[1:50] >> hello, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get started.
[1:56] we have a few minutes behind but I appreciate your patience.
[2:00] we just have a mountain of recognitions that we're going to do tonight.
[2:04] so much it's tuesday, august 25th and let's go ahead and call roll.
[2:08] >> councilmember adams >> here sdemrchlt councilmember guidice.
[2:11] >> present. >> councilmember rodriguez. >> here.
[2:14] >> vice mayor elward >> here. >> mayor sanborn
[2:18] >> here. >> all present. Thank you.
[2:23] >> we'll move on to the reading of the land acknowledgment.
[2:29] if you would please rise. Thank you. The city of rohnert park
[2:39] acknowledges indigenous peoples as the traditional stewards
[2:41] of the land. Let it be acknowledged that
[2:44] the city of rohnert park is located
[2:46] within the traditional homelands of the federated indians of
[2:48] graton rancheria, comprised of coast miwok and
[2:52] southern pomo peoples. And then we have our pledge of allegiance.
[3:03] if gerard guidice, you would do the honors. >> thank you.
[3:22] all right. So we have a few presentations to get
[3:26] ourselves started his evening. Our first is going to be for
[3:29] our amazing front row here, our public works department. So I think we have here with
[3:41] us oe hanson, john bretzk, brandon and charles, bobby and patrick and nicholas and
[3:56] all of our public works staff and I would go ahead and read this proclamation
[4:00] and then if you're up for it, you're welcome to speak or not.
[4:04] and we'd love to get a quick photo if that's okay. The city of rohnert park
[4:07] proudly recognizes the public works parks maintenance staff for
[4:12] their outstanding teamwork, dedication, and commitment to improving
[4:15] the magnolia park tennis courts and
[4:17] surrounding area. As a dedicated and collaborative
[4:22] parks team, these employees work together to get the job done
[4:24] and take pride in maintaining and
[4:28] improving the spaces our community enjoys. Their teamwork
[4:32] and willingness to contribute in different ways were evident
[4:35] throughout this project. Staff contributed their
[4:39] time, skills, and teamwork by building
[4:42] and installing benches, trimming trees overhanging the tennis
[4:44] courts, spreading wood chips, beautifying the surrounding
[4:47] area, and installing a new trash receptacle. Each member of
[4:50] the team played an important role in creating a
[4:55] cleaner, safer, and more welcoming space for tennis players and the entire
[4:57] community. The city extends its sincere appreciation to the parks
[5:04] maintenance team for the pride they take in their work,
[5:06] their dedication to our parks, and their commitment
[5:09] to working together in service to
[5:11] our community. I just want too thank you personally for your hard
[5:22] work and teamwork and your commitment to making rohnert park a great place to live,
[5:28] work, and play, presented this day, august 25, 2026. Knowing that you are a
[5:36] behind the scenes team I'm going to guess you don't have a lot of words that
[5:43] you'd like to share. It was really important to me in walking the
[5:47] progression of this beautiful project and we'll share more about the tennis
[5:53] club's part in this too, you didn't just make something good enough, it really is
[5:59] beautiful. You can see down the road those gorgeous benches that
[6:07] you handcrafted from the trees that were from our town and it's just
[6:10] exceptional and I really appreciate the work you do and I know the council does
[6:15] at well so we wanted to make sure we called that out widely and broadly.
[6:20] so thank you. We will have you do a quick family photo, though, real
[6:27] quick.
[8:18] okay. Staying on the theme of our beautiful magnolia tennis
[8:22] courts, I have a second recognition I'd like to do this evening for the rohnert
[8:26] park tennis club for their generous investment toward the renovation of the
[8:32] magnolia parks tennis court. Do we have rich, barbara and anthony here this evening?
[8:39] marvelous. Okay. The city of rohnert park
[8:41] proudly recognizes the rohnert park tennis club for more than 50
[8:44] years of service to our community and. For its extraordinary
[8:47] commitment to improving the tennis courts
[8:49] at magnolia park. Established in 1975, the rohnert
[8:53] park tennis club has played an important role in making
[8:57] tennis accessible and enjoyable for residents of all ages.
[9:01] through lessons, programs, and opportunities to learn and
[9:04] play, the club promotes recreation,
[9:07] connection, and a love of tennis. The club has demonstrated
[9:12] exceptional dedication to the magnolia park courts by
[9:14] securing grant funding, leading fundraising efforts,
[9:17] and investing club funds to support improvements to these
[9:22] valued public facilities. Their generosity, hard work, and
[9:26] civic spirit have helped preserve and enhance
[9:28] an important recreational resource
[9:31] for rohnert park residents. The city extends its sincere appreciation to the rohnert
[9:37] park tennis club for its longstanding
[9:39] service, generous investment, and
[9:41] strong partnership in helping make rohnert park an even
[9:44] better place to live, play, and connect.
[9:51] presented this day, august 25th, 2026.
[9:54] [ applause ] >> all right, folks. I mean, on the court for a
[10:04] group photo. And if you would like to speak, maybe you're more
[10:09] inclined to speak, would you like to share any words about all of the effort you
[10:14] went through -- so he stood up and sat down, perfect. Wonderful.
[10:20] okay. The arly bird gets the worm.
[10:23] we would love to hear from you about that amazing effort.
[10:27] >> my name is is rich hu hutchinson and I would like to thank my board who pushed
[10:37] me and get this project forward. I'd like to acknowledge
[10:43] amanda, who was our right hand person through this project, nd I'd like to
[10:50] thank the city of rohnert park having trust in four individuals to bring
[11:01] $140,000 project to the city and those courts are outstanding.
[11:06] they're be well received by the tennis community, and we look to do it again
[11:14] sometime. >> well, you're in luck, we've got lots f courts.
[11:19] did you have something you'd like to add, councilmember guidice?
[11:23] >> thank you, mayor. So these are the kind of partnerships that we so
[11:28] desperately need now in these challenging economic times.
[11:30] it's really important that individual organizations and groups step up and I am
[11:35] truly grateful and appreciative, rohnert park has a lot of parks, has a
[11:39] lot of public amenities and it could be challenging at times to maintain all of
[11:45] those facilities ain tournament-ready condition, and we went through this
[11:53] with pickle ball a little while ago and now with tennis, orso to the pickle
[12:01] ball folks out there we appreciate you, and now to the tennis folks we really
[12:05] appreciate you and we thank you for stepping up and just being model citizens nd
[12:09] hechg the city maintain all of of its assets. So thank you.
[12:12] >> will you join us now on thelping the city maintain all of of its assets.
[12:16] so thank you. >> will you join us now on the court?
[13:35] and then we have a third proclamation and I do believe that there is not
[13:39] someone here to receive it. Is jenny here to receive it? I appreciate her requesting
[13:47] this because it's important. A representative for the commission on women and she
[13:58] represents for the county board. So she sent this information
[14:02] and I have used it to write a proclamation. The city council of the city
[14:06] of rohnert park. Proclaims
[14:09] august 26, 2026 as women's equality day in the city of rohnert park
[14:15] . Tomorrow. Whereas, august 26, 2026,
[14:17] marks the 106th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th
[14:22] amendment to the united states constitution,
[14:25] recognizing and protecting women's constitutional right to
[14:29] vote; and whereas, achieving this milestone required
[14:32] generations of women to organize, advocate,
[14:35] and persevere through hundreds of campaigns at
[14:39] the local, state, and national levels, ultimately securing
[14:41] the support of 36 states; and
[14:45] whereas, women today are nearly half of the nation's
[14:48] workforce, comprise the majority of students in
[14:53] colleges and graduate schools, and are increasingly primary
[14:55] or co-breadwinners for their families; and
[14:59] whereas, despite significant progress, women continue to face
[15:01] barriers to full equality, including disparities in pay and
[15:06] access to affordable childcare, housing,
[15:09] health care, and mental health care; and
[15:12] whereas, women's fundamental rights continue to be challenged, underscoring the
[15:16] importance of protecting the right to vote,
[15:20] access to health care, freedom from violence, and equal
[15:23] opportunity; and whereas, women's equality day
[15:28] honors the courage and perseverance of generations of
[15:29] women, celebrates the contributions of
[15:35] women today, and calls us to continue advancing equality for
[15:36] women and girls. Now, therefore, be it
[15:40] proclaimed that I, emily sanborn, as mayor
[15:42] and on behalf of the city council, do hereby proclaim august
[15:46] 26, 2026, as women's equality day in
[15:48] the city of rohnert park, honoring the 106th anniversary of the
[15:52] 19th amendment and reaffirming our commitment to equality
[15:54] and the fundamental rights of all
[15:57] women. Thank you. [ applause ]
[16:08] >> we will make sure that gets to them. Without further ado we shall
[16:20] move to item 5 department head briefings. There are none so we will
[16:25] continue to item 6 which is public comment. Oh, yes.
