Mr.

Dickinson, can you lead us in the pledge and land acknowledgement?

Can I take a quick roll call to establish a quorum?

We're gonna start at 2.06.

Councilmember Kaplan will be absent this afternoon.

Councilmember Dickinson.

Here.

Vice Mayor Talamante.

Councilmember Pleckybaum.

Councilmember Maple.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Geta?

Here.

Councilmember Jennings.

Here.

Council Member Vang?

Here.

And Mayor McCarty.

Here.

You have a quorum.

Please rise as you are able.

This is our opening acknowledgement in honor of Sacramento's indigenous people and tribal lands to the original peoples of this land, the Nissanan people, the Southern Maidu, Valley, Plains, Miwok, and Patton Winton.

Rancheria, Sacramento's only, excuse me, and the people of the Wilton Rancheria, Sacramento's only federally recognized tribe.

May we acknowledge and honor the Native people who came before us and still walk beside us today on these ancestral lands by choosing to gather together today in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's indigenous peoples' history, contributions, and lives.

And if you would join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands.

One nation.

And City Attorney Martinez, did you have a report out from closed session?

Your mic's on.

Okay.

The city council met in closed session pursuant to government code section 54957 for the performance evaluation of the city auditor.

Council directed the city auditor to continue an audit of the police department by including a refined and focused review of protectual traffic stops.

The auditors to prepare a staff report and return to council with recommendations on the audit and adjusting her work plan.

End of report.

Thank you.

Okay, please proceed.

Mayor, we now move to the consent calendar, items one through 32.

Um are there any members that have comments or questions on the items?

Councilmember Dickinson.

Councilmember Vang.

Comments on item seven as well.

Thank you.

Perfect.

And then I do have um 14 speakers on item seven.

Shall I take those now?

Yes.

Thank you.

Um, or do we want to vote on the remainder of the consent calendar?

The public comment now.

Perfect.

Okay.

Um so this is on item seven.

Giselle Garcia, Erica Thomas, Patricia Doherty, Judith Poxton.

So please feel free to line up in the middle aisle.

Giselle is our first speaker, then Erica, Patricia, Judith.

Giselle.

Uh, okay, we'll go back to her.

Okay.

Erica.

Can you hear me okay?

Yes.

My name is Erica Thomas.

I'm a resident of District 7.

I'm a graduate of UC Davis School of Law and an attorney.

I'm here in my personal capacity to urge the city to adopt the proposed reinvestment policy.

I'm tired of watching international politicians condemn the genocide in Palestine without any meaningful change.

The destruction of Gaza, the expanding occupation in the West Bank in Lebanon, and the countless other human rights abuses committed by Israel against doctors, journalists, and other prisoners shows that Israel, the U.S., and other war profiteers truly feel a complete impunity for any of their actions.

Israel's actions will only stop when we stop funding the genocide and when we stop investing in the companies profiting off this genocide.

But beyond Palestine, this policy would rightly end our investments in countless other abuses.

We have seen further environmental destruction, ice tearing families apart, and the expansion of mass incarceration, all while families in Sacramento struggle to feed and house themselves.

When the teachers were recently on strike in Sacramento, the amount that they were asking was equal to one bomb that was being sent to Iran.

You all have the power to turn the course and serve Sacramento families first instead of companies profiting off these abuses.

History has shown us that atrocities have ended not because people at the highest echelons of power suddenly developed a conscience.

It is because movements like the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and the grassroots movement for civil rights in the United States show that atrocities have ended because people in our communities, people like you and people like me have moved to stop them.

I wonder, I'm sorry, this policy is the most concrete way that we can make a difference and ensure that our money goes towards our community and allows our communities to grow and flourish, not further death and destruction nationally and abroad.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Patricia is our next speaker, then Judith.

Good afternoon.

I'm Patricia Doherty.

I'm here representing the Reconciling and Social Justice Committee of First United Methodist Church of Sacramento, located at 21st in J.

We urge the council to approve the Treasurer's proposed socially responsible investment policy.

I'm also the chair of the Palestine Task Force of the California Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church.

The global United Methodist Church has 27 billion dollars in its pension portfolio, reportedly the largest faith-based entity in the world that the largest portfolio.

The agency managing this portfolio and many other financial firms have known for a very long time that socially responsible investing not only supports social values, it does not hurt the financial bottom line.

In fact, it yields, this yields are equal to, if not better, to portfolios that don't adhere to ethical investment screening.

In June 2014, Methodists divested from the international security firm G4S due to its involvement in private prisons and the support of the illegal Israeli military occupation.

I want to remind folks that the Sacramento Regional Transit also ended its contract with G4S in 2017, and this was following community urging.

In 2015, Methodists also divested from five major Israeli banks due to their financing of illegal Israeli settlements and the support of continued military occupation.

Then, based on UN findings in 2024, Methodist officially divested from the government from government bonds of Israel, Turkey, Morocco, and 60 other nations identified as having poor human rights records or engaging in prolonged military occupations.

Adopting this socially responsible investment policy today sends a powerful message.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Judith Poxton, then Rhonda Rios Kravitz.

Hi, my name's Judith Poxen, no T.

As a resident and voter in District 4, I urge the city council to approve the treasurer's proposed socially responsible investment update to the city's investment policy.

This update would ensure that the city not invest in companies that cause harm to our communities.

I want city funds out of companies that knowingly enable and perpetrate harm locally and globally, including environmental destruction, genocide, apartheid, surveillance, mass incarceration, and prison labor.

I believe that all humans are implicated in all human suffering.

So it is our collective responsibility to ensure that our investments don't add to that suffering.

Thank you.

Rhonda's our next speaker.

Then Jason Diet, then Azura Haley.

Good afternoon.

My name is Rhonda Reyos Kravitz, and I live in District 7, and I'm here to urge you to approve the treasurer's proposed socially responsible investment update to the city's investment policy.

This update is not symbolic.

Rather, it is necessary and critical.

Sacramento should not invest dollars in companies that harm our communities like Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, IBM, and Amazon.

Our investment policy must reflect our values, our commitments to equity, and our responsibility to protect residents from the downstream impacts of corporate practices that cause real harm and suffering.

This proposal is fiscally responsible.

It does not cost the city any additional money.

It adds value by ensuring that our financial decisions account for the human cost of corporate impunity.

When we invest in companies that profit from harm, we become complicit in that harm.

City funds should be divested from companies that knowingly enable or perpetuate violence and exploitation, including environmental destruction, genocide, apartheid, surveillance, mass incarceration and detention, and prison labor.

These industries extract from communities, destabilize families, and deepen inequities that Sacramento is already working hard to address.

A socially responsible investment policy aligns our financial practices with our stated commitment to justice, sustainability, and community wellbeing.

It ensures that our tax dollars support companies and initiatives that build safety, dignity, and opportunity, not systems that harm people here or anywhere else.

Sacramento has an opportunity to lead with integrity.

Our investments must reflect our values and ensure that our financial decisions uplift communities rather than contribute to their suffering.

I strongly urge you to adopt this update and move our city toward a more ethical, transparent, and community centered.

Thank you for your comments.

Jason is our next speaker.

Hi, my name's Jason.

I'm with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and I live here in uh Council District 4.

I urge you to adopt the uh treasurer's proposal for a conscious uh investment plan.

Uh I we started off this meeting today with a land acknowledgement.

Uh, and that land acknowledgement comes from our history, where we as like the United States of America expanded and caused a genocide to the Native people who who live here.

And world leaders, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice all recognize like the atrocities happening in Israel-Palestine as a genocide.

Uh, and when we invest in companies that are that are funding that, that are profiting from that, like that makes us complicit.

Like Lockheed Martin, who is uh in charge, or they work with the Tomahawk Missile Program, uh, the Tomahawk missile program, or a Tomahawk missile, like on the first day or two of their war in Iran, bombed an all-girls school in Iran.

And when we're sending our Sacramentan money into that, like all of a sudden we're we're funding that uh in amidst an affordability crisis.

Like you talk to Sacramentans, you talk to Californians, and you or you look at the polls, and Sacramentans will say that we're having a cost of living crisis.

Every year it's getting less and less affordable.

Meanwhile, like half of our federal tax money is going to war.

Uh, and even our city budgets, we're investing in these same things that aren't going back to benefit us and our communities, they're just serving the interests of these weapon manufacturers and uh this war agenda.

So I urge you please to have like look to yourself, look to the situation and uh find that morality because we we can be like Sacramento can take that lead there by having a conscious budget.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Azura, then Danny Hadid, then Christopher.

Hello, my name is Azura Haley, and I'm a resident of District 4.

I'm also a part of Jewish Voice for Peace, NorCal resist in UAW 2350.

I urge the council to approve the treasurer's proposed socially responsible investment update to the city's investment policy.

This update is necessary to ensure the city makes a commitment not to invest in companies that hurt our communities.

This update will not cost the city any money and will only add value by addressing the human cost of corporate impunity.

I really personally want city funds out of companies that knowingly enable and perpetuate harms locally and globally, including environmental destruction, genocide, apartheid surveillance, mass incarceration, and detention and prison labor.

It's very important to me that none of my local tax dollars are funding the companies that are creating these weapons that are being used to bomb innocent people.

It's bad enough, you know that our federal money is going directly to Israel, and while we continue that fight against that, I really want to make sure that we're not adding to that problem locally.

Human rights abuses abroad and locally are not disconnected.

The same companies enabling harm in places like Palestine, Sudan, the Congo, and Ukraine also fuel harm here at home.

We're asking you to put people first and approve the socially responsible investment policy update.

And just for an example, you know, Lockheed Martin supplies the Israeli government with a wide variety of weapons, forming the backbone of the Israeli Air Force.

These weapons were used to kill hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, and they are also polluting and displacing communities here in California.

Lockheed also provides reconnaissance aircraft that contributes to the growing militarization of the US Mexico border and has had over one billion dollars in contracts with ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies, enabling immigration detention and surveillance with widespread violations of human rights.

I respectfully ask you to please pass the new investment policy item seven.

Next speaker's Danny, then Christopher.

Hi, my name is Danny Haddad.

I'm here to ask that the city of Sacramento adopt a responsible investment policy that would divest the city from companies enabling severe human rights violations.

The city is currently invested in some of the worst offenders who have been called on by the most respected human rights organizations in the world to stop these operations.

Caterpillar, for example, provides the Israeli military with armored bulldozers, which are used to enforce the Israeli system of apartheid and enable the genocide in Gaza.

Search any human rights report covering any of Israel's assaults on Gaza, and you will find dozens and dozens of references to specifically caterpillar's D9 armored bulldozer being used to commit and enable atrocities in Gaza and in Lebanon and the West Bank.

Seriously, go and search that.

