Good evening, we're going to begin.
Good evening, welcome to novato city council meeting for tuesday, august 26, 2025.
Please stand for the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Laura, if you would please call roll.
>> clerk: councilmember jacobs?
>> >> k.
Jacobs: here.
>> clerk: milberg?
>> m.
Milberg: present.
>> mayor o'connor: councilmember farac?
>> >> mayor >> >> mayor pro tem farac: present.
>> clerk: mayor o' connor?
>> mayor o'connor: present.
>> clerk: and councilmember eklund is on zoom.
>> p.
Eklund: I'm here, healing from a fracture.
>> clerk: is there anyone else in the room over 18?
>> p.
Eklund: there is no one over the age of 18.
I do have an 8-year-old kitty.
>> mayor o'connor: the city council met I closed session before the meeting.
City attorney bell?
>> the particulars are available upon request if that action is commenced.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
I would like to invite council to join me at the front of the room recognizing gosia woodfin for 17 years at the city of novato.
Hi, gosia.
You can stand here.
We are celebrating the retirement of a very special person today.
Gosia woodfin for hr 17 years of service.
She started working september 9, 2008.
She served as an engineer and project manager in the public works department, and worked on project development and construction management for almost 60 capital improvement projects with a total budget of over $42 million.
Whereas most conconcerned with streets, transportation and drienage, and a bridge, if I'm not mistaken, very recently and few involve parks and facilities, made sure objectives were met and ensured compatibility with approved program principles
goals and objectives.
She has independently delivered challenging projects on time and within budget.
Whereas she has an in-depth knowledge of the public bidding process, outsourcing has a successful history of attracting and selecting reputable consultants, not easy.
Her attention to detail, identifying applying for grant funding and acting as staff liaison for the bicycle pedestrian advisory committee and street improvement oversight committee just to name a few things and whereas over the years gosia has
always maintained a positive can-do attitude regardless of the situation and was always willing to put in the extra effort required to resolve any issue.
And whereas gosia has lived in novato for over 25 years.
Therefore be it resolved the city council of city of novato, on behalf of the residents of novato does here by offer its heart felt appreciation to gosia woodfin for her service to the novato community for the past 17 years and wish her all
the best in her retirement.
Please join me in congratulating and thanking her.
Would you like to say a few words?
>> as stated in the proclamation, I have lived here in novato for over 25 years.
I love the city and the residents.
I always felt grateful that I was able to serve my community.
Working for over 17 years as an engineer for the city of novato, has been a privilege.
Every time I drive, bike, or walk, I always bump into one of those 60 plus projects.
And it just feels so good.
I just, it just makes me proud.
But before I go, I would really like to give a loud shout out to all my co-workers.
It's been a great privilege working with each and every one of you.
Thank you.
>> thank you.
[ applause ] >> congratulations, gosia.
We'll miss you.
>> mayor o'connor: before we move on to the next item on the agenda, we have translation services, on my right side of the room.
If you require any assistance, they are here to help.
The next item is approval of the final agenda.
>> k.
Jacobs: I make a motion we approve the final agenda.
>> mayor pro tem farac: I second.
>> mayor o'connor: if you would call the vote.
>> clerk: eklund?
>> p.
Eklund: aye.
>> clerk: jacobs?
>> k.
Jacobs: aye.
>> clerk: milberg?
>> m.
Milberg: aye.
>> clerk: mayor pro tem farac?
>> >> mayor pro tem farac: aye.
>> cerk: and mayor o' connor.
>> mayor o'connor: aye.
It passes.
The next is for public comment for items that are not on the agenda and for items listed on the consent calendar.
Unfortunately due to the large amount of requests to speak and expected amount of just cause ordinance workshop we will have to limit comments this evening to one and a half minutes per speaker.
Please respect the time limit and limit any show of solidarity or support to silent gestures in order for the next speaker to have uninterrupted time to speak.
Our first speaker is alan gump.
>> [ off mic ] >> mayor o'connor: those are the numbers written in the top right hand corner, by any chance?
>> yes.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Okay, give me a minute.
Jay, you don't have a number.
You want to go first?
Jay shefer?
>> no.
>> mayor o'connor: okay.
No problem, guys.
All right.
So our first speaker this evening will be serena fisher.
Does that work?
Hello, serena, you are already here.
>> thank you.
Good evening.
I just want to remind the council and the greater community that no public funds have ever been used to sustain marin valley mobile country club.
Residents have paid for everything since 1997, including close to $18 million in loans, bonds and interest with the understanding the land would ultimately be ours in 2027.
The $20 million offer the park acquisition board presented to the council in june is in a detail 120-plus page proposal focused on affordability, security and sustainability.
Goals supposedly aligned with the city's publicly stated priorities.
However, the city's response was an ultimatum for $26 million while keeping all our $7.5 million enterprise reserves as well as additional hidden conditions.
Can you honestly say this is good faith negotiations?
So much work went into putting that proposal for you for your consideration.
This is certainly not a win-win that you have talked about.
We are asking the city to change course.
Stop the ultimatums, commit to fair transparent ad respectful negotiations.
Residents are ready to forge a new path as a successful cooperative senior housing community.
Let's build a solution together that protects affordable senior housing in perpetuity in novato and honors and respects the independence this community deserves.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, serena.
Our next speaker is david gray.
Welcome, dvid.
>> thank you.
Thank you, city council for the opportunity to speak.
And my name is david gray.
I'm a resident of some nine years of the marin valley mobile country club.
I'm also a member of the marin valley cooperative.
I'm here to speak about the security of our predominantly low-income residents to not be priced out of their homes.
The city leadership says that affordability, security and sustainability are priorities, yet uses an appraiser from a non-expert in mobilehome parks, based upon a for profit valuation model to reach a price tag of $26 million, plus other undisclosed
terms.
Our $20 million offer is based upon an appraisal by a mobilehome park expert using nonprofit valuation model is more than fair.
It's financially responsible and is crafted with expert advice to provide affordability, security, sustainability in perpetuity insulated from the changing priorities of our current title holder.
We residents of the mvcc call on the city to please reconsider the merits of our initial $20 million offer.
Thank you for your time.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, david.
Our next speaker is janeen bradley.
Welcome, janeen.
>> hi.
Not that many pages, just one.
When I looked over the agenda today and read the public comments you was taken with the scope of responsibilities for the city of novato, resident homeowners, representers, employees and even squaters rely on you for their representation to
monitor, direct and regulate many our daily activities.
Thank you.
My observation is in the last 25 years or so the city of novato has gone from a doing business with a handshake, to a professionally regulated city with a capital c.
That's a dramatic change and not without a number of growing pains.
Some actions from the past still impact us today.
Marin valley mobile country club has 313 households which 82% have paid membership to join our community nonprofit co-op seeking park self-ownership.
How often do you find a community where 82% agree on anything, much less pay to agree on it?
We rcognize we need to be responsible for our own future and not rely on a handshake agreement.
We cannot rely on the city to keep our best interest as priority.
Public officials change.
We have done our homework, we enlisted professional guidance and legal counsel to make sure we are as successful as a self-owned community.
I remind the council of the city's current strategic plan goal number one, living well together.
Support facilities and design programs and service that's create a healthy, caring and interconnected community that is safe and secure.
That's our goal too.
Support our unity and commitments to self-ownership.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, janeen.
Our next speaker is susan hoff.
And after susan will be judy monsom.
Welcome susan.
If you don't mind speaking in the microphone.
>> first off, thank you so much, I so appreciate your hard work, your diligence.
Novato is a great place to live, so thank you.
Three small points for you.
Did yu all know that 91% of our community qualifies as acutely low-income, extremely low income, very low income, plain vanilla low income.
91%.
That's before trying to reach for a $26 million dollar loan.
Second point, in our little hood, in our valley, we have 124 households that cannot reach the 31% requirement for only paying their rent, 31%.
They are paying way more of their income just to get by, before a $26 million loan.
Last point, and I'm really proud of this one, since 1997 we have paid $18 million for the bond, for the loan, the interest.
We have paid it like clockwork every month.
We never missed a payment.
I'm so proud of us.
So my question for you all tonight, just to consider this little community, this 91% low-income community, is it reasonable to expect us to afford a $26 million dollar loan?
I want you all to think on that one.
And again, thank you for your hard work tonight.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, susan.
Next speaker is judy monsum.
Followed by gail atkinson.
Welcome, julie.
>> thank you.
Julie manson, 7 club view drive marin valley mobile country club.
The determination of the majority of marin valley residents to take charge of our own affordable, secure and sustainable future is so strong that we are consenting to pay for the park twice.
Our original $20 million offer ensure that increases in rent would continue to follow the historical and minimal increases in cpi.
Marin valley is poised for success in park ownership with experience and expertise from resident-owned communities u.s.a.
And california community cooperative development.
Plus our own abundant leadership and management skills and abilities.
The city of novato claims to support affordable housing for seniors.
On march 18, 2017, then mayor of novato denise athas wrote to the world health organization requesting membership for novato in the global network o age-friendly cities and communities.
She wrote the city of novato recognizes the importance of encouraging and promoting age-friendly policies to dress changing demographics and enhance independent living for our older adults we are committed t a process of continue wall improvement
in support of active and healthy aging and sustaining economic and social vitality.
By contrast, today, city's counter demand of $26 million with hidden conditions puts hundreds of seniors at risk for housing insecurity.
We are asking the city to be reasonable and fair so that our community will remain affordable.
It's the right thing to do.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, julie.
Our next speaker is gail atkinson, followed by sherry smith.
Welcome, gail.
>> good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you in person.
It is conceivable that when you were first elected to the novato city council, you did not know our park's history.
That in 1998 the marin valley mobile country club residents formed the park acquisition corporation to purchase the land through financing through the novato financing authority.
In 2012 the city became guarantor of our loans when the novato finance authority was dissolved and the n.f.a.
Transferred the title to the city of novato.
It is not correct to state that the city bought the park because that implies that the city paid for the property.
And as you know, mill valley mobile country club rents have paid all the bond payments, upgrades, repairs.
Our park's management company the hell sing group as well as additional management fees billed to us by the city of novato.
We have been excellent stewards of the property and we have saved $4.4 million in the enterprise fund which is legally earmarked for future needs of our park.
Justice will be truly served, in my opinion, when title ii, mill valley mobile country club is transferred to our park acquisition corporation when the fnal bond payment is made with no further funds to be paid to the city of novato.
This is the requisite legal procedure for any bank guarantor or mortgage company when its customer loans are paid in full.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, gail.
Our next speaker sherry smith, followed by greg smith.
Welcome, sherry.
>> I'm sherry smith and I'm also a resident of the marin valley country club.
My career was as a risk advisor in insurance, where my job was identifying dangerous large loss exposures for clients regarding the property.
I have been quite taken a back at the extent of repairs and capital improvements that have been neglected in our park that create large potential loss exposures for the city.
What's even more concerning is the city has allowed these to emerge while holding over $4.5 million dollars in reserves.
Which was 100% collected from the residents' rents and designated exclusively to rectify these types of needs for the marin valley community.
To date, the city has done absolutely nothing to ameliorate the potential risk exposures caused by these much-needed repairs and infrastructure improvements.
In my opinion, as a risk advisor, what we are seeing here is a blatant disregard for the possibility of a large loss to the community whether structural or human.
What is even more disconcerting is the city's blatant disregard for the residents' well-being.
But now we are offering the city a simple way to be free from all these liability exposures.
Turn the park over to its residents.
We have developed our plans on how to address the various issues and the city can facilitate that by agreeing to hand over those reserve funds for us to address those various liability exposures.
And make those much-needed capital improvements.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, sherry.
Our next speaker is greg smith, followed by bill davis.
Welcome, greg.
>> thank you, thank you.
My name is greg smith, I'm a resident of marin valley.
I'm one of those that helped spend hundreds of hours putting together short-term and long-term plans to help us take ownership and self-manage marin valley.
Incredibly detailed budgets, cash-flow plans, action plans, schedules for repairs and long delayed capital improvements.
All driven by expert inputs.
And once we wre drawn, truly feeling pepared to taking on our future.
The work wasn't just about budgets or coming up with a price to quote to the city, we genuinely sought a win-win strategy that would benefit the city of novato, while also advancing our ability to protect our low-income senior residents.
Proposal paid off the loan the city helped us atain years ago to eventually gain ownership and only used a portion of the millions of dollars held in reserves and then we said, we will give the city back the rest of the balance there.
And then our residents would give the city $500,000 a year for 35 years, that the city could use unrestricted in any way they sought.
And, unbelievably, we would only have to increase resident rents annually by the cpi, which is one of our most critical factors in keeping the park affordable.
I was just so proud we accomplished all of our goals in the proposal.
And our total $20 million offer came within 94% of that appraised vlue you heard about by the highly experienced mobilehome park appraiser.
So I'm respectfully asking you, please reconsider our oiginal good-faith offer in all its detail.
And demonstrate to our city's citizens your commitment to effectively caring for novato's low-income senior residents.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, greg.
Our next speaker is bill david, followed by alan gump.
Welcome, bill.
>> good evening, city council.
I'm bill davis.
I want to draw your attention to deferred maintenance at marin valley.
The city has received and banked $4.6 million in capital reserves from the residents for maintenance and repairs.
For many years the city has been informed of multiple situations and done little to essentially nothing.
Labor costs are up.
Materials are much more expensive.
The net result is the cost of replacement for almost anything today has doubled.
I think you could have done a better job, we would have done a better job.
Funding for the fire safety was drastically reduced three years ago.
We are now working very hard to catch up.
This is aserious health and safety issue for vulnerable senior citizens.
You could have done a better job.
We would have done a better job.
Deferred maintenance is no way to manage your property, your automobile or your health.
It's not what a responsible person would do or a responsible landlord.
We we will do a better job.
So it's simple.
The time has come.
You have demonstrated you cannot properly manage marin valley.
Let us very competent seniors do it.
We can do a better job today and in the future.
I'm talking about a win-win situation wth the offer in front of you, at this critical time.
Take the $20 million.
Everyone wins.
Have the attorneys paper it up.
And you can get back to city business.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, bill.
Our next speaker is alan gump, followed by jay shelfer.
Welcome, alan.
>> thank you.
Good evening, I'm alan gump and live in marin valley.
We submitted a detailed, thorough proposal I'm sure you have seen.
What we got back from the city was a cordial demand for a full and unconditional sur render.
Meet your price.
Forfeit our reserves and then you will sit down with us and give us other conditions that we will have to pete before you sell the park to us.
Is this the way you want to start a win-win good-faith set of negotiations?
Because frankly, it felt more like a shake down.
I hope I'm wrong.
