Council Meeting Recap: June 15, 2021

All council members were present for the Tuesday, June 15 City Council meeting. Open session started at 6:19 p.m. and ended at 12:20 a.m. Here's what you missed:

Resolution to lower City Clerk Compensation not voted on. Salary remains the same. The City Council failed to pass the resolution to decrease the City Clerk salary from $122,913 to $25,000. There was an extensive discussion among the council, primarily between Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes and Councilman Jawane Hilton that led to several motions being introduced, but that all failed to receive a majority vote by the council. Councilmember Hilton spoke against the resolution, calling it asinine, “Here we are, we just spent $250,000 on events. Here we are, just increased the hours of our field deputies… And here we are, trying to cut the city clerk down to $25,000.” Mayor Davis-Holmes’ substitute motion to lower the City Clerk’s salary to $77,500, matching the amount a councilmember is paid, also failed. Since no formal decision was made on the matter, the Carson City Clerk salary remains as is.

City introduces Internal Promotions along with New Hires. The city highlighted internal promotions along with a couple new additions to city staff. Introduced were the new Chief Deputy City Clerk, John Carroll, who will work under the direction of the City Manager until the city council identifies the next City Clerk according to Human Resources Director Faye Mosely. He will also serve as Deputy Agency Secretary to the Carson Redevelopment Agency and Deputy Secretary to the Carson Public Financing Authority. Mosely also acquainted the public with the city's new Senior Groundworker, Derrick Tanneihill, and two new Assistant Tree Trimmers, Danny Lamb and Michael Andrade. Recently promoted internally were Council Aide to Councilmember Cedric Hicks, Cac Lee, and Lead Facilities Maintenance Technician, Daryl Dorsky.

Council adopts Structurally Balanced Budged for the first time in a Decade. The council celebrated a historic moment as they adopted a structurally balanced budget for the first time in a decade. Included for the first time was a proposed budget for special event funds and capital improvement projects. While the city is required to pass a balanced budget every year, this would be the first time in a while that additional funds were not needed from the general fund reserve as all ongoing operating expenses were covered by ongoing revenues. Finance Director, Tarik Rahmani indicated in his presentation that for FY 2021-2022 $92,913,457 was made in revenues, 15% of which came from money generated from Measure K, and $92,414,392 was spent in expenditures. While the extra $400,000-$500,000 would have been a nice addition to the $45.2 million general reserve fund, the council quickly spent the remaining revenue on a number of items. Despite Councilman Jawane Hilton's opposition, the council approved adding a risk manager position in the Human Resources department for six months for $101,993. Around $65,000 extra was added to the city special events budgets. Mayor Pro Tem. Jim Dear and Councilmember Cedric Hicks motioned to add funding for council aide positions at 1500 hours to the budget as well. By achieving more structurally balanced budgets in the future, the city aims to improve its credit rating to 'AAA.'

California is Officially Reopen! But what does that mean exactly? On June 15 California reopened its doors, ending the 15 month Stay Home Order. For those who are fully vaccinated, no more physical distancing, no more capacity limits, and no more county tier system. In most places at least. During the COVID-19 update, city staff explained some mask mandates still in effect. Everyone regardless of vaccination status must wear a mask on public transportation, healthcare facilities, shelters, cooling centers, and indoor facilities which serve the youth (K-12 schools, childcare, etc.). Businesses and municipalities may set their own mask requirements. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result is required for any indoor mega-events with over 5,000 people and outdoor ones over 10,000 individuals. Emergency Services Manager, Raymond Cheung, shared the city of Carson’s opening-day COVID-19 statistics which indicated 9,890 positive cases, 254 deaths, and 52,773 (68.1%) vaccinated individuals.

The council made the following Proclamations:

• Recognizing Juneteenth, June 19. Davis announced that the senate voted to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. This year marks Juneteenth 156th anniversary.

• Philippine American Friendship Day, July 4

• American Independence Day, July 4

• Remembrance of the 100 Year Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.

Upcoming Events:

• Juneteenth Historic Rhythm & Blues Celebration Virtual Concert - Saturday, June 19 @ 5:30 p.m. Can be viewed by visiting https://carsonca.gov/Juneteenth/, local cable channel 35 (Spectrum), channel 99 (AT&T), or https://www.facebook.com/cityofcarson.