Hello everyone, my name is Jo and I'm from the Accommodation Office at SOAS. Welcome to this webinar session which is going to cover all the different accommodation options and application processes for both postgraduate and undergraduate SOAS students. This will include SOAS halls of residence, private rented halls, shared accommodation, adapted accommodation and finally family or couples housing. At the end of the session I will be taking questions so please send anything through that you want to ask and I'll do my very very best to answer as much as I can at the end. So let's start with the SOAS halls of residence. The map shows the locations of all the SOAS halls. There are two options which house only SOAS students and four options which house SOAS students alongside students from other universities such as King's, London School of Economics, Wall of Cabin Music, UCL and it's a great chance for you to mix with students from different universities. These halls are run by our private provider partners and we have quota of designated teams in each of the properties which are offered to our students at discounted rates. As you can see the six halls of residence are all located close to the SOAS campus with the very furthest only being 25-minute walk away or the same by public transport. All of our halls offer 24-hour security. The first hall that we're going to look at today is Dinwoody House. This is an undergraduate only property on behalf of SOAS by sanctuary housing. The residence is situated in the King's Cross area of London and is about a 20-minute walk from SOAS. King's Cross is a lively vibrant area with lots of shops, bars and restaurants. It's also five minutes from King's Cross and St Pancras mainline stations. The location gives great access for links around London and the UK as well as to the Euro star, the trips to Europe including Paris and Euro Disney, Amsterdam and Brussels. The hall has 510 single bedrooms which are all en suite. Students share a communal kitchen in the flats and which have between five and seven bedrooms. The rent is £167.97 per week and includes all bills. The contracts offer 38 weeks however there are options to extend into the summer if you wish. There's just a few more pictures of the property. The hall has a common room, laundry, 24-hour security and a lovely courtyard complete with two resident cats, one of which you can see in the picture called Pebbles and Gizmo. This is Paul Robeson House and this is the postgraduate partner to Dinwoody House located just three minutes away from it. Although the residence is for postgraduate students only, mature undergraduate students may apply. It's a much smaller hall but again like Dinwoody, the rooms are all en suite. The flats have between four and seven rooms and the contracts are either for 38 or 51 weeks. There are shared communal kitchens, a common room, 24-hour security but no cats. Again just a quick look at the flat layout and an idea of the rooms as you can see they're exactly the same as those in Dinwoody. As you can see from the map, both the properties are a very, very close walk to space. Moving on to another of our halls, this is our St Pancras residence which is managed by our partner's Urban Nest. The property is located in the King's Cross St Pancras area near to Camden and its markets, restaurants, nightlife and canal walks. The building is in close proximity to the main line tube and Euro star stations and plenty of bus stops. There are 79 rooms available at this hall exclusively discounted from a normal rate for summer students. Rooms are charged at £245.96 for a private room with shared facilities and £289.88 for en suite. All the contracts are for 51 weeks. The walk is around 25 minutes to the Sowers campus. The difference between this hall and the previous two is that St Pancras houses students from all London colleges, not just Sowers and it offers you the chance to mix with a wide range of students from across the capital. Next we can take a look at Goldsmith's house which is managed by another of our partner's Optigo. This is an 81 bedroom female only hall with a beautiful garden and a location just behind Houston station about 25 minutes walk or a short bus ride to Sowers. So let's have 20 rooms here at discounted rates offering 51 week contracts at £197 a week and 40 week contracts at £210 a week. The property does not have en suite accommodation, the kitchens and bathrooms are shared. However this property offers a unique communal layout and a brilliant opportunity to mix with students from other University of London. This is Helen Graham House and our second property managed by Optigo. The 290 bed residence is located about five minutes walk away from campus across Russell Square right opposite the British Museum in a beautiful listed building. Sowers have 50 discounted rooms offering 51 week contracts at £230 per week and 40 week contracts at £247.50 per week. There are also twin rooms which can be offered to couples and friends which are £177.59 and £160 per person depending on the contract length. The rooms are not en suite and again share kitchens and bathrooms with residents from other universities. Wood Green Hall is new to our portfolio this year offering our most affordable accommodation with a location 20 minutes from Sowers in the centre of Wood Green. The 169 bed property is three minutes from the station which is on the Piccadilly Tube line and comes straight into Russell Square. The residence is located in the centre of this part of London and with its shops, bars, restaurants and a large cinema. Some of the pictures of the hall here so as have exclusive access to 20 of the single room of this residence. The property has a common room, a laundry and a courtyard and a very competitive rate of £147.50 or £160 per week is available dependent on contract length. The residence is open to students from across London universities offering a great chance to socialise with a wide range of people. The next thing we're going to look at are the University of London intercollegiate halls of residence. These halls are known as intercollegiate halls because they house students from the 20 University of London colleges such as UCL, LSE, Kings and of course SOAS. This accommodation offers a great chance to meet students from a wider variety of universities and backgrounds. As you can see on the map all the halls are within walking distance of SOAS with the majority being around the Russell Square area within 10 minutes although two are further away about 30 minutes using public transport. There was one postgraduate property not shown called Handle Mansions and we're just waiting for some further information on this and some pictures but you can view it on the University of London website. Just to explain how the application process for these particular hall works there are seven halls of residence into which we are able to house a number of our students. All the halls have wardens and residence assistants to support the students. For this coming academic year we have rooms at four of the halls and you are only able to apply to these four halls. They are Connult College International and the Gardens but we'll have a look at them all anyway. Firstly Connult Hall this is a small friendly hall in a listed building just around the corner to the SOAS campus. It offers catered single and twin rooms on suite and non-onsuite bedrooms. We have 25 rooms at this residence available on 38 week contracts. College Hall is a mid-sized hall in a listed building opposite the student central building two minutes from the SOAS bus and within a short walk of Tottencourt Road and Oxford Street. Excuse me. SOAS have 12 rooms allocated for this residence which offers catered single and on suite accommodation International Hall. This is a large modern hall with many amenities including a squash court music rooms and a large common room. SOAS has 24 rooms in this accommodation which are all catered single rooms. We have two non-catered studios. The hall has a large number of double rooms and family flats in listed buildings which border the main campus. Moving on to the garden halls this is the newest and largest of the intercollegiate halls with accommodation ranging from single rooms to shared flats catered and non-catered on suite and non-onsuite. The hall has a bright modern feel overlooking heart-right gardens and they have use of the tennis courts. SOAS has 56 rooms in this residence 27 non-catered with shared kitchens and 29 on suite catered rooms. Lillian-Penson Hall is the first hall at which we do not have an allocation and therefore at this stage SOAS students cannot apply. There will be an option to apply in September on the University of London waiting list and I'll go into that a little bit more later on. Lillian-Penson Hall is an older star property overlooking the residence square in the Paddington area of London. Around 40 minutes from SOAS it offers easy access to bars shops and transport links consisting of catered and non-catered single rooms studios and flats. As with the previous hall SOAS do not have an allocation of rooms at this hall but Knutford House is a listed smaller hall situated just off the edge where road in London with access to Hyde Park and London shopping district nearby. It has twin single and studio accommodation catered and non-catered. Again applications must be made in September onto the University of London waiting list. This map shows how near the four halls with SOAS allocations are to the campus they are the ones grouped on the right. The location of Lillian-Penson Hall and Knutford House is much further away which is why SOAS chose not to have an allocation there. These residences tend to be more economical in price due to their location. Just to remind you that SOAS receives a portion of the intercollegiate accommodation solely for our students. These residences are very popular and with an only an allocation of 120 beds spaces tend to go very quickly. If you wish to apply to these halls I will suggest that you put other options down on your forms as additional choices. If you wish to apply for an intercollegiate hall that is not part of the quota such as Lillian-Penson Knutford House or Handel Mansions you will need to wait until September and the University of London waiting list. This in my opinion is not advisable because there's no guarantee how many bed spaces will be available, what they're going to offer and it's basically what's left so it would be very late for you to still be looking for accommodation. The majority of these halls have accessible or adapted accommodation and if you check the SOAS accommodation page full details are listed on how to register and apply. For family and couples accommodation please drop me an email I'll give the email address at the end and I will respond individually as there are several options and I need to be quite tailor-made. So now we get to the bit where once you've chosen your first, second, third or as many choices as you like how do you actually apply? There are full details on the website but here's a very quick rundown. Visit the SOAS accommodation page at soas.etc.uk forward slash accommodation it looks like the one below but it's obviously up to date. Have a look at the virtual tours which will give you an idea and feel for the properties look at the contract links and think about how long you will be in London for make sure it meets the length of the contract that you require and is of course within your budget. Be mindful that once you've signed an accommodation event it is then legally binding so take your time and choose the best option for you. You will need your SOAS student ID to apply for our accommodation which you will only have if you have accepted your place at SOAS and are at firm status. Should you receive a letter from SOAS giving these details then that's great just use the information from the letter but if you haven't and you have accepted your place then please contact the student hub at SOAS and