Okay,
>> Naomi, do you want to come sit over
here?
» Madam clerk,
» are you ready?
>> Yeah. Okay.
>> No, no, no. It's It's just up to you. I
didn't know if you felt far away.
All right. Good morning, everyone. Um,
what is that noise?
» All right. Um,
good morning. Thank you so much for
being here. I, um, I want to start off
by recognizing the amazing work of our
first responders, our firefighters. They
have, they're still in this active
incident. um this very catastrophic fire
and as you know
we just came off of the bug fire and so
back-to-back events um have been
incredibly challenging.
So I would just ask everyone please um
keep them um in your thoughts and
prayers because they have just worked
tirelessly
and done an outstanding job protecting
human life. Um and so I also want to
acknowledge the victims of this fire and
all the people that have been displaced.
Um
fire is very personal to me. So I um can
understand
how challenging and how their lives have
changed literally overnight. We also
have someone over here um who's also
been impacted by devastating fires and
she's been a tremendous advocate and
that's Hannah Hoop. You're thank you for
being here today. Uh I really appreciate
everything that you do and your advocacy
um when it comes to fires. So thank you
so much. Um, I also want to acknowledge
all the jurisdictional teams um for, you
know, working together, working around
the clock, non-stop. Um, JW, you were
absolutely my rock through everything.
You're just amazing and kind and caring
[snorts] and compassionate.
>> Is the meeting started? I can't hear
anything.
>> So, I I just want to acknowledge you as
my MVP. So, thank you.
>> Thank you. Um
there are so many people to thank. I
can't even begin.
And I don't want to
forget anyone. And um because now we we
start a lot of the recovery.
[snorts] Um and that's going to be long
and difficult and people are going to
need your support.
A lot of people are going to need your
support. So, if you could please please
um do anything, please reach out to the
community foundation. They are taking
donations. Um we have a lot of work to
do. It's a little overwhelming right
now, but we have to keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers.
Um
Naomi, thank you for
helping me. Sure.
Well, [snorts]
we just had a couple of days where um
I'm just grateful and my council members
and so thank you guys. I really
appreciate your grace and your mercy.
And I would just ask everyone else to
please at this time.
Do everything you possibly can to help
our community get through this. There
[snorts] are 47 homes that were lost and
that absolutely is devastating.
[snorts]
So, um we have a lot of work to do. Um
everyone is still jumping in in action.
So, please know that um
it it's extremely active, extremely
active on all fronts. Um even from our
state partners, our legislators, uh the
county, so many. I also want to
acknowledge the Floyd family.
My my heart goes out to them
and so please keep them in your thoughts
and prayers too.
Anyway, um I just like a little moment
of silence. I apologize for being
emotional,
but [snorts] I guess for me it's just
very
it triggers a lot of emotions that I
probably have suppressed for a long
time. So anyway, just a moment of
silence. So, thank you everyone for
being here today and thank you. There's
so many of you that have reached out and
donated and just showed this community
support. people like opening their homes
to people they didn't even know, didn't
even know. They just said, "Come on,
come into my home." It was really, miraculous, but that's who we
are. So, I [snorts] I just want you to
know how grateful I am for
this entire community.
The biggest little city is very special.
So, thank [snorts] you to all of you.
Thank you.
Okay, give us a minute and [snorts] uh
I'll get in a better
transition um so we can get on with our
meeting. So, [snorts] just a moment of
silence, please.
[snorts]
» [snorts]
>> Okay.
All right. Um, as we shift [snorts]
into,
um, something to be extremely proud of,
I have a very, very special guest here
with us today [snorts] and I'm excited.
She is
>> Yes.
>> Um, if I may, um, I just want to share
that, you know, a lot of members in my
community are still actively being
affected by the fire. I know that um my
family and I um were in a mandatory
evacuation zone and we were evacuated
from Saturday until
yesterday. Um, and I it was very
traumatic for myself, for my children,
for my family, for my neighborhood to
have um police on loudspeakers on our
streets telling people to leave to find
out later they were knocking on doors
and telling people to leave and they
couldn't get anything but their purse
and go. Um, and I just want to say like
I
am heartbroken for the people in my
community that lost their homes. And
there are people that are still without
resources that feel like they have um
been neglected
um by the communication efforts and
resources.
And I'm also just disappointed to see
that there's so much compassion for
other council members and my colleagues,
but I didn't receive so much as a phone
call from my colleagues. I know you
called once, Hillary, but I tried to
call you several times and sent you a
text message asking you to call me and
no one communicated with me. So, this is
an extremely difficult time and I had to
see homes in my ward with people I
represent that had burnt down on social
media before I was informed officially.
This has been extremely traumatic for my
community. And I I I'm just um really um
devastated with the way a lot of this um
played out for our community. And um you
know I I I hope that in the future um we
can get a little um
additional support and care particularly
from my colleagues especially now that
we have had two fires in a row. Um the
evacuation process is getting
significantly worse with each fire. I
personally was probably one of the first
to evacuate and it took me um over an
hour to get from Military Road to Golden
Valley to get on the freeway. Um our
only access point was closed from PAR to
Red Rock um for a significant amount of
time um while people were being told to
evacuate.
uh this this communication I know was
not handled by us. We were not the ones
in charge and our firefighters have done
an amazing job. Uh this is not a
reflection on them at all. Um but there
there's been a lot of comments made by
me about um a necessity for additional
infrastructure for public safety. um
it's been largely dismissed. Um I've
been reminded that there's been, you
know, billions of dollars put into my
community. Um which we're all grateful
for. But, um the timing of having the
majority of our major access roads under
construction at the same time when we
all have to evacuate
is just um makes everything that we had
to go through exponentially worse. So, I
just want to say like we're all
devastated. Um, I'm personally sick to
my stomach about all of it. Um, and
still having a difficult time sleeping
because I'm so upset about it. Um, there
are people that can't get their
medications that have evacuated that
have been told to go get emergency
prescriptions filled because they can't
go home, but they cannot afford to pay
for additional medications. There are
people that are afraid to leave because
they have large animals that they're not
able to evacuate with. And so therefore,
they're at home and ran out of supplies
and the the shopping that they were able
to access ran out of supplies. No
additional supplies were able to come to
the area.
um we had a a severe
um breakdown of support for the people
out here that couldn't leave for any
number of reasons. And I know we want
people to leave evacuation areas, but um
I think part of it is because, you know,
if a fire gets close to a resident, uh
there's only one access route, so we
have to be proactive and u evacuate
people before it gets too close.
But because of that, a lot of people end
up in a mandatory evacuation zone that
maybe are a bit away. Um, so they feel
comfortable staying with their
livestock.
um but then end up in a position where
they have no power for days, are not
able to get gas for generators, and
their food has spoiled, their local
stores are out of supplies, and uh it
was extremely difficult, especially as a
representative, to not be able to um
coordinate to get additional resources
to these areas for them. So, I just
wanted to let everyone know like this is
still ongoing for areas of my community.
I know the majority of the areas have
now been changed to yellow. People can
go home, but there are still areas that
are um not allowed to come and go as
they please. So, just a reminder, this
is not over for my community, and we've
lost many homes out here. Um, so again,
huge thank you to the firefighters and
everybody that joined in to help. Um,
but I think we also need to remember
that um there's other things that need
to happen um in a in a major emergency
like this. So, um just wanted to um say
that as the war representative um who um
you know continues to have this happen
and also was personally affected um you
know and and the entire time having to
answer questions to my children about
whether or not our house had burned
down.
>> Okay.
>> So, thank you.
>> Thank you, Megan. Are are you safe?
>> We are safe. Okay. I just want to make
sure that you're safe. Thank you very
much. I appreciate your words.
Okay.
Now something to be um very much
celebrated. I have a very special guest
with me and everyone I would love to
introduce you to. Um
this is Kayla Duncan and she is Miss
Nevada and guess what? She is going to
be competing on the national stage in
Las Vegas in November. So, um hello
future I said mayor and then I said no
we need future president right future
president um we are very proud to have
you here representing the great state of
Nevada. Um, I would love for you to
start our meeting um with the pledge of
allegiance and uh then I would love for
you to tell everyone um about who you
are, why you're doing what you do and
Hannah I think did you were you
pageantry I thought at one Yeah. No.
[laughter]
>> Why?
>> I was a dancer.
>> That's right. you were you're a a um
professional dancer
and country extraordinaire.
Anyway, [snorts]
um [clears throat] um we have been very
supportive of a lot of the um women that
uh do compete. I think it's a probably a
very very difficult job, way harder than
my job, but um please lead us in in the
pledge.
I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
>> Great job. Okay, Kayla, I would love for
you to tell everyone a little bit about
yourself and your platform and um and
you know how we can support you. So,
take it away.
>> Thank you so much. It's truly such an
honor to be here with you all today.
Hello, my name is Kayla Duncan. I am
Miss Nevada United States and I will be
competing for the title of Miss United
States in November. So, I'm extremely
excited and grateful for this
opportunity to represent the silver
state at on the national stage. I would
say my story with my platform that I
created called Beauty Within Bravery
actually started right here in Reno. I
was a college student at the University
of Nevada. Go Wolfpack. And I graduated
with my undergraduate degree in
psychology in 2020. And right now, I'm
pursuing my graduate education there as
well. And I found a lot of support in
the biggest little city here.
One example of the amazing support I
found was a professor that I had for one
of my courses. And I spoke with her
about being a trauma survivor.
And she brought me into freestyle
martial arts, which was the gym she
owned at the time, and gave me my first
lesson in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
And as a survivor of sexual assault and
domestic violence, that sparked a new
era of healing and transformation for
myself. I then went on to work at Uriah
Faber's Ultimate Fitness in Sacramento
for years, and that is a very
well-known, prestigious mixed martial
arts gym that has housed many successful
UFC fighters. I've been able to learn so
many valuable skills about self-defense,
which has caused me to feel my most
confident after trauma. Now, through
Beauty Within Bravery, I teach free
self-defense seminars to the public
because I want to give other people the
gift that I've been given through this
newly instilled confidence and sense of
safety and security. I'm also very proud
to be partnering with Safe Embrace, one
of the many incredible organizations
right here in Reno, to be able to help
reach many survivors. It's for
everybody. I have taught these seminars
to kids as young as six. I've taught
people upwards of 60. It's for men and
women. You don't have to be a survivor.
I always say that if you don't end up
utilizing these skills, which I hope
nobody does. I hope nobody ever has to
be faced with an unimaginable situation
that would cause them to have to use
these preventative safety skills. But
you can teach it to a loved one. You can
do it for fun. I've had many people take
the class and say that they were able to
teach their mom or their sister more
strategies to defend themselves in
public. I've also had survivors tell me
because of these seminars, it was the
one reason they felt safe enough to go
to the gas station that day after
surviving a trauma there. So, this work
is extremely important to me. I'm so
grateful and excited to be able to
expand it. My goal is to make this
education as accessible as possible. And
I want to help heal and and empower
other survivors the way that others have
poured into me in this community in the
past. Thank you.
>> Wow. So, I'm taking it that we should
not mess with you. [laughter]
>> You can kick some. You know what?
>> I'm little, but I'm pretty tough and I'm
grateful for all the mentors that have
poured into me to help make me so much
stronger than I am.
>> You are impressive and we are excited
that you are going to be representing
us. And what's the date of that? And
typically they air that nationally. So,
how do we how do we all get to tune in
and root you on?
>> Yes. So currently waiting on the updates
in terms of live streaming or if it'll
be broadcast on television, but it'll be
November 12th through 15th in Las Vegas.
So very grateful to be able to represent
this beautiful state and be the hometown
girl for that event.
>> Wow. Well, we're very proud because I
can only imagine that pressure must be
just enormous. But anyway, well, thank
you for being here today, uh, mayor for
the day. Um, so we're excited to have
you.
>> Where are you from?
>> Thank you.
I'm originally from Northern California,
but lived here for six years.
>> Okay. All right. [laughter]
So, are we calling Reno home then?
>> Yes.
>> Going back and forth here between Las
Vegas and Reno as well as visiting home
>> Switzerland. I got you. Right.
[laughter] Well, I will say when I'm in
Vegas, I still rep my Nevada gear. It
can be a little bit of hostile territory
sometimes, but I will always always
proudly represent the Wolfpack.
>> Okay. Thank you so much. All right.
[snorts] I love it. Um, okay. Um, I'm
going to hand it back to you, Madame
Clerk, because uh, we need to call the
role.
>> Yes. Uh, so we are calling role for the
Wednesday, August 26th, Reno City
Council meeting. Council member Taylor
>> here,
>> Council Member Der
>> here,
>> Vice Mayor Martinez
>> here,
>> Council Member Eert
>> here,
>> Council Member Reese is absent, Council
Member Anderson
>> here,
>> and Mayor Sheibi
>> here.
>> You do have a quorum.
>> Okay. Thank you so much. At this time,
I'm going to ask council members uh to
approve the agenda.
>> Oh, we need to take public comments.
>> Sorry. Um
there was one other thing I wanted to
do.
>> Hold on. Before we got there.
>> All right. Never never mind. Go ahead.
>> Okay. Madame Mayor, our first item today
is public comment. It should be noted
for those in attendance that comments
are to be addressed to the mayor and
council as a whole. Comments heard under
this item will be limited to three
minutes per person and may pertain to
matters both on and off the council's
agenda. Council may not take action upon
any matter not agendaized on today's
agenda. When you are called on for
public comment, please state your name
for the record and begin speaking. The
timer will begin when you say your name
and you will be afforded three minutes.
For those participating in chambers in
accordance with council rules 6.3.11
while in this room, please be
respectful. Disruptive behavior from
audience members like clapping, yelling,
whistling, etc. which impede the meeting
may result in a warning issued by the
presiding officer. If the behavior
continues, you may be removed from
chambers. If you are an attendee in the
Zoom meeting and would like to make
public comment, please raise your hand
at this time.
Hannah Hubar, followed by Kamal Abuhan,
followed by Terry Brooks.
Good morning, mayor. Good morning,
council. Um, I'm here to share. You
probably all have seen Project Bear Hugs
is responding. We originally were
responding to Bug, Fred Mountain, and
Stallion Fires. While we were holding an
event to help those that were affected
and to honor Eddie and Charie Floyd, we
um saw the Hawk Fire start and we are
responding to them as well. If you know
of anybody that are in your wards that
have been evacuated that need help,
please reach out to Project Bear Hugs
and we can give them items. we can give
them support, resources, um any of that.
And that goes from short-term all the
way to longterm. Um so they can reach
out to us either on our Facebook page,
website, projectbearhugs.com.
If you have any questions, um you guys
can reach out to me there. I'm not going
to give my public phone number even
though it's already publicized.
[laughter]
>> Um and just so everyone knows, Hannah's
been doing this work for I don't know,
probably 15, 20 years.
>> Almost 14 years.
>> Is it 14 years? Yep.
>> Yeah, it's impressive. You're you're
really you're really amazing, Hannah.
What What else um when you say what are
the things that people can donate? Like
what what would be most needed?
>> Um right now we're collecting anything
from toiletries, baby items. Um we are
collecting anything from animal food,
animal dog bowls, um animal toys. That
is a huge need right now. Um we are in
contact with a lot of the families that
have been affected and we are giving
them items. Um and in those normally is
like a box that we give a pillow,
blanket, um stuffed animal for kids or a
stuffed animal for animals. Um we give
an activity for kids to do whether it be
a coloring book, um something for
elderly. We give them something that's
not going to hurt their hands, anything
like that. So we are collecting um
pretty much everything except for
clothes and we are not accepting
anything used. Okay, good to know. Are
you still doing your show?
>> Yes.
>> I got your guest. [laughter] All right.
Thank you so much for being here.
» Kamal Abuhan, followed by Terry Brooks,
followed by Jerry the Pizza Man.
» Hi. For the for the record, Kamal
Abuhan, pleasure to see everyone. This
is actually a serious matter. Um, Mayor
Shibi, I loved your NewsNation uh
interview just recently. Uh, I thought
you were absolutely spot on. So, I'm
going to just address non-compliance.
I'm in fire zone 359.
Uh, we just got lifted from on the on
August 24th, we just got lifted from
yellow level two to white. Thankfully,
everyone's starting to return. But I
have a problem with my landlord and my
uh my I have a I gave it I own a u a
sheet here. They've took it upon
themselves to start a construction
project during a level two.
They blocked roadways on the uh on the property, coned off the ability
for these residents to exit and enter
the property, leaving one area which is
a very very largely densed area where
the people can come in and out of the of
the property. Everything around it's
gated.
When it comes to non-compliance and fire
code, it's very very important that we
follow the rules. When when you see a
yellow or red, you either got to get out
or you got to be ready to get out. I can
tell you when we got the order to get
out was it was like August 21st or 22nd.
You can hear the the the pets. Meow.
Meow. The the people, you know,
getting together. The was it like was it
like 9 or 10 o'clock at night, right?
And they were you could just see the
people were already getting ready. We
were in the yellow zone. They were
getting ready to get out. Uh, I was
ready. I used, that's why I have a
camper. I'm back in my truck because
it's real easy, you know? I can live in
it. Everything's already ready to go. I
got one go bag. Boom. I'm out. Came back
from my ride in Mount Rose. I roll my mountain bike in Mount Rose. And
I couldn't believe what I was seeing at
the property on the 23rd. The mountain
was still smoldering. You'll see it in
the picture. The mountain was
smoldering. And you have the property
manager
coning off sections of the of the
driveway. On the 24th in the morning at
zero 0600, I get a knock. God bless my
neighbors. I get a knock on the door.
Hey, they're going to tow your your your
car. They have tow trucks in a yellow
zone on the 24th in the morning of the
24th. It's towing cars.
The car is designed as an egress. Any
I'm a firefighter for maritime. I was
trained in firefighting. I know what
it's like to fight a fire using buckets
of with a people chain up the hill for a
twoacre fire. We had the perimeter fire.
was out 8 acres.
Everyone was back in. They were back in
their houses and the fire reignited to
create what the worst one of the worst
costly fires for that area in
California. So, I'm asking the city
council, please take this seriously. I
gave you the documents. You have the
documents in here. We cannot allow con I
went to the form and I went to my chain
of command. I made the phone call to the
police. I I called I went to the
landlord. I sent emails. I was laughed.
I was kicked off the work site
during a level two.
So the culture is real. Ma'am, your
non-compliance issue is not only with
the residents, but it's also with our
informal leaders.
>> Thank you.
>> Um sir, you said you have um
documentation.
>> Yes, sir. Ma'am, we I gave you I have a
packet that I It's a formal complaint.
>> Okay, perfect.
>> And you'll see Okay, just just two a
minute. When you see a cone, right, and
you're evacuating, [clears throat] you
we I can't speak for what another
person's going to do when they evacuate.
There's no way to tell what an
individual will do when they're fight
when the fight for flight is active.
When your visibility comes down, that's
why I'm even if you see cones in this
picture, oh, you it's not really
blocking, but I can't say how a person's
going to interpret this. I can't say
whether their flight will be, oh, no,
they automatically think, let me get out
of the way of the cones. Let me go to
the one the one exit point in a 200 what
populated by 300 people in less than
half an acre.
This is an absolute fire danger that's
been precipitated by leadership by
informal leaders of our community. Not
the residents who want to shelter in
place as I've heard over the radio.
>> Okay.
>> Right.
>> Um
>> wait. So you have those documents. Is
your contact on there?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Okay. I will be reaching out to you
directly.
>> Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
>> Good job. Good job.
>> Terry Brooks, followed by Jerry the
Pizza Man, followed by Steven White.
» Terry,
good morning.
>> Good morning. It's me, Terry Brooks
again. And today, I'd like to share with
you my lack of thoughts on technology
and what seniors like me go through.
When we worked for years at various
jobs, we kept up with advancing
technology. But later on, when we
retired, we said goodbye to technology.
The older that we get, the more we get
set in our ways and then begin to
develop a senior no change phase. I
don't have a computer, but I do have an
abacus. That's all I need to multiply,
divide, or do a minus or plus. I don't
have or check email. I think it's a lot
better to just open my mailbox and see
if I've received a letter. Another thing
that I don't have is a cell phone, but I
do have a landline with an answering
machine. So, just leave a message after
the tunnel.
I don't have a microwave, but I do have
a crockpot, even though it takes a bit
longer for my dinner to get hot. I named
her Gravy Crockett. She's the queen of
my wild frontier kitchen. Just plugged
her into the socket and her cooking is
bewitching.
I did have a car, but I only drove it
once a week. When Grazy Crockett told me
to get groceries, I'd say, "Okay, tongue
and cheek." Now I walk to the grocery
store, but carrying all that food on my
way back makes me so hungry that I eat
some of it while I'm walking back and
then I have to go back. I don't have
anything against such modern technology,
but I think that we have become way too
dependent on technology.
The older I get, the more I look back
and see how technology has helped us
evolve. But recently, I've seen how it's
beginning to let us dissolve.
I don't even have a typewriter. I just
write on paper with a pen. That is until
my pen runs out of ink again. I would
like to thank you all for listening to
me today and I look forward to coming
back if my pen still has pink that day.
And by the way, I appreciate people
sharing their kinds of self-defense with
each other and because it helps a lot of
us survive in various ways. And
[clears throat] I kind of developed my
own weird self-defense method. Uh, so
when somebody tries to threaten or
assault me in some way, I just look them
right in the eye and say, "If you try to
mess with me, you know what I'm going to
do? I'm going to write a poem about it
and I'm going to read it to you."
[laughter]
>> Thank you.
>> All right, Terry. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you.
>> Jerry the Pizza Man, followed by Steven
White, followed by Damen Cole.
>> Jerry,
come on up. Jerry, that's you, Jerry.
Miffs.
Can we Can you help him?
>> Thank you.
» Did somebody ask you to help me?
>> Yeah. [laughter]
>> There.
>> What do you think I got a king for?
[clears throat]
>> You're looking younger every time I see
you, Hillary.
>> I'm just getting shorter.
>> My [clears throat] name is Hillary Mson.
Good morning, uh, Hillary.
Uh Devin, you never looked more
lovelier. [laughter]
[snorts] City Attorney Carl Hall will be
retiring this year. Carl Hall is the guy
over there with the red head. He fell
asleep in a tanning salon. Carl, good
job.
>> Like an attorney, he hardly talked, but
that's all right.
>> And now,
>> just a reminder that comments need
>> the final curtain. Go ahead,
>> my friend. I'll tell it clear.
I'll state my case of which I'm certain.
Mrs. Frank, not
>> I I was going to say I know those words.
>> I've lived a life that's full. I've
traveled each and every highway and more of this. I did it my way.
I've lived, I've loved, and I've laughed
and I've cried and I've I've had some
losing. And now as tears subside, I find
it all so amusing.
But through it all,
when there was doubt,
I ate it up and I spit it out and I
stood tall and I did it my way. Bing.
Okay. Now,
my advice, and I want to give a bunch of
advice before I retire and get that
lifetime achievement award that I'm
working with Brian on. [clears throat]
Um,
number one, all city council members
that are overseeing a ward need to be
drug tested once a month. Number two,
all city council members overseeing a
ward need to submit
once a month a report on what they're
doing and I'll make you an offer. I'll
give you your own radio show because I'm
talking with American Matters Eddie
Floyd Eddie Floyd about having a city
council member appear
on a radio and take calls from people
from their ward or the general public
this way offering some transparency.
