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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-04-25; City Council; MinutesCITY COUNCIL April 25, 2020 4:30 p.m. CALL TO ORDER: 4:30 p.m. ROLL CALL: Hall, Blackburn, Bhat-Patel, Schumacher. ANNOUNCEMENT OF CONCURRENT MEETINGS: None. Council Chamber 1200 carlsbad Village Drive carlsbad, CA 92008 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn led the Pledge of Allegiance. INVOCATION: None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: None. PRESENTATIONS: None. PUBLIC COMMENT: DEPARTMENTAL AND CITY MANAGER REPORTS: 1. ACCESS TO CITY OF CARLSBAD BEACHES, PARKS AND TRAILS-Consider providing direction to staff on access to City of Carlsbad beaches, parks and trails. (Staff contact: Gary Barberio, Community Services) City Manager's Recommendation: Provide direction to staff. Fire Chief Michael Calderwood, Parks & Recreation Director Kyle Lancaster, Police Chief Neil Gallucci, and City Attorney Celia Brewer presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk). City Clerk Barbara Engleson read emailed public comments into the record and the following residents approve of the opening of beaches, parks and trails: Thomas Joseph, Janice Kennard, Carl Pope, Victoria Hallberg, A. David Puzo, Deborah Hargis, Kimi Chatfeld, Arie Spangler, Walt Stringer, Trisha Van Stright, Frank Ryan, Josh Cantor, Adrienne Jubb, Jennifer Santa Maria, Mark O'Donnell, Gabe Hogan, Brian Ingersol, Jeff Andrews, Rick Donahoo, Jeffrey Todd, Crystal Breese, Liam Ferguson, Curtis Jensen, Bob Lin, Christine Davis, Tim Snodgrass, Bopi Villarino, Thornton Timms, Michael Shatto, Travis Soto, Russell Ames, Courtney and Chet Haigh, and Athena Runner. City Clerk Barbara Engleson read emailed public comments into the record and the following residents are in opposition to the opening of beaches, parks and trails: Vickey Syage, Graham Thorley, Kris Wright, Given Harrison, William Leveson-Gower, Sandi and Fred Sandquist, and Hope Nelson Mayor Hall: Okay. Thank you. Any questions? Ms. Schumacher? April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 2 Council Member Schumacher: Just three more questions and it may have been mentioned earlier but I am curious about what the state is doing. I think they sent out a press release April 24th but do we have any news from them as far as what their plans are for the beaches, beach openings? Police Chief Neil Gallucci: So, Council Member we've been in contact with the state as recently as this afternoon and they have not had an update from Sacramento on the timeline to reopen so that is still pending. Council Member Schumacher: Thank you very much. Then this also will probably go to the chief as well, and city manager, Mr. Lancaster. We talked about a staffing plan, but is our staff ready for Monday, sunrise, for the beaches and anything else that we might push forward today? City Manager Scott Chadwick: And from that Council Member we believe that we could be ready, but our preference would be if we could have additional time to be able to implement something like that because for instance we do want to make sure that we are appropriately providing information to the community sharing it whether its social media providing additional information that can be pushed out as well as putting up appropriate signage and making sure we have our true plans in place. Again, we could do it on Monday our preference would be later. Council Member Schumacher: Certainly. Parks and Recreation Director Kyle Lancaster: In discussions if I may with our staff and with Human Resources for the beach openings potentially north beach and for Agua Hedionda Lagoon access, we would need one monitor at minimum per each site and we could achieve that again early in the week as the city manager indicated. And if I may just also take a moment to circle back to your previous question Council Member about the lower seawall, there's been discussion with the state and with the police department on holding off on opening the lower seawall until such time as the state opens its beach so there's no misimpression that perhaps someone sees you are able to go down the lower seawall and maybe then go right on the beach. We suggest that be done in conjunction with the state instead. Council Member Schumacher: And for anybody who is in that meeting I did hear that the state had actually requested during the latter part of the meeting and in the coordinated meeting, the state had actually requested the county hold off until after Cinco de Mayo. Can anybody confirm that? Fire Chief Michael Calderwood: Council Member Schumacher, I'd like to say that in conjunction with Police Chief Gallucci and Kyle Lancaster we are prepared to open Monday, but the state has expressed an interest in doing it at the same time. I'm going to turn it over to Battalion Chief Kevin Lynds who was on that call you're referencing and have him answer that question. April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 3 Council Member Schumacher: Thank you. Battalion Chief Kevin Lynds: Council Member Schumacher, I do not recall any talk of the state asking for a delay until after May 5. Council Member Schumacher: Okay. Thank you for that clarity. And then finally do we have any thresholds in place in our thinking at this point around parks, trails or anything else? Do we have any thresholds that we have contemplated for shutting down again in case we start to see an uptick due to the actions the relaxing of any