Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from Department of Health and Human Services on the status of the City’s Healthy Food and Vending Policies.  (Citywide)
Report from Health and Human Services recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the Department of Health and Human Services on the status of the city's healthy food and vending policies citywide. Okay. Now that we do have a staff report for this, so I'm going to turn this over to city staff, mayor, councilmembers. We have a report from our Health and Human Services Director Kelly Colby to talk about our healthy food and beverage vending policies. Kelly. Good evening, Mayor. City Council. I'm here to report out on our healthy snack and beverage and vending policies. Thank you to all of those who just who were talking around the meatless Monday to a lot of the data that we would normally talk about in these presentations have already been covered. So I'd like to talk a little bit about why we think these policies are important. And actually, I need the the keyboard and keyboard. Okay. I think you. So why are these policies important? We advocate for healthy food policies to support individuals and communities in Long Beach to have greater access to healthy foods. These pictures show some of the many activities a healthier diet supports in our great city. And for me, so much of what we do as the health department is to support people in their quality of life. When you don't feel well, it's much harder to learn, work and do the things you love to do. It's all of this just so interconnected. And you can see here how much fun they're having out now. As a quick context. As you heard a number, a number of statistics presented earlier, many a Long Beach struggle to attain and maintain a healthy weight. Right now, only about one third of adults and approximately half of our youth are at a healthy weight. And it's a quality of life issue. It's also a financial issue. Nationally, we found that the more that people get beyond their healthy weight, the number of six days, sick days, medical claims and health care costs associated with that person increase. In California, the economic cost of overweight, obesity and physical inactivity are estimated at $41 billion a year. In addition, this chart shows the impact of poor nutrition as well as the lack of physical activity in tobacco and individuals in Long Beach. What we know is that three behaviors the lack of physical activity, poor nutrition and tobacco use contribute to five chronic diseases, which are heart disease, cancer, respiratory conditions, stroke and diabetes, which account for 66% of the deaths in Long Beach. So the more that we can support individuals and communities to access and enjoy health and nutrition, the greater impact we can have together on these numbers. So in Long Beach, when we talk about supporting health, we talk about education, access and choice. So we educate people of all ages about what it means to be healthy. We work to ensure access to healthy nutrition, safe places for physical exercise and recreation and health care. And we support healthy choices. So that healthy choice is an easy choice. We had these conversations. The healthy snack and beverage policies help with all three. We have the conversations with youth about why they're getting healthier food. We're providing access and we're supporting they're making healthy choices in the future because I've learned the healthier items taste as good as the others. And in fact, we heard at school they threw out everything but the fruit so they know that they taste good. We also know that in many cases, schools and afterschool programs, parks programs are the only opportunity for healthy options for youth. We are really creating the pathway to access those healthy options because many of our children and families don't have easy access. And by providing them through these programs, we increase their opportunity. So a little bit about a background of the policy. April 2011, the City Council passed a motion to craft healthy food policies by focusing on food service, citywide meetings and food and beverage items sold in vending machines. In that same in December of that same year, the Healthy Snack Food and Beverage Policy and the Healthy Beverage Vending Policy were adopted by the Council. There are two policies. The nutritional guidelines in these policies are taken from established guidelines that are aligned with the standards for the California schools, and they're consistent with the messages provided by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The primary purpose of the Long Beach healthy snack food and beverage policy is to promote good health among Long Beach residents and to make Long Beach a healthy world class city. It focuses on snacks and beverages served at youth oriented meetings. Adult oriented activities are also encouraged to provide the healthy choices. When we talk about youth sites, which are talking about city sites that are open to the public, that are focused primarily on children under the age of 18 and are served in places like community health centers, libraries, parks, sites or other spaces that regularly host out-of-school time programs and athletic facilities that are used by youth teams. When we talk about snack foods, we're talking about foods that are not accompanied by an entree. So if an entree is served, it's not under this policy. Examples of healthy snacks. I won't read them all, but essentially there are a number of different items that fit around baked chips, pretzels and popcorn, fresh fruit and vegetables, low fat cheeses in yogurt, hummus and peter chips, those kinds of things. What you won't find on these lists are the large cookies or large muffins, donuts, croissants, pastries, or other kinds of chips. We actually have a smart and final list that we passed out that actually identifies exact items that we that we see fit under this policy. In terms of examples of healthy beverages, basically sugars, sodas and beverages are not included. It's anything that that isn't doesn't have you know, that doesn't have that there's not sugar sweetened. And for adults, we add diet soda, coffee and tea. So the ones above are primarily for youth. And then we add. So diets that are coffee and tea for adults. Snack food vending machines in public areas are required to stock the healthful items. So those that are not in public areas are not part of this policy, as well as those that are provided by vendors that are not directly under city control, such as our golf courses, airport and the City Hall snack shop vendor. Overall the healthy snacks criteria. You can see them there, 35% or less of calories from fat. There are exceptions for things that are healthy, such as nuts, seeds and vegetable based spreads, low fat cheeses and 10% or less of