Sincerely, but I'll tell, we're watching.
Now when it cmes to negotiations it's time to move beyond the post office and sit down at a real table in real chairs, eyeball to eyeball, arm pit to arm pit this and work this out.
We are marin valley, this is not the gaza strip or donbas region.
It can't be that hard for two party who's want to find a solution I know we can do it if the will had is there.
Now let's talk a minute about status quo.
Some people in our community think status quo is great.
The city's doing a great job, you have jst heard from a few people here where we don't feel like this has been a happy dance.
But the more important issue is security.
We have no idea what the next city council will do when they step in here.
They can look at us as the fatty calf ready for the market.
Particularly if you are facing a serious fiscal crisis like you were two years ago.
Now, we have the chops.
We demonstrated we have the skills, the leadership and very importantly, the mandate of our community to run ourselves as an affordable senior housing community that meets all of your goals and that is guided by the strategic partnerships that
we have with rock u.s.a.
And cccd.
There has never been a better time.
This is a once in a generation opportunity.
Let's seize it.
I will say one thing in closing.
Senior citizens are enthusiastic and highly motivated voters.
So.
This is a great opportunity.
Motivate us.
Thank you very much.
>> mayor oconnor: thank you very much, alan.
Our next speaker is jay schulfer followed by carol joy harris.
Welcome, jay.
>> hi, thank you for the opportunity to speak.
I actually signed onto speak on g91 and I will reserve my comments until then.
>> mayor o'connor: sorry, one more time?
>> I want to speak on g-91.
>> mayor o'connor: this is the consent calendar.
That item is on consent calendar.
If you comment on the consent calendar items this would be the time.
>> okay, my comments are the pack and helsing group have been working very diligently with the architects and engineering group and we fully support g9 as it stands.
>> mayor o'connor: perfect.
Thank you.
Our next speak certify carol joy harris, followed by robert belichick.
Welcome, carol.
>> thank you, this is about the clubhouse roof and hvac which is one of the deferred maintenance items that have been referred to.
For years we have begged because our roof was in such bad condition.
And you will see from the staff report that the original estimate was $350,000.
Now it's up to almost $1 million.
It was put in the budget years ago.
But public works said, oh, sorry, we are short staffed.
We just don't have time to oversee the project so it got put off and put off and put off.
Now we are facing three times, almost three times the amount.
Why?
And I will just add that there was an architect several months ago, but no movement on it until there was a kpix story the other night that looked pretty good for marin valley and not so good for the city council and the next morning, somebody
from public works came out.
And said, oh, I didn't even know this was on the list.
Suddenly, miraculously it's on the agenda for tonight.
Coincidence.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, carol joy.
Our next speaker is robert belichick followed by calvin ouellete.
Welcome, robert.
>> hello, hello, hello.
I know a few people had three tours of amount homeless encampments.
Mark, ms.
Farac and pat eklund.
I'm going to comment on what I have seen over my entire residency in hamilton, which is 20 years.
Hard to believe, bayside and now in sunnycove for the past 14 years.
I've got two dogs, three sometimes and I've walked the whole area around ammo hill skate park, all around.
And I've looked at the encampments grow.
And this morning, as I drove by on the way to the gym, susan, I haven't seen for a while, I saw a white car that is usually parked in the skate park parking lot, parked by a huge tent on the far south side of the rale road bridge, called the
police right away.
And they're driving across the grass to get over there.
But what I want to talk about, since I've gone with three of you, in this period that I've been here about ten years three bodies have been found.
I fund one myself about seven years ago laying on the road behind ammo hill.
This past weekend, the police were down, I walked the downs along pacheco creek.
The trestle bridge crossing the creek, blocked off and what happened?
The next day I walked over and I looked at the trestles and the spray painted in on the wood rest in peace.
Don.
The other put out wash stands and port-o-potties and huge trash containers where people could put in their trash throwing it away.
I've seen the fires, I've walked around the camps, I've been assaulted a couple of times.
I've had people scream about the dogs, like you can't be here, I'm thinking I can't be here, but you can.
That's personal.
The first thing I've seen is the change in the wildlife.
Because of all those people living in those vegetated areas all around, what is called the flat lands and the wetlands and the city has cleaned those up over the past 14 years.
They go in and clean all the stuff over.
Now are we getting the binford road spill over?
>> mayor o'connor: sorry, robert, I'm afraid you're at time.
>> my partner happens to manage pet foot express at hamilton and tierra linda, so h deals firsthand on what happens with the abuse of the businesses here.
>> mayor o'connor: thanks, robert.
Our next speaker is calvin ouellete followed by brian skinner.
Welcome, calvin.
>> good evening, mr.
Mayor and council.
I live about 100 yards from the skate park area in newport development.
My request tonight is very simple.
I am requesting that the council direct the chief of police to enforce section 1720 of the novato code of ordinances at the skate park.
Approximately 20 years ago I came to one of these meetings.
And we had a problem just to the west of my house on newport landing.
Redneck guys in their four-wheel drive pickup trucks were doing doughnuts and side shows out there.
Of all the councilmembers it was pat eklund who picked up the ball.
And she met with the army.
The army brought in all those big boulders and all that traffic control stuff, as well as helped with the gate.
I am eternally indebted to councilmember eklund for her actions.
I ask that tonight, you councilmembers also pick up that ball and let's deal with the problems at the skate park.
And I do ask you have this section 1720.
And if you're not going to enforce it, why even have it?
So, novato code of ordinances is built on all the reasons that the people will tell you why this is a bad situation.
I appreciate your attention and thank you again councilmember eklund.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, calvin.
Our next speaker I brian skinner, followed by john hansen.
Welcome, brian.
>> homeless encampments have long existed in hamilton.
I'm here today to discuss the recent negative changes in circumstances.
In april a group of tents first appeared near the skate park, this is separate from the existing encampment further back from the road and marsh.
Instead they set up in a new location with a new lne of sight of the skate park and only grown ever since.
Only 60 residents have shown support and shared their personal experiences which I have submitted to the council but I would like to read just a few.
We decided with all the cd activities seen in the skate parking lot unfortunately we won't be allowing te kids to use that.
A homeless woman was lifting her top and asking the boys to touch her.
I called the police and was told it's not a crime to be homeless.
I told them indecent exposure is a crime, they investigated and removed her but she is back.
Now unlike other sites in novato, like lee garner park, there's been no action regarding the situation in the skate park.
Instead the opposite.
People appear to be displaced to this location which is closer to the homes.
It has more tall, dry vegetation, fire risk.
It's usafe location for people to reside.
We request immediate action on the encampments within the line of sight of the skate park.
Again these are all new as of april.
They have the greatest impact on our community.
Those in attendance if you support this request, please raise your hands.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, brian.
Our next speaker is john hansen, followed by stan, my apologies, lapin?
Good evening, john.
>> good evening, mayor o' connor and the council of the city of novato.
I wanted to speak to item g9.
And I just want to express my gratitude for actually getting around to this, finally.
It's been years in the making.
And hopefully, we can get this thing done before the winter storms come in.
I wanted to let you know that we have some assistance in that respect.
And that the pacific northern oscillation is working with the la nina southern oscillation.
And what that means for the bay area weather is that the winter storms are going to be delayed this year.
So that gives us plenty of opportunity, I think, to finish this job.
I can't, I don't think you will allow me to get out there with my roofing hammer to help on this, but at least I can let you know that the weather is on our side.
So thank you very much for getting along with this project and hopefully w can get it done this winter, before the rains.
The other part of the forecast for the rains is when they do come, they are going to be nasty.
They are going to be nasty, short, squally kinds of storms, the kind that the clubhouse doesn't do very well with.
So let's get this job done.
Let's do whatever we can to get it done.
Thank you very much.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, john.
Our next speaker is stan lapin followed by margaret siegfried.
Welcome, stan.
>> good evening.
As some you know I've been here over a variety of years talking about the problem with the homeless.
We have had the pleasure of taking pat eklund on a tour, which I remember wasen light epping, if you remember, pat.
>> p.
Eklund: absolutely.
>> I'm also speaking about the problem that's now ensued since lee garner was shut down.
I dn't know whether the city moved these residents or it was another effort, it was controversial, I don't know.
It ended up being about six people, six tents and now it's the entire fringe.
It's united states ping residents at real risk, particularly children, because of the nature of the people and how they are disregarding our residents.
In diction to that, there's also clearly fire safety.
We have seen that enough.
And I've seen it out my back door.
And also impacting businesses.
I've talked to gary satin who is a great guy from tapiyaki.
He said it's been a real problem since he's been here.
I'm sure if I went to every merchant they would all stand up and come here if they knew we were organizing.
We are trying to come here in a very civil way and a constructive way.
Now is the time, we have to take action.
We have been kicking this down way too long and it's just going to get worse.
The other thing, eric lucan, this isn't just a city problem, this is a county problem.
The county has to accept responsibility financially and not have the situation where homeless in southern marin find themselves not there and over here.
I've talked to the police and they tell me that happens.
We can't allow that to happen.
This is a county problem that has to be solved and novato can take the lead and we have a great financial opportunity to help us in southern novato.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, stan.
Our next speaker is margaret siegfried followed by joan.
Welcome, margaret.
>> thank you.
[singing] in '97 when the city got the loan...
We were promised when the loan was paid the park would be our own.
>> in marin valley.
>> so if your promise you would keep, we could finally get some sleep and once again feel safe and happy in our home.
>> in marin valley.
>> talking about marin valley.
?
Talking aout marin valley, in novato ?
?
Talking about marin valley ?
?
That's our home ?
?
That's our home ?
?
That's our home ?
?
That's our home ?
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: very well sung and you put in a lot of practice.
Our next speaker is joan.
And joan, I apologize that you have to follow margaret tonight.
>> good evening, council.
Like some of my other neighbors, I am here because I want to express my concerns about the urgent need for the city to address homeless encampments near the skate park in hamilton.
There's been a long standing problem with people camping in the wooded area behind the skate park and now in recent months a new ever growing camp by the skate park has formed.
These two areas are not set up for camping and put both housed and unhoused residents at risk of fire, health and safety.
There's already been several large fires in the area and it seems illogical that the city is asking people to move vegetation five feet away from their homes for fire risk and yet at the same time is not sufficiently addressing serious fire
risks these encampments pose.
For example, just this morn a car was parked by the camp having driven about a block across highly flammable tall grass.
This happens on a regular basis.
The new safe team doesn't appear to be making any attributable difference.
We don't have months and years to address this dangerous situation.
If a large fire occurs campers could be trapped in their tents and several hundred adjacent homes could be engulfed.
The city could be held liable for allowing this situation to continue.
When residents have contacted the city to express concerns there's ben no communication other than email saying the city appreciates hearing from you and is aware of the situation.
The city went through a great deal of effort to pass this new ordinance against camping on public property.
So why isn't it being enforced?
The city needs t treat the situation as an urgent safety risk that it is, and put in place a plan to move the campers to a safe area before there is a tragedy.
Thank yu so much.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, joan.
Our final speaker is bryce armbruster.
Welcome, bryce.
>> sorry, give me a second.
>> mayor o'connor: take your time.
>> sorry I don't have a jingle, I'm here to talk about the homeless encampment everyone has referenced.
I'm in shock and awe some of the stories that some of my neighbors had shared earlier.
We moved to hamilton early 2020 right as the pandemic was kicking off as a safe place for our kids.
I'm absolutely appalled what's happened there over the last several mnths, really just a uncontrollable group.
It's from the outside.
I think we've all seen what has happened in san francisco, I don't think any of us want that to happen to our community.
I'm urging the city council and mayor to take immediate steps to rectify that.
I've personally seen drunken people, pursued by police.
I've seen someone at night running that another runner has confirmed we have seen multiple tiements either high on some sort of meth drug, I don't know, or schizophrenic.
We have seen cars driving back there.
Unbelievable amounts of trash.
A neighbor who hazardous had their child verbally assaulted and followed.
I had no idea that a body was found back there, I found that unbelievable that none us know about this.
I just shocked by what's happening and here mostly sadness and regret in addition to shock.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, bryce.
That concludes in-person public comment for this item.
We will go to zoom for public comment if you would like to speak.
>> clerk: there are no raised hands on zoom.
>> mayor o'connor: okay, that concludes public comment.
We will move to the consent calendar.
>> mayor pro tem farac: I will make a motion to approve the consent calendar.
>> p.
Eklund: I will second the motion.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, laura.
Would you call the vote.
>> clerk: can I clarify that includes the revised attachment for item g8, attachment 2?
>> mayor o'connor: yes.
>> clerk: thank you, eklund?
>> p.
Eklund: aye.
>> clerk: jacobs?
>> k.
Jacobs: aye.
>> clerk: milberg?
>> m.
Milberg: aye.
>> clerk: mayor pro tem farac?
>> mayor pro tem farac: aye.
>> clerk: and mayor o' connor.
>> mayor o'connor: aye.
That passes 5-0.
We are going to take a brief recess in a moment but for the translators in the room, if you wouldn't mind sharing what I'm about to say, I would appreciate it.
I'm sorry, folks if you are leaving the room, if you could leave silently.
That would be great.
Laura is going to bring a microphone so you can share.
The next item on the agenda is to receive a presentation, conduct a study session and consider providing direction to staff to inform the preparation of a local just cause tenant protections ordinance as a follow-up to the direction already
provided by the city council on may 20th, 2025.
>> interpreter: [ translating in spanish ] >> mayor o'connor: thank you.
We have translation services available.
If you would like to take advantage of them, please come and introduce yourself tolt team outside the room.
We will begin a 10-minute recess and begin at 7:00 o' clock.
>> interpreter: [ translating in spanish ] >> mayor o'connor: thank you.
And we are in recess until 7:00 p.m.
>> interpreter: [ translating in spanish ] [ recess until 7:00 p.m.
] >> mayor o'connor: okay, thank you.
We are going to reconvene.
The next item on our aenda is receive a presentation, conduct a study session and consider providing direction to staff to inform the preparation of a local just cause tenant protections ordinance as a follow-up to the direction already provided
by city council on may 20th, 2025.
Before I hand this oer to staff, I just want to remind everybody if you need translation services, they are available on the right hand side of the room.
I actually don't see them.
Oh, hi.
>> [ off mic ] >> mayor o'connor: oh, no problem.
I'll wait for you.
Thank you.
Ready?
There's one anouncement I would like you to share, please.
I'll just wait a moment.
If you don't mind sharing the following, please.
The conversation this evening isn't about adopting an ordinance or making a change.
It's a conversation which is designed to help us shape the ordinance that we are going to adopt in novato.
Thank you.
I'm pausing because the translator in the room is communicating with people in spanish.