You can find Israeli militants uh talking and bragging about how they destroyed X number of telephone polls, they destroyed X number of houses and keeping score and keeping track and uh and really bragging about how they are uh using that specific bulldozer to commit those crimes.

The city also holds investments in Lockheed Martin, which supplies the aircraft used to carry out carry out the genocide in Gaza.

When these companies enable discuss destruction abroad, it also affects us here in very concrete ways.

The recent GKN aerospace chemical leak in Southern California is a perfect example of this.

That same plant, the same plant that led to the evacuation of 40,000 people in Southern California contracts with Lockheed Martin to manufacture components of its F 35 fighter jets and was likely servicing a recent rush order on those same parts.

Divestment has a long history of being used to hold violators of human rights accountable.

During the fight against apartheid in South Africa, over 25 US states and 90 cities took some form of economic action against doing business in South Africa.

That effort was famously effective.

It's time we do the same thing here.

Thanks.

Hi everyone, my name is Christopher Camilo Carvajal Carvajal.

I'm an organizer with Reinvest in Sacramento, also decarcerate Sacramento.

I'm here today in support of the proposed socially responsible investment policy.

Public money is not neutral.

Every investment is a statement about the kind of future we are choosing to build and the values we are choosing to uphold.

The systems that profit from violence abroad are often the same systems that profit from harm here at home.

The companies that enable war, militarization, surveillance, and the ongoing genocide of Palestinians are often the same corporations that profit from immigrant detention, family separation, mass incarceration, and the criminalization of our communities.

These are not separate issues.

They're connected by common logic that human lives can be sacrificed in pursuit of profit.

And whether someone is being bombed overseas, detained at the border, placed under surveillance, pushed into homelessness, separated from their families, or locked in a jail cell.

There are corporations' positions to benefit from that suffering.

I believe Sacramento residents deserve to know that their tax dollars are not being invested in industries that depend on violence, displacement, incarceration, and exploitation.

Instead, our public resources should reflect our highest values and contribute to the things that allow communities to flourish, and that include housing, health care, education, environmental sustainability, and economic dignity.

The struggles for justice, whether against genocide, immigrant detention, environmental destruction, or mass incarceration are deeply interconnected.

Today, Sacramento has an opportunity to join communities across the country, across this damn state in saying that public dollars should serve people, not profit from their suffering.

I urge you to vote in favor of this proposal.

Thanks.

Amira, then Jason, then Eli.

Please proceed.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Amir Al Malah, and I'm here today representing the Reinvest in Sacramento Coalition, a coalition of 34 local organizations, Palestinian rights, environmental, health, immigration, racial and economic justice activists, faith groups, and unions, many of whom you're hearing from today.

And our organizations are driven by a common purpose, to take care of our communities to address systemic oppressions and support people to thrive.

We came together to call on you all to call on the city of Sacramento to commit to divesting public funds from all forms of harm and by incorporating socially responsible investment language into the investment policy.

We affirm that profiting off of human suffering is not profitable for the people of Sacramento.

And we want an investment policy that sets clear criteria to prevent investment of our public funds in companies enabling severe human rights violations like the genocide and apartheid in Palestine or the genocides in the Sudan and the Congo, in weapons manufacturers profiting off of global conflict, and in companies perpetuating systems of mass incarceration and immigration detention and surveillance, which themselves include severe human rights violations like prison labor and torture and abuse in ICE detention centers.

The city is already divested from fossil fuels and tobacco, and we call on you to formalize this and to make a commitment to put people first and to have our investments uphold our values.

It is the role of local government to hold corporations accountable when they are committing abuses that affect their constituents.

We want investments that prioritize our well-being, like accessible housing, health care, education, youth empowerment, and supportive resources that meet people's needs rather than criminalize their struggles.

Thank you.

Thanks, Speaker.

Is Jason, then Eli Conley.

Hi, I'm Jason.

Living in District 4, representing the peace and justice choir today.

Sorry, a little nervous.

So in general, we need more movement from you.

We need commitments from you.

We need actual change.

We need you to put the money where your heart is.

And if your heart isn't there, then we can find people to do that.

Um, divestment from genocide in Palestine, mass murder in Iran, mass detention, abuse and abuse across the world, in the country, in the state, and less than a mile from us of the John Loss building.

This needs to change.

And until there's legal accountability for accurately representing the constituents' needs, we implore you to do this based on who we are and who you are and what we want to do for the future.

We are clearly demanding this, very clearly.

Everyone in here is please do not only what we need you to, but please do what you know is the best thing for us.

As people, as humans, please put your money where your heart is.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Eli Conley, then MEP, then Raylin Ferris.

Hello.

I'm Eli Conley.

I'm a resident of District 6.

And I just want to say, first off, I'm so thankful that the council is considering this.

I know it is a big deal in this moment to make these considerations in the political climate.

I would strongly urge you all to adopt this socially responsible investment policy.

And I'm a member of Singing Resistance and Jewish Voice for Peace, and so I feel I can best speak as a singer and invite anybody who wants to to sing with me.

We've got to put our money where our heart is.

Toward every human living healthy, living free.

We've got to put our money where our heart is.

We've got to put our money where our heart is.

Toward every human living healthy living free.

One more time.

Fun the world we want to see.

We've got to put our money where our heart is.

Toward every human living healthy, living free.

Thank you.

Next speaker is MEP, then Ray Lynn Ferris.

Hi.

My name is Emmy Pina.

I'm with Sack Do you say in the SAC Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights.

Uh I became politically involved because I couldn't stand to continue watching Genocide of Palestinians that we've all been forced to witness.

And forced to take part in through our tax dollars.

As part of the reinvest in Sacramento campaign.

Is asking so little.

It is an incredibly low bar.

It is not a choice between practicality and morality, rather.

It is a choice between whether or not we would like to continue this insult against humanity.

And we are nearing three years of the genocide.

There is no excuse to continue our support in companies that are enabling Israel to continue.

That's all.

Speaker is Ray Lynn, then Annie H.

Then Kimura.

Hi, my name's Rayline, District 7.

And everyone that's come up here has urged you to please adopt a socially responsible investment plan.

You all have the power to do that.

And I'm with singing resistance also, so I'm going to use my time with the song.

Who has the power?

Who has the power?

You have the power, you have the power, who has the power, who has the power.

You have the power, you have the power.

What do we do?

And what do we do?

We have the power.

We take care of each other.

Who's got the vision?

Who's got the vision?

We've got the vision, we've got the vision.

Who's got the vision?

Who's got the vision?

We've got the vision.

Who's got the vision?

What do we do?

And what do we do?

And we got the vision?

Got the vision.

We take care of each other.

Who's got the courage?

Who's got the courage?

We've got the courage, we've got the courage.

Who's got the courage?

Who's got the courage?

You've got the courage.

You've got the courage.

What do we do?

And what do we do?

And we have the courage.

We have the courage.

We take care of each other.

Who's got the power?

Who's got the power?

You've got the power.

You've got the power.

Well, got the power.

Who's got the power?

We all have the power.

We all have the power.

What do we do?

And what do we do?

And we've got the power.

We've got the power.

We take care of each other.

Yes, we do.

We take care of each other.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Annie H.

Then Kimora.

Annie.

Annie H, then Kimora, then Joshua Hutchinson.

Hi, my name's Ann, and I'm an environmental scientist with the state.

I live in District 5.

And I'm a member of Caps UAW, which is the Union for State Scientists here in California.

And there are several thousand of us who live or work in Sacramento.

And I and many of my state scientist colleagues work to lessen the impacts of climate change for the people and ecosystems of California.

And so it's common sense to us that we should not be investing in entities whose products are a major source of the emissions that make climate change worse.

And this includes fossil fuel companies, but also includes weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, which are a major source of emissions.

The push to divest from these companies making climate change worse is personal as well as professional because I and my colleagues, like all of us, live and work in California, and we also bear the brunt of the impact of climate change in our personal lives.

So we too are affected by wildfire, by heat, by droughts, and so Sacramento divesting from companies that product that profit from environmental destruction is necessary to align our personal and our professional values.

Another thing I want to mention is that many state scientists support divestment from entities committing and profiting from genocide and apartheid.

So as a local, we supported a proposal that would divest the United Auto workers' investment funds from Israeli bonds.

I know that this city's proposed investment policy is much more broad and does not target any particular entity, but I do want you to know that many scientists who live and work here in Sacramento are supportive of divestment and don't want their tax dollars or their union dues to go to the worst of the worst.

And so this is just one of the few reasons why I support this policy change, and I hope that you will adopt this investment policy.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Kimiora Ward, and I'm also a member of Capsu AW California Association of Professional Scientists.

And I'm just here, I don't have a lot to say, it'll be quick.

I just want to urge you to adopt this socially responsible investment policy.

It just does not make sense to be putting our money towards war, towards um human rights abuses and the destruction of our planet.

It's counter to our the goals that we all have together for a peaceful world, well-being in our community, and a healthy planet.

So please uh please adopt that policy.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Joshua, then Nikki, then Sidney Harper.

I'm Josh, I live in District 5.

Um, I'm with Ask Me 3299.

I'm already also with Party for Socialism and Liberty.

Um I had to adopt a socially responsible investment.

Uh policy myself recently.

I took my partner to the zoo for their birthday.

They wanted to see uh Benturong.

It's a really cool bear cat, smells like popcorn, it's neat.

Um, it's back feet articulate backwards so it can climb down a tree face first.

Um they're really cute.

And when we ask the uh the docent there, what can we do to ensure that their habitat isn't destroyed?

They said, well, you need to download this palm oil app where you can make smart choices at the grocery store and not invest in anything that would cause deforestation.

So capitalism sucks, and even at the grocery store, we have to deal with whether or not we're going to make a species extinct by what we buy.

And you guys are investing millions of dollars for millions of people, and you guys need to be socially responsible, or we will see species destroyed, we will see countries destroyed, people's destroyed.

And I'm just buying a tree or a pulped up, juiced up oil tree.

And you'd be actually buying like a piece of a bomb or a piece of a tractor that's going to go mow down houses and people.

So please just have some rules for how you spend your money.

Money is not neutral.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Nikki.

I have 20 more speakers.

Nikki, Sidney Harper, Therese, Madison Boynton.

Yeah, everyone has really articulated so beautifully the reasons why it's such a good idea for y'all to take on this policy.

And I just want to thank Councilmember Mai's office and council member Roger Rogers' office and the treasurer for bringing this forward.

It's really a bold move, and it they did a great job.

Y'all did a great job, and Sacramento has an opportunity to be leaders.

Sacramento has an opportunity to align its investment with our purported values.

Values are everything, right?

Values operate how we are in relationship in community, and our money is no different in terms of how we how we spend it, how we use it.

