Hayward Youth Commission - Regular Meeting

Yeah. Yeah. It

sounds like

Shakespeare's. Yeah.

This is.

It's just

Yeah. Me Yeah.

Can I

Wait? I'm gonna wait. I'll be right back then. Okay. What what was I? Okay. Does the lady say it already? She just didn't say it. I was gonna say it, but it's your Okay. They're like the ambulance out of

Good evening, everyone. I'm going to call our meeting to order at 07:03, Wednesday, 01/21/2026. Our first, CSE meeting of the New Year. The Zoom is in progress even though we didn't hear the. And we're gonna stand, for the pledge of allegiance. And do I have a volunteer who would like to lead us?

I'll be happy to.

You.

Pledge of allegiance to

the flag United Of States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, and indivisible, with liberty and justice

for all.

Thank you, councilman. Me. We have a teleconference notification.

There were no requests to participate remotely, and there were no emergency circumstance participation request.

Very well. Thank you. Miss Ellen, would you please complete our roll call?

Commissioner Wheeler.

I am here.

Commissioner Anguloak. Here. Commissioner Dow.

Present.

Commissioner Gunn.

Here.

Commissioner Kamara? Here. Commissioner Maderos? Here. Commissioner Maxi? Here.

Commissioner Jagdeep Singh?

Here.

Commissioner Jay Singh? Commissioner Sledge?

Present.

And Commissioner Wong?

Here.

Thank you. Thank you. I do believe we have a court. I am going to read a statement about public comment. There will be opportunities for public comment on items on the agenda as we get to each item. If you have a comment on something that is not on the agenda, now is the time to make those comments. Please note that virtual public comment has been reinstated. For those attending in person, please complete a comment card and give them to miss Oliveira. You will have three minutes to make your comment. Speakers should not use threatening, profane, or abusive language, which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of a commission meeting.

The city is committed to maintaining a workplace street of unlawful harassment and is mindful that city staff regularly attend commission meetings. Discriminatory statements or conduct that is hostile, intimidating, oppressive, or abusive are per se disruptive to a meeting will not be tolerated. As a member excuse me. As a reminder to commenters and to my fellow commissioners, commissioners are not permitted to respond directly to or engage with public commenters under the Brown Act. And we do have two speaker cards for public comments.

This is a working meeting, so there really aren't agenda items that individuals could speak on. So we're gonna allow Or speak on the work session,

but they didn't specify.

Oh, thank you for that correction. Okay. Very good. Let me see what they specified. Yeah. They I don't see anything specified. Mhmm. So I'm just gonna open it to general public comment now, and I will start with a Duke Wang of Spectrum Community Services.

Well, happy New Year, commissioners.

Good to see you all again. I know we're doing the, morning check tomorrow for the kinda. I'm just gonna tomorrow. I'd like to give a little program update for, the senior program at Spectrum Identity Services. We understand that there's no funding, this year, but, you know, the need is still there.

And, we are committed to serve more Hayward residents starting in April. We're planning to work with First Presbyterian Church and the South Hayward Parish to serve 75 more meals each week on Fridays to be those facing homelessness and, you know, experiencing low income and stuff like that. So the other thing, I'd like to do today is introduce everyone to our new volunteer coordinator. They have a response to us. In the previous meeting, you kinda committed to volunteerism, and we'd like to see if we can get anyone to sign up for helping out at any of our locations.

So this is Mary. She's our new volunteer coordinator.

Thank you, miss. Mary, would you like to speak? Sure.

Well, I'm new.

But I started back in October, and I just hit my three month mark. So I'm really happy to meet all of you guys. And I brought this sign up, and I wrote a lot of locations on it, but I crossed out the ones that aren't in Hayward. But specifically at Josephine Lone Lodge, our main kitchen, I wrote here that the two time slots we are specifically looking for volunteers, if possible, is Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 to 1PM. That's where we found the most need just because some people, you know, needed to stop for their own reasons. Someone's out temporarily for a surgery. So those two days just happen to be the one that we need the most help with.

Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you both for joining us. Okay. We now, need to approve our minutes from the meeting on the November 19. Is there anyone who has revisions or comments or changes that are needed to our November, so long ago. Our 11/19/2025 meeting.

Seeing none, can I get

a motion to approve it? Motion to approve. Thank you. Vice chair

Goff? Second.

Thank you. Chair in the low.

I will take the vote. Commissioner Gulick? Yes. Commissioner Gulick? Yes. Commissioner Dow? Yes. Commissioner Gunn?

Yes.

Commissioner Camara? Yes. Commissioner Matschen? Yes. Commissioner Jagdeep Singh?

Yes. Mhmm.

Commissioner Jay Jay Anderson? Commissioner Sledge?

Yes.

And commissioner Wong?

Yes.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Now we get to do the fun stuff and hear all of our thoughts and ideas. I could use your help in confirming our various committees. Oh, I

have a slide.

Has a list? Okay. Wonderful. Stop sharing because I was like, it

was their share. But I have a slide.

Or subcommittees? Yeah. Working groups. Same thing. Working evenings. Same golf. Okay. So we're just gonna go in order. Direct volunteering support and recruitment. Commissioners Wong, Gunn, who chaired Mariros, Sledge, and Kimura. What say you? So

we we did meet twice. Well, the second meeting was a little bit less, attendance, but we we had a hard time finding with scheduling conflicts, essentially. Sure. And we had a hard time also with this process of, like, reaching out to different agencies that need support because some people need support, but it's not, like, an ongoing thing. And some people need support, like, just on occasion.

And then attempts to reach out to, like, the high schools for volunteering. We we heard a lot of, yes, if there's opportunity, just let us know. We'll let the students know. But as far as, like, the being able to network and connect volunteers to specific needs was a very daunting task. So that's essentially where we are, and I would love anybody else who, was a a part of this if they have other findings. I know, commissioner Wong did a large amount of work in in this, I'll be honest. So I'm not sure if you have additional insights. I no. I appreciate that. I mean,

I shared with your guy. It was a little bit tough. I it was we were reaching out to different organizations to basically split them up into groups based on the list that we had that we funded before and also the list on the city website for community resources and reach out to those organizations to see if they, have any regular volunteer needs and things like that. And so I was able to reach out to a few that it was pretty hard because I think it was, like, the holidays, and they were very busy. But based on the two that I did hear back from I don't know if I can name it.

One was San Lorenzo Family Health Center, and the other was Mercy Brown Bag. And they definitely need volunteer support, and so they provided me with some info. We sent some questions that the group generated. And so we're trying to basically put that together and see if there's a way for the city to maybe help make that more public, this, like, comprehensive list of the different volunteer activities available and to basically to help spread awareness of, organizations as volunteer needs. One thing that did pop up for me in my conversation with, Mercy Brownberg was they were concerned about and I'm not too well versed in it, but they were concerned about overtime concerns when it comes to volunteers.

And so I I don't know. Maybe that's a conversation that we can have later on or city staff can have with these organizations just to make sure they're not getting into trouble or anything like that.

What do you mean? Like, their staff supervising volunteers would move the staff into overtime?

I'm not quite sure. Is there something related to if you have too many volunteers and then they work their number of hours, they'll get into trouble, something like that?

Is there a volunteer working hours? Does that what

I don't have a clear clarification.

On that.

That's an interesting question. I know I supervise hourly employees, and I'm very clear on the overtime rules for that in California. But I'm not aware of overtime rules applying to volunteers. That's new to me. And so I would need to Yeah.

Maybe I'll get one clarification. Maybe I misunderstood that.

Yeah. Is it some kind of point system? I mean, it's not a salary issue, is it? Are there since they're volunteering, is it like a points? Too many points? Is that do you any idea if that's what they were saying? Because, clearly, if it's voluntary work, they're not being paid for it.

