 Good afternoon. Let's call to order the meeting of the Santa Rosa City Council for January 29th, and I'm city clerk Could you take the roll? Let the record show that all council members are present Thank you Proclamations and it's with some trepidation and a little bit of an anticipation Mr. Vice Mayor Rogers will read the proclamation and someone from the chamber coming Excuse me, Mr. Mayor We have not reported out as my back Keep you all in anticipation for what vice mayor is going to read I'll report out on closed session and the council did meet on items 2.1 and 2.2 and Gave direction to staff on each of those items. Thank you. So I'm sorry. Who is receiving the proclamation? Oh, there you are. Thank you Mr. Vice Mayor, I appreciate that mr. Mail Mr. Mayor, I always appreciate an opportunity for us to have resolutions that Strike it what ails this community? I Think that it's the yeast that we're going to get better So whereas craft beer is highlighted and celebrated in the month of February in Santa Rosa and whereas the Santa Rosa Metro Chambers visit Santa Rosa team has created a marketing campaign to inform and promote our craft beer scene to locals and visitors and Whereas this campaign is compatible with the city's out there Santa Rosa destination marketing campaign Which also highlights our local breweries and whereas Fred brewery encompasses the release of plenty the younger awareness of Sonoma County brews at SF beer week and the third year of the Santa Rosa beer passport Whereas the Santa Rosa beer passport participation has grown each year with the excitement of Experiencing Sonoma County's finest craft beer and the anticipation of receiving a beer medal and whereas Santa Rosa has been Bed dubbed where wine country meets beer city and whereas the city of Santa Rosa Supports the craft beer industry and all that it brings to our destination now Therefore be it resolved that Tom's wet how mayor of the city of Santa Rosa on behalf of the entire city council Encourage participation by all craft beer enthusiasts to enjoy the month-long festivities and do hereby proclaim February as February I am Kim from Santa Rosa, and I just wanted to thank you for acknowledging craft beer in Santa Rosa We have worked with the brewers in Santa Rosa to create this great Passport in for February, and this is one of the medals this year will be the medal for 19 And Tyler from Third Street has a medal from 17, so thank you for acknowledging February Thank you. Thank you so much Mr. McGlynn items 7.1 items 7.1 Sonoma County tourism updates Ryasa de la Rosa economic development manager presenting Good afternoon mayor Schwetholm members of the council before I introduce you to Claudio Vecchio the new president CEO Sonoma County tourism and Todd O'Leary the vice president of marketing communications with Sonoma County tourism I want to give you just a quick background Sonoma the Sonoma County tourism business improvement area was established in 2010. It's a 2% assessment Lodging establishments that have a gross annual rent receipts of over $350,000 this 2% is Different than our Santa Rosa tourism business improvement area, which is a 3% just that's kept locally the 2% for the county goes to support Sonoma County tourism programs and is collected from unincorporated County as well as all of the Incorporated cities in the county with the exception of Sonoma and Healdsburg and so this is an annual report update from Sonoma County tourism Thank you, Ryasa My name is Claudia Vecchio and I have the distinct honor of getting to serve as the president and CEO of Sonoma County tourism Before we get into our and I know our time is very short today and I'll respect that Before we get into our presentation I just wanted to lay a framework for those of you who may be somewhat unfamiliar with Sonoma County tourism and that is that we are The designated sales and marketing destination what we call in the industry destination marketing organization for Sonoma County so in that role our our main objective is to drive overnight visitation to Sonoma County and Really through a vision that is to enhance and and amplify the local and business economic impact of tourism through these efforts and so it's Sonoma County tourism has definitely morphed over the years as our need the needs of this county have morphed and we will continue to do that in That we know that there is a there's always a need to market Tourism and tourism drives extraordinary impact and an economic value for the for the county of Sonoma But also it's time for us to really take in long view of tourism and take a look at how we not only market But manage tourism throughout Sonoma County So we are very much looking at a variety of different objectives within the sustainability area We know there are some issues of over tourism We also know there are some issues with Vacation rentals and other kinds of things that we need to look at we need to spearhead We need to be part of that conversation So that we are the ones making that decision and that decision is not made on our behalf by those Who may not have the long view in mind? So I just wanted to kind of lay that framework as we talk a little bit about what we've been doing in the past year that I wouldn't I would we would love to have the opportunity to talk to you a little bit about Sonoma County tourism in a broader sense and provide that annual Update to you. I'm gonna try there. We are But right now we're just gonna talk about three specific programs So one of them has to do with with post-fire activities and in this case You know with it's been over a year since the fires occurred and certainly during that initial time period Sonoma County tourism along with our partners that visit Santa Rosa and and entities throughout the county worked very much in collaboration to execute a Very typical crisis management kind of a plan there needs to be a processing crisis management and The county did that very well I was not here when the fires occurred, but certainly watching it across the mountain in Nevada But but I can attest that what this county did to manage that crisis was right on so we continue to be very much aware of the perception of the messaging that happens as a throughout the domestic and frankly international media as we talk about Sonoma County and Let me tell you that that perception is still there and you probably all hear this As the fires the campfire and other fires happen throughout California that continues to be a hit to Sonoma County And we work very closely with visit California to make sure that that overall intent to visit California Still remains robust and that we can then at our level entice people to come to Sonoma County and then the entities the different communities and others can entice to those areas so a lot of words on this this slide, but just to tell you that we Worked through a crisis management plan along with our partners and got us to the point where The the crisis pieces over now the management piece is in place and we continue to very closely monitor media Monitor our meeting planners monitor every every entity that's out there talking about Sonoma County So the key takeaway on this one really is that that the perceptions continue to be a challenge We are working to develop new markets enhance many relations and other key partnerships that help counteract this Furthermore the kind of net net is that we are here to mitigate surprises If in fact fall is going to become fire season and this is our new normal We need to be sure we're prepared for that that we have promotions that we have messages that we have a County-wide effort in the can if you will so that we can mobilize immediately if those things start to happen So I'm going to turn the time over Todd O'Leary who is our new VP of marketing is going to talk a little bit about oh, I missed it our brand and Something I think is very exciting and will offer tremendous opportunities for the county as a whole Thank You Claudia Pleased to talk about the our life opens up brand Which we are just in the process of launching right now with an extensive media buy in new and existing markets for Sonoma County Tourism It is developed and distilled out of a number of stakeholder pieces of research that involved not only visitors and our key constituents that make up the tourism community But also a lot of locals and some of you were invited to be a part of this process as well And so we certainly appreciate your your roles in helping us really define the brand Those words that you see in the bullet points connecting fiercely independent progressive real unpretentious and generous I think we all can agree our very important pieces of the brand that we as residents get to enjoy every day And these are some of the words that we're using to speak to our our tourism audiences because they also Really resonate we think very nicely with them We're certainly known as a wine destination But it by no means wine does not tell the entire story that of all of the tourism offerings that we have to Serve up here in Sonoma County So we use wine as kind of an intro But then we broaden the story and talk about all of the other great things beer The redwoods the coast Other types of experiences that are to be had here in the destination Brand promise kind of what the sort of as Claudia mentioned the net net of all of that We connect people to the land through unpretentious Unpretentious down to earth experiences those are the things that again we when we travel Everybody travels a little bit differently in the reasons that kind of propel you to take a trip But we find that a lot of people Travel because they're trying to connect with that Destination and with the people that they're traveling with and we think that you're able to do that very nicely here in Sonoma County as I mentioned we have a significant media buy now underway. It just launched January 7th Reaching new in existing markets, especially leveraging the new flight service out of the Santa Rosa Airport Which we see as really critical of course to our growth So there's a key takeaway that really for the first time Sonoma County's developed a brand a Tourism-based brand that's comprised of feedback from visitors and residents This life opens up the way a sommelier describes wine opening up so to do this life open up in Sonoma County not only Sort of intellectually but naturally and experientially as well So we happy again to share more information about that quickly as Sonoma County tourism and Santa Rosa have a tremendous partnership Obviously, you have a wonderful team at Visit Santa Rosa And under the Chamber of Commerce and they are working incredibly hard on on the behalf of Santa Rosa And we love to watch what they're doing and love to watch their innovation and the things in the events and the other kinds of activities that they have and they Involved with every year, so just a kind of a brief overview of the way we've worked with Santa Rosa 1,000 more than a thousand articles and blog posts on our Sonoma County tourism website We've worked with 650 Santa Rosa businesses that have free listings on the website Certainly the website continues to be our chief driver of information 3400 booked room nights. We have a pretty robust meeting planner group and I have some year-over-year statistics Leads generated and in FY 17 Definitely is a thousand one rooms already into 2018. We have 3,300 rooms So the team is working on your behalf and trying to be very Partnership-driven and relevant in what we're doing together. The key takeaway really in this is we're stronger together Everyone throughout throughout Sonoma County. We are stronger together finally There's a lot of talk about Sonoma County tourism using transient occupancy tax I just want to make sure that there is a good understanding that tourism is the contributor Not just a recipient so the things that we do every single day drives that tax into the county and helps then Fund a number of different social and other kinds of programs We are proud of that contribution and everything we do is there to generate return on investment so I know that one over five minutes, but it's tough to Distill that all into a little bit, but certainly happy to answer questions if that's appropriate or Anything else you might have for us Great, thank you for that presentation counsel any questions Miss comes Thank you, and thank you for this report It would be helpful to also receive Percent of occupancy information since we're driving heads in beds If we're already at a very high percentage of heads in beds, I'm interested in understanding You know what the what's the phrase like marginal benefit of Is Just to make sure I understand that can you tell me how many other cities in the county participate in this program? Actual municipalities are there eight right so all municipalities Participate with the exception of the city of Healdsburg in the city of Sonoma Yeah, so so we sort of say there are 10 municipalities in Sonoma County and then all the unincorporated areas So those are the only two exclusions at this point. Okay. Thank you, and I Notice that you have not included cannabis tourism in your list of sort of beer and just wondered if you had a comment about that Or if that was a future plan that's something we're very definitely determining and looking at and really identifying how we Promote that within the realms of the legalities and so it's we are we're working on it We're also working with those in that industry to help build Experiences that people can visitors can plan on and be you know There's a tour that it's available every day or it's available at a reliable time. So We're definitely looking at it. We want to maximize those opportunities as we can are any of the dollars used to Improve infrastructure to support or create positive experiences rather than advertising We have a tour a tour and travel group and their part of their mission is to help our our industry develop Experiences so part of and I can get to you what I think that Into that but but it is critically important that we not only Market market and sell so that we help our industry create those kinds of experiences and the and the infrastructure and all of those other things That is really when we start this destination management plan that we're working to identify Contractor to help us with that those kinds of issues will come up as part of that You know whether it be infrastructure whether it be roads whether it be Walkways along coastlines or other kinds of things that we can really determine help create a sustainable Landscape for Sonoma County, that's part of that plan so we can us certainly share with you bet me add, you know wireless Access hot spots, etc. Exactly the infrastructure concept. Yeah, but you are thank you right on on that. Thank you very much. Thanks Any additional questions from council mr. Vice mayor? Thank You mr. Mayor So the funding from the city comes from the 2% that's on top of the lodging establishments that bring in 350,000 or more Do you know how much that is year and in year in and year out in 2017? The total city contribution was around 1.2 million dollars for that 2% And to be clear we're on track. It looks like We only have three quarters with the data for 2018 and we have we're about three fourths of the way to that 1.2 million we're not sure yet. We won't know to the end of January what the fourth quarter Funds will be Revenue will be could you report back to the council? Just I'd like to kind of see Yeah, we we know the other the other obvious benefits of it We've talked a lot about those but just from an X's and O's standpoint what we think it brought in versus what we're actually contributing I Can work with them to? To answer that question. Yeah, great. Thank you Okay, we've number of speaker cards here, so let's start with Brad Calkins followed by Dwayne do it Brad Calkins the executive director of visit Santa Rosa and I would love to have visit Santa Rosa take all the credit for the tourism success here in Santa Rosa But that's simply not the case just like all of you have to work with the county of Sonoma and different agencies The same can be said for visit Santa Rosa whether you call it an alliance a collaboration a union or a partnership The truth is we would not be nearly successful if it were not for the partnership and the results of Sonoma County tourism The Sonoma County tourism sales efforts they can reach international markets that we don't have the capacity or the budget for This is important because the international traveler stays longer and spends more in addition Sonoma County tourism has a strong group sales effort This is important because many of the groups that fellow our larger hotels in banquet space like the Hyatt and the flamingo Come during the off season the shoulder season in the weekdays sort of what you mentioned about capacity Those when those groups are integral to Santa Rosa because they also help the partner referrals They fill up the restaurants attractions in the city of Santa Rosa on times other than just the weekends Also important is how Sonoma County tourism helps visit Santa Rosa compete is what is becoming a very crowded marketplace Not only are we competing with wine areas like Napa and Paso Robles We're competing with upcoming destinations like Temecula wine country and alternate wine destinations in the Bay Area alone like visit Tri Valley We also compete for the vacation dollar and business dollar with locations like Lake Tahoe Monterrey Palm Springs and now even conquered has developed their BIA based on the success of cities like ours Through SC team marketing efforts. They help us reach beyond what visit Santa Rosa can do For example, many of you Google where you're going on vacation in Sonoma County tourism Helps by bringing in the writers the influencers to get the stories mentioned about Santa Rosa hotels restaurants attractions museums arts and entertainment value and this way Santa Rosa comes to the top of mind Not just in Sonoma County because of their efforts and we're competing against other cities in the county But also in the Bay Area and around the world So in conclusion visit Santa Rosa as you know and I've reported out has been very successful in bringing our own groups media Attention events and visitors to Santa Rosa. We've increased TOT by double digits every year since the inception in 2011 through 2016 along with the sales tax that comes with it But our efforts and the resulting revenues would not have been the same without our partnership with Sonoma County tourism and The additional reach that Sonoma County tourism brings to Santa Rosa. Thank you Thank you, Brad. Do I do it followed by Jennifer Richards? Thank you. Do I do it from Rosalind I'm quite inspired by this if you will it reminds me of miss Daniel O'Leary She was so good with bringing forward the numbers and the facts on various activities that were being undertaken I hope you can do that with this in this item It says the community engagements an important part not just of bringing Tourists here to spend their money, but also to perhaps help with the improvement of our community in the future One of the things that I think is really important is the marketing She has mentioned Community engagement with the city's marketing and their employees How about reaching even deeper because the city has Marketing and outreach employees in a number of departments also And if you came up with a strategy that utilized your open government task force type guidelines and Made this a bit of a collaborative effort where the business people who are seeking to bring in Larger revenues to our county and the city I hope can then find ways in which to share it as we all have to deal with the burden of increased tourism I'm really hopeful. You'll find ways to build more hotels There's one going up on highway 101 between Santa Rosa Avenue and Baker, I think it is coming to the north here That was kind of given a bit of a fast track I wish you'd do that more for a number of more hotels And let's get this place to where we've got lots of spots for as the council woman said heads in beds That's really a good term Especially during this feb brew wary as we celebrated the wine country meeting beer city Also bring the weed folks in you got the cannabis thing going now back when I was young they had songs about that Mixing it all up now. You could set it up to have lots of places for people to sleep when they've caught too much of a buzz They can stay here and spend money with the Restaurant tours and the hotel ears instead of the police department busting them for a DUI So this would be wonderful if we could work this together in a proactive Fourth-right manner good community engagement across cities marketing and tourism which also included I heard him say sustainability now will that be also ecological sustainability and not just Economic sustainability. Let's find a way to get a win-win out of all of this. They're bringing in this money I hope you guys could get even more coming in a larger share to help house those who want to come to Sonoma County For overnight destination or those who will stay for even longer. Thank you very much for your time Thanks, Doreen Jennifer Richards followed by Sonya Barwick Good afternoon. I'm Jennifer Richards, and I'm currently the vice president of sales at Sonoma County tourism But prior to my joining the team back in June I was the former general manager of the Hyatt Regency here in Santa Rosa And so I just wanted to share some of my thoughts as my time at the Hyatt from previous years here The partnership that we had with Sonoma County tourism when I was at the Hyatt was really immeasurable as far as the amount Of outreach that we received it was At the Hyatt as with most hotels budgets can be a little bit restricted as far as how much we have to spend to get Out there and promote our group space and the opportunity to put the information out there to meeting planners and travel writers and Advertising programs and our partnership with Sonoma County tourism when I was there was immeasurable We did as much as we could with the partnership and it allowed us to be out in the local area a little bit more But also on a national level attending trade shows fam opportunities client events And it was my time with the organization there at the Hyatt and also as a board member that really made me value the Efforts of the organization as a whole and so after 25 years of hotel hospitality background I decided to make the move over to Sonoma County tourism to help this Destination and to help really the community take that message and continue to bring it forward with the understanding of what it's like to be on The hotel side and the struggles that the hotel has so in my current role I support the group side and it's our sole responsibility to make sure that we're driving that group business here and that we are out Soliciting RFPs that we're out talking to meeting planners and that we're getting the exposure for the county and for Santa Rosa And it's something that I'm quite proud to do and it's something that I think my background in all my years of hospitality really helps So we appreciate everything that we have and and we appreciate the opportunity to help support Sonoma County And Brad and Santa Rosa Thank you. Thank you Sony barwick followed by Kathleen Finnegan Hello, I'm Sonya Bick barwick one of the owners of Paradise Ridge winery here in Santa Rosa And I'm here to speak out in support of Sonoma County tourism and all they do for small family tourism businesses in Santa Rosa and Warning raised in Santa Rosa. I and being in the tourism industry longer than I want to say I feel like Sonoma County Tourism has done so much for our business Prefire and especially postfire one of the first phone calls I made during the fire was to Sonoma County tourism To find out what I should be messaging for all my other tourism businesses that we wanted to help and I think that the guiding For safe given our business and what they continue to do to improve Tourism for not just Sonoma County, but Santa Rosa is vital to our economy to small businesses like mine And I just wanted to come and say that I really appreciate what they're doing And I hope everybody else does as well Thank you Kathleen Finnegan followed by Peter Chernoff Thank You mr. Mayor and good afternoon everyone I appreciate this report very much and I have a slightly different perspective to give you It says perceptions about fire related impacts do Sonoma County continue to be a challenge Yes, they do and when it comes to homeless issues the challenge is greater than ever So how about turning around perceptions by cutting out continuing persecution broken promises and new plans that won't come to fruition For years to come in favor of immediate action to benefit the 2,000 homeless Beings who live on our streets the homeless crisis continues unabated Mitigate surprises says the report Why don't we avoid a happy outbreak just waiting to happen by providing safe havens with portable toilets Washing stations trash collection security in service and defining brand Some of the items are listed progressive Nice lip service, but so far some government entities such as the CDC are clinging to the same old moldy thinking that doesn't work generous How can we be expected to be thought of generous when we continue persecuting people living on the streets? By confiscating their blankets refusing to allow them a place to sleep on public land We are systematically violating the human rights of citizens of this county Santa Cruz has stopped such activity because it's now against the law. Why haven't we? Firstly independent Yet to be proven we need to start thinking outside the box to help homeless immediately For example, Santa Cruz again is taking a one million dollar advance on heap funds to come to quote alleviate human suffering that can't wait until the conclusion of the RFP process So Sonoma County Santa Rosa I strongly suggest that if we want to attract more tourism we damn well better start by taking much better care of our homeless Thank you. Thank you Kathleen Peter chair now followed by Adrian lobby Well, it's a beautiful day. I am Peter. I'm here speaking truth the power free of all fear And I'm good to see some students here. I'm going to rivet their attention so that they're fully awake And I was listening to these people talking about tourism and sustainability. Well, there seems to be a conflict of interest You got money You got alcohol and restaurants serving dead animal flesh all day long That's the main thing with this sustainability with the tourism But over here we got Luther Burbank the wizard of plants and you got the peanuts gang for 55 years that were vegans You know like Jesus Gandhi Einstein says or Shavas Dolores who are at the credit Scott King? So We got the homeless issue. You see all these people here on behalf of the homeless. Do you view your students paying attention? Put that pencil down pay attention Because the bottom line is happiness is the truth. That's one of my favorite songs I'm not even a music. I but happiness is the truth I'm happy when there's something truthful being said or happening and when the students find out how much power they have and The truth of their power that would make me happy when people find out that a real boycott in a strike is The power that they have and it's truthful that would also make me happy because I've told people before That this student that this council here would have a lot more power if they were Disconnected from their bankers and the higher politicians of corruption, you know I mean things work a certain way and people don't know how that works, you know And the trusting innocence of most people cannot fathom the treachery and the treasonous Behavior behave betrayal of those who rule DC our military and media So the students I Got an article here It's called bad-ass American teachers and the students you want to you want to solve the homeless problem You simply boycott school Just boycott school and find out how much these rich winery people get together with them Super fast to put these people that are homeless into something. That's pretty reasonable It will happen that fast and all you represent so far is 85 dollars a day to the system of corruption That's maintaining all this insanity, but you can turn this whole game around It's a beautiful thing and then you got the fact that we got all these temples churches and mosques And every one of their books has a fella in there by the name of Yeshua. We know him as Jesus He was a vegan. He was a vegan when he said as you do under the lease to me You do unto me that was about the animals and you students I want you to skip class right away and go down to the courthouse and listen to the court with a Dxc group they're that vegan group that caused all this trouble. They were all arrested and They're in court, so I'm going to finish by saying this for students from the bad-ass teachers Students now set before you all truly a spiritual chore. Thank you Peter for who has Nobody ever makes a brand that it doesn't get mocked and I'd like to be the first with this one life opens up I'm holding a tombstone here for David a bugby. He was found at College Avenue in 2004 One of the many homeless people who die on our streets every year life did not open up for David bugby and Life is not opening up for the homeless people of Sonoma County and of Santa Rosa What is the Tourism Bureau doing about this? What are the businesses doing about this? We don't know exactly because they're not totally talking to me but the sense is that mostly what they're doing is complaining and Saying these homeless people are cutting into our business. These homeless people are making downtown less Attractive these homeless people need to be kicked out of our brand-new square Because they're wearing they're getting a carrying a pack or they're sleeping for a few minutes on a bench and We have heard incredible stories in the last few weeks during that rainstorm a homeless woman who was kicked and Told to move on in the rain and kicked out of underside of a bench where she was getting some partial protection I mean physically kicked out So I would like to make a proposal to you we and one way I have to agree with the presentation. We're all in this together So I would like to suggest that the tourism bureau take a hundred thousand dollars of their millions and Do a project to deal with homelessness To get people into some kind of shelter so they don't actually have to sleep down in the downtown square in the middle of the Day so they can have a good night's sleep as I had last night in my beautiful bed in my beautiful apartment I would like to suggest that we take on the homeless emergency as an emergency for all of us and As usual homeless action would love to work with anyone who would help us out. Thank you. Thank you You're in Deborah Tavares followed by George the wedding Thank you very much Deborah Tavares with Stop the crime net I'm here about the tourism because I recently went to Cuba and It was a very fascinating experience in traveling to Cuba Because like Sonoma County Cuba is experiencing a massive water Inefficiency and now with PG&E having announced that they will shut down the eel River Potter hydroelectric facility That they have owned since 1930 which is the uphill water supply to Mendocino County in the southern area to the Russian River serving over 7,000 acres of vineyards and farmlands and to over 600,000 water Customers such as everyone likely in this room and with PG&E which is Rothschild by the way So I hope everyone that's here will look that up type in Roger Kimmel K-i-m-m-e-l He's been on the board of PG&E and his Rothschild's LLC CEO Anyway looking at what PG&E has designed as a water shortage falls in place with your concerns is tourism because as we were traveling in Cuba and we were looking at the inability for them to service the The tourism that's starting to unfold for them. They have two problems. No hotels and no water and What water they have of course unlike here is highly contaminated, but not so much Because certainly they are Reusing their wastewater treated water as we have over on the Laguna The difference is of course, they're not using their wastewater treatment like we are here to frack the geysers Up on the hill, which I only recently found out about I didn't know the Other operations behind the use of poop and urine and pharmaceutical water being used to frack the geysers for PG&E's use of electricity and I also didn't know that PG&E was affiliated with Soleran Solaren you need to look that up. This is massively going to affect tourism If you look in and type up PG&E and Soleran Solaren you will find that they are affiliated with a new methodology of delivering Electricity to us that is why PG&E is in the bankruptcy that they are in because they're going over to a new business model And again, you can type that in for yourselves I will also pass out to you what I downloaded from the PG&E website This is massively going to affect tourism because as people around the world start to see What you're hatching here in Sonoma County with working with a company as nefarious and doing business with PG&E It's a worthy thing. Thank you George Varty and followed by Breonna Paul Ha. Yeah, let's gonna go ahead and be Georgie Bairty I just I hope you guys are having fun. I Hope I hope that this is fun for you Because I'm gonna be here all night now Tourism is about people that are just passing through Right, and I don't know if you noticed, but I am not just passing through Right, I'm from here Okay, I built this place. I work for a living All right, and what I do is important. I care for your children right people like me Right people that are from here people that built this place we deserve to live here and we're not Going anywhere Understand that All right, if you want this little game to be your life That's fine with me because I'm not playing around and that's what I don't think you understand At a certain point. It is not a game. All right. Politics is not a game. You treat it that way But it's not that way Tourism is about people that are just passing through we need to start thinking about people that are here. All right, we matter Okay, we built this place. We're gonna keep building it and we're not going anywhere. We want what's ours All right now one thing I've got right here is the consolidated annual financial report of the county of Sonoma for the year 2017 it is much like this little dog and pony show that you're doing a joke For a lot of very important reasons Right, it's not funny, but it's a joke This can't go on This is you I mean the word sustainable right like you throw that around I think we all know that this can't go on It's time to grow up All right now I'm gonna be here all night Okay, I've looked at this agenda items. We're gonna talk about these things Right, you won't have other people come up here and chitter chatter about it. That's fine But but this is not a joke. All right the numbers do not add up and They need to okay, because what's in your pocket belongs in our pocket. All right, this is not gonna keep going on It won't okay. You want to do this every single time? That's fine. I'll be here till closing All right enjoy Thank you, Brianna Paula Paca it's Americanized Polish Hi, I used to work in tourism when I was really young I used to want to be a flight attendant and then I worked in hotels for a long time I'm curious how much of your occupancy rates are actually homeless people Struggling trying to get clean for one day trying to get away from the police for one day I'm curious how much of your occupancy rates are also Workers Trying to rebuild after the fire, that's a lot of your occupancy And What's happening right now in our county is that we're in a state of unrest and we have a whole bunch of people who can't find homes and Can't find cheap hotels because we only have those so many and and We have so many people living in tents right now and What you need to do is legalize it and give them land to live in tents so that you stop taking away their Their survival gear people hike the Pacific Coast Trail Pacific Crest Trail all year people hike all year and backpacks intense and they're fine And it's legal and the only reason you don't want to do it here is because you want these people to pay rent and There it just isn't there isn't a homes to pay rent on because not you guys but former city councils and yourselves have Made it so difficult for the permitting process and made it so difficult to build here has to be such-and-such and You just need to bite that bullet and face the fact that We have these people you can't sweep them under the rug anymore and you can't Murder them like is happening when you take away people's survival gear you're murdering them when you take away their ability to Be stable you take away their ability to access medical care you take away their ability to get to appointments You take away their ability to work. So if you could just keep doing this to people and saying we don't have the land We can't do this because of Safety purposes or whatever excuses their excuses that you're making You're killing people Straight up every day somebody's gonna die someday Because you took their stuff away and gave them a ticket that they have to deal with that's another stressor It's another stressor that they were already dealing with mental issues that made them Unable to keep themselves safe which made them lose more stuff which made them more homeless which made anything they were given mute and It's a it is a game. You're playing and it's the most dangerous game and Oh, I'd like to challenge you to open all your windows and turn your heat off tonight and then not drink coffee tomorrow Thank you, even if you have children. Thank you. I'll bring it back to council any questions or comments Thank you so much for the presentation Mr.. Sidney manager items 7.2 Item 7.2 fire recovery and rebuild update tonight. We're going to have a presentation from rebuilding our community and Or is the acronym is rock and that's going to be presented by Jenny Lynn Holmes and Adam peacock and they're making their way down Thank the council for the opportunity to talk about the efforts of rebuilding our community Sonoma County My name is Adam peacock. I am co-chair and My other co-chair Jenny Lynn Holmes. I think is pretty well known to the council Um rock Sonoma County is the first long-term recovery group in Sonoma County history And we are currently one of nine long-term recovery groups operating in counties across the state of, California Quickly, I'd like just to share our mission statement rock Sonoma County is a collaborative network that addresses the long-term recovery needs related to the disaster of the 2017 Sonoma County fires So Rock Sonoma County is our local long-term recovery group which are formed out of the National Voad which is voluntary organizations active in disaster They occur whenever a disaster occurs in the community They're particularly focused on the feeling the unmet needs of individuals and households affected by the disaster And in particular when we say long-term we mean long-term we're looking at doing this work for at least the next five years It really looks at how we can streamline services for people who were affected by the disaster in particular our most vulnerable and Terms of bringing together faith-based organizations and nonprofits to reduce the duplications of services In particular, we also get to work in close coordination with FEMA We actually have a FEMA and Cal OES Representative that is assigned to us to help us with navigating their processes and keeping us up to date And we also worked with FEMA to create a master list of individuals who are impacted by the disaster So that individuals who were trying to seek services weren't going to multiple places to try to get updates on where Their cases might have been As I mentioned earlier the target population is anyone who is primarily or secondarily affected by the 2017 wildfires But we are prioritizing those who are vulnerable and underserved in particular people who are falling through the safety net In the easiest way to explain is you know FEMA has a very certain box by which they can help people and we know that many people in our Community that lost their homes or were you know economically impacted by this disaster Don't necessarily fit in the FEMA box So the long-term recovery group is really set up to meet their needs and although we're linked into the larger community Recovery efforts around building more housing rebuilding so on so forth. We really focused on individual by individual Understanding their needs and actually trending data that helps us kind of push forward a narrative around What are the unmet needs in our community and we're getting down to each individual person to compile that information? When we look at our sequence of delivery We have roughly 30 partner organizations to help make up rebuilding our community Sonoma County and all of those Voluntary organizations were active during the fires and right after the fires helping meet the needs of fire survivors As we began to shift to the long-term recovery People began to look at how their recovery process was going to happen and in many cases Insurance may have been a way of helping get needed resources People applied for government programs but in in many cases the data would say most cases people did not have enough resources to Make up for all that was lost And so Roxana McCownie is there kind of here at the end of the era once people have Received all that they can get from insurance or government programs that we are available to help with their ongoing recovery from the fires So we have five major areas of Committee work the first is disaster case management, which Adam will go a little bit more into it further in the presentation That is chaired by Karen Shimizu who works at Catholic Charities We have a resources committee, which is chaired by Jennifer O'Donnell of United Way And she is particularly looking at donations management volunteer recruitment kind of bringing together those resources that we can then pass along to people Who were affected by the disaster we have our housing committee, which is chaired by our mayor Currently and in a little bit of some transition. There's a lot of really exciting work there that will again. We'll talk about a little bit later We have a communications committee chaired by Heather Irwin of Sonoma family meals and then our community engagement committee Which is chaired by Karen demeris of the community foundation and in particular that is looking at Advocacy as well as our unmet needs table where we administer funds Like say a little bit more about our disaster case management because that's