That's that's still a relationship we're in and community.

Um and we encourage you all to be in good relationship.

Um be uh in community in deciding with us together that this just isn't what we want to do.

We don't want to be invested in Amazon, whose technology is the backbone of our deportation machine, or um, you know, they used to be a bookstore.

Do you guys remember that?

That's crazy.

Um, and now they are the backbone of our surveillance systems.

And so we really just we we don't have to do that.

Uh we can choose something better uh for our community, and you all have a really good opportunity to do that today.

Uh, and I hope that you take it.

And just once again, thanks for uh moving it this far.

And it's um you can do a good job.

You can you can make a good choice, and I hope you do.

Thank you.

Is it Sydney or Therese?

Hi, my name is Sydney.

I'm a resident of District 4, a member of Midtown Neighborhood Association, and I have my bachelor's in ethnic studies from Sacramento State University.

And I would love to urge you to adopt the socially responsible investment policy.

There's a lot we can do as individuals.

Me personally, I'm vegan, I boycott as much as possible.

I put all my dollars that I can within Sacramento, but it's not enough if we're just doing it ourselves.

If all this money is going directly into bombs overseas, like some of the caps workers have been saying, these weapons manufacturers are a contributing greatly to climate change, and we do see wildfires here, we see extreme heat, but at the end of the day, here in California, we're not gonna see the worst of climate change, it's gonna be something out of sight, out of mind for us personally.

So we need to think about what our actions are doing, what we're doing day to day that is gonna impact not only our residents, but the residents of the world.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Therese and Madison Boynton.

Oh, it is pass.

Thank you, Madison, and then Doran.

Hello, my name is Madison.

I'm an environmental scientist and proud member of CAPS UAW 1115.

And while I know a lot of the folks that have spoken helped put together this responsible investment strategy that I am in support of, I was not one of those folks.

I actually learned about this movement more recently.

And when I learned about it from my colleagues in UAW, I was so motivated by it.

Not only because of the ethical benefit of it that should be enough, but also because of how much work I saw had been put into it and how knowledgeable these folks were about the investment strategy, making it a practical, applicable strategy that will serve Sacramento residents.

Well, thank you.

Next speaker is Doran Leviathan, then Giselle Garcia.

Hello, my name is Daron Levitan.

Good to see you.

I'm actually here to speak about opposing this.

Because I don't believe boycott is the way to go.

I'm also a pro-piece.

And I believe that peace is the way.

I think human cooperation is the way to do it.

When we boycott something, somebody gets hurt.

And in some point, sometimes the people we try to protect.

When we boycott something, people that work hard, maybe Palestinian people in Israel will lose their job.

I think that we need to look carefully into what we do.

It looks good on the surface, but in the when you actually come to the bottom of it, it could be a real big problem.

Unlike other people around here, I was born in Israel, I grew up in Israel, I was educated there.

There's things I like about it, things I don't.

There's a lot of pro-peace people in Israel.

There's a lot of people that take things very seriously and try to make a change.

The way to make the change is cooperation and not boycotting.

Boycotting create the opposite of what we try to achieve.

So I'm encourage you not to vote for it because I feel like it's going to create the opposite effect.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Giselle, then Elena.

Good afternoon.

My name is Giselle Garcia.

I will be speaking as both a resident of District 4 and on behalf of NorCal Resist as its programs director.

Norcar Resist has been really proud to be a part of this incredible coalition, which includes our sponsoring council members, Vang and Dickinson.

Altogether, we are advocating for a fiscally and ethically sound investment policy for our city, and we're here today to bring it home.

And so I do want to start by saying how unfortunate it is that conversations surrounding human rights and dignity are often perceived as emotional, void of logical reasoning.

However, the research behind the delineated steps in this proposal prove otherwise.

And so this is not a radical ask.

This should not be controversial.

It's about you taking control as financial stewards of our city to disincentivize bad corporate actors from perpetuating harms locally and across the globe.

That includes environmental uh destruction, genocide, surveillance, mass incarceration, immigrant persecution, and more.

And so while people often criticize calls for accountability as empty council culture, I am asking you today to please cancel these contracts and divest from any company that is harmful.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Alea Alamandri, then Linda Wheaton, then Kathy A.

And I might be saying that A-L-YAA.

Thank you.

Linda Wheaton, then Kathy A.

Good afternoon.

I'm Linda Wheaton, a member of a number of social justice organizations.

Here to urge you today to support the update of the uh investment policy, including the social investment policy in particular.

If ever there were a time where there's a need in our country and the world for such policies, it is now.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Kathy A.

Then Jazmete Singh.

Hello.

I'm a resident of Sacramento, been one for more than 10 years.

And I see Mayor knew you, you know, was in the community with you before, before your mayorship, supervisor here.

So real people, right?

Here's another real person.

And I'm I'm in support of this.

Other people are seeing the facts and figures better than I can.

And I just want to just talk to you as a person, as a teacher, as a human.

I love Sacramento's parks and libraries.

We need more swimming pools.

And that's where the money should go, not to genocide, not to war.

You know, I have a 13-year-old son.

Again, those parks and libraries came in very handy during those days, and that's what we need.

And you know, trying to teach our young people about personal finance, financial literacy, money counts, money talks.

Sacramento, please, do the right thing.

It's it's fiscally responsible.

There's nothing um crazy about this.

Uh uh, feasible future.

You can do it.

Please, let's let's lead.

You know, it's it's a uh, you know, my partner teases me.

I'm always like San Francisco this, San Francisco that, and I'm like, Sacramento.

There's a lot here.

Keep building on it.

I I would love for you to show the way to other cities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have nine more speakers, Jasmine Singh and Megan Elcia and Karen Jacks.

Hello.

I am a member of Sacramento DSA, and our organization has signed up to support the ethical investment policy brought to you by the Reinvest and SAC Coalition.

City Council has the opportunity to approve this and set a new standard for investments going forward.

A policy that values humanity over profit and international law over imperialism.

Sacramento has rightly divested from fossil fuel and tobacco companies, acknowledging the harms these entities cause our communities.

The city must not stop at these profiteers.

They must also look at the military-industrial complex that presents American might as a justified political tool.

Investments in caterpillar equal houses being flattened in Palestine.

It means American activists like Rachel Corey being rolled over by the caterpillar D9 bulldozer during her attempt to stop destruction of Palestinian homes and caterpillars subsequently spying on her family.

In an Amnesty International report titled House Demolition and Destruction of Land and Property, quote, house demolitions are usually carried out without warning, often at night.

Often at night, and the occupants are forcibly evicted with no time to salvage their belongings.

Often the only warning is the rumbling of the Israeli army's US-made caterpillar bulldozers beginning to tear down the walls of their homes.

The victims are often amongst the poorest and most disadvantaged.

In most cases, the justification given by the Israeli authorities for the destruction is military/slash security needs.

End quote.

Thank you for your comments.

Megan is our next speaker.

Hi, I'm Megan Elsie.

I'm a member of 350 Sacramento, which is a climate justice organization.

I'm also an attorney.

I was retired, but recently been uh called back to write uh petitions for writs of habeas corpus to free people from ice detention.

Um, and there's a connection between climate change and these ICE actions.

Why are so many people from hot countries coming here?

A lot of it is because of climate change, the disasters and the political chaos caused by climate change.

But let me tell you about one of my clients.

I'll call him Larry.

He's from Florida, but ICE arrested him and shipped him to California two days of flights, shackled at his hands, wrist, and waist, and he did not have enough food or water on these flights.

Then he's incarcerated at California City Detention Center.

And he has committed no crimes.

He's charged with no crimes.

He's an asylum seeker.

He is disabled, experiencing extreme pain, and he's not getting the medical care, medical care that he needs.

So companies like Amazon and Lockheed with their surveillance tech are contributing to these arrests of hardworking people like Larry.

And Exxon and Chevron are contributing greenhouse gas emissions that cause these disasters happening in other countries.

So please do the socially responsible investment policy.

And this is something a little different off the agenda, but something for you to think about for the future is instead of giving money, we could get money from Amazon through an Amazon tax like they have in Seattle.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Karen and then AJ Albano.

Karen and AJ.

Good afternoon.

I'm Karen Jacques.

I live in District 4.

Today is a tremendous opportunity for Sacramento to take a very important step to take its money and pull it out of the flow of money that's funding all of this disaster in the form of weapons, in the form of prisons, in the form of forced labor, in the form of detention centers where immigrants are dying, and in the form of utter climate destruction that is worsening all over the world.

And every city, every entity, every person that steps forward and says, I refuse to fund any more of this.

I will put what I have toward the good, toward community, toward survival of this planet.

We all have a choice.

You have that choice today.

Please make that choice.

And in doing so, you will be a model for other cities.

And you will also give a lot of us hope in a world where it's sometimes really hard to find hope and hard to look at one's phone and see what's there.

And in ending, I want to really thank council members Bang and Dickinson for helping to bring this forward.

And please follow their example.

Thank you.

Next speaker is AJ Albano, then Sarah Smith Silverwin.

My name is AJ.

I'm an organizer with Decarcerate Sacramento and part of the Reinvest Sacramento Coalition.

And so I urge the council to approve the treasurer's proposed socially responsible investment update to the city's investment policy.

The proposed updates would include avoiding investments like companies that have committed enabled serious human rights violations, including child labor, forced labor forces, placement of communities, genocide, mass murder, and apartheid, production of chemical or biological weapons, bombs, firearms involved in private prisons, mass incarceration, the use of prison labor, facilitate immigration detention, and provide surveillance technology.

These proposals shouldn't be, and I really hope they are not controversial.

And so, besides urging you to take the steps towards physical and ethical responsibility of the road today, I really want to thank the treasurer and council members Vang and Dickinson for working on this.

But more importantly, want to recognize the community members out here who've worked so hard to bring the policy to this point.

I want to make space for you all to reflect on the words spoken today from the people who have educated me on the extent of our city's investments and the deep interconnected harm and violence these companies cause and what we will extractly inextricably gain from choosing not to invest in those companies.

So I urge you to listen and learn from them as well.

And I hope that your votes reflect those lessons in our community's morals and our priorities.

Thank you.

I have five more speakers.

Sarah, then Shelley, then Ace.

Okay, hello, my name is Sarah Smith Silverman.

I'm a District 5 resident, a professor of history at American River College, a member of the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers, which has endorsed the socially responsible investment policy, and I am a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, which of course has also endorsed this policy update.

I'm here today because I believe Sacramento should not be investing in companies that cause harm, right?

We should all be able to agree on that.

Here at home and around the world, I want city funds out of companies that knowingly enable in environmental destruction, genocide apartheid, surveillance, mass incarceration, and detention, prison labor, and the persecution of immigrants.

