Good afternoon. I'd like to ask the interpreter currently on the Spanish channel to commence translation of the meeting For those just joining the meeting live translation It's Spanish is available and members of the public or staff wishing to listen in Spanish can join the Spanish channel By clicking on the interpretation icon in the zoom toolbar. It looks like it's low Once you join the Spanish channel, we recommend you shut off the main audio so you only hear the Spanish translation Pablo will you please restate this in Spanish? Bienvenidos a esta reunión para los que les cien se unen a esta reunión interpretación en vivo al español está disponible y los Miembros o personal quienes desean escuchar en español podrán unirse al canal Para unirse el canal haga clic en el icono de interpretación que ahorita aparece en la barra de funciones de zoom Pareciendo como un globo terraqueo Una vez que se una el canal de español también se recomienda que apague el audio primario para que solo escucha la interpretación al español Hello and welcome everyone to our August 22nd 2023 Santa Rosa City Council meeting It is now 3 p.m. And we will be starting our meeting seeing a quorum madam city clerk. Can you please call the roll? Thank you councilmember staff here councilmember Rogers here councilmember o crepe key here councilmember Fleming here councilmember alvarez vice mayor mcdonald here mayor rogers Present but the record show all councilmembers are present We will now proceed to item 2.1 conference with labor negotiators madam city clerk Can you please facilitate public comment on this item? Thank you We are now taking public comment on item 2.1 if you would like to provide a public comment and you are in the chamber Please make your way to the podium if participating via zoom Please raise your hand or dial star 9 you will have 3 minutes and a countdown timer will alert at the end of that period Mayor I'm seeing no one in the chamber to provide public comment and no hands being raised via zoom Thank you. We will now recess into closed session All right, welcome everyone to the August 22nd 2023 Santa Rosa City Council meeting It is now 4 20 and we will be starting our meeting Welcome madam city manager madam city attorney and fellow council members Seeing a quorum madam city clerk. Can you please call the roll? Thank You mayor Councilmember staff here councilmember rogers here councilmember o crepe key here councilmember Fleming here councilmember alvarez Count vice mayor mcdonald here mayor rogers Present let the record show all council members are present with the exception of councilmember alvarez We have no study session today, so we'll continue to item by Madam city attorney may you please report out on our closed session? Thank You madam mayor a closed session was held on the item on the agenda and there was no reportable action Thank you moving to item 6.1 our proclamation for the day will be read by vice mayor mcdonald Thank You mayor I'm so happy that I get to read this proclamation having served On the commission on the status of women for several years along with my fellow councilmember Fleming here And so it is my great honor to be able to give this out today Whereas in 1976 the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Established one of the first commissions on the status of women in the state of California with the purpose of promoting equal rights and opportunities that enhanced the quality of life for all women and girls and addressing issues of discrimination and prejudice that negatively affect women in Sonoma County and whereas women now Constitute nearly 50% of our workforce the majority of the students in our colleges and graduate schools and an increasing number of primary breadwinners and whereas in 2016 through 2020 Sonoma County women as a whole earn approximately 88% of what men earned and whereas Women in Sonoma County are more likely than men to live below the federal poverty threshold The greatest poverty rate amongst families is for those headed by single women caring for their own children and Whereas even with the gains women have made work remains to be done in many areas that directly impact equal pay for equal work Including access to quality affordable child care Affordable housing and comprehensive health care for women including reproductive and mental health care Whereas women's equity day Celebrates the achievement of women and recommitting to realize gender equality in the city of Santa Rosa Including equal pay for equal work Now therefore be it resolved that our mayor Natalie Rogers the mayor of the city of Santa Rosa on behalf of the entire City Council do hereby proclaim August 26 2023 as women equity day Thank you vice mayor. I would like to invite the representative that will be receiving this proclamation to make a comment at This time after comments are made by the representative Madame city clerk. Can you please facilitate public comment? Hello? I'm Jan Blalock I've been on the commission on the status of women for eight years and For those as chair and this is my last year on the commission and it was really important to me to Be able to come here and accept this proclamation That is so meaningful to us and it is so exciting to look at the faces of All of you on the city council, but especially the women We have a female mayor and vice mayor and it and two of the women on this city council were commissioners and Although we still have a long way to go for true equity It is very exciting to see that seven of the mayors of cities in Sonoma County are female and That's pretty amazing. It wasn't like that just a couple of years ago So this is an area where we're seeing a Lot of growth and I think it's fantastic Where we still need to work on True equity will come when we have more personal safety and Affordable housing it's important for everyone, but especially given the fact that one in five Households headed by single mothers with one to two minor children of their own live on income less than the federal poverty threshold Poverty is a real issue here and it's something that Also, affordable child care would be very very helpful for women to be able to get back to work and to be able to support their families and Comprehensive health care including of course reproductive Freedom and reproductive health care. Those are things that we really need to work towards and to protect In order to have true equity But I appreciate you so much for this proclamation and Thank you so much and Best of luck to everyone here. I have also we have commissioner Diaz here Diaz Garcia here, so I'll have her join me if that's all right Thank you We are now taking public comment on item 6.1 if you are in the council chamber and would like to provide comment But have not provided a speaker card or your name. Please make your way to the podium if you are participating via zoom Please raise your hand or dial star 9. You will have three minutes and a countdown timer will alert at the end of that period The first public comment will be from Eric Frazier Thank you very much. I would like to use the overhead, please Thank you very much certainly don't want to take anything away from the wonderful citizens that are looking for equality and Let me see if I can get this a little bit higher, please and so I did want to introduce you though to some amazing women that I've had the honor to know Know their heart and I want to introduce Just another way to look at this and that's through the lens of freedom and free will and Sometimes I see a lot of times government engage in programs that Actually work contrary to what they want to achieve, especially if they're not fact-based and so I know in the proclamation I heard a number of different facts but When I look at city employment, for instance, I don't really see where those facts are applicable And so quite frankly when facts are used just to carry forward an ideology They don't they get in the way of freedom and I think really the goal is freedom and human rights for everybody So I want to introduce you to my mom. She had 15 went to the university to be a doctor They went letter. She had to be a nurse and ended up becoming a Pharmaceutical executive. Here's my third grade teacher Delta Kelly She was an incredible environmentalist again a font of free will and free thinking Here's my lovely bride Marjorie Marjorie has an interesting backstory She was a product of rape her mother was raped when she was 15 By the most wealthiest landowner in Gutchling County, Virginia So she had to be raised in a segregated environment And known as high-yellor in the process. We raised wonderful kids including this wonderful tears in Nuryov Who's an NEA artist many times older over with grants and now is working on her work at the D young Everybody knows Rosa Parks. I was pleased to know her heart and work for her on civil rights issues And here's there's a quote from Rosa Parks here that says I believe we are here on earth planet earth to do what we can to make This world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom Here's some local people you probably know my great friend Paula Downing I miss her greatly. She just passed recently a Norma bomb steiger not not hanging around Oak Mount much anymore, but love her heart love her heart Zen honey cut a major food rights organizer Adina for as she's an investigative reporter. That's very important support My point here is that these women intellectually would engage with me over the facts that drive their passion For equality and human rights, and they probably would not fall victim to sort of Mamby-Pamby type of planning over equality instead. We need to have real sincere conversations in order to move the ball down the field Thank you for your time Here I'm seeing no one in council chamber approaching the podiums, and we have no hands being raised via zoom Thank you. I would like and invite you down for a picture But first I want to sincerely. Thank you for you know Pushing us through this struggle and knowing the struggle and doing something about it So thank you very much, and thank you to school board member Diaz vice mayor McDonald and Councilmember Fleming. Thank you so much for your work in this area And if you would like to come on down and take a picture with us, we would be honored to do so All right item number 7 we have no staff briefings today, so we will go to city manager and city attorney's report Thank you, and good evening mayor members of council So on Sunday the Santa Rosa police department responded to a mutual aid request to the Smith River fire complex Staff will assist with the fire Evacuation some traffic control and emergency dispatching efforts and crews should be on site At least until August of 24th Last week ahead of students returning to school our Transportation and public works crews installed new lighted crosswalks and restriped existing crosswalks near schools to help students as they crossed These two new flashing crosswalk beacons at Hoenn Avenue and Sierra Creek intersection and Laurel Grove and Sebastopol Road at Caesars Chavez School and also cities also installed the third hawk which is a high-intensity Activated crosswalk beacon at Fulton Road This new crosswalk connects Piner High School to youth community park and Last on Thursday of August the 24th Burbank housing will be hosted a grand opening of the keratoss homes phase one Here in downtown Santa Rosa the project is 64 units of permanent supportive housing for which the city and Housing Authority provided nearly my nine million dollars and financial assistance and 30 project-based vouchers Thank you, and I have nothing to report Thank you, madam city clerk. Can you please facilitate public comment on item 8? Thank you We are now taking public comment on item 8 if you are in council chamber I would like to comment but have not yet provided a speaker card Please make your way to the podium if you are participating via zoom, please raise your hand or dial star 9 You will have three minutes and a countdown timer will alert at the end of that period Here there's no one approaching the podiums and no hands being raised via zoom. Thank you item 9 statements of abstention by council member Are there any statements of abstention? Yes, we have a meeting but any statements of abstention. I'm assuming no All right, so seeing none we move to item 10, which are mayor and council members reports I will start us off There have been wonderful events around the city and I was able to participate in a few including Catholic Charities back-to-school event Santa Rosa day At the fair new hire and promotional ceremony for a Santa Rosa police department The wildfire ready resource fair And summer in South Park event. I am continuing my tours of the fire stations Meeting the wonderful fire staff that not only respond to fire calls medical calls and many other calls But also when time permits brightens the days of our youth that dropped by to view our fire apparatus I Would like to make the EIFD appointment And we will be appointing hue for trail to the enhanced infrastructure financing district and I am doing that with Permission of the rest of the council Reporting on the WAC tack meeting that was held August 7th regional water supply resiliency study An update was provided which is looking at how Sonoma water and the individual water retailer systems can be Better integrated to withstand stressors and improve resilience the impacts of drought and potential Options for increasing resilience through drought have already been analyzed and now the team is focusing on earthquake flooding power loss and wildfire risk Sonoma water staff provided an update both reservoirs are very full and in great shape. Thanks to the forecast and form reservoir operations Initiative by Sonoma water they were able to capture and store more water in both Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino Mendocino, excuse me providing us with abundant storage levels for this time of year Related PG&E has filed a temporary and long-term flow regimen change for Lake Pillsbury due to Seismic concerns the long-term change would be in a Adam abundant To their current FERC license and could allow for additional flows to be diverted into the Russian River From the ill river during the winter when Scott damn is spilling And lastly for the WAC meeting Sonoma water staff provided an update on the grant fund at work to explore a solution for continuing the water Diversion from the Potter Valley project the Russian River water form planning group has been established Consisting of approximately 34 technical members representing various interests the planning group has met three times The planning group has met three times most recently the meeting focused on the Russian River resilient resiliency project And the leadership which is made up of elected officials has yet to meet But we're looking at meeting at the end of or by the end of the year In correction Hugh for trail will be Appointed to the public financing authority and there's more COC report during the last continuum of care meeting on July 26 it was decided that the representation on the COC Board would change in two ways the first way That it would change is one of the three at-large seats on the board would be changed To be dedicated to a tribal member See this change was made to address Racial disparities within our homeless system of care There is data demonstrating these disparities and the need for an indigenous representative seat on the COC The second change is the leap board chair Will sit on the board as a non voting member leap is the lived experience advisory and planning board So they will now be on the board and The point-in-time count is out In late January volunteers and guides found out across the county of Sonoma as part of an annual effort to understand the needs numbers and circumstances