Welcome everyone to the public personnel and public employees committee meeting.

This meeting will start right now.

And we will start with the clerk doing a roll call.

Thank you, Chair.

Member Telemantes.

Vice Chair Kaplan.

Yeah.

Member Vang.

Here.

And Chair Jennings.

Here.

Thank you.

We have quorum.

Good.

Okay.

I'm going to ask Member Telemantes to do the land acknowledgement.

And Member Kaplan to do the Pledge of Allegiance.

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 get to gather together today in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's Indigenous Peoples history, contributions, and lifestyle.

Thank you.

Pledge.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God and indivisible liberty and justice for us.

All right.

I thank you very much for doing that.

We will move to our consent calendar.

Approval of the personnel and public employees committee meeting minutes.

So moved.

For the record, there's no public comments on this item.

No public comments, no comments from my colleagues.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

We are unanimous.

Okay.

Let's move to our discussion calendar.

Item number two.

Thank you, Chair.

Our next item is review of applicants for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Commission.

The seat needing recommendation today is seat A.

The requirements for seat A are as follows.

Must not be an elective officer and must not be an employee of the city or county.

We have four applicants for review today.

We received an email late last night from Brooke Miller Jacobs stating that they would be moving out of the city of Sacramento, which would make them aneligible to uh for the city to appoint them to this commission.

So we'll have three commit uh three members to review today.

Our first is David Deluz.

I do not see them in the audience.

Um Michael Flamate, not in the audience, and they did not uh RSVP for the meeting.

And our final applicant is Micah Swen.

And as well, I did not hear back from Micah Swen as well.

So that concludes um the interview portion.

Um here for any questions.

Okay, let's go to Vice Chair Lisa Kaplan.

So we have several uh qualified applicants, and I totally get that they uh may not be here uh specifically something for my colleagues to think about.

You know, Mr.

Deleuze uh has been around and has uh significant experience, policy, whatnot, but I was also impressed uh by Micah Swin because he's also a young voice and works for uh one of the organizations that actually is helping our unhoused and getting them services, you know, so brings real life actual work experience, um, but also somebody who's still in their 20s in the young voice.

So I am uh I think it would be wise as we look at this also thinking about how we can bring our young people in, and Mr.

Micah works for the gathering in and is working out at Roseville Road, which I think gives a unique perspective as we're looking at housing and homelessness and SHRA to bring that real life experience.

So I I of course might lean towards towards Micah and the young voice, um, but open to hearing from my colleagues.

And Chair, I do have one uh public speaker slip.

Would you like to take public comment at this time?

While we think about her comment that she just made, let's take the public comment and then come right back to that matter.

Thank you, Chair.

Um our speaker today is Mr.

Lambert Davis.

Oh, my apologies, sir.

Yes, that is for number three.

Um we have no public comments on this item.

Come back to this sooner than later.

So I don't know that we know why they all three candidates did not show up today.

I don't know that we know that.

Um, and I think um if we could potentially move this to another meeting and see if those three people who some of us know, some of us don't are still interested in the position and don't have a conflict uh for coming to the next to our next meeting.

Would you be open for consideration of that strategy?

I'm okay with that.

Um I I agree with Councilmark Kaplan on like I think Mr.

Deleuze is great, and he's a community leader.

Um, also I think the other candidate has the work experience, and we can you know lift up young voices.

Um, but we I'm happy to wait.

I don't think that there's any rush.

Unless there's a rush that we don't know about.

Do they have a quorum?

Uh I do not know if they have a quorum.

I know from our seats, the the city of Sacramento appointed seats.

Um, they currently have two of five filled currently, so this would be a third one filled.

So there's a lack of city of Sacramento representation currently uh from the city.

Oh, so if we appoint somebody today, we still have applications open and somebody could apply if we have that.

Okay, then that's fine.

Then I'm happy to move uh Micah to the Call third.

Okay.

Other two seats are open, absolutely.

Okay, and so then I think where I'm hearing is a combined strategy of leaving leaving the other two for um the candidates that were not appointing today.

So can I ask the clerk, is it legal if we give you the direction to allow these applicants to roll over to the next open seat, or do we have to get a hold of them to reapply?

Um, yes.

So how the their applications remain valid for one year.

So actually, a couple of these candidates have interviewed before.

