's not fair to you guys, and we should do something about it.

Going to item eight, adopt a resolution accepting the police commission selection panel slate of two commissioners, Ricardo Garcia Acosta and Omar Farmer to serve on the Oakland Police Commission.

You do have thirty-nine speakers on this item.

Consists of seven members with two alternate commissioners.

The police commission's duties include oversight of the community police review agency, Office of the Expector General, and hiring and removing the police chief, among other duties.

The nine-member selection panel is responsible for nominating four commissioners and one alternate.

For the 2025 nomination period, the selection panel was tasked with selecting two commissioners who terms whose terms were set to expire, whose terms expired on October 16th, 2025.

In the spring of 2025, the selection panel conducted an extensive community engagement process, encouraging community members to apply to serve on the police commission.

During the summer months, the selection panel conducted two rounds of interviews and checked uh verified the candidates' references.

On July 22nd, the selection panel unanimous unanimously nominated Ricardo Garcia Acosta Acosta as a full commissioner and Omar Farmer as an alternate police commissioner.

And that concludes my report.

It was very brief as I stated, and I will take any questions at this time.

So we'll save questions for then for council members after public comment that the selection committee wants to come up and take the rest of Ms.

Felicia's time.

You guys are welcome to do so.

You come to the staff podium.

Hello, uh Rakeesha Heron, um chair of the police commission selection panel.

So we're here more for protecting our process versus a candidate, right?

Um so there was been no legitimate reason that was provided on why the police commission, the uh police commission appointments were initially rejected by the rules committee.

Though we were not um an investigative body, we do pay attention to the issues of the police commission addresses and their conduct.

We interview candidates, we review some submitted applications, and we um supporting documents through and check references and also um do public opinion.

Um the uh the initial uh rejection and postponement will now affect quorum and shall uh work on the police, sorry, and shall and um halt the work of the police commission.

Um Oakland can't afford to delay selection of a police chief.

Um, this is some work that they will now is before the commission.

Uh, we made um these police commission appointments on July 2025.

Chair?

Yes.

I'll give you the time.

You can slow down.

Okay, no, it's fine.

I'm just trying to get through what I have to say.

No, no, I want you to be able to complete everything.

Okay, fine.

For the for the rules for the rules committee to question the selection panel's appointments without basis is to disrespect the work of the members on the selection panel.

Um we fact check things uh through review of footage um on the police commission meeting.

So I myself went through every single video that was uh stated in Miss Mondal's uh letter and found no verification of the allegations or adverse opinions, thus making the appointments unanimous as a group.

I also want I'm just gonna skip to the bottom.

I think that we go through our process with fidelity.

Um we make sure that we screen without bias.

Um, and I also want to make say that we're this is an alternate uh for Omar Farmer.

Uh it is a alternate commissioner position.

Um, they do not, he does not have a vote, but all he has is his voice.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

No, that's that's it for the selection committee.

Then you want us to do the rest of our comments in public.

Okay.

I didn't have to do that.

I'm not talking, I'm not talking to you.

No, I hear you.

I and the chair spoke for the committee.

No, you guys can speak with the you guys can speak with us.

Mr.

Farmer, Mr.

Farmer.

Mr.

Farmer, how much time do you think you need?

I don't have any prepared remarks, but thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Um, you know, I uh this attack on my character is extremely offensive.

Uh I'm in the process of evaluating uh all my rights in terms of uh, you know, writing this wrong, all these false things that have been said against me.

I've given the city five years worth of volunteer work.

Um I provided recommendations to improve public safety through multiple boards and commissions.

Uh, you know, I really don't even feel the need that I need to get up here and defend myself.

If everyone reviews all the work that I've done, my body of work speaks for itself.

Um, you know, if you have do you have questions for me?

This doesn't, you know, I really don't even feel the need that we need to be having this whole um non-consent discussion.

Uh I I've I've chaired multiple boards and commissions throughout the county for BART for City of Oakland.

I've partnered with multiple people from City Council throughout the years.

Uh, there's never been any issue whatsoever.

Uh, and everything like the person just said before you've gone through all the video, and nothing is verified or confirmed.

I really feel like this is some sort of political hit job trying to be done on me just because it's people who are against oversight, and I've done a really good job at oversight.

Um, so I, you know, I really don't feel the need to have to get up here and defend my body of work.

I think it's uh very well done.

I appreciate everyone here on city council uh and the job that you have before you.

Um, and um I don't have anything else prepared.

I really would like to answer any questions that you may have.

You know, I got recommendations from three of the people who uh from the Board of Supervisors who represent Oakland and all kinds of other recommendations and a whole body of work.

They said that there's a conflict of interest and but the public ethics commission is the one that said that uh the work that I've done with that, it was done the right way.

So there is no conflict of interest.

There is no there are no Brown Act violations.

The person who wrote the um the missive about me is not a brown act attorney, they're not an attorney.

Everything is false.

So I don't know why this is even being lifted up, why their voices are being lifted up.

That to me is what's very suspicious.

Um so that's all I have to say, but I really would like the opportunity uh to answer any questions that you have.

Because I know that a lot of you are newer city council members, I haven't had time to get to know you.

Uh some of you I've worked with in the past or talked to in the past.

Um, but that's all I have to say.

Thank you, Mr.

Palmer.

We'll save uh questions for that.

Um, Chair Ricardo, would you like to have something to say?

And then I want to say I wasn't clear with the selection committee, and so I'll let you guys come up and speak because I wasn't clear.

So I will let you guys come and speak after the chair.

You can go out there, Mr.

Chair.

Good evening.

Uh apologies for just being late, catching up.

Um, so just wanted to say thank you all uh for your time, your consideration.

You know, doing commission work isn't easy.

Um as everybody knows that's another commissions in the city.

As you all know, we've had a really hard year.

Um, and so this process, as you can tell, um has has weighed on us, it's been wearing on us a little bit.

Um it's been a little bit out of our hands, so we just kind of going along um with the flow.

Um, but really, you know, I'm here to just say today that one, I'm extremely proud of the work that we've done over this last year.

We have a body of new commissioners with diverse points of view.

Um we have a very healthy respect across the board, um, and I'm really proud of all of our commissioners, all of the hard work that we do showing up every day for the city of Oakland, dealing with very complex issues, um dealing with multiple stakeholders, both internal and external, and you know, coming here today.

Um I don't really have any prepared statements for you all, other than um just looking forward to continuing to work.

One of these one thing that certainly um stood out this time around, given all the complexities, the nuances of some of the politics involved with what's going on right now, is that I as chair need to do a better job in communicating with you all so that you all understand and are in lockstep with everything we're doing within the commission um it's not easy work as I said um being kind of this intermediary uh between the police department oversight accountability and really trying to lift up um the work of of oversight in a very honest way and and you know the fact of the matter is we have been um and I don't say these words lightly but we have been under attack there have been folks and forces in the city that does not want to see strong civilian oversight um and so I do need to name that for what that is because we have a relentless and and really a strong body that works with a lot of resolve knowing that knowing that there's a lot of forces that may not support some of the work we do that we know that we're showing up every day but an integral part of the city's structure and how the day-to-day experience of our Oaklanders um interact with the police department and so um I'm really looking forward to one trying to continue to work and change the narrative around oversight there's been a lot of folks that have blatantly come up here and sat here while I've been on that side and have attacked us for not supporting the police department being against the police department and everything from uh illegal dumping to public safety issues to shootings to um you know to pursuits everything has been put at our doorstep and yet our commissioners show up every week ready to work in the ad hocs every other week ready to work and move the city along to ultimately get us off of this federal oversight and the money we're spending out so that we could build our strong civilian oversight here at home and really be be an element of the city structure that that becomes invaluable and that becomes appreciated by not only city council by the mayor's office administrator by all the stakeholders and by OPD themselves I think one of the things that I'm incredibly proud of is despite the loss and the setback of losing Chief Mitchell him and his executive staff have embraced our vision of oversight have embraced collaboration and we've worked in a positive manner even when we don't agree.

So when you all hear things in the news that we're against the police department when you hear things on you know in the public that our efforts are hindering public safety that's just flat out not true and so um you know there's bigger issues that at play right now and I'm just really hopeful that you all um have the resolve yourselves to look at what's in front of you and to support our work as the Oakland police commission and and also our reappointments as well too so I I'm happy to answer any questions I wasn't really prepared I just got out of like an hour and a half worth of traffic so I'm a little all over the place I apologize but um I definitely am open to answer any questions if you have any as well.