[16:31] and this is where I give the disclaimer. I will stick to the script
[16:41] so I don't miss anything. Before we start I'm going to recap the rules because they
[16:46] changed a little bit in the last couple months for some of you who haven't been here
[16:50] before. So it's public meetings like this that the rules that
[16:55] apply for commenting t these meetings are that comments from the n
[17:02] non-agendaized items can occur only during those designated public comment
[17:07] periods which we're about to have and they have to stay within the subject matter of
[17:10] the jurisdiction of the city. Comments on the agendaized
[17:14] items have to stick with the script. And then all of the comments
[17:17] that are non-agendaized have to occur during that designated comment period.
[17:23] if they don't fall into that subject matter, I'll remind you and then my city
[17:30] attorney -- yes, can also if they don't follow the city rules I do an initial
[17:38] warning to stay within the subject matter jurisdiction and if it's not followed
[17:43] then the chair, myself, will direct the city clerk to cut the microphone and
[17:50] throughout this warning system I will just look to the city attorney to help
[17:54] identify whether or not comments are within the subject matter jurisdiction
[17:56] of the city or not. So anyone who is attending in-person you are welcome to
[17:59] fill out one of these beautiful pink comment cards.
[18:03] if you're participating virtually on zoom, just remember that you need to
[18:08] use the raised hand feature so that we know that you would like to speak and then
[18:13] if you change your mind, you can lower it. And then if you are on phone
[18:17] you need to do star 9 to raise your hand. And then same to lower your
[18:23] hand and star 6 to mute or unmute yourself. The clerk it looking through
[18:31] zoom for anybody with their hand raised and you need just to raise your hand when
[18:38] the public comment period opens within a minute of it opening.
[18:42] otherwise we will have no ability to call on you. Everybody gets three minutes
[18:45] and you're welcome to use that whole time if you'd like but I will cut you off
[18:50] when three minutes is up. Okay. Without further ado.
[18:57] so formal. We have our first comment for public comment period is
[19:02] from mr. John ordway and then mr. Steve keith and then kevin arnold.
[19:13] not all at once. John. John is here.
[19:18] john is not here. Hmm. Okay.
[19:21] well, we'll skip him for now. Mr. Keith, you're up next.
[19:31] >> good afternoon, madam mayor, vice mayor and staff. I appreciate that I'm
[19:38] actually right after that disclaimer. Because I think we do at
[19:45] least certainly for public more be recently, becoming acquainted with these
[19:53] proceedings, and with the events of last meeting which I'll touch on here briefly,
[20:00] obviously sb 707 made some changes towards how the public can engage with these
[20:09] proceedings. However, it would appear in my observation that the
[20:15] opportunity for public to give a comment has been reduced.
[20:22] notably, the opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting is now vanished.
[20:29] and based on he scldisclaimer you just gave the agendaized items have an opportunity
[20:39] for public comment, and I interpret that as every item that's on the agenda, not
[20:47] just regular items but every item. Which would include all the
[20:54] way to the very end. Community liaison and other reports, communications,
[20:59] adding agenda items to future city council meeting agenda.
[21:04] all of those items would require an opportunity for the public to speak.
[21:10] however, last meeting a gentleman came in and attempted to offer ublic
[21:16] comments. We had not been given the opportunity to learn whether
[21:19] or not, despite historical evidence, that it would have nothing to do with that item
[21:28] or anything that the council is has under their control. Should have had the
[21:34] opportunity. It's important that the oath that we've all given to
[21:42] protect the constitution, the first amendment, super important.
[21:46] and that protects uncomfortable speech. It protects speech that some
[21:52] people may not want to hear, but it's important that everybody have is that
[21:57] opportunity to speak. Thank you. >> thank you for your
[22:03] public comment, mr. Keith. Mr. Arnold? Good evening, kevin arnold, I'm a field
[22:18] rep for seiu10 to one. First welcome to the new chief.
[22:23] we really look forward to working with you. Welcome home.
[22:28] I know on behalf of seiu welcome to the city of rohnert park, we have lots
[22:34] of things to partner with and accomplish. And so like I said, wlcome.
[22:38] we did also just receive our first letter for a preliminary bargaining
[22:44] meeting which we're very much looking forward to. We will be scheduling out
[22:49] exactly when to meet with the full staff and I hope we can continue to have a good
[22:55] back and forth on that. The last thing I wanted to mention was just that this
[22:58] was of a eally great opportunity today to recognize the incredibly
[23:03] hard work that these folks do in public works but in the entire seiu bargaining
[23:08] unit every single day. And we ll about a week from a ear since the gallagher
[23:17] report was published, correct? So here we are, the way to recognize the
[23:22] hard work of these folks, do there are or more substantive ways to
[23:27] recognize the incredibly hard work they do. And we need to be able to
[23:33] solve this issue as far as competitive wages, compensation, retention, as
[23:40] we move forward into this next era. Hopefully with having some
[23:46] more revenue to be able to jet as well. So thank you.
[23:52] >> thank you, mr. Arnold, and mrs. Carol sherman, come on down, you're the next
[24:01] contestant on public comment. >> well, it's good o see
[24:03] you all. The most wonderful people, and I'm very appreciative
[24:10] that I come up here. I don't normally speak but I'm very thrilled to say you
[24:15] just finished my six-month commitment to the rohnert park animal shelter, and I'm
[24:23] thrilled to fall in love with so many animals, but more importantly, the people
[24:28] who work there. What a great group of folks. The people on staff, but
[24:35] that place, honestly, runs by volunteers. And I'm continuing on in a
[24:42] different capacity there, but I adopted a cat, yes, it happens.
[24:50] everybody that works there goes home with a few animals.
[24:54] and we're kind of towards the end of kitty world. We had so many kitties.
[25:01] but I would encourage anybody who's looking for a way to build community for
[25:09] them themselves, make a big difference, please come and
[25:13] join us and volunteer, anything you like to do, whatever your specialty is,
[25:19] and there's a lot of cool things to do. Please, don't be timid, jump
[25:27] right in, and we're going to have public works right next door.
[25:33] that's a plus. And I just want to thank you all for your encouragement,
[25:39] your willingness to let me serve in this community. I have done so many
[25:45] different service-driven things for the last 15 years, and I'm going to
[25:51] continue, and I feel very ble blessed, especially when you
[25:55] get a little older, don't sit home and watch tv all day, okay? Get out there
[26:00] and help your community. And I hope more people here and people at home do that,
[26:08] and we'll welcome you, I promise you, you will be welcomed.
[26:12] okay? Especially if you love animals and people. It's a good place.
[26:18] thank you. >> thank yu, ms. Sherman. And then we have lisa
[26:22] orla -- actually, ucy dean and then lisa orla. Welcome, lucy.
[26:31] >> hi, everybody. Thanks for having me. My name is lucy dean the
[26:35] representative from sonoma state university the new vice president of external
[26:39] affairs. I've met a couple of you briefly s welcome.
