Cool comments to the city council at council at road city dot org.

Written comments will not be read aloud but will be made part of the final meeting record.

And I'll now turn it over to our city clerk to call the roll.

Good evening.

Councilmember Chu.

Here.

Councilmember G will be joining us shortly.

Councilmember Howard.

Here.

Councilmember Padilla.

Here.

Councilmember Sturkin.

Here.

Vice Mayor Aiken.

Here, Mayor Martina Saballos.

Thank you.

Thank you, everybody.

With that, we'll move on to the Pledge of Allegiance, Vice Mayor Aiken.

Could you do the honors, please?

Could you all please rise to join me in saluting our flag?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

And to the Republic for which it says one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Item four is a procedural item for the purpose of identifying and confirming any council members who wish to participate in the meeting virtually and have not already provided a remote location listed on the agenda.

This item does not pertain to public comment from the public.

We'll now convene a closed session regarding existing litigation as identified on the agenda.

Before we leave the dais, I'll turn things over to the city clerk for any public comment on our closed session item.

No speaker cards.

Seeing none, I'll turn it back to you, Mayor.

Thank you.

And we'll now convene closed session, which is expected to take less than an hour, and following the conclusion of closed session, we'll return here to the dais uh to continue with the rest of our regular meeting.

And um, we again I know this is a little awkward since we have some ceremonial pieces, but we'll work as quickly as we can.

Thank you for your patience.

Hello, everybody.

Good evening.

Thank you for your patience tonight.

We're going to go ahead and get started.

We're going to pick up where we left off with presentations and acknowledgments.

Our first recognition item this evening is to acknowledge National Memorial, excuse me, National Emergency Management Awareness Month, typically celebrated in August, a time to highlight the vital role of emergency managers in coordinating disaster response and recovery efforts.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Elmer Martinez of Ayos, mayor of Redwood City, on behalf of the City Council and the people of Redwood City hereby proclaim August 2025 as National Emergency Management Awareness Month, and express sincere appreciation to the emergency managers in every sector who worked diligently to prepare, protect, and serve our cities, our counties, our states, tribes, territories, regions, and organizations against all hazards and risks.

I'd like to now welcome Redwood City's CERT coordinator and emergency preparedness outreach coordinator Alana Fulvio to the podium to accept the proclamation and give some remarks.

Thank you for being here, thank you.

Good evening, good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Martinez Sabayos, Mayor Aiken, Vice Mayor Aiken, and City Council members.

It's really nice to be with you tonight for the first time.

I am your Redwood City Emergency Preparedness Outreach Coordinator and CERC coordinator.

To start off, I'd like to thank you for recognizing Emergency Management Month with this proclamation.

It's an honor to receive it for this community.

This is the first time in history that such a proclamation has actually been made, and it powerfully highlights the work that often happens quietly behind the scenes, yet is essential to the safety and resilience of us all.

Emergency management is about more than responding to disasters when it's when they strike.

It's about building preparedness into the fabric of our community, so that when challenges come, whether a power outage, flood, wildfire, earthquake, or any localized event, we are united and ready.

The role of emergency managers is to prepare for all possible incidents, ensure our responders are resourced, informed, and empowered in real time to protect lives and restore stability during an incident and support recovery thereafter.

Always with the goal of keeping our community safe, supported, unified, and prepared for whatever challenges may arise.

Preparedness is not just a city responsibility, it's something we build together.

Residents, businesses, and leadership.

Each action we take now ensures that in times of need, our community can lean on each other with confidence.

As September is also National Preparedness Month, I encourage everyone to stay take one step forward in their own readiness.

A great resource is Ready.gov, where you can find practical guides and tools for households, families, neighbors, and friends.

And so to find finish this off, I just want to thank you very much for your support, the recognition, and it truly, truly matters.

Together, we can build a more connected and resilient city.

Thank you so much.