Thank you so much we'll say council member questions for the end all right and so I want to say to selection committee my my apologies right for not being clear and setting that the chairs should come but I would want to allow you guys your time to speak thank you especially because we took the time off of work today to do this stuff at council's request what we've been listening to the discussion we went through a due process of of um of choosing the people this term we only had seven candidates the seven candidates these were the two highest ones there were certain candidates that didn't fill out their paperwork that didn't um answer the questions nor did they show up to the meetings so out of the seven candidates that we had we only these were the two highest scoring ones we used a process where we had our scoring cards and actually I say one of our um past appointees here that asked for it so we do have a rigorous process.

If you choose not to have these folks we're gonna be without somebody for at least six to eight months we don't meet regularly if you send it back to us out of the seven candidates they're gonna still be the two highest candidates we have so I'm not sure what your recommendation to us my recommendation was that if you want to improve our process come to our meetings tell us what more you would like to have in our process to look for candidates to have more candidates out there.

Like I said, we only had seven that applied this time.

In 2017, we had over a hundred and fifty.

So more than willing to find out what you guys would like for us to do to improve the process, and we're more than willing to work with you guys.

But at this time, if you send it back to us, we're gonna have the same seven.

Thank you.

One more.

Thank you.

And what's your name for the record?

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought I said it.

Um, Monique Rivera, selection panelist.

Thank you, Monique.

Oh, let me add the other part.

District 5 representative.

Okay.

Good afternoon, City Council members.

My name is Charles Eddy.

I'm a member of the police commission's selection panel representing District 3.

We followed all the required protocols for vetting and recommending candidates to council.

Both Commissioner Garcia Acosta and Alternate Commissioner Farmer received our unanimous support.

They are exceptionally well qualified by virtue of their knowledge of relevant issues, support for constitutional policing, outstanding service on the commission, and for their commitment to demonstrating that Oakland can oversee itself and finally emerge from federal oversight.

Failure to reappoint them means months of work for the selection panel to recruit and vet new candidates for the thinnest of margins for the commission the police commission to establish quorum for continued delays for emerging from federal oversight and for likely lengthy delays in appointing a new chief.

Show Oaklanders that government can effectively serve the common good and make these reappointments today.

Thank you.

So thank you so much.

Council members will save questions for the end, and we'll go to the public comment.

Alex Cluis.

One second.

We got it.

Thank you.

We got it.

Can they sign up for public comment?

Yeah.

As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order.

Please state your name for the record if you are participating participating via Zoom and you submitted a card, and I call your name, please raise your hand so I can easily identify you.

Brenda Grisham, Pamela Drake, Mandisa Leachum, Miss Asada Olabala, Aline Warren, Millie Cleveland, Annx, Mariano Contreras, Wilson Riles, Paula Hawthorne, Charles Idelson, Laura Liebosserman, Rashida Grenage, Darren Jenkins, Chris Moore, Robert Turner, Lance Wilson, Mr.

Hazard, Nancy Morton, Alex, is it Claris or Clevis, Bishop George Matthews, Penny Righthand, Jose Dorado, Irina Eskelson.

Sorry if I said the incorrectly.

Gary Keaterin, Penny Wrighthand, Rajani Mandel, Margarita Parteen, Edward Escobar, Tuan Gough, Miss Kramer, Josh Margas, Peter, Charles Crawd, Anand Joshi, and Ricky D.

In any order.

Please approach the podium again if you're on Zoom, raise your hand and you will be called immediately after the in-chamber speakers.

Good afternoon.

My name is Brenda Grisham.

I'm a business owner in District 2, and I oppose the reappointment of Farmer and Acosta.

And to you, everything in Oakland is hard.

It's hard.

We have to work, we have to work, and we just have to work.

But the citizens of Oakland want something different.

We need balance.

We have a great test ahead of us.

And we don't need you to be, you know, talking about what you're doing.

We need you to do it.

But you can't do it unless you're listening to the people.

Now we're silencing the people, and they're gaining time, but they just stood here for 20 minutes and talked about what they're trying to do.

That's unfair.

These are the people that pay taxes here, and they need to be heard.

I oppose it.

In any order, please approach the podium.

My name is Mendisa Leachman.

I'm Oakland resident, born and raised.

My son was murdered in Oakland in 2018, and I oppose S8, the appointment of the two uh commissioners to the commissioner board.

Why do I oppose it?

Because I think it's time that Oakland gets real and gets real honest.

There is a problem not just with oversight and commission.

There's a problem with this whole process.

You guys have continuously failed to be able to hold a position of a chief of police officer.

You have continually failed to have someone that is a commanding officer over this city.

You are failing our cities, you are failing our children, and our children deserve justice.

They deserve better than this.

The citizens deserve better.

I oppose.

I have 40 uh men in my reentry program, number one housing provider for Alameda County.

I oppose strongly uh S8, the reappointment.

We do not need to reappoint people on the police commission who are anti-police, and that many of the decisions that they've made have made it harder for the police chief and other officers to do their jobs, which is why we'll never get to 700 officers with all the bureaucracy and politics that go on.

When Chief Floyd tried to loosen the police pursuit, uh he met obstacles by the commission, and it seems like they play the race card.

I live in Montclair, but I churches in East Oakland.

I stopped the person from stealing right at the safe way in Montclair.

And first thing that they said is I'm doing it because I'm black, but yet we saw them, and I went out, and I'm just saying, even in my re-entry program, many of the clients, most of them are not guilty.

I mean, they're not innocent.

Most of them would tell you, but it just seems like we need to have a strong police department, and the chief Floyd Mitchell spoke out that when it comes to needing the equipment, the tools, my car was stolen in Montclair.

It was a CHP that found my car.

The Oakland police did not.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is up.

My name is Millie Cleveland.

I live in District 4.

I am a member of the Coalition for Police Accountability.

I think the previous speakers are a perfect example of the misinformation that is circulated in this city.

They oppose candidates that have been thoroughly vetted by the charter mandated selection panel, but cannot give you one example of anything that Omar Farmer has ever done that would disqualify him.

They're simply here to oppose oversight.

So let's go through this.

The selection panel gives you names.

You have refused to discuss it.

You listened to the selection panel.

You've heard from commissioners, you've heard from the coalition for police accountability.

You've heard from community members that worked with Omar Farmer on the uh reimagining public safety.

You've heard from people that were on the SSOC.

You've heard all these people, but a wealthy woman from Montclair gave you a list of complaints that the attorney for the police commission said were unfounded, and we're still here looking for a way to disqualify a qualified black man for the police commission.

I'm asking you to support the slate.

My name is Wilson Riles.

I'm a resident of uh District 4.

When I was a council member, I was a council member for District 5, and I made every effort that I could in order to represent the constituents of district five, many of whom were Latino, but I know it made a difference to have someone to come on to the council who could actually speak from that community.

We need the same thing on the police commission.

And uh Ricardo Acosta does that.

We work together in terms of attempting to represent that community.

Uh as a resident here in Oakland, my daughter was kidnapped, put in the back of a car on the way to being killed.

I'm not anti-police.

I understand the importance of police, but I also have been here long enough to understand the history of this community and the police department, and to know that we need to work together in order to reduce crime and reduce the problems that we have in Oakland.

And this present commission, as it's currently constituted, is doing that.

It would be a disservice to Oakland to turn down this selection uh slate.

And so I hope that you stand up for the community by voting.

Good afternoon, Mariano Contreras, African American Latino Action Alliance.

When uh Ms.

Berdine was giving your presentation, she listed the duties of the police commissioners, and then at the end it says, among other duties.

Let me tell you what those other duties are.

It's constitutional policing, it's changing the current police culture, and that's the culture that got us into oversight, folks.

In the 1990s, the decade of 1990s, the police department in Oakland was planting evidence, was beating up people, and about five years ago they were raping an underage uh girl.

So this is what their response, what they're responsible to do.

Um this body, the city council cannot allow yourself to be hijacked by a small but loud uh group of conservative folks who do not want oversight in this um in this city.

When the police chief stated that his officers were afraid to do their job because of oversight, what they should be afraid of is to do racial profiling and also raping underage girls, and also you know, going around and planting evidence right now.