really Where the rubber meets the road in terms of our ability to help individual fire survivors Currently there's four agencies participating in our disaster case management and Catholic Charities community action partnership Jewish family and children's services and sushi each of them have contributed a lot of their own Organizational funds to help with this but we were able to secure a grant Catholic Charities was across four counties with FEMA of Over two million dollars to help with the work of disaster case management In Sonoma County, we currently have nine disaster case managers and three disaster case management supervisors They're working with individuals to find out Just their situation what the nature of their losses were and what the potential of their recovery plan looks like and In that initial Assessment with them we try to understand what you know the scope of their need especially as Jenny Lynn mentioned Looking to help in those who are the most vulnerable I'm 65% of our cases are set at level three and four out of levels one to four all level four's Had a total destruction of their residents during the fires and the vast majority of level threes as well the the whole focus of this process of disaster case management is to put together a robust support network that Not only helps address the financial needs, but looks at the other needs that a fire survivor may have so we do a lot of work with mental emotional spiritual support as well as other relational resources and Kind of the wraparound services model as well where we're not just referring them out to a number of different resources But we're bringing those resources to them in a coordinated way So the unmet needs table is a little nuanced one is that as I mentioned earlier We're starting to get some really great trended data around what the true unmet need is where where are people still suffering and in need of advocacy support and resources But in we also have this unmet needs table where we actually convene a group of funders To assist with the unmet needs that are being funneled up by the case managers So when a disaster case managers working with an individual they're trying to connect them to all of their Eligible, you know state and federal resources then all of their eligible Local resources and after that if they're still in need then it comes to the table where we have flexible funds that allow us to Actually fulfill the need of the of the person in particularly looking at volunteer-based rebuilds in partnership with Hope City so How the Howard organization is resourced as Adam mentioned there we there was a 2.7 million dollar grant for disaster case management It's being administered through Catholic Charities, but funded by multiple partners across four counties, and it's a multi-year grant What's great about this opportunity is that because all of our disaster case management is being funded by FEMA Every dollar we raise at Roxana County goes directly to a fire Survivor allowing them to get a direct resource met with that dollar We also have been raising philanthropic Money to fund the unmet needs and right now we have just surpassed 1.7 million that has been brought together for people affected by the Disaster we have the in-kind donations that we have received and then most importantly we were able to actually open a rock resource center It's a one-stop shop for individuals affected by the disaster so they can come in and get an intake They can see a you know support for individual they can you kind of all the resources they might need in one location It's hosted by community action partnership and funded by tipping point I'd like to talk a little bit about some of the things we've accomplished As I mentioned earlier, there's roughly 30 organizations who are partner organizations for Roxana County We've been able to complete over 1300 triage assessments. These are the initial interviews with fire survivors Many who are our community's most vulnerable fire survivors and out of that we've been able to have over 4,200 individual participant contacts Currently we have over 1200 cases that are open and of note with that is that the majority of those cases are People who actually did not register with FEMA at the local assistance center We've already been able to Close 204 cases which we're you know very grateful for and There is the opportunity for additional FEMA funding as we continue to close cases We are thrilled about the opening of the rock resource center. We've had over 400 fire survivors walk in To that rock resource center to find out more about our efforts and to receive services. So That's that's wonderful. It's also a wonderful place For convening fire recovery efforts. We've been able to hold over a hundred and seventy partner meetings there Not just for partner agencies, but also for groups like the block captains groups that come together to talk about their fire recovery I'd like to just also recognize that this is the information that really helped the city's consulting team Hagerty Really developed the unmet need assessment that the city put forward and as instrumental in getting more attention paid on the state and the federal level To the unmet need Which has resulted in some legislation legislation recently and we continue to work on bringing more Resources back to the community. So I'd like to thank the the folks at rock on that for that. Thank you. Thank you This next one I'm just thrilled about we've been able to help over 200 fire-impacted families find new housing We've got a long ways to go, but we're thrilled for each and every family that returns home We estimate that there will be over a hundred households who qualify for volunteer built homes. These are homes where They'll be able to afford rebuilding because a group of volunteers will come and help Through their work cover the labor costs Something that didn't make the slide that I'm excited to say tonight is that red the red cross Has committed to over a million dollars in additional funds to come to our long-term recovery work here in Sonoma County Including 500,000 towards volunteer rebuilds. So we're thrilled about that in addition to that There will be additional funds for mental health services for outreach to the Spanish-speaking community And additional funds for our Rocker Resource Center. So we're thrilled With the support that we're receiving from the Red Cross for our continued efforts and you're the first to hear that We literally got the call as we were walking up into this presentation. So we're very excited about that So in terms of next steps and then we were happy to answer any questions First is we're working on increasing the staffing and resources at the Rock Resource Center Which you can see our address up there if you need if there is someone you know that's in need Please feel free to send them to us the County of Sonoma isn't particularly interested in actually stationing some of their staff there And they have a bigger dream of a larger one-stop shop not just for people who were affected by the disaster So we're partnering with them on that. We're continuing our fundraising for the unmet needs fund Knowing that we still have a lot to do in terms of the volunteer rebuilds in partnership with Hope City We're very grateful about the City of Santa Rosa allocating 24 housing vouchers that we've been working with our Housing committee that is chaired by the mayor To actually allow people to get paired with the housing voucher But also paired with the housing navigation team that allows them to get the support they need and the incentives They need for the landlords to actually find the housing. We have 20 of the 24 vouchers out on the on the streets looking actively looking for housing and the last one is the volunteer based rebuilding of homes with Hope City and Another piece that didn't quite make the slides But we're very much trying to keep our pulse on the April 12th date when the direct housing assistance will be ending and We are very much in close contact with the individuals who are living Currently on the FEMA housing assistance and trying to create plans for them as that housing assistance is planned to end At the beginning of April so those are some of the things we're currently working on and and on that front as you'll recollect both the County administrator myself have submitted a letter to the state. The state is working on that We are planning a Now that the federal government is back open We are planning a trip next week to Re-emphasize the need to extend that benefit package as part of that as part of that trip to DC. Yeah Thank you again for the opportunity to share about our efforts. Great. Thanks for the presentation Questions from council mr. Tibbets Thank you, mr. Mayor one thing that is really great about this is the information as the city manager said our ability to kind of Use your efforts as a resource to help the city with its needs vis-a-vis FEMA and obtaining funding I think it would be appropriate and I look to the council to see if you can come in on a more regular basis either quarterly or bi-annually To kind of provide us with these updates about the ongoing recovery Especially as it impacts the individual level the people who are coming through your doors. I'd sure like to know about that Mr.. Vice mayor Thank you, mr. Mayor. I really appreciate it and obviously have had a chance to hear a little bit more About this in our build rebuild committee and you all are doing some pretty incredible work and a lot of it Just two quick questions one because the primary grant is coming from FEMA our folks who are Undocumented who are our neighbors are they able to still receive services? through this program Yes, absolutely. So the FEMA grants a little bit more broad than the FEMA They're the assistance. They directly administer so it allows us to deal with people who are primarily and secondarily affected and it doesn't necessarily Link to a documented Individual but we also are as Adam mentioned the individual organizations doing disaster case management have put forward their own funds So that there's more flexibility and we're very much working with the families that have had some Trauma around the issue of documentation and if they don't feel comfortable then we don't use those funds to help advance their case Appreciate that. Thank you, and then You talk a lot in here about households being rebuilt with volunteer efforts I think there's a lot of folks out there who don't know how to build a house, but know how to swing a hammer How would they get involved to be able to volunteer for these efforts? Yeah, if they would like to go to our Website there's a place where you can click to volunteer and we're very excited about the community being able to participate together In building homes. Great. Thank you. Miss Jones Thank you, and thank you very much for doing this. I know you've been talking about long term a long time And I really appreciate it Can you let me know is it I understand that you're still accepting volunteers? Is it still possible to get on the list for services? Absolutely, we are still is we're still doing people that are still coming in And it's it's very you know people sometimes the narrative in the communities that most people have you know recovered And that's definitely not what we're seeing and I'm sure you all have heard the same thing But we're still having people where the first stop they've come in from the year and a half that the disaster happened So they can come into our rock resource center. So do they have to come into the 141 stony circle address? We encourage them to come there But no they could go to any of the four organizations who participate in our disaster case management And so they could go to the rock resource center or catheterities cap Jewish family and children services or sushi Is there a phone number or do they have to appear in person? We because of the nature of the information that we need to go over together We do not do the triage interviews over the phone and that's just for confidentiality purposes. That's that's fine I just wanted to Be clear about what folks should do If they wanted to thank you sign up Thank you again councillor Fleming Through the mayor. Thank you Following up with councilwoman combs is question if since people are unable for confidentiality reasons, which is great That you're protecting their confidentiality. What are the hours that people could present themselves to any of these four locations? So the rock resource center is open from 8 30 to 4 30 And so that would be one of the primary places that they could come In regards to the other four organizations I would encourage them maybe to go to the web if they can and to check out the hours for the the specific organizations, but we do set External appointments outside of those hours will do evening appointments if we need to as well as we've done some weekend Visits as well the triage and assessment can sometimes take multiple visits based on the information and how ready someone might be So we are we try to be very flexible once they get to an they get assigned to an individual case manager Right, and of course some of our undocumented families are more vulnerable Especially if they might have lost a home as well as a job Is there a phone number that you would mind sharing at this moment sometimes phone is more accessible for people than than internet? Yes And it should be let me see. I'll get a force right here So the phone number is 707 5 3 5 3 3 4 9 Thank you And then what what is your greatest need in terms of volunteers at this point? It sounds like you're doing a lot of work Yeah, so we have several options for volunteers one is to help at the rock resource center We have people who are there to help greet and host We also have those if they're willing to go through the background check who can actually be trained to help with the intake Interviews and we have a need for more people to help in in that regard because there are still quite a few people coming in For the first time and then we are excited, especially as we get deeper into the spring to be able to To host those who want to volunteer to help with the volunteer builds So those are our three of the the most needed areas we have for volunteer help. Thank you Go ahead. Let's go. I just want to follow up So there is a phone number and it is 5 3 5 3 3 4 9 Yes, that's correct. I heard that and the 830 to 430 hours at the stony circle 141 stony circle sweet 204 the 830 to 430 hours are Monday through Friday. Yes, that's correct. Thank you Thank you, you mentioned Jalen 20 issue vouchers my understanding has one actually been housed so far This week one of the vouchers was officially placed in terms of the person finding housing and getting a lease executed So we feel like we've been able to also pilot being able to shorten the length of time that Voucher is issued and a person's actually able to get into the home paired with the Navigation and location resources that we've been able to create So if there's any landlords out there that would want to participate in this program What would you suggest they do if there are any people who would like to their landlords or property managers Would like to work with us they can contact me my cell phone number is on this sheet And we are always looking for landlords that want to be paired with someone who is trying to recover in our community Also, we have landlord incentives that we can put on the table for them if that Helps them to want to work with our individuals primarily the people we're working with we're not necessarily people who are homeowners It's more renters that now need new rental resources in our community, which as we know are scarce Great. Thank you. Any other questions or comments and Mr. City Manager, I saw nodding heads here for regular reports from rock So you'll schedule those as appropriate. Yeah, we'll consult with the team and figure out what's the best the best avenue for that Yes, great. Thank you so much for the presentation all the work you're doing. Thank you. Thank you Oh I'm sorry. Yeah, if you can thank you Dwayne if you guys want to stick around just for a second case Questions, we do have a couple cards first one Dwayne DeWitt followed by Peter Chernoff Hello, sir. My name is Dwayne DeWitt. I'm from Roseland, but for a long time. I've been an advocate for journey's end I want to thank these nice folks that have been working with rebuilding our community I was hoping they could perhaps give us some insight Into how much money has already been brought in and been spent once the fires had occurred Millions upon millions of dollars were raised and apparently have been spent and yet we still have these problems with housing the people 40 mobile homes at journey's end are still there and People who had been living in them are still struggling one of them is a veteran of the Korean War He's still up in Sacramento. I'm hoping he could come home. I Have a concern because when we try to do these types of things We may not find the most economical and efficient manner in which to do them I talked with another veteran that I know and he pointed out to me that in the Midwest the American Manufactured Home Association Puts together three-bedroom three-bath homes brand new that are available between 30 to $50,000 a piece They can be shipped by rail and by truck and can be put up in just a day So here we're in a situation where we're struggling Always trying to raise more money and always trying to find ways to build stick-built homes again, and they're very expensive Just the other day Supervisor zane celebrated having some 250 square foot Stick-built homes put together for veterans and it was two million dollars for 14 of them that comes to $142,000 and eight hundred and fifty seven Per unit that's a build cost of five hundred and seventy one dollars per square foot That's not really efficient. They had a lot of volunteers worked on that also So I'm hoping that maybe these real but rebuilding our community folks would look into ways to house people as soon as possible Those 20 vouchers that they've spoken of Let them be a model if you will a template to help get people in to a place to live as soon as possible is economically as possible and efficiently as possible the Petroleum industry does this type of building for their work camps throughout America They get them up in a couple of days. They house thousands of workers and it works So we're building our community. It's a great idea. It's a good thing. I hope they have a really good time doing it I also want them to look into Alternative building techniques such as pre-manufactured modular homes. Thank you for your time. Thank you Dwayne Peter followed by Deborah Always like Dwayne stuff. Of course, I think teepees would be good, but I think it's time for us to be beautiful And for us to be beautiful is to be spiritually dutiful The king of kings never lies never dies Suffers neither fools nor alibis Under Peter he put forth the keys and three days before the fires in 2017 They were in fact commanded from the kingdom of heaven through me for all to see for denying the prophecy And these fires are also described in Genesis 19 24 The prophecy I've shared for 30 years regarding Leonard Peltier who represents the 500 year plus indigenous resistance And are we not all? Got connections Indigenous indigenous through all of us somewhere indeed. We do his bloodlines via the lost tribe is city of David That's how like II the Native American Holocaust genocide murder count be the highest of all But the greatest racist holocaust ever maintained still to this moment By virtue of religious deceptions and religious deceivers who undermine true-hearted believers be in fact the 14 million beautiful Sentience the animals who are slaughterhouse murdered every day And the industries of the blood flow being the slaughterhouse in oil support every bankers war Foreign and domestic keeping us from being majestic Keeping us subserviently loyal to this corruption Lest we arise and take offer to skies for the a pack and the national Zionists They're not Jewish they're they're factually satanic servants and by virtue of deception most Christians walk Opposite of Yeshua and so therefore they operate satanically by their own rules not mine I am here the brother with the keys and the 40-day economic strike puts the world to its knees These fires were commanded and there will be earthquakes and there will be Plagues in the ocean Until all needs to the earth be remanded so be commanded those whose hearts are true no school No labor no oil or slaughterhouse. That's what lays down the saber no mortgages No rents all spirit warriors off the fence Unto all true heart servants. I ask I task I command I pray accept the embrace of bide This here and now given command that opens the doors to the promised land the 48 shut down of the entire economy That's what fulfills the given prophecy that opens the doors to the promised land Shaday Shaday Adonai Shaday as now given it is done. I say it you hear it is so amen Oh Thank you very much, and I appreciate the hard work that rock is doing. Thank you I would ask though a couple of things What are the grants that you're taking which of course is borrowed money? What is that collateralized against if anything? Also, I too have been up to what's left of the town of Paradise several times We have many friends up there that are survivors or not survivors also And we've also been to Nevada City, and we've looked at climate action plans across the country And I would recommend that rock do the same thing with looking at the climate action plans as well as the city Why do I say that those plans discuss the kinds of power outages that will become epidemic as they claim? We will experience higher temperatures and now we're seeing the effects of power outages In fact, it was just claimed today that Pacific Gas and Electric is the first company to succumb to climate change Now when you look at Pacific Gas and Electric's affiliation with Solerun, and I hope that everybody writes this down now PG&E and Solerun Sol ar en Understand what is in front of all of you that are involved with rock and finding placement for people Because PG&E and Solerun, and you'll see it on the website of Solerun They are involved in spaced based weapons system for weather control and a new form of Electricity being beamed from space and using lasers to beam it back to earth And you can't make this up. I'm going to hand you a copy of The printout from the Pacific Gas and Electric website So you can see for yourself What Pacific Gas and Electric says about Solerun? I also will be handing you some information from a Representative a congressman by the name of Tom Emmer and this is dated January 2nd And he is responding to one of his constituents about the use of spaced based weapons and solar dimming and That this will be a way to reduce climate change The weather is being tampered with worldwide and I have traveled to Russia South America Cuba all over the United States to see for ourselves if in fact there are borders in This globalized reality and there are no borders These plans are borderless Just like the concern of 5g frequencies. Thank you. Thank you, Deborah Daniel and Adam one question did come up for me regarding journeys in and I know Adam You've done a lot of work at it the folks that are still at the fairgrounds. Can you just update us with what rocks involvement are with those two efforts? Yeah, I can talk a little bit journeys in and then Adam. You could talk a lot. He's been very involved with the Fairgrounds FEMA village so journeys and we have almost everybody enrolled in working with a disaster case manager Su chi has been a very important part of that outreach effort They were very much involved in the early days with people who were who lost their dwellings there as well as continued Ongoing advocacy and case management and they are part of the rocks in Oma County We are working with those individuals not again not just the ones who lost their homes But also the ones are not allowed to go back into their home So we have a lot more flexibility to deal with them Many of the people actually that have been approved for the housing choice vouchers have come out of journey's end as well So they're definitely some of the most vulnerable in our existing caseload And so they've definitely risen to the top as areas or people that we need to really focus in on with our resources Yeah, I'm happy to say that we're we are seeing Residents who were at the journey's end of finding new places to stay We are also as genuine said working to advocate for them. So she has been Especially good at working with those who were there at journey's end We've been going every week just to sit down. We go door-to-door Just to sit down and talk to hear what's going on what the needs are and to make sure that we understand What's being communicated to the fire survivors there, especially as they interact with FEMA and so you know, we feel like You know as people are struggling we're understanding their struggles they understand that they are being listened to and We've been as a city manager McGlynn Mentioned we've been able to to interact both with the city and with the county about efforts to see an extension granted by FEMA For the direct housing assistance great. Thank you so much for your presentation the work you've been doing. Thank you I mean city manager city attorney reports I'm gonna I just want to briefly Give a couple of things that the spring-summer activity guide was mailed to Santa Rosa households last week This is from the Recreation and Parks Department and is now available at public gathering spaces throughout the city Registration begins January 31st The coffee park master plan the third neighborhood workshop and rebuilding Coffee neighborhood park was held on Saturday at Finley Community Center the coffee park neighbors from 27 households Attended the meeting and provided feedback to the designers on the draft master plan Additional neighborhood input is being collected via the city's website and the draft master plan will be presented to the board of community services next month Also on Martin Luther King day the Santa Rosa's recreation and parks department hosted a park cleanup In honor of Martin Luther King 80 volunteers helped clean the playground pick up trash pull weeds trim bushes and spread mulch The press Democrat featured an article on this project and was also featured in the California parks and recreation societies monthly newsletter We've also had some technical issues with the taping Of the meeting though. Well, let me let me rephrase that their live broadcast of the meeting the meetings have been taped They are available and the live broadcast issue has been fixed. So thank you very much You're not going to try to announce the part that was fixed Adam city attorney I have nothing to report this afternoon. Thank you. I'm nine statements of abstention by council members Seeing none Item 10 mayor council members reports. I Have one report on item 10.1 point eight before you to the general ones and just that that's the groundwater sustainability agency That the Santa Rosa Santa Rosa Plain groundwater sustainability agency is hosting a community meeting tomorrow Wednesday, January 30th at 6 o'clock at Finley Center to discuss the work today and on the fee study I really encourage everyone to attend that because that will be affecting everyone within the Santa Rosa Plain base And which does include the vast majority of the city of Santa Rosa Are there any other items specifically? Council member I want to let you all know that yesterday the center is a police department welcomed in five new sworn officers and two technicians as well as promoted a Great person and celebrated a 20-year volunteer veteran person who Finished their work at the police department volunteered for 20 years and is leaving that volunteer post to go volunteer for the Coast Guard So it was a it was a great time to be had Miss Combs. Thank you. I Just want to remind folks that The CASA process the committee to house the Bay Area process has continued to move forward Last update I had seven of the ten items had legislation that directly corresponded to the Ten items that are in the CASA compact and that I have distributed previously and placed up in the office That we share the CASA compact materials and the letter That I wrote as chair of the Housing Committee Regarding some of the concerns and modifications to CASA that we hope would go forward. I hope you all will have a look at that It's getting It's hotting up. I guess The other thing I wanted to do briefly is and I'll keep this one short Hopefully, we'll be able to talk about it more the next time or the time after I'd like to make a motion to request a report item be agendized To establish a community wildfire protection plan As a placeholder, I'll say by April but I appreciate that that's very short turnaround time And I also appreciate that we will be having some council goal-setting conversations So I'm just looking for making sure that we have this conversation We have a motion a second. Thank you get that on the future agenda. Thank you I can go into more detail later or in private with the folks who need to know. Thanks Mr. Vice Mayor Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just one really quick update As the council knows I was appointed last year to the consolidated oversight board for the redevelopment agencies We where I was subsequently elected as the chair We had our first meeting of the year last Friday where we went through the rops process that previously each individual city council and Jurisdiction would go through in our own successor agency. We went through it for every single one in the county And that process is now done approved and sent off to the Department of Finance including Santa Rosa's rops for the 2018-2019 fiscal year Thank you, I did want to report on a couple events since our last meeting When I attended the women's March on January 19th in downtown Santa Rosa another great use of the square Great crowd in spite of the weather and appreciate comments made by a council member Fleming with their To the audience there very active engaged there Also, I attended on the 23rd the Rotary Public Safety Award ceremony. I'd like to pass on my congratulations to Santa Rosa police officer Andrew Castro Fire catch fire captain Reesey and Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant house for their Recognition the performance over the course of the year and then on Friday January 25th along with I know we had police involvement and housing community services was the point in time count which is going to be a crucial Figure and for me. It's actually I think it's a community event where we've had over 180 volunteers But it's gonna be data that we'll be able to use and give us feedback about some of our homeless efforts So I appreciate everyone that participated in that I Do have some cards? Mr.. Aberty the only comments that I heard was on from council was on item 10.1.4 So I'd ask you to limit your comments to the that item only In other words, you filled out about five different cards There was no reports on several of these items. So if you'd like to make some comments during the non-agendized items So I'm asking you for comments on item 10.1.4 the association of Bay Area governments Councilmember combs made some comments regarding that item Would you please step up to the mic at times about to start because there was some question as to their relationship between being a public There was some question for Sonoma Clean Power as to their being public They're being private what their relationship or how their status as a public or private organization would affect a lawsuit The city of Santa Rosa's and with PG&E. I don't know if you all discussed that in closed session the comments about what happened in closed session We're very vague, but it it strikes me that that's something that is Essential to our understanding of how power is provided, especially now that it seems like PG&E is going bankrupt You know, I encourage you to clarify that very much. It strikes me your comments are on You're not a car for the Association of Barrier a government councilmember combs made some comments Please continue on this item. I'll go ahead and get you on associate Association of area governments. We don't want to talk about whether or not we can drink our water apparently, but So association of area government's joint powers authority now You know the There's another joint powers authority called the Sonoma County Public Safety Consortium that is currently under investigation By the FBPC for conflicts of interest now I went to the registrar of voters the other day because the registrar of voters which is also the clerk recorder and assessor rights combination of duties She's also charged with Enforcing the political reform act now I inquired as to what that means Enforcing the political reform act right because it's primarily means that you all have to submit documents In which you outline, you know you economic interests. We're going to vote on rent control. Are you a landlord? You know Who is paying you what? That's a very good question right now But enforcing it what does that mean if all that means on her end is that she checks whether or not you've turned these forms in Not whether or not once these forms are turned in are you conflicted, right? Writing down a conflict of interest doesn't make it. Okay Right conflicts of interest checks and balances, you know in the United States We have a government that's founded on checks and balances the opposite of a check and balances the conflict of interest So when they happen, that's that's as traumatic to Democracy functioning as it could possibly be now I inquired as to who Checks to see if joint powers authorities like the Association of Bay Area governments here, which is its own entity Who inquires who enforces whether or not they've handed in They are form 700s their political format filings and the answer is nobody The answer is nobody even Bothers to check Whether or not joint powers authorities even file conflict of interest and that's a big problem Because I've never even seen a comprehensive list of how many joint powers authorities the city of Santa Rosa by extension Sonoma County's involved in it is an astronomical amount. I can assure you Joint powers authorities start Bob up more and more of themselves. It's too much. We need you Next time approval minutes January 8th look to counsel any Corrections sounds like we'll accept those as submitted mr. McGlynn consent items Item twelve point one resolution approval approved purchase order number one five eight two four six dash 2019 international cab and chassis with mounted sewer rotter and With Peterson truck incorporated item 12.2 resolution first amendment to general services agreement with environmental logistics incorporated Counsel any questions? We have one card on item 12.2 mr. Uberti Yeah, you know I I looked through these things these they look boring You know a lot of them I think they're kind of designed to look boring, but this one here It's a very easy one to recognize right now Recommendation it's recommended by the finance department that the council by resolution improves the first amendment to the general services agreement number blah For the collection transport treatment proper disposal yada yada yada management services with environmental logistics in Capewood, California increasing compensation by $200,000 For a total amount not to exceed 297 thousand dollars So the original amount of the contract less than a hundred thousand right and we're just gonna go ahead and bump that up by $200,000 We're gonna more than triple it That that doesn't sound right It doesn't sound right at all. I think probably maybe it sounded right around ninety thousand ninety seven thousand dollars the first time And then in the sneaky little it's it's a consulates twelve point two Everybody stopped paying attention. You've had a bunch of Yahoos come up here and scream their heads off. Everybody doesn't want to care anymore, right? And now Presto change. Oh, here's another two hundred thousand dollars And it's recommended by the finance the finance department. I think we should probably talk about what recommended means Right because the recommendation is something you can say no to Right now, I'm a member of the public apparently the only one with something to say about this Right and you're supposed to represent the public You're supposed to do what the public wants you to do Well, guess what? I'm the public and I'm here telling you to knock this off This is not all right. You don't just get the hand out two hundred thousand dollars that you took from us and Give it to these people for no good reason. Why are you gonna triple their amount of money? Give me one good reason and and and when I say good reason, I mean tell me the truth Don't have somebody Stand around and concoct some nonsense and feed it into your ear or whatever they're gonna do because I don't care You can't just give away. You can't just triple the amount of money Hand it out to some private company. They don't tell us what to do your democratic representatives. All right, you represent what we want Right, you listen to us. That's how this works. We don't listen to you All right, so enough's enough. No All right, not only on this one, but on every other consent item you have like this because I'm gonna be here Telling you what people want. It's not this nobody voted for this Nobody wants this go out and take a poll do whatever you got to do but open your rears Because the public's not gonna be quiet about it anymore. All right enough Deborah comments on item 12.1. Thank you very much again Deborah Tavares with stopthecrime.net I think it's really important for everyone here, and I'm gonna talk about this truck issue But as a corporation as a city that's incorporated you follow agendas It's a like a corporate franchise network like a McDonald's McDonald's are in every city every council every Board of supervisors every agency in this country is a franchise network and They all serve the same menu and I don't think people realize that you don't work for us You work through a globalized menu that is being served to you and then being served to us under the Illusion that you represent us and it's obvious now with the amount of people that are becoming aware That things are just upside down that you don't serve us and you don't so I'm not here so much in any Measure that you're gonna listen to this solar and and PG&E connection or the water Situation, but I'm gonna mention this truck situation right now that has me very very concerned In the World Bank documents. I am taught I'm reading about how sewer trucks, and I'm assuming that this is a sewer truck I Know you can't answer me, so I will assume that it is some type of a truck for sewer dispatch and I'm Understanding through the World Bank documents that we're going to be given a blend of sewer urine poop water in our uphill river and stream flows that's going to blend in our reservoirs because they're claiming We're running out of water and now we need to treat and serve up Sewer urine and pharmaceuticals in our drinking water supply now This may sound crazy to many of you listening to this, but this is a standard way in which many countries throughout the world Are getting their water and also many other communities in our country, so I'm really worried about what this truck means What's this truck going to do so when I leave this mic right now? Will you please tell me? What is the purpose of this truck? What is it going to do and why do we need to pay? $400,000 to this company for a truck And I would appreciate an answer if you're willing as a corporation to give me an answer, but I I'm not hopeful that you will I mean I think you won't So again, I think it's just really important. You're hearing a lot of frustration up here now behind the mic by many people We've been burned out. We've been robbed. We are being Taxed increasingly by Ernst and young who you've brought on who is a corporation out of London That you signed an agreement to that's looking at new revenue resources to tax. Thank you Derek Peter 12.1 Peter so focus on 12.1, please You know 12.1. Yeah, I I did look at that. I mean $400,000 for a Vehicle which doesn't explain exactly what it's going to do and Even though it may seem that the two last speakers were a little off point. I don't think it's true. I I think Deborah Tavares is one of the smartest people and best researchers I've met in the two dozen years And what she speaks about is accurate on the earthly plane and the legal ecstasy lawful sense But the reality is everybody here is a spiritual being first and foremost and so for anyone to point fingers at the city council They're wrong even if they're right, but it's see it's not the city council. That's the problem. I mean it's been given a long time ago I don't know who that was guy. I never knew who Pogo was but he said the problem is us. We're the enemy they're supposed to be our servants and they can't serve us because The corruption that controls them is being supported by the likes of you that are doing all the complaining By the virtue of the fact that you pay taxes to an IRS and a Fed that are patently treasonous Corrupt and all awful and that's been verified a thousand different ways And you maintain the blood industry, which is that of the the oil industry and we've had electric cars here for well over 120 years and so you maintain the insanity at the blood industry of the earth which is oil that keeps us from being royal and At the same time the greatest holocaust of all time is going on right now to the tune of 14 million Beautiful sentient animals a day whose lives are just as important If not more than anybody in this room because you were given command to take care of them and love them And most of you simply don't and there's a big difference between vampires and vegans Vampires can't see the light which means they can't see the truth look around There's plenty of proof and vegans include those like the ones that they talk about in the religions The one who I would say is my father. I'm the son of the son of the one. His name was Yeshua Jesus He was a vegetariano and the people that followed him Like Gandhi Einstein says or Chavez the type the peanuts gang and so many thousands of others were all vegans Because they would not harm anyone so those who are complaining about them up there There are servants You're the ones. We are the ones causing the problem. We have the power to set this down We're the most powerful people in the world in the most powerful state in the world Which is the most powerful meeting in the world at this moment And we have