That's what I'll get more clarification from, I think, that merits it. But yeah. So I appreciate that. And then also in our group, we talked about wanting this being a great opportunity to get youth involved. So mentioned that. So we're thinking of getting, like, high schoolers, maybe see if there's a way to bring high create a system of some sort to loop high schoolers into these volunteer activities. And so that might beneficial for both the organization and the high schoolers.

Wonderful.

Yeah. If I may just yeah. And I know I wasn't a lot of help in that big just for reasons.

You were.

Well, first of all, commissioner Wong deserves a round of applause for the the list he did. I mean, you know, looking at that, there were almost 100 agencies in there. That's a lot. And to have a list like that to start with is just you know, that was fantastic work. But only thing I want to add to that is if some of the issue we were having was scheduling, because I know you started a new job and it was the holidays.

I just wanted to to see if, we were trying to meet at 06:30 because we actually moved forward. Would it help if we move the other way? Because I'm I'm available up until nine, 10:00. None of that's a problem to me. So I just want to click it out to the other members if if if that would help solve some of the the scheduling for the meeting problem. Because I know you have to commute from Oakland now, and and people have their jobs and their families and so forth. Would it help to move the meeting time back instead of forward? I just wanted to make clear. I'm I'm totally open to that if others are open to that.

You're referring specifically to the working group. The working group.

Okay. No. No. No.

We can't move. That's like Yeah. Yeah. So that's a working group conversation you all can certainly have

Yeah.

However you guys are doing WhatsApp or chat or email. I'm not sure how you guys are communicating.

Yeah.

Thank you

for that. Other members from

your working group have come missed commissioner for? Yes. So, yeah, it was, like, a really good meeting, then I kinda got stuck with about, like, background clearance or, like you know, I've been, like, volunteering couple of places. They always ask to, like, you know, sign something to get background clearance and things like seems like a city is gonna get involved, and we're gonna have, like, standard, like, forms or standard clearance. So I'm pretty sure a lot of places need volunteer people, but I wanna you know, I'm pretty sure they wanna make sure who they are and what kind of, you know, like, you know, intention they're looking for and things like that.

So, like, more logistic protocol to kind of recruit, volunteer up being a part of the city? Like, I

does it clear? I think I so are you saying can the city support the background clearance, like, facilitating that? Is that what

you mean? That's part of it too. Or if we contact agencies, then I they follow each agency's protocol as far as recruiting the volunteers.

I think I mean, it sounds like commissioner Wong has started a list of your agencies. I think the work would need to be understanding what are each agency's processes and putting that out. Actually, like, facilitating the background checks is probably not within the scope of what the city can do. Mhmm. But we've had internal conversations about where we can host things, and our division's website is certainly available as a place where if you were to have kind of an ongoing updated list, you could include that information.

My understanding, each nonprofit gets to determine what their volunteer vetting process is. Mhmm. And depending upon the nonprofit who served, there could be different processes. Some that involve children, have different background check, you know, than those who are Elking. Maybe out planting tree, you know, or something of that nature.

So I believe each nonprofit could continue to manage their volunteer process. And and doctor Amy has already stated it's not likely the city could support with that payment process, but it does sound like connecting individuals and communicating opportunities may be a possibility. But I I I do know that each nonprofit gets to decide according to their rules and regulations whether or not they have any governing bodies, what their volunteer vetting process is. I I don't believe that's something this commission would determine for them or the city would determine for them. Got it.

Got it.

Okay. Yeah. Commissioner Medeiros? Yeah.

So I haven't been I wasn't able to attend the meetings, but I was able to help connect some nonprofits that were on the list, the list that Amy forward to me. So a couple of those nonprofits did get a $20,000 check from the the eight the people that were looking to give money to those nonprofits. I haven't got back to her. I had my mother-in-law passed away, so I wasn't able to do some other things. And so my head's been other places. So but I plan to get back to her and see what other agencies that we discussed that were on the list of who they're going to give some more money to. So right now, they've already given that I know of, at least 40,000.

Can we I for for folks' context, the money that you're referring to is the community benefit money from the cannabis business?

Is that correct?

Yeah. Yes. So there's a cannabis business that is coming to Hayward On Hill by the what what used to be the Walgreens, and it's correct. I I'm I know very little about this, so I'll defer to Mary, who I didn't introduce, by the way. This is Mary Thomas. She's the assistant city manager. Nice talking to you all. Nice to

meet Nice

to meet you.

Can you speak to a little bit more about what the community benefit money is? I'll put you on the spot.

Or I can do Yeah. And I no. Actually, I can't probably. I'll get some more information we can share next time, but it sounds like you Yeah.

So I know the woman personally Mhmm. And the agencies personally that she was able to give to. So but I did tell her about Spectrum, and I told her about Mercy Brand, the the senior meals, and a couple of other places on there that I'm familiar with, and then I told her about the list. So at least, like I said, I know that two agencies have received their checks already. Yeah. So even though I wasn't able to help with this, I I did try to, you know, do those things in as far as get people some funding. Yeah.

I mean, I know yeah.

Yeah. The operator or the owner, Esther, she's giving a $100,000 of her own, you know, in addition to the

advance. So I think that that's okay. It's not it's not a requirement from the city.

I think she's to do that. Yeah.

She chose to do that. Apologize for miscarriage.

Yeah. So she had asked for she's given 100,100

thousand dollars.

To city, and she had asked for a list of agencies that would be willing to accept that money because in some cases, organizations will limit their donations because it's a cannabis dispensary that's providing the donation. So what she wanted to know is what are, you know, viable agencies in the community that are deserving of this money that would be in need of it and which she understood that the community agency funding got reduced. She said, well, maybe that's a perfect connection.

Right. I spoke to her about that. Thank you for doing that.

Happened. Thank you.

And I said, look. The the I'm on the CSC, and there's a you know, there's some problems with funding right now in the city, and these agencies could use your help. And so I reached out to Amy and then was able to talk with her on the phone about the the list that I received. So I know so far that two agencies have received money so far. I haven't been able to get back to

her because like I said, I've had a

lot of family stuff going on, and I'm not through the weeds of that yet. So I plan on being at the next meeting. So part of me that I wasn't around the holidays at the month of December, I'm never available. I do too much volunteer work in the communities around Christmas. There's that's month is shot, but I planned on being the one in January and just you know? Yeah. So that's

Sorry about your loss. Thank you.

And then I think she also has about $60,000 left she's looking to allocate.

Yeah. So, yeah, I know that yeah. I I'll reach back out to

her because like I said, I

know her personally and and see if we could if

I could help her with that process. Is it public knowledge that like, does she have her own sort of Yeah. Apply and vet pro she does?

Yeah. Well well, doesn't I don't think she doesn't have, like, a No.

She doesn't have enough money. She's it's only a 100,000.

Who knows? Point me in the right direction. Yeah.

So She has also communicated with our planning division, and I think they also shared information. And all the information we shared are is these are the agencies that have previously received funding. Okay. Right. So that's the parameters that the city city staff have provided that the agencies that would have otherwise applied for and likely received funding through the CAF process.

Yeah. One of the agencies was is love never fails, which is, you know, focuses on, you know, helping human trafficking, women, young girls coming out of human trafficking with one of the agencies. Magnolia Women's Recovery Program, which is a perinatal program for women getting off of drugs. So you know? And then, of course, women and men on the way. She's giving some money too. So all three are are definitely dealing with substance use and, you know, trauma and things like that. So I suggested because she said the youth programs won't receive wouldn't receive it. I get it. And I said, but they're senior programs, and that's when I brought up the Mercy Brown Bag or Spectrum and and really maybe maybe they'll take it.

You know? It's that's not gonna hurt, you know, folks. In fact, some seniors have to have to use cannabis for pain so they don't have to take opiate. So yeah. So I'll I'll I'll give her a call this week and get back to you guys on You

can also share my contact info with her.

I could okay. I will.

And, actually, I'm gonna revise my previous statement. So it was a condition from the city, yeah, to to to have the $100,000. But and the the city has currently said, basically, she can take some time to fill that because she only found one agency at the time of this report. But Yes. Looks like she's found a second one. So it's good.

