OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Rules and Legislation Committee Meeting - January 15, 2026

City Council — Thursday, January 15, 2026
BodyOakland, California
SessionCity Council
DateThursday, January 15, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 41:23
Transcript — Verbatim
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Good morning and welcome to the Rules and Legislation Committee of Thursday, January 15th.

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Before I call roll, I will give speaker card instructions.

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If you would like to speak on any item on this agenda, please fill out a speaker's card

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and give that card to a clerk representative before the item is called or 10 minutes after

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the start of the meeting.

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This meeting started at 1031.

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So your last opportunity to turn in the speaker's card will be at 1041 AM.

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OR BEFORE THE ITEM IS CALLED FOR DISCUSSION WHICHEVER COMES FIRST ON ROLL FOR THIS MEETING ARE

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COUNCIL MEMBERS BROWN PRESENT COUNCIL MEMBER FIVE PRESENT COUNCIL MEMBER RAMACHANDRAN EXCUSED

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AND CHAIR JENKINS PRESENT WE'LL BE CHAIRING THIS MEETING SHOWING THREE MEMBERS PRESENT ONE EXCUSE

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RAMACHANDRAN DO YOU HAVE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS BEFORE WE BEGIN YEAH HAPPY FOUNDERS DAY TO ALL MY FAVORITE AKAs

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That's it.

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Happy Founders Day to the AKAs.

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There are no minutes to be approved for this meeting.

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Going to new scheduling items, starting with item 3.1,

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receive an information report from the city administrator on the proposed

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reorganization of the Department of Transportation's parking division,

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including the rationale for the proposal a fiscal impact statement including any new or unfrozen

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staff costs and an analysis of operational cost savings a summary of outreach that occurred to

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department of transportation staff the public and the business community and information on

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how the change would impact the parking division's collaboration with other other departments

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this is asked to go before the january 27th public works committee agenda is there anything for the

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administration my apologies candace from the city administrator's office just to confirm we're on

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item 3.1 is that correct that's correct yes um uh administration is asking and i'm not sure if

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the um council members who brought this item forward are present but um we are asking that

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this item be moved to the february 10th uh transportation uh public works and transportation

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committee agenda if yes that is okay with both myself and councilmember Unger okay February 10th

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thank you so much moving to item 3.2 adopt a resolution honoring Michael P Ford for being

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awarded the national parking association's innovator of the year award on the January 27th

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Public Works and Transportation Committee agenda. Item 3.3 I believe has a title change.

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Is there somebody here from District 2 to read in the title change or somebody from the city

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attorney's office? Oh District 1. No District 2 you got me confused. Okay we'll come back to that. I'm

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I'm going to be added as a co-sponsor to this item.

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3.3.

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District 2 can go and grab.

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Oh, are you going to read in the title change?

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Okay, come on up.

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No, we're on item 3.3.

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Good morning. Yes, the title change is Ordinance Amending Oakland Municipal Code 9.08.260,

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Prohibition of Prostitution and Prostitution-Related Offenses to Conform to State Law.

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One, by repealing the offense of loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.

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2 adding loitering for the purpose of purchasing commercial sex as an offense

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3 allowing for the administrative assessment of fines against sex purchasers sex traffickers

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and properties used for prostitution and 4 creating a human trafficking survivor support fund

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thank you so do you need to read it in before i go to cancel number five

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okay

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council member fife yes through the chair to our district two um staff is there a reason this is

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going to life in richmond and not public safety uh yeah through the chair thank you for asking um

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so our amendments to this municipal code are intended to benefit all stakeholders

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in the community and along International Boulevard,

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the residents, the business owners,

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the individuals that are being trafficked.

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The fines associated with the amendments,

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while intended to support victims and survivors

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of sex trafficking, are also intended to impact demand

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and thus rid the community of sex trafficking.

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Life in Richmond has been about providing support services

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and the fund that we are establishing,

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in fact are doing that and then in addition they are enriching the life of everyone in the community.