As a follow-up to the conversation this evening, what will happen is a draft ordinance will come back to council, which will ultimately have the opportunity for public input as well.
Today isn't about adopting an ordinance or making a change.
It's about helping staff make an informed choice in terms of drafting the next ordinance to be considered.
Thank you very much.
With that I'm going to call on clare hartman the community development director to present the item.
Welcome, clare.
>> thank you.
So this slide covers what we are going to talk about tonight.
And thank you for the introduction this is a study session, not an action item.
First we will go over the background of just cause and tenant protection and how it relates to city policy and state law.
We will talk about key provisions or key elements that would be in a just cause ordinance.
And then we will also go over the public outreach that related to the key provisions and that I larned along my journey in terms of what I heard from the community in community workshops.
An then lastly, we will wrap up with the key policy questions that I would like to ask the council before we go back and draft a draft ordinance for consideration.
So, what brought us here tonight with this topic is our city's housing element.
This is a long-range plan, over eight years.
Specific to housing programs in the city.
It covers production, preservation and protection of housing.
It was adopted in may of 2024.
But we have actually been working on it since 2023, we are in the second year implementing it's programs.
If you want to follow along our progress, you can go to the city's website.
Novato.com/housingelement.
And one of the initiatives in our program was to do an educational and engagement effort that w participated with the county.
So it was a cunty-wide effort called "rooted in marin".
And the culmination of that effort was presented to the council on may 13th.
And we followed up that session with a study session on anti displacement and tenant protections at the cuncil, the very next meeting.
It was at that meeting on may 20th that staff received direction to go ahead and get a start on the exploration into a just cause ordinance, a local ordinance for novato.
So the city's housing element addresses tenant protections in goal #5.
Several goals but goal #5 addresses tenant protections.
Policy 5.4 covers tenant protections, as it says here, citis will stay up-to-date on statewide tenant protections but also educate tenants and educate landlords on their respective rights.
Program 5.I is more specific.
This is your action item.
And the title is called expand just cause eviction protections to all tenants.
But when you look at the text of the housing element it's a little broader than that title.
It's to consider a local just cause ordinance.
It does have areas of exploration in it.
It wants us to explore notice of termination that would be provided to the city.
The item wants us t explore outreach and also to evaluate but to retain grounds for eviction where it matches at-fault and state protections.
So te exercise or the action item is exactly what we are doing.
We are exploring this topic for consideration of a just cause local ordinance.
Doesn't guarantee we will adopt one but we are exercising this action item by even doing what we are doing tonight.
Doing our outreach, doing our understanding of it and deciding if this is something we want to do.
This slide summarizes what we learned in rooted in marin in terms o policy idea that's came out of that.
One of them was just cause evictions.
We looked at case studies for that.
That was already in our housing element, as I just mentioned.
But what we also learned is some other ideas that the city could explore, but what rally piqued the council's interest at the time was relocation assistance and right of return.
So they weren't already in our housing element but because of our experience in the city and because of what we learned in marin that became of interest.
So when I embarked on this, outreach we included those principles.
This slide summarizes state laws at a very high level that relate to just cause ordinances.
You may hear speakers reference this first state law, it's called the ten apt protect act of 2019.
We've also referred to it as ab1482 and we also sometimes call it tpa.
So forgive us with the acronyms and multiple names.
But we are talking about the same law.
So this is state law that sets minimum statewide standards for rent control and for just cause.
So we're looking at state law, how it relates to the just cause and local jurisdictions may adopt their own local just cause ordinances.
But there are parameters that if you do, there's certain findings that the council will have to make.
To be able to do that, and I'll talk about that in a couple of slides.
In addition to the tenant protection act is the ellis act and that one speaks to the right of landlords to leave the rental market and gives procedures and directions for how somebody can pull out of the rental market and take full use of their
property again.
So in summary these are the considerations we put into this effort.
We looked at our own housing element as it was written and adopted.
We expanded that exploration to include relocation assistance and right of rirn.
Return.
And we are always mindful of what is in state law and isn't in state law and what are the parameters upon which we would adopt a local ordinance, in compliance with state law.
We held some public workshops.
There wasn't a lot of time since our last study session on anti-displacement, but we have been very active the last couple of months putting this together.
So tonight I'm going to bring back the results of that.
Other considerations to keep in mind we try to land or benchmark or ceate a foundation upon which we could draft some key provisions of an ordinance and which we would set sail into the public workshops to start set up what this might look like.
We created a foundation that we would set it in context of our local area.
So we looked to the city of petaluma, the city of san rafael and county of marin.
But we also looked statewide and we wre looking at best practices and how we fit in with those best practices.
We also looked to craft the framework of an ordinance that doesn't rely on a lot of staff.
In fact, we set this draft framework up that it would not require fees or a full program or a request for staffing.
That I would set the provisions for protections of all stakeholders, the city, landlords and renters.
But that enforcement would be through the courts, through civil action.
We are here as an educator.
We can set up websites and faq's and help with interpretations but not as an active, staffed enforcement center.
And really we were focusing as the council directed on no-fault evictions.
Specifically, what happens when a building gts so bad that it's red tagged and deemed unsafe as the city recently experienced.
Or when landlords are updating their property and making remodels and it's those circumstances where it's such a substantial remodel you actually can't stay in the building while it's being done.
So this is the framework of an ordinance but we don't have a draft ordinance for you to review.
So I will talk about this framework at a high level.
But these are the components that you might see in one.
Purpose and applicability.
This is where we talk about what is subject to the ordinance and what isn't.
So it's very clear, a lot of discussion about exemptions.
Clarity on at-fault justifications, versus no-fault justifications.
Notices, what's required for notices.
And then we want to cover relocation assistance.
We looked at temporary, we looked at permanent.
And then we understood there might be some alternatives to that.
And then another add or provision would be right of return.
And in conclusion, just whether the remedies when it doesn't work out or there's discrepancies o disagreements, how are those managed, handled and enforced?
Okay, so let's talk about applicability.
So I talked about how the tenant protections act is really the crux of just cause state wise but we have the ability as a jurisdiction, and not all jurisdictions choose to do so, but we have the ability and it's in our housing element to consider
adopting a local ordinance.
If you adopt a local ordinance, it supersedes the tenant protections act.
It becomes the provisions that regulate this relationship between landlord and tenants.
There are special findings you have to make.
It does need to be more protective of tenants.
But the finding is that of the council, so it's how you define being more protective of tenants.
So it's layered work, because you may have entertained elements where it increases applicability and other elements that provides exemptions that are strategically a fit for this city.
And that's the complexity of these ordinances.
In general, in terms of our proposal that we vetted with the community, we were tying to be quite clear on what the additional protections for tenants would be.
And the next slides go into those details with more specificity.
But the idea is to have these rules apply to more tenants and more homes than the state law requires.
To add language requirements and noticing requirements that would be more expansive than what the state law requires.
To allow provisions like relocation assistance and right of return.
Way more than what the state law would require.
So those would be clear expansions.
And then in addition, there's a balancing act.
You are trying to thread the needles of incentivizing people to invest in properties, to offer up their additional units for rentals, so providing provisions in here that support property owners.
So in terms of those areas, we would like to making sure that the ordinance supports their rights to honor rental agreements.
Would this have the provisions that support property owners to exercise their rights to address, particularly at-fault evictions?
And so, what we vetted with the community was keeping all 11 at-fault causes for eviction.
And ill talk about how that went.
Supporting the right to rent their property for temporary tenancies and supporting their right to withdraw from the housing market.
So we took this framework to a community and received quite a lot of feedback.
So I love to see that we have so much participation again tonight.
This is a dense slide and I'm not going to go overall of this.
But the point of this slide, this summarizes all the exemptions that aren't in the protected area of the state law for tenants.
And I'll just highlight a couple that we think are pretty significant exemptions.
So one is tenants that have been in place for less than 12 months.
In fact, that increases if you have additional adult tenants added.
Now it's up to 24 months.
So if you are a tenant less than that, you are not protected by the state law.
Another one is with new housing.
New housing is exempt from the tpa.
One of the exemptions is housing that's been issued a certificate of occupancy in the last 15 years.
And novato has seen its share of rental housing.
Another exemption is deed-restricted affordable housing.
So we looked at areas where, where could we tighten it up to make it more protective to ten ants?
Because that's the exercise, is looking for ways to expand protections and even in applicability.
So what we vetted with the community are these.
One is to reduce it so all tenants, based on, even tenants that are in leases that are less than 12 months would qualify to be protected by a local ordinance.
Include the housing that is newer, within 15 years.
Include affordable housing and include government-owned or operated units.
And include units that are illegal.
So have that not be an exemption from being protected.
And then in balance, again, trying to thread the needle here, look for exemptions for your mom and pop small operators and what we vetted with the community was an exemption for owners with three or fewer units within the city limits.
This would not include commercial operators or property management company.
Even if it's part of an l.l.c., that's not who we are looking to exempt.
We are looking to exempt essentially individuals and your mom and pop operators.
And that is a exemption that is shared with county of marin, and san rafael and petaluma.
Some nuances to the secific language around that, but the three or fewer is common across the three.
Another exemption because the city is really trying to incentivize accessory dreling units and junior accessory dwelling units.
We just spept the last two years removing all the obstacles we could, so in that spirit, we added that to the list.
And some jurisdictions have done this as well for the same reason.
This one is not as consistent across the platform.
So now geting into the causes and noticing.
So no eviction is allowed without just cause and I would stay the course, we wll clarify what at-fault and no-fault means and also more about the noticing.
So currently the state law, there's 11 reasons that a landlord can event a tenant.
And these are all the eleven.
I won't go through all of them.
The number one you hear about is behind in rent.
That's a justifiable reason.
It's a common reason.
There's other ones that have nuances to them.
And some communities nearby, so including the county marin, and city of san rfael have shrunk that down and that's been their effort to give more protections to ten ants.
So by shrinking them down they are no longer basis for eviction.
They shrunk the 11 down to these five and then added a sixth one.
And this is the one where related to, if there is domestic violence on the property associated with either the landlord or the tenant or the tenant to another tenant.
Keeping in mind we are looking to our neighbors and being in context.
Petaluma kept all 11.
And we didn't see direction on our housing element to reduce and we didn't receive that yet from the council, so what we vetted with the community is to keep all 11.
In terms of no-fault, there's several categories here.
One, we talked about withdrawal from the rental market.
What happens, what's the process?
Where are the protections when that happens?
Or when the owner or their family member wants to move back in?
Setting up that scenario.
And then there's others that could be temporary or could lead into permanent but vacations due to government action.
So like a red tag, the building is deemed unsafe, whether the from natural occurrence or neglect.
That spectrum.
But being deemed unsafe where something needs to be done before people can stay in the building.
The last category here is vacation due to demolition.
But probably much more commonly is a temporary vacation of the unit due to a substantial remodel.
Sometimes there's no water and they have to redo the etirety of the plumbing system to make it safe.
And they just temporarily need to move out of the unit or it could be very substantial where it could take several months to retrofit a building due to excessive interior or ex tore -- exterior damage.
This side is about the noticing around no-fault.
So one of the things we would look to add in a local ordinance would be a notice of tenant rights.
This would be required at lease signing, lease renewal, increase in rent, any change in terms o the lease is an opportunity to notify a tenant about their rights.
We also think that would be an expansion of tenant protection.
One thing that would be new and what I heard a lot about through our community workshops is to have these really important documents to be in english and spanish, period.
And then if the lease was in a different language to have this notice of tenant rights in that language.
But at a minimum english and spanish.
This was a very sought after one and we learned a lot about that.
In terms of notice of termination, I wasn't here when we wrote the housing element, but that was very specific in our housing element, action item.
Wanted t add that when there was a notice of termination, a copy would be provided to the city.
And I think it was a way to track evictions for the city.
And so that was added into our framework.
And then, english and spanish, always.
Okay, this slide shows how we would further expand noticing when it is around substantial renovation projects.
And this is because there needs to be a lot of accountability when a landlord comes in and does a renovation.
You might have heard the term renoviction.
We want to be careful that it's a legitimate renovation that's needed if you are going to be evicting or pushing out even temporarily a tenant.
So we took care to expand the noticing for the situation.
So it can't just be a proposed building renovation, it needs to be a real legit one with a building permit that's issued and you're ready to go.
You have a construction schedule.
And you provide that information to the tenant.
And if it's approved as part of a framework of the ordinance.
If there are relocation assistance offered to provide information about that.
And really important if there's opportunity for right of return.
Again, whether it's a day, two weeks, two months or two years, whatever the information is about right of return.
This slide is a comparison what the state allows for relocation assistance currently, and where we would expand it locally.
So where the state law comes in for a current requirement is a landlord can withdraw from the market, or can move in or do a substantial renovation.
What they have to do is provide one month's rent or they can waive the final month's rent.
That's state law.
That's for those situations.
For a government action or a red tag, deeming the building unsafe, immediate displacement.
There's a health and safety code section that talks about dangerous buildings and immediate displacement.
And that provides two month's of hud fair market rent and utility service departments and it actually provides a very specific timeline, within ten days.
So that is state law for no-fault.
Where we would potentially expand, and this is probably the most robust area of expansion to do a local ordinance for, is to really address substantial renovation and relocation assistance.
So what we vetted with the community is that for a substantial renovation, the tenant would have options.
And this is one thing to think about is do you want a menu that is tenant-oriented where the tenant has to decide what options they go in?
Or do you want it to be more prescribed where it's more objective or runs a certain predictable way is one way to do it.
The basic options are do they continue to pay rent or do they suspend rent during the renovation?
Those are things to think about and I will talk about scenarios.
Also there could be opportunities, especially a larger property manager.
They may have other units they need to do a remodel in the kitchen area and you are out for, I don't know, a couple weeks or a month and you can stay at their comparable unit.
Comparable in our framework would be nothing smaller, so if you had a one bedroom you got a one bedroom comparable unit.
It could be bigger, it just can't be smaller.
And there's alternatives out there.
You could buy the tenant out.
You could have some sort of alternative agreement.
And there's stipulations for that.
For a red tag, you would have all those options and in addition you would get that health and safety code two months of fair market rent plus utility service deposit.
I will run through these scenarios, it looks as complicated as it felt but I will do my best to explain it.
I will go through options a-d at a high level.
Mostly I will take your questions later.
So option a is you continue to pay rent and you just need a per diem.
That is probably perfectly normal scenario if it's very short-term and you can stay at a local hotel while they do the renovation so you are getting a per diem and we vetted these amounts.
Things we learned in this last year about how much it costs to stay at a hotel in this area.
People have pets so you might have to board them.
Not all hotels take them, things like that.