I can guarantee you that there is a scandal happening at the at the police department right now.

It's gonna come out every year.

That's what.

Thank you, Mr.

Conchair.

Time is up, Jane Kramer.

When I worked, I was an LCSW.

I understand naughty problems, and that the way you solve them is to uh at least gather the appropriate resources that you need to understand them and sell them.

Commissioners at Costa and Farmer do that.

They spend hours and hours of their own time along with the rest of the commission members selflessly investigating issues, and they confront themselves when things don't quite go the way they wished it it might have.

Eliminating these two people from the commission would be a disservice to the community.

I think they are exemplary examples of what a commission member should be.

Thank you.

Paula Hawthorne.

Clearly, what this is about is people who want to kneecap the commission by taking these two incredibly people off of it.

It's not gonna work.

I mean, I just have to tell you it's not gonna work.

The police commission elected Ricardo to be the chair of the commission.

That that means that even if he's gone, they will continue the work that they are doing and just be harder, but they'll still do it.

It's not going to work to do this.

Don't do it.

It is a terrible thing to take someone like Omar Farmer.

I was the chair of the SSOC, the commission that oversees Measure Z.

And I asked Omar, who was the vice chair, to become chair when I step down because he is excellent.

He does wonderful work, he has great integrity.

He reads every single thing they give us, which is amazing, as I'm sure you know, you get a lot to read.

Um, he is very hard-working Ricardo.

Also, I have worked with in my work in gun violence prevention.

He is a marvelous man with great integrity.

Please don't do this to these men because you don't like what the police commission is doing.

Instead, get involved with the police commission yourselves and get the work done.

Good evening.

My name is Aline Warren, and I am here to say specifically.

I live in District 7, and I'm saying specifically to our council member Houston that I think these two gentlemen should be allowed to continue on the police commission.

Thank you.

And Aline is a member of the Black by Black Organizing Network, too.

I'm Pamela Drake.

I'm with the Wellstone Club and the Black by Block Organizing Network, and I was with the CPA when we first came up with the police commission.

Um it's a good government commission, and this is a formality, but it's a real, it's a real issue.

These folks have been looked at by the community, by people who know how to run commissions and how know the importance of good government, and they have said, let's get a move on, let's get this commission running.

Uh, the folks who were against it are people who actually have been against good government, as far as I can see.

They were all part of the recall.

They apparently have no real reason other than as uh was said to kneecap this commission.

We can't afford to do that right now.

The commission has very important tasks.

You've got to secure them and make this commission work the way it should be.

Chris Moore.

One second, Mr.

Moore.

What's that?

One second, Mr.

Moore.

Go ahead.

Councilmember Houston.

President Monique is about to leave, and I had asked her to come and show up, and she's a part of the selection committee.

So I'm requesting is after Mr.

Moore, Chris Moore.

No, Chris.

After Kristen Moore, can she come up and finish because I asked her to come?

She's a part of the selection committee.

She's about to leave.

Councilmember Houston finish what?

Excuse me?

What does she need to finish?

I had a question for her.

Okay.

Mr.

Moore.

You wanted to go.

Uh Chris Moore.

Um, actually, I'd like to thank um Mr.

Farmer for his volunteer work.

Five years, that's a long time, and and we all know that is important to the community.

I I think though, if we really look at the results of what's happening, and uh there are issues that ever I think everybody's here has probably received from uh Miss Mandel.

Um we just had another chief leave.

We just we have five hundred and four active police officers today.

That's the number that are actually working today.

It's not 700, it's five hundred and four.

It'll be 34 less than that a year from now.

Why is that?

The police commission, among others, have put in very stringent requirements and rules that have made the chief say, I can't, I can't work in this community.

I can't execute, I can't provide public safety for the constituents across this community.

Police officers now, and for years, but now it's even getting worse because guess what?

San Francisco has flipped.

They're hiring 500 police officers.

Berkeley is hiring, Alameda is hiring.

They're also offering bonuses.

So we need the pendulum has swung one way, it's time to bring it back.

And that's really why you need to oppose these uh positions today.

And let's let's Daniel Epsinger, he's on the list.

He's one that would be great for uh to be proposed for this commission as a new is as one of these replacements.

So uh we we'd like you to oppose today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Houston.

Yeah, I'd like to have Miss Monique come up.

I just have thank you for coming out, and I know you were busy and you came, and I really really appreciate that through the chair.

And you know, I've been going to the police um commissions and listening and it ever since the governor came out and um spoke about the pursuit policy that's been going on for four years, and so I had some questions that is it's not about two individuals, it's about the process.

You had had some recommendations that you had.

I'd like you to speak to this.

And I've I truly believe this colleagues, and I truly believe that we wouldn't even be here if your recommendations were um listened to and didn't fall on death ears.

Tell me about your recommendations that you have sent out.

So, part of the the main part of the process is that we don't have enough candidates applying, right?

So, what I said was in 2017 we had one hundred and something, and this year we've had seven, and even the other candidate that people are mentioning, they didn't score as high.

So, what I recommended was that over the next six months with council support and staff that we come up with a better marketing process to look for people in 2017.

We did um media um announcements, uh our chair met with different folks.

Um we were in each one of the council persons' um newsletters, um, and I also said that we need to have more media set.

I'm not a media person, so that's not my forte.

So we need more um recruitment out there.

One of the things that when the folks come out and tell us that they'd like us to have more folks to put to as a candidate, I'm like, then send it out to your mailing list.

Mine in district five is two to three hundred strong, and I personally send that out, and we almost get everybody from our district involved.

Councilman Guy and I work very closely with all of our local agencies to try to get it out.

We send it to churches, but that's only one district, and I'm only one person.

So if you want us to have more and maybe have a different pool, we can do that.

Is that what you're talking about?

Yeah, that's exactly what I want to say.

Through the chairs, and I always say this, it's about the marketing.

It's about when I was growing up and they in school, what'd you want to be?

A fireman, what do you want to be?

A police, what did you want to be?

I mean, it's the it's the negative press and the marketing.

We need to market it properly to get it out.

Because if I look at it, how many um organizations in district six and district seven or community-based organizations were?

Did they go to their these meetings to try to um recruit?

Do you know that?

No, I only don't know district five.

You see what I'm saying?

So, my point is that it's not about the people, it's about we didn't touch the people we were supposed to touch to be able to do this right.

Um, and so um my questions were definitely along the same lines.

Um, if we are going from having a hundred and fifty applicants to only being able to consider seven, I guess I wanted to understand um what really got in the way of ensuring that there was actually an applicant poll.

Yeah.

So we went what I said was we went through the same process.

I made sure with Felicia, our staff, what we sent it out through the same organizations.

We sent it in Spanish.

What I said, I did not see this time around.

I didn't see in council's newsletters, and I didn't see council as involved.

And Councilman Houston is new, and he's like, I didn't realize I should have done that more.

So I'm like, well, we can tell you more often, right?

Of what we want from you.

But I work very closely with my council district.

So Noel and I, sorry, Councilman Guile.

Um, he'll he'll put it in for me, I'll work with his staff, right?

So we didn't do that, and you guys have much broader networks than we do, so you can send it out to more people.

My list has only been after the 10 plus years I've been working in community service of all the agencies I know.

I see.

Thank you, Monique.

Um, and then I guess as a follow-up, when when did that um kind of marketing and outreach?

When did you do that for district five?

So we did our process.

Um, Felicia will know when we did our process.

Our process was in May, I think is when we um when we um started advertising for it.

So for ours, we put it in the newsletters and we we sent it out to the staffs, and then we sent it to the district.

We sent it to um, like in our district, we have um Spanish speaking citizens foundation.

We send it to all of the different ones in our in our district.

But like I said, I I might have gone out of district five, but in general, I try to stay in my own.

So maybe, um, excuse me.

Can I say maybe these questions might be better, sir, for the um staff of the okay?

That sounds good.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, and we'll save those questions if possible.

Are you good, Councilmember Wong?

Okay.

Yeah, we'll save those for staff.

We'll get back to public comment.

Thank you for coming out.

Good afternoon.

My name is Irina.

I am a resident of district one.

And I'm here to strongly oppose the proposed reappointments of Commissioner Acosta and Farmer.

We need to make it easier for the police to keep us safer.

The status quo did everything possible to prevent the police from functioning and doing their jobs.

You see the results around you.

