Regular City Council Meeting May 7, 2019

0:07:27the meeting is called to order

0:07:30will the clerk please call the roll

0:07:32council member fidelity here mayor pro

0:07:34tem lyman president mayor pardue okimoto

0:07:37president council member abelson

0:07:39president councilmember quinto

0:07:42president all right now we will have uh

0:07:46council member fidelity lead us in the

0:07:48pledge of allegiance

0:07:51i pledge allegiance to the flag

0:07:54of the united states of america and to

0:07:57the republic for which it stands

0:08:00one nation under god

0:08:02indivisible with liberty and justice for

0:08:05all

0:08:13next we have staff communications please

0:08:16come forward

0:08:29good evening madam mayor city council

0:08:31members

0:08:32city staff

0:08:33my name is damian kerry and your fire

0:08:35prevention officer i'm here this evening

0:08:36to discuss my role in the fire

0:08:38department's efforts to make el the city

0:08:40of el cerrito fire safe

0:08:42since taking this position on january

0:08:441st i worked closely with chief pagoni

0:08:46and fire marshal gibson to accomplish

0:08:48this goal

0:08:49there's a lot of work that has been done

0:08:50and still plenty of work that needs to

0:08:52be done

0:08:53this is a list of some of the projects

0:08:54that are ongoing and products that are

0:08:55planned for later this year

0:08:59first off we have the hillside natural

0:09:01area shaded fuel break project in

0:09:03january like every previous year work

0:09:05has begun in the hillside natural area

0:09:07captain hoy captain hoyer nielsen and

0:09:09captain ranshaw are assigned to the

0:09:11mitigation of hazardous vegetation

0:09:12within the hillside natural area

0:09:14the project this year was to create 100

0:09:16foot shaded fuel break

0:09:18around the homes and the areas that are

0:09:21that around moser lane

0:09:24moving north along king court contra

0:09:26cross the drive

0:09:28from there they've continued along kent

0:09:29court towards regency court and madera

0:09:31circle

0:09:33it was an extensive amount of work that

0:09:34was coordinated with cal fire and the

0:09:36delta crews from the california

0:09:37department of corrections

0:09:39they created these shaded fuel breaks in

0:09:41order to protect the homes that are

0:09:42along the hillside natural area

0:09:44vegetation was cut and placed into piles

0:09:46and the work continues

0:09:48as prescribed burns are completed as

0:09:49time and resources allow

0:09:51the town chief gibson has also applied

0:09:54for a fuel reduction

0:09:56emissions grant to help offset some of

0:09:58the costs of this project

0:09:59and future maintenance of the hillside

0:10:01natural area

0:10:04second project that is ongoing currently

0:10:06is the wildcat canyon regional park

0:10:08project

0:10:11work began on april 20th and will

0:10:13continue through may

0:10:14this project was a 10 was a project that

0:10:17was 10 years in the making and is a

0:10:18joint effort between the east bay

0:10:19regional parks fire department the city

0:10:22of el cerrito fire department and the

0:10:24kensington fire protection district

0:10:26chief pagone and i met with chief tiley

0:10:28and deputy chief gallup to discuss the

0:10:29scope of the project in february

0:10:31the wild cat canyon project or wc-11 as

0:10:33it's called

0:10:35is a series of projects that will create

0:10:36a 200-foot shaded fuel break along the

0:10:38western ridge of the canyon and the

0:10:40neighborhoods that border wildcat canyon

0:10:43this section of the project will extend

0:10:45behind camp perms headed south towards

0:10:46canon drive in kensington

0:10:49in conjunction with wildcat canyon

0:10:51project wc-9 and wc-10

0:10:53you'll create a shaded fuel break that

0:10:55extends from alvarado park in richmond

0:10:57to inspiration point in tilton park the

0:11:00reason this is significant is because it

0:11:01will ultimately tie into the north

0:11:03horinda shaded fuel break

0:11:07once these projects are completed it

0:11:09will essentially create a shaded fuel

0:11:10break that extends approximately 20

0:11:12miles

0:11:14and approximately 2 000 acres

0:11:17this project will protect thousands of

0:11:19homes from pleasant hill to richmond

0:11:22i've been working closely with patrick

0:11:24mcintyre's lead supervisor for this

0:11:25project and we've been coordinating with

0:11:27different agencies and community groups

0:11:29to make sure that the project remains on

0:11:30schedule and to address any questions or

0:11:32concerns citizens might have

0:11:37we have held several fire wildfire

0:11:39preparedness classes in april and

0:11:40another one is scheduled later this may

0:11:43township gibson is providing our

0:11:44citizens with information on how to be

0:11:45prepared in the event of a wildfire and

0:11:47how to improve their properties to

0:11:49create defensible space

0:11:51he has also instructed our citizens to

0:11:53contact the fire prevention office and

0:11:55schedule appointments with me

0:11:57to come out and explain our vegetation

0:11:58management standards

0:12:00my goal is to assist them with reducing

0:12:02their hazardous vegetation

0:12:04and recommending more fire resistant

0:12:05landscaping options

0:12:07these are based on the approved list

0:12:08from the diablo fire safe council we

0:12:10have revised

0:12:11the city of el cerrito's vegetation

0:12:13management standards to include a link

0:12:15on the city website to the diablo fire

0:12:17safe council's

0:12:18website to access the information

0:12:20regarding the approved lists and other

0:12:22programs that they offer

0:12:27this year the city of australia

0:12:30started a vegetation management

0:12:32in preparation for the fire hazard

0:12:34reduction program or wheat abatement

0:12:35program chief pagoni battachev gibson

0:12:38and i met with public work department

0:12:39heads bill driscoll and our city

0:12:41arborist stephen pre

0:12:43the purpose of this meeting was discuss

0:12:45the new vegetation management standards

0:12:47and to address our responsibility within

0:12:48within the city

0:12:50based on the new boundary of the very

0:12:52high fire severity zone we prioritized

0:12:54properties owned by the city of el

0:12:56cerrito that required our attention

0:12:58these were based on geographic

0:13:00geographic location history of incidents

0:13:02and potential threats

0:13:05there was also considerations given to

0:13:06current projects and coordinations with

0:13:08other agencies

0:13:10we are currently working with david

0:13:11gruth and matthew mclean from pg e to do

0:13:13work along the waterway that they own on

0:13:15moser hill

0:13:16and the area surrounding the hillside

0:13:17natural area

0:13:19i've also been working with evette

0:13:20rivera from east bay mud on a shaded

0:13:22fuel break project in kensington

0:13:24once that project is completed we'll be

0:13:26focusing on other properties that east

0:13:28bay mud owns

0:13:29to remove the

0:13:30hazardous vegetation

0:13:32by creating more shaded fuel breaks

0:13:34lastly i've been working very closely

0:13:36with the city staff to create a

0:13:37paperless mobile inspection system

0:13:40the management assistant jennifer pete

0:13:42has been instrumental in helping me

0:13:43create this form

0:13:45this is an effort to streamline the

0:13:46tasks

0:13:47of surveying approximately 10 000

0:13:49properties within the city of el cerrito

0:13:51and completing approximately 200 fires

0:13:53fire hazard inspections

0:13:55this will be an invaluable tool to

0:13:56complete my assignment on time

0:13:58thank you for your time

0:14:00any questions

0:14:03questions

0:14:05thank you very much

0:14:10do you have any further stuff

0:14:12communications no

0:14:14all right councilmember quinto

0:14:17uh yes

0:14:19long list here um april 24th

0:14:22i know uh council member fideli and

0:14:25councilmember abelson and i uh were in

0:14:27sacramento

0:14:29for the liu california cities

0:14:31legislation day

0:14:33i had the opportunity to meet with

0:14:37assembly member rebecca bauer cahan

0:14:40and tim grayson

0:14:42and

0:14:44the

0:14:45mayors in contra costa and alameda

0:14:47county uh spoke about

0:14:51many things including housing

0:14:54and

0:14:55affordable housing but also

0:14:59dealing with the removal of

0:15:02dead trees along the east bay

0:15:05ridge

0:15:06so know that

0:15:08our council members and mayors

0:15:10are all

0:15:12aligned and we

0:15:14are making sure that

0:15:16our assembly members and

0:15:18senators know uh what uh we would like

0:15:21to have done regionally so

0:15:24i also um hosted an api caucus luncheon

0:15:28and i had assembly members ed chow

0:15:30stephen toy canson ii uh tyler deep

0:15:34uh vince fong evan lowe and ash kalra

0:15:38as well as felting attend

0:15:42and we had our asian american council

0:15:44members and mayors from up and down the

0:15:46state

0:15:47attended such as

0:15:50mayor go from bakersfield and uh

0:15:53mayor lilly

0:15:55may from fremont

0:15:58also

0:15:59after the luncheon i spoke to supervisor

0:16:02scott weiner and we spoke on housing

0:16:04issues

0:16:05and he is president or chair now of

0:16:10the lgbt caucus so

0:16:12he uh he and i spoke about

0:16:15legislation that is in sacramento for

0:16:17that um

0:16:18and then

0:16:22after that in sacramento i spoke at the

0:16:25west county unified school district

0:16:28school board meeting

0:16:30and i spoke on the importance of keeping

0:16:32adult senior education funded

0:16:36so

0:16:37i want to congratulate our seniors here

0:16:39in el cerrita who came out in large

0:16:41numbers

0:16:42especially from

0:16:44st john's

0:16:45and

0:16:46christ lutheran

0:16:48and throughout west county and el

0:16:50cerrito

0:16:51and i want to say after

0:16:53speaking on the matter

0:16:56and from the many residents that spoke

0:16:58uh about the importance of making sure

0:17:01uh adult education is funded

0:17:04it was

0:17:06approved and they are no longer going to

0:17:08put that in the chopping block

0:17:13on

0:17:14the 25th

0:17:16i attended the hazardous materials

0:17:18commission

0:17:19and

0:17:20we had a guest that spoke on pipeline

0:17:23safety in contra costa county

0:17:26and

0:17:27we have oil we have

0:17:30a lot of oil and natural gas pipelines

0:17:33in west contra costa along uh

0:17:36central county as well

0:17:38so

0:17:40there will be material that i will leave

0:17:44with the city clerk and

0:17:47so

0:17:47the audience can take a look at that

0:17:51and then um

0:17:55this saturday i took the cert training

0:17:58and i encourage all residents to

0:18:01if they have the time and this is so

0:18:03important

0:18:05in an emergency such as fire and

0:18:07earthquake we need your help so i

0:18:09encourage kensington and el cerrito

0:18:12residents to

0:18:13please take the training i took the

0:18:15crash training so there was no

0:18:17certificate with that but i do plan on

0:18:19taking uh the course that will last a

0:18:23number of weeks

0:18:25they will have another

0:18:27tre an all-day overview of what that

0:18:30training will be

0:18:31so know that

0:18:33it's important that all residents learn

0:18:35about this and that we all help each

0:18:38other

0:18:40so i want to thank uh the uh the fire

0:18:43department and uh nice to see uh captain

0:18:46damien uh carry on uh in uh volunteering

0:18:50and helping us out on saturday and the

0:18:53rest of the el cervito fire department

0:18:56that's my

0:18:57councilman yes i have a few things i

0:19:00wanted to mention

0:19:01uh i attended the badge ceremony for the

0:19:05el cerrito fire department on april the

0:19:0824th

0:19:09and it was a very moving

0:19:13event and a number of

0:19:17badges were given out to

0:19:20promoting

0:19:21fire

0:19:22fighters and

0:19:24the oath of office was extended to

0:19:27several

0:19:28i'll read them the most

0:19:31notable one was our fire chief

0:19:34michael pagoni

0:19:36and um uh

0:19:38the

0:19:39two battalion chiefs jose

0:19:42castro

0:19:45am i pronouncing that right okay

0:19:47and joseph

0:19:49groupallo and i'm sorry for the names

0:19:51that i um get wrong then uh we had two

0:19:55captain paramedics

0:19:57that uh received badges so these were

0:19:59all the result

0:20:01of uh promotions

0:20:03um which sort of um

0:20:08occurs naturally i guess you could say

0:20:10as

0:20:12somebody retires

0:20:14then people

0:20:16who are qualified to move up in the

0:20:18ranks um

0:20:21and uh and for captain paramedic there

0:20:23was david

0:20:24yun and damian

0:20:27carrion who we heard from the just this

0:20:29evening

0:20:31for engineer

0:20:33brett thatcher and anthony dawson

0:20:36and

0:20:38firefighters so we have these are two

0:20:40new firefighters jeremy james

0:20:43and jarrett nunes nunes

0:20:50[Music]

