[0:10] Madame Clerk. Yeah. If we can go ahead
and call this meeting to order for the
[0:14] Reno City Council on February 25th,
2026.
[0:18] We'll go ahead and start with the pledge
of allegiance. I think I see the
[0:24] Downtown Reno Partnership Executive
Director uh in the crowd. If Yeah. Uh N
[0:31] Jordan can lead us in the pledge,
please.
[0:40] » To the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it
[0:45] stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
[0:51] for all.
[0:54] » Thank you so much for leading us. We'll
go ahead and start uh and move on to the
[0:59] roll call. Madam clerk,
>> thank you, Vice Mayor Martinez. Calling
[1:02] roll for Wednesday, February 26th, 25th,
2026 for the Reno City Council. Council
[1:07] member Taylor absent at this time.
Council member Dor
[1:12] » here.
>> Vice Mayor Martinez
[1:13] » here.
>> Council member Eert
[1:15] » here.
>> Council member Reese
[1:17] » here.
>> Council member Anderson.
[1:19] » Mayor Shei absent at this time. Uh Mr.
Vice Mayor, you do have a quorum of the
[1:23] Reno City Council.
>> Thank you so much. We'll go ahead and uh
[1:28] start with public comment today and then
move into
[1:32] um some special public comments and
proclamations after our general public
[1:36] comment for today. So, if we can open up
item A3, please, Madam Clerk.
[1:41] » Awesome. Opening item A3, Vice Mayor
Martinez. Our first item today is public
[1:45] comment. It should be noted for those in
attendance that comments are to be
[1:48] addressed to the mayor and council as a
whole. Comments heard under this item
[1:51] will be limited to three minutes per
person and may pertain to matters both
[1:54] on and off the council's agenda. Council
may not take action upon any matter not
[1:58] agendaized on today's agenda. When
you're called on for public comment,
[2:01] please state your name for the record
and begin speaking. The timer will begin
[2:04] when you've stated your name and you
will be afforded 3 minutes. For those
[2:07] participating in chambers in accordance
with council rules 6.3.11 while in this
[2:12] room, please be respectful. Disruptive
behavior from audience members like
[2:16] clapping, yelling, whistling, etc. which
impede the meeting may result in a
[2:19] warning issued by the presiding officer.
If this behavior continues, you may be
[2:23] removed from chambers. If you're an
attendee in the Zoom meeting and would
[2:25] like to make public comment, please
raise your hand at this time. And Mr.
[2:29] Vice Mayor, just for the record, Council
Member Taylor did join us at 10:02.
[2:32] » Thank you.
[2:36] » Our first public commenter today is
Terry Brooks, followed by Christina
[2:39] Matakus.
[2:47] Good morning. It's me, Terry Brooks,
again, and today I'd like to share with
[2:52] you my thoughts on the results of
depression and what seniors go through.
[2:58] Last time I was here, I talked about the
causes of depression. So today, I'd like
[3:03] to talk about the results of depression.
When someone grows older and goes
[3:08] through various stages of depression, it
can then lead to going through stages of
[3:13] agitation
that can then lead to unusual delusions
[3:17] which can then lead to unusual
hallucinations.
[3:21] All of these problems can then lead to
unusual suspicions which can then lead
[3:26] to unusual kinds of confusions. All of
these problems of such depression join
[3:31] into various stages of a long
progression.
[3:35] When someone goes through such periods
of depression, it can then lead to them
[3:39] finding themselves in isolation. And
being in isolation can then worsen the
[3:45] problems causing angry outbursts and
many other problems. It can lead to
[3:50] perceptual problems of formulating what
is seen or heard like problems of
[3:55] understanding simple messages or
directions seen or heard and that can
[4:00] lead to even more problems of doing many
things like remembering other people's
[4:05] names or identifying places or things.
You might be watching television on
[4:10] which people are having a conversation
and later on you think you remember
[4:15] being in on that conversation.
Depression can lead to neglect of health
[4:20] and distress and even suicide or it can
lead to the embarrassment of just having
[4:26] tried. Depression has become even more
common in recent years which has also
[4:31] led to many a painful tears. I would
like to thank you all for listening to
[4:36] me today especially when I speak in such
of a depressing way. Thank you.
[4:43] Thank you.
>> Christina McTudis followed by Steven
[4:47] White.
[4:58] This
[5:06] Hello, my name is Christina McTudis and
I live in Northwest Reno. I first spoke
[5:10] in front of the city council on November
12th, 2025 because an offduty City of
[5:16] Reno firefighter in uniform had been in
a head-on collision in my neighborhood.
[5:20] And it appeared that he was being given
preferential treatment. That's where he
[5:25] went through the wall. That's the car
that he hit. Um it appeared that he was
[5:31] being given preferential treatment to
avoid a DUI charge. After my public
[5:35] comment, Mary Mayor Shivi asked if a
city of Reno employee could contact me
[5:40] regarding my concerns. I said
absolutely. I was contacted by Mavis AO,
[5:46] employee relations manager on Thursday,
December 4th, 2025. We spoke for
[5:51] approximately 15 minutes, and when we
ended the call, Miss Ao asked if I would
[5:56] be willing to speak with the fire chief
at a later date to have my additional
[6:00] concerns addressed. I received a call on
Wednesday, February 18th, 2026 from Miss
[6:07] Afo asking if I would be available to
speak with her and fire Chief Cochran
[6:11] the following day. I did receive that
call at 1:11 p.m. on Thursday, February
[6:16] 19th, and we spoke for approximately 24
minutes. Here is a summary of what we
[6:22] discussed. And I'm going to put this up
for when I get to that. Why is that?
[6:30] Um, I asked why was Price hired with two
prior DUIs. Chief Cochran said operator
[6:36] Price was hired before he became chief.
It's possible he was hired and then
[6:40] promoted to operator. Um, I have some
disagreements with that, but Mavis Ao
[6:46] said many factors go into the hiring
process. I asked why wasn't Price placed
[6:50] on administrative leave after the
accident. Uh, Miss AO said, "The city of
[6:55] Reno has not concluded their
investigation, so he has not been placed
[6:58] on administrative leave or fired." Chief
Cochran responded, "He's not currently
[7:03] operating a firetruck." I asked what
more do they need to investigate as he
[7:08] plead guilty to re f felony reckless
driving causing substantial bodily harm
[7:13] on December 9th 2025. Messo answered
that he is not quote convicted her words
[7:19] and won't be considered convicted until
sentencing. I questioned why doesn't
[7:24] pleading guilty count as convicted and
she stated again that his guilty plea
[7:29] doesn't count. I then asked if after
sentencing will operator Price lose his
[7:33] job. Chief Cochran said he could not
speak to HR matters.
[7:38] Miss Ao said that after being sentenced
the city will evaluate the next step,
[7:42] but being sentenced does not necessarily
mean he will lose his job. I'm going to
[7:46] cut out some of what they said and wrap
it up. Um, the latest data available
[7:53] from Transparent Nevada shows that Mr.
Price's regular pay in 2021 was
[7:58] $103,26421.
[8:02] I bring up his pay to show that he is a
government employee, which I believe
[8:06] makes him accountable and his actions
accountable to you, the city council.
[8:10] May I finish my closing remarks?
>> Yes, go ahead and wrap us up.
[8:13] » I came and spoke to you in November
because my confidence was shaken due to
[8:16] what I was hearing in the news. I
appreciated that after my public
[8:20] comment, I did feel heard, but I am now
back because if you look at the swift
[8:27] uh consequences for the state fire
marshal who was recently arrested on
[8:31] suspicion of DUI versus the seemingly
lack of consequences for the city of
[8:35] Reno employee, it again shakes my
confidence that our city of Reno public
[8:39] servants are going to be held to the
same standards as anyone who would have
[8:43] caused my accident caused that accident.
In my opinion, due to his position in
[8:48] the fire department, I believe he should
actually be held to higher standards.
[8:52] So, thank you for
>> Thank you, Miss Mus.
[8:56] » Steven
>> is scheduled for March 5th.
[9:00] » Steven White followed by David Shakar.
[9:16] Good morning, folks.
You know, I you probably all think I'm a
[9:21] young guy and all, but last Friday, I
turned 79 years old. I don't know how
[9:26] the hell that ever happened, but I made
it this far. The day before on Thursday,
[9:32] uh the mayor gave me one of the best
birthday presents I think I've ever had
[9:37] when she committed $2,000.
>> Good morning. Thank you, mayor. You gave
[9:43] me the one of the best presents I've
ever had for my birthday, which is
[9:46] Friday. She committed $2,000 for
building more of our mushroom displays
[9:51] to place in the parks for artists to be
able to display and sell their artwork
[9:55] in the parks this summer. You know, this
is a wonderful opportunity for Reno to
[9:59] really be at the forefront of restoring
the arts in America. You know, no other
[10:04] city's ever done this before. Now, um
Nathan and I, we worked out the protocol
[10:10] for all this. Uh we're going to be
printing up these flyers and we're going
[10:13] to be handing them out. I'm going to go
around to every high school in your
[10:16] city. I'm going to physically do that.
I'm going to go to the the veterans
[10:20] organizations. I'm going to go to the
artist lofts over here. I'm going to go
[10:24] to the generator. I'm going to hand
these things out wherever I can find
[10:27] artists. We got to do this. This is an
incredible opportunity for your senior
[10:31] citizen. You know that art group that
was here last month, there were 36
[10:35] members. They were all seniors. They'd
all love to be able to sell their
[10:39] artwork. Maybe you didn't know, but all
the artwork that was on the walls out
[10:43] here during last month, it was all for
sale. If you went look through their
[10:46] little album over on the pedestal there,
there was a page dedicated to each one
[10:51] of them with photographs, their work,
and price tags. But there are no venues
[10:55] for any of these artists to be able to
sell their artwork or display it. Think
[10:59] about this. You know, this was all done
in violation of constitutional law. And
[11:05] it's gone on for over 40 years. You
realize that? And to have that state
[11:10] assembly bill get passed that requires
art to be part of the recreational
[11:14] experience of the parks. It's an amazing
accomplishment. It's just incredible
[11:18] that we're doing that. It places you at
the forefront of of the arts in America.
[11:23] You want to turn Reno into an art
capital of this country? By God, let's
[11:27] create art in the park and get people
out there. Another thing I want you to
[11:31] re remember this is very specific to the
fine arts. This doesn't include
[11:37] functional or useful craft items. This
is purely fine art, painting, drawing,
[11:41] sculpture, photography,
printed, self-expression, music,
[11:46] theater, dance. I'd like to start seeing
you consider putting up some gazeos in
[11:51] the parks where artists can come down
and play music for people. You know,
[11:56] this is an incredible thing. One last
thing. I'm asking each one of the
[12:00] council members, please donate $1,000. I
mean, commit $1,000 a piece to build
[12:07] more of these sculptures to put in the
parks so that artists have venues to
[12:11] hang their artwork on. And we're going
to move these these different sculptures
[12:14] around to different parks to find out
the best areas. And each one of you
[12:18] represents a certain ward. And each one
of you could request these to be placed
[12:23] in your particular ward. Just ask
Nathan. We'll move them to that so we
[12:27] can try it and everybody's warden and
affect everybody. God bless you all and
[12:32] thank you for your time.
>> Happy birthday.
[12:35] » Thank you, mayor.
>> Thank you for your service. Thank
[12:37] [clears throat] you.
>> You know, one last thing. I I have
[12:42] carpal tunnel in both hands. I'm going
to the VA today to get a shot. And I
[12:45] have arthritis. This is what you get
when you paint over 12,000 paintings in
[12:49] your lifetime. And I personally won't be
actually participating in this. I just
[12:54] can't do it anymore. Last time I painted
was two years ago. So, uh, I just
[12:58] thought I'd throw that at you. This is
being done.
[13:00] » Well, you have a voice, so just
>> this is being done for your artist, you
[13:04] know, for all of your kids and
everybody.
[13:05] » Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Thank you so
much for that that commitment.
[13:10] » David Shakar, followed by George Eddie
Lorton.
[13:17] » Good morning, Madame Mayor, council
members. My name is David Shakar. I'm an
[13:21] independent artist. Uh usually when I
get up in front of any public uh venue
[13:28] to make a speech, it takes me like one
or two hours at home to figure out a
[13:32] threeminut speech and I did not do that
to this day. Uh, but I think what's
[13:37] important is I wanted to mention
something basically about what Steve
[13:42] White said. And remember Steve White is
the winning plainif in the landmark
[13:47] civil rights of artist case, White
versus City of Sparks, where you do not
[13:51] need a license or a permit to exhibit
and sell your own self-created artwork
[13:58] in the public forum like a sidewalk or a
uh a public park. Um, lately I've been
[14:05] going over to U Reno Public Market.
They've been really great about allowing
[14:10] me to be inside and draw fast sketch
portraits of the patrons there. Uh, so
[14:18] last Saturday I was getting my gear, my
art gear out of my car and I ran into
[14:23] this homeless guy uh in the parking lot
called himself Wishbone. And y'all may
[14:29] have seen him. He this guy is an artist
and he walks around with an armload of
[14:35] paintings. They're these long flower
paintings. They're they're actually
[14:39] pretty good. He asked people for
donations. And
[14:44] » I got to thinking about that uh artistic
pavilion that uh Steve White made. He
[14:52] calls it the mushroom of the butterfly
effect. I go, "What does that mean?
[14:57] Mushroom of the butterfly effect." And
the butterfly effect is that when a
[15:01] butterfly beats his wings u thousand
miles ago in Patagonia or somewhere that
[15:08] has an effect on a tornado or something
like that. But imagine the city of Reno.
[15:14] We are uniquely situated more so than
probably any other city. Uh more so than
[15:20] any other art town that
we have the beautiful Truckucky River
[15:26] running through it. And along the river
walk is a sidewalk that goes for over a
[15:31] mile. Great places for artists to
exhibit and sell their work. And I got
[15:36] to be thinking if this uh art pavilion,
this thing called the uh mushroom of the
[15:43] butterfly effect
that uh Stephen Bennett and uh provided
[15:49] the funds to build and he built it
himself. If the city could make more of
[15:54] those, could you imagine how this city
would be well situated to be an artist
[16:00] community that would be very enviable of
any other art town, especially since
[16:06] we've got the the beautiful Truckucky
River. We're right in the shadow of the
[16:09] Sierra. And people like that homeless
gentleman that call himself wishbone
[16:14] that was hawking his hand painted flower
paintings, he would have a better venue
[16:20] and have more dignity. [snorts]
Uh his income would probably increase
[16:25] and that would mean he'd have a better
life. And there's a lot of art clubs
[16:29] here in Reno with uh seniors and youth
and uh disabled people that could also
[16:36] benefit from that. So just consider that
city of Reno is uniquely uh satisfied to
[16:43] be the most awesome art town in the city
of Reno. Thank you.
[16:46] » Thank you so much.
>> George Eddie Lorton followed by Paul
[16:51] Klene.
[16:54] Perfect. And what
>> for the record, my name is George Eddie
[17:00] Lorton, running for Reno mayor, but I
once again want to ask for your help to
[17:06] do a 250th year anniversary of our
country. So, we're trying to do a Fourth
[17:11] of July parade. So, I'd like a solution
to it. If not, do this parade. I could
[17:16] come up with a 25 grand for the permit.
I want to have the most inclusive parade
[17:21] we've ever had. I want to have
Republicans, Democrats, police, fire,
[17:26] the elks, the Shriners, the Seikhs, the
Hindus, the Pyutes, the Hispanics,
[17:32] veterans, the LGBTQ community. I want
everybody to be there. So, this will be
[17:37] a wonderful thing for our downtown core
to bring families to our city because we
[17:42] haven't had one in two years. It's about
25 grand. So, if council members didn't
[17:47] want to end up uh trying to foot the
bill for the 25, then I'll pay for it.
[17:53] So, I'm just hoping we can get this on
and do this parade, bring people
[17:56] downtown so they can see it's
familyfriendly and public safety all
[18:01] across the board. It's our one chance to
do it the 250th anniversary for our
[18:06] country. So, I hope to get a phone call
this week or so with a solution or try
[18:11] to put together this parade. We can't do
it without the city. It's just short
[18:15] term to where we need to organize this
thing. So, let's see if I had anything
[18:20] else. Nope. And there's a lot of things
on the agenda today and I have to leave
[18:26] now so I can't hang around. But I hope
you can consider this. It'll be good for
[18:30] our town, good for our country. Let's
include everybody. It'll be the best
[18:34] parade of all. So, I thank you for your
time today. I appreciate it. Thank you.
[18:39] I know you reached out to um connect
with Jackie Bryant
[18:43] » and she is out of town but when she gets
back she will connect with you.
[18:47] » Thank you. All right.
>> I appreciate it.
[18:48] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Bye.
[18:50] » Bye.
>> Paul Klene followed by George Combmes.
[18:55] » Mr. Klene. Good morning.
[clears throat]
[18:59] » Paul Klein for the record. I'm just here
to give a quick update. I I know you
[19:03] guys have a full agenda and then when
you get into the RDA stuff, I'm on the
[19:07] agenda and so just sneaking in real
quick to share some some feedback um
[19:12] from the redevelopment agency advisory
board. It's good to see you, Kelse. Um
[19:17] in early January, we reviewed the Reno
Aces baseball agreement. We thought it
[19:21] was great and of course you all
unanimously approved it later in
[19:25] January. Um, we felt like the deal
strengthened downtown redevelopment by
[19:29] securing a long-term economic activity,
attracting major private investment, and
[19:34] ensuring ensuring sustainable vibrancy.
We also reviewed the RDA public
[19:39] engagement processes to just make sure
that we're getting a lot of feedback in
[19:44] from the public um in different ways,
calls, surveys, and everything that so
[19:48] that our advisory is in uh, you know,
reflective of the of the the
[19:53] constituency.
Um, we also advise staff to continue to
[19:58] experiment with programs like district
activation pilots. This stuff is
[20:02] innovative, creative. We're we're all
about pursuing new things that haven't
[20:06] been tried before. And then um lastly, I
wanted to say that for today, you're
[20:10] going to consider the rebranding of the
RDA um to re-up um RAB agreed with staff
[20:17] that the rebranding creates a fresh
distinct identity reflecting modern
[20:21] redevelopment in placemaking and
boosting awareness and engagement. We
[20:26] you will see a few color palettes and I
know you've provided feedback. We liked
[20:31] the uh ponderosa pine color palette when
you see that. Um, lastly, when we get
[20:36] into our March meeting, we got a big
meeting. We're going to go over code
[20:39] enforcement overview, um, how to use RDA
funds, uh, the the the ability to use
[20:45] RDA funds for Reno police and if that's
something that we can advise to you all,
[20:50] um, capital improvement projects,
prioritizing those projects, budgeting,
[20:55] and then, of course, um, reviewing peer
city advisory structures and best
[21:01] practices for RDA. So, that's what we
have for you. I'll take any comments
[21:05] from you all before I have to run out of
here. But it's great to see you all.
[21:08] » It's great to see you. Any questions for
Mr. Klein? Go right ahead.
[21:12] » Thank you so much, Mr. Klein. Um I I
don't have a question, but we do try to
[21:16] follow what you're doing. Thank you so
much for your public service. I I know
[21:19] that you are busy. You have a full
professional life and and of course home
[21:24] life. Um but the service that you have
given to the community really means
[21:28] something. the relaunch of the
redevelopment agency um is something
[21:32] that was a long time coming and until it
had the sort of funds to be able to do
[21:36] the kinds of things it was going to go
out and do there really wasn't a a a
[21:40] purpose for such a body but I know that
u madame mayor uh felt very strongly
[21:44] about reenergizing this community
through the RDA board and so we've been
[21:49] very um very happy with your efforts and
I know that there are still growing
[21:55] pains and we're trying to find our
footing but know that we value your
[21:58] input. We're looking for your really
deep dive into these projects. We aren't
[22:03] asking you to be a rubber stamp for
anything. If if these projects are not
[22:07] passing muster, you'll tell us. Uh and
so I'm very grateful to all of you for
[22:11] serving, but you in particular just
because I know uh we've known each other
[22:14] a long time and and sometimes it's very
thankless work and it takes time out of
[22:19] your otherwise very busy schedule. So,
thank you so much.
[22:21] » Thank you for saying that. It's really
an honor.
[22:23] » Council,
>> yeah, just really briefly, um again,
[22:26] thank you for your service. I the board
is doing a really important job and to
[22:30] that end, I'm not sure if I heard this
in what council member Ree said, but um
[22:34] I I went over the projects uh or some of
the projects that you're going to be
[22:38] considering at your meeting on Monday,
and it turns out there's something like
[22:42] 35 even just for RDA1 or maybe that's
combined, but we're really looking for
[22:47] your thoughtful advice on those
projects. We've heard we're we've heard
[22:52] from our staff, but we really need to
hear from you
[22:55] » um with a fresh set of eyes and then
we'll have our opinion too. But thank
[22:58] you.
>> Yeah, absolutely. It's great to see you
[23:01] all.
>> Is any any further questions? Okay. I
[23:05] just want to put on your radar. I
understand Monday you guys are going to
[23:08] be looking at capital projects, correct?
And I think um there uh will be possibly
[23:14] the opinion um from an outside attorney.
Um, I would just ask you have a very
[23:19] talented attorney on that board, Mr.
Mike Ponyie, and I would ask him to
[23:24] review her opinion because, as you know,
it's something that's been really
[23:28] important for me to have more public
safety downtown, more police officers.
[23:32] Um, I I I've been saying this, I've been
really vocal about it. So, would you
[23:37] please ask Mr. Pony to look at that
because um I highly disagree with the
[23:41] analysis.
>> Absolutely. I'll call him right now.
[23:43] » Thank you so much. I know they're not
going to like that. I'm sure I'm going
[23:46] to get a lot of emails now. Um, but I I
feel strongly um reading through the
[23:53] NRS. Um, I believe that, you know,
there's a connection there. So,
[23:57] » absolutely.
>> Anyway, thank you so much. I really
[24:00] appreciate these updates,
>> guys. It really is an honor. [snorts]
[24:03] » Thank you. So, no,
>> thank you.
[24:04] » Thank you very much, Paul.
>> Okay.
[24:07] » All right, Madame Mayor. With that, we
have no additional opening public
[24:11] comment. For the record, we did receive
six comments which were general in
[24:13] nature and not directly associated with
an agenda item prior to 4 p.m.
[24:16] yesterday, Tuesday, February 24th. These
comments were written correspondents
[24:20] received via our reno.gov online public
comment form or by emails to our office.
[24:24] Copies of these have been distributed to
the Reno City Council and are available
[24:27] to the public on reno.govme.
[24:31] There were six letters. Um, and at this
time we're going to move into our
[24:36] proclamations.
>> Okay. Thank you so much. Um, actually
[24:40] before we do that, would you like um our
city manager, current city manager um to
[24:47] do any updates? Do you have any updates
for us?
[24:50] » Uh, I will on a
>> Okay. All right. I just want to make
[24:53] sure I'm not skipping over you. Okay,
Madame Clerk.
[24:56] » Okay. Our first um proclamation today is
the uh downtown Reno Partnership
[25:02] Ambassador Day proclamation.
>> Okay. This is um Ambassador Day. I see
[25:08] all of you. Why don't you stand up? I
want to say thank you from the bottom of
[25:13] my heart for what you guys do day in and
day out. I interact with many of you and
[25:18] um it's impressive the work that you do.
I know it's not easy and so we really
[25:23] felt it was important and especially of
a great leader Naomi Jordan and she
[25:27] wanted to make sure that you were
recognized. The city wanted to make sure
[25:30] that you were recognized and so I'm
going to have um council member Reese
[25:35] read the proclamation in your honor. I'd
love you guys to come up. Don't be shy.
[25:39] Come on.
>> Come on, you guys. [laughter]
[25:46] » You stand here for a minute.
>> Where are you?
[25:51] » Come on down.
>> She's being shy and sitting in the back
[25:55] is what she's doing.
>> Fill in. We're all friends.
[25:57] » Then we have Kristen here. They're
incredible team. I see some board
[26:02] members back there. Am I correct?
[26:07] Madame Mayor, um thank you so much and
and I'm going to be brief because uh we
[26:12] have uh one of our former colleagues,
former vice mayor here with us this
[26:16] morning and so I thought it'd be fitting
that she read the proclamation since
[26:20] she's well trained and and does that
well. I'm going to let her read the
[26:23] proclamation.
>> I know. I was going to say Councilwoman
[26:26] Jordan, nice to see you.
>> I know. Forever my vice mayor. So I'm
[26:30] going to let her come on up and do some
reading.
[26:32] » Okay, take it away. Thank you very much.
Um, and while I get the good pleasure of
[26:37] reading this proclamation, this day is
about all of you. So, I will begin.
[26:42] Whereas the Downtown Reno Partnership,
the DRP ambassadors are the first point
[26:47] of contact for businesses, residents,
and visitors and act as the eyes and
[26:51] ears of all things downtown. From
greeting visitors with a friendly hello,
[26:56] offering directions or recommendations
on things to do, eat, and drink, to
[27:00] helping to keep the district clean and
safe. Whereas at full staffing, the DRP
[27:06] has approximately 40 ambassadors and 10
security guards that work 247 patrolling
[27:13] 110 blocks of downtown Reno to assist in
making our urban core safer, cleaner,
[27:20] more friendly, and welcoming. And
whereas in 2025, the ambassadors
[27:24] responded to over 3600 calls for
service, removed over 458,000
[27:32] pounds of trash from the district,
recovered 1,177
[27:37] shopping carts, provided 955
rides to those in need to shelters and
[27:43] services, and removed over 950 graffiti
tags. And whereas the downtown Reno uh
[27:50] represents 1,500 property owners and the
city council is proud of the dedication
[27:56] and work the ambassadors do. So am I uh
every day [laughter] and night in tough
[28:00] conditions to enhance the welcoming feel
of downtown Reno. Now I therefore Noma
[28:06] Jordan
with Mayor Shivi uh mayor of the city of
[28:11] Reno do hereby proclaim February 25th
2026 as downtown Reno partnership
[28:17] ambassador.
>> Oh congratulations. [applause]
[28:23] » Get to speed today. You get to do
whatever you want. [laughter]
[28:28] He's all shaking his head. No, no, no.
But you guys do remarkable work. You did
[28:32] it collectively. all of that, those
stats are impressive. Um, you need to
[28:37] know that people sing your praises all
the time. I know it's not an easy job,
[28:40] but you are the front facing um the
first point of contact with visitors and
[28:46] community members. And so remember that
it's it's really when you're out there,
[28:50] you're representing the city. You're
representing community members. That's
[28:53] what they see when they interact with
you. Many of you stopped me on the
[28:57] street. We have great conversations. I
know you. I know you. I know you. And I
[29:02] just want to say um it's remarkable what
you do. I do want to point out um I
[29:08] think this is important that people know
this and I hope um that I don't make
[29:13] this individual blush but there is a
young man here. His name is Xavier
[29:19] House. Do I have Do I have permission to
call you out my friend? I do. Are you
[29:24] are you shy or do you want to speak?
Because this is a remarkable story. Let
[29:29] me tell you why. Councilwoman Jordan,
when she was here, she started an
[29:33] incredible program and it's called Reno
Works. And we have opportunities for
[29:38] individuals that are homeless living in
the shelter through Reno Works. And what
[29:43] that program does is it gives you um
weeks of training and you go through job
[29:48] training and all these different skills
and you get your driver's license, all
[29:53] these things that are necessary and you
get housing and so it really it has had
[29:58] ma a massive impact. And this young man,
everyone graduated from Reno Works and
[30:06] now he is an ambassador in our city. And
um I just think it it's a testament to
[30:11] how well Reno works and you young man
for being so dedicated pulling yourself
[30:17] up um that I know it's not an easy
program but it's really beneficial and
[30:22] anyone that wants to you know work or
have a roof over their their head is a
[30:27] great opportunity to be able to make
that happen. I want to say thank you to
[30:31] Councilwoman Jordan. had it not been for
her, um that never ever would have
[30:35] happened. And I've just been grateful to
be able to support it. By the way, the
[30:39] Conference of Mayors um through Wells
Fargo donated money, you know. So, I
[30:44] just want to stress to individuals out
there, if there's anyone that wants to
[30:47] be a part of Reno Works right now more
than ever, those donations can really
[30:51] matter and help people like Xavier. And
I just I I'm I'm so um touched by you
[30:58] and what you've accomplished. So you
guys should all be proud because all of
[31:02] this is your day. All of this
collectively together. We cannot do
[31:06] anything without one another. So I want
to just say thank you from the bottom of
[31:10] my heart. And I want you to speak.
Speech. Speech.
[31:14] » Come on Xavier. Come on, future mayor.
Come on. Let's talk. Let's talk about
[31:18] it. Okay. Tell tell us a little bit
about your journey if you're if you're
[31:22] not too shy.
Um, yes, I was homeless and
[31:28] couple of the motivations was I was
helping take care of my mom too. So,
[31:34] Reno Works going through that program
really helped me a lot. I met a lot of
[31:40] good people, had a lot of good
connections. Um, they connected me with
[31:45] Reno or with the ambassadors and I've
been here for about four years now. Four
[31:50] years. He has been working for four
years. Wow. That is remarkable. Look at
[31:58] you. He's shy. I can tell. I can tell.
How are you feeling now?
[32:03] » Great.
>> You're feeling great.
[32:05] » Yes.
>> And you're such an inspiration. Please
[32:07] keep telling your story. It's a story of
hope and I want people to know the
[32:11] number one predictor of suicide is
hopelessness. When we give people hope,
[32:15] anything can happen. So, I just want to
say thank you and each and every one of
[32:20] you. You guys, I just knew that um
Xavier might be here and so I could
[32:24] corner him and embarrass him a little
bit, but it's this today is all about
[32:27] you guys collectively as a group. I want
to say thank you to Kristen and and your
[32:32] wonderful team and Councilwoman Jordan.
You'll always be councilwoman to me. Um
[32:36] any questions for our ambassadors? I'd
love for Councilwoman. It's uh right in
[32:40] your board. So, take it away.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Madam Mayor. a member
[32:43] of the DRP board and the only person
that lives downtown. I just want to say
[32:47] thank you so much for all of your work.
I know you guys probably know my number
[32:50] by heart. I called this morning and
you're out there and um it is a very
[32:55] difficult job, but you definitely are
making a difference in our city, in our
[33:00] downtown, and in our communities. So,
you are very much appreciated. Thank you
[33:05] for the work you do. And it's very
difficult. Thank you,
[33:11] » Council or Vice Mayor Martinez. Go
ahead.
