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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-12-12 Human Relations Commission Action MinutesADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 1 of 30 HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION Thursday, December 12, 2019 Community Meeting Room Palo Alto Civic Center 250 Hamilton Avenue 7:00 PM REGULAR MEETING ROLL CALL: Commissioners Present: Kralik, Lee, Regehr, Savage, Stinger Absent: Smith Council Liaison: Council Member Kou Staff: Kristen O’Kane, Mary Constantino I.ROLL CALL Chair Kralik: Good evening. This is the Human Relations Committee regular meeting of December 12th, 2019. We’ll ask Mary Constantino to take the roll, please. II.AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, DELETIONS Chair Kralik: Well welcome, we’ll first start with agenda changes, requests, and deletions. Not hearing any. III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Chair Kralik: Are there any oral communications? No cards have been filled out. IV. BUSINESS 1.Report on Community Services Department Inclusionary Programming by Kristen O’Kane, Community Services Department Director Chair Kralik: So, we’ll begin with the business of tonight which is the report on Community Service Department Inclusionary Programming by Kristen O’Kane. Before we do that, we do have Commissioner Stinger with us so we’ll just pause for a moment while she situates herself. Good evening Commissioner Stinger. Kristen, if it’s possible could you introduce yourself and your role in the city and tell us how you got to put together this presentation. We appreciate your presence tonight. Ms. Kristen O’Kane, Community Services Department Director: Sure, so Kristen O’Kane, I’m ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 2 of 30 the Director of the Community Services Department, and I know there has been some interest in what sort of inclusion and accessibility programming that we do in the Community Services Department. I’ve had some communications with Commissioner Lee and Commissioner Regehr. I always struggle with that one. I’ve shared some information with them but they did request that I come and share it with the full Commission so that’s why I’m here. I’m just going to provide some information on what we currently do and what we’re working on now. Also, status of some proposed Capital Improvement Projects that we have proposed for our next fiscal year. Chair Kralik: Just so everybody knows who’s watching, what is Inclusionary Programing? What does that mean? Ms. O’Kane: Well, Inclusionary Programming – a lot of cities refer to it as therapeutic recreation programs so it’s just ensuring that we’re providing programs and services for anybody in the community. Regardless of who they are, of what sort of abilities or disabilities they have, and that all of our programs and services are provided for everybody. Chair Kralik: Thank you. Ms. O’Kane: The Community Services Department, I’ll give a little bit of background on how we’re structured. So, we have a Parks, Open Space, and Golf Division, we have a Recreation Division, and Arts and Sciences. Then you know we also have our Office of Human Services. Our Arts and Sciences includes the Children’s Theater, it includes a community theater as well as or two community theaters actually. Then our Arts includes Public Art as well as our Art Center and also the Junior Museum and Zoo is in that division. Then recreation is obviously all our camps and classes that we provide for children and adults. Chair Kralik: Just for my edification, Abigale was a star at one of the Children’s presentations. Ms. O’Kane: Wonderful. Chair Kralik: It was a musical a couple years ago. She was an Oompa Loompa in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but when you say you have that division, is its oversight of those groups or the employees at the theater are part of the city? How does that work? Ms. O’Kane: The Children’s Theater is a city facility and it’s a city-run program, so it is staffed by city staff. Some full, some part-time and then there’s also some contract staff as well but it is a completely run city program. Chair Kralik: It’s unbelievably just powerful for the kids and the experience that our children both had there have been just tremendous. So that’s great, that’s great to hear, and so how is it that you oversee that? What is it that you look at when you do that? Ms. O’Kane: Well, I’m the Director of the Department and so there’s typically two Assistant Directors in our department. They’re both vacant right now and hopefully will be filled in the next few months. So, we typically have two Assistant Directors and then there’re managers under them who oversee all those programs. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 3 of 30 Chair Kralik: Ok, that’s wonderful. Ok, I’m sorry… Ms. O’Kane: That’s ok. Chair Kralik: …just trying to get a little context. Ms. O’Kane: Sure, and it’s the same for the Art Center, it’s the same for the Junior Museum and Zoo, for recreation. So, its… Chair Kralik: Right. Ms. O’Kane: …the typical structure of… Chair Kralik: They’re fantastic resources. Ms. O’Kane: …an organization. Chair Kralik: They’re wonderful. Ms. O’Kane: They really are. The community is very fortunate to have all of these programs. Chair Kralik: Sure. Ms. O’Kane: So, the Children’s Theater has programs and camps that are accessible to any participant. We won’t turn anybody away regardless of who they are and this past year or past couple years we’ve started providing sensory-friendly performances. So, they are quieter, they’re not as bright, and we also have sensory-prep lists of cues that can prepare parents or caretakers and help their kids be prepared if there are loud noises or bright lights in a performance. Then we also have sensory-friendly classes and camps. This is an example here and if you can’t see it very well I can pull it up online. That’s part of what we’re calling the Magical Series because they’re done in collaboration with the Magical Bridge Playground. So, this is an example of a class that’s called Story Acting but it is part of our spectrum friendly programing. So, it has a description of what ages and what developmental age range it’s designed for. Also, in this case, it’s for individuals who can work on a five to one ratio. People are also welcome to bring aides and we’re happy to work with aides on ensuring the best experience for all of our participants. Next is Recreation so again, everything is accessible to anyone who wants to participate. For example, we have our Teen Center at Mitchell Park Community Center and any teen who meets a certain age range is welcome to attend the Teen Center. We also work with aides that are provided by the participant to ensure participants have the best experience. We will have conversations with them, we communicate with them, we like to know in advance that aides are coming just so we can be prepared, and again ensure that the participants are having the best experience that they can. This past summer we piloted the new summer camp. Again, partnering with the Magical Bridge Foundation and the Palo Alto Recreation Foundation to provide a camp at Mitchell Park for individuals with a cognitive functioning level under the age of 5. We had eight participants in that camp this year and we’re still working with the Magical Bridge Foundation to see if we’ll continue this camp or make any adjustments that we might need too. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 4 of 30 Then you probably are aware of the Omega Club and Mary can probably speak to more to that than I can but it is an activity club for adults with special needs ages 21 and over. The Palo Alto Art Center and the Junior Museum and Zoo do a lot together so I’ve combined them in this slide. They have calm down kits, weighted blankets, noise-canceling headphones available at their facilities for those who might need it. In addition to that a visual emotion guide so for students who are non-verbal it helps them communicate how they’re feeling, why they might be upset at a particular time. We also have or they also have conversation protocols so if unexpectedly some participate shows up with an aide it just helps the instructors have the conversation, ask the right questions. One of the other things they’ve done is the Palo Alto Art Center and the Junior Museum and Zoo benefit from a lot of volunteer hours. They have worked with the school district to place teens with development disabilities in the volunteer program so they can gain valuable work experience. So, the JMZ exhibits now – I mean right now it’s just the museum because they’re relocated at Cubberley they’re designed to be accessible to visitors with physical and developmental disabilities. As they’re designing the new Junior Museum and Zoo, they’ve actually received grant funding to ensure that they’re even more accessible to anybody. The JMZ also hosts Super Family Sundays which are the Museum and Zoo are only open to families with children who have special needs and just we have a lot of staff on hand at those times. We bring the animals out so they can have the touch experience with the animals and it’s a very popular event. Those are about every other month but can vary depending on the season. Then I wanted to pull up this website if this thing works. So, the Junior Museum and Zoo actually has a whole page on accessibility. Chair Kralik: Now, the Junior Museum, while you’re doing that, it’s going through this huge change right? Ms. O’Kane: It is. Chair Kralik: I mean it’s like a brand-new facility and it’s been funded to the tune of millions of dollars. Is that right? Is it… Ms. O’Kane: Sorry, I’m having technical difficulties. Ms. Mary Constantino: Do you need me… Ms. O’Kane: It's ok. I don’t know why the link isn’t showing up on the screen. Ms. Constantino: Oh. Ms. O’Kane: It’s ok so I can pull it up afterward… Chair Kralik: Sure. Ms. O’Kane: … if you’d like to see it but the JMZ has a page just on accessibility. But yes, the JMZ is going under a huge rebuild. Chair Kralik: They just tore it down and build a whole new JMZ, right? ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 5 of 30 Ms. O’Kane: They did and it’s going to be amazing and incredible and it should be open in October of next year. Chair Kralik: Wow, ok. Ms. O’Kane: So, that’s what we currently do, sort of an overview. Sorry, I’m on – Mary? Ms. Constantino: I have a clicker to advance. Ms. O’Kane: But it’s – it’s different on here. Ms. Constantino: Maybe get out of it and start again? Ms. O’Kane: Here, I’m going to do that. There. Ok, sorry about that. When I became Director this past year one of the things that was important to me was to look at what we were doing in the department and also improve and expand on that where we can. It’s not something that we’ll necessarily be able to do instantly but over time and as you notice from the presentation each program area does things a little bit different. Some provide more things than others or just different things. So, what we did was create a workgroup within the department that representatives from each of the different program areas and facilities. It’s really a way for them to share and learn best practices, what works, what hasn’t worked just to maintain consistency across the departments. So, a family or an individual come they have the same experience no matter which camp or class they take and who they’re communicating with. Also, just looking ahead on ways we can improve. They’re meeting roughly every other week and the staff were really excited and happy that this was coming forward. Sometimes we want to do the right thing when we might not even know what that is or how we can do better. You know you don’t know what you don’t know so it’s really been helpful to get everyone in the same room. There was last summer an intern in the Human Services Office who did a lot of interviews and benchmarking with other cities to determine what are other people doing with respect to therapeutic recreation? So, we do have that information that we refer to often to see what ratios people are providing, do people have specific inclusion policy statements, are people providing aides or…? There were a lot of different questions that were asked and provided a lot of good information. We’ve also provided and will continue to provide staff trainings on inclusion and diversity. This is something that’s continuing, and it’s been very helpful for staff just to understand what is the proper language to use? What should we be asking? What shouldn’t we be asking? Things like that. We’re also expanding the Magical Series to all other CSD Program areas. So, like I said, when someone goes into our Enjoy Catalog and they’ll see Magical Series, they’ll know that that’s something that either will be for individuals with developmental disabilities or physical disabilities. Then when they go online they can even search Magical and those will come up. Right now, we just have one but we are looking at how we can expand into the summer. Then we’re also evaluating the addition of a staff person who would be a therapeutic recreation specialist. That is in the early evaluation phase. I mean we would need to get all the approvals to do that and we’re looking at should this be a part-time person, a full-time person, we’re not sure but it would be really nice to have one-point person within our department that families can talk to that is trained and an expert in this field. Some other cities do have those positions and those are the people that we’re looking to for training and for advice. Then finally we’ve updated the ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 6 of 30 text in our Enjoy Catalog on access and inclusion. This is just our statement that all abilities are welcome and asking people if they or their child requires reasonable modifications in order to participate in our class, camp, or workshop to please let us know in advance. We will do our best to meet their needs. We also have a fee reduction program for individuals who might need help with the cost of paying for class and camp registrations. All this was buried a little bit when you’d go on to register for a class it was buried a little bit but now, we’ve moved it upfront so that people see it right away. Commissioner Lee: I was wondering if you could just elaborate on what the City means by reasonable modifications? What does that mean? Does it have a specific meaning, does the City have… Ms. O’Kane: Well, reasonable modifications is an ADA term so we often hear people say reasonable accommodations and that’s actually not -- that’s employer/employee relationship. So reasonable modification is what’s in I believe it’s Title 2 of the American with Disabilities Act and the definition is in there which I don’t know off the top of my head. Commissioner Lee: Does the City have any additional modifications above and beyond what’s required by Title 2 or is that part of this ongoing process? Ms. O’Kane: I think it’s more a case by case basis. I mean every situation is different, every person is different. So, do – we need to evaluate each request based on what it is and what the classes and what we can provide. Commissioner Lee: Are there examples – recent examples of where the department has been able to go above and beyond in particular cases and what’s… Ms. O’Kane: I – so in the Children’s Theater I want to say it was last summer we – I believe they did provide aides if people needed aides, the Children’s Theater provided aides. That is… Commissioner Lee: That’s great. Ms. O’Kane: …above and beyond. It is not something that we currently do in all of our programs. Most Cities do not provide aides. Commissioner Lee: And that brings down the ratio right of students – kids to adults I guess, right? Having the aides brings down that ratio? Ms. O’Kane: So, if it was like a five to one then you could have six, do you mean? Commissioner Lee: Yes. Ms. O’Kane: It’s – possibly. Commissioner Lee: I mean are we talking about one to one ratio here or one to two or…? Ms. O’Kane: For the aides? ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 7 of 30 Commissioner Lee: Yes, when you bring in aides. Ms. O’Kane: It’s one to one. Commissioner Lee: Oh, one to one, ok. Ms. O’Kane: Yes, I see. Commissioner Lee: Got you. So, are we asking question during the thing or are we trying to wait to the end? Chair Kralik: I was terrible. I actually started, I was just trying to make you feel comfortable. Commissioner Lee: Ok, ok, (crosstalk) then I’ll wait, then I’ll wait. Ms. O’Kane: That’s ok, thank you. Chair Kralik: I just wanted to give you an introduction… Ms. O’Kane: Sure. Chair Kralik: … and get you going. Ms. O’Kane: That’s great, thank you, but actually I’m at the end of this part and then I’m going to go to the capital… Chair Kralik: Great, yes, sure. Ms. O’Kane: …projects. So, if you would like to pause here for questions on the programming I think that makes sense. Chair Kralik: Ok, does anyone have any questions? Patty, go right ahead. Commissioner Regehr: My only question is on the Junior Museum, so it used to be free. Can you talk about the pay schedule? What you’re doing for people that are low income? Is that established? How that’s going to work yet? Ms. O’Kane: So, we’re working on that. It hasn’t been established. We’re putting together different scenarios of what it would look like. So we don’t know yet. It will go to our Finance Committee in February, the first meeting in February which is I think the 4th but again we’re going to present different options for the Finance Committee to weigh in on. Commissioner Lee: I was wondering if you could just elaborate a little bit more on the aides that were provided at the Children’s Theater? I think that’s a fantastic service. Definity above and beyond what’s legally required and so I want to thank you for doing that but could you help us understand how that particular initiative came about? Did it require reprogramming of some ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 8 of 30 funds? What were some of the lessons learned? How might we explore or maybe you already explained? How might we explore doing something similar in other program areas? Ms. O’Kane: I don’t know the specifics. I will talk to the staff who planned that camp and get back to you. I don’t have the specifics right now. Commissioner Lee: I was wondering if you could speak to what the current ratios