Personnel and Public Employees Committee Meeting - February 15, 2022
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Personnel and Public Employees Committee Meeting - February 15, 2022
The Personnel and Public Employees Committee (P&PE) met on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 3:04 p.m. via teleconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee reviewed applicants for several boards and commissions, discussed changes to the Animal Care Services Citizens Advisory Committee, and approved a new annual reporting process for city advisory bodies.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Brandy Boyd, Chair of the Sacramento Disabilities Advisory Commission, expressed support for the annual reporting process and echoed Councilmember Valenzuela's request for improved staffing and training for commission support. She noted the lack of a clear mechanism for advisory bodies to communicate with council.
- Barry Boyd asked about the removal of SHRA board meeting postings from the city's website (explained by staff as due to separation of SHRA from city council). He also expressed concern that annual reporting might restrict the scope of commissions; Chair Ashby responded that it aims to align priorities with council goals.
Discussion Items
- Item 1 – Review of Applicants for Capitol Area Development Authority Governing Board: Committee interviewed two candidates for Seat B: Jose Bodipo-Memba and Phil Pluckebaum. Pluckebaum withdrew and endorsed Bodipo-Memba, citing his superior qualifications. The committee unanimously recommended Bodipo-Memba for appointment to the Mayor and Council.
- Item 2 – Review of Applicants for the Utilities Rate Advisory Commission: Five seats (B, C, D, E, F) were open. Candidates Connie Perkins, Jill Zito, Rae Vander Werf, and Philip Thomas were interviewed. Incumbent P. Anthony Thomas did not attend. Councilmember Harris initially nominated all five candidates except Thomas, but later withdrew the motion to allow further discussion and to invite Thomas to the next meeting. Action deferred to next P&PE meeting.
- Item 3 – Review of Applicants for Ann Land and Bertha Henschel Memorial Funds Commission: Two seats (G and I) were open. The committee interviewed Michelle Arnoult and reviewed applications from Sheila Ellis and Sarah Bannerman. A motion to appoint Michelle Arnoult to Seat G and Sheila Ellis to Seat I passed unanimously.
- Item 4 – Review of Applicants for Sacramento Ethics Commission: Three seats (B, C, D) were open. The committee interviewed Deanna Adams, Nicole Velasquez, and Linda Ng. Councilmember Ashby strongly supported Deanna Adams. The committee unanimously approved Deanna Adams for Seat B, Nicole Velasquez for Seat C, and Linda Ng for Seat D.
- Item 5 – City of Sacramento Animal Care Services Survey: Farishta Ahrary (Principal Fiscal Policy Analyst) and Phillip Zimmerman (Animal Care Services Manager) presented survey results from July–August 2021 (nearly 700 responses). The survey found animal services ranked third in city priorities; key concerns included stray/injured animals, lost and found services, and affordable veterinary care. The item was received and filed.
- Item 6 – Review of Sacramento City Code Chapter 2.86 (Animal Care Services Citizens Advisory Committee): The committee discussed revising the ordinance to change the commission’s structure. Councilmember Valenzuela favored retaining expertise-based seats, while Chair Ashby advocated for council district appointments for better accountability and representation. Compromise: revise language to require “experience” (paid or volunteer) rather than mere interest; keep a seat for a veterinarian or registered veterinary technician (via P&PE appointment); phase in changes over one year, allowing current members to complete their terms. Direction given to staff for ordinance revision.
- Item 7 – Annual Reporting of City Advisory Bodies to Ensure Transparency, Consistency, and Inclusive Participation: City Clerk Mindy Cuppy proposed a process requiring each advisory body to submit an annual report to P&PE, which would review and recommend action to council. Councilmember Harris moved to approve; Councilmember Valenzuela suggested additions: ensure city departments review recommendations before submission, clarify that annual reporting is a floor (not a ceiling), and improve staff training and communication. Motion passed unanimously with direction to incorporate these clarifications.
Key Outcomes
- Appointments recommended to Mayor and Council:
- CADA Governing Board Seat B: Jose Bodipo-Memba (unanimous).
- Ann Land & Bertha Henschel Funds Commission Seat G: Michelle Arnoult; Seat I: Sheila Ellis (unanimous).
- Sacramento Ethics Commission Seat B: Deanna Adams; Seat C: Nicole Velasquez; Seat D: Linda Ng (unanimous).
- UrAC appointments deferred to the next P&PE meeting pending further review.
- Animal Care Services Ordinance: Direction given to revise Chapter 2.86 to require experience-based qualifications, include a veterinary/professional seat, and phase in council district appointments over one year.
- Annual Reporting Process: Approved and forwarded to City Council with added clarifications on departmental review and communication expectations.
Meeting Transcript
Those are jazzy tunes. Councilmember Valenzuela getting down over there to that. All right, Madam Chair, we are live and ready to start when you are. Perfect. We are more than ready. Let's go. Go for it, Madam Clerk. Call the meeting to order here and get us started, would you? All right. This is a meeting of the P and PE committee. I'm gonna call the roll member Harris Lowy. Here. Member Harris. Member Valenzuela. Here and Chair Ashby. Here. We have a quorum. We do. Thank you so much. And we have a pretty full agenda, and we need to get through it because we also have a full rest of the day. So I'd like to make this as quick and painless as possible for my colleagues here. Madam Clerk, will you please get us started with the discussion calendar? Our first item on the discussion calendar is review of applicants for the Capital Area Development Authority Governing Board. We have two um candidates for one seat, seat B, which is a member appointed in the manner specified by the charter, and we do have staff of this committee available in both of our um candidates. I'll call the first one. Jose Bedipo Mimba. Hey there. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Good to see you, Councilmember. Nice to see you too. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity. You got it. Walk us through uh your application to be on Cata. Sure. Um, in terms of just my interest in the Cata board, um, community services been a key core value of mine, and and part of that is leveraging the technical expertise and my passions in order to help serve the city. Um CADA, I think is a great alignment with those core values and skill sets, given their focus on neighborhoods and building neighborhoods for people, not just for profit. Um focusing on affordability, environmental sustainability is a core of what I've done professionally and personally. So sitting on that board would be an honor and a privilege. I believe I bring technical expertise to the table. Um serving as director of sustainable communities for SMUD in my current professional role. We're bringing over 21 years of environmental and urban planning experience to the table as well. I've been a sequel practitioner. I've served as a city planning commissioner for four years of past planning commissioning chair and vice chair. I'm the immediate past chair of the Urban Land Institute, which is over 40,000 professionals uh nationwide, excuse me, worldwide, focusing on land use and development and really proud of the efforts we've done to bring inclusion and equity equity as a part of that here in Sacramento in our district council. Um I've served on five national technical panels doing uh affordable uh land use advisory in Colorado Springs in uh Indianapolis in San Jose twice in Sonoma County, uh, and also bring a number of of uh linkages in terms of community service in terms of the board member uh throughout the region. And so from that perspective, I think I bring a wide uh full uh sorry, a 360-degree perspective. I've been a consultant, I've worked on the agency side, I've worked as a volunteer and worked on the development side as well.
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