they will be able to give you your ID number student hub at soas.etc.uk. Once you've filled in the application form and submitted it you will receive information on how to proceed depending on which hall you have applied for. If it's Optivo or Urban Est your application will be sent through to the residence office and they will contact you with an offer or any further information. If it's Sanctuary so Dean Woody or Paul Robeson or Conult College International or the Gardens once that's submitted you will be given a reference code and web address to complete the application for Sanctuary or the University of London halls. Your application has not been registered until you've completed the second part of the process. You'll be contacted directly with any offers or further information. To secure your chosen accommodation you will also need to agree to the halls booking conditions and a holding payment which is usually between £250-400 depending on the hall and will be required to sign up. Just some reminders, the accommodation offer and the arrival of the formal contract may be several months apart. Some of our providers send contract when they make you the offer or send an offer of accommodation and follow up with the contract during the summer months usually June or July. Do not worry if there is a day it is just the process. As long as you have the written offer then it's fine to wait for the contract. If you require adapted couples or family accommodation please contact the SOAS accommodation office as early as possible for advice, registration and application procedures. Some accommodation providers in London offer bursaries or scholarships and anyone interested in these should go to the relevant website or drop me an email and I can direct you there. Now let's look at another kind of SOAS accommodation. Not halls this time but shared flats. Student homes are shared flats for SOAS students where the University of London is the landlord. This accommodation has been checked and any issues are dealt with directly by the Student Homes University of London team. This gives you peace of mind if looking for shared private accommodation rather than potentially falling victim to an unscrupulous landlord or below standard accommodation. If you wish to apply for a flat with friends or you just don't want to live in halls then here are the details for student homes. The flats range from three to 12 bedded and are in a variety of locations within easy reach of the SOAS campus. Bills are not included but the prices start around £145 per week. They're ideal for first years who do not want hall accommodation, non first year students who wish to move on from halls or friends that just wish to live together. Sometimes this is a good option also for more mature students. You can find out more information by visiting the website which is on the screen now. This is some examples of the flat shared properties. They range from flats to houses some with balconies and gardens large and small a real variety from choose from in some really great locations. This is the list of properties that are available for SOAS students for this academic year and the fees. They're likely to be the same properties for the academic year from September but there may be some new ones in and some old ones out and of course the fees are likely to be a little bit higher. This is just for guidance. These are applied for through the University of London Housing Service and full details on how to do this will be detailed on the SOAS and University of London website from the 1st of May or you can attend the University of London Housing Fair which is at Senate House on the 3rd of May or contact the student homes team. Private rented accommodation is another option. These are flats owned by landlords who have signed up to the University of London Landlord Database. The properties are checked by the University of London Housing Service and there is a strict criteria in terms of health and safety which these landlords have to meet. The contracts which students signed for these landlords have been vetted by the legal team at the University of London Housing Service. Again this is an option than just renting through landlord with no connections to the University at all. If you decide that the private rented sector is for you then the University of London Housing Service also offer a service that would check your contract for you. They will make sure that you are legally protected and they also offer legal advice and support should you ever need it for such things as Tennessee disputes etc. Just another mention of the University of London Housing Fair which is on the 3rd of May and the University of London also run a find a flatmate event in September if you're still looking for housing in this sector. This map gives a general idea of the average cost of rents in the respect areas. This will give you an idea of which area will be best suited to your budget and should help narrow down the search to particular locations. The orange area is being the closest to the centre of London and the most expensive. Remember to take travel cost and time into consideration when choosing your accommodation. The University of London Housing Service produce a private housing guide each year and you can obtain a copy free of charge from their offices which you can visit. They are two minutes from the Cyrus campus on the fourth floor of the Student Central Building or you can email and they'll send you one out. It's a really useful guide to all things accommodation related such as deposits, contracts, references, guarantors, budgeting, finding flatmates and last but not least how to deal with issues with the property or your landlord. If you visit their website you'll be able to see this information in better detail along with some advice regarding what to look for in prospective property and information on all aspects of renting. Here's a brief list of some things to think about when looking for accommodation. Remember any accommodation contract you sign is a legal document. If you're not sure don't sign ask so as. Think about what best suits you, what you can reasonably afford. Can you manage in a cheaper option with shared facilities or must you have your own bathroom? Do you want a whole experience or are you ready for shared flat living? Don't rush. Wipe your options and make sure that you get it right. Just something to prompt you to think about how much money you will have to spend for your accommodation and to budget accordingly.  And finally that's the end of the formal presentation. I'll have a go answering your questions but if we run out of time please feel free to email me at the address at the bottom of the screen.


Yeah, I think the emotional piece is really really critical and a lot of the neurodiverse couples Because what you talked about with not showing a lot of emotion when you are at your wit's end That flat affects the focal monotony Yeah, and like you know one of the reasons that I Actually moved forward on filing for divorce was because I was in the emergency room I thought I was having a heart attack. My ex and I were separated. He walked in and He didn't say hello. He didn't ask me how I was doing He didn't you know hold my hand He didn't give me a hug nothing and then a few minutes later He screamed at me that he was gonna divorce me the next week Now I know


And we need to talk about necklaces that go for big money, brands to look for, different things to look for, because some of them can go for crazy, crazy money. Hey, fellow buddies, thanks for watching. It's from my little pony. Amazing, right? All right. Let's get started. Hey, fellow buddies, thanks for watching. All right. I have done a video, or I should say I have done a video, on clip on earrings, vintage clip on earrings, vintage brooches. And I'm going to be the first to tell you that I pretty much am clueless about jewelry. I bring most of my jewelry over to whatnot and let you guys determine the value. I start my items low and let you guys bid and decide the value. But anyway, I do like to do research videos. I have been doing research videos on this channel. I call them my Bolo category videos for, is it coming up on four, maybe five years? I have almost 200 category videos, so definitely check them out. But most recently, here are the two I did. I did brooches that sell for thousands and clip on earrings, what to look for. So I decided that we need to talk about necklaces that go for big money, brands to look for, different things to look for because some of them can go for crazy, crazy money. This is not a deep, deep dive. We're just going to cover the basics, some of the main things to look for. Now, costume jewelry, 14 karat gold. I mean, there are so many different types of jewelry. The 14 karat gold, of course, those are going to be Bolo's. We're going to skip those in this video and talk about some of the costume jewelry brands. And I'm just going to hit a few. There are so many to look for. So let's get started here. With the first thing that I typed into the search was A, B, and A, B stones, A, B necklace. If you search this, you are going to see some of the most beautiful jewelry ever. I mean, just stunning jewelry. Now what this is also going to lead you to is big money brands to be on the lookout for. So let me give you an example here. This is a Juliana and look at this stunner right here. This is Miriam Haskell. And if I chop up the way these things are supposed to be said, I apologize, pronunciation is not my best trait. If you've been here a while, you know that and most of you just forgive me for that and I appreciate it so much. But we're going to just do our best at sounding these things out. So Miriam Haskell and here is the marking on the back. Look how beautiful it is. 698 on that one. This is called a Sherman. That's a brand I've never heard of. And this one says A, B, blue, crystal, rhodium, plated. So you want to put as much detail in your title as possible. Here's that word that I was saying wrong and I can't remember how you guys told me to say it. Sure, Pirelli share Pirelli. I don't know. That's what it looks like. If you can find this brand, you will see it in my clip on earrings video. You will see it in the brooch video. This brand is big money. Look for it. But this necklace is absolutely stunning. Here's another Giuliana, Giuliana, Regency, Regency, paru, paru. I don't know how to say that either. This is from the 1950s, but you see the A, B crystals or stones or whatever they're called. They pop. They're beautiful. People collect these. People want these. Hobay, I think, is how you say this when Noel Farm Girl Scavenger has talked about this brand a lot. Just stunning, beautiful necklaces. Here's another one of those, Sharapeli or whatever it is, Trifari. We all know Trifari. It can be big money. I'm going to show you some more. Trifari here soon. Looks like this one may have had to have been re-listed because we're seeing that twice. Giuliana again. This one says vintage signed blue. This is a hollycraft. Look how pretty that is, hollycraft. Let's see. Another hollycraft. Trifari. West Germany, Austria, I'm trying to think of some of the other ones, Made in Japan. Some of those can go for really big money too. Those are sometimes just signed West Germany. That's all it'll say, or Austria. They're not marked anything else. That's something to be on the lookout for. Just going to show you a few more of these. These are really, really fancy. Florenza, another Giuliana. Look at that. Oh, so pretty. These are just amazing. Crown Trifari. There's Crown Trifari and there's Trifari. The difference is for the marking when it's signed that the T has a little crown over it. That's one way to know. I'm sure there's more detail. If you guys are a jewelry person, feel free to drop your knowledge down in the comments. This one is Vendum. I don't know if Vendum is the brand or if something specific to jewelry. Check the comments for more information because again, I'm