[33:13] » Thank you so much, Madame Mayor. I'd
just like to add to the kudos and thank
[33:17] you all for all the work that you do. Um
whether I'm downtown or driving to city
[33:21] hall, it's raining or it's snowing. uh
you all are picking up trash, making
[33:27] sure that the sidewalks are shoveled,
that their carts are getting to where
[33:32] they need to be, that you're directing
people to the right places and answering
[33:36] question for all of our visitors. So, I
just like to add to those kudos and
[33:40] thank you all for all the great work
that you do to make sure our downtown
[33:43] remains clean and a welcoming space for
all of our families and visitors. So,
[33:48] thank you so much,
>> Councilwoman Dur.
[33:50] » Yeah, thank you. Um, I was here at the
beginning with Council Member Jordan in
[33:54] the beginning of Reno Works and to have
a representative of that program in your
[33:59] very special program of being downtown
ambassadors and everything the mayor
[34:03] said about being the front face. We we
could not be that kind of welcoming city
[34:08] without you. Um, and I'm wondering how
many of you have helped people find
[34:13] their way through downtown, you know,
something they were looking for your
[34:16] Could you raise your hand? Yeah. And I
know you I've been out with council
[34:21] member Jordan picking up trash herself.
Um and I also am very grateful that of
[34:25] the place you occupy which is at city
center. And um council member Jordan
[34:30] said a very important thing to me. She
said she didn't used to believe that
[34:33] trees made a difference to the degree
that they do. But your the area where
[34:38] you are housed is the only uh park in
downtown Reno that actually has trees. I
[34:44] mean, now we're bringing them into the
the lids and everywhere else because we
[34:48] found out how important that is. And she
said, "I'm sure glad we didn't cut down
[34:51] these trees. Isn't that right?" So,
thank you for being there and thank you
[34:55] all for what you do. And it's completely
true. You wear a special outfit, you
[34:59] know, the blue and people recognize that
as one of the city's colors and they
[35:04] know that you are there to help them and
that's just incredibly important. So,
[35:07] thank you.
>> Okay, we would love to take a picture.
[35:10] Before we do that, I want to call on
each one of you and I want you to tell
[35:13] me your names because sometimes when I'm
out there, I mix them up. But I want
[35:17] every one of you to be recognized. He's
walking away. He's walking away.
[35:22] [laughter]
All right, we'll start with you, sir. Go
[35:26] ahead. What's your name?
>> Evo.
[35:28] » Eva, nice to meet you. Go ahead.
>> Shane.
[35:31] » Shane.
>> Jason.
[35:32] » Jason.
>> Eddie.
[35:34] » Eddie. I know Eddie. Eddie's got the
cool taste in music. Go. Go ahead.
[35:40] » Ruben.
>> Ruben.
[35:43] » Juan.
>> Juan.
[35:46] » Mark.
>> Jonah.
[35:48] » John.
>> Jonah.
[35:49] » Jonah. Oh, I love that name.
[35:55] » We don't know who you are. [laughter]
Go ahead.
[35:59] » Alexandria.
>> Alexandria. Beautiful.
[36:03] » D. I've heard a lot of good things about
you. D.
[36:06] » Mhm.
Esther.
[36:08] » Esther. We all know Esther.
>> Dne.
[36:12] » Dne. I know Dne very well. Great work.
>> Rachel. Well, I want to say thank you to
[36:19] each and every one of you. We're very,
very grateful. So, let's take a picture.
[36:22] Can we? Okay, come on up.
[36:38] They got they got to scooch. They got to
scooch.
[36:48] » You want him to hold their thing?
>> Oh, here.
[36:50] » Maybe Eddie or Jon or somebody.
[36:58] » Ready? One, two, three.
[37:05] Got it.
>> Yeah.
[37:12] [laughter]
[37:28] Um yeah, hold on to those.
>> Okay, madam.
[37:32] » All right, Madame Mayor, we're moving
into our next um special guest public
[37:36] comment. We have a group of students
here with We the People. So, they have
[37:41] um a couple of comments that are
prepared and then we can go into kind of
[37:44] taking some photos and recognizing them.
if you're okay with that.
[37:46] » Okay. These are our leaders of tomorrow.
You guys are the future of our city. I
[37:52] had the pleasure to visit your class, We
the People. Impressive. I know Council
[37:58] Member Ree has done a ton of work with
We the People. I didn't know that. You
[38:01] guys didn't tell me whenever I was
there. Um but, uh we're so excited to
[38:06] have you here because um you have
something very special to tell us. And
[38:10] so, come on up, all of you.
All
[38:16] right, Madame Mayor, and our first two
speakers today are Amaya Roer and Gabe
[38:21] Castronova.
Hello, council members. My name is Amaya
[38:25] Roer, and I'm a senior at Reno High
School. I'm here today with my
[38:29] classmates to talk about our We the
People program and how you can help us
[38:34] represent Nevada at the national level.
We the People is a civic education
[38:38] program from the Center for Civic
Education that teaches students about
[38:42] American constitutional democracy. The
We the People program takes a village.
[38:46] Our teacher, Mr. Brian Carlin, our unit
coaches, parents, and many alumni have
[38:52] helped us throughout the year. Nevada's
We the People is continuously growing
[38:56] and impacting more and more young
adults. It started as a competition for
[39:00] high school students. However, last
year, Wo County's very own Dural Academy
[39:06] was the first middle school team to
advance to state in Nevada. The program
[39:11] is designed to develop the skills
necessary for active, informed
[39:15] citizenship. It encourages students to
understand the foundations of American
[39:19] democracy and to tie them into modern
context. To me, we the people is a
[39:25] family, not just a class. The
competition has built my confidence and
[39:29] public speaking skills and deepened my
constitutional knowledge. Beyond that,
[39:33] the class collabor collaboration
encourages me to challenge myself every
[39:38] day to understand our democracy. Now,
I'd like to pass the mic to my colleague
[39:43] Gabe, who will dive deeper into the
structure of the class.
[39:46] » Fantastic job. Good job.
>> Thank you, Amaya Roer, for the
[39:49] introduction. Hello. My name is Gabe
Castanova, representative for unit one
[39:53] at Ren uh Reno High School. The we the
people class is officially an AP
[39:57] government class. However, the true
brilliance of the program comes from its
[40:01] competition which celebrates our
constitution and the history and culture
[40:05] of the United States of America. Divided
into six units which range from the
[40:10] philosophical background of the founders
to landmark Supreme Court decisions to
[40:14] what America ought to do to preserve the
long enduring American vision. Students
[40:18] across the country compete in mock
congressional hearings. Units, usually
[40:23] composed of three to five students, dive
into various aspects of our democratic
[40:27] republic with a fourminute pre-written
testimony as an introduction, followed
[40:32] by 10 minutes of cross-examination where
competitors are challenged to use
[40:35] history, common law, and constitutional
provisions to support their arguments.
[40:40] Since the competition's creation, some
30 million students and over 75,000
[40:46] educators have participated in the We
the People uh program nationally. With
[40:51] this program being especially
significant to the legacy of Reno High
[40:54] School, since our adoption of the
program 19 years ago, we have become
[40:59] district champions 11 times, state
champions eight times, and national
[41:03] qualifiers 13 times. Recently, the Reno
High School team has qualified for the
[41:08] national tournament on wild card after
losing the state tournament by only four
[41:12] points. Now, I'd like to introduce my
esteemed colleague, Devon Lester, who
[41:17] will further go into our natural
qualifications for this year.
[41:21] » Fantastic. A+.
[41:24] » Our next two speakers are Devon Lester
and Braden Hurley.
[41:28] » All right, Devin, take it away.
>> Good morning, council. Thank you for
[41:31] having us today. U my name is Devon
Lester. I'm representing uh Reno High,
[41:35] We the People's Unit 3. Um and I'll just
be talking about how our class earned
[41:40] the honor of uh going to the national
championship. Um, so at the we the
[41:45] people state tournament following our
win at the district tournament in
[41:48] December, it was the culmination of six
months of constant studying, revising,
[41:52] and practicing that extended far beyond
our class time. If there's one thing I
[41:57] can say about my classmates and we the
people, it's that they are the hardest
[42:00] workers I've ever met. Our units meet on
weekends, early in the morning, late at
[42:05] night, and everything in between. I've
honestly probably shared more meals with
[42:10] my unit than I have with my family this
school year. Uh, [laughter] as a young
[42:14] adult on my way to being able to make
important decisions for our country, it
[42:18] uh this class is not just um an exciting
competition, but um it it has uh made me
[42:27] more prepared um than most people I know
to be civically engaged um and a
[42:33] knowledgeable citizen. Despite a
hard-fought battle for the state title
[42:37] and four out of six first place um wins,
uh we lost by four points.
[42:43] As my colleague colleague Gabe
explained, we gained our seat to
[42:46] nationals through a wild card
invitation.
[42:49] » Um uh sorry.
>> No, you're doing great. Uh, wild cards
[42:54] are are um performance-based and they're
given to teams uh that earn second place
[42:59] at state championships um and that are
most likely that display the most
[43:03] ability to uh represent their state on
the national level. As a team, we have
[43:08] we have taken the second place not as a
loss but as the heartbreak and
[43:12] motivation we need to take first in the
nation. We are now preparing harder than
[43:17] ever to represent our school, our
district, and our state on the national
[43:21] level in Washington DC in April. I would
now like to introduce my classmate and
[43:25] colleague Braden Hurley to elaborate on
our trip to nationals.
[43:28] » Okay, great job. Four points out.
>> Thank you. So, I'm going to focus on the
[43:33] trip and I represent unit 4 which
focuses on the principles of the
[43:38] principles on how the principles of the
constitution have shaped the
[43:42] institutions of our government. And
there is no better place to learn about
[43:46] the institutions than in the nation's
capital. During our trip, we will have
[43:50] the opportunity to participate in the
competition where we will engage in the
[43:55] most pressing debates surrounding the
Constitution today, such as the debates
[43:59] surrounding executive power, federalism,
and the balance of powers. As my
[44:03] colleagues have previously discussed, we
have put countless hours of thought and
[44:07] study into these questions, and we will
now have the opportunity to demonstrate
[44:11] this knowledge to experts in DC. Not
only will we engage in questions
[44:15] surrounding the government, but we will
also see what we have been studying uh
[44:19] for in person. We will get the
opportunity to meet our senators, Jackie
[44:23] Rosen and Katherine Cortez Masto, as
well as Representative Mark Ammedday.
[44:27] Okay.
>> We also have the opportunity to visit
[44:30] the archives, the Capitol building, the
Supreme Court, and the Library of
[44:34] Congress, the Smithsonian, and many
other important locations, including a
[44:38] Nationals baseball game for some team
bonding.
[44:41] » Wow. Looks like Devin didn't know that
his jaw just dropped. Are you giving us
[44:45] some tea? Is that what's happening here?
[laughter]
[44:47] » Yeah, a little bit.
>> I love it.
[44:49] » Okay, then I'll introduce John
Williamson. And Charlotte,
[44:54] » Charlotte OD and John Williamson.
>> Hi. Um, [clears throat] my name is John
[45:00] Williamson and I'm a representative of
Unit 6. And I really wish we could end
[45:04] this discussion with uh the inspiring
words and personal testimony of my
[45:08] colleagues. Uh unfortunately we run into
the harsh realities of finances. Um as
[45:15] you know values and beneficial programs
are all well and good but what cannot be
[45:20] forgotten is the necessary foundations
and backings that programs like we the
[45:24] people live or die on. To get our entire
class to the nation's capital to compete
[45:29] along with the travel lodging fees and
any more expenses we we have calculated
[45:34] that we need over $100,000. Wow. And we
realize this is a big number. Uh we have
[45:39] been working tirelessly to reach this
goal through fundraising. We've done
[45:43] raffles, community outreach, and through
uh many generous donations.
[45:49] We have [clears throat] already reached
about uh 30,000 of that goal. And while
[45:54] we will continue these fundraising
efforts, working harder and harder to
[45:57] reach that goal, we uh ask for your help
to accomplish this so you can allow us
[46:02] to represent Reno on the national stage
of civic participation. for some final
[46:07] thoughts. Here is my colleague in
Charlotte.
[46:09] » Fantastic job. You're you're selling me
for sure. But there's 30 of you that
[46:13] want to go, right? Oh, yeah. And that's
why it's so expensive.
[46:16] » Yes, ma'am.
>> Okay, go right ahead.
[46:18] » Good morning, council. I am Charlotte OD
and I am our representative from Reno
[46:21] High School's unit 5. While it may be
true that we appear before you all today
[46:26] asking you to support this year's we the
people team, what we really hope to see
[46:30] is continued community support for
programs like ours, which are essential
[46:35] to a healthy democracy. Participation in
We the People has inspired countless
[46:40] students to make the decision to pursue
politics and law, ensuring that the next
[46:44] generation will be educated and excited
to maintain functions of government such
[46:49] as city council. In fact, if it weren't
for our teacher, Brian Carlin, I would
[46:53] not have spent my year interning with
our city clerk's office.
[46:57] » Ah, we know this. [clears throat]
>> Mama over there.
[47:01] » It is only by the fiery passion in each
of one of our minds and hearts regarding
[47:06] American government that we are able to
prepare for the competition facing us.
[47:11] What we are asking council today is
simply to add flame to our collective
[47:15] fire. Thank you very much for your time.
>> Wow. Incredible, you guys. is well done.
[47:20] Give them a round of applause.
[applause]
[47:24] Okay. I get extra credit for coming
here. No.
[47:29] » Okay. Well, tell them you got to change
that. But the reason why, let me tell
[47:33] you that they felt so passionate about
coming here. I know they talked a lot
[47:36] about the program. However, for a lot of
these kids, because I had some private
[47:41] time with um some of your your other
students or your friends, and a lot of
[47:46] them said that it has really been their
safe haven, that at home is not always
[47:50] the best and it was a place where they
felt welcomed and that they had
[47:53] camaraderie amongst um each of you and
it provided something that they never
[47:59] ever thought possible. And the reality
too is
[48:05] I think there's a perception that
certain schools um have more access um
[48:11] to funding than others and that is not
true and you have some students that
[48:16] will not be able to get to go to
Washington DC and it might be that the
[48:20] only trip that they ever have outside of
the city of Reno. And so I just want
[48:25] everyone to know they are here um
actually the voice of these students who
[48:30] want to desperately go that and how many
of you have been to Washington DC. It
[48:35] changes your life. You learn about the
history of our country. It is probably
[48:39] one of the most patriotic things you can
do. It it is so moving and inspiring. I
[48:44] know your your kids are there, aren't
they? There right now.
[48:48] » Well, they live there.
>> No, my youngest my oldest did an
[48:50] internship with Cortez Masto. And did it
change her life?
[48:55] » Yes. [laughter]
Now she wants to go into politics. So
[48:59] mom's in trouble. Is that what she No.
But um I I think you know when you hear
[49:04] these stories and give these
opportunities, it's really really
[49:07] remarkable. But I just think this is the
one trip if you're going to ever see
[49:11] anything if if someone said you you get
one opportunity to go someplace, this is
[49:16] the place to go because it really is the
heart and soul of our country. And um so
[49:20] I would just say we want to help you in
that journey and I'm going to hand it
[49:24] over to Councilman Ree um for some
words. Go ahead.
[49:28] » Thank you so much, Madame Mayor. First
of all, thank you all for being here
[49:31] today. It's always encouraging. I've had
the privilege to work with your program
[49:34] for the last several years, and I wanted
to give a shout out to, of course,
[49:38] you've already mentioned uh Mr. Carlin,
but also your co- coaches, I suppose,
[49:42] Haley Row, Colonel Scott Marriott, Matt
Oaks, Kathy Morris, Atley Williams,
[49:48] Graden Gil, uh Lauren Ponyie, Mike
Ponyie, and Scott Daniel. Um I will uh
[49:55] tell you and date myself a little bit.
In 1990, I was one of the first uh
[49:59] classes of students to participate in We
the People in the State. And at the
[50:03] time, we just had McQueen, Reed, and
Incline in the program. So, you all are
[50:07] carrying on a tradition that's a very
long and proud one for our region. Uh,
[50:11] but I don't know that any program has
been as successful as yours over the
[50:15] years. I think last year you finished
fifth in the nation. So, you've got a
[50:19] lot of big shoes to fill. And I know
that that uh weighs heavy on you. But
[50:22] the truth is is that this preparation
that you're going through even today is
[50:26] part of that preparation. Being able to
see the wheels of government work is not
[50:30] always uh something that uh civic
education has prioritized. And so I meet
[50:37] uh your colleagues and and graduates of
your program uh years later and they're
[50:42] in law school. They're running for
office. They are the change makers in
[50:47] our community. So I'm very grateful for
you. Um I will be with you in DC in
[50:51] April and we'll have dinner together. So
it'll be a privilege to spend time with
[50:55] each of you. Thank you so much. I can't
wait to work with you. Uh let's do some
[50:59] practice rounds, get into some of those
units. It'll be great. Unit six is my
[51:04] jam. So, I'm ready.
>> Okay. But we got to get them there
[51:07] first. We got to raise some money.
>> And so, um, I'm going to help on the
[51:10] financial piece by helping pay for food
while you're there. And so, we'll let
[51:13] see what the mayor might have in mind
for some other help and support.
[51:18] » Any other council members?
>> I I just wondered um so have you al um
[51:24] aggregated how much it's going to cost
and and how far are you long on your
[51:27] fundraising?
>> Yes.
[51:29] » Currently, we have a $120,000 estimate.
Um, we've raised 30 of that 120.
[51:36] » Okay. It's very expensive because you
have to have buses. Cuz I broke it down.
[51:39] I was like, "Wow." But for 30 people, if
you think about it, it's airfare, it's
[51:43] buses, it's lodging, it's food, it's a
lot. It's there. A lot goes into it.
[51:49] » Is it 30 that you're trying to bring,
including your coaches and everyone?
[51:53] » The estimated cost for each student is
3,600. And the way that we have
[52:00] Yes.
>> The estimated cost for each student is
[52:04] 3,600. And the way that our program
attempts to gather funding from the
[52:09] students itself is by having parents
help with half of each students. But if
[52:15] that's not possible, then of course the
school will take on the funds for any
[52:20] student who is not able to pay for their
half. And that is just um the estimated
[52:26] cost for the students. We also bring our
unit coaches as he mentioned and um the
[52:32] teachers and parents who come along with
us to help support.
[52:35] » Okay. So of the 120,000 the would would
you say half of that is going to be
[52:41] provided by the students themselves?
>> Roughly.
[52:44] » Roughly
>> half. Yeah. So you're trying to raise
[52:48] 60,000.
>> Yeah.
[52:50] » Is that right? And you've raised 30,000.
So you're looking for another 30,000.
[52:55] Okay. So, I would love to see a joint
fundraiser with all of us because we all
[53:00] have some of our supporters and and
people that have been very gracious to
[53:04] us um whether it's mentorship or
financially. And so, I'd like to ask the
[53:09] entire council that we have a joint
fundraiser. Obviously, we got to run it
[53:12] by Carl because it's could be an open
meeting law which but anyway that's my
[53:17] my ask of the council is that we invite
our friends and supporters and some way
[53:22] do a fundraiser for them before they so
they they can all participate
[53:25] » and then you're going in April right
this April. So that's
[53:28] » so we have a little bit of time but it's
not around the corner.
[53:32] » So we got to we got to get working.
Well, thanks you guys. We're so grateful
[53:36] that you came today and I'm really proud
of each each of you. I mean, you got up
[53:40] there and you spoke like pros. And did
you have a great time in in your
[53:43] internship?
>> Oh, yeah.
[53:45] » Oh, yeah. She's coming back.
>> I love my internship. I'm coming back
[53:48] this summer.
>> Oh, see, she's coming back. Anyway, um,
[53:52] thank you guys. We really appreciate it.
Okay. I'm going to I'm going to tell
[53:56] your teacher what you did. He's going to
be so proud.
[54:00] » And Madame Mayor, can we take a photo?
>> Yeah, let's do it really quick. You have
[54:04] to tell them you only get a photo if you
get credit. I want to see you guys get
[54:08] credit.
We're trying.
[54:20] » Okay. Ready?
>> One, two, three.
[54:38] All right.
>> All right, Madame Mayor. With that, we
[54:40] have no additional public comment.
Moving into item A4, approval of the
[54:44] agenda.
>> Okay. I'm going to um make a motion to
[54:47] approve. Do I get a second?
>> Second. I have a motion, a second. All
[54:50] those in favor say I. Before we go, do
we do we have any changes from
[54:54] » There are no changes. You will recognize
we have some members of the Reno Rodeo
[54:57] Foundation in the audience. They're here
for item B1,
[54:59] » which I was going to pull off the
agenda. It's in my work.
[55:03] » No, let's get the agenda approved first.
>> So, we have no changes and we have no uh
[55:06] no attorney client today.
>> Move to approve.
[55:09] » I have a motion. I have a second. All
those in favor say I. All those opposed
[55:13] motion carries unanimously. Madame
clerk,
[55:16] » moving into item A5, approval of the or
acceptance of the minutes.
[55:19] » May get a motion. I have a motion.
>> Second.
[55:22] » I have a second. All those in favor say
I.
[55:24] » I.
>> All those opposed.
[55:25] » Motion carries unanimously. Madame
clerk.
[55:28] » Thank you. Moving into the consent
agenda. We'll start with pulled items.
[55:32] » All right. I'm going to ask council
members please uh be ready to pull your
[55:35] items. Councilwoman Anderson.
>> All right. Councilwoman Taylor.
[55:41] Counciloman Martinez.
>> Okay. I'm pulling B1. I'm sure you guys
[55:45] want
>> I was already pulling. Nothing else.
[55:47] Madam
>> nothing else. Councilwoman, I was
[55:49] pulling a B11. Okay. Uh, Councilwoman
Eert, is she on the phone?
[55:54] » Yes, I'm I have no items to pull today.
Thank you.
[55:57] » Approve all remaining items.
>> Thank you so much. I have a motion. I
[55:59] have a second. All those in favor say I.
>> All those opposed. Motion carries
[56:04] unanimously. Item B11. This is super
super exciting. I mean, this is big.
[56:09] This is really really big. Um, okay. We
are going to have the one and only come
[56:14] up and
>> and Madame Mayor, we can start too. We
[56:16] do have public comment from George
Combmes.
[56:19] » All right, we're going to take George's
public comment.
[56:23] » Well, wait. Actually, let's have um you
all you guys come up
[56:28] » and then we will have
>> our Landon
[56:33] » Landon, our very own Landon Miller come
[laughter] up and and tell us
[56:37] » and introduce everyone here why they're
here, what this about, how exciting this
[56:42] is. This is huge.
>> Yeah. and I want to I want to give them
[56:45] the opportunity to speak on it. But for
the record, my name is Landon Miller,
[56:48] fund development manager for parks and
wreck uh for the city of Reno. And today
[56:51] you've pulled item B11, which is the
acceptance of a $120,000 grant from the
[56:56] Reno Rodeo Association to make some
improvements at um Idaho Wild Park. So
[57:01] with that, uh we have some guests here,
including George. He is the
[57:05] » the one and only George.
>> We know George from
[57:08] » of the Reno Rodeo Association, and he
can take it away and um they'll be able
[57:11] to answer any questions that you may
have. someone. Yeah, I'm very very fond
[57:15] of everyone. If you don't know George,
then you don't know Reno. He's amazing.
[57:18] Okay.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Thanks for having us
[57:20] today. Thanks, city council.
>> Um, on behalf of the Reno Rodeo
[57:24] Association, I have the president,
current president, Mark Sutton.
[57:28] » Hi, Mark.
>> Our second vice president, Justin
[57:31] Thompson, and our treasure, Andy Moreny.
>> Hi. Fabulous shirt. Can I have that? I
[57:37] want it. you know, given given a little
past history, Reno Rodeo has been around
[57:41] for 100 plus years. Um, oldest, longest
running legacy event in the city of
[57:47] Reno. And uh, we're very
community-minded and very willing to
[57:52] help out in the community. And what
we've done uh, this year is is is kind
[57:57] of a we gather funds from from tips at
the rodeo. when people come to the rodeo
[58:03] and they leave tips, all them tips go
into a fund and it's for the special
[58:07] kids fund uh to support and we've helped
build playgrounds and gymnasiums and all
[58:14] kinds of things. So, we we let that
build up and then we go out and look for
[58:20] cause to to give to spend that money.
And uh we had a little over $200,000
[58:26] this year that we decided it's time to
get this money to work in the community.
[58:29] And so we put out feelers to try to find
projects that we wanted to be involved
[58:34] with and uh got in touch with Brandon,
talked about the Idle Wild Park and red
[58:40] redoing the splash pads and and taking
some ADA handicap uh accessibilities and
[58:46] stuff and we felt it was a great cause
and we wanted to do it. So we are here
[58:50] to present you with $120,000 to that
project.
[58:54] » Wow.
>> As long as you'll accept it.
[58:56] » Wow. No, definitely not. We've Oh my
gosh, George, that's amazing. Everyone,
[59:01] give him a huge round of applause.
[applause]
[59:06] » And you have you have the press here, so
I want to make sure that they highlight
[59:10] you guys. This is fantastic. Come come
on out. Before we do that, Madame Mayor,
[59:14] I also pulled this item and I just
wanted to um give you the opportunity
[59:19] along possibly with Landon to talk about
what it's going to be used for because I
[59:23] think it's very special. Um do you want
to come up Landon?
[59:27] » Yeah, absolutely. and Landon Miller, uh,
fund development manager for the city of
[59:30] Reno's parks and recck department. What
we're going to do is we're going to
[59:32] allocate this money, uh, and design and
build improvements to the splash pad
[59:37] specifically at Idol Wild Park. Um,
we're going to probably start this
[59:42] project, at least the design phase now
over the next several months leading up
[59:45] until September, and then hopefully
start the construction itself after
[59:48] September, shut it down, and then have
everything um, back open for uh, spring
[59:54] of next year. uh the $120,000 will fit
the scope of the project entirely and uh
[1:00:00] we'll we'll build to that. So,
>> and and my understanding is that the ADA
[1:00:05] aspects of it will allow people that
aren't normally either walking or
[1:00:09] motivating um onto the splash pad and
reconfigure the splash pad so that they
[1:00:14] can share the water. I mean, they could
enter in wheelchairs or other type of
[1:00:18] mobility equipment. Is that correct?
>> Yeah, that is that is 100% correct. Um
[1:00:23] to your point, we have Karina in our
parks planning uh uh area. She's already
[1:00:28] looking at some of the elements right
now that include uh accessibility. We're
[1:00:32] also going to include April Wolf and the
access advisory committee as well. So,
[1:00:36] everyone has a little bit of a stake in
this in this project. It's also cool,
[1:00:39] too. Uh I don't know if anyone's aware
here, but uh 100 years for ID Wild Park
[1:00:43] is next year. So, there's going to be a
lot of uh momentum moving into that that
[1:00:47] celebration for sure.
>> Perfect. I just wanted to give a
[1:00:49] heartfelt thanks to the rodeo
association because um without this this
[1:00:53] would never happen. This [clears throat]
this is
[1:00:56] » unfortunately sadly not the top
priority. You know, usually the top
[1:01:00] priority is just getting police, fire,
our basic services, our most basic
[1:01:04] services. Even we just heard about Reno
Works. They're on the chopping block um
[1:01:09] for our next budget season. In fact,
they're done. Um, so those kind of
[1:01:13] programs that actually help people, lift
people up, uh, make their life more
[1:01:17] enjoyable are very hard to get funded.
So, but for what you are doing, this
[1:01:22] would not be happening. And, uh, as the
W 2 representative where ID Wild Park
[1:01:26] is, I'm just incredibly grateful. But
not just for W 2, but for everyone in
[1:01:30] the city that will be able to enjoy
this.
[1:01:33] » Thank you. And we're honored to be able
to do it. It's, you know, it's uh we're
[1:01:37] a thousand volunteers strong in this
organization and we have a staff of six
[1:01:42] people and it's it's just amazing of
what we can do and the passion that the
[1:01:47] our thousand people have for what we do
and be able to help in the community
[1:01:51] » and it's their tips. I mean, it's their
>> this is just tip money.
[1:01:54] » I know this is
>> I don't think people really realize
[1:01:56] rodeo, by the way, is my most favorite
time of year. I absolutely love it.
[1:02:00] George knows I like um especially all
the bad food. [laughter]
[1:02:04] I love to go there and eat, but um you
know, my favorite is all the roping and
[1:02:09] the bulls. Everything is amazing. It's
um so I just want you to know I don't
[1:02:14] think people realize when they go there,
they're also supporting the community in
[1:02:17] a way that makes a huge difference. I
know a lot of people go there because
[1:02:20] they're such fans and it's our history
and our heritage. It is one of the most
[1:02:25] remarkable events that we have. But
again, it it really is a testament to
[1:02:30] your mission and how you give back to
the community because like I said, I
[1:02:34] don't know if people really realize the
magnitude of how much you give back.
[1:02:38] It's impressive and it's commendable. Um
so, George, I just want to say thank you
[1:02:42] from the bottom of my heart, my friend.
You guys are really um top-notch
[1:02:46] organization and please let us know how
we can also support you.
[1:02:50] » All right. Thank you.
>> Do you want No. Okay. All right. Um what
[1:02:55] else? Let's Let's get a picture
>> cuz you have a check. You have a big
[1:02:58] check.
>> Madam Mayor, can we take a motion to
[1:03:00] approve?
>> Yes. Oh, I guess we better do that.
[1:03:02] George, we we joked about not approving
it and I guess we better approve that.
[1:03:07] So, may I get a Mad Mayor? I'd like to
make a motion to approve acceptance of
[1:03:11] these funds from the Reno [laughter]
Rodeo Foundation.
[1:03:13] » All right. Counciloman Dur has made a
motion. Second is Councilman Reese. All
[1:03:17] those in favor say I. I.
>> All those opposed, motion carries
[1:03:21] unanimously. Can you imagine if opposed?
Anyway, come on up.
[1:03:28] » Yeah, we should probably go off. This is
a big deal.
[1:03:41] » Oh, they're coming down on the bottom.
Okay, I didn't realize we're all coming
[1:03:43] down.
[1:03:53] Thank you.
>> I was going to do the same thing.
[1:03:57] » I love that.
[1:04:11] » Right here.
[1:04:16] You want to cuddle up?
Ready?
[1:04:19] » Here we go.
[1:05:48] All right, Mr. Vice Mayor, we're moving
on to item C1, Charlie 1.
[1:05:54] » Great. Thank you so much. And I think
this is for Director Van Purion. Do we
[1:05:58] have any public comment on this item?
>> We do not have any public comment
[1:06:02] registered and have not received any
correspondence on this item.