Good. Any other direct volunteering support and recruitment information? We will have another working meeting very soon as of this next month. And, ideally, at the end of next month meeting, we'll have a list of things that we believe are potentially actionable or likely to be able to go before our city council just as a kind of reminder of our process. So there is still time for you guys to make all those meetings and connections and get everything together. Commissioner Barriere. So that's that's that's it. Oh, okay. Very well. Alright. Our promotion and awareness working group, commissioner Singh, Angulo, and Maxeon.

So we were able to meet once during break and kinda came with the idea of collaborating with the local newspaper Hayward Herald to kind of uplift and bring awareness and transparency to how our commission will be approaching this budget deficit and the cuts to a lot of service agencies. So we're planning to meet with him soon. I have yet to get availabilities, either the end of this week or upcoming next week, but it's either gonna look like an interview on op ed type style, where we're able to promote it. But I think what commissioner Maderas is mentioning, I think that's like something really good to highlight also Mhmm. In the interview too.

So if each well, I don't know if I'll break brown egg that way. But What were you gonna try and It's really just if if y'all have any top left, like, top lines you want to have included in the in the article that we can add. Folks can email you directly.

I need to break that. Okay. Cool.

Yeah. Just not the group message.

Got it. One zero one. Alright. Well, if the chairs of each committee can kinda give me some major updates and top lines, I should have a deadline that I will communicate to Amy, and maybe Amy can communicate. Yeah. I guess. I don't know.

Well, there's an email with all the chairs on it. Oh, okay. Right? I think. Didn't I?

Think I said that. So you can use

that because that's not forum, and that's where commissioner Gund, commissioner Wheeler, and commissioner Wong are all on that.

So that might be But I said to team. Sorry. But I said it to Commissioner Gunn, and then he could just give it to her. Is that what you're saying? Okay. Got it.

Yes. Okay. Piece too is that that newspaper also has an events calendar. So, like, if, for example, the volunteer support and recruitment team chair, commissioner again, if you're able to, like, send over any volunteer opportunities to, He's willing to forego, like, the fee just to add the events on the page itself. So we can fill up that calendar to see if there's any availability.

So also mentioning, you know, other standing volunteer opportunities might be helpful to add to. Another piece is if once the article is published, which I don't know when it would look like, probably by next month, if CSC members would be able to promote it on your socials or within your own networks too. We tried getting to the social media piece, but that's we can't we can't use City of Hayward's Instagram, so which is fine. But we're able to use our own, so I think that would be a good tangible tangible piece to just start uplifting for folks. Yeah.

But also open to any other ideas that other folks may have for promotions, but that's kind of what we were able to come up with.

Thank you. Anyone else from that working group wanna chime in? Okay. Thank you all. Alright. So I was in the identifying additional funding sources, commissioner Sandy and Maxon, and I. Let me share with you ideas. Okay. So throwing it out there. So you can shut it down or not. You know, just clear everything out there. So there are databases or grant platforms that exist off route. Is it possible the city has a subscription and all of our nonprofits can tag onto that? No idea. Start it out there, but as a way to give cities access.

If not, we can certainly promote and say, here are various places where you could go, and you can have databases, and you can put in your search requirements, so on and so forth. I've got a list of some, GrantStation, GrantWatch. There's tons. And it's not necessarily a grant database, but in regard to tech support, there's tech suit for nonprofits, and they will often give you discounts and sometimes free services depending on your needs, but you can get discounts. Zoom subscription, all kinds of things.

They have a whole list of things where nonprofits can receive support with tech services, website services, lots of different things at less than market value. And along with that, if any of us are gifted or skilled or know these platforms or whatnot, is there any way to partner with our nonprofits on helping them know how to use them, or is there a training, or can we provide technical assistance? Generally, most of them come with their own technical assistance, but I put it on there. Sometimes it's easier if you feel like you're here next to me versus someone's remote or however, but just throwing it out there as things that we potentially could do with support, with our preference presence. The other was whether or not we could have any hosted capacity building events, networking events, bringing our folks together.

I don't know how it works. Like like, could the nonprofits rent this room and meet? Like, could the city make its own space and facilities available to our nonprofits who would need meeting space? Sometimes the rural buildings aren't sufficient. But it's not necessarily access to funding, but are there resources the city has that it could make available to our nonprofits?

And that was one was around space, whether, you know, meeting space or anything of that nature. We've already shut down the access to city communication channels. And I had any centralized calendar or hub or sort of online space where our nonprofits can come together. I think a number of us have suggested this in some kind of way. We have concepts, not actual this is the platform or this is the place that should be taken care of at the next meeting.

But right now, this is concept. And then similar to what you mentioned, commissioner was, is there a way we can connect our nonprofits to local businesses? I imagine the city knows who the local businesses are, you know, or what have you. Is there a way we publish in the same way this cannabis operator was like, hey. I can help.

There I imagine there's other businesses who are like, it may not be much, but we can do this or we can offer that or we can put a size in the window or we can put it on our own website or something to that nature, or even donate, you know, funds on their own, and we can make that connection and help them know how to do that. The same could be whether or not any of our local businesses. I know there's been a lot of work on our downtown, and I know there's been a lot of work on Foothill Boulevard. Is there anyone on those corridors who can make their space accessible? You know, where or anything like that to our nonprofits for things that they need, need to do events.

What else do I have? Yeah. Any sponsorships or in kind from the local general business community? I know, again, back to the sort of the employer thing. I have no idea. Can we support with some kind of campaign? I don't know. Hayward Gives or Hayward Gives Back. I don't know. But it's sort of connected to the businesses, but may I was thinking more so any workplace giving programs for Hayward employers to connect their employees to supporting the nonprofits in our area. It's local. It's where they work. That's kind of it.

Yeah. The food bank does something like that with, like, Kaiser and a lot of other places. They they get a lot of volunteers. Right. I know for many years,

I worked at a a company that partnered with the United Way who helped facilitate a number of list. Anyway, is there a way we can connect any of our nonprofits with that? And then, of course, the actual literal technical assistance. Someone's like, we have a grant. We don't have a writer. Is that something any of us could do? That's something I certainly could support with provided it wasn't, I don't know, messing with conflict of interest next funding cycle or what. But I would gladly recuse myself if today I get to help you write a grant, that means next year I can't score you or two years from now, whatever. But our literally our own support with their grant writing. And depending on the needs, some nonprofit technical assistance.

Right? So it could be different for each nonprofit. Some need support with going backwards with their data and impact systems and how do they how the information to be able to put in a grant. Right? Some of them need the support with the actual writing. There's all different elements to being able to access funding, and could we, as commissioners, provide any of that technical assistance ourselves if any of us have that skills, knowledge, and ability, or have those in our network with that skills, knowledge, and ability, and in the same way, connect them to our nonprofit partners? It's our ideas. Happy to accept any that have come through your minds.

I have a question, actually. So because your your idea wrote down with making city spaces available for nonprofits, things like that, reminded me that over the weekend, had heard from a nonprofit that the fire department used to have either a waiver or a discount for their fees, but then that because of the city's obvious, you know, very tall ask of closing a budget, they now no longer have that. So now our nonprofits are that have venues or or facilities are are paying fees that they didn't used to have to pay. So I just thought that was something to bring it to attention because it's, like, sort of the opposite of providing city space to nonprovinces. Now we're charging them

for what we did before.

Oh, we already are charging them

for the bill for its

So what he's saying is so so a lot of agencies, they have to have fire clearances. Yes. Okay. So before, a lot of those fees were waived. But now with the the budget being the way they are for the city of Hayward fire department, they could no longer waive those fees. And so not only are the nonprofits losing their funding, but now they're also having to pay for something that they used to get for free.