Cops are leaving, the chief left, businesses are fleeing, downtown is a ghost town.

We need change.

We need new people with new ideas.

We can't continue repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.

I beg you, please change things in Oakland so we can feel safe on our streets.

So we're not leaving our purses at home and not wanting to leave our houses at night.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Gary Kadarian.

I'm a 20-year resident of Oakland and I live in District 4.

I oppose the reappointment of these two candidates.

I'm not opposed to the police commission.

I've actually gone to some of the meetings, extremely dysfunctional to say the least.

And we're not conservative here.

Nobody's that conservative living in Oakland.

So don't let people fool you about that.

Anyway, that's my piece.

I hope you do not reappoint these two gentlemen.

Thank you.

Rajni Mundal, District 4.

I'm asking you to reject uh reappointment slate that includes alternate commissioner farmer.

My concerns are not personal, they're about accountability and procedure.

Commissioner Farmer has repeatedly acted outside the police police commission's charter authority, as I detailed previously to you.

Quorum will not be at risk as there are five remaining commissioners, and Mayor Lee will be filling her two vacancies.

In the transition.

Vice Chair Shawana Booker would be an excellent interim chair.

She's smart, organized, efficient, and an excellent collaborator.

She has two degrees from Cal and is a nationally recognized director of trauma transformed.

Please urge uh I urge you uh to not include Commissioner Farmer in the slate and help restore integrity, professionalism, and balance to Oakland's civilian oversight.

Thank you.

Ann Janks, District Three.

I'm I'm not surprised or upset that there are dishonest statements and astro turf talking points.

That's a part of politics in this day and age.

But the council's job is to figure out what is obviously false before you act.

You received a letter from the police commission lawyer refuting point by point the untruths that you are now discussing.

The selection panel rigorously reviewed the issues specifically and found the allegations to be baseless.

Acting upon this would sabotage both the selection panel and the police commission.

If you vote not to seat these commissioners, you leave the commission severely hindered and without a chair.

The vice chair has stated she's not able to step into the chair's seat.

You'd also be voting based on demonstrably false claims.

The need for OPD reform is current.

There's kind of a narrative that it all happened a long time ago.

We lost the entire senior leadership of OPD last year while they were under investigation and facing severe discipline because of two scandals and cover-ups last year.

We do need oversight.

And the churn of chiefs is largely because of scandals and cover-ups.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Margarita Marin Parkin, and I am a resident of Oakland.

I've been here for 20 years.

And I just wanted to ask you to please do not reinstate both of those council people.

I believe that they have overstepped, overreached their commitments as council people.

I've attended several of the council meetings myself.

And I do believe that we do need to have oversight for the Oakland police department.

That is very important for us as citizens and for our community, but we do not need council people that will pretty much object to what the citizens want and are apparently just there for their own agenda.

And what they are seeking is not for a balance in OPD and the citizens.

It seems very clear that that is not what they want, and we need a change.

Oakland is desperate, is desperate for a change, and we need that, and that should happen right now.

Thank you.

I do not support these appointments to the police commission, in particular Omar Farmer.

He wants to interfere with labor negotiations and extend the power of the police commission.

I do not think an appointed volunteer should have this much power without accountability.

Council is the only entity to hold the commission accountable.

And please support balanced civilian oversight.

Don't approve these appointments.

Thank you.

Hello, uh, my name is Peter, and I'm asking you to take a stand for integrity.

Omar Farmer has used his position to silence dissenting voices, blur the line between oversight and control, and involve himself in areas far beyond his mandate.

Power without accountability is dangerous, especially in oversight roles.

Do not reappoint him.

I'm going to see you.

Hi, my name is Josh Margolis.

I believe in balanced and fair oversight of OPD.

That's what keeps public trust strong.

Unfortunately, the current police commission doesn't reflect the diversity of thought or the lived experience across Oakland.

Too often, honest criticism is dismissed as slander, and moderate voices are shut out.

Democracy requires dialogue, not echo chambers.

Please don't approve these appointments.

I'm asking for oversight that represents all of us, not just one side.

Thank you.

And I'm here because the people of Oakland are watching.

We're tired of the games being played.

The Oakland Police Commission, the only civilian body with the power to hold OPD accountable, is under attack right now.

Council President Kevin Jenkins, I hope you will stand with the people of Oakland and not the small circle of pro-OPD boosters like Chuan and Rajney back there that don't represent Oakland.

They represent folks in the hills, but the actual community that you were elected to serve.

Don't turn back the clock decades to a time where OPD has free reign to terrorize black and brown communities with no oversight and no accountability.

Commissioners Garcia Acosta and Farmer have done what few have the courage to do.

They've stood up to OPD's abuse to power.

That's why they're being targeted.

Because the department, those who protect this power, can't stand being challenged by real community oversight.

And while this political political theater unfolds, Doug Martin is dead.

Another black man in crisis killed under OPD's watch, another family shattered, another name added to the list that's already too damn long.

So the question before you today isn't procedural, it's moral.

Will you stand with the people of Oakland and approve these reappointments so the commission could continue to do their work?

Or will you stand with those who want to drag us backwards into secrecy and impunity?

Oakland deserves his truth.

Oakland deserves transparency.

What happened in the police department?

We under a monitor because they were running wild.

This is not about either one of the two candidates.

It goes to the integrity of the commission and the selection committee.

That's if you can't find their following mandated protocol.

And I haven't heard any one of you talk about they violated their mandated protocol, they vetted every both of the candidates, they got incredible and impeccable credentials.

So why in the hell are you trying to eliminate them?

You either gotta follow mandated protocol, or everything is crazy.

Gosh, you don't agree with their selection, their name is on the line, but nobody talked about the selection committee.

Did they violate their mandated protocol?

If you can't tell me they did, then you better appoint these two individuals, because your credibility is on the line.

So a few years ago, you created an ordinance that specifically gave the privacy commission oversight of the police department.

That oversight that you gave them mandates that every case that the police department has involving the federal government, the FBI, or other federal policing agencies, they have to go and present every involvement to the privacy commission.

And nobody's ever said anything about having oversight of the police commission related to that level of oversight that you gave to the police, the privacy commission.

You told them, watch the police to make sure they don't violate anything related to your sanctuary city status.

That's one thing.

Now this dog and pony show, I'm not gonna participate in this.

That the police commission was trying to overrule them.

A pusher.

This is a lie.

Hi there, my name's Nancy Morton.

I'm in District One.

I urge you to support the slate.

It strikes me that the problems that the opponents of the slate are referring to are things that have to do with budget, not with the police commission.

And we need a new police chief who can oversee constitutional policing.

We're not gonna get any more police unless we have more budget.

So that's not the issue.

I urge you to please support Omar and Ricardo.

Thank you.

Along with many residents of Oakland have been crying out for public safety.

They have been on the police commission for five plus years.

And what is the result of their work?

But lack of public safety, people getting robbed, Chinatown suffering, closing at two, three jobs.

Please pause it.

Please pause this time.

Order in the chambers.

Order in the chambers.

Please continue.

We have had six police chiefs in the last five years.

And they're leaving, they're leaving because Oakland has a toxic relationship for our police department until we can restore public safety and make sure we protect our 911 responder, we will continue to suffer as residents.

I joined the ad hoc uh military equipment.

They oppose the armored vehicles, the bear cats that we need to rescue students when there's the school shooting, when there's a sideshow with people throwing molotov cocktails at vehicles.

We need safe equipment.

They oppose that.

My civilian voice was dismissed.

We need a change.

There were seven people that this that was selected from.

We need a hundred people that represent or diverse voices.

Please get involved.

We're looking to the council members to get involved.

Roll up your sleeves.

The buck stops with the council.

Pay attention to public safety.

This is your chance.

Thank you for your comments.

My name is Ricky Cleary, Oakland resident and co-chair of the Oakland Alliance Against Racist and Political Repress.

Excuse me, order in the chambers.

Excuse me.

Sorry, please pause.

Order in the chambers, please.

Order in the chambers, I'm going to start ruling people out of order.

You'll give one warning and then you'll be put out of chambers.

Stop Mrs.

I'm speaking in support of the reappointment of Commissioners Farmer and Garcia Costa.

If they are voted down, the commission would not be able to carry out oversight during a critical moment in Oakland policing.

This comes as the city faces the resignation of the police chief as well as in custody death of Doug Martin during a mental health crisis.

