Recommendation to request City Attorney to draft a resolution to commemorate National Family Caregivers Month and in recognition of the importance of the In-Home Care Provider Workforce.
Thank you very. It's a report from the office of Councilman Al Austin and Councilmember Roberta Ranga with a recommendation to request the city attorney to draft a resolution to commemorate National Family Caregivers Month in recognition of the importance of in-home care provider workforce. And before we begin, I'm going to have Councilmember Richardson make an announcement. I'd like to say out publicly, I'm going to recuse myself over legal conflicts of interest to do some consulting with this group. So if you're going to. You're going to. Great. Okay. Motions and motions being made. I'm going to turn this over by to turn this over to Councilmember Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes. This is an issue that is near and dear to my heart, as I have worked hand-in-hand, side by side with many home care workers over the years. This is a draft resolution to commemorate the National Family Caregiver Month, an important meeting in recognition of the importance of in-home care provider who who do , in my opinion, God's work. They do work that is unseen and goes unseen and often unappreciated. They work with our our seniors. They work with our our our disabled. They work they work with our developmentally disabled. And they do great work. They save the state of California millions and millions of dollars with the work that they do, working with the clients that they work with. If their clients weren't with care, in-home support services or caregivers, they would be in nursing homes or developmental centers cost in the state of California. Instead of them costing a few thousand dollars, a couple thousand dollars a month, there would be six, seven, $8,000 a month. So the work that they do is critical to our community. Many of us don't realize that we have over 100, almost 150,000 home care workers who live in the county of Los Angeles. We have over 11,000 of them right here in the city of Long Beach. I'm looking out here in this crowd, and I see quite a few familiar faces because many of them are eighth District residents. I appreciate their work and I'm proud to want to recognize them here to stay today. I keep talking. Thank you, Mayor. And also, I want to thank Councilmember Austin for bringing this forward. Having been a individual who benefited from home care, where my father in law was in his in its final days, and you see the quality of work that they do in there. It's a it's a branch of service that is very much under looking, very much underappreciated. And so I want to thank Kazu, Austin and Richard Hill for bringing this forward. I totally support it. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Andrews. Yeah. Yes. I really want to thank you also for standing here just at this time of night. But you guys are really if people really knew what you individuals are doing when it comes in, Askia, I mean, the work that you do is just I mean, impeccable because the fact that it's not easy, because the fact I know that, you know, for my father himself had to have been asking, but you guys are just tremendous. And the work you do, you know, everyone would really seriously take a serious, you know, look and see what you guys if they had a chance to see the work that you go through, man, I'm telling you, they would be so appreciative. And I know I am. And thank you guys again for your hard work. But. Thank you. Council member Austin. Yes. I don't want to to to to under undervalue. What we're doing here tonight and what we're doing here tonight is also we're recognizing in-home caregivers, but we are also saying that, you know what, we're standing with them in support of of of a fair wage on their path to to earning $15 an hour very, very clearly . And there's a lot of conversation about raising the minimum wage and who deserves $15 an hour or what that should look like. I don't think that that anybody would argue that the work that these individuals are doing, the savings that they are providing the state in our communities, we shouldn't there shouldn't be an argument about the wages that that these folks deserve. And so I just wanted to make sure that was very clear. I'm going to read the last paragraph of the proposed resolution, and it says Whereas whereas whereas and I think we've covered how great our in-home caregivers are now, therefore, be it resolved that the city of Long Beach, standard support of home care workers, acknowledging the essential work and contributions they bring to Long Beach by officially recognizing the month of November as family caregivers month and supporting their efforts to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty as they fight for path to earn an hourly wage of $15. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilmember Price. Thank you. I have a couple questions for the city attorney. First of all, no quarrel whatsoever with the premise of this item. The work that these individuals do is it's God's work. And you cannot mean arguing how much it's worth is kind of a useless argument to have because I don't think we can even quantify what their work is worth. Its its there are very few professions out there who do the type of work that you can't even fairly quantify, especially not with something like a minimum wage. But having said that, I'm concerned about this last paragraph and I noticed it was in the revised and I wanted to maybe ask the city attorney about this. So in this resolution, the last paragraph is basically. Articulating as a body that these individuals would be working towards a wage that is higher than the minimum wage. Is there any legal issue with that? Are we are we then setting a new minimum wage? No. The resolution would not set or establish the minimum wage in Long Beach. It is, as the resolution indicates, it's to commemorate the National Family Caregiver Month and a recognition of their importance. The last paragraph does talk about a path to an hourly wage of $15. I don't know that this resolution in itself articulates that the city is supporting the $15 in this particular resolution. It's supporting and recognizing their work. And I think it as a goal for that organization to get to $15. But it does not establish or establish the policy of Long Beach that there's a $15 a wage, minimum or living wage for this particular sector. Okay. And I mean, maybe I can ask the makers of the of this the authors of this item, where did that number, $15, come from? How was it determined that their worth that their their work is worth $15 and not $30, for example? Well, is that an arbitrary number? It's an it's I wouldn't say it's an arbitrary number. We have representatives here from SEIU. You will T.W., I'm sure during public comment. They will they will speak to that. I know for a fact that they have they have bargaining relationships with various counties throughout the state of California. And that is who they they bargaining. They bargain with. They their funds come from a a blend of federal and state moneys that that are that are moved through the county of Los Angeles. And they they bargain with them as the caregivers for, like I said, over 150,000 folks who they provide care to here in our county . I guess my concern is the title of the draft resolution is recognition of the Importance of the in-home care provider Workforce and National Family Caregivers month. And most of the. Resolution seems to be consistent with that title. The last paragraph seems to be. Frankly, unrelated to that title, it seems to be more of a maybe a labor support issue. I'm not sure. And to me, I think that the resolution's purpose is met without that last paragraph and certainly without placing a dollar value on it. That last paragraph really has nothing to do with the purpose of the resolution. We might want to title the resolution something else like helping this particular labor organization or something, but calling it appreciation or recognition of the importance of the in-home care provider workforce and national family caregivers. Month And then including that last paragraph in there, to me it just doesn't seem like it fits. So my, my recommendation would be that we and you know what I would love to hear from public comment and see maybe there's a link there that I'm missing. So before making any friendly amendment for fear that it will be rejected, let me just hear the public comment and I will go from there. How about that? Okay. Next, we have Councilwoman Gonzalez. Just want to say thank you all for being here, too. You've waited so long. And I know that this resolution is a step in the right direction, in my opinion. And I know the $15 is a trend that, you know, Los Angeles County had been making. I know you're onwards toward that towards that trend. And so I want to thank you for every single day you know, what you're doing for folks in our city. Thank you. Thank you. And now we'll take. Yes. Please come forward and you can just identify yourself for the record. Anyone who wants to speak to us, please come to the mic. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Leonard Camarena. I'm a home care provider, being a home care provider for 13 years. Finally got to meet you, Mr. Mayor. You hear everybody. Counsel. Thank you very much. And I am really happy that you guys are with us on this. But, Mr. Price, I will answer any questions if you need to know anything. But first of all, I'd like to tell you that I am here supporting my brothers and sisters at home care working providers. Right. And you guys are right. We do do a job that we give home care provision to to the elders, to the sick and to the disabled. Okay, so that's us right here. That's the job that we were chosen to do. This is a job that we take with a lot of pride to meet these people, to make our clients, to feel real relaxed during the days of their illness. Okay. So then I'm asking you also if you would stand up with us and fight for us for $15 an hour that the county has presented us with. Right, because it's $15 an hour. Sure. 965 an hour that we're making now. And we fight for $0.65 for about six months in 2013. Well, now we're asking you, because the job we do, you know, it doesn't pay a lot. So a lot of us live in property, you know, like we we can we always worried about our rent and our bills and our finances, but still, we don't give up. We keep taking care of those that we are we're asked to to give health care to. So I would just like to come to the county council and ask you to join us to help fight for $15 an hour. And as in January, coming up, me and my. Me and some providers. We will be. Going to the to the county legislators for tally county status for for higher wages and better dignity in life saved by being a home care provider. I mean. We were. We're not really recognized, but through you. I really appreciate it. But through others were not recognized. But now we're starting to get recognized. Now all the cities are combining together to fight, to assist us to get $15 an hour. So that's what we're asking you, if you would join us to get $15 an hour. And we appreciate it. And I'm glad to be here. Okay. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Jimmy Taylor. I'm also a home care worker. I've been a home care worker for about seven years now. I used to take care of my mom. She's passed on as well as I take care of my aunt now. So I had two clients that I took care of. I'm asking the council tonight to stand up to stand up with working families. And we demand $15. I know you said $15 not. Why not 39.60 $0.05. If you walked a day in my shoes taking care of my client, which has multiple different health health issues. Nine $65 would be nothing. 965 For a lot of folks that's in poverty or barely making it. Nine 69.65 Since I've gone to a lot of folks home, that makes 9.65 and they're barely making it. $15. We could put money back into the economy, which would give it a boost that would help. We would save the the country, the state, millions of dollars, millions of dollars that we wouldn't have to build different facility. So. 965 Yeah, it's really nothing. You ask yourself on this panel. Could you live off a 9.60 $0.05? I don't think so. Even $15, it's not a lot, but it is a start. It would help a lot of home care workers out there that really needs that. So, again, I ask you, please stand with us. Approve the $15. We thank you for your support and the recognition that you're going to give us. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Bennie Thompson, SEIU, United Long Term Care Worker Staff. I wanted to come to address some of the issues that the council. Price raised, and your act tonight would be an act of solidarity. And standing with the long term care workers as we go forward into bargaining in January with L.A. County. And just to continue with the comments of the city attorney, it would not change the minimum wage. Or set any wage here in. Long Beach. Your act is purely. An act of solidarity and standing with the over 11,000 long term care. Workers who are providing services to the elderly. And to the most vulnerable in. Our community here in Long Beach. Does that answer the concern? Are there any other concerns? No, I think right now it just wouldn't comment on. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Hi. My name is Patsy Walton. I want to say thank you for coming out to listening to us tonight. I've been in-home care worker for 12 years. My first four years, being a worker, I did not get paid. I worked for free because it wasn't just family members, it was friends also, and they didn't have it. And if. They did, I didn't know anything about. It. Now I have two clients. I work for elder people, 95, 85 years old. We do I do the same kind of work that people in the hospital does. You know, and sometimes I do more. You know, I have relationship with my workers, my clients today. And I love my clients. And if I can get more, I will. My goal is to help any elder I can, any kind of way I can. That's what God got. Me here for. You know, and. And I wish you guys we really look at that we really need a $15 cut for real for real. This $9 an hour. The way the rate is, we can barely live. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi. My name is Larry Prince. I live in the first district. Hi, Councilwoman. I was walking to school. One of the young men I mentor. To the elementary school. Here and with his mother. And we were. Confronted by a transient who had to use. The sidewalk as a toilet. And as I ushered them past that, I, the man, exposed himself and defecated on the sidewalk. And I called the police. And it just it was a a reminder how bad our. The homeless problem is. Here. They. The mother asked me later, why would he do such a thing? And I had to tell. Her that they don't have any place to go. They can't go to Starbucks. They can't go to a restaurant. They won't let them in. So. It was a tragic reminder of the human tragedy. All of you walk through every day when you walk through the park next door, any place downtown. But that aside, I was. Reminded also that the the the mother of the woman of the young boy I'm mentoring is somebody who is in need of in-home supportive services. And she's applied for such. She has debilitating effects of diabetes and also lupus. And she has. Applied to receive this care and. Has not received. An answer for this. And. I'm very encouraged by Councilman Austin's support for in-home supportive services. I think that's that's a great thing. But she has not received an answer for this. Somebody who has diabetes and lupus, I'm just wondering, does she need a third major disability to qualify for this? I'm just wondering if there's an advocate. Councilman also asked Austin or Councilman Andrews or your. I know you've spoken in support of this. Is there somebody who can help. This particular person who needs this help. Urgently? Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Just. Please come forward if you're going to. We need to get through the speakers. If you're going to speak, just please come forward. Hi, my name is Wanda Williams, and I'd like to thank you all for being here and taking a time out to listen to us. And also, I'd like to thank you guys for recognizing November as the Caregivers Month. That's a great thing you've done. And as for the $15 an hour, that's just something for all the home care workers who are striving for all over Southern California and Northern California. That's our fight. We're coming here to thank you right now for making November. I can't give as much myself. I have 25 years in a health care union health care industry, but my fiancee had a massive stroke due to his football days, so I ended up taking care of him. We never lived together. We got engaged. February 22. We had a massive stroke in May of 2000. Two didn't know