0:20:53and um

0:20:55so the last two

0:20:57uh also were administered the oath of

0:20:59office

0:21:01um

0:21:03so it was a really moving ceremony and

0:21:05it was really pretty exciting uh to see

0:21:09so many different

0:21:10families out to enjoy the ceremony if

0:21:14you ever get a chance to do so i

0:21:17greatly encourage you to do so

0:21:19i also attended the volunteer

0:21:21appreciation

0:21:24dinner which was

0:21:25held right next door here

0:21:28at the senior center at hannah gardens

0:21:32is the first event i had been to in that

0:21:34facility

0:21:36and i um

0:21:37by going to that realized that in fact

0:21:40you it is possible to have a dinner

0:21:42there

0:21:43and that was pretty exciting and it was

0:21:46very

0:21:48enjoyable and it

0:21:50honored the many

0:21:52volunteers who make our senior

0:21:55activities possible and so i want to

0:21:59once again thank all of the seniors

0:22:01maybe some of them are in the room i'm

0:22:03not sure

0:22:05or maybe some other ones are listening

0:22:07and maybe some are busy volunteering

0:22:10that they all do a great job

0:22:13and so i want to acknowledge that i also

0:22:16uh

0:22:17participated as a judge in something

0:22:20called the y plan policy summit

0:22:23planning a more inclusive and resilient

0:22:25region

0:22:27that was held

0:22:29under the jurisdiction of the city

0:22:31center for cities and schools of uc

0:22:33berkeley

0:22:35and it was held at the international

0:22:37house at uc berkeley and so the students

0:22:42and from what i could tell they were

0:22:43primarily high school students in the

0:22:46program

0:22:48brought

0:22:49their projects there including models

0:22:52that they had made and

0:22:54the judges of which i was one went

0:22:57around and scored each of those

0:23:01models

0:23:03and um

0:23:04and then the

0:23:06students were to be awarded prizes for

0:23:10achievement so that was pretty exciting

0:23:12first time i had been involved

0:23:15with anything just like that there

0:23:18and

0:23:19so that was

0:23:21a nice one and i think that's all i'm

0:23:22going to mention right now

0:23:25council member fidelity

0:23:28yeah i have a few of these too

0:23:30thanks for your patience people

0:23:32the hillside festival the sixth annual

0:23:34was great last weekend a beautiful day

0:23:37lots of people showing up

0:23:39um gabe gabe kintu and i attended the

0:23:42league of uh city's bocce tournament

0:23:44livermore fundraise for the league's

0:23:46efforts in sacramento

0:23:48i went to the opening reception of the

0:23:50new art exhibit up on the second floor

0:23:52of of city hall here you should go see

0:23:54what is called urban nostalgia it's by

0:23:56three different artists that are local

0:23:58one is from el cerrito

0:24:00two are from berkeley

0:24:01um i attended one of the fire uh the

0:24:04fire badge uh ceremony but also one of

0:24:06the fire um

0:24:08educational uh

0:24:10sessions at the community center by fire

0:24:12marshal dave gibson he's

0:24:14got lots of stories and he's a good

0:24:16storyteller and a lot of wisdom about

0:24:18embers that we need to watch out about

0:24:21yesterday

0:24:24council member quinto and

0:24:27abelson and i attended the ribbon

0:24:29cutting of 10639 san pablo avenue the

0:24:32not play land at the beach

0:24:35lot that will be bringing new housing to

0:24:37sacramento and that's an exciting

0:24:40uh thing

0:24:41coming up here

0:24:42um also i was

0:24:43proud that uh and please and

0:24:45superintendent uh supervisor john joya

0:24:49appointed me and a couple other people

0:24:50to be substitute disaster coordinators

0:24:53in the county when there is a disaster

0:24:55fire earthquake or something else we

0:24:56will

0:24:57being helped to get our cities

0:24:59coordinated with other cities and

0:25:00efforts

0:25:02and two quick notes that friday will be

0:25:05bike to work day

0:25:07is it thursday okay thursday sorry

0:25:10may 9th that's may 9th coming up good

0:25:13and then saturday is our fix-it clinic

0:25:15that will be held at the community

0:25:17center from uh one to four and it's

0:25:19getting more and more popular as well

0:25:20thank you

0:25:24mayor tim loyman yeah

0:25:26two things that uh have not been already

0:25:29discussed tonight uh one is uh we have a

0:25:31new uh business owner in town uh dr

0:25:34chris uh just opened up um continuing

0:25:38practice at ball chiropractic he's the

0:25:40new uh the lead practitioner there at

0:25:43ball chiropractic on san pable avenue

0:25:45they had a

0:25:46ribbon cutting on

0:25:47on saturday

0:25:49and the other thing is i want to thank

0:25:51council member quinto who

0:25:53along with myself reached out to our

0:25:56regional representation representatives

0:26:00around the topic of some of our fire

0:26:02grants that have been submitted

0:26:05in we're seeking support of those fire

0:26:07grants that will allow us to get a

0:26:09little more than a half million dollars

0:26:11to work on some of the fuel breaks that

0:26:13were described earlier in our

0:26:16presentation from staff so thank you

0:26:21all right and i also attended the

0:26:23hillside festival it was a nice day out

0:26:26there on sunday

0:26:28in addition i did go to the badge

0:26:30ceremony as well

0:26:31congratulate you again on getting your

0:26:33badges and

0:26:34my apologies to the badge ceremony that

0:26:37i missed with the police officers so a

0:26:39late

0:26:40congratulations to everyone else on

0:26:42their badges as well

0:26:45i went to the

0:26:47contra costa mayor's conference where

0:26:50they weighed in

0:26:51on their

0:26:53on some advice they want to give to our

0:26:55legislators in regards to casa

0:26:58i actually voted against the measure

0:27:00because i didn't believe that the

0:27:02language they had in it was strong

0:27:04enough

0:27:05for rental protections

0:27:08and then our west county mayor's

0:27:10conference we had here and

0:27:13we had the former chair of the

0:27:17of the health board here in west contra

0:27:20costa

0:27:22the that was seeing over a doctor's

0:27:24hospital and we are now in the process

0:27:27of writing a letter to the california

0:27:29surgeon general to

0:27:31draw attention to the fact that we have

0:27:33lost our hospital here in west county

0:27:36and to try to come up with solutions at

0:27:38the state level

0:27:40to bring another hospital back or

0:27:43or or expand other services that are

0:27:45also here

0:27:46currently

0:27:47because we really feel that we're being

0:27:49left behind

0:27:52and that was uh pretty much it for the

0:27:55last couple of weeks in terms of events

0:27:59next we will go on to oral

0:28:02communications from the public

0:28:05at this time anyone wishing to speak

0:28:07should complete the speaker card and

0:28:09give it to the city clerk

0:28:11remarks are typically limited to three

0:28:13minutes per person however depending on

0:28:15the number of speakers i may reduce that

0:28:18time limit

0:28:19comments regarding non-agenda and

0:28:21consent calendar items will be heard

0:28:23first comments related to

0:28:25all other agenda items will be heard at

0:28:28the time the city council

0:28:30deliberates on that item

0:28:32when you come forward please state your

0:28:34name

0:28:35city and

0:28:37and your city of residence for record

0:28:39so

0:28:40just for your consideration for time we

0:28:42have about a total of 40 speakers signed

0:28:43up for the agenda tonight we have 11

0:28:46item or 11 speakers for the consent

0:28:49calendar or items not on the agenda

0:28:51okay so we will limit all of the

0:28:54speakers to two minutes then okay

0:28:56okay so the first three speakers tonight

0:28:59are howdy gowdy followed by fred bailey

0:29:01and toby blom

0:29:05all right good evening mayor and council

0:29:06members my name is howdy gowdy i live in

0:29:08el cerrito

0:29:10so first i was just going to announce

0:29:11the eqc's fix-it clinic but paul beat me

0:29:14to it thank you

0:29:16um but in case people don't know what a

0:29:18fix-it clinic is it's an opportunity to

0:29:20bring

0:29:21broken items that you

0:29:23don't want to throw away and want to

0:29:25revive them and you can work with a

0:29:27volunteer fix-it coach expert who will

0:29:30help you

0:29:31debug and repair your item so it's going

0:29:33to be at the

0:29:36community center this time not at the

0:29:38library at the the garden room and

0:29:41that's this saturday one to four pm

0:29:44um i also attended last week's uh

0:29:47recycling

0:29:48market meeting that was held here which

0:29:51was very informative event and um you

0:29:54know it's sort of a sobering topic to

0:29:56understand the the realities of our

0:29:59recycling system and how

0:30:01um how much it has changed and

0:30:03the reduction and what

0:30:06can be easily processed these days so

0:30:10um i know your upcoming

0:30:12agenda is going to be looking at

0:30:14solid waste rates and it's

0:30:17you know potentially going to have to

0:30:19consider a

0:30:21an increase just based on the the

0:30:23increased cost of

0:30:25the recycling processing

0:30:28but

0:30:29i think it's also a time that we really

0:30:31need to reflect on

0:30:33how we

0:30:34address solid waste in a

0:30:37you know more sustainable way and reduce

0:30:40um

0:30:41the the generation in the in the first

0:30:43place and so i would actually encourage

0:30:45you to

0:30:46invest a little bit more

0:30:49not just cover

0:30:51the increased costs but actually invest

0:30:53in programs that will help us

0:30:55reduce our

0:30:58our waste generation and programs that

0:31:00will

0:31:01help implement things like you know and

0:31:03it

0:31:04revised

0:31:06food ware ordinance and and things like

0:31:08that so thank you thank you next speaker

0:31:10is fred bailey followed by toby blohm

0:31:18good evening

0:31:19my name is fred bialy i'm an el cerrito

0:31:22resident

0:31:23and i came here just to

0:31:25urge the city council to support the

0:31:29stopping the use of roundup

0:31:32by the city of el cerrito

0:31:34my concerns are several

0:31:36primarily

0:31:38health concern

0:31:40the

0:31:40main ingredient in roundup glyphosate

0:31:43has been

0:31:44linked to various serious health

0:31:47conditions

0:31:49liver and kidney damage as well as

0:31:52cancers

0:31:53and i am concerned that city employees

0:31:57that are

0:31:58handling the roundup

0:32:00will have these health risks and that

0:32:03also residents of the city of el cerrito

0:32:06will also be exposed but not as much

0:32:09the second concern is a financial one

0:32:12you may have heard in the news in the

0:32:15last year that there have been

0:32:18suits against monsanto about the use of

0:32:21roundup that have led to considerable

0:32:23financial damages against monsanto

0:32:27there's a potential that this could be a

0:32:28risk for the city of el cerrito and

0:32:31further litigation and then

0:32:34a sort of long-term more

0:32:37broad concern ecological concern

0:32:40there have been studies and reports that

0:32:42say in 30 years 40 percent of the

0:32:44world's insect species will have

0:32:47disappeared and

0:32:49this is uh

0:32:50linked to a use of uh chemicals

0:32:54uh i imagine mainly

0:32:56insecticides but

0:32:58my concern is that um

0:33:01angry

0:33:03substances like

0:33:05roundup could be contributing to this

0:33:07ecological risk thank you for

0:33:11letting me speak the next speaker is

0:33:13toby blome followed by robin mitchell

0:33:26um my name is toby blimey i'm an el

0:33:28cerita resident i'm actually the wife of

0:33:30the man that just spoke

0:33:32and i happen to be

0:33:34i'm on the neighborhood

0:33:36email

0:33:37you know list for el cerrito and uh it

0:33:39came up

0:33:41about two weeks ago that el cerrito is

0:33:43using roundup

0:33:45and there was a huge uh response to that

0:33:48many uh

0:33:49people who are on that list were really

0:33:52unhappy to hear

0:33:53that el city of el cerrito is allowing

0:33:56the use of this chemical

0:33:57and i'm curious how many people are in

0:33:59the

0:34:00meeting today

0:34:01because of this issue because there was

0:34:03talk that people would come to this

0:34:04meeting but i don't see anybody raising

0:34:06their hands

0:34:08i think my husband spoke pretty well

0:34:11i also feel like we

0:34:13have to start changing our ways as human

0:34:15beings on this earth we have caused so

0:34:17much damage with as you all know

0:34:20the climate change that

0:34:22is happening climate disaster and we um

0:34:26we're using chemicals and putting

0:34:28chemicals in the environment every day

0:34:29not thinking about what the long-term

0:34:31consequences are and roundup is is a

0:34:33really serious one

0:34:36i am a healthcare provider retired

0:34:38physical therapist my husband's a

0:34:39retired physician so we know very deeply

0:34:42about

0:34:43what chemicals can cause to the human

0:34:45body

0:34:46let alone uh this the other living

0:34:48things on this planet so i would like to

0:34:50ask the city of el cerrito to

0:34:52consider putting it on their agenda

0:34:54uh to make el cerrito a glypho

0:34:58glyphosate free city there are other

0:35:01cities in this country that have done

0:35:02that already

0:35:04and

0:35:05it would be there are many other

0:35:06alternatives to controlling weeds

0:35:10i'd like to hold up the sign

0:35:12glyphosate kills more than weeds and we

0:35:16should be a responsible stewards of this

0:35:18earth and really

0:35:20think of

0:35:21more responsible

0:35:23choices in how we we live our lives

0:35:26so could we

0:35:28i i have to say this is my first city

0:35:31council meeting i'd like to know what we

0:35:33can do to get it on the agenda and and

0:35:35get the public in your comments yeah

0:35:39and next speaker is robin mitchell

0:35:41followed by susan duncan

0:35:49so my name is robin mitchell i'm an el

0:35:50cerrito resident and my comments are

0:35:52kind of a follow-on to the two people

0:35:54that spoke before me

0:35:56a three-year un-backed study on

0:35:58biodiversity and ecosystem services

0:36:01recently published a grim report that

0:36:03nature is in free fall

0:36:05and the planet's support systems are so

0:36:07stretched that we face widespread

0:36:08species extinctions and mass human

0:36:10migration

0:36:11unless urgent action is taken that's the

0:36:14warning of hundreds of scientists

0:36:16that that hundreds of scientists are

0:36:18preparing to give

0:36:19and it's stark

0:36:21and several factors contribute to this

0:36:23including climate change but also toxic

0:36:26pollution

0:36:27similar to what the previous speakers

0:36:29were talking about

0:36:31but what i wanted to talk about was

0:36:34plastic because it also is a pollutant

0:36:37i recently attended the city's update on

0:36:39the recycling center where the news was

0:36:41also grim basically most of the

0:36:44single-use disposable plastic that we

0:36:46all use the

0:36:48cottage cheese containers and the yogurt

0:36:50containers and all those

0:36:52bottle caps and that kind of thing they

0:36:54can't be recycled anymore china is

0:36:56refusing to accept them and why should

0:36:58they put our garbage in their landfill

0:37:01right it's completely justified that

0:37:03they're not accepting our contaminated

0:37:05plastic

0:37:07so even though all these issues seem

0:37:08insurmountable

0:37:10even our small city can be part of the

0:37:12solution it's clear that we have to

0:37:14drastically reduce our use of single-use

0:37:16plastic and require the substitute be

0:37:19compostable that really is the only

0:37:21alternative that i can see

0:37:23that is something that the city can

0:37:25implement as part of the revised

0:37:26foodware ordinance

0:37:28and we just can't continue with business

0:37:30as usual

0:37:32the situation

0:37:33of our planet is just too dire and if

0:37:36the planet doesn't survive survive we

0:37:39don't survive

0:37:40thank you thank you the next speaker is

0:37:42susan duncan followed by paul duncan

0:37:52good evening my name is susan duncan i

0:37:53live in el cerrito first i would like to

0:37:56thank the el salvador fire department

0:37:58for all the work that they have done and

0:38:00that they are planning to do to keep el

0:38:02cerrito fire safe

0:38:05my husband and i were unable to attend

0:38:06the last meetings

0:38:08on april 16th

0:38:10and none of the other members of our

0:38:11group make el cerrito fire safe could

0:38:13make it so i did watch today online last

0:38:17the last meeting the portion concerning

0:38:20the goals priorities

0:38:22in the budget for the remainder of this

0:38:24budget period i must admit that i was

0:38:26somewhat disappointed

0:38:29and yes it was

0:38:31uh suggested that

0:38:34when money is spent to harden a house

0:38:36against fire before sale that money

0:38:39could be used to decrease the amount

0:38:41that the seller or the buyer would have

0:38:43to pay to the measure v tax

0:38:46and hopefully that would encourage more

0:38:49people to make their house less

0:38:50ignitable but um

0:38:53nothing little was much

0:38:55was said about prevention

0:38:57um we talked a lot about disaster

0:38:59preparedness but not prevention it seems

0:39:02to me that it makes more sense in the

0:39:04long run

0:39:05to

0:39:06prevent a fire a disastrous fire than to

0:39:10have to clean up and rebuild el cerrito

0:39:13i heard plans and plans for plans but no

0:39:16action

0:39:18how about if we use some of the measure

0:39:20v funds to start removing eucalyptus

0:39:22trees from hillside natural area

0:39:25now on another topic ab-38 it is a bill

0:39:29that

0:39:30contains it's the state wildfire

0:39:32preparedness

0:39:34makes a new state wildfire preparedness

0:39:36board and offers no cost or low-cost

0:39:41homeowners loans to harden houses

0:39:43against fire i know you have much to

0:39:45read but i did send the one of the

0:39:48summaries to you last week i hope you

0:39:50eve either read it or will read it

0:39:53and could you please send a letter to

0:39:56senator skinner and assembly member wix

0:39:58supporting it they need to know that the

0:40:00constituency

0:40:03is in favor of it we need to support

0:40:05this bill thank you very much

0:40:08the next speaker is paul duncan followed

0:40:10by scott perry

0:40:20hi i'm paul duncan i live in el cerrito

0:40:24first of all i want to say again it was

0:40:26great to hear from the fire department

0:40:28with a report we'd like to hear that

0:40:30things are being done to promote the

0:40:32cause

0:40:35last week our group forwarded to every

0:40:37city council member

0:40:38the fire and police chiefs and the city

0:40:40manager and assistant city manager

0:40:43the civil

0:40:45grand jury report from marin county

0:40:47entitled wildfire preparedness a new

0:40:50approach that was a 38-page document we

0:40:52sent you all a link i don't know if

0:40:54you've had a chance to read it yet but

0:40:56that report has many close parallels to

0:40:59the city of el cerrito and surrounding

0:41:01areas

0:41:02i hope you had time to read it and get

0:41:04inspired to devote more of our city's

0:41:06resources to a program to make us safer

0:41:11it's time to take some action to protect

0:41:13the residents of el cerrito from a

0:41:15devastating wildfire

0:41:16fuel conditions in hillside natural area

0:41:19and elsewhere make our city quite

0:41:20vulnerable to fire overgrown private

0:41:23property adjacent to evacuation routes

0:41:25will greatly hinder our efforts to

0:41:27escape

0:41:28public ignorance or simply apathy about

0:41:31preparing for wildfires makes the whole

0:41:33city vulnerable dry brush pampas grass

0:41:37trees overhanging streets these risks

0:41:39are widespread the city has rules let's

0:41:42enforce them and enforce them uniformly

0:41:45we've been lucky so far that el cerrito

0:41:47has not experienced a big fire for a

0:41:49long time

0:41:51but conditions have changed and they're

0:41:53changing

0:41:54climate change has brought hotter drier

0:41:56summers pro-vegetation environmental

0:41:59policies and simply the passage of time

0:42:01has let small trees become medium trees

0:42:04and medium trees become monsters with

0:42:06the aging of the population in many

0:42:08neighborhoods vegetation management i.e

0:42:10pruning mowing weed removal has almost

0:42:13stopped

0:42:14the natural result of this is greater

0:42:16fire hazard el cerrito fire department

0:42:19has dedicated well-trained personnel but

0:42:21we cannot assume that first responders

0:42:24can extinguish a major wildfire or save

0:42:26our lives thank you for your comments in

0:42:28an inferno such as happened last year

0:42:31thank you

0:42:32the next speaker scott perry followed by

0:42:34ed crowley

0:42:40thank you my name is scott perry i live

0:42:42in el

0:42:42cerrito greetings city council city

0:42:45mainer mayor manager and especially

0:42:48chief begoni dave gibson and damian

0:42:50carrion

0:42:51we the group of make el cerrito fire

0:42:54safe are an advocacy group advocating

0:42:56for the fire safety of all el cerrito

0:42:59we have educated

0:43:01we have advocated for this cause at

0:43:03nearly every city council meeting since

0:43:04september 2018

0:43:07we have organized to inform and educate

0:43:10ourselves our and our neighbors

0:43:12we have met with all of you individually

0:43:14and you you unanimously agree that we

0:43:17face a severe danger of wildland fire

0:43:19during a diablo wind event in the fall

0:43:22we have been educated that in the

0:43:23wildland fire triangle representing

0:43:26weather terrain and vegetation that only

0:43:29vegetation can we can we control

0:43:32the reduction of excess vegetation and

0:43:35the eradication of eucalyptus trees

0:43:37therefore are the only measures we can

0:43:39take to make el cerrito fire safe

0:43:42with this knowledge we need your actions

0:43:44in the eradication of eucalyptus and

0:43:46enforcement of vegetation codes in our

0:43:48neighborhoods

0:43:50pg e has announced many times they will

0:43:52cut power during a diablo wind event to

0:43:55reduce risk of fire due to their

0:43:56equipment infrastructure this is wildly

0:43:59unpopular it's complicated and risky to

0:44:01certain populations nonetheless it is a

0:44:04strategy they will employ for one reason

0:44:06one reason only and that is to respond

0:44:08and to reduce their liability

0:44:12like pg e whose inactions have

0:44:14resulted in insurmountable expenses and

0:44:16liability you the council and the city

0:44:19manager must recognize the eerie

0:44:21similarities of el cerrito to pg e

0:44:24you must take the

0:44:26unpopular but correct action to remove

0:44:28all the eucalyptus trees from

0:44:30hillside nature area immediately and

0:44:32aggressively enforce our vegetation

0:44:34codes and begin to educate our city as

0:44:36to why

0:44:38i had hoped that el cerrito would become

0:44:40the model for fire safety

0:44:42and fire survival

0:44:43thank you for your comment please join

0:44:45us as advocates let's work together

0:44:46let's work quickly let's make el cerrito

0:44:48fire watch fire safe on your watch

0:44:52the next speaker is at crowley followed

0:44:54by tom

0:44:54[Music]

