Regular City Council Meeting November 19, 2024

0:00:15Hey? I just wanna

0:00:22sorry we are having some intermittent issues with the Wi-fi in the room. Just to let you guys know you may have an issue accessing that. But we should be okay to go ahead and get the meeting started, Mayor, when you're ready, and we confirm that streaming has worked.

0:00:35the streaming is working, it is going, and it will confirm. Okay.

0:00:46should I wait on it, confirming before we start? If yeah, if you want, we can. It should just take a second. Zoom is running, though, and we are recording through that. And then Eric, will confirm that the life.

0:01:54Okay, Mayor confirmed. Everything is okay. You can go ahead and proceed. Thank you. Thank you, Madam city clerk.

0:02:02Good evening, everyone. It is 6 0. 4, and the November 19, th 2024 regular City Council meeting is called to order. Will the city clerk please call roll

0:02:11Mayor Redneck, present Mayor pro tem. Weisinger present council. Member Fideli. Here. Council Member Quinto, we have a quorum with Council Member Motoyama absent. All right. Thank you so much. We're going to move on to item 2, which is a pledge of allegiance to the flag, or an observation of a moment of silence.

0:02:30I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

0:02:47Alright. Thank you.

0:02:49Next we have teleconference and public comment. Instructions from our city clerk. Thank you, Mayor. This hybrid meeting provides an option to participate in person, or via Zoom with closed captions. Available meetings of the City Council are subject to the Brown Act, and are held for the purpose of conducting city business. The Brown Act also ensures the public's right to be heard, and while the city council may not be able to respond to your comments directly, your comments will be heard prior to council taking action

0:03:15for members of the public who wish to provide oral testimony, the mayor will announce the time for public comment on each applicable item. Public comments are taken in person only, and a request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a Speaker card. The Council's adopted rules of order and procedure, specify that public speakers address the city council in an orderly and respectful manner.

0:03:36proceed their comments with their name and city of residence and be respectful of time limits. Thank you, Mayor, that concludes my instructions. Thank you so much. Next item on the agenda is council and Staff Communications city manager. Do we have any communications? Yes, we do. Thank you, your honor.

0:03:52I am city manager, Karen Pincus, and I'd like to start off with a huge thank you to El Cerrito voters. According to the unofficial latest results on the Contra Costa elections website that was updated recently as of Friday.

0:04:0880.9 2% 8,092. So almost 81% of El Cerrito voters supported measure G, extending the existing one cent sales tax that provides critical funding to maintain city services. I'm very grateful for this strong demonstration of support for the services that the city provides.

0:04:27This result is an enormous win for city services for our community and for the long term fiscal health of our organization. I want to thank, of course, especially the City Council for your leadership for listening to the community and for putting this measure on the ballot before it expired.

0:04:44The election will also bring us 2 new Council members. Unfortunately, Council Member Modiyama is not feeling well today. We wish her feeling better, but she was reelected, and we based on the latest results. I want to congratulate and welcome Rebecca Saltzman and William Casanis, who is actually here tonight. Congratulations on the election. They will be sworn into office on December 17, th 2024 for a 4 year term.

0:05:09Also, on December 17, th we will be hosting the second annual state of the city address that will be given by Mayor Rednick. That will take place at 5 Pm. Here in the City Council chambers prior to the City Council meeting. I'm going to be calling up our fire Chief and Public Works director for a couple of announcements. So. But 1st I wanted to let folks know a few things

0:05:29tomorrow at 6 30, prior to the Planning Commission meeting, we will be holding an open house on the general plan safety element. That is a section of our general plan that includes safety considerations and planning and decision-making processes, establishing goals and policies that address, natural and human, caused hazards that may result in personal injury, loss of life, property damage or environmental damage. If you are interested, please stop by or you can go to our website. L dash, cerrito.org slash safety element.

0:05:59Next, I want to share information on upcoming holiday closures. So please plan for these. We will be closed next week on November 28th and 29th for the Thanksgiving holiday in December, City Hall will be closed, starting on December 20, th through the New Year's holiday, and will reopen on January 6th 2025. During that timeframe we will have some hours available by appointment

0:06:22for certain permits or inspection services. So if you have any questions, please contact community development. If those are services that maybe you may be seeking, all of this will be on our website in the next few weeks, and in the city managers update in December.

0:06:37So save the date, and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving holiday next week. So I'd like to start with our fire Chief Eric sailors to report on

0:06:48one of our pilot programs.

0:06:50Good evening, council members. I'm Eric Sayers, your fire chief. As we transition from Red flag warnings to storm warnings in less than 30 days. I want to take the opportunity to briefly, really quickly, on our no parking on Red Flag Day pilot it was a very successful pilot program, and it only worked because the collaboration between

0:07:10public works, the fire department and a very engaged community over these 2 red flag warning days we had the opportunity to post our signs. It was a great public education event where people learned what zone we're in, and when we are in red flag and when we are not.

0:07:25and although we have some opportunities for improvement, we didn't have 100 compliance. We did have fantastic forward movement on a very hard thing to do. And we did have some clear roads during those red flag days. So this is a great model for moving forward in the future is teamwork and collaboration between the public and the departments and the city, and I want to thank you all for your support.

0:07:50I have a quick question about that.

0:07:51So during this pilot program, how was noncompliance addressed.

0:07:56we flag the cars and I should say not. We are engaged, citizens flag the cars with just an informative flyer.

0:08:04Thank you. You're welcome.

0:08:07And then I would like to call up our public works. Director Yvette Ortiz.

0:08:16Good evening, Mayor Council members. I wanted to take an opportunity to announce a workshop this Thursday at 6 Pm. Here in the Council chambers for the Richmond Street Complete Streets

0:08:28Improvement Project.

0:08:30and we are inviting the public to come, learn about the project and share their feedback for safety and access improvements throughout the length of Richmond Street, and this includes proposed bike lanes north of Mosure. So we look forward to providing information to the public and hearing from them. The workshop details are on the city's website calendar.

0:08:51Thank you.

0:08:54And with that I have no other announcements. Thank you, your honor, thank you so much. And now it's time for council announcements. Mayor pro tem. Any announcements?

0:09:01Councilmember quinto

0:09:03council member Fideli. Yeah, thank you. I wanted to reiterate what Yvette just said. Really important to come and talk about Richmond

0:09:11Street.

0:09:13We got money from Ccta to improve this street. It's time to do that now that the digging has happened.

0:09:19And I look forward to public input on making that another parallel

0:09:24thoroughfare to our San Pablo Avenue and making it look good. So come on out. I I hope to be there also.

0:09:31Just to

0:09:33mentioned that the Richmond Ferry, which is a glorious ride to San Francisco, is free this on Fridays this month.

0:09:40so go out and take a free trip to San Francisco and back, and it the more support we have, the more

0:09:47we can keep it and get support and funding through Ccta. Thank you.

0:09:52Thank you so much.

0:09:53And aside from the really great events for community engagement coming up for

0:09:59as noted by our staff. There's also the really fun event of Saturday, December 7.th We have the pancake breakfast and toy drive at the Community Center, and it's a lot of fun. And tickets are on sale through the Rec Department's website.

0:10:13There's, you know.

0:10:14Lot, I'll get to the end of the agenda. I'll talk a little bit more about all the things that we've been doing. We've been good about not front loading those conversations early on the meeting, having them later. But one of the things that I got to do since our last meeting, and a lot of folks here were also there. Which was this really glorious fun one year anniversary for Dolly's restaurant, and instead of just having a regular old.

0:10:39you know, it's our one year anniversary of a restaurant. It was a 2 day fiesta on San Pablo Avenue. There were Djs. There was live music. There was not only just her own business. She invited other businesses to come to, and it was a spectacular event, and for that and many reasons. I'm going to be presenting a mayoral proclamation to Dolly of Dolly's restaurant.

0:11:04so if value, you'd like to come up

0:11:15not to put you on the spot. But if you would like to say anything beforehand.

0:11:20good evening, everybody. Hi, Mayor! I did not think I have to speak today. But city of El Sal has been a really big, supportive community. Cannot believe it's been a 1 year. So when I wanted to open the restaurant, I really, I've been living here 1617 years, but I really didn't want to go to other cities. I just want to open here. So when I started I got introduced to Gabe at first, st and then

0:11:50Lisa came for the opening, and then. Now the mayor, Tessa. Apart from that, the community has been the greatest support, my backbone and I cannot just thank enough for the community. It's a small place, but I love how much I get the support from everybody.

0:12:13not just El Cerrito. It comes from Albany, and this way from Richmond, too. So I just want to thank you everybody. It's been a 1 year. I can't believe it's been a 1 year, and thank you. Thank you, Tessa. Thank you. Oh, and please plug your Sri Lankan food pop up while you're here.

0:12:29as many of you know. I was born in Sri Lanka grew up with the Italian, and my half cousins are half Italian. So that's how I ended up in Italian cuisine. But because I want to be a pay a tribute to my home country. We have a pop up coming up on 24th

0:12:48this month, Sri Lankan cuisine. So in the Bay area there's not even a 1 Sri Lankan restaurant in the whole Bay area. There's a truck, but not a restaurant. So I want to just open up a little bit of our palates to Sri Lankan cuisine. So if anyone's available on 24, th come, stop by at Dolly's in El Cerrito. Thank you. Thanks. All right. I'm going to bring up here, or you can stay right there. I'm going to bring over the proclamation

0:13:56all right. Next, we have oral communications from the public. So now is the time of members of the public who wish to provide public comments regarding matters not on the agenda. Consent items and presentation items request to speak can be submitted

0:14:11to the city clerk by completing a speaker card. Public comments will be taken in person. Only please remember to identify yourself and your city of residence at the beginning of your comments. City clerk, please proceed. Thank you, Mayor. At this time we have 3 requests to speak, so I'll start with our 1st Speaker, Gary Prost, followed by Susan Duncan.

0:14:37Mayor Council. I'm Gary, prost resident of El Cerrito.

0:14:41and member of make El Cerrito fire safe.

0:14:44I want to take this opportunity to commend outgoing Council members Fideli and Rednick, or

0:14:52all of their good work in supporting fire safety in the community, also fire chief sailors

0:15:01and public works. Director Ortiz should be commended

0:15:05for the implementation and support of the Red Flag day's parking restrictions. The test case that's just recently concluded.

0:15:14All 4 of these individuals have supported and encouraged city involvement as well as public

0:15:21and community participation in fire safety issues. So a well deserved thank you. To all of you. Keep up the good work.

0:15:29Let's make this red flag parking restrictions permanent. Thank you.

0:15:34Thank you. Our next speaker is Susan Duncan, followed by Jim Dolganis.

0:15:48Honorable Mayor City Council member. Good evening. I'm Sue Duncan, a resident of El Cerrito

0:15:54make El Cerrito fire safe. Thanks, chief sailors and public Works Director Yvette Ortiz, for implementing the pilot program for restricted parking on Red flag days on 4 of El Cerrito's narrow streets we found good compliance, as we are the ones who went out and checked

0:16:12several times a day on red flag days, and placed flyers under the cars, that, and vehicles that were noncompliant.

0:16:20We request that either the program which is due to end this November 30th be reinstated next year, and include more streets, or, better still, make it permanent with more streets.

0:16:32Yvette and her department were very responsive to our notices of faded, illegible, or missing signs, replacing them quickly during the last red flag event. When the wind was strong enough to blow the signs over, they quickly added sandbags to the signs that same day. Thank you.

0:16:51I have suggested to the Council before that some home hardening programs be added to the list of projects that receive a discount on the real property transfer tax home hardening has been proven to reduce the risk of home ignition from the embers that are blown ahead of a wildfire.

0:17:08El Cerrito needs to start encouraging residents to perform home hardening projects, and this is one way to encourage this. These projects would be identified and prioritized by the fire department. Money talks and people listens.

0:17:23I understand that this would decrease the city's income a little bit by, but please keep in mind how much income would be lost by having homes destroyed by a wildfire. The city of Berkeley just instituted a similar program.

0:17:38And one last thing, our group make El Cerrito fire safe, celebrated our 6th year in September. We 1st

0:17:46spoke to all of you in September of 2018. We are not going away.

0:17:53thank you. Our next speaker is Jim Dolcames.

0:18:08there city Council members, Jim Dalgonis

0:18:12El Cerrito, resident, but also a member of I can say crime prevention. But it's really community safety.

0:18:21And I'm really here to talk about community safety and to build on what others have said about the Red Flag Day parking.

