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The Eureka City Council covered a lot of ground at last night’s meeting, including AI use among city staff, proposed pay hikes for elected officials, COVID-era outdoor patios and the local film industry, along with a few other housekeeping items. Let’s get right to it!

Limiting the Use of AI

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) integrates itself deeper into our daily lives, the Eureka City Council is taking steps to ensure staff are using the evolving technology appropriately. At last night’s meeting, the council unanimously voted to adopt an AI Use Policy that limits staff’s use of AI-assisted tools and sets standards to ensure any AI-generated content is subject to appropriate review. 

For example, the “limited use” section of the policy states that “no confidential, restricted, personal, proprietary, or protected data may be shared with these platforms without a due diligence and compliance review” by a department head or the city attorney. “AI-generated content must be reviewed for accuracy as it may include or be derived from ‘hallucinations’ or copyrighted material.” The policy also states that AI cannot be used for legal or professional advice, or to “create work product requiring a professional license.”

The policy largely focuses on generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, that use “deep learning models” and pattern recognition to create original content (text, images, audio, video, etc.) based on a prompt or request. Agentic AI, on the other hand, is designed to work autonomously, with the ability to complete complex tasks independently or with minimal human supervision. The policy prohibits the use of agentic AI without explicit authorization from city administrators. 

(If you, too, are having a difficult time wrapping your head around generative vs. agentic AI, check out this explainer from IBM.)

Following a brief summary of the policy from Finance Director Lane Millar, Councilmember G. Mario Fernandez, who attended the meeting via Zoom, asked how city administrators enforcing the policy will determine whether AI has “significantly contributed” to staff’s work.

“There’s a lot of discretion there,” Millar said. “Let’s say you did a strategic plan and you used ChatGPT to develop the strategic plan, and ChatGPT pretty much produced the different sections or chapters of that plan. That in itself is a pretty significant contribution. Despite the fact that it might not be providing the details of each section, it did dictate essentially what you would be focused on.”

Councilmember Kati Moulton acknowledged that most staff members use AI “to translate between nerd and normal human,” but felt the policy did not provide guidelines that prevent employees from using AI “to perform tasks outside their scope of capabilities.”

Moulton | Screenshot

“If you can’t do it, you don’t know how to do it [or] you cannot determine if it is correct or not, [then] you shouldn’t be using AI to do it,” Moulton said. “AI is capable of writing computer code. … If you can’t check that code to make sure that it is not going to cause some harmful effect that you’re unaware of, then you shouldn’t be doing that.”

Moulton also pointed to a section of the policy that called for “trainings as required,” and asked how the city will determine when training is appropriate. 

City Clerk Pam Powell said the California Intergovernmental Risk Authority (CIRA), a joint powers authority that provides insurance to the city, is developing training courses on AI technology. 

“We can’t list them at this time, so we left it vague,” Powell said. “The department directors or whoever is approving employees to use AI will have to concentrate on internal training for right now. … Once courses are identified, we will have a better idea of what to note in the policy.”

Moulton also asked that the policy prohibit staff from “putting photos, video, graphics or visual art of any kind into AI” without the written consent of the content’s creator or the people featured in the material. “I would like to see that strong of a restriction,” she said. 

Councilmember Scott Bauer pushed back a bit, noting that non-AI tools can be used to enhance imagery. “I’m not certain that that bothers me,” he said. “Adding people to photos and things like that, yeah, I’m not super excited about that. But I think [using] AI to make a photo nicer, I don’t think that’s a problem.”

Councilmember Leslie Castellano agreed that the city should not use constituents’ photos without their consent, but she seemed open to allowing staff to use AI imagery as long as the creator of the source material gave their consent.

“Let’s say an artist designed, I don’t know, a new mascot for the city of Eureka,” she said. “Someone asked them, ‘Hey, can we use [AI] to [place] the mascot in different sorts of context?’ and the artist said yes. … I think that it would be okay to do the same with photographs. I don’t mind if a photograph of a building is put into AI, but I do think if we’ve hired a photographer to take the pictures, then that should be one of the things on a consent of use form.”