the calories from saturated fat. 35% must be sugar by weight. The exception to that are fresh and dried fruits and low fat yogurt products. Here are the criteria. Essentially, we're talking about drinks with no added caloric sweeteners, milk and dairy alternatives or low fat and low sugar. There are a number of exemptions to the policy. So it is for snacks only. It does not apply to meals and entrees. It's it focuses only on snacks that are purchased with Cindy to refunds. It does not apply to items that people bring to work or to different activities. It does not apply to special events like parades, festivals, groundbreaking ribbon cutting ceremonies, and nor does it apply to vendors in locations not under directly control. So people are bringing things to it. People are bringing things to their meetings. It does not apply in those cases. The beverage vending machine is focused on public areas as well. And there you can see the options that can be provided for those vending machines that are not specific to our youth. We allow for diet sodas and diet teas. Overall in terms of the vending machine impact, the original contract that went into place prior to this healthy policy, we had 146 vending machines and about $300,000 in revenue. The RFP did not go back for renegotiation. Instead, we went on a month by month contract. Prior to that month by month, they had already had a decline to 63 vending machines. So we had already lost over 100 sorry, about 80 machines along the way. And so by the time that this policy came into place, we were at 63 vending machines and we currently stand at 54 that are covered by the policy and we generate approximately $24,000 in annual revenue. In talking with Parks and Recreation, there's no evidence of direct relationship between the healthy vending policy and any reduction in the vending machines. The numbers were dropping prior to the policy. There are many positive results in conversations with Parks and Rec staff. What they're saying is that they're really finding that kids have bought into this, that parents have bought into it. There's no camp. There's very little complaints there, a little bit of complaining up front. And they got used to it and it's just what it is. And that when they're running youth programing, they're running them with healthy snacks, healthy beverages, and they see it's actually a really nice way to help students learn more about healthy things. And then they go home asking their parents to buy them. So we've been thinking about ways to expand. And right now, most of the work that we've been doing, most of the policy focuses on youth related activities. We'd like to propose that we move this forward, that we also include community meetings, groundbreaking and ribbon cuttings. This includes a lot of activity that we do as a city with the with adults in our meetings. The same the same qualifications are the same guidelines would be applied to this as well. And with that I and my report and I'll take questions. Councilwoman Gonzalez. Kelly, I want to say thank you. You've done tremendous work with promoting healthy policies. And I think this is really mindful and you've done a great job with this, especially as we're looking towards our new civic center and what that will entail and include. So thank you. I remember a few years back as a field deputy here in the district, I had done health assessment with the health department and we walked from Drake Park to we started at a certain point and we walked to different areas, you know, liquor stores. We looked at ads, we looked at different components of, you know, just as on our walk, you know, how many fast food chains were in that whole walk? Are we. Is that something we're looking to go back to reviewing again? I don't know if it's. Yeah, we're doing that already through our X three data, our communities of excellence. So we actually have had staff out walking neighborhoods looking at what's available and what's in place and then in some places starting to work with some local business about how to start to shift some of that. Okay, great. So you are doing that currently and I know you're working on getting data. Is that something that we can get? Soon or where would we be able to find that now? Yeah. The six three data are available and we can it's actually on our website but I can, I can send you more information about that. I can just go on the website. Thank you and great job. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Kelly, thank you so much for this presentation. I think it was March when we brought it to city council and asked for a presentation on this policy. I remember when this was originally crafted in 2011, I believe it was Councilmember Neal. I think it was Councilmember Lowenthal at the time, Councilmember Garcia. I don't remember who else the person was, but I remember all the discussions around the Coca-Cola contract and compliance, and there was a lot of discussion about whether we would be able to enforce a policy like this around our our events. So I have just a few questions. The intent of this was to get an update, see how compliant we've been on this, and then see where we want to take it in terms of next steps. And I'm glad to see that you included in your presentation where we will go in terms of next steps. So my first question is in regards to the policy in terms of vending, have how do we ensure that the that the vending machines stock what we say that they stock in terms of the sugars, sugar free beverages? So how do we regulate that? When the when the policy first went into effect. So the contract for the vending machines that are covered under this policy is operated by Parks Rec and Marine. At the time that this policy went to a death to effect, coped advised PR and that they all the nine noncompliant machines would be replaced and that they would bring them into compliance. At that time that was done. Beyond that, there hasn't really been much more enforcement of the policy other than anytime that we have new product offerings in new machines, we make sure that they cover that they are stocked correctly. Great. And then in terms of the actual snacks at events, so are all the departments at this point participating in that? Well, right now it's just youth focused. So snacks are only focused on youth, which is essentially parks and rec, afterschool programs, those kinds of things. And yes, they're engaged in that. Okay. So so Parks Library sort of are front line departments that do youth related work. Right. Compliant with the policy? Yeah. Okay. So walk me through one final time. If we were to say that, hey, we you know, we've got momentum here. We've we've done what we said we were going to do in terms of this policy. And we want to take it to take it to the next step and take it further. What would be your recommendation, what