Another reminder that OPD continues to fail our community when people are in crisis.

Instead of being met with care and compassion, they are met with force and too often death.

Oakland needs a fully staffed independent police commission that can demand transparency and force accountability and ensure OPD does continue to operate without consequence.

Commissioners Ricardo, Garcia Acosta, and Omar Farmer have shown the courage and integrity needed for that work.

Which is precisely why some are trying to stop them from serving.

This is about whether Oakland will continue the fight for justice and oversight or allow political games to weaken accountability.

We should not be wasting resources and time on the appointment of commissioners when the ones who have been in their positions have done the job and they've done it well.

And that's all to say that we should also be putting resources into enforcing oversight and GPS so that we know where the police are and that they're doing their jobs.

Thank you.

Thank you, calling the rest of the names just in case before we move to the Zoom speakers again.

If you are in chambers and your name was called, this is your last opportunity.

Charles Eidelson, Darren Jenkins, Alex Clevis, Penny Wrighthand, Jose Dorado, Laura Lai Bushman, Rashida Grenage, Robert Turner, Edward Escobar, those are the names left moving to the Zoom speakers.

Laura Lai Bosserman, you are first.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Hi, my name is Laura Lai Bosterman.

I want to encourage the uh city council to approve the selection panel's recommendation to reappoint these two commissioners.

This is not the time to disrupt the work of the police commission.

They need to find a new police chief.

That's a big task and it's an urgent task.

A few members of the public today have said that the police commission is the reason for the problems in OPD, but the problems in OPD predate the existence of the police commission.

Does anyone remember how many chiefs we went through in 2016?

I think we had four or five police chiefs in two weeks.

And this was before the police commission was created.

Nobody wanted the job.

What happened two days ago is just one example of why we need the police commission.

Someone died in police custody, and people want to know what happened.

We don't trust OPD to tell us the truth because there have been so many cover-ups.

Just last year, two scandals broke, and we lost OPD's entire senior staff.

They all left while under investigation for covering up Officer Trans misconduct.

How can we trust OPD to investigate this in custody death?

The problem is not with the police commission.

There are problems in OPD that need to be addressed.

Please don't disrupt the police commission's work at this time.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Rashida Ganaj.

You are next.

After Rashida Alex, you will be next.

Rashida, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Good evening.

Tomorrow is Bobby Shield Day.

I'm wondering how he would vote on this.

Are you wondering that?

I don't think so.

It's very clear.

We have a tradition in Oakland.

And the tradition has to do with Bobby Sheel and Elaine Brown, who, by the way, was a very strong supporter of Measure LL that created the police commission.

This is Oakland's tradition.

This is Oakland's legacy.

And I'm hoping that this council will not turn its back on that.

But will reinforce Oakland's tradition of self-determination of constitutional policing and oversight.

There's a reason we are 22 years into federal oversight.

It was supposed to last five years.

This was long before we had a police commission.

The reluctance to reform was the problem.

And the commission is part of the solution.

Please vote to reappoint Omar Farmer and Ricardo Acosta.

They are both excellent commissioners.

And if you've watched any of the commission meetings, you know that they have performed their duty admirably and professionally.

Please reappoint them.

And please maintain Oakland's.

Alex, you are next after Alex Edward Escobar, you are after Alex.

Alex, please begin your comments.

Good evening, Council members.

My name is Alex Cluis, and I serve on the police commission selection panel.

I personally conducted the reference interviews for uh Mr.

Omar Farmer, reviewed his record, and spoke directly with people who've worked alongside him.

Our panel followed the process laid out by this council, interviewing candidates, weighing uh qualifications and voting to recommend Mr.

Farmer to see that recommendation now challenged without substantive uh evidence undermines not only Mr.

Farmer, but the integrity of the entire oversight process.

Oakland residents deserve an oversight system they can trust one based on facts, uh not rumors or politics.

Uh, when our panel's work is dismissed on unfounded grounds, it sends a message that community voices and due process don't matter.

I urge this council to review the facts for themselves to respect the work of the selection panel and to move forward in good faith because accountability in Oakland begins right here with honoring our own process and the people working uh to make this city better.

And because I have a few extra seconds here.

In the beginning, I came in as a I didn't know anything about the situation.

A lot of people spoke out against Omar, made me automatically maybe believe they're right, but then after talking to references, doing my own due diligence, I found out extremely quickly that all of it was false and there was no real basis of any of it.

So I urge the council to do the same.

Talk to Omar, do a little bit of research, and I'm sure you'll you'll come to the same conclusion.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Mr.

Escobar.

You are next, followed by uh Mr.

Jenkins.

Enough is enough.

I'm calling for the immediate recall of Ricardo Garcia Acosta and Omar Farmer from the Oakland Police Commission.

Why?

Because we cannot afford to keep rubber stamping failed policies that have fueled a crime wave, devastating our communities.

These policies aren't protecting us, they're protecting nonprofit grifters who've built careers off human suffering.

Look at these people who want same old, same old.

These are the same voices in the same echo chamber pushing the same broken ideas, virtue signaling, gaslighting, deflecting, and spewing forth false narratives.

Should we continue to listen to bad actors promoting failed dysfunctional policies?

No, I say not.

We've seen the results, rising violence, shattered trust, and communities left to fend for themselves, while these so-called leaders cash in on chaos.

For years they've operated unchecked, playing a race card while claiming to speak for black and brown communities.

Well, I'm 100% Latino, and we are over a third of Oakland's population, and I'm here to say not in my name.

I resent the exploitation of our pain for political theater and personal gain.

If these commissioners and selection panelists are so overwhelmed, so put out by anyone daring to question their effectiveness, then resign.

Step aside with your hurt feelings.

Oakland comes first.

We need leaders who can handle scrutiny, not hide from it.

Acostum farmer, their so-called oversight is a smokescreen for ideological policing that harasses officers and abandons victims.

We need commissioners who serve the people, not the nonprofit.

Thank you for your comments.

Minister Jenkins, you are next.

After Jenkins, uh Mr.

Turner, you will be next.

Go ahead and begin.

Good evening, everyone.

Oakland stands at a pivotal moment.

I mean, our city's strength lies in its people and their commitment to public service.

Yet right now, that trust is being tested.

The unexplained delay in reappointing Ricardo Garcia Acosta and Omar Farmer to the selection panel is more than a bureaucratic hiccup.

It's a breach of public trust.

When our city council remains silent, it fuels suspicion and undermines the integrity of our institutions.

Ricardo and Omar have served Oakland with dedication and professionalism.

The willingness to continue should be celebrated, not obstructed.

This delay sends damaging message that political gang ship matters more than a public good, and that volunteers who give their time and talent may be disregarded.

Oldland cannot afford to lose principled leaders to political infighting.

We demand clear communication and immediate action.

The council must explain the hold-up and move swiftly to appoint these respected individuals.

Anything less is a disservice to our city.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Mr.

Turner, you are next.

Ms.

Jenks, I see with your hand raised.

Mr.

Turner, go ahead and begin.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

My name is Robert Turner.

I'm a 25-year resident of Oakland.

I live in Council District 4, represented by Councilmember Ramchandra.

I do not support the reappointment of either Ricardo Garcia Costa or Omar Farmer to the police commission, and I urge the council to reject and remand to the selection committee.

Police oversight is extremely important.

The council must hold the commission to a high standard.

And neither Mr.

Farmer nor Mr.

Garcia Costa has met that standard.

Mr.

Farmer has silenced perspectives with which he does not agree, has improperly inserted himself into negotiations between the city and other entities, and has a clear conflict of interest with respect to OPD.

Mr.

Garcia Costa has equated legitimate criticism of him with slander and has openly suggested that the commission only serves one perspective on public safety in the city.

Illiberalism and political extremism is on the rise in our country, and we shouldn't stand for it here.

You have the power to hold the police commission to a higher standard.

Neither of these gentlemen meet that standard, and I urge you to not reappoint them.

Thank you.

Yes, I conclude public comment.

Let me just see if this is the same person.

Is this Ann Jenks?

Again, all names recalled.

If you're on Zoom in chambers and you wish to speak, please approach the podium.

I have called all names multiple times.

Thank you so much, and thank you for everybody who came out to speak.

This is a very highly contentious issue, and it seems like every Ms.

Masada.

And it seems like everybody deeply cares about public safety in the city and police oversight.