pretty jewelry. I don't want to say ignorant, but I don't know a whole lot about it. I know some of the main brands, but, you know, there's just so many things that go into play when you're determining value and some of them can shock you. Some of them can be missing stones and still go for big money. There was somebody that posted something in my BoloBuddy's Facebook group. It went for, I think, over a thousand dollars and it was missing stones. Just crazy. So here are some Trifari, big money necklaces. Trifari also shows up in my broaches and clip on earrings video. So you can check that out. These do range in price. Not all Trifari and not all of these brands go for crazy big money. These are some of the crazy big money ones. So do your research, but don't dismiss anything. That's one thing that I'm doing with what not is I'm just bringing it. Yes, I know Trifari is collectible. Yes, I know. Am I still bringing it? I'm still bringing it. So check me out on what not if you're not already. I am BoloBuddy's all one word lowercase over there. And if you use my referral link down below to join what not, you're going to get 15 dollars to shop. And for those of you that are not interested in buying on what not, just come hang out. It's a live show. You can hang out in the chat. It's super, super fun. And I would love to see you guys over there just coming and supporting by watching is great. So I would love to see you and definitely click on that link because you never know if you'll see something. Obviously, I'm not starting my items at big money prices. Most of my items start at five dollars or less, depending on what it is. If it's a signed piece, I usually started at five dollars. Some of the more costume jewelry, sometimes I started at a dollar. It really just depends on the night and what I'm selling. I'm not just doing jewelry over there. I have an ephemera show coming up. I'm going to do a toy show. So I'd love for you guys to follow me. Here is Miriam Haskell and again, just big, chunky, beautiful, beautiful jewelry. Amazing. Look at these prices.  Just incredible. Chunky, chunky, chunky. Look embellished and chunky and beautiful. And these are sets. So of course, if you can find the earrings that match, and I'm pretty sure that sometimes maybe just one earring will be marked or maybe only the necklaces marked. So keep that in mind. Some things are unsigned. And I talk about that in the brooch video. These are nappier. I think that's how you pronounce it. Some nappier can go for big money. So that's another brand to kind of be on the lookout for. It does range. Not all of it goes for big money. And these are Joan Rivers. Some Joan Rivers items go for a lot. What I kept seeing were the egg charm. If you find the egg charm, those seem to do really well. There's three of them right here. Boom, boom, boom. And then this one right here is just a bib necklace. Here's another nappier. This one went for seventy nine ninety nine. But you can see this baby is huge. It is a gold tone statement piece. So when you're outsourcing, definitely be on the lookout. Here are Coro. Coro is another great brand. Again, it's going to range depending on the piece. And sometimes you can get jewelry in lots like this. And other times this is just a whole mix of jewelry. I'm going to guess that some of these are bread and butter and some of these are bigger money. And that's how, you know, people bid on this item. But look at this Coro necklace, one hundred and seventy five dollars. It's a three strand necklace. Really, really cool.  Here's that Joan Rivers. I was showing you guys, look at the pretty little eggs. Aren't they cute? They are super, super cute. Hundred and thirty one eighty eight on that one. Here are made in Austria. Just some examples that looks like this one may have been relisted because probably non payment. But Austria definitely look for Austrian or Austria on the items. The other night I was doing a what not show and I pulled out some clip-ons. I was looking them over and they were signed in the weirdest spot. I didn't look at any of the jewelry beforehand, but I noticed it when I was showing it, it said Austria. And those ended up going for pretty big money. I can't remember what they ended up selling for. But the people that were watching knew that they were a big money bolo and they sold very well over there on what not. But they were really pretty. But I didn't even know where it was signed. I was just looking for a signature on all the clip-ons I was pulling out. And that when I found it, I was like, oh, my goodness, it's marked in the weirdest spot. So when you're checking clip-on earrings, you have to be careful to look everywhere. And I talk about that in the clip-on earrings video. I'll link the clip-on earrings video and the brooch video down below. Here, this is a double strand mother of Pearl hand knotted necklace. This sold for one hundred and fifty seven fifty. And this brand I've never heard of. So I wanted to show you guys this. It's called Kraft and this is a chunky gemstone necklace. Here's what it looks like. This sold for one hundred and fifty eight fifty on auction on eBay. Puka shells. Tell me about Puka shells. Anybody that knows about Puka shells, any way to recognize them other than just to start looking through different necklaces and studying it. Is there some giveaway that is going to tell me that it's a Puka shell? If anybody knows, let me know in the comments because this went for one hundred and seventy four dollars and twenty four cents. So because I'm over here on. Terror peak to see what it actually sold for. Here is a Florenza. This is really beautiful. Also, you can see it's marked through. So I'm going to check terror peak and that one sold for one hundred and seventy five. Here is a West Germany. Again, Western Germany, West Germany. Sometimes they're marked W dot Germany. This sold for. Let's see here, two hundred dollars. Here is an opalite vintage floating opal necklace. This one sold for two hundred and ninety dollars. And the funny thing is, is I had jewelry the other night at my what not show. And apparently it was opal. And I had, I think, two rings, two necklaces. I had no idea they were opal. Thank goodness, Farm Girl Scavenger Noelle was in the chat. And she's like, I think those are opal. She's like, shine a black light on them. So I did all that. And then, you know, I just started the auctions at five bucks each. And then people decided and determined the value of the items. And hopefully they got some deals and they're going to make some money or have a really nice piece of jewelry to wear. Here is an Ann Klein. This one caught me so off guard. Ann Klein, check it out. Ann Klein is costume, right? But this is Ann Klein couture. So maybe that's what's bringing the value up. Did that one think that one actually sold for the three hundred dollars? Bakelite, if you can find Bakelite, it can be big money. Look at this. There is a test you can do to figure out of its Bakelite. I have a video on my YouTube channel. Type in Bolo Buddies Bakelite. And I will show you exactly how to test to see if an item is Bakelite. And sometimes you can get fooled. Sometimes it looks like plastic and it's not. It's actually Bakelite. This one sold for three hundred and sixty two dollars with free shipping. And here are some other examples of Cherry Amber Bakelite. One went for one sixty four and one went for six hundred and sixty. So it looks like the Cherry Amber is a good one. Here is a Givenchy Givenchy. I think is how you say it eight hundred and forty nine dollars. But no, a best offer was taken for six hundred. Terra Peak is a great way to see what the item actually sold for. I usually just cut and paste the actual title into the Terra Peak search bar. And then it pulls the item up and tells me the actual sold price. And here you can see that this was a good sale. I go into the seller's feedback, type that in and I can check to see if it sold. Now, if they have feedback, we know that it was a good sale. But if there's no feedback, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Usually my next step then is to go in and see if the item is actively listed in the seller's store. And if it is, then I know that it did not sell. If it is not, then I'm going to assume it was a good sale. And I try to do that with all of my category videos to help you guys, you know, know that the information is accurate. This one is not earrings, but this Van Clef or Cleaf and Arpels is a brand that I kept seeing in necklaces over and over and over again. But I wanted to show you this ten thousand four hundred and seventy five dollars. Most of the necklaces were fourteen carat and said different things like that. So I didn't pull those as a comp. But these did not say that in the title. I don't know if they are or not. But this is definitely a brand to be on the lookout for. And you can see here that this was a good sale of ten thousand four hundred and seventy five dollars. Here's another one that is a pair of earrings as well that sold for six thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars. So be on the lookout for that brand. That is a brand that I did not know about. Go over and check out my unsigned broaches and the big money clip-ons. I will link those down below. My channel is full of items to be on the lookout for items you can buy low and sell for a profit. Again, jewelry is not my my thing. I don't know how to describe things. I don't know what things are. I try to do the research videos, but I just get more confused. I bought a gemstone tester and it's the most confusing thing that I've ever seen. I don't like to do the acid test. So to me, it's just easier to bring it to what not and sell it to my viewers, people who are interested in buying jewelry.  Yeah, I've had a few of those and that's OK. That is OK. I want you guys to get deals because what happens when you get deals? You come back and see me and that's how you build a business. So a lot of you guys have said that you don't want to sell on what not because you have to build a following and you do have to build a following. I've also heard people say that when they sell on what not, they're going through their eBay store and they're bringing stuff that has not sold. Are you going to be build a good following doing that? Probably not. I've also heard people say, I'm going to bring the things to what not that I don't want to sell. Are you going to build a good following doing that? Probably not. So my recommendation, if you want to sell on what not, and if you do want to sell on what not, I do have a referral link down below. You can click on that. That's going to say that I referred you and it may help you get accepted quicker. Most of the people that have used my link have told me they've been accepted within 24 hours. Those are the people that have told me, not everybody's like messaging me, telling me that they got accepted. But check out that link down below if you want to sell. But know that you're going to have to build your following just like anything else. Again, I would love for you to come over and follow me on what not. Referral link down below. If you want to join with it, you're going to get $15 to shop. I'll also link my upcoming shows in the description. But definitely check out that brooch and clip on earrings video because super, super full of knowledge and mispronunciations. All right, you guys, thanks so much for being here and thanks for watching. And if you haven't subscribed, I would love for you to subscribe.


For me personally, traveling the world, seeing Islam in Indonesia, seeing Islam in Malaysia, in Thailand, in Asian countries was mind blowing to me. I couldn't believe what I saw.  Of course, I know nowadays that Indonesia is the biggest Muslim population on this planet. But that being said, 2014, around eight years ago, when I was traveling with my backpack, I was absolutely shocked. I never believed that there could be Asians that actually are something else than Buddhist.