the power to withhold our consent Financially from this insane system that you're here complaining about. Thank you, Peter Mr. Rice mayor you've got this item Absolutely, and just as a quick reminder for the public whether it's a consent item or a report item all of the staff Documents are public record and are available So for example item 12.2 feel free if you'd like to check out the staff report which lists the need for the additional $200,000 and where that comes from with that I will move items 12.1 and 12.2 of the consent calendar and wait for the reading of the text I'll second it and we need a truck that will clear the sewer system from tree roots We have a motion in a second your vote, please In that passes unanimously. Thank you Item 13 public comment on non agenda items Peter Chernoff followed by Dwayne duet So here we are the solution lies not with city council with money grants or lawyers or the courts There's no one coming to rescue us lest it be us So all aboard the freedom rose bus There ain't no angel born in hell that's going to break the Satan's spell as for me I'm hell bent in heaven sent and only together may we remove will we remove our financial consent? This meeting right here right now is the most powerful one in the planet Only together with the freedom strike of the economy will be standing on granite black rock white rock emerald fire Stuck in the mirror voice frozen in time released to be clear freeze frame all the crime. I am Peter I am this I am a spirit singing a Rise arise free of all compromise So the promise we may now be bringing you've been given the keys step up to the plate put the world to its knees Fulfill your true fate only you only we be the spark to the fires flame in Almighty's name cease avoiding the entrance step into the light the animals The mother earth the children Jamal McDonald and Peltier down 39 years 47 years 43 years all innocent Release them They've been waiting in fear Finish the fight We have the power and the authority to pull the rug out from under this elitist control This being the 40-day prophetic strike attaining the promised lands goal For the true goddess temple resides in the kingdom of heaven which resides in each of your hearts Spark to flame fire spark to fire fire to flame the 40-day economic freeze frame Overcomes corruption's game our hearts be burning our Hearts be yearning Truly churning Release now the power That the world has long sought the heist It is within us all the mother of all boycotts be the true call Release ye the true power of Christ It is with us Here and now the most beautiful We are here to be spiritually dutiful The authority is mine to say as I do the authority is yours to make it come true Amen, amen a whole Thank you Peter Dwayne to wait followed by Steve Bertelbaugh. Thank you, sir. My name is Dwayne. Do you with I'm from Roseland? I wanted to Ask you to think about something nice that happened the other day on Friday. There was a count of folks that might be without shelter They had a story in the press Democrat on Saturday I hope you saw it it had some nice pictures because the woman they had been talking with was guiding them through An area we in Roseland called the Roseland Neighborhood she was crossing Roseland Creek actually and It was really a nice Scene to some folks who are in that area Because they know the beauty of that Roseland Neighborhood and they understand that some of the unsheltered Go there and try to get respite from the harshness of the weather And it just made me think it's really important that you folks link in that picture to the address It's 1370 Burbank Avenue, which the city now owns They bought the land six months ago And the land next to it's been paid for by the taxpayers also over a period of nine years 19 and a half acres of land has been preserved in Roseland. It's the last nature left over there really But what's really nice is there's four homes owned by the taxpayers Four houses that I've come and spoken with you in the past to see if we might be able to use them to house homeless veterans There's actually a program for housing homeless veterans where they get a voucher a section eight like you spoke of earlier called a HUD VASH voucher and And Those vouchers have helped the palms in down the street to stay financially afloat That money in a project based vouchers. It's called does good things Right now the four houses that the city hasn't taken ownership of are empty And they're not being used If you use them to house veterans you could bring in income At least a thousand maybe a thousand and a hundred dollars per Veteran, there's three three bedroom houses and one one bedroom cottage That's ten veterans that could be helped and you could be bringing in money That would help you during your budgetary difficulties, which are arriving now You already have budgetary difficulties so how about bringing in some money and helping members of the community and You may say well, I'm being Specific too much by saying just veterans Well, those veterans vouchers are guaranteed and those veterans have served our country And they're the kind of people that would help to care take that land and save you even more money than from having Vandalism and other problems. Thank you Thank you, Dwayne Steve Bertelman followed by Lake Cowell Thank You Mayor Schwedholmen members Steve Bertelbow with the Sierra Club Earlier this week I sent each of you an email Suggesting that this coming Monday You make arrangements to ride the bus to at least one of your meetings and that you repeat that At least once every month So that you can become better acquainted with the bus schedules and the quality of service that people have I Hope that each of you has had a chance in the meantime to get out your schedule and see how that would work for you I've made the same request of several other people and they've Actually found some ways to do it It's a departure from your usual habits perhaps. I know that usually for me It's much more convenient for me to just hop in my car and go somewhere Then it is to act to plan ahead and get on that bus Get on my computer and work while I'm traveling and then not have to look for a parking place but The reason that we're asking for this is that about half of the people in this country don't have good access to public transportation and In this county and even in this city We have some areas that are transit deserts or that have routes that are very very inconvenient So that people have to ride all the way around the circuit either going or coming to their destination We can make changes to that over time if we focus on it and if you who are really the Policy makers for this transit system are really acquainted with the way the system works So if you haven't already got out your schedule, please do so Please make your best effort to ride a bus next Monday and once a month thereafter. Thank you. Thanks Steve Lake Cowell followed by Steve Pierce Hello, my name is Lake Cowell and I am with disability services and legal center And I'm here today with Steve to talk about transit equity day, which is December 4th And we're just trying to encourage everyone to take the bus We're kind of doing a little thing online and we're encouraging everyone to take a photo and get on the bus and I personally had not taken the bus until about eight months ago when I had to Have my vehicle repaired and there are no backup vehicles to rent for wheelchair access So it was an actually very good experience. I've been quite intimidated to take the bus But once on the bus, I actually met the loveliest woman and we ended up sitting with each other the rest of the week So again, I would just love to encourage everyone here in recognition of transit equity day and Rosa Parks birthday December 4th try riding the bus Thank you. Thank you Steve Pierce followed by Elizabeth Nealon Hello, I'd like to start with a quote from author Jonathan Franzen Global warming is the issue of our time perhaps the biggest issue in all of human history Every one of us is now in the position of Native Americans when the Europeans arrived with guns and smallpox Our world is poised to be transformed vastly Unpredictably and mostly for the worst I'm here to encourage you to look at switching your power sources over to Sonoma clean powers evergreen program We've already had the city of Sonoma do it the city of Hildsburg is looking at and the county is now looking at Switching and my hope is that the city of Sebastopol will soon be doing the same There are some other reasons that the big reason for supporting evergreen right now is that Sonoma clean power Over the next few months has been kind of taking it on the chin financially because the increased exit fees from PG&E So this is a direct way that you can put in your support for Sonoma clean power Another reason is that that they've had programs for Solar that has been supplying the evergreen with their electricity and those programs Have are now they're now looking at shifting those funds because they don't have enough evergreen support locally So as these cities come on board and I encourage all individuals out there to also look at switching to evergreen We can get those solar projects back online Sonoma County is the 13th largest solar employer in the whole country And if we want to continue that we need to support local renewable renewable power. Thank you. Thank you Elizabeth kneeling followed by debba Hey there, I'm elizabeth kneeling Um, I was born three days after my parents moved here from Canada. My mother was a socialist Who freely informed her children that Americans are barbarians Charlie Manson and Ted Bundy Dramatized this reality as I was a young woman and experienced The knowledge of their murders But our government Well, let's just say About a thousand people of color were murdered by our police in America last year according to Berkeley radio And I'd like to question how many democratically elected presidents in the world have been undermined and murdered by our government I believe we are corporate savages or I'm not I'm not a corporate savage yet But seeking asylum in Canada is really quite close to my heart If I didn't have four sons that live here and my dear sister Penelope And my homeless son especially in Berkeley, I don't want to just blast out of here But I want to tell you that Canada is a better country and on that note I'll just sing a little verse of what comes to my heart First you destroy them That's what the missiles are for Level their countries Till they can't take anymore Then ha will ha ha ha rebuild it With contracts and big box galore Multinationals get the money That's who profits from war Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars Last year for the Pentagon Three hundred and fifty billion dollars For weapon dealers like Charles Manson Ted Bundy That's the kind of character these people have They don't care about people and believe me I like Peter's speeches I am a spiritual being I think anybody that's met me will figure that out before too long You know I grew up in the 4h club of Pennsylvania where we pledged our heads to clear thinking Our hearts to greater loyalty Our hands to larger service and our health to better living. Thank you for listening Thank you Deborah followed by Thomas Ells Yes, thank you very much. Deborah Tavares with stopthecrime.net I'm looking at some articles where in the midwest they're going to be 60 degrees below zero And I'm thinking about the homelessness here and happy that we're not so cold But in many ways we are colder Because we're not housing the homeless When I think about outsiders coming for tourism here in Sonoma county And I think about all the homeless people that are trying to survive under the bushes and under bridges and being scurried off It's heartbreaking It's heartbreaking I've had many conversations with family members about Why they're concerned about continuing to be here in Sonoma county But I can only tell you that are Reviewing other places throughout the world and throughout the united states sadly Again, as I say we're all under the same policies. You're under the same policies and homelessness is an agenda It's an agenda or it wouldn't be an agenda So with that I handed to you A congressman's letter dated january 2nd of 2019 And it talks about the admission of Scientist in the advancement of solar dimming Worldwide solar dimming That's why when you look at PG&E's contractual arrangement with Soleron S-O-L-A-R-E-N And you find out the pacific gas and the electric is saying that the ground-based solar System that we've rolled out is not going to be efficient Because of the night skies and the cloud Hays overhead that is called aerosol spraying That is a global dimming Program that has been going on for decades For example Over cuba in the 70s not only did the united states embargo cuba From goods and other aspects, but also from weather and it was called operation Blue nile or nile blue as they called it Look up operation nile blue and you'll find that they withheld precipitation From cuba so that castro would not be able to harvest the sugar Plantation to continue his government at the same time The cia and our government was using operation papai Everyone here can write that down and look it up This is real in vietnam and they were causing the rain out of the ho Chi Minh supply lines PG&E is behind these programs They could have chosen rain during the fires But they chose not to PG&E is in documents dated back to the 50s Involved with cloud seeding here in california and elsewhere You can look those down. Thank you Thomas Ellis followed by kathryn jurick Thank you. Well, I don't uh, I'm gonna hold this but it's not what i'm gonna be speaking about So we just found out on friday that the PG&E was going to abandon the potter valley power plant And uh, this is really important. There's a lot of water that goes through comes to here and then The continues on and so I would and I was hoping to address it during the Council reports, but it doesn't matter. It's fine to to do it here. Uh, is that you direct or got snowman county water agency and the city water department And snow McLean power to work on that It's very important that we acquire that power plant and get the water through that you get the power Essentially free some cost to maintaining that but it's worthwhile and somehow not to PG&E but But it's very worthwhile certainly for the water and it helps maintain and pay for the for the actual water and then There's a lot of extra water that has been uh Defined if you will Uh in lake bendicino is 44 well a lot a lot of water For the operation so the operation of me Um, the operation of lake bendicino will allow for more water to pass through but we have to have a place to store it So we need to create more storage offline down here off the russian river It's going to come through the russian river and then down and we need to create more offline storage there and also we can create and use lake sonoma for Uh pump storage hydro. So you pump it up and then you create energy. Um, so you can take Uh clean energy To pump it up and it's the most efficient battery that there is and then there's no real waste from that if it's a You know, for instance a dam it's Just that's kind of a concrete and earth filled dam So you've just got earth and concrete is the remainder the residue after You have a dam There's no other like lithium or any other stuff like that. That's a waste product that comes out and it's and it's a bit yet It's extremely efficient Over 95 percent actual return on the energy that you pump up to get back and uh, so You could have a lower reservoir there at lakes and online public. So it can work with clean power Sonoma clean power They need to get into that and they can help us out with the water. Thank you very much Thank you, thomas Catherine jurrick followed by mr. Kinney Is katherin here? Thank you I Just want to give a an update on what i've been doing this month Kind of my report I've been doing a lot of triage Which means i've been going around behind cleanups and sweeps and finding people without shoes and without blankets And delivering them after my child goes to bed at night My wife stays home and works on the jigsaw puzzle and I drive around and find people who don't have anything at all left And I give away blankets and I get these blankets by putting out on facebook. Hey People need need to be warm. They don't have shoes And I have people message me and call me and give me stuff My car right now is full of stuff One woman took a kindergarten child out to buy things new things for people And the kid said but mama, but mama they need pajamas too so I I can't I can't enough say That our community Wants a place for people to be So many people give me things and they say Why doesn't somebody do something about this? Why don't they just leave people alone? Why don't they just give them a place to go and organize it so it's sanitary and it's clean and and it has garbage service These are our people Most of the people who live here. These are people with disabilities. These are I am like Constantly holding together talking to elders who live out on the street I watched a man sit down and take off his wet socks and put on a dry pair of socks And you'd think he died and gone to heaven Yeah, there was a homeless count last week But do people really count or is it the money that counts? Can we just use the money? $400,000 we could set up a nice little place somewhere I mean, I'm just comparing it to the garbage the sewer truck. I just heard about people may be a little more important than a sewer truck a lot more important in fact and You know, it's hard for me to be out in the community and hear people saying well Well, why don't they do something and then people who live on the streets say Well, where do we go and I don't have an answer for either one of them? I'm in the middle. I'm in the middle doing triage If anybody needs a blanket I have some in my car People I don't even know contact people and say Hey Or people I know will be talking to someone else and and that person will say something they'll say Oh, I have some stuff. Can you take can you get this to them and blankets socks and shoes? I just been giving those out left and right at night when everybody's asleep or supposed to be Anyway that blanket on the front cover of the newspaper that guy was lying under That was a wool blanket from guatemal that one of my friends gave me to give away. Thank you. Mr. Canini Mr. Mayor and co-conspirators. I mean co-counsel members Don't miss the bus get on the bus It's a lot of good reasons to having a good public transportation system one of which it lowers the cost of living A city bus pass from adult is $50 a month The average cost for a car is $500 a month You can save $450 a month if you take the bus And some people want to have a car and they have a car so they don't think they should take the bus If you do the arithmetic Your operational cost of that car Exceeds $50 a month Even owning the car paying all the capital cost You can still take the bus and save money And like the gentleman said, you just walk right on sit right down stand up if you want Do pull-ups on the bars get your exercise in And you don't have to park the bus. Thank goodness for that And for you the council members, please get your grubby little midst out the fare box You don't put a dime in but you take money out and that's that's just unconscionable Really unconscionable Okay, oh one other thing practical thing you need you could do there for the people Put the change box back in the transit wall We had it you took it out when you deformed the transit wall wasted more than three million dollars You messed the place up. You didn't put the fare box back Okay homeless The in the korean war The marines who captured chinese communists who were trying to kill them Housed them in their tents and warm warming tents. They had warming tents They put people in warming tents fed them and housed them people who are a few minutes ago were trying to kill them But that was fair because the marines were trying to kill them too You don't even have the same regard for the citizens here as the marines had for the prisoners of war There are three times the number of empty residents in this country than homeless What kind of country has three times the number of empty residents of homeless? That kind of country is a capitalist country A capitalist system Fortunately the young people are learning about capitalism They're learning about the the socialist bernie sanders And they're moving in that direction Now when you use the word socialism that means a lot of different things To a lot of different people The socialism we're talking about is like norway Where their prisons are in better condition than many of our black colleges There was a program on that That's the kind of socialism We're trying to move towards that's what bernie sanders is all about To the barricades Thank you Thank you All right on the report items just for uh anyone in the chamber now the council has been out this since Two o'clock so we will be taking a 15 minute dinner break after we'll see how Quickly we can get through these different report items But we will be taking a break before we have a public hearing on budget priorities Mr. McGlynn 14.1 Yep 14.1 report adoption Of revised schedule of parking user fees adding discount transit commuter parking permit fee Kevin Buchanan and kim nadeau presenting. Oh, it's just kim this evening Good evening mayor and council members This item recommends approval of a discounted parking permit for at garage 12 For regular users of public transportation Garage 12 is located adjacent to the transit mall and behind the rock c theater The city currently offers Permit a non-reserved permit at garage 12 for 62 a month We also offer a 50 discount for low wage employees Permit at that garage as well This resolution proposes a similar discount permit for commuters who regularly use public transportation The permit would be offered at 31 dollars a month Like the low wage employee permit it would be offered at garage 12 To qualify for the permit parkers will provide a clipper card activity report that shows at least 25 dollars a month in transit use Or they can show a bus pass from city bus or sinoma county transit We're proposing to make 50 permits available for this discounted permit We have over 200 permits available in the garage now, so we have plenty of capacity to support that You're aware of our park smart shuttle, which was the circulator shuttle that was running downtown It's still running today. It's funded by the parking program, but it will be ending on march 1st So this discounted commuter permit is intended to help replace the loss of that circulator by providing a connection from the transit mall to The bus or excuse me the the train platform at Railroad square, so this just shows a map. It's a pretty straight shot the buses There are two existing city bus routes that run from the transit mall to the smart platform. They run every 15 minutes So the benefit of this Discounted permit will be to provide an incentive to use public transportation by offering a discount for long-term parking at a facility that is Right next door to the transit mall And to get more people to use public transportation, which can reduce vehicle miles traveled and reduce greenhouse gas emissions It's recommended by the finance department that the council by resolution adopt the revised schedule of parking user fees Adding a discounted monthly transit commuter parking permit fee effective february 1st 2019 and i'm happy to answer any questions Thank you kim council questions mr. Vice mayor Thanks, mr. Mayor just tangentially related We had the changes that we made as the pilot project at one point will we see a report back on how that worked For parking and parking fees around the garages during the holidays. Oh, okay. I'm sorry I wasn't tracking We i i'm looking at providing An update to council on the overall progressive parking strategies the holiday program is Kind of separate. I could provide a written summary if you're interested in that It will be months before we have any Sales tax data to show what the impact was for businesses downtown But I do have the numbers regarding what the cost was to the parking program We'll we'll caucus and and because I think again to miss the doze point It's a complete picture. We want to present we want to present the The impact on the parking garages, but also what what projected happened in terms of returns on that and what strategies we can move forward So we will we'll put together a package probably bring it first to the downtown subcommittee And then move it to the full council for a report out Great. Thank you because I'd be interested obviously in seeing the data Also the lessons learned and then this seems to play right into that. So thank you Council any other questions I've one card on this item natalie balfour Good evening. My name is natalie balfour. I'm here representing the owners of the roxy theater And I will try to keep it quick as it's been a long evening. Um We Are just asking that no decision be made tonight until we can Just at least be involved in the discussion on this as you know As kim stated this parking garage is right behind the roxy theater and we currently have Parking agreement with the city regarding the parking available there And it was a statement made in the report that no current parker People parking there would be negatively affected and I just would hope um and ask that we can be involved In the discussion to really analyze that we have spent over A few million dollars recently Installing the new luxury seats, which are hopefully going to be increasing parking demand So we really appreciate it if you could just hold off on this and involve us in the in the discussions. Thank you Thank you Know the cards any other questions Council Mr. Tibbets you also have this item. I guess um, yes, I'd like to follow up on that question How that impacts I guess would they be considered our tenant occupier of the space So we do have an agreement with the owners of the roxy theater and that agreement specifically has a claw with regard to how Many permits we can sell so if we were to Offer these permits. We are not going beyond the number of permits that were allowed to offer per the terms of the agreement councilmember flowey Yes, um Excuse me if I missed it, but how much will this cost the city? Well, I don't think that it wouldn't cost the general fund anything any impacts would be to the parking fund My assumption is that these would be new permit new new users of the garage And so while we would be offering them at a discount it would still be additional revenue to the parking fund It wouldn't I don't see this as being a negative impact to the parking fund Do you have a sense of how much additional revenue it might be? Well at 31 dollars a month Let's see. I'm not great at math on my feet It's hard for me to know how many people are going to jump on this and want to buy these permits But you know, maybe maybe a few thousand dollars. I'm not thinking it's going to be a windfall. All right. Thank you Miss comes you have a question If we have the spaces available because we aren't selling as many Then the roxy does in fact have a An Effect because they may be using spaces that we could be Selling for this purpose So i'm trying to sort out When will you come back? And let us know how successful or not successful the program is is there a Is there a follow-up point with this? What's the Is this a pilot or is this are we enacting this? Is this is ongoing? That's a good question hadn't thought of it in terms of it being a pilot But we can certainly come back to you at at any point in time. We could report back in a year I would think you'd want to look at it in any probably a year's time For a comparisons point we we established the low wage employee permits similar very similar program About a year a little over a year ago, and we now have 32 permits sold So we haven't seen a huge leap in in utilization Of the garages or sales of permits from a program like this That's over all the garages and this is only one garage is that the low wage permit is offered in two garages our two most Underutilized garages the seven street garage and this same garage behind the rock c theater At this point in time there there is ample capacity for the garage Garage 12 adjacent to the transit mall in the rock c theater to support a lot more vehicles I think I would like If the person making the motion is willing for us to hear back in a year How it's going if it's influenced the rock c in appropriately If you hear from them that there's a problem that you come back maybe sooner, but at least with any or we should hear back Mr. Tibbetts, it's your item For the sake of discussion I will move a resolution of the council of the city of santa rosa adopting a revised schedule of parking user fees Adding a discount commuter parking permit rate effective february 1st 2019 and wait for the reader second And mr. R. Did you have a comment to make? Yeah, just as uh because there was a question about the math if uh all 50 permits At a 31 reduction per month. That's $1,550 per month For the for the program so for the public I think that that is a good investment if it means that we end up giving people an opportunity to park in our downtown that are typically using Their their public transit already. So i'm happy to support this move forward Mr. Tibbetts, you have another comment. Thank you, mr. Mayor Ms. Nado, I you know one thing so I moved the motion But I am a little bit reluctant to to vote for it if we haven't spoken to the tenant And they sent a representative here tonight Is there some kind of a timeline or or deadline that you're facing that requires implementation tonight? Because i'm thinking it might be just a prudent thing for us to reach out to them Figure out if there is indeed anything that we haven't thought of that they are Um leery of and then bring it back in the consent calendar next week So so we can follow up with the tenant and if and if there is an issue Outstanding will will inform the council even in with the action I think the deadline council member Is the fact we're making the transition in leaving the other other program And so this was staff's attempt to create an opportunity where there was capacity to address the fact that we're going to be leaving The smart shuttle component So you'll get commitment from us to go and visit with With with the roxy if there's something that's insurmountable Will the city manager will will address it But i'll i'll i'll have kim visit with the roxy show them that this is within the contract capacity and the capacities And if we remain in for the issue They know my number So so we'll we'll figure it out I would hate to have a stranded without an option to start addressing An issue as we abandon the other program and and so i'll just say two more things In the future, you know, it's probably just a good idea for us to reach out to all tenants that we have When we're making some kind of a change that could potentially impact them But I do want to also applaud you. I think this is a really great program And i'm i know that i've asked questions relating to affordability in the past So thank you for doing this and I hope it's a good program Okay, we have a motion in second your votes, please And that passes unanimously. Thank you kim Mr. City Manager item 14.2 So item 14.2 report fiscal year 2018 19 budget reduction strategy before I turn it over to chuck. I do have a couple words to to To say on this item As a council considers tonight's item, I just want to remind you that this past october Staff presented a seven million dollar budget reduction exercise half of the 14 million dollar structural deficit The city is facing this demonstrated the voters that the city was serious and committed To controlling costs and addressing its structural issues Then in november the voters approved a measure o to protect vital services This afforded us time to deal with the remaining seven million dollar structural issue that the city faces Remember that is just a five-year license to actually Make further considerations of what we need to do to adjust the budget In addition, santa rosa not only in this process, but in our upcoming budget process must develop a strategy to replenish its depleted reserves Address our aging infrastructure aging and failing infrastructure Assist in the recovery Which means fill the gaps we know will happen when our partners can't fill it legally Or we find out as we've had conversations before that the cost returns On fighting that particular issue won't rise to that level and that was one of the promises in the measure that we would actually Spend some of that money repairing the community And lastly start a program to actively pay down our pension liabilities, which many cities around the state have adopted That is an aggressive strategy Those are some of the things we're going to be visiting not not with the long-term finance committee, but also long term So as as chuck picks this up. This was a conversation. I just wanted to remind everyone happened prior to the vote We asked at that time if there was any substantial issues with the approach Because that approach is mr. McBride will outlay lay out is working as the council had outlined in the prior summer to not impact Active positions within the budget and actually figure out in the goal setting that's coming up in the next couple weeks How we manage our workload with our existing staffing levels because We cannot afford to continue to hire our way out of issues and accept additional Additional long-term liabilities associated with those issues So with that rosy portrait, I will now turn it over to mr. McBride to do the presentation And before you start mr. McBride first Thank you for setting the context here and I would ask just because I know all of us on council been briefed by Mr. McBride in the assistant city manager if we hold all of our questions till after the presentation So go ahead mr. McBride Thank you, mayor Good evening. We're here tonight to address our structural deficit As the city manager Spoke about and we're asking council at the end of this to adopt a resolution that will allow us to make some cuts to our budget to kind of right size us and And that will bring us until the year the end of the year and we can talk about the on On the next fiscal year budget So just a timeline to tonight on august 16th We went to the long-term finance policy and audit subcommittee and we talked to them about The budget deficit that we have Our focus was primarily on purrs and the and the budgetary stress that they're causing to the city And then we laid out this this plan that you'll see tonight For cutting the budget on october 2nd. We had a council workshop and You're going to see exactly the same plans. We showed you that night with some very minor tweaks November 18th We went back to our subcommittee and we spoke to them about our methodology That we used to to make our budget reductions as the reductions that we didn't accept and that brings us to tonight So you've seen this picture before This is this is a snapshot At the at the beginning of this fiscal year of what our deficit looks like and and you can see that our expenditures are exceeding our revenues By a wide margin In the first year in fiscal year 18 19 It's $15 million. So that's kind of where we began as a starting point And you can see that that that that deficit widens over time, which is which is a bad trend line That's what we're trying to fix so Taking this half step meant that we we wanted to close that $15 million gap initially And the way that we did that was we we put a quarter cent sales tax on the ballot That brings in approximately $9 million to the general fund per year And then we asked the departments throughout the city to offer us $7 million in general fund reductions And that's what we'll talk about tonight As we kind of bore down into Into looking at what's causing our deficit. We focused on the expense side. There's really Minor discretion that we have over general fund revenues coming into the city And as we look at the picture of our general fund expenses for 18 19 You can see what pops out there is that personnel is 134.5 million dollars of the budget 76 of it You can imagine that having gone through their session most of those maintenance and operation costs that 20 percent of the budget has already been cut down to Minimal levels the transfer section that you see there of 7.8 million dollars It's just things like debt service transfers that mean we make for courthouse square out of the general fund So as we broke into that broke it down into that biggest piece of our general fund budget Which is personnel we took a look at it how the different components line up So the bottom blue bars there is salaries and those are those are going up However, they did not seem like they are going up at a at a rate that's alarming The top two bars that gray bar is health insurance that goes up by about six percent a year Which is the same history that most agencies see And then the top bar is just incidental costs like like vision and dental that orange bar there In the middle is what concerns us and that's per's and that is going up markedly And as we kind of break into that this is this is a look at cow per's just in the general fund So this does not include enterprise funds like water But it's it's comprised of two components and one is the normal cost Which is just the cost of another service year for our employees And all the actuarial assumptions rates of return all hold constant The unfunded liability there is what you hear talked about a lot and that's you can see that that's going up It's almost doubling from 2019-2025 in a pretty short period and again. We're not unique That's something that all agencies in california that are part of calpers are dealing with Actually agencies that are outside of calpers sometimes are dealing with bigger numbers than these but that's the annual payment So the unfunded liability if we were to pay it off today And remove it from our balance sheet that'd be about a $340 million payoff, but this is what we pay on that annually and you can see that's going up We don't anticipate that's going to stop going up anytime In the foreseeable future. So this is a long term problem We went to goal setting in july and we got some input from the council that That gave us some principles as we were putting together our cuts for this For this mid-year solution We avoided affecting filled fts so in this in this plan I'm going to show you that we cut 49.25 fts in the city. There's only one of those It's filled at this time. That's deputy city manager position We looked at potential outsourcing options. That's probably a more long long-range look that really wasn't looked at too much in this interim step Deferred capital maintenance. That's something that we are undertaking And then we wanted to maintain a focus on tier one priorities that will be reported out on at the february 20 person 20 second goal setting So now i'm going to go directly into the departments again this you've seen this uh at the october meeting So i'm just going to reiterate this we'll start with the city attorney So the city attorney just looking at the way the slides are laid out laid out You have the general fund budget of 3.5 million dollars. That's 2.1 of the overall city budget So city attorneys are relatively small operation. You have their proposed reduction of 237 500 And you have the overall fd count of 16.9. So that'll be the same for each of these slides So you can see that most of the savings that was offered by the city attorney was in personnel savings. They reduced one vacant assistant city attorney And that was provided for cannabis has not been filled. So they so they vacated that position And then those non-personnel costs were just kind of incidental costs that went mostly along with that position So that gave them their reduction of 237 500 City manager, this is where we do have the one filled position. That's the deputy city manager position Right now city manager is is working on a on an alternative staffing plan organizational plan for that So if you look at the resolutions that's provided all of the vacant positions in there We ask you to eliminate those immediately. The deputy city manager position is kept in place until june 30 So until the end of the fiscal year The other reduction in the city manager Um Was a senior admin assistant For a total reduction of $366,000 in personnel costs for the general fund Finance my department. We eliminated four vacancies So I got rid of a vacant revenue manager position We're right now looking at our alternative reporting structures organizational structures So that we can do without that position in the long term We also got rid of an accountant position senior admin assistants And a payroll supervisor So that's how we got to our almost half million dollars in savings for the finance department Fire department eliminated 6.75 fds for savings of $950,000 the 0.75 Was was admin person. They have 4.75 Fds that support their admin functions So those functions will be spread off to asos another admin personnel within the fire department The other reductions there were six fire fighters. Those are vacant right now They're um, they're used to balance uh over time They're used for over staffing for upcoming positions with their firefighters Firefields they can get away with those in the interim right now as we try to cut our budget immediately But in the long term we realize that eventually there's a there's a plan to open additional fire stations They're additional needs so at some point Those firefighters will likely be added back and that's where conversations are going to continue Just today the county started a conversation about The fire protection services And one of the items for consideration is again another I hate to say it's sales tax measure, but a sales tax measure that would ultimately Bring resource to the city to help us start to address The exact issue you're talking about but those are where we're going to need to have Conversations not just with ourselves, but with our other governmental agencies of how we join together to realize revenue that we desperately need To increase our capacity and a capacity as was noted earlier tonight I think the council really wants to take on about making sure that our community is is protected housing community services Relatively small department offered up about a hundred thousand dollars in savings Through fte reductions. So there was one fte that was a community outreach specialist. It was funded Half by measure o funds that is vacant. So it was eliminated And then there's a senior