Again, for substantial remodel, this culd add up if you were at a hotel for a while.
So, as part of this framework we sggested there be a cap.
Because again we are balancing predictability for the landlord as well.
So we proposed a maximum cap of three times the fair market rent.
Option b is really just a different version of a.
Where you don't pay the rent while the renovation is going on and if you pay less than the fair market rent, you get what we call a rent differential.
You get the difference.
You would eventually even out with both of those scenarios.
If they maxed out they would have the same cap, three months of fair market rent.
For red tag you would get this and you would get the health and safety code.
So potentially if you are red tagged, and you maxed out for your temporary relocation assistance at three months yu would get three months fair market rent and you would get two months fair market rent through the health and safety code.
So that's five months of fair market rent.
So if it's $3,000 for fair market rent, that's $15,000.
And the reason I even do this scenario to that extent is one of the tings we heard about is alameda county, they have a fixed rate.
They just pay you out $15,000.
This scenario would get you there as well, in terms of its maxed out, so.
Okay, these other options, these are more on the landlord side.
So again, this framework has some options for the tenant based on whether they want to continue paying rent or not.
The other options are more, I would say in the favor of the l.a.p.d.
Lord.
-- landlord, so again, trying to provide a menu here.
Again, if a landlord has a comparable unit, and again, similar size or at least same size or bigger, then you could move your tenant over.
They don't pay any extra, they can just move into that other.
And in our framework we would suggest there be some moving costs.
Depending on how extensive that time is.
Option d is buy out options.
With these alternative agreements more legal contracts a lot to decide, it's unique, it's special.
So it would be really important to put in timeframes that give a tenant time to go get advice.
Most tenants don't come equipped with their own lawyer so they may have to check out legal aid of marin to get advice.
It might take time.
So oe provision is to give them the time to make that decision and even to give them a cooling-off period.
So after they sign something and then they get advice that says you should probably rethink that, that's a common provision.
Then we get to permanent no-fault evictions.
Let's say we know it's just a substantial remodel or it's going to take years or they are demolishing the building or it's permanent because they are moving in and withdrawing from the market.
Again, we set it at three month's rent.
So that would be an expansion of state law.
And we like the idea of an objective standard for how you define fair market rent.
And so we would use hud's standard because everybody can look that up.
That's not something we would make up in an office.
You go to the state's website, they do the math for our area and identify and everybody would know that in advance or at the time you needed it.
Okay, now moving onto our last provision here for tenant rights.
That's right of return.
So this slide compares what you currently get with state law and where we could head with a local ordinance.
With this, the state law only provides a right of return if there's failure of certain circumstances for the landlords.
Where we would head is just by right.
Just to offer them the first right of refusal to come back.
So if it got fixed it could come back, whether it's after a day, a week, or maybe even up to sx months or two years.
So we would put that into the policy and that's what we vetted with the community.
And you have to give some notice and opportunity for them to consider that.
Most policies had 30 days to consider that.
And then on the flip side of the framework we would look at prohibitions and enforcement and remedies.
One of the things we heard in the focus groups is where is the sort of accountability of landlords, sort of the registry to know they are legit landlords and they are aware of these provisions?
So there was mention of maintaining a business license if you rent a room.
But I have learned since the workshops is that we do require a business license for people who rent rooms.
And business licenses out of our finance code section, not the housing section.
So business licenses is to track and to collect revenue.
But for landlords, if it's three or fewer, you do need to get the license but there's an exemption you can qualify for so you are not taxed or not paying for that license.
And then, obviously, the provisions would include lots of protections you would expect.
No retaliation for complaining or filing complaints against the landlord.
You have the right to enjoy quiet use of your property.
Things that protect the use.
Okay, for enforcement and remedies, again, we focused on an ordinance that kept it light on the city administration side and really just set the rules and the foundation and give everybody teeth.
So these rules are for all stakeholders whether you are a landlord, this is what we adhere to, so you have all the causes for eviction to have local and state protections on.
If you are a tenant, obviously I just went over quite a few expanded protections for you.
And then if you are the city, you have the right and authority but not the duty to enforce.
So at times we stand up as a city and we get involved.
But we don't have to, we can do that when we think it's the right time to do that.
And we will use the same provisions in ordinance and everybody would have three year statute of limitations.
So I held a series of workshops, the last, I don't know, 30-45 days.
They were all public workshops, anybody could come.
I did some zoom and some in-person.
I did target and promote to certain representative groups because I really wanted to dive deeper into their perspective so we had a workshop promoted to landlords, realtors and property owners.
Tenant advocacy organizations.
We did a special meeting that we wanted to do in person and in spanish, we have a lot of spanish monolingual tenants in our community.
And the recent romar apartment residents were interested in having that meeting, that conversation.
So we held it entirely in spanish.
The translator was for me.
So I could understand everything.
But we workshoped with them.
And not just displace but all the tenants of that neighborhood.
We met with the league of women voters.
We also met with the city's housing and homeless committee to get their feedback.
I tried to integrate the feedback that we received through my presentation.
I know we have had a number of letters that have been submitted since the agenda posted.
I'm happy to go through those in more detail if you have questions or comments about that.
But here is the slide to give us a compass for tonight's study session.
Key plicy questions.
The first question, this is your decision, this is your discretion to have a local ordinance or not.
And if you do, there's some findings we have to make.
And then there's a public process to adopt that.
In terms of provisions, we are really looking for direction on exemptions.
We are looking for whether you want us to include all the at-fault.
Or if you want to pull back like county of marin and san rafael.
And then we are looking for feedback on what we are proposing for temporary relocation assistance.
And permanent relocation assistance.
Because that is definitely a change locally.
And then any comments or direction on right of return, as we have suggested.
So we will hold the study session tonight.
And we will receive your direction, we hope.
And if we receive the direction to go draft an ordinance, w will certainly go do that.
It's a draft.
But we need to get more specific than these high levels.
Everyone will wnt to know the details of every word in this ordinance so we will go ahead and vet that with the community and bring all that back to you for a decision.
And that's it.
That concludes my presentation.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, clare.
Okay.
We will bring it back to council for questions.
So just in terms of format, the way we will be handling this is council will ask questions only at this time.
After cuncil questions we will move onto public comment and we will bring it back to council for further discussion and for direction.
So if you have any questions in relation to the conversation, please use the raise-hand button.
First is councilmember jacobs.
>> k.
Jacobs: thank you.
Thanks for your presentation.
That's quite a bit of work.
Thank you.
So one, first question is, withdrawal from the market, for the owner move-in, does that only include rent and no utilities or would that include rent and utilities?
>> I might be able to jump in.
Are we talking aout the red tag relocation?
>> k.
Jacobs: no, withdrawal from market for the owner to move in.
>> go ahead, clare.
>> on slide 19 we talk about that.
It only says month's rent, at least in terms of my slide.
>> the state law provides for a utility payment for red tag and your local ordinance can provide for additional things.
If you were to adopt an ordinance you could include what you are referring to as a utility payment or some other compassion of what was on the slide.
>> k.
Jacobs: okay, expand the relocation assistance for permanent no-fault evictions.
We are talking about substantial renovation exceeding a certain number of days, talking about options for that.
Option a, pay the rent and receive temporary assistance per day, $250 per tenant household, $50 per occupant for meals.
$50 for a cat, $50 for a dog.
Are we thinking about a limit on number of occupants, number of dogs, number of cats?
Those are per day, correct?
>> slide 21 covers option a.
And that's the option where the tenant pays rent.
>> k.
Jacobs: right.
>> but gets a per diem, intended really, yes.
Per tenant household.
The $250 per tenant household is for whose on the lease.
>> k.
Jacobs: okay.
So we limit it based on number of people on the lease?
>> well, that's how we vetted it with the community.
But again, this is where we would get feedback if you want to get to that level.
>> k.
Jacobs: right and limited to number of dogs, number of cats?
>> yeah, $50 a dog, $30 a cat.
>> k.
Jacobs: per day?
>> yeah, because we are trying to match local lodging and pet boarding.
>> k.
Jacobs: okay.
Okay, suspend the rent, receive -- sorry.
Page 12, going bckwards here a little bit, sorry.
New local exemptions you have temporary tenancies for leases less than 12 months where the owner will reoccupy the unit.
So basically you are saying they could rent out the unit for less than 12 months if the owner's going to reoccupy it, do we have any time of limit how long the owner has to stay in that unit.
Meaning can they rent it out for 11 months, can they move in for two months, turn around and rent it for another 11 months and get that local exemption?
Something to bring up.
>> that's a good question.
You could see how complicated this gets really quickly.
>> k.
Jacobs: that's why I wanted to bring it up.
>> at a high level this exemption would allow somebody, you know, they are going to go over to a different state to work, when they come back they want to be able to use their home.
That's what we were thinking with this, but yeah, it could get complicated.
>> k.
Jacobs: thanks, that's it for now.
Thanks.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
Mayor pro tem farac.
>> mayor pro tem farac: thank you for the presentation.
I wanted to clarify, so the three or more uits, is that for the local ordinance that we would, or is that state?
>> yeah, that would be local only.
That exemption shows up in county of marin, san rafael and petaluma and fits with our business license threshold and multi-family inspection program threshold.
That's why we picked it.
>> mayor pro tem farac: if I live in a house but I have three rental units, or would that count as four?
>> I think the intention is, yeah, your fourth is not included because you aren't renting it.
I believe that's the case.
>> can yu ask that question one more time just so I make sure.
>> mayor pro tem farac: yeah, so the three or more units, how is that calculated?
So if I live in a house, and then my fellow councilmembers are my rnters, is that a total of four?
Or would that be considered three?
>> if they are separate dwelling units, jst the fact you are all living I one unit wouldn't be enough.
You have to think about a duplex or possibly having an a.d.u.
Or one of the other "dwelling units" allowed under state law in order to reach the three.
There's two ways of thinking about this.
There's what state law exempts from this process, that's a separate question.
But what you put in your ordinance could be as you choose for what the exception is.
So some local jurisdictions would say has to be three units on the same parcel.
Some would say three units anywhere in the jurisdiction.
If you owned three single family homes you would be triggered by the ordinance for all those rentals.
It really depends how you want to frame that issue.
>> mayor pro tem farac: and what's your recommendation today?
>> what we vetted with the community was, if you are renting three rental units in the city, in the city limits.
Distinct units, not three people.
But three distinct units in the city.
>> mayor pro tem farac: so, someone owns two duplexes that would be considered four units?
>> correct.
Yes.
>> mayor pro tem farac: and then as far as the renovations, for showing the building permits and stuff like that, is the city going to be tracking that and approving that process, or overseeing it?
>> the city would do its job in processing building permits.
But it is per ordinance, the landlord's job to provide this notification to their tenants.
>> mayor pro tem farac: and then, do you think it would be beneficial t put in like a notice, like you need to let them know 30 days before you are going to give them the building permits?
Or that sort of timeframe?
I don't know, I know you mentioned timeframe in here, just to be more proactive with the communication?
>> there should be, I don't have a proposal here, we didn't get to that level of detail but the noticing should have a time line.
>> mayor pro tem farac: okay.
And you keep mentioning like mom and pop operators.
Would you define that as three or two units and less?
>> that would be our definition to decide.
I think what I meant by mom and pop, it's not a commercial property manager or company.
>> mayor pro tem farac: okay.
And then as far as just like enforcement and things like that, is that the renter's responsibility to flag that and then find resources?
And what are we doing to kind of support both renters and landlords in this new process?
>> yeah, that's a great question.
This ordinance would rely on the resources available to them outside of the city.
And the tenants do have access to legal aid of marin or other resources like that.
Landlords, the ones that wouldn't be except, the larger companies often have resources to represent themselves.
That's another reason why we have exempted mom and pop.
But if you included mom and pop, I'm not sure where they go for discounted legal advice.
>> councilmember?
If I could add a little bit more on that process too.
Under current state law for the tenant protection act there's a long statute, we summarized it here but it includes just cause.
That's the only reason a tenant can be evicted and it has to fall under one of those specific statutory basis.
So for example, under your current situation in novato, if a landlord were to try to evict and it wasn't based on this it would be a defense in court for an unlawful detainer action.
If you were to adopt an ordinance it would be the same thing, so you would have these local just cause as you define them, the same process would apply.
Landlords would need to follow them.
>> mayor pro tem farac: that would include if I want to move into the unit or redo it?
>> yes, the ellis act would continue to apply, the community development director referenced.
But there are other additional protections you could put into your ordinance, yes.
>> mayor pro tem farac: and do you think that would deter landlords not to renovate their properties at all?
Like if the kitchen is in really bad shape but then they have to pay for their renter to go stay there, I might be like, oh, well, I don't have that week's pay, so you are going to just deal with it.
I just want high living standards.
>> I think it's certainly true the ordinance will create some incentives and some disincentives, yes.
>> mayor pro tem farac: ultimately I want to hold that landlord accountable and protect the people.
But then I also don't want people that own a property to, you know, in trying to offer a good space, them to be at a huge disadvantage either.
So I'm trying to think about it from both sides.
>> I think as city attorney mentioned there's going to be disadvantages, or incentives and disincentives.
One thing I can think of, because that's a real concern, disincentivize remodels along the way.
But the worst case scenario is the government takes action and has red tagged your building.
Now you are talking potentially five month's rent and under distressing circumstances for all involved.
So the idea is conduct your inspections, have a program, noticing and encourage however we can for them to do the improvements along the way so it doesn't get so bad that a tenant absolutely has to leave a unit to make a repair.
>> mayor pro tem farac: what if a tenant like floods the property or is negligent?
Or maybe they just accidentally flood it.
And would the landlord be liable to pay because they have to temporarily, I guess, evict them to redo the house?
>> yeah, that's a great question.
I have seen a lot of local ordinances include a provision if it's the fault of the tenant they don't have to pay relocation.
>> mayor pro tem farac: okay, thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Councilmember eklund, do you have any questions?
>> p.
Eklund: yeah, my hand has been up for a while.
So I have questions almost on every page.
I'm concerned about the process that we are using tonight.
Because there's a lot more issues than what is identified on the slides.
And the staff has only really looked, according to page 5, really focusing on three of the issues that are listed in there as possible areas where we might want to have some discussion about.
I could go through and ask my questions on every single page, plus others.
But I really think that there are some larger issues I think that we really need to talk about.
And I think first and foremost there's some other information that we should have before we actually ask any more question, in my opinion.
And I think we need to hear from the community action marin, as well as other speakers as well.
Because a lot of their issues and suggestions there are not even in the staff report.
So plus also too, abag has developed a, and was published in april of 2025, a guidance to cities on preventing displacement from sub standard conditions and associated code enforcement activitis.