0:44:56shree

0:44:58try

0:45:00i made crowley a 32-year resident of el

0:45:02cerrito

0:45:03i'm referring i'm here to speak about

0:45:05the consent calendar in particular i

0:45:07think if i understand how this works it

0:45:09has to do with the street repairs

0:45:11i encourage every single one of you to

0:45:13take a drive down the 500

0:45:16block of

0:45:17bonnie drive

0:45:18and and check out our tank trap and

0:45:20naturally occurring speed bumps which

0:45:23have actually a safety cone on them uh

0:45:26and and then answer me why that block is

0:45:28not on your street repair list thank you

0:45:33tom schrei followed by sheri dropner

0:45:37hello everyone my name is tom try

0:45:40live in el cerrito since

0:45:412002

0:45:44we live up by the hillside natural area

0:45:46and i wanted to support what all

0:45:48everybody before said about making the

0:45:51hills fire safe

0:45:52when the hot dry winds blow from the

0:45:54east and you can just imagine one spark

0:45:57could just do a lot of damage and be

0:45:59uncontrollable we just really hope that

0:46:02and we like the the comments from the

0:46:04fire chief about

0:46:05uh reducing the fire load and that's a

0:46:09great step and i just hope that

0:46:12continues i want to support all those

0:46:13efforts

0:46:15and also

0:46:17um hope that during a windy

0:46:21winds out of the east hot dry day that

0:46:23there's

0:46:24extra fire patrols going up and down you

0:46:26know in that that

0:46:28zone there between the hills and the

0:46:30city just to keep an eye on things

0:46:32so just like what everybody else has

0:46:34said thank you very much

0:46:36thank you the next speaker is sherry

0:46:37drobner followed by kate bolton

0:46:39schmuckler

0:46:45i'm sorry

0:46:53hi i'm sherry dropner i live in el

0:46:55cerrito and um oh not that one yeah

0:46:59i wanted to circulate for you

0:47:01copies of a survey

0:47:04that was pushed out to me through both

0:47:07text

0:47:08and email and i was really concerned

0:47:10about it so i did post about it

0:47:13it was introduced as we are an

0:47:15independent survey firm hired by an el

0:47:17cerrito-based coalition

0:47:20of concerned community members

0:47:22this is your opportunity to share your

0:47:25opinion about important issues in el

0:47:27cerrito

0:47:28so of course i was very excited to share

0:47:30my opinion as you know i'm here often

0:47:31sharing my opinion

0:47:33um

0:47:35so i started and as you notice on the

0:47:37survey the first three questions are

0:47:39really asking about you folks up there

0:47:41at the diocese and

0:47:43and i thought okay they're maybe

0:47:45thinking about the next campaign

0:47:48but then i read further and i realized

0:47:50it really seems to be

0:47:52a survey trying to elicit responses

0:47:55around

0:47:57tenant protection issues but with

0:47:59questions framed

0:48:00in such a dishonorable way

0:48:04that it was really offensive and i felt

0:48:06like i was offended because i thought

0:48:08they really don't think much of

0:48:10the folks who live here

0:48:13um and i felt that whatever data they

0:48:17compile in this survey should be looked

0:48:20at with a

0:48:22relative skepticism and i just wanted to

0:48:25point to maybe

0:48:28a couple of things one is they try to

0:48:30pitch the idea of tenant protections

0:48:32against things like safety

0:48:34fire protection things like that you

0:48:36were speaking about tonight and that's

0:48:38not

0:48:40actually relevant or accurate

0:48:43they also asked

0:48:45things like uh

0:48:48should the city council pass a law that

0:48:50would make it more difficult to evict

0:48:52problem tenants who deal drugs or are

0:48:55disruptive

0:48:57that's kind of framed in a pretty biased

0:49:00manner so i just wanted to bring that to

0:49:02your attention i don't know who

0:49:04commissioned this and if they spent

0:49:05money i know the company was foxlearn

0:49:08comments sherry yeah thank you so just

0:49:10be wary

0:49:12the final speaker at this time is kate

0:49:14bolton schmuckler

0:49:20greetings city of el cerrito people um

0:49:23first time coming up to speak i've been

0:49:25here off and on since the loma prieta

0:49:27earthquake of 1989.

0:49:29um i wanted to just say that i really

0:49:32appreciate the fact that you're trying

0:49:34to take more efforts to protect

0:49:36humble tenants like me who can't afford

0:49:38to live in el cerrito with a house

0:49:40not all of us teachers janitorial folk

0:49:43baristas can

0:49:46buy a place here and it's the rent has

0:49:49gone up 400 percent

0:49:51since i moved here at the tender age of

0:49:5211.

0:49:54and

0:49:55yeah i if there's any more things that

0:49:57you can do to help protect us that would

0:49:58be great

0:49:59i know the rent control is a very

0:50:01controversial thing but

0:50:03it keeps me housed and i'm a paycheck

0:50:05away from being homeless i have a

0:50:07master's degree and i'm a hard-working

0:50:09teacher so thank you for your support

0:50:12and

0:50:13thank you for your time

0:50:14thank you

0:50:18the last one yes okay

0:50:20all right now we will move on to the

0:50:23consent

0:50:24calendar a we have the 50th annual

0:50:28municipal quirks week proclamation

0:50:31b

0:50:32bike to work day proclamation

0:50:36c

0:50:37national public works week proclamation

0:50:41d affordable housing week proclamation

0:50:44e asian pacific american month

0:50:46proclamation f jewish american heritage

0:50:49month proclamation

0:50:51g 70th anniversary of rotary club

0:50:55proclamation

0:50:57h

0:50:58approval of the minutes

0:51:01i 2019 paving project city project

0:51:04number

0:51:06two c3027 dot

0:51:08two one a

0:51:10and j environmental quality

0:51:13committee appointment of daniel hamilton

0:51:18is there a motion yeah i'm gonna

0:51:20make the motion but in in

0:51:23in making the motion i'm going to

0:51:24recognize that we do have a revised uh

0:51:28uh item 4a at the dios

0:51:31uh it um

0:51:33in recognition of sheryl morris and

0:51:35those that are here tonight there is a

0:51:37table out in the lobby recognizing

0:51:39sheryl morris who passed away in early

0:51:42april i asked for staff to um revise the

0:51:45final now therefore clause

0:51:48to incorporate

0:51:49that we extend appreciation to all

0:51:52municipal clerks past and present

0:51:56so i move the uh consent calendar with

0:51:58that modification

0:52:00i'll second that

0:52:02motion by lyman second by quinto all in

0:52:06favor okay

0:52:08those opposed

0:52:09motion carries

0:52:11all right and with that we um

0:52:13we do have someone here to receive one

0:52:15of the

0:52:16proclamations for affordable housing

0:52:19week we have jeff levin

0:52:22would you like to come up

0:52:28thank you

0:52:30you wanna do you wanna say a few words

0:52:31would thank you um good evening my name

0:52:33is jeff levin and i'm here as the policy

0:52:36director with east bay housing

0:52:37organizations and we would like to

0:52:39extend our thanks to the city for um

0:52:41this proclamation declaring next week

0:52:43affordable housing week

0:52:45for those not familiar with us uh ebho

0:52:48is a now 35 year old organization

0:52:51non-profit group uh

0:52:53with over 500 organizational and

0:52:56individual members dedicated to

0:52:58creating preserving and protecting

0:53:01affordable housing opportunities for

0:53:03low-income people throughout the east

0:53:05bay

0:53:06every year we do an affordable housing

0:53:08week to

0:53:09celebrate the accomplishments of our

0:53:13members and to focus on the issue of the

0:53:16pressing need for affordable housing

0:53:19this year's

0:53:21theme is affordable homes for all

0:53:23because we really want to focus on the

0:53:25need to ensure that everybody has a safe

0:53:27decent and affordable home because it is

0:53:30the foundation for so many other things

0:53:33i'd like to distribute to you

0:53:42first a calendar of events for the week

0:53:45we have i believe 17 events over the

0:53:47week one of which is the grand opening

0:53:49of hana gardens next door so we hope

0:53:51that we will see you

0:53:53there we're very proud that one of our

0:53:55members has done that and grateful to

0:53:57the city for its financial support for

0:53:59that project

0:54:01we're also sending around an invitation

0:54:03to our affordable housing kickoff event

0:54:06this is a annual celebration it's this

0:54:08thursday night in oakland we hope to see

0:54:10some of you there it's a great party and

0:54:13a chance to recognize a few people for

0:54:15their contributions to affordable

0:54:17housing so we just want to thank you for

0:54:19all of that hope to see you at

0:54:21some of the events and

0:54:23again thank you for your support for

0:54:25production of affordable housing

0:54:27all right if you'll stay there i could

0:54:29uh present the proclamation to you thank

0:54:31you

0:55:07[Applause]

0:55:14[Laughter]

0:55:22all right um so

0:55:25next we have presentations which is none

0:55:27public hearings none and we will move on

0:55:30to the meat of tonight policy

0:55:32matters a we have the rent registry

0:55:36ordinance

0:55:38and we please have the staff report

0:55:48good evening mayor council members and

0:55:50members of the public my name is isa

0:55:52ashuri and i'm the affordable housing

0:55:54analyst for the city

0:55:56thank you so much for

0:55:59everyone participating in this important

0:56:01discussion tonight

0:56:02as you know

0:56:04we based on our last meeting on march

0:56:065th

0:56:07we are bringing back three items for

0:56:09introduction i'm going to actually kick

0:56:11off item 7a which is the rent registry

0:56:15and give you a quick snapshot of

0:56:17tonight's agenda

0:56:19and we will then move on to the other

0:56:20items so upon conclusion i will go ahead

0:56:23and open it up for questions and public

0:56:26comment

0:56:27so in terms of our agenda just quickly

0:56:30we're going to give you um and for those

0:56:32and the members of the audience a

0:56:34project schedule where we're up to date

0:56:36a little background context

0:56:38as well as

0:56:39walk you through the rent registry

0:56:41ordinance

0:56:42the requirements the financial and

0:56:44implementation considerations

0:56:47next steps in that process should you

0:56:49decide to move forward and

0:56:52questions and comments

0:56:53so

0:56:54as you all know we

0:56:57adopted the strategy back in 2017

0:57:00as a result of that

0:57:02so i just want to make sure that

0:57:04everyone knows we are trying to work on

0:57:06the technical difficulties to get the

0:57:07presentation up

0:57:09the council does have a hard copy so we

0:57:11are able to follow along and we would

0:57:13like to continue proceeding so thank you

0:57:16thank you

0:57:18um yes so as as a result of the

0:57:21affordable housing strategy a housing

0:57:23analyst position was created in january

0:57:25of 2018 so i've obviously been with you

0:57:27all since then and we've made great

0:57:29strides in adopting

0:57:32the inclusionary zoning ordinance which

0:57:34is one of the pillars of the affordable

0:57:36housing strategy

0:57:37concurrently

0:57:39on working on that ordinance there is a

0:57:41lot of public outreach

0:57:43to specifically look at the tenant

0:57:45protection policies with a variety of

0:57:47stakeholders

0:57:49we came to you all in last summer in

0:57:51august about nine months ago

0:57:54to

0:57:55basically have a study session and

0:57:57review all of the both medium and

0:57:59near-term

0:58:01policies

0:58:03as a result of that we also conducted a

0:58:05community workshop

0:58:06where we invited members of the public

0:58:09to review the policy options for your

0:58:12that were introduced to you on december

0:58:1418th

0:58:15and um

0:58:17there were amendments made in december

0:58:19that we brought back to you in january

0:58:21and based on those amendments and the

0:58:23context of what was previously

0:58:25introduced in december

0:58:27that was built out as a package

0:58:29with your direction we came back for

0:58:31study section in february specifically

0:58:34to discuss the rent registry and the

0:58:36just cause for eviction ordinance

0:58:38policies

0:58:41prior to having that study session we

0:58:42also mailed did a citywide mailing to

0:58:44notify

0:58:46all residents as well as business

0:58:47license holders and so here we are back

0:58:50tonight

0:58:51to introduce these policies for your

0:58:53consideration

0:58:54um just a quick overview of our housing

0:58:57policies we obviously have our housing

0:59:00element

0:59:01which is the city's lays out the city's

0:59:03housing needs over

0:59:06a period of 2015-2023

0:59:09back in 2014 the specific plan was

0:59:11adopted

0:59:13which basically encouraged new housing

0:59:15production in our priority development

0:59:17area also known as the san pablo avenue

0:59:19specific plan corridor area

0:59:22prior about we have about a condo

0:59:24conversion ordinance that's been in on

0:59:26the books for 10 years or plus that

0:59:29hasn't been exercised to date and in

0:59:32addition we also have our residential

0:59:33rental inspection program so um just to

0:59:36give you a sense of um all of the tools

0:59:38that we have in our toolbox

0:59:41the strategy as i mentioned contains

0:59:43four policy pillars

0:59:45tonight we're focusing on pillar b which

0:59:48is to explore and

0:59:49implement policy options to reduce

0:59:51displacement and so a lot of these

0:59:53pillars these four pillars

0:59:56are

0:59:57modeled after the production the

0:59:59preservation

1:00:01and protection of affordable housing as

1:00:03well as funding

1:00:05so pillar b specifically

1:00:08calls out for some high priority action

1:00:11items

1:00:12there's many ways and approaches

1:00:14obviously that um

1:00:16other cities take

1:00:18that wheat that

1:00:19in their way to solve tender protections

1:00:21um obviously more recently there was the

1:00:24casa compact that was released last

1:00:26december

1:00:27which is a 15-year plan for the region

1:00:30that again addresses those four ps that

1:00:33i discussed and

1:00:35there are some things obviously

1:00:37happening at the state level as a result

1:00:39of the costs and compact and in terms of

1:00:42in our county contra costa county

1:00:45there we have been working with the east

1:00:47bay housing organization and other

1:00:50folks in contra costa county to explore

1:00:52what a housing bond might look like for

1:00:54the county in 2020 and just as a

1:00:57reminder in terms of funding that the

1:00:59city gets we're not eligible for any

1:01:01like community development block funding

1:01:03so we're really

1:01:04looking forward to working with our

1:01:06partners throughout the county

1:01:08to see what you know if the affordable

1:01:09housing bond is something that's going

1:01:11to actually be an option

1:01:13in terms of our housing

1:01:16stock by occupancy 60 of our residents

1:01:20are property owners and 40 are renters

1:01:23so this is just a refresher

1:01:26in terms of our housing stock as you as

1:01:28i previously mentioned

1:01:30a good portion of our housing stock was

1:01:33built before 1960

1:01:35and then the remainder of that portion

1:01:38so about 65 percent was both pre-1960

1:01:41and 34 was built you know between 1960

1:01:44and 2010 so what we're looking at in

1:01:47terms of housing types in our city is uh

1:01:50we have 73 percent of our properties are

1:01:53um what's classified as single family 70

1:01:56single family detached and 3 percent

1:01:59single family attached in terms of our

1:02:01multi-family housing stock

1:02:04when we're looking at small multi-family

1:02:06which is generally classified as two to

1:02:07four units it's 1 389 units and in terms

1:02:12of large multi-family housing stock

1:02:13which is five or more units it's about 1

1:02:16450.