So I get that. I was thinking less of, like, the licenses, the permits, or the clearances, but literally,

like All of that stuff too. A conference room. Oh, you were thinking of

And, like, we we need to have a

staff meeting. I apologize. This question came up, I think, in our last meeting about specifically, like, City Hall. Do you wanna speak to that, Emily? Or because we did Yeah.

We we

reached out to the facilities analyst, and she did share with us the fees fee waiver sponsorship application and the rental agreement. She said that we have an individual, and the individuals can request for fee waivers provided that the city has funds, but that is only for the space itself. There are still fees for janitorial and severity. Okay. Okay. And insurance requirements are, like, a must.

Sure. Mhmm.

Yeah. So that's what we have.

And isn't that more for, like, the rotunda area, I'm assuming? Because you wouldn't have the same requirement for conference room if that's what you're alluding.

I was literally thinking, like, we're sitting in this room, and what if somebody needed a staff retreat to figure out how to write their grants, or we're gonna hold a technical assistance thing. Yeah. Is that if, like, could the city be like, oh, we have a space, there's no meetings. We're not using it. We could

use library at Yeah. Library has reserve rental reserve rentals. And if you're looking at different rates

so let me I'm just looking it

up right now. They discounted. And so it's definitely discounted for nonprofits. Nonprofits. We can if that is a need that that you're when you're reaching out, if that is a need that you're really identifying, I think you can we can look at that further.

Okay. But what I Apologies.

For what I mentioned, it's specifically for the Rotunda Plaza, Council chambers. So yeah. That in particular.

Something in the vent or something.

I worked for nonprofits and literally didn't think that big. I'm literally like, hey,

Fresh little plaza. Wouldn't that very mean a goal for the rotunda?

But okay. Where's the fog? Where's where's the fog?

It's in

front of the water fountain and All of that. Sign.

Oh, there's a fee for that. I didn't even know.

Period.

It depends on what you're doing. If you're if you're doing, like, a

And they used to have the

jazz festival. Like a First Amendment, like, for free speech, then that we don't typically try.

Yeah. That makes sense.

It's different versus if it's for the pelvic versus Yeah. For either. Yeah.

That makes sense. Yeah.

You learn something every day on here at the CSC. Okay. Well, thank you guys so much. Okay. Our resource development excuse me. Our resource research and development. Commissioner Wong.

Thank you. Did Amy, did you get the slides I sent?

Oh my gosh. Yes. I did. Hold on. I apologize. Okay.

It's nothing fancy. I have

to have something to do.

Pick count week is my No. No. I for example, I just searched your name by writing Wildin.

I'm gonna

try Wildin.

Wildin. I'm like, why is

this Yeah.

You combined his names together. I apologize.

No worries. It's not I don't want people's, like, expectations. Yeah. It's not fancy.

They're fancy.

Don't don't let you

I just have Patrick's, like, screenshot this stuff. He doesn't want to It's gonna be be video. If

they have a

way to support in and out.

Video. Not.

Brad Pitt is doing it for them or something.

Who's the Brad Pitt of Hayward

conversation? Okay.

So I guess I guess I can start by saying the oh, Nancy. Okay. Well, I didn't know what mean. Okay.

Sorry. I didn't know. I

Yeah. I didn't tell you when to advance the slides. Oh, I don't really mind right now. So K.

Just tell me when to go to the

next slide. That sounds good. So I guess when thinking about this work group, I discussed before I wanted to look at how resources were being presented because we have a lot here in Hayward, but not necessarily everyone knows where to find resources. Some orgs don't actually know who to refer people to. And sometimes it's just difficult to find resources when there's so many. And so I decided to start by looking at how resources are currently being presented in the city. And so I just first went into Google and typed up, Hayward Resources. And the good news is the first thing that pops up, at least when I looked it up, was the community resource guide. And so that means something of the SEO is going right. And so that's a good sign.

And I also typed in Hayward food resources. I typed in Hayward grocery help and Hayward showers help, just things that people might like, if I'm looking for something, that's something I might type in. And so the good news is that the first few links do lead to a city of Hayward website, and it directs them to the appropriate resources. The problem I did find was that a lot of the web pages and especially the resource guide, while there's a lot of info, I guess there's much to be desired in terms of presentation. And so I think if you can go into the next slide.

I wish it was not that small, but I guess actually, you can go to the next slide. So yeah. So sorry. Can you go back one slide? So this is the resource guide in case no one, in case it's new to anyone.

And so it has, an accordion style, and, like, you can click open each of the tabs, and then it opens for more resources. And so that's the context. And I can go to the next slide. So what I first thought about was mobile accessibility, and that was something that really came to mind for me because not everyone has access to a computer or some people, like my father, some older adults, they prefer using things on their phone, don't really know how to use a computer and navigate things. And so when I tried looking at the resource guide on my phone, I came into a few issues of seeing how the information was presented.

As you can see where I, circled there, not all the information is presented on one phone screen. You really have to slide back and forth in order to, like, see what the info like, the contact information and see, like, oh, that corresponds with this agency and then keeps scrolling back and forth in order to, like, see the see all the resource in its entirety. And so both horizontally and vertically, when I turned my phone around, those were the same issues that I saw. And so that's something that I think should be kept in mind, mobile accessibility, when thinking about the resources web pages that we have. And then you can go to the next slide.

Secondly, I did click through a few of the links, and I did see that there it's not there wasn't a lot, but I did see a few where there were instances where links were not up to date. And in those cases where the link might not be up to date, it could also mean that maybe the contact information or the date and time information might also be out of date. And so I thought from staff's point of view, put myself in staff shoes as well, and I think that this sort of a presentation also must put a lot of pressure on staff, and it's time consuming and tedious to have to constantly update this information as well. So when thinking about a possible solution, seeing if there's a way to limit the amount of staff involvement in having to update these resources. And so you can go to the next slide.

And so I did look at other alternatives. And I think in the last meeting, there was a public comment. Maybe it was you. I think

Okay. You brought coffee.

Okay. So I did start looking at, how other jurisdictions presented their resource. And I I mean, I did find great presentations for, like, city of Los Angeles, city of San Diego, and, like, my old school, UC Davis. But I thought to myself, when I looked at the, Hayward Library, was like, we didn't really have to go that far because we they have an events calendar on their website. And I thought it was actually pretty cool. It's intuitive because it's a calendar. Most people understand, like, oh, if something falls inside this date, that means it's gonna happen on this date. And there are filter options. So when we think back to the accordion and the resources guide, there wasn't really a filter. I have to scroll up and down just to find the resources.

But there's a nice filter over there. And so we incorporated a filter into the resource guide. It would be much easier for people to find information as well. And so, like, on the library, you can filter for, like, adults events or children's events, seniors events. And so that's something that I think can be incorporated into a Hayward resources website. And then also in terms of mobile accessibility maybe it's the next slide. I can't remember. Oh, yeah. So there's the mobile accessibility. And so when going on to my phone, the web page is adapted to, like, my phone screen, and so it really does still keep things presentable.

And, also, I think in terms of how we approach building, like, a better resources page, if that's possible, having it so that the top line information is on a calendar, and then we click into it, and then we see all the more detailed information. I think that would be very nice, especially as, like, some of our agencies have recurring, like, food food services or food giveaways. And so, like, you could be in click into a pizza a visitor can click into that and get more information.

And I

think last bit I had was oh, and then go to the next slide. Okay. So I did, ask around, and I saw that the Hayward does have a sort of it does have, like, an events calendar. And so I thought that maybe it wouldn't be too difficult for staff to maybe create something similar to this if, in addition to having conversations of, the Hayward Library, see, like, adding the filter options, things like that. Because how, I based on my understanding of how staff updates this calendar on their website, they receive external submissions.

People submit information to, that link that they that blue link over there. And then they the agency or whoever is putting the info out there provides the information to staff, and then staff just puts that information in the corresponding calendar section. So I think that, I think that there's maybe this is something that, hopefully, we can get for city resources and build that out out of filter option and adapt it to, like, the phone screen similar to the Hayward library. And I think that would really it it would make accessing Hayward resources much more intuitive, more visually appealing, and also mobile access more mobile friendly for people. So that's something I just wanted to propose and see if there's any path moving forward to make this happen.