Which is also something staff should also consider too.
So mayor, I'm not sure how you want to do it, I can start going through my questions on each of the slides.
But I really think that, you know, since it's 8:00 and we haven't even heard from the public, I'm really concerned about the way this is being handled.
>> mayor o'connor: sure I can speak to that.
My thought is what we are doing right now is just a starting point for high-level questions.
Tonight is just the first of what I expect to be several.
If there are any pressing questions right now, if you have a significant amount I would encourage you to do separate because you will get -- >> p.
Eklund: I'm not going to do it separately.
>> mayor o'connor: okay, if there's anything you would like to ask tonight, ask right now.
Then we will g to public comment, provide direction as a council but tts going to come back to us for further conversation and review.
>> p.
Eklund: I think we need a working environment, like on a saturday where some of the people that don't hve to work, that do have to work during the week can actually participate in that kind of an event.
Especially folks that are subject to the issues that we are discussing here.
And as a preliminary point I wanted to comment, when I was drawn into care for my mom, I had to hire caregivers.
And one of the things that I quickly learned in marin county is that a lot of folks that do not make a lot of money are living in apartments, for an example, two-bedroom apartments there's at least six adults if not additional kids because they
can't afford the rent.
So I think there's a lot of issues I think we need to add to this list that's not here.
For example, on page 5, I think we need to have -- >> mayor o'connor: councilmember, I apologize.
We will get to direction after public comment.
>> p.
Eklund: I know that.
My question to staff, why isn't rent stabilization, rental assistance, tenant's right to counsel landlord and taent dispute resolution and remediation, to me, romar court just opened up my eyes in novato and I don't want to see something like
that happening again.
A rental registry.
There's a lot of situations, why can't we discuss some of those issues as well?
And I don't know why, well, I believe that one of the reasons that staff didn't highlight that as something they were proposing to include in this was because of the amount of resources it might take to implement such an ordinance.
Given what we are talking about it's important for us to have this discussion.
Can staff just answer why aren't we dealing with some of these other issues like rental assistance, rent stabilization, or like with romar court, expanding, I mean, I could go down the list here.
Expanding the time when landlords need to pay for their tenants for other venues while their apartment is being renovated.
There's a list of issues that I think are really important for us to have that discussion.
Why isn't that on the list for us to discuss?
On the staff report?
>> thank you for the question.
Yeah, there's a number of other topics that we aren't discussing tonight, I agree.
But the focus of tonight is as council directed on may 20th, and again the core of what we are doing tonight is addressing one of our housing element action items, which was specific to just cause.
But the add from may 20th was to, while we are looking at just cause to add relocation and right of return.
We have other housing element programs.
They are going to take us much longer to get to them.
And some o them aren't on this list, the city's housing element doesn't include rent registry, a look at rent control or stabilization.
Those would have to be implemented by the council and set direction for.
But that's not in our current work plan or housing element.
>> p.
Eklund: right but since we are discussing this, I think it's important for us to include all this and providing direction to staff so that you will know that's something we want to do and where it fits in is your responsibility.
Because if we don't identify them as part of this, it could get lost very easily.
>> I want to provide a brief comment to you.
Some recent code enforcement matters are currently going through the process and b appealed and some might reach the council here.
Out of respect for that process I would recommend you focus on this ordinance and not any specific case.
>> p.
Eklund: gotcha.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Councilmember milberg?
>> m.
Milberg: thank you, mayor.
Thank you so much, clare.
This is really a lot of work.
And moving in the direction I like to see.
I just have a couple quick questions, the option d on page 22, the buy-out options.
Can you explain to me better, what that entails and has that ever actually been done?
>> I will be honest, I don't know much about that.
I don't think I's the most regular option that's executed.
But I understand that it's a form of alternative resolution.
Perhaps for example, it's mutually negotiated that instead of doing the temporary that might lead up to the cap at permanent, just for predictability, mutually agreed parting of ways, if you will.
And that would be why you would use that.
But it would only be because it's mutually agreeable.
>> m.
Milberg: okay.
My other question really is around, I guess I'm still a bit curious, the emails and feedback we got from certain of our partners was talking about stopping or suggesting that we don't go beyond state, we don't deviate, to my knowledge, we don't
deviate from state.
When we are deciding to do the three or under, sorry, three or more, right?
>> uh-huh.
>> m.
Mlberg: I guess I'm still curious.
If the state is saying, you know, you don't have to do that, it's for single residents and a.d.u.'s, do you think that your comment about the mom and pops being a smaller subset of that, we can still take advantage of what I believe are community
partners are asking for us in expanding this protection?
I guess I'm still confused, it just seems we are a little off from what they are recommending but I'm not 100% clear I'm understanding that bt maybe we will hear about it in public comment.
>> that is true, you will hear about it tonight from them.
But in summary, we do need to make a finding that the local ordinance is more protective.
So I was trying to show that it's semi complex to do that.
Because you are doing it comprehensively.
Clearly we have added right of return, relocation assistance.
Those are clear.
But in terms of applicability that's where it gets more nuanced.
So some will go u and some will go down.
And it's semi-qualitative because I don't have the statistics.
It's not an exact science.
But cumulatively and qualitatively you are looking to expand t more tenants and more units.
And staff feels like this framework would.
But we can have points of disagreement.
>> I would just add to that too, councilmember, there are currently a lot of exemptions in state law.
One of them for example is any house that's beenish shooed a certificate of occupancy in the last 15 years.
So all new construction the last 15 years is exempt fom the state laws currently, not being proposed or discussed propoised by staff.
So when you are thinking about finding you would eventually need to make about something more protective.
If you are expanding protections to all homes including the ones in the last 15 years would you still need to make a finding that is more protective.
Ultimately though would he would have to track those finding and look at the data.
>> m.
Milberg: that's what I understand, in order to be more protective than state law.
Because I was also think if I read what their concerns were, my question was only seeking the ab1482 exemptions.
That's what I kind of read from their work.
So I guess, I'm fine with were we are at right now.
I know there's going to be a lot more discussion.
And I really do appreciate the complexity and all your work on this.
Thank you so much.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you councilmember.
Most of my questions were asked already, I just have one that didn't come up.
Deed restricted affordable units I believe either excepted or proposed to be exempted.
Is there any reason or logic behind offering the exemption.
In my opinion it looks like they should have equal protection under the law.
I'm just wndering if they are exempted for some reason I'm not aware of.
>> well state law currently exempts affordable housing deed-restricted units so the proposal locally would be to remove exemptions.
>> mayor o'connor: that concludes councilmember questions.
We will take a five-minute recess and then when we restart we will take public comment.
If you do wish t speak, please fill ot a yellow card and hand it to city clerk, laura on my left.
So we are going to take a brief recess and we will reconvene at 8:18.
Thank you.
[ recess until 8:18 p.m.
] >> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Please be seated.
Okay.
Thank you, we are going to move onto public comment on this item.
If you would like to speak please fill out a yellow card and hnd it to our city clerk, laura.
All speakers have three minutes.
Our first speaker this evening is aracelli florian.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> mayor o'connor: welcome, aracelli.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> good afternoon, my name is aracelli floria.
I'm here to talk about my apartment.
I ask my landlord to fix the roof, or the ceiling of my bathroom that is falling off.
I have little kids.
In the day I ask him and he said that he will come to fix the roof, or the ceiling, I'm sorry.
He didn't come.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: I have a three-year-old girl, two month old baby and my three-year-old girl was in the bathroom when the ceiling started falling off.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: my husband went to complain about the repair that they did prior.
And the owner notified my husband that the person that he hired he had a license for 25 years and they were professionals.
But how could that be if the ceiling was falling off?
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: also, at the entrance of our apartment, part of the wall had a big hole and they didn't fix it.
Also we are infestated of cucaraches.
That's all.
>> thank you very much.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
Our next speaker is charlotte ganela.
Welcome, charlotte.
>> hello, thank you, and hola, mi amo charlotte ganela.
I'm the director of case management and housing at north marin community services.
I thank the opportunity to speak today on behalf of romar and my staff and the community at large.
I'm here tonight to ask that you strengthen not weaken novato's proposed just cause ordinance.
My team and I were on the front lines of the ramar court displacement dry sis.
We thank clare for rallying the troops and engaging the community-based organizations.
All around novato and marin.
These tenants were given just five days notice to relocate, they left pets.
Their stuffed animals, their whole life.
While we are celebrated for housing 42 of the 44 tenants cost that my department and other residents is continuing to be felt.
We expanded our entire rental assistance budget for the year, we burned out our staff and for those 42, another 100 became homeless and we are told that's our job to step up.
And it is our job to help but to shift to one sub population when we are already full is something we cannot take on again as an organization.
We ask you to please protect us better policies and protections so we do not need to come in.
And protect these people from losing their schools, their house, and a place to sleep.
Where ramar court is not an anomaly, I heard today that this isn't going to happen again.
There's four other units on that property that will go down.
We see this every day in our offices, these tenants see this every day, this is not an anomaly.
I implore you to please consider the goodance and humanity of our community thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
Our next speaker is kira shaner.
Welcome, kira.
>> thank you.
I was hoping to speak after a few more tenants had a chance to speak because their stories are shocking if you vanlt heard them before.
-- haven't heard them before.
But iwill take the opportunity instead to say my piece and you can let their stories fill in.
My name is kira.
I work here in novato.
Several of my friends and co-workers work, obviously they work in novato but they rent here.
Many more of them do not rent in novato, instead they commute from petaluma.
Santa rosa, richmond and even hercules due to the high cost and rents of living in marin.
I myself have the supreme luxury of living at my parents' house and that's how I've been able to stay in this county and even save some of my own earnings and build my wealth here.
I recently had the opportunity to listen to the stories of all the latino tenants and families who have been deeply affected by the negligent landlord practices at the romar court apartments.
And many more tenants around marin.
Experiences that tey relayed tell the story a system failure.
I saw photos as well and understand that these families and individuals have been dealing with conditions truly hazardous to their health.
Such as mold, rats, cockroaches, plumbing issues, apparently the roof walls falling apart.
Fire safety issues and serious structural issues for years all while majority of their wages in their rent and as pointed out many are sharing apartments so not everybody will be represented on the lease that needs help.
I'm grateful to the city for opening up this study session for this just cause ordinance.
At the same time I urge all decision makers to make sure that we construct and enact an ordinance that offers real protection and reflects real life situation that's so many vulnerable renters find themselves in.
Please ensure this ordinance includes protections for all renters, including sub-tenants in some way.
All tenants should be empower today report health and safety hazards and landlord negligence and endangerment.
This could only be truly achieved by including displaced tenant right of return in tis ordinance, that will deter landlords from using building neglect and misuse of red tag situations, renovations for their financial gain.
All tenants including sub letters need significantly higher relocation payments and it's very hard to relocate entire families on short notice in marin as happens with red tag, where tenants have just five days to leave.
These payments should be available until a suitable new living space is found.
Must also reelect additional costs of moving, which include lost wages, lengthened xha
costs of moving, which include lost wages, lengthened xha*up commute times, new tolls and travel fares, long term storage rent.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, kira.
Our next speaker is jason saris.
>> thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: welcome, jason.
>> hi, y'all.
Good evening, mayor and councilmembers.
I'm here as a housing and homeless advocate, someone who experienced homeless for 12 years and deeply concerned about the proposed ordinance.
This proposal to remove just cause protections for tenants in smaller buildings would strip hundreds of renters of basic protections against ash tari eviction.
That's unacceptable.
Your 2023 housing element promised to consider expanding just cause protections, not narrowing them.
Walking back on that commitment betrays families who depend on stable housing to live and work in this community.
Every renter deserves protection, stability and dignity in their homes.
The experience of tenants at romar court shows why this ordinance fails.
They were red tagged and given only five days to leave.
Short-term relocation support lasted six weeks and they were forced into couches over crowded units or out of the county all together.
Some still lack stable housing today.
What does that tell you?
Tells you that short-term capped relocation payments are not enough.
It tells you five days notice and one or two months of support won't cut it in today's rental market.
If we want a just system tenants must be allowed to kep their tenancy and return to their homes at the same rent once repairs are made.
That's the only way to prevent red tagging from becoming a back door to permanent displacement.
Furthermore high rlocation payments and right to return also act as a deterrent.
They discourage landlords from neglecting their properties or using remodels as a loophole to raise rents and displace.
Low income tenants at romar the landlord ignored repair requests for years while increasing rents.
That can't become the status quo for the city of novato.
As someone who was homeless for 12 years I know wat it's like to fall through the cracks.
Weakening tenant protections will only feed the growing number of people on the streets, remember you have band camping, it's illegal to camp.
That's the kind of thing I want to see as a formerly homeless person.
I hope it's the last thing you want to see too.
Don't gut protections, honor your own housing element commitments to potect vulnerable renters, make relocation assistance real, extend the time and increase the support.
Add a strong enforceable right to return for red tags.
And major renovations.
Hold landlords accountable when they neglect their properties.
Please do the right thing.
People's lives, homes and futures are on the line.
Thank you for your time.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, jason.
Our next speaker is aaron hawken.
Welcome, erin.
>> thank you, I'm the vice president of xhupity action marin.
Our aency is the largest nonprofit provider of human services in marin county and we see firsthand the real life effects that marin's housing crisis has on families across our community.
Community action marin stands in support for justice for the ten apt.
We apreciate council's attention to the case and efforts city staff have taken in partnership with many community agencies as residents.
To address the hardships created for tenants due to landlord negligence.
The bottom line is that protection, tenant protections are about basic fairness.
All novato tenants deserve safe, habitable and fair housing.
Housing stability is foundational for children's healthy development and educational success.
It supports family well-being and economic growth and it's essential for a vibrant community and we all benefit from it.
As you move forward with this ordinance we urge your action on the following.
One, strengthen local protections beyond state law.
State law did not protect the residents of romar court and novato residents are face further displacement risks.
There are five oher buildings on the romar property with same landlord facing significant habitability issues.
Without changes to protect tenants it's just a matter of time before novato experiences another displacement.
Two, ensure meaningful and realistic relocation protections.
Given marin's extreme tight rental market and high cost of housing, finding a new rental unit is difficult under the best of circumstances.
Tenants who are displaced deserve adequate time and compensation to find new housing, extending the timeframes and relocation reimbursement maybesing it's more realistic for displaced familis to find new homes and resettle their lives.
Three, protect tenants in red tag displacement in situations where tenants are displaced due to red tag, they sould be given the right to return and pay the same rent they paid before the displacement.
And finally ensure protections for all tenants regardless of what type of unit, all tenants deserve the basic fairness that basic protections provide.