measures? City Manager Chadwick: Kyle, I believe you're still muted. Parks and Recreation Director Lancaster: Chief, I'll let you take that. We do not have a specific threshold as far as Parks and Recreation as to when there would be re-enactment of the closure. Again, this would only be for passive areas on the parks in the first phase. Council Member Schumacher: I appreciate the further clarification. That ends my questions. Mayor Hall: Dr. Bhat-Patel, questions? Council Member Bhat-Patel: Well, just a couple. One would really be around if kind of similar to what Council Member Schumacher was saying if we see an uptick or if we start to see an increase in citations whatever direction we provide today I would want to provide the authority to the city manager, I'm hoping that we could add that component that you would be able to then scale back if needed. Would that be appropriate direction during today's meeting? City Manager Chadwick: I think that would be helpful to give us that authority and obviously under the emergency order, the city manager does currently have the authority but because of the direction that previously was given back on April 21 that's why we ended up making these requests before City Council today. I do think it would be helpful but what I would ask is that if Council is willing to give us that authority I would want to make sure that we work closely with the county as well as our fire department to determine what an appropriate amount of increase would be for us to then as well as a lack of compliance which we would get from our Police Chief based off of that information then we could make a decision on additional needs or make a modification to potentially shut things down again. Council Member Bhat-Patel: Okay. Thank you. Mayor Hall: Mr. Blackburn? Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: No questions, just a closing statement. Mayor Hall: I have a couple of questions for the City Attorney. There's a question asked about private pools from HOAs. Do we have any say over what they can and can't do? City Attorney Celia Brewer: We do not Mayor. They are subject to the County Health Order. April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 4 Mayor Hall: Okay. So, they would have to refer to the County. How about private trails? There was a question about the Batiquitos private trail. Who has authority over that trail? City Attorney Brewer: My understanding is the same. And the County's position has been that if you cannot operate in accordance with the mandatory spacing and lack of congregation guidelines, then they are closed. City Manager Chadwick: Celia, your mike is off. City Attorney Brewer: I'm sorry. I don't know why my function didn't work. Okay you heard the answer about swimming pools, you're talking about trails. Mayor Hall: Yes. City Attorney Brewer: Trails also have to comply with the County's Public Health Order. We don't have the ability in Carlsbad to open them so if they want to open them by complying with that health order, I believe they have that prerogative. Mayor Hall: So, my next question is with face masks, it's when do you have to wear a face mask? What is the county's position on that? City Attorney Brewer: Face masks are coming on May ist and my understanding is that they will be required for all interactions in essential businesses, they will be required when you are outside and can't stay further than six feet away, so you need to have a mask then. If you're seeking medical services, I believe you have to have a mask, but again, we haven't seen that order. We've heard that it's coming but I haven't yet seen it writing, the actual order. Even today's order we only have a draft of. Mayor Hall: Okay then, what are the fines if somebody is caught doing one of these infractions be it in a park or what is the amount of the fine and is that something, we have discretion over? City Manager Chadwick: Chief Gallucci. Police Chief Gallucci: The fines are the same ... Well it depends Mayor. So right now, face masks will fall under the county health order so if there was any enforcement done on that, that's where it would fall, however, it is a difficult aspect to enforce because of all the nuances. You may be six feet away from somebody and now your six feet closer without a mask on. You know private businesses, it's really easy for them to require somebody to wear a face mask to enter their business but it's a little more difficult to enforce the health order as it's written in public. So, it's really onerous for law enforcement to enforce that, however, we would probably do enforcement through education for the most part. The fines that are associated with the tickets that we've been giving up to this point are in the Municipal Code under Section 11. Mayor Hall: Can you give me an example. If I'm walking on a trail and I'm not supposed to be on the trail, do you know what the fine is? April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 5 Police Chief Gallucci: City Attorney can you specify? I think it's $250.00. City Attorney Brewer: Yes. I believe your first fine is $200, excuse me maybe its $100, $250, $1,000 for the third offense. I think I got that right, but it is established under our Municipal Code in accordance with the Government Code. Mayor Hall: Okay. Any other questions? City Attorney Brewer: I'm sorry Mayor. I will say also that law enforcement does have the ability to enforce the health and safety code through the county health order as well