>> hello, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get started.
we have a few minutes behind but I appreciate your patience.
we just have a mountain of recognitions that we're going to do tonight.
so much it's tuesday, august 25th and let's go ahead and call roll.
>> councilmember adams >> here sdemrchlt councilmember guidice.
>> present. >> councilmember rodriguez. >> here.
>> vice mayor elward >> here. >> mayor sanborn
>> here. >> all present. Thank you.
>> we'll move on to the reading of the land acknowledgment.
if you would please rise. Thank you. The city of rohnert park
acknowledges indigenous peoples as the traditional stewards
of the land. Let it be acknowledged that
the city of rohnert park is located
within the traditional homelands of the federated indians of
graton rancheria, comprised of coast miwok and
southern pomo peoples. And then we have our pledge of allegiance.
if gerard guidice, you would do the honors. >> thank you.
all right. So we have a few presentations to get
ourselves started his evening. Our first is going to be for
our amazing front row here, our public works department. So I think we have here with
us oe hanson, john bretzk, brandon and charles, bobby and patrick and nicholas and
all of our public works staff and I would go ahead and read this proclamation
and then if you're up for it, you're welcome to speak or not.
and we'd love to get a quick photo if that's okay. The city of rohnert park
proudly recognizes the public works parks maintenance staff for
their outstanding teamwork, dedication, and commitment to improving
the magnolia park tennis courts and
surrounding area. As a dedicated and collaborative
parks team, these employees work together to get the job done
and take pride in maintaining and
improving the spaces our community enjoys. Their teamwork
and willingness to contribute in different ways were evident
throughout this project. Staff contributed their
time, skills, and teamwork by building
and installing benches, trimming trees overhanging the tennis
courts, spreading wood chips, beautifying the surrounding
area, and installing a new trash receptacle. Each member of
the team played an important role in creating a
cleaner, safer, and more welcoming space for tennis players and the entire
community. The city extends its sincere appreciation to the parks
maintenance team for the pride they take in their work,
their dedication to our parks, and their commitment
to working together in service to
our community. I just want too thank you personally for your hard
work and teamwork and your commitment to making rohnert park a great place to live,
work, and play, presented this day, august 25, 2026. Knowing that you are a
behind the scenes team I'm going to guess you don't have a lot of words that
you'd like to share. It was really important to me in walking the
progression of this beautiful project and we'll share more about the tennis
club's part in this too, you didn't just make something good enough, it really is
beautiful. You can see down the road those gorgeous benches that
you handcrafted from the trees that were from our town and it's just
exceptional and I really appreciate the work you do and I know the council does
at well so we wanted to make sure we called that out widely and broadly.
so thank you. We will have you do a quick family photo, though, real
quick.
okay. Staying on the theme of our beautiful magnolia tennis
courts, I have a second recognition I'd like to do this evening for the rohnert
park tennis club for their generous investment toward the renovation of the
magnolia parks tennis court. Do we have rich, barbara and anthony here this evening?
marvelous. Okay. The city of rohnert park
proudly recognizes the rohnert park tennis club for more than 50
years of service to our community and. For its extraordinary
commitment to improving the tennis courts
at magnolia park. Established in 1975, the rohnert
park tennis club has played an important role in making
tennis accessible and enjoyable for residents of all ages.
through lessons, programs, and opportunities to learn and
play, the club promotes recreation,
connection, and a love of tennis. The club has demonstrated
exceptional dedication to the magnolia park courts by
securing grant funding, leading fundraising efforts,
and investing club funds to support improvements to these
valued public facilities. Their generosity, hard work, and
civic spirit have helped preserve and enhance
an important recreational resource
for rohnert park residents. The city extends its sincere appreciation to the rohnert
park tennis club for its longstanding
service, generous investment, and
strong partnership in helping make rohnert park an even
better place to live, play, and connect.
presented this day, august 25th, 2026.
[ applause ] >> all right, folks. I mean, on the court for a
group photo. And if you would like to speak, maybe you're more
inclined to speak, would you like to share any words about all of the effort you
went through -- so he stood up and sat down, perfect. Wonderful.
okay. The arly bird gets the worm.
we would love to hear from you about that amazing effort.
>> my name is is rich hu hutchinson and I would like to thank my board who pushed
me and get this project forward. I'd like to acknowledge
amanda, who was our right hand person through this project, nd I'd like to
thank the city of rohnert park having trust in four individuals to bring
$140,000 project to the city and those courts are outstanding.
they're be well received by the tennis community, and we look to do it again
sometime. >> well, you're in luck, we've got lots f courts.
did you have something you'd like to add, councilmember guidice?
>> thank you, mayor. So these are the kind of partnerships that we so
desperately need now in these challenging economic times.
it's really important that individual organizations and groups step up and I am
truly grateful and appreciative, rohnert park has a lot of parks, has a
lot of public amenities and it could be challenging at times to maintain all of
those facilities ain tournament-ready condition, and we went through this
with pickle ball a little while ago and now with tennis, orso to the pickle
ball folks out there we appreciate you, and now to the tennis folks we really
appreciate you and we thank you for stepping up and just being model citizens nd
hechg the city maintain all of of its assets. So thank you.
>> will you join us now on thelping the city maintain all of of its assets.
so thank you. >> will you join us now on the court?
and then we have a third proclamation and I do believe that there is not
someone here to receive it. Is jenny here to receive it? I appreciate her requesting
this because it's important. A representative for the commission on women and she
represents for the county board. So she sent this information
and I have used it to write a proclamation. The city council of the city
of rohnert park. Proclaims
august 26, 2026 as women's equality day in the city of rohnert park
. Tomorrow. Whereas, august 26, 2026,
marks the 106th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th
amendment to the united states constitution,
recognizing and protecting women's constitutional right to
vote; and whereas, achieving this milestone required
generations of women to organize, advocate,
and persevere through hundreds of campaigns at
the local, state, and national levels, ultimately securing
the support of 36 states; and
whereas, women today are nearly half of the nation's
workforce, comprise the majority of students in
colleges and graduate schools, and are increasingly primary
or co-breadwinners for their families; and
whereas, despite significant progress, women continue to face
barriers to full equality, including disparities in pay and
access to affordable childcare, housing,
health care, and mental health care; and
whereas, women's fundamental rights continue to be challenged, underscoring the
importance of protecting the right to vote,
access to health care, freedom from violence, and equal
opportunity; and whereas, women's equality day
honors the courage and perseverance of generations of
women, celebrates the contributions of
women today, and calls us to continue advancing equality for
women and girls. Now, therefore, be it
proclaimed that I, emily sanborn, as mayor
and on behalf of the city council, do hereby proclaim august
26, 2026, as women's equality day in
the city of rohnert park, honoring the 106th anniversary of the
19th amendment and reaffirming our commitment to equality
and the fundamental rights of all
women. Thank you. [ applause ]
>> we will make sure that gets to them. Without further ado we shall
move to item 5 department head briefings. There are none so we will
continue to item 6 which is public comment. Oh, yes.