who I was. So what was I going to do, walk away from him? No, I let him move in with me. So it didn't matter about the money, us, whatever we get paid, we're going to take care of our family, our friends, whoever we going to do this. So but everything costs and we need to be recognized. And I so thank you guys for what you done for November. Thank you. Thank you, Count. Oh, sorry. We have another speaker. Please come forward. Hello. My name is Donna. I'm the disabled person. I'm here today to tell you how my caregiver helped me and how it saves you money. I wasn't born with a brain damage, disabled, couldn't walk, talk or hear. As you see. To know I'm why I talk, I could hear. But unfortunately I had medical problems in my stomach. But leave me to have 15 surgeries in my stomach that left me with a cloth in me bag for the rest of my life. For now, I have a hole in my stomach. It's very hard with my hands with die with with arthritis to put my own bag on, to have one bag to mess it up at $22. Could you imagine? My caregiver were kind enough because my supply was not in and I ran out to buy me one. Not only that, I cannot do this by myself. Not only that, I want to let you know if you put me in a boarding care, if you put me in a hospital, it would cost more the state more money to care for me. So I get off my butt every day and I fight for my life and keep on fighting because not only my stick, I have a son was to rest and kicked in the brain and my brother unfortunately been hit by a car for a time that left them with a brain injury. But I get up every day and I help the workers and I give them hope that I am going to try one day to get off of Social Security and be a worker myself. This is my caregiver. She helps me. And I want you to understand the work that you do, the hard they help every day and make sure that I get my medicine taken. I have came a long way. I've stopped taking a lot of medicine. I don't want to take pain pills. I want to get up and walk. I want to crawl, I want to walk. I want to run. I want to scream. Without a caregiver, I don't know what I would do if they give me hope. I What have you told me? The child. You would never believe that I couldn't even talk the way I talked. And now, 20 years ago, when the caregiver union people met me, I couldn't write a word I wrote back was upside down. They said, Butler, you need to pick up the phone and try to call. I did it my way. I did it every step of the way for the worker because I believe the workers need to help the disabled. Please. They don't need they need what they deserve. They worked very, very hard. They even were better than some nurses. I thank you very much to listen to my story. Okay. Thank you very much. Hi. My name is Crystal. I actually want to thank God for one thing, for giving me this opportunity to work with disabled peoples. You know, I want to thank the councilor and the mayor's, my friends, that made news. And I really appreciate me. You know, I've been an assistant for working for disabled people since 2001. And some days it's hard because we get these clients. Sometimes I can really, really help. They serve. I mean, they sometimes mess up on me. So and we take the time, even the little time that we do how we do overtime to make sure these clients are accountable. What they provide is because some of us, we can't deal with a lot of these clients, but me, I'm so grateful that I'm be able to take care and not a disabled person because I don't want somebody to take care of my mother. So I'm just begging and praying on it. You think about giving us just $15 an hour because we work hard, but to help the community, knowing that there is some good people out there that will go over time to help these clients. Thank you. Councilwoman Mango. Oh, another one. Please. Hi. My name is Betty. I'm from Carson. I'm not from Long Beach. However, just to let you know, I want to let you know that the the $15 an hour is a pathway to $15 an hour. And the the council the council people of Carson have also given us a resolution stating that they are also supporting us in our in our fight. It's not from you guys. The $15 is going to come from it's from the state and the county, Los Angeles. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Mongo. I am a county of employee professional. Home health care workers are an important group of health care professionals in our system. I specifically have worked on health care policy for the CEO's office for Los Angeles County, and I know the financial savings that each and every one of you provide for the system. Having had elderly grandparents, I know and understand how hard it is to care for someone after a stroke and during other times of need and the work that you do. As my colleague said, it is the work of God. That being said, wages are a complicated matter with rippling impact and we as a city are in bargaining with I am employees right now, some of which make less than $15 an hour as well. And. A resolution for your service is warranted. Asking this body to get involved in the labor negotiations of the County of Los Angeles is a different matter, and I feel that the revision to the resolution was not timely. I think that. If if the true weight needs to be behind this that you're asking for, then you should ask your council member to come here with the resolutions specifically stating only. That the city of Long Beach is asking for your support in getting involved in the labor negotiations of the County of Los Angeles. Let me also state that my mother is a member of SEIU. I am a supporter of labor. She is not a member of your particular group within. So I am not in a conflict. But