of persons experiencing homelessness The point-in-time count measures the prevalence of homelessness in each community and collect information on individuals and families residing in emergencies shelters transitional housing as well as People sleeping on the streets and cars abandoned properties or other places not meant for human Humans to I'm not even going to try to say the word because I'm gonna mess it up Humans to be so the point-in-time count is the only source of The nationwide data on sheltered and unsheltered homelessness and is required by the US Department of Housing and Urban development which a lot of us know as HUD of all jurisdictions Receiving federal funding to provide housing and services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. So The good stuff is countywide The point-in-time count identified 2266 homeless Persons which is a 22% decrease from 2022 So 1291 which is 57% were unsheltered in 975 Which is 40 43% were sheltered and in Santa Rosa We had 1160 homeless persons which is 30% decrease from 2022 a reduction of 498 Individuals this represents 51% of the total countywide Count compared to 57 in 2022 and 465 Which is 40% of those individuals were unsheltered and 695% were sheltered So Santa Rosa's sheltered count increased by 22% and unsheltered count decreased by 57% I thought it was very important to share that with you because I think Santa Rosa is doing a Wonderful job and this is something that we should be very proud about So that concludes my report, which was very long. I'm sorry Anyone else have a report? Councilmember step. Thank you, mayor I'll build off your list of some really nice events that have taken place in the community over the past couple of weeks Mayor Rogers and city manager Markish Smith and I had the had the honor to attend the family Justice Center celebration this past weekend Which raised over a hundred thousand dollars for victims of family violence in the community Obviously predominantly women and children. It was it was a great gathering And then as well, I'll just mention again the Sonoma County Fair granted It's a it's a county event But it's held in Santa Rosa and it brought in more than a hundred and forty thousand individuals into the city over the course of It's ten days Raised more than 2.2 million through the junior livestock auction auction for for kids and scholarships And let the record show that I myself was there six times I I like the fair and that concludes my report Councilmember Fleming Thank you, mayor, and thank you for attending all those events in such a comprehensive report. I Let's see Catholic Charities backpack giveaway. I want to thank Jenny Lynn Holmes and her fantastic team for doing a great job of organizing I think that the picture and the press Democrat of the kid getting his haircut with the one I opened Was might win a Pulitzer. It was just so fantastic Later that evening I went out to Sonoma where there was mayors and council members and we were definitely Represented by our vice mayor and we had a lovely time and got to hear some great information about ACA one And the Democratic party barbecue. I very nearly beat councilmember Rogers at at the balloon toss But he pulled ahead in the end and and unfortunately, I didn't get it We'll await his rebuttal and then MTC takes the month of August off, but I'll be back to providing you with updates in September and It's with a heavy heart that I'm going to announce that Mary Watts is no longer able to serve on the board of public utilities and I'm going to read some notes that she as a Consummate staff are put together for me and I want to make some comments as well So if you'll indulge me this one means a lot to me Mary Watts having to resign from the board of public utilities due to her new position with the federal government office of community services as The policy data and evaluation branch chief for the low-income household water assistance program Mary has served on the board of public utilities since October of 2015 She's made it a goal of her tenure to serve with all great payers Interest in mind, especially those more vulnerable communities She is mostly most proud of her work and oversight in the help to others program That helps low-income families afford their water bills, which is no small feat if you understand prop 215 She has served the last two years as the chair of the budget subcommittee and water conservation subcommittee Mary was delighted to see the smart meter project come to fruition Which allows customers the ability to log on to their portal and see water usage in real time, which is really cool If you haven't done it and be able to make effective adjustments and conserve water She truly appreciates her time on the board of public utilities and looks forward to her continued work in water policy at the national level Those are her remarks. I'm going to go on a little bit for a moment here and just say Mary served for eight years She's a young woman in her mid 30s and For some one of the things we'll get a report later tonight about Board member appointments and one of the things we don't look at is age. We look at gender. We look at race But we don't look at the fact that many of our Appointees serve because they can afford to because they're older So for somebody in their mid 30s to have served on a traditionally mostly male board for eight years and have done so with such expertise and to lead these subcommittees is is really truly impressive and her depth of knowledge and her commitment to this has been unwavering and On a personal note, you know, Mary when Mary ran for city council In 2018 we ran together and everybody said you're not going to be able to get along with this person it's just too difficult a thing to do and and Never once was Mary anything but the most consummate professional kind and decent person that you could ever ever wish to know and so it is with a really heavy heart and true Sadness that I do have to release her from this position And I hope that one day she'll come back and I'm just proud to know Mary grateful for her service I'm sorry. I Don't know if anybody else has anything they want to say about that in particular, but I'll conclude my remarks there Thank You council member Fleming Rogers, did you have a rebuttal for your council member Fleming? No, okay vice Vice mayor McDonald Thank You mayor. I'm just a couple things to report Zero waste met this last week and we adopted a model ordinance for jurisdictions to consider That will be an outline for building project materials management deconstruction reuse and recycling Requirements so that's going to be moving forward to staff or consideration and consideration eventually of council for adoption So that was my official meeting The mayors and councils meeting that we was held last week in Sonoma that I was able to attend and represent the city at We went over affordable housing legislation as well as some potential ballot measures that can come forward that will increase funding at a pretty significant little level for us to be able to have affordable housing in the county and Specifically in the city of Santa Rosa because we take on so much of the housing ourselves. I Too attended the Sonoma County fair, so I'd like council member staff to know that I did go once So I really wanted to say thank you to the board of directors for Them hosting lunch for us and inviting us to come and have the Santa Rosa day at the races It's an honor to represent the city in those moments And we got to go down to the winter circle, which was quite fun and take a photo with With a horse as at one. I did attend the police promotion ceremony along with mayor and as well as some other council members At the Democratic barbecue, I will let a council member Fleming know that I did beat her out But Chris still hung on to almost the bitter end which was really annoying But last year when he was my partner we actually almost won I believe so So clearly he's getting the most deflated balloon as he's moving forward if he continues to almost win. I Went to the wildfire resource fair this last Saturday, and I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who put that on from the recs Department as well as a fire department It was extremely well attended at the Finley Center, and they gave out a tremendous amount of resources Emergency backpacks and there was a lot of representation there So thank you to all of those that were involved in putting that fair on this past weekend And then I attended the South Park I believe it was a health fair event, but I just want to say thank you to Annette for her dedication to the community and And everything that they're doing over there to lift everyone up. Thanks Thank you councilmember O'Cropkey Thank you very much madam mayor I too attended the fair in Santa Rosa races day Congratulations to Lucy treasure who won the Santa Rosa race. I did Attend something after that at the fair, which was the monster trucks, which my children very much enjoyed And is of note not just because of the event at the fair, but because skull crusher Is driven by a 15 year old and I hesitate to call him a boy because he's driving a 10,000 pound 1500 horsepower monster truck But a 15 year old Boy from Cloverdale is driving a monster truck at a professional level, and it is a sight to see The next day I attended a park a month at Pioneer Park over off Peterson Lane It was an awesome event got to know a lot of the parks department and that are out there on a regular basis taking care of our parks Interact with them and see a lot of community members. There was these two teenagers that just came out With no other interest, but that's their park that they attend and I've never seen Two kids worked that hard at yard work in my life For three hours straight. They're just weeding and and chop it down Brush it was pretty amazing I also attended the SRPD new hire and promotion ceremony Just one highlight of that is at the previous one. We had a member of the Chicago police department who had lateraled out here After he and his wife had gone on their honeymoon. She was a police officer in San Rafael She is now a police officer for the Santa Rosa police department because she came over That just goes to show that We have a great department led by a great chief And then finally this last Saturday. I attended a fundraiser Put together by a company called visit quake called Slava Palooza Slava being the Ukrainian word for glory and It's most commonly known for a common response traditional Saying within Ukraine that is Slava Ukraini and Royam Slava, which means glory to Ukraine glory to the heroes It wasn't an ordinary fundraiser this Organization based out of Santa Rosa visit quake has over 200 employees in Kharkiv And if you know anything about the invasion that's going on in Ukraine that is in a very to politely say it hotly contested area And are in constant danger and not only were we able to enjoy ourselves But we were able to speak to you Ukrainian refugees who had gotten here as recently as two months ago Talk about their experiences and talk to Some NGO organizers doing things such as just getting simple things like body armor and tourniquets and another one who's flew over here from Poland in Warsaw and his entire purpose is to outfit ambulances to get these people off the The front lines and get medical attention as quickly as possible so Obviously that is something in the the Ukrainian invasion is something very important to me and my family being of Ukrainian descent But it also touches so many other people especially corporations and companies that are based out of here that on Day one of the invasion had 200 of their employees in harm's way being shelled on a regular basis And I'm glad to say they've raised over $75,000 on Saturday for those efforts Including a little bit from me because I bid on a hand-painted 122 million millimeter Artillery shell that was used in Ukraine against the Russian invaders and was hand-painted by Ukrainian artists and sent over here And gotten into this country legally, but somehow I have no idea how they got an artillery piece over here But it was pretty it's pretty impressive. So That is the end of my report Thank You councilmember O'Crapke with no additional reports madam city clerk. Can you please facilitate public comment? Thank you. We're taking public comment on item 10 if you're in council chamber I would like to provide a comment, but have not yet provided a speaker card Please make your way to the podium if you are participating via zoom, please dial star 9 or raise your hand You have three minutes in a countdown timer. Well alert at the end of that period The first public comment will be from Dwayne DeWitt Hello, my name is Dwayne DeWitt. I'm from Roseland. I wanted to comment on the reports from the mayor Thank goodness positive things are moving forward But this grand jury report is from seven years ago And we've basically been having all of these problems with homelessness for well over decades One of the things that I think is really important right now Especially because the city and the county could work together to alleviate more problems Is that the county right now has been having a hearing on their housing element? And it appeared that they didn't have any input with the city that their discussion with the county planning staff was pretty much siloed and I believe because the mayor here Miss Natalie Rogers and others here are interested in these topics You folks should be able to get some sort of a collaborative going because one of the proposals They're putting forward is that they'll have more housing on the outskirts of Santa Rosa And that's actually anathema to what we've talked about for decades on trying to have city-centered Growth in the downtown area to help the downtown business people thrive This is not about Santa Rosa Avenue Todd Road Moreland Avenue That's not helping the downtown Santa Rosa Avenue and the housing that we could have down here downtown Could be helping with these homeless folks That's where many of them are right now in the downtown area. So thank you very much Mayor Rogers for spending your time looking into this last but not least Thank you, Mr. Councilman Al Krepke for his interest in The Ukraine and our Santa Rosa sister city Tricasa Ukraine has been in existence now for almost 30 years Actually, it's over 30 my first trips like 28 years ago The thing that we need to do is stay strong and make sure that we do not give up That democratic approach that those people are trying to do in the face of all the difficulties of being invaded It's been nine years since they shot down the Dutch airliner and killed 240 people It's a very serious situation that won't go away So I'll leave you with this because earlier you had the woman's equity situation and This is really important It's been 50 years since we had an April rights amendment put forward I hope you folks would spend time working on that and this is from the Vietnam veterans of America Where many women did serve equally and they were very Honored and honorable people in the service to our nation. So thank you for women's equity Last but not least we need a new flag at Southwest Community Park because ours is tattered and beat up But we can still salute it. Thank you for your time Thank you. Mr. Frazier, please go ahead. Thank you very much My pleasure again to address the council. Thank you very much So it's always great to see our elected officials out in the public attending events Very much appreciated. I am a little curious though about the mentions about the Democrat Party For people that I thought are elected to a nonpartisan position But be that as it may what we do see also and I do share Councilmember Fleming's happy tears about Mary what Mary Watts's promotion I think frequently we do see a system that works for civic