admin assistant in code enforcement that was eliminated at 0.5 fte for that Human resources Cut three hundred and thirty four thousand dollars They cut personnel costs by one by reducing one fte That was the employee services manager that's been vacant. I think now for almost a year And then there were non personnel's costs were associated with the wellness program for miscellaneous personnel This this is not the the wellness program for safety personnel So that was a reduction of a hundred fifty thousand dollars for a total three hundred thirty four thousand Information technology was able to garner savings of seven hundred thirty eight thousand dollars. They reduced two fte's Those were it tax for three hundred one thousand dollars and then non personnel costs of by four hundred thirty seven thousand dollars And that was by deferring some projects to later dates To making some external solutions internal solutions and getting savings through those programs You'll see that those are asterisk We're focusing on the general fund tonight the information technology is actually an internal service So they charge out to the different funds But about 75 of those savings of the seven hundred thirty eight thousand dollars would go to the general fund departments Office of community engagement Another smaller operation They did not reduce personnel But gave us non personnel savings of fifty thousand dollars to the general fund and that was by getting By reducing the choice grants So they have budgeted about a hundred ninety six thousand dollars when we look back historically to last year They used about a hundred and ten thousand dollars. So we had a little bit of Of surplus in there that we could that we could get savings from so they reduced that by fifty thousand dollars Planning economic development Was able to reduce was able to offer savings of six hundred thirty five thousand dollars by making a reduction of five fte's Um, so all of the fte's that we're reducing are in the resolution that's attached to the staff report Uh, if you're interested, but um, three of these five were cannabis related personnel that um, uh, that Are not that are vacant. So we were able to get rid of those at that point and then the other two were um We're um a buildings plan examiner and an associate associate civil engineer So again, those are both vacant positions. Um, that could result in some in some, you know, longer wait times But that's what was offered up by planning economic development police department Reduced their budget by a million dollars primarily through the reduction of eight personnel Of those two were sworn. So there was one sergeant and one officer that are vacant Some of the savings from the officer were taken back and used for contractual service for background investigations Which was some of the work that that officer did they also eliminated three community service officers I think one of those was for for graffitti and graffitti is one of those programs that's spread out among four different departments So the police chief has been working with those departments to To get that budget put in the right place So they were able to eliminate those the other two cso's that were eliminated Responded to non-emergency calls, but those are vacant. So that means that patrol officers will actually pick up that work so there may be some increase in in Times in response times for non-emergency calls The other three personnel were administrative recreation parks was able to Garner eight hundred thirty four thousand dollars in savings primarily through reduction in eight personnel There was an application specialist that's been vacant And that supported the recreation maintenance system They also were able to eliminate four vacant groundskeepers So those groundskeepers had actually been moved up to the level of maintenance worker Leaving those positions vacant so they felt they could get rid of those They also got rid of a senior maintenance worker and an admin secretary So as this stands right now, I've talked to mr. McBride The way measure m was structured It was the last three years a glimpse at the last three years with this reduction exercise. We still comply with measure m meaning that that there was a There was a requirement that you not Displace funding from the organization. So no supplanting we fit within the supplanting requirements If we take much more reduction, we will actually be threatening our status as it relates to supplanting and measure m's qualification status And transportation public works have been Weaning forward on their reduction plan for quite some time So they were able to offer a reduction of 10 fte's or eight hundred thirty four thousand dollars there And non-personal savings of two hundred thirty thousand dollars Um And i'm not going to go through all of those again. They're listed in the in the rezzo Um storm water was able to provide savings uh 58,700 dollars and that was primarily uh by looking at how they were Charging the general fund reducing that charge the general fund and moving that to uh to the water enterprise So overall this is what we looked at um with all the Reductions that i just showed you those 49.25 fte's this breaks it down In the order we just went through by department so you can see What percentage of cuts were offered by the individual departments as part of their As part of their budgets part of their general fund budgets If you add these all together that six point eight million dollars It's about a four percent total reduction in our general fund budget from these cuts Citywide statistics As you would imagine Most of the six point nine million dollars in cuts came from personnel savings So that's six million dollars the non-personal savings were a little under a million dollars for 49.2 fte's And we kind of sliced the the cuts the the personnel reductions another way here Management we reduced nine personnel And that has the the note there is one fte currently filled. That's the deputy city manager non-management was 32.25 and then the sworn were eight of those two were the um sworn police The uh sergeant and the officer that we spoke of and then the six firefighters that that comprises the uh The eight there As a matter of scale about 186 the city's personnel or management out of 1306 Long-term budget solutions as I mentioned these are really our short-term solutions This is just to get us through this year to immediately respond to that budget deficit So that we got a little more time to kind of think about this and how we're going to how we're going to Focus on the budget long term as the city manager said We not only have a deficit that we have to fix but while we do that We also have to think about how we get our reserves back up to the the mandate of 15 by policy or about 25 million dollars Is what we should have in reserves well below that We uh, we're going to have to deal with things like the the purrs unfunded liability In order to reduce our purrs costs over time and that's probably going to be a very long-term commitment We have some infrastructure issues. We need to look at Probably would not be a bad thing to have money set aside for an economic downturn Which we know will be coming at some point just to complicate these matters even more We are looking organizational structures as I mentioned with my department We're looking at internal services fleet phones and laptops How we give those out to employees and if there's any savings to be had there Fleets looked extensively at their especially at their ghost fleet and take-home vehicles and and have already made some Pretty good progress there in reducing the amount of ghost vehicles We are looking at revenue solutions. We told you that we have a temporary tax in place for six years unfortunately that tax expires at the same time that the The former measure oh expired so we're going to have a half cent additional sales taxes expiring at one time And then again as I mentioned reserves are going to be a big part of our discussion as we enter the annual budget process for for the next fiscal year And before we go to questions, I just want to repeat something that I've said a couple of times is that I I have been part of the city manager's department Group the sponsor of the league of california city is looking expressly At the issues surrounding purrs We've been and we've testified in front of purrs. I can't you can go watch the videotape. I can't say it was a very fruitful conversation But what I can say is that that's one of as you you saw that's our rising cost We need to figure out a way to start addressing and and actively paying bound some of those liabilities And one of the unfortunately one of the recommendations that the league has put together is actually to go out of sale And do a sales tax in your community expressly for that And I think a lot of times when we look at that we think it's a joke But that tells you where we sit and our limited abilities to impact That that that liability That's one of the questions I get asked all the time. That was the question I got asked prior to the sales tax You know I pointed specifically to council's commitment and staff's commitment to control costs going into the to the the renewal of the New opportunity to get through the short term with the six-year increment of a quarter cent But it is an issue. We're going to have to wrestle with I you know, I understand that there's going to be Concern Challenges in in accepting this right now, especially as as we're still working through How do we align the city better to meet your priorities? Make sure we're delivering the services that this community has expected as best we can And still manage a recovery process That I'll remind the council Some of our consulting teams are leaving as of april And we're going to have to figure out how we manage some of that internally So it's it's a lot of work. This is prepped for our goal setting session We're going to reprise this presentation some of this presentation during that goal setting session But this is the beginning of the budget process. The hearing takes off later this evening But we can't we've delayed taking action on the budget for a series of years now Including the fire interrupting us If we delay much further, it's only going to get more and more challenging The presentation you have in front of you is about taking Predominantly vacant positions and then we can start to strategize About how we build the necessary revenues to actually support what we need to do And I pointed to the half cent sales tax measure that was floated today Not not affirmed but floated on the county side Which would be able to fund a series of things on with our fire department that we will be bringing forward to in future conversations But we've got to control some of the costs so that we can start talking about smart revenue development and making sure there's revenue to meet Some of these essential service needs that we all know we want to have in this community I appreciate that mr. City manager So if I just heard you correctly because i'm also interested in hearing the other city managers So what mr. Mcbride said on slide six by the unfunded liability from 2019 to 2025 almost doubling What What can this council do to affect that number or is it just the strategy? We're just trying to pay it down so it doesn't continue to Expand so Mayor this is this a conversation we'll we'll have with the with the Budget process for the next fiscal year, but one of the things we want to look at all of the above So there's there's only a couple of levers you really have available to you with the unfunded liability You can either put money aside in a trust to address it. You can you know set up a Stabilization fund so that if you have big jumps in it in a certain year You you have money set aside to address that But you're right primarily we want we want to figure out a way to pay off the unfunded liability Now paying up a $340 million liability is going to take decades It will take a long time and before we do that we have to get We have to get some sort of surplus We have to get the revenues over the expenditure so that we have that wedge and we can then use that money to To start going after that ual we I don't want to get ahead of myself, but we are going to look at ways to do that We do have some remaining money from a pension obligation bond that was that was floated years ago And and we could potentially use that it's not a lot of money But we could use that to go after That unfunded liability and kind of get that ball rolling But and I think you know some policies on what's famously called turn back and what the council pre assigns That's been a conversational long-term finance committee committing some of those return funds To enterprises like this that it's going to be a council obligation that they're going to take You're going to take any money that might be remaining at the end of the fiscal year and reinvested in paying down those Items and really we haven't even really talked about the other issue that's huge for us Which you all will be going on tours shortly to see the conditions of the facilities that we're charged with We have some good examples about some decent facilities that need addressing But we also have some really really challenging situations that we need to get our hands around So it's not just an unfunded liability as it relates to the pension costs It's about our assets and maintaining our assets It is something we really have to start addressing Thank you. Okay. We'll bring it back to council questions council member phony Thank you director McBride and mr. McGlynn So I understand that we have I take this very seriously. Thank you for all your work and I appreciate each department coming forward My my primary concern is around this that I appreciate the effort that was spent in looking to make cuts based on unfilled positions However, not every unfilled position Is worth the same as the next unfilled position specifically The cost of not filling a position in planning and economic development Or in transportation and public works May not be as cost It was going to be a lot more costly to our future economic viability and recovery than positions in other areas and so I'm not suggesting that um As a first step we go looking to who we could lay off. I would hate that but that we not consider every Unfilled position to be of equal economic value if that's what we're talking about here So I can bring down the director of planning and economic development to have that conversation But we didn't treat every position as as equal and I I'll just remind council There's another seven million dollars to go And but we can always figure out how to actually build some capacity within the organization But we have to start controlling costs. So We're talking about what we're doing to move forward But the reality is we're going to need to take a stab at controlling costs right now And then council member I believe we can start to have conversations as we go through the budget process about what we want to try to construct Moving forward But this was an attempt As we started last summer to really live to that tenet of let's try to first do a first First approach that does not lay anybody off And and so that was what we went through in the fall. That was the agreement coming in, you know There wasn't there was concern and I and I like just like we have a staff But we asked some of these questions directly about what we're going to be able to do And that's why we want to also go into goal setting quite frankly and have this conversation and goal setting What are we going to focus on what are we going to ask staff to do because we can't grow staff Sustainably in this process. So Again, that that was the approach We did not take it as as as a light exercise to look through and try to evaluate these positions I do appreciate that. I just know that you know from my mom Who's trying to build an accessory dwelling unit to somebody who's trying to build a large manufacturing cannabis facility How difficult it is to get the permanent through the permitting process and I would hate to see us hobble our Short-term and long-term economic growth and I appreciate that you took that into consideration councilman will comes Thank you. Thank you for bringing this forward now I'm afraid I have a few questions. So I appreciate your patience as as I look at this Slide three You said some of these things I would like to Sort of clarify or reemphasize them by asking This long-range financial forecast does this include maintenance deficits such as road maintenance or building maintenance It does not council member Okay, so it doesn't increasingly widen with the fact that it costs more to for example Two to seven times more to rebuild a road Then to fix it before it has deteriorated. That's not shown here. That is not shown here. No, okay While Another page shows purrs This page doesn't show purrs. Is that correct or incorrect? So purrs is built into that expenditure line that you see on the top So all the personnel costs are part of that is purrs and that that is built into this so the unfunded liability That's part of this the annual the annual portion of it annually not just on the other slide. Correct. Okay We are extremely sales tax dependent as a city Thanks to for example prop 13 Um We would anticipate about every 10 years or so nobody can know for sure downturns So on this slide 3 chart There is no consideration for an economic downturn In a 10-year or so period Although we had one in 2008 so our 10 years is coming I would concur with that. I don't know when it's coming, but you're right We don't know exactly when it's coming, but we're kind of do And we have not built that into this into this model. And that's what I say We're probably not even conservative enough in this model. Yeah, okay just Um, does this model show Any part of making up reserves this this forecast No, as a matter of fact this forecast shows you taking money away from reserves So every one of those deficits we're right now balancing that on on our reserves, but If I remember rightly we had a large fire that took up a lot of our reserves I'm pretty sure I remember you're absolutely correct. Okay, so this doesn't show making them up and we don't really have much left No, okay Is the new property tax that I mean, excuse me the new We just passed a tax Thankfully, thank you all for participating We just passed a new small tax For short term. Is that shown on this? This is pre-tax. So when we update our forecast for next year, uh, that's when you'll get the first full fiscal year of that tax Okay, does it make much difference in this general trend? It will so if you look at 1920 that that will And it depends on what we wind up doing with that approximately nine million dollars per year If we use some of that for other purposes other than just, you know, remedying general fund expenditures But if you used all of it towards the general fund You would you would bring um up that revenue line by nine million dollars So your deficit would decrease by you know down to nine million dollars plus with this seven million dollars cuts That would bring that down even further. Okay, so my recollection is that nine million dollars a year is the low end of the estimate For what we need just to do road repairs and not any of the other maintenance That it was somewhere between nine and 15 Million a year Are you remembering a number around there? Also? I appreciate that the gentleman's not at the table. Who knows that number? You want to just shout it for us? So if we roll in sp1, it's about 14 million dollars 14 million. Okay, so this Thank you. I between It's more than nine million If we could move to slide 21 Looking at the fire FTEs i'm concerned that we need to be Doing more with regard to community wild fire planning and protection and in particular One of the things we might want to consider doing as a council. We haven't decided yet Would be to have someone who follows up that following the Following the the occupancy permit to make sure that properties are being maintained in in that area That would fall likely within the fire department There are a number of things that might We might want to do including expanding our cope program or something similar to preparing communities for emergencies I don't I don't see how we cut fire staff and provide the kind of community wildfire support that We need to provide I'm just trying to understand the fire department's decision that we can in fact Cut six I mean I understand point seven five is is Admin, but the rest of the six are not admin So i'm happy to have The the chief come down. I will say again This is where some of these questions are regional questions and we need to start to tackle these issues regionally We're we're in active conversations about how we better have a have a Cholistic approach to vegetation management and and Those are going to require funding. We're in a conversation right now about moving our disaster council from a A series of mo used to actually The dreaded word that's come up repeatedly at jpa But there's going to be costs associated with that We we have more difficult what I can say council member without Without any hesitation. We have more difficult conversations coming right now. We're trying to Make a serious dent in in the overall structural issue So that as we get into some of those difficult conversations We've actually have some place to start that conversation. We're not disputing that But we have some tough tough places that we're going to have to go I'm just how much do we benefit by doing a cut like this And then six months later trying to find folks or positions That have the knowledge that we're seeking it just Is this a long is this really a long term plan? This is a really short term plan But you're also pointing to new positions that we're we're talking about you're talking about new Expertise, you know, we'll make sure we're making the right hires within those those areas So again, we're not disputing that what we're saying is we may have to come back and have conversations that are even tougher Then the ones we're having right now You have a specific question for me. I heard a lot there, but I want to make sure I'm answering what you're asking I can't figure out how under the current circumstances where we have a lot to do with regard to Um Wildfire support within the community training education outreach monitoring How do we cut six positions these positions predominantly fill engine company and truck company functions So they weren't out into public filling cope and and inspection type work So with these positions we had three per shift that were over in a backfill for Injury sick Retirement vacation When those positions deplete down to six to nine and we refill those positions to give some depth We were just in the process of filling all of those positions after july 1 when we were told we're gonna have to cut our budget So we put a hiring freeze the city did we said we're not hiring any firefighters till we figure out what we're doing Citywide budget we're part of the general fund. We came up with what was the easiest For the department to absorb which was the six vacant positions Knowing that we're gonna need to replace those positions We've tried three different grant opportunities for a vegetation management program Two of them have failed at this point The third one is still in play and those come with positions as well, but they will be grant funded for up to three years Okay, so we and I appreciate that FEMA resources are not clear, but I would have thought hazard mitigation funds would be Available for this particular kind of There's a long way to go in fire In the fire field as it relates to our federal and state partners You know, we still have to build a fire station. We're still trying to figure out how that's gonna work And we're still not there. So it's frustrated on many levels, but this is where we find ourselves This is particularly frustrating I'm with you. Okay. Thank you. I I appreciate that you have done what you were asked to do I am concerned that we cannot do without Six additional fire positions. So the six position where we The six positions this will not affect our overall staffing in terms of we have you said that they can't get sick now, right? No, they get sick. It means firemen can't get sick because we don't have the backup What it means is there's there's going to be more overtime is what that means and that's not cheaper It's right on the cusp. It used to be cheaper. It's not good practice though because we're burning our folks down We're very busy And we help the state a lot and we help other communities a lot We might have to pull back from that and I don't really want to do that But I have the health of my department to look at as well So we're going to be looking at some other items moving forward But in this case this this was the easiest cut to make that was available. There is no other money I I hear that we don't have another place to look within the department Moving on and thank you for coming down. I continue to be very concerned about The fact that we have a lot of work to do in order to be more fire safe in certain areas and Um Yet we must make some cuts apparently um moving on to PED We currently do not do cost recovery in that department Some cities do full cost recovery in their PED departments Was full cost recovery discussed as an option instead of cutting What I believe was a uh a plans reviewer So plan checker and a civil engineer. We are looking at again. We're looking at those revenue Issues as as part of the next step of the How we get to build back some of this as and be conscious making conscious decisions about those investments Right now. We're actually cutting some of those Those fees and lowering some of those fees to spur development So I would just I would just say once again We find ourselves in that that's that tricky situation where we're trying to make do with what we have And be honest about what we're going to be able to support moving forward and then have the conversation about You know one of the things somebody brought up to me was well I know how hard it is to add a position back And yeah, it needs to be that difficult I think we're at a point where we have this kind of structural deficit That we really really have to be asking that extra question about What does it mean to add a single position back Into the fold? I'm going to follow up. I appreciate that But one of the things that developers and builders and folks who tell us all the time is that time matters to them speed of processing matters to them predictability matters to them and And I think sometimes Paying a little extra for the cost of having the review May be worth it for them Instead of having a delay or to wait time can be money So I appreciate that and I hope that we talk closely with the folks who are Using these services about whether they'd rather have delays Or whether they'd rather pay a little more for the service and again I think that that's staff is is would be way open to that conversation And and we would be looking for that type of partner Obviously people would like to have both fast and cheap, but you know fast safe and cheap in engineering you pick pick two And the other concern I have with is with transportation and public works. This is all Personnel none of this is making up the maintenance deficit At what point do we have the conversation with our community? I mean we have a fast turnaround time for a pothole repair, but that's a very temporary Solution at what point do we have a conversation with our community about what roads are not going to be maintained? Um, we're not we're not going to be able to maintain our roads We're open to all strategies And I think that's part of where we're looking for in the goal setting is a direction that if if if We need to have a realistic conversation about what we're going to do and how we're going to finance that going forward at some point Following the path we're following now we will have gravel roads Or functionally we will have gravel roads And I don't think our community understands that that's even doing what we're talking about now I don't think our community understands that And at some point we have to have a conversation about that And I apologize that it's a difficult conversation, but We got to talk about it because we can't go this way Without having the discussion about where that's appropriate where it's inappropriate Uh, again, I want to thank you. These are tough choices We need to engage our entire community and I'm glad that we're having the conversation Openly about how tough these choices are. I don't I don't want to make any of these choices But I don't see a way to eliminate Nearly seven million dollars in our budget otherwise. So thank you for bringing this forward Vice mayor rogers Thank you First of all, thank you. Mr. McBride. Uh, I just want to say that While I know none of these cuts are easy They're only going to get harder and I think we all understand that this is the low hanging fruit And if I understand this correctly, we will not have any vacant positions Left to be filled other than folks who might leave between now and when we do the budget. Is that correct? That's that's a pretty true comment So I want to ask you a little bit about about purrs and uh, actually I also I can't get into this conversation without at least acknowledging that It would be really easy for you and for the city manager to hide behind the fact that we had a fire As an excuse for how we got to where we're at and I appreciate that the conversation has been separated into two different categories We talk a lot about our reserves and what the fire has done to the reserves But this is about structure of the organization And we would be having this conversation regardless of if we had a fire or not And the difference is that the fire wiped out our runway to actually make changes And I appreciate that the two of you have been very open with the public about that And haven't used the fire as a crutch to talk about how we got where we're at Uh, I just want to make sure that I put that out there When it comes to purrs, my understanding is that uh, you've got three basic components to purrs employee contributions employer contributions And then the return on the investment The unfunded liability is when the investment comes in under the assumption rate from purrs just being really general Purrs has been lowering their assumption rate to try to be more accurate so that that way we have more truth in budgeting And they've lowered it. I think I mean you'd know better than I would. I think it's down to six percent. Is that right? So uh, vice mayor, they actually have made a decision to bring it from seven to half percent down to seven percent Okay And they is there any in I know every time they do that it pushes more pressure on cities on counties To make up that difference in the funding gap So correct. So what happens is is is they reduce the assumed rate of return You get less power of your money over time to address that liability in the future when when employees retire That means you have to put in more money currently So every time they lower that for example when they took that down By an eighth the way they did is they took it down an eighth percent in the first year eight the percent in the second year quarter percent in the final year one eighth of a percent Reduction increases our total unfunded liability by 20 million dollars. So those even though they're small percentages They have really big impacts and we don't see purrs Changing that trajectory in their discount rate anytime soon So given the the slide on Slide three The long-range financial forecast is this assuming that they do not continue to lower the discount rate So this has that built into it So we have the forecast from purrs built into this model The problem with the way that we model this is that we know what purrs is doing for the next five years We can build that into the forecast the five years after that. We don't know what happens So we normalize it at a lower rate. So again If that, you know 15 percent annual increase continues Our picture is probably worse after year five Is that why in the graph it starts to level off rather than to continue with the yeah, it's yeah, there's I mean, we don't purrs is a is a question mark, but There it's not going to get better And you know, I think one of the things that's made it You know easy to digest in when we have conversations is that when when purrs came to existence The model was to have Two people working for every person in retirement and where we sit now is exactly the opposite There are two people in retirement for every person working And pressures on cities are exactly the pressures. We're facing is you're now collapsing organizations, which actually Doesn't help purrs in the long run. There's a real issue here That politically needs to be taken taken a look at the state is once again Helping itself out of its issue But somewhere along the line Municipalities have to be helped. We're not the only ones in this Situation at the testimony I was in right before the fires It was it was exactly this conversation that communities were having I can't even have you know, they were talking about their inability to hire public safety Folks because they could not afford to hire public safety folks At all and so these are the types of conversations that are impacting the communities around the state and frankly purrs position right now is we're strictly a custodian and and While that may sound good It it it actually is fraught with issues for municipalities Something has to happen In the on the state side to start to address municipalities and our struggles To maintain service levels for our communities as we as we face these challenges So we're we're talking a lot about the the seven million in cuts that we need to make to get within Where our budget needs to be for this year. We've also talked a little bit about A council policy to build our reserves back to 15 percent In the event that there was some form of a natural disaster That's 25 million. Where do our reserves currently sit? So we're working on our new forecast for the february 21st goal setting meeting But just doing rough math when we started the year we had six and a half million dollars as of july 1st We've probably gone through at least two million dollars since then if you think of the increased outweighs for the e and y contract and some other Things that the council has passed over the past fiscal year. So we are We're depleting now What I haven't added in there is that we are actually starting to get money from fema and cow oes So so far year to date we started getting money in uh, november december time frame So I think so far we've gotten about three and a half million dollars in general fund reimbursement We've also gotten some backfill from the state for property taxes. So we've got two million dollars in there So I haven't factored all of that together yet, but we probably on net have probably grown our reserves a little bit So some of those kind of things are going to help a bit, but again We're talking about going from somewhere around five million dollars to getting back to 25 million dollars That's not going to totally do it for us and and and again um One of the things to remember is When we one of the things I shared with the council at the very beginning of the recovery process is If you're getting 70 cents back on each dollar Expensed in your recovery that's considered a major victory You don't get a one for one return on the dollars you invested To help your community recover. So even when we're talking about things that we're going to get back We're going to get back a share of that not the full share of that investment Because there's local match requirements, but there's also As I as I mentioned before things that the the federal government will discount because You know, the you know, there are things like tracking where vehicles went during the fire If we can't demonstrate that those vehicles were actually in service of the fire They are technically not eligible for reimbursement And that's that's an issue a lot of communities face How do you track a particular vehicle and demonstrate that that vehicle was deployed to only do there were the The the disaster work that it was intended to do to get the federal requirement Yeah, I understood so setting that conversation about reserves and dollars coming back in our side Which I know we'll talk about more when we have the actual budget full budget conversation Have we had conversations with our bargaining units about these potential Eliminations of positions and the impact that that will have on existing staff Or on staffing levels Well What I can tell you vice mayor is that the plan that you've just seen has been shown to the bargaining units So they've seen everything that you've seen Whether I have not had conversations with them on service level impacts So I get the impression from your answer that it was they were shown but didn't Didn't have any type of sign-off or much input into the process It was it was informational. It was informational. But again, we we our mine council that's been since october We went through this process since october We've had Repeated conversations that i directors have had repeated conversations with their teams about these implementation issues Go ahead. If I may may I follow up on that? I just want to confirm whether that is also true with the wellness program We have a wellness program that will be ongoing for Sworn officers or police and fire Um But we have had a wellness program and I have to say I've been Pleased to take part in that wellness program just as a disclaimer there The we've had a wellness program for miscellaneous employees. My understanding is that that's 150 thousand dollar cut Are the are the union representatives of the miscellaneous employees informed about that and And have they been engaged in that conversation? Um, I I can get more detail on that but again, this has been a conversation ongoing since october We've had their conversation repeatedly Um, we've informed we had a sit-down meeting with the wellness provider. It's specifically about this Issue as well. So we've had plenty of conversations Whether it's whether everyone is completely satisfied with that conversation. I can't comment on right now I'm sure I will have any I have my mailbox will be full tomorrow All I can say is I was the one of the original champions of trying to bring this program in But in in in the painful conversations that we've had We we need to actually ask some of these questions and one of the questions was Is there a direct correlation between the program and any other cost benefit that we have and we cannot That's one of the ones where it certainly seems as if there should be a cost benefit that that makes that one a wash But I appreciate your You're getting any further information you have to us. Thank you So mr. McBride you mentioned that uh fire service levels Could be or would be sufficient With this this cut in the interim What does in the interim actually mean does that mean? Once we have another station that's up and running we'll have to increase our service Yes, this yes outlook so from a financial perspective, this is just as I mentioned a half step to get us to june 30th I I I know that there's there's going to be Demand for at least two more fire stations additional firefighters that we're going to have a trust in the future And that means we're going to have to figure out Maybe where Or we're going to have to make policy decisions as to where service levels are cut elsewhere to meet that need or if that's the desired And you know, I'll just say that the nine additional or extra firefighters I don't like using the term extra because we use them every day But those nine firefighters that's another station. So when we do have the ability to build a station We've got the nine people to plug in We're going to have to you know I'm going to fight for more people because I need more people for my department just for the health and As busy as you are We got to look at ways to put maybe squads in service to help with the call volume or are running an additional type one Engine to help with call volume. We used to do that in the past when we had extra people We won't have that capacity now that we're we're dropping these six. So for me, it's a short-term Fixed to a long-term problem. We're going to have to be looking for more firefighter positions down the road And in addition, you know, the department is in a study on service level provision and that's coming back to the council In in the near future And I understand you mentioned that the county is looking at a potential sales tax around fire services I just as a comment I'm always very concerned about sales tax. It's a really volatile Funding source and when it comes to something like fire service, I don't really want us to get in the business of yo-yo budgeting Where in some years it goes up in other years. We have to make really painful cuts of Finding officers or firefighters that are no longer necessary So I think it'd be important for us to put out that concern early to the county that they should potentially engage The the city council on that conversation So so I understand based on today's feedback that there will be an opportunity to engage in that conversation Which I know that the chief and I are very excited about that the engagement opportunity now exists instead of just advancing to To putting something on the ballot, right? I've just got a couple more here I do want to echo the comments about planning and economic development I look at it as more of an investment than a cost to the city I would be interested when we bring forward the budget for you to bring Call the more difficult cuts that we would need to make in order to maintain Or increase some of that service level to move things through the system faster as an investment You mentioned with the office of community engagement that they typically have a hundred and ninety thousand dollars for the choice grants But they usually only spend a hundred and ten thousand on the choice grants The cut that's proposed here is fifty thousand That doesn't even bring us down to the level of what they normally use. Why wasn't that looked at a little bit deeper? So I think again, this is a first step and this is the exact guidance You know, we do have some grant making opportunities that we do to support community programs When we go through the budget process, those are the types of things that could be You know, we're in a particular fiscal situation We're no longer going to do certain types of sponsoring programs we've done in the past and maybe