[26:44] lovely to see you again. I just came to give you all a brief report on sonoma
[26:49] state. We're back in session as of yesterday.
[26:51] we had our first day of class yesterday. And the associated students
[26:56] are back in session making sure that everybody is well fed and got our basic needs
[27:01] program back up and running our associate students event planning program and had a
[27:06] big night the other insight and making sure our students are taken care of.
[27:10] we're planning to have a couple hygiene drives throughout the semester if
[27:14] anyone in the community wants to help invest in that, we always love your
[27:19] support. Any information about that will be on our went and our
[27:23] social media as well as our loveless pantry is open for four days a week,
[27:29] information about that is also on our website. Yeah.
[27:35] but we're just back in session. We love having our community
[27:39] involved and we're happy to have you all here. Thank you.
[27:43] >> thank you very much. Lisa orloff. >> I just want to invite
[27:56] everyone in the audience and everyone listening that we're doing a ribbon cutting
[28:01] to celebrate hot works a new fitness center here in rohnert park.
[28:05] a grand opening tomorrow from 5:30 to 7. I'm sure samantha is
[28:12] probably going to share this again I wanted to let you know we're excited to get
[28:16] into business in rohnert park and I want to congratulate the staff, I
[28:20] shared this with marcela already. Dustin shaffer is the owner
[28:28] and he was talking about opening this site in rohnert park, the staff, it's the
[28:35] best, he's opened different businesses in different towns across california and
[28:40] the united states and he was just so excited to share how great it was to work with
[28:45] rohnert park and how easy you made it so I wanted to invite everybody to hot
[28:52] works. Hope to see you there. >> thank you.
[28:59] and then we have barbara mackenzie and then go to zoom.
[29:06] >> good evening everyone. Just wanted to come down and remind everyone our library
[29:12] will be closed starting september the first for four months plus, it's going to
[29:17] be beautiful when it's finished and then we realize that it's an inconvenient to
[29:21] a lot of people and we'll have some services available at the headquarters bg and
[29:26] also wanted to thank you or city manager for her call earlier today inquiring as
[29:31] to whether I would be interested in continuing to serve as the library
[29:36] commissioner and I appreciate that call and yes, am of, thanks very
[29:39] much. >> thank you. Then we're going to go to
[29:45] zoom. Do we have any participants on zoom with their hands
[29:48] raised >> no, mayor, we do not. >> then that's it for
[29:51] public comment. I'm closing it up. We are going to move on to
[29:57] item 7 which is the consent calendar. So I would be ooking for a
[30:04] motion to approve the consent calendar as is -- approve the calendar as is
[30:14] but I actually need it pull one item. So on friday, I learned that
[30:21] my -- >> which item are you pulling?
[30:24] >> 7c. On the consent calendar because on friday I learned
[30:30] that the nominee that I had put out for the library commission role has
[30:38] withdrawn his application which was what miss mackenzie was referring to
[30:44] in her public comment. I believe per protocol I could appoint somebody
[30:52] without moifgving it to a future agenda but I would like to request we do still
[30:57] move it it a future agenda and that is because I need more time.
[31:05] go ahead. >> I was gonna say if it's possible to make comment on
[31:11] that item, I'm amenable to have it open for further review.
[31:15] >> I'd like to make a >> we can comment on the item that's pulled --
[31:22] >> and can I continue to speak on it or no? Use your mic.
[31:30] >> we should remove it from consent calendar and then come back and discuss this
[31:35] item separately >> beautiful. Thank you for clarifying
[31:38] >> I'll motion to pull 7c, correct? Or was it h. Hold on, let me make sure
[31:44] I'm pulling the right item. Yeah. >> motion to approve the be
[31:49] consent calendar pulling 7c. >> second. >> okay.
[32:00] so the adoption of the consent calendar with the exception of 7c.
[32:05] are all those in favor. Anyone opposed. Motion passes 5-0.
[32:13] >> I realize my first time getting to a point someone to an at large position but
[32:19] this is kind of a big deal and it's kind of a hard decision to -- or
[32:24] challenging hing because that's all of these people -- I know at the end
[32:29] you see them on thursday on the agenda packet comes out but it's not an easy thing.
[32:36] what I actually would like to do is also look at the possibility of making this
[32:45] like some of our committee appointments with where we go through the applications
[32:47] together and -- bmake it a council decision versus a - mayor chooses someone
[33:00] second. >> I'll support that >> and then I guess my only
[33:03] other question would be if we were to do that, what other committee roles would
[33:07] it apply to because we would want to keep standard across all
[33:11] >> thank you mayor for the question. We would have to bring that
[33:15] back to council so we can indicate to you which other appointments would be
[33:20] revisited if we want to change the selection process for these at-large
[33:26] appointments so we can work with our city clerk to bring that back to you.
[33:29] >> okay. Fantastic. So with that as the regular
[33:32] item n a future agenda? >> is yes, we would bring back the item for discussion
[33:38] and if necessary, then at that point we would get direction, we would have to
[33:43] also change the city council protocols to reflect whatever new process the
[33:46] council would like to follow. We can do that.
[33:49] >> okay. Perfect. I appreciate that.
[33:52] thanks for humoring me on this suggestion. It's appreciated.
[34:03] any other questions? Go to public comment >> to we want to do public
[34:08] comment first? >> council discussion? >> would anybody from the
[34:13] public in the room or on zoom like to speak on this item specifically 7e?
[34:23] seeing and hearing no one is interested, clerk, anyone on zoom?
[34:30] >> we have to wait a full minute. Because they need to raise
[34:34] their hand. But there isn't anyone so far with a raised hand.
[34:38] >> okay. >> there's nobody on the raised hand we don't have to
[34:42] wait -- if there's nobody on zoom >> there is a person on
[34:46] zoom. >> there is. Okay.
[34:48] >> we have about 30 seconds. Process.eciate the new -
[35:06] public comment, no one in the room has a burning desire to speak on this
[35:15] item? >> one minute has passed. >> okay.
[35:20] if no one else would like to speak on this item I'll go ahead and close the public
[35:24] comment period and come back to our council for any remaining thoughts,
[35:33] questions. >> I wanted to pull this to be honest, just because I'm
[35:38] really feel a bit uneasy on the timeline of events of the email I received and
[35:44] hearing somebody rescinded their application. So I have asked our city
[35:49] manager and I'm going to ask here we also look at a code of conduct of folks that we
[35:54] appoint to committees and commissions. I don't want to assume
[35:57] things but also feel when folks are interested and it's not an easy process,
[36:02] folks are pouring in and taking time to put in an application and wanting to
[36:07] participate in thirsty. I just have some doubts and concerns as to why somebody
[36:13] would rescind so suddenly just given the timeline of what I've experienced of
[36:20] communications received. And so I would like to either extend or have the
[36:24] opportunity a bit more time, to be able to ask the applicants those questions
[36:30] if possible, and also figure out whether it's us or who we appoint, what is our code
[36:37] of conduct on those seats and within the community as well because there's -- some
[36:46] things we also get feedback in different ways and I want to make sure if we're going
[36:50] to be updating things we just update fully across the board for fairness and
[36:59] equa equability. And I know -- and so that's
[37:03] my hesitancy. It's not necessarily the candidates or past, present,
[37:09] future, it's more of the timeline of events has caused me a lot of pause to
[37:14] be able to confidently move forward with the item. >> I was going to suggest
[37:25] if we can ask the city manager that possibility to reopen the process so that
[37:35] other people can have the opportunity to apply and that will be based on our
[37:47] five here and to give the guidance to madam city manager.
[37:52] >> and I would assume that that has to happen if we're gonna change the process or
[37:59] propose changing the process >> I think all of these questions will be
[38:04] deliberated and answered when we bring back the item. >> okay.
[38:09] perfect. Thank you, then. >> does that -- and that
[38:13] leaves the current person in that seat until then, correct
[38:16] >> yes, I'm sorry, I didn't want to give the impression that there's been a decision
[38:20] made. There hasn't been. So we need a motion and t
[38:26] then. I'd be -- >> I'd like to have an
[38:28] opportunity to make a comment. >> go for it.