[1:06:04] » Mr. Vice Mayor, is there a way for us to
move Charlie for out of order? We've got
[1:06:09] folks from RTC here today and I'd like
to get them back to their RTC stuffs.
[1:06:14] » Not that I don't want to hear Miss Van
Beern, of course. Yeah, that's a great
[1:06:18] point. Director Van Beiran, if you don't
mind waiting until the next item. So,
[1:06:22] we'll take these items out of order.
We'll start with C4 and then move back
[1:06:26] to item C1. Is there any public comment
on agenda item C4, the RTC and our local
[1:06:31] agreement?
>> Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. We do not
[1:06:33] have any public comment registered on
item C4. Additionally, we have not
[1:06:36] received any correspondence on this
item.
[1:06:39] » Perfect.
Mr. Wilson, I think this is all you.
[1:06:43] » Okay. So, uh, good morning, uh, madame
man, council members. Uh, for the
[1:06:48] record, uh, Cleo Wilson, assistant
director of public works. Uh, joining me
[1:06:52] here today is Mr. Dale Killer, the uh,
director of engineering for the regional
[1:06:55] transportation commission. Uh, we're
here to present the RTC fiscal year 2027
[1:07:00] interlocal cooperative agreement, which
will bring the council what we bring to
[1:07:04] council annually to authorize projects
to move forward into design and
[1:07:07] construction.
[1:07:12] First, I'd like to briefly walk through
how RTC project planning planning
[1:07:16] implementation process takes place. This
graphic shows how the projects move from
[1:07:21] long range planning into programming and
ultimately into design and construction.
[1:07:26] All projects begin at the reg at the
regional transportation plan or RTP.
[1:07:31] That's the 20-year plan that establishes
the region's priorities for maintaining
[1:07:34] and improving our transportation system.
The current RTP was adopted by the RTC
[1:07:39] board in February of last year. From
there, projects move into the regional
[1:07:43] transportation improvement program or
RTIP. That's the 5-year program that
[1:07:48] identifies funding for scheduled
projects for project delivery. The RTIP
[1:07:52] is updated every two years and projects
must be included in the RTP to move
[1:07:56] forward.
That brings us to why we're here today.
[1:07:59] This is the annual agreement which
allows these program projects to advance
[1:08:02] to design and construction.
[1:08:06] This slide summarizes what the
interlocal agreement does. Because RTC
[1:08:10] does not own any roadways, this
agreement formally authorizes RTC to act
[1:08:14] as the city's agent to move program
projects into design and construction.
[1:08:19] It clearly outlines the roles and
responsibilities for project delivery in
[1:08:23] in Reno's jurisdiction. And if rightaway
acquisition becomes necessary, it
[1:08:28] provides RTC with the authorization to
pro proceed with the acquisition.
[1:08:35] would like to provide more detail what's
included in this year's interlocal
[1:08:38] cooperative agreement. The projects are
organized into four categories. Starting
[1:08:42] on the left is pavement preservation
projects. These f projects focus on
[1:08:47] keeping our regional roadways in good
condition through preventative
[1:08:50] maintenance things like surface
treatments and rehabilitation helping us
[1:08:54] extend the life of our of our of our
infrastructure. Next, our traffic
[1:08:57] signals and intelligent transportation
systems or ITS.
[1:09:01] This pro project includes intersection
improvements, new new signal
[1:09:05] installations and fiber optic
connections to improve coordination and
[1:09:08] traffic flow. The third category is
active transportation program which
[1:09:13] focuses on improvements for people
walking and biking connectivity and
[1:09:17] access through the mobility networks.
And finally, we have roadway projects.
[1:09:22] This year's ICA has three major roadway
project investments. the O'Brien Pass
[1:09:27] safety project, the Keystone Avenue
safety improvements, and the South
[1:09:31] Virginia reconstruction and Virginia
line BRT improvements. Each of these
[1:09:36] categories play an important role in
maintaining and improving our
[1:09:38] transportation system. In the next few
slides, I'll highlight the active ch
[1:09:42] transportation program projects and the
roadway projects that are included in
[1:09:45] the agreement.
[1:09:49] In the last slide, I mentioned the
active transportation program. This is
[1:09:53] the overarching re uh regional vision
for active mobility. You probably also
[1:09:57] heard the term neighborhood network
planning. To put that vision of active
[1:10:01] transportation into action, the local at
the local level, neighborhood network
[1:10:05] planning areas were developed. These
plans identify specific streets and
[1:10:09] connections based on data and community
input. With that framework, the region
[1:10:13] is divided into 12 planning areas.
They're ranked based on factors like
[1:10:17] crash history, bike connections,
proximity to schools, and where they
[1:10:21] where their areas of strong potential
for walking and biking. The goal is to
[1:10:25] make improvements where they'll have the
biggest impact. These plans emphasize
[1:10:29] quick build, cost-effective treatments
that target safety improvements,
[1:10:33] particularly in high pedestrian activity
areas. So under this agreement, the
[1:10:37] areas moving forward are Sun Valley and
Panta area 2 and Meadowwood and Hidden
[1:10:42] Valley area 10. they'll move into design
and implementation. Those are shown on
[1:10:46] the exhibit there on the left on the
right hand side highlighted in yellow.
[1:10:51] Next, we have our roadway projects. The
first roadway project is the O'Brien
[1:10:55] Pass safety project. This project will
improve safety along North Valleys along
[1:10:59] Golden Valley Road, which transitions
into West 7th Street between Estates
[1:11:03] Road and Sun Valley Boulevard. While the
majority of this project is located
[1:11:07] within Wo County jurisdiction, there is
a portion within the city of Reno. Total
[1:11:11] est estimated investment is
approximately $20 million with
[1:11:14] construction anticipated in 2029.
[1:11:20] Next is the Keystone Avenue safety
project. This will improve intersection
[1:11:23] operations and pedestrian facilities
along Keystone Avenue from First Street
[1:11:27] to I80. The project is estimated at 5.3
million and construction anticipated to
[1:11:32] begin in 2029.
[1:11:36] And finally, the the South Virginia
Street rehabilitation will reconstruct
[1:11:40] Virginia Street from Meadowwood Mall,
which is the southern end of the RTC BRT
[1:11:44] line all the way north to Moana Lane.
This this will enhance transit
[1:11:49] connectivity and performance along the
corridor and include ADA upgrades to
[1:11:53] improve accessibility for all users.
Pimary design is set for 2027 and
[1:11:57] construction is anticipated for 2029.
And the total investment for this
[1:12:02] project is $20 million.
[1:12:05] This concludes my presentation. There is
the motion and myself and Mr. Keller are
[1:12:10] here to answer any questions you may
have.
[1:12:11] » Okay. Thank you. Good job. Okay.
Councilman Ree, go ahead.
[1:12:15] » Ever so briefly, I wanted to ask about a
couple of things. First is a very
[1:12:19] specific program. I have the privilege
of representing this body at the RTC. So
[1:12:24] perhaps we know a little bit more
because of that. But there is a program
[1:12:27] that we have prioritized at the RTC
which I think may be helpful to address
[1:12:32] one of my colleagues concerns. So in the
Smithridge area there is um a bus um
[1:12:38] route that really needs some
improvement. It it is um hard for people
[1:12:42] with mobility impairments to get to bus
stops and also has some fencing that
[1:12:46] blows down with some frequency. And for
my part, I want to make sure that we are
[1:12:52] um making that known at this body that
that's a priority for us through the bus
[1:12:56] stop rehabilitation program, which RTC
is committed to doing, but it has to
[1:13:01] really address those access points along
those roadways. So, that's one example.
[1:13:06] Is that something that you are tracking
or can help us to close the door on?
[1:13:11] » Yes, I will have I'll pass that question
off to Mr. Mr. Keller.
[1:13:16] » Good morning. Dale Keller, deputy
executive director for the record for
[1:13:19] the RTC. Uh, council member Ree. Uh,
yes. So, we have this bus stop
[1:13:23] improvement program that we focus on
every year with uh what you'll see
[1:13:27] later, construction this summer,
different various connections to help
[1:13:30] the sidewalk connections to our bus
stops. We're looking forward to continue
[1:13:33] that program moving on. Right now, we
don't have a project at this time at the
[1:13:36] Smith area, but I know this is going to
be discussion with the RTC board coming
[1:13:40] up next month. Well, I guess I'm I'm
telling you I I when I hear my
[1:13:45] colleagues at this dis raise significant
issues, we want to address them. So
[1:13:48] that's then what we are tasked with
doing. Obviously, it fits a broader
[1:13:52] regional goal, which is we are trying to
make sure that our bus system is not
[1:13:56] just a random sign on the side of a
roadway. We we actually need shelter for
[1:14:01] people to sit under or stand under when
they're waiting for the bus in in
[1:14:05] inclement weather. We need to make sure
that people with mobility impairments
[1:14:08] can get there. So that often involves
sidewalk changes, configurations,
[1:14:12] repairs, and in this case in Mr.
Martinez's ward, um I feel like we have
[1:14:17] not figured out that it it seems a small
issue, right, when the a sto a fence
[1:14:23] blows down, but it becomes a huge
life-saving and life-changing issue when
[1:14:27] someone who needs to access that route,
needs a bus to get there, cannot do it.
[1:14:31] So please understand that I'll be
pushing you to expansively view that as
[1:14:36] an opportunity for us to make those
improvements. Okay. Thank you, Council
[1:14:39] Member Ree. And uh to that point, you
what we hear uh anecdotally, we're also
[1:14:44] seeing from the data driven from those
neighborhood network plans that Mr.
[1:14:46] Wilson discussed in that area by Mewood
Mall. We actually saw a lot of um input
[1:14:51] and comments about how we improved that
connectivity around that Mewood Mall
[1:14:54] area and that Smith area as well. So,
the data help supports that.
[1:14:57] » Well, and I I don't have much time and
I'll just try to get this out quickly,
[1:14:59] but it's still a question for you, Mr.
Keller. were here a couple of weeks ago
[1:15:03] when we had a project that it was a very
important project for our region, a very
[1:15:08] um difficult vote. It was the Lacage um
or I'm sorry, the Lacage golf course
[1:15:14] project and at that time there was a lot
of discussion about improvements to
[1:15:18] Lakeside McCarron. I I want to make sure
you are hearing from this body and I you
[1:15:23] were here so I assume you are hearing
that that is a priority for us and so I
[1:15:27] want to make sure that we're really
directing our effort at looking at that
[1:15:31] intersection at Lakeside and McCarron
and and the area just there because it
[1:15:35] is very important to our region and a
lot of people are impacted by it.
[1:15:39] » Understood. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much.
[1:15:43] » Yeah, thank you. And uh if I could have
Dale still Yeah. Um Dale, um I could
[1:15:48] just say ditto, but the main focus I
have are two projects. One is the
[1:15:52] lakeside of McCarron. Um I know that
you've designed it is what I've heard.
[1:15:59] » Councilman, we are at a 30% design.
>> Oh, 30%.
[1:16:03] » Okay. So, you haven't fully designed it.
So, and I've heard you have budget
[1:16:06] challenges and I've heard you've asked
for money from NDOT and that they have
[1:16:10] not come forward with that yet. And I
guess what I'm saying is sometimes and I
[1:16:15] I know it's important to get the cost
share because it's an end dot built and
[1:16:19] managed road. Um but that said, you
know, it's almost like a jurisdictional
[1:16:25] dispute because at the end of the day,
our people are suffering. Our people
[1:16:29] that are driving or even walking along
that area are suffering. they I myself
[1:16:34] have gotten, you know, stopped trying to
enter McCarron from any which way during
[1:16:39] any number of hours where while I have
the green light, I can't turn there.
[1:16:43] It's a parking lot. Um, so I want to
make sure that we do prioritize
[1:16:47] finishing the design and constructing
the thing. And as I understand it, in
[1:16:53] comparison to some other projects, it's
not that level expensive. I mean, some
[1:16:57] of the projects you mentioned 20
million, etc. I know it's not on that
[1:17:01] order of magnitude. The a second thing I
wanted to ask is we've I wanted to
[1:17:05] follow up on the intersection of um Rio
Wrangler and um what do you call um
[1:17:13] » Steamboat
>> Steamboat? Uh no, it's uh by um the high
[1:17:19] school, Deonte Ranch High School.
There's supposed to be [clears throat] a
[1:17:22] roundabout being constructed,
>> correct?
[1:17:24] » Could you speak to that?
>> Uh yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. I do. So last
[1:17:28] ICA we approved moving forward with
those roundabout improvements that
[1:17:32] steamboat and Rio Wrangler as that
intersection. There's also Macau.
[1:17:36] » Oh, you're doing that's what I I thought
you were doing Macaulay.
[1:17:39] » Now McCauley was also we're looking to
because there's also a future project
[1:17:42] about widening that uh stretch of Rio
Wrangler
[1:17:45] in front of the high school.
>> Correct. To see how they all connect
[1:17:47] together. So what we're moving forward
is with that roundabout as we have in
[1:17:50] the ICA then also study the first in
front of the roundabout for that future
[1:17:53] widening of Rio Wrangler. So, we have
money and we have dedicated resources
[1:17:58] and the ICA to move forward with that
roundabout at Steamboat and Railing.
[1:18:01] » Okay. I didn't realize I know that I
mean it's a tight intersection in terms
[1:18:05] of there's a whole development there
with a fence or a wall. Are are you
[1:18:09] planning to do everything I guess to the
west of that or
[1:18:12] » so? Yes, ma'am. We are and we're
starting to look at the whole corridor
[1:18:15] itself and Rio Wrangler, see how the
traffic flows all together, making sure
[1:18:18] whatever we build for that roundabout of
Rio Wrangler is also compatible for
[1:18:23] future development. The only thing I
would ask when you do these roundabouts
[1:18:26] is that you make them as big as possible
because when you go with those tight
[1:18:30] ones like they have at Somerset and
other places, it's just very hard to
[1:18:35] navigate, you know, and there's a
tremendous amount of traffic coming
[1:18:39] through already. But in the future, to
your point, there's business to the
[1:18:43] north, there's development to the north,
and so a lot of people are going to be
[1:18:47] going through that roundabout. And I I'm
I'm really hoping you can get a handle
[1:18:51] on it and get it built. So, thank you.
>> All right. Go ahead.
[1:18:56] » Yeah. Um I have um just some questions
on the projects in W 4 just to get a
[1:19:02] little more information. Um can you tell
me more about what this project will
[1:19:08] include in Panther Valley?
>> The the O'Brien pass one.
[1:19:12] » Uh yes.
>> So that that's the O'Brien pass. So
[1:19:17] we're get that's what we're getting for
we're getting ready to put this into
[1:19:20] design preliminary design to identify
the improvements that need to take
[1:19:23] place. So things like things like adding
sidewalk you know um crossings you know
[1:19:28] put that evaluation.
>> Okay. I think I'm having like a little
[1:19:31] bit of a disconnect because Panther
Valley to me is is south
[1:19:36] like a south area of the 395 like off
Virginia
[1:19:42] like
>> Yeah. That that's so this this area is
[1:19:46] actually Golden Valley Road. Yeah,
that's what I up there up off off of um
[1:19:50] by North North Valley's high school and
down the Sun Valley.
[1:19:53] » There is something on here that says
Panther Valley. So what is the Panther
[1:19:56] Valley project?
>> Is there you is referring to the next
[1:19:59] item that is the ILA maybe?
>> I'm sorry.
[1:20:02] » Is that there's I do have another item
on the council agenda that's for the
[1:20:05] ILA.
>> Okay. Um
[1:20:09] let me look. I believe it was on your
map here. Yeah. Or it says um following
[1:20:16] extensive public engagement process of
priority areas were identified in
[1:20:19] advance for design, the city of Reno
selected areas for the FY27 ICA to
[1:20:25] include Sun Valley and Panther Valley
area.
[1:20:27] » Got I'm I apologize. So So this is the
active transportation um uh program. So
[1:20:34] this is where we take the active
transportation planning and narrow it
[1:20:38] down into into neighborhood planning
areas. Okay. where weident we identify
[1:20:42] some con connections for for um mobility
networks.
[1:20:45] » Okay.
>> So so we did some we did public uh RTC
[1:20:48] worked on public engagement to develop
uh specific streets that they would in
[1:20:52] that put um uh uh neighbor um uh uh
mobility um plans on mobility network.
[1:20:59] » Okay. So what is a mobility plan?
>> So it's essentially active
[1:21:02] transportation. So things like bikes,
you know, walking, you know, scooters,
[1:21:06] things like that.
>> Okay. And would those be uh divided?
[1:21:09] would there be some type of barrier like
a curb for those areas? And I ask
[1:21:12] because we've had pedestrian fatalities
along North Virginia at the Panther
[1:21:17] Valley area. So, I'm I'm very concerned
about pedestrian pedestrian safety,
[1:21:21] people on bikes because we don't have a
lot of um public transportation. There
[1:21:26] is a lot of foot traffic or people on
bicycles. So, I just want to know what
[1:21:30] what exactly um what safety precautions
will be included.
[1:21:35] » Thanks for that question. So essentially
depending on the speed and volume of the
[1:21:39] of the roadway is how you put the
treatment in place of whether or not uh
[1:21:43] it it's high speed and high volume then
you separate. You know we'll we all
[1:21:47] we'll look at also neighborhood areas
where we can do this where the where the
[1:21:49] speeds are actually slower to make sure
that we're putting people in a safe
[1:21:52] area.
>> Okay. Is it possible, you know, if it's
[1:21:54] an area where maybe you couldn't justify
a curb, maybe you could put like
[1:21:59] plastic, you know, those things that
stick up just as a a a more visible
[1:22:04] reminder to people to stay out of those
areas. I think sometimes people drive a
[1:22:09] little too fast and and don't don't pay
attention to um sharing the road with
[1:22:14] other people. So, I just want to say
that. Um I have other things, but I'll
[1:22:18] I'll come back. Thank you for that.
[1:22:33] Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I don't know if my
time starts over then. Um, so another
[1:22:40] point of concern I get from the Panther
Valley community a lot is access in and
[1:22:44] out of the valley. So, I don't know if
there's anything in the plan to um look
[1:22:49] into more ways to get in and out of that
area, especially with the increasing
[1:22:54] development and there's been a lot of
industrial and and different types of
[1:22:58] things going in there. I've had a lot of
concern from the residents in that area
[1:23:02] that it is difficult to get in and out
and also the business owners have
[1:23:05] expressed a lot of frustration
especially during the time that um Endot
[1:23:10] is doing construction on the freeway
that there is really um limited access
[1:23:15] uh to get in and out. It's been an
extreme detriment to a lot of the
[1:23:18] businesses in that area. So, I don't
know if that's part of the plan, but I
[1:23:21] would recommend looking for ways to um
have, you know, access points in and out
[1:23:28] of Panther Valley. Um the other part I
wanted to talk about, the Golden Valley
[1:23:33] part, um I I know that
there's a small portion of Golden Valley
[1:23:40] in Reno. The majority of it is in the
county. So, um I'm just wondering, you
[1:23:49] know, if
there's going to be more focus on
[1:23:56] um infrastructure within the city of
Reno, like the the huge bulk of that
[1:24:02] project is not going to be within the
city of Reno boundaries.
[1:24:07] » So, I I Khalil Wilson, assistant
director public works for the record. Um
[1:24:13] what's what's not what's benefit to the
citizens that RTC leads this effort is
[1:24:17] that they can make it on a on a regional
collaboration. So we would collaborate
[1:24:20] on the on areas that are washup county
and in the city of Reno to make sure
[1:24:24] that we have a seamless connection
between the two. So because our citizens
[1:24:26] are blind to jurisdiction, right? We
want to make sure we have consistency
[1:24:29] through the corridor.
>> Okay. So with that area, do you know
[1:24:32] now? Have you done traffic studies? Do
you know if there would be a divided
[1:24:36] bike lane in that area?
>> That's what the size is all about. So we
[1:24:39] can get going with those.
>> Okay. So, it's to be determined. Okay.
[1:24:43] Thank you very much.
[1:24:53] » Do you want me to make a motion? Oh,
okay. Um, I move to recommend move to
[1:24:59] approve the regional transportation
commission FY2027 interlocal cooperative
[1:25:03] agreement. Second.
>> All right. I have a motion, a second.
[1:25:06] Any discussion? I see some lights on
over here to my right. Vice Mayor,
[1:25:10] » just ready to vote, ma'am. I'm sorry
about that. Yeah. [laughter]
[1:25:12] » All right. I'll I do have discussion. I
just want to say um you know, I do think
[1:25:17] that um we have a um
[1:25:22] a lot of need for infrastructure in Ward
4. I think everybody's aware of that. Um
[1:25:27] we have extreme congestion. I know that
there's widening happening on the 395. I
[1:25:32] know that there's going to be widening
on North Virginia, but um we need to
[1:25:37] really look for ways to bring more
infrastructure and access to the North
[1:25:41] Valleys in general. So, I just want to
um ask for support from the RTC. I'm
[1:25:45] going to support this, but in the
future, I hope to see more focus um in
[1:25:50] the North Valley's community. We
currently have two access points to get,
[1:25:54] you know, 40,000 people from the North
Valleys into the rest of of Reno. So
[1:25:59] just hoping to see more of that, you
know, in future plans and also hopefully
[1:26:03] someday more public transportation as
well. So thank you.
[1:26:08] » All right. Uh so all those in favor say
I.
[1:26:11] » All those opposed.
>> Motion carries unanimously. All right.
[1:26:14] Good job, Ku.
>> And now we're going to head back to C1.
[1:26:17] Madam clerk, is that correct?
>> Yes, ma'am. Item C1.
[1:26:20] » All right. C1, any public comment?
>> No public comment. And no correspondence
[1:26:25] was received.
>> Oh, yes. So, we will now open up the
[1:26:27] public hearing. Um, no public comment
and no correspondence was received.
[1:26:32] » Is it a public comment?
>> No, it's not. Oh, sorry. Sorry.
[1:26:36] » No, you're good.
>> I'm I'm ahead of myself. Okay, Vicki, go
[1:26:41] ahead. Take it away or Miss Van Beern.
>> And council members, um Vicky Van Beern,
[1:26:46] director of finance for the record. I
have a just a very brief update for you
[1:26:50] today on the general fund. This aligns
with your strategic plan through fiscal
[1:26:55] sustainability.
Uh today I just want to talk about where
[1:26:59] we are in the current year. So this
would be July through January, the seven
[1:27:03] months in this fiscal year and then just
give you a brief outline of what you're
[1:27:07] to expect next week for the budget
workshop that we're going to have on
[1:27:11] March 4th.
So fiscal year 26, this is the current
[1:27:16] fiscal year. Um again, this is seven
months worth of information that we have
[1:27:21] so far for this year. Revenues and
expenditures are tracking in line as
[1:27:24] discussed last month. There's really
nothing really to highlight here that's
[1:27:28] much different. Property tax is still
trending about 2% above budget. Right
[1:27:32] now it's at 1.8% above budget.
Consolidated taxes are trending 5% above
[1:27:38] budget and uh that's with the December
distribution. Then franchise fees are
[1:27:43] tracking 13% below budget for the
reasons that we've talked about before.
[1:27:47] usage, um, weather, um, and that as
such. The slightly higher revenues from
[1:27:53] property tax and consolidated taxes are
covering the shortfall in franchise fee
[1:27:58] revenue at this time. This is in line
with what you saw last month. And then
[1:28:02] salary and benefits are trending 4%
below budget. Supplies are trending 8%
[1:28:07] below budget. Again, this is the exact
same um, information as last month. It's
[1:28:12] still trending exactly the same. savings
are trending higher right now due to the
[1:28:16] number of positions that have been
vacant. Many of those are public safety
[1:28:20] positions and they've either started the
academy with police or they will be
[1:28:24] starting with fire. So we will see those
rates decline a little bit. Um so they
[1:28:29] are a little high right now but really
no different from the information that
[1:28:32] was presented in January.
Cax just to give you an idea of what
[1:28:37] consolidated tax looks like. Again, this
is so critical because as the highest
[1:28:41] revenue source in the general fund, we
have the December allocation. December
[1:28:46] is the highest month of the year given
holiday shopping and such. Um that we
[1:28:51] did receive this week. You can see
overall we're still trending 5% above
[1:28:56] budget. As I mentioned, again, we're
only halfway through the year with this
[1:29:01] data point. We still have, you know, six
more data points to close out this year.
[1:29:06] right now. Um, it's on track with the
way we're developing the budget for next
[1:29:10] fiscal year for fiscal year 27. So,
really nothing to highlight here as
[1:29:15] well. We're just on track.
So, next week, so next week is going to
[1:29:20] be a budget workshop. It's going to be
held on March 4th. It's going to have a
[1:29:24] budget overview that presents all the
funds and more detailed reviews of the
[1:29:28] general fund, the special revenue funds,
enterprise funds, and and the internal
[1:29:33] service funds. So, all of those. And
then we're going to have discussions
[1:29:36] that will also include a review of the
fee schedule and presentations from
[1:29:40] departments on the proposed capital
improvement projects for next fiscal
[1:29:44] year for fiscal year 27. So your role as
council in the budget workshop is to
[1:29:49] guide decision-making and provide
transparency by reviewing the proposed
[1:29:54] revenues and expenditures, asking
questions of me, of staff, you know,
[1:29:58] identifying funding priorities and
providing the strategic policy direction
[1:30:03] so that we can shape the city's
financial plan for you based on that.
[1:30:07] Following the budget workshop next week,
we'll have many other opportunities
[1:30:12] after that. So there'll be financial
updates on March 25th as you see on the
[1:30:16] slide. April's 22nd. Then on May 6,
we're going to have a whole another
[1:30:22] budget overview again. And then budget
adoption on May 20th. So in between now
[1:30:28] and budget adoption. Clearly changes can
be made and we are going to be talking a
[1:30:33] lot of budget during this time. So just
wanted to give you a preview of what
[1:30:37] that looks like and how you'll know
what's rolling out and when. So that
[1:30:42] concludes my presentation. Uh this is a
discussion only item. So it does not
[1:30:47] require a motion, but I'm glad to answer
questions
[1:30:50] » or a public hearing. [laughter]
>> Okay. All right. I'm going to start with
[1:30:54] you, Randy. You have any anything?
>> No, I'm well prepared for this workshop
[1:30:58] and I'm looking forward to our
discussion on how we're going to move
[1:31:01] forward this year.
>> All right. Good. I don't see any green
[1:31:05] lights. Nope. Over here, Councilman Ree.
Ever so briefly, Vicki, I just want to
[1:31:08] say thank you for the pre-preparation.
Um, it's really been helpful to have the
[1:31:12] frequent meetings with you, so I feel
very prepared as Miss Anderson said. Uh,
[1:31:17] I know that this was on the agenda and
you're coming up to update us all the
[1:31:20] time, but we're talking at least once a
week, sometimes twice a week. So, I I
[1:31:24] thank you for that kind of overemphasis
of it because I think it's very
[1:31:27] important.
>> Thank you. Okay. Um, thanks. I had a
[1:31:30] question on slide four. Um, if you could
go back to that. So, this is the summary
[1:31:35] of how things are trending. And I was
wondering, you said franchise free fees
[1:31:40] 13% below budget. And I was wondering if
you've calculated the the
[1:31:47] I don't want to say the change that we
voted on uh last meeting where we were
[1:31:51] going to up the franchise fee to 14%.
Have you calculated how much that would
[1:31:57] bring in as compared to this trend here?
>> Uh thank you for the question. No,
[1:32:02] that's actually not included here. Um,
it hasn't been the budget hasn't been
[1:32:06] amended to include that with the next.
>> Right. Right. But I'm just saying, have
[1:32:09] you calculated is it a four and a half
million
[1:32:11] » be around one $1.2 million? Um, right
now we're trending four.5 million down.
[1:32:17] So that would be
>> help offset.
[1:32:19] » It would help offset
>> but not fully offset.
[1:32:21] » Correct.
>> Okay. And then on that, just so the
[1:32:24] council knows, um I had sent an email to
um Jackie, uh I have been considering
[1:32:31] reconsidering that item. And the reason
was is since we voted, I got a lot of
[1:32:36] input or some input, not I wouldn't say
a lot, but some input that adding the
[1:32:41] CPI um is sort of percentages on
percentages. and rather than have us
[1:32:48] reconsider it, um Jackie recommended
that we discuss it during the budget
[1:32:53] workshop and that we can set the number
despite us voting. Uh the first the
[1:32:58] first uh outing was just going to be the
going to 14% anyway. The CPI would come
[1:33:04] in next time. So she said rather than
reconsidering the whole item that uh the
[1:33:09] council has the ability to set the
number each time in our fees. Um, and I
[1:33:14] talked to Jonathan as well. Would our
vote somehow conflict with our ability
[1:33:19] to set the budget each time? And he said
no. So that is why I did not pursue it.
[1:33:24] I just wanted to tell you that, you
know, I'm supportive and it's a hard
[1:33:27] decision uh to increase any fee, but um
apparently the the CPI would have
[1:33:34] really, you know, ramped up in in a way
that people felt was not sustainable.
[1:33:38] So, I I I heard them and I wanted to
have the conversation with council. So,
[1:33:43] I'm having it right now so that you know
on next Wednesday, which I'll be
[1:33:47] participating on Zoom, you'll know what
I'm talking about. Um, once we get to
[1:33:51] fees, I assume we'll cover fees. And
then the other question I had is will we
[1:33:56] also be I didn't see in your list I
think it was a previous page where we
[1:34:00] would be covering uh the RDA the
redevelopment agency or is that in a
[1:34:05] separate item or
>> redevelopment will be discussed with the
[1:34:08] redevelopment agency? Yes. And that will
be on the 4th as well and it will be a
[1:34:12] separate presentation on the same day.
>> Yes. Same day.
[1:34:15] » Okay. But you're not giving us that
report here, right?
[1:34:18] » No, this is just the citywide. Um but
redevelopment will come on um same day.
[1:34:24] » Okay. Now Vicki, can you be can you are
our budget? You know, you are our CFO
[1:34:29] for the whole city including
redevelopment I assume. Will you help us
[1:34:34] set the stage for that conversation too
in terms of cash flow and opening
[1:34:39] balances and those kind of things? Um,
Ashley Turney is actually leading the
[1:34:45] » right I have spoken to her, but I'm just
looking for apples to apples so it's
[1:34:49] presented in a similar way so we know
what the opening fund balance is and all
[1:34:53] those things.
>> Okay, I will circle up with Ashley and
[1:34:56] » that'd be great. Thank you.
>> Okay, Councilman Eert.