involvement for young people to learn about their area They don't need to be paid a lot of money necessarily because they understand that it's a segue to larger opportunities With state government with federal government with the city government with nonprofits and so on and so forth So, you know, I really want to push back against the impulse to make a big deal about civic duty for people And make it some sort of requirement or a plank of the Democrat Party. I Also wanted to say that I did attend the emergency Preparedness Fair and I have a little bit different attitude to report You know, there was a giveaway of go bags there. They gave away a hundred and fifty of them I was told that the value was eighty bucks piece. That's a fourteen thousand dollars. Where's the female money? Where's the PG&E money? Clearly people are turned away to get these go bags who are expressing a need for it $14,000 it's like let them eat cake. I guess What I did see was a layout that was inadequate to accommodate people in wheelchairs or people with disabilities I don't understand that. I mean people were literally on the brink of being pushed into the central fountain there was Scores of government workers there. I imagine everybody's being paid probably some of them on overtime boy. That's really great I don't really see the and the other thing that really not at me is that here There's this whole short-term rental ordinance that required a lot of emergency Preparation on behalf of those residential properties, but there is nothing that showed the seriousness of what was Prescribed at the emergency fair. It just shows the fallacy of you know What you guys do in your regulations So I didn't really see the serious commitment to emergency preparation there It was great that we had access to our proud first offenders. We support them. We appreciate them But as far as the central planning of this it was really not well done at all And it shows an inadequately met need so I would hope that our elected officials get a little bit more on top of it and Really prepare our citizens for the next event. Thank you very much Thank you. See no one else in council chamber. I'm gonna turn it over to our zoom host Good evening council my apologies, I just joined the meeting is this non-agenda items This is not we're on item 10 Okay, I yield my comment at the moment. Thank you. Thank you. We have no additional speakers Thank you mayor that concludes public comment Thank you Moving on to item 11 approval of the minutes We have one set of minutes and that would be for August 8th 2023 council, are there any correction to the minutes? All right seeing none madam city clerk, can you please facilitate public comment? Thank you We are now taking public comment on item 11 point one if you are in council chamber I would like to comment but have not provided a speaker card or your name Please make your way to the podium if participating via zoom Please dial star nine or raise your hand you will have three minutes and a countdown time will timer will alert at the end of that period I see no one approaching the podiums and I do see one hand in zoom being raised for minutes Please go ahead Rhonda You've been asked to unmute Good evening council. I would like to thank mayor Rogers for taking the time to meet With my fiance and myself To discuss our concerns that we've had over the past several years aside from mr. Alvarez I believe she's been the only other elected official willing to meet with myself and My fiance so I appreciate that very much. So I Tina Sorry, we're on Approval of the minutes so we have two more items before we're on non-agenda my apologies. Thank you. No problem May I see no additional hands being raised via zoom? All right With no amendments. We will adopt 11.1 as presented Moving to item 12, which is our consent calendar madam city clerk. Can you please read the consent items? Thank you mayor item 12.1 Resolution third amendment to professional services agreement number f 002 2 5 9 with best best and Krieger LLP for real estate legal services Item 12.2 resolution Santa Rosa tourism business improvement area 2023 annual report and 2024 work plan item 12.3 Resolution ratification of grant application submittal acceptance and appropriation of California office of emergency services emergency operation center grant Program for the renovation and seismic retrofit of 55 stony point road for use as an emergency operation center Item 12.4 ordinance adoption second reading ordinance of the city ordinance of the council of the city of Santa Rosa repealing and replacing Chapter 11 dot 22 of the Santa Rosa municipal code section 11 dash 22 camping on public streets and public property And that concludes the read of the consent calendar Thank you bringing it back to council. Are there any questions? All right seeing none Madam city clerk may please facilitate public comment Thank you mayor We are now taking public comments on item 12 the consent calendar if you are in council chamber I would like to provide comment, but have not provided your speaker card Please make your way to the podium if participating via zoom, please dial star 9 or raise your hand You will have three minutes and a countdown timer will alert at the end of that period The first public comment will be from gig Followed by Eric Thank you Mayor Rogers members City Council gig hideout Santa Rosa Please pull item 12 point 4 the camping ordinance from the consent calendar So on resolved issues and flaws in the wording can be corrected before it becomes law. I Want to see this ordinance passed, but there are issues that still need to be clarified So the ordinance will not be invalidated if challenged in court and not subject to lawsuits if homeless people believe their rights were violated section 11 dash 22 point 020 a is a ban on camping in parks Whether or not an individual can obtain shelter But this by itself cannot be enforced because it's a violation of Martin versus City of Boise Section B also applies whether or not a person can obtain shelter and Allows for camping in the city of Santa Rosa So long as they can find a spot that fits within the restrictions one through six I don't know if it'd be necessary to identify where such spots are But either way if someone does find a spot where they meet all the criteria in B That means they'll be free to camp there indefinitely for the rest of their lives This could have strong long-lasting negative consequences for Santa Rosa. Do we really want to do this? Section C Designates the way in which a person must camp when shelter is not available Note that if someone is camping when shelter is available in a spot that meets all our restrictive criteria in section B They would not be subject to the 12 health and safety standards listed under C This is a mistake in the ordinance because all the conditions listed under C Should also apply to people legally camping according to B And section 11 dash twenty two point oh four oh a Declare that any violation of this ordinance is a misdemeanor subject to prosecution However, Martin versus City of Boise requires that homeless behavior cannot be criminalized unless there is shelter available Therefore when shelter is not available None of the provision listed in a B or C can be enforced by charging someone with a misdemeanor Enforcing compliance with law enforcement officers to make this ordinance in compliance with Martin versus City of Boise Santa Rosa could either provide alternative camping locations or Make provisions so that access to a shelter is always available to everyone This could be achieved by having additional shelter space open immediately whenever the established shelters become full and Furthermore to prevent permanent encampments in areas that meet all the restrictions listed in a B and C There may have to be a time limit for legal encampments such as a certain number of weeks or months or years Please pull item 12.4 from the consent calendar to discuss this Thank you the next public comment will be from Eric Frazier Overhead if I could just get have a moment just to be sure I have the focus right, please. Thank you Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that Still not sure if people can read it, but I stand in opposition to the SRT BIA report as a member of the ASAS class I identify the SRT BIA program actually is a classic example of rent seeking Organization a rent seeking organization by definition as an organization that uses government money But returns a little value to the governed So the SRT BIA is not an example of a public partner a public private partnership instead It's a private fleecing of a public resource The metro chamber is not a public Organization it purports to be a membership organization, but it gets most of a lot of its income from the SRT BIA And the executives that financially benefit from the SRT BIA said on the advisory board The metro chambers also spends money on political lobbying and get two people elected. I don't think this is fair Is the is the SRT BIA attacks or an assessment is collected as a tax and forced as a tax by the treasurer's office The it's extracted from the transient guests and has to be paid out There's no definition that governs How the transient guests pays?  That's the most incredible thing This SRT BIA business really I think fits the classic definition of what a Rico organization is It's a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization furthermore The res the residential properties that have been forced to pay the SRT BIA have done so at about $3.8 million over the time that the SRT BIA has been in existence Never have these residential property owners served on the advisory board receive communication Have been invited to participate in the marketing It's classic examples of scams Questions for the city council is your job to perform oversight on the city programs. Are you protecting the? constituents The errors in the report are all over the place. Sorry. You can't see this well But this is the visitor center mr. Rumble claims that there's 60,000 people that I went there That's baloney at the most we've seen 6,000 You have to ask yourself Does the this provide a service to you that's not available to other people in other words Is this your own personal travel agency to arrange? Benefits and perks as you travel around the world. I mean seriously, that's a conflict. We'll get to the bottom of this. Thank you Thank you. The next public comment will be from Joe followed by Dwayne Mayor Rogers and city council. My name is Joe Deetson. I reside in the St. Rose neighborhood and work in downtown Santa Rosa I'm also on the board of the downtown action organization I want to thank the city staff for the work and effort To draft the camping ordinance and I want to thank the city council for its support of the ordinance so far and to urge You to support it again this evening The ordinance is very important to address both health and safety here in Santa Rosa But I want to speak to one issue that's brought up by the ordinance and that's regarding fire I've had experience with fires near our home caused by encampments over the years in fact going back to 1989 a fire started in a homeless Encampment in a vacant lot next to our property It's spread to our property and burned down three garages that we used plus tenants used and a shop building and it was only due to the heroic effort of the Santa Rosa fire department that the two Historic Victorian residences on the property were spared Last year a fire started by campers in the basement stairwell of the former Catholic Chancery building Was started and that also adjoins our property and was only due to my family's effort to first fight the fire with garden hoses And then in calling in the fire department that a larger fire was contained I shudder to think what could have occurred if either of these had happened during one of the violent windstorms That we experience all too frequently and which have been attributed to so much tragedy in our community Now the last thing I'd like to say is the order and point out that the ordinance calls out that 23% of the fire incidences that the fire department Responded to last year were encampment related to put this in perspective First remember that the head count of homeless in Sonoma County that occurred earlier this year that was discussed in council chambers earlier today Counted 599 unsheltered individuals in Santa Rosa Remember that the city's current population is a hundred and seventy four thousand five hundred twenty three according to the California Department of Finance this means that one third of one percent of the individuals residing in the city Accounted for almost a quarter of all the fires in Santa Rosa Let me say that again one third of one percent of The population in this city accounted for a quarter of the fires. These are people in encampments Members of the city council that has to be addressed The ordinance in front of you begins to do just that please support it. Thank you Thank you the next public comment will be from Dwayne followed by Victoria Thank you kindly. My name is Dwayne DeWitt. I'm from Roseland And I'm also a part of the Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group Which for years has worked to try to find ways to get more housing for the homeless? This is gonna surprise you. I think the ordinance has some good points, but I do believe you should wait I do believe you have to make this thing bulletproof so that lawsuits won't tangle it up So that you can actually get the problems resolved The information just presented by the previous speaker was stunning if that can be verified It's like whoa now we get fires over in my neighborhood because of encampments One of the things that I am many of the others I speak with in my area Believe should occur is that the seven districts each district should have its own Homeless shelter and in that homeless shelter in that district the people who are from around there can be Where they're originally from perhaps or where they've been staying most recently Unfortunately due to the way the Sam Jones former Army Reserve Center was positioned to be the homeless shelter With at the time stating there'd be 50 people Unfortunately, it's become a place that's overwhelmed and the homeless come out there and in a sense Victimize the people of the Letty Park neighborhood the people of the Fresno Avenue neighborhoods the dilemma that we face is Typically said to be financial. Well, we can't put those shelters in You've got a nice big shelter now here at the Caritas Center that'll help the downtown area But that still leaves Homeless people out and Bennett Valley Rankin Valley You may not remember that homeless hill was up on Bennett Valley by the Calvary cemetery for well over a decade Once that was brought down Most of those folks migrated over to Roseland where they then stayed behind what was called a dollar tree store Where you'd torn down not you but the county government had torn down our community Recreation center of bowling alley left at a vacant lot then that turned into a homeless camp Nobody should have to live like that We should be able to house people and we can do it has been shown by a model that they did out at Las Helicas with small tiny home type units. So Perhaps hold on to this Do some more approaches to actually resolving getting those homeless people you spoke about Into shelters throughout our town. So not one district is overwhelmed But all of us share the burden equally.  