People need to feel that that you're willing to be open and let them
know what's going on. As far as the fire
goes, some people stopped me on the way
in and said, "We're not hearing enough."
>> So, get as much information about what's
going on. We know you're doing your
best. Uh, Mayor Shivy,
Mayor Shivi, you know you're doing your
best.
>> Come on. You know, I put on special
cologne just to be here today.
>> [laughter]
>> Um,
>> I want to thank you very much. Uh, nice
to see you, Vice Mayor Martinez.
Have a nice day,
>> Jerry. That was very nice. That was my
father.
>> We're still here.
>> So,
>> and we're not done yet. That's me and my
fellow seniors. Let's hear it for
seniors.
[laughter]
>> That's it.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Jerry calls them seniors.
>> [laughter]
>> Thanks, Jerry. Steven White, followed by
Damen Cole, followed by Kellen Flanigan.
>> She likes to attorney.
>> Okay,
>> there's two attorney.
» You almost had to drag me up here.
[snorts]
Stephen White here, notorious defender
of your First Amendment rights to be an
artist in America.
Um,
after hearing what's been happening over
here with the fires and all, probably
what I'm talking about is a little bit
trivial, but you know, I've worked with
young people for many, many years in the
arts and something that's important for
us all to understand is that young
people when they're doing artwork, those
art works of art are a treasure to them.
They don't want to necessarily sell
their original works of art. Now, we run
into a problem when we're writing
municipal codes or putting information
on the website or making signage about
dealing with artists in the parks. And
we use the words artists are invited to
display and sell original expressive
works of art. That becomes a problem
because young people they read that and
they think well I don't want to sell my
original work of art and so they're gone
and they they you know don't get
involved in all this. Trouble is you see
the ninth circuit in the second circuit
a ninth circuit ruling in white versus
park second sentence they say we hold
that an artist sale of his original
artwork constitutes speech protected by
the first amendment. But in the legal
world, the word original is referring to
being original to the artist that
created it. But in the art world, the
word original means it's not a print.
It's the original work of art. And so we
got to be careful when we use this
language. You don't want to use the word
original in the signage or any of that.
Same thing with the word expressive. The
word expressive has to be used in the
proper context. Understand? say, "I ran
into a lady the other day that does uh
tie-dyed scarfves." Well, she's the
artist. She created it. They're one of a
kind, original, and they're expressive,
but they're not allowed because they are
functional and useful. So, we have to
change that wording to artists are
invited, display, and sell works of art
that they have personally created and
that have no other purpose than to be
expressive. We need to put both those
words in proper context. And I'd rather
see the word original. I've used it all
in writing these these uh signings and
that sort of thing. Um
I'm all about getting kids involved in
all this and uh we need to do everything
we can to encourage young people that
let them know that they can do prints of
their original artwork. They can take
prints of their original artwork and and
even go to Costco and have them printed
on canvas. They can do a print on on
photo paper at home in their own home
from computer and put it in an
inexpensive frame from Walmart and
they'll have a work of art they can put
on display and share with the community.
But we want to be real careful using
these words original and the wording
that we use is very important. I've
[snorts] already talked to Mr. Hall
about this and and Nathan and we're
working on these things.
And and final note, God bless all the
people that are being affected by the
fire. And one last thing I wanted to say
is God bless the wonderful, beautiful
humanitarian
Dolly Parton.
>> No, passed away.
>> God bless all of you. Thank you.
>> Thank you so so so much. Someone shared
a story with me about Dolly Parton when
she was here many many years ago
performing in Reno. First of all, they said between every song she changed
outfits, but she was rolling out, I
guess, a penny penny slots, and she
insisted that they be penny pennies
because she wanted to she said,
"Everyone deserves to win something."
And so she said, "They must be pennies.
They were trying to
force her to do, you know, bigger asks,
but she said, "Absolutely not. I'll only
do pennies." So, I just thought that was
so dolly to say everyone deserves to win
something. So,
» okay,
>> come on. Come on up, Damian.
>> I know we've been in the midst of stuff,
but
>> Oh, yes.
>> I kind of had to.
>> Yeah, I came here to talk about the
>> pivot for a minute.
>> Yes. No, that's that's totally fine. Go
ahead. Uh Damen Cole for the record.
Good morning, Madam Mayor, City Council.
So, I came here to talk about the
signatures that I've been collecting
regarding the walkway. But, uh, very
briefly, I just want to mention, so, um,
ever since the fire started, things
pivoted. Um, I recognized when I saw the
plume of smoke like palm pages let off.
[sighs] Something had to be done. So, I
started a stream that I had run for
three days straight, providing community
information to people, gathering people
together, getting information
disseminated. Um and so for three 3 days
straight I said I'm going to keep on
doing this until we get at least to 50%
containment which took 3 days. So um
before I talk about this other thing
real quick I just want to mention um
some anomalies came about. one of them
which was extremely
concerning
um I don't want to divulge details
because it might interfere with uh the
ongoing investigation but someone came
into the chat early on in the broadcast
that said some comments that were
extremely disturbing and uh I handed
those off to authorities. Um so no
bypass everyone's been talking about
Dickerson. We need to have a uh the
underpass getting to Fourth Street over
there. Uh US 395 and everything above
PAR, same thing. When access gets cut
off, especially when the fire jumped the
uh the 395, you either had to go north
up to Portola in Susanville or you had
to go south. There were no bypasses. Uh
something I noticed is that um uh during
the reports I was giving uh authorities
said that the Reno Sparks Indian colony
access road to Spanish Springs over to
Eagle Canyon was not allowed. That could
have provided a very valuable bypass
dirt road. Who cares? Take it, get to
Eagle Canyon, and then you can get to
safety over there and then head down
Pyramid Way to get to downtown. Um so
that's that's very important. In the
minute that I have left, I just want to
mention that so far there have been 300
uh 500 and switching over 535 signatures
so far. 6 hours worth of in-person
signatures that I have collected to uh
clear the Truckucky River uh bike path
and the Riverwalk um [snorts] at 180
East First Street. And uh I noticed
something and also I submitted it to the
417
online and it's still going as of this
morning. Um, I have noticed that there
are uh discrepancies in city code. Title
8 considers a fence to be a
self-standing structure that's under
code enforcement. Title 18 does not.
Which means that when the planning
department looks at code, they say, "Oh,
well, that's not a structure." And um
that's an issue because code that
[clears throat] was merged in 2021 into
development services as part of title 18
that previously belonged to the
redevelopment agency is considered by
one department to be the law and then
another department is considering
opposite opposing code to be the law. So
that that is minor in comparison, but um
madame mayor, if you do want me to give
you the details about what was spoken
about on that broadcast, please contact
me directly. I would rather do that
rather than
>> Sure.
>> Yeah. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much, Damian.
>> Kellen Flanigan followed by Kendy
Bartalam followed by Darcy Phillips and
take a picture with
>> Hi guys.
>> You're Are you Kellen?
>> I'm Kellen Flanigan. Are you related to
like the Flanigans?
>> No.
>> Uhuh. I think I'm the only one I know
here.
>> Really?
>> Positive.
>> I went to school with some really cool
flanigans.
>> Oh, did you? I grew up in Louisiana and
>> Oh, you did? Okay. Not the same
flanigans.
>> Not the same,
>> but Reno's small, so typically we're all
related in some capacity. I'll take it.
>> All right. Well, thank you for being
here. Go ahead.
>> Thank you for having us. Thank you. Nice
to meet you, Miss Nevada. And thanks to
the firefighters. This issue may seem a
little bit insignificant compared in
light of all the fires that we're
having, but I'm here on behalf of just a
small business dilemma that we're
having. And as you can see, I work at
Grateful Gardens, local restaurant right
here in Midtown. I think you guys have
probably frequented all the time.
>> I've seen y'all in there before, too.
>> And we just having a tough time parking
on those side streets right now. It's a
little bit of a whirlpool with the
oneways and the mediums, but you know,
we're happy with the changes that have
been made in the city in terms of
roading. You're talking about the
Midtown
>> Midtown location specifically. And right
now there's two-hour parkings allotted
on the side street [snorts] which we had
a pretty blissful era I'd say about 10
years where all the staff is allowed to
park there without getting ticketed. And
I'm not asking that's the city's job is
to ticket people. But now we are being
ticketed and I think our city's populace
has grown to an extent where it's kind
of hard to find parking for our staff
members. everybody in that lot. There's
probably four other businesses in this
complex and near nearby businesses along
these side streets as well. And for them
to park in the lot, it takes up any
parking spots for the guests that are
coming in. So, they're being pushed
away. So, I feel like we're losing some
[snorts]
potential customers as well as other
businesses because some of them house up
to 20 employees. So, if everybody's
parking in our lots and not on the
streets, it's becoming a little bit
frustrating for, you know, us,
especially when you go out to your car
and you have a $80 ticket on your
windshield. So, we're just here to ask
for potential solutions. Maybe in light
of the growth of the city, 2 hours can
be extended to four, five or six, maybe
on just the weekdays for because
nobody's really walking around Midtown
for five, six hours at a time. It's not
San Francisco, but I thought that could
be an idea. or potentially a parking
permit for employees in the Midtown area
where they're allowed to park on the
street and that could be delivered or
distributed with a small fee or
something to make up for that. I'm not
sure. We just want some help for this
dilemma cuz everyone's parking in the
lot and it makes it tough for the
customers to park there and it makes it
tough when you have to go outside
>> after a shift and pay half of your wages
to the city. So,
>> absolutely.
>> I think you guys can help. can um make
sure you leave me your contact
information. Will you please give him my
email address too?
>> And just send me um an email on that
too, please. But I will reach out.
>> Yeah. Well, thank you for hearing.
>> Yeah, we look forward to hear from you.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Bye, guys. I got to get back. It's
burning and we're getting our best.
>> Oh, that's right. That's right. Thank
you,
>> Kendy Bartal, followed by Darcy
Phillips, followed by Danny Cleus.
Okay. Uh, good morning, Councilman
and Mayor Shivi. Um, my name is Kendy
Berthalome, and I wanted to talk about
the Moose Ridge neighborhood project.
I want to make it very clear, I'm not
against development.
I grew up there since 2002.
My concern is whether the proposed
increase from three units
to eight units per acre is safe and
sustainable.
[snorts] I witnessed firsthand this
weekend how long it took.
My home is less than three miles. It
took me an hour [gasps] to get to I 80.
There were roadblocks, hundreds of cars.
My six-year-old in the car crying,
asking me what is going to happen.
[snorts]
I want to ask this community and you
councilman to really think about is it
worth
increasing
eight units per acre
when it took us an hour to drive less
than three miles.
And I can tell you, I've lived there and
have seen
storms, flash floods. I've seen on the
end of Vmont cars stranded because there
is not enough snow pals to get to that
area. There is insufficient amount.
So before you approve it,
please consider the infrastructure,
evacuation routes, roads.
Consider the people who have lived
through it.
This is the third fire. I've lived there
since 2002.
Two weeks ago. 70 acres.
This last weekend, more than 15 ac
15,000 acres. This is real.
I want you guys to
reconsider how development is
because we can't control how many cars
are on the emergency.
We don't get to choose how quickly we
can get out.
But we definitely can choose how we plan
today.
Thank you.
>> Can you just say what street again that
you live on?
>> I live on Morgan.
>> Morgan.
Hill Court.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Darcy Phillips followed by Danny Cleus
followed by Deianne Radcliffe.
>> Good morning council and mayor. I'm
Darcy Phillips. I'm the executive
director of Keep Truckucky Meadows
Beautiful. Um, I'm here for a couple of
reasons. I wanted to thank council
members Ree and Anderson for donations
to us that are on the agenda today. We
really appreciate it. We do hope that we
will be called on by parks and wreck and
the county to help with some of the
revitation after the fire and parks and
open spaces and the forest service um
areas. Um, but I I did want to say I
have been sending you all quarterly
reports about the work we've done in
your wards. And I wanted to put on the
record that in 2025, volunteers at KTMBB
participated in 186 cleanups in the city
of Reno. Almost 3,000 volunteers at a
value of $236,000
um in in kind donation. Um, during 2025,
volunteers cleaned up 200,000 pounds of
litter, green waste, and invasive leads.
I can't even process what that looks
like. It's such a huge amount. Um,
installed over 3,500 plants and wrapped
60 trees for beaver protection along the
river corridor. Um we also me uh manage
and maintain the sensory garden in Idle
Wild Park. Um a very fun pet project of
ours and we're out there every Wednesday
um working. I wanted to also tell you
all that um I'm going to cry. After 15
years of living here, my husband and I
are moving home to Colorado.
>> As you can tell, I'm very mixed about
this. Happy, sad, sad, happy, depending
on the day. But it has been an honor to
be part of the machine that is KTMBB and
all the work and I I look forward to
watching it from afar and seeing the
amazing work that continues. I will be
here through the Truckucky River cleanup
on September 26th. And if any of you
want to join us at a site in your ward,
let me know and we can we can get you
there. And I also wanted to just end
with thanking you all for your support
of of me and the organization over the
years. They really and we really
appreciate it. So, thank you.
>> Where you go, uh, Mr. Vice Mayor? Yeah.
I just want to take a moment to thank
you. You, you know how much I appreciate
your work, and I'm devastated
[clears throat] to hear you're moving. I
That's like an arrow through the heart.
>> You've [laughter] done such a good job.
>> Um, but I know that you've trained
people well, too, that will follow in
your footsteps. Um, I did want to
mention that um, the urban forestry will
be sponsoring a tree planting on that
same day as part of the KTMB cleanup.
And I'm sure there's going to be other
cleanups that maybe council members get
involved in. Um unfortunately or
fortunately that same day we prepicked
to do our hazardous waste cleanup
>> and um it's my last one and I I tried to
move it once I found your date and found
there was no place to move it. So I
won't be at the tree planting event and
but we will be collecting waste that
will be electrical and hazardous waste
to keep out of the desert,
>> out of the landfills. This will all be
recycled. So, just a shout out about
that and the good work that you've done.
Thank you so much.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Appreciate it.
>> Thank you.
>> Danny Cleus, followed by Deian
Radcliffe, followed by Carlos Raina.
>> Glad everybody left before I got up
here.
Danny Cleus, 53 year resident in North
Valleys.
been here since 2017 since we had the
flood.
We spoke here for three and a half
years. Every meeting about
infrastructure out there in the north
valleys. Still don't have it.
Now you have a big old fire. Third one
in a row for out there. We had a small
one.
Week later, we had the bug fire, French
fire, stallion fire, and now we have the
hawk fire.
How many homes were lost on the south
side of Peine?
How many homes were lost on the north
side of Peine?
Nobody knows because there's none on the
south side and all of them were lost on
the north side.
There should have been more protection
on that north side, how that fire was
going than anything on the south side.
City of Reno,
you guys talk about each other, how good
you guys are doing, and everything else.
I'll tell you what, we're proud of the
men and women that were fighting the
fire. We're not proud of how it was ran
because if we left our property, we
couldn't get back in.
I'm diabetic.
I had two shots left of my insulin. My
pharmacy said I had to go clear to South
Reno to get it. But if I would have went
down to South Reno, I couldn't get back
home.
That is BS.
Now, every time you guys patch your
back, you know what? I am going to stand
up and say Reno has a problem. They
don't like infrastructure. They want it
done later. Well, it's been eight years
after a flood. Then there's still no
infrastructure on that flood.
Eight years later, they said, "Oh, we
got to get the people in there. We got
to get the warehouses in there. Then we
get the infrastructure." Eight years
later, where is it?
Do they have to wait 8 years for the
fire?
I hope not because my house still isn't
whole.
My work that I did to sue the city and
win should tell you residents do their
homework.
Another thing this city is going to know
be known every time you guys pat
yourself on the back for something
stupid
that 2017
you guys caused the flood.
No infrastructure.
2026,
you guys are going to be known that you
burned down 47 homes in the north
valleys because no infrastructure to
protect our families.
Another thing, they sat on Limon Drive
for 4 and 1/2 hours of gridlock on Limon
Drive and they had to go out a dirt
road. They couldn't go down the freeway.
>> Thank you, sir.
>> That's BS.
Thank you.
>> BS. And I'm sorry you missed it,
Hillary.
» Because you know, for once, I'd like to
come here and say something good about
this place. And I'm glad Megan started
to get her voice back.
But every time it's a disaster.
And you guys are infringing on the
county stuff. I don't live in the city
of Reno. I live in the county.
I couldn't get out because of city
stuff. Four hours of gridlock on a
two-lane road. And that new realignment
for Limon Drive wouldn't have helped it
done because everybody's trying to go
down a dirt road to get out of the
valleys.
Stupid.
» Deianne Radcliffe followed by Carlos
Raina followed by Kathy Meade.
I think the clicker's on the counter.
It's the
>> Sorry, on the left hand side.
>> Oh, sorry. I didn't see I didn't want to
start till I had the clicker. Did you
see?
» All right. Good morning, members of the
city council. Thank you for being here
and for your service. Please lodge my
comments and presentation on the public
record. My name is Deion Radcliffe and I
live in Verdi. I'm here to provide
feedback regarding the Meridian 12 South
project. Due to time I limits I'm only
going to cover two topics.
I have attended over almost 10 years
every possible meeting regarding this
project.
Many properties have steamboat water
rights and receive irrigation water. It
is approximately 800 ft photo on the top
right from the gate on the ditch to our
properties. As you'll note, there is one
access near the headgate. According to
the planning document on the left, no
cleanouts and an annual flush. Note the
lack of specificity. This puts all
residents at risk. As you can see in the
bottom right, this is not clean filtered
water.
Does it seem okay to you to have to walk
two miles to maintain your irrigation
gate? This is every month during the
irrigation months, by the way. Two
miles. Okay.
I would like to ask the city of Reno to
work with residents to ensure that we
have access to our irrigation water. I
think 800 ft of a pipe run without
cleanouts and an annual flush puts every
resident at risk. Let's talk about
drainage. So, this is Christmas Eve in
2025. Was that a big weather day in
anyone's memory? The answer is no for
us, but it sure was for the steamboat,
as you can see by those two photos.
So the Meridian 120 project, you can see
the photo on the right, right? You'll
note that flooding and that Midian 120
project site. Obviously, the property
did not read the drainage manual
submitted for the project on the left
that notes area of minimal flood hazard.
Yesterday, I learned a lot of new
information regarding the detention
basin and wish that it had been shared
with me or even available to the public.
This is not anything available to any
resident to look at. They are proposing
an artificial catch basin with a 30in
pipe draining to a 1 acre detention
basin. Those are big numbers, right? Um
that's going to drain onto the backs of
our properties. Again, they're going to
collect water in an artificial catch
basin. It will drain onto our
properties. This transfers flows offsite
from their site number one and puts the
existing neighborhood at risk for
flooding and damage.
So again, I've been engaged at every
possible venue I can. My dad, as a city
of Reno fireman, showed up for 30 years.
I've shown up at every possible time
that I can, but my voice does not
matter. Thank you for your time.
>> Um Mr.
um just a quick question. Is this coming
up on one of our agendas? Is this going
to planning commission?
>> I was just wondering if there was a
coming action
>> there. It's final map submissions. I'm
going to reach out to the the residents
were sent a card to provide comments by
this Friday, but again the documents we
saw yesterday are not available to the
public. The city of Reno staff members
would not share it with us. We had a
meeting right in Verdai residents. that
this is significant for us. I'm going to
ask Angela to extend the comment period.
It does not feel like the right thing to
do and it doesn't it just does not feel
okay.
>> Okay, thank you questions.
» Carlos Raina followed by Kathy me
followed by Daniel Bolton.
>> This is what I didn't cover last council
meeting about RTC. My name is Carlos
Raina.
you know since they came with that you
know system they have a separate bus
stop for one in the Virginia line
is uh I mean it doesn't need it doesn't
meet uh you know our expectations and
need because they had their own stops
and you know they have their own
separate bus stops and they just make
people you know mad about that and
sometimes there is
uh two three buses bumper to bumper you
show, you know, because they cannot keep
up with, you know, CJ jam and the
traffic
and I wish you can do something about,
you know, kind of I already went to the RTC board meeting more than once
and mentioned this, but like I wasn't
there
and uh yeah, I wish you can because it
just don't meet our expectations, you
know, need having in the same street
having two different routes, you know,
with different bus stops, you know, this
people getting mad you want when I get
over there and then said that's not my
stop I stop that's for
the one I don't stop there yes I wish
you can do a change you know in the
future about that you know that system
they come out with it's just it's not
our expectations you know expectation is
and the next thing is about u
like I mentioned that the bus drivers
They they make their own calls.
Some drivers uh they don't charge you
know they don't charge uh you know they
don't have to pay a page say go have a
seat have a seat and some drivers you
know they pretty straight about it you
know like I said they made their own
cost and then some drivers you you have
to pay a full fair even if you have
penny show you have to pay full fair and
that's not fair you know that's not fair
for you know some of us we pay fair some
of us they don't pay fair just have a
seat you know
those two didn't say uh you know uh you
know I wish you can do something to
change your body you know because it's
just not don't look good
and it's not fair too
okay thank you
>> thank you
>> Kathy me followed by Daniel Bolton
followed by Beth Dory via Zoom
Good morning. My name is Kathy Maid and
I live at 2155 Warrior Lane. The city is
in the process of the final approver for
a development behind my house called
Meridian 120 South.
The developers of this project are
solving their flood problems by using a
30-in pipe to bring their flood waters
down into a retaining pond they are
building
and then shooting it out of of an 18-in
pipe to the tiny V ditch. It's an
irrigation ditch between my house and my
neighbor's house. We live in the county.
This project is a city count project and
it backs to my county project. This tiny
little ditch is supposed to take all of
this water and then it will go into the
county road ditches.
I have lived there for 15 years. We have
probably flooded at least 10 times. The
water that we get already, what they're
going to put in here, the water will
wash over the county roads. It will
flood my property.
I'm asking that we the final comments
for this project are supposed to be the
28th. I I don't think we're ready. I
spoke to the engineers with the city.
They kind of agreed that they had seen
things that they didn't realize were
going on and they were going to take a
look at it if we could extend the period
for public comment. And I'm basically
here today to put it on record that I
think there's going to be problems. I
think the the city project is putting
their problem onto the county and I
appreciate you guys taking the time to
listen to me and we'll go from there.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Daniel Bolton, followed by Beth Dory via
Zoom.
Good morning, Council Mayor Carl.
For the record, I'm Daniel Bolton. I
live in Reno.
Um,
I'm here this morning to address an
ongoing problem of us versus them, or
rather you versus the homeless
and the harassment and the bad policy of
this council
and your attorney's office
and the utilization of allied universal
security, rangers, and RPD to enforce
unconstitutional and inhumane laws and
codes to target the unhoused population
that you all created.
I have a solution. I'm not just here to
complain.
But the solution is going to require
cooperation,
maturity, and recognition.
I'm not just a random homeless man. I
have real power
and a real solution.
I won't be ignored or dismissed or
invalidated.
any longer. Discrediting me is no longer
an available weapon
to prevent my success and keep me
trapped in your system as a nobody
because that's not who I truly am.
