The City of Emeryville is committed to providing a safe and secure workplace for its employees. The purpose of this memo is to inform the public of the security and safety measures at City Hall and Old Town Hall that were taken by the City after evaluating staff workplaces, which are not publicly accessible, and visitor public accessible spaces following the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to staff and public health and safety concerns, we have made the following changes pursuant to the City Manager’s authority under the Emeryville Municipal Code: 

• City Council Meeting Overflow Space Changes: The Garden Level/break room that was previously open to the public to watch City Council meetings on  a TV monitor if the Council Chambers was over capacity limits is no longer available. Instead, we have provided chairs in the upstairs link outside the Council Chambers to allow for such overflow, and will provide a TV monitor so the public can watch the meetings. The public is also able to watch City Council meetings remotely wherever there is internet access, and public comment can be made remotely as well.
• The Council Chambers will only be accessible to the public during public meetings including City Council meetings.
• Old Town Hall: Previously, public access was provided through the two front doors of Old Town Hall to the Council Chambers. However, in order to ensure the security and safety of Emeryville employees, the public entrance to Council Chambers has been moved to the ground link floor entrance where access to the 2nd Floor Council Chamber is provided to the public via an ADA accessible elevator or stairs.

These changes were made to ensure the safety and security for our employees while ensuring access by the public to the Council Chambers for public meeting purposes.