Thank you Thank you. The next public comment will be from Victoria Can you push this down to me? Good evening folks Victoria Jan yes here A member of homeless action volunteer attorney still practicing law state bar number one two three triple seven Here in the county of Sonoma I have volunteered my time at this point To helping those currently experiencing homelessness I wish all y'all would start using the politically correct phrase Because people aren't homeless their experience is homelessness They're On earth earth is their home Now that's what my sponsor always told me when I was homeless crying to her You know, we've got a big problem here council And the problem is that the same practices that we're going on during the time that the count the city was enforcing its illegal sweeps On people that were sleeping or sitting on the sidewalk Back a few years ago about five years ago and at that time the current president or chair or director of catholic charities Was in charge of homeless services for catholic charities one miss jenny lin homes I will name her by name because at that time She was in cahoots with the police department On always having room at sam jones whenever they wanted to do a sweep Wasn't that convenient? No. Yeah And guess what? The corporate culture still exists so that Those in power know That any time they need to enforce Any camping ordinance all they got to do is let jenny homes know And she will make room at sam jones for them So that they can enforce this Ordinance I want to let you know also that homeless actions is not approved of this speech. I missed the meeting yesterday so Most importantly You need to know that We're on you. We want to see i'm requesting right now public records of everybody who has been Kicked out of sam jones. They're doing it without a written notice We want some homeless civil rights here. That's a regular due process right to notice With opportunity to appeal This is a well established rule golden versus somebody Thank you very much Thank you. May I see no one else in council chamber wishing to provide public comments? So i'll turn it over to our zoom host Except we'll be cadence followed by michael cadence. Please go ahead when you're ready Good evening mayor rogers vice mayor McDonald and members of council. This is cadence. Hankle allison with the downtown action organization I wanted to say thank you again to staff for all the work They've done to ensure that our city's legislation is in line with boise as well as with other local jurisdictions I won't um, I won't take up too much of your time today But I want to reiterate our appreciation for your support of this ordinance two weeks ago And thank you for your dedication to the health and safety of all those who reside and work and own business in santa rosa Um, we acknowledge the complexities of this issue and the need for continued support of those experiencing homelessness As well as addressing the impacts to others in the community and this ordinance is certainly an important piece of that Thank you again for your time and support today Next up is michael followed by natalie michael, please go ahead when you're ready to tell um I'm encouraging you to pull this item from the consent calendar for reconsideration Um, this is item 12.4 is what i'm referring to um This camping van is extremely destructive and people selling this as Being there to promote health in the community are overlooking the health of unsheltered residents Who often need fire to either stay warm? Or to cook actually healthy food and not just stuff that you can get in a convenience store um And the reality is that our warming centers They're only legally required to be open if it's freezing outside never mind it being close to freezing or cold and The reality is that a lot of the Shelter placements don't provide residents with stoves for ways to cook their own food And so residents are that actually You know want to cook outside use fires And there's a lack of non-conopt options and shelter options for folks The reality is this is something that Was evident at the last meeting when it was brought up that Uh, city staff had received no direction from city council. Look despite city staff staying to my knowledge Of the council members made a motion For them to start looking into actual places for people to go And that's extremely disappointing because It says a lot about the priorities of this city when we're looking at criminalizing homelessness And banning camping without looking for places for people to actually go We're deciding that people have overstayed their welcome in this city Before we've actually provided enough sufficient placements for people that are available Um, I believe that we need to look into safer placement options We need to look into placement options that treat people with dignity not concentration camps Not places where people are treated like a prisoner because Again, we're not criminalizing homelessness. So we shouldn't create encampments by the jail that subject people to search And treat people like they're not full human beings with full rights Um, I believe very strongly that we need to pull this item from the agenda And reconsider it and it's possible that the city is going to be open to lawsuit because Of the way that this is worded And maybe that's what it's going to take to actually motivate Council members to look into placements for people and unfortunately that's usually the case But I just would like to encourage people to pull it now and get some placement options Next up is Natalie Natalie, please go ahead when you're ready Can you hear me? Yes, we can Great. Thanks. Um, my name is Natalie balfour. I work for airport business center We own 50 old courthouse square and the rock seas stadium buildings. So two buildings downtown And this is on items 12.4 as well I think that you guys should adopt it officially today. I wasn't here when you guys Approved at last meeting. So I just wanted to to jump on real quick and and say I do know staff spent a lot of time writing this up and You know for us as You know building owners When I went through I thought it was fair because I I don't think anything was too far and that's just my personal opinion It looked like it didn't ban. It's not banning camping. It's saying here's some really good clear cut Rules of where it can take place. Um, and I thought that was fair and it's still, you know It kept in balance the you know the and I know someone mentioned this But it really has to do with public safety and and then state law. So I thought that was efficiently done And um, so yeah, I just wanted to stay my approval of that and Thanks staff for all its hard work Thank you. Next up is butterfly Please go ahead when you're ready Butterfly you're being asked to unmute Yes, we can please go ahead The More important things out there that You guys have three shelters closing in next month and I don't know what what everyone's supposed to do And then where they Um Thank you, we have no national callers on zoom we do have Four pre-recorded messages that all play at this time Hello, I'm calling today in favor of the new camping ordinance agenda item 12.4 My name is argo thompson, and I'm the business Owner of the california theater of cenarosa on 7th street First of all, I'd like to thank the staff for the time and effort and thank the council for your support of the ordinance As far I cannot stress enough the importance of eliminating camping and public property when shelter pets are available Thank you again for addressing this important health and safety issue for our entire community I am calling regarding consent item 12.4 for august 22nd My name is calling block and with cornerstone. We are a north bay property owner and developer I'd like to send my appreciation for the dedicated staff's time and effort put into drowsiness ordinance And also thank you to council for supporting this far Um, I want to reiterate the importance of this ordinance and addressing the health and safety concerns for our community Although I do serve on both downtown organization boards And there is significant impact on downtown cornerstone also deals with implications of the legal campaigning at many of our other properties throughout the city And we do hear concerns from our clients regarding the health and safety issues that we've discussed Um, I appreciate your time. I urge you to move forward with the recommendation of staff to refill and replace the current code By adopting this ordinance and thank you so much Good afternoon. My name is Danielle milson and I am calling in regarding agenda item 12.4 the camping ordinance I work in downtown santa rosa santa rosa plaza and i'm a representative with the downtown action organization And today i'm calling in support of agenda consent item 12.4 camping ordinance I'd like to start by thanking the council for your time and attention to the camping ordinance that is intended to provide a Safer downtown that is welcoming to everyone Our goal is to make downtown a safe and vibrant place for our community Loosely regulated camping on public property poses a health and safety concern for our shoppers employees and visitors alike Camping has an unreasonable financial burden to Santa rosa plaza including a sizable increase in costs by the landscaping security janitorial waste hauling and maintenance Not to mention the safety concerns for our employees who are tasked to dispose of camping debris left behind Camping also poses a fire risk as we have experienced multiple fires through the camping surrounding the shopping center In addition multiple national retail brands who have desired to open a Santa rosa plaza have reversed course after visiting the market And notice safety concerns surrounding downtown is the primary reason The camping ordinance is not intended to be a solution to homelessness But it is one tool in the toolbox for addressing health and safety concerns for all members of our community and providing a Safe experience to work and shop downtown Once again, I appreciate your time today, and I hope that you will vote in favor of the camping ordinance agenda item 12.4. Thank you Thank you Vice mayor mcdonnell, can you please make a motion? Thank you, mayor. I'd like to move items 12.1 through 12.4 Second I have a motion made by vice mayor mcdonnell and a second made by council member rogers Madam city clerk, may you please call the vote? Council member step. Hi council member rogers. Hi council member okraki. Hi council member fleming. Hi council member alvarez Vice mayor mcdonnell. Hi mayor rogers. Hi Let the record show the consent calendar passed with seven affirmative votes Thank you. Moving on to item 13 Which is our first public comment on non agenda items For the evening Madam city clerk, can you please proceed with public comment? Thank you. We are now taking public comment on item 13 non agenda matters This is the time on the agenda where any person may address the council on matters not listed on this agenda But which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council If you are in council chamber would like to comment but have not provided a speaker card Please make your way to the podium If participating via zoom, please raise your hand or dial star nine You will have three minutes and a countdown timer will alert at the end of that period The first public comment will be from dwayne followed by synthia My name is dwayne de wid. I'm from roseland I wanted to thank and actually congratulate eddie alvarez the representative for district one for where I live For hanging tough He's been having to face a lot of difficult situations that aren't of his own making And he's going forward representing our community and doing good things I also wanted to offer some condolences on his family situation And just say there's a lot of folks behind you bro. So you just keep on keeping on With that in mind Don't let it hold I should rephrase it. I know sometimes when I support something that might be held against you So please don't let that happen, bro With that in mind also Big thanks to you for coming forward and saying that you would like to see pomo park and preserve Being a name for the area along roseland creek that people have worked for decades to save you know It's been really heartening To see some of the young pomo folks come forward and say how glad they are that this is going forward One of my pomo friends walks the area every day in honor Of his two brothers who had worked with us Over 30 years ago to try to save this land and they have now both passed away Pomo park and preserve bro. That is the stuff and you know, I really wanted to also add something That is important Decades ago when people came forward and said they wanted to do some positive things We found it really hard to find any kind of a champion in the governmental apparatus The bureaucracy is a silo in many ways and the folks don't really work with us so well So there was just a big conference of the united states environmental protection agency in detroit michigan In which they talked about billions of dollars that have now come forward through the inflation reduction act And that brownfields conference is something that we've known about but Apparently we didn't send anybody from santa rosa Luckily I was able to talk with some folks out there about the successful effort that sonoma county did Five to six years ago to get 392 thousand dollars to do phase one assessments on roberts road Which is now in santa rosa It's now part of your downtown actually the way that you've done things And guess what according to the state's department of toxic substance control The geo tracker list Has sabastopol road as an area that's eligible for these types of funds So i'm hoping that you folks will step up now in the future Maybe collaborate with the county and see about getting some of those federal funds to really help keep the things that we need In the roseland census district on sabastopol road, which is the most disadvantaged underserved and overburdened in the entire county Thank you Thank you. The next public comment will be from synthia Hello everybody My name is synthia and i'm here because it's a coincidence that Yesterday was the deadline to turn in my renewal for my short term rentals I've been at this for hours Trying to submit my application today. Actually I started yesterday There's a glitch in the system and today I came in To personally provide the paperwork because i've been locked out of the system And nobody has taken my paperwork because the city council has an ordinance So i'm just here to please ask for forgiveness I need to submit my paperwork But since the computer has been down, I wouldn't have a chance to do it yesterday I walked into the planning division today, but I couldn't get them to get Proof of me even applying for it because since there's a glitch there is no evidence that I was on the computer Well, how am I supposed to prove that? So I walked over to the city manager's office and they suggested I come here and speak to you I don't i'm desperate. I don't know what to do. I have my paperwork My family depends on this I don't know That's it. I've been trying to submit it And Nobody has taken my paperwork today Do you have a solution for me? We'll have one of our city staffs assist you. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much Thank you. I see no one else in council chamber approaching the podiums for public comment and I see no hands being raised via zoom We will now close public comment Moving to item 14.1 Madam city manager Item 14.1 is a report investment policy update If the staff could introduce themselves for the record. Thank you Good afternoon mayor and city council members Sorry, my name is Veronica connor. I'm the budget manager and i'm here today with monique spike The managing director at pfm asset management And we are presenting to you today an investment policy update So a little background on our investment policy. It was first adopted by the city of santa rosa back in 1985 Since then it's been back to council about 15 times the most recent time being april of 2013 In may of this year the finance department met with pfm and we went over some proposed changes to update and enhance the policy The finance department has met with the major stakeholders here at the city including the parks and rec department The water department and the housing authority and we have all consulted and reviewed the changes and asked any questions that were needed And in conclusion, um while the current policy is comprehensive and in compliance with the california government code We are recommending these proposed changes and i'm going to turn it over to monique who's going to go over these changes with you in detail Thank you Thank you. Good afternoon We thought it would be useful to start with some context for the investment universe Things are chart not showing up I'm sorry. There's a chart on this Presentation that doesn't look like it's showing up Okay, well then we will we will talk through it So if you go back a slide, we'll just look at the the empty and i'll try to paint a picture for you The california government code is the code that governs The ability of california public agencies like the city to invest In a number of different instruments 53 601 is the code section specifically that governs investment opportunities For operating funds and operating reserves Now the broader investment universe includes sort of three main or broad categories Conventional fixed income Which i would characterize as things like us treasury bonds municipal bonds federal agencies and corporate notes These are the things what we were used to seeing and i would categorize as high quality fixed income Going out from that you have the broader fixed income category And this includes things like high yield bonds private placements convertibles Those types of investments are not allowed for california public agencies The equity category as well things that you're used to seeing in your Four three b plans or four one k's also not allowed for these types of funds And then the last category is the alternatives category things like hedge funds private equities Not allowed for california local agencies So the investment universe that we're really restricted to is that conventional fixed income that high quality fixed income Furthermore the california government code also places a maturity restriction for the most part california local agencies Are not required to invest beyond five years without explicit approval from their governing bodies Now i say that to say that we're working in a universe that's already very very conservative I contrast this government code restriction to A state like florida for example, which allows public agencies to invest in equities and commodities So again in california, we're really restricted to high quality fixed income securities Now moving forward To the next slide. Thank you for to the next slide I want to talk about How the city's investment policy Compares to what's allowed by the california government code Now we look at sort of three main categories overnight investment vehicles, which are permitted by the code and by the city's current policy government obligations And this includes things like u.s. Treasuries federal agencies Municipal bonds and super national obligations, which i'll talk about any few slides Now the city's 2013 Policy does allow for municipal obligations But it does not allow for supras. So we have some recommendations for those two categories Which i will go into detail In the credit category, we are making recommendations For expansion of the use of commercial paper And we are also recommending The ability to invest in another category of investment, which are asset backed securities Which are currently not permitted by the city's policy Now our goal for these recommendations is to expand The universe of investments that the city is utilizing in its portfolio Uh to provide more diversification opportunities in the portfolio And also in some instances to help with enhancing income And raising the credit quality of the portfolio as well With that said i will go specifically into the proposed changes to the policy Section by section We wanted to make some changes to the policy that were also consistent with recent changes to the california government code In section six of the policy the introductory paragraphs We provided a recommendation to modify language that clarified that the settlement date Of a security Can not be 45 days from the time that the investment is purchased Now this is a clarification in the code In some instances when you purchase a security, let's say the trade date The settlement date of that security may not be for a few days And so that's called a forward settlement This language in the code simply capped the time between trade and settlement at 45 days Moving forward This recommendation we made in terms of expanding the investment opportunity set Was we recommended adding language to lower the minimum credit quality on municipal obligations From the double a category to the single a category Now the california government code in your policy limits your ability to invest in municipal obligations to those that are issued by california municipalities And if you are investing in a municipal out of the state of california, you have to purchase a state level municipal obligation Now 91 of the municipal bond market is rated in the a category and above We believe Moving this rating category down a step will allow us to access some additional issuers Without necessarily impacting the credit quality of the portfolio And what I mean by that is at pfm asset management. We have a very strict credit review process We consider sort of the broader ratings that are assigned by moody's and s&p to be filter criteria Where we ourselves go in on the back end do and do Independent credit analysis on each investment we purchase on the city's behalf And we have a separate municipal credit group that researches and recommends issuers to us So this rating change will allow us to open our filter for more opportunity But the credit process that is already overlaid on your portfolio is consistent and has not changed The next proposed change to the policy Was increasing the maximum limit for commercial paper from 25 percent to 40 percent Now what's notable about this change is that this was a recent change in the california government code in 2021 Now prior to 2021 counties in the state of california and the city in county, which is san francisco Were allowed to purchase 40 percent of their portfolios in commercial paper They are seen to be larger Agencies who need more Opportunities to find securities and so that's why they had the broader authority. So this Code was modified to allow other large public agencies Those with assets of 100 million or more to have the same capabilities And the city of santa rosa's portfolio, as you know, is certainly large enough to meet that threshold And this gives us some additional investment flexibility by increasing this range by 15 percent The next category of investments is Super nationals now if you are not familiar with super national Obligations i'll define them briefly They are simply international institutions or international corporations that were formed Via consensus or mutual agreement of multiple countries There are three super national organizations allowed for california issuers And that includes the international bank for reconstruction and development Also known as the world bank the international finance corporation and the inter-american development bank These three specific organizations are allowed for california public agencies Because they are AAA rated. They are headquartered in the united states And the code also restricts our ability to purchase these types of agencies to us dollar denominated securities Um We believe this is a great category to have In your policy It is the government sector currently that is AAA rated across the board It allows for us to have more diversification in the government segment of the portfolio And although the code does not have an issuer limit The policy language that was recommended includes a 10 percent per issuer limit in this category Um, the next proposed change to the policy that we are recommending is also to increase Our investment opportunity set and it is to add Acid back securities, which is a type of corporate security Now acid back securities are unique in that they are securities that are actually backed by a pool of assets The policy language that we're recommending limits these types of assets to Equipment backed leases for example or consumer receivables such as auto loans We are also recommending a maximum issuer limit of five percent in this category And the sector limit suggested is 20 percent Now acid back securities have been allowed for public agencies for Many decades In california We also have a separate credit committee for acid back securities that reviews The underwriting standards for the assets that back the securities themselves reviews the programs and we limit ourselves to those programs that are rated AAA, which is also A requirement that we put in the city's investment policy Um moving forward to our recommended changes this next change was also consistent with a Government code change that was enacted this year And this change is simply a clarification To the code that confirmed that when calculating the maximum maturity on a security You utilize the settlement date of that security and the final maturity date And so we added language to match that The next change to the investment policy was simply to add Language from the city's standing resolution which prohibited investments in the fossil fuel industry We recommended How those restrictions would be confirmed and complied with So confirming that the fossil fuel restriction Would include companies engaged in energy services oil and gas producers And also refiners and pipelines And we also clarified the methodology that is used to confirm that And utilizing the Ratings and product placement from sustaina lettix which is a partner And that is a company that is a subsidiary of morning star Which focuses on the sustainability of over 16 000 companies The last proposed changes That we recommended are also sort of clarification changes We added a section on collateralization Which described the security types which require collateralization And that includes a time certificate of deposit and repurchase agreements And lastly we also added a section in the policy which describes the policy review procedure Thank you monique So that concludes the detail of all of our proposed changes and in conclusion where the finance department is recommending that council adopt to the update to the investment policy Which includes the authorizes suitable investment and the investment parameter sections as well as adding the collateralization and investment policy Adoption section And with that monique and I are both here to answer any questions. So thank you Thank you for that presentation looking to council to see if there are any questions councilmember rogers Thank you so much for the presentation I had a question really and I think it might fall under the asset back security section And correct me if it doesn't but i'm really curious on how our investment portfolio aligns with the city's overall goals And in particular certain things like housing or energy Is there room in the investment portfolio for the city to invest in housing projects in santa rosa for instance That perhaps we've talked before about a revolving fund To help get projects actually built with a guaranteed rate of return back to the city Or an investment in one of snow mclean powers Geothermal plants that they're working to to build for instance And I know that there was a program out of sacramento that we talked about back in 2018 I think it was maybe it was 2017 That really looked at how municipalities could use their investment portfolio to sort of hyper charge or super charge Particularly around housing Yeah, that's a that's a great question councilmember rogers Unfortunately, the california government code does not leave a lot of flexibility to invest in locally financed projects And the reason for that is just the way the california government code describes and enumerates the allowable investments for california local agencies for these types of funds specifically And so what we do is we find ourselves challenged a bit when it comes to Being able to participate in local financing for housing programs, etc On a broader basis, we do participate in many commercial mortgage back programs Which are often multifamily housing, but that tends to sort of stretch across the country and is not very localized We continue to engage with Our banking partners at us bank and other places to continue to think about ways to bring ideas To our client partners, but it's really hard with this particular portfolio to engage In opportunities like that just because of the code restrictions And I think if I remember correctly, I think the program that we were sort of looking at was a pilot program that liquidated CDs primarily and then partnered with local banks particularly your your local hyper local banks to create a program where essentially they would Administer the money in exchange for having specific parameters set up on who they could lend that money to So I don't know if you've seen any of that I don't know if that program still is around or that Then a pilot program was but I would be interested in either hearing more eventually about how we can invest in Particularly housing with our investment strategies or what state Changes we would need to start talking with our state partners and our representatives about Thank you seeing no additional questions or Comments i'm going to ask Madam city clerk To facilitate public comment. Thank you. We are now taking public comment on item 14.1 If you are in council chamber would like to comment but have not provided a speaker card or your name Please make your way to the podium if you are participating via zoom, please dial star nine or raise your hand You will have three minutes and a countdown timer will alert at the end of that period Mayor i'm seeing no one approaching the podiums in council chamber I see no hands being raised via zoom and we had no advanced public comments. Thank you council member flaming. Can you please Make a motion Indeed I move a resolution of the council of the city of santa rosa amending council policy 000-26 Statement of investment policy and way further reading of the text. Okay We have a motion made by council member flaming in a second by vice mayor mcdonald Are there any additional questions or comments? Seeing none. Madam city clerk. Can you please call the vote? Council member step. Hi council member rogers. Hi council member okrepki. Hi council member flaming. Hi council member alvarez council oops Excuse me vice mayor mcdonald. Hi mayor rogers. I let the record show that passes with seven affirmative votes Thank you And right now we will skip the rest of the items on 14 and come back to them But we are going to go to our first public hearing which is 15 0.1. Madam city manager Item 15.1 is a public hearing placement of annual storm water enterprise charges on the sinoma county property tax roll manner of collection There we go. All right. Good evening. Mayor rogers and council members I am pleased to be here today to discuss the placement of the annual storm water enterprise charges on the sinoma county property tax roll The storm water enterprise was created by council in accordance with title 16 of the city code in 1996 It provides funding for implementation of the city's national pollutant discharge Elimination system or npds storm water permit as well as activities such as creek restoration and stewardship flood protection public education storm drain maintenance and storm water quality testing The calculated assessment is based on