City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone and welcome to the special city council meeting for November 12th, 2025. We have a quorum so we can begin the meeting. Can I get a roll call, please? Council member Maloney present. Vice Mayor Pearson present. Council member Mendoza here. Council member Orlemans here. Mayor Meyer

here. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. The public comment time for tonight's items will be three minutes each. In order to ensure that all speakers feel welcome to share their views, members of the audience are kindly requested to refrain from applauding or speaking to the council from the audience without being called upon first.

At this time, members are of the audience are permitted to address the city council on items that are listed on the close session agenda. I have not received any speaker cards for public comment at this time. If there's any members on Zoom that would like to speak, you can raise your hand now. And I have no hands raised in Zoom. I've received two speaker cards, but I have no one here in person. Would you like me to read the names?

Yes. Rich Ramirez. Rich.

How much time do I have? You have three minutes, sir.

All right. My name is Rich RmIrez. I'm the oldest of three kids of Yolanda and Rudy RmIrez. My mom would still be alive if [clears throat] my mom's sister Sylvia never called the police. Shame. My mom would still be alive if Officer Peachman and the unidentified female officer were to treat the 72year-old senior citizen with dignity and respect. But these officers failed their own department's mission statement, which is to protect and enhance the quality of life in our Brentwood community through uncompromised dedication, professionalism, and integrity. shame. The police department made no public announcement about the September 26th incident until 36 days later, only due to public outcry because of the media exposure. Shame. This bogus statement is full of contradictions. Number one, the police placed my mom under citizen's arrest at the request of a family member. This is a lie. Sylvia made a statement on two different news investigative reports that she did not request a citizen's arrest nor wanted my mom arrested. Shame. My 72-year-old mom attempted to flee police when they arrived on scene. This is a lie. Neighbors witnessed my mom speaking to the female officer. Sylvia showed a video of my mom sitting in the passenger seat of her SUV speaking to the female officer for several minutes. Shame. Police officers immediately contacted medical personnel after noticing my mom having a medical emergency. This is a lie. Neighbors witnessed my mom in the backseat of the police phys vehicle unattended for about 30 minutes until one of the male officers went to check on my mom, then returned to a group of other officers. This group went to check on my mom. At that point, it appeared that the ambulance was called. Shame. Several days after the police were notified that my mom's condition had

worsened. First, this sounds like a HIPPO violation. Second, my mom's condition was worse. It was going to get when she was aggressively forced into the backseat of the police vehicle. My mom never gained consciousness. Neighbors witnessed medical and police personnel, pulling my mom from the back seat, then carrying her unconscious body to the ambulance. Shame. The DA initiated independent investigation into the incident. The DA investigator arrived at the hospital in solidarity with the Brentwood police uh detective in the late afternoon of October 2nd. An investigator hired by a lawyer first to speak to many of the neighbors that witnessed this troubling and disturbing police encounter. Uh this does not appear to be an independent nor competent investigation. Shame. The community is losing trust. The city is digging themselves in a bigger hole. What happened to my mom is wrong. Should have never happened. I'm looking to you as leaders of our community to do the right thing, even if it's unpopular within your own ranks. My mom should be alive. The community wants answers, wants transparency, wants accountability. The next speakers are Rudy, followed by Maria, followed by TJ.

Uh, thank you for allowing me to speak. Uh, I lost my wife of 54 years and for what seems to be just an argument, verbal argument with her sister. Uh, I believe according to some of the videos I've seen that she was brutalized for no reason. She had a sciatic problem. She had trouble getting up and down without being handcuffed. They made her kneel on the concrete with her hands handcuffed behind her back and I guess she was not responding quick enough to the officer's demands. He may have gotten frustrated. I don't know. I wasn't there. I just hear what the witnesses have said. Uh she's the lifelong resident of Brentwood. Been here 72 years. 72 years. Our family's been here 76 years. And and this is just a a crazy thing. Uh I was lucky that the day before this incident happened, she came walking down the hallway and I told her, "Babe, you know what? I don't think we've hugged in a while. Come over here." So we hugged and it felt good. So we the next day we were having coffee which was the 26th when this incident happened. We were sitting on the couch having coffee and uh we were talking about the day and she says I'll be going to pick up Ruben her brother and uh I'll be back in a bit. I said okay babe. So I went and walked her to the door, kissed and hugged her and that was the last time I saw her alive. Uh, they took this woman from me. They took the mom from my kids. They took their grandmother from our grandkids.

I hope that none of you ever ever have to experience anything like this. I'm a lonely man in the house. Even though my son lives with me, it's it seems too big anymore. It's even worse in bed. I and for what? I I I I don't understand it. Nobody's ever contacted us to explain or or give reasons. It's I don't know if that's that's a way you guys allow the police department to to conduct themselves. So, um, real quick, all of you, whenever you leave your house and you're going to leave your wife or your husband or your kids, make sure you hug them. Make sure you kiss them and tell them you love them because you never know what's going to happen. Had I known this was going to happen to my wife, I would have said, "Don't go, babe. Stay right here with me. Please help us do the job that's supposed to be done. Maria, followed by TJ, followed by Becky. Good evening, Madame Mayor, council members. My name is Maria Dominguez, and I'm a resident of Contraosta County. I'm also the president of the East Bay Larasa Lawyers Associations, which represents Alama County and Contraosta County. also uh the California Larasa Lawyers Association president this year. And first of all, I'd like to give my condolences to the um Ramirez family for this um incredible loss and this what seems to me is factually and from everything that we have been seeing in the media and all of the reports, the information that's coming out an injustice.

There's so many unanswered questions. And while you may be thinking, well, this is something to be taken up to the district attorney's office or somebody else, you are the council's uh council members of Brentwood and police is under your your your watch. And it's heartbreaking to me especially to know that Miss Ramirez was a almost 30-year employee of Contraosta Health. That happens to be my employer. And as a public servant working for Contraosta Health, I know that in this county there's a crisis line. There are specific resources that were created in this county to make sure that when there are situations when there may be some disagreements, there may be a situation where the other resources are needed that they can arrive and help law enforcement to make sure that they don't act in a way that escalates the situation. And it's heartbreaking that we continue to see a high number of Latinos in California be disproportionately affected, impacted by police brutality. So, it's really unacceptable that this family has had to wait this long to get answers. It's really unacceptable that us as community members and not receive all of this information about public servants and their behavior. and I will do everything that I can that is coming out from my home and driving and making sure that this room is packed so that we do get answers as a community. And I plead to you that you also seek answers. Seek answers from the city's police department. Seek answers from the county's district attorney's office and also to tap in our California Department of Justice to get the attorney general to do an independent investigation of this and to make sure that people are held accountable.