And a couple of housekeeping items.

I'm gonna let the council members have questions.

If you have relevant staff that you want to speak to, the city administrator will get them ready.

If there's anybody else that you want to um speak with in regards to questions on this item, please make that so what we're doing today, we're either accepting or rejecting the slate.

You cannot split them.

That's correct.

It's um charter section 604 C3.

Okay, and so we have the option to accept or reject the slate.

So with that, we're gonna open it up to questions.

I know Councilmember Brown, uh, lets you start because it I guess Council member Brown, please proceed.

Okay, excellent.

Thank you so much.

Um, so I'm happy to go ahead and start where we left off, where we were inquiring about the um just the total number of applicants that um applied and the comparison, how in recent years um there was up to 150, and and I think I believe my outstanding question was you know, walk me through, you know, what got in the way of ensuring that there were, you know, we were actually getting more applicants to apply.

And so I guess through the chair to um at Felicia, uh Councilmember Brown through the chair.

Uh if you in the report uh it mentions um public outreach and engagement, uh, however, I do agree that uh the number of people that we have uh applying to the police commission has reduced over the years.

I think many people see the commitment that's required, which is up to 20 hours a month, if not more, and it's it's a challenging volunteer position.

So certainly the the numbers of applicants have gone down over the years.

I see.

I and I guess I'm interested in the process, like that the outreach.

Um, I believe one of the um, I think it was Monique who mentioned that um back in May um there was some outreach that was done to residents in district five.

Um, I guess I'm curious um, you know, what outreach was done to the rest of you know the city of Oakland, Oaklanders, so that we actually get um kind of like a represent uh a representative pool of outreach.

Yes, through the chair.

Uh in March, uh, I looked back in my emails and we started the recruitment process and I sent the application to the commissioners, and and following that date, we sent out a press release citywide.

Uh, so it went out to all of the um city staff and and people out throughout the community, the media, um, and we ran ads in the East Bay Times.

Interesting.

And uh that there was some social media outreach that was done.

There was or there wasn't there was yes, yes.

Uh and we in and some of the selection panelists did go to nonprofits and dropped off flyers and encouraged people in in their uh networks to apply to serve on the police commission.

And I believe some of the and we also encourage um city council members to put the uh place an ad in your newsletters to promote the recruitment.

I'm not sure if that happened, although we do encourage it.

And we try and get the word out far and wide that the police commit that the selection panel is is recruiting for uh members of the community to apply to serve on the police commission.

And there is an application process.

Um the application does require references, uh it requires that applicants submit their resume, and so it's a pretty extensive process.

Yeah, that definitely makes sense.

And you know, um, unfortunately, um I don't recall receiving that outreach to put that into my newsletter.

Um, I do know that the outreach that I received was to ensure that I um selected someone to serve on the on the um selection committee, and with great haste we were able to do that right to ensure that there was there was um quorum.

Um, thank you for that.

So um, but unfortunately, you know, I was not able to kind of send that out to community members.

Um, but if I can I just want to switch gears just a little bit and kind of talk through because it it seems that a lot of the things that are in question have a lot to do with the evaluation of the candidates.

And so um are you able to walk me through what were the core well what were the core criteria used to evaluate the the candidates for suitability for appointment, and how do the recommended nominees align with those that criteria?

So the selection panel, they have a procedure manual, and the procedure manual lays out the process for how the selection panel will evaluate applicants.

They also have an applicant evaluation tool that has key uh indicators for uh qualifications of candidates, and it's it's everything from uh looking at the candidates' background, their experience in the community, uh, their ability to commit to the work of the police commission, and so it's the applicant evaluation, it's pretty it's a pretty thorough document, and the the selection panel uses that document to apply to uh review each application they receive to the police commission.

Okay, thank you.

Um I'll hold the rest of my questions and so I'll follow up on council member um Brown's questions.

What social media platforms did you guys recruit on?

How many people did you reach?

I don't have the answer to that question.

I'd have to let you know.

I can tell you that we did the the recruitment was posted on next door, and so the um this the city of Oakland has over 200,000, almost 200,000 people following its next door page.

Uh and so the views are they vary, but we we get quite a few views for um whenever we post any uh type of citywide announcements on next door.

And did you guys use anything like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook?

I don't know, no, no, we do not.

And then you said you went to um nonprofits, what nonprofits and what districts were those in?

The selection panel has a list of nonprofits that they develop over the years, and there are probably over a hundred nonprofits that is that the uh recruitment is emailed to each year, and so those nonprofits are they there's a standard blurb that the selection panel has developed that's in their procedure manual, and they the language is clearly as requesting that uh the nonprofits place ads in their newsletters and email to their networks about the police commission recruitment.

Ms.

Lisa, I'm gonna ask you a highly technical question.

What was the open rate on the emails that went out to those nonprofits?

I'm sorry, I don't have the answer to that question.

It's all good.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Houston, I believe.

Yes, I like uh how are you through the chair?

How are you doing?

Oh speaking, yeah.

I wanted to find out how many bodies did you reach in district six and seven.

Um, order in the chamber.

And um, which nonprofits in um district seven, six, and seven did you reach out to?

Which ones?

I I have a list, council member Houston through the chair, and and I don't have that in front of me, but I can provide you with the list.

I can provide you with the complete list.

Okay, and when you did, did you get feedback from those nonprofits?

Is like we put it on here, we put it there, we reached this amount of people, anything like that?

Uh no, um, council member Houston, I don't have that information.

Okay.

And last question, and it's gonna be for staff.

Um, when it um comes to making a complaint, and I don't this is not for you.

Maybe it might be.

Um, who uh how does that happen?

How does a uh a community member make a complaint against a commissioner?

What's the process of that?

I don't think that's not for you.

Order in the chamber.

I'm gonna start removing people out of order, and then you'll be removed from chambers.

You're out of order, Mr.

Hazard.

Please go ahead.

Please proceed.

So that's your warning.

So my question might not be for this council member.

No, I was just asking what's the process of um a complaint.

I mean, how does a uh resident make a complaint on a commissioner?

What is the actual process?

I wanted to know that from staff.

So, how's it can you explain to me how this is germane to the so that's why I said I wasn't gonna let it go?

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Ramanchandra.

Thank you.

Um I just want to state for the record that I did put this on my newsletter.

Not because anyone from the police commission reached out, but because we thought this was of public interest and we wanted the 25,000 people on our mailing list to know.

But I do find it really problematic that only seven people applied.

Um, and I say this as someone who's uh who's applied to many commissions before and served on the ethics commission.

The ethics commission has nowhere near the responsibility of um police commission.

Very very important commission, but different roles.

And the year I applied, there were 43 applications.

And to see that there are only seven applications for something as consequential as the police commission is really surprising.

And I want to know what the plans are in the future to change that.

Um because I know someone from the selection panel mentioned, well, y'all didn't put on your newsletter.

I did, um, and and social media as well.

But beyond relying on us, and well, firstly, please do rely on us.

You know, we have connections to the community.

We want to send it to groups to individuals, to our public systems.

Um again, we we saw it online and and we did it, but utilize council members and our ability to share information out um as much as possible for sure.

But I do want to know what the plans are to improve communication so that we get more than seven applications for such an important body.

Miss Felicia, are you there?

And then maybe somebody from the city administration for a holistic view of how we get more people applying for commissions.

You are out of order.

That is your warning.

Uh Chair uh President Um Jenkins, I think given this process that um in the future, it is my hope that many of the people in this room uh many of the people that have spoken will agree will apply to serve on the police commission.

Um this is the most attention I've seen given to this process.

And I've staffed the police commission selection panel for the past three years, and we have seen and and we'll continue our our process and continue to get the word out in similar ways that we have.

Um and uh I would hope that the council will assist in in that engagement and outreach, and we'll engage other organizations as well in the outreach efforts.

Councilmember Ramanchander.

Um I'll pause on my other questions for now, but thank you.

Okay.

Councilmember Wong.

Yeah, I am it's not so much a question so much as my dismay that we only got seven applicants for such an important uh volunteer position like this commission is the one that has the power to put forward our new set of candidates for the police chief role.

Um I didn't get outreach to, and I and Felicia, I don't put this on you, but uh I've heard from several council members.

We have free listservs with thousands of people that would have cost the city zero dollars.

