Police Chief Lori Luhnow and police staff will provide an update regarding the status of the police department and its operations to the Santa Barbara City Council in a special meeting on Tuesday.
The presentation is part of a series of updates that occur on a periodic basis.
Topics will include crime statistics, recruitment efforts and highlights and projects.
Also in the special meeting, the city council will be recommended to adopt an Interim Urgency Ordinance prohibiting the conversion of senior mobile home parks and excessive vacancy rent increases for 10 months and 15 days.
In December, the council adopted an ordinance to temporarily prohibit the conversion of the homes and rent increases greater than 10% following a tenant vacancy, but the ordinance would expire on Jan. 29.
Staff recommends extending the ordinance until Dec. 14, 2021 to enable staff the time to research and draft code amendments and conduct civic engagement with affected park owners.
In other business, the council will receive an update on the city’s Community Workforce Agreement currently under negotiation with the Tri Counties Building and Construction Trades Council. Members will also be asked to direct staff on the outstanding terms related to local participation goals, number of core workers, benefit plans and the exclusion of inspection and material testing.
A CWA is a collective bargaining agreement with labor organizations and establishes the terms and conditions of employees for construction projects. City staff developed a CWA consistent with Santa Barbara’s objectives, and negotiated terms of the CWA with the Trades Council and reached an agreement on most terms, with the outstanding terms previously listed.
There will be a public hearing as well on the appeal of Anna Marie Gott of the Planning Commission’s approval of a Coastal Development Permit for bicycle share stations in the coastal zone.
Ms. Gott appealed the approval for 12 different reasons, including: the decision to prohibit the Historic Landmarks Commission’s review of the project; the Planning Commission did not evaluate each site in the CDP; the Planning Commission could not properly evaluate unknown bike station locations; and more.
Staff is recommending to deny the appeal, and wrote in the staff report that the project is consistent with the California Coastal Act and the city’s Coastal Land Use Plan.
Finally, the council will interview the second batch of applicants to the city’s Community Formation Commission, which will guide the creation of a civilian police review system.
The special meeting will begin at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 26, and can be streamed online at www.santabarbaraca.gov/cap or viewed on City TV Channel 18.
email: gmccormick@newspress.com