Um that was Brooke Miller Jacobs as well as Michael Flamate, and we'll bring them back as if their uh applications are still valid in the state.

Still is Mr.

Deleuze and Mr.

Deleuze, correct.

Okay.

I'm good.

Okay, so is there a motion?

Did I hear motion, second, third?

Can I hear the motion clearly again?

Yeah, so uh my motion is to appoint Micah uh Thaddeus Swen to this seat and ask the candidates to apply for the other open seats, um, and we can hear at the next meeting.

Is there a second to that?

I'll second that.

Okay, is there any further discussion?

And uh just to clarify we can we have the ability to roll those applications into because the um the qualifications are the same for each seat.

Um so we can use those applications for uh the seat to for for those other open seats.

If so, then can I amend my motion to appoint both Micah and David to the open seats?

Well, the recommendation because not agenda no because yeah, not agendized to fill those other seats.

Well then we'll just hear the next SHRE position.

Okay, my motion stands.

Okay, I'll support the motion as is.

Okay.

Any other questions, comments?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Abstain.

We are unanimous.

Now I'm gonna talk to my city attorney to make sure that we've done everything in a right and legal way.

Yep.

Okay, all right, we are good.

Thank you.

All right, good problem solving team.

Okay, we'll move now to our next item.

Thank you, Chair.

Our next item is the City of Sacramento Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Commission 2025 annual report and 2026 work plan.

And we have a staff presentation.

Good morning.

George Jennings and committee members.

My name is Jason Zhang.

I'm the manager for the Office of Arts and Culture.

Joining me here today is our vice chair of the Arts Culture and Creative Economy Commission, Dr.

Nkuruka O'Hegbu.

Um, it's my pleasure to serve as the liaison to this committee as staff.

Before I go into my remarks about uh the key accomplishments, just wanted to reiterate the purpose of the commission.

Um I'm going to be reading from page five, starting on page five of the staff report.

The purpose of the commission is to provide advice and recommendations to the city council for promoting, encouraging, and fostering the arts, innovation, and tourism in the city.

We have some words on page six from our vice or from our chair rather, who was unable to make it today.

And I just wanted to call out a few of her words.

She shares that together we have made meaningful progress while honoring the voices of artists, culture bearers, entrepreneurs, and families who call this community home.

And I can attest to that this is an engaged group of folks who care passionately about the direction of arts, culture, and the creative economy in our city.

Some of the highlights, key accomplishments that they have achieved over the past year.

They received presentations from our staff, OEC Grants and Programs Manager Melissa Sarone, who had reviewed arts education initiatives and youth programming, opportunities for artists and creatives, such as our California Creative Core Program, CD and Creativity, and Emerging Curator Fellowship, as well as updates on the Cultural Arts Awards and our ARPA funded creative growth fellowship.

They also received presentations from members in the community and our working partners, Rashawn Davis, Executive Director of Culture, who uh their organization leads the Everyday Creative Entrepreneurial Support Program, and John Hamilton, who's the executive director of Department of Sound, which is a nonprofit organization, and they administered the Sound Business Summit last year.

They also received presentations from our art and public places manager Donald Gensler, who reviewed a number of policies that impact artists around the state.

He also shared with them the release of our GIS mapping tool, which allows anyone to access our public art collection.

Individuals can search online for artwork, artists, and locations throughout the city.

They also received presentations from our art and public places manager regarding two temporary public art applications.

They received a presentation from Visit Sacramento staff regarding the 2025 Cultural Tourism Symposium, presented in partnership with our office and U.S.

Cultural Heritage Marketing Council and Visit Sacramento.

This was the second iteration of the Cultural Tourism Symposium.

They did some house cleaning work.

They worked on the 2024 annual report as well as the 2025 work plan, and then they began work on this year's work plan.

Additional special presentations, they received information from California for the Arts, uplifting April as Arts Culture and Creativity Month.

They received a presentation and poetry performance from our poet laureate emeritus, Andrew DeFi.

They received training and support from the Office of City of the City Clerk and orientation for new commissioners.

And they received a number of additional presentations, including the organizers and performers of the All-In Festival of Accessible Theatre Forum on Accessible Theater.

The total estimated cost to support the commission in 2025 was a little over 24,000.

And at this point, I'd like to hand it over to our vice chair, Dr.

