Good afternoon and welcome to today's City Council meeting Madame city clerk. Can you please call the role? Yes? Thank you mayor councilmember Schwedhelm here councilmember Sawyer here councilmember Rogers president councilmember McDonald here councilmember Fleming Vice mayor Alvarez President mayor Rogers here let the record show that all council members are present with the exception of councilmember Fleming Okay, we'll start the day with our two closed session items if you have any comment for items 2.1 or 2.2 Go ahead and hit the raise hand feature on your zoom And I'll look to our deputy city clerk to see if we had any hands We have no hands being raised via zoom for item 2.1 or 2.2. All right, I'll bring it back and I'll take us into closed session Charles I see you're unmuted, but I haven't heard you Checking for interpreter Charles. There we go. Perfect. Thank you Since you were the last one up to confirm Charles I'm gonna go ahead and put you over into the Spanish Channel and then Papa will make the usual announcement of how to participate on the Spanish Channel and then I'll move you over With Charles to Spanish Great. Thank you. You know those just joining us from seed collaborative Please keep your cameras off until your item is called and thank you for Joining our meeting in advance so we can make sure everything's functioning properly for you guys Live translation in Spanish is available and members of the public or staff wishing to listen in Spanish can join the Spanish Channel By clicking on the interpretation icon in the zoom toolbar. It looks like a globe Once you join the Spanish Channel, we recommend you shut off the main audio so you only hear the Spanish translation Pablo can you please restate that in Spanish For those recently joined us at this meeting interpretation in vivo will be available for those who wish to listen in Spanish To listen in Spanish Click on the zoom toolbar in the icon that looks like a globe Once you click on this globe, it is recommended that you turn off the main audio so you only hear the Spanish interpretation All right, Madam City Clerk, can you please call the roll? Yes, thank you mayor Councilmember Schwedhelm here councilmember Sawyer here Councilmember Rogers Councilmember McDonald here councilmember Fleming Vice mayor Alvarez present mayor Rogers here let the record show that all councilmembers are present. All right, Madam City Manager Let's go on to item 3.1 Good afternoon mayor Rogers and members of council Item 3.1 is a study session given by seed collaborative on the city's equity plan I would like to do introduce Amy Reeve our director of human resources. Thank you Great. Thank you and good afternoon mayor Rogers and members of the city council Again, I'm Amy Reeve the director of human resources for the city and I'm pleased to introduce Paul Hedson and his team today of seed Collaborative they will be providing an update on the citywide Diversity equity inclusion and belonging journey which we started after the council established DEI as a tier one council priority As you may recall seed is facilitating the equity plan document creation and has moved into the stage of the work plan that Includes the creation and management of three equity task forces for fire police in the city Today's study session will provide an update of that work and I'm pleased to go ahead and turn it over to Paul Hedson of seed Thank you Amy. It's a pleasure to be back before the council mayor Rogers and councilmembers We were happy to have this opportunity to do a deeper dive and get more into your questions about our work Our approach and the outcomes that we expect so we're gonna briefly go through this PowerPoint presentation and try and leave most of the time for your questions Our presentation is broken into four components. The first poor the first component is Are the definitions that we have? Collectively kind of greed on for the city the second component involves our approach around Collaboration and consensus decision making the third component is to give you a project update And then the fourth component is to talk about deliver deliverables and next steps So let's get right into it The next slide you we have introduced this team before so it's the same team that it's always been with you And Evan and I pretty much the project leads on as from the consultant perspective next slide So again, this is what we're gonna go through and I mentioned that the next slide On the next slide, thanks, so We attempted in collaboration with this city and staff to really define what is diversity equity and belonging mean and so we came up with these definitions and Clearly diversity is a broad range of various very variations of identifying Characteristic some inherent some acquired and here are the ones you were born with acquired of the ones you acquired through Culture religion education citizenship all those types of things so diversity we have a very broad definition of diversity I think the important point to note here is that a lot of municipalities are striving for a diverse workforce What what the literature shows what the research shows is diversity is not an in and of itself Go to the next slide you can what with with this show well first we're going to go through the diversity of the city This is the city demographics that we got from the city the city has this information you've probably seen this information The city is about in terms of all employees about 60 percent male and 67 percent white in terms of those with the salary greater than a hundred thousand It's still predominantly male and white if you go to the executive staff it flips the female, but it's still predominantly white for the police Which is the next slide the police Understandably has a very high male population 83% white These demographics kind of go to how diverse is the city and its departments Greater than 100,000 again, it's male. It's white And I don't think the executive staff is It's larger than one person. So I think this that number is not that relevant go to the next slide The fire department reflects a similar Demographic on the next slide So it's a predominantly male a larger female Component and 81% are our White I think you have to go back one more. There you go great a hundred thousand gal again, it's male. It's white and The executive staff is similar so It's not really diverse that diverse a Staff and the police or the fire and clearly that's been a priority of the city in terms of our work on the next slide What this really shows this next slide really goes to Diversity doesn't solve all your problems. You can have a diverse work staff and still have micro aggressions You could have a diverse work staff and still have pay inequities You can have discrimination you could have You know I'm not a community of both belonging although it's very diverse. So most Cities are looking well What is the equity component then we go to the next slide? We try to look at equity in a lens that anybody can really understand it and that's people's concept of fairness and justice It varies somewhat but clearly there are some overarching Attitudes about fairness like most people would say it's not it's not fair to discriminate one person over another person That's probably not fair So this idea of fairness and justice That are achieved through looking at addressing disparities and targeted a solutions That's a broad definition of equity and we talked about earlier in a Presentation of the council how equity and targeting universalism are different and we'll explain that a little more and the next concept is this concept the next slide is this concept of Belonging Well, I guess I have some examples here, but these are just examples of how in the city Equity shows up. Is it equitable if everybody can't participate in your boards and commissions because of their situation? Are there are there situations where you know the pool of candidates is More weighted one way or another because of the because of the process you use to to select candidates identify candidates the next slide so this is the concept of inclusion and The city is already moving down some of these roads to be more diverse to be more inclusive The fact that you have spanish-speaking translator says you're trying to be more inclusive the fact that You are Consciously looking at your hiring around diversity And all of your departments is this there are already initiatives going on within the city to address some of these issues and What we want to point out here is that inclusion you can have inclusion without belonging so go to the next slide Belonging is really where we're trying to go with this project And we think the meaningful difference is this ideal this idea of participation meaningful participation Colonial co-creating the process in this idea of trust so Crucial to the to uplifting these issues around belonging are these components belonging is the idea that everybody is Respected and has dignity and in the process and that there is a shared power Among the participants so belonging is really what we're trying to achieve with this project Which includes diversity equity and inclusion, but it's just a broader concept that is More transformative in our opinion The next slide So I'm gonna I'm just gonna talk about this briefly and what it says is The way we the way we approach equity the way we look at equity is this idea of it's broader than just The disparities between different groups It's this idea that you have a universal goal and that you have targeted strategies to get everyone to that goal because Not everyone is situated the same within your organization within culture within communities And so if we're all trying to get to this place where we all feel belonged and no one's other That's great, but you may need different strategies Targeted strategies to get one group there versus another disabled folks have a different strategy from folks that are African-American or folks that are female our Segments that are female are LGBTQ so targeting universalism is just as concept of we want everybody to move forward We want everyone to belong and we're going to use targeted strategies to make sure that we respond to the To the needs of the people as they're situated within structures and geographies so you can go to the next slide and The next slide because I think we've shared these slides with the work with the council before on the next slide Thank you, and then the next slide This is just an example of how these Equality equity and targeted universalism would affect the federal housing authority and federal and affordable housing in this country I'm going to stop there and Take any questions that any of the council members have Evan Yeah, before we went to thank you pop before we went to questions I just wanted to add just a couple of things just to ensure some we are clear about why we're sharing information So we share these definitions with the task forces that you'll hear about in a moment that we've shared about in a bit As a way to baseline language and understanding of the concept So we can all be talking about the same thing with the same language and with the same terms And so our intention in sharing it sharing this information in the task force as well Or task forces as well as here today is is that same intention? And then I just wanted to offer that Whereas the city may not have quite you know ethnic diversity in the way we would define it I think the city does have quite a bit of Cognitive diversity in terms of diversity of thought of opinions and ideas And we really observe that and experience that through interviews and focus groups last year We were collecting data and we really have Had the opportunity to observe that through the group process that we'll share by in a moment So so that was all I wanted to add. Thanks, Paul Yeah, and Mayor Rogers if you want us to wait to the end for questions. I defer to you on that Well, let me go ahead and just see if we have any questions for my colleagues right off the bat Okay councilmember sweater Thank you Mayor Rogers. Thank you Paul for what we've seen so far I have a question on slide 14. He talked about belonging and I really appreciated your comment belonging is what we're trying to achieve One of my challenges, how are we going to measure how we're doing here? So it's in order to co-own and co-create individuals need dignity respect and power How would we as a city or a city council measure our progress in this arena? the typical way Councilman Schwedholm is a surveys where you wait maybe 24 months after implementation of some of these strategies and you test Like we have some baselines on people feeling Evan included in the What is some of the what we would So what we learned about belonging at the city during our due diligence process is That there used to be quite a bit of a culture of belonging among the staff and that through administrative turnover of staff of leadership Restructure within the city and other sorts of dynamics budget challenges other things that have made staff feel a bit stressed and stretched There's been less feeling of belonging and less feeling of inclusion for for all of these reasons And so I think that to Paul's point where we've inserted co-ownership Co-creation this idea of shared power in our group process as a attempt to make that shift and to Paul's point When we've moved through the process completed the DEI action plan You'll have some real baseline information in that plan by which to measure and then to Paul's point being able to measure Go back and see if staff are still feeling like that old feeling of belonging is still not there and Being able to survey to see if it is there and you know We've intentionally built pieces of belonging into the process to try and help y'all make that shift as we're planning for the long-term DEI change and I want to think I would add councilman Swenom if If communication is so part of the the work of the task forces is communication How do we how do we ensure that we're more a more transparent organization? We share communication we're more communicating as you do that as people feel like they've had a voice and change within the city As people see actual change within the city There will be there will be changes in people's attitudes and opinions about their city about their job about The mission that the city is on all that you should be able to pick up in a follow-up servant You know the same do you have a recommendation about? Because I heard you say several times about the city wide as a whole What about department by department and I'm not you know, I guess my My question is about how does or how would you recommend the city council? Hear of or learn of this information from a department perspective That's an excellent question Our goal is to have all departments have a similar Outcome around belonging the idea is that one department doesn't doesn't treat their employees different than another employer or have different outcomes And so one of the things we we're doing we're working with The fire the police, but we also have representation I think Amy from all the departments on the task the city task force So hopefully there's getting we're getting input from all departments But I think ultimately in the in the implementation phase there has to be very close Collaboration work work with buy-in and ownership by department heads And they have to feel good about where the city is going and how they're going to get there And that also has to be you know, you have to measure for that also, but I think it's an excellent question It's an excellent thing to monitor and You know, hopefully we will have Buy-in by the department heads as we move towards the end of this process In my final question up to this point is in how do you see the city council as a body Interact with that is