I'm someone who you should absolutely
respect and understand is the one person
who has the ability to restore this city
to what it was and greater.
It's imperative that we schedule some
meetings and devote some much needed
time to reach an agreement before this
war that you declared
turns into revolution and gets out of
our control.
Changes need to be made and true
solutions
have to be developed.
I had those solutions
and changes that will work.
» Beth Dory via Zoom.
» Hello. Can you hear me?
>> Yes, we can.
>> Perfect. Uh, first of all, what a segue
from the tragedy in the north valleys to
Miss Nevada. I love it. My comment is
for G2, the planning commissioner
appointment. Uh, the very sudden and
surprising departure of planning
commissioner Tina who last year
submitted a thin resume when she was
appointed the commission a commissioner.
Of note, she did contribute to the W1
members campaign. Fast forward to 2026
and we now have one applicant, a real
estate agent who just submitted an
application and did not even bother to
include a resume. Like Tina, she too has
contributed to the Ward One members
campaign.
Those who are most likely to be passed
over for planning commission is a
licensed professional civil engineer
with 30 years of roadway capital
improvement experience and a man with
extensive planning commission experience
in a different municipality.
You all do a disservice to your
constituents when you pass over more
qualified applicants and vote for the
less qualified but politically connected
one.
Don't you think in lie of this fire and
the traffic concerns noted in today's
meeting, you should appoint the man who
is a traffic engineer specialist and not
a real estate agent. Thank you.
And with that, we have no one else
signed in. We did receive uh nine
comments which were general in nature or
not directly associated with an agenda
item prior to 4 p.m. yesterday, Tuesday,
August 25th. These comments were written
correspondence received via our reno.gov
online public comment form or by email
to our office. Copies of these comments
have been distributed to the Reno City
Council and are available to the public
on the reno.gov meeting portal.
» I think we're moving on to approval of
the agenda.
>> Okay. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Before I
move in, I just going to ask assistant
city manager Hodgej to see if there are
any changes to the posted agenda today.
>> Uh, thank you, Vice Mayor Martinez. No,
there are no changes to the agenda
today. We will go through the posted
order in order and we do have an
attorney client meeting during lunch
today.
>> Okay. Thank you for the update. With
that, we'll look for an approval.
>> Motion to approve.
>> Second.
>> Awesome. We have a motion and a second.
All those in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Motion passes unanimously. Thank you.
With that, we'll look for an approval of
the minutes.
>> Motion to approve. Second.
>> Great. We have a motion and a second.
All those in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously.
Okay, we'll move on to our consent
agenda items. I'll look to see if there
are any items you want to pull.
>> Yes, B1, please. Vice Mayor.
>> B1.
>> Council member Taylor.
>> No, Mr. Vice Mayor.
>> Council member Derer.
>> B14.
>> 14. Council member Eert.
>> Nothing for me. Thank you.
Madame Mayor, are there any consent
items that you would like to pull or We
have 11 and 14 so far.
>> I believe 13.
>> 13.
>> Did you say 13, Mr. Sherman?
>> I believe 13.
>> Okay. My apologies.
Okay. If there aren't any others, I'll
look for a motion to approve the rest of
the items.
>> Motion to approve. Second.
>> Great. We have a motion and a second.
All those in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Any opposed? Motion passes
>> for the record.
>> Yeah.
>> Vice Mayor,
>> it's all you.
>> I did not um participate in the vote.
>> Okay.
» Thank you for that update. I think we're
moving on.
>> I'm sorry. Was there like a recusal or
just closure or just not in the room?
Um I'm going to look to madame mayor or
>> just as a quick uh for the record John
Shimman city attorney's office. So item
B13 there's a disclosure that the mayor
has for item B13. So um that's what's
going on. So
>> understood.
>> Did we did we pull B13 from the block
vote though? Okay. And then um Madame
Mayor, are you still abstaining from the
remaining items?
Um Jonathan, what would you
>> Yeah, you um Madame Mayor, you're fine
for the remaining items. Yep. So, yep.
» Okay. Thank you for the guidance there.
We'll go to item B1.
The was the first one that was pulled.
>> Okay. This is my item.
>> Yeah.
>> Mr. Vice Mayor, I just wanted to tell
the story about how this very generous
donation came through
>> because one of our the members of our
community that helped secure it is in
the audience, Mr. Dorretto.
Maybe four months after I was elected,
we went out, this was council member
Taylor and our city manager, Jackie
Bryant, and I went out to meet about W
six issues. And during part of that
conversation, I just happened to bring
up the fact that Ward 6 was in immediate
need of an extra apparatus, whether it
was a truck or an engine. We had a ton
of development that was coming to the
area. Um, engine 12 has become one of
our most highly taxed engines in the
city. It's our only engine that we have
in Ward 6 and it's a very, very busy
intersection that it works within. And
so just kind of planting seeds with some
of the people in our community that
could potentially bring some help to
bear. And then lo and behold about nine
months later I get the news that this
donation is coming in from the Duffel
Foundation to not only to expand the
fire department um the fire station in
station or in ward 6 station 12 so that
we can put another apparatus in that
station. And so I just wanted to say
that
really extend my appreciation to the
group that brought this donation to bear
for us. It wasn't a direct ask. I was
just able to go, our team was able to go
in and say this is going to be a need in
the next few years in W 6 and the
community has helped us with the funding
to expand the station and we'll house
our additional apparatus. It's going to
be an engine at this time which is
severely needed for W 6. So I just
wanted to extend my gratefulness to the
Duffel Foundation and also to you Mr.
Dorto for helping us with um how
important of a donation that was. So
thank you very much.
» Do you want to make a motion?
>> Yeah.
>> Sorry if there's no other questions or
comments. I want to make a motion to
accept this donation and approve.
>> Second.
>> Okay.
>> Oh, sorry.
>> Oh, no. No. That's okay. I just wanted
to say something. Mr. Dorettto, I did
not see you sitting over there. I I
apologize. I'm needing stronger and
stronger glasses every meeting that I
attend. So, um I want to say thank you
so much for all of your contributions.
this um is just one that you have done a
lot of contributions on especially in
our um fire service and uh just the work
that you've done and really really
taking care of us when we when we've
really needed the help. So, Mr.
Dorettto, thank you for being here and
um we're really really grateful and will
you please tell the Duffield Foundation
how grateful we are and uh they've got
something else coming too so I'm excited
for that. But um just so much gratitude
for all your assistance for decades. Uh
you've done it for decades. So I just
want to recognize that that we're very grateful for all your support
because there are a lot of times that we
can't make um you know some of those
difficult funding decisions and you've
been there for us. So thank you from the
bottom of our hearts. Thank you. Thank
you.
>> Madam Mayor,
>> go right ahead.
>> Yeah. Um, since this may be the last
time that I get an opportunity to
address u, Mr. Dorto publicly, I too
wanted to say my thanks. For 10 years, I
represented South Reno and I had many
opportunities to drive around with you,
talk about issues with you, and you are
a phenomenal um, community leader. It is
well known in many fields um, ones that
you're maybe better known for such as
the Reno Rodeo or other um, focus points
for you. But I know too what you've done
for South Reno. Uh bringing the entire
um you know development, Demani Ranch
development, the landscape association,
etc. Um you've made the place come alive
and you've made it continue to look
good. You and I have met often on the um
Demani Ranch Park and issues that are
out there still and changes that are
coming. So, I too wanted to just, you
know, I'll be off council uh in just a
few short months, but I did want to take
this opportunity to also um give my
thanks to you. Thank you.
>> And you throw one hell of a Fourth of
July party for the community,
don't you?
>> Truly terrific. [laughter] I attended
many.
[snorts]
>> Okay, I think we need a vote. All those
in favor? I
>> I
>> Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you.
Thanks.
>> Yeah. With that, we'll move on to B13.
Mr. Shipman, I'll look to you to see.
Yeah.
>> So, Madame Mayor has a disclosure that
she would like to read into the record.
>> Okay.
fellow city council members and madame
clerk, on item B13, Mr. Hicks, an
attorney from McDonald Corano,
represents TL Talis LLC. In my private
life, I have retained Adam Hosmer
Henner, a partner at McDonald Corano, on
a civil matter unrelated to item B13.
Um, and Mr. Hicks. I've sought guidance
from the city attorney's office and have
been advised that I may have a
commitment in private capacity to the
interest of McDonald Corano personn to
NRS281A.065.
That said, this item has nothing to do
with my civil case.
To the best of my knowledge, any action
I take today on this item will not have
any impact on me or McDonald Corano. I
will be participating in this item. Um,
so Madame Clerk, please accept this
disclosure for the record. And I also
want to be clear again um Mr. Hicks does
not represent me um at in any capacity.
It um is another attorney in that firm.
So I did want to put that on the record.
Is that good, Jonathan? Okay. Thank you,
>> Madam Mayor.
>> Yes. Go ahead. While we have this item
open, and I didn't pull it, but I
realized I'm glad you did pull it or or
the attorneys pulled it because I don't
recall getting a briefing on this SAD,
and maybe I missed it. I just want to
understand it. It sounds like it's for
Talis Valley and I just wondered if
there's a staff person. Thank you.
Because you came to us uh finance.
>> Yes.
>> With a preliminary thing, but I never
heard specifically what the project was.
So, Matt Taylor, assistant finance
director for the city of Reno. Um, this
item came before you for the developer
to do a deposit agreement with the city
in June. This is the next step where
they we will be accepting or you will be
accepting their um petition for the
formation of the special assessment
district. Right.
>> And the developers are here if you have
questions about what the de what is
being proposed.
>> Well, that'd be fine. I mean, if you'd
prefer them to address it.
>> So, over I I can give you a highle
overview.
>> High level is fine. Um there the whole
project will entail about 2500 homes.
This special assessment district
comprises uh 774 homes and they'll be
doing water, sewer and storm drain
projects within the the the district
that will be financed with the district
the special assessment bonds.
>> So water, sewer, does it include the
roads?
>> It does not.
>> No roads. And um is do you know which
villages are affected by this? Um, it
is.
» Whoops.
>> And I mean the developer is welcome to
come up if that's faster, quicker.
>> It might be.
>> Okay.
» But no one from the developer wants to.
>> I have it's villages 22 A 22B 21 20 A
and B 16 A and B. village 1918 and 17.
>> Okay. Do these have names?
>> Do these have names?
>> Not yet.
>> Okay. And can you do you have a map or
anything with you that shows where the Talis Valley project is very large
and um it would be helpful just to get a
description. Is this um it says here,
sorry, let me find the item. It said
that it was the north side of South
Meadows Parkway
but and west of Veterans. So I just Are
these all individual assessor parcels?
These are not obviously 700
[clears throat] parcels, right? So are
they grouped in some way?
» Thank you, Council Member Dorix with
McDonald Chrono for the record. Um, I do
have a quick map we could throw on.
That'd be great. If you want to see if
you could put on the presentation.
» It's just we have we we accepted your
deposit, but we've never heard what the
project is. So, I just that's why I
wanted to know.
>> So, while the map is coming up, just to
answer your question about the parcels,
that's the parcels as they exist today.
They will be ultimately separated and
segregated into individual home sites as
we go.
>> That's great.
your presentation.
>> Okay.
And if you could blow it up and if
you on the podium could just point out
which places you can blow it up so that
the green we don't need to see the green
but
>> so this what what you're looking at here
is just an overview. So the red boundary
um is the project site.
>> And can you move that into the middle?
That'd be helpful.
Well, he the other way and up. And there
you go. And uh if you could zoom in a
little bit more.
And just show us where South Meadows
Parkway is and the new bridge.
>> So the the red line along the um right
side of this, the east side, that's
Veterans Parkway and then South Meadow
is down at the southern end of it.
So that helps you orient. That's Hidden
Valley. You can kind of see the golf
course up there in the top right corner.
>> So it's directly west of where Veterans
is.
>> That's right.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. There's Alexander Lake right
there. You can see in the picture.
>> Where are you pointing? Oh, right there.
>> Yeah. Just on the west side outside the
boundary. Huffacre Hills is that open
space to the west of Alexander Lake.
>> Yeah. And do um what I was going to ask
is there are there um do any of the
roads in this area connect to veterans
or is it in other words is it a access
freeway where residents are going to be
going onto the freeway or are there
going down to the major exits like Mir
and South Meadows?
>> They they'll be using the major exits.
There are some stop lightss being put in
and then there's a secondary access road
to get onto Veterans Parkway as well.
So, are you saying they they're going to
add another access on to Veterans?
>> No, there's not going to be another
access point added on.
>> Just the Mir Loma and the South Meadows.
>> That's right.
>> Gotcha. And then and then roads are not
included. So, is the developer paying
for the roads and deeding those over to
the city?
>> Yes, that's correct.
>> Okay. This is water and sewer just for
the 775.
>> This is water 774.
>> This is This is not water. This is
sewer, storm water, curbon gutter, and a
box crossing.
>> Curbon gutter, but not the actual street
that the curbon gutters on. So, are you
going to come back with a secondary um
assessment district for the roads?
>> No, not in this not in this particular
area. There will be another special
assessment district for different
villages. Okay. But not for this
particular
>> And have you anticipated, if I may, just
one more question. Have you anticipated
what the cost per home is going to be
for the SAD for this set of
improvements?
>> It's approximately $1,000 per year um
was what the assessments will be.
>> $1,000 per year for all of this
infrastructure. And then is that go for
30 years or forever?
>> 30 years.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Hicks. I just had
one quick question on the traffic
signals that you were pointing to. I'm
just curious about the traffic signal on
Echo Valley. if you can maybe shed more
light on the timeline of that one.
>> I council uh member I don't have the
answer of the timeline on that but I can
certainly get that to you.
>> Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you so
much. Yeah,
>> appreciate it.
>> Any other questions, comments,
disclosures?
>> Um one more question.
>> Yeah. Is this um I I know usually our
staff say that this will come back
several times and I didn't know um this
one is the petition for the formation
but when when does this council make the
final choices
>> petition for the formation's approved
today? The um developer financing
agreement and the first reading of the
ordinances are planned to come back on
September 23rd.
>> September 23rd. Okay. And I guess one
more question. you have another what um
1500 homes or so is are you going to
apply for another SAD for those?
» Uh thank you council member Derer. This
um yes like I mentioned there are three
two more um special assessment districts
anticipated for different villages in
Talis Valley.
>> Okay. And have you guys at this time
whenever we approve these there's
usually an amount that is a a total
amount that is attached to it. Do you
know what? Because that amount, you
know, is not in this item, but maybe it
was in some backup that I missed.
>> Yeah.
>> Matt Taylor, assistant finance director.
The total amount of the bonds that
they're requesting is approximately $9.5
million.
>> 9.5. Okay. All right. Thank you. That's
helpful.
» Thank you. I think there was public
comment submitted, mad. Yes, we do not
have anyone registered to speak, but for
the record, we did receive uh two
comments and they were letters in favor.
>> Okay, with that, we'll look for a
motion.
» Yeah, Mr. Hall, do you have to read
anything into the record, Mr. Okay,
we'll look for a motion then on this
item.
>> Motion to approve.
>> Second.
>> Okay, we have a motion in a second. All
those in favor say I.
>> I.
Any oppos?
>> I.
>> Motion passes unanimously. Thank you.
With that, we'll jump over to C1 if
that's okay with you.
>> I think I pulled B14.
>> Councilwoman Der pulled B14 and I do
want to actually um take that the
additional consent items um after item
C1. I have special guests here that have
got to go back to work because they have
big big jobs. But we have two men here
that need no introduction. Um and that
is Mr. Perry Dler Lorettto and General
Andre Barry who is now the CEO of
Liberty Dogs. And you have a very
special guest here and that's Maddie. Am
I right? And you're also joined by Katie
Freeman. Um this is such a special
initiative and I also want to give a
huge shout out um because this
initiative is all about mental health,
our veterans, just remarkable work. And
I I don't want to tell anyone what you
do because it's so special. So I want
because I don't want to miss a thing,
General Barry. But um you are now the
CEO and I just need to give a huge shout
out um to the wonderful animal lover and
champion David Duffield. Uh because you
know this was possible because he is
such an animal lover. So, um, I'm
excited to have you here and, uh, I
can't wait for you to show it to the
entire community. So, take it away. And,
um, like I said, you are no stranger to
our community. You do phenomenal work.
And now this is the next chapter. And, um, you just must be
loving this. Do you love it?
>> I love it. I eat it up. I I I [laughter]
just want to be like Perry Dearto when I
grow up.
>> I know we all do. We just all want to be
like Perry. [laughter]
First of all, Andre Barry, CEO of
Liberty Dogs. And uh I just want to say
if you did not know, today is National
Dog Day.
>> And so uh Maddie made this special
appearance. I mean, got off of her
training schedule to come down here.
>> Yeah. Look at her. She's tired. She's
like, I'm not I'm not hanging out.
>> She doesn't want anything to do with it.
[laughter]
>> And I also think it's important to say
uh to each and every one of you, thank
you for your service to our community.
Uh I know sometimes uh these this these
jobs you have a lot on your plate. So
thank you thank you thank you thank you
for all that you do. So and giving us
the opportunity to come here and talk
about Liberty Dogs. So having said that
uh first of all when we talk about this
uh organization and as you heard earlier
this is uh David Cheryl Duffield just
being philanthropist and caring so much
and giving back and uh caring about two
parts of our community canines and
veterans. And one of the critical key
things some people don't know is we
provide service dogs to veterans at no
cost.
>> We also pay for the medical care. We
also pay for the food. And so there's
nothing like this in the world in terms
of what we do. Our focal point for the
pairing process is those veterans with
PTSD. I always and trauma and
reintegration, but I always say this uh
there's nothing normal about what we ask
these young people to do when they go
down range and when they deploy and then
ask them to come back and be normal. And
we have shown uh through research that
this does work. So, but the key thing
that you see up there too is if we don't
have the support of our community, we
cannot do our best work. So, I when I
say in sincerity, thank you for your
service. I really mean that when you and
for those of you who have been to the
campus, I believe it's been everybody.
So, uh this is the uh nothing like it.
I'll always say this in the world. And
if you did not know that uh Mr. Derto
was uh the the builder of the campus and
so he's back here being modest right
now. And uh if I had a medal, I'd give
it to him. But uh he uh is a 27 acre
campus. It's actually expanding a little
bit more than that because we're adding
some dog pins. Uh 200,000 square feet of
state-of-the-art facilities purposebuilt
for veterans and canines. And uh one of
the words I like to use it, it provides
a full experience from the time that you
apply to the uh to be selected to the
time that you come onto the campus to
the experience that you have there. And
customer service is big for us. And
there's so much that we can show now
that it becomes a defining moment for
the veterans in terms of what they're
able to go through. And when you talk
about our organization in terms of uh we
have approximately 118 employees right
now. 30% of our employees are veterans.
So we're veteran uh organization in so
many ways. When we talk about the need
and we've heard this term before,
invisible wounds. Um, I I like to say
that there's so many people that go
through life I call playing poker. You
just don't know what's going on inside.
And when you have a chance to sit down
and talk to those who've been exposed
to, not just what happens downrange, not
just what happens when they're serving
in the military, but what they carry and
what they've been exposed to and what
they're challenged with that sometimes
we don't see. and uh and navigating
those systems to get the assistant
assistance and support that you need is
not so easy. So, we have learned through
research that pairing a veteran up with
a service dog has a major impact. And
there's so many I I tell people this all
the time. This is a very animal friendly
[snorts] uh community. And uh but we
also know that when you have someone who
can support you, be there for you, have
your back, interrupt and and uh and care
for you, it makes a huge difference. And
I can't tell you how many veterans who
have I have talked to personally who
have told me this K9 saved my life.
>> And I like to believe we're in the
business of saving lives. So when we
talk about creating a lifeline for a
hero, we we are the first US uh veteran
uh organization to combine service dogs,
we also created an integrated wellness
program because my ask coming in the
door was how do we ensure that veterans
continue to move forward in uh working
on themselves so it's not always just on
the K9. So we have this course we put
together a one and three-day course. It
talks about resilience. It talks about
mindfulness. It talks about mental
health. It talks about being have taken
initiative and moving forward in your
life, providing them the resources.
We've seen a great return on investment.
Most of our classes have been from
veterans in our Reno area, Reno Sparks
area. So, uh we recognize that it does
supply for them stability and the
ability to move forward in life. Every
service dog is trained to the highest
standards. Uh, I think Maddie was our
first dog. And, uh, when you think about
anxiety, depression, uh, TBI, traumatic
brain injuries, and all the things that
happen, uh, that can't happen in your
military experience. The service dogs
are trained specifically for the veteran
that they're assigned to to make sure
that they can be intervened to make get
them in a better place to to to pause
that. and uh and that has just been
phenomenal for us in terms of the
ability to have quality dogs that we
will send out not just locally, not just
statewide, but nationwide to work with
and protect and save our veterans. So,
we talk about the programs that POS that
power our mission. Uh, I talked about
the warrior wellness class where we
provide great tools and I encourage uh
as many of uh uh the the veterans that
can or if anybody wants to just sit and
learn the class and we're hoping to do
some partnering with uh some uh city
organizations as relates to the warrior
wellness class. Puppy raising. We're
always looking for puppy razors. You can
be a puppy raiser. You can be a puppy
razor. You can be a puppy razor. So, uh
that we can't be successful if we don't
have puppy razors. Cannot. It's a big
commitment, but it's the engine that
gives us the ability to go forward. And
because the more canines we have, the
more pairings we can have with our
veterans. Uh service dog training and and and placement. We just recently
trained uh paired we call past the
leash, which I'll talk about where we
have uh paired some veterans with
service dogs here locally. Uh the
shelter shelter foster program, we get
dogs out of shelters and train them.
Matter of fact, the recent pairings we
have are all shelter dogs. Uh we work
with two prisons right now. We're about
ready to go to our third one. And uh the
prisons are phenomenal partners in being
puppy raisers for us for for us. And I
can't tell you the win-win behind the
those inmates who say, "This changes my
life. I get to have some degree of human
touch. I feel like I'm giving back to a a veteran in our community." So that's
been great for us. Then our guardian
homes which really work with us in our
breed in our in the breeding candidates
and dogs that work in those programs.
Here's a and I I I can't emphasize this
enough here. We cannot be successful
without this great community cannot be
successful. And so anybody who uh has
the uh the wherewithal or the space or
the want to support or want to play a
role in this, want to be a partner, want
to be an advocate, want to be a
champion, want to be a supporter, want
to have our back, want something to do,
we're looking for puppy raisers. We're
also uh we have now we can have
volunteers. But a big thing is telling
the story, telling the Liberty Dog
story, talking about what it's doing,
talking about the impact to our
community, talking about how it's
changing lives and not just of the
veteran, but also of their families.