Ohebu, who will walk us through the crafting of the goals, the five goals of the commission, and some of the outcomes and achievements that they saw in the past year.

Dr.

Hebu.

Good morning, Chair and members of the committee.

Thank you for the opportunity to present on behalf of the Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Commission regarding our annual report and forward-looking work plan.

Our commission's work is grounded in a simple belief a thriving arts and creative sector helps build a stronger Sacramento through economic vitality, community connections, and civic pride.

To guide that work, we have organized our efforts around five strategic goal areas.

First, strengthening the commission internally so we can clearly understand our role, responsibilities, and how to best support city priorities.

Second, increasing community awareness and accessibility.

So residents, artists, nonprofits, and businesses understand the commission as a supportive and responsive resource.

Third, advancing policies and initiatives that value and strengthen Sacramento's arts and creative economy.

Fourth, helping address long-term infrastructure needs such as affordable creative spaces, sustainable sustainability and partnerships.

And fifth, continuing to support the goals of the Creative Edge Plan while helping shape future cultural planning efforts.

I am pleased to share that progress is already underway, particularly within goal two.

Commissioners have actively engaged in community through events, conversations, and relationship building efforts that increase awareness of the commission and strengthen trust with stakeholders.

Most recently, District 5 Arts Summit was held earlier this month.

That matters because our role is not only advisory advisory, it is connective.

Goals one and two work hand in hand.

As we strengthen internally, we became we become more effective externally.

As we improve our own alignment, we are better positioned to serve as a bridge between City Hall and Sacramento's creative community.

That bridge creates value for both sides by helping community voices with informed city priorities with help with uh while helping residents better navigate civic processes.

Regarding goal three, we recently saw strong momentum during arts, culture, and creativity month.

Commissioners, um commissioners participated in events, initiatives throughout the month, and we we appreciate the engagement of city leadership, including um participation in the fourth annual California Arts and Cultural Summit.

Commissioners also engaged the city to pursue scholarships and external funding opportunities that can expand resources and visibility for Sacramento.

To me, this work is about ensuring creativity is recognized as a core civic and infrastructure.

Arts and culture activate neighborhoods, support local businesses, attract visitors, create opportunity for youth, and help define the identity of our city.

Sacramento's future should be innovative, inclusive, and creative.

And we are proud to help advance that vision.

We appreciate the partnership of council, staff, community leaders, and we look forward to continuing this work together.

Thank you, and we welcome any questions you have.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We do have a question from our colleague, but we'll go to the public first, just in case we have public comment.

Thank you, Chair.

I have one public comment for item three, Mr.

Lambert Davis.

Welcome, Mr.

Davis.

Welcome.

Um Sacramental Arts and Culture.

I'm I'm very uh I'm a big fan of this department because of Megan, and I'm glad she's here today to hear it, and also Melissa Sharone.

I know for a fact Megan is an icon at Grant High School because she came on the campus actually and visited with the teenagers that I'm a huge fan of, which is called the Grant Drumline.

And she's always done what she could when they traveled.

They travel all over the world.

I think last year they went to Ireland.

I was out of town.

I gotta check in and see what they did.

But even if they did go travel, lodging, and food, then you have chaperones.

They've never been in a scandal when they were on the road.

I'm very proud to say that about them.

And they're teenagers.

Teenagers should receive support.

When I was at Grant, I graduated in 1976, and it was the Grant Drumline was there before I got there.

So I remember I wasn't in the drumline.

I was playing sports, but the drum line used to inspire us because they played and they're well known all over the world.

If you Google Grant Drumline, you'll see them.

They're a special group, and I think that uh arts and culture, as long as Megan and Melissa are somewhere running things, they should get funded.

Uh now I I have been going to their meetings because I'm trying to monitor where checks were given to uh during an unwritten uh agreement with wide open walls.

I'm trying to figure out where that check came for those checks came from.

And I'm not getting clarity, but I will find out where they came, and I believe it was through arts.

Thank you.

I'm not sure yet.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Chair, I have no more speakers on this item.

Okay, let's go to our council.

Uh Vice Mayor Telemontis.

I'd like to pass a motion uh directing this report to City Council and special shout out to my commissioner giving the lovely presentation.

I just am so impressed with the work that you guys are doing, how innovative you guys are, how creative you guys are, how much heart you guys give this commission.