1:02:19and then this slide is is again just a

1:02:21refresher um that actually breaks down

1:02:24the multi-family buildings by type so

1:02:27you'll see

1:02:28that 18

1:02:29of our

1:02:31buildings are large multi-families of

1:02:33five or more units

1:02:35we have 44 percent of our housing stock

1:02:37is duplex um there's a small portion of

1:02:40triplex's five percent um and then we

1:02:43have our quadruplex units um which is

1:02:45about 33

1:02:46so just to again give everyone a

1:02:48refresher and and put that into context

1:02:52i'm actually going to now jump into the

1:02:54rent registry

1:02:56ordinance itself um this would appear in

1:02:58chapter

1:02:5910 100

1:03:01the rent registry

1:03:03basically this ordinance codifies the

1:03:05city's police power authority to protect

1:03:08public health safety and welfare

1:03:11the ordinance is organized into the

1:03:13following sections the findings and

1:03:16purpose the definitions the registration

1:03:18of rental units with that process is

1:03:20like miscellaneous things and of course

1:03:22an enforcement

1:03:24so we understand that gathering el

1:03:26cerrito-specific data is important to

1:03:29inform our tenant protection policies

1:03:31and so through this ordinance

1:03:34this particular program will require

1:03:36property owners to register rents and

1:03:38other information annually to the city

1:03:41so

1:03:42this will be mandatory participation on

1:03:44behalf of the property owner landlord um

1:03:47this is not something that we're going

1:03:48to require

1:03:50tenants to submit their information to

1:03:52but i'll talk more about ways later on

1:03:54how we can still gather that information

1:03:56but i just want to emphasize this this

1:03:57is mandatory participation on the

1:04:00owner's side

1:04:01the city will use its business license

1:04:03process to actually uh notify property

1:04:06owners simultaneously through the

1:04:08business license renewal and we'll

1:04:10collect an annual fee so we're really

1:04:11looking to use the existing platform

1:04:14that we have annually where business

1:04:16license are renewed and to then um

1:04:18provide that noticing all together and

1:04:20to also collect those fees so it's all

1:04:22done together um and it's i'll talk more

1:04:25about the database too as well

1:04:29in terms of its applicability this would

1:04:32apply to all rental properties in the

1:04:34city so that would mean single-family

1:04:36units accessory dwelling units

1:04:38multi-family buildings however there are

1:04:41absolutely some exceptions

1:04:43which includes if someone's like renting

1:04:45out a room in their home

1:04:47hotels just think of lodging if there's

1:04:50an on-site managers unit

1:04:52if a unit is a condition of employment

1:04:55or any units that are controlled by a

1:04:57government agency so for example our

1:04:59latest development next door at hanna

1:05:01gardens would be an example of a that

1:05:03type of property

1:05:05so in terms of the steps that are

1:05:08required as part of this ordinance um

1:05:11it'll kick off with the initial

1:05:12registration so if you decide to move

1:05:15forward with this ordinance tonight that

1:05:16would happen

1:05:18as i mentioned with our business license

1:05:19which starts this summer actually in the

1:05:21month

1:05:22of june

1:05:24so the initial registration will go out

1:05:26and that's going to be

1:05:28through an online system so our business

1:05:31license renewals

1:05:32are currently you can renew online or by

1:05:35paper but we will be building out that

1:05:37actual software to collect the rent data

1:05:41through the rent registry so we'll be

1:05:42utilizing an existing system

1:05:45and that will also be a process for

1:05:47which we're

1:05:48just continuing to build out our data

1:05:50and where we store everything so it's

1:05:53all in one place um what will happen is

1:05:55after the initial registration there

1:05:57will be an annual registration renewal

1:05:59that will happen

1:06:01generally every june

1:06:04in between that time if a unit is

1:06:06actually exempt from a rent registry

1:06:07ordinance and let's just say it then

1:06:09becomes available on the rental market

1:06:12a property owner would then be required

1:06:13to know the notify the city within 30

1:06:16days and register that unit

1:06:18and then of course there's also

1:06:20registration amendments that could

1:06:21happen between that 12-month cycle so

1:06:24for example if there's a change in

1:06:26ownership or a change in property

1:06:28management or contact information there

1:06:30is some language in the ordinance that

1:06:32would require the city to then again be

1:06:34notified

1:06:36within 30 days

1:06:38now in terms of the data that's of

1:06:40course the biggest thing that we're

1:06:42really looking to gather here so the

1:06:44rent registry is is purely a data

1:06:46collection mechanism it's not going to

1:06:48be an enforcement tool to actually

1:06:50enforce rents it's going to be a tool

1:06:52for us to understand

1:06:54owner information as well as property

1:06:57unit characteristics having a better

1:06:59understanding of actual rent histories

1:07:01over 24 month period and occupancy

1:07:04status so we're really trying to like i

1:07:06said use our business license process to

1:07:09then gather this data to learn more

1:07:11about the business license holders who

1:07:14are operating rental units in the city

1:07:16so we'll want to know things about the

1:07:17units such as unit sizes number of

1:07:20bedrooms um if there were any major

1:07:22capital improvements or maintenance um

1:07:25we'll also want to obviously know rents

1:07:28the amount of rent increases as well as

1:07:30occupancy status when

1:07:32a tenant took occupancy when a tenant

1:07:34moved out

1:07:36so we'll then be able to kind of like i

1:07:38said understand all of these different

1:07:39bits and pieces so that we can then

1:07:42use this data to inform our policies

1:07:47there is a lot of

1:07:48concern i know on the privacy

1:07:51information and so we wanted to

1:07:53specifically

1:07:55just let everyone know that in

1:07:56accordance with the public records act

1:07:59the city general that requires that the

1:08:01city generally make information

1:08:03available to the public that's related

1:08:05to the conduct of the public's business

1:08:07so what this means is that the public

1:08:10records act

1:08:11does specifically call out some

1:08:13exceptions so that we are protecting the

1:08:16privacy of businesses so if we are

1:08:18collecting something as part of a

1:08:20regulation

1:08:21we want to make sure that

1:08:23it's not released and put put someone at

1:08:26an unfair advantage as a result of a

1:08:28regulatory reporting requirement so much

1:08:30like our sales tax data

1:08:33you could think of it along that lines

1:08:34is that that data is collected and we

1:08:38have the information but it's not

1:08:39specifically

1:08:41available to the public

1:08:44in terms of implementation

1:08:47the cost for this program will be

1:08:50recovered through

1:08:51a cost recovery so what that means is

1:08:53the 44 per unit annual fee will actually

1:08:57cover the cost

1:08:58to operate the program which includes

1:09:00the creation of a new database

1:09:03which i talked about already

1:09:05we will also

1:09:07be utilizing existing staff myself and

1:09:10we've also identified a new halftime

1:09:12administrative clerk position to

1:09:15actually

1:09:16help out with you know exist

1:09:19assisting the public with inquiries um

1:09:22doing data entry

1:09:24if for some reason you know a submission

1:09:26is not completed online

1:09:28working on processing and really just

1:09:30making sure that all of those data

1:09:31points are actually collected so that

1:09:34when we then come back with a report to

1:09:36you all we have you know complete

1:09:38information for each rental property in

1:09:40the city

1:09:42the implementation does also allow for

1:09:44administrative regulations so in

1:09:46addition to what's in the ordinance

1:09:48we'll put some guidelines up it's going

1:09:49to be a new program so we imagine that

1:09:52there will be questions and things that

1:09:54people need guidance on and in terms of

1:09:57enforcement so if someone does fail to

1:09:59report

1:10:00there are violations that are subject to

1:10:03our administrative penalties

1:10:05so we would work of course with our city

1:10:08attorney and our code enforcement on

1:10:10that

1:10:11obviously the bottom line is we want to

1:10:13get everyone compliant and get the

1:10:15information completed

1:10:17and once that's done we would then of

1:10:18course come back to you actually with a

1:10:21report

1:10:23about the program after

1:10:25we get through that first cycle

1:10:27so in terms of next steps

1:10:29if you decide to move forward tonight we

1:10:32will bring this ordinance back on the

1:10:3421st for a second reading um after that

1:10:37point we'll then begin building out the

1:10:39database using you know like i said our

1:10:42existing portal so we'll continue to

1:10:44build that out the ordinance would then

1:10:47become effective june 20th and obviously

1:10:50there will be a variety of outreach that

1:10:52will happen as i mentioned the business

1:10:54license process we will be looking to

1:10:57host a public workshop

1:10:59obviously make the information available

1:11:01and accessible on our website here at

1:11:03city hall and we'll obviously make

1:11:06announcements through other platforms

1:11:08that we have such as the city's

1:11:09newsletter

1:11:10social media accounts and of course

1:11:12staff is always available

1:11:15during regular business hours so

1:11:18with that i will go ahead and

1:11:20conclude my presentation and allow

1:11:22questions and answers all right

1:11:25councilmember quinto

1:11:27thank you mayor

1:11:28um

1:11:29thank you i wanted to um

1:11:33discuss with you

1:11:34looking at the financial considerations

1:11:37of this rent

1:11:38registry and

1:11:42are these costs recoverable

1:11:46yes

1:11:47so the fee would include

1:11:50staff time as well as um the new data

1:11:54system that we would be billing out so

1:11:56basically the database repository

1:11:59and it does also include startup costs

1:12:02so obviously there will be some startup

1:12:03costs to build out the system and then

1:12:05just some annual maintenance

1:12:07to maintain the system through our

1:12:09vendor

1:12:10okay

1:12:11and then i'm looking at the annual cost

1:12:13of this and it says uh

1:12:15um

1:12:16we would have to pay for the uh

1:12:19housing analysts as well as an

1:12:21administrative clerk

1:12:24the city attorney is involved the code

1:12:26enforcement officer is involved

1:12:29and then the database provider totaling

1:12:32up to one hundred thousand dollars

1:12:35almost so

1:12:36um

1:12:37again

1:12:38um these are these costs um recoverable

1:12:42then yeah so the forty four dollar fee

1:12:45um is obviously based on that budget and

1:12:48we imagine that it will be adjusted

1:12:50after year one so if once the program is

1:12:52actually in effect and we go through a

1:12:54full cycle um we have a sense that this

1:12:57is what it will be but we will of course

1:12:58revisit it and see like the fee will be

1:13:00lower the second year because there

1:13:02won't be any startup costs

1:13:04but of course there will be ongoing

1:13:06staff time and maintenance as well as um

1:13:09the addition of a halftime

1:13:12administrative clerk specialist that

1:13:13would be funded through the fee okay so

1:13:16again the fee

1:13:18per unit

1:13:20is 44. so the the landlord

1:13:23uh owner would have to pay 40 44

1:13:28uh per unit

1:13:29per unit correct okay and this would be

1:13:31for all rental properties

1:13:38thank you

1:13:39so just following up on that when you

1:13:41say for all rental properties is that

1:13:44all rental properties

1:13:46um

1:13:48covered shall i sort covered yeah so in

1:13:51general all rental properties will be

1:13:53covered but there are obviously some

1:13:56exceptions and as a reminder those

1:13:59exceptions would be

1:14:01a room that's being rented

1:14:03hotels motels

1:14:05if it's an on-site manager's unit some

1:14:07proper some rental properties have

1:14:08managers that live on site or

1:14:11for example like the development next

1:14:13door at hannah gardens would not be

1:14:15subject to this ordinance so our list of

1:14:17exceptions are accepted to this too this

1:14:20is

1:14:21ultimately

1:14:23what that means

1:14:24and

1:14:25are we

1:14:27would if we do this would we be hiring

1:14:31a half-time person

1:14:33yes so we would be hiring a one new

1:14:35full-time position but half of that

1:14:37person's time would be funded

1:14:39specifically through this program to

1:14:41work on this program and they would also

1:14:44then be having other tasks because this

1:14:46is ideally going to be something that's

1:14:48probably going to be taken up half of

1:14:50the half of their time half of the year

1:14:52but we want to invest in obviously

1:14:54making sure we have trained staff so

1:14:56what i'm wondering about is

1:14:59what are they doing in the other half of

1:15:00the fte yeah so they're actually going

1:15:03to be our front at our front desk

1:15:05processing business licenses as well as

1:15:08residential parking permits so that's a

1:15:11position we need to hire

1:15:12anyway

1:15:14yeah it's currently vacant correct so if

1:15:16we um

1:15:17at a half time level well it'll be a

1:15:19full-time position with half of their

1:15:22time spent i mean if we didn't do this

1:15:24at all would it be a half time position

1:15:28uh melanie mintz community development

1:15:30director so currently we've been filling

1:15:32through various contracts a temporary

1:15:34staff person but without we have a we

1:15:37have a vacancy an administrative clerk

1:15:39half-time administrative clerk vacancy

1:15:41right now and we've been filling the

1:15:42business licenses with a temporary

1:15:44position so we'll be consolidating

1:15:46bringing in the upcoming budget

1:15:48kind of putting these two pieces

1:15:49together to have a full-time person

1:15:52sitting at the front counter

1:15:54doing these kind of integrated tasks

1:15:55around them as i said business licenses

1:15:59parking permits and adding this rent

1:16:00registry program and that person

1:16:04would work at the same school level if i

1:16:06said that correctly administrative clerk

1:16:08specialist exactly so it's a pretty it's

1:16:10a specialized job and it's a front

1:16:11counter customer service job okay i

1:16:14think that was my only um

1:16:16question it was pretty clear

1:16:18thanks thank you

1:16:20any questions council member fidelity

1:16:23yes just following on that point so

1:16:27the 44 dollars from every unit

1:16:30would that pay for the entire salary of

1:16:32that person or only half of that only

1:16:34half of that position the rest of that

1:16:36would come from our

1:16:37general fund from our

1:16:40yep budget

1:16:41okay

1:16:42and with that person maybe or this job

1:16:44of dealing whether we take one or all of

1:16:46these options tonight

1:16:49be kind of an ombudsman

1:16:51kind of role where people call in and

1:16:54say help me with this help me with that

1:16:56absolutely i think there's a lot of

1:16:58questions that in this whole new program

1:17:01whether it's landlords or tenants are

1:17:02going to have about how to apply how to

1:17:05comply

1:17:06yeah we definitely imagine there to be

1:17:08an increase in volume um both at the

1:17:12counter by the phone and even by email

1:17:15okay

1:17:16um

1:17:17so this is really an annual

1:17:20submission

1:17:21that landlords will need to do

1:17:24and how soon will that first submission

1:17:26be

1:17:27yeah so we're actually timing it with

1:17:29our business license process so we would

1:17:31be sending out notices um

1:17:34in the later month of the latter part of

1:17:36june

1:17:37of this year correct and you saying here

1:17:39that 30 there's only a 30 day

1:17:43prep that you need to do to get this

1:17:45program going with the data considering

1:17:47that we already are using the the

1:17:49database on our business license

1:17:51platform um we've been in constant

1:17:54communication with the vendor and since

1:17:55we they already know our systems and

1:17:57what our needs are with our business

1:17:59licenses

1:18:00they'll be able to work on that rather

1:18:02quickly based on our needs okay

1:18:05and you're talking about the rent

1:18:07registry

1:18:09coming back to us once a year with the

1:18:11information yes we will be happy to

1:18:13provide the council with an annual

1:18:15report

1:18:16on this program as well as any other

1:18:19housing programs that you might adopt

1:18:21but that will take probably a year to

1:18:23gather the information before you come

1:18:25back to us

1:18:26we could probably come back sooner after

1:18:28the first year we'll

1:18:30we could likely come back you know maybe

1:18:32in january once we've had it in place

1:18:35for six months and let you know if we

1:18:37have everything we need and make

1:18:38ensuring that everyone's actually

1:18:40reported so that we can give you a full

1:18:43report out with all of the data instead

1:18:45of just part you know if we received two

1:18:47thirds we wouldn't want to really bring

1:18:49you anything back until we had a full

1:18:51picture i know the startup is difficult

1:18:54and really important

1:18:55but the timeliness is really important

1:18:57too to the community as far as what we

1:19:00need to do in the community what the

1:19:02information is giving us

1:19:04and i would love you know if we can even

1:19:06more than a year maybe twice a year we

1:19:08hear about the new facts that are coming

1:19:10in or any indication of

1:19:12changes we might need might need to make

1:19:18we're using the business license program

1:19:21as the centerpiece of this for gathering