Okay, Alisa. Yes, Dan. Okay. Something seems off here. Hi, Chris. Hey, John. Hey everybody. Okay. Apparently John's not going to be late. Yeah. I should be at least two minutes late. I really insist on being late so that I get, so that I get a warm welcome. All right, let's try that. All right, Alisa, are we all set? Yep. I think we're good to go. All right. Excellent. Let's go ahead and call the roll and get started. All right. Chair Rogers. Here. Member Schwethelm. Here. And member Sawyer. Here. Let the order reflect the all subcommittee members are present. Perfect. Thank you so much. Just a little bit of quick housekeeping, just a reminder for folks to stay on mute when you're not discussing issues. Staff will also be muted as well. If folks are joining today's meeting, you'll be able to participate at a number of different points. And if you join by phone, your number will show up as resident with the last four digits of your number. So listen for that when we go ahead and call folks outside of that, Madam host, do you want to walk us through how people can engage in public comment? Yes. Thank you. At each agenda item, the item is presented. The chair will ask for the subcommittee members comments and then open it up for public comment. The host in zoom will be lowering all hands until public comment is open for the agenda item. Once the chair has called for public comment, the chair will announce for the public to raise their hand if they wish to speak on the specific agenda item. If you were calling in to listen to the meeting audibly, you can dial star nine to raise your hand. Public comment will be limited to three minutes and a timer will appear on the screen for the subcommittee members and public to see. Once all live public comments have been heard, the meeting house will read email submitted. If you've provided a public comment on an agenda item, but also submitted an email, your email comment will not be read during the meeting. Additionally, there is one public comment period on today's agenda to speak on non-agenda matters, which is item two. This is the time when any person may address the subcommittee member. If you have a public comment on an agenda item, there is no public comment. There is no public comment. There is no public comment. There is no public comment. There is not listed on the agenda. And that is it. I'll turn it back over to you to fair Rogers. All right. And we will start with item number two. That's our public comment for non-agenda items. If folks are interested in speaking on this item, go ahead and hit the raise hand feature on your zoom. Or if you're on your phone, hit star nine. All right. And I am not seeing any hands raised. Thank you. Thank you so much. And we will move on to item number three then approval of the minutes. Council members, did we have any amendments to the April 8, 20, 21 minutes? No. Okay. Then we will show those adopted. Let's go ahead and go to public comments. See if there's anyone who had a correction. And madam host, did we have any voicemail public comments? No public comments were received via email. Okay. Then we'll move on to item number four. Item 4.1. All right. Chris. Good afternoon. I'm Chris Lynch from Jones hall. In anticipation of your long-term capital planning exercise that Jen and Allen are going to walk you through. I was asked to provide. Some context for that discussion, namely to provide a high level summary of various funding tools for public capital improvements and ongoing public services. It's a fairly large topic. So hopefully I've struck the right balance between giving you enough information for your policy discussion, but not taking too much of your time. Next, next slide. I will briefly discuss the following. Next slide as well. Sorry. I'll briefly discuss the following infrastructure financing options, which are the most commonly used tools by California cities. Next slide. Um, general obligation bonds are the most straightforward public financing tool. Uh, in this option, the city issues bonds payable from an increase in the add the warm tax on all property in the city. General obligation bonds are most commonly used for improvements of community wide significance like libraries, community facilities, uh, parks, um, uh, sometimes city halls, things like that. Um, so, um, I'm not going to talk about general obligations. Santa Clara County, Berkeley, Emeryville, but unfortunately not Santa Rosa have approved general obligation bonds for affordable housing. Um, the biggest hurdle to using general obligation bonds is that they require a two thirds approval of the city's voters in a city wide election. The key advantage of issuing, uh, geo bonds from a public planning perspective is they don't impact the city's general fund because the bonds are payable from new, uh, general obligation bonds. So, um, the biggest advantage of issuing average ad war and taxes is the strongest available credit among the options available to cities. The geo bonds also offer the lowest cost of financing. There's one more, um, material limitation associated with geo bonds. They can only be used to finance acquisition and improvement of real property. No maintenance and things like that. Uh, next slide. Lease revenue bonds or certificates of participation are the second strongest financing tool from a credit perspective in the city. They don't require voter approval. And the city require is required to covenant to budget lease payments, which is basically debt service on an annual basis. Lease financings are most commonly used for a wide variety of public infrastructure. Um, the advantages that no voter approval is necessary for issuance. But if you're concerned about burdening the city's general fund, then you would still need some kind of voter approval to increase tax revenues to make the payments on those lease payments. Um, but I think some of the other sources we'll talk today about parcel taxes or sales tax or transit occupancy tax. In addition, one other disadvantage of general fund lease financings is that they rely on general fund assets. Uh, in order to accomplish a lease, lease back transaction. And so if you're limited to the amount of assets you have within the city and you want to undertake a large financing or a large number of smaller financings, then you'll need to be able to do that. Um, there are two types of land secured financing options that are available to the city. Um, Melarus special tax bonds, which are payable from special taxes, Lebedon, a community facilities district or CFD. And then special benefit assessments. These financing tools are attractive because like general obligation bonds, they offer a new source of revenue, revenue to pay for the capital improvements. CFDs require a two thirds vote because they're special taxes. Um, they offer a two thirds vote because they're special taxes. They offer a two thirds vote because they need to finance infrastructure as part of a new development project where the landowner developer is the qualified elector. As a result, CFD is most commonly financed public infrastructure that's needed for new development. However, a city CFD could also be formed on a city wide basis, assuming you had, uh, the ability to secure a two thirds favorable vote by the registered voters. Um, CFDs are famous for offering the ability to generate a two thirds favorable vote by the registered voters. But CFDs are not often available for the property. They are available to the property's use, often on a very granular level. So it could include, uh, the size of a lot or building density, or it could even include the activity, uh, occurring on this on the project on the property, such as truck trips or even hotel room occupancy. However, special taxes can never be based on ad valorem or property value. Next slide. Chris, could you, I'm just through the mayor. Um, the, um, what you, could you go over what you just said again? Sure. Um, if, if you're talking about kind of the designer tax, what the tax can be based on. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Um, under the constitution, there's only one ad valorem tax. That's the general tax, the general 1% ad valorem tax. Um, and there can be additions to that for general obligation bonds for cities and school districts and counties. If it's a special tax, which is another option available under the constitution, it can be based on a variety of factors. Um, it's often land use, residential, multifamily housing, single family housing, industrial commercial retail. Um, and it can be based on density of use. It can be based on hotel room occupancy. Sometimes, uh, the number of safety has been formed to finance convention centers where it was almost like a hotel occupancy tax, but it cannot be based on the value of the property. There's only one ad valorem tax and that's the 1% ad valorem tax. So that's the general tax. Okay. Thank you. Sure thing. Uh, the second type of, uh, land secured financing tool are special assessments. Uh, unlike CFDs, which employ special taxes with a two thirds vote. Assessment districts employ special benefit assessments that require a 50% plus one weighted ballot based on special benefit. Assessments are only rarely used these days. Uh, because the California constitution has been updated by initiative, most notably proposition eight to 18. To allow assessments only to finance special benefit and not general benefit. And to impose the burden of proof and litigation on the public agency. There has been a significant amount of litigation surrounding assessment districts. And most public agencies use CFDs instead of assessment districts whenever possible. To avoid that risk. I know the city has, uh, been successful, uh, working with the voters to approve a number of sales tax measures. Uh, sometimes these measures can provide funding for public financing of capital improvements. Uh, in some cities, the sales tax measure is approved as a special tax by a two thirds vote. And the bonds are specifically authorized as part of that process. More commonly, sales taxes are approved by a 50%. Plus one margin as a general tax, uh, that can be then used as a funding source to pay lease payments as part of a general fund lease financing. Um, as you would expect the primary benefit of a sales tax financing relative to, uh, other, uh, some of the other funding options is that it typically involves a new revenue source for the city. The primary disadvantage is that it's difficult and to secure that voter approval. Next slide. So I've spoken to this committee a couple of times, uh, as it's been looking at EIFDs as a possible financing source. Um, yeah, EIFD is offered two sources of funds that ultimately derive from the city's general fund and perhaps the general fund of other taxing entities such as counties or a neighboring city. The first, first possible financing source is incremental property tax revenue. That's based on increases in assessed value within the boundaries of the EIFD, usually as a result of new construction. The second possible funding source is sales tax revenue. And under the EIFD law, specific percentage of EIFD revenues. If sales, sales tax revenues are allocated to the IFT must be used for affordable housing and other specific purposes, such as transit purposes. Well, an EIFD and other post redevelopment services. And financing tools offer a legal way to finance a variety of community improvements, including privately under affordable housing. Um, it's important to understand that they leverage existing resources. They, they leverage property tax revenues and sales tax revenues that otherwise would go into the city's general fund. So they don't generate new funding sources like GEO bonds, CFDs or assessment. Um, it's next slide, please. So now, uh, unless you have questions about the, the funding of public infrastructure, I'll turn briefly to funding sources for public services. Um, and I'm going to highlight three sources. Uh, first sales tax and then two types of special taxes, parcel taxes and millers taxes. Next slide. As we discussed in the context of infrastructure financing, sales taxes, sales taxes can be approved in two ways. First as a general tax with a 50% plus one voter approval or a special tax with two thirds voter approval. And sales taxes have a broad charter. They can be used for any lawful expenditure of the city. Compared to property taxes, sales taxes or general taxes can be approved. And then second, sales taxes are more susceptible to economy based fluctuations than property taxes, particularly parcel taxes and Melrose taxes, which are a fixed amount that isn't