So as a historian and as a member of the Jewish community, I know that what happens far away is never really disconnected from what happens here.

The same companies enabling the genocide in Gaza or operating in our own backyard.

Lockheed and Martin supplies the weapons killing Palestinians and holds over a billion dollars in ICE contracts.

Enabling detention and documented abuses against immigrants in our communities.

Caterpillar bulldozers are demolishing entire neighborhoods in Gaza and the West Bank, and that same company supplies equipment to ICE.

So as a Jewish person, my tradition teaches me that we are all responsible for one another.

Never again means never again for anybody.

We are living through a moment where the federal government is actively dehumanizing marginalized communities and waging wars for profit.

If Sacramento wants to be a counterweight to that, we have to put our money where our heart is.

Approving this ethical investment policy is exactly how we do that.

Please choose people over profit.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Shelly, then Ace, then L.

Roberts.

And I guess you can go to that one, but I'll speak first.

I'll be quick.

Hi, good afternoon.

I'm Shelly Williams, District 5.

And I don't really have anything new or unique to say.

Everyone who's spoken before me said it all, but I just want to thank Congress.

I mean, Congress, uh, hopefully Congress, uh, council, uh, council persons, Vang, and uh Dickinson for bringing this forward, and everybody who's been working on this for many months to bring it to fruition.

Um, it really is like, you know, like someone said a few moments ago, that it's, you know, one kind of little glimmer of hope that we have right now.

I'm here as a mom who has to explain this world to a child.

Um, and uh that's who I'm representing today.

And then did you want to say anything?

This is Ace.

Uh, hello.

Uh I'm I'm pretty awesome.

And uh, all right, let me add to my speech.

Uh, basically, I I think boycotting is a good idea because we don't want to fund companies for doing the wrong things and stuff.

And uh ICE is bad, the IDF is bad, a lot of bad stuff, and I don't I don't think we should um let that happen in this world.

And uh I like the Beatles, they're pretty good.

Okay.

Goodbye.

I have two more speakers.

LR Roberts, then yes, sir, Dabur.

Uh I'm LR Roberts, I live in District 5.

I uh am real active in Peace and Freedom Party.

Uh, even though I'm supposedly not Jewish, you never know.

Uh they've asked me to be real involved in Jewish Voice for Peace, which I've really learned a lot and really enjoyed.

Um, I have my bachelor's of science from SAC State.

Uh, and in those days we were fighting with the university about two trusts that were invested in South Africa.

And we got told that same BS about engagement is the way to go, not boycotts.

And I think history proved us right.

But they would say stupid things like us like it's not your business.

There was a CSUS trust, and there was a Hornet Foundation Trust, and they saw it.

It wasn't our business where they were investing money, invested in our names, and we didn't agree.

So I I think engagement is not the way to go.

We're having the same fight over at PERS.

So that's one thing.

And then the other thing is I'm a mother of five, a grandmother of four, a great-grandmother of six.

When I see a picture of a child, and then I got told that child either got bombed to death, or got arrested and tortured, or had the child's limbs blown off, my heart breaks.

And when I think that my tax dollars go for it, it's just, and I have to have that feeling several times a day.

I don't want to live like this.

We should not be investing in this stuff.

Thank you.

Final speaker on item seven is the SR Dabloor.

Good afternoon, esteemed mayor and council members.

Uh last time I stood uh at this microphone, it was to call for a ceasefire.

At the time, simply asking to stop a genocide was treated by some as controversial issues.

Yet this council chose to stand on the right side of history.

I'm here tonight or this evening, hoping that we are past that hesitation and ready to take the next logical step.

Adopting a socially responsible investment policy is a peaceful, time honored way for our city to practice what it preaches.

It ensures that our public daughters, the wealth generated by the hardworking people of Sacramento, are never used to subsidize corporate complicity in genocide, aparathide, racism, and mass incarceration.

When we invest in companies that profit from state sanctioned violence, we are uh quietly financing oppression.

Divestment allows us to pull our money out of global violence and reinvest it right here in our own community.

This isn't a radical request.

It is a baseline ethical obligation to align our cities' money with our city's morality.

Let's divest from violence and reinvest in Sacramento.

Thank you.

So Mayor, that concludes the public comment on the consent calendar.

All those comments were item seven.

Um I had two members signed up to speak.

Councilmember Dickinson.

Councilmember Dickinson, do you want me to go first?

Oh no, I've got it.

Thank you.

That's okay.

Um thank you, madam, madam clerk.

Uh I appreciate those uh who have uh of you who have come to speak this this afternoon.

And um I want to emphasize that uh this uh proposed addition to the policy has uh been a long time uh in the making.

Uh councilmember Vang and I have worked uh with uh advocates and and with the treasurer uh over the last uh eight to ten months at least uh on uh trying to craft language that uh reflected the uh the values and principles uh that I think are shared on this on this council uh with uh what is prudent uh economic and investment policy for for our our city.

Uh and I appreciate the um the active participation of of the treasurer in helping us formulate uh the language that we have before us to to consider.

Uh it builds on uh it builds on uh steps that the city has taken in the past uh to not invest in tobacco or tobacco related uh products or in publicly traded fossil fuel uh companies uh by uh expanding to uh those uh items that I think are also uh at the core of uh what we uh hope to stand for as uh as a city.

But um uh I would like uh uh the treasurer to come forward if he would uh and focus a little bit on the on the language that that we have uh presented for consideration this this afternoon uh in terms of how you would expect to to approach its implementation if it's if it's adopted.

Well, uh thank you, Councilmember.

The reality is we don't invest in a lot of these companies already.

If you look at I understand Lockheed Martin has been, we own 4.5 million dollars of that in a 1.6 billion dollar portfolio.

We're talking three tenths of one percent.

That's an easy divestment for me.

But the majority of it is governed by California code.

We're only talking about the per.

I mean about the the city's pool plan, we're not talking about the retirement plan.

So I'm governed by code, I can only buy US securities, I can only buy investment grade securities.

So what this policy addresses fundamental human rights, it really has little impact on what I do now.

So now it is codified, it's written down.

Uh the tobacco thing was was direction and and Councilman Jennings at one time we did Wells Fargo, which is by direction.

So we as a investment office really maintain a lot of these principles that are already written in these things.

So it really doesn't affect our ability to do our job, but it does dictate kind of the philosophy that we want to project.

And in terms of of carrying out your your job, then you would also uh have uh your fiduciary duty, I presume is the as the highest priority with our investments.

Is that a fairly?

Well, I've been I've been with the city for 23 years.

I've been managing these funds for 23 years.

I've been in the investment world since I graduated college in 91.

So fiduciary responsibility is something I take to the highest level.

And these parameters aren't going to restrict that.

So they're consistent with essentially what we're doing now.

Well, what we're doing, yeah.

We might make a little tweaks, we might divest from the Lockheed Martin because that is primarily missiles and airplanes.

Um I the Amazon, I'm not, I don't own it currently, but that doesn't fit the parameters of this.

If you read the parameters, it has to be primary business segment.

Amazon's primary business is not to listen to people's um and caterpillar is another one I have an issue with.

Caterpillar does a lot more things than than create military use vehicles.

So if you read the fine print of this, there's parameters that I can follow and parameters that I will not follow.

Uh but you're comfortable with this.

I am very comfortable with this.

So we worked my yourself and the communities, we worked a lot very hard on this.

Like you said, eight to ten months to fine-tune this language so I can do my job, but it shows kind of the principles that that I believe in and that I think a lot of the people in the city citizenship do as well.

I thank you.

Thanks, John.

Um I I want to underscore that I if uh one looks at what we have have drafted, I would I would hope actually that no one would take would take issue with with the policies that we're proposing here, that we wouldn't invest in companies whose prime primary operations are the productions of chemical or biological war weapons as an example that that uh we wouldn't invest in companies whose primary business activities are involved in mass incarceration and and detention, uh that we wouldn't invest in companies whose primary objection is the facilitation of or involved in immigration detention.

I I would hope these are uh these are elements that we would all of us not just this council but this this community and beyond would agree with and that for our own purposes that we would in fact choose to in exercise uh a priority for in investing in those financial institutions, companies, and organizations that actively engage in objectives that directly support the well-being of Sacramento residents, as this language provides a number of specific uh examples.

So I I understand that uh there is uh a great deal of passion and feeling uh about this.

Uh that is um appropriate, uh, I think under the uh under all the circumstances and conditions uh of our time.

But what we are seeking to do is exactly what this policy calls for, and that's invest in a socially responsible manner.

Really, really that fundamental.

And so uh I appreciate very much the work that council member Vang and her staff have contributed in helping us develop this product that the treasurer uh has assisted us uh with uh and uh I commend it to uh uh all of you for approval as part of our overall investment policy.

Okay, so we have uh no more speakers on this item.

Council Member Vang.

No, I'm sorry.

Do you have comments on this?

I do.

Thank you, Councilmember Dickinson.

Um first just want to thank everyone who came to speak in support and in opposition.

Uh really just appreciate y'all coming here at a two o'clock meeting to um to to speak um to your lived experience of why this policy is important to you.

Also, want to take this moment to thank Councilmember Dickinson, our city treasurer John, but especially the hard work of advocates and members of the reinvest in SAC coalition uh who've worked alongside uh side us for the past nine to twelve months.

I think it's over past a year that we've been working on this to bring this to this moment.

Um, and I want to also thank Susan Kang, my director of policy, who actually helped carry this work alongside community, um, and Brian DeBlanc, who's the chief of staff of councilmember Dickinson's office.

Um for me, this amendment to the city's investment policy, the socially responsible investment is really a result of just organizing and advocacy from our residents who believe that public dollars should reflect our public values.

Um, and it's not work that's new, it's work that we've already begun.

Because in 2021, we did divest from fossil fuel at the request of former council member Katie Valenzuela, and then in 2019, we divested from tobacco companies.

But the issue was that we did not memorialize this into a policy, right?

Um, and so a new city treasurer can come in and decide to do to do so, right?

And it was really important for me, the advocates and council member Dickinson to make sure that we memorialize this and put this in the policy.

Um, and a big part of this is because residents expect that their government should be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, not only in terms of financial returns, but also in the ways in which investment impacts people, communities, and the world around us.

And so for me, this policy memorializes divestment and investment in uh in companies.

One, it divests from very a variety of companies enabling harmful practices and system.

Uh, you heard from um, if you read the policy, it calls out for divestment in fossil fuels and tobacco and companies producing war weapons, operating private detention centers, and rather it calls us to reinvest in more conscious companies, an organization that actively uh support the well-being of Sacramento, and that's what we're doing here in this policy.

You know, Sacramento is a city that always prides itself uh to put its values into action, and this is what this policy does.

It also provides guardrails and guide to the city treasurer, and I just also want to note that this policy does come back every year.