0:18:31We did a pilot this year. I would really urge the city to make that pilot become permanent, and then maybe we could pilot a few other streets.

0:18:43It!

0:18:44I think there were like 4 days this year that were red flag days. And so we're asking people, you know, to move their cars out of this out of the street into their driveways for

0:18:574 days. It's just not that much of an imposition, not that much cost for the city, so I urge the city to move forward to make

0:19:07what was a pilot permanent, and then to pilot some additional streets. Thank you.

0:19:14Thank you, Mayor. That concludes our request to speak alright. Thank you so much.

0:19:19So speaking of community safety. Our next presentation is the police department's plan, technology deployment.

0:19:25And this presentation is a receive in file, meaning that we are just getting this presentation.

0:19:38All right. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I'm Paul Keith, your chief of police.

0:19:42I'm here tonight to talk about some Pd investments in technology as well as some plan programs

0:19:52let me, just okay.

0:20:05oh, here, we go there, we go. Okay. Sorry for the little text syncing right there.

0:20:12So the talk, we're gonna talk about 3 different items tonight. We're gonna talk about license plate readers for parking enforcement. We're gonna talk about investments in drone technology. And we're gonna talk about facial recognition software and how it might assist with investigations.

0:20:25So to start off, we're gonna talk about automated license plate readers for parking enforcement

0:20:29so on the screen, this is a picture of a camera system that we're investing in the target start date of this coming January of 2025.

0:20:39Essentially, what we're planning to do is use license plate readers for time zone enforcement abandoned vehicle identification as well as locating stolen vehicles around town.

0:20:49We held a public meeting on this in August of 2024, talk to the public and alert them to our planned use of the system

0:20:57paired with a new ticket program and a permit program using license plate. Readers will allow us to integrate

0:21:03programs like park by phone into our

0:21:06parking management strategy to allow us to use systems like online permitting or stick it sticker list permitting, be able to do time zone and permit enforcement.

0:21:16It'll allow us to reduce strain on our staff by taking what right now is a physical activity of physically marking tires and time zones to make it into a technology assisted process where it's taking photographs instead of physical effort.

0:21:31And ideally, it's going to lead to higher productivity. As we're addressing parking situations around town.

0:21:37so how these cameras work is when they're installed on a parking enforcement vehicle. The cameras are constantly checking

0:21:44vehicles against the time zone that they're lo! The geographic zone that they're located in. So, as you look at San Pablo Avenue, we have a variety of different time zones. We have 4 h time zones, 2 h time zones, 1 h time zones.

0:21:56The camera's constantly taking photographs of cars that are parked on San Pablo Avenue and comparing that library against the time zone it's in

0:22:03when the system identifies a car that's been there for longer than the time zone allows it alerts the operator of the car, and the operator has a prompt to be able to write a citation for the car that's been there for too long.

0:22:16There are some components of the system that make sure that the car hasn't driven away and come back to the same parking spot. There's 2 cameras. One is a license plate reading camera. The second camera takes pictures of the tire itself of where the tire stem is located, so the operator can say that tire is located in the exact same spot. It was 2 h ago when I drove through this area

0:22:38this replaces a very physical process of time zone enforcement. Right now we have a little 3 wheeled vehicle, and our community service officer drives around with a stick with a stick a long stick, and on the end of it there's a bag of chalk.

0:22:54and they drive down the street, and they hit the back tire of all these cars. They drive down the street

0:22:59and then when they come back through the time zone, maybe 4 h later, they say which chalk tires are still here, and those would be the ones they'd enforce. So this is a lot more efficient use of their time, instead of them having to actively seek it. The system is going to be constantly processing those vehicles as it drives by.

0:23:13One of the things we found with that stick which I hate is that it can lead to injuries for our staff

0:23:18and 1st of all, I never want our employees to get hurt on something that's preventable, but that repetitive motion is something that is a

0:23:25is an injury that is highly likely from doing that repeated type of enforcement.

0:23:30The other part of it is that because it's a license plate reader system. We can create lists of vehicles that are excluded from enforcement. So I want you to think about our permit zones around Bart stations. Now we have different permit zones around town. But this system allows us to do is that when somebody gets a parking permit for their neighborhood. The system can be set to ignore that license plate when it's doing parking enforcement in that neighborhood. So we don't need to see the sticker anymore. The plate itself would act as the permit.

0:23:58so it allows our officers to work quicker. They don't have to check stickers. They don't need to check dashboards. It's just the system automatically excludes those cars. And we can focus on just the cars that aren't permitted for that neighborhood. And the times they've been parked there.

0:24:14We plan to roll this out. As I said, beginning in January to February of this coming year.

0:24:19the cost of the system is around $44,000 for year one.

0:24:24So there is an investment in hardware that we're making. We're buying cameras that are going to be owned by the city. And then there's some, also, some ongoing costs of around 6 to $7,000 a year for the software license to run the system itself.

0:24:38So the 1st year there'll be a higher barrier to entry. But after that the cost is gonna be much reduced on a year over year basis.

0:24:46We're also planning to fund this project out of the vehicle abatement fund. So this is a fund that the funds are

0:24:54designed to be spent on addressing vehicle parking vehicle abandonment issues in town, and that is going to be one component of the system.

0:25:02one of the nice things about the system that we've identified and you're gonna be hearing an item on parking management tonight.

0:25:08The company that issued a response was very happy that we had selected the vendor we selected. It's IP solutions is the name of the company.

0:25:16The ticketing solution is data ticket

0:25:19those 2. That combination of companies is exactly what they would intend to recommend that we use anyway. So kind of going into your talk tonight.

0:25:28our technology platform is already going to be well oriented, well oriented to take advantage of their recommendations as they start looking at a parking permit program. If you decide to go with them.

0:25:40Okay, so let's move into the next one, and I'll have time for questions at the end if you do have questions on the presentation.

0:25:46So let's talk about our Pd drone system.

0:25:49So in the current fiscal year

0:25:52we purchased, we're in the process of purchasing 2 drones.

0:25:57The goal of our drone program is to eventually become a department that has drones as 1st responders to high priority incidents in our area.

0:26:08And the goal of that program is that it is a regional level program. So there's a regional asset.

0:26:13That we would undertake in partnership with Richmond, Pd. San Pablo Penny, Hercules Pinol. Basically, the corridor of agencies in West Contra Costa County.

0:26:22So the idea is that in the future, not this year, by any means, but in the future, that when an emergency call comes out. Maybe it's a bank robbery. Maybe it's a call. The man with a gun in a park that a drone can be sent to the location at the same time as officers and start relaying information back to our officers. So I want you to just think of that being the ultimate goal of a drone program.

0:26:43and then we'll talk about how we're getting there with what we have now.

0:26:48So right now, where our program is at is that we're working on getting increased deployments. We're trying to maximize the use of the drones we currently have.

0:26:56And we're trying to make more availability of drones at each of our team levels. So we're trying to make sure that we have drones available for our patrol operations so that on calls where they can use them, they're readily available.

0:27:06So this year we've made a lot of progress towards that end. We've trained up a total of 12 pilots. Now, this is my my drone coordinator over here corporal track calls them pilots and aircraft

0:27:18so we've got 12 pilots trained up. We had a currently had. We had 2 drones before we're ordering 2 additional drones, and most of our department has been trained as a visual observer. Every drone team has 2 components. You have the pilot, and you have a person with them to make sure that they're not hitting any hazards.

0:27:35Some of our recent uses. We use them on a number of search warrants over the summer

0:27:40in support of both our search warrants and in support of some Richmond search warrants. We've used them for suspect searches on a stolen car case where the suspects ran into a block. We got a drone up and started searching the yards was very helpful.

0:27:53We had a recent case where we all agreed. We certainly could have used a drone. We just didn't have one.

0:28:00This was a case of a shooting that happened on Elm Street, basically, an intruder came into a residence home. The Resident ended up shooting the person we got there. There's a lot of confusion. We have one person who, we later learned, was a homeowner, saying that Guy came in my home and I shot him. We had the other guy saying.

0:28:19Some guy in that house shot me, and there's hostages in the basement, and he's got a shotgun, and he won't let them out. And so going in. We're, you know, we're faced with the prospect of. We got to go in this house. We don't know what's going on in the house, but we're gonna have to go in the door and potentially be in danger.

0:28:34That's where we were

0:28:36recognizing in the aftermath of that boy would have been nice to have a drone to be able to fly in that open door and scan the inside.

0:28:43So we're gonna talk about 2 different drones that we're investing in in the current fiscal year. And we're gonna kind of talk conceptually about where we'd like to go next year.

0:28:50So the drawing on the screen right now, that's a Dji Mavic. 3. So this is your

0:28:57pretty standard law enforcement drone. It's available for private purchase. But this is what a lot of departments use us included. We have a older model of it.

0:29:06This is an outdoor drone, primarily. It has some really great features

0:29:10you can has the capability to stream the video to a online service so that you can connect in. If you're in the system, you can connect in and see what the drone sees from any cell phone or computer so if you're at the scene, we can put it up on screens at the scene. In fact, maybe

0:29:28corporal track and start connecting it right now. So we can see how the there it is. Okay. So now we're looking at the drone view here. So we can.

0:29:36There's not yet no, not yet. Almost there, almost there. This is gonna come from over there.

0:29:43Oh, there we go. Okay, now we're looking at drone footage. So the image on the left of your screen that is infrared camera on that drone basically shows you what the drone sees what the operator of the drone sees. The nice thing is this has a very high ceiling. You can get up to 400 feet. It has a zoom lens. You can zoom in to see what's going on down on the ground.

0:30:03and we want to put it up here just to give you kind of an idea of some of the capabilities of the drone.

0:30:08So this is our outdoor drone. We're also looking to purchase an indoor drone, and this is the kind of the case that I was talking about on Elm Street being able to send a drone into a house where you may have a potentially dangerous situation.

0:30:20But not actually put anybody in physical danger.

0:30:23So corporal tracks actually gonna fly this thing, we're going to give him a second to set it up. This is a Dj avada the difference between these 2 drones

0:30:32is without a fancy camera. That bigger drone is about a well, I guess, with the fancy camera that bigger drones about 8 to $9,000. That's the one that's sitting up on the table

0:30:43this one on the ground with the fancy headset that corporal track is wearing is about a $2,000 drone.

0:30:51so he's gonna take it up off the ground and we're gonna fly it around just a little bit. He's gonna try not to get in anybody's hair

0:30:59right right at will. Yeah, there you go.

0:31:04We're clear for takeoff.

0:31:11Didn't have the modern controller to be able to stream this one to the screens yet. That's in the the version we're planning to get.

0:31:39He's going slow now. You should have seen him whipping it around the police department 2 weeks ago.

0:31:45So this is a demo model that was provided by a supplier for us to take a look at. And ages usefulness. Now, Corporal Track could just continue piloting this thing around the building just from where he's at he could take it upstairs to the second floor. He could take it, you know, in any open door. It's a pretty amazing piece of technology. So you could think that when you're going into, let's say it's a house that's been burglarized, and you don't know if the suspects are still in the house, having the ability to have one of these

0:32:13on hand to just pilot through the house while you have the perimeter locked down could really give you a lot of important information before you actually enter into a hazardous zone.

0:32:22We were really blown away by the the 1st demos of it. I have a video of me flying around, too.

0:32:28So the nice part about the smaller drone is, it can also be used as an outdoor drone. So it has a little bit more flexibility than the larger drone. It's designed so that if it comes in contact with the wall. It's not going to break. It's got kind of robust frame to run against that. Thank you, corporal track.

0:32:43all right. The big thing was that we don't crash it into anything.

0:32:47Okay, I think we can switch back to the normal Powerpoint.

0:32:53So next year, when we do the next military equipment presentation. We're gonna be asking to purchase more of these indoor drones so that we can make sure we have one for each team so that they have them on hand when they're actually out on a hot call and trying to clear a dangerous space without having people go inside it.

0:33:16Alright, just bear with us on.

0:33:21Okay? So the 3rd technology I promised that we would talk about is facial recognition software.

0:33:28So I'm gonna talk about how we go about identifying suspects. And if you've heard the presentation before, as I know a couple of people in the room, have I

0:33:36apologize for repeating this. But this is the same presentation I gave to the Community Safety Committee, as well as a public meeting that we held last week on the topic.

0:33:48So right now we have an unknown suspect. Let's say we've got a surveillance picture. Suspect

0:33:54the method that we go about identifying them is, first, st we look at the person in house. Do any of us recognize this guy? If any of us arrested him before or her, you know. Do we know who this person is?