[38:30] >> mayor, you received a call from the gentleman on friday?
[38:35] >> I did >> id you give you some reasons why he rescinded?
[38:40] >> he said he felt like -- can I ask a question? >> she's asked a question,
[38:49] I think it's on the table and -- >> you're asking a
[38:52] question, right now it's your question, correct? >> I was just wondering --
[38:59] for the privacy of the -- >> the privacy of the.candidate --
[39:05] >> interested in serving our community and really any capacity.
[39:09] this was one area where he applied and I really appre
[39:15] appreciated, you know, him stepping up and considering doing it and his decision
[39:19] was to not do it after all, and I mean, I'm sure he will serve in some other way
[39:28] somewhere. >> I guess my concern here is we have someone who
[39:34] served well and faithful for 12 years and that communication that was sent
[39:41] to her last week, the city talked about her dedicated service, her contributions
[39:46] to help strengthen library services, representation he have the community with
[39:51] integrity and care, outstanding service and dedication, generous
[39:55] volunteering of her time, her passion for preserving and sharing history, her
[40:00] unwaving commitment to public service, her countless hours of dedicated
[40:04] time making rohnert park a better community, contributions to make
[40:09] meaningful and lasting impact, appreciation for her support of and her many
[40:15] capacities and her interest service and I just feel like we're not forwarding barbara
[40:21] mackenzie the dignity here through this process that she's earned and she's
[40:26] entitled to. With that I have absolutely no problem relooking at this
[40:30] process. You made a comment when you were speaking about the
[40:33] mayor appoint. In my understanding, it's the mayor nominates and
[40:38] brings to the council but I fully support your desire to say let's take a look at
[40:42] this, bring the names forward to maybe have the mayor narrow it down to two
[40:46] or three and then have the council decided. But I see no reason to leave
[40:50] ms. Mackenzie or tenterhooks for another two weeks to a month.
[40:57] I may be out of town the second meeting in september and 'd like for here if
[41:02] that happens. I don't see any reason why we need to prolong the agony
[41:06] for ms. Mackenzie. >> can I make a comment? >> yes.
[41:13] >> so to be honest, I got concerned when I get a -- when I just got today saying
[41:21] that the nominee pulled out the nomination. And I do respect our current
[41:30] representative, so has nothing to do with her personality nd I do not
[41:34] want eople to start judging people for their personality or what is pg had a.
[41:42] there's a situation hat happened that we need to address, and that has
[41:46] nothing to do with her or any other candidate. The last thing that we
[41:52] wanted to do is to scare off people to apply to any of our committees.
[42:00] because that is going to become a pattern when someone wanted to come and
[42:06] apply to serve, then they get scared off and then leave.
[42:11] it's not oing to be a pretty image of rohnert park.
[42:15] we talk about fairness, we talk about opening up to the public, and I think it is
[42:22] fair to say that since that process didn't go through, it's fair to see it open.
[42:31] and I will be, you know, cautioning us to -- I mean, we know personally, I do
[42:40] respect the work that ms. Mackenzie has done and I do not want to put it on the
[42:46] line because of the situation happening. It's unfortunate.
[42:51] I didn't know. I just found out today. And I was a little bit
[42:57] unease to talk about a private conversation that the mayor had with someone
[43:02] that applied on a public setting. That sounded very
[43:09] inappropriate because it's going to scare off future candidates for any other
[43:14] committee that we're going to open in the future, and out of respect of
[43:21] mrs. Mackenzie, I don't think it's fair for her to be put in that position.
[43:25] we should have just, you know, made it clear and simple.
[43:29] it didn't work out, we have someone here, how about we continue the process.
[43:34] I think that would also show that we do respect the work that she has done.
[43:39] >> I think one of the ways to show the respect for the work she's done is to
[43:44] appoint her to continue to serve and I'd like to make a motion to do that at this
[43:48] time and ask for a second >> is unfortunately right now that process isn't
[43:52] allowed under our protocols because the mayor has to nominate first and the mayor
[43:59] has not nominated anybody >> the mayor nominated someone, he withdrew so --
[44:05] >> another person that applied. So -- in theory if the mayor
[44:10] wanted to appoint someone other -- >> what I was gonna ask is
[44:17] can the commissioner continue to serve if I extend this out -- as a
[44:27] matter of law the commissioner will erve until a replacement is
[44:33] sele selected. >> mayor, may I?
[44:35] >> yes. >> I support reinitiating process and I'd like to call
[44:38] for the question. In that case I will revisit this.
[44:49] I would like to make a motion that we continue the process for the library
[44:53] commissioner selection and, of course, ms. Mackenzie will be included in that
[44:56] process if she so chooses >> I'll second. >> just to clarify that you
[45:03] want staff to bring back an agenda item at a future agenda to discuss this
[45:13] process. >> keeping in mind that councilmember adams would
[45:16] like to definitely be here. So we can schedule around that.
[45:21] >> okay. Did -- did we do everything we needed to do there
[45:30] >> there was a motion -- >> I got a motion, I got a second.
[45:34] all those in favor. Those opposed? Okay. Thank you.
[45:42] >> motion to bring back a discussion regarding city council protocols
[45:47] surrounding mayor nominations for outside agency appointments and code
[45:51] of conduct for all appointees is passed by a 4
[45:59] 4-1-0 with councilmember adams dissenting. Thank you.
[46:01] >> thank you. Next we will move to our regular items starting with
[46:06] l 8a. And our presenter is I believe going to be m
[46:14] ms. Rankin or would that be you? >> good afternoon, and it's
[46:19] going to be a joint presentation here with our director of human resources,
[46:24] tracy rankin, and, of course, me. And so as you know, in
[46:29] december, chief mattos indicated that he was retiring even though he's
[46:34] still with us he's serving in an interim capacity o we started a recruitment
[46:39] process in february, and it's been six months that we've gone through this
[46:42] process, which is very common and typical for a law enforcement professional.
[46:47] and it gives me great joy to be able to present the item before you today, which is
[46:52] the resolution to consider the employment contract for ignacio richard navarro
[46:58] better known as rick navarro in the community law enforcement community.
[47:02] and we're extremely pleased after a nationwide recruitment and a strong
[47:08] candidate pool to bring forward mr. Rick navarro to have the position f the
[47:14] director of public safety. We're extremely fortunate that he has decided to join
[47:19] our city and join our public safety department. He actually is a resident of
[47:23] here for many years and for him to be able to serve his community in the capacity of
[47:30] director of public safety is extremely important for us and valuable.
[47:35] and so I'm very excited that he's joining the team. He has more than 35 years of
[47:40] law enforcement experience, 30 years with the marin county
[47:48] sheriffs office and currently serving as chief of police in the city of
[47:51] mill valley so we're very pleased that he's decided to join the team.
[47:55] for us as a community, we value community, we value accountability, nd also
[48:00] value the relationship that our public safety department has with members of our
[48:05] community and so he brings that and he will continue with that, and he knows the
[48:09] importance of those values for us. And just really making sure
[48:13] that we have the public safety relationship with our community.
[48:17] and so I'm very, very pleased that he's joining. He's here with us today and
[48:22] he'll be hopefully addressing you with a couple of comments.