Um nobody and I put it on myself too that maybe we should have been proactively monitoring what was happening with the selection panel, but um uh nobody the district two appointee didn't reach out to me.

We could have very easily changed this so we didn't have we wouldn't be sitting here today with only seven folks to choose from.

So um I just want to voice my frustration.

Um is this the lowest number of applicants that we've ever gotten?

Miss Felice, are you available for a historical context?

Uh yes, it is one of the smallest numbers that we've received for the recruitment.

And I think may it may be because we had two incumbents, and I think it may have discouraged some folks from applying.

I'm not quite sure.

Um, why we didn't get very many applicants this year.

Uh but I'm I'm happy to know that um you the the council members will help us get the the word out in the future.

Yeah, absolutely.

We would love to.

Thank you.

That's it.

Thank you, Felicia.

Councilmember Gayle.

Yes, thank you, and thank you for that.

Were you gonna respond or?

Yeah, well, I would just like to provide a little bit more insight too because I'm I'm waiting for it to come out and I'd be remiss if it didn't just uh bring it to your attention.

And so we keep on talking about the number of candidates, right?

And it it's hard for me to sit.

I actually care about my city family.

So it's hard for me to see city family get you know attacked and and and uh excuse me.

Mr.

Costa, yeah, right.

No council members attacking any city staff.

This to make this clear.

Council members are doing their job and asking questions and relevant questions, and just like you defend the police commission, I would defend these council members that are doing their job.

I I understand uh council president.

There's respectful ways to make somebody feel like they could have done a better job.

And so um I again, Mr.

Casa, it is not and I I want to take responsibility.

I want to be quite frank.

It's not your job to tell the council members how to do their job, right?

And I want to make that frank, and I respect how you do your job, but I want to make that frank.

So do you have to I just want to take the what we're talking about these seven applicants, and yes, it is concerning that we didn't have that many uh people that are applying for this, right?

But we got to consider there's a couple things.

One, the commission didn't do themselves any service in that regard because of the history of the commission.

Let's let's let's just call it for what it is.

There was a lot of dysfunction, a lot of infighting, and even when I was applying, I was like, oh, I don't want to touch this thing with a 10-foot pole.

Yet we have a bunch of commissioners that despite that had the resolve to still apply and were committed to turning that around and making this commission a functional balanced commission.

Secondly, when you're recruiting for two, there weren't vacancies, there were for two incumbents.

If I was at the time applying for a pos for a uh police commission uh position, and it was for two incumbents that are doing really well, I probably wouldn't even apply.

So that does impact the number of candidates as well.

Lastly, this show right here is gonna ice out any of my existing commissioners, and it's gonna ice out anybody who future commissioners that want to apply for this because if this is what they gotta go through after their hard work, it's gonna be really hard.

So I just want you all to know that this is also a consequence.

Thank you, Mr.

Casa.

Yeah, thank you.

No, thank you.

No, thank you.

Can I?

Okay, all right.

Thank you, and I want to thank all of you for being here.

And certainly, you know, we were part of developing the police commission, and why are we here?

The voters chose to create the police commission.

And why did the voters unanimously throughout the city, not just in one district, voted to create a police commission?

Because we were dysfunctional when it came to enforcing the lawsuit we have, and secondly, protecting our children and families in the neighborhood.

And so we needed to create a body that would work with the council because the council wasn't doing their job either.

We do a lot of talking, but we don't do any direction and management.

Let me just finish.

All right.

So for me, it's and let me first.

First of all, I wanted to excuse myself from not being here in the beginning of the meeting, because I'm working with the Coast Guard to be able to patrol our East Bay waterways channel from the Port of Oakland down to uh Yebra Buena Island, and certainly you see today those of us that use that channel walk it, you'll see all the abandoned boats and all that other stuff that's negative, and and the reality is that the police department, we did have the boats, but we only have one officer left to patrol the channel, where we used to have up to five and six and seven making sure that our waterways were clean.

So the reality is this, though the reality is that I wanted to ask uh Miss Felicia, she's still here, the administration.

And I've known I know all the selection panel members and I know all the the folks that are recommending to not vote for this tonight.

But so the question for the public to know, how many first of all the police commission?

How many members do we have on the police commission?

There are seven there are seven members on the police committee.

Two alternates, council members and two alternates, okay, and two alternates, but the mayor appoints how many?

The mayor appoints three commissioners and one alternate.

So the mayor appoints three and recommends an alternate?

Correct.

Okay.

So that means the council has the opportunity working with the police commission to appoint the remaining, right?

That's correct.

Okay.

So I'm sorry, it um, to clarify, um, council member guile, the selection panel is responsible for four uh making four nominations to the city council and one alternate.

Okay, and right now we're in the process of approving a commissioner and an alternate.

Correct.

Okay, but the alternate does not have the authority to vote on the issues with the commission, correct?

Unless they are um elevated to a full commissioner.

So which can happen.

So the commissioner votes, but the alternate is an alternate.

It's an alternate, correct.

So it's just to be clear for the public, you know, then terms of the roles.

All right, so right now before us is to vote for an alternate and to vote for a commissioner, right?

So if we don't take an action today, I mean, we're I'm looking down the line for a quorum.

Does this impact the quorum or the commission to continue to take action?

Yes, it will impact the quorum.

I spoke to the um chief of staff to the police commission.

Um the commission currently, if if the appointments these the two appointments are not made today, they have exactly five members, which is enough members to meet quorum.

If anyone is sick or if someone can't make a meeting, then the commission cannot make quorum.

So that would delay the action.

But in and going through this process for my council colleagues, if we take an action to not approve the recommendation, you would immediately start the process to reach out to for other candidates that can apply and bring it back to this board.

I will work with the chair of the selection panel, members of the selection panel to to do a recruitment.

Councilmember Gaio through the chair.

But again, the commission works with the city council, right?

We take action and voting, so I guess is what I'm trying to be clear.

If I take a certain action that we're gonna get out and can and look go through the process to bring people back that we would recommend.

Yes, and I know I'm not quite sure if the city attorney has more to say on that.

So uh I'll call on the uh city attorney to opine on the lack thereof of quorum issue, yeah.

Thank you through the chair, Ryan Richardson, city attorney.

So um, I wanted to clarify a few a few procedural things.

As the uh council president mentioned, what's before the council tonight are essentially three paths?

The council can approve the entire slate, the council can reject the slate, or if the council does not take either of those actions, then the there's a 60-day clock that continues to run that began to run on September 25th, and that will stop on Monday, November 24th.

So if the council doesn't take action within those 60 days, the two uh nominees will be deemed appointed.

So those are the three paths before the council.

Another thing I wanted to um clarify, I did not get some questions from members of the public about the Brown Act and the scope of the conversation to this evening.

Um I didn't confer with with um my co-counsel, the council asking about the process of how how did we how did the selection panel vet and advertise and how many um applicants do they get?

How might the selection panel do that differently next time we those are those are within the scope because I think the council has a right to inquire how did these two candidates get before us?

And if we reject this panel, what can we expect potentially to be done differently?

So I do I did want to let the public know we are trying to keep track of keeping things in the scope.

The last thing I wanted to clarify, in addition to any questions that folks may have, is as is very common for all of the city's boards and commissions, um the there's the possibility of holdover terms in this scenario.

So typically when a uh member of a board or commission in the city is uh ends a term and is not reappointed for one reason one reason or another, but they do not have a replacement, they go if they want to, they go into what's what's commonly called a holdover status.

This would be no different.

We've we've researched it, we've looked at the case law and the California government code, and uh these this police commissioner and alternate commissioner if they wanted to would go into holdover status until the selection panel came back with a different slate and that slate were approved and and we would continue where the work the commission continuing to work or meet correct the the uh the two nominees that are before the council this evening if the council rejects the slate they are not required to continue as holdovers but they may if they want to okay thank you does that complete you uh council member heuston I have a question for to the chair for city attorney so currently we can get a quorum and and is she she just said that if somebody's sick then we won't but currently we can get a quorum if they if this is rejected correct so I I can't speak to how many commissioners and alternates there would be um if these two commissioners decide not to hold over but what I can speak to is is after tonight if the council rejects the slate and they decide it to hold over the commission is essentially in the same position that it's been in and pending and and it will be in that kind of holdover state until the selection panel comes back with a new slate of nominees okay I'll move to reject it.

Okay.