and this is where I give the disclaimer. I will stick to the script
so I don't miss anything. Before we start I'm going to recap the rules because they
changed a little bit in the last couple months for some of you who haven't been here
before. So it's public meetings like this that the rules that
apply for commenting t these meetings are that comments from the n
non-agendaized items can occur only during those designated public comment
periods which we're about to have and they have to stay within the subject matter of
the jurisdiction of the city. Comments on the agendaized
items have to stick with the script. And then all of the comments
that are non-agendaized have to occur during that designated comment period.
if they don't fall into that subject matter, I'll remind you and then my city
attorney -- yes, can also if they don't follow the city rules I do an initial
warning to stay within the subject matter jurisdiction and if it's not followed
then the chair, myself, will direct the city clerk to cut the microphone and
throughout this warning system I will just look to the city attorney to help
identify whether or not comments are within the subject matter jurisdiction
of the city or not. So anyone who is attending in-person you are welcome to
fill out one of these beautiful pink comment cards.
if you're participating virtually on zoom, just remember that you need to
use the raised hand feature so that we know that you would like to speak and then
if you change your mind, you can lower it. And then if you are on phone
you need to do star 9 to raise your hand. And then same to lower your
hand and star 6 to mute or unmute yourself. The clerk it looking through
zoom for anybody with their hand raised and you need just to raise your hand when
the public comment period opens within a minute of it opening.
otherwise we will have no ability to call on you. Everybody gets three minutes
and you're welcome to use that whole time if you'd like but I will cut you off
when three minutes is up. Okay. Without further ado.
so formal. We have our first comment for public comment period is
from mr. John ordway and then mr. Steve keith and then kevin arnold.
not all at once. John. John is here.
john is not here. Hmm. Okay.
well, we'll skip him for now. Mr. Keith, you're up next.
>> good afternoon, madam mayor, vice mayor and staff. I appreciate that I'm
actually right after that disclaimer. Because I think we do at
least certainly for public more be recently, becoming acquainted with these
proceedings, and with the events of last meeting which I'll touch on here briefly,
obviously sb 707 made some changes towards how the public can engage with these
proceedings. However, it would appear in my observation that the
opportunity for public to give a comment has been reduced.
notably, the opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting is now vanished.
and based on he scldisclaimer you just gave the agendaized items have an opportunity
for public comment, and I interpret that as every item that's on the agenda, not
just regular items but every item. Which would include all the
way to the very end. Community liaison and other reports, communications,
adding agenda items to future city council meeting agenda.
all of those items would require an opportunity for the public to speak.
however, last meeting a gentleman came in and attempted to offer ublic
comments. We had not been given the opportunity to learn whether
or not, despite historical evidence, that it would have nothing to do with that item
or anything that the council is has under their control. Should have had the
opportunity. It's important that the oath that we've all given to
protect the constitution, the first amendment, super important.
and that protects uncomfortable speech. It protects speech that some
people may not want to hear, but it's important that everybody have is that
opportunity to speak. Thank you. >> thank you for your
public comment, mr. Keith. Mr. Arnold? Good evening, kevin arnold, I'm a field
rep for seiu10 to one. First welcome to the new chief.
we really look forward to working with you. Welcome home.
I know on behalf of seiu welcome to the city of rohnert park, we have lots
of things to partner with and accomplish. And so like I said, wlcome.
we did also just receive our first letter for a preliminary bargaining
meeting which we're very much looking forward to. We will be scheduling out
exactly when to meet with the full staff and I hope we can continue to have a good
back and forth on that. The last thing I wanted to mention was just that this
was of a eally great opportunity today to recognize the incredibly
hard work that these folks do in public works but in the entire seiu bargaining
unit every single day. And we ll about a week from a ear since the gallagher
report was published, correct? So here we are, the way to recognize the
hard work of these folks, do there are or more substantive ways to
recognize the incredibly hard work they do. And we need to be able to
solve this issue as far as competitive wages, compensation, retention, as
we move forward into this next era. Hopefully with having some
more revenue to be able to jet as well. So thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Arnold, and mrs. Carol sherman, come on down, you're the next
contestant on public comment. >> well, it's good o see
you all. The most wonderful people, and I'm very appreciative
that I come up here. I don't normally speak but I'm very thrilled to say you
just finished my six-month commitment to the rohnert park animal shelter, and I'm
thrilled to fall in love with so many animals, but more importantly, the people
who work there. What a great group of folks. The people on staff, but
that place, honestly, runs by volunteers. And I'm continuing on in a
different capacity there, but I adopted a cat, yes, it happens.
everybody that works there goes home with a few animals.
and we're kind of towards the end of kitty world. We had so many kitties.
but I would encourage anybody who's looking for a way to build community for
them themselves, make a big difference, please come and
join us and volunteer, anything you like to do, whatever your specialty is,
and there's a lot of cool things to do. Please, don't be timid, jump
right in, and we're going to have public works right next door.
that's a plus. And I just want to thank you all for your encouragement,
your willingness to let me serve in this community. I have done so many
different service-driven things for the last 15 years, and I'm going to
continue, and I feel very ble blessed, especially when you
get a little older, don't sit home and watch tv all day, okay? Get out there
and help your community. And I hope more people here and people at home do that,
and we'll welcome you, I promise you, you will be welcomed.
okay? Especially if you love animals and people. It's a good place.
thank you. >> thank yu, ms. Sherman. And then we have lisa
orla -- actually, ucy dean and then lisa orla. Welcome, lucy.