there additional training because we're not on any of these groups, you know We get this report, but it seems like you know in my opinion We are a team part of the city How are we incorporated into this belonging discussion and some of the whether it be training or more conversations about this for us as a group So, you know, I think the questions I would ask as a council member is What are the what are the key indicators that we should be monitoring as a city council? What are what are the what are the Factors that we should look at to to Determine whether change is happening within the city So for example You can look at The diversity of your workforce. I mean the fire and the police in the city are all working to be to be to have a more diverse workforce That can be tracked through demographics Um Is there more collaboration among departments? Are they silo for example? Is the police department On an island or are they working in collaboration? Is there more conversation back and forth? Is there more? So Are we breaking down silos within city? That's one thing you shouldn't measure for Evan help me on anything else we there's probably a bunch of things we should use this issue So if I were a city council in the city of santa rosa I would be really interested in the the diversity equity inclusion belonging plan that comes out That's really the result of this process and we're really grounds you in your goals and strategies long term around Around diversity around equity inclusion and belonging and so tracking the progress around Implementation of that plan will be something that I think will be key for the city to engage in And then if you're really thinking about belonging as a city council person within the city council Then thinking about the principles of belonging and how they show up in the city council And that's something you can think about and consider long term What does co-ownership and co-creation look like at the city council level? How does things like inclusion and transparency play out in the city council? I mean, I think Um, you've all done a very good job of already thinking about those pieces I think that you know the addition of translation of the city council meetings is evidence of your thinking around that And I think the continued thinking and the continued conversation and engagement around the principles of belonging Are another way that you can think about how to advance belonging within the city through the city council and one I think Belonging it doesn't it's not like a light switch. It doesn't change overnight It doesn't change in the first six months of operation. So it's something you're going to have to continue to track and One thing I want to know The city has intentionally and we would recommend this has intentionally started with an internal look How do we change internally? And I we think that's best practice, but eventually the city council Probably needs to think about how do we become a belonging city? How do we translate belonging to a city where everyone feels like they belong? And we are we're trans we are transforming our principles and our values To the city and how we engage with the city. So that's that's the next step after implementation within the city And I really appreciate that and Evan, I think you hit the points that are specifically talked about the seven of us is a group You know, I want everyone to feel like yeah, my participation is meaningful And it's interesting because and I'm sure the city attorney say with the brown act You know, we all can't seven of us can't have an authentic conversation, right? Um, and we do have a mayor who directs a lot of this, but I am very interested in seeing how would we apply this to the seven of us given The limitations about transparency and public meetings, but um, I appreciate all those responses. Thank you Yeah, the other thing I would say is um The the council has asked for I'm gonna go to the next day. I'm gonna turn over to Evan. Evan. Let's go through the next problem We'll just want to check in. Are there any other questions before we proceed? It doesn't look like let's keep moving All right, wonderful. Next slide, please So the intention of this section of our presentation is to give you a grounding in the the sort of principles and the Baselining of our group process that we're currently engaged in to give you an update on how things are going to remind you of the sort of structure of our task forces and what their mandate is And um, then we'll talk a little bit about deliverables and the work plan. So that's what we'll talk about in this next session section Next slide, please So the purpose of the group process for you know, in terms of seats facilitation Is really about seeding and grounding some of those principles of belonging, right? So the collaborative group process is really an opportunity to bring Diverse stakeholders to the table so that the process is inclusive that it not only has um individuals from different race and ethnic backgrounds, but also individuals that Are within different positions with the city have different links of service within the city And different sort of lines of sight within the city. And so we really have this cross department representation To inform our recommendations It's really a process that's to build that co-ownership piece that that co-creation and that co-ownership of recommendations and the reason that's so important is because This process is really built not just to deliver a document, you know at the end, but to seed Lasting transformational change as we're planning to make the long-term DEI changes We want to see and so this idea of bringing diverse folks to the diverse group of people to the table and having Folks make decisions in a collective way really seeds this idea of co-ownership and co-creation It's it's a place where we've really worked intentionally and continue to do so to build trust and build buy-in for the process and the outcomes And it's a really lovely platform for conversation And we've really seen staff step up to the challenge of this work. It's not easy work It can be uncomfortable sometimes and folks have really leaned in and we've been so thrilled to see how interested and engaged staff have been In terms of this building trust building transparent You know conversation frames and and moving through the process with that spirit And you know the the group process is a really about establishing a structure that can advance diversity equity inclusion That seeds inclusion and belonging and ideas of diversity and equity in the process So the process is just in fare just as the outcome. We hope will be just in fare So this is sort of the intentionality behind the design of our group process. Next slide, please so just to help Bring to mind and imagination some of the key norms and values and principles that have been seeded in this process We really grounded it in this idea of collaboration and collaborative decision making and so It's an opportunity for interaction and collaboration between task forces So we there if you'll recall and you'll see this in the slide in a moment We have three task forces one that is city-wide. It's called the c et the city equity task force One that is specific to police and is really looking at looking at equitable policing And one that's looking at the the center of the fire department really looking at diversity in the fire department Each of those task forces have formed committees that are taking up particular issues around diversity equity inclusion That have been informed by The c team in terms of bringing our expertise to those those structures And and the discussions that happen in those committees and those are the committees that really are going to bring about recommendations With our support our advice and counsel best practices and thought partnership And so it's this idea of collaboration the collaborative discussion and decision making that's really We're hoping to yield a really fruitful really rich set of recommendations And you know the process is an opportunity for engagement and collaboration For for folks that may not work together You know in their sort of regular day-to-day jobs and roles And so it's really helping to break down silos We heard a little bit about silos and microcultures and the due diligence And so our process is really informed by that that data that we collected in terms of trying to break some of that down And getting some cross department thought thought a collaboration and partnership Next slide, please So the city equity task force all of the task forces Really discussed a set of norms that they want to operate by and some of those norms are listed here They were agreed upon by consensus. I'll talk a bit about consensus in a minute But it's really seeding ideas of committing to consensus decisions Really ensuring that you know folks are are oh keep an open mind And open heart as they move through this work because this is work That's really hard and mind work that we're really seeking to build bridges and lean into common ground and compromise and thinking about recommendations and ideas and this these groups are full of really good ideas And it's just been lovely to watch the brainstorming and the ideation happen over the last several weeks And it's an opportunity to really embrace transparency bring issues to the table in an environment that's really One of safety one of trust And you know allow that process to lead to some some fruitful decisions And so each task force has adopted a set of norms that are sort of centered around these key principles And are really abiding by them and living by them as they move through the work Next slide, please So a bit about consensus decisions So our process is really grounded in the idea of making decisions by consensus And so just to help illustrate this a little bit what we mean by consensus is we all in the group agree Or we don't move forward with a decision And what this does is really seeds that idea of shared power In the sort of belonging model And so by every individual within each task force each having a sort of equal vote That they can you know choose to use or not on any given decision And it really consensus really ensures that Every sort of perspective line of sight within the city position within the city really is considered and those opinions are really Listen to and discussed before a decision is made And so it's a collaborative decision making model Where an idea is either put on the table or emerges naturally through conversation We've seen a little bit of both in these processes And where the group discusses the idea until they reach consensus or until key themes of agreement emerge It um is really a process grounded in deep listening to each other and transparency and trust And it really results in in a modification of the idea that's been put on the table To ensure that everyone's concerns are addressed and then you bring that issue to a voter that idea or the suggestion to a vote And so we've utilized this model to make decisions on the task forces The committees of the task forces have taken this model up and leaned into it as well And are are learning as they sort of go and and it's like I said It's really been a lovely process to watch folks really lean into this model Next slide please Um, I can stop there quickly to see if there's any questions. Well After this section in the presentation, we'll talk specifically about the task forces and their progress to date But before we do that any questions or reflections? Questions from council Looks like we'll keep going All right, so here's we'd like to share a bit of a project update on how things are going with all of these sort of You know norms and values and process grounding that we've done with the group We let's see where we are today Next slide So I think you've seen this before this is just a friendly reminder of the three task forces that I mentioned earlier So the city equity task force has really made up of a variety of folks From different levels of authority and position And background in the city And that is the task force that is sort of spearheading this effort internally and collaboratively We are tasked with supporting The police department of santa rosa and the fire department of santa rosa and addressing their dei issues through this work and so task forces have been created to to address those issues and Each of the task forces have developed committees and we'll talk a little bit about what those committees are and the work they've been up to Next slide So just to as a refresher as a reminder about the responsibilities of the task force It's really about reviewing and discussing the due diligence findings and analysis that seed Shared with city council at the end of last year. I believe last october to uplift questions Bring to bear additional best practices data and research to help inform discussion about solutions and addressing issues that came to light through due diligence process to review discuss and analyze current sort of strategies and initiative that are Dei that dovetail with the dei And div efforts happening within the city so that we can really understand. Well, what's currently what are the current issues? And then what are some current uh solutions and ideas that are being Tried within the city and then how can we use that to inform our long-term thinking? And then the the interest is really to come to consensus on a batch of recommendations that will come up through the fire task force the police task force and the Committees of all of the task forces to be considered by the c et the city equity task force and ultimately approved by consensus And it'll be those recommendations that really make up the dei b action plan that will come out at the end of this process Next slide paul you want to talk about the fire department? The fire department got started first. They've held four meetings They formed two committees and the committees have met five times. So this is a commitment on the part of city staff To make this a reality and they've all really leaned in and they're all contributing and they're all participating and we've been very Happy and elated with the participation shown by all of the employees of the santa rosa So a fire has two committees an internal committee, which is looking at selection and hiring culture and data and they are Beginning so it starts with the data that we've given and the data would say You know that there are that there are issues around diversity and and getting a diverse pool of candidates And then the committee Does a deeper dive. Well, what's what's causing us to lose candidates? Where are we losing candidates and they're going through each step of the hiring process In an evaluative way to say what can we do to be more inclusive? So they're looking at interviews What's the mentoring process for candidates around interviews and testing? How are we preparing them for these tests? because The data shows that people perform better when they've had Some knowledge of what to expect in an interview or some knowledge of what the testing question are the written Are the written tests? So that's one area they're looking at. How can we improve the mentorship and the training of candidates? They're looking at the background checks and where they're losing people around background checks and credit And and challenged themselves to say hey, do we really need To does this credit score really have any indication of how people are going to do in the fire department? there's the fact that they had this criminal infraction really five years ago or something they're really taking a hard look at Um Where are they losing candidates and then how can they attract new candidates? So culture And I go to school the next slide the external cell committee is looking to candidates Where