1:19:23information

1:19:25to your knowledge is there any

1:19:27lack of uh individuals that haven't paid

1:19:30that license that we will want into this

1:19:33universe yeah so we there will

1:19:35definitely be through this process some

1:19:37discovery and um

1:19:40given that if we move forward and we get

1:19:42this additional staff person um they

1:19:44would also be doing some more leg work

1:19:46around you know ensuring that if there's

1:19:49missing properties that we're noticing

1:19:51those people um so that we can bring

1:19:53them into compliance as well

1:19:56um

1:19:57because we do know that there are some

1:19:59people missing and and this is a not to

1:20:02gouge you know but this is a way to for

1:20:04the city to make revenue maybe

1:20:06additional revenue but the key important

1:20:09thing is to get information and i was

1:20:11wondering if you considered

1:20:13yeah it would not be a revenue mechanism

1:20:15because we're only allowed to recover

1:20:17the actual staff time and you know

1:20:19putting the money into the database and

1:20:21other materials that might be needed

1:20:23that's what i meant it's going to pay

1:20:24for the things that we're going to do

1:20:26yes but as far as

1:20:28since the key is to get everyone

1:20:29involved was there any consideration to

1:20:31a forgiveness of that fee

1:20:33initially so that we could attract more

1:20:36landlords into the system

1:20:39for that first year at least we would

1:20:41need to identify other funding sources

1:20:44to cover

1:20:45yeah

1:20:47and

1:20:48so that wasn't considered though

1:20:51no

1:20:51um but there's no penalty if you so if

1:20:54you come in and you weren't registered

1:20:57we want to get you in compliance we want

1:20:59to get you signed up we want you we're

1:21:01not going to go back in time but we want

1:21:02to move forward and ensure that you're

1:21:04reporting

1:21:06thank you for that you mentioned just a

1:21:08couple more questions the privacy issues

1:21:11is there a freedom of information act

1:21:14that the press could get this

1:21:16information you mentioned the freedom of

1:21:19the public records offer i'm exact

1:21:21so i'm gonna actually let our get this

1:21:23information about what's happening i'm

1:21:24gonna let our city attorney chime in on

1:21:26that piece sorry could you repeat the

1:21:28question

1:21:29would the freedom of information act

1:21:31impact any information that landlords

1:21:34are giving

1:21:34given to us el cerrito so

1:21:38the state public records act

1:21:40is something that through the public

1:21:42hearing process and the council comments

1:21:44uh the staff took very seriously in um

1:21:47drafting this ordinance and my office

1:21:50worked very closely with them

1:21:52to recognize that um

1:21:55there is a

1:21:57significant amount of information that

1:21:58we're asking

1:22:00for property owners to provide us about

1:22:02rents and the characteristics of the

1:22:04units associated with those rents

1:22:06um but that there are provisions within

1:22:08the public records act that allow the

1:22:10city to not disclose all of the

1:22:13information that's received and so the

1:22:15ordinance is drafted to

1:22:18lay out

1:22:19the

1:22:20policy that we believe that we heard

1:22:22from the council that only a limited

1:22:25amount of information should be provided

1:22:26to the public

1:22:28and that

1:22:29and to lay out which elements of the

1:22:32information collected would be provided

1:22:35staff will have access to more of that

1:22:37information in order to prepare

1:22:39consolidated reports for the city

1:22:41council but those reports will

1:22:44exclude identifying information that

1:22:47would either

1:22:49result in the disclosure of proprietary

1:22:52information that would put a property

1:22:54owner at a competitive disadvantage or

1:22:56would disclose

1:22:59personal information of individual

1:23:00renters and thereby potentially

1:23:03disclose private information and we

1:23:05believe that can all be done within the

1:23:08parameters of the city's obligations

1:23:10under the public records act so you're

1:23:12saying if a reporter requested

1:23:14information in this account

1:23:17you wouldn't have to give that

1:23:19the way that we've drafted the ordinance

1:23:20there is a limited set of information

1:23:22that we would provide but it would but

1:23:24the way that it would be provided it

1:23:26would be generated out of the database

1:23:28without um being attached to you know

1:23:30without being without it being um

1:23:33provided in a way that would allow for

1:23:37um the the identification of an

1:23:39individual unit and so so you make it

1:23:42generic without names exactly so neither

1:23:45the individual renter's name would

1:23:47appear nor would it be associated with a

1:23:49particular building in the city but we

1:23:51would still have to respond to a freedom

1:23:53of information actually we would still

1:23:54respond because we recognized that there

1:23:56is probably likely a significant public

1:23:59interest in the disclosure of some of

1:24:00the information but we've attempted to

1:24:02narrow and define what that would

1:24:04include so that somebody could could

1:24:08know that there is

1:24:10what the rents are for a unit that is

1:24:131500 square feet with two bedrooms and

1:24:16one bath but they wouldn't know that

1:24:18it's at one two three four main street

1:24:20or who the renter is okay

1:24:23i i just think we need to guarantee some

1:24:26privacy if landlords are going to and we

1:24:28have apps we have done make them feel

1:24:30comfortable about participating in this

1:24:32city effort absolutely okay

1:24:34um

1:24:35there is a online service for tenants

1:24:38that you mentioned in here too

1:24:40can you tell me what that means yeah

1:24:43and the agenda bill um as i mentioned

1:24:45there's some information and tools that

1:24:47we could put on our website so we could

1:24:50create forms um a form on our website

1:24:53where

1:24:54as i mentioned property owners are

1:24:55required to report but tenants aren't

1:24:57but we could make a form available

1:24:59easily on our website where a tenant

1:25:01could report their information and

1:25:03upload supporting documents as well if

1:25:05it's something that they wish to bring

1:25:07forward to the city but it will not be

1:25:09anything that's mandatory it will just

1:25:12be a platform where tenants can deposit

1:25:15them there will be a platform there for

1:25:17information coming to the city from

1:25:19tenants yes okay generally but it will

1:25:22just be optional it won't be required

1:25:24but we will receive the information okay

1:25:26and and my my last question is that in

1:25:28this list of

1:25:30what your

1:25:31the information that you you want to

1:25:33gather

1:25:34you have under recent history

1:25:36information reason for vacating

1:25:40does that include eviction

1:25:43yeah so if we so if we adopt a just

1:25:46cause ordinance that would obviously

1:25:48list a reason and then

1:25:51um for unit properties that would not

1:25:53potentially fall under that ordinance if

1:25:55there's a reason someone left

1:25:57for example if someone moved out of the

1:26:00area the property owner would write they

1:26:02moved out of the area or

1:26:05if they left because the rent increase

1:26:07then that would be you know collected

1:26:09there as well this is for the landlord

1:26:11to interpret yes this is for the

1:26:13landlord okay

1:26:15that's kind of one side of the issue

1:26:17though coming from them right right so

1:26:20um that's why we're going to actually do

1:26:22an optional form for tenants to submit

1:26:24information as well so that we can hear

1:26:27from that side as well but we are not

1:26:29enforcing or regulating for tenants to

1:26:31actually provide information that's not

1:26:34the purpose of this but we do realize

1:26:36that it's important to still be able to

1:26:38receive that those that those facts

1:26:40and i was just going to say there is

1:26:42state legislation from our assemblywoman

1:26:44moving on statewide but i think it's

1:26:46important for our city to know what's

1:26:48going on in our city yes

1:26:51councilmember abelson you have a

1:26:52follow-up yeah uh the uh the what you

1:26:55were talking about councilmember uh

1:26:57fidelity uh made me think of another

1:27:00question

1:27:02and that is

1:27:03do we really know who's covered

1:27:06who's you know how many people have

1:27:09uh

1:27:11buildings that have five units

1:27:14six units etc

1:27:16yeah we we do know the composition of

1:27:19our different building types through our

1:27:21gis system which is pulled from the

1:27:23county data

1:27:25okay so that's based on uh when the

1:27:28building was built

1:27:30it's probably yeah the public records

1:27:32yep and then the other question i had um

1:27:36was in providing reports with this

1:27:38information i know what they do on the

1:27:41sales tax

1:27:43reports is they just have in they have a

1:27:45category which is a um

1:27:48what a range i guess or no it's a type

1:27:51of business i think in that case

1:27:53and uh they show

1:27:56the uh sales tax from that type of

1:27:58business

1:28:00what would you do

1:28:02to protect the data from unique circuit

1:28:06to protect the disclosure of data about

1:28:10the

1:28:13unique

1:28:14uh buildings that have a neat unique

1:28:16number of units

1:28:18so we would give out an aggregate of of

1:28:22an actual the rents for that building

1:28:25um but do you mean like if there's just

1:28:27an 11 unit building it's the only 11

1:28:29unit building in town how do you um

1:28:33handle that

1:28:35yeah i think that the way that we've

1:28:37drafted the ordinance and as i've

1:28:38understood the intention is that we

1:28:41wouldn't we wouldn't produce a report

1:28:43that says

1:28:45um these are the rents for these units

1:28:47within a building with 11 units we would

1:28:49just produce a report that says

1:28:51the the these units would describe with

1:28:55identified characteristics but

1:28:57have these rents um but it would be

1:29:00things like size and number of rooms not

1:29:03renter information not address not um

1:29:06building type but if it's a unique

1:29:08building then you'd be able to tell

1:29:11not if you

1:29:12we we wouldn't identify that that that

1:29:14it was an 11 unit building and if i can

1:29:16add i mean we have to obviously work

1:29:18through some of this but we could do for

1:29:19example buildings between

1:29:22less than 10 units 20 to 40 units right

1:29:25so we could create categories to arrange

1:29:27a range okay

1:29:29um you know more than 50 units so we're

1:29:32getting you know we can come up with

1:29:34whatever categories right would um be

1:29:37meaning right so that you couldn't

1:29:38determine that there was just one

1:29:40building with over 100 units for example

1:29:43for example with sales tax i know

1:29:45they're

1:29:45you know it's a little i think food and

1:29:47beverage or groceries and something so

1:29:50exactly so that you can't have a unique

1:29:52identifier uh-huh okay thank you

1:29:57you're pretending sure i i'm gonna go

1:29:59right into that one looking at the

1:30:01actual text that's on page 45-74

1:30:04you're going to need to revise it

1:30:05because if i read this correctly if

1:30:08there's a quad plex that has a one

1:30:12bedroom a studio one bedroom a two

1:30:13bedroom and a three bedroom

1:30:15in it the way you have it written then

1:30:18we would know exactly how much the rent

1:30:20is in that one quadruplex for each one

1:30:22of those units so you're gonna have to

1:30:25rewrite this one to meet the letter of

1:30:28what you're describing

1:30:29so for example

1:30:31right now a is the number of rental

1:30:33units in a building

1:30:35so if there's four rental units in the

1:30:37building it would be disclosed b the

1:30:39number and type of rooms in a rental

1:30:42unit

1:30:43um so now i know all the the sizes so so

1:30:46i think you need rental unit

1:30:48classification or building type so some

1:30:51of these things need to be added to this

1:30:53to get the type of privacy that we're

1:30:54looking for where it says collectively

1:30:57yeah

1:30:59i think i have a question

1:31:03[Music]

1:31:08so it says collective individually or

1:31:10collectively it's the individually that

1:31:12i'm concerned about when you go to

1:31:14report it and so we need to tighten this

1:31:17language up because it the way i read it

1:31:19i could ask about potentially that lev

1:31:22that

1:31:22the unicorn 11 unit building that we've

1:31:25been talking about so

1:31:27um so i do i recognize that you what

1:31:29your intent is but i do believe you do

1:31:31need to tighten this language up to

1:31:32achieve what the council is describing

1:31:34and that is the purpose why we have a

1:31:36first reading and a second reading of

1:31:38the ordinance yeah we will absolutely

1:31:40work with the city attorney to

1:31:42um determine if

1:31:45there's any

1:31:46modifications

1:31:49yeah i mean i i think that um

1:31:52the i think there's a there's a concept

1:31:54that needs to be understood is i think

1:31:56that what you're suggesting is that we

1:31:58might produce a report that says

1:32:00building 11 unit building and here's the

1:32:03characteristics of each unit in that

1:32:05building

1:32:06but i think that but that is not but

1:32:07that's not actually the way that we

1:32:09would produce the data

1:32:11that's part of my question slash

1:32:14commentary on this language i think

1:32:16allows somebody to ask say i want the

1:32:18information for that building they could

1:32:21point to a building they could give you

1:32:22an address and right now this would

1:32:24require you to generate a report for

1:32:26that building i don't agree that it

1:32:27would

1:32:30okay you'll have to convince me

1:32:33um and me too because that was

1:32:36the type of question i was having about

1:32:38this yeah i mean

1:32:40generate reports containing only the

1:32:42following individually

1:32:44the number of rental units in a building

1:32:47i i read that as individually i could

1:32:49point to an address and say how many are

1:32:51in that building no that means that we

1:32:53could we could

1:32:54we could somebody could ask give me a

1:32:56report that shows the number of rental

1:32:58units in each rental building in the

1:33:00city that's subject to this ordinance

1:33:02and we could produce a report that says

1:33:04building a

1:33:0611 units building b four units

1:33:09but that's all that anybody would know

1:33:11out of that particular

1:33:13asset class okay right but

1:33:17right that's already in the gis

1:33:19information that's correct yeah that's

1:33:20not that's not that's not necessarily

1:33:22public information but the point is that

1:33:24is already public information that is

1:33:25already public information

1:33:27so and so to that extent if somebody

1:33:29asked for information about a specific

1:33:31address it's available in the gis system

1:33:33what we would not do is produce a report

1:33:35that also said

1:33:37for that address here's the number of

1:33:39units and here's here's what unit number

1:33:42one so let's go to i understand you're

1:33:44not going to go down to you number let's

1:33:45go to b the number and type of rooms in

1:33:47a rental unit

1:33:49what is the definition of rental unit in

1:33:51that sentence it's defined in the

1:33:53ordinance yes then in the ordinance it

1:33:56potentially is a specific

1:33:58it means a habitable structure so it's a

1:34:00single structure at that point so under

1:34:02b are you not giving up the number and

1:34:04types of rooms in that single building

1:34:07we are not they would not be tied to a

1:34:10specific

1:34:11building

1:34:13although the definition of rental unit

1:34:14means a habitable structure offered for

1:34:16rent right but that just means that's so

1:34:18what i'm suggesting is that you would

1:34:20put the word class at the end of that

1:34:22sentence rental unit class

1:34:25or rental unit that's not tight i don't

1:34:27know what that means or rental unit type

1:34:30as in duplex or quadcopter

1:34:33right so i mean what i'm the way i'm

1:34:35interpreting b is that i could ask you

1:34:37for the number of type and types of

1:34:39rooms in a rental unit rental unit

1:34:41defined as a single building

1:34:49i

1:34:50i i mean i understand what you're what

1:34:52you're saying but i actually don't think

1:34:53that's a credible reading of the

1:34:55ordinance

1:34:56then come up with some incredible come

1:34:58up with some more words that get to the

1:35:00the types of reports specifically that

1:35:02you're talking about because these words

1:35:04don't necessarily get to the types of

1:35:06reports that you are describing to us

1:35:08i don't think these words do what you

1:35:10are verbally telling us that you want to

1:35:12do but i think they i'm telling you that

1:35:14i think that they do i think that you're

1:35:15you're you're reaching for a strained

1:35:18interpretation of the text of this

1:35:20ordinance in its draft form

1:35:22okay

1:35:23can i ask a related question

1:35:26so um

1:35:28when you want to look at the

1:35:32apartments with

1:35:34four bedrooms let's say

1:35:38are we talking about all over town

1:35:42are we talking about in a sec section of

1:35:45town

1:35:46what are we talking about

1:35:53so we can run an aggregate report

1:35:56of rents for four bedroom units

1:35:59throughout the city

1:36:01i'm sorry could you say that again we

1:36:02could run an aggregate report for all

1:36:04four bedroom units throughout the city

1:36:07with the rent with the actual average

1:36:09rents

1:36:11so all so what we would get out of that

1:36:13is the average rent

1:36:15correct

1:36:16i believe to disclose things

1:36:19considered to be luxury units

1:36:22um i don't know what the words are for

1:36:25non-luxury units

1:36:27but um

1:36:28[Music]