>> hi, everybody. Thanks for having me. My name is lucy dean the
representative from sonoma state university the new vice president of external
affairs. I've met a couple of you briefly s welcome.
lovely to see you again. I just came to give you all a brief report on sonoma
state. We're back in session as of yesterday.
we had our first day of class yesterday. And the associated students
are back in session making sure that everybody is well fed and got our basic needs
program back up and running our associate students event planning program and had a
big night the other insight and making sure our students are taken care of.
we're planning to have a couple hygiene drives throughout the semester if
anyone in the community wants to help invest in that, we always love your
support. Any information about that will be on our went and our
social media as well as our loveless pantry is open for four days a week,
information about that is also on our website. Yeah.
but we're just back in session. We love having our community
involved and we're happy to have you all here. Thank you.
>> thank you very much. Lisa orloff. >> I just want to invite
everyone in the audience and everyone listening that we're doing a ribbon cutting
to celebrate hot works a new fitness center here in rohnert park.
a grand opening tomorrow from 5:30 to 7. I'm sure samantha is
probably going to share this again I wanted to let you know we're excited to get
into business in rohnert park and I want to congratulate the staff, I
shared this with marcela already. Dustin shaffer is the owner
and he was talking about opening this site in rohnert park, the staff, it's the
best, he's opened different businesses in different towns across california and
the united states and he was just so excited to share how great it was to work with
rohnert park and how easy you made it so I wanted to invite everybody to hot
works. Hope to see you there. >> thank you.
and then we have barbara mackenzie and then go to zoom.
>> good evening everyone. Just wanted to come down and remind everyone our library
will be closed starting september the first for four months plus, it's going to
be beautiful when it's finished and then we realize that it's an inconvenient to
a lot of people and we'll have some services available at the headquarters bg and
also wanted to thank you or city manager for her call earlier today inquiring as
to whether I would be interested in continuing to serve as the library
commissioner and I appreciate that call and yes, am of, thanks very
much. >> thank you. Then we're going to go to
zoom. Do we have any participants on zoom with their hands
raised >> no, mayor, we do not. >> then that's it for
public comment. I'm closing it up. We are going to move on to
item 7 which is the consent calendar. So I would be ooking for a
motion to approve the consent calendar as is -- approve the calendar as is
but I actually need it pull one item. So on friday, I learned that
my -- >> which item are you pulling?
>> 7c. On the consent calendar because on friday I learned
that the nominee that I had put out for the library commission role has
withdrawn his application which was what miss mackenzie was referring to
in her public comment. I believe per protocol I could appoint somebody
without moifgving it to a future agenda but I would like to request we do still
move it it a future agenda and that is because I need more time.
go ahead. >> I was gonna say if it's possible to make comment on
that item, I'm amenable to have it open for further review.
>> I'd like to make a >> we can comment on the item that's pulled --
>> and can I continue to speak on it or no? Use your mic.
>> we should remove it from consent calendar and then come back and discuss this
item separately >> beautiful. Thank you for clarifying
>> I'll motion to pull 7c, correct? Or was it h. Hold on, let me make sure
I'm pulling the right item. Yeah. >> motion to approve the be
consent calendar pulling 7c. >> second. >> okay.
so the adoption of the consent calendar with the exception of 7c.
are all those in favor. Anyone opposed. Motion passes 5-0.
>> I realize my first time getting to a point someone to an at large position but
this is kind of a big deal and it's kind of a hard decision to -- or
challenging hing because that's all of these people -- I know at the end
you see them on thursday on the agenda packet comes out but it's not an easy thing.
what I actually would like to do is also look at the possibility of making this
like some of our committee appointments with where we go through the applications
together and -- bmake it a council decision versus a - mayor chooses someone
second. >> I'll support that >> and then I guess my only
other question would be if we were to do that, what other committee roles would
it apply to because we would want to keep standard across all
>> thank you mayor for the question. We would have to bring that
back to council so we can indicate to you which other appointments would be
revisited if we want to change the selection process for these at-large
appointments so we can work with our city clerk to bring that back to you.
>> okay. Fantastic. So with that as the regular
item n a future agenda? >> is yes, we would bring back the item for discussion
and if necessary, then at that point we would get direction, we would have to
also change the city council protocols to reflect whatever new process the
council would like to follow. We can do that.
>> okay. Perfect. I appreciate that.
thanks for humoring me on this suggestion. It's appreciated.
any other questions? Go to public comment >> to we want to do public
comment first? >> council discussion? >> would anybody from the
public in the room or on zoom like to speak on this item specifically 7e?
seeing and hearing no one is interested, clerk, anyone on zoom?
>> we have to wait a full minute. Because they need to raise
their hand. But there isn't anyone so far with a raised hand.
>> okay. >> there's nobody on the raised hand we don't have to
wait -- if there's nobody on zoom >> there is a person on
zoom. >> there is. Okay.
>> we have about 30 seconds. Process.eciate the new -
public comment, no one in the room has a burning desire to speak on this
item? >> one minute has passed. >> okay.
if no one else would like to speak on this item I'll go ahead and close the public
comment period and come back to our council for any remaining thoughts,
questions. >> I wanted to pull this to be honest, just because I'm
really feel a bit uneasy on the timeline of events of the email I received and
hearing somebody rescinded their application. So I have asked our city
manager and I'm going to ask here we also look at a code of conduct of folks that we
appoint to committees and commissions. I don't want to assume
things but also feel when folks are interested and it's not an easy process,
folks are pouring in and taking time to put in an application and wanting to
participate in thirsty. I just have some doubts and concerns as to why somebody
would rescind so suddenly just given the timeline of what I've experienced of
communications received. And so I would like to either extend or have the
opportunity a bit more time, to be able to ask the applicants those questions
if possible, and also figure out whether it's us or who we appoint, what is our code
of conduct on those seats and within the community as well because there's -- some
things we also get feedback in different ways and I want to make sure if we're going
to be updating things we just update fully across the board for fairness and
equa equability. And I know -- and so that's
my hesitancy. It's not necessarily the candidates or past, present,
future, it's more of the timeline of events has caused me a lot of pause to
be able to confidently move forward with the item. >> I was going to suggest
if we can ask the city manager that possibility to reopen the process so that
other people can have the opportunity to apply and that will be based on our
five here and to give the guidance to madam city manager.