it specifically be in terms of the snacks, or is there more that we can do in terms of the vending machines as well? So the first the first as we as I ended the presentation, so we would focus the healthy snack and beverage policy to expand that to our community meetings. So we'd be working with adults and youth in that part, groundbreaking and ribbon cutting. So that is a lot of the outward facing activities that we do as a city with our with our community. So that would be the first place there are conversations going on about vending opportunities. And there, you know, that there are possibilities. A lot of cities have moved to a 50% healthy and then others have moved to 100% healthy options in their vending. Sure. So so that said, I know that the policy as it is, it limits us to youth focused then outward facing vending machines, the inward facing sort of like at our public works yards and everything are not regulated. And then our outward facing, youth focused events are, you know, the policy applies to but not to the adult oriented. So what you're saying is, as a next step, we can go to just outward facing and events in general. We provide healthy options and then and then just make sure that inward facing vending machines have a 5050 split. So you would recommend that that's the next step. That's a current that that is the current conversation. The American Heart Association has been in conversation with, uh, Councilman Austin and with me about some of that, some of that work. Okay, good. So I think that's where, where we want to go. So do you need a motion on that to make that happen? So I'd like to just make that motion and that's that'll be my motion that we go ahead and move forward with the next step. The next update to the healthy snack and beverage policy. Okay. There's been a motion in a second. I'm just trying to understand that I thought that we were doing that. But let me let me continue to go down the speaker's list here. So there's the motion. I think the city attorney is to move forward with the planets could would be a substitute motion. Right. There was an original motion corrected. On the maker of the original motion. I just push that still and it would be right. So, yes, I'm changing my original motion. I think what it is, is I think the best way to say it is to amend our policy to include the new the next step in regulation. So that will be the motion. So I read it so that we would expand the healthy snack and beverage policy to cover community meetings, groundbreaking and ribbon cuttings. And then as we are looking at new new vending contracts would be a 5050. So it would provides a healthy choice within the vending itself. There's been a motion who seconded that. I'm sorry. Councilor Brosnan, is that you? Or could you just push the motion so we have the motion. Okay. We got Richardson and your Ranga. Next up, I have a concern for your English. You want to speak to that or not? Okay. Councilwoman Price. Thank you. I just wanted to thank you for all the great work that you've done on this. I really do believe that setting good policies starts with creating a culture, and I'm proud of the culture that we're creating in the city of Long Beach in terms of the education and the opportunities that we're providing to our children to make good choices regarding their lives. I can say I know several of my colleagues have probably experienced the same thing when you travel to some other states in the United States and they don't have that type of culture. It's kind of shocking coming from a state like California and especially a city like Long Beach. And I was born in North Carolina and my husband's family lives there. And we recently went there for a family related issue. And our kids were just shocked when we go to restaurants because of the food offerings that they have, you know, most everything is fried. It's very difficult to find a place that has anything other than iceberg lettuce. It's just very different than the culture that we have in California. So I'm very proud of our city departments. And especially given the report that you've given us tonight, the efforts that you're undertaking to teach the youth and about healthy choices and make sure that we are putting into place all that's necessary for them to be able to actually effectuate and carry out those those choices. So thank you for all the work that you do and for your fantastic report. We look forward to working with you in the future on this. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Austin. Thank you. And I just want to make sure I understand the the substitute motion on the floor. That is, does that actually change the policy? It does. Okay. So I'm going to definitely support this. This is consistent with some of the work that we have been doing. We've been doing conversation for a few months now with the American Heart Association working to build community support with community organizations. It's just unfortunate that they weren't here to be here to to see this. But I think their their hard work is certainly recognized in Councilmember Richardson's substitute motion. We had actually planned on bringing this this item before this council four four on a separate motion or agenda item. But it's here before us this evening, and I'm happy to support it because it's the right thing to do. There are a lot of people who have dietary restrictions, who are diabetic in the city of Long Beach. And this, I think, goes to prevent that, but also provide options for those individuals to to to use the vending machines and understand that there's going to be a healthy choice in front of them. And so with that, I will be happy to support this and encourage everyone else to do the same. Any public comment on the item? Signatories. Castro, please come forward. Good evening, everyone. My name is Violet Ruiz of the government relations director for the American Heart Association. And I just want to speak in strong support of this new policy. I know this was introduced a few years ago, and I want to thank Kelly Collopy for really giving that excellent report and taking a look at a comprehensive policy that not only will focus on our children, but on our 6000 plus city employees and for all the constituents that come and attend all of our meetings and eat from. The vending machine. So I really want to thank the city council and the city for really creating a culture of health here in Long Beach and offering healthier opportunities for snack and beverages. Thank you. Thank you. See no other public comment. Please cast your vote. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Next item, please. Item 16 report from Long Beach Gas and Oil. Recommendation to adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to adjust certain rates for natural gas service to reflect market conditions citywide.