which would be a misdemeanor. Thus far our citations and our enforcement has been done predominately under our own municipal code provisions. Mayor Hall: One last question, what is the difference between a county order and the law? City Attorney Brewer: The county health order is binding upon the city. We have the ability to be more restrictive than the county health order. We do not have the ability to be more lenient. Mayor Hall: So, when the county creates an order do we have or does the community have input on that? What process do they go through? City Attorney Brewer: Perhaps Chief Calderwood can answer that. I don't know what process they go through to create their orders, but their order does state that it is based on empiric data etcetera. In fact, I can read you the paragraph. It says the order is based on scientific evidence regarding the most effective approaches to slow the transmission of communicable diseases generally and COVID-19 specifically, as well as best practices as currently known and available to protect vulnerable members of the public from avoidable risk of serious illness or death resulting from exposure to COVID-19. The age, condition, and health of a significant portion of the population of the county places it at risk for serious health complications, including death, from COVID-19. Although most individuals who contract COVID-19 do not become seriously ill, persons with mild symptoms and asymptomatic persons with COVID-19 may place other vulnerable members of the public such as older adults, and those with underlying health conditions at risk. That's the basis. Mayor Hall: Okay. Final comments, Mr. Blackburn? Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Mayor, I have just one quick question, it would be for the City Manager, City Attorney. If the council were to decide that we do want to open the beaches, obviously we don't want to just open our one mile of beach if the state isn't opening theirs otherwise, we'll have a huge group of people congregating just on our one mile. If tonight we decide to give the okay, do we have to have another meeting to confirm that once the state gives us a date or can we just leave that open and let the city manager make that determination when the state agrees to open their beaches? City Manager Chadwick: I'll defer to the city attorney. April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 6 City Attorney Brewer: The item tonight is for direction to the city manager which can be given by minute motion and he can act in accordance with it so if your desire is to open the beaches only if the state is opening the beaches then you can put that into your motion. Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Okay, thank you. So, can I go onto a closing statement, Mayor? Mayor Hall: Yes Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Everybody's concerned with the COVID-19 outbreak. And I haven't heard anybody really say that they're not concerned with it. Some of the things I've been hearing from residents about opening limited recreational activities, people are concerned about the health issues that are associated with it, all this inactivity, people are concerned about depression, anxiety, a lot of family tension, people are worried about domestic violence, and for a little levity, some people are worried about the population explosion in nine months from now. But with all of that, I listen to staff, they work very hard, they put together a thoughtful plan. I think that their plan would be a good soft opening for limited recreational activities, but it also keeps our residents safe. I would want to add to any motion that the city manager have the ability to pull this back if things start to get out of control or if our residents don't follow the common-sense rules. I like the idea of face mask wearing. Some people don't believe in it, but it's such a small inconvenience even if it's just to make your neighbors feel better I think it's a good practice. I would only want to open our beach in concert with the state beach, so we don't have everybody from that seven-mile stretch just on our one mile of Carlsbad beach. I would want to give staff at least a day to prep so rather than opening Monday morning I would like to open Tuesday, the 28th or as soon as the state allows it. I've heard scuttlebutt that if we ask the state to open on Monday or Tuesday, that they'll probably cooperate with that request. And then I would also like to make a motion that we include golf courses in this. It seems likes that's very few people and a lot of acres and that should probably be included. But I think we have to bring that back at another special meeting. And that's going to be the motion that I make for this evening. Mayor Hall: So just so I'm clear Mr. Blackburn, it sounds like you're going to have two motions, one's on the golf course and one's on the opening of beaches. Do you have anything specific towards trails and parks? Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Staff recommendation for trails and parks and beaches. Mayor Hall: Okay. Dr. Bhat-Patel? Council Member Bhat-Patel: Sure. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity for me to speak. Thank you to staff I know you all had to really pull together in the last 24 hours. I appreciate everything that you all did. You know, in talking to folks on the front line over the past 24 hours including our public safety folks reaching out to some of our health care providers, infectious disease epidemiologists at UC San Diego, I do want to go over what I would think would be the best way for us to approach this and I think you know, some of the things that we've mentioned here with staff's recommendations are in concert with April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 7 what I'm going to present. But basically, I believe that in order for staff and public safety personnel to have the ability to prepare for the opening of these places we really do need to look at that phased opening that we were mentioning of our beaches, parks and trails. And I know that this was something we had talked about on Tuesday. I know that this is something we've been talking about for a while as a region that we would like to have a phased approached. As a reminder it was originally planned that way and I'm trusting that our neighboring cities and county who just last week were all committed to this idea, we're also thinking about doing that measured approach. However, obviously it was a bit unsettling to see that there was this rapid change all of a sudden yesterday and I just want to mention that I remain committed to the health of our community. That should be our first and foremost. And so, I do want to say that again throughout this, that for me it's really going to be about how do we make sure we have a targeted and phased approach to reopening of the beaches, the parks and the trails. I think first-of-all, I want to make sure that as I mentioned our city staff, public safety personnel and all other essential workers are going to be the ones that are going to be impacted the most in this making sure that they also have the ability to get prepared and get situated so that as we start to go out that they are also protected when they're interacting with us. I want to also thank every single resident of Carlsbad, obviously you all are taking all the precautionary measures to prevent this outbreak from getting worse and the fact that we haven't seen a surge in cases here in Carlsbad is because we've done well as a community responding to the outbreak and that's also because of the measures we've put into place. And so, the data obviously speaks for itself and we've been following it closely, and the numbers in the county and the city, we've seen ebbs and flows just as it was talked about earlier today. As the City of Carlsbad, yes our case number has held steady over the past 10 days, over past 10 days now, it's 11 days but I do think that we really need to think about how we're going to open up our city beach, if we do, and I agree with Mr. Blackburn if it's possible to wait until when the state opens up then great, but I do think that we need to put in restrictions of obviously the parking lots remaining closed. That will prevent large groups from different areas coming in, different regions coming in and again this decision is not is not made lightly. I mean the virus still hasn't gone away we still have to remain vigilant. This is not based on fear. I think a lot of people are thinking its fear, but it's actually proven science and data. And, I'm sure you've seen it in the news, you've seen it through our public health officials, its actually proven that this is an infection that is rapidly evolving. And we still don't know exact data about whether we're going to see another emergence or if folks that have been infected, whether or not they're completely immune to it that's still not known. So that's a very unknown disease. And again, not based on fear, it's literally mere science. And according to the public health order I know that we have the ability as a local jurisdiction to do what we would like with parks and trails. I do agree that it should be and I'm glad that Mr. Lancaster mentioned we're going to be also following the similar county directive with passive uses and I think that our neighboring cities are doing the same thing. I just want to close by saying that you know obviously we're doing the best we can as a community. As you know I grew up here. I love the parks, and trails and beaches as much as you all do and of course we all want to get back to normal as soon as possible, but we also want to make sure that we're keeping the health and safety of our entire community, our families, our children, the April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 8 elderly and the immune-compromised in the top of our mind because that's what's going to make sure that we can continue going forward positively as a community. So you know I'm looking forward to moving through this and I do think again, I know I mentioned this earlier city manager, that if we see any sort of spike that we have a plan that's in place that will allow for us if there's an emergent situation that will allow for us to be able to be proactive to have measures in place to shut things down if we need to because I do think that we need to make sure that we need to make sure that we're thinking of those particular precautions as well. I'm optimistic that our fellow residents will continue to adhere to the guidelines, but I do want to make sure that we stay healthy and safe. I look forward to hearing from my fellow colleagues on what that rollout would look like. Mayor Hall: Ms. Schumacher? City Manager Chadwick: Council Member, your mic is off. Council Member Schumacher: Okay. Thank you. There's just two responses to some of the community feedback that we've been getting that I wanted to respond to. I've been hearing a lot from