>> and I would assume that that has to happen if we're gonna change the process or
propose changing the process >> I think all of these questions will be
deliberated and answered when we bring back the item. >> okay.
perfect. Thank you, then. >> does that -- and that
leaves the current person in that seat until then, correct
>> yes, I'm sorry, I didn't want to give the impression that there's been a decision
made. There hasn't been. So we need a motion and t
then. I'd be -- >> I'd like to have an
opportunity to make a comment. >> go for it.
>> mayor, you received a call from the gentleman on friday?
>> I did >> id you give you some reasons why he rescinded?
>> he said he felt like -- can I ask a question? >> she's asked a question,
I think it's on the table and -- >> you're asking a
question, right now it's your question, correct? >> I was just wondering --
for the privacy of the -- >> the privacy of the.candidate --
>> interested in serving our community and really any capacity.
this was one area where he applied and I really appre
appreciated, you know, him stepping up and considering doing it and his decision
was to not do it after all, and I mean, I'm sure he will serve in some other way
somewhere. >> I guess my concern here is we have someone who
served well and faithful for 12 years and that communication that was sent
to her last week, the city talked about her dedicated service, her contributions
to help strengthen library services, representation he have the community with
integrity and care, outstanding service and dedication, generous
volunteering of her time, her passion for preserving and sharing history, her
unwaving commitment to public service, her countless hours of dedicated
time making rohnert park a better community, contributions to make
meaningful and lasting impact, appreciation for her support of and her many
capacities and her interest service and I just feel like we're not forwarding barbara
mackenzie the dignity here through this process that she's earned and she's
entitled to. With that I have absolutely no problem relooking at this
process. You made a comment when you were speaking about the
mayor appoint. In my understanding, it's the mayor nominates and
brings to the council but I fully support your desire to say let's take a look at
this, bring the names forward to maybe have the mayor narrow it down to two
or three and then have the council decided. But I see no reason to leave
ms. Mackenzie or tenterhooks for another two weeks to a month.
I may be out of town the second meeting in september and 'd like for here if
that happens. I don't see any reason why we need to prolong the agony
for ms. Mackenzie. >> can I make a comment? >> yes.
>> so to be honest, I got concerned when I get a -- when I just got today saying
that the nominee pulled out the nomination. And I do respect our current
representative, so has nothing to do with her personality nd I do not
want eople to start judging people for their personality or what is pg had a.
there's a situation hat happened that we need to address, and that has
nothing to do with her or any other candidate. The last thing that we
wanted to do is to scare off people to apply to any of our committees.
because that is going to become a pattern when someone wanted to come and
apply to serve, then they get scared off and then leave.
it's not oing to be a pretty image of rohnert park.
we talk about fairness, we talk about opening up to the public, and I think it is
fair to say that since that process didn't go through, it's fair to see it open.
and I will be, you know, cautioning us to -- I mean, we know personally, I do
respect the work that ms. Mackenzie has done and I do not want to put it on the
line because of the situation happening. It's unfortunate.
I didn't know. I just found out today. And I was a little bit
unease to talk about a private conversation that the mayor had with someone
that applied on a public setting. That sounded very
inappropriate because it's going to scare off future candidates for any other
committee that we're going to open in the future, and out of respect of
mrs. Mackenzie, I don't think it's fair for her to be put in that position.
we should have just, you know, made it clear and simple.
it didn't work out, we have someone here, how about we continue the process.
I think that would also show that we do respect the work that she has done.
>> I think one of the ways to show the respect for the work she's done is to
appoint her to continue to serve and I'd like to make a motion to do that at this
time and ask for a second >> is unfortunately right now that process isn't
allowed under our protocols because the mayor has to nominate first and the mayor
has not nominated anybody >> the mayor nominated someone, he withdrew so --
>> another person that applied. So -- in theory if the mayor
wanted to appoint someone other -- >> what I was gonna ask is
can the commissioner continue to serve if I extend this out -- as a
matter of law the commissioner will erve until a replacement is
sele selected. >> mayor, may I?
>> yes. >> I support reinitiating process and I'd like to call
for the question. In that case I will revisit this.
I would like to make a motion that we continue the process for the library
commissioner selection and, of course, ms. Mackenzie will be included in that
process if she so chooses >> I'll second. >> just to clarify that you
want staff to bring back an agenda item at a future agenda to discuss this
process. >> keeping in mind that councilmember adams would
like to definitely be here. So we can schedule around that.
>> okay. Did -- did we do everything we needed to do there
>> there was a motion -- >> I got a motion, I got a second.
all those in favor. Those opposed? Okay. Thank you.
>> motion to bring back a discussion regarding city council protocols
surrounding mayor nominations for outside agency appointments and code
of conduct for all appointees is passed by a 4
4-1-0 with councilmember adams dissenting. Thank you.
>> thank you. Next we will move to our regular items starting with
l 8a. And our presenter is I believe going to be m
ms. Rankin or would that be you? >> good afternoon, and it's
going to be a joint presentation here with our director of human resources,
tracy rankin, and, of course, me. And so as you know, in
december, chief mattos indicated that he was retiring even though he's
still with us he's serving in an interim capacity o we started a recruitment
process in february, and it's been six months that we've gone through this
process, which is very common and typical for a law enforcement professional.
and it gives me great joy to be able to present the item before you today, which is
the resolution to consider the employment contract for ignacio richard navarro
better known as rick navarro in the community law enforcement community.
and we're extremely pleased after a nationwide recruitment and a strong
candidate pool to bring forward mr. Rick navarro to have the position f the
director of public safety. We're extremely fortunate that he has decided to join
our city and join our public safety department. He actually is a resident of
here for many years and for him to be able to serve his community in the capacity of
director of public safety is extremely important for us and valuable.
and so I'm very excited that he's joining the team. He has more than 35 years of
law enforcement experience, 30 years with the marin county
sheriffs office and currently serving as chief of police in the city of
mill valley so we're very pleased that he's decided to join the team.
for us as a community, we value community, we value accountability, nd also
value the relationship that our public safety department has with members of our
community and so he brings that and he will continue with that, and he knows the
importance of those values for us. And just really making sure
that we have the public safety relationship with our community.
