Regular City Council Meeting - October 17th
View Agenda - Watch Entire Meeting
Mayor Bergel presiding; Councilmember Castellano, Councilmember Moulton, Councilmember Fernandez, Councilmember Bauer, and Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach present in chambers. Absent: none
Report Out of Closed Session - Watch
Deputy City Attorney Bob Black reported that no actions were taken. Lawsuit just served on the City that day was added to closed agenda by unanimous vote of the council as an emergency item. The lawsuit is the matter of Munson and Constatine-Blackwell vs City of Eureka, City of Eureka City Council, Does 1-10. This was added for a report. Other than adding, no action was taken.
Proclamation: Long Term Care Residents Month
Read by Councilmember Fernandez, in recognition of Long-Term Care Residents Rights Month.
Mayor's Reports
Presentation from Student Advocates Guiding Engagement (SAGE) from Eureka High School, mental health services for youth.
Sarah Dee Duncan, LMFT, has been Wellness Center Coordinator at ECS for 3 years. The schools have been integrating mental health, over last two years able to start providing services. Currently working on three federal grants specifically for mental health, will allow to integrate more services from community into school program. Program also highlights student voice and choice.
Zoey Johnson, junior at Eureka High School and has been member of SAGE since beginning of freshman year. Main goal is to make school a more comfortable place for students to be, and easier to mananage going through school day. Included students in building of Wellness Center, students are very proud of the outcome. SAGE program has been in operation for about 3 years. Students designed interior of new space.
The Wellness Center offers 3 tiers of support; walk-ins, student to student peer support, second group discussions, 3rd is one on one therapy with licensed Open Door clinicians. Third tier is new and has been huge step. Wellness Center also has private spaces, "Cozy Corners," for students to use as needed, have art supplies, refreshments available.
Jane Hong, Resorative Practices Support Specialist at Eureka High School, also Youth Organizer and Advisor for SAGE. Help conduct outreach for students, is first resource for students when they come to the Wellness Center, greets as come in. Can help facilitate discussions with students and any teachers students may be having issues with. Students may come in and not want to talk, Jane will check up before they leave. Students may open up before leaving, or Jane may accompany students back to class, and they will feel better and able to return to class. Free therapy offered for students three days a week; students may not have access to therapy on their own or may not feel comfortable asking their guardians for that kind of care. Has been major game changer, assistance from Wellness Center has been able to help students get the help from their guardians to get therapy.
Another aspect of the Wellness Center is training for students who are interested in going into the mental health field. There is a shortage of mental health care providers in the area, giving beginnings of job training, basics of mental health practices may help to grow numbers of local providers.
Council Questions
Councilmember Moulton asked how large the physical space is. Answer: Have larger space that is equipped with kitchenette and three therapy rooms.
Councilmember Moulton asked how many students the Center engages with. Answer: Center sees about 10 or so students per day, and about six of those students will engage with Jane one on one.
Councilmember Moulton asked if there were statistics or data that shows the success of the program. Answer: Do see that students feel better when they leave the Wellness Center, but major marker of success has been reduction in absenteeism. Some of the causes of absenteeism in schools are surrounding mental health challenges. Tracking number of students who stay in school--students may not be in their classes, but will be in the Wellness Center, and will go to their next class. Some students may only show up for school on their group days, requisite of attending group is that students have to attend all of their classes.
Councilmember Fernandez asked how many days a week the center operates. Answer: The center is open anytime during the school day.
Councilmember Fernandez wanted to commend the program, says that it's a fantastic service to offer to the students.
Mayor Bergel shared that the students from SAGE gave a presentation to her class and is blown away by the great work that they are doing with the Wellness Center.
Mayor Bergel also traveled to Long Island City, sponsored by Creativetime and spoke at New Red Order's Give It Back Gathering about Landback, about how the City gave Tolowat Island back to the Wiyot Tribe.
Mayor Bergel also attended the 100th celebration for Rotary. Rotary's goal is Service above Self and gave $100,000 grant to The Jefferson Center for their culinary program.
Talk Eureka - Citizen Engagement
Presented by Media Coordinator Cosette Hunter
Let's Talk Eureka is the new community engagement platform for City of Eureka. Community engagement is a topic that is top of mind for municipalities. Pillars of community engagement that are top of mind are outreach, education, empowerment, and engagement.
City has a large number of resources, projects, and programs and at any given time, and currently not always easily able to find where the project information is or what stages the projects might be at. Feedback is limited to comments, emails or phone calls, currently no dedicated space for community members to give feedback. Talk Eureka is main community engagement platform.
Began growing community engagement through growing social media, via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and recently redesigned website. Seeing community members looking for ways to get involved, asking questions, looking for resources and information.
Goals of Community Engagement platform is to be space for the sharing of ideas and stories, voting and participating in decision making, fostering a sense of pride in where we live and who we are, and building future in community, leading to community growth and healthier communities overall.
Technical literacy is a barrier to community members being able to access digital resources, and information in general. Goal of social media is to increase awareness of what resources are available through digital outlets, and increase access in community, and support increasing technical literacy and increase awareness.
