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Good morning everyone. Welcome to the Personnel and Public Employees Committee meeting.

The meeting is now called to order at 1102. Will the clerk please establish a roll call for Quorum.

Thank you chair. Member Telemontes is currently absence. Member Valenzuela.

Here. Vice Chair Maple. Here. And Chair Kaplan. Here we have a quorum and I know that Council Member Telemontes is on her way.

So Vice Mayor Maple, can you start us off? Please stand if you are able.

Please rise for the opening acknowledgments in honor of Sacramento's Indigenous people and tribal lands.

To the original people of this land, the Nisanan people, the southern Maidu, Valiant Plains, Miwak, the puts on one to two peoples and the people of the Wultz and Rancheria,

Sacramento is 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 today in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's Indigenous people's history,

contribution and lives. Thank you. Please remain standing. So we've amplaged. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, divisible, liberty and justice for all.

Is anybody here to speak on the consent calendar? Thank you, Chair. I have no speaker slips. Anybody else members? I'll move consent. Move by Maple, second by Valenzuela. All in favor?

Thank you. Now we are moving on to action. I had our discussion calendar. Item three, applicants for the active transportation commission.

Thank you, Chair. The seats needing recommendation today for the active transportation commission are seats J and K. The requirements for seat J are as follows.

So, I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a few questions for you. I have a

equation for me the way I am. I have a question for me the way I am. I have a equation for my research for F Raymond. I have a full circuit of my science,

and I have a full circuit of my sciences. I have a full circuit of my family affairs. I have a full circuit of my faculty, I have a full circuit of my faculty, I have a full circuit of my Colorado wheels summary of the

to apply today, but the day-to-day values and actions I uphold in my commitment to

centering community voices and the transportation and urban planning arenas.

In my current role as a strategic investment planner at CalTrans Headquarters, I coordinate

and communicate all across the state with our district, regional, local partners to

help envision and advocate for projects that are more well-rounded, well-rounded, and responsive

to the needs of, you know, the communities and the regions themselves.

We advocate projects that provide multimodal access to jobs, schools, health care, other

essential destinations.

We advocate for projects with proven counter safety measures to eliminate all fatalities

and severe injuries on our roadways.

And we advocate for projects that are eco-conscious, reducing the equal miles traveled, alleviating

environmental, socioeconomic, and other burdens on our most disadvantaged communities.

And engender climate adept resilient best practices, you know, such as bus shelters,

trees, things that like keep our most vulnerable road users safe.

So had the opportunity to do this across the state, we've had workshops, we've done

site visits with the communities to help realize these projects.

And that is what I stand for, and I came here to stand for that today, and I really appreciate

your time, and thank you.

Thank you.

Our next applicant is Jerry Champa.

Good morning.

I am Jerry Champa.

I've been a Sacramento resident since 1990, and I've been practicing as a licensed civil

engineer in California since 86.

My professional work experience includes 20 plus years at CalTrans as a supervising transportation

engineer and a traffic safety program specialist responsible for numerous and varied highway

safety, traffic calming, and active transportation initiatives.

I want to also mention, though, that my other experience as an advocate and even my personal

life are also things that qualify me.

I hope I have time to mention a few.

But I also understand the role of the active transportation commission and the specific

responsibilities of the commissioner who fill C.J.

I'm intentionally emphasizing the safety related aspects of the commission's ongoing

work this morning because it has clearly shifted an increase to our traffic safety crisis.

I also want to express heartfelt appreciation for this opportunity and for your individual

and collective efforts as city leaders.

You're making significant contributions and a significant difference because you've

listened to advocates and are taking an important step.

The low point we reached this year is also the turning point because it is very true

that recognizing or admitting the existence of a problem is at least half the battle.

Again, I'm well qualified, prepared, and highly motivated to serve as a commissioner based

on a lifetime of personal educational, professional, and volunteer experiences.

I hope that my advocacy efforts over the past year are known or recognized, but two I

want to mention, after joining the Slowdown Sacramento shortly after it was initiated, I presented

at their first and only for them so far on tactical urbanism.

I also then co-led an effort to build a tactical urban mini-roundabout within the neighborhood,

which was a success for July 4th.

I'm fortunate to have a professional work assignments and accomplishments which are directly

relevant to the city's current crisis.

I would like to talk about specifically quick build program initiative and also thank you,

Jerry, if you could wrap up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next applicant is David Moore.

Thank you committee members.

I'm interested here today to serve on the Actual Transportation both as a continuing interest

as currently on the Actual Transportation Commission.

I have seen the value of sitting on that body and advising and communicating the values

of the community, which brings me to my further interest, which is in that my work currently

as to Vic Thred, formerly Walks Sacramento, I feel I am in the unique position to have

through multiple community engagement plans and efforts on behalf of not only in the city,

but the region, a good understanding and a strong understanding of the equity considerations

that this, the city faces.

And first and foremost, that is what I want to address and what I hope and to continue

address within the Actual Transportation.

There are many people who choose to bike or walk or take transit in their day lives.

I am one of those.

I love it, but what we hear so often is one.

People really want to partake in Actual Transportation, but they do not feel safe to do so.

Or two, people have to use Actual Transportation and still they do not feel safe, but do not

have another means.