are they losing candidates? partnerships that they're looking at communications And the final thing i'll say here is we're trying to get both the departments in the city to look beyond the strategies they have been trying for some time We said hey, you don't need seed to Expand your explorers program. That's something you're going to do. You've been doing you know how to do that's you don't hire us to To come up with a recommendation that you do the explorers program So we're really pushing the committee to think Beyond what you're currently doing and how you targeted pools of candidates that you don't normally attract And they're looking at process time lateral moves How do we attract candidates diverse candidates to santa rosa? A lot of innovative things are going on with the fire department the second the next slide for the police department They've had they've held six meetings. They have two committees and the committees have met five times again a very large commitment of time And you know all both Both staffs are very busy and they have full plates But they've been very diligent and committed to this process The internal committee is looking at selection promotions mentorship a culture of belonging And the external committee is looking at community relations recruitment of partnerships so for example with the external Subcommittee they're looking at policing and community policing. What does that mean? How do we define it? How can we how can we enhance it within the city of santa rosa internally? They're looking at Unarmed response police responses. How can we how can we have interactions with? Now the public but how can we get back in schools in a way that's not? Um As Intimidating or threatening as some communities perceive the police to be so they're looking at unarmed responses They're looking at partnerships With non-traditional partners. For example, maybe the school resource officer shows up Without a gun and with a non-profit Uh Gang in gang organize. I'm not organized for gang Consulted um and the partnership Just the partnership can create different relationships between the police and the community Next slide. I'm going to turn back to Evan. I think it's the city equity task force Yeah, thank you paul So at the city city equity task force level We've had um five total meetings one was the first one was an orientation and then we've had consistent meetings pretty much every other week With some scheduling exceptions And the city task force has formed three committees By consensus as I shared um the process before and so the the first one we'll talk about is the culture Inclusion belonging and internal communications committee This is really a committee thinking about the internal culture and experience of staff in santa rosa city And how those staff can have a greater experience of inclusion and belonging and um more Sort of breed a more inclusive culture overall Regardless of the department or you're in and the position you hold and so These tasks this uh committee is really these committees for the city equity task force are really early in their processes They've had a sort of range between two and four meetings So they're just sort of standing up their core structures and scaffolding to get their um conversations underway But the agreed upon focus for this committee is to really look at the sort of current culture of the city And to think about what steps need to be taken to see some of those principles of inclusion and belonging So that there can be a greater experience of that among city employees They're looking at the data As you'll remember there's information in our data presentation about staff morale and the various causes of staff morale and some of the More recent challenges that have really helped to continue to fuel some challenging morale dynamics within the city And so this task force will be looking at those dynamics and issues And ultimately this task force will be um looking to develop recommendations That will really help ground the city clarify and ground and think about the implementation of the city's values as it relates to diversity equity inclusion and belonging And finally thinking about internal communications as a tool to continue to advance DIB within the city internally in terms of staff next slide the second committee of the three that the cc et has uh unanimously agreed upon is the recruitment hiring retention and professional development committee This is really a committee to think through some of the human resources related Challenges and opportunities that came out in the data That includes looking at recruitment and hiring strategies. I think what we've learned is that The human resources department is already doing so much around this and it's really about Getting a clarity as to all of the various efforts that have been tried in the past and currently in thinking about What are our growth edges and how can we push the boundary around? DIB from a human resource perspective to consider data that was related to hiring promotion retention We shared some of that data at the end of last year Um consider how communications can contribute to transparency and trust and this feeling of belonging In terms of how folks experience that you know the the function of human resources within the city And really think about recommendations to these ends and so we really anticipate policy and practice recommendations coming out of this committee As well as maybe um experiential related And values related recommendations, but we'll see we're early in the process next slide And the third committee that the c et created Decided to create is the communications and community engagement committee Now just as paul mentioned earlier, this process is really about an internal look Within side the city's policies practices values experience, etc And so this committee is looking at the internal aspect of communications and community engagement And so what are the current practices around community engagement and communications and how can they be improved so that Individuals living within the city communities across the city can really feel a greater connection A greater feeling of trust and a greater feeling of inclusion and belonging in their city And have a clear a clearer and positive relationship with the city. I think we shared Some issues around access to services Especially translation services that have come up in the last few years that was shared during due diligence And so this committee is looking at that Looking at how can we ensure that communications are available in the languages that individuals speak within the city And making sure that they're accessible for folks that may not have internet And so they're sort of looking at all of those pieces And and really thinking about the sort of like longer term history of relationships between the city as an institution and its residents and thinking about how can we sort of right pass wrongs and advanced, you know positive Inclusive relationships across the city across communities particularly those communities that haven't really felt as connected to the city in the past Or where there's been a challenging trust dynamic For a variety of reasons and so this committee is really leaning into that work They're really thinking beyond how do we just have you know good baseline relationships with community members But how do we really have an open feeling within the city a real feeling of belonging and again writing some of those challenging historical Pieces in terms of the city's relationship with the community and so we expect to see recommendations to this end I think this committee is is is really excited and engaged just like all of the committees are And really anticipate some quality recommendations coming out of all three next slide So i'll talk about work plan in a minute, but want to turn to paul to really talk about what the deliverables from this process will look like So I know I want to I want to leave a lot of time for questions So i'm going to go there's basically two as we see benefits the city gets out of this project and process One is an actual plan for implementing diversity equity inclusion and belonging With metrics and implementation strategies. The second one is the process itself That the city is going through Is a benefit I think that that the city will receive and I'm just going to quickly say What often is the biggest challenge to these processes is trust Trust is not it not only an issue in santa rosa. I mean fake news builds distrust within people's Attitudes and behaviors this idea of management labor relations is a distrust police community distrust The idea of shared ownership and shared power is people It's a it's a foreign concept to a lot of folks and so the process is often challenged And so as we work through this and people see that yeah, this is collaborative. Yes, my my opinion. My voice is being heard Yes, we are making a difference that strategies we are putting in place Will make this will make the city a better place for all employees I mean, I think it's a process and at the end of the process We're very hopeful that people will have that have been in the process connected to the process and aware of the process will have a a greater sense of Change within the city and commitment to this these ideas of diversity equity inclusion and belonging And quickly say The city manager has been very supportive has been in the process a part of the process and that sets a very A very strong tone a very strong commitment And I think all of those indicators and all of those and all the work we do along the way and they do among themselves Is a benefit that the city will hopefully have for Years to come after seed leaves And then we'll quickly do the work plan take questions So Evan Yeah, so really one three things I want to mention about this process before we sort of grab and move to questions So one I wanted to mention that across the three task forces. There are a handful of Staff who are a part of all three so that ideas strategies questions issues that get uplifted in in one task force Make their way to others as as they need to or as it makes sense if there's implications for others So I just wanted to mention that and and for example chief Navarro Of the Santa Rosa police department and chief rest Westrope of the fire department are two of those individuals that are not only on their own task forces for their Departments, but also on the citywide task force and really have been leaning into this As well as Amy Socorro and others I want to mention that the task force has not the c et the city task force Has taken this idea of inclusion and belonging a step further And are really thinking about in the literally in the last couple of weeks and in the coming weeks How can we bring and make opportunities for more staff to be included in these processes at the committees? Really where the idea generation and recommendation generation happens And then the third thing I want to offer is that the c team doesn't Leave these task forces off to their own devices Although there are plenty of ideas of staff without our input But want you to know that we facilitate the meetings of the c et the city task force as well as the police and fire We attend as many committee committee meetings as we possibly can To provide constant advice and counsel We meet with the chairs of the committees to provide example agendas to to bring ideas around recommendations So that our thought partnership best practice ideas and strategies from us as experts are woven into the process While also while it continuing to be inclusive and really a process that the city staff can own Excuse me and so the sort of rough timeline for this project is here on the screen We are in the sort of you know march time frame where we've established these committees and these task forces and we're off off to the work We expect that The recommendations from the police task force and the fire task force will come to the city So we have a committee task force for consideration and and approval Later this spring with a plan really coming early summer. I think we've committed to You know moving as fast as we can but but going as slow as we need to to ensure quality robust fruitful recommendations And staff have really committed to that Next slide That's it, so we'll take questions and reflections and happy to engage in discussions Great. Thank you so much everybody Paul and evan and Simone and shana and we we really appreciate all of the work that you've been doing and we know how exhausting it is um And how good of a job everybody is doing Enabling our community and making sure that we have the right people in the right place To be able to build this this future for santa rosa I'll look to my colleagues and see if we have any questions to start Mr. Vice mayor Thank you mayor I thank you for the presentation today I'm wondering what what changes in your strategy have occurred Since the laxing and and removal of some of the covid protocols and so We've only recently been talking about the possibility of having some doing some meetings in person From a project, you know budget standpoint We've allotted the resources to travel and the c team is happy to travel In order to to do some in person meeting facilitation as the committees in the task forces feel safe to do so paul did A phenomenal facilitation of the first first or second I believe police task force meeting And I think that just shows us that we want to do a little bit more of that And so we've been as recently as maybe last week or this week talking to the project team about traveling more paul anything to add to that? No, when I saw all the council members present in the chamber I was saying wow, I wish I was there I think we could have planned to be there and we will definitely be there for the next council meeting We we prefer in person It's just a different dynamic that happens in a person. So yes, we would we would gladly do that And I guess my follow-up question to that would be is not being able to meet With people in person your largest obstacle thus far or is there something else that you've encountered that kind of equates to that? I uplifted the the big one for us is trust It's it's just difficult for for people to Accept this process. It's so different And so it takes a while For people to lean in and it takes a while for people to say hey, I really have the power to do something different We've been working with the fire police in the early stages Around How do we institutionalize great ideas? So One of the big things where you have great people at the city you have excellent that are really leaning in But what happens if you lose? The chief of police are you lose the chief of the fire department? What are what are we doing to ensure that these strategies these thoughts these ideas are Institutionalized and built into the policies and practices. So we're working very hard around that to make sure that we have Changed it's not based upon amy saying we should do x y z because it's the right thing to do It's really no matter who has amy's job. There's a there's a template. There's a toolkit There's a policy that's built in around the city's values around de i and b Thank you And speaking of how great our city staff is I do want to commend amy for a couple weeks ago Bringing up the word belonging Ever since that day, I have not forget forgotten that word and it's it's taking on a completely new meaning for me So so definitely thank you for that House member sped up Thank you, mr. Mayor Really enjoying this presentation and paul you hit on it that this is a big Change in the process and looking at the project work plan. I get my question may be for our city manager. So Evan mentioned a lot of recommendations are made recommendations are made recommendations are made are they