Hello and welcome back to "The People's Business," coming to you once again in the age of COVID-19 from isolation at the dining table. 

After a couple of weeks with an emergency meeting (March 17) and a special meeting (March 25) that responded to the current crisis with urgent policy (emergency declaration ratification, eviction moratorium, small-business relief), the City Council is back on Tuesday, April 7, with a full slate of normal but critically important items needing approval.

Going forward, the City Council will hold meetings on certain Tuesdays to take up policy items deemed too important to put off till later. Attendance at the meetings will be limited to necessary city personnel and members of the press. Members of the public are able to make their voices heard by filling out this form created by the City Clerk -- and check out this webpage to see the various deadlines to have comments read into the record during the meetings or included in Council members reading materials.

As always, you can watch the meetings on CityTV cable channel 24 or stream them online.

Meetings of the Council committees have been suspended, save for the Budget Review Committee and the Rules Committee, the latter having to contend with deadlines and legal requirements surrounding ballot measures.

To read the staff reports on any of the items listed below, go to the agenda, click on the item you're interested in, and find a link to the staff report over on the right side of the page.

City Council -- Tuesday, April 7

In addition to 21 (!) non-controversial items on consent, the April 7 agenda includes seven items up for Council discussion. We'll take them in agenda order.

Emergency Medical Services Agreement: The City's current contract with American Medical Response for ambulance services expires on June 30, 2020. This proposal would extend that contract for another two years. The City put the contract out for proposals in 2019 and had entered negotiations with an awardee when a letter of protest revealed issues with the process. The Fire-Rescue and Purchasing and Contracting departments are at work on a revised request for proposals. In the meantime, the City must extend the current contact to maintain ambulance services.

Asbestos Remediation at 101 Ash St.: The proposal here is to ratify a sole-source agreement with Shefa Enterprises to support asbestos remediation efforts at the City-owned building at 101 Ash St. The upper limit of the contract is $200,000, which will come from the City's Public Liability Fund. 

2020 Water Revenue Bonds Preliminary Official Statement (POS): The POS provides all the financial data that investors need to make an informed decision when it comes to purchasing the City's water revenue bonds, the sale of which was authorized by the City Council back in January. The action here is for the Council to approve the POS.

Outside Counsel Consultant Agreement on Asbestos Issues: In January, the Council approved an agreement with the Hugo Parker law firm to assist the City with asbestos issues, including a forensic review of matters surrounding the building at 101 Ash St. The original contract was not to exceed $150,000. Here, the City Attorney is asking to increase it by $200,000.

Temporary Rules of Council and 2020 Legislative Calendar During the COVID-19 emergency: This item is to approve the temporary changes to the rules of Council and the 2020 legislative calendar alluded to at the beginning of this here post: the time, place and procedures of the Tuesday meetings and suspension of committee meetings.

Results of the March 3 Election: Some races in the election held on March 3 looked very different the night of March than they did when all the votes were finally counted. The Council will pass a resolution declaring the final results. See you in November!

COVID-19 State Emergency Homelessness Grant Funding: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 89, which appropriated $500 million from the current-year budget to help the state and local communities fight the impacts of the outbreak. The City of San Diego has been awarded $3.7 million, which will be used to protect the health and safety of people experiencing homelessness and reduce the spread of the outbreak. Specifically, the City plans to use the funding to support emergency shelter, services, and related needs at the San Diego Convention Center. The action at this meeting is to authorize the acceptance, appropriation, and expenditure of the funds.

That's it for this one. The Council will return on April 14. Be safe out there. Stay home, keep your distance from other people if you have to go out, wash those hands frequently and vigorously, wear a bandana over that magnificent mug of yours, and check in on vulnerable friends and family members. 

Here's the City's COVID-19 information page.

Here's an update on the status of City services.

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