[clears throat]

Hello. Thank you for listening. First, I'll say that um it's part of your duty to listen to the citizens and and their reaction to these things. I want to say uh um I'm sorry for your loss to the family. It's it's impressive that you could stand here with such dignity and speak about your pain in such a way that I hope that in this beautiful space, you see that the people that brought you their pain, they're respectful and kind and and way better than I could ever be if I was experiencing this myself. To be honest, if any one of you up there has ever lost a human being close to you in your life that you cared about, I hope that you're attached to your heart enough to see and hear the words they're saying and that you're you're reactive tonight and active in the change you can make for the people here for their justice. I have had grandmothers. I looked at her, my grandmother's Mexican. looking at this woman, the pictures of her outside, and I'm just floored, you know, and I' and I can tell you it hurts generations of people when one person's taken out by violence, you know. Um, and uh I I always quote a favorite uh I paraphrase the quote, but I quote a favorite philosopher of mine. He said, "Understanding yourself and understanding others is an act of love." I'll tell you who that is in a minute, okay? But I really want you to connect to the people's stories. are coming in in shock. They're coming in very dignified. And they don't need to be dignified at this point. They could be cussing at you. They could be really angry. And they will have moments like that. And as a human being, I ask that you be connected to their pain because you're going to be anyway. People will come for them to help them. You need to go to the DA and put pressure on the DA. If you know anybody personally in the department, you need to do that, too. I know that that council members have to bond with everybody in the community that they work with on a regular basis, you know, but this sounds really ridiculous that somebody would be put down in front of

neighbors, many witnesses who have not been interviewed. That is shocking to me. It is It is egregious. It's unkind. It's dehumanizing. Is it racist? Maybe. I don't know who this cop was who who hurt her. I don't know what the situation was completely except for everything I've heard sounds like it's deplorably uh out of order. I want you to reach deep inside your heart and connect to everything they're saying to you and do act and react. Right now is an important time. They the family needs closure. They need some form of justice. They're not going to get the justice they really need, which is their grandmother back, their mother back, their sister back, their wife back, you know. So I really respect them to having the dignity to be able to come up here and even speak because I know I wouldn't be able to do that. I'm just saying one thing as a man who's seen this happen in another city where whole families are ruined to understand yourself and others an act of love. That was Mr. Rogers. That's my favorite philosopher today. Thank you. Becky, followed by Melissa, followed by Francisco.

Hi, I'm I'm Becky. I'm Yolanda's daughter. Um, I don't really have anything prepared and I didn't think I'd be able to come up here and speak. We just want to know what happened to my mom. [snorts]

The last time I saw her was Wednesday, and had I had known that was going to be her last The last time I saw her, I would have hugged her tighter. We just want to know what happened to her and why it happened to her just to get some closure because every day everything we're hearing and everything that's coming out is just like a band-aid being ripped off all over again. And we just need to be able to grieve and just to get over it. And well, not get over it. It's never going to be over, but we just need to be able to find out what happened and just have that closure so we can officially grieve and just [snorts] not have to worry about what's coming out more. Um, especially with the the body cam and the dash cam. If at all possible, I think we'd like to see that first before it's out open to the public so that way we know what we're expecting. I don't want to find out when everybody else finds out. We need to know that first because that's that should be our oh words our right. Yeah, that's our right to know what happened to her and we should be able to see that before it's made public to everybody else. Um, yeah, that's that's all I have for you. Thank you.

Hello, I'm uh my name is uh Francisco Ramirez. I'm uh Yolana's middle son. The police and investigators appear to be mishandling this investigation and the opportunity to maintain the community trust. This investigation has a stench that many in the community believes is an attempted cover up. The best disinfected is sunlight. The community and our family demands the following. Number one, assurances that officer Peachman and the unidentified female officer have been removed from active duty pending this investigation. Number two, officer Peachman to resign immediately from the police association president post. That position is for someone that displays true leadership, abides by mission statement of the police department, and knows how to deal with the vulnerable population of our community, which he has obviously failed. Number three, the immediate release of all revalent relevant documents, incident reports, all video footage, including body cameras, dash cameras, and any videos obtained from neighbors and dispatch records related to this incident. Number four, an independent investigation by an outside agency that will remain impartial, transparent, and hold those of wrongdoing accountable. Number five, revaluation of the police policies and procedures of law enforcement interaction with non-violent incidents pertaining to the vulnerable population in our community. It is obvious that training is needed for some law enforcement officials even if they have 10 years experience. Also, the police department need to be very transparent with the public from the onset of such incidents to retain the community trust which is being lost. This is no justification for the arrest of a senior citizen with no previous criminal record. The two police officers went through all this trouble to arrest

a 17 a 72year-old woman just to downgrade the encounter to a detainment. Why? It makes no sense. Shame. Justice for Yolanda.

Melissa, followed by Sarah, followed by Paul. My name is Melissa N. I'm the attorney for the family. This is the first time in a dozen years of doing exclusively police misconduct and wrongful death cases that I've ever had something that I had to investigate. Normally when a person dies in any other jurisdiction, any other city, any other county, and all across the country, there's some sort of a press release, a statement. The families provided some information about what happened to their loved one. They were told nothing. They were told that when they asked questions at the hospital, the officer told them, "Will you tell us what happened as they had not had her in handcuffs in the back of the car unconscious?" So when the family came in, they were just desperate for answers to find out what happened. That's not normal. That's not typical. That's not the policy of any other city in the state of California. So, I did the typical thing that you would do. I contacted the the interim chief of police. I contacted the district attorney's office. Only through contract contacting the district attorney's office did I find out that they were investigating this for potential criminal charges against the officers. Well, what happened? That there may be criminal charges and nobody will tell us what happened. And so, the chief called me on the phone. He was pleasant enough, but he told me he couldn't tell me anything. And so, I gave him fair warning. I said, "If you can't tell us anything weeks after this has happened, then I will have to investigate. I will have to hire an investigator." And I used to be a police officer. So, I'm very, very good at what I do. And so, I hired a private investigator who came out and knocked on the doors of the people that witnessed it. There's 12 of them, 12 separate individuals who stood out with their mouths dropped open watching an elderly person being abused by the police. They all came forward. Even more people came forward after this the city put out a a press statement that was untrue. But what hasn't happened is that the police department hasn't knocked on those doors, hasn't talked to those witnesses. The district attorney hasn't talked to those witnesses. Nobody has talked to any of them besides my investigator.

Wouldn't you guys want to know what I know? Right? That's not supposed to happen. Something has failed in this city. Something has failed in this police department. I don't know if it's leadership. I don't know if it's training. I don't know if it's policies. But this can't happen. An elderly woman can't be thrown into a police car like a bag of potatoes, physically injured, treated like a gang member, forced down onto her knees, handcuffed so tightly that it dug the skin open on her hands through pure neglect. And the family not told anything, that she laid in the car unconscious for God knows how long. Witnesses say 20, 30 minutes before they took her out unconscious. She didn't get worse later on. She was covered in vomit and unconscious. She never woke up. She never woke up. The family had the right to know what happened. They should have given them some overview. The community had the right to know. It shouldn't have been me filing a claim and the media getting involved five weeks later for the city to say something about an elderly woman who's lived here her whole life that died in custody. They deserved better. She deserved better. This community deserved better. And I guarantee you if this was somebody in a Mercedes-Benz in a million-dollar home and it was a white woman, this would not have happened. I think we all know that. She deserved the same treatment.