made to you? And what i'm interested historically the way we've done it whether it be a chief or department head or the city manager makes the decision But now we're changing the process where it's consensus And I get once it comes to the city council. It's a vote You know, I I don't think where anyone's suggesting we change it when it comes to council because when these recommendations come here Are we going to wait till we get consensus amongst the council to adopt this or is it going to be put it to vote? You need to be able to count to four So if you can just share with us How are you interpreting these recommendations? I'm making the assumption many of these will be going to you And then how do you relay that information to us? So council member schoenheim. I think that is a very good question and as I discussed with seed I am part of these recommendations And one of the things that I want to caution people and caution the council members is I don't want to be be the end all be all I want to be around the table when we're making these recommendations So we make them as a team. They're not my recommendations. They're not c's recommendations. They're not amy's recommendations So by the time they get uh institutionalized and get to the council We we've already moved forward with the recommendations So as we have the committee meetings, I am part of those meetings or try to attend as much as I can So we can go ahead and institutionalize them I appreciate and I also appreciate you know seed and I you'd mentioned a couple of employees I'm sure amy and so quarrel with our charter review committee, right? So they're using some of these same principles And it'll be interesting when that committee makes recommendations to this body. It's the same thing You know for me as one if they've worked through this whole process. These are the recommendations Because it has been collaborative this new process. I'm very appreciative of those efforts and we're starting going this direction. Thanks I have a quick example about belonging uh In the first meeting with the equity policing task force We talked about this concept of belonging and When it came to the discussion in the exchange the chief of police said hey I really want to build this concept of belonging within the police department Now all of you understand this is a command down structure It always has been it probably always will but but for the chief to say hey How do we actually bring this culture into the department at the first meeting was huge It said volumes and he's really committed to how do we build this into our structure into the way We operate with our community and with it within the department. So just want to add that Council member Sawyer Thank you. And thank you very much for this presentation. It's it's great to have this update and I'm a little bit curious what it comes from My experience on what we used to call the inclusion council It was around a fair number of years ago And it was our attempt at the time Of deib actually is this is not the first time that that the city has been involved in trying to Reach goals On a number of levels So and then one of the things that that happened during the our conversations which were at times uncomfortable and always really Positive exchanges the number the number of questions and recommendations that came forward from From the um Of of the um inclusion council we had to we had to make choices and How what is the um, what's the criteria? That the because ultimately you're going to have to pair the the recommendations will get paired down What do you what does seed use or what will the CET use to Pair down those questions. What would be the criteria as an example? So we try and get ahead of that those questions we get early in the process of The committees have been formed and it allows us to focus in certain areas So in a certain area we'll focus on prioritizing the recommendations that come out of those So we work very hard with the committee so the committee May have 15 recommendations that are just kind of brainstorming strategies We really work with them to try and figure out what what what are the what are the core recommendations? And what are the what are the resources that are needed for those recommendations?  What can be done first? What's the low hand fruits? What's longer? But also I think that's part of an implementation plan So, you know Councilman Sawyer, this idea of started and nothing happened Started and nothing happened Is built into people's subconscious And that builds to distrust. It's like we've done this before and nothing happened You know, I can't tell you how many meetings we had and some of the last Is this a plan that's just going to sit on the shelf? So I think what I think We don't have I mean Evan may have a better answer, but I don't have a good answer It's one of it's it's it's a it's a it's a component. It's a criteria that we have to Build into the process to ensure that we have realistic sustainable and measurable Recommendations and that's our job to work with the committees to come up with that Yeah, I agree I totally agree with paul and I would just add that um a couple of sort of factors that help with prioritization um One is the data that we shared So the intention behind the data is to say hey here are where some areas of work that need to happen around dei This is an important place to start because we know these are issues because we've collected the data and the And analyzed the data and learn those things. So we So the data will be one prioritizing factor in terms of the topics and issues that a committee may choose to take up I think that even though we've been flexible with the deadline around the plan Um, we do want to ensure that a plan comes out this summer. And so that deadline will naturally in um Push committees to prioritize their recommendations around what what recommendations are going to be most important and and Most critical to seeing the the most transformative lasting change at the city And starting with the flushing out of those recommendations first from a time frame perspective And then moving to secondary tertiary recommendations with maybe less urgency is another way we think about it But important to know is that the concept of targeted universalism that paul shared earlier and that we've shared before Is also a part of this internal process So the way one committee may prioritize recommendations might be different than the way another committee does because they're looking at different issues Right, and there's going to be different factors. Um, that'll sort of drive Prioritization urgency validity of recommendations But the data the time frame and what's most important to make the greatest impact are some of those factors And one one quick thing We're already hearing from task force task force members asking is the city really going to do anything with our recommendations That's built on distrust and that's built on them not sensing their shared power But when they hear the city managers say hey, you know, this is our plan. This is what this is what we're going to agree to do It slowly sinks in that If the city's going to do something the city's employees have to do If they're going to hold someone accountable, they have to hold themselves accountable And and that message is we're trying to build into the process and and when you hear the city manager speak She's reinforcing that message and empowering people to say Yeah, in our department in our work and our relations with the community We we should be part of the change we want the city to be I appreciate that and I think what I were part of where this question was coming from was the the concept of power And there will be recommendations that will come before other bodies that are working in the in the same Um Goals in mind, but ultimately there will be potentially some recommendations that are not embraced and that So what does that say about? Power what does that say about? Well, this is this was you know, one of the groups says this was really important to us But it was removed as part of the plan for one reason or another So it's it's an interesting exercise in how to exercise power And at the same time not compromise the end product So that's kind of where I was coming from Yeah, great question. Yeah, absolutely And I would say the the interesting thing about power in the context of consensus decision making And a transparent process is that before a recommendation comes before the c et for example It's gone to committee. It's been discussed for weeks at the c et meetings as an idea that's being considered And so early questions early doubts early concerns can be considered before the recommendation even comes to the To the body and there's a process to say Oh, well, if I don't know community engagement committee at the c et level has an idea for the the internal committee of the police task force And that those ideas are shared in this cross communication So there's really no big surprises around what comes to the bodies And you can hear where there's disagreement before recommendation even comes, right? If folks are being transparent if they're putting their ideas on the table, right? And so the process is set up to do that. So you're right It's but despite all that it's still going to be interesting to see how it plays out, right? Um, but you know, hopefully there's enough transparency communication and trust that um, there's not too many tough battles We'll see them. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Great answers House member Fleming Thank you. And I I think I share my counsel's Enthusiasm about what's going to come next and really interested to see what the recommendations are I'm really impressed with your work and that of amy and um our city manager And I think this is an excellent opportunity to show our employees how much we care about their opinions And that they have the influence within our organization a couple of questions is um One is what happens when we do have a hold out somebody who Can't is is not on board and make perhaps an outlier because we have them in every group. How do we work through that? Oh, you want me to take a shot first? Yeah, I've never experienced that but go ahead Well, we have I mean we have And the way we I mean there's a variety of ways to address it kind of depends on the situation and Who's disagreeing and why? So sometimes it'll require uh paul or i to mediate between a smaller group of folks who are in disagreement Um, if that's the reason the the tension point is coming up Sometimes it might be about issues or dynamics that are sort of outside of the process that are seeping in And so sort of probing for that and addressing those outside of the meetings can help sort of quell dynamics inside the meetings um Sometimes folks just want what they want when they want it and we just have to really seek common ground and compromise And so the work of mediation the out the work of outside the meetings is about compromise and about how can we reach common ground? um But the the beauty of the process is that we can see some of that happening early So we can try to address it before it you know becomes a really big Um distracting challenge. So those are some strategies paul anything add I wasn't kidding We're talking about fairness and justice and when when you really go down this road of fairness and justice at the end of the day People can reach consensus around what they think is fair They think the disgust it gets modified it gets edited it gets changed But at the end what they've agreed on together. There's usually consensus. Um, and The biggest challenge is getting is pushing people to go beyond their boundaries. Um, but That's not that's not a problem that I think uh, we we can't that we can't handle so good question But I don't think it's gonna happen. Yeah nor have we observed any of that dynamic today Folks have really been interested in common ground Yeah glad to hear it and then my other question is um You know with the experience you have with our city Is there anything that sticks out as unusual about Our staff or our city or our strengths or challenges that is not common to other areas that you might want to put on our radar So that we can set our expectations So you have a challenge that is common not uncommon and that is um a large white population a large white staff in a high cost In community a high cost of housing a high cost of living community so That's a huge challenge and barrier. Um, it's not unsurmanable and it's not uh, it's not determinative But it is a factor and it is a barrier that has to be creatively addressed and thought about And I would add a unique opportunity that you know, we've we that might be possible within the city is that You know, folks are really interested in these issues. They care Um, they care a lot about their city folks are really nice and and come to this work from a place of We are all you know neighbors and trying to do this work to have a better experience for all of us We don't always have that experience in these processes. Sometimes folks just are not moving in a neighborly way and um, I think maybe unique among the clients that we serve is this um, this real um Sort of I don't know human decency kindness interests in belonging interests in building relationships and and making connections that I think is really uh You know an opportunity that's going to give this process flight Yeah, well, I certainly would agree that santa riz is one of the friendliest places that I've ever lived and is One of the things that keeps so many of us engaged. So I'm really happy to hear that reflected I cannot wait to hear what the recommendations are and to look forward to Uh resourcing what our employees come up with and making this the best place for them to work House member bink donald Thank you so much for your presentation today and you know a couple things and because I come from the lens of education We've been doing the shared power experience for quite some time and an example of that is the state education coalition Where lots of different education partners come together and before we release statements Whether it has to do with a budget whether it has to do with what we're going to be focusing on We all agree upon those concepts before we send it forward And that's what I see when I look at sharing power with our employees And and the way that I think that council already started sharing power was to approve us doing this plan We said and nodded to our employees and to the department heads and our city manager that we Value what you're going to come up with and we are going to support that because it is coming from Within on how they would like to do business and so I want to commend the Former council who approved this to go forward because I think it's critical for the work that we want to do to Impart trust on our community members And I really like the thought that we're going to be moving to another level of engagement with our employees That it won't just come what could feel from the top down as Opposed to really being that collective impact of voices across Our different departments and so and I think you get a different lens when we allow those opportunities for engagement from them so So commending all of you as we move forward to the community piece of that certainly looking at Ways that we're meeting different meeting times making sure that we are offering opportunities not only for translation At the meeting but translation so they know the meeting is going to be happening Looking at child care that's going to be provided Will be critical as we move the work forward and I agree that the word belonging is something that I hope to take back and the other Groups that I work with still It's a very powerful word and and I can tell you being the newest