Extending exemptions beyond state law will remove existing just cause potections for thousands of novato tenants.
Novato has an opportunity to take the lessons learned from the romar court and from the leadership of these tenants here that they have shown.
We can prevent this from happening to others in our community >> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Next speaker is lucy hollingsworth.
Welcome, lucy.
>> good evening.
I'm lucy hollingsworth, director of policy for legal aid of marin.
We appreciate the city's, is this?
Echoing?
Should I turn it off?
>> mayor o'connor: you can turn it off.
>> sorry.
We appreciate the city's initial response to romar court, your willingness to consider long term tenant protections but some policies before you today would not strengthen protections, it would weaken them by rolling back rights under california
law, violate commitments made in novato's housing element and leave tenants in substandard housing with no real protections from permanent displacement.
There's a lot of information missing in the presentation.
One of the most troubling provisions is the expanded exemptions.
This would strip protections from hundreds of novato renters.
Many of them low-income.
We cannot resolve displacement by rolling back rights.
The city's housing eement committed t expand just cause protections and maintains at the very least ab1482 exemptions.
Passing an ordinance with increased exemptions undermines that commitment.
Enforcement is another problem.
With no database of rental ownership, tenants and a.d.u.'s and duplexes and triplexes cannot know whether their home is protected until they are already in eviction court but by then it's too late to put on a meaningful defense.
Finally relocation assistance must reflect the reality of our housing market.
Families cannot secure safe housing on one or two months on a capped pay out.
Tenants displaced by red tags or sub san shall remodels must have the right to return once repairs are complete so temporary dsplacement doesn't become a permanent eviction.
I want to quickly respond to the suggestion that petaluma and marin county represent best practices.
First off marin county ordinance was passed in 2018, the tenant protection act hadn't even been written yet.
As a attorney that defends evictions,the fact they have a three unit or less exemption has been highly problematic for tenants.
Petaluma I was also involved in the passage of their ordinance.
And I have to sy that the three units or less was inserted at the last minute and tenants and tenant advocate felt betrayed because there was no time to discuss that.
They had no opportunity to provide their concerns with expanding exemptions.
If the direction to staff is cap relocation at two to three months, and/or ending the right to return, ex papeding the number of exempted units, then it would probably be better at this point to do nothing at all.
The tenants in novato would be losing way too much.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Our next speaker is regina viannucci-russ.
Good evening, regina.
>> good evening, yeah, lucy is a little hard act to follow.
I'm going to just keep it light and say I have two concerns, the exemption for under three, I don't know how a tenant knows that if there's no rental registry and I'm heartened to hear maybe council will bring that up as a pry oater.
Priority.
I think a rental registry is important, that will allow tenants to have access to that information.
And I want to point out that the cap on temporary assistance, being limited to the permanent amount, you reach that in under a month.
If you do the math, a two bedroom, the example was $3,200 a month for hud two-bedroom, three months is $9,600.
And if you divide that by $400 which is $250 plus three tenants in that unit.
It's 24 days.
I don't want temporary vacation for renovations to become a permanent eviction.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, regina.
Our next speaker is bambi kleis.
>> mayor, good evening, council.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.
I apologize.
I wanted to make sure you all are listening tonight, I do appreciate the opportunity to be heard.
Romar court are 63 years old, those apartments there.
Shouldn't we have an every 25-year checkup in place or something?
As a homeless union representative I am compelled to say to the council it is your duty to take rasonable measures to ensure the basic safety of your residents by making and enforcing and keeping stringent policies and fines to the homeowners
and builders, et cetera.
The city has ordinance against homelessness, yet by not taking serious action on this you are adding to the number of outdoor community members.
Lastly, at night when you cannot sleep, count your blessings instead of sheep.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, bambi.
>> and we should have a translator for everybody up here tonight.
Just sayin'.
>> mayor o'connor: our next speaker is ethan stroll.
Welcome, ethan.
>> good evening, my name is ethan stroll, I work as a housing policy advocate at legal aid of marin.
I'm here to support a strong just cause law in novato.
What comprises a strong just cause ordinance,number one everyone currently covered by just cause ordinance continues to be covered.
Or nobody should lose protections due to your actions with this ordinance.
If you exempted owners who own three units or less, this would happen.
If you make an exemption based on ownership, I love trying to figure out who owns what but this would be incredibly difficult to determine who is covered and who is not covered.
It wuld look like our office at legal aid of marin having to serve extra discovery requests, trying to understand what this owner looks like.
Which we do not have the capacity to do.
Number two, when you are evicted for no fault of your open you have the ability to stay I novato, that's the goal.
This means higher relocation payments that cover the real cost of displacement.
Finding new housing is incredibly difficult in novato.
And all the tenants wearing white shirts know this so well.
Daily relocation payments should last for a long time, much longer than romar court tenants had in their hotel.
They should last until the owner makes repairs and the tenant can return.
This is predictability, this is the incentive for landlords to make the repairs rather than appeal a decision to red tag.
Number three, a right to return.
Let's say an owner of romar court follows through on their building permits and they renovate the other buildings, this is called, under current law this would be called a reno-viction.
This has happened across marin.
To prevent this tenants deserve a right to return under the same tenancy with the same or similar rent hving received relocation assistance up until their return.
I know want to incentivize investment in novato's housing stock and for repairs to happen but renovation is not the right incentive.
You have heard fom many tenants who have been demanding repairs for years.
Well, you will have heard, I was also assuming I would go after.
These tenants deeply understand their owner will only make repairs if they are forced to make repairs.
And you all understand this from dealing with the owner at romar court.
Please make the incentive making code enforcement super easy ad accessible for these tenants and strongly enforcing these building codes, not renoviction.
I want to say w as a public community are beginning to truly grasp what novato renters truly face.
Just afew years ago in the city's housing element it was written that "generally property owners are motivated to keep housing in good condition."
but we have learned quite clearly this is not the case for many tenants.
So I look forward to working with you to ensure novato tenants live in safe, dignified housing.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, ethan.
Our next speaker is norma laura.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: good evening, my name is norma, I'm here to talk to you and ask you to pass this act, the new ordinance.
I live in novato.
I am a resident of novato, I'm here to support all these people that are here and to let you know we pay rent.
We pay rent on time.
We want to live in a safe environment in a nice place where if we need renovations, if we need anything that the landlords, they will repair our homes.
I'm here just to support everybody who lives in novato or in my county.
I come to represent the voices, the father voices and I'm here to support everybody.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
Our next speaker is lillian lazaro?
>> interpreter: lillian?
>> mayor o'connor: okay.
Our next speaker is amarantha silva.
>> the name again?
>> mayor o'connor: she is right behind you.
Welcome.
>> can you hear me.
My name is amarantha silver, I'm going to read it.
I will get emotional.
I'm the community organizer for -- voices marin.
We believe the people closest to the problem are also the ones closest to the solution.
That's why we joined legal aid marin community services and community action marin to support the families displaced from romar court.
We didn't do this work just because we believe housing is a human right, we did it because it reflects our values, that's why we helped them to get organized and help them to be here and move this far.
I live in the city.
I'm a resident of novato.
I cannot sleep knowing my neighbors were forced out of their homes.
Living in fear and unsafe conditions.
While helping the families from romar and those still living there I was honestly surprised that the city had not taken stronger actions.
Knowing how bad the conditions were there.
Romar is just one example of what happens when landlords don't take care of their properties and when tenants are too scared to complain because they don't want to lose their homes.
We are glad that the city is looking at tenant protections but we have to be honest.
The just cause ordinance as written right now will not protect the romar court tenants or others under the same situations.
That's why we are asking for stronger ordinance with three key changes.
Clear right to return, so if tenants are forced to leave for repairs or red tags they can come back at the same rent.
Real accountability for the landlords, tey must be consequence when landlords are allowed unsafe and unlivable conditions of housing.
Higher relocation payments for affected families.
They need the real support to move and find new housing, not just the minimum.
This is a critical moment.
Between romar court, the west marin affected families, the fires in san rafael, it's clear, we need to do more to protect our community from displacement and unsafe homes and yu can be the first ones to take the step forward.
Not just for novato but for the county and be an example.
So I ask again, will you protect the tenants or protect the landlords?
The choice is yours.
We thank the councilmembers who took already the time t meet with me and the tenants and other organizations.
Now we will ask you just to keep working with them and pass an ordinance that truly depends novato families.
We need to work together.
Please reject the current version.
We need to do more work on this.
We need to protect the families in novato.
And all the tenants.
And help us to build real protections.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, amarantha.
Our next speaker is darlene ruiz.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: good evening to the council and all of you here with us.
My name is darlene ruiz.
You live in san rafael at the el canal.
I'm here to support all the tenants in roman court.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: novato requires a new act of living in just cause.
And to be aligned to the state law and to cover and to protect everybody.
The tenants from romar court could have fair housing, thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
Our next speaker is antonio gramello.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: good evening,er one.
Thank you for being with us and supporting us with this problem.
Around 21 years ago I immigrated to the u.s.
And I felt god gave me this city to live in.
I have already gone through one recession.
The pandemic.
And some people say that it's expensive to live here in marin.
But I want to say that it is a privilege to live here in marin.
I don't know how this has been happening after living in three different addresses in 21 years.
Green oak, hamilton field is the same.
Ignacio fields park.
And roman court.
And I continue living there to this day.
But I have seen what has happened to my friends that have been living building #12.
Gracias.
I don't know what happened.
With the authorities that supposedly should protect these kinds of situations.
Because te problem of roman court is not of six months ago.
This began five years ago.
And I can't find the problem of the tenants.
Maybe the problem was not to raise their voice beforehand, maybe.
I believe there are authorities that see the problems before they become our problems.
Not to go that far I was seeing the ordinances.
I have a red tag for one year now, before all of them.
And they still have not made any repairs.
So I would like t ask you all if it's possible to check all of the properties that are being rented out in the whole city of novato with people that are specialized to do these inspections.
Because when the city comes to check the problems outside of the complex buildings but they don't go inside to check.
If they can do an inspection outside every year, and another inside the units, I think that we can resolve these problems.
Because as I said, it's a privilege to live here.
And to have a privilege to live here, I think we need to be enough sufficiently strong and capable.
To continue the way we have been lving, not as what happened in roman court.
The problem cntinues being there, but I don't know who I need to speak to, or who I need to go to to resolve these problems.
As I said before, this is the city.
That god gided me to live here in the u.s.
And I'm happy with everything.
The only thing I feel is sadness because of the people that were evicted without a just cause.
Thank you for your time for listening and I appreciate you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, antonio.
Our next speaker is vilma monzo.
Welcome, vilma.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: good afternoon, my name is vima monson, I'm a single mother that lives with my daughter joslyn, she is 10 years old.
I'm a member of the group of the affected tenants in romar park and I want to appreciate and thank you for this space to share our experiences.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: today I am here to ask you to help us find a worthy home that is stable and accessible for me and my daughter.
We do not deserve to stay outside of these solutions.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: we were living in apartments in romar court for nine years.
There my daughter was raised and we formed a home there.
I always paid my rent on time and it almost reached $3,000 every month.
And I always took care of the apartment as if it were my own.
In fact, many times I repaired or fixed my home, or my rented home with my own money because the building had many problems.
Problems with the filtration of the water, mold, the lack of maintenance and even so, I did what was possible to live in a worthy home that was safe for us both.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: unfortunately, after receiving the red tag, our lives changed completely.
From one day to the other, we had to eict our own safe space.
And even though I was on top of keeping everything safe that was important, I want to remind you that was a decision that you all made and it was not because I was not paying on time o because I was not taking care of the unit.
And I had a home there.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> iterpreter: since then, we have confronted many difficulties.
As a single mother now I do not qualify for a new apartment now that the requirements of income, I cannot meet.
They asked that I demonstrate enough income that is way higher than what one person can make to prove, even though I was paying the rent for so many years on time.
That's why I feel sad, frustrated, decepted.
With this process we had a home and you took it because of a decision to take us out because of security or safety reasons but now we don't have our own space.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: while we were staying at the hotel, it was a momentary help for us.
But it was not sufficient.
After that I had to g rent a room that is not an ideal space to raise my daughter.
We have no privacy.
We have to send a lot of our time outside of that house because we don't want to be a burden to the person that is renting a room for us.
And now I have to rent a storage unit to keep all of my belongings which has generated emotional chaos and economic burden in our lives.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: while some our old neighbors have been able to relocate, we have not had that same luck.
That's why I'm here to ask for your support.
My daughter and I need a new home.
We need this process to really meet with our needs of all the affected families, especially single mothers like I am.
We need to improve the protections for the tenants I cases of red tags.
And we also need to be guaranteed a worthy home that can support us financially to cover the expenses generated and to have flexible requirements so that we can move into a stable home.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: so what will be the steps that you all will take to demonstrate to us that we can restore a new home for us?
What will work with me to find a new solution?
To meet our necessities, our needs?
Which will be the processes that will be implemented so that in our future, this situation will not be repeated for other families?
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: so I don't want privileges, I only want justice.
I want to return to romar court or to a worthy home in better conditions where my daughter and I can feel secure again.
And to heal and to continue building our happy life.
We are not asking for a donation.
We are demanding dignity.
Because no one should lose their home for doing the right thing.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: thank you so much for taking the time for listening to me and we are waiting for answers.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, vilna.
Our next speaker is jesus portillo.
Welcome, jesus.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: my name is jesus portillo-rivera.
I used t live in romar court for 15 years.
On a wednesday night, early wednesday they arrived and they left the red tag.
They gave us five days to vacate.
I'm talking wednesday, thursday and friday, working days.
Saturday to sunday we don't work so we have to leave by sunday midnight.
Not only me, but my neighbors.
You know, all of us we have to leave only with a couple of suitcases and we have to leave all of our belongings behind.
So then we went to a hotel for three weeks.
Only with one suitcase.
Our belongings were on the street.
The only thing we want you to do is to help us.
That's all, thank you very much.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Our next speaker is joslyn ordonez.
Hi joslyn.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: hi, my name is joslyn, I'm ten years old.
I'm ten years old and I have my mom and my mom is a single mom.
My father left us when I was five years old.
I'm very grateful that you are supporting us and that you are listening to us.
When I saw the red tag, I thought my mom was kidding me and I didn't really believe that we have to leave our home.
We left with a couple of suitcases and a few boxes.
The rest we have to store that in the garage.
That's all we had.
I couldn't take with me everything that I wanted to.
I couldn't take my toys, my books, everything that I had.
I planted a little tree, so I had that little tree for so many years.
I had to say goodbye to my tree.
I believe that tree is going to grow big and strong.
And all those years that the tree will live with remember me.
I want to thank each of you to be here in hearing us.