our community as we all have about some of the tension around the open space trails, beaches. And the one thing that keeps coming through is this idea that something has been taken away from our residents and that our residents feel as though they want to get back to what has been taken away from them -the beach access, the trail access, parks. And they have expressed as well, this idea that if we're allowing people to cycle on the roads or jog, then what is the difference between that and access in walking or enjoying the beach area. And I've been thinking about that as folks have been asking about that and I keep coming back to: Every city has a sidewalk; every city has roads. What every city in our county doesn't have with the millions of people that are composed of our county are our beaches. And we know that opening up the beaches is not just an impact to our neighborhoods but is an impact from folks who also want to come into the coastal cities including Carlsbad to enjoy the beaches. And because the parking lots are closed this means that folks are going to be coming and parking in your neighborhoods. And I am relatively sure that as we were heading into shutting down the parking along the coast and shutting down the beaches we received a lot of phone calls from neighborhoods who are saying hey, we've got a ton of people who are parking on our streets and there was a lot of tension there and maybe one or two days before the beaches were shut down. So, I want to encourage folks to not think about the me so much as sort of this idea that we're interconnected and the beaches are a huge draw, our number one tourist attraction in the best of times and that doesn't stop because we have COVID. So, think about the impacts to your neighborhood and think about the impacts to the City of Carlsbad once our beaches open. It's not just your access to it despite the county saying that this would only be reserved for folks who could walk to the beach there is no way for us to be able to enforce who is and who isn't a Carlsbad resident once those beaches open back up. So please just keep that in mind as you're thinking about this because we have to think about this as far as impacts to our city as your decision makers. The other thing that folks have been asking about and referring to is Orange County. We're an adjacent county to Orange County and so I think it is right to think about the comparison of the two in how San Clemente, Dana April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 9 Point, Huntington Beach, how our Orange County beaches have remained open. And so, in looking at the data that's coming out of Orange County, one of the things I wanted to highlight was the fact that Orange County has less than 50% of the number of tests that we hav-e done here in San Diego. To put it another way, San Diego County has tested two times the number of people that Orange County has, and we have very similar population numbers. And Orange County has just over 1800 cases and we're above that, but per capita we have tested more folks than any other county in the entire state. So, the numbers that you're seeing coming out of Orange County need to be put into context. You can't just look at the number, you have to look at the percentage of testing which is something that Chief Calderwood actually was referring to when we're talking about the rolling percentage. So, you can't use the numbers just the raw data coming out as far as cases for Orange County because they're not near where we are as far as testing. So please keep that in mind. The reason that we have such good numbers right now is because of the protocols that we've had in place. And looking at the guidelines, and the two-week basically deadline as far as the federal as well as the state guidelines, we're about nine to ten days into a good, good streak and we need a little bit more time to really hit that two-week mark. And it's interesting that May 1st is really that two-week mark. And it's also the time where the county is asking us to be able to enforce face masks, so for me May pt is really the day that we need to look at as far as relaxing some of the beach and parks and trails, not April 28th' to allow us to really hit that two-week guideline that is in place from the federal as well as the state level. So, and I really do want to see those thresholds in place because with every single pandemic that humanity has ever interacted with, we know that there's a spike. There's always the relaxing, there's always the pressure form folks to relax, there's always relaxing because politicians or elected officials, they just can't hold on and you then always get the spike. And the cities, and the counties and the places that are able to say hey you know what, we're going to tough this out together and if you need somebody to blame, blame me, those are the folks that end up getting just a moderate little bump for the second portion and they get their folks through it alive. So, I want to make sure that we have a threshold in place. I want to make sure that we know exactly what the burn rate is going to be for PPEs to protect our public safety officers and health care workers. I want to know how much it's going to cost for us to put that extra staff out there. So, there's just a lot of information that we don't have and I'm not ready to make any decisions today as far as opening because I haven't seen the data and I believe that any decision today about reopening is truly politically