Um, and so if there's additional edits that needs to happen, it can still happen.

It is a living document as well, but it's so important to memorialize the request of former council members, request of what the community uh wants.

Um, and so I ask my colleagues for a yes vote on this item and hoping that we do not push this item any further.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Cleckybaugh.

Thank you, John.

Quick question.

Um, are there is there a section here of defined terms?

No.

Uh so uh uh how would you know if if if something was a primary use or if it was um substantially significant or any of the other um types of terms that are in here?

Well, we do an annual review of it, plus dealing with our auditors if they have this parameters and they can look at it and determine whether we met the parameters of the policy.

I'm um thank you.

Uh I'm um I'm uncomfortable with the way that's written.

I think uh I agree with the the thrust of where we're going in this document.

I would like to see those terms defined so that we knew specifically what it was that we were prohibiting, um, if we need to bring that back and you know in a future update, um, like Council Member Vang said, I think we can clean that up.

But uh at this point, um I'll be abstaining until we have that information, Councilmember Maple.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Um, I just I'll be very brief and I just want to say thank you.

Thank you to Councilmember Bang and Councilmember Dickinson for your leadership for working with the advocates, thank you to everybody in the room for I've gotten all the emails.

Thank you.

I do read them.

Um and especially our our city treasurer uh for working on this, so thanks.

Okay, is there anyone else?

No.

Did you want to move the mic item?

Are we moving all of the items?

Yeah, yeah.

I'll I will make a motion on the table to move all the items on a consent.

Second, okay, and then we'll do a roll call vote.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Um Councilmember Kaplan is absent.

Councilmember Dickinson?

Aye.

Thank you.

Councilmember Plucky Baum?

Yes, I think.

Abstain.

Thank you.

Councilmember Maple.

Aye.

Mayor Pro Temgata.

Aye.

Council Member Jennings.

Yes.

Council Member Vang.

Yes.

Mayor McCarty is absent.

Vice Mayor Telemantes.

Yes.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

And thank you to the city treasurer on your work on this and looking forward to seeing it next year.

Vice Mayor, we now move to item number 33, a public hearing.

It is to conduct a tax equity and fiscal responsibility act of 1982.

TEFRA hearing and adopt a resolution approving the issuance of bonds by the California Enterprise Development Authority for the purpose of financing, refinancing, and or reimbursing the cost of acquiring, renovating, remodeling, equipping, and furnishing a commercial office building facility.

Okay.

I'd like to open the public hearing.

And for members of the public exiting, we're trying to conduct business.

Okay, go ahead.

Um good evening, everyone.

Um my name is Claudia Lata, and I'm like an analyst with the city treasurer's office.

I am here because the county supervisors association of California has requested a public hearing to be conducted on their behalf.

Who proposes to obtain a tax make them financing any amount not to exceed a 44 million?

Um staff does recommend that the public hearing be open and then close.

Um Pierce is here in the event there are any questions.

Okay.

Are there any members of the public signed up to speak?

I have one speaker.

I have one speaker on this item, Annabelle Gonzalez.

Hi.

A few months ago, I knocked on doors in North Potomas, not to sell Kirby vacuums, not pass control, not even Girl Scout cookies.

But because my neighborhood was about to change and nobody knew.

The city approved a homeless shelter at 3511 Arena Boulevard without a council vote.

Community IPA or environmental review.

An ordinance passed passed in 2023, gave the city manager authority to sign emergency shelter contracts up to five million bypassing both this council and the public.

Door after door, I heard the same reaction.

They're doing what, where?

People were shocked and felt completely left out of a decision that directly impacts our community.

A few community meetings wasn't enough, and that's not meaningful public engagement if it only reaches people who happen to be watching the local news during that time.

We want to participate too.

Not after decisions are made, but before they happen.

Now, this council is considering item 33, authorizing 44 million in tax exempt.

Ms.

Gonzalez, the item before you is a TEFRA hearing in regards to a commercial building.

That's not the topic.

It's the wrong one.

Correct.

Okay, so my apologies.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Um we have no more speakers, so I will.

Do you want to put Council Member Bucky Bomb?

Do you want to close the public hearing and move the item?

Okay.

And seconded by Roger.

Okay.

Or Council Mr Dickinson.

Council Member Plucky Bomb that includes closing the public hearing, correct?

Yes.

Thank you.

Yeah.

All right.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

No's abstentions.

This item passes, item 33.

Now, absences, McCarty and Catelyn.

Okay.

And item number 34.

Village garden landscape maintenance district.

Fiscal year 26-27.

And Vice Mayor, if I may open the public hearing.

Yes.

Like to open the public hearing.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

Well, good afternoon, uh, Vice Mayor Talamantes, members of the city council.

Uh senior Marcassini with the finance department.

The item for you is a village garden uh annual public hearing uh for the landscape district, which provides funding for maintenance, repair of masonry walls, landscaping, and irrigation systems for the areas within the North Point and Norwood subdivisions.

The proposed uh fiscal year 2027 assessment is an increase of 2.5% for single family home for the current from the current year.

And so staff recommendation is open to public hearing, and upon conclusion, adopt the resolutions that will confirm the assessment diagram and the levy assessment for fiscal year 2027.

I'm available to answer any questions uh you may have.

Thank you.

Is there any public comment?

I have no speakers on this item.

Okay, I like to close the public hearing and move this item.

Second.

Have a second.

Wonderful.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

No's abstentions saying none.

Good to go.

Then two absences, Kaplan and McCarty.

Thank you.

And then item 35, power in road maintenance district, fiscal year 26-27.

I have item 35 also, so which is the uh power in road maintenance district.

Okay, I'd like to open the public hearing.

Oh, sure.

Okay.

I'd like to open a public public hearing for the uh power in road maintenance district.

Uh this district provides funding for the maintenance of frontage improvements.

Uh the proposed fiscal year 2027, the assessment of three dollars and forty-three cents per linear foot of frontage is an increase of 2.8% from the current year, uh, which is necessary to maintain the current service levels and acquitted adequate reservoir uh reserves to cover the extraordinary maintenance.

Uh staff recommendation is open the public hearing and upon conclusion adopt the resolution in your packet that will confirm the assessment diagram and levy the assessment for the fiscal year 2027 uh for the power in maintenance road district.

I'm available to answer any questions you may have.

Is there any public comment on this item?

I have no speakers on the item.

Okay, mayor pro temgara.

Uh thank you.

I'll go ahead and close the public hearing.

Thank you and uh move the item.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

No's and two abstentions, McCarty and Kaplan.

Um absences, McCarty and Kaplan.

Absences.

Thank you.

Okay.

That's right.

Sorry.

We'll get the item number 36.

Neighborhood lighting district number 9607 fiscal year 2627, annual assessments.

I like to open the public hearing.

But good afternoon, Vice Mayor Telemontes and Council members.

My name is Jessica Steinhauer with the finance department.

The next item before you is the annual public hearing for the neighborhood lighting district, which includes three neighborhoods, Swanson Estates, Colonial Heights, and Young Heights.

The assessments are levied to provide funding for the maintenance and energy costs of neighborhood lighting in these areas.

The annual assessments for each subdivision vary based on operational needs and are met below the maximum authorized rates.

Staff's recommendation is to conduct the public hearing upon conclusion.

Adopt the resolution before you that will confirm the budget and levy the assessments for fiscal year 26-27.

I'm available to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you.

There is no public comment on this item.

So mayor pro tem Gera.

I'll move.

Oh, I'll move to close the public hearing and adopt the staff recommendation.

Second.

Got a first and a second.

All right.

So all in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

No's abstentions to absence.

McCarty and Kaplan.

Last one.

Item 37.

Neighborhood uh landscaping district, fiscal year 26-27.

But I'd like to open the public hearing.

Good afternoon, Vice Mayor Talmontes, and Council members.

I'm Brett Mueller with the finance department.

The item before you is the annual public hearing for the neighborhood landscape and district.

Annual assessments are levied in this district to finance the maintenance of landscaping improvements located adjacent to and or along the frontage of 34 subdivisions located throughout the city.

Staff's recommendation is to conduct the public hearing and upon conclusion, adopt the resolution that will confirm the budget and load of the assessments for fiscal year 2026 27.

Thank you, and the bill before anything questions.

All right, and there is, is there public comment on this one?

There are no speakers.

Okay.

Uh closed public hearing and move the item.

Okay.

Second.

All right.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

No.

Abstentions to absence, McCarty, and Kaplan.

All right, item number 38.

Annual reports of the Housing Trust Fund.

Welcome, Christine.

Good afternoon, Christine Weiker with SHRA.

The annual report before you reviews the affordable housing programs SHRA administered in 2025.

SHRA sees funds from local, state, and federal sources, which are layered together with programs such as low-income housing tax credits and mortgage revenue bonds and to do affordable housing developments.

I should note that prioritization for use of these funds is outlined in SHRA's multifamily lending and mortgage revenue bond policies.

We also take this opportunity to report out on the city's single room occupancy ordinance.

The city has a development impact fee program for non-residential development.

The revenue generated depends on the fee levels per square foot of new construction and the amount of building that occurs in any given year.

The city's housing trust fund ordinance was adopted in 1989, and in 2025, $4.2 million was collected and a substantial increase from 2024, which was $4,000.

Marisol D pictured here is one of the recently completed projects utilizing the funds, and all projects were brought forward to the City Council for approval.

The city's mixed income housing ordinance was originally adopted in 2015 and is a fee on new residential developments.

In 2025, 1.6 million dollars was collected.

Projects utilizing these funds are listed on the slide.

And 39th and Broadway, also known as Glendon, which is a senior development pictured here, was constructed on land formerly owned by SHRA.

SHRA administers the sorry administers the state's permit local housing allocation or PLHA program, and PLHA funds are generated through courting fees on real estate transactions.

25% of the funds must be reserved for single family down payment assistance, and the remaining can be used for multifamily affordable housing projects.

In 2025, the city received both 2024 and 2025 allocations for a total of 8.5 million dollars.

At the end of 2025, there was a balance remaining in, but the city council has approved some of the funds to go to the Scotty station and I Street projects, and two million dollars remains available for single family down payment assistance.

Local housing trust funds are competitive state funds which can match city housing trust funds dollar for dollar.

The funds are awarded on a competitive basis for the creation or rehabilitation of affordable housing.

SHRA is awarded $5 million in 2024, and these funds were previously committed to the Central Sacramento Studios Phase 2 project, which is located on this slide.

It is for permit supportive housing.

Um staff will be returning to the city council later this month recommending the remaining 1.05 million dollars be committed to the Florin Family Apartments Project.

SHRA administers home, a federal housing entitlement grant from HUD, and these funds are used for multifamily housing production and preservation.

