A note on publishing timelines. Over the past several weeks OO got a little behind keeping up with city happenings and did not publish an “In the Details”. The ITD will be back in the coming weeks, hopefully with some catch up.
Two Back to Back Council Meetings
In keeping with a growing reputation as the least transparent Council most hostile to public participation in a decade, the City Council has scheduled two back to back special meetings. One beginning at 9:30 am, for the EAP; and an already scheduled special meeting at the regular time of 3:30 pm.
It’s a given not many will be able to attend or even follow both. OO already published a breakdown of the new EAP to be heard at 9:30 am, and here’s a rundown of the items to be heard at 3:30pm:
3:30 PM Special Council Meeting
Non-Consent Calendar
There’s four items on non-consent, but only one is legislative. There is an ongoing tree removal hearing which could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for a hills-dwelling property owner. The City says he illegally cut down 38 trees, and is back with more evidence after Council asked for it. The City-Wide staffing report will likely be a platform for pontification; it’s already been heard at committee. There is also an Auditor’s recommendations follow up report.
The one legislative item is a contract for OFD hazardous material removal services.
Consent Calendar
Most of the items on Consent have already been heard at Committee, and OO covered them then. A couple of items may be pulled or become controversial at the meeting, however. In committee, D7 CM Ken Houston complained about the Tyrone Carney Park lease agreement, in his district, because he had not been looped in and threatened to vote no on it and to use his sway as the D7 CM to scuttle it. Promises of meetings and a substantive role before the item would be heard in full Council were made.
Another item that may prove controversial is legislation that would continue cooperative agreement contracts for Human Services. Since the item was first heard at Committee, the department’s director, Dr. Jason Lester, was terminated after less than a year on the job as Oakland Observer first reported. His replacement will be the assistant director, who has been on the job also less than a year. An unofficial theory some have put forth, including Lester, is that his move to pay outstanding invoices totaling over 7 million is one factor that led to the termination. It's anybody's guess if this comes up in deliberation.
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