Talk Eureka is specifically designed to be a place that's easier for people to get project information, and a place where people can talk back and share ideas, comments, and questions. Talk Eureka has three projects live now, including a project inviting residents to draw and name the neighborhood where they live. The Name Your Neighborhood project has a Frequently Asked Question section, contact information for who is working on that project, and a timeline for the phases of the project. This is the ultimate goal of this website, a place to host these projects in a way that make it clear, make the information accessible, and make any resources available to community members.
Two other projects are live on Talk Eureka, a page for the Community Health Town Halls. The Town Hall page is very new and are hoping to see community engagement here. Also has page for City Council meetings, to try to make meetings more accessible.
Looking to expand Talk Eureka to include Affordable Housing Project, Bay to Zoo Trail, and other projects. This will give people a way to interact more directly with resources and content relating to specific City projects.
Are tracking engagement data through website analytics, social media insights, including specific analytics from the Talk Eureka platform. Are monitoring these metrics to respond to how community is utilizing resources.
Ultimate goal is for community to be excited about information that is available. Community partnership is the goal of this platform, drawing engagement to Talk Eureka from social media.
Council Questions
Councilmember Moulton asked how conversations are moderated. Answer: Talk Eureka is moderated by the host, EngagementHQ. Some auto-moderation through use of filters, and some moderation is performed by people ensuring that conversations are staying on-topic and are respectful and polite. All moderation is done by the third party, and the City is not moderating ourselves.
Councilmember Fernandez asked how long project has been live. Answer: Was soft-launched just before last Town Hall, so about a little over a month.
Councilmember Fernandez asked what the engagement numbers have been since launch. Answer: The numbers have been pretty low so far, have yet to do a "hard" launch. Information surrounding Talk Eureka has been disseminated as a part of the Town Hall promotions, and more recently as a part of Name Your Neighborhood. After this presentation will be doing more of a campaign and soliciting more engagement through social media awareness campaigns.
A commenter continued to share their concerns regarding the City mandated vaccination policy.
A commenter complained about dumping in the alley behind their house.
A commenter shared concerns about timing of a traffic study.
Unmet Transit Needs Public Hearing - Watch
Presented by Finance Director Millar
First public hearing is titled Unmet Transit Needs. This is an annual process with the help of Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG)
Stephen Luther, Associate Regional Planner will present. Will be sharing information about state of transit, the state of ridership numbers and some initiatives coming up.
Unmet Transit Needs is about use of local transportation funds. City of Eureka is allocated approximately a million dollars, zero of which may be used for streets and roads purposes--some cities in the areas are allowed to use transit funds for streets and roads.
Humboldt Transit Authority (HTA) is the largest transit operator, 446,000 total passengers in the past year. Total operating expense for the past year was $6,572,527 and total fare revenue $1,038,495
Historical ridership shows that ridership is starting to return to pre-COVID or nearly pre-COVID numbers.
Data shows that the Eureka transit service has the lowest operating subsidy in the area, is the most cost-effective per passenger trip. Eureka has the highest passenger trips per vehicle service hour. Census data does show that there are unmet transit needs in Eureka, specifically in areas with 0 car households. These areas are in Old Town, Henderson Center, and Rosewood.
HTA is working on a branding update, making it easier to transfer between transit lines, by utilizing card tap to pay or monthly passes. Will be piloting on-demand microtransit, similar to Uber or Lyft, in Eureka using Dial A Ride Vehicles. Pick up in about 15 minutes. More microtransit services planned for other communities. New service lines added in Arcata, and Yurok Tribe Transportation Department serving Orleans, Weitchpec and Hoopa. Anticipated launch of Redwood Coast Express connecting Eureka to Ukiah via public transit.
Known transit needs are more frequent service, Sunday service, later night service on Friday and Saturday specifically mentioning service to attend Arts Alive, as well as earlier and later service on RTS and ETS.
One block is getting enough drivers, HTA has been able to hire some drivers, but are hiring now.
If people can't comment tonight, are able to submit comments online by contacting Stephen Luther orcompleting an online survey.
Council Questions
Councilmember Fernandez asked if the Token Transit app would be going away with the use of the credit card terminals. Answer: Token Transit will still be used.
Councilmember Ferndandez asked if the microtransit pilot would be City-wide or just in specific areas of town. Answer: Pilot would be City-wide in the Dial A Ride zone, which is roughly the City boundaries.
Councilmember Fernandez asked what the timeframe for calling the microtransit pick-up, would it be same-day. Answer: it is app-based, phone calls are discouraged, and would respond similarly to Lyft or Uber. Using software called RideCo, in app store under Ride Humboldt but is not active yet.
Councilmember Ferndandez asked when microtransit would be rolled out. Answer: HTA board voted to roll out October 24th.
Councilmember Fernandez asked how the known transit needs are being addressed. Answer: The Sunday service and later Friday and Saturday services will be started, HCAOG is working with HTA to get those started.