There's a second, third order effect to
what we're able to do as a part of
Liberty Dogs. So, everybody should have
Liberty Dogs material to go out and
share the story. Uh here's some
milestones that we just have had. Uh we
just celebrated our first leash passage
just this past Friday. Five veterans,
five shelter dogs in our community who
are getting trained to be full service
dogs. We're preparing to train prepare
our first trained service dogs, which is
the two-week course. And uh for those of
you who may not have been on the campus,
it's a full service campus with not just
veteran suites, not just a
state-of-the-art kitchen, but a place
where they can have peace restoration
rooms where they can really have the
time to get back in touch with, you
know, somebody's recognizing as
contributing to my moving forward in
life. Uh we currently have 27 127 dogs
in our program, mainly golden retrievers
and Labradors or a mix thereof. Uh we
have put 118 veterans uh through our
warrior wellness. I'll leave uh tomorrow
going to a conference in Indianapolis
and it's going to be a representation of
quite of all 54 states territory in
District Columbia and I'll get a chance
to be like the the champion of talking
about what's here. I think we're going
to get so much interest in what we're
having here. Uh big news for the city of
Reno. Uh, on September 14th, you don't
want to miss it. At 10:30 a.m., we will
officially announce the city's
partnership with Liberty Dogs. I figure
I know you're not allowed to cheer or
anything, but that's a big deal. Okay.
Trying to follow the rules. Um, and then
we'll also get a chance to introduce the
city's official Liberty Dog and reveal
the name. We are beyond excited. Thank
you for your support. Thank you for your
partnership. Thank you for having at our
back and cheering us on. Thank you for
telling the story. Uh major gratitude uh
on behalf of the Dave and Show Duffield
Foundation and all of our employees and
all of those champions we have out
there. Uh this is a bright and shining
gym for our community. There's nothing
like this in the world and we get a
chance to talk about the great things
that are happening right here in
Northern Nevada as we take care of those
who've taken care of this great nation.
Having said that, I will stand by for
any questions.
>> Okay. If that's not inspiring, I don't
know what is. You are I always love
hearing you speak. When are you writing
a book?
>> When I get I don't know. I don't have
any 2 or 3 in the morning. I don't know.
[laughter]
» I just love love love what you do. That
is so cool. I did not know we were
getting our own our very own uh City of
Reno Liberty dog. That's fantastic.
I love it. Any
questions? Go ahead, council member. Um,
I'll just Anderson.
>> That's me. Okay.
>> I I was looking over at both of you, so
I apologize.
>> That's okay. I don't mind being mistaken
for Council Member Taylor.
>> General Barry, I'm just you're just like
glowing with enthusiasm and love for
this project and for the work that
you're going to be doing. And I hope
that I'm doing the same for the fact
that this is in my neighborhood, in my
community.
The transformation of what this is going
to do for Ward 6 when downtown Demani is
developed, the culture and the vibe of
this neighborhood and this community
with the Liberty Dogs there being
integrated into that environment is
going to be one of the most special
things we have in this country. And it's
a stones throw from my house. And so I
want to say thank you for your
leadership there. The people that in the
community that have seen the development
that has happened at Liberty Dogs think
that it is homes for sale and it's
downtown Demani. That is how fabulously
this campus has been developed. It is
absolutely stunning. No detail has been
overlooked.
And though the most important thing that
I want to say to you and to the Duffels
and to you Mr. Dorettto.
I've, you know, I'm 51 years old. I've
been in Northern Nevada my my whole
life. And we've all heard how we do or
do not take care of our veterans.
This program is going to teach Reno and
Wo County at large how important our
veterans are, how actually tactical
things that everyone in the community
can actually do to give back to the
service that they gave us. That is an
incredible gift for our community to
teach us how to care for our veterans,
but teach us how to care for each other.
Teach us how to care. I mean, shelter
dogs. You are picking shelter dogs out
of shelters on the West Coast and across
the country to give them a new life and
purpose. Not just a new life and purpose
to be loved, but a new life and purpose
to love. And I'm just I'm sure I could
go on for many, many minutes. And that's
when Council Member Taylor will throw
something at me. So, I just want to say
thank you for the opportunity, everybody
here that brought this to Nevada and to
Northern Nevada because you are teaching
us how to be better people.
>> Thank you.
>> So, thank you.
>> Appreciate Taylor.
>> Go ahead. I would never throw anything
at you, Council Member Anderson.
[laughter]
>> Thank you, Madame Mayor. So proud,
beyond proud, beyond words of this
facility and the community. It just is a
gamecher for our region and for our
state. My question for you is what
what's the the cost approximately of
this facility?
>> The cost approximately of this facility.
>> Well, he was in the middle of all that.
>> I'm sorry.
>> What was the cost of the facility?
>> The investment. Let's call it an
investment.
[laughter]
>> Okay.
>> Did you catch that?
>> What was that?
It's approximately $350 million.
>> About $350 million.
>> How many public dollars did you receive?
>> No public dollars.
>> So, this community
with some key leaders
provided this facility for our veterans
with no public dollars.
That's amazing.
This community is amazing. And it's
because of people like you and Perry D.
Lorettto, the Duffield Foundation, and
we can't do it without you. So, thank
you.
>> Thank you. I sometimes I don't think
people realize what we have here. Um,
and it's and it's been talked about this
morning, but uh when a community comes
together, when you have people who care
so much, so much uh the Duffields uh are
just so generous and have a love and uh
care for our community, our veterans,
and have done so many other things. And
then you get, you know, the community
pillar back there, Mr. Dorettto, and
come together to create this excellence.
And um and when you see and hear what's
happening on a regular basis in terms of
veterans and I the word right word was
transformed, how they're transformed. I had a spouse call me and says this my my husband had not talked to me about
the war since the Gulf War until they
went to this class that you gave
speaking more now, interacting more now.
Uh doesn't talk about being afraid
anymore. I mean, I I have stories and and when you're doing something this
noble and saving and changing lives in a
community that co coaleses behind it, um
it's a story to be told and uh we have
not seen the return on investment that
is happening in this community. It's
going to be phenomenal.
>> And I wish I wish Mr. Morgan was Oh, he
is still here.
>> He's back there.
I'm proud that the builders in this
community support these kind of efforts.
They're not just building our community
with houses. They're building our
community. And I know, but I can see you
all.
>> Exactly. So, the builders in this
community are phenomenal. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> He's a big supporter, too. He just like
to be in the background, but he's uh
>> he's shy. Dan's shy over there.
>> Dan shy. Look at him now. He's all red.
[laughter]
>> So oxymoron dam. Okay.
>> All right.
>> So funny. He is. Look, he's getting
[laughter] red.
>> All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you.
>> Before you [laughter] go.
>> All right. Council light on as well. Um
well, first of all, um General Barry,
>> welcome to our chambers. Um, I've had
the privilege of knowing you for quite a
few years and while I was surprised when
you took this role, I was not shocked.
And I was not shocked because of your
past history both here at the city of
Reno, helping uh the men and women with
the Reno Police Department, moving on to
the Nevada National Guard where I got
to, you know, have tours with you, see
programs with you, celebrate our uh
guard and all the things they do, which
they are doing right now, flying water
to to um help us with the fire. I saw
Emerson and Marcus yesterday, Marcus and
Emer. and he um you know said we're out
there now you know and he had his camera
in hand as he always does and then I did
have a chance to tour the facility you
were not there unfortunately that day I
came with a number of other electeds and
we were blown away blown away by the
quality the the commitment to detail um
and and what you really described which
I think needs to be mentioned again it's
not just about dogs right I mean it's
phenomenally about dogs but it's about
the entire life cycle of a veteran and
what they're focusing what they're
dealing with, what what made them commit
to service in the first place, their
experiences in um their service, uh
their life after their service, and many
of them, you know, the challenges that
they faced. And the fact that you're
doing the mental health programs that
you are to basically bring back the
whole veteran um and help them
reintegrate to society if they've been
closed up, uh get different kind of
jobs. All all of it is so important. I
was first exposed to this kind of
program about 10 years ago. A friend of
mine back in Florida works with a
Warrior K9 Companion, I think it's
called, and she has trained dog after
dog, mostly Golden. Um, uh, mostly Labs,
Golden Labs. Um, and I always felt that
I never had the time, but I, you know, I
am about to be off council. I'm I have a
lot to take care of, but I know there's
going to come a day um that I may be
able to help out personally, you know,
as you called for volunteers um and help
raise these dogs because I've heard that
is your greatest challenge is getting
the amount of dogs that you want into
the program brought up and our community
probably doesn't have enough homes and
so you're reaching out all over is what
I understand. Um so I just, you know,
I've been blown away from day one. I
think you know I've been chair for a
decade of the Wo County Animal Services
and I've gotten exposed to the shelter
of course the issues that we have um
managing um the population the mayor and
I early in our career worked to get rid
of puppy stores in Reno the spread to
Sparks um so that we were not having
backyard breeders and that we were
adopting the animals out of the shelters
um and and that was something we're
really proud of in the beginning but to
be able to be here at the end and to be
able to have this kind of program
blossom in our community and um you know
be such a showpiece for the whole
America and and my understanding is
there may be others spread maybe to the
other coast ultimately is is just
phenomenal. I I do have an ask and it's
a small one but in your world but big to
me. We've just gone through the fire and
we had an incredible shortage of staff
in Wo County Animal Services. They were
running the shelter. They had a 30 cat
hoarding situation that they had to deal
with. Um there the livestock event
center was full. They could not use it
to evacuate large animals. They had to
pick one ironwood 25 miles away out
pyramid way. Um they had to go out there
and take care of all kind of large
animals. There was another group, the
it's called the least resistance
technical training, but it's all about
moving large animals out of danger. They
were evacuating animals and taking them
out to Ironwood. Well, meanwhile, there
was no one left to set up any kind of
shelter for the pets of the evacuees.
And so eventually I went and did it,
right? And eventually animal services
was able to bring extra supplies. And
one of the things I want to work on post
emergency and that I could use your
coaching on and and also probably Mr.
Deredto is um I want to set up volunt
emergency volunteers that are ready to
take care of animals that could be your
dogs. If a fire came to South Reno,
where are all if you have to evacuate,
where are all these dogs going? Um, if
we have to evacuate the shelter, where
are they going? If the livestock event
centers shut down again, what's
happening? I'd love to have volunteers
that are trained in emergencies um to
immediately set up and help evacuees
deal with the issues because many of
them would not come to the shelter. They
slept in their cars being told that
animals were not allowed in in the
shelter in the uh convention center.
Eventually, I was worked with JW and we
were able to get this evacuation center
open for animals and there were at least
17 there at one moment. Um, more later
and then fewer now as they're closing
the shelter. But you see the issue and
I'd love to connect later with both of
you about what we can do because this is
a whole new effort, but I think it'll
help both your facility and our entire
community with with issues and you're so
trained for this, right? So, thank you
both. Thank you all for what you have
done. I know the dumbfields care
tremendously about animals.
>> Your eggs.
>> I know.
>> Look forward to hearing.
>> Back to you.
>> So, do we get our When do we get our
dog? The 13th. Did you say it looked
like the 13th?
>> Yes. 14th.
>> 14th. Can we make sure the dog's here at
every council meeting? [laughter]
» That it's such a great mental health
initiative. I love it. Love it. Love it
so much.
>> Get to your call.
>> Oh, yeah. I love it. Love it. Um,
>> okay. We're gonna take a picture if you
wouldn't mind.
>> I think Council Member
>> Eert has
ahead.
>> Yeah. I just wanted to say, General
Barry, I I had the pleasure of going to
your retirement
um dinner and I should have known better
that that wouldn't be your your actual
retirement. I'm just so grateful to see
you doing more in the community and this
is such a wonderful project. I'm such a
dog person myself and um you know
they're they're called man's best friend
for a reason and relationships with
animals are so healing and I just think
this is such a wonderful program and I'm
so happy to see you um you know still
out here serving the community. You're
so passionate about it and just really
grateful for um the support that that
you're providing for veterans. So just
wanted to to chime in and say thank you
also.
>> Thank you. I appreciate that. Oh, thank
you so much.
Picture here.
>> I'm not in [snorts] charge, but I you
know,
>> I'm used to giving orders.
>> I didn't realize that u Megan had
stopped talking, so yeah,
» come on over. Come on, Dan.
>> Perry. Mike.
Hey, Mike. Dan, Perry, all of you guys
have worked on this project. Come on.
Don't be shy. Get over here,
Mike. Ponyie, come on. Yes. Get over
here.
>> He hates it. Look at his face getting
red, too. Come on, Dan.
>> Not lay down. I guess you can be
sitting.
>> Yeah, we're not leaving until you take a
picture.
>> She's sick of us already.
>> Ycca
will take picture.
>> Oh, it's okay. I don't mind.
All right. Um, hurry. Right after. I'll
just go right over and it'll It's on.
Yeah. Okay. Ready? Here. Everyone get
here. Hold on a second.
>> Hold on. Let's all get in here. Come on.
Okay. Is everyone in
>> in your frame? Okay. Ready? One, two,
three. Dogs.
Suck it in. [gasps]
» You got it.
[applause]
>> Awesome.
Thank you. Okay, Perry, come say a few
words.
>> Speech, speech, speech, speech.
>> Speech.
>> Just very briefly. Um,
>> this is this is this is wonderful. This
is uh going to gone down as a really
good day in our lives.
>> Oh my gosh.
>> Um,
>> the day I met David Duffield and he
explained his [laughter]
goal here.
>> U, it was quite an amazing conversation.
So,
um, what a point I want to make is
there's a couple things that happened,
uh, that we should not overlook. And
number one, the day David told me what
he wanted to do. And he said, Perry, I
need you to make this happen. And would
you believe over the five years of this
project, Dave and I probably had 12
meetings to talk about it. The direction
was, go make it happen. That could not
have happened without the city of Reno's
cooperation. I want to compliment the
city of Reno. I've done this with you
before. Your staff performed excellent
for us. We did our homework. We came in
with what we needed, but there was buyin
by the city of Reno and the cooperation
on this is was exemplary. So, thank you
for the leadership that you all provide
to your city staff to enable that to
happen because it couldn't have got done
without it. Well, that's
>> Chris Pingry over here and his whole
team. So, there he is. Thank the man
right there. Thank you, Chris.
>> Chris Pangry, you are amazing, young
man. Thank you.
>> Sorry. I My my hearing has been
terrible, so I've been just trying to
really focus. So, is mine.
>> I've been sitting back there adjusting
my hearing aids.
>> My eyesight, my hearing. We're all in
good company together.
» All right, you guys have a wonderful
day. let us know how we can help. Um,
anything we can do, we're excited to get
our dog and we'll we look forward to
seeing you guys soon.
>> Thanks so much.
» I believe we're moving into item B14.
>> Thank you.
Yeah, I I pulled this item B14, which is
um to highlight a very important program
and our partnership with the state of
Nevada on things that if they weren't
there, we couldn't do what we do. And to
my understanding, we are getting a $50
million loan, $50 million
loan. And the fact that it's a loan is
one thing, but the interest rate I think
is incredibly low, like beyond belief
low. Um, so I just wondered if you could
just briefly highlight it between you
and our public works and or in our um I
guess it's our utility services and just
talk about, you know, it a little bit.
>> Sure. Thank you, Vicky Van Beern,
director of finance. For the record, um
this item before you today is a
resolution for intent for us to move
forward with the application with the
state revolving loan funds. Um you're
familiar with this. This is the same
process that we went through with the
American Flats project, the advanced
purified water facility. We did a
similar process. They offer funding
through the state program that is has
very low rates and it's a draw down
program. So, we spend the money, then we
can draw the money down. So, we don't
start paying for it until we've actually
drawn it all down, which is one benefit.
The other benefit, as you mentioned, um
the last one for the APWF, that one came
in at 2.47%.
>> Yeah.
>> Um can't go out on the market and get
anything like that. It's a great value
for the city. Um it really secures those
funds in a way that we get the best bang
for the buck for what we're doing. Um
and it's a really good program. This
item isn't issuing the bonds or getting
the loan. This is just part of the
application process um for you to
declare intent that you're okay with us
moving forward with the application.
>> This project is approved in the capital
improvement plan for the year um with
this anticipated funding as the budget
mechanism for it. Um and we have public
works here if there's questions as far
as like the project itself.
>> Right. Well, just a a brief comment. And
I mean it's a deatering facility which
is not so sexy as they say but just tell
us about it for a minute if you will.
>> Uh for the record John Simpson utility
services. Um so yes the deatering
building out at um Tommorph is being
replaced. The existing building that's
there is um I believe it's almost 40
years it's over 40 years old.
>> What is a deatering building? And so the
deatering building as the the sewer
process is is is is managed there's a waste product that is is
produced through the the treatment of
the of the sewer. Um, the deatering will take that
waste and it basically puts it almost
like a salad spinner and it pulls out
all the water that's that's left in that
um that waste material where we can um
make it more compact and easier and and
that material is transported away to a a
waste facility somewhere else. And so um
that's ultimately the the purpose of the
deatering building. But um this has been
in the CIP for 15 years, right?
>> It has been planned for a long time.
We're excited to get this for moving
forward. I know the operations sta staff
with uh with uh in city of Sparks has listed this as the number one item
that they want to get taken care of out
of the plant because it's it's it's a
crucial infrastructure and in need of
updating.
>> Okay. So, we're excited to get this
moving forward and appreciative of um
our Nevada Department of Environmental
Protection that is um has this program
in place to allow us to get this
funding,
>> right? I mean, because the alternative
going out for $50 million in bonds and
having to go to the market and get money
to do this uh would be, you know, again,
it'd be sitting on a shelf for another
15 years till we felt like we could pay
for this kind of bond. and it would have
come through the debt management
commission and you know it would be
competing with much more interesting
projects like the Moana pool and the
public safety center things that people
can see and touch and go to versus a
place they will never go but it's
critical to their life right I mean they
take all this for granted um we we you
know we use our infrastructure and it's
uh we're blind to it but unless you have
this stuff operational we're not
operational right
>> that's correct Yeah, I mean I I doubt
anyone's going there. They're not going
there to swim or, you know, visit with
our police or anything, but it's
critical. So, thank you for being here.
Thank you for making the application to
the state and, you know, thinking this
through and finally feeling like we have
the wherewithal to move forward. So,
thank you. And I don't know that there's
any questions. I'm happy to make a
motion to approve it.
Okay, I'll make a motion that we approve
applying for um this financing through
the Department of Conservation Natural
Resources for $50 million.
>> Second.
>> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All
those in favor say I.
>> I.
Any opposed? Motion passes
unanimously.
>> Thank you, Madam Clerk. I think we're
moving on to item C2.
>> Yes, that's correct.
>> Director Van Beern.
I good afternoon Vicky Van Buren
director of finance for the record
before you today I have your monthly
update for this is for August
aligns with the strategic plan through
fiscal stewardship
and today I want to talk about the
status of fiscal year 26 closing out
those books through June 30. Uh I do
want to remind you that we are still
recording some entries and uh preparing
some uh reconciliations and some other
items. So there may be some changes as
we move forward, but we're very close to
where the books are and I have a good
idea of where we are at this point for
you today. The audit is currently
underway. The auditors were here in
August. They will be back on site in
October for two weeks. They will
finalize um their audits. As they're
doing that, we will finalize the um
statements in November and then those
come back to you. The annual
comprehensive financial report, the ACT
for comes back to you in December. So,
we're very busy right now with that. Um
and we are also shifting gears toward
budget and building budget for next year
as well. Um topics for today again are
closing out last year and then I have
the special topic today of the medical
internal service fund for you. So, I'm
going to stop after I get through the
last year kind of results and I'll stop
for questions before I go on to the
medical internal service fund just to
give you an idea. It's not a long
presentation. I just wanted to give that
little bit. So, um general fund I want
to talk about this a little bit. Again,
these are unodudited numbers. I pulled
them as of last week on August 20th.
There may be a few changes, but I don't
expect anything material at this point
right now. Um what you're seeing the
gold bar shows the FY26 estimated amount
where we anticipated to come in as we
built this year's budget and then the
actuals where we actually are with these
revenue sources. We've received all of
the payments for property tax, se tax,
and franchise fees at this point. So
these are updated. Again, I don't think
there are any material changes in here
unless we find something through
reconciliation or some other method. um
property taxes, franchise fees, um
licenses, which are your business
licenses and charge for permits. You see
at the top of the bar up there, those
all have negative percentages, just a
little bit, not large, any ranging from
anywhere from negative.7%
to negative 1.7%.
Um and that's compared to where we
thought we would come in for the year.
So all of those are showing just
slightly below. You'll see that um the
difference is listed on the bottom
between those and the negative columns
there. Cax is actually performing very
well. Consolidated taxes, consumer
spending is still continuing to be very
robust um and is driving this this bus
really well. Um above uh estimates at
3.8%.
Um, and so with that one coming in a
little bit higher and the others a
little lower, we're in a very good spot
still overall for where we estimated.
Um, so it's good news on this front.
And then on the expenditure side, um,
you can see salary and benefits. I
talked about this last month. Salary and
benefits are within 3% of what we
anticipated. Extremely extremely close.
They are a little bit over than what we
estimated, but we have revenues that are
a little bit more. So, we're okay there.
And then service and supplies. This does
include some capital in that, but just
for presentation purposes, I included it
in service and supplies. Um, that
includes the incumbrances that we
currently out have outstanding. And by
encumbrances, I mean purchase orders.
So, any contracts or purchase orders
that we've already committed up to this
point for last year, they have not been
finished yet. we will encumber those
funds and bring those forward. We are
still in the process of um going through
those to see if if if it has been
completed, we will close those out and
then that will be additional savings
here and that gap will get a little
closer. Right now, we're showing 2.2%
above where we estimated, but that does
include almost $5 million in
incumbrances and we're in that process
of uh going through those and not all of
those will be brought forward. So that
will get a little bit closer. Debt
service on here. It's um on track
because we know what the schedule is for
those. That's the Moana pool, the public
safety center, and the fire apparatus
program in that debt service that we
have here.
So overall fiscal year 26, the results,
you know, they're coming in as expected.
I don't have anything that I really want
to call out to say this is, you know,
out of the norm or anything going on. Um
which is a good thing at this point. So,
it's really good to see things starting
to level out and being able to predict
them as we start to move forward. So,
looking ahead, we do have some major
items that we're thinking about already
for the current year and for next year.
We are currently still working on the
FLSA analysis and with the bargaining
groups on that as well. We would like to
have that wrapped up by December, by the
end of this year. That is the goal. Um,
so we are still working on that. We have
open collective bargaining agreements.
We have local 39
uh supervisory and non-supervisory are
currently open and in negotiation for
the current year. Um starting with
fiscal year 28, we will have seven other
groups that open up at that point. Um
there's a lot of unknowns. We have a
potential pers rate increase that would
be for next year as well. um medical
costs and workers compensation. Over the
last two years, we've seen a dramatic
increase in the costs of those. A lot of
it is geared because medical costs in
general have increased. Um and then with
workers comp um state legislature has
changed some things there. So that um
we're going to see some changes I think
as we move forward. We haven't seen the
impact of it yet, but um future we're
starting to plan for that as well.
capital funding needs for next year.
Current year, we use some one-time funds
that we found next year for fiscal year
28. We're already starting to look and try to figure out how we're going to
fund those capital needs because we
don't have really any one-time money
identified at this point. And then the
ERP system replacement is moving forward
right now. Um Barry Dunn is working on
the proposal on that as far as going out
um to figure out what type of system we
need. um and that information. So, a lot
of those meetings are going on right now
with staff um and we have to figure out
what the actual cost will be with that
and then um figure out a plan for that
as well. So, these are the really big
items right now that are on our plate as
we're starting to look ahead and start
to think about um building the budget.
