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Record of Proceedings

San Leandro Arts, Culture and Library Commission Meeting - May 20, 2025

City Council — Friday, June 6, 2025
BodySan Leandro, California
SessionCity Council
DateFriday, June 6, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

2025 to order at 6 54 p.m.

0:03

Bill, will you take the roll call?

0:04

Yes, Chair Scotland.

0:06

Present.

0:07

Vice Chair Miller.

0:08

Present.

0:09

Commissioner Alvarez.

0:11

Present.

0:12

Commissioner Cassidy.

0:13

Commissioner Gillary.

0:15

Commissioner Ridsdale.

0:17

Present.

0:17

Commissioner Smith.

0:19

Commissioner Seo.

0:21

Commissioner Velasquez.

0:23

Present.

0:24

We have five.

0:25

Sufficient for a quorum.

0:27

All right.

0:28

Moving on to item number two, announcements.

0:31

No announcements.

0:32

Moving on to item three, consent calendar.

0:35

Minutes of the April 15th, 2025 meeting.

0:38

Can I get a motion to approve the minutes of April 15th?

0:42

And to approve.

0:43

Thank you.

0:44

Is there a second?

0:45

I second.

0:46

Any discussions?

0:49

All those in favor?

0:50

Aye.

0:51

Aye.

0:51

Any opposed?

0:53

All right.

0:54

Motion carries for that.

0:57

Item four, library services staff report and announcements.

1:02

All right, thank you.

1:03

I have several items to cover this evening.

1:08

First of all, uh, we've been talking about what was formerly the Comedy The Plaza, and is now the San Lando Comedy Festival.

1:17

Um you may recall that we've had the Comedy in the Plaza for four years, and there'd been some talk about gosh, could we do a festival, make it bigger?

1:28

Because we had um the attendance has fluctuated somewhat, but the high point was 23.

1:36

We had 700 people for that.

1:38

So as I mentioned in prior meetings, uh, we put out a request for bid.

1:44

We had three bids, and um we liked all three and ultimately decided let's let's do the festival while we can.

1:54

So we'll be getting more publicity out, but uh just to let this group know, we'll have uh the comedy festival is going to take place.

2:02

There'll be a show on Friday, June 20th at the Ball Theater.

2:06

That'll feature five comedians.

2:09

We'll have a show that's basically traditionally at the time that we you know the comedy clause, but we're not calling that.

2:16

They're all Sound Comedy Festival.

2:19

That'll be on Saturday, June 21st at 6, another five comedians.

2:25

And then for those who would like they could go to this show later or after the fact, or they want a different experience.

2:33

Saturday, June 21st, starting at 8:30 p.m.

2:36

at the 21st Amendment brewery.

2:38

There will be five comedians.

2:40

So as I said, this was we felt really we had three good um proposals, and that uh it was an opportunity to showcase different producers, and you know, they they've from what I can see they have different relationships with different comics.

2:58

So we're gonna have a really great, I think diverse group of comics.

3:03

It's gonna be people uh the majority of the comedians that are coming have never performed at the Comedy in the Plaza.

3:11

And um, so we're really excited about this program.

3:15

So like I said, we'll be there'll be more publicity out about it, but but uh um I just want to let folks know that's going forward.

3:24

So yes, yeah, so is there more focus on highlighting local comedians as opposed to I feel like in the past there's been a lot of people coming from out of town?

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Arts and Culture█████████████████████████████████████████████51%
Budget██████████████████████████29%
Community Engagement████████9%
Procedural██████7%
Personnel Matters████4%
Summary of Proceedings

San Leandro Arts, Culture and Library Commission Meeting - May 20, 2025

The meeting was called to order at 6:54 PM with five commissioners present (quorum). Key items included updates on the upcoming San Leandro Comedy Festival (June 20-21) and the Game of Shrooms event (June 14), a discussion of attendance requirements, and a budget amendment to reallocate $29,000 in remaining FY25 funds to the comedy festival.