Councilmember Ferndandez asked if HTA has made any steps to collaborate with schools in the area, as both entities are having difficulties finding drivers. Answer: do not know.
Public Comment
A commenter recommended against using Dial a Ride vehicles for microtransit, as the Dial a Ride service is very full, is already difficult to get onto the schedule. Dial a Ride is already expensive to use. Commenter also noted that Myrtletown was not included in presentation and Myrtletown does not have adequate service. Mayor Bergel informed the commenter that Myrtletown is outside of Eureka city limits.
A public commenter spoke about topics not pertaining to this agenda item.
Council Comment
Councilmember Castellano wanted to assure the public that Dial a Ride patrons will have preference over the microtransit when patrons are scheduling appointments. Anyone who is currently using the system for Dial a Ride will be filled before microtransit is available. Dial a Ride patrons won't be competing in the same app market for those rides. Wanted to note that Associate Planner Luther did take down comment about Myrtletown service, and even though Myrtletown is not in Eureka city limits, it can be a part of the hearing on transit needs.
2023-24 Fee Schedule Update - Watch
Presented by Finance Director Millar
Minor update to the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Fee schedule, focused on sewer lateral installation fee. Have altered the description of a couple of fees. Biggest change is distinguishing between standard and non-standard sewer lateral installation fee and standard and non-standard sewer lateral replacement fee. The cost for the standard installation or replacement has not changed, but if there is a non-standard installation or replacement it is recommended to be charged at actual cost.
Council Questions
Councilmember Fernandez asked for clarification about non-standard sewer laterals. Answer: City Manager Slattery explained that a standard lateral is a sewer lateral that is affronting the property and in the City's right-of-way. Anything other than that would be considered non-standard. An example of that would be a property that has a frontage to a State right-of-way; that causes more issues with replacing or installing a sewer lateral. Another example would be if a property is at the end of a road, and the sewer main does not extend to the front of the property. Both cases would be charged at the actual cost.
Public Comment
No public comment on this item.
Council voted to adopt the recommended changes, unanimous Yes vote.
One item, Mental Health Clinician (2 FTE) and Mental Health Case manager (2 FTE), pulled from the consent calendar for discussion.
Motion to Council
Council voted to pass all items minus the pulled item, unanimous yes vote.
Resolution: Add Mental Health FTEs
Presented by Managing Mental Health Clinician Jacob Rosen
Have applied for a couple of grants and working on possibly contracting with Department of Health and Human Services Humboldt County Behavioral Health to establish more robust services for Crises Alternative Response and Engagement (CARE).
Earlier on day of the meeting were notified of being awarded a grant of $625,000 to expand CARE services from the Carestar Foundation. $25,000 of those funds were awarded to CARE for the emphasis on the development of crisis services in a rural settings, and for work in taking into account the Indigenous cultures and expanding the approach to mental health.
Approving the allocation of the additional positions to then hire staff with the funding just awarded and more hope to receive in near future.
Council Questions
Councilmember Fernandez explained that he requested to pull this Consent Calendar item was so that there could be discussion and could hear the good news about the grant funding. Councilmember asked if the funding awarded would fund all four positions. Answer: will not be able to fund all four positions; the way the grant award will be allocated will be $225,000 the first year, $200,000 the second year, and $200,000 the third year. Hope is to fund at minimum a clinician and case manager out of that funding. If awarded other funding that CARE has applied for, would transition this funding to go to EMT case managers. The EMT case manager position is not developed, and would do a separate council motion for that position. CARE does have a couple of impletmentation plans available.
Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach asked if the funding is just for salaries or if it could be used for other things as well. Answer: Can be applied as needed, there aren’t a lot of constraints with the Carestar grant. Would prefer to use it for salaries, as the biggest constraint in expanding the program is funding for staffing.
Councilmember Moulton asked Managing Mental Health Clinician Rosen to remind the public who can utilize the services provided by CARE. Answer: CARE is a City of Eureka program, the team collaborates with Eureka Police Department (EPD) in providing crisis services for mental health crises, substance use related crises, and sometimes end up providing medical case management. Sometimes for people who are unhoused, medical issues becomes a crisis that while not requiring an ambulance, does require some assistance. Providing services in those cases, not based on insurance at the moment. Anyone who is in need can call EPD dispatch, EPD will then filter that request to the CARE team as they are available. The hope is to be able to independantly respond, instead of having an officer respond and then determine if CARE should respond. Goal is to be dispatched independant of an office to calls that are non-threatening and do not have a weapon involved. City Manager Slattery clarified that if it is an emergency, call 911. If it is not an emergency, call non-emergency dispatch at 707-441-4044 [Note: 707-441-4054 also works, however, Dispatch prefers the 707-441-4044 line to be used.]. Managing Mental Health Clinician Rosen clarifed added that unless it is an emergency, to please only use the non-emergency line of 707-441-4044 to keep the emergency line clear, as the dispatch center handles a lot of calls.
Recess called due to power outage at City Hall to allow for staff to reestablish broadcast of meeting.