0:34:03When we if we can't figure out who they are that way, then we'll put together a wanted flyer now wanted flyer. That's technology from like the 18 hundreds, you know, you can think of old West, you know, back then it'd be maybe a picture of the person. But now we've got a digital image from a surveillance camera that we put on this wanted flyer.

0:34:19and we don't necessarily post it around town. But we'll share that wonder flyer with other law enforcement agencies we can share them with, you know, just Contra Costa County, just Northern California. We share them with the whole State.

0:34:29Every day we get Wanda flyers from across State of California. Help us identify this person. Here's a surveillance picture of them.

0:34:36Now we also have the media. The media is another way that we identify people.

0:34:40So we'll put a picture out on the media. Good example is we just put a picture out yesterday. It was reported out on Ktvu and Nbc. Bay Area with a sexual battery last week. Got reported to us on Sunday, started investigating. It started finding surveillance footage of our suspect. Unfortunately, we don't have a face yet. We just have what the person was wearing

0:34:59but it's a way to bring awareness to the case, and maybe somebody recognizes the person from seeing that thing on our social media, or seeing that on the pro, on the news media, and they can call us and let us know. So there are some limitations to that. We'll get people who see something like that, and they'll call in, and

0:35:16maybe it'll be a crank call, you know. They'll they'll call, and they'll give us bad information. Maybe it'll be somebody that sees it, and they think they know who it is.

0:35:23and they'll give us a name.

0:35:25and we'll look into that person, and it's not the person. And sometimes people call, and they give us great information. As an example. We had this burglary on rockway

0:35:35we had video from the neighbor's house.

0:35:37This black Bmw. Pulls up in front of the victim's house. This guy gets out. He's a young adult goes down the side yard, gets a ladder. Last picture the surveillance footage shows is him as he's falling into the ladder and his rear end sticking out in the air. It's kind of a memorable image. So we put those images out on social media and gave them to the press to see if somebody could identify him. Lo and behold, somebody did. One of his teachers from high school recognized him.

0:36:02And because of the kind of funny sequence of photographs it really made news. So it got to her view. She recognized them, she told his parents, and his parents ended up bringing them in and turning them in. So that process does work sometimes. But we get lots of

0:36:17water flyers from other agencies. Our own water flyers. They just never go, just never get resolved. We don't get any id off them.

0:36:24Another example of how the public helped. In a case we had a hate crime that happened at a protest event. El Frito, back in January now, in that case suspect was wearing a mask

0:36:35but when we publicized their picture somebody recognized the same clothes he was wearing in our event were the same as another event where they had seen him. They knew who it was. They gave us a name, and we were able to put that person at the scene. Through search warrants and other evidence.

0:36:50So it does work sometimes. It's just you know. It's not very regular, and there's lots of cases to go unresolved trying to use the wanted flyer method.

0:37:02Alright. I'm going to turn it over to Captain Elise Warren. She's going to talk to you about how facial recognition works and how it might help with

0:37:09identifying people in future crimes.

0:37:17There we go. Okay. So what is facial recognition technology?

0:37:21Basically, it compares a photograph against other images contained in a database.

0:37:29It maps a person's face, face and face, facial features, and turns out into an algorithm

0:37:37that basically takes a bunch of measurements from different points and compares them against other photos looking for matches. And it will return a bunch of photos based upon how many matches it gets to the different

0:37:56features of somebody's face.

0:37:58The algorithms have been sorry. The algorithms continually learn and and they update themselves. And so they get kind of smarter and smarter over time. They've gotten so sophisticated now that you could have a picture of somebody that was you know, a young adult.

0:38:19and it will do an age progression. And now, if the suspect or the person you're trying to match is 40, it will still be able to tell, based upon the measurements

0:38:30that there there are likely matches.

0:38:34Let's go to the next slide.

0:38:37Okay, so how we would use this technology.

0:38:43as the chief said, you know, oftentimes we will get a still picture from either a video or a camera of somebody that is wanted in connection with a crime

0:38:54and traditional method. Methods may or may not work, but we can upload that photograph into a database. We're we're working with a company right now doing some preliminary investigations with Clearview AI. They have a database that contains

0:39:103 billion photos.

0:39:12All those photos have been taken from publicly available sites, social media. They're all contained in their database. We would upload the photo of the person that we're looking for, and it would run its algorithm and return to us any number of pictures.

0:39:30And it would start with, you know, here's the most likely, and and work its way down.

0:39:36It's it contains really more photographs than any you know human could compare against, and it would take, you know the human years to look through billions of photos where the computer system can do it, you know, within minutes.

0:39:55Okay, so how would we use facial facial recognition.

0:39:59Sure. Okay, alright.

0:40:03So primarily, we would use facial recognition for criminal investigations. So this is when we have a image of a suspect. In a bonafide criminal case we would use facial recognition to upload that photograph to compare against the library of images.

0:40:21But the use wouldn't necessarily be limited to just suspects. There are certainly circumstances where it may be important to identify an unidentified witness in a crime, or even an unidentified victim.

0:40:34One example where the where facial recognition was used federally, was a

0:40:40department of homeland security investigation into sexual exploitation of a child.

0:40:44So during a homeland security investigation. They located basically

0:40:51a video of a suspect abusing a child.

0:40:55They knew from Metadata in the video that it had occurred somewhere in the Las Vegas area.

0:41:01They uploaded a picture of the offender and used a used Clearview AI to compare it against the library of images that Clearview AI had, and they end up getting a match for that photo. So what they got from the match is it led them to an image of an event in Las Vegas.

0:41:18The person in question was actually in the background of the image. They were a vendor at a bodybuilding competition, and the Guy was standing behind a table that had a company name.

0:41:29So the investigators were able to say, Okay, let's figure out who the employees are of that company, and when they looked into the employees they ended up finding the suspect from the video earlier

0:41:38that led them back to him, and they found out that he was the guardian for the minor in the movie.

0:41:44and so they were able to take the minor out of the house and also hold him accountable for the crimes that had occurred that they had uncovered in that video.

0:41:52There's another example of a case now, this involves using facial recognition to identify a witness in a case.

0:42:00There was a this is a Florida investigation. There was a car and the guy involved in a crash.

0:42:06Now the

0:42:082 people that were in the car. One of them ended up dying. They were both ejected, one died, the other one lived.

0:42:13Now prosecutors move forward with the idea that the person that lived was the driver of the vehicle, and was thus responsible for the death.

0:42:21They file charges against the person, the the Pro. The case move forward into the court system.

0:42:27and during the prosecution the defense attorney ended up running a search, using AI using a facial recognition software

0:42:36on an unidentified witness to the crime. So this witness had been there early in the investigation, had disappeared before law enforcement had a chance to identify them when they identified that witness, they contacted them, and they learned that the witness actually saw who was driving the car prior to the collision, and were able to testify that the person who they thought was the driver was actually the passenger of the car, and the person who died was actually the driver of the car, so they were not they were not liable for the crime.

0:43:05So that's the way it could be used for identifying unknown witnesses as well.

0:43:09I've certainly come across situations on the street where I've arrived at a scene, and the number of people at the scene, after a major incident sometimes quickly dwindles, and you're left with just a handful of people that are left unwilling to talk to you about what they saw.

0:43:25So, having the ability to track down people to like there might be a witness to a murder can be a really powerful tool.

0:43:32We're gonna talk about a couple of examples of how facial recognition has been used in El Cerrito. Investigations.

0:43:40We'll talk about one more national case. So in the aftermath of January 6, th 2021, the FBI sent out these bulletins to law enforcement agencies across country.

0:43:50It was a bulletin with, like 200 photos of it.

0:43:52Help us identify all of these people that were at the Capitol on January 6.th That did bad stuff, that they need to be held accountable for. Picture after picture after picture after picture.

0:44:01Now for me, you know, I'm just looking. I looked at them because I was like, maybe I know these people right? So I'm looking through all these wanted people. I don't recognize any of them. Well, a couple of agencies in the South in Florida, and I think it was Alabama. These agencies had Clearview AI, and they said, Well, let's just see what. Let's just see what the facial recognition software looks like. So they started running these pictures through and identified

0:44:22tens of suspects for the FBI, based off of getting matches out of Clearview AI. Matching the wanted flyer from the FBI to people's social media accounts, to pictures of them on their work pages.

0:44:36So the FBI was able to gather additional information. Prosecute them

0:44:42now, locally, how it has helped us. And we don't currently use facial recognition software. We don't use it.

0:44:49This is something that we would like to use, that we intend to use and plan to use

0:44:53but we don't currently use it. However, it has benefited us in 2 different investigations we've had in June of this summer we had a sexual battery over at Safeway.

0:45:02A person battered a woman there left. We didn't know who they were. We had surveillance footage of them. We had a couple of witnesses to the crime. We couldn't identify them in house. We put together a wanted flyer, and it was within an hour or 2 of putting out the flyer that we got a call from San Joaquin, sheriff's department.

0:45:18I said, Hey, we identified your suspect. So we're thinking, oh, geez must be somebody from San Joaquin County. I guess they must have recognized them with their eyes. No, they took our picture, and they put it through their facial recognition software and they came with a match. The guy lived in Richmond.

0:45:32It didn't, didn't had nothing to do with San Joaquin county at all. But they gave us a social media page, and from there we were able to get a lead to focus on that suspect. We got him identified, and we ended up holding him accountable for the crime. The person who had priors for the same type of behavior as well.

0:45:49Let's talk about another case. So back in September we had a shooting at Mcbear's

0:45:55The shooting started by an argument inside. Mcbear's patrons got in an argument with each other spilled outside at closing time. They're shouting outside. One guy goes to a car, gets out a gun starts shooting at the other guy as he's driving away, please, the scene before we get there.

0:46:09So we have people there who were witnesses, the but the bouncer said, I know that guy. His name's Tj. But I don't know any more about him. I just know he goes by. Tj, that's all I know.

0:46:19So we didn't have a ton to go off of. We had kind of a what I felt was kind of a crummy surveillance picture. So we put out a wanted flyer sent out the surveillance picture

0:46:30no response locally, but guess who called it was San Joaquin, sheriff again. And this time Sacramento called as well, Sacramento, sheriff. Oh, we got your guy. No, they don't live in San Joaquin County. They live in Richmond.

0:46:42in fact, it looks like from our system that you guys have had contact with them at some point. Originals had contact with them. A bunch, too, so

0:46:48realistically, there probably were cops that should have recognized them, but they didn't recognize them. The computer did, but the cops didn't.

0:46:54And so in this particular case, we

0:46:57went back to the bar, you know, showed a photo line. Oh, that's for sure. Tj, the guy's name is, I think, Thomas James, Tj.

0:47:03We ended up doing search warrants, located the gun located where he'd hit it, got admissions and confessions about his involvement in the crime.

0:47:10a great outcome that really led off from that one tip based off of a match with facial recognition software.

0:47:20So let's talk about how we would use it in El Cerrito and what kind of guardrails we would have.

0:47:26So there are agencies across the country that are already using facial recognition software in California. That number is somewhat limited. It is gonna go off of those in front of me Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Joaquin County, Sacramento County, Elka Grove Police Department, currently using facial recognition software.

0:47:46the way we would use it is for our official investigators only investigations. Only our detectives would be our agency users, and would be required to be trained in the use of facial recognition software before they use it.

0:47:57We keep logs and do audits of the use of the system so that only official and appropriate uses are being done.

0:48:03We would as the screen here says, we would not use it in violation of us Constitution

0:48:09under us or California law.

0:48:12And one of the things that we learned through our process with the public. Particularly the meeting we had last week. We had

0:48:18not a ton of people but the right people at the meeting. So we had a meeting last week. There's 4 people that showed up

0:48:24but it was a very productive meeting, and I'll tell you why we had 2 people there that seemed.

0:48:28from the outset pretty amiable to the use of the technology. We had 2 people who are concerned about its use, and both of them shared that they've been previously arrested. So that was their life experience.

0:48:39They had some concerns about its use. They were concerned about the library, withdraw from that. These are publicly available images. They didn't know if it was, you know, search from booking images.

0:48:48They were worried about the over reliance on facial recognition technology that we might take one of these pictures and say, that's enough to prove somebody did a crime.

0:48:57One of them shared a

0:49:00a sample policy from the Detroit police department that was made in connection with the Aclu as part of a

0:49:07Solomon.

0:49:08And it's kind of viewed as like a best practice policy

0:49:12looking at the policy. That's what we're using as our model policy is that policy. And the main point that it requires is that when you get a match on a face, let's say you have a 95% match. This is your person, 95% match.