[1:35:01] » No. Okay. No. And I just wanted to
appreciate council member Derer for
[1:35:05] bringing up the the um CPI uh increase
on the um the franchise fee for waste
[1:35:13] management.
>> And if I may, Madam Mayor, yeah, the
[1:35:15] reason I was I heard my colleagues. I
mean, three of you did not vote for
[1:35:20] that. That's troublesome to me. I don't
think that on financial matters we
[1:35:24] should be having like four three votes
and stuff. And that's why I wanted to
[1:35:27] consider it because you seemed worried
about the CPI. Miguel seemed worried
[1:35:31] about the CPI. The mayor was also
concerned. And so I thought, well, I'd
[1:35:35] rather have peace and harmony and do
something we can all support than have
[1:35:40] division. I mean, this is truly what was
driving me. Immediately after the
[1:35:44] meeting, I talked to Jackie. It wasn't I
it wasn't that people sent in letters.
[1:35:49] They did send in letters, but I first
talked to Jackie and I talked to the
[1:35:52] mayor and I said, "I'm uncomfortable. I
don't like this kind of result when
[1:35:56] we're talking about the budget." And
that's why I wanted to revisit it. So,
[1:35:59] thank you.
>> Yeah.
[1:36:00] » All right, Council Neighbor, your lights
on.
[1:36:03] » Oh, yeah. I was just
>> Okay, you're just seconding.
[1:36:06] » Okay.
>> I was just responding to her. Thank you.
[1:36:09] » All right. Well, thank you so much.
Great job. We'll see you soon
[1:36:12] » next week.
>> Okay.
[1:36:15] Okay, Madame Clerk.
>> All right, moving on to item C2. This is
[1:36:19] also a presentation. Okay,
[1:36:28] this is always a good one. Work with
comp.
[1:36:30] » I know it's not sexy, but it's really,
really relevant.
[1:36:35] » So, okay, the forers. Nice to see you.
You're going to do great.
[1:36:40] » Thank you.
>> Okay,
[1:36:41] » so good morning, mayor and council
members. I'm Adria White and I'm the
[1:36:45] risk manager here and I am here to talk
to you guys and provide you an update on
[1:36:49] the city of Reno's workers comp program
for fiscal year 25.
[1:36:54] So this aligns with our strategic plan
of fiscal sustainability and governance
[1:36:58] and organizational effectiveness.
So what is workers comp? So according
[1:37:04] [clears throat] to the division of
industrial relations definition, workers
[1:37:08] comp is a no fault insurance program
which provides benefits to employees who
[1:37:13] are injured on the job and protection to
employers who have provided coverage at
[1:37:17] the time of that injury.
So how does workers comp work? So when
[1:37:22] an employee is injured on the job,
they're required to fill out state
[1:37:25] required forms, give those to the risk
management department here at the city,
[1:37:30] and then those are sent to the third
party administrator for the city for
[1:37:34] review. And then a claim can either be
accepted, denied, or denied pending
[1:37:39] further medical. Now, denied pending
further medical means that they didn't
[1:37:44] receive all of the medical documentation
at the time within the time frame that
[1:37:49] they needed to make the claim
determination. So, it's it's essentially
[1:37:53] a pending status until they get all of
that medical information and they can
[1:37:57] make a final decision.
So, what governs workers comp? So here
[1:38:03] in Nevada, we are an exclusive remedy
state and so all of the uh benefits are
[1:38:08] set for forth in statute. An exclusive
remedy means employees give up the right
[1:38:14] to sue for injuries obtained on the job
in exchange for guaranteed prompt
[1:38:18] payments for those injuries. And here
are the NRS's that govern our workers
[1:38:23] comp here in Nevada. And then we also
have some city policy as well.
[1:38:30] So, what about insurance coverage? So,
NRS does state that self-insured
[1:38:35] employers have to carry an excess
insurance coverage of up to at least
[1:38:40] $2.5 million. So, the city is a
self-insured program and our workers
[1:38:46] comp coverage is a $5 million coverage.
So, we are responsible for anything up
[1:38:50] to that $5 million mark and then it goes
over to the excess coverage.
[1:38:57] So what is covered under workers
compensation?
[1:39:01] So we have medical treatment. So for
example, an employee slips and falls,
[1:39:05] goes to the doctor, that initial
treatment and anything thereafter while
[1:39:09] the claim is open is going to be covered
under the claim.
[1:39:13] Lost time compensation. So for example,
if we have an employee that falls,
[1:39:18] breaks their arm, they have to have
surgery, they're going to be out for two
[1:39:21] weeks, they're unable to work during
that time. There is a calculation of
[1:39:26] average monthly wage that is done and an
employee is given 66 and twothirds
[1:39:31] percent of their salary for those days
that they are certified off of work.
[1:39:37] Permanent partial disability. So for an
example of this, say an employee jams
[1:39:42] their finger in a door frame. The doctor
says they can return to full duty.
[1:39:47] They're cleared for they're cleared
medically, but maybe their finger slants
[1:39:51] just slightly to the right.
um they can be sent for this disability
[1:39:56] rating and the doctor will rate them
give them a certain percentage and then
[1:40:01] they are given a lump sum based on that
percentage
[1:40:06] permanent total disability. So this is
when an employee actually can no longer
[1:40:10] perform the functions of their job. So
an example of this say an employee is
[1:40:15] diagnosed with PTSD. the treating
physician says they can no longer return
[1:40:20] to their pre-injjury position because it
triggers, you know, those memories,
[1:40:26] things along those lines, then they can
no longer unfortunately work here at the
[1:40:30] city or in that position. So, they are
um granted this or able to apply for
[1:40:35] this permanent total disability benefit,
which is a monthly sum that they get for
[1:40:40] the rest of their life.
Um, along those same lines, vocational
[1:40:46] rehabilitation. this is something that
they can choose instead of the permanent
[1:40:50] total disability. So going back to that
PTSD example, say that employee has
[1:40:56] always wanted to be a welder and they
can now say I want to be trained to be a
[1:41:02] welder. Vocational rehabilitation will
take them through the program, train
[1:41:06] them and also help them with job
placement.
[1:41:09] We have death benefits for dependent. So
unfortunately if we have an employee who
[1:41:14] does pass away um under you know the
course and scope of their employment
[1:41:18] there are death benefits that will go to
their dependence and that is a coverage
[1:41:22] for a lifetime as well.
And then other claim related expenses
[1:41:26] those can be things like if an employee
slips and falls hurts their back they
[1:41:31] need to see a spine specialist. Maybe
the only one available is in Utah. We're
[1:41:35] covering those travel expenses for those
employees to go there.
[1:41:40] So what exactly is our FY25 citywide
workers compensation report? So risk
[1:41:46] management creates this annually and we
distribute it distribute it to
[1:41:50] directors. This analyzes the trends in
our workplace injuries and offers some
[1:41:55] insights on those injuries. And then
just keeping in mind this report is
[1:41:59] FY25. So it's July 1st 2024 to June 30th
2025.
[1:42:06] So going into some highlights from the
report itself. So our reported injuries,
[1:42:11] you'll see here we have claims,
incidents, and then total reported
[1:42:14] injuries. A claim is when an employee
actually has gone to the doctor and they
[1:42:18] are getting treatment for that injury.
An incident only is when they are
[1:42:23] essentially putting the city on notice
that they received an injury and they
[1:42:28] may be going to the doctor. They do have
90 days to seek medical attention. So an
[1:42:32] example, say a paper cut. I'm gonna fill
out the form. Say I hurt myself. Maybe
[1:42:38] that paper cut gets infected. I'm gonna
go to the doctor and I have 90 days to
[1:42:42] do that. And then that total reported
injury is the the total of the claims
[1:42:47] and the incidents incident only
together. So you'll see from FY 24 to 25
[1:42:53] we have had increases in all of those
categories. So 14% in the claims, 19% in
[1:42:58] those uh incident onlyies and then 15%
overall increase.
[1:43:05] So our top three departments for that
FY25 year are police, fire and
[1:43:09] maintenance and operations.
And these are pretty standard across um
[1:43:14] the nation just due to the high risk of
these positions that that these
[1:43:19] employees are in. Um again the reported
injuries is the total of those claims.
[1:43:24] So those employees went to to the doctor
and then those incident only. So they're
[1:43:28] just kind of putting everyone on notice.
[1:43:33] So our top three leading cause type and
body part for all those injuries. So our
[1:43:38] leading cause we have absorption,
ingestion, inhalation. So for an
[1:43:43] example, a firefighter, you know,
breathe in smoke. That's going to fall
[1:43:46] into that category. Mental stress,
lifting, pushing, and pulling. our
[1:43:52] injury types, brain strain, contusion
and mental stress. Our body part, lungs,
[1:43:58] mental stress and hands. So body part
and um injury cause are going hand in
[1:44:02] hand together. Um and just a note from
um FY24 to FY25 mental stress has moved
[1:44:10] up in the categories um which we were
anticipating based on legislation.
[1:44:16] So our overall claim costs um you can
see the difference here between FY 24
[1:44:21] and 25. So our new claims that is just
the claim for that period. So July 1st
[1:44:28] through June 30th. So that is the cost
just for that period. Ongoing claims are
[1:44:33] any claims that are continuing treatment
going into the new period. So from FY24
[1:44:39] to FY25, those would be rolling into
that ongoing claim. And then our
[1:44:45] reserves are um if we had to pay every
single claim today, this is what it
[1:44:52] would cost us. So again, this is
consistent with our increases in our
[1:44:57] injury rates. And so our increase in the
claim cost is going up as well.
[1:45:03] So some key factors we have influencing
our claim liability. So, injury
[1:45:07] occurrence. So, just a larger workforce,
um rising medical costs, which we see
[1:45:13] that nationwide, not only in our workers
comp, but as well as our personal
[1:45:17] benefits as well. Uh cost of living
increases, and that's just um the two,
[1:45:22] you know, 2.3% that we get roughly every
year. Um and then also legislative
[1:45:28] impacts. There is also a 2 I think 5%
increase for um those employees that are
[1:45:34] see receiving the death benefits or the
permanent total disability benefits. And
[1:45:38] then we have legislative impacts that we
see um usually every legislative
[1:45:43] session.
And I know this is kind of a small slide
[1:45:47] um but these are the some of the
legislative impacts that we've seen
[1:45:50] since the 2017 session. Um so you can
see that that we do have a a good amount
[1:45:56] that comes up every year or every
bianual year for those um legislative
[1:46:02] impacts.
[1:46:06] And then some of our mitigation
recommendations, we are priator
[1:46:10] prioritizing wellness initiatives to
focus on mental health and stress as
[1:46:15] we've seen that just continue to rise
over the past couple years. um enhanced
[1:46:20] training for our employees and our
supervisors for early detection for that
[1:46:25] mental health and then just emphasizing
ongoing training and workplace safety.
[1:46:30] So looking for those hazards, making
sure we're aware of those and then also
[1:46:34] correcting those hazards.
>> Okay.
[1:46:38] » And that is all I have.
>> I think you did a phenomenal job. How do
[1:46:41] you think? Do you think you did well?
>> Okay. Yeah.
[1:46:44] » I think you did fantastic.
>> Oh, thank you.
[1:46:47] » Were you nervous? I was.
>> No, you could not tell at all. I thought
[1:46:50] you did phenomenal. Um, first of all,
I'm gonna send it over to Councilwoman
[1:46:55] Der.
>> Oh, sure. Thank you. That was a great
[1:46:58] presentation. Um, the one statistic that
I might have missed was for the number
[1:47:03] approved, uh, sorry, number filed, but
number approved is, did you show a
[1:47:08] statistic on that? Like what percent of
workers claim comp uh, sorry, um,
[1:47:15] requests are approved? Um I don't have
that in the presentation but it is in
[1:47:20] the report that was connected to the
staff report. Um,
[1:47:24] » so you don't have anything off top of
your head of
[1:47:26] » I if you give me
>> the
[1:47:28] » the reason I'm asking just so you know
is that historically
[1:47:31] um since I've been here in the beginning
our third party administrator denied
[1:47:36] virtually every claim for workers comp
>> which is very stressful to the people
[1:47:41] that know they were injured on the job
experienced the injury I mean adds to
[1:47:45] their mental stress that you're
highlighting was be that it's just
[1:47:48] denied denied and they had to appeal and
uh both the mayor and I got involved I
[1:47:53] spent a lot of time with our previous
CFOs on the issue of workers comp, what
[1:47:58] we were budgeting, what was getting
approved, how how are our employees
[1:48:02] doing. It was a big issue with our labor
groups, which is that they were getting
[1:48:07] so hassled,
>> you know, to the point that they're
[1:48:10] like, "All right, we'll just drop it."
Which what seemed to be the goal. Uh, so
[1:48:14] do you have any feelings about that? And
I do have a second question, which is
[1:48:18] once it is approved, you mentioned a
number. is do we have insurance for this
[1:48:22] or are we completely self-insured? How
does that work?
[1:48:26] » Um so for your first question um on page
nine of the report just so you have the
[1:48:31] number it does say um the percentage of
denied claims and we have one out of
[1:48:37] every 10 in FY25 specifically. So it's
about 9.7%. [snorts] Well, this is much
[1:48:44] better that And did they have to go to
appeals to get there or I mean do you
[1:48:50] know what they're
>> are they still appeal uh denying most
[1:48:53] things right off the off the
immediately?
[1:48:57] » So we did switch our third party
administrator four years ago. Um and
[1:49:02] that has helped um with with that
situation. Um and we do work very
[1:49:07] closely with the labor groups and our
partners with um all of the claims. So,
[1:49:11] I think we're on a much better page with
everyone. Yeah.
[1:49:14] » Okay. And then as far as do we do we
have any external insurance that helps
[1:49:18] us cover this or is this all on the
city's dime?
[1:49:21] » We do have um a self or I'm sorry an
excess insurance coverage. Um we are uh
[1:49:27] up to $5 million. So we are sorry we are
self-insured up to 5 million.
[1:49:33] » That's per case or total? How does this
work?
[1:49:35] » Per claim.
>> Per claim.
[1:49:37] » Yes.
So, we have to handle the first five
[1:49:39] million of each claim and after that uh
insurance would kick in.
[1:49:44] » Correct.
>> Okay. And then you mentioned something
[1:49:46] about legislative impacts. I I didn't
know what that meant.
[1:49:49] » Yeah. So, sorry. Let me go back to that
one now.
[1:49:55] » I I didn't know what is a legislative
impact. Do you mean they adopted
[1:49:59] something that changed what we do?
>> Yeah. So changing in statutes like so
[1:50:02] for example uh AB410 which was in the
2023 session that in instead of having a
[1:50:10] single event for um stress to point to
that it changed that statute to say
[1:50:15] cumulative events.
>> Oh that's interesting.
[1:50:17] » So those types of legislative impacts.
So it's it's changing the word
[1:50:21] » the statutes they never inform us of
those ones.
[1:50:25] » But I [laughter] mean that makes sense.
So, it would be hard to tie a mental Oh,
[1:50:29] I
>> should say situation to one incident.
[1:50:31] Maybe it's like somebody died and then
your dog died and then something
[1:50:36] happened at work and by the time you're
done, you're full of
[1:50:38] » stress. I'm going to cut you off. No,
that's fine.
[1:50:41] » Okay. Uh, Councilman Taylor, go ahead.
>> Oh, thank you. Thank you for the
[1:50:45] presentation, Adria. This is really
important. Um, my question is about our
[1:50:49] liability, our future liability looking
forward. If I look at, you know, ongoing
[1:50:54] claims and 25 of about $10 million and
that's a 15% increase and it looks like
[1:50:58] there's a trend to keep going up. Um,
your last slide talked a little bit
[1:51:03] about the mitigating mitigation
recommendations. So, could you talk a
[1:51:08] little bit more specifically on what we
are doing to try and prevent some of
[1:51:12] these things within the organization and
is there anything that you need from us
[1:51:18] to help implement that? And then what
would be the follow-up measures? How are
[1:51:23] we going to look at these mi these
mitigations and how effective they are
[1:51:27] moving forward as a data point I guess?
>> Yeah.
[1:51:30] » Thank you.
>> Um so one example is we are really
[1:51:34] trying to emphasize early reporting
right now. Um and that's not just for
[1:51:38] injuries themselves but for example a
near miss. So if someone just trips on
[1:51:43] on the carpet or we'll say a cord but
they don't hurt themselves and but we
[1:51:48] see that as like a consistent thing that
early reporting can help us come out and
[1:51:54] maybe get rid of that cord that cord
shouldn't be there or you know we see a
[1:51:58] constant place where people are getting
injured or a certain type of injury
[1:52:02] someone's pulling something and they're
you know our 20 shoulder claims right so
[1:52:06] that early reporting helps us come out
look at those types of things do
[1:52:11] assessments and help with that
mitigation strategy. Um, and then the
[1:52:16] training, we we deploy trainings um
online so employees always have access
[1:52:22] and we have hundreds of different
training programs that we can um deploy
[1:52:28] to employees and then we are able to
track the um employees that take them
[1:52:32] and then also follow up and see if
there's any, you know, in-person
[1:52:35] trainings they want, things like that.
So that's kind of what we're emphasizing
[1:52:39] right now.
Yeah. And I think
[1:52:42] » I would be super supportive if anything
that we could do even before the
[1:52:45] reporting process. So prevention is is
key.
[1:52:49] » Yeah.
>> Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam
[1:52:51] Mayor.
[1:52:55] » Questions?
>> No. Okay. I just want to say I am so
[1:53:00] glad that you are putting such an
emphasis on mental health. I think it's
[1:53:05] it's so long overdue across the country
anyway. Just not here. But it shows me
[1:53:10] that you're really paying attention to
it and it's something that um I just
[1:53:15] don't think we ever put enough resources
in. Something we don't even talk about.
[1:53:19] The stigma is very real. So I want to
commend you guys for really saying this
[1:53:24] is important. Um and by doing that we'll
have a much healthier organization. And
[1:53:28] then we also help um sort of debunk the
stigma that it doesn't matter who you
[1:53:36] are, where you are, what you're doing.
all of us in some capacity can take
[1:53:40] better care of our mental health, but
our employers have to give us those
[1:53:43] opportunities as well.
>> So, I just want to say thank you to you
[1:53:47] guys for really recognizing that.
>> Thank you.
[1:53:49] » Great job.
>> Thank you.
[1:53:51] » Okay. Anything else? All right. And by
the way, in my next life, I want to come
[1:53:55] back with your hair. So, thank you.
Thank you so much. Okay. Bye, you guys.
[1:54:01] Um, do we have to do I have to It's just
presentation only, correct? Okay.
[1:54:06] Awesome. Okay, Madame Clerk, what's up
next?
[1:54:10] Is
>> this item C3
[1:54:12] » for the record? Item
>> C3.
[1:54:14] » 3C3.
Okay,
[1:54:20] Travis. Yay, it's Travis.
Okay, this is very cool. Travis is going
[1:54:27] to get into the meat and potatoes of the
arch. That's
[1:54:30] » what we're going to try to accomplish.
>> Okay, love it.
[1:54:33] » Uh, for the record, my name is Travis
Trum. director of maintenance and
[1:54:35] operations. Um, this sorry, where's my
little pointer? There we go. Um, really
[1:54:41] today we're just trying to provide this
body with some information regarding the
[1:54:45] arch in advance of the RDA and CIP
discussions you'll be having next month.
[1:54:50] So, I also know that there's been a lot
of questions by members of this board to
[1:54:54] just where are we with the arch? What's
been going on? I see a lights out. Why
[1:54:58] is it out again? That kind of thing. So,
I'm hoping to get into that a little bit
[1:55:02] and uh hopefully help you all out with a
better understanding of what challenges
[1:55:07] we have.
Um, this aligns with our our strategic
[1:55:11] plan in public safety and
infrastructure.
[1:55:14] Um, providing just a little bit of
background and and I'm going to talk
[1:55:17] about we're on version three um of our
arch right now. And one of the reasons
[1:55:22] why I wanted to kind of give a little
history as to where we're at now is
[1:55:26] because I think it's important to
understand that our arch that we have is
[1:55:30] not a historic landmark. It's it's an
icon. It's something that everybody
[1:55:34] recognizes. We see it in TV. We see it
in movies. Um but it is not a historic
[1:55:39] landmark. So we're not held to the same
restrictions that you would see normally
[1:55:42] with that designation. Uh the original
arch was actually built in 1926, but it
[1:55:47] was uh used for um celebration of the um
national uh or pardon me Nevada
[1:55:53] transatlant or trans uh sorry I got it
right here. Transcontinental highway and
[1:56:00] um it was then in 1929
uh Reno adopted the slogan of Reno,
[1:56:06] biggest little city in the world. And uh
as you can see in these photos the it's
[1:56:11] beautiful lettering on it and you can
still see the uh upper two photos the um
[1:56:15] torches on it. Next iteration was
removal of the torches. Um funny story
[1:56:20] about the slogan after uh it was
adopted. A citizen group came out
[1:56:25] complaining they didn't like the slogan.
It was removed and it just said Reno for
[1:56:30] a while. Then another group came back
out saying we want the slogan back.
[1:56:33] Slogan was put back. So again, a lot of
changes occur with this arch.
[1:56:40] In 1963,
the version two was erected. Uh this is
[1:56:46] honestly my my favorite arch. I think
it's just 1960s cool. Um very very neat.
[1:56:52] Um not a lot to be said about this. It
was uh when it was removed, we later
[1:56:57] donated it to Willlets and they still
have it at this point. Um I think the
[1:57:02] slogan said something about um gateway
to the redwoods or something to that
[1:57:06] effect.
And then in 1987 uh what we know as our
[1:57:11] current arch was was constructed.
Um
[1:57:16] in about 2009 there was changes to
remove really to try to start updating a
[1:57:22] little bit and all the old incandescent
bulbs that were within the arch were
[1:57:26] removed and LED bulbs were installed. Uh
this is where we're pretty much at
[1:57:31] today. A few years ago, I think it was
2017 2018, uh the legs of the arch were
[1:57:37] um really the sheet metal on the arch uh
were updated to a silver instead of the
[1:57:41] gold. And um we really became I think a
little more proactive in uh in trying to
[1:57:50] uh use the arch for events specifically
where we started changing out the bulbs
[1:57:54] different colors to promote uh special
events over each um over these different
[1:58:00] events that would come to us. Um average
maintenance is relatively low on the
[1:58:05] arch. We're spending about $20,000 a
year to maintain it. And that's of
[1:58:09] course with no catastrophes or anything
that happens to it. Um, a lot of that
[1:58:14] the average maintenance is just cleaning
uh repairing um damaged sheet metal when
[1:58:19] that comes up. Uh performing lighting
inspections. We have the 276 individual
[1:58:24] bulbs on that. That's not including the
neon Reno that's there. Um then it's
[1:58:29] also taking care of minor electrical and
bulb socket replacements as necessary.
[1:58:35] Um, average annual repairs we saw
recently in December where we had the
[1:58:40] high winds. It caused a sheet metal to
be ripped off from the underside of the
[1:58:44] uh uh the arch. That's about a $15,000
repair that luckily only comes up every
[1:58:49] few years. So, nothing uh um nothing
catastrophic there. Uh for everybody's
[1:58:54] knowledge, this is still in process.
Unfortunately, uh the sheet metal was
[1:58:57] damaged to a point where it had to be
refabricated. We're still looking at a
[1:59:00] few more weeks before it'll be
installed.
[1:59:03] um with the city of Reno currently
contracts out with ESCO uh to help the
[1:59:08] maintenance uh team be able to maintain
the arch. We're spending about 1,500 a
[1:59:12] month and they along with our staff are
inspecting the lettering, repairing
[1:59:16] lettering. Um Reno Star tends to be a
problem because it's an old motor system
[1:59:21] that's constantly running and that goes
out. Uh and then also uh repairing the
[1:59:26] electrical wiring and and other minor
repairs. Um,
[1:59:33] one of the things that I did want to
bring to everybody's attention is that
[1:59:37] the with the special events that we put
on that I was talking about earlier, uh,
[1:59:41] Reno right now, um, charges most of
these promoters over $4,000 to change
[1:59:48] the color of the arch. It's not an easy
process. Every single one of those
[1:59:52] little bulbs has to be unscrewed, new
ones put in, and then at the end of the
[1:59:56] event, those ones removed, new ones put
back in again.
[1:59:59] » You mean they don't magically appear?
>> They don't magically appear.
[2:00:02] » I feel like they magically appear,
Travis.
[2:00:05] » What we're hoping for is something that
is more magical, though, and something
[2:00:08] along the lines of an LED system that
would allow a remote control to change
[2:00:12] those lights,
>> hopefully eliminating that $4,000 cost
[2:00:16] every time we do one of these events.
Um, one of the problems we see again on
[2:00:20] the maintenance side is as we remove a
bulb, change a bold, remove a bold, ch,
[2:00:25] we're seeing damage to the outlets. Um,
it's just wear and tear. The electrical
[2:00:29] wiring gets brittle because of the the
changing. Um, so it's in a nutshell, the
[2:00:35] the arch is it's not super problematic
maintain. It has some shortcomings. The
[2:00:40] neon lettering um in the Reno has been
very problematic over time. It's been
[2:00:46] something that our contractor and our
staff have been able unable to
[2:00:49] completely repair. Um so we still will
see um problems during high rain events
[2:00:56] where it shorts out and when it dries up
again then it comes back on magically.
[2:01:01] Um
then we still have the uh expense of
[2:01:05] changing out bulbs. So
>> yeah,
[2:01:07] » that is really that is it
>> the presentation. Um no actions needed
[2:01:11] by this body. I just wanted to
>> okay
[2:01:13] » kind of fill you all in in what's going
on. Well, Travis, I think you did a
[2:01:16] fantastic job. Um, I always thought that
we should give those bulbs, like when we
[2:01:21] do the pink ones, give the bulbs to the
organization that they can sell and
[2:01:26] raise money for breast cancer or
whatever, childhood cancer or things
[2:01:29] like that, um, other cities and they put
them in like acute momento. It's just a
[2:01:33] really good idea to sort of, um, signify
the the event and it's it's special when
[2:01:40] you have a piece of your city's, you
know, arch. Um
[2:01:45] » if I may speak on that real fast because
I think that's important point. Um the
[2:01:49] the lighting itself, we reuse the bulbs.
So some events we'll have a couple
[2:01:54] events both use blue for instance. Um
>> I think uh it's it's um
[2:01:58] » for our peace officers use blue and then
also for turn the arch blue for the UN
[2:02:02] and our events.
>> We'll reuse those bulbs. Um we have I
[2:02:06] think pink bulbs, red bulbs.
>> Yeah. So you do recycle them. Yeah,
[2:02:09] » we do recycle them. The thing about it
is when we change colors to something we
[2:02:13] don't have currently. Yeah. It's over
$4,000 in bulbs to buy those LED bulbs.
[2:02:18] So,
>> I would urge you to not give them away.
[2:02:21] » No, you're right. You're right. Bad bad
idea. Um, and the other thing is I get a
[2:02:27] little bit of PTSD when I'm down there
and we do 5 4 3 2 1 [laughter]
[2:02:33] » and you're like, is it going to work? Is
it going to work? Right? you I like
[2:02:36] seriously um because everyone's waiting
in baited breath so you're like oh
[2:02:41] please work um I so I have a little bit
of history with this and I I am going to
[2:02:46] and this is nothing against you
>> we went through something very similar
[2:02:51] when we were doing the refresh of the
arch and I this was the very thing that
[2:02:56] I brought up that the LED is so
important so that we can actually do it
[2:03:00] digitized and through technology and
that was my biggest concern is the
[2:03:04] ongoing maintenance of those bulbs,
changing it for you guys, it's not
[2:03:09] effective. I mean, we do need to bring
it into the future, but um I was, you
[2:03:14] know, I was the bad guy and I and this
is just the only reason I'm saying this
[2:03:19] so that everyone can realize on this
council that sometimes you need to make
[2:03:24] the initial investment so that it
doesn't trickle trickle trickle. Now,
[2:03:28] here we are and the contracting and all
of that stuff is I'm sure it's much more
[2:03:32] expensive than what we had looked at and
um you know it it just became that
[2:03:40] people didn't want us to spend the money
and make an investment and it's a very
[2:03:44] iconic piece of our history. It is
probably the most iconic every I mean I
[2:03:49] I would be interesting I bet Rebecca
would know and I could find out the
[2:03:52] impressions that the arch gets. So, it
is the most identifiable piece um in our
[2:03:57] city, the people, visitors, and
community members. And it's a big place
[2:04:02] of gathering. I think it always should
have had the the time and attention and
[2:04:06] the investment that it truly deserves.
It represents us. And I I hate it when I
[2:04:12] drive by and I see half of it like
there's like a few names. You're like,
[2:04:16] "Oh, you know, [laughter]
we're, you know," and we make a lot of
[2:04:20] fun of it. But in a lot of ways, you
know, when visitors come here and they
[2:04:24] want to take a picture under the arch
and it's not looking great or whatever
[2:04:27] that is, I just think um it is sort of
part of our front front facing
[2:04:32] perception of what we do. And so I would
just say be really careful and
[2:04:37] thoughtful about and and Travis, you're
you're great at this. You know how to do
[2:04:41] it. So you're going to know the best way
to make this happen. But I just think
[2:04:46] it's should not be peacem we did that
before. Um, I was against it and uh I
[2:04:52] was really worked up over it. Um, so now
that it's coming back, I'm glad, but I'm
[2:04:58] disappointed that we're here. Um,
because it should have been taken care
[2:05:02] of a long time ago. Anyway, okay. Um,
I'm going to hand it over, Councilwoman
[2:05:07] Dur. Yeah. Um, thanks for the attention
to the issue. Um, it is iconic and
[2:05:12] representative at the same time of us.
Um I just wondered you're bringing it
[2:05:16] today for information but is there going
to be a subsequent item in the budget or
[2:05:20] what what's today's timing about
>> this? So the timing one it was really a
[2:05:26] couple things. Um I've heard from you
guys different people over the last year
[2:05:31] or so two years about just hey what's
going on with this? So we knew that was
[2:05:34] important to follow up with you on. Um
secondly RDA is going to be bringing
[2:05:39] this as one of their items in their CIP
proposed lists. So, in the budget next
[2:05:45] Wednesday,
>> next Wednesday, correct?
[2:05:47] » We should expect to see a proposal,
>> I believe. So, yes.
[2:05:51] » Okay. Yes.
