Contents
5 sections01 Korematsu Middle School opens; Chief Moyer to leave captions 1–11
0:00:48that all members are present except our mayor Greg Lyman um and we'll start the meeting with the pledge of allegiance to the flag or observation of a moment by of Silence led by council member Gabriel Quinto I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
0:01:13Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible are there any uh Council Communications you have some okay uh this past Saturday uh there was a middle school opening here in El Cerrito the new uh Fred corymatsu middle school and uh I attended that as well as uh my
0:01:46colleague here Mark Friedman and it was an amazing ceremony and I was able to uh meet a lot of uh folks I haven't seen in many many years that I grew up in the Castro area Castro school area and to meet Karen Corey Matsu that uh there and so many people from our
0:02:10Japanese American community that were in turn during World War II it's very fitting to have the uh the dedication of Fred Cory Matsu here in El Cerrito and I hope it becomes a national holiday I know people here in California are already celebrating Fred Corey Matsu on
0:02:36the 30th and I hope it will be every year and also there's an MCE workshop on the fourth and that will have to do with the efficiency Workshop rolling portfolio and applications and it will be at a Richmond Civic Center on the first floor Communications yes I have a couple brief ones the first
0:03:09is uh I wanted to let everybody know that uh probably tomorrow at the annual Elite city managers division of the league it's just coincidentally at that time as you know both myself and Karen pink is the assistant city manager active and icma that's International
0:03:27city manager association and our regional organization is Cal icma which represents the whole state and tomorrow assuming the board does what it's expected to do Karen will be named president of our region so I wanted to congratulate her and let you all know about that because it's something that's
0:03:48really worthwhile she spends a lot of time on it so and it'll position us really well congratulations um secondly uh as I'm sure you all know our police chief Sylvia Moyer is probably hiding in the back row as always has accepted a great professional and personal opportunity with the City of
0:04:12Tempe and I'm sure we'll have more to say about it in the next month but I wanted to call it out to all of you and make sure everyone knows how mixed we are and we're obviously really sorry to see her go but I also uh wish her and her family the best and what is
0:04:30a great opportunity so I'm sure you all will do the same over the month thanks thank you it's been a great experience having her here with us is she actually in the room she's here I can never tell um and we will miss her greatly but wish her well um and in uh in his Penance for going
0:04:54though she will get to experience the Arizona heat I can say that as that's where I'm from do you want to add a comment laughs we wish you all all the best though thank you um the um let's see I believe that ends Council staff Communications and the next item on the agenda is oral Communications
With Mayor Lyman absent, Mayor Pro Tem Abelson presided, and Quinto led the pledge. A councilmember had attended, with Friedman, the opening of the new Fred Korematsu Middle School the previous Saturday, meeting Karen Korematsu and many from the Japanese American community interned during World War II; it was fitting to dedicate the school in El Cerrito, and the councilmember hoped Fred Korematsu Day, already marked in California on 30 January, would become a national holiday. The councilmember also noted an MCE efficiency workshop on the 4th at the Richmond Civic Center.
The city manager said Assistant City Manager Karen Pinkos was expected to be named president of the regional Cal-ICMA the next day, and that Police Chief Sylvia Moyer had accepted a position with the City of Tempe; staff was sorry to see her go but wished her well. Abelson, who is from Arizona, said the chief would get to experience its heat.
02 Tributes to the chief; a vehicle purchase questioned captions 12–27
0:05:28from the public which is an opportunity for the members of the public to speak on items that are not on the agenda or items that are on the consent calendar if there's any member of the public that would like to do so this would be the time we have three speakers okay Tom
0:05:45panis followed by howdy Gowdy and Nicholas arzio good evening mayor Pro tem Abelson members of the council and City staff my name is Tom panason I live at [address removed] in El Cerrito I was at once both sad and happy when I read that our police chief silvery Moyer
0:06:06had accepted a new job happy because I know she'll not be doing this unless she truly relish the opportunity because I know that she will relish diving into her nude role because I know that given her style and determination she will be just as successful there as
0:06:22she's been here because I know that so many more people can now benefit from her years of experience and training just going to lunch with the chief was an education in community policing sad because I and many of us are losing a person who we looked up to and who we
0:06:38trust to do the right thing as our chief the chief's big city Wilderness and small town approach was perfect for us she's been a friend and an inspiration to many thank you Chief moyer for sharing your values your style and your time with us thank you all right good evening council members
0:07:03my name is howdy gaudier I live at [address removed] so I hope you had an opportunity to read an email I sent to you regarding um the consent calendar item 5e the vehicle purchase for the building inspection um I would like to encourage you to pull that item from the consent calendar for
0:07:26further discussion um I presented a number of um concerns and I presented an alternative which I think is superior on both financial and economic grounds um first of all the um the report didn't really justify the particular vehicle Choice very well and it's proposed to buy it you know 20
0:07:50miles to the gallon SUV with four-wheel drive and it doesn't seem justified in the use patterns that would be for this city um you know basically there aren't any sites that are really big enough to require driving on to them you can walk from the street and it just degrades the
0:08:09quality of the site if it requires four-wheel drive anyway so just it doesn't make sense um there was a small um justification that it provided a contingency in emergencies but you know the First Responders police and fire have that equipment for those purposes I