So we certainly can't answer that tonight. But the city of Hayward's website is one person. And so and she just finished a massive list of moving to a I don't even know when I don't Drupal, does that word make sense to people? It doesn't to me. I I don't even like, I don't know what it actually means, but it was a big deal to my platform where what's, like, how much was WorkVIS or what's the Yeah. Like, to a of a, like, a

software language. But, yeah, it was updated from one version to the next one.

Yeah. And so this is all to say that is finally done. So I'm sure her queue is massive for the things she hasn't been able to get to. We can bring this back internally and talk about it, though. I I wanna make sure I'm understanding it. So your the kind of, like, baseline request is could something that's like the community calendar right now be switched to look more like the library calendar with the filter functions and but still maintain the accessibility of members of the public can submit request to put it on there? Am I getting kind of It's a resource. For a resource. So your screenshot here, folks can't, I'm sure, see this, but did you didn't filter this. Right?

This is I didn't. There's no filter option.

Yeah. Because and a lot of these are all food access things, basically, and so they're already categorized when you go into the community calendar. It's usually a category colon and then what the thing is. So most of what is on the calendar is food access stuff. So the request would be to, like, do it specifically for services, have a filter function, and kind of make it have the mobile accessibility of the library calendar?

Yes. And also, in in a way, I think it could be made possibly more visually, aesthetically easier to see. I think right now, it's not

I can

I was just thinking I could probably just pull it up on my computer and share my screen if folks don't mind?

I mean, it looks like a Google Calendar, which I guess is intuitive. But maybe it's not the most visually aesthetically easy to read.

It's a lot of words. Yeah. On page, no images to sort of help you know where to focus. Yeah.

And even just in terms of accessibility, you wanna make sure that, you know, if somebody has vision difficulties, that they can see it properly. I've also seen a lot of people on social media lately asking you know, they've just posted in Facebook saying, I have no more food, and I need to get some food. Does anybody know where I could pick up food by Friday? You know, that sort of thing. And so maybe having we're asking it a lot because everybody's at their max, but postings onto social media from the Hayward social media page just to say, hey.

Did you know about our calendar? Did you know about these resources? You can come onto our website and see this. Just because I think a lot of people who don't need food very often or don't need maybe they're in harder times than they're not used to having, and they don't wouldn't know where to look in the first place.

Right.

Are you saying the city of Hayward would periodically post? Yeah. Hey. Did you know if there's a resource? And there's

you know, you could set it up

to automatically post once a month sort of thing. You know? It's they they can be calendared so you don't have to go back and do it every single month. Yeah.

I like that. Or even just wanna remind you, we have Mhmm. Eighty seven fifty eleven social service organizations in our city. You can find a list here or whatever. I think that's yeah.

We can take that back. Awesome. Thank you all. I, this is on our meeting agenda for next month as well. We will very quickly get to talking through calendar. There's additional flushing out additional meetings that need to take place and occur. That is okay. And if we already know we gotta keep this one out, maybe we dig into this one a little further, that would be appropriate for additional updates for next month in February. The plan is to identify, okay, what is it we'll be asking our city council to consider based of our recommendations after knowing we were able to provide the funding that we desire as traditionally. We want to do something as a commission to be able to support our service and nonprofit organizations.

We think these, whatever, three, five, however many number we're gonna come up with are ones we would very much like our council to consider. And the goal is to be able to be at that meeting in April and cheer them on for that.

And look at our waiting calendar. Okay.

It is in the back of our agenda packet.

I did have a couple

of questions, doctor Amy. Mhmm. I think we left it on there. I don't recall why, but we have February informational report fiscal year twenty twenty seven CDBG draft funding recommendations. I believe that's typically what we did, and maybe we weren't ready to change it at the time.

We need to keep it on there because even though the CDBG funds aren't being put out through CAF, we still have CDBG funds, and we're using them internally. And we still have to meet all of the FUD public hearing requirements. So Yep. In prior years, that's the meeting where you all would come together and discuss your recommendations from your interviews with applicants. Instead, this year, staff are gonna come to you and say, we've done the work internally to identify the top priority eligible CDBG projects, and we'll bring that back to you there.

Same when we get to council in April. We'll be presenting those to council because we still have to check all of our head boxes, and you all are one of the processes by which we make it make the public aware of how we're using our CDBG money.

And you did list on here informational report. So forgive me for overlooking the others. Okay.

Very well. So I have a question. So you're saying you're gonna bring your recommendations to us the next meeting. Is Archer's I the So the h the internal things that you've identified that the funding will go towards, we will know. And then Yeah. Will we have any input on that?

To an

extent, yes. I I think that we, at a staff level, have some leeway on these because they're eligible. They're within what we've told HUD. We're gonna spend the broad buckets of the funds. But it's your opportunity let me rephrase. You can absolutely make comments on the recommendations. Staff may or may not take those recommendations and make changes and bring it to council. But when we bring it to council, we will accurately reflect the feedback that the CSC gave. And then council, as they always do, will vote on whether or not to adopt the recommendations. So we're

not we're gonna be the ones giving the recommendations. You guys will be. We're gonna bring up our proposal. Yeah.

But it is still technically, if I'm not mistaken, the CSC proposal, or are you guys just sort of doing the work on

You are. So the CSC is the citizen participation body Mhmm. In our HUD guide like, our HUD handbook, what we've told HUD. So that's the place where members of the public can come to hear, and you all can make comment. It's just that in this case, you're not making the recommendations based on your interviews of applicants. Staff are coming with our recommended projects. You can certainly say, I don't think this is a good use of the funding. But given the city's budget situation and the direction we've received from the city manager's office, staff are still probably gonna move forward with other from the city manager's office.

Okay.

Staff are still most likely gonna move forward with the recommendations to council. And council will then have the opportunity to weigh in and vote as well.

Commissioner, do think you would add to that, Mary? No.

I mean, I think I I yeah. I'm I'm getting up to speed really fast. Yeah. So I think that this is a good I think it's a really valuable question, so thank you for asking. It's very difficult to understand.

But I do think that the council wants alignment with the CSC in any regard.

Yeah. So I think let's talk a little bit more, yeah, after this in terms of if there's any wiggle room in terms of, like, a couple of different opt like, let's see if there is.

Yeah. Yeah.

And then we can we can sort of talk to you.

But even yeah. That or that, will you it's there I get February feels like it's a long time away. Maybe not. Doesn't have to get to you. So I'm ask if if can you help us understand? So we realize we're not gonna say youth education and housing and food security were really a big deal to us from our like, we understand that's not happening.

Mhmm.

And we understand you all have insight into what's going on in our city and with our providers, and you really know the CDBG in and out and what we're sort of required to do. Can you help us visualize at all now in advance of February 18 a type of thing that would come back to us? Maybe not the exact thing, but to just help us kind of know the direction.

Yeah. I'd like to yeah. I'd like to hear that.

Yeah.

So CDBG broadly has you can think of it in, like, two big buckets. There is the well, three buckets. One is administrative. That does never come to you. So that's just 20% fees for admin. The other two big buckets are public services. Mhmm. Only 15% of what we get in the year can be spent on public services, which is why it's always so competitive when we are doing the funding process with nonprofits. And then the difference is all the other CDBG eligible things that aren't capped. And the way that we have historically, as a city, allocated that is through economic development, home rehab loans, and neighborhood facilities or home rehab grants most recently, and neighborhood facilities improvement projects.

Typically, the economic developments have been kind of recurring nonprofits. We see the same folks. And then the neighborhood facilities have been it's usually the same agencies that come through. We've had we had a recent one, a new one this year, but it's typically folks nonprofits that have, like, physical infrastructure needs, a roof repair, HVAC repair, that sort of thing, a playground install. For this upcoming year Mhmm.