The speaker's timer has expired. The next speaker is Sarah. Hello everyone. It is my first time here. However, my experience already was super annoying. Don't let this be a sign of what's next. You have a table out front of people who work for the city running interference for public comment on a closed session. Not cool. Um, I spent 10 minutes with them. Um, and it was like, well, her you can turn a paper and not. Luckily, we were outside when we heard the speaker say that, oh, and now it's time for public comment. and then we were able to come in. So, I just don't want that to be Well, it is a sign of what's to come, right? If you're running interference, so what is it, right? Is it that because there's so many people out there? Is it because there's so many brown people out there? Um, what is the situation? um you're going to want to create a true connection with the police department because the silence of deaths in police custody is just not acceptable and can wreak of cover up, right? Um think about who your allegiance is and your respect is owed to. Um this kind of thing will keep happening in a cycle of blind allegiance instead of actual equal parts police, city government, and the people that you all serve. And if it was the head of the police officers union, that should remind you to create spaces for police accountability, a crisis response team. Why was the police even there? You can tell me excuses all day. Um, the most important thing is is that just being human, just being outside of a family member's house

doesn't require necessarily a police officer. Now, so much I could say. They have some things they could be doing, but attending to those kinds of things. If someone is in a crisis or if there's some kind of dispute like that, if it was at all, you should have something in place. Also, um the DA has something to say about the fact that many of the people who were witnessing this didn't get interviewed by the DA at all. Like, I would be sick to my stomach if I was in your position. and this was happening in my city. But then I think like wait, you all know this happens anyway and you're still in your role and there was still a significant amount of silence. I understand that with litigation there's only so much you can say, but it's the same playbook all of the time. I'll I'll yield uh my time. The next speakers are Paul, followed by Katherine, followed by Francis.

Uh, good evening. I want to first of all want to give a shout out honor to all veterans everywhere, especially my brother Rudy, a Vietnam veteran, and also my father. And also my father, Pablo Ramirez, World War II decorated uh combat veteran. It's good to see you all in one place because all of the players involved with this incident after that killing are in this room, the city attorney, city manager, assistant city manager, the mayor and council. When did you guys hear about this incident? one day after it happened, 3 days after it happened, four days, 5 days, because it was 5 weeks that went by without anything from the city of Brentwood. While a while a while a family has been tortured with anguish. [clears throat] This tragedy is so so horrific. And as my brother says, there was no need for it. It was unnecessary. Now, maybe you as a city manager, city attorney, this guy's a president of the of the police union. Does that have anything to do with it? Why would a 72-y old elderly senior citizen need six cops, five cops? Witnesses said there were six police cars. And you guys know, the city manager knows, the city attorney knows, all of you know. And this is about circulating the wagons because that's what you do. But you know what? You're going to be

remembered as a city council, the city attorney, city manager, and assistant city manager of this tainted stain on the city of Brentwood. They're going to know that you were the city council, that you were the city attorney, and they should know that. You go apply for another job. I hope this is on your resume because what I'm telling you this is that it was absolutely unnecessary. And as being the president of that policeman's union, you guys negotiate, and I hate to say it, I know police uh union presidents are in bed with the employer. That's how you get things negotiated. That's who you work for to get a labor contract. You scratch his back, he scratches your back. One last thing I'm going to say. Was the tow truck called to that scene before the ambulance was called? And you know, thank you.

Good evening. My name is Katherine Wade. And when I heard about this incident, it was such a trigger to me. Me being a mother of a son who was brutalized for many years from Antioch Police Department and nobody listened to me. I mean, going down up and down the chain of command from city city council, city managers, uh, DAS, attorney general writing me back saying he doesn't investigate individual police claims and it came out in the text message about my son. So [snorts] me being a person for years, going to city council, going to the police department, trying to request police reports and trying to get the city council and everybody to get on board about what they were doing to my son. It wasn't enough. [gasps] And I couldn't call nobody. Just like the Ramirez family, they couldn't call nobody when their family member, their wife, their mother, their sisters, their grandmother was attacked by the police. You couldn't call the police cuz they were the ones doing it. And because they're the ones doing it, they have so much protection. But I come here today and ask you, the city manager, because you oversee the corruption and the complaints from the polices to do your job. We have a 72y old wife, mother, grandmother that shouldn't have have been treated that way and lost her life at the hands of the police. This is not something that happened randomly in the streets or something happened at another just unusual incident. This happened from the police. [snorts] Take their protection away and do the right thing and give this family the justice they deser deserve and the

information they deserve. I went around for years and God put a light in my head. He said, "Go get the medical records." Because the medical records, the EMT records, that's the first contact. They do have notations from the police. And when all this stuff was going on with my son, emails, those officers email each other. They talk to each other, communicate with themselves and with you guys. So, I asked the attorney that I know Melissa Noah is going to do her job to get all this information to seal all the gaps that the family need to find out what happened to their loved one and the things that are in there that are not correct. Defamation to rebuke that Yolanda Ramirez was a human being. She shouldn't have been treated like some body on parole or a street criminal. She should have been treated like a 70s something year old citizen and she wasn't. And I'm here today to say justice for Yolanda Ramirez.

The next speakers are Francis, followed by Mary, followed by Robert. Okay. So, we're all here. Some of you listening, some of you not. We don't want to be here. You don't want to have to listen to all of this. How sad that you have to. We're We would much rather be home with our loved ones, my my brother and his wife sitting watching TV, their kids, with their families. That's what we would rather be doing than be here. and it's sad that we have to be here asking for your help. Okay. So, according to the city attorney, Katherine Wisinski, Officer Peachman followed protocol and procedure during the altercation. And yet, it ended in the death of my sister-in-law, Yolanda. Why did it happen? It should not have happened. And it scares me to think that police following protocol and procedure may end in the death because it has. Also, when the Brenwood PD finally got out their report, so many inconsistencies. First, was it an arrest or was it a detainment? When my brother and nephew went to the police station asking for the police record, they were told, "Hey, we have no report." No, we have nothing. nothing. A woman died in police custody and there was no report. So, who's telling the truth? In the police report, it said she was arrested. It was a citizen's arrest. So, what was

it? Was it detainment or was it a citizen's arrest? We don't know. The report also says that Yolanda attempted to flee. It shows that she went around to the driver's side and immediately an officer started running like she was going to outrun him or what? She was probably going to the car to call her husband to say, "Hun, babe, I'm here. The police are here." so that he could go help her. That's what she was trying to do. But what happened? All of a sudden, she's on her knees with handcuffs on her. And I know, knowing my my sister-in-law, I know that she told the officers, "I just want to call my husband." I know she told them that, but they weren't listening because she was trying to get away. According to the police report, Yolanda was secured in the car and officers saw she was having medical issues and immediately contacted the med medical person, the EMT. Eyewitnesses, and not just one, eyewitnesses saw two policemen aggressively putting Yolanda in the car, knocking her head against the

The speaker's time has expired. The next speaker is Mary. I'm also a sister-in-law of Yolanda Ramirez. I have a few questions. Why were the police called to Sylvia's Sylvia Booa's house initially. What was the nature of that call? Did the officer ask to speak to Reuben, Yolanda, and Sylvia's brother? Why was Yolanda handcuffed? Why was she forced to her knees on the sidewalk? Why were Yolanda's vehicles and purse searched? Why was she left in the back of the police cruiser? How long was she left back there? Why were there six other patrol cars sent to the scene? Why did the officer not mention to the EMTs that Yolanda had a possible head injury? Why were her husband and son not told that she had been detained and sent by ambulance to the hospital? Was she arrested or was she detained? Why did the officer go to the hospital to try to get information about Yolanda from her family while they were there in ICU? Is there an official report about what happened that day? Why did it take over a month for the police to put out a report of that incident? Why was the report not published in the newspaper? Why was it only on Facebook? Why were the handcuffs not secured

properly, causing them to tighten on her wrist, resulting in cuts and bruises? Why did Yolanda's sister Sylvia say she did not sign a citizen's arrest form? If Sylvia requested a citizen's arrest, why did she say that she never did that and she did not want her sister arrested? Where was their brother Reuben during all this time? He was a witness. Why did all the neighbors basically have the same observation of the incident when they didn't get together and conspire against the police? Why did Officer Peachman feel he needed to use excessive force on a 72year-old woman? Is officer Peachman on administrative leave? Is officer Peachman on the federal Brady list? Why is the Brentwood Police Department out of compliance with the federal Brady law? We want transparency. We're not going to stop until we find out exactly what happened, however long it's going to take. Yolanda Ramirez died while in custody of the Brentwood police. What happened to Yolanda Ramirez? The next speaker is Robert, followed by Gavin, followed by Gregory. [snorts]