member to council I certainly have had the feeling of belonging Right from the get-go from all of our staff and from the fellow council members of making sure that I feel comfortable in my role So hats off to all of you for this work and very well done on the presentation today. Thank you Thank you Also, do we have any other questions before we go to public comment? All right, if you are interested in providing comment on this item go ahead hit the raise hand feature on your zoom See no hands. So I'll go ahead and look to the chambers Mr. DeWitt Hello, my name is DeWayne DeWitt. I'm from Roseland I wanted to thank you for this study session and I wanted to say before going deeper into the discussion I'm hoping our new city manager stays here for at least a decade I'm hoping we have that kind of a situation where we can get some strength in this idea of having a collaborative approach I don't know how deeply this consulting team looked back into our history But in 1995 we had the community action team put together and the idea was that we'd also involve and involve the citizens I'm hoping from what mr. Hudson said a little while ago when he mentioned the city manager And relations with the community That you'll implement this type of technique also for the citizens residents and taxpayers And allow them in the power sharing of our government, which doesn't really happen right now For the time since the 1994 95 Formation of the community action team what i've seen most about our de and i approach has been it's actually deliberate exclusion of individuals And not really letting the individuals be a part of our power sharing at this local government There's a term that comes from the united states environmental protection agency in the brownfields division called Authentic community engagement Ace i'm hoping mr. Hudson and miss holland and their team Look deeply into that idea of authentic community engagement Along with that There's something that happens with almost all boards and commissions and all types of governments that occur It's called gatka go along to get along people get on to something and they're like okay We all have to go along to get along if you're going to truly empower the employees You're going to have to show them that they're going to be able to sometimes voice dissent without being punished This is something that's really important I wanted to also talk about something that i think is Really important and this is based on what miss fleming just said about she's impressed because it's going to show our employees That they get to be in the power sharing The term strengths weaknesses opportunities challenges That's An idea that basically tries to avoid using terms that might feel threatening And that's really important in any power structure because anybody at the top wants to make sure Those at the bottom Don't threaten them But don't look at it like a threat look at it like it's a challenge to work together with the people from the community And say hey, we're all in this together Especially those taxpayers that are helping to make the whole thing go forward What i'd really like to see is that you Make actions speak louder than words Because that community action team task force reports still sitting on the file up there and probably nobody's read it Thank you Thank you doinners. Is there anybody else in the audience who'd like to give comment? All right, let's go ahead bring it back adam deputy city clerk. Did we have any pre-recorded voice mails? We do not mayor All right, i'll bring it back to the council and i'll see if there are any additional questions or comments for our seed team Go ahead council member Hi, um, I just wanted to thank you for your presentation. Um, also wanted to say i'm very excited to see what the recommendations Um are i've been anxiously waiting, but I know that it takes time Uh, like grandmas do you have to let it let it sit there and see see what happens? Uh I I was uh, I think this process is Uh, a little different Uh for me because i'm always in the the seat of participating and this is one where council members Are really on the outside the outside so to speak and we have to sit and see what you guys bring Bring forward. Um, and so in that way it's different because we're not a part of the um the task force um, but I Trust all the staff that we have um and so Yes, very excited, uh, not to mention, uh, trust you guys and that is why you guys are here So very excited to see And also excited to see how we can implement The recommendations that are are brought brought forward And my brain is already not even knowing what the recommendations are But just really excited to see how we can make this a great place for people To to work and and live and play like That's something that is so really exciting for me Um and something that I so want for our employees and and for our community members So thank you for everything that you do for um that you're doing and thank you for the staff that are participating Um, and thank you for our city manager who has come Um as we've already been in the process and just embraced it so much. So thank you all Any other comments from council? All right, I just wanted to thank say thank you as well And I'm looking forward to that future discussion with all of the recommendations I think we're really anxious to get to the the final point Uh to start doing the work that the recommendations bring And I do know that that takes time and a collaborative effort. So I want to appreciate that and just thank you for being here tonight Thank you Thank you so much for your time All right council, it's 350 We will be back in 10 minutes and start our regular council meeting agenda at four o'clock Adam city clerk, can you please call the roll? Thank you, mayor councilmember schwaetham here councilmember soyer here Councilmember rogers present councilmember mcdonald here councilmember flaming here Vice mayor alvarez present mayor rogers here let the record show that all council members are present All right, let's go on to our report out from our closed session madam city attorney Thank you, mr. Mayor. Um council met in closed session on two items Item 2.1 was a conference with labor negotiators regarding employee unit 17 council gave direction to the negotiators And took no final action on item 2.2 is a conference with real property negotiator and that concerned The property at 1130 herne avenue and zero pebble creek in san aroza And again council gave direction to the real property negotiation team And took no final action. Thanks We'll move on to our proclamations for today. We have one for national surveyors week. We've got walt mark features and daryl who are Let's get you up by the podium if you'd like Councilmember soyer will read the proclamation and then come on up to you guys Welcome gentlemen. What will we do without our surveyors? Whereas surveying has been an essential element in the development of the human environment since the beginning of recorded history And it is a requirement in the planning and execution of nearly every form of construction With its most familiar Modern uses in the fields of transport Building and construction communications mapping and the definition of legal boundaries for land ownership Ownership and whereas in order to accomplish their objective surveyors use elements of engineering physics mathematics astronomy law And history And whereas since the colonial days of the united states surveyors have been leaders in the community statesmen influential citizens and shapers of cultural demands standards Former notable surveyors included george washington thomas chefferson abraham lincoln louison clark daniel boone and hannery david thorough among many others And whereas many services are now provided through the use of sophisticated surveying equipment and tech and techniques Including satellite-borne remote sensing devices and automated positioning measuring recording and plotting equipment And whereas the establishment of the week of march 20 through the 26 2022 as national surveyors week is a fitting tribute to all surveyors Now therefore be resolved that chris rogers mayor of the city santa rosa on behalf of the entire council To hear by proclaim the week of march 20 through 26 2022 as national surveyors week Signed by the mayor on this date Congratulations Thank you. Is this on can you hear me? Okay Thank you man councilman. Thank you councilman so your uh city council We're missing a few people that you read off earlier, but i'm mike jones The supervising land surveyor for uh capital projects engineering and transportation and public works This is walt belaske who works in my section who was also a licensed land surveyor I just have a a few words here i'll be brief So the california land surveyors association was founded in 1966 to unite a community of surveyors Grow the profession and that work continues today Our organization consists of 20 chapters throughout the state With roughly with roughly 1500 members, which is a very small percentage of the state population of closely 40 million Most people don't think about land surveying unless you know one Or you're told you need one The profession seems to fly under the radar Despite our close connection to engineering architecture and construction disciplines National surveyors week helps breathe a bit of life into an age-old profession So on behalf of myself my city survey team The california land surveyors association I'd like to thank councilman soyer for the reading of the proclamation And all the city council members for their support and recognizing national surveyors league. Thank you Thank you so much gentlemen. Let's see if there's any other public comment on this item I'm seeing no one move in the chambers and I see no hands on zoom. Do we have any voicemails? We do not mayor. Okay Thank you gentlemen so much. We'll move on to our next item now Madam city manager would like to do our staff briefings Good evening. So item 7.1 COVID-19 response update So the good news is COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations continued to decline and guidelines around masking and testing continue to loosen To prevent COVID-19 public health officials continue to recommend getting vaccinated and keeping your booster up to date as well as masking indoors Although no longer required. We're in a face mask with both good fit and filtration like an n95 An indoor settings will help prevent the spread of the virus To support these efforts Sonoma county and its health partners continue to collaborate to make vaccines and testing available where they are most needed More information about local response to COVID-19 vaccinations and testing are available at socoemergency.org Thank you Item 7.2 is a debris response update and I would like to introduce deputy director gundy Who will have his staff present. Thank you Good afternoon. Mayor rogers members of the council Just want to introduce myself with charming gundy the deputy director of field services and transportation of public works and just want to you know, express my thanks and gratitude for the opportunity to provide you with a An update regarding our debris response team that we house here and transportation of public works So just a brief brief update so last February 2001 we were asked to put together a team to respond to all city-wide debris related to um In the homeless encampments and anything out in the public driveway And so we were able to do that by shifting some of our resources and Reallocating three fte's over to that team And so today we have William Petro street screw supervisor here to provide you with an update Of all the ins and outs and the successes of that team at the one-year mark Oh, I'll turn it over to mr. Petro All right. Good afternoon. Mayor rogers and members of city council. Like I said, my name is William Petro I'm the supervisor in the street maintenance section. Um, so here's our one-year update of the drt Um, so the drt was formed last February. It's a city-wide response team that removes debris from city properties um, and right of ways Teams comprised comprised of myself and three skilled maintenance workers and a senior maintenance worker Um, our day is kind of broken up between quite a few parts. We have our encampment cleanups So our camo cleanups the crew Is kind of monitoring the encampments that pop up throughout the city We um, we kind of we visit them We try to offer trash bags and we try to keep all the sidewalks and streets clean of debris the best that we can Um, they're also responding responding to illegal dumping throughout the city This includes furniture and other large items This team is also responding to house mats and spills throughout the city such as concrete That's still on the roadways paint And other unknown substances that are spilled and have the potential to make their way into our storm drains They're all that then also tasked with bringing all this stuff back to our yard and separating it between Our garbage all of our different recycling bins that we have and our different hazardous waste bins So in this one year The our team has been successful of removing 4,275 cubic yards of roadside and camper Campment debris from city property and roadways So the breakdown of this is about 3,573 yards of encampment cleanups And about 701 yards of illegally dumped debris which is included includes our refrigerators couches and TVs that we're picking up Throughout all of our public right-of-ways uh So it's been a quite a year over year increase Of debris throughout the past couple years and last year was about 1952 yards And the year before that was somewhere around 6,800 yards So it's been quite an increase throughout the uh the years So our team's been working very hard. Um, they've been doing a great job And i'm very proud to have these guys, you know working for the city and helping with everything that they do It's you know, they've been just doing fantastic work this year So at that point that's about all I have for the uh the briefing if you have any questions All right. Thank you so much. Uh, both william and jeremy and the entire team Really appreciate all of the effort and the work and it's it's definitely noticeable Particularly coming out of the pandemic I'm I'm noticing in areas that have been problem spots for a long time that they're clear Uh, and we definitely appreciate the efforts from the team Let's see if we have any questions from council members Councilmember schwedel Thank you. Mayor Rogers. No questions. Just some comments. Um, you guys have been doing a fabulous job I had a person who volunteers with uh the city asked me, you know, who could clean up some of this stuff? And I said I remember when uh, assistant city manager jason nut made the proposal to us. I said, we've already created that team Literally last week he sent me another text saying they do an awesome job because he's utilized the service And I've had other people in northwest santa rosa who asked what do you do about this and I make reference to your team And you guys are just doing a Bang-up job. It's been awesome. The work that you've been doing is very much appreciated and noticed in the city So thank you for all you do Thank you Let's go ahead and see if we have any public comment on this item. I'll start with zoom. I've got liz Here it looks like liz lowered her hand. I will come back to liz Uh, perhaps either on this item or another item. Let's look here in the chamber Wayne. Yes, sir My name is dwayne dewitt. I'm from roseland on item 7.1 It's good to hear that the testing and vaccination for covet 19 is still available And has basically been doing its job What I was hoping is that you folks who begin to ask the state If that's who's keeping you from holding your meetings in your city buildings To allow you to open up our government again