So being able to have a voice on this limited body that represents an entire city of over

500,000 people, I think is a critical voice to have.

I hold a master's degree from San Jose State in urban planning with an advanced certificate

in transportation and land use planning.

So I understand the technical kind of components and thinking that goes into these on behalf of

civic thread, I do develop and review projects and manage several Actual Transportation related

projects, including Vision Zero documents for a city of West Sacramento.

So again, emphasizing that safety component, we have been working on safe routes to school,

again, touching on those vulnerable road users perspective for as long as I have worked

there since its origins.

And so again, bringing that lens of vulnerable road users and aligning the Actual Transportation

considerations that we do need to address the current safety crisis that is gaining traction,

I think is critical.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next applicant is Stephen Rosen.

They notified our office that they would not be able to appear at this meeting.

Lauren Steinbaum.

Don't appear to be in the audience.

Our next applicant is Juan Luis Lysia Cruz, not in the audience today.

Oliver Leisure.

And as these just wanted to make clear, not being here does not mean you don't get appointed

and these are also our young students who I really hope are in school or have a reason

not to be.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Chair.

Next applicant is Kayla Saifon, not in the audience as well.

Lucas Hutrive.

Welcome, Lucas.

Thank you.

Can you hear?

Okay.

Good morning.

My name is Lucas Ben Hutrive.

I'm a student at Jesuit High School and I've been passionate about transportation and

getting around without a car for quite a while now.

I've had the opportunity to visit other cities and see how they do and most of the time I

always try and ask my parents, hey, can we go around without our car?

And I've always been trying to find ways to get around without it here in Sacramento.

I've been working with some people at my school and Sakarti to get better services to

Jesuit because currently there's no options and I've been trying to take my bike as

much as I can to get to school but it's a bit too far sometimes.

So I've been trying to do that and I've been attending some events such as the Truxel

Bridge.

I was in contact with Sparky Harris about some other things like the street car and I

was fortunate to be able to meet him the other week.

And whenever I have friends or family come around whether they're going somewhere new

or they want advice, they always ask me, hey, how do you think we should get there?

What's the safest way?

And I've had lots of experience getting around.

I have been unfortunately hit by e-bikes and cars so I know current places where improvements

could be made to better help in the immediate future.

And I've been trying to print a moat with my school moor even though it's far from

most walkable or trans accessible areas.

Bikes are still very well connected to Jesuit and I've been hoping to get away there that

I can achieve school multimodal.

And I've also been attending lots of meetings for Sakharati and other boards such as these

to further grow my knowledge and I thank you for your time today.

Thank you for coming, Lucas.

Now turning it over to my committee members.

I just want to state kind of for today which we've had a little bit of a norm when we look

at PP&E.

If the opportunity arises to reappoint somebody who's already on the commission as we go through

these next several items that's something I do look for and when we have open seats,

look forward to hearing from my fellow council member so I'll turn it over to Vice Chair

Maple.

All right.

Thank you, Chair.

And so, you know, completely agree with you and on that note, want to make a motion

that we reappoint David Moore to seat J. It's been a pleasure working with you on various

transportation issues and just thank you for the work that you've done on the commission

and the work that you continue doing going forward with Civic Thread.

I'm so torn on the second seat just because we've so many qualified youth applicants.

I really appreciate, I think it's one incredible that we've gotten so many that have applied

to this seat and thank you for showing up.

But with that, I would like to point one, Luis, Lichia Cruz, the CK.

I was really impressed with their application and so I'll be that as part of my motion.

Thank you.

Okay, we have a motion.

I will turn it over to Council Member Balance-Wayla.

Thank you.

Really impressed, Lucas, with your advocacy in the community.

I wanted to just recognize that.

I made a note in here when I read your application and just really hope given the motion on the

table, which I'm happy to support because like this committee is always the heartbreaker

committee because you'll end up with like five people that you're like, I want all of

you, but I only have one seat.

I hope you'll stay engaged.

I hope you reach out to Council Member Gara and see how you might work together since he

sits on many transportation boards in this region.

And I know he's always looking for ways in particular to make it safer for students,

but for everybody to get around his district.

So I'm happy to support the motion, but definitely want to thank everybody who applied and it

is always such a great luxury that we have so many people who want to be so engaged in

these decisions.

So thank you.

Thank you.

And Chair, thank you so much.

I also thank you so much, Council Member Ravonzwella for that.

And I also look as one to say, thank you.

Thank you so much for showing up.

It really means the world.

I hope you don't take this motion, including you as anything related to your presentation.

I thought you did an incredible job.

I'd love to see you participate in some of the other programs that we have to and it

continue applying.

But I also just want to uplift what Chair Kaplan said, which is not being here, should

not be a reason not to get appointed, especially when we talk about young people and students.

So thank you for showing up and just wanted to make that comment.

Thank you.

So we have a motion for seat J, David Moore by Council Member Maple and a second by Valenzwella

with seat K being Juan Luis to fill the youth seat, which congratulations members.

This is the action of now we are adding specific youth seats to all of our boards and commissions

and Lucas, don't forget, apply for summer at City Hall if you haven't done it.

It would be an amazing thing that you would really enjoy.

So we have a first and second.

All in favor, aye?

Aye.

All right, thank you so much.

Now moving on to item four, which is review of the applicants for the Animal Wellbeing Committee.