are for the programming because I know in particular one of the issues that I’ve heard from parents who have special needs kids is that it’s difficult for them to access the programs because of the ratios. If they are unable to bring their own aide, then often that’s sort of the impediment and obviously providing additional aides to bring down the ratio is labor-intensive, right? You either need to hire additional people or in the cases of some other cities in the area have a huge volunteer reserve to do that. So, I’m wondering what are the current ratios and is the topic of ratios one of the topics that your working group is throwing around? Ms. O’Kane: Right now, the ratios vary greatly and it is something that the group is talking about. Again, benchmarking other agencies, including schools on what ratios are. I will say that in, for example, our summer camps if we know that a child is coming without an aide, while we don’t have necessarily aides to provide, we can bring in additional staff just to provide more attention to that one child. That’s why it’s really helpful to us when we know in advance that someone might be coming who needs additional help or services from us. So, we can definitely make those accommodations but right now the ratios really vary depending on the ages, that type of class it is. If it’s something where it’s a music class and its more free play versus an art class or a ceramics class then the ratios would be much lower. Chair Kralik: Ok so are there any other questions? We – then… Commissioner Lee: Sorry… Chair Kralik: Oh, you have another one? Commissioner Lee: … I had one small one. Chair Kralik: Ok. Commissioner Lee: So, I know that you have a very passionate group of employees who are working in this working group and that’s fantastic and I want to thank you and that team for doing that. Is there a particular timeframe in which the first round of either recommendations or things that you want to share across the department needs to happen by? Is there a particular timeframe for those initial sets of – I don’t know what you call them – objectives or goals or action items? Ms. O’Kane: I mean not really because we’re driving this ourselves. The only thing I will say that if we’re proposing something new that requires additional funding, then we need to meet our budget timelines. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 9 of 30 Commissioner Lee: Which is sort of now, right? Ms. O’Kane: Which is pretty much, yes, now or coming up very soon for our Operating Budget. So, but otherwise, they are really eager to have more things in place; like I said to be consistent across a department. Staff wants to do what’s right and sometimes they don’t even know what that is. It’s important that we equip our staff so that they can be successful as well. So, they’re eager to do it and things will happen over a period of time. Commissioner Lee: Are you going to be able to make the budget deadline for the recreation specialist that you’re thinking about? I know the format isn’t determined yet, but do you anticipate being able to meet the current budget timeline? Ms. O’Kane: I think so. We’ll try to propose something but what that is we’re not quite sure. Commissioner Lee: Ok, great, thank you. Chair Kralik: Council Member Kou, I’m sorry, we didn’t ask. If you’d like to ask a question? Council Member Kou: No, thank you. Thank you for asking. Chair Kralik: Ok, sure. Alright, go right ahead, please. Ms. O’Kane: So, now I’m going to switch gears and talk a little bit about what we’re proposing in the 2021 Capital Improvement Plan. There’re two projects, the first one is the Rinconada Pool family changing room. So, this project would reconfigure an existing space that’s there and turn it into either one or two, we’re not sure yet because we’re not sure what the space can accommodate, ADA accessible/gender natural restroom and family changing facility. Which would include a shower, toilet, sink, child, and adult changing tables and obviously a bench or chairs to sit on. So, that’s been submitted and we’re hopeful that that will go through. The other one, the Magical Bridge Playground, we are submitting a proposal to resurface the playground. It’s that squishy, all-weather material. It’s because the Magical Bridge Playground gets so many visitors, more than we ever could have anticipated which is wonderful, there’s been more wear and tear than we expected. to the point where we feel that resurfacing instead of trying to keep doing patch repairs on it would be more beneficial. The other one that I don’t have here because it’s being proposed by Public Works and not my department is the Rinconada Park. So that’s the park next to the Junior Museum and Zoo and right now there’s two playgrounds. There’s the younger one over by the tennis courts and then the older kids’ playground which is by the Girl Scout House and the museum. As part of the JMZ construction there’s a need to do some reconfiguring of the pathways and as part of that what we’re proposing is to take the two playgrounds, combine them into one because we know that if you have a 2-years old and an 8- year old you can’t be in two places at one time but you need to be watching them both. So, it would combine them both and it would rebuild it with elements like they have at the Magical Bridge Playground. So, that would also be a more inclusive playground than what we have now. Commissioner Lee: Do you happen to know how much that one... Ms. O’Kane: The cost? ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 10 of 30 Commissioner Lee: Yes. Ms. O’Kane: I don’t. I can get that information to you as well. So, that requires a Park Improvement Ordinance, that has already gone to the Parks and Rec Commission. They are recommending that Council approve that and that is coming up in the next couple of months and I can provide that date to you as well. Commissioner Lee: So, they endorsed that? Ms. O’Kane: The Parks and Rec Commission did, absolutely. Commissioner Lee: Ok. Commissioner Regehr: I just have one question about that because I know in one of the schools when they did it, there was a lawsuit because a younger kid went on an older. Now they have to have a person guarding or saying with a big sign only children over a certain age can be on this. Actually, a staff person is supposed to be there and watching it. So, are you going to have… Ms. O’Kane: Well, we do have signs at our playgrounds that say what age there for and they’re still going to be separate, but it allows the parent to watch. There’s actually going to be an adult exercise area there as well. Commissioner Lee: So, I know when the three of us had met you had explained that the CIP process, the city does it in sort of 5-year schedules. So, for these items do you happen to know when the next 5-years it would be done? Is it 2021 or is it…? Ms. O’Kane: So, it’s a 5-year CIP and that’s really a way for us to forecast and look ahead into the future. What Council will be adopting is Fiscal Year ’21 only because they can’t approve expenditure funds in future years. So, these are all planned for Fiscal Year… Commissioner Lee: Great. Ms. O’Kane: …’21. Then I did include a slide on just what our CIP process is. So, we’re here where the star is right now where our projects have been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget. They then go to a General Fund Review Committee and before it gets to the City Manager there’s a lot of back and forth with staff. So, we will meet with them, we’ll have the opportunity to explain why these certain programs and projects that we’re submitting are important. Then they’ll go to the City Manager for review and approval and then the Planning and Transportation Committee reviews them for compliance with our Comprehensive Plan. Then it goes to Finance Committee and then to City Council. I think there might be another City Council meeting in there somewhere but that’s generally the process. Commissioner Lee: I wanted to ask our Council Liaison a question. So, one of the mandates that the Commission is for us to recommend action to Council and I know that these projects are of interest to this Commission. We had 15-20 parents come out during our retreat and our ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 11 of 30 Commissioner hasn’t historically weighed in on budget issues at least as far as I’m aware. So, if the Commission wanted to really put its fore weight and recommendation or endorsement behind these three CIP items and potentially the Therapeutic Specialist position however it’s configured. If we wanted to provide that recommendation and maybe even discuss it at a meeting so that members of the public could come and provide testimony that we include in the recommendation. I’m wondering if you had any specific recommendations for how we should do that in the most effective way? So, that we can provide our advice as an advisory body to the Council, to the Finance Committee, that these items are important, are needed, and that we’ve been hearing from parents and families in the community about the need for them. I’m wondering if you had any suggestions there. Council Member Kou: So, at this time a lot of the Boards and Commissions are submitting their reports