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Ultimately that's why we thought that the bill would be better for that committee.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████25%
Public Safety█████████████████████████25%
Transportation Safety██████████████14%
Public Engagement██████████10%
Community Engagement████████8%
Engineering And Infrastructure███████7%
Economic Development██████6%
Personnel Matters███3%
Technology and Innovation██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Rules and Legislation Committee Meeting - January 15, 2026

The Rules and Legislation Committee met on January 15, 2026, to discuss scheduling of agenda items, review pending lists, and hear public testimony. The committee approved amendments to agenda assignments and rescheduled several items. Key decisions included moving a proposed reorganization of the Department of Transportation's parking division to a future meeting, reassigning an ordinance on prostitution offenses to the Public Safety Committee, and adjusting committee meeting dates.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Douglas Mount (Assistant to the Director, DOT) spoke on item 3.1, reading a statement about parking systems complexity but time expired before finishing.
  • Artisha Rose (Parking Enforcement Supervisor) spoke on item 3.1, expressing concern that the proposed reorganization was made without consulting parking enforcement staff and asked that affected employees have a seat at the table.
  • Keith Sherholtz (DOT employee) spoke on items 3.1 and 3.2, praising Michael Ford's leadership and innovation in parking management, and stating that Ford's leadership has improved morale and revenue.
  • Kirby Olson (Local 21 Union member and resident) spoke on items 3.1 and 3.2, thanking Councilmembers Brown and Unger for bringing the reorganization to light, calling it a secretive and hostile takeover, and noting opposition from multiple advocacy groups and a petition with 83 signatures from parking division staff.
  • Kevin Daly (Transport Oakland) spoke on items 3.1 and 3.2, supporting keeping parking within the Department of Transportation as it has been since 2016, and highlighting safety and revenue benefits under Michael Ford's leadership. He also spoke on item 4, requesting that the fire code be placed on the pending list every three years, starting in 2028, and noted copyright issues with the current fire code.
  • Rajni Mondal (District 4 resident) spoke on item 4, requesting a rules-level discussion to clarify the scope of the Public Safety Planning and Oversight Commission (OPSBAC) under Measure NN, and requesting that application packets for Police Commission appointments be posted for the January 20 council meeting.

Discussion Items

New Scheduling Items (Item 3) The committee considered multiple agenda items for future committee meetings. Key items included:

  • 3.1: Informational report on proposed reorganization of DOT's parking division. Administration requested moving from January 27 to February 10 Public Works Committee; committee agreed.
  • 3.2: Resolution honoring Michael Ford for national parking innovation award. Moved to January 27 Public Works Committee.
  • 3.3: Ordinance amending prostitution-related offenses. After a title change read by District 2 staff and discussion about committee assignment, the committee moved it to the January 27 Public Safety Committee (instead of Life Enrichment) and added Council President Jenkins as a co-sponsor.
  • 3.4-3.6: Financial reports moved to February 10 Finance Committee.
  • 3.7: Grant agreements for community organizations. Moved to February 10 Life Enrichment Committee (per request of Councilmember Ramachandran's office).
  • 3.8-3.10: Various items assigned to Finance, Public Works, and CED committees on February 10.
  • 3.11: Resolution awarding grants for nutrition services (title change). Assigned to January 27 Public Works Committee.
  • 3.12-3.16: Recommendations from previous committee meetings. Items 3.12 (Montclair parking facility agreement) and 3.13 (Caltrans maintenance agreement) were approved and forwarded to January 20 City Council. Item 3.13 was placed on the consent calendar at the mayor's office request, contingent on confirmation from Councilmember Gallo; if not confirmed, it would be pulled. Items 3.14 (MOU with Santa Clara Police) and 3.15 (ITPSA with medical consultants) were approved and sent to consent on January 20. Item 3.16 (summer food service program) was approved and sent to consent.