These funds have a hard expenditure deadline, and in 2025, home entitlement was almost two million dollars.

Home was has helped create a great number of affordable housing units for our community, and the rendering of Northview Point is a recently completed permit supportive housing development in South Natomas.

And total funds in 2025 from all sources total 9.4 million dollars, and SHRA received an additional 4.5 million dollars through loan repayments and interest.

As a reminder, funds are advertised.

It's available twice a year, typically in January and July, and the amounts available are published 30 days prior to the funding rounds to allow developers time to submit a pre-application.

Developers are notified within 30 days of submission if they're at full application is being submitted.

Accepted.

And then the last ordinance we're reporting on is our annual city single room occupancy ordinance.

The goal of the ordinance is to preserve SRO units.

In 1986, the ordinance was adopted, and there were 16 residential hotels subject to the ordinance.

All but two, the Congress and Golden, have now been rehabilitated and preserved and regulated or replaced.

And that concludes my presentation, and we're available for any questions you may have.

Thank you so much, Christine.

Is there any public comment?

We have one speaker, LR Roberts.

Hi, I'm Ella Roberts, I live in District 5.

Right now I'm being dogfight, which is a disability rights group.

We talk regularly about housing at the dog fight meeting because many disabled people end up in public housing.

So one of the things that I'm running into, like I'm helping a couple in Marysville, is I can't figure out which agency is supporting the housing, and then I don't know who to complain to.

So that's a real problem in the Marysville case.

I have yet to find out who the funder of that housing is.

But locally, I've been told at the last dog fight meeting, someone was told there was no money at SHRA for security.

So I live in Oak Park, I've lived in Oak Park off and on since 1974.

And I attempted to go to SHRA and talk about this issue and was told I had to have an appointment.

So I didn't do it.

So SHRA runs a property that's a little north of McClatchy Park.

I am absolutely in favor of homeless housing.

I've taken in homeless people until just a few years ago.

I've taken in uncountable homeless people in my house.

But that property is not safe.

So people sell drugs, they block the street as they do it.

My great-granddaughters, two of them play softball, one of them plays softball at the two fields there at McClatchy.

You have to walk through these people to get to the softball field.

You have to walk through their cloud of smoke.

I was discussing with another community leader who I disagree with on most issues, and he also said you have to walk through their cloud of smoke.

So if you drive by there as I drive by there twice today already, you can see the piles of trash.

So we want to have people have affordable housing.

They're not going to do it if it's not run well.

It's a disaster.

Thank you for your comments.

Vice Mayor, I have no more speakers.

Okay, thank you so much.

This is review, comment, and provide direction.

I don't see anybody punched up to speak at this time.

Seeing none, Christine, you did such a wonderful job.

Thank you for your presentation.

Vice Mayor, before we move on, may I make an announcement?

I just wanted to confirm that Councilmember Plucky Baum abstained only on item seven on the consent calendar, and he voted in favor of the remaining consent calendar items.

Just want to make that clear for the record.

Okay.

Noted.

Item 29.

Item 39.

Audit, our city auditor.

Welcome, Paris.

And then after you present, maybe I'll pass it on over to the chair of budget and audit to kind of summarize what we discussed.

If that's okay.

If necessary, okay, sounds good.

All right, sounds good.

Yeah, good afternoon.

Um members of the city council, and for Ishdaarari here, city auditor.

With me today is uh Cheval Jackson, who was primarily responsible for conducting this audit.

The recommendation that's before you is to approve the city auditors 2025 audit of city employees workforce diversity and salary trends.

So our office has been conducting employee diversity assessment since 2016, when the city council first attracted the city auditor to analyze employee diversity and compare the results to the demographics of the city of Sacramento residents.

This report contains six chapters and analyzes city employee gender and ethnic diversity as of July 1st, 2025, and employees diversity trends from 2016 to 2025.

The audit also has a detailed section on the improvements the human resources department has made relating to diversity equity and inclusion.

Since the last audit, the Office of Diversity and Equity integrated into the Human Resources Department and continue to focus on building a representative and inclusive city of Sacramento.

This slide highlights just a few of the improvements identified by the Human Resources Department since our last assessment in 2021.

And just a reminder that we did create a City of Sacramento gender and ethnic diversity dashboard in 2019 that allows users to analyze the city employee gender and ethnicity data on their own.

We have updated this dashboard for 2025, and it's updated annually and analyzes again the diversity of employees as of July 1st of every year.

First, we want to cover the gender and ethnic diversity of city residents, which is what we use to compare the diversity of city employees.

As shown on the chart in the left, the three most populous ethnic and racial groups in the city are white at 28%, Hispanic or Latino at 29%, and Asian at 19%.

The chart on the right shows the gender composition of city residents.

There are slightly more females at 51% than males at 49.

And the city of Sacramento has updated the ECAPS data, which is used to maintain our personnel records to allow city employees to update a variety of personnel, personal details such as gender identity, sexual orientation, and more.

So we excluded excluded that analysis from this year's report, but we do plan to include it in the next report as more data becomes available and more employees fill out that those additional information.

This slide shows the overall gender composition of city employees by department and compares it to the city population.

The red box shows the gender composition of city employees overall is 36% female and 64% male.

And as you can see, the yellow highlighted row, the mayor and council offices was the most closest to the composition of city residents at exactly the same breakdown of 51% female and 49% male.

And if you're interested, the audit report contains additional analysis on gender data, such as management and non-management employees, and in addition, as I mentioned, our dashboard allows even more analysis.

This chart analyzes the demographics of full-time and part-time city employees by ethnicity and race and gender as of July 1st, 2025.

So as you can see on the chart, only 31% of the employees that identified as white are female, and employees that identify as two or more races are the most evenly split by gender with 48% female and 52% male, and that's the closest to city residents.

Um as of July 1st from 2016 to 2025.

And as you can see, the grant total row, the composition hasn't really changed much in that time period, and it also hasn't really changed much for city residents as well.

Um some departments have also stayed similar.

The charts on the gender composition of legacy staff, which are people that were hired prior to July 1st, 2024, compared to newly hired employees, which are those that were hired after July 1st, 2024.

The chart on the left shows the gender composition of all the newly hired staff.

There were 953 newly hired employees during fiscal year 2025.

52% of them were male, and 48% were female, which is close to the city residents breakdown.

And then the chart on the right shows the same information for newly hired management staff.

And during that fiscal year, there were 20 newly hired management employees 55% male, 45% female.

And then this chart identifies the ethnic and racial composition of full-time and part-time employees by department, and again compares them to the city residents.

As you can see, there is a deviation from the city population and many of the ethnic and racial groups overall in the city and in departments.

And then this chart shows the percentage point difference of the ethnic cities and races of full-time and part-time city employees in each department in relation to that of City of Sacramento residents.

And the scale on the bottom shows the extent of the difference.

One thing to note that the colors used on the scale, they just reflect the direction and size of the percentage points differences.

The use of the red and green are not intended to convey that there's a positive or negative performance or value.

And this chart shows the trend of ethnic and racial composition of all city employees for the past 10 years.

As you can see, the white ethnic group has been the largest each year, but it does appear to be trending downward, while Hispanic or Latino has been trending upward.

And other groups such as Asian or two or more races also appears to have a slight increase.

And this chart shows the average salaries of full-time city employees by gender and ethnicity for 2025.

And as shown on the chart, male employees on average have a higher salary than female employees in all ethnic and racial groups, which basically means the lighter blue color is always higher than the darker blue.

In addition, those that identify as black or African American do have the lowest average salary than other ethnic cities.

And as you can see, there is a gap between the two genders.

In 2016, the average salary for female city employees was 84.5% of the average salary of male city employees.

In 2025, it improved slightly to 85.6%.

And then this is similar analysis for management employees only.

In 2026, the average salary of female management employees was 84.4% of that of the male management employees.

And in 2025, it increased to 86.6%.

And then finally, this chart is similar to the last couple of charts, but analyzes all employees excluding part-time and sworn employees in the police and the male-dominated higher paying sworn positions, the gender pay gap narrows.

In 2026, the average salary for, sorry, in 2016, the average salary for the female employees was 90.1% of the average salary of the male city employees, and by 2025, that gap narrowed to 92.2.

I mean 97.2, sorry.

And then this table identifies the average salaries of full-time employees by ethnic racial group and gender, and then um and the ratio of earnings relative to the white male groups, which is the largest group in the city, as shown in the table.

The male groups tend to be higher on the list, meaning that have a uh high higher salary than the female groups, which tend to make up the bottom of the list.

We also did an analysis of each department over time that contains gender, ethnic, and racial analysis and salary information.

Um, and it can be found in chapter six of the report, and as I mentioned, our online dashboard allows additional analysis.

And this concludes my presentation.

Um I did want to note that the HR department did uh do a thorough presentation after my presentation at budget and audit committee explaining all of their efforts uh regarding DEI, and um I just want that to be referenced in case somebody wants to see what HR has been doing recently, they're not going to be doing a presentation today.

Um, but they are available to answer any questions, and we do want to thank them for their collaboration and assistance on this audit.

And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you so much.

Do we have any public comment?

I have one speaker, Lambert.

This is an example of what I've been challenging here in Sacramento.

Now, this talked about 2016 to 2025.

And let's take a look at some of the things that's happened during 2016-2025 from my research.

During that time, there was an article in the Sacramento, it was called uh uh HR Barnum and Bailey racist scandal inside Sacramento City Hall.

This happened during that time.

What it talked about caught my attention.

My family brought it to me, and I studied it, and so now I'm hearing that HR and equity have somehow uh come together.

Miraculously to form each other.

I'm against that.

I think HR should be uh investigated for uh here we see now blacks are on the are the lowest paid.

Does that mean black people have a degree?

When I went to school, if you had a degree, you shouldn't be at the bottom.

So I'd like to find out how many blacks have a degree that's the lowest salary during this 10 years, and when I hear the population is uh what it is, I remember my bang saying that uh 25% of the city is monks.

I'm talking about employees.

How can that happen?

If you're not 25%, how did that happen?

See, there's a problem here at City Hall, and I'm a big fan of saying why are white men always at the top?

Are they the only ones with degrees?

You should that should be investigated.

How did they become at the top?

Do they all have degrees?

Or was it nepotism?

Vice Mayor, I have no more speakers.

Okay, Councilmember Dickinson.

Thanks, Vice Mayor.

I was just gonna make a quick comment that uh uh just to um reinforce what uh first had to say about human resources made a very lengthy and extensive presentation at the committee on uh uh the activities that they they undertake with respect to recruitment retention uh hiring practices uh and the like.