and so I'm very, very pleased that he's joining. He's here with us today and
he'll be hopefully addressing you with a couple of comments.
but again, just having an individual with his distinguished and extensive
career in law enforcement join the city of rohnert park is important for us and
so I'm glad, again, that he's here. Now, I will turn it over to
our director of human resources, tracy rankin, we have to whenever we're
bringing forward an employment contract for a department head director, we
do have and we're required by law to read a statement that satisfy the
requirements of a government code so now I will give the opportunity for ms. Rankin
to be able to state that. Thank you. >> thank yu, madam city
manager. Good evening, council. In accordance with
government code section 54953 a the city council is to receive an oral summary
report of the salary and compensation including fringe benefits paid to any
local agency executive prior to taking final action. Under the terms of this
agreement, are the director of public safety is entitled to receive the following
compensation and benefits. An annual base salary of $255,661.05 per year, which
is step 5 of salary range 78m. A peace officer's standards
and training post executive certificate stipend in the amount of nine percent of
base salary, a uniform allowance of $,080 per calendar year to be paid
monthly. A city cell phone, city vehicle for his use at city
expense, and other equipment deemed appropriate by the city manager.
a credit of 80 hours of annual leave on date of hire and accrual of annual leave
at a rate of 240 hours per year. 100 hours of administrative
leave per fiscal year. Participation in calpers in the three percent at 55
program and fringe benefits including health insurance, disability benefits, retiree
health savings contributions, and employer retirement contribution in
accordance with the council's adopted outline of certain conditions of
employment, fringe benefits, and salary for the management unit.
>> I forgot to mention that the employment agreement is before you this evening,
however, chief navarro will be start sptember 22nd and we will be working with the
department to do a welcome ceremony for him, give him an opportunity to interact
with members of the public. So I just wanted to make sure I clarified that.
thank you. >> good evening, mayor, vice mayor, city council
members and city manager. Thank you nor hose kind words.
much appreciated. I have prepared a statement and I promise you that city
manager did not discuss my comments prior to this evening with you they're
going to be very similar. I am deeply honored and humbled to be here with you
tonight I come before you as a proud resident of rohnert park with deep roots in this
community. I was not seeking another career opportunity when I
saw the recruitment for rohnert park's director of public safety.
however, this position immediately spoke to me. I've always held our public
safety department in a highest regards, and it's members are true heros n
our community as a resident I personally called upon them for assistance and have
consistently been I am pred by their knowledge, compassion and
professionalism. Through the the recruitment process I was equally
impressed by the city's commitment to including regional partners, community
members, department heads and members of the public safety department.
that approach resonates teteep deeply with me because I
believe collaboration and inclusion are essential to building trust and achieving
long-term success, the warmth and support I've received from the entire
city team has been incredible and I am truly grateful for the welcome.
I know there's a great deal of work ahead of us but with this outstanding team, I am
confident that we're ready for the challenges and opportunities before us.
I value partnership, collaboration, accountability, and hard
work. What you can expect from me is authentic, transparent,
and engaged leadership from someone who cares deeply about this city, our
employees, and the essential public safety services our community deserves.
thank you for the trust you have placed in me and for the opportunity to lead this
it is an incredible onor to serve the community that y family and I have proudly
called home for 34 years. Thank you. [ applause ]
>> where do we begin? This is a really big deal. >> you need to take --
>> I'd like to make a motion -- >> thank you
>> I will second -- >> let's do public comment, let's do public comment.
I'm sure somebody in this room has something they would like to say on this
item although I do not have any cards in front of me. I put you on the spot
>> we do not have any speaker cards and -- >> clark is currently
running -- >> we could do council -- >> should we adopt the
resolution first? >> we have to wait. Okay.
>> so moved. [laughter], >> mr. Keith, taking one
for the team. Wha what
what are your thoughts? >> I just met this guy and he seems really good.
[laughter] >> seems like a really nice guy.
he introduced himself to me. I mean, look at me. [laughter]
>> shook my hand and everything. Great job.
I think you found a good person. How we doing? [laughter]
>> all good? >> thank you, as you know, council is not allowed to
comment on public comments so e'll just say that was a good ne there.
okay. Anything else? P do we have a motion?
>> yeah. >> let's get a motion on this.
>> I'd like to make a motion to adopt the resolution authorizing and
approving the director of public safety employment agreement between the city
of rohnert park and ignacio richard navarro >> and I'll happily second
that one. >> all those in favor? >> there are people that
would like to make comments. Can we go backward and hold that.
let's pass it and then comment. All those in favor? Anyone
opposed? Motion passes by 5-0.
let's talk more about this. >> sure. And I said this before.
so welcome. Very excited. Not only from the things
that I've been told by either present law enforcement here in rohnert
park but people down in mill valley, people in the county of marin and then your
neighbors and residents here in rohnert park as well. I think it is so important
that you have been deeply embedded in this community for many years, decades, and
I'm very excited to welcome you and build on the great foundation that tim has
created here. And move forward. So welcome, neighbor, and
welcome back home. >> thank you. >> I'm so excited to have
you on board, chief. I know chief mattos, because he's still our chief right
now, has some big shoes to fill. He undertook quite a bit of
the department these last five years and has really if anything answered all of my
many, many questions so you will now be the new chief I'll be calling with my
many, many questions and this community, you know it, I know it, I think people
will be hard pressed to not know chief navarro or his family, but I'd really like
to thank mrs. Navarro because I don't think law enforcement can happen
without their steadfast family and support and the worry.
and your involvement in community as well. So I'm going to save the
tears for later in september but I'm so excited to have you on board and echo
councilmember guidice even myself working in probation marin, without people
knowing, right, how highly they spoke of you, friends of my own who have been
taught by you and mentored by you the impact is.quite literally throughout the
whole north bay and possibly the state. What an incredible way to
now represent the friendly city in an official way. So welcome.
>> thank you, councilmember, and thank you for recognizing my true
foundation, my bride, jennifer. >> well, welcome to rohnert
park chief in waiting. We're excited to have you. This has been just the
leadup time. I was talking to your wife about the anticipation
period of since you knew this was going to be your responsibility going through
all the process, that tests person sometimes just the waiting.