[48:25] but again, just having an individual with his distinguished and extensive
[48:29] career in law enforcement join the city of rohnert park is important for us and
[48:35] so I'm glad, again, that he's here. Now, I will turn it over to
[48:39] our director of human resources, tracy rankin, we have to whenever we're
[48:44] bringing forward an employment contract for a department head director, we
[48:49] do have and we're required by law to read a statement that satisfy the
[48:54] requirements of a government code so now I will give the opportunity for ms. Rankin
[49:00] to be able to state that. Thank you. >> thank yu, madam city
[49:03] manager. Good evening, council. In accordance with
[49:10] government code section 54953 a the city council is to receive an oral summary
[49:16] report of the salary and compensation including fringe benefits paid to any
[49:20] local agency executive prior to taking final action. Under the terms of this
[49:26] agreement, are the director of public safety is entitled to receive the following
[49:31] compensation and benefits. An annual base salary of $255,661.05 per year, which
[49:42] is step 5 of salary range 78m. A peace officer's standards
[49:48] and training post executive certificate stipend in the amount of nine percent of
[49:54] base salary, a uniform allowance of $,080 per calendar year to be paid
[50:00] monthly. A city cell phone, city vehicle for his use at city
[50:05] expense, and other equipment deemed appropriate by the city manager.
[50:10] a credit of 80 hours of annual leave on date of hire and accrual of annual leave
[50:15] at a rate of 240 hours per year. 100 hours of administrative
[50:21] leave per fiscal year. Participation in calpers in the three percent at 55
[50:28] program and fringe benefits including health insurance, disability benefits, retiree
[50:34] health savings contributions, and employer retirement contribution in
[50:39] accordance with the council's adopted outline of certain conditions of
[50:42] employment, fringe benefits, and salary for the management unit.
[50:48] >> I forgot to mention that the employment agreement is before you this evening,
[50:54] however, chief navarro will be start sptember 22nd and we will be working with the
[51:00] department to do a welcome ceremony for him, give him an opportunity to interact
[51:03] with members of the public. So I just wanted to make sure I clarified that.
[51:07] thank you. >> good evening, mayor, vice mayor, city council
[51:15] members and city manager. Thank you nor hose kind words.
[51:19] much appreciated. I have prepared a statement and I promise you that city
[51:23] manager did not discuss my comments prior to this evening with you they're
[51:28] going to be very similar. I am deeply honored and humbled to be here with you
[51:34] tonight I come before you as a proud resident of rohnert park with deep roots in this
[51:39] community. I was not seeking another career opportunity when I
[51:42] saw the recruitment for rohnert park's director of public safety.
[51:45] however, this position immediately spoke to me. I've always held our public
[51:50] safety department in a highest regards, and it's members are true heros n
[51:56] our community as a resident I personally called upon them for assistance and have
[52:03] consistently been I am pred by their knowledge, compassion and
[52:06] professionalism. Through the the recruitment process I was equally
[52:11] impressed by the city's commitment to including regional partners, community
[52:14] members, department heads and members of the public safety department.
[52:17] that approach resonates teteep deeply with me because I
[52:23] believe collaboration and inclusion are essential to building trust and achieving
[52:27] long-term success, the warmth and support I've received from the entire
[52:31] city team has been incredible and I am truly grateful for the welcome.
[52:34] I know there's a great deal of work ahead of us but with this outstanding team, I am
[52:40] confident that we're ready for the challenges and opportunities before us.
[52:43] I value partnership, collaboration, accountability, and hard
[52:49] work. What you can expect from me is authentic, transparent,
[52:53] and engaged leadership from someone who cares deeply about this city, our
[52:59] employees, and the essential public safety services our community deserves.
[53:04] thank you for the trust you have placed in me and for the opportunity to lead this
[53:08] it is an incredible onor to serve the community that y family and I have proudly
[53:15] called home for 34 years. Thank you. [ applause ]
[53:26] >> where do we begin? This is a really big deal. >> you need to take --
[53:32] >> I'd like to make a motion -- >> thank you
[53:35] >> I will second -- >> let's do public comment, let's do public comment.
[53:38] I'm sure somebody in this room has something they would like to say on this
[53:42] item although I do not have any cards in front of me. I put you on the spot
[53:48] >> we do not have any speaker cards and -- >> clark is currently
[53:53] running -- >> we could do council -- >> should we adopt the
[54:06] resolution first? >> we have to wait. Okay.
[54:12] >> so moved. [laughter], >> mr. Keith, taking one
[54:17] for the team. Wha what
[54:23] what are your thoughts? >> I just met this guy and he seems really good.
[54:28] [laughter] >> seems like a really nice guy.
[54:33] he introduced himself to me. I mean, look at me. [laughter]
[54:39] >> shook my hand and everything. Great job.
[54:43] I think you found a good person. How we doing? [laughter]
[54:48] >> all good? >> thank you, as you know, council is not allowed to
[54:53] comment on public comments so e'll just say that was a good ne there.
[54:58] okay. Anything else? P do we have a motion?
[55:01] >> yeah. >> let's get a motion on this.
[55:03] >> I'd like to make a motion to adopt the resolution authorizing and
[55:10] approving the director of public safety employment agreement between the city
[55:13] of rohnert park and ignacio richard navarro >> and I'll happily second
[55:16] that one. >> all those in favor? >> there are people that
[55:22] would like to make comments. Can we go backward and hold that.
[55:29] let's pass it and then comment. All those in favor? Anyone
[55:35] opposed? Motion passes by 5-0.
[55:41] let's talk more about this. >> sure. And I said this before.
[55:44] so welcome. Very excited. Not only from the things
[55:49] that I've been told by either present law enforcement here in rohnert
[55:54] park but people down in mill valley, people in the county of marin and then your
[55:59] neighbors and residents here in rohnert park as well. I think it is so important
[56:03] that you have been deeply embedded in this community for many years, decades, and
[56:09] I'm very excited to welcome you and build on the great foundation that tim has
[56:15] created here. And move forward. So welcome, neighbor, and
[56:20] welcome back home. >> thank you. >> I'm so excited to have
[56:24] you on board, chief. I know chief mattos, because he's still our chief right
[56:30] now, has some big shoes to fill. He undertook quite a bit of
[56:37] the department these last five years and has really if anything answered all of my
[56:42] many, many questions so you will now be the new chief I'll be calling with my
[56:47] many, many questions and this community, you know it, I know it, I think people
[56:50] will be hard pressed to not know chief navarro or his family, but I'd really like
[56:55] to thank mrs. Navarro because I don't think law enforcement can happen
[56:59] without their steadfast family and support and the worry.
[57:04] and your involvement in community as well. So I'm going to save the
[57:09] tears for later in september but I'm so excited to have you on board and echo
[57:16] councilmember guidice even myself working in probation marin, without people
[57:20] knowing, right, how highly they spoke of you, friends of my own who have been
[57:26] taught by you and mentored by you the impact is.quite literally throughout the
[57:33] whole north bay and possibly the state. What an incredible way to
[57:37] now represent the friendly city in an official way. So welcome.
[57:42] >> thank you, councilmember, and thank you for recognizing my true
[57:45] foundation, my bride, jennifer. >> well, welcome to rohnert
[57:50] park chief in waiting. We're excited to have you. This has been just the
[57:54] leadup time. I was talking to your wife about the anticipation
[57:58] period of since you knew this was going to be your responsibility going through
[58:01] all the process, that tests person sometimes just the waiting.
[58:07] I met tim mattos for the first time after I was elected in 2018.
[58:11] you have big shoes to fill here in rohnert park. I think you also have a
[58:16] little bit of a leg up on most other candidates since you know the community so
[58:19] well. I'm very excited for the women and the men who serve
[58:24] safety in rohnert park from - the dispatcher to everybody who works in that building,
[58:30] the sergeants, lieutenants, line folks, they're excited to have your leadership to
[58:35] build on what's been done by chief mattos and I look forward to many years of
[58:39] working with you. Thank you. >> thank you,
[58:44] councilmember. >> your true foundation is our true foundation.
[58:50] you gotta share. I'm really excited and thank you, mrs. Navarro.
[58:57] I'm incredibly excited, leadership is very important, and leadership
[59:04] can either break or elevate the community, and having the right person into
[59:12] leadership is really important, especially now with everything that's, you
[59:16] know, every community is going through. However, the mayor of mill
[59:22] valley is not too thrilled, he grilled me. So he said we stole him, we
[59:28] stole you from him, but I say, no, we took back our own person.