September 23rd, I'll be back in front of
you again for the next update. Um,
again, I'll have results from last year
un audited, but they will be very close
to final at that point because we're
actually putting together these
statements at that point um to finalize
them. So, we'll really know at that
point what the impact will be to the
current year because if we're on track
with all of our estimates and where we
think we're going to be, um, there
really won't be an impact to the current
year budget. If we're not, then it would
impact the current year budget and
obviously beyond that. But at this
point, everything's really coming in as
anticipated.
So, um, with that, I'm going to stop
right here if there are any questions
here.
Vicky, really quick, what did we budget
for property tax? Um, was it a 6%
increase that we had budgeted?
Um
top of my head I thought it was around
six, but it's usually between six and
seven and eight is what we've
historically had. Um for the current
year, I know for current year it's only
4 and a.5%. We're starting to see some
flattening for last year. I think it was
around 6% um for that growth for last
year, but the current year we did see
some kind of flattening. And so I think
it's only around four and a half.
>> Okay. Thank you,
>> Council Member Taylor.
>> Thank you. Um Vicki, I have a question
about the consolidated taxes. Um so I
think it was last year the state
switched their system and we started to
see our C tax fluctuate differently.
There was a couple of really low months
and then there was a high month. My
question is what are we doing to ensure
that we are um receiving the amount of
sea tax that is due to us? Is it through
the audit? Is it through your team? And
do we feel confident that that we've
seen it kind of level out over the last
couple of months?
>> Um, so are we confident that that things
are
I guess uh the fluctuation has gone and
that now we can accurately predict with
the new system in place?
>> You know, I just had a conversation with
taxation this morning. they are still
having some challenges with some some of
the implementation because they're
rolling it out over several years in
different areas. Um we have seen it
stabilize in CAX. We did have the very
first month for last year July of 25. So
it would still be part of fiscal year
26. That one was still a little weird
because we had that overlap. We also had
the the um attack at the state that
cyber attack that impacted that and that
overlapped fiscal years. But following
that, we've had very consistent um
allocations that look normal. We
obviously, you know, do our own analysis
on our side. We talk to other agencies.
As such, taxation has also been doing
some open forums where they've been
talking about the process, talking about
some of the challenges or things that
they fixed in the system as well. But
right now, everything appears to be, you
know, on track. I think we have a good
full year of um information that we can
continue to build on for next year
whereas we lost about two years there
over this whole period where it's hard
to do analysis from last year to this
year in different timing.
>> So I guess for my understanding I want
to make sure that we are monitoring it.
We are continuing the conversations with
the department of taxation and should
there be a need to adjust or um you know
go after se tax that we thought that we
were do you're working with other
agencies. That's an ongoing process that you're working.
>> Absolutely.
>> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor.
>> Council member Der.
>> No, I'm sorry. Didn't
>> No worries. Yeah, I just had your light
on. Well, I just wanted to say I had a
really good briefing, which is why I
don't have questions. And um I spent a
lot of time asking questions there and
really got up to speed and so I just
appreciate these briefings. I do because
they really help, you know, get the
understanding better than reading a
staff report. So, thank you.
>> Of course,
>> Council Member Eert, do you have any
questions or comments online?
>> Not at this time. Thank you.
>> Yeah, of course. I don't have [laughter]
anything. Director Raman, if you want to
continue.
>> Thank you. I'm going to go on to the
special topic this month. This special
topic is the medical internal service
fund. If you remember last month, we
talked about the fleet internal service
fund. It's a fund where we have separate
accounting, kind of like a separate
checkbook if you want to call it, and we
account for the services that are
performed by the city and then the city
pays for it um through their department
budget. So the city's providing the
service and paid for through the city.
And so in the medical internal service
fund, um again I mentioned it's a
separate fund and we use it to manage
the employee health benefits um for the
medical plans. And so instead of the
city having a separate insurance company
like a box store, you go out and you buy
insurance, the city actually self-funds
the medical plan. Um, and we do that
through the employee portion and the and
the city's portion of the health benefit
premiums.
So, how does it really work? You know,
similar to the fleet fund, we have to
collect the money from somewhere within
the city. Um, we collect the money from
the employee contribution and from the
city contribution. So, not all of it
comes from the city. In this case, the
employee does have a contribution based
on the health coverage that they choose.
The city currently pays for 100% of the
employees healthc care coverage and then
they pay a portion of the dependent care
coverage depending on what um the
employee chooses and that's based on the
collective bargaining agreement. Um
those are contributed to this fund and
then the health care costs for the
medical claims, drugs and the other
things are paid out of this fund. Um,
this is an internal service fund because
it spreads the cost across the city
department. So, each department pays
based on the employees they have and the
actual coverage that the employees in
that department are signed up for. So,
we recalculate that every year during
the budget process and we actually use
the actuals for what this is costing.
So, what does it pay for? You know, re
really high level. We pay for the
medical claims from the city um and the
city claims that come in. We pay for
prescription drug costs. Those also come
in. And we have a third-party
administrator. That's UMR in this case.
And so you go to the doctor. That um
explanation of benefits is generated.
UMR is the person that determines what
is applicable, what is our portion to
pay, what is the employees portion to
pay. Um and then that is done through
UMR through that third party
administration. the actual claims
payment and the actual payment for the
drug cost that is the uh cost of the
insurance comes back to the city and is
paid through this fund. That's the
self-funded piece of this. This is not
all um it's not all risk in it is it is
risky for the city because we are
accepting the burden of knowing that we
have to be responsible for all the
claims that come in because we do not
have an outside source of insurance. Um,
we do have a stop-loss insurance that
kicks in. So, if we get a very large
claim for a benefit, so say we have a
claim that's a million dollars for
something, some hospitalization or some
kind, stop-loss would kick in at
400,000. So, the city would pay up to
$400,000 and then stop-loss insurance
kicks in after that. Any other claims
the city is responsible for paying
through this process. We have staffing
and other costs um that are associated
with managing this fund. Um staffing
costs include the HR. They have
dedicated people that work on this. We
in finance have a portion of our time
that's dedicated to this and other
things. So um that's really the cost um
at a high level of what's in the fund.
Um why do we do it this way? Why don't
we just go out and buy health care
through a regular health [clears throat]
care plan? We just pay a premium. We
don't worry about what the claims are.
Well, really we do it this way for a lot
of reasons. Um, we have more control
over the health care plan and you as
council obviously has more control in
the city over what types of plans are
offered um and if the premiums are going
to increase or not. Um, we have
transparency on the cost of the benefits
because we track it in a totally
separate fund. We have flexibility of
the plan designs. You deciding what
plans you want, what things you want in
the plan versus this is what we offer
and you get all of this in this package.
We have the ability as the city to
manage that. Um there's savings
potential long term. So we do keep a
reserve in this fund. We have to have a
healthy reserve in this fund in order to
ensure that we have money on hand in
case there are very large claims or even
though we have the stop-loss insurance,
you can have a lot of, you know, $50,000
claims or so, we have to make sure we
have enough to pay the claims as they
come due because we are accepting that
risk as the city. We have a lot of good
data with the claims experience. So, we
know kind of not who's doing it, but we
know what types of things people are
using. Are they using more medical? Are
they using more um prescription drugs,
other things? We get a lot of data from
it in order to figure out what we think
um
the future looks like as far as
providing this and then protection
through the stop-loss again. And we also
have an employee insurance advisory
committee. This is a committee is
advisory in nature. However, they um do
have a lot of input. We do meet with
them quarterly. It's comprised of a lot
of city employees and a lot of
representation from a lot of collective
bargaining groups because benefits are
important to people and um they provide
that information they receive from those
meetings back to their groups um so they
can know what we're seeing, what it
looks like and what we see for the
future for premiums or um plans or
different types of things. So that's a
quarterly meeting uh and we get a lot of
um good participation in that.
The last slide I have for you here is
just the medical and terminal service
fund history. So every year about this
time of the year, we start to look at
what do the claims look like? What's the
cash balance in this fund? And do um do
we need to look at changes to the plan
or changes to the premium at this point?
The reason we typically do it now is
because we have a good solid year to
look at for last year for 26. We can
look at trends up to that point and we
also know that open enrollment is coming
up in the fall. So we want to if we're
going to look at doing anything we would
like to do it prior to open enrollment
so employees can choose the best option
for them at that point. Um, one of the
things I want to point out on here, for
about a decade, we did not have to
increase premiums or we very we only
increased them very slightly. Back 2017,
we increased premiums 5% across the
board and then in this January, uh, we
increased them 10%. But that's what
we've done almost over a 10-year period.
So, that tells you how well this this
fund works. There are some years where
claims will be higher and some years
where claims will be lower and then that
remaining balance will stay in the
reserve. So that in that way we're able
to stabilize and keep the costs even for
employees and for the city as a whole.
So you'll see the top line, the red line
shows the claims. These are the claims
going back to fiscal year 20. And then
the blue line shows you the cash
balance. very steady has been for almost
a decade up until about fiscal year 24.
If you looked down at the bottom, fiscal
year 24, we're starting to see a real
increase in the claims. Claims totaled
uh $33.5 million. Going into fiscal year
25, we went up to $37 million. Between
those fiscal year 24 and 25, we saw a
10% increase in claims. That's one of
the reasons that we increased the
premiums in January 10%. We saw these
trends coming and we increased. What we
didn't anticipate is that for fiscal
year 26, it didn't level out, it
continued to increase. And it not only
increased, it increased 20%. So now
you're seeing that gap on the edge. So
from fiscal year 25 to 26, we've seen
the cost and claims increase 20%. Um
really this is a f it's a factor of
hospital prices that have risen. Um
they've seen costs in labor go up, cost
in supplies go up, the inflation that
they're seeing on their side, it's
coming through in hospital prices going
up. There are newer newer drugs,
expensive drugs in the prescription
plan, so costing more and you know um
usage is also a factor in it. um people
know their benefits, people are able to
use their benefits, and they have really
good benefits. And so there are a lot of
things going on in this. We're currently
working with HR and their team to um
work with UMR and get some more analysis
so we can look at what this looks like
for the future, either changing the plan
a little bit, um increasing premiums
potentially or doing a combination of
both. But now is the time really that we
always look at it every year. figuring
this out first because then it'll impact
the budget as we continue to move
forward. So, just wanted to give you a
little heads up that this is this is the
item on the radar as we're moving in
this time of year. Um, and then we will
move on to full budget development after
this. But this is going to be a
challenge. I'm not sure, you know, I
think when we met with um we met with
the advisory group, I think the proje
projections from uh the consultant that
works on this is uh somewhere around
five or six% is what they're thinking
for next year whether that's really true
because again there are a lot of factors
in this. Um so we need to kind of find a
happy medium and then continue to
monitor what the claims look like as we
go forward. So questions here.
>> Council member T.
>> Thank you. This slide is very
concerning. Um and it looks like it's not sustainable financially. We're the claims are going up and the cash is going down. So when you said
that we have a consultant that is
looking at this, are they going to be
preparing some ideas for us to look at
to close this gap a little bit? Well, I
said consultant. It's it's more UMR and
the claims history. They look at claims
history and they can tell us what um
what happened.
>> It's not even necessarily about the
consultant. Vicki, I'm wondering what
are the plans? When are you going to We
need to come up with some
recommendations to close this gap.
>> We are we are working on that. We are
actively working. Monica's here if you
have some specific questions for them.
But Monica and Adria are here. I'm
working with their team to figure out
what we do here. I mean, clearly we
could raise premiums to try to cover it,
but I don't necessarily know that that's
um what everyone wants. And so, we're
working out what that
>> our employees are our greatest asset. We
need to invest them. I'm not saying
that, but we can't have a a shortfall
like we're having in this. It just it's
not sustainable.
>> We have a very rich plan and there's
potential for changes to the plan. Um
and they're working on calculations on
what that would look like if we change
the plan a little bit as well. So, I
think there's an opportunity for both. I
definitely think there probably going to
have to be some plan changes and another
premium increase.
>> When do you think that you would have
some recommendations for us to look at
or options?
>> We're planning to the next we called a
special uh meeting. They meet quarterly
that advisory committee. Uh Adri just
scheduled that this morning to meet with
them um in September. So, we'll be
meeting with them in September, going
through this with the broker, our
insurance broker, that was the
consultant I was talking about, the
insurance broker that brings us the
analysis of the claims and what it looks
like on the go forward. And so, once we
have all of that information and talk to
the employees that rec that represent
their bargaining groups, find out what's
most important to people. Um, because if
we change the plan, they may lose some
benefits that they really want. Maybe
they would prefer to pay more in a
premium. We really need to get a little
more input before
>> Sure. That sounds
>> make some recommendations on it.
>> That sounds like a a good plan for it.
I'd be interested. It's for discussion
only. So, I'm going to be really
interested in seeing what what we bring
forward. Thank you. Thank you for the
presentation. This is very helpful.
>> Council member Der.
>> Yeah. Thank you. I I too appreciate this
presentation. Um this is another one I
was able to get a little briefing on.
Could you go back a slide or two to
right here? Um, I thought this was
really important. You know, there we
could be getting our medical insurance
through an insurance broker, right? And,
uh, the by managing it ourselves, I
think we're really,
um, affecting
payments to insurance brokers. In other
words, a lot of people in America are
very unhappy with insurance companies
generally. And by taking them out of the
equation and making it very personal
between the city and our employees, I
think we're doing them um a good
service. I really do. Uh the second
thing that you have here, so so that
contributes directly to savings because
otherwise if we did use an insurance
broker, they would be getting money.
They would be making money on on finding
us the right insurance coverages and
those kind of things. Right.
>> Right. You're cutting out the income
piece of it of an insurance company
making a profit off of it. Yes.
>> Right. Which I think should make our
employees pretty happy. You know that we
have come up with a cost savings here.
And the second thing is just this
employment employee insurance advisory
committee I think is also very important
because you pointed out they are more
sensitive uh to changes in the insurance
program. They may be willing to pay more
to get this high level of insurance.
they may be more price sensitive and
want to take a cut in insurance
benefits, medical insurance benefits to be able to uh not have an increase in
price and I think they are a very
valuable part of this um communication
and these decisions that we're making.
So, thank you for highlighting those.
>> Sure. Thank you.
» Do you have anything council member?
>> Yeah.
So, um I I worked in benefits for
20 years before coming here um in
different capacities. Um but
I'm really interested in making sure
that we're getting the best possible
plan. Like there's other insurance
companies um besides I'm really
interested in and kind of going out and
seeing what other plans are available. I
know I've talked with um Jackie about
brokers that have been really helpful um
with other businesses in the past.
There's um different agencies that can
help um you know uh lower premiums. I'm
not sure if a municipality can join
anything similar to um a PEO to help
reduce insurance costs, but um I I want
to make sure we're looking at all the
different possibilities for different
insurance plans. I don't I don't know if
we're locked in to UMR, but um there's
other providers out there for sure. Um
the other thing I'm interested in
knowing is um what kind of data do we
have on the claims? I know that there's
HIPPA regulations. So, we don't we don't
want to know who did what, but do we
have particular um high claims that are
spiking our costs or um like one-offs or
do we have um kind of a trend of a
certain health issue that's raising our
rates because a lot of people are
experiencing it? And I ask that because
we could potentially work on a wellness
program to help reduce those those
risks. And I I'll just use the example
of smoking, right? If you invest in and
smoking uh sessation pro uh programs,
you can help reduce some of the the
rates for um you know, cancer treatments
and things like that. Um, so just um
want to make sure that we have accurate
information to make sure that we're
looking for the right area to invest in
to help lower our premiums. You know,
things like premature babies, you can't
really help that, but you can make sure
that we have good prenatal care, you
know, for employees and their
dependents. Um, so just things like
that. I'm not sure if we get that data
from our insurance company now, but I
think if we're not, we should um just
again to make sure if if there's things
that we could reduce through wellness
programs, we should be doing that. And
um uh I think it would be worth an
investment on that. Um I know that um
there's um options to do biometric
screenings um with some insurance
companies that um again they keep your
information private but they use uh
aggregate data to find out what kind of
wellness programs you should offer for
people um as well. So, um, just want to
make sure that we're not kind of just
continuing what we've always done in the
past. Like, let's really make sure we're looking for the best possible
option.
» Yes, thank you for that. We are
definitely I mean, my answer to that is
yes, we are doing all of the things that
you're talking about. Um mostly because
we the things that we thought were going
to happen, you know, cost increasing 10%
and potentially another 6 to 10% and we
get 20%. Because of that, we need to
really do a deeper dive and we're going
to really do that um over the next
month. Yes.
>> Okay. So, is is UMR providing any kind
of reporting like that to us? Currently,
>> they do. they provide um not names or
anything but they say you have a high
claim related to NICU or something else.
So we are aware of things as they
happen. Um and then they also do
quarterly reporting to us. They may even
do monthly to the HR department but I
see quarterly reports um with the
committee. Um they present at it. they
are seeing an increase in um the $40 to
$50,000 range claim
>> and you'll know that those are you know
not they don't meet the stop-loss
threshold.
>> Yeah.
>> So those type of claims are increasing.
So we are kind of asking some more
details on that as far as what's causing
this. Are these oneoffs? Is this
something
>> going on in that space? Because if you
have, you know, a hundred of those type
of claims, that's that's a big deal. You
may not have a giant claim, but you may
have a lot of smaller type procedure
claims or surgeries or other things
>> and maybe there's something else we
could be doing or having the plan in a
different way to match what's going on.
So, yes, we are looking at it.
>> Okay. and really focus on wellness
programming as well because that's you
know preventative health care is is the
best way to go really. Okay. Thank you.
>> Yeah. Council member Anderson.
>> Yeah. I just have one more thing. I have
been hearing from police and fire and it
could be happening in public works and parks and wreck. I'm not sure that
because of the extreme amount of not you
know hours that they're working fatigue.
We've got a lot of injured police
officers and firefighters that I'm sure
is contributing to these numbers in
terms of, you know, claims and things.
So, I think that on the front end, I
know that we're constantly working on
staffing. We're constantly look working
on the number of hours that our
employees are working. Um, and a lot of
that we can't really control because it
really requires upstaffing and bringing
on new employees. But anything that we
can be doing on um injury prevention and
what that takes, whether it's scheduling
number of hours, you know, required time
off for rest, I'm sure that we're going
to be having a lot of injuries after
these the summer of fires that we're
experiencing. So, I don't I don't really
see that trend changing in terms of our
claims, but we could be changing the way
that we are
working.
>> Thank you. That's a great point.
Are there any other comments?
>> Yeah, madame mayor.
>> Okay, great job as always. Um, couple
things. Did Angela leave?
She did. Did I miss her goodbye or what?
happened?
>> She retired and did not want to say
goodbye.
>> Oh my. Can I tell you what an asset that
woman was? She's
>> We all know
>> amazing. Amazing. So,
>> wanted to sneak out the door. Of course.
I trust me, I get it. Um, I totally
understand that. If there's some way you
can connect us, that would be amazing. I
just want to thank her for her service.
She helped I'm sure all of you here at
this DAS many, many, many times. She
helped me many, many, many times. What a
wonderful woman. And just what what an
example of
someone that knows this industry inside
and out and is responsive and kind and
caring. So please um let's somehow
connect with her so we can at least send
her something so that way she doesn't
feel embarrassed but we can at least
thank her for her service. Um and then
explain to me what the employee
insurance advisory committee is.
It's just an advisory committee similar
to that other
>> committee we've had it or
>> at least a couple years.
>> What does it do exactly?
>> They meet quarterly and there's a
presentation for from our insurance
broker that goes through the type of
claims that they're seeing. You know,
again, no names, just yeah,
>> the claims are going up and this is the
cost that we're seeing, prescription
drug drug usage, is it up, down, how's
it compared to prior years? And then we
talk um from finance on our side. What's
the what is the fund balance in the
fund? How is it handling the claims that
are coming in? Do we anticipate any
challenges with it? And it really keeps
us on track on a quarterly basis of
looking at this all the time. Um it's
not easy to predict. So it's a really
good thing that uh we have this
committee to do this and there's a lot
of representation from the employee
groups, the collective bargainings
agreements. And so those employees are
very involved and they go back and they
talk to their groups about it. And so we
get a lot of really good input um to the
group.
>> Okay. All right. Is there ever any talk
of getting rid of your um pharmacy
benefits manager?
>> Not that I've heard, but maybe Monica
has a
>> You know, there's like
>> I haven't heard that. No.
>> Yeah.
>> No,
>> I don't know. there there's,
you know,
a lot of the stuff that I've read about
them has not been great. Not like ours
per se, but like having those in place
can be
um the the uh what do they call them? O
is it OPM?
Is it what? There's a name for it, but
oftentimes
it can hinder us actually getting the
best price when we sort of have a
middleman.
>> Okay.
>> So, I've had a lot of difficulty with
them personally, like continually
ongoing, like
>> with ours.
>> Yeah. Like the people that work there
are great. They're very friendly and
helpful, but I like
>> Yeah. When I need prescription refills,
I have to call multiple times
for each prescription and it's
I am not really happy with the service
they provide. I know um Angela said she
did a survey before of employees and
everybody else was happy with it. Um I
think it's odd that I would be the only
person that has this issue. Um but it's
been extremely frustrating for me. Um,
so just wanted to let put that on the
record, I guess. Thank you.
>> Put it on the list and we'll talk bring
it back up.
>> They're just typically those in general
have a, you know, they end up, like I
said, becoming the middleman and um
anyway, so I'm just curious.
>> Okay. No, we're certainly looking at a
lot of companies are taking them out of
the equation. Yeah. So
>> anyway, okay, that's it. back at you,
Vice Mayor.
>> Thank you. I think that was just for
discussion. Thank you. Uh it sounds like
a lot of members of the body, if you're
okay with that, madame mayor, would like
to go on break and then we can continue
with the agenda.
>> We have a break for attorney client.
Yes.
>> Okay. All right. Then we will go on
break. Thanks so much.
>> Okay. Thank you.
Perfect.
» Okay, Madame Clerk, I think we're going
to reconvene
our meeting. If you can get us on track,
please. Yes, I believe we are going into
item D1 and we'll need to open the
public hearing.
>> Okay,
you said D1.
>> D1.
Let the record reflect that the
council is opening the public hearing on
item D1. Madame clerk, was proper notice
given and any correspondence received?
>> Proper notice was given and we did
receive one letter in favor that has
been distributed.
Thank
>> you. Do any council members have to make
any disclosures at this time?
Doesn't look like it. We will move on to
our staff presentation.
Good afternoon. My name is Brenna
Nichols. I'm a senior management analyst
in the public works department. Today
I'm joined by JD Clippenstein from the
Reno Housing Authority. Uh and today uh
we are looking at a resolution of sale
and hearing of objections for 14180
Mount Charleston Street.
This item aligns with the quality of
life priority, specifically the
affordable housing goal within that
priority.
Some details on this property. Uh
it's.35 acres uh located in Ward 4 just
south of the Renoad airport at the
corner of Mount Charleston Street and
Coco Avenue. It's been leased to the
Reno Housing Authority since 1994 at
zero cost.