Agenda Review and Pending List Changes (Item 4) The administration proposed several changes to draft agendas and pending lists:

  • CED pending list item 2 (code enforcement tracking) moved to February 10.
  • Finance pending list item (citywide strategic plan) moved from February 10 back to January 27.
  • January 27 Finance committee item 5 (fair labor standards investigation) moved to April 21.
  • CED draft agenda items 3 (anti-displacement plan) and 4 (relocation agreement) moved to February 10, resulting in cancellation of the January 27 CED meeting.
  • Public Safety committee meeting on January 27 was moved from 6:00 PM to 1:30 PM to fill the vacancy. Councilmember Fife will be excused, but quorum is present with other members.

Key Outcomes

  • The committee voted 3-0 (with Councilmember Ramachandran excused) to approve the amended new scheduling items (Item 3).
  • The committee voted 3-0 to approve the agenda and pending list changes (Item 4) as amended.
  • Notable decisions: The proposed DOT parking division reorganization will be discussed at the February 10 Public Works Committee. The prostitution ordinance will be heard in Public Safety on January 27. The CED meeting on January 27 was canceled, and the Public Safety meeting was rescheduled to 1:30 PM on the same day.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning and welcome to the Rules and Legislation Committee of Thursday, January 15th. Before I call roll, I will give speaker card instructions. If you would like to speak on any item on this agenda, please fill out a speaker's card and give that card to a clerk representative before the item is called or 10 minutes after the start of the meeting. This meeting started at 1031. So your last opportunity to turn in the speaker's card will be at 1041 AM. OR BEFORE THE ITEM IS CALLED FOR DISCUSSION WHICHEVER COMES FIRST ON ROLL FOR THIS MEETING ARE COUNCIL MEMBERS BROWN PRESENT COUNCIL MEMBER FIVE PRESENT COUNCIL MEMBER RAMACHANDRAN EXCUSED AND CHAIR JENKINS PRESENT WE'LL BE CHAIRING THIS MEETING SHOWING THREE MEMBERS PRESENT ONE EXCUSE RAMACHANDRAN DO YOU HAVE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS BEFORE WE BEGIN YEAH HAPPY FOUNDERS DAY TO ALL MY FAVORITE AKAs That's it. Happy Founders Day to the AKAs. There are no minutes to be approved for this meeting. Going to new scheduling items, starting with item 3.1, receive an information report from the city administrator on the proposed reorganization of the Department of Transportation's parking division, including the rationale for the proposal a fiscal impact statement including any new or unfrozen staff costs and an analysis of operational cost savings a summary of outreach that occurred to department of transportation staff the public and the business community and information on how the change would impact the parking division's collaboration with other other departments this is asked to go before the january 27th public works committee agenda is there anything for the administration my apologies candace from the city administrator's office just to confirm we're on item 3.1 is that correct that's correct yes um uh administration is asking and i'm not sure if the um council members who brought this item forward are present but um we are asking that this item be moved to the february 10th uh transportation uh public works and transportation committee agenda if yes that is okay with both myself and councilmember Unger okay February 10th thank you so much moving to item 3.2 adopt a resolution honoring Michael P Ford for being awarded the national parking association's innovator of the year award on the January 27th Public Works and Transportation Committee agenda. Item 3.3 I believe has a title change. Is there somebody here from District 2 to read in the title change or somebody from the city attorney's office? Oh District 1. No District 2 you got me confused. Okay we'll come back to that. I'm I'm going to be added as a co-sponsor to this item. 3.3. District 2 can go and grab. Oh, are you going to read in the title change? Okay, come on up. No, we're on item 3.3. Good morning. Yes, the title change is Ordinance Amending Oakland Municipal Code 9.08.260, Prohibition of Prostitution and Prostitution-Related Offenses to Conform to State Law. One, by repealing the offense of loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. 2 adding loitering for the purpose of purchasing commercial sex as an offense 3 allowing for the administrative assessment of fines against sex purchasers sex traffickers and properties used for prostitution and 4 creating a human trafficking survivor support fund thank you so do you need to read it in before i go to cancel number five okay council member fife yes through the chair to our district two um staff is there a reason this is going to life in richmond and not public safety uh yeah through the chair thank you for asking um so our amendments to this municipal code are intended to benefit all stakeholders in the community and along International Boulevard,

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