basically Using zoom zooms people out quite frequently Last week I came here and talked with the city staff about how to follow The economic development subcommittee meeting Spent time in the morning understanding from staff how you could call in But zoom muted me on the call So there was no way to participate. Actually, you're just listening I understand that many government agencies prefer that they would prefer muted all the time But it actually would be a better situation If you folks Here at the council Would begin the process to open up our government again To hold the meetings in the city facilities where they were held before covet And allow the public to come and participate That's what the open government task force Looked at so many years ago It's something that needs to be done and can only come From the mayor of the city is what I was told by one of the state officials I spoke with So here we are in public. I'm making the request Mr. Mayor, please open up our government and bring it back to where we can at least Participate without being muted. Thank you for your time Thank you Dwayne. Do we have any other comments on our staff briefings for tonight? Okay, let's go on to our city manager and city attorney reports Madam city manager. Do you want to kick us off tonight? I will thank you so today we'll talk about The drought and water conditions So in response to the ongoing drought conditions This week santa rosa water is participating in national fixa leak week Encouraging residents and businesses to take a 10 minute fixa leak challenge In just 10 minutes you can search your home for leaks and eliminate waste water waste Many common household leaks are easy to find and you can fix them and not only can you save water But you can save money on your water bill So for more information and to take the 10 minute leak challenge Visit srcity.org Forward slash fix leaks Fix leak s. Thank you All right. Do we have any questions for the city manager? No, but out of comment Go for it Oh go ahead You kind of went kind of fast And you didn't look this way. Sorry mayor Um, I just wanted to tell the team that I think they've made a really big impact in southwest santa rosa I'm coming to pick up the debris and they're really appreciate it Um, I've had a lot of people ask how they can uh have things picked up Um, and they've done it in a very timely manner um, and so I just uh Someone just said that how it the team came to be but I think it was a wonderful idea I hope that we can continue um with the team and um, I wanted to see if Because I don't remember offhand The information but I wanted them to be able to tell us how the public can get a hold of the team again If they needed to get a hold of the team, um For people So that they could call because I think that it is really beneficial Um, so yes, thank you All right, let's see if we have any staff who's available to answer that question Let's go on to our city attorney report and then we'll come back with that answer for folks Thank you, mr. Mayor um I have two items that I wanted to discuss and first uh given the events of this past week I want to very briefly address the brown act As you know last week the district attorney issued a letter Finding that the county had violated the brown act in connection with its consideration Of redistricting maps. Um, this the district attorney found two violations First that before going into closed session the county had failed to provide written documentation to the public As to the justification for that closed session second um The district attorney found that staff had gathered input on proposed redistricting maps individually from each of the supervisors Then prepared a memo summarizing the comments and then shared that memo with the full board outside of a public meeting The district attorney found that the sharing of that memo outside of the public view constituted a what is known as a serial meeting Uh in violation of the brown act So I wanted to offer just a couple of notes and uh reminders uh to the council first, um, I want to reassure you um that we do provide brown act training uh to all new council members Also to all of our boards and commissions on a regular basis And we do give frequent reminders as I think you all know and see Uh to both council to staff and to others As we go about our day-to-day business And then following the district attorney's letter. I wanted to address um To give you two reminders for the council Again, these are just two of the elements of the brown act lots of different elements in the brown act But these are the two that they uh that came to issue this week So first if you hear or receive a threat of litigation Um, please document that threat and provide that documentation to our office Um, if a closed session becomes necessary We will then share that documentation with the public so that the public can understand Be fully informed as to the basis of the closed session second Just a reminder that although council members are very free to meet individually with staff in one-on-one meetings Um to discuss pending items or issues Those meetings with staff cannot be used as an indirect Means to share information with other council members staff cannot act as an as an intermediary in those situations And I think you've all um are very good about that. I'm not concerned, but I do want to give that reminder It's very important staff will not tell you what other council members said nor should you ask Um all of the discussions among the council quorum Have to be taken in the context of a noticed public meeting So again, those are just two of the elements, but uh an important time to give a reminder And uh, of course, we also have to be keeping the comprehensive view of the brown act throughout So I just want to say to the council and to the public that we take brown act compliance very seriously We understand that we're doing the people's business and when I say we I mean not just our office But all of staff and all of the council. I know We're doing the people's business and transparency is essential The county we know will be providing additional training To the supervisors and to its other officials We're happy at any time to provide training If the council should should desire or any board or commission So those are my comments on the brown act um my second That is listed here is our monthly litigation report. This will be quick Our litigation team remains very busy. We have 27 cases currently pending For that 27 includes four receiverships two which are Very close to being completed that means the property has been taken and cleaned And is ready to move on We have eight general litigation matters including allegations of breach of contract civil rights And disability discrimination We have eight personal injury cases Three police cases and four rits of mandate We have several new claims one is listed in the in the published outline and since this was went to publication We have received two additional new claims Um and in all we have five trials coming up in the next few months So lots of trial prep going on in our office right now Um, and then I just want to emphasize again. I've mentioned this before this list. Um, this monthly list uh is just a Kind of the core litigation matters Um, but it does not include a lot of the other work that our litigation team does Uh, which includes code enforcement. The receiverships are listed here, but code enforcement is not listed Uh, hazardous materials bills. That's a koopa work Vicious animal enforcement, which I know has gotten some press over the last couple of weeks Uh weapons retentions Pitches motions and a host of other items that that team addresses And in addition, uh, all all of the members of that team also Provide transactional support and advice to their assigned departments So very appreciate very much appreciate all the work that they do Happy to answer any questions on either of these items. Thanks Great, thank you so much. Madam city attorney. We do appreciate all of the work that your office is doing To answer councilmember rogers. This question. There's three ways to contact the Dirt team one is by phone at seven zero seven five four three Three eight zero zero extension seven One is to email clean city at srcity.org And for the third i'm going to kick it back to our city manager Thank you. So the newest way you can contact us is through the my santa rosa app I wasn't going to announce it tonight, but so there'll be more information to come You can download the my santa rosa app click submit request Then go to streets nada Then select debris pickup and you can submit your online request And that's up and running now Yes Excellent good work With that we will go on to public comment See if anybody has comment on our city manager and city attorney reports tonight Seeing nobody move in the chamber and i'm not seeing any hands on zoom any pre-recorded voicemails No, mayor any additional comments from council Mr. Vice mayor Thank you, mayor Well, really just a thank you to sue for for taking the time to educate us on What the perimeters for the way that we carry ourselves on on council and why they're so important So I definitely want to make a big thank you and for always make yourself available Whether it be really at all crazy hours just to be able to be there and answer our questions So thank you very much for the guidance anyone else All right, let's go on to our statements of abstention tonight Does anybody have to abstain from any of the items? Seeing none we'll move on to our mayors and councilmember reports who wants to start councilmember mcdonald I just want to do a shout out to our Recreation and parks department for the work that they're doing on the park a month project mayor rogers was out there and he did vast majority of the digging for the trees so I want to give him credit for that but I was there observing Which I'm great at so I just want to say thanks to the parks department for what they're doing It's amazing to be out there to see children and families Being part of that process to not only keep our parks clean but to plant trees and It's not something I ever did with my children So I'm guilty of that But I would really encourage the council to get out when they can specifically when there's a park in their area To be part of that process and to thank them for all the work that they do A lot of their work isn't actually getting to be in the parks because they're doing so much other work in our city So a real thanks to that team And um, additionally, I was able to go and tour the expansion of the sam jones hall, which is Caritas center. Am I saying it right? Sort of you said sure. Um, so But it was amazing to see that building and what they're going to be able to provide for people in our community From the family center to a head start program And I would really encourage the council if they have an opportunity To meet with jenny lin homes who heads that To go over there and see what they're doing and in the work that we do a lot of times We don't get to see those bright shiny spots in our community and not really Made me feel great to go see that there's going to be a beautiful building for people who are really having some challenges to be able to live in so I just wanted to announce those two things and um Also to a council member rogers and council member fleming for Presenting at the commission on the status of women And they were the elected officials from santa rosa city And they did a tremendous job actually representing the work that we do and being a woman Who's an elected official in our community? So I just wanted to say well done to both of them Do we have any other? Reports from council members Council member fleming Yeah, quite a lot has gone on since our last meeting. I do believe I gave an update that on And then on march 25th the red housing fund had its Initial meeting and that there was a number of projects that are oversubscribed We will be meeting again shortly and um as well as we have an advocacy meeting with senator maguire Later this month and uh, we're looking forward to seeing a lot a lot happening And then the north bay commissioners for the metropolitan transportation commission had a meeting on Let's see what was it march 4th to discuss strategy for implementing our transit oriented communities project That's something that gives a lot of our smaller communities heartburn And we're working to make sure that we implement more equitable communities and match the funding and support To make that happen and if anybody has any questions or concerns about that I'd be happy to meet with them As a city manager alluded to their or the city attorney Excuse me that there have been increasing concerns around animal control safety And I look forward to working on setting the public safety agenda with chief navarro on april 20 march 22nd and we will be meeting on april april 20th as it heads up to the community and um, I am glad to have the support of staff on moving this forward to create increasing safety for our community councilmember rogers um, just wanted to report There are a couple things One was I did enjoy being able to present on the commission on the status of women about self-care and the importance of self-care in addition to gave a tour and was able to orient some of our youth in the community With their leader clint st martin This past tuesday with city manager smith and The vice mayor and the mayor so they All came along and we had taco tuesday and it was a lot of fun so Enjoy spending time with the youth and and bringing them down to city hall and orienting them about what we do here at city hall And how they can get involved So that that definitely Was a lot of fun And then also I just like to take the opportunity to to really thank our staff I think we have a very supportive staff Here that works in our city manager's office that We we call we ask for a very odd odd We have odd requests sometimes and we can be very demanding at times There's a lot of us and not very many of you And I think that you guys really Surpass the bar and you make it happen And without you we definitely could not do What it is that we do to support our community members So I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you guys for all the work that you do in supporting us so that we can Do what we do So thank you Thank you councilmember mr. Vice mayor Thank you, mayor And one thing that that councilwoman rogers forgot to mention was our Day over at south park or actually southwest not a problem here to remind us i'm here to remind us We had an opportunity to meet with our community members really for the first time since covet We exited covet and it was a great opportunity for us to meet with a lot of our concerned citizens In an open setting such as a park and in some mexican sweet bread, which never hurts the conversation And we hope to have more of them soon So with that being said To our community out there watching in tv land and here as well We would love to sit with you in a park setting and join our santa rosa parks and have a great conversation About the future of santa rosa and how together we could make it happen. Thank you Thank mr. Vice mayor anyone else Okay, as was mentioned it it has been a couple of weeks since we had council So indulge me for a moment and i'll fill you in on some of our meetings that we had First i did want to say thank you to our reckon parks team who did have a very big weekend Not only was it the park park a month But it was also our arbor day celebration And so in partnership with some of the little leagues we had at least 50 people that were out in the park on saturday planting new trees Refurbishing the ball parks. I think I saw some city staff that were out there in cognito Talking trash about the tree planting skills of some of the