And again, this would be, I believe, our youth seat.

Thank you, Chair.

Yes, it is the youth seat.

The seat needing recommendation is seat M. A member must have an expressed interest or demonstrated

history of community involvement in animal welfare, operation of an animal welfare center,

or animal rescue, and must be at least 16 years old and not older than 22 years old at

the time of appointment.

We have three qualified applicants.

I'll read out the names.

I don't believe in here in the audience today.

But we have Alexis Lovelle, Manuel Celice.

Alicia Meza.

And Noemi Fue.

None are in the audience today.

Which, you know, I almost want to say congratulations for not showing up because your school work is

more important.

So I will turn it over to Vice Chair Mabel.

Thank you, Chair.

Again, a lot of really great qualified applicants.

I'm so excited that we're filling some of these youth seats at this meeting.

And with that, I would love to make a motion that we appoint Noemi Fue, Fue to CM.

Thank you.

And Councilmember Valenzuela.

Thank you.

That was going to be my motion as well.

They definitely demonstrated the strongest alignment with the work of this commission, but really

applaud everybody who put their name forward.

Thank you.

All right.

We have a motion and a second for seat M to be filled by Noemi Fue.

All in favor?

Aye.

All right.

Thank you so much.

And then it should be noted that I don't, I think we all got an email from the Chair,

Leah Morris, who was also very impressed with her application.

And I want to thank our chairs for paying attention and letting us know their thoughts as

well.

Now moving on to item five, which is review of the applicants for the Civil Service Board.

Thank you, Chair.

The seat needing recommendation today is seat C.

The qualifications are that the member must be a citizen of the City of Sacramento and

has no connection with city government.

We have one applicant for review today.

Joy Gonzales Kabatic.

Welcome Joy.

Oh.

It's a bit tall.

And I'm wearing heels.

All right.

Good afternoon.

Are we still morning?

Good morning.

Councilmembers, my name is Joy Gonzales Kabatic.

I currently sit as the vice chair for the Civil Service Board.

Have sat in the seat for the last few years.

And I'm very interested in the position when I've enjoyed my time.

With the board, I've enjoyed working with my colleagues.

But also I believe in being an active participant in our community.

So I do support various nonprofits.

And I sit on various boards as well.

And my experience in civil service, not related to the city, the state of California, is about

22 years.

My 16 of those years is in leadership and management positions where I've dealt with

various personnel related matters, similar to what the hearings that we come before us

with the board.

I'm also a certified Scully Officer.

So for the last seven years I've been a Scully Officer.

And so that's kind of the experience that I bring to this board.

And thank you so much for the opportunity to interview for this position.

Thank you.

Thanks, Joy.

I'm going to take Chair Privilege to reappoint Joy to see on the Civil Service Board.

I'll second.

Second by Vice Chair Maple.

Thank you Joy for your service being here and all that you do for our community.

All in favor of the motion?

Hi.

Hi.

Motion passes.

Thank you for your service and continued service.

So item six, we are now reviewing the applicants for the Measure You Community Advisory Commission.

We have four seats to fill.

Yes, thank you Chair.

And for the record we haven't had any public comments on the last several discussion

items.

Just wanted to put that on the record.

So the requirements are the seats needing recommendation today or seats J, K, N, and

O.

I'm going to ask for seat J or that the member shall be representative of a bonafide taxpayer

organization.

seat K, a member shall have professional or personal experience with housing, affordable

housing, homelessness, or rental housing issues.

seat N, a member shall have professional experience with community trauma, health, mental health, or

community-based crime reduction.

And seat O, a member shall have professional experience with youth focused, adult education,

public health, or environmental justice organizations.

We have eight applicants for review today.

Our first applicant is Skyler Miles Cobb.

Did not appear to be in the audience today.

John Cook.

Not in the audience.

Jeffrey Flanagan.

Not in the audience.

Sandra Fry Lucas.

Not in the audience.

Steve George.

Good morning.

Yeah, I'm glad to be here.

I had a short-term, partial term for about a year or so, filling seat J. I think I'm

the only applicant for seat J, probably because I'm the only one crazy enough to join a taxpayer

association.

We are a crazy bunch.

Yeah, since I've joined the Mejury Community Advisory Committee, I think there's been

a lot of momentum growing and I'm very excited to serve another two years if you guys

let me.

If you want me to talk about my history a little bit, similarly when I came here before,

I was talking about how my experience up till now, both from the private world and the

public sector, have been about budget and optimization of budget and basically making sure our resources

are used most effectively in a time of structural deficit.

That's very important.

Since joining the Mejury Community Advisory Committee, I've both fronted the ad hoc efforts

to allow us to meet outside of our meeting hours, which is critical because of the things

we need to do are two grandiose to do in two hours per month.

So for us to give you good results, we need that extra time.

So that was the first thing and then now we're working with city staff to revamp the metrics

on how we evaluate the city.

I've been working with Pete Coletto, the chief of staff of the city manager came yesterday

to our measure view meeting.

I think we had a good conversation.

I look forward to where that goes as well.

Thank you.

Thanks, Teddy.

Our next applicant is Emily Guroski, not in the audience.

Elena Gonzalez-Soto, not in the audience and Maximilian Rosa.

They notified our office that they would not be able to make it this morning.

