pages: CityCouncil/2020-05-05.pdf, 14
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CityCouncil | 2020-05-05 | 14 | hands; outlined her schedule changes due to COVID-19; stated individuals are balancing work, home and childcare and do not have the ability to pay attention or participate in Council meetings; many are unaware of Council meetings; expressed support for cleanup language related to meeting access and absences; noted some members of Council are Kaiser participants and would have to travel to another city for emergency hospital treatments potentially jeopardizing their Council seat based on Charter provisions; expressed concern about the digital divide; stated meaningful participation may not occur online; a lot of people are not online; the City's system has had glitches; Charter conversations should be published well in advance in newspapers with information on how to access meetings digitally; the meeting should be published across multiple platforms; Council needs to be thoughtful about connecting with people to ensure knowledge about meeting topics; noted the Council can move forward at any time to recommend a review of Council pay; expressed concern about the timing of the discussion; stated the conversation should occur in the future; that she agrees Council is underpaid; she has had to pay for childcare to attend meetings; stated the conversation should occur in a year or two; not providing healthcare to families seems to be discriminatory; healthcare may be the only benefit for Councilmembers; better clarification of publicized parameters needs to happen for Measure 2; Measure 2 is an important change that needs to happen, but the item needs to be better articulated to the general public; expressed support for changing the language related to remote access and absences; stated the language is outdated; expressed support for waiting until Census results are calculated to discuss district elections; stated the Census can better inform the conversation; noted that she will not be able to participate in Thursday's meeting. Councilmember Oddie stated Councilmembers are focused on the agenda items because it is part of their job; the public is not focused on agenda items; the public is focused on health, safety, children, education, and financials; Council should pay close attention to what the public is focused on; expressed concern about the perception of Council jamming items through; stated Council is not amending the Charter, but is narrowing the focus; Council is setting up the framework of what type of Charter amendments to direct staff to bring back; Council is voting on a process or parameters for the future; expressed concern about asking the public to change something that has been around for 50 years; stated Councilmembers do not perform for the pay or healthcare, instead they perform for love of the City; noted some businesses in Alameda are going to have to close; businesses are worried about financial stress; there are valid reasons to consider increasing Council pay at a later time; expressed concern about the increase in pay causing further CalPERS and pension costs issues; stated the optics of Council asking for parameters of more money are not good; stated there are other City staff more deserving of a raise; the healthcare aspect for Council is discriminatory against women and families; there needs to be more parameters around the City Prosecutor item; expressed concern about the abuse of power related to the City Prosecutor; stated political conflicts can manifest into something bad; expressed support for Councilmember Vella's comments related to meeting access and absences; stated the cleanup language is broad; expressed support for gender neutral language; expressed concern about unintended consequences and fractionalization. Regular Meeting Alameda City Council 14 May 5, 2020 | CityCouncil/2020-05-05.pdf |