What the city is looking at right now are services programs that the city operates and whether and and using the services cap to support those. And then on the give us an example of the The navigation center or library services, potentially, those types of things. Mhmm. And then on the uncapped side, we're looking at things like and I'm speaking very high level. There are very specific, like, location nuance and eligibility stuff.

So this isn't like a citywide necessarily, but looking at things like traffic safety projects or fire equipment purchases, park improvements, those types of infrastructure things. And so we're trying to balance need, timeline, where we've already like, what the priorities are. We could talk internally about different scenarios. We haven't had the chance on a staff level to, like, really dig into the weeds on it.

I think it's a great conversation. We're doing

a lot of eligibility research. Yeah.

Yeah. I think yeah. So I yeah. I'd just be

I think what it sounds like to me, just from a first initial thing, I'm also I'll have to talk with Amy a little bit more and and Emily, is understanding eligibility constraints. And then what we're basically talking about this, and I think you appreciate you guys. And this has been really brutal that we're having to come back and and cut the the the community agency funding process. But in short, we are in touch their budget straights that these are potentially things that we would not be able to provide next year city services if we weren't to have this money to to basically supplement it. So I think making sure that you guys are involved and under understand the services that we're looking at.

And if there is, like, different if there if there if there are different options, if there are potentially some scenarios, knowing the eligibility requirements, I'm not sure if there are, but we can bring those to you as sort of, like, here's the slate of options that we're looking at and and get Yeah.

I would say we we started with a pretty broad list, particularly with the untapped things, and you start to get into some of the like. There are federal regulations if you spend over a certain amount of money. And if you're spending over a certain amount of CDBG of federal money on a larger project that doesn't already have federal money, those regulations trigger for the entire project. Yeah. And that can be incredibly cost prohibitive and time.

So we're also trying to weigh, is it worth, like, kind of drop in the bucket for a multimillion dollar project to get $600,000 if it means the whole project becomes subject to these very rigorous and kind of strenuous federal regulations, like Build America, Buy America, that you have to every piece of construction material has to be bought in America. That when you're talking about lumber and iron and steel Mhmm. Gets very the supply chain is tough. The cost is high. And if the project is already, like, a $20,000,000 project and this is 200 to $500,000, like, it's so we are we have started really broad with what can happen, and so we're starting to kind of get more narrow.

But hopefully, that gives you an idea of the types of things that we're exploring. Mhmm. And we'll connect more with Mary to see if there are particularly for the capped, because I know that that's really what a lot of what this fruit, not only what you're paying close attention to, but what you're, like, really in deep connection with.

Right. And, Amy, I have also a question about the the opiate funding that the waivers that we were supposed to get. How is the city gonna use those fundings? Because I'm I'm really, really, you know, honed in on that because I work in the field.

Right now, it's we're using it primarily for shelter, which is what we've historically used it for. So For shelter? For shelter. For housing services. Yeah. Because I we many of the individuals who are in Hayward's emergency shelters are folks who also have substance use disorder. And so we've been directing it that way. This upcoming CAF cycle was the first time that we were going to call it out as a specific eligibility category, as opposed to in the past, we've sort of looked at who we've got on the back end, and then been like, oh, we

can give you opioid. We can give you opioid.

Particularly because and apologies if

you're Are they just so the shelters are still being Yeah.

And that there are shelters this year that are still receiving. They didn't get because we were able to instead of give them general fund to give them opioid money, those contracts were maintained.

Okay.

I've actually seen agencies mentioned of as lost funding that did not lose funding. Like, Boston lose their funding.

Yeah. So that should be mentioned in the I'll take it too. You know you know what I mean? That the places that didn't lose their funding, I think it's really important because, you know, the the vibe out there is that all Ruby's plates

are Right. Yeah. Everybody who is CDBG funded and those shelters that received opioid funding for this current fiscal year did not get cuts.

Okay.

General fund applicants did get the 50% contract cuts.

And just for context, what were those amounts? Like, the general funds amount versus the CDBG? Because wasn't the general fund, like, a 100,000 or something?

No. The general fund services amount is, like, $4.50 something, $4.55. That's the services, and then the arts and music is, like, 130,000. I think it was,

like, a total of 600 or something.

So the those are the buckets that were cut in half. The CDBG services bucket plus the opioid is around $300,000, I think, without looking at it directly. I have it. Emily's got of course, I'm.

That's for this year. Right? Yeah.

For the current fiscal year. IAG and CDBG, I think service well, we can talk about all of stuff.

Services, it's 224,000. And then for economic development, it's 900,000.

So and that's also made for the facilities. So those didn't get cut at all for this current year. You can tack on another 147,000 from the opioid for shelters that didn't receive any cuts. The programs the contracts that didn't receive cuts were $4.55, I think, general fund. Yeah. So all of

the general fund is $587,000. So if we're doing 50%, that means 293,000. Got it. Yeah.

For this current fiscal year.

And then

Which isn't a huge number, but this is for agencies that have the $20,000 award. You know? Yes. Smaller budget. Sorry. Commissioner.

No. I was gonna say that's for this year and then all of next year.

Correct.

Yep.

And so when we're talking about what's coming to you for CDBG conversation Mhmm. We are talking about next fiscal year

Right.

When there is no cash process.

Yeah. But they'll still have the opiate funding next

year.

Opiate funding is available, but we are looking at internal uses for that as well for shelter, either for the navigation center or sorry. Not internal, but direct allocations to other shelters in the community. Opioid is really challenging to allocate because there are multiple settlements on different timelines receiving different amounts. So it's really hard to project out what we're gonna have available. So we're kind of still trying to play catch up and more accurately understand how much money the city is gonna get. Amy, I'd

like to ask, and know commissioner Singh and commissioner Gunn have some comments as we're just wanna remind us, we are still on the planning agenda discussion, and I'd like to keep us, in that vein if, please. But when you guys do your report, to the extent it is not overly burdensome Mhmm. For you all, and I'm serious when I say that. Thank you. It would be helpful for us if you gave us the most re the most condensed recap possible because it does feel like decades ago when we had the initial conversation of, okay.

We have this change. And it would be helpful to understand this is what occurred last year. Right? 50% of funds went this many funds didn't go. Again, the most concise recap without it being burdensome to just refresh our recollection. And then we most of us have gotten really used to the CAF process, so we're gonna be disoriented. So in your report, could you sort of share this is kind of either replacing or is your calf for this year you're used to seeing it look like this. But now as we're giving you this informational report, these are the things that typically would have I think that would be helpful for us to know, okay. This is what fits in the calf bucket. Yeah.

Yeah. And I you all have shared with us and have been very clear. The city of Hayward will need to use CDBG money that we're used to going to the CAF to literally just keep the lights on and get people working. It would be helpful as you're making your recommendations if you're able to share. This is a kinda keep the lights on thing. Right? Because I I her council member, Bina, say, hey. The city council is really interested, though, in understanding the CSC's sort of thoughts on all this.

Mhmm.

And I

think it will be helpful for us to have some thoughts if we're thinking through, yeah, it's maybe really not my favorite, but we do get

to employ people. You know what

I mean? Like, so if in your recap, you're able to sort of help us sort of paint the picture in those ways, and I also understand whatever it is you present, this body, this group will still be able to say, we love it. We hate it. We're not for sure. And you all will do your you will state when it's time to present because we still have two months. We've got February and we've got March before we show up in April at the city council meeting, and you all will share. Yep. They loved it. They hated it, or it was the same, but we landed at this perspective. So I just wanna make sure that this group is clear that we are still going to participate in the CAF process, but it is what sounds like going to be very disorienting

Yeah.

Very disorienting for us. And so I'm just asking you all to I think you all and I think I know you all have sat with it and thought about it much more than we have. And I think just those few caveats will help us much more quickly cap up to catch up to you and be able to really give input that allows us to feel like we're contributing and weighing in as well as understanding.