>> And then one other thing, um, most
[2:05:55] people here don't know this, but at some
point, council was requested to vote on
[2:06:00] the colors of the arch, and it's not
about the bulbs, it's about the paint,
[2:06:05] and it's about um the paint and the
silver that you mentioned. And uh I was
[2:06:10] on the losing side of that vote, but
three of us uh wanted to retain the
[2:06:15] colors that it was, which included a lot
of red. Um which is the re the reason
[2:06:21] for the red. Well, historically it was
red. You showed some pictures, but the
[2:06:25] reason was that it shows up very well
against a blue sky. And when it's blue
[2:06:31] and silver, it doesn't show up very well
as a contrast with a blue sky. It kind
[2:06:35] of blends in. So, if you have to redo
the colors, I mean, it was very close
[2:06:39] vote, just so everybody knows, and we
had community input and everything, but
[2:06:43] you know how those UNR students are when
they want something, they're going to
[2:06:46] send in thousands of votes. And they
wanted the arch to represent silver and
[2:06:50] blue, which I totally understood. It's
just from a artistic point of view or
[2:06:55] photographic point of view, um, it just
doesn't show up as well. So, I'm hoping
[2:07:00] in the future if there has to be a
conversation, which I won't be
[2:07:03] participate, you know, I won't be here.
Um, that we reconsider, you know, I love
[2:07:08] silver and blue. I'm a graduate of the
university, grad, undergrad, all of it.
[2:07:11] Uh, but it also could be helped by some
contrasting color that would make it
[2:07:16] stand out even more from my perspective.
So, I just want to share that if it
[2:07:20] comes down to it, if we end up polling
the community again, uh, we'll see.
[2:07:25] Okay. Thanks.
All right, Councilwoman Eert.
[2:07:28] » Yeah, just
>> Sorry, your lights on.
[2:07:30] » Yeah. No, no, no. Just um happy to have
some uh maintenance on it and
[2:07:34] improvements and, you know, anything we
do to downtown, I'm excited to to
[2:07:39] support. So, it was all Thank you.
>> Um Travis, a couple Oh, no. Go ahead. I
[2:07:43] see a green light coming over here.
>> Yeah. Go ahead, Mr. Mayor. I didn't want
[2:07:46] to cut you off.
>> No, no, I didn't know if you were going
[2:07:48] Yes or no. Go ahead.
>> Yeah, I I appreciate the history lesson
[2:07:52] and everything that uh you showed.
Obviously, the pictures uh are worth
[2:07:57] more than a thousand words, and so it
really depicts where our history's from.
[2:08:00] I'm wondering if you can talk about, and
you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I
[2:08:04] think on your third slide, the bottom
picture,
[2:08:09] that arch is still erected, right, in
town, or am I mistaken?
[2:08:16] » No, you're not incorrect. This one here,
this was moved to Lakeside over by um
[2:08:21] the museum.
>> Yeah. And I think most folks obviously
[2:08:23] know the iconic version, the one on
Virginia Street, and that's the one
[2:08:26] that's most photographed. But for those
that may not be aware, obviously on near
[2:08:30] Lake and Mill Street, that intersection
that that arch is still erected over
[2:08:36] there for those who may want to see it
and see that piece of art history um
[2:08:41] still up. So, I just wanted to call
attention to that. And again, thank you
[2:08:44] all for your uh overview of what's
happening and looking forward to the
[2:08:50] discussion tomorrow. I mean next week,
sorry. On the CIP. Yeah.
[2:08:54] » For this.
>> And a little bit of history. You may not
[2:08:56] know this. So the arch that came after
this is actually now in a small city in
[2:09:02] California. And they they took it apart
and obviously made it, you know,
[2:09:07] tailored to their city, but it kind of
went to good use. So not kind of. I
[2:09:12] think it did. I of course I would have
loved to have held on this one. This one
[2:09:16] is my most favorite. And if you go into
my office, you see the R. And a lot of
[2:09:20] people don't know that the R is the a
throwback from from back in the day. And
[2:09:26] so and all those little pins with the R
pins um that that's what they're from. I
[2:09:31] you guys probably knew that. But this
art ended up in a small city in
[2:09:35] California and they tailored it to their
city. So it did get recycled. So very
[2:09:40] cool. Um Travis, just a couple questions
I have heard. Um, tell me, are we going
[2:09:45] to go out to RFP or are you already just
how does that work? Because I know
[2:09:50] Yesco, you mentioned them. Are they
doing it? Give me a little background
[2:09:55] » on the ESCO contract.
>> Yeah. So, their contract actually uh is
[2:09:59] up again for renewal in July.
>> Okay.
[2:10:01] » Um,
>> can I can I ask you is a bond required
[2:10:06] when someone does our um when they do
this type of signage because it's
[2:10:12] expensive? Give me a little background
about that.
[2:10:15] » Frank, do you want to
>> speak? There's a
[2:10:17] » Franka, maintenance operations.
>> Frank, good job. I get I get such nice
[2:10:22] comments about both of you.
>> Oh, yeah.
[2:10:24] » But I get a lot about you.
>> I do. Um, so it's a it requires a
[2:10:29] certain license to work on the arch.
>> Is that a bond where you have to It
[2:10:33] costs money?
>> I believe so. Yeah. Okay. So, it's not
[2:10:36] not every sign company can work on the
arch.
[2:10:38] » Yeah. And um just because I know Yesco
has worked on it for many many years and
[2:10:43] I know we're going to go up to contract
and I know that possibly you know it's
[2:10:47] intricate. They've worked on it for many
many years. Um and so it's got it's
[2:10:52] pretty intricate. Yeah.
>> It's got a lot of
[2:10:55] » I mean I've heard stories about what's
inside.
[2:10:58] » It's complex. Yeah.
>> We could start some fun rumors of what's
[2:11:02] inside the arch. What do you guys think?
[laughter]
[2:11:06] » Might be creepy. So, if I can add
>> might be some money in there.
[2:11:10] » Might be something we [laughter] don't
want to see. So, if I if I can add real
[2:11:13] quick, I get a lot of calls over the
years from um uh middle schools and
[2:11:17] nonprofits that can't afford
>> the $4,000 to change the arch and stuff.
[2:11:22] So, there's a bit of a a bit
accessibility issue.
[2:11:26] » Yeah. And it leaves the community very
negative.
[2:11:29] » Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[2:11:29] » And I thought it'd be really fun to get
kids and everything more downtown. So,
[2:11:33] » I love it. I love it. I just wanted to
understand that process of how we select
[2:11:38] someone because a lot of our smaller
sign companies always say that they feel
[2:11:43] um that they haven't been included. And
so I wanted to kind of just
[2:11:47] » let them know um you know what our
process is and how that works and how we
[2:11:52] can work with smaller sign companies so
we can spread the love. But I also know
[2:11:56] like I said it's very um that
>> that arch is pretty intricate. So we
[2:12:02] when we advertise, we pick up the phone,
we I call people. This is going to come
[2:12:05] out for an RFP and stuff. Let everybody
know. And u last time we got only one
[2:12:10] » contractor. So
>> yeah. Well, thanks Frank. Really
[2:12:12] appreciate it.
>> And Madame Mayor, um before the folks
[2:12:16] leave, I just want to be clear on the
process. You you acted as if we're
[2:12:19] moving forward, but this is something
that we have to consider amongst all
[2:12:23] priorities in the RDA budget for RDA1,
right? And so we haven't decided to move
[2:12:29] forward or we haven't decided if we can
afford to move forward this year. I
[2:12:33] mean, it's obviously urgent. We've
talked about for a long time, but I just
[2:12:36] wanted to be clear. We have to adopt a
budget for RDA that would include this
[2:12:42] project, right?
>> Travis Fuel, director of maintenance
[2:12:45] operations. That is correct. This is
this is not a commitment by this body
[2:12:48] right now to move forward with anything.
Um, really, it's just providing the
[2:12:52] information, an update.
>> Appreciate it. Okay. Thanks. Let's just
[2:12:56] say it it does get approved. Travis,
when would you start and when would it
[2:13:01] be finish?
>> Well, I am delighted to say that I would
[2:13:04] probably not be managing the project. It
would it would be coming through RDA and
[2:13:09] um they have a project manager who's
very competent, Dan Presley, and I
[2:13:12] believe he would be taking the lead on
that. Um I can't really answer time
[2:13:16] frame questions right now. I'm not
>> super uh
[2:13:20] » Miss Tney probably knows. I can't see
her over there. What do you What are you
[2:13:24] thinking? What's the time frame?
or you can just yell it to me and I'll
[2:13:28] put it on the record. [laughter]
[2:13:39] » It's a whole thing.
>> It's a whole thing. Um Ashley, attorney,
[2:13:42] assistant city manager for the record.
Uh Madame Mayor, as Travis mentioned, it
[2:13:46] is listed as one of the many options for
this body to review next week on your
[2:13:50] CIP plan. Um, in theory, if you were to
move that up in the list and vote to
[2:13:54] move forward, those funds are available
starting July 1. And based off of
[2:13:59] importance from this council and how you
rank those things, we would move forward
[2:14:02] with putting out that bid pretty
quickly.
[2:14:05] » Do you know how long it would take as
>> Yeah. Do you know how long?
[2:14:07] » So, we have an estimation. We've learned
we could probably get it turned around
[2:14:10] within four to six months. So, it's
something that we could move forward
[2:14:14] pretty quickly if the body decides to
move it up in the list. As I mentioned,
[2:14:17] there are a lot of needs. Um, so that
will be going to the RAB on Monday and
[2:14:22] then coming to you next Wednesday to
discuss.
[2:14:24] » Okay. And do you have to close off the
street and stuff like that? Like what
[2:14:28] does that entail? So because I don't
think it's just that easy, like we just
[2:14:30] get to work and you're good to go.
>> Correct. Yes. Um, so it would be pretty
[2:14:34] significant. We would have to shut down
the road for some period of time. We
[2:14:38] would need to redo a lot of the sidewalk
as well from the electrical. Um, much of
[2:14:42] the electrical that goes to the arch
actually runs halfway up Hara from a
[2:14:45] property line standpoint. So there'd be
some sidewalk replacement involved. and
[2:14:48] we would work closely with public works
and RTC for the microobility project to
[2:14:52] make sure that we're working in tandem
around that timeline if you choose to go
[2:14:55] this route.
>> Okay, got it. And cost
[2:14:58] » uh we have an estimate right now about a
million and a half dollars is what we
[2:15:01] anticipate.
>> Wow.
[2:15:03] » And as a reminder that is not a
replacement for the arch. This is just a
[2:15:07] modernization of the lighting
components. Um does not include a
[2:15:11] reskin, does not include movement,
change any of the exterior. It is purely
[2:15:15] just the modernization of the light
functionality to replace two LED lights
[2:15:20] that we could change with an app and
then re-evaluating that neon to decide
[2:15:24] if we go to phone neon and then have one
of our local artists do something with
[2:15:28] the existing neon.
>> Wow. Well, we should pull up those past
[2:15:32] documents because I think it was half of
that when we looked at it.
[2:15:35] » Yes, we've seen massive increases in
that time period.
[2:15:40] » I mean, I know things are much more
expensive and all of that. I'm just
[2:15:43] saying like again it speaks to you know
don't let it drip drip drip invest in it
[2:15:48] and then you're not jaw
>> things are not getting any cheaper.
[2:15:52] » Okay.
>> Could you explain about the neon? I I I
[2:15:56] didn't follow that part with the
electrical.
[2:15:58] » So as u director Truh Hill mentioned
whenever we get so much as a due the
[2:16:04] neon shorts out there is no known solve
for that. We've looked at uh neon
[2:16:10] artists, collectors using Yesco as our
contractor. No one has been able to
[2:16:14] figure out how to fix it. And that's
just due to the nature of
[2:16:16] » Can they put the picture back up? Uh
just tell us which part is the neon?
[2:16:20] » Reno.
>> The Reno.
[2:16:21] » Reno word.
>> Yeah. So it's the Reno part. You can see
[2:16:24] here on the top left hand side of the
pink neon. Uh when we [snorts] get a
[2:16:28] little bit of moisture in the air,
you'll drive by and it will say retro.
[2:16:32] And [laughter] uh so Scooby-Doo is sad.
front row.
[2:16:36] » And so there is no known fix for that.
There technology has come quite a ways
[2:16:41] since we first looked at this. And
there's some really incredible faux neon
[2:16:45] that's an opportunity for lighting and
we would have the ability to change that
[2:16:49] lighting as well as the LED under lights
as well.
[2:16:53] » Um and then we would propose taking that
original neon and turning it into
[2:16:58] something a cool art project if we could
find I'm sure Will would have
[2:17:01] » and when you present this if you do
because I don't know where it is in any
[2:17:04] number. Um, can we separate out the
light the light bulb part of the project
[2:17:09] from the neon part? It may be possible
to do one without fixing the whole
[2:17:14] thing. I mean, in other words, break it
into components that are manageable
[2:17:17] instead of this million and a half.
Yeah, we can ask um if that's the
[2:17:22] direction of the body, we can look at
that. And just as the reminder, the
[2:17:26] there is no known fix for when it shorts
out, but we can
[2:17:30] » No, but I mean versus it's just going to
short out from time to time, but versus
[2:17:34] replacing the whole making the neon
decision right now as part of the LED
[2:17:39] decision, it may be that we have to
break it into two pieces.
[2:17:42] » Yep. We'll see if we can get some
updated quotes going into that or once
[2:17:45] the body gives some direction.
>> Okay.
[2:17:47] » Yeah. And um I think you know we don't
talk about a lot. We talk about the
[2:17:52] appearance of it, the aesthetics and
actually you know it with a lot of
[2:17:58] people that cross there and drive
through there the infrastructure and the
[2:18:03] whole structure of of that arch is
really important to keep in good working
[2:18:09] order so that you don't have pieces that
are flying off and those kinds of
[2:18:12] things. We rarely talk about that. you
again it everyone wants to see it shiny
[2:18:18] and and we love that but there's another
component which is the safety component
[2:18:23] too but I think you guys have done a
phenomenal job because I know that it's
[2:18:27] um been outdated for so long and you've
just made it work curious how long how
[2:18:32] how long Travis does it take to I'm
curious how long does it take for um
[2:18:38] someone from your department to change
those bulbs that should be a trivia
[2:18:42] question
>> fuel director maintenance operations.
[2:18:45] Um, what I've seen, so we're our
department is not actually doing that.
[2:18:49] We don't have the ability just to tie up
people to do it.
[2:18:52] » We have the bucket trucks and equipment,
but we found out that it's more cost
[2:18:55] effective to hire that out. So, that's
part of work we'll hire out.
[2:18:58] » Yeah.
>> Typically, it's Yesco. Um, and it's
[2:19:00] taking a good good part of a day
>> change out.
[2:19:04] » You think eight hours?
>> Yeah.
[2:19:06] » Yeah. Okay. All right. Thanks so much.
Okay. Any other questions for Travis?
[2:19:10] No. All right. We are not taking any
action, but we really appreciate the
[2:19:14] presentation. Good job. Exciting.
>> Okay. Good job, Frank.
[2:19:21] » Okay.
>> All right, Madam Mayor. Moving on to
[2:19:22] item C5. Charlie 5.
>> Perfect.
[2:19:25] » Madame Mayor, I had a briefing on this
as I think we all did. I'm not sure we
[2:19:29] need a presentation unless my colleagues
disagree.
[2:19:33] » Okay, I'm fine with that. Um, anything?
Okay. Um, can I get a motion?
[2:19:38] » Move to approve.
>> Thank you. I have a motion. I have a
[2:19:41] Second.
>> Second. All those in favor say I. All
[2:19:44] those opposed. Motion carries
unanimously. Okay.
[2:19:48] » Madame clerk,
>> are we doing a break or we just
[2:19:50] » No, we're going to keep move. We're
going to keep moving on. We're not going
[2:19:53] to take a break. If you want to get up
and take a break, please do so. Just um
[2:19:58] pay attention and I don't want to lose
quorum, but we're not going to stop
[2:20:00] today.
>> Okay.
[2:20:02] » All right, Madame Mayor. Moving on to
item F1 in ordinance adoption to be read
[2:20:05] by the city attorney.
>> Okay. Mr. Carl Hall, take it away.
[2:20:08] » Thank you, Madam Mayor. Ordinance
adoption. Ordinance number 6735,
[2:20:12] ordinance to amend title 5, chapter
5.90, article 2 of the Reno Municipal
[2:20:17] Code entitled collection and
transportation of solid waste and
[2:20:20] recyclable materials repealing section
5.90.070
[2:20:24] entitled franchise fees together with
matters which pertain to or are
[2:20:28] necessarily connected therewith.
>> I have a a a motion second.
[2:20:32] » I have a second. All those in favor say
for comment. I just want to make sure
[2:20:35] everybody knows it's not about the fee.
It's about that removal of that section.
[2:20:39] Okay. Okay. All those in favor say I.
>> All those opposed. Motion carries
[2:20:43] unanimously.
>> Madame clerk.
[2:20:47] » Item G1, which is uh an appointment or
reappointment of two individuals to the
[2:20:52] Truckucky Meadows Regional Planning
Commission.
[2:20:55] » Okay. May I have a motion?
>> Yeah, Madame Mayor. Um, I looked I I
[2:21:00] don't see council member Eert unless
she's just in the facilities, but um I
[2:21:07] looked at the staff report, but I also
checked in in past practice and it seems
[2:21:12] like this is about appointing a member
from the planning commission to the
[2:21:16] regional planning commission. And um my
understanding is that some of the
[2:21:21] members of the um commission have not
yet served. And I think that proposal
[2:21:27] from the planning commission was to or
possible was to reappoint Mr. Velto who
[2:21:32] I think's done a great job. Okay.
>> But I also think that um we should give
[2:21:36] everyone a chance.
>> I don't believe that's the
[2:21:38] recommendation.
>> No, I'm saying
[2:21:42] the recommendation.
>> I'm explaining
[2:21:44] » whatever the recommendation is.
>> Yeah. Okay.
[2:21:46] » Yes. Move to approve the
>> recommendation. A second. Please don't
[2:21:49] interrupt me. I'm still in my time.
>> Okay. No, no, go ahead. I'm just saying.
[2:21:52] » Hold on, Councilwoman.
>> Yeah.
[2:21:54] » I I asked for what the recommendation
was and I didn't I I wasn't intended to
[2:21:59] skirt you. I was listening and then I
heard you say yes, whatever the
[2:22:02] recommendation is. So, that's where I
jumped ahead. So, go ahead. Take it
[2:22:05] away.
>> I was saying despite the recommendation.
[2:22:08] » Got it. Oh, I thought you said no. I'll
go with the recommendation. Okay. So, um
[2:22:12] I asked um some folks like it sounds
like there's a seniority thing at play
[2:22:16] as well and um you know who's been there
longest, the second longest, and who's
[2:22:21] already served and who hasn't served.
And I I'm just going to share my
[2:22:25] perspective that I think all of our
boards, whether it's this board or the
[2:22:29] NABS or any board that we have, a lot of
them are for training. A lot of them
[2:22:34] have um experience component. So anyway,
um you know, I I would support the
[2:22:41] Christina Delvr um and I guess she was
recommended for a short threemonth
[2:22:48] appointment or something is what I read.
And um I would recommend Manny Basera.
[2:22:52] And look, the group I I heard some
discussion may not agree with me, but
[2:22:56] that I just went into seniority and who
hasn't served yet. I don't think it's a
[2:23:00] popularity thing.
>> Who hasn't served?
[2:23:03] » Um well, Manny. Um, I talked to my
representative who declined to serve
[2:23:08] again to be reappointed.
>> Okay.
[2:23:10] » Um, and
>> and you're on the board.
[2:23:13] » No, no.
>> Oh, no. Okay. I have two council members
[2:23:16] that are on the board.
>> No, no. This is Megan is the liaison.
[2:23:21] » Oh, okay. All right.
>> Okay. All All I'm saying is my
[2:23:24] perspective. People don't have to agree
with me, but
[2:23:26] » totally. All right. I'm coming from um
Councilman Ree. Uh, Madame Mayor, I'll
[2:23:31] move to appoint Christina Del VR uh to
the unexpired term of the prior member
[2:23:37] who declined to be appointed and Miss
Tina Gofantini.
[2:23:42] » Second.
>> Okay. I have a motion and a second. All
[2:23:44] those in favor say I.
>> I. All those opposed.
[2:23:47] » Motion carries unanimously.
>> Okay. Uh, Madame Clerk.
[2:23:52] » Item G2,
appointment five.
[2:23:57] » Thank you so much.
>> Reese, go ahead. Madame Mayor, I'll move
[2:23:59] to appoint Abby Logtog to the um body.
She was previously an alternate. And
[2:24:06] then my two alternates will be James
Cooper and Veronica Gearhard.
[2:24:09] » Okay. Thank you so much. I have a
motion. I have a second. All those in
[2:24:12] favor say I. All those opposed. Motion
carries unanimously.
[2:24:16] » Madame clerk.
>> All right, Madame Mayor, if you would
[2:24:21] like to go into city council comments.
We're on item H1.
[2:24:24] » All right. Any comments? All right.
We're going to move on. Madame Mayor.
[2:24:28] » Yes. Go ahead.
>> May I ask, did you make the appointments
[2:24:30] to the regional planning commission? Can
we please reconsider since I'm the the
[2:24:35] liaison to the board? I didn't realize
that was going to happen. I had to run
[2:24:40] to the restroom.
>> Sure. We we can reconsider. Um we did
[2:24:45] vote so I don't know if it'll change
anything. Okay.
[2:24:47] » We had a little bit of discussion. Naomi
has some very very good reasoning. Okay.
[2:24:51] Okay. Um, but if you want to and I think
we would have to re
[2:24:56] » Can we take a motion for
reconsideration? Yes.
[2:24:57] » Well, can we also say what the vote was?
It was for Miss Gill and Tini and for
[2:25:01] Miss Delv VR.
>> Okay. For which terms?
[2:25:04] » Miss Delvr was for the unexpired term
which is three months and then Miss
[2:25:09] Goffini was for a full term.
>> Okay. Yeah. I'd like to ask for
[2:25:13] reconsideration. Thank you.
>> Go ahead. Uh, what do you couns?
[2:25:19] » Uh, yeah. Motion.
>> I have a motion and a second. All those
[2:25:21] in favor say I. I.
>> All those opposed. Motion carries.
[2:25:25] » Oh. Um,
>> no, that's okay.
[2:25:27] » No, I'm going to give her the um floor
and so you can
[2:25:31] » I'm sorry. What was that vote?
>> We we're doing a reconsideration.
[2:25:34] » Everybody voted yes.
>> Yes.
[2:25:36] » Okay. Sorry. Thank you.
So, um I just as the council liaison to
[2:25:42] that board and um with Christina being
nominated last time and the council um
[2:25:47] not supporting her um the planning
commission's nomination to move her to
[2:25:53] the regional planning commission last
year. I would like to support her uh
[2:25:57] appointment to the three-year position
um uh based off of uh seniority and
[2:26:03] again she had been um nominated last
year and the um council for some reason
[2:26:10] disregarded the planning commission's
nomination. So um again based on
[2:26:15] seniority um I would like to move her
forward on the planning commission um
[2:26:20] and uh com uh commissioner Bera for the
three-month term.
[2:26:24] » Okay. Thank you so much. All right. Um,
Miss Eert has made a motion. All those
[2:26:30] » second.
>> In favor say I.
[2:26:32] » All those opposed.
>> Voted I.
[2:26:35] » Okay.
>> Motion carries.
[2:26:37] » Do you want another motion?
>> I'm sorry. Motion Motion fails. Okay. Go
[2:26:42] ahead.
>> You want a second motion for Mina?
[2:26:45] » We
I I I don't know if we should entertain
[2:26:49] another motion unless you're willing to
give one. Councilwoman Eert. Do you want
[2:26:53] to give a different motion?
Um well uh
[2:26:58] » the board the commission sorry the
council suggested Tina um Gianianti tini
[2:27:04] I'm sorry I'm messing the word up.
>> Yeah. Um okay I'll make a motion for uh
[2:27:10] commissioner Delvr for the three-year
term and um I'm so sorry. Can you help
[2:27:15] me pronounce
>> Gavianini for the remainder of
[2:27:19] » you have actually a longstanding name
here in Reno. Yeah, for the remainder of
[2:27:24] uh Commissioner Roar Meer's term.
>> Okay, I'll second.
[2:27:27] » So, I have a motion and a second. All
those in favor say I.
[2:27:30] » I.
>> All those opposed?
[2:27:32] » Nay.
>> Okay. So, we're going to go back. I'm
[2:27:35] going to make a motion for um the um
Miss I I'll make the motion. So, I would
[2:27:42] like to make a motion for Miss Gy and
Tiny and
[2:27:47] uh is it Delvar?
>> Delvr.
[2:27:49] » Delvr. Is that how you pronounce it?
>> Okay. Um,
[2:27:53] » Geoffentini for the full term and Delvr
for the
[2:27:57] » remaining term.
>> I'll second.
[2:28:00] » Okay. I have a motion and a second. All
those in favor say I.
[2:28:02] » All those opposed.
>> Opposed.
[2:28:04] » Motion carries.
>> Yeah. I'd like to make [clears throat]
[2:28:07] comments, too. I'm just ahead. um
extremely disappointed in um just kind
[2:28:12] of
[2:28:15] not going with the norm of appointing
the members of seniority and also um not
[2:28:22] allowing [clears throat] more
representation for W 4, which remains to
[2:28:26] be um the ward with the most area um
geographically and um the most
[2:28:33] development coming in. And I think it's
the area that it that um deserves the
[2:28:38] most representation and um I'm just
disappointed in this board's decision to
[2:28:44] not um provide more representation for
that community. Thank you.
[2:28:49] » Thank you for the comments. Okay, moving
on, Madame Clerk.
[2:28:55] » All right, Madame Mayor, we're going to
open the redevelopment agency.
[2:28:58] » All right.
[2:29:03] » Okay. My favorite part of the day,
>> the redevelopment agency board for
[2:29:07] Wednesday, February 25th, 2026.
>> Rachel,
[2:29:13] » loving the pink. Okay. Um,
>> our first item today is roll call.
[2:29:18] » Okay. Yes, please call the role.
>> Council member Taylor
[2:29:21] » here.
>> Dor
[2:29:22] » here.
>> Martinez absent at this time. Eert
[2:29:25] » here.
>> Reese
[2:29:26] » here.
>> Anderson
[2:29:27] » here. Sheavy
>> here. Madame Mayor, you do have a quorum
[2:29:30] of the redevelopment agency board.
Moving on to item A3, which is public
[2:29:34] comment. I do not have any registered
and have not received any
[2:29:37] correspondence. Item A4 is approval of
the agenda.
[2:29:40] » Move to approve.
>> I have a motion. Second. I have a
[2:29:43] second. All those in favor say I. All
those opposed. Motion carries
[2:29:46] unanimously.
>> Item A5 is acceptance of minutes. Move
[2:29:51] to approve.
>> I have a motion. Second.
[2:29:52] » I have a second. All those in favor say
I.
[2:29:54] » All those opposed. Motion carries.
Okay, we are going to uh move on to B1
[2:30:01] and um this is the adoption of the
rebrand. I'm hearing really really good
[2:30:06] things about this. So, I'm super excited
to see what what it looks like and and
[2:30:11] all the razledazzle before I want to um
I do want to recognize how hard you guys
[2:30:17] worked for Western Lights. Rachel again
like hit it out of the park. Poor Ashley
[2:30:23] knows. I mean, I think Ashley and I have
had knockdown dragout fights about
[2:30:26] downtown activation, activation,
activation. And I know she's like, I'm
[2:30:29] gonna do it. I'm gonna get it done. And
I just, again, you knocked it out of the
[2:30:33] park. Um, I got to see some of the
installations. It was fantastic. Um, I
[2:30:39] was incognito because I was so cold, so
I bundled up a ton. But I just I I can't
[2:30:45] um stress how it's becoming such a
highlight in the community and bringing
[2:30:50] people together of all walks of life and
all different artists. And so I know
[2:30:54] Ashley's feeling like a proud mama. Am I
right? Right. She is. [laughter] So um
[2:31:02] thank you. And uh I would just say any
way we can possibly bring in more and
[2:31:06] more artists and be inclusive and just I
just think you just put on such an
[2:31:11] incredible display. I didn't get to see
Come on up. I didn't get to see you guys
[2:31:16] and maybe um you did. I know Kathleen
went and uh Devon,
[2:31:20] » but at the church,
>> which was super exciting. Can you just
[2:31:25] talk about that because I do want people
to realize that their effort to really
[2:31:30] make that space um be something special?
So maybe you could talk.
[2:31:35] » Yeah. U Madam Clerk, I think we're
probably still on public comment.
[2:31:39] » We are. So we're good.
>> That's my thought. um Ashley Attorney,
[2:31:42] assistant city manager for the record
and I have Rachel McIntyre,
[2:31:44] [clears throat] placemaking manager with
me who can talk in more detail about
[2:31:47] Western Lights and what we saw from
people number of artists and the work
[2:31:50] that she did. This is truly her
brainchild of uh she came to me and
[2:31:55] said, "I want to create something in the
shoulder season and we have our downtown
[2:31:58] action plan that this body adopted that
recommended creating a new legacy event
[2:32:02] in downtown." And so I'm very proud of
the work that Rachel's done because this
[2:32:07] is her grit that has pulled it off the
ground and turned it into something
[2:32:11] truly magical and the support of this
body as you have
[2:32:15] » long commented on the importance of
activation in downtown and especially
[2:32:19] outside of our typical event season. Uh,
one of the things as you mentioned,
[2:32:23] Madame Mayor, is the old movie theater
is now known as a project called
[2:32:27] Reforma. And we're very excited about
this project is it's actually going to
[2:32:31] be nine different tenants that will be
going into that space. Uh, there'll be
[2:32:36] obviously a worship space, but there's
also going to be retailers and coffee
[2:32:40] shops and a restaurant, uh, childcare
facilities. And they did a wonderful
[2:32:45] job, I thought, of really opening up
that facility to the community. And they
[2:32:49] really integrated in as part of Western
Lights. They had the biggest little
[2:32:53] circus was present. Uh renderings of
what they're planning on doing with the
[2:32:56] project. Had Shushboom serving local
beer in the back corner and lots of DJ
[2:33:02] options for kids.
>> So they are really proving to be an
[2:33:06] active part of the downtown fabric and
want to make sure that they are
[2:33:09] incorporating in and bringing in a lot
of the things that we've been asking for
[2:33:12] from some of the businesses in our
downtown core. So, we're excited about
[2:33:16] that project. And then I'll let Rachel
talk more about the work that she's done
[2:33:20] with Western Lights and our artist
count, what we had this year, the
[2:33:23] expanded footprint. Um, and then you can
give them some news about the board and
[2:33:28] where that's transitioning to.