I think we can all see areas in which uh we would like to see uh better results in in terms of some of the distributions, especially in the in the uh departments that have been historically very male dominated uh and and very dominated um by by uh those who are white, uh, but uh at the same time, I think the fact that that we do this inquiry and this examination, uh, is meaningful because it helps us figure out what we need to do in terms of concentrating efforts to uh achieve both a reflection of the community and our workforce and and uh equity and equality for our uh employees.

So um as Frisha said, if um if members who are not committee members of budget and audit uh want to get a a fuller uh explication of what the human resources up to and up to.

I'm sure they would be happy to do that.

And uh I appreciate by the work the audit work first, so thank you for that.

All right, and would you like to move the item?

I will move the item.

Okay, I'll second.

I'll second, and we have a third.

Uh, we will do a roll call vote for this item.

Thank you.

Council member Kaplan is absent, Councilmember Dickinson.

Councilmember Pluckybaum, Councilmember Maple, Mayor Pro Tem Gera.

Council Member Jennings, yes, Councilmember Vang.

Mayor McCarty is absent, and Vice Mayor Talamantes, yes.

Uh that motion passes with um Kaplan and McCarthy absent.

Thank you so much.

Item 40 audit of emergency medical services.

Yes, hello again.

Uh Frisch Darrari, city auditor.

Uh, with me today is Joe Fleming, who is primarily responsible for completing this audit, and the recommendation that's before you is to approve the audit of emergency medical services.

There we go.

All right, so first I'm gonna provide some background information regarding EMS operations and um trends and demand for emergency medical services.

Uh the EMS division within the Sacramento Fire Department provides basic life support, advanced life support, and ambulance transport services to the city, city residents.

Uh 911 calls first go to the Sacramento Police Department dispatch center, which then transfers fire and medical calls to the Sacramento Regional Fire EMS Communications Center, who then provides the alert to the stations or units for response.

Uh SFD Sacramento Fire Department does not always respond to incidents with ambulances, fire trucks, or engines.

More recently, for some non-emergency or low acuity calls, there are other teams that may respond in a non-emergency fashion, like in cases of substance abuse or mental health crises.

Since 2019, SFD incidents, both fire and medical have risen about 15% more, which is more than double the 6% growth in the fire operations and EMS staffing during the same period.

And the number of fire stations has stayed consistent at 24 since 2018 until recently.

I think there was one more station that just opened up that does specialty work.

And to help address this, EMS uh has contracted out with some ambulance services to provide basic life support services as well as um uh rolling out some alternative response units.

Many EMS operational policies are set by the county EMS agency.

Um the Sacramento Fire Department does maintain its own policy manual.

Um the state also provides guidance and coordination, and there are outside groups such as the National Fire Protection Association, NFPA that does um suggest some performance standards that are widely accepted.

So our audit objective was to evaluate the quality of the fire department's emergency medical services delivery and identify opportunities for improvement.

Uh, to do this, we looked at the EMS processes from all stages of the operations, from the point when the dispatch answers the 911 call to when EMS personnel mobilize and respond to the incident, uh to when the patient is offloaded to the care of hospitals if applicable.

This provides the perspective of the provider and the patient, and to do so, we reviewed data on call answer times from the dispatch center, turnout time data for SFD personnel, responses from patient surveys provided by the city's ambulance billing provider, and accreditation and licensure data maintained by SFD.

Additionally, we reviewed the various policies maintained by the department, the operational standards established by the county EMS agency, state EMS guidelines and regulations, as well as state codes and best practices as well.

So in our first finding, it addresses the impact of non-emergency calls or what we call low acuity on SFD operations.

We reviewed data on the disposition of all the different types of 911 calls that SFD responded to in calendar year 2024.

Low acuity calls are things like minor pain or flu like symptoms or other non-life threatening medical concerns.

And then of the more than 98,000 incidents we reviewed, most about 61,000 were medical, and of those 18,000 were low acuity.

In other words, for the most common type of incident, personnel responding to non-emergencies about 30% of the time.

And that means that personnel may be tied up with non-emergency calls when other actual emergencies are occurring and it creates an additional workload burden on EMS personnel.

Financially, a rough estimate shows that responding to these incidents costs about $4.6 million across ambulance, fire engine and fire truck maintenance repairs, fueling, and staffing.

And combined the unit spent 1.2 million minutes responding to these calls.

And about 20% of the incidents were also identified as homeless related, meaning that a share of that as a share of the city population, there were four ambulance responses for each person experiencing homelessness compared to just one 0.15 incidents for every non-homeless individual.

And many of these calls were located in the downtown and midtown areas of the city.

SFD now utilizes multiple types of units that are designed to respond to non-emergency incidents with an alternative approach designed for those specific incident needs.

So for example, they now have teams of paramedics that respond to substance abuse related incidents with harm reduction kits and provide follow-up visits.

So our recommendation for this finding suggests that further collaboration with dispatch could allow the dispatch center to directly dispatch alternative response units to calls, which is not a level of authority they currently have.

This would also include continued exploration of models like a nurse triage hotline where non-emergency calls are potentially routed to a nurse over the phone rather than sending out a medic or a truck to respond.

And both SFD and the dispatch center have indicated that they've have done some research on this option and identified certain obstacles, but we believe that there may be areas for additional consideration.

Other strategies, including building out the existing behavioral health crisis hotline, which responds to individuals and mental health crises, or rideshare options where ride share is dispatched to a caller who calls 911 for a ride to a doctor's appointment or urgent care, are some examples of alternative response.

And additionally, we recommend that the fire department continues to expand its usage of alternative response units like the mobile integrated health unit team, which did roll out late last month, I believe.

A challenge with these types of calls is that the city may not be able to bill for these services, which does create some funding challenges.

But there I believe are some discussions being had with cooperation with the state officials and other legislators to see if we can get some reimbursements on those.

Our second finding is that while EMS providers and hospitals countywide have reduced the time it takes to offload patients from ambulances into the care of the hospitals, there is still room for improvement to meet the offload standard time set by county policy.

In 2023, Assembly bill 40 was passed to streamline the transfer of care between ambulances and hospitals, and it added requirements such as establishing a set number of minutes to patient offload times.

For example, 30 minutes, 90% of the times, which requires hospitals to develop protocols to reduce the patient offflow times.

When we looked at 2024 data, we calculated that an additional 20 month 21 minutes per patient on average of ambulance waiting times above the county standard of 30 minutes at that time.

That's about 7,000 hours in total and about 970,000 in terms of ambulance operating costs.

And data as of 2025 shows that the number that that time is at 33 minutes now, which is notably significantly lower than in 2023 when it was 73 minutes.

Just to note that the 30-minute patient offload time was a temporary standard set by the county, and they're slowly moving that to a 20-minute standard time.

So for fiscal year 26, that standard is 25 minutes, and then it becomes 23 minutes until it come ends up at 20 minutes in January.

So our recommendation is to continue working with the area hospitals to ensure compliance with AB40 and reduction of patient offload times.

And they did mention that some changes have been implemented by the hospitals, but there is still some room for progress for them to make more substantive reforms.

Then our third finding is that Sacramento Fire Department has not formally adopted turnout time standards to measure their performance against the NFBA standard for units to begin traveling within 60 seconds of being notified of incidents 90% of the time.

SFD turnout time performance for 2024 was 60 seconds 60% of the time.

The NFPA standards are 90% of the calls are answered within 15 seconds.

Between January 2019 and March 2021, the dispatch center exceeded that benchmark, but then it fell below the benchmark for a majority of the next two and a half years, and it has fluctuated around the benchmark through January of this year.

So our recommendation is that the fire department work with the dispatch center to regularly reach the call answering benchmark.

The dispatch center did indicate that they are planning to add personnel, which may help expedite call answering and processing times.

And then we also recommend that the fire department formally adopt the NFPA standard for turnout times of 60 seconds, 90% of the time.

SFD's CQI committee is currently exceeding the standard set by county EMS policy to review patient care reports to look for things like gaps in service, delivery, or identify conduct violations.

However, the work is being done by staff on a volunteer basis because of funding constraints, which does limit their ability to do fuller reviews of other data such as the patient feedback surveys.

And the information from those surveys are not currently being utilized to review SFD's processes for uh areas for improvement or changes.

Additionally, in our review of licensure and accreditation data, we found that there were 44 accredited credentials that were listed as expired in SFD's internal tracking system, two of which were from paramedic licenses.

And lastly, SFD's internal policies are outdated at about 85% of the policies in that division have not been updated in more than 25 years.

So we recommend that the CQI committee's roles and responsibilities be clarified to ensure the committee is satisfying internal policies and those guidelines set by the state EMS authority.

We recommend that the patient survey data be incorporated into the process and those data be provided to uh internal investigators and Office of Public Safety Accountability for review, and we uh recommend that the processes by which employee certifications are reviewed to ensure that they are current and reinforce processes that prevent certifications from lapsing.

And lastly, we recommend that the fire department perform a gap analysis to identify any missing policies that need to be added to their manual of operations and develop a process to regularly review and update the EMS policies.

So the fire department has been proactive and have already begun addressing many of these recommendations.

Uh, for example, when we when the audit began, the internal investigator had stated that they were not reviewing or not receiving information from patient survey results, though SFD has confirmed that they are now providing those complaints to the professional standards unit.

So this concludes our presentation.

We'd like to thank the fire department for their collaboration and assistance throughout this audit.

The fire department's response to the audit is attached to the end of the report.

Um, and as I mentioned, they have already begun working on addressing many of the recommendations.

Um this concludes my presentation.

Available to answer any questions.

We have one public speaker, Lambert.

And then uh Mayor Pro Tem Gera.

I personally attended the budget audit meeting because uh Mr.

Dickerson is the chair, and he's from district two.

Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have gone.

Now, one thing I learned, I learned many things that day about this group, and first of all, this is an outstanding auditor.

Uh there was a guy that was there before her named Hoor Haig.

He was outstanding too.

You know, he he was just an outstanding auditor.

Now, I don't know if anybody else heard what I just heard.

And you know, people are talking on the roster and they're not really paying attention, but my focus is to get on the record.

I at the budget audit, I don't think I heard, and I I'm stunned that you haven't reacted to it.

Uh how can accreditation lapse and you have an oversight of an entire department.

It's it's something about a 25 year lapse.

Uh certification, not monitored.

How are they still on the payroll?

If you if you're not certified, or what are you doing on the streets of Sacramento?

Also, I learned from Mr.

Dickerson that that budget audit, which has not been announced in the city manager's office should be promoting this.

They get paid for some of the people they pick up because they have Medi-Cal or Medicare.

I didn't know that.

Mr.

Dickerson brought that up.

And so I'd like to know how much money is collected, it might be millions of dollars that you can put towards the budget.

But that department needs to be uh, if if they're not accredited, they shouldn't be paid.