0:49:25It is not does not mean it's actually the person. It's an investigative lead, so it might point us in the direction of a person much like somebody picking up the phone and saying, I recognize that person on the TV. It's this person. It might point us in the direction of a person. But it doesn't say definitively that that's the person responsible for the crime.

0:49:42What it means is that there's follow-up investigation to be done.

0:49:45There's if you have witnesses, there's photo lineups to do to say, do you recognize the person. In one of these photographs there's additional evidence to collect to connect them to the crime. Some of the places they ran, some of the challenges they ran into using the technology in Detroit is that they would use this as if this was proof. The person committed the crime.

0:50:05and then they would, when they got a match. They used a booking system based program.

0:50:10They would use the same image in the booking system that it matched again as part of as part of the photo lineup.

0:50:15That's a no-no, so

0:50:19But we wouldn't use identification from a photo lineup alone, as our reason to go arrest somebody.

0:50:25Our investigators are required to gather additional evidence that connects this person to the crime before they make an arrest

0:50:32before they write an arrest warrant that they'd have to collect additional evidence that might be cell phone data that links a person to the scene that might be physical evidence left behind, like DNA or fingerprints.

0:50:44That might be setting up a schedule of the person's day, and demonstrating that they had the capability to commit the crime within a certain timeframe when the crime occurred. But there's gonna be additional investigation required before they can make an arrest. They can't do it just based solely off of either a match or off of a photo line up based off of a match.

0:51:05Okay, so let's talk about a cost for the program. So at the public meeting. I threw it out to the one of the the group present.

0:51:14Oh, and I will say, by the end of the public meeting, even the 2 people that had concerns about the program on both sides. Potential usefulness, that. You really.

0:51:23by using the the power of a computer, it's like adding.

0:51:27you know, billions of extra possible witnesses to help track somebody down.

0:51:32It's really leveraging the power of, you know, of a computer to act as your eyewitness to say, I recognize that person. I know who that person is.

0:51:42So I asked the group. I said, What do you think this costs? And one of the guys in the room said, $175,000 a year.

0:51:48I said, well, that would well, that would be prohibitive.

0:51:52The the software costs about $7,000 a year.

0:51:56What we're planning on doing is doing a 1 year pilot program with these guardrails in place, seeing what kind of

0:52:04what kind of response we get for our investment?

0:52:07In my opinion, if we were to solve 2 serious, violent crimes

0:52:12to me the site the system would pay for itself.

0:52:15Just as an example. We had the sexual battery that happened last week. We're in the process of trying to find footage of that person's face all day yesterday I was like, Show me that we got his face on camera because I would want I'd want that to be like my 1st success like, put his. Put his face out there and let's get a facial recognition match on him.

0:52:32because it would be great to take him to hold him responsible for the crime that he committed.

0:52:37So the annual cost about $7,000 when we presented this to the Csc. They asked some very thoughtful questions. There is. There certainly is, a balance between privacy and holding people accountable.

0:52:51So I think, the captain said, 3 billion images. I had read 30 billion images. There's a lot of images out there. Anything that gets put on the Internet gets scooped up by these companies.

0:53:01Now, Clearview AI, that system is based solely on things available in the public realm. It doesn't have anything on there that is something that you know is taken from the private realm doesn't include booking images. It doesn't include California. Dmv images. It's solely things that people put out there in the public realm.

0:53:19The advantage of that is that we're basically leveraging that.

0:53:25So there is. There's there's privacy concerns, though, and that's what people voice, hey? You know, my image is gonna be out there, you know. I didn't intend for it to be used that way. But now it's gonna be used that way. One of the components of California law as well as Clearview AI, is that you are allowed to opt out of your image being used for those purposes. In fact. One of our lieutenants today started the opt out process so we could see what that looked like

0:53:51I said. I got my eye on you now, if you're trying to opt out and one of the people at our public meeting last week had shared with us that they had gone through the process of opting out. And so their their image, you know the the calculation of the geometries of their face should be excluded from future matches. So people do have the ability to opt out of these systems. Not everybody knows about it. It's a consumer privacy law that allows you to opt out of having your image in the system.

0:54:19So I think I've hit.

0:54:22Yeah.

0:54:23alright. I think I've run the gamut here. You may have questions about some of the stuff I did, and sorry if I went a little long. It's just I think it's it's an it's an important topic for people to know about. I think it's an amazing revolution, and how we would go about developing investigative leads, and it's certainly one that is worthy of the public's time to really think about and consider and consider the implications and possible uses. So I really appreciate you giving me this time tonight.

0:54:52Thank you, chief. Really appreciate the presentation. Let's keep our questions and comments super brief. I'll start with the mayor protem.

0:55:00Thank you so much, Chief. I'm I'm glad to see that you all are rolling out the AI. That we've talked about a lot here. I had a a couple of questions. Actually, the 1st I would like to ask you, what do you see? You told us a lot about

0:55:12when it came to the issue of the drones, how you were going to use them, and how it benefited you specifically in an investigation. But are there any other benefits. I know that there are certain things that you all implement that may make it safer for you to do investigations in the public, so people don't get hurt. What are some of the other benefits of you all having drones out there doing your investigation instead of police cops, cars rolling all over the place.

0:55:37Well, let's thinking of like a drone as a 1st responder program as an example, which is where we'd like to get. We're not there yet like to get there at some point. Some of the things that program we use for is a dual use, not only for response to law enforcement instance, but also to critical fire incidents. So the drone can fly 35 to 45 miles per hour in a straight line and get to locations really quickly. So when it comes to fire safety along the west. Contra Costa.

0:56:03you know, corridor if we had a drones 1st responder, we could send it up in the air, fly it to the location, start working to pinpoint the source of the fire, so we can better direct fire resources. Just as an example.

0:56:14A lot of what it does is, you know, it's also aerial photography. We use it for. We're using it for some city purposes to kind of do some filming of the hillside nature area for city use and promotional materials. Because.

0:56:26yeah, it's nice.

0:56:27But really, we use it very operationally

0:56:31doing a aerial overwatch on a house where we're doing a search warrant. Searching for evidence that might be left on a roof

0:56:38I mean in the before we had a drone we literally would be like, bring the fire department over, have them set up a ladder so we can climb up the ladder and take pictures of something from the air.

0:56:48It was really, you know, low tech solution to trying to get overhead shots.

0:56:53Adjournace 1st responder. Agencies down like Chula Vista has an extensive program down there. They'll use it in vehicle pursuits as an as an overhead air vehicle instead of a helicopter and vehicle pursuits. So

0:57:06it has a a tremendous amount of uses. I think we're really just kind of cracking the the initial.

0:57:11you know possibilities of it.

0:57:14Their. Their big successes have come from people saying, that person I'm calling about a person with a weapon in a park.

0:57:20and they're able to fly the drone over and confirm that the person's not armed. So it just changes the whole nature of a police response. You know you're you're when you're originally going to a person with a gun call. And all of a sudden it's a person with a broom call, which means you don't have to go at all.

0:57:34You know, changes the the dynamics quickly.

0:57:37and my other question, I know when we, when we approved the license plate readers for traffic. We talked a lot about data and retention. Does it have the similar data and retention? Specifications, such as when they're when they're released. How do you all handle that data and retention of the photo photographs? And also and this might be a little bit over all of our heads. But I'm gonna ask, anyway, what are the what are the protocols or guardrails going both ways on deep fake?

0:58:06I think that's a really big thing in in AI right now is, how do we protect the community against creating deep fakes and also being targeted by images that create deepfakes. So if you have any response to that, that would be great. So for Alpr, 1st let me just write down deep fakes. For Alpr. 1st we're planning on using the

0:58:27same guidelines as our flock system for license plate. Reader captures now there is a caveat to that. If a license plate. Reader

0:58:36takes a photograph in connection with a ticket that's issued. Then the retention period will be longer on that license plate because it's associated with a violation but otherwise the normal capture of license plates. We're gonna keep it under the same policy we have right now with Block, which is a 30 day retention period. These license plate readers will also have the ability to check against stolen vehicles as well, so as parking enforcements driving around if they come across a license plate that's been reported stolen, or a vehicle reported stolen. They're going to get a notification on that as well.

0:59:05Now deep fakes. That is a that is a significant concern. Now, not just in using facial recognition software to identify suspects, but just period.

0:59:14I know there are systems out there that help you recognize them. And this is a a topic that's kind of hot out there on the national stage for law enforcement is being wary of them, and you know, not necessarily trusting an image

0:59:29just because it is presented to you, but really questioning whether or not this is a valid image. And I understand there's also you can. There's also some markers that programs can pick up.

0:59:39So yeah, that that's definitely a concern. And it could be a concern in any investigation.

0:59:44Okay, thank you.

0:59:45Hi, councilmember Quinto. Yep.

0:59:47thank you, Mayor pro tem. I appreciate that question because I didn't have that one written down. I had a similar question regarding that. Because you know, I

0:59:57you know, flying everywhere. You know, with with Clear and Tsa Pre. They they take pictures. And for some reason, they're having problems. Finding my photo, my, my mug shot, because, you know, because I'm Asian, American, and and I've read some articles in the paper.

1:00:17In the last couple of years about how facial recognition is not

1:00:22perfect, especially for communities of color. So what? What do you have to say regarding that? Because each time I'm at

1:00:31Tsa Pre or

1:00:33they, they just can't find me, and then they want my fingerprints. Then they find me, you know, with my fingerprints, but not with all the photos they're taking and and they've been taking a lot of photos lately each time I fly. So so I don't know what database Tsa might be comparing you against they're comparing you against a like a passport photo like your face against a passport photo that's in their library, or if it's your face against when you left the country, maybe before you came back. So

1:01:01I don't know. And I don't know what software Tsa is using. Clearview AI does pride themselves on the fact that they have a learning system so that it gets better with every iteration. And I know that the technology has really grown leaps and bounds in the last 4 to 5 years, based off of where it was.

1:01:20There were people that were concerned that you know, people of color aren't getting matched well, or aren't getting matched.

1:01:27The system. They really worked on the programming of that to overcome some of the challenges that they had, so that the when there's matches that they're accurate.

1:01:37And I know that there are systems in place around the world which I think is helping to solve that problem as well, that because there's internet systems used internationally, that the technology is improving.

1:01:50But that is certainly something we're gonna have to take in mind when we get a match that you have. That's why you have to take extra steps, and you just can't accept that this is this is the person.

1:01:59This is an investigative lead. This might be the person. But you got a lot of work to do to be able to get to the point where you can say it's them.

1:02:05Thank you.

1:02:07Yeah. Thank you. A couple questions on the parking.

1:02:12I'm glad you mentioned the manage parking system here that we're about to have on consent calendar as well here. But

1:02:18what you're saying this technology will allow someone in the office to give a ticket without being outside on the road. No, no, the

1:02:27Parking Enforcement officer will be operating a vehicle with the cameras on it. So when the camera alerts that the driver of the car they're gonna stop.

1:02:35they're gonna go confirm the violation. And they're gonna write the ticket in the field.

1:02:39So so the person's gonna get it. They're gonna know they got a ticket. There's gonna be a ticket on their windshield.

1:02:43and they're gonna know the reason for the ticket

1:02:47cause. Usually when when you park

1:02:49based on time, people assume maybe it's 15 min over, I can get away with it. You're saying this will not.

1:02:56I wouldn't rely on that. Well, what will the signage say about parking then? Will it say monitored by

1:03:03technology or something? No, it'll still be a little more explicit about you. Better get back in time. Now that is one of the reasons why we're talking about it tonight, and we had a previous public meeting about it, too, in August to start talking about it then, because I do want people to be aware. And one of the things that came out of that public meeting is, you know. Can you please tell people before you start doing this? So they know, like, really, be careful. And that is part of what we plan to do is people understand. And the system that we're using is actually in wide use in other communities.

1:03:34I'll say, for when it comes to drones we're kind of maybe middle of the pack and adoption of drones when it comes to the Alprs. There's a lot of cities have been doing these things for a decade Napa. The city of Napa was doing it a decade ago. Berkeley's been doing for a while. I believe

1:03:49there's a lot of cities that I've been using these facial recognition technology, you know. Maybe it'll be on the front end of the curve, at least in California. It's in wide use around the country also, and this could increase revenue. That's my. That is a would be a nice side effect because they would be more efficient. And I think it would take less time and just adding on to that the system also auto populates components of the ticket based off of information about the car. Last question on the drone I'm assuming

1:04:16the drone that you would purchase would not be available for our fire department.