equivalent residential unit or eru Which considers the size of the parcel the amount of impervious surface and the land use of each parcel The current eru fee is $39.98 which was approved by council during the 2023 2024 budget process In order to simplify the payment process for property owners and to minimize collection expenses for the city It is requested that these charges be collected on the sinoma county property tax roll on the city's behalf The charges have been collected Annually on the tax roll since they were established in september of 1996 It is in the best interest of the city that these that those parcels not billed By the county due to the charges not meeting the county's $10 minimum to bill And or parcels with known incorrect ownership contact information Shall not be separately billed by the city as the cost of separately billing exceeds the potential revenue Any charges not collected will not affect other parcel charges today's public hearing in accordance with title 16 of the City code will adopt the storm water enterprise enterprise charge report Approve placing the charges on the county tax roll for collection And allow the public the opportunity to protest the method of collecting the charges It is recommended by santa rosa water that the council by resolution Adopt by two-thirds vote the storm water enterprise charge report And approve placement of the storm water enterprise charges on the sinoma county property tax roll To be collected by the sinoma county auditor controller treasurer tax collector At the same time and in the same manner as sinoma county property taxes are collected Unless those charges do not meet the county's minimum of ten dollars And or parcel owner contact information is known to be incorrect With that Okay, I'm welcome. I'm I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you for that presentation council. Are there any questions? Seeing none. I will now open the public hearing Madam city clerk. Can you please facilitate public comment? Thank you mayor We are now taking public comment on item 15.1 If you're in council chamber would like to comment but have not provided a speaker card or your name Please make your way to the podium if you are participating via zoom Please raise your hand or dial star nine. You will have three minutes and a countdown timer will alert at the end of that period May I see no one approaching the podiums for public comment and no hands in zoom being raised Thank you, we will now close Close the public hearing and I'll bring it back to council to see if they're Are any questions seeing none Uh council member step. Can you please make a motion? Thank you, mayor I move that the council of the city of santa roza approve and adopt the report for proposal to place stormwater and drainage charges On sinoma county property tax rule for collection with county property taxes for the fiscal year 2023 2024 And wait for the reading of the text second I have a motion made by council member step and a second by vice mayor mcdonald Madam city clerk. May you please call the vote? Thank you, mayor council member step. Hi council member rogers. Hi council member ocrepe. Hi council member fleming. Hi council member alvarez Vice mayor mcdonald. Hi mayor rogers. I let the record show that passes with seven affirmative votes Thank you Council will now take a short dinner break and we will return at 6 30 Madam city clerk santa quorum. May you please call the roll? Thank you, mayor council member step here council member rogers Council member ocrepe. Here council member fleming here council member alvarez Vice mayor mcdonald I'm here Mayor rogers present let the record show all council members are present with the exception of council member alvarez We're going to continue Um, and we're going to go to item 14.2. Madam city manager Okay, as the theme music plays for item 14.2 We have a report. It's a grant application to the federal emergency management agency staffing for adequate fire and emergency response grant safer For funding for the hiring of 12 firefighters for high demand service areas Thank you city manager. Uh, good evening. Mayor rogers members of council scott westrow fire chief for the city of santa rosa today we bring to you a request for application for a fema safer grant And as city manager Outline safer is the staffing for adequate fire emergency response Normally, we'd bring something like this to you under consent, but due to the potential for Long-term financial implications. We felt it best to be a little bit more detailed in this report so just some quick background on the department and on safer itself In 2019 some of you recall ESci which is emergency services consulting international Conducted a staffing needs assessment for santa rosa fire They found that santa rosa fire department did not meet nfpa 1710 for full assembly at structure fire 61 of the time all the fine nfpa 1710 and And call out why we weren't meeting those times later on the presentation Our call volume has significantly increased over the past three years in 2000 in calendar year 22 we ran almost 30,000 calls for a year for service 240 those were structure fires and we typically run right around 60 percent emergency medical service calls We have a current strategic plan of deployment analysis that recommend the need for additional resources And really on the on the safer side We have successfully managed and implemented three previous safer grants in 2006 where we hired three firefighters To bring staffing to engine 10 on the southwest side We hired nine firefighters In 2012 for staffing of engine 10 and 11 in 2013 we hired three firefighters for station six So safer grant guidelines The safer grant is essentially funding available for hiring firefighters for a three-year period of performance This is based off nfpa 1710 structural response standards, which i'll get into here in a moment And there is no cost share match during the period of performance So what we find our ourselves in is a situation where we're trying to solve two concurrent problems at the same time nfpa 1710 is what safer relies on for staffing and i'll describe it here In detail in a moment So we're worried about 1710 and that has to deal with structure fires We also have a problem which i'll get into in the next slide with our day-to-day response time So for our ems calls car crashes lift assists has hazardous material responses What we do on a majority on the on the day-to-day? We're also seeing a decline in our compliance with response times there So we're trying to fix both those problems at the same time with federal funding tied to 1710 So 1710 looks at three areas of focus It's the arrival of the initial engine assigned to the event within four minutes 90 of the time It's arrival of a full complement of firefighting resources for us that 17 people eight minutes 90 of the time And to call one thing out here where we saw the major decrease in 2019 is The minimum personnel and the full complement changed from 14 to 17 and our first on alarm assignment is 14 people So we were very good until they changed the number and increased the number I was waiting to say next slide. Please. I forgot it was me Um a response time compliance. So just on the day-to-day basis The last time we added a resource or added a station engine company was 2009 So if we look at 2010 one year after Um inception of engine 11 we were running just around 9500 calls for service And we were meeting our city council goal response times 76.87 of the time In 2022 like we just talked about we ran just shy of 30 000 calls a year for service and our response times are down Compliance wise to just under 60 And just to remind you all city council goals response time standards is five minutes for turnout and travel time 90 of the time So you see there's a minute variance in there between NFPA and council and actually it's it's false It's the same because NFPA does not count turnout time. They just count response time So we give a minute for turnout time and four minutes for response time So your goals are the same as NFPA 1710s. They're just calculated a little bit differently So in order to address these Collateral problems of NFPA 1710 response time standards and our response times goal on a day-to-day basis Our team got really creative in what we're going to look at here So our request is to the federal government is a 7.08 million dollar grant over three years According to 2.3 million dollars per year This will fund the hiring of 12 new firefighter paramedics And these new firefighters will staff two advanced life support squads I'm going to take a pause here real quick to explain what a squad is For those of you who have been around for a while The show emergency in the 70s That's why i'm here Followed squad 51, you know, it's a it's a it's a smaller vehicle. So they're on a on a truck-based chassis Really quick to respond to person And so they can get to areas quicker get to smaller areas quicker and they're and they're very Flexible in what their their mission can be Now we may not have something that looks exactly like that but the squads will be a two-person resource That will be a small light vehicle. They will not be on a fire engine if we get this grant tomorrow Quite honestly, they may be in one of our current fleet suvs or pickup trucks Eventually we have some different plans on what we can put them in but it's not a fire engine It is a quick response vehicle. So to speak So the the squads will respond to ems calls for service focused on our busiest fire districts Particularly district one downtown and district 11 up by the jc But they'll move around as our data dictates And they'll also respond to structure fires as part of that NFPA 1710 Compliance model in the off-peak hours. So typically we look at peak probably 8 a.m to 8 p.m in the off-peak hours The squad personnel will be disseminated to four different outlying stations To be the fourth person on an engine company. So that really helps us with the NFPA response time standards so They're essentially going to be working a split shift They'll be working half of it on the squad running calls downtown and and in the in the major core areas And then at night they'll be going to engine companies and the main reason for this is We don't have a place to house two squads. We don't have sleeping facilities and office facilities for Two additional resources on a day-to-day basis. So that's where the team got really creative I really compliment them for for how they got through this and and found a creative solution to the problem So what we're really here to talk about is not necessarily the tactical implementation But really what happens at the end of the grant award? So when the period of performance ends there's going to be a lot of different You know variances on what we can look at doing with these people but Sort of at a high level the three major areas that we can consider are Continue to fund the 12 fte's and continue to keep the squads in service out of the general fund We can identify an alternative funding source to keep the squads in service Or utilize the employees in a different capacity The landscape could really change between now and then with some of the things that we have I'm in the pipeline right now with the frail's contract and with a potential sales tax measure So there's a lot of different ways. We may be able to use these employees in three years Worst case scenario in which we've done in the past is we would absorb these employees by attrition into the current workforce through Retirements injury retirements things like that. So so really there's not a whole lot of risk because at the end of the day When we assess the effectiveness of the squads we assess where we're at financially as a city Assess where out is a fire department in our strategic plans moving forward We have options and and the worst option is we absorb the employees and we do not do we don't we don't lamb off or anything like that So with that the recommendation is Uh, the fire department to the recommendation by the fire department that the council by resolution authorized staff to submit a grant application to fema For safer in total in the total amount of 7.084440 dollars for hiring of 12 firefighters for response in high demand areas To authorize the fire chief or designee to accept the grant award and approve and execute all documents and agreements related to the grant Subject to approval as to the form by the city attorney And three authorize the cfo to appropriate funds into the project account by the amount of the grant award And with that that is in my presentation. I'll turn it over you for any questions you may have Thank you chief for that presentation looking to council to see if there are any questions Or comments council member. Oh crepeki Yeah, I just want to quick clarifying question And I'll walk this tight rope as easily as I can from a strictly informational standpoint One of those things you have in the hopper Uh, that is in the hopper is that sales tax measure which is meant to enhance but not replace funding Should we approve this funding now? If this grant or if this would with this grant Disqualify us How do I say this would this grant not allow us since it would be an internal funding? Would it not allow us to use tax possible tax measure funding for it going forward? Now I understand I understand the question where you're going with it And I think that's where I was really trying to lean into The fact that it's there's going to be some reflex time with the potential sales tax measure if it does pass We wouldn't see the funds until fourth quarter 24 first quarter of 25 And then we have to hire additional people we have to build fire stations We buy got to buy the equipment things like that So there's going to be some time in there and there's enough flexibility written into the ordinance language of the potential sales tax measure That we could still use those funds to Hire the personnel and keep them In employment. So I don't think there's going to be an issue and I think the timing could be Very good I was trying to think of a fancy word and I couldn't come up with it Any additional questions from council Seeing none madame city clerk may you please facilitate public comment? Thank you We are now taking public on item 14.2 if you're in the council chamber and would like to provide comment But have not provided a speaker card. Please make your way to the podium If you are participating via zoom, please raise your hand or dial star nine You will have three minutes and a countdown timer will alert at the end of that period and again This is for item 14.2 the grant application I See no one approaching the podium in council chamber. I'm going to turn it over to our zoom host to facilitate zoom public comments First up is adena And after that will be shelby Just want to confirm that this is for item report item 14.2 So adena I'm Allowing your permissions to talk Uh getting me council I believe uh, this is the item regarding the fire grants. Is that correct? Yes, okay So to speak to this further I believe that previously mr Ocrafki was the founder of coffee strong along with mr. Steve brahm Sonoma county supervisor gore's brother-in-law There's been a lot of inquiries Surrounding the allocation of the funding with the fire grants for example, uh Supervisor gore's wife previously lobbied two million for PG&E with the fire victim money Instead of giving that money to the fire victims, which is illegal as a 501c3 I've noticed similar patterns with uh coffee strong and so I As an investigative journalist for the health money globe I'm currently covering the story regarding the hawaii fires and they are completely illegitimate This was definitely planned by our government, which I can tangibly prove through the financials and associated and matters Um, so I I hope that's not the case within santa rosa However, I was the executive assistant to the fountain grove country club when it burned down It was the largest fire claim within the entire area and uh As somebody who was the executive assistant I get to hear the dirty laundry aired of some of our richest individuals in the community and so It seems like a great way to fabricate disasters that we are profiting off of While as a genuine member of this community, I want to believe that's not true um, for example with the tubs fire the fire map the way that it jumped was absolutely insane and uh It's a bit ridiculous. So I would love as somebody who is involved And labeled now by the media as the largest activist in the entire county for us to have some kind of citizen action grip So we can uh, at least if we're not auditing every single contract going to the council for approval I'd like to do spot checks. I think that's absolutely necessary I haven't had enough time to fully dig into santa rosa council as my focus is more at the county level But the misappropriation of funds as a former government employee who's currently in settlement with my employer former employer It's really concerning and i'm concerned for our constituents because our taxpayers work hard And there is zero transparency in this county. So thank you. I appreciate your time Next step is shelby Shelby, please go ahead when you're ready Hello, good evening vor Good evening, um I just want to follow up on uh, miss florida's comment. Mr.  