You have to be accredited to do that type of work.

I never knew that the certification lapsed.

Who's over that district?

I bet you it's in the city manager's department.

Okay.

And Mayor Pro Tem Gera.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Uh Vice Mayor.

First, I want to thank our fire department and also thank our city city auditor's office uh for this review of our emergency medical services.

And what we heard, not only budget and audit, but today, is very clear, and that's that we need some clear change that uh that is affecting how our emergency system is being used and utilized.

Uh the audit shows that our uh our critical emergency resources are being consumed by a significantly high number of non-emergency calls responding to homelessness.

And that means a number of factors that affect us.

One, the less availability of hospital beds and emergency rooms, uh, and also response personnel for other emergencies.

At the tune of what I heard today, consumption of millions of resources, uh millions of dollars in resources for non-emergency needs, and and that has to change.

Uh and we can't continue to be spending those limited resources resources expecting the same results.

Um I do want to thank our fire personnel who've been working uh uh with our other partners and partnering agencies.

Uh and one of the clear things that have come about uh in those collaboration meetings is a is a need to focus even more so specifically on the mental health and substance abuse issues that we see uh out on the street and the responses uh to uh uh of using the mobile crisis unit and the mobile uh integrated health teams.

And that and that I think is is the key finding here uh is that we we can't have our emergency units being consumed for non-emergency calls, and we have to be looking at other responses so that uh that we can uh make sure that those are available for life-threatening emergencies.

So first I just want to thank again the fire department and uh the city auditor, but uh I want to go ahead and move this item, Vice Mayor, but add direction here.

Uh what I'd like to see in the next audit of our emergency medical services, is also the data of all the repeat patient uh patients that um that call that have been called and been analyzed.

Like, that's one thing that I didn't see here that I think is important because what I've heard from the actual staff at the at the hospitals, the social workers there uh as well, and I've heard you know anecdotally from some of our fire uh department personnel.

It's that you have frequent utilizers, it's the same people each time.

They know who they are, they're the same individuals who uh are calling for non-emergency calls, and that I think is a problem when we're spending multi millions of dollars again on non-emergency calls and particularly uh in the downtown area responding to homelessness calls on those.

So that's my motion, uh Vice Mayor.

Okay, Councilmember Dickinson.

Thanks.

Uh I I'll second the motion, but I think um I I want to build a little bit on what uh Mayor Pro Tem has said.

I I think actually we need to, we need to be more focused on on doing something sooner, not just analyzing, continuing to analyze more for the next audit.

I mean that that's fine, but uh we know from uh eyes and ears that are out in the field um and what's related to us and what we can see ourselves what's what's going on.

Um this is not a new phenomena.

The frequent flyers have been around I think as long as as I can remember as uh as an elected official, so uh uh I understand there's some challenges in alternate response.

Uh there are there's some um issues we have to uh sort out.

Um I appreciate by way of the first to this audit because I think it does put a spotlight on this, and I I appreciate what all the fire department personnel are are doing.

Um, but uh I completely agree with the Mayor Pro Tem that we're using resources which have uh extraordinary cost to them and and which are then not available for other purposes to to respond uh not just to the homeless but to but to those many of whom who are housed who are frequent callers, frequent flyers.

And so whether whether it's working with 988, whether it's finding an alternate path to get people to the mental health treatment center, if they're in a condition that justifies that, whether it's finding uh others uh who can um respond when it's a call that turns out to be I need my prescription filled.

Uh I I think we have to we have to be really um uh intentional about this this issue sooner uh rather than later because it does it does carry a heavy price tag with it, uh and I appreciate that the budget and audit committee that that Brian Pedro attended and and uh spoke to the committee about what uh DCR uh is and tries to do and what it's what its capabilities and what its limitations are as well in this regard.

But this seems to me like something that that cuts across disciplines, uh cuts across departments, uh, and and most of all um cries out for a most more efficient and effective response than using our our fire department personnel in many instances.

Now I understand with with that comment that it's often unclear when a call comes in to dispatch whether it requires medical response or not.

And so maybe that you know that's part of looking at at this entire picture to figure out uh how we can perhaps can better identify what what degree or nature of response is is actually justified and and necessary, but it just seems to me that maybe it's even a multidisciplinary set of folks get together uh with the with the supervision of the city manager to look at at this issue to see if there isn't a a better way uh of responding.

We're gonna respond.

We need to respond, we need to take care of people, um, but but we need to do it in the in the most efficacious way possible.

And I think what your audit calls out is not that people aren't doing their jobs and doing them well, they are.

But whether that's a job they should and need to be doing, or whether there are other people who can do it is more effectively and more efficiently, uh and so um uh with my second to the to the motion, I I hope that um I hope we will actually focus some more attention on this, as I said at the outset sooner rather than later.

Thanks.

Thank you.

And then um this isn't a question for you first, uh can I get the chief to come up?

Maybe Dave.

Um I do want to highlight some of the good work.

I know that our city auditor has been working on this a lot, and um it's been a very problematic throughout the years, but we've had really good reductions in wall time at our local hospitals, uh, thanks in large part to our fire department getting creative.

Uh last week, was it last week?

It was last week or the week before.

Uh, we opened up fire station 140 in South Potomas, and it's gonna allow us to offset some of these calls and to be able to be more effective with our time, with our resources, and obviously we continue to grow as a city, and our revenues remain as you know the same as they are right now.

Um, and we're going, and the demand is growing.

So if you can share what you what we celebrated last week, that'd be great.

Yeah, so last week we opened um station 140, it's formerly uh station 15, and um with that you have uh a station now kind of unlike any other station in the city, which houses both the sort units, uh mobile crisis unit and MIH.

So three different prongs to an alternate report uh approach across the city.

Um and I I want to focus on that because the report and it looks ominous when you look at it.

When you look at uh over 100,000 calls for service and anything, it can start to look ominous.

But what we have done, we got to an evolve or die point in the Sacramento Fire Department.

We recognized that before this uh audit was finished, and in the last three years, we brought on the SORT team, the MCU, and the MIH, all with alternatives.

Um including uh the BLS units that we brought on by contract with Medic Ambulance.

All those are answers to what you're asking us to look at now.

I think what you see us doing is growing it, and station 140 is part of growing that service, and a time when things are public services are declining in certain areas.

Um, you see the Sacramento Fire Department growing.

Uh, that includes dispatch.

There's a thing in there about call taking and call times.

Um there was a time when there was there was more call takers in our dispatch center than there was um critical incident dispatchers, uh CRDs.

We have more critical incident dispatchers now, so that triage that happens on the phone with the patient or a fire or whatever it is.

Um, we have more people that can do the triage.

The call intake times were faster when there was more call takers.

We thought it was more important to be able to do the triage, so we pivoted.

Um so sometimes the numbers they don't lie, but they also change when you make changes like that.

Um I think you'll see us continue to evolve.

There's lots of places we can evolve.

AB 1180 gives us some strength and recouping funds in a space where we didn't used to be able to recoup funds, and that's that uh non-emergency type transport or alternate transports.

So, all right, thank you.

Uh well that fire chief.

Uh, you know, one I want to thank our captain here as well, and uh, I think what I'd like to see um, you know, the audit is what it is, yeah.

And I appreciate the the work and thank you for joining our our joint meeting with the uh the county and the DA's office and also the public guardian.

Um, and what what I'd like to see also is how we um maybe have uh a standing meeting with also those uh the clinical social workers uh that are at our ER rooms, whether it's UC Davis, Kaiser, Sutter, and um and so that we can identify those frequent utilizers, you know, and and making sure that we're all working together to figure out how we um you know uh before they get before we have a call, before we have the mobile crisis, you know, go out there, already start identifying those frequent um uh utilizers.

We can certainly do more.

We do have staff that participates with the hospital council, and we do have uh clinicians with us in those units as well.

But any place that we can be more involved and working with 988, we actually have a meeting with uh 988 coming up.

Uh us and the police department, so you'll see that continue, and that's where we'll continue to continue to evolve.

Great.

Well, thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Captain.

Appreciate it and thank you, uh City Auditor.

Shit.

Thank you, ma'am.

Sorry, can I ask a clarification for the direction?

Did you mention another EMS audit?

It's not on my way.

Yeah, it's not on the work plan, but I said as we look at the next time we do an audit with our uh fire department that we include that on the frequent utilizers.

Yes.

Okay, in the future, potentially.

Okay.

If you have a request, go to the audit committee.

There's a line, it's a line, things get vetted, and we get back to you on your work plan.

Thank you.

Yeah, it's second.

Mary, have a motion by council member Gatta and a second by Dickinson.

Okay, all in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any nose or abstentions?

Hearing none.

Motion passes.

We move to council comments ideas, questions, and AB 123 reports.

I see no one.

I have three speakers for public comments on the agenda.

The first is Lambert.

I believe Annabelle has left, and then Bob will be our final speaker this afternoon.

The millennials, shout out to the millennials, they're listening.

I gotta make sure I acknowledge them.

Uh, you have a problem.

Uh they told me that Mr.

Plucky Baum left again during public uh comments.

He's left at least three times today.

He should be reprimanded for that.

He should stay seated just like all of you do.

Why is he allowed to leave whenever he wants?

The other thing is I want to acknowledge two people on this rostrum.

I'll start.

This is in the Sacramento Bee.

My brother showed this to me when I got back to town.

This is the an article on the New City Manager.

And I think it's a wonderful article.

It's talking about some of the things that she's getting credit for.

Early budget process pays off.

You can't be popular to solve the problem at City Hall.

You have to be fiscally sound.

And according to this article, they're saying your acumen is up to par.

And I believe that because the people that were there before you, they didn't do this, or else you wouldn't be in the deficit you're in.

You have to make strong decisions, and it sounds beautiful that you're being able to save some people's jobs at the same time.

Now, here's an article right here.

And I'll end this article right here is about 60 minutes about a guy being terminated with no calls for termination.

That's what was in your term sheet when I studied it, and I emphasize, would you please get that out of there?

And hopefully you did.

This is an example.

He didn't end up with any of his benefits and or anything when he was terminated.

And I'll end by saying it's 11 seconds left, not much to say.

And I'll speak on it next, uh, during the budget.

And Bob is our final speaker this afternoon.

A long deferred and needed comment on addressing homelessness.

Relation to rental housing, data collection, which is um excessive and was not the practice in rental housing prior to the rent the beginning of the homeless crisis, which I can remember at my time from my time window, so restate it there will not be a solution to homelessness until politicians crack down on data collection by rental property in the private sector.

And when it doesn't cost any money for the study of the county, thank you for your comments, Bob.

Your speaking time is complete.

Mayor, we have no more business to come before the council.

Okay, thank you.

We will adjourn and reconvene at five o'clock.

Thank you.