Yes. Good evening, city council and city officials. Uh my name is Robert Hans and uh our son Andrew Kinto was killed by Antioch police while suffering a mental health emergency in December 2020. Uh we've been through this for the past 5 years and I want to share some of our experiences because I think now you may be going through this for uh 5 years. Those of you that remain in positions and so you're at a critical decision point. You are elected leaders for the population that you're supposed to serve. And now you're at a point where you must decide if you take the peoples who you were elected to serve their interest at heart or you continue with what is usually expedient and usually usually what happens is there's a cover up. There's an attempt to avoid accountability. There's an attempt to not change because politics demand that the most powerful that you please the most powerful usually but you were elected to represent the entire community. Um this won't be easy for Brentwood. I think what begins here uh the killing of a grandmother and cover up after that is should not make it easy. And if it was easy for Brentwood then we have even bigger problems. Leadership demands courage to represent the people you were elected uh to represent. And that means accountability and transparency in the killing of Grandma Yolanda. You need you need to demand accountability and restore the community's trust in you. I can hear in the room. You need to restore that trust and courage is what we need from you. You are at a at a major decision point. The case may take years. Some of you may lose your positions.

Some of you may have jobs in other cities by the time this is done. But I encourage you to look beyond that and look at your role and what you're supposed to do. You have an opportunity here also for change that is necessary and required. Whether that be training, programs, accountability, programs to deal with mental health crisis, programs to deal with this that doesn't involve force. You don't need to use force with a 72-year-old woman who's a grandma who's done nothing illegal in her entire life. And I trust you. Good evening, Brentwood City Council. For those who may not know me, I'm Gavin Payton. I am the president of the East County NAACP Youth Council and I am here to stand with the family because it's time and time again that we face the same issue, the same problem and still it's not just a Brentwood problem. It's a country problem. It's not just an anti problem. It's a country problem. It's not just a Pittsburgh problem. It's a country problem that we keep facing and facing time and time again. And we're just wondering when is it going to be enough because we're tired of being sick and tired. We keep expressing throughout the country time and time again that we're tired of being sick and tired. You must be tired and sick and tired of

hearing the same thing on the news here at your city councils. But when is it going to be enough? I don't know. But you know, when people speak out, they love to silence the voices of young people. If you don't believe me, if you don't believe what I'm saying, they silence people like I'm okay. They silence Malcolm X. They silence Huey Pew Newton. You silence another voice, a elder in a community, a grandmother, a mother that could have been easily one of your grandmothers or mothers. Did you ever consider that? Did any police officer consider that? I'm not here for the point who point fingers who. It's time for accountability. It's time for a change cuz enough is enough. We're tired of being sick and tired. And we're tired of being walked on and ignored. We're tired of being sick and tired. So when you hear the cries of these people, you're not hearing just the cries. You're hearing your own children's cry. If you have children, you're hearing your mother's cry. We're crying. You're hearing your aunts and uncles cry. You are hearing yourselves cry. But maybe you don't even see yourselves cry. Do you even cry? That's what I'm asking you in your positions, in your seats, because they are crying.

Gregory, followed by Dr. Kimberly Payton, followed by Sylvia

Council. Um, first of all, I want to pay homage to the Ramirez family. It's a I've known Paul Ramirez for many years and was at Dedication Elementary School for their mother. Um, and this family has years of service to this community. When I look amongst the crowd and I'm listening to them, you see a lot of love and compassion. Certainly there's pain and there's anger for what has happened but but there's a lot of love in this room that has brought these people here together to unite on one purpose and one thing I do want to two things speak to one is was alluded to by Gavin was that there is a culture that exists across this country and in the police community and that is if you anger them or do something to that effect to upset them they believe that they have a right to hurt you or kill you. Period. And so we can pass policy, no choke hold, no this and that. It doesn't solve the problem because that that exists and we see it time and time again is that again somebody anger somebody, they frustrate them. They think that they have a right to do that. That's what happened to this 722 year old woman, Yolanda Ramirez. Somehow they frustrate her. So they think they have a right to to do something to her. And the last thing I was going to say is there's a term that's used in police language a lot which is complicit. Complicit if you're complicit in crime. I'm going to suggest to you this is that and I think the truth is going to come out either through litigation or otherwise. You know if they want to be transparent again as everyone has said you could have released the body cam footage a long time ago. There's no desire for transparency but it's going to come out when the truth comes out. If you find out because this had to be co-signed at the top. It's not just the officers that were at the scene

at the top. If they cosign on this, then you need to remove them. You need to remove them because it's a cancer that we cannot allow to exist. Is you cannot allow this to exist in your community where people allow because you're frustrated that I can hurt you or kill you. And that is what's happening right now. Thank you. Good evening, council. Dr. Kimberly Payton, president of the East County NAACP. You know what? As I came tonight, I just couldn't help but feel sorrow for this community and this family. And you, this family does have my true condolences. But I I had this wave of confusion come over me because I'm confused. All of you here must have a 70-year-old member of your family. Your mother, your grandfather, your aunt, your uncle. Heck, just this week we had Veterans Day. This city paid tribute to veterans of foreign wars. Many of them 70 and over. When you were paying tribute, did you see yourself slamming any one of them into cars, giving them head injuries, tightening up cuffs on their wrist till they bleed, leading them to die? Is that what we thought? because if so, I really missed that mark. In case you all have have got in those seats and have removed yourself from what being out here with a citizen means, it means that for many of us as people of color from birth, we learn to fear people in blue just as a reality of life. Right? So, as we're moving through life and get older, the older you get, the more of a sense of relief you feel that you don't have to fear the men in blue. So, I'm asking you, what the hell happened? What happened that this family is sitting here mourning, asking questions

of you, and they can't get those answers? Shame on you for not stepping up to the plate and saying, "You know what? That could be my mother. That could be my grandfather. That could be my grandmother. I have to be the one to speak out and make the difference. I need to be the one to say enough is enough to echo my son that was just here. This is ridiculous. The the what Brentwood is known for, which you must know since you ran for office, pristine hills, lust forest, beautiful greenways, scenic beauty, and now senior killers. Is that what we're doing?