[59:34] so he's coming home. Sorry, max. But it shows how effective
[59:41] your work has been in marin and mill alley and how you have transformed that city.
[59:49] chief mattos has been our pillar here for the many years he has served and it
[1:00:01] aches to see him going but at the same time you guys have made sure along with
[1:00:05] all the public safety leaders to bring you on board.
[1:00:07] and it's very exciting to see that your leadership will be now here at home,
[1:00:15] representing the values and the people that, you know, you live and create memories
[1:00:25] every single day, and I'm so excited because I know that what you have done in mill
[1:00:34] valley as n employee and an outsider, you would take that baton and that
[1:00:42] different level now that you're here at home, and I'm so excited and welcome home.
[1:00:48] >> thank you so very much, it's great to be home. >> and all the things that
[1:00:54] my colleagues have said and more. I am very grateful that you
[1:00:58] are interested in the position and to all of our staff, it was a very
[1:01:02] collaborative hiring process. I think everyone got to give
[1:01:05] their $0.02 what they were looking for so I think we've got it.
[1:01:08] and I really look forward to the good work you're gonna continue here in our city.
[1:01:16] >> thank you so much, mayor. >> we do -- since you're
[1:01:21] here we're going to do a family photo together. This will be the before
[1:01:58] photo.
[1:05:30] >> we're gonna go to the next item, which is 8b >> good evening.
[1:05:43] mark henderson public works director with scott sanders our sustainability manager,
[1:05:49] we're here to discuss the reentry into the russian this is a local entity that -
[1:05:57] focuses on storm water compliance and outreach. So I will turn it over to
[1:06:02] scott. Scott oversees our storm water compliance and
[1:06:05] outreach program. Thank you. >> hello.
[1:06:09] great to be here. So let's just dig right in. So I'm gonna present on the
[1:06:15] russian river watershed association, hard to say. But tonight I'm gonna walk
[1:06:20] you through kind of what it is, our steps, I'm going to call it the rrwa because
[1:06:28] it's hard to keep saying over and over again. We're going to go through
[1:06:31] what is the rrwa. Our history, how it operates day to day, the miles per
[1:06:40] hour membership costs and programs and what what are we here for.
[1:06:45] what is the rrwa, a coalition of 11 public agencies and all
[1:06:50] coordinating storm water compliance, outreach, grant funding across the russian
[1:06:55] river watershed. So ur member agencies are a iks many of cities, we have
[1:07:04] the sonoma water, two counties, mend mend and sonoma the city of ukiah
[1:07:12] serves as the administrative agency and fiscal agent and handle financial
[1:07:19] administration on behalf of all the members. The core rrwa operating
[1:07:24] budget does come entirely from member agency so our dues cover the cost of
[1:07:29] running the organization itself. Individual programs
[1:07:32] sometimes bring grant money into the program as well. It was formed in 2023 to
[1:07:41] facilitate this partnership across political boundaries to member agencies could
[1:07:45] work cooperatively to protect this watershed and efforts at no single agency
[1:07:50] could take on effectively alone. So what is the watershed?
[1:07:56] it consists of 1,484 square miles across mendocino and sonoma counties.
[1:08:10] what's in that watershed, there are 238 treams and creeks, two major
[1:08:17] reservoirs, ten tribal land organizations home to 63 different fish species, as
[1:08:21] well as 360,000 people. And how are we connected to it? I'll add some extra
[1:08:29] here. Everything that goes to our storm drains heads to a
[1:08:32] creek. From that creek our creeks will ended laguna which goes
[1:08:37] to mark west creek which then drops into the russian river.
[1:08:43] also we get water directly from the russian river. Sonoma water pulls it right
[1:08:48] from the russian river filters and brings it to rohnert park residents.
[1:08:54] our history with the rrwa is not new. Of we were one offist
[1:09:00] founding members in 2004. We stepped away in 2020 by council vote the reason
[1:09:08] being cost effectiveness and as well as we had internal capacity to handle the items
[1:09:14] on our own. But then this year we have now rejoined and we signed
[1:09:20] the amendment 1, the same mou that's been running since 2004.
[1:09:25] so all member agencies are signing the same mou. Next we're going to go with
[1:09:34] how it operates. It's day to day governance. Each member -- it's
[1:09:43] governored by a board of directors made up of elected officials.
[1:09:47] every member agency appoints one representative and one alternate to sit on that
[1:09:52] board below the board there's an executive program, an initiatives
[1:09:55] committee and a technical working grouping and those bodies support the board
[1:09:58] with staff level expertise on the technical and programatic side of things.
[1:10:03] the rrwa facilitates more than 24 regional meetings a year between the board,
[1:10:09] committees, and advocacy meetings. During the september and
[1:10:19] february time, the board adopts a work plan and budget that was created
[1:10:23] throughout the year. And then now we're going to move over to our costs.
[1:10:33] membership costs and hat it provides. So there we go.
[1:10:39] year 1 it's a little modest starting with a 5,000 flat rate in our cost, the first
[1:10:44] year is kind of getting used to it. But hen over time it's
[1:10:50] gonna start going to a formula where half the cost is split among the member
[1:10:57] agencies and then the other half is weighted based on each agency's operational
[1:11:01] budget. Last time rohnert park was in it it was about five to
[1:11:04] seven percent of that total budget. Recently the budget is now
[1:11:10] 719,000 so roughly rohnert park would be on 36 to $50,000 a yar, of course,
[1:11:15] today's item is not a fiscal impact. It will just bring in your
[1:11:21] representative to the board. So what do these costs do for us? Well, first,
[1:11:28] regional collaboration. Rrwa facilitates board meetings, committee
[1:11:32] meetings, operators, forums and maintains a shared website for all member
[1:11:36] agencies. Second, they do regulatory advocacy, they attend water
[1:11:41] board hearings, they prepare comment letters, represent local interests at
[1:11:47] sacr sacramento. Third, or fourth, they do
[1:11:49] grant support as well, third is regulatory compliance, they help us with our
[1:11:55] municipal storm water permits, they help us with lid trainings, russian river
[1:12:00] regional onitoring program is also under this. And then they also help with
[1:12:05] grant support. And hat we're here today is to pick a member for the
[1:12:14] board of directors. Let's see what we got here. We're required to have an
[1:12:23] appointed representative which is a city councilmember, to this
[1:12:27] organization and then we'll have an alternate. Just like zero waste.
[1:12:34] >> you're saying you would have picked one of us anyway, but because we have
[1:12:38] to have one we're here to nominate somebody today >> that's what we're going
[1:12:41] to do. We're just going to need to complete those two items
[1:12:46] tonight, yeah, that's kind of my whole presentation right there.
[1:12:50] >> beautiful. Okay. What we'll do is we can take
[1:12:52] questions from our council and then want to go to public comment and then back
[1:12:57] to our comments. So -- >> I have no questions.
[1:13:02] >> any questions on that item itself? >> I do.