tied to the properties value. So, first, sales taxes have a broad charter. They can be used for any lawful expenditure of the city. Compared to property taxes, sales taxes are justifiably criticized for two things relative to property taxes. First sales taxes are aggressive tax. Taking a larger percentage of income from low income workers that isn't tied to the properties value. Next slide. California cities have employed two flavors of special taxes for ongoing public services. The first type of special tax is a parcel tax. In essence, a parcel tax is like a CFD special tax, except that it's approved under a separate CFD law than the Melrose Act. And it doesn't involve the formation of a community facilities district. Unlike Melrose special taxes, parcel taxes are typically, if not always employed on a jurisdiction wide basis. Like Melrose special taxes, they do require two thirds registered voter approval. Like Melrose special taxes, they can vary by reasonable factors such as size, land use, but they can't be ad valorem. And like Melrose special taxes, they can escalate by index and there can be reasonable exemptions. Unlike Melrose special taxes, however, they have some limitations. They have very few limitations on the use while Melrose does have some limits on how their taxes can be used. Like Melrose special taxes, they can vary by reasonable factors such as size, land use, land use, land use, land use, land use. I listed a few California cities that have used parcel taxes and some of the specific authorized uses. Berkeley is levy to spend a parcel tax for parks. Oakland is levied a number of different parcel taxes with voter approval for police library parks. And the city of Vermont had a very interesting parcel tax where it authorized a very long list of public purposes, police, fire streets, libraries, parks, planning and public works. And you know, that's, that's fine. It can, it's still a special tax as long as it has a finite set of uses, even if it's a very large set of finite uses. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, the mayor. It looks like it's, it's captures many, if not all of most cities needs what, what's eliminated here. Nothing. Parcel taxes can be used for any lawful purpose of the city. You just have to specify it in the ballot measure. Okay. Good. Thank you. It's a special tax. So you have to list the special purposes in the ballot measure. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Court cases that have been working their way through about voter driven initiatives that even if they're special taxes, if they are put on the ballot through a signature gathering.  Threshold is 50 plus one. Is that still the case or the court's still taking that issue up? I don't think so. I think that if you, if the special, if the tax, the parcel tax is introduced by a voter initiative as opposed to by the legislative body, then it is subject to the rules that govern initiatives, which is 50% plus one. It's not subject to the two thirds vote. And I'm sure there's a lot of public agencies wondering out there, how to, how to work with voters to initiate that process without creating any legal issues. Well, I think one of the things that I think is the most of us for watching is I believe there was one that was sponsored by an individual council member and individual mayor who helped with it. And then it became a question of, does that mean that it's city sponsored? Yeah. So I haven't, I haven't died too deeply into those cases. I'd be happy to give you guys a little memo or summary of it. If it would help you as you evaluate this. Great. Thank you. Okay. Next slide. And on the other hand, I believe that the services are commonly used to finance public services and in two different circumstances. First, when a developer CFD is formed to finance public facilities that the developer is obligated to construct as a condition for development, the CFD will all often also finance public services. In that case, the services are those that the local agency may have obligated the developer to finance as a condition of development. Most commonly, those are landscaping and lighting at public streets and in the city of Santa Rosa. And that's why the CFD is used to finance public services. In addition to that, a growing number of cities are forming CFDs that are used to impose special taxes on landowners throughout the city. When they request a discretionary development approval, usually for more intense use. Interestingly, Santa Rosa was one of the first cities to attempt this idea in 2006 when it formed a special tax district for that purpose. The city's land use ordinance, which obligated property owners to vote for special taxes in the city of Santa Rosa, was challenged by the building industry association under the theory that it unconstitutionally impaired landowners voting rights. The trial court ruled in favor of the BIA and Santa Rosa didn't appeal. Since then, a number of cities have successfully formed CFDs just like the one that Santa Rosa formed, but the land use ordinance is different. Cities have learned from the Santa Rosa example, and rather than obligating the property owner to vote in favor of the CFD, it's not a choice. They can fund the required public service costs with a one sum payment in advance, equal to that present value of perpetual service costs. They can establish some other funding mechanism or they can vote to join a CFD. Always glad to lead the way there, Chris. Yeah, good teaching moment. Yeah. This type of ordinance has been, has not been successfully challenged. And the BIA's latest effort to challenge one of these CFDs in San Ramon was unconstitutional, and they took it all the way to the United States Supreme Court. I've listed a few of the cities that have formed CFDs to levy special taxes on developing property when they apply for development approvals. But it's a much, much larger list than the ones I've listed. So I'll pass the baton to Jan and Alan for an overview of the capital planning process, unless you all have questions for me. Good afternoon. Chairperson Rogers and committee. Are you. Go ahead, Jen. Okay. When we did the management partners presentation in March, the committee raised questions about general fund policies. And I indicated that we would begin working on them and supporting policies because supporting policies really make for a much tighter general fund policy. The first one I ended up doing turned out to be capital planning, not the policy of itself, but the framework for us to talk about this afternoon before go ahead to drafting the policy. So one of the reasons that prompted sort of the priority of the capital planning policy is given one-time monies and also because it's the budget season and you're gonna see a lot of requests for capital funding. And so the question is, how do we get there? Jan, let me cut you off for a quick second because I just wanna make sure. Did we just deviate into 4.2 or are you adding on in 4.1? I apologize. No, 4.2, that's why I stopped. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure I thought you were gonna clarify and add some context to what Chris was talking about. All right, we'll do a quick public comment on item 4.1 and then I'll bring it back for council members and then we'll start 4.2. My apologies, I thought you were adding something to 4.1 and I'm not seeing any hands raised. And Madam Host, did we have any emails ahead of time? There were no public comments received via email. Great, council members, did you have anything you wanted to add on 4.1 before we moved on? Okay, great. Go ahead, hit it, Jan. Okay, so today we're suggesting potential approach framework to a formal capital policy and just as a matter of heads up, what we thought we would do is bring it back to the committee in June and then do a study session with the city council. I think that's already been slated for July 13th. Next slide, please. So, definitionally, I think you know what capital planning includes, but build replacement, improving assets, projects that require multi-year budgeting. And Chris highlighted many of the types of projects that we tend to do in the state. Cost is generally the first thing that might come to mind, but more important, assets like roads, buildings, parks, sewer and drainage really are add to the health and the vibrancy of the community. And so that requires consideration of values and priorities, equity and transparency, and of course, funding alternatives and how we choose to carry out related work. The city has a list of capital projects. It's a big list with big dollars associated with it, but more than that is required, I think before projects become shovel ready. Consideration as to financing alternatives, how best we realize value for money and which does mean frequently taking into consideration the total cost of keeping the asset operational throughout its entire life cycle. I think it's challenging in any environment to deliver capital projects that have impact without some combination of pay as you go financing as well as debt financing. And you know, I think the sum total of monies, one-time monies at this point that we receive are about $244 million and it may seem like a lot. It isn't a lot, but we also need to take some time for those considerations and see if at least we can begin to address some of the current challenges of fiscal and operational capacities, which do converge when we're talking about capital. Next slide please. Do that, Jan, while you do that, when you say that we've received one-time funds of 244 million, do you mean that we have that in a bank or do you mean that with the FEMA reimbursement process which can take years that that's what we're expecting? I'm talking about ARPA, we haven't received that yet, but the potential of the full amount of 244 million, ARPA funds, some of the reimbursements we've gotten, I'm not really including the reimbursements that the PG&E funds and CARES Act and yeah, so the sum total of one-time monies. Okay, I just want to clarify, thank you. One of the things I know we talked about in a previous discussion was sort of the three pillars of organizational challenges for governments, environmental, organizational, and financial. And so the goal is to keep these considerations in mind. You'll see, for instance, that when the ARPA funds and the final guidelines are released, we've seen some of them, they're gonna be certain considerations as to what recommended spending might look like and how we go about funding and what those funding priorities look like. But capital decisions overall need to be more than just funding decisions. They're also business decisions, risk quantification, some of which are okay for us to take, some that need deeper considerations. And we may also choose not to want to keep those risks to the city, but to lay them off on other partners. In this particular regard, I'm talking about P3s, for instance, that's one that comes up a lot and is whether we should trade off in the United States, we have the benefit of tax exemption. Most places around the world, Australia, Canada, England, the ones that do a lot of P3s, they don't have that benefit. But I think depending on the project, it may be beneficial for a higher cost of capital because developers' capital costs more money than tax exempt capital to use that source of funding to deliver projects much more quickly, as well as lay off the project risk, construction risk, credit risk, and if you wanted, even operations and maintenance risk. Obviously all of those are paid for in the cost of financing, but they are an important consideration as well. In the same genre, we talk about discussion around value for money, meaning whole life costs, what it costs, not just to build and deliver the project, but operationally, what does that mean? And as well as other sustainability benefits, whatever the choices are, it's really incumbent upon us to ensure that we sort of address the whole other than making just funding decisions. So the next slide talks just about the typical sources we see for capital funding, depending on what the projects are, rates and charges, if we want a certain return on investment, formula funding needs that are usually a prioritization based on proportional need, grants and debt financing. Chris talked about some of those alternatives. Next slide, please. So here's a summary. I've forgotten I put the slide in here, but here's a summary of one time revenues, PGE, ARPA, FEMA, state of California. And yeah, that's just a recap by percentage of what they are of the 244 million. Next slide, please. And I'm