Is that what we want to go down for? I'm imploring you to do the right thing. Thank you,

Sylvia. Congratulations, Brewood. is now on the map

across the country. You are under the microscope. What are they saying about this? The we have shown up practically every TV station, newspapers, my brother and his family have received calls from Alaska, Virginia, Utah, friends, family, strangers, everybody is talking to them because they're feeling their pain. Is this something you're going to be able to bear for the rest of your lives? I grew up in Brentwood. Literally 73 years ago, I was born on Minnesota Avenue. I was always proud to live in Brentwood. Worked the fields like many of us. Attended the schools, worked here for a while, always proud. And my thing was always I gave the police the benefit of the doubts. What am I supposed to tell my children? and my grandchildren. This is going to be part of my my brother's uh history. Now, you know, all they'll be able to do is talk about their wife, talk about their mother, talk about their grandmother. Well, these children, the great grandchildren have lost their great grandmother. And because there's no transparency, the the thing that makes it worse is nobody is giving them answers. I read somewhere in the East Bay Times that police agencies throughout the county voted earlier this year to eliminate the protocol that would allow uh citizens, allow publics access to any police mistreatments, any in in custody deaths, etc. The police agencies voted to eliminate that. So when my brother was

asking questions, when his family was asking for answers, why didn't someone just tell them, "We don't have to tell you. We don't owe you anything. Why didn't they just do that? Instead, they're asking questions. Asking questions. You know how hard it is to be rejected when all you want to know is what has happened to my wife, my mother, my grandmother?" This whole transparency thing just just hits very deeply because there is none. But my brother will have to live with this the rest of his life. And my faith in Brenwood, my faith, city council, my faith in the police department has just gone completely away. Devin.

Yes. Uh good evening. um or not so great evening. Hello everyone uh Brentwood community uh Brentwood City Council and staff. My name is Devin Williams. I am currently the vice chair of the Antioch Oversight for Police Commission. I understand there's a process, but the process now is community showing up and holding everyone accountable. That includes the police department in Brentwood where we have known that there is systemic racism and we know that there is a problem when it comes to our black and brown communities. We have to demand answers and that is not only on the city council but the city manager, the city attorney to release information as to why Yolanda was murdered. I have fought for the last couple years to make sure that this does not continue to happen. Whether it be black people, brown people, white people, Chinese people, Indians in our community, we cannot have our police abuse people in that way or at all. The fact that we have not seen any accountability is unacceptable. I appreciate the community coming out tonight to speak for this and to stand up and the family. I I I appreciate y'all cuz I know this is very hard.

This is not an easy thing to do when there is so much on your heart. I as a community leader for Antioch want to show that I want to show that Antioch has responsibility. Brentwood, Oakley, Pittsburgh, Conquered, all throughout the country, we have a responsibility to hold people accountable when things like this happen. And it is completely Oh, I'm almost almost cussed. I'm sorry. It is completely unacceptable that this would happen to a grandmother, someone who was very vulnerable and at risk for so many other things. And I ask you, Brentwood PD, what the were you thinking when this happened? Why? And excuse my language, but that honestly I saw the video, but this is completely unacceptable. And I hope that I can use my voice and stand on the shoulders of our community members to see why this happened and see it through 100% full. Thank you. The next speaker is Franklin followed by Isabelle. Wow. All right. How y'all doing? It's amazing this crowd behind me.

Justice for Yolanda.

Yeah. Justice for Yolanda. I feel like I never met these the family, Rich and uh Rudy and the family. I'm from Antioch. Um I'm a survivor of police violence out there from 2009. Um I feel like you guys should already know them. If you guys haven't like went down and talked to them, Tony, I know I think they're in your district. What's going on? When did you guys find out about this? I've already met them. Know how long they've been married? What they did in their life? Have you known that already? Have you gone down there? This is supposed to be tight-knit community Brentwood that I hear about out in Antioch. You know when city managers, what are you going to do? Are you going to be part of this uh cover up? Are you going to do the right thing? Are you going to follow blindly what they tell you? Because we we've all seen this before. We already all know. You've heard it. If you guys haven't come out, these guys already are out. The community is here. Are you guys going to follow blindly what they tell you? You should be out there when they were out there speaking. You should be listening to them, getting their questions, and demanding the answers for them. You should go watch that tape, demand to see it right now, and make a judgment before you're caught up in this whirlwind, and you're part of the cover up. This is supposed to be the biggest deal right now. When I learned and heard the story of Rudy, his wife, his marriage, and all these things, man, I was already moved to tears.

Have you guys cried for this family? your city. We going to need to see something serious out of this. You can't just dotle down the little trail with the um police officers association and their BS. They do what's best for them, not the community. You guys need to jump in now full force. You should be demanding these answers. have that courage. I don't know what you've done or what you're doing, but you should be with the family. You should have already met them. You should already know more than me. So, my advice is don't just go along that cover up trail with these guys. Demand answers for the family. Look for yourself and do the right thing. All of you guys, thanks. Isabelle, I would like would like to say thank you for having us here, but I'm not going to say thank you because this is your job. I come from a county that's way bigger than this, dirtier than this. officers who are literal gangs. I come from Santa Clair County. It's not too far from here. So to know that a loved one was hurt in Brentwood count in Brentwood in Coco County, Contra Costa County, a person who was literally rooted here, was born here and gave her blood, sweat, and tears to Brentwood whose family is recognized in this city. It it's just a disgrace to see you all up here. I see some of you listening, but I see some of

you staring into space, looking at your phones, giggling and smiling because you don't want to be here. Yeah. No, y'all need to wake up and y'all need to act better than the sundown county that y'all are. Because in the county I came from, the county I come from, we don't even see any of this because our cops are smarter, smarter than that. Our police officers are smarter than that. And our city people are smarter than that. our district people, they go out to our communities and we have huge communities compared to you guys. So, piggybacking on what previous people have said, there's no reason why you haven't met the RER family personally. There's no reason why you haven't had coffee with them. There's no reason for it. So, I don't understand what Brentwood is doing and why you're covering this up. I I don't get it. I don't get it. You guys are a small small little town. You're not even a city and y'all can't even get your together. Like seriously, I I expected more from from a small county, a small city, a small town, especially coming from where I came from. And I've also had experience with the district attorney out there, the police. The police, oh, trust me, personally and professionally, I've had experience with the police out there. And I can tell you right now that they're dirty. Whether you like to hear it or not, they're dirty. Thank you. I have no additional speaker cards in person. I do have one hand raised in Zoom.

Our typical process is that we don't accept public comments on Zoom. It would be considered the agenda item. Okay. And so for this we would that's fine. Patricia,

good evening [clears throat] community. My name is Patricia Granados. I'm calling from Arizona and it's a damn shame that we lost another community member, a grandmother, a mother, an auntie, a wife. It's been five years since the Antioch police did their or at least got caught up, excuse me. Because what they did was they inflicted violence on our community. And what happens when dirty cops aren't held accountable? They spread like cancer, like rubber bullet cops, like our former former former former police chief Tamney Brooks that bounced to Idaho before the Department of Justice arrived. They arrested one of them in Hawaii. They arrested one of them in Texas. If those officers would have been held accountable and if we were set to a higher standard, then these murders would not be happening in our community. This is corrupt crime. This is nothing new. But what's going to need to happen is our community, unfortunately, we have to keep fighting for each other, for the future of our children, for our community because those dirty cops have retired collecting their pensions, got uh demoted, still have badges. That's the problem. We need the Department of Justice. As a combat veteran, I'm telling you, we need to get the National Guard JAG office, the attorneys. We need military attorneys to do the work so that these

dirty cops stop covering up themselves and their dirt and their corruption because we know that they're not just in the city, they're in the school districts, they're they're across the nation. But love will conquer. Love will conquer and higher standards in our community. It's going to take time, but we're going to do it. Justice for Yolanda Ramirez. Justice for the families. See y'all soon. Let's go. Contraosta County. Thank you. I have no additional hands raised or speaker cards on this item.

Thank you. We are at a point of closing to um adjourning to close session. Thank you all for coming to speak. Uh you have been heard. Um do I have a motion to adjourn to close session? I'll make the motion to adjourn the session. All in favor? I I We are journ session. Thank you.