A little bit more on the uh public
benefit of this item. Uh Ste Manor is a
68 unit affordable housing community. It
rents are capped at 30% of household
income.
And the clubhouse specifically supports
youth programs, workforce development,
and technology access as well as uh
community meeting space.
» A quick timeline. Uh we purchased this
property in 1975.
Uh in 1994, RHA began leasing the
property. Uh moving ahead to this year,
in June, RHA submitted a letter this uh
council approved. Two weeks ago, on
August 12th, this council approved a
resolution of intent to sell. And today
marks the final action uh needed from
council, the resolution of sale.
And with that, here is the re
recommended motion uh to sell this
property to the Reno Housing Authority
um for a nominal cost of $10 plus
closing costs.
>> Thank you so much. I'll turn over to the
body. See if there are any questions or
comments.
>> We'll make a motion. Yeah.
>> I move to adopt the resolution of sale
to approve purchase.
>> Council member, you were hat.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Just wanted to say what this
is going to be used for. I mean, just to
say it on the record because this is in
my ward and I think this is a great um
project there. I've taken a tour. Um
it's a really um nice location, very
well-maintained. So, just real quick,
what are we going to do with this spot?
>> Definitely. I'll have JD talk about
that.
>> JD Clippenstein, deputy executive
director for the Reno Housing Authority.
Council Member Eert, thank you for the
question. So, this property is going
through a $20 million rehab. Um, so and
the clubhouse is included in that. We're
should be set that's gonna be wrapping
up at the end of this month. Uh, so
there's going to be a community kitchen.
There's going to be a like computer
nook. So this place this space will use
for community programming. Our resident
councils will meet there. Um, we also
have a workforce development program
that uses that space. So our staff meet
with residents there. It's just kind of
a hub of what is the affordable housing
community out there.
>> That's wonderful. So, can um residents
kind of um use this space for
programming that maybe they want to do?
Maybe they want to have their kids get
together and read books or something
like that or schedule somebody to come
out and and talk with them with the
library or something. They could do
that.
>> Yeah, absolutely. We've uh I think both
the scouts, Girl Scouts troops have meet
there. Um there's some other programming
as well uh that is offered. So we our
resident services team works really
closely with residents to identify what
the needs are and also what some of the programs that they're interested in
and then we partner with those agencies
to bring it out there.
>> That's great. Well, thank you for that.
>> Of course. Thank you.
>> Council member two,
>> I move to adopt the resolution of sale
to approve a purchase and sale agreement
to sell city owned property located at
1418 Mount Charleston Street to the Reno
Housing Authority for a nominal fee of
$10 plus closing cost.
Second.
>> Great. We have a motion and a second.
All those in favor say I.
>> I.
Any opposed? Motion passes
unanimously. Thank you.
Close item D1 and move on to item D2.
Let the record reflect the council's
opening public hearing on item D2.
Madame clerk, was proper notice given
and any correspondence received?
>> Proper notice was given and we did
receive three letters in opposition.
Thank you. Are there any disclosures
from any of the council members at this
time?
Now I will ask um Mr. Shipman or Mr.
Hall to read the ordinance.
>> Thank you. Ordinance introduction bill
number 7341
case number LDC 25-000065
moves Ridge zoning map amendment
ordinance to amend title 18 chapter
18.02 02 of the Renom Municipal Code
entitled zoning reszoning a 42.3 acre
42.43 acre site located north of the
tournament of Moose Ridge Drive 115 ft
north of its intersection with Foxtail
Drive from 42.43 43 acres of single
family residential, three units per
acre, SF3 to 22.43
[clears throat] acres of single family
residential, 8 units per acre, SF8, and
20 acres of parks, greenways, and open
space together with matters which
pertain to or are necessarily connected
there with W 5.
>> Thank you. I think it's up to you, Mr.
Picotti.
» Good afternoon, members of the council.
For the record, my name is Leah Picotti
and I am an associate planner with the
City of Reno Development Services.
This afternoon, I am presenting an
application for a zoning map amendment.
We are calling this one the Moose Ridge
zoning map amendment.
So this site is approximately 42 acres
and it is located in the northn
northwest portion of Reno kind of north
of Somerset right there, Rob Drive and
McQueen High.
The request before you today is a zoning
map amendment. However, I will point out
that this request was submitted and is
being processed concurrent with a
tenative map for 46 single family
residential units and a major site plan
review for grading cuts and fills um
grading in the parks, greenways, and
open space and a major drainage way,
which I'll get into here. Now, while the
tenative map and the major site plan
review are not necessarily something
that is approved by council, I think
it's important to talk about it because
it was unanimously approved by the
planning commission back on July 15th.
Should the zoning map amendment be
approved um because the tenative map and
major site plan review have been
approved is contingent upon approval of
this zoning map amendment.
So, the request that you have before you
is a zoning map amendment. And I want to
just step back a little bit because I
talked about it a little bit in
briefing, but we've been working on this
for about a year and a half. And
originally when this request came in, it
was to go from single family residential
three units per acre to single family
residential eight units per acre. And
when we took that before the planning
commission in July 2025, they said,
"Hey, why can't we make a portion of
this park's greenways and open space
since the majority of the parcel has
slopes that exceed 30% and isn't
necessarily developable anyways and
something that kind of complements that
SF8 and parks, greenways, and open space
as you can see below." So, they came
back with this. And so, the request
that's before you today is to go from
SF3 to 22.43 43 acres of single family
residential, eight units per acre just
on the southern portion of the parcel.
And then the northern portion, that 20
acres up there will be zoned parks,
greenways, and open space.
So the second request that kind of just
goes with this is the tenative map for a
46 unit single family detach
subdivision. You can see the site on the
screen right now and you can see that
all 46 of those units are proposed on
the southern portion of that site. There
is no development proposed on the
northern portion of the site and if this
zoning map amendment is approved then
that portion of the site will be zoned
parks, greenways and open space which
will preserve it in perpetuity. So with
this single with the tentative map, we
also have an application for a major
site plan review and that's grading
resulting in cuts greater than 20 ft and
fills greater than 10 ft grading within
the parks greenways and open space um
hillside development and disturbance of
a major drainage way. Again, this isn't
necessarily part of what you guys are
looking at today, but I think it's
important to look at what has been
approved and what's going to be
developed should the zoning map
amendment be approved.
Um on the screen for you is a slope map.
This just gives you kind of an idea of
how the terrain on this site actually
looks. So you can see the green area
down at the bottom. That is the least
sloped area under 15% and that is the
area that's going to be developed.
pretty much everything on that northern
portion of the site is uh orange or red,
which means it's above 30%.
Looking at the overall site design, we
have about 9 acres of development area
that includes all of the roads and the
proposed lots. This will leave about 33
acres of open space, which will be
parks, greenways, and open space and
deed restricted. It will accommodate 46
single family detached homes with an
average lot size of 6,000 to 7200 square
ft. It's important to note that lot size
and density are not always the same
thing. So, while the lot sizes are
slightly smaller than the subdivision to
the south, which range somewhere in the
9 to 12,000 range, the actual density of
this site, 46 units on 42.43 43 acres
comes out to one unit per 92 acres. So
it's almost one unit per acre. So the
density is low, but that's because the
housing is all at the bottom and the
rest of it is uh preserved in open
space.
This application did go to the W 5
neighborhood advisory board back in
December and there were concerns um and
I kind of put this table together to
kind of talk about what those concerns
were. As you all know, we cannot
condition a zoning map amendment, but we
can condition a tenative map in a major
site plan review. So, the conditions
that you're looking at today um can't
necessarily be amended, but I do want
you to know that they have been approved
by the planning commission and should
the council approve the zoning map
amendment, these would move forward with
that tenative map. So, we looked at
density and compatibility.
Um that was one of the concerns. And so
the applicants have um agreed to deed
restrict the open space and also
continue to work with Truckucky Meadow
Trails. There are some existing
pedestrian and um dirt bike and jeep
trails that are up in that area. Some of
them can be preserved, some of them
cannot. So they're going to work with
Truckucky Meadow Trails to figure out
which ones can be preserved and which
ones need to be blocked off. any of the
ones that do need to be preserved.
They'll work with Truckucky Meadow
Trails to fix those trails, correct any
erosion and issues like that moving
forward. Um, also they are going to do
rockery walls and rip wrap natural
landscape back filled with soil and
reveated
and um those again all those dirt roads
will be maintained and reveated. I think
one a couple of things I want to touch
on here is um there's been some current
concerns about wildlife. So, I did want
to let everybody know that we do have a
condition of approval on here and this
was the condition that was requested by
Nevada Department of Wildlife and that
is that prior to the recordation of the
final map, the applicant shall identify
wildlife corridors and include wildlife
mitigation and maintenance plan that
will be reviewed and approved by the
Nevada Department of Wildlife and city
staff. um implementation of any
mitigation or maintenance measures need
to be uh reflected on the final plan. So
any of those trails or any of the
mitigation that needs to be done will be
done in coordination with Nevada
Department of Wildlife and will be
reflected on that final plan. The other
thing we're going to talk about a little
bit about here is fire safety. Now I
know that this is all on the top of
everyone's mind right now. So I want to
talk about the things that we've
implemented here uh related to fire
safety. So everything all the conditions
7 through 13 are directly related to
this and I'm just going to read them so
that we have that on record. So prior to
the approval of the final map the
applicant will pro shall provide plans
that demonstrate that all landscaping
uh complies with the international
wildland urban interface code. That's
the WOOI code um adopted by the Nevada
State Fire Marshall's Office.
The Reno Def Fire Department requires
that vegetation management plans be
submitted to the state forester first
and then the approved plans along with
any comments will be submitted to City
of Reno for review.
The developer will establish a
homeowners association or equivalent
organization that shall be tasked to
maintain requirements regarding the
establishment and maintenance of fuel
modification zones.
All dwelling units shall be equipped
with emergency fire suppression
sprinklers that meet or exceed the
standards outlined in the National Fire
Protection Association 13D.
All decks, roofs, and walls shall be
constructed of fireresistant material.
The development and the private roadways
will not be gated or obstructed and
there will be all temporary access roads
will be constructed in accordance with
permanent fire department access road
standards. The fire access roads may be
engineered compacted base material which
may or may not include paving. The road
base shall support fire trucks, be
resistant to wear from travel and
weather, and shall be maintained as a
drivable surface throughout the
construction process. Construction
activity may be prohibited by the fire
department for failure to service and
maintain those fire uh apparatus access
roads. Also, I want to point out too
that I don't have a slide for it, but I
can put it on the overhead if we need
to. I'm just going to move back here.
So, um, if we're looking at the screen
on the right portion of the screen, that
roadway is going to extend out and go
into the neighborhood that is to the
west of this. That's going to provide
another fire access ingress and egress,
not only for the residents here, but the
residents that are on Moose Ridge, um,
and, uh, Morgan Court, where the woman
that spoke earlier was. So now she
actually will have another way to get
out of her subdivision um should there
be some other emergency situation where
she needs to be able to leave. So this
project is going to improve the fire uh
access in this area. [snorts] And with
that um zoning map amendments are on the
board. Planning commission saw this on
July 15th. Got a unanimous
recommendation of approval for that. And
the recommended motion is on the board.
The applicant has a presentation. I am
available for questions and our fire
department is here and available for
questions as well. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Good afternoon. Uh Derek Wilson on
behalf of the property owner. Um, as
always, uh, uh, that was a very thorough
presentation from staff. Uh, so I'm
going to do my best to not, uh, take up
too take up too much of people's time
and not be repetitive. Um, uh, so I will
move through this as quickly as I can.
U, that's the site.
Um, so as mentioned, uh, we're not
maximizing development in any way. we're, uh, preserving, uh, nearly half
the site as open space. Uh so the goal
here is is not to to maximize our unit
count. It's to it's to have u uh
sensitively sized lots that that match
the topography uh and the and the
grading of the area. So the SF8 zone
would allow us uh to to do those more
compact lots uh on the on the flatter
areas of the site without extending our
grading up into the steeper parts of the
site. Um, and as mentioned, uh, we have
a tenative map already approved for
this. Um, that's our technical
description of what we're asking for
right there. I think you're familiar
with that.
Um, existing zoning,
uh, proposed zoning. Again, we're we're
cutting it in half. Uh, we're only using
the the the lower angled, uh,
developable slopes on the on the
southern part of the site.
Uh, master plan uh, supports SF zone,
SF8 zone in this area. uh we're um we're
next to uh SF8 zoning already. It's
present in the neighborhood. So, we're
not bringing a new zone to that area.
It's already present uh in the
neighborhood.
Um so, that's that's a subject that that
arrow that yellow line is is pointing
roughly to the developable part of the
site, the southern part of the site. Uh
that's that's um more easily developable
uh easily accessible from Moose Ridge
Drive.
Uh and that's our layout. That's our our
site plan. Um, lots of parking, lots of
access. We're we intend to maintain
public access um through the site so
hiking and and bike riding and such can
continue through the site and we have uh parking and and uh we're prepared to
put up a sign identifying that that
trail head area. Uh so we're in no way
uh removing public access uh uh to this
through this site and and to the the
area further up the hill.
Um, so obviously, uh, fire safety is a
big issue and and we're we're sensitive
to that and we we respect people's
concerns about that and and we want to
be a positive element to this. Um,
earlier in this meeting today, uh, it
was stated that we need uh better fire
infrastructure and and obviously that's
the case. We need that everywhere. Um,
that I I don't mean this uh to to make
light of any issue, but that's exactly
what this project is doing. Uh we're
adding a a fire access road that that
links uh two uh two existing
neighborhoods. Uh those neighborhoods
function somewhat as a as a culde-sac.
Uh they're they're separate
neighborhoods that that come to an end.
We're linking those so it loops uh that
emergency access. Uh we're also um
interconnecting the water system. So the
water system will connect through those
neighborhoods as well. Uh which and
that's that's requested by Toma. Uh they
want to see that additional um
redundancy in the water system. So uh we
are improving emergency water supply and
emergency road network with this
project. Uh and all that's going to be
provided at private expense at the at
the the developer's expense. That's not
something the city has to take on. It's
not something we have to wait for
capital expenditures to to come around.
Uh that's something that would happen uh
with our tenative map. Um so that's the important point that I wanted
to make. Um, I don't think there's
anything else that we're not aware of.
Um, we uh we've we've done our best to
uh communicate with the neighborhood.
Uh, we had a community forum meeting.
Uh, I went door to door and and handed
out uh project descriptions. Uh, so we we think we we we hope we've done a
good job communicating to the public
what's going on. Uh, so that's the end
of my uh, presentation. I'm happy to
elaborate as needed. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Madam Cler. Do you have any
public comment on this item?
>> There's no one registered to speak.
>> Thank you. We'll bring it back to the
body. Council member Anderson.
>> Yes. [clears throat] Thank you for the
presentation. This is a question for
you, the developer. Um, I appreciate the
PGOS plan on the slopes. One thing that
we know and what we've learned is that
the vegetation in the PGOS in that
specific area that you're going to be
developing or you want to develop could
be problematic. So what is the plan to
make sure that you just don't have that
many acres of PGOS that's overgrown and
becomes sparkable on the edge of those
houses?
>> Um so it would be a pretty simple matter
to include in um the HOA document for
the site uh that maintenance of that
area is required.
>> Okay. And inspected like have it
inspected and things like that.
>> Yeah, there's a routine for that.
Somerset does this. they come around
with with uh guys that cut they you know
they they somehow get machines into
those into those gullies and they and
they cut some of that vegetation. So
yeah, we'd replicate exactly that sort
of agreement.
>> Okay, great. And then one other
question. I don't know if you've gotten
this far in your plan, but do you have a
plan for um fire resistant fencing?
Um I don't recall if that was in the
conditions, but we'd be happy to have
that as a condition for
>> I'm just noticing that the fences um
that they end up being ignition points
as well. So if you have the opportunity
to use those materials, we would
appreciate it.
>> Sure.
>> Thank you.
Yeah, Council Member Der.
>> Yeah, thank you. Um this is going to be
a really tough one for me. Um I support
housing pretty much everywhere. Um, you
said that you were leaving part of the
property as PGOS and what I see is that
you showed the slope map. This the part
you're leaving as PGOS is over 30% slope
and so it'd be very difficult to build
up there. I'm not even sure if it's
allowed. Um, but that being said, here
here's my challenge and this is really a
conversation for council. Over the
years, I have advocated for a couple
things. I've advocated for more than two
ways in and out of a development as I'm
thinking of the Santara development
right now, which I voted against for a
couple reasons. Six fires had started on
that property. Um they were proposing
two ways in and out to meet our code for I think it's thousand thousands of
acres and 3,000 homes, something like
that. And um I was working really hard
to acquire them a third access point
through a bridge which was ultimately
closed and deemed not not usable for um
egress even in a fire. Um, we originally
had we were worried about fire there and
we had recommended using a house for a
twoerson crew I think temporarily and um
I did not support this but the developer
suggested that they get rid of that
house and just give us a couple
hundred,000 for an emergency vehicle
down in South Reno and I did not support
that um because I didn't feel like that
addressed the fire safety over there at
Santara. Um and and so today there is no
that we have 200,000 sitting in a bank
for a future fire station sometime which
compared to multi multi-million dollar
is not going to get us very far. Um on
other projects um looking at the
infrastructure out in north valleys I
recommended widening extending Virginia
Street before we ever began the road
work on 395 so that there would be an
alternate route. Um that was not
supported. the the the NDOT and RTC etc
said no we have to fix this road first
and I absolutely did not agree I felt
like we need an alternate route while
we're fixing the road um there have been
other projects too that I have
recommended denial because of fire risk
and so I voted no and um today I I
cannot get uh support this project and
here's why if you could put up the map
the first map I think you showed shows
this area would have been in the area
that um was first declared where the
fire was. So um if you there's a maybe a
bigger view of this I think the same map
but a bigger view I think on your maps.
Um
is there not
>> you mean closer?
>> Yeah, that's a good one. So, um, to the
left is Sand Destin, as I recall, and
the line for this fire went right along
the interface of the yellow and the
green, and everything north of there was
in the red, and everything south was in
the get ready to evacuate. This property
would have been in the red in in the
original map that was posted. Um, they
are in the WOOI. Uh, there's been
numerous fires started up there,
including this most recent one. Okay,
which is right there. So, until we
figure out this infrastructure issue and
how we evacuate properties,
um I don't know how to support this. I
mean, we have a fire going on today. Um
this whole entire Somerset had to
evacuate. These people would have been
the furthest out, would have had the
longest um egress. Uh, and I I I just I
don't know how in good conscience that
we move forward and change the zoning.
So, let me explain one more thing and
I'll hand it over. Um, every property
isn't designed to be everything. Like,
we're not recommending putting a
warehouse out there and we're not
recommending putting a grocery store out
there or changing it to commercial. Um,
it is registered today, I think, as SF3,
single family 3, which says three homes
per acre. That is probably a reasonable
um zoning. It It says you can build and
you can build three homes in this acre.
That would have been three people
evacuating, not 46 families. Three
families. What's that? You're saying no.
And then there's how many acres?
>> Property is 42 acres. So times three
would have been a 120.
>> 120. Okay. So, but you've also pointed
out that's incredibly difficult to build
on over half of this property because
it's over 30% slopes. So, I think that
it's probably half of that at least at
the best. Okay. So, let's just say 20
times three might be 60. Um and I just I
really you know that's what would be my
recommendation is that we don't um
densify in this particular area that has
had fire started has a fire going on
today has very difficult egress um is at
the furthest point from let's say the
highway I I 80 as compared to all the
other housing around there and and
that's where I struggle and I struggle
because for literally and and this is no
um hit to our fire department. But what
I've asked for 12 years is that the fire
department get more involved in these
developments. And there's obviously a
lot of recommendations that you've put
on there, right, to deal with fire. And
you think about why are we putting so
many recommendations on. We don't put
the same level of recommendations on
every property. That was like, I think
10 additional conditions or six. I'm not
sure how many they translate in because
you read them into the record. But the
point is is it's a very uh risky area to
build in my opinion. And I don't think
we should be doing things to be moving
people into this particular area. So
that's just my perspective. Others may
not share it, but it's been a
longstanding concern. I have voted on
fire over and over again, even when the
fire department said it's all right. You
can build this. I've said I I I'm very
concerned about the egress and it's
those are the things we're supposed to
worry about.
>> Thank you, Council Member.
>> Yeah. Council member Taylor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. I certainly
appreciate my colleagues comments. Um,
I'm going to ask if Chief Mandel can
come up and maybe answer the fire
question. I know there's a lot of
emotion in making these decisions,
especially right now. So, I want to
understand um is this a project that you
have seen and um your team has reviewed
and what is it looks like they could
possibly do and something homes and
they're reducing it a little bit. I just
want to I want to hear it from your
mouth what your thoughts are.
>> Yeah, I will defer to um Captain Charl
Bryan who's reviewed the
>> Thank you. Hi, Cam. I'm Sean O'Brien,
Fire Prevention and Reno Fire
Department. Um, so this project, I mean,
as we just went over the numbers, it's
actually under, so if we were to take
half and say 60, it's going to be uh
under 50. It's 46 as far as the density
goes. We are adding more access for our
firefighters, which is good. The other
big thing about this being a newer
development, to your point,
Councilwoman, um, it will fall under the
WOOI, our new WOOI standards that we
have adopted. So, these homes are going
to be built through a higher ignition
resistance standard than the homes that
are behind it um by our code with the
vegetation management plan, which is
going to provide a buffer. So, any
future fires, that's going to give our
firefighters a lot of room to be able to
work and protect these homes. On top of
that, they will have the extra water
infrastructure to help protect them as
well.
>> So, to Councilwoman Der's point, it
sounds like you have been involved in
this process and you are giving feedback
and I I appreciate you guys very much.
Thank you very Thank you,
» Madam.
>> Yeah. Um why don't you come on back?
Okay. Um you made some comments that um
I I need you to repeat. You said wild
fire mitigation plan, I think, or you
said you were updating
>> vegetation management.
>> Yeah, vegetation management. You also
said you were updating or you had
recently updated.
>> We adopted the 2024 wildland urban
interface code for the city of Reno for
the first time last year.
>> Okay.
>> Correct.
>> Um and it would be helpful to kind of go
through that. Um but talk a little bit
about what that what you're saying there
would be new standards that we didn't
have before is what I'm hearing.
Correct.
>> Correct. And those standards are what
exactly?
>> So the developers are having a map and
then the wildland urban interface code
has a table where we get to dictate
depending on the map the ignition
resistance of how the house is built. So
things like now the house has to have a
certain classification of roof material
that's ignition resistant. Uh 1 hour
rated walls, maybe even a 6-in flashing
at the base depending on where the house
is located and the wildfire threat in
the area. So they have a lot more
development into the actual construction
of each structure, including vents,
gutters, doors, windows, things so that
those embers when we're fighting the
fire and trying to keep it out of the
houses, those embers that we can't stop
that come over us, they land and they
don't set anything on fire.
>> Okay. And tell me why this um this exit
I assume
triggers something that requires this
exit or now you're telling me oh you
know this will also provide another
exit.
Why are we um approving that now and not
a year ago?