Um, and I just truly love it.

And I think it's because you guys are also staffed by amazing people like Megan and Jason, who are just so respected in the community.

Last week I had the chance to go to the California Arts Council, 50th anniversary here at the state capitol, and it was so fun to see advocacy in action and uh see the momentum that the Creative Arts is getting here in Sacramento.

And so just kudos on what the work that you do and looking forward to seeing the work that you're gonna continue doing.

I'll second that with just a ditto and probably one of the most comprehensive work plans where you've clearly stated your objectives and your action plans to be tied to them.

Uh you've kind of raised the bar uh for the rest of the commission.

So great job to the commissioners and to staff because I know it's teamwork that makes that happen.

Okay.

Don't see anyone else uh pushed up, but I too agree that's been a great job.

You've done a great job, and and if I could third it, I would third it, but my vote will be my third.

So with that being said, um any other questions, comments?

All right, all in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Aye, aye.

We are unanimous in our decision.

So there are no abstentions, and there are nobody that uh says undecided.

So thank you very much.

Next item, Court, Chair.

Our next item, item four is City of Sacramento Community Police Community Police Review Commission 2025 annual report and 2026 proposed work plan.

I do not have staff in the audience right now.

Perhaps if there are um Vice Mayor Mayor Telemontes wants to make a recommendation, I believe.

Um, would we be able to table this for the next commission meeting so that we have city staff that can present it?

Yeah, or do we want to do just a pause just to see where staff invited or something else?

Uh yes, staff's absolutely invited.

Uh if we could do a uh shorts uh three-minute recess, I think we can have staff here.

Let's do it.

We we've still got plenty of time before the hour, 12 o'clock hour.

Thank you.

We'll be pausing the meeting for three minutes and uh we'll return in a moment.

Motion uh staff, can we restart our live video stream okay?

So there's a motion on the floor or a potential motion.

Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to table this to continue this item for the next meeting.

I'll second.

Okay.

Any other comments?

Seeing none, hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Oppose, abstain.

We will look forward to this item at our next meeting, which is scheduled for scheduled for one moment.

Chair, that is scheduled for May 19th.

May 19th.

Okay.

At our regular time of 11 a.m.

Okay, so we are now at the um end of our agenda.

Any committee comments or ideas or questions?

Are there any meeting reports that need to be done?

And is there any public comment on the uh not on the agenda of matters not on the agenda?

Thank you, Chair.

I have one speaker slip, Mr.

Lambert Davis.

Welcome once again, Mr.

Davis.

Uh just wanted to let the uh the record really.

Uh the suite six team was in Sacramento.

For those of you who didn't know, and I knew it was coming, but I didn't know what the millennials had planned.

They said, you know what, we can make a move here.

And I said, Well, what is it?

They said, let's get cheesecake and carrot cake to the coaches of the teams.

That's brilliant.

They're all women over the women's team.

So my job and my brother was to get it there.

Who can't get it to a hotel near Golden One if you grew up here?

You can walk anywhere down there.

Shout out to Tom's place too, because I never heard of that place till they had me meet there.

And uh so I met the coaches of the women's team that was here, and then the teams that were here went to Phoenix from here, and UCLA won the whole thing.

And UCLA is one of the teams that we got cheesecakes to.

And did you know it was six women that got drafted off of UCLA's team?

That's never hurt.

That's never happened before.

All six of them went pro.

And they're all millionaires now.

They got they signed four-year million dollar deals.

But these women are different.

These women are different.

They actually to me resemble models, how they act off the field.

When I saw them in sweatsuits, they look like ball players.

But when I saw them with the cheesecake, they look like models and business women.

And now they all are getting major deals.

One lady who loved it is get just got a fingernail deal.

I mean, it's a deep thing here.

And it's beautiful because they're young enough to know about some of the things I talked to them about that you encounter, and I taught them to make sure that they look out for their parents who are were in debt before they became millionaires, and then go from there.

Thank you for your comments, Chair.

I have no more speakers for matters not on the agenda.

All righty.

Are there any comments from my colleagues before we adjourn?

With our business being done today, I'd like to thank everyone in the audience who came and all of our support staff as well for being here.

And with that said, we will now adjourn this meeting and look forward to our next meeting on May the 19th.

Have a great day.