1:04:22I wouldn't say that. I mean, if we had a use for in a fire we would definitely well, would it be? I mean, I mean, we would charge them for it absolutely. We would charge them. Okay. Well, I mean, there might. There might be an occasion.

1:04:35Oh, absolutely you know, I think, that it would be a balance of what are the police needs at the scene of a fire compared to you know what's the stability of the scene and the usefulness of it. Certainly, where I could see it being used is kind of an aftermath of the fire. Try to pinpoint the location that it started and get some aerial photographs to show where the fire started. If there's those discussions might need to take place. If, in fact, we move forward on the the drone for that.

1:05:01Yeah, on when we're talking about drone as a 1st responder I've already had conversations with regional chiefs. We are trying to put together a proposal to go get regional funding.

1:05:11We intend to include our fire chief fire departments in that as well, because it could be a very valuable shared resource. Great. Thank you.

1:05:21Open

1:05:22great feedback from my colleagues. One thing I want to add, that I think, is important for our community members is that this, the Alpr will eliminate the need for stickers on your car when it comes could. And that's what happened in Berkeley. So by relying on that technology, so things like renewal of your

1:05:42sticker permit. You know that that is one thing. It's eliminated and just kind of the efficiency of being able to manage and pay, and then the city specifically has your, and as you put it, that your license plate is, the

1:05:57is the parking permit, and it could also enable other components of a permit system, too, where, let's say, you have a friend visiting for a week it could enable the possibility of having a temporary permit where the

1:06:08license plates in the system for a week is an excluded license plate, a lot of possibilities. Thank you. Appreciate the presentation. Thank you. Consider it received and filed.

1:06:17Excellent. Thank you very much. All right.

1:06:20Next, we have item 7, which is an adoption of the consent. Calendar.

1:06:24We have a number of items. We have, item, a approval of minutes. Item B, fiscal year 2425, 1st quarter cash and investment report, item C. Monthly disbursement and check register report for October 24th item d. Approve a community safety Committee, recommendation to appoint Howard Hickman.

1:06:44item E. Resolution to amend the city's classification plan. Item F. Consulting services. Agreement with Dixon. Resources unlimited to create the city of El Cerrito Parking Management Action Plan.

1:06:56item G. Additional spending authority for the construction contract for the Community Center roof, repair Project

1:07:03City project number c. 5, 0 5, 5.

1:07:07Item HA. Revised resolution authorizing execution of a standard agreement for the affordable housing and sustainable Communities program for El Cerrito Plaza parcel, a South for transit-oriented development at the El Cerrito Plaza station.

1:07:23Would any of my colleagues like to pull an item?

1:07:27Any questions? Or, yeah, enough, all right. Comment of comment on F.

1:07:33We'd like to proceed with that. Yeah.

1:07:36yeah, very excited about. And I wanna thank Jarrett for working on the parking management.

1:07:43not an easy task. But we have 2 Bart stations that

1:07:47we're hoping housing will be there, and parking

1:07:50is being taken away from the Bart station. So it's critical that we have a plan where everybody is, it's fairly treated.

1:07:57And and again, because parking is being taken away. And we have a big hill community

1:08:03in El Cerrito. I just wanna yeah. There is a concern about how do we get people down to our transit, whether it's buses and bus services being

1:08:12limited as well, so I just wanna

1:08:17I actually want to read one of the the goals that the El Cerrito council approved along with Bart in moving forward on

1:08:25the transit Tod development at

1:08:30that there's a embrace. The rapid evolution of mobility trends and technologies to adopt to future transportation needs. So I'm just hoping that as that move

1:08:40forward, the management

1:08:42program is, we talk about ways to either shuttle or get vans or glide ways up and down

1:08:48our hillside down to our transit system. It's part of the issue taking away parking presents, lots of problems.

1:08:55Cars are going to be parked in neighborhoods, but there are ways that we can get people up the hill down here to transit. Thank you.

1:09:04Thank you, councilmember Fideli, I will entertain a motion for the consent. Calendar.

1:09:11So moved, moved by Quinto, second seconded by Weisinger, we'll call, please.

1:09:16all those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council Member Motiyama. Absent.

1:09:22Alright excellent! Thank you. Members of the public, either here in person or watching online for hanging in there.

1:09:29So we're going to Item 8, which are our public hearings. We'll start with, item 8. A temporary outdoor dining and retail program urgency ordinance.

1:09:37And I see our planning staff coming up to the lectern.

1:10:02I should correct myself. You're not at the lectern. You're at the

1:10:06yeah. What is that? But we'll call this front.

1:10:08Well, I was made. No, no, it's not podium. Oh, then it is the lectern, the lectern is that but this the staff we'll call it the staff table, the staff desk.

1:10:18I was once corrected, because the podium is when you at the Olympics and you're standing on a podium

1:10:24versus elect. Yeah, we could get that to have be here. Yeah, we get a podium. Oh, yeah.

1:11:55yeah, there you go. Okay, we are there.

1:12:01So Hi, I'm Diego Romero. I'm the associate planner for the city. And I'll be going over the our temporary outdoor dining retail program.

1:12:20So a little bit background and the timeline of the program. So on March 13, th 2020 City Council adopted a local emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic

1:12:32on March 17th and 19th of 2020, both the county and the State issued shelter in place orders.

1:12:40and then in July 31, st the city Council adopted resolution 2020 to 42, which amended the local emergency to approve a temporary outdoor dining and retail program

1:12:53on, and then in 20, in 2022, they adopted Resolution 2022, 7, 4, which set to end the local emergency on December 31, st 2022.

1:13:07So before that on December 6, th 2022

1:13:11staff came to the City Council to adopt an urgency ordinance in order to extend that outdoor dining retail program so that it would not expire at the end of the local emergency.

1:13:22Earlier this year. In 2024, staff commenced the process to develop a permanent outdoor dining and retail program.

1:13:30Currently, the urgency ordinance is set to expire on December 5, th 2024, if not extended

1:13:39so a little bit about the program. This program supports businesses by

1:13:47allowing the following uses it, the use of outdoor private properties? Which are private sidewalks, plazas or parking lots.

1:13:55the use of public sidewalks, which are adjacent to public streets and building frontages.

1:14:02the use of public parking spaces

1:14:05which are all parking spaces that are on public streets that are not on Caltrans state right away. So these are all streets except for San Pablo.

1:14:15The program aims to streamline temporary use permits at no cost to the business.

1:14:21So these applications

1:14:24are available@ldashtorito.org backslash outdoor seating. A businesses, applies and fills out a form that's all online. And then this streamlined application ensures compliance with our outdoor dining and retail program guidelines. Since 2022, or 2020 a total of 11 applications were approved.

1:14:45Some of these applications were temporary and just because of the covid restrictions. But there have been businesses that have continued to make use of the program, and some of the examples are, banter, wine, bar, little hill, and fat apples.

1:15:02So applicants needed to adhere to the outdoor dining and retail program. Guidelines which address the requirements relating to many different things as outlined on the slide. So some of these

1:15:14requirements are for Ada compliance.

1:15:17Having adequate clearances, requirements on the temporary furnishing that it can use for signs. Outdoor food preparation site maintenance.

1:15:26and then building fire and building code requirements

1:15:32for a business to apply under this program. The applicant need to submit a site plan, a pedestrian control plan. If they were using the sidewalk

1:15:39and ABC approval if they were, gonna be having alcohol consumption outside

1:15:45a certificate of insurance and an acknowledgement of the various terms and conditions of the program.

1:15:50if adequate application materials were provided. The permit would automatically be approved with minimal review from city staff.

1:15:59Currently, under the current ordinance outdoor food preparation is prohibited. But Staff is proposing to change this

1:16:07to allow outdoor food preparation as long as the food is prepared by the business that received the permit.

1:16:13or by a business that is in coordination in coordination with the business that originally received the permit. The business must also have a permit from the Contra Costa County Health Public Health Department, and they must have a business license with the city.

1:16:32So here you can just kind of see in some examples of these outdoor dining uses. That are throughout the city.

1:16:40With El Cerrito, natural grocery and fat apples being 2 businesses that took advantage of this temporary program.

1:16:49So some of the next steps in order to continue this temporary outdoor dining retail program after December 5, th 2024,

1:16:56while a permanent measure is being drafted, additional action is needed.

1:17:01Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the proposed urgency ordinance.

1:17:07like, as mentioned previously earlier this year, staff has commenced on an effort to create the permanent outdoor dining retor ordinance to replace the

1:17:15interim ordinance in order to continue the benefits of the program which support numerous city goals.

1:17:21Community Development staff coordinated on an internal working group which included representatives from the Plan Division

1:17:28building, division engineering division operations, Environmental Services Division

1:17:33and the fire department in order to evaluate the regulations currently in place as part of this program

1:17:39with feedback. From this group Staff started creating a draft of the permanent ordinance, and during this process

1:17:46Staff determined that additional feedback was needed from community stakeholders, including business, the business community, to ensure that the permanent regulations

1:17:55met the needs of local businesses while also implementing the City Council's vision for a vibrant public realm in our city.

1:18:04Those city staff will be conducting additional engagement of stakeholders in the coming months.

1:18:09To begin this process Staff has scheduled a joint special meeting of the Planning Commission and the Economic Development Committee on December 4, th 2024, at 7 30 Pm. To hear feedback on this program.

1:18:22we anticipate returning back to the City Council for consideration of the permanent ordinance in the 1st quarter of 2025.

1:18:29Thank you so much. Appreciate the presentation. Do you have any brief questions from the Council.

1:18:34I just have a comment, and I want to thank you all so much for this presentation. Especially the part at the end, about pursuing the city's goal of building a downtown culture. I had a

1:18:44a great conversation with our city manager recently, and talked about my personal goals as far as going a bit further with our San Pablo specific plan to really be intentional in building a downtown culture in El Cerrito, and I truly believe that expanding our dining, our outside dining permit is going to be very integral in that we have a lot of spaces that you know. I know we have some of these that do things like

1:19:07food, truck gardens, and other things such as that in those empty spaces. So I'm looking forward to. I'm sorry I'll actually be with Council Member Quinto at a conference on the 4, th so I won't be able to join the public meeting on the 4.th But I look forward to hearing the feedback and seeing what you all find from our community. Because I think it will be very integral in our economic development here in our city. So just thank you for that work.

1:19:30Any questions.

1:19:32Question. Yes, yes, thank you.

1:19:34So remind me. The the proposal we have.

1:19:39and the goal is to make the permitting easier online. Is that true?

1:19:46and cheaper for the permit? I mean to to do what you want to do. Maybe cheaper. Permit. Yes.

1:19:51that's what we're all talking about. Okay, good. I totally agree with that. I'm just curious about

1:19:57the timing. A question about timing or staffing

1:20:01in 2022, 2 years ago we did a temporary, an emergency.

1:20:07we adopted emergency ordinance. And now we're asked to do this again. In that 2 year period. Is there a reason why you didn't develop the permanent

1:20:16plan? So we'd be dealing with the permanent plan now rather than another urgency? Yeah. So we we oops

1:20:23turned off. we have been developing the permanent ordinance during that time. It's actually pretty far along. It. We we'd kind of actually expected to bring it to you

1:20:36initially before the ordinance expired. As we kind of got into this process a little bit more, we realized that we needed. We needed some additional feedback

1:20:45from the business community, the the businesses that are already utilizing these permits, etc. So we kind of, you know. We took a step back, drafted a a, an engagement plan. That's gonna you know. Hopefully, get us some of that feedback. And that's what we're doing. So that's why we have this upcoming joint meeting of the Planning Commission and the Economic Development Committee on December 4, th

1:21:07to hopefully get some really good feedback. And then we're going to be doing some individual outreach to to some of these business. So this emergency extension is for 2 years again

1:21:17is for yeah is, but it will be. We will get this sooner than that. We're yes, we're we're asking. Yes, we're asking you to approve the maximum for the urgency ordinance, but that would be great. Fully expect to come back, and, as I said, in the 1st quarter of 2025. Great. Thank you.

1:21:32All right.

1:21:35The public hearing is now open. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item, you can do so by filling out a speaker card with our city clerk, the city clerk. Do we have any public comments on this item?

1:21:48We do not have any requests. Mayor. All right, thank you. So much do I have a motion to close the public hearing. So move Lu fa Quinto.

1:21:54second, seconded by Fidelli. All those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council member Moti. I'm absent right now's the time for Council comments. Oh, that was the topic. Okay, yeah. Council comments.