[1:13:06] thank you very much. Can you go back to the slide that tells how much money
[1:13:09] this is going to cost? >> uh-huh. >> it starts out at 5000
[1:13:16] entryway and then we're going to get up to somewhere between 35,050,000, but my
[1:13:22] understanding from reading the report and especially listening to you talk it's
[1:13:25] actually going to be a net savings for us for the services they're going to
[1:13:29] provide, and I think too maybe explain o mr. And mrs. Rohnert park maybe when
[1:13:35] we can explain that this is -- we're spending so much more doing some of hese
[1:13:39] things that they're now going to help us do including the legislative
[1:13:45] interaction and all those sorts of things, right? So can you peak to that a
[1:13:48] little bit? >> yes. So we decided to bring back
[1:13:52] rrwa because we do not have the internal capacity to do everything that we need to
[1:13:57] do to fulfill our permit compliance with the water board and all those our
[1:14:02] items. So spending the 36 to $50,000 a year actually does
[1:14:06] safe us money without having to hire extra people to perform this compliance work
[1:14:10] and not only that they're doing grant support and they're in sacramento
[1:14:15] lobbying for us. And multiple other items like that that do save us
[1:14:18] money. >> that's definitely the advantage of having that
[1:14:21] unified front for grant support, meeting as an organization rather than us
[1:14:26] doing it individually. And also we're currently using consultants to help us
[1:14:30] manage our storm water compliance. So this will lessen the
[1:14:35] burden. >> by what -- can you give us some ballpark --
[1:14:40] >> I mean, probably saving over 25,000 a year -- I mean, if I had to throw a
[1:14:49] number off >> I think -- I really appreciate your the way you
[1:14:53] presented it here because it does show the net benefit to the citizens of rohnert park
[1:14:57] top get back and joining this organization >> and the outreach that
[1:15:02] they do now, they will do locally, a lot of these pilot programs that they
[1:15:06] were doing in other jurisdictions we weren't part of it so now they're
[1:15:09] going to be bringing these programs to rohnert park. >> other council questions?
[1:15:16] open it you up for public comment. Ladies and gentlemen, public
[1:15:20] comment item 8b, if anybody would like to speak on this item, now is your chance.
[1:15:27] I have no cards. He's not getting up. Is there anyone on zoom?
[1:15:34] >> there's one person present. The erson hasn't raised
[1:15:38] their hand. >> okay. It's been more than a
[1:15:40] minute. True? We're good to proceed? We don't need to
[1:15:46] wait a full manipulate for this person? We do. Okay.
[1:16:00] what other questions do I have? I think my question would be about what do you
[1:16:12] think the best intint going to be for us. What's your favorite thing
[1:16:17] that rrwa is benefit is going to be for us. What's your favorite thing
[1:16:21] that rrwa is offering? >> well currently they are bridging this gap between
[1:16:25] ssu so right now ssu us and rrwa with getting together and trying to work on
[1:16:30] copeland creek. It's just another added seat at the table of bringing
[1:16:35] resources to places in our communities is my biggest excitement.
[1:16:46] >> we just learned about this, that's kind of exciting.
[1:16:49] they're looking at enhancing copeland creek. I think it's a regulatory
[1:16:55] compliance, we have some really tall hills to climb. One is trash capture and
[1:17:02] things that they assist with. So I think it's better to be
[1:17:06] regionally on a unified front than stand alone. So that's just one of them
[1:17:12] off the -- that is -- we're going to have to comply with.
[1:17:21] what I'm referring to is trash entering the creeks, that we have to -- yeah,
[1:17:26] yeah, sorry, we know we have to stop basically all trash from entering the creeks.
[1:17:35] >> all right. Now we may proceed. Wonderful.
[1:17:38] back to the comments from the council. >> thank you.
[1:17:42] so first of all, thanks for the report. And udos to the council for
[1:17:48] rejoining the agency. Certainly the benefits greatly outweigh the osts
[1:17:53] and s we move forward with our hydrology study and with modeling as to how we ould
[1:18:03] relocate a retention basin over in k section and taking a look at what that modeling
[1:18:09] looks like and the russian river watershed association will be an indispensable
[1:18:14] resource or us not only department the development services but department of
[1:18:20] public works moving forward so I'm very excited that we're rejoining and also the
[1:18:23] collaboration with sonoma state, we're already working together with them, with
[1:18:30] mr. Rogers, and the center for environmental inquiry with regards to the copeland
[1:18:36] creeks in common and some of the other initiatives that we have.
[1:18:39] so this is a great fit, and if I am nominated I would be more than happy to serve and
[1:18:45] make sure that rohnert park gets its pound of flesh out of joining this
[1:18:56] organization. >> I have no comments but I'll second councilmember
[1:18:59] guidice nomination. Happy to support. >> I think it would be
[1:19:04] great if gerard wants to do this. [laughter]
[1:19:09] >> sigh of relief coming from everyone elevation on the dais.
[1:19:14] if no other board comments let's proceed with this wonderful nomination and
[1:19:18] second. >> do we need to have a nomination to rejoin the
[1:19:21] russian river watershed association? >> okay.
[1:19:29] >> my question will be that what o you guys have like meetings, when the meetings
[1:19:36] will be, so that people can know and see the schedule since life not that busy for
[1:19:43] all of us. >> I will share that I went to the meeting two months
[1:19:49] ago. They were very excited to see us, I feel like I guess
[1:19:53] the game is getting the band back together because we didn't know we were the
[1:20:01] missing poise. So everybody that meeting was very enthusiastic about
[1:20:04] the rejoining. I do I do believe they meeting
[1:20:11] once monthly and there's advisory committees so if you wanted to go above and
[1:20:16] beyond you could in addition to the board member. >> that will be great to
[1:20:21] know what we're going to get ourself into before -- >> if you were interested
[1:20:26] in serving, you mean? >> I'm not. >> okay.
[1:20:32] I can share with you when I look that up, but it's pretty much at least once a
[1:20:39] month -- >> sorry, mayor, are you asking about the alternate
[1:20:46] representative? >> I'm kind of lost -- >> you just have a
[1:20:50] representative there. I went just to say hello and remember us, and now that we
[1:20:59] are officially back in, we're needing to nominate someone to serve and
[1:21:04] actually, that brings up up a good point. Does the alternate have to
[1:21:08] be on the council could it be like with zero waste where you're my alternate if
[1:21:13] I can't attend >> there's a councilmember, there's a nominated and then
[1:21:18] the staff member would be acts an alternate. And there's 24 scheduled
[1:21:25] meetings throughout the year. >> and how long is the
[1:21:35] term? >> until someone else would be nominated.
[1:21:38] there's not a defined term to this. >> so madam city attorney,
[1:21:44] does that mean if for some reason I get really, really mad add ouncilmember
[1:21:50] guidice and I say I wanted to do it, would it be similar to something else
[1:21:54] that we would bring back to the agenda to discuss -- >> there's no term. The
[1:21:59] appointment is totally within the discretion of the council.
[1:22:02] so the council can remove, appoint whenever they want. >> okay.
[1:22:10] I think we got all our questions answered. We got a motion, we got a
[1:22:15] second. All those in favor. >> aye
[1:22:17] >> aye >> aye >> aye.
[1:22:19] >> any opposed? Okay. >> thank you. >> thank you for the
[1:22:26] presentation. >> thank you. >> okay.
[1:22:37] next we are moving on to item 9, which is committee liaison and other reports.
[1:22:45] council, who would like to share what they've been doing this month?
[1:22:54] >> chambers. I was able to give them pp bit of an update on what
[1:22:59] we've got going on in the city tomorrow as we heard there's a ribbon cutting for
[1:23:07] hot works, cost, you can find information on the chamber's website and on
[1:23:12] september 2nd, it is the noontime luncheon and the speaker will be senator
[1:23:21] balden. Please register by august 28th so make sure
[1:23:24] there's enough food for everybody. The next day, september 3rd
[1:23:29] is the grind and grow collective for young professionals focused on 45
[1:23:35] and younger entrepreneurs but it is open. And the speaker will be our
[1:23:38] very own kevin king to talk about how to support businesses and updates on
[1:23:43] downtown so hopefully we can get businesses into downtown.
[1:23:48] we've got two more weeks of the farmers market if I count correctly.
[1:23:52] it's been great. And we also have the african soul festival, I believe the
[1:23:59] third annual this year, happening on saturday, and in honor of mrs. Dolly p
[1:24:09] parton who passed today, there are still tickets available through the
[1:24:12] community foundation to support her imagination library and their gala is on
[1:24:17] saturday, august 29th. I want to congratulate old cas for seven years, our
[1:24:24] very own home brewed, a great weekend long event this past weekend, and then
[1:24:30] we have our third annual car show happening next sunday, september 6th, at the site
[1:24:38] of the downtown. I believe you can still register your car, take a
[1:24:41] look for it if you have a classic that you'd like to showcase.