to Council. One of the ways that you could do it is submit a report in a letter through staff and submit it to Council for us to – it’s a report. Commissioner Lee: A report, ok. Council Member Kou: Then you can also put in there your recommendation. Highly recommend and it’s through the Chair. Commissioner Lee: So, on the calendar if we had a meeting where we discussed it and authorized a committee to put together a letter or report and then brought it back to the Commission for adoption. When do we need to do that by? Would we need to do the first step in January and come back in February as a Commission to formally endorse the letter that’s been drafted? Is that the process if I’m looking at the calendar correctly or do we have more time than that? Ms. O’Kane: So, the Council Members aren’t going to see it until it’s presented to the Finance Committee and that’s just at the Committee level in April. Commissioner Lee: Ok. Ms. O’Kane: I mean Planning will see it in April and May but I’m not sure if all the Council will… Commissioner Lee: So, we have a little bit of time to put together a report. Ms. O’Kane: You do have a little bit of time. Commissioner Lee: Ok. Chair Kralik: I want to recognize Commissioner Stinger. Go right ahead, please. Commissioner Stinger: I just wanted to comment that we have in the past gone to the Finance Committee with support for recommendations and we can do that again. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 12 of 30 Commissioner Lee: What was that process like at the Commission level prior to going to Finance? Commission Stinger: Let me think for a second. The issues were related to HSRAP and the Emergency Fund and increasing levels of funding for emerging needs and emergency needs. Now we spoke to that example of needs so we did a situation analysis, some options, and a recommendation. Chair Kralik: If I could just ask, in the proposals for projects I imagine that there’s outreach there to community service providers and other folks to identify things that would impact needs that are in the community. What is that outreach like? How does that come about? Ms. O’Kane: Well, for parks and recreation projects we have a Parks Master Plan. It’s actually Parks, Recreation, Open Space, and Trails Master Plan that was adopted by Council in September of 2017. There was significant public outreach to develop that plan and so that’s really our document that we go by as we’re looking at potential projects. There’s a lot of our projects are required because we just know that a certain piece of equipment has reached the end of its useful functioning life and we need to repair it for it to be safe or we know of trails or something that have been washed out. So, some of it is needs that we just know or staff knows and some of it is based on like the Parks Master Plan for example. Commissioner Lee: Was the Rinconada CIP, was that something that was contemplated by the 2017 Master Plan or is that a more recent development so to speak? Ms. O’Kane: The Master Plan doesn’t specifically call out Rinconada. You mean the playground specifically? Commissioner Lee: No, I mean sorry the pool. Ms. O’Kane: Oh, the pool. The Master Plan doesn’t call out anything specific but it does have a policy in there to meet and exceed ADA standards. Commissioner Lee: Gotcha. Chair Kralik: Is there anything you’d like to convey to us now as a sum experience so far and also, your presentation when you put it together? What were your thoughts about how we’ve been doing? Ms. O’Kane: Good. So, you know I appreciate the support and just pushing us along to make sure that we’re moving the needle on this. Like I said we’re not going to get everything done immediately. It is a process, but it is helpful to hear where we can improve and I’m happy to come back at a certain time. I don’t know when that time would be but happy to do that to provide more updates. Chair Kralik: There are some people in the camps and the theaters, I mean I have two young children here and those just have been fantastic playgrounds for them. So, I think it’s a real ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 13 of 30 tribute if we can open that up to everyone. I think it’s a great idea. Anyone else have any comments or thoughts before we close? Commissioner Lee: I have two comments. The first one would be, again back to the ratio concept, to the extent that that is flushed out and if I would encourage the department to consider request additional funds from Council for that. Perhaps exploring a pilot program to expand the ratios in one of the programs or an additional program other than the Children’s Theater or JMZ that did the… Ms. O’Kane: The Magical Series? Oh, no, it was the Children’s Theater. Commissioner Lee: So, I personally would suggest that it would be great to pilot perhaps an additional aide program at maybe an additional program. If you are able to submit that as part of this current – next budget cycle I think that would be something I would personally support. Ms. O’Kane: Ok. Commissioner Lee: The second thought is more for the Commission. I think we’ll probably talk about it more when we get to agenda-setting but I’d like to make sure that we properly plan out our schedule for the first couple months of 2020. To ensure that we have time to take action in terms of whether it’s forming a Committee or empowering the existing Committee of Commissioner Regehr and myself to draft a proposed letter of support or report of support for these initiatives for the full Commission’s consideration and endorsement. So, we can send that as part of this process. So, I want to make sure that we don’t miss the boat on lending our support to these three initiatives as well as any other initiatives we want the Council to consider as part of this next budget cycle. Commissioner Stinger mentioned HSRAP in the past and I know this year we expanded the Emerging Needs Fund criteria and we have seen that it’s been oversubscribed as opposed to undersubscribed. So, that might be an opportunity for us to discuss whether we want to ask for an increase there or to any of the other pools of money that this Commission makes recommendations on. Chair Kralik: Commissioner Regehr. Commissioner Regehr: I just want to thank you, Kristen, because just seeing what you’ve done because Commissioner Lee and I had visited other cities and to see that they have the staff just devoted to this and to see how much you’ve done in this time period. I just want to say thank you so much because I know your kind of short staffed so thank you. Ms. O’Kane: Thank you. Chair Kralik: Well, thanks so much for coming… Ms. O’Kane: Sure. Chair Kralik: … and giving us the presentation. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 14 of 30 V. REPORTS FROM OFFICIALS 1. Commissioner Reports Chair Kralik: We’re going to move onto reports from officials, the Commissioner reports. I’ll just start on this side of the table and we’ll move around. So, Commissioner Savage. Commissioner Savage: Just for nothing in the past but for the future, we have a meeting set up with Palo Alto Police Chief for mid-December. It would be Commissioner Lee, Commissioner Smith, and myself. So, we’ll report back next month on the results. Chair Kralik: Thank you for arranging that meeting. I have nothing to report at this time. Commissioner Lee. Commissioner Lee: I think the only updates I have is I’ve been following the work that the city has been doing on vaping. So, I want to thank our Council Liaison and staff for diligently working on that and I think the community was very excited to see the progress that was made. Was it just this past Monday? This past Monday and so I don’t know to what extent this Commission helped move things along but very glad that the community is moving forward with a multi-pronged approach there. Hopefully, this Commission will continue to be involved. I think there’s a breakfast that’s tentatively scheduled in January so I hope as many of us can attend that as possible. I want to say thank you on that note. Chair Kralik: You know I was worried about the passion that I displayed during a Council meeting and I happened to be watching C-SPAN this week and in C-SPAN representative Roma Morty who is oversight Chair in the House was grilling the FDA liaison. I have to say that my passion was maybe a fraction of that because it’s a difficult problem when the federal gatekeepers have not really responded. That pushes it down on the local governments and I’d also like to say that I think that the speed in which the city has acted on our recommendation is really, really heartfelt. I think it was great. It was fantastic and you always wonder if you express a little passion if someone will take you up on that or throw it right back at you. I highly recommend reviewing that C-SPAN tape because it’s just an amazing thing. They sighted statistics, annual statistics of middle school vaping that had increased 200 percent in the last year and high school vaping that had increased 100 percent within the last year. So, thank you Council Member for your efforts and the other Council Members for taking action. I think that’s a difficult thing to bring yourself into the public health sphere. From our perspective, it