1:22:07Nope, okay, all right. I will entertain a motion.

1:22:12So moved Mayor. If you could please read the we need to make sure we do the title of the ordinance in the motion. Thank you. Thank you. So the motion to approve an urgency ordinance to maintain a temporary outdoor dining and retail program to enhance business recovery pursuant to Government Code section 3, 6, 9, 3, 7, all right. Moved by Quinto.

1:22:33seconded by Weissinger. All those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council member Mothiyama. Absent? All right, thank you so much. Thank you. Great presentation.

1:22:43The next item is going to be item B fire, hazard abatement declaring public nuisance.

1:22:51Please note that there is a revised exhibit A for this item in the supplemental packet.

1:22:56Can we please have the Stat report and I apologize. I

1:23:01I may have not printed the updated script, but there is no revised, which is very rare. That does not usually occur, but the one in the packet is the one that is being asked for action tonight for those of you playing along at home or here in the audience. This is when community members respond to something. If we I don't want to take away your thunder, but that's that's why it is that these things can bounce around sometimes.

1:23:25Well, good evening, Mayor and Council Members case Beckman, fire Marshal for the city of Els Rio Fire Department.

1:23:31I'm here tonight to introduce and adopt a resolution

1:23:35declaring that weeds, rubbish, litter, or other flammable material on certain real property identified

1:23:43in the resolution constitutes a public nuisance.

1:23:47The property is listed before you on. Exhibit a

1:23:50thank you for your time, and I'm available to answer any questions on this property so moved

1:23:54alright. Hold on first.st Are there any questions from the Council?

1:23:58None. All right. Now I get to hit the gavel right?

1:24:03Oh, this? Yeah.

1:24:05Oh, oh, no, no, I don't need we? No, that's not yet. I don't need.

1:24:12Do I have a motion to approve the resolution declaring identified properties.

1:24:18So moved moved by Weisinger, second seconded by Quinto, all those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council Member Mothiyama. Absent! Excellent. Now I get to hit the gavel.

1:24:29Public hearing is now open. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments on this item. Do we have any members of the public here to provide public comment on this item? We do not have any requests to speak. Mayor. Thank you, city clerk.

1:24:44so I have a motion to close the public hearing. So moved by Quinto, seconded by Weisinger, all those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with council. Member Moti. I'm absent right? Any council comments

1:24:58I see none.

1:25:00All right. Do I have a motion to approve the resolution overriding objections so moved.

1:25:07All right. Move by fidelity.

1:25:09second seconded by Weissinger, all those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council member Moti. I'm absent all right. Thank you so much. So. Item C.

1:25:19Cost. Hearing regarding fire, hazard, abatement of a public nuisance for properties identified and pursuant to El Cerrito. Municipal code. Chapter 16.2 6.

1:25:32Yes, thank you. Want to adopt a resolution confirming the cost of bayment of public nuisance conditions resulting from the presence of weeds, rubbish, litter, or other flammable material on private properties designated

1:25:43by the Elsa Merito Municipal code. Chapter 16.2 6.

1:25:48The fire Department is continuing to

1:25:52engage with our fire abatement program

1:25:55with support and help from the fire department. We've had many property owners abated on their own merit.

1:26:04however, a small number of properties were not abated by the property owners, by the specific deadline specific to the time of inspection and written notice.

1:26:13Thus unabated properties were further submitted to the city to be cleared public nuisances.

1:26:20the property owners identified in the August 20, th

1:26:232024 exhibit A as amended

1:26:26were notified that they did not abate the hazard conditions on their property, the city would do so.

1:26:32They were given the opportunity, at a public hearing to object to the city's plan to abate these conditions.

1:26:37On August 21, st 2024. The city then sent 3 property owners identified in exhibit A as amended a second notice.

1:26:46informing them that the city would perform abatement through its own staff or through a private contract.

1:26:52However, 2 of those property owners did not voluntarily abate their public nuisance and fire hazards, conditions, nor contact the fire department to agree to a work plan, or reduce the hazards on their properties

1:27:06for those 2 properties. The city has followed a statutory procedure to remove hazardous conditions. This procedure is specified in the August 20, th 2024, agenda Bill, and resolution number 2024 to 58.

1:27:22On September 23, rd 2,024, a notice was posted in plain view

1:27:28on each of the 2 remaining properties.

1:27:31During the period of September 23rd and October 4, th 2024,

1:27:35the city performed abatement of the remaining 2 properties through private contractors.

1:27:40These 2 properties are presented in exhibit a.

1:27:46The fire hazard abatement procedure provides ample due process for the affected property owner well beyond the minimum

1:27:53procedure statutorily required.

1:27:56This matter appears before the city council for the sole purpose of confirming the abatement costs

1:28:02already incurred by the city for the properties identified in exhibit A.

1:28:07The proposed resolution provides for confirmation of the report of abatement cost and attached. Exhibit B specifies the administrative costs

1:28:18associated with the abatement of the property

1:28:21once confirmed by the city Council. The cost of abating the nuisance will be forwarded to the county auditor no later than August 10th of 2025

1:28:30for assessment of the of the individual property, and a lien will be recorded with the County Recorder

1:28:39Fire Department Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the proposed resolution as presented at the conclusion of this hearing.

1:28:46the abatement work has been completed by contract labor, and the city is obligated to pay contractors a total of 3,000 for their work.

1:28:56Administrative and surcharge costs totaling $1,459 and 50 cents have been added, bringing the total abatement cost to 4,459 50 cents.

1:29:10in order for the city to fully recover the direct and indirect cost of 4,459 and 50 cents already incurred for the abatement work.

1:29:20The City Council should confirm the staff report on the costs of abatement

1:29:25at this time, so that these costs can be forwarded to the county for collection from the property owner.

1:29:32Thank you.

1:29:33Alright. Thank you so much, chief.

1:29:35All right. Any questions from the Council.

1:29:37Questions. None.

1:29:39All right.

1:29:40public hearings now open. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to speak on this item, do we have any members of the public here to speak on this item? We do not have any requests to speak. Mayor. Right? Thank you, Madam city clerk.

1:29:52All right. Do I have a motion to close the public hearing. So moved moved by Quinto, seconded by Fidelli, all those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council. Member Moti. I'm absent. Any council comments.

1:30:06I think, with

1:30:08with fire hazard throughout the year. Now I just want to say, thank you for all your work.

1:30:15and when it comes to

1:30:18public safety, especially in our hill area, it's just so important for residents to keep up with their yard work. So. But you know we gave them enough chances to do that, and just want to say Thank you for your service, and, you know, appreciate all the work that your fire department is doing.

1:30:36Thank you, sir, right.

1:30:39One of the things that really sets El Cerrito, apart from other agencies is this exact process that we're going through because not a lot of cities do it this way. You know, we really follow a procedure to make sure that we are working with our property owners, but should they not work with us, we have all the abilities and the steps to go forward to some to take care of that work, and then make sure that

1:31:04that work is. Then you know that the contractors, as well as any labor associated to it, is compensated for. So it's it's unique. I've told about this program to other cities, because,

1:31:14apparently we've been doing it this way for quite a long time, and other cities are trying really hard to figure out. How do we get this done? How do we make sure that property owners are complying. So thank you so much for this work. And to Mr. Quinto's point, I mean, it is year round. We're not stopping right now we're still ongoing, even though we have the favorable weather conditions, we are still actively

1:31:37inspecting and and taking note on nuisance conditions.

1:31:42Thank you so much alright do I have a motion to approve.

1:31:47So, moved moved by Weisinger, seconded by Fidelli, all those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council Member Moti. I'm absent. Thank you so much.

1:31:58All right, we are coming towards

1:32:00the more we're getting through this big big agenda. We have. Item 9. Now, which is policy matters. The 1st is, item, a amendment to city comprehensive financial policies related to the General Fund reserve and emergency disaster recovery fund also known as Edrf.

1:32:38While Crystal's getting set up. If Eric could come help. My ipad is no longer connected to the Internet, so

1:32:46I'm able to see the agenda bills.

1:32:57Hey? Hello, Mayor Council! Good evening. I'm crystal reams. Finance director.

1:33:02This evening I have the next. What 3 items. So I'll try and be as informative.

1:33:07brief, so I can answer any questions.

1:33:101st up. I have the recommendation to amend the city's comprehensive financial policies related to the general Fund reserve and the emergency disaster, recovery.

1:33:19Recovery fund the Edrf.

1:33:22Over the past 3 years the city has made significant progress in generating a total reserve level of over 22 million dollars, including 1.3 million. In the section 1, 15 and 9 million. In the Edrf.

1:33:34The city's Financial Advisory board the Fab is tasked with annually reviewing the comprehensive financial policies. The Fab evaluated the policy with respect to section 3.2 General Fund Reserve, a reference to section 3.5

1:33:48and the Edrf. In section 4.2 at their August and October meetings.

1:33:53In a summary. The recommendation for section 3.2 increases the general fund reserve from 10% to 17%.

1:34:01Roughly, 2 months of the general fund operating expenditures, which is the recommended amount by the Government Finance Officers Association, Gfoa.

1:34:10in section 3.2. There's also reference to section 3.5. This is a typo. There is no section 3.5. So we're removing that.

1:34:19There's in section 4.2 that references. The city's Edrf. Currently the Edrf portion states the City Council shall fund 3 months of payroll costs.

1:34:29The recommendation for this section is to remove the reference to 3 months payroll cost and replace with 13% of the projected general fund operating expenditures similar to how the general fund reserve portion is calculated

1:34:42in total. This would increase the city's

1:34:45general fund reserve commitments committed and unassigned minimum to 30%, excluding the section 115, which is this restricted portion of the general Fund reserve.

1:34:55To illustrate this, I thought it would be helpful to have a chart.

1:34:59So currently

1:35:00with our unassigned at 22.9 million, when we have 1.3 in the section 1 15. Our unassigned portion is 21.5 million.

1:35:09currently, under the 10% general Fund reserve and the 9 million for the 3 months of payroll for the Edrf.

1:35:16This is what it looks like. You have 1.5 in the Reserve, or I mean, sorry. 5.1 million in the reserve 9 million in the Edrf. Which would leave a discretionary portion of 7.4 million keep. This has a minimum reserves

1:35:29of 27.5 a total reserve of 42%.

1:35:34If we move forward with the adoption of this updating the policy to the 17% reserve and the 13% Edrf. Reserve, it would increase the general Fund reserve portion from 5.1 to 8.7 a change of 3.5 million.

1:35:52and the Edrf. It would

1:35:55the minimum would be actually be lower. It would be 6.6. But just as a minimum

1:36:01reducing the discretionary portion to 6.1 million

1:36:05creating the total reserves of 30%. I mean, sorry, the minimum reserves of 30% and a 42% total.

1:36:12Obviously, the recommendation that we are moving forward at this time is the 17, with no change to the Edrf. Which can evaluate, be evaluated at a later time, if if so desired.

1:36:23that would have a reserve of 8.7 million, the Edrf. At 9 million, which exceeds the recommended 13%, and the discretionary portion would be 3.8 million, a total minimum of 34% reserves

1:36:37and 42% total reserves.

1:36:42With that

1:36:43we are proposing that you adopt the Resolution amending the city of El Cerrito's comprehensive financial policy to a revise. Section 3.2 regarding the General Fund Policy Reserve policy and B. Revise. Section 4.2. The emergency disaster recovery fund. Edrf. Policy.

1:37:03with that that concludes my portion of the presentation staff does recommend this. I do believe our chair, Kimberly white from the Fab is here, and I think we are both available to answer any questions.

1:37:16Excellent! Thank you so much for the presentation, and a huge thank you to our Financial Advisory Board for their hard work making this happen and bringing to us

1:37:24any questions, any questions?

1:37:27Yes. Question, yes, and again, this sounds this sounds decent to me. I'm I

1:37:35I'm confused. Where does the 17% come from? I get my 15 s. And 17 mixed up here. Why is 17 so critical? 17 is it's basically an equivalent of 2 months of general fund expenditures, which is what the Government Finance Officers Association. So it doesn't relate back to the 2 months. Yes, yep, yes, it's equivalent. Okay. I was wondering why? 17. Yeah, okay, it's like 16.6, but we round up. Got it. Okay? Good. I'm fine.

1:38:04Any questions. Good.

1:38:07All right.

1:38:10I. So again, I appreciate all of the edits to this one thing, that

1:38:17for item 3.2, the proposed language.

1:38:21it says, the city shall maintain an unrestricted general fund operating reserve of 17%.