>> Okay. Awesome. Love it. Are did you get
[2:33:32] rest?
>> Yes.
[2:33:34] » I I [laughter] always feel like you
don't sleep for a few weeks before and
[2:33:38] after.
>> That is very accurate. Um, I'll start
[2:33:41] first with just some gratitude to this
board. um none of this would be possible
[2:33:45] without your vision, direction, and
trust. And then of course the financial
[2:33:49] contributions. So we greatly appreciate
being able to get an event in an
[2:33:52] organization like Western Lights off the
ground to benefit the entire community
[2:33:56] of Reno. Um and I think that for us as
an organization and as a city uh was is
[2:34:02] my favorite part is when you look around
downtown Reno and you see folks that are
[2:34:07] truly representative of our entire
community. Um it's it's a highlight.
[2:34:11] It's a glow. Um, and so thank you. Uh,
this event wouldn't have been possible
[2:34:15] first and foremost without your support.
We also had tremendous support from the
[2:34:18] Downtown Reno Partnership and snow
removal. Uh, Naom out there like salting
[2:34:22] the sidewalks for us.
>> Yes, I was so worried for you.
[2:34:26] » You should have been [laughter]
very people realize how much you stress.
[2:34:32] » It um, it was fascinating. We lost
effectively 2 and 1/2 days of build um,
[2:34:37] just removing snow. And so I also would
like to uh recognize City of Reno and
[2:34:41] our street supervisor, specifically Matt
Bo, for all of his support and resource
[2:34:45] and helping us pull that off. We were
shocked that we actually opened on
[2:34:48] Thursday, but we did.
>> And on Thursday, in, you know, we had
[2:34:52] two record-breaking snowfall days. And
despite that, we still had preliminary
[2:34:56] numbers. We'll have final numbers next
week, but on Thursday, in the middle of
[2:34:59] a snowstorm, we had just over 5,000
people from our community come out. Can
[2:35:02] you believe that?
>> In the middle of a snowstorm.
[2:35:04] » In the middle of a snowstorm. Um this
year we were really excited to expand
[2:35:09] with more time we had the opportunity to
expand our community partnerships. One
[2:35:13] that we wanted to highlight is we had an
informal partnership with UNR. We had
[2:35:17] three departments from the University of
Reno, Nevada represented this year. We
[2:35:20] worked with the art department um on
projection arts um inside of one of our
[2:35:25] vacant retail storefronts downtown. And
we were very grateful for that and um
[2:35:30] grateful to the property owner who
allowed us the use of his space and his
[2:35:33] power to bring that space to life. We
also had um UNR athletics. We did an
[2:35:38] activation in partnership with the
Whitney Peak on the climbing wall. We
[2:35:42] had UNR cheer football and basketball
represented. Um and then last but
[2:35:46] certainly not least, um the planetarium
took over the projection mapping dome at
[2:35:51] West Street Plaza on Thursday. So, we're
excited about bringing the university
[2:35:56] more into the downtown core as this body
is set as a priority. Um and we're
[2:36:00] excited to continue that work through
Western Lights Festival. In addition to
[2:36:04] that, the support of the small business
community in the downtown core uh was a
[2:36:07] big priority for us this year. Hence the
partnership with Reforma, Sierra Tap
[2:36:11] House, Bull Bridge Pub, um goodness, the
Eddie. Uh I'm going to miss a bunch. Um
[2:36:17] the spot. Um and we're really grateful
for their support both in donations of
[2:36:22] lunches and meals to our volunteer and
build crew uh and also opening up their
[2:36:25] spaces in the middle of winter to take a
risk on a very cool event. So, [snorts]
[2:36:29] um, we are still awaiting final numbers,
um, on attendance, but as it shows right
[2:36:34] now, preliminary, we're looking
somewhere around 60,000, trending
[2:36:37] similar to last year, which we're very
excited about. Um, we had over 50 art
[2:36:42] installations this year. Uh, we had 51
to be specific art installations. 65% of
[2:36:48] those were from local Reno artists. Um,
we also represented three countries this
[2:36:52] year, bringing in international art,
helping to put Reno as a public art hub
[2:36:56] on the map. Um, in addition to the
physical and visual art that we had, we
[2:37:01] had 82 live entertainment performances.
Um, and that's everything from nonprofit
[2:37:06] circuses like Biggest Little Circus to
bands and DJs and buskers. Um, it was
[2:37:12] truly a sight to be seen for Reno. So,
thank you all so much for your support.
[2:37:16] Uh, Western Lights is now establishing
as an independent 501c3 as a result of
[2:37:22] the support that it's received from the
community. Uh they have an incredible
[2:37:26] board that they've assembled. Um I'll be
able to be an amazing volunteer and
[2:37:29] continue to support. Um and we're
excited. Um but yeah, the board that
[2:37:34] they're putting together is phenomenal.
They do have open board seats. I would
[2:37:36] be remiss if I didn't just share that
publicly. So if you're interested, stay
[2:37:40] tuned for more information on that. Um
and we're very excited to work with this
[2:37:44] body on what the future of the event
looks like for the community throughout
[2:37:47] the year and expanding into the Midtown
District and Brewery District in 2027 as
[2:37:52] well.
>> Yeah, that's awesome. Who's the
[2:37:53] executive director?
>> Uh, we are waiting to vote on that.
[2:37:56] Right now, our project director is Megan
Miller. She served as the comm's
[2:38:00] director for Burning Man or for 12
years.
[2:38:02] » I know Megan very well. She's amazing. I
didn't know that.
[2:38:05] » Yes. So, she is also um she has her
background in place making and urban
[2:38:09] development. So, she is phenomenal
asset. Um, and we have a ton of other
[2:38:14] folks. We have Ian Xavier is a creative
director. Uh, he's from the Grand
[2:38:18] Artique. He also serves on the board.
Luca Starmer, who's a professor at UNR
[2:38:21] in digital production, Marbel Garcia, uh
Miranda Carter, Steve Emmerick, uh who
[2:38:28] is just a staple in our community for
music and culture. So,
[2:38:30] » oh my god, I think that is incredible.
And Megan actually um spoke has spoken a
[2:38:34] few times at the Conference of Mayors.
She's she's impressive and she's kind
[2:38:38] and she loves art and she is just an a
shining star in our community. That's
[2:38:44] amazing. We would love um to do
something special for them. So maybe we
[2:38:48] can talk about having them come to
council and talk a little bit about the
[2:38:51] project and things that they need in the
community because I think a lot of
[2:38:54] people are seeing something like this
for the first time. Um except if some of
[2:38:59] us have been to Burning Man, Ashley's
been to Burning Man, Devon's been to
[2:39:04] Burning Man. But I think a lot of people
say it's so great. I could never afford
[2:39:08] to go out there. It's not accessible or
whatever. I've been working. you know,
[2:39:12] they they said this just feels like it's
a piece of Burning Man that they get to
[2:39:17] experience, though it's not Burning Man,
but it they feel like, is this what
[2:39:21] Burning Man's like? And so, it's a core
ethos for the organization is really
[2:39:26] learning to inspire our community and
specifically our youth at the
[2:39:28] intersection of art and technology, and
that's, you know, they're on a mission.
[2:39:33] And to see kids walk up to Hot Shot the
Robot and be like, "Wow, mommy, that's
[2:39:37] so cool." And also in their minds to
know like you too could create a robot.
[2:39:41] Um, and that child may have had no other
access to that art or that magic or that
[2:39:46] technology before and this festival
gives them that opportunity. So,
[2:39:49] » well, I think it's fantastic. Go ahead,
Councilman Ree.
[2:39:52] » Thank you so much. Um, I think you know
how very inspired I was by the work that
[2:39:57] you and all of the people that you've
mentioned have done. Uh, you especially
[2:40:01] though have carried the torch and so
thank you for that. I was one of those
[2:40:04] weird people who was there all three
nights and I um wanted to go on
[2:40:09] different nights at different times to
sort of understand what the different
[2:40:13] feel was. And certainly the first night
there was an element of magic to it
[2:40:17] because there had been this snowstorm.
It was snowing at various times and it
[2:40:21] added uh to all of the sparkle. It was
incredible. But I share with my
[2:40:25] colleagues a couple of comments. One is
I ran into folks who live here in town,
[2:40:30] lived in Demani Ranch and they re laid
to me that they had chosen to uh rent a
[2:40:36] hotel room downtown for three nights uh
because they wanted to be present for
[2:40:40] all of the festival and they wanted to
be you know didn't want to miss a minute
[2:40:44] of it. So that tells me that it struck a
cord if people are going to stay
[2:40:48] downtown although they live in town. Um
that really is anecdotal but I think
[2:40:53] represents the broader buyin that's
happening in the community. And then the
[2:40:57] second one was I had a conversation with
the artist who is from Canada who had
[2:41:00] just come from Portland and he Paul I
think and he did the Venus fly trap
[2:41:06] which is was lit up. Um and we had a lot
of conversations about his different
[2:41:09] experience between his time in Portland
and his time here because they had just
[2:41:13] come from Portland and first of all in
Portland it rained the whole time so at
[2:41:17] least we had snow and not rain. Um and
he just said what an incredible
[2:41:21] community that this is. It's welcomed
him the enthusiasm. Um he said it was
[2:41:26] quite well organized. He said artists
aren't always real good about like
[2:41:29] signing the right forms and doing all
the things. And he said that uh you all
[2:41:34] had helped all these artists to really
showcase their art. I I was also uh
[2:41:38] really encouraged. Um I don't know all
the musical artists that you had. There
[2:41:42] were so very many and there were I think
at least I think I counted five
[2:41:46] different stages different types of
music. I went from everything from
[2:41:50] regatone trap music uh bandas music.
there was um some different kinds of EDM
[2:41:56] music. So, it seemed like it appealed to
a very broad cross-section. Um I saw
[2:42:00] Josie Rock was there um and had was
doing art and and selling art. Uh Jerry
[2:42:07] Snider's uh iconic piece which was along
the river outside of the uh Ren Reform
[2:42:15] » Reform uh was the stained glass series.
It's stunningly beautiful. I saw someone
[2:42:22] who comment about the lit up palm
treeesque things and of course last year
[2:42:26] we had a different version of it but
both of those would be like perfect
[2:42:30] permanent installations. I look
everything about it was just incredible.
[2:42:35] Um I will also give great thanks to our
RPD partners. Um officer Blount was down
[2:42:41] there and um I'm a big fan. Um, but I
got to check in with him and talk to him
[2:42:45] about, you know, safety and related
issues and it was just um, everyone was
[2:42:50] happy to be down there. There wasn't a
lot of uh, mischief going on and and it
[2:42:54] it really was exceptional. Um, I will
say one thing for um, what I think there
[2:43:00] would be a great opportunity at some
point in time to do a deep dive on what
[2:43:02] worked, what didn't, all those kind of
things. For my part, I think 10 was
[2:43:06] maybe a little too early to cut off all
the fun. Um, so maybe I'd be looking for
[2:43:10] it to be later. Um, because it was
interesting because the second night I
[2:43:14] went, um, I was coming from another
event. So I left that event about like
[2:43:17] 9:30 and then went down there. And by
the time I had just gotten excited about
[2:43:23] seeing all of it, it was over. And so,
um, I I know there's some moment where
[2:43:27] you have to cut off all the fun. Um, but
it could go a little later. Uh, and of
[2:43:31] course I'm excited at the opportunity to
expand it into Midtown, into the brewery
[2:43:36] district, up to the university. It
really should be a a sort of a multi
[2:43:41] maybe a week-long festival that
celebrates a lot of that interplay
[2:43:45] between technology and art. Uh because
that's like cutting edge. It's not
[2:43:49] happening other places. Um and again, I
I am so grateful for you for your
[2:43:55] leadership. You have taken the kind of
things that we kind of had thought
[2:43:58] bubbles about and actually now gone and
done them. So tremendous job. I I just
[2:44:04] couldn't be more excited. I didn't hear
the numbers cuz you and you may not have
[2:44:08] them all, but I wouldn't be surprised if
we outgrew last year's event and um
[2:44:12] obviously um numbers don't tell the
entire story, but it is one metric. But
[2:44:17] I every night I was down there, it was
bigger than the first night and the on
[2:44:22] social media it was just very popular.
So, uh incredible job. Congratulations.
[2:44:27] And if this body would like to encourage
us to revisit the special event code
[2:44:32] around what time special events have to
end and get it extended till 11 p.m. I
[2:44:36] know our proer community would be very
happy about that. So you just let us
[2:44:40] know.
>> Yes, we have Miss Turney put it on the
[2:44:43] agenda.
>> Thank you so much.
[2:44:47] » I love I see your face is all red,
Rachel, but honestly fantastic job. You
[2:44:52] should really know that. Um, I know I
Devon does a really good job of
[2:44:58] appreciating people. I always see that
from you and um, so I just need you to
[2:45:03] know that I'm just hearing wonderful,
wonderful things throughout the
[2:45:06] community.
>> Awesome.
[2:45:07] » So, congratulations.
>> Thank you.
[2:45:09] » You did it again. And I think you're
getting tested with the weather and all
[2:45:14] these things and you're like, "No, I got
this. I got this. I can do it." So, you
[2:45:18] make it look easy, which I
>> moved a lot of snow.
[2:45:20] » Yeah, I know [laughter] you did. You
did. So,
[2:45:23] » but next year maybe we can put the snow
and make like I you know sculptures or
[2:45:27] igloos or something with it. We'll have
like that component if we get snow we'll
[2:45:31] turn it into a little component of that.
Right.
[2:45:34] » I did see where they have these snow
plows. I think it's in Europe and they
[2:45:38] they take this. Did you see that? They
do blocks and they take it in and then
[2:45:41] they also do snowballs.
>> Oh, that's cool.
[2:45:43] » And so they line the streets with
snowballs.
[2:45:46] » You send that to me. We'll figure it
out.
[2:45:48] » Yeah. [laughter]
We can't afford that truck but we'll be
[2:45:50] out there. Brandy and I, we can roll and
Kathleen, we can keep rolling the
[2:45:55] snowballs. Anyway,
>> awesome.
[2:45:57] » Great job.
>> Thank you all so much. We appreciate it.
[2:46:00] » Love it. Okay, Madam Clerk. Sorry, I
just needed to do that.
[2:46:03] » That's okay. We're back on item B1, boy
on the redevelopment agency.
[2:46:07] » Okay, take it away, Brian.
>> All right, thank you. Uh, good
[2:46:11] afternoon. What time is it? Yeah, good
afternoon, Madame Mayor. Uh, agency
[2:46:14] board Brian Mardo Revitalization.
>> 7 o'clock.
[2:46:16] » It's not 7 o'clock. Yeah, that's for
sure. Um we are bringing back before you
[2:46:21] uh the one of the final steps in the
agency rebrand uh and that is to
[2:46:25] finalize the new agency name uh the
color palette and some of the icon
[2:46:29] options um so that we can uh wrap up the
rebrand process and launch the new uh
[2:46:35] agency brand.
And so why rebranding the RDA uh is
[2:46:40] important uh as the agency has been
dormant for about 15 years. You notice
[2:46:45] the only uh mark that we have at the
moment is that I call it the save by the
[2:46:49] bell logo up in the right hand corner
[laughter]
[2:46:51] or the jazz solo cup if everyone
remembers the old solo cups. Uh this
[2:46:55] logo sold we don't even have a digital
copy. There's probably a floppy disc
[2:46:58] somewhere uh in a box that actually has
the the soft version of this logo. So I
[2:47:04] think that's a a scanned copy. Um but as
we come out of 15 years of dormcy, we
[2:47:09] want to make a big splash. We want
people to know what the redevelopment
[2:47:11] agency is, what it's doing, and the role
that it plays in the community. And so
[2:47:15] it was deemed that a rebrand would be an
option uh to do that. And so with this
[2:47:20] rebrand, the agency will be uh
modernized. It will be proactive. It'll
[2:47:24] go out into the not only the local
community but also nationally to attract
[2:47:28] investors, developers, tell the story of
what is happening in our region from an
[2:47:32] investment placemaking uh redevelopment
perspective and hopefully bring some
[2:47:37] dollars and some interest and some new
uh place-based economic development into
[2:47:41] the region. And last, with the new
brand, people will know what we do. We
[2:47:45] can educate people on the the programs
and opportunities. uh the tools that we
[2:47:49] have drive engagement and so with a new
brand is a great opportunity to
[2:47:53] reintroduce ourselves to not only local
community but national players uh and be
[2:47:58] proactive in telling them about who we
are as a region. And so what the agency
[2:48:04] board is being asked to do today, uh
when we brought this item board in
[2:48:09] October, uh we settled on a logo um icon
identity, but it was asked by this body
[2:48:16] that we go in back in the consult and
review some other color pallet options
[2:48:20] that mainly incorporate some city of
Reno uh existing color options. But the
[2:48:26] items today before you is to formally
adopt the new agency name. It would be a
[2:48:30] doing business as the Reno Redevelopment
and Placemaking Agency also known as
[2:48:35] REIUP. And so it's just like RSCVA and
Edon have have longer names but they
[2:48:40] have shorter names. That's how we would
operate in this scenario. So we'd be
[2:48:43] known as REIUP but uh doing business as
the Reno Redevelopment and Placemaking
[2:48:47] Agency. Uh we're also asking you today
to select the final visual identity in
[2:48:52] the color palette and then the option A
or B of the icon styles.
[2:48:58] And so what is included in this rebrand?
As I mentioned, it's a new name. Uh it's
[2:49:02] adopting the color palette and those
icons. What it won't do is the legal
[2:49:06] name of the agency will not change. It
will still be uh on paper the Reno
[2:49:11] Redevelopment Agency, but it will be a
DBA operating as the Reno uh
[2:49:15] redevelopment placemaking agency. Uh so
this doesn't change any statutory
[2:49:19] authority, doesn't change the the plan
at all. Uh no change to the programs and
[2:49:24] policies. This is just essentially a
rebrand in how we present ourselves to
[2:49:27] the world.
So the DBA uh I mentioned this a lot
[2:49:32] already. Uh it allows us a great
opportunity to reint reintroduce
[2:49:37] ourselves uh to the world. Uh have a
great approachable brand where we where
[2:49:42] it isn't deemed completely as the city
which is more institutional. It's more
[2:49:45] proactive. Uh lets people know that
we're willing to work with them and
[2:49:49] achieve whatever plans that they have um
within within the redevelopment areas.
[2:49:55] These are the color palette options that
residents put together after that
[2:49:59] October meeting. Uh option one was the
was the original one we brought forward.
[2:50:04] Uh this body asked to go back and
incorporate some city of Reno blue
[2:50:08] color. So those are options two and
three.
[2:50:12] We call option one ponderosa pine. Uh I
think Paul Klein the agency advisory
[2:50:17] board chaired mentioned um that in his
comments this morning.
[2:50:23] Our consultant resonance uh recommends
that we not go with blue uh mainly
[2:50:28] because it it washes in with all the
other existing logos throughout the
[2:50:32] region. Uh we love our silver and blue.
We love our Nevada colors. Uh there are
[2:50:36] a lot of icons, logos and organizations
that use this color scheme already. The
[2:50:40] fear is that we would just be lost in
the mix. Uh when we want to be
[2:50:44] proactive, go out into the world, tell
people what we're doing, want a splashy
[2:50:47] logo, a splashy brand. uh this with
going with blue would come across a bit
[2:50:52] more institutional than what would be uh
uh preferred. Uh it doesn't signal a lot
[2:50:58] of change. It's kind of a bit of the
status quo. And so resident's
[2:51:03] recommendation was to go with the green
color palette. Uh the RAB saw this
[2:51:08] earlier this month. Uh the RAB
recommendation of this body was
[2:51:12] unanimous was to continue with this
green color palette option. Um green
[2:51:17] means go. Uh it highlights the sort of
mountain town community that we're we're
[2:51:21] starting to uh believe we are. Uh and
with this new green color, it kind of
[2:51:27] sense it gives the idea that this is
something new, vibrant, and exciting.
[2:51:31] » It's growing.
>> It's growing. We're growing. Uh the icon
[2:51:36] styles in your packet was the complete
uh packet from residents that include a
[2:51:40] lot of examples of how these icons could
be incorporated from reports to street
[2:51:46] banners uh to swag. Uh it was asked that
we bring a couple options back. Option A
[2:51:52] was uh closer to the original proposal.
Option B is a little bit more expanded
[2:51:56] block icon. Uh the RAB did see this as
well and the RAB's recommendation was to
[2:52:01] go with option A. Uh and so just to
reiterate what the RAB's recommendation
[2:52:07] of this body, the RAB recommended the
approve this body uh adopt the Ponderosa
[2:52:13] pine green color palette.
>> Bless you.
[2:52:15] » And then go with option A on the icons.
And so that with that I'll put the
[2:52:22] motion in front of you. Um
>> okay.
[2:52:24] » And I'm happy to answer any question.
>> Thank you so much. All right. Any motion
[2:52:27] to approve? Go ahead. So uh Councilwoman
Der made a motion. Councilman Ree
[2:52:32] second. All those in favor say I.
>> I.
[2:52:35] » All those opposed. Motion carries
unanimously. Um, sorry,
[2:52:40] » Councilwoman Anderson.
>> Did you want to?
[2:52:42] » No.
>> Manager for the
[2:52:45] » Sorry, your lights on.
>> Yeah, I apologize.
[2:52:47] » Clarifying that uh the redevelopment
board would like to move forward with
[2:52:52] option that the RAB recommended of
Ponderosa Pine and option A for icons.
[2:52:57] » Great. Thank you so much. That's what we
>> Yeah, you've made staff recommendation.
[2:53:02] » Yes. Thank you. Okay.
>> Yeah. And I want to add that I think
[2:53:04] it's a good job and thank you for taking
the time to look at the options. Uh the
[2:53:09] only thing I might have thought was
where you're using the teal was to use
[2:53:13] one of the colors out of the palette
which is maybe the yellow because the
[2:53:17] yellow is the biggest part of our
current logo. Not blue, not light blue,
[2:53:22] not silver, but the gold. But probably
green and gold represents some team
[2:53:28] somewhere that's some other city, some
other university. And maybe that's why
[2:53:34] they didn't even think about it. I don't
know.
[2:53:36] » I'll add that there is an expansive
color palette that residence does have.
[2:53:40] It incorporates a lot of the city of
Reno yellows and blues. Okay.
[2:53:44] » Uh as secondary color options.
>> What I saw was a number of the icons,
[2:53:48] too.
>> Yeah.
[2:53:49] » I I just think they did a good job. So,
>> thank you.
[2:53:53] » Okay.
All right, we're good. Good job.
[2:53:56] » Awesome.
>> Okay. Um,
[2:54:00] now we need this one.
>> Two more.
[2:54:02] » Yeah.
>> Oh, we need two. Council Der,
[2:54:04] » I'm sorry.
>> B2.
[2:54:12] Okay. What? Where?
>> We're on item B2 on the redevelopment
[2:54:16] agency board acceptance of the downtown
action plan.
[2:54:19] » Okay. Go ahead.
>> All right. Uh, thank you.
[2:54:22] » I'm wondering like are you waiting for
me? I'm waiting for you. What are we
[2:54:24] doing? Okay, go ahead, Brian. We've been
waiting a month and a half.
[2:54:28] » As far as your usual, you stay up there
and then we go into the next, but you
[2:54:31] sat down, so I'm like, what?
>> Go ahead.
[2:54:34] » All right. Uh, Brian Mard,
>> getting all red. [laughter]
[2:54:37] » Uh, revitalization manager. So, what
we'd like to do now is bring an update
[2:54:41] on the downtown action plan. Uh this is
the the organizing document that uh was
[2:54:46] done in 2016 that has directed a lot of
the actions that we have taken over the
[2:54:51] last decade uh in our downtown area. Uh
many of you were around in 2015 16 when
[2:54:57] this was approved. Uh I sat on the
steering committee for this as well in
[2:55:01] my role at Edon. Um but this was the the
the plan to drive our downtown when
[2:55:06] everyone says we need direction on where
we are taking our downtown. Uh and Puma
[2:55:10] was brought in from Denver. I remember
uh Brad Seagull. Does everyone remember
[2:55:14] Brad Seagull?
>> Yeah.
[2:55:15] » Um
>> he came in with his team. Uh lots of
[2:55:18] engagement, lots of discussions and this
document
[2:55:22] » had 52 implementation items when they
left. Uh and this document um we've been
[2:55:28] using to to identify what changes need
to be done within the downtown area.
[2:55:35] And so why review this plan? Now, uh,
this we just want to note that everyone
[2:55:40] hates to see a plan get done and no
action be done against that plan. I'm
[2:55:44] happy to say that we're about twothirds
of the way done with everything
[2:55:47] recommended inside this plan. So, it
didn't sit on the shelf. There was
[2:55:50] actually a lot of activities um
achieved. Uh, this plan was essentially
[2:55:56] uh proposed to drive the next 5 to seven
years in downtown. It's been nine years.
[2:56:00] If we take two years off for the
pandemic, we're probably right where we
[2:56:04] should be. Uh so it's been nine years. A
lot of agencies have played their role
[2:56:09] in achieving the goals of this plan from
the downtown Reno partnership which
[2:56:12] didn't really exist before this plan was
adopted. RTC, University of Nevada, the
[2:56:17] city of Reno, and now RDA has re-entered
the space in the last year or so. And so
[2:56:21] we're all doing things that that achieve
the goals of this plan. Um I'll also
[2:56:25] note that a lot has changed since 2016.
Uh we didn't have a business improvement
[2:56:30] district. We had a police special
assessment and a maintenance special
[2:56:34] assessment. And what the creation with
the new business improvement district
[2:56:38] did is it sunset the police special
assessment, sunset the maintenance
[2:56:41] special assessment, and created a new
assessment for the downtown area. That
[2:56:45] was the business improvement district.
So, we have that created now. That is
[2:56:48] managed by the DRP, the downtown re
partnership. Um, this plan recommended
[2:56:53] that housing could be one of the most
transformative elements in achieving the
[2:56:56] future of downtown. And so I'm happy to
say we have we've had over a thousand
[2:57:00] new housing units delivered uh since
then. Uh no coincidence that that city
[2:57:05] council this body uh approved that
thousand homes initiative and we h now
[2:57:10] have a thousand homes. Many of those
were applicants in that program. Uh and
[2:57:15] we have another thousand in the
pipeline. So we're achieving a lot of
[2:57:18] housing coming online. Some of it's
affordable, some of it's for seniors. uh
[2:57:22] but I call it mixed income
multi-generational mixeduse housing
[2:57:26] which is what we wanted to see. Uh river
and public realm investments were
[2:57:30] mentioned a lot. We're now seeing a lot
of improvements to locomotion plaza to
[2:57:34] West Plaza and we're about to start
construction on future river
[2:57:38] improvements. And then as you mentioned
uh with Rachel coming on the scene uh
[2:57:43] we've we've done a lot in the activation
and event space within the area. I think
[2:57:48] we're up 40% year-over-year. Uh Rachel's
program brought 72 new events to the
[2:57:53] downtown area. So um a lot has a lot has
changed since 2016 when we were
[2:57:58] wondering where where we take this uh
our downtown. Some of the core values of
[2:58:02] the plan. Uh there's five things. We
want our downtown to be prosperous. That
[2:58:06] means we want jobs. We want workforce.
We want um our university to be a big
[2:58:11] component. We want it to be safe and
clean. That means essentially we want it
[2:58:15] to be welcoming so that when people come
down here they don't they don't feel um
[2:58:19] that they're not welcome or that is in
an unsafe environment. We want it to be
[2:58:24] connected meaning bike lanes,
transportation, people can get where
[2:58:26] they need to go. They can find the
parking they need. We want it to be
[2:58:30] vibrant uh meaning it's active mixeduse
retail a lot of a lot of those things.
[2:58:35] And we want it to be livable. So, if you
made the decision to live downtown as
[2:58:39] you have, uh, do you have the amenities
and the experiences to actually live a
[2:58:44] as a true urbanite living in a downtown
core? And so, those are the five core
[2:58:48] values.
And if you look at the plan, uh, we
[2:58:53] don't have adopted districts. Uh, this
map was incorporated into the city of
[2:58:58] Reno's master plan referencing these
areas. But when they looked at our
[2:59:01] downtown, they essentially said, "We
have six sort of quasi districts." And
[2:59:05] one of those is the university district.
Sometimes we call it the gateway
[2:59:07] district. Uh now there's a proposed
university village. Uh the downtown core
[2:59:13] of the entertainment areas called the
entertainment district. Something that
[2:59:16] didn't really um percolate was this idea
of an innovation district. It was a bit
[2:59:22] soup during
innovation districts. We have the
[2:59:27] Riverwalk. We have pounding which is a
historic district. And then we have the
[2:59:30] northwest quadrant. Uh a little bit of a
bland name, but that's has since uh
[2:59:34] turned into sort of the neon line
districts with J Jacob's Entertainment.
[2:59:39] And so I just want to say that when we
talk about our downtown holistically,
[2:59:42] this is the broader downtown area.
It was discussed how we could possibly
[2:59:49] fund all the improvements that were
included in this plan. The first one was
[2:59:52] to create a new bid assessment and so
that would be able to fund a lot of the
[2:59:56] recommendations. Uh there's an
opportunity that they identified to use
[3:00:00] future parking revenue uh to fund ideas.
Uh the city could use its capital
[3:00:05] improvement program to fund
improvements. At the time we didn't
[3:00:10] really have tax increment financing, but
now we do. So that would be an RDA
[3:00:13] function using the property tax
increment received to make investments
[3:00:17] in the area. Uh liquor and marijuana
revenues was propos were proposed. Uh
[3:00:22] and then two things is using our uh
redevelopment incentives to encourage
[3:00:26] more infill development and then also
looking at our fees uh and other
[3:00:31] financial assistance and maybe some code
changes to facilitate uh infill
[3:00:35] development.
So there are 52 implementation items. Um
[3:00:41] I'm going to try to fly through a lot of
those quickly, but the whole entire plan
[3:00:45] is broken into three buckets mainly. The
first one is the economy uh attracting
[3:00:50] investment, jobs, housing. The second
one is the environment. And when I say
[3:00:54] the environment, I mean the physical
environment, things people can feel,
[3:00:58] see, touch and experience. That's the
built environment. And so that relates
[3:01:02] to key streets, uh bike lanes,
improvements to the river, improvements
[3:01:06] to the public realm. And then last one
is experience. So when people choose to
[3:01:10] come down to the area, whether it's to
visit or live, uh do they feel welcome,
[3:01:14] safe, are they having a good time? And
so first and foremost, it must be safe
[3:01:18] and clean. Uh we need things for them to
do. So it needs to be active and
[3:01:22] vibrant. And we need to have a way to
get them through the area. So can they
[3:01:26] find their way? Can they find parking?