Councilmember Moulton commented to express appreciation that this is the direction that the City of Eureka is taking to address the needs of people who's needs aren't met. Mental health crises are a significant peice of folks who experience homelessness in our community, and addressing this directly as opposed to criminalizing certain behaviors is incredibly forward thinking. Councilmember Moulton thanked CARE for doing this work.
Councilmember Castellano added to Councilmember Moulton's comments that a lot of cities our size are not this forward-thinking, appreciates staff for bringing this forward. Also pointed out that while many people who are unhoused access these resources, they are available for anyone in the community as well.
Motion to council
Council voted to approve the allocation of the positions, unanimous Yes vote.
Legislative Action Correspondance
No items.
Ordinances and Resoulutions - Watch
Entheogenic Plants and Fungi Criminal Priority - Watch
Resolution: Entheogenic Plants and Fungi
Presented by Deputy City Attorney Black
Report and introduction will be fairly brief, not so much substantive as Deputy City Attorny Black is not an expert in these items. Understand that the Council would like take a position in the matter of the degree of criminal enforcement of state and federal laws that prohibit or restrict significantly the use of these substances. Did have access to resoultion adopted by the City of Arcata in the same subject area. Reviewed that resolution and did some fact-checking and some cleanup of language. Present to council a version of the resolution that was adopted in that city.
The effect of the resoultion is to express the will of the City Council that law enforcement in the City deprioritize the enforcement of state and federal law prohibiting entheogenic plants. Considerable discretion remains with EPD, particularly in the involvement of minors, and considerable discretion remains with the District Attorney's office with what to pursue after it is reported to them. Assistant City Attorny Black's opinion is that the Council's expression of priority in this area would be taken into account.
The resolution is available to be modified, adopted, or tabled to take action at some future date.
Council Questions
Managing Mental Health Clinician Rosen is available to answer questions, his background in substance use treatment and disorders is that he is a Licensened Marriage and Family Therapist, and part of that education is to receive training in substance use disorders. Also have have over seven years experience in treating co-occuring disorders with substance abuse crisis.
Councilmember Fernandez understands there are reservations, and invites those to be expressed. Answer: Managing Mental Health Clinician Rosen shared that his primary concern is that the messaging around the substance. Much of the language in the resolutions claims that entheogens are known to be safe and known to be healing; while there is data a research available that shows promise in the use of entheogens to be used in mental health treatment, it is far from established. Concern would be that the resolution claims are based on a handful of studies that look at correlation and do not look at causation, and promoting those as a found fact that these substances promote healing. What is known from current research of MDMA [3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, also known as ecstasy or molly] is that for MDMA to have a healing effect, it requires thereapy to be administered while the individual is under the effect of the substance. Just taking MDMA on it's own does not cure PTSP, but taking MDMA while a therapist provides a regimented therapy will provide a significant symptom reduction over a long period of time. The primary concern is that we do not know what that therapy is in entheogen. Entheogens have multiple differnt hallucenogenic compounds in a single pland, and we don't know which one of those is acting on the brain to cause the healing effect of the substance. We don't know what the contraindications are. We do know that in some people with pre-existing mental health conditions including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression, these substance can trigger psychotic episodes that can last longer than the intoxication of the substance. There is concern about the City endorsing them to be healing when the research does not support that at this time.
Councilmember Moulton asked if there was a representative from EPD available to share what EPD thinks about it. Answer: Chief Jarvis is out of town at a conference, City Manager Slattery was able to speak with the Chief and will be able to share his thoughts, and Commander LaFrance is available to speak as well. Chief Jarvis did reach out to Arcata Police Department and was able to speak with the Acting Chief of Police, and they said have not had any significant issues to this date. City Manager Slattery thinks that there are concerns, and that is to be expected, from an enforcement standpoint. When Council had discussion about support of AB 58, staff did conduct research charges associated with enthiogenics, and there were approximately 5 total casese where these charges appeared. Commander LaFrance said that after speaking with the Chief, they are in agreement with the Governor. Biggest concern from EPD are what are the unintended consequenses, and are they able to handle that at the current staffing levels, currently understaffed by 12 officers.
Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach was able to speak with Chief Jarvis, and one of the concerns he had was about the vague language in the resolution, and was asking if Council would clearly define an amount. Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach asked if Commander LaFrance could speak to that further. Answer: Commander LaFrance can't speak in too much detail to that point, other that grey areas in law enforcement are not good. Would prefer to have a clear stance outlined.
Councilmember Bauer asked if how entheogens are scheduled, as a Schedule 1 drug, has impacted the research necessary to make practitioners more comfortable with entheogens being used in a theraputic way. Answer: Yes, it is a prohibitive factor to expand that research. Just in June of 2023, the FDA did provide clear trial guidelines to develop these studies, but is still early days. If we look to MDMA as a map of how this progresses, there will be more and more studies, once the scientific community can come to more of a consensus around what the chemical is that creates the healing state, then would be better able to narrow down therapies needed to go along, and will eventually see a regamin emerge. Due to the current restrictions have been limited on finding causal effect. Some of the research is concerning because it's more correlation based.