So council member won't um through the chair and uh this is a question for either the city attorney or the city administrator maybe both of you can speak to this but um it is of my top priority to make sure that our decision here doesn't impact the search for the next permanent police chief so can you walk us through um the consequences if we reject the slate uh would it or would it not impact the the police search thank you.

Through the chair so the question is um how might tonight's appointment process impact the the uh identification and appointment of an interim chief of police yeah yeah the what the charter says is that the mayor appoints an interim chief but has to consult with the police commission chair so um I believe the mayor is still in that process uh if uh Mr.

Acosta Gar Acosta Garcia remains the chair the mayor would consult with him uh my understanding from the police commission bylaws is that if he's for any reason not the chair that the vice chair then takes over those duties so the the mayor would consult with the police the person who is currently the police commission's vice chair correct can you clarify that just as a follow-up question confirmation since um temporary this is for the interim police chief of police so for the the interim chief of police the mayor appoints an interim chief of police until the until the city has a new permanent chief but she must consult with the police commission chair so we need we would need to identify who is the chair for those purposes and for the permanent process for the permanent process the what the charter says is that uh the city administrator assists the police commission in advertising for the the position the police commission then goes through a vetting process it's not it's not dictated exactly what that vetting process has to look like the commission has discretion and the commission will recommend three names three three nominees to the mayor and the mayor can pick one of those so I I can't speak to how that process might or might not be impacted by tonight's decision.

Okay.

Is is there somebody who can?

So what's your question?

Just I'd like to understand the consequences of the police commission search.

So yeah, how is the logistics and how that would be carried out.

Is um Ms.

Felicia available?

So I think we actually went through this.

The last time there was a selection committee panel, the chair and vice chair were not selected.

Is that correct?

Um Taifara and I believe Jordan.

Is that correct?

I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?

The last time there was a selection committee.

Um the last time the chair and vice chair went to the selection committee.

The selection committee did not select the chair and vice chair, is that correct?

TIFAR and I believe Jordan.

Yes, however, they chose as a part of their process, they chose other commissioners to serve in that seat in the seats.

Yeah, okay.

And was that during the time where we were going through a police search?

Uh I believe so.

I'm not I'm not quite sure.

I can't, I don't have that information in front of me.

Okay, thank you.

Is there any more questions from the council members?

And I want to get someone to be able to answer council member Wong's question.

Okay.

City attorney.

Through the chair.

I wanted to clarify my last comment.

So uh whether or not um the two appointments this evening are uh approved or rejected will not prevent, like mathematically prevent the police commission from going through its selection process for a new chief.

But if to the extent the question is whether it could help or hinder that process, that's what I I'm saying.

I I can't speak to the the police commissioners would need to speak to that for themselves.

Thank you.

Is there any more?

Yes, yes, but if if we don't approve, then we will continue with a selection process, right?

It'll be so the question is the selection committee can go through the process again to go through to select new commissioners.

Is that correct, Ms.

Yeah, that's yes.

Okay, and then after that.

Yes, I I believe so.

I'd like to actually for the city attorney, excuse me, chair.

Um excuse me, council president, uh, I this is something that I'd like the city attorney to weigh in on as well because we haven't this is the I believe the first time that we if the council chooses to reject the appointments, it it will come back to the selection panel and the selection panel could go through their process again.

So yeah, um thank you.

Thank you.

Order in the chambers.

That's it.

Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, um, if I may, I just wanted to add some clarity around like you know, if if um, you know, this goes back to the selection panel, how will we ensure that the outreach to get more applicants is there?

Uh we will we will um council member brown through the chair.

Uh the I will work with the panel to um and and uh as well with the PIO team, the public information officers to get the work word out um citywide um and encourage um community members to apply to serve on the police commission.

And then I you know, as I was kind of thinking and reviewing through uh what was mentioned, there was seven applicants, but how many were actually interviewed?

There were four interviewed.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, so we have a motion.

Is there a second?

I'll second it.

So there's a motion and second.

Madam Clark, let's go to a roll call.

Unger.

The motion is for council member.

The motion is to reject the slate.

On the item SA moved by council member Houston, second by Council Member Unger to reject the slate.

That's our order.

Reject.

So if you say I, you're rejected.

If you say aye, it's to reject the this is rejecting the slate.

Again, on item 8, move by Councilmember Houston, seconded by Councilmember Unger to reject the slate.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife is excused.

Councilmember Gaio.

If we continue the search, yes.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Motion passes with a vote of seven ayes, one excuse five.

So I have to do that.

So I want to adjourn this meeting in the memory of Bill Patterson, long-term East Bay MUD director who started the NAACP.

Who started the NAACP?

Um and served on the East Bay Mud board.

And so we'll adjourn that and we'll go to open forum.

Moving to open forum.

Swan, Miss Paula Hawthorne, Miss Asada Olabala, Derek Barnes, and Mr.

Hazard.

Please approach the podium in any order.

I want to talk to you.

This is Paula Hawthorne.

I want to talk to you about the negotiated settlement agreement.

That's why I'm on open forum because it's not in your agenda.

The NSA is the reason, actually, Chief Robert Warshaw.

Through the chair, Ms.

Hawthorne, could you pause?

Could we please close the chamber doors?

Because it doesn't interfere with the sound for the broadcast.

He's not done his job.

He is a terrible monitor.

I can't tell you whether that's incompetence or because he's corrupt.

He gets over a million dollars a year every year for doing almost nothing.

The reason that you have had 10 police chiefs in 10 years is because of Robert Warshaw.

I would bet you dollars to donuts that the reason Chief Mitchell is leaving is because Warshaw got tired of him complaining about being over-analyzed or whatever.

Um is personally responsible for our losing Kirkpatrick, our losing um Lauren Armstrong.

He is the police chief of Oakland, and you should stop.

I've been approached to participate in a recall.

I rejected it.

This is a dysfunctional uh council.

You violate your own rules.

This is no play game.

But you think it is.

You get these personality politics.

The city attorney violated the urgency on September 15th.

You didn't do anything.

You violated.

The transaction and youth tax.

You violated.

Measure X, you violated.

I'm gonna be actively participating in a recall of some of y'all, if not all of y'all.

I pushed it away.

I'm not going to push it away.

This is ridiculous.

Don't tell me about credentials.

Thank you, Mr.

Hazard.

Your time is up.

Thank you for paying attention to public safety.

We really appreciate the work of the council.

The buck does end with the council.

And right now, the residents are asking for public safety is the number one concern among Oakland residents.

So this is just a start.

The police chief actually has five bosses.

It's not just the police commission, it's the privacy commission.

It's measure and it's the mayor.

And between all of this, who can really keep their job when you have five bosses, you have record low staffing, and you have everybody blaming you for everything.

The tenure of a police chief is nine months when we have six police chiefs in the last five years.

Think about that.

What is the council going to do different to make sure that we have stability at leadership at OPD and that we have before you proceed?

I do not have a card for you for this item.

I didn't have one.

I'm sorry.

So Miss Booker, we have to treat everyone evenly.

And if you didn't submit a card, um Miss Booker, is there anything that you have to say?

Um, I just had a curiosity, being that I am vice chair, and so this would be a lot of responsibility on me if I chose to move forward into chair position, but then we will have a vacancy, a vice chair position is something you didn't consider, and there's also the possibility that every single commission will mention or will stay moving forward.

So we have five commissioners if this being rejected, and so the curiosity that I have with the um the new procedure will be months, and we do need to have a new chief, and we do have a CMC.

So I just am curious as to how council plans to move forward if we do not um with some assumptions being made that we will have quorum, if no one else chooses to take any other action after this.

So I like to just maybe invite other conversations because I think it was a little premature without some forethought about what's happening in December.

So tomorrow is the school board meeting on the consent agenda is item zero two service agreement with the Spanish speaking unity council to advance Latino school students' academic outcomes to address Latino men and boys to address Latino mentoring and achievement programs to address the Spanish-speaking unity council participating in uh Chicano Studies program.

Everything they're doing tomorrow related to the Spanish speaking unity council is for the Latino community.

That's great, but they come here to your meetings and they're the unity council, they're representing everybody, and that's not true.

It's great the work they do for the Latino community, but when they come in your arena, you allow them to represent themselves as the Unity Council, and you allow them to say they're working for all communities.

Tomorrow, they're getting $209.

Thank you, Miss Olabala.

Your time is up.