Well, I I would have to look at the map
again, but with this section particular
being sprinklered, this additional
access point that they're giving to us
is actually it's a benefit. It's not
required by code. They're doing an above
and beyond to for the fire reasons.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah, there's already that that
neighborhood already has two exit uh two
sorry, two fire access points. Uh, if we
look at the map and with these buildings
being sprinklered, another one wouldn't
be required and they're adding that in
for our ability to
>> Thank you. I really appreciate that.
That's you as the developer representing
the developer saying we want to put in
this extra access, right? Thank you. I
really appreciate that. That is that is
fantastic.
>> And I'm not here. He's doing a great
job. I should shut up.
>> No, he is doing a great job.
>> I I just want to clarify. There might
have been an incorrect statement
earlier. Um, our access road runs east
from our project. So, it goes from our
project to the neighborhood to the east.
So, that was the only point I wanted to
make. It creates a loop uh between the
Moose Ridge neighborhood and then the
project the neighborhood to the to the
east. So, that's all I want to clarify.
>> But you're here today saying you want to
provide an extra access point. Correct.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
>> And you're here today telling me that
you approve of this extra access point.
Correct.
>> Oh, yeah. We'll take every access we can
get.
>> So, then here's Thank you so much. I'm
glad you just pointed that out. So,
here's my problem. It shouldn't be that
the developer comes in and says, "Here
you go. We think this is a nice
gesture."
It should be up to us
to say, "Hey, council, wait a minute.
This is what we need." That's where we
can be proactive and it can help. And
so, let me ask you this next question.
If we would have had 25 homes or even
one home um burn
in any area, I don't care whether it's
the North Valleys or Somerset, would you
be standing here today saying this is a
good idea?
>> I would say that everything that's been
proposed meets code.
>> It meets code. That's very different
than it than if it just because you can
doesn't mean you should. And it's
something that I've been frustrated with
and wanted our chief to come back with
out of the box thinking, fire mitigation
plans. I've been saying it forever and
ever and ever. So much like Councilwoman
Der, I could not get there and this is
not the answer, especially coming off we
are still in an event today,
>> if I may.
>> Yes, please.
>> Part of our upset with you.
>> Oh, no. I totally understand where I
appreciate your honesty. I appreciate
your honesty very much. Part of the big
part for me is so we have ignition
resistant construction. So the houses
that will be there are going to be built
to the high standards. Also with what
we're talking about the vegetation
management plan for the property that's
going to give us an actual bigger buffer
than they have by far for that whole
neighborhood right now in fire
protection. So when you add in an extra
road, you add in the extra water, and
then you add in this buffer that's going
to be created by the vegetation
management plan for defensible space, it
actually does add to safety in the
neighborhood.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> All right, I'm going to send it back to
you.
>> Thanks. Yeah, council member.
>> Yeah. So on the No, it's you guys can
take a seat for a minute probably if you
like.
So on the um the map for the project,
I don't know if you can come up um
there's a page where it shows um
proposed emergency roadway uh in Tumla
water main easement. There you go.
>> Is that yellow line going to become
paved or maintained? Is it going to be a
permanent feature?
>> Permanent paved emergency road.
>> Okay. Is do you think that in the future
that will become, you know, developed
[clears throat] as well that there there
will be additional houses put along that road?
>> I strongly doubt it. That parcel is
owned by the city of Reno. So So we have worked with the city of Reno
with Tama with fire on on this layout.
Uh so we certainly have no plans to try
to acquire a parcel from the city of
Reno.
>> Yeah. So, because it's City of Reno, are
you going to pave it?
>> It's at the developer's expense.
>> Okay. Okay. And at the other side of the
project, is there any additional um
access or emergency access going to be
connected
>> to the existing neighborhood to the
east?
>> Uh on the other side of the project. So,
there's one on that side.
>> Oh, sorry. The other the west end of our
project.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh no, no. Uh there there's very little
development there now. Um that's a privately owned parcel. I've
talked to that owner. He plans to to
build a family house there.
>> Okay.
>> Um so there isn't a complete
neighborhood over there.
>> Okay. So I know it was mentioned that
the density is lower for the area, but
it's the houses are densely
shown in the map. They're really close
together. Um,
is there any concern for fire risk
regarding that? I mean, I only ask
because I know that there's a lot of um
insurance companies that are no longer
offering fire insurance in in the entire
state. Um, and I know that some people
in my community were told they had to
remove their trees, otherwise they would
lose their coverage. Um, so when you
have homes that are close together and
with trees and things like that, do you
think that that poses a safety risk just
from them uh being in such close
proximity to each other?
>> Um,
I I personally feel like that's a lower
risk. Uh, we could get a technical
answer from from more [snorts] important
people than me, but I think smaller lots
people uh tend to keep them clear. Um,
I've lived on a halfacre lot and I can
tell you controlling the trees there was a lot of work. Um, I prefer a
smaller lot. Uh, so I think smaller lots
people do a better job of controlling uh
debris and tumble weeds and and dead
trees. Uh, but the structures themselves
given the the higher um fire resistance
standards we just discussed, uh, I think
they're lower risk than a lot of stuff
that was built 20, 30 years ago.
>> Okay. All right. Um,
I do have other comments, but um
I I'm I'll wait if other people want to
have another round.
>> Yeah, Council Member Anderson.
>> Um, okay. Fire, if you could come up one
more time.
You have a wingman. At least he escorts
you up there, right? Yeah.
Um would you say that with this
development by adding the vegetation
plan, the fireresistant building
materials and then the additional space
between this neighborhood and the
neighborhood below that you are
effectively and then bringing water the
extra access road
um and then sprinklered homes. Would you
agree that that's actually improving the
break for the houses that are existing
down here?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Thanks.
>> Before you go.
>> Yeah. Council member.
>> Yeah. Um I wanted to understand about
this road. So it's an emergency access.
So there'll be a gate. Is that correct?
Or is it a regular open road?
>> Yeah.
>> Be a gate and it's like a breakaway gate
or what? What kind of How do people know
this is a good way to go? Um, we would
do whatever is current safety standards.
>> Okay. And is it a good way to go?
Because when you pulled back, I think we
had a a bigger picture here. Uh, the
lady who was here earlier today, she
lives actually downhill from this point.
So, she these people are higher, she's
lower. Um, it took her x amount of time.
I didn't hear the full amount, hour, two
hours, I don't know, three hours. Um,
how does this help? This gives these
people two ways to go, right? They can
come out of the main development or they
can go east.
>> Yes.
>> But I'm missing the point about how it
helps somebody else. Can you explain
somebody?
» Map.
>> Sure.
>> A different map.
» Okay.
So, you've drawn it in because it wasn't
part of the original plan. Is that it's
a new thing?
>> I just drew this in so that you guys
would be able to see it.
>> Right. But I mean was it added something
required more recently?
>> No. So I I think what we're saying here
is that with this connection between
these
>> whereas the woman who was speaking
earlier was on Morgan Court, right?
>> So that's right here. Now I don't know
exactly how she tried to access but we
have Rob Drive over here.
>> Right.
>> And we also
>> and avenue avenue dinda.
>> I can go even bigger here if we need to.
me down. Okay, so we do have I mean you
guys can talk about this.
>> So you see where this star is? I mean
this is just about as far away as you
can get.
>> It is. But I but I want to point out
that
there's several ways to exit out here.
So we have Seventh Street.
>> This I think is Seventh Street. This is
Mayanne.
>> Yep.
>> We have down here on Rob.
We have uh Mayberry, I think, over here.
So, what this does is it gives people
another avenue. If they're trying to
exit from here, like let's say let's say
there was a fire.
>> Yeah.
>> Right. And people can't get out over
here, then this neighborhood could then
take this
>> over and come down through this way.
>> I see.
>> Same thing as this. They would be able
to go around and take it down through
there. So, it's just adding an extra
level of protection.
>> So, let me ask our chief. Um, does you said something to the mayor earlier
and I wasn't sure if I caught it
correctly. You said sprinklering is not
required, but they're doing it. Is that
correct?
>> No, sprinkling is required.
>> Oh, I thought you said it's not required
under the new
>> No, no, the road would not be required
because they are sprinkling.
>> Which this red road that she drew in is
not required.
>> The access road would not be required.
>> Okay. The spring clearing is required.
>> Okay. All right. I'm going to just
explain one more thing. Up above this
property to the north, there is a whole
there are quite a few. It's it doesn't
butt up against the wilderness. It butts
up against a number of private lots. And
those private lots, it's it's one of
these things where it's lading. I
thought saw this happen in South Reno.
We approved one and then the one above
it came in and the one above it came in.
I don't believe this area on the flank
of this mountain is a good place to add
additional housing. It's not that I'm
opposed to more housing. It's not like I
don't like the plan or the density or
the sprinklering or anything. I don't
like the location and I think that it
opens the door for additional
developments up the hill which I looked
up on the map. We had the meeting with
staff and as I as I looked there was
private property, private property, till you finally got to
either federal or state or city-owned
property. And so I think it's a bad
precedent. I think we should stop right
here and not continue to to go and I I
just don't think it's a good place to be
developing. So, I'll just leave it at
that. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Council Rever, you have more?
>> Yeah. Um, just to kind of piggyback off
of some other comments made by Council
Member Der and I believe Mayor Shivi as
well. So, there's things that
this development is doing that is not
required by code, right? they're going
above and beyond what's required. Um,
do you think that this council has a
responsibility to maybe change the code
to include these additional
um safety
measures, especially given what's
happening currently? Um, you know, this development has how many would have
access points?
>> With this one, it'd be three.
>> Three. Okay. So, that development would
have more access routes than the entire
north valleys, which is great, right,
for them. So, do you think that, you
know, in your opinion, I'm trusting you
guys to be subject matter experts here
on fire safety. Do you think that
council should prioritize making um some
changes to the code to require more um
access points and and safety measures um
for development?
>> I I'd be more than happy to meet with
you and discuss the pros and cons of
that. Absolutely.
>> Okay. Um, I that's something I would
like to request to be agendaized, that
we review this, especially with what's
happening currently and with what I
personally had to go through with
evacuation and only having one road to
get in and out of with 40,000 other
people. Um, so um, thank you.
>> We're going to do a much bigger um,
afteraction and it'll be a much bigger
broader. Yeah, it's it's not just about
this particular fire which was a
nightmare to leave, but I think code
needs to make some modifications
[clears throat] for what's required
because
>> that's what I'm saying. We This is like
a very big big conversation. So,
absolutely.
>> Chief, could you you said three. I just
want to get this on the record. You said
there were three ways in and out of
this. I You still said three. We have we
have three access points.
>> My time my time's not up. I apologize.
>> Okay. Yeah. So, um
do you think that this project would be
safer if there was less density than
what they're showing now? Or are you
you're totally fine? You think this is
great and it's not just well code says
this is okay. Do you think that this is fine? you don't have any
concerns about it
>> with the construction that's going to be
required that's going to be stipulated
by the WOOI.
>> Yeah.
>> Whether they're on, you know, the third
acre or halfacre lots, it's not going to
make much of a difference for us on the
fire side. No.
>> Okay. All right. Um
» Okay. Thank you.
>> Of course.
>> Maybe we talk a little bit too about um
Sorry, Vice Mayor. Is it okay?
>> Yeah, of course.
>> Okay. um talk a little bit about what's
the I guess um sprinklers
versus exit roads, those kinds of
things. And give me some statistics on
sprinklers and why we're giving one up
for the other. Is there a reason that
I'm not aware of or tell me tell us
educate us on this thought. Essentially,
depending on which study you look at,
sprinklers reduce the um not only the
damage to the structure, but the chances
of injury and death by over 90%, most of
the time over 95%. So fire code actually
requires when you're building individual
homes what we consider you know R3's uh
single and you know single family homes
anytime that you have an area like this
and it goes over 30 homes without a
secondary access for fire department
that it needs to be sprinklered and
that's the acknowledgement of the
effectiveness of sprinklers. So if the
roadway does get jammed up because
people are while trying to evacuate jam
up the road or there's a bad accident
and then an emergency happens, uh the
sprinklers we understand and have faith
that they will act and they will help
people make sure they get out unharmed.
Um where if you add another access point
now we can all of a sudden go up to a
couple hundred houses before we start
talking about sprinklers. So our adopted
amendments also have a over 5,000 square
feet or a six minute response time.
Again, that response time is based on
the same concept as these as we're
expanding as the city's expanding. If
you know, for instance, station 12, as
we brought up earlier, if they're
building and it's going to be past the
six minute response time, then we want
sprinklers there to make sure that the
people in the house if the fire does
occur that they're safe.
>> Okay. What's the response time now from
uh the closest station there
>> for for this plan? We have um what we
put on the LDC when we looked at it, it
was 7 minutes for both for the two
stations for either station 8 or station
11. Both are about a seven minute
response time.
>> And that's to the beginning of the Yeah.
of the parcel.
>> Seven minutes.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Okay. And then um Leah, just confirm,
how many homes are we looking at? 46.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> I'm sorry.
>> That's okay. Thank you.
>> 46 homes.
>> Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Okay. No further questions.
>> I had one followup for a one minute if I
may.
>> Yeah.
>> Um I I've gotten confusing information.
Please stay up here. Um Leah, um do we
have three or two points of access? I'm now very confused. Could you put
that up again? On this particular site,
there are two point there's going to be
two points of access.
>> Okay. Well, the chief said three, so I'm
confused.
>> How many?
>> Yeah, that's fine.
>> Do you have your other one?
>> Yeah, we've got lot we've got lots of
them here.
>> Your pen?
>> Yeah, of course.
>> Thank you. When I said three, where I'm
looking at three is you're going to have
the new road connecting these. Yes.
>> Yeah. Um, so from us from the fire
perspective, we would kind of be looking
at this whole area even though this is
this these 46 homes would only have two.
>> Okay.
>> But this area where the, you know, the
GO
Yeah. We have one there, one there, and
then the new one.
>> So we kind of look that as one big
cluster really. So that's why we're
saying three.
>> Okay. And then
>> from our perspective, it'd be three.
From their lot, it's two.
>> And then on sprinklers, I just want to
make sure I understand. It's always been
explained that sprinklers are very good
for a fire that starts inside the house,
>> right?
>> And not so great for the fire that
starts outside the house, like a
wildland fire,
>> because you're not watering the roof and all the land. You're watering inside
in the kitchen where the fire started or
whatever. Right. I just want to make
sure we're talking apples and apples.
Yes, we are.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Of course.
[clears throat]
>> Do any of the members have any? Yeah.
>> Um so with the last fire, do we have any
time estimates
now that we have some um
experience unfortunately with these
fires? Do we know about how long it
takes for people in Somerset to evacuate
or the north valleys? Like do we no
information? There's no kind of tracking
of that whatsoever to say this many
people take this long to evacuate.
>> I am not familiar with any studies on
that with that data. No.
>> Okay. Are you aware of any other areas
doing anything like that?
>> Areas in our city doing studies on time?
>> No, just in general like how long it
takes to evacuate because it's relevant,
right, for safety and
There's [clears throat]
how many more homes in this project?
>> 46.
>> So, what is the impact of at least 46
more cars on this? You know what what
how long does it take per car to
evacuate an area? Like is are we going
to hit an upper limit where we say it
takes too long? Just kind of like you
guys having a response time that you
want to hit. We likewise should have
like an evacuation timeline, right? Or
like it's it would take too long for
people to get out. There's too many
cars. It would be too much traffic.
People would not be able to get out in a
timely manner. So, I was just curious if
there's any kind of information like
that.
>> So, we don't I don't know of any studies
that actually take that into account.
Um, a lot of that comes down to from
prevention bureau comes down to
education. you know, when that yellow
area hits and it's saying get prepared
to evacuate. We need to make sure our
citizens understand that means be
prepared. So that it is, hey, you're
within your you're in your car within
five minutes. Also, you know, there's
homes with multiple cars. Instead of
taking one vehicle, they want to remove
all vehicles because [clears throat]
rightfully so, they're worried about
their personal property and that really
clogs the road.
>> There's also only so much we can do when
it comes to the number of exits. And
when you have a site like this, even if
you have, you know, two or three more
additional exits, at some point it's
kind of like the football stadium that
has a 100 exits, but if everybody was to
leave at the same time in a panic, it
would still be tight and it would take
longer to
>> exit. Yeah, that's just curious to see
how long from evacuate now till people
are done evacuating. you know, we we can
get a lot of information about the
downtown area, track how many cars are
going on different streets and things
like that. So, um just curious to see
if, god forbid, we have another fire
like this, we can figure out how long it
takes for everybody to clear out that's
leaving. Okay. Thank you,
>> Council Member.
>> Um Missy Bert, I just wanted to and you
might you guys may know about this
process. we may be able to learn from
the firewise process that the HOA in
Somerset went through. I think your
questions are really interesting. Um
Somerset did a mass um mock evacuation
to prepare their their whole
neighborhood for exactly what they went
through. And Jacob Williams, who was on
our planning commission, is the HOA
president. So, I think it might be
interesting to have him come and talk to
us about what they learned during their
mock evacuation compared to what
happened in their real evacuation. Yeah.
And if the if Somerset's HOA has any
advice
>> for other neighborhoods in the in the
valley for how we can better prepare um
for evacuations and learn from what they
have learned.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Because I think it's not
necessarily just distance, right? should
be access points and how long it takes
people to get out maybe should help
guide how many access points we need as
well. So, okay, that's great
information. Thank you.
>> Thank you all. Are there any other
questions? If not, we'll look for a
motion.
I'll try a motion based on what is in
the staff report in the matter of LDC
25-000065
based upon compliance with applicable
findings. I move to uphold the
recommendation of the planning
commission and refer for a second
reading and adoption.
» I'll second for discussion. Is there
any? Yeah, council. Yeah, just a comment
on the motion. Um, I just want to tell
our fire department that I really
appreciate the work they put into the
WOOI changes. We they brought them to
us. We went over them. Um, it was that time I asked we amend the WOOI
recommendations to ACR to include three
points of access or egress in certain
areas. Uh, they said no, the national
was two. And I said, "Well, that's great
for the national, but we're a different
place with different grass with
different fire risk, and can't we make
our own changes? Like, do we have to
follow some Americans,
our level of fire?" And at that time,
the answer was no. And I hope that the
answer could be yes going forward. Um, I
really appreciate the time and attention
that you all have put in. I don't
believe this is a good location for a
new development. and um based on not
being able to find uh for um finding F,
which is protect life and property in
areas subject to floods, landslides, and
other natural disasters, which includes
fires. I'm not going to be able to
support the motion. It's nothing
personal to anybody, and it's not
against our fire department. It's more
about my years of experience and where
we've put what I think are risky
developments, including in my ward.
Okay. Not W five, my ward, W two. And um
that I also did not support for the very
same reasons. Um it's only a matter of
time. So with that, um it's again I
appreciate the direction we're going in
and I'm really excited, mayor, that
you've said we're going to have a big
debrief that the council can participate
in as well, not just our staff. And um I
think those are all good moves. I'm just
not prepared at this time to approve
this vote yes on this. So, thank you,
>> Mr. Mer. I think that that's an
excellent point. I don't I didn't see it
as we are approving a development or
we're not approving a development. I
think they can I think they can build no
matter what. Um, so if that was the
actual discussion of whether we're
saying they can build or they can't
build, I think my position would be
different. Um, so that that is why I can
make this motion. Thank you.
It's just they they already can build.
They're making a zoning recommendation.
So, we're not saying by by denying this,
we're not stopping the development.
>> I I don't know. That's a question for
our staff, I guess.
» Was that
>> We have Patty for the record. Um, so the
zoning is currently SF3 and the
applicants could come in and build
something under the SF3 standard right
now. Um, what they're asking for is SF8
so that they can do the smaller lot
sizes, focus that on the southern
portion of the property and zone the
northern portion.
>> I have a question. Didn't you say that
the rest of the property really couldn't
be developed anyways? It was really
steep. it's over 30% and that we do have
standards for hillside development.
However, if they were going to build
single family residences on larger lots
out there, there are some
>> there are some ways that they could do
that. They just couldn't do what they
are proposing today
>> up the hill.
>> Okay. Looks like he might want to chime
in too.
>> Yes. Thank you. Just to clarify, um,
yes, absolutely. There there are
existing development rights out there.
uh with the current zoning, we we could
push the grading further up the hill. We
could we could get more aggressive with walls and and getting and building
road access to some of the some of the
pockets of of smaller slopes. Uh to me,
that feels like a lot of aggressive
grading uh to not gain very much. I
think what we've proposed is a is a much
cleaner and more accessible design.
>> And how many homes should you have
proposed before this requested zone
change or did you get that far? Uh there have been other projects approved
on this site. Yes. Um my personal
experience doesn't extend that far back.
So I I don't have those numbers in my
head.
>> Okay. Leah, do you have any information
on that?
Like what's the difference in number of
homes in the uh existing zoning
>> to this requested change?
>> Right now they could build um they could
build approximately
120 homes. Um, as Councilwoman Door
pointed out, there are some points that
are above that 30%. So, that would have
to be looked at. But even if that were
reduced to in half and it was 60, it's
still less than they're asking for 46
today.
>> Okay. So, right now they could build 100
>> 100ish 100ish.
>> Okay. With the zone change, it's reduced
to 40ish with parks and open space.
>> Correct. Okay, thank you for that.
>> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All
those in favor say I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed?
>> No.
>> Motion passes 42, I believe. Madame
clerk,
>> that's correct.
>> Thank you.
[clears throat]
» We'll move on to agenda item F1.
Uh, Madame Clerk, or we'll send it over
to Mr. Mr. Shipman or Mr. Hall for an
ordinance adoption bill reading
>> item F1 ordinance adoption ordinance
number 6748 case number LDC 26-000082
one mic place zoning map amendment
ordinance to amend title 18 chapter
18.02 02 of the Reno Municipal Code
entitled zoning reszoning a 14.92 acre
site comprised of two parcels from
general commercial GC to multif family
residential 21 units per acre MF21
site is located on the north side of
Marine Way 160 ft west of North Virginia
Street and has a master plan designation
of suburban mixed use SMU.
» Thank you.
Um, madam clerk, will there any public
comment received on this item?
>> There is none.
>> Awesome. Great. Any questions or
discussion from the council?
>> All right, I'll look for a motion.
>> Mr. Vice May, I move to adopt the
ordinance.
>> Second.
>> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All
those in favor say I.
>> I.
Any opposed? Motion passes
unanimously.
Great. With that, we'll move on to
agenda item G1.
Um, I'd like to move to appoint Animan
Aran to the Youth City Council for a
partial term from September 1st, 2026
through January 31st, 2027. I move to
appoint Analia Rodriguez and Satvic Vad
Lakinta
to the U City Council for partial terms
from September 1st, 2026 through
November 11th, 2027.
>> Second. We have a motion and a second.
All those in favor say I.
>> I.
Any opposed. Motion passes
unanimously.
Thank you. With that, we'll move on to
G2.
Believe this is you and city manager.
>> Thank you, Vice Mayor. After
consultation with the ward one council
member, the recommendation is Janice
McKenzie.
» Second.
>> Oh, sorry. Sorry. [laughter] We did
receive public comment on this item
which was distributed as one letter of
neutral or concern.
>> Thank you, madame clerk. And sounds like
we have a motion from council member.
