Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Oakley City Council held August 22, 2023
1.CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Mayor Aaron Meadows called the special meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Oakley City Council Chambers located at 3231 Main Street, Oakley, California. Vice Mayor Anissa Williams and Councilmembers Dr. George Fuller, Hugh Henderson and Shannon Shaw were also present.
2.PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Mayor Meadows led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
3.PUBLIC COMMENTS
Mayor Meadows announced three public comments were submitted online and made part of the meeting record.*
4.REGULAR CALENDAR
4.1 Adopt a Resolution approving the re-organization of the City including the amendment to the Salary Schedule for Fiscal Year 2023/2024, authorizing the addition and removal of specific job classifications, and a budget amendment to appropriate funds to specified salary accounts (Jeri Tejeda, Human Resources Director)
Ms. Tejeda presented the staff report. She mentioned Dr. Fuller requested staff look into language on the job descriptions regarding reasonable accommodation which staff did and revised the language with advice from legal counsel.
Vice Mayor Williams shared that the email autoreply indicates for new businesses that business licenses are taking 4-6 weeks for approval. She inquired if the shift of business licenses from Finance to Community Development will accelerate processing.
Ms. Tejeda explained that the autoreply is intended for renewals and hundreds of business licenses renew at the same time which is difficult for a ½ time person to process, so 4-6 weeks is the time to process payment and mail licenses. She mentioned she believes this shift will help with the process as well as new software the City is implementing so that business license renewal can eventually be processed online.
Dr. Fuller inquired which law firm provided the revised language on the job descriptions regarding reasonable accommodation and Ms. Tejeda responded it is Liebert, Cassidy, Whitmore.
No public comments were submitted.
Dr. Fuller commented that he is touched that the language was revised, and it shows what can be done. He shared that there is an upcoming conference at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Center on Disability Studies, where the theme is “Beyond Compliance to Acceptance” and this is similar. He also commented that Mr. Rohani has done something similar with playground equipment. He mentioned it bothered him when he used to hear, “we are lean and mean”, and when he talked with the City Manager at that time, Mr. Montgomery, he was told that the City didn’t have job descriptions so they can move employees around which upset him because he has worked in public service all but one year in his adult life. He acknowledged the work of Mr. McMurray, Ms. Tejeda, and others to bring this to fruition; there are job descriptions, standards, and it brings the team together.
It was moved by Vice Mayor Williams and seconded by Dr. Fuller to adopt the resolution with the proposed revised language regarding reasonable accommodation. Motion was unanimous and so ordered. (5-0)
5.ADJOURN
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:54 p.m.
Respectively Submitted,
Libby Vreonis
City Clerk
* Two online public comments were received prior to 5:00 p.m. pursuant to Oakley City Council Resolution 120-11.