I know that sometimes things happen to us but it's hard to just leave our home.
To have to leave my how's it was so sad.
We just don't have so much money to pay our rent.
But also, you know, my mom lost her job.
And a nice lady gave my mom a job.
She des house cleaning.
So she makes enough money to pay one room.
We are only in one room, small room.
We can only use the kitchen, the bathroom and we go back to our bedroom.
It's small.
And so I can't play, I can't do whatever I want.
I don't have all my toys.
So I just spend time with my mom.
And have a good evening.
Thank you very much.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Our next speaker is veronica hernandez.
>> interpreter: duarte?
Hernandez.
>> [ speaking spanish ] I'm just going to read it in spanish because she couldn't be here.
I'm just going to start by saying she couldn't be here because as some of you know, she just got diagnosed wth cancer, stage ii, so she asked me to read it.
I will try to do my best.
[ reading comment in spanish ] >> interpreter: good evening, my name is veronica hernandez, I am a member of the group of the affected tenants in romar court.
I live there for seven years in the apartments of romar court in novato, with my family, two children and my sister-in-law.
I am here to tell my story but I am also here to raise my voice for all of the families just like mine that have been displaced unjustly with no home.
What happened to us was no accident or a misunderstanding.
It was a result of failing system to protect the most vulnerable.
What happened in romar court was devastating.
One day without a previous warning, we received an order to relocate, to leave our home and they only gave us five days to pack up our things, pack up our lives and leave.
Five days to leave behind years of our, of everything we did, to leave our community, our roots.
We left having a contract to rent a valid home to being without a home, and what's worse, without a worthy option of where to go.
That was a moment in where we came to understand that being renters in this country many times is living in constant insecurity.
Even if we pay our rent on time and we do every one of the requirements and our responsibilities.
We lived there for years I deplorable conditions, humidity, mold, roaches, rats, a lack of basic maintenance.
We made the reports.
We asked for help.
And instead of giving us solutions, what we received was a letter to relocate, to leave our home.
And so the message was clear when the conditions become impossible, instead of repairing or fixing, simply get rid of the people.
As a mother, I felt a mixture of sadness, frustration, and a profound disillusion.
My children were raised there.
We had our own routines, our schools, our community.
And having us not live there any more marked us profoundly.
And it wasn't just us as a family.
There were so many other families, workers, latinas, children that lived the same experience.
I know that there are programs that can help and organizations and the city did what they could to support us but that was not enough.
What we needed were not just temporary patches but strong ordinances that are permanent that recognize our dignity and our humanity.
And that is why I am here to ask these three things, these three concrete things that should be included in whatever policy of protection that a renter needs in novato.
First indemnization fair and adequate.
What we were offered was not dmuf to cover the costs of moving, the deposits, the new rent, the trauma of instability.
We know that in the county o alameda the renters receive at least $15,000 to relocate.
In marin where the cost of living is even higher that quantity should be the minimum that we would receive.
So w request to know the true cost of being displaced in our community.
Second, the right to return.
If romar court would rehabilitate or be reconstructed, we should have the right to return and paying the same rent.
But not only the physical space, but a worthy home that is safe and clean.
Because it's not only about bricks, it's about our lives.
We want you to include a clause that guarantees that we can come back to our home without being discriminated with financial obstacles.
Thirdly, responsibility for negligent probably owners.
These property owners ignore the reports that allow these homes to become inhumane conditions.
And they should confront clear consequences.
It's not fair that they are allowed to operate without supervision, without being punished.
While families are suffering the consequences.
We need inspections to be more frequent, sanctions that are real, and a mechanism of follow-up with community participation.
I speak as a mother, as a worker, as a neighbor.
But also as an organizing woman with parent voices marin, in a movement of families that fight for justice and equity.
We don't want to continue being invisible.
We don't want empty promises, we want action.
We want dignity.
We want justice.
What happened to us in romar court was not jst being kicked out of our homes, it was a lack of stability, of mental health, of belonging.
And this should not have happened to anyone any more.
Thank you for your time and thank you for listening, not only to my words but also to my pain and our hopes.
Let's build together a community that does not kick out people but embraces people that they don't just excuse, but actually protects us.
And that's the end.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Our next speaker is veronica duarte.
Welcome, veronica.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: good evening, my name is veronica duarte, I reside in novato.
I have five kids.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: I received a eviction notice, not from the same apartments they were talking about.
But that order was unjustice and they gave me five days, 60, I'm sorry, 60 days.
But it was unjust.
Why?
A hose of black water, wastewater was broken from my neighbor's house.
Instead of cleaning or repairing the pipe, the sewer, they just let it go in my backyard.
I was not notified.
When I came back from work.
My son asked, mommy, what is that?
You can't imagine what it was.
So therefore I knocked on the door up to the manager's door.
I call him by his name and I asked what is that?
In my garden?
And he responded, I'm sorry, I forgot to let you know.
So iasked, how am I going to go into my house with my kids?
He said, oh I will clean it tomorrow.
So the day went by and he didn't clean it.
So therefore, I wrote an email to the city of novato.
I send the pictures.
Including the translator helped me.
And he asked are those pictures real pictures?
I told him it's my yard, it's my garden.
He asked for the landlord's information, the address, the phone number.
They call him three days after I received the eviction notice.
So what happened?
So he said I have 60 days to move out.
And I asked, but why?
Your kids, you have a lot of kids in this unit.
And I have been living there for eight years.
He wanted to give me a new reason because I reported him to the city.
So I called legal aid of marin.
They gave me the support, but my kids they were very anxious.
They were asking, where are we going?
We cannot find a solution, it's not a two-day solution to find or to move with the renters, with the landlords.
Legal aid worked very hard.
We won the case.
I'm still living there.
So now when I need to fix something at home or something happens, I think about it.
I think if I should call to report it.
I know that the city, you guys, did all the work to call the landlord.
But he acted against me.
So that's why I'm here to support everybody here.
I know they gave me the notice for 60 days, they didn't have that opportunity.
But it was unjust that I was paying for my rent on time and they shouldn't have done that.
I'm a resident of novato.
I blong to voices of canal.
But I reside as you in novato.
And I want to be able to tell my kids that we have somebody and somebody who support us.
Novato needs an ordinance to protect the tenants.
Because there are causes that are not just.
Thank you very much.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
Our next speaker is diego salis.
Welcome, diego.
>> good evening.
[ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: my name is diego.
I also was displaced from my home from romar court.
I would like to share some facts with you.
There is one building, but we were displaced like from 12 apartments.
So the total of 58 in that property.
We were 50 people displaced from our homes.
Many of us paid from $2700 to $3000 a month for rent, plus utilities.
Before the utilities were included in the rent.
Now we pay it additional.
For years they have increased our rent each year.
And our income doesn't give us enough to rent.
And now we have to stop rent to other people.
-- sub-rent to other people.
I'm going to tell you a little thing about the proprietorship.
The owner of the property technically is romar court apartments, l.l.c.
Nevertheless, romar court apartments, l.l.c., it's only a ghost business, shell company.
For this big business, landmark realty, l.l.c., landmark realty, ll.c.
States that they have been the owners for more than 70 buildings.
So for the total of 7,600 units in the whole country, landmark is the owner of 289 units in marin county.
If you check the website you will not find anything under the name of romar court apartments.
Neither in novato or marin.
So they do advertise it on the website, they do.
They say we are dedicated to offer the high standard in quality in all the aspects.
Our housing multi-family housing, we do give priority to detail.
With quality materials to assure to our residents to enjoy their space, secure, aesthetic, tractive.
-attractive.
Our compromise is with quality and we extend the service to the client with maintaining our properties.
I believe the difference in between us and what the people say their reality is what we are in fact the reality is what we are living right now.
So finally you are listening to the truth, our own condition.
And please, we beg you to listen to us to protect and to not let the owners of the proprietors to do this to us.
We need to be relocated and we want to be able to go back to our homes.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Our next speaker is armando ordonez.
>> interpreter: armando?
>> mayor o'connor: welcome, armando.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: good evening, I'm armando ordonez, members of voices of marin.
I'm here because I'm here to support the members of romar court, tat happened to me a year ago.
I was by myself.
I was evicted by myself, so they threatened me to send me the police, to seize my bank account, things like that.
They only gave me ten days to leave the home.
I also requested help from the different organizations but I didn't have the paperwork to do so.
I have to borrow so much money from several friends.
So thanks to that I was able to relocate.
You could tell, you could say that $7,236 sounds a lot of money.
But that amount that's only what I spent on moving out, to move my stuff, to pay for the first and last month, just to move out.
Something very important, I'm begging you to do and work on the new ordinance.
Because I know you have the power.
I would like to be sitting in one of those chairs to be able to help other people.
I don't want to hear sad stories, I don't want to see the kids crying like I have witnessed, like the kids out here.
And even if we had so many ordinances, you know, the owner doesn't appear.
We are tied, our hands are tied.
But if you miss paying one or two months of your rent, they come like rats, you know, they want to take the christ out of my house.
Why can't they do that to us, and why can't we have our own rights with dignity?
It is so hard.
Do we have to get up through the end of this to be able to talk in front of you?
I also wonder if, or want to have ordinance for the landlords of the owners of the property to be able to pay us.
For the damage.
To pay for the damage.
But not only to pay to the tenants to move out.
Just also a penalty so they can be punished or they can feel it.
I will go around california to find the owners and I can't do that.
But iknow you could.
Because we work.
To pay our rent month by month and to have a good place for our kids.
And if we pay rent, it's to have a dignity house to be able to live in.
And if they are going to vacate people from their homes, have them build new ones so they can relocate the people that they evict without sending us to the streets.
This property was 12 apartments.
Nobody was prepared for that.
So we all have to work together.
We pay our taxes.
We have to work and be able to have justice.
I have so much to tell you but I know we have a short time.
I'm only asking you to execute your power because that property they can pay.
And thank you very much.
Unity makes the force.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
Our next speaker is karina velleman.
>> interpreter: who?
I think she left.
>> mayor o'connor: I will keep moving.
The next speaker is nelson solis.
Welcome, nelson.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: good evening, my name is nelson solis.
I am here for the second time.
I have already been here the first time.
To tell you my story when iwas living in romar court.
And I want to tell you that I continue being affected what happened in roman court.
And one of the cases that were more crazy, it's a very expensive place to live.
When I speak with other people, and that I live in novato, they ask me oh my god, the rent is really high, it's very expensive.
When I say yes, it's expensive, but it's safe.
There's no crime, there's none of that.
So what I'm trying to say is, when I was living in romar, I experimented many, no entrance from the property owners of romar towards their tenants.
And it's around four or five buildings in those areas.
But the most difficult thing was when we found out.
The red tag, about the red tag.
Because for me it was like the first time that I lived that experience.
Like for many of the people that are here, that was our first time.
And I feel that we didn't do anything wrong.
Like stop paying our rent for months.
For them to kick us out in five days.
And also there were organizations that came to us.
Trying to help us.
But it was little amount of families that were supported.
My family, with what my mom wrote in that letter that you heard earlier today, was very difficult for us because we were living six people there.
And the place where we were applying to only three people can live there.
So we had to separate our family.
So now we are living in very different locations.
So what I want just like we have suffered, or something that manner, that the owners of those places, that they be more fair.
And that they can see the damage that they have done to us.
Us all.
And I think that we came to you now because if we were to speak they would not listen to us.
And I think it would be 1,000 times better to remind novato not because we have the best transportation or because we have the best parks but because we have our, our city has the best place to live in the city of novato.
Thank you very much.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
Our next speaker is freddie lopez.
Welcome, freddie.
>> [ speaking spanish ] >> interpreter: good evening, everyone.
To the corporation, to the, I think everything has been said today.
It's been more than enough.
Everything that has been heard.
And we know in the position we are in and the position to be able to resolve these problems is now in your hands.
We as tenants, we are vulnerable.
Because I'm going to put myself as an example.
I only count with one job.
And when supposedly the income or the salary went up, also in my job, they cut off my hours.
So the minimum salary here in novato is $16.50.
And if I were to work 80 hours, I would not reach to gain or earn $3,000 in a month.
But the rent is very expensive.
The money is not enough.
To be able to pay the rent, I don't have enough.
With what I'm earning.
So I have to pay for the light, the electricity.
I need to feed myself.
I need to be able to have clothing.
And it is not possible to cover all of these expenses.
I believe that the city or the corporation, or the mayor should also take into consideration the regulation of rent because life is very hard.
Very difficult.
I am aware that you have the power and that you will do a good job.
Because before us I believe in god.
And god will illuminate you and your heart.
And you will make a good decision.
I wish yu a good night and thank you so much to assist us.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
And then our final in-person speaker this evening is aracelli zuniga.
Not seeing aracelli, that concludes in-person public comment.
We will go to zoom and if you want to make a public comment please use the raise-hand button.
>> clerk: yes, we do have raised hands on zoom.
The first is aaliyah gomez.
>> good evening, mayor o' connor and councilmembers.
My name is aaliyah and I'm on the government affairs of marin association of realtors.
We urge your concern for housing stability but we urge you recognizing that ab1482 already provides strong enforceable protections.
State law sets clear rules just cause after 12 months relocation assistance for no-fault evictions and rent caps that are keeping increases predictable.
These protections are in place today and they apply across california with consistency.
The proposed novato ordinance goes well beyond state law.
It would extend just cause to every unit including single family homes and small duplexes and add entirely new categories such as rd tagging, repair and rehabilitation.
That will trigger additional relocation obligations.
It will reduce housing stock.
We were concerned our august 18th letter notes that the draft would apply to properties with as few as three units.
That change pulled in small family landlords who are not corporate entities, they are individuals renting a part of their retirement plan or supplementing their household income, burdening them with complex rules and relocation liabilities risks
driving them out of the rental market all together.
Finally this proposal introduces new administrative costs and enforcement responsibilities.
That the staff report has not yet addressed.
Who will fund relocation payments?
How will the city ensure consistent enforcement.
These unanswered questions make it clear that novato is not ready to adopt such sweeping ordinance.
Instead we encourage you to build on what already works, ab1482.
Thank you for considering our perspective, thank you and have a good night.
>> clerk: next is victor gomez.
>> mayor o'connor: welcome, richard.
>> clerk: victor.
>> mayor o'connor: sorry, victor.
>> wonderful, thank you, mayor o' connor and councilmembers.
My name is victor gomez and I'm also with the marin association of realtors.
We are here really to urge you not to advance overreaching just cause ordinance.
First, state law is already working.
Ab1482, the tenant protection act strongly supported by governor gavin newsom requires just cause after 12 months, it caps annual increases and provides relocation assistance for no-fault terminations already.
