Special Meeting for Interviews of Board of Port Commissioners and Arts Commission Applicants - July 13, 2026

Interviews of applicants for the Arts Commission and the Board of Court Commissioners.

We hold meetings in a hybrid format with both in-person and virtual participation available.

And the city welcomes public comment on topics within the city's subject matter jurisdiction and members of the public may provide comments as follows.

In-person speakers will be called first.

Speaker cards are located at the back table in the council chambers and must be turned into the city clerk here at the Dais.

Please be sure to indicate the agenda item number you wish to speak on.

Attendees who have joined us by Zoom will be called to speak after the in-person comments have been given.

Detailed instructions for public comment will be provided on the screen when the time for public comment begins.

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

Good evening.

Councilmember Chu.

Here.

Councilmember G.

Present.

Council Member Howard.

Here.

Councilmember Padilla.

Present.

Councilmember Sturkin.

Here.

Vice Mayor Aiken.

Here.

Mayor Martinez Avayos.

Here.

Thank you.

Thank you, everybody.

With that, we'll go to the Vice Mayor for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please 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.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

We have all council members participating in person, so we'll skip over item number four and move to item number five, which is public comment.

We'll now take public comment on items both on and off the agenda.

We welcome speakers providing public comment, but please be advised that this is a limited public forum.

And as such, speakers must address matters within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city.

And if speakers do not, they'll be warned.

And if they continue to disregard city rules, their opportunity to speak will be limited.

If you're attending in person, please fill out a speaker card and submit it to the city clerk here at the Dais.

And if you're attending virtually, feel free to raise your hand on Zoom at this time or press star nine if you've joined by phone.

Once we've gathered all speaker cards and raised hands and have begun public comment, no additional speakers will be allowed to queue up to speak.

I will now turn it over to our city clerk to facilitate public comment.

Thank you, Mayor.

I don't have any speaker cards at this time.

So last call to the audience if anyone would like to give public comment this evening, or if you've joined us on Zoom, go ahead and raise your hand to be recognized.

Seeing none, Mayor, that concludes public comment.

Great, thank you, City Clerk.

With that, we'll move to item six and now begin the interviews for Board of Port Commissioners and Arts Commission.

The city clerk has provided all applicants with the same interview questions in advance, and the questions will also be shown on the screen for your reference.

The process for tonight's interviews will be as follows.

We'll begin with the interviews for the board of port commissioners, followed by the art commission.

Each of you will be called to the podium one at a time based on the order published on the agenda.

Applicants will be given three uninterrupted minutes to address the city council by presenting your responses to the three interview questions.

The timer will begin as soon as you start speaking.

Candidates are excused after your interview has concluded, but may remain in the chambers for the rest of the meeting if desired.

And the city council will make its elections for the port commission and the arts commission at the regular city council meeting on Monday, July 27th at 6 o'clock.

You do not need to be in attendance at that council meeting in order to be selected.

The city clerk will follow up with all of you with the results after that meeting.

And before we begin calling up applicants, I'd like to ask my city council colleagues to introduce themselves to the candidates.

Hello, my name is Isabella Chu.

I'm the city council member for District 3.

Um, and I'm just so grateful for all of the people who've put their names in the hat.