1:36:29so the year built would also

1:36:31be a field as well and this is the year

1:36:34that the property was built because we

1:36:36already have that information

1:36:38okay okay but

1:36:40is is there such a concept as luxury

1:36:42unit luxury is the word i'm focusing on

1:36:45here no that's not defined and if i may

1:36:47i think that part of part of what we're

1:36:49trying to express here is that we are

1:36:52clear with the intent especially

1:36:54being reiterated at this point with this

1:36:56discussion that we are intending to keep

1:36:59the proprietary information private

1:37:02this all depends on whether or not

1:37:03someone was going to provide a give us a

1:37:06public records request for this

1:37:08information which is a for instance what

1:37:10we're saying is that we would make sure

1:37:12that anything that we provide in to a

1:37:16request or through a report would make

1:37:18sure that we were being incredibly

1:37:19careful to preserve that proprietary

1:37:22information that is what this is saying

1:37:25and i think that it's also

1:37:27good to understand that the majority of

1:37:29this information we're collecting is

1:37:31already in the public realm

1:37:33it is already you can already go to the

1:37:36county website right now and find out a

1:37:38building and how many bad how many units

1:37:40are in it that's already available to

1:37:42the public right what we're going to

1:37:44protect is the additional information

1:37:47that is given to us

1:37:49and sky just to clarify the ordinance

1:37:51does

1:37:52allow us to

1:37:54create the administrative regulations so

1:37:56is this something that

1:37:58we should

1:37:59address through the administrative

1:38:01regulations

1:38:03it is something that we could we could

1:38:04amplify i mean ultimately if the council

1:38:06is not satisfied with this version i'm

1:38:08going to suggest that we not try to

1:38:10rewrite it at this meeting and we'll

1:38:11need to bring it back for our first

1:38:13reading at a subsequent meeting

1:38:16um

1:38:18the

1:38:18you you had a discussion in your

1:38:20presentation about uh hanukkah gardens

1:38:23would be excluded in the list of

1:38:25exclusions

1:38:27we did get a public comment that

1:38:29suggested that section 8 rental units

1:38:32should be excluded because they're

1:38:34subsidized

1:38:35but wouldn't we want to collect

1:38:37information

1:38:39on i mean because part of the

1:38:40information you're asking

1:38:42in

1:38:43one of the lists is that we want to find

1:38:45out if if a section 8 is involved or not

1:38:47so

1:38:48i just want to confirm

1:38:50we really

1:38:51we kind of want to collect data on as

1:38:53many units as possible so

1:38:56in some ways why would we exclude hannah

1:38:59gardens

1:39:00um

1:39:01if if i may ask but but certainly the co

1:39:04the comment we got from the public uh mr

1:39:06gager's letter suggested potentially we

1:39:09would uh also exclude section 8 but i'm

1:39:11not certain i want to because we want to

1:39:12get that data also so if a section 8

1:39:15voucher holder is renting a market rate

1:39:17property that's subject to this

1:39:19ordinance there there is actually a

1:39:21clause in here that says that we would

1:39:23ask are they a housing voucher recipient

1:39:26so

1:39:26however the property next door is

1:39:28different than a private

1:39:30property owner running to a section 8

1:39:33tenant so the property next door we

1:39:35actually have annual reporting

1:39:36guidelines built into their affordable

1:39:38housing development agreement so we will

1:39:41receive annual reports from them

1:39:43already

1:39:45excellent we won't be duplicating

1:39:48the requirement

1:39:49excellent

1:39:51mr fideli covered this a little bit

1:39:53earlier but i'm gonna it's a series of

1:39:56questions i asked at the february and

1:39:57march meetings um when it became clear

1:40:00that we have roughly 4 000 rental units

1:40:02in the in the city but only 2 600 that

1:40:04are registered and mr fidelity touched

1:40:06on it as if we're successful in getting

1:40:10more rental units registered

1:40:13the number of units that are registered

1:40:15goes up the cost per unit goes down

1:40:19which is you know in the second year

1:40:20might yield us very much smaller numbers

1:40:22than you've currently predicted

1:40:25what efforts are you going to do to

1:40:27increase the number of registered units

1:40:29from 2600 so obviously by adding a half

1:40:33a staff person we'll have more

1:40:34administrative power to actually do that

1:40:36and we'll obviously utilize

1:40:39all of our systems obviously starting

1:40:41with the tax assessors tax data looking

1:40:44at you know homeowners claiming

1:40:46homeowner exemption or not mailing

1:40:48addresses so with the added half person

1:40:51a portion of their time could also be

1:40:53spent working with me

1:40:55to really identify those missing rental

1:40:58properties which then in essence would

1:41:00reduce the annual fee

1:41:02the more units that we have reporting

1:41:05would then result in a lower fee

1:41:08on

1:41:10in item

1:41:11100.030 point f which is on page 45 of

1:41:1474.

1:41:16this is a copy of the registration to

1:41:18the tenant requirement

1:41:20and um

1:41:22you have touched on it that we're going

1:41:23to provide potentially an online

1:41:26location for

1:41:27tenants to verify or or otherwise

1:41:30um you know uh corroborate what the

1:41:34landlord has submitted um is there again

1:41:37this may go to your your um subsequent

1:41:40document the working document that talks

1:41:42about how we're gonna how you guys are

1:41:43gonna implement our policy

1:41:46i'm assuming that there would be some

1:41:47sort of

1:41:48uh the website would be on the whatever

1:41:51information the tenant would the

1:41:53landlord would give the tenant is is

1:41:55that

1:41:56a good assumption the printout would be

1:41:58a copy of the landlord's submission to

1:42:01to the tenant so um so if the city

1:42:05requests that that actually takes place

1:42:07then yeah we're working with the vendor

1:42:09to figure out what kind of uh what kind

1:42:11of printout that they would provide

1:42:13their tenant to show that the unit was

1:42:14registered and with what information of

1:42:17course that's specific to their actual

1:42:20unit

1:42:21great thank you

1:42:23okay i have no further questions do we

1:42:24have any speakers on this item yes we

1:42:26have several speakers on this item all

1:42:28right okay so we'll start the first uh

1:42:30speaker is elizabeth thorn

1:42:32thorns

1:42:33thor'sness followed by howdy gowdy

1:42:52i'm elizabeth thor's nest and i live in

1:42:54el cerrito as you all know

1:42:57and i really did want to address which

1:42:59it turned out

1:43:00several of you addressed strongly too

1:43:03one of the things that worries me about

1:43:04the rent registry

1:43:06is violating a tenant's privacy because

1:43:09a minute that i tell you the rent for

1:43:11apartment a is this an apartment b is

1:43:13this

1:43:14and you know who lives in apartment a

1:43:16at that address

1:43:18that it's out there

1:43:20whether you plan to keep it private or

1:43:22not it just makes me uncomfortable so i

1:43:25hope that if you do a rent registry if

1:43:27you get into that

1:43:29and speaking of getting into that i

1:43:31don't it seems to get more complicated

1:43:34and i think i would ask

1:43:36myself

1:43:37if i were you

1:43:39um

1:43:40why you need each piece of information

1:43:42because some of them i look and i think

1:43:44why in the heck what would what useful

1:43:46for you would it be or for any of us we

1:43:49do need to know what a two-bedroom

1:43:50average is for real they're going down

1:43:53by the way they're now going under two

1:43:55grand a month for a two-bedroom and

1:43:57taking two months to rent and there's a

1:43:59hundred and some rentals available right

1:44:01now in albany and el cerrito so that's

1:44:04all changing

1:44:05as happens when your landlord things

1:44:07happen like that but i would i just

1:44:10don't understand why you don't use a

1:44:11simple survey it would cost so much less

1:44:14to to tabulate and you'd get the data

1:44:16you really need it's not like we're

1:44:17running rent control at this point and

1:44:19monitoring landlords we're not doing

1:44:21that so i just but anyway the big

1:44:23concern to me is tenant privacy and what

1:44:25i'm going to give away and i don't feel

1:44:27like i can do some of that but and

1:44:30speaking of a survey the survey included

1:44:33in the packet for this

1:44:35i hope you take it with a grain of salt

1:44:37because i think it's uh validity

1:44:40you know the

1:44:42sample size the means everything

1:44:45uh the conclusions drawn would suffer

1:44:48from validity among other things so i i

1:44:51i just want to go on record on that

1:44:53because it's in there like it's

1:44:55something

1:44:56okay so that's it and thank you thank

1:44:59you the next speaker is howdy gowdy

1:45:00followed by robin mitchell

1:45:03hi good evening mayor and council

1:45:04members my name is howdy gowdy i live in

1:45:06el cerrito

1:45:07so first of all i want to thank you for

1:45:09introducing this rent registry i think

1:45:11it's

1:45:12a useful and important ordinance and i

1:45:15hope you will adopt it

1:45:17and i'm glad that the topic of

1:45:20you know our 4 000 plus maybe 4 300

1:45:24units of rental

1:45:26housing

1:45:28discrepancy with with the 2600 business

1:45:31licenses was brought up because that's

1:45:33you know 60 compliance and

1:45:35it's fine to start with calculating the

1:45:38fee off of you know the business

1:45:39licenses we have but i think there

1:45:41should be a really stated intention that

1:45:44you know we're striving for a much

1:45:46higher compliance rate and as was

1:45:48pointed out you know that's only going

1:45:50to reduce the

1:45:51the annual fee um to something you know

1:45:54closer to 25

1:45:56and um

1:45:58and also increase the um

1:46:01the business license uh you know revenue

1:46:04as well so um

1:46:07i think it's

1:46:08important to um

1:46:12you know the

1:46:13the tenant

1:46:14has um the option to

1:46:17you know post their information but i

1:46:19think there needs to be a much more

1:46:21robust way for the tenant to validate

1:46:23the information that the um landlord is

1:46:26is

1:46:28you know presenting so that you know the

1:46:29tenant actually sees and reviews what is

1:46:32presented just for their unit not for

1:46:34anyone else's um also a lot of this

1:46:36privacy discussion i believe you can do

1:46:38it well

1:46:39but it could be preempted by just having

1:46:42a very robust publicly available data

1:46:45set that's properly you know aggregated

1:46:48and anonymized so you don't have to deal

1:46:50with piecemeal

1:46:52requests you're just putting the useful

1:46:55aggregated you know

1:46:57data out there um

1:46:59and i hope you will publish faster than

1:47:03a year i think it would really help to

1:47:05get that

1:47:06feedback as

1:47:08quickly as possible so

1:47:10thank you very much

1:47:12next speaker is robin mitchell followed

1:47:13by ed crowley

1:47:17so my name is robin mitchell i'm a

1:47:18resident of el cerrito

1:47:21i don't have too much to add i agree

1:47:23that we need to collect all of the

1:47:26information not just the people that

1:47:28have business licenses

1:47:30and in terms of the publicly available

1:47:32data i stumbled upon accidentally today

1:47:36when i was doing something else for work

1:47:38the city of san jose has actually this

1:47:40very information on their public website

1:47:42and it was just you know the average

1:47:45rent for different time periods for

1:47:47different types of units or different

1:47:48types of yeah i think it was like one

1:47:50bedroom two bedroom that kind of

1:47:51breakdown and so it was just right there

1:47:53people could just go to it and find it

1:47:55and there was obvi it was totally

1:47:57anonymized and aggregated and there was

1:47:59no issue with privacy so it's definitely

1:48:02possible to do that

1:48:05next speaker is ed crowley followed by

1:48:06sherry dromner

1:48:10ed crowley and i'm an el cerrito

1:48:12resident

1:48:13as you know you all know me

1:48:15so i was i really had no problem with

1:48:17this ordinance until i saw the cost

1:48:19a hundred thousand dollars to collect

1:48:212600 data points is absurd that's an

1:48:25absurdly high number

1:48:28let me i here's the envelope you see i

1:48:30did this on the back of an envelope

1:48:31here's the proof that i did on an

1:48:32envelope

1:48:332600 data points i'm guessing it would

1:48:36take two minutes for each of those data

1:48:38points to put them in a database

1:48:4086 hours for all of el cerrito for the

1:48:43known ones add some more if you if you

1:48:46shake some people loose and get them get

1:48:47business licenses 100 grand divided by

1:48:51the number of hours we're talking about

1:48:53that's eleven hundred and sixty dollars

1:48:55an hour to collect that information so

1:48:57today today only limited offer i'm going

1:49:01to offer you right now that i'm going to

1:49:03do it all for you for 25 grand okay

1:49:06i will be very handsomely remunerated at

1:49:09290 an hour to do it for 25 000 you will

1:49:13save 75 grand so sign up today thank you

1:49:18thank you the next speaker is sherry

1:49:19dropner followed by jerry wright jeffrey

1:49:22wright

1:49:25okay so jeffrey wright followed by

1:49:27karina ayafi

1:49:37madam mayor members of the council

1:49:41elsa riddle's a great city wonderful

1:49:43city we have many

1:49:46attributes

1:49:47values things that make us such a great

1:49:50city

1:49:52what concerns me

1:49:54is that the issue itself

1:49:56transcends

1:49:58just the rental registry and the other

1:50:00issues that are before us

1:50:02tonight

1:50:04i'm concerned about how the city is

1:50:07going to be

1:50:08perceived fortunately we're not labeled

1:50:11as some zac some zany or

1:50:14wacky or berserk city

1:50:17we're viewed as a city that is well run

1:50:20and well organized

1:50:23and i think a lot of that is

1:50:24attributable to the fact that

1:50:27as a council

1:50:29city staff

1:50:31we've been focused on the right things

1:50:34public safety

1:50:35parks and recreation

1:50:37good streets

1:50:39activities for our seniors

1:50:42when we began to

1:50:44overreach

1:50:46begin to over

1:50:47regulate

1:50:49began to feel the necessity to put our

1:50:51hands in everything began to become a

1:50:54nanny state

1:50:55it doesn't look well to others that

1:50:57might have their eye on this city

1:51:00so i would encourage this city

1:51:03to stay focused on

1:51:05municipal

1:51:06government

1:51:08stay focused on the issues that are of

1:51:10concern to all of the citizens

1:51:13and not deviate and get into

1:51:15other areas

1:51:17particularly when there hasn't been a

1:51:19demonstrated or shown need or a crisis

1:51:24counsel

1:51:26stay the course

1:51:28that's what i would encourage you to do

1:51:31it's no need to do anything different

1:51:32than what you've been doing we're great

1:51:34city

1:51:35let's remain a great city let's do the

1:51:37things that a municipal government

1:51:39should be doing

1:51:40and let's not overstep overreach or over

1:51:43regulate thank

1:51:46you applause thank you please hold all

1:51:50applause

1:51:51we don't want to intimidate anybody that

1:51:53wants to get up here and speak in

1:51:54opposition

1:51:56thank you

1:51:57next speaker is karina iafi followed by

1:51:59peter pan yaufi thanks good evening

1:52:02mayor and council my name is karina

1:52:06i'm just to address some of the points

1:52:08that i heard um there is a crisis

1:52:10happening in our community

1:52:12and that's what we're trying to collect

1:52:14the data about in the last couple of

1:52:17months i've been walking around talking

1:52:19to my neighbors

1:52:20and people in other neighborhoods in el

1:52:22cerrito and there is a major problem

1:52:26people are being priced out of our

1:52:27community which yes is more affordable

1:52:29than maybe berkeley or oakland but it's

1:52:32still getting more and more expensive

1:52:34people can no longer afford to live here

1:52:36and they're struggling i've met people

1:52:38who are paying 40 50

1:52:40of their

1:52:41net income for rent and it's just too

1:52:44much so you may not personally know them

1:52:47but they're there and that's who we're

1:52:48trying to help

1:52:50so as for me i've lived in el cerrito

1:52:52for under a year

1:52:54but i have noticed a few things about

1:52:56the city it's very diverse it's a

1:52:58wonderful place to raise a family i have

1:53:00a small child

1:53:01and

1:53:02lots of parks and recreational programs

1:53:04so thank you for that

1:53:06but i've also wrote

1:53:08noticed that in this city renters are

1:53:10essentially second-class citizens

1:53:13with very few protections and i know it

1:53:15sounds kind of extreme to say that but

1:53:18um

1:53:19with no

1:53:20no just cause for eviction and not even

1:53:23to say anything about rent control

1:53:24that's how renters are feeling

1:53:29i'm glad that this council is finally

1:53:31having a discussion about just cause

1:53:33which is already in place as you know in

1:53:35many bay area cities but let's be honest

1:53:39the ordinance that we are discussing

1:53:40tonight would exclude single-family

1:53:42homes

1:53:43in all complexes with four or f fewer

1:53:45units so in the end less than 15 percent

1:53:48of all rental units in the city would

1:53:50actually be covered and this is simply

1:53:53unacceptable

1:53:57there's also no cap on rent increases

1:53:59and again i've heard stories of rents

1:54:01that have increased 300 400 and 500 in

1:54:04the past year this is incredibly

1:54:06frustrating and destabilizing as renters

1:54:10are continuously faced with a threat of

1:54:11eviction no wonder so many tenants are

1:54:14scared that's why by the way they're not

1:54:16here they're scared thank you thank you

1:54:19for your comments

1:54:20the next speaker is peter pan followed

1:54:23please hold your applause followed by

1:54:25rory lynn antonio

1:54:29my name is peter j penn i'm a long time

1:54:32and of sweden residence

1:54:34if i remember correctly several months

1:54:36ago when we're talking about this

1:54:38registry we're arguing in about thirty

1:54:41thousand dollar cost

1:54:42in several months time it bloomed to

1:54:45eleven hundred thousand

1:54:47i think

1:54:48it's a very probable that by the time

1:54:50it's implemented it will be over 200

1:54:52000.