gonna skip this slide because I think it's somewhat redundant. You know, in putting a policy together, one of the things we'll want to think about is how do we prioritize what gets done? I mean, the needs are really always going to be greater than the dollars that we have, even including one time monies. And so early on, actually, what I first came to the city, one of the things that Jason and I shared, I had looked at how cities do prioritize funding. And I took a look at Oakland, I think Irvine, San Diego, and they have a prioritization. These tend to be the general categories that we see, but which, and then they're sort of organized. Oakland, for instance, has a numbering system based on what the project is. Others just do high, medium, low priorities. And then there's a consideration as to what may be shovel ready, but whichever, whatever the preferences as to what the priorities are, I think the goal is to make the decision making more deliberative of what the communities need and take some competitiveness out of the process, both for the city council and staff. Next slide, please. The secondary category behind the broader categories is funding availability and funding categories. Organized by funding categories. If you have restricted funding, such as the American Rescue Act Plan Act, what sort of capital investment might be possible under those funds? One-time funding projects organized in by unique funding categories like PG&E monies, perhaps the most liberal of all the one-time revenue streams, and then by asset classification. If it's mobility assets or public safety assets, that's one that comes to mind, for example, fire and what they desire to fund, whether it includes equipment and or buildings as well. Next slide, please. So in terms of the overall policy development, this is the framework for the capital planning policy only. The city does have a debt management policy. I haven't read it in detail. When it was adopted, I believe in 2017, we'll take a look at it and see if it stands as it is or whether there are some modifications that might be helpful. But we'll also bring back, I think next, will be the general fund policy, a liquidity and reserve fund policy. I didn't list the budget policy here, but there is one, not really fully developed, but a little bit and something to start with and work with. There's an investment policy, usually gets amended every year and then sort of readopted with the budget. Next slide, please. So I'd appreciate just your thoughts around, particularly priority and how we talk about funding possibilities. And as we formulate a policy, it's gonna be pretty difficult to put, well, it's not difficult to put into words, but we'd want to put something into words that will work well for the council and at least have the opportunity to walk through the study session, get feedback and then perhaps do a final draft. Our timing for that is, this says the end of May, but in June, we're going to come back to this committee and then in July, as I said, the study session with the city council around the capital policies. And that concludes the presentation. Okay, any questions, Tom or John? John? And not a question, just a comment. I mean, a lot of the conversation around budgeting and debt and everything that we've seen today can very quickly get into the weeds. And what I'm hoping for and expecting, hoping for clarity and simplicity wherever possible, because it's very easy to drop into fiscal speak. And I would get concerned that we may start to lose cognizance of what it is we're talking about and therefore making it difficult to make a decision. Not sure what necessarily would need to be adjusted, but I know that those that are not fully, and myself included, fully adept at discussing financial situations and debt financing and bonds and all of the things that this subcommittee deals with, it's going to be really important that we create an environment where the council is going to feel very comfortable asking questions and getting good clarifying answers to allow them to make an informed decision. And I guess that's really what I'm hoping for. And I'm not sure exactly where that's going to fall, but it's going to be really, really important, I think, because this is very important information to have and not having a full understanding of the depth, not only of the questions, but the answers will be so super important. It's just easy to drop down into the weeds when having these conversations. Tom? I would just want to echo some of that too, because I'm kind of struggling with what net are we trying to crack right here, to kind of put it into context about, I mean, are we just trying to look for more revenue for operations or is it a specific project? Is trying to get our arms around it, I think is more of a challenge. And so even just with Chris's first presentation, I get all that, but what are our potential reasons for going in whatever direction we want? I'm still struggling a little bit for the context, quite frankly, I have both presentations so that we can either make recommendations to the entire council or give feedback to the entire council. Here's why we're coming to you, as I agree with John, this is all important stuff, but put it into context, this is why it's important now. Yeah, this is all- Jan, before you respond, I'm starting to interrupt, I just wanted to piggyback on something that Tom just mentioned. I think, and I just thought about this, I think it's going to be really, really important to articulate the problem statement. So once they hear the problem and they understand the problem that we're trying to address, then these solutions, some of which are more palatable than others, may start, they might start to want to start asking questions about certain solutions. So having a really clear and well-articulated problem statement regarding our fiscal health is going to be really important. So I love the idea of stating the problem statement. I think that's fairly straightforward. You're probably likely, perhaps, and perhaps we should be conscious about doing it, it's really easy when we're talking about capital, because this is just capital focused, not operationally focused at all, just capital focused to get into the necessary conversation about debt. But only to say it ought to be part of the conversation, not in terms of mechanisms, but I think from staff to council, how might we think about financing this? This being whatever the project is. And also though, I'll be honest and say this in the presentation, what you really heard me talk about partly is it's good to have know what capital projects we have, but we ought to be asking certain questions about what it means to the city in terms of overall cost and what is the analysis that we should be looking for when you enter into a discussion about a capital project. So for instance, because this is a nice one actually to talk about, when I first came to the city, I said, oh, did we think about, possibly instead of using cash, using financing for fire stuff, great asset, gets it done more quickly, gives something in the community, gives people an opportunity to move forward from a trauma while they're looking at, and so that's sort of the for instance of where the subject of debt might come up, like that for one. Are you better off with cash or are you better off with, and I grant there's more discussion and analysis that need to go with that, but it's the analysis and sort of, where is this in the priority? And I can, John, I can try to give you what I think the problem statement is, and then Jan can correct me. Yeah, I'd love you to give it to me. If I'm wrong. From my vantage point, it seems like the problem statement is that the general fund follows the council's priorities, and oftentimes our deferred maintenance or other capital projects are not the most immediate need of the city. So how do we make sure we don't fall too far behind on those that they have specific funding for them that doesn't then also hamper our ability to address our priorities? It's not a significant problem statement, but am I getting to it, Jan? Yes, that helps a lot. I agree with that, but I'm talking about actually, and then this may be over simplification, what is a capital project?  And not only does the council going to want to know, but as the community observes our deliberation, the community needs to know what is it mean for a municipality to have a capital project? What does, giving some examples and why we're having this conversation and what is the, and it goes back to the problem statement. You know, this is why this is so important and to get kind of, I don't wanna, I'm just gonna use the words because it resonates with people because I need things dumbed down.  So I would encourage a real, in the beginning especially, some real basic conversations about the language that we're using, the definitions that we're using and the reasons that we're talking about it. What is the, and that's what goes back to that problem statement. So that's my request because I think it will help us move forward if everyone tries to get on the same page as we discuss these, what can be very complex conversations. I'm smiling because I wrote it in the presentation and then said, oh, they know what that is. But for me, something that this committee talked about which is I think right in front of our face is the public safety measure O, which quite frankly, I don't think, because it's got capital improvement projects and it's also got operations and it also requires two thirds voters, right? And to timing what Chris's presentation was with the public safety measure O, I've got some concerns. I mean, two thirds threshold, how do we have that conversation? Because for me, that is a priority. Our public safety measure O, for right now, we haven't given direction on what are we gonna do there because I know Chris you're well aware and I think you mentioned at our last meeting, the timing of going to the voters, if we go in that direction, we need to script this whole thing out. And that's where I'm not sure where, what's all the timing, where does this all fit in what's coming before the entire council. Okay. And Tom, would you prefer if we schedule in our next long-term finance meeting a specific conversation about the measure O measure? That would be my preference. I think at the last minute that we should have talked about it yesterday. It's right there. And it's serious. It's real serious. Okay. All right, we'll make sure we have that on. We'll go to public comment on item 4.2. Not seeing any hands. Do we have any other comments? There were no public comments received via email. Okay. We'll move on to item 4.3. And I will mention I have another obligation at five o'clock that I might have to jump off a little bit for. So I'm going to turn over running the meeting to Tom. Good luck, Tom. But I'll stay on until five o'clock. Sure. So Chair Rogers and members of the committee. So the last, I think the last time I was before you, we talked about the timeline for putting a ballot measure on. And this is kind of dovetails in from Council Member Schwedhelm's comments about the public safety special tax known as measure O. So this is what I prepared for you. And we can just go on to the next slide. It's only one slide. I got together with our city clerk and the folks that did our polling and education programs for the last couple of sales tax measures that we did. And to get kind of an idea of what we're looking at in terms of putting any measure on the ballot, but let's just talk about former measure O if you want. So one thing that we need to do when planning for this, and I think it goes along with what we could discuss at the next meeting is, you know, having an understanding for the legal deadlines for calling an election, doing some initial polling to kind of narrow in on the type of tax. And this would be if we were looking at multiple types of items that we would wanna or revenue items we would put on the ballot. Developing an education process and then doing some final polling to make sure that we still have the support where we're going. So as you know, or if you don't know, the public safety special tax known back in the day as measure O sunsets on March 31st, 2025. We have considered other getting to my point about different revenue types. We have looked at different revenue measures in the past, such as modernizing our UT, increasing transient occupancy tax, general obligation bonds, dealing with affordable housing, things like that. If we were to focus specifically on the public safety tax, we would