council members We had a really good time and it's nice to just be back out in person and seeing people make a difference in their community and councilmember mcdonald and i were joking One of the people who helped us plant our tree was a little three-year-old and sparkly pink shoes whose job was to jump up And down on the dirt to compact it for us and it was just nice to be back around people So kudos to our reckon parks team for putting that together And then turning around the next day and doing the st patty's day 5k Which has not been in person for the last couple of years and it was good to see people back out there running on the creek trails And through our downtown I'm not going to name any names, but there was definitely at least one director in the city who beat me and my fiance in that race Much faster than we were so clearly they were not eating as much as us during covet But it was nice to see everybody back out and about We've had a number of different Meetings and events that have come over the last couple of weeks one that I wanted to give a special shout out to Was read across america where we did have a chance to partner with our teachers throughout santa rosa I was reading in austin creek and in rosin creek Both some dr. Seuss books, so that was great to get back into the classrooms We had our sonoma county transportation authority and regional climate protection agency yesterday Where scta formally adopted our vision zero plan that'll be coming now to each of the different cities for implementation Obviously, it's something that's been a big priority for us here in santa rosa We had our sonoma clean power monthly meeting and i'll be having my monthly community office hours coming up at the Energy center in downtown santa rosa maybe make some omelets for folks on the induction stoves while we talk about the city We've also had our climate action subcommittee where we talked about the climate mobilization strategies Our long-term finance committee where we talked about our long-term fiscal strategies And many of the the principles that we've espoused from the dais and how we put that in place And then our economic development committee Where we relaunched our or getting ready for our relaunch of our out there santa rosa program and reviewed our arpa programs That will be moving forward Last thing i promise and then we'll keep moving through the meeting Is i am going to make a recommendation from the city of santa rosa to the red housing fund board This is our Our representative absent from the renewal enterprise districts representatives, but really specific to the city of santa rosa And i'm going to make a recommendation of dav guine our former director of housing for the city of santa rosa Council does have to approve that recommendation And so if it works for you madame city attorney, let's do public comment first on councilmember reports And then i'll bring it back as a motion see if i can get a second and then have council deliberate That's that would be exactly the right procedure. So thank you. Okay. Let's go to public comment on council members reports If anybody has one go ahead make your way towards the podium And i see it one hand on zoom. So we'll go to gregory Thank you mayor. I can't imagine a better representative for the city of santa rosa on the red board than david So, um kudos Quick and to the point. I love it. Gregory. Thank you Let's go ahead and see if we had any voicemail public comments on councilmember reports We did not mayor Okay, but i'm going to go ahead and bring it back to the council I am bringing that as a motion for the council. Let's see if I can get a second. I'd second it Okay, councilmember swedhelm with the second. Is there any discussion on the motion? For appointing dav guine to the red housing fund board All right, madam city clerk. Can you please call the vote? Yes, thank you mayor councilmember schwedhelm. Hi councilmember soyer. Hi councilmember rogers. Hi councilmember mcdonald. Hi councilmember fleming. Hi Vice mayor alvarez. Hi mayor rogers. Hi that motion passes with seven eyes All right We have no minutes for tonight for approval. Let's move on to our consent calendar Madam city manager All right item 12.1 Is a resolution for a contract award for fire damage roadway landscaping Item 12.2 is a resolution the third amendment general services agreement f 00 1636 for ammunition disposal for police for the police department Item 12.3 is a resolution Sonoma county community development commission grant agreement for the safe parking pilot program Item 12.4 is a resolution approval and adoption of the city city salary plan and schedule Item 12.5 is a resolution approval of amendment number three to city attorney's Appointment agreement and introduce an ordinance to increase the compensation of the city attorney by providing one A three percent cost of living salary adjustment effective november 7th 2021 to a two two point five percent cost of living salary adjustment effective april 10th 2022 three One time not non pensionable pensionable lump sum payment of five thousand dollars And four five hundred dollars annually for wellness Item 12.6 is a resolution amendment to the city classification and salary plan Increasing the salary range of the police chief and fire chief. Thank you Thank you, madam city manager. Do we have any questions from council on the consent items? councilmember mcdonald Just on um item 12.3. I know I emailed the city manager I think there was on page 17 of the report A box not checked and I just wanted to ensure that that was done before approval tonight It is my understanding that the that will be checked before the agreement is signed. I apologize if that was not clear I apologize. Thank you so much. Thank you Mr. Vice mayor Thank you, mayor general question on 12.2 The ammunition disposal for police department What does that mean it does it mean that is this accumulation of ammunition that's been confiscated is this outdated ammunition from our police department Do we have staff on to answer this question? I'm promoting now one moment, please I see the chief popping up good evening Mayor rogers and uh council members Councilmember vice mayor alvarez. It's a good question the The ammunition destruction is ammunition that's been confiscated or turned in by the community and we have to dispose of it In a legal fashion, so there's an increase in the price to destroy ammunition and so that's what the That's that's what this is regarding Thank you for the elaboration chief Any other questions from council? All right, let's look to public comment on the consent calendar Go ahead duane Hello, my name is duane DeWitt. I'm from roseland. I'm concerned about resolution 12.5 I want to make sure I understand correctly This is a three percent increase and then another two and a half percent increase is that cumulative meaning It's going to be 5.5 percent increase from a base salary of what year? The way it was described here in the Minute, excuse me in the agenda. It doesn't clarify that per se and i'm real concerned that the way the Salary structure for the city has been advancing. We're very top-heavy We've got people at the top getting big money But the people at the bottom who take care of the city the people in parks and recreation the people In maintenance and road repair. They're not being Compensated as fairly I feel Yet here you're going to give the police chief and the fire chief another five percent again It just doesn't seem fair and we just listen to these people talk about the diversity And the equity and the inclusion and how we're going to be fair and just to our employees I wish you'd explain this better as to why the people at the top get so much in terms of increases And the regular working class members of our santa rosa city staff Are still down there at the bottom kind of groveling if you will So if you could please tell us what the base salary What year is being used for these city attorneys cost of living salary adjustments. Thank you for your time Thank you duane Let's go ahead. I see amy has her hand up on zoom let's promote amy I see no other comments here in the chamber On the consent calendar I see no other hands on zoom. Did we have any pre-recorded voicemails before we go to amy? We did not mayor right so Amy would you like to answer mr. Dwitz question? If I may mayor rogers, thank you I just wanted to point out that these cost of living adjustments That are requested for the city attorney and will also be requested for the city manager by the way in upcoming meetings It is because their contracts must be approved in open session by council And they do mirror the same adjustments that are given to the rest of the employees and other bargaining units So the three percent cola and the upcoming two and a half percent cola We're also they agreed upon increases for the rest of the bargaining units and do Impact staff at all levels such as those mr. Dwight was referring to in parks and streets, etc Great. Thank you so much. Are there any other questions from council? And let's put a motion on the table mr. Vice mayor Thank you, mayor I move items 12.1 through 12.6 and weigh further reading of the text second Any additional discussion? Okay, let's call the vote councilmember schwaitham. Hi councilmember soyer. Hi councilmember rogers. Hi councilmember mcdonald. Hi councilmember fleming. Hi vice mayor alvarez. Hi Mayor rogers. Hi that motion passes with seven eyes All right, it's not yet five o'clock. So we will hold public comment on non-agenda items and go on to item 14.1 Thank you item 14.1 is a report Elliott avenue pilot closure project and I would like to introduce deputy director sprinkle Good evening. Can everyone hear me? Okay Yes, we can Great. Thank you. Good evening. Mayor rogers and members of the council. My name is rob sprinkle I am the deputy director of traffic engineering and today i'm presenting to you the elliott avenue pilot closure project Next slide, please So for a little background the san rosa junior college approached the city With an interest to provide a pedestrian only link across elliott avenue And it's been identified in their facilities plan over the last 10 years for the location where traffic calming Um is planned to be installed the city has also been working with the san rosa junior college On pedestrian enhancements in this location for several years The jc has a desire to provide a vehicle free crossing to strengthen that link between the campus to the north and south Across elliott avenue next slide, please So this slide it indicates The senator's junior college campus and the black box near elliott avenue there. Thank you Also indicates where the closure is being proposed and it's between the emeritus circle parking lot And some buildings on the north side of campus with the main campus to the south next slide, please So the project location is this is a closer view of the project location where there will be Gate closures on the westerly and easterly side of emeritus Um at the maristus circle driveway And there'll also be a new Um To the upper corner of the slide there. It'll be a new driveway at clement and salem Now as you could probably infer from this This photo or this aerial The axis can be Gained from elliott avenue from the west actually through the parking lot and back over to elliott on the east end If that's in fact a desire of of someone and that's something that we'll be watching Throughout the if this is approved throughout the review of this temporary closure Next slide, please So some of the improvements have already been done on the on the campus side of the Of emeritus circle they've changed the westerly driveway from a exit only to a enter and exit They've also Installed some new sidewalks pedestrian ramps landscaping And asphalt and a new Angled parking along there. They're building there and they these improvements were completed in april of 2021 Next slide, please so as part of this project before the environmental document was Prepared in november of 2019 the srgc held a community meeting with the city santa rosa To present this pilot project to the neighborhood and the community to gather information from them to determine what What the neighborhood and what the community would like to see covered in the environmental document The environmental document was prepared at initial study and mitigated mad declaration was prepared and was Put out for 30 day public comment in january of 2021 and then it closed in february 22nd of 21 uh more recently in january of 22 The santa rosa junior college in conduction with the city Re-engaged the community about the project prior to this document going to their board of trustees in february Where it was where the environmental document was adopted and then in february of 2022 the city santa rosa by school and pedestrian advisory advisory board also by motion supported the pilot project closure Next slide, please So along with the public Outreach we did receive public comments and actually as I was reading the slide earlier today I noticed that we didn't put Uh, one of the main public comments on here, which was that there was a lot of support from the community These are more of the concerns from the community that were brought up. Um, then i'll go over here so, um, some of the concerns from the Neighborhood to the north of elliott were brought up was regarding the inconvenience for the residents who want to access Um, medecino avenue instead of using elliott with the temporary closure They will have to go up to steel lane, which is a little which is busier to get over to medecino avenue or the alternatively they'd use Armory drive down to either bear cub or ridgeway But it is an inconvenience for those in that neighborhood Also brought up as a concern was the intersection of steel lane and illinois where That intersection is congested when the centers of junior college and the sr centers of high school are in in in full peak The dismissal Other comments were related to the emergency access how that how would that work? And how would evacuations work in the in the neighborhood? And it's noted that the elliott avenue is not considered to be an evacuation route And there are other access routes that can be used In an emergency, however with the gates being there if emergency personnel deem it necessary they can open the gates and allow egress And another comment we heard was About how this project will link with the bicycle and pedestrian over crossing and although those plans aren't Completely solidified staff has put a lot of thought into how these two will link together potentially with a cycle track Next slide, please So one of the main items that was brought up was the circulation That wanted that the neighborhood wanted to look at And that was covered in the environmental document in the traffic study So the traffic study looked at Operation the 15 different locations those listed here on on the map and i'll just If you look between the intersection 10 and 11 that's where the closure would be proposed to happen Next slide, please So looking at the potential redistribution of the the traffic in the area the blue lines here show Where traffic currently is mainly using the arterial streets to exit On to mendicino illinois over to steel and with the closure again between the intersections of 10 and 11 There between america circle west and east traffic could then also May want to choose to use the green Lines or that are redistributed through the neighborhood which is a concern to us and which is why we're proposing this pilot project actually The whole reason for the pilot project is that we want to test this to see how it will work and see what the impacts will be before Anything permanent is done Next slide, please So the findings of the traffic study Indicated that This project won't be creating any new