Yeah.

Thank you. No. That's great. Yeah. Okay. Absolutely.

Thank you so much. Commissioner Singh and then commissioner Nook.

Yeah. So just to clarify, it sounds like there is still CDG b CDG b PGT funding available, but it's not given to nonprofits. Instead, it's gonna be allocated to city resources due to the fact that there's a city or city

Yep.

Is that correct?

Yes.

Perfect. Just wanted to

clarify that.

Thank you.

And I did ask for when they come back to us with their reports to help us understand which some of those things are going in. They're gonna come to us with recommendations, and I believe some of them will kinda be like, yeah. This is an order for this thing to continue. Yeah. Mhmm. Thanks so much, commissioner Gunn.

Yeah. And great points around on this. One thing I just kept thinking of is I really wanna safeguard and protect this process. Mhmm. And what I wanna make sure is that anyone looking at what we're spending money on for CDBG doesn't feel like, this is you just stepped in and and took over. I feel like everyone in the room here understands the gravity of where we're in, and I would love to put forward a recommendation that says this is what we where we understand where we are, and this is the best use of this. Because I don't want a situation where somebody says, oh, there was no public involvement. There was no, there was no approval by the CSC. Like, I want us to look at this and say, yeah. This makes sense.

We should do this. And so as as much details we can get for that that will make us all have enough understanding. What I wouldn't want is somebody saying, yeah. We voted, but I don't know what we voted for. And so Or we didn't agree. Or we didn't agree, but it was going that way anyway. And I don't want that. So I wanna make sure that we're all on the same page. And the other thing I wanted to ask about since it's it's the agenda planning, we're kinda planning out the rest of this is to make sure with with our our council liaison, this is the direction that council wants us to go with this. We didn't get a chance to ask last time, so, not to put you on the spot.

Thanks. My sugar.

I I think I think it makes sense. What what I wanna make sure is that we're not positioning that all of the CDBG money is now somehow going to the city to take care of core services because of the budget issue because I do think that that's a mischaracterization. So I think that we need to be really clear with how all of this is happening because if there's CDBG funding that's on the table and there's recommendations that the services that the community will receive through that funding will be provided by the city as a service provider, that's a much different discussion than saying we're not gonna be providing these services because we need the services to keep the lights on in city hall up and running, and that's not the case at all. So I just wanna make sure that the services that the community is gonna receive is gonna be less than before, but the money that's coming to the city is to provide some sort of services to the community. It's not necessarily to keep the lights on inside city hall or inside any of our city facilities.

Yeah. And to be so a couple things about that. Keeping the lights on is not an eligible use of the funds. Good. And so we have to be we also like, we need to make sure that we're following the eligibility rules around how the money is used. And we are also kind of to get at what commissioner I was talking about, trying to stay away from uses that would be particularly for the uncapped funds that because it's a really big bucket of money. It's, like, $900,000 ish each year. We're trying to make sure, at least for right now, that those don't get put into ongoing usage.

Year. Yes.

Both because we do eventually want to get back to how the funding was previously. Wanted to keep that as an option. So for example, if the money could be used to pay additional staff time and salary, we're evaluating that as an option. But one of the considerations there is that if we put that in, then that becomes it forever. And federal funding also, as we know, is precarious.

Yeah. But we are evaluating all of those things. It's just we are taking into consideration the trade off of one time discrete projects versus something that could potentially create another structural challenge in the future. So what I'm hearing, I think, is that we you wanna see a little bit more of the behind the scenes of how the decisions are the recommendations are being put in front of you. So we'll make sure to give the context that commissioner Wheeler is talking about to kind of remind us how we got to where we are, and also shore work really clearly to make it clear to you all what options are being evaluated and why the recommendations maybe what the recommendations are, and wherever possible, present human choices.

Is there any place in this process? I'm not sure what you're looking at or reviewing or evaluating, but we traditionally, at this time, would have looked at applications. Mhmm. We would have had sort of here's our parameters of CDBG. Right. Can we still receive these are our parameters of CDBG? So we are showing up come February. I suspect now that we're having this conversation, I'm like, oh, these aren't gonna be hour long meetings. I'm just just knowing us. Right?

And so I'm like, can you provide us still with here's your parameters that will help us make sure we're guided correctly in the conversation and any other sort of background materials that we would have typically had at our disposal and would have reviewed prior to coming up in February. I believe what you're hearing is, I think, us recognizing ourselves knowing if we show up here February cold turkey, the conversation is not gonna be be as productive as it can be. And and Yes. And we won't be here for we'll be here longer than we all desire. Mhmm. Yeah. I would like

to know how how the projects that you guys are looking at to fund through the city, how they qualify for some decent.

Absolutely. Yep. You'll just remember

what service they're gonna Yeah. They're gonna meet that the money was supposed to go for.

Yeah. No. We typically have never presented it to you this way, but a clear way is Yes. Like, to say, here's the HUD matrix code, which is, like, really in the weeds, but, like, it is, like, it maps directly onto the type of work that it is that HUD classifies it. And then it also then maps onto what national objective it has to achieve. We, across the board Mhmm. Have always done the low moderate income national objective.

Right.

That the work we do has to serve predominantly individuals who are at 80% or below the area median income. And that is though even the ones that we're looking at now, it's the same national objective. But we can still be really clear about, like, this is how it is eligible for head. We've never typically gotten into weeds, but this is far fewer projects than Right. The other ones. Mhmm. Because, like, in service, it's not just one service code. Literally every type of service has a different Right.

So you don't need that's beyond what you all need, but we could if that's helpful. Even a well summarized one, Peter. Again, we're not looking for you all to spend hours of research and producing anything

for us. Do you We have to create this for our records. We just don't typically give it to you all because it's so in the weeds. No. I was gonna

say it is a it's a it's an awful lot of pain as an opportunity, but this

is an opportunity for you

all to understand sort of what happens behind the scenes a bit more and for me to understand it. But, also, there will then also be reporting that has to be done on these services that haven't Yeah. Had reporting done necessarily before. So I think it's another opportunity for you guys to ask questions about city services and understand what we'll have to report on. Yeah. It's not about

you know, I I just think it's it's an educational time for all of us because this is not something we've done before. So this is a this is a a different route that we haven't driven. And and so when you haven't driven this route, you have your, you know, navigation on, and and it tells you this way, that way, this and so I that's all I want. I just want

And maybe more of the rationale behind why the decisions are coming Yeah. With what they are so that the team and the commission can get behind it. Because Yeah. If it's something that says, here's the five things we're gonna fund and we're funding it like it or not, that doesn't feel like we're coming along with it. Right? But if we really understand why we're doing it, the rationale behind it, the impact that this is gonna

create Absolutely.

Why this so critical. Now we can all kind of get behind that and come along with it and then stand behind it because the chair's gonna have to get in front of the council and answer questions. Mhmm. So it would be good for her to also say everyone came behind it. We understood. Was a tough decision. We didn't have many choices, but we understand the context, and we support it.

And I think Absolutely. Do this by February, but I do think it's appropriate if these are services that are gonna be funded by CHP funding for those those project managers or department division heads to come and talk to you guys sometime about what entails in the services. You can Absolutely. Yeah. I think that would be very appropriate because Yeah. Nice to hear from the nonprofit. So Yeah.

I mean, the nonprofits have to come. So Mhmm. You know what I mean? I I think it's I don't think it's asking a lot.

Yeah. I I think I've got good notes that I I hear Emily taking good news. See the smoke coming from all these figures. I I just wanna acknowledge also, I think I had a really extreme response to your question at first because we have had so many of these conversations. But what I'm hearing is we just need to be really clear with you the conversations that we've had in Mhmm. Internally Yeah. To let you and I I think I I have a vision, and we will get you a good staff report for February. That would be great. Understand that. Thank you. It's a great question. And yeah.