All right, members.

If one I hope C.J. is reappointed that Teddy is the only applicant, but it's a reappointment

that we start with at least Teddy and I am open to K, N, and O, and I will turn it over

to Vice Chair Maple.

Thank you, Chair.

I want to again thank everyone who's to come up to speak or what our speaker here and

for those who for their service on these boards, and if they can't make it to these meetings,

I know that when I served on a commission, there were a couple times when I couldn't make

it to.

We just always appreciate people who can't show up, but also acknowledge that people have

lives and kids and jobs in school and whatnot.

So with that, I would like to make a motion.

My motion would be that we fill C.J. with Teddy, Georgia.

Thank you so much for your service on the board.

C.K. with Emily Guroski.

C.N. with Dr. Sandra Fylucis and then C.O. with Maximilian Rosa.

Thank you.

I love that we're having this like mind-mouthing Vice Mayor.

That was my motion.

I know so.

Thank you.

Thank you everybody who applied, but yeah, thank you for making that motion excited to see

these kids get filled on the measure you commission.

Yes.

And then members, we just remind our colleagues that when they get open seats, Philum reconfirmed

to the clerk's office so that we don't lose out on keeping a quorum for all of our

boards and commissions.

So we have a motion by Maple and a second by Valenzuela.

Jacob, did you get all of that?

I did.

All right.

All in favor?

Hi.

All right.

Congratulations, everyone.

Now moving on to item seven, which is review of the applicants for the Planning and Design

Commission, which I think is this one's an easy one.

Thank you, Chair.

The seats needing recommendation today for the Planning and Design Commission or seats

K and L. The requirements for seats K and L are identical and as follows.

A member with demonstrated interest in urban landscape or architectural design or physical

development of the city and shall be licensed architect, lead architect, landscape architect,

contractor or licensed engineer.

We have two applicants for review today.

Our first is Robert Chase, who is not in the audience and they notified our office

before hand that they would not be present.

Our other applicants is Aaron Reschke.

Good morning.

Nice to see you all again.

I'm Aaron Reschke and I'm grateful for this opportunity to reapply for this position and

continue to be a part of such a thoughtful, committed group.

As I mentioned last time, I don't know if you remember or not, it wasn't too long ago,

but I'm interested in serving on this board and commission.

I've put down roots in Sacramento 20 years ago and I'm raising children in district 5,

over 514,000 to 1441 Street.

And so I really care about the city being a thriving and equitable place to live.

I've seen a lot of ideals that I care about actualized in Sacramento and I think this

city is booming and doing great things and there are also lots of opportunities to further

equitable, healthy, sustainable development and growth for our city.

So I have 20 years of experience as an architect and urban designer in Sacramento.

I've worked on affordable housing projects, market rate housing offices, renovations of

all types as well as mixed use, or mixed use projects, student housing and other commercial

projects.

So being a part of that team, you know, that development team gives me a view into the

complex and varied work that, you know, these teams tend to every day of experience running

community meetings with diverse groups of stakeholders and users to achieve consensus.

And then I understand the intricacies of funding and financing projects and the timelines

associated with that.

I have technical expertise leading the creation of design documents for large projects and

experience developing and writing building code, particularly around energy efficiency.

So in addition to architecture degree, I have a minor in urban design and I have lead accredited

and also have a certificate in permaculture design.

So yeah, I would like to offer my continued service.

Thanks, Erin.

Chair, that was our final applicant for this item.

All right.

So members, we have two applicants, two seats, vice chair maple.

All right.

I was going to see if anyone else punched out, but I would like to make a vote.

I'm not a role.

You know, I've got my notes.

I'm ready to go.

This one's a really hard one, as you know, because we've only got two seats and only two

applicants, but really thrilled to make the motion to Robert Chase's seat K and Rea Point

and Ashki to defy resident.

We move to the CL.

Right.

Thank you.

I have a motion.

Second.

Bye, council member.

Tallah Montes.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you for your service and continued service.

And now moving on to item eight, which is review of the applicants for the preservation

commission.

Jake.

Thank you, chair.

The seats needing recommendation today for the preservation commission or seats B,

D, F and G. The requirements for seat B, the member must have demonstrated knowledge

of the secretary of the interior standards for the treatment of historic properties and

the California Historical Building Code, who is an architectural historian with training

or experience in the architectural history of Sacramento, the Sacramento region, Northern

California, or the West, and who meets the secretary of the interior's qualifications

for architectural historians.

The requirements for seat D, the member must have demonstrated knowledge of the secretary

of the interior standards for the treatments of historic properties and the California

Historic Building Code.

Actually, that's kind of a catch all for all of these seats is that demonstrated knowledge

of the secretary of the interior standards for the treatment of historic properties and

California Historical Building Code that is for each of these seats.

And then also for seat D, they must be a licensed contractor with training or experience

in restoration of historic properties.

Seat F, they're representative of, they must be a representative of the public at large,

with preference to an individual with training or experience in historic preservation

or urban planning.

And seat G, they must be a representative of the public at large, with a preference

for an individual with training or experience in the history of Sacramento, the Sacramento

region, Northern California, or the West, and who meets the secretary of the interior's

qualification for historians.

All right, thank you, Jacob.

Thank you.

Our first applicant today is Pearl Aguayo.