Councilmember Fernandez asked if Commander LaFrance could advise on an amount that could be defined as personal or commercial. Answer: Commander LaFrance would have to refer back to the EPD Drug Task Force.
Mayor Bergel asked Managing Mental Health Clinician Rosen to explain more about therapy being paired with the use of entheogens. Answer: Most if not all psychotropic medication is symptom management, and for actual change to occur, it requires therapy to take advantage of our neuroplasticity, which is how the brain can change. An example is SSRIs [Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors] being taken for depression. If only the medication is used, when one stops the medication there is a decent chance of reoccurance of depression. If the medication is taken to reduce the symptoms of depression and one participates in therapy to change the behaviors and thought processes, over time different parts of the brain are reconnected. That is the actual healing taking place. In that situation, medication is providing an open door for therapy to be more effective, but the medication alone does not cause the healing effects.
Public Comment
26 people shared public comments. All speakers spoke in support of Council passing the resolution. A majority of speakers shared personal histories of finding healing in the use of entheogens to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use disorder, and other mental health disorders or challenges. Some speakers shared their recovery from substance use disorder, and how the use of entheogens have helped them in a way where they are no longer dependant. Several mental health practicioners shared their support of deprioritizing entheogens as a pathway to lead to further study of the effects of entheogens. Many speakers highlighted that the language of the resolution does not allow for the sale of the entheogens. Many speakers shared about their personal expereriences with entheogens as part of healing within a larger community. Many speakers pointed out that entheogenic plants have a long history of use in indegenous cultures. Many speakers spoke about creating and maintaining educational groups available to help people learn more about entheogens. One speakers advocated for the passing of the resolution to prevent what happened with the legalization cannabis and the corporatization and collapse of the cannabis industry. 22 speakers spoke in Council Chambers, four speakers spoke on Zoom.
Council Comments and Discussion
Councilmember Contreas-DeLoach spent a lot of time researching this topic. Appreciated all of the letters. It is clear, based on the letters, that this has been a critical piece of the healing process for a lot of people. Questions have been around what the concerns are the clinicians have and how these become illegal in the first place, and only became illegal in recent past. Have been speaking with law enforcement about their concerns as well. She does have concern about language in the resolution and would like that altered if Council is going to pass the resolution tonight. Learned that Johns Hopkins [School of Medicine] plans to recommend that entheogens be changed from a Schedule 1 to Schedule 4, which is the same classification as a sleep aid. Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach said that it comes down to a question of if it is the proper role of government to make the personal private use of a naturally occurring plant illegal, and does not think that is the proper role of government. Would like to clarify as moving forward for law enforcement, and deeply appreciates all the stories shared.
Councilmember Fernandez asked Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach which aspects of the resolution she would like to see removed or refined. Answer: Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach has a long list of items to change, but most important item would be to provide clear direction to law enforcement, since this resolution would go into effect immediately. The Councilmember would like to remove value language from the resolution, specifically the third "whereas" statement--Councilmember would not like to make blanket statements, does recognize that entheogens are not beneficial for everyone, does not think that's an appropriate statement for the Council to make.
Councilmember Fernandez is comfortable removing the third "whereas" statement from the resolution. Councilmember Fernandez asked when resolution would go into effect if passed. Answer: City Manager Slattery clarified that this is not like a resolution where it is introduced and adopted, if passed the policy would be in place immediately. To speak to what Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach is speaking to, if there changes that aren't substantive changes made to the resolution, it can be adopted tonight. Deputy City Attorney Black would advise if a change is substantive or not.
Councilmember Fernandez asked if they removed the third "whereas" and added an adoption date, would that give time to law enforement to provide guidance to Council on the gray areas. Answer: City Manager Slattery said that if Council decides, to give the resolution back to staff to then present at the next Council meeting with whatever direction what Council is looking at. If the question is what is Eureka Police Department (EPD) comfortable with, that would definetly have to come back to the next Council meeting.
Councilmember Ferndez noted that if they were getting into these details, seems like getting into ordinance area. City Manager Slattery said it is up to Council's discretion.
Councilmember Fernandez noted that the state has a history of being bold in a fashion, given the history of cannabis in the state. Noted that as a Council, did approve the intent of Senate Bill 58. Was disappointed that Governor Newsom vetoed the bill. This resolution does not legalize the use of engheogenic substances, which is outside of the purview of City Council, but from Councilmember Fernandez's perspective, lowers a barrier for those who utilizes these entheogens, would make local law enforement focus on other salient issues in our community. Sees this an opportunity to promote this as destigmatizing of its use for healing purposes, and sees that there is community support for collaboration and education. Does not see this as a call to "turn in , tune in, and drop out," instead a call to commuinity for the opportunity for folks to reach out to professionals for support or law enforcement if things take a negative turn, without fear of reprisal.