need approximately a month to develop the survey questions and get ready to ask or to set up the survey to go out to be in the field. And we would probably do that. It was suggested that the best time to do it would be mid July through early August. You're gonna kind of have the people back from the 4th of July holidays and prior to them going out for Labor Day holidays. So that seems to be a good data collection period. And it would allow us to get some polling information to understand where we are in the community and do that prior to the recall election that will happen sometime in the fall, most likely in November. So you wanna try to get in touch with the electorate before they are starting to be influenced by information coming out relative to the recall election. And then once you have that and the recall election is done, then toward the beginning of the calendar year, that's when you can really start doing the education, start making a rather robust effort in education. In advance of August 9th being the last day, the last regular council meeting prior to the deadline to call the election, the deadline to call the election would be August 12th, 2022. So we would really need to have the education period going, whatever that may look like, probably do some final polling around June just to make sure that either we increase support or that at least our support is still in the passing area and then go to council with the resolution to call the election. So that in a nutshell has some hard dates and then some good kind of guidelines to go through that would help that move forward. So with that, trying to keep things really brief here, if you have any questions or further discussion, I'm happy for that now. Alan, just a quick question. So with the timeline that you've laid out sort of straddles the line between this year's budget and next year's budget, did either of those budgets anticipate funds for polling or informational programs? Well, we'd have to be careful with the informational programs and how that's paid for. But for the polling itself and that type of work, I don't believe that is in the budget. We would have to, so we would have to include that. Okay, and I think my expectation would be that that's a line item that the council has an opportunity to discuss coming into our budget discussions next week, if we're gonna be able to hit that timeline that you've laid out of early July. Anybody else? I had a question. Sure. Apparently my internet's unstable. When you talked about the recall election, because I know our neighbors to the north may be having one, the DA's having one, the governor's having one. Do we have any idea are those all gonna be on one election or three separate elections? Chris, you know. It's very unlikely that the, as I'm hearing it, it's very unlikely that the DA recall will be at the same time as the governor's and the fact that the potential Windsor one hasn't even gathered signatures yet makes that one unlikely to hit that target as well. That's what I'm being told. My concern is as we're polling, the impact is that's gonna be on the news and the difference between, okay, city of Santa Rosa, it doesn't bode well for any, I think elected municipality DA's for more funding when these things are in the news. That's a concern I have. And I do think that's one of the considerations we talked about before. It all does depend on dynamics. It's something that I've been talking with supervisors about is that their problems with their fire attacks hasn't been the content of the measure so much as the timing of their measure.  If, this is just by two senses, if the governor is recalled in November, you're going to have a voter base that is more likely to show up to vote for a tax measure the following November. If the governor is not recalled, there's probably gonna be a whole lot less energy from the typical voters who would go for that. And perhaps 2024, though it doesn't give us much of a cushion, 2024 might be a more friendly electorate for a city type measure. That's just my two cents. Go for it, John. Thank you. This is in the same kind of piggybacking on this general conversation about timing. Even though 24 is pushing right up against the limit, it's timing is everything. And is there a... Are there consultants that could help us on our timing of this and knowing some kind of political consultant that could look at our situation, look at this very unique situation around recalls. I mean, I've never... This is... I don't know the last time this all happened, but my guess is maybe not in anyone's memory to help us in this really unique situation to decide on the timing of going after the public safety measure we redo. So... Extension. Right, right. So one of the consultants... So we use two consultants when we do polling. So we'll use God... The last two we've used God Be Research to actually go do the survey, analyze the data that comes in and out. And then we use what used to be known as Terrace Barnes. They have a lot of more partners there. And they provide strategy to help us with kind of crafting the... Not only the ballot language, but then what education materials that we can do as a city. So yes, they are... And that's why I reached out to them because I wanted to know what they're dealing with the other clients that are dealing with the recall. And they were the ones that specifically said, hey, get some polling done early, figure out where you are. And then kind of lay low for a little bit, let the recall do what it's gonna do. And then pick up from there. And I would guess what they could tell you. And again, I'm not them, but I guess you could look at where we are polling in winter or in summer. Do the education, then like I said, do another short track polling to make sure where we are in support. And if we're not where we need to be in support, then that clearly shows that, well, maybe 2024 is, I mean, that just played that hand for you right there. And you kind of have that idea, you're, you know. So I'm guessing that's what they would tell you. So, and we could clearly have a more robust talk about that. And we do have to do this on a general election? No, it's a special tax. So it can literally go at any election. And that is also something that we may wanna discuss and that they also brought up that, you know, you do have other election opportunities, but there's pros and cons to all of that. Yeah, and we also don't know what other sales tax measures may be popping up throughout the county. I mean, there could be a big groundswell kind of a, what people being overwhelmed by sales tax requests, which is always a risk, of course. And back to the timing of everything. And if we're the only one out there asking, which is pretty rare, we could be in better stead, but it's just so, it's so hard to know. And this is one of those sales taxes that we need to get right. And we need, the public is, our community has been very generous in supporting Measure O and it will be our responsibility or someone's, it'll be the other people's responsibility out there to remind the community of how important it has been to us, the quality of our public safety and the funding it and all of those great programs that it has funded. People, I think there's a tendency to forget where that money is coming from and where we would be without it. Alan, can I just, are you looking for direction from the subcommittee prior to getting, is that what your ask is? Would you like John and I to give you feedback on next steps? That would be great. I'm hearing that it looks like next meeting is something where we want to have a fuller discussion. So if you want to have a, but if there's some specificity to that that you want to help me out with, I'm more than happy to hear it. Before we go there, let's open it up for public comment and then I'm ready to give some feedback. So we will open up for public comment on 4.3, the ballot measure timeline. Any members of the public like to give comment, please raise your hand or dial star nine if you're on your phone. I'm not seeing any raised hands. And did we have any prerecorded messages? No, there were no public comments received via email. Great, thank you. Okay. So Alan for me, well, go ahead Mr. Sorry you want to go first? Well, I'm just, as long as we're not doing it today so as soon as possible, I would say given our crunched timeline already if we were to trying to make decision on timing having a real, what a targeted conversation on that on measure O the old the public safety measure O I think it'd be Are you guys there? I'm having the internet. Yeah, I'm here. Well, you kind of froze up right at the end there but I think what you were saying was that let's have that targeted discussion on measure O Yes. In, in June. Okay. Yes. Okay. And for me, I'm taking the advice of the polling firms I'm comfortable with that. One additional bit of information I'd like in town with this go before the full council, eventually I get, let me think here I don't think it would need to until we actually did the resolution to call the election. So, so we could, but the where we would really have to is right before the election to call it to, to, to, you know before August, 2022 I don't want to complicate matters and I just think it might be healthy for this to come back to the council. I just understood measure O oversight did not come to a recommendation to approve the budget. And it might be nice. I don't know how staff was planning on presenting that but actually get clarity on that. And the one piece of information I think would be helpful for all of council to do that dependent upon our different timelines that probably are some impacts the current staff and or projects.  What impacts if the longer we wait, will it have on the operation of the current positions and programs funded by measure O? That's one piece of the puzzle. I guess there are some impacts. I just don't know what those are but that would be information that would help me decide what direction to go in. And we also have two new council members who are who may or may not be up to speed on the impacts of the the benefits that we have derived over these many years and the impacts that we were not to go forward. So I think keeping the council up to speed on what this body is recommending I think it would be really, really important so that there's no surprises when we make that final recommendation with going forward on a ballot. Sure. So we'll focus on June 10th which is here to have to focus on measure O and moving forward, I'll try to get some impacts for that meeting so that we can kind of get that there and then I'll reach out to the polling firms too and just kind of get some more information from them. In the past, we've looked at different types of taxes. It kind of sounds to me that we are just focused solely on making sure that we move forward with measure O. That is a large chunk of revenue. It's gonna be more than really any of the other TOT or any of these other things that we've looked at in the past. You're looking at $9 to $10 million worth of revenue that's coming in and has immediate impacts to programs as you mentioned, Tom. So I'll put our focus on that and we'll be pretty, yeah, we'll go with that. Yeah, for me, just to reframe what I heard you say, the consequences for measure O not failing are much more significant than any of the other funding options that we're looking moving into the future, right? It's deserving of this major focus, I believe. I think we're in agreement with that. Understood, understood. Okay, so that's it for item 4.3. Next, I guess it'd be item five, next meeting agenda items. I think you got direction from the subcommittee about just what we talked about, measure O public safety. And I think there's one more that we want to have on there and Jan can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we're looking at also a presentation on one-time monies. And this would be in advance of going to the full council in July and there's a study session on that. Yes. Okay, great, there's two items. Okay, then let me open up for public comment. If any members of the public would like to make comment on next meeting agenda items, is there any member of the public who would like to make such a comment? Not seeing any hands raised, is anything pre-submitted? No, there were no emails received. Great, thank you. Allen, did you get what you needed? And Jan, did you get what you needed from the subcommittee today? Yes, sir. All right, having no further items to discuss, meeting is adjourned. Thank you for your attendance. Okay, bye. Thank you.