1:38:26If we go back to 3.2 the previous 3 point, or the existing 3.2, I should say it is a goal of the city to achieve a general fund

1:38:35annual operating. So I I think that the goals themselves I completely agree with the goals.

1:38:42I'm curious what my colleagues would think around

1:38:46keeping that 1st sentence. It is a goal of the city to maintain and then run

1:38:51unrestricted general fund operating reserve of 17%. So everything else that the Fab proposes

1:38:59while thinking about, you know the shall versus the goal, because I know that

1:39:06if we look at what has happened in the past.

1:39:10How? Looking at the resolution or the I'm looking at this from the staff report.

1:39:16and Paul is my 174, page 174. Or is that it's different for me, because I'm on the but if the the page, one of that report, it has the existing 3.2 language, that it is a goal of the city to achieve a general fund

1:39:33annual operating reserve of 10% which we know we don't want to do.

1:39:38The proposed language on that next page is, the city shall maintain an unrestricted general fund operating reserve of 17%.

1:39:47So, instead of saying, shall maintain.

1:39:51saying, It is a goal of the city to maintain.

1:39:56and adding the 17 by stating it. Yes, yes, I think that all of the goals are very clear and worthy. Yes.

1:40:07I don't know if that all right.

1:40:09that would be so if I propose that.

1:40:14But also I would want to make sure we same. The 3.2 continues on the same. Yes, I think that I propose. I agree with all the proposals in the language from Fab.

1:40:25And any thoughts about 4.2.

1:40:29I appreciate how it's being proposed by Fab.

1:40:34Nope. Okay, alright. So I'm gonna now open this unless there's any more questions or

1:40:42but I would love to open this up for members of the public if they wish to provide public comment on this item.

1:40:48we have any public comment. We do not have any requests to speak, Mayor. All right. So now we're in council comments which I was starting to get to a little bit, which is modifying the language on 3.2.

1:41:02To say

1:41:05it is a goal of the city to maintain an unrestricted general fund operating reserve of 17%.

1:41:16Alright. So I I will move to to

1:41:22Oh, you were waiting for a motion. I'll move that. Then, if it's clarified as we spoke. Yes, yes.

1:41:32I'll second that. All right. Excellent, all right. All those in favor, please say, aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council. Member Moti. I'm absent, and that would change the resolution language, too, then wouldn't it?

1:41:44It will change the policy which is an attachment to the resolution. So the body of the resolution remains the same. But section 3.2 of the policy is amended as described by the mayor, and that will be revised and

1:41:57included as an exhibit to the resolution prior to it being signed. Yes. So, instead of saying, the city shall maintain

1:42:04it's it is the goal of the city to maintain. Yeah, all right.

1:42:12excellent. Now let's move on to Item B, which is investment strategy for Section 1, 15 pension trust.

1:42:23Okay, it's me again. Finance director, crystal reams. So yes, we have. The investment strategy section for the 1 15

1:42:32city staff and city Council have been working on the section 115 Pension Trust since June of 2021

1:42:38initial deposit was made in fiscal year 24 of 1 million dollars, with an additional deposit of just over just under $350,000 for the surplus from fiscal year 23 in the waterfall provision of our financial policy.

1:42:55currently, the investment is sitting in with Pars and PFM. Asset management under a money market Treasury management. Option similar to what we have in Laif

1:43:07Pars requires that each client select an actual investment strategy to direct their investment. Management. Choices

1:43:15listed in the attachments are the conservative, moderately conservative, moderate, balanced, and capital appreciation.

1:43:24After meeting with the investment advisors and discussing different options, our investment advisors recommended the moderately conservative, passively managed option with this option there are no direct or actively managed investments.

1:43:40City staff shared this information and presented the recommendation option to the Financial Advisory Board in October, who also agree with this. Agreed with this recommendation.

1:43:50the moderately conservative approach has a goal of providing income with capital appreciation

1:43:55as a secondary objective. This means that the investment approach will ensure stability and availability of the existing funds with investment growth as a secondary priority to the safety and stability of the funds.

1:44:09This can always be adjusted at any time with our with the investment manager.

1:44:14So we ask that Council passes

1:44:17the motion directing staff to move forward with the section 115 pension trust investment strategy as presented.

1:44:25Again, our chair Kimberly White, is here from the Fab as well. And

1:44:31can answer any questions that you have.

1:44:33Thank you so much. Any questions.

1:44:35Questions. Yes, Councilor Fidelli, did our investment advisors volunteer this information to us, or did we or the Fab ask, How are we doing, and where should we be on this? So it was a part of the process the whole time. So when you go through the setup process we are

1:44:52presented with all of the investment options, and as the 1st setup we put it in the lathe type one so that way we could work with the Fab, and then we could get the recommendation present it. Make sure that everybody was on board with it, and then we would present it to Council

1:45:08and I, and I think, as we just starting the 1 15

1:45:11trust it was very. We were being very cautious, and it was wise just to step into it. Yes, and now we're being a little more creative. And okay. We open the door, and we'll be monitoring this quarterly with the Fab. Thank you. One could say, we're being moderately conservative.

1:45:26And speaking of that, my question is, how? So?

1:45:32How? If the strategy does not seem to be the best strategy? How how easy is it to shift around in strategy? It's just a form. Okay? Good to know. So this is basically our starting point staff will be monitoring the performance of these. And then, should it need to change. Does that come to council for change, or is that going to be done? Okay, yeah, yes, we would. We would bring that forward. Okay, thank you

1:45:57right?

1:45:58Now is the time for members of the public who wish to speak on this item.

1:46:02Do we have any members of the public who would like to speak on this item. We do not have any request to speak. Mayor. All right, thank you so much. Any comments.

1:46:09Comments, all right. I see lots of no's do I have a motion to approve.

1:46:15So, moved, moved by Weissinger, second seconded by Quinto, all those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council Member Mothiyama. Absent

1:46:26right?

1:46:29Last, but not least, for Crystal, although there's 1 more item after that.

1:46:32We have our fiscal year 2425, 1st quarter general fund update

1:46:52for members of the public as crystals. Pulling this up we receive quarterly updates on our expenditures, our revenues, and we're able to ask questions to our staff at this moment.

1:47:17Okay.

1:47:23last one. So the last thing I have for you tonight is the 1st quarter general fund update.

1:47:29and we will start with revenues.

1:47:34City adopted a general fund revenue budget of 51.3 million dollars. We're trending at about 14% for total revenue, as of September 30th

1:47:43which is in line with all of our expectations, and with prior 1st quarter trends

1:47:50as a reminder. Property tax is our largest source of revenue, and the bulk of our payments are received in December and April, so they are always 0 in 1st quarter.

1:48:02Sales tax is also on. It's on a 2 month lag. So we only have one month of our sales tax currently recorded.

1:48:10And then

1:48:12as you know, we're very happy with the preliminary results for measure. G, so we previously, I think 2 quarters ago, started calling out, Measure R separately in the report. So, and I believe it's April it will switch over to to measure G, so thank you to everyone for that

1:48:31Our real property transfer tax is trending about double of what we were trending compared to the original budget. Last 1st quarter with 2 months we have $545,480 for July and August, which is 18%. We have received the October, the September payment received in October. But for most of the items in this presentation, it's on a cash basis. So

1:49:00that would have bumped it up to 27%

1:49:04very excited with that. It was a little expected with interest, rates being lowered so. But it's something. Again. We continue to monitor, because it is not a very predictable revenue source. So we're always on the lookout for that.

1:49:16Just a couple of interesting notes to me. Use of money and property interest, income rental charges. Those are kind of what goes in there. Intergovernmental revenue is our vlf in lieu

1:49:29our oes reimbursements, our fire inspection fees and cannabis, and then our other financing services or transfers.

1:49:37So here's the overall picture. It's a lot on the slide. But I do think these are important. Just to show we are in line with almost everything, with trending increasing slightly in some

1:49:51but overall right? We're right where we expect to be

1:49:56business license. I always like to point out, because the renewal period is in July. We receive most of the revenue for that right at the beginning of the year.

1:50:05But licensing and permits are also trending a little bit higher. But again everything seems to be

1:50:11in line with normal trending, and what we would expect

1:50:16moving on to the expenditures. City adopted a general fund expenditure budget of 51.3 million, and we are trending in line again with prior quarters. Our prior 1st quarter.

1:50:26One thing I did want to mention with this is

1:50:28most. Everything has always been on a cash basis. We did prepay the Ual this year. About 6.9 million dollars. So it's a really big amount. So we did treat that as a prepaid item as not to skew the reports to have a really high expenditure in the 1st quarter for our personnel. So we are allocating that just as we always had on a monthly basis. It was

1:50:51booked as a prepaid, and we are charging out departments on a monthly basis to keep the reports online and easier to easier to follow.

1:50:59We also prepaid the general liability which we have for

1:51:05I think ever but that all hits the administration budget. So that's a big hit to them. So that I left that as is just to keep the reports consistent, there was one small difference this year we prepaid the entire workers comp portion where previously, that had been split.

1:51:23I treated that on a cash basis because it was not a material amount. So just a little bit trending up. For that.

1:51:32And that goes into individual departments. Budgets, personnel.

1:51:39as a reminder personnel is our largest cost, the city about 73%. And we have a fairly low vacancy amount. Right now, the last update was 9.7%. So we are. We're we're doing pretty good on staffing. So the personnel budgets are trending right right in line where they should be.

1:51:58In conclusion.

1:52:00the city is on track to meet our 2425 budget goals. We continue to monitor. We'll continue to bring you updates.

1:52:08And that concludes my presentation.

1:52:11Thank you so much. Any questions.

1:52:13any questions. Yes, Councillor Fidelli. Yes, I like the trending, too, that we have here.

1:52:19Where did you say the cannabis revenue, is it? Sales sales? The cannabis revenue is in in under intergovernmental. It's it's grouped in that line.

1:52:29And that's because again, remind me, why it's there and not just

1:52:35oh, I didn't mean to click out of that.

1:52:38I don't know the exact reason of why that was what that was put there, I think because it's

1:52:44but it it's not coming from another government entity.

1:52:48I was. Gonna say, I don't know why it's where.

1:52:51why it's categorized this way, but just to clarify for council and for the public a reminder that that the city does not have a separate tax for cannabis operations. The city receives payments. From the cannabis operators as a condition of permit issues. It wouldn't be on the tax line. But but it's got to go somewhere. It was a convenient place to put. This is basically it.

1:53:16So in intergovernment, it's not a tax. No, yeah, it's not a tax, not a tax.

1:53:22So is it included in here under revenue.

1:53:25It is. Yeah, it's in the. It's in the intergovernmental line.

1:53:33Which? So it's it's under the taxes. So on the on the page, one of 3 of the general fund budget update taxes are in the top portion, and the cannabis is under the intergovernmental revenues.

1:53:48and it's definitely something we can look into. I see taxes. I just don't see the word intergovernmental revenue.

1:53:54It is.

1:53:56Oh, it's down in the tax code. There you go there. I got it. Okay.

1:54:02good. Okay. Thank you. Had to go somewhere. Just that. We keep aware of that. And finally, do we?

1:54:08Do we know how much? I mean, maybe we don't. That's a weird question. But the tax, the revenue that used to come in or has been coming in from Barnes. And Noble

1:54:19it's gonna be a major hit when oh, we we do get. It's the asking if we can

1:54:25provide specific information on the Barnes and Noble, I don't believe we can provide the specifics. They're due to close soon for sales tax right? But we can't release specific information about any vendor. It's a it's a provision of the revenue and taxation code that the city has to keep confidential. The sales tax revenue numbers for any particular vendor. We're able to talk sort of about a number of other things.

1:54:50I think Staff could provide you with updates. I didn't need specifics. I just didn't know how big a hit it might be in.

1:54:57Even that might be information. You can't.

1:55:00I don't. I'd have to look to see if Barnes and Noble was actually listed in our top 10 or top 25. I don't know that they were. What I do know is that you know, Regency centers has been pretty good about filling vacancies pretty quickly. I would imagine that this would be this would they? They would probably have something in mind quickly, but it is a shame that that the store is closing, but I don't. We can certainly get back to you on on what we would think.

1:55:27Any sort of our within our top whatever

1:55:33my question is, we have 2 questions, one of them is around. So this is general fund expenditures, and I see with public works and public works tends to have a more complicated budget process because they have different funds that they're funding projects from, but at least as far as the general fund. It does say that it's trending at 35, and in the analysis. Just because that's you know.