Consent Calendar

  • The minutes of the April 15, 2025 meeting were approved unanimously.

Staff Reports

  • Library Services Report: Staff announced the San Leandro Comedy Festival, replacing the former Comedy in the Plaza. It will feature three shows: Friday June 20 at Ball Theater, Saturday June 21 at the library, and Saturday June 21 at 8:30 PM at 21st Amendment Brewery. All 15 comedians are local to the Bay Area.
  • Game of Shrooms: A community art hide-and-seek event on Saturday June 14. Participants can hide mushroom-themed art in the library before June 14 or on the grounds. Workshops on medicinal mushrooms will be held June 1 and June 8. The library will provide kid-friendly clues.
  • Attendance Policy: Staff read the requirement of 75% attendance and noted that some commissioners are below that threshold, including three consecutive absences. Emails will be sent to those commissioners.

Discussion Items

  • FY25 Budget Amendment: The commission had $29,000.55 remaining in unencumbered funds after grants and other expenses. Due to the end of the fiscal year and no carryover allowed, staff recommended using the balance to support the comedy festival, increasing the commission's commitment from $5,000 to $34,000. The library director noted that the festival costs ~$39,000 total, with $15,000 already from library and recreation. The library faces budget cuts, so using these funds now allows the library to purchase other items. Commissioner Miller expressed concern about the commission being pigeonholed into funding only comedy and grants, but acknowledged the time constraints and supported the motion. A motion to amend the encumbrance to $34,000 was made, seconded, and passed unanimously.
  • Grants Committee Report: All grantees have accepted their awards. Staff provided feedback to unsuccessful applicants. Reasons for denial included lack of a specific project (requesting general operating funds), incomplete applications, and low community impact relative to cost.

Key Outcomes

  • The commission approved a motion to amend the encumbrance for the comedy festival from $5,000 to $34,000, using the remaining FY25 budget balance.
  • The commission noted that all grant recipients have accepted and paperwork is being processed.
  • Staff will contact commissioners with attendance below 75% about potential removal.

Public Comments

  • No public comments were made.

Adjournment

  • The meeting adjourned at 7:40 PM.

Note: The agenda and transcript indicate the meeting date as May 20, 2025. The instruction provided a date of June 6, 2025, which appears to be a discrepancy. The actual meeting date is May 20, 2025.

Meeting Transcript

2025 to order at 6 54 p.m. Bill, will you take the roll call? Yes, Chair Scotland. Present. Vice Chair Miller. Present. Commissioner Alvarez. Present. Commissioner Cassidy. Commissioner Gillary. Commissioner Ridsdale. Present. Commissioner Smith. Commissioner Seo. Commissioner Velasquez. Present. We have five. Sufficient for a quorum. All right. Moving on to item number two, announcements. No announcements. Moving on to item three, consent calendar. Minutes of the April 15th, 2025 meeting. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes of April 15th? And to approve. Thank you. Is there a second? I second. Any discussions? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Motion carries for that. Item four, library services staff report and announcements. All right, thank you. I have several items to cover this evening. First of all, uh, we've been talking about what was formerly the Comedy The Plaza, and is now the San Lando Comedy Festival. Um you may recall that we've had the Comedy in the Plaza for four years, and there'd been some talk about gosh, could we do a festival, make it bigger? Because we had um the attendance has fluctuated somewhat, but the high point was 23. We had 700 people for that. So as I mentioned in prior meetings, uh, we put out a request for bid. We had three bids, and um we liked all three and ultimately decided let's let's do the festival while we can. So we'll be getting more publicity out, but uh just to let this group know, we'll have uh the comedy festival is going to take place. There'll be a show on Friday, June 20th at the Ball Theater. That'll feature five comedians. We'll have a show that's basically traditionally at the time that we you know the comedy clause, but we're not calling that. They're all Sound Comedy Festival. That'll be on Saturday, June 21st at 6, another five comedians.

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