[1:24:45] but it's just a great community event put on by our very own franky levin so
[1:24:52] lots going on in the city. >> I have a library advisory board meeting last
[1:24:57] week, and I just want to confirm what was satisfied earlier.
[1:25:02] the library is about to be closed and there's going to be some sort of mini
[1:25:06] libraries, some activities at the burton avenue rec center thank you for working
[1:25:10] that out and then the sonoma county library offices are on state farm, about a third
[1:25:16] of the mile down the street from the library. There will be some places
[1:25:19] where you can go there, there will be no services at the current library location
[1:25:23] so that box where people can pick up books, closed. It will be down the street
[1:25:28] at the main library place, you can go pick up books and if you have any questions
[1:25:33] you can go there and also go to petaluma library, I know it seems like a long time
[1:25:42] but it's going to go by like that, I promise. >> vice mayor?
[1:25:50] >> we have had sonoma lean power, t was a short one. For the most part, sonoma
[1:25:58] clean power renewed our engagement with the ceo, that's going to be there for
[1:26:07] another three years and counting. And so, yeah.
[1:26:10] and on -- and the next month we will have a recess for a month and we're going to
[1:26:20] resume in october. >> marvelous. I'll give an update on
[1:26:28] si zoef waste. We went over the outine
[1:26:30] items including the 24, 25 audits. Which showed a strong
[1:26:36] financial decision nd some continuing investment happening in our local waste
[1:26:42] reduction program. Cascadeia compliance outreach program.
[1:26:50] that supported 122 different food businesses including a few here in ohnert park.
[1:26:56] most are compliant or near compliant. So they're helping business
[1:27:01] owners address the things that need to be not -- when you go get take out that's
[1:27:10] not a thing anymore. People can't have styrofoam and they've been consulting
[1:27:15] on straws, utensils, finding best suppliers for these different things that meet
[1:27:21] all the requirements and the program is going to continue for six more months but it's
[1:27:26] already exceeded its goals around education and outreach.
[1:27:31] the board received a final update on usda compost food waste reduction grant
[1:27:40] program highlighting ajor wins in compost education, food recovery and some
[1:27:43] climate smart farming practices that resulted in over 50,000 pounds of local
[1:27:50] food rescued and thousands of residents that have been reached through the compost
[1:27:57] education efforts and it's been delivered to over 3600 acres of local farm land.
[1:28:03] the sb54 implementation is coming right along, producers are going to have
[1:28:09] to start funding statewide recycling improvements in 2027 so zero waste is
[1:28:16] helping with each jurisdiction and also with the county including rohnert
[1:28:19] park in making sure we understand what materials are covered any possible
[1:28:27] exemptions, infrastructure needed and the way of recycling and any potential
[1:28:31] reimbursements that might be out there because some of those reimbursements will be
[1:28:37] retroactive. So that is a really big deal.
[1:28:40] and the last thing would be that the board voted to move all our future meetings for
[1:28:45] zero waste sonoma to their new facility the head squares at 195 concourse
[1:28:51] drive in in santa rosa that's instead of the city hall building in santa rosa.
[1:28:56] so this is going to improve public access, if any of you have been there you have to
[1:29:01] go upstairs to go downstairs. And help facilitate better
[1:29:07] collaboration too. So on the 17th of september that's when we're going to
[1:29:10] start meeting the new staff. That's my update for zero waste.
[1:29:16] >> just wanted to take moment to thank and acknowledge our incredible
[1:29:26] city manager and congratulate you on a full permanent leadership team
[1:29:30] again. I know it's been a rocky time and we're so lucky to
[1:29:36] have your leadership and then for the folks who have stepped up and joined the
[1:29:41] city, again, I would say you guys are the experts. I did not go to school for
[1:29:47] each of your departments, but I just really wanted to appreciate that and
[1:29:51] appreciate everyone's undertaking of their departments as well.
[1:29:56] congrats. >> and on the nerdy moment I'd like to thank the city
[1:30:01] manager nd the staff for the upgrade on our sewer bond rating.
[1:30:06] and perhaps ust a quick explanation of what that means.
[1:30:11] I know we went from double a minus to double a and exactly if you could kind of
[1:30:19] provide a little narrative on that, that would be great.
[1:30:21] >> yes, thank you. And perhaps what I'm going to have is maybe bring up
[1:30:26] our director of finance and our public works director because really the
[1:30:30] celebration is for them. They have been doing a tremendous job in planning
[1:30:34] really our sewer improvements as you know, we have over 200 million in
[1:30:40] deferred maintenance. And what a credit rating increase does for us is s
[1:30:46] not that we are pursuing this but if p we were to go pursuing external financing
[1:30:53] it would give as you better credit rate. And that's huge.
[1:30:56] not only it a reflection of the really the management of the sewer funds that we
[1:31:04] have, but also it is showing the community and really us that we're planning for the
[1:31:09] future. And I know that's been one of our major goals and
[1:31:14] really just desire is to be able to address the needs of this community so. I'm
[1:31:17] very, very happy and I just want to thank you really our director of finance and her
[1:31:23] team and our public works team for the great work that they're doing and just
[1:31:26] making sure that we are addressing the needs f this community.
[1:31:29] so thank you, thank you to the team for doing that, well deserved recognition in
[1:31:34] terms of that upgrade. So thank you, councilmember guidice for pointing that
[1:31:38] out, appreciate it. >> I thought I felt different.
[1:31:46] it was our rating. Very encouraging. If there's no other updates
[1:31:50] on that we'll move on to -- did anybody have a public comment on the liaison
[1:31:56] reports? Anything spark inspiration for you? Double checking? Then on to
[1:32:05] communications. Item 10. Anything that the council
[1:32:08] would like to share there? >> councilmember adams >> two things, I received
[1:32:15] multiple communications from multiple members of the community asking if we can
[1:32:22] leave the farmers market out at the community center. Process is for saying to -
[1:32:28] people we're gonna look at that and give it serious consideration because it's
[1:32:32] obviously so much more well received. I've had a friend of mine
[1:32:36] out there doing drone footage with infrared o see the number of people there.
[1:32:41] it's incredible the number of people that are there. So I just wanted to report
[1:32:45] that people are really anxious to have us talk about that.
[1:32:49] the second thing is vice mayor elward and I have been receiving a lot of
[1:32:57] communication from lap swimmer's in town. And we've been working with
[1:33:03] the director of community services about finding other places where they can swim
[1:33:08] from november, december and january and we'll be turning that research over to
[1:33:14] director bagley for her to share that with the swim community.
[1:33:19] it will cost about the same as the costs for them to swim right now either going
[1:33:23] up to the university or going to one of the health clubs in cotati.
[1:33:28] actually have some other benefits I think that will helpful to them as well.
[1:33:31] so I just wanted everyone to know we're looking at that and we're working together
[1:33:35] and we'll give all that information to cindy to send to the lap swimmer's.
[1:33:40] so thank you. >> I can add I want to also the constituents to know
[1:33:49] that if they want to connect with us, we have a room here where we can meet in person.
[1:33:56] so come. We're open. We want to meet with you.
[1:34:01] and the door is open at the city hall. >> marvelous.
[1:34:07] anything else for communications before we move on to item 11? Okay.
[1:34:12] then that would be adding agenda items to future city council meetings.
[1:34:20] no? Okay. Any public comment on that one?
[1:34:26] >> I don't know if we consider this an agenda item or not, but I was hoping we
[1:34:30] could recognize the norkel cal ripken12 team. They came in second be in
[1:34:40] their world series and really gave everyone a run for their money out there so
[1:34:45] they were the only one of two teams from nor cal representing so I was hoping
[1:34:52] we could give them a little recognition >> absolutely, I agree to
[1:34:54] that. Okay. Then we have adjournment.
[1:34:59] it's official. Don't go far because there is a foundation meeting.
[1:35:07] [ adjourned, 7:05 p.m. ]