Councilmember Moulton shared gratitude for people sharing personal stories, and is glad to hear that so many people are finding peace of mind. Like Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach, is not comfortable using anecdotal evidence as evidence, does agree that government needs to step out of the way. Healing shouldn't be top-down, Western medicine is not perfect, and if people are finding solutions for themselves and they are not hurting anybody, then [government] needs to get out of the way and let that happen. In the resolution, Councilmember Moulton is uncomfortable with wording making assertations about efficacy, if something is stated as a fact, would like to have those studies referenced directly. Would like to remove spiritual references as well. In favor of this resolution, but would like to see those assertations either completely removed or specific studies cited. Also noted that while unsure how much time EDP currently spends on this, but is of the opinion othat freeing up that time and resources would be a value to the community as a whole.
City Manager Slattery would like to clarify that if there is an agreement from Council about what needs to be removed, could be adopted tonight.
Councilmember Moulton asked if it is necessary to specifically say that Council is not regulating or endorsing this. Answer: City Manager Slattery beleives that language can be clarified to say that Council is only decriminializing this, and not taking a stance spiritually or medically.
Councilmember Castellano is supportive of removing the third "whereas," does not have as many reservations as fellow Councilmembers. Appreciates the courage of the people who have shared personal stories in a space that can be challenging. Councilmember Castellano also appreciates that emerging practices can offer alternatives to more hierarchical approaches to medicine. Sees that there are exciting spaces for collective research that would live ot see come out of community. Also appreciate that there haven't been significant problems in Arcata following the same decriminialization measures taken two years ago.
Councilmember Bauer thanked community members for their comments and stories. Believes that there is agreement that there needs to be a change to how entheogenic substances are dealt with in the community. Personally believes that enforcement should be focusing on fentanyl and methamphetamine; those are killing thousands of people across the county. As far as the resolution itself, does not have changes that he would like to see; the main point is decriminialization. Understands the desire to edit, does not thing that the entirety of the third "whereas" should be struck, but remove the statements discussing personal and spiritual growth. Would like to keep goal at top of mind, and goal decriminialization. Supports this, and believes that while the negative effects are real, in the large scheme of things, is happy to explore how to pass this tonight.
Councilmember Fernandez clarified that the item Attachment C is a list of the cited studies, asked Councilmember Moulton if that would satisfy the request to have sources cited. Councilmember Fernandez asked if council could give concensus on removing the language discussing personal and spiritual growth from the third "wheras." Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach responded that she cannot give this concensus, that she believes that the document skews one direction, as positive. Does not want to weigh in on being positive use, and would prefer to focus on the decriminializing and deprioritizing aspect. Does not want to weigh in on the value, and believes that the resolution leans to far.
Councilmember Bauer responded that Senate Bill 58 contained the same kind of language, and this document also leaves a record of the thinking behind the decision. If Council removes the language about the discussion from the resolution, will not leave that record for people down the line to look to for understanding of why Council made this decision. Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach agreed with that point.
Councilmember Castellano suggested reviewing the resolution point by point.
Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach would like to have clear language for law enforcement.
Councilmember Castellano would like to pass resolution tonight, beleives that there is enough to pass and it may be that the gray area is not satisfied.
Councilmember Ferndandez asked if were to pass tonight, would Council be able to make it contigent on law enforcement developing guidelines. Answer: City Manager Slattery referenced discussion that Council had with Senate Bill 58, that if someone is distributing, it is clear based on the equipment needed such as a scale, they have a large amount. When getting into personal use with engheogens it can be difficult; if they are shaing there may be a large quantity. In the previous research, showed that previous crimes that were associated with entheogens, it was extremely limited. In the instances where entheogens were present, there were a combination of things. There were other charges associated.
Councilmember Fernandez is trying to find common ground so that action can be taken at this meeting. Would like to see it passed tonight.
City Manager Slattery noted that if Council chose to come back to define what personal use is, could come back as an amendment to the resolution.
Mayor Bergel commented that there are a lot of people in the world who are suffering all the time. In her experience, there is not a one-size fits all cure for all who are suffering. This is another tool for people to use to get the support that they need. When consider the damage caused by drugs like alcohol, heroine, methamphetamine, and fentenyl in a community, this kind of support should be available. Personally had an experience where someone had co-occuring disorders and died from a bad trip. Even so, does not believe that these substances should be banned. Does not think that there's one solution.
Motion to Council
Motion to adopt the resolution, elimitating the personal and spiritual growth section from the third "whereas." Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach commented that she is voting in favor, but would like to note strenous objection to passing this without clear language in resolution, also noting that this document makes it sound like a panacea, and also would like to note that brains are still developing until the age of 25, and any use of any substance can have a detrimental effect. Motion passed unanimously.
Motion to council
Councilmember Castellano moved to extend the meeting to 10:15pm. Motion passed unanimously.
September 2023 Zoning Code Update - Watch
Attachment 1 - Bill No. 1032-C.S.
Presented by Development Services Director Cristin Kenyon
This is the fifth modification to the text amendment that adopted the current inland zoning code. This applies the the inland portion of the City. Nothing has changed since the ordinance was introduced at the last regular meeting. Staff believes that amendments better align code with the vision and goals of the 2040 Generak Plan and maintain internal consistency with the zoning code. Staff recomends Council adopts the bill.