but I have a significant problem with bringing. Issues of wages through a resolution process that is changed after posted to the public. And to make any evaluation of your value without having it stand on its own. Councilmember Austin. Yes. I want to thank the many people who came down, particularly from the the home care providers here who live in Long Beach, who serve residents here in Long Beach. Again, I think everybody behind this dais appreciates the work you do. And I believe most of us support your pathway to earning a living with a living wage. And so with that, I would call the question. Okay. There's been a there's one more person that wants to speak. You called the question is or a second to call the question, can the second that have called the question with one more person wants to speak to will Mr. Judy Turner will vote on the question first. Is that correct? There's been a motion and second, yes, it'd be okay. He'll withdraw. Okay. There's one other person. So, Councilwoman Pryce. Thank you. So I think what this I'm gathering from the comments that that what this item is asking us to do is basically adopt a resolution. But not only appreciates the work of this class of employees, but also helps them with their labor bargaining with the county of L.A.. Mr. City Attorney, is that your understanding of what? Yes. The resolution would indicate that the city this would be a position of the city of Long Beach supporting and recognizing their importance and then also supporting their efforts in their attempt to earn or make $15 an hour. So, yes. So and I don't really think this is a city attorney question, but common sense wise, if we were to do this for this. Labor group, then we would be. I guess that would be some. It certainly wouldn't be unprecedented then for us to do it for other labor groups who are about to embark on negotiations with their employer, which is not the city of Long Beach. Right. So. So my my issue is that I think it sets a really bad precedent for us to be asked as a city to weigh in on labor negotiations in another with another entity, knowing full well that we ourselves are going through labor negotiations here in the city of Long Beach. And let me just ask hypothetically, perhaps the city manager might be able to assist me with this question if we were to support a $15 wage for all of our employees who are currently making under $15 an hour, would that have a financial impact on the city of Long Beach? Councilmember Yes, it would. And would would that financial impact possibly result in us having to cut services to our residents? It possibly could. So by adopting this resolution, we'd be saying that we want the city of L.A. to do something for its employees, that the city of Long Beach is not currently doing for its own employees. That's my understanding. And and I think that's that sets a bad example, bad precedent. It has nothing to do with this particular organization, because if we do this for this organization, we're going to be expected to do it for others. I'm not sure what other discussions are going on out there, and that's a concern to me. I think that it's important for us to think about the ramifications of passing a resolution like this. Given that we are in the process of labor negotiations in the city of Long Beach and will continue to be for the next few years, what are we saying? Are we in fact saying that this is a principle that we want applied to all the hardworking employees in the city of Long Beach as well? And if so, are we okay with the financial consequences that are going to come with that? We given the fiscal. Situation that we're in. I don't know how we could answer that question responsibly in the affirmative. So with that, I have nothing else to say. Okay. I have I have one more council comment here that's popped up and then we're going to go to a vote. Councilmember Mongo. I want to say that. Even more so. I think it is unfair that it is unreasonable to think that our council colleagues do not have an impact on us. And unfortunately, one of our colleagues is a consultant of yours and. While he is recusing himself from voting on the item. That does not take back his influence. And it just really upsets me that this is brought before us and this has to go on. And I. Would strongly request that the friendly amendment that we were hearing potentially come forward would be considered. Are there any ideas of any amendments you'd like to make? Councilmember Alston. May I call it question? Okay. Okay. There's questions being called. I think we're done with the comments, public comments over. There's an emotion. The second on the floor. The motion on the floor is to approve and move forward with the resolution that the city attorney would draft. Correct. The motion is to request our office to draft. We would bring the resolution back for a final vote. Yes. Okay, great. And Mr. Clark, everyone, please cast your ballot. Motion carries five votes. Yes. Two votes no. Okay. Thank you. That that resolution will come back to the council. And I also want to thank all of you for coming down today. Like I think everyone up here said, you guys do some really, really important work in our community. It really is some of the work that you're taking care of those that need the help the most. So thank you all for being here. And the resolution will be back to the city council. Mr. Kirk Item number ten. Item ten is a report from the city manager with a recommendation to approve the Magnolia Industrial Group Property and Business Improvement District Annual Report and authorize payment of the city's assessments in the amount of $1,488 per second.