I met tim mattos for the first time after I was elected in 2018.
you have big shoes to fill here in rohnert park. I think you also have a
little bit of a leg up on most other candidates since you know the community so
well. I'm very excited for the women and the men who serve
safety in rohnert park from - the dispatcher to everybody who works in that building,
the sergeants, lieutenants, line folks, they're excited to have your leadership to
build on what's been done by chief mattos and I look forward to many years of
working with you. Thank you. >> thank you,
councilmember. >> your true foundation is our true foundation.
you gotta share. I'm really excited and thank you, mrs. Navarro.
I'm incredibly excited, leadership is very important, and leadership
can either break or elevate the community, and having the right person into
leadership is really important, especially now with everything that's, you
know, every community is going through. However, the mayor of mill
valley is not too thrilled, he grilled me. So he said we stole him, we
stole you from him, but I say, no, we took back our own person.
so he's coming home. Sorry, max. But it shows how effective
your work has been in marin and mill alley and how you have transformed that city.
chief mattos has been our pillar here for the many years he has served and it
aches to see him going but at the same time you guys have made sure along with
all the public safety leaders to bring you on board.
and it's very exciting to see that your leadership will be now here at home,
representing the values and the people that, you know, you live and create memories
every single day, and I'm so excited because I know that what you have done in mill
valley as n employee and an outsider, you would take that baton and that
different level now that you're here at home, and I'm so excited and welcome home.
>> thank you so very much, it's great to be home. >> and all the things that
my colleagues have said and more. I am very grateful that you
are interested in the position and to all of our staff, it was a very
collaborative hiring process. I think everyone got to give
their $0.02 what they were looking for so I think we've got it.
and I really look forward to the good work you're gonna continue here in our city.
>> thank you so much, mayor. >> we do -- since you're
here we're going to do a family photo together. This will be the before
photo.
>> we're gonna go to the next item, which is 8b >> good evening.
mark henderson public works director with scott sanders our sustainability manager,
we're here to discuss the reentry into the russian this is a local entity that -
focuses on storm water compliance and outreach. So I will turn it over to
scott. Scott oversees our storm water compliance and
outreach program. Thank you. >> hello.
great to be here. So let's just dig right in. So I'm gonna present on the
russian river watershed association, hard to say. But tonight I'm gonna walk
you through kind of what it is, our steps, I'm going to call it the rrwa because
it's hard to keep saying over and over again. We're going to go through
what is the rrwa. Our history, how it operates day to day, the miles per
hour membership costs and programs and what what are we here for.
what is the rrwa, a coalition of 11 public agencies and all
coordinating storm water compliance, outreach, grant funding across the russian
river watershed. So ur member agencies are a iks many of cities, we have
the sonoma water, two counties, mend mend and sonoma the city of ukiah
serves as the administrative agency and fiscal agent and handle financial
administration on behalf of all the members. The core rrwa operating
budget does come entirely from member agency so our dues cover the cost of
running the organization itself. Individual programs
sometimes bring grant money into the program as well. It was formed in 2023 to
facilitate this partnership across political boundaries to member agencies could
work cooperatively to protect this watershed and efforts at no single agency
could take on effectively alone. So what is the watershed?
it consists of 1,484 square miles across mendocino and sonoma counties.
what's in that watershed, there are 238 treams and creeks, two major
reservoirs, ten tribal land organizations home to 63 different fish species, as
well as 360,000 people. And how are we connected to it? I'll add some extra
here. Everything that goes to our storm drains heads to a
creek. From that creek our creeks will ended laguna which goes
to mark west creek which then drops into the russian river.
also we get water directly from the russian river. Sonoma water pulls it right
from the russian river filters and brings it to rohnert park residents.
our history with the rrwa is not new. Of we were one offist
founding members in 2004. We stepped away in 2020 by council vote the reason
being cost effectiveness and as well as we had internal capacity to handle the items
on our own. But then this year we have now rejoined and we signed
the amendment 1, the same mou that's been running since 2004.
so all member agencies are signing the same mou. Next we're going to go with
how it operates. It's day to day governance. Each member -- it's
governored by a board of directors made up of elected officials.
every member agency appoints one representative and one alternate to sit on that
board below the board there's an executive program, an initiatives
committee and a technical working grouping and those bodies support the board
with staff level expertise on the technical and programatic side of things.
the rrwa facilitates more than 24 regional meetings a year between the board,
committees, and advocacy meetings. During the september and
february time, the board adopts a work plan and budget that was created
throughout the year. And then now we're going to move over to our costs.
membership costs and hat it provides. So there we go.
year 1 it's a little modest starting with a 5,000 flat rate in our cost, the first
year is kind of getting used to it. But hen over time it's
gonna start going to a formula where half the cost is split among the member
agencies and then the other half is weighted based on each agency's operational
budget. Last time rohnert park was in it it was about five to
seven percent of that total budget. Recently the budget is now
719,000 so roughly rohnert park would be on 36 to $50,000 a yar, of course,
today's item is not a fiscal impact. It will just bring in your
representative to the board. So what do these costs do for us? Well, first,
regional collaboration. Rrwa facilitates board meetings, committee
meetings, operators, forums and maintains a shared website for all member
agencies. Second, they do regulatory advocacy, they attend water
board hearings, they prepare comment letters, represent local interests at
sacr sacramento. Third, or fourth, they do
grant support as well, third is regulatory compliance, they help us with our
municipal storm water permits, they help us with lid trainings, russian river
regional onitoring program is also under this. And then they also help with
grant support. And hat we're here today is to pick a member for the
board of directors. Let's see what we got here. We're required to have an
appointed representative which is a city councilmember, to this
organization and then we'll have an alternate. Just like zero waste.
>> you're saying you would have picked one of us anyway, but because we have
to have one we're here to nominate somebody today >> that's what we're going
to do. We're just going to need to complete those two items
tonight, yeah, that's kind of my whole presentation right there.
>> beautiful. Okay. What we'll do is we can take
questions from our council and then want to go to public comment and then back
to our comments. So -- >> I have no questions.