Good evening. We are reconvening from the um special city council meeting. Um I'd like to read a statement. On behalf of the Brentwood City Council, we want to extend our empathy to the Ramirez family. We also want our community to know that we heard your comments tonight and are committed to transparency and to ensuring that accurate information is shared as we are able to do so. At this time, we are continuing to gather and review information and appreciate the community's patience and understanding as this process continues. Do I have a motion to adjourn close session? So moved. Second.

All in favor? I. We are adjourned from close session. Moving into the regular city council meeting. Um, can we have a quorum? Can we get a roll call, please? Council member Maloney, present. Vice Mayor Pearson, present. Council member Mendoza, here. Council member Orleman here. Mayor Meyer, here. Pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge algiance 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.

Moving into public comments. The public comment time for tonight's items will be three minutes each. In order to ensure that all speakers feel welcome to share their views, members of the audience are kindly requested to refrain from applauding or speaking to the council from the audience without being called upon first. At this time, the public is permitted to address the city council on items that are not on the agenda. Items that are listed underformational reports are on the consent calendar. Requests for future agenda items, new requests, comments for the meetings, detailed agenda items, or business items should be made when those items are called. Please admit your remarks to three minutes. The microphone will be muted when the timer expires. I have one speaker card. Kayen.

Good evening. My name is Kayen Tang and as a junior at Heritage High School, I have been inspired by many programs, but none more than the Heritage Speech and Debate program coached by Mr. Joshua Collie. Our speech and debate gave me a voice and a place to express myself and the chance to achieve. Our 130 member team won more than 40 trophies last season, including national level semi-finalists and 11th place at state. As vice president of the club, I've had the privilege of working with some of the brightest minds I know, making it the most meaningful part of my high school experience. Yet, our success comes at a serious cost. Mr. Collie is our club's only adviser and carries an overwhelming workload. Our team competes in 15 tournaments each year, meaning Mr. Collie gives up 15 weekends annually to support us. The countless hours of work is too much for one person, and our team agreed that a second adviser was needed to share his responsibilities. However, the district has not been able to provide one. One of the remedies we've been offered was to simply go to fewer tournaments. However, doing so would be akin to asking a football team to skip some of their games, and that's not how a competitive program works. In a broader sense, unlike sports teams that are overseen by an athletic director who understands how the teams function, no such position exists for non-athletic competitive teams. It seems that the district has virtually no knowledge on how these teams function, yet they make no effort to find out. As Mr. After colle's exhaustion grew, our team decided that if we could not get a second adviser by the end of this season, then this current season will be our last out of respect for him. While it was a heartbreaking decision to make, it simply is not fair for Mr. Collie to sacrifice so much time, family time due to the inaction of those whose job is to help us. So on June 11th, I joined dozens of my fellow speech and debate students and parents in marching to the Liberty Union High School District board meeting to make our voices heard. Through 11 speeches, we outlined the opportunities our program provides, the toll Mr. Collie's workload has taken on him and the lack of support. We urged the district to make every effort to recruit and fairly compensate a second adviser. We also highlighted the absence of any policy protecting teachers from extreme overworking and the need for a scalable stipen that reflects an adviser's true responsibilities. Now, 5 months after our board meeting visit, absolutely nothing has changed. Our district prides itself in focusing its resources on the achievement of success for all students. Yet, when it came down

to making efforts to support this goal, they haven't been able to deliver. And I feel let down. So tonight, with nowhere else to go and other methods of getting the district to act having been exhausted, I've come here to the city council on my own valition to make my final plea as a member of the heritage speech and debate program that this council and it righteous might do everything in its power to support our students in a way that the district has not been able to bestow. Whatever you can do to compel the district to provide the support that it ought to give, to provide and pay for a second adviser that's not been attained, I respectfully ask that this council do. Whether that be speaking with district leaders directly or by other means that this council by its virtue may utilize. Esteemed council, you and I have a rendevous with destiny. Will preserve for Brentwood's posterity this beacon of opportunity or will let the district sentence them to give their speeches in a classroom where passion is silenced. Speech debate will stay open if you will it to be. And in fact, I invite all of you to come to our meetings at Heritage on Tuesdays at 3:30 to speak with us and Mr. Collie. And I promise you that you'll know what to do. Thank you so much for the privilege of your time.

Mr. Mayor, is it possible I know we can sometimes provide feedback for the city clerk to collect their information and tell them more about our youth commission um and so that they can contact the youth commissioners to find out if there are any type of grant funding or any other funding um for for clubs in the city of Brentwood. Thank you,

Oxana. Uh, good evening, council members and city staff. Um, I'm actually going to be speaking on a different topic later, but I do want to acknowledge the loss of Miss Yolanda's family, and I do pray that they find peace, but I also really want to acknowledge the staff and just this opportunity of the city council to be able to hold space for such tragedy. I know in times like this is a lot of emotions and I just really want to acknowledge how much you guys were able to hold that space for the community. So just wanted to thank you and make a comment on that.

I have no additional speaker cards. Thank you. Moving intoformational reports, we are going to start with our city manager, Harold Duffy. For the record, G. Herald Duffy, um, city manager. Um, I I'm going to defer to the city attorney to be able to provide the comment.

Thank you, mayor and councel. On October 14th, the city council met in close session to consider the settlement and a settlement offer with regard to a violation of certain terms of the city's national pollutant discharge elimination permit. At that time, the council authorized the payment of $84,000 to settle those violations. The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board uh who regulates the permit has accepted that settlement and it has now been invoiced to the city for payment. We are reporting this out um in accordance with the Brown Act and wish to make a statement on the record. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving into consent calendar. Do we have a motion? I make a motion to approve the consent calendar. I'll second. All in favor? I. Consent calendar moves forward. Thank you. Uh item G2, continuence of an ordinance amending title 15 chapters 15.04 and 15.06 06 of the Brentwood web municipal code presented by Alexis Morris, director of community development.

Thank you. Good evening, honorable mayor and council. Uh just briefly, this is an item that council heard at the last October meeting. Um we anticipated that the um Contraosta Fire District would adopt their ordinances that um we are adopting by reference in ours. Their schedule was delayed. So therefore, staff is recommending that we continue this item until the December 9th meeting to give Contraostifier the time to adopt their ordinance before we adopt ours. Any questions for staff? Okay. Any public comments on this item?

So it would be appropriate at this time to take public comments on the continuence only if we have anyone in the audience. Yes. At this time, the public is permitted to address the city council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. I have no speaker cards in person or hands raised in Zoom. Thank you. A motion to uh close public comment. Please make a motion. Second. All in favor? I. Any council discussion? I could make a motion. Okay.

I move to continue the second reading and adoption of ordinance number 1090 to the regular meeting of December 9th to 2025. Second. All in favor? I. This is continued. Thank you. Moving back to item G1. City attorney Katie Wisinski will provide a staff update on this item.

Uh good evening, mayor and councel. Uh item G1 was going to be the introduction and waving of the first reading of an ordinance to amend the city's affordable housing program. Because this is an item that requires a public hearing, a public hearing notice must be provided in advance of that. That public hearing notice did not get out in a timely manner. So this item will come back to the city council, I believe, on December 9th, 2025. So your next regular meeting.

Thank you. Any clarifying questions? Okay, if no questions, uh there's no action to take on this item and we'll move on to the next one. Bear with me just a moment. Okay, item H3. Am I correct in that?