1:55:56a little bit deviates from what would be 25%. And then the larger deviation on administration. You explained. But I just want to make sure because we don't. We don't have the public Works director here. I'm not asking to drill down, but more just awareness. That is something that we're looking for, to make sure that our public works

1:56:14spending that especially once we're getting closer to mid year, that that's being thought of, because we know that there's some large public works projects going on right now. So and also just, we just approved another public works project for the roof.

1:56:30so just making sure that expenditures are being monitored for public works in our general fund. Yes, and so when projects are approved for public works. If the General Fund is

1:56:44subsidizing any of that, it's recorded as it would be recorded as a transfer. So we recorded a transfer to cip. So the funds would be reduced from the general fund expenditures, and it would be recorded as a transfer in to our cip funds.

1:56:57Got it? Yeah, cause their budget amount.

1:56:59It is incredibly tiny. If you look at what our general fund is and what public works is. But just, you know, yeah, Cip is, it's budget budgeted separately. And and it's in its own specific funds. So yeah, we're tracking that, too.

1:57:12Alright. And then other question is with real property transfer tax?

1:57:19so we're certain on these numbers

1:57:21that we're coming in. Yes. Okay, okay, no. We've yeah. We've already received the 1st the 1st 3 months. Okay.

1:57:27and then, if you can just explain again

1:57:30about what it would have been with that other.

1:57:34Yeah. So a lot of our you know in in smaller governments a lot of our stuff sometimes recorded on a cash basis because we don't do a month a monthly hard close. So we're not accruing things every single month. It's at the year end is when we do the bulk of our accruals. So for things that we don't receive within the quarter where there's a month lag, or there's a 2 month lag. It's recorded in the month we actually receive it. So on a cash basis.

1:58:02So

1:58:03we have the 2 months recorded. But we didn't receive September until October. So if we were to have included that it would have bumped it up to, I think, 800. I don't have it on this paper. I'm sorry. But it was 287,000 2 86 that we got in October for September, which would have brought us to 27. So above

1:58:25a quarterly average. Okay, thank you.

1:58:28Alright. So now we're going to move on to questions from members of the public. If any members of the public have questions on this item, and now is your time do we have any? We do not have any requests. All right.

1:58:42So that was a receive and file, so consider it received and filed

1:58:48alright. And finally, we have one more item on policy, and that is, where are we? Here

1:58:56are. Item, d city council wall of fame program. Revisions.

1:59:01Okay, thank you, Mayor Redneck.

1:59:03I was the staff assigned to the ad hoc that was comprised of Mayor Rudnick and Councilmember Motyama to look at potential modifications to the resolution which outlines the policy and procedure for nominations and induction of individuals into the wall of fame.

1:59:21So the Red line resolution, that is in the packet is a compilation of the agreed upon modifications that are being recommended from the ad hoc, and in summary, those changes

1:59:33include shifting to a biannual application period with nominations due on July 1st of odd numbered years.

1:59:40creating flexibility in the review process to allow for interviews, but not require with any 3rd parties to gather additional information.

1:59:49aligning recognition with current practices and social media outreach as well as recognition at a city event open to the public, instead of specifying what events that will be.

2:00:02Adding a nominating a nomination priority to living residents over those that have recently passed.

2:00:09adding a restriction for a seated member of the City council to submit a nomination, and finally clarifying that letters of recommendations that are included with the nomination application would be from more than one source, as well as not solely based on letters of support from city advisory bodies.

2:00:28So that is a summary of the modifications that are presented, and certainly Mayor Rednick, as a member of the ad hoc can, may

2:00:37add information to that.

2:00:39Yes, and also just for the record our ad hoc met on

2:00:44October 28, th not November second.

2:00:47or on the staff report.

2:00:50Thank you for that, Claire

2:00:52correction. And yeah. Happy to answer, yes, Councilor Fidelli. Yeah, and the the one you know, Janet Abelson and I were in a similar ad hoc committee in 2019.

2:01:02And the one thing that you got rid of was the issue that we worked on dealing with spacing in City Hall.

2:01:09That we're running out of space, and so I don't know if that did the ad hoc committee deal with? What are we gonna do when we run out of space? Because we had come up with a kiosk. And because of the 2020

2:01:20covid there was no and financial crisis. There wasn't money options to think about that. So have we gotten rid of that whole idea. So one of the things that we're doing is, it's now going to be a biannual

2:01:31application. So at this point, how we've been doing it is. It's basically rolling nominations. But then we'll have a period of time in which

2:01:39we're accepting. But we're really trying to be mindful to make it biennial. So this is every other year we're going to be giving this award, starting in odd number of years. So but it's still it's full already. It's pretty darn full. There has to be a little bit of. So we did not address that in the specific policy of how we're going to be dealing with the space issue. But, there's going to be.

2:02:03Instead of being annually needing to figure this out around space, it would be Biannually and one other thing internally, that Staff has discussed is potentially, if we do need to, we could modify the way that they are structured on the wall, moving them up a little bit higher, and spacing a little bit closer to add an entire 3rd row. So we do feel that we have some time before we will run out of into the next decade. Okay, thank you.

2:02:30Anthony.

2:02:32And then what? A few of the things, you know, we

2:02:35we thought a lot about something that was said.

2:02:38by our current nominee. Who will, you know, if if it is voted upon in january will be appointed our next wall of famer, Miss Patricia Durham, that we really want to prioritize giving people their flowers while they're still here.

2:02:56And that's 1 of the reasons why we have this nomination priority for living residents, because we want to make sure we can celebrate people while they're here. So that was one thing that myself and Council Member Motoyama felt strongly about

2:03:08and also just the ability to

2:03:12really think about how we're doing outreach for this. So it's not just an insular process which a lot of it has been that we're being really mindful in our outreach in that biannual outreach, that we can really begin to attract folks

2:03:26who might be out, who are certainly deserving of this award.

2:03:33So with that

2:03:37I guess so. I have a little. Many members of the public would like to speak on this item.

2:03:43honey, I do not have any requests, Mayor, right? Any council comments, none.

2:03:50I will entertain a motion so moved moved by Quinto.

2:03:57Thank you. Seconded by Weisinger. All those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries with Council Member Motoyama absent, all right. And finally, our city council, local and regional liaison assignments. Any updates?

2:04:12Yes, not necessarily a regional assignment, but Council member Quinto and I did get the opportunity to represent the city at the National League of Cities last week. It was a great convening actually, the drone apparatus that we saw earlier. It wasn't at this year's

2:04:28meeting, but a lot of people often ask why we do take the opportunity to go all the way to the National League of Cities, and I actually had the opportunity to do the drone presentation last summer at the summer meeting. So we had a great presentation. This year. I had the opportunity to be in the Mayor's Council, where we talked about how we, as local elected officials, can advocate for education from our seats, which are not School board seats.

2:04:50I was very happy to report to them that a lot of the things that they were discussing were already doing as a part of the work group that we're in with Supervisor John Julia, and also, since our mayor was not there, I did get to work with our resolutions committee. Towards the end of the meeting at the annual business meeting, who passed a lot of great legislation or resolutions rather supporting legislation, whether it be with public safety, whether it had to do with the development of AI and local communities and

2:05:15a lot of things. So I had a great time there. It was also great to see the city of Tampa, which, of course, recently had a hurricane hit. Almost. Was it last month that that hit the the city? And, as someone said very visibly, it looks great, but you can tell that there were a lot of things that they are still struggling with in that city, but they did so well, having done having been hit like that, and have that infrastructure problem that they have there. So I was happy to be there.

2:05:42I didn't get to see Council Member Quinto because he was off doing fancy 1st vice President of Cal City things, but I know he had a great time as well.

2:05:51Council Member Quinto. Yeah, no, I I did have a great time. Unfortunately, I was, you know, interviewing candidates for second Vice President and executive board. So

2:06:03who's out of the loop for a lot of the the party stuff that you were doing so? Congratulations. Appreciate you representing El Serita. Okay, thank you.

2:06:14Appreciate that. But yeah. I enjoyed the talk where they well, we were dealing, and and we had Speaker dealing with Fema

2:06:25and the small business Association. So there I have some paperwork, and I have a a book on the 100th anniversary of the National League of Cities.

2:06:36And we deal with things in a nonpartisan way, like we do here in the El Cerrito City Council, and we work with everybody. So on the local level, we can still get things done. We're not partisan, like Sacramento and Washington. So you know, local level is where it's at. So

2:06:55I look forward to collaborating with you and the new president of Nlc. Who is from Baton Rouge, and and that's your. That's why we're a lot of your family is from originally, so I think they'll be great for you to have attend some meetings over there with Mayor Broome

2:07:16I was able to meet with Mayor Castor, who's the Mayor of Tampa, and she gave us an earful on how difficult it is

2:07:25to deal with fema and to deal with disasters. So I'm so happy that bond measure.

2:07:36or the what is it? Prop.

2:07:405 of the the climate bonds passed overwhelmingly. 4. That's number 4. So

2:07:49that will deal with disasters. Fire disasters

2:07:53earthquakes floods everything so. But we desperately need that. We're not going to get a lot of things done with the State of California on the State level, because we're dealing with at least 2, maybe 3 years of deficit years. So not not much happening there. And

2:08:15so dealing with what we do on the Federal level as local elected officials. We haven't changed our position on anything.

2:08:24Nlc, we are still going to ask for funding for roles, road, safety for water, for infrastructure, and for homelessness and housing. So. But

2:08:37it was a a good meeting, and

2:08:40I also wanted to report that I was

2:08:45I nominated Patricia Durham

2:08:49and she was chosen to be El Cerrito's woman of the year for Congressional District 8,

2:08:56and I was with her for that ceremony in Benicia

2:09:02and Congressman Garamendi was there with his wife, and it was great to meet a lot of regional leaders and their choice for woman of the year, and I know we we have many, many more women to

2:09:17honor in in the coming years.

2:09:20I'm kidding.

2:09:22Yes, thank you. The East Bay wildfire coalition adjourned in this chamber last week for the year.

2:09:30and next year they will be going every other month instead of every month, as they have this year, and John Joya will be the chair of it, and we'll be looking for a vice chair from Contra Costa, I mean from Alameda County.

2:09:44and also I wanted to thank the city, especially the city manager, and will for the city lights, holiday lights that are in our downtown area. So thank you very much for that.

2:09:55All right. A few things.

2:09:57one thing we have it on the agenda, but there's something called AV 1, 2, 3, 4, which is, whenever public funds are going towards any of our travel, we report it so

2:10:10The day after our last meeting, from 16th to the 18th I attended the League of California Cities Conference in Long Beach, I was there. Council member Quinto was there, and councilmember Fidelli was there. There's some excellent presentations. Our city manager and council member Quinto did a presentation on the Council.

2:10:30the the Council or the mayor and city manager relationship, and it was great. We had all of our West County folks there in support of the presentation

2:10:41and on the 21st I attended a meeting of our local Girl Scout troops and was able to talk about leadership. Talk about the at that point. The upcoming elections, lots of really adorable cute questions. My favorite was someone asked if I sleep at City Hall, and if that's where I live.

2:10:59On the 27.th Well, I think it's because their last presentation was from firefighters. So it was a really thoughtful connection that they know that some people live there. And so I said that I'm lucky that I get to sleep at home, and I appreciate that there's firefighters who are living in the fire station so they can respond whenever it's needed.

2:11:20On the 27th as I mentioned earlier at the meeting, we had a fantastic one year anniversary for Dolly. So thank you so much for that great community event. That same day I attended a neighborhood pumpkin carving festival which was really fantastic. There were 2 meetings with recycle more lots of changes going on. That's our West County integrated waste management authority that's been taking up a lot of my time, but very much appreciate getting to be involved in something so important.

2:11:50As I also mentioned the wall of Fame meeting that I had with Council Member Motoyama. I know she is not feeling well tonight, but hopefully she'll be feeling well knowing. We just passed these modifications.

2:12:01and finally, last Thursday I went to the Mayor's conference in Concord, and it was a swan song for many of our colleagues in Contra Costa County, who either opted not to run for reelection like myself, or some who did run for reelection, but were not elected. So it was

2:12:21good that we were all able to be together, and got a great presentation for the Concord Naval Base. That's a naval base project, which is a really significant project that will be decades in the making.

2:12:35and with that it is now

2:12:398 14, and we are adjourned. The next scheduled city Council meeting is Tuesday, December 3, rd at 6 pm. Thank you. Everyone for hanging in for a long meeting. Take care! Stay safe.