Good morning.

My name is Pearl Aguayo, and I am a trained architect working toward my California license.

I have a Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and I've been in the field

for 13 years.

I grew up in the River Delta in Walnut Grove.

I've been living in Sacramento for a year and a half as resident of District 4.

I love walking my dog in my neighborhood and passing by beautifully crafted homes, seeing

the historic and the modern intermingle.

I believe well-preserved details like those of the craftsmen and Victorian homes I walk

by daily add to the fabric of our community.

There's so much beauty and a well-built architectural style.

I want to work with the Preservation Commission to maintain Sacramento's rich tapestry of history

as we move toward more housing options and experience general growth in our community.

Before moving to Sacramento, I lived and worked in San Francisco for 10 years.

For four of those years, I remodeled single-family homes, most of which were historic to some degree.

I learned to appreciate the details and intricacies of these homes as I crafted spaces suited our

clients' needs while honoring the building's history.

Several of my remodeled projects required historic preservation, commission review, and

I worked closely with city staff to make design changes that all parties were satisfied

with.

I enjoyed the process and truly appreciated the care the commission took to review the

drawings and make sure any item that needed to be brought up to code would do so without

losing the integrity of the original design.

I am organized and diligent and I'd love to do my part to help preserve existing landmarks

in Sacramento, help identify new landmarks, and encourage the use of our existing vacant

buildings.

I'm a fast learner and I hope my experience as an architectural designer with an appreciation

for history is welcome.

I would love to be a part of the Sacramento Preservation Commission.

Thank you so much for your consideration.

Thank you.

Our next applicant is Patricia Ombacher.

Good morning.

And Patricia Ombacher, excuse me.

I've lived in Sacramento now for 31 years and I earned my bachelor's in history and

my master's in public history both at Sac State.

I've closed to 22 years of experience in both the private and public sectors as an architectural

historian and as a preservation planner and cultural resources manager.

And I meet the secretary of interior standards for architectural history and history.

I'm well versed in NEPA section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, SEQUA,

the State Building Code, California Public Resources Code 5024 and 5025 and Sacramento's

preservation ordinance as well as numerous other city and county ordinances across the

state.

As a senior architectural historian, my work entails evaluating properties for their

eligibility and historical significance using the National Register, California Register

and local register criteria, assessing project impacts to historical resources, applying

the secretary of the interior standards for the treatment of historic properties to reduce

those impacts and determining if projects conform with local design guidelines.

In addition to currently serving on Sacramento's preservation commission, I'm the chair

of the California Preservation Foundation's Volunteer Committee for the 2025 statewide

preservation conference that's going to be here in Sacramento in May.

And I was also part of that program committee for that conference.

I've given presentations on preservation conferences and to local communities and local

groups concerning historic preservation and regulations that surround those.

I'm interested in continuing to serve on this commission to share my enthusiasm for preserving

Sacramento's historic places, which are valuable to the community and they contribute to our

city's identity and its history.

I've enjoyed serving on this commission since I was appointed in March and I have attended

every schedule meetings at SIN and I'm hoping to continue to service.

Thank you.

Thank you Patricia.

Our next applicant is Ella Cross, not in the audience today.

Max McSlovakian.

Good morning committee.

It's good to see you all.

Thank you for having me back today.

My main motivation, excuse me, for being interested in serving another term on the commission

is that the commission has a lot of momentum or the department does.

Since I've been on for the last two years, the African-American Experience Project and

the LGBTQ plus experience project, which we're reviewing the final draft of that are meeting

tomorrow, are both not only very cool projects for Sacramento, but kind of pioneering efforts

across the state and across the country for looking back at not only history, but what

history and history of the country has done and who they've chosen to celebrate and

to lift up and who's been left out.

And the work the city has been doing has been so exciting and brought in a lot of grant

funding for the city.

I would be sad to believe while it's still ongoing.

The buildings as well, not to diminish the work on the buildings.

In the last two years, we've worked on things from Ronald Reagan's old house to the

Eichler district now in Southland Park Hills.

And selfishly, I've just learned a lot about our great city that way.

My own experience and knowledge most relevant is the last two years, like I said, on the commission

and elected and then reelected by my fellow commissioners as the chair.

I'm particularly excited about the potential of serving, not as the chair to focus a bit

more on the history and less on the Robert's rules of it all.

And before that, what got me initially into this all was, work I had done around the history

of the New Deal Federal Arts Projects, including a book published by Chronicle Books in 2016

called See America about the history of the National Park posters and providing those

park posters.

That was a partnership with the National Parks Conservation Association and got me more

directly into this world of Nipa and Seekwa and Landmark designation and all of that.

Thank you for listening.

Thanks Max.

Our next applicant is Chandra Miller, not in the audience and they notified our office

parts of the meeting that they would not be present.

Salvatore Rika, again, they notified our office that they would not be present today.

And Siri Rodriguez, again, not present.

That is our applicants.

Thank you, Jacob.

I will take the privilege since truly this is a reappointment of three applicants, which

then when you look at the seats that they take really left us with only one option for

who could fill the other one.

So I would like to make a motion that seat B, we reappoint Patricia Ombacher, seat D,

we reappoint Salvatore Rika, seat G, we reappoint Chair Max McSlawen and seat F. The only

one qualified to fill that then is Chandra Miller.