You may just want to make a statement about which items the council has decided to forego hearing this evening. Okay, which will be uh item H1 and item H2. Uh and we are going to move ahead to item H3. Vice Mayor Pearson and Council Member Maloney, please introduce your item.

Thank you, Mayor. Um so this item we're bringing it forward as a communication policy for notification of canceled or changed meetings and any type of critical incidents to um the city council. Currently there isn't anything in writing or anything that per se dictates the actions for any type of communication. So the purpose of this is to establish a standardized communication procedures that ensures timely, accurate and consistent notification to the city council members regarding the cancellation or modification of scheduled meetings and critical incidents involving any city departments including major incidents, emergencies or events involving any city employees that have operational, legal, public safety, reputational or community impact significance. Um, Vice Mayor, do you want to add to that?

No, I think that this um came about I guess we should give a little background. Well, no, I guess we'll stay for discussion. Okay. Um, any clarifying questions from anyone? No. Okay. Opening up public comment period. At this time, the public is permitted to address the city council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please use your hand to speak. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. I have no speaker cards in person and I have no hands raised in Zoom. Moving into discussion,

I wanted to start off by saying why we we think that this is important. There are several times in which there have been critical incidences where there have been um other things that have occurred that the council was not notified of immediately. And so, um, we think that it is imperative that we have some type of process in place for how we're notified about things like critical incidences in in addition to, um, how we're notified about cancellation of meetings. Um, more importantly is if we don't have a process, we have so many employees who get involved in things without having some process in place. It leaves us in a position to um, not be well informed. And we've been elected to be, you know, leaders in this city. And I think if anything, we should be well informed about if there's going to be a cancellation of a meeting, when that's going to occur, who's going to be cancelling. It should be consistent. So, um, Council Member Maloney and I have actually crafted a policy, a communication policy. Um, I wish we could would have sent it so we can share it on the screen, but, um, she did read off the purpose of the policy. We do want to talk about the scope of the policy. It applies to all city departments. All staff responsible for scheduling, coordinating or communicating meetings, all staff responsible for reporting or managing critical incidents. And then also we want to talk about um the cover communication includes regular special committee meetings, workshops and study sessions, joint agency meetings, public hearings, critical or major incidents involving any department or employees such as public safety responses, employee misconduct allegations, major service disruptions, significant facility issues, community impact incidents, media sensitivity situation and legal legal exposure events. Would you want to go to the next part? [clears throat]

And then we go into policy statement. All meeting cancellations or changes and all qualifying critical incidents must be communicated to city council members promptly, accurately, and in consistent format to ensure transparency, appropriate oversight, and effective governance. The notification requirements, the time frame for meeting notifications, cancellations or changes must be communicated at least 20 hours in advance when possible. If changes occur within 48 hours, notification must be made immediately upon confir um confirmation of the cancellation. Time frame for critical incident notifications. They must be communicated to the council as soon as reasonably possible once the initial facts are confirmed, preferably within the same business day of the department becoming aware of the incident. If the incident occurs after hours, notification must be made as soon as operationally feasible. In our case, we don't mind a text or a phone call. Um required information for meeting notifications. Basically just making sure that we are stating the meeting name or subject, original date, time and location or if there's a new date, time and location if applicable, reason for cancellation or change and point of contact and um required information for critical incident notifications. Each critical incident notification must include the department involved, date and time of occurrence, brief description of the uh whatever it is that's known about the incident, whether employees or community members were involved, whether outside agencies responded, immediate actions taken, whether media is aware or likely to become aware, whether additional updates will follow, and sensitive personnel and legally restricted information must be handled in accordance with applicable laws. So, we don't want obviously everything to be coming out.

Yes. Um do you want to

Yeah. for um method of notifying the city council. We're requesting that the meeting changes. Email primary method calendar updates modify the official city calendar that comes up in our emails. Phone or text for urgent or lastm minute changes to affected council members. Um critical incidents, email from the city manager or the city manager's designate, phone call or text message from the city manager or the mayor for highly sensit severity incident in this. And I have to say that the mayor a lot of times doesn't even know for highly severity incidents. So city manager and if it gets funneled to the mayor to us police department exception the chief of police or acting chief is expressly authorized to notify the city council directly and immediately for urgent public safety related incidents including major crimes officer involved incidents or any matter requiring rapid city council awareness. This may occur before the city manager is briefed if circumstances require urgent communication. The chief will coordinate with the city manager as soon as reasonably possible. Um the who sends notice for meeting changes, the city clerk's office, the city manager's office, the department responsible for the meeting will be where we leave it at. Um and then critical incidents, city manager or city manager's designate or the chief of police. No other department shall notify council without express direction from the city manager except for the police department as indicated above. The next Sorry we're being thorough, but we want to make sure you all hear this because it's really important I'm sure to you all as well. Um, and then we have no other department shall notify council without express direction from the city manager except for the police department as indicated above. Documentation and records, the city clerk's office must log and archive time and date of meeting change notifications, recipients calendar updates. I know a lot of that is done already, but we wanted it in writing. Um, for critical incidents, the city manager's office will maintain the date time of the incident, date, time of council notification, summary of information provided, follow-up reports if issued. How the council is in informed as a summary process. Basically, when a critical incident

occurs, the department notifies the city manager except that the police chief may notify the council directly first of the urgent public safety matter. The chief may immediately contact council by phone text for high sens sensitivity situations and follow with an email summary. For all other incidents, the city manager confirms essential facts and determines the urgency. Updates are provided more as more information becomes available. If public communication or media release is anticipated, council is informed before public disclosure whenever feasible. Confidential information is shared in compliance with applicable laws. And there are exceptions. Emergency events may require deviation. The city manager or designate must authorize any exception and ensure council is informed as quickly as possible and compliance and accountability. Failure to follow this policy may lead to internal review and corrective action, especially if failure results in quorum issues, public confusion, operational disruption, reputational harm, or legal exposure. and a review cycle. This policy will be reviewed annually by the city clerk's office and the city manager's office for accuracy, legal compliance, and operational effectiveness. So, that's our policy we've come up with for communication. Um, we think it's imperative that we implement a policy as soon as possible.

Thank you. I do have a question. I might have missed it. Was there um something about notification during a disaster? That would events. Yes. Yes, it does. Okay. But I was thinking about specifically like uh natural disaster response, that kind of thing. If you want it more expressed, we can put that in there maybe. Yeah. And any type of disaster. Okay. Any um other discussion? Okay. Do we have a motion?

Does staff have any questions? Uh, for the record, GL Duffy, um, city manager. Um, I I guess what I heard was uh very detailed and and maybe we want to look at bringing back multiple policies to be able to focus in on some of the detail because I think um the process for [clears throat] notifying the council about um emergencies versus a process for notifying the council on uh changing of of of meetings. I think it just we we may want to provide a series of policies that are easier to to digest across the board, but I I it sounds very thorough and and I think it creates order and that's I think we want to be able to operate with order.

Absolutely. If if you would be so good as to send a copy of the policy to staff, then we can have a look at it in preparation for the next meeting. I don't know if there's anything in there that may require like meeting and conferring with any of our bargaining groups. Um, this is just communication policy in regards to notifications. The only reason I say so is because discipline was anticipated in the event of violation. So, we just we just want to have a chance to look at it so we can, you know, make sure we're all square. That'd be great. To her now. She has it now. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have a motion? I'll make the motion to adopt this communication policy ordinance. Well, hang on. Hang on.