reallocate that resource To something like planning and economic development. I think staff would be open to that conversation right now Again, knowing that we're in sort of a flux state They took a hit that they looked at where there could take that particular reduction and identified that reduction You know, not not matching one for one but trying to get to that space of that $50,000 hit But I think if you want to if we want to explore those grant making opportunities, the city does it's not a huge amount of money We could look to see and reinvest those in other ways We just didn't want to take those programs out in this particular cycle We'd be looking to do that in the more full budget cycle Understood and then my last question Seems since I've been on council we've been getting by with a parks director position that is shared with another director position It seems to jump every couple of months to a different director. It's your turn to run parks that Those call them savings of having not had that position filled seem to be ongoing until we actually Fill the position Why is that not included in this budget reduction? So it's it's not again I we can we'll we can illustrate that a little bit more for you But I don't I don't think it's a one for one and we're trying to do some realignment conversation as as the As mr. McBride Um Alluded to and I'm hoping to bring that forward pretty soon So that we can sort of have a conversation about that particular position and what the what we might consider In a management structure to meet the our obligation around wrecks and parks that may not be that position But often we're promoting people to fill that position temporarily We have to increase it, but we're accruing some savings those savings could be applied through a Council policy at the end of the year to again, maybe pay down pension obligations Etc and so forth, but they're not really as long as the position's there They're not really ongoing savings because eventually the ideas you're going to fill the position and those obligations will kick in And I completely understand that and I would never want to sound like i'm not advocating for having a wreck in parks director but Given that it's been over a year since we've had one If the intention of the city manager is to not have one for another year Perhaps that's one of these positions that we're cutting that we could instead fill until we make those structural changes to have a director And I understand Mr. Alley's Thank you. Before I get into some of my questions. I just want to clarify the comments related to the choice Grants that these are not just for funding community Programs they are towards our effort in violence prevention So it's really an extension of the work that we're trying to do there are others I think that we that would do fun programs and I think that's what you were talking about But but I think I mean I've been on councils since 2008 and I think we've made these john and I have Both been on for that long and have made decisions like this Over time obviously going through the recession and trying to put this Into perspective getting a complete picture Today we have a snapshot of where where we are and looking at where we're going But we've also been someplace too And we've gone through some of these significant cuts before and I would argue that we are no longer at the point of low hanging fruit We're actually climbing a ladder and getting a fruit from up high in the tree And it's difficult and in a certain sense. I feel like it's kind of like the cart before the horse We're making some big decisions here and then later We're here from the community on some of the important things to them as it relates to our future budget as well So I guess to start in trying to get the complete pictures Do we have a sense for where we are now as far staffing levels? Going back a number of years. I mean, I know we can go back to the last fiscal year But historically going back during the recession and and I know we we made significant cuts We've made significant service cuts as well Parks is always a good example of where we had to make some significance in the past and the impacts there So i'm trying to put things in perspective Because I think this this is for me is going to be one of most difficult times in making these decisions as far as continued cuts So i'm trying to get a better perspective on where we've been and where we are today and how we're planned to move forward So do we have a sense for where we are not for exact numbers, but I know we reduced over time With various departments. So do you have a sense for that right now? I don't off the top of of my head we can get something like that for you You're talking about how many fts that we've cut since the recession Right because it goes to the full picture because we've cut a lot and I know Some could argue that it was fat. Maybe it was maybe it wasn't but it was There were positions that were cut there were services that were cut But there's also been some restructuring that's that's gone on as well to augment some of that And and it sounds like we're talking about doing more of that as well and going to uh, councilmember Fleming's I'm coming earlier A vacant position is not a vacant position a vacant position. They're all they're different right And and I don't want to make an assumption that with the nearly 50 fts that we have today That's that's just extra stuff sitting around. It's not they're there for vital reasons those positions are And yes, there's value to those. I know that in the the proposed cuts for example with housing And community services were probably going to kill nrp now with the elimination of that Community outreach specialist. So there's pieces that are missing. So Can you go through the process again? I know October this started but in today's world october was a long time ago and coming June 10th is a long way away and all that's going to happen between now and then too But what was the process throughout the city departments in coming to these numbers? And are these the original numbers that were proposed positions or has been changes and in how you came to these final numbers? Yeah, so as you can see I can find it So you can see that there's The cuts in the in the different departments vary all over the place And and that was a conscious decision originally what we did Around august or septembers is we went out to the departments and we asked them to give us 10 cuts Just give us cuts across the board and we knew going into that It's just not realistic to make those cuts in every department There's no way that we're going to be able to cut 10 out of safety budgets. That's just not going to happen So we took those back We vetted them out with with the city manager's office We vetted them out with all the departments and we asked them to provide us with with what they could realistically do So, you know like the office of community engagement It was their proposition that the easiest cut that they could make was $50,000 in choice grants We went back with police and fire and we reduced their targets substantially You can see fire we cut by two and a half percent police would cut by 1.7 While we went after departments like the city manager Is a smaller department, but we could get 12 by their reductions and reorganizations As far as vacancies It's it's not a It's not always the most strategic method to just call vacancies because in my department I gave up an accountant that I could probably use especially with with With the FEMA work that we're going to have ongoing But we just we went through and selected those cuts that were the least painful and Made the least external service level reductions that we could do and and that's how we came at them And that's one of the reasons that we went back with the long-range finance subcommittee In november to talk to them We showed them the entire list of what was proposed by the departments and what we had not taken and I think we got We got uh buying that they were comfortable with the choices that we made Was there an evaluation process within the departments? Once the proposed cuts were made In the reason I asked that is that sometimes you can cut a position here, but it impacts in the department there So was was that discussion had as far as how all of these Interacted and impacted each other So this this entire plan that we're putting out before you tonight was developed in conjunction with every department in the city at The table so all the directors were at the table to to decide what we could and couldn't cut Okay, thank you. That's all I have Thank you. The only question I had and mr. Oliver has mentioned it on slide 12 housing and community services Does that position mean the end of neighborhood revitalization program Yeah, dave going housing and community services What we imagine as a department is we would rely on the office of community engagement to help the nrp program On a on a very specific basics and neighborhood meeting So it doesn't necessarily end the program But to councilmember oliveris's point going back in time after the recession We made reductions to nrp from a full-time Inner department effort to a limited part-time effort In inspections and others So those inspections will continue and if we have a neighborhood that we want to Set up a neighborhood meeting for do some promotions or Whatever the we used to do we would rely on the office of community engagement So there would be fewer of those engagements In suddenly for the city manager when you do come to council with that reorganization plan Would you be able to address because I know past council is a very valued? I think the community is really value or nrp program how that would work. So so again, we we It'll happen through reorganization and the budget process. I want I want to make it clear when we get into the budget process We're going to talk specifically about each department and what you what council desires and what the community desires to see about That and then we can get into a conversation about what we need to build that capacity So we're limping along in some areas and I think nrp is a classic Conversation and we've probably dodged that conversation a little bit. What's our expectation out of nrp? How does that interrelate with community engagement? We're going to be all in to have some of those conversations as we go through this process But we needed a starting point to engage in that conversation So yes, it's someone's going to be realignment. Some of it's going to be in the budget process What do you what do we what are we trying to get out of this particular program? And what's what's a level of service that we can have or do we need to stop providing that service because it's never It's actually not achieving what we had it had entailed in the first place But each department will be prepared to go through that conversation with the council. Okay. Thank you Do you have a follow-up question, mr. Tibbets? Thank you, mr. Mayor. I should have gotten my questions out earlier Um, I do have a couple of questions. One relates to a conversation. We had mr. McBride On the staff level about looking into the parks and recreation budget at the status of the lake ralphine dam its purpose And I guess legitimacy for being on the parks books versus the enterprise fund and the bpu We ever ever follow up on that I did actually follow up on that and i'm hoping someone here can answer that better than I can but um, yeah I was told that it absolutely is a parks function. So that it cannot be moved to the enterprise as it's been related to me It's not a storm water or water situation. It's actually a while. It's a dam It's actually a recreational facility and it's not as it's currently Is it's currently constructed is not an easy switch right over to enterprise to take the enterprise Concern but we followed up that we continue to look at it, but it is not purely a A water resource conversation now what I will say is we're starting to with some court cases out there look Very closely at storm water and what we might be able to do about a storm water enterprise fund Long term I raise that because there has been some court decisions. I'm in some conversations with staff But unfortunately if we start a new enterprise fund, there's going to be rate players associated with an enterprise fund But that's one of the conversations that we're we're exploring when we talk about revenues how we might Move something out of a general fund department to its explicit purses in in for example storm water And right now storm water is one of not just here in our community, but across the state is one of those Orphan programs that's not fully owned, but there's been some court case That are making us Assess what the viability of moving it into an enterprise function would be okay Well, thank you both for looking into that and a follow-up question is Did anybody start conversations about looking at the depreciating facilities that we own and and looking at the long-term plan potentially turning these Cost liabilities for maintenance into something that we can engage A real estate entity to sell off for profit to offset budgetary losses So so i'm not sure it's a wash and again usually when you sell a property You're talking about a one-time investment And that's one of the questions that if we do get into sales of property We're going to want to consult with council again. How exactly are we investing the proceed? But there's an item that you're going to hear right after this Which is actually part and parcel about how we're using especially in the downtown core our resources and Addressing trying to the public private partnership is the Is the vehicle we'd like to explore to address exactly that meet council's goals about housing But also look at our facilities as they relate to downtown and how we can get in a better more sustainable operating model But i'll be honest. It's still there are still cost centers around that It's not like costs go away because Even though you're transitioning maybe property and property ownership you still have to pay some There's costs around maintaining those facilities that don't go away. It may actually be more difficult for council to Take themselves out because it's usually laid out in the contract terms This is how much you're going to invest in maintaining this facility But we need to explore that option and that's the next item on the agenda council member. Okay Thank you, mayor One more brief question. Thank you. Yeah Following up on my colleague council member olivares's question I I recall pretty clearly that recreation and parks received serious cuts in oh eight and had not Moved forward with uh being reef those positions being refilled in fact I think it was only a year maybe two ago that we got six park maintenance workers back And it looks as if we're cutting six or seven or eight now Did anyone do any kind of analysis as to What the long-term cost of losing those positions is I can think Again by not having a maintenance worker It usually costs more to fix something after it's fallen apart than to maintain it over time Um They also provide eyes on parks So the parks maintenance workers tend to be much cheaper than for example a police officer who might have to go out When we looked at cutting Uh, the parks workers. I appreciate that while we had a lot of department heads around the table that one wasn't Going to be there What could Did anybody look at what the long-term cost of the loss of those? I can't I can't say specifically we were looking at the long-term cost, but we were Conscious of the fact that we were wanting to make sure we weren't making some of the decisions that had happened in the past Because we don't think that those decisions were sound and we are evaluating How we service our parks and you heard the commitment here earlier We want to make sure that council understands where exactly the threshold is on the measure in conversation That's why we're not proposing deeper reductions in the recreation and parks department because we have to understand And that's one of the other things that you all are going to have to make a recommendation shortly Similar to the other recommendations that you make about who might sit on the oversight board for measure m That's that invitation is coming going out to all of the cities as we understand it pretty shortly But there is a concern there But that also plays into how we address our facilities. We're trying to alleviate what's been a common occurrence which is Folks say this is part of the facility I deal with and this is the part of facility somebody else deals with We're a city. We're all generally funded in in these areas We should be approaching problems Holistically not dividing them between areas of concern because there were some Unfortunate conversations that even happened on this campus about Whether this was somebody's responsibility or somebody else's and we've been making movement to try take that holistic approach to all of our facilities And to your point council member making sure we have eyes and and and and we're actually looking at a program right now To create ambassadors in those parks Even with by realigning responsibilities within those park systems Right. I appreciate that That was a department that I would say was Was pretty anorexic when we started this process. Thank you. All right. Want to move to public comment here We'll start with Dwayne DeWitt followed by george uberte Hello, sir. My name is dwayne. DeWitt. I'm from roseland I wanted to thank all of you for the hard hard work you've put in on this I think it's very important that you follow what mr. Mclinis said that you need to control costs now And you also need to manage our workload with existing staff I'd like to give you a recommendation If you'd listen to it that you could actually save money within your existing structure You have a community engagement department, which I feel has actually become Less cost effective and actually more burdensome I was one of the first members of the public to try to Be a active person with the community involvement task force Which has since become the community advisory board I believe you should just do away with it I believe you should also do away with the community engagement department You have between seven to ten members of various Departments that operate under what's called marketing and outreach I believe marketing and outreach in each of those departments Could fulfill your open government task force ideas They could work together within your existing structure. No one would have to be fired The community engagement people could be transferred laterally into other situations And the violence prevention partnership That can be a way that you do the community engagement The funding is there through the measure O and you won't have to tap in to some of the funds that are so I'd say stretched right now. It was admitted that your reserves are down to five million dollars basically So if you get rid of community engagement department, that's a million dollars right there That can help We need to do some of these new more innovative approaches to things because the same old stuff isn't solving the problems that you have I'd like to see you Help to have the parks be even better by keeping parks maintenance staff and hiring more Chop at the top. We don't need so many management people. We need more people taking care of our parks and our roads The public restrooms that are out there the different things that the community interacts with You waited on fulfilling a promise To annex roseland for 20 years saying you had to wait and make sure you got the money to have the police to do the different stuff Well, nothing's better out there right now Except the police are trying to answer calls The roads are going To gravel is one of the council members mentioned So you're in a really difficult time I'm hoping that you'll take this as a member of the community who's tried to have community engagement And understand it's a serious proposal You don't need that department It's just a waste of time and money And you can put it under violence prevention partnership where it's funded with measure o we'd all be better off Thank you for your time. Thank you join george uber tea followed by peter rumble Oh, this is this is delicious um So A couple of phrases that jumped out to me making sure there's revenue And the importance of predictability. I feel like there is a job That you wouldn't you wouldn't have to release any staff you would actually maybe be putting a staff on Hiring one job. I and I think I heard you guys talking about the right position You know, it's not all jobs are not equivalent Right, there's certain ones that are more valuable than other ones certain key positions Starts with an a rimes with an auditor right Because all of these cuts. I mean, I was delightful powers either accumulating or diminishing. It's a basic law of power that's independent of any Structure of power itself So to hear you guys diminishing so much to watch you deflate was lovely for me It was like a check and a balance almost But those numbers I would like to have a little bit more faith in that's what auditors are for We're talking about the right position. We're talking about not letting anybody go Right add somebody add somebody who's going to work for a living And who's going to ensure that the rest of you work for a living Right, that's what auditors are for. That's what we need one of them for now Another thing now. Here's another way that you can save money without letting anybody go Right. It's called other pay right now I have I mean, I think I I'd say I have no idea what other pay is But I think I have every idea what other pay is which is pay for no reason If you're an administrator in Sonoma county in 2018, I downloaded the salary schedule myself while I was looking for a job And uh, it if you are an administrator in Sonoma county in 2018 For no reason you get a one time lump sum payment Of 16 000 dollars 16 000 and change six three thirty nice something like that 16,000 one time lump sum payment now it strikes me that we could do away with I think there would 160 something like that Uh, but you know personnel costs 76 One time lump sum payment of 16 000 dollars for For what What did you do to earn that money our money you took it from us? Why do you get to have it? I've never had a job that just hands me 16th for no reason Right, that's got to go away. That's got to stop personnel costs are going up 76 percent. We're spending on you I for what I'm seeing you today. I saw you deflate. It was beautiful. It was gorgeous Uh, right. There's another area. No one has to get fired. You just have to not take another 16 000 dollars from us for no reason Right, um things of that nature right keep pushing in that direction. It's the right way Thank you very much Peter rumble followed by shivan brady Good evening council members. Um, I remember sitting on the planning commission and complaining one night How difficult it was and somebody related to me. Well, it's a hard job, but at least you don't get paid And so, uh, I really do not envy your position. I know that it's difficult Both for you as well as for staff to come up with their best recommendations I would echo councilwoman Fleming's point about certain positions really being an investment and keyed into Your priorities going forward and i'm talking specifically about the positions in planning and economic development with a priority for Generating economic activity to fill the coffers both of the city as well as provide paying jobs and housing opportunities and supporting industry new industry In our city. We really need positions in that department and I say that knowing that It creates a Difficult and even a harder decision to make Throughout the and other places in the organization, but we are talking about critical positions to support our community Our business community or economic activity and positions that are revenue generating that offset their costs and so I really want to encourage you to Consider those things and consider how those positions Benefit and support your priorities In this year as well as going forward So thank you very much Thank you, peter shaman brady followed by nick caston Good evening. Our organization applied for a retail cannabis business license on april 20th 2018 on june 26. We've received a letter of complete list review from the city of santa rosa The city of santa rosa's retail use application process on august 23rd The department of planning and economic development recommended that the cannabis subcommittee by motion select us to move forward in the c up Entitlement process By unanimous motion from the subcommittee the project was recommended and on september 25th. We submitted our materials for design review We are compensating the property owner at $15,000 per month bringing us to around $200,000 in property fees by april The technical studies and associated labor costs for the application are growing to be more than $100,000 My intention in summarizing these costs is not to victimize ourselves But rather communicate what resources we have committed to this process And also express concern about our ability to maintain funding to see ourselves through the c up process Additional delays will require funding that may be difficult for us to secure At which point we may need to abandon the project in a recent press democrat article We saw that the city of santa rosa has tripled its quarterly tax revenues this past year cannabis business tax has brought in more than $720,000 in revenue over the last two years and most of these cannabis businesses are just getting off the ground I urge you to not cut vital positions in the planning and economic development department Especially the development review coordinator building plan examiner city planner associate civil engineer and program specialists Budget and positions should be established By prioritizing the core services of the city Not through arbitrary selection criteria such as a position is simply currently vacant Vacant positions can easily be more vital than filled ones The position in the economic planning department support the process of businesses and housing permits The industry and local residents need these positions for timely processing of their applications Every month that it takes to process a permit is thousands of dollars for the permittee These positions are essential to the healthy growth of our local economy and are vital to the revenue of the city And the santa rosa's housing success Thank you for your time. Thank you Nick caston followed by tom woods Thank you, mr. Mayor and council. Thank you for your service and for going Incoming every single week for these meetings and for taking the time to listen to our concerns I also want to take a thanks staff I know that it's a difficult job from city manager all the way on down to go through this process and talk about the real Folks they're providing services in our community And I think they've done the commendable job both in communicating with us as well as moving to the point that we're at today With that said, I do want to speak Towards the core pd positions that have been mentioned by previous speakers development review coordinator Building plan examiner city planner associate civil engineer and program specialist supporting the economic development programs are vital When you approve those positions, it wasn't to dedicate them to the cannabis industry It was to anticipate the additional workload for that department for cannabis These are positions that support every aspect of our community from housing through to non cannabis and cannabis positions Raising all boats. We have a strong economic engine here While we're the 25th largest city in the state or the 10th largest by gdp as of 2016 2017 And a report just came out today that I read on economic development board talking about how we have the 18th largest Economic engine for a large city of our comparable size in the country That's something that is because of the actions that you've taken because of the leadership of the city manager And creating the planning economic development department that's led very capably right now The biggest problem with these positions is that they're also hard to fill None of them have large pools of people where you can just go out four months from now Reprioritize them in the 2019 2020 budget and then have people knocking down the doors to fill them It's likely that you might have to go out for multiple hiring attempts Starting now to hire them likely they won't be filled until the next budget year anyway It's important and vital to move on these positions today. So you can get the trained people in as soon as possible Let's also talk fees But reducing the impact fees to spur housing is a different conversation from talking about Recost recovery on services provided to us and the clients that we help facilitate in the city We should have a healthy conversation around what fees are right for those service positions And not confuse it with the conversation around impact fees which provide different benefits to the city And lastly, I know this is a tough route to go But prioritizing decisions based off of their value to the city and its goals Instead of whether or not the position is filled or not doesn't mean that you're talking layoffs You can have transfers between departments You can hire people for the fact that they're going to fit well within a team and you already know them And you can train them up So don't think of this as layoffs or no layoffs think of this as important positions that need to be filled And you may even already have the talent and the other departments where they need to be cut from to fill those positions Thank you for your consideration and please support the ped positions Thank you, nick tom woods Thank you council for giving me this opportunity to speak to you. My name is tom woods. I represent team series local 665 tonight I'm also a homeowner in the seat of santa rosa And what we're talking about here is very important to me The planning and economic development department Those those jobs 75 of their salary is covered by the fees that are collected by the You know the work that they do And that does even begin to cover the increase in revenues having those permits approved it seems to us that Councilwoman Fleming and councilman rogers were right on the right track there when we're talking about these jobs having a value Being worth more than you're already paying for them. I don't think that we should cancel these jobs and Lose the revenue that the city needs Thank you. Thank you. We'll bring it back to the council. Uh, mr Do we have any additional cards? Go ahead devra Thank you very much. Um devra to verus um In talking about infrastructure some things have come up that are rather interesting that i've Found out from friends that i know overseas Um, and what has been discovered are the radiation effects from fuka shima And the fact that cesium is a problem and it's called the wigner effect and it eats away at our infrastructure And so does hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen sulfide is certainly a product of the geysers up on our hills here And the city of madera here in california. You may be aware of them They're losing their wastewater treatment plant because of the concrete being eaten away by the tests that they've had From the hydrogen sulfide the city council is sitting in a position where they're saying they won't have a city Without a wastewater treatment plant because the concrete is already down to the rebar So as we look at what is operating on the hill here the geysers, which was initially started by PG&E again Rothschild and we look at the fracking or the injection of the wastewater treatment That's occurring from the santa rosa wastewater treatment plant We have a very volatile situation that is going to cost more money that isn't being factored in To the environmental ramifications of the hydrogen sulfide Everyone sitting here should be very worried about the hydrogen sulfide Because it's moved around in the atmosphere and it can sit in low-lying areas. It's absorbed in our bodies It's excreted through our urine Which is why the madera wastewater treatment plant has failed already And I also am sitting here Wondering why i'm here And why i'm wondering that is we're in a vacuum here The mayors go to the city of mayors The mayors are coerced by c40 cities anyone who needs to look up c40 cities should C is in cat four zero cities Find out the funders of c40 cities You're going to find out funders global funders the international bankers goldman sacks All of the microsoft's all of the control corporations Throughout the world and there's a global meeting of mayors of which our mayors are sent to we pay To have our mayors go to these meetings and take on global agendas that you don't even know Are occurring And it's really alarming As I sit here and I look at we've been hit By climb they call it climate change, but we know it's climate control We're we've had we're digging up out of a war zone here with the promise of more to come More to come. Thank you. Thank you David. Mr. Sorry. You have this item Thank you mayor before I Introduce the item and at least for for discussion and final discussion I did have a couple of things I wanted to mention It has been brought up not only by council members here, but also um some members of the public Are regarding the um the potential for False economy in in our record are our Planning and economic development department. I remain concerned about the Messing with that engine and I know that we have some really important And difficult decisions ahead of us as we as we start to really grapple with The recommendations that are here before us tonight When I was first elected in o4. I wish we had had a A management team that was willing to take on what our management team is taking on now Both in finance and the city manager Had we started this 14 years ago? Had we talked about purrs? More clearly 14 years ago. We wouldn't be as bad off as we are now admittedly Going through these economic downturns. It's going to happen and it'll happen again But right sizing this organization and making them the necessary changes to make sure that it's functioning well it is and is Has the the right number of employees Doing the right jobs in the right positions is a very difficult task to do On you know after the fact and that's what we're trying to do right now And I honor the effort of not only of this council being willing to take on this difficult task But the management and his team mr. McGlynn and his team The entire team in trying to come up with As painless as possible, but very painful changes to our organization So i'm very i'm i'm pleased to hear that there is a concern about revenue issues. Thank you for that mr. McGlynn Um, I know the service levels are going to be reduced None of us none of us wanted to be doing that but I I don't see any any other way out Um other than reducing services because It is people that we're talking about and the people provide Extraordinary service here in the city of santa rosa. This is hardly The same old stuff. This is um unique In many ways. Um, I'm not sure that this city has ever gone through The this kind of reorganization and it's very painful But I am concerned about both sides of the balance sheet We really need to make sure that as we make these cuts that we are not reducing our ability to For income or for revenues actually is what I mean to say So, um, I remain concerned about cuts to our public safety departments for obvious reasons That's why they call it public safety And I do I am concerned about the cuts to the planning and economic development department Because it does represent in my opinion the engine and we've heard tonight Some good reasons to be very very careful and surgical When we're talking about these cuts recreational parks has been a has been victimized in the past and The fact that we have to deal with what's referred to as a maintenance of effort. I think that's what it's what it is called with measure in m Is going to be in us. It's it's going to be a an interesting conversation because Of the nature of recreation and parks it is it is often um A point of argument as to what what and I say this with our interim director sitting sitting right here in front of me People question whether or not it is a core service of the city To provide recreation and parks I'm I love parks. I'm a park guy Um If I had to choose between a maintenance Person for out for our turf and a police officer I think you can tell about my comments where I would go I don't want to have to make those kinds of decisions, but I fear that we will be making those kinds of decisions Regarding Has a effect almost every department in this city So with that I'm going to introduce a resolution of the council of the city of santa rosa amending the city classification and salary plan by eliminating certain Positions and authorizing the city manager to implement these changes to the fiscal year 2018 2019 budget and way further reading Have a motion on the floor is there a second second Motion to second What do we have further comment we'll start at that and work our way around Thank you, mayor So it was discussed By a few council members to include the planning department and to keep that engine humming is this resolution including those positions It does for the time being and I'm what I'm what I'm looking to do is to be able to move forward Because I know that we will be having further discussions where we will be going into more depth about especially with our Goal setting and budget process Where we will be able to make adjustments To these recommendations, but I think we especially our finance department needs to be able to start someplace And so if we give them this opportunity to start then they can because the next recommendations on our budget will be employees that are sitting in seats in the city and that is going to be A real and as I said before This is not the same old stuff that we've done in the past We're going to be talking about bodies very important people that have worked for the city And and given their heart and soul to it and those conversations are going to be very difficult So this is just this is a it is indeed an interim step It's the it's the beginning step in in trying to move forward with our budget And part of that will be our goal setting and really we'll start to have that more in-depth conversation So I see this as a way to move forward But I don't see this as the end of the conversation regarding these various departments No, I I agree completely I'm just glad to hear that we are going to include the planning positions for the the reasons that you mentioned It is an engine that is humming is as council member Fleming Said it is also a source of investment and income for the city And I really want to lay out a clear example both for the council and for the public When we were looking at the tax rolls for measure and the affordable housing bond It was absolutely stunning how much revenue comes in on new construction in this community And that is something that every resident needs to be aware of because I think we're going to be faced with a handful of choices down the road Continue to do additional sales tax measures, which as vice mayor rogers pointed out are incredibly volatile in our yo-yo budgeting Or we are going to have to continue to make significant cuts, which we're beginning to do today Or we can really look at development as a financial resource tool And just as we had the urban threes community come in and say this is what high density Within the ugb development does this is the profit it generates I think every project that gets presented to the planning commission Or on appeal to the council needs to be presented with that type of report Is this something that is going to be a net negative for the city or a net positive for the city So I just want to put that out there and also talking about what it means to cut the planning department positions I am also in agreement with councilmember olivaris that it does feel as though We are a little bit ahead of the horse here But I am willing to continue because to me the writing is on the wall 30 plus years of Of hiring and and different financial decisions puts us in a bad position that we're going to be dealing with for the next Five to ten years With that said I will look forward to the subsequent conversations that we're going to have And I'll be looking at some other departments as well I agree with councilmember combs that there's a ripe opportunity to be educating our public On disaster relief safe zones preparedness Something that is going to continue to happen in this community well into the future And I don't want to let that window of opportunity pass us by But uh, those are just a few thoughts that I have um, and thank you councilmember soyer for including planning councilmember flumming Yes, once again, thank you for all your hard work And I don't want to throw a monkey wrench in your thing But I do think that the cost of some of these cuts is more than the savings associated there in And that we have to really be careful not to You know capital flows to certainty. We see that with the stock market. We see that all over the world I think that we need to give our investors our business community our mom and pop shops everybody some certainty when it comes to planning and economic development and I just can't in good conscience Feel that one of these positions is is not is not the same as the next one It's going to cost us more money and it's going to cost us more development dollars And it's already very difficult to get development up here in the north bay Was there a question in there or just was that just comment? That is my my opinions Okay, councilmember combs. I'd like to make a substitute motion. I think I think that's the correct phrase And Essentially, I would like to make the same motion the resolution of the council the city of senator is amending the city classifications and salary plan By eliminating certain positions, but I would like to amend the positions that we are eliminating Um, I think for six months Till we get to the next budget We need to continue to support those persons who we should have in our Planning and economic development department. Uh, I think we need a planner. I think we need a plan's examiner I think we need an engineer Um, so I would suggest that Uh, particularly since we're going into um The longer range planning that we're going into I would like to make the motion that we retain Three of the five planning and economic development positions And I would like because quality of life also is what attracts