1:54:53and the city talking about you know

1:54:55isn't learning neutral because we can

1:54:57just collect fees from the landlord

1:55:01but this fees

1:55:03increase the cost of a product

1:55:06and they it affects the consumers and

1:55:09the ultimate consumer of this housing

1:55:11product will be the tenant

1:55:14and what's the purpose of doing all this

1:55:16we spend all this money just put to put

1:55:19everybody under surveillance just like

1:55:23what they do in communist china

1:55:25so this is a bad policy this is not what

1:55:28cities should be doing and i'm against

1:55:31it thank you

1:55:33the next speaker is rory lynn antonio

1:55:34followed by jeff levin please hold your

1:55:37applause

1:55:41hi good evening my name is rovilyn

1:55:43antonia with the california apartment

1:55:45association we are a non-profit trader

1:55:47association that represents rental

1:55:48property owners and operators here in el

1:55:50cerrito and i'm here to express our

1:55:53opposition to the rent registry

1:55:55we are in agreement with you that el

1:55:57cerrito needs to gather data to identify

1:56:00local

1:56:01market trends and current in place rents

1:56:04however we are in disagreement with the

1:56:06method on how to get that data obtained

1:56:09we feel that there is no need to create

1:56:10a bureaucracy just to get the data

1:56:12because it can be done via a survey

1:56:14versus a rent registry

1:56:16a registry has

1:56:18many many faults

1:56:20one there's confidential issues that may

1:56:21be subjected to the public record

1:56:24rent registry is going to be difficult

1:56:25to enforce

1:56:27and it could cause

1:56:28additional

1:56:30costs and burdens to housing staff and

1:56:32the landlords

1:56:34and

1:56:35the technological tools may not

1:56:36eliminate the need for manual processing

1:56:40so even though staff is expecting people

1:56:42to submit information online there may

1:56:45be a need for somebody to manually

1:56:48verify the information and do the data

1:56:50entry so a half a clerk may so very well

1:56:53double up two to two two and a half

1:56:55three

1:56:57um there's also some questions that we

1:56:58had when we reviewed the ordinance that

1:57:00we're hoping for the council and staff

1:57:02to um to answer

1:57:04one um what mechanism will be placed to

1:57:06protect renters or the landlord's

1:57:08information from being subpoenaed for

1:57:10any reasons

1:57:11is there a guarantee that this

1:57:13information will be kept on private not

1:57:16by not from a reporter but from an

1:57:17actual subpoena

1:57:19will the database have some

1:57:21i.t secure cyber security system to that

1:57:24you know guarantees that the data won't

1:57:26be breached we hear a lot about you know

1:57:28bank of america amazon whatever all

1:57:30these different

1:57:31companies that are getting data breaches

1:57:33lately even equifax so will the city be

1:57:35able to have that mechanism to protect

1:57:37that information

1:57:39also the ordinance requires section 8

1:57:42tenants to

1:57:43their tendency to be disclosed thank you

1:57:45for your comments

1:57:46thank you i'll be submitting more

1:57:48questions

1:57:50the next speaker is jeff levin followed

1:57:52by nicholas galloro

1:57:55thank you jeff levin resident of el

1:57:57cerrito um and speaking on behalf of

1:57:59east bay housing organizations we are in

1:58:01support of this i would just remind us

1:58:04that we have spent the last month um

1:58:07last nine months not taking action on

1:58:09tenant protection because of a lack of

1:58:11data on which to make policy so

1:58:14that leaves us with the need to collect

1:58:16data um so we hope you will move forward

1:58:18with this

1:58:19i want to also encourage you to direct

1:58:22staff to be far more aggressive in

1:58:24matching up the assessors database to

1:58:27the business tax database it is not

1:58:29rocket science to figure out where those

1:58:321400 missing units are that are not

1:58:35complying with the law and not paying a

1:58:37business on tax and having a business

1:58:40license to operate a business in el

1:58:42cerrito um it will also reduce the cost

1:58:45um to owners so that compliant owners

1:58:48don't have to subsidize um uh because of

1:58:51the non-compliant ones um on section

1:58:54eight we hope that you will include

1:58:56voucher units but not project based

1:58:58units there is a distinction we can go

1:59:00into it with staff

1:59:02on the issue of the database

1:59:05we would ask you to rewrite this the

1:59:07issue is not what reports the database

1:59:10can produce in fact we hope it can

1:59:11produce robust reports for the city to

1:59:13enforce it what it needs to address is

1:59:16the issue of what data will be disclosed

1:59:19not what kind of reports can be produced

1:59:21so we would hope that you would um just

1:59:23come up with something that prohibits

1:59:24disclosure of proprietary or personally

1:59:27identifiable information i don't think

1:59:29that should be that hard

1:59:31the registration status of a unit should

1:59:34be public and readily available um

1:59:38that there's nothing personal or private

1:59:40there you're either in compliance with

1:59:42the law and registered or you're not

1:59:44and anybody should be able to find out

1:59:46if a unit is complying with the law or

1:59:48not

1:59:49that's far different from the actual

1:59:51data

1:59:52we'd be happy to

1:59:53work further with staff or with any of

1:59:55you on refining some of this but we hope

1:59:58that we will be able to move forward

2:00:00with this as quickly as possible thank

2:00:02you thank you

2:00:04the next speaker is nicolas galoro

2:00:05followed by nathan durham hammer

2:00:08we're going to take a deep breath

2:00:11in my opinion that my name is nicholas

2:00:13galoro and i live in el cerrito in my

2:00:15opinion the registry is a good idea and

2:00:17i support it

2:00:18however and it's been mentioned before

2:00:20we know that up to 40 of el cerrito

2:00:22rental units may be illegal and don't

2:00:24seem to have a proper business license

2:00:26or proper certification since there are

2:00:29approximately nine thousand rent tenants

2:00:31in el cerrito up to three thousand six

2:00:33hundred of these forty percent of nine

2:00:35thousand may be living in an illegal

2:00:38unit

2:00:41my sense is that

2:00:43that that wasn't clear plan presented in

2:00:45the handout as to how we would get more

2:00:47people involved in it although as aisha

2:00:50said

2:00:51they're going to make efforts to do it

2:00:53and i think you need to then

2:00:56have some report that comes out and say

2:00:58three to six months that tells you how

2:01:00many of these illegal

2:01:02units

2:01:03are now included in the database

2:01:06otherwise they're you know there may be

2:01:07many that are still out there i think i

2:01:09think this is also the elephant in the

2:01:11room and i didn't see it mentioned in

2:01:13the report

2:01:15in addition tenants must have the right

2:01:17to know if their units are legally rent

2:01:19registered will tenants be able to get

2:01:21this input information as a tenant

2:01:23counselor with tenants together i know

2:01:25that most tenants are afraid to ask this

2:01:28of their landlords fearing a rent

2:01:30increase or termination of tenancy

2:01:32fearing retaliation on the part of their

2:01:34landlords and we get often calls from

2:01:37people who have been retaliated for

2:01:40asserting their rights it happens all

2:01:42the time

2:01:44finally the registry would not cost the

2:01:47city any money since it will be self

2:01:49reporting through business license fees

2:01:52and while to a poor person those license

2:01:55fees fee are perceived could be

2:01:58perceived as being

2:01:59too high when you consider that a lot of

2:02:02the

2:02:03landlords here own you know three four

2:02:05or five units they're

2:02:08that kind of equity i don't think

2:02:10characterizes them as a poor person

2:02:12thank you

2:02:14next speaker is nathan durham hammer

2:02:17followed by norma la la bat

2:02:27good evening

2:02:28nathan durham hammer

2:02:30east bay rental housing association

2:02:33association executive

2:02:36in regards to the rent registry

2:02:38um

2:02:39in spite of berkeley's and oakland's

2:02:42disastrous models

2:02:44this is in fact a violation of privacy

2:02:47and

2:02:48quite likely unconstitutional in many

2:02:50ways

2:02:52uh it puts the government

2:02:54into people's kitchens and living rooms

2:02:57not a comfortable place to be especially

2:02:59for the people who

2:03:00own and or reside in those properties

2:03:04it's clearly an expensive and

2:03:06unnecessary expansion of

2:03:08a bureaucratic

2:03:11system

2:03:13and rest assured that the fte

2:03:16uh is an fte not a halftime position and

2:03:19fees will in fact go up not down and as

2:03:23a result rents will increase

2:03:27that's uh

2:03:28what happens when more regulations occur

2:03:32rents tend to go up

2:03:34uh if there is a proven crisis as far as

2:03:37rents in the city of el cerrito

2:03:39the government must then determine

2:03:42income qualifications relative to

2:03:44specific rents

2:03:46under a data-based system

2:03:49and the government interjecting itself

2:03:51into private business affairs and the

2:03:54delicate relationships within

2:03:55communities

2:03:57is a dangerous road to go down

2:04:00in terms of supporting and protecting

2:04:03the vulnerable residents whether they

2:04:05own or rent

2:04:06in the community thank you

2:04:09thank you next speaker is norma labatt

2:04:11followed by anna

2:04:17hi my name is uh normal my name is norma

2:04:20labbach

2:04:22and i'm a resident of richmond i'm

2:04:25against rent control in the register

2:04:27because

2:04:28it threatens my generational property my

2:04:31parents came over here from the south

2:04:33for freedom

2:04:35and we were they bought property for 17

2:04:39000 12 000

2:04:40because it was red line and nobody

2:04:43wanted it

2:04:44now our property is worth half a million

2:04:47and i feel that

2:04:49um i made a vow to my parents on their

2:04:52death bed that i would protect this

2:04:54property and rent control and just cause

2:04:57and that you guys are putting together

2:04:59threaten my property and

2:05:02i would want to help the tenants but i

2:05:04can't help them because my property is

2:05:07being threatened and i want to pass it

2:05:09out to my next generation thank you

2:05:12thank you next speaker is anna followed

2:05:14by eva ciao

2:05:45i am a new immigrant

2:05:48of 8 years

2:05:51[Music]

2:05:54i work very very hard to uh purchase one

2:05:58property

2:06:05i feel that the policy will only aid uh

2:06:08to help

2:06:10tenants who don't pay their rent and bad

2:06:12tenants because i've already met one

2:06:21we try so hard to keep them in our units

2:06:27i also feel

2:06:30confused

2:06:32negativity

2:06:36the american economy is a free market

2:06:39economy

2:06:46the rental market should be um adjusted

2:06:49by the

2:06:50free economy

2:06:56this policy will only

2:06:59make or

2:07:00make the rental market worse

2:07:08that's why i don't believe we should

2:07:10have this policy in place no cc

2:07:13thank you

2:07:14thank you okay and the last speaker on

2:07:17this item is yvette chao

2:07:19my name is eva chao and

2:07:21my mom lives in el cerrito

2:07:23[Music]

2:07:24this is the event registry actually will

2:07:27affect a lot of uh

2:07:29small property owners who

2:07:32originally may think that they want to

2:07:34put their market uh their

2:07:36unit on the market but

2:07:39when faced with bureaucracy and privacy

2:07:42issues

2:07:43i believe that

2:07:45when i talk to a lot of the other people

2:07:47about this

2:07:48they think that they

2:07:50don't want to provide those information

2:07:53and in that situation

2:07:55the law actually backfires and reduces

2:07:58the number of people who will be more

2:08:01likely to

2:08:03get into a market because they don't

2:08:05want to have to deal with bureaucracy

2:08:08especially

2:08:09with immigrant population

2:08:11because they just don't understand the

2:08:13law and they have to hire someone else

2:08:15to help them

2:08:17and i didn't know anna and she came here

2:08:19herself

2:08:20and i'm glad to sit next to her but this

2:08:23is

2:08:24a lot of your property owners

2:08:26they don't have anybody to help them so

2:08:28it's additional layer of bureaucracy

2:08:31thank you thank you and that's the final

2:08:33speaker on this item all right do we

2:08:36have any more questions from the council

2:08:41no additional questions

2:08:43i

2:08:45do want to

2:08:48touch on the the

2:08:50proprietary information section

2:08:53we've talked about it we three of us had

2:08:56or maybe all of us had significant

2:08:58questions about it uh mr levin or levin

2:09:01uh did give us some suggestions

2:09:04the city attorney did mention that

2:09:07if we revised it too much we wouldn't

2:09:09necessarily be able to get through a

2:09:10first reading tonight so i am curious

2:09:12about

2:09:14what

2:09:15changes we might be able to

2:09:18effect tonight that would

2:09:20address some of the comments that we did

2:09:21get from miss thorstennis

2:09:25and and others with regards to the

2:09:27privacy

2:09:28i heard

2:09:29[Music]

2:09:31where we talk about you know the

2:09:34protections that we would have around um

2:09:37subpoena so i would like to find out

2:09:39more about what protections it would be

2:09:42for example against subpoena

2:09:45so it's just if we could get a little

2:09:47more information about the privacy

2:09:49aspects that are in here that'd be great

2:09:54um let me see what i can do

2:09:56regard i'll take sort of the easiest one

2:09:59first um

2:10:01regarding a subpoena um if we believe

2:10:04that um

2:10:05the subpoena is invalid um then we would

2:10:09be able to contest that um like we would

2:10:11any other um

2:10:14subpoena that we felt was

2:10:16inappropriately filed or beyond the

2:10:18scope of what was allowed

2:10:21but if

2:10:23and also

2:10:24i would just say that realistically i'm

2:10:27not sure what litigation would be

2:10:28occurring that would

2:10:30um

2:10:31compel the city to um

2:10:34to

2:10:35provide that kind of information via

2:10:37subpoena that said

2:10:40if we

2:10:41received a subpoena and it was valid

2:10:43there probably is not much that we could

2:10:45do to

2:10:46protect the information although

2:10:49we would be able to seek a protective

2:10:51order from the court

2:10:53and given the strong public policy

2:10:54statement that i think is already in the

2:10:57ordinance in its draft form we

2:10:59absolutely would go to court to say

2:11:02we think we we believe that we do have

2:11:04to comply with this order to provide

2:11:06to provide the data but we are

2:11:08requesting that the court do so under a

2:11:10protective order that would um require

2:11:12it to be maintained in a in a manner

2:11:15that would perform with the privacy

2:11:17concerns expressed in the ordinance

2:11:19um

2:11:21i so

2:11:24with that um

2:11:26i think that um

2:11:27just to address a couple of the other

2:11:29things that that i heard um

2:11:31i i

2:11:33i while i think that the ordinance is

2:11:35fairly clear that in its current form

2:11:38that um that the number of rental units

2:11:41in a building and i do want to clarify

2:11:43that i think that rental units is

2:11:45separate from a building other than in

2:11:46the

2:11:48single-family case that said i do think

2:11:50that we could clarify that

2:11:52if it's something that the council

2:11:54wanted to do and we could we could i

2:11:56think this would be a clear enough

2:11:57change that the number of rental units

2:12:00in a building would only be

2:12:02um

2:12:03released publicly in a expressed as a

2:12:06range of of units um so basically to

2:12:09we'd figure out the

2:12:11if we got that direction from the

2:12:12council we would craft it to bring it

2:12:14back in a form that that adequately

2:12:15explained that it would be released as

2:12:17you know one or five to ten units 10 to

2:12:2130 units something like that that that

2:12:22would be the form in which that

2:12:23information would be publicly publicly

2:12:25released

2:12:26um i also think that the comment that

2:12:28that it this could be clarified that

2:12:30that

2:12:31the that the

2:12:32reports that are described um would be

2:12:36would be the only information that the

2:12:38city would make um available via a

2:12:40public records request so i i i thought

2:12:43it was adequately clear but given the

2:12:45comments that i've heard i think that

2:12:46that could be further clarified and we

2:12:47could

2:12:48um we could

2:12:49we could add language into this if the

2:12:52council gave direction along those lines

2:12:53tonight we could um

2:12:55bring back a sec a reading a version for

2:12:57second reading that would um incorporate

2:12:59that so so the concept of

2:13:01anonymizing

2:13:03the data disassociating

2:13:05uh unique information associated with a

2:13:08person or a you a particular rental unit

2:13:11from the rents is

2:13:13is that something we can express in the

2:13:17in the ordinance

2:13:18yes i think so i think that if you

2:13:20wanted to include an additional policy

2:13:22statement that um

2:13:24that

2:13:25information would not be released

2:13:26publicly pursuant to the public records

2:13:28act that identifies um the individual

2:13:31rent for a specific unit and that could

2:13:34just be ended added to the end of number

2:13:36two

2:13:37yes

2:13:38okay

2:13:39that that would go a long ways to at

2:13:41least making me

2:13:43feel like that the intent is captured

2:13:46in this ordinance okay

2:13:52you have a motion

2:13:54i have a question before

2:13:56i

2:13:57my question is to sky

2:13:59um what happens if

2:14:01someone like a group

2:14:03or

2:14:04the federal government like with ice

2:14:08and they file a subpoena to a resident

2:14:12who is

2:14:14would that be

2:14:17it would

2:14:20make this easier

2:14:22for the federal government to look

2:14:25up this personal information on who's

2:14:28living where

2:14:30[Music]

