Votes at a glance: council approves pepper‑spray policy, inmate work agreement and appointments

Lancaster City Council took several unanimous votes on routine and personnel matters, including adopting a new pepper‑spray policy for select city staff and the Lancaster Police Department, approving a three‑year agreement to continue inmate crews for city cleanup work, and confirming multiple appointments to commissions.

Pepper‑spray policy (Consent Calendar, CC15): A staff presenter described a policy intended to “enhance the safety of unarmed safe city staff who regularly interact with the public.” The presentation stated: “This policy applies to permanent and temporary non law enforcement employees in the community preservation division and Lancaster Police Department only.” The policy calls for city‑approved instructor training, demonstration and a test deployment exercise, recertification every two years, secure storage when off duty, and reporting requirements including a written incident report within 48 hours. The council approved CC15 by unanimous vote.

Inmate crews agreement (Consent Calendar, CC20): Mike Karn, assistant director of maintenance services, presented a three‑year agreement with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to use incarcerated persons for community service tasks such as weed removal, trash pickup and graffiti abatement. Karn said crews typically provide four to six people per crew but the city has the ability to double that to eight to 12 depending on availability and regulations. The council approved CC20 by unanimous vote.

Appointments: The council nominated and unanimously confirmed Denise Lattanzi, Cynthia Hernandez and Ben Burke to the Planning Commission. The council also named Cynthia Underwood deputy mayor of innovation; the council voted to confirm that appointment unanimously.

All items were approved without recorded roll‑call tallies in the public record provided at the meeting; the minutes identify the outcomes as unanimous.