District 5 Councilmember Shoshana O\u2019Keefe saw her \u201cROBOCOP\u201d resolution passed at last night\u2019s Berkeley City Council meeting alongside several other resolutions.Council members also received updates on audit implementations from City Auditor Jenny Wong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you need to know about the meeting:\u00a0<\/p>\n
1. District 5 Councilmember Shoshana O’Keefe\u2019s \u201cROBOCOP\u201d resolution was passed. The resolution instructs the city manager to begin the process of updating the municipal code in response to a recent issue involving an audio-equipped surveillance system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why it matters:\u00a0The device, which was installed near the CVS in District 5, broadcasted loud noises and seemingly random, intermittent warnings to passersby \u2014 even threatening to call the police on a resident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though it was ultimately removed, O\u2019Keefe voiced concern that it took over a month to silence the system despite ongoing city efforts.With the unanimous passage of the consent calendar, the resolution will move forward, requesting the City Attorney to draft amendments that would prohibit motion-activated sound devices in public-facing areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope one day soon our city will be free of ROBOCOP-style surveillance devices,\u201d O\u2019Keefe said.<\/p>\n
Several public commenters expressed their gratitude for its demise.<\/p>\n
2. City Auditor Jenny Wong shared some progress on the city\u2019s adoption of several audit recommendations<\/p>\n
Why it matters: Her office\u2019s 2023 audit on city staffing shortages noted that the city government at the time had difficulty retaining employees, which created staff shortages and limited the city\u2019s ability to provide services. Those issues stemmed from employee dissatisfaction, high workloads and instability in the HR department.<\/p>\n
Wong announced that the city had made significant progress, implementing 12 of the 25 audit recommendations, including an improved training program for staff and supervisors and an enhanced communication strategy from management. Due to the ongoing hiring freeze and current budget concerns, Wong stressed that employee retention is especially important and that these improvements should help.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also provided an update on the 2019 audit concerning the city\u2019s domestic violence policy response for city employees; the audit had found that the city\u2019s domestic violence response policy did not align with state requirements.Five of the six recommendations presented within the audit have been implemented. Wong noted that the city\u2019s HR department updated its leave policy and now provides comprehensive guidance for employees experiencing violence.<\/p>\n
3. Council adopted resolutions supporting two FEMA grant applications aimed at improving the city\u2019s disaster preparedness infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Item five authorizes the city manager to apply for funding through the FEMA Seismic Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to retrofit two of Berkeley\u2019s historic civic buildings: the Maudelle Shirek Building, or \u201cOld City Hall,\u201d and the Veterans Memorial Building.<\/p>\n
Item six seeks $4.1 million under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program for the Berkeley Home Hardening and Defensible Space Grants Project.These funds would support fire safety improvements in Berkeley\u2019s high-risk areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are committed to lining up financial support to make EMBER implementation possible,\u201d said District 6 Councilmember Brent Blackaby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He noted the city has already secured a $1 million Cal Fire grant to support its Resident Assistance Program and is developing a loan program for vegetation management and home hardening.\u00a0<\/p>\n
4. Council adopted a resolution urging the completion of the Police Accountability Board\u2019s regulations\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why it Matters: Negotiations between the Police Accountability Board, Berkeley Police Department and the Berkeley Police Association appear to be on track, according to Mayor Adena Ishii.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spoken with all the different parties there and I know that\u2026we have a path forward there. So I am very excited and looking forward to that moving forward,\u201d Ishii said.<\/p>\n
Temporary regulations governing oversight policy had been previously approved by the City Council in 2021, while the scope of oversight was being discussed between the various parties. Since then, finalized regulations have yet to come before the City Council for a vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
District 8 Councilmember Mark Humbert stressed, \u201cIt\u2019s time to get these (regulations) done. The process has taken years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"District 5 Councilmember Shoshana O\u2019Keefe saw her \u201cROBOCOP\u201d resolution passed at last night\u2019s Berkeley City Council meeting alongside…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[7983,7982,7981,1835,7984,143,145,144,7985,7986,7987],"class_list":{"0":"post-7904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-adena-ishii","9":"tag-ben-blackaby","10":"tag-berkeley-city-council","11":"tag-fema","12":"tag-jenny-wong","13":"tag-oakland","14":"tag-oakland-headlines","15":"tag-oakland-news","16":"tag-police-accountability-board","17":"tag-robocop","18":"tag-shoshana-okeefe"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}