Uh do they have a great experience? So
[3:01:30] everything in this plan correlates to
those three big buckets.
[3:01:34] And so let me start on the first one is
the economy. Uh so the first one was
[3:01:39] housing for everybody. In order to get
housing, it says do we have incentives
[3:01:42] and tools to drive more housing? And I
will say now we do we have tax increment
[3:01:47] financing. Uh we have incentives like
the uh restore facade and tenant
[3:01:53] improvement program. Uh we've made
changes to the fees by not allowing the
[3:01:58] sewer credits to expire. So those are
all incentives to drive infill
[3:02:02] development.
Do we have amenities for people to live
[3:02:05] downtown? One of the things recommended
in the plan was that we needed a dog a
[3:02:10] dog park downtown and I would say that
that was achieved. uh the biggest little
[3:02:14] dog park right on the north side of the
Montage. Uh and we have other amenities
[3:02:19] to public spaces like improvements to
West Street Plaza and Locomotion Plaza.
[3:02:24] Attract neighborhood retail. I would say
this is one of the hardest although we
[3:02:27] are focused on it. Um it's mainly a
demographic issue. We do not have enough
[3:02:31] people living in downtown to attract the
grocery stores, the pharmacies, the the
[3:02:36] dry cleaning. Uh but with those new
units coming online, we we now have a
[3:02:40] path to sort of see how we're going to
get there. And then last one, if people
[3:02:43] choose to live downtown, are we treating
the river as an amenity for downtown
[3:02:47] residents? And I would say uh we are. Um
we have through ARPA funding, which was
[3:02:52] a great gift, added new lighting to the
area, painted some accents, and then
[3:02:57] this fall uh we're likely to start on
the phase one of the river improvements,
[3:03:01] which is uh highlighted in the in the
bottom right hand corner.
[3:03:06] Jobs. Uh do we have incentives for new
businesses? I would say small business.
[3:03:10] Uh the Restore program is a great
incentive for small business owners if
[3:03:15] they're looking to move into a space.
That program helps them with signage,
[3:03:18] TIS, a lot of the hurdles they have as a
small business owner. Um on the bigger
[3:03:23] side, uh Edon has supports, uh programs
and incentives often that come down from
[3:03:29] the governor's office to attract
companies into the area. Second one was
[3:03:33] workforce. happy to announce that this
region and the university was selected
[3:03:36] as a as a tech hub by the economic
development administration and that uh
[3:03:41] provided I think $12 million of
workforce funding to go into the battery
[3:03:46] lithium battery um and material science
field. So we did have some opportunities
[3:03:53] for workforce expansion
uh seeing the university invest in the
[3:03:58] innovation district. As I said, the
university district wasn't something
[3:04:01] that really came to fruition, but we are
seeing the university make investments
[3:04:06] into that gateway district. So, now we
have a new parking garage, we have a new
[3:04:09] business school, we're going to get a
new life science center. Uh, and then
[3:04:12] the university purchased those 19 homes
across the freeway, which will be a new
[3:04:16] university village. So, we're seeing a
lot of progress there. Um, connections
[3:04:21] between sort of the University Gateway
District and the river. Uh we're going
[3:04:25] to see improvements to Evans Avenue uh
with new bike lanes and so that
[3:04:29] connectivity is going to be improved. So
that is in progress. The last one I'll
[3:04:33] mention is establishing an innovation
district. I don't know if that's
[3:04:37] something still worth pursuing. When
this plan was originally adopted, the
[3:04:41] promise of Apple coming into the area uh
and I don't know if that, you know,
[3:04:45] really got what we were expecting with
with the Apple announcement.
[3:04:51] Last is the on the economy is improving
blighted and underutilized properties.
[3:04:55] So do we have a tools and incentives
what we would say carrot and sticks to
[3:04:59] to achieve change down there. We do have
a dedicated code enforcement officer in
[3:05:04] the downtown. So we are uh keeping track
of properties and making sure that
[3:05:07] they're being maintained. But a lot of
the things we've done in the RDA and
[3:05:10] with ARPA funding the last few years is
to drive improvement. And so the restore
[3:05:15] program on the left hand side that is
the Truckucky Lane building where Cafe
[3:05:19] Capello and Marcelinos used to be. Uh
they plan to redo uh that entire
[3:05:24] building. And so they've received uh
restore grants for that project. And
[3:05:29] then on the right hand side is the
Prospector Apartments which is at the
[3:05:33] site of the former community assistance
center. uh this body uh well city
[3:05:38] council was able to do a uh purchase and
sale agreement with them and then the
[3:05:41] redevelopment agency supported the
demolition of that site and so it
[3:05:45] cleared the way for for opportunity on
that site. So uh that we are achieving
[3:05:51] um the goal of improving blighted
properties. The next one is identifying
[3:05:56] and rating historic properties. Uh since
this plan was adopted, we've done
[3:06:01] historic structures report on both the
Lear Theater uh building and the
[3:06:06] historic rail depot. Both Reno
Historical, the app, and uh we now have
[3:06:12] a historic map, historic markers map
that Arts and Culture has put together.
[3:06:16] And so we have identified all of our
historic properties in the area.
[3:06:20] Demolishing for redevelopment. I
mentioned the prospector's apartments.
[3:06:23] If you have the opportunity to demolish
a building that could create potential
[3:06:27] for a bigger, better, more expansive
project, uh that plan recommended that
[3:06:32] we we seize that opportunity. And the
last one that we haven't really done is
[3:06:36] creating a goal of for underutilized
properties or a scorecard. And I think
[3:06:40] that's something that we can consider in
the new year is going through building
[3:06:44] by building, site by site and
identifying uh its needs uh the
[3:06:49] potential for redevelopment or any
challenges that that are existing on
[3:06:53] that site.
Moving on to the environment uh
[3:06:57] connections and key streets. So this is
can people get through the area? Uh can
[3:07:00] people find parking? And so the first
one was more bike racks. The Downtown
[3:07:04] Arena Partnership did receive a Main
Street America grant that allowed, I
[3:07:07] think, a dozen new bike racks for the
area. Two of those were artistic. So,
[3:07:12] that's the one in the lower right hand,
lower lefthand corner. Uh, I mentioned
[3:07:15] improvements to Evans Avenue with bike
lanes. Those will be coming within the
[3:07:19] next year. Uh, enhancing streetscapes.
I'll give a shout out to the downtown
[3:07:23] arena partnership. Uh, they received
some ARPA funding to do the planters and
[3:07:28] new uh trash cans along the
streetscapes. But we do have plans in
[3:07:32] the future to expand uh streetscapes and
enhance them even further. Two things
[3:07:38] that weren't uh achieved just yet is a
pedestrian bridge from Evans to museum.
[3:07:43] This is also recommended in the
Truckucky River Vision plan is to have
[3:07:47] Evans continue through that ballpark
south site straight to the river and do
[3:07:51] a pedestrian bridge over to the auto
museum. Um that is privately owned land.
[3:07:56] So we'll have to see if if that land
owner would be welcome to that idea. And
[3:08:01] last is a bike ramp on Arlington and
I80. I wasn't able to confirm if these
[3:08:06] improvements were done um that bike
ramp.
[3:08:10] Going on to public spaces. So one of
them says, you know, improve your public
[3:08:13] spaces and give people things to do in
those public spaces. And so one of those
[3:08:17] was activate the retract lids. Uh the
DRP had done some work uh along with the
[3:08:22] city of Reno's participation in doing
the landscaping on the side of the
[3:08:25] retract lid. Uh they did Mark Carney did
the mural on there. But this past year
[3:08:30] with ARPA funding, locomotion plaza was
completely transformed uh and now it's
[3:08:34] being activated almost year round. Uh
the plan recommended to launch a facade
[3:08:39] and facade improvement program that has
been achieved uh with Restore. It add
[3:08:45] recommended adding wavefinding. Those
will be installed either this fall or in
[3:08:49] the next spring. Wfinding along the
river uh as part of an Arbor project.
[3:08:53] And then the last one that wasn't done
is another pedestrian bridge connecting
[3:08:57] from the Lear over to Barber Bennett
Park. It's kind of a big span uh but
[3:09:01] that was recommended in this plan. Uh
there are no current plans to to to make
[3:09:05] that pedestrian bridge happen.
Next one was Truckucky River. Uh it
[3:09:11] recommended opening City Plaza to the
river as part of the Virginia uh street
[3:09:15] bridge. We graded out the section of the
plaza and now you can actually go down
[3:09:21] to the river from city plaza. So that
was achieved. Adding lighting and
[3:09:24] wayfinding that has been achieved along
the river. Adding more shade. Uh adding
[3:09:29] more shade is the number one thing we've
seen in all of our plans. Locomotion or
[3:09:32] Westerry Plaza did get shade uh as did
Locomotion Plaza. That's the picture in
[3:09:38] the middle. Two things that haven't been
done. It recommends that we do a bike
[3:09:42] rental facility in City Plaza. Uh we
haven't had a discussion about what the
[3:09:48] long-term vision for City Plaza is. So
we could get to that point. Uh we have
[3:09:52] discussed potential tube rentals at city
plaza but that could be explored in the
[3:09:57] future. Uh and then the last one was
enhanc enhancing pedestrian safety at
[3:10:03] Virginia and and center street which is
now university which is more flashing
[3:10:07] beacons. Uh there are no plans to do
that at the moment. So that is pending.
[3:10:12] Safe and clean. Uh a lot of this goes
down to the downtown arena partnership
[3:10:16] and their efforts. So the first one was
launch a new downtown partnership. So we
[3:10:20] have that with the downtown arena
partnership doing enhanced level of
[3:10:24] cleaning. They pressure wash the the
ambassadors are down town all the time
[3:10:30] identifying their the cleaning needs uh
and saving and clean needs addressing
[3:10:34] loitering street vending sharing
information to people who who need it.
[3:10:38] Um they are the eyes and ears and the
feet on the street.
[3:10:42] The one we haven't done which is being
discussed uh is assessing and increasing
[3:10:46] lighting levels in downtown. Um we have
done a lot of lighting but to actually
[3:10:52] go through and do an assessment of how
how dark are street corners and if
[3:10:56] there's anything that we can do to
improve safety via lighting that is
[3:11:00] something we can pursue in the near
future. All right I'm almost done. Arts
[3:11:04] culture and entertainment create a
marketing campaign for downtown. The
[3:11:07] downtown unit partnership has launched
their pro positively downtown campaign.
[3:11:11] So that's been checked off. Listen
market special events. As I mentioned,
[3:11:15] we have 72 new special events that has
been achieved. Establish one to two new
[3:11:20] marquee events. We have achieved that
with the Western Lights Festival that
[3:11:24] you you just heard about. Consistent
activation that has been achieved.
[3:11:29] Expanding public art uh in the budget uh
next year for RDA. We plan to uh propose
[3:11:35] expanding a small walls program which is
more murals throughout the area. That
[3:11:39] was recommended in the public art master
plan. And last one is history and
[3:11:44] cultural culture tour tours. Uh we do
have tours that occur now and then, but
[3:11:48] there's no formal history or culture
tour. If you were to just be a tourist
[3:11:52] in in Reno for a weekend, uh there's not
a consistent tour group that operates
[3:11:58] either of those. So that could be
something we consider in the future.
[3:12:02] Last is parking and transportation.
Number one was expand bus service for
[3:12:06] students. RTC does have the ride
program, so students at the university
[3:12:10] do get access to the rapid transit that
goes along Virginia Street. Assess
[3:12:15] parking demand. We have done a parking
study. We're also doing an operations
[3:12:19] assessment of the parking gallery on
First and Sierra. Evaluate bus service.
[3:12:24] RTC is always evaluating bus service, so
that is in progress.
[3:12:28] » [snorts]
>> um campaign to encourage multimodal use
[3:12:30] is something that I don't think has been
done. We've added a lot of bike lanes to
[3:12:35] our urban areas. I don't know if we are
encouraging people to bike more. Um so
[3:12:40] that is something we could explore in
the future. We do need more education on
[3:12:44] parking. Um we have 17,000 parking
spaces. 15 of those are structured in
[3:12:49] downtown, but people do not know which
ones are private, which ones are public,
[3:12:53] which ones are free. Uh and so we could
do some education around that. And then
[3:12:57] last is, and this is forward thinking,
uh, parking structures. In the future,
[3:13:02] if people aren't driving and parking
cars anymore, what do we do with all the
[3:13:06] parking garages that were built that are
hard to redesign? And so, a lot of
[3:13:11] cities have adapted code that says that
you have to futureproof your parking
[3:13:15] structures, meaning big flat floor pads
so that you don't have these ramps, so
[3:13:19] that if in the future you were to take
that parking garage and turn into
[3:13:22] retail, office housing, it would be uh
easier to do. So that is something we
[3:13:27] could consider in the future. So I'll
wrap it up here. Uh of the 52 items that
[3:13:32] were recommended that plan recommended
in that plan, 19 have been achieved or
[3:13:36] completed. 17 with the gift of ARPA
funding are in progress and about 16
[3:13:41] have I wouldn't say pending have yet to
be addressed uh and could be
[3:13:45] reconsidered in the future. So that is
the update of the downtown action plan.
[3:13:50] We're not proposing a new plan at the
moment. We just wanted to give you uh a
[3:13:53] summary of what has been achieved.
>> Okay.
[3:13:56] And so we do have a motion which is okay
>> to just receive and accept the update.
[3:14:00] » Okay. Thank you so much Brian. Um first
of all very good job and maybe you've
[3:14:05] touched on it. One of the biggest things
and I think it's such a big um
[3:14:08] perception driver. Ashley knows this and
and I really want to put it at the
[3:14:13] forefront is what what the perception
and appearance is walking from city hall
[3:14:20] to the row when they walk down that side
of the street.
[3:14:27] » Yeah. And that was the goal of the
Virginia Street Placemaking plan.
[3:14:31] » Yeah.
>> Is to improve our public spaces.
[3:14:34] » Can you bring me something back? I know
you're a genius with a AI. Um, you
[3:14:40] » Yeah.
>> Well, I don't know if I'm the genius.
[3:14:42] » Bless you. Thank you.
>> Bless you. Um, no, but I've seen you do
[3:14:45] some incredible things of like what the
possibility could look like and what
[3:14:49] that looks like. But I keep hearing it
over and over and again, I wanted to
[3:14:52] talk to Rachel about this because and
and Ashley, they really put in um the
[3:14:57] antique mall. I kept saying we could
have a vintage market. I know we can.
[3:15:00] And they did that. And have I don't know
if you guys came to see the vintage
[3:15:03] market. It was amazing. Kathleen's house
is all done in in the vintage market
[3:15:08] stuff I I assume
>> or just old.
[3:15:10] » No, it's cool. It's cool. And so, but it
goes to show you there is a lot that
[3:15:15] gets activation, but in the time that
it's not is whenever I think people have
[3:15:20] this perception that it's looking um
stale. Now I know things are happening
[3:15:26] with um you know the old Harris project
and all of that but that perception is
[3:15:31] very real and there's also a perception
that is very unsafe from that to that.
[3:15:36] And so I want to um make sure everything
we possibly can that because here's how
[3:15:44] I see it. You should have parkletits and
artists along the street and activating
[3:15:50] that every weekend and um and I'm
talking about on the sidewalk,
[3:15:57] » not in the street where you have to
close it down and it's expensive, but
[3:16:00] there's a big perception there.
Umbrellas, it should have flowers. It
[3:16:04] should make you feel safe and excited to
be right in the downtown core and you
[3:16:09] have the arch right there. Um so it says
a lot about who we are. It's our front
[3:16:13] door and it looks the way it does. And
so I actually think it is probably one
[3:16:17] of the most significant ways to change
the perception of when people have a
[3:16:22] better experience and they're walking
through it and they feel good about what
[3:16:25] they see and because I would say right
now I hear a lot about from there to
[3:16:31] there and it this is our front door.
>> So I'm just on my rant as you know.
[3:16:36] » It's all right. I think that was the
Virginia Street placemaking study was to
[3:16:40] capture that question. and how do we
improve Virginia Street from the river
[3:16:43] all the way to the university?
>> Um,
[3:16:45] » I'll work on a presentation with you. I
want you to bring back your AI rendition
[3:16:49] of a few blocks and I'm going to bring
I'm going to bring my presentation. It's
[3:16:53] not about that, but it's about the shift
in culture of why, you know, why it's
[3:16:59] important and I think we could team up
and have a good presentation.
[3:17:03] » All right.
>> Okay.
[3:17:04] » Uh, we can always come back and give an
update on the progress made on the
[3:17:07] Virginia Street Placemaking study.
>> Love it. Okay. Councilwoman Der. Yeah.
[3:17:11] Um, first of all, Brian, I just want to
tell you, you know, I've seen a lot of
[3:17:14] presentations, but this was very
targeted and I loved it because it's
[3:17:19] very rare that we get to see here was
what we recommended and here's what we
[3:17:23] did. We hardly ever get to see that. And
that really goes to the whole concept of
[3:17:28] metrics, evaluating your performance.
You know, unless you have this kind of
[3:17:33] thing, it's very we, well, we're feeling
better. We don't know. We failed on this
[3:17:38] one. So, I just have to compliment you.
This was very well done. I really
[3:17:42] appreciated it.
>> Wow.
[3:17:44] » What? Oh,
>> good job.
[3:17:46] » Yeah. The other thing is that um in
terms of simple you the mayor was just
[3:17:50] mentioning it in terms of simple
improvements. We had a lot more flowers
[3:17:54] out on the street this year. I I know
several things came together to make
[3:18:00] that happen. Do you recall or
>> what I will say that the the the gift of
[3:18:05] ARPA funding was a unique opportunity to
get a lot done. Yeah. Uh Rachel led the
[3:18:09] initiative to uh the University Cesco
Centennial was was happening and so if
[3:18:13] you notice all new banners down Virginia
Street were were replaced uh and when
[3:18:17] those came down now the city of Reno
banner the city of Reno flag banners are
[3:18:22] up and they're new and they're fresh and
they'll be probably up there for two
[3:18:24] years. Yeah.
>> Uh with the downtown partnership, they
[3:18:28] did the planters. Uh I think they did
something like 90 planters uh and double
[3:18:32] the amount of trash cans in the area. So
you're starting to see small elements.
[3:18:36] Um we say there's a phrase 99%
invisible. Uh the 99% of effort that
[3:18:41] goes into a space you'll never see. Um
it's just how you feel about it.
[3:18:46] » And so there are small nuance things
that have been done.
[3:18:48] » Uh there's probably
>> Well, I think Ryan, our horiculturist at
[3:18:51] the city was involved in these planters
um and grew a lot of flowers for the Is
[3:18:56] that right, Rachel? Is that
>> Oh, maybe Ashley knows.
[3:19:01] » Yep. Ashley Turns the city manager for
the record. Um the planters were managed
[3:19:06] by DRP, but to your point, our city
horiculturalist, uh he grows the flowers
[3:19:10] that go in the hanging pots along the
riverwalk and then on the south side of
[3:19:15] the river where we converted the
fountains that had been damaged into
[3:19:18] planter boxes, they planted and grew all
of those. So yes, so the city's involved
[3:19:22] on that side.
>> It's relatively flowers plants are
[3:19:25] relatively inexpensive as compared to
hard structural elements that are made
[3:19:29] of concrete or whatever. And so I just I
hope I hope to see more of it. I really
[3:19:34] think it makes the city look like people
are living here. It's kind of like
[3:19:38] driving by a house and seeing nothing
very colorful, just sort of nice house,
[3:19:42] but and then driving by another one and
they've put some effort into it with
[3:19:46] the, you know, the irrigation and the
flowers, let's say, and it looks like a
[3:19:50] completely different thing. So I hope to
see more of it this year. It's It's one
[3:19:54] of those like I think you called it
anyway a quiet thing, but it's not very
[3:19:59] expensive, but it goes a long way. So,
until we can afford all the bigger
[3:20:03] things. And then we may also want to
consider when you and the mayor are
[3:20:07] doing your project, which I didn't
totally follow. Um, but I'm sure it'll
[3:20:11] be cool. That's what I'm saying. I'm
sure it'll be cool, but maybe we can
[3:20:15] start re replacing block byb block some
of the sidewalks. you know, do the
[3:20:20] remake that you've proposed, but not for
20 million, for a lot less than that.
[3:20:25] So, thank you.
>> Okay. Any um further comments? I see
[3:20:30] green light over here.
>> Yeah.
[3:20:32] » Thank you for the presentation. There's
a lot of information in it. We've made
[3:20:36] some progress. I really want to talk
about the marketing campaign for
[3:20:39] downtown in the metrics. we say we've
achieved or ongoing and I think I'm
[3:20:44] going to push back a little bit on that
because um as the mayor was saying
[3:20:48] there's there is a perception that
downtown is not safe whether um you know
[3:20:52] the data supports that or not. Obviously
I I live downtown and I brought my
[3:20:56] children downtown and I would not be
living in a place with them if I thought
[3:21:01] it was unsafe. It gets uncomfortable but
um which is different than unsafe. My
[3:21:08] question is, how are we going to use
this rebranding effort to put that
[3:21:12] marketing campaign to the next level and
really target the local community?
[3:21:17] Because I hear people who live here who
say, "I'm not going downtown. It's not
[3:21:21] safe. I'm not going to ride my bike
downtown or bring my family downtown.
[3:21:24] It's not safe." So, I think um there's
things that we can do on on the other on
[3:21:29] other fronts of that, but I think a
marketing campaign using the rebrand
[3:21:33] effort is really an opportunity. and I
want to understand how that works. And
[3:21:38] then um a while back we had talked about
some of that using the alleyways and I
[3:21:43] didn't see that anywhere in the plan.
And I think our alleyways are are really
[3:21:47] unique and we have so many of them that
that it could be fun to um look at
[3:21:52] those. I'm not trying to put any more on
your plate, but I'm just wondering where
[3:21:55] where that might have gone.
>> Uh thank you for the question. So let
[3:21:59] let me uh address the first one. Um the
marketing campaign. We we do have a
[3:22:05] downtown partnership who is the the
district of our broader area and part of
[3:22:09] their um effort is to do the more
tactical beautifification and tell the
[3:22:15] story from a district of small
businesses of events and activities and
[3:22:19] so they are the ones who will tell we
are who we are as downtown. Um the
[3:22:23] redevelopment agency is a bit broader
than that because we have brewery
[3:22:26] district, we have Riverwalk district,
downtown Midtown, we have a much broader
[3:22:29] area. What the rebrand will help us do
is um tell the story of how the city's
[3:22:34] changing, improving, h uh the
investments being made, the
[3:22:38] opportunities for investment, for
growth. Uh it'll be a bit more bigger
[3:22:43] picture. Um
>> so Brian, are we relying on the downtown
[3:22:45] Reno partnership to do all of the
marketing for downtown?
[3:22:49] » If you are talking about uh downtown who
downtown is is sort of a district, then
[3:22:53] yes, that would be that would be under
the downtown Rena Partnership.
[3:22:56] » Okay. I think I might want to understand
a little bit more offline how we can
[3:23:01] improve that effort.
>> I can also add to that. Um, council
[3:23:05] member, we will be bringing forward the
budget to you next week for the
[3:23:09] redevelopment agency. There is a line
item in there for a PR campaign to help
[3:23:14] to advertise the redevelopment agency in
a broader sense. And I assume that that
[3:23:18] will be part of the conversation. that
is a line item for the budget this next
[3:23:22] year
>> cuz I sort of envision the rebrand tools
[3:23:25] in all of the storefronts that we don't
have stuff there now to help with a
[3:23:31] little bit until we can get the retail
until we can get to the other things. It
[3:23:34] looks like it's more welcoming welcoming
and things are happening at least. We
[3:23:37] also have a line item proposed in the
budget for a retail attraction campaign
[3:23:42] for this next year. And so that will be
something that this body will consider
[3:23:45] of what your different options are. But
that would be one of the available
[3:23:48] options in that line item that we're
bringing you next week.
[3:23:51] » Thank you.
[3:23:58] Um,
[3:24:10] » just a motion. Okay. Uh, make a motion,
>> please. I'll make a motion to receive
[3:24:14] and accept the downtown action plan
implementation progress update.
[3:24:19] » Second.
>> Okay. Have a motion and a second. All
[3:24:21] those in favor say I. All those opposed.
>> Uh motion carries.
[3:24:26] » Thank you.
>> All right. Good job.
[3:24:28] » Good job. I see. Yeah. One more right
here.
[3:24:30] » Perfect. [snorts]
>> All right. Uh thank you again. So Brian
[3:24:34] McCall, rev revitalization manager. Uh
so we're a little bit late on giving
[3:24:39] this report, but we wanted to summarize
the activities of the redevelopment
[3:24:42] agency uh October through December of
2025. So we're a couple months late. A
[3:24:47] lot has happened since then. So, some of
this might um might seem dated uh but we
[3:24:53] want to just memorialize what we what we
achieved in that quarter. And so, just
[3:24:58] summarize what our initiatives were for
the past quarter. Uh we're in the
[3:25:02] process of the redevelopment agency
rebrand. Uh we had brought uh the logo
[3:25:06] in front of this body in October. Had
some conversations around that and
[3:25:10] residents went back and started working
on that color palette. Uh we announced
[3:25:14] the restore facade and tendon
improvement program awardees uh at the
[3:25:18] neon museum and so we have awarded all
the um we have announced all the
[3:25:22] awardies for that program. I think it
was 28 new storefronts, 11 new
[3:25:26] businesses uh that received that. We've
done a few tax increment financing
[3:25:31] projects in that time. Uh there have
been a lot of events in activation. I
[3:25:35] think we ended our summer series and
then rolled into some wintertime events
[3:25:39] and then uh you all have been involved
in in the capital improvement planning
[3:25:44] process. So we'll summarize that. And so
where we are at the agency rebrand is a
[3:25:49] bit uh summarizing the the previous
item. Um but with the uh adoption of the
[3:25:55] color palette, we will have a formal
launch of this new uh brand and then the
[3:25:59] website will likely come in April or May
of this year. And so we'll start
[3:26:03] planning announcement activities and
outlining how we truly engage with
[3:26:07] people with this new rebrand.
We announced the restore awards. Uh so
[3:26:12] 34 applications we awarded 23 projects.
Um when you look at it building by
[3:26:18] building uh that is 13 buildings that
will see some sort of improvements. As I
[3:26:25] mentioned this will be 28 storefronts
that are currently blighted or currently
[3:26:28] empty or currently uh you know in need
of serious improvements. 28 new
[3:26:33] storefronts and 11 new businesses. Uh
this is a new business that hasn't been
[3:26:38] in the area before. Um most of these
businesses are moving into the former
[3:26:42] Junkie building in Midtown called the
Midtown Junction now I think is the the
[3:26:47] short form of that project. Uh but we
also have a new bakery moving in to the
[3:26:52] Morris as well as a new music venue.
>> Did they all get restore money at um and
[3:26:57] that's Batwan's place, right?
>> They they didn't all get it. the
[3:27:00] building. We could say the building
received the funds. Uh but the Seldon
[3:27:05] » business Seldon,
>> the Seldon is opening. The two that were
[3:27:09] most immediately opening that were sort
of the anchors is the Seldon which is an
[3:27:13] expansion of Tyler's uh Emerson business
and then drink coffee do stuff on the
[3:27:18] corner uh looking out towards the round.
>> So they both got Restore.
[3:27:21] » No, Batawan is the building owner got
the Restore funds
[3:27:24] » to help the businesses.
>> Correct.
[3:27:27] » Do the businesses know that?
>> They should. Yeah.
[3:27:30] » Okay.
>> Yeah, they should. Um, you know, we we
[3:27:34] saw their building plans and their plans
for the building, but as he as the owner
[3:27:38] developer is doing a lot of the
improvements, he's the one who's
[3:27:41] receiving the funds to do the electrical
and the windows and the signage.
[3:27:44] » Yeah, I get it. But I've also seen where
we've seen a a similar situation where
[3:27:49] the retailer has an idea and then you
guys know the retailer has an idea and
[3:27:54] then the owner has a different idea and
one of them says no I really need this
[3:28:00] and the other says no I really need this
and so it I just always want to make
[3:28:06] sure that like that is cohesive because
the goal is not for the landlord the
[3:28:12] goal is for the small business right to
get them open, get their doors open
[3:28:16] because the landlords often times, not
all of them, I'm just saying some have
[3:28:19] intent to sit on it or improve the
building and that actually helps them,
[3:28:24] you know, the the uh property value,
those kinds of things, and it doesn't
[3:28:29] help the small business. So, just keep
that in mind that there's ways that I
[3:28:33] think you have to just pay attention to
the landlord and retail retailer
[3:28:38] relationship.
>> Yep. Both small business owners and the
[3:28:41] building owner themselves both have the
opportunity to be the applicant and
[3:28:44] sometimes it does take some negotiation.
We do require them to sign an
[3:28:48] acknowledgement letter stating that they
both know what each side is planning to
[3:28:52] do. So in your
>> Well, they do, but then they don't.
[3:28:55] Well, they know, but maybe they
>> Yeah. Um but the big success here is uh
[3:29:00] with the $1 million in restore, we are
able to uh to incentivize $20 million in
[3:29:06] private improvements. So for every
dollar of ours that goes in, we see $20
[3:29:10] come out of the private market. So this
is one of the most impactful programs we
[3:29:14] can do uh on a return on investment as
well as all the new business activity.
[3:29:19] So highly impactful program uh and we
hope to expand it um in the new year.
[3:29:25] Just highlighting a couple projects. So,
the Trucker Lane building, uh, as you
[3:29:28] see the rendering on the the right hand
side, uh, they're going to redo the
[3:29:32] storefronts, um, open up potential for
three new tenants to go in, as well as
[3:29:37] redoing the entire building. So, that is
a a project that we've been hoping in in
[3:29:42] a building we've been watching for for
quite a while.
[3:29:44] » I if I don't if I don't ask you this,
then I'll forget. This is really
[3:29:48] important. You're giving money to these
landlords. And what I want to say is
[3:29:52] you're improving them, but the problem
is and and I just think about this
[3:29:56] because maybe maybe you already have it
as a qualifier. Um gosh, I've got a
[3:30:02] really bad allergy and my eye just keeps
watering so I apologize. Um so I'm
[3:30:06] curious because think about this.
Part of that should also be that those
[3:30:14] rents or like market, whatever that is,
so that you don't go in there and
[3:30:18] approve them and then all of a sudden
they jack up the rents, right? Because
[3:30:22] you have approved them, they're in a
better area, those kinds of things. So,
[3:30:25] what I really think is um I think
they're eating snacks over here. I'm
[3:30:30] jealous. [laughter]
No,
[3:30:32] » they're rolling right through lunch.