was an issue of children in our community that needed your support. Thank you for doing that. Ok, Commissioner Regehr. Commissioner Regehr: Hi. A couple things is Commissioner Lee and I met with Dr. Enoch Choi and he’s working with a lot of homeless and mental health issues and health. We met with him last week because that was one of our issues, mental health, and we met with him and we’re just kind of getting a plan – thoughts together on that one. Then next week I’m going to be on a conference call with the United Nations UNICEF person that’s in charge of the Kids Friendly to see how we can get that going because that was one of my things. Then I also – global warming and global emergence was also one of my issues and I went to the Menlo Park’s Council meeting and watched they’re doing and just seeing what groups they’re doing. It’s interesting because ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 15 of 30 they have a Commission called Environmental Quality Commission and that’s what they deal with so that’s on that front what I’m kind of working on. Then next week the school district has a Sustainability Program that they work with the community and the schools about sustainability and so I’m going to that meeting. That’s about it. Chair Kralik: Is Steven your driver to all of these meetings or what? Commissioner Regehr: Well, I drive myself. Chair Kralik: You must get good parking at all those locations? You were very active, congratulations on that and thank you, thank you for doing all that work. Commissioner Regehr: Oh, you’re welcome. Chair Kralik: It’s really important. You went to Chicago. Commissioner Regehr: I did. I went to Chicago for the bullying… Chair Kralik: Bullying. Commissioner Regehr: Bullying, not bowling, bullying and that was very interesting because that school district, which is a third in the country, they have a Committee in the school district its inter-faith which is interesting when you think it’s a school district with inter-faith. They work with places of worship with the school communities. If someone is homeless, they work with those churches if someone dies because that’s an expensive thing. So, they really take care of the school district, you know that area, but it’s an inter-faith which I thought was really interesting that… Chair Kralik: Well, you’re bringing national good practice standards to us and we really appreciate that. Commissioner Regehr: Oh, and the other thing that I did to at the bullying conference was that Lady Gaga because she was bullied a lot when she young, so she started a foundation called Kind – is it a Kindness thing? They’re looking for cities that will take on a 20-day kindness project and they were saying how remarkable it is. This one suggestion was a man just said ok, he had a high beating his wife and he took the pledge and I mean they worked with him. They’re interested in having us do something like that in our city. Chair Kralik: Thank you so much. Commissioner Regehr: You’re welcome. Chair Kralik: Commissioner Stinger we’re very happy to have you back. Commissioner Stinger: Thank you, I’m happy to be back. So, I did a couple things at the end of the month. Tuesday was the County Board of Supervisors meeting and there were three agenda ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 16 of 30 items related to LGBTQ Affairs. One was a report on the status of their work to get health facilities built and that was in much detail and much progress made on that. There was encouragement from the Board of Supervisors, the Work Plan was accepted, and there was much encouragement to get going and that was nice to hear. There was also an agenda item to approve the Senior Center at Avenidas and there was some nice backgrounding of the work that we had done in the summits to to facilitate that meeting of the minds and the proposals. So, they approve $300,000 for a pilot program over 2-years and we did get some nice credit from Supervisor Simitian stoking that and that was nice to hear. Then finally they are giving approval to a survey of senior LGBTQ needs so that was the one thing I felt was a big success and I was very pleased with that. Chair Kralik: I think it was a huge success. I will say that being a new Member of the Commission, having watched you and Commissioner Lee engage in that process and holding the follow-up summits. It serves as a very good model of how to get things done. I think you brought in not only the city resources through staff but also the county resources and you were able to propose things. You also when you think of a catalyst, you catalyzed a lot of people to bring their ideas forward and I remember all the little yellow stickies that you came up and the notes that you brought into the Commission. It was a great process and much like the process that we saw tonight with the little boxes. I think it would be really worthwhile to add that kind of process to the things that we do, our initiatives. When we start out sometimes it's amazing how complex problems are and when you have all the stakeholders. I know you are trying to do that right now with the vaping along with Commissioner Savage so we appreciate that model. Commissioner Stinger: Thank you, I appreciate that feedback and I think it really an expression of what a group of people can do when you just let them go at it. The creativity that came out of that group, the creativity at Avenidas right now is daunting. Supervisor Simitian, Chair Simitian commented on that and the other point that he made was he kind of was stoking the fire. He said be opportunistic. It just happened that I was there at the right time and at the right place and I could facilitate this funding for a pilot program. It wasn’t necessarily a strategic plan or lots of thought, it just happened and, in this case, that’s good. We know we need it and so that was (inaudible)(crosstalk) Chair Kralik: Well, thank you for bringing that success back. It’s like three trophies. Commissioner Stinger: There was a couple other things. So that happened to be Human Rights Day and Minka had shared with us that the flag was going to be raised at a ceremony at noontime that was (inaudible)(crosstalk) Chair Kralik: Right, I was part of that Commission, they had the flag ceremony. It’s the County Commission on Human Relations which is now Human Rights Commission, right? Commissioner Stinger: They are Human Rights Commission. Chair Kralik: They moved to that model. Commissioner Stinger: So, I brought these backs to share… ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 17 of 30 Chair Kralik: Thank you very much. Commissioner Stinger: …and talking about the Healthy Cities initiatives on vaping. We met and we are proceeding with a breakfast on January 23rd. The model will be much the same as we’ve done before to bring stakeholders together to meet our vision of community that is a safe environment that allows and empowers students to make the right choices. We want to… Commissioner Lee: Do you have a time for that? Commissioner Stinger: It will be breakfast at 8:00, programing at 8:30 to 10:30. 2. Council Liaison Report Chair Kralik: Ok, Council Member Kou. Council Member Kou: So, yes, last Monday on the 9th Council did pass the Vaping Ordinance. Chair Kralik: Fantastic, thank you. Council Member Kou: Thank you very much for all your support. It actually was quite a long road, it’s actually a 2-year road. I’ve been working with the Palo Alto Youth Council for over 2- years now and they actually, through a study session, kind of brought forward to the city Officials about the issues that their schools; where there is a lot of vaping and where the bathrooms were always constantly being smoky and sets off the alarm for the fire alarm. So, they did a survey which kind of brought forth the numbers and how prevalent in our community. So, through them, I’ve been trying to get them to focus on policy and suggesting a draft ordinance so that they can help us. It was an engagement thing and I thought with the Youth Council being involved and youth to youth would be very powerful. Nonetheless, it’s a problem in our community and so I’m very, very happy that the three Council Members through a Colleague’s Memo brought it forward. Now the Youth Commission, they’re going to be working on more things to see how can they get the message out through education. That sort of – in that manner. Commissioner Lee: I wanted to ask you on that, so I know that the motion that was passed on Monday said that staff would come back to Council after the January breakfast with funding recommendations. I think primarily education-related but I think funding generally speaking. Do you think at that point, after the breakfast, it would be appropriate for this Commission to reengage in the process either to lend our support to the Staff recommendation or any nuance – any differences we might have? Any nuances to that. Council Member Kou: You know I think that at this point Staff actually has a lot of connections and they’re also being referred by our county connections. So, at this point, I would say let Staff do the connections first and to vet it all out because we just passed this ordinance. As soon as Staff have a better understanding of how to proceed, I’m sure