Public comment
No public comment on this item.
Motion to Council
Motion to adopt Bill No. 1032-CS passed unanimously.
Reports and Action Items - Watch
Presented by City Clerk Powell.
Eureka residents Mike Munson and Michelle Constantine-Blackwell filed a notice of intent to circulate a general plan amemendment for housing petition on July 14th, 2023. The City Attorney then prepared a ballot title and summary for the initiative petition. The ballot title was designated "An Initiative to Amend the City of Eureka’s General Plan as the Plan Affects City-owned Parking Lots and Eureka City Schools-owned Jacobs Site"
Proponents submitted the necessary paperwork, filed notices, and then were authorized to then begin collecting signatures. On August 28th, the proponents filed 2,790 signatures with the City. The County of Humboldt Elections Office then verified those signatures, and has certified 1,974 signatures as valid. Election law requires that the number of registered voters is determined by the report that the County Elections Office files with the Secretary of State, on or near the date that the notice of intent is filed. The total number of voters at that time was 15,868. 10% of the registered voters were necessary for the proponents to qualify for the next regular election, or 1,586 valid signatures.
Today received both lawsuit and letter indicating that the proponents felt that this item should have been on the October 3rd City Council Meeting Agenda. The verification was received the day after the Agenda for the October 3rd Council Meeting was published. The City has a sunshine ordinance that requires the City to publish agendas one week prior to each Council meeting. The decision was made to put the item on the agenda for the next meeting which there was no agenda published, which is this meeting.
At this time, staff is requesting that Council either adopt the ordinance without alteration, at this meeting, or within 10 days, or submit the ordinance without alteration to the voters to the next regular election, to be held November 5th, 2024. Have consutlted with both Juan Cervantes, the County of Humboldt Registrar of Voters for the next regular election, and election law. Deputy City Attorny Black is available to answer questions.
Councilmember Ferndandez asked for clarification about timing of when certification received and sunshine ordinances. Answer: Received certification after the October 3rd agenda was timely published under our Sunshine ordinance. Taking a look at the law as a whole, the interpretation from the City Attorny's office meant the meeting of October 17th. The certification could be received the day of a regular meeting, Attorney Black does not believe it would be a reasonable interpretation of the law that would mean that the item would be added to the agenda of that night, giving the public virturally zero opportunity to know that the matter would be discussed and to weigh in. The City has an ordinance that extends the benefits and protections of the Brown Act for the citizens of Eureka to receive notice by way of a posted and published agenda six days before a regular Council meeting. This is a little more than what the Brown act requires, but was a judgement call that a past City Council made, that the citizens needed more notice than what the law required, therefore we publish the Wednesday before the Tuesday meeting. This certification came in after that. Deputy Attorney Black does not think it was a consideration to retract the published agenda and publish a new one violation of our own Sunshine laws. It was made a consideration the day of the meeting by a number of emails from the attorney representing the proponants. They filed a lawsuit over this. The lawsuit would seek to declare the City was wrong in that judgement call. The larger import is that proponents believe that by being disussed at the earlier meeting, that would get this ballot measure on a March 5th California Primary Election as declared by the Governor. That's not what the law requires the City do. Deputy City Attorney Black is confident that the November election is the next regular municipal election, and that is in the City charter.
Councilmember Fernandez asked if it would be out of place for a published agenda to be amended. Answer: City Manager Slattery shared that typically when that has happened, it has been for a time sensitive issue, such as for when an item goes to bid. Has happened a couple of times in City Manager Slattery's tenure. City Clerk Powell noted that if agendas are amended, they are done so and published by the Friday before the Council meeting to stay within the requirements of the Brown act, but the matter of the item needing to be included on the agenda was not brought up until the day of the meeting. Deputy City Attorney clarifed that the agenda was published Wednesday, stating clearly that the initiative was not included on the agenda. It was not brought to the attention of staff until Tuesday, 6 days later, that someone was contending that the item should have been. City Clerk Powell noted that a letter was sent to the proponants and their attorney on that Thursday indicating the item would be included on the next regular council meeting on October 17th.
Councilmember Fernandez noted that even if a court were to find in their favor, the City is discussing the matter at this meeting. Answer: Deputy Attorney Black also noted that one of the questions that the court would have to answer is if it was an unreasonable delay, that the demand wasn't brought to the attention of the City until the day of the meeting, despite the published agenda and a notice.
Public Comment
Seven public commenters shared their support for the initiative.
A public commenter spoke against the initiative.
A public commenter supported Council submitting the initiative to the voters.
A public commenter requested the City rebut claims made in the initiative.
Motion to Council
Council moved and voted unanimously to extend the meeting to 10:30 pm.
Councilmember Moulton asked to define the scope of the conversation; asked if Council is discussing the merits of the initiative as well as deciding if to pass the initative or submit to voters. Answer: City Manager Slattery confirmed that Council is only choosing whether to pass the initiative to submit to voters.