people to our area and is part of our economic engine To maintain four of the eight parks maintenance positions Um, if I've done the math, we're still cutting Uh over 6k Uh, so I'm I'm asking for a substitute motion. I'm looking for a second that we move forward, but retaining three of five Ped and four in r&p I'll offer a second So, um, madam setting attorney my understanding is we take that motion Yes, you take that motion vote on that motion first Okay, so question. I don't know if it'd be for staff or for Councilmember combs my understanding of those seven positions you mentioned are vacant So you're proposing we hire someone or try to hire someone For six months and then we'll make another decision. We currently are I would say using in somewhat excess um individuals who are contract employees In that department and I think that I would rather have The employees hired that we need to do the work in that department And that we look at whether or not we would continue in the future In six months we look at whether or not we continue to use contract out employees as opposed to employees who understand our long-term needs Our long-range plans Work with our station area planning work with our With our community builders Rather than shipping it out of the region So, yes, I would suggest that we continue the process of hiring those three persons and that we look at cutting contracting out I appreciate we need a right size. I have not said all five, but I do think that we have three key positions there That will serve our cannabis industry and our building industry and our future general plan work So i'm offering a substitute motion So mr. Alvarez we'd like to comment on that substitute motion Comment on the substitute motion now Mr. Sauer I would want before I would be willing to support that I would need to know what that does to our overall plan And what what decisions we might have to make So if we were to make those decisions So again, it would mean that you're not cutting that portion out of the budget There's no guarantee. We're going to be hiring those positions Because of the the current market conditions what I would say is You have some real conversations to be having about what revenue is actually coming in from cannabis your your Your current tax structure around cannabis. I would be recommending that and I've had conversations with the director It's not a staffing issue It's actually because one of the other issues is now you're you're leading into you didn't hire the city attorney That is the cannabis attorney. So I just I would say I don't know how to respond to that We brought forward these things we're doing I think the staff is doing yo persons work bringing things forward and sometimes it's not about additional staff It's actually we go through a process the process has timetables associated with scheduling issues associated with it It's more than just adding an additional staff member and those are the conversations we got into so I'm not I'm not sure to how to respond. We would obviously if council goes that way We would start to to work on those issues, but I'm not sure it's going to deliver Specifically what council thinks it's going to deliver in terms of output Because there are these courts this is why the departments met across the board Because we didn't hire the cannabis attorney And now we're going to be hiring other other employees to do other work doesn't mean it's going to be Moving any faster in the city attorney's office Again, but there are also just plain scheduling issues, which is a lot of what we face in terms of How frequently we're having meetings and how quickly we can schedule a particular meeting around an item I don't think I'm putting words in your mouth. Am I too many so Again, I'm not I'm not sure what the dividend I We will proceed. I mean it's a it's a hit We want we brought for you what we thought was the best place to begin the subsequent conversations It council's free to amend it. I'm not sure what it does I don't know. I can't answer that question councilman Any other questions, mr. Sawyer No, I I did want to say that I Don't believe that we should be getting into a discussion now about which ones to carve out and save I mean, it's that could be a long discussion if we're going to be hitting down that path So i'm not going to support this of this motion By smith rogers I just need a point of clarification on the original motion Uh council member Sawyer, were you motioning to Save those positions by asking the city manager to bring Additional cuts to other positions or were you asking him to save them by not reducing our budget as much as has been proposed? I think that that what's going to happen is a is a fairly creative discussion about Both of those things that you just mentioned because I we I We need to be able to have The kind of conversation we're having right now about what we're going to keep and what we're going to let go of During our goal setting and our and our and our budget discussions as opposed to doing it Now I mean, I fully expect there to be changes In these recommendations when we really start to drill in and make and and come to grips With the with the decisions that we're making. I'm not comfortable making those decisions tonight without having that in depth longer Conversation about what we feel is important especially with and David Gue and being able to sit down and talk to us also about what his plans are in that department to make sure that we don't Start messing with that engine So or compromising that engine and I don't believe we're going to be able to have that kind of cover conversation tonight I look forward to it and I think it's in the it's in it'll come soon But I'm willing to go forward with this knowing full well that we have an opportunity in the future to make changes to this To these to these various recommended cuts and personnel not and I and I appreciate that I think When it comes to the the motion and the substitute motion, I think we I agree on the planning and economic development positions trying to find a way to bring those in I also think that we're going to have to make difficult cuts and Whether we do it tonight whether we do it in june or whether we do it next year We all see where those budget projections are going and so when it comes to recreation and parks I would love to save those positions and maybe perhaps when we do our full budgeting We'll find a way to find the dollars to bring somebody back But I don't want to create an expectation That we're going to save positions that we ultimately are not going to be able to actually have And so I would rather us go Further than we need to go and I don't even think that's the right way to phrase it To make sure that we get to a point where we feel comfortable and then if we end up finding additional dollars Looking at where we've most been impacted and I think it'll be wrecking parks and talk about those positions as well So i'm actually I will uh not be supporting the substitute motion And weirdly Supporting the the original motion because I actually I want to make it clear that I think that those positions should be funded But that we need to find those dollars somewhere else Mr. Tibbets. Yep. Thank you, mr. Mayor I just want to follow up on what you said mr. City manager about touching base with The planning director as well as the city attorney's office because obviously it sounds like the intent of the body is Not necessarily to tell those departments which positions should get funded, but rather What is the right mix of of hires to create a greater level of output? So that's where i'm coming from In this discussion Also, i'm i'm in line with councilmember rogers that as we do that we also need to look at further cuts in the budget as well It's a it's a very tough thing to have to say but we've got to start writing this ship at some point And if that's what this council is going to do, I think it's what it's what it should do Councilmember combs. I will not be supporting your substitute motion with respect The only reason being is that I I don't think we can be signaling to departments that we're going to go out and make temp hires essentially And then only to potentially reel those back in in the future If this new sales tax revenue comes in and it's higher than normal, which I do anticipate it will be a little bit above projections As well as when we get our our budget report, then we can maybe go back. That seems like the appropriate time to me to look at Staffing up in these other deserving departments like parks and others I I will withdraw the substitute motion if it's all right with my seconder Because I can count But I I do think we are being penny wise and pound foolish And particularly councilmember following do you have any comments? With this Can you repeat that mr. Mayor? Do you have any other comments and yeah, the last thing that I'd like to say is let me get clarification really quick from The city attorney does the second have to also agree to withdraw the motion Or with council members combs made the motion her interest in withdrawing that motion Does that drop this discussion on this? She can withdraw the motion. There will be no motion then on the table if the second wanted to Initiate the substitute motion herself. She could do that councilmember flimmy yeah, I I too can count And we'll withdraw the motion I would like to say this in regard to the planning and economic development positions Which were my primary interesting keeping? The point here to me was this was that we haven't hired these people I've heard that it's difficult to hire them and that by simply not foreclosing on the option of hiring them That we might find somebody that we could hire in the interim and not slow down our engine I understand that this is a balance and that it's an ecosystem and that one thing can't function well Without the other and I want to respect that I just want to make it very clear that These things as you know take so much time and that It makes me sad and I'm concerned for our business community our redevelopment community. I'm very concerned about making This assertion that that one position that that not having a layoff is a greater value than Our our future economic viability Okay, going back to the original motion. Does anyone else have any additional comments based on the motion that mr Sawyer made seconded by vice mayor rogers mr. All there's Thank you. This is on the original motion made by councilmember Sawyer And I do have some concerns about that and I think we do need to hit the brakes on spending but Imagine what the conversation would be like today if we were coming in here today to meet to add 50 50 positions I think it would be a very long conversation trying to justify what they are and how they interact And here we're cutting nearly 50 50 positions with not a lot of other information. I think is lacking For me. I don't have a complete picture of where we are But we do need to hit the brakes We I hear that there's going to be a potential Reorganization within the city manager's office. I don't know what that looks like and I don't have that impacts us in the future I know that in a couple of weeks you're going to be having a goal setting session And we'll be setting goals for the future that could impact what kind of staffing we need what kind of service we're going to provide We have a budget process that's going to start this spring as well very soon And we'll be discussing possibly more cuts as well My my recommendation is this I think that the city manager has the authority to freeze hiring from the city right now Without taking any formal action with the resolution Continue forward with the reduction of maintenance and operations budget proposals that were brought forward I mean initially that's that starts the savings. We don't have to fill those positions. They're vacant now I get that but I think he has the authority to freeze hiring right now To get us through these discussions and again I think it's important to have the complete picture of where we have been over the past 10 years or so when we're heading because it completes it So it's still going to cause the same savings. I don't see Any reason why we would have to take that formal action today and why we can't still hit the brakes But still have these discussions to help inform us as we move forward and make some of these decisions as a whole We'll consider next year's budget as well Is that in you know the form of friendly manner or miss? Yes, I mean with that I would make An alternate motion in that but I don't know how to word it yet But but but I just to clarify it's it's it's I guess I don't know that you have to authorize him to do because I know he has the authority to put the freeze on hiring Freeze the hiring Make the necessary Reductions that he needs to make now with maintenance operations budget and also to monitor our spending from from day-to-day process We've done that before as a city where through the direction of city manager We've had to really watch our spending very closely But I think it'll go forward as the opportunity to have these broader discussions that are putting some value on these positions That we're talking about today and get the information that we need to make those final decisions Mr. Sorry Thank you. I understand we're counseling. We're all the versus it's coming from and what I'm curious about is whether Not finance would be able to move forward Given the free given the freeze that the city manager could place on hiring and firing Well, I'm not firing necessarily. I mean things happen Um, so so I'm gonna I'm gonna step in it becomes My concern is it becomes confusing. We we run up to this point Again, it's not about not having future conversations. It's not about value assessment We just keep coming to this point in this conversation And to to quote you councilmember saw you we're not Declaring where the starting point is I think that's what we're talking about We come to a starting point. We go into those conversations and goal setting We know we're going to have to build things back in and we're going to have to figure out where the appropriate revenue If we don't do that then it's back on staff They have to maintain the books as if those positions are open It creates more work for the organization to continue to do that I'm asking that's the reason we brought it for the recommendation Let's level set where we are everybody understands that and that's one of the things the council has Where has this gone in the last six months, you know, because it's been ambiguous. It really is an impactful I mean we we have to have that conversation about what we're going to build back in That's why staff has brought it forward as this clean slate Now we can get in a conversation about rebuilding otherwise We have to maintain these this this other staffing structure while we get into these conversations They were running scenarios against it. It's going to create extra work I'm not saying that any of this is perfect But I think staff's position was we clean this slate now We get in that conversation about what it's going to take for the organization to rebuild these types of investments If they want to consider it and those some of those conversations have come forward tonight You know, what would it take to legitimately get a full cost recovery? What's the impact to the business community? Would they be willing to pay for it? Right now the conversation when I sit down with somebody is well, you got the positions on the books Just hire them. You're the city manager. Just hire them. Keep hiring that position. That's part of the conversation Now we're talking about rebuilding it at the end of the day. Again, it is council's decision I'm just telling you why I believe to to council member sory's point that we've brought forward the position So we can provide some certainty and a starting point when we get into the to the next series of conversations This is where we sit These are the authorized fte's and what are we going to do strategically in this conversation to Ask some of these very important questions moving forward Did you have a clarifying comment mr. Alves? Yes, so what I'm hearing is that holding vacant position costs us money to have them on the books And I I guess I don't understand that but the thing is I don't see the clean slate yet Because there's missing information for me to make that decision and until I have that clean slate that can't move forward on And that's why I don't see the difference between going through this formal action Or having you or having us direct you to freeze positions until we have that further discussion Vice mayor rogers Thank you, mr. Mayor night I'm just trying to follow here. Was that a Friendly amendment to the original Motion either either friendly or new however you want to take it but Or I guess I guess I would ask I would ask the original motion Well, I I feel confident In my original motion because I feel that the there is an that there is a desire on this on the By the city manager to allow us that freedom to analyze and be more surgical about those cuts And they'll have having those conversations and that we don't And that it that it does actually because this because of this interim step that it does Start with a clean slate slate that we can change as this body can In any way we choose So I'm confident that we still have our flexibility that we will during the council goal setting and and the budget discussions as well I just I think we're I think we we have the same freedoms to make the changes that we need to With the original with the original resolution I understand I'm kind of moving in this direction with the freeze of firing firing freeze But I think that um We can we can still have the opportunity to make those changes that we that we feel are important for the health of the city and the organization subsequent to tonight So then I suppose and that would be a second another motion then a sub-subliminal motion So just sort of tracking this Restate your motion then Well, I guess the best that I can I guess I'm making a motion that uh, we authorized the city manager to Initiate a hiring freeze within the city of san rosa And to proceed with the uh, recommended maintenance and operation budget Reductions that were proposed to us this evening Uh I suppose that's enough But but really the whole idea is to put the brakes on to afford us the opportunity to have our discussions Within our goal setting and and potentially even into our next budget But it could be resolved as early as our goal setting and also to get clarity on the restructure within the city manager's office And was there a second from councilmember combs. Yes, I I want to clarify Um, I'm understanding the freeze There would seem to be a second piece to that. Yes, there was some non there was some non staffing Pieces to this from the different departments that were not personnel that Seem to me seem reasonable unless there are some there are council women that you do not believe are It's hard for me to give up the wellness program which served our community pretty well during the fires providing stress reduction But I For the sake of moving us forward I suspect that I wouldn't have the votes for that piece. So I would I would I'll just keep the second as it is. But again, I am sorry to lose that That support morale service for our employees And mr. Mr. Mayor may I just Ask for a little clarification. So this would be a substitute motion Is that correct? That is correct And as I understand the freeze that you were talking about would be a freeze of the positions that are listed in the original resolution not of not a Complete free hiring freeze across the city that is a freeze of the 49 point whatever it was positions that were recommended today. Thank you Back to mr. Right of clarification a freeze until what point? Well, it went back to the information network that I believe that we're lacking It's getting clarity on what's going to happen within the city manager's office with that position Is us getting beyond our goal setting to have some clarity as far as what direction we're we're heading because we could make decisions during our goal setting that's going to Probably want to cause us to reverse some of the actions we take today or reconsider some of the action We took today where the other option was to do it by resolution And making it formal that went coming back to amend that resolution I appreciate that. I just wanted to make sure that we were all clear about the the nature of the freeze, right? Thank you. I'll be supporting that. Thank you by some of these rogers uh So my I made quite a few comments before So I'll try to be a little bit briefer. There was a discussion at the long-term finance committee back in december where We did vote unanimously to bring With this package a cut for our compensation as well On the city council is comparable to what we've asked other departments to do Don't get too excited. I think it was 40 dollars per council member per month is comparable to The cut across the board that that we've been doing here. I would expect to see that in the budget as well Let's be clear. That's because we make less than $10,000 a year. That's that's correct And you can all thank uh mayor corsie for voting on that on his way out the door I also Really wanted to make sure we've talked a lot about numbers here, but there is One particular position that is filled that we are moving forward with eliminating And it's not difficult to figure out who that is within the organization And I thought that it really should be at least mentioned That it is somebody that we all really have come to respect and rely on who did incredible work for the city And I thought that we needed to at least acknowledge What an impact that that cut alone has to the organization? and Understanding that there will be more and that doesn't mean that we don't value Folks who have done a lot of good work for santa rosa. So I just wanted to make sure we mentioned that as well Mr. Tillis well said vice mayor, um, I I'd want to comment on Council member Sawyer's motion and just express my support for it for a couple of reasons one is I believe what we're doing here today is what is always looked upon us to do and that is to essentially Help direct the culture of the organization And the fact that we are going through this clean slate exercise right now. I think is not only important from Setting the tone for the next decade of city hall But it's also important for our ability to obtain more money Correct me if i'm wrong But as I understand the budget process when we issue these positions that money gets issued to the departmental budgets That leaves the general fund that goes to them and now if they don't fill it It comes back at the end of the year as turn back. Is that correct? So if we're sending that money out We are reducing our credit rating in the eyes of our creditors If they see that we are especially also not doing anything to correct our reserve situation The fact that this organization has a reserve of five million dollars What happens when that rogers fault earthquake crack happens? Which we have an 85 chance of happening supposedly any day now So even when we do have a conversation about turn back over the next few years We are going to be faced with an even tougher decision of do we dedicate this to the reserve fund and protecting the residents in the event of disaster Or are we going to fill these positions? So I think today we have to send that message. We have to send it clearly I'm happy to join in solidarity is is meaningless as it may be or meaningful as it may be But um, I'm very passionate about this one and council member sloyer. I'm with your motion So bad just a few comments. I'd like to make i'm not sure where this is Well, it's actually going to go but um, this is like deja vu all over again Although some of you are on council when we went through the cuts I was a department head when we went through the cuts and I remember the difficulty and You know asking employees and the managers. Okay. I need one of your arms Which one do you want to give me you're left to your right? Well, I want them both In some of the discussions that I hear here These are a series of unfortunate difficult decisions and no one's right. No one's wrong and we're just all trying to figure out What's the best interest Of the city and there's kind of like three different spheres I always like to look at you know that you have the community and the public What do they expect of government? What does staff want because staff has different opinions about way to provide the best service and then electeds What do they want and that ideal situation is when we can layer all three of those and we're all in complete alignment But with our diverse community, that's quite the challenge And so I think we're just starting that conversation about you know in each and I know Mr. City Manager, you're asking each of your department heads to prioritize What's the most important delivery of services for the city of san rosa? um, I am in agreement with mr. Oliver's is Uh Additional motion, uh, just from the standpoint just that last bit of information I want to see the how the reorganization of The departments what that's going to look like because that's the missing piece for me that how does this all fit in here? Because I would hate to say we've removed these now all of a sudden we get more information about the restructuring What's that going to look like so I think this buys us the time And I don't think it's going to be That long we have February 21st and 22nd and then shortly thereafter I'm you know anticipating hearing your presentation by then that'll be the information that all have So that I can make that best decision So with that is everyone Go ahead. This is pretty fast. Mr. McBride What does this do to your endeavors in the next number of weeks if we don't move forward with these empty position cuts How does how does that affect your next steps? Well, it just means that my next steps include this conversation plus what we have to do in the future So I mean this really does nothing to move us forward. So it's It's a non-event financial Thank you Last minute rogers I guess I need just a little bit more information. How does in Walk me through what the difference is between uh holding the positions vacant and Doing a straight elimination for the next three weeks. How does that? Not equal the same thing Well, you'll still have the savings from those positions. So is is council member tidbits mentioned you'll have you know turnback From those since that since they've been vacant for the entire year They're vacant now But it means that we don't remove them from the from the actual budget If you if you take this action now, we actually reduce people's budgets by that six million dollars that we have in personnel Costs those actually get taken out this position and get eliminated So it's that that's the difference. So this is this is still within our budget now The difference is where that money resides in the meantime Is that in the meantime it still resides within the departmental budgets knowing that it's not going to be spent It gets turned back at the end as opposed to at this point We eliminate it and take those dollars and leave them In our general fund. Is that correct? Correct But in effect It doesn't change the X's and O's of how much money we have and how much money we're going to spend when you look at the organization In the aggregate. Well, again, I think Yes, absolutely, but it becomes a more complicated story to tell folks that this money is being held But it's in a departmental budget and that's what I was driving at is that When you when you grab the money now today, then when we get into those conversations It'll be about you that money is returned to the technically to the reserves because we'll be pulling it out of the budget Now to pull that money back into play you're going to go through that conversation of putting it back into play Now we have a more complicated story to tell. Well, the department still has this budget The money's frozen. It's sitting over here. I'm not saying that that's the perfect reason not to do what you're contemplating I'm just saying when we get into those conversations Even conversations with the public it becomes very difficult to sort of say well, we didn't really take a cut We're holding the conversation. We're holding those budgets to this amount It totals this It is it in the fresh start conversation It will be easier to have that conversation with you because we'll say now the resource has been pooled Now we're talking about what we're adding back into the conversation and where that's coming from against those reductions And I understand that and I think my message to the public would be These are the cuts that we're making after goal setting If you don't show up and say that we've got it wrong for what we need to do for this city And again just I want to manage goal setting too There you still have to go through a long list of items that are sending in your suspense file The current goals the projects that you've assigned to staff So I don't I don't want to make it sound like we're going to solve all of those in the day and a half There's also we have to have a conversation about what you want to do visa v districts Because that's been a pressing conversation the council hasn't had yet So that's a day and a half. We're not going to be able to get into the detail What we what we can use the goal setting is a launch pad into the formal budget process But I don't want to make it sound like We're going to be agendizing budget decisions during the goal setting I think you can start to use that to launch into the formal budget process And I can appreciate that mr. Seaman because again that piece of information I'm missing is what does the reorganization look like And I just have a hard time because I'm of the belief that yeah, this is on hold or just make the assumption These are gone and the last thing that you know get my thumbs up is let me hear how you're suggesting We reorganize that's just the data piece that I think I need to make before I make this big decision again I I understand that whatever way you go you all vote we will move to it I'm just saying why staff brought before the proposal it did I appreciate that. Okay. So the motion before us Is pretty uh to paraphrase hire freeze with additional budget reductions. Is everyone clear on what they're voting for? It was the proposed reductions that for maintenance and operations budget the non personnel Recommendation that they made today So all of the 6.8 million dollars was not personnel cuts Okay, so your votes, please And with that we have five yeses and two nos with councilmember tippets in sorry or voting no That's it on this item Okay, um council is going to take a 15 minute dinner break when we do reconvene We are going to first take the public hearing and then we'll come back to item 14.3 So as soon as we're done with our break public hearing item 15.1 Okay, why don't we reconvene this? Council meeting as I mentioned prior to the recess we're going to take the next item out of order We'll start with our public hearing item 15.1. Mr. City manager item 15.1 Public hearing fiscal year 2019 20 budget priorities Honourable mayor members the council So the purpose of this public hearing is to gather public input on our budget priorities for the upcoming fiscal year budget 2020 we'll get public input on the council goals. We'll be doing gold setting on february 21st 22nd For anyone who would like to provide written public input they can submit it online at www.srcity.org slash budget comments Uh next steps goal setting as I mentioned will be in february 21st and 22nd Departments in city manager will develop budget with public priorities and the council goals in mind And that will happen beginning in february following goal setting After that we'll have a council review of draft departmental budgets We plan on doing the first budget workshop in april and then two budget workshops in may Following that the draft budget documents will be available to the public And then on june 18 2019 If all goes well, we'll bring forward the budget for budget adoption This time Asked that we open the public hearing on budget priorities Thank you, mr. Mcbride. We will do just that and I also do want to comment I don't necessarily want to apologize that so late in the evening get these budget priorities But as you heard the robust discussion the council had with the budget discussion or the second budget discussions from our initial Discussions in october very challenging time. So i appreciate you sticking with us and we're anxious to hear what your thoughts are So we'll start with greg ferron followed by mike turgeon Good evening mayor and members of the council I'm maybe the only one here who's going to propose something to the budget that actually doesn't cost anything I'm hoping it could cost you something, but um, let's Listen to me and see if you agree with me. I'm here presenting something that uh, actually uh, john lowery put together You know john he was the executive director of burbank housing and probably is responsible for more low-income housing in this city than anybody So when he said suggested to me that he had another idea I read it and i'm supportive of it. I sent it to all of you today But i want to just reiterate to the public what it's all about Currently when we develop housing We charge you charge Impact fees based on the unit So a three or four bedroom house Gets charged the same as a studio apartment Now a lot of us want smaller housing built We want a lot of infill. We want a whole lot of things that aren't big houses and we think that The impact on the community and the affordability of that unit that studio apartment Which in the case if you have an even amount of of development fees It's sometimes up to 25 of the cost of the unit when you have a studio apartment When you have a five bedroom house, it's like three percent So it's an unfair tax on people who want small houses You want to build a lot more houses. You want high density projects with smaller footprints So do we? So we're asking you to take a serious look at john's proposal Fully authorized by the legislature fully as much as the ad use and the jdu's Encouraged by everybody in the state Uh and implemented by a whole lot of other local governments and you for other things commercial Schools, they're all looking at square footage Not number of units So please in your budget design consider directing the staff to implement this as soon as possible and I believe it's going to stimulate a lot more housing And you'll get more fees This is going to be revenue neutral or it might even get you some more money if we got excited about building small unit houses Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you Mike turgeon followed by diane wheeler Thank you mayor and council and we highly appreciate your commitment this new council To follow in continuity to the previous council and so it is a real pleasure to address you tonight The difficult conversation we just had on the budget and the Stunning figures that we're all aware of and there will be very difficult decisions to come Obviously Are being had because of the fire that occurred 15 months ago and the Climate action plan that has been in existence since 2012 Is even more important than it had been when it was instituted It had for various reasons been sidelined and the Ability to hit its goals were sorely lacking as we saw from the october study session last year And so we're here tonight as friends of the climate action plan to Help and support the council in Um helping there be a subcommittee that can help the get the climate action plan back into a Priority status in all the other things we heard tonight We haven't heard this injected into the conversation. And so that's what I and others are here to speak about tonight It's not necessarily something that's going to cost money to Put into a higher priority Uh, we've had conversations with council persons who have said very eagerly that We are willing to do research willing to do public advocacy and they Have been very grateful for that. And so we have an entire Climate community that is willing and able to function as staff in some fashion So we're here to advocate and I particular would like to see that if money cannot be Directed toward staffing as it seems to be a real problem toward Implementing the climate action plan There can be creative ways to elevate it to a priority that should be In the mix as as we have been discussing tonight. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you Diane wheeler followed by George uberty Hi, uh, I'm Diane wheeler and thank you all as well for the late hours your days as long as as ours um Recent reports such as that from the intergovernmental panel on climate change And the u.s. Government's fourth assessment on climate And as well as numerous global scientific organizations have made it even more clear recently how urgent the climate crisis is And how dire the future is if we don't meet radical greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals in a few years From now I asked the council to allocate funds where possible and i'm in full awareness I sat through 14.2 and I really We pay attention and we feel you we feel the whole community. This is a hard time Nevertheless, I asked the council to allocate funds To the creation of a subcommittee on climate to focus on solutions and implementation of those solutions To drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions Through our use of resources energy transportation buildings And to move climate to a tier one priority so it can be in a better position where funds can be allowed um To reach or even beat our greenhouse gas emissions goals in the few short years that are available to us to do so The cost of not meeting the goals Is far higher and more devastating than spending this money now where we can thank you Thank you. George uberte followed by peter rumble How you doing guys? I do appreciate the late hours. I think we're all getting maybe a little cranky Um, I'm hearing a lot of the need for compromise and I'm hearing a lot for the need for goal alignment um You know, I think one of the few things that I've said in the past that I'm happy to repeat is that a city is not a business Right, but clearly a city needs to set forth the conditions under which business can thrive or what is it doing here? Uh, you know for that reason I've also been an advocate for public art Right for public art for situations in which citizens can participate in non monetary exchanges Right now. It's my belief that um, you know when you guys talk a lot about tourism tourism dollars But when people are doing the things that cause tourism to thrive, right? They're not sitting around going Oh, man. I've got all these tourism dollars. I gotta go spend Right, they're sitting around going man. I would like to have fun I would like to go have an unmediated experience of some kind I would like to do something that isn't neatly set out for me already Right, and when people gravitate towards those things right when they go and they live their lives in an authentic way That those are the things when you think about those kinds of destinations hawaii things like those those are the things people want to do Right, so you want to generate tourism dollars stop trying to sell people these packaged little cages of an experience Right, they don't want that nobody wants to we don't want to buy products We want to have experiences now you set up a set of conditions in which people can do something That's authentically real something that's vital Right, you set that up and business thrives around it. That's how tourism works all right You know, I that's for the same reason i'm an advocate of public art I think some of the art that we have in this this deliberately meaning it means nothing it advocates for nothing It signifies nothing. It's lazy Right, and it's insulting to us as a people. It's it's oppressive. We don't like it Right, we know that we're better than that We know that we're capable of producing beauty and if you allow us you give us the tools to produce I mean you could you could get better art for free From the high school I mean people are dying to produce art they'll do it for absolutely nothing And if you let them do it other people are going to want to come and see it and that's where tourism dollars come from All right, we need to stop trying to turn a city into a business Okay, because it's not All right, it just isn't right. They're different for a reason Right, if you stop trying to turn a city into a business then you're gonna see business thrive because it's not going to be confused about what it is anymore Right and neither will we everybody can be a little happier if we clearly set our boundaries Thank you very much. Thank you. Peter rumble followed by kevin conway Well, I think that I'd convey Budget priorities as being keep on doing the fantastic work that you're doing You are making great strides on housing and downtown investments and economic development And keep that momentum going keep the foot on the gas because we're starting to see the fruits of that labor And we are here as an organization to help in every way that we can possible. So just tap us as a resource and thank you for what you're doing Thank you Kevin Conway followed by silvia gayago Good evening mayor and council members. Thank you for this opportunity to comment on budget priorities I'm concerned that the enormity of the climate crisis has put us in a sort of paralysis And I say this because the cap implementation team has not been meeting And not only have they not been meeting They haven't even set the dates for either of the two meetings that they're supposed to have this year And that's a shame for our city a city that once led the way on this issue But I admit that I understand this paralysis Because when you think about ice caps and how fast they're melting and how fast the oceans are rising and how the coral reefs are all blanching What happens is you get a thud in your gut and you have to force yourself to think about something else So that the thud doesn't become a huge weight that you carry around with you every moment of every day And i've done that Who wants to live like that? But it's clear from especially tonight that our city does have few huge financial issues With the unfunded liabilities and the decreased reserves, which is council member Julie combs points out are a direct result of the wildfires and the wildfires are a direct result of the climate crisis So I want us all to take a deep breath for a minute On one hand we have homelessness and unfunded liabilities and very limited financial resources And on the other hand we have our children and our grandchildren And and whether or not our children and grandchildren are going to have a healthy planet to live on These two categories of concerns have to be dealt with in tandem We can't allow one to completely outweigh the other Where is the equivalent of mr. McBride? Who will give us a detailed report on how we're going to protect our precious children from the ravages of climate change Until he or she has an equal seat at that table We are failing a sacred responsibility Here are the concrete steps that I think can be taken We can pass an all-electric ready building ordinance as a first step to going all-electric We can give the cap implementation process the necessary funding it mean it needs to at least be somewhat meaningful We can make the climate crisis a tier one priority We can update the cap so that the action items keep pace with the current science And we can establish a subcommittee on climate so that actions are politically easier to accomplish And we can give the cap an overarching status so that any project Being considered by the council must be determined to be in compliance with it Before a vote can be taken these are low-hanging fruit. They're not expensive They can make a big difference in our carbon footprint Please please give this crisis the attention it deserves the creativity it deserves the manpower Deserves and the funding it deserves. Thank you. Thank you, Kevin Sylvia Gallego followed by patricia cuta Sylvia here. I believe Sylvia couldn't make it due to the lateness of the hour All right Pat go ahead. Good evening. I'm pat cuta and I'm from the roseland coalition and On the best advice of your council. We were here to show support for the rosin library unfortunately Many of the students and the mothers with children couldn't stay this late And I really am disappointed that a public hearing on the budget Is being made under such circumstances that it's so difficult for your community to respond But i'll go on I would like the people who are here in support of the library to show their books And you can multiply this by about three because many people had to leave Uh this evening you will hear from many in the community explaining how important the modest library has become to the southwest neighborhood I want to point out that folks from throughout our city have taken time to be here to support the roseland The rosin coalition has gathered more than 250 community leaders citizens service clubs and organizations Ready and willing to partner with the rosin community The library commission and the city to identify the opportunities and assets on which to build a permanent roseland community library To that end we will address the council at its goal setting session in february In the meantime, we are here tonight to ask the city to step up for the rosin library This newest city library branch is moving to a greatly improved temporary location And we need the city to support the increased cost of occupying this space The county today has provided $250,000 for the relocation The library will fully furnish the new branch location and operate this branch with much needed expanded hours We are asking the city to provide the least cost of $150,000 yearly for its city library branch While we fully understand that our budget is under extreme pressure We want to remind you that the pledge that mayor course he made Right after the city's uh was inundated by the fire that it would not forget the priorities and commitments It made to the community before the fire savaged our city Equity services and adequate infrastructure for roseland is one of those commitments We have created this asset with the help of the whole community Many have contributed to our roseman Roseland library now and now is the time for the city to step up and support us. Thank you. Thank you Debra, are you still here? Debra? Sparrow Soncini and Stephanie Sanchez Hi, my name is Stephanie first time at a council meeting Um, and just wanted to say that um as a lifelong californian social worker Um, a believer in social and economic justice and a mom of an eight-year-old who uh wrote a letter to santa To ask if he could help with the ozone layer I'm really concerned about climate change And um, it's impacts both locally and globally and I hope that as our city representatives You'll take some local action to protect the planet for our kids and fund and implement the climate action plan And we're here tonight actually because we were supposed to be selling Girl Scout cookies But sparrow heard about the opportunity to be here to support the rosin library and she Really wanted to speak out about that and it's way past her bedtime, but she's here anyway So i'm gonna let her speak to you Hi, my name is sparrow. I was thrilled to have a library closer to my home And Please support that I think she wanted to talk about a little bit how important that library has been because she is a avid user of the library We check out books all the time Um, the rosin library has been a wonderful asset to us But unfortunately we are using it a lot to request books from other branches Um, which means we have to wait to read the books. We want to read. Is there anything else you wanted to say? Okay, well, I will say then um that it's become, you know, the library isn't just about books It's about community. It's about programs. It's about services. Um, it reduces social isolation And in southwest santa rosa, we all know, um, we haven't had the the amenities from the city historically That our population deserves and that's been getting better recently. We have a few more parks But this library could be a really important Community center for us. So I really hope that the city will step up And support the children and families and adults in southwest santa rosa that deserve A library. So thank you very much for your consideration Thank you so much for hanging with us and sharing your thoughts You know sparrow. I think a lot of us could have used girl scout cookies tonight Go back to february that too. Uh, katie santa has followed by reese foxen Is katie here? I'm I'm here. I'm short So, um, good evening. Thank you mayor and city council members I really appreciate all of the effort and work that you do and I we saw it tonight for sure um, I wanted to not so much do a specific Goal that I think but I would My life has been full of kids throughout my life my professional and volunteer life And even though kids can't vote or donate to candidates or any of that yet I ask you as you deliberate On your budget goals to consider using the lens Of how does this Help a child How does this program help a child and and just think about the fact that when there's a good investment for children It exponentially does good for our community A crushed child is an expensive child You know that with the violence prevention work that you've done You know that in our communities when there's good child care Moms and dads can go to work and be focused and there's more productivity So at any rate, that's one of the things that I wanted to say And another example of that is when we're talking about the the permanent roseland library Well, that's important because it it's it builds the community, but the love of literature lifts us up It really lifts us and it brings us to possibility thinking and we certainly need possibility thinking as we Move forward to deal with budget goals and budgets. Thank you very much again for all that you do Thank you. Katie Reese followed by Eula Kim Astrow Hi, my name is Reese Foxon, and I'm the chairman of the library commission And as you heard everybody loves the library, and I think it's great But more often than not it's taken for granted And people don't stop to think about what the return on their investment is Now for a patron they get back in services between five and nine hundred dollars a year That for every dollar spent per capita type thing That's eight to fifteen dollars For every dollar That's what a patron gets But what does a a city entity get? I've been looking at different studies since 2014 when we tried to pass a measure for sales tax Carried on through the 2016 and measure y And what I began reading was that for every dollar that is put into a library By a city entity they get three and a half to five and a half dollars back What's interesting is I went and checked on it because I wanted to update myself and see if I was still in the ballpark with it. It hadn't fallen or risen It had risen And now it's five to nine dollars That's what some of the cities here in california are reporting There is a state library study being done that would be concluded in june of 2019 That is a two-year study of the Return on investments for libraries. So hopefully we'll have more Concrete information at that point in time, but just using the three and a half to five and a half dollars Okay, if you put a hundred and fifty thousand dollars into the library every year Return for santa rosa would be between five hundred and twenty five thousand and eight hundred and twenty five thousand That's one quarter the The hundred and fifty thousand is one quarter of what it costs to run that library Okay, so we're putting in the rest of it the other whatever it is And what comes out of it is it's over six hundred thousand dollars. It's two point one million To three point one million dollars that is returned We don't get that money You get the money you get the taxes you get the business development and you get the infrastructure assets Plus you get an educated population And a population that is safer and steadier and causes less trouble So it reduces your costs as well as money you get back We employ over 200 people in the system Good many of them live in santa rosa. They shop in santa rosa. They entertain in santa rosa, etc Many of the people who don't live in santa rosa come to santa rosa to do those very same things So it is a real benefit and it's something to really seriously think about over the next month As to whether you would like to invest in the library or not. Thank you very much. Thank you Yula followed by Sharon dessert Good evening council members. My name is yula. I am here today because I'm scared I'm scared for my future and I'm scared for our future And I'm scared what it's going what our future is going to look like if we don't act on climate crisis now I'm scared because according to the ipcc climate report released in october of 2018 We have 12 years to rapidly transform and protect human civilization as we know it today I urge santa rosa to stand up and take action I want to see santa rosa backing a pro a program like the green new deal Which aims to address economic inequality and climate change at the same time This would improve involve a massive reinvestment of communities on the frontline of crisis We saw that right here in santa rosa with the devastating wildfires of 2017 And then again in 2018 with neighboring counties Struggling from the same devastation These fires are a feedback loop The 2018 wildfires released as much carbon dioxide as the energy used to provide the state's electricity for that year As far as I can tell we have two options We can play it safe or we can roll the dice Playing it safe would mean quickly reducing emissions And using energy more wisely to minimize maximize clean and renewable energy While minimizing carbon emitting pollutions As well as beginning an adaptation plan to manage the changing climate Rolling the dice would mean we wait and see if climate change is happening as fast as we think it is But by the time it's clear to everyone that this is a problem that this is not normal Um, it will either be too expensive or too late to fix So I want to see santa rosa take action I am very concerned about the climate crisis and I hope you devote adequate funds to efficiently address this problem Thank you. Thank you Sharon dessert. Yes, followed by lana Adla on I'm Sharon dessert, and I'm here to advocate for the roseland library um, I know that the words jpa have been mentioned in conjunction with fire services and part of the Structure of libraries in sonoma county is it's organized under a jpa a joint powers agreement Which has many murky areas One of the murky areas that we're addressing tonight is Asking that the city of santa rosa be a stakeholder in in this library Taking real ownership of it all the other libraries in santa rosa are owned by the city of santa rosa And there is no reason that the roseland library should not be owned by the city of santa rosa I will mention that the city of santa rosa will not have to put up all the money Because there's many many people who are willing to Donate money for such a worthy civic cause So please do your civics duty and become a stakeholder in this project Thank you, Sharon lana followed by nevin wolf saluti I'm lana. Adla and i'm uh the manager over the santa rosa branches for the sonoma county library I do want to thank the council members and mayor for moving out public comment. I appreciate it And I know the library supporters in the audience appreciate it too I also want to thank all the library supporters for being here tonight and sticking it out with all of us I'm here to advocate for funding for our temporary relocated library in roseland and also the permanent Fully realized vision of a library in roseland I know the city has really hard choices ahead with limited resources and we heard A few hours of those hard choices here tonight But I'd like you to consider the following you have a partner The sonoma county library is your partner in helping to provide services and programs for a temporary and permanent Location in roseland the burden of this service is not wholly on the city of santa rosa A small investment now for roseland will result in the established infrastructure you need for residents in that region The library is the community convener and again will be your partner in bringing city and county services to residents Imagine health services to the library support for social services and mental health initiatives Early literacy digital literacy free access to technology And a safe place for youth in the after school hours A small investment now is a huge return on an investment As resources and services are used by residents to better their lives their education and their employment prospects We had 27 000 residents walk through our doors last year and this is with the library only opened 27 hours per week to the public Finally the library is a trusted institution in a region of vulnerable residents Our doors are open and welcome to everyone Let us be your partner to bring services to this region Empower residents and fulfill their dreams of having a full service library For their kids family members and for themselves. Thank you. Thank you Nevin followed by anabelle lampson Um, good evening. My name is nevin. I'm a senior at credo high school in runnart park And i'm here today to ask you guys three things The first one is to please pass um The all-electric ready ordinance this will make it so that houses built now will be ready for the innovations that are coming in the future And are already coming Um Secondly i'd ask that the council allocates sufficient funds For the implementation of this climate action plan because the climate action plan has good things in it that we'd love to see It just needs to become real instead of just being words As one of my mentors likes to tell me he says that a budget is a moral document Um, the last thing that I'd like to see from the council is to make climate change and the climate crisis a first priority issue um This isn't just another issue among a list of others This is the foundation for all other issues to be solved upon because if we don't have A livable climate then it's really hard to work on things other things within the community. Um So yeah, I'm here not just for myself today, but for all the other youth that couldn't be here They're doing their homework and they're at the basketball game tonight. Um, but we're here because We really want to see these things happen and um I'd like you to please consider the moral implications Of continued inaction on climate. Thank you Thank you Annabelle followed by Mark Cruz Rio Stominguez Hello council members. My name is Annabelle and I'm a local student. I'm here to talk to you today about the Green New Deal and The importance of acting right now Against climate change As many of you know human industry is running rampant on our earth the same planet our ancestors have inhabited forever The same planet our children Will inherit from us I am here along with my fellow activists to stand for a livable climate for all Amidst the trump administration the overwhelming corruption in environmental protection and leadership Exemplifies a major issue in our political system Interests of corporations are being prioritized over the peoples When we as young people look to our representatives we hear merely at best That climate change is a problem What we need our public officials implementing systemic change as if system as issues like ecosystem decay Environmental racism and climate change are as urgent as they are The Green New Deal is a truly exciting movement the seeds of which i am committed to helping plan right here in our community For those of you who do not yet know the deal is about uprooting our reliance on fossil fuels and transitioning Immediately to renewable energy namely solar and wind In the meantime equitable jobs paying livable wages would be generated I would love to see our community be on the forefront of this campaign So we may serve as an example to California and national legislation and the executive branch We have no other option as a community Nation and world than to evolve into a sustainable paradigm deeming our current fossil fuel reliant industries obsolete In Sonoma county over half of our greenhouse gas emissions is from the transportation sector alone To end our dependence on fossil fuels we need to get out of our cars and walk and ride to work in school In order for citizens to do this there needs to be more bike-friendly infrastructure What's more we need to fade off of internal combustion engines as Sweden recently did I urge the city of santa rosa to take actions so our community may achieve this Discussing budget and economy Let us not forget about the climate crisis and our responsibility to contribute to solutions Rather than perpetuate it Thank you very much. Thank you Mark cruise rios domingas followed by terry oden All right. Yes. Hello. My name is Maria Cruz rios domingas and i'm a senior at rosa university prep And i'm here to advocate for the rosa and library and why it is essential for our community This is safe and open place for programs such as teen advocacy group also known as tag which is a Non-profit organization with the mission to encourage young latino students to learn about their health and resources provided for them in the community And it has also benefited art start a program for artists to use art as a way to Bring culture into the rosen community And when tag needed a place to meet the rosen library was there And when art start was painting the blocks by dollar tree They needed a place to put their painting materials and the rosen library was there for them Many of my peers struggle in school because they don't have access to internet or printers But the rosen library is there to provide it for them As a student a library is a necessity It is a place for students to complete their studies research and a safe place to bond a library not only provides books, but it also allows Access to computers, english second language classes and other beneficial resources A library is equipped with convenience support for youth and student As tutors health services advice and community service as well A library is a safe place for the public to learn together where children and students Learn how to find reliable online resources Tutors guide students and their work school work and children's read bilingual books with their parents A library is part of the rosen and will become part of the heart of the community So please help support the rosen library and thank you for listening Thank you. Terry odin followed by marisol in eliz Is terry here? Not seeing a terry move Marisol followed by stephanie manieri So marisol um had to leave she had to go pick up her son so but she left me her Uh, sure what you wanted to say, okay? Um, and I translated it she wrote it in spanish Good afternoon members of city council I am marisol angeles here today in support of the community for a better library A library with better conditions for our children our youth and even us the adults I know of several libraries better than ours and today we need your support for a better library in our community of roseland and on her little paper Marisol, uh did put that she's a part of the cbi group that Community building initiative through community action partnership And that's that's her Those are her words. Okay. Thank you. And then stefanie. Are you up? Yes, and they'll be followed by sarah or tease okay Good afternoon, mayor schwendo the members of city council My name is stefanie manieri and I am one of the new center of the city school's board members However, today I am here to speak to you as a lifelong southwest anorosa resident and community member That said, I'd like to share some thoughts A key finding in the report a portrait of sonoma county stated that the three lowest ranked census tracts in sonoma county Are the neighborhoods of roseland rosland creek and shepherd whose well-being outcomes are well below those of mississippi The lowest ranked state on the american human development index These scores manifest themselves in low life expectancy low life I'm sorry low high school diploma attainment and low socioeconomic status But what does this information have to do with a library? Well, we all know that a library is more than just a library They are often shared community spaces resource centers and safe havens They offer free programming like english classes tutoring for kids Maker spaces job training coding classes and legal aid just to name a few We know that public libraries help build healthy communities by providing a third place Outside of home and work or home and school to build random and intentional in-person relationships We also know that an established public library can empower communities by providing access to literature Which directly impacts literacy levels in a community these types of resources are a key factor in changing negative outcomes like those mentioned previously Now sanarosa has had its central library since 1859 then called the sanarosa free library The northwest library since 1968 and the rink and valley library since 1994 In fact the sanarosa free library is the is the 14th oldest public library in california The roseland library however has only existed since 2015 and unlike the other branches It is not recognized as a city branch the central and northwest libraries close between 6 p.m. To 9 p.m. During the week while the roseland library closes at 2 p.m. For the majority of the week stripping students of access after school hours So what we are talking about here is not an issue of just a library It is an issue of equity of public health of institutional segregation And of historical negligence of the people of southwest sanarosa We don't just want a public library We need a public library that is open past 2 p.m Has enough space to have the same type of programming as all of their libraries in the system And it's permanently established in our community This issue is near and dear to my heart because I grew up without a library in my community Because both of my parents worked full-time And I did not have the ability to maneuver myself in and out of southwest sanarosa to visit an existing library My only access to libraries were at school And even then time was limited and they do not offer the same type of services and programs that our public libraries do I was 18 years old and in college when I felt I was really exposed To the amazing place a library can be I tried to take advantage of all the resources at my disposal almost as if I had been deprived of such experiences my entire life So I am here to advocate for students in southwest sanarosa Who might have had a similar experience as myself. Thank you. Thank you, sypheny Sarah Ortiz followed by wane yamagishi Hello, i'm sarah and i'm the president of the sonoma county public library foundation Which has raised money for the library system for over 30 years And i'm happy to be here as a representative to also support the newest branch of the library in sanarosa in roseland The reason our volunteer board continues to fundraise for the library system is that libraries are great. Everybody knows that And they continue to be a priceless resource for the growing population of sanarosa Just last summer in summer reading over 11,000 children teens and adults participated across all the branches And every age group saw a double digit increase in participation from the previous year Which shows that library is becoming more crucial not less um author frank camiro says I once heard that a library is one of the few remaining places that cares more about you than your wallet It means that a person can be a person there not a customer not a user not an economic agent Not a pair of eyes to monetize but a citizen and a community member a reader and a thinker a mind and a soul As we consider that many spaces open to the public require some kind of buy-in such as purchasing food Our free spaces like libraries and parks become that much more important especially for children and teens I'm not sure if you saw the first five report on school readiness that was released last year But the research clearly found a correlation in sonoma county with visiting the library once a week and school readiness in children under five Currently over 500 children are registered Roseland library users and the proposed site of the temporary library is half a mile away from cook middle school Without the roseland library those children would be without a community library Which is critical to early and ongoing education Camaro goes on to say the library is one of the best places to get a real and generous sense of the city How does the city wish to be looked to the library? A library is the gift a city gives to itself As we continue to look for funding for the roseland library We have to ask ourselves as santa rosans who we wish to be and the kind of spaces We want to remain free and open to the public as the city considers helping support leasing costs for the temporary roseland library The sonoma county public library foundation continues to support the plan for temporary and permanent library in roseland We work directly with the roseland coalition on a previous capital campaign to raise funding and look forward to future discussion of partnerships to support the roseland library Thank you, sir Wayne followed by rachel gomez. Good evening. Um, I had prepared a statement here and it was quite Well done. I spent quite a bit of time doing that today But however, I've changed because I've realized that over the last few hours that I've sat sat here I've heard many articulate people talking about issues that are dear to them And much more articulate than I am talking about the library and learning climate climate issues and the data that we're all going to be faced with arts um communication process of decision making And I'm also thinking about as you seven council members Honorable people as well as our city staff How do you deal with all of this information? I'm wondering about that that process I I listened to uh council member so you're talking about I'm gosh being proactive and thinking about five or ten years from now if we made decisions then what would it look like I'm I'm seeing count. I heard council member Excuse me tidbits talking about being positive communicator. Well, I am going to be positive I want you to consider as you leave here tonight As a city manager or as a staff member as an attorney or one of the 13 people that represent departments Whether it be fire police Parks and rec How are you going to weave in one of the priorities that you have in your As one of your goals to um to create a sustainable climate And that is a tier Level two And I'm choking a little bit because I'm very passionate about it And a level two. I'd like to see you move it to level one Tier one that needs to happen Whether you make decisions about it from then is your is a challenge that you face in many areas including our library But I would like to see at least move to tier one and then develop the Strategies in order to make that happen. Thank you so very much. Thank you Thank you Raquel Gomez followed by remi fuentes Neither Raquel is not here Remi no Laura niche Irma Sarsia Do you have translator? No, I'm sorry that my son is my 14 years old has to go because it has a lot of homework So it was too late. I will do my best. So I will need extra minute, please. Maybe two minutes more Can I have it go ahead? Just just thank you First of all, I want to present My girl frances that make a wonderful art. Could you show you? Could you show your art the art? So is that picture you see they are handsome, but with that picture are better So where she learned that where do you think? Thank you So another thing that she learned She will show you he will present herself in three language. Come on frances Ni hao wash yourself What Little sweat will she run Juica she shit. Hello. My name is frances. I am seven years old My favorite color is orange. Thank you No, please give me Another thing because you know, I'm not very good teaching her So I use the library every single day and she's learning two language reading La gallina hambrienta La gallina muy hambrienta Que con la gallina La gallina hambrienta La gallina hambrienta La gallina hambrienta Muy hambrienta que comía y comía y crecía y crecía Y cuando mas comía mas crecía Tommy stays up late Tommy had a busy day He to School he played in the park So she's seven years old last two weeks How she learned in this is because I don't know how to teach but when we When I was pregnant from my son, I said what can I do? He's a challenging boy. How I can teach him No, I want to kill him. I don't want to throw it into the window So what can I do so I went to the library and for the first time in my life I see the The people were reading for the kids the babies, but at the same time I was having joy there So I learned how to read with them and I started so my son Learned how to read and write Spanish when he was three years old. She did when she was four Uh during the the fire And after the fire our immigrant and undocumented community Was suffering and still suffering Because you exactly know that the county the city and the state didn't help us Only the community and the nonprofit organizations and churches So when I came to united states 20 years ago I feel says only in two places that was church and library And it's amazing 20 years and now Is the only places I feel safe Why Because when I'm in the library, they respect my language even here. They don't respect my language They don't thinking about me. They don't know that I don't speak English But they forced me to speak Because it's the language is here. But when you see in the library, it's amazing, you know, chinese I know It's the only place they respect my culture my language And who I am If you taking away the part you taken so much From my life and not from me for all our children That we really needed. Thank you Thank you Adrian lobby followed by vet minor So i'm adrian lobby. I'm here on behalf of homeless action I would like to encourage you for the next budget discussion when you start your Your deliberations that you invite the community back To have these public comments so that the people who were not able to stay tonight You can hear from them There were several other people who wanted to talk about more funding for homeless issues So here's some things to think about You're coming up on a discussion about the chat program This chat program one of the reasons that it has not been fully utilized is that it is underfunded So i'd like to see that added another $50,000 to that program I'd like to see that you put about $200,000 into your budget For the services and support of tiny villages or safe parking These things are going to be coming up this year in front of you You'll want to fund them in a way that is robust so that they will be effective and useful and productive Now it might seem kind of Nervy for me to stand up here and say we have $200,000. Didn't you just see me Tried to laboriously cut money But you're going to see when you do your budget Re um two days worth of budgets you're going to see the public works come up and show you mounds and mounds of trash You're going to see the law enforcement Figures and if they're honest you will see plenty of places that they are spending tons of money Moving homeless people around and cleaning up after homeless people These are things that do not have to be done when you have tiny villages Safe parking and other kinds of resources for people to stay I'd like to say to you all and to the people in this room That homeless people are some of our first climate refugees Here in santa rosa the homeless people who have been affected by the fire and continue to be uncounted It's a very large percentage either immediately affected or secondarily displaced And finally I want to put my two cents in for the library The library is as one woman said a community place where you don't have to be a number And you don't have to have money to pay for your coffee And in santa rosa and sonoma county the libraries have welcomed homeless people Not as special people of special needs, but as human beings They've opened their hearts. They've trained their staff. They give good honest Healing services to many homeless people and we desperately need that in the southwest So, thank you very much. Thank you, adrian The vet minor followed by nick caston Good evening. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to speak our minds and have some input in with the budget cuts I know it's a difficult decision, but I'm glad I don't have to make it I am here to say am I my brother's keeper And the answer is yes Difficult times and difficult decisions since the annexation of rosen. We have been given the short end of the stick I am here to advocate for resources to be given to the movement for it at Of the community that have not had a fair and equitable Representation I understand things are tough This is where creativity comes into play thinking outside of the box This project have been in the making for many years To have a functioning library where many services are provided. It will be Damaging to the trust that has already been built by the community thus far We ask that you partner with soma county library to share the cost As a young child I spent many hours in the library pretty much my whole summer and My parents allowed us to go and play in the library and read and catalogs and you know all that old stuff and Because of that it won't help mold me Who I am today no matter where I go in the community no matter where I go in life That information that I received from the library is vital It makes me who I am today So it's an investment in people is an investment in in the community It's an investment that will have a return of investment because this is our future Not only for us, but for the kids that are coming up In the community So it's very important whatever you can do to help move this cost for it It would be greatly appreciated by myself and many others in the community There there's so many things exercising you know Reading of the books music. So please don't forget about roseland You all represent roseland until we can get somebody in office And until then we expect all of you to stand up for us And make a change. Thank you. Thank you vent Nick caston followed by rosalie abbott Thank you again for having this session and for Going through what it's a very long night Just by point of personal privilege I'd like to say it suggests that we reconsider the fact that late nights are not more accessible than during the day For people to show up and we might want to consider making earlier meeting times Along those lines, I also want to challenge What councillor rogers said earlier vice mayor rogers my apologies about cutting your pay The seven of you are the most important community outreach staff in the city your availability to meet with us To go to site visits to talk about policy is vital to the success of our ability as the community to engage with you in the city So I'd encourage you to look at the other direction $800 a month is not enough money for the most important policy decision makers in the city And I think you should make that a part of your budget Priorities second. I think that we should look at solutions As you're going through here in solution positions When we're looking at all the things i'm talking about today Climate change. Well, how do we reduce vehicle miles traveled? How do we get rid of Level of service traffic models? Well, that's city attorney position. That's a planner How do we make sure that we have solar homes? Go up and get built. Well, that's an engineer. That's a building inspector These solution positions that can solve multiple problems are the positions that you should invest in You should invest in them because the staff in this city the culture you have here Is far superior than any consulting firms that you can hire for those types of solution positions You walk into pd here and it is an entirely different world than walking into any similar department and other jurisdictions in the state because of the culture that you have So bring staff in not consultants for those positions so they can understand how san rosa does make things work so well Is vital and you should prioritize those types of positions in your budget I also wanted to say pd shouldn't be treated Just as a general fund resource It is essentially an auxiliary enterprise it brings in revenue and it does through through services that are provided I know it's not structurally that way, but it should be looked at that way And that means that you see both sides of the balance sheet as you move through budget priorities the revenue generated from those positions As well as the costs associated with them And lastly, I'd encourage you to look at building from the ground up Set your goals and priorities first and then figure out how you want to have that staff Structured in order to serve those priorities And then if things need to be reorganized put the positions out for hire and hire internally first Don't keep positions just because they're filled and let important positions go Unfilled because of that type of priority setting lastly Bigger tax base is a better way to raise tax Raise tax revenue than a higher tax rate. Thank you very much. Thank you nick rosalie abbott Good evening My name is rosalie abbott and i'm a teen services librarian for the sonoma county library My colleagues and I strive to serve all people of sonoma county on a daily basis Roseland is one of our most beautiful and yet marginalized communities I hope that the city of santa rosa will partner with the sonoma county library to better serve roseland This is the best investment of dollars that you could possibly make. Thank you. Thank you Would anyone else like to make any other comments to the council you need hadn't filled out a card See no one else We'll close the public hearing bring it back to um first a question I have for you mr. McBride. Could you reiterate other opportunities members of the public have to provide council with feedback about budget priorities Yes, mayor. There's uh as we mentioned before there's um There's an opportunity to give written input on the city's website with budget comments We've got a public meeting that's coming up on february 21st 22nd. That's open to the public. We've got Three budget workshops that will be taking place between april and may budget adoption And I think always just from my point of view probably the best way for people to get input into the budget processes to speak with one of you Great. Thank you council any questions or comments for staff mr. Vice mayor Yeah, just uh more of a comment to the public that stage is to thank you for sticking with us Um, I do I think all of us hear the importance of the the rosalind library and we'll discuss that i'm sure I also uh when it personally when it comes to environmental and climate issues I do think we should have a conversation and goal setting about Making it a goal for this city to be 100 renewable energy other cities have done it They have a roadmap for how we should get there and so I'd be interested in having that conversation in our goal setting as well You any other questions or comments? Mr. McBride, do you have any do any other additional direction from council? No, mayor. All right. Thank you We'll then go back to item 14.3. Mr. City manager Item 14.3 report city government complex public private partnership feasibility analysis david gooin and jason nut And a cast of characters presenting. All right. Good evening. Thank you For sticking with this we will move through this presentation. We do have a a team again My name is david gooin and the the director of planning and economic development Also with me is jason nut director of transportation public works I also want to recognize the actual individuals that have done the Most of the work on getting us to this point. I'm all the work all the work rice daila rosa from economic development and Jill scott uh with from our Right away agent and also we have bob robert gamble with pfm who has been assisting us along the way as well Providing some guidance and I also do want to take a one second We did have about five members from the county here earlier From the general services department Another good example of how the city and county have been working very well together in terms of looking at how we can help each other through this Brainstorm Look at alternatives and they've been an enormous help to us and a great partner to get us to this point The individuals caroline judy keith peter tony and pamela. They were all here and I just want to give them a shout out for For the work they did on helping us get to this point Because I know they're out there watching this tonight So to start off, uh, just real quickly what we're talking about in terms of a p3 which Essentially is a public-private partnership The bottom line is it's a contract between a public entity and a private entity That essentially outlines the provisions of