Staff will bring it back to – they can bring it back here or whichever Committee there… Commissioner Lee: Would it be your hope that this Commission be able weigh in on the Staff ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 18 of 30 recommendation before it comes back to Council? Council Member Kou: Absolutely. Commissioner Lee: Especially if there is a HSRAP component. Council Member Kou: I mean it would be a good idea if – to have your involvement as well. Commissioner Lee: Right, appreciate that. Council Member Kou: Right and I think the Youth Council is going to be very interested also so there’s quite a number of Committees that would be interested in advancing this. The City School Liaison Committee is also going to be involved also. This is where we have a connection of giving updates to the school side so we have two Board of Trustee Members that sit on that. We update on these kinds of things and also ask for their contributions to how we might step forward and do more. Commissioner Lee: I mean I’ve very thankful for your work with the Youth Council. I mean for on so many different levels it’s very special because the Youth Council was actually formed by this Commission what, 30-years ago and spun off. I, myself, started out on Youth Council in San Jose and so it’s great to see Youth Councils doing more than just programing but really get involved in the issues and policy and so thank you for that. Council Member Kou: And the Youth Council – oh, you’re very welcome. I – the teens do most of it so I’m just there to learn from them and also to give guidance if they need any. It’s a group that is lead by themselves so they’re very – they’re great. As a matter of fact, tonight is the last night, they actually put together an event because mental health is one of their priorities. They’ve actually put together a series of – gosh, the name is very long. It’s called Study Cram… Ms. O’Kane: It’s the Cram Slam. Council Member Kou: Cram Slam Study but it’s 3-nights long and it’s to help their peers to have a nice place to come and study and take some stress off where they can go and play with dogs; animals. Then another night it was making stress balls and then I forget what tonight is. They’re – I went yesterday and there were about 83 kids there, the night before there was also around between 70 and 80. I haven’t gotten the count tonight yet so it’s quite a large group. So, they’re doing a lot of good things to help their peers. Let me see here, also we finally managed to pass our Urgency Ordinance in order to close up some loopholes that might have come out through the Assembly Bill 1483. It takes effect in January 1, 2020, however without this ordinance evictions could take place and it could to go to court. So, the ordinance actually applies to tenancies where the tenant remains in possession of their home and the eviction lawsuit if it has not gone to court yet. So, it helps them through that process and that was the most important, especially with the holidays coming up. We certainly don’t want them to be stressed out looking for something else or out without a home. Besides that, I think that’s… Commissioner Lee: Are there any updates on the safe parking? ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 19 of 30 Council Member Kou: Oh, thank you very much for bringing that up. Safe parking, Council has sent it to Policy and Services. So, it did come through Policy and Services but the only thing that we were able to push through was the what they call Tier One. There’re some of the churches have actually self-identified and volunteered and are willing to have RVs or vehicles in their parking lots. We don’t have an ordinance to say how many but at this point the churches are all willing to take up to four vehicles. So Policy and Services have said ok to that and is recommending it to Council. So, it’s going to come back probably sometime in January to Council for that first Tier. The rest of the Tiers we’re still working through it and still going to have to come back to Policy and Services to work out. I would love for your advocacy on the other tiers. Commissioner Regehr: I would love to be part of that because I’ve already talked to some minsters that are wanting to do that and quite a few of the ones that do the Hotel Zink, they’re a little bit more willing. Council Member Kou: Well, I mean the main thing to ensure that there is enough communication and we don’t want to put the church in a difficult position with their neighbors. So, it’s something that we’re trying to see how they would conduct their outreach. Commissioner Regehr: Is there any thought one or at some point can you come and give a talk – I mean more on that at some point? Council Member Kou: More on? Commissioner Regehr: On the safe parking or could we have a subcommittee or something that we would meet no, I mean to work with you on. Council Member Kou: I can come and give a briefing so everybody knows about what we’re trying to do but the other two items are still going through the process with Policy and Services so I could give you an update on to see where that is. I might have to ask staff to help me with that. Commissioner Regehr: Because I was wondering, one of the things that I’ve heard is that sometimes there’s different needs if it’s families or if it’s just women. A lot of women find that being in their car would rather have a group who are just women parking together. Particular – and I was wondering if… Council Member Kou: See what we’re doing is we’re going to be working through – I don’t know if I want to say contractor but they’re the organizations out there who have experience in this line of work. They have already received funding through county or through whichever other organizations that they do get it. We would be contracting with them to do that and if it’s something that you want to learn more about how they do it, I can certainly try to see if we can get those organizations to help answer some questions or provide a little bit more view of what they do. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 20 of 30 Commissioner Regehr: Because one idea that I was thinking is to when we hold meetings, to have maybe one on just housing for example and we could have just different people – I mean we had it sort of but now Catholic Charities are working at Avenidas to match people with homes and rooms. I’m just having a whole variety of what our community does to offer and that could be one component. We could have that and like a study session sort of like what our community offers. Council Member Kou: I think on that it’s something maybe the HRC would want to discuss through your retreat and set up of what you want to see with Mary and Minka. Then through that have… Chair Kralik: Match it with some of the initiatives we have in our Work Plan and find the support and then discuss with staff what the topic would be and how to begin the process with the different boxes of discussion, education, etc. So, that’s good. That’s wonderful news, I just want to say that it wasn’t lost on me that you’ve been working on vaping for quite some time and I appreciate that. Other Council Members have said that and it’s wonderful that we were not speaking in a vacuum. That’s a major change that will benefit our kids and we really appreciate what you’re doing. Thank you. Council Member Kou: Thank you. Commissioner Stinger: (inaudible)(crosstalk) Chair Kralik: Staff Liaison report from Mary Constantino. You have something? Commissioner Stinger: I just wanted to add a comment, if I could and it was respond… Chair Kralik: Please. Commissioner Stinger: …or in thought to the vaping starting in 2000 – your initiative started in 2016 or 2-years? Council Member Kou: It was just basically bringing it to the attention of the youth and as another item, for them to consider whether they wanted to take it on or not. They very enthusiastically took it on. Commissioner Stinger: The thought process I went through was our work with the LGBTQ community has years of history. Sometimes it takes a while to get to result and the other comment that I wanted to make was I was a judge today for civics projects at a program called Generation Citizen. It was mostly 7th graders and some of their vaping proposals were so sophisticated that I have no reservations about leaving our solutions to the Youth Council. Chair Kralik: Great. Commissioner Stinger: They were brilliant. They weren’t just cute, they were brilliant. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 21 of 30 3. Staff Liaison Report Chair Kralik: Mary, we’re so pleased that you’re going to provide tonight’s Staff Liaison report. Ms. Constantino: I just have one thing to talk about was we have the holidays coming up and so Minka will be on vacation, I’ll be on vacation from the 23rd all the way until the 6th. Then we’ll be coming back and that day we have to post the agenda. So, what we’ll be hearing tonight we’ll be working on that but if there’s anything else to add let us know ASAP. I mean we’ll be here next week but normally I do it on that Friday before but we’ll be doing it on that Monday which is still 72-hours. So, that’s just all I have to add. Chair Kralik: I guess I meant we had a change with Commissioner Xue leaving us last month. Ms. Constantino: Yes so you normally in January we do elections so… Chair Kralik: Oh, please think about that. It’s my privilege to be the Chair and this is a privilege that should be shared to others. It is really, in some sense, one of those things where I think you learn by doing. We have, including myself, we’ll have three former Chairs so I would highly encourage those who have not served as Chair to think about becoming a Chair. I think that would be something that would allow you to see a little bit more about agendizing things, working with staff, gaining confidence in the good faith of your fellow Commission Members. VI. TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR MEETING: Thursday, January 9, 2019 Chair Kralik: So, tentative agenda for the next regular meeting? Commissioner Regehr: Can I… Chair Kralik: Go ahead. Commissioner Regehr: Oh, I was wondering about sending a letter to replace the other Commissioner. Do you know if that was sent to our City Manager requesting that the City Council… Chair Kralik: I think the City Manager is fully aware and cognizant of the resignation of Commissioner Xue and… Commissioner Regehr: So, did we ask him to report it back to the City Council? Chair Kralik: There is a process. Commissioner Regehr: No, that’s what I – that is the process. I was wondering did we ask… Chair Kralik: I think it’s beginning and it will begin and lead to recruitment. There are two vacancies on our Commission next May so that will also be part of what they’re thinking is. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 22 of 30 Commissioner Lee: Is the current thinking is that they’re going to wait till… Chair Kralik: I don’t know… Commissioner Lee: … the other two seats are… Chair Kralik: …what their thinking is but as soon as I have it I think Staff will report that to you. Ms. Constantino: They have waited in the past so I would imagine that’s what they’re going to do. The Clerk’s Office is the one that handles that. Commissioner Lee: They just went through a series of recruitment, right? Do you have – excuse me – do you have a particular preference whether they wait to fill the vacancy until the other two seats come up or to do it in the interim. Council Member Kou: I mean this is something that the Clerk’s Office handles so I leave it for them to take care – to handle it. Commissioner Lee: Because I’ve heard that they could draw from past applicants, it’s just a matter of whether Council wants to interview just one person. Chair Kralik: They’re not going to do that. That I’ve asked, I’ve asked that already. They’re going to do a whole new recruitment and (inaudible) (crosstalk) Commissioner Savage: I’d like to add one more thing for next month. Chair Kralik: Sure. Commissioner Savage: The election, I’d like to have all the Commissioners present and if anybody knows right now, they’re not going to be there. You’re not going to be there. So, I’d like to let the election slide until February when everybody is here. Chair Kralik: Well I mean that’s something to consider. I do think one absence is not bad. Commissioner Savage: Well, we don’t know if it’s one absence or more. Chair Kralik: There are ways in which we can also get a vote so let’s explore that. I’d like to keep it to January. Commissioner Savage: That’s preferable, but – well, yes. Chair Kralik: I take it as a mediator your interest is in having all members of our Commission vote. Commissioner Savage: That would be nice. Chair Kralik: Ok, alright, I think that’s… ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 23 of 30 Commissioner Regehr: The point of that is that the person cannot be nominated and voted if they’re not present. So, according to our handbook so let’s say, somebody… Chair Kralik: Well, we can ask Valerie, are you interested in running… Commissioner Regehr: No, but that person has to be present at the… Chair Kralik: Yes, but we can ask her. She’s the only absence that we have right now. Is there an issue that you might be running for Chair next time around? Ok. So, I think as long as we can get the vote I think we’ll be in good shape. Ms. O’Kane: If I could add something, Chair? I do know the vote would need to be unanimous by – I believe that’s what – because you would have to… Chair Kralik: It’s usually – unanimous if we’re going to…? Ms. O’Kane: Because you’d have a reduced number of Commissioner presence for the Chair and Vice-Chair. Chair Kralik: Ok, education on that is much appreciated. Commissioner Lee: I think we need four votes… Commissioner Regehr: Four, four. Commissioner Lee: … for the election. Ms. O’Kane: I believe Minka said there would only be four people here. Ms. Constantino: I think there was someone else (inaudible) Commissioner Lee: Cause we’re down to six and then five. Ms. O’Kane: But I believe Minka said there would only be four total here in January. (crosstalk) Commissioner Lee: Unless there’s someone else might be absent. Ms. O’Kane: So, maybe Commissioner Smith won’t be here as well and in which case you would need a unanimous vote. Yes, we – it’s something to consider. Commissioner Lee: For other agenda items I’d like to request that we add the – I would guess that there’s sort of a 75 percent chance that we could weigh in on the Tier One safe parking. I mean I doubt Council will see it on the 6th, they might. If not, then we have our meeting is timed such that we could endorse it before the 13th or the 20th or maybe they’ll see in February. Chair Kralik: What are we endorsing? ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 24 of 30 Commissioner Lee: The safe parking Tier One program that Policy and Services is referring to Council. So, if we could have a presentation on that and action for the Council – so the Commission can consider endorsing that. Chair Kralik: I mean I think some of this you have to do in scheduling and the safe parking is that on the agenda in terms of our initiatives? Commissioner Lee: It’s under homelessness so it would fall under the homelessness Work Plan. Chair Kralik: Ok and so who is your second on that? Is that Commissioner Regehr? Commissioner Lee: That’s Commissioner Regehr. Chair Kralik: Ok and so I think at that point it’s up to you guys to work with staff to try to line up the speaker. Commissioner Lee: Ok. Chair Kralik: Ok, that’s fine. Commissioner Lee: The other one would be the – again, this is also on the Work Plan would be for the endorsing the CIPs and that would be Commissioner Regehr and myself for the Parks and Rec item on our Work Plan. Chair Kralik: Ok, same process. Commissioner Lee: Same process. Chair Kralik: Same… Commissioner Lee: Just giving you a heads up just so that staff knows… Chair Kralik: Sure. Commissioner Lee: … that those were two items. Ms. O’Kane: Are you saying for January? Commissioner Lee: Well the Tier One would be needed to be done in January. The CIP one we could conceivably do in February. Chair Kralik: Ok. Ms. O’Kane: Right because it’s not going to be ready in January, the CIPs. (crosstalk) Chair Kralik: Alright, any other ones? Commissioner… ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 25 of 30 Commissioner Lee: So, when would be the best time for us to endorse a CIP? Ms. O’Kane: When it goes to the Finance Committee. Commissioner Lee: And so that would be in April? Ms. O’Kane: April. Chair Kralik: Ok, so March probably. Chair Kralik: Commissioner Stinger has her light on. Commissioner Stinger: I had a question. There’s not much time between the 6th and the 10th. Could we consider having the HRC on the third Thursday? Commissioner Regehr: Would you be able to make it then? Commissioner Stinger: That would probably require a vote in the next couple days. Chair Kralik: Can the vote be taken by poll on electronic means like we did with… Ms. Constantino: Yes, that’s what we’ve done in the past. Chair Kralik: That would be great. Ok, let’s do that. Ms. Regehr: Well, would you have to work to see if the AV people are available that Thursday? Ms. Constantino: I’ll have to check on that too. Commissioner Stinger: And the room. Ms. Constantino: Yes, the room and there’s a lot of logistics about changing it but we’ll work on it. Commissioner Stinger: That has not been successful in the past. Commissioner Lee: I would also like to agendize – this is not on the Work Plan, agendize a discussion on Downtown Streets Team. I think we are all aware of the press item that came out the other day and so I think it’s important for us to discuss… Chair Kralik: Well, let me just say that at the present time staff is pursuing follow up on that. I got an email from staff about… Commissioner Lee: And Kristen. Chair Kralik: Right, (crosstalk) about doing follow up and I think that’s the key aspect staff ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 26 of 30 needs to be prepared on the issue. So, what I would recommend is that we first hear first from staff, the feedback. The other thing I would say about this issue is that one of the things you did is you forwarded the issue to Council and there’s a certain respect that we have to give to Council on that. If it’s their preference to agendize the item by sending the matter up, now Council’s involved, so I want to take some counsel from