“I’m happy with that,” Moulton said. “Well, I’m not happy with that. You have to limit the scope to what’s reasonable here.”

The council also discussed how the use of AI could impact jobs. Will Folger, the city’s human resources director, offered reassurance that any changes to staff positions would be hashed out with the unions. 

Folger | Screenshot

“We would have to engage with our unions before we implemented something that was likely to take away someone’s existing position,” he said. “This policy is not going to be able to go into all that kind of detail, nor would we want it to. But pillars of guidance and expectations being established is, I think, the appropriate measure to take now. And I do think that [this policy] does that, and I think that it will continue to be improved upon as these discussions develop over time.”

After more discussion surrounding the ethics and potential uses of AI, Moulton made a motion to adopt the policy as written. She added a couple of small amendments to prevent staff from using AI to go above their area of expertise and to require consent from artists before inputting their work into an AI model. 

The motion passed 5-0.

Pay Hikes Slated for the November Ballot

At a special meeting earlier this month, the council directed staff to proceed with changes to the city’s charter that, if approved by voters, would double the monthly stipend for the mayor and city council — their first pay raise since 1988. 

Currently, each member of the council receives a $500 monthly stipend, with the mayor earning slightly more at $625 per month. The proposed pay hike would increase the council’s monthly stipend to $1,000, and the mayor’s to $1,250, with annual increases to be determined by the city’s Finance Advisory Committee.

While some municipalities give their elected officials periodic raises to keep up with inflation, Eureka is a charter city, meaning any pay increases for the mayor and council require an amendment to the city’s charter, which requires a vote of the people.

The council took a second look at the proposal at last night’s meeting and directed staff to draw up a ballot measure to be placed on the November ballot. The city council will review the proposed ballot measure during a public hearing on May 26.

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New Occupants at Shamus T Bones

The rumors are true, folks! A Brazilian steakhouse — Rojo Brazilian Steakhouse and Bar, to be precise —is taking over the former Shamus T Bones at the south end of town. 

Unfortunately, last night’s council discussion did not focus on the details of the incoming churrascaria or the various skewered and barbequed meats it will offer. Instead, the council discussed the building’s COVID-era outdoor patio, which has been out of compliance since 2023.

During a brief presentation to the council, city planner Alexandra Gonzalez said the new owners, who were not named in the staff report, are proposing minimal changes to the current patio. They plan on removing the small pond from the patio area and replacing windows with transparent screening to increase air flow. Other than that, the rest of the structure will stay the same.

After a brief discussion, the council unanimously approved the condition use permit and proposed modifications to the patio. 

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Odds and Ends

• The council also received a report on the recent successes of the Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission, which was recently nominated as Nonprofit of the Year by Assemblymember Chris Rogers and was named as a finalist for Film Commission of the Year in the upcoming Global Production Awards. Film Commission Executive Director Cassandra Hesseltine emphasized the regional impact of film productions, noting that the Oscar-winning film “One Battle After Another” generated $2.1 million local revenue. Crews spent $477,000 just in hotel stays, she said.
• Humboldt Made Executive Director Rosa Dixon also provided the council with an update on the upcoming Friday Night Market season, which will kick off on May 22. This year, Dixon said the main stage will be moved from the Old Town Gazebo to the intersection of Second and G streets to relieve crowd congestion. And to encourage folks to ride their bikes to the event, staff will host a free bicycle valet.
• During the council’s discussion on future agenda items, Bauer asked staff to bring forward a proposal to prevent data centers from setting up shop in Eureka. Similarly, Castellano asked for a proposal to oppose offshore drilling. City Manager Miles Slattery said an anti-drilling proposal was already in progress, and would be put to the council at its next meeting.