2:14:31we're not go the

2:14:33the information that's going to be

2:14:36required to be submitted would not

2:14:38include the name of the tenant

2:14:42right so um if a tenant and since this

2:14:44has been discussed if a tenant

2:14:46voluntarily

2:14:47um submitted

2:14:49their their own rental information um we

2:14:52would keep that private um

2:14:54the

2:14:55city's own

2:14:56sanctuary city resolution i think would

2:14:59would compel the staff to um protect

2:15:03that information from being disclosed in

2:15:04response to an ice request and while i i

2:15:07don't want to uh i i

2:15:10it would be very difficult in the

2:15:12current climate to know how that how

2:15:14that would come out but we would

2:15:15absolutely uh believe that that the

2:15:18council has given us full authority to

2:15:21fight against that kind of disclosure

2:15:23thank you

2:15:26i i do want to ask mr crowley if his 25

2:15:30thousand dollar offer is something we

2:15:31can count on i don't know okay

2:15:34because certainly cost is something

2:15:36we've been talking about tonight so

2:15:40uh if there's a motion tonight does it

2:15:42have to acknowledge the the edits that

2:15:45you've proposed to item

2:15:4910

2:15:50why don't i why don't i restate them and

2:15:52then if you want to incorporate them

2:15:54into emotion you can do so um so this

2:15:56would be

2:15:57from what i've heard from the council

2:15:59there's an interest in revising

2:16:03subsection

2:16:0410.100.030

2:16:08h2

2:16:10to clarify that

2:16:13the number of rental units in a building

2:16:15if released pursuant to a public records

2:16:18request would only be expressed

2:16:20as a range

2:16:21of numbers of units and we would come up

2:16:23with the correct wording for that

2:16:26that the types of reports that are

2:16:28described in that section

2:16:30are the only data that the city would

2:16:32release subject

2:16:33in response to a public records request

2:16:35and then we would add an additional

2:16:37sentence at the end that says um under

2:16:39no circumstances in effect we would be

2:16:42saying under no circumstances would the

2:16:43city disclose pursuant to a public

2:16:45records request

2:16:47data from the database that would

2:16:49identify the rent for a specific rental

2:16:52unit

2:16:56go ahead

2:16:58couldn't we further

2:17:01protect the issue

2:17:03by

2:17:04never collecting the name of the tenant

2:17:06at all we're not doing that

2:17:10we're not gonna okay on it but it

2:17:12sounded like under some circumstances

2:17:14you might but if we just don't even have

2:17:16a field to do it in there would not be a

2:17:19field for that okay so then what we're

2:17:21concerned what work what we've attempted

2:17:22to do is game this out a little bit with

2:17:25the idea that if somebody had enough

2:17:28information about the building and

2:17:29enough information about specific units

2:17:31they might be able to figure out which

2:17:33unit was which within a building and

2:17:34then use other publicly information of

2:17:37publicly available information to figure

2:17:39out who lives there and thus their rent

2:17:41but but it is not a is not a field that

2:17:44will appear in the database that asks

2:17:45the landlord to report so if they can

2:17:47figure it out from data that's in some

2:17:49other place we we don't really have any

2:17:52ability to deal with that right so we

2:17:55get it anyway

2:17:56so i don't really see what um so i think

2:18:00we're doing our part if we don't

2:18:02um

2:18:03associate a name with the unit and at

2:18:06all period ever we agree and that's why

2:18:09in additionally in addition we're

2:18:11limiting the type of data that would be

2:18:13reported out publicly from the database

2:18:15to basically

2:18:17the characteristics of a unit and the

2:18:19associated rents but i i

2:18:22you said a word there that just makes me

2:18:23really and can you say what you said and

2:18:25then i'll tell you where i'm

2:18:26uncomfortable with what you said sure we

2:18:28would we would

2:18:29what we've attempted to do to balance

2:18:32the interests of privacy of individuals

2:18:34and businesses with

2:18:36the mandate of the public records act

2:18:38that we that we make information

2:18:40available is clarified that what we

2:18:43would do is produce a limited report

2:18:46that would that would allow people to

2:18:48understand i'll do it more generically

2:18:51understand what what remember here's the

2:18:53problem go look

2:18:54okay

2:18:56produce a report that would allow people

2:18:57to understand what the rent is typical

2:18:59rent is for a for a two-bedroom unit in

2:19:02el cerrito okay but that's it but here's

2:19:04the problem with what you just said

2:19:07report out

2:19:09what um the what the words that i would

2:19:11feel comfortable hearing was collect

2:19:16in other words we're not gonna

2:19:18collect

2:19:20so that the data we can report out

2:19:23would it isn't just what we would report

2:19:25out because that might

2:19:28be under a court order to do something

2:19:30or another but if we don't collect it at

2:19:33all

2:19:34then it's not possible to do we could

2:19:37add an additional sentence to sub to

2:19:39to this subsection that says that the

2:19:42that we will not cult that the city will

2:19:43not

2:19:45collect information

2:19:47about individual tenants identifying

2:19:49information

2:19:51yes we can

2:19:52come up with the people

2:19:56thank you yes

2:20:04um i'm more than willing to move an

2:20:06ordinance of the city of el cerrito

2:20:08amending the title 10 of the el cerrito

2:20:09municipal code to add chapter 10.100

2:20:12rent registry to require that property

2:20:14owners register rents for and provide

2:20:17other information regarding residential

2:20:19rental rental properties with the city

2:20:22annually

2:20:23with the stated changes

2:20:25to

2:20:26section

2:20:2910 100.030

2:20:33uh subsection h

2:20:36is that including what i just covered

2:20:38correct including the the fact that we

2:20:40would affirmatively state that we would

2:20:42not collect data about individual

2:20:44tenants

2:20:45and because facts

2:20:47would be the basis of any action the

2:20:49city takes i would second that

2:20:51a motion by lyman second by fidelity all

2:20:55in favor

2:20:56aye

2:20:57those opposed

2:21:00motion carries

2:21:02all right next we have

2:21:05our just cause for eviction ordinance

2:21:09additional staff report

2:21:12hi so moving on to item 7b just cause

2:21:16for eviction ordinance

2:21:18this is the

2:21:19second item that we will introduce for

2:21:22your consideration

2:21:24again i'm just going to go through the

2:21:26ordinance itself give you an overview

2:21:29as well as its applicability noticing

2:21:31requirements we'll cover the causes for

2:21:34termination including

2:21:36the harassment protections

2:21:38financial and um

2:21:41implementation considerations next steps

2:21:43and questions so

2:21:45um

2:21:45this would be under chapter 10 300 just

2:21:48cause for eviction and prohibition of

2:21:50harassment protection again this

2:21:52ordinance codifies the city's police

2:21:54power authority to protect public health

2:21:56safety and welfare

2:22:00in terms of

2:22:02the ordinance itself it's

2:22:04broken down into the following sections

2:22:06finding findings and purpose definitions

2:22:09applicability causes for termination

2:22:12prohibition of harassment of tenants and

2:22:14other prohibited activities as well as

2:22:16notice of tenants rights notice of

2:22:18termination civil remedies and fees

2:22:23so this actual or just an overview on

2:22:26the ordinance itself as you know it's a

2:22:28program that regulates grounds for which

2:22:30landlords may terminate tenancy um

2:22:32participation is mandatory as well as an

2:22:36annual fee

2:22:38it does the ordinance does include

2:22:39language which requires property owners

2:22:42to provide tenants with the notice of

2:22:43tenant rights

2:22:45so this is actually

2:22:47one of the things that was identified um

2:22:50just cause for eviction and our act in

2:22:52our housing element and 2015 um we

2:22:55didn't bring it forward at that time um

2:22:57because we were taking it

2:23:00into consideration that just causes

2:23:01generally paired with some sort of rent

2:23:03increase mechanism program

2:23:05but we are bringing it forth of course

2:23:07tonight at your direction

2:23:10based on

2:23:11some standards and that it would apply

2:23:13to single it would apply to rental

2:23:15properties with five or more rental

2:23:17units

2:23:18so those are

2:23:20earlier in the pi slide i showed you the

2:23:23multi-family building types with five or

2:23:24more units

2:23:26in the city there would be exceptions

2:23:28for properties with a certificate of

2:23:30occupancy issued after january of 2015

2:23:34as well as single family residences

2:23:36duplexes triplex's quadruplexes

2:23:39accessory dwelling units

2:23:41in the case that someone's renting out a

2:23:44room um in their property and that would

2:23:47be exempt from this as well as hotels

2:23:50on site managers living units um

2:23:52tenancies that are a condition of

2:23:54employment and units that are controlled

2:23:56by another government agency or acquired

2:23:58for public use so again

2:24:01units that are already regulated

2:24:03through other regulatory mechanisms

2:24:05would be excluded

2:24:07in terms of its applicability um

2:24:12step one is an in essence i'm going to

2:24:14take you through the steps of the actual

2:24:16process so step one is what i like to

2:24:17think of a prerequisite so it's things

2:24:19that you should already have which is

2:24:21the current business license with the

2:24:23city um and that your unit is registered

2:24:26with the city as a rental so that's step

2:24:28one we realized from our last item

2:24:31that there is likely

2:24:33many properties that are missing and we

2:24:35will of course make that a priority

2:24:37through these ordinances to identify

2:24:40those but assuming you've met the

2:24:42prerequisites the second step would

2:24:44require

2:24:45property owners to provide each tenant

2:24:48with a notice of tenant rights under the

2:24:50following circumstances so within 60

2:24:52days of adoption of the ordinance

2:24:55when entering a new lease agreement when

2:24:57renewing a lease agreement and when

2:24:59issuing a notice of termination so the

2:25:02notice of tenants rights would be

2:25:03prepared on a form by the city and it

2:25:06would be translated and it would have

2:25:09additional information such as the

2:25:11city's website contact and

2:25:14if we opt to move forward with this

2:25:16ordinance as well as a designated

2:25:18service provider so we would prepare

2:25:20that form

2:25:21for distribution

2:25:24in addition what happens is that in the

2:25:26event that a notice of termination is

2:25:28going to be issued to terminate

2:25:31a

2:25:32tenant's tennessee tenancy um then the

2:25:36property owner must then give notice for

2:25:39one of the causes contained in the

2:25:41ordinance that i'll go through in just a

2:25:43moment

2:25:44in addition to that a copy of that

2:25:46notice must be provided to the city

2:25:48within 10 days of delivery so that could

2:25:51be done by way of uploading to our

2:25:53website mailing it in person or dropping

2:25:56it off within that specified time period

2:25:59in terms of the last step of this

2:26:03disputes

2:26:04assuming that the prerequisite is met

2:26:07number one and number two is met any

2:26:10disputes um as it comes to this

2:26:12ordinance specifically when once the

2:26:14notice of termination is triggered it is

2:26:16pursued through civil remedies

2:26:19so the city would not be involved in any

2:26:22of those so that was the legal aid we

2:26:24talked about

2:26:25at our study session

2:26:28a couple of weeks back so just wanted to

2:26:29point that out obviously there are

2:26:31resources

2:26:33in the community that people could tap

2:26:35into but we wouldn't be necessarily

2:26:38based on your direction funding any

2:26:40specific organization to

2:26:42take on these

2:26:43specifics

2:26:45in terms of the causes of fort

2:26:47just cause for termination

2:26:50there's one of these eight reasons must

2:26:52be specified

2:26:54as shown in the proposed ordinance so as

2:26:56i mentioned at our study session you can

2:26:58generally think of the tenant causes as

2:27:01four causes which are failure to pay

2:27:02rent breach of lease

2:27:05tenant illegal activities and violations

2:27:07of the health and safety code

2:27:09by the tenant

2:27:10and then there's landlord cause which

2:27:12are also known as no fault evictions

2:27:14which include properties that are going

2:27:16to be substantially renovated so if

2:27:18they're

2:27:19going to go through the city and pull

2:27:21permits and

2:27:22they're not suitable or livable then

2:27:24that would be a landlord cause as well

2:27:26as a condo conversion

2:27:29if the landlord's going to remove a

2:27:30rental unit from the market through the

2:27:32state's ellis act law or if the

2:27:34landlord's going to actually

2:27:36do an owner move in and take occupancy

2:27:39of the property so generally um

2:27:43just cause also contains

2:27:46harassment protections there are

2:27:47currently state laws

2:27:50that contain you know retaliation and

2:27:53anti-harassment and habitability issues

2:27:56but generally when you adopt a just

2:27:58cause you also build in the harassment

2:28:00protections so it's all contained in one

2:28:03place so with the local ordinance

2:28:06it would contain the harassment

2:28:07protections in addition to the just

2:28:09causes so that would include

2:28:11the harassment protections with

2:28:12specifically

2:28:15interrupting or failing to provide

2:28:17housing services

2:28:19including failure to perform maintenance

2:28:21and repairs

2:28:23abuse of the landlord's right to access

2:28:25the property removal of a tenant's per

2:28:27personal property

2:28:30influencing them to vacate the property

2:28:32or often them offering them payment in

2:28:34lieu of vacating

2:28:36threatening them

2:28:37refusing you know to cash the rent check

2:28:40um violating attendance rights um other

2:28:43repeated acts to disturb their peace and

2:28:45just for return in addition retaliation

2:28:48for exercising their rights on the

2:28:50ordinance um again if um any of these or

2:28:53if the tenant feels like any of these

2:28:55are being violated

2:28:57it's not something that the city would

2:28:58step in and pursue legally it would be

2:29:01pursued through

2:29:02civil remedies

2:29:05in terms of

2:29:06implementation

2:29:08based on

2:29:10the proposed ordinance its applicability

2:29:12to five or more units

2:29:14the per unit fee would be 35 that would

2:29:18be a cost recovery

2:29:20the program would be implemented

2:29:22primarily um with existing staff but we

2:29:25would also

2:29:26be looking to partner with a third party

2:29:29designated service provider so i'll talk

2:29:31more about their role

2:29:33as i mentioned it is civil remedies but

2:29:36there are administrative penalties so if

2:29:38you don't follow the appropriate

2:29:40noticing and things of that sort there's

2:29:42some things that we can do

2:29:43administratively through our municipal

2:29:45code to enforce those penalties and we

2:29:48would of course

2:29:49provide an annual review on this program

2:29:52now i mentioned a designated service

2:29:54provider

2:29:56is echo housing

2:29:58they would as if we decided to move

2:30:00forward with them we would be looking

2:30:02for a contract not to exceed 15 000 and

2:30:05they would actually be providing

2:30:06services to both tenants and landlords

2:30:08so they would be available to answer