0:08:26don't I don't think we should be driving a heavy and inefficient vehicle on a daily basis for purposes that it's not needed and thereby increasing the operating cost of the vehicle and the initial cost of the vehicle which is why it's even on your agenda so um I believe
0:08:47that because of the number of leases of recent electric vehicles on the market you could buy two low mileage electric vehicles for the price of this proposed vehicle and you would reduce the carbon emissions and be consistent with the climate action plan there's a specific requirement or you
0:09:11know goal in the climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with City operations and uh that includes you know Greening the municipal Fleet to improve fuel efficiency and switching to cleaner fuels which is exactly what this would do and miraculously it wouldn't cost you
0:09:30more money it would cost you less money so I there's just so many things stacked up that suggest that you should re-evaluate this because the current vehicles have been in use for 15 years we can't afford to be using a 20 mile a gallon gas guzzler for 15 more years
0:09:48into the future this is the time to do something better with your vehicle purchases thank you Mr Ozil hello I'm Nicholas arzio I live at [address removed] I have two points to make first I'd like to Second Howdy's idea that I think that the city would be much better off by
0:10:14purchasing a slightly used electric vehicle versus a Ford Escape SUV so I urge you also to remove that item from this consent calendar second I'd like to invite everybody to let them know that the El Cerrito Branch NAACP will be holding its monthly meeting at the Saint Peter CME Church on
0:10:35February 20th Saturday at 10 A.M and I encourage all to attend thank you I'd like to speak at this time okay with that we will um move on to the next item which is presentations however there are none so with that we will move on to the adoption of the consent calendar
Tom Panis said he was both sad and happy at the chief's news: lunch with her was “an education in community policing”, and she had been a friend and inspiration to many. Howdy Goudey asked the Council to pull item 5e, a vehicle for building inspection, from consent: the report did not justify a 20-mile-per-gallon four-wheel-drive SUV, since inspectors can walk onto sites and first responders have emergency vehicles, and, with many recently leased electric vehicles on the market, two low-mileage ones could be bought for the same price, cutting emissions as the climate action plan calls for. Nicholas Arzio agreed that a slightly used electric vehicle would be better than a Ford Escape SUV, and invited people to the El Cerrito NAACP's meeting on Saturday 20 February at St. Peter CME Church.
03 Consent; a final year for the massage moratorium captions 28–41
0:11:14consent calendar consistent with items um who's first you were okay okay Gabe will be listed as a secondary so the um motion was made by council member Friedman and seconded by council member ginto and um um are there um any comments not hearing any all in favor please say
0:11:49aye aye any objections any abstentions motion carries unanimously um with that we will move on to item six which is public hearings and the topic is extension of the massage establishment ordinance through a report good evening my name is Margaret Kavanaugh Lynch I'm
0:12:17the development services manager here I know you have the staff report in front of you so briefly this moratorium started about a year ago in February 2015 we have come before you to ask for an extension of the moratorium last April and now I uh need to come before
0:12:36you one more night to recommend a final extension of the moratorium to February of 2017.
0:12:45the original reason for the moratorium was to make sure that the city of El Cerritos massage ordinance was aligned with the state of California's new regulation that came out in January of last year we've made a lot of progress but I would like a little additional time to make
0:13:01sure that we get it right for our city so it's a very short report but if you have any questions I'm glad to answer them so my one question is um this extension is only going to be good for one year and then that's final correct I mean we have to move after that that that's correct yeah
0:13:24from what I heard part of what the legislators had passed isn't really what they wanted to pass and they were actually thinking about redoing something um something to do with I tried to look back at the minutes in the last time this came to us whereas if we didn't
0:13:42take some action by default the state would do that they I think that I read that they were they really didn't mean to say that but it got in the legislation and that that might be part of what the problem is I don't know if they've worked that out and I haven't
0:13:57seen anything further about it I can I can look into that um the the general Spirit intent of what they did is they returned the control of the business to the local municipalities and they took the control of a massage the massage professional and put that back at the state level so it's
0:14:18um it's a great hybrid um and we have uh several massage businesses in town so um I hope to be back to you soon with an ordinance that all City staff have vetted and we've shown to the community time thank you okay any other questions from Council okay with that
0:14:41um it's time to open the public hearing is there a motion do we need one I can't remember no okay so we just open the public hearing is there any public testimony I have no request to speak I move we close to public hearing okay it's your second a second okay motion by Friedman seconded by Quinto uh
0:15:05to close the public hearing all in favor say I I any objections or abstentions motion carries unanimously at this point it's time to discuss the issue and to make a motion and vote on the ordinance is there any discussion nope none is there a motion but if I have to I would not go ahead
0:15:36Gabe okay come on I'd like to make a motion and urgency ordinance of the city of El Cerrito making findings and extending a temporary moratorium on the establishment or relocation of new and existing massage establishments for 12 months to become effective upon the
0:16:05expiration of the current moratorium second okay there's a motion by you can tell seconded by Friedman are there any um further comment okay do we have any I ask about public speakers at this point they've already done it okay okay so um this time we're ready to vote all in
The consent calendar, including the vehicle purchase, was adopted unanimously on Friedman's motion, seconded by Quinto.