Do I have a second?

Close second.

Council Member of Allensweiler?

Yeah, I was actually had a question for Sean just because he's here because I didn't

understand why some folks weren't qualified for F since that was just a member of the public.

So I was wondering if you could just explain that a little bit because I do actually think

that looking at the remaining applicants that all of them would qualify for F. So I just

wanted to ask your opinion.

Can just for Jacob, does seat F have a landscape experience requirement?

No.

Sorry, it's the historic preservation or urban planning.

Then I think you're correct that at least Perla Aguano would qualify.

Like Ella, Perla, Chandra and Sarah, Ella and Sarah, sorry.

Chandra Miller would all qualify for that.

Thank you.

Sorry, I just wanted to ask because I was rereading the thing and asking Jacob.

And I'm like, I think this is where people qualify for this.

Thank you, Sean.

Because I was actually going to suggest and it's open to the Chair if you're open to

different amendment.

Definitely in favor of supporting the incumbents staying in their seats.

I was actually going to nominate Ella Cross to be for seat F just because I've seen

her multiple times coming to the Council to advocate for preservation of buildings and

she just seems really engaged in the city on this issue.

So that was going to be my other.

I have no objection to Miss Miller.

I'm familiar with both.

And here's the thing based off of that question and answer.

I am open.

I just went through as to who could fit and what we had.

But.

Okay.

So yeah, that would be.

We'll amend our motion that then seat F goes to Ella Cross.

Right.

B and G are the reappointments.

The reappointments, yes.

And thank you again, everybody who applied and all the work that's happening on this commission

and very excited to see the projects that are going to.

And don't keep paying attention.

There will be more seats and opportunities available.

So have an amended motion and a second.

All in favor.

Hi.

Hi.

Thank you again.

And now moving on to item nine.

Councilmember proposal.

Request to amend Council rules of procedures and declare by the process for commission recommendations.

I will turn it over to Councilmember Valenzuela and then if we have any public comments and

then Council discussion.

Thank you.

So I'm trying to open the thing here.

I just get to blame the cold medicine for all of my highs in this today.

So give me just a moment.

Okay.

So.

And I don't know if the city clerk who I see in the audience wants to give any comment.

But we further clarified the suggestion in the staff report that you see in front of us,

which keeps the basic integrity of the idea in place, but just still lines it with some

of the language in the policy and procedures document right now.

So I do hope you'll consider moving this forward just to clarify how recommendations are

considered.

So.

Thank you.

And now moving on.

Jacob, do we have any public comments on this item?

Thank you chair.

I have two speaker slips on this item.

Our first speaker is Keon Bliss followed by Teddy George off.

Greetings Council.

Appreciate you taking the time again to have this conversation about the formal process

for how we get the tireless work that many of our commission and commissioners have

done to your desks and before the full city council.

As many of you know, this isn't just to your bet.

The work that we provide and the information that we research and study is not just for

your benefit, but it's also for benefit and members of the public.

The language that I see, I have questions about.

We have I just wanted to put in the record that we did include recommended language when

chapter 2.40 was first discussed back in August 2022 that was supported and co-signed by

the vice the chairs and vice chairs of seven different commissions that can inform how

this might be a more formal process going forward.

However, this process and cooperating it within the council rules of procedures, I think

it makes a logical step.

The only question I have really is around the limit on to make recommendations, submitting

recommendations to the council twice within a calendar year.

Is that including to the various committees or is that to the full city council given

that if we're assuming that we are upon presenting those submitting those to council, we are

then invited to present.

Does that limit us in how many times we can present to your various standing committees

versus the full city council?

That's kind of my question basically around that concern and something to think about.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our final speaker is Teddy George.

Hi, Teddy.

I'm going to sound kind of redundant, but I guess I have the same sort of question.

Given my main concern here, I was just actually talking to Mindy to ask that I clarify.

So basically I think it's obviously smart that we limit how many times we go to a full

council because your guys this time is obviously important.

We should consolidate before we send things to you.

My one concern would be if we have multiple initiatives that are happening during a calendar

year, say three, would it be possible to go to subcommittees three times throughout that

calendar year or how that process look from a, because I personally believe the subcommage

should be the one that's sort of limiting the flow through to the full council.

I'm just curious to what your thoughts are on that.

And if you feel that more than two, up to five or something like that would be reasonable

for a subcommittee, at least presentations, et cetera.

Thanks.

Any other public speakers?

Thank you, Chair.

I have no more speaker slips on the side.

All right.

I will kick this off and once thank Council Member Valenzuela and our City Clerk because this

is like as we figure out processes, how does this all work?

And I always go back to what's the problem and does this solve the problem, you know,

and as I hear a couple of our commissioners coming up, it's one, the goal is to give our

boards and commissions a voice.

And does this give them more voice or does this give more confusion?

Second, I have a question for our Assistant City Attorney.

Comey, you know, as a tariff, what not, I was looking at our City Charter.

And we are elected to be the voice in the body and to put forward things, you know, for proposals.

Does this potentially violate the City Charter since we are elected by the people to propose

ordinances and changes?

And do we even have the authority to give power to our Board and Commission to come directly

to Council to propose those changes?

So I don't know if you have anything to apply now or need time to double check that.