>> any questions on that item itself? >> I do.
thank you very much. Can you go back to the slide that tells how much money
this is going to cost? >> uh-huh. >> it starts out at 5000
entryway and then we're going to get up to somewhere between 35,050,000, but my
understanding from reading the report and especially listening to you talk it's
actually going to be a net savings for us for the services they're going to
provide, and I think too maybe explain o mr. And mrs. Rohnert park maybe when
we can explain that this is -- we're spending so much more doing some of hese
things that they're now going to help us do including the legislative
interaction and all those sorts of things, right? So can you peak to that a
little bit? >> yes. So we decided to bring back
rrwa because we do not have the internal capacity to do everything that we need to
do to fulfill our permit compliance with the water board and all those our
items. So spending the 36 to $50,000 a year actually does
safe us money without having to hire extra people to perform this compliance work
and not only that they're doing grant support and they're in sacramento
lobbying for us. And multiple other items like that that do save us
money. >> that's definitely the advantage of having that
unified front for grant support, meeting as an organization rather than us
doing it individually. And also we're currently using consultants to help us
manage our storm water compliance. So this will lessen the
burden. >> by what -- can you give us some ballpark --
>> I mean, probably saving over 25,000 a year -- I mean, if I had to throw a
number off >> I think -- I really appreciate your the way you
presented it here because it does show the net benefit to the citizens of rohnert park
top get back and joining this organization >> and the outreach that
they do now, they will do locally, a lot of these pilot programs that they
were doing in other jurisdictions we weren't part of it so now they're
going to be bringing these programs to rohnert park. >> other council questions?
open it you up for public comment. Ladies and gentlemen, public
comment item 8b, if anybody would like to speak on this item, now is your chance.
I have no cards. He's not getting up. Is there anyone on zoom?
>> there's one person present. The erson hasn't raised
their hand. >> okay. It's been more than a
minute. True? We're good to proceed? We don't need to
wait a full manipulate for this person? We do. Okay.
what other questions do I have? I think my question would be about what do you
think the best intint going to be for us. What's your favorite thing
that rrwa is benefit is going to be for us. What's your favorite thing
that rrwa is offering? >> well currently they are bridging this gap between
ssu so right now ssu us and rrwa with getting together and trying to work on
copeland creek. It's just another added seat at the table of bringing
resources to places in our communities is my biggest excitement.
>> we just learned about this, that's kind of exciting.
they're looking at enhancing copeland creek. I think it's a regulatory
compliance, we have some really tall hills to climb. One is trash capture and
things that they assist with. So I think it's better to be
regionally on a unified front than stand alone. So that's just one of them
off the -- that is -- we're going to have to comply with.
what I'm referring to is trash entering the creeks, that we have to -- yeah,
yeah, sorry, we know we have to stop basically all trash from entering the creeks.
>> all right. Now we may proceed. Wonderful.
back to the comments from the council. >> thank you.
so first of all, thanks for the report. And udos to the council for
rejoining the agency. Certainly the benefits greatly outweigh the osts
and s we move forward with our hydrology study and with modeling as to how we ould
relocate a retention basin over in k section and taking a look at what that modeling
looks like and the russian river watershed association will be an indispensable
resource or us not only department the development services but department of
public works moving forward so I'm very excited that we're rejoining and also the
collaboration with sonoma state, we're already working together with them, with
mr. Rogers, and the center for environmental inquiry with regards to the copeland
creeks in common and some of the other initiatives that we have.
so this is a great fit, and if I am nominated I would be more than happy to serve and
make sure that rohnert park gets its pound of flesh out of joining this
organization. >> I have no comments but I'll second councilmember
guidice nomination. Happy to support. >> I think it would be
great if gerard wants to do this. [laughter]
>> sigh of relief coming from everyone elevation on the dais.
if no other board comments let's proceed with this wonderful nomination and
second. >> do we need to have a nomination to rejoin the
russian river watershed association? >> okay.
>> my question will be that what o you guys have like meetings, when the meetings
will be, so that people can know and see the schedule since life not that busy for
all of us. >> I will share that I went to the meeting two months
ago. They were very excited to see us, I feel like I guess
the game is getting the band back together because we didn't know we were the
missing poise. So everybody that meeting was very enthusiastic about
the rejoining. I do I do believe they meeting
once monthly and there's advisory committees so if you wanted to go above and
beyond you could in addition to the board member. >> that will be great to
know what we're going to get ourself into before -- >> if you were interested
in serving, you mean? >> I'm not. >> okay.
I can share with you when I look that up, but it's pretty much at least once a
month -- >> sorry, mayor, are you asking about the alternate
representative? >> I'm kind of lost -- >> you just have a
representative there. I went just to say hello and remember us, and now that we
are officially back in, we're needing to nominate someone to serve and
actually, that brings up up a good point. Does the alternate have to
be on the council could it be like with zero waste where you're my alternate if
I can't attend >> there's a councilmember, there's a nominated and then
the staff member would be acts an alternate. And there's 24 scheduled
meetings throughout the year. >> and how long is the
term? >> until someone else would be nominated.
there's not a defined term to this. >> so madam city attorney,
does that mean if for some reason I get really, really mad add ouncilmember
guidice and I say I wanted to do it, would it be similar to something else
that we would bring back to the agenda to discuss -- >> there's no term. The
appointment is totally within the discretion of the council.
so the council can remove, appoint whenever they want. >> okay.
I think we got all our questions answered. We got a motion, we got a
second. All those in favor. >> aye
>> aye >> aye >> aye.
>> any opposed? Okay. >> thank you. >> thank you for the
presentation. >> thank you. >> okay.
next we are moving on to item 9, which is committee liaison and other reports.
council, who would like to share what they've been doing this month?