>> Yeah. Right. Right. I know. And I'm I
[3:30:35] kind of got in trouble for it and I feel
bad, but I hope everyone got up. Oh,
[3:30:39] see, she's got red hots. They're my
favorite. I love it. Brandy, you just
[3:30:43] got caught passing sweets in class.
And um unless you give me some. Unless I
[3:30:50] know. Unless someone gives you some.
Here you go, Brandy. I love you.
[3:30:54] [laughter] Um that's my only thing is
that
[3:30:58] » here you go and you and you invest in
them and they don't invest in a small
[3:31:02] business, but it has to be an even
playing field, I guess, is what I'm
[3:31:05] saying. Does that make sense?
>> Yeah. I mean, we want to remove blight
[3:31:09] first and foremost. And then we want to
make these spaces available for tenants
[3:31:12] to move in.
>> Exactly.
[3:31:14] » We did ask,
>> but too hard when they jack up the rent.
[3:31:16] » And I bet this is one of them that has
look at the rent before you give them
[3:31:20] money.
>> Yep.
[3:31:21] » If they're not playing with what the um
rental rates are going for right now,
[3:31:26] the standard rental rate, and everyone
knows what that is. You can look on up
[3:31:30] on LoopNet. I wouldn't give them a dime.
Forget it. If they want to honestly if
[3:31:36] they want to hoard their properties, sit
on them, meanwhile have blight and have
[3:31:41] the city pay for them on the backs of
the taxpayers, then that's a different
[3:31:45] story. So all I'm saying is come in with
major criteria. If they've already shown
[3:31:50] that they've got these spaces for lease
and they want $3 a square foot when in
[3:31:55] that area they're going for $2
usually and $3 wouldn't be as bad, but
[3:32:00] sometimes they're even way more than
that. And that's why people get
[3:32:04] frustrated with downtown. Why are they
vacant? Quite honestly, you have
[3:32:09] property hoarders. You have people that
don't want to invest in their own
[3:32:12] property, but they want you as a city to
do it.
[3:32:15] » And that's wrong. Anyway, Brian, sorry.
I'll get off my high horse
[3:32:18] » with them. We offer them an opportunity
to meet us halfway. Uh that if it if
[3:32:23] these buildings continue to sit blighted
and empty, uh it does no one any good.
[3:32:28] And so if we offer them an incentive or
an opportunity, uh, the lease it could
[3:32:32] do is is remove the blight and create
some opportunity for
[3:32:35] » to move in.
>> Something about a sitting fee, vacancy
[3:32:39] fee, registry.
>> Um,
[3:32:43] » yeah,
>> we were told we don't have we're too we
[3:32:46] don't have enough staff for that. So I
think I don't buy it. That's just me.
[3:32:51] » All right.
>> Okay.
[3:32:53] » Moving on to the next one. Uh,
>> poor Brian. Like Hillary, I'm just
[3:32:56] delivering the message.
>> A lot of people say, you know, dealing
[3:32:58] with downtowns, they call it civic
therapy. Every downtown has these
[3:33:02] issues. And so you're you're really
true.
[3:33:04] » You're really a civic therapist. So I I
take that.
[3:33:07] » It's so true. But you're doing great,
right?
[3:33:10] » Uh so the next one, so this is one uh
it's been empty for a while, is the old
[3:33:13] Reno Brewing Building, uh Chronicle
Capital. They've done a lot of restore
[3:33:17] projects. They are transforming Four
Street. Uh they have more renderings of
[3:33:21] this, but they plan on um making the old
brewery building a multi-tenant space uh
[3:33:26] and redoing it, adding lighting, redoing
the sidewalks, everything. So, we're
[3:33:29] happy to support that project.
Next one, uh Paying Horn Accounting
[3:33:34] Building. This is one where it's it's
always been sort of an an odd building.
[3:33:38] It's actually a building shell built
around an old house. Very interesting. U
[3:33:42] but Michael's Jewelry is is expanding.
uh they purchased the site and they're
[3:33:46] going to redo an entire refresh of the
exterior of the building and then
[3:33:49] remodel the inside for a brand new
Michael's Jewelry. Um the next one is I
[3:33:55] don't know if it's official, but Midtown
Junction, the former Junkie building, uh
[3:33:58] it was a Coca-Cola bottling plant at one
point is getting seven new tenants. Uh
[3:34:03] but the the building the building's been
redone, all new electrical, HVAC, uh
[3:34:08] framing, signage, windows, and and an
exterior patio. So that should be ones,
[3:34:13] right? Yep. That should be open in the
next two, three months.
[3:34:16] » I can't wait. Is everything going okay?
>> I believe so.
[3:34:20] » Okay. Because I hear he complains a lot
about how bad the city is. So, I want to
[3:34:24] make sure
>> you call him and find out.
[3:34:27] » He's doing a lot as well. So,
>> and also he got restore money. So,
[3:34:31] that's awesome. So, it shows that we are
partnering. That's great.
[3:34:35] » Next one. Next one I like to highlight
is the Nevada right across the street
[3:34:38] here. Um, so if you notice the Virginia,
uh, the Virginia has se seen a lot of
[3:34:42] improvements. They redid the signage,
they redid the awning, and they did that
[3:34:46] big mural from from Florida ceiling. Uh
they plan on doing the same thing on the
[3:34:51] Nevada side. So, recreating the same
sort of signage that the Virginia has
[3:34:55] and then doing a wraparound mural. Um
not just on the Nevada, but on both
[3:35:00] buildings. Uh and with that, the bottom
left, they do plan to remove that that
[3:35:04] big brown awning that I've had on my
list for a long time.
[3:35:10] » Um
>> which one? Wait, wait, hold on.
[3:35:16] » The old Burger The old Burger King
awning that you can still see the Burger
[3:35:19] King name even though they painted over.
[3:35:27] » Um, with ARPA funding, we did receive a
round uh we did uh restore round one.
[3:35:32] There are three projects left that are
yet to uh finish their improvements. I
[3:35:36] want to highlight the Bington building,
which is the Bodega Reno site down
[3:35:40] there. Um they do plan on renovating
that entire building. Uh they want
[3:35:44] » We give them
>> We haven't given them any money yet. Um
[3:35:47] they plan on bringing the building back
to the 1926 original building. Um
[3:35:52] they've done all the demolition. Uh they
are coming in for their permits to redo
[3:35:56] it's going to get all new glass windows,
all new awnings, and then after that
[3:36:00] they do plan to move on to uh improving
the rest of the building.
[3:36:04] » So wait, the chalkboard outside is going
to go away.
[3:36:06] » That is temporary. Yes.
>> And when is it going to go away? I ask
[3:36:10] that question all the time. They do have
a timeline. They do they do have a
[3:36:13] timeline with the grant to get their
permits in and to uh complete the
[3:36:17] improvements. So,
>> I mean, that is really an embarrassment.
[3:36:19] It It really is a joke.
>> And I we've seen this for I'm going to
[3:36:24] take tell you is it been a year and a
year and a half now, Brian? Like you
[3:36:28] guys, I got to tell you, poor Ashley's
sitting there and she doesn't want to
[3:36:31] hear it and she follows the code and and
all of that, but I have to tell you,
[3:36:36] it's so embarrassing. And you guys know
I called the Bingtons myself. Um, and I
[3:36:42] was just I've just been beside myself
and now here we are because if you
[3:36:47] really go back to the history and I wish
I could pull up the council meeting,
[3:36:50] maybe I can find it. They came before us
and told us, "Oh, it's going to be a
[3:36:53] mini Whole Foods." And it's just been so
painful and on a very visible corner in
[3:37:02] right in downtown Reno. And I think
we've given them plenty of time. Plenty
[3:37:06] of time. I didn't call him back. I let
you guys go and do the work um to, you
[3:37:11] know, to follow up. And I've just been
hearing honestly excuse after excuse
[3:37:16] after excuse. I I think it's been way
too long. And if we're really really
[3:37:20] caring about the perception of downtown
and how we change it, you can't have
[3:37:24] chalkboard signage um or, you know,
painted hand painted signage. And you
[3:37:31] know, then I see the other code
violations we give to people that are so
[3:37:34] minor, but yet we have someone right in
our face just saying it doesn't matter
[3:37:38] downtown. And but this has been I'd say
one thing if this was like and you're
[3:37:42] hearing my frustration. If this was like
I I could live with it for three months,
[3:37:47] not a year, two years. I think it's
almost two years. I think it could be
[3:37:52] two years, Brian, since I called them
and and we were sitting in that office,
[3:37:56] all of us together, and it's just gone
on. So, what can we do to change that?
[3:38:00] Ashley, is there some way?
>> Ashley, Attorney, assistant city manager
[3:38:05] for the record. So, I think we have a
couple of markers and milestones that
[3:38:09] are very important. So, the first one is
they have been given notice that they've
[3:38:14] only got a handful of months left before
the restore money will expire. Okay.
[3:38:19] » Uh that's one of the benefits. So, they
know that they are up.
[3:38:21] » So, you have a time frame.
>> We have a time frame that we've given.
[3:38:24] That's good. Um, and as a reminder, we
don't issue any money until the project
[3:38:28] is complete. So, they've not received a
penny of that money from us at this
[3:38:32] time. So, that's an important
distinction.
[3:38:34] » And they shouldn't.
>> Correct. And if they don't complete it,
[3:38:36] they won't. Uh, generally, our practice
has been when you have an open building
[3:38:39] permit, it shows an attempt at
compliance. And so, we don't continue to
[3:38:44] push forward with code enforcement
because it shows that you're doing
[3:38:46] something.
>> Yeah. when their current building
[3:38:48] permits expire, that's a different story
because that shows that the building is
[3:38:53] no longer attempting compliance and then
the city takes on a different posture.
[3:38:57] So, the last communication I believe
that Brian had with them is they're
[3:39:01] awaiting some final information from the
trustee. Um, this building in particular
[3:39:06] is held in trust and so you have to get
a meeting of the minds before they can
[3:39:09] move forward. Uh so we let them know
that if you do not get the meeting of
[3:39:13] the minds then you are at risk of losing
your funds and then we will proceed with
[3:39:16] code enforcement as is our normal
practice.
[3:39:19] » So have they had any code violations?
They should
[3:39:22] » with some of their open So they had open
permits for demolition. So when they
[3:39:25] have an open permit we don't enforce and
find it.
[3:39:28] » Okay. Can we change that? I would love
to see that changed in the code because
[3:39:32] they're not taking it seriously because
anyone can sit on that and wait and
[3:39:35] wait. How many times do we see people
hey have an intent and they come in for
[3:39:40] these things and they sit there and they
sit there and they sit there and then it
[3:39:43] never happens. How many times do we see
projects that never happen and so they
[3:39:47] come in and they can start the ball but
that means it stops the the code
[3:39:52] process. I think you know that is
incredibly broken.
[3:39:56] » We're happy to look at that. It's we try
to give the benefit of the doubt because
[3:40:00] we
>> I know but we've been doing that. That's
[3:40:02] the problem. when we were giving
everyone the benefit of the doubt over
[3:40:05] and over and over again. And that's
whenever I say if if this if we're
[3:40:09] frustrated about downtown, it's because
we played a big part in in dragging our
[3:40:14] feet and allowing people um to continue
on with these lax policies. Go look at
[3:40:20] the policies out of Las Vegas. It's very
different. We need to mirror ours
[3:40:24] similar to them if we want action. This
has been honestly I just I get so worked
[3:40:30] up over it because you know you guys
know I make calls to these property
[3:40:34] owners nothing happens and then that
means on the city side we got to do
[3:40:38] something. I mean the sound sundowner
that place I I want to see the code
[3:40:42] violations there. That place is so
dangerous it's a tear down and what I
[3:40:46] would say is you know what I want to do
you guys? I want to invite these
[3:40:49] property owners to the city council
right here in front of us so we can ask
[3:40:54] them what their intent is. otherwise
they skirt, you know, go round and round
[3:40:58] and round and um that, you know, then
they avoid my phone calls and I'm just
[3:41:03] I'm so tired of it. So, let's really
see. I'd love to invite them to a
[3:41:07] council meeting so we can all ask them
questions. What's their intent? Um
[3:41:10] because they're certainly making our our
city very problematic. Um bad perception
[3:41:17] and you have to be part of the solution.
I'm I'm so over it. I can't I can't see
[3:41:21] straight. As you guys know, you can hear
my frustration, but this is So now we if
[3:41:27] they're not going to act, we as a city
need to be proactive and stop stop
[3:41:32] allowing these passes because they've
had they've had so many.
[3:41:36] » Yes, we hear you loud and clear.
>> You've been way too kind. I'll tell you
[3:41:39] that. You've been way too kind. But that
I think this council should say that
[3:41:44] stops now. And I think we've been having
that message. I know Councilwoman Taylor
[3:41:48] has been saying it and saying it because
she lives downtown and she sees it every
[3:41:51] single day, day in and day out. So, I'm
sure it it's even that much more
[3:41:55] frustrating for her, but we've been
nice. We've been saying it, but I think
[3:41:58] today is where everyone should
understand. Whether it's um our city
[3:42:03] manager, Jackie Bryant, um our to the
right of me, um JW Hajj, Ashley, Turney,
[3:42:11] Norma Santoo,
all of you need to understand this is
[3:42:15] our our biggest priority right now is to
change that. And we keep hearing, oh,
[3:42:21] you can find, you know, this or that.
And then we get these interpretations
[3:42:24] from different attorneys, outside
attorneys. I don't buy that either. I
[3:42:27] think it's all actually And so
I don't know how much more I feel like
[3:42:32] we sit here and we sit here and we say
it over and over again, but nothing
[3:42:36] changes. And so this is where I'm at now
is that I can't keep having
[3:42:41] presentations that are really um just
sort of, you know, talking. It's not
[3:42:49] action.
>> Okay,
[3:42:52] » understood. Madame Mayor, we will work
to bring something back for you.
[3:42:55] » Thank you. I guess like I said, I feel
like the council keeps putting in
[3:42:58] policies and we haven't we're not do
we're not getting there. I think there's
[3:43:03] a lot of amazing work but when it comes
to the code side and I and I want to
[3:43:06] give you guys A+ on all that work, but
when it comes to the code side, we've
[3:43:10] let people just take advantage of us and
it's painful, you know, and so I just
[3:43:15] got to tell you that I just it's I just
I say this over and over again with
[3:43:21] code.
>> Yep. We're working on some changes and
[3:43:23] so those will come before the body
shortly. Yeah. And Ashley, I I
[3:43:26] apologize, but I feel like I've I'm just
spinning my wheels and I don't know what
[3:43:31] to do anymore out of frustration.
>> We hear and share your frustrations. So,
[3:43:36] that is something that we are working
and looking at some potential changes
[3:43:40] that have to happen at the state level,
looking at what we can do locally. So,
[3:43:44] » you should see some change. We've been
working closely with the city attorney.
[3:43:48] They're trying to
>> I know you've pushed and pushed and
[3:43:51] pushed, but I don't understand why we
can't get there on that side of
[3:43:57] » changing. We could take a vote and
change the policy
[3:44:02] » on some of them. Yes. So, that's what
we're going to bring forward.
[3:44:04] » Thank you so much. That's
>> all right. With that, I will turn it
[3:44:07] back over to Brian Mardell so finish out
his presentation.
[3:44:11] » Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Brian.
>> I just want to mention the other two.
[3:44:15] So, Yuzu Sushi, [laughter]
>> this is why Brian Brian's been there
[3:44:18] with me. I'm like, Brian, help me. I
love you, Brian. You're amazing. And you
[3:44:22] guys are doing an incredible job. Thank
you.
[3:44:24] » Yep. Yuzu Sushi is opening across from
the Silver Legacy. Their sign is up.
[3:44:28] They got their certificate of occupancy.
You will be very impressed with the
[3:44:31] space.
>> Did you make that happen, Ashley? Thank
[3:44:33] you so much. How long has that been? I
love it. Finally.
[3:44:39] » Yeah, she did it. She did it. small
business from from round one to to get
[3:44:43] their certificate occupancy. So, they
should be open
[3:44:46] » in the near future. Last one is
Elcortez. It's not actually Elcortez
[3:44:50] building. It's the uh smaller building
next to it where Tonic and the and the
[3:44:54] Mart is. They're going to do a reskin of
the property, add more lighting to the
[3:44:58] building, uh add more lighting to the
alleyway next door. Uh so, those are the
[3:45:02] last three projects that we're expecting
to wrap up in the next few months that
[3:45:05] were part of the ARPA funding related to
Restore TIFF projects. um you were all
[3:45:11] at the uh groundbreaking of
groundbreings at the Grand Sier Resort.
[3:45:15] I believe that was October 1st or 2nd.
Um I don't know if we'll ever get a
[3:45:18] groundbreaking like that again. Uh so
that project is proceeding. Uh we did
[3:45:23] have zero commercial row rows tiff
application be approved by this body for
[3:45:27] 205 town homes along the river. Uh that
is moving forward. And then we did
[3:45:32] receive a new tiff application for a
project on Lake Street uh just north of
[3:45:37] the Reno Event Center for 7 micro units
of um mixed income housing. So that one
[3:45:43] is in due diligence right now. So we
expect to bring that one back uh in the
[3:45:47] next month or two. Projects that have
already uh gone through the process. Uh
[3:45:52] a project on fifth in Keystone, that one
is on hold at the request of the
[3:45:56] developer. Uh Red Retail is proceeding.
Um they want to do that electric pickle
[3:46:01] and some retail expansion over at the
Reno Experience District. Uh we're in
[3:46:05] due diligence on that one. The last two
are uh being held at the request of the
[3:46:10] developer. One is the expansion of RED
to do more multif family on the project
[3:46:15] they asked us to hold. And then as you
have probably read uh Jacobs
[3:46:19] Entertainment did have a TIFF project
for the Bonanza and for a new project
[3:46:24] next to Sazzarin Arms. Uh they're now
demolishing the Bonanza Inn. So that
[3:46:28] project is now on hold. if they do
demolish that project, uh essentially
[3:46:33] makes their TIFF application uh void and
they'll they'll have to reapply in the
[3:46:36] future if they would like to do uh
future development
[3:46:42] events and activation. As I mentioned,
um Rachel's done a fantastic job
[3:46:46] bringing more events and activities. A
lot of these were funded through ARPA.
[3:46:50] uh closing out the season uh in October.
Uh we wrapped up the summer event series
[3:46:55] which included Off the Rails concert
series, the Flicks on the Bricks, which
[3:46:58] is sort of a movie night. Uh Golden Hour
on the Plaza, which is uh West Street
[3:47:03] Plaza. And then the new one the mayor
mentioned is the Reno Antique Fair was a
[3:47:07] huge success as it kept going. It kept
expanding and growing more participants.
[3:47:11] And so that one was was unexpected in a
in a great success and will continue on
[3:47:15] in future years. Um what was unexpected
was some wintertime activations. Uh we
[3:47:21] saw the white tent go up on Locomotion
Plaza. They held um a honky tonk there
[3:47:26] with dancing lessons throughout the
winter season. Uh we did have a film
[3:47:30] premiere at the site and there was a
planned New Year's Eve celebration on
[3:47:33] Locomotion Plaza. Um the city hosted a
lot of uh regular events that we've seen
[3:47:40] in the past. There was a de los Muertos
celebration on Locomotion. We did do the
[3:47:45] Veterans Day parade downtown. The
Western or not Western Lights, Holiday
[3:47:49] Lights Festival was expanded to two
weeks over a week and there was a lot of
[3:47:53] participation from um other
organizations and then the Monura
[3:47:56] lighting was held. So, a lot of events
took place uh in the fall. Capital
[3:48:01] improvement projects uh of note um this
body allowed us to demolish the uh
[3:48:06] community assistance center proactively.
I will say this project went smoothly.
[3:48:10] uh we demolished the property uh they
got their building permits and then we
[3:48:14] closed on the property and transacted
the sale within three weeks just before
[3:48:17] the end of the year uh and within July
January 1 they're already breaking
[3:48:22] ground and planning to build so we had a
groundbreaking on that uh site last
[3:48:26] month uh you'll see a the riverwalk
trail behind auto museum is in phase one
[3:48:32] we're going through design now with our
capital improvement plan under RDA uh we
[3:48:36] would hope to fund that project to be
started in the hall. And then we're
[3:48:41] continuing with uh new bathrooms at the
historic rail depot on the Amtrak side.
[3:48:45] Uh but we could with that improvement,
we could further expand and create
[3:48:49] opportunities at the at the rail depot.
Um rents downtown on office, multif
[3:48:54] family, and and retail. Uh
office, you know, we haven't built a new
[3:49:00] office space in downtown in probably a
decade. Um so we have no new square
[3:49:04] footage under construction. Um, I'll
notice retail. Uh, our average rents for
[3:49:09] downtown are about $210. This does
incorporate the new developments over by
[3:49:14] the new In-N-Out on Keystone as well as
the downtown crossing project on
[3:49:18] Virginia Street where Teryaki Madness.
So, those are all $4 a square foot. But
[3:49:23] if you look at retail rents in downtown,
it averages about $210. Uh, and we are
[3:49:28] seeing absorption. So, uh, our vacancy
is declining. So, that means businesses
[3:49:32] are moving into downtown. uh and we are
seeing people uh scoop up some some
[3:49:36] spots. So that's that's a good sign. And
then multif family, our rents downtown
[3:49:40] are less than the market average
throughout the Reno Sparks region. Our
[3:49:44] average rent in downtown uh is $1,710
which is less than the the region at
[3:49:50] 1753. Uh we have low vacancy in downtown
even though we've added a lot of
[3:49:55] projects. Vacancy is really healthy and
we do have more units under construction
[3:49:59] at the moment. So that Oh, other
updates. We're I I mentioned we're doing
[3:50:04] the parking gallery assessment now. Uh
so we do plan to make some improvements
[3:50:08] uh at the parking gallery on First and
Sierra. Uh new Riverwalk banners were
[3:50:12] installed. The new Reno flag banners
went up on Long Virginia Street. Uh
[3:50:16] Riverwalk is going to see some new
banners as well. So those should be
[3:50:19] installed fairly soon. We continue to
work with uh the Hara's revival project.
[3:50:24] Uh they have some permits. They're
they're lining up their financing. That
[3:50:28] project continues to move on. And then
as the mayor mentioned, the reformer
[3:50:31] project uh on at the former Riverside
Theater is very exciting. It'll be nine
[3:50:36] uh additional uses. They're already
under demolition and they're they're
[3:50:39] they're going to um do a great project
over there
[3:50:43] coming in 2026. Some of these have
already occurred. Uh but Western Lights
[3:50:48] Festival uh was a huge success. We do
plan on bringing proposals for a small
[3:50:52] walls mural program as well as some
additional retail retail attraction
[3:50:56] initiatives that we'll bring to the RAB
in the next uh month or two. Uh we're in
[3:51:00] the middle of the CIP planning process.
You will see that as part of the budget
[3:51:04] and then we do plan to continue and and
start the process of uh doing a forest
[3:51:08] street area plan leaving off where the
retract plan back in two 2007 ended.
[3:51:14] So sorry that took a while.
>> Okay. I think you did a great job. No, I
[3:51:18] took up the most time because I was like
going crazy, but I I love love love
[3:51:23] this. Um, tell me just a little bit
about small walls because Ashley knows
[3:51:27] we've been to Windwood Walls um a few
times and it's such an impressive
[3:51:32] project. We wanted to integrate that. Do
you want to tell me because I have a
[3:51:36] feeling that Ashley had a lot to to do
with putting that in place.
[3:51:41] » So, we are Ashley Turney, assistant city
manager. For the record, we're very
[3:51:44] excited. We're actually going to be
debuting the framework of small walls at
[3:51:48] the RAB on Monday and then hope with
their approval to move out for
[3:51:52] application. Uh this actually came from
this body wearing your other hat as
[3:51:57] council approving the public art master
plan for the arts and culture group. Uh
[3:52:02] they recommended something called small
walls and it's an opportunity for local
[3:52:05] artists to be able to scale up. What we
find is we have some incredible
[3:52:08] muralists in our community and we have
programs for them to be able to do the
[3:52:13] utility boxes and there's not really
anything that's in between a utility box
[3:52:17] and a very large scale mural project. So
this is something that is created in
[3:52:22] order to help those artists scale their
abilities and to get more art in more
[3:52:27] places. So the idea behind this is that
this will be a grant match program again
[3:52:31] which is something that's been important
to this body that you've recommended
[3:52:34] that we put ourselves in a grant
matching posture whenever we can for
[3:52:38] businesses to come forward and say we're
interested in having murals on our
[3:52:42] building on the outside and then we help
match them with local artists to be able
[3:52:46] to put murals in more places. Uh we're
looking at matches up to $10,000.
[3:52:50] There's $50,000 available in RDA1 and
$50,000 available in RDA2. So, we could
[3:52:57] be looking at multiple art pieces going
up in our community and those
[3:53:00] applications with the RABS blessing uh
what Rachel and Megan Burner have put
[3:53:06] together that will be out on the street
in the next two weeks.
[3:53:09] » That's amazing.
>> We're very excited about that.
[3:53:10] » Oh my god, you should be so excited.
>> Yeah, we've got some great things coming
[3:53:13] in the RDA space. We're grateful you
approved it as part of your budget this
[3:53:17] year. It's taken us a little while to
get some things off the ground based off
[3:53:20] of the lean small team that we have, but
we are very excited to launch quite a
[3:53:24] few programs here in the next
>> Everyone's going to love this.
[3:53:27] » It's going to be great. It's going to
make a big difference.
[3:53:30] » All right. Um I don't see any green.
No green. No. Okay. No green. All right.
[3:53:38] Anything else, Brian, you want to put on
the It's like
[3:53:43] » I say we have a lot going on. So, you do
have you have just so you know, I want
[3:53:48] to I want to make it very very clear
because I don't want to dismiss the
[3:53:52] massive massive massive wins because
they're really happening. It's super
[3:53:56] exciting,
>> right? I just think we could I think we
[3:54:00] could help you with some policy up here
to get to where you need to be and and
[3:54:05] quicker and faster. So, you just let us
know how we can help you.
[3:54:09] » Thank you.
>> But I think you guys are doing great.
[3:54:13] » Good job. I'm super excited about the
walls. Very good. Rachel, are you
[3:54:18] excited?
>> Super excited.
[3:54:20] » Yeah, I know. That's great. Okay, we
don't have to I don't think we have to
[3:54:24] take any action. Just that we think it's
amazing and uh good job. It's a lot of
[3:54:31] work. He's like, "Yeah." Okay.
>> All right, Madam Mayor. Moving on to
[3:54:35] item C1, which is the Reno Redevelopment
Agency board update,
[3:54:42] which we had public comment from Mr.
Klein.
[3:54:44] » I was going to say Mr. Klein's and I
think he just laid it out.
[3:54:49] » He did. He gave during general public
comment for the body just to remind you
[3:54:52] of what the rep had been working on. And
so I think with that you could move on
[3:54:55] to your next item.
>> Yeah. And he um they're going to see the
[3:55:00] CIP and some other things on Monday.
>> Correct. So, so they're vetting
[3:55:04] everything before it comes to this body.
>> Oh, yeah. Perfect. And you can always
[3:55:07] zoom and jump in you guys if you want to
um join those. They're really
[3:55:10] informative and I I think the board
asked great questions. They're doing a
[3:55:14] good job.
>> Okay, Madam Clerk.
[3:55:16] » All right. Item D1,
>> Councilwoman.
[3:55:19] » No, you're good.
>> I put my light on for D1.
[3:55:21] » Oh, okay.
>> Item D1 is redevelopment agency board
[3:55:24] comments.
>> All right. Anything? No, just a little
[3:55:30] blah blah blah. Sorry. No, I wanted I
just wanted to um save my praise for
[3:55:35] Western Lights to now and to this part
of part of the meeting. Um I won't
[3:55:41] repeat virtuous gratuitously everything
that everybody else has complimented you
[3:55:47] on. Um but I will say that
um
[3:55:52] having humans in downtown is the most
magical part of downtown and then you
[3:55:57] also brought more magic. So, um,
anything that we can do to help you
[3:56:02] expand the number number of locals that
are downtown next year, I would like you
[3:56:07] to challenge us with some type of award,
um, ward by ward engagement where we
[3:56:13] challenge our ward to come downtown,
whether it's on one of those days, but
[3:56:17] you're going to need some time for us to
plan that and conceptualize that. But
[3:56:21] next year, I would just love it if we
could be competing up here with how many
[3:56:24] of our ward members were able to come
downtown. So,
[3:56:27] I'm looking forward to inspiration from
you on that. So, thank you for your
[3:56:31] work.
>> Challenge accepted.
[3:56:33] » That That's a really But you know what?
>> She's
[3:56:39] see this is also where I get like really
worked up about Wonly voting, right? But
[3:56:45] you know what? You you just brought up
something so smart and I love it. You
[3:56:50] know what you can do? Go out there,
invite your whole ward and say, "Hey,
[3:56:53] we're going to be in downtown Reno, Ward
Six. Come join me and see if you can
[3:56:57] pull I love that idea, Brandy. What?
That's so smart. Great job. I love it. I
[3:57:02] love it. Battle of the boards. I love
it.
[3:57:06] » Good job. Okay. All right, madame clerk.
>> All right. Item E is closing public
[3:57:12] comment for the redevelopment agency
board. We have none registered, so I'm
[3:57:15] just looking for a motion to adjurnn the
redevelopment agency board.
[3:57:18] » Okay. So moved.
>> I have a motion. I have a second. All
[3:57:20] those in favor say I. I.
>> All those opposed. Motion carries.
[3:57:25] » Okay. Okay, we're going back to our Reno
City Council meeting. We've already
[3:57:30] taken care of item H1, so we're on um
closing public comment item J1. I have
[3:57:35] none registered. And for the record, we
did receive two comments. They have been
[3:57:41] distributed to the Reno City Council and
are part of the permanent record. So, we
[3:57:44] have no additional public comment for
item J. So, we're on motion or item K,
[3:57:47] which is a motion to adjurnn.
>> Motion to adjurnn.
[3:57:49] » I have a motion. I have a second. All
those in favor say I. All those opposed.
[3:57:53] Motion carries unanimously. You guys,
it's two o'clock. Congratulations. I
[3:57:57] hope you get to go enjoy your day.
Oh, that's right. That's right. What's
[3:58:02] up?
>> I love it. Ry's on top of it. But thanks
[3:58:06] everyone. Thank you so much.