Development Services Manager Margaret Kavanaugh-Lynch asked for a final extension, to February 2017, of the moratorium on new or relocated massage establishments, begun in February 2015 and extended the previous April, to align the city's ordinance with the state's new regulation of January 2015, which returned control of businesses to cities while putting the licensing of massage professionals back with the state. Asked whether the extension was final and about reports that legislators had not meant some of what they passed, she said it was final and she would look into the rest; the city has several massage businesses, and she hoped to return soon with an ordinance vetted by staff and shown to the community. No one spoke at the hearing. Quinto moved the urgency ordinance extending the moratorium 12 months, and Friedman seconded.
Outcome CarriedunanimousConsent calendar adopted; moratorium extended to February 2017, unanimously.
04 A centennial task force captions 42–49
0:16:29favor please say aye aye any objections abstentions motion cares unanimously and with that we move on to item number seven on the agenda which is a policy matter to establish a council subcommittee and task force for our City's centennial celebration and [Music]
0:16:58um I have a question I guess about this item is I'm one of the mentioned parties I think I can't go to that first meeting does that matter I think I'll be out of town good evening mayor Pro tem and council members my name is Suzanne erla I'm the assistant to the city manager in
0:17:19response to your question that would not matter staff has proposed that the council subcommittee be comprised of the mayor and the mayor Pro tem but if the meeting dates didn't work for you we could rearrange those dates or if you had to miss a meeting of the task force
0:17:34that wouldn't be an issue with serving on the subcommittee okay are there any other comments on this item no no I'm sure you'll both do a great job okay so this is an action item yeah I know there's a few parts resolution of the city council the state city of El Cerrito creating the
0:18:02Centennial Celebration planning task force a second okay any comments any speaker slips no slips thank you okay so motion by Friedman seconded by Bridges to adopt the resolution stated here all in favor please say aye aye any objections any abstentions motion carries unanimously
0:18:30now there's part two that appointing the subcommittee members all right I moved that mayor Lyman and mayor Pro tem Abelson be appointed to subcommittee and task force representing second okay so there's the motion by Friedman seconded by Bridges um I guess I could ask if there's any
0:18:58speaker slips no speakers okay any comments all in favor please say aye aye aye any objections abstentions motion carries unanimously this is a very exciting time of the year I'm at the uh our city 100 years I guess none of us were around when this all started I
0:19:21don't know if there's anyone who still living who was around then do we happen to know Tom [Music] yes okay she's still alive that that would be fantastic if she were to be part of the celebration I would think uh that's amazing um and um a very uh positive time in in our
Assistant to the City Manager Suzanne Iarla said staff proposed a council subcommittee of the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem for the centennial celebration planning task force; missing a first meeting would not matter. On motions by Friedman, seconded by Bridges, the Council created the task force and appointed Mayor Lyman and Mayor Pro Tem Abelson to it. Abelson wondered whether anyone alive had been there when the city began a hundred years ago; told someone was, she said it would be fantastic if she took part in the celebration.
Outcome CarriedunanimousTask force created and Lyman and Abelson appointed, unanimously.
05 Liaison reports: legislators at the League captions 50–55
0:19:51city so um that leads us to the next item on the agenda which is item number eight Council assignments and liaison reports are there any nope I attended a league of cities event at Hilton Oakland and we had our local officials speak on legislation that they're working on so I was very proud
0:20:22to be there along with our mayor and mayor Pro tem and know that our legislators are definitely working and they know what cities are dealing with right now such as affordable housing housing issues and making sure that there are programs for homelessness so all of us are on board
0:20:49and working on that together um and um for the record as you say it stated I was there is your representative and we'll be having um two more meetings uh this meeting was about the uh those who are already um on which one of the members is already on in that office in the next
0:21:16two meetings we'll be having are about the assembly members and the state senators who um where the term where the office is open and we'll be inviting all of the candidate known candidates for those positions that are located in our service area which is Contra Costa
0:21:39and Alameda counties to come and be part of our panel and we will be doing the next meeting at the El Cerrito um Mira Vista Country Club so we expect a large attendance we usually get it for that and the East Bay division has decided they really like the Mira Vista Country Club
0:22:04so um and so anyway we will be having it there so um with that um unless there are any other reports seeing any we are ready to adjourn our regular meeting of tonight to the next meeting on sept on February the 16th of this year with that the meeting is adjourned
A councilmember attended a League of California Cities event at the Hilton Oakland, with the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, where local legislators spoke about affordable housing and homelessness. Abelson, the city's representative, said the East Bay division's next two meetings would bring candidates for open Assembly and State Senate seats in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, the next at Mira Vista Country Club. The Council adjourned to 16 February.