assets and how the services are delivered Um, it's it's an alternate way of doing business It's an alternate way of looking at public infrastructure. It's outcome based and it offers a different variety of financing options Uh, I'm going to go a little bit into how we got to this point, but back in May of 2018 the council and the board of supervisors both gave direction to us the city and the county to work together over the past few months Learn best practices from other governmental projects that are out there And conduct a market research and engage stakeholders to understand what what the Lay of the land is with p3s And again, I apologize to taking one step back from that The whole reason we're looking at that is that we do have a facility We do have assets that do need a lot of maintenance and work put into them over the next few years We also are looking at how do we can stimulate housing and create a vibrant Economy and so all those Elements came together for us to think more creatively about how we do business And provide an option for the council to look at and that's what we're going through with you today So the goal that we had right from the beginning is to increase downtown and community the county admin center land availability for housing and mixed use development By potentially consolidating government services And providing a more dense potent land use use of our land And providing a streamlined access to our services So again part of this has to do with how do we interact with our customer base and our the community? And how can we make that more streamlined and consolidated? The objective of doing that is to Opportunistically use downtown city land for housing and mixed use development Resulting from the need to replace and consolidate the city's admin services And try to stabilize the cost and resilience of our infrastructure over time So that's kind of the base and the objectives in this goal of what we were trying to accomplish as we move through this Um typical values we you hear about when you hear a p3 and things that we were looking into to see how this would play out Essentially is how can we leverage real estate? and commercial development I'm sorry leverage real estate for housing and commercial development Improved the economic vitality of an area by investing in an area and we'll talk about that in a second consolidating functions we talked about Reducing the ongoing maintenance and obligations that we have as a city So all of the city buildings that you'll hear about in a second from director nut and then look at Financially viable approach to this So this is a perfect timing to have this conversation because you just heard a lot of the budget issues that we have So we're going into this eyes wise Oh eyes wide open that this is not a free approach to a new city hall or a new a free free money But it is to look at another way to try to come up with a some sort of A viable approach to a long term Goal of maintaining the assets that we do have and operational needs So we talked a little bit about earlier tonight You did hear a lot of our revenue comes from sales tax and property tax So when you look at the county and the city combined It is a majority of the revenue that comes into support operations of both of our our agencies From the city of Santa Rosa, it's about half So when you look at half of the revenue that supports the city is for property tax and sales tax And that's important when you start when we start looking at How we build how we locate how we utilize our land to generate increase that property tax and sales tax So we have run analysis is through This the p3 urban 3 model We did a city-wide and we also took a look at specific sites in the downtown to see what type of Impact that would have on the city's revenue sources In terms of how dense how high how we utilize that that those properties and what that return is in terms of property tax and then in the subsequent sales tax and Economic increase around the area So this is something that we're going to keep in mind as we move through this as we talk to the county about What the value of locating additional employees downtown As we start to look at consolidating put ourselves on a smaller footprint and then allow for additional higher density housing and other economic Activities so that's this is one of the big the big keys of the efforts that we're looking at today So p3 the just real quickly as a as a reminder that p3 is Kind of the the middle ground so the bottom bar on this chart essentially Talks about design bid bill. This is what we do Fairly regularly in the public works department for pretty much every project that goes on the street. It's that bottom gray bar and as we move up the risk increases and the Private sector risk increases to the right. So what happens is as we move up the design build Essentially, we have an we have an example of that with a solar panel project I think that was one of the first design builds the city put in place That was a slight shift of risk to the the private development But it was another way of procuring that that service What a p3 is is going to step further It's design build maintain all the way to design build finance operate and maintain So somebody that would take it over design it build it We set criteria what we're hoping to get out of it somebody would maintain that asset And operate it for us for a certain period of time at a set cost. So essentially more risk to the private entity but more of A commitment on the side of the public entity So we talk about what the scope of what we're looking at we focused on downtown But as this map shows there is a couple other parcels we want to talk about these parcels are This this city the city hall that we're currently sitting at right now across the street First street all the facilities the city owns The parking lot across from the post office site at east street eat and eat and second The library site that is a site that's owned by the city There's the library site is on that the library has approached us about Looking to partner and being part of a project and being engaged in this conversation And so they're interested to see what opportunities there are out there We've also identified some others pieces of property that we own in this downtown area including There's the public safety facility again That's another big asset that we don't want to forget about and looking at what Options there are for either inclusion in this p3 or a potential project in another format And we'll get to that in a second. So this is the the world we're looking at and the other thing we added was the msc Public works in water department administration offices So the thought would be that if we do consolidate Services in terms of admin that we would look at the potential of utilizing that land as a potential trade So the concept being what land do we have what value does it have Does that help offset the cost of of creating a new city hall and freeing that land up for another use? Which could be housing and some other form So we wanted to get creative I want to put every option on the table and to talk about why we pick these and kind of what impact that is And the value of picking these i'm going to turn it over to director net Good evening. So back in so part of what Makes this process interesting is to look at the facilities that we currently own and maintain and what they what condition they're in how spread out as our organization and what makes sense for us as far as structure in the long run and So back in may This last year we presented a facilities condition assessment report to the city council And in that report we reviewed and evaluated 114 of the city's 118 structures And with that the consultant developed a facilities condition index Now as we talked at that time, we're all getting very familiar with what a pavement condition index is This is the buildings version of what a pavement condition is And so in this case a zero is the best and best facility A one is the worst facility something that needs to be demolished Right now we're sitting in an area where we're a facilities condition index of between Point three five and point four five. We're in the in the Aging to back end of fare Moving towards an area of poor condition and just as a general note In going through that process. They looked at just about every component of each of the facilities Including the structure including the electrical the basic interior finish The exterior components of that everything that makes up the value of that operation And ended up coming up with not only an annual investment strategy But a prioritized list of strategies We asked them to look at a program that was 25 years long with 2017 being the base year So to give you a start on what that looks like And then what we'll do is I go through the next couple of slides. I'll tie in how this fits in with the p3 conversation We and as we talked about earlier in the budget discussion facility condition is becoming a major area of concern and by Holding on to assets that have poor condition that have high maintenance costs That we have not been able to invest in adequately might not be the best long-term solution And there might be some other way or approach for us to take that on Our current so what you see here is is a graph that shows a deferred capital maintenance over the course of that 25 years So we grow from what currently is somewhere on the order of about a six million or a six and a half million dollar deficit for 2017 to an area of over 88 million dollars by 2041 if we continue on the current level of investment that the city is putting towards those 114 structures That's actually the bar. That's the second one from the top That doesn't take into consideration any inflation Associated with reconstructing of any of those improvements. Now if you look a little further down, there's another horizontal bar That's yellow. That's a little hard to see in some cases That would be the annual investment that ultimately adds up to the bars on top um The green and the blue uh demonstrate our total facilities budget That means every dollar that we put into currently maintaining our facilities all 114 of those facilities Is captured there and we're about About six million dollars on the front end, which if we look at our budget strategy of adding about two percent a year Grows to almost nine million toward the end of 2041 But that takes that's all of our labor all of our services and equipment and all of our capital Now, let me just tell you this we invest about 300 000 a year in the capital For keeping up these buildings Historically above that budgeted 300 000. We've been adding about 1.6 million dollars over the last 15 years if we aggregate that to an annual To an annual cost For items that are above and beyond our standard operation. That's the little blue dot or the little blue Bar that you'll see there on the bottom end So then if we take that and look at this is just an annual component So now you and the reason I did this is so that you can start to see the blue The blue bar part of the graph Again, this is the historical Amount of money that we're putting in approximately 1.6 million dollars And then the bars above that are the annual components the lower bar is what was included in the facility's assessment This is just the maintenance associated or the deferred maintenance associated what the building actually needs Roughly over the next 25 years and you can see it it fluctuates up and down They did this based on prioritization life safety first High value second and then working their way through to basic maintenance toward the back end of this the last 11 to 20 years The bar above that includes some of the pieces that they didn't they they didn't include Such as a da compliance As seismic retrofit We're estimating that that's about another million dollars a year of investment to bring those up to current code Through all 114 structures that were evaluated And so that's why we are trying to show you this to you to see kind of where the gapping is and again This is historical capital expenditures. Our actual budget. It is about 300 000. It just touches The bottom of that of those blue bars Now the question is is how does this what what does this mean for us? I'm kind of presenting this this Somewhat dire situation when it comes to our facilities and this is where the p3 comes in it's it's if We as a city make it We have a choice We can make an investment in the facilities that we currently are operating in an effort to bring them up to current standards To try to make them fit within our fire and seismic safety the ada compliance And we look at the level of investment that we're currently putting into these buildings Or we take and wrap those funds up and we put it towards something else Something else that fits within the p3 discussion that david will be finishing up through the rest of the presentation And so what this chart shows you is a is a bunch of different things It starts with the preventative maintenance preventative maintenance. That's our people That's the individuals that work specifically on buildings within the city's asset list Now this particular chart only is looking at Those facilities david showed you in the prior figure that we've identified to include as part of a p3 discussion So this is the six buildings in the downtown that we believe Have value to move towards this p3 discussion And so the preventative maintenance is the staffing associated with those specific buildings Then you look at the services and supplies That's the other part of the budget associated with that staff to keep these buildings up and operating The blue as we talked about that's the historical So if I break down that 1.6 million dollars that we evaluated over the last 15 years It's about a million for these six buildings. So over half of that 114 Investing 114 structure investment exists in the six buildings here in the downtown um the yellow is That component of the annual required investment that was described by The facility's condition assessment and so that's I'm showing it differently. It's not in a bar or it's in a bar chart as opposed to uh in a line graph But it if the city were to find a methodology to pay for those improvements This is how that would start to aggregate To a value that could then be rolled up elsewhere And then the last two the two top ones are the ada and the seismic associated with the Bringing these buildings up into compliance in over a 10-year period The last piece I want to show you are the two the two lines that are kind of on the upper right of the screen and those Are what we've used as examples, which is the city of napa's p3 project and the city of long beach's p3 project This is the annual investment that they're Required to pay in order to get into the buildings that they're in And so we wanted to show you somewhat even if we're able to gain the Or if we're able to invest the way we should be investing There still is some gapping required in order to meet somewhere Within those two example projects to to bring this project to completion But but that's part of the discussion that we think will begin to work its way through over the course of of this next component of the project and so With that i'll pass it back over to david to start talking about how this fits into our scheme moving forward Great thank you. We can come back to those graphs if you have more questions But the examples that director net touched on Where the city of napa and long beach? So those are two projects that are currently underway the city of napa has not started construction yet They were moving full speed ahead and I believe they are on pause a little bit doing some reevaluation of the scope of that project But they're looking at about 130,000 square feet They have a total cost of 110 million with an annual payment of six million So that's the initial dollar amount that you saw there on the graph in the previous graph and the city long beach is almost done with construction And a few few of us have been on tours of that site They have about a hundred and eighty million dollar project with about a fourteen million dollar payment Again city napa they Some of the things that we learned from them and talking with them They did they did use a technical advisor to help them through the process Getting the stakeholders engaged early is a key piece. I'll talk about that a little bit later And then their procurement method of the rfq rfp and how they did that in tandem was something that we've looked into Long beaches is one that's further along and is a pretty interesting example more mirrors along the lines of what we're looking at maybe not to this scale, but The the elements of it of having multiple players at the table So essentially what happened in long beach was that they worked with the city of long beach the port of long beach Both got together To identify that they both had a need so they identified land that was available that the city owned They partnered on that the little yellow box in the bottom used to be a parking lot that the city of long beach owned They turned that over to the developer the developer started built housing on that first to generate revenue to help pay for the rest of the project lower the cost So the city got housing the money went to try to help defer the cost And they got they established additional open space and green space for the public and in ways for the public to engage And so at the end of this they're looking at a new city hall a port building a library in public amenities Also about 800 residential units a 250 room hotel and a supermarket is part of the project So those that's a project that again uses multiple land multiple properties multiple players at the table And it's something that we're looking at and we've talked quite a bit with them and are continuing to talk with them about The county of Sonoma as we mentioned before they are in the exact same position. We are we've started looking at this at the same time I'm I'm announced to each other. We bumped into each other to p3 conference and continue the conversation ever since and Looking at how we can share Knowledge work together and move through this process The best we can they they have a goal of reducing their maintenance cost and investing in their infrastructure Improving access to services Creating housing and strengthening the economy. That's that's what their their provisions are and they presented to the board of supervisors this afternoon Essentially a very similar presentation that we have today And and the board of supervisors is interested in looking at moving forward. They do have an aging complex about 19 I think it was built in about 1950 in the 50s 56 And so they're looking at changing from this suburban model to a higher density again Potentially downtown freeing this land out for additional housing stock So what we did over the past few months has reached out to get a sense of Is this something that's feasible? Is this are we on the right thinking the right way? What's better to Co-load or co-co-co-locate with another agency or have separate sites Do one rfp or separate rfps rfis? Sale versus lease bundling property properties and a different type of a curament method So we reached out and sent surveys out Think 395 went out around the country and we got a pretty good response. We had 69 in response Responses and then from those responses had 25 in-depth long interviews Jill scott was on those interview calls. I think almost all of them and Got a lot of good information from around the country about what works What doesn't what people would be interested in and that helped us get a frame of reference about what's out there and what the potential is The the bottom line is pretty much most Every most people we talked to are would be very good at bidding on something like this if we had both these projects And what we're looking at trying to accomplish The other interesting piece about it is is we did pitch all the improvements and process improvements that we've made over the year in terms of With the station area plan process improvements and other things from fersiqua that Really raised the interest of developers because it's something that a big hurdle that in most agencies in most communities They have to overcome on top of everything else. And so that was of interest to a lot of people So basically the the takeaways Essentially we hire hire some somebody to help help us through this process, which we'll talk about in a second It's important to have clearly fine goals everybody that we talked to Said that's pretty much the issue about the problem where the problems start is if the Goals start to shift and things shift in the process because it changes the whole the whole game Buying from elected officials to make sure that that's something that you want to accomplish And define the budget and the financial resources. And so that's that's where we are today We've we've done this research. We've found what we need to do We found the next steps We we still feel like it's a viable thing based on everything that director nut pointed out and all the information we've researched So at this point we've we have a pretty good understanding of what sites we have the opportunity sites We have a pretty good understanding of best practices. We've done our market research We've looked at the procurement methods. What we haven't done though is got got more detail information and more Expertise to help us identify the costing and financing mechanisms So we can bring back good data to the council to say is this is this fit in the scheme of what can be possible or should we Not do this try a different approach and look at something else We haven't looked at the service impacts very closely And we have not spent a lot of time with engaging the community and getting the community and vision as part of that So part of what we have coming up with a downtown stationary plan will include some of this conversation to make sure we're not Doing this in a vacuum. This is something that we want to get input on From from the public is very key. So we're at this point where we have An option to continue looking at our deferred maintenance. How do we manage that through everything else we have going on? Or explore this other option Which is this study and to do this next step? We need to invest we need to invest about 350 thousand dollars That's money that we currently already have allocated in our budget that we would put towards this to get to this next step So we're not asking for any money tonight The Next step would essentially be to hire a consultant to help us look at the economic feasibility Look at the operational needs community goals and the capacity and then that way we can At these Key points come back to the council And step through this step by step with an outlet at every every point because this is a big decision There's big costs down the horizon. So we want to make sure we have data to even determine How this could work. So the first step here. We are tonight on phase one phase one would be doing this next study We think we would get that done by The fall Potentially come back in the fall or winter to the city council with more data and more information that information would then give us A direction either to go forth and create an rfp and that that's a Considerable amount of money to create that rfp. So we need to make sure we have the information to to do that If we did that then we would create the rfp and put Do go through the procurement process And then ultimately go through a selection process and negotiation to develop that contract So every step of the way there's another there's more commitment and more resources needed to move it forward And so that's why we want to keep checking in to see if this is still The right path along with everything else that we have going on So that's the the timeline in a The big picture of the timeline Again, what we're here tonight is for phase one only again to give to go through more detailed data And so that's where we are tonight. It's recommended by both departments That we move forward and bring those consultants on board and to bring back additional information to the council As we find that out through that process And we are here to answer any questions for you Thank you for the presentation sexual refreshing. You're not asking for any money right now. Is that what I heard? That's correct. We're asking to spend the money. Correct All right bring it back to council any questions for staff mr. Thank you, mr. Mayor. I have a question and a request one is the question Are we thinking revenue bond general obligation bond or Tax increment financing, how's this going to get paid for? I'm going to have bob gamble from pfm talk about the different financing mechanism And that's essentially the heart of what we're trying to get at in this next step Also, I'm bob gamble with public financial management the city's financial advisor I've done about 15 of these And they're all different. They all use different forms of financing I think it's fair to say at this point. We don't know what forms of financing that will be used It won't be one It will likely be multiple forms of public financing and private financing as well So that mix will will become will be determined during this process that david was just talking about Being honest. Do you think this city in its current condition is even eligible to do a certificate of participation to pay for something like this? The city has capacity to do to do a cop certainly It's it's a strategic question as to whether that's The best form of financing to use or not. Okay. It is I will say it's it's good to have that option on the table Because it affects your ability to use the other options Okay, perfect My only other request would be is that when this plan does come back It might already be planned, but I just want to air it out there in the public domain Is that we come back with just basically kind of an estimation of what liquidation of all properties across the board Could do because we just went through this budget rigmarole tonight And I think that we've got a way it accurately as here's what it would look like if we went down the p3 road Potential economic multipliers and impacts down the road for the downtown the businesses other financial interests Also taking a look at just what it would do to pay down a lot of our debts our liabilities and their community priorities Mr. Soria Thank you, mayor On slide 16 There are a fair number of very important questions Is when do those questions get Answered So these are the questions that we asked those 69 respondents that that answered so we we do have a fairly hefty I think you've got the packet over there. It's a fairly big response that entire binder. There is a response of those questions So the county and the city and jill in particular went through those summarized I'm identified what the percentage was so we actually have percentages break down for every one of the questions We didn't put them all in this presentation, but we have the data we have the The synopsis of that we can go through that with you if you'd like More curious about The chicken and egg in phase one you're talking about a feasibility study in financial analysis Which of course would depend on whether they're with us or not So when when does that get sussed out? So I think what we've what we found and the reason we're here tonight is that from those surveys We felt from staff's perspective that there was interest that there is that the way what we have on the table The assets we have and what we're hoping to accomplish was something that there was interest from That we felt confident enough to come to you to say it's it's worth going to the next step to do What bob gamble talked about in terms of running the financial analysis running different financial scenarios And looking at the scope of the project at this point. It's very exciting and I can see even more Crane swinging than I ever thought might be in the future. Thank you councillor combs Thank you, and I I appreciate it's late. It's hard to make Sort of a this for me. This would be a lengthy conversation And I appreciate that it's late and we can't make this be a lengthy conversation tonight Um I appreciate that you have a list of survey participants And I appreciate that we have a responsibility and you have a responsibility To represent the public interest As we move forward none of the survey participants are knowledgeable members who would express public interest first And I I appreciate that that may be hard to find Um, and I'll be but it means that we have an extra obligation um We have to say in the long term does this advance the public good? and Many of these work really well, and I'm excited and they're triple wins And there are some that don't work so well And at this stage, it's really hard to tell How to make that evaluation based on the information we're being given And I can't tell if if our consultant Helps us make that evaluation or if our consultant is very interested in moving forward any p3 that they can do I I can't tell I don't know I just I can't tell so i'm reading a document Uh a guide to understanding and evaluation infrastructure public private partnerships from the Uh in the public interest And it has a whole series of questions and things to look at when you're making these kinds of decisions I don't have time to ask you these questions. I mean, I'd love to but it's Going on 11 and So what do we do as an entity? And again, I want to bring this forward with the hope of a triple win I see the possibility of a triple win And I don't know how in the next minute To do the kind of evaluation on this proposal that you're asking us to make Give me guidance on what your advice and recommendation is Knowing and I appreciate you've got a timeline on here We're gonna sometimes I feel when I see a timeline like that is really helpful and we get a lot of public comment Sometimes it feels kind of like a jigger. Yes, we're gonna move And again, I'm not seeing Where is where is the consultant for us specifically to represent public interest And is this that group or is this Can you help me absolutely those are great questions? And I think you brought up a good point about the public engagement public input piece and that you're absolutely right That's paramount to what we want to do here. Um, this is where this is trickier because it's knowledgeable public input It's not just general. I mean, I want general public interest input, but This requires a special understanding of how these move forward, right? So we're we're gonna try to engage as much as we possibly can and I'm gonna ask bob to chime in on the process Bob bob is our city's Looks out for the city's financial interest and that's what pfm's hired to do So that's one person we bring on board but the city's financial interest and the long-term general interest of the public may not necessarily be Identical sure. So I think what we're at right now is looking at What do we what data do we need to collect to have that conversation because at this point? We've done enough We've done as much as we possibly can at the staff level now We need to bring in some experts to help us think through some of the details and um, bob Do you want to talk to this a little bit? Thanks, david What I would add to that is that You're correct that there is there is a there's a fundamental tension in a public-private partnership between the public interest and the Private interest it is the job of of the advisors To the public to the public sector and the public sector itself to protect its own interest And the essence of a public-private partnership that works well is it is the capturing A private interest to work for the benefit of the public and that is the objective That's why it's important as david said to have have the objectives defined very clearly up front And as you go through that process up there, which is a long process there have to be off ramps And there may be points in the process where you just decide it's it can't work It's not going to work and we can just get off at this next exit So it I guess I would add to that that our be clear When you've said that I really want us to find a solution because I think we need one but Okay, yes, and and obviously This process would not have gotten this far and you would not be being brought this tonight if there were not a perspective that It can be successful Okay, will we have the opportunity to go through this in much more detail and Yes, so the what we have right now pretty much what I presented to you tonight was the fact that we went out Surveied got some general information. We looked at what assets we have we did some Looked at our facilities assessment Incorporated that facility assessment into this conversation And now we're at the point where we need to hire some consultants to help us run through some scenarios Come up with some information for you and we're going to come back and have a long lengthy conversation about What this means and how this fits together and that's going to be the decision Analysis of the consultant will be providing us include sort of a more detailed understanding of the public benefit that will come Is that part of the feasibility? Yeah, yes, so again as bob mentioned there's got to be both There's got to be a public benefit to what we're accomplishing here And so that we want to we have to document that quantify it and make sure that that's something that we would be Even interested to bring forward to the council at that point. Thank you very much. I appreciate your patience with my question Mr. Tivas Thank you, mr. Mayor one more request on that is With this next report, so I do support you going forward. I think this is good information I think it's a failure not to try But with this this report from the consultants Well, we then get information on what the cost is and I'm sorry to keep harping on that But I think that it is going to be a herculean lift to do this And I think that we that we have to have as the elected officials of the community a very real conversation about What this civic center would be coming at the expense of other community priorities relating to taking on debt for the city So so my my request is or my ask is will this come with with that price tag? Yes. Okay. Yes. Thank you Thank you I don't need an answer now, but but mr Going I would be interested just because I saw emcee south Is it the only one there and another some property just west of emcee north that city property I'd just be interested. I mean there's a lot of land out there There's probably some reason that you don't have to have to answer now But I'd be interested in hearing it. Could that be part of a portfolio? Just do the size of the land okay, so Several cards here. We'll first start with george uberte followed by peter rumble I just uh, I'd like to call your attention to the beginning of this meeting When I asked you all if you were having fun And then I told you I would be here till close Now I I feel like those are two things that I've delivered on Just tonight right That's what I do I make my mind up my own mind And and then I stick to my guns and I do what's right Because that's who I am Right, and I don't know what it's going to take for that to get through to you All right, but that's what's going on Now I was ruminating on the words public-private partnership I was like, where have I heard that before and then I was like, oh, yeah, national socialism Right. It's pretty much the same thing Right public-private Partnerships that's not that doesn't happen It's not real All right, and I'm not going to stand up here and play pretend with you. I am a grown man All right This is enough of this what do you think this is some sophisticated thing that you're doing Where you where you stand here and you play pretend with your lines Right that that's the adult thing to do. That's what the real grown-ups do wrong opposite of that Adults say what they mean. They mean what they say they make their minds up and they do the right thing All right, you're acting like children. This is ridiculous. I don't care how much money you have involved in it All right, there's nothing you and I are equals. Do you understand that? All right, do you understand that what is valuable to me is as valuable to me as anything that you've got And I don't care what it is Do you understand? All right So this idea that you're the grown-ups and that you've got some little slice secret that you're passing Around with each other is nonsense. It's an illusion that you have and it makes you weak All right, it needs to stop And needs to stop immediately a public private partnership is national socialism. This is america You don't get to be a nazi in america Period All right, and if I got to stay here till two o'clock in the morning to get that through to you nine-year-olds I'll do that All right, but enough is enough All right, we don't put up with this. There's more of us than there are of you All right And you don't have anything that we don't permit you to have Okay, and you can sit here and play pretend and think it's important Right, and you can shake each other's hands and you can do whatever and you can threaten me with cops And you can do whatever you're gonna do All right, but I've heard it all before believe me All right, this is not my first rodeo. Believe it or not. All right, you're new to knowing I'm here I'm not new to being here Okay Enough is enough I think I've made that clear You can go home now. Good night Good evening. It's really Really wonderful to be here No, truly I'm not trying to be funny at all, you know, six years ago or so I got, you know, stone faces when I suggested that the city and the county Consider Collocating together primarily because the city and the county weren't really talking to each other at the time So to be here tonight Now legitimately talking about whether or not this is possible is Monumental and fulfilling and I'm so glad that David and Caroline Ran into each other at the conference To put some momentum behind this idea A ton of information to go through many many decisions to be made And a lot of information to come yet So I'll just convey what I conveyed to the county board this afternoon Can just move Move forward take a step forward collect that information Have a choice To either continue or to go You don't even have to decide whether or not the county and the city are going to be together now If you can just picture The future of this Opening up the county campus to significant housing and retail development Flat land close to the freeway Bring services close to a train And bus depot With similar access to the freeway. I don't understand why there's this notion that you can't drive downtown santa rosa and Much more commercial retail Opportunities here for the workers plus if you open up Right the site that we're on now to the creek put some housing here to connect our arts districts With our downtown You know the possibilities of this are Are really really wonderful again a lot of details to be worked out The final thing that i'll mention is that if we can look out to post 2020 And think about when a shovel could go into the ground for something like this Then we're talking about the pretty much the end of our rebuild efforts And any kind of major housing development as well Hopefully not the end, but this could be a significant public investment In local jobs local construction Further boosting our economic activity further boosting our property tax values And just there's there's so much positivity to this. So thank you very much for hopefully moving forward Thank you peter Ian sealy Happy late evening council mayor and council And sealy speaking for concerned citizens for santa rosa I see this as a very positive thing It is incredibly complex and that is why a consultant is being considered I do want to point out in the executive summary of the uh staff report it stated that the P3 could leverage government owned real estate to preserve to provide for downtown housing commercial development and a consolidated government civic complex Given the limited and very precious funds that we'll be using I would hope that emphasis could be placed on housing especially housing for lower and moderate income people As it has been so difficult to achieve Commercial development should be supported for assisting housing in service to housing such as in multi-use Facilities to provide for child care facilities or for a grocery store or other services to the housing component The government civic complex is crucial to provide for the land for housing as well as to strengthen government services The use of a consultant is understood as necessary to the success of pulling off what has now up to now been Just a conversation among people I appreciate the comments by council members about the need for The public input in what finally happens, but we're way far away from that and I just want to say I hope you proceed with this. Thank you Thank you Mr. Oliver as you have this item Thank you make a motion authorizing the statute initiate phase one of the public private partnership p3 procurement process Which includes engagement a professional consultant through a competitive solicitation process to assist In analysis of location financial and request for qualifications slash proposals rfq rfp feasibility second Did you catch that second madam city clerk? Any for the comment Your votes, please In that passage unanimously. Thank you Do we have any additional cards? Is there a tony jorality in the house? First time first time a speaker's been heckled go ahead tony Good evening, uh, mayor schwedhelm Distinguished members of the city council. Um, I was hoping to be here a few weeks ago But I apologize for my retardedness. I want to uh, convey to you my, uh, heartfelt, uh, gratitude for Saturday december 22nd each of you I volunteered one hour of your very precious time To raise money for the salvation army for their, uh, holiday kettle drive It was a It was a very successful day Lots of people came out And I had a goal of $2,000 for the day and the amount that we raised was $2,011 and 83 cents Thank you very much The salvation army real quick it's a Wonderful organization The morning of the fires they were the first organization to be at the snowman county fairgrounds evacuation center to assist with those in need and Um, I just uh Let's go home. Yeah, thank you very much appreciate it. Thank you before we do adjourn the meeting Last Friday, some of you may have heard the city santa rosa lost one of its most cherished residents linda angel Passed away linda had been a champion for red road square in fact 13 years. She was the president So in honor of her memory, uh, we'll adjourn this meeting