Your questions were about grant funding and how this would affect uh individuals I'm sure you're very interested in that because you like taking money from the constituents anyway I'm really concerned at the data that's being pulled Uh on your projects and the things that you have your hands in It's very interesting to me that Mr. O creepy you have a uh very big uh interest in this taxation Which you know that taxation is bs.  Please not allowed to brought me while i'm discussing uh anything that is related to this And this is very related to this as a product violation. I'll get your name. Don't worry This public record is very public and I can uh pull the transcripts and I'll be sure that the Individuals who need to take care of you and set you straight will um this comes down to the fact that basically These grant funds the taxation that you individuals are interested in mr. O creepy like I was saying ma'am um Basically Can be proven that none of the funds that went to to any of the fire victims to begin with And this gentleman is sitting up on the board asking about tax money and money to begin with He's the last person on earth. I think should be asking any of that So I'll leave it short and sweet. You're going to be under investigation, bro Get used to that Because we're going to be here for a long time our activism is out here And we'll have you in articles after articles after articles and we will get the transparency Whether you like it or not and hopefully like I told your brothers mr. Gore just earlier I hope you guys all end up like Martha Stewart, but no snoop dog at the end. All right brothers. Have a good day Thank you. We have no additional hands raised via zoom And no prerecorded messages for this site All right Thank you councilmember o crepti. Can you please make a motion? Happily I move a resolution of the council the city of santa rosa authorizing the submittal of a grant application to the federal emergency management agency fema for funding of hiring 12 firefighters in the amount of 7,084,440 Dollars in zero cents authorizing the fire chief or designee to accept the grant award approve and execute all documents And agreement related to the grant and authorizing The chief financial officer to appropriate the funds and waver for the reading of the text second I have a motion made by councilman row crepti in a second made by councilmember staff Are there any questions? From council comments Seeing none madame city clerk. Can you please? Call the vote councilmember staff I councilmember rogers. Hi councilmember o crepti Hi councilmember fleming. Hi councilmember alvarez. Hi Vice mayor mcdonald Mayor rogers. Hi Let the row excuse me Let the record show that passes the six affirmative votes with council or vice mayor mcdonald absent from the dais Moving on to item 14.3 madame city manager Item 14.3 is a report fiscal year 2023 2024 budget amendment Increase appropriations to construct a modern irrigation supply system for the bennett valley golf course And delegate authority for issuance of a design build request for proposals To design and construct the bennett valley golf course irrigation supply system project I'm sorry g in. You don't have any theme music. So Thank you Mayor rogers vice mayor mcdonald councilmembers. I'm gen santos the acting director for recreation and parks department And thanks for that. I'm going to get this soon. Hopefully and figure this out myself, but tonight we're going to discuss the request To for a budget amendment to increase appropriations for bennett valley golf course and the amount of two million dollars to construct a modern irrigation system And two i will say from the wisdom of our capital projects team A recommendation to request the option to utilize the design build method To select that if we choose as a saving a step should the termination To use design design build being the best interest of the city So I always start with this slide when we're talking about bennett valley golf course But I just like to set us up for those of us who haven't seen it as well on the left You'll see an aerial view of the golf course And we have in red the On the southern part or the lower part of the slide the restaurant Pro shop parking area and at the top we have the maintenance areas and everything else in between is Is golf course as well as our driving range and on the right you can see a graphic image of that Representing the golf course area We have it's an 18 hole golf course of course with A driving range restaurant pro shop and On the right one you can see matanzas creek going through it a little bit better than you can on the aerial And so as I mentioned we have 150 acres 18 hole par 72 650 500 acre yard yard Golf course with an unlit driving range is very popular We have a one of the reasons we're here tonight is that we have been talking for the last year and a half about the irrigation system And the infrastructure needs at the golf course and the critical nature they're at being over 50 years old at this point Last year we saw a presentation from the national golf foundation who did it analysis of the condition of the golf course And facilities surrounding the golf course and they strongly recommended that the council consider Funding these critical infrastructure needs at the golf course Which especially the irrigation system has not been updated for over 50 years and it's really in critical condition so Also national golf foundation also emphasize the need For investment in our critical infrastructure as a means to Getting a better investment for the community as well as potential revenue growth at the golf course So those are really key items they mentioned to the council On ways that they we could improve the golf course and keep it sustained for the next 50 years So the golf course primarily relies on rain water during the winter months spring through fall And relies on well water In spring through summer and usually takes about eight to ten hours of irrigation at night to water The golf course depending on the weather if it's if it's a little bit cooler out We we don't need that much hours if it's a little hotter it will go up to 10 hours potentially So when the council approved touchstones management agreement last june We did discuss then at that time The recognition of the need to return to discuss infrastructure needs critical infrastructure needs and we did talk briefly about the Or maybe specifically about the irrigation system the drainage systems and a lot of other Infrastructure needs at the golf course itself so One thing that national golf foundation recognized was that the irrigation system is the Critical need is you know providing water to the golf course is the life force of that golf course and without water We really don't have a golf course. So we in order to move forward with an irrigation system. We're really looking at That water storage system that supply system to the existing irrigation system New pumps etc to get that started And the process we're choosing is to Produce and request for proposals for a consultant design to design and construct it. We're also looking at potentially Authorizing this city manager to allow for us to look at the design build options as a time saving step Because we are you know, we are wanting to move this project forward quickly so that we can really get these critical infrastructure projects rolling Touchstone while will the city will be bidding the project touchstone will remain as our advisor and Provide information to us. They are our experts on the golf course and they have reconstructed Many things on their other golf courses and they're very familiar with this irrigation system It would be a great service to the city to have their services through this process That's supposed to say simultaneously. We will Be conducting an environmental analysis on this irrigation supply system and Have an environmental declaration declaration at the same time Once we're moving forward with the Proposal we'll be coming back to council. So tonight we're looking at The request for a budget amendment as well as the authorization to use design build if we choose But we'll be coming back when it is a project We'll be coming back for that authorization council to approve that plan And when we do that, we'll be conducting a huge outreach plan to work with our golfing community as well as our neighbors and community stakeholders to talk about the Construction the upcoming project and make sure we've heard from our community At that point we'll also be putting out a schedule So that everyone can see what is planned We'll keep the golf course Operational during the whole construction project There may be some holes that are off, but you can I'm hearing from touch showing you can hit those same holes twice or they have methods for Making sure the golfers can have an 18 round of golf even while construction is ongoing so the Let's see. I'm going to go ahead and skip ahead so we can get get through this part On the financial side just a reminder this is an enterprise fund Which means that we're expecting that the revenue raised at the golf course is funding its operations and maintenance going forward as well as capital infrastructure As you've heard us several times before when we come before you in the years prior The golf course has not made enough funds to get us to a point where we have a Capital fund reserve we have reserves for operations and maintenance as required by the council policy But we're not in a position where we have Funds available for large infrastructure, you know critical infrastructure needs And so that's why we're here tonight to talk about you know The golf course is not going to be in a position to have the funds necessary to start this process In the near future and we'll be needing an investment here to keep this golf course operational I think i've said this before but i'll say it again It's worth mentioning national golf foundation did predicate their projections of future revenue based on the implementation All high priority capital projects with of course the irrigation system being the number one priority So in our original estimate we were originally thinking of a cost estimate of one million dollars But as we have watched the bids come in for other projects and we have Done preliminary research for this we we realized this project is likely to cost closer to two million dollars So we're asking for two million dollars from the unassigned general fund reserves for the irrigation system and environmental review And so like i mentioned before i just want to mention again We this is about the budget amendment tonight as well as the Use of design build and we will come back at a future date when we do have a project to present to you And go through that contract With you at that time And for now we it is recommended by the recreation and parks department and transportation and public works departments That the council by resolution increase appropriations in the bennett valley golf course Operations fund and the amount of two million dollars from the unassigned general fund reserves for environmental review design and construction of a modern irrigation supply system at bennett valley golf course and to Delegate authority to the city manager or designee to determine whether a design build procurement isn't the best interest of the city And to issue the design build request for proposal for the project And with that i Happy to answer questions. I also want to mention that I do have represent as some touchstone Here if there are any detailed questions about Touchstone so thanks Thank you for that presentation and thank you all for being here in case we have any questions Looking at council to see if there are any questions or comments All right seeing none madam city clerk may please facilitate public comment Thank you, mayor We are now taking public comments on item 14.3 If you are in the council chamber and would like to comment but have not provided a speaker card Or your name, please make your way to the podium if you are participating via zoom, please raise your hand or dial star nine You will have three minutes and a countdown timer will alert at the end of that period The first public comment will be from richard Thank you My name is richard carlough and i'm president of the save bennett valley golf course group Which I think you're all familiar with We're about 4 000 strong that we're backing the support of the golf course and I I think You know, this is just another step That was brought out to the by the attention of the national golf foundations report given to the council earlier on the need for this irrigation system And uh, it's irrigation hand storage And I can tell you I think it's a good idea to do a design build Because these are very complex systems They're spread out over a large area And as a civil engineer I can vowed for that I was involved in the design and construction of four golf courses here locally And it's very complex. So I think this is a good move and having the flexibility with the city manager to Adjust it as it moves forward is another good idea. So on behalf of the save bennett valley golf course I recommend that you approve this And move forward with the irrigation system. Thank you Thank you. I see no additional public comments from council chamber. I'll turn it over to our zoom host to facilitate zoom public comments Thank you. We will start with shelby followed by jim Shelby, please go ahead when you're ready Thank you. Um, thank you. Good evening again council. Um, you know I wish there was a short way to explain this but helping this golf course go ahead and take more water When we're looking at droughts when we're looking at all this other stuff And we have a homeless crisis In in the midst of all this my mom used to tell me as a young kid That I couldn't watch cartoons unless I did my chores first Um on saturday morning So I would do them friday night I guess what i'm trying to get from that little story is is that you're not prioritizing Things that are important and you're going to go waste millions of dollars to let these white people play a stupid game Where they kick this ball around this doesn't make any damn sense You need to Not give them this money Since they're 4 000 members strong and they all have the money in their pockets.  