As I'm sitting here, what we're getting is a committee making a recommendation.

And so in that respect, we're going to have this go to what I've been calling the gang

of four.

And then those are then reassigned to the various subcommittees.

So from my perspective, it still stays a recommendation until even till it gets to the

Council.

So I don't see a legislative problem with it.

But there's a specific section.

Are you talking about it?

Now, I don't really see a legislative problem with that.

They stay recommendations.

Okay.

Which I-

You like for us to provide a formal opinion on that.

If you're going to move the matter forward and you want us to provide a formal opinion on

that, we can do that thing.

Before it goes.

Just a double check to make sure we are not running a foul on any process or procedure

of how we do that if it moves forward.

And then I go back to does this solve the problem, which I'm not sure it does.

And then I also bring up with how does this fit into staff time and our budget deficit.

And how does it fit into with the current, when we're looking at City Council, what is

our- what is our direction for the city?

And how does this fit in?

And that also I think the current process, Mr. Bliss, I will not be taking any more public

comment.

Sure, if you want to come off agenda.

The current process is already set up for our boards and commissions because they- yes,

our boards and commissions deserve to have a voice and they do have a voice through their

work process.

Questions have come up of should it go to Council for full discussion when it comes to

P P and E or is it something that then commissioners as we're changing the process for all boards

and commissions work with the Council member.

For example, Council member Talamonte's and I took items from the youth commission

and proposed them and those changes came forward.

I work with my commissioners on proposals that come forward with the work plan.

You know, I- I think we need further discussion because I don't believe this solves the problem

we're trying to address.

I think it's- it's a conversation we need to continue but I don't see this as something

that actually addresses what we're trying to get at in a way that fully makes sense and

needs more conversation.

But happy to hear thoughts from my other Council members.

Council member Talamonte's.

Well, should we give Council member Maulan Zola, do you want to present your thing?

I read it but I don't know if you want to talk about it first before.

Sure.

I will say- I mean this is our second time coming back here and definitely appreciate

the questions.

Currently, there is no process for commissions to officially submit recommendations for

vote and discussion to the Council.

It comes in the annual report and as the chair said, Council members can select to opt

to submit those as Council member requests but there is no actual mechanism for commissions

to submit.

Recommendations and I would argue, I mean this is kind of part of the point of why we

have these commissions is to advise us and some of them like the measure you commission

have like a very clear in the budget they submit recommendations that are considered

but for pretty much every other commission there is no very- there is no clear way to do

that and so this was simply meant to mirror the process we hold ourselves to so that we

can't- again also addressing the other issue that the city attorney flag which is that

multiple committees can't hear the same item so if it comes to PMPE we couldn't also

send it to budget audit or law and ledge it could only come to one and so this is trying

to reduce the workload that comes to the full Council and still enable our mayor and city

team to refer to the appropriate committee if that's what's necessary so it's really

just trying to create a logical process that doesn't depend on a council member picking

it up and taking it on as their requests when it's really coming from one of our commissions

but that's all I will say to that.

It comes from a couple of months?

Yeah so kind of what Chair Kaplan said is like what's the problem we're trying to achieve

like I want our boards and commissions to feel like they're heard in their voices matter

and right now the process is for them to present to us here at PPNE and then they come

to the NIGIT's published as consent at Council and then I know at Council when that's happened

like specifically the active transportation the youth report there's been a lot of members

that have pulled it to say hey we want to have a conversation about it which I mean right

fully so because the board and commission spend a lot of hours working on these policies

drafting their annual report and producing their recommendations and so I'm not sure

if this proposal gets to address that problem and I guess that to me my head this is kind

of that was the question the problem we were trying to solve with this and I just don't

know if it accomplishes that but we do have to find a way that their reports are not

just on consent and it gets passed like any other agenda contract item like we as a PPNE

have to figure out what that report looks like and then take out the meat of it the action

items that maybe even have a funding you know implication to it and seeing if we can

discuss those as people you know we're elected and we're accountable to the voters and taxpayer

dollars and our budget like we have to adopt it and it's important to incorporate everybody's

voices about the end of the day like we have to pass a budget and that's kind of just

my concern is like is is what's the question or what's the problem that we're trying to

address and if that's like giving boards and commissions a place to like go through more

comprehensive with policy then maybe it is getting sending it to the different boards and commissions

I just don't know if we have enough and then it gets kind of murky because something some

policies are both budget and you know long-leg and so I don't know my two cents for right now.

Vice Chair Maple thank you so I want to agree with well I'll start from where I'm at I think

that one of the challenges that we have because I've heard it from my own commissioners is that

people feel as though they are spending a lot of time and energy they've been recruited we

we appoint many of these people through this through this body to serve on these commissions

but they don't always feel like their time is well spent or that their recommendations are

heard in a real way and that's because you know as was noted most the time when it's coming to the

full council it's on consent and people you know of course we read everything in all the version

of packets as I'm sure you all do as well but it's not necessarily coming for a full public

discussion with the full council so I I see a value in that I really do especially you know the

some of the commissions that are are talking about topics that are hugely important to us right now

the chance to take commission and our pedestrian safety crisis as one you know like but you know

most of our commissions are doing doing real work and giving their giving the recommendations to us

but don't feel as though they're really being heard by the full council so what I am supportive of is