trips. It's basically going to be redistributing trips And it could potentially reduce trips if there's an increase in bicycle pedestrian activity in the area The vehicle ship ships would shift away from alia avenue and use other routes as I mentioned maybe onto armory or bear cub Or even down to ridgeway During the pilot phase of this project Each of the 50 intersections that were studied are expected to continue to operate at an acceptable level of service Next slide, please So even though during the pilot project as it They'll be meeting our level of service expectations as we go into future years out into 2040 the level of service at steel lane in minnesino avenue does Become reduced and it reaches a level service e but this occurs without the project and it also occurs with the project so There are some mitigations that can take place to help with that Um And i'm not suggesting that these would be the final mitigations, but one of the items identified would be to Um add an additional left turn lane at the intersection. This would if we did that within its Existing footprint, however, it would be considered a significant impact according to seqa because the bike lanes would then have to be Removed in order for all the lanes to fit So that's why I wouldn't necessarily suggest that this is the direction we would we would go in a final final mitigation Um operations at steel lane in illinois will also Have an increase in delay and that could be mitigated with addition of a right turn lane Which actually can be added in the existing lane width that's out there today With some redistribution of the the lane widths Next slide, please so for next steps If implementation is approved by council the project would be constructed to to do the temporary closure this summer summer 22 And be evaluated through um december of 2023 So the srjc would hold two additional public meetings Um in february of 23 and november of 23 to get feedback from the community the neighborhood Um the staff and the students on on how everything is working The reason for this uh project going Approximately 16 months in length would be that in the fall semester of 2023 is when the stem New stem building that's being constructed And the new housing a building that's being constructed are be our plan to be opened and that's when we would go in and retake additional counts To see what the the final impacts would be at at basically the kind of the worst-case scenario So feedback from the centers of jc and the surrounding neighborhood would be collected and all the impacts noted Prior to any permanent closure and this I don't actually come back to the city council for any final Approval for the road closure Next slide please So with that it's recommended by a transportation and public works department that council by resolution approve the temporary road closure of elliah avenue between west america's driveway and east america's driveway To enhance pedestrian connectivity for students across elliah avenue for the duration of 16 months beginning in summer of 2022 As a pilot project to evaluate the impact a permanent closure may have And with that, I also have a serif in fernandez with the center of the junior college and daling with lock with w trans who prepared the traffic study Um available to answer any questions that I may not be able to answer All right, thank you so much deputy director. I'll start with questions from council members councilmember fleming Thank you, mr. Sprinkle As you can imagine this is giving a little bit of heartburn to some of the residents north of Of the junior college but south of steel lane particularly the most salient concern I've heard is around egress during an emergency which you did address a little bit But i'm wondering if we have an all-out emergency If the the barriers during the pilot study can be taken down by by residents if somebody um From the city is not available to do that or if there would be a designated person from the junior college Who would be able to take the barriers down immediately? We I wouldn't say that we typically give keys to those types of gates to the community however The the centers of junior college police is also right there on site on elliah avenue So I would think that they would be a Have a great opportunity to to help with that if um if City staff is not available um And that would be something that I could look into further to It's not something I've heard we've done in the past though Okay, what i'm wondering is if we could designate somebody from the the s r jc police staff to be Whoever's on call 24 hours a day who can be there immediately because that's the the primary concern is can we get those down right away? right Rob my question is really sort of what problem are we fixing here? Are we seeing traffic collisions? In that site. Are we seeing? pedestrians and bicycles that are having to compete For for space with cars We haven't had any collisions uh with pedestrians there in the last five years or so from our our data However, there were close calls reported Um to the s r j c so There's not a documented. I wouldn't say problem, but there is a very large amount of pedestrian activity in those locations And there are a lot of vehicles in those locations going to and from school where they're Don't always make good decisions on their speed so um Although hasn't been a collision recently or That i'm aware of in the last five years. I'm not sure if there was before that point in time um This would help prevent that from occurring Okay, thank you so much Any other questions from council members? All right, let's go to public comment on this item if you're here to provide comment Go ahead start to queue up up near the podium and i'll take in person first and then come back and take hands on zoom Make sure you get really close to that microphone so people can hear you We'll do thank you. Hello. My name is bruce reisman and i'm one of the many residents will be affected by the proposed closing of elliott avenue This pilot is unnecessary. It's too soon and it's not well defined We're told the reason that jc should be allowed to annex a public street is for safety According to the jc's own records. There have been no reported accidents on elliott for at least the past eight years Too soon because there are two major buildings being constructed at this time The 100 000 square foot stem building and the 300 room student dorm The wtrans 2019 traffic study stated the buildings would have no effect on traffic Because it would not add more students to campus Their findings are questionable. Can they tell us where these students currently attend class? Where did they park and where will they park? Once their class has moved to the new building. How many drop-offs can we expect? Did the account fit a need to double back turning one trip into two? Since the drop-off cars must leave the same way they came Please wait until the buildings are open and then assess based on fact and not on conjecture Too soon also because the enrollment at the jc is at a 35 year low Here are some of the spring semester headcounts directly from the jc website 2002 37 000 students 2018 24 000 2022 14 000 Does it make sense to make permanent decisions based on reduced enrollment? The criteria for the pilot has also not been well defined The only party is negatively affected by this annexation will be the residents of our neighborhood Those who live between elliott and steel and between armory and selam We're the ones whose streets will be crowded with inpatient young drivers And we'll have to find other ways other than elliott to drive downtown and anywhere east If you're going to move this pilot forward, please start it later and define Beforehand how the final decision will be made. We know sending emails and flyers are ineffective This is the neighborhood of working people who have learned what the jc wants the jc gets And who feel unfortunately, there is no sense in trying to do anything about it I hope you understand how wrong this is and how it is in your power to change it We know this pilot will not reduce a number of accidents so they're on none If the goal is to prevent future accidents, why not start with speed bumps? This would be welcomed by everyone concerned And remember there's a traffic light on elliott and the students do know how to use it In summary, there's no reason why elliott should be annexed by the jc But if you insist this is important to city, please explain why Please time the pilot appropriately set criteria responsibly and ensure the stakeholders actually have a say This may mean paying a time for door to door to ensure to get Real feedback from the people most affected. Thank you for your time Thank you Is christie schlosser and I live on albany which intersects with elliott In fact, we share a fence line with the new math building elliott avenue is a public street that provides important access to surrounding neighborhoods and jc students being public It should not be restricted the jc has made Recent changes that have had a negative impact on my home life like student trash Student loudness and noise pollution students smoking in my yard and leaving butts in heaven knows what else and student public vulgarity Though the student impact can be inconvenient with increased foot track Foot and auto traffic. This is only true Monday through thursday and isn't really too bad A road closure or restriction would be permanent 24 7 very unlikely to be reversed and um and that is very unnecessary And unfair to residents like me and several hundred other people Keep the public road public and do not let the jc make their own Decisions on about public property There are already many safe measures for student for safe student crossing Including lighted crosswalks new stop signs and unlike crosswalks If safety is an issue adding another lighted crosswalk by cundey hall is an excellent way to increase safety at the western end of elliott And would minimally impact traffic when student presence is low It would be very inconvenient for me My husband and our neighbors if elliott avenue was closed to us It is a path that takes us directly to downtown without it I might be more inclined to find services in codding town area and not have to deal with the runaround that I'd have to go through I'd like to address the driving through the parking lot. Are you kidding? How unsafe is that? Not only are you looking at moving vehicles in a very tight situation, but students dashing off to class because they're late again I do not want more traffic past my house I put up with it and I don't have to deal with it some days because I'm at work But sometimes I cannot park near my house and that is terrifically annoying Um, also reducing bike lanes. Oh my gosh, please do not reduce bike lanes I like to use my bike and there are some streets I will not go on because it is not safe as a bicyclist and There are a lot of students that do bike to school both at the jc and the high school the STEM and housing on the south side of the closure do not seem to me like they would be impacted Because they're on the other they're on the larger portion of the Of the campus and um, I don't see how that would really change The uh, the student traffic. Thank you for your time. All right. Thank you No, anybody else in the chamber All right, we'll go to zoom we'll start with lee followed by patrick Hi, can everyone hear me? Yes Hi, my house backs up to the srjc and they have not been good neighbors. They create lots of Dust and noise from construction I understand you've done studies, but I've lived here for 10 years and I see it every day and the srjc students use our roads as racetracks My house backs up to the proposed alternate route past emeritus It's already noisy. You know, it will get worse with this project. I highly oppose the srjc pilot project It solves nothing If it does go forward, I agree with bruce to wait until the construction is finished If you want real feedback come and knock on our doors and talk to us. Thank you Thank you lee We'll go to patrick Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can Okay, thank you. Uh, yes, I recently purchased a home on nordike and I just found out about this proposal to shut down elliott I'm here to say I'm supporting my neighbors and um Being against this I'm two doors down from steel lane and at this current state Being on an uncontrolled intersection. I prefer to go through elliott just to get to downtown It's near impossible to get out of my street, especially during the morning. So people are trying to commute to work um I could see my street becoming a busy busy busy street If people are forced to come down my neighborhood to egress the To steel lanes. So, um, once again, sorry, I don't have a proposed statement, but I just thought about this yesterday So I'm just here to chime in and support my neighborhood Please reconsider. Thank you All right. Thank you patrick. Do we have any other public comments on this item? Do we have any voicemails? You're not here. Okay. I'll go ahead close public comment. Bring it back Let's start by Getting a motion on the table for discussion. I'll go to councilmember mcdonald Thank you, mayor I move The adoption of resolution of the council the city of santa rosa approving the elliott avenue closure pilot program and Wait for the reading of the resolution Okay, a motion. Do we have a second for the purposes of discussion? I will certainly second this Okay, we have a motion and we have a second I'm going to start all the way at your end john and see if you have any comments Thank you, mayor. Well, um the comments About waiting until the construction a fairly major piece of construction there on the campus um Is going to change a lot of traffic patterns. I would guess and the Impacted neighborhood already is feeling has has for some time and and based on their proximity to a large educational Environment There will be a fair amount of traffic. I live very close to montgomery high school and I can attest to It's it's pretty not too difficult to tell who has and has not had drivers that It's uh it can be Disturbing the way some students and neighbors drive as well oftentimes the worst traffic Comes from neighbors in a particular neighborhood I would prefer as far as the timing goes I would prefer to wait until the project is completed and Then we assess the need for a closure of that street It's I think that I'll just leave it that I'm at this point. I'm not ready to support staff's recommendation although I respect their their The presentation and the way it was presented Not having had any at least reported accidents in the last five years Not that we would necessarily wait for someone to be hurt Severely injured by a company coming in contact with a vehicle But I think the lack of data around The need for this particular change in the traffic Doesn't exist at this point. Um, I would be willing to consider it in the future, but not now Thank you Council member splato Thank you, mr. And I'm sorry, I do have a question for Rob just after hearing comments from the public Rob, you had mentioned that there were a lot of public comments In support of this project and what was the reasoning behind it because I'm struggling with the data also We've had no accidents and to enhance pedestrian connectivity I'm struggling with that a little bit So what were some of the comments that we're not heard tonight in support of this project? So part of it was to strengthen the As I mentioned to be in with strengthen that that connection across Elliott with the With the two sides of campus, but the and the other piece was once the overcrossing is is constructed the having that be another Um, kind of destination that people would be able to come to using the overcrossing and even going through over to Mendocino um on on bikes as well, so it's Those are