Mayor Bergel invited Registrar of Voters Cervantes to clarify when the next regular municipal election will be held. Answer: the next regularly scheduled election for the City of Eureka is in November.
Councilmember Moulton noted that all of the questions that she has are outside the scope of the actions to take tonight.
City Manager Slattery shared for the benefit of Council and the public that in August Council directed staff to bring information back to the ballot measure related to the legal, planning and zoning, and fiscal impacts of the initative. Staff has analysis that will be presented to Council on November 7th, at the next regularly scheduled meeting.
Councilmember Fernandez asked if Council decides to send the initative to the ballot, could Council decide at a subsequent meeting to pass the ordinance. Answer: City Manager Slattery believes that Council could do so if there is a ballot initative or not.
Councilmember Fernandez clarified that the next general election is in November, and the primary election is in March. Answer: It is City Manager Slattery's understanding that this is the case. City Manager Slattery clarified that Council could ask for a report of anything, regardless of Election code.
Councilmember Castellano thanked staff for ensuring that all members of the public who wanted to speak were able to get a chance to do so. Councilmember Castellano noted that this initative is anit-housing, and would be significantly detrimental to the City. Also noted that this would create significant problems with State law and zoning codes, would cost citizens and taxpayers a great deal of money, and would cause the City to lose a significant amount of grant funding. Supports continued education and access to public process to ensure that the public has a deep understanding of what they're voting on. Supports sending the item to the voters.
Councilmember Contreas-DeLoach noted that there is a lot of confusion surrounding the iniative. Noted that the signatures represents only about 7% of Eureka's population, supports sending this to the voters to allow the people to speak, rather than a small group speaking for the City.
Councilmember Bauer agrees with Councilmember Contreas-DeLoach that the Council can't make a decision based off of roughly 10% of the City, and will leave it up to the voters to decide in November.
Councilmember Moulton wishes that this ordinance did what it says it wants to do, and made housing more accessible in the City of Eureka. If Council could just vote to make housing appear on the Jacobs campus, would be behind that, but that's not possible. Grateful for the chance for the citizens to read more about this, and to hear reports about the real impact of this, and how it will hit the ground. What it will do, what it won't do, what it can and what it can't do. The time between now and when it comes to vote, that is the time for the public to become informed.
Motion to council
Council moved to submit the ordinance to the voters, passed unanimously.
Councilmember Castellano learned of a City-approved rental lease in the City of Davis, a universal form that landlords use. Deputy City Attorney Black believes that the use of that is optional on the part of the landlord, but is considered to be balanced and fair, which is a selling point for someone to live in that rental unit. Does not believe that it is a legal requirement to use that form, but City Attorney's office can investigate. Councilmember Moulton asked if meant a City-endorsed rental agreement, Councilmember Castellano verified yes, not the City managing leases.
City has had discussions about the Climate Action Plan (CAP). CAP was recently discussed at the Board of Supervisors meeting, will be brought to Council on November 7th. There is a discussion about including items from 1998. Consultant believes that is another alternative, would be analyzing numbers. Will be more discussion. Gist of discussion is that funds that were going to used to finalize the EIR will now need to be used to hire another consultant to do the work. Will delay the process by about 4-6 months, and then funding will need to be approved to complete the EIR. The County Board of Supervisors approved that today with caveats. Will be back with more information on November 7th.
Councilmember Castellano attended Redwood Coast Music Festival, went to Economic Development conference in Long Beach to advocate for the North Coast, attened Humboldt Transit Authority meetings, continue to host weekly housing meetings. Thanked Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach for attending Humboldt Waste Management Authority meeting in her place.
Councilmember Moulton looking forward to the City breaking ground on the Boss Cubez village. City Manager Slattery had a meeting today about the work party, and it will be delayed. Will be bringing more information back to Council. Councilmember Moulton also attended a Chamber of Commerce 2x2 meeting, and encourgages people to attend a Haunted House, there are a number in the community and they are all fundraisers.
Councilmember Contreras-DeLoach kicked off the Redwood Coast Music Festival in place of Mayor Bergel, attended Humboldt Waste Management Authority meeting in place of Councilmember Castellano, enjoued the meeting. Attended the Autumn Fair at Redwood Acres, and attended the Chamber of Commerce 2x2 meeting.
Councilmember Fernandez visited the Silver Wind, possibly last cruise ship of the season, attended the Redwood Coast Music Festival for the first time, had meetings with constituents to discuss various concerns surrounding housing and parking and fruit vendors, and expressed interest in becoming more involved in processes, and hoping to have a neighborhood event before the end of this year. Attended an interview with Mayor Bergel conducted by a student from Cal Poly majoring in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), hoping to have a 2x2 with Eureka City Schools to discuss the Jacobs site, forward strides in mental health services for students, and change in leadership with an expected new superintendant.
Councilmember Bauer attended Joint Powers Authority meeting, barbecued for the Eureka High School Boosters to raise funds for Homecoming.
Meeting Adjourned
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