staff about how we should be reacting to staff input. Once the staff follows up and gives the input, it’s going to be giving the input to not only our Commission but also to Members of Council. By sending the article, of course, it’s a public article, I think it’s really a preference of staff, of the City Council, if they want to agendize it. So, what we don’t want to do is we don’t want to be in the way and so what I anticipate that there will be seconds if we want to bring that item up but I’d like to hear back from staff first if that’s ok? Do you anticipate that you’ll hear back in the next couple weeks before the January 6th agenda? I imagine so. Ms. O’Kane: I don’t know. I mean it’s a sensitive matter, it involved personal issues, it involves contracts, that is all things that our City Attorney’s Office is looking into… Chair Kralik: Yes and I don’t think we want to get in the way. Ms. O’Kane: … and the City Manager’s Office. Chair Kralik: Once the city steps in I think we have to show deference to our superiors on that one. I think… Commissioner Lee: Well, to be clear… Chair Kralik: What we can do… Commissioner Lee: …Staff is not – I mean we work together, right? Chair Kralik: No, what I’m saying is that the City Council and the City’s Attorney Office is handling this very sensitive matter and we need to show deference. If there is a role for us to play in that I think that we will follow input from staff. They’ve taken the lead on that. Go ahead, please. Council Member Kou: Chair and HRC Commissioners, so the Mayor has been in contact with the Board of Director Chair, Mr. Owen Bird. So, they are in communication and they’re working it through. As Kristen and the Chair had said there is personnel involved in this and we have to be very cognizant of that and respectful of it as well. We don’t know what kind of legal concerns there are on the other side and we certainly don’t want to get involved and cause any issues. There is discussion going on between the Mayor and the organization and also with the attorneys. So, with the City Attorney involved as well as staff, so at this time I’m just going to ask that we let our City Official, the Mayor, and staff, handle it until… Chair Kralik: I think you got to show difference in a very sensitive situation like this. I agree 100 percent. Council Member Kou: I don’t think… ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 27 of 30 Chair Kralik: Any other thoughts from the… Commissioner Regehr: Well, I just want to… Commissioner Lee: I just wanted to get a timely update. I mean I don’t want 6-months to pass and the items been dropped, or we haven’t been… Chair Kralik: Well, that’s the thing you just got a timely update. The Mayor is… Commissioner Lee: So, I appreciate that update. I mean my concern again is that the city has budgeted half a million dollars for this organization, a big piece of that has come from recommendations that this Commission has made. Chair Kralik: I feel your sensitivity, right? Commissioner Lee: So, I’m fine with waiting for action… Chair Kralik: Yes, your sensitive, because you voted in favor of funding an organization and the bad press, has come out and you’re sensitive. Commissioner Lee: As long as someone is working on it… Chair Kralik: …and so we got it. Commissioner Lee: …that’s fine. Chair Kralik: If the Mayor is working on it, I think we’ve got our message to Garcia. Commissioner Lee: Ok, great. Chair Kralik: So, I think we’ve got it. Commissioner Regehr: So, are we done with this agenda item? Chair Kralik: If you have another agenda item, go right ahead. Commissioner Regehr: Oh, I didn’t have any agenda… Commissioner Stinger: I just wanted to make a comment that our timing also needs to be cognizant of the holiday. There’s not much that can happen. I mean we don’t have 4-weeks between now and the next HRC meeting. Its maybe 5-work days. Chair Kralik: Right, right and on this meeting, Abigail’s finished her math homework so pretty soon either I’m going to have a heavy bill at Baskin Robins or it’s going to… ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 28 of 30 Commissioner Regehr: I wanted to, as an agenda item, two things. One is that I thought that we should talk about process and because I think just as an organization like process like not cleaning up our house, but I think that we should discuss maybe you could – process. I mean I think… Chair Kralik: There’s a couple things. One of the things about process is there is an initiative on processes at our Commission and it’s led by Commissioner Stinger and Commissioner Savage. So, what I would say to you is if you would like to do that idea I would have that discussion with them and anything that you Commissioner Savage and Commissioner Stinger raise as part of your initiatives… Commissioner Savage: What Committee is this? Commissioner Regehr: Yes. Chair Kralik: It’s in the Work Plan. Commissioner Regehr: Well, let me just say is that I think that it’s very clear the rolls of different parts in our handbook. Maybe I should drop it but I just think before we vote on a new Chair and we should go over what those responsibilities are and have a discussion on that. Not… Chair Kralik: If I can just sit with you and staff and do that but I’m pretty sure that there is an initiative on process. Commissioner Regehr: That’s a whole initiative, I mean in our handbook there’s about… Chair Kralik: No, I’m talking about our Work Plan. Commissioner Regehr: Ok, well then, I’ll drop that one but the other things that’s happening is I was approached by the League of Women Voters and she’s concerned that a lot of people in our area doesn’t know that we’re not being able to vote by mail. It’s going to be all – we’re not having voting polls. Chair Kralik: Ok, is there a Work Plan item on voting? I thought there was a get the vote something or other. Commissioner Stinger: That was the Census. Chair Kralik: Census. Commissioner Regehr: Census Count. Chair Kralik: Ok, so we didn’t have anything on voting? Commissioner Stinger: No. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 29 of 30 Chair Kralik: Ok so we have to change the Work Plan if we’re going to add that. Commissioner Regehr: Well, to be clear we didn’t have anything on vaping either. Commissioner Stinger: No, we did. Commissioner Regehr: Did we? Ok. Chair Kralik: Yes, I was very specific. Commissioner Regehr: So, well, we’ll just skip that. She just wanted to come speak on letting the community know about the rights of voting and… Chair Kralik: We’re open to that and I think what we’ll do is try to see if staff can connect the person in a timely manner. It might not be January. Commissioner Regehr: Well our voting is – when is it? We vote in March so. Chair Kralik: Ok so it won’t be January but it might be February. Commissioner Regehr: That’d be fine. I just thought I’d throw it out that I was approached because she just thought it’d be important for people to know that our election is up. Chair Kralik: Ok, thank you. Commissioner Regehr: So, if it’s March and we have to have a meeting and then we vote the next meeting, right? Isn’t that what… Chair Kralik: Well, it depends and I mean I’m not sure what we’re voting on but… Commissioner Regehr: Because March is Mental Health Month and I’d like to have a plan on what we’re going to do as a group. Chair Kralik: I know you’re on a mental health initiative and what we can do there is we can work with Staff to agendize something on a calendar basis. So, the Work Plan I think governs this and I think we’ll be ok. Commissioner Regehr: So, I’d like that on so we can discuss what we’re going to do about mental health month. Chair Kralik: Ok. Commissioner Regehr: Is that clear, Gabe? Chair Kralik: I think we can. We might not want to (crosstalk) – yes, I’m not sure we want to agendize it or we want to meet with staff. I think it would be better to meet with staff. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 30 of 30 Commissioner Regehr: But we can’t vote on some – we need to vote, I’d like to vote on what the… Chair Kralik: We don’t need to vote to bring an agenda item up, you just need two people. Commissioner Regehr: What I’m saying is I’d like it on the agenda in January to have a plan. Commissioner Stinger: (inaudible -off mic) Commissioner Regehr: Right, that’s – so you’re… Chair Kralik: Yes, we have the elections in January. We got a lot of things going on here. Commissioner Stinger: Its leaderships call when… Chair Kralik: Yes, I think I would do it more timely to the election itself but guess what, I won’t be in leadership at that time. I’m hoping that someone else might be who has not done that and that might help you move that along. Good. You have something Commissioner Stinger? Commissioner Stinger: If we meet the third week in January, I’d like to talk about our schedule for retreats and how that dovetails with the elections of officers. Chair Kralik: Right, right, yes to make it more constant with the election of officers. I agree. Ok, I can second that one. I think that’s part of the process one. We’re focused on Item Seven which is adjournment. Without any objection, we’ll adjourn the meeting at 8:24. Thank you so much, guys. VII. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 8:24 p.m.