>> chambers. I was able to give them pp bit of an update on what
we've got going on in the city tomorrow as we heard there's a ribbon cutting for
hot works, cost, you can find information on the chamber's website and on
september 2nd, it is the noontime luncheon and the speaker will be senator
balden. Please register by august 28th so make sure
there's enough food for everybody. The next day, september 3rd
is the grind and grow collective for young professionals focused on 45
and younger entrepreneurs but it is open. And the speaker will be our
very own kevin king to talk about how to support businesses and updates on
downtown so hopefully we can get businesses into downtown.
we've got two more weeks of the farmers market if I count correctly.
it's been great. And we also have the african soul festival, I believe the
third annual this year, happening on saturday, and in honor of mrs. Dolly p
parton who passed today, there are still tickets available through the
community foundation to support her imagination library and their gala is on
saturday, august 29th. I want to congratulate old cas for seven years, our
very own home brewed, a great weekend long event this past weekend, and then
we have our third annual car show happening next sunday, september 6th, at the site
of the downtown. I believe you can still register your car, take a
look for it if you have a classic that you'd like to showcase.
but it's just a great community event put on by our very own franky levin so
lots going on in the city. >> I have a library advisory board meeting last
week, and I just want to confirm what was satisfied earlier.
the library is about to be closed and there's going to be some sort of mini
libraries, some activities at the burton avenue rec center thank you for working
that out and then the sonoma county library offices are on state farm, about a third
of the mile down the street from the library. There will be some places
where you can go there, there will be no services at the current library location
so that box where people can pick up books, closed. It will be down the street
at the main library place, you can go pick up books and if you have any questions
you can go there and also go to petaluma library, I know it seems like a long time
but it's going to go by like that, I promise. >> vice mayor?
>> we have had sonoma lean power, t was a short one. For the most part, sonoma
clean power renewed our engagement with the ceo, that's going to be there for
another three years and counting. And so, yeah.
and on -- and the next month we will have a recess for a month and we're going to
resume in october. >> marvelous. I'll give an update on
si zoef waste. We went over the outine
items including the 24, 25 audits. Which showed a strong
financial decision nd some continuing investment happening in our local waste
reduction program. Cascadeia compliance outreach program.
that supported 122 different food businesses including a few here in ohnert park.
most are compliant or near compliant. So they're helping business
owners address the things that need to be not -- when you go get take out that's
not a thing anymore. People can't have styrofoam and they've been consulting
on straws, utensils, finding best suppliers for these different things that meet
all the requirements and the program is going to continue for six more months but it's
already exceeded its goals around education and outreach.
the board received a final update on usda compost food waste reduction grant
program highlighting ajor wins in compost education, food recovery and some
climate smart farming practices that resulted in over 50,000 pounds of local
food rescued and thousands of residents that have been reached through the compost
education efforts and it's been delivered to over 3600 acres of local farm land.
the sb54 implementation is coming right along, producers are going to have
to start funding statewide recycling improvements in 2027 so zero waste is
helping with each jurisdiction and also with the county including rohnert
park in making sure we understand what materials are covered any possible
exemptions, infrastructure needed and the way of recycling and any potential
reimbursements that might be out there because some of those reimbursements will be
retroactive. So that is a really big deal.
and the last thing would be that the board voted to move all our future meetings for
zero waste sonoma to their new facility the head squares at 195 concourse
drive in in santa rosa that's instead of the city hall building in santa rosa.
so this is going to improve public access, if any of you have been there you have to
go upstairs to go downstairs. And help facilitate better
collaboration too. So on the 17th of september that's when we're going to
start meeting the new staff. That's my update for zero waste.
>> just wanted to take moment to thank and acknowledge our incredible
city manager and congratulate you on a full permanent leadership team
again. I know it's been a rocky time and we're so lucky to
have your leadership and then for the folks who have stepped up and joined the
city, again, I would say you guys are the experts. I did not go to school for
each of your departments, but I just really wanted to appreciate that and
appreciate everyone's undertaking of their departments as well.
congrats. >> and on the nerdy moment I'd like to thank the city
manager nd the staff for the upgrade on our sewer bond rating.
and perhaps ust a quick explanation of what that means.
I know we went from double a minus to double a and exactly if you could kind of
provide a little narrative on that, that would be great.
>> yes, thank you. And perhaps what I'm going to have is maybe bring up
our director of finance and our public works director because really the
celebration is for them. They have been doing a tremendous job in planning
really our sewer improvements as you know, we have over 200 million in
deferred maintenance. And what a credit rating increase does for us is s
not that we are pursuing this but if p we were to go pursuing external financing
it would give as you better credit rate. And that's huge.
not only it a reflection of the really the management of the sewer funds that we
have, but also it is showing the community and really us that we're planning for the
future. And I know that's been one of our major goals and
really just desire is to be able to address the needs of this community so. I'm
very, very happy and I just want to thank you really our director of finance and her
team and our public works team for the great work that they're doing and just
making sure that we are addressing the needs f this community.
so thank you, thank you to the team for doing that, well deserved recognition in
terms of that upgrade. So thank you, councilmember guidice for pointing that
out, appreciate it. >> I thought I felt different.
it was our rating. Very encouraging. If there's no other updates
on that we'll move on to -- did anybody have a public comment on the liaison
reports? Anything spark inspiration for you? Double checking? Then on to
communications. Item 10. Anything that the council
would like to share there? >> councilmember adams >> two things, I received
multiple communications from multiple members of the community asking if we can
leave the farmers market out at the community center. Process is for saying to -
people we're gonna look at that and give it serious consideration because it's
obviously so much more well received. I've had a friend of mine
out there doing drone footage with infrared o see the number of people there.
it's incredible the number of people that are there. So I just wanted to report
that people are really anxious to have us talk about that.
the second thing is vice mayor elward and I have been receiving a lot of
communication from lap swimmer's in town. And we've been working with
the director of community services about finding other places where they can swim
from november, december and january and we'll be turning that research over to
director bagley for her to share that with the swim community.
it will cost about the same as the costs for them to swim right now either going
up to the university or going to one of the health clubs in cotati.
actually have some other benefits I think that will helpful to them as well.
so I just wanted everyone to know we're looking at that and we're working together
and we'll give all that information to cindy to send to the lap swimmer's.
so thank you. >> I can add I want to also the constituents to know
that if they want to connect with us, we have a room here where we can meet in person.
so come. We're open. We want to meet with you.
and the door is open at the city hall. >> marvelous.
anything else for communications before we move on to item 11? Okay.
then that would be adding agenda items to future city council meetings.
no? Okay. Any public comment on that one?
>> I don't know if we consider this an agenda item or not, but I was hoping we
could recognize the norkel cal ripken12 team. They came in second be in
their world series and really gave everyone a run for their money out there so
they were the only one of two teams from nor cal representing so I was hoping
we could give them a little recognition >> absolutely, I agree to
that. Okay. Then we have adjournment.
it's official. Don't go far because there is a foundation meeting.
[ adjourned, 7:05 p.m. ]