Thank you Thanks to will be jim followed by adina Jim, please go ahead when you're ready Hello, can you hear me? Yes we can My name is james girk. I'm a resident of santa rosa since 2012 I've been an annual member of the golf course since 2013 And i'm presently on the bennett valley advisory committee You know, I think that the gentleman before he makes some good points, but I would say That you know, you have to be somewhat visionary about the whole idea of recreation The golf course in galvin park These are like gems that any city in the in california would be envious of the fact that we've had these around for over 54 years So in touchstone I believe that you've got really an outstanding administrator of the golf course Operating more than 20 courses across the state including the public tilden park in berkeley and prosidio in san francisco i'm also a member of a number of Of clubs that play at the golf course and while the number 4000 that was turned out That's just a fraction of the number of people that actually used the golf course And the numbers could be easily generated by touchstone about how many rounds they sell every year I played with some gentlemen from chen Rafale last week And they marveled at what a great deal it was and what a wonderful course Going back to the previous gentleman's comment last week. I played with the gentleman who is an immigrant from ethiopia The week before that I played with an immigrant citizen Here who was from korea both business people who are annual members of the golf course So there is diversity. There's youth There's a women's league I mean, this is a gem of san rosen I hate to bring up the fact that you've probably heard it a million times before But were it not for the fact that a previous city councils You know unloaded a lot of debt on the golf course in order to build the clubhouse and the restaurant Had it not been for that you wouldn't be faced with the issue of an appropriation But I highly urge you to vote yes On the staff's recommendation for the two million dollars And 54 more years of bennett valley and galvin park as a recreational gem to san rosen. Thank you Next step will be a dina followed by shila Dina, please go ahead when you're ready Good evening council. I would like to echo the sentiments expressed by mr. Pryor There is definitely socioeconomic difference between the county of sonoma and the county of solano specifically the city of vileo Are residing currently That being said when we are looking at available funding overall and prioritizing a golf course is not a necessity and when I speak about Prioritizing for example in blale, california. We're not worried about golf courses. We have prostitutes walking around in broad daylight So those are the priorities we're discussing and when I go over to rosen. We're all of my friends reside I'm somebody who grew up playing competitive soccer on fields that are torn apart That hasn't changed since I was the child Mr. Alvarez is doing amazing things and we are so lucky to have him But he is one person and political processes take time I heard uh during comments earlier today on the consent calendar Uh statements regarding the homeless issue as an investigative journalist I cover homelessness across the state of california and it is increasing exponentially People are actually being shuttled into the county because the encampments are growing rapidly So when we are trying to figure out where the funding needs to lie We should be prioritizing the best interests of the people And that of course, I'd love to fulfill the needs of recreational activities But somebody's livelihood should always come first. There are people who can't put food on the table There are people that don't have a roof over their head and I can't personally imagine what that's like and I pray for those people and I you know, I am humbled by the conditions that they face So I appreciate the gentleman that spoke before me and the manner in which he addressed mr. Pryor's comments. Uh, he was very kind. I would like to say that much So I'm hoping that we could come to some kind of resolution, but I think there needs to be Better prioritization at this time. Thank you Thank you. Next up is shila shila. Please go ahead when you're ready Uh, yes. Hello. My name is shila bell and I've been involved with the save bennett valley golf course grassroots support program Or group since february of 2021 and I've been a resident in santa rosa since 1977 I strongly encourage the city's approval to appropriate the two million dollars from the unassigned general fund reserves For the environmental review design and construction of a modern irrigation supply system for the bennett valley golf course Appropriation of the funds is the first critical step towards a full replacement of the aging as was mentioned in the report Over 50 years irrigation system infrastructure As was seen this past winter the ability to handle flooding and water movement on the course is essential To maintaining this important enterprise park within our city To clarify a bit to the community the course has its own aquifer And this is not on the city's water system So that's to be really looked at when you're talking about drought and water reserves As we all know the bennett valley golf course continues to be an important asset in our community that supports all walks of life ethnicities and ages Including very valuable youth programs within our community very valuable and touchstone has done an outstanding job To date with the management of the course and supporting these youth programs women's programs Retirement programs outreach into the community as well And that's despite the challenges they faced when first assuming that position My hope is that the city will continue to provide meaningful support to touchstone and our entire community By providing the funds needed to improve and maintain this very important asset within our community Given that it will continue also to be an important revenue generator within our community Without the ability to take care of it and improve it and maintain it that can't happen Thank you for your consideration on this very important area within our city. Thank you Thank you. We have no additional public speakers on zoom and no prerecorded messages Thank you councilmember staff. Can you please make a motion? Thank you mayor I move that the that the city council of san aroja Let's see make a fiscal year 2023 2024 budget amendment to increase appropriations to construct a modern irrigation storage system for the bennett valley golf course bvgc With the source of funds being the unassigned general fund reserves and delegation of authority to the city manager or a Designee to determine whether a design build procurement is in the best interests of the city And to issue the design build request for proposal for the project and we have to further reading the text second I have a motion made by councilmember staff and a second by councilmember oak crepeki Are there any additional? Questions or comments from council members councilmember alvarez Thank you, madam mayor Jen, thank you for the presentation in regards to the irrigation of the golf course I'm seeing the use of rain waterfall through spring because you elaborate a little bit on On what that means. Are we waiting for the raindrops to fall in spring to water the grass? Yes, actually, it's really simple. So yeah, we just rely on uh old-fashioned rain water to water the course Through that through the winter And sometimes springing that make that determination a win to start up the wells to help water the And taking into consideration some of the callers and their concerns and having visited the the park itself And thank you for the for the stroll around the park on the summer day Could we consider the way that park sits right now a liability to the city of san rosa and something that we're actively trying to resolve Well, definitely we're looking at something that we we really want to actively resolve and I think you you know Whether you want to call it a liability It's in a critical nature and improvement. Right. It's really critical. We've spent You know $40,000 every few years fixing pumps alone and little bits and pieces that break on this system So really trying to make sure that we're looking at investing in our infrastructure Is in my mind reducing the risk for failure of the golf course There is a high likelihood of failure if we have a significant failure of the Water supply system. So we're looking at updating that modernizing it after 50 plus years Yes, it definitely looks like something that would have been on on an airship during the first landing of the moon Uh, you know, it definitely looks like they might have dropped it off on the way back, right? Uh, what I really want the the the community to understand is that That this is a gem of the city of san rosa And I know there's been history that hasn't been always bright for the investment there at the golf course But one thing that we must recognize is that Moving forward it's here. And I think it's our responsibility to make sure that it's it stays here for for future residents And it's investment that we've made as a city of san rosa And one that we must continue to make and make sure that we assure it's here And I understand there's issues with the park, but it's something that we are definitely trying to address So the next council the next generation doesn't have to so it's definitely trying to take off the band-aid and and cure The wound uh, so to speak so I do thank you gen. Thank you council member stop Thank you council member alvarez. I'm just a quick follow-up on that and actually in response to a couple of the callers um Sometimes the benedict golf course is talked about as though it was the benedict country club That's not what it is. It's it's a public course And that's that there's a very different culture there to anybody who has played the game or visited the course And if we were talking about a private club and many of us here on the dais have had that have enjoyed Being part or playing at the benedict country club urban valley. Sorry, benedict golf course And if you go and you hang out at the driving range or you're on the course You're seeing that you're seeing a broad swath of the city Golf has an alias reputation unfortunately and some of that's some of that's deserved But that's not what you find when you go to the benedict valley golf course Or another golf course in the area at um at the fairgrounds You're just you're going to see a lot of a lot of local families from all across the city from all across the county Enjoying that park setting. So that's that's what we're trying to preserve here Um, and I just had one question It is about How are we Two million dollars is a lot of money What measures are we taking to try to increase the diversity and diversify What is offered at the golf course so that we have more youth there people from Like southwest and rows of people from all over Coming to play and I know we have some programs. So in responding to Some of the comments. I just want to I want to say that the council has looked at that and we have made it a priority Touchstone has agreed to make it a priority. But exactly what those programs are. I don't know. So if you can let me know, that would be great Sure, I I would be happy to do that But the best person to do that I would like to call if somebody from touchstone can come down to talk about the programs they have a wide variety of programs That they offer and we're Continue to work with them on how we can diversify Different programs and how we can use the programs that we have in recreation to match up students to to golf But i'll turn it over to the experts here to talk about the programs they have Running right now Hello, my name is greg inerson. I'm the general manager at benna valley golf course in iron and mine restaurant And it's been an honor for us to be involved with the property and one of the fun things that I I have done historically throughout my career is been a junior golf is a is a foundation of every program where I've developed a Golf entity so what we have done is we developed a junior golf program Which is year-long program we have And programs going right and right now that are year-long and And we are reaching out to all the schools that let them know I reached out to the athletic director at lc allen school Let them know they're they dropped their their golf program last year and it's important for me that Or actually it's during a pandemic. They dropped their program It's important to me to get them back into the the stay well again and utilize our golf course For for their golfers Montgomery high school Their girls team this year that is local and you know, we we might be talking about You know another part of town, but their high school team this year has gone on from 10 girls last year to they have 24 people that showed up So I've just introduced myself to boys and girls clubs of Sonoma county and Nevada or marine county That we are going to raise funds for them so they can come out and participate in golf And not only as a sport, but also as a vocation Show them that golf and Show that the business of golf if they have an interest have an interest in that type of activity Seniors where we have many senior clubs at our at our club and They're they're improving and advancing every day about more activities that we're doing at the club Which includes You know, just simply throwing a meal into their their Their golf round and things that are just making more enticing to get there So we're we're doing everything that We're we're meant to do and you know, and as I'm talking about this is I look forward to this get in a little more enhanced as we go, but Being our first year there. I think our junior programs is a great start in getting our Little more diverse and what we're doing Thank you very much for Answering that question for me. Are there any other questions or comments from council Councilmember alvarez Sir, I appreciate what you're doing with the youth Especially the junior program and I understand that you're working with Sonoma and marine Boys and girls club and I just want to let you know There's actually a rosin boys and girls club that I would love for you to Approach and and make that that make that invitation as well I put me personally the only time I've been golfing was at the driving range I ended up with blisters and I never tried it again But I'm sure there's people out there that would love to know the sport and probably are very good at it And they just don't know that they are but I appreciate your efforts. Please introduce me to them You know just send me their their messaging who who I should be and I would love to do so and I appreciate that very much Thank you Thank you seeing no additional Questions or comments. Madam city clerk. Can you please call the vote? Councilmember step aye Councilmember rogers. Aye Councilmember okrepke. Aye councilmember Fleming. Aye councilmember alvarez. Aye vice mayor mcdonnell. Aye mayor rogers Aye, let the record show this passes with seven affirmative votes Thank you for the presentation. We're now going to be moving on to item 14.4 City manager. Oh, I'm sorry Item 14.4 is a report diversity of diversity of city council boards commissions and committees Good evening vice mayor mayor rogers And council dean of manna city clerk providing the report on boards commissions and committees diversity report for 2022 The following slides will review the charter requirements for this report Including review of the total number of applications and appointments in a given year The relevant diversity information on ethnicity gender and geography And some additional data that was requested at last year's 2018 through 2021 diversity catch-up report Section 11 of the city charter re