I'd love to see the conversation move forward to the full council about what should we do

you know I I kind of align myself that I'm not sure if like this specific language is the answer

but I do think that I see value in us discussing it as a body at the full council to figure out what

is the answer and maybe get some recommendations from staff and from our commissions as well

about what they think so I'm not sure you know how how we might be able to do that I'm happy to

make a motion to do something like that so I have because every January generally the clerk brings

to us council rules and procedures for re adoption or re confirmation so I think it's maybe not

moving this language but moving the pointing out and having a council discussion so it's not

on consent but it is a discussion item and bringing up to the council of this is the current

procedure here are some of the open questions we need to resolve and does council have direction

because once I think council direction is given it's easy for Mindy in the city attorney's office

to then find language and it can come back for adoption but I think it would allow a full council

discussion of how are we addressing the problem okay yeah yeah number Talamonte is and then

vice-miss oh I wasn't finished with my comments yeah but also okay but I appreciate the

clarification on that and it sounds like in January there's something that's coming forward so

maybe there's a way to tack on to that but I also just want to acknowledge what I heard from a

couple of commissioners in the crowd here is that there's still some questions even about like

this specific language of whether or not it should be two or three or five or whatever the answer is

so I just I want to make sure that whatever we do move forward that it's it's the right thing

is the thing that most people agree upon so I would I would be supportive of something that is

let's revisit in January when when that when the clerk brings something forward and maybe we can

give direction as a body thank you councilmember Talamontes yeah I was just going to say that we

can do a pp&e meeting but agenda as a full council so that council members that are interested in

this can participate and say hey this is the direction that we're going to be able to move forward in

councilmember Valasuela

yeah I mean definitely appreciate the conversation as I mentioned at the last meeting this proposal

was pulled out of conversations I've been having with the mayor and councilmember Jennings and

councilmember Geras so there is a lot of interest I think on the broader body to address this question

of where the appropriate venue is and how we appropriately so the two was a discussion that we had

of like let's just do two you know like of course we know commissions we probably love to submit

a bunch of recommendations a bunch of different times but consolidate you know like that was a

measured debate we were having in the context of the police commission in the time that I've been

in office we have only heard and discussed one recommendation from our police commission even

the hundreds have been submitted you know yes we have pulled out some recommendations to submit but

I think this lack of process really does speak to a structural issue and this is a pretty simple

solution I think we can discuss discuss but the core question is whether commissions have the

ability to submit recommendations or whether they're dependent on the council to submit recommendations

on their behalf and from a systems perspective it doesn't make sense that we would have commissions

who don't have a legal path forward other than the annual reports which aren't really actionable in

that way right like I mean the PME can't consider a budget and audit question separate than budget

not it right so it's I mean if there's not interest in that fully appreciate that but just want

to say that like from a practical perspective it doesn't make a ton of sense to me but obviously I

submitted this recommendation after many weeks of discussion with other colleagues on this very

question so this is an issue that I hope the future council grapples with because I do think we

are going to start seeing people leave our commissions or be less willing to go on to our commissions

because there is no path forward for them to submit hard work we're doing this animal welfare

right now I mean they just did a whole report on the shelter and different improvements that are

needed at the shelter and there is no mechanism for them to submit that to us in a timely way other

than the annual report which is only once a year and that doesn't make sense so Scott White and

I are scrambling to try to get this on an agenda through the mayor's prerogative so that we can hear

that and address the issues it's just it's a structural issue and I think it makes it messier and

more subjective than it needs to be but that's my two cents. Well I think that as we do have three

new colleagues joining us in January this is a proper discussion to have when we look at updating

our rules and procedures and getting full council feedback on one how should we look at the annual

report to process for commission recommendations and you know how it fits in like with the rules

and procedures and creating a process but I think outlining those items for discussion at the full

council would be something that I suggest that we do with this new council are we are we good with

that. All right direction has been given that conversation will happen with the full council in

early 2025 and then with that item Jacob will now move to public comments for items not on the agenda.

Thank you chair I have one speaker slip Mr. Keon Bliss.

Okay city council I'm about to conclude the end of my first term and even though I've reapplied for

another term after to begin hopefully at the beginning of the year and I appreciate the changes

that were made to chapter 2.40 by the city council I have to name what you all said and have

acknowledged is accurate many of us on the commission do not feel heard we do not feel respected

and we feel a lot of like a lot of our work is a waste of time and I myself can and one of those.

I mean the police review commission as was pointed out has submitted over 170 recommendations to

city council since 2018 and to date we've only had one of them. Previously in previous councils

and commissions we were agendas at least once a year to present our annual recommendations

which we did up until 2021 and then over the next two years we did not have any presentations

so we have yet to present on our annual recommendations for 2021 and 2022 and based on the way

that I was treated when I've presented to this body and to the full city council we are often

limited in what we can actually say and present to you all including what we can show and provide

not just for you all but for members of the public. There have been multiple audits done already

on the city boards and commissions but particularly with the police review commission I think the

changing the council rules was a bare minimum step that could be done and it is in easy fix at least

until the full city council discusses it but it feels like some of you have no intention of actually

listening to us it feels like some of you are intent to just drill move the process on.

Thank you for your comments your time is complete. With no further public comments I'll call

this meeting adjourned at 12.03 thank you everyone.