Second from council member Anderson. All
those in favor say I.
>> I.
Any opposed?
>> No.
>> Motion passes unanimously.
Thank you. With that, we will move to
our redevelopment agency.
Um,
>> did you want to do council comments
first?
>> Oh, yeah. Thank you for the reminder.
We'll do council comments um and see if
there are any comments or updates from
any of the members.
Not
>> yet. Council member Eert.
>> Yeah. Just again want to um thank all
the firefighters from all the different
agencies that have come out and spent
time away from their families and risk
their lives to um work on this fire.
That was just incredible. and um um
remind everyone that it's not it's not
completely over yet. There's still
people in my community without power. Um
people that are not comfortable leaving
evacuation zones because of um livestock
type animals that they they can't take
with them and they can't leave behind
without anybody to take care of them.
So, it's um ongoing for my awards still
and um
just if anybody can help in any way um
it would be really appreciated um
please reach out to me. My city cell
number is um available online at on
reno.gov. But um just want to remind
everybody again that access is a is a
huge um issue in my ward and um a lot of
the roads that we have are getting
widened and that's wonderful but having
the 395 and um Military and Buck and um
next will be Moya and Virginia Street
all under construction at the same time
is extremely dangerous to public safety
when you live in an area that um might
have to evacuate um you know 40,000 plus
people on um one one road um and
Virginia is is quite parallel and close
to the 395. So if if we have a fire and
um it jumps to 395,
my community is not going to have a
whole lot of options. So just want to
put that on the radar. I know that
there's been comments made by council
members on RTC that there's been a lot
of money put into Ward 4, but I'm just
going on the record to say we need more.
access points and if
nothing else, even just a
well-maintained dirt road that people
can use to get in and out. Um it's it's
really gotten to the point where um we
cannot ignore this anymore. And I know a
lot of people have compared it to the
Paradise fire, myself included. Um
they're just the fires are getting
progressively worse and we're going to
get to a point where people can't get
out. they'll be in their cars and get
overcome by fires. It's just not if, but
when at this point if we don't address
it and um this is my community that I
care about deeply and we cannot ignore
this anymore and we have to um give this
area the resources um just to survive
um safely in an emergency. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Council Member D. Yeah.
Similarly,
>> Yep. You want to go first?
>> Yes.
>> Um, okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. I
can I just say I I'm confused as because
you keep saying my community and um what
does that mean because I feel like
there's a different community and
we're we're being excluded. So, maybe
you can address that.
Uh, my community means the people I was
elected to represent and the area where
I live, which only has one access point.
So, I I had assumed that the mayor would
understand that we are ward
representatives.
>> I represent that area, too.
>> Okay. Well, I haven't seen you. I
haven't heard from you. I know that you
are very involved with Somerset, but I
haven't seen you at all.
>> I let you speak.
>> You asked me a question and I'm
answering it. My community is who
elected me to represent them.
>> Megan, it's my turn. I don't interrupt
you and when you call me out on it, I
say, "You're right." And then I let you
finish. First of all, I did call you.
Um, I checked in with JW. JW has called
you over 24 times. I said, "Have you
checked in with Megan?" I have it on my
phone that I called you to check on you.
First of all, you need to know
>> I've been checking my phone. I have no
missed call for text messages. is I
texted you yesterday and said, "Please
come in."
>> Councilwoman, hold on a second.
>> I'm going to address something right
now. What you're talking about is
campaign rhetoric. And if it wasn't that
last
counciloman, you wouldn't have voted
like this on a development in Somerset.
And you just did. So, it's it's clearly
campaign rhetoric.
>> No, it's not. Yes, it is. Yeah. 100
homes 40. Is it 100 homes or 40?
>> Port of order.
>> You've allowed them to You would have
allowed them to build a 100 home. I've
had enough.
>> No, I've had enough.
>> You're creating You're creating a divide
saying my community all of us represent
that community. Matter of fact, my
boyfriend lives there. So, please stop
saying that.
>> Anyway, um
>> nobody in my community feels represented
by you. No one.
>> That's fine.
the Reno City Council meeting. We're um
still looking at item H1, city council
comments, and I'll send it over to you,
Council Member Der.
>> Thank you. I too wanted to do a huge
shout out to all of the first
responders, fire, police, the sheriff,
the Truckucky Meadows, the people that
have come in from all 15 states, I
understand, as well as several
countries. Um, and the the offers are
still coming in. had an offer from the
Israeli consulate to send both
firefighters, predictive, also people to
help with sheltering. Um, I've had
offers from Target, offers from all kind
of resources. So, it we do live in an
incredibly giving community and
apparently we're respected both in the
West and worldwide, the people that are
coming to help us. And I hope we can
return the favors. I know we go help
people with other fires when necessary.
and I'm just incredibly grateful that
they've come to help us. Um,
long time ago and prior to virtually the
people remaining on council here, um, I
advocated for us to pave and, um, extend
Virginia Street, which turns into Long
Valley Road, which turns into Scott
Road, which is a parallel road to 395.
if we I reason I advocated for it was I
knew that construction was going to be
difficult and it seemed like we needed
an alternate road before we closed down
the main 395. So I think it really could
have helped us through these terrible
difficult years of building 395 and the
impacts it's had on so many. I talked to
one person that lives up north valleys.
He said he used to have 12 mill minutes
to get to city hall. He now has an hour
regularly. That's that's his life. you
know, he went from buying a house and
having 12 minutes to having an hour
commute. Um, the second thing, so I
really think that we should talk to RTC
about re-evaluating their schedule based
on what we've just been through and look
at what it would take to upgrade
Virginia Street where it's basically
dirt and gravel to become a traversible
road that's parallel to 395. We could
have evacuated much more easily. we
could have turned both sides of
Virginia's street going south. That
would have been um three, four, five
lanes. Who knows? Um and it would have
still left lanes to go north for the for
the emergency response. So, I really I'm
going to recommend this to our city
manager and also to our RTC
representatives that before we start on
the next roads up there in North Valleys
that we look at providing an additional
parallel road to 395.
Um the second thing is um I am very I
saw a lot of social media about when I
posted about what the requirements are.
The federal requirements are in this
season you can do target shooting up to
1 p.m. I think in red flag days we
shouldn't be having target shooting at
all. I don't care if it's on federal
land, state land, any kind of open land,
Reno land. I don't believe on red flag
days there should be any kind of target
shooting at all. They said that you can
also hunt
um on red flag days and and that might
be something different, but even when
you hunt, you often have a problem of
hitting a rock and that generates a
spark and there you go. So, I I just
think we should take a really hard look
at restricting use in this open country
that is so susceptible fire. And last
comment I want to make um and I've
already talked to JW about this but
sharing with everyone and you got a
little flavor when we're talking to
Liberty dogs but the animal sheltering
was very difficult. The Wo County Animal
Services had been on three backto-back
fires. They um had 400 animals at the
livestock event center. Uh the livestock
event center unfortunately was closed
and I think that that should be looked
at like if there was an event going on
there it probably should have been
cancelled. um if the animals were
already there, we should have I don't
know what we maybe that's just how it
had to be. But they they luckily were
able to find but it took many many hours
to find an alternate to the livestock
event center. That should just be
automatic. We should have several
backups north, south, wherever. And I'm
going to work on that because I'm chair
of animal services advisory board for
two more months. And even after I go off
council, I'm going to be keep keep
working on it because I think it's
really important. Um, related to this is
for the other animals. The shelter is
often at capacity during the summer.
They've sent us numerous letters or
messages that we've had to put on social
media that the shelter's closed. Why?
Because we still have in our community
animal hoarding cases. 30 cats, 40 dogs
that are living in substandard
conditions, horrific conditions where
they have to be impounded and taken to
the shelter. 30 dogs. 30 cats. I mean,
there's just not that kind of room. Um,
I think the shelter should be expanded.
It has not been expanded for decades,
okay? Going back to 2003.
Um, if that takes extra money from us,
then so be it. But I believe the county
has the funds to do it, and there is
room. I think the shelter should be
expanded, the staffing should be
expanded. And then finally, I think that
pets should be allowed to come with
their people. We have too many people in
this last fire who [laughter]
uh slept in their cars even in the um
Reena Sparks Convention Center because
they had a pet and they would not let
them in. And we just need to prepare for
that. We've done it before. We've set up
parts of the convention center with
cages with staffing. They cannot do it
this time. They were out 25 miles out
pyramid. They had a full shelter.
They're out of people. And so one of the
things I'm going to work on is I already
talked to JW about this is setting up a
volunteer emergency CP for animals that
will be prepared whether it's to go out
to a large animal sheltering or or pet
sheltering so that people can stay with
their pets. It's it's embarrassing to me
that we have a shelter there but people
aren't coming in and they're sleeping in
their car and it's pretty hard to sleep
in your car. So, I just I'm going to be
keep pushing on these three issues about
Virginia Street, about changing the
rules of the road for the open country
during red flag days and for animals.
And I I know that I believe most of you
will support those kind of ideas whether
I'm here or not. So,
>> thank you, Council Member D. Yeah,
Council Member Anderson.
>> Um, I just I wanted to bring attention
to something that often gets overlooked
in these big events. We're often um
importantly thanking our first
responders that are out there doing the
crazy hard dangerous work. But I think
what we the people that we overlook is
their families.
And something that I don't think that um
I mean most of us should understand that
there's nobody in this room that wasn't
affected by this fire or we don't know
someone that was affected by this fire.
The first responders on the fire were
having their partners evacuate and their
families were evacuating while their
partners were working the emergency
whether it was paramedic, sheriff, RPD,
Reno fire, Truckucky Meadows fire. So
every one of those firefighters that
were local, let's say 500 of them, they
had families that were left to do their
evacuating on their own and then also
parenting and managing and dealing with
the animals and everything else. So I
just want to acknowledge their families
and I want to acknowledge um a specific
group with fire because the partners
within the fire family and I mean the
regional fire family, there's no real
borders here. They have a subgroup that
helps each other in these times. They're
meal prepping. They're housing their
animals. They're inviting them into
their homes. They're watching each
other's children. They're having the
grit and determination that their
partner that's out there doing the work,
they're having it times 10 because
they're managing their families. And so
I just want to acknowledge that because
they often get overlooked and um they
were impacted multiple ways by these by
this emergency all of the first
um responder families. So just wanted to
call attention to that.
>> Thank you.
Council Member Anderson.
>> Um
with that, we'll close out and open up
the redevelopment agency.
>> Yes. Uh, real quick, I just wanted to
note for the record that council member
Taylor did join us remotely at 3:46.
Now we can move into redevelopment
agency.
>> Thank you. Yeah, if we can take role,
please.
>> All right. So, we are calling ro for the
redevelopment agency board. Council
member Taylor
>> here.
>> Council [clears throat] member Der
>> here.
>> Vice Mayor Martinez
>> here.
>> Council member Eert
>> here.
>> Council member Reese is absent. Council
member Anderson
>> here. and Mayor Shivi is absent. You do
have a quum.
>> Thank you. Can we please open up the
first section of public comment? Do you
have any public commenters today?
>> Uh we do not have anyone registered to
speak, but we did receive uh one letter
of correspondence that has been
distributed and is available to the
public on the meeting portal.
>> Thank you so much. And with that, we'll
look for an approval of the agenda. And
just double checking with our assistant
city manager. Are there any updates?
>> There are no updates.
>> Thank you.
I move to approve the agenda.
>> Great to have a motion. I'll second. All
those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed?
Motion passes unanimously.
Thank you. With that, we will move on to
an approval of the minutes. Are there
any edits or changes from anybody from
the body? Now, I'll look for [snorts] a
motion.
>> Move to approve the minutes.
>> I'll second. So, there's a motion in a
second. All those in favor say I.
>> I.
Any opposed? Motion passes
unanimously.
Thanks. With that, we will open up the
consent items um and see if anybody
would like to pull the one consent item
that we have or if not, we will look for
a motion on that one.
>> I'll make a motion to approve the
consent agenda item.
>> Second.
>> Great. We have a motion in a second. All
those in favor say I.
>> I.
Any opposed?
>> Mr. Vice Mayor, this is Councilwoman Tim
Taylor. I'm opposed. I don't think it's
responsible to spend a quarter of a
million dollars on a feasibility study
for the Lyric Theater. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Motion passes
4 to one.
>> Thank you.
With that, [snorts] we will move on to
agenda item C1 and uh get a presentation
of the redevelopment ay's fisc year Q4
update for discussion only. Mr. Mardo.
Chair.
I'm here to give an update on what the
redevelopment agency now called REUP was
um participating in the last quarter. So
these are the months from uh April, May
and June.
So the first thing you'll notice is we
have a new name. Uh this is now the
redevelop Reno Redevelopment urban
placemaking agency otherwise known as
REUP. Uh the website is live. We're
introducing people. We're introducing
ourselves uh to the community through
the social media channels. So, I
encourage you all to go on Facebook,
Instagram, uh LinkedIn to follow those
new channels. And we're starting to
communicate on what we do as an agency.
Uh so, I always say we're the Reno
Redevelopment and Urban Placemaking
Agency, but you can call us Rio. And you
notice the new uh branding as well as
the new presentation deck.
We also have a new website, which is
very exciting. I think council member
Taylor uh really wanted to know when the
website was going live. Last time I gave
an update. It is live. It's fully
populated. It looks fantastic. Uh there
is a video that pops up on the main
page. All the programs, the application
processes, uh agency documents,
descriptions of our activities are all
on the website as well as some news and
updates uh and newsletters on there as
well. So, I encourage you to take that
for a spin. It's pretty exciting and
it's it came out great.
To summarize the agency operations for
the last quarter, uh the budget was
approved for this fiscal year as well as
all the identified capital improvements.
Uh that includes uh the riverfront
improvements that includes beastro
lighting on Four Street as well as
lighting for the University Village
area. As I mentioned, we just got
through the rebrand, so that is fully
live. It's been announced. We're now
known as REUP. Uh there were some
governance resolutions around uh signing
limits, the role of the executive
director uh and then cleaning up some aging uh policy guidance uh that
was passed. And then in June, the RAB
held a half-day workshop where we went
through uh proposing or discussing the
uh extension of RDA2.
uh they learned about sort of
redevelopment best practices across the
nation as well as updates to uh to our
programs and processes.
Some capital improvements that are being
undertaken or were undertaken last
quarter is mainly the Amtrak ADA
restroom improvements which are almost
completed. uh that will separate the
Amtrak station from the historic rail
depot so that we can start looking
towards reinvisioning and and sort of
bringing online uh that historic site.
And you may have noticed the Riverwalk
banners throughout the Riverwalk
districts. Those were replaced and
supported with uh some some of the
agency funds.
You all passed resolutions in that
quarter uh sort of streamlining the
process to create a small walls uh mural
program that was announced uh we
received applications. The winners have
been notified but we do not have signed
contracts yet but those will be
announced soon. Same thing with the
rescue program that's a crimerevention
through environmental design program. Uh
that program went live. Uh we received
applications. We're speaking with those
uh business owners and property owners
right now. And then you heard some
proposals on a vacant storefront
program. How do we uh handle and address
some of the challenging empty
storefronts in downtown that our restore
program has not been able to address? Uh
there'll be more information to come
about that program in the coming months.
Some new development activities.
Although the redevelopment agency now
reup didn't play a role in the 118 West
apartments, this is a new development
downtown. It's 86 apartments that were
rehabbed. This is the formal colonial
apartments. Um, everyone else knows as
Ross Manor, but that was rehabbed. Uh,
the historic character was was retained
in that. Medaf did a a fantastic job.
Um, they're leasing now, so that's 86
units downtown. And then this body
approved our parking gallery operational
assessment as well as all the
implementation activities for us to
renew and improve the parking gallery
and bringing on a new parking operator
over there.
And then we did uh bring to the ra uh
two tiff applications. One of those was
for Lake Street. Uh that is a workforce
housing project uh on Lake Street. uh
that was sort of continued while we make
some changes to our application process
and criteria that will likely come back
in a month. And then the RAB heard uh
the gap analysis for the red retail
project but that was um continued uh
delayed for some additional information
and that was what we're up to last
quarter.
Happy to answer any questions.
>> Thank you so much. Turn it over to the
board. Yes,
>> I don't have any questions, but I just
wanted to comment on the social media
content. The imagery is really, really
engaging and it looks different than
other Reno imagery. I don't know if it's
the filter or if it's like just the the
offset with the colors and the branding,
but it's really eye-catching in places
like LinkedIn, which nothing is
eye-catching in LinkedIn. So, I just
wanted to give you a shout out for that.
>> Well, thank you. Uh the comm's
department has been helpful uh as well
as Rachel McIntyre has done a great job
sort of taking the lead on that.
>> Awesome. Any of the other members have
questions or comments
this [snorts] piece?
>> Great job. Thank you for the update.
» Okay, that item was for discussion only.
Um I think D1
>> I I have a question on D1. Yeah, I I see
that Mr. Klein's not here. I don't blame
him, but I wanted to ask Brian if he has
an update on that. Are we going to have
an update from the RAB ever again or
what what is the thought? And this is
irrespective of any future changes to
the structure. I just would like to have
some engagement.
>> Yep. Brian McCarter, for the record, um
it is agenda to have the chair come and
speak. Um he does plan to make it when
he can, I imagine.
>> Um
>> I would say that at least the last six
times he has not made it. So, I don't
think he's planning to come. Um, not
saying that he doesn't have a busy work
life, but then could he delegate this to
someone else on the RAB that maybe could
attend? That would be my recommendation.
>> That would be a fair representative of
whatever happened there. I think we'd
love to hear what they're doing.
>> Right.
>> Okay. Thanks.
>> Yeah. Thank you.
Uh we'll close that up and then see if
there are any member comments on the
redevelopment agency.
Seeing none, madame clerk, we'll move on
to our final public comment for the
redevelopment agency. Do you have any
public commenters?
>> Uh there's no final public comment, but
I did want to note for the record that
we did receive one letter of support for
item B1. So we just wanted to get that
on the record.
>> Thank you so much. With that, we'll look
for a motion to adjourn the
redevelopment agency. Is this our final
public comment?
>> No, we still have one more.
>> Thank you.
>> So move to
>> second.
>> Great. We have a motion and a second.
All those in favor say I.
>> I. Any opposed? Motion passes
unanimously.
>> Close that up and move back to the Reno
City Council meeting. Um if I can,
Madame Clerk, I forgot to mention
something on the H1 section of uh
council comments. So, I'll just open
that up just to quickly um mention
[snorts] that earlier today we got an
email with a letter attached um from
Madame Mayor. She wanted me to put that
on the record and I think JW, assistant
city manager Hodgej, she had a
conversation with you um about it, but
she just wanted me to inform um the
public and put on the record that we're
probably going to address some of the
issues um that she has been reviewing
when it comes to human caused wildfire
prevention policies in particular local
ignition analysis, existing authority
and policy gaps, extreme fire date
protections, no ignition zones,
enforcement and accountability, regional
coordination,
public communication, and a broader
wildfire policy. So, as this continued
conversation is relevant for today's
purposes, I just want to make sure to
put that on the record for our mayor and
make sure that was captured. So, with
that, we'll close that and move on to
our final public comment for the Reno
City Council. Uh there's no one
registered to speak, but we did receive
four comments after 4 p.m. yesterday uh
that will be distributed and available
on the meeting portal.
>> Will you be sending those to us?
>> Who or do we have to go look for them or
are you sending them to us?
>> We'll send them to you.
>> Thank you.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you. With that, we'll look for a
motion to adjurnn city council meeting.
>> I had a final comment.
>> Okay. I just wanted to say um
again um my family and I evacuated on
Saturday. We got home yesterday. Um this
is the third time we've evacuated in
since 2020. Um this was the second time
this month. Um multiple roads we used to
evacuate were under construction. The
power was out. The traffic signals were
out. there was miles of cars on the
roads. Um, and I don't think it's um
appropriate for um
the mayor to personally attack me for
asking for safety precautions for a
community of 40,000 plus people to get
out of an area safely for an evacuation.
um and make an accusation that a vote to
reduce density on a project that has
more access points in the entire North
Valleys currently um is becoming of
somebody in that position. Um, I do
apologize for for yelling in that
situation, but um
to call that campaign rhetoric when the
intent was literally to reduce density
and to make sure that they had enough
access points and to request that we
agendaize
um making more conditions on um code
regarding fire safety. Um frankly, it's
appalling. And to piggy back that off
the fact that I was asking for residents
of W 4 to be able to safely evacuate is
unbelievable to me. So, um
I'm not exactly sure why public safety
for that particular ward is so
triggering to the mayor. Um, but
nonetheless,
um, it's relevant and it's overdue and,
um, I I I'll stand by my vote to help
reduce the risk for the community. Um,
again, that was a project that was
already approved to be built for 100
homes. It was over 50% reduction in in
the project. So, um it's just really
disappointing to have that kind of
reaction because of a an ask for
um help for the people that need it the
most during emergencies. So, thank you.
>> Thank you. Yeah, that
>> one final public comment, I guess, for
me. Um, you know, my record speaks for
itself, but over and over the things
that I voted no on are exactly this,
public safety. And, um, although many of
them occurred before my current
colleagues are here on the dis, many of
them were in the north valleys.
Everything from Hogue Road to things out
by Swan Lake to um, most recently voting
no on the Stonegate uh, re changes. So,
a lot of u my issues with Stonegate
initially had to do with both flooding,
drainage, and fire. And I felt like the
applicant had addressed it, but they
walked away from that application. But
it doesn't matter what W it is. If I,
you know, it's happened in W five. I
gave some examples. It's happened on W
two when W 2 went to South Reno. Um it's
happened in W three on related to
flooding in that case on um Talis
Valley. Um it it when when I see what I
think is risk that we can't handle. It's
not that it can never be handled but
it's difficult to handle at a particular
point in time and maybe a future time
when things are different and maybe it
could be handled but um over and over I think it's really important that in
you know these findings that we make can
be changed. They're they're not in
stone. It's not the only things we
should ever be looking at. And we know
this because we're also now looking at
data centers, something that was never
in front of us before. And we're looking
at amending our ordinances. We amended
them to deal with um the secondary ADUs.
You know, we we have a capacity to
change. And I think that's something
that I'm really proud of our council for
doing is stepping up to the plate and
making changes where warranted. And so
as I think it's really good that we just
keep that mindset, that attitude of
dealing with issues as they come and
always seeking to de do better and keep
our residents um safe the the best that
we can provide. There's no perfection.
We can we can do three exits and we're
still going to have people's houses go
up and even people lose their lives.
there there's no guarantee in life, but
we can make um decisions that avoid,
you know, risky challenges that we know
about. And so, um I just want to
continue to encourage the council to,
you know, take this seriously, adopt new
ordinances if we need to um to meet new
demands. And then that's it. And just
keep up the keep charging forward and
keep doing the good work really. Okay,
so that's it.
>> Thank you. With that, we'll get look for
a motion to adjurnn.
>> Sorry, really quick. I just wanted to
note that council member Taylor is
absent as of 4:09 p.m.
>> Thank you for the update.
>> Can we get a motion to adjurnn?
>> Motion to adjurnn.
>> Have a motion to second. All those in
favor say I.
>> I. Any opposed? Motion passes
unanimously. Thank you all.