Today, we're going to be talking about two of the most popular e-commerce platforms for you to start dropshipping on so you can find out which one is best for you. So in this video, we're going to be comparing the pros, the cons, and pricing for Shopify versus WooCommerce. Now on that note, let's not waste any more time and let's just go ahead and dive straight into the action. Let's go ahead and get started. What's going on, everyone? Mark here with AutoDS. And on this channel, we cover everything and anything dropshipping related. We teach you what some of the best products are to sell along with some of the best tips and tricks to help you start and scale your dropshipping business. Now with that being said, if you haven't done so already, please make sure to hit that subscribe button as well as ring that little bell notification so you don't miss out on any future videos. We're almost 80,000 strong on this channel, so make sure you become one of our many loyal members so that way you can get the most out of your dropshipping business. Now to go along with this video, we are going to have the ever popular cheat sheet. If you want access to that, all you have to do is go ahead and comment down below Woo versus Shopify along with your takeaway from this video. Once I see that you went ahead and did that, I'll go ahead and reply back with a link to the cheat sheet. In that cheat sheet, I will have everything that I'm going to be talking about in this video along with all of the different links to help make things easier for you to decide which one is best for you. All right, so let's go ahead and get started. And the first thing that we need to answer is one of the ever burning questions. What exactly is WooCommerce? So in the simplest possible terms, WooCommerce is pretty much a plugin that works with the website WordPress. And what exactly is WordPress WordPress has tons of different plugins, widgets, and themes to help you easily customize your dropshipping website or your WordPress website. It pretty much just makes it extremely easy to be able to customize your entire store to make it look appealing and make it look more importantly professional. Now, using WooCommerce does give you a few benefits. For example, you have access to customer service features. It also gives you access to payment processing coupons and a few other really important features that can help you start and scale your dropshipping business. Now, what about Shopify? What exactly is Shopify? Well, Shopify is an online website that allows you to easily create your own store. It features drag and drop themes that are extremely easy to customize and requires absolutely no coding. With Shopify, you can easily manage your store's design, all of your different products and all of your inventory. On top of that, you also get access to payment processing, customer data, which is extremely important because that tells you exactly what your customers are doing on your store. You can see what your customers are looking at and you also get access to a lot of their important information, such as their emails. Honestly, Shopify is one of the more popular e-commerce platforms out there right now. It's super easy to use and it really does make it extremely easy to be able to customize your store the way that you see fit. And that's why it has become one of the go-to platforms for e-commerce and dropshipping. Now, let's jump into some of the pros of using WooCommerce for your dropshipping business. So for one, you have complete customization. So you can edit every single part that you want on your dropshipping store. This really helps make it easy to align your website with your brand. On top of that, you have absolutely no selling limits. So you can sell as many products as you want. You can sell either 10 different products, which we highly don't recommend you want a little bit more than that, or you can sell a thousand products. And the best thing is using WooCommerce, it makes it extremely easy to be able to keep track of all of your different products and make any edits as necessary. WooCommerce also has free as well as paid plugins as well as themes. So all of the different plugins that you can find on WooCommerce can help you out with different aspects of the business. So for one, you can use them for either email marketing or you can use them for customer service. WooCommerce also has a pretty handy content management system. So what exactly is content when it comes to dropshipping? One really good example are blogs. So you can have a blog on your dropshipping store, which can cover the features of a certain product. Now, the cool thing is about having a content management system is that it gives you the ability to be able to give access to different people. So with this, you can give access to people to be able to create, edit and publish different types of content on your website. Again, such as blogs. Now, one thing about WooCommerce is that it does have a pretty high learning curve. So it is a very technical thing to start and it takes a little bit of getting used to. But if you really do want to learn how to use WooCommerce and all of its really powerful features, you can check out this video right here. And it explains absolutely everything that you need to know to get started dropshipping on WooCommerce. Aside from that, though, to be completely honest, almost everything has some sort of learning curve. While, yes, some are a bit higher learning curve than others. All it really takes is a little bit of tinkering and a little bit of messing around. And ultimately, you'll get the hang of it. You'll learn by experimenting. At least that's more or less the case for me. I learned by actually getting my hands dirty and experimenting. So don't be scared to experiment. Really, there's absolutely nothing you have to lose. Most of the times you're able to start with a free trial. So just use that trial to get your hands dirty and learn the game.  So make sure you check out the video that I mentioned earlier so you can learn the ins and outs on getting started dropshipping on WooCommerce. Now, what about Shopify? Where does Shopify come into play and how does it compare to WooCommerce? Well, Shopify to start is actually one of the simpler websites to use to get started either in the e-commerce business or in dropshipping. The same way that WooCommerce has a bunch of different plugins to help you out with different aspects of the business. Shopify also has tons of different apps to help you out with the same stuff. They have apps to help you out in customer service management. And there's also apps to automate your entire business, such as AutoDS. Now, Shopify also has tons of different themes to help you easily customize your own website. These themes come in a variety of different colors and different styles that are actually easily customizable. You can change almost anything that you want on there. Now, they have free themes as well as premium paid themes. The prices on those vary, but they can start anywhere from the free themes all the way up to a couple hundred bucks. Seller limits on Shopify are also non-existent. You can add as many products as you want. So that way you can easily start scaling your business. There's also an extremely handy and easy to use blogging feature.  Now, it's really beneficial to create a blog, especially for your drop shipping website, because in those articles, you can structure them to have the proper SEO. So that way you can bring in more traffic through search engine optimization. Now, hands down, one of the best things about drop shipping on Shopify is the fact that their customer service is probably some of the best out there. If you ever have any issues or any questions about the platform, you can reach out to them and they'll easily help you out with pretty much anything you need. Now, some of the cons to Shopify are pretty much the same for WooCommerce. For one, both of them don't have organic traffic. So you're going to have to bring traffic to your website on your own. To do this, you have a few different options. For one, you have your blogs. You can start writing blogs on the different products that you're offering, or you can do content marketing where you start making things like TikTok videos or Instagram Reels to promote your products and link them back to your websites. And another option that you have is paid advertisements.  Now, if you want to learn more about marketing your drop shipping business or how to run paid Facebook ads, then just make sure you check out that cheat sheet. In there, I'm going to have a link to an ebook, a 100% free ebook that explains everything you need to know about paid Facebook marketing. Remember, in order to get access to that, all you have to do is comment down below hashtag Woo versus Shopify and let me know what your takeaway is from this video. Now, a second downside to setting up your shop on Shopify is kind of the same as setting up your shop on WooCommerce. And that's the fact that you have your monthly or yearly fees. There's always going to be a subscription fee that you need to pay in order to be able to set up shop and continue selling. Now, what are those fees? Well, let's go ahead and cover those. So to start, Shopify starts at $39 per month. And that's using the monthly subscription. That's the starter package, and then it goes up from there. It goes up to $105 per month and then up to $399 per month. Now, the good thing about Shopify is that you can get started for just $1 for the first three months. So you have the option to test them out for just $1 each month for three months. On top of that, you also have credit card transaction fees. Now, these credit card fees do depend on the type of package that you have. But for the most basic package, the one that starts at $39 per month, you can expect to pay 2.9 percent plus 30 cents. Now, for the middle option, it's 2.6 percent plus 30 cents. And then for the highest option, it's going to be 2.4 percent plus 30 cents. Now, regardless of whichever plan you get, whether it be the starter or the enterprise, you can also save an extra 25 percent if you sign up for the yearly subscription. Now, for WooCommerce, what you need to pay for is the actual WooCommerce plugin. Using WordPress is actually free. Now, if you do want to get started with WooCommerce, what you're going to need to start off with is the business plan. And the business plan starts at just $25 per month. Now, another expense that you're going to have with WooCommerce is a domain.  Now, to purchase a domain, you can expect to pay roughly about $20 per year. And there's a few different options for this. You can use something like Bluehost or Google Domains. Now, the biggest question here is, which one's better? Which one should you use and which one is going to get you the best results? Well, honestly, that all completely depends on you. If you're OK with the learning curve for WooCommerce, then it might be worth a shot to actually check out WordPress and check out WooCommerce. But if you like making things easy and easily customizing everything, then Shopify might be best for you. My suggestion is sign up for WordPress as well as WooCommerce and just look over it. See if it's something that you can understand or you see yourself actually learning. Also, sign up for the Shopify free trial. It's worth a shot because you're really only paying $1 each month for three months. So you can also really play with that without really having any risk to lose anything. At most, you're probably going to be losing what? About $3 when it comes to that. Now, I want to hear from you. Which one is your favorite? Which one do you like most? Have you tried any of them? Let me know down in the comments below if you like Shopify or if you like WooCommerce. Also, remember that in order to get access to the cheat sheet with everything that I spoke about in this video along with all of the different links, all you have to do is go ahead and comment down below. Hashtag Woo versus Shopify. And let me know your takeaway from this video. Huge thank you to everyone for watching today. It truly means a lot, especially if you made it all the way to the end of the video. Once again, if you found this video helpful and informational, just make sure to leave a like, make sure you hit that subscribe button and ring that little bell notification so you don't miss out on any future videos. My name is Mario once again with out of the S and I'll catch you guys next time.