I've got question. Can you please remind us Mhmm. February's public comment period notice, but then March is thirty day notice Yeah. Public period. Because it's sort of I I doubt we Yeah. Like, no. We don't approve that. But just sort of No.

It's not even approval things. It's literally us just saying that the public comment period is officially open and closing. And we do a comment period on what comes to the CSC, and then we do a comment period on what goes to council.

Okay. Thank you. Oh, that's what okay. Fair enough.

What comes to the c

so that's the difference. What comes here versus what goes to council?

And it's not showing up on this calendar because this is the fiscal year calendar and we end in June. But what Mary was saying about reporting, you'll remember Rick came here last at the end of last year and presented our CAPER findings. That all still has to happen. And so we will still come back to present that performance evaluation. It's just that well, it'll still be for our funded agencies in December because of the prior year. But December 2027, you'll hear about these projects that we're talking about right now.

Okay. Thank Assistant city manager, Thomas, mentioned something about division heads or department heads talking or, I don't know, memo or something. It I if that occurred in March, is that too late in the process? I'm not really clear on the process and how that would inform us and knowing versus having it in February, which literally feels like tomorrow versus Yeah. Mid March.

I can Nuri and I talk about it?

Yeah. I think I wanna see it. I to be I'm really I'm really quickly getting up to speed, and I I wanna I wanna also see kind of what the list is so I can understand who would be impacted by that. But I think this I'd actually it it absolutely is appropriate for us to do that. I just, yeah, forgot the timing.

The what's behind my question is whether or not I need to because we're on the point of the agenda to approve this calendar is whether or not we can put a placeholder to have something else on the calendar. So that's really behind the question. Like a meeting in between the February, March? No. Not a meeting in between, but whether or not we need to add an an item on one of the the dates.

It could probably even be in May and June some other time because I'm sure you would be able to adjust it. I mean, you know, kind of provide the rationale. We don't need the department heads in here to provide it. You can just provide that kind of behind the scenes Yeah. In that meeting, and then sometime later, the department heads can come in, maybe they can even triculate it.

Yeah. Because it's like they're not gonna get the funding until much later.

I mean Yeah.

Okay. We we schedule it throughout the year.

Yeah. So you're not getting it all that night, but sort of you're really interested. It would be great about library services or whatever it is that we land with that could be an opportunity for us to talk more about that.

How do I word that for us adjusting this to account for the I'm so task oriented? No. I think it's it's Right. So is that a is that a February meeting to discuss additional items or something like I think

I would recommend that you revisit this conversation in February when you're on this item again. Okay. Yeah. That you don't make any changes to the calendar now. You let

Mary It's part of the CDBG draft funding recommendation conversation.

Mary and our team talk to the rest of the city staff who would be affected by these projects, and then we'll come back in at the February item and be able to more clearly say in May, development services will come. And in that was a bad example. But Sure. Sure fire department. Yeah.

I love that. Can we have it I know our minutes are generally broad just for my recollection. I don't know if it's possible to just have it reflected in the minutes that what we what's included in the informational report is also an update on the likelihood realities of this conversation around department heads

and colleague overview. The further overviews of these services or

something.

Awesome. Awesome. Okay. Cool. Other questions, comments? Amazing conversation. Great growth. This new you all didn't slow down a bit. Anything else you learned? Yeah.

I will also say we are having the council city council is having a budget work session on February 28 if you want to learn more kind of about the budget in general. And it will include a five year forecast, so we are trying to be very specific as as council member Bonilla was saying about which of these strategies are are really short term to to try and get us through this moment versus longer term. And so, yeah, the the hope and the the goal is to make this just a short term. When is it? February 28, which is a Saturday.

All day.

So

All day. You're Will it be crew. On Zoom too. Yeah. It'll be all it'll be available on Zoom. It's fine to be recorded. So

you don't have to actually if if you're wanting to do it on different time, yeah, it'll be recorded. It'll be on Zoom. And and or you can sit with us in this

room

for just a

little bit. And or when the material comes out, if they have any comments, I'm happy to take them and then represent them at the workstation

as well. Thank And that's on

the record.

Awesome. Okay. So we are ready to entertain a motion for our CSC agenda planning calendar fiscal year twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six.

I make a motion that we accept the calendar as written. Thank you. Commissioner Marmira?

Second.

Thank you. Commissioner Sledge?

Yes. Yes. Mister Dow?

Yeah.

Mister Gunning?

Yes.

Mister Komura? Yes. Mister Patero? Yes. Mister Maxim? Yes. Mister Jacky Singh?

Yes.

Mister Dave Singh? Commissioner Spadich? Yes. Commissioner Wall?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any announcements from our commissioners tonight? What about our staff?

Mary's still one of them, which was the budget Or sorry. No. It's okay. I'm so happy that we were together. And maybe that was Mary now, but sorry. I there that session again, February 28. And then I have a staffing update for you. Two updates. As we can see, Mary's with us. This is specific injury on blood.

She's no longer with the city of Hamburg. So Mary's our support for this commission. And and then the other update is a bittersweet one, but I have accepted a position with Albion County, and this will be my last CSC meeting. It has been a real pleasure to work with you all as a staff liaison for the last almost three years, and then also in Emily's seed coming in and getting to know past CSE members and you all. And I I will miss you all very much. And I'm on the LinkedIn. Stay in touch.

Are you going to the c the CDBG? No. No.

It's I'll be joining the leadership team for Alameda County Health's Housing and Homeless Services. Okay. Yeah. We're really happy. And it's we're super excited

to lose Amy, but it's really good news for us to have that that connection at the county. Yeah. And it's a great opportunity for Amy. So When are you leaving, Amy?

My last working day is February 5.

Okay. February 5.

We'll do that by the back as a guest speaker when she when she understands Hi. About county funding.

Yeah.

And then pick how next time I'll come count in Haywood. Yeah. I will not be able to see you, but I will I'll come.

You get to pick your replacement?

Yeah. A whole other conversation. So

at the meeting next month, I'll have I'll we're I'm gonna chat more with, with Amy and the team at at the meeting next month. I'll definitely I'll be

coming to all the meetings,

and someone can give an update on kind of what

the Well,

one so in between the fifth and the next meeting, since there's no commission to call, do we reach out to you if we have a question or something?

Yeah. You can I can share my allow this? I'll have Amy send out sort of a contact list for who who you can reach out to. It may be me for some things, and it may be Emily or some other staff for other things. So, yeah, we'll do that for sure. You'll all get an email before before thank you, Annie, writing that down. Before we leave. I actually apologize

things. I'm just releasing, but I do have a planned vacation

for you year. But I will be at the following one and then make sure we have We have vacation to talk about. Yes. Okay.

Well, it's your vacation.

Thank you. Thank you.

Manager for the last several weeks. It's like Mary's taken on a lie.

Yeah. I would wanna be in your seat.

And so, yeah, just a little

bit about me. I've been in

the city for fifteen years. I live on D Street. My son goes to Burbank. I I've started in the it's actually in HR, and then I was in public works and then fire department, and then I've been in city manager's office.

So and I've

been in this role for six months.

Okay. Yeah.

Nice. So nice to meet you all. Thanks for Mhmm. Yeah.

Do want to Any

other stuff? Any yays on announcements? No? Okay. And then you're ready?

My only announcement is thank you so much for everything you've done for the city, doctor. We're really gonna miss you, but we're happy to still collaborate with you, Thakonia. And Thakonia really just made strong leadership, so we're

happy to

Thank you. Okay. Take care.

Get a six month grace period, and now we're expecting. Awesome.

Yeah. Thank you all so much. I I wanna just also extend just lot of respect and gratitude and admiration. It's been really awesome pleasure getting to work with you, getting to know you. And I I I look forward to I hope I expect we'll have some more coffee dates in the future. Absolutely. I like so cool, though.

Know.

And he was like, he has

the best story time. So bring my kid back. With that, we will adjourn our meeting at B 27. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. Good morning, baby.