Yeah. So, I think so where we are in the process now is that you've made the request and now for staff to bring it back. Yeah. So, the motion's to see if you have a quorum to spend time and resources. I want to add though because I I want staff to bring it back immediately

because it's been drafted. So, I don't want us to bring it back mid year next year. I'd like staff to bring it back immediately. It's imperative. I definitely hear you and I don't want to speak for Harold. I know we'll do everything we can on our part to make sure it gets moved forward. Your next meeting is December 12th. So I would ask for just a little leeway if we need to work with Sakari Shop, for example. I don't I don't have any idea if there is anything we would need to meet and confer on, but I just I don't want to disappoint you by promising something that doesn't wind up being feasible.

What about a couple of months? So Katie, um, if I if I may, Katie is correct that any policy that we have that we're going to have employees be accountable for and it could lead to discipline, we have to notice the bargaining groups and they have a right to meet and confer over the impacts of the policy. So we'll have to work on scheduling that and working with the bargaining group. So, we understand the ask of getting it back as soon as possible and we will do that. But considering we have one more council meeting and we have a duty to notice the bargaining groups. What's a reasonable time frame?

A reasonable I would say in in January would probably be the earliest that we can bring it back. Do you think maybe like second meeting in January? I think that is doable. That would be the earliest because again we have to consider we have to consider calendars. We have to meet and confer. We have to go over it with the bargaining groups. There may be, you know, a couple of back and forth meetings. So, in February. Okay. I I will bring it back as soon as I possibly can. Um Harold had something.

Yes. So, um I I think we just need a little time to be able to to dissect um the responsibility. A lot of this to me is dealt with at the executive level and with the department heads. Yes. And so where we need to um separate items out to be able to and bring it back to you within 60 days

and we can also let you know that some of the other stuff might require labor negotiations. But I hear you loud and clear in terms of you want to move expeditiously on this. So, what we'll we'll take the document, Katie and I will sit down with staff and we will parcel out what is an immediate executive action and bring that back to you with comments on what if we believe that there's a requirement for us to have some labor ne labor negotiations or or discussions. But certainly we hear you loud and clear in terms of um some of the things that you want on the executive level.

Yeah, I would say there's item 10. This is compliance and accountability. I would like us for us to bring back more immediate without that compliance portion because that's the reprimand piece in there. If we can bring back some flushing out by by executive team whether it's legal um HR um and our administrative team to flush that out first and then if it has to go to bargaining groups um compliance adding that component 10. But I think what I've seen here is this communication should be happening. It's not. It isn't. this is not happening. So I don't want us to wait six months before we get it together.

We will not be waiting six months to to do this. And as also too, we know one of the things with the council is going to be doing is hiring the new city manager. You have this commitment to sit down with me to go over my performance over the next six months. And you should make this one of those deliverables as part of that pro as part of that process. Thank you. Okay. Repeat of the motion.

Yes. So, I will make a motion to um spend a staff resource and resources and time on a communication policy that we have provided to the city attorney and bring it back um within a reasonable time frame. And if we can also include we will include the natural disasters in the email. Thank you. I second that. All in favor? I. That item moves forward. We are going to skip item H4 this evening and um moving into item H5. We are going to specifically present on the um what is the committee called? The nuisance social nuisance

social nuisance ordinance committee. Uh that will be the the one topic we discussed this evening for the item of um city council committees and committee uh committee assignments. Um, this is an item that council member Mendoza and I had brought back in February 2025 and um, I am requesting the creation of a committee that includes a member uh, myself and council member Mendoza, a member of the police department, a member of code enrichment, and a member of the city attorney's office to uh, facilitate and expedite the creation of the social nuisance ordinance. Do we have any clarifying questions?

So, the committee is just going to create the nuisance. We're going to basically research create the news the social nuisance ordinance and bring it back to the council, conduct research, see what's best fit for the city of Brentwood. Okay. Other questions? Okay. Moving into public comments. Another question. I'm not objecting to it or anything, but I just want to know how does this and this is primarily to Katie. Does this overlap with the municipal that we have a we already have a committee that does we have a municipal code review committee um but as currently written that's it doesn't cover the

Yeah, it's sort of an update of what we've got to make sure we're compliant with state law and it reflects council priorities. Not exactly as as focused as there wasn't overlap. Thank you. If no other questions, moving into public comments. At this time, the public is permitted to address the city council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand to speak. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. I do have one card in person. Oxana.

Um, I really appreciate all of the nuances of counseling meetings. I've been hoping to attend some that were cancelceled last minute and it really I appreciate the communication. Um so thank you u Miss Fatinish and Miss Maloney. Um I did want to ask um the agenda item did um have standing committees. Uh is that part of this conversation or is that not? I'm not sure. You don't comment on it but the full item is going to be coming back. Really the item right now has been reduced just to that specific committee. Sounds good. Thank you for clarifying that. Thank you.

I have no other speaker cards in person and I have no hands raised in Zoom. Thank you. Um if there's no other discussion, we can take a motion. I'd like to make a comment.

Um if that's okay. So, I've brought this um myself and council member Mendoza brought this item back uh in February because there were so many issues that we're trying to basically give tools and resources for our city to be able to navigate certain issues that are going on. Um the reason the focus of this ad hoc committee that I'm hoping to have is that we can come back by April with at least a first draft um and just do it in an expedited matter because it's already been a year and I take responsibility for not having a timeline for that prior. Yeah, I think um we need a tool because we've been told there's no tools for us to handle nuisance issues that we've been hearing from our residents. So hoping that we create we can create a tool that will help our police department address these issues in a better manner. So thank you so much.

I thank you all for this. I actually uh being on here gosh time has flown by so fast being on council but I remember we had the whole pool incident and I have to say our interim chief did an amazing job when they had a a community meeting um to address it. I don't think that our police actually could have done more than what they had already done and residents were feeling the pressure of like what do we do, what can we do and they provided as much of a resource that they can. I specifically remember the statements that you made to people there. I appreciate it um Chief but this would be so much of a help for our residents, for our police, even for us as a council. So, thank the both of you. Thank you to the both of you for bringing this forward and I wholeheartedly support this request.

I did actually have a question. Would this uh also address for example the bicycle groups? Unfortunately not. No. Okay. I was hoping that would be considered a nuisance. I consider it a nuisance but okay. Um

um no other questions or comments? Do we have a motion? I'll make the motion to um the creation of an ad hoc committee that includes myself and council member Mendoza, a member at the Brentwood Police Department, a member of the code enrichment, and a member of the city attorney's office um for us to be collaborate and work together on the creation of a social nuisance ordinance um which by the way I had authored an example that I've provided to um the police department already and then we can basically work on that um and come back with a first reading by April.

First, I want to say thank you for to I almost called you officer Maloney right now. Officer Maloney, Councilwoman Maloney for um working on this. You put a lot of time into it and I happily second your motion. All in favor? Can I ask for clarification? So, sorry. Um so, in terms of membership, the two council members, absolutely. Staff won't be members, obviously. So when this comes back with the minutes, I just want to clarify that it'll show you two as members and staff as staffing the committee. Yes. Thank you. All in favor? I I

The motion uh passes. Okay. Uh moving into requests for future agenda items, new requests. Seeing none, do we have a motion for adjournment? I'll make the motion to adjurnn. A second. All in favor? I I We are officially adjourned. Thank you.