It sets a balanced uniform framework statewide and exclusively allows enforcement today.
Attempts to expand the tenant protection act have failed and each year since the act was passed, sb436, ab1248 and another ambitious bill that attempted to lower the rent cap wasn't even given a hearing this year.
A clear message that our state and governor d not believe in these ideas like yours.
To severely impact rental housing, layering separate local regime risk confusions and costs without evidence of any improved outcomes.
Second the staff report contemplates expanding protections to essentially all units by adding new categories that trigger displacement obligations, dem nising, potentially with additional relocation payments and even rights of return.
Those are major policy changes with real fiscal and operational impacts that report has not quantified.
Before you proceed we want to know who will pay for this?
How is the city going to administer this new program?
Have you asked those questions to staff?
No, not once has any member of this council asked for a fiscal impact and how the city is actually going to pay for this and how you are going to pay for new staff to administer this new program.
Third, "er our association's letter notes that draft concept deviates from common tresholds by changing the typical exemption line used across california.
Moving from a more common four-unit threshold to three or more, that shift falls hardest on small mom and pop housing providers that are using that as a way to raise money in their retirement days.
If the goal is stability, squeezing small providers off the market will completely do the opposite and not work.
Fourth, marin already faces an extreme supply in housing.
Limited land, high costs, complex regulatory environment do not help.
Fifth, basic implementation questions remain unanswered.
What resources des the city have to provide both tenants and small landlords to navigate these new rules.
Our ask tonight is simple, either pause to conduct a fiscal analysis of this and how much you will pay on behalf of of the taxpayers of novato or refer any potential proposal to the voters and let the voters decide.
If we really do believe in democracy and that's what you stand for, then that's exactly what you would do no night.
We stand ready to collaborate on targeted data-driven solutions, education, mediation, rental assistance and safety net programs that protect den tants without shrinking the rental supply.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
Laura any other comments?
>> clerk: that concludes the comments on zoom.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you.
I will bring it back to council.
Tonight the goal is to provide staff with direction so they can begin work on refining an ordinance to bring back to council for further discussion.
If you would like to comment please use the raise hand button.
I will go to councilmember eklund first.
>> you are muted.
>> mayor o'connor: sorry, councilmember, you appear to be muted.
>> p.
Eklund: sorry, I was starting to talk already.
>> mayor o'connor: no problem.
>> p.
Eklund: so first of all, relative to the item, to me there's, we need to expand what we are intending to do here, in my opinion.
I think that we need to make sure that the landlords need to keep up with regular repairs on their property.
One of the things I tink we should explore is establishing an ordinance that requires landlords to, or for the city to inspect the apartments.
And then cite landlords if they are not keeping their apartments in good condition one that is livable, not with holes in walls and not with paint pealing.
Which probably has led in it.
And we need to do an inspection and program.
We need to explore this.
Landlords must allow the tenants back into the rental unit and I believe and should not increase the rent before any of the renovations.
And I think that part of the rules should establish what is the anticipated renovation period so that it's not going to be for more than six months or a year or whatever it is.
And actually, if there's more regular enforcement then we won't have this situation where we had in novato earlier.
I think we need to strengthen the relocation assistance.
So I believe that the ordinance, or the program should include that the landlords or owners of the property need to pay for the represent in other apartments and that the rent is paid until the work is completed in the apartment and then they
can allow their residents to go back into that apartment.
I believe that there should be a guaranteed displacement, either through a red tag or a substantial remodel.
And it should have the right to return, also the landlord needs to pay for the rent and the temporary location for as long as needed to allow the renter to be able to go back to the original location.
I think there should be no exemption for rental properties, this should also include a.d.u.'s, except I agree single family homes and owner-occupied duplexes as promised for in the california tenant protections act of 2019 would not be included.
There should be just cause eviction procedures that apply to all rental units with ab1482 exemptions.
Tenants should have the option to obviously notify the landlord when there are improvements that's needed.
The landlord should respond within a certain period of time to make those repairs.
I think that there are a lot of other things I would like to include in this.
The agenda item itself includes the different, I can't find that piece of paper.
Where it has the different sections of wat clare was talking about earlier.
But I think all the items listed there should be included, not just the ones marked in red.
I think we need to have more discussion about all of this.
I think this is just the beginning.
As I mentioned earlier, I don't think that we are being given enough time to really actually talk about some of these issues.
I think that we should have an opportunity to have an organized discussion about each of te issues that were raised.
This red tag issue, substantial remodel situation, you know, my heart just bled every time I heard one of the residents when they were told to leave and without any indication of when they were going to be coming back, or if they were coming
back.
People are just living day-to-day, issues, which I hard enough and then to have to deal with something like that on top of it, I think, is really unacceptable.
I think that kind of thing shouldn't happen.
But I think the property owner needs to pay for the relocation of the residents.
There's a lot of others in here that I think we need to have some discussion about.
I'm nt going to limit my suggestions to what I've said tonight due to the lateness of the hour since it is 10:17.
But I tink we need to have strong anti-displacement policies and protection for people that are renting.
That's just the beginning.
I think hopefully with a discussion we can have later on.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, councilmember.
Mayor po tem farac?
>> mayor pro tem farac: thank you.
First, I want to thank all the public comment speakers in being here at this late hour.
I will be brief because we still have two more agenda items.
I think there's two issues here.
I think it's the preventive, proactiveness of addressing negligent landlords.
So I think developing policies that can prevent that so this situation doesn't happen.
And ten also, I think it's what we are currently looking at today and looking about, tenants rights and right to return and stuff like that.
So I would love to see a draft ordinance.
And then we can kind of start from there and really look at the details.
But I think a big element that is missing is the preventive piece of how to address these issues ahead of time, so then we're not giving red notices and people are thrown off.
I think, two quick ideas I had, one is having something on the website where tenants can complain and we go out and then if landlords don't fix the issue, they don't get charged rent.
So just something I was thinking, thanks.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much.
Councilmember milberg?
>> m.
Milberg: thank you, mayor.
Thank you all so much for being here tonight.
I have met with some of you prior and really appreciate all the honest feelings that you have, and more so, the reason why you are wanting to do this is to prevent it for other people to have it happen to them, which I think is really amazing.
This is not an easy issue.
As far as availability for additional ability for right of return clause to no-fault evictions I would definitely encouraged to try to look into that further.
It was interesting when you were talking, clare, about the basis for at-fault just cause terminations.
And the currently novato has all 11 versus the city of san rafael and the other has less.
And I think for me, I didn't hear anybody and maybe it's not really understood by the people who spoke tonight, you all that are afected but I'm curious, where do we want to go with that?
Because you know, I my opinion, we have to match the horrific nature of what you all are going through with trying to maintain a healthy business environment here.
So I think, for me, number one, if we could get a better handle on what the enormity of the issue is.
How many more potential romar courts are we going to be facing?
I don't have an answer for that myself and I don't know if anybody else on this council does.
But when I hear about the five days of having to pack up everything, it's heartbreaking.
But at the same time, at least my opinion was, to do something immediately given the circumstances and given the problems that existed.
Yes, it wasn't adequate time but it's not a reflection on the city's desire to do the right thing or the city's caring about you as our residents.
I want to make sure that's understood.
It was done, we dealt with it because we felt it was an emergent situation.
So for me, the rectification of this is to hold landlords more accountable, you should never have to feel you are living in a place with mold.
What we saw in the pictures of the architectural, the building being held up, it just wasn't safe for all of you.
Yet, the enormity of how many more romar courts are there is frightening for me personally.
There's a delicate balance in my mind that we have to fulfill.
We don't want to be totally an enemy of the real estate market here.
So for me, it's like doing the right thing, but also working with people that are trying to make a living that are doing the right thing and providing appropriate maintenance for their apartments that you have not experienced and for us to be
able to hold landmark and others similar to landmark accountable is really, for me, the way to move forward.
I think as far as, I guess I'm still a bit confused and maybe I will spend more time on this, clare, about relying on state law oly and I've heard from a few people, the impact that we would have as far as adopting a more stringent local ordinance
and what that would really mean.
Allowing exemptions for small operations, adu ad jdu's I think is worth exploring further, personally.
If the residents and te people that are supported here tonight don't feel like there's anything that should be taken away, or that's something that is so onerous that leaves a bad feeling, I'm probably in agreement we should leave that.
I think it's a good counter balance with the real estate, we aren't touching that because we believe all of those are justified.
As far as the ability, actually right to return, I think that has to definitely be part of what we do here, but as far as expanding temporary rlocation assistance, that is a tough one for me, and for us, I believe, because, you know, at the
time this happened I felt it was the right thing to do and we were able to provide it quickly.
But obviously in talking to all of you personally, I know it wasn't enough.
I'm just curious as to where that money would or should come from?
I don't know if it will come from the city.
I think it perhaps could be done from doing this more with the landlords and really holding them accountable but I want to point that out, I don't think it's a full solution there but it doesn't mean your situation doesn't require more attention
and more heart felt understanding what we could do going forward.
I respect you so greatly for coming out tonight and speaking your heart, it means a lot to me personally and I quilchena you didn't have to go through this and I will do everything in my power to make sure this doesn't happen again.
So thank you again for being here.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, councilmember.
I agree practically with everything my colleagues have shared so I'm not going to repeat that.
I'm interested in reducing, sorry, I'm interested -- it's late.
I'm interested in reducing exemptions, not increasing them.
Good landlords can exempt themselves.
One topic that came up several times that would also tie into a potential registry concept that I would be interested in understanding more is is if there's possibility for automatic inspection process to ensure quality.
We have heard stories about low quality units and I would like to understand if there's a good program to develop to help identify with those.
I agree red tag and renovation should only result in temporary displacement.
Relocation assistance definitely needs to be improved.
The proposal you mentioned earlier, five months is a strong proposal.
I would be in support of something like that.
One thing I would like to talk about further is withdrawal from the market with appropriate notice and defined period.
I think there would be circumstances withdrawing a property off the market shouldn't require relocation assistance, if somebody is taking something off the market because they are taking care of a parent, I don't think they should have to pay
five months rent.
Just being mindful of circumstances like that, not create unnecessary hardships.
The right of return.
I would like it to be stronger to the current extent legally permissible.
And those are just kind of some of my thoughts.
I'm sure everyone else has additional thoughts.
I encourage if you have additional thoughts you can share with clare when she puts the draft together please share them with her in writing.
With that, have you received enough feedback to get started?
>> yes, I have.
Thank you.
>> mayor o'connor: okay, with that we will conclude the item.
It's after 10:00 p.m.
Council practice is to just do a post check to see if we have time to take the remaining two items?
I checked with staff.
Both will take about five minutes or less.
And one is time sensitive because it wll impact some pending construction projects clearing mvmcc.
>> p.
Eklund: I don't think we've done consent calendar either or council comments.
>> mayor o'connor: we did the consent calendar at beginning of the meeting but council comments have been pushed to the end.
If we could take j1 and j2 and not do council comments tonight.
Council reports.
Would that work for everybody?
>> [yes's] >> mayor o'connor: I will move to j1, adopt rsolution amending limited term retire to new appointment tim burke as interim pblic works director under government code section 2121 adjusting his salary pursuant to the sit yez's current
salary schedule and ratifying, with us is greg canfield.
>> good evening, tonight's request adopt resolution amending and ratifying the limited term retired annuitant appointment of tim burke as interim public works director under government code section 21221h.
Mr.
Burke was first appointmented in december 2024 to provide the recruitment of a permanent public works director, his original appointment anticipated ending on june 30th, 2025, or sooner if permanent hire was made, however to maintain continuity
of operations his service will extend beyond that date until the recruitment is completed.
It's important that this must comply with calpers requirements.
The appointment must be limited term to a vacant position.
The retiree must have the specialized skills needed to perform the work.
City must be actively recruiting for a replacement.
The retiree cannot work more than 960 hours in a fiscal year across all calpers employers.
The retiree cannot receive benefits or incentives beyond the hourly rate that complies with the adopted salary schedule.
His continued appointment meets all these requirements making his service comply apt with calpers rules.
Staff recommends adoption of the resolution amending and ratifying mr.
Burke's appointment.
That's it and I'm happy to take any questions might have.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you very much, greg.
If you have questions please use the raise hand button.
Not seeing any.
We will go to public comment.
Not seeing any.
Zoom, public comment if you would like to speak.
>> clerk: there's no raised hands.
>> mayor o'connor: thank you, closing pblic comment, bringing it back to council for motion and second.
>> p.
Eklund: I will move it.
>> mayor pro tem farac: I will second it.
>> clerk: I will say mark moved itment >> mayor o'connor: laura, if you would call the vote please.
>> clerk: eklund?
>> p.
Eklund: aye.
>> clerk: jacobs?
>> k.
Jacobs: aye.
>> milberg?
>> m.
Milberg: aye.
>> farac?
>> mayor pro tem farac: aye.
>> clerk: and mayor o' connor.
>> mayor o'connor: aye.
Final item is j2, considering possibilitily take action to designate a voting representative and up to two at gnat voting representatives for the league of california cities.
Laura?
>> clerk: thank you, mayor this is to select a voting delegate and alternate for the annual league of california cities conference.
This year councilmember milberg and jacobs will be in attendance.
With that I will turn it over to council for discussion.
>> p.
Eklund: I will move jacobs be the voting delegate and milberg is the alternate.
>> mayor pro tem farac: I'll second that.
Do you want to do public comment?
>> mayor o'connor: use the raise hand button if you have any questions.
No questions.
Mr.
Jacobs?
>> k.
Jacobs: my understanding is voting will be on friday?
And I will be leaving early on friday.
I can be te primary but I will not be here on friday.
>> mayor o'connor: that's fine.
Any other questions?
I will go to public comment, any public comment?
No?
Zoom?
>> clerk: no raised hands.
>> mayor o'connor: bringing it back to council.
We have a motion and second, jacobs as primary with councilmember milberg as the alternate.
Laura, I you would call the vote?
>> clerk: councilmember eklund?
>> p.
Eklund: aye.
>> clerk: jacobs?
>> k.
Jacobs: aye.
>> clerk: milberg?
>> m.
Milberg: aye.
>> clerk: farac?
>> mayor pro tem farac: aye.
>> clerk: mayor o' connor?
>> mayor o'connor: aye.
Move to adjournment, the next meeting is september 9th, 2025, does council have anyone they would like to adjourn in memory of?
I do have one person I want to close in memory of, diane thompson.
Diane moved to the bejia neighborhood in 1986 and quickly became a valuable member of the community.
Over the years built up a large group of friends.
She was responsible for the newsletter and neighborhood tefl directory.
Diane was a main stain I bahia over the years and she will be sorely