driven as was the county's decision on Friday. I'd love to see us get to May pt_ I'd love to see us get to May Pt. If we need to have a special meeting on May pt to reassess all of this with the information in front of us, that is what I would like to see. Thank you. Mayor Hall: Okay. Just a couple observations. Before I make my observations, I just want to begin by thanking Mr. Chadwick for calling today's meeting. Second, I just want to thank the community. Six weeks ago, we were second in the county with our numbers. Since then, we have put in place the protocols and what was necessary to get our numbers down to one of the lowest. And we have worked really hard as a community to make this happen. There's a lot of conversation about COVID and whether we're gonna have a reoccurrence or April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 10 what the future looks like. From where we've come from three months ago to where we're at today, we have a lot better understanding of this virus and what it may or may not do. I think it's reasonable to say that this fall this virus is gonna come back and when it does, I think we're going to be very, very prepared. And I think we're more prepared today than what we were 90 days ago. So, I understand there's voices that question what if? This real concern. But, I have faith in the county, I have faith in our medical system, and I think we're prepared to handle if there were to be a small reoccurrence you know that it will never get a foothold that it has over the past six weeks to three months. So, with that said I think it's only fair and reasonable that now that the county which is the health organization that's guiding us or most immediately guiding us is giving us a green light to move forward. And our staff is saying yes they can, they're saying it may be a heavy lift, but I believe our staff can do that. I have full faith in our staff and their ability to make it happen. My belief is, is that I don't want to wait another day. You know, life goes on and I think we should move on also. There always could be the downside, but I think if it should happen, we will have the protocols in place to handle that. The only thing that I was concerned with Mr. Blackburn is if there are issues coming up instead of the city manager calling stock, I think it should come always to the City Council. We could meet within 24 hours or with very short notice on a special meeting. So, I think we should put that in place. I would second the motion that Mr. Blackburn I think was making to move forward at this time, understanding we do need protocols, we do need people to wear masks and whatever other protocols that we feel that are necessary to meet safety. But I'm ready to move forward. I've also on the second motion be ready to second the one on golf also. City Manager Chadwick: Just for a point of order or process can we break it out to three separate motions, one covering beaches, one covering parks, one covering trails? Because I believe in Mr. Lancaster's presentation, he'd mentioned that in order for us to open parks there's a requirement levied by the county that says that we have to submit on the 28th or the due date is the 28th with an expected opening of the first. So that is staff's recommendation related to parks. Trails, although we could make use of it for trails to occur on the 27th, our preference would be the 28th. And then if I could also suggest from a beach perspective, because the state is so incredibly important in our relationship not only with the optics of our community, but then also the practicality if the state doesn't open theirs in concert with ours there's going to be a mishmash approach. So, I would respectfully request that you give us the flexibility to the early date would be Tuesday, the 28th or when we can reach conclusion or an appropriate opening date with state beaches. Mayor Hall: So, wait a second you have three different, it was the 28th for trails. It was what date for parks? City Manager Chadwick: Parks would be May l5t. And beaches, the earliest would be Tuesday, the 28th or as soon as practical as our coordinating efforts with. Mayor Hall: In conjunction with the state parks. City Manager Chadwick: Correct. April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 11 Fire Chief Calderwood: City Manager or Mayor if I may, if appropriate, I'd like to provide some additional information on the burn rate that was asked earlier. I do have additional information. Mayor Hall: Go ahead. Fire Chief Calderwood: I would like to thank our EOC staff who is in there this weekend. I did send a message to them requesting that information and I did get that information back. Currently on hand, these are approximate numbers, 14,500 surgical masks and we're burning approximately 18 masks per day. The N95 masks, there's two separate types of N95 masks, but there's approximately 10,000 masks in stock and we're burning approximately eight per day. Gowns,250 gowns, burning at 10 per day. 250 eye protection and we're burning approximately three per day. So, I hope that provides a little bit more information as you make your decision. Mayor Hall: It sounds like you're prepared. Fire Chief Calderwood: That's correct. And that's due to the recent shipment and the coordination between North Stone fire agencies and the coordination with the county EOC and Office of Emergency Services. Mayor Hall: So, Mr. Blackburn, do you want to try and start off with a motion? Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Sure. My first motion will be to follow staff recommendations for opening of parks on May l5t. Mayor Hall: Okay. Second. City Clerk Barbara Engleson read the roll for the vote: Council Member Schumacher? Council Member Schumacher: Get me last please. City Clerk Engleson: Sure. Council Member Bhat-Patel? Council Member Bhat-Patel: Just before I vote I do want to say that I want to make just a brief comment. In keeping with the measured approach, I did want to mention before we started to do the vote that I do agree with Ms. Schumacher in terms of wanting to revisit this on May ist just because I do believe that obviously we're on this trend and it would allow for staff to have the opportunity to not only hear back from the state for the beaches but also prepare for the trails and also be prepped for the parks. So, if we end up opening up the parks on May ist and we're not prepped for the other two, for me it's not necessarily I don't know we're not necessarily taking that phased approach, and we're not thinking about that measured approach so yeah, I think for now I'm going to vote no. Mayor Hall: On opening parks May i5t7 April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Council Member Bhat-Patel: Correct. Mayor Hall: Okay City Clerk Engleson: Council Member Schumacher? Page 12 Council Member Schumacher: I will also be a no. For the same reason there's no plans in place. Thank you. City Clerk Engleson: Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn? Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Aye. City Clerk Engleson: Mayor Hall? Mayor Hall: Yes. Minute Motion by Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn, seconded by Mayor Hall, to follow staff recommendation to open city parks on May 1, 2020. Motion failed, 2/2 (Schumacher, Bhat- Patel -No). Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: My second motion is to follow staff recommendations for opening city trails on Tuesday, May 28. City Clerk Engleson: April 28 or May 28 Council Member? Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: April 28, I'm so sorry. Mayor Hall: Second. Council Member Schumacher: Discussion. Mayor Hall: Miss Schumacher? Council Member Schumacher: So, I just want to clarify that these are not staff recommendations. These are best case scenarios should council decide to give the direction because I think that mischaracterizes the recommendation these are being presented to us for direction and similarly again, this is going to be true for trails, parks and beaches, each one of these votes. For trails specifically, we really need to have a plan in place that we can fully vet. So, I'll be a no on this. City Clerk Engleson: Council Member Bhat-Patel? Council Member Bhat-Patel: Same. No, because we need to have a plan in place. City Clerk Engleson: Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn? Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Yes, because staff did present the plan. City Clerk Engleson: Mayor Hall? April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 13 Mayor Hall: Yes, because staff did make the recommendation, did say they have a plan in place. Minute Motion by Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn, seconded by Mayor Hall, to follow staff recommendation to open city trails on April 28, 2020. Motion failed, 2/2 (Schumacher, Bhat- Patel -No). Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: My next motion is to open the beaches, again according to the staff's plan, on May, I'm sorry, April 28th or as soon as the state, on May 28th or soon after that as the state agrees to open theirs. We would open it in concert with the state. Mayor Hall: Second. City Clerk Engleson: Council Member Schumacher? Council Member Schumacher: I would need to see a more strategic plan laid out and what the state as well as our neighboring cities plan to do. That would be no. City Clerk Engleson: Council Member Bhat-Patel? Council Member Bhat-Patel: No. City Clerk Engleson: Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn? Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Aye. City Clerk Engleson: Mayor Hall? Mayor Hall: I would say aye, and the fact that all the coastal cities have been working on this plan for the better part of two weeks now. Minute Motion by Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn, seconded by Mayor Hall, to follow staff recommendation to open beaches on April 28, 2020, or as soon as the state agrees to open state beaches. Motion failed, 2/2 (Schumacher, Bhat-Patel -No). Council Member Schumacher: Sure. I just wanted to clarify that what I was talking about was the timing. I'm very clear as to the phased approach of all the coastal cities. The timing has been unclear. Nor have we had the ability to prep. Council Member Bhat-Patel: I'd also like to echo that sentiment as well. I don't believe that my colleague or I are saying that we are against the opening of spaces, I believe that what we're trying to say is we would like to make sure that there is a proper protocol in place so that we can make sure that folks' health and safety is top of mind. Whether that be residents or our staff. Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: And for my last motion, I want to make sure that next time this is brought forward, that golf courses are included in this. Do we need a motion for that, or can that just be included? April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 14 City Clerk Engleson: That motion has been made and seconded. Would you like me to read the motion? Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Please. City Clerk Engleson: Okay. Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn moved to bring golf courses onto either the next agenda for a special meeting to be called. Mayor Hall seconded. Council Member Schumacher, your vote? Council Member Schumacher: Sure, I'd actually like to make a substitute amendment to a date certain of May ist and have it be the golf course and beaches, parks and trails at a special meeting. Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: I'll accept that amendment. Council Member Schumacher: Thank you. City Clerk Engleson: Council Member Bhat-Patel? Council Member Bhat-Patel: Aye. City Attorney Brewer: Excuse me. A point of order? Cori has a substitute motion, it should be seconded and voted upon before the underlying motion. City Clerk Engleson: Yes. Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: I'll second it then. City Attorney Brewer: Thank you. Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: Thanks for keeping us honest. City Attorney Brewer: I need to keep myself off mute. City Clerk Engleson: Mayor Hall? Mayor Hall: No. City Clerk Engleson: It passes three to one. Minute Motion by Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn, seconded by Mayor Hall, to schedule a special meeting to discuss including the opening of golf courses. Council Member Schumacher made a substitute motion, seconded by Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn, to schedule a special meeting for a date certain of May 1, 2020 to discuss the opening of golf courses, beaches, parks, and trails. Motion carried, 3/1 (Hall -No). City Manager Chadwick: To clarify, we will be scheduling a special city council meeting for the ist where we will be bringing forward the plans related to beaches, parks, trails and the discussion related to the golf courses. Is that accurate? April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 15 Council Member Schumacher: Yes, for the record. Mayor Hall: The only thing I'd like to add Mr. Chadwick, and I understand the importance if things are not going correctly that unless it comes from the county as an emergency and it has to do with local issues that we have jurisdiction from I would like to see that the conversation also that the council makes final decisions as part of the discussion. City Manager Chadwick: Understood. Okay. Mayor Hall: Any other closing comments? Ms. Schumacher? Council Member Schumacher: I just want to thank the community for continuing to hold together. We, in the midst of this, we're leaning more and more about interconnectedness and how our community identity is not actually tied to our beaches, its not actually tied to anything other than who we are as a community supporting each other and that's something that as I heard one of our supervisors talk about when it came to this item yesterday in saying that beaches are a part of our identity I thought to myself no the humanity that is in the midst of our community as we stand by each other in this moment that's what our identity is and that's who Carlsbad is and that's what Carlsbad is caring for each other in this moment. So, thank you very much. Mayor: Doctor? Council Member Bhat-Patel: Sure, yeah I just want to thank everyone, those of you that are tuning in and just our community at large for hanging in there. I know that we're all working together to make sure that we do what's best for our community and I appreciate all that you all are doing. We are continuing to do what we can do in terms of making sure that your health and safety is our number one priority and again, we're um, ya know weighing all options in making sure that we're not taking rash decisions and I think that we're looking forward to having that conversation on Friday and that way we will have a little bit more information so that we can start to roll out some of these different public spaces for you all to enjoy. Thank you. Mayor Hall: Mr. Blackburn. Mayor Pro Tern Blackburn: One request of our residents, please understand that these decisions are made by our city council and by our city manager. These decisions are not made by our police department, or police officers, or our staff. Please be patient with them. They are just following the instructions they get from us. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of social media about the police department causing all of this. That's not accurate. So please be patient with them and direct your frustrations towards us if you have any, not to them. Mayor Hall: I'd like to begin by saying thank you to Mr. Chadwick for giving us this opportunity to have this discussion. I want to thank staff for all the time and energy that went into the preparation of tonight's meeting. A job very well done. And thank the April 25, 2020 Carlsbad City Council Special Meeting Page 16 community for all their support and hard work to get our numbers as to where they're at today. With that, I'll just say thank you and have a good evening. COUNCIL REPORTS AND COMMENTS: Council Members thanked the community for working together to do what is best for the community. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: None. CITY ATTORNEY COMMENTS: None. CITY CLERK COMMENTS: None. ANNOUNCEMENTS: None. ADJOURNMENT: Mayor